2025 NFL Playoffs Thread

[Erick Estrada]

None of it really matters as we all know what's coming next weekend. Nothing is going to stop the NFL's love for the Hunts and positive attention brought by having Swift attending the Super Bowl. The only chance the Bills have is the Chiefs turning over the ball which is one of the few things the league can't control.

[Sylvanfan]

What about the doinks in this fake sport? Are those planned?

[KelVarnsen]

It's all planned

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by KelVarnsen

It's all planned

Do they use a magnetic field in the uprights to help decide in or out? If they don't, these kickers are better than I thought.

[KelVarnsen]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Senator Clay Davis]

Satan works in mysterious ways, sometimes there's just no other explanation.

[trackercowe]

Former VP of officiating Walt Anderson says both personal fouls on Mahomes were the correct calls.

https://www.thescore.com/news/319490...bLrsOz6R2ymaLA

I do think the league/officiating bias towards the Chiefs is overplayed. People are looking for connections/reasons why the Chiefs win all the time, just as with Brady and Patriots during their dynasty. People thought the Pats got beneficial treatment as well, despite the four game suspension for Deflategate.

I have a few friends who are die hard Chiefs haters, and they constantly chirp saying the Chiefs only win because of this league bias. It's honestly baffling. The Texans only put up 12 points, and were never in a position to win the game. I'm not saying officiating is perfect, as I do think quarterbacks are judged at a different merit. Lamar took some hits yesterday that looked like penalties, as did Hurts on that fumble. If anything running quarterbacks are judged at a different level than a pocket passer like Mahomes who doesn't use the run very often.

I do understand why people don't like the Chiefs... but I don't buy into any conspiracy nonsense that the league wants them to win. This isn't a McDavid situation where one player is bigger than the team. The NFL generally trumps all no matter who is winning. They don't need one specific team to dominate the entertainment landscape. If anything they would have rigged it for Detroit, as they were more popular and exciting than Kansas City this year. The Chiefs are just a well run organization, with Andy Reid, Brett Veach, and co. doing a marvellous job running things. Having professionals on the sidelines like Reid and Spagnuolo is what separates the Chiefs from the pack. It's not the leagues doing.

[KelVarnsen]

Of course a former VP of officiating will say its the correct call, especially on NFL Network

[trackercowe]

Originally Posted by KelVarnsen

Of course a former VP of officiating will say its the correct call, especially on NFL Network

Two months ago he admitted there were incorrect calls on those Thanksgiving games.

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profoo...night-mistakes

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by trackercowe

Former VP of officiating Walt Anderson says both personal fouls on Mahomes were the correct calls.

https://www.thescore.com/news/319490...bLrsOz6R2ymaLA

I do think the league/officiating bias towards the Chiefs is overplayed. People are looking for connections/reasons why the Chiefs win all the time, just as with Brady and Patriots during their dynasty. People thought the Pats got beneficial treatment as well, despite the four game suspension for Deflategate.

I have a few friends who are die hard Chiefs haters, and they constantly chirp saying the Chiefs only win because of this league bias. It's honestly baffling. The Texans only put up 12 points, and were never in a position to win the game. I'm not saying officiating is perfect, as I do think quarterbacks are judged at a different merit. Lamar took some hits yesterday that looked like penalties, as did Hurts on that fumble. If anything running quarterbacks are judged at a different level than a pocket passer like Mahomes who doesn't use the run very often.

I do understand why people don't like the Chiefs... but I don't buy into any conspiracy nonsense that the league wants them to win. This isn't a McDavid situation where one player is bigger than the team. The NFL generally trumps all no matter who is winning. They don't need one specific team to dominate the entertainment landscape. If anything they would have rigged it for Detroit, as they were more popular and exciting than Kansas City this year. The Chiefs are just a well run organization, with Andy Reid, Brett Veach, and co. doing a marvellous job running things. Having professionals on the sidelines like Reid and Spagnuolo is what separates the Chiefs from the pack. It's not the leagues doing.

