Kadarius Toney really was offsides

Andy Reid believed the officials should have warned the Kansas City Chiefs before Kadarius Toney was given a penalty for being offsides. He called it “a bit embarrassing” for the league.

Patrick Mahomes, who melted down to the officials on the sideline and continued his rant after the game, even when shaking hands with Josh Allen, didn’t think a big penalty should have been called in that situation.

There’s something pretty important missing in all the Chiefs’ angst about the officiating after their loss to the Buffalo Bills: The officials got the call right. Toney really was offsides. It’s almost impossible to argue otherwise.

Here’s the overhead shot, via Jonathan Jones of CBS:

Toney is offsides. The ball is behind the 48-yard line, and Toney is ahead of the 48-yard line. A penalty was called a penalty.

The Chiefs were angry about an untimely offsides penalty that wiped out a great touchdown, on a cross-field lateral from Travis Kelce to Toney that would have given them the lead. Maybe they should spend more time blaming the player who didn’t line up right.

Officiating experts agree: It’s a penalty

If your eyes see something different than Toney lining up offsides, two officiating experts and former NFL officials agreed that it was a penalty.

Here’s Gene Steratore of CBS:

When officiating the line of scrimmage, general philosophy is not to be overly technical and split hairs over very minor infractions (such as a receiver’s hand slightly breaking the LOS). However, when an infraction is so egregious and obvious, a flag has to be thrown.

Kadarius…

— Gene Steratore (@GeneSteratore) December 11, 2023

And Terry McAulay of NBC:

The penalty wiped out a magnificent play in which Kelce found Toney for the score. It would have been perhaps the play of the year. But it was a penalty and ultimately didn’t count. That happens.

Yet we have a respected head coach in Reid calling the officials out for not giving the Chiefs a free pass for their first violation.

“I never use any of this…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/whats-being-lost-in-the-chiefs-officiating-complaints-kadarius-toney-really-was-offsides-145327059.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2023-12-11 14:53:27

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.