NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is standing up in support of the referees who called Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Kadarius Toney offsides in last week’s game, causing the Chiefs to lose a touchdown that would have likely won them the game.
Officials have taken heat for the ruling that nullified a touchdown play during the Dec. 10 game between the Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills, which ended with the Bills winning 20-17.
The ruling made during one of the game’s final plays sent Chief Super Bowl-winning quarterback Patrick Mahomes into a fit that was so bad his teammates had to hold him back from running up to confront the officials.
Frustration appears to be growing for Patrick Mahomes pic.twitter.com/0z48D67