Josh Allen pulled some shady stuff in the Buffalo Bills wild card win over the Pittsburgh Steelers last week. And good for him for getting away with it.
But Cam Heyward thinks if it continues, it’ll ruin football.
“Not Just Football” co-host Hayden Walsh pressed Heyward about whether Allen’s play midway through the second quarter included a fake slide.
Heyward was careful about his words, likely because it wasn’t a fake slide in the true sense of the term. It was more of a hesitation and redirect to slow the defense down, or a deke, something Allen is known for doing — much to opponents’ dismay.
“You definitely see him slow down to alert [the defender] that he was gonna slide, but I don’t know what you’re supposed to do as a defender,” Heyward said when asked if there was a fake slide by Allen. “That happens, and then look at the ramifications of it, because then Myles Jack takes it in his hands, and he’s like, I have to go for him because he’s not giving himself up all the time.”
Jack, helped by a little Academy Award performance by Allen and some poor officiating, was flagged for roughing the passer — leading to a touchdown that was essentially the nail in Pittsburgh’s coffin.
Heyward didn’t name names, but quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes have made famous the I’m-going-out-of-bounds-psych.
“We look to protect quarterbacks, but, man, you’re taking away from the game when you do that,” he said. “You get these quarterbacks that act like they’re going out of bounds, but then they skirt up the sideline, and they add more yards, but it’s like, man, as a quarterback, you should be trying to get down as soon as possible. If a quarterback turns on the gears and is running full tilt, he shouldn’t be given the clearance to just make a decision right then and there to either trick the ref or trick the team. I think it’s a load of crap.”
The refs did seem to favor the home team Bills, but that never seems to matter in the end because the final score is the final score, no matter how they call it.
"If a QB turns on the gears and is running full tilt, he shouldn't be given the clearance to just make a decision right then and there to either, trick the ref or trick the team. I think it's a load of crap." pic.twitter.com/Ql31FmtT4p
— Not Just Football (@NotJustFootball) January 19, 2024
