When Terrell Owens is Saying the NFL is Rigged in the Chiefs' Favor, the League Has Got a Very Serious Situation on its Hands
It's one thing if the narrative that the Chiefs get the benefit of all the calls has become a national disgrace. Or even a punchline that inspires hilarious viral videos. Which it most definitely has:
I'm having people over Sunday and plan on putting together some kind of chart of prop bets for everyone. And without a doubt there'll be one for guessing what time of the game the first obvious bullshit call will go Kansas City's way. It's not a matter of "if," but "when." And there's not a sentient human in America who can deny the fact with a straight face. Roger Goodell doesn't count because he's not human, but a barely lifelike automoton, less convincing than the ones in a Disney attraction:
No, where this really reaches a new level that the NFL is going to find it impossible to come back from is when one of their own is willing to come right out on the record and publicly confirm what we all know to be true. That our lyin' eyes aren't deceiving us. That the games are not only rigged in KC's favor, but that the rigging is, in Terrell Owens' words, "blatant, blatant":
“It’s crazy, because I played the game and I’m watching the game and I’m looking at all these calls that they’re just, that’s benefiting the Kansas City Chiefs. Look at the game before, against the Texans. Mahomes is smart, he’s dinking around, he’s causing the flag, you know what I mean? He’s getting the benefit. He didn’t even get hit. Fifteen-yard flag, the guy, Will Anderson, barely hit him. That can stop the momentum of the game. At that point in time, the Houston Texans were in the game. Those calls right there advances them, gives them extra downs. It changed the whole complexity of the game.
“You can even go back to the last couple of Super Bowls, even when the Niners played the Super Bowl. Look at all the holding calls. If you watched the tape, it was cray. They were getting clothes-lined and they were not calling it. It was blatant, blatant calls that were, like, obvious. It was blatant, it’s unreal. I never would’ve thought I would say that I thought games were rigged, but somebody got plays, but it is unreal at the amount of all calls that are not called against the Kansas City Chiefs that are called against everybody else.”
Now go ahead and just dismiss these comments because you don't trust the source. Yes, Owens is and always has been an iconoclast. He's never been shy about saying outlandish things that wore out his welcome in five different NFL markets. Yes, he was always a supremely confident, outspoken attention junkie who craved the spotlight. But in no way, shape or form does that disqualify him from weighing in when something so obviously wrong is going on.
On the contrary. He's the perfect guy to put the NFL on notice that we're onto their game.
You may or may not care for TO's braggadocio. But no one can argue against his greatness. He's Top 10 in every major statistical career receiving category. Including Top 3 in yards and touchdowns. Not to mention what feats he's accomplished off the field:
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Which makes his outspokenness on this topic a public relations horror show for Herr Goodell's little Ministry of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment to have to deal with during their big "Strength Through Joy" Picnic.
Having a recent Hall of Fame inductee like Owens speaking out like this is a PR nightmare. He's not the wide receiver GOAT (Jerry Rice lapped the field on that one), but he's at least in the conversation for second best WR of all time. So this like having Ken Griffey Jr. saying MLB is rigged. Or Kobe Bryant saying the NBA didn't solve its problems when Tim Donaghy went to jail.
A guy of Owens' stature, as a five-time All Pro and member of the 2000s All Decade Team, can't just be ignored. You can't just dismiss him as another disgruntled fan who needs to shut up and just keep ordering overpriced merch off NFL Shop. He's a Made Man in the NFL Mafia, and therefore is protected.
More than anything though, TO is right. No one knows when that first "blatant, blatant" call will go the Chiefs way Sunday night. Or how many there'll be. Just that there will be several. And more guys who've already got the Gold Jackets Goodell can't take away from them need to speak up too.