Refs are turning Chiefs, Texans into a side show
The NFL wants to see plenty of unique plays in the Chiefs-Texans game. Unfortunately, one big instance came from league officials.
The last thing Roger Goodell and company want to see is for referees to become a big story in one of the biggest games of the weekend. Unfortunately, that may happen in the big showdown between the Chiefs and Texans.
In the second quarter, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw a long pass down the near sideline that was easily intercepted by the Texans secondary. Officials threw a flag on the play that appeared to cancel the turnover out via a pass interference call. Then, referees chose to pick up the flag.
The explanation for the decision to pick up the flag is where things really get crazy. Officials originally threw the flag for pass interference, but huddled and decided that it should have been called as defensive holding against the defender on Travis Kelce. However, the officials ruled that they were unable to go back and change the call to defensive holding. The latter is not reviewable so the Chiefs were powerless to get the interception overturned.
Officials at the NFL office will now spend the next few hours hoping that the call doesn’t end up changing the outcome of the high-profile contest. The officials in the contest literally admitted that Houston should have been flagged for defensive holding but refused to go back and do so retroactively. The entire incident serves as a great example of NFL referees sticking tightly to the rule book as opposed to using common sense to get the call right.
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It’s certainly something the NFL should look at moving forward, but that won’t help correct their obvious error in the Kansas City-Houston game. Everyone involved should hope this doesn’t become a dominant storyline when the day is done.