What Does Moss Mean In Football?

Do you know what moss means in football? It means making a jaw-dropping, defender-humiliating catch of the jump-ball variety. Dive into the article to know what moss means in football. What Does Moss Mean In Slang? In slang, the term means “Relax.”

Where Do You Got Mossed Come From?


If a wide receiver jumps to catch a ball over a defender’s top, the term is denoted at that time. It is named after Hall of Famer Randy Moss. He is a famous wide receiver of all time and has made some extraordinary catches. You miss someone when you jump to catch a ball over the defender’s top.

For example, suppose DK Metcalf has a stroke down the field while throwing up a bomb by Russell Wilson. The defender can cover Metcalf and both run step-for-step. Once the ball comes, both try to catch the ball despite jumping higher by Metcalf and pulling down the pass. After that, he stands on his feet to take it into the endzone. Hence, we can say that Metcalf “Mossed” the defender.

When Did Mossed Start?

Wide receivers in high school football, the CFL, college football, the NFL, MLB, the NBA, and Ultimate Frisbee catch the ball, and then we call defenders getting “mossed.”

Did Moss Win A Super Bowl?

Randy Moss has many league records but lost in the Super Bowls. He played with five teams in his 14-season career. In addition, he has a single-season record for receiving touchdowns.

What Does Mossed Mean In Football?

What Does Moss Mean In Football


This term indicates a receiver who embarrassed a defender with their superior athleticism and physicality and helped to win the fight for the ball. We can say it is missing a defender. What does moss mean in football? It comes from the name of the famous wide receiver Randy Moss.

He had been one of the best physically fit wide receivers. He turned his opponents weaker and smaller than him many times in his career. Mossed usually depends on how you embarrass a defender at the catch point. If both players target to win the ball and the wide receiver wins, we should say that the defender will have been “mossed.”

What Does It Look Like To Get Mossed?

What Does Moss Mean In Football


Ensure it doesn’t indicate beating a defender by a route running or an acrobatic catch. Hence, the player needs to overpower the defender also. If you want to moss a defender in this game, you must beat the receiver to win the ball. You should know that Randy Moss was excellent at catching deep passes during his career.

What he did on the Thanksgiving day game in 1998 is an instance of what he could do with his opponent, mainly a defender. That’s why players are always mossed on long pass attempts. While a player used to throw a ball deep toward Randy Moss, he could easily handle the ball despite having the body positions of the defenders around him. We call it mainstream when the defender was in a good position, but Moss moved aside them.

Jump Balls:

If you want to understand what being mossed looks like, you should understand that the games happen on jump balls. These indicate passes where the defender and receiver target to win the ball. After that, players have to jump high to catch the ball first. These are the actual plays where Moss would excel.

Mossing a defender includes a jump ball using which the receiver can showcase his vertical jump. A wide receiver can show how much these players are more athletic than the players who cover them. A proper athletic receiver can have a length and height benefit than cornerbacks.

Jump ball receivers are tall and of great lengths because they are traits valued in the position. In addition, the cornerback position also values length, but the players are shorter and come with a shorter wingspan compared to wide receivers. As a result, it becomes harder to win jump balls against taller receivers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What does moss in football mean?
Ans: Moss means making a jaw-dropping, defender-humiliating catch.

Q2. What does moss mean in slang?
Ans: The term means “Relax” in slang.

Q3. Where does the term moss come from?
Ans: It comes from Middle English mos.

Q4. What does mossing mean?
Ans: Mossing means chilling or hanging out. In addition, it means expressing that you are doing nothing by yourself or some friends.

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