The Kansas City Chiefs were having some serious troubles with penalties in the first half of Super Bowl 55, with the refs throwing yellow hankies left and right.
That included one that was really, really costly.
The Chiefs were down 7-3 when they stopped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Kansas City’s 22-yard line. The Bucs lined up for a field goal … but a flag came out and the Chiefs’ Antonio Hamilton was whistled for lining up in the neutral zone before the snap.
That gave the Bucs a first down and wouldn’t you know it? Tom Brady found Rob Gronkowski for their second connection of the night a play later:
THEY DID IT AGAIN. BRADY TO GRONK. LEGENDARY. #GoBucs
📺: #SBLV on CBS
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/HJtQf5igun pic.twitter.com/eOSHmkH857— NFL (@NFL) February 8, 2021
What’s funny about this is the Chiefs have dealt with neutral zone infractions in huge moments against Brady before. Remember the name Dee Ford?
In the AFC championship from the 2018 season, Brady — then with the New England Patriots, of course — threw a key interception that was negated because Ford lined up offsides. The Chiefs lost that game. Hence why you might have seen some Dee Ford tweets on Sunday:
The Chiefs lining up in the neutral zone in big moments vs Brady is automatic
— hydrated king chris long (@JOEL9ONE) February 8, 2021
The spectre of Dee Ford still haunts the chiefs
— trey wingo (@wingoz) February 8, 2021
Gave me Dee Ford flashbacks https://t.co/Dju31lesZ7
— alex granados (@AlejandroGran13) February 8, 2021
