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On Sunday afternoon, the Kansas City Chiefs dropped a tough one to the Buffalo Bills, falling 28-21 \u2014 but a controversial officiating blunder in the second half may have played a key role in the outcome.<\/p>\n
Midway through the third quarter, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was flagged for intentional grounding on a critical second down after appearing to throw the ball away under pressure. The problem? The call was wrong.<\/p>\n
As the replay revealed, Buffalo defensive end Michael Hoecht actually got a hand on the ball at the line of scrimmage. By rule, once a pass is tipped, it cannot be considered intentional grounding. Still, the officials missed the deflection and threw the flag anyway.<\/p>\n
To make matters worse for Kansas City, head coach Andy Reid attempted to challenge the ruling \u2014 only to find out the play wasn\u2019t reviewable.
\nIt was a blown call in an unusual situation \u2014 one so rare that longtime CBS rules analyst and former NFL official Gene Steratore admitted he\u2019d never seen anything quite like it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very unique, Jim,\u201d Steratore told Jim Nantz during Sunday\u2019s CBS broadcast via Awful Announcing. \u201cWe know that you can review a pass interference if the ball is tipped. In this scenario, Hoecht definitely touches that pass, and we see a receiver breaking to an area that looks like Patrick Mahomes is throwing to.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see why we would not be able to review something there, because where this football lands is related directly to the fact that the ball got tipped. So in the area that gets moved around now because of the tipped ball, and I think that\u2019s what Andy is pleading to with Carl Cheffers right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steratore went on to say he believes this type of play should be subject to review moving forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, with the intentional grounding,\u201d Steratore said. \u201cYou know, Jim, I\u2019ve been around for almost 30 years in this business, and this is the first time I\u2019ve ever seen a play like that. My question would be, though, if you\u2019re throwing the ball in the area of a player and tipped football changed that, I would like for it to be reviewable, if it\u2019s not in fact at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead of extending the drive, the Chiefs were forced into a third-and-long situation and failed to convert, punting the ball back to the Bills. Buffalo capitalized on the opportunity, scoring on their next possession to extend their lead to two touchdowns \u2014 a sequence that ultimately shifted the momentum of the game.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, this missed call sparked a lot of outrage from fans on social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Carl Cheffers refs a #Chiefs game you know the Chiefs are going to get at least one bad call like the intentional grounding on a tipped pass,\u201d one fan wrote in a post on X.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot stand the KC Chiefs but the NFL officiating is a joke. Look at this tipped ball and they call intentional grounding. What is replay assist for? How can the league blow obvious calls in an era of gambling discrepancies?\u201d another fan added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis definitely needs to be addressed. The idea that ANY call isn\u2019t reviewable is asinine. That said, this play didn\u2019t cost the game,\u201d someone else wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll never understand why they can\u2019t reverse such an obviously bad call,\u201d another person added.<\/p>\n
Clearly, people were not happy about the blown call.<\/p>\n
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The referees made a pretty significant mistake during Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":117273,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n