Pat McAfee adds more fuel to claims Chiefs are favored by NFL referees with WWE Royal Rumble comments
The Chiefs’ treatment from NFL referees has been a talking point all season long, and Pat McAfee poured more fuel on the fire Saturday night while commentating during WWE’s Royal Rumble.
Fans and even players such as the Cowboys’ Micah Parsons have complained about a perceived refereeing bias in favor of the two-time defending champions, and those claims came to a head again during Kansas City’s AFC Championship win over the Bills.
And former punter McAfee has now become the latest person to voice that sentiment.
While the Motor City Machine Guns faced #DIY for the WWE Tag Team Championship, McAfee began complaining about the officiating.
‘Stuff like that can’t happen with the official,’ he said in a video clipped by Awful Announcing.
His co-announcer Wade Barrett then used that comment from McAee as an opportunity to criticize NFL referees, saying, ‘Well I’ve not seen officiating this bad since the last Kansas City Chiefs game.’
Pat McAfee criticized NFL referees’ treatment of the Chiefs during WWE’s Royal Rumble
Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs have been accused of benefiting from controversial calls this season
McAfee then stated his belief that the Chiefs had benefitted from some favorable calls this year.
‘I love the greatness of the Chiefs,’ he began. ‘But even some of those calls, I go, ‘What’s going on?”
McAfee’s comments came after Josh Allen was deemed to have not converted a crucial 4th-and-inches ‘tush push’ in the fourth quarter last week.
Despite the referees’ spot short of the first down marker, many believed that Allen had enough for the first down, including former head of NFL refs Dean Blandino.
The notion of the Chiefs receiving preferential treatment from officials also came up a week earlier in the divisional round against the Texans.
Henry To’oTo’o was called for unnecessary roughness as he and teammate Folorunso Fatukasi both attempted to tackle Mahomes as he was running.
Mahomes slid at the last second, causing the two Texans players to hit each other – with minimal contact on the Kansas City quarterback.
McAfee, Tyrese Haliburton (left) and Michael Cole are seen during SmackDown at Gainbridge Fieldhouse
Nonetheless, officials penalized the Texans for 15 yards in a move that was panned by ESPN’s Troy Aikman, who was calling the game, and the network’s rules analyst Russell Yurk.
Mahomes, meanwhile, has previously dismissed the idea that referees are giving his team favorable calls or extra protection.
‘I don’t feel that way,’ Mahomes told reporters in a press conference. ‘I just try to play football at the end of the day. The referees are doing their best to call the game as fair and as proper as they can and all you can do is go out there and play the game you love as hard as you can and live with the results.
‘So for me, it’s to go out there, play hard, try to do whatever I can to win the football game and then live with the results based off my effort and the way that we played the game. So I think that’s what we preach here in Kansas City.’
The Chiefs will face the Eagles in the Super Bowl next week.
