Broncos’ Riley Moss says correcting penalty woes will be a ‘big emphasis’ moving forward

The Denver Broncos pulled off one of their biggest wins at home in the last decade over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday evening, as the orange and blue took a commanding lead in the AFC West with a 22-19 walk-off win. The offense found its stride, the special teams units played very well and the Broncos’ top-of-the-line defense put together another phenomenal game.

However, one player on the defense kept the Chiefs in the game — Riley Moss. The third-year cornerback out of Iowa, who is playing as the Broncos’ No. 1 man on the outside with Pat Surtain II out, committed three costly penalties in the game, the third time he’s been penalized multiple times in one contest. In the first quarter, he committed a 40-yard pass interference on a second-and-16 play. In the third quarter, he was called for an illegal contact foul that gave Kansas City a first down and negated a Jahdae Barron pick-six. In the fourth quarter, he was called for another pass interference foul on a third-and-16, a huge play that gave the Chiefs 47 yards.

The two pass interference calls led to the Chiefs scoring nine points on a field goal and a touchdown. The illegal contact extended Kansas City’s drive, one that ended up reaching the red zone before Patrick Mahomes threw an interception to Ja’Quan McMillian.

The 25-year-old spoke on his penalties after the win.

“Listen, I will absolutely own up to the last one, the underthrown ball. I can’t be grabbing him like that. It’s tough. It’s already a tough position, and I have to be able to, in those situations, play the ball,” he said.

This isn’t an issue that just popped up on Sunday. Moss has had 11 penalties called on him this year, the second-most in the league (Jawaan Taylor, KC). Nine of those have been defensive pass interference calls. He’s struggled with officiating all season long, and the problems reached a climax against the Chiefs. Four of those penalties have been pass interference calls that handed the opposing offense at least 20 yards, all on second or third down.

Moving forward, he said that fixing the penalties will be an emphasis as the Broncos enter the home stretch of the season.

“In practice, it’s going to be a big emphasis. We are going to put the boxing gloves on me, we’re going to tape them up. So there’s no chance… It’s a repetitive thing,” he said.

Surtain recently said that he’s been making solid progress in rehab for his pectoral injury he suffered against the Cowboys back in Week 8, so Moss likely won’t have to be CB1 for much longer. Still, if he’s not able to fix his penalty woes by the time the playoffs roll around, other teams will target him deep down the field in hopes of getting a free 40 yards to turn the tide of the game.

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