The NFL will is said to plan on reviewing Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and coach Andy Reid’s criticism of referees following Sunday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills, with insiders reporting that the league will look at the comments due to there being a “long-standing policy against questioning the integrity of the referees.” On Monday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter said on The Pat McAfee Show that Mahomes and Reid could potentially be facing fines.
After wideout Kadarius Toney was called for an offensive offsides penalty that negated what would have been a go-ahead touchdown for the Chiefs late in the fourth quarter on Sunday, Reid said: “very disappointed that it ended the way it did. 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.”
Meanwhile, during Mahomes and Bills quarterback Josh Allen’s postgame meeting on the field, the KC QB said the call was “f–king terrible” and later said to reporters during the postgame press conference: “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. 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.”
Referee Carl Cheffers defended the call after the game, telling reporters: “Ultimately, they are responsible for wherever they line up. No warning is required, especially if they are lined up so far offsides where they’re actually blocking our view of the ball. We would give them a warning if it was anywhere close, but this particular one is beyond a warning.”
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