NFL Announces Punishment for Bills RB After Texans Incident

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Buffalo Bills fullback Reggie Gilliam was fined byt he NFL on Saturday

The Buffalo Bills’ Week 12 loss to the Houston Texans is one the team would like to forget.

Not only did they drop to 7-4 but they’re barely hanging onto the final playoff spot in the AFC — just one game ahead of the Texans (6-5), and two ahead of the Chiefs (6-6) and Baltimore Ravens (6-6), who are nipping on their heels.

Despite getting outplayed by the Bills — they outgained the Texans 326 yards to 261 and dominated time of possession 32:22 to 27:38 — Houston rode a dominant performance from its defense to pull to 6-5.

The Texans sacked Josh Allen a season-high 8 times and intercepted him twice, which kept them in the game long enough to pull off the win.

One Bills Player Fined for His Actions

While losing the game was a tough pill to swallow, one particular Bills player got some even more bad news after the game had ended.

On Saturday, the NFL released its list of weekly fines and fullback Reggie Gilliam’s name was on it. The 28-year-old was hit with an $11,111 fine for unnecessary roughness (use of the helmet).

It marked Gilliam’s first fine of the season, and he was the only Bills player fined in Week 12. He’s the third Bills player hit with a fine in the last two weeks, joining edge-rusher Joey Bosa and running back Ty Johnson, who were fined $17,389 and $10,777, respectively for hit on a quarterback and obscene gesture punishments.

“To protect players from unnecessary risk and preserve competitive balance and game integrity, the NFL and NFL Players Association have agreed on a set of game-related rules violations that may result in accountability measures,” the NFL wrote on its website, explaining why it fines players every week.

Gilliam has played sparingly this season. He hasn’t had a carry this season, but he has 1 reception or 2 yards, and he’s played 179 offensive snaps (24%) this season, according to Pro Football Reference.

Buffalo’s Playoff Chances Looking Grim

The Bills have alternated wins and losses over the last four weeks.

The team won two straight coming out of its bye week against the Carolina Panthers and Kansas City Chiefs, but losses to the Miami Dolphins and Texans have some questioning whether Buffalo is really built for a Super Bowl run this season.

The Bills have struggled in the passing game without a clear-cut No. 1 wide receiver and disgruntled former second-round pick Keon Coleman, who’s been benched the last two games after he showed up late to a team meeting.

Now Buffalo heads into a brutal stretch in its schedule where it has tough games coming up against the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-5), Cincinnati Bengals, who had quarterback Joe Burrow back, New England Patriots (10-2), and Philadelphia Eagles (8-4) in four of their final six games.

With the Chiefs in third place in the AFC West and on the outside looking in with the AFC playoff race, some believe this season is arguably Buffalo’s best to make it to a Super Bowl without Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs standing in their way in the postseason.

Michael Gallagher Michael Gallagher is a sports journalist covering the NFL for Heavy.com. He has more than a decade of experience working for both local and national news outlets covering the NFL, NHL, NBA, WNBA, college football, and MMA. His work has been featured in Newsweek, Yahoo Sports, Fox Sports, Athlon Sports, The Hockey News, the Nashville Scene, SB Nation, and Yardbarker. More about Michael Gallagher