The situation became intense in the third quarter in the Week 13 game between the Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Defensive lineman Cam Heyward came up to quarterback Josh Allen and bumped his helmet before murmuring something. He even twisted left guard David Edwards’ arm and pushed him away. A few days later, the league finally took action, issuing a lengthy bill of penalties to both sides.

The NFL fined the Steelers’ defensive player $11,593 for “taunting” under the “unsportsmanlike conduct” category, after he was flagged for taunting and handed a 15-yard penalty after the play last week.

But this is rare for a player of Heyward’s stature. Just to give you some perspective: The defensive tackle has been fined just twice in his 14-year NFL career.

The first instance was in 2014 when he was fined $22,050 for unsportsmanlike conduct for verbally abusing a referee, and the second during the 2015 season for uniform violation. So what happened this time that was enough to tick him off?

As per the veteran Steelers player, it was all Josh Allen’s fault.

“Being kneed in my stomach and then just jawing back and forth,” Heyward told reporters after the game. “And then ticked off the entire game because as a quarterback they’re protected but I’m not. It just pisses me off.”

“[Josh Allen] even said after, ‘I had to do something to get you off me’.”

When asked if Allen did it on purpose, Heyward said “yes” again.

But Allen played it cool. He didn’t take it seriously and guided the Bills to a 26-7 win.

Allen had already done his post-game conference before Heyward made his comments. But he didn’t hesitate to address it as the reporters asked him.

“Maybe (got me going) a little bit,” Allen said. “We love the competitiveness out of this game. He’s such a great player. Sometimes, you need fire like that to get you going.”

On the flip side, the competitiveness seems to have brought but a horde of problems for some.

The Bills-Steelers battle brought financial troubles for both sides

In the second quarter, receiver DK Metcalf scored a touchdown. He pulled off the “too small” celebration on cornerback Christian Benford. But the league deemed it a “violent gesture” and fined him $14,491 under the “unsportsmanlike conduct” category. The referees also enforced a 15-yard penalty.

Metcalf has been fined $12,172 previously. It was after he put his fingers in Green Bay Packers linebacker Quay Walker’s face mask in Week 8.

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Linebacker Payton Wilson also received two more fines of $7,066 each. The first one was for “unnecessary roughness” in the second quarter. It cost the Steelers 12 yards. The second fine was for a blindside block a few seconds after the third quarter, which the league categorized as “unnecessary roughness” again.

The Buffalo Bills also received two fines.

Bills wide receiver Gabe Davis used his helmet against the cornerback James Pierre, who got injured and later returned. The NFL fined him $6,500 for the use of the helmet under “unnecessary roughness.”

Around the 13:57 mark in the third quarter, defensive end AJ Epenesa punched the ball out of DK Metcalf’s hands with no play in action. The referees saw it and enforced a 15-yard penalty. The league also fined him $11,593 for “taunting” under “unsportsmanlike conduct.”

With total fines from the game reaching $50k, it put a hole in either team’s purses. But the game intensity sometimes takes over the outcome, doesn’t it?