Broncos WR Tim Patrick 'Can't Swallow' No-Call on Waynes' Blatant Pass Interference in Crunch Time

Tim Patrick is not a happy camper following Denver's 27-23 loss to Minnesota.

Ben Ludeman-USA TODAY Sports

As the dust settles on the Denver Broncos disastrous collapse in Minneapolis, it's clear that simply playing a good team close no longer cuts it. While we can all hold up the first half of Sunday's game as a blueprint for success, the second half collapse is without doubt massively damaging.

Most frustrations will center on a perceived lack of the required mental toughness and coaching it takes to hold down crunch time games. Most will agree the Broncos are showing enough fight but are being sunk by failures in crucial game-deciding execution.

Following the Broncos' 27-23 loss, linebacker Von Miller was blunt and honest when acknowledging how the team is showing signs of progress but desperately needs to finish things off.

“We got great players and coaches," Miller said post-game. "We were just a few plays short. There are no moral victories, period.”

Perhaps the single most perplexing aspect of the Broncos' latest fourth-quarter self-destruction is that they still had opportunities to win it as the clock hit zero. Three Brandon Allen pass attempts into the end zone failed to target the Broncos' go-to receiver Courtland Sutton. 

The young QB provided an explanation for not targeting No. 14 in the clutch.

“I think they were doubling Courtland the whole time," Allen said from the podium post-game. "It's the respect he deserves. Really shouldn't go to him. Don't have to throw it up in double coverage to him, but I thought other guys separated. I was just trying to give us a chance to get the ball in the end zone, and it didn't work out.”

OC Rich Scangarello’s clear strategy to concentrate on single coverage matchups might have failed in the clutch, with successive incompletions ending the contest but on another day, perhaps at home, with a different officiating crew, the Broncos might well have caught a break on what looked to be pass interference non-calls as Allen targeted TE Noah Fant and WR Tim Patrick in the end zone. 

Both head coach Vic Fangio and Patrick made reference to the potential injustice in post-game interviews. Due to his distant eye-witness evidence, Fangio was a bit more diplomatic when talking about the incident. 

“I couldn’t see the one that was thrown in the corner away from our sideline," Fangio said. "Tim Patrick had a good chance on his, and the other ones – you know, it’s tight down there.”

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The young Denver receiver, who was in the heart of the incident, took a different view on the play in question as you would expect.

“There was a guy pulling on my facemask," Patrick said. "I couldn’t see the ball."

Although Fangio himself acknowledged after the game that officials usually let the players play in critical end-of-game moments, and are thus very conservative with the yellow laundry, Patrick had a hard time accepting that explanation and shrugging off what he perceived to be a blatant defensive foul by Vikings CB Trae Waynes.  

"When the play has something to do with me not seeing the ball, you can’t swallow that," Patrick said.  

Fangio and his staff will have to deal with a salty and aggrieved group of players this week, at what some regard internally as the officials costing the Broncos another win. As the team licks its wounds, there will be no time for self-pity as the focus shifts to another tough road trip back East to face the 7-3 Buffalo Bills. 

Follow Keith on Twitter @KeithC_NFL and @MileHighHuddle.