AFC ChampionshipBill BelichickNFL

Patrick Mahomes May Be Lucky But Tom Brady Is Still the LOAT (Luckiest of All Time): Part 5 – Playoff Officiating

Photo of Scott Kacsmar Scott Kacsmar29/01/2025 - 11:49 am
Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City
(Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images)

The Kansas City Chiefs are one win away from the first Super Bowl three-peat in NFL history, and all some people want to do is talk about officiating. We can do that too, but before anyone tries suggesting the referees favor Patrick Mahomes on this dynastic run to history, let’s backtrack 23 years and remember that no dynasty has ever owed the officials more than Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

The playoffs are where Brady made his biggest mark with seven Super Bowl wins, but the whole foundation of his success was built on the most fortuitous run in NFL history in the 2001 season.

This is Part 5 of the LOAT series, the Luckiest of All Time, and it’s all about playoff officiating. Fittingly, Brady will be calling Super Bowl LIX for Fox when Mahomes’ Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles with the first-ever Super Bowl three-peat at stake.

Since Part 4 of the LOAT series came out six weeks ago, Mahomes has moved into second place all-time behind only Brady (35) with 17 playoff wins as a starting quarterback. On Sunday night against Buffalo, Mahomes led his seventh game-winning drive in the playoffs, putting him No. 2 and halfway to Brady’s record of 14.

To win such a high volume of playoff games, and so many of them being close, it takes a lot of effort from a lot of people. Sometimes it takes a favorable call, or maybe a missed call if you’re the 2018 Rams in New Orleans. Sorry, Saints fans, but people need a refresher on what an actual game-deciding bad call looks like in the NFL playoffs.

There has been such a strong national reaction from fans and the media over the officiating in these Kansas City playoff wins that you must think they’re getting away with murder on the field to pull these games out:

Relief? The league already supported both calls in the Texans-Chiefs game in the divisional round and said replay assist would unlikely change a thing per the current rulebook.

Someone has to restore some common sense with facts by remembering what the Patriots got away with years ago. The Kansas City controversy is so heavy in recency bias that major revisionist history like this is now being said about New England’s dynasty run:

Can you even imagine what would happen now if the Chiefs actually had their own Tuck Rule moment in the playoffs? How about a game so egregious it impacts the illegal contact rule next season? How about the irony that the 2018 AFC Championship Game was so favorable to the Patriots in Kansas City that it provided one last hurrah for the New England dynasty and set the Chiefs on the path to their own dynastic run?

Oh, we’re going down memory lane with bells on for this one, and while not every little thing can be covered when you’re talking about 66 unique playoff games (48 for Brady, 20 for Mahomes, and they played each other twice), there’s more than enough here to show that the Chiefs have a long way to go to ever touching the Patriots when it comes to getting help from the refs.

In case you missed the first four parts of the LOAT series:

What makes officiating part of luck in football? Referees can be so mind-numbingly inconsistent that you never know what will get called and what you’ll get away with. It’s largely out of a team’s control when an official is going to swallow the whistle or make a game-changing call.

To combat Brady’s career being so much longer than Mahomes’ career, we’re going to take it on a postseason-by-postseason approach, jumping from Brady’s first run (2001 Patriots) to Mahomes’ first postseason (2018 Chiefs), then their second playoff runs before branching off into their rematch in Super Bowl 55, Brady’s other run-ins with the refs, and finally this three-peat bid for the Chiefs.

Mahomes Brady,

Tom Brady’s First Postseason (2001 Patriots): The LOAT Is Born

If you look at launching points for teams that became NFL dynasties, there’s usually nothing controversial about it.

  • The 1961 Packers crushed the Giants 37-0 in the NFL Championship Game for Vince Lombardi’s first of five titles in a game where Bart Starr threw three touchdowns.
  • The 1972 Steelers won their first playoff game with The Immaculate Reception, a controversial but beloved play by Franco Harris against the Raiders, but that didn’t lead to a Super Bowl appearance let alone a ring. Those would come later in 1974-79 in games known for the athletic catches by Lynn Swann, the dart to John Stallworth against the Rams, and a drop by Jackie Smith of the Cowboys. Not the officials.
  • Joe Montana’s “We’re here” moment was the 1981 NFC Championship Game against Dallas where he led an 89-yard touchdown drive with Dwight Clark making “The Catch” on a drive that only featured an offsides penalty on Dallas on a play where the 49ers gained enough yards for the first down anyway.
  • The 1990s Cowboys were so dominant on their way to three Super Bowl wins in 1992-95 that the biggest controversy is wondering if Pittsburgh quarterback Neil O’Donnell intentionally threw the game away with two horrible interceptions to Larry Brown in Super Bowl XXX.

We’ll see below that the Chiefs are the same way as these teams, but the outlier is New England, and it all stems from that run in the 2001 season.

2001 AFC Divisional vs. Raiders: The Tuck Rule

Do you guys remember Tom Brady?

Brady? That Michigan kid who took over when Bledsoe went down after 9/11? Yeah, I thought he’d be a good one, but then he fumbled with the season on the line in the snow against the Raiders and we lost 13-10 at home. Bledsoe got his job back in 2002.

That very well could have been our timeline if one of the worst rules in NFL history wasn’t evoked by an official (Walt Coleman) who would be part of numerous controversies that helped the Patriots win games before and after the 2001 season.

