Anonymous NFL Personnel Also Feel Super Bowl-Deciding Flag Was Unnecessary

The football world remains fixated on the outcome of the recently concluded Super Bow,l and the controversial flag call that ended up deciding the outcome between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles have received violent reactions from NFL coaches.

Mike Sando of The Athletic received multiple messages from current NFL personnel and they are unanimous in decrying the controversial call.

"You know how many times that route gets run and it is not called? It's a play teams perennially send into the league and never get the call. Guys grab like that all the time. If it stopped the receiver from getting to the ball, I understand, but that was not the case," a veteran offensive coordinator told Sando.

Late in the fourth quarter and the game tied 35 apiece, Eagles cornerback James Bradberry IV was called for holding on Chiefs wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster as the former battled it out with the latter to prevent Kansas City from ending the game on a walk-off touchdown.

However, referee John Jenkins threw a flag on the play and penalized Bradberry for holding, which turned into a five-yard gain for the offense and an automatic first down.

It allowed the Chiefs to run down the clock as far as they can before kicking the game-winning field goal and the Eagles only had eight seconds to make a play after the ensuing kickoff.

The Jalen Hurts-led Eagles had o chance at firing a decent ball down the field because of how far they were from the endzone and that was how Super Bowl LVII ended.

Later in the locker room, Bradberry confessed to the press that he was aware that it was holding, but was hoping the referees would not call it.

Immediately after the whistle was blown on the flag, Super Bowl commentator and prolific tight end Greg Olsen noted that the referees should not have interjected themselves at that point in the game.

Even former NFL stars like Richard Sherman and Julian Edelman, alongside the new NBA all-time leading scorer LeBron James, tweeted their displeasure with the call.

In the eyes of many, a holding call was not warranted at that point since Bradberry did not fully impede Smith-Schuster's movement and a game-management coach that Sando spoke with agreed with this.

"There were two restrictions on this play, and neither was enough for a foul, in my opinion. It looks bad because you want competitive plays at the end of the Super Bowl instead of [Patrick] Mahomes kneeling it down to center the ball for the kicker," the coach stated as quoted by The Athletic.

Regardless of the ensuing controversy, the Chiefs were still able to mount a comeback against a suddenly-porous Eagles defense in the second half. At the same time, Patrick Mahomes definitively earned his second Super Bowl MVP award.