Refs fall for embarrassing Josh Allen flop, screw Cowboys with soft roughing the passer call

The Dallas Cowboys won the coin toss and made a befuddling decision to defer to Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills high-powered offense. The importance of getting the ball after halftime shouldn't be understated, but Dallas' defense has been susceptible to slow starts.

Sure enough, the Bills scored a touchdown on the game's first drive to take a 7-0 lead. That score wasn't without controversy, however, as the Cowboys appeared to hold strong for a field goal with Buffalo knocking on the door.

On third down, the refs flagged DeMarcus Lawrence for roughing the passer. While Lawrence's hit came shortly after Allen released the ball, the Bills QB -- known to flop at the slightest bit of contact -- baited the refs with an all-time acting job.

Replay showed that Lawrence barely extended his arm into Allen, who embarrassingly proceeded to flail backwards as if Lawrence bulldozed him and pointed to his helmet as if the Cowboys DE made contact with his helmet.

Cowboys' DeMarcus Lawrence called for awful roughing the passer on Josh Allen flop

Who should be more embarrassed: Allen for flopping despite barely getting grazed by Lawrence or the refs for falling for it?

That ultimately doesn't matter, as the outcome was the same. What should've been a 40-yard field goal attempt for the Bills turned into a touchdown. Allen's acting essentially awarded Buffalo four extra points. Those points could loom large on the scoreboard by the end of the game.

Allen is one of the most physically imposing QBs in football and continues to sell the heck out of roughing calls. There's no place for it in the sport. It's an embarrassing look for the 6-foot-5, 237-pound gunslinger, but why fix what isn't broken, right? Not every refereeing crew is gullible enough to fall for it, but as we've seen Allen gets the benefit of the doubt every now and then.

This, unfortunately, was one of those times. Hopefully the refs got it out of their system, but we wouldn't count on it.

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