Texans and Chiefs fans could not believe it.
On a day when Texans players accused NFL refs of basically pulling for the Chiefs to win, one issue appeared to instantly unite both fanbases.
4
Houston special teams player Kris Boyd went too far when he threw his helmet early in the first quarter and then almost knocked over a Texans coach.
“This should be his last day in the league,” one fan tweeted.
“Inexcusable on Boyd,” a second fan posted.
“May not have a flight back home,” a third fan wrote.
“That’s a problem,” a fourth fan said.
But 48 hours after many expected that Boyd would never play for the Texans again, the team took another route.
It backed the veteran defensive back despite almost flooring Texans assistant coach Frank Ross.
Houston went out its way to take up for Boyd, who unleashed the most controversial move of the Divisional Round weekend.
“I don’t think he was pushing Frank in a disrespectful manner,” Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans said.
“He was fired up — overly fired up — and thought he made a play to help us.
4
4
4
“So that narrative that he’s pushing a coach, that’s incorrect.”
Boyd did, in fact, aggressively push a coach.
Ross fell backward after receiving the blow, then appeared to get into a heated exchange with a player he was trying to coach.
Ross kept retreating as Boyd aggressively motioned with his arm and shouted.
But the Texans, who fell to the Chiefs 23-14, stood up for a backup defender who’s played in 81 career games (six starts).
Boyd was flagged 15 yards for removing his helmet, setting up a day that saw Houston penalized eight times for 82 yards and make several special teams miscues.
The Texans ignored it all and stressed that the role player was just too excited at the start of a big playoff game on the road.
“He came over with the excitement, overly excited that he made a play,” Ryans said.
“But we can’t lose our minds in that sense of taking our helmet off. We still have to remain poised, right.
“We cannot take a helmet off in a game, everyone knows and understands the rules.”
Many fans wanted Boyd kicked off the team.
Ryans opted for the opposite path, turning Boyd’s temporary meltdown into a team-wide teaching moment.
Throwback to when the Chiefs overcame a 24 point deficit to defeat the Houston Texans 51-31
