During last week’s division round showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texas, Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes drew two controversial penalty flags at key moments in the game. But it seems like the NFL has determined that those flags never should have been thrown.
Texans defensive end defensive end Will Anderson Jr. was flagged for roughing the passer in the first quarter and defensive tackle Folorunso Fatukasi and linebacker Henry To’oTo’o picked up flags for hitting Patrick Mahomes on a late quarterback slide.
Typically on hits like this, players are hit with fines from the league in addition to the penalty on the field if the NFL is able to confirm the penalty by watching the film after the game.
However, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk points out, the league did not issue any fines to Texans defenders for these plays.
“The NFL did not fine Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. for a first-quarter roughing the passer foul. The league also did not fine defensive tackle Folorunso Fatukasi or linebacker Henry To’oTo’o for their Malachi crunch after Mahomes slid in the second half,” Florio wrote for Pro Football Talk.
As Florio points out, the fact that neither penalty was deemed worthy of a fine signals that the NFL is admitting that the calls were mistakes and the flags should not have been thrown.
“Both fouls prompted criticism of Chiefs bias on the part of officials. The fact that they weren’t fined suggests that, after more careful consideration of the film, the NFL decided that the hits did not merit punishment — which suggests that the flags shouldn’t have been thrown,” Florio wrote.
Of course, there is nothing that the league can do to correct the calls now, but it’s pretty clear that the officials were incorrect.
