The Kansas City Chiefs got a huge call that went in their favor on Monday night in their 26-10 victory over the New England Patriots. One that was highly disputed even after the game had already ended.
Late in the second quarter, Mahomes’ protection broke down, and he appeared to lose the football as New England pass rushers were bringing him down to the ground. The ball was scooped up by Shilique Calhoun and would’ve set up the Patriots deep in Kansas City territory. Instead, the officials ruled Mahomes had hit the ground before fumbling the football, and forward progress had been made.
“I felt [Mahomes] was being controlled quite a bit,” said Referee Tony Corrente.
“And as he was being controlled, other players were coming in at him,” Corrente explained. “And so, with those other players bearing down on him, a quarterback is considered in the grasp, and his forward progress is considered stopped when I feel as though the player’s safety is being jeopardized and that was the case in this instance.”
“So, rather than allow him to get hit by a second and third player, we shut it down and considered it forward progress at that point.”
Since forward progress had been ruled, it prevented Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick from throwing the challenge flag despite replays showing Mahomes had lost football before going to the turf.
The ruling allowed the Chiefs to punt from their 35-yard line and pin the Pats deep on their own end of the field instead of playing with their backs against the wall where the play initially ended.
The ensuing Patriots drive ended with Kansas City defensive end Frank Clark breaking into the backfield and bringing Brian Hoyer down for the sack. Preserving Kansas City’s 6-3 lead going into halftime.
