The Buffalo Bills season ended in January after a loss to the Denver Broncos in overtime during the AFC divisional round. They were just a call away from possibly winning the game.
At the start of overtime, Denver started with the ball. The Broncos didn’t pick up a first down on the drive and had the ball sitting on their own 38-yard line on fourth down and 11.
The Broncos ended up punting the ball back to the Bills, but that wasn’t the play head coach Sean Payton wanted to run.
Denver Turned Down Running a Fake Punt
Payton told ESPN’s Seth Wickersham on Tuesday that he called a fake punt at that spot, but the players vetoed it.
“The players vetoed it at the line of scrimmage, maybe saving Denver’s season,” Wickersham wrote. “I was so pissed,” Payton says. “It was perfect.”
Wickersham spent two weeks with the Broncos during the playoffs, and he stated that Payton showed him how the fake punt would work.
“He grabs my notebook and starts drawing up how it looked on the field, which is how he drew it up all week, and although he’s certain and clear and resolute, my mind drifts off, stunned and amazed and impressed and mildly terrified at his gall, at his ego, even recklessness,” Wickersham added.
If the Broncos had run the fake punt and failed, the Bills would have started in great field position. Buffalo would have been at Denver’s 38-yard line, already in field goal range with the chance to win the game.
Instead, the Bills received the ball at their own seven-yard line and went nine plays before Josh Allen threw an interception to end the drive. The Broncos then took the ball down the field and kicked a 23-yard field goal to win the game.
The Broncos players deciding to veto the fake punt didn’t just change the outcome of the game but also the Bills’ future.
The Bills’ Future Changed After Losing to Denver
If the Bills had won the game, they would have gone to the AFC Championship game and played the New England Patriots. There was a good chance Buffalo would have won and made the Super Bowl.
The Bills, making the Super Bowl, likely would have allowed head coach Sean McDermott to keep his job, as one reason the Bills fired him was that he lost to Denver and didn’t reach the big game.
“My decision to bring in a new coach was based on the results of our game in Denver,” Bills owner Terry Pegula said in January, via NFL.com’s Nick Shook.
A lot of times, a play in an NFL game can change the course of history, but this time, not running a play ended up changing the entire Bills’ future. It would have been interesting to see the Broncos attempt a fake punt. Payton is known for taking risks in big games. In Super Bowl XLIV, when Payton was the head coach of the New Orleans Saints, he executed a surprise onside kick right after halftime and caught the Indianapolis Colts off guard. The Saints won the game; a lot of that was due to the onside kick.
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