The Referee Assigned To Chiefs vs. Texans Is Making Headlines
Yesterday at 02:22 PM
In the past, we've seen accusations of favoritism toward the Kansas City Chiefs directed at various NFL officiating crews.
In reality, whenever a team reaches a level of consistent success like the Chiefs have and a controversial call goes their way, the cries of "rigged!" are going to be heard all over social media. The perception of Kansas City as getting "all the calls" is not unlike what the New England Patriots dealt with during their dynasty years or other marquee teams like Duke basketball deal with on a regular basis.
This weekend, the Chiefs are hosting the Houston Texans in an AFC Divisional Round game, and referee Clay Martin's crew will be in charge of policing the action.
All-time, the Chiefs are 6-0 in games with Martin as referee. Cue the conspiracy theories.
"This will be Clay Martin's fifth playoff game as head referee. The remainder of the crew are officials from the Hochuli, Blakeman, Brad Rogers crews," said the NFL Refs stats X/Twitter account. "HOME teams are 4-0 SU & 2-2 ATS in Clay Martin's playoff career, favored by an avg of -4.5 pts. One playoff game was a 22-17 KC win vs #Browns in 2020 & also #Texans 45-17 win vs #Browns in 2023.
"The @Chiefs are 6-0 SU & 2-4 ATS w Martin, favored by an avg of -7.5 pts in those contests Most recently, their 19-17 Black Friday win vs. #Raiders in Week 13, which ended w' the illegal shift penalty on Las Vegas as time expired."
As of today, Kansas City is an eight-point favorite over the Texans, so they are expected to win the game. And again, we're not accusing Martin or any other officials for being biased toward the two-time defending Super Bowl champions.
But if things come down to the wire though, and there's a notable call or non-call that helps the Chiefs, look out.
Kickoff for Chiefs-Texans is set for 4:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Related: NFL Star Accuses Refs Of Favoring The Chiefs, Cowboys Players
