It’s another Kansas City Chiefs game, and another game where the officiating takes center stage. And SiriusXM host Adam Schein was none too happy about it.
NFL officiating has become an unfortunate storyline through yet another run to the Super Bowl for the Kansas City Chiefs thanks to a number of calls breaking in the favor of the two-time defending champions. Even insiders like Adam Schefter have been caught in the middle of the storm for suggesting changes are coming to calls that are mysteriously favoring the Chiefs.
But conspiracy theorists are getting more and more ammunition by the week as the Chiefs improbably keep winning close games due to fourth down plays, blocked field goals, lucky breaks, controversial calls, and general acts of God.
It happened again on Sunday when a couple replay reviews went the way of Kansas City as they defeated the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship game. The most controversial was a fourth down play in the fourth quarter with the Bills having the ball and a one point lead. Even though everyone not in the Kansas City metro area thought Josh Allen got a first down, the officials ruled otherwise. Of course, the Chiefs went on to win the game.
And on his Monday SiriusXM radio show, host Adam Schein exploded over the call and argued that it cost the Bills the game, calling it a “damn disgrace.”
“Refereeing in that game yesterday was a damn disgrace. And if you don’t think that impacted who’s going to the Super Bowl I don’t know what to tell you,” Schein proclaimed.
“The referees on two particular plays doomed your football team. Absolutely doomed it. Fourth and 1, Kansas City 41, there’s 13 minutes to go. Josh Allen quarterback sneak and he got it. Half of his damn body is over the line of scrimmage. By the way, I thought the spot of the ball on the play before on the play to the tight end, that was crazy. That was a terrible spot. We’ll let that go for now, but that was a terrible spot. Fourth and 1, he got it! I don’t know how you can look at that objectively and say ‘he did not get it’,” he continued.
Adam Schein then went as far as to play the Taylor Swift card as the rant went on and he also spotlighted how even Gene Steratore and Jim Nantz disagreed with the decision to not reverse the call on the field after seeing it on replay, citing how reticent both are to be bombastic in their criticism of officiating.
“First ref comes in, first down. Second ref comes in, hold on, Taylor Swift gets to go to the Super Bowl. Let’s take a breath. So then they looked at it, they looked at it! Gene Steratore who is the absolute best in the history of any official turned television analyst when it comes to telling you what’s right and what’s wrong, Gene, who does not want to criticize the officials but always says exactly what he sees, of course it’s a first down. It wasn’t even close! Jim Nantz, who doesn’t want to rip the officials, of course it’s a first down! Jim. Nantz. Hello, friends! Jim Nantz thought it was a first down! He’s not looking for enemies! His whole thing is hello friends,” Schein concluded.
Is there a massive conspiracy to aid Taylor Swift’s favorite team and help them pull off the first Super Bowl three-peat? Or do they simply have one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time and create their own luck? The Bills had countless other chances to win that game on Sunday and yet failed to do so. They could have stopped Mahomes at any point in the fourth quarter, they could have done better than one for five on tush pushes, they could have converted on their final drive of the game. But they didn’t.
However, those facts aren’t going to stop Adam Schein and others from crying foul every time a call favors Kansas City. And it’s going to keep happening until either the Chiefs actually lose a game or an official physically sacks Patrick Mahomes himself.