Will Anderson Jr. makes outrageous claim about bizarre officiating during playoff game against Chiefs

Houston Texans pass rusher Will Anderson Jr. called out referee Clay Martin and his team for questionable officiating.

Will Anderson Jr. makes outrageous claim about bizarre officiating during playoff game against Chiefs

Will Anderson Jr. (Image via Screengrab/YouTube)

The Divisional Round fixture between the Houston Texans and the Kansas City Chiefs promised a lot of stories. It delivered—both on the positive and negative fronts. Will Anderson Jr. drew the short end of the stick despite a good outing.

The Texans defensive end found himself at the center of attention early in the game after a heated moment involving Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Shortly after the kick return fumble, the referee adjudged Anderson committing a roughing the passer foul on Mahomes.

YouTube video

Despite Anderson Jr.’s pleading his innocence, the referee ignored him and awarded the Chiefs a 15-yard penalty, resulting in an automatic first down. The drive ended with a successful field goal from Harrison Butker.

It was one of the several instances when the referees opted to turn a blind eye. The Texans paid a heavy price and lost the game 14-23 even though they led the Chiefs in total yards, ball possession, and number of first downs.

After the game, Anderson Jr. did not hold back and expressed his true feelings about the officiating.

We knew it was going to be us against the refs going into this game. I was just telling them, like, man, we gotta go out there and do much better. In some instances we didn’t do that, in some instances we did.

Will Anderson Jr. said

3x Super Bowl-winning quarterback and FOX announcer Troy Aikman was also unhappy with the decision.

It looked like that first contract was to the upper chest area. I didn’t see anything there that supported a foul.

NFL rules analyst Russell Yurk said

Aikman and Yurk debated online after Anderson’s challenge on Mahomes.

I agree with you, Russell. From that angle there, I don’t see helmet-to-helmet. That’s a big-time penalty.

Troy Aikman replied

Texans head coach backed Will Anderson Jr.’s claim about the officiating

The main referee in the game was veteran Clay Martin. In his previous six fixtures involving the Chiefs, the Kansas City franchise did not lose a single game. Perhaps Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans was aware of the statistic.

Will Anderson Jr. makes outrageous claim about bizarre officiating during playoff game against Chiefs
Will Anderson Jr. (Image via SI)

Similar to Andreson Jr., Ryans also called out the referee, but he was very direct.

We knew going into this game, it was us versus everybody. When I say everybody, it’s everybody. The naysayers, the doubt, everybody we had to go up against today.

DeMeco Ryans said

However, Ryans agreed that it wasn’t a clean game from them either. Quarterback CJ Stroud digested 8 sacks and was hit 14 times. Not only that, Kai’mi Fairbairn missed one field goal and one extra point (blocked by Chiefs Leo Channel) and turned the ball over twice.

It’s discouraging to be here because we got to be over that at this point in the playoffs. Postseason football, you got to be at your best. You got to be operating on all cylinders. And for us, we didn’t do that today.

DeMeco Ryans said (H/T: Houston Texans official transcript)

Stroud ended the game with 19 completions from 28 attempts for 245 yards and a passer rating of 95.1. The Texans’ season may have ended, but Ryans can take a lot of positives, both in offense and defense, and build for the next season.

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