The Buffalo Bills walked into Kansas City on Sunday afternoon and picked up a 20-17 win over the Chiefs. It wasn’t pretty, and for one moment, it looked like Kansas City was going to score a late, go-ahead touchdown thanks to an all-time heads-up play by Travis Kelce, who threw an open field lateral to Kadarius Toney and let him walk into the end zone.
Unfortunately for the Chiefs, Toney lined up offsides on the play, which wiped out the touchdown and led to Buffalo’s defense making a stand. As he left the field following a fourth down pass falling incomplete, Patrick Mahomes was clearly furious.
Patrick Mahomes was NOT happy on the sideline pic.twitter.com/kFdVMF7PrM
— Ben Brown
(@BenBrownPL) December 11, 2023
Mahomes is not someone to normally go at the referees like this, and after the game, he explained why he was so frustrated. Essentially, it came down to him not believing that the refs threw a flag in that situation.
Patrick Mahomes rips refs over Toney offensive offsides call, says he’s never had it called in his 7 years in the league “it’s every week we’re talking about something” pic.twitter.com/tPcv7b4ypM
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) December 11, 2023
Patrick Mahomes on the final drive: “It’s tough to swallow. Not only from me, and football in general, to take away greatness like that, for a guy like Travis to make a play like that, you want to see the guys on the field decide the game. They’re human. They make mistakes. But…
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) December 11, 2023
This sentiment was shared by Andy Reid. While he did not have the kind of sideline meltdown that Mahomes had, he was still pretty upset after the game, to the point that he called the whole thing “embarrassing for the National Football League.”
Chiefs’ HC Andy Reid was not pleased that officials did not warn him that Kadarius Toney was lined up offsides the way they have in the past. About the call, the normally mild-mannered Reid said, “It’s a bit embarrassing for the National Football League for that to take place.”
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 11, 2023
#Chiefs HC Andy Reid on the Kadarius Toney offsides: “Usually I get a warning before something like that happens. … It’s a bit embarrassing in the National Football League for that to take place. … I’ve been in the league for a long time. Haven’t had one like that.”
Reid… pic.twitter.com/5RBmbER8UM
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 11, 2023
Obviously the Chiefs are going to be upset after losing a game like that — particularly to a team like Buffalo, which they’ve had some pretty incredible battles against over the year. But at the same time, it’s really hard to say that Toney lined up in a legal position here, as his foot is clearly in the neutral zone. And even though the penalty wiped out one of the best plays you’ll ever see by Kelce, Kansas City still had three plays after this to try and get a first down, so the opportunity was there for them to do something in the aftermath of the call.