NGT- Does Mahommes get special treatment?

[MightyGiants]

Bills denied 1st down on controversial spot at critical juncture in loss to Chiefs

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/afc-championship-bills-denied-1st-down-on-controversial-spot-at-critical-juncture-in-loss-to-chiefs-022532157.html

[FL GMAN]

To me, unless I misunderstand the challenge rules, I thought the Bills should have challenged both the spot and the catch. I don't see how they let both go.

[kartanoman]

k-man: I agree with all of that, including that there were good reasons for what they did.

It was still hubris, IMO, and you can't blame the coach for believing (as I do) that Josh Allen had a much better season than Mahomes and letting the chips fall where they may.

But I've observed that TOO MUCH of that attitude, combined with even just one or two decisions that are highly questionable (beyond aggressive, into the realm of dumb) sometimes (often?) transmits to the players that the team inwardly believes they're not as good as the opponent and (in a sense) comes off as desperation rather than supreme confidence.

Bob

Josh Allen had an MVP season, and I'd still vote for him today.

Your last paragraph reads precisely what my brain was thinking those one or two times you could feel Buffalo's offense was trying too hard, forcing a play which almost cost them dearly (NOTE: they were VERY lucky in that regard, last night) and the pressure "may" have been getting to them "a little bit."

But, back to the referees, should a championship game be decided on a "human in the loop" judgment call or, instead, is this the next objective of the NFL, which is to take responsibility of high-impact decisions out of referees' hands, and allow "proven" technology to take over at that point? The question remains is whether or not a certain technology has been "proven" yet to provide a definitive answer. Well, the NFL experimented with the "Hawk-Eye" system which is used reliably in tennis during this past preseason. In fact, the Lions-Giants pre-season game featured the Hawk-Eye and the results were not very good. It was unable to see through the myriad of players although unobscured views proved effective. The NFL decided to scrap the idea for 2024 but are still looking at other solutions.

Inevitably, they will have the technology to do away with the "Human in the Loop" controversial calls but, of course, the next questions will involve the reliability of the equipment. After all, we're fans and we'll find something to whine, complain (bloviate?) over.



Peace!

[Bob In PA]

Inevitably, they will have the technology to do away with the "Human in the Loop" controversial calls

k-man: It already exists. All they need to do is install two tiny devices in each ball (one at each point) of the sort you put under the skin of a pet (i.e., transmitters).

A receiver in the press box (one possible location) would track the progress of each end of the ball.

The results would be recorded on tape and spotting the ball would be determined faster than they currently process instant replays.  They call them "instant" for a reason. lol

Bob

[BlueMoshik]

Yes. It's not quite the treatment Brady and Aaron Rodgers used to get, but definitely. They're under orders to protect their star QBs as much as possible, and that's what happens.

[Shoelessjoe]

Reiterating my PS from above (and eliminating irrelevant portions of it and adding a few words to make my point below)......

PS. IMO, especially in the playoffs, NFL does all they can, within bounds of hopefully fair play, to ensure that (1) the regular season has meaning; (2) as many star players as possible go on to the next round; and (3) ensure that a good team who suffered a key injury or two early in the season gets a chance to be in the playoffs.  Those criteria are not completely "one-sided" (in favor of guys like Mahomes) but they are certainly not adverse to certain players AND TEAMS (ESPECIALLY HOME TEAMS) benefiting from questionable decisions, INCLUDING FAVORABLE SPOTTING OF THE BALL.

The spotting of the ball in the fourth quarter that essentially killed Buffalo's chances to win the game was a really tough call. They ruled there was not enough evidence to overturn the spot (I agree with that). However, the officials running in from the sidelines favored the home team and that was essentially all she wrote. Regardless, I think the Bills' inability to back up their head coach's HUBRIS throughout the game by boldly refusing to settle for field goals at the wrong time, going for two at the wrong time and generally being far too aggressive on 4th down (even by modern standards) was what REALLY lost them a winnable game.

Bob

PS. I believe there was also one instance where the Bills failed to go for two when IMO they should have done so.

Bob, I was at a Finance committee meeting for our HOA just after the last Chiefs Eagles SB a few years ago. One of the members, an Eagles fan, brought up how the Eagles were robbed by the officiating. My comment to him was that the Eagles should do a better job in covering a punt.

My feeling then was that it shouldn't have come down to a judgment call by the officials. There were plenty of chances for the Eagles to put away the Chiefs and they couldn't. They had a good lead at halftime and if they played better during the second half they could of and should have won that game. As you point out, the same could be said of the Bills on Sunday.

[LennG]

I think Madison Ave gave the directive for no one to touch their golden boy. If I see him in another commercial I may puke.

[Woody]

yes  it certainly seems like just not Mahomes the whole team. gets a lot of breaks...I still have really really don't understand why there was 1 second difference between play clock and game time clock the Chiefs were allowed to walk off field for the two minute warning after the play clock expired with 1 second left on game clock ?????????
the reason given was very lame ...yes if a team is actually running a play and the play clock goes to 0 the refs let it go if play has started when they look back .....but really just allowed to walk off field ?
And the lack of a taunting call on Kelsey in the end zone after Mahomes runs it in was inexcusable .. the league is losing credibility if this trend continues..it is becoming more of an issue for them that they don't need  ...Taylor Swift or no Taylor Swift

[MightyGiants]

https://x.com/ProFootballTalk/status/1884623897854693659

[babywhales]

You can go back to several wins this season when the same stuff was going on .

KC gets the benefit on calls at the most critical moments, those calls often seem to go against the way they are called for everyone else .