Chiefs overcame bad calls to Travis Kelce and Jawaan Taylor to save their season

The Kansas City Chiefs overcame both a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit and a botched facemask call to save their season in Week 12.

Referee Alex Moore’s crew got it wrong when Jawaan Taylor was whistled for a facemask penalty that negated a game-tying touchdown by Travis Kelce. Kansas City’s 23-20 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.

CBS analyst Tony Romo was also wrong when he suggested Chiefs coach Andy Reid could have challenged the questionable call.

The Chiefs’ win included an 11-point fourth-quarter comeback and a Patrick Mahomes-led drive to seal the victory in overtime, but some of that drama might not have been necessary if a replay assist had been used to correct the errant call in the first place.

With the Chiefs trailing 7-0 in the first quarter, Kelce took the direct shotgun snap and sauntered into the end zone. However, as Harrison Butker trotted onto the field for the extra point to tie it, Moore announced that Taylor, Kansas City’s oft-penalized right tackle, had committed a face mask violation.

That negated Kelce’s TD and pushed the ball back to the Indianapolis 18.

A few plays later, Butker’s first of five field goals made it 7–3, and the Chiefs (6–5) would trail the rest of the game until Butker’s 25-yard field goal tied the score at 20 at the end of regulation. He won it in overtime with a 27-yarder.

However, Taylor did not grab the facemask of linebacker Kwity Paye. He placed his right hand on the side of Paye’s helmet, but even that wasn’t enough to earn a hands-to-the-face flag.

When Moore announced the personal foul on Taylor, CBS play-by-play man Jim Nantz exclaimed, “Wow! That’s a big one. Not only is it a penalty that denies the touchdown, but it’s also 15 yards on a goal-to-go situation.”

Nantz and Romo brought in rules analyst Gene Steratore, who said, “If we have a facemask, we now know we can judge that. When I look at it, 74’s hand is on the helmet, but it’s not gripping the opening. So it’s a playable piece and if it’s not a facemask grip, they could have removed it.”

Steratore was right when he said the face mask could be assessed, but only through replay assistance.

“Andy Reid could have challenged that,” Romo incorrectly added, “…and that could have counted as a touchdown.”

The NFL expanded face mask calls this season to qualify for replay assist, which helps on-field referees make the right call, but that wasn’t used in this case, so the error wasn’t corrected.

Not only did Kelce lose his 85th regular-season touchdown, but he was whistled for a phantom foul late in the fourth quarter as the Chiefs trailed 20-17 behind their own end zone.

Mahomes threw a 6-yard pass to running back Kareem Hunt at the Chiefs 12 with just under 5 minutes remaining, but Kelce was whistled for pass interference because the officials mistakenly believed he had made contact with linebacker Buddy Johnson, the defender who was guarding Hunt.

Romo called it “the worst call I’ve seen all year.”

“They think he’s going to pick 53 (Johnson). He doesn’t. He’s going against his own man, who’s guarding him,” Romo said.

The flag pushed the Chiefs back to their 3, but two plays later Mahomes hit Rashee Rice for 47 yards, leading to Butler’s tying field goal as time expired.

And after the Colts, who had inexplicably abandoned their great ground game in crucial time, went three-and-out for the fourth straight time, Mahomes drove the Chiefs to the season-saving field goal.

Another curious call in Week 12 that had football fans and gamblers in an uproar was Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski’s decision to punt from the Raiders’ 29 in the final minute of the Browns’ 24-10 victory in Las Vegas. Shedeur Sanders’ first career start.

That’s right. Not his own 29. The Raiders’ 29.

Facing fourth-and-2 with 59 seconds left, Stefanski decided not to go for it and send kicker Andre Szmyt in for a short field goal, instead opting to send out punter Corey Bojorquez, whose 19-yard kick gave the Raiders the ball on their 10.

Had he not sent out his punter, it’s unlikely Stefanski would have opted for a field goal attempt, as the Browns were up by two touchdowns in the final minute, but the point is: MGM Sportsbook set the over/under for the game at 36 points. FanDuel had it at 36 1/2 points.

The 34-point final made some bettors very happy and others very angry, given Stefanski’s decision to kick just outside the red zone.

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