Andy Reid criticizes the officials for their “embarrassing” offsides penalty call during the Bills game loss.
The Kansas City Chiefs lost heartbreakingly in the closing seconds of a Week 14 game to the Buffalo Bills, 20-17, for the second week in a row.
The recurring theme of these losses is self-inflicted wounds (turnovers, penalties, dropped passes, etc.), but this week’s game was decided by a contentious offsides penalty that ultimately negated Kansas City’s incredible go-ahead touchdown with 1:12 left in the game.
Following the game, Andy Reid, the head coach of the Chiefs, expressed his disappointment with how the game ended. “Normally, in a big game, I get a warning before something like that happens, but I never use any of this as an excuse. That’s a little embarrassing for the National Football League to happen.”
An offensive offsides penalty was called by the officials because Chiefs wide receiver Kadarius Toney was obstructing the ball’s path at the line of scrimmage. As Reid pointed out, when a player lines up offsides on offense, coaches typically receive a polite warning.
That did not occur in this instance, though, which left him frustrated after the game.
“Normally, if it’s even close, you get a warning,”
Rashee Rice, a rookie wide receiver for the Chiefs who is still the only bright spot in an otherwise dismal Kansas City wide receiving corps, explained why it was unusual to see an offsides penalty called at that particular time from the viewpoint of a receiver.
“Normally, as soon as you line up, you look over to the ref, and they let you know if you need to scoot back or scoot up depending on if you let them know you’re on the bar or not,” Rice said. “I’m not exactly sure what happened on the other side of the ball, but I’m pretty sure the play would have been dead before we ran it if he had been offsides. However, we are only in control of what we can manage.”
Patrick Mahomes, quarterback for the Chiefs, was likely
Mahomes clarified, “It’s the call at that particular moment.” Not even for me personally. I’ve played for seven years and have never had an offensive offside called. I understand how much work everyone puts into this game, so it bothers me when the flag changes the result of the play in the heat of the moment. We talk about elementary school, after all. You gesture to the referee and do a variety of other things, but nothing is called. They alert you if it does, but there was none during the whole game. And then you hold off on making such a call until the last minute of the game? Man, it’s hard.”
His annoyance was heightened by the recent failure to request pass interference against the
Mahomes clarified, “It’s the call at that particular moment.” Not even for me personally. I’ve played for seven years and have never had an offensive offside called. I understand how much work everyone puts into this game, so it bothers me when the flag changes the result of the play in the heat of the moment. We talk about elementary school, after all. You gesture to the referee and do a variety of other things, but nothing is called. They alert you if it does, but there was none during the whole game. And then you hold off on making such a call until the last minute of the game? Man, it’s hard.”
“I looked at the photo and I think that (Kadarius Toney) is probably just a little bit offsides,” Mahomes continued, lamenting the late penalty. However, it had no bearing whatsoever on the play when he decided to take control of the game after making a call of that nature. It’s just difficult. And as I mentioned earlier, because we called an offensive offside, a Hall of Fame tight end is making a play that will never be seen. Thus, it detracts from Travis Kelce’s legendary career in addition to this game and this season. I am hurt by that because I am aware of his efforts.”
Finally, the game ends with Kansas City’s fifth
