Stephen A. Smith says NFL refs are feeling Taylor Swift effect after Patrick Mahomes is forced to deny ‘rigged’ claims

STEPHEN A. SMITH believes NFL officials are being swayed by Taylor Swift.

NFL refs have face harsh criticism this week after a series of bad calls in the AFC Divisional round game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans.

ESPN

As well as fans and analysts, the likes of Lil Wayne felt that the refs were favoring the Chiefs in their 23-14 win last weekend.

And First Take host Stephen A. believes that while refs may not be purposely cheating, the superstardom of Swift, Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes are having an unconscious influence on their decisions.

Smith said: “Here’s where the controversy comes in and it’s uncomfortable but we’ll say it because it’s ‘First Take’.

“We’ll bring up the fact that Patrick Mahomes has box office appeal.

“We’ll bring up the fact that Taylor Swift being a Chiefs fan doesn’t hurt [the team].

“That doesn’t mean the officials go out there and intentionally do this stuff, but it ain’t like the audience doesn’t have a reason to say, ‘What the hell is going on here?’”

Mahomes came out this week and denied any claims that games were rigged in their favour.

The superstar QB said: “I don’t feel that way. At the end of the day, the referees are doing their best to call the game as fair and as proper as they possibly can.

“And all you can do is go out there and play the game that you love as hard as you can and live with the results. I think that’s what we preach here in Kansas City.

“You get new referees every year, you get new circumstances, and you never can really tell because every play’s different and that’s what makes the NFL so special.

“I feel like I’ve just continued to play the game, and I just try to win, and whatever happens kind of happens.”

Texans defender Will Anderson Jr was hit with a dubious roughing the passer call on Mahomes.

He told ESPN after the game: “We knew it was going to be us versus the refs going into this game.”

Head coach DeMeco Ryans hinted after the game that the refs favored the home side.

He said: “We knew going into this game, man, it was us versus everybody. And when I say everybody, it’s everybody.

“Knowing that going into this game, what we were up against, we can’t make the mistakes that we made.”

One vocal critic was hip hop star Lil Wayne, who wrote on X: “I hate the cheating azz Chiefs.”

In a separate post he later added: “It’s not even impressive when u cheat and then clearly try to cheat. Just win baby.”

Jason and Travis Kelce discussed it on their New Heights podcast earlier this week.

Jason said: “The whole world was talking about something else during the game, and I’m sure you saw some of this, but they were complaining about the refs again, Trav.

“Even Lil Wayne. Lil Wayne put, ‘I hate the cheating a- Chiefs.’ So an a– with two z’s.”

Travis, while laughing, responded: “Shout out to Tunechi, man.”