The Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday in large part due to a costly offensive offsides call on wide receiver Kadarius Toney. Much has been made about the call afterward. But on Monday, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid admitted that Toney was indeed offsides on the play.
The call came on a crucial play. With just 1:25 left in the fourth quarter, the Chiefs were trailing by only three points. They were able to get a miraculous touchdown on a lateral from Travis Kelce, but the play was called back due to Toney being ruled offsides before the snap.
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1734009284986565086
This call caused a ton of controversy in the Chiefs locker room. Both Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid openly bashed the refs after the game for making this call at such a big moment of the game.
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1734009284986565086
#ChiefsKingdom postgame thread:
Patrick Mahomes on the penalty taking away Kelce's big play:
"For football in general, to take away greatness like that, for Travis to make a play like that… As fans you want to see the guys on the field decide the game… Lost for words." @KCTV5 pic.twitter.com/kcJhmCJJMJ— Jared Koller (@JaredKCTV5) December 11, 2023
However, it seems like at least Andy Reid has changed his tune on the call after some reflection on it. Reid spoke to the media on Monday, admitting that Toney was indeed offsides and that Toney should have checked with the officials before the play.
“Listen, normally he looks over to the sideline and gets an okay,” said Reid of Kadarius Toney via Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team. “On this play, he happened not to. So that would be the coaching point. Just make sure you check with the guy on the side and make sure you are aligned. I mean, he’s not lining up offsides on purpose.
“He was two inches or an inch from being legal. You can argue both sides of it for both teams. I guess the league is trying to clean that up. I don’t know, whatever.”
#Chiefs HC Andy Reid confirmed that Kadarius Toney did not check with the official to see if he was lined up correctly.
Reid says they will teach Toney to make sure to do that moving forward.
(via @Chiefs)pic.twitter.com/s5j1C8Q0aa https://t.co/rkgKuOqVCB
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 11, 2023
You can tell from Reid’s comments that he still isn’t overly happy about the call. But at least he did admit that the call was indeed a correct one.
It can obviously be debated whether the refs should let that type of thing go in such a big moment of the game. But by the letter of the law in the NFL, it was indeed the correct call.
