Officiating looms over another Chiefs playoff win

Another Kansas City Chiefs playoff win. Another game where officiating steals some of the spotlight.

Patrick Mahomes rallied Kansas City to a 32-29 victory over Josh Allen and the Bills in the AFC championship game Sunday, sending the Chiefs back to the Super Bowl for the fifth time in six years with a chance to become the first team to threepeat.

But much of the talk centered on two more calls that went Kansas City’s way.

In the first half, Xavier Worthy was credited with a catch when he wrestled the ball away from Bills safety Cole Bishop for a 26-yard gain to Buffalo’s 3. The ball appeared to hit the ground and the CBS broadcast crew expressed confusion about the ruling.

“I can see it cause you can’t completely say no, but that ball hits (the ground),” analyst Tony Romo said.

CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore also didn’t think it was a catch.

The Bills challenged but the play was upheld and Mahomes then ran in for a score and a 21-10 lead.

Buffalo rallied to take a 22-21 lead and faced a fourth-and-1 at Kansas City’s 41 early in the fourth quarter.

Allen was stopped on a sneak even though it appeared one official marked the ball past the line of gain before another placed it short. Replay review upheld the call because there wasn’t clear evidence to overturn it. The league had a full crew of replay experts in New York to make the decision.

“I felt like he gained it by about a third of the football,” Steratore said on the broadcast. “That was just my take on the play. Tough, tough play.”

Romo agreed with him.

But the Chiefs took over and drove for a go-ahead touchdown.

The NFL has experimented with new technology to measure line to gain that could eventually replace the chain gang, who use two bright orange sticks and a chain to measure for first downs.

Determining ball placement through technology is another story. It requires digital components inside a football and it’s unknown how accurate it would be when bodies are piled up.

Last week, Kansas City benefited from two roughing-the-passer penalties during a 23-14 victory over Houston.

Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman, who was calling the game with Joe Buck on ESPN, was appalled after one of them.

“Oh, come on! I mean, he’s a runner. I could not disagree with that one more. He barely gets hit.” Aikman said on the broadcast. “They’ve gotta address it in the offseason.”

ESPN rules analyst Russell Yurk agreed, pointing out that two Texans collided with each other.

Buck said Mahomes slid too late.

There’s a perception among non-Chiefs fans that officials favor the two-time defending Super Bowl champions.

A stat researched by ESPN’s Paul Hembekides and posted on X by colleague Adam Schefter, who has 11.4 million followers, pointed out there have been six roughing-the-passer penalties called on Mahomes during Kansas City’s eight-game playoff winning streak — now at nine — and none called against the Chiefs. Also, Kansas City’s opponents were called for four unnecessary roughness penalties to one against the Chiefs in that span.

That led former All-Pro right tackle Mitchell Schwartz, who played for Kansas City’s 2019 championship team, to lash out.

"Maybe the Chiefs are better coached and don’t hit QBs late or in the head/neck. Back in my day teams who got less penalties called were considered better coached. Insane,” Schwartz wrote on X.

When Tom Brady and the New England Patriots were winning six Super Bowls, people complained they received better treatment from the officials.

Now, it’s Mahomes and the Chiefs who are supposedly getting the favoritism. The presence of Taylor Swift supporting boyfriend Travis Kelce only fuels the conspiracy theorists.

Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles could end the complaints by defeating the Chiefs in the Super Bowl on Feb. 9.

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