Brad Allen has seen this type of offensive lineman reporting before

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Mike Payton | Last updated 1/1/24

Ok, so here's the thing. The NFL is being a little dumb about this whole reporting as eligible thing. Brad Allen made a mistake. It's as simple as that. Here's the thing I don't like, the NFL is trying to blame the Lions for deception and gamesmanship. I get it I suppose. There were multiple offensive linemen there. How could Allen know? Maybe it's because he's seen that before.

Let's go all the way back to January 15th, 2022. Allen and his crew officiated the Bills and Patriots wild card playoff game. The Bills got up big and decided to try some stuff. They wound up throwing a touchdown to offensive lineman Tommy Doyle in the fourth quarter. Here is video of Doyle reporting:

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Ok, I get it. That's 15 seconds of video. Sadly the all-22 is not available. What you can see here is three offensive linemen walking away from Allen before he signals to the Patriots defense that Doyle is an eligible receiver. Let's break it down bit by bit a little here.

Ok, standing in front of Allen is number 79. Once 79 moves, Allen reports to the Patriots. The problem is that 79 is Spencer Brown. To the right of Brown is number 75. That's Daryl Williams. You barely even see Tommy Doyle walking away here right behind Williams. Allen very clearly had three lineman right in front of him before he reported to the Patriots. He is somehow not deceived by the Bills gamesmanship here.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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