Chiefs overcame bad calls to stay alive

November 27 ------ THE Kansas City Chiefs overcame both a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit and a botched face mask call to salvage their season in Week 12. Referee Alex Moore’s crew got it wrong when Jawaan Taylor was whistled for a face mask penalty that erased a tying touchdown by Travis Kelce in Kansas City’s 23-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts.

CBS analyst Tony Romo got it wrong, too, when he suggested Chiefs coach Andy Reid could have challenged the dubious call. The Chiefs’ win featured an 11-point fourth-quarter comeback and a Patrick Mahomes-led drive to win it in overtime, but some of that drama might not have been necessary had replay assist 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. As Harrison Butker was trotting onto the field for the extra point to tie it, however, Moore announced that Taylor, Kansas City’s oft-penalized right tackle, had committed a face mask violation. That nullified 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 at the end of regulation tied it at 20. He won it in overtime with a 27-yarder. Taylor didn’t actually grab linebacker Kwity Paye’s face mask, though. He got his right hand on the side of Paye’s helmet but even that wasn’t enough to merit 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 touchdown-denying penalty, but it’s 15 yards on a goal-to-go situation.”

Source: manilatimes.net