Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen got off to an unusually rocky start against the Los Angeles Chargers, throwing two interceptions in the first half as his team fell behind 10-0 early.
But a replay of the second interception showed that officials missed a clear penalty on the Chargers, one that may have prompted Allen to throw deep and into triple coverage.
Missed Offside Call Preceded Josh Allen Interception
As WKBW reporter Michael Wooten noted, referees failed to flag a clear offsides on the Chargers before the start of the play. He suggested that Allen saw the defensive lineman get a clear early start and considered it a free play, prompting him to throw to DJ Moore deep down the field.
“Have to imagine @JoshAllenQB went deep into double coverage because he thought he had a free play from this obvious defensive offsides. It wasn’t called and ends up in an interception. What a disaster,” Wooten wrote in a post on X.
The Bills had three first-half interceptions, including a fumble from running back James Cook on the team’s first offensive play and another interception from Allen. Tight end Dalton Kincaid also lost a fumble on the team’s first drive of the second half, being stripped from behind as he was attempting to drag a defender while in the red zone.
The team was able to overcome the early mistakes in the first half, tying the game at 10-10 on a one-yard rushing touchdown from Allen in the closing seconds of the second quarter.
Referees Missed Another Clear Call
Allen’s interception was not the only controversial call for officials in the first half. Bills edge rusher Bradley Chubb was also called for an offsides penalty on a play where he appeared to be timing the play clock.
Chubb gave himself an early start after the play clock hit zero and remained there for close to a full second, anticipating that the Chargers would need to snap the ball to avoid a delay-of-game penalty. But officials did not see the late start, leading to the penalty on Chubb.
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