BOSTON — Really, Patrick Mahomes has never been this mad. Not publicly, at least.
And it all stems from the proper enforcement of an obvious penalty.
Make of that what you will.
Mahomes and the Chiefs lost at home on Sunday to the Bills, moments after it appeared as though they had taken a late lead on a rather spectacular play. Needing a field goal to tie or a touchdown to take a lead, Mahomes completed a pass to Travis Kelce. After turning upfield, Kelce made an incredible decision to lateral the ball across the field to Kadarius Toney. His backward pass was on the money, and Toney sprinted into the end zone. The place erupted … but not for long.
Play was called back but can’t believe Kelce tried this 😮
A penalty flag on Toney negated the play, after officials said the receiver lined up in the neutral zone. It was, clearly, the correct call.
That anger boiled after Mahomes and the Chiefs failed to convert the resulting second-and-15 … and the third-and-15 and the fourth-and-15 as well. All three plays ended with incompletions. And the quarterback continued to berate the official on the Kansas City sideline while the Bills took kneeldowns to run out the clock on their 20-17 win.
Mahomes then jogged on the field to “congratulate” the Bills on a well-played game, but instead continued ranting.
“Wildest [bleeping] call I’ve ever seen. Offensive offsides,” Mahomes said to counterpart Josh Allen in video captured by WROC. “[Bleeping] terrible.”
That reaction, though, was in the heat of the moment, just minutes after the call was made. Perhaps Mahomes had cooled down by the time he got to the podium, right?
Right?!
Well … not quite. At his postgame press conference, Mahomes spoke about how the game of football was damaged by this call, claimed that officials should have warned the Chiefs of a misalignment before calling the penalty, stated multiple times that he hasn’t said anything about the missed pass interference penalty that wasn’t called last week, claimed that Travis Kelce’s Hall of Fame career has now been damaged because of the call, magnanimously said that the call might have even robbed Josh Allen and the Bills of a legendary comeback moment, and more.
Here’s the full commentary from the opening five minutes of Mahomes’ press conference:
Mahomes: I mean, it’s obviously tough to swallow, I mean not only for me, but just for football in general. I mean, just to take away greatness like that. I mean, for a guy like Travis to make a play like that — and who knows if we win. But I know as fans, you want to see the guys on the field decide the game. And that’s why last week, I didn’t say anything about the flag that didn’t get called on Marquez [Valdes-Scantling]. And so I mean, they’re human, man. They make mistakes. But I mean, it’s every week we’re talking about something and all I can do is go out there and give everything I have and I’m proud of the guys because that’s what we did and it was a great football game that ended — another great football game that just ended like that. It’s just tough, tough to swallow.
Q: What made your emotions boil over?
Mahomes: It’s the call, man. I mean, just in that moment. I mean, it’s not even for myself or for me, it’s just I know how much everybody puts into this game and for it to happen on a flag to change the outcome of the game in that moment? I mean, I’ve played seven years and never had offensive offsides called. I mean, that’s we — that’s elementary school. We talk about it, I mean, you point to the ref, do all different type of stuff, and it doesn’t get called. And if it does, they warn you. And there was no warning throughout the entire game and then you wait till there’s a minute left in the game to make a call like that. It’s just tough, man. I mean, loss for words, man. It’s just tough because regardless if we win or lose, man, just to end up with another game where we’re talking about the refs, man. It’s just not what we want for the NFL and for football.
Q: Did you get any explanation from the on-field officials?
Mahomes: None. Not from any one of them. I asked three different refs. No one said anything.
Q: Were you frustrated a couple of plays later when it looked like Von Miller might have been offside?
Mahomes: No, I mean the thing is I’d rather — let us play, man. Like let us play the game, and then whatever happens happens. Like the whole throwing the flag and deciding the game one or another, that’s what hurts me. That’s why like last week, I didn’t say anything because it’s letting us play, man. Let us go out there and win the game and I said, I’d rather they let us play and go out there and see who wins. I mean, that’s what you want as a competitor is you practice all week to go out there and try to win and you want it to be about your team and that team and see what happens. You never want to be, you don’t want to be talking about this stuff after the game. And that’s it, man. I’m not worried about if there was a flag on the next play or whatever, like not a flag. It’s I just want to I want to go out there and play and then see what happens at the end. See what the score is and then we can — I can live with the results.
