Controversial interception ruling didn't decide Bills-Broncos AFC playoff thriller

The Buffalo Bills added yet another crushing playoff loss to a recent history full of them on Saturday, letting a late lead slip away in a 33-30 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos in the Divisional Round.

What made this one particularly brutal was that Buffalo had it in its grasp: After forcing a stop on the first possession of OT, Josh Allen and Co. got the ball back just needing points of any kind to punch their ticket to the AFC title game. But the drive was cut short when Broncos corner Ja'Quan McMillian turned a potentially game-winning deep ball to Brandin Cooks into a game-swinging interception.

... or did he?

Plenty of Bills fans weren't thrilled with the call in the moment, wondering why Cooks initially seeming to gain possession didn't result in him being ruled down by contact before McMillian wrested the ball away. Head coach Sean McDermott was particularly irate after the game, strongly implying that his team got robbed.

While we certainly understand why McDermott would want to put the attention on anything other than his inability to get over the hump with an MVP-caliber quarterback squarely in his prime, he's barking up the wrong tree. Far be it from us to defend the honor of NFL refs, who get things wrong on a regular basis. This time, though, they seem to have called a pretty good game — and if Buffalo wants something or someone to blame, they can always just look in the mirror.

Did refs get Ja'Quan McMillian interception right in overtime of Bills-Broncos game?

As former NFL ref Terry McAulay pointed out on X, the relevant rule here states that a player must maintain control of the ball through contact with the ground in order to be awarded a catch.

It's pretty clear that Cooks didn't clear that bar. Sure, he initially appears to reel the ball in, but by the time he makes contact with the ground, McMillian already has his hands on it and the ball has begun to move. This isn't a case where Cooks makes the catch, falls, and then a defender wrests it away after he's survived the ground. The contact with the ground jarred the ball loose and allowed McMillian to take it away, and therefore the process of the catch wasn't completed.

If you want to argue that replay review should've stopped the game to take a longer look, I won't disagree; we've certainly seen clearer-cut plays warrant a booth review this year. But it's hard to argue that Buffalo was jobbed here; at best it's a 50-50 play, but the evidence we have suggests the rule was applied correctly.

The cold, hard truth is that, frustrated as the Bills are, they won't find any easy scapegoats. All Buffalo will be left with is a poor performance in a crucial spot, one that cost Allen arguably his best chance to finally make it to the Super Bowl.

NFL officiating wasn't to blame for another Buffalo playoff collapse

That was hardly the only time the officials earned the Bills' ire in overtime. On Denver's next drive, the Broncos benefitted from not one but two huge pass interference calls that set up the eventual game-winning field goal. After the latter, corner Tre'Davious White was so irate that he picked up an unsportsmanlike conduct flag for spiking his helmet to the ground while screaming at an official.

The first of those pass interference calls sure seemed to be bogus, but it wound up not mattering: Buffalo's Joey Bosa was also flagged for a very legit roughing the passer on the same play, meaning that no matter what the Broncos would have picked up 15 yards. The second one certainly wasn't egregious contact, and if you want to argue that the flag shouldn't have come out based on what the refs had been allowing earlier in the game, I might buy it. But White absolutely got to Marvin Mims before the ball arrived, which makes it hard to get too outraged.

Especially not when you consider how many chances the Bills had prior to that final drive, and how many mistakes they made to let it get to that point at all. Buffalo turned the ball over a whopping five times on the day, including two picks and two fumbles from Allen (in addition to missing a wide-open Dawson Knox on what would've been a game-winning score in the final seconds of the fourth quarter). Cooks failed to come up with a crucial ball, getting outmuscled by the DB, while the previous play featured a crucial drop by Mecole Hardman on what would've been a first down in Denver territory.

Officials are never perfect, but in the grand scheme of things, this wasn't anywhere near the worst ref show we've seen even in these playoffs. And if we're ranking who's to blame for this result, there are several Bills who should be much higher on the list.