The wild thing about the Tuck Rule as it became known is that it was only introduced one season (1999) before Tom Brady was drafted, this January 2002 playoff game was by far the most important application of it, and it was finally voted out of the rule book in 2013 while Brady’s playing career went on for another decade.

But this is why there can never be another Tom Brady, because what is Brady without the Tuck Rule?

Bill Belichick and the 2001 Patriots knew that obscure rule well, because it went against them during the second quarter of their September game against the Jets, the same fateful game where Bledsoe was injured by Mo Lewis on a scramble that called Brady into action.

Belichick stuck with Brady even though Bledsoe was ready to return to action, and he started the divisional-round playoff game against the Raiders on a snowy Saturday night. The Patriots were down 13-3 in the fourth quarter before Brady rushed for a touchdown to make it 13-10.

Brady got the ball back with 2:06 left at his own 46. Had the Tuck Rule play happened immediately, the game would have ended as the Patriots were out of timeouts and wouldn’t have been able to challenge the fumble. Turnovers were not automatically reviewed back then.

But on the third play of the drive, the most significant play in New England history happened. Hall of Fame corner and Brady’s former Michigan teammate Charles Woodson came in on a blitz and hit Brady, causing a fumble that the Raiders recovered with under 1:50 left. The game was over, and the Raiders were going to advance to the AFC Championship Game.

But the play was under review for a long time before Walt Coleman changed the call of a season-ending fumble to an incomplete pass as the “quarterback’s arm was moving forward.” He applied the Tuck Rule, which most people were not aware of before this game but will never forget afterward.

NFL Rule 3, Section 22, Article 2, Note 2. When [an offensive] player is holding the ball to pass it forward, any intentional forward movement of his arm starts a forward pass, even if the player loses possession of the ball as he is attempting to tuck it back toward his body. Also, if the player has tucked the ball into his body and then loses possession, it is a fumble.

But what always made the Tuck Rule problematic is that it’s a total judgment call as the ref is trying to determine the quarterback’s intent. Was he really trying to throw the ball, or was he trying to tuck it back to his body? That’s why the rule didn’t last long in NFL history as it always felt like a cheap way of allowing a quarterback to fumble if he does it a certain way.

However, the real issue here is that Coleman didn’t even apply the call correctly. Brady didn’t just attempt to tuck the ball back to his body. He succeeded because the ball touched his left hand again before Woodson knocked it out. That’s a fumble, the call on the field should have stood, and we’d be talking about a vastly different legacy right now.

When Woodson tried to bring it up years later to Brady, things got very awkward.

Brady was more prepared to talk about it in 2022 when a 30 for 30 episode (“The Tuck Rule”) aired about the controversial play. In that episode, Brady still defended the big lie that the ball never touched his left hand before he lost it. Then months later on social media, a more jovial Brady admitted it may have been a fumble.

It was a fumble, but Walt Coleman, a veteran NFL official, made the season-saving and legacy-shaping call in favor of Brady and the Patriots. It’s the first time a Super Bowl-winning team was saved from elimination by an overturned call on the field during a playoff game. But if you know Brady’s career well, it wouldn’t be the last time this happens.

However, the Tuck Rule would have been a footnote if Adam Vinatieri hadn’t made the most clutch field goal in NFL history from 45 yards away just a few snaps later. But we already covered that in Part 1 about clutch kicking.

2001 AFC Championship Game vs. Steelers: The Forward Lateral

A week later in Pittsburgh for the title game, the underdog Patriots lost Brady to an injury in the second quarter while leading 7-3 thanks to a punt return touchdown by Troy Brown that happened after the Steelers were penalized (legitimately) and had to re-kick.

But in the third quarter, the Patriots blocked Pittsburgh’s field goal attempt. It was Brown again on the return, but right at midfield, he decided to lateral the ball to Antwan Harris, who went 49 yards for the touchdown to take a shocking 21-3 lead.

The problem is this was a clear forward lateral. The NFL Films’ Game of the Week version even calls it out as such as you can see Brown clearly gives up the ball just before the 50-yard line, and Harris doesn’t catch it until the Pittsburgh 49. That’s not a legal touchdown but the Patriots still got away with it, which seems preposterous a mere two years after the scrutinized Music City Miracle play in Tennessee.

The missed call was huge too as the Steelers scored back-to-back touchdowns after this mistake to get back in the game at 21-17. They went on to lose 24-17. The Patriots would have retained the ball after the lateral, but it would have been at midfield instead of a sure 7 points, the margin in the game.

Imagine the uproar if the Chiefs got away with something like this in any game today, let alone the AFC Championship Game.

Super Bowl XXXVI vs. Rams: We’re All Patriots, I Guess

Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans was a watershed moment as the Patriots were a 14-point underdog against the Rams, the Greatest Show on Turf, who were thinking about their own dynasty chances two years after winning a championship.

From the Patriots breaking tradition by being announced as a team to U2’s memorable halftime performance with the names of 9/11 victims presented on banners, it was an emotional night where it felt like most of the country was behind the underdog Patriots.

On the field, it was largely a boring game in the way the Rams would move the ball, and shoot themselves in the foot, and the Patriots took advantage of those mistakes.

The big swing that turned the game completely was in the second quarter. With pressure in his face from Mike Vrabel, Kurt Warner threw a pass to Ty Law for a huge pick-six to give the Patriots a 7-3 lead in the second quarter.

