Dave Portnoy led the online fury on Saturday night over a controversial refereeing decision in favor of the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chiefs will take on the Houston Texans in the Divisional round of the NFL playoffs, with Patrick Mahomes looking to lead his team to an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl this season.
And during their battle with the Texans, Mahomes took advantage of an early call for outrage that sparked outrage on social media.
Midway through the first quarter at Arrowhead – with Travis Kelce’s girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from the stands – Texans defenseman Will Anderson Jr. penalized for a tackle on the Kansas City quarterback a split second after he released the ball.
Portnoy was among many outraged by the decision to penalize Anderson, accusing NFL referees of “cheating” at Arrowhead.
“The good news is the Texans are dominating and their defense is flying around. The bad news is that the referees cheat and lose,” the Barstool founder wrote on X.

Dave Portnoy (left) has led the online furor after a controversial call in favor of Patrick Mahomes
A number of users agreed with Portnoy, including one who posted a clip of Anderson’s tackle on Mahomes and said, “THE #NFL IS SO SET FOR THE #CHIEFS! A bulls*** calling up the passer penalty against the #Texans for a PERFECT TACKLE against Precious Patrick #Mahomes.
‘Ridiculous! The NFL is scripted and UNWATCHABLE!’
Another argued, “When will the NFL figure out that what they do for the Mahomes/Chiefs and what they did for (Tom) Brady/Patriots only infuriates football fans. No one wants to watch referees give every call to a player or team. That’s not football!’
“Apparently if you sneeze on Mahomes you get a fine. Unreal,” a third commented sarcastically.
“You could see this a thousand times with other quarterbacks this year, but it wasn’t called it. Just Mahomes,” said another.
While people simply said: ‘That’s ridiculous.’
ESPN analyst Jason Kelce, whose brother Travis plays for the Chiefs on Saturday night, also described the call to beat the passer as “questionable.”
Portnoy was also left seething later in the game with another controversial call in favor of Mahomes, penalizing the Texans for unnecessary roughness against Kansas City’s star quarterback.


Fans were equally outraged by the call to beat the passer in the Chiefs-Texans game
He posted a clip of the tackle that led to the call and wrote: “THIS LEAGUE IS DISGUSTING!!!!”
Another user also highlighted a hip drop tackle by Chiefs safety Bryan Cook that went unpunished during the first quarter of Saturday’s game, while accusing the officials of favoring the hosts.
“You won’t see a more obvious hip drop tackle, but of course no flag because it’s the Kansas City Chiefs,” they wrote.
A second fan asked, “So this textbook hip drop tackle on the Texans’ first possession wasn’t called, but Will Anderson gets called for breathing on Mahomes?” Make it meaningful’.
A third then concluded: “Chiefs play-off favoritism is in full effect.”