Officials miss two brutal cheap shots on Patrick Mahomes (Video)

The officials in the Chiefs vs. Bills AFC Divisional playoff game missed a Buffalo defender kneeing Patrick Mahomes in the facemask late.

The hotly contested playoff battle between the Chiefs and Bills wasn’t always entirely friendly.

Patrick Mahomes took his share of hits. Not all of them looked strictly legal.

Unfortunately Kansas City, the referees didn’t seem to be paying close attention.

Officials missed a brutal cheap shot on Patrick Mahomes

Buffalo defenders hit Mahomes late and high on a couple of occasions, including this apparent cheap shot on the sideline well after Mahomes was down.

One could argue the contact with incidental, but it was also with Mahomes on his back and well out of bounds.

Later on in the game, the Bills appeared to go for Mahomes head again.

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Neither of those hits was flagged as illegal.

Since the NFL has made such an effort to protect quarterbacks, particularly star quarterbacks, it’s surprising they seem content to let those kinds of hits stand.

The obvious concern is first about Mahomes’ well-being. Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu was already knocked out of the game with a concussion. The last thing anyone wants to see if Mahomes suffering the same fate.

This is also a game of inches with two Super Bowl contenders going toe-to-toe. Every yard matters and the refs not flagging hits like that spares Buffalo some serious yardage penalties.