No play symbolizes the game better as it showed Belichick’s strategy of roughhousing a “finesse” Rams offense. On the play, Vrabel hit Warner right in the face, yet there was no penalty, and smacking the quarterback in the face like that was indeed a penalty in 2001. Just ask old Patriots fans about the 1976 playoff call for roughing the passer against Sugar Bear Hamilton against Ken Stabler. Fox’s John Madden even acknowledges the blow to the head from Vrabel while analyzing the replay.

But the game was a masterclass in showing Belichick’s approach to playing as rough as the refs will allow to slow down an elite passing offense. In the game, the Patriots were penalized 5 times for 31 yards, including just two penalties for defensive holding and defensive pass interference.

To prove that NFL officiating conspiracies are nothing new, here’s a video from a website someone made over 20 years ago after this game to show an alleged 150 yards in missed penalties for late hits by the Patriots. Some of these are bogus claims, but several were indeed late hits, blows to the head, or tackling a player out of bounds and not a single flag was thrown on New England.

Note the end of the video that warns about uncalled holding penalties and the NFL producing a corrupt outcome. Is this 2002 or 2025? I’d say excuse the poor quality, but it’s just proof from over 20 years ago that fans never change.

That website also made some compelling cases about the Patriots’ game-winning drive for a field goal to break the 17-17 tie that look suspect and would be heavily scrutinized if the Chiefs got away with this. Remember, the Patriots had no timeouts left:

  • After two short completions, the drive really got going after J.R. Redmond was ruled out of bounds on an 11-yard gain to stop the clock with 33 seconds left even though it looks like his right forearm might have been down inbounds, which would run the clock.
  • On the very next snap, pressure forced Brady slightly to his right before he sailed the ball out of bounds with no receiver in sight, yet no intentional grounding was called, which would have been a huge blow to the drive.
  • One play after the no-grounding call, Brady found Brown for 23 yards.
  • Vinatieri’s 48-yard field goal somehow consumed the final 7 seconds on the clock, not even leaving a kick return opportunity for the Rams even though the play was clearly over with 0:02 to spare. Curious.

But hey, we were all Patriots that night, I guess. Never mind it took a reversed turnover using the NFL’s worst rule, two illegal actions on touchdowns that weren’t called, and a blind eye to grounding on the final drive to make it all happen for this team.

You can easily make the case the 2001 Patriots alone got more significant breaks from the refs than the Chiefs have in 20 playoff games since 2018.

Patrick Mahomes’ First Postseason (2018 Chiefs): The Seeds of a Dynasty Are Planted in Defeat

That was a lot for one postseason to start Brady’s career. Anything for Mahomes would be short for comparison, but his first playoff game against the 2018 Colts, Andrew Luck’s final NFL game, was a 31-13 rout that few remember well.

With a 24-7 lead to start the third quarter, Mahomes had an interception called back for the Colts being offsides, something he does more than anyone in the NFL as he was so good at the hard count early in his career. The drive ended with a fourth-down sack, so no harm either way.

That was just a warm-up for the 2018 AFC Championship Game, which is one of the most impactful games in NFL history given the crossroads between a young Mahomes and the last hurrah for Brady and the New England dynasty.

The odds-on favorite, Patrick Mahomes.
(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

2018 AFC Championship Game vs. Patriots: The Dee Ford Game

If you want to see a playoff game where people still frequently bring up the officiating six years later, this is the one. While there were only 10 calls made in the game, a 37-31 overtime classic, it was the wild fourth quarter that has gone down in playoff lore for the Chiefs and Patriots.

The Chiefs trailed 17-7 to start the fourth quarter. On the first snap, the Patriots were flagged for pass interference in the end zone after J.C. Jackson hooked and turned Travis Kelce, a good call.

Later, there was a controversial call on a punt return where Julian Edelman was ruled to have touched the ball for a muff, recovered by Kansas City. But it was overturned on review. Very close play. But the reason this one doesn’t resonate much is because two plays later, a Brady pass deflected off Edelman’s fingertips for an interception, so that was the ultimate “ball don’t lie” moment.

The Chiefs took a 21-17 lead two plays later, then the real controversy started. With 7:10 left and the now trailing Patriots facing a 2nd-and-7, Chris Jones was penalized for roughing the passer on a play where he slapped Brady’s chest, but the officials must have thought he got his face.

That’s an absolutely brutal call. Maybe the Patriots still convert the 3rd-and-7 since they were 13-of-19 on third down in the game, but that also could have easily been a three-and-out with a hot Mahomes offense getting the ball back. The Patriots finished that drive with a touchdown to go up 24-21.

J.C. Jackson was a huge target in the fourth quarter. His defensive holding penalty negated a Kelce fumble with 3:11 left. It was a good call as he grabbed the receiver, who went down.

Two plays later, Jackson was penalized 23 yards for pass interference, a more questionable call. He pushed the receiver, but it wasn’t a huge shove to reroute him. However, the Patriots were also penalized for roughing the passer for going low on Mahomes (Brady rule), so it was going to be a first down and gain of 15 yards for the Chiefs either way.

Kansas City scored a touchdown to take a 28-24 lead. Then with 1:01 left, it’s the play everyone remembers on 3rd-and-10. Brady’s short pass for Rob Gronkowski went high off his hands and to the Chiefs for an interception that could have iced the game.

But a big problem you could never spot from the live TV angle: Dee Ford was lined up offsides. Talk about losing awareness of the drive of the year.

