NFL Conference Championships: An official nightmare
The refs are the No. 1 story from this weekend in the NFL. And that’s a shame.
I do not think the NFL is rigged. Logically, it makes no sense. The league doesn’t have to worry about money or ratings — guess what, millions will tune in to the Super Bowl no matter who is playing! Logistically, it makes no sense either. You expect me to believe that the NFL and its officials would be competent enough to coordinate a complex, Machiavellian plan that would deliver its desired outcome?
Nah, the Chiefs and Eagles didn’t win on Conference Championship Weekend because Roger Goodell decreed it to happen. But it seems clear that the NFL has an officiating problem, and it has all year (and longer than that). Maybe Aaron Rodgers is right that the best refs are leaving for cushy TV gigs, and the easiest solution is for the league office to just pay them more and/or make them full-time.
I agree that’s a good place to start, but I also know that officiating woes aren’t exclusive to the NFL. I see terrible calls, at a higher rate than I ever remember, in almost every sport I watch. Just ask LeBron!
I actually wonder if part of the issue is related to the pandemic. In the same way that students suffered academic and other setbacks and drivers are much worse now than they were before January 2020, I think there’s been a lack of development in the officiating ranks too. The NFL already needed to strengthen its pipeline, and recruit from a more diverse background, before COVID happened, but the high-profile gaffes we’re witnessing this postseason makes it that much more obvious.
Hopefully Goodell and Co. take steps this offseason to improve the state of officiating in the NFL, because I’d rather celebrate the teams advancing to the Super Bowl or discuss how Chiefs-Eagles is a promising matchup, especially if Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts are healthier than what we saw on Sunday.
Instead, the refs are all most NFL fans, myself included, can think about right now. The officiating didn’t decide the NFC Championship Game, but it certainly affected the AFC Championship Game. So let’s start there.
The Chiefs finally take down the Bengals (with a little help)
First, a quick word: The Chiefs were the No. 1 seed. They have the MVP frontrunner as their QB, and despite his high ankle sprain, they were still the betting favorites. I understand that sometimes athletes have to find motivation wherever they can, but KC is going to its third Super Bowl in four years. Who exactly are these so-called doubters that disrespect Mahomes?
Anyway, it’s a shame that the officiating overshadowed the rematch of last year’s AFC title game because once again, it went down to the wire. This time, the Chiefs came out on top. And we didn’t get overtime, though maaaaybe we should have.
I could highlight all the big plays (Jaylen Watson!) and pivotal moments (Ja’Marr Chase!) from the game, but I think the final 90 seconds encapsulates the entire 60-minute clash perfectly.
1:27: Joe Burrow can’t catch a break
Last year, the Bengals’ shoddy offensive line held up well against the Chiefs, allowing just one sack and four QB pressures. That was not the case this year. The OL, missing three of its starting linemen, gave up five sacks and 12 QB pressures on Sunday. Those are the most sacks Burrow has taken since Cincinnati’s previous loss, which came against the Browns on Halloween.
With Chris Jones bearing down on him, Burrow tried to throw the ball away. The refs, after like a 30-second delay, decided it was intentional grounding, even though Samaje Perine appeared to be in the vicinity of where the ball landed.
After that call, the Bengals were facing a third-and-16.
1:03: Joe Burrow still has some fight in him
At their own 10-yard line, the Bengals desperately needed a first down or else they’d have to punt the ball back to Mahomes, probably with great field position. Burrow side-stepped the pressure and found an open Hayden Hurst near the sideline.
0:44: Chris Jones gets to Joe Burrow again
It was third down again, and the Chiefs needed one more stop. Jones, who is up for Defensive Player of the Year honors, came through again in what was an absolute monster performance by him.
Before Sunday, Jones had never had a sack in 13 playoff appearances. He had two against the Bengals, along with three tackles for loss and five QB hits.
0:41: The refs miss a block in the back on Skyy Moore’s punt return
Moore didn’t have a huge rookie season, but he did have his moments. He saved one of his best for last, a 29-yard punt return that put the Chiefs just outside of field goal range.
