In overtime of the divisional playoff game in Denver, Bills wide receiver Brandin Cooks had a catch in his hands at the Broncos' 20-yard line that would have put Buffalo in range for the game-winning field goal and sent the Bills to the AFC Championship Game. But Denver's Ja'Quan McMillian ripped the ball out of Cooks' arms for an interception, and the Broncos kicked a game-winning field goal of their own on the next possession.
Cooks still can't believe it.
"For a week straight, I was watching it over and over," Cooks told Tim Graham of TheAthletic.com. "But I knew, as a father, that I had to put it away. If I'd have kept watching, it would have put me in some type of mood that my wife and my kids didn't deserve."
The NFL has confirmed that the official's call of an interception was correct, but Cooks thinks he had possession and was down before McMillian got the ball from him.
"I will continue to process it until I get back on the field," Cooks said, "but I think the biggest thing I can say is that I still feel like it was a catch. After it happened, seeing some of the so-called controversial calls that were called a catch, I just had to turn the playoffs off because I'm like, 'Yo, what is going on?' For me, the way that my mind operates is, 'OK, what can I do about it?' And what I can do about it is get back on the field, continue to work on being the best that I can be and making sure next time it's a catch-and-run for a touchdown and leave it in no one else's hands."