Brittany Mahomes reacts to claims Chiefs games are ‘rigged’ as NFL considers massive change amid calls for Super Bowl boycott
Brittany Mahomes has had enough of people questioning the Kansas City Chiefs. The former soccer star is getting ready to watch her husband Patrick play in his fifth Super Bowl on Sunday. Brittany are heading to another Super Bowl@brittanylynne Head coach Andy Reid‘s Chiefs are bidding to make history with an unprecedented third consecutive triumph, which would be Mahomes’ fourth ring. But after Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen was controversially ruled not to have converted on a crucial fourth-down play in the AFC Championship game, allegations of Kansas City getting a helping hand from referees resurfaced. Many, including Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, called for a boycott of the upcoming big game. The conspiracy theory that the NFL is ‘scripted’ has been doing the rounds for years — before the Chiefs, it was Tom Brady‘s dominant New England Patriots. And Brittany, who shares three kids with Patrick, reposted a telling statistic on her Instagram stories to defend her man. “We can stay with false narratives or discuss this — Kansas City was 17th in percentage of scoring drives that were aided by a penalty for a first down,” said Kansas City radio announcer Mitch Holthus. “On such drives in regular season No.1? Wait for it…Buffalo 33% of scoring drives were aided by penalty for a first down on 86 scoring drives.” It is unlikely that we have heard the last of the debate, especially if Patrick can mastermind a three-peat against the Philadelphia Eagles. Even Dean Blandino — the former head of NFL officiating — has revealed that his brother thinks games are ‘rigged.’ “My brother who is convinced that the league is rigged, that is convinced that I signed an NDA when I left the league office that I cannot tell anybody that it’s rigged,” he said on SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio this week. “We grew up in the same household, by the way. I said, ‘Listen, there’s no conspiracy. The officials — there’s too many variables, there’s too much going on.’ Fans are convinced that the Chiefs get the rub of the greenGetty Taylor Swift and Brittany are often picked out on the TV feedGetty “To me, it’s the hardest sport. When you think about football, with seven different officials, to say, ‘OK, I’m gonna rig this game’ or, ‘The game is rigged from the league office down.’ The officials are just trying to get it right.” NFL bosses are considering a major change to help on-field officials. Sony’s Hawk-Eye system, which is already used in tennis and soccer, was trialed in the 2024 postseason. Artificial intelligence combines images from up to 60 cameras produce an 8k image which can be used to help pinpoint exactly where the ball is. It could come into place as soon as next season. “The whole effort was to begin taking a look at it, to see what worked, what didn’t work,” Walt Anderson, the NFL’s officiating rules analyst and club communications liaison, said in August. Read More on Super Bowl LIX All you need to know about Super Bowl LIX as Kansas City Chiefs battle Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans ‘Bigger than Taylor Swift’ – Illegal rentals, 26,000 hotel rooms and the $500m refit behind Super Bowl of Super Bowls Emotional Travis Kelce and brother Jason broke down in tears remembering mom Donna’s powerful Super Bowl cameo Secret meaning to ‘eight stars’ in NFL logo revealed as fans stunned before Chiefs-Eagles Super Bowl Patrick Mahomes vs Tom Brady after first seven years as a starter reveals there’s only one winner in quarterback debate Who is performing the Super Bowl halftime show and who will be singing the National Anthem? FOLLOW – talkSPORT End Zone YouTube Channel brings you all the latest news, views and analysis OFFER – See all Super Bowl odds and bet boosts over at talkSPORT BET BUY HERE – Brewdog launches new beer to celebrate Super Bowl 2025 “You certainly had some of them that went very smoothly. And then we had others where obviously there were some challenges. All of that is part of the learning curve. We’ll end up continuing to collect data [on] that. It’ll be a topic for the competition committee in the spring.” Even if technology is deployed, the ball will still be spotted by on-field officials, which will upset many fans. NFL exec Kimberly Fields confirmed to the Associated Press on Friday that the AI system will always be limited in its scope. “What this technology cannot do is take the place of the human element in determining where forward progress ends,” she said. There will always be a human official spotting the ball. Once the ball is spotted, then the line-to-gain technology actually does the measurement itself. “So I think it’s probably been a point of confusion around what the technology can and can’t do. There will always be a human element because of the forward progress conversation.” None of this will be in time for Sunday’s showdown in New Orleans where referee
Brittany Mahomes has had enough of people questioning the Kansas City Chiefs.
The former soccer star is getting ready to watch her husband Patrick play in his fifth Super Bowl on Sunday.
Head coach Andy Reid‘s Chiefs are bidding to make history with an unprecedented third consecutive triumph, which would be Mahomes’ fourth ring.
But after Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen was controversially ruled not to have converted on a crucial fourth-down play in the AFC Championship game, allegations of Kansas City getting a helping hand from referees resurfaced.
Many, including Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, called for a boycott of the upcoming big game.
The conspiracy theory that the NFL is ‘scripted’ has been doing the rounds for years — before the Chiefs, it was Tom Brady‘s dominant New England Patriots.
And Brittany, who shares three kids with Patrick, reposted a telling statistic on her Instagram stories to defend her man.
“We can stay with false narratives or discuss this — Kansas City was 17th in percentage of scoring drives that were aided by a penalty for a first down,” said Kansas City radio announcer Mitch Holthus.
“On such drives in regular season No.1? Wait for it…Buffalo 33% of scoring drives were aided by penalty for a first down on 86 scoring drives.”
It is unlikely that we have heard the last of the debate, especially if Patrick can mastermind a three-peat against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Even Dean Blandino — the former head of NFL officiating — has revealed that his brother thinks games are ‘rigged.’
“My brother who is convinced that the league is rigged, that is convinced that I signed an NDA when I left the league office that I cannot tell anybody that it’s rigged,” he said on SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio this week.
“We grew up in the same household, by the way. I said, ‘Listen, there’s no conspiracy. The officials — there’s too many variables, there’s too much going on.’
“To me, it’s the hardest sport. When you think about football, with seven different officials, to say, ‘OK, I’m gonna rig this game’ or, ‘The game is rigged from the league office down.’ The officials are just trying to get it right.”
NFL bosses are considering a major change to help on-field officials.
Sony’s Hawk-Eye system, which is already used in tennis and soccer, was trialed in the 2024 postseason.
Artificial intelligence combines images from up to 60 cameras produce an 8k image which can be used to help pinpoint exactly where the ball is.
It could come into place as soon as next season.
“The whole effort was to begin taking a look at it, to see what worked, what didn’t work,” Walt Anderson, the NFL’s officiating rules analyst and club communications liaison, said in August.
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OFFER – See all Super Bowl odds and bet boosts over at talkSPORT BET
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“You certainly had some of them that went very smoothly. And then we had others where obviously there were some challenges. All of that is part of the learning curve. We’ll end up continuing to collect data [on] that. It’ll be a topic for the competition committee in the spring.”
Even if technology is deployed, the ball will still be spotted by on-field officials, which will upset many fans.
NFL exec Kimberly Fields confirmed to the Associated Press on Friday that the AI system will always be limited in its scope.
“What this technology cannot do is take the place of the human element in determining where forward progress ends,” she said. There will always be a human official spotting the ball. Once the ball is spotted, then the line-to-gain technology actually does the measurement itself.
“So I think it’s probably been a point of confusion around what the technology can and can’t do. There will always be a human element because of the forward progress conversation.”
None of this will be in time for Sunday’s showdown in New Orleans where referee Ron Torbert and his crew will attempt to make split-second calls where every inch matters in front of billions of eyes. Good luck.
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