Bills 12 men on the field penalty: Sean McDermott blasts team for 'inexcusable' penalty, turnover woes vs. Broncos

Jacob Camenker

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Bills 12 men on the field penalty: Sean McDermott blasts team for 'inexcusable' penalty, turnover woes vs. Broncos image

It appeared that the Bills had dodged a major upset at the end of their "Monday Night Football" game against the Broncos when Wil Lutz's last-minute field goal sailed just right of the upright.

The 41-yard miss came with just seven seconds left on the clock, so all Buffalo would have had to do in its wake was take a knee to run out the game. That would give the Bills a 22-21 victory and allow them to improve to 6-4 on the season.

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There was just one problem: The Bills had too many men on the field during Lutz's kick.

The Broncos had to attempt a quick kick at the end of regulation because they were out of timeouts but wanted to ensure that the Bills wouldn't have any time left to mount a potential comeback.

As a result, Buffalo got confused amid the scramble. That led to the penalty and granted Lutz a second chance at winning the game.

This time, from 36 yards, he didn't miss.

MORE: Broncos earn 'Monday Night Football' upset as late penalties cost Bills

Bills coach Sean McDermott was beside himself after the game. He explained to reporters that the team had practiced going from their dime package to a field goal block situation "two or three times" ahead of the game.

"At the end of the day, we didn't execute it," McDermott said. "It's inexcusable."

But that play was hardly the only mistake the Bills made in their loss to the Broncos. Buffalo was plagued by gaffes from the get-go that ultimately allowed Denver to pull off its second consecutive monumental upset.

Bills turnovers vs. Broncos

The Bills entered play on Sunday having 14 turnovers on the season. They exited it with 18 and are now tied with the Bears and Raiders for the second-most giveaways on the season.

Buffalo's turnover woes started early in their contest against the Broncos. James Cook had the ball ripped out of his hands on the team's first offensive snap. That set up a Denver field goal that gave them an early 3-0 lead.

The Bills managed to piece together a drive to respond to the Broncos on the ensuing possession. However, it ended prematurely when Gabe Davis had an untimely drop on a third-down throw over the middle. It deflected into the air and was brought down by Denver safety Justin Simmons for an interception.

That marked Allen's sixth consecutive game with an interception, good for the longest streak by a Bills quarterback since Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2011.

And Allen wasn't done. Just before halftime, he made an ill-advised throw to Deonte Harty. He stared down his diminutive speed receiver, which allowed Fabian Moreau to undercut the route and set up a field goal that put the Broncos up 15-8 at halftime.

Allen was a bit cleaner in the second half, but the Bills were not turnover-free. Allen and Cook botched an exchange at midfield to end the third quarter. The Broncos recovered it to give them their fourth and final turnover of the day.

Impressively, Buffalo's defense held up well after these turnovers. They limited Denver to just six points off them despite three of the four giveaways positioning the Broncos on the Bills' side of midfield.

Still, those six points proved costly in Buffalo's two-point loss. And McDermott after the game communicated that the Bills' effort in avoiding turnovers was "not good enough."

"You can't turn the ball over period, let alone four times," he said. "Your job description is to execute and maintain possession of the ball."

MORE: Breaking down the Bills' final drive, 12 men on the field penalty

Bills pass interference penalty, Sean McDermott's all-out blitz call

The 12 men on the field penalty will be the one that draws the most attention for the Bills, but it must be noted that it was set up by another tough penalty against Buffalo.

The play occurred on a third-and-10 from the Bills' 45-yard line. The team had just forced the Broncos to burn their final timeout after sacking Russell Wilson with 35 seconds left in the game. That made the third-down play critical in deciding the game.

McDermott opted to play aggressively in that spot after having used an all-out blitz to sack Wilson the previous down. The team played Cover 0 again, but this time, Wilson was able to get the ball downfield. He floated one for Jerry Jeudy, who was behind the defense on a play that could have been a touchdown.

The ball, however, was underthrown. That didn't matter, though, as Bills cornerback Taron Johnson interfered with Jeudy on the play.

It's clear that Johnson made contact with Jeudy just a bit early; and while he got his head back around to view the ball, that came just after he initiated contact. As such, it appears that was the right call.

Still, Johnson disagreed with it. He was seen jawing with officials about the penalty and addressed it during a postgame media availability.

"To be honest, I don’t know how I could play it better," he said, per WGR500's Sal Capaccio. "I didn’t feel like I did anything. I got to him and I looked back for the ball and I tried to make a play on the ball. It’s just frustrating."

Either way, the penalty cost the Bills 28 yards and set up the Broncos' game-winning kick. It also helped the team make ignominious history, as they blew the contest in a fashion not seen since the game where Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict famously knocked out Steelers receiver Antonio Brown.

That was thanks to the penalty, but McDermott had a helping hand in it by calling a second consecutive all-out blitz. Why did he do that? It was all about trying to prevent Denver from getting into field goal range.

"The field-goal line we thought was the 40-yard line, so you’re not working with 35 yards of real estate, you’re working with a set window of real estate," McDermott told reporters. "So, Russ had done a good job against the four-man rush, scrambling and making plays with his feet."

So, while that call can be questioned, it seems par for the course in McDermott's defensive play-calling style.

"If we’re gonna go down, we’re gonna go down being aggressive," McDermott said.

MORE: How did Damar Hamlin play in Bills vs. Broncos?

What players said about Bills' 12 men on the field penalty

Plenty of members of the Bills looked stunned in the aftermath of the team's costly 12 men penalty.

The Bills took their mistakes in stride and blamed themselves for repeatedly undermining their efforts to win. Notably, the team's special teams captain Tyler Matakevich said "you can't beat yourself in those situations" when referencing the costly gaffe.

"You got to make sure we're locked in, everyone knows what's going on," he said, per ESPN. "I mean, we practiced it. We just didn't execute it, and that's real, real frustrating. ... There's some games, they're going to be ugly at times, you just got to find a way to win it, and unfortunately we just didn't come out."

And what did quarterback Josh Allen think about it? He acknowledged that losing in such a way "sucks" but didn't place the blame on the special teams and defense for that mistake.

"Shouldn't have been in that position in the first place," he said, per ESPN. "A lot of bad football. A lot of bad football."

It certainly was, and that bad football proved costly for the Bills. They are now sitting at 5-5 and entering one of their toughest schedule stretches of the 2023 NFL season. So, if they are going to make a playoff push, they need to start making it now.

And to do that, they will need to cut down on the mistakes that hindered them against the Broncos.

 

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Jacob Camenker

Jacob Camenker Photo

Jacob Camenker first joined The Sporting News as a fantasy football intern in 2018 after his graduation from UMass. He became a full-time employee with TSN in 2021 and now serves as a senior content producer with a particular focus on the NFL. Jacob worked at NBC Sports Boston as a content producer from 2019 to 2021. He is an avid fan of the NFL Draft and ranked 10th in FantasyPros’ Mock Draft Accuracy metric in both 2021 and 2022.