Conspiracy theorists were buzzing during Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Denver Broncos (albeit for an incorrect reason).
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes drew attention during the first half of the contest over his message for a member of the officiating crew that was caught on a hot mic. After getting hit on a short scramble in the second quarter, Mahomes turned to the referee, and CBS viewers clearly heard Mahomes saying, “Can you let me know if he’s close?”
Here is the video.
"Can you let me know if he's close?"
Patrick Mahomes to a referee during first half of Chiefs-Broncospic.twitter.com/T6R7Wr6a02
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) November 10, 2024
Many social media users immediately put on their tin-foil hats, thinking that Mahomes was asking for the referees to let him know when a defender was close to him. But in reality, the exchange was much more innocuous.
On that very same play, Chiefs right tackle Jawaan Taylor was penalized for an illegal formation, wiping out Mahomes’ short scramble. Thus, Mahomes was actually asking the ref to let him know if Taylor was close to being lined up too far back.
The story checks out too because Taylor is very notorious for committing infractions on the line of scrimmage. So while Mahomes’ hot-mic moment seemed like a smoking gun moment to some, it was really anything but one.
