The Broncos’ overtime win over the Bills was short-lived Saturday night. When Head Coach Sean Payton and the players finished postgame interviews, they hadn’t yet learned the day’s worst news. Several Bills players were already in tears over their AFC Divisional loss to Denver. Moments later, the Broncos were devastated as they learned quarterback Bo Nix had fractured his ankle and would miss the rest of the season.

Earlier, not even Nix was aware of the severity of his injury as he left the field all smiles after the dramatic win over the Bills. Staying true to the 2025 Denver Broncos’ style, Nix led his team to another come-from-behind 33-30 overtime victory—his 25th career win and a new NFL record for a player’s first two years. Shortly after, Sean Payton returned to hold a second postgame press conference to announce the news.

“Not good news. On the second to last play in overtime, [QB] Bo [Nix] fractured a bone in his right ankle,” said Payton. “He’s scheduled to have surgery on Tuesday of this week, which will put him out for the rest of the season. ‘Stiddy’ (QB Jarrett Stidham) is ready to go. It was the second-to-last play before he threw the pass to [WR Marvin] Mims. Birmingham [Ala.] is where he’ll have the surgery with Dr. [Norman E.] Waldrop. I don’t really think there are any other questions. In other words, this just is what it is. We felt like it’d be best to just tell everyone now.”

Tom Hanks’ character once said, “There’s no crying in baseball,” but in real-life football, there were real tears for both the losers and the winners this week. Before the field was cleared on Saturday night, emotions ran high on both sides. Wide receiver Brandon Cooks, who had an interception ripped out of his hands by Ja’Quan McMillian, had tears streaming down his face as he embraced Broncos’ players leaving the field.

Bills’ quarterback Josh Allen was visibly sobbing as he answered questions from reporters in the postgame press conference. Allen and the Bills had five turnovers but still forced overtime.

“It’s extremely difficult. I feel like I let my teammates down tonight,” a sniffling Allen said slowly. “[I] just missed opportunities throughout the game. It’s been a long season. I hate how it ended, and that’s going to stick with me for a long time…. You can’t win with five turnovers. I fumbled twice, threw two picks. When you shoot yourself in the foot like that, you don’t deserve to win football games.”

The game’s turning point was McMillian’s overtime interception. Both players caught the Allen pass, but McMillian rolled over Cooks and emerged with the ball. Had Cooks secured it, the Bills would have been set up for a game-winning field goal in overtime.

“It’s hard for me to understand why it was ruled the way it was ruled,” said McDermott about the interception.  “If it is ruled that way, then why wasn’t it slowed down just to make sure that we have this right? That would have made a lot of sense to me to make sure that we have this thing right because that’s a pivotal play in the game.

We have the ball at the 20 [-yard line], maybe kicking a game-winning field goal right there, so I’ll just leave it that. I’m saying it because I’m standing up for Buffalo, dammit. I’m standing up for us. What went on is not how it should have gone down, in my estimation. These guys spend three hours out there playing football, pouring their guts out to not even say, ‘Hey, let’s just slow this thing down.’ That’s why I’m bothered.” McDermott was fired by the Bills the next day after nine seasons with the team.

The Broncos survived to go to the next round: the AFC Championship Game. However, they will move on without their leader, Bo Nix. Instead, Jarrett Stidham will step in to replace Nix. As a result, the Broncos enter the game as 5.5-point underdogs at home against the New England Patriots. Notably, this point differential is the largest for a home team in the AFC Championship since the merger in 1970.

Respect for the Broncos from different corners of the sports world has taken on a disrespectful tone. For some players, it doesn’t matter; to others, it’s a form of motivation to keep moving forward.

“Obviously, people think we won the most games by one score, but hey, winning is winning,” said left tackle Garett Bolles. “So you know, people, ESPN, CBS, Pat McAfee Show, all those guys can keep talking because we’re winning. And you can’t take away winning. It doesn’t matter how you win in this league or anything like that because we win.

So everyone can keep talking about how they win, but we obviously got here for a reason, and our record is what it is. This team is just full of winners. We believe in each other. We don’t really care about what the outside noise says. We believe in each other. I’m beyond grateful. So if y’all want to keep talking, thanks for giving us motivation.”

Only four cities remain in the hunt for the coveted Super Bowl Trophy to be determined on February 8th, in Super Bowl 60. The No. 1 seed Seattle Seahawks will host the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC game, which will be the second game on Sunday afternoon at 6:30 PM MT.  

Hosting the AFC Championship game on Sunday in Denver, the Broncos will go with Jarrett Stidham at the helm. The New England Patriots, 16-3, come to Denver as the No. 2 seed. Stidham led the entire NFL in the 2025 preseason for quarterback rating and completion percentage. Go to www.SportsReportNet.com for the complete photo gallery of the Broncos - Bills AFC Divisional Game.

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