Riley Moss shaved his beard two weeks ago. His game, though, still has plenty of scraggly edges to line up.
The Broncos’ back nearly broke Sunday on a second-quarter longball from Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts — and a brutal mental mistake from Moss. The cornerback was giving Philadelphia’s explosive receiver DeVonta Smith a cushion, naturally, on third-and-17. Except just before the snap, he took a few steps toward the line of scrimmage, suddenly deciding to press.
Smith burst off the line, got Moss on his hip and left him in the dust en route to a 52-yard completion that set up a Philadelphia touchdown two plays later.
“That’s me being overly confident, instead of playing smart football,” Moss told The Denver Post postgame. “I should’ve played off. I should’ve played with more eyes. That’s on me. So, coaches coached me up on the sideline. I already knew right when it happened — like, ‘Dude, that’s just dumb football.’
“And, that’s one of the things that I need to correct.”
The Broncos’ pass defense was burned early as a whole Sunday. Surtain picked up a pass-interference call on Eagles wideout A.J. Brown the next play after Smith’s big grab. Moss was also dinged for a PI call on the next possession. Linebacker Alex Singleton got torched on a wheel route by Saquon Barkley early in the third quarter for a 17-3 Eagles lead, as season-long strengths and flaws both failed the Broncos early on.
Smith finished with eight catches for 114 yards on the day. But, as was the tenor in all three phases Sunday, Vance Joseph’s defense locked up in suffocating fashion, with Surtain notching a key third-down pass breakup in the third quarter on Brown. And in sheer end-of-game poetry, a final-play heave from Hurts to Smith was broken up not by a Broncos defender … but by Brown himself. Ballgame.
“Being able to win that game (while) giving up two big, long, the touchdown to Saquon and then that big pass, being able to come through with the W is huge,” Moss said.
Injury updates: The Broncos were banged up throughout Sunday’s game, as a variety of key names exited and re-entered. Defensive end John Franklin-Myers wound up on the turf in the third quarter with an injury to a “lower extremity,” a source told The Post, before appearing to test out his leg on the sidelines and finishing the rest of the game. Right tackle Mike McGlinchey, too, limped off in the fourth quarter with an unknown injury, but returned after just under three minutes of clock. Neither player was in the locker room postgame.
The team announced in the fourth quarter, too, that third-down RB Tyler Badie was questionable to return with an undisclosed injury. Badie finished with one catch for 16 yards.
Jackson over Jones: The Broncos activated veteran defensive lineman Jordan Jackson for more experience on the defensive front Sunday, after going with third-round rookie Sai’Vion Jones in Monday night’s game against the Bengals. Jackson played a handful of rotational snaps against the Eagles, but didn’t finish with any raw stats.
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