after he missed Week 17 with a recurrence of his heel injury. Berry played only two games this season, but he changed the entire dynamic of the Kansas City defense for the snaps he was on the field.“We’ve just got to

KANSAS CITY Tyrann Mathieu Jersey , Mo. — The last thing the NFL would ever want is for an officiating mistake to decide the Super Bowl.On Sunday, the league might have made enough errors to determine both teams that will play in the championship game in two weeks.The most egregious gaffe came in the NFC title game in New Orleans. The Saints were in position to put away the Rams when Tommylee Lewis blatantly was interfered with inside the Los Angeles 5-yard line by cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman. Not only did Robey-Coleman hit Lewis early, he did so helmet to helmet. Next weekend, we’ll hear about Robey-Coleman being fined for the collision — even though, incredibly, no flag was thrown.“Came to the sideline, looked at the football gods and was like, ‘Thank you,'” Robey-Coleman said. “I got away with one tonight.”Such a big one that it kept the Rams alive. Instead of a first down and the chance to run down the clock before making a field goal, or score a touchdown for a bigger lead, the Saints wound up with Wil Lutz‘s 31-yard kick. That made it 23-20 with 1:41 left in regulation, plenty of time for the Rams to march to Greg Zuerlein‘s tying 48-yard field goal.“Greg The Leg” won it with a 57-yarder in OT. His heroics almost certainly never would have happened had the call on Robey-Coleman been made. And the fact the defender led with his head into Lewis’ helmet at a time when the NFL is adamant that it’s doing everything to get such hits out of the sport should be even more maddening.“They felt like the players — the player — arrived at the same time that the ball did,” Saints coach Sean Payton said, trying to be diplomatic when he had every right to rant and rave. “They didn’t feel like it was an interference call.“Look, it’s a tough way to lose a game, especially when you’re in a position like that to win it. It’s all the more reason why we need more replay. We lose a chance to go to the Super Bowl with a call like that, it’s just disappointing. But, credit the Rams. They did a good job, made the plays in the end when they needed to.”Plays that wouldn’t have existed if Bill Vinovich’s crew got it right.An argument often is made, and rightly so, that plays seen in slow motion become clearly illegal, but at full speed in an increasingly fast and physical game, they look OK. That contention has no place here; even at warp speed, Robey-Coleman’s hit was obviously a penalty.NFL senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron “couldn’t believe” no penalty call was called on the play Steven Nelson Jersey , Payton said.“It’s tough to get over it,” Payton said. “My problem with it is, I just don’t know, if we were playing pickup football in the backyard … it was as obvious a call — and how two guys can look at that and arrive at their decision? It happened, though.”A few things happened in Kansas City, too, where the Patriots won 37-31, also in overtime. These had more to do with replay, with two critical calls going New England’s way in the fourth quarter.The first, which required a lengthy video review, involved Julian Edelman muffing a punt. The original call was that the bouncing ball touched him. Replays, even in stop motion, seemed inconclusive, which means the call should stand.But Riveron and his staff in New York saw enough evidence that Edelman never made contact with the football. Even Kansas City’s laid-back coach, Andy Reid, became highly demonstrative with the overturned decision. Who could blame him considering how many dozens of such calls stick with what on-field officials determined?The Chiefs, perhaps in a dose of poetic justice, soon after intercepted a pass that went off Edelman’s hands.But later in the quarter, Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones was called for a highly questionable roughing-the-passer penalty. Then Patriots wideout Chris Hogan attempted a one-handed catch on third down. Reid challenged, and replay indicated far more evidence the ground helped Hogan make the catch than the previous review showed Edelman whiffed on the ball.No matter. The catch was upheld, and six plays later, Sony Michel scored a touchdown.Chiefs linebacker Dee Ford also went offside on the Patriots’ final drive in regulation, negating an interception by Charvarius Ward that could have clinched a win. But there was little controversy there.The league has been under heavy scrutiny and drawn massive criticism about its officiating in the last few years. The perception is that the NFL needs full-time officials, which might help somewhat Tony Gonzalez Jersey , and in part is being done.However, the deeper issues are too many rules and tangents to those rules; points of emphasis that get hammered in, then seemingly are discarded; and officials