Patrick Mahomes on Wednesday responded to a U.S. flag football player who has drawn attention lately.
Darrell “Housh” Doucette has become a topic of discussion due to comments he made in an interview with The Guardian. Doucette is the quarterback for the U.S.’ flag football team. Flag football will be part of the Olympics in 2028, and Housh is upset with the talk that players from the NFL will just walk in and supplant him and his teammates who have already worked to earn spots on the team.
“I think it’s disrespectful that they just automatically assume that they’re able to just join the Olympic team because of the person that they are – they didn’t help grow this game to get to the Olympics. Give the guys who helped this game get to where it’s at their respect,” Doucette was quoted as saying.
Darrell “Housh” Doucette, quarterback of the USA national flag football team, called it “disrespectful” to assume NFL players will take Olympic team spots when his sport debuts at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
(via @guardian) pic.twitter.com/EgT2dsVCB6
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 18, 2024
Doucette then did an interview with TMZ Sports that was published on Tuesday that generated even more attention.
Doucette elaborated on why he believes NFL players wouldn’t make the adjustment to flag football so easily.
He pointed out that you can’t be physical in flag football, the timing is different, NFL players can’t use moves like stiff-arms, there are rules against flag-guarding, and flag football uses a smaller field.
“I think people overlook the flag football players. We are professionals of our game, and they aren’t,” Doucette said to TMZ. “They don’t have the time to actually learn this game and to be as successful as we have over this period of time.”
Doucette says he think his team would win if they faced a team of NFL players now in flag football because of his team’s expertise in the sport.
“This is a totally different game,” Doucette reasoned.
Last but not least, Doucette said he feels he is better than Mahomes at flag football.
“At the end of the day, I feel like I’m better than Patrick Mahomes because of my IQ of the game. I know he’s right now the best in the league. I know he’s more accurate. I know he has all these intangibles. But when it comes to flag football, I feel like I know more than him,” said Doucette.
That comment went viral and prompted a reaction from Mahomes. The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback responded with a GIF of rapper 50 Cent.
https://t.co/yY7fYXCfF3 pic.twitter.com/LONXJPkPYK
— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) August 21, 2024
The GIF is used by people who are asking why they got dragged into a topic. Mahomes feels he was just minding his business and then got dragged in by Doucette.
Doucette qualified his remarks and said that he feels he is better than Mahomes at flag football, not real football.
Do you think Mahomes could step in tomorrow and already be better at flag football than Doucette, or not without gaining some experience first playing the modified version of the sport?
