Brandin Cooks Still Disagrees With AFC Divisional Round 'Catch' Ruling

Once again the Buffalo Bills fell short of even reaching the Super Bowl, let alone winning one. One of the contributing factors to their most recent failure was an interception by Denver's Ja'Quan McMillian in overtime of the AFC Divisional Round. It's a play that haunts wideout Brandin Cooks - the receiver who thought he caught the ball - to this day.

In an interview with The Athletic's Tim Graham, Cooks admitted that he still thinks about the play where thought he had the catch, only for McMillian to rip the ball from his hands to secure an interception. The Broncos would kick a game-winning field goal that sent them to the AFC Championship Game and the Bills home.

"For a week straight, I was watching it over and over," Cooks said. "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."

Consequences

Cooks said he still believes it was a catch. He said he was confused then and remains confused now.

"I will continue to process it until I get back on the field 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," he said.

"It doesn't keep me up or give me unhealthy flashbacks," Cooks said. "But from a competitive nature, I still think about not winning the Super Bowl as if it happened yesterday."

The fallout from the non-catch was pretty severe. The Bills decided that to fire longtime head coach Sean McDermott in the aftermath of yet another playoff disappointment and watched in frustration as the rival New England Patriots made the Super Bowl.

The good news is, QB Josh Allen is still in his prime and the Bills have plenty of pieces in place to continue being a force in the regular season and the playoffs for years to come.

But every missed opportunity stings.

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This story was originally published July 9, 2026 at 9:21 AM.