NFL fans claimed the enjoyment of watching the AFC Championship showdown was sucked out of the game by a controversial broadcasting decision.
The New England Patriots sealed their spot in the Super Bowl with a narrow 10-7 victory over the Denver Broncos during a frigid, blustery afternoon in the Mile High city.
And as the snow continued to fall on Empower Field, the yard lines – along with the Patriots’ white jerseys – disappeared among the heavy flakes.
As a result, CBS made the decision to impose digital yard lines on its broadcast in an attempt to make viewing clearer for football fans watching from home.
However, the overlaid lines wrecked havoc with the game footage especially when it came to the Patriots’ uniforms and Broncos’ white pants.
Due to the color of the uniforms, the graphics were imposed on the players too, either blurring the lines or making the players disappear altogether.
The New England Patriots narrowly beat the Denver Broncos in a snowy AFC Championship
NFL fans fumed at CBS’s decision to overlay yard lines on the broadcast amid the snow
Many viewers were left furious with the move as they accused the network of robbing them of an authentic snow game.
‘The digital lines CBS projects onto the field to help viewers see through the snow not only spoil the aesthetic appeal of snowy football games; they also make everything blurrier and the game harder to watch,’ one NFL fan fumed on X.
‘CBS, turn off these computer-enhanced lines and numbers immediately. They completely ruin the snow game viewing experience,’ another pleaded.
A third irate viewer posted: ‘Get these AI snow lines off my tv.’
‘Hey @CBSSports, please take the artificial white lines off the broadcast,’ a fourth begged. ‘You are ruining the joys of watching a snow game!’
Another echoed: ‘the fake yard lines broadcast companies have starting doing during snow games needs to stop. it looks so ugly and it isnt (sic) necessary.’
‘Dear @NFLonCBS @CBSSports, Stop overthinking it, take the digitized overlay of white lines off from the broadcast of the game. Perfectly ok just to let us enjoy the snow game chaos we rarely ever get to see nowadays,’ added another.
It was sunny at kickoff with a temperature of 26F, but by halftime the snowflakes began falling and grounds crews had to use snowblowers to mark the hashmarks and yard lines by the fourth quarter, when it was 16 degrees.
Temperatures dropped to 16F by the fourth quarter as they heavy snow continued to fall
Crew members clear the field of snow during the fourth quarter at Empower Field
‘What an atmosphere out here,’ Patriots quarterback Maye said. ‘Battle of the elements. Love this team. How about the defense? I love each and every one of them.’
The Patriots fell behind 7-0, but had a key fourth-down stop near their own end zone to spark the comeback.
Christian Gonzalez intercepted Jarrett Stidham, starting in place of an injured Bo Nix, at New England’s 36 with 2:11 remaining and the Patriots iced their first playoff win in Denver when Maye ran for 7 yards on third-and-5 from his 41.
In Mike Vrabel’s first season as coach, New England became the third team in the Super Bowl era to win a conference championship with 10 points or less. Buffalo beat Denver 10-7 in the 1991 AFC title game, and the Los Angeles beat Tampa Bay 9-0 in the 1979 NFC championship game.
‘I´m just proud of this team,’ Maye said. ‘Don’t have many words. Just thankful for this team. Love each and every one of them. It took everybody.’
