Hard to beat the Chiefs and the refs every post-season

[Zerovoltz]

1 minute ago, quincy said:

 

We got James Cook, Beane and McDermott taking the loss on the chin, compared to the above.

I am not that big a fan of "only losers complain about refs"

 

Sports is often a reflection of real life...and in real life...we all have been involved in something at some point where we got totally screwed and things were decidedly unfair.....and that is entirely worth complaining about and taking action to make thnings better.  In real life I don't recall having lost out on something with unfair circumstances and saying to myself...welp....i'll just shut up about it because only losers complain about things that aren't fair.  ...hell no...I made sure people knew that I was given unfair treamtment and that it was BS.....it is normal...even expected that when these things happen....that there will be LOUD, complaints.

[Logic]

6 minutes ago, Zerovoltz said:

 

The full time ref thing...I understand the argument...but I am not sure the answer is ONLY to make these same guys full time refs...probably need to make them full time AND have a high standard of vetting and continuous training and testing these guys.  ....need to be in good health..need good vision...need to be tested constantly on rulebook and they should have to have severall ALL HANDS ON DECK conferences where they review controversial plays and discuss and determine the right call etc...and same for missed calls that teams protest about.  ....and even if you do all that...trying to determine in real time, at the speeds these things go....is STILL going t o be hard to do.  

I agree that all of that is necessary.

I also think, as to your last statement, that NFL refereeing would be vastly improved from what we have now if these actions were undertaken. Of course it will never be perfect, and there will always be judgement calls. But there are miles and miles to go before we've reached the point where no further improvement in refereeing can be achieved. They haven't even STARTED. They haven't even TRIED.

I also think there ought to be more transparency in the review process. The UFL, for instance, lets viewers see what the replay review officials are seeing, and talks viewers through the process as well.

The point is this: The league doing everything in their power to improve officiating, get calls right using available technology, and add transparency to the review process would all, collectively, help alienated fans feel less like "the fix is in". There is much...MUCH....that the NFL can do to curb the swell of distrust bubbling up among fans, and they've done precisely NONE of it, and don't seem particularly interested in doing do any time soon. Hopefully it won't take a congressional investigation to force their hand.

At the end of the day, Bills fans -- and NFL fans at large -- are pissed not just at bad calls all year long (and for several years running now), but because there are simple actions the league can take to at least PRETEND they are trying to fix it, and they simply don't. So when you have a game as poorly officiated as Sunday's was (and one in which the refs potentially played a part in swinging the outcome toward the Chiefs AGAIN), and fans become irate and talk about it all week long, the league has absolutely no one to blame but themselves.

Edited 3 hours ago by Logic

[Big Turk]

48 minutes ago, Zerovoltz said:

This rigged narrative is ....something....

 

WHY would the other 31 owners want to participate in having the Chiefs win by rigging things so they do? 

IF the other 31 teams think rigging is going on and not wanting to partcipate in it...why do they allow it to continue?

WHY would you, if you are rigging things...set it up so one of your smallest markets is the big time team?  Wouldn't Kroenke or the NY folks or Jerry in Dallas want to rig some of this in their favor?  

Wouldn't Terry and Kim make a case that they are building an expensive stadium, and it's their turn for some rigging to go their way?  

How does this all work and why?

 

The Refs suck.  They do.  KC benefits from some bad calls....but to say it's all rigged....for KC?  ....come on.

 

Crazy part is Dean Blandino's(who was head of NFL officials for many years) own brother is convinced it's rigged and he believes the NDA Dean signed won't let him discuss it or talk about it.

Edited 3 hours ago by Big Turk

[Zerovoltz]

3 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

Crazy part is Dean Blandino's(who was head of NFL officials for many years) own brother is convinced it's rigged and he believes the NDA Dean signed won't let him discuss it or talk about it.

