Dean Blandino wants to assure NFL fans there is no conspiracy to favor the Kansas City Chiefs and give them extra calls. Even if it seems that way at times.
Blandino was the head of NFL officiating from 2013 through '17, and now works as Fox Sports' NFL and college football rules analyst. On Tuesday, he told TMZ Sports he's confident there's no mandate from the NFL to its officials to favor the Chiefs.
"If there's a room somewhere in the NFL offices where they were writing the script, they never invited me, and I was the head of officiating," Blandino said. "I feel like I'd be a pretty important contributor to that."
He added that if such a directive existed, it wouldn't stay hidden for long. "Someone somewhere would slip up and it would get out," Blandino said.
The 53-year-old admitted that officials get calls wrong and teams do benefit from those mistakes, but a grand conspiracy isn't the answer for why it happens.
In an odd twist to this story, Blandino claims his brother believes the NFL is rigged to favor Taylor Swift and the Chiefs. He does not share his brother's views.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Former NFL Head of Officiating Shoots Down Idea of Pro-Chiefs Conspiracy.
