It is true that the New York Jets are hardly the only team to spell  Madden 24 coins out their name with an anthem. Half the Big Ten has its own version of this idea. However it is true that the Jets fanbase cannot be separated in the same way as the image depicted of the Fireman Ed exhorting the crowd to cheer. Although he has stopped performing at games, the chant goes on.

The moment I am writing this, I consider Southern California my home. While there's a reason that Los Angeles market has been without a Madden NFL 24 team in the last more than two decades now, the residents believe that a team will be coming to their door in the coming years. They're generally open to any new franchise with welcoming arms. The only team with reservations are held remains the Oakland Raiders. Why? Because the Raiders are home to the most frightening fans in the Madden NFL 24. In slick spiked clothing and with faces painted in black and silver The fans instill the fear of their opponents even when the players on the field don't.

Week 16 wasn't a banner weekend on the part of Madden NFL 24 official officiating. There were the usual poor helmet-to-helmet call (Panthers cornerback Josh Norm's hit at Browns receiver Andrew Hawkins on the first play during the second quarter of the match). There were some questionable out of bounds calls (Vikings tight-end Rhett Ellison's touchdown/not touchdown right prior to halftime could be an end-of-game touchdown). It was plagued by shaky roughness calls for tackles close to the line of sight (seriously, Vikings linebacker Gerald Hodges made contact Dolphins rookie receiver Jarvis Landry decidedly in bounds but was penalized after taking his opponent down). The quarterback even had a error that was considered to be an incomplete pass without a review (Big Ben's head was empty to the Chiefs).

However, there was one sloppy call that was so egregious, that I hope the official who made it isn't allowed anywhere near any playoff game. The call in question is the ridiculous taunting penalty called against Steelers cornerback William Gay after a particularly amazing, unspectacular move made by Steelers middle linebacker Lawrence Timmons on third down.

Imagine this: the Steelers had a lead of 17-6 in a need to win game at 12:39 in the fourth quarter. Their opponent who was the Chiefs were faced with a third-and-17 on their own 23-yard line. The Steelers Of course, they had a tough time playing off the receivers, protecting everything deep and forced Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith to dump the ball in the short area and to the tight end Travis Kelce. Timmons was on the other side of the formation during coverage, however, he was able to get his hands on the ball and make one-on-one tackles in the field, resulting in an increase of just two yards. It could have appeared to be something that was routine, however there was no way Kelce could achieve enough yards to make the first down. If you take a close look at the play, you'll be able to realize how fast Timmons was running and to be able to gather himself to make a solid tackle. It's the opposite of routine or easy.

So far as I could tell one of these morons was the one who threw the flag as he believed Gay was taunting the Chiefs player, when there wasn't any in the vicinity. It was all because Gay was standing in the middle of the field and crossed his arms. Dassit. They all refused to look over at Jumbotron to realize how absurd of a call they were planning to make.

The Steelers had battled their bodies off to get the Chiefs into a punt, however, due to a totally inconsistency and arbitrary rule that allows referees to make calls that they didn't know about, and also does not allow a review in order to keep refs in the loop, the Steelers defense had to go back onto the field, while the Chiefs continued to drive. They were still capable of limiting the Chiefs to an attempt at a field goal. But what if that wasn't the situation? What was the outcome if Chiefs had marched across  buy mut 24 coins the field following their blunder incident and scored a touchdown which gave them the momentum they needed to come back and eventually be victorious?

It would be a league with a lot to answer for if this was the case.