Sean McDermott Credit: Matthew Bové
By Sean Keeley on

The Buffalo Bills overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to end regulation tied 30-30 with the Denver Broncos on Saturday.

In overtime, they were in a prime position to score and win the game when quarterback Josh Allen threw a deep ball to wide receiver Brandin Cooks, who initially appeared to catch the ball as he was falling onto the ground. However, Broncos defensive back Ja’Quan McMillian then came away with the ball after the two tussled over it. It was called an interception on the field.

Because it was overtime, there was no coach’s challenge, but the play was automatically reviewed. A replay review seemed to show Cooks was on the ground with possession of the ball. However, a portion of it was in McMillan’s arms by the time Cooks hit the ground. Officials decided to let the interception call stand, something that CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore agreed with.

The Broncos drove down the field and eventually kicked a field goal to win the game, 33-30, ending the Bills’ season in heartbreak once more.

After the game, Bills head coach Sean McDermott told reporters that he didn’t understand why the review process moved so quickly, especially given the importance of the call on the game’s impact.

“So obviously, I don’t have the power to challenge, right? We’re in overtime, so the flag is not an option to throw it down. So I called a timeout to try and get the process to slow down because it seemed like the process was not slowing down. It was a rather rapid unfolding of the review, if there was a review. And so I called a timeout to try and slow it down.

“It would seem logical to me. It would seem logical to me… that the head official would walk over and want to go and take a look at it just to make sure that everybody from here who is in the stadium to there are on the same page. That’s too big of a play, in my estimation, and a play that decided the game potentially as well, to not even slow it down. And that’s why I had to call the timeout. It’s not what I wanted to do, but I had to do it in order to make sure that I understood what was going on and that they did take a look at it.

“It’s hard for me to understand why it was ruled the way it was ruled. If it is ruled that way, then why wasn’t it slowed down just to make sure that we have this right? That would have made a lot of sense to me, to make sure that we have this thing right. Because that’s a pivotal play in the game. We have the ball at the 20, maybe kicking a game-winning field goal right there. So I’ll just leave it at that.

“But I’m saying it because I’m standing up for Buffalo, damn it. I’m standing up for us. Because what went on is not… That is not how it should go down, in my estimation. These guys spent three hours out there playing football, pouring their guts out, to not even say, ‘Hey, let’s just slow this thing down.’ That’s why I’m bothered.”

Whatever answers McDermott and the Bills eventually get, they still won’t be enough to offset the pain of coming so close and losing the game.

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

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