By Free Republic | Created at 2025-01-28 04:32:22 | Updated at 2025-01-30 18:34:58
2 days ago
Chiefs' absurd penalty streak in playoffs does little to dispel notion that referees favor Kansas City
CBS Sports ^ | Jan 22, 2025 | Douglas Clawson
Posted on 01/27/2025 8:20:21 PM PST by lasereye
The only thing hotter than a ticket for the Bills-Chiefs AFC title game might be football fans' hatred for referees' perceived partiality toward the Chiefs.
I caught wind of a penalty trend from Warren Sharp (Sharp Football Analysis) via ESPN and had to see for myself just how rare it was historically. Turns out, Kansas City is in rare air. The Chiefs have gone 11 straight playoff games without committing more penalties than their opponents, the longest streak by any team in the last 30 years.
The only teams with longer streaks in playoff history were the 1970-82 Dolphins (18) and 1984-91 Broncos (12).
That's right. Since the 2021 postseason, the Chiefs have more penalties than their opponent zero times in 11 playoff games (0%). During the regular season in that span, they have more penalties than their opponents in 25 of 68 games (37%).
That is a very abnormal disparity in the playoffs, even with the relatively small sample.
If you look at the entire Patrick Mahomes era as a starter (since 2018), the Chiefs are second-worst in penalty yard differential during the regular season, but best in the playoffs.
This, of course, comes on the heels of a public outcry after two very questionable hits on Mahomes were flagged from Saturday's win over the Texans. Not to mention, Mahomes' laughable flop later in the game.
For the record, Mahomes has not gotten the most roughing the passer and unnecessary roughness calls in the league since 2018.
In fact, Josh Allen has been on the receiving end of more roughing the passer and unnecessary roughness calls than Mahomes in each of the last 7 seasons, including playoffs. The total in that span is 61 for Allen, 39 for Mahomes. They are both still among the league leaders since 2018.
Complaints about penalties against Mahomes are probably overblown because of the gravity of the situations we have seen them in. It's still hard to chalk up the overall Chiefs penalty disparity to great coaching. We are talking about ELEVEN straight playoff games they haven't had more penalties than their opponents.
Needless to say, all eyes will be on the referees in Sunday's AFC title game.
TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: cbs; chiefs; nonsense; playoffs; referees; seebs; wwe
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The above was written before yesterday's game. The streak continued yesterday.
The Buffalo Bills committed 6 penalties for 48 yards. They were flagged a total of 8 times.
The Kansas City Chiefs committed 5 penalties for 21 yards. They were flagged a total of 6 times.
I would like to see a summary of how many times plays (in the playoffs) that would have resulted in first downs or went for a TD were negated by holding penalties on the Chiefs' opponent, compared to how many times that happened to KC.
I would also like to see how many times a failed third or fourth down conversion was kept alive by a personal foul call against the Chiefs' opponent, and eventually resulted in a score, compared to the number of times it happened to KC. Again that would be playoff games.
Then there was the bizarre call that Worthy caught the ball when it clearly hit the ground, and the two questionable spots that denied first downs to Buffalo.
1 posted on 01/27/2025 8:20:21 PM PST by lasereye
To: lasereye
Then there was the bizarre call that Worthy caught the ball when it clearly hit the ground, and the two questionable spots that denied first downs to Buffalo.
Yeah, those instances don't show up in the penalty stats.
2 posted on 01/27/2025 8:25:48 PM PST by CatOwner (Don't expect anyone, even conservatives, to have your back when the SHTF in 2021 and beyond.)
To: lasereye; CatOwner
3 posted on 01/27/2025 8:27:53 PM PST by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s² )
To: lasereye
I heard someone suggest it’s marketing. NFL owns all rights and images. Ms.Swift will look good in the NFL promos and documentaries.
4 posted on 01/27/2025 8:29:42 PM PST by bleach (Donaldus Magnus 2024-2028 A.D.)
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