In the days leading up to the Bills AFC Divisional round playoff game against the top seeded Denver Broncos, I bet there were a few different concerns on your mind about this matchup.
Perhaps you were worried about Denver's defense, one of the best in the NFL this season. Maybe you thought the Bills growing list of injuries on both sides of the ball would finally catch up to them. I'll bet many of you thought about a Bills team playing a second straight road game just six days after a very physical contest in Jacksonville against a Broncos team well rested after their bye. All very valid concerns.
Yet, when all was said and done we should have been worried about the Bills being their own worst enemy and, of course, NFL rules and officiating. Those three factors are what ended the Bills season in the divisional round for the fourth time in five years.
Turnovers put the Bills chances in this game on life support. The Bills season high for giveaways was three. Until they played Denver which, ironically, wasn't that good at taking the ball away. The Bills gave the ball away on five of their 11 possessions and gift wrapped field goals off two of those turnovers.
Over Josh Allen's first 14 playoff games, he had just six giveaways. Allen had gone an NFL record six straight postseason games without turning the ball over. He did it four times on Saturday. Allen threw two interceptions and lost a pair of fumbles. The first of the two fumbles came right before halftime and was carelessness on Allen's part as he did not tuck the ball away on a scramble. Denver recovered the ball at the Bills 32 yard line with two seconds left and kicked a field goal.
A strip sack of Allen on the second play of the third quarter gave the Broncos the ball at the Bills 17 yard line. The defense held Denver to a field goal but that was three points they never should have had. In a game decided by three points in overtime, those two bonus field goals turned out to be huge.
Denver's first score of the game, a field goal, never should have happened. The Bills forced a fumble and recovered the ball at their own five yard line but the takeaway was negated by a penalty on Larry Ogunjobi who jumped offside. That was another three points the Broncos should not have had.
Despite all of that, the Bills still were in position to win the game. This is where the NFL rule book and shoddy officiating come into the story.
In overtime Allen appeared to have completed a deep pass to Brandin Cooks which would have put the Bills in range for a game winning field goal from Matt Prater. But the Broncos defender ripped the ball away from Cooks after he hit the ground and rolled over. It was ruled an interception because Cooks didn't complete the play even though he had possession when down on the ground.
It feels like we have been trying to figure out what a catch is and how the NFL interprets that for longer than my son Jonathan has been alive. He turns 30 in May. Common sense would say that was a catch by Cooks and he was down by contact but when it comes to their rule book, the NFL rarely applies common sense. The interception stood and Denver got the ball. This is where the officials dealt a fatal blow to the Bills 2025 season.
There were 146 combined offensive plays in this game. There were 85 combined pass attempts from Allen and Denver quarterback Bo Nix. Until that final drive in overtime there were ZERO penalties for defensive pass interference called. ZERO!
Then the officials flagged the Bills for DPI two times in three snaps. Those two penalties accounted for 53 yards and put the Broncos in position for the game winning field goal which, of course, they made.
Personally, I thought the first DPI on Taron Johnson was ticky tack and shouldn't have been called. I thought the second flag on Tre White was more legitimate because it looked like he did grab one of Marvin Mims' arms. The problem I have is that there wasn't a single DPI on either team on the first 80 pass attempts in the game and all of a sudden the officials called it twice.
By the way, no defense had totaled more pass interference penalty yards on them this season than the Denver Broncos. And yet, not a single infraction against them in the 39 pass attempts from Allen. Must have been pretty amazing coverage.
If the Bills played a clean game or even if they had just two or three giveaways instead of five, they would be preparing for the AFC Championship game. Instead they will clean out their lockers and spend another off season wondering what if in regards to the final game of their season.
It's too bad the Bills picked 2025 to have the most flawed roster of the last six seasons. They missed out on a golden opportunity for the franchise's first Super Bowl berth since the 1993 season. Who knows if we will ever see again in Josh Allen's Bills career, a season in which Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson all miss out on the playoffs. The door was wide open for the Bills.
Instead it was just another heartbreaking ending.