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Will Anderson calls out officials after Chiefs loss: 'We knew it was going to be us against the refs'

ns_headshot_2024-clearby: Nick Schultz01/19/25NickSchultz_7
Houston Texans DE Will Anderson
© Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

In the first quarter of Saturday’s playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Will Anderson got called for a controversial roughing the passer penalty on a sack of Patrick Mahomes. It was just one of the questionable calls against the Houston Texans, and the reigning NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year called out the officiating after the game.

Anderson said the Texans would also be “against the refs” as they headed to Arrowhead Stadium for Saturday’s AFC Divisional Round game. That’s why their mentality was to play as clean a game as they could, although as head coach DeMeco Ryans also noted, that wasn’t the case.

The officiating was a big point of conversation throughout Saturday’s game, notably drawing ire from Troy Aikman on the ESPN and ABC broadcasts. With the season in the rearview mirror, though, Anderson said the goal needs to be about coming out better on the other side of the offseason.

“We knew it was going to be us against the refs going into in this game. … We’ve got to go out there and we’ve got to do what’s better,” Anderson said. “In some instances, we didn’t do that. In some instances, we did.

“We’ve just to keep going, man. Next offseason, get the guys together, man. Everybody just coming together and just keep building that team chemistry and get past this hump.”

The penalty on Will Anderson wasn’t the only time the officiating came into question on Saturday. An unnecessary roughness call on Houston got a fiery response out of Aikman, who called for change in the NFL offices after this offseason.

Ryans was also asked about the officiating and said the Texans planned to be up against “everybody” on Saturday. He didn’t specifically mention the referees, but reiterated he meant everyone.

“We knew going into this game, man, it was us vs. everybody,” Ryans said. “When I say everybody, it’s everybody. All the whatever – the naysayers, the doubt. Everybody, we had to go against today.

“With that, knowing we’re going into this game, who we were up against, we can’t make the mistakes that we made. We had a lot of self-inflicted mistakes that happened, whether it’s special teams not converting our kicks. Defensively, not being where we’re supposed to be in coverage. Offensively, not protecting our quarterback and not keeping him clean. You marry that on top of everything else we had to deal with, it’s going to be a really tough uphill battle.”