Chiefs player calls out refs after Super Bowl loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Every NFL fan has heard rumblings and rumors about the Kansas City Chiefs getting preferential treatment from the officials in recent years. Commissioner Roger Goodell was even asked about it in the days leading up to Super Bowl LIX. The referee’s union released a statement about it. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that a player from the game was complaining about the officiating in the game afterwards.
A Chiefs player.
Really.
K.C. wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins called out the media in his postgame availability, wondering if they would report on the amount of “touchy calls” in the game that went against his team.
“I saw a lot of things in the media about the refs,” said Hopkins. “but obviously, what y’all gonna say now about the refs and us? When there was a lot of touchy calls. Are y’all gonna report that? Are y’all gonna talk about the refs now?”
Let’s be fair: there were a couple questionable calls early on; one for each team. A 32-yard A.J. Brown reception was called back for an offensive pass interference penalty against Brown (a call even color commentator Tom Brady openly questioned), and Chiefs corner Trent McDuffie took an unnecessary roughness penalty on an incomplete pass to Dallas Goedert on 3rd-and-5. That drive ended with the Eagles’ first touchdown.
After that, there were no calls that could be considered “touchy”. There were 15 total enforced penalties in the game, eight of them against the Eagles.
Also consider this: this game, judged by every metric, was an old-fashioned, bare-behind spanking in front of the President, Taylor Swift, and a 126 million television viewers. The only one who maybe had a worse night than Patrick Mahomes was Drake. Travis Kelce walked out of the Superdome looking like his dog ran away.
It was 24-nothing at halftime! The Chiefs didn’t run a play on the Eagles’ side of the 50 until there was 2:03 left in the third quarter. If it was a boxing bout, the referee would’ve stopped it.
At least for now, irony is dead. But there may be a flag on the play.
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