The Buffalo Bills have a long history of painful playoff losses. From “Wide Right” in the 1990 Super Bowl to four straight losses in the big game, it’s a fanbase that has experienced the depths of football hell. After Sunday, we can add Josh Allen’s QB sneak, which was ruled short on fourth down, to the list of pain. Bills Mafia has been fuming online since the controversial call was made. But Colin Cowherd believes they need to move on, as other, more important factors contributed to their AFC Championship loss—not just that call.
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Many believe he got the first down, and even Cowherd thought the same. Still, he argues that the Bills had enough time—13 minutes on the clock—to make up for it. That time was sufficient for a comeback, he asserted.
“I did think the Bills got a first down,” Colin stated on The Colin Cowherd Podcast. “But there were 13 minutes left and I don’t care. When people used to complain about Jordan getting all the calls, or the Warriors, I would always say this, ‘How many turnovers did you have and how many free throws did you miss?’ If the answer combined is 20, I don’t care about that ‘Go either way’ call in the fourth quarter. Like, you had 11 turnovers and missed nine free throws- I’m not going to listen to you.”
Colin’s take is funny and true. Sports fans often get caught up in calls by the refs without taking into account their actual team’s performance. Essentially, he’s outlining that the Bills had other opportunities to win the game, and getting caught up over one controversial call in the fourth quarter with plenty of time left in the game, isn’t the response one should have. Instead, fans should look inward.
The leading analyst then went on to discuss how he thought the Bills were lucky for most of the game, fumbling the ball quite a few times. They did, however, recover them. Had the Chiefs defense recovered one of those fumbles, the game would have been over before it even started. So, that one call going against them in a crucial spot shouldn’t be what the game is remembered for, Colin added.
“I thought Buffalo was incredibly lucky. They fumbled four times and recovered all of them, I’ve never heard of that in a playoff game in my life.”
Colin’s co-host, Nick Wright, corrected him and said that there were actually five fumbles in the game. Patrick Mahomes fumbled a handoff, and the Bills recovered it in the first half. Wright believes that as far back as the records go, Buffalo is the first team to ever do that and lose.
Turnovers often end up being the decider in playoff games. But the Bills managed to recover the ball all four times they put it on the turf. Allen also got away with back-to-back dropped interceptions on his first drive of the game. It was a sloppy game for Buffalo, and they didn’t ultimately deserve to win on Sunday.
Andy Reid on the Controversy
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid addressed the media about the controversial calls following the matchup. Interestingly, he gave ‘luck’ a lot of credit for the game falling in their favor, as it was indeed a close affair. He believes that if things had changed by just “inches,” the Bills would be going to the Super Bowl instead.
“Literally a game of inches. We were lucky to be on that side of it, where we had the most inches. This came right down to an inch, literally. That’s what the stop was. It was back and forth. It was going to be back and forth… Whoever had the ball last was probably going to come out in the lead and [with] the win. But I’m proud of our guys battling.”
This all but proves Colin’s point that even without the controversial call, if the Bills had figured out a way to get the ball back in the closing moments, they could’ve won. After all, it was only a 3-point game, and the two sides have seen their fair share of crazy finishes against each other in the playoffs.
But Mahomes and Reid are so good at capitalizing on mistakes. And the Bills made the mistake of turning the ball over on downs twice in the fourth quarter against the three-time defending champs. As Allen said after the game, to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best. You can’t leave calls up to the refs. You have to leave no doubt to trounce Goliath.
The Bills had two opportunities to stop the Chiefs on their final drive that ended the game. They failed both times. While the QB sneak may be the most talked-about call from the game, other aspects, like the one just mentioned, haven’t been discussed as much. This shows that there’s more to unpack from this game than just the bad calls.
