The NFL offseason is when the league rolls out new rules for the upcoming season, and for 2025, there’s a significant change: A new tech system to measure first downs. And many fans think it all stems from a play in last year’s AFC Championship Game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills.
Jason and Travis Kelce recently broke it all down on the latest episode of “New Heights,” and the Chiefs’ tight end threw out a theory that sent his brother into a full-blown rant.
Travis Kelce Thinks New First-Down Technology Is Money Grab
The play in question happened early in the fourth quarter with a fourth-and-1 at the Kansas City 41-yard line. Josh Allen went for a quarterback sneak. His momentum was stopped near the line to gain, but the officials disagreed on where to spot the ball.
One ref came in ahead of the line while another marked him short. The call on the field was that Allen didn’t make it, and a review didn’t overturn it. Replays showed Allen’s body clearly across the 40, but the ball was buried in a pile of players.
The ruling stood. Buffalo turned the ball over on downs, and Kansas City scored a touchdown on the next drive to take the lead. Chiefs fans saw it as a stop. Bills fans saw it as a blown call.
Now, the NFL has partnered with Sony to bring in hawk-eye technology to track first downs. That means the old-school chain crew is being replaced. The league says the new system is “a healthy recipe for success in our commitment to raising the standards of accuracy, consistency and efficiency.”
The Kelce brothers broke down the change on “New Heights,” and Travis wasn’t buying the NFL’s reasoning.
Jason read a fan question about the new hawk-eye system and admitted he didn’t totally understand how cameras could do the job. He then explained the tech and connected it to that controversial play in the AFC title game.
“Everyone is jumping to the conclusion, the Bills game against you guys. Where it looked like Josh Allen was ahead of the first down marker,” Jason said.
Travis pushed back: “I don’t think it looked like it. You could only assume that where the ball was in his arm, that it may have, but you couldn’t tell exactly.”
Jason fired back, “Well, there’s a lot of people that think you could tell.”
Travis replied, “I think there’s a lot of people that think you couldn’t tell.”
Jason added, “All I’m saying is that this rule is here, by and large, because of that play.”
Travis dropped his theory: “I think this is just a big Sony endorsement. I think everybody’s going to be talking about Sony hawk-eye virtual measurement system, and this is just a big plug for Sony.”
Jason reluctantly agreed, then went on a hilarious rant as Travis cracked up.
At the time of the play, Buffalo led 22-21 and had been in control after halftime. They later tied the game at 29 in the fourth quarter, but Bills fans still wonder how different things might’ve been if that fourth-down call had gone the other way.