By ESPN | Created at 2025-01-19 03:50:07 | Updated at 2025-01-19 06:57:38
3 hours ago
DJ Bien-Aime, ESPNJan 18, 2025, 10:27 PM ET
- DJ Bien-Aime covers the Houston Texans for ESPN. He joined ESPN in July of 2022 after covering the New York Jets. He's a former athlete who finished his college career at Louisville. You can catch DJ on ESPN Radio on his show, "Talkin' Texans."
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Houston Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. feels the referees were against his team in Saturday's 23-14 AFC divisional round playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Texans defense was flagged for two controversial penalties at separate points when they contacted Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Both penalties extended the Chiefs' drives, which led to a crucial 10 points.
"We knew it was going to be us versus the refs going into this game," Anderson said postgame.
Anderson was flagged for roughing the passer on a Mahomes' incomplete pass to tight end Travis Kelce on third down during the Chiefs' second drive of the game. Anderson appeared to hit Mahomes in the upper neck area shortly after he released the pass. That drive ended in a field goal to put them up 6-3.
In the third quarter, Mahomes scrambled on a first down and slid while Texans defensive tackle Foley Fatukasi and linebacker Henry To'oTo'o collided with him, drawing an unnecessary roughness penalty. The Chiefs took advantage of the extra yards and capped the possession with a touchdown to put them up 20-12.
Fatukasi told ESPN he didn't remember the play he was flagged for and To'oTo'o said "it is what it is."
When coach DeMeco Ryans was asked about the controversial calls he made a subtle remark. But Ryans acknowledged the "self-inflicted mistakes" sunk their chances at advancing to the AFC Championship round for the first time in franchise history.
"We knew going into this game, man, it was us versus everybody. And when I say everybody, it's everybody," Ryans said. "Knowing that going into this game, what we were up against, we can't make the mistakes that we made. Whether it's special teams not converting our kicks. Defensively, not being we're supposed to be in coverage. Offensively, not protecting our quarterback and keeping him clean. You married that on top of everything else that we have to deal with, it's just going to be a really tough uphill battle."
The mistakes were countless for the Texans. That is why even though Houston reached the divisional round for consecutive seasons, Ryans felt "discouraged" about this outcome.
"This one hurts, because I know we're a better football team than what we showed today," Ryans said. "To go back and still have to talk about mistakes that we made in this moment, it's discouraging. Because we got to be over that at this point in the playoffs."
The Texans' special teams made critical mistakes that kept them at a disadvantage for most of the game. On the game's opening kickoff, Houston gave up a 63-yard kickoff return to Chiefs' running back Samaje Perine, who fumbled when defensive back Kris Boyd tackled him before Chiefs wideout Nikko Remigio recovered the loose ball.
However, before the recovery, Boyd sprinted off in a celebratory fashion and threw off his helmet before reaching the sideline. He drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty that had the Chiefs' offense starting on Houston's 13-yard line. The defense didn't allowed a touchdown but Kansas City took advantage of the field position and nailed a field a goal.
The Texans opened the second half with running back Joe Mixon scoring a touchdown. But kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn missed the extra point try that would have tied the score at 13. Fairbairn also missed a field goal attempt in the second quarter.
Beyond the special team blunders, the Texans failed to protect quarterback C.J. Stroud, who was pressured on a career-high 23 dropbacks and sacked eight times, tying a career-high from Week 9 against the New York Jets.
Stroud's pressure rate of 56% is the second-highest in an NFL playoff game since ESPN began tracking pressure in 2009 trailing only former Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow (63%) in 2011.
"In the playoffs, you have to win your one on ones," Ryans said. "That's what the game always comes down to. You have to man up and own your one on one. You have to have some pride in who you're blocking to get it done, to give the quarterback a chance to throw the football."
Stroud was able to use his legs to survive some of the pressure as he rushed for 42 yards and converted a couple third downs.
"Just being a competitor, trying to put my team in positions to win," Stroud said. "There's times where I probably shouldn't have done that, and just throw the ball away. So it's a balance, and I think I tried my best to do that today, and I think I made a lot of plays in general today."
Still, whenever the Chiefs blitzed the Texans they struggled finding answers. Stroud was blitzed on 10 of his 18 fourth quarter dropbacks (56%), including a stretch of seven consecutive dropbacks. Stroud was 3-of-8 for 41 yards with two sacks in the fourth quarter when blitzed.
The mistakes the Texans made were too much to overcome as they became the first team to out-gain their opponent by 100+ yards (336-212), not turn the ball over, and lose a postseason game. Previous such teams were 49-0 in the playoffs according to ESPN's research.
"Can't continue to shoot ourselves in the foot and then not overcome it and expect to win," Stroud said.
