The NFL fined Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes for comments they made about the officiating following last Sunday’s 20-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to USA TODAY Sports.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
Reid and Mahomes criticized a play in the fourth quarter when officials threw an offensive offsides flag on wide receiver Kadarius Toney, wiping out a potential touchdown after tight end Travis Kelce caught a pass and then lateraled it to Toney, who ran it into the end zone.
‘Very disappointed that it ended the way it did,’ Reid said after the game. ‘Normally I’ll get — I never use any of this as excuses, but normally I get a warning before something like that happens in a big game. (It’s) a bit embarrassing in the National Football League for that to take place. … I’ve been in the league a long time and I haven’t had one like that. So, not where, at least in that kind of position there where it is not given a heads-up to.’
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Referee Carl Cheffers, who also was the lead official in Kansas City’s Super Bowl 57 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, said Toney was ‘far offsides” and was blocking the official’s view of the football.
Mahomes, the league’s reigning MVP, was seen on the sidelines slamming his helmet and had to be restrained by teammates from going after the officials. He told Bills quarterback Josh Allen after the game that the call was (‘expletive)’ terrible.
‘I’ve played seven years [and] never had offensive offside called. That’s elementary school [stuff] we’re talking about. There was no warning throughout the entire game,’ Mahomes said. ‘Then you wait until there’s a minute left in the game to make a call like that? It’s tough. Lost for words. It’s tough. Regardless if we win or lose, just the end of another game and we’re talking about the refs. It’s just not what we want for the NFL and for football.
‘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 don’t want to be talking about this stuff after the game. I’m not worried about if there was a flag on the next player or whatever, not a flag. I want to go out there and play and then see what happens at the end, see what the score is, and then I can live with the results.’