Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes took a horse collar tackle that didn’t count in Sunday’s 20-3 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, but the league will likely make sure it counts against the offending player’s salary.
Mahomes was pulled down from behind by Seahawks linebacker Uchenna Nwosu during a third-quarter drive. Officials threw a flag for a horse-collar tackle, but the penalty was wiped out by an offsetting holding penalty on the Chiefs.
Seahawks Defender Looking at Fine for Patrick Mahomes Hit
The Chiefs were able to overcome the setback and score a field goal, their only points of the game, and the league is now expected to hand down more punishment for Nwosu.
The league reviews every game during the week, issuing a list of fines on Saturday for illegal hits and other infractions. Unless the league were to reverse its decision or decide the call was incorrect, that means Nwosu is looking at a five-figure fine for his hit on Mahomes.
The league’s guide on fines states that a horse collar tackle costs $17,911 for a first infraction or $23,82 for a second offense.
Patrick Mahomes Had Career-Worst Game Against Seahawks
Aside from Nwosu’s penalty for the horse-collar tackle, the Seahawks had little trouble containing Mahomes and the Chiefs offense. As ESPN Insights noted after the game, the game was one of the worst for Mahomes in his career.
“One to forget for Kansas City!” the account noted. “The Chiefs had their joint-fewest points (3), fewest Red zone drives (0), and 2nd-fewest yards (213) in any of the 153 games started by Patrick Mahomes, regular season or playoffs. Mahomes was pressured on 19 of 36 dropbacks (53%), the 4th-highest pressure rate in a game in his career, regular season or playoffs.”
Mahomes admitted after the game that his team wasn’t properly prepared.
“If you don’t come ready to play, you can get your tail kicked in this league—we have a young team, it’ll be how we respond from this,” Mahomes said.
But Chiefs head coach Andy Reid took the blame, saying it was hit fault that the team wasn’t ready to face the defending Super Bowl champions.
“Listen, all three phases we struggled, so we’ve got to do better, and that’s my responsibility,” Reid said after the game. “So I take full responsibility for this. We’ve got to play better as a team.”
NFL Expected to Issue Punishment for Patrick Mahomes Play in Chiefs-Seahawks