Fans are entitled to their opinions. No flags in the last 1:00 would be a disaster. The seven officials on the field get to see if once at game speed. You enjoy the ability to see frame by frame and make judgments.
In this particular call the NFL has codified knots rule book that a hit in a defenseless player is UNR and penalized by a 15 yard penalty against the offending team. It is no secret the NFL as a point of emphasis wants to eliminate the defenseless hits. In this case QB # 15 had his foot clearly in the paint heading to the sideline and then was hit from behind which caused him to go to the ground.
But there is an art to officiating. I agree with some here who have said the call was technically correct but didn’t have to be made. Was it enough? At that point in the game I don’t think so. One must officiate time and score
Nonetheless the down judge and side judge were in the classic no win. They make the call they rigged the game for KC and Maholmes. They don’t make the call they rig the game for the the bengals. Either call is acceptable but the standard philosophy behind the rules is when in doubt if it is a safety issue or defenseless player issue throw the flag. When in doubt on a judgment call pass on it.
This call was a the kobyashi maru of officiating.
I propose that in the last minute of every game, there are no penalties, it would be like “The Purge”, anything goes.
That would do wonders for the ratings.
Let’s also not forget: not making that late hot call would not have necessarily meant that the Bengals would have won. It only would have meant that the game would have (likely) gone to overtime. It is still quite possible that the Chiefs would have won after a no call there, and one could argue that they were more likely to have won than lost. Assume OT is a 50/50 proposition. Then there is some small probability the Chieds might win without OT, not likely, but not zero, either via a Hail Mary play or a 60 yard FG. The point is that call did not give the game to KC. Not to mention that Cincy could have done more in the almost 60 minutes prior to that call to ensure that the game wouldn’t come down to that particular play.
Some of us like the game won on the field while others would prefer the officials determine the winner.
Roughing the punter? He was blocked, literally shoved into the punter. That changed the game. The catch at the 6 yard line that was trapped, changed the game. I turned it off, that was enough to know what the winds were blowing in.
For that matter, why was the game played in KC? It was planned for Atlanta, to fix the fact that KC and Cinci played a NC game. Cinci had beaten KC 3 straight times, they had the same number of losses. Neutral site was only fair, or better yet tell the boys to nut up and finish the game instead of going home crying about a playing being injured/heart attack on the field. FIX WAS IN THE FIX WAS IN