The football-watching world was in shock last night after the Detroit Lions delivered a kickoff opening upset to the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs on their home turf. Most remarked how the Lions seemed the real deal and could become a playoff team.
NBC’s Mike Tirico, however, isn’t buying any of that.
As the Lions and their fans were celebrating their win, Tirico said that this victory by the Lions should come with a qualifier.
“This has an asterisk because of no Chris Jones and no Travis Kelce,” Tirico said.
Tirico is referring to Chiefs star defensive end Chris Jones, who is sitting out due to a contract dispute, and star tight end Travis Kelce, who was a last-minute scratch due to a knee injury.
Lions fans were quick to pounce on Tirico for asserting that their team’s big win wasn’t real or deserved.
Does the absence of the Chiefs’ best defender and arguably greatest tight end in the league deserve consideration in any evaluation of last night’s game? Sure. But you know what else deserves consideration? The fact that Chiefs right tackle Juwan Taylor either committed a false start and/or lined up illegally on every single play last night and the officials didn’t call it until 58 minutes into the game.
The above is but one example.
Add to that that Kadarius Toney had one of the worst nights any receiver has had in a long time. Including letting what should have been an easy completion bounce off his hands and into the waiting arms of a Lions defender, who returned it for a touchdown. Take away that one play alone, and the Chiefs would have won the game even without Jones and Kelce.
Tirico is a great announcer. But that was a clown comment.