The Buffalo Bills came painfully close to pulling out an overtime win against the Denver Broncos in the Divisional Round. Instead, a controversial officiating decision flipped the entire game. That turning point came when Bills quarterback Josh Allen fired a sharp throw to receiver Brandin Cooks. It looked like a huge completion, but officials ruled it an interception. After the game, a visibly emotional Allen faced the media and tried to put into words the controversial call that effectively crushed the Bills’ Super Bowl hopes.

“Losing that way, regardless, losing in the play-offs is not fun,” Josh Allen said in the post-game presser.

But when reporters asked Allen if he received any explanation from the officials for the controversial interception call, the QB’s answer was just one word: “No.” 

Allen’s response suggested a lack of clarity and perhaps a lack of transparency from the referees in a decision that came at the most critical moment of the Bills’ season. So what exactly happened?

In overtime, facing third-and-10 from Buffalo’s own 36-yard line, Allen launched a deep pass to Brandin Cooks. It would have instantly put the Bills in field-goal range. But Broncos cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian came away with the ball as he hit the ground along with Cooks. Referee Carl Cheffers later defended the call as an interception, explaining why the officials believed Cooks never truly completed the catch. 

“The receiver has to complete the process of a catch,” Carl Cheffers said via Buffalo Rumblings. “He was going to the ground as part of the process of the catch, and he lost possession of the ball when he hit the ground. The defender gained possession of it at that point. The defense is the one that completed the process of the catch, so the defender was awarded the ball.” 

Because both Cooks and McMillian had their hands on the ball, officials treated it as a simultaneous catch situation, which goes to the offense on a reception but to the defense on a turnover. After review, the call stood in favor of the Broncos. Still, after watching the replays, many couldn’t shake the feeling that Cooks had secured the ball before the defender ripped it away. 

If officials had ruled it a catch, the Bills would have been in comfortable field-goal range to score three points and go up 33-30 to seal a win. Instead, it went into the books as Josh Allen’s second interception and the Bills’ fifth turnover of the game. When reporters asked Allen about those five giveaways, he made it clear that a team cannot win with such mistakes.

“Yeah, can’t win with five turnovers,” Josh Allen said. “I fumbled twice, threw two picks. You shoot yourself in the foot like that, you don’t deserve to win football games.”

Allen wasn’t wrong, but that final interception still carried major consequences. After the pick, two pass-interference penalties on the Bills gifted Denver a gain of 47 yards. The second flag, thrown against Bills’ cornerback Tre’Davious White, moved the ball all the way to Buffalo’s 8-yard line. From there, the Broncos drove down the field and kicked the game-winning field goal, ending Buffalo’s season. Even Bills’ head coach Sean McDermott was left frustrated. 

Sean McDermott does not hold back on the controversial call after the loss 

The events that led to the Bills’ playoff exit were hard to swallow. The Bills forced overtime with a field goal to tie the game 30-30. Then, Josh Allen got the ball back in OT, and seemed poised for a game-winning drive – only to watch it all unravel because of one disputed interception call. After the loss, Sean McDermott made it clear he did not like how the situation was handled by the officials.

“Obviously, I don’t have the power to challenge,” the HC said in the post-game presser. “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 seemed like a rapid unfolding of the review, if there was a review.” 

“It would make sense that the head official would walk over and take a look at it, just to make sure… as it’s too big a play… a play that decided the game potentially, to not even slow it down,” McDermott added. 

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McDermott wasn’t demanding that officials rule in Buffalo’s favor, but he made it clear that the play deserved far more scrutiny given the magnitude of the moment. If officials had overturned the call and ruled it a catch, the Bills likely would have lined up for a game-winning field goal and advanced to the AFC Championship Game. Instead, the Bills will be heading home. 

Now, Buffalo enters another long offseason trying to process yet another painful playoff exit—the seventh in the Josh Allen era. The QB has delivered five straight AFC East titles and put up MVP-level seasons. He has done almost everything… except reach the Super Bowl. And once again, January ends the same way in Buffalo: with questions, frustration, and the feeling that something slipped away.