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The NFL rolled out one of its lackeys to address some of the controversial calls made in the AFC Divisional Round game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans, specifically two instances of roughing the passer that helped extend Chiefs’ offensive drives and lead to points.
The narrative that the NFL’s refs favor the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs have been brewing for a few years now — not surprising since they’re far and away the sport’s dominant force — and the league seems to be doing some damage control in order to quell that strain of speculation.
Following the Chiefs win over the Houston Texans to advance to their 7th straight AFC Championship game (in which they’ll host Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills), the NFL had senior VP of officiating Walt Anderson on its league-run TV station NFL Network to attempt to explain the calls. According to Anderson, the officials got the roughing the passer calls right. Check out the controversial flag on Anderson Jr. below and make a decision for yourself before reading Anderson’s comments if you’d like.
Will Anderson was called for roughing the passer on Patrick Mahomes on this play.#HOUvsKC | ESPN, ABC, ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/bTn7Z5XoLZ
— ESPN (@espn) January 18, 2025
“If there’s contact to the head of the quarterback, that’s probably going to be called by the officials… They’re gonna protect the quarterbacks,” NFL senior VP of officiating Walt Anderson said on NFL Gameday the morning after the game.
“You can end up having to debate about whether you felt it was forcible or not, and that’s going to be one of those conversations for the competition committee to consider next [season],” he continued.
Anderson also said that the roughing the passer is one of the few calls that the league tells officials to throw a flag on “when in doubt.”
Speaking to the media after the loss on Saturday, star linebacker Will Anderson Jr. explicitly accused the refs of giving the Chiefs favorable calls, saying that the team went into the game knowing it’d be “us versus the refs.” While NFL fans have long accused the NFL’s refs of giving the Chiefs a higher percentage of favorable calls, Anderson Jr. is far and away the biggest NFL star to publicly state it.
As mentioned above, the Chiefs will host the Bills in the AFC Championship game on Sunday, January 26 at 6:30 p.m. EST. In the NFC Championship being played earlier that day, the Philadelphia Eagles will be hosting the Washington Commanders.