KANSAS CITY, Mo — Chargers safety Tony Jefferson was ejected after a helmet-to-helmet hit on Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyquan Thornton in the fourth quarter of Los Angeles’ 16-13 victory Sunday and left the field in frustration, making an obscene gesture toward fans.

After the game, Jefferson apologized for the gesture. He said that he didn’t have any bad intentions on the hit and thought it was legal but hadn’t yet seen a replay.

“I’m classier than that. I was just caught up in the moment,” Jefferson said. “Emotions get high. I won’t sit here and act like I’m a perfect man. I messed up and I did that. I have kids at home and there’s kids out there watching the game too, so I apologize.”

The play was initially flagged for unnecessary roughness, and a brief skirmish followed before officials disqualified Jefferson. Thornton was put in concussion protocol after the hit.

“I saw a football play,” coach Jim Harbaugh said. “That’s what I saw.”

Jefferson had been physical throughout the game, delivering multiple big hits, including a jarring shot on Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice that forced an incompletion on third down earlier in the game.

“Physicality is a huge part of the game,” he said. “You have to be smart with it.”

Jefferson, who was a healthy inactive for three games this year, has become one of the most important players in the Chargers’ secondary in recent weeks.

Before this season, Jefferson had four interceptions over his first 10 seasons in the NFL. This season, Jefferson is tied for the team lead in interceptions with four while routinely delivering crushing hits to receivers who dare to catch passes over the middle of the field, as he did on Sunday.

“He’s playing really good, really good football,” Harbaugh said.

The Chargers already began Sunday’s game without safety Elijah Molden, who had a hamstring injury. Rookie safety RJ Mickens also went down with a shoulder injury. Without Jefferson, the Chargers had to rely on veteran Marcus Williams, who was elevated from the practice squad, and Kendall Williamson, who typically only plays special teams.

The video assistant referee causes controversy every week in the Premier League, but how are decisions made, and are they correct?

This season, we take a look at the major incidents to examine and explain the process both in terms of the VAR protocol and the laws of the game.

All screenshots photo credit: NBC

Andy Davies (@andydaviesref) is a former Select Group referee, with over 12 seasons on the elite list, working across the Premier League and Championship. With extensive experience at the elite level, he has operated within the VAR space in the Premier League and offers a unique insight into the processes, rationale and protocols that are delivered on a Premier League matchday.

Referee: Craig Pawson
VAR: Darren England
Incident: Possible red card
Time: 45+2 minutes

What happened: Brighton’s Diego Gómez challenged Liverpool attacker Florian Wirtz. The challenge was late and high, with referee Craig Pawson deeming it a reckless challenge, giving Gómez a yellow card for his actions.

VAR decision: The referee’s call of a yellow card for Gómez was checked and confirmed by the VAR — with the challenge deemed not to be with excessive force and not serious foul play.

VAR review: Pawson’s communication would have described the challenge by Gómez as high and reckless, with a level of contact; however that contact lacked any force to meet the threshold of serious foul play.

The VAR review centered around Pawson’s wording, with any intervention only considered if the replays evidenced the contact to be different to that described on-field.

These types of situations are judged against one of two wordings in law:

• A disregard for the safety of their opponent: yellow card
• Endangering the safety of their opponent: red card

The VAR was comfortable that the referee’s judgement was sound and that it met the criteria for a yellow card.

Verdict: A correct on-field judgment by Pawson, with Gómez showing a disregard for the safety of his opponent as opposed to endangering him, and the VAR was right not to intervene.

However, Gómez was fortunate. It is a fine line with these types of challenges, and more direct contact to the chest of Wirtz with his straight-legged approach, and the VAR review would have produced a red card for the Brighton player.

Referee: Rob Jones
VAR: John Brooks
Incident: Possible red card
Time: 59 minutes

What happened: Wolves midfielder Hwang Hee-Chan, having overrun the ball in midfield, threw himself into a challenge on Arsenal defender Myles Lewis-Skelly from distance. Jones deemed the challenge to be reckless, as opposed to serious foul play, and only cautioned the Wolves player.

VAR decision: The referee’s call of a yellow card was confirmed by the VAR — with Hwang deemed to be pulling out of the challenge on Lewis-Skelly and the contact on the foot deemed to be just a reckless foul and nothing more serious.

