Getty Kansas City Chiefs fans.
Despite the Kansas City Chiefs dominating the rivalry with the Las Vegas Raiders over the past decade, the rivalry is still as heated as ever. That was evident when the two teams played on Monday Night Football. The Raiders got off to a quick start and had a 17-0 lead. The Chiefs were starting to come back when Chris Jones got a strip sack on Derek Carr that would’ve put Kansas City in a good position to score a touchdown before halftime.
However, the referees called a roughing the passer penalty due to Jones falling on Carr with all of his weight. The call was not received well by anybody, especially the Chiefs fans at Arrowhead Stadium. Boos rained down on the officials as fans were apoplectic. When halftime came, the fans were still mad and were throwing trash on the field. According to one Raiders player, the fans took things even further.
Offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor, fans were targeting Raiders players with racial slurs as they went to the locker room at halftime.
Crazy Game in a Crazy Atmosphere but at the end of the day we’re all human…so for the trash fans shouting out the N word as we ran into the tunnel for halftime does that make you feel good about yourself ?? Seriously that shit is weak af
Eluemunor then followed up by saying that he confirmed that slurs were leveled at the team after speaking to a police officer who was “right behind” him.
And for any of y’all saying this is a “baseless accusation” there was cop right behind me who confirmed he heard the same thing I did..
Chiefs fans are among the most passionate in the NFL but it’s not a good look if they are shouting racial slurs at players.
Officials Were Clearly Shaken by Crowd
The Chiefs fans were ravenous after the roughing the passer call and it seemingly had an effect on how the rest of the game was officiated. As Warren Sharp pointed out, the Raiders only had three penalties on them before the Jones call and then had eight after the call.
look at this penalty situation
in the final 30 min 17 sec of the game…
following the Chris Jones roughing the passer flag on KC the refs botched…
they called 8 penalties on the Raiders for 65 yds and -10.1 EPA (per TruMedia)
in the prior 29:43, just 3 LVR penalties called
There was a video that went viral online of Carl Cheffers taking away a flag on the Chiefs for a special teams play where he seemed visibly nervous to make the call.
They got the Ref scared to throw a flag 😂
The NFL can’t have referees be affected by how fans react to calls. That isn’t to say that the Raiders weren’t at all fault for a majority of their penalties but it certainly seemed like the way the game was officiated changed in the second half.
Davante Adams Questions Pivotal Call
The Raiders didn’t just get pulverized with penalties but also were on the losing end of some questionable calls. On the team’s last drive, it looked like Derek Carr hit Davante Adams for a first down that put the team in field goal range, which would’ve likely led to the team winning. However, the officials ruled that Adams didn’t have control of the ball when both of his feet were inbounds and called it incomplete. Had the call gone the other way, the conversation surrounding the Raiders could be very different now.
Adams wasn’t happy with the call and believes that he made the catch.
“I thought that I was in,” Adams said after the game. “Once I first touched the ball, the ball was possessed. And it was one hand that ended up kind of coming off and going back on the ball, but the ball didn’t move. I mean, they showed it 100 times on the screen, but the ball didn’t move, and I thought that it was a catch.”