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Making sense of the intentional grounding penalty during the Chiefs-Browns game

More than a few Kansas City Chiefs fans were scratching their heads at this one.

Just before the end of the first half in Sunday’s 37-21 victory over the Cleveland Browns, the Chiefs were penalized for intentional grounding when Patrick Mahomes spiked the ball the stop the clock.

At first glance, this defied all common sense. We’ve seen it hundreds of times. The quarterback spikes the ball. The clock stops because there are less than five minutes remaining in the half, and it’s an incomplete pass.