Did Chiefs WR check with official before offsides flag? What Andy Reid said Monday
Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid said receiver Kadarius Toney did not check with an official before being flagged for a controversial offensive offsides call in the Buffalo Bills’ 20-17 win Sunday night.
Reid, speaking to reporters Monday afternoon, said Toney normally looks to the sideline to get an OK from the side judge on his positioning.
“On that one, he just happened not to,” Reid said. “So that’d be the coaching point: Make sure you check with the guy on the side, just to see if you’re aligned.”
A fan video posted online Monday appeared to show Toney pointing at an official before he was completely set. The receiver turns away quickly, though, so it’s unclear whether the official signaled anything back or if Toney saw him if he did.
The offsides flag was costly, nullifying a 49-yard touchdown pass that would’ve given the Chiefs a lead late in the fourth quarter. Instead, KC turned that possession over on downs before the Bills ran out the clock.
Reid reiterated Monday that Toney didn’t intentionally line up offsides while stressing that the margin was slim.
“Listen, he was two inches away from, or an inch from being legal,” Reid said. “Like I said, you can argue both sides of it for both teams.”
Toney also had notable late-game execution errors in the Chiefs’ season-opening loss to Detroit. In that one, he dropped three passes, including one on KC’s final offensive drive.
Reid said the past instances wouldn’t keep him from putting Toney out there during crunch-time moments ahead.
“The thing I know is he makes plays. He makes plays when he has the ball in his hand, and that’s the important part,” Reid said. “But he’s a young guy. He’s not coming to us with a ton of experience. But I think he’s getting better every week. This is one of those things. But I don’t see that as being a negative. I look at the things that he produced on, too.”
Reid also was asked Monday about quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ postgame sideline tirade and whether Reid thought that stemmed from season-long dissatisfaction with the team’s offense.
In this instance, Reid said he believed Mahomes was more upset that the team’s hours of preparations to win the game had been taken away because of a rare call.
“Do we need to line up right? Yeah, we do. I mean, we’ve got to take care of that and not put it in the officials’ hands. With that part, we have to do (that),” Reid said. “But the frustration comes in with the other part, that you spend so much time doing that thing (preparing).”
Reid did say Monday the Chiefs were getting better, saying his team was “so close it’s crazy” to breaking through.
Small things cost them another game, however, and Reid vowed to continue emphasizing the tiny-but-essential details.
“It’s getting done 90% of the time, but you gotta keep it right full-time at this level,” Reid said. “And so that’s what we’re working on. I get paid to teach, so I’m gonna continue to teach. The players are going to continue to work. We’ve got to get ourselves ready to go up and play in New England.”
This story was originally published December 11, 2023 at 1:57 PM.
