Texans DE Will Anderson Jr. breaks down infamous Patrick Mahomes 'flop' in playoff loss
Now, he's telling his side of the story.
In an interview on the Ross Tucker Podcast, Anderson confirmed suspicions that plagued Texans fans in Arrowhead Stadium, stating his hit on MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes during the first quarter was clean.
"I hit his chest, I hit his chest, but I just got to be better," Anderson told Tucker. "Me and my coach and talked about it. We've got to be better just when it comes to how you hit the quarterback and we got to drill it more and stuff like that."
On the second drive of the game, the Texans were trying to force a quick three-and-out. On third-and-8, Anderson brushed over Mahomes' chest as he released the pass, which should have resulted in a punt. Instead, Anderson was flagged with a roughing the passer call, which tacked on 15 yards and placed Kansas City in Houston territory.
"I don't even know if you touched him or not, dude, he snapped his head back like he got whiplash in a car accident going 70 miles an hour," Anderson said.
The hit eventually led to a scoring drive and a 23-14 loss, though it wasn't even the most egregious call of the afternoon. Houston mounted a comeback, bringing the game within one entering the fourth quarter. On another third down, Mahomes scrambled for a first down and began to slide to avoid contact from defensive tackle Foley Fatukasi and linebacker Henry To'oTo'o.
The two Texans ended up colliding with each other, nearly knocking each other out of the game, but officials instead called it an unnecessary roughness penalty, tacking on 15 yards and a first down, which led to the eventual game-winning touchdown pass to tight end Travis Kelce several plays later.
"I think it's for everybody's safety...when these runners are running, quarterbacks are running and for defensive players, how are we fixing the safety on both sides of the ball to make the game safer for everyone," Anderson said. "But like I said: we've got to do a better job defensively of how we are attacking our tackling and stuff like... our head placement. We'll work on it this offseason and get it fixed."
As Anderson put it, officials are looking to protect quarterbacks rather than focusing on proper plays. Everything must come down to an exact science to avoid the flag from the zebras.
"You've got to be perfect in the playoffs," Anderson said.
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Texans DE Will Anderson Jr. shares thoughs on playoff 'Mahomes flop'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Scheffler ticks off British Open in pursuit of perfection
Scottie Scheffler began his week at the British Open pondering "the point" of his pursuit of perfection but still cruised away from the field to lift the Claret Jug for the first time. Now a four-time major winner, the unassuming American's game is making waves in a dominant spell golf has not seen since Tiger Woods' heyday. Scheffler's four-stroke victory at Royal Portrush was already his fourth this year, despite a slow start after a freak hand injury caused by broken glass when he was making pasta. Since the Houston Open in March, the 29-year-old has not finished outside the top 10 in 11 tournaments -- rubber-stamping his status as the world's best. That run has included major wins at both the PGA Championship and British Open to take him within a US Open victory of joining the six men to have won the career Grand Slam. Rory McIlroy was the latest to join that select club when he won the Masters in April. But even the world number two is blown away by Scheffler's consistent excellence as McIlroy was unable to chase down the only man on the planet currently better with a club in his hand on home soil. "Scottie Scheffler is inevitable," said McIlroy. "He's just so solid. He doesn't make mistakes." Scheffler's supremacy over the rest of the field has drawn comparisons to 15-time major champion Woods. Matt Fitzpatrick labelled his playing partner on Saturday "Tiger-like" and there are a raft of stats to back up that claim. He is the first player since Woods to surpass 100 consecutive weeks as world number one. Scheffler's seven PGA Tour wins last year was the most since Woods in 2007 and he has also now become just the second player to win the British Open while ranked number one. Behind that success is a relentless work ethic, even if it sometimes drives even Scheffler to wonder why he pushes himself to the max. "We work so hard for such little moments," he said on the eve of the British Open. "I'm kind of a sicko; I love putting in the work. I love getting to practice. I love getting to live out my dreams. But at the end of the day, sometimes I just don't understand the point." - Arrest shock - For those trying to catch him, the hard work appears well worth it. "At the start of this year, when we checked the stats, Scheffler was further ahead of number two in the world than I was at 15th or 16th to the number two," said world number 14 Robert McIntyre. "He's an exceptional player and a great guy, and works so hard." Scheffler's dominance on the PGA Tour is beginning to show in his major record. His four majors have come in the last 16 events, a record which could have been even better but for a remarkable incident as last year's PGA Championship, which checked his progress. The mild-mannered Scheffler was arrested on the morning of his second round for trying to work his way around a traffic jam outside the course. Despite being bundled into a police station and having his mugshot taken in an orange jumpsuit, he was released in time to make the tee and went on to shoot a five-under par 66. The toll came the following day when his streak of 42 consecutive rounds of par or better came to an end and he finished in a tie for eighth. All charges were subsequently dropped and business was soon back to normal on the course too. He produced a blistering course-record 62 on the final day at Le Golf National to add Olympic gold to his list of honours in August and took home a record $62 million in prize money last year from his haul of victories on the PGA Tour. kca/jc/mw