I saw that too....and I think there is a little something to it...years ago, Mike Vick....having served his time for the dog thing...was about to sign with the Bengals...and he let it out of the bag that the league offices intervened becasue they wanted him with the Eagles or at least not in Cincy....I have no doubt they all get together and conspire to have certain things go a certain way....

 

All I am saying is for the NFL to be rigged in KC's favor....WHY would the other teams allow it?  Why even pick KC to be that team?  And clearly, having so many pissed of fans and gamblers CAN NOT be great for the leauge as whole so what is the end goal of rigging it this way?  

 

 

[Steptide]

I've been arguing with (mainly kc fans) all week on Twitter regarding the refs. There's seems to be a mis understanding between favoring and outright cheating. 

 

KC fans seem to think that bills fans think that the Chiefs and refs are just out right cheating and winning the games for kc. The reality is, the Chiefs get favorable calls, which greatly reduces the margin for error for the opposing team. 

 

Example 1 - Mahomes takes a deep shot to worthy where Cole Bishop jumps to intercept ball. Ball hits ground with no clear possession between worthy or bishop, but refs call a complete pass to worthy, a play or 2 later, Chiefs score 7 points. Now, imagine if this play was called incomplete. Kc maybe doesn't get a td, or maybe bills hold them to a fg, or maybe they get no points. So, kc gets a favorable call and walks away with 7

 

Example 2 - Josh Allen is marked short of the 1st down on 4th down. 99% of football fans would tell you he got it. The other 1% are kc fans that say he never crossed the line, even though we have over head angles clearly showing he got. Ball goes back to kc who goes down the field and scores 7 points. Now, imagine if the refs call 1st down and the bills score. They take a possible 8 point lead, or 4 point lead with a fg. Or possibly punt, who knows. But again, a favorable call that swings the Chiefs way that greatly shrinks the margin for error for the bills. 

 

Are the refs out right cheating? No, but they are swinging games. 

[frostbitmic]

8 minutes ago, Zerovoltz said:

I saw that too....and I think there is a little something to it...years ago, Mike Vick....having served his time for the dog thing...was about to sign with the Bengals...and he let it out of the bag that the league offices intervened becasue they wanted him with the Eagles or at least not in Cincy....I have no doubt they all get together and conspire to have certain things go a certain way....

 

All I am saying is for the NFL to be rigged in KC's favor....WHY would the other teams allow it?  Why even pick KC to be that team?  And clearly, having so many pissed of fans and gamblers CAN NOT be great for the leauge as whole so what is the end goal of rigging it this way?  

 

 

Merchandise - 3-peat this and that, It's never happened before and might take another 50 years before it etc ... It's all about the $$$ and there's never enough.

 

 

[Returntoglory]

I have spoken with several hard-core Chiefs fans that live in my area, all but one I know personally. To the man, all told me that the Bills " were screwed, cheated, F'd " etc.

The one Chiefs fan that I know casually (He's the manager of a local corporate pet supply store) told me today when we went in for some goodies for our kids, that he was rooting for Buffalo.

I told him that was kind of strange, knowing that he has been a Chiefs fan over 20 years. He told me that he loves our fan base and he felt that there were numerous calls during the game, especially the 3rd and 4th down plays at the end that in his words"clearly showed we got the first down". He said he could not believe what he was seeing. Other friends of his that he spoke with during and after the game echoed the same sentiments.

It's sad that we are now known for getting screwed by the Chiefs, especially this years AFC championship game. But it's nice to know that we have most of the country on our side.

I predict, after this season, the NFL will now become more actively involved during a game if there is a controversial or missed call by the refs.
 

GO EAGLES!!!



 

Edited 3 hours ago by Returntoglory

[Success]

There was some questionable officiating. I'm really not hung up on it.  All of the calls were borderline - they did go the Chiefs way almost every time, but there was nothing egregious. The 4th down was really close - I thought he had it, but it's a judgment call.

 

That's how the cookie crumbles. I think about Ravens fans the week before - Andrews probably makes that catch over 90x out of a 100.  It's different from officiating, but no less flukey.

