{"id":19300,"date":"2025-01-21T01:27:23","date_gmt":"2025-01-21T01:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=19300"},"modified":"2025-01-21T01:27:23","modified_gmt":"2025-01-21T01:27:23","slug":"nfl-referee-breaks-silence-on-texans-controversial-calls-favoring-patrick-mahomes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=19300","title":{"rendered":"NFL referee breaks silence on Texans&#8217; controversial calls favoring Patrick Mahomes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Following a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/texans-vs-chiefs-predictions-pick-odds-spread-for-afc-divisional-playoffs-2025\">divisional matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>\u00a0that was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/texans-news-demeco-ryans-gets-100-real-on-controversial-patrick-mahomes-calls\">full of controversy<\/a>, including the NFL referees, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nfl\/houston-texans\">Houston Texans<\/a>\u00a0were not pleased with their performance on Saturday. If that wasn&#8217;t enough, NFL referee Clay Martin was asked about two specific penalties in this game and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AaronWilson_NFL\/status\/1880790214538625154\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">why they were called<\/a>, per Aaron Wilson on X.<\/p>\n<p>When asked about Will Anderson&#8217;s roughing the passer penalty, Martin responded: \u201cI had forcible contact to the facemask area and so I went with roughing the passer on that play.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Will Anderson was called for roughing the passer on Patrick Mahomes on this play.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/HOUvsKC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#HOUvsKC<\/a> | ESPN, ABC, ESPN+ <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bTn7Z5XoLZ\">pic.twitter.com\/bTn7Z5XoLZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ESPN (@espn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/espn\/status\/1880736730912817254?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 18, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>And as seen in the replay, there was the smallest amount of contact to Mahomes&#8217; head, making Martin&#8217;s claim valid \u2014 even if it&#8217;s upsetting to see. With the cards stacked up against most defenders in the modern NFL, it&#8217;s never been tougher to play defense. When it&#8217;s against Mahomes, that difficulty seems to increase.<\/p>\n<p>Now, another play garnered\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/nfl-news-fans-lose-after-soft-texans-hit-chiefs-patrick-mahomes-flagged-penalty\">a lot of online attention<\/a>, and that was another hit on Mahomes that resulted in an unnecessary roughness penalty against the Texans.<\/p>\n<p>Martin&#8217;s response was: \u201cYes, absolutely. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"not-prose flex w-full flex-col items-center overflow-hidden px-5 h-[300px]\">\n<div class=\"react-tweet-theme tweet-container_root__0rJLq\">\n<article class=\"tweet-container_article__0ERPK\">\n<div class=\"tweet-header_header__CXzdi\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">15 yards for unnecessary roughness for colliding above a sliding Patrick Mahomes <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7tblh6DLPC\">pic.twitter.com\/7tblh6DLPC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Christian D&#8217;Andrea (@TrainIsland) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TrainIsland\/status\/1880759449167814678?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 18, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>While both penalties were wishy-washy, this one appeared even more egregious than the last.<\/p>\n<div class=\"not-prose align-center\">\n<div class=\"min-w-[300px] overflow-x-hidden text-center font-secondary uppercase my-2.5 min-h-[280px] md:min-h-[250px]\">\n<div id=\"content_3\" data-google-query-id=\"CJ7y_f7ThYsDFRk8RAgdZfYMRw\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/120193976\/Clutchpoints\/Content_3_0__container__\">\n<p>While both penalties were wishy-washy, this one appeared even more egregious than the last.<\/p>\n<div class=\"not-prose align-center\">\n<div class=\"min-w-[300px] overflow-x-hidden text-center font-secondary uppercase my-2.5 min-h-[280px] md:min-h-[250px]\">\n<div id=\"content_3\" data-google-query-id=\"CP_U57DUhYsDFbkrRAgd8oA6KA\">\n<article class=\"article-body prose max-w-none pb-7 pt-5 prose-figure:max-w-full prose-ol:pl-10 prose-img:max-w-full prose-video:max-w-full md:prose-ol:pl-6 [&amp;_iframe]:m-auto [&amp;_iframe]:block [&amp;_iframe]:max-w-full\">If the penalty was targeting on the Texans by the Texans, sure, that would be more believable than unnecessary roughness on Mahomes.<\/p>\n<p>Considering how late he slid in this play, it&#8217;s difficult for defenders to consider him defenseless. In that play, Mahomes was running around, and at the last second, he gave up his body.<\/p>\n<p>The rules defenders must abide by are already difficult to follow, but when\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/chiefs-news-fans-blast-officials-controversial-kansas-city-texans-play\">playing against Mahomes and the Chiefs<\/a>, that difficulty rises even more.<\/p>\n<p>Although Martin explained why both penalties got called, it doesn&#8217;t seem to have swayed the masses&#8217; opinion on how Chiefs games get officiated.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"px-4 pb-5 lg:px-0\">\n<hr class=\"mb-5 h-[1px] w-[150px] bg-secondary\" \/>\n<p class=\"font-tertiary italic text-secondary [&amp;_&gt;a]:text-link [&amp;_&gt;a]:underline\" style=\"box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px solid #e5e7eb; --tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,.5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; margin: 0px; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.75rem; font-family: var(--font-lora); font-style: italic; --tw-text-opacity: 1; color: rgb(88 88 88\/var(--tw-text-opacity));\"><a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/author\/dakota-zientek\">Dakota Zientek<\/a>\u00a0is an experienced associate editor for ClutchPoints, covering the NFL, NCAA Football, and the NFL Draft. The Iowa graduate has bylines at FanSided and Pro Football Network.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; Following a\u00a0divisional matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs\u00a0that was\u00a0full of controversy, including the NFL referees, the\u00a0Houston Texans\u00a0were not pleased with their performance on Saturday. If that wasn&#8217;t enough, &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19302,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19300\/revisions\/19302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}