If Leonard Floyd hadn’t been on the field on Monday night, the Bills beat the Broncos 22-21. The Bills would be 6-4 instead of 5-5, and Ken Dorsey likely still is the Bills’ offensive coordinator.
Floyd was the 12th man on Wil Lutz’s 41-yard field goal attempt that was wide right, with his penalty giving Lutz and the Broncos another opportunity. The Broncos kicker made the 36-yarder on the final play.
“From my perspective, it was just a communication issue – plain and simple,” Floyd said Wednesday, via The Buffalo News. “Got to be better. We’ll be better. Plain and simple, just miscommunication.”
The Bills’ dime defense was on the field for Russell Wilson’s final kneel down, and with the clock running, the team sent out its field goal block unit. Six players from the sideline came onto the field but only five left.
The Bills had no timeouts, so they could not have stopped the play if anyone had noticed the extra player.
“I really don’t care about the blame, just disappointed we lost,” Floyd said. “A loss is a loss. People try to find ways to blame this guy, that guy, but I ain’t really sweating it. It’s all football, man. Just go out the next game and correct the shit and go out and win. Them type things, I pretty much try to look past those. You’re going to make mistakes. You can’t play the game perfect. I don’t know nobody that plays this game perfect. We’ve just got to correct it, man, and be better next time.”
The Bills kept their entire starting defense on the field for Lutz’s 40-yard field goal try on the final play of the first half with the clock running. But special teams coordinator Matthew Smiley opted to send out the kick block unit before the final play of the game.
“At the end of the game, there’s two schools of thought,” coach Sean McDermott said. “Either you do the same and rush with your defense or you try and get your block, your max-rush unit out there. And that’s what coach tried to do. And unfortunately, a certain amount went in and not the equivalent came out, and so we ended up with one too many.”
Daniel Miller is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. His coverage spans from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis for sports enthusiasts.
