The New England Patriots did everything they could to suffocate the Kansas City Chiefs during the first half of their AFC Championship tilt. New England ran the ball and threw it efficiently, keeping the high-powered Chiefs offense on the sideline and demoralizing the fans at Arrowhead Stadium en route to a 10-0 lead at the break.
The second half was a little different, as Kansas City finally got in a groove and found itself down 17-14 in the fourth quarter. Their defense settled in, and thanks to an apparent special teams miscue in which they recovered a muffed Julian Edelman punt, the Chiefs were reads to strike.
There’s just one problem: A review determined that Edelman did not get a digit on the ball. It was astoundingly close, you can be the judge.
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) January 21, 2019
It was so controversial that no one had a clear picture of what happened. Still, after a lengthy review, the officials determined it was clear and obvious that it never touched Edelman … even if Twitter disagreed.
I think that one touched Edelman's fingers
— Goodberry (@JoeGoodberry) January 21, 2019
Edelman touched that one.
— jdarindarst (@jdarindarst) January 21, 2019
Edelman touched that one
— Zach Harper (@talkhoops) January 21, 2019
You touched that one, guy.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) January 21, 2019
Edelman touched that one
— Max Kellerman (@maxkellerman) January 21, 2019
Two plays later, though, karmic justice struck. Tom Brady threw a pass to Edelman, who could not hold onto it and saw the ball fall softly into the arms of Chiefs safety Daniel Sorensen.
Off Edelman's fingertips and Daniel Sorensen grabs it!
The @Chiefs' second INT of the game 😱 #NFLPlayoffs #LetsRoll
📺: #NEvsKC on CBS pic.twitter.com/VrqlwC6nnW
— NFL (@NFL) January 21, 2019
Because it’s the internet in 2019, everyone had the same joke, paying tribute to all-time legend Rasheed Wallace: Ball Don’t Lie.
— Knicks Memes (@KnicksMemes) January 21, 2019
— Ben Chew (@TheRealBenChew) January 21, 2019
Also… Ball Don’t Lie!
— Jorge Sedano (@Sedano) January 21, 2019
— SportsChannel8 (@SportsChannel8) January 21, 2019
— Antwan V. Staley (@antwanstaley) January 21, 2019
— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) January 21, 2019
— FOST (@GeorgeFoster72) January 21, 2019
Here is what a Twitter search for the phrase looked like. Spoiler: Twitter moved awfully fast.
— Sam Cooper (@SamDCooper) January 21, 2019
Even Tony Romo of CBS got in on the fun, even if he didn’t quite have the wording down.
.@tonyromo : 'The have a saying in basketball,' 'The ball doesn't lie!'
(In my neighborhood, we say, 'Ball don't lie,' but yeah. pic.twitter.com/u5woW17XFN
— fishsports ✭ (@fishsports) January 21, 2019
I’m still not sure if that ball touched Edelman’s finger on the punt, but if it did, well, Ball Don’t Lie.