After Sunday’s 20-17 loss to the Bills, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid called an offside penalty by wide receiver Kadarius Toney that wiped out a go-ahead touchdown “a bit embarrassing” for the league because officials usually issue a warning before throwing a flag in such situations,

Reid revisited the penalty during a Monday media session and repeated that his experience in the NFL has taught him that “you give the head coach a heads up,” but also said that it is no excuse for making the error. Reid said that Toney did not check with an official to make sure he was aligned correctly with the line of scrimmage and that players need to be aware of what they are doing on the field.

“Do we need to line up right? Yeah. We can’t put it in the officials’ hands,” Reid said, via Nate Taylor of TheAthletic.com.

Reid said the coaching point he will make to Toney is that he should always check with the official when lining up and that he will more generally continue to teach players in an effort to limit the mistakes that have contributed to losses in three of their last four games.

The Chiefs can complain all they want — and they clearly want. There’s no doubt that receiver Kadarius Toney lined up past the ball prior to the key play that was wiped out by the penalty he committed.

This photo is dispositive.

I get it. The Chiefs are frustrated. Things aren’t going their way this year, not like they were from 2018 through 2022. They might have to actually play a road playoff game. Suddenly, they might not even win the division.

But it’s not the fault of the officials that Toney lined up past the ball. Toney did it. Toney was looking right at the ball. He didn’t check with an official.

Look at the photo. He had a pair of hash marks to guide him. His foot was even with one of them. The ball was behind the other.

Need to click on it to see the bigger picture to see the WR in question

If you're the WR. Do you really need to check with the officials here? This feels so blatantly obvious, but I'm probably the minority. I expect players to be accountable for the rules. And I expect coaches to make players aware of the rules.
 GBEeWQtWAAExw97.jpeg You have insufficient rights to see the content.

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/kadarius-toney-refs-job-is-to-warn-me-they-took-away-one-of-the-greatest-plays-ever


Kadarius Toney: Refs’ job is to warn me, they took away one of the greatest plays ever

Chiefs wide receiver Kadarius Toney is pointing fingers at the officials, and not at himself, over the offside penalty that negated a touchdown late in Sunday’s loss to the Bills.

Toney claimed that it’s the referee’s job to tell a player if he is lined up illegally. That’s not a requirement of the officials’ job, although officials do sometimes give warnings to players and coaches.

“Whether it was, an inch, two inches, whatever in front of the ball, the referee got a job to let me know,” Toney told reporters in the Chiefs’ locker room. “He didn’t make no effort. You watch the video, he didn’t make no effort to say anything about no alignment. So apparently, he wanted to do that regardless. But like I said, we’re just going back to the details and just make sure we fine print everything.”

Toney also said the NFL falsely claimed that a referee warned him about being offside. But referee Carl Cheffers’ only comment came to a pool reporter immediately following the game, and Cheffers stood by the call and said the officials are under no obligation to warn players that they’re offside.

“Then they came back and lied and said they gave me a warning, which I never talked to a ref,” Toney said.

Toney said he considers the offside call “[p]retty much bogus, and that it took away what should have been one of the highlights of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce’s career. Kelce caught a pass from Patrick Mahomes and then spontaneously lateraled the ball to Toney, who ran it in for a touchdown that the offside flag wiped out.

“Unfortunately, they took back the greatest play the greatest tight end that played the game did,” Toney said. “Just a great play taken back by the greatest tight end.”

It was a great play by a great tight end, but it was also a bad play by Toney, who is responsible for knowing whether he’s lined up legally whether the officials warn him or not.

I can't believe how stuck with blaming the ref this guy is... why does a ref have to warn the receivers, when he doesn't warn the OL or defense?

Some authority figure really should sit him, and maybe the Chiefs team down, and explain the refs don't have to do anything except call the rules (or call what the NFL wants even if it's not the rules).

There is no warning in the job description, that's just bonus if you get them.

Originally Posted by: beast