“Who will watch the watchman?” The Texans– Chiefs game sort of amplified this ‘saying’. But man, who were the heroes of the Chiefs vs Texans game? The Chiefs? Probably not! Even the fans are calling out the refs as real heroes! Joke apart, Sports enthusiasts are highly criticizing the referees of the AFC divisional game for the unnecessary penalty on the Texans rusher, who didn’t even clearly hit Patrick Mahomes’s helmet. Well, the referee Clay Martin himself has revealed this issue and explained why he called out those crucial penalties.
NFL reporter Aaron Wilson gas talked to Clay Martin after the game and his answers to Wilson may resolve some of the issues with the referees. When asked about, “1st quarter, 7:00, 3rd and 8, Kansas City Chiefs 33” where Will Anderson Jr. of the Texans was called, Clay Martin said, “I had forcible contact to the facemask area, and so I went with roughing the passer on that play.” Alright, the ref should think about it again—is that a satisfactory answer?
Pool report from #NFL on officiating of roughing the passer calls against #Texans his full explanation @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/IPQWau0wEt
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) January 19, 2025
But you know, while announcing the game, Troy Aikman noticed Will Anderson-Patrick Mahomes’s close contact. On that controversial helmet-to-helmet contact and penalty, former NFL legend said, “Hard to tell from that angle if it was in fact helmet-to-helmet, but that’s the call and it gives them a new set of downs.” Well, Clay Martin was at a different angle, maybe.
Coming back to Clay Martin’s interaction with the NFL reporter, when asked about the penalty when two Houston players collided with each other and Mahomes was not even close to them. Clay Martin said, “Yeah, so he slid, obviously. And when he slides, he is considered defenseless. The onus is on the defender. I had forcible contact there, to the hairline to the helmet.” It happened on the penalty of “3rd quarter, 1:52, 1st & 10, Kansas City 35. That’s why the saying ‘Who will watch the watchman?’ matters here.
The Texans were penalized 8 times for 82 yards, compared to the Chiefs’ four penalties for 29 yards. Who knows if the refs are playing with everyone, except one team. The Texans HC and Will Anderson highlighted the same thing while talking about Patrick Mahomes, refs, and penalties.
The officials penalized Will Anderson Jr. for the controversial hit to Patrick Mahomes’ helmet. The player was unable to register if that was a foul and fired shots at Clay Martin and Co. Reporters asked him for his take on the penalty. Will Anderson said, “We knew it was going to be us against the refs going into this game… I was just telling them, man, we gotta go out there and do much better… In some instances we didn’t do that, in some instances we did.” Anderson’s foul cost 15-yards for the team.
via Imago
In the same echo, the Texans HC DeMeco Ryans also talked about the mounting issues with the refs. He said, “We knew going into this game, it was us versus everybody. When I say everybody, it’s everybody. The naysayers, the doubt, everybody we had to go up against today.” Disappointing!
Well, the Chiefs are now in the Conference Championship round, but fans are heavily criticizing Patrick Mahomes and the team also along with the refs. Some sports enthusiasts also said that referees should face penalties and fines for being biased. Do you agree with it?
