The wild AFC Championship Game between the Chiefs and the Patriots is taking a new twist in the wake of New England's 37-31 win that pushes the Pats into their sixth Super Bowl in nine years, with the NFL investigating whether or not a Chiefs fan was hitting Tom Brady with a laser pointer throughout some portion of the second half in Kansas City.
According to the Boston Herald, the NFL has confirmed the league's security office is "looking into the report of the laser beam" which was first reported by KMBC's William Joy on social media.
The laser beam appears to have been used at a fairly critical juncture in the game. It was not captured by CBS video cameras, likely because of the timing. Julian Edelman had just appeared to muff a punt, although on replay it was overturned by officials who got enough evidence to prove Edelman didn't touch the ball (they said). Two plays later, Daniel Sorensen intercepted Brady after a ball hit Edelman's hands and went careening into the sky.
KMBC reports the laser pointer was spotted while Brady was taking a snap on the play in between, a handoff to Sony Michel. Cameras were still panning over the faces of Chiefs and Patriots players, shocked and thrilled at the outcome of the review as Brady was snapping the ball.
Here is video of what appears to be a green laser pointer hitting Tom Brady, as captured by a KMBC photographer. The video was captured on the play in between the Edelman muffed punt that wasn't a muffed punt and the Sorensen interception.
Additionally, per KMBC, they found it occurring on a deep pass from Brady to Chris Hogan and on a deep pass in the fourth to Rob Gronkowski that set up one of the go-ahead touchdowns in the game.
Clearly the laser pointer didn't work very well. Brady might have thrown some interceptions, but it's not like they were his fault. Also: the Chiefs lost. Maybe Brady is like most dudes in that late 30s/early 40s range -- he's seeing random green flashes when he's walking around all day and not worrying about it as anything other than old age. Someone could be blasting me with a laser pointer 24/7 and I probably wouldn't have much of a clue about it.
This is not the first time the NFL has battled a laser pointer in the stands on a nationally televised game. Laser pointer devotees will recall that Brock Osweiler and the Texans got beamed multiple times during a Monday Night Football game in Mexico. Osweiler was NOT happy about the incident and said it caught him in the eyes a couple of times during the game.
Back in 2014 a Lions fan hit legendary Bills quarterback Kyle Orton and holder Colton Schmidt with a laser pointer during a game. The moron jumped on Twitter and bragged about using the laser pointer. He was caught (surprise!) and banned from Lions games, pled guilty and got community service and a fine.
Laser pointers are not allowed at sporting events for a couple of reasons. One, it's an unfair advantage for the home team to mess with the visiting team by hitting them with a laser pointer. And two, it can do damage to the retinas, etc., of whoever is being hit with the pointer.
Some random clown in the stands of the Chiefs game who is six Boulevard Wheats deep is going to shred Tom Brady's eyeballs because he wants to try and help the Chiefs win a playoff game and get to the Super Bowl? Grow up, man.
It hasn't been a very good postseason for Chiefs fans, who were chastised by Andy Reid for throwing snowballs in the middle of their divisional round matchup against the Colts.
Kansas City police, per the Herald, have not been brought in to examine what happened regarding the laser pointer.
"We've had some issues of lasers around the airport, but not at the stadium," Sgt. Jacob Becchina, spokesman for the K.C. police department, told the Herald. "We will investigate, though, if we receive a police report."
At the end of the day, it would probably be pretty easy for league security to find whoever did this. Simply take the angle, find a camera shot that gets in the range of the crowd there and zoom in on the film of whoever is pointing. Given that the Patriots won, it may minimize the effort the league is willing to give on an investigation here, since the only outcome is to ban a fan from Chiefs games moving forward.