Ex-NFL Head Of Officiating
There’s No League Bias Toward Chiefs!
Published
TMZSports.com
Pack up those tin foil hats … former NFL head of officiating Dean Blandino tells TMZ Sports the league is absolutely not conspiring to help get the Chiefs into Super Bowls.
The 53-year-old — who now works as FOX Sports’ NFL and college football rules analyst — said even though Kansas City may seem to be getting the benefit of a lot of close calls in big games … he’s sure there’s no directive from Roger Goodell to have refs favor the Chiefs.
Blandino said if anyone would know about such a plan — it’d be him … seeing as he oversaw the NFL’s officials from 2013 to 2017.
“If there’s a room somewhere in the NFL offices where they were writing the script, they never invited me — and I was the head of officiating,” he said. “I feel like I’d be a pretty important contributor to that.”
Even if he somehow didn’t get the memo — and one actually existed — Blandino says it would never be able to stay under wraps for so long.
“Someone somewhere would slip up and it would get out,” he said.
Blandino says it’s just happenstance that the Chiefs do seem to be getting all the calls … including during Sunday’s AFC Championship Game, when a huge Josh Allen quarterback sneak spot ended up in their favor.
Clear first down by Josh Allen. No doubt about it but somehow the refs give him a terrible spot lol pic.twitter.com/lBXspdXZtX
— Jordan Moore (@iJordanMoore) January 27, 2025
@iJordanMoore
“Do teams get breaks at times?” he asked. “They do. And not every call is right. And sometimes that happens.”
Blandino says usually it all evens out at some point — not exactly words K.C. fans want to hear with just one game left in their quest for a third-straight title.
As for what changes could be on the horizon — Blandino doesn’t think anything Chiefs-related will come down … but he did say the Eagles’ “tush push” play — and maybe even kickoff rules — could look different in 2025-26.