Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Drue Tranquill has hit out at claims they were gifted another place in the Super Bowl after their controversial win over the Buffalo Bills.
The Chiefs are just one win away from becoming the first team in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowls following their 32-29 AFC Championship victory over the Bills on Sunday night.
A costly drop from tight end Dalton Kincaid sealed Buffalo’s fate in the dying minutes, allowing Patrick Mahomes and Co to book their place in the New Orleans showpiece on February 9.
Yet as many fans and analysts have claimed throughout their latest postseason run, the Chiefs again benefited from some questionable decisions as they held on for another crucial playoff win.
The most controversial of the lot came when the Bills tried to pick up a first down with a tush push on fourth-and-1 at the 41-yard line early in the fourth quarter, only for NFL officials to deem that quarterback Josh Allen had fallen short of the marker.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy accused refs of ‘cheating’, while CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore claimed Allen made the yardage ‘by about a third of the football’.
Chiefs linebacker Drue Tranquill has blasted claims they were gifted another Super Bowl place
The Buffalo Bills were controversially denied a crucial first down in their defeat to Kansas City
Referees also made another contentious call when they ruled that Kansas City’s Xavier Worthy made a catch that appeared to hit the ground after he wrestled it away from a Bills defender late in the first half.
Though despite the latest outrage over decisions that went their way, Tranquill has told anyone bemoaning their apparent luck with officials to go and ‘kick rocks’.
He wrote on X after the win: ‘Shoutout to the @BuffaloBills.. heck of a battle.
‘The rest of y’all can take all that “ref” talk & kick rocks. We stand on business’.
In the Divisional round of the playoffs, fans were also left fuming when the Houston Texans were penalized for two controversial roughing calls on Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans claimed his team were against ‘everybody’ on the night as they crashed out of the postseason at Arrowhead.
Now the back-to-back Super Bowl champions are facing fresh scrutiny after Buffalo was denied a crucial first down at the start of the fourth quarter.
One of many left seething over that decision was Portnoy, who revealed before the game that he had bet $1million on the Bills to win the Super Bowl.
He shared a photo of the controversial tush-push moment and said: ‘Insane. #nflrigged’.
Dave Portnoy, who bet $1m on the Bills to win the Super Bowl, accused referees of ‘cheating’
Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs have been accused of benefiting from many controversial calls
While it was heartbreak for Portnoy and the Bills, the Chiefs are now just one win away from becoming the first team in NFL history to win three consecutive Super Bowls.
Travis Kelce will take on his brother Jason’s beloved Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans on February 9 after beating Josh Allen and Buffalo again.
An emotional Taylor Swift planted a kiss on Kelce as they celebrated the Chiefs securing their spot in the Super Bowl on Sunday night.
Swift, who looked teary as she made her way down to the field to find her boyfriend, celebrated with his mom Donna at the end of the pulsating 32-29 win.
