Getty Josh Allen is pressured in a game against the New York Giants.
The NFL announced four separate fines arising from a third-quarter fight between Buffalo Bills and New York Giants in their October 15 game, but decided against giving anything to quarterback Josh Allen for his big hit in the fracas.
With less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter, Giants linebacker Bobby Okereke and defensive lineman Leonard Williams got into a tussle with Bills offensive lineman Spencer Brown. Allen jumped into the action, throwing a hit on Okereke in the endzone before being pulled out of the action.
🚨MAJOR FIGHT ALERT🚨
Pushing, shoving, punches, skirmishes all over the field with FLAGS EVERYWHERE.
#Bills QB Josh Allen also delivered a MASSIVE HIT
😳😳😳
The play resulted in offsetting penalties and fines for some of the players involved, though not Allen.
Four Players Fined for Role in Fight
While Allen was able to avoid forking over some cash to the league, left tackle Dion Dawkins was not so lucky. The league announced on October 21 that he was fined $10,927 for unnecessary roughness for his role in the fight. Three Giants players — Williams, defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence and linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux — were handed identical fines for their roles in the fight.
Allen’s willingness to stand up for his teammates earned some praise from others on the Bills, who took to social media to share their appreciation.
“17 standing up for is Tackle has me wanting to rush the d*** field!!!!!!!” wrote defensive tackle DaQuan Jones on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“17 is down for the boys,” Brown wrote on X in response to a video of Allen’s hit.
But Bills head coach Sean McDermott was not as pleased, issuing a warning to Allen in his postgame press conference.
“He knows. He’s gotta be smart,” McDermott said. “But I’ll say this, we’re not backing down either. I don’t want our guys backing down, but 17 in particular needs to be smart. He needs to let everybody else fight the fight for him and he stays in the back.”
The Bills have emphasized the need for Allen to cut down on the number of hits he takes. He was hurt in Sunday’s win over the Giants, briefly leaving the game to check for a concussion and telling reporters after the game that he injured his shoulder. While Allen was limited in practice during the week, he was declared good to go for the team’s October 22 game against the New England Patriots.
Other Bills Players Hit With Fines
Other Bills were fined for the game, which was very chippy at times. Safety Siran Neal was issued a $17,963 fine for unnecessary roughness for a hit with 45 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Defensive lineman Ed Oliver was given the biggest fine, a $21,855 penalty for unnecessary roughness in the first quarter.
This is now the third straight week that Oliver has been fined by the league. The league announced on October 14 that Oliver was fined for two separate incidents in the first quarter of the team’s loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars — one for a hit on quarterback Trevor Lawrence that left him with a $16,391 fine and another for unsportsmanlike conduct that cost Oliver an additional $13,659.
Oliver was also hit with two separate $13,569 fines for celebrations in the team’s October 1 win over the Miami Dolphins.