Chiefs criticize officials for penalty that nullified touchdown

For the second week in a row, a frustrated Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs were left as “talking referees,” this time after an offside call against wide receiver Kadarius Toney nullified what would have been an epic finish against Buffalo. Beerus on Sunday.

The penalty nullified a 49-yard touchdown that included a full-field lateral pass from tight end Travis Kelce to Toney. The play would have given the Chiefs the lead with just over a minute left.

Instead, they ended up turning the ball over on the field after the penalty and lost 20-17 for their second straight loss.

Patrick Mahomes said a wide receiver usually gets a warning before receiving an offsides penalty. He said Toney was never warned.

“I’ve played seven years and I’ve never been called for offensive offside,” Patrick Mahomes said. “We’re talking about grade school stuff. There was no warning the entire game. So you wait until there’s one minute left in the game to make a decision like that? It’s tough. Speechless. It’s tough. Regardless of whether we win or we lose, it’s the end of another game and we’re already talking about the referees, it’s just not what we want for the NFL and American football.

“What you want as a competitor is to practice all week to go out and try to win, and you want it to be about your team and that team and see what happens. You don’t want to talk about these things after the game. “I’m not worried if there were a punishment… against the next player or whatever. “I want to go out and play, see what happens in the end, see what the result is and then be able to live with the results.”

Patrick Mahomes was visibly upset on the sideline, yelling at the referees about the call as the Bills ran out of time after getting the ball back. He said he asked three different references about the dialing and never received a response.

In a post-match report, referee Carl Cheffers said referee Mike Carr saw Toney lined up out of position.

“Ultimately, they are responsible for where they line up,” Cheffers said. “A warning is not necessary, especially if they are so offside that they block our view of the ball.

“We would give them a warning if they were around, but this particular one goes beyond a warning.”

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid also noted that neither he nor any of the Chiefs receivers were warned about any of his players being offside, calling the penalty “a little embarrassing that that happened.” . “. “. in the National Football League.

The referee’s job was a topic in the Chiefs locker room after last week’s 27-19 loss to the Green Bay Packers, including an apparent pass interference penalty against the defender covering the Kansas receiver. City’s Márquez Valdés-Scantling was not penalized in the final moments of the match.

“For a guy like Travis to make a play like that…who knows if we win, but I know as fans you want to see the guys on the field decide the game, and that’s why I didn’t say anything last week about the pain.” “Andy Reid said Sunday. “They didn’t punish Marquez. They are humans. They make mistakes. But every week we talk about something.”

However, Patrick Mahomes called Kelce’s play “a legendary moment.”

“That’s something only a couple of people in this world would think of doing,” he noted. “For him to make that play at that moment, catch the ball, tackle a couple of guys and throw the ball across the field to another guy and score a touchdown at that moment, I hope they show it [the play] when it comes.” the moment”. to the Hall of Fame because it’s a legendary moment that we really didn’t get to witness.”