The 100% right call, so not controversial by any means. But it is just the second instance you could point to in 58 years of a team that won the Super Bowl needing the officials to overturn a turnover in the final 2:00 that was likely season-ending. Not nearly as bad as the Tuck Rule since this call was legit, but it’s still the kind of luck thing you have to consider if you’re going to argue about the legacy of Mahomes and Brady.

Even with three timeouts left, the Patriots would have been hard-pressed to score again if Ford just lined up like a normal human being. But the Patriots converted from there and scored a touchdown, Mahomes forced overtime, then he never saw the ball again as the Patriots scored a touchdown in overtime.

In fact, the Chiefs and Patriots are largely responsible for changing the NFL’s overtime playoff rules. People were tired of seeing these great games where only one team touched the ball in overtime. It happened in Super Bowl LI when the Patriots beat the Falcons, it happened in this 2018 game, and finally, the 2021 AFC divisional game between the Bills and Chiefs got the rule changed.

The Patriots went on to win their sixth Super Bowl while the Chiefs quickly realized they couldn’t win like this with the defense. They fired defensive coordinator Bob Sutton and replaced him with Steve Spagnuolo, one of the smartest decisions in NFL history.

But the sting of the Dee Ford mistake was necessary for the Chiefs to get on the right path to becoming their own dynasty on a night when the Patriots had one last AFC superiority (meets dumb luck) moment left in them.

Tom Brady’s Second Postseason (2003 Patriots): The Bad Boys of Defense

After missing the playoffs in 2002, the Patriots returned with the best defense in the NFL in 2003. They allowed the fewest points and forced quarterbacks to throw 11 touchdowns to 29 interceptions. As they showed against the Rams in the Super Bowl, they weren’t afraid to get physical with receivers and put the onus on the referees to flag them for it.

It all came to a head in the 2003 AFC Championship Game, arguably the most critical game of the NFL’s 21st century because of the path it put the league on with the perception of Brady, Super Bowl rings, and the passing rules.

Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots
(Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

2003 AFC Championship Game vs. Colts: The Rebirth of Illegal Contact

It was the best defense of the Patriots against a red-hot offense from the Colts, who ripped through the first two rounds of the playoffs against the Broncos and Chiefs with nearly flawless games behind MVP Peyton Manning.

It was the first playoff game between Manning and Brady, and in the wet snow, neither quarterback played well. Manning infamously threw four interceptions, but the part people like to ignore is that the resident LOAT tried matching him pick for pick against the No. 22 defense. The Colts just kept dropping the ball.

But despite trailing 21-7 deep into the fourth quarter, the Colts got the ball back in a 21-14 game with 2:01 left, needing an 80-yard miracle drive to tie. But if anyone could do it, it’s the offense that scored three touchdowns in five minutes that season to stun Tampa Bay.

But that final Indy drive was a joke as the Patriots decided to just flat out grab and hold tight end Marcus Pollard on consecutive plays on third (handful of jersey) and fourth down (pass interference). No flag was thrown on either play, and the Colts turned it back on downs in four snaps. Game over.

It may not surprise you that Walt Coleman, Mr. Tuck Rule himself, was the official for this big game too. His crew called just 7 penalties in the entire game, and all of them were for procedural mistakes (four false starts, one offsides, one encroachment, and one delay of game).

Not a single judgment call was delivered in the whole game, which featured a ton of big hits from the Patriots on the Colts’ receivers.

After the game, it was quietly admitted by the NFL that Coleman’s crew missed six penalties against the Patriots, including those passes to Pollard at the end of the game. The Colts probably still wouldn’t have won the game given the way they played that day, but they didn’t even get a fair shot at it with the refs swallowing their whistle on literally every post-snap play in the whole game.

Patriots

This was pre-social media days, but there was enough public outrage over this game and the way the Carolina Panthers roughed up Andy Reid’s receivers in the NFC title game later that day to add a rule emphasis for the 2004 season. The NFL set a mandate to remind officials that illegal contact after 5 yards has been a penalty since 1978, and they need to get back to calling it.

Meanwhile, the Patriots went on to defeat the Panthers in an exciting Super Bowl, then repeated in 2004 despite the league-wide offensive explosion around the league in the passing game. They also defeated the Colts 20-3 the following year in the playoffs without controversy.

But you could only imagine the outcry if the Chiefs decided to just grab onto Philadelphia tight end Dallas Goedert in Super Bowl LIX on two consecutive game-deciding plays and no flag was thrown.

Patrick Mahomes’ Second Postseason (2019 Chiefs): The First Super Bowl Win

The 2019 Chiefs made history when they trailed in all three playoff games by double digits and still won each game by double digits. That’s never been done before or since. People also weren’t looking to complain about refs with this team yet, and those three playoff games gave them little to talk about anyway on that front.

After falling behind 24-0 to Houston, the Chiefs stormed back with 51 points for a 20-point win. In the third quarter, while leading 34-24, the Chiefs converted a 2nd-and-6 with a pass interference penalty (receiver had his jersey pulled on for several yards down the field) and a 3rd-and-10 with a defensive holding penalty after two players grabbed Kelce and wouldn’t let go. Both are legit calls.

Travis Kelce #87 of the Kansas City Chiefs
(Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

In the AFC Championship Game against Tennessee, both offenses converted a 3rd-and-long situation with a big defensive pass interference penalty. Both calls were correct as the Chiefs won 35-24.

In Super Bowl LIV against the 49ers, it was mostly a clean game from the officiating side as most Super Bowls honestly are if you break them down. The most consequential penalty in this one did favor the Chiefs and it was three plays after the Play of the Game when Mahomes found Tyreek Hill for 44 yards on 3rd-and-15.

