Following a controversial penalty call during Sunday’s game between the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs, NFL fans are wondering why one wide receiver in particular failed to point to the sideline prior to the crucial play.
The Bills ended up beating the Chiefs 20-17 following an offsides penalty call late in the game that negated a pass from Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelce, which was then lateraled across the field to Kadarius Toney, for a 49-yard touchdown.
Toney had clearly lined up offsides. Worse, he failed to point to the sideline as receivers often do.
Why would he do that? According to ViQtory Sports, the reason wide receivers point to the sideline is to check with the officials whether they are on or off the line of scrimmage.
Additionally, a legal formation requires seven offensive players on the line. Oftentimes that means five offensive linemen and two receivers or possibly a tight end in the mix somewhere.
If you’re a receiver out on the edge as Toney was, it’s sometimes hard to tell. If you line up too far forward, you’re lined up in the neutral zone and therefore offsides. Too far back and there aren’t seven guys on the line of scrimmage and it’s an illegal formation penalty.
Which makes it critical for the wide receiver to point to the sideline.
Did Wide Receiver Kadarius Toney Point To The Sideline
Some social media analysts suggest that field-level angles of the play in question show Kadarius Toney briefly checking to the sideline.
There are two problems with this claim. One, from the moment he quickly motions towards the official to the start of the play, he’s moved up just a bit further.
And two, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid admitted Toney didn’t check as he should have.
“Normally he looks over to the sideline and just gets an OK [from the official]. On that one he just happened not to,” Reid said before offering advice to his young wide receiver.
“Just make sure you check, make sure you check with the guy on the side just to see if you’re aligned … He was 2 inches away from or an inch from being legal,” he added.
It was quite a bit more than an inch or two, Coach.
RELATED: Riley Gaines Named ‘Anti-Woke’ Beer Company’s ‘Real Women of America’ Calendar Cover Model
Refs Said It Was Too Egregious Not To Call
Now that we know why it’s crucial that wide receivers point to the sideline before plays get off the blocks, and that Kadarius Toney failed to do so, was the Mahomes family in the right for bitching so much about the refs?
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was caught on video having an aneurysm on the sideline over the critical offsides call.
He would later complain to his counterpart on the Bills, Josh Allen, that the call was “fucking terrible.”
Patrick Mahomes’ wife, Brittany Mahomes, currently in a dead heat with Taylor Swift as the most annoying significant other forced down your throat by NFL television each week, blasted the refs and labeled them the Bills “MVP.”
Even Mahomes’ mother got in on the act, saying she had “no comment” on why the referees didn’t make a separate call of roughing the passer against the Bills earlier in the game.
Once the Mahomes family tears are dried up they’ll realize Kadarius Toney, just like all other wide receivers, should have pointed to the sideline to make sure he was in position.
His failure to do so likely cost his team the victory.
