You can’t blame the referees for a loss, but their influence can certainly make one more likely. That happened on Sunday afternoon for the Minnesota Vikings when they played the Kansas City Chiefs.
With six minutes left in the third quarter, the Chiefs went for it on a fourth and one from the Vikings 48-yard line. Patrick Mahomes threw a deep pass to Justin Watson and Harrison Smith was called for pass interference. That set up the Chiefs to score a touchdown pass to Travis Kelce.
The problem is this: was it actually pass interference?
This was called DPI on Harrison Smith on fourth down. Looks like Smith said "he grabbed me" to the ref. pic.twitter.com/13uq4gd24T
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) October 8, 2023
The play shows Smith making contact with Watson and not looking back to the football. That is a big identifier when it comes to defensive pass interference.
However, as Will mentions in the above tweet, Smith is seen telling the ref that he was grabbed. In theory, that would prevent him from turning around to the ball. That call set up the Chiefs to score a touchdown pass to Travis Kelce.
Did the Vikings get swindled by the referees? It’s not the reason they lost, but it certainly didn’t help.
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