It has become a pastime for NFL fans to complain that the Kansas City Chiefs are getting all the calls. And NFL officials continue to give them reasons to complain.
On Saturday, it wasn’t just disgruntled non-Chiefs fans who sounded off. ESPN’s Troy Aikman was not at all happy with an unnecessary roughness call on Patrick Mahomes that cost the Houston Texans 15 yards in an AFC divisional round match at Arrowhead Stadium.
Mahomes ran around and slid at the last possible second. Two Texans defenders collided, Mahomes was narrowly hit, but the penalty was against Houston.
It wasn’t the only time the Chiefs had the advantage of a call. There was a tough passer penalty on Will Anderson Jr. in the first half, in which Anderson barely touched Mahomes. A hip-drop tackle on the Chiefs was not penalized, although officials have rarely called it all season. The call when Mahomes dove down and was barely hit was enough to infuriate Aikman.
“Oh, come on,” Aikman said on air as the phone rang.
“He’s a runner. I couldn’t disagree with that more and he barely gets hit,” Aikman said. “That is the second penalty called against the Texans now.”
It’s worth noting that Aikman is a former quarterback. Usually they stick together, but the call for Houston was so bad that Aikman had to stand up for the defensive players.
ESPN rules analyst Russell Yurk also said it was a bad call.
“Troy, I agree with you. There is no forced contact to the head and neck area of him,” Yurk said. “The two Houston players touched each other and that should not have been a foul.”
The Chiefs continued to move the ball downfield after that call and Mahomes hit Travis Kelce for a touchdown and a 20-12 lead.
The Chiefs are a great dynasty. Most of the discussion Saturday night was about how many calls they get from officials. That’s probably not the look the league wants.