Sean McDermott went down fighting for Buffalo, both at the postgame lectern in the Mile High City and from 35,000 feet on the flight home, insisting that it was a catch and the Bills should be the ones moving on.
Denver coach Sean Payton, however, contends the Broncos' 33-30 overtime divisional playoff victory
should have ended on a safety eight snaps earlier, in which case Bo Nix wouldn't have broken his ankle on Denver's winning drive.Brandin Cooks
had a step on his defender and was hauling in Josh Allen's 44-yard pass at the Denver 20 when Ja'Quan McMillian wrested the ball from the wide receiver's grasp as the pair tumbled to the ground.
McMillian came up with the ball and the NFL ruled it an interception, which set up Denver's game-winning drive and a trip to the AFC championship Sunday against the New England Patriots (16-3).
Twenty-four hours after Wil Lutz's 23-yard field goal ended Buffalo's season short of the Super Bowl once again, McDermott was out of a job, the 10th head coach to join the NFL's crowded unemployment line.
After angrily disputing the call at his post-game news conference, McDermott called Jay Skurski of The Buffalo News to argue anew that it was not an interception: “That play is not even close. That’s a catch all the way," McDermott told Skurski, adding that fans deserved an explanation.
Which they'd already gotten via a pool report from referee Carl Cheffers, who explained, “The receiver has to complete the process of a catch. He was going to the ground as part of the process of the catch and he lost possession of the ball when he hit the ground. The defender gained possession of it at that point. The defender is the one that completed the process of the catch, so the defender was awarded the ball.”
McDermott couldn’t challenge the ruling because of the league’s overtime rules, so he called a timeout to give the officiating crew and replay officials a chance to take an extended look. The play already had been confirmed through the NFL’s expedited review process in New York, so the timeout essentially just gave McDermott an opportunity to get an explanation, which he didn't like.
“It's hard for me to understand why it was ruled the way it was ruled,” McDermott said. "And if it is ruled that way, then why isn't it slowed down just to make sure that we have this right? That would have made a lot of sense to me ... because that's a pivotal point in the game. We have the ball at the 20 maybe kicking a game-winning field goal right there — but I'm saying it because I'm standing up for Buffalo, damn it, I'm standing up for us.”
He wasn't alone. Among those who had McDermott's back were former star cornerback Richard Sherman and ESPN analyst and former QB Dan Orlovsky, who argued, “This is a catch every time.”
No it isn't, countered Hall of Fame tight end Sterling Sharpe, who, on his popular podcast with Chad “Ochocinco" Johnson, said it was absolutely the correct call, and Johnson agreed.
“Let me explain it to you, it's called the Calvin Johnson rule,” where receivers have to secure the catch through their landing, not just grab it in the air, Sharpe said. “If a receiver catches a football and he goes to the ground he must maintain possession of the football throughout the entirety of the catch.
"He goes to the ground, he needs to get his ass up and hand the ball to the officials.”
Which Cook certainly didn't do because McMillian was already running away with the prize held high and the official who was right there ruling it was Denver's ball.
“We were both fighting for the ball,” McMillian said. "I just made a play and basically took it out of his hands and came up with it.”
Cooks said he thought it was a catch at first but knows he needed to do more: "The way I think about it is, you know, make it in a way that it doesn’t have to be in an official's hands; that’s always gonna be my mindset. I’m never gonna cower away from that. It’s the man I am. That’s the player I am. You know, I own it.”
Told that his counterpart had just disputed the interception ruling at his postgame news conference, Payton said well, what about the safety that wasn't called earlier in that drive?
D.J. Jones was clearly held by center Connor McGovern, who wrapped both arms around Denver's nose tackle with Allen two steps deep in the end zone. But it's not a certainty that the hold — were it called — would have been ruled a safety, as well. If officials deem it a hold initiated outside the end zone, the half-the-distance penalty would have kept the game going.
Either way, it's a certainty there would have been some consternation over the call just like there was with McMillian's interception.
“A phenomenal play by J-Mac,” Payton said. “But it should've ended, really, with a safety.”
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Behind the Call analyzes the biggest decisions and calls in the NFL during the season and the playoffs.
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