When it comes to sports, there has always been two things people discussed at the water cooler, bar, and radio…terrible officiating with bad calls and the potential that the game was rigged. With the advent of legalized sports betting, the whispers have turned to screams regarding both. Throw social media into the mix, and everyone has a bullhorn.
This week there were four games to decide who’d play in the Championship round. And the spotlight of bad and biased officiating was front and center, as well as the loud whispers of rigged games and outcomes.
Over the last few years, more and more have accused the Chiefs of getting preferential calls and Patrick Mahomes of being overly protected by an officials yellow flag. This weeks game was no different, but the clamor was louder than ever…even inside the announcer’s booth. Troy Aikman was very vocal, questioning one of the roughing the quarterback calls on Mahomes.
Conspiracy theorists say the league wants and needs the Chiefs to get back to the Superbowl. They cite the Taylor Swift effect, going to all these games to help get more eyes in front of the TV to maximize ratings and advertising dollars.
This game had one glaring play, which was a head-scratcher. With the addition of legalized sports betting, the specter of shenanigans always casts a broad shadow. At the end of the game, with it well in hand, Andy Reid instructed his punter to run back into their own endzone, willingly take a safety, and give up 2 pts. The Chiefs went from an 11-point lead to a nine-point lead.
The game was well in hand, and the outcome didn’t matter…except for the spread. For background, the game started at 8.5, with Kansas City favored. The line moved a whole point in Kansas City’s favor to 9.5 pts. For that to happen, it means a ton of money is all going one way…in this case, to the Chiefs. If the final score remained 23-12, a lot of money would have been won by the betting public.
But with 15 seconds left, it was fourth down and Kansas City punting the ball. Instead of simply kicking the ball to the Texans, they decided to have punter Matt Araiza run backward to run some of the 15 seconds off the clock. He managed to take off a whopping four seconds and give up the safety. It made the score 23-14 and made all of those winning bets turn into losing bets.
I am not saying that the result was rigged, but when these things happen, it raises eyebrows everywhere. Aside from Troy Aikman questioning those roughing the passer calls earlier, he also immediately questioned the safety.
Aside from the curious calls and penalties in the Kansas City game, there were also odd occurrences in the Bills-Ravens game. The Ravens sure-handed TE Mark Andrews never fumbles…and he always catches everything. With 8:50 left in the game, the Ravens were driving for a game-leading score. Lamar Jackson had the ball at their own 40-yard line and threw it to Andrews 15 yards down the field. In an effort to gain a few yards, he got a little loose with the ball. Bills CB Terrell Bernard punched the ball away and also made a recovery.
Later in the game, inside the 2-minute warning, the Ravens scored a TD to bring them to within 2pts, 27-25. Having to score a 2-point conversion, Jackson relied on his sure-handed TE. In a planned roll-out, Jackson moved to his right along with Andrews. Andrews had a step on his defender and was open to receive Jackson’s pass. Although the throw wasn’t perfect, it should have been an easy and relatively routine catch. Instead, Andrews fumbled and bumbled the throw, which ended on the turf… along with Baltimore’s season.
I’m not saying there were shenanigans in this game either, but again, with legalized sports betting now at the forefront and billions of dollars at stake on each and every play, everything is hyper-scrutinized.
The other two games this weekend didn’t produce anything overly questionable. The Eagles outlasted the Rams, who put up a valiant effort. They were getting 6.5 points and ended up losing by 6 points. They actually had the ball inside the last minute of the game and brought it down to the Eagles 20-yard line.
And in the most shocking result of the weekend, the Commanders dominated the no.1 seed Lions. I successfully predicted they wouldn’t be able to hold the Lions to under 30 points, but I was completely wrong in thinking the Lions could hold Washington into the 20s. If the Lions didn’t turn the ball over five times the game surely would have been far more competitive.
Next week’s games are both very interesting. The Bills head to Kansas City, featuring two of the games premier QBs. And the NFC Championship will feature the upstart Commanders heading to Philadelphia. This is their third matchup this season, with the two teams splitting their first two.