Doyel: Kenny Moore II has perfect day with two pick-6's in front of family in Colts' win
Colts cornerback Kenny Moore II is sailing into the end zone, and this is perfect. No, wait. Is there a word that means better than perfect? Because this is that. This is Kenny Moore with the ball in his hands near midfield and a cutback lane to his right, so he takes it all the way to the end zone pylon 49 yards away, the game-breaking play in the Colts’ 27-13 victory Sunday at Carolina.
Soon Moore will produce the back-breaking play, a 66-yard interception return for a touchdown – yes, another pick-6 – but this is his first one Sunday, and it’s perfect, because he’s not just heading toward the end zone.
He’s heading toward his family.
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They’re up there in the stands in uptown Charlotte, in the corner of Bank of America Stadium – yes, the corner overlooking the end zone pylon in Moore’s sights – only Moore isn’t looking at the pylon anymore. He’s looking into the crowd, at the very instant he crosses the goal line. He’s pointing toward three of his sisters and a niece, though he’s not using his pointer finger. It’s busy at the moment, holding something. So that’s what Moore is pointing toward his family: the football.
With his other hand, the empty one, he’s patting his chest. His hand may be empty, but his heart is full.
Gus Bradley's magic trick: Making Kenny Moore disappear
Kenny Moore was talking this week in the Colts locker room.
This was the day after the 2023 NFL trade deadline. Not sure if you’re aware of this, but NFL veterans with a certain amount of standing and a whole lot of personal ambition often request a trade. You should be aware of this – it’s happened twice in 12 months with the Colts, running back Nyheim Hines asking out at the 2022 trade deadline, then cornerback Stephon Gilmore asking out after the season. Hines wanted to play more. Gilmore wanted to win more.
Moore has as much standing as anyone in the Colts’ locker room, and as much personal ambition as anyone I’ve ever seen. This is a guy who didn’t play football until his senior year of high school in Valdosta, Ga., but already was dreaming of the NFL. He goes to Division II Valdosta State and plays safety, way too small to play that position in the NFL, but still carrying that dream. He doesn’t get selected in the 2017 NFL Draft. Still has that dream. Accepts an invitation to compete for a spot in New England. Plays in the preseason games, makes it to the final cut, but gets released eight days before the season opener.
Still has the dream.
The Colts pick him up a week before the 2017 opener at Los Angeles, and soon he’s playing cornerback in the NFL. Then he’s starting. Then he’s becoming a star. Signs a four-year, $33 million contract that kicks in for the 2020 season. Makes the Pro Bowl in 2021. By 2022 he might be the most popular professional athlete in town, because the only thing larger than his personal ambition is his third helping of personal humility. It’s a devastatingly charming combination.
Then comes the 2022 season. New defensive coordinator, new system, different Kenny. He turns 27 that August, still young, still in his prime, but he’s not sacking anyone, not intercepting anyone, barely tackling anyone. Congratulations to Colts defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, you know? He found a way to do something offensive coordinators around the NFL have never been able to do:
He made Kenny Moore disappear.
And Bradley knew it. Well, he knew Moore wasn’t happy.
Moore’s like that, by the way. He’s emotional, mostly behind the scenes, but he’ll let you know what he thinks. In 2022 he had one interception, one sack and four tackles for loss, all career lows since becoming a starter in 2018, and after the season he made it clear he wasn’t happy. Even embarked on the most Kenny Moore protest ever, sitting out offseason workouts – not much of a “holdout,” because participation wasn’t mandatory – but still showing up to the Colts complex to watch from the sideline, laughing and enjoying his teammates.
Earlier this season, Bradley was asked about Moore. The Colts defensive coordinator extended a 200-word olive branch to Moore, calling the Colts “very, very, very fortunate” to have him, then saying again “how fortunate” they were, then saying the numbers are lying about Moore. Doesn’t matter that his splash plays, as you call them, are down.
“It might not look like to the eye as far as sacks (and) interceptions, but some of the things that he does are really elite,” Bradley had said on Sept. 19, using the media to send a message to Moore. “He’s playing extremely well for us right now. That’s what I told him.
“He’s playing really, really well for us right now. We just have to keep him understanding that last week we blitzed him. We came in the red zone. We brought pressure with him. We’re going to keep trying to utilize his skillset, but very appreciative of how he’s playing right now.”
We just have to keep him understanding…
Because Bradley knows what I’m telling you: Kenny is emotional, he’s ambitious, and he was getting frustrated. He has one more big contract in his future, but he needs to be put in positions to make plays. You’ve watched Moore since 2018. You’ve seen him overwhelm 310-pound offensive tackles and bring down running backs in space and shut down world-class wideouts downfield. Put Kenny in a spot to make a play, and he’s going to make it.
The Colts just needed to keep him understanding.
So, back to the 2023 trade deadline. And a question I asked Kenny.
'Kenny, were you hoping to be traded?'
Kenny and I have a relationship. A friendship? Not quite that. But he does amazing things in the community, and he does them without issuing a press release, and I’ve seen some of it and written about it, and that’s what I always talk about with him, when he’s in the mood to talk, which isn’t always. He’s a private guy, talking to media because he has to, not because he wants to. He’s not rude. He’s introverted.
In a Pro Bowl cornerback, it’s awfully charming.
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Last week, on Wednesday, he was walking through the locker room and I needed to know something. So this is what I said:
The trade deadline was yesterday. You’re in the final year of your contract. This team probably isn’t going anywhere. I know you’ve put down roots here, but was any part of you hoping you’d get traded?
Kenny’s shaking his head.
“Nope,” he says.
I remind him about Hines and Gilmore requesting out, and drive home the point: In this locker room, you were the one I thought might make the same request this year.
“That’s for players who haven’t put down roots,” he says, and smiles on his way out of the room.
He wants to be here, which in this day and age of pouting pro athletes is awfully refreshing. And then along comes a day like Sunday, which will go down in Colts lore as “the Kenny Moore game,” and it was his game from the beginning. Panthers ball to start, right away it’s third-and-5 at the Carolina 30, and Bryce Young drops back to pass. He sees a lane, or thinks he does, and heads up the field, where he is confronted by No. 23. Bigger, better runners than Bryce Young have tried and failed to get past the 5-9, 190-pound Moore in a one-on-one setting. The 5-10, 204-pound Young has no chance.
Later in the first half, the Panthers run a play designed to isolate running back Chuba Hubbard on the perimeter against the cornerback. Moore is the cornerback in question. Down goes Hubbard for no gain. Up rises Moore, and he’s wagging his finger at the Panthers sideline, where his old buddy Frank Reich is no longer calling plays but is still the one designing them, and putting them into the game plan.
Moore’s letting him know:
Don’t do that, Frank.
A little later he’s jumping a pass route to pick off Young and go 49 yards for a touchdown. Then he’s in the right place at the right time, behind Panthers running back Miles Sanders, and Young’s overthrown pass hits Moore between the numbers. He’s sprinting 66 yards to the end zone, outrunning Sanders to the corner.
Moore points to them again as he runs past with his second touchdown, perfection on top of perfection for a player who deserves whatever is better than perfect.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts CB Kenny Moore II deserved two pick-6 TD's at Carolina
