Former NFL Referee & Current CBS Rules Analyst Gene Steratore Discusses Chiefs Extra 3rd Down and the No Calls for Holding During AFC Championship Game

With all the controversy that has surrounded the officiating in this year’s AFC Championship Game, Pat McAfee Gene Steratore, former NFL Referee, joined his show to talk about the scandal.

After a 15-year career working the sidelines, Steratore is now the Head of Officiating for CBS Network’s NFL coverage. Steratore also served as an officiating official. NCAA He was a basketball official while working for the NFL. This means he is very familiar with the importance of order keeping. McAfee told Steratore that the calls closing out the contest were the best type of calls. “called within a tight restriction.”

The former referee showed clips from game film and tried explaining as clearly as possible how officiating teams gather on the field in order for the whole play to be seen. Steratore also spoke out about offensive holding during gameplay. This is often referred to as “something that happens”. ‘can literally be called on every single play.’

During the pivotal third-down play late in the fourth, he indicated that he would call holding on to the Chiefs declaring. “But then we get engaged, then were locked. Now, when Patrick [Mahomes] starts to roll to the right, now he continues to restrict on that shoulder, which doesn’t allow that defender to get away from that restriction to start pursuing. So to me in that level that’s when it rose to, okay, now we have a hold.”

RELATED: Ron Torbert, NFL Referee, Attempts to Explain Controversial Calls in AFC Championship Game

Steratore also reduced the unneeded roughness penalty the Bengals Patrick Mahomes was shoved when he was only two steps from the line. He stated that it is not uncommon for officials to hesitate to make pivotal decisions at this late stage, but this was an easy decision.

“It has to be called,” Steratore stated. “That’s just a foul. It’s a foul on the first play of the game, and it’s a foul on the last play of the game. That’s where that play has to live.”

McAfee & Steratore immediately pointed out all the chaos and confusion that occurred at the conclusion to the AFC Championship game between Chiefs and Bengals. Kansas City was victorious by 20 points and qualified for the Super Bowl. However, some observers felt that the game had been potentially chaotic. ‘rigged.’

Referee Ron Torbert described the play as a wiped-out, third-down play. ‘do-over’ This enraged Bengals fans as well as most viewers of the title match. They also enjoyed the penalty on the sidelines, which only added fuel to their fire. The Bengals were seen as a beloved underdog playing on the road in Kansas City. (Never mind that Joe Burrow and company made it all the way to Super Bowl last year).

This thought is coming at a time in which officiating has come under severe criticism from fans and observers over several seasons.

While talking with Seratore, McAfee was quick to point out that he’s a big advocate for communication among the different NFL crews, and that appeared to be lacking – particularly in this contest.

NEXT: Pat McAfee addresses online chatter that the NFL is ‘Rigged’