Super Bowls usually have a singular play or moment that they are remembered for. Whether it’s coming back from a 28-3 deficit, a quarterback catching a touchdown pass, not giving the ball to Marshawn Lynch, or any other number of things.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles had a handful of those moments throughout the game, but it may be a yellow flag that overshadows them all.
Danny Parkins and Andrew Fillipponi of the Audacy Original Podcast “1st & Pod” debated if the Chiefs - Eagles game will be remembered as the defensive holding Super Bowl.
“I don’t think you have to worry about that play getting discussed a lot,” Parkins said (6:12 in player above). “It’s a massive call. I wish they would not have made the call. It was a bad call. Where I disagree is that it ruined the Super Bowl. I don’t think it ruined the Super Bowl…
“It’s something that I don’t think we will talk about in five years. I don’t think it’s like Don Denkinger in (Game 6) of the World Series. I don’t think it’s like a singularly identifiable terrible call because I think you could make the argument that it was the correct call. It just sucks that it was made in the wrong spot.”
Parkins brought up the DeVonta Smith catch early in the NFC Championship Game that the Eagles got away with. That was a wrong call. This, while not being called all game, was technically a penalty and James Bradberry acknowledged it as such.
“This was arguably the wrong call. I wouldn’t have thrown the flag. I don’t think that replay was particularly damning,” he said. “Your point about how it wasn’t called that way over the course of the game but he grabbed him, there was a little bit of a spin, I can see why a ref would make that call.”
A game-deciding penalty so late in a Super Bowl is pretty rare. Especially one that essentially ended the game – or at the very least took away one team’s chance to make a comeback.
“There have been Super Bowls with bad calls – bad penalties – but there hasn’t been one so late in the game where for all intents and purposes it’s ended the game,” Fillipponi said, opining that this Super Bowl will at least partly be remembered for the defensive holding call.
“I don’t think that in five years we’re talking about the defensive holding call,” Parkins reiterated. “I think we are talking about Pat Mahomes, the second half, the second ring, the club that puts him into. It’s a part of the game for people that remember the full game flow but I don’t think this is going to be the defensive holding Super Bowl… It’s going to dominate (Monday) but I don’t think it’s something that we ultimately remember.”
The holding call has certainly dominated most of the conversation, as Parkins predicted, and how long it stays in the discourse may depend on where your fandom lies.
Related
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram