Josh Allen could not believe the referees flagged him for intentional grounding Sunday night in the Bills’ 24-18 road loss to the Bengals.
Allen visibly argued the call right after it was made, and jumped on the chance to voice his displeasure during his postgame press conference.
“I’ve never seen that call in my life,” Allen said.
The Bills faced a third-and-6 at the Bengals’ 38-yard-line with 28 seconds left in the first half when Allen targeted receiver Gabe Davis.
Allen explained that Davis had an option route, meaning he could sit or go deep.
Allen thought Davis would keep running, but the receiver instead stopped.
The quarterback, while under light pressure at best, threw toward the goal line and the pass sailed out of bounds in the vicinity of no player.
The referees then hit Allen with intentional grounding, which pushed the Bills out of scoring range.
A 56-yard field goal is no sure thing, but the Bills wanted that chance.
“I wasn’t pressured. They decided to make that call and unfortunately didn’t allow us to get points there. I wouldn’t do anything different,” Allen said. “I’m expecting him to run a go, he made the read to stop.”
The Bills opened the second half with a field goal, and Allen believes getting points on back-to-back drives could have made a difference.
Allen finished 26 of 38 for 258 yards while tossing one touchdown and one interception, and added 44 rushing yards and one rushing score.
Buffalo is now 5-4 and has lost three of its last five games.
“It’s a huge swing. Whether it’s three or six coming out of the half, scoring on back-to-back drives and getting yourself some momentum, that’s huge in a game, especially against a good team like we just played,” Allen said.
“It stings, losing is never fun, losing sucks. If one thing, though, we’re not going to let this divide us. We’re going to come together and we’re going to figure it out. I got a lot of faith in the men in this locker room and this coaching staff and the men around me.”
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