James Bradberry ended every NFL rigged argument with 1 simple comment

Eagles cornerback James Bradberry was bluntly honest with reporters after his holding penalty all but decided the Super Bowl against the Chiefs.

NFL officiating controversies are basically the bread and butter of the postseason at this point. Few games go by without some sort of disagreement over a key call.

In the case of the defensive holding penalty against James Bradberry at the end of Super Bowl 57, there is no disagreement between the two players involved.

JuJu Smith-Schuster told reporters after the game that he was “100 percent” held on the critical third-and-eight play.

Bradberry actually agreed.

James Bradberry admits he held JuJu Smith-Schuster on decisive Super Bowl play

“It was a holding. I tugged his jersey,” Bradberry told reporters in the locker room following the loss. “I was hoping they would let it slide.”

It’s that last statement where the disagreement will pop up from different corners of the NFL.

Chiefs fans are likely to argue that Bradberry did have a hold of Smith-Schuster’s jersey and that it was the right call by the letter of the law. They’ll also argue that Bradberry got away with an even worse penalty earlier. What goes around comes around.

Eagles fans are likely to argue that it was a minuscule infraction that shouldn’t have been called in that moment of that game.

There are probably a lot of NFL fans in general who agree with the Eagles on that one. With the penalty flag thrown, Kansas City got a first down and were able to simply run down the clock until they could kick a field goal to take a 38-35 lead, leaving Philadelphia eight seconds for a miracle.

If the flag hadn’t been thrown, the Chiefs would have had to attempt the field goal while giving Jalen Hurts and company just under two minutes to drive down the field for their own winning score. It might have been a thrilling ending. We’ll never know.