Patrick Mahomes Addresses Charges Of Favoritism By Referees In Chiefs’ Win Over Texans
The Kansas City Chiefs prolonged a season filled with miracles as they advanced to the AFC Championship for the seventh consecutive year, beating the Houston Texans 23-14.
The Texans outgained the Chiefs by over a hundred yards and committed no turnovers. If you ask Texans fans, the difference in the game was penalties – including two questionable roughing calls on Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Multiple Texans players, including running back Joe Mixon, mentioned the referees following the game.
“Everybody knows how it is playing up here. You can never leave it into the refs’ hands,” Mixon said. “The whole world sees, man, what it is. When it comes down to it, you can never leave it into the refs’ hands.”
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Former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver T.J. Houshmandazeh posted in agreement, commenting, “Why play the game if every 50/50 call goes with Chiefs.” Ironically enough, Mixon would later be mistakenly fined – the league maximum fine – for Houshmandazeh’s comment.
When asked for comment, Mahomes declined to place judgment on the referees’ calls.
“Obviously, there was a call here and there that people didn’t agree with,” he said. “But at the same time I think there were a lot of other plays that really decided the outcome of that football game.”
The calls that were made, though, weren’t the only ones in contention. Mahomes was forced out of bounds on a second down in the fourth quarter, flailing after a shove by a Texans defender.
“Taking the competitiveness out of the game,” one fan said; another called it “trash and unsportsmanlike.”
Mahomes agreed that he “probably did too much” on the play. “The ref saw it and didn’t throw a flag, I understood it immediately and know that I probably shouldn’t have done that.”
The Chiefs face the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship on Sunday.
Article by Katherine Manz
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