WEST SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — When Jim Leonhard gathered the Denver Broncos’ defensive backs for a film session after their Week 1 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, he was on a hunt for hidden details — a tweak to an alignment; the precise direction of a first step in coverage. Anytime there may have been the slightest lapse in the techniques the former NFL safety has helped drill with his players since taking over as Denver’s secondary coach in February.
“Those are the inches you’re playing with sometimes in the NFL,” Leonhard told The Athletic on Thursday after a rain-drenched practice at the Greenbrier resort, where the Broncos are preparing for their Week 4 game at the New York Jets on Sunday.
But the final meaningful play for Denver’s defense in that Seahawks game brought a different lesson: Sometimes, the other side is just going to make a play so remarkable there may not be anything you can do.
That’s what happened when Seahawks wide receiver Tyler Lockett, chased closely in coverage by Broncos cornerback Riley Moss, nabbed a pass from quarterback Geno Smith that just avoided the hands of a Denver pass rusher. Even as Moss contacted him, Lockett was able to corral the bobbled ball, a highlight catch that sealed the Broncos’ season-opening loss.
Tyler Lockett ices the game with a one-handed grab
📺: #DENvsSEA on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/bxcaagjwel— NFL (@NFL) September 8, 2024
“It’s hard to be frustrated,” Leonhard said of that play. “When guys are competitive, it’s, ‘How can I gain that inch? What can I do differently?’ There’s always little coaching points, but you always have to take a step back and go, ‘Look at this throw. Look at the catch — in that moment, too. To make that throw and that catch in the biggest moment of the game, that’s impressive.’”
Moss, a second-year player out of Iowa who’s now in his first year as a starter, has been a portrait of confidence early in the season. Playing opposite All-Pro cornerback Pat Surtain II, he has been one of the most frequently targeted defensive backs in the NFL. Quarterbacks have thrown to receivers covered by Moss 18 times through three weeks and completed 12 of those throws, according to Next Gen Stats.
But nothing against Moss has come easy. Baker Mayfield completed three of his five passes when targeting Moss last Sunday, but for only 18 yards. Even a touchdown catch by Chris Godwin — Tampa Bay’s only score of the game — happened despite air-tight coverage from Moss, who simply stood up and jogged off the field after the play.
“In my mind, I knew I was good,” Moss said. “Obviously, I was frustrated. At the same time, I had two more quarters to go out and do well. Bad things are going to happen. You have to be able to get through it. It’s kind of like, ‘Screw it. If it happens, it happens.’ Just go out and continue to play.”
Cornerbacks are supposed to have memories like Dory, plays both good and bad washing out of their memories moments after they’re finished. And Moss quickly bounced back. He kept Godwin in check from then on, deflected a third-down pass and forced a fumble that all but sealed Denver’s emphatic victory.
“I can just see each and every week that he’s getting better and better,” Surtain said. “He’s very confident. He’s a film junkie who studies the right way. He takes care of his body. Everything he does is in correlation to how he plays on the field.”
Moss has found peace in his process, but it was hard-earned. During his first significant action at cornerback for Iowa as a freshman in 2018, he twice intercepted Minnesota quarterback Zack Annexstad — critical plays in a 48-31 Hawkeyes road victory. Moss felt the love when he returned to Iowa City. He was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week and thrust into a starting role.
Four weeks later, in a game against rival Purdue, it all unraveled. Moss was burned twice for touchdowns, including an 82-yard score on which he was beaten badly by wide receiver Terry Wright. Nobody was harder on Moss than he was on himself, but his ability to move on was challenged every time he picked up his phone.
“I was in the doghouse. The fans weren’t really on my side,” Moss told The Athletic during training camp. “On social media, they were bashing my name, bashing my family and all that stuff. I had to go through that.”
For months, the failure of that day gnawed at Moss. He lost his starting job. He dealt with injuries while also navigating damage to his confidence. But, eventually, he found enlightenment by asking a simple question: Why was he putting so much energy into something he couldn’t control?
“It took about a year, year-and-a-half, for me to realize these people don’t know anything,” Moss said. “These guys are on their couch eating chips. At the end of the day, it’s me against the world. That really helped me propel my career at Iowa, going through that struggle early. Mentally now, you’ve got to have a quick mindset on the field. … It was really cleansing and made me play better, because I wasn’t worried about anything other than what I was supposed to do on the field and what my job was.”
Once he had his epiphany, Moss said, “I could finally friggin’ sleep at night.” Nearly a year after the debacle against Purdue, Moss was back in the lineup against the Boilermakers as a sophomore and intercepted his first pass since the two-pick day against Minnesota.
Demons exercised, Moss went on to a decorated career at Iowa. He finished with 11 interceptions and three touchdown returns, including two in the first half of the same game against Indiana in 2021.
Of course, it’s not only a better frame of mind that helped Moss turn into a third-round draft pick. The combination of speed, quickness and power that made him an elite hurdler in high school also now makes him a rare athlete at the cornerback position, even by NFL standards.
“He’s very twitchy, at times almost too powerful,” Leonhard said. “His lower body is very powerful. It’s (about) teaching him how to control it. Not every corner has that in their body, and he has all the skill set to be a really, really good corner in this league. Now, it’s learning the experience and seeing what really good receivers in this league do, the craftiness, the savviness.”
Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said during camp that Moss has “fluid hips” that help him recover well down the field. It’s a trait that is important for hurdlers. Moss said he still uses the same stretching program he used ahead of track practices in high school, when he set a state record in the 110-meter hurdles (13.85 seconds).
Brad Dittmar, Moss’ hurdles coach at Centennial High School in Iowa, said Moss was diligent about the “dynamic stretching” program that emphasizes hip-opening stretches while moving, as opposed to “holding a standing stretch.”
“I did it in high school and continued it at Iowa,” Moss said. “At Iowa, we did a lot of heavy lifting, squatting and stuff, and that’s kind of killer for the hips and mobility, so I would kind of, on my own, do my track stuff.”
Dittmar said he believes Moss could have been an All-American had he concentrated on track. Much of that belief is based on Moss’ natural talent — there’s no faking speed. But it was Moss’ competitiveness that’s the true separator.
“If there’s a challenge thrown in front of him, he’ll do whatever it takes to overcome it,” Dittmar said. “I knew he’d start in the NFL, because he always rises to the challenge. He’ll always overcome something. He has that ‘it’ factor and that mentality.
“He’d always set a goal for himself. His senior year, he set a goal to never lose a race — and he didn’t. He set the Kansas Relays record that year. He set the Drake Relays record that year. If there was a competitor that was close to him or ahead of him, that was his focus. He was laser-focused on being the best.”
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Moss no longer allows a day like the one he had against Purdue damage his confidence. But the other lesson from his college experience, he said, was not to let a day like the two-pick performance “hype you up” to the point “you end up playing worse.”
It’s why he paid little mind to the fact that he was Pro Football Focus’ highest-graded cornerback in the NFL in Week 3. He’s got Aaron Rodgers to worry about. The quarterback who threw his first NFL touchdown when Moss was all of seven years old is sure to go after the young cornerback Sunday.
“No one on our team has arrived, and no one will arrive,” Moss said. “We had a saying at Iowa, ‘The hay is never in the barn.’ You’re always working and always trying to be the best you can be.”
(Top photo: Mike Carlson / Getty Images)
