The Kansas City Chiefs’ win over the Houston Texans sparked some outrage among some fans. In particular, some weren’t happy with the perceived advantage the officials were giving to Kansas City. Two instances caught the fans’ attention: an unnecessary roughness call on two Texans defenders collapsing on a sliding Patrick Mahomes and a roughing the passer call on Mahomes.

On the “Pat McAfee Show”, Texans legend JJ Watt talked about these calls. The former Texans pass-rusher said that the discussion around the calls were “justified”, but ultimately these calls did not cause his former team to lose to the Chiefs.

“I think the two calls that everybody is talking about in the Chiefs game are justified..

I was happy to see that they didn’t throw a flag on the sideline one but those two calls aren’t the reason the Texans lost the game” ~ @JJWatt#PMSLivepic.twitter.com/xIu1kyOQtY

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 22, 2025

The Chiefs have gotten flak over the last few years due to them benefitting from some crucial calls in games. This sentiment was echoed during their Divisional Round game. It’s exacerbated by the fact that Mahomes himself seems to draw a lot of these calls, inducing the officials to call flags in his favor with his actions.

However, as Watt pointed out, these supposed “blown calls” were not the reason the Texans lost to the Chiefs. CJ Stroud had a respectable game, but the Chiefs’ pass-rushers got home way too often (eight sacks for the KC defense). They also failed to contain Travis Kelce, who popped off with seven receptions for 117 yards and a back-breaking touchdown.

The Texans will now enter the 2025 season with some big decisions ahead of them. Stefon Diggs is a free agent after this season, and the Texans will wait to see if Diggs returns after his season was cut short with an ACL injury. Despite being eliminated by the Chiefs in the playoffs for two straight seasons, the future remains bright for Houston.