Bills’ Josh Allen scores receiving touchdown on his own pass vs. 49ers

Josh Allen didn’t catch a pass Sunday night for the Bills against the 49ers, but he will get credit for a receiving touchdown on a play when he threw the ball.

Leading 21-3 from the 49ers’ 9-yard line, Allen threw a quick screen to Amari Cooper, who appeared unready for the pass but juggled and caught it anyway. Cooper was met by a trio of 49ers — Renardo Green, Malik Mustapha and Fred Warner — and appeared stopped. But no official ruled his forward progress stopped, and he kept his eyes up to pitch the ball back to Allen, who was running toward the pile.

Allen took the ball around the corner, beating Dee Winters and Robert Beal Jr. to the left pylon with a dive to score.

Allen became the fourth player ever to score a receiving touchdown, according to NextGenStats. It’s the second receiving touchdown of his career, after he scored on a trick pass from Isaiah McKenzie in 2020 against Arizona.

The most recent instance of a quarterback scoring on his own pass was when Marcus Mariota had his pass batted up into the air, then caught it and took it into the end zone in the Titans’ upset of the Chiefs in a wild-card game after the 2017 season.

A few minutes later, Allen scored a rushing touchdown for good measure.