Texans great JJ Watt issues complaint against Joe Mixon's shocking $25,000 fine

On Jan. 23, Houston Texans running back Joe Mixon was fined by the NFL for comments he didn't make. After the Texans' 24-13 divisional-round loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Mixon did comment on the officiating.

"Everybody knows how it is playing up here. You can never leave it into the refs' hands," Mixon said. "The whole world sees, man, what it is."

Shortly after, an article was posted on SI.com, with an embedded tweet from former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh saying:

"Why play the game if every 50/50 call goes with Chiefs. These officials are (three trash emojis) & bias."

As a result, Mixon was fined by the league. This prompted former NFL defensive end J.J. Watt to issue a complaint against the league, questioning why Mixon was fined for someone else's words.

Watt Tweeted:

"This has not received enough attention… He got fined for something he didn’t say. Publicly complained about it (correctly). Then got fined for that. What are we doing here?"

As a result of the league fining Mixon for Houshmandzadeh's words, they re-issued the $25,000 fine in a new statement with Mixon's comments after the Chiefs' loss.

Players from opposing teams, fans, NFL media, and even announcer Troy Aikman are seemingly fed up with the refs' favoring Chiefs with calls/miscalls.

Aikman said during last week's divisional game broadcast:

"Come on. He’s a runner, and I could not disagree with that one more. He barely gets hit. That’s the second penalty now that’s been called against the Texans.”

Following the divisional round win against the Houston Texans, Patrick Mahomes said the refs are, "Doing their best,"

NFL: SEP 15 Bengals at Chiefs - Source: Getty

Despite all the criticism the Kansas City Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes have received following their divisional round victory over the Houston Texans, Mahomes said the referees are doing their best to call the game as fair as they can.

Mahomes said:

"I just try to play football at the end of the day. The referees are doing their best to call the game as fair and proper as best they can. For me, it's go out there, play hard, try to do whatever I can to win the football game, and then live with the results based on my effort and how I play the game, and that's what we preach here in Kansas City."

Of course, this didn't sit well with many NFL fans who think that the Chiefs have been benefiting a lot lately from the referees.

Still, the Chiefs will be competing for a chance to reach the Super Bowl for the third time in a row. They host the Buffalo Bills on Jan. 26 at 6:30 p.m. ET.