The Denver Broncos earned a colossal 24-22 road win versus the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football.
Denver dominated the first half but couldn't demonstrate it on the scoreboard with just a 15-8 lead. The Broncos picked off Josh Allen twice and even forced and recovered a fumble on Buffalo's first play from scrimmage, but red zone woes cost them.
Buffalo managed to tie it twice in the second half before eventually taking the lead late in the fourth thanks to Allen's goal-line rushing touchdown.
But after a 10-play, 57-yard two-minute drill, it came down to Broncos kicker Will Lutz for the win. He missed the first kick just wide right, but the Bills granted him another chance due to having 12 men on defense. Lutz didn't waste his second chance.
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The Broncos made it three wins in a row to move to 4-5 while the Bills dropped two in a row to dip to 5-5. It's the worst record they've had at this stage of the calendar since Allen's rookie season.
Let's analyze the game further with five winners and losers:
NFL
LOSER: Josh Allen
Late drama aside, the Bills didn't do enough to deserve a win. They coughed it up four times and were fortunate Denver's offense couldn't consistently sustain scoring drives. Allen was responsible for two interceptions as he became the league leader in the statistic.
The Bills will go as far as Allen can take them, but as history has shown thus far, his turnovers limit his ceiling. He completed 15 of 26 passes for 177 yards, one touchdown and two picks to go along with the aforementioned rushing score.
It also was the sixth-straight game in which Allen threw a pick, the longest streak by a Bills QB since Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2011.
WINNER: Game-winning field goals
Sunday's action involved five teams winning on a field goal as time expired: Seattle, Cleveland, Arizona, Houston and Detroit.
That's the most in a single day in NFL history, and Lutz added to the weekly tally by making it six. Perhaps luck patted him on the back after Buffalo's costly 12-men lineup, but he drilled the second chance right down the middle to remove all doubt. Kickers matter.
LOSER: Broncos' offensive line
Somehow Russell Wilson completed 24 of 29 passes for 193 yards, two touchdowns and no picks. But almost every play saw Wilson scrambling for his life with his offensive line unable to contain the Buffalo rush.
It's been a problem for Denver since last season, and new faces to the line -- like right tackle Mike McGlinchey who signed a five-year, $87 million deal this offseason -- haven't quite lived up to the billing. Wilson went down four times while rushing nine times for 30 yards. If he wasn't a mobile QB, this would've been a long, long night.
WINNER: Courtland Sutton's improbable grab
As the saying goes, football is a game of inches. In this play, it was a matter of centimeters. Facing a heavy pass rush yet again, Wilson somehow set his feet and heaved a prayer to the left corner of the end zone.
Somehow Courtland Sutton pulled it in, and after initially being ruled incomplete, replays showed Sutton indeed got both feet inbounds in superb style.
According to the NFL's Next Gen Stats, the seven-yard play had a completion probability of 3.2%, the most improbable completion of the Next Gen Stats era.
Sutton led Denver in receiving with eight catches on 11 targets for 53 yards and the above touchdown.
LOSER: Bills' receiving core
Allen hasn't been perfect for Buffalo, but it doesn't exactly help that his weapons aren't consistent enough. Tight end Dalton Kincaid led the way with five catches for 51 yards and a touchdown while Gabe Davis had two catches for 56 yards. But Davis also let a ball go right through his hands that led to a pick.
Stefon Diggs was targeted five times for just three catches for 34 yards. And that was pretty much it in that department. Diggs did most of the heavy lifting last season, too, while Davis made a name for himself in the playoffs. But it just hasn't been good enough and if the Bills continue to underwhelm, boosting Allen's options in the offseason must be a priority for 2024.
