After being on the wrong end of a controversial holding penalty in the final minutes of Super Bowl LVII, Philadelphia Eagles’ cornerback James Bradberry admitted to pulling on JuJu Smith-Schuster’s jersey postgame to media members.
“I pulled on his jersey. They called it,” Bradberry said. “I was hoping they would let it ride.”
The play came on a Kansas City Chiefs’ 3rd-and-8 with 1:54 remaining in the game and ended with Patrick Mahomes throwing an incomplete pass in Smith-Schuster’s direction with flags down on the field.
The penalty gave Kansas City a new set of downs, allowing it to wind down the clock and kick the game-winning field goal with just eight seconds remaining.
While we’ll never know what may have come from an Eagles’ two-minute drill led by Jalen Hurts, the call erased a chance of that ever happening.
Philadelphia head coach Nick Sirianni said “it’s not [his] job to make the call,” while throwing cold water on the idea that one call can decide the outcome of a game.
On the other side of the call, Smith-Schuster said after the game that referees “one hundred per cent,” made the right call.