National outrage over questionable penalties called during the Kansas City Chiefs’ playoff game against the Houston Texans made it to Travis Kelce’s podcast Wednesday, but he stayed on the sidelines of the debate.
After NFL referees called two roughing-the-pass penalties after hits on Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes during Saturday’s divisional round game, Texans players and head coach DeMeco Ryans suggested officials sided with Kansas City. Many fans expressed complaints about the questionable penalties on social media.
Kelce and his brother Jason read some of the outraged tweets during Wednesday’s episode of their podcast, “New Heights,” but Travis refused to talk about the issue.
“I’d like to plead the fifth,” the tight end said, jokingly referring to his constitutional right to remain silent.
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Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce (Imagn)
Jason described one of the penalties as “completely, absolutely ridiculous.”
“He wasn’t even touched,” Jason said. “I understand why they called it. I just think it was a bad call.”
Travis is one of the few people to remain silent on the matter, as penalties have been among the most debated topics in football in the past week.
Mahomes has since defended referees for the penalties several times. The quarterback was asked by reporters Wednesday if he thought the referees gave him preferential treatment.
“I don’t feel that way,” Mahomes replied. “At the end of the day, the referees are doing their best to call the game as fair and correct as they possibly can. And all you can do is go out there and play the game you love as hard as you can and live with the results. … I think that’s what we preach here in Kansas City.
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The home of Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce was reportedly burglarized last month. (Imagn)
“You get new referees every year, you get new circumstances, and you can never really tell because every game is different. And that’s what makes the NFL so special. I feel like I just kept playing the game and I’m just trying to win And whatever happens, happens.”
Mahomes defended the referees Tuesday during a radio interview on 96.5 The Fan.
“I’ve kind of learned that no matter what happens during the game, if you win, something will come of it and you keep winning. So I don’t really pay attention to it,” Mahomes said.
“I mean, obviously, I’ve been on both sides of it as far as how I felt the calls were made, but at the end of the day, man, those guys are doing their best to make the best calls and keep it where the players play in the game.
“And that’s what decides the outcome. And of course there was a call here or there that people didn’t agree with, but at the same time I think there were a lot of other plays that really decided the outcome of that football game.”
Explaining the calls to a pool reporter after the game, head referee Clay Martin said that one of the controversial calls was the result of “forceful contact to the facemask area,” which warranted a flag. He said there was forced contact to Mahomes’ “hairline” on another unnecessary roughness call.
