‘Flop’ by Texans cost Chiefs a kickoff return touchdown, Andy Reid says

Tyreek Hill and the Chiefs believed they had a kickoff return touchdown in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game at Houston.

A day later the Chiefs still believe it was a touchdown, or at least coach Andy Reid disagreed with the holding penalty that wiped out what would have been a 105-yard return.

A touchdown there would have pulled the Chiefs to within three with about three minutes remaining.

Instead, the score remained 19-9. The drive concluded with Cairo Santos kicking his fourth field goal with 52 seconds remaining, which cut the margin to a touchdown. But the Chiefs didn’t get the ball back and lost 19-12.

“There were some individuals on our team that played well,” Reid said. “Tyreek and his return … if it was basketball it probably would have been ruled as a flop.”

The penalty was called against Steven Nelson, who blocked the Texans’ Charles James. James then fell over Nelson, and that’s where Reid believed the poor call was made.

“(James) knew he was outflanked, so he literally flopped,” Reid said. “Nelson put his hands out, put him down and the kid just jumped into his body. Obviously from the officials’ perspective it didn’t look like that.”

A touchdown would have made a big day for Hill even bigger. He averaged 27.7 yards per kickoff return and 15.8 yards per punt return and made a tackle on punt coverage.

This story was originally published September 19, 2016 at 1:04 PM with the headline "‘Flop’ by Texans cost Chiefs a kickoff return touchdown, Andy Reid says."