But on 3rd-and-10 from the San Francisco 21, Mahomes threw incomplete to Kelce in the end zone. Tarvarius Moore was penalized for pass interference, and the reason this play probably doesn’t ring a bell is because it was so blatant as he jumped into Kelce without ever looking back for the ball.

The Chiefs scored three touchdowns in the final 6:17 to win 31-20.

Tom Brady vs. Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl 55 (2020 Season)

We just looked at the first two postseasons for Brady (2001, 2003) and Mahomes (2018-19) as well as Brady’s first playoff matchup against this team in 2018, and there is a world of difference in the impact officiating had on these teams’ runs.

Now let’s jump to 2020, Mahomes’ third postseason and Brady’s first year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Sure, I could point out Sean Murphy-Bunting getting away with a hold before picking off Aaron Rodgers before halftime of the NFC Championship Game to help set up the Bucs for a 21-10 halftime lead, but let’s just go right to Super Bowl LV.

The game was already historic in that Tampa Bay became the first team to play the Super Bowl in its home stadium. That had some wondering if there’d be a true home-field advantage with officiating, and the week before the game I posted some interesting stats about how much better Tampa was at managing defensive pass interference penalties than the Chiefs. Also, Super Bowl LV referee Carl Cheffers and his crews had a high tendency to call that play and to penalize road teams.

We know how the game eventually played out with the Chiefs losing 31-9 after their reshuffled offensive line gave up 29 pressures and Spagnuolo’s defense had no answers for the Bucs.

But it was a rough night for penalties too for the Chiefs, and that goes well against the new narrative they’re facing. The Chiefs were penalized 11 times for 120 yards, and that played a big part in producing the blowout:

  • Up 7-3 in the second quarter, Tampa Bay avoided a Brady interception thanks to a legit defensive holding call on the Chiefs, then Mecole Hardman lined up offsides on the field goal, leading to a Tampa Bay touchdown as the Chiefs just couldn’t seem to line up properly against Brady’s team in the playoffs. That’s a 4-point mistake by Hardman and a 7-point mistake by the defense on holding.
  • But the floodgates broke before halftime with the Bucs up 14-6 when Mike Evans drew a phantom 34-yard penalty for defensive pass interference on the Chiefs then another in the end zone that put the ball at the 1. Tampa led 21-6 at halftime.

The Chiefs had 8 penalties for 95 yards in the first half alone of Super Bowl LV, the rare Super Bowl to be decided early in this century. Maybe the Chiefs never stood much of a chance with that offensive line, but handing out 34-yard penalties for tangled feet on an overthrown pass wasn’t helpful either.

Tom Brady’s Other Postseason Clashes with Referees

Brady made the playoffs 20 times and played 48 playoff games. Without literally rewatching every game, you’re going to forget some things. I’m already pushing well over 5,300 words with more to go here, so let’s just summarize a few other noteworthy officiating moments in his career that went in his team’s favor.

After all, it is the big stuff that matters, and the fact that we aren’t picking things out from every single game does go to show that most NFL games aren’t heavily affected by officiating. It just happens to come up here and there and in spots you really notice.

For example, I can point out Brady is the last quarterback to throw a touchdown in the playoffs because of the force-out rule in the 2006 AFC Championship Game in Indianapolis, another rule the NFL removed many years ago during Brady’s career. It was the right call in that moment, but it’s another example of something you could never repeat from his career today, but it also ultimately didn’t matter since the Patriots still blew an 18-point lead and lost that game.

We could also point out the NFL acknowledged one of New England’s touchdowns against the Colts in the 2014 AFC Championship Game was actually an illegal substitution and shouldn’t have counted. But no one cared because the game was a 45-7 rout that introduced the Deflategate scandal. But no level of air pressure in the footballs or overturned touchdown would have saved the Colts that day from a slaughter, so no one really cares about that one.

But we’ve focused on Brady’s first two postseasons to build up his dynasty, and we focused on his two matchups against Mahomes to secure his legacy with his final two rings. What about some of the other officiating moments during his dynasty 2.0 run in 2014-18 when the Patriots were 3-1 in Super Bowls?

Here are a few moments to highlight that are again more consequential than the breaks the Chiefs have gotten. Also, make note that Super Bowl LI is absent as I don’t think Atlanta fans have any justified beef with the officials in that 28-3 collapse. The coaches and players failed on their own to put that game away.

Don’t blame the officials.

Tom Brady #12 talks to head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots
(Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)

2017 AFC Championship Game vs. Jaguars: Myles Jack Wasn’t Down

It’s one of the few hashtags I’ve ever liked. It has its own t-shirt (MJWD). In case you forgot because the Patriots still lost to Nick Foles and the Eagles in Super Bowl LII, Myles Jack Wasn’t Down in the AFC Championship Game and the Patriots should have lost to Blake Bortles at home.

We were truly robbed of a Nick Foles vs. Blaker Bortles Super Bowl. In the end, I guess the ball didn’t lie as Brady fumbled against the Eagles in a 41-33 loss, but nine Super Bowl starts doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as 10, especially if you need to stay ahead of Mahomes with his five already in seven years starting.

