James Bradberry admits to holding on game-changing penalty in Super Bowl LVII

For those members of the Carl Cheffers non-fan club, and there are a lot of them, the Super Bowl’s referee’s holding call on Eagles cornerback James Bradberry with 1:54 left in the game was yet another example this season of the stripes ruining what was a compelling contest.

And when you look at the call and the situation, it’s hard to justify. The Chiefs had third-and-8 from the Philadelphia 15-yard line, and Patrick Mahomes threw incomplete to JuJu Smith-Schuster on a little whip route. By rights, the Chiefs would have kicked the go-ahead field goal there, and the Eagles would have had time to respond.

Instead, we got this.

Was it holding by the letter of the law? Perhaps. In any event, the penalty gave Kansas City first-and-10 from the Philadelphia 11-yard line, and the Chiefs ran the clock down to 11 seconds. At which point Harrison Butker made the 27-yard field goal that won the game for the Chiefs, 38-35.

To his credit, Bradberry was a stand-up guy after the game, admitting that he did hold Smith-Schuster on the play.

We’ll be arguing about that call for a very long time. It was indeed correct by the rules, but what a brutal way to spin the game in one direction.

Story originally appeared on Touchdown Wire