It seemed like the NFL had yet another officiating controversy on its hands thanks to what transpired when the Chiefs had a touchdown taken off the board after Kadarius Toney was called for offside on a crucial play against the Bills. However, we may be able to put the whole thing behind us based on what Andy Reid had to say about the matter.
The Kansas City Chiefs were trailing the Bills by three points on Sunday evening when they appeared to take the lead after Patrick Mahomes connected with Travis Kelce before the tight end tossed a lateral across the field to Kadarius Toney, who scrambled into the end zone to seemingly give his team a 23-20 lead with less than 1:15 remaining in the fourth quarter.
As you likely know by now, the play was called back thanks to the flag that was thrown by an official who determined Toney had lined up past the line of scrimmage. The Chiefs were unable to score on what would turn out to be their final drive of the game, and Buffalo left Kansas City with the win.
That development did not sit well with Mahomes, who spent the final minute of the contest berating the referees from the sideline and continued to tear into them once the final whistle blew. That was a somewhat puzzling decision when you consider it was pretty obvious Toney was offside, as there’s no rule that says a penalty can be overturned because a play was objectively awesome.
With that said, it appeared there was a chance the frustration stemmed from initial reports that asserted Toney had checked with the refs to make sure he was onside and declined to make the necessary adjustment after being told that he was (there’s no rule that states officials need to give players a head’s up, although it is commonly done as a courtesy).
However, based on what Andy Reid had to say about the play in question on Monday, Toney did not, in fact, go out of his way to make sure he was lined up correctly before the ball was snapped.
Andy Reid said Kadarius Toney didn’t check with down judge Mike Carr to ensure he lined up in the correct spot before committing his offside penalty.
— Nate Taylor (@ByNateTaylor) December 11, 2023
That should put this entire thing to rest, but something tells me that won’t end up being the case.