The Kansas City Chiefs have advanced to the AFC Championship as they attempt to win an unprecedented third consecutive Super Bowl, but their 23-14 victory over the Houston Texans in the divisional playoffs was not without controversy. The Chiefs appeared to benefit from a pair of roughing the passer penalties called on the Texans that allowed the home team to maintain possession on a pair of scoring drives.
Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans met the media after the game and said that the Texans expected Mahomes to get favorable calls.
🚨WOW: #TEXANS HC DEMECO RYANS ON THE REFS QUESTIONABLE CALLS FOR THE #CHIEFS.
“WE KNEW GOING INTO THIS GAME THAT IT WAS US VERSUS EVERYBODY. AND I MEAN EVERYBODY.”
Wow… 😳
pic.twitter.com/ZIvbOv5lYW— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) January 19, 2025
“We knew going into this game that it was us vs. everybody,” Ryans said. “Going with what we were up against, we can’t make the mistakes that we made. Self-inflicted mistakes, Special teams, not converting kicks. We didn’t protect the quarterback.”
Mahomes appeared to be the beneficiary of a favorable call in the second quarter when Will Anderson of the Texans was called for a roughing the passer call when the contact appeared to be incidental. Fox analyst Troy Aikman did not approve of the call and rules analyst Russell Yurk sided with Aikman.
After that call, Mahomes and the Chiefs concluded a 9-play, 51-yard drive that resulted in a Harrison Butker 36-yard field goal.
Another questionable roughing the passer penalty against the Texans in the second half led to a Mahomes 11-yard TD pass to tight end Travis Kelce.
Texans made multiple errors that cost them
While the sketchy roughing the passer penalties hurt the Texans, they were also done in by their own mistakes.
Ka’imi Fairbairn has been one of the most dependable placekickers in the league, but he had a brutal day. He was just 2 of 4 on his field goal attempts and he also missed an extra point attempt in the third quarter that would have drawn the Texans within 7 points of the Chiefs.
Steve Silverman has been covering the NFL for more than 35 years, and his writing has appeared in ESPN Magazine, Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, Pro Football Weekly, and Forbes.com. He has written 10 books, including “Who’s Better, Who’s Best in the NFL.”
