Troy Aikman rips referees for unnecessary roughness call on Patrick Mahomes hit: 'Oh, come on!'

Dan Treacy

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Troy Aikman rips referees for unnecessary roughness call on Patrick Mahomes hit: 'Oh, come on!' image

The Texans found themselves on the wrong end of a major call early in Saturday's divisional round game against the Chiefs, with Will Anderson Jr. getting penalized for roughing Patrick Mahomes, but that wasn't the only officiating controversy in the contest.

Houston's Henry To'oTo'o was called for an unnecessary roughness penalty after hitting a sliding Mahomes at the end of a play — a hit the officials deemed to be to the head and neck area of the Chiefs star.

To'oTo'o was stunned, as was Texans coach DeMeco Ryans, but there was nothing Houston could do about the call at that point. The Texans wouldn't have gotten the Chiefs off the field if the penalty wasn't called, but the call gave Kansas City an additional 15 yards on what would be a touchdown drive.

Here's a look at the play and how ESPN's broadcast booth reacted. 

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Troy Aikman rips officials for unnecessary roughness call

ESPN's Troy Aikman ripped the unnecessary roughness penalty, explaining that there just wasn't enough contact with Mahomes to justify the call.

"Oh, come on!" Aikman said. "I could not disagree with that one more, and he barely gets hit."

Aikman called for a rule change in the offseason to clarify that the quarterback is a runner in that scenario. "You can't, as a quarterback, run around and play games with defenders and then be able to draw a penalty," Aikman said. 

ESPN's rules analyst Russell Yurk emphatically agreed with Aikman, explaining, "There's no forcible contact to the head and neck area ... that should not have been a foul."

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Mahomes, who was past the line of scrimmage and struggling to find a running lane, was starting to slide when To'oTo'o and Folorunso Fatukaski came in to take him down. To'oTo'o and Fatukasi appeared to collide with each other, making minimal contact with Mahomes. 

The call gave the Chiefs 15 yards and a fresh set of downs, and the drive would end with a highlight-reel touchdown from Mahomes to Travis Kelce to extend Kansas City's lead to eight.

Dan Treacy

Dan Treacy is a content producer for Sporting News, joining in 2022 after graduating from Boston University. He founded @allsportsnews on Instagram in 2012 and has written for Lineups and Yardbarker.