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Patrick Mahomes Seen Trying to Keep Rashee Rice Away From Refs After Taunting Call

Kristen Wong

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was seen shielding Rashee Rice from the referees after Rice picked up a taunting penalty in Monday night's game against the Commanders.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was seen shielding Rashee Rice from the referees after Rice picked up a taunting penalty in Monday night's game against the Commanders. / Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images
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The Chiefs cruised to an easy win over the Commanders on Monday night in a game that thankfully didn't include much officiating controversy—not that Patrick Mahomes and Co. needed any help from the men in stripes.

Mahomes started his first two drives of the game with two interceptions but then kicked things into a higher gear, helping the Chiefs' offense put up 21 unanswered points in the second half to clinch the 28-7 home victory.

Mahomes's special on-field connection with wideout Rashee Rice was yet again on full display Monday night, as Rice caught all nine of his targets for 93 yards and a touchdown in his second game of the season. Rice also came away with a lowlight after he picked up a taunting penalty late in the contest for appearing to toss the ball at Commanders defensive back Quan Martin's head.

Rice seemed to want to argue with the refs after the taunting call, but Mahomes swooped in and made sure to shield Rice from any further interaction with the officials, as seen in an in-game video shared by ESPN. Mahomes instead spoke to the ref himself for a little bit before accepting the call (and the 15-yard loss), and play resumed as usual.

It was nice to see the Chiefs captain looking out for his teammates.

Rice later explained that he was trying to throw the ball to a nearby official, and not at the Commanders player's head, though Reid didn't look too convinced by Rice's excuse:

But, a different angle of the play does show the Commanders defender standing in between Rice and the intended ref, so the whole thing may have been slightly blown out of proportion, anyway.

The Chiefs improved to 5-3 on the season and are scheduled for a AFC heavyweight matchup against the Bills this Sunday.

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Kristen Wong
KRISTEN WONG

Kristen Wong is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020. Before joining SI in November 2023, Wong covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL Network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. Outside of work, she has dreams of running her own sporty dive bar.

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