After beating the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, the Los Angeles Chargers are now one step closer to possibly hosting the AFC Championship game. For that to happen, the Chargers would need to beat the Patriots this week and the Colts would need to beat the Chiefs.
Although both of those things could plausibly happen, Russell Okung doesn't seem to think L.A. will be hosting the game and that's because the Chargers offensive lineman believes that the NFL is plotting against his team. Basically, Okung seems to think that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is doing everything in his power to make sure that the Chargers don't host the AFC title game in their 27,000-seat soccer stadium.
"Roger Goodell doesn't want us to come home," Okung said after his team's 23-17 win over the Ravens, via ESPN.com. "That's all I can say."
Okung seems to believe that Goodell is pulling this off by having the refs throw phantom flags against the Chargers. For instance, with 1:47 left to play in Sunday's game, Melvin Gordon seemingly iced the game with an 11-yard run on third-and-6 that gave the Chargers a first down. However, the run didn't count because Okung was flagged for holding, which eventually led to a Chargers punt, a punt that gave Baltimore one more chance to win the game.
Okung was also flagged during a pivotal moment of the game when the Chargers and Ravens played in back in Week 16. In that game, the Chargers were driving while trailing 16-10 late in the fourth quarter when Okung was once again called for holding. One play after the call, Antonio Gates lost a fumble, which the Ravens returned for a touchdown to seal their 22-10 win. As noted by ESPN, the Chargers also had three third-down conversions taken away by penalties in that game.
Although it's highly unlikely that the league is conspiring to keep the Chargers from playing at home in the AFC title game, maybe that's not such a bad thing for the Chargers if that's what is actually happening. Including the playoffs, the Chargers are now 9-0 in games played away from Los Angeles this year, but just 4-4 in games played in the city.
Watch Saturday's and Sunday's playoff games on fuboTV, try it for free, and stream Chargers-Patriots and all the CBS games on CBS All Access.