It’s official: The New England Patriots have advanced to the Super Bowl after defeating the Denver Broncos 10-7, and they will face the Seattle Seahawks.
Defense was the story in the Patriots-Broncos game, with messy weather conditions and strong defensive play limiting scoring throughout. With a few minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Broncos kicker Will Lutz lined up to tie the game but missed. However, Lutz believes an error from his team contributed to the miss.
Broncos’ Kicker Will Lutz Points Out Denver’s Mistake
With five minutes left and Denver trailing 10-7, Lutz missed a field goal wide left.
However, it was quickly revealed that the kick had been tipped by the Patriots’ defense.
Will Lutz completely missed this kick in horrible conditions, it was tipped.
Not looking good 🤦♂️ pic.twitter.com/v6bnK8V99a
— SM Highlights (@SMHighlights1) January 25, 2026
Despite the kick being blocked rather than simply missed, Lutz placed blame on his team. James Palmer of The Athletic reported the following:
“Will Lutz said they might have been a yard short on lining up the snap on the final missed kick. But they couldn’t see the lines on the field,” Palmer said.
Will Lutz said they might have been a yard short on lining up the snap on the final missed kick. But they couldn’t see the lines on the field.
— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) January 25, 2026
The weather shift was evident throughout the game.
In the first half, Lutz kicked in relatively calm conditions. By the end, the environment had changed dramatically.
Gotta love snow games. Talk about changing in a blink of an eye #Broncos #Patriots #NEvsDEN #AFCChampionship pic.twitter.com/PZq7bgPo2O
— Brandon (@bampac29) January 25, 2026
Still, questions remain. Did the Broncos truly spot the ball incorrectly, leaving it a yard short on the field goal attempt? The broadcast appeared to show personnel dragging their feet across the field to recreate yard markers.
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Additionally, if the spot had been wrong, it raises the question of how the Broncos’ coaches did not notice it before the kick, as Denver still had its timeouts available to fix it.
Regardless, the Patriots’ defense delivered a clutch field goal block that sent New England to the Super Bowl.
During the regular season, the unit ranked 12th in the league with an impact score of 78.2 and a letter grade of C+, according to PFSN’s NFL Defense Impact Metric.
On Monday, Lutz shared a lengthy message on social media, taking the blame for the missed kick. “Just to clarify, so my words aren’t taken out of context… I was absolutely gutted during my media session after the game,” he wrote on X. “I take full responsibility for the missed kick at the end of the game. We were lined up correctly after looking at the tape.”
“The conditions made it tough to see the lines, but that can never be an excuse,” Lutz added. “This is on me and no one else. The result of any kick always ends with me. This has been an amazing year that ended in heartbreak for our team. We cannot wait to get back to work and back in front of Broncos Country.”
This isn’t the officials fault, it’s the broncos fault. Lutz is referring to where the holder setup with respect to the line of scrimmage, not where the ball was spotted by officials. Lutz said they were only 7 that’s back instead of the usual 8, which might have contributed to the block. That has nothing to do with the refs, it’s up to the team to setup properly.