NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had this to say about officials favoring the Chiefs
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday offered a simple response to a question about whether the Chiefs have received overly favorable officiating this season.
“It’s a ridiculous theory, for anyone who might take it seriously,” Goodell said.
The league boss was asked two questions about the topic during his annual meeting with reporters the week of Super Bowl LIX between the Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.
He likened officiating conspiracy theories to what he’s heard about how the league office manipulates the season.
“It sort of reminds a little bit of the script, right? That I have a script for the entire season,” Goodell said.
Improving officials remains an objective.
“At the end of the day, it’s something we always have to continue to work on: How do we make our officiating better?” Goodell said.
The commissioner was asked specifically about a call in the Chiefs-Buffalo Bills AFC Championship Game last week: Kansas City was ruled to have stopped Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen on a fourth-and-1 keeper. The Bills argued that Allen gained the necessary yardage and the ball was spotted incorrectly.
Could improved technology help spot the ball in future games?
“It is complicated,” Goodell said. “Obviously, there is a lot of humanity which interferes with some of that from a camera-angle standpoint. You also have the shape of the ball, and it’s where the ball is, not where the individual is...
“(But) I do believe the technology will exist sometime in the future.”
This story was originally published February 3, 2025 at 4:11 PM.