Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, who has benefited from baiting tacklers near the sideline and making controversial game-changing calls more than any other QB in the NFL, is now trying to break his silence. There is.
Following a district round victory over the Texans, the Chiefs benefited from at least three controversial calls that helped Kansas City advance to its seventh AFC Championship Game.
The calling in that game was so bad that even Troy Aikman blamed the Chiefs and the referees.
One particularly egregious example occurred when Texans linebacker Henry To'o To'o was penalized for barely touching Patrick Mahomes.
Another example is when Texans linebacker Will Anderson barely touched Mahomes on third down in the first quarter, similar to a To'o To'o play, and the Chiefs quarterback was forced into a play. It looked like he had thrown himself to the ground.
Another example where the flag was not drawn occurred when Mahomes intentionally slowed down before crossing the boundary to give a roughing penalty, then dramatically threw himself to the ground again.
On Tuesday, Mahomes talked about the mistakes and bad calls in a radio interview on 96.5.
“I've learned that no matter what happens during a game, if you win and keep winning, something will happen, so I don't really worry about it,” Mahomes said.
“So obviously I was on both sides as far as I felt the call was made, but at the end of the day, they made the best call and did their best to keep it that way. Go to where the player is playing in the game.
“And that's what decides the outcome. And obviously there were calls here and there that people disagreed with, but at the same time, I think there were a lot of other plays that really decided the outcome of that football game.”
ESPN analyst Troy Aikman was less diplomatic about his assessment. Aikman faulted Mahomes for intentionally slowing down to give him a penalty.
“He's trying to score penalties,” Aikman said. “Instead of just going over the edge, he slows down. That was the frustration, I get it. I get it. That was the frustration of defensemen around the league. ”
Mahomes seemed to agree that he had crossed the line.
“I would say the only time I felt I probably went too far was when I didn’t get a flag on the sideline and the umpire saw it and didn’t throw it. I didn’t think I should have done it,” Mahomes said.
“But at the same time, everyone is talking about where I went down, and it looked like I was just trying to avoid getting smoked by a defensive lineman who was running in.
“So I'm just going to keep at it and try not to get hit because that's the smart way to stay in the football game.”
One might ask, if Mahomes is so worried about playing smart football, why would he intentionally slow down and make himself a target for defensive linemen?
The reality is, Mahomes is playing smart. He manipulates the authorities to extract penalties. It's up to authorities to stop rewarding him for it. The referee wisely did not flag the play near the sideline. But they threw flags for the other two controversial plays mentioned above where Mahomes flopped or slid late to initiate contact.
Let's assume the league doesn't want to stop Mahomes from playing. If that's the case, we need to start seriously discussing rule changes that would impose unsportsmanlike conduct penalties if a quarterback slows down before bounding out or slides too late to initiate contact. There is.
Both the sideline roughing penalty and slide rule rules protect the quarterback's health. These don't exist as traps for quarterbacks to lure tacklers into roughing penalties.
It's time for the league to take action.
