The late hit that gave the Chiefs 15 extra yards and a 45-yard game-winning field goal try came at the end of a play that began with something that has happened over and over in 2022.
Offensive holding. Not called.
Chiefs tackle Orlando Brown clearly held Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson. No flag was thrown.
It happens too often to be brushed off as gross incompetence. Between consistent failures to call holding and a rash of tackles starting into their pass-block set a split second before the snap without being called for illegal procedure, officials are making it easier for quarterbacks to operate by balancing out the simple fact that, currently, defensive linemen are bigger, faster, and/or stronger than the men trying to stop them from hitting the quarterback.
Remember the outcry over roughing the passer from October? NFL executive V.P. of football operations Troy Vincent candidly admitted that the officials overprotect quarterbacks because, without healthy quarterbacks, the games stink.
So, in addition to calling ticky-tack roughing penalties when quarterbacks get hit, the officials are looking the other way far too often on tactics that help keep quarterbacks from getting hit.
It’s why Joey Bosa blew a gasket two weeks ago. It happens over and over again.
In this instance, it should have been called.