VAR review: Watching the live feed, this challenge would have immediately caused concern for Brooks in the VAR hub and his initial thought would naturally have gravitated toward upgrading it to a red card.

But Jones and his team took their time to process the information between them. Brooks’ review would have been thorough, looking at a number of replays, as the challenge was borderline against all the criteria considered for a red card offense. However, for him to recommend an on-field review, he needed clear and obvious evidence that an error had been made.

Hwang did overrun the ball and was, to a degree, out of control, while he did make contact with his opponent at speed. The contact, however, was on the top of Lewis-Skelly’s foot, with Hwang attempting to retract his leading foot at the point of contact, which reduced the force to a low level.

These considerations led the VAR to agree with the on-field decision of a yellow card.

Verdict: The VAR was correct to not intervene in this event, and the process he employed highlighted a high level of application in his role. The initial challenge looked a poor one in real time, however, it is the role of the VAR to remove all emotion and operate only with the facts and pictures presented.

Hwang can consider himself fortunate that his reckless challenge was at a low point of contact, which is the only thing that saved him.

On reflection, Jones will be disappointed with his body shape and positioning at the point the challenge was made. He was caught pivoting on the spot, so his view of the tackle was blocked and he left himself without the opportunity to view the contact in full. Instead, he was forced to rely on his assistants to feed the information as best they could.

The NCAA women’s volleyball tournament was rocked Sunday as Texas A&M upset previously undefeated No. 1 Nebraska 3-2, sending the Aggies to the program’s first final four.

The Huskers, who have won five national championships, had mostly cruised through this season but ran into an Aggies squad playing its best at the most important time.

“A lot of us are seniors, and we’ve been doing this for a really long time,” said Texas A&M’s Logan Lednicky, who had 24 kills and 6 block assists. “And I think all the newbies came in ready to work, ready to grind.”

Sophomore Kyndal Stowers had 25 kills and 16 digs for Texas A&M (27-4), which finished second to Kentucky in the SEC regular-season standings. The Wildcats are also headed to the final four; they advanced Saturday with a 3-0 win against Creighton.

Kentucky will face the winner of Sunday’s last regional final, between No. 1 seed Texas and No. 3 Wisconsin, on Thursday in Kansas City. The Aggies will meet No. 1 seed Pitt in the semifinals after the Panthers advanced Saturday with a 3-1 win over Purdue.

Texas A&M, the No. 3 seed in the Lincoln regional, upset No. 2 seed Louisville in a reverse sweep Friday. The Aggies almost had the same thing done to them when they won the first two sets against the Huskers, but lost the next two and were forced to a first-to-15 fifth set (must win by 2).

Texas A&M won the deciding set 15-13 in front of stunned sold-out crowd at Nebraska’s Bob Devaney Center. It was the Huskers’ first loss at home since Nov. 26, 2022, against Minnesota.

It was just the second time in Texas A&M program history that the Aggies defeated a No. 1-ranked team. They previously did so in 1995 against Stanford.

For Nebraska, it was another heartbreaking end to the season. The Huskers last won the national championship in 2017, when it was also held in Kansas City, and were hopeful of repeating that this year in the city just 3.5-hours south of their campus.

Since 2017, Nebraska has lost three times in the national championship match — in 2018, 2021 and 2023 — and fell in the national semifinals last season to eventual champion Penn State.

Former Huskers player and assistant Dani Busboom Kelly took over the program this season when longtime coach John Cook retired. She led Louisville to the NCAA final last year and in 2022, and it seemed things were set up for a storybook finish to her first season guiding Nebraska.

But it wasn’t to be, as Texas A&M out-blocked Nebraska 30-16 in what was one of the biggest keys to the upset.

“A really awesome game by Texas A&M,” Busboom Kelly said. “They played like they had six seniors on the court. I’m proud of the way we fought back. We played our hearts out.”

After losing the first two sets, both 25-22, Nebraska won the third set 25-20. That set the stage for what turned into a match-within-the-match, a 37-35 fourth set won by the Huskers on their 10th set point. It seemed as if that turned the momentum toward Nebraska, but the Aggies still had the last word in the fifth set.

“You play sports to prove who’s better in that moment,” Texas A&M coach Jamie Morrison said. “We came out on top of that, and I’m fired up.”