The Kansas City Chiefs advanced to the AFC Championship Game for a seventh straight year with a 23-14 victory over the Houston Texans on Saturday. While Patrick Mahomes added another playoff victory to his stellar career, it didn’t come without controversy as he seemed to benefit from a few questionable penalties called against the Texans.
Although Troy Aikman was not impressed with the calls, fans were also furious as they immediately tore into the refs for making the calls that helped the Chiefs extend drives and score points.
On Sunday morning, the NFL Network pregame show featured a segment with senior vice president of officiating Walt Anderson who explained why the officials made the right calls in this game.
“The other thing that a lot of your audience may not realize is that in most of the rules, officials are not supposed to call a foul,” Anderson said. “But there’s a place in the rule book where it says by rule that when in doubt, the officials should (make a call) and that’s in the roughness of the passer rule. They’re going to protect the quarterbacks.”
Here is his full segment:
NFL Officiating Rules Analyst Walt Anderson appeared on @NFLGameDay with a detailed explanation of the controversial flags thrown on Saturday for hits on #Chefs Quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Short version, according to Anderson: According to the rules, the officials got both calls right. pic.twitter.com/gIL9OidOQL
– Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 19, 2025
Fans didn’t like this from Anderson:
Ridiculous. https://t.co/kyP7ICFRWk
– Southern Card (@SouthernCard) January 19, 2025
Gaslighting 101 https://t.co/QDYJxim5CZ
– Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) January 19, 2025
Nothing to see here, friends @NFLOfficiant trying to cover his ass after catastrophic calls. https://t.co/vsJQ3S2jP7
-ATX (@Atownatx) January 19, 2025
We have eyes and brains, man.
Weaksauce PR is low.
Do better. https://t.co/x09dZKg0k8
– UncleDaddy (@LemmythePirate) January 19, 2025
“The league puppet supports the league, even though everyone with eyes knows they are dead wrong” https://t.co/78JAZp8Gyw
–Ben (@Cacoila) January 19, 2025
I know a thing or two about hair, and that shouldn’t be the NFL’s defining word when it comes to passer penalties. What are we doing?! https://t.co/4MXZWkwAMi
– Sal Capaccio 🏈 (@SalSports) January 19, 2025
An NFL employee took to an NFL-owned media platform to explain that the calls made by NFL referees were the correct ones…. Good https://t.co/Q6kL2m1gqb
– Swish B (@theboy__B) January 19, 2025
This guy thinks we’re all a bunch of idiots https://t.co/SQKuvC2xeg
– PapaGolferMike (@broncosfanatic7) January 19, 2025
