Moore said after the game he didn’t even know what defense the Patriots had called on the play; since Baltimore was in hurry-up, he simply scrambled to his position and decided to play man-to-man. It worked.
Did he ever find out what the defense was?
“No, not yet,’’ he said a little sheepishly.
On third down, Moore found himself in coverage on tight end Dennis Pitta. Pitta asserted after the game that Moore held him, but Moore gave a wry smile when asked if he felt that he had.
“I knew he was on my back pretty good,’’ Pitta said. “It’s one of those plays at the end of the game where you don’t really anticipate getting a call. You just have to fight through it. I didn’t put up much of an argument because I knew that’s probably the way it would go. We would love to get the call, but we don’t anticipate getting those.’’
Moore said one of the first people to come up to him after Smith’s touchdown, when he had the receiver wrapped but couldn’t bring Smith down, was Brandon Spikes. Spikes told Moore to forget about it, and that all of the Patriots were giving up plays.
The rookie, who grew up in Oakland as a Raiders fan and said he despised the Patriots after the Tuck Rule game in the 2001 playoffs - a feeling he’s gotten over this year - saw his game yesterday unfold like his season has this year.
Signed as an undrafted player by the Raiders, Moore was cut from their practice squad in September, and then picked up by the Patriots and signed to their practice squad after a tryout in California. He was promoted from the practice squad and started on the road against the Jets, only to be cut again a few weeks later.
He was re-signed and has been playing a role on defense over the last few weeks, though now he’s playing cornerback and not safety.
Even though he’s had some good plays - he had two interceptions in the regular-season finale against Buffalo, bringing one back for a touchdown - Moore felt like the Ravens would be looking for him.
