Former head coach Steve Mariucci made sure to push NFL rules analyst Walt Anderson.

He wanted to know who made the call on the controversial interception in overtime of the Bills-Broncos game Saturday in the divisional round, when Brandin Cooks appeared to initially catch the ball before Ja’Quan McMillan took possession away for an interception.

And Mariucci, during Anderson’s weekly segment on NFL Network, wanted to know why fans — both in attendance and watching on television — didn’t hear from referee Carl Cheffers himself.

“You have to realize every play behind the scenes is being reviewed by multiple people,” Anderson said when Mariucci pushed him about Cheffers. “They’re looking at all these angles. And part of the guidelines that the league has established is when replay, you have a ruling on the field, and when replay has all of these angles to take a look and see was the ruling on the field wrong or was the ruling on the field correct, and if you can confirm that the ruling on the field was correct, they really want to move the game along and they don’t want to have unnecessary stoppages.

“I understand, I get people’s point that, ‘Well, it’d been good to get a little more explanation from that standpoint,’ but I personally thought that really CBS did a pretty good job with their analysts with explaining why it was not a completed catch and was in fact an interception.”

Mariucci then responded that he wanted to hear from Cheffers — and that “I didn’t want to hear from Tony Romo.”
Broncos cornerback Ja’quan McMillian (29) intercepts a pass intended for Buffalo Bills wide receiver Brandin Cooks (18) during overtime of an NFL divisional round playoff football game, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, in Denver.

With the Bills facing a second-and-11 from their own 38-yard line near the eight-minute mark of overtime, Josh Allen floated a ball down the field for Cooks, who, if he completed the catch, would’ve positioned Buffalo for a potential game-winning field goal.

Instead, when Cooks hit the ground, the ball became loose, Anderson said during his segment.
Walt Anderson is pictured during an NFL Network segment Jan. 18.

“By definition, that would be normally an incomplete pass if it comes out and hits the ground,” Anderson continued. “Now the reality here is the ball never hits the ground.”

That’s because McMillan emerged with possession, giving the ball back from the Broncos and allowing Will Lutz to hit the game-winning field goal in their 33-30 win.

Anderson reiterated twice that there are multiple people in New York City and at the stadium are looking at every angle of all the plays — and the NFL has “invested millions of dollars in the Hawk-Eye system,” Anderson said.

“So they’re looking at all the angles, they’re talking with each other, they’re confirming that the call on the field was the ball was immediately loose when it hit the ground, it didn’t hit the ground and was gained control by the defender,” Anderson said. “That’s why it was an interception.”

Bills head coach Sean McDermott was left furious by how the ruling transpired.