Texans running back Joe Mixon won his appeal for the $25,000 fine he received for comments he made after Houston's divisional-round loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
"I find that you did not necessarily publicly criticize the officials," NFL appeals officer Chris Palmer wrote in a statement Tuesday, according to ESPN's DJ Bien-Aime.
Officials were widely criticized for a few calls that favored the Chiefs in their 23-14 victory over Houston, and some notable Texans were outspoken about the perceived imbalance.
However, Mixon and his agent said his fine was for comments he didn't make. Former NFL receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh was critical of the referees in a post on X, which Sports Illustrated mistakenly credited to Mixon.
The league then reissued the fine based on actual quotes from Mixon before rescinding it this week.
"Everybody knows how it is playing up here. You can never leave it into the refs' hands," Mixon said after the loss to the Chiefs. "The whole world sees, man, what it is. When it comes down to it, you can never leave it into the refs' hands."
Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. also had his $25,000 fine for criticizing officials rescinded, a source told The Athletic's Dianna Russini.
"We knew it was going to be us against the refs going into this game," Anderson had told reporters postgame.
