Things got a little testy for the Buffalo Bills during Saturday’s practice. The result was something that the Bills coaches, front office and pretty much anyone involved in the organization does not want to see — Josh Allen in a scuffle.
Allen was hit by defensive tackle Jordan Phillips at the end of a play. He did not like that and got into Phillips’ face. The result was a shoving match, which was naturally quickly broken up.
Josh Allen and Jordan Phillips scuffle at practice #BillsMafia
Video from @Constantine824 pic.twitter.com/dKlXAQXBk1
— BillsMedia716 (@BillsMedia716) July 30, 2022
Quarterbacks getting into it is always notable. This is particularly the case when the quarterback in question is an MVP candidate who signed a contract worth more than a quarter of a billion dollars a year ago.
Naturally, the NFL world had strong reactions to this incident.
someone forgot to tell Josh Allen’s teammate you DO NOT TOUCH the $258,000,000 QB after the whistlepic.twitter.com/1McQYg41mB
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) July 30, 2022
Bills bettors should just stop watching training camp at this point 😅
pic.twitter.com/CJXtbR6jU0— oddschecker (@oddscheckerUS) July 30, 2022
Josh Allen was ready to throw hands 👀 pic.twitter.com/SYRwWmeA5t
— Action Network NFL (@ActionNetNFL) July 30, 2022
I dunno, if you don’t want any contact on your quarter billion dollar QB… maybe don’t run him up the middle 🤷♀️
— Stephen with a v (@steveohrourke) July 30, 2022
Truthfully, this isn’t that big of a deal. While hitting the star quarterback is frowned upon (there’s a reason he’s wearing a red jersey, after all), Phillips’ contact wasn’t particularly excessive. Allen probably did overreact. But having the leader of your team show that he’s willing to mix it up every now and again is probably something that his teammates liked seeing.
Still, we can only guess that the Bills hope this is an isolated incident. While training camp fights do happen, Allen is not someone they want to see going after 340-pound men and in the middle of the inevitable huge dogpile that follows too often.
