Cam Heyward accuses Josh Allen of kneeing him 'in my stomach' after multiple heated exchanges in Bills' win over Steelers

Things got chippy on Sunday between Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Cam Heyward.

Heyward was heated after a first-half tackle of Allen and had to be separated from Allen after the two got up. The pair continued to exchange words throughout the game, and Heyward was eventually flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct in the second half.

It wasn't clear during the game what sparked the bad blood. In the postgame locker room, Heyward shed light on his perspective of the beef. He told reporters that Allen kneed him in the stomach.

"Being kneed in my stomach?" Heyward responded when asked about their exchanges. "And then just jawing back and forth. I'm ticked off the entire game because the quarterback's being protected and I'm not.

"It pisses me off."

Heyward was then asked to clarify that it was Allen who kneed him.

"Yes," Heyward said. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

Heyward then said that Allen kneeing in the stomach was "one incident" and that Allen told him that he meant to do it.

"He even said after, 'I had to do something to get you off of me,'" Heyward continued.

Did Allen knee Heyward?

The alleged kneeing incident appeared to have taken place late in the second quarter. Heyward landed on top of Allen after a tackle at the end of a quarterback run. There was too much congestion around the two for CBS broadcast video to capture confirmation that Allen actually did knee Heyward.

But Allen was on his back as Heyward landed on top of him and certainly had the opportunity to give Heyward a knee to the midsection had he chosen to. Heyward was furious in the aftermath of the play.

He confronted Allen before Allen's offensive linemen stepped in between them. Heyward continued to jaw at Allen from a distance after being pulled back by a game official.

Heyward's anger didn't dissipate and continued into the second half of Buffalo's 26-7 win.

Allen threw a touchdown to Keon Coleman in the third quarter to extend Buffalo's lead to 16-7. After the score, Heyward bumped his face mask into Allen's, and the two continued to exchange words. Heyward then shoved Bills guard David Edwards away when Edwards intervened.

This drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Heyward for taunting as officials had apparently seen enough between the two.

The Bills went on to score the final 10 points of the game in a 19-point win. Allen completed 15 of 23 passes for 123 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception. He added 38 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Heyward finished with eight tackles, including two tackles for loss.

Allen offered zero insight when he was asked about the back-and-forth with Heyward after the game. He was not asked about Heyward's kneeing accusation, which Heyward appeared to level after Allen's news conference.

"I love the competitiveness out of this game," Allen said. "He's such a great player. Sometimes you need fire like that to get you going."