The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football this week.
Unfortunately, the win didn’t come without controversy.
It goes without saying that Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City dug their own grave with their untimely drops and poor play. But the NFL’s referees played a role in the outcome as well.
In fact, it could be argued that the NFL’s referees blatantly helped the Eagles cheat the Chiefs out of a win.
With nearly six minutes remaining in the game, Mahomes and Co. faced a 3rd-and-7 from their own 28. Suddenly, the referees blew the whistle and Chiefs center Creed Humphrey got called for a false start.
Somehow this was called a false start on the #Chiefs….
Insanity. What the hell is this from the refs.
(🎥NFL) pic.twitter.com/xpTjN4mo4u
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) November 21, 2023
There was just one problem: no flag should have been thrown over the play. Humphrey’s movement was neither quick nor abrupt, as announcer Troy Aikman pointed out after the fact.
As a result of this ill-timed penalty, Kansas City was assessed a five-yard penalty. They were ultimately unable to do anything with the field position and wound up losing by four points.
In a game like this, every call matters. And there is no getting around the fact that the NFL’s referees – once again – blatantly impacted the result of a game with their poor officiating.
Sure, this will likely be forgotten amid other stories like what Mahomes did after his wife tried to kiss him.
Patrick Mahomes’ Dad Gets Frisky With Blonde Eagles Fan (Video): https://t.co/S7Fljrgrup
— Game 7 (@game7__) November 21, 2023
But it really shouldn’t be.
Bad officiating like this really hurts the integrity of the sport as a whole.
Will the NFL come out and address how bad their referees have been in 2023? Time will tell.
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Jennifer Withers Hoey is a former Business Development Manager who transitioned to writing about sports. With valuable connections all over the West Coast, she has used those contacts to break some of the most interesting stories pertaining to the Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon Ducks, LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Seattle Supersonics (RIP), and more.
