For reasons only NFL fans can truly explain, much of the discourse ahead of Super Bowl LIX has revolved around the referees. NFL fans believe that the Kansas City Chiefs have gotten the benefit of so many calls that could have realistically gone either way to the point where the league is rigged in their favor. It really feels as if fans are focused more on the refs than they are on the Chiefs potentially pulling off the first three-peat in the Super Bowl era against the Philadelphia Eagles, which is dumbfounding.
The NFL obviously is not rigged, but every call that goes Kansas City's way in Sunday's game will undoubtedly spark the idea that it might just be.
Many on the Chiefs or even against them have tried to shut down the referee discourse, but to no avail. Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback in NFL history, was the latest to chime in. It's safe to say all NFL fans would prefer he just stay out of this kind of conversation.
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NFL fans would rather hear from anyone else before Tom Brady when discussing referees
Before Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs were the ones seemingly getting every call, it was Brady and the New England Patriots or Tampa Bay Buccaneers getting that preferential treatment. With that in mind, it comes as little surprise that Brady came to the defense of the referees in an interview ahead of the Super Bowl.
“They got to make decisions in a split second and they’re gonna call what they see and these guys are some of the most professional people on the field. They just want to do a good job like everyone else. And look, sometimes the calls go your way, sometimes they don’t. In the end, over the course of a 140-play game on both sides of the ball, the players have plenty of opportunities to go out there and make an impact in the game, winning or losing, and that’s what I’m excited to see on Sunday night,” Brady said.
Is he wrong? Of course not. The referees are very good at their jobs, but are not perfect. A call here or there might be missed on occasion. At the end of the day, the referees alone won't impact the outcome of a game. They can help a team, sure, but even in the AFC Championship Game when it felt as if every call favored the Chiefs, the Buffalo Bills still had several chances to win and did not.
Still, the last person any NFL fan wants to hear from when referees are being discussed is the former player who seemingly got even more favorable treatment from referees than Mahomes and Co. are getting now. That's for sure.