Chiefs WR Justin Watson recalls touchdown penalty vs. Raiders
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Justin Watson remembers the first time he got an unsportsmanlike penalty.
He was in fourth grade playing in his first year of football as a running back on a transformed baseball field.
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“We were losing. We were getting beat up,” Watson said Thursday. “I was getting tackled into the infield dirt.
“We got stopped on fourth down, and somebody was roughing on the pile and I turned and threw an elbow. And I turned around, and it was my own teammate.”
Watson’s mother reminded him of this story when he called her after Sunday’s game. She saw him get his first unsportsmanlike penalty since then in the Chiefs’ 31-17 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
On Kansas City’s last offensive play of the first half, down 14-7, Watson lined up on the left side of the field, staggered behind tight end Travis Kelce on the Raiders three-yard line.
As Watson ran up the field to attempt a crossing route, he was knocked down by the shoulder of Raiders linebacker Robert Spillane.
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Watson was headed toward the right side of the end zone but quickly got up, turned around toward quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the offense, and shuffled a few steps to his right to stay in sync with the star QB who was looking through his reads and moving to his left.
“I saw [Spillane] coming,” Watson said. “I was kind of trying to look the safety off a little bit, and I was gonna wrap right behind him and thought, ‘Against that coverage, as soon as I pass Spillane, I’m gonna catch a touchdown.’
“So when I got popped, I knew Pat was looking for me already, but I had to get up and try to get open again.”
And of course, Mahomes did.
“He was supposed to go across the end zone, and then Travis was supposed to be behind him. I went back to find him in that spot and obviously didn’t see him and saw Travis, so my next read is to the running back for the check down,” Mahomes said Wednesday.
“As I was scanning back to the left, I saw him getting back up and I was like, ‘If you get back up, you’re going to be wide open for a touchdown.’ It speaks to him, though, getting hit like that and being able to bounce back up and get the touchdown. You just have to keep fighting to the end.”
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After Watson secured the ball, he immediately went straight to Spillane, who ended up just a few yards away from him at the end of the play.
The 27-year-old veteran is usually a calm person off the field, working his tail off with seldom extra words.
But the Chiefs went down 14-0 to their bitter rival in the first half — and the heat of the moment quickly lit a fire in Watson.
“We were scratching and clawing [to come back],” he said. “Caught up in the moment a little bit, can’t take a penalty, obviously, in that situation but thankful the kickoff team went down and covered great after that.”
With the Chiefs being one of the most penalized teams in the NFL this season, head coach Andy Reid was happy with the score — but not too thrilled about another penalty.
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“I love to see the fire in the guys. I can’t stand the penalties right now,” Reid said Monday.
“The fire, I can see why he did what he did, yeah, that was a pretty rough hit that he took there. He’s a tough kid and for him to bounce up like he did and then score, he didn’t flinch a lick on that.
“I’m good, but I’m not good.”
On Wednesday before the Chiefs’ showdown with the Green Bay Packers, Reid expressed a bit more appreciation for Watson’s concentration.
“He got drilled – knocked down and then bounced up. I mean, he was supposed to continue going, but he got knocked down, jumped up and there was a hole there that was moving, and he stayed there and was able to catch it,” Reid said.
“That was a heck of a hit, not a lot of guys bounce up from that the way he bounced up. That was something.”
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Mahomes was also impressed with one of his most trustworthy receivers this season.
That play ended up being Watson’s only reception of the game.
The Penn alum was a dependable role player in last year’s offense. Watson was fifth on the team with 315 yards and two TDs on 15 catches during the team’s Super Bowl run.
He’s already eclipsed that this year with 332 yards and two TDs on 20 catches. Watson’s turned into one of the most reliable receivers on an offense that has played below expectations this season.
Plays like this show why the team brought Watson back on a two-year contract.
