FanPost

The officiating and the role it has played within the Chiefs season


The Chiefs have had a terrible time getting the ball to bounce their way this year. Call it bad luck, a coincidence (I don't buy either)or whatever you would like, but the bottom line remains the same: The officiating has been a deciding factor in many of our games, with the Chiefs seemingly getting the short end of the stick the majority of the time. Below you will find four games in which just a few calls by the officials have completely decided the fate and outcome of the game. Three of these games account for three out of our four losses.


Buffalo - Pass interference called on Brandon Carr when the receiver clearly grabs both sides of his shoulderpads and drags him down as the ball gets close. This set up a first and goal for the Bills and ultimately cost the Chiefs points. I can't remember clearly the situation now, but I know there was a call on Brandon Flowers that continued one of their scoring drives that I disagreed with as well. The penalty was either holding or illegal use of hands...

Houston - The clear push in the back from Andre Johnson on Brandon Flowers that resulted in a defensive pass interference call instead of offensive. This one hurt because Flowers had his head around looking for the ball and was whistled. It hurt even more because this call continued the game winning drive that lost us this game.

Oakland - After the opening kickoff during the second half, when Jacoby Ford took it to the house, there were two blatantly obvious holding no-calls on the Raiders that resulted in both of the Chief players having their shoulderpads out of their jersey. If this isn't a sign of holding, I'm not entirely sure what else would be such a clear indication that something was awry. Then, the Chiefs get kicked while they were down with a block in the back call on Eric Berry when Javier Arenas returned the punt for a TD. I didn't see anything close to contact from behind and I know a few readers here on AP agree with me.

Denver - The replay "malfunction" for the Chiefs challenge of the TD catch that completely opened the game up and allowed Denver to go ahead 21-0. I clearly saw the ball hit the ground and everyone around me at the bar (all fans from other teams mind you) agreed that the receiver did not have complete control of the ball. Then magically, the replay works a little later when the Broncos challenged a different play. There were a few calls this game as well that were in the Chiefs favor that I did not agree with also. A few of the pass interference calls against the Broncos were seemingly "gimme calls" for the Chiefs. I did not see any PI, yet it was called. Also, when Chambers was called for offensive PI, it infuriated me because I felt that if that was pass interference, why wasn't the Andre Johnson push offensive PI.

Don't even get me started on the Tamba Hali "no-calls". It seems every time I see him line up and rush the qb, he either gets held, facemasked, or chop blocked. But that's for another time.


So, as you can see, just a handful of officiating decisions have ultimately changed our season. We could be sitting at 7-1 had some of these calls and no-calls been different. Of course, replays of these plays were non existant within the broadcast I saw of the game. Too controversial to show the blatant fail apparently. I have never seen a Chiefs season in which the officials have played such a massive role in the decisions of the games. The real question is how can this continue to happen seemingly on a weekly basis to the Chiefs? Its hard to believe this is just a coincidence or bad luck. It is safe to say the Chiefs are not getting any calls, so they must find a way to win despite the clear fail of the officiating.


This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Arrowhead Pride's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Arrowhead Pride writers or editors.