Sean Payton indicates Broncos avoided injury disaster for Riley Moss vs. Raiders

The Denver Broncos have been one of the league's healthiest teams over the last two seasons, relatively speaking. The Broncos led the NFL in total salary cap on injured reserve back in 2022, and Sean Payton's training staff led by Beau Lowery has really turned that ugly situation on its head.

Still, the Broncos have injuries just like every other team in the NFL. It's part of the nature of the game. And breakout second-year cornerback Riley Moss went down with what looked like an ugly injury in the first half of the Broncos' 29-19 win over the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 12.

But for the moment, it sounds like the Broncos avoided a scary situation.

Sean Payton reveals a minor MCL injury for Broncos CB Riley Moss

After the game, Sean Payton initially declined to offer up any information about the injury sufered by Moss during the game against the Raiders, which was classified as a knee injury. Moss was originally listed as "questionable" to return to the game before being ruled out.

But later in his press conference, Payton relented and gave some vital information that should have everyone in Broncos Country breathing a collective sigh of relief:

"Fortunately, it wasn't really serious with Riley. It's an MCL. I'm not going to give any (other updates). We'll see how next week is. There was some thought that maybe he could go back in, so we'll see where it's at."

Broncos HC Sean Payton (via team PR)

It's probably best to err on the side of caution and guess that Moss could miss the Broncos' next game, which will be a Monday night matchup in Denver against the Cleveland Browns. Having Moss available for that game will be critical given the recent performance of Cleveland's wide receivers, including former Bronco Jerry Jeudy.

The fact that there was even a thought that Moss could come back into the game against the Raiders should give everyone quite a bit of optimism going forward. We'll see what comes of any MRI results as the week progresses, but Moss might not be out of the woods just yet. You never know what's going to be revealed with knee injuries after swelling goes down.

But you also have to figure that the Raiders' brand-new stadium probably has state of the art medical equipment on site and perhaps the Broncos' willingness to even consider putting Moss back in the game is indicative that nothing is torn.

For the time being, serious injury was avoided to one of the Broncos' top emerging players. Another huge win within the actual win against the Raiders on Sunday.