Patrick Mahomes unnecessary roughness controversy: Tom Brady picks sides as refs double down on decision

Patrick Mahomes had a controversial unnecessary roughness call on him against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night in a game that will likely be talked about all season long.

Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs were trailing the Packers, but they had the ball and were driving down the field.

As Mahomes was forced to scramble out of the pocket, he ran toward the sideline and was hit by Jonathan Owens. The refs threw a flag for unnecessary roughness as they deemed Mahomes was out of bounds.

However, when Owens hit Mahomes, he still was in bounds, and after the game, the refs doubled down on the call.

"The covering official believed that the defender made late and unnecessary contact on the quarterback," said referee Brad Allen. "So that was the call for unnecessary roughness."

In conversation with the iconic Lawrence Taylor on his Let's Go! podcast this week, Tom Brady addressed the incident and gave his opinion on the call.

The legendary NFL quarterback said he isn't a fan of how many roughing the passer or unnecessary roughness calls there are. He also believes quarterbacks need to get rid of the ball instead of taking the hit.

"I really don't like the way that it's gone because every time you [Lawrence Taylor] would have hit the quarterback there would have been a flag. The reality is defenses should be aggressive," Brady said.

"There was a hit on Patrick Mahomes last night where he was running out of bounds where he wasn't even out of bounds. Quarterbacks need to learn how to throw the ball away. They need to learn how to read defenses so that they can get the ball out of their hands. I always felt like my best protection was getting rid of the ball."

After the call was made, many Green Bay Packers fans were frustrated. But, on that same drive, the Packers appeared to get away with a pass interference call which would've put the ball inside the 10-yard line.

Like the Mahomes unnecessary roughness call, the refs doubled down on the non-call on the pass interference.

"On every play where there may or may not be pass interference, either offensive or defensive, the covering official has to rule whether contact materially restricts the receiver. And in this case, the covering officials were in good position and ruled that there was no material restriction that rose to the level of defensive pass interference," Brad Allen told pool reporter Calvin Watkins.

Patrick Mahomes' Chiefs 1-2 in last three games

After failing to get the call on the pass interference, the Kansas City Chiefs lost 27-19 to the Green Bay Packers.

The Chiefs are now 1-2 in their last three as Kansas City picked up a 31-17 win over the Las Vegas Raiders to return to the win column after a 21-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Chiefs are now 8-4 but remain atop the AFC West standings, holding a two-game lead over the Denver Broncos. Kansas City will now host the Buffalo Bills on Sunday afternoon in a pivotal game for both of their seasons.

As for Patrick Mahomes, this season, he's 301-for-444 for 3,127 yards 22 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. He's currently tied for fourth in MVP odds at +850 trailing Dak Prescott, Jalen Hurts, and Brock Purdy while being tied with Tua Tagovailoa.