who struggle to keep up with the speed of the sport. The league prizes experience, but when one of its most experienced crews blows a call so blatant that even the perpetrator acknowledges he caught a break, the storm of protest will rage.Rightly so.100<button class="view-gallery">View Gallery</button> Gallery:View from the sidelines: NFL cheerleaders 2018Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports | Raj Mehta KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs‘ defense had been hearing all season about how bad it was, and how it was the biggest threat to an offensive juggernaut falling short of the Super Bowl.Then it shut down the Oakland Raiders in Week 17.Now, the Raiders are hardly one of the NFL’s premier offenses, and they rolled into Arrowhead Stadium with little impetus to play hard. But by holding Derek Carr and the rest of the Oakland offense in check, it gave the Chiefs some positive momentum heading into the playoffs, not to mention proof that some subtle tweaks to their personnel packages had paid dividends.“We just have to keep it rolling,” said linebacker Justin Houston, the defense’s longtime emotional leader. “It’s a great time for us to play like this. We were firing on all cylinders from the front to the back end (against Oakland), and now we just have to build off it.”That’s because Andrew Luck and the rest of the Indianapolis Colts, who come to Kansas City for the divisional round Saturday, represent a massive upgrade in competition.Luck threw the second-most touchdown passes in the NFL this season, behind the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, and played behind one of the best offensive lines in the league.The Indy offense isn’t a one-trick pony, either. The Colts dominated the Texans on the ground in a 21-7 win in the wild-card round as Marlon Mack piled up 148 yards rushing and a touchdown.The Colts have roared into the postseason with seven wins in eight games.“Andrew’s going to get you every once in a while,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said, “and you’ve got to make sure you get him more than he gets you, but he’s got a lot of good players around him. That offensive line, people can argue with you that it’s the best in the National Football League. You look at the receivers, they’ve got good receivers Derrick Thomas Jersey , they’ve got good tight ends, you go all the way around.“You’ve got to bring your best. That’s what the playoffs are all about,” Reid added. “This is the best in the National Football League, which is the best in the world, and you have an opportunity to do that. That’s an exciting thing, but you better bring your best every play.”The question for the Chiefs is simple, though: Is their best good enough?Indianapolis was fifth in scoring while the Chiefs were 24th in scoring defense. They were last in the league in rush defensive efficiency, average yards after contact and first-down percentage, and they were second-to-last in yards-per-carry allowed despite many teams trying to play catch-up.As bad as those numbers were, though, the Chiefs were actually respectable against the pass. And they were downright dominant when it came to pressuring the quarterback, generating sacks on 7.4 percent of pass plays — better even than Khalil Mack and the Bears — and pressure on 31.1 percent of them.That sets the stage for an intriguing matchup between the Indy offensive line, which has allowed no more than one sack in a game since Week 4, and the Chiefs’ dominant pass rush.“The goal and strategy remains the same,” Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni said. “Run the football and set up other things by running it, and then be successful in situational football.”The Chiefs made some key personnel changes late in the season, effectively benching veteran safety Ron Parker and cornerback Orlando Scandrick. Daniel Sorensen, Charvarius Ward and Jordan Lucas have been playing more, and their results against woebegone Oakland were encouraging.The Chiefs also could get safety Eric Berry back after he missed Week 17 with a recurrence of his heel injury. Berry played only two games this season, but he changed the entire dynamic of the Kansas City defense for the snaps he was on the field.“We’ve just got to lock in,” Chiefs cornerback Kendall Fuller said. “For us, we’re inside this building. That’s the only thing we’re focusing on. I’m not a big social media guy. We just come together week-in and week-out, to win on Saturday. We just keep it in-house and focus on each other.”NOTES: Berry and WR Sammy Watkins (foot) participated in the portion of practice open to the media Tuesday. DT Derrick Nnaddi (concussion) also said that he’d been cleared to rejoin practice. … OLB Dorian O’Daniel did not practice because of a calf and ankle injury.100<button class="view-gallery">View Gallery</button> Gallery:View from the sidelines: NFL cheerleaders 2018Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports | Raj Mehta