 

We've been really unlucky against KC. The law of averages hasn't panned out.  To lose the last 3 the way we did - just so close every time. You'd think one would go our way.

 

Not related - but I have come to a kind of epiphany about KC.  I just don't hate them anymore, or rue their fans the success.  They're a market like us, and after years of futility & heartbreak, they broke through & are on a great run. And they deserve the success - they're well constructed, and well coached, and play the game the right way.  I'll get some eyerolls - it sucks to be the team that keeps coming up short against them. But it's just petty jealousy that leads to the negative emotions about them.

 

[DaVinci]

Kansas City Thiefs

 

[finn]

2 hours ago, Zerovoltz said:

I can point out plenty of bad calls that didn't go KCs way.

 

But can you point out bad calls for the Chiefs that were pivotal? I don't think you can. Assume for a moment the league wants the Chiefs to win but doesn't want to be obvious about it. Would you have all or even a big majority go against the Chiefs? Of course not. That would be a mistake. But neither would you gamble with your Golden Goose by allowing the Bills to gain home field advantage. So you make sure the Chiefs have that cushion of a game or two during the regular season, and you make sure  as hell the calls go the Chiefs' way in the playoff games. 

 

I rarely am persuaded by conspiracy theories. For one thing, confirmation bias is just too strong in our species. But even a paranoid person might have real enemies. When you consider the billions and billions of dollars that now hang on every game, it's naïve to think some party has figured out how to put a thumb on the scale somehow. The Bills were not going to win this game. They were/are better than the Chiefs, but not by enough of a margin to overcome the calls of referees who were instructed (threatened, bribed, whatever) to tip the game when they could get away with it. Show me a call of the same impact that went against the Chiefs and I'll rethink my position. 

The fix is in, people. When it comes out, as it will eventually, it'll be a big scandal, and the accomplishments of the Chiefs, an excellent team that might have won some of these playoff games without help, will forever carry a big asterisk. It stinks no matter how you look at it. 

[Big Turk]

And now we are coming to the scripted end of Taylor and Travis once the 3-peat is done??

 

Taylor Swift gives Travis Kelce warning over NFL antics after bedroom bombshell 'upset' - The Mirror US

 

https://search.app/Tnb6NRjzXX1vpbEz9

[NewEra]

3 hours ago, Logic said:

1. I am never team "the refs cost us the game". There are far too many plays, too many moments, and too many variables in a football game for it to ever be reasonable to say that the refs cost you a win with one or two decisions they made.

2. That 4th down spot was INDISPUTABLY an enormous moment in the game. As you say, there's no way to know what would have happened afterward, but the Bills were driving, up one, with a chance to go up by four, eight, or nine. Considering they lost the game by 3, any one of those scoring outcomes would have been huge. Momentum is also an undeniable factor, and that call undeniably swung it in the Chiefs' favor.

 

3. Chiefs fans like to point out the "Bills had the ball with 3 timeouts and 3 plus minutes left, down 3". But there's a decent to good chance that the Bills WOULDN'T have been down 3 in that moment had it not been for the blown 4th down spot earlier. The butterfly effect of one call in a football game is ultimately unknowable, but the entire remainder of the 4th quarter likely would've played out differently. The Bills may not have NEEDED to drive for points at the end if earlier play outcomes and been called differently. That's the point.

It can simultaneously be (and, in the opinion of almost everyone, IS) true that:

 

- The officials had several egregiously bad calls in a highly visible game, all of which favored the Chiefs, particularly in enormous, game-swinging moments, and it has soured a ton of NFL fans on the impartiality of the league. The Bills have reason to be upset.

- The officials are ultimately not the reason the Bills lost the game -- or at least not the SOLE reason. The Bills, at various times, were outcoached, out-schemed, and out-executed, and at the end of the day, the Chiefs did what they needed to do to win, and the Bills did not.

