‘This is not where the ball is supposed to go’ — Josh Allen gives odd detail on Buffalo’s game-winning catch by former Tennessee Vol
The NFL MVP and his VFL wideout improvised on the game’s biggest play.
The Buffalo Bills got their 2026 season off on the right foot, coming from behind in the final minutes to clip fellow AFC Super Bowl hopeful Houston Texans 36-31 at Reliant Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
It was a back and forth, seesaw affair for much of the game, and with less than two minutes left in the game, Buffalo found themselves down 31-30, but in plus territory.
Former Tennessee Vols WR Joshua Palmer catches the game-winning score for Buffalo against Houston
Facing third-and-11, Allen dropped back to pass. Former Tennessee Vols wide receiver Joshua Palmer ran a post route and split Houston’s safeties in the middle of the field. Allen laid it in to him in strid for a 34-yard go-ahead touchdown. The Bills’ defense would force a fumble inside their own red zone to close out the win in the final seconds.
The route looked like a perfectly normal one — a simple, perfectly executed post pattern. But after the game in his postgame interview with CBS Sports’ Evan Washburn, Allen said that the throw and catch to Palmer on that route was not one that he expected, nor one they’d ever worked on before.
“You want the absolute truth? We call this a horseshoe,” Allen said. “This is not where the ball is supposed to go. We have never once repped the ball going there. I just felt that those safeties started cheating to (Buffalo wide receiver) DJ (Moore) a little bit. Josh ran a great route. Put it on a line for him, and he goes and does the rest. So, we’ll take those when we get them, but we don’t want to make a living out of throwing it to those.”
That’s a very interesting comment from Allen because looking at the play from the outside, it looked like a simple, crisp route that was run. And it wasn’t a busted play or something where Allen is scanning the field for a long time and Palmer had to improvise. It looked clean, and the release was relatively quick. That just goes to show how the mind of the players works well beyond what those outside the game could comprehend.
For Palmer, it was his only catch of the day, but it came at the perfect time. We’ll see if Palmer, Allen, and the Bills can keep the good start going on Thursday night against the Detroit Lions in the first-ever game at Highmark Stadium.
