{"id":384655,"date":"2025-11-17T06:46:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T06:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/384655\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T06:46:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T06:46:19","slug":"broncos-troy-franklin-no-call-has-chiefs-fans-feeling-robbed-by-refs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/384655\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos’ Troy Franklin no-call has Chiefs fans feeling robbed by refs?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kettle 22, Pot 19.<\/a><\/p>\n

Troy Franklin probably got away with one. OK, maybe two<\/a>. A pair of ticky-tack sins just seconds apart.<\/p>\n

But the idea that Chiefs fans are blaming a no-call at Empower Field for losing their vice grip on the AFC West?<\/p>\n

Lordy, that\u2019s rich<\/a>. That\u2019s enough irony to take all the creases out of Andy Reid\u2019s red 4XL pullover.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve kind of always been a guy to where, I know the play is going to come back (to me),\u201d Franklin, the Broncos\u2019 wide receiver, said of his 32-yard, fourth-quarter catch that sealed Denver\u2019s 22-19 victory over Kansas City<\/a>. \u201cAnd my mom\u2019s always told me that it\u2019s a next-play mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mother knows best. Although she should also know that her son wasn\u2019t the first option in the play that might have stuck a fork in the Chiefs\u2019 AFC West dynasty once and for all.<\/p>\n

On second-and-8 at the Chiefs 47 with 54 seconds left game tied at 19-19, Broncos quarterback Bo Nix leaned over to Franklin, his old Oregon teammate.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe ready for this corner ball,\u201d Nix told him.<\/p>\n

He was. At the snap, No. 11 shot off past Kansas City cornerback Jaylen Watson and turned hard on a corner route, with the Chiefs defender trailing him by a couple of steps.<\/p>\n

Nix spotted it, looked left as the pocket collapsed and dropped a rainbow over Watson where only Franklin could high-point it for a 32-yard gain.<\/p>\n

Right in the hands. Ballgame.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels good, for sure,\u201d said Franklin, who finished with a team-high 84 yards on four receptions and eight targets. \u201cI just want to be the guy on our team that can help in any way. So whenever I get the opportunity, I\u2019m going to try to make the best of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hey, you play to the whistle, right? Or non-whistle, in this case.<\/p>\n

Replays showed that No. 11 appeared to move his left foot ahead of Nix\u2019s snap, resetting his plant leg.<\/p>\n

You can see Watson pointing and screaming, pleading with officials for a flag. None came. Other angles showed Franklin appearing to use an arm to push off on the defender and set himself up some space to make the catch. No calls. Play on.<\/p>\n

\"BoBo Nix (10) of the Denver Broncos passes the ball down the field against the Kansas City Chiefs at Empower Field at Mile High on Nov. 16, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

\u201c(Nix) was able to get out of containment there and (the) receiver (Franklin) worked to get himself open,\u201d Reid told reporters after the game. \u201c(He) had a couple of guys right around him there. The quarterback made a play, (and) the receiver made a play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reid knows. In this league, what comes around often comes right back around to bite you on the backside again. How many false starts were never called on the Chiefs\u2019 offensive line? How many pass interference calls over the years saved Patrick Mahomes\u2019 bacon? Nobody\u2019s that lucky.<\/p>\n

\n

Renck: The question after Sean Payton\u2019s biggest win in Denver: Who\u2019s beating these Broncos in AFC?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“I mean, as you see that, it’s a huge thing,” Broncos tight end Adam Trautman said of Franklin’s grab. “And then it just develops over time — throws in practice, throws in training camp, throws in the offseason, it all just accumulates. And then it’s like, (in a) big moment, I trust (Troy).”<\/p>\n

“Does he make that catch a year ago?” I wondered.<\/p>\n

“Yeah, yeah,” Trautman replied. “I mean, probably. I think he would have made the catch. (Would he) get the release, who knows, you know?<\/p>\n

“But he’s grown up a lot, and he’s been unbelievable in our offense this year, and he’s going to continue to grow. And he’s obviously getting a lot of targets, which is good.”<\/p>\n

Well, sometimes. Franklin’s first half was notable for at least two drops, including a deep ball that looked as if it hit him on the fingertips. The wideout says that like Nix, he’s blessed with a short memory against long odds.<\/p>\n

“You’ve got to flush it,” Franklin noted. “There’s plenty of game left, and you see what happens.”<\/p>\n

Franklin and Nix might have just flushed the Chiefs’ season straight down the drain.<\/p>\n

The Broncos (9-2) lead Kansas City (5-5) by four games in the win column. Sunday didn’t mathematically clinch a darn thing. Still, it puts the Chiefs’ streak of nine straight AFC West titles in serious jeopardy. And sent a serious statement to the rest of the league in the process.<\/p>\n

“We’ve been talking about it all week, just to get this job done. And we got it done,” Franklin said. “And I think it means a lot to us. It’s kind of a ‘new era’ type deal.”<\/p>\n

New stars. New rules. And ain’t it funny how division champs seem to always make their own luck?<\/p>\n

Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kettle 22, Pot 19. Troy Franklin probably got away with one. OK, maybe two. A pair of ticky-tack…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":384656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[112050,32523,45042,32525,112398,8999,51,3570,1370,32533,50,1232,212,34238,88628,62,2632,52,29326],"class_list":{"0":"post-384655","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-adam-trautman","9":"tag-afc-west","10":"tag-andy-reid","11":"tag-broncos","12":"tag-broncos-takes","13":"tag-denver-broncos","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","16":"tag-latest-headlines","17":"tag-more-broncos-news","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-oregon","21":"tag-patrick-mahomes","22":"tag-sean-keeler","23":"tag-sports","24":"tag-sports-columnists","25":"tag-top-stories","26":"tag-troy-franklin"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115563698174706407","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}