The Kansas City Chiefs are aiming for their third straight Super Bowl victory. To reach New Orleans, where this year’s Super Bowl is being held, they must first overcome the Buffalo Bills, the only team to defeat Kansas City’s starters this season. Adding to the challenge, the Bills have shown a willingness to bend the rules, and league officials have decided not to hold Buffalo accountable or enforce the relevant rules during the playoffs.
In their divisional round win over the Baltimore Ravens, Bills running back James Cook’s body was propelled into the end zone by one of his linemen, resulting in a touchdown—a clear violation of the NFL rulebook. However, the league has no plans to penalize such actions in Sunday’s matchup. “Instructing them to call it now would represent too much of a change from the enforcement of the rules to date in the 2024 season,” explained a Pro Football Talk source. Fans have been vocal about this situation on social media.
“Where on Fan Duel can I place a bet that the refs will call it against Buffalo this weekend in KC?” one fan questioned on Twitter. Another remarked, “(Pro Football Talk) is doing the NFL’s work here to ensure this is called on Sunday when every team has been doing it. Chiefs are going to get this called against the Bills this week, just watch.” Similarly, another fan mentioned, “You probably already know this, but they play the Chiefs this week, so I’m pretty sure that penalty will start getting called.” Someone else added, “It’s not like officials apply the rulebook against the Chiefs, but you aren’t calling that out.” If the Chiefs desire a level playing field, they may need to consider adopting Buffalo’s approach and adapt accordingly.
