For just a few seconds Sunday night time, Jim Nantz — and the CBS scorebug — gave the Payments some hope in the course of the fourth quarter of their AFC championship conflict in opposition to the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
Josh Allen’s closing heave that went by means of the arms of a diving Dalton Kincaid had fallen incomplete.
The Payments’ likelihood to tie the sport — and what ended up being their closing offensive snap Sunday — had evaporated in an eventual 32-29 loss.
However within the aftermath of the play, Nantz, the play-by-play broadcaster, mentioned that there’d been a flag thrown, and the community added its yellow graphic to the scorebug.
“I didn’t see a flag thrown there,” analyst Tony Romo mentioned.
“I’m told there’s a flag,” Nantz replied, earlier than later including “no flag” after Romo began dissecting the blitz bundle Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo despatched towards Allen on that fourth down.
Moments later, as Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense lined as much as begin the possession that finally ended the sport, Nantz reiterated that there hadn’t been a flag picked up and even thrown within the first place.
“We had a report from the sideline that there had been a flag,” Nantz mentioned, “but there was no flag. There was no penalty at all.”
So as a substitute, the non permanent flag graphic served as a merciless tease for viewers watching the sport, offering a little bit of false hope {that a} potential defensive penalty might lengthen the Payments’ drive — permitting them to creep nearer towards discipline purpose vary whereas trailing by three factors within the closing two minutes.
As a substitute, Kincaid was left to rue his drop postgame, Allen was left to rue a fourth consecutive loss to Mahomes within the postseason and the Payments had been left to navigate the most recent playoff heartbreak handed to them by Kansas Metropolis.
Allen completed with 237 passing yards and two touchdowns whereas James Prepare dinner added a pair of dashing touchdowns, however the Chiefs’ protection stopped the Payments in key spots — together with the fourth down on the ultimate drive, a controversial fourth-and-1 sneak earlier within the fourth quarter and a pair of two-point conversions — to maintain their bid for a three-peat alive.
Kansas Metropolis will face the Eagles, who defeated the Commanders within the NFC Championship recreation Sunday, in Tremendous Bowl 2025 on Feb. 9.
