Make no mistake about it, former NFL defensive back Richard Sherman is no fan of all the protection Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been getting this season. It appears as though if a defensive player is in the same area code as Mahomes and the quarterback goes down, a flag will to tossed against the defensive player.
Sherman Rails Against Penalizing Defensive Players That Hit Patrick Mahomes
“I’m tired of hearing fans talk about what these players should and could do and how they should be able to take their head out of it. You can’t do it. Show me an example of you doing it. So shut up,” Sherman said during a segment on the Richard Sherman Podcast.
"You can't do it, and you can't show me an example of you doing it… so shut up"@RSherman_25 can't stand the defenders of that unnecessary roughness penalty in Texans-Chiefs pic.twitter.com/jMTA5mPhJf
— Richard Sherman Podcast (@RShermanPodcast) January 21, 2025
Sherman went on to give fans something to do to understand what the defensive players are going through who face Mahomes and the Chiefs.
“If you have a punching bag or mattress, I want you to run as fast as you can into something,” Sherman said. “I want you to lead your body without your head. If you can have the target move a little bit, that will be great. And then I want you to come back and look yourself in the mirror and tell yourself, how difficult was that? Were you able to do it? Were you able to lead your body without your head? I can tell you. The answer is no.”
Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Aikman, also an ESPN broadcaster, was equally as furious during the broadcast with the penalties levied against the defensive players.
From the start of the Chiefs matchup with the Houston Texans, there were a lot of controversial calls made by the referees including a questionable roughing-the-passer penalty early in the game.
That said, one play in particular stood out from the rest, as even the announcers couldn’t believe the call on the play — an unnecessary roughness call made late in the third quarter as Mahomes had a very late slide leading to very minimal contact.
Aikman voiced his frustration, saying, “Oh, come on! I mean he’s a runner. I could not disagree with that one more. He barely gets hit.” Aikman also added that he “could not disagree more” with the call.
ESPN rules analyst Russell Yurk also chimed in as he said that “the two Houston players hit each other. That should not have been a foul.”
To have this reaction from an announcer let alone an NFL legend such as Aikman is simply unacceptable. That said, NFL analyst Warren Sharp took to X (formerly Twitter) to compliment Aikman and Joe Buck for their criticism of the refs rather than staying quiet as it happened.
taking a second to compliment Aikman and Buck for not being afraid to criticize horrible refs making horrible calls on national tv
normalize this and we might fix it
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) January 19, 2025
“Taking a second to compliment Aikman and Buck for not being afraid to criticize horrible refs making horrible calls on national TV. Normalize this and we might fix it.”