Patrick Mahomes certainly has no reason to complain.
The Chiefs’ three-time super Bowl champion quarterback downplayed the prevailing public sentiment that he and his Kansas City teammates have routinely benefitted from a generous whistle from the referees, including during Saturday’s divisional-round win over the Texans.
Mahomes induced two questionable 15-yard penalties during Saturday’s 23-14 win that helped lead to 10 points spanning two drives.
“I‘ve kind of learned that no matter what happens during the game, that something’s going to come out about it if you win and you continue to win, so I don’t really pay attention to it,” Mahomes told 96.5 The Fan, as transcribed by The Kansas City Star. “I mean, obviously I’ve been on both sides of it as far as how I felt the calls were made, but at the end of the day, man, those guys are doing their best to make the best calls and keep it to where the players are making the plays in the game.
“And that’s what decides the outcome. And obviously there was a call here or there that people didn’t agree with, but at the same time, I think there was a lot of other plays that really decided the outcome of that football game.”
Like the Patriots before them, fans are convinced that the league’s dynasty team is receiving more than its fair share of generous calls from the zebras.
Mahomes, in particular, is known to benefit from some of those 50-50 calls on hits that some have speculated would go uncalled against quarterbacks of lesser stature.
Several Houston players even acknowledged that they believed they weren’t playing just 11 vs. 11 while trying to take down the back-to-back champs.
“We knew it was going to be us versus the refs going into this game,” Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. said, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The Texans had reason to feel that way after two big calls went against them, the first a roughing the passer call against Anderson that wiped out a third-down incompletion.
Anderson made slight contact with Mahomes helmet while hitting him and after the ball had been released, but some wondered whether the referees could have let it go.
NFL senior VP of officiating Walt Anderson said Sunday that the referees are “probably” going to throw a flag if any contact is made with the head.
The second call negated a first-down sack and led to an eventual Travis Kelce touchdown that gave the Chiefs a 20-12 lead in the fourth quarter.
The Texans believed they had sacked Mahomes at his own 30-yard line in a 13-12 game, but the referees flagged Houston for unnecessary roughness while he scrambled.
The hit looked worse than it would prove to be, with two Texans defenders hitting one another while Mahomes avoided a vicious blow.
Troy Aikman ripped the call on the broadcast, while ESPN rules expert Russell York said it should not have been penalized.
“Oh, come on — I mean, he’s a runner,” Aikman said. “I could not disagree with that one more. He barely gets hit.”
The Chiefs took advantage of the flag to convert a field goal and take a 6-3 lead.
Mahomes defended his actions on that play.
“The one that everybody’s talking about where I fell down, it’s like I was just trying to get out of the way of getting smoked by the defensive lineman running in,” he said, per The Kansas City Star. “So I’ll try to keep doing that and not take those hits because that’s the smart way to stay in the football game.“
While it would do Mahomes no favors to say the referees messed up on those calls, he did at least admit that he could have handled a particular fourth-quarter play better in which he is accused of flopping.
Mahomes slowed down while heading toward the sideline and then embellished after a defender connected with him, going to the ground.
The referees did not flag that hit, though.
“I would say that the only one I felt like I probably did too much was the one on the sideline where I didn’t get a flag and the ref saw it and didn’t throw a flag, and I understood it immediately,” Mahomes said, per The Kansas City Star, “and know that I probably shouldn’t have done that.”
Mahomes and the Chiefs will try to secure their third straight Super Bowl appearance when they host the Bills in the AFC Championship game Sunday night.
Kansas City is a small favorite against MVP candidate Josh Allen.
