On Sunday afternoon, the Kansas City Chiefs fell to the Buffalo Bills by a final score of 28-21, but one unfortunate mistake from the referees during the second half of the game may have played a role.
During the third quarter of Sunday’s game, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was flagged for intentional grounding on a crucial second down when he appeared to throw the ball away while under pressure. As it turns out, however, that call was a clear mistake from the referees.
As the replay showed, Buffalo Bills defensive end Michael Hoecht actually tipped the ball at the line of scrimmage. If the ball gets tipped, by rule, it can’t be considered intentional grounding. However, officials did not see the tipped pass and threw a flag on the play.
To make matters worse for the Chiefs, head coach Andy Reid tried to challenge the call, but the play was not reviewable.
It was a missed call and a very unique situation. So unique, in fact, that longtime CBS rules analyst and former official Gene Steratore had never seen anything like it.
“It’s very unique, Jim,” Steratore told Jim Nantz during Sunday’s CBS broadcast via Awful Announcing. “We 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.
“I don’t 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’s what Andy is pleading to with Carl Cheffers right now.”
Steratore added that he would like that play to become reviewable in the future.
“Yeah, with the intentional grounding,” Steratore said. “You know, Jim, I’ve been around for almost 30 years in this business, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen a play like that. My question would be, though, if you’re throwing the ball in the area of a player and tipped football changed that, I would like for it to be reviewable, if it’s not in fact at this point.”
Facing a third-and-long the next play, the Chiefs failed to convert and punted the ball to the Bills, who scored on their next drive to go up two scores, changing the course of the game.
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