MONDAY COMMENTARY: C.Y.A.
Photo: KC Chiefs
(Listen daily for the RP Commentary on Cat Country 98 and LTD Radio)
Can anybody else see the trainwreck coming?
The NFL is in for a big one if they don’t get their referees in line, pronto.
And for sure they’re having a Come-to-Jesus meeting this morning in their New York offices over what went down in Kansas City at the end of the Chiefs-Bills game on Sunday.
With a minute to go and the Bills leading 20-17, the play of the year in the NFL was wiped off the board due to a very sticky, seemingly needless, penalty.
KC quarterback Patrick Mahomes hooked up with favourite target Travis Kelce in Bills territory, who then lateralled the ball to teammate Kadarius Toney, who turned on the jets to reach the Buffalo endzone.
Bedlam right?
Not so fast my friend, to quote College icon Lee Corso.
The play was wiped out because the officiating crew ruled Toney lined up offside. A still-shot of the snap showed Toney may have been 6-12 inches offside (i.e. the length of his foot).
It’s been my experience – and generally anybody who follows football – that referees will give you a yard’s grace at the snap of the football. Call it the “Elgaard Rule”.
Hey look – we’ve seen championships won and lost based on referees calls in the CFL but nobody could really argue them. The 2014 block-to-the-back on the punt return TD between the Stampeders and Ticats in Vancouver comes to mind, and who can forget the infamous Too Many Men penalty which cost the Riders the 2009 Grey Cup? They were both black and white.
On Sunday both Mahomes and Chiefs coach Andy Reid were left fuming afterwards saying the players should be the ones deciding these games, not the officials.
And as Patrick said, “Every week it’s something.”
Of course a statement was released Sunday night explaining the call and absolving the refs but that’s just another case of a new term I’ve become familiar with when it comes to the NFL.
“C.Y.A.”
Cover your you-know-what.
That’s today’s Rod Pedersen Commentary
(The Rod Pedersen Show airs daily at 12 pm & 5 pm ET on Game+TV, WQEE Radio, Podcast & YouTube Live)
It was a penalty through and through. These aren’t teenagers playing high school football for the first time. Rules are rules!!
Actually the actions by Mahomes showed he acted like a teenager.
Chiefs deserved what they got …. Another loss.
The actions by Mahomes? Can you say ‘spoiled brat’?
The chiefs 2 Super Bowls were aided by some questionable non holding calls at critical points in the Super Bowl against the 49ers few years back and last year against the Bengals and for the chiefs to be upset by a play where there was an infraction that was actually called is narrow minded. You lost move on! If it was another coach or QB with much less profile they would have been blasted for being poor sports.