“Where’s the accountability? Just respect the players,” Mixon wrote on X
Joe Mixon
Houston Texans running back Joe Mixon recently received a hefty fine from the NFL.
Mixon was initially hit with a $25,000 fine by the league for criticizing game officials on Saturday, Jan.18 following the Texans’ loss to the Kansas City Chiefs 23-14.
“Why play the game if every 50/50 call goes with Chiefs. These officials are trash and bias,” Mixon was mistakenly fined for saying, according to ESPN.
However, it was later discovered that the statement was actually made by former NFL player T.J. Houshmandzadeh in a post on X.
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Joe Mixon
According to CBS Sports, the mix-up occurred after a Sports Illustrated article titled, “Look: Joe Mixon calls out officials after Chiefs’ win over Texans,” was published featuring Houshmandzadeh’s X post.
Although proven to not have made the statement now attributed to Houshmandzadeh, the NFL issued another $25,000 fine for comments that Mixon did, in fact, make regarding the game, the outlet reported.
“Everybody knows how it is playing up here,” Mixon is now fined for saying. “You can never leave it into the refs’ hands. The whole world see, man.”
Following the second fine, Mixon took to X to voice his displeasure with the decision.
“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,” Mixon wrote.
According to The Athletic, Peter Schaffer, Mixon’s agent, said that since the NFL didn’t cancel the initial $25,000, they’re operating as if they have to pay a total of $50,000 to settle the fine. “They didn’t say in this [second] letter, ‘We hereby rescind the original letter.’ They just said, ‘Here’s another letter.’ So now we have two letters, two fines, for two different quotes,” Schaffer said.
“One he didn’t say. One he doesn’t publicly criticize the officiating [by] the game officials. He’s criticizing his own players,” Schaffer continued. “I will defend Joe’s rights and then we’ll take all legal recourse after.”
