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“Chip In The Ball Has To Happen”: Patrick Mahomes Wants Microchips In Footballs So That “If You Cross The line, It Just Tells You A Touchdown”

Ashish Priyadarshi
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Patrick Mahomes

Patrick Mahomes wants the NFL to become even more technologically advanced. In particular, Mahomes is calling for microchips inside the football.

Replay reviews are a major part of every NFL game. Did a player catch the ball inbounds, did their knee touch the ground before they lost the ball, did the cross the goal-line and score a touchdown? These are all questions that are easily answered due to the availability of replay reviews.

Additionally, unlike what Mahomes thinks, the NFL already has a chip in the ball. It just isn’t used the way he wants it to be used. These chips are used to track data, and the results of this data are shared to fans on NFL’s Next Gen Stats.

Mahomes wants an entirely different usage, however.

That’s right, he wants it to answer that last question in particular. Mahomes thinks that if a chip could tell if the ball crossed the plane or not, it would greatly help officiating.

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Patrick Mahomes Calls For Microchips For Officiating But Fox Analyst Mike Pereira Says There’s More To It

In theory, what Mahomes is saying does make sense. A lot of times, officials are unsure if a player extended his arm out or not to break the goal-line, and it can lead to some controversial and tough calls. Remember this Julio Jones touchdown?

Having a chip in that could tell if Jones broke the plane there or not would definitely help decisively determine if he scored or not. Mahomes added on WHOOP podcast:

“I’ve always thought the chip in the ball has to happen sometime, where if you cross the line, it just tells you a touchdown. The biggest thing to me is when they get in the pile by the end zone, there is literally no way to tell if he’s in the end zone or not. It’s like you said, it’s just whatever they call. … I’m sure it’ll happen soon enough.”

However, Fox Analyst Mike Pereira says that there needs to be a lot more done than just inserting a chip into the ball (which has already happened). Here is his take as he said to it NBC’s Peter King.

“You can put a chip in the ball, but then you better put a chip in the guy’s knee, too. The ball is one thing, but it’s not over until the knee hits the ground or the shoulder hits the ground. How accurate is that going to be?”

Mike isn’t wrong either. More often than not, the question isn’t if the runner crossed the plane, but if he was down before or not. Although, Mahomes’ suggestion wouldn’t be harmful either as we’ve seen already. The NFL may look to implement this, but it remains ucnertain for now.

Also Read: Russell Wilson makes extremely difficult ‘Trust Throws’, trains with Drew Brees

About the author

Ashish Priyadarshi

Ashish Priyadarshi

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Ashish Priyadarshi is The SportsRush's content manager and editor. Ashish freelanced for 1 year in the NFL division before taking on an editorial role in the company. He then tacked on managing content while adding on a writing role in the NBA division. Ashish has been closely following the NFL and NBA since the 2012 season when the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and Derrick Rose was at the height of his powers. Since then, Ashish has focused on honing his knowledge for both leagues in, even writing crossover pieces. In his free time, Ashish is an avid basketball player, he loves to watch movies and TV shows, immersing himself in the cinematic world. Ashish studies computer science and data science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and would love to mesh his love for sports with his technical skills.

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