Bills’ Josh Allen Seemed to Sell Refs on Horrible Roughing-the-Passer Call Before TD

Allen begged for a call and got it.
Allen appealed for a roughing-the-passer call.
Allen appealed for a roughing-the-passer call. /

Give Josh Allen credit, he sure can sell it when he wants something.

Late in the first half of the Buffalo Bills' matchup with the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, Allen convinced an official to call roughing the passer on what appeared to be a clean sack by Zaven Collins.

The Bills faced first-and-10 from Arizona's 41-yard line with 45 seconds left in the half while trailing 17-10. Allen dropped back, didn't have anywhere to go with the ball, and Collins grabbed his collar before corralling him and taking him down. As Allen fell to the turf, he pointed to the official as if to beg for a roughing call. He got it.

Video is below.

I'm not sure what Collins did wrong there. It wasn't a horse-collar tackle, and it appeared he did everything else right.

Three plays later, Allen rushed seven yards into the end zone with 19 seconds remaining in the half to cut Arizona's lead to 17-10. That awful roughing-the-passer call definitely helped Buffalo get those points.


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Ryan Phillips
RYAN PHILLIPS

Ryan Phillips is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in digital media since 2009, spending eight years at The Big Lead before joining SI in 2024. Phillips also co-hosts The Assembly Call Podcast about Indiana Hoosiers basketball and previously worked at Bleacher Report. He is a proud San Diego native and a graduate of Indiana University’s journalism program.