The Red King

Thank you! I said this prior to the game. The NFL got what they wanted, and didn't care who won. They got the Swifties. They got the three-peat drama. By calling a fair game, they got to push back against the refs+Chiefs narrative. Loved watching it. "What do you mean I can't line up in the neutral zone?", "What do you mean, I can't blatetly hold?", "What do you mean Mahomes can take a shot to the head and *not* get a flag?"

Watching the Chiefs get crushed while the refs called a fair game was cathartic, not gonna lie. Watching Mahomes take a shot to the head without drawing a penalty had me grinning ear to ear.

It's not just the calls. Yes, officiating has been bad for a long while. It's just how, by some *amazing* coincidence all of these close, critical, controversial plays go the Chiefs' way. All of them. Every time. Every game. I mean, statistically, what are the odds?

Why "forced"? They're going to give the Eagles preferential treatment. And just as bad as the Chiefs normally get. Why? Kills the claims. And it's safe now. What difference would it make to the league? They got the Swifties and all that to the big game. They got their three-peat drama. None of that matters after the Super Bowl. The league gets what it wants regardless of who wins. And if KC loses, they have the three-peat drama to replay down the line.

The controversial "stop" on 4th was stopped b/c, in part, the Chiefs had players lined up in the Neutral Zone with no flag. Not sure why that isn't talked about more.

https://www.on3.com/pro/news/lasik-com-offers-nfl-referees-free-procedures-following-controversial-call-in-afc-championship-game/

It's really the best way.

To be fair, Buffalo was so injury-ridden last season they were one hit away from suiting up a fan from the stands.

Actually, before realignment every division winner got a bye. You had three division winners and two Wild Cards. Wild Card weekend had the two Wild Cards play each other. The winner then joined the division winners in the divisional weekend. I think that was the fairest. Division winners needed to win two playoff games to reach the Super Bowl, Wild Cards needed three.

Used to be that way, when there were only two Wild Cards per conference. The #2 seed lost their bye when the third Wild Card was added. Ironically, once that Wild Card was added, Buffalo has won the #2 seed that season and every season after, because of course.

The league isn't even hiding it anymore. After last week's outcry I figured the NFL would have the refs/skycam/review try to avoid controversial calls, esp them all favoring KC. The three-peat is a better storyline, and the Swifties = ratings. They know they're the NFL. People will talk about boycotting, but precious few will follow through. Remember when people were supposed to boycott when streaming services started getting games? Especially playoff games? First time I've heard it, but on that fateful 4th down, apparently KC was lined up in the Neutral Zone, and no call?

I allow myself 30m after normal losses to just absolutly explode and vent. The game did it to me, and I have a right. After that, I feel it's me choosing to continue to make myself miserable. I used to let it ruin my night, and even the next day. It wasn't worth it. It was a philosophical change that worked wonders. This game took longer. I allowed myself to rampage last night, this morning, and even my drive into work. Once I punched in, I was done. Am I still occasionally getting melancholic? Yeah, but it's not tearing me apart. Hope that helps, in some way.

For the love of god, can our D ends hold contain?

Was thinking the same. The D should be named, "The Red Carpet".

Entirely possible, and also could have resulted in no OT.

Actually, that's something that's really upsetting me. A lot of people are saying they dropped a two-point conversion that would have led to OT. Um...still time left. Regulation was not over at that point.

Unpopular take, in most regards I think the Ravens were the better team. But the NFL doesn't do "Best of x..." series. We were by far the better team in Super Bowl XXV, but the Giants played scrappy, made the most of opportunities, and somehow eeked out a win. And in the end, nobody cares that Buffalo was the better team. They only care that the Giants won. We just did the same thing. No matter who the better team was, we're the ones going to KC. Period.

Lot of people forget that. We had time and time-outs. While a win wasn't assured, OT certainly wasn't either. Everyone still enjoying our rebuilding year? 😉

We knew Mayfield and Rosen were playoff caliber QB's around 2019?

Oh, I know our Josh already proved himself. I was more surprised that all four other QBs made the playoffs.

Case study in seeing who fully reads a post before replying vs. people who read the title and/or the first couple sentences and knee-jerk reply. Well played, OP. Well played.

2018 was a great draft for QBs. Five QBs were taken first round. This season four of them led their teams to the playoffs, even if two of them are on different teams then the ones that drafted them. That's a remarkable feat. Then there's Josh Rosen who, unless I'm mistaken, isn't even in the league anymore. He's the odd one out. I find this interesting, as I remember a lot of fans referred to Josh Allen as "Wrong Josh", upset b/c the Bills could have taken Rosen. Instead, the QB those fans wanted is the only one out of the five that isn't/wasn't in the playoffs. And "Wrong Josh" is one of two MVP candidates. Just goes to show that you never know how things are going to play out.

Pitt. over Baltimore? Will the Ravens have regular Lamar or playoff Lamar?

Would have loved to sweep the AFC East, but I'll take this. NE loses the top draft pick, and they can't really even claim a moral/feel good victory because they beat our backups. I'm laughing my butt off...

Why would any veteran, respectable coach go to a team that is that much of a train wreck like the Jets? There was a reason that there kept being talk about Cowher and other big names coming to coach Buffalo, only to get McDermott. Young coaching prospects have to be far less picky. I can't see the Jets getting anything but at this point.