Following the Houston Texans' 23-14 divisional round loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans was asked about his thoughts on some of the controversial calls that went in favor of the Chiefs in the game.
"We knew going into this game, it was us versus everybody," Ryans told the media after the game. "When I say everybody, it's everybody. The naysayers, the doubt, everybody we had to go up against today."
DeMeco Ryans' initial thoughts after the Texans' loss to the Chiefs.
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 19, 2025
(via Houston Texans) pic.twitter.com/12epm2izI0
During the game, the Texans were penalized for multiple questionable roughing the passer calls. The first one came in the first quarter, when Texans' Will Anderson Jr. hit Mahomes right as he was releasing the football for what was an incomplete pass. Anderson did not appear to make forceable contact with Mahomes, or do enough to warrant a 15-yard penalty. The Chiefs would go to kick a field goal instead of punt because of that call.
In the third quarter, the Texans were called for unnecessary roughness after two Texans defenders collided into each other as Mahomes slid down late.
Mahomes decides to slide late and 2 Texans hit into each other and get a flag for unnecessary roughness... pic.twitter.com/cCnChAoAkL
— Rate the Refs (@Rate_the_Refs) January 18, 2025
While Ryans did not directly call out the penalties that went in favor of the Chiefs and Mahomes, many others expressed outrage. Even broadcaster Troy Aikman was clear that he did not feel like either warranted a flag.
Ultimately, Ryans took accountability for his team not executing well enough to get the win.
"Knowing going into this game what we were up against, we can't mistakes that we made," Ryans said. "We had a lot of self-inflicted mistakes that happened, special teams, not converting our kicks, not being where we're supposed to be in coverage, not protecting our quarterback and keeping him clean. You marry that on top of everything else we had to deal with, it's going to be a really tough uphill battle."
DeMeco Ryans asked about the controversial calls that occurred today involving Patrick Mahomes, Ryans said that they knew coming into today they knew it was going to be them against everybody. 👀 pic.twitter.com/MaauRiMXIX
— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) January 19, 2025
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as DeMeco Ryans Echoed Blunt Phrase on Controversial Calls Favoring Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes.
