Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton bore full responsibility for the controversial ending to Sunday’s loss at Indianapolis, where outside linebacker Dondrea Tillman’s leverage penalty allowed the Colts to kick a game-winning field goal with no time remaining.
And in doing so, Payton admitted his “big regret” from how the brutal sequence unfolded, drawing parallels to last year’s heartbreaker at Kansas City.
“Yes, I think there are some similarities, and I spoke about it actually in the locker room yesterday,” Payton told the media via Zoom on Monday. “Then there are some differences, and I would say this. No. 1, we had a certain field goal block in the event of a game-ending field goal, much like the PAT, where [NFL S] Justin Simmons jumps cleanly and blocks the PAT in New Orleans. But that’s on me in that situation. It’s not on [Special Teams Coordinator/Assistant Head Coach] Darren [Rizzi], it’s not on [OLB Dondrea] Tillman. With a 60-yard field goal attempt, it’s different. The alignment got wrong, and the call was correct. As a defensive line, you can push down on the back of the center and offensive linemen. You can push down on the back specifically if you’re going to go internally on the guards, you can push down. You can’t push to jump. So a common block would be to push down with one player, and then to clear jump with another. The alignment got mixed up between Tillman and one of the other tackles. The call was correct. That was leveraging. You can’t put your hands to elevate yourself off one of your own guys or off one of the opponent players. My big regret flying home was that’s more for a closer field goal. That’s more for a gimme than a 60-yard attempt, and that’s on me.”
Trailing 28-26 with roughly three minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Colts went on a nine-play, 41-yard march that stalled out at Denver’s 42-yard line, setting up for a 60-yard attempt from former undrafted kicker Spencer Shrader — an attempt that sailed wide right.
Game over. Until it wasn’t. A zealous, Craig Wrolstad-led officiating crew flagged Tillman for using his leverage while attempting to block the kick. Shrader then drilled a 45-yard try with triple zeroes on the clock.
Game over. For real.
The Denver Post’s Parker Gabriel charted 54 field goal and extra point tries in which Tillman was involved, and none showed him rushing from the interior, as was the case Sunday. Gabriel noted that Tillman regularly lined up “over TE or wing,” with inside being “an unfamiliar spot for him in game settings.”
Watched 54 FGs + XPs with Dondrea Tillman on the field pre/regular/postseason since the start of 2024. He’s never lined up where he did on the 60-yarder or been near the LS. Almost always over TE or wing.
At the least, an unfamiliar spot for him in game settings. https://t.co/cUympAsUwc
— Parker Gabriel (@ParkerJGabriel) September 15, 2025
So, why did Denver decide to make the ill-fated change? Payton again put his hand up (and indirectly raised the hand of special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi).
“We felt [OLB Dondrea] Tillman jumped pretty well,” he said Monday. “The idea was to work [No.] 90 [Colts DT Grover Stewart] of their field goal protection unit who lined up at left guard where [DT] D.J. [Jones] is going to be able to push down. That’s legal. Then right at the last minute, they flipped sides inside and so now we’re on a different defender, or a different offensive blocker. To your question, Tillman has some pretty good leaps, and just ended up, we ended up on the wrong side and we didn’t execute it. Before any and all of that though, we should be working a normal rush, a normal interior rush with a 60-yard attempt.”
