The Kansas City Chiefs were accused of cheating during the Super Bowl (Image: Getty)
The have been accused of cheating by furious NFL fans, as icon criticised the referee during the first few moments of the Super Bowl.
The Philadelphia Eagles, on their first drive, decided against punting on fourth down with only two yards to make up.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts threw the ball to A.J Brown on the right side of the field and the wide receiver made the catch. But as he fought off a challenge from Chiefs safety Bryan Cook, he appeared to paw a finger at his helmet.
Referee Ron Torbert stopped play after the yellow flag onto the ground – indicating an infringement had been made.
And after a brief pause, the official confirmed it was deemed to be ‘pass interference’ from Brown, resulting in a penalty and turnover of possession.
Brady, working his first Super Bowl as an analyst for FOX Sports, wasted no time in giving his take as the six-time Super Bowl winner vented his fury about the decision.
“Ohhh… I don’t like that one bit,” Brady said live on air. “Huge pinnacle of the game, hand fighting that’s going down on the field. What do you think Mike?
Pitchside analyst Mike Pereira added: “Certainly I agree with you, look there’s hand fighting, a little bit of shove at the end, a trip… I think it’s one that did not need to be called.
Brady then continued: “I always thought in these games, you let the players play and let it be decided on the field. Don’t like that call to start the game.”
Tom Brady was left furious with the referee’s decision (Image: Getty)
FOX Sports commentator Kevin Burkhardt described the decision as ‘controversial’, which will only throw more fuel onto the fire at a time when the Chiefs have been forced to publicly address conspiracy theories involving referee decisions.
The AFC champions secured their passage to a third straight Super Bowl in contentious circumstances after a series of dubious calls went in their favour against the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game.
Brady had previously defended the officials called out by fans, who had collectively claimed the game was the ‘most rigged ever’.
But it seems the 47-year-old has once again changed his tune when it comes to isolated decisions.
Super Bowl referee Ron Torbert oversaw the clash between the Chiefs and Eagles (Image: Getty)
It is fair to say he had the fans on his side, with angry American Football supporters taking their fury to social media to complain about the decision.
One X user wrote: “The first drive and Kansas City gets a bail out penalty on 4th down. And the nfl wonders why every fan is screaming that these games are rigged.”
Another said: “And there it is! That first penalty shows you how the refs are gonna call this game! I guarantee you the NFL told the refs to skew the calls to help Kansas City!”
A third person wrote: “Kansas city cheats already cheating with phantom offensive pass interference penalty.”
However, the Eagles would get the first points on the board, with dual-threat QB Jalen Hurts rushing for a touchdown in the first quarter.