Houston Texans Deal with Refs, Frikkin' Laser Beams in Mexico City

The Houston Texans played a game of good old-fashioned American football Monday night in an unusual place: Mexico City's Estadio Azteca (the last NFL game there happened in 2005). They left the stadium in a fury following a 27-20 loss to the Oakland Raiders, and the roots of their anger ran in directions both traditional (incompetent NFL referees) and unique (laser beams in the eyes).

First there was the controversial call on wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who was ruled out of bounds on what at first appeared to be a 60-yard touchdown run. Houston head coach Bill O'Brien couldn't challenge the play because the refs had blown it dead:

"If you want to talk about (challenges), let's go back to that one," O'Brien said. "Did he look out of bounds to you? I had the flag out, but they told me I couldn't challenge."

NFL's Senior Vice President of Officiating Dean Blandino later provided a pretty thorough video explanation of the call, laced with one of the league's favorite terms: "not definitive."

Explanation on out of bounds play from earlier in game tonight — Dean Blandino (@DeanBlandino)November 22, 2016

The biggest mess came in the fourth quarter, as the refs ruled Houston short of the line-to-gain on third and fourth down, despite the Texans appearing to have gained enough yardage on both plays. O'Brien challenged the fourth-down call, which stood.

"I could have challenged both calls," O'Brien said later. "I'm not going to stand here and get fined. I'm just a third-year coach. But with all these cameras and things we have and we can't get that right?"

Both spot calls were pretty egregious, but NFL refs will be NFL refs. These things tend to happen. What doesn't usually happen is fans aiming frikkin' laser beams into the eyes of the quarterback. Welcome to the Azteca, Brock Osweiler:

Biggest laser pointer I've ever seen on — Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson)November 22, 2016

The Texans quarterback mentioned the lasers in his postgame press conference:

"There was a couple of times it definitely hit me in the eye. And it was very noticeable.

"I never want to say one thing is a difference-maker, but certainly, having a laser zoomed in on your eyeball definitely affects how you play a game."

If it makes you feel any better, Mr. Osweiler, you're hardly the first athlete to suffer the wrath of the laser pointer at the Azteca:

Green Laser pointers are nothing new at Azteca — Renato Mazariegos (@RPMSports18)November 22, 2016

Fans acting out of line? Coaches trying not to get fined for blasting the refs? The NFL coming off as incompetent in their officiating and crowd control? Sounds like a regular American football game to me.

[Houston Chronicle]