In a game where every possession matters, the Bills handed the Broncos a golden opportunity-and Denver didn’t waste it.
With just seconds left in the first half, Buffalo found itself trailing 17-10 after Bo Nix connected with Lil’Jordan Humphrey for a touchdown. It was a redemption moment for Humphrey, who had dropped a sure score earlier in the game. This time, he secured the grab in the end zone, giving the Broncos their first two-score lead of the night.
But what happened next turned a manageable deficit into a momentum swing that could haunt the Bills.
Buffalo got the ball back with a chance to simply run out the clock and head into halftime down by seven. Instead, Josh Allen tried to make something happen on the ground-and it backfired. Allen fumbled, Denver recovered, and with just two seconds on the clock, the Broncos tacked on a field goal to push the lead to 20-10 heading into the break.
That sequence was a gut punch for a Buffalo team that had been hanging in. A one-score game became a two-score hole in a matter of seconds-not because of a brilliant play by Denver’s defense, but because of a costly decision and a mishandled ball.
For the Broncos, it was the kind of opportunistic swing that can change the tone of a game. For the Bills, it was a frustrating lapse in situational awareness, especially from a quarterback who’s expected to protect the ball in those moments.
The good news for Buffalo? Ten points isn’t an impossible climb. But they’ll have to shake off that misstep fast if they want to claw their way back into this one.