'Ridiculous' Kansas City Chiefs claims dismissed ahead of Super Bowl LIX
'Ridiculous' Kansas City Chiefs claims dismissed ahead of Super Bowl LIX
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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has rejected the idea that the Kansas City Chiefs receive favourable treatment and branded the notion as 'ridiculous'. The Super Bowl champions are preparing in their bid to win the Lombardi Trophy for a third consecutive time. With their success, claims of the AFC giants consistently benefitting from contentious calls have emerged. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes led his side past the Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills in the play-offs and will next take on the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX. The Chiefs appeared to benefit from some dubious decisions from referee Clete Blakeman against the Bills during critical moments.
Some fans branded the match the 'one of the worst officiated games in history'. A call that saw Josh Allen ruled short of a first down sparked particular controversy. Replays suggested Allen may have got to the line to gain and saw accusations of favouritism towards the Chiefs. Roger Goodell, the NFL ’s commissioner, defended his officials and rubbished such claims. "This sort of reminds me a little bit of 'the script', right? That I write the script for the entire season," Goodell said. "A lot of these theories are things that happen in social media and get life.
"I think it reflects a lot of the fans passion, and I think it's also is a reminder for us how important officiating is. I think the men and women that officiate in the NFL are outstanding. "They have the highest possible standards. It's a ridiculous theory for anyone who might take it seriously.". He added, "Our officials are evaluated in several ways. It's not just the performance on the field, but it's things that go on in their own lives, and we have a very tight control over that. We monitor that very closely in a number of ways.".
Following the AFC win, coach Andy Reid admitted his side were lucky. "Literally a game of inches," he said after the victory. "We were lucky to be on that side of it, where we had the most inches. This came right down to an inch, literally. That's what the stop was. It was back-and-forth. It was going to be back-and-forth. "Whoever had the ball last was probably going to come out in the lead and [with] the win. But I'm proud of our guys battling.".
