Infuriated Troy Aikman after controversial penalty: ‘They’ve gotta address it in the offseason’

After seeing the Houston Texans get penalized for a hit against Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, ESPN’s Troy Aikman felt that it might be time for a rule change.

The play in question came late in the third quarter of Saturday’s Divisional Round playoff game between the Texans and Chiefs. With Kansas City lined up in shotgun formation, Mahomes dropped the snap. While he quickly recovered the ball, it was a busted play and Mahomes quickly took off running. He picked up four yards on the play before awkwardly sliding to the ground. A pair of Houston defenders — Folorunso Fatukasi and Henry To’oTo’o — both dove toward Mahomes with the latter being called for unnecessary roughness.

Referee Clay Martin couldn’t even finish his call before Aikman criticized it.

“Oh, come on,” Aikman said as Martin announced the penalty. “I mean, he’s a runner. I could not disagree with that one more. He barely gets hit.”

Aikman also mentioned that it was the second controversial penalty called against the Texans, referencing an earlier flag that gave the Chiefs a first down after Houston had seemingly forced a punt.

There were actually multiple potential issues with the call on To’oTo’o. One, as Aikman pointed out, Mahomes was a runner. And while he did slide on the play, he wasn’t really moving forward when he did. As such, it was as much a fall to the ground as it was a real baseball-style slide. Two, as rules analyst Russell Yurk pointed out, Mahomes didn’t receive the brunt of the hit as Fatukasi and To’oTo’o hit each other.

“The two Houston players hit each other,” said Yurk. “That should not have been a foul.”

That’s when Aikman then called on the league to revisit such penalties in the offseason.

“They’ve gotta address it in the offseason,” he said. “You can’t, as a quarterback, run around and play games with defenders and then be able to draw a penalty.”

A later Mahomes scramble brought more commentary from Aikman.

After a short gain, Mahomes moved toward the sideline to go out of bounds, where he was met by To’oTo’o. There was contact between the two and, as play-by-play man Joe Buck stated, Mahomes “kind of flopped” out of bounds.

This time, it did not work. Though Aikman had plenty to say (as has been the case these days).

“He’s trying to draw the penalty,” Aikman said. “Rather than just run out of bounds, he slows down. And that’s been the frustration and I get it. I understand it. That’s been the frustration for these defensive players around the league.”