Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Buffalo Bills' Dalton Kincaid faced criticism for a missed pass in the AFC Championship.
- Despite the drop, Kincaid's teammates and coaches defended him, highlighting his injuries and effort.
- The Bills lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, marking their fourth playoff defeat to them in five years.
SALT LAKE CITY — No single play ever decides a game, not even a catchable pass that fell to the ground ending another bitter loss in the playoffs.
For this reason, forget blaming Dalton Kincaid for the Buffalo Bills again failing to beat the Super Bowl-bound Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game on Sunday.
The former Utah tight end didn't haul in Josh Allen's fourth-down desperation heave in the final quarter, thus leading to the fourth playoff loss to the Chiefs in the last five years.
Facing intense pressure against a blitzing Chiefs defense, a back-pedaling Allen barely got off a throw that sailed down the middle of the field. Kincaid was forced to dive right, but the ball ricocheted off his forearm as the disappointment settled in for the hard-luck Bills and their legions of loyal brokenhearted diehards.
Somehow, the sure-handed Kincaid couldn't get either hand on the ball before it bounced away. Instead of making a miraculous catch, which would have been among the best in the 65-year franchise history, the second-year player was labeled as a goat by some of the more ignorant critics.
Dov Kleiman, a media personality with 328,400 followers on X posted: "Dalton Kincaid with the biggest drop of his life." Apparently for emphasis, he wrote it in all caps.
Not stopping there, Kleiman later amplified. "The new angle of Dalton Kincaid's brutal game-losing drop is way worse than it looked live."
There you go, the evidence is insurmountable. Move over Scott Norwood, who missed a potential game-winning 47-yard field goal in Buffalo's loss to the New York Giants in the1991 Super Bowl, Kincaid is the newest Bills bum.
Except for one problem, he's not the goat. Besides the degree of difficulty, a reception at Kansas City's 36-yard line would have provided a new set of downs but no points.
Those blaming Kincaid can speculate Allen would have engineered a game-tying field goal to overtime. But don't stop there, the Bills probably would have milked the game clock down to nearly no time left before reaching the end zone to win the game in regulation.
Either way, Buffalo suffered another devastating defeat in the postseason. Kincaid, who experienced last year's loss to the Chiefs AFC title game, predictably took it hard.
"Right now, it obviously hurts a lot, and it's going to linger for a while, but eventually you've got to move on," Kincaid said after the game. "And hopefully you grow from this, and I believe that will be the case; but for the time being, it's going to hurt a lot."
Welcome to sports, which often offers a wide array of emotions. In 2022, Kincaid dominated with 16 receptions for 234 yards and one touchdown in Utah's scintillating 43-42 win over previously undefeated USC.
Only one week ago, Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews dropped a pass on a 2-point conversion that would have forced overtime in Buffalo's win in the divisional round. As expected, teammates and coaches rallied around Andrews and the Bills followed suit with Kincaid.
"He can sit there and think about that play over and over, but I got to be better for him," Allen said during Monday's season-ending media availability. "That's what it comes down to, and get him more involved.
"I know he's been battling throughout the entire year, bumps and bruises and probably games that he shouldn't have played he was in, but he's a tough sucker, and I got nothing but love for him, how he's approached this year. He's going to be so much better next year. Let his body heal up, and I'm going to be better, better for him, and I can promise you that."
Tight end Dawson Knox pointed out his teammate was playing with a torn PCL in one of his knees and fluid in his other knee. Kincaid was on the injury report but continued to play.
"Watching that play back, I mean he's running full speed in one direction," Knox said. "Josh had three guys in his face and just had to throw up a pop fly, and Dalton had to completely change directions and dive for the ball. The fact he even got contact on the ball is impressive."
Blame the rest of the players or the referees for a few questionable calls, none of it matters anymore. The Bills shuffled off to Buffalo while the Chiefs will attempt to make history as the only team to win the Super Bowl three consecutive seasons.