Our GM said as much in his end-of-season press conference. "Yes, the refs got those calls wrong, but no, that's not why we lost". Our HEAD COACH told the team prior to the game "we're not going to get the calls in this game, but we need to be able to play above it". They did NOT, ultimately, play above it, but the fact that the coach had to say that (and was right in saying it) speaks volumes.

The NFL has an officiating problem, and it has overwhelmingly helped the Chiefs this season. The ONLY people who refuse to admit it are Chiefs fans. Everyone else -- from fans, to play-by-play guys, to former officials like Dean Blandino, to analysts and journalists, to media talking heads -- can see it, clear as day.

The nfl has exactly what they wants.  Full control.  It will never change to the point where the average fan is happy.  If it did, the nfl will lose their control.  

[Brand J]

I do wonder if the biggest pop star in the world wasn’t tied to a certain team, would everything play out exactly as it has…?

[LABILLBACKER]

1 hour ago, finn said:

But can you point out bad calls for the Chiefs that were pivotal? I don't think you can. Assume for a moment the league wants the Chiefs to win but doesn't want to be obvious about it. Would you have all or even a big majority go against the Chiefs? Of course not. That would be a mistake. But neither would you gamble with your Golden Goose by allowing the Bills to gain home field advantage. So you make sure the Chiefs have that cushion of a game or two during the regular season, and you make sure  as hell the calls go the Chiefs' way in the playoff games. 

 

I rarely am persuaded by conspiracy theories. For one thing, confirmation bias is just too strong in our species. But even a paranoid person might have real enemies. When you consider the billions and billions of dollars that now hang on every game, it's naïve to think some party has figured out how to put a thumb on the scale somehow. The Bills were not going to win this game. They were/are better than the Chiefs, but not by enough of a margin to overcome the calls of referees who were instructed (threatened, bribed, whatever) to tip the game when they could get away with it. Show me a call of the same impact that went against the Chiefs and I'll rethink my position. 

The fix is in, people. When it comes out, as it will eventually, it'll be a big scandal, and the accomplishments of the Chiefs, an excellent team that might have won some of these playoff games without help, will forever carry a big asterisk. It stinks no matter how you look at it. 

I said 3 hours before the game we didn't stand a chance. We had a good enough team to beat them. But the marketing gods were not on our side. Mahomes is in every commercial.  Reid and Kelce also have multiple commercials. Mama Kelce, Taylor Swift and her 150million followers.   Even the SB logo is in KC colors. 

 

We didn't stand a chance.........

Maybe after they're handed this 3 peat and Travis & Tay ride off in the sunset.  Then and only then might we be considered for the same type of favoritism that KC/ NE have enjoyed.  It just sucks that the entertainment/ revenue angle of the NFL takes precedence over competitive fairness. 

[Big Turk]

On 1/26/2025 at 10:08 PM, Cursed said:

 

How many times did we visually see the ball carrier get past the line, only to hear the announcers say "actually it's going to be ___ and 1 to go"

 

At least 7 or 8. I couldn't believe it after the 4th or 5th time and it just kept happening

 

Edited 47 minutes ago by Big Turk

[Buffalo716]

3 hours ago, Big Turk said:

 

Crazy part is Dean Blandino's(who was head of NFL officials for many years) own brother is convinced it's rigged and he believes the NDA Dean signed won't let him discuss it or talk about it.

Lots of nda

 

I couldn't talk about certain booster stuff for a long time because nda

 

The NFL is a bigger animal 

 

Edited 37 minutes ago by Buffalo716

[Success]

There is a parallel universe where the one ref wins out on the 4th down spot, we get it, we get the TD, we take a 9 point lead & never look back. And every thread on here is about Philly and our chances in the big game.

 

It was that close. 

 

Just another one to haunt me - starting w/ Harmon's drop & wide right, the MCM, 13 seconds & the rest (and there are way too many to list).  I'll never understand how opposing fans can still revel in Buffalo's misery.  It's endless.