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Josh Allen scored a rushing touchdown for the ages when the Buffalo Bills took on the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card round matchup. He took the ball and ran for 52 yards while evading multiple tackles. But the way the play unfolded has divided fans.
After picking up the first down on a run, most other quarterbacks would have slid and have been content to move the chains. It looked like Josh Allen had a similar idea in his mind. He seemed to slow down and prepare to slide, which caused the Pittsburgh defenders to back off, knowing any contact then could lead to a penalty. Instead, he continued onwards and ran all the way to the endzone. His defenders will say that a stutter is not an indication of a quarterback going down.
But later in the game when Allen indeed did slide late, he was hit by a Steelers defender, which was deemed to be unnecessary roughness and led to a penalty. This came despite it looking as if the defensive player was trying to pull out of hurting the quarterback.
Fans divided with NFL rules after Josh Allen's 52-yard touchdown
Fans were not happy with the way the two plays unfolded and complained about the way the rules have been designed in the NFL. They said that defenses are being hung out to dry with so much protection for quarterbacks but no limits on them faking. Here are some of the reactions on X:
Others, though, defended Josh Allen and said that his first play was a stutter step and not an attempt to get unfair advantage. They said there was nothing to see there as evidenced by the following reactions.
Steelers QB Kenny Pickett intimately familiar with fake slide
Even though it was Josh Allen in focus tonight for his alleged fake slide, opposing quarterback Kenny Pickett is more infamous for it. He tried something similar in his college career when he faked to slide and then took off to score a touchdown. It came during the ACC Championship game between Pittsburgh and Wake Forest and led to a chance in college football rules.
Maybe, something similar will happen after today's incident. At a minimum, the NFL must take the opportunity to define what is an attempted slide just as they have done so for other terms.
