Chris Jones After Chiefs' Super Bowl Loss: 'Penalties Affect the Game 1,000%'

Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones credited the referees with helping the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 31-9 victory in Sunday's Super Bowl.

"I mean, penalties cost the game either way," Jones said, per Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. "Only the referees can call the penalties. So the penalties affect the game 1,000 percent. What can I say? We had a lot of penalties called on us today."

The Chiefs were whistled 11 times during the course of the game and lost 120 yards on penalties, compared to 39 yards on four calls for the Buccaneers.

Of those, the Chiefs were handed eight flags for a loss of 95 yards in the first half, while Tampa Bay was flagged once for five yards.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, the loss of yardage is the most ever in one Super Bowl half, beating the Dallas Cowboys' record of 91 yards set in Super Bowl V (h/t ESPN's Rich Cimini).

The Bucs entered the break with a 21-6 lead.

Jones told reporters he was surprised to see so many flags thrown during the championship game.

"I was very surprised. This is the Super Bowl. Usually you let the guys play, especially in the biggest game of the year," Jones said. "Penalties can change the game."

One whistle in particular raised the eyebrows of Terry McAulay, NBC Sports' Sunday Night Football rules analyst. In a tweet, McAulay questioned the referees' second-quarter holding call on Charvarius Ward that canceled out an interception by Tyrann Mathieu. When the Bucs got the ball back due to the penalty, Tom Brady found Rob Gronkowski in the end zone (h/t Pete Grathoff of the Kansas City Star).

But the Chiefs' struggles Sunday came down to more than penalties, as Patrick Mahomes failed to throw or rush for a touchdown and was sacked three times with two interceptions.