Travis Kelce had a simple response to complaints of NFL referees helping the Chiefs
The recipe for the latest NFL conspiracy theory involved a botched snap, a penalty and two different signals from game officials.
After the Chiefs recovered a fumble Friday late in their 19-17 win over the Raiders, game officials ruled there was an illegal shift by Las Vegas. Raiders fans and supporters of other teams cried foul, saying the NFL had once again gone out of its way to help the Chiefs by not saying it was a false start, which would have nullified the play.
The complaining was so loud that the NFL put out a statement explaining the rulebook to fans and that the league didn’t actually help the Chiefs.
On the latest episode of the New Heights podcast, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce talked about that play and offered a simple response: don’t bank on game officials.
“You can’t put that kind of call into the refs’ hands,” Kelce said. “It is what it is. ... If you’re the Raiders, you don’t do it because we get all the calls. You just never want to ... be in position where you’re relying on the refs to make a call, whether it’s right call or wrong call, a call that takes the ball away from you or ruins your chances of winning. And it is what it is.
“I’ve been in situations where I’ve put it in the refs’ hands, and I’ve come up empty-handed like that as well.”
Not everyone blamed the officials for the Chiefs’ victory, of course. Talk show hosts this week have discussed whether or not it was another example of the Chiefs being lucky this season.
Kelce countered by saying the Chiefs are well-coached and prepared each week.
“You can call it luck. You can call it fortune. You can call it guys just playing their ass off until the last second is off that clock,” Kelce said. “And we know a lot of weird (stuff) happens in this league. I think both sides of the ball do a great job of — that is, the coaches do a great job of making sure the players know how wacky things happen in this league, let alone in this game. We’ve seen a lot of the weirdest (stuff) happen. I think it’s just been coincidence that we’ve seen a lot of it happen this year just to us.
“Typically, though, just on the offensive side we’ll watch, I don’t know, every college football game, every two minute (drive) from the NFL every single week, and we’ll get caught up on what’s possible, what could possibly happen at the end of a game with these types of scenarios. And when you understand the possibilities and you start to become more familiar with, ‘Man, anything really can ... happen if we just keep playing hard until the end of the game, no matter what’s happened, no matter the situation at hand.’ If there is a chance to win, if there is still a chance on that board, you keep playing.”
This story was originally published December 4, 2024 at 11:00 AM.