It’s too bad that the refs once again screwed up:
Earlier in the second half, the officials rewarded Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who stretched his arm out and then pulled it back, a first down even though it wasn’t at the goal line. Kansas City scored a touchdown a few plays later.
Then in the fourth quarter, the Chiefs got a do-over on third-and-long because of a clock issue. No one heard the whistle, and Mahomes threw an incomplete pass. It didn’t matter because, to the official, the play had been blown dead. And everyone was very confused, Zac Taylor most of all.
On the second third-down attempt, B.J. Hill sacked Mahomes, and then that was wiped out by a defensive holding call. The Chiefs ended up punting on the drive, but they did eat some valuable time off the clock and gained an edge in the field position battle, both of which mattered at the end of the game.
0:17: Patrick Mahomes’ gutsy play, and Joseph Ossai’s untimely penalty, puts KC in field goal range
Mahomes was far from 100 percent on Sunday, but credit to him for toughing it out and putting the team on his back. Like when he ran for a first down on a bad ankle and then got hit late out of bounds by Ossai:
Ossai was hit with a 15-yard penalty and suddenly the Chiefs were in Harrison Butker’s range. He made the 45-yard field goal and sent Kansas City back to the Super Bowl.
I feel so awful for Ossai, who had a good game otherwise and was just trying to make a play, and I’m glad his teammates have his back. But unnecessary roughness was the correct call here; Mahomes was out of bounds when Ossai got him.
However, the refs missed a hold on the same play, just as they had missed the block in the back on the punt return, just as they hadn’t flagged the Chiefs for a late hit out of bounds earlier in the quarter …
Kansas City finally beat the Bengals for a variety of reasons. The Chiefs’ superstars, particularly Jones and Mahomes, were clutch. They pressured Burrow and forced him into a couple of costly mistakes. The secondary stepped up in key moments. And the refs’ decisions impacted the game.
Two things can be true: the Chiefs played well enough to win the game, and they benefited from favorable calls (or non-calls) pretty much all evening. I think this rivalry — Chiefs vs. Bengals but also Bengals vs. refs — is here to stay.
The Eagles cakewalk to the Super Bowl
The Eagles didn’t bring their A game on Sunday, at least not on offense. And it didn’t matter because the 49ers’ crappy QB injury luck was baaaaack.
As such, the Eagles enjoyed an unchallenging road to the Super Bowl. I’m not sure there are many worthwhile takeaways from the NFC Championship Game. The Philly defense was great … against quarterbacks who couldn’t throw. And the offense did what it needed to do but has to be better in two weeks … against a Kansas City defense that’s much less talented than San Francisco’s.
This game was, to put it mildly, a stinker. So we might as well relive its ugliest moments because that’s about all it had.
Good effort but it shouldn’t have been a catch
At the time, this 29-yard throw from Jalen Hurts to DeVonta Smith on fourth-and-3 seemed like the kind of play that could decide the outcome:
Smith made an excellent one-handed attempt, but he didn’t maintain control as he went to the ground. However, the 49ers opted not to challenge, the replay system didn’t do its job, and the Eagles hurried up to the line to get the next play off before anyone had time to second-guess themselves.
Two plays later, Philadelphia ran in the first touchdown of the afternoon. Though those seven points didn’t make much of a difference in the long run, this missed call was a harbinger of what was to come: bad breaks for the 49ers, rushing TDs for the Eagles, and very questionable officiating.
Brock Purdy fumbles and gets hurt on the same play
Well, it was only a matter of time until Brock Purdy’s magic ran out. The final pick in the 2022 draft had been filling in so admirably at quarterback after Trey Lance’s and Jimmy Garoppolo’s injuries that he had yet to lose a start. He’s even been named a finalist for the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award despite only starting five games in the regular season (to be clear: this is total BS, especially when Chris Olave was snubbed).
