I was ready to write a succinct postscript on the Buffalo Bills’ season had they lost to the Denver Broncos, chalking it up to reaching their limit after enduring so many injuries. But, there’s always more when it comes to discussing the Bills. Here are a few of my meandering thoughts while the blood is still tacky and warm.
Almost like clockwork, the Bills are heading home playoff losers, having dropped another elimination game that felt like it came too soon in the process. That process is something
Bills Mafia has been told to trust, yet every year since head coach Sean McDermott arrived in Western New York the team’s season ends in heartbreak. At some point you’d expect the law of averages to swing this regime’s way, yet instead they find new ways to let everyone down.
There are a lot of reasons to point to for Buffalo’s latest playoff disaster, but the reason they’ll fly home in silence is due to the unacceptable amount of turnovers. Perhaps as a fan, you’re upset with Jim Nantz’s obsession in discussing quarterback Josh Allen’s lack of postseason turnovers. Jinxes are real. Sure, the Bills battled back to take a one-point lead after many of those fumbles, but that required a mountain of work that ate both precious clock and energy they could have used at the end of regulation.
To carry an 0-7 overtime record is also unacceptable. The best find a way to win those games, and to be honest, Buffalo didn’t give Denver the best they had. Still, it’s impossible to ignore the role that head referee Carl Cheffers and his motley crew played late in action.
The Broncos entered the afternoon with the most-penalized secondary in the NFL. How many times was Denver flagged for defensive pass interference? Zero. In contrast, the Bills were flagged over and over and over for defensive penalties in contested catch moments. Inexplicably, the penalty flags really didn’t show up until overtime, and then they only seemed magnetized toward Buffalo’s players.
Defensive end Joey Bosa absolutely deserved the personal foul call for a play where it was clear that frustration had taken over. So, even if the refs decided to continue allowing nickel cornerback Taron Johnson to play a more physical brand of defense (he bumped the WR’s left forearm), penalty yards were coming. But the pass interference penalty on cornerback Tre’Davious White? That’s just a terrible flag to throw at a guy who played really fine defense in a huge moment of the game.
But before all of that, there are two plays that stand out to me where officiating simply mailed it in, which should be a major concern for the billionaires that run the NFL machine. A touchdown late in action for Denver was ruled successful, yet replay clearly showed the football hit the ground as he fell, and then immediately shake loose from his fingers of both hands. Then, there was the play — the one everyone will talk about for months. Josh Allen launched a deep pass to wide receiver Brandin Cooks, who seemingly made the catch and went to the ground — football still in his possession. Yet, as they had done all game, the officials let the play run and decided to award the football to Denver. Head coach Sean McDermott tried his best to have the play reviewed, burning a timeout in the process to do so, but for whatever reason the play was not given a thorough review.
Those two plays leave me speechless, simply because after all this time it’s clear that we still don’t understand what constitutes a catch in critical moments. Yet, it never should have come down to those two plays, because Buffalo wasted plenty of chances to put their opponent away. Still, it’s really damn difficult to overcome the impact that injuries and turnovers had on the Bills.
Tre’ White had to leave the field after a tough hit from a Broncos offensive lineman, which meant that cornerback Dane Jackson had to play at least one snap. It was at that moment when quarterback Bo Nix decided to challenge Jackson, which resulted in that (questionable) touchdown play.
And look, for 27 minutes of the second half, the defense played lights out. But it wasn’t enough, and that’s a problem when general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott build a team incapable of supporting Superman. Sure, the Bills won a lot of games again in the regular season. Fans are over that part of the process, especially when time and again the team comes up short after the Wild Card round.
For all the amazing things that Josh Allen does, games like Saturday’s loss in Denver will continue to haunt him for years to come. Whatever the plan was with 16 seconds left before halftime, it didn’t work. Allen could have simply taken a sack, and regrouped in the locker room. The one thing that couldn’t happen was giving the ball back to the Broncos, and certainly not via turnover. Allen cost Buffalo three points, and those three points ended up being pretty important at game’s end.
Yet as he’s shown so many times before, Allen turned it on late in regulation to give the Bills a chance at victory they may not have had any business claiming after so many turnovers. Buffalo’s two best players are Allen and Cook, and between them they gave the Broncos five extra footballs. That’s not winning football, even if Allen often breaks the mold.
Will this be it for offensive coordinator Joe Brady? If so, why didn’t he find a way to more fully involve tight end Dalton Kincaid as a pass catcher? Do we believe his plan in overtime was good enough for Buffalo to win? What about head coach Sean McDermott, is he safe thanks to things out of his control between decimating injuries and mind-numbing turnovers?
There’s so much more to discuss and we’ll do just that in the coming days with more time to review what went down on Saturday. Will this loss fuel them to greatness in 2026? It feels like that should have happened by now.
