NFL fines Joe Mixon for comments he didn’t make about refs, then fines him again for comments he did make

The NFL fined the Houston Texans running back Joe Mixon for comments he never made about the officiating during the team’s controversial playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs last Saturday.

After Mixon and his agent appealed the fine and publicly pointed out that Mixon did not make those comments, the NFL reissued the fine with the comments he did make.

The original sentence claimed Mixon said, “Why play the game if every call goes 50/50 with the chiefwith. These officers are rubbish and biased.”

That statement didn’t come from Mixon. Former NFL wide receiver TJ Houshmandzadeh wrote this in a post on social media.

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Mixon then went on a social media tirade denying he made the statement and expressing anger at the league’s fine.

NFL he later reissued the penalty with his actual words in place, which read, “Everybody knows how the game is played here. You can never leave it up to the refs. The whole world’s watching, man,” according to NBC Sports.

League rules prohibit public criticism of the officiating “because it calls into question the integrity and public confidence in our game.”

Officials have come under widespread criticism from Texans players and head coach DeMeco Ryans, as well as many media pundits and fans on social media for two questionably rough pass penalties that were called against the Texans for hitting Patrick Mahomes last Saturday.

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The first penalty came when Houston edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. called for roughing the passer on third down in the first quarter. Anderson appeared to shove Mahomes in the chest after throwing an incomplete pass to tight end Travis Kelce. Anderson is tagged in.

The second penalty came during a Mahomes scramble in the third quarter. He had two run blockers and three defenders attacking him. He moved to the right and then back to the left when he decided to slide.

Referee Clay Martin explained the calls to a pool reporter after the game, saying one of the controversial calls was the result of “violent contact with the facemask area,” which warranted a flag. He said there was forced contact with Mahomes’ “haircut” on another unnecessary roughing call.

Mahomes himself defended the refs over the call when reporters asked him Wednesday if he believed the refs were giving him preferential treatment.

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“I don’t feel that way,” Mahomes replied. “At the end of the day, the umpires do their best to call the game as fair and as fair as they 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 it’s that’s what we preach here in Kansas City.

“Every year you get new referees, you have 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 just trying to win. And what whatever happens, happens.”

Meanwhile, Kelce declined to talk about the issue when asked about it by his brother, Jason Kelce, during their “New Heights” podcast on Wednesday.

“I’d like to make a statement on the Fifth,” the tight end said, joking about his constitutional right to remain silent.

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