The Kansas City Chiefs snatched victory from the jaws of defeat on Sunday against Indianapolis, but not before Travis Kelce was called for an offensive pass interference penalty that CBS analyst Tony Romo called the “worst call” he’s seen this NFL season.
Early in the fourth quarter with the Chiefs down multiple scores, Kelce ran a short route near the line of scrimmage. After an incompletion along the sideline for Kansas City, officials called an offensive pass interference against Kelce, believing he had “picked” a Colts linebacker.
It turns out the Colts defender was able to evade Kelce, and Kelce did not make any contact.
“This is the worst call I have seen all year,” Romo said.
After Romo showed the mistake by the refs in Kansas City, the CBS producers panned to Kelce, whose response mirrored Romo’s:
“Ridiculous,” the former Cowboys quarterback said.
The fourth-quarter incident came after some confusion in the first half from announcer Jim Nantz, who was also thrown off by the referees. When Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice appeared to catch a ball in the end zone near the end of the first half, one official called a touchdown while another signaled that Rice was out of bounds.
Nantz burst out with a big touchdown call, only to realize Rice had in fact fell out of the back of the end zone while attempting to reel in the pass.
Fortunately for Chiefs and Colts fans, the officiating crew did not ultimately affect the outcome of the game.
But the issues were major enough to affect both Nantz and Romo on the CBS call in what will likely amount to one of the most consequential AFC bouts of the season.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.