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Bills GM Says Team Has Been in Talks With NFL About Calls in AFC Title Game

Andy Nesbitt

Bills GM Brandon Beane still thinks Josh Allen picked up a key first down vs. the Chiefs.
Bills GM Brandon Beane still thinks Josh Allen picked up a key first down vs. the Chiefs. / @BuffaloBills
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The Buffalo Bills had their season come to an end last Sunday when they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, 32–29, in the AFC championship game at Arrowhead Stadium. While Patrick Mahomes & Co. made a number of big plays to get the win, there were some tough calls that didn't go the Bills' way, and those are still not sitting well in Buffalo.

Bills GM Brandon Beane spoke with the media on Thursday and said the team has been in contact with the league about those calls.

"It’s frustrating," Beane said. "There’s only so much I can say. We work with the league to try to get clarity and I’ll give them credit—they’ve taken our calls, they’ve sent videos and things like that."

One of the biggest calls came on a fourth-and-1 early in the fourth quarter. Replays seemed to show that Josh Allen might have done just enough to pick up the first down but he was ruled short by the refs and then the replay officials confirmed the call, which gave the Chiefs the ball and led to a quick touchdown by Kansas City.

"If you’re talking about the fourth down play, I feel like he got that and I still feel like he got that," Beane said. "Nothing has changed my mind on that."

He also had questions about a catch by Xavier Worthy on a ball that seemed to hit the ground.

"The play that we challenged I thought was a good challenge," Beane said. "I’m not sure either player had possession when the ball touched the ground. You have to have possession. What is possession? But when the ball touches the ground, somebody has to have established possession."

Here's Beane talking about those calls:

He added this about the outcome of the game:

"But it is what it is, those are just like plays we didn’t make in the game, too, so by no means are we saying that’s why we lost the game."

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Andy Nesbitt
ANDY NESBITT

Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.

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