Football is a contact sport, but not every play warrants a violent hit. Tyrann Mathieu realized that on Sunday.
As the Chiefs rallied from a 24-point deficit to rout the Texans, 51-31, in the AFC Divisional round, some fans noticed that Mathieu had a clear opportunity to hit Deshaun Watson on Houston’s final drive.
The blitzing safety, though, elected to pull up on the play and let Watson get off his pass unscathed — a 14-yard connection with Taiwan Jones. When The Athletic’s Mike Sando called out Mathieu’s decision, the Chiefs safety explained why he chose against laying the hit on Watson.
And honestly, that’s a veteran move from Mathieu.
Mathieu previously played for the Texans, and he’s still close with plenty of their players, including Watson. At that point in the game, the Chiefs knew they were going to win. The last thing Mathieu wanted to do was lay a hard hit on Watson and cause an injury — or even face a potential fine if the hit ended up being illegal.
By allowing Watson to get the pass off, Mathieu let the game wind down to the eventual Chiefs win without any drama. Otherwise the hit would have just been violence for the sake of violence.
