Lets talk about refs.
First, I want to apologize once again for the lack of content. Searching for a full-time job (Stay tuned, hoping to have something very soon!) and traveling recently has been mentally taxing and draining, which has led to a bit of a block in terms of what I want to write about. That said, I want to have more content up in the coming months, and I can’t think of a better place to start than discussing NFL referees after the AFC Championship game last night.
Before I continue, I know this is the classic "The Warriors get away with illegal screens" argument of the NFL. But at this point, there's palpable evidence. I could go over various situations where the refs have failed to call penalties against both teams in the Super Bowl. Honestly, this is a game I could care less about. I’ll watch to see who has the best commercial and to fulfill my yearly “What color is the Gatorade poured on the winning head coach?” bet. Both teams constantly get away with false starts or illegal formations. But in terms of my complaints about the Eagles and the refs, that’s all I have. The Chiefs, however, are a different story. While last week they probably would have won anyway (27-19, honestly, who knows?), multiple 15-yard penalties for the Chiefs kept crucial drives alive. These penalties swung momentum in favor of the Chiefs, and they were able to ride that momentum from those bad flags to find the energy they needed to score.
Who cares, though? That was a week ago, and there’s been another game since then. Well, this time, there were several blown calls or bad flags that favored the Chiefs, or calls that favored them that got overturned without explanation. We can start early in the fourth quarter. The Bills are driving, up 22-21. They’ve just entered Chiefs territory and attempted a quarterback sneak on fourth and inches. On the field, the referee closest to the play—who had the best view of Josh Allen—called it a first down. However, the referee, who had a pile of players in front of him and couldn’t see Allen, came over to correct the spot, saying that Allen didn’t make the line to gain.
The Chiefs stopping Josh Allen and the Bills, who needed to get to the 40-yard line to get a first down. This was upheld by officials after review.
The refs went into a video review, and the call stood (meaning they had no evidence to confirm or overturn the initial ruling). But in the picture to the right, Allen, the player in the middle of the pile, is clearly over the 40-yard line, where the first down markers were. The refs gave the Chiefs the ball, and they ended up scoring on that drive to put them up 29-22. The Chiefs should never have gotten the ball in the first place, and Buffalo, who was at the Kansas City 40, was just a play or two away from being in field goal range at least. If Buffalo had gotten a field goal on that drive, and everything else stayed the same, the score would have been 32-32 at the end of regulation. Who knows what could have happened in overtime?
Xavier Worthy’s Catch, which was upheld by officials after replay review.
"That's only one example though." I’m not done yet. Right before the half, on third and five from the Buffalo 29, Patrick Mahomes throws a deep pass intended for Xavier Worthy. It was initially ruled a catch, but when you look at the replay (which the referees did in this case, the second time in this article they have gone to review and gotten the call wrong), you see two things wrong with the catch. The first is that neither the receiver nor the defender had complete and total control of the ball through the ground. It was also clear the ball touched the ground, aiding Worthy in making the catch, which should have ruled the catch incomplete. After a replay review, the officials decided that the call was going to "stand," meaning there was no evidence one way or another. The problem is that there is evidence of this being incomplete, in fact, clear evidence, I would say. Worthy does not have 100% control of the football, as the nose of the ball is on the ground, helping him control the ball, as you can see from the picture on the left. The result of this drive was ANOTHER touchdown for Kansas City, which ultimately put them up 21-10 at that point.
I know there are "Golden Children" when it comes to athletes who appear to be better than everyone. LeBron James is a "Golden Child," Stephen Curry is a "Golden Child," Tom Brady was one, Sidney Crosby was one, Judge is currently one in the MLB, and so is Shohei in my eyes. Patrick Mahomes gets the "Golden Child" treatment, but he gets the benefit of every other "Golden Child" athlete on top of it. This Kansas City team does not need the officials in their pocket to be dominant, and the unfortunate thing is they do anyway. They already have one of, if not the greatest, quarterbacks to ever touch a football, one of the greatest head coaches ever, one of if not the greatest tight ends ever, and a defensive monster up the middle in Chris Jones, who is a game wrecker. They don’t need more. If I’m forced to make a Super Bowl prediction, I’m going to take the Chiefs, honestly, because the way I see it, a team can't overcome a team that is so great, with the refs holding their hand in the biggest moments too.
