Joe Mixon wins appeal of $25,000 fine for criticizing officials

Running back Joe Mixon has prevailed.

Hearing officer Chris Palmer (the former NFL coach) has overturned the $25,000 fine imposed on Mixon for comments made after Houston's playoff loss to the Chiefs.

"During the appeal hearing, you stated what you meant by your statements referring to the officials," Palmer wrote in his one-page decision dated Tuesday. "As you know, statements can be interpreted differently by every individual and it seems like you clearly understand the weight and detriment of public criticism towards officials can be, given how impactful your platform is as a player, which I appreciate.

"Integrity of the game and its officials is the responsibility of everyone involved in the NFL. After reviewing the totality of the evidence. I find that you did not necessarily publicly criticize the officials. Accordingly for the reasons set forth above, the NFL will rescind the $25,000 fine amount."

The league initially fined Mixon for something that he didn’t say; the critical words (“Why play the game if every 50/50 call goes with Chiefs. These officials are trash and bias.”) came on social media from former Bengals receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Once the league realized that it misread the SI.com article on the matter, it re-fined Mixon for what he did say, which was far tamer.

“Everybody knows how it is playing up here," Mixon told reporters after the game, which included a pair of questionable personal fouls for hits on Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. "You can never leave it in the refs’ hands. The whole world see, man.”

Now, the whole world sees that the league overreached. Possibly as a clumsy effort to save face after initially screwing the pooch by concluding incorrectly that Mixon had said something he didn't actually say.