Former Raiders coach Jon Gruden emphatically declares refs are not why Chiefs beat Bills
The angst continues for fans of 31 NFL teams.
Complaints of game officials helping the Chiefs win has been a major talking point during the playoffs, and it bubbled up again during Sunday’s AFC Championship Game.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes offered a hilarious response without mentioning that negative talk. It came in the form of a meme he shared on X after the game.
A fan went off on the officiating in a Barstool show, but former Raiders coach Jon Gruden was having none of it. He said the Bills’ 32-29 loss to the Chiefs was Buffalo’s fault.
Gruden specifically pointed to the Chiefs stuffing Bills quarterback Josh Allen on a fourth-and-inches play in the fourth quarter.
“Listen I thought this was a year for the Bills, but when you can’t make the 1 yard you need to make, you don’t deserve to go to the Super Bowl,” Gruden said on the show. “You can have all these stats, that’s all I saw in the pregame warmup. Sixty-five touchdowns, this stat, that stat. You don’t make the 1 yard you need in any critical situation, you’re gonna get knocked out of the playoffs. And you can’t rely on some official to give you a spot on the road in a playoff game. You just can’t count on the officials. With Josh Allen, this has to be a slam-dunk, automatic first down and you didn’t execute. You did not execute.
“You’ve got the best offensive line from left tackle to right tackle, a 300-pound tackle playing tight end. James Cook hasn’t been stopped all night and Josh Allen has 600 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns and you can’t make this much.”
Gruden held his hands a couple feet apart to illustrated his point.
“The execution, the pad level, the finish, the overall scheming, whatever it is, you lost the game because third and fourth down,” Gruden continued. “And I don’t know how you live with this one. This is tough.”
This story was originally published January 27, 2025 at 11:16 AM.
