The Feud Between Kansas City Chiefs’ Drue Tranquill and Dave Portnoy Explained
Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Drue Tranquill wasn’t going to allow the AFC Championship festivities to sidetrack him from defending his team online.
Shortly after Tranquill, 29, and the Chiefs secured their win against the Buffalo Bills in the AFC title matchup at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday, January 26, he grabbed his phone to respond to Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, who had criticized the officiating for a dubious call early in the game’s fourth quarter.
The referees ruled that Bills quarterback Josh Allen did not convert a crucial 4th-and-1, resulting in the Chiefs taking possession of the ball. Following this, Portnoy, 47, tweeted via X: “How is the ref looking at Josh Allen’s back the one who overrules the one staring at the ball and had the right spot?”
He concluded his tweet with, “#nflrigged,” implying he believed the AFC Championship was intentionally given to the Chiefs.
Just minutes after leaving the field, Tranquill delivered a fierce rebuttal.
“You should have taken your $1M from #TrumpCoin and gone on a nice vacation. You didn’t get it, and you know it. #GoChiefs,” Tranquill posted via X, referring to Portnoy’s January 19 statement about profiting from one of President Donald Trump’s controversial cryptocurrency meme coins for a million dollars.
In another post via X, Tranquill addressed fans who supported Portnoy’s viewpoint.
“Shoutout to the @BuffaloBills .. great game,” Tranquill remarked. “The rest of y’all can take all that ‘ref’ talk and kick rocks. We stand on business‼️”
The narrative that the Chiefs benefitted from favorable officiating appeared again during the second quarter of the AFC Championship game when Travis Kelce faced accusations of exaggerating a penalty call after taunting Bills safety Damar Hamlin.
After Kelce, 35, confronted Hamlin, 26, following a tackling incident involving Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Bills defensive tackle Jordan Phillips approached Kelce in the end zone and struck him with his helmet.
“Travis Kelce knows how to get under your skin,” CBS analyst Tony Romo commented during the broadcast. “And then Phillips comes in. [Kelce] tries for the flop.”
Kelce reacted by jerking his head back after contact with Phillips, 32, resulting in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the Bills lineman. Meanwhile, there were no penalties called against Kelce following the incident.
As the officiating criticism intensified leading up to the AFC Championship game, Mahomes, 29, felt compelled to respond to the mounting discussion.
“I’ve learned that regardless of what happens in the game, if you win and keep winning, something will arise about it, so I don’t pay much attention,” Mahomes stated in an interview on 96.5 The Fan on January 21. “I have felt both sides of how calls are made, but ultimately those guys are doing their best to make the right calls and let the players decide the outcome of the game.”
With their victory over the Bills, the Chiefs advanced to Super Bowl LIX against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, February 9, as Kansas City aims to achieve the unprecedented feat of winning three consecutive Super Bowls.