I mean, the flag today was tough. Just I mean, offensive offsides? It’s something that I mean, like I said, elementary school, we talk about, you line up, you point to the ref, you’re good, you’re not good. If not, they come to you, you need to get off the ball more, you need to be on the ball more. You have a discussion. I mean, that’s the ref’s job. I mean, you want to have an open discussion, so that you can go out there and put the best product you can on the field. And for him to throw that flag, no explanation, no anything. And I saw the picture and he, I mean, he probably is, I mean, barely offsides. But for him to take the game into his hands over a call like that, that doesn’t affect the play at all — at all. Didn’t affect anything. I mean, it’s just tough, man. And like I said, man, that’s a Hall of Fame tight end making a Hall of Fame play that won’t be shown because we threw a flag for an offensive offsides. And so it takes away from not only this game and this season, but from a legendary career that Travis has had. And I mean, that hurts me because I know how hard he works for it.
Q: Did you see the flag on the play?
Mahomes: I saw the flag first, right when the ball snapped. I thought it was defensive offsides. Because I mean, where the flag was thrown from that guy, all I’ve ever seen is illegal formation procedure or something like that, false start or offsides by the defense. So as I threw the ball, I didn’t see it off the snap, but I threw the ball, saw the flag before I ran down to celebrate with my teammates. And I was like, oh, they got something, we’re gonna be able to go out there and play. And then like I said, there’s a minute left. I’m not guaranteeing we win this football game with Josh as the quarterback of the other team. But I mean, you might have took away a moment from him as well. I mean, that’s just that’s part of it. So it’s tough, man. It’s real tough and all we can do is bounce back and just try to go out there and give everything we have. And we’re playing a tough, tough team this next week that plays really good defense. So we’ve just got to move on and try to keep this thing going.
That is a lot. And, well, it misses several marks along the way. Because it all boils down to one simple thing: Mahomes wishes that the officials didn’t enforce the rules on that very cool play.
Understandably, officials miss much bigger calls on a regular basis. And while he was slick to mention how he graciously didn’t complain about the blatant missed pass interference last week … he also didn’t mention that he benefited from getting a 15-yard late hit called in his favor after a defender hit him in bounds just before that infamous missed PI.
In this case, though, it was objectively clear. Black and white. Plain as day. The man was offside.
Nevertheless, Mahomes was mad. He might still be mad. And his head coach, Andy Reid? He was mad, too.
“Very disappointed it ended the way it did. Normally, I’ll get — I never use any of this as excuses — but normally I’ll get a warning before something like that happens in a big game. A bit embarrassing in the National Football League for that to take place,” Reid said after the game, while very clearly not making excuses. “Normally, if it’s even close, you get a warning. The head coach gets a warning. I mean that normally — but I don’t know. I didn’t have a protractor out there. But it’s a bit embarrassing. I’ve been in the league a long time, and I haven’t had one like that. At least for that kind of a position there where it’s not given a heads up to.”
One reporter asked Reid if Kelce’s lateral was a freelance decision or if it was planned. Reid was appalled to be asked such a question.
“I can’t even believe you’re asking that right now, so [waves reporter away],” Reid replied. “All right, next question.”
Reid was also asked about his two challenges — he won one and lost another — but refused to answer that, too, saying, “Yeah, next question.”
Clearly, there’s quite a bit of frustration emanating from Kansas City, where the Chiefs have lost two consecutive games for the first time since Weeks 2 and 3 of 2021 and just the second time since the 2019 season. Back-to-back losses don’t happen very often on Mahomes’ watch.
And now … they’re going to carry that frustration into next Sunday, when they visit the Patriots in Foxboro. The meeting had been scheduled for Monday night but became the first game to ever be flexed out of that spot, owing largely to the Patriots’ lack of firepower this season. Regardless of when the game is played, the situation may be an issue for the 3-10 Patriots, who — as Mahomes mentioned — have played some great defense of late but have simply not faced the caliber of quarterback that Kansas City will bring. And with the Chiefs slipping in the AFC playoff standings, they’ll be looking to sweep their final four games — at New England, vs. Las Vegas, vs. Cincinnati, at L.A. Chargers — to finish the year at 12-5 and maintain a chance at the No. 1 seed while having the best chances of hosting as many playoff games as possible. Put another way, Sunday is a significant game for the Chiefs, who may be looking to take their frustration out on a team about which they don’t feel too fondly.
Of course, from a New England vantage point, the whole situation calls to mind a much more significant offside penalty that went against the Chiefs. That call came during the 2018 AFC Championship Game, and if it hadn’t been called, then the Chiefs would have advanced to the Super Bowl and the Patriots would have gone home for the winter. Alas, Dee Ford was offside, Tom Brady’s interception off the hands of Rob Gronkowski didn’t count, and the Patriots scored the go-ahead touchdown two plays later en route to winning the sixth Super Bowl in franchise history.
A classic if there ever was one.
The Dee Ford play was distant history, but Toney’s play on Sunday stirred up a whole slew of bad feelings in Kansas City. If Mahomes and Co. can channel that anger next Sunday at Gillette, it could make for a long, long day for the home team.
