Texans great JJ Watt drops eye-opening take on Patrick Mahomes taking advantage of referee calls - "Pat is notorious"

Patrick Mahomes' controversial penalty calls during the AFC Divisional Game against the Houston Texans are still up for debate in NFL circles. With the Kansas City Chiefs preparing for the conference championship, the quarterback remains a topic of discussion regarding whether the referees overly protect him.

A new opinion emerged on Wednesday, this time from a Texans legend. Former defensive end J.J. Watt, a three-time Defensive Player of the Year award winner, criticized the referees for the no-calls on Saturday, but he also took a balanced view from the quarterback's side:

""The two calls everybody's talking about, I think are justifiably talked about," Watt said. "I think that they're legitimate. I think it was great how Troy called them out. I think that was all great."

Watt said he thinks Mahomes is a great quarterback partly because he is notorious for taking advantage of the rules.

"Pat is notorious for knowing how to take full advantage of the rules," Watt said. "He's a great quarterback because he does everything great, not just on the field, playing and everything, but he also knows how to take full advantage."

"He'll slide late. He'll stay tight along the sidelines and make you hit him, so it looks like he's out of bounds. He'll do all these things. Don't blame him one bit. I would do it too if they were giving me the call. But to me, that's more on the refs."

The Chiefs will play the Buffalo Bills in Sunday's AFC Championship Game. Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes are two of the league's elite quarterbacks, and this will be the fourth time they'll play against each other in the postseason.

Patrick Mahomes has never lost to Josh Allen in the postseason

Referees aside, a duel between Mahomes and Allen is excellent for NFL fans. Only Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, the legendary quarterback duo, have played against each other more times in the postseason (five).

Despite the Chiefs and Bills dominating their respective divisions in recent years, there hasn't been much of a competition when they meet in the playoffs. Mahomes' Chiefs have defeated Allen's Bills all three times they have faced each other in January:

2020: Kansas City Chiefs 38, Buffalo Bills 24
2021: Kansas City Chiefs 42, Buffalo Bills 36
2023: Buffalo Bills 24, Kansas City Chiefs 27.

The biggest hope for Allen and the Bills is that the two teams met during the 2024 season, and Buffalo won 30-21.