The Buffalo Bills’ long-awaited playoff appearance might not have been so short-lived had their coaching staff played the percentages and not a hunch in their 10-3 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

On first-and-goal from the Jaguars 1 Patrick Onwuasor Jersey , coach Sean McDermott and offensive coordinator Rick Dennison elected to call a run-pass option instead of asking quarterback Tyrod Taylor to either run it in himself or hand it off to running back LeSean McCoy against one of the most vulnerable run defenses in the playoffs.

”I want a running play,” McCoy said. ”It was a play I was lobbying for the whole time and it didn’t work out …”

Instead, Taylor lofted a fade pass toward the left corner of the end zone where Kelvin Benjamin was whistled for offensive pass interference on All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey, pushing the Bills back 10 yards.

The drive stalled from there and Stephen Haushka’s 31-yard field goal was all the Bills had to show for their 18-play, 71-yard drive that took 8:06, their only decent drive all game.

McDermott also botched the end of the first half by calling pass plays on second-and-6 at his 14 (incomplete) and the next down (5-yard completion to Zay Jones in which he was pushed out of bounds).

Instead of taking a knee and heading to the locker room with a 3-0 lead, the Bills gave the Jaguars the ball back with enough time to get into field goal range and score and gain some momentum heading into the locker room.

The Bills’ curious play call, however, paled in contrast to the series of odd calls by referee Jeff Triplette’s playoff crew in Kansas City, where the Tennessee Titans overcame an 18-point halftime deficit to shock the Chiefs 22-21.

”Horrible way to start the playoffs,” tweeted Mike Pereira , the former NFL officiating chief turned Fox sports analyst. ”I hate to say it, but this was not a good performance by the crew. Teams and fans deserve better.”

A day later, Pereira praised both Tony Corrente’s crew in New Orleans and John Hussey’s crew in Jacksonville, adding, ”Yesterday is a memory. I feel bad for Jeff Triplette. He is a great man who was part of a crew that did not have a good game. I feel bad that he is retiring under this cloud.”

After Marcus Mariota caught his own deflected pass for a touchdown Saturday, Triplette explained that the Titans quarterback was an eligible receiver because he had lined up in the shotgun formation rather than under center.

There is no such rule in the NFL.

Whenever a defensive player deflects a pass, every offensive player is allowed to catch the ricochet, including the quarterback and it matters not where he lined up when the play began.

Then, there was the very quick whistle that negated a fumble recovery by Justin Houston after fellow linebacker Derrick Johnson sacked Mariota in the second quarter.

Mariota fumbled a split-second after contact, but Triplette said the QB’s forward progress had been stopped before the fumble.

Forward progress is usually called when a running back is stopped and defenders are piling on him or several defenders drape a quarterback.

Hardly ever is it applied when a QB is going to the ground on initial contact by a single defender.

As a judgment call, Chiefs coach Andy Reid was helpless to throw his red challenge flag, and Ryan Succop kicked a field goal on the next play.

”The defender hit him and he was driving him back,” Triplette said after the game.

The officials had one more gaffe in them, one that was corrected on replay review.

The crew initially called a fumble on Titans running back Derrick Henry late in the fourth quarter, signaling touchdown when Johnson scooped up the ball and rumbled into the end zone as fireworks lit up the sky.

The replays showed he was down before the ball came loose.

Before wild-card weekend began Orlando Brown Jr. Jersey , there were several notable calls concerning the Cincinnati Bengals.

Bills fans giddy over Buffalo ending the longest playoff drought in North American pro sports made a surge in donations to Andy Dalton’s foundation , their way of thanking the Bengals QB for his role in the Bills’ first invitation to the postseason party in 17 years.

Dalton’s foundation received more than $300,000 in donations after the Bengals beat the Ravens 31-27 in the regular-season finale when Dalton threw a 49-yard TD pass with 44 seconds left to eliminate Baltimore and open a spot for Buffalo.

”I think I’m the hottest guy in Buffalo right now,” Dalton said.

While the Bills’ long streak of playoff futility is over, the Bengals’ streak continues. They haven’t won a playoff game since the 1990 season, the sixth-longest streak of postseason futility in NFL history. They’ve lost all seven of their playoff games since that season, including an NFL-record five straight first-round defeats from 2011-15.

