The Buffalo Bills might’ve orchestrated the most chaotically disorganized choke job of a finish to an NFL game in the sport’s history on Monday night. This franchise is a four-consecutive Super Bowl loser, and has a quarterback in Josh Allen who can’t get out of his own way.
Now, folks are wondering who or what or where to place the blame for one of the most hilarious gridiron gaffes you’ll ever see. Long story short, the Broncos had zero timeouts, rushed their field goal unit onto the field for a would-be winning kick, only for Denver kicker Wil Lutz to go full Scott Norwood on that motherf*cker and push it wide right (sorry Buffalo, too soon?).
…Problem is, the Bills had 12 men on the field, resulting in a penalty, and a subsequent successful kick by Lutz to help the Broncos prevail 24-22. Thank you Awful Announcing for being so quick on the uptake!
The Broncos beat the Bills 24-22 on MNF.
Wil Lutz missed a FG in the final seconds… but the Bills were called for 12 men on defense, giving Lutz another chance, which he made for the win.
Here's how it looked & sounded with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on the call for ESPN: pic.twitter.com/bFAl9qtGQA
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 14, 2023
This was already such a strange game filled with inexplicable turnovers, incredible playmaking like Courtland Sutton’s damn near never-in-history TD catch on fourth down.
The Bills lost -19.4 expected points and 45.7% win probability across 4 turnovers 📉
🔹 Cook Fumble (Q1): -5.8 EPA (-2.4% WP)
🔹 Allen INT (Q1): -4.1 EPA (-7.4% WP)
🔹 Allen INT (Q2): -3.2 EPA (-13.9% WP)
🔹 Allen Fumble (Q3): -6.3 EPA (-22.0% WP)#DENvsBUF | #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/mszPfVmElW— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) November 14, 2023
Given that the Bills are gonna Bill at some point, I guess more of us should’ve been prepared for the concluding calamity. Thing is, I don’t think anyone could’ve foreseen this comedic carnival of errors.
1) All-out blitz leads to easy PI foul/gift first down/FG range on third-and-long.
2) Unnecessary quick-change field goal blows up in kicking team’s face.
3) 12-men penalty bails kicking team out.
What a bizarre clusterfuck of a finish.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) November 14, 2023
Aaaaaand oh my. The quick-trigger Twitter finger artists were on their game to snap off some great reactions as the madness unfolded.
Sean McDermott meddled so much on the offensive side of the ball it's become an unrecognizable disaster
then he got Leslie Frazier to walk
now he's calling all out blitzes on 3rd down when Denver isn't close to FG range…
…and leaving 12 men on the field to lose the game
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) November 14, 2023
The Broncos beat the Bills 24-22 on MNF.
Wil Lutz missed a FG in the final seconds… but the Bills were called for 12 men on defense, giving Lutz another chance, which he made for the win.
Here's how it looked & sounded with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on the call for ESPN: pic.twitter.com/bFAl9qtGQA
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 14, 2023
Will Lutz when he realized the Bills had 12 men on the field pic.twitter.com/CRYRoZCS62
— Justin Adams (@justinadamsTV) November 14, 2023
Bills fans right now: pic.twitter.com/czbQz8QNAr
— ESPN (@espn) November 14, 2023
THE BILLS DIDN'T HAVE THE SUBSTITUTIONS RIGHT??????
Buffalo is a travesty. A mess. Don't let this team anywhere near the postseason
— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) November 14, 2023
It's almost Thanksgiving and the Bills have the same record as the Raiders.
— Brett Kollmann (@BrettKollmann) November 14, 2023
The hope reentering my body after watching the Bills drop to .500 and ignoring the fact we couldn’t score a touchdown against the Raiders pic.twitter.com/klbRvBaMuB
— Blake (@blakenyjets) November 14, 2023
Bills 12 men on the field on a missed game winning kick pic.twitter.com/sZoA4yIbIk
— Pardon My Take (@PardonMyTake) November 14, 2023
12 MEN ON THE FIELD?! pic.twitter.com/KXi9e6smwK
— FanDuel (@FanDuel) November 14, 2023
Back to back zero blitz then 12 men? Oh boy the discourse on coaching tomorrow is gonna be SPICY
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) November 14, 2023
Is anyone going to discuss why Denver elected to go mayday FG instead of kicking on 3rd down? Why panic and rush? Got bailed out by 12 men.
— Greg Olsen (@gregolsen88) November 14, 2023
Full sequence of Broncos kneeing the Ball forcing the clock to run and both teams having to rush Special Teams on causing the 12 men flag pic.twitter.com/cQmpIeiCz7
— Alex 👋 (@Dubs408) November 14, 2023
12 men on the field. Seriously. Y’all still defending the coach?
— Colin Cowherd (@ColinCowherd) November 14, 2023
Dolphins with a two-game lead over the Bills in the AFC East pic.twitter.com/Q1g7eDBZtb
— Safid Deen 💯💯💯💯 (@Safid_Deen) November 14, 2023
Bills fans seeing a penalty flag on the field after the missed FG pic.twitter.com/CUF1FAnpbL
— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) November 14, 2023
Some pour soul was about to win a survivor league if the Bills prevailed, too.
They started celebrating thinking the Bills won 😭
(via samlerner_/IG) pic.twitter.com/c858kyYhMY
— br_betting (@br_betting) November 14, 2023
Congrats, Broncos. First win in Buffalo since 2007 if historians on X social are accurate. Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, Bills Mafia. WOOF.
So yeah, the AFC is a stacked sh*t show of pretty high-quality teams featuring 11 with at least five wins. Can’t believe everyone’s darling preseason Super Bowl favorite Buffalo is tied record-wise with the Josh McDaniels-firing Raiders and the Gardner Minshew-led Colts. Tough look.
