Chiefs HC Andy Reid incensed that costly flag was thrown with no warning

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was still baffled Monday by an offside penalty called on his offense that wiped out a go-ahead, 49-yard touchdown pass against the Buffalo Bills, taking the officiating crew from Sunday’s game to task for throwing a flag rather than issuing a customary warning in that situation.

The play came with just over a minute left and with the Chiefs trailing, 20-17. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw over the middle to Travis Kelce, who was about to get tackled when he lateraled to Kadarius Toney, who ran untouched the rest of the way for the score.

The Chiefs began to celebrate the touchdown, only to see that an official had thrown a flag on Toney for lining up offside.

“There are no excuses on this thing,” Reid said. “That’s not what I’m saying. I’ve always had a good working relationship with these guys, and that’s the important part. They know when they tell me something with a guy, I’m going to address the guy — like, right now — and make sure it gets changed. When you’re talking about inches, those happen in the game.”

In fact, there were numerous instances throughout Sunday’s game in which players on both teams — and both sides of the ball — were lined up in the neutral zone. Bills pass rusher Von Miller was offside more than once, and more egregiously than Toney, who may have been at most three inches beyond the line of scrimmage when the ball was snapped.

Reid acknowledged during a Zoom call with reporters Monday that Toney was in the neutral zone. But in those situations, officials will usually give him a warning about the player, then throw a flag if there is another infraction.

“It’s a working relationship,” Reid said. “That part is so important in this thing. You can see it on both sides, whether it’s the defense lining up in the neutral zone at times. Just give the coach a heads-up, and in our case, we tell them. And then if they get called, listen, you’ve been warned. That’s how it worked over the years.”

Referee…

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Publish date : 2023-12-11 20:59:40

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