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Kevin Kisner had an interesting take on the Wyndham Clark/Oakmont locker room situation
It has been a tumultuous couple of months for Wyndham Clark. First, he damaged a sign at the PGA Championship and then damaged lockers inside the Oakmont clubhouse, which it resulted in him being banned from the club, it was announced earlier this week. He opened with 76 in the British Open at Royal Portrush on Thursday but put together three great rounds to finish in the top five at the last major championship of the year. During final round coverage on NBC, analyst Kevin Kisner had an interesting take on the Clark and Oakmont debacle, which resulted in numerous golf personalities on social media questioning his comments. "I'm not sure anybody in the situation handled it properly," Kisner said on the broadcast. "Wyndham probably could have nipped that in the bud with an earlier, or justifiable, statement, but locker rooms are supposed to be sacred. Not sure how that picture got out, USGA can help with that. I think if everyone just sat at a table face to face, that situation could go away pretty quickly." His comments make it seem as if he's pointing a finger at the USGA for the photo getting out. No Laying Up's Tron Carter is who initially posted the photo of damage on social media. After Kisner's comments, numerous people flooded social media to post about the situation. Clark finished T-4 at the British Open and spoke with media Sunday after declining to talk Saturday. "Yeah, so obviously I feel terrible with what happened. I'm doing anything I can to try to remedy the situation. We're trying to keep it private between Oakmont, myself and the USGA. I'm just happy we have a pathway moving forward, and like you said, I'm hoping we can get past this and move on and hope there's no ill-will towards me and Oakmont. "Like you said, I'm just trying to get past it. I want the best for Oakmont, the USGA and myself. Like I said, I'm very sorry for what I did and feel terrible, and hopefully in a few months we're past this, and it's something of the past." His T-4 at Royal Portrush is on the heels of a T-11 at the Genesis Scottish Open, so perhaps it's a sign of improving play. Clark was asked about the situation becoming public, and he said, "we were hoping it was going to be private. I'll just leave it at that." This article originally appeared on Golfweek: British Open 2025: Kevin Kisner's take on Wyndham Clark and Oakmont
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Erie Moon Mammoths take the field for special theme night after rebrand by comedian John Oliver
The Moon Mammoths were welcomed to Minor League Baseball on Saturday night with the Erie, Pennsylvania Double-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers rebranding for four games this season. The Erie Seawolves were chosen by comedian John Oliver and the staff of his HBO program "Last Week Tonight" from among 47 teams who submitted pitches after the late-night talk show host praised the goofy spirit of minor league baseball and wanted to contribute in some manner. Oliver threw out the first pitch for Saturday's game versus the Chesapeake Baysox. He was also a celebrity bat boy and PA announcer, sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and sat in with the broadcast team. Additionally, Oliver presented a race between mascots Fuzz E. Mammoth and Louie, the green Baysox mascot, and also worked as a Moon Pie vendor during the game. The Moon Mammoths lost to the Baysox, 6-5, in front of a record crowd of 7,070 at UPMC Park. (By the way, the Baysox have their own alternate brand identity as the Oyster Catchers.) Erie was chosen after an email listing 11 reasons why the team should be chosen, including "The SeaWolves play baseball nowhere near the sea" and "We have the least creatively named mascot in MiLB. His name is C. Wolf. Seriously." Per Oliver's conditions, the Seawolves had to unconditionally accept the rebranding proposal, with no input in the name, mascot or theme night to be created. "Minor league baseball is clearly both incredibly special and inescapably stupid in the very best way," Oliver said on the May 4, 2025 episode of his show. "I love all of this," he added. "The way the world is now, I'd argue that we all badly, badly need this." Why the "Moon Mammoths"? Oliver and his staff wanted to create a brand identity that somehow told some of Erie's history to set it apart from other minor league baseball cities. 'Erie did stand out to us as being, you know, uniquely eccentric. And I say that as both a compliment and an insult, which is the biggest compliment there is," Oliver said, via the Associated Press. The Seawolves have previously held humorous theme nights including "Alternative Facts Night" in 2017, during which the team celebrated the 2016 championship that it never actually won. The Moon Mammoths were inspired by George Moon, who found a bone measuring three feet long while scuba diving in Erie County's Lake Pleasant in 1991. The bone was discovered to be the shoulder blade of a prehistoric mammoth. Subsequent dives after Moon's find recovered 80 percent of the creature's skeleton, including both of its tusks. Moon caught the ceremonial first pitch from Oliver on Saturday. "If you had bet me 34 years ago on something like this, I would have not taken the money, I would have lost," Moon told Pittsburgh's KDKA. "This is great. I love it for Erie. It is great for the community, for the ballpark, for everybody around." The Seawolves will play three more games as the Moon Mammoths on Aug. 19, Sept. 12 and Sept. 13. After that, it's up to the team to decide whether or not to keep the mascot that Oliver referred to as "our furry child."
