While the Kansas City Chiefs remain in first place in the AFC West, the play of the receivers has proven costly to the team during different games this season. Usually, that’s come in the form of dropped passes or simply not getting open. In Sunday’s game against the Chiefs, another issue emerged. A brutally timed penalty.
Trailing 20-17, with 1:28 remaining, Kansas City faced a second-and-10 from just across midfield. The Chiefs appeared to hit a big play when Patrick Mahomes found a wide-open Travis Kelce down the field. The play got even better when Kelce threw a long lateral pass back to receiver Kadarius Toney.
Toney caught the ball and ran to the end zone untouched for the apparent go-ahead touchdown.
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1734009284986565086
Only, the touchdown didn’t count. There was a flag on the play. Toney was lined up in the neutral zone and with that, we got a rare (yet undeniable) offensive offsides penalty.
CBS’ Tony Romo was highly critical of Toney and Kansas City’s receivers in general, saying “These receivers can’t get out of the way of hurting the team. Too many times at the end of the game.”
"These receivers can't get out of the way of hurting the team. Too many times at the end of the game."
Tony Romo on Kadarius Toney's offsides penalty, which nullified a go-ahead touchdown for the Chiefs in Sunday's loss to the Bills. pic.twitter.com/XtIe2aUrj7
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 11, 2023
Romo was not alone. Toney and Kansas City’s receivers came under heavy fire for not only Sunday’s loss, but a season’s worth of struggles.
Taylor Swift is going to subtly destroy Kadarius Toney on the next album.
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) December 11, 2023
Tony nailed it. These receivers are ruining this team. https://t.co/6Vnyv0T8zd
— Andrew Shepard (@The_Shep_) December 11, 2023
If you explained the situation without the names you'd probably have guessed Kadarius Toney.
— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) December 11, 2023
Kadarius Toney sneaking out of Arrowhead tonight…. pic.twitter.com/KysmvRDx6c
— Kimberley A. Martin (@ByKimberleyA) December 11, 2023
Kadarius Toney showing up every week to sabotage the Chiefspic.twitter.com/UdRmTbGcNO
— Eli Berkovits (@BookOfEli_NFL) December 11, 2023
It’s incredible https://t.co/Vl0tbBphr1
— Les Bowen (@LesBowen) December 11, 2023
While the Chiefs have been able to overcome a lot during Mahomes’ career, that didn’t happen here. The next three plays were all incomplete passes, resulting in a game-ending turnover on downs.
The 8-5 Chiefs are now two games behind the Baltimore Ravens for the top seed in the AFC, with the 9-3 Miami Dolphins playing on Monday. Additionally, Kansas City is one game ahead of the Denver Broncos for first place in the AFC West.
[Photo Credit: CBS]
