The Broncos closed out Week 10 of the NFL season with a shocking 24-22 upset win over the Bills on Monday night in Buffalo. The win wasn’t official until Wil Lutz knocked through a 36-yard field goal on the final play of the game, and although that doesn’t sound very dramatic, let me assure you there was plenty of drama.
As a matter of fact, let’s break down everything that went wrong for both teams over the final 30 seconds of the game.
1. Bills get called for pass interference. With the Bills leading 22-21, it looked like they were going to pull out the win. With just 35 seconds left to play, the Broncos were facing a third-and-10 at Buffalo’s 45-yard line, which was out of a field goal range. On the third down play, Russell Wilson threw up a prayer and his prayers were answered when Taron Johnson got called for a 28-yard pass interference penalty.
The penalty gave the Broncos the ball at Buffalo’s 17-yard line with just 29 seconds left to play.
2. Broncos decide to kneel the ball. With the ball at the 17, the Broncos were in line to attempt a 35-yard field goal, but then Sean Payton decided he wanted to kneel the ball to run out the clock. On three straight plays, Wilson took a knee, which pushed the field goal attempt back to 41 yards. This was definitely a questionable decision considering it was extremely windy during the game.
Besides the wind, there’s also the fact that Lutz had already missed an extra point earlier in the game. In a situation like that, you want to give your kicker the closest attempt possible. Over the past five years, opposing kickers have hit just 75% of their field goals in Buffalo when attempting a kick between 40 and 43 yards. However, that percentage is 91.7% when attempting a kick between 35 and 39 yards, so yes, there’s a huge difference between trying a 35-yard kick and a 41-yard kick.
3. Sean Payton calls for a mayday field goal. Not…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/bills-shocking-loss-to-broncos-ends-with-crazy-30-second-sequence-that-you-have-to-see-to-believe/
Author : John Breech
Publish date : 2023-11-14 13:03:34
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