The Kansas City Chiefs grabbed an exciting 23-14 win against the Houston Texans during the Divisional Round and will now head to the AFC Championship Game for the seventh time in a row. Patrick Mahomes and Co. did not play their best football, but they were able to push it in the end and take the victory home.
While it was an important win for the team, fans, players, and analysts are questioning some of the calls made during the game.
LeSean McCoy Calls Out Referees Over Chiefs vs. Texans Showdown
The Chiefs have been accused of getting favors from the officials all throughout the 2024 NFL season, and those accusations really caught fire after the Texans showdown during the Divisional Round.
There were two uberly controversial moments that drew fans’ attention. The first one took place in the first quarter when Chiefs defensive back Bryan Cook apparently made a hip-drop tackle on Texans tight end Dalton Schultz.
The other one also occurred in the first quarter when Texans edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. was penalized for roughing the passer on Mahomes.
Two-time Super Bowl champion LeSean “Shad”y McCoy took to social media to express his frustration over the calls during the Chiefs-Texans matchup.
He wrote, “GREAT CALL REF… yall trippen ain’t no way you can hit BABY JESUS … LETS GO PATTY.”
GREAT CALL REF… yall trippen ain’t no way you can hit BABY JESUS … LETS GO PATTY
— LeSean Shady Mccoy (@CutonDime25) January 18, 2025
It wasn’t just McCoy who voiced frustration with the officiating. Even Houston head coach DeMeco Ryans openly shared his thoughts on the questionable calls.
During a postgame interview, Ryans said, “We knew going into this game, man, that it was ‘Us vs. Everybody,’ and when I say everybody — it’s everybody, all the naysayers, the doubt, everybody.”
Anderson also expressed his dissatisfaction with some of the calls, saying, “We knew it was going to be us versus the refs going into this game.”
C.J. Stroud, the Texans’ star quarterback, also said that it is one of the things that you know before the game has started. He shared that he could play football or argue with the referees and chose the first option.
“One of those things, you know what’s up before you walk into the arena. I can’t argue with the ref and, at the same time, play football. I gotta go do my job.”
Texans running back Joe Mixon also opened up about the situation and said, “Everybody knows how it is playing up here. You can never leave it in the refs’ hands. The whole world sees, man.”
While the controversial calls have become a topic of discussion in the football world, it doesn’t take away from the fact that the Chiefs won and are in the running to secure the first three-peat in the NFL’s history.