NFL Makes Punishment Decision on Incident Involving Josh Allen

The Texans took their first lead of the game in the second quarter courtesy of a Christian Kirk two-yard touchdown. That gave Houston a 10-9 lead after the extra point.

The Bills immediately turned the ball over on their first play from scrimmage following the touchdown. Allen’s deep pass to Elijah Moore was intercepted by Texans safety Calen Bullock, who went all the way to score a touchdown on the opposite end.

The pick-six, however, was called off after the referees spotted a violation on Houston defensive end Derek Barnett. A personal foul was called on Barnett for a blindside block on Bills tight end Dawson Knox as the latter attempted to stop Bullock.

It resulted in an automatic 15-yard penalty against the Bills, which was enforced at Buffalo’s 15-yard line. The Texans, though, were unable to score on the drive. They settled for a 43-yard field goal, which put them up 13-9.

The league reviewed Barnett's blindside block, which is defined in the NFL rulebook as a player making forcible contact against his opponent when the said player’s path is toward or parallel to his own end line. Depending on the results of the league’s review, a blindside block can be fined $17,389 for a first offense and $23,186 for a second offense.

The good news for Barnett is that the league opted not to fine him for his incident in the Bills game. The NFL announced its punishment decisions for all the Week 12 violations on Saturday via the gameday accountability report, and Barnett’s name was not included in the list.  

For context, Barnett has been fined four times in his career for various offenses. His fines have totaled $60,954, but he will be glad to know that his most recent personal foul will not add to his tally.

The 6-5 Texans will be back in action on Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts. Allen and the 7-4 Bills, on the other hand, will be looking to bounce back against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.