Purdy’s success had been rooted in his ability to manage Kyle Shanahan’s offense and play efficient, mistake-free football. And that’s a lot easier said than done, as we would soon find out after Purdy’s first turnover this postseason, an incomplete pass that was overturned as a fumble.
Haason Reddick hit Purdy’s arm, which caused the fumble and unintentionally hurt the quarterback (as Chase Daniel correctly guessed, Purdy suffered a UCL injury).
It was, arguably, the turning point of the game.
Josh Johnson ALSO fumbles and ALSO gets hurt (but not on the same play)
Once Purdy was injured halfway through the first quarter, fourth-stringer Josh Johnson — the most journeyman QB of them all — came on in relief.
After two empty possessions, the 49ers finally scored on a Christian McCaffrey-heavy drive to tie things up in the second quarter. The Eagles answered right back with a touchdown drive of their own, and with just over a minute remaining in the half, disaster struck for the Niners again. Johnson couldn’t corral the snap and tried to dive on the ball, but a teammate accidentally kicked it and Reddick was there to recover it at the San Francisco 30-yard line. Philly was back in the end zone soon after and took a 21-7 lead into the second half.
On the first drive of the third quarter, Johnson left to be evaluated for a concussion and was later ruled out. So Purdy, who was in pain and couldn’t properly throw the ball, came back out on the field.
From that point on, the 49ers attempted just three passes: two from Purdy, which he completed for a total of 4 yards; and one from McCaffrey, which went to no one but was maybe the best-looking throw, from either team, all day.
It wasn’t a fun situation to watch, but it was so much worse for the SF players.
Hey punts, why can’t you just be normal?
It became quite an adventure when it was time to punt in the NFC title game. First, Nick Bosa got caught in the crossfire of a tackle on punt coverage. Part of a cleat jabbed deep into his leg, and although he didn’t miss any time, he was noticeably bleeding on the field.
Minutes later, it was the Eagles’ turn for a weird punt. Brett Kern gave the 49ers good field position when his punt only went 34 yards, but that’s because it probably hit the SkyCam wire, as the ball’s trajectory would suggest.
That wasn’t clear enough for the refs though.
That wasn’t the worst officiated punt, however. That dishonor belongs to this roughing the kicker call in the third quarter, in which the Eagles’ Jack Stoll pushed the 49ers’ Jordan Mason into the Kern:
The Philadelphia offense took advantage of the second chance and found the end zone on the extended drive to go up 28-7. Again, that flag didn’t change the outcome of the contest, but it was the second time the Eagles scored a touchdown when they shouldn’t have even had the ball.
Fight! Fight! Fight!
San Francisco’s defense played even more aggressively than usual after Purdy’s injury. As analyst Greg Olsen pointed out, DeMeco Ryans’ unit knew it needed to force the Eagles into making mistakes to have any chance at winning. The fallout from that kind of approach was that the Niners kept racking up penalties. Philly was gifted seven first downs via penalty, some warranted and others not (see above).
This unnecessary roughness call against Dre Greenlaw? Warranted!
It looks like someone is ready for Creed III.
Near the end of the game, a fight broke out when the 49ers were on offense:
Left tackle Trent Williams, no doubt frustrated with how events unfolded throughout the day, body-slammed K’Von Wallace and both were flagged and ejected. Not that I can really blame Williams for wanting to get to the locker room ASAP.
Applebee’s strikes again!
Almost a year ago, CNN was covering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine when it transitioned from a segment about air raid sirens right into an Applebee’s commercial.
What happened to Landon Dickerson on Sunday was much less serious but still quite awkward. The Eagles guard was down on the field with an injury when the Fox crew decided to slap an Applebee’s ad right next to a replay of said injury.
This time, instead of the Zac Brown Band, we got the Rolling Stones (so a major improvement, musically). Right when Mick Jagger was singing, “you make a grown man cry” on the right side of the screen, the replay on the left showed a close-up of Dickerson in pain:
Dickerson did not return and was sporting a brace on his elbow after the game. Hopefully he’s OK in two weeks for the Super Bowl … and hopefully Applebee’s commercials STAY FAR AWAY.