NFL referee Adrian Hill making a call (left). Patrick Mahomes reacts during play (right).Adrian Hill and Patrick Mahomes (Photos via CBS Sports)
NFL fans are convinced that the refs “rigged” the Kansas City Chiefs-Las Vegas Raiders game following a brutal game-changing call by the officials that helped Patrick Mahomes and company.

There has been no shortage of questionable calls by the refs that benefited Patrick Mahomes and company. This included the controversial pass interference against Daijahn Anthony of the Cincinnati Bengals, which wiped out a game-sealing fourth-down stop in Week 2. The Chiefs got a fresh set of downs, and Harrison Butker made good on the opportunity by kicking the game-winning field goal.

Once again, KC was on the right side of a head-scratching call against Vegas today.

With Kansas City up by four points in the final frame, Patrick Mahomes drew a “roughing the passer” penalty by K’Lavon Chaisson. Have a look at the replay, however, and it’s hard to comprehend why a flag was thrown here:

 

As you would guess, the call against Chaisson led to accusations that the refs “rigged” the game for the defending Super Bowl champions:

The Chiefs defeated the Raiders 27-20 to improve their perfect record to 7-0, while the slumping Raiders fell to 2-6. The two teams will meet again at Arrowhead Stadium in the Black Friday game.

Patrick Mahomes Owns The Raiders

With Sunday’s victory in Sin City, Mahomes is now a ridiculous 11-2 in his career against Las Vegas. And the two times he lost? In 2020 and 2023, but the Chiefs reached the Super Bowl both years anyway.
Patrick Mahomes holding footballPatrick Mahomes (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
There weren’t many highlights of the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense last Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, but Patrick Mahomes surely had one when he used his feet.

The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback didn’t run out of bounds on his 33-yard run against the San Francisco 49ers last weekend, and that’s caused something of a stir.

During an interview with sportscaster Kay Adams, Hall of Fame defensive end Dwight Freeney said Mahomes was “taking advantage of soft rules” that protect quarterbacks.

Former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce said on the New Heights podcast that Patrick Mahomes, “if we are being honest, used his ‘quarterbackness’ to his advantage.”

NFL rules today protect quarterbacks from taking big hits anywhere on the field, and that is especially true along the sideline if the player appears to be running out of bounds.

Players tend to let up and Patrick Mahomes seemed to take advantage of it.

Travis Kelce shot back at his brother, defending Mahomes.

“He’s not trying to trick a guy going out of bounds,” the Chiefs superstar said. “I just don’t see Pat doing it.”

Speaking to the media this week, Mahomes made it clear that he was not trying to exploit any loophole in the rules protecting quarterbacks.

“I didn’t believe on that play right there I was really showing like I was going to go out of bounds. I don’t want to ever put a defender in a bad spot. I know that we are all competing,” Patrick Mahomes told reporters.

“When I go out of bounds, I’m going to go out of bounds, I’m not going to try to fake a guy out by using a loophole in the rules. At the time, I was going to cut back and get the first down, and then once I cut back, I was going to do one of those dives for the first down, but I cut back and realized I had a lane to run, so I went down the sideline, and then, I literally ran out of bounds on that exact play.

“When I go out of bounds, I’m going to go out of bounds, and whenever I’m trying to get a first down, I’ll get a first down. I’m not trying to use a loophole or anything in the rules to try to cheat in any way.”

 

Patrick Mahomes Is Playing A Dangerous Game

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes didn’t run out of bounds on his 33-yard run against the San Francisco 49ers last weekend, sparking backlash across the league.

Although he insists he wasn’t exploiting any rules, now defenders will pay extra attention to him when he runs towards the sidelines.

This is already a dangerous game, but all it takes is one guy to throw caution to the wind, light him up, and change him forever.