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ESPN rules analyst, Troy Aikman, JJ Watt criticize controversial Patrick Mahomes roughing the passer penalty

ns_headshot_2024-clearby:Nick Schultz•about 16 hours•

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Patrick Mahomes
Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

On the Kansas City Chiefs’ second drive of Saturday’s AFC Divisional Round game against the Houston Texans, Will Anderson Jr. received a controversial roughing the passer penalty as he sacked Patrick Mahomes. That call drew criticism from the Troy Aikman, ESPN rules analyst Russell Yurk and Texans great JJ Watt.

The call came down for an apparent head-to-head contact on a quarterback, resulting in the 15-yard penalty. However, replays showed Anderson didn’t hit Mahomes in the head, but rather toward his chest area.

Yurk – a former NFL referee – disagreed with the foul call for that reason. Aikman agreed and noted the magnitude of the foul.

“Joe, I agree,” Yurk said. “Based on what you saw, it did look like he came up high with the helmet. But it looked like that first contact was to the upper chest area. I didn’t see anything there that supported a foul.”

“I agree with you, Russell. From that angle there, I don’t see helmet-to-helmet,” Aikman responded. “A big-time penalty.”

The foul drew ire from Watt, a Texans Hall of Famer who leads the franchise in sacks. He called out the league for yet another questionable roughing the passer call.

“Roughing the Passer penalties are out of control,” Watt wrote on X (formerly Twitter) after the play. “Rinse. Repeat.”

Houston got two field goals from Ka’imi Fairbairn in the first half, but trailed the Chiefs 13-6 at halftime after allowing a Kareem Hunt touchdown. The Texans are coming off a resounding victory over the Los Angeles Chargers last time out, intercepting Justin Herbert four times to secure a spot in the Divisional Round.

Of course, Saturday’s game is also a familiar matchup. The Chiefs and Texans previously played in Week 15 – a 27-19 Kansas City victory. C.J. Stroud pointed out the advantage of playing the Chiefs last month, but noted it goes both ways.

“You definitely have to go back and see things that worked and things that didn’t work and I think that definitely helps playing them so recently,” Stroud said. “But they also have that advantage as well, so we still have to be able to have a new game plan and do things that are new. It definitely does help to see a familiar team again and they do a lot of great things. We didn’t really see a whole bunch of it, I think there are some exotic things so I wouldn’t be surprised if that stuff started to show up. It definitely does help that we have seen them not too long ago.”