Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has broken his silence on the controversial offside penalty against teammate Kadarius Toney in Sunday’s 20-17 home loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Trailing by three with just over a minute remaining, Kelce caught a pass from Patrick Mahomes and lateraled it to Toney for the apparent go-ahead touchdown. However, the TD was called back because of a Toney offensive offside penalty.
The Bills forced a turnover on downs two plays later to seal the season-saving win. Afterwards, Mahomes lost it on the officials, and both he and head coach Andy Reid ripped on them in their post-game press conferences.
On the latest edition of the “New Heights” podcasts he co-hosts with brother Jason Kelce (h/t Sarah Hearon of Us Weekly), Kelce broke down the gutsy highlight reel play that was called back:
“I saw [KT] out of the corner of my eye in a lateral position — in a position where I knew if I could get him the ball, I knew he had space to score a touchdown. It was extremely close, so you probably won’t see me doing that every single game. I promise you guys. You guys, that was a little too close for comfort.”
Kelce also revealed his message to Toney after the loss, adding that he didn’t agree with the official’s decision to throw a flag on his teammate at that stage of the game:
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“I went up to KT today, and I told ’em, I was like, ‘Man, we had that place (expletive) rocking. Oh man, that crowd, Arrowhead, was on fire after that play.’ I told him, I was like, ‘Hey man, we’re just going to have to do it again, big dog.’ You can say what you want about him being in the neutral zone here and there (or say), ‘He lined up like that all game, didn’t get warned, blah, blah, blah. Don’t call it in that position.’ You can’t put it in the ref’s hands in that position. We’ve talked about plays like this all the time, especially in critical moments…
I love KT. If we get the opportunity again, I’m going to throw that (expletive) right into his chest again. Hopefully he gets there and I got all the faith in the world [in] that dude, he’s one of our best players. He’s one of the best players we got with the ball in his hands. You turn on the film, you watch what he does when the ball’s in his hands and you can’t tell me you don’t want that guy in your team, man. So everybody hating on KT right now? I’m not trying to hear that. You can (expletive) miss me with it. I’m trusting in 19 every time he’s out there on the field.”
Toney has endured a tough first full season with the Chiefs, to say the very least. His season has been highlighted by costly drops, and Sunday’s penalty against Buffalo all but sums up his 2023 campaign thus far.
The Super Bowl 57 hero has just 25 receptions for 164 yards and one touchdown this season. If the defending champs are to go on another deep run in January, they’ll need Toney and the rest of the receivers to step up more than ever.
