Football fans are accusing the NFL refs of “rigging” the Houston Texans-New England Patriots Week 6 contest after several blown calls went against one team.
The Texans defeated the one-win Patriots 41-21 to improve to 5-1 on the season. The victory also marked Houston’s first road win over the Patriots, who had won the first seven meetings (including two playoff games) at Gillette Stadium. That said, DeMeco Ryans’ group unquestionably benefited from several head-scratching mistakes by the NFL refs today.
In what might go down as the worst officiating mistake of 2024, Ronald Torbert’s group failed to call a clear-cut facemask penalty on Houston’s Mario Edwards Jr. as he tried to stop Patriots running back Antonio Gibson:
Instead of getting a fresh set of downs and potentially getting the game-tying touchdown, Drake Maye fumbled on the next play. Stefon Diggs caught a 10-yard touchdown to extend Houston’s lead, and they never looked back.
That wasn’t the only mistake by the NFL refs. Marte Mapu of New England was called for defensive pass interference on this play, which gave Houston a fresh set of downs to set up the game’s opening score:
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The NFL refs also missed a potential offensive pass interference call on Joe Mixon’s first quarter touchdown:
Social media accused the officials of rigging the game in favor of Houston following all of these blown calls:
For what it’s worth, the Texans were penalized four times for 38 yards, while New England was flagged a whopping nine times for 50 yards.
NFL Refs Take The Spotlight Again
It’s not what fans, coaches or players want, but Sunday was another instance of the NFL officials being a top storyline because of their many mistakes.
The NFL refs also failed to penalize the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a dangerous head hit on Chris Olave that led to a fumble return TD in the first quarter, and the Baltimore Ravens got away with several holding calls against Washington.
