Troy Aikman, Russell Yurk question critical penalty: ‘I didn’t see anything there that supported a foul’

It didn’t take long for the first officiating controversy of the NFL Divisional Round to emerge. During Saturday’s game between the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs, Houston’s Will Anderson Jr. was penalized for a roughing the passer penalty against Patrick Mahomes. Neither color analyst Troy Aikman nor rules analyst Russell Yurk agreed with the call.

The play in question came with the Chiefs facing a third-and-eight deep in their own territory. Mahomes’ pass to Travis Kelce fell incomplete, seemingly forcing a fourth down. But play-by-play announcer Joe Buck quickly noted that there was a penalty on the play. Anderson, who pressured Mahomes, was flagged for roughing the passer.

Aikman initially thought the call was correct. But upon seeing the replay, his mind changed.

“It looked like it was helmet-to-helmet in real-time and — hmmm,” Aikman said. “It’s close. He definitely comes in high. Hard to tell from that angle if it was, in fact, helmet-to-helmet. But that was the call and it gives them a new set of downs.”

Play was then briefly stopped, giving Yurk a chance to weigh in on the call.

“Based on what you saw, it looked like he did come up high with the helmet but it looked like that first contact was to the upper chest area,” Yurk said. “I didn’t see anything there that supported a foul.”

“I agree with you, Russell,” Aikman said. “From that angle there, I don’t see helmet-to-helmet at all. That’s a big-time penalty.”

ESPN rules analyst Russell Yurk: “It looked like that first contact was to the upper chest area. I didn’t see anything there that supported a foul.”

Troy Aikman: “I agree with you, Russell. From that angle there, I don’t see helmet-to-helmet… A big-time penalty.” #NFL pic.twitter.com/xt2nmDPqfg

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 18, 2025

Later in the drive — which resulted in a Kansas City field goal — Buck asked Yurk if the flag could have been picked up after an expedited review.

Yurk confirmed that while the flag could have been picked up, it wouldn’t have been warranted on that play.

Russell Yurk also explained why the flag couldn’t be picked up. https://t.co/25FseVUsBL pic.twitter.com/g088Gm9Fjx

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 18, 2025

“Replay can come in and pick up a flag for high contact to the head-and-neck area of a quarterback,” he said. “But if there’s any contact at all, they can’t pick it up. It looks like there might have been some contact. Even if not forceable enough to be a foul, there’s enough that they can’t pick it up.”