I think Mahomes sometimes gets the benefit of the doubt on roughing the passer plays more than some other QBs.
But I don’t really think KC gets disproportionate calls other than that. I just play up the trope for comedic effect.
And a win. Anyone who considered this “unexpected” hasn’t been paying much attention to how the Chiefs have been playing, and I’m not talking about just this year too.
Yeah that run was the most unlikely TD I have ever seen. Even if I am now in Browns territory I’ll still root for my former hometeam.
It’s been a while since it was an issue. That rule got introduced about a decade ago and it’s been almost that long since any coach, much less a player, got hit with it.
And technically, Mahomes didn’t. The refs are instructed to ignore the request for a 2nd consecutive timeout and treat it like nobody had called for one. So he got hit for the delay of game, instead, if you check the game summary.
That makes sense.
The ol’ “icing the kicker” rule.
Right after the game Taylor Swift was on the Tonight Show (taped before the game) and they had a discussion about the success of the Chiefs and not jinxing it. It felt a bit different airing it after the loss.
When I left one my favorite watering holes last night, the Chiefs were up 14-0 and looked like they were going to win by 3 or 4 scores. The key play was, as KC had an at-goal situation, Mahomes threw a 95 yard Pick-6 and the Jags scored a TD late when their QB tripped, stumbled, fell, rolled, got up, escaped a horde of defenders, got outside, and stumbled over the goal line.
Just like the coach drew it up.
Which is pretty much what the NFL enforces. Between the draft order, the salary cap, player aging, and the unbalanced schedules it’s very, very difficult to stay at an elite level.
For the Chiefs it looks even worse because last year they were unbelievably lucky (11-0) in close games. That is obviously unsustainable, and the luck has been strongly against them this season (0-3 in one-score games). Funny thing is if you change 2 plays the Chiefs are 4-1 and nobody is saying a thing. That’s just the NFL.
The biggest issue the Chiefs have, IMO, is that their best players are getting older and will continue to take up a huge chunk of their cap for a very long time. Chris Jones played very poorly last night (eye test only, haven’t looked at his PFF ratings) and Mahomes made a number of bad throws (even beyond the 99-yard pick 6). Kelce is pretty much washed/checked out, but at least they know this is his last season. They also have a lot of money invested in a pass-block-only RT. It has the potential to all fall apart quickly.
I also wonder how many more seasons Andy Reid wants to keep doing this. He’s 67 and not in great shape. Certainly he isn’t going to work through a rebuild, so I guess it depends on how well they can keep the roster strong enough to compete over the next 2-3 years.
Actually, they just changed that rule this year.
Prior to this season, officials were instructed to ignore timeout requests from teams in instances when they had already used all of their timeouts or were attempting to call a second timeout without a snap in between. If an official inadvertently granted the timeout, there would be a delay of game penalty.
This season, the NFL rulebook now calls for a delay of game penalty any time a team “requests” an ineligible timeout, not just when an official inadvertently grants one.
And if you try to call an illegal timeout to ice a kicker, it’s a 15 yard unsportsmanlike:
Item 4. Unsportsmanlike Conduct. An attempt to call an excess team timeout, or to call a second timeout in the same dead
ball period, by Team B in an attempt to “freeze” a kicker, shall be ignored and is unsportsmanlike conduct even if inadvertently
granted (See 12-3-1-v). The timeout will be charged if inadvertently granted. This will apply to field goal or Try attempts.
Thanks, I didn’t know they changed it. Still, really brain fart for a veteran QB to trip over that rule
Was it though? Five yards meant nothing at that point. Extra time to discuss the play was way more valuable. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mahomes knew exactly what he was doing.
As a Hawks fan always good to see the cards go down except for the fact I had them in the SDMB survivor league.
Then why not just take the delay of game directly and keep thinking about it in the background?
I guess it could have been some kind of 5th dimensional chess on the part of a wily veteran but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar
Case in point, shortly before that, the Jaguars let time expire while in the red zone and took a delay of game penalty rather than spending their last timeout. In that case, the 5 yards was worth a chance to take some extra time and still hang onto a timeout.
You also see it happen on 4th down when a team is likely to punt, but instead they line up the offense and try to draw an offside/neutral zone infraction penalty. If the defense doesn’t bite, they take the delay of game penalty because 5 yards doesn’t mean much when you’re punting; as it is, the punter may be trying to avoid punting too far and giving a touchback to the other team.
So yeah, 5 yard penalties are sometimes taken strategically. Watching Mahomes’ body language, though, I don’t think it was intentional.
I’d like them to devise a 50 yard penalty for this. Unfortunately, it works 1% of the time, so teams keep doing it.
Yeah, it’s annoying. They’re exploiting a loophole. I believe every team does this, and it seems like you see it at least once per game.
Go for the first down, or don’t. Both have merits. But pretending to go for it when you’re not is just an asshole move. It’s beneath the dignity of professional sports. Like taking a dive in soccer.