Patriots, Bills Officials Have Differing Opinions On Josh Allen Hit

Bills quarterback Josh Allen suffered a nasty head injury after he took a helmet-to-helmet hit from Patriots cornerback Jonathan Jones in the fourth quarter of Week 4. Allen had to leave the game due to his injury, and Jones stayed in. The Patriots cornerback wasn’t ejected.

Of course, Jones was flagged for unnecessary roughness, but he wasn’t eliminated. Their opponents were flagged for holding on the play, and the penalties offset.

Bills head coach Sean McDermott disapproved the decision made by officials. According to him, Jones had to go out. According to him, Allen is in concussion protocol.

“It’s disappointing because there’s no room for that kind of play in the NFL,” McDermott said Sunday.

NFL Senior Vice President of Officiating Al Riveron reviewed the play in the NFL’s New York office. He shared his pinion of the hit. Hopefully, McDermott will be happy with this answer.

“Well, we looked at it and in this situation, we didn’t feel that that contact rose to the level of an ejection,” Riveron told Bills pools reporter Vic Carucci. “The player (Allen) actually turns. Obviously, there is helmet contact, but we have standards for an ejection, and this did not rise to that standard; therefore, we did not eject him. There was a foul called and obviously the penalty stood, but we did not feel this contact rose to that level.”

Jones talked about the hit, but he was pretty sure there was no mistake.

“We were just flying around playing football,” he said.

Patriots safety Devin McCourty explained the hit and stepped in defense of his teammate.

“It’s a bang-bang play,” McCourty said. “I know you guys watched it. The guy’s (Allen) running, he’s leaning forward trying to get a first down. Duron (Harmon) wraps up his legs, J. Jones is just trying to make sure he doesn’t get the first down.”

Let’s see how will the whole thing end. The Bills won’t give up on the war without a fight, and we all know that they are really aggressive. This doesn’t affect the Patriots’ plans as they are off to another win next Sunday.