Bills-Eagles horse-collar tackle: Josh Allen's jersey rips as officials appear to miss obvious penalty

Jacob Camenker

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Bills-Eagles horse-collar tackle: Josh Allen's jersey rips as officials appear to miss obvious penalty image

The Bills appeared ready to take a two-score lead on the Eagles when Josh Allen was made the victim of a blatant horse-collar tackle late in the first half of their Week 12 matchup.

The apparent penalty occurred with 1:30 left in the first half. Allen was ripped to the ground by Eagles edge rusher Haason Reddick, who grabbed the front of Allen's jersey and the name plate on the back before throwing him to the ground violently.

It was presumed that the officials would flag Reddick for the hit, which would set up a first-and-goal from inside the 2-yard line.

MORE: Updated NFL playoff picture for Week 12 of 2023 season

However, there was just one problem. The officials somehow didn't see the penalty. They opted not to penalize Reddick for the hit and instead called Allen for intentional grounding.

Naturally, Allen was irate after the play. He demonstrated to officials that his jersey had ripped from the collar as a result of the tackle.

CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore agreed with Allen's assessment. He told viewers that Reddick should have been called for a horse-collar tackle after his takedown of Allen.

The officials' apparent miss proved costly to the Bills. They were forced to settle for a field goal on the drive, but Tyler Bass' attempt was blocked by Eagles rookie Jalen Carter. So, they came away from the drive without logging a point.

The Bills made up for it by turning over the Eagles before halftime. Allen then found Stefon Diggs for a 13-yard touchdown with 12 seconds left in the half to extend their lead to 17-7.

Still, that the Bills were denied a new set of downs after that play was a sore spot among Buffalo's players. Veteran safety Jordan Poyer sounded off about a lack of accountability for the officials when asked about the officiating by Tim Graham of The Athletic.

"It seems like it’s been like that all season," he said. "Nothing’s being done about it. Officials aren’t being held accountable for their calls or no-calls. Players are getting fined during the week for silly stuff.

“It doesn’t seem like, I don’t know … It’s not an excuse, but it’s just the way the game is being played this year. Doesn’t seem like a whole lot of accountability for the officials."

Edge rusher Leonard Floyd was a bit more colorful when asked his opinion of the officials.

"It was s—–," Floyd he said. "But I ain’t going to go there. We should’ve won."

Meanwhile, the referee for the game, Shawn Houchuli, was asked about the potential horse-collar tackle during a pool report after the game. He explained that the officials didn't flag it because the "force was from the front of the collar and what pulled him down was not from the back."

"So that’s pretty much it," he said. "We felt that he was pulled down from the front of the jersey and collar."

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What is a horse-collar tackle?

For those wondering, the NFL's horse-collar tackle rule states that players are not allowed to "grab the inside collar of the back or the side of the shoulder pads or jersey, or grab the jersey at the name plate or above, and pull the runner toward the ground" to make a tackle.

That said, the NFL also clarifies that a player doesn't have to be tackled for a play to be ruled a horse-collar tackle. Instead, it says that "if [a runner's] knees are buckled by the action, it is a foul, even if the runner is not pulled completely to the ground." That incentivizes players to avoid reaching for the inside of the jersey or the name plate.

However, it must be noted that if a player is either a runner in the tackle box or quarterback who is in the pocket, they do not receive horse-collar protection. Thus, it only applies to players on the edge of the offensive backfield or players who are further down the field.

In either case, Allen was outside of the pocket and was clearly brought to the ground by his name plate. So, while the inside part of the jersey that was grabbed was on Allen's front side, a horse-collar tackle still should have been called. That would have resulted in a "half the distance to the goal" penalty.

Under normal circumstances, a horse-collar tackle is flagged as a 15-yard personal foul.

Jacob Camenker

Jacob Camenker Photo

Jacob Camenker first joined The Sporting News as a fantasy football intern in 2018 after his graduation from UMass. He became a full-time employee with TSN in 2021 and now serves as a senior content producer with a particular focus on the NFL. Jacob worked at NBC Sports Boston as a content producer from 2019 to 2021. He is an avid fan of the NFL Draft and ranked 10th in FantasyPros’ Mock Draft Accuracy metric in both 2021 and 2022.