NFL fans raise alarm on refereeing conspiracy for Chiefs vs Ravens AFC Championship Game - "Rigged!"

Miami Dolphins v New England Patriots
Is Shawn Smith a biased choice to help the Chiefs?

The AFC Championship will be decided between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens. This will be the sixth straight time that Patrick Mahomes will be at the conference final, while Lamar Jackson has finally reached this stage. And the conspiracy theories have already begun.

With the referees for the championship games assigned, a controversial NFL analyst named Walter Sharp has declared that the league has hit the panic button about trying to help Mahomes and the Chiefs. According to his theory, Shawn Smith was allotted to the game due to his preference to help road teams, such as Kansas City in the AFC Championship Game.

NFL fans took Sharp's tweet to talk about the situation, with some believing in the theory and some thinking that this is just a made-up situation to create drama:

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Why was Patrick Mahomes far from his best in 2023? Chiefs quarterback struggled in the regular season

The lack of consistency coming from the Chiefs quarterback was astonishing. One's used to Mahomes going to great lengths to carry his team, but in the regular season, his level dropped massively.

He was missing open receivers, not making the correct progressions in passing plays, and not making the correct decisions about where to go with the ball. Sure, the lack of weapons hurt his overall production, but he was also to blame.

In the playoffs, though, the story has been different. You'd never bet against Mahomes, considering how well he does in these games - there's a reason why he has made the AFC Championship Game in every season of his career. After taking down the Buffalo Bills away from home, how can you doubt him?

How much is Lamar Jackson's new contract worth?

Lamar and the Baltimore Ravens agreed a contract extension, with the player signing a five-year, $260 million contract, with $185 million guaranteed.

He wanted his contract to be fully guaranteed, but teams in 2023 are unwilling to do so. Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti was critical of Deshaun Watson's contract, which was fully guaranteed at signing, due to what that may cause other teams to do.

Jackson, who does not have an agent, negotiated the contract himself with the franchise. Many NFL teams decide to lock up their star quarterbacks as soon as possible, but the Ravens waited longer than usual to extend Lamar.

Ravens Nation! Check out the latest Baltimore Ravens Schedule and dive into the latest Ravens Depth Chart for NFL Season 2024-25.

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Edited by Henrique Bulio
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