Broncos Speak Out on Refs' Controversial Courtland Sutton OPI

If the Denver Broncos are finally going to snap their 15-game losing against the Kansas City Chiefs, it might require divine intervention.

Sunday’s officiating crew at Arrowhead certainly did the Broncos no favors. The difficulty of competing against one of the NFL's elite teams increased dramatically when a tremendous, momentum-shifting 44-yard leaping catch by Courtland Sutton was instead bizarrely deemed to be offensive pass interference.

The disputed call on a 3rd-&-11 with the Broncos leading 17-14 late in the third quarter. It was a critical moment, and it ultimately proved to have a big impact on the outcome.

Broncos interim coach Jerry Rosburg knows that the NFL's disciplinary committee takes a dim view of coaches publicly critiquing the officials’ performance. However, he was still forthright about the refs throwing the mysterious flag on Sutton.

“Unfortunate,” Rosburg put it bluntly. “The word of the day. Highly unfortunate.”

As a collective, the Broncos can be forgiven for believing that some black magic voodoo curse has been conjured up to keep maintain this horrific losing streak. Patrick Mahomes orchestrated another season sweep of Denver, masterminded by head coach Andy Reid, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.

With a lucky break here and there, the Broncos might have emerged victorious in both games. The harsh reality of a troubled season found Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson quite emotional post-game. The embattled signal-caller was left to rue how the football gods turned on his team in their moment of need.

“He made a great catch. I for sure thought that it was going to be pass interference the other way, to be honest with you, but they called it,” Wilson said post-game. “We still had to respond; we had a lot of game left. That was a big point in the game because we were up, and then we get the ball on their 40-yard line, it’s a 50-yard play, and we have all the momentum. Instead, it’s third and 20 or whatever it was.”

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Sutton was somewhat diplomatic when he reacted to reporters asking for his bird’s eye view of the play. Nevertheless, he was puzzled.

“I thought it was going to be DPI,” Sutton told reporters. “It turned into OPI. Interesting. But, happened.”

Fellow wide receiver Jerry Jeudy was in no doubt that it was a bogus call on Sutton — who beat a double team to catch the ball.

“Yeah, that wasn’t pass interference," Jeudy said. "Game officials will hear from the league on that later during the week. But that isn’t anything I can control. Everybody else knows that wasn’t a pass interference call. How do you get called for pass interference with two guys on you?”

Throughout a season of massive let-downs, endless injuries, damaging in-fighting, and even a head-coaching change, the Broncos have still strangely lacked that vital spark of passion. But since Rosburg took temporary charge, somehow, he’s dramatically changed the energy levels in under a week.

Accountability for making the crucial game-defining plays down the stretch still rests with his players, according to the always-forthright Rosburg, despite the officiating blunder the Broncos just endured.

“I am heartbroken for our Denver fans because of this whole streak that you all know about, and I keep getting asked about that,” Rosburg declared. “The only way it is going to stop if we stop making errors down the stretch in the game or we stop making errors at the beginning of the game that put us behind the eight ball. Those things have to stop.”

Rosburg’s deep-held belief that the Broncos can finally beat the Chiefs provides hope for next season. While the 67-year-old long-time assistant is resigned to planting only seeds, perhaps the next Broncos head coach might find enormous value in prolonging his comeback from temporary retirement instead.

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