National Football League

Was Eagles' James Bradberry correctly flagged for defensive holding?

Updated Feb. 13, 2023 6:04 p.m. ET

The Philadelphia Eagles lost Super Bowl LVII to the Kansas City Chiefs, 38-35, on Sunday in what proved to be a back-and-forth thriller.

The ending might have felt a bit anticlimactic, however.

With less than two minutes remaining, the Chiefs were facing third-and-long in the red zone when Patrick Mahomes' pass fell incomplete. But the play still resulted in a first down, as Eagles cornerback James Bradberry was penalized for holding receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.

The rest was history. With a new set of downs, K.C. drained the clock before kicking the game-winning field goal to seal the win. Naturally, outrage ensured over the late penalty, as many felt the call wasn't merited. Bradberry himself saw it a bit differently.

"It was holding," he told reporters after the game. "I tugged his jersey. I was hoping they would let it slide."

On Monday's "Undisputed," Shannon Sharpe explained why it was the right call, saying that just because it was late in the fourth quarter doesn't mean that the rules should become more lenient — even in a down-to-the-wire Super Bowl.

"It was a flag," Sharpe said. "James Bradberry admitted as much that he held him. … It's a penalty!

"[The referee] cannot be in a situation and say, ‘The ball game is tied. You know what, it’s a flag. It's a penalty, but I'm not gonna call it because I don't want people to think I impacted the game.' No, James Bradberry impacted the game. He got out of position, he held to keep JuJu from beating him on the whip route, and that's what happened. It's really that simple."

On the other side, Skip Bayless vehemently opposed the call, deeming the contact minimal and the pass "uncatchable."

"That marred one of the all-time great Super Bowls and robbed the Philadelphia Eagles of a shot … with a quarterback [Jalen Hurts] who did outplay Patrick Mahomes.

"A referee threw a ticky-tacky, cheap flag that ruined the game and took away a chance for the Eagles to win a game that I thought they were highly capable of winning. The flag should not have been thrown because it was the classic NBA-style play where you just say, ‘play on.’ There wasn’t nearly enough there to throw a game-ending penalty flag. I don't see a jersey grab. I'm talking about an obvious, blatant, fistful of jersey. I don't see it. He [Bradberry] touches him [Smith-Schuster] with his right hand. He didn't grab him, he just put his hand on his side. … There's no impeding."

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