(Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
The AFC championship game between the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs will be one for the ages as the Chiefs look to defend their Lombardi Trophy and the Ravens hope to make it to the Super Bowl for the first time in 2012-13.
They’ll face off Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore after the Ravens took the No. 1 seed in the regular season and secured home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
However, that advantage appears to be a little less potent now after the NFL assigned referee Shawn Smith and his crew to the game.
Home teams win about 15.1% less when Smith is officiating than other home teams with other referees, according to Warren Sharp via Dov Kleiman.
Pretty interesting move by the NFL to put Shawn Smith on the #Chiefs vs. #Ravens game:
With other refs, home teams win an avg. of 55.9%
With Smith, home win rates drop to an average of 40.8%
On Stake: The Chiefs are currently the underdogs @ +149
Join Stake:… https://t.co/QO2Zspq1hC pic.twitter.com/WGzMqOGwtu
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) January 23, 2024
They want Swifties to watch the Super Bowl…
— Ben (@HowUBenFeller) January 23, 2024
Not interesting at all. They want KC to win.
— Jason Paul (@Hshazardv2) January 23, 2024
Nfl wants kc to win badly
— Tony (@Colin7182005) January 23, 2024
This is all circumstantial, but the noticeable difference in winning percentage is an interesting piece of information to consider for this game.
The Ravens are clearly the better team but the Chiefs are much more marketable for the NFL’s biggest game of the season as they have quarterback Patrick Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce, head coach Andy Reid, and of course, Kelce’s girlfriend, Taylor Swift, on their side.
The play on the field will dictate which side goes to the Super Bowl, though, and the hope is that the officiating staff will only marginally affect the game on a play-by-play level.
But officiating has affected important games in the past, and the Chiefs know that all too well after the Philadelphia Eagles’ late defensive holding penalty in this past year’s Super Bowl set Kansas City up to kick what ended up being a game-winning field goal in the waning moments of the game.
The post Referee Assigned To Ravens, Chiefs Game Has Fans Speculating appeared first on The Cold Wire.