NFL World Reacts to Missed Tripping Penalty in Bills-Chiefs Game

People couldn’t believe that there was no flag on this play.

Sunday’s matchup between the Bills and Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium lived up to the billing, with Buffalo winning a thriller by a final score of 24–20. But the end result was nearly thrown off course by a missed call that went in Kansas City’s favor.

Midway through the fourth quarter and trailing by three, the Bills faced a third-and-10 from their own 35-yard line when quarterback Josh Allen was brought down by Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones for a sack. But what the officials missed was that Jones was able to get Allen to the ground by extending his leg and tripping Allen as the quarterback was attempting to scramble away from the pressure.

Allen immediately appealed to the referee that there should have been a tripping penalty called but to no avail. 

The play was the only time the Chiefs were able to sack Allen, who finished the game with 329 passing yards and three scores while adding 32 rushing yards.

All’s well that ends well, of course, and the missed call was overshadowed by Allen and the Buffalo defense stepping up in crunch time. The Chiefs went three-and-out on their subsequent possession, which was followed by a 12-play, 76-yard touchdown drive from Buffalo that was capped by a 12-yard touchdown pass from Allen to Dawson Knox with 1:04 remaining. Mahomes threw an interception on the following drive, clinching the win for the Bills.

Even with the result, the missed tripping play drew plenty of ire from viewers. Here are some of the best social media reactions to the play.

That’s an awful missed call on the trip on Josh Allen. Not sure how you miss that if you’re the ref standing there. Wow.

Seems to have been bad officiating both ways. Make up call coming here…

— Eric Wood (@EWood70) October 16, 2022

refs when they see josh allen get tripped pic.twitter.com/rP2Q7MEZ1U

— timthetatman👑 (@timthetatman) October 16, 2022

Josh Allen has a right to be upset. If this trip was called, it would've been 15 yards and an automatic first down for Buffalo. pic.twitter.com/GO4YMxyBd2

— Gene Steratore (@GeneSteratore) October 16, 2022

Josh Allen doesn’t complain a ton. Def had a case w the clear trip. Sucks for sure.

That’s how the league is sometimes though. Kelce got called for a push off 5 mins ago.

The greats learn to flush those quick and find a way.

— Chris Manno (@Mann_O_Steel17) October 16, 2022

tripping the QB shouldn't be a penalty anyway, since pretty much every other way to bring a QB down is a penalty.

— James Brady (@jamesbradyisme) October 16, 2022

So you can’t tackle QBs in the NFL but you CAN trip them?

Noted.

— Ross Tucker (@RossTuckerNFL) October 16, 2022

LOL NO TRIPPING???? pic.twitter.com/jKn1401PMj

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) October 16, 2022

How does the head referee, standing right there, miss the obvious tripping on Chris Jones??? Refs just seem so FALLIBLE.

— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) October 16, 2022

That was a 10/10 temper tantrum by Allen but should have been called for tripping

— lindsey ok (@lindseyyok) October 16, 2022

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