My post was tongue and cheek. I'm not a big conspiracy guy and I think it simply comes down to the fact that officials are human and humans have inherent biases especially towards teams that are perennially good and they have called a lot of those teams games in the playoffs. When the Patriots were a dynasty they had a lot of calls go their way as they used to get away with mugging WR's in the playoffs. I think officials get used to seeing the same jersey in big games and aftera while it's in the subconscious that they are there every year because they don't make mistakes. I think teams like the Patriots and now Chiefs generally get the benefit of the doubt while the team wearing the other jersey does not necessarily when official thinks he may or may not have seen a penalty on a play and has to make a split second call. I certainly wasn't a fan of the officiating in the Texans game this weekend as stuff like that certainly doesn't do anything but fuel the fans wearing tinfoil hats.

[SuperMatt18]

On both plays I could see why the refs threw the flag even though they were a bit soft.

The first call it looks like the crown of Anderson's helmet hit's Mahomes on the facemask, especially from where the ref that threw the flag was standing. The contact was pretty light when you see it from the other angle, but from behind it looks like it was crown of helmet to facemask.

The second call is one that's annoying because Mahomes isn't really givng himself up and should be seen as a runner there, but it's also stupid by the defenders who launched themselves headfirst at Mahomes and end up making helmet to helmet contact with one another.

That's one of those where the refs saw the player launch at the guy helmet first and threw his flag, even though there was no contact. In the end it's a bad call because they didn't actually make contact, but was also just stupid by the defenders to launch headfirst at the guy they know is going to get that flag.

[OutOfTheCube]

Definitely a closer game than I would've liked but I'll take the win! We were definitely a bit mismatched against the Ravens and relied on their mistakes, but that's often how the game goes.

I think their biggest mistake was not utilizing Henry much in the second half. Buffalo had seemed to be worn down and he was cutting through us at will on that TD drive. Then they just... stopped giving him the ball. Some tense moments at the end for sure! Never easy this time of year. Now my heart can have a break for a week -- I really hope we're finally able to get past this KC snide...

[Paulie Walnuts]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1881394619801366840

[KelVarnsen]

I’ve never wanted to punch a video thumbnail before but I do now

[Strange Brew]

I love how two of the big sports have undisputed evil empire teams that fans love to hate. Chiefs and Dodgers.

[SuperMatt18]

Very Different IMO.

I think it's less that people actually "hate" the Chiefs, and more that just anytime a team makes 7 straight championship games and have 3 super bowls already that people go "I'm sick of them", and look for reasons to want them to fail.

The Dodgers are in a whole league of their own where they are making a mockery of the MLB luxury tax and pretty much almost guarantee that any major free agent is going to sign with them, if they really want them. They haven't even really won that much yet.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

I love how two of the big sports have undisputed evil empire teams that fans love to hate. Chiefs and Dodgers.

It actually amazes me that people don't hate Golden State. Must be generational as they have created so many new fans.

[Erick Estrada]

I think the Chiefs are pretty hated by most fan bases around the NFL. Cringiest fanbase in the NFL. Organization that's embraced abusive players. Andy's dark history with his sons both who have been arrested for injuring innocent people while under the influence of heroin (Garrett) and alcohol (Britt). The Patriots were cheaters but they didn't have the same dark cloud over them that covers the Chiefs.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Yeah I mean Aaron Hernandez definitely didn't murder someone, Patriots really were just Godly compared to the Chiefs.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I think the Chiefs are pretty hated by most fan bases around the NFL. Cringiest fanbase in the NFL. Organization that's embraced abusive players. Andy's dark history with his sons both who have been arrested for injuring innocent people while under the influence of heroin (Garrett) and alcohol (Britt). The Patriots were cheaters but they didn't have the same dark cloud over them that covers the Chiefs.

Because they win.

They were a Bills like loveable fanbase...until they started to win (and I still wouldn't call them the cringiest).

Andy Reid always seemed pretty well liked around the NFL and fanbases to me...not sure people really hold mistakes his adult kids made against him.

And there are a lot of NFL franchises that have embraced abusive players (Steelers, Browns, Bengals, etc just to name a few).

In the end those things are magnified because they win, if they didn't win then nobody would probably really mention any of those things.