Broncos’ Riley Moss wins ‘personal’ matchup with Bengals WR Tee Higgins: ‘He loves this (expletive)’

His first battle came exactly seven plays in because Riley Moss stood alone on Monday night A third-down snap hit Jake Browning s hands and the Bengals quarterback s eyes snapped to the left side of the formation They did not move He didn t glance anywhere else This was the competition plan Wide receiver Tee Higgins shoved off the line against Moss on a fade journey the same matchup that downed the Broncos in Week last season And in a different year with a different quarterback the outcome was the same early in Monday night s first quarter as Higgins pivoted to his back-shoulder and slammed to the turf with a -yard catch Moss lost that first battle He has lost multiple first battles before But Denver s CB is wired to win the war He explained me Broncos outside linebacker Nik Bonitto recalled postgame he loves this expletive Cincinnati had a prayer Monday night with Browning in at center for the injured Joe Burrow attack Moss It worked in with Moss coming off injury and at the mercy of Higgins It stayed in the back of his mind ever since as Moss s mother Beth notified The Denver Post And the Bengals went right back at that matchup months later sending four targets Higgins way within the first minutes against the Broncos Moss got beat once on a play that was called back for a penalty He beat Higgins right back on a mid-second-quarter deep shot Then he proceeded to hold the Bengals million man to a single -yard catch in the second half of a - Broncos blowout I think Riley s built for it man Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II stated He s seen it all you know what I mean Teams try to target him a lot But he s made for it He s ready for the competition He invariably rise to the occasion Moss notified his mom postgame as she recalled that he had to calm himself down after a couple of early plays This matchup was personal as Bonitto put it Higgins went for catches and three touchdowns on Moss last December nearly sunk the Broncos playoff hopes and put into question whether they had a CB who could hold up opposite Surtain All the other games led up to this one Beth narrated The Post late Monday night Because he needed to prove to himself that he could hang with Tee Higgins and Ja Marr Chase He hung all over Higgins as the wideout finished with just three catches for yards on six targets And Surtain II hung all over Chase in the third round of one of the great individual matchups in the modern NFL as Cincinnati s WR had all of yards on five catches Chase has sped away from greater part every challenger in the league through four seasons But with or without Burrow the Bengals have rarely been able to feed him against Surtain Both were invisible for long stretches Monday night Surtain didn t allow a single catch in man-coverage reps against Chase according to Next Gen Stats It does mean a little bit more matter of fact Surtain declared of the matchup postgame But I perpetually think about me versus me at the end of the day no matter who I gotta go up against That s the expectation every week for Surtain The expectation every week too is that teams will set their sights away from the reigning NFL Defensive Performer of the Year And more so than the majority nights the Bengals offensive identity for a long first-half stretch seemed to hinge on attacking quick underneath routes to open up shots to Higgins or Chase on Moss When that didn t work Cincy crumbled The Bengals only landed in Broncos territory for one snap after the first quarter managing a total of net yards of offense from that point Cincinnati went for on third downs and ruined themselves with penalties He love it when they keep coming at him Bonitto reported of Moss He did his thing they went away from it Shoutout to Riley Moss Related Articles Broncos summary card Nik Bonitto and pass-rush shine against Bengals despite offensive penalties Renck It took a month but Broncos and fans at last saw the real Bo Nix Broncos analysis Denver sows seeds of offensive identity in pulverizing Monday night win over Bengals PHOTOS Denver Broncos trounce Cincinnati Bengals - in NFL Week Broncos four downs Bo Nix is back baby Good thing as Vic Fangio Philly await Moss has lined up opposite Eagles star Cooper DeJean at Iowa At this point the third-round pick is one of the largest part visible corners in the league playing next to Surtain He s had his trials He s lost plenty Monday night though marks another win in Moss s burgeoning career Now you know you can hang with these guys Beth Moss described her son after the Broncos win as she recalled And now you can do anything you want Want more Broncos news Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis