ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Broncos came an ankle away from getting the ball back in a critical fourth-down spot Sunday against the Bills.
Instead of a turnover-on-downs and a chance to tie the game or take the lead, Denver found itself trailing by two scores.
That came when Josh Allen bought time, floated to his right and then threw a ball to the back line of the end zone. Running back Ty Johnson, working in man coverage against P.J. Locke, worked his way up the left side and then all the way across the back line of the end zone.
He slid to catch the ball, plucked it off the turf and was ruled on the field to have control of the ball in bounds.
Johnson’s ankle hit out of bounds almost as he controlled the ball, but the officiating crew did not see enough to overturn the call on review.
“When they reviewed it, I thought it was out,” Broncos All-Pro cornerback Pat Surtain II said. “But it was a great play, great catch at the end of the day. Not much could be said on that.”
Added cornerback Riley Moss: “From where I was at, it looked like (the ball) had moved and touched the ground.”
It came at a massive time in the game.
Buffalo led 13-7, so a stop would have given Denver the ball back with 3:06 remaining in the third quarter, trailing by six.
Instead, the touchdown and a two-point conversion put the Bills up 21-7 and firmly in control.
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“I saw what you saw. It went to New York,” Payton said of the review. “I saw the same feed on the big screen. It was hard to tell.”
As Johnson worked across the back line of the end zone, Locke covered and covered but then throttled down just for a second.
“If I (didn’t) let up for a half second, the ball probably would’ve been deflected,” Locke said.
That was too much room for Allen, who held the ball more than 6.5 seconds before cutting it loose as Jonathon Cooper and Dondrea Tillman closed in on him.
“I feel like there’s plays out there to be made and we just ain’t make ’em at the end of the day,” Surtain said.
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