If you go back to this game, the underdog Jaguars just kicked a field goal to take a 20-10 lead in the fourth quarter even though their offense had been sputtering after a nice start. The Patriots tried a little trickery, but Dion Lewis fumbled in Jacksonville territory. Linebacker Myles Jack forced the fumble and recovered the ball in a very athletic move and looked to be well on his way to returning it for a touchdown and 27-10 lead that should have been enough that day.

Instead, the Jaguars got the ball at their own 33, went three-and-out, and the Patriots outscored them 14-0 the rest of the way to win 24-20.

Before the 2024 season, Brady was doing Jaguars media and acknowledged Jack wasn’t down and the Patriots wouldn’t have caught him for a touchdown to produce a three-score deficit. It’s always easier for Brady to admit these things we knew when they happened.

Keep in mind, that’s the same season where Jesse James’ touchdown catch in Pittsburgh was overturned to an incomplete pass, leading to a New England win and the No. 1 seed that year. But despite 2017 being Brady’s best postseason from an individual performance standpoint, it did not result in a ring.

Super Bowl LIII vs. Rams: Stephon Gilmore Living His Best Life

What is it about the Patriots beating the Rams in low-scoring Super Bowls? That’s how the dynasty started in 2001 and that’s how it ended in 2018. Once again, Belichick’s defense put on a masterclass of how to slow down one of the highest-scoring offenses in NFL history.

Down 10-3, Jared Goff had a chance to tie the game with a touchdown in the final minutes. He threw a deep pass to Brandin Cooks, and corner Stephon Gilmore grabbed Cook’s left arm while the ball was in the air, which would often draw a defensive pass interference penalty.

Maybe that gets called in a game that wasn’t a defensive slugfest, but there was no flag here. On the very next play, Goff threw deep for Cooks again and Gilmore was there for the interception, effectively putting an end to the game.

The Patriots went on to win 13-3, the only team to ever win a Super Bowl with 13 points scored. Seventeen years earlier, the 2001 Patriots became the first Super Bowl winner to produce just 13 offensive points as the Ty Law pick-six (after the missed Vrabel hit) helped them get to 20 that day.

But that’s quite the fitting legacy here for the LOAT. Brady won a 13-3 Super Bowl against Goff’s Rams, who won a 54-51 game against Mahomes’ Chiefs in that 2018 season, the most points ever scored by a losing team in NFL history.

Again, can you imagine the outcry if Dalton Kincaid had his arm grabbed on that 4th-and-5 on Sunday for Buffalo and there was no call?

At the same time, the 2018 Rams probably had no hope in hell of getting a defensive pass interference call two weeks after getting away with the most blatant DPI ever in New Orleans to help them win that game to even get to this Super Bowl.

Officiating luck may have evened out for the 2018 Rams, but the LOAT stays winning. Even if he scores 13 points in a Super Bowl. Twice.

Patrick Mahomes’ Three-peat Bid (2022-24 Chiefs): The Whining Intensifies

The Chiefs had a very dramatic but largely penalty-free postseason in the 2021 season, losing in overtime to the Bengals in the AFC Championship Game. They traded Tyreek Hill in 2022, and they haven’t lost a playoff game since (10-0) as they seek the three-peat.

But it was really in the 2022 postseason that the Chiefs planted the seeds for this “they get all the calls” narrative that has only grown this year and is at a fever pitch now as we detailed last week.

This is the final section today, and before we go through these last three postseasons for the Chiefs, I just want to remind you of the officiating highlights that helped Brady in his career in the playoffs:

  • The since-removed Tuck Rule reversed a season-ending turnover for Brady, who wasn’t even flagged for tripping the player who recovered the ball.
  • The referees allowed a forward lateral on a special teams touchdown in Pittsburgh to create a 21-3 lead.
  • There was no penalty for Mike Vrabel hitting Kurt Warner in the face on a pick-six in the Super Bowl, and no intentional grounding on Brady on the game-winning drive even though he didn’t escape the pocket and no receiver was in sight.
  • The NFL admitted that the Patriots got away with back-to-back fouls in guarding Marcus Pollard of the Colts with the AFC Championship Game on the line.
  • Myles Jack was ruled down on a fumble recovery, denying him a chance at a fumble return touchdown to give the 2017 Jaguars a 27-10 lead in the fourth quarter.
  • Chris Jones was penalized for one of the worst roughing-the-passer calls you’ll ever see in the fourth quarter of a one-score playoff game, and then Brady was bailed out by the correct call of offsides on Dee Ford to negate another critical turnover.
  • Stephon Gilmore got away with pass interference in the fourth quarter of a 10-3 Super Bowl one play before making the critical game-sealing interception off Jared Goff.
  • A couple of phantom pass interference penalties drawn by Mike Evans helped blow open the first half of Super Bowl LV against Kansas City.

Now let’s see if the Chiefs can do anything to compare here as we’ve already gone through 2018-21 and came up pretty empty.

Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs leads a huddle prior to the AFC Championship NFL football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals
(Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)

The 2022 Chiefs: Game-Winning Drives Helped But Not Created or Saved by Penalties

Again, many of the seeds of the so-called Chiefs’ officiating conspiracy were planted in the 2022 AFC Championship Game against the Bengals. After the game was tied at 20, there were multiple calls that went in favor of the Chiefs.

There was a strange 3rd-and-9 after Mahomes threw a short pass to Kelce and the Chiefs were ready to punt. But after a long delay, the officials said the play was blown dead for a clock issue, effectively giving the Chiefs a do-over. Mahomes was sacked, but that was negated by a defensive holding penalty on Eli Apple (redundant).

