The Denver Broncos needed help to beat the Buffalo Bills. And they got it.
From the Bills.
It’s fair to be upset the Bills were flagged for two defensive pass interference calls when the Broncos got away with two clear penalties on Brandin Cooks on the final two possessions. But the Bills put themselves in positions for the game to be decided that way.
No, officials did not cost them the game. The Bills just keep finding new ways to twist the knife.
Those who watched the Bills all season know it was the same knife that simply created a new wound. Five turnovers and minus 4 margin was eventually going to come due. And it did in a 33-30 overtime loss to the Broncos in the AFC divisional round.
The fact that the Bills were not only in the game, but had a chance to win on multiple occasions, proved they were talented enough to be contenders. Teams that commit at least five turnovers are 9-82 in the playoffs.
Want to go a step further?
In 79 playoff games in the Super Bowl era in which the turnover margin is at least four, it was just the fifth game decided by a field goal or less. Teams with a minus 4 turnover margin lost 61 of those games by double-digits.
A team that romped to a 4-0 start, extending their NFL-record streak of 26 games when winning the turnover margin ultimately lost the turnover battle in all six of its losses by going minus 11. It didn’t work in October and it certainly wasn’t going to work in January.
There is something to be said for the resiliency of the Bills, battling back from a 13-point second-half deficit. They showed their mental toughness all season. But sometimes the wound is too deep for a Band-Aid.
“The guys fought their butts off,” McDermott said. “They know what they put out there in terms of the commitment, the effort, the toughness, the grit. What more could you ask for? Opportunities to win the game, we had a few of them, and at the end of the day, they didn’t work out. And that’s hard.”
It wasn’t just the amount of turnovers that haunted the Bills, but it was when they happened. The Broncos showed no signs of stopping the Bills through two possessions, with Buffalo averaging 7.3 yards through 15 plays.
And then running back James Cook fumbled at the Denver 32, his seventh fumble of the season. A 14-3 lead puts the Broncos — a team that threw more than anyone in the league — in position to throw the ball and that would allow McDermott and defensive coordinator Bobby Babich to open up their catalog of elaborate blitzes and coverages.
Josh Allen’s egregious end-of-half fumble ultimately put the Bills down 10 and in a drop-back game. A bad chip block by wide receiver Khalil Shakir re-directed Broncos star pass rusher Nik Bonitto away from left tackle Dion Dawkins — exactly where Bonitto wanted to go — and right into the path of Allen.
Those three turnovers alone forced the Bills from playing with a lead to playing from behind for most of the second half.
“You can’t win with five turnovers,” Allen said. “… When you shoot yourself in the foot, you don’t deserve to win football games.”
And in the end, the Broncos beat the Bills situationally. They scored 16 points off turnovers. And when Deone Walker intercepted Bo Nix — who suffered a season-ending broken ankle on the second-to-last play of the game — in the third quarter to give the ball to the Bills at the Denver 40, Allen was intercepted two plays later.
Nix, who went 26 of 46 for 279 yards and three touchdowns, exploited Bills backups on two scoring plays. Lil’Jordan Humphrey beat safety Darnell Savage for a 29-yard touchdown to take a 17-10 lead in the second quarter and Marvin Mims Jr. beat cornerback Dane Jackson for a 26-yard score to take a 30-27 lead with 55 seconds left.
Savage and Jackson were only in the game for one defensive snap apiece.
“We’ve been Rolodexing lineups all season long,” McDermott said. “Nobody shied away from going out there, nobody shied away from trying to do their job to the best of their ability.”