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DENVER — Sean Payton conceded he will have second thoughts about his decision to pass up an easy field goal, as well as the play he called instead.
The Denver Broncos and their fans now have the entire offseason to argue over which part of that critical fourth-and-1 play was worse.
Because Payton decided not to kick a chip-shot field goal for a 10-0 lead in good weather in the first half of Sunday's AFC championship game against the New England Patriots, the Broncos ended up needing to make a kick once the blowing snow and wind rolled in after halftime. The decision played an integral role in Denver's 10-7 loss.
"There's always regrets," Payton said. "I felt like here were are, fourth-and-1, close enough — it's also a call you make based on the team you're playing and what you're watching on the other side of the ball. Yeah, there will always be second thoughts."
That fateful move put the Broncos on a slippery slope that would've challenged any quarterback — to say nothing of perennial backup Jarrett Stidham.
Everyone from Bill Cowher on the pregame show to Tony Romo in the broadcast booth was talking about the importance of the Broncos taking every point they could with Stidham stepping in for the injured Bo Nix, but Payton didn't heed that advice.
Wil Lutz missed two field goals (one was blocked) on a day Denver's defense gave up one touchdown. And that score was set up when Stidham turned the ball over deep in New England territory.
Had Denver not given away three points, it may have been able to overcome those mistakes.
"There will be a number of things when we watch the tape I will look at and critique and pay close attention to," Payton said. "It was a hard-fought game, and we didn't do enough to win."
Early in the second quarter — and with the skies still clear — the Broncos led 7-0 and faced fourth-and-1 at the New England 14. Denver called timeout to discuss its options. The offense returned to the field and Stidham's pass to RJ Harvey fell incomplete.
"Just didn't work out on that one play," said Stidham, who threw for 133 yards and a score, along with a fourth-quarter interception that sealed the win for the Patriots. "That's just football."
Late in the game, trailing 10-7, Payton sent Lutz out to try a 45-yard kick into a tricky wind and on a snow-covered field. Leonard Taylor III got a hand on the kick.
"Unfortunately, you couldn't see the lines on the field and honestly I think we might have been a yard short on the snap," Lutz said. "But you can't see the lines on the field and we had to kind of estimate."
The Broncos were right there, too. Only three teams have won a game to advance to the Super Bowl while scoring 10 points or fewer — and the Broncos were on the wrong end in two of them. They also lost 10-7 to the Buffalo Bills in the 1991 AFC title game, with backup quarterback Gary Kubiak replacing the injured John Elway.
This time, Stidham started in place of Nix, who broke his ankle in a 33-30 overtime win against Buffalo last week, and began in stellar fashion. He had a 52-yard completion to Marvin Mims Jr. that set up a short TD pass to Courtland Sutton.
Denver was rolling — until New England's fourth-down stop.
Late in the second quarter, the Patriots took advantage of Stidham's first turnover. Under pressure from Christian Elliss, he tried to toss the ball away but it was ruled a backward pass, which was recovered by Elijah Ponder. Two plays later, Drake Maye sauntered into the end zone.
"Obviously, I can't put our team in a bad position like that," Stidham said. "That was completely on me."
The play was initially ruled an incomplete pass and intentional grounding, but officials changed the call. Stidham did not realize he'd thrown a lateral.
"No, I thought I'd thrown it forward," he said.
Explained referee Alex Kemp in a pool report: "I initially ruled it as a forward pass, which was incorrect. I proceeded to go through the administration of an intentional grounding foul. The down judge and the umpire came and talked to me and provided more information. The down judge explained that he extended his right arm to signal that he had a backward pass and at that point we determined that New England had picked up the then backward pass."
Stidham conceded that he "should've just eaten the sack anyway," adding, "I can't do that."
With the snow picking up and the wind at their back, the Patriots went on a 16-play drive to start the third quarter that ended with Andy Borregales' go-ahead, 23-yard field goal. That was the final score by either team in the deteriorating conditions.
"I was dealing with it. Drake was dealing with it," Stidham said of the snow and wind. "You can't really make an excuse of it."
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