The Bengals missed out on the playoffs for a second straight season, going 7-9. They won their last two games, knocking the Lions and Ravens out of the playoff race.

That was enough for owner Mike Brown to give coach Marvin Lewis a two-year extension and two more chances to try to get the Bengals that playoff victory that has eluded him for 15 seasons.

Lewis has the second-longest active coaching tenure in the NFL, behind only Bill Belichick’s 18 seasons with New England.

Unlike Belichick, who has won five Super Bowls and made two other appearances in the title game, Lewis is 0-7 in the playoffs, the worst such coaching record in NFL history.

In Denver, John Elway thought long and

MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee’s Brent Suter will not start as scheduled Saturday when the Brewers continue their four-game series with the Atlanta Braves at Miller Park.

The left-hander was placed on the 10-day disabled list Friday with a strained left forearm, an issue he first reported after his last outing when he gave up five runs over five innings against the Reds on Monday.

Suter worked with the team’s medical staff over the last week but the issue didn’t resolve itself as they had hoped, so the decision was made to give the 28-year-old a break.

“We saw the doc and he was like, ‘Let’s just skip a start,'” Suter said. “It’s disappointing, for sure, but I’ll try to come back stronger. Our team is gelling so well right now that you want to be a part of it.”

Though forearm strains are often a precursor to significantly more serious issues, manager Craig Counsell was confident that the move was more precautionary than anything else and that Suter’s absence would be brief.

“You’re always cautious when a pitcher has a forearm injury, but at this point it’s a minor injury,” Counsell said. “I think it’s important we don’t let it become something big. That’s why we’re putting him on the DL.”

In 18 appearances this season, including a pair of relief outings, Suter is 8-5 with a 4.53 ERA. He allowed nine runs over his last two starts but was on a roll before that, going 6-1 with a 3.12 ERA in seven starts from May 18 to June 21.

“I was trying my best not to miss a start all year Kenny Young Jersey ,” Suter said. “That was my No. 1 goal coming into the season, so it’s disappointing that way. But I’ve got to listen to the docs. They know what they’re talking about.”

With Suter out, the Brewers plan to recall right-hander Aaron Wilkerson from Triple-A Colorado Springs Saturday morning and send him to the mound Saturday afternoon.

Wilkerson, 29, reported to spring training with a chance at cracking Milwaukee’s Opening Day rotation but was optioned to Colorado Springs, where he was 2-2 with a 2.08 ERA in eight appearances, including seven starts, after opening the season on the disabled list.

Wilkerson was called up last weekend and worked three innings of relief against the Reds on Sunday, giving up five runs and taking the loss in his only major league appearance of the season. He was sent back to Colorado Springs the next day when the team promoted infielder Nate Orf.

“He’s on line and he’s ready to go,” Counsell said of Wilkerson, who will be starting in the big leagues for the first time since since the 2017 season finale, when he held the Cardinals to a run on two hits over seven innings, striking out five.

While Wilkerson gets his first start of the year, Braves right-hander Anibal Sanchez takes the ball for the 10th time in what’s been a pleasantly surprising season.

The veteran right-hander brings a 3-2 record and sparking 2.89 ERA into the contest and went 2-2 with a 2.48 mark in five June starts. His last outing in June was cut short by a sore calf, but he took his next turn on schedule, allowing three runs over six innings against the Yankees on Monday.

“Every day that I come here, I feel a blessing,” Sanchez told the Atlanta Journal Constitution before that outing. “I feel blessed to be here because I know how tough the offseason was for most of the players my age. I signed with the Twins, got released, got an opportunity here with another team that I liked. To be able to be in that position right now, with a team whose expectation was different than where we are right now.

“Now, for me, every outing is a challenge. I want to pitch for the team. I want to win for the team. I want to keep the team in first place. I want to be able to be healthy the rest of the season and help the team the most that I can and make the playoffs.”

Sanchez is 2-2 with a 6.37 ERA in eight career starts against the Brewers, but he has not faced them since 2015.

Prior to their loss Friday night, the Braves were the only team in baseball to lose no more than three games in a row this season. Their four-game losing streak is the longest since dropping six in a row September 25-30 of last season.