Chiefs kickoff returner Tyreek Hill had a 105-yard touchdown called back by a penalty in Sunday’s loss to the Texans, and coach Andy Reid isn’t happy about it.
Reid’s displeasure is not with Kansas City’s Steven Nelson, who was called for the crucial holding penalty, but with the officials and with Houston’s Charles James, who according to Reid flopped to get the officials to throw the flag.
“Tyreek and his return . . . if it was basketball it probably would have been ruled as a flop,” Reid said, via the Kansas City Star.
The NBA has explicit rules against flopping, and players who flop to draw a foul can be fined. There’s nothing like that in the NFL’s rules, but Reid seems to think there should be.
“[James] knew he was outflanked, so he literally flopped,” Reid said. “Nelson put his hands out, put him down and the kid just jumped into his body. Obviously from the officials’ perspective it didn’t look like that.”
Was it just sour grapes from Reid, or does he have a good point? Reviewing the TV replay, it’s hard to tell: James did fall to the ground as Nelson blocked him, but there was no definitive angle that showed whether or not Nelson held James. (It didn’t help that referee Tony Corrente didn’t give a jersey number when announcing the penalty, and so there was confusion about whether the penalty was even called on Nelson at all.)
If the touchdown had counted, the Chiefs would have trailed 19-16 with three minutes left, and Reid would have liked his team’s chances of getting a stop on defense, getting the ball back and scoring again to force overtime or even win the game in regulation. Instead, the Chiefs drove down the field for a field goal but failed to recover the onside kick and lost 19-12.