You know the memes about the NFL’s referees overtly favoring the Kansas City Chiefs? Yeah, the Carolina Panthers might’ve felt as though they were living through one of those on Sunday.
Although it ended up being a closely-contested and entertaining matchup, yesterday’s 30-27 loss to the defending Super Bowl champions featured quite a bit of laundry. A total of 19 penalties were called throughout the game, with Kansas City picking up 10 flags and Carolina picking up nine.
And that seemed to bother Panthers outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney, who spoke with Vashti Hurt of Carolina Blitz about the whistles.
Jadeveon Clowney wasn’t happy with some of the flags thrown during yesterday’s loss to the Chiefs. Here’s what he told me today when I asked him about that and Mahomes’ scramble that put Kansas City in game-winning field goal range. pic.twitter.com/9pBsAKSs5v
— Carolina Blitz (@KeepBlitzin) November 26, 2024
As Clowney stated, teammate and cornerback Jaycee Horn was on the receiving end of quite a few frustrating calls. Horn was flagged a total of four times—three for holding and once for pass interference.
Clowney also noted that he and his fellow Panthers defenders were hesitant to initiate contact with Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes on his 33-yard scramble late in the fourth quarter.
MAHOMES. 33-YARD RUN.
: #KCvsCAR on CBS/Paramount+
: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/HbrtvTfb6n
— NFL (@NFL) November 24, 2024
The big gain helped set up the walk-off 31-yard field goal by kicker Spencer Shrader.