Patrick Mahomes shared an honest admission regarding his flop in the Kansas City Chiefs’ win over the Houston Texans, a game that has sparked a lot of discussion about officiating in the NFL
Patrick Mahomes shared an honest admission regarding his flop against the Houston Texans – a game that has caused NFL officials to receive plenty of scrutiny.
In the fourth quarter of the Kansas City Chiefs’ 23-14 win over the Texans in the Divisional Round, Mahomes scrambled out of the pocket as Houston’s defenders closed in on him. The star quarterback then escaped out of bounds, which saw him get lightly pushed by linebacker Henry To’oTo’o.
After the linebacker’s touch, Mahomes fell to the floor, hoping to get a penalty called on the Texans defender. However, the officials did not call anything and let the play continue, which Mahomes admits was the right call after giving himself time to review the play again.
“I would say the only one I felt like I probably did too much was the one on the sideline where I didn’t get the flag,” Mahomes said [h/t Henry McKenna] … I understood it immediately and know that I probably shouldn’t have done that.”
During the broadcast, Troy Aikman experessed his displeasure of the move Mahomes attempted to do against the Texans. Watching the replay, Aikman, a former quarterback, was less than happy with the 29-year-old’s attempt to bait the officials to call a penalty on the Texans.
“He’s trying to draw the penalty. Rather than just run out of bounds, he slows down,” Aikman told broadcast partner Joe Buck. “And that’s been the frustration, and I get it. I understand it. That’s been the frustration for these defensive players around the league.”
Mahomes (15) runs the ball against the Houston Texans during the AFC Divisional Playoff game on January 18th, 2025 (
Image:
William Purnell/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Another play that caught fans attention was a roughing penalty called on To’oTo’o and defensive tackle Folorunso Fatukasi, who collided with each other and caught Mahomes at the end of the hit. Aikman, in particular, was heated at Mahomes for his late slide, which the officials rewarded.
“Oh, come on! He’s a runner,” Aikman explained. “I could not disagree with that one more, and he barely gets hit. That’s the second (questionable) penalty now that’s been called against the Texans. … It was a late flag, and it was Clay Martin who threw it. They’ve gotta address it in the offseason.”
Walt Anderson, the NFL’s Senior Vice President of Officiating, agreed with the officials that a play like what Mahomes found himself in would be in favor of the runner. “When (To’oTo’o) comes in and the hairline of his helmet strikes the runner who is already on the ground – that’s a foul,” Anderson admitted.
“Even if replay assist could help in that, when there’s contact like that, that’s not going to be changed by replay assist.” With how scrutinized the officiating has been the last handful of days because of what transpired during the Texans loss, Anderson believes there will changes made to the current system in place.
“This is one of those areas that is always going to be debated in terms of what’s forcible, what’s not,” he said, per the Washington Post. “You want to end up having guidelines. And I’m encouraged that the committee every year adds some things for us to help with replay-assist.
“But the game is not ever going to be perfect. … We always want to work at continuing to try to: Can we make the game better? Can we use replay-assist to help pick up things that are clearly and obviously not a foul? But in those areas that are gray and maybe debatable, we have to leave those on the field.”
