A loss when you’re one win away from the Super Bowl is always tough, but that’s especially the case when you fail to catch a potentially game-changing pass.
After living through that latter situation during the Buffalo Bills' loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid teared up when describing it to reporters after the game.
“Right now it obviously hurts a lot, and it’s going to linger for a while, but eventually you’ve got to move on. 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,” the former Utah football star said, according to Syracuse.com.
Kincaid’s drop came as the game was slipping away from the Bills.
Down 32-29, the team was facing fourth-and-5, and needed the first down in order to keep their hopes of a game-winning touchdown or game-tying field goal alive.
Quarterback Josh Allen was close to getting sacked, but he was able to get the ball off to Kincaid. The tight end dove for the ball, but it bounced off his arm then hit the ground.
The play turned out to be the Bills' final offensive play of the season, as NFL.com noted, and Kincaid took some heat from fans, as well as CBS analyst — and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback — Tony Romo.
“That shoulda been caught,” Romo said on the national broadcast.
But Kincaid’s teammates and coach rallied around him, saying that they don’t blame him for the loss and that they won’t let him blame himself.
“It would have been an absolutely incredible play if it happened but there’s not a single person in (our locker room) that’s gonna put the blame on him,” said Kincaid’s fellow tight end Dawson Knox after the game, per Syracuse.com.
Knox continued, “We wouldn’t be in this game if it weren’t for Dalton. ... The work he puts in, what he brings to this offense, it’s invaluable. I’m gonna try to make sure he doesn’t tell himself any lies or believe anything that’s just not true because he expects himself to make that play. It would’ve been incredible if he did but you just can’t let him get down in the dumps because of it.”
Similarly, Bills linebacker Terrel Bernard said Kincaid should be praised for what he did for the team all season, not criticized for one drop.
“Dalton has been incredible for us all year: a leader on the team, a guy that other people look towards, made plays all year — so, I think it’s unfair, honestly, to even say that and put him in that situation,” he said, according to Syracuse.com.
During his postgame press conference, Bills coach Sean McDermott said he has faith that Kincaid will bounce back.
“He gave it everything he had. I love Dalton Kincaid,” he said, per NFL.com. “Sometimes those work out. He makes more of those than he doesn’t. He will make the next one.”
Kincaid has been with the Bills since he was drafted by the team with the No. 25 overall pick in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft.
That was the highest a tight end from the Utah football program had ever been drafted, as the Deseret News reported at the time.