Sean McDermott went down fighting for Buffalo, both at the postgame lectern in the Mile High City and from 35,000 feet on the flight home, insisting that it was a catch and the Bills should be the ones moving on.<\/p>\n
Brandin Cooks had a step on his defender and was hauling in Josh Allen\u2019s 44-yard pass at the Denver 20 when Ja\u2019Quan McMillian wrested the ball from the wide receiver\u2019s grasp as the pair tumbled to the ground.<\/p>\n
McMillian came up with the ball and the NFL ruled it an interception, which set up Denver\u2019s game-winning drive<\/a> and a trip to the AFC championship Sunday against the New England Patriots (16-3).<\/p>\n Twenty-four hours after Wil Lutz\u2019s 23-yard field goal ended Buffalo\u2019s season short of the Super Bowl once again, McDermott was out of a job<\/a>, the 10th head coach to join the NFL\u2019s crowded unemployment line.<\/p>\n After angrily disputing the call at his post-game news conference, McDermott called Jay Skurski of The Buffalo News to argue anew that it was not an interception: \u201cThat play is not even close. That\u2019s a catch all the way,\u201d McDermott told Skurski, adding that fans deserved an explanation.<\/p>\n Which they\u2019d already gotten via a pool report from referee Carl Cheffers, who explained, \u201cThe receiver has to complete the process of a catch. He was going to the ground as part of the process of the catch and he lost possession of the ball when he hit the ground. The defender gained possession of it at that point. The defender is the one that completed the process of the catch, so the defender was awarded the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n McDermott couldn\u2019t challenge the ruling because of the league\u2019s overtime rules, so he called a timeout to give the officiating crew and replay officials a chance to take an extended look. The play already had been confirmed through the NFL\u2019s expedited review process in New York, so the timeout essentially just gave McDermott an opportunity to get an explanation, which he didn\u2019t like.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard for me to understand why it was ruled the way it was ruled,\u201d McDermott said. \u201cAnd if it is ruled that way, then why isn\u2019t it slowed down just to make sure that we have this right? That would have made a lot of sense to me … because that\u2019s a pivotal point in the game. We have the ball at the 20 maybe kicking a game-winning field goal right there \u2014 but I\u2019m saying it because I\u2019m standing up for Buffalo, damn it, I\u2019m standing up for us.\u201d<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t alone. Among those who had McDermott\u2019s back were former star cornerback Richard Sherman and ESPN analyst and former QB Dan Orlovsky, who argued, \u201cThis is a catch every time.\u201d<\/p>\n No it isn\u2019t, countered Hall of Fame tight end Sterling Sharpe, who, on his popular podcast with Chad \u201cOchocinco\u201d Johnson, said it was absolutely the correct call, and Johnson agreed.<\/p>\n \u201cLet me explain it to you, it\u2019s called the Calvin Johnson rule,\u201d where receivers have to secure the catch through their landing, not just grab it in the air, Sharpe said. \u201cIf a receiver catches a football and he goes to the ground he must maintain possession of the football throughout the entirety of the catch.<\/p>\n \u201cHe goes to the ground, he needs to get his ass up and hand the ball to the officials.\u201d<\/p>\n Which Cook certainly didn\u2019t do because McMillian was already running away with the prize held high and the official who was right there ruling it was Denver\u2019s ball.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were both fighting for the ball,\u201d McMillian said. \u201cI just made a play and basically took it out of his hands and came up with it.\u201d<\/p>\n Cooks said he thought it was a catch at first but knows he needed to do more: \u201cThe way I think about it is, you know, make it in a way that it doesn\u2019t have to be in an official\u2019s hands; that\u2019s always gonna be my mindset. I\u2019m never gonna cower away from that. It\u2019s the man I am. That\u2019s the player I am. You know, I own it.\u201d<\/p>\n Told that his counterpart had just disputed the interception ruling at his postgame news conference, Denver coach Sean Payton said well, what about the safety that wasn\u2019t called earlier in that drive?<\/p>\n