Round 1 might have gone to the NFL but the overall fight went to Houston Texans Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon.
Mixon officially won his appeal on Tuesday over a $25,000 fine issued following Houston’s playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round of the playoffs last month.
According to appeals officer Chris Palmer in a detailed letter to Mixon, upon further investigation, the Pro Bowler “did not necessarily publicly criticize the officials” on his postgame comments following the game at Arrowhead Stadium.
“During the appeal hearing, you stated what you meant by your statements referring to the officials,” Palmer wrote. “As you know, statements can be interpreted differently by every individual and it seems like you clearly understand the weight and detriment of public criticism towards officials can be, given how impactful your platform is as a player, which I appreciate.”
Texans RB Joe Mixon win his appeal over the fine he received following the loss to the Chiefs in divisional round. pic.twitter.com/zzTGkYElzv
— DJ Bien-Aime (@Djbienaime) February 18, 2025
Mixon, who joined the Texans this offseason after spending seven seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals. was asked about several choice calls made against the Texans’ defense that led to a pair of scoring drives.
Mixon had played in two AFC Championship games at Arrowhead in the past and voiced his opinion on how “everybody knows how it is playing up here” in the home of Patrick Mahomes.
Texans RB Joe Mixon on the officiating in today’s game:
“Everybody know how it is playing up here. You can never leave it into the refs hands. The whole world see, man.” pic.twitter.com/NZPIlO6YrQ
— Will Kunkel (@WillKunkelFOX) January 19, 2025
“You can never leave it into the refs’ hands,” Mixon said. “The whole world sees, man, what it is. When it comes down to it, you can never leave it into the refs’ hands. It’s all good, though.”
On X, former Bengals wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh tweeted his frustrations with the carefree penalties called against Houston in favor of Mixon’s thoughts.
“Why play the game if every 50/50 call goes with the Chiefs,” the former wideout said. “These officials are [trash] & bias.”
Well, the NFL initially thought that tweet came from Mixon due to attribution from in a Sports Illustrated story, according to Mixon and his agent, Peter Schaffer. SI later corrected its error, though the NFL wasn’t done.
Instead of fining Mixon for the story, the league instead reissued the fine for the comments made after the game in the postgame interview. Mixon rightfully tweeted his frustrations in the NFL’s process in fining him and other players for nothing in the past.
So let me get this straight NFL fines me 25k for something I didn’t even say. Call them out for it, and they response was fine me AGAIN for something that’s not even a violation without even rescinding the first one. Where’s the accountability? Just respect the players.
Cold
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Primetime!!!
“So let me get this straight, the NFL fines me 25k for something I didn’t even say,” Mixon posted to X. “Call them out for it, and their response was fine me AGAIN for something that’s not even a violation without even rescinding the first one. Where’s the accountability? Just respect the players.”
The headache could have been avoided by the NFL from the get-go if the league office just looked at the tweet and figured out who actually was behind the computer screen.