ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — When the football reaper came knocking, announced by the deathly chill of Old Man Winter’s breath on the back of their necks, the Broncos climbed out of the abyss and beat the Bills, 24-22, in a weird Monday night that will long be remembered as the Brain Freeze in Buffalo.
I can’t believe what I just saw. Was this the NFL? Or Bizarro World?
In the chaos of the fourth quarter’s final seconds, Denver kicker Wil Lutz, whose night had been one, long, slow-motion pratfall of botched kicks, rushed on the field with his teammates. May Day! He then doinked a 41-yard field goal that had thousands of witnesses in the stadium thinking the Bills had escaped with a one-point victory.
“I couldn’t tell if (Lutz) made it,” Broncos coach Sean Payton admitted. “Did he put it wide right?”
He did. Wide right, with a whiff as wretched as an earlier extra point he hooked wide left.
But, lo and behold, Lutz was bailed out by the foolish fisherman of Lake Erie who couldn’t count to 11.
In their haste to get a special teams unit on the scene, the Bills got busted for 12 men on the field.
When’s the last time you saw a football team save its season on a walk-off penalty flag?
Do you believe in second chances? How about fate? Or pure, dumb luck?
Given a reprieve by an unbelievable error by the Bills, Lutz nailed a 36-yard field goal that gave the Broncos their third-straight victory and a newfound belief that consecutive W’s against Kansas City and Buffalo prove they really can get to the NFL playoffs from here.
“To beat the Chiefs and beat these guys sets the standard of who we should be, and who we can be, and who we’re going to be,” quarterback Russell Wilson insisted.
Wilson led a furious rally with a wacky two-minute drill packed with shovel passes and an untimely sack before stumbling into the winning score. But want to know the really bizarre part? The drive was inexplicably aided and abetted when the Bills were flagged for pass interference worth 28 big yards when they decided to go with a maximum blitz in zero pass coverage on third-and-long, with Denver standing outside of field-goal range.
Stupid is as stupid does.
And what we witnessed on this crazy November night was the Bills slam their Super Bowl window shut on their own fingers.
It was one of those evenings in upstate New York that reminded the locals they will be wiping frost from their ears until Easter. The tears shed for quarterback Josh Allen and what might have been for a team in disarray will soon freeze on bitter cheeks.
Yes, I plead guilty to burying the Broncos almost a month ago and bidding farewell to Wilson as a failed $245 million experiment. But the much-maligned DangeRuss has now beaten Patrick Mahomes and Allen, often ranked as the top two quarterbacks in the league, in back-to-back games.
Wilson has completed more than 3,500 passes in his NFL career. But few have been more remarkable, and I’m willing to wager none have been more improbable, than the tug-on-Superman’s-cape and spit-into-the-wind touchdown he threw to Courtland Sutton that staked the Broncos to a 9-0 lead in the second quarter.
Deciding to forego a gimme of field goal in the red zone, Wilson took the snap on fourth down at the 7-yard line and was immediately stalked by a rambling bear of a free rusher named Shaq Lawson. Spinning away to save his hide, Wilson scrambled more than 15 yards before launching a once-in-a-blue-moon shot toward the corner of the end zone in a window opening that was too tiny to fit a sparrow, much less a football.
And Sutton made a catch so amazing an official on the spot refused to believe it at first glance, initially ruling his feet out of bounds and the pass incomplete, until a replay confirmed a little miracle had indeed taken place. Those good nerds at NFL Next Gen Stats calculated the play had a 3.2% chance of success, or approximately the same chance that Travis Kelce has of living happily ever after with Taylor Swift.
Too bad the league’s trade deadline passed on Halloween. If not, I’m guessing Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane would’ve been on the horn with Broncos counterpart George Paton as Denver took a 15-8 lead at halftime to offer Allen for Wilson. Straight up.
For much of the blustery night, Wilson looked more like a quarterback bound for the Hall of Fame. And it wasn’t particularly close. Does the offense that Payton now orders Wilson to run have dinky and dunky tendencies? Yes. But it’s starting to prove safe and effective.
Late in the game, Allen chased away the boos raining down on the Bills. He rallied a Buffalo team that has slowly been coming apart a the seams.
When Allen out-ran Denver linebacker Baron Browning to the pylon on a 6-yard touchdown dash with 1:55 left in the fourth quarter, the Bills took a 22-21 lead.
And then all bizarre broke loose.
Now? Maybe anything is really possible.
So if the Broncos run the table and finish 12-5, where will they travel for the first playoff game?
I vote for Miami, and a chance to avenge that 70-burger.