The Cincinnati Bengals are going to have a hard time looking back at Sunday’s AFC Championship loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and come away thinking they got a fair shot from the officiating crew. On top of having nine penalties called against them, the Bengals seemed to be on the wrong end of no-calls throughout the night and, of course, the third-down mulligan.
But there was one play in particular against the Bengals that the officiating crew appeared to have called correctly. And that was Patrick Mahomes’ third-and-four scramble for a first down that set up the game-winning field goal (after the unnecessary roughness penalty).
Bengals fans were quick to point out that the Chiefs seemed to get away with A LOT of holding on the play, and none of those holds were called. On first watch, those fans looked to be right.
Mahomes gives it his all for the first down!
📺: #CINvsKC on CBS
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/fM5ertlhHi pic.twitter.com/z78Phcfkyp— NFL (@NFL) January 30, 2023
Yet, one NFL rule explains why those holding penalties were not called. That’s the rip-move exception. A rip move is a pass-rush technique where the rusher will rip through the protection by going low and swinging through in almost an uppercut motion.
NFL rules allow offensive linemen to counter rip moves with blocks that would normally be called holding.
it’s actually, literally in the rulebook since you don’t seem to believe me Darren https://t.co/xSOqkI7VJ9 pic.twitter.com/5KX4gYJk2W
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) January 30, 2023
With that in mind, you can see B.J. Hill and Trey Hendrickson attempting moves that could have reasonably been seen as rip moves by the officiating crew. Hendrickson’s attempt looked to be much more borderline, but that late arm swing may have been what was needed to negate any holding call. Hill’s was pretty obvious.
My guess here is the refs didn’t call anything here because of the rip moves being used by the Bengals defenders. Which basically nullifies what would typically be considered a hold. https://t.co/crUwwtaLOr
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) January 30, 2023
Still, fans had plenty of thoughts on the play — even if it did appear to be called correctly.
This was how Twitter reacted
You could not ask Brown to have his hands in better position. The defender dips to avoid the chip. Brown is bigger and stronger. He locks him up.
Hill goes w/a rip move on Smith. A rip move is NOT a holding until the OL get's behind the DL. OL stays between DT and QB. https://t.co/b58tfTTIDf— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) January 30, 2023
Good pull here from Nate, a 2nd generation OL expert, and it highlights how fraught instant analysis of individual officiating calls can be. How many viewers of yesterday's game were aware that the NFL rule book addresses a "rip" move, let alone makes it an exception for holding? https://t.co/QOyGAOmAIK
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) January 30, 2023
Watch this play again. You're not getting a holding call on BJ Hill after a rip move. We've gone over this. https://t.co/zT1HxMwOpq
— Goodberry (@JoeGoodberry) January 30, 2023
Not a hold. DL used a rip move = This is good blocking. https://t.co/5BE9goiU9Y
— Samuel Gold (@SamuelRGold) January 30, 2023
If you're an defensive end and your rip move fails it's not a hold when you get stuck in that position https://t.co/PXz9Oq1fIC
— Tron Madden (@madden_tron) January 30, 2023
Throwing a little rip move after getting dominated doesn’t magically constitute a hold. Brown Jr just wins the rep https://t.co/hMH44R0xVn
— Chris Kallas (@ChrisKallas70) January 30, 2023
It’s not holding when the defensive player uses a rip move. https://t.co/HML4WrCXNt
— Waiting On Walker (@scho525) January 30, 2023
As Washington fans can tell you after many years of Brian Orakpo and then Ryan Kerrigan – the league does not consider that a hold when the defender does that rip move underneath the OL. https://t.co/S9PJm7ZUtD
— Bill from Forest Hills (@TheBermyBiie) January 30, 2023
Check comments for rule book on rips https://t.co/T7u4rXI8sy
— Buddha (@The_buddhist316) January 30, 2023
