{"id":686672,"date":"2026-01-18T16:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T16:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/686672\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T16:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T16:05:12","slug":"pissed-sean-mcdermott-blasts-refs-over-controversial-interception-in-bills-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/686672\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Pissed’ Sean McDermott blasts refs over controversial interception in Bills loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ball \u2014 and the call \u2014 were out of their hands.<\/p>\n

After a series of controversial calls<\/a> went against the Bills Saturday late in their NFL divisional round overtime loss to the Broncos<\/a>, head coach Sean McDermott unloaded on the referees during his postgame press conference.<\/p>\n

In particular, McDermott took issue with a play in overtime where Broncos cornerback Ja\u2019Quan McMillian was awarded an interception after ripping a pass out of receiver Brandin Cooks\u2019 hands.<\/p>\n

Broncos cornerback Ja\u2019quan McMillian (29) intercepts a pass intended for Bills wide receiver Brandin Cooks (18) during overtime of Denver\u2019s playoff win on Jan. 17, 2026. AP<\/p>\n

Cooks appeared to be down on the play, but the ruling on Josh Allen\u2019s third-and-11 pass swung the momentum<\/a> and set up Denver\u2019s 33-30 win.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard for me to \u2014 and I\u2019ve had a chance to look at it \u2014 it\u2019s hard for me to understand why it was ruled the way it was ruled,\u201d McDermott said. \u201cIf it is ruled that way, then why wasn\u2019t it slowed down just to make sure that we have this right?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would have made a lot of sense to me, to make sure that we have this thing right, because that\u2019s a pivotal play in the game. We have the ball at the 20 [yard line] and we may be kicking a game-winning field goal right there, so I\u2019ll just leave it at that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bills head coach Sean McDermott addresses reporters after the team\u2019s playoff loss to the Broncos on Jan. 17, 2026. AP<\/p>\n

Referee Carl Cheffers explained the ruling after the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe receiver has to complete the process of a catch,\u201d Cheffers told a pool reporter. \u201cHe was going to the tround 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

While the interception was a major turning point, it was also one of five costly turnovers for Buffalo, which included two interceptions by Allen and two lost fumbles.<\/p>\n

An emotional, teary-eyed Allen<\/a> did not harp on the officiating during his presser \u2014 but McDermott struck a far less conciliatory tone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m saying it because I\u2019m standing up for Buffalo, damn it,\u201d McDermott added. \u201cI\u2019m standing up for us. What went on, that is not how it should go down, in my estimation. These guys spent three hours out there playing football, pouring their guts out. To not even say, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s slow this thing down.\u2019 That\u2019s where I\u2019m bothered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh Allen cries while speaking to reporters after the Bills\u2019 playoff loss to the Broncos on Jan. 17, 2026. Youtube\/Buffalo Bills<\/p>\n

The 51-year-old took an even harder line after his postgame availability, telling Buffalo News reporter Jay Skurski in a phone call that he was \u201cpissed off\u201d and that the interception ruling was \u201cnot even close.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s the deal, right? The fans deserve more. The players certainly deserve more. They deserve an explanation,\u201d McDermott said. \u201cIt\u2019s a shame that a game is decided on a call like that and there is no time spent with the head official going underneath the hood \u2014 to the monitor. I don\u2019t understand how that works.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t understand how that could be the case when it\u2019s such a close play. So basically there is one person ruling on that play \u2014 or only New York ruling on that play? I don\u2019t agree with that. If that\u2019s the case, I don\u2019t agree that that is the best approach to decide a game like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s loss marked the Bills\u2019 latest postseason heartbreak under McDermott, who took over as head coach in 2017.<\/p>\n

Buffalo has yet to reach a Super Bowl during his tenure, failing to advance past the AFC Championship Game with McDermott and Allen, the team\u2019s 2018 first-round pick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ball \u2014 and the call \u2014 were out of their hands. After a series of controversial calls…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[9266,53,258,7,872,6,84,3026,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-686672","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-brandin-cooks","9":"tag-buffalo-bills","10":"tag-denver-broncos","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-josh-allen","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-nfl-playoffs","15":"tag-sean-mcdermott","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115916958872442957","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}