Patrick Mahomes, his wife Brittany, and Andy Reid merged to become a three-headed rage monster against the officiating crew of the Chiefs-Bills game.
A tense battle between two AFC heavyweights saw a moment of magic late in the fourth quarter. Mahomes lobbed a pass downfield to Travis Kelce, who – in a brilliant moment of improvisation – lateralled the ball back to Kadarius Toney. With the defense completely caught off guard, Toney waltzed into the endzone to keep give the Chiefs a three-point lead.
Well, that’s what everyone thought had happened. Unfortunately for the Chiefs, Toney lined up in the neutral zone before Patrick snapped the ball, thus nullifying the play.
Two plays later, Kansas City failed to convert a fourth down, and the Bills escaped with a 20-17 win.
Mahomes was furious after the officiating crew made the (objectively correct) call. As you can see from the video, half of Toney’s foot was beyond the line of scrimmage, and you can’t do that. Nevertheless, the quarterback made his frustrations known. The Chiefs’ uniforms weren’t the only red he saw after the drive stalled.
Patrick Mahomes Was NOT Happy About The Call, Even Thought It Was The Right One
After the game, he feigned victimhood that the call determined the outcome of the game and that it was a bad look for the NFL.
“It’s tough to swallow. Not only from me, and football in general, to take away greatness like that, for a guy like Travis to make a play like that, you want to see the guys on the field decide the game,” Patrick said. “To have a flag change the outcome of the game. I’ve never had offensive offsides called. If it does, they warn you. There wasn’t a warning the entire game. And then you make a call like that in the final minute? Another game, we’re talking about the refs. It’s not what we want for the NFL.”
What exactly is he trying to get at here? The players actually did decide the outcome of the game, just not in the way Patrick wanted it to happen. Toney did something objectively wrong, and the refs should’ve made that call. If you don’t want “greatness” taken away, stay behind the line of scrimmage before you snap the ball!
As far as the warning argument goes, maybe there’s something to that. In many instances, refs will tell coaches and players the extent to which they can push the rules of the game in debatable areas, such as physicality, trash-talking, etc.
But here’s a counterargument. Maybe there was no instance before this point in which the refs felt a need to warn someone about a potential offensive offsides. And at that stage of the game, you don’t have time for warnings; you have to make calls as you see them. This was a pretty cut-and-dry penalty, Toney was lined up offside. Imagine Buffalo’s outrage if they went back, reviewed the play, and saw the refs miss an obvious call like that!
Brittany Mahomes And Andy Reid Also Did Their Share Of Complaining After The Game
Patrick wasn’t the only Mahomes to lambast the refs after the game. In the waning minutes, his wife Birttany posted an Instagram story in which she captioned a video of a referee with “MVP.”
Someone was cleary salty that the refs didn’ make a call that benefited her husband. She obviously forgot about how the refs missed an obvious holding call against the Chiefs in their October matchup against the NEw York Jets.
Jermaine Johnson (number 11) got held for several seconds before Patrick extended a game-sealing drive. Didn’t see her complain about that one.
And Reid Got In On The Complaining Act Too
You’d expect the Mahomes duo to vent their frustration. But normally, you don’t see Reid ever call out the refs, but that changed today. After the game, he also highlighted how he wasn’t give a warning before something happened.
“Usually I get a warning before something like that happens,” Reid said. “It’s a bit embarrassing in the National Football League for that to take place. … I’ve been in the league for a long time. Haven’t had one like that.”
You know what’s really embarrassing? A head coach saying that he lost a game because the refs make the right call in a crucial moment he didn’t like. Again, there’s no time for warnings that late in the game. Instead of complaining about the call, Reid should make sure his players know where the line of scrimmage is before they run a play.
Is it a rough way to lose a game, especially given that it cancelled an insane play? Yes. But as we all know, you can never blame a close game on one bad call. There were countless other little plays – a Rashee Rice fumble, the defense failing to get off the field on a 3rd-and-long – that they could have controlled to help they win. Instead, we’re sitting here analyzing the stupidity of their complaints.