As if trying to stop the greatest quarterback of all-time from scoring a game-winning touchdown wasn’t hard enough, the Chiefs defense found themselves playing against the officials on Sunday as well.
With Patriots driving for a potential game-winning score, the officials threw a flag for roughing the passer, claiming that Chiefs defender Chris Jones had delivered a blow to Tom Brady’s head.
That never happened.
As CBS Rules Analyst Gene Steratore said during the broadcast, from the vantage point of Referee Clete Blakeman, it’s reasonable to assume that Jones impacted Brady’s head. However, you still have to actually see a foul occur, not just assume based on angles that it happened.
A dead giveaway should have been that Brady’s head did not move after Jones’ hand came down. Jones weighs 310 pounds and swatted at the ball for all he was worth. Had the Chiefs defender actually hit the future Hall of Famer, Brady definitely would have reacted.
Instead, New England was awarded a crucial automatic first down and 15 yards, when they should have been facing a 3rd & 7. Would the Patriots have converted the third down anyway? Maybe. But the point is they should have had to do it.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn