Referee Carl Cheffers explains critical offsides call on Chiefs WR Kadarius Toney
NFL referee Carl Cheffers took some time to attempt to explain where it all went wrong for the Kansas City Chiefs on their final drive against the Buffalo Bills.
Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and company thought they just completed one of the more epic plays in the history of the league. The star quarterback found his tremendous tight end, but Kelce then pitched it backwards to wide receiver Kadarius Toney, who seemingly took the ball into the end-zone for the game-winning touchdown.
However, it wasn’t meant to be, as there was some yellow laundry on the field. The refs had been calling it tight all game, but an offensive offsides penalty on Toney took away the legendary play, since he lined up in the neutral zone.
Mahomes was lived, but it seemed like the right call. Afterwards, Cheffers took some time to elaborate on what went into the call.
“It’s one of those things we don’t want to be overly technical on, but when in his alignment he’s lined up over the ball, that’s something that we are going to call as offensive offside,” Cheffers explained. “So that’s what the down judge saw. He saw that the alignment was over the ball and that’s what he ruled on the field. That’s what he called.”
Usually a player will look over to the ref for alignment advice, so they’re not overly tedious on the call. However, Cheffers explained that Toney in this particular place was beyond a warning.
“If they looked for alignment advice, certainly we are going to give it to them. But ultimately, they are responsible for wherever they line up,” Cheffers added. “And, certainly, no warning is required, especially if they are lined up so far offsides where they’re actually blocking our view of the ball.
“So, we would give them some sort of a warning if it was anywhere close, but this particular one is beyond a warning.”
Alas, it was simply a foul in Cheffers’ eyes, and it’s tough to argue with his case when you see the replay.
“If it’s egregious enough, it would be beyond a warning. So really regardless of whether or not he was warned at other times during the day, if it was an egregious alignment to where he was over the ball – whether he had warnings or not – it would still be a foul,” Cheffers stated.
Nevertheless, an all-time play was taken away from us, along with a win for the Kansas City Chiefs. We’re willing to be they’ll be practicing where they line up throughout the week now.