BUFFALO, N.Y. — Back in his youth, Sean Payton was a quarterback – both a very good one at Naperville Central High School and Eastern Illinois University and not so good one as a pro.
He played the toughest position in sports long enough and had enough experiences, good and bad, to know what it’s like to be a head case.
A couple players involved in the Broncos’ extra-point operation seemed to be going through some mental issues Monday night in an intoxicating game against the Buffalo Bills. Wil Lutz, the kicker, clanked one extra point off a left upright to cost the Broncos one point, and holder Riley Dixon bobbled a long snap to cost another point.
> Video above: Wil Lutz talks about kicking game-winning field goal for Broncos
That’s two points lost as the clock ticked down and the Broncos one point down, 22-21. With the Broncos at the Bills’ 17 thanks to a pass interference call, the Bills called their final timeout with 24 seconds remaining. The Broncos had no timeouts remaining. Two knees by quarterback Russell Wilson brought the ball back to the 20, third down.
Send Lutz and the field goal team out right then with 24 seconds left and the clock stopped? Take their time, line it up, kick a 38-yard field goal? Nope. Payton called for one more knee, backing it up 3 more yards to the 23.
He wanted the field goal team to scurry, not walk, out and beat the clock before kicking. The call was for "Hurricane," code for get your 11 butts out there and kick the game-winner.
The Broncos executed Hurricane at the end of the half, and Lutz made a 40-yard field goal. Payton could have made it less chaotic at the end of the game, but he purposefully wanted a little bit of chaos for Lutz and company – even if Payton says it’s not chaos because of how many times the exercise is practiced and timed.
“I felt when we were at (24) seconds, I could have sent it out there, and we could have taken our time and lined it up and got set,’’ Payton said Tuesday in his day-after-game press conference. “But I don’t know that’s what I really wanted to do. … I felt like with our miss and our mishandle with the snap and the way handled (the hurry up) at the end of the first half, I would have done it the same way again.
“I wanted them to not have to have think much and just go out – we had plenty of time – go out, get lined up, get set and kick it without a lot of thought. That was the reason.”
The moral of the explanation is: Can’t choke if you don’t think. Except Lutz missed the 41-yard field goal, anyway, wide right. Lucky for him and the Broncos, a 12-man-on-the-field penalty against the Bills gave Lutz another chance, this time from 36 yards. He made it, Broncos win, 24-22.
“And then also not leaving Josh (Allen, the Bills’ quarterback) and their offense with (24) seconds,’’ Payton said. “And the last time I did that with that receiver, well we know how that ended.”
That receiver was Stefon Diggs, a Bill now but a Viking in a 2017 second-round playoff game. Diggs caught a 61-yard touchdown pass from Case Keenum as time expired to give Minnesota a 29-24 win over Payton’s New Orleans Saints. The play has been dubbed the Minneapolis Miracle.
This time, Payton benefitted from the Bills committing a Monday Night Mistake by the Great Lake.
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