DENVER (AP) — Rarely has a procedural penalty been so subtle yet so consequential as the false start by Kansas City right tackle Jaylon Moore in the Chiefs' 28-24 loss at Denver.
The flag from Clete Blakeman's officiating crew wiped out Patrick Mahomes' winning touchdown throw to Rashee Rice on fourth-and-goal from the 1 as time expired. And it erased what essentially would have been a three-game lead over the Broncos in the AFC West race.
Instead,
the Chiefs were pushed back to the 6 and on the do-over, Jonathon Cooper and Nick Bonitto collapsed the pocket from the edges, allowing Malcolm Roach to sack Mahomes and preserve Denver's latest come-from-behind victory.
With the season split against the Chiefs, it's the Broncos (6-2) who are sitting atop the division, a-half game ahead of Kansas City (5-2).
Broncos coach Sean Payton said after his 200th career NFL victory that this was literally a case of the crowd winning the game for Denver because the din was so loud that it led to Moore's infraction, which Mahomes and his coach, Andy Reid, argued shouldn't have merited a yellow flag at all.
Reid called the flag “one man's opinion" and insisted, “I saw him move his head but I didn't see the false start.”
Cooper did.
He started pointing right away as the ball was snapped and the play blown dead.
“I mean, at the end of the day, you got to go with whatever’s called," Mahomes said. "But a lot of times in those big moments, the little stuff doesn’t get called like that.”
It was one of the main ingredients in the Broncos saddling Mahomes with just his third loss in 83 games in which the Chiefs held a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter.
The Broncos went three-and-out on their first three possessions after halftime, but this is a team that's won 15 consecutive one-score games and Nix is the NFL's new Captain Comeback with a record 15 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime in his first three seasons.
Kansas City's collapse began with another flag on Moore earlier in the fourth quarter and a peculiar move by the officials that left the Chiefs and their fans flummoxed.
Leading 24-13 early with 13:36 remaining, the Chiefs faced a third-and-6 from their 36 when Mahomes hit rookie running back Emmett Johnson with a quick pass to his right. Cooper and Alex Singleton stopped Johnson short of the first-round marker and there was a flag on the play.
After a prolonged discussion regarding an illegal man downfield — Moore — the spotter had the ball 2 yards shy of the first down marker. Seeing that, Payton declined the penalty, bringing up fourth down and bringing out Kansas City's punt team.
With both teams lined up for the punt, the officials re-spotted the ball less than a foot from the first-down marker, catching everyone, including the broadcast crew, off-guard.
Reid didn't call timeout to reconsider and Matt Araiza punted the ball through the end zone, giving Denver the ball at its 20.
Asked if he would have kept the offense on the field if that had been the original spot, Reid said, "That’s all hindsight, but it would have made for a good decision right there.”
“We didn’t see until we sent the punt team out there," Mahomes recounted. “We asked because we were trying to decide if they were going to go for it or not. Obviously, fourth-and-inches is a lot different than fourth-and-2 and we had the lead in that spot.”
Of course, the Broncos wouldn't have declined the penalty on Moore had it been fourth-and-inches for Kansas City instead of fourth-and-2.
Reid gave the officials an earful about the late re-spot during the subsequent commercial break.
Now, it was comeback time for the Broncos, who have scored 26, 37 and 36 points in quarters 1-3 this season but 70 in the fourth quarter.
Nix pulled Denver to 24-21 on a 2-yard TD toss to Nate Adkins on fourth-and-goal and found Jaylen Waddle for the 2-point conversion.
The Chiefs reached the Broncos 30-yard line on the ensuing possession but Singleton sacked Mahomes for a 6-yard loss on third down. Now, here's a decision Reid might be kicking himself over: sending out his scuffling kicker Harrison Butker for a 54-yard try in the steady rain.
Butker was wide right, his fifth miss in seven tries from 50-plus yards this season. His struggles from long range were the reason the Chiefs signed five-time All-Pro Justin Tucker to their practice squad last week.
So, the Broncos got the ball at their 44 with 2:31 remaining and they needed just two plays and 35 seconds to take the lead on rookie Jonah Coleman's 5-yard TD run that followed his 51-yard catch-and-run.
That left Mahomes and the Chiefs just under two minutes to salvage the win, which Nix admitted made him nervous, especially after Johnson's 44-yard kickoff return set K.C. up at midfield.
Mahomes and the Chiefs reached the Denver 1 with 15 seconds left.
“Pat Mahomes with the ball at the 1?" Roach said. “I'm like, ‘Oh, Lord, here we go.’”
Denver's defense put together the game-saving goal line stand, with a little help from Moore's far-reaching false start.
“Every loss is tough," Moore said, "but it being so tight and the situation that it was, it hurts even more.”
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