NFL Playoffs – The refereeing of the match between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans risks generating a lot of ink.
The start of the NFL playoffs does not necessarily mark the end of controversies concerning arbitration and the alleged favoritism to which the teammates of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce would be entitled. This Saturday, during the Chiefs’ victory during the Divisional Round, a pair of contentious decisions brought out the most vehement detractors of the Missouri franchise. Explanations.
Two penalties under fire
This Saturday, referee Clay Martin was already closely observed even before the start of the NFL playoffs match. The cause? The Kansas City Chiefs had never experienced defeat during a match refereed by Clay Martin! A statistic that may be a simple coincidence but it won’t take more to start lighting the fuse above the powder keg of criticism of a league allegedly complicit in making the Chiefs’ success easier.
So let’s come back to two actions that ended up igniting the NFL sphere. Twice during this playoff meeting, the referees will signal a personal foul on Texan players after contact initiated on Patrick Mahomes. The problem remains that in view of the slow motion, these two contacts probably should not have been sanctioned. To add to the drama surrounding these decisions, the two fouls called by the referees took place on third downs which left the Chiefs’ drives alive and led to a total of… 10 points.
After this Saturday’s NFL playoff game, game referee Clay Martin spoke about the reason for the referees’ handkerchief throwing on these two very distinct actions:
“On the first penalty, there was forced contact in the area of the face mask” explained the referee after the match. “On the second penalty, the Chiefs quarterback went to the ground leaving him defenseless. The defenders contacted him which is punishable. »
Here are the images of the second penalty, everyone will have their opinion on the quality of the referees’ call.
-Favoritism or abusive protection of quarterbacks?
After these explanations from the refereeing body, it is possible to draw two conclusions! Either get behind the theory that is igniting social networks according to which NFL leaders have chosen their side and would like to see the Chiefs achieve a historic hat-trick at the end of this new NFL playoff campaign. Everyone is free to believe in this theory.
However, there is another theory which seems much more realistic and which has raised questions for many months and even many years: too much protection therefore benefits quarterbacks within the NFL. Because these two questionable penalties are each time initiated on Patrick Mahomes and not on another player! The fact that the quarterback slides, even late, no longer allows the slightest contact from the defender under penalty of penalty. Perhaps this is the real problem with these refereeing calls during this NFL playoff game.
Questioned at a press conference, the Houston Texans coach did not wish to go into further details or the controversy, just wishing to indicate that he knew when he came to Arrowhead that “everyone would be against his team”. Everyone including the referees? Possible but DeMeco Ryans did not clearly cite them.
In any case, the Kansas City Chiefs qualify for the rest of the NFL playoffs and will see the AFC conference final for the 7th year in a row in which they will meet either the Buffalo Bills or the Baltimore Ravens. With undoubtedly other arbitration controversies to come.
Crédit photo: © Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