If you’re a neutral observer, you just saw a team get a rare do-over play, then get out of a sack by a holding penalty. That’s going to stick in your head as one team getting the breaks even if the Apple hold was a legit call (grabbed and pulled the receiver’s shoulder).

But the thing people should remember is the Chiefs still punted four plays later. It didn’t lead to anything, and the Bengals had the ball two more times in a 20-20 game, and Joe Burrow threw an interception and took a third-down sack.

Then with 17 seconds left, Mahomes, playing on a high-ankle sprain, scrambled to run out of bounds to convert a 3rd-and-4 with a 5-yard run. But he was shoved out of bounds by Joseph Assai, which is a 15-yard penalty and it made the game-winning field goal 15 yards shorter at 45 yards. Maybe the Chiefs still win in regulation without the penalty, but it’s also hard to argue this wasn’t a penalty. He contacted him in the white boundary.

At worst, the Chiefs go to overtime. They also still had time to throw a pass, get out of bounds, and set up Butker as one of the best to ever do it in crunch time and cold weather. But the Ossai hit is also a legit penalty on its own.

Go to the Super Bowl against the Eagles, and it was a fantastic game with the Eagles scoring 35 points, the most ever by a losing team in the big game. But with the game tied at 35, it was again Mahomes’ legs on a big scramble that really got the Chiefs thinking victory after it put them in the red zone with the two-minute warning approaching.

But on a critical 3rd-and-8 with 1:54 left, Mahomes’ pass for JuJu Smith-Schuster fell incomplete. Philadelphia corner James Bradberry was flagged for defensive holding, and that allowed the Chiefs with their new set of downs to run the clock down to 0:06 after Butker nailed the 27-yard field goal, effectively deciding the game at 38-35 as Jalen Hurts didn’t have the arm for a legitimate Hail Mary attempt.

Basically, this felt like fans were just angry at being robbed of a great finish. It was textbook after the call, denying us the chance of seeing if Hurts could answer, send this one to overtime, or if he could even score a touchdown to win it for the Eagles.

But the call itself was fairly standard. Bradberry admitted he grabbed JuJu’s jersey, which is defensive holding before the ball is in the air.

James Bradberry Chiefs Eagles,

Some have even said it might be a wake-up call for the Eagles to get away with one earlier in the game to stall a drive:

I don’t love the Bradberry call in that spot, because it feels like a bail-out for a throw that wasn’t close in the end zone. But I get why they called it for the hold at the top of the route, something Bradberry probably didn’t need to do.

But it’s not like the Chiefs weren’t already about to score the go-ahead field goal. It was just a matter of timing, and this call, the correct call, made it close to certain they were going to win that Super Bowl.

Neither the Ossai call nor the Bradberry call created, saved, or clinched the game-winning drives for the 2022 Chiefs. They just helped make the field goals shorter and drained the clock on the Eagles. That’s useful, but it’s not the same as the Tuck Rule or an illegal touchdown or flat-out stopping an offense because you just grabbed them.

The 2023 Chiefs: Taylor Swift’s Devil Magic

Even though the 2023 Chiefs had the face of their “it’s rigged” conspiracy in Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce’s new girlfriend didn’t conjure up much dark voodoo to help the Chiefs when it came to the officials in 2023.

Sure, people were pissed about a holding penalty on Sauce Gardner in the regular season, but what about the playoffs? The 4-game run where the 2023 Chiefs waxed the Dolphins in the freezing cold, held off the Bills in Buffalo and led the Ravens by double digits for much of the AFC Championship Game. The Chiefs even had touchdowns taken away by penalties against the Dolphins and Ravens.

Mahomes also had four roughing the passer penalties drawn against the Dolphins and Ravens, but outside of one against Miami (Chiefs led 19-7 in fthe ourth quarter), which ones are you not accepting as valid?

Then when we get to Super Bowl LVIII against the 49ers, both teams were penalized six times with the Chiefs (55) actually having 15 more penalty yards than the 49ers.

One could argue the most significant penalty in the entire 2023 playoffs for Kansas City games was their corner Trent McDuffie getting flagged for defensive holding to convert a 3rd-and-13 for the 49ers on the third play of overtime. That could have been huge if the 49ers went on to score a touchdown, but they settled for a field goal before the Chiefs won on a walk-off touchdown. Still beats going three-and-out.

For a 4-game Super Bowl run, that was pretty clean for the Chiefs (and their opponents) when it comes to the refs.

The 2024 Chiefs: The Three-Peat Bid

Again, we covered last week how a Week 2 ending against the Bengals with a correct defensive pass interference penalty on 4th-and-16 kickstarted the 2024 campaign by blaming the Chiefs’ success on biased officiating. Throw in a legitimate defensive pass interference that wasn’t called against Atlanta in another prime-time game, and that’s enough for people to claim conspiracy even if it was one good call, or one bad call.

But it’s just continued all season as the Chiefs have only lost one game with starters. Then there was the overreaction to the late hits against Mahomes in the AFC divisional round against Houston. Again, the NFL supported both calls and believes replay assist is unlikely to change anything in 2025 unless the rule itself is explicitly rewritten.

On the late slide, Mahomes was clearly taking a helmet-to-helmet shot from a Houston defender that was only softened because another Houston defender came in and blew up his teammate with his own helmet-to-helmet hit. You can’t do this to quarterbacks in the NFL, and the Texans have a recent history with the hit that ended Trevor Lawrence’s season in Jacksonville. This is going to be a flag every time.

