of houston texans Not a word was exchanged after Saturday's elimination in the divisional round playoffs. In Houston's eyes, those involved played important roles in the team's 23-14 loss. kansas city chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said after the game, “Going into this game, we knew it was 'us versus them all.' “And when I say everyone, I mean everyone.”
“We knew going into this game it was going to be a battle between us and the referees,” defensive end Will Anderson Jr. added.
The Texans, who entered the game as an 8.5-point underdog, faced off against the reigning world champions twice from the start. But despite outscoring opponents and having success on third down, they held the lead in penalties.
The Chiefs were flagged four times for 29 yards in front of their home crowd, while the visiting Texans were called for eight fouls and lost 82 yards. After that, the main complaint for the team was not the volume itself, but the nature of some of the calls.
And in the eyes of NFL officiating expert Ben Austro of Football Zebras, there's the most controversial flag. I really shouldn't have been called..
The first came with seven minutes left in the first quarter when Anderson was called for roughing the passer on Patrick Mahomes' incomplete shot. Instead of the Chiefs facing a 4-and-3, the flag kept their momentum alive. Seven plays later, he kicked a field goal for a 6-3 lead.
According to Austro, the correct decision would have been “none at all.”
Texans defensive end Will Anderson was flagged for assaulting a passer. Contact was high, but nothing forced Contact the head and neck area. This should not have been punished.
He added that replay rules could have overturned that decision, but no such action was taken because there was contact to the head. The flag went up, giving Kansas City a free 15-yard gain.
The second controversial penalty came with 1:52 left in the third quarter. The Texans had just completed a 15-play, 82-yard touchdown drive to cut the deficit to one point. Leading 13-12, Kansas City looked to regain momentum on its next possession, but thanks to a spectacular 11-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to tight end Travis Kelce, the team made it. I let it happen.
The play was uncontroversial, something that wasn't the case earlier in the series. Linebacker Henry Tootoo was hit with an unnecessary roughness call while making a tackle on Mahomes on a 9-yard scramble.
Austro again opposed this call.
The second hit on quarterback Patrick Mahomes was ruled unnecessary roughness. In reality, this shouldn't be a flag, and in the context of the previous false flag, this would fan the flames of preferential treatment.
With a run like this, there is no protection for the quarterback, only what is available to the other runners. Mahomes can make contact due to a late sliding decision, but the Texans can't force contact on his head or neck area. The defender is instructed to go over the top.
There is contact with the head, but there is also contact with the body, and the contact is incidental and not forced to the head. If Henry Tootoo'o goes into a tackle with his forearms in front of him, what will the officials check? There were marks on his head from a forced shot, and unfortunately the crew deemed this a foul.
The expert who hosted the event later added:[t]The well-worn metaphor of the Chiefs having officials on their side is patently false, but games like this reflect that. ” From that perspective, the Texans’ frustration with officiating is understandable.
But those penalties were only part of Houston's undoing. He missed a total of three kicks, resulting in five points, was 1-of-3 in the red zone, and had a 16-yard sack on 4th-and-10 in the fourth quarter, but there was nothing that could increase his chances of leaving the team. I couldn't. Kansas City also won.
The Texans needed to bring an A game to make it a success on Saturday afternoon, and they didn't. Neither were the officials.
