ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — As the Bills kneeled out the clock on a 31-7 win and the seconds ticked away on the Broncos’ 2024 season, a set of dueling emotions emerged.
There was, undoubtedly, a sense of disappointment from a season that ended too soon for the Broncos’ liking.
“We felt pretty confident coming into this game, relative to what we thought we could do,” Head Coach Sean Payton said, “and yet, we weren’t able to do it.”
A number of small moments — from a couple of dropped passes to a missed 50-yard field goal to a miraculous Bills touchdown grab that was upheld upon video review — cost the Broncos a chance to keep their unexpected success going.
“That’s playoff ball,” defensive lineman Zach Allen said. “Any little mistake can just make or break the game. It’s not like the regular season. It’s tough when you have a young team to kind of relay that. It’s kind of a little bit of a deal like trial by fire. You have 53-plus [players] in there that now know what it is. Hopefully that leads to some future success.”
After taking a 7-0 lead via a 43-yard Bo Nix to Troy Franklin touchdown on the opening possession, Denver did not score again. And while the Broncos kept the game within one score until late in the third quarter, Allen’s fourth-and-1 touchdown pass to Ty Johnson and the ensuing two-point conversion pushed the Bills’ lead to 14 points and opened the floodgates.
“The teams that you’re going to play when you get to this point in the season, all of them are elite, and we obviously found that out today,” tight end Adam Trautman said.
Whether in the time-of-possession battle, defending the run game or finding third-down success on offense, Denver came up short in its biggest test of the season.
“The things we felt we needed to do on the road to win, we didn’t do nearly well enough,” Payton said.
As Payton said Sunday, “it’s got to fuel you and light a fire” for the Broncos as they turn toward the future.
“You never want to have these feelings in the game of football, and it works towards all the work that you do in the offseason to make sure you never feel this way again,” tackle Mike McGlinchey said. “Got to go back to the drawing board, got to get better and got to make sure that we win a couple of these next year.”
With that hunger and drive and resolve came the other emotion.
For what they accomplished in 2024. For how they proved a host of people wrong. And for how they reset the standard in Broncos Country after a long stretch of disappointment.