But the part that kills me about that slide penalty is that it would have been 2nd-and-6 for the Chiefs. They can’t overcome that? Do you think those 15 yards decided the game in the third quarter? They still had half the field to drive for a touchdown, which they did with a 3rd-and-11 conversion to Kelce in the end zone. That call is marginal at best, and again, the right one by all NFL rules this season.

Then it came time for the AFC Championship Game against Buffalo, and it was the most-watched non-Super Bowl in history according to sources. If people are boycotting the NFL for the Chiefs’ officiating conspiracy, they’re not doing a good job with record-setting ratings.

Tale as old as time, the Chiefs beat the Bills in a close playoff game, and people only want to talk about officiating. The Chiefs had 5 penalties for 21 yards while the Bills had 6 penalties for 48 yards. But that doesn’t include the 33-yard penalty for an iffy pass interference on the Chiefs that was declined because Mack Hollins caught the ball for a touchdown. Otherwise, that would have given both teams six penalties with the Chiefs having 6 more penalty yards than the Bills.

There are two main points of contention for the “Chiefs cheated” crowd this week. The first play was a 26-yard catch by Xavier Worthy in the second quarter with the Chiefs leading 14-10. It was a 3rd-and-5, and the Bills were rightfully penalized for defensive holding, so it would have been a first down either way.

The call on the field was a simultaneous possession play, which goes to the offense, and the Chiefs had first-and-goal at the 3 before scoring a touchdown. But let’s see the impact on win probability had the play been ruled incomplete if you think the ball hit the ground, and the Chiefs would have accepted the penalty and backed up to the Buffalo 24:

  • Chiefs’ win probability after defensive holding penalty (no catch by Xavier Worthy): 81.1%
  • Chiefs’ win probability after a 26-yard catch by Xavier Worthy: 87.2%
  • Difference: +6.1%

It’s a second-quarter play, so it’s not surprising the win probability is just 6%, and that’s being generous with the spread included (Chiefs were a home favorite). It’s a tough call too, because the ball is allowed to touch the ground as long as the player has control.

But I don’t think people are acknowledging this could have helped the Bills save time for what became a touchdown drive before the half as it allowed the Chiefs to score quicker at 1:55.

Had the Chiefs been backed up to the 24, they may have scored later, leaving the Bills less time to get that touchdown. It also could have been the Chiefs took more time, and kicked a field goal (17-10), leaving Buffalo with only time for a field goal (17-13) and a 4-point deficit at halftime. In the end, the Bills trailed 21-16 at the half, so it wasn’t the game-changer people are making it out to be.

The other big play was obviously the 4th-and-1 quarterback sneak by Josh Allen getting ruled short in the fourth quarter. With this one, okay, we may have actually found the biggest officiating luck yet in 7 seasons and 20 playoff games for the Chiefs in the Mahomes era.

First, let’s dispel the nonsense that Dalton Kincaid got the first down on 3rd-and-3. His forearm was down short, setting up 4th-and-1. Even though Allen was stopped multiple times on the sneak and just fumbled by diving over the line to get one, the Bills somehow still went back to the Tush Push on this play. That puts you at risk of getting a bad spot if you’re only going to gain a foot or whatever. Maybe use James Cook or Allen’s mobility on the edges here.

But you’ve probably seen all the angles of this play, and it is very close. The problem for the Bills is it was ruled short on the field, and you need clear, visual evidence to overturn that. In the money angle, Chris Jones of the Chiefs is obscuring the camera’s view of the ball, so you can’t actually see the ball touching the 40-yard line here for the first down. The call on the field stands.

I agree the NFL is long overdue to come up with better technology for spotting the ball. It is literally a “game of inches” and plays like this happen at times. But Allen left doubt with that run as the Chiefs were incredible at stopping the hardest short-yardage play to stop in the game.

Had the Bills converted, they would have had 1st-and-10 at the Kansas City 40 with a 22-21 lead. Who knows where the game goes from there? Do they score a touchdown and go for a 2-point conversion to try leading 30-21, the same score they won by in Week 11 against the Chiefs? Keep in mind the Bills already failed on multiple conversions in this game, and their last two touchdown drives were like pulling teeth before they scored on a pair of fourth-down plays.

Meanwhile, the offense came relatively easy for the Chiefs as they scored a season-high 32 points. They took the spot and immediately marched for the go-ahead touchdown and 2-point conversion, then went down the field for the game-winning field goal to make it 32-29. Buffalo still had a great shot with 3:33 left and couldn’t even get the ball to the 50 before Mahomes ran out the clock on them.

It’s impossible to say a better spot there wins the game for the Bills. That’s just not something you say about a 22-21 game with 13 minutes left.

But people are willing to say any crazy thing about the Chiefs they want right now, even going as far as pretending the Patriots didn’t build their dynasty on getting favorable calls from the officials.

It is all because they’re sick of Kansas City winning and don’t want to see the three-peat. Well, if you still believe the NFL is using its officials to rig these games for the Chiefs to win, then what’s stopping you from betting your mortgage on the Chiefs to win these games?

Don’t do that for Super Bowl LIX, but please, watch the game responsibly and stop acting like every little judgment is part of a conspiracy.

The Chiefs don’t even have their own version of Walt Coleman, let alone their own Tuck Rule.

Related Articles:

Tags
Photo of Scott Kacsmar Scott Kacsmar29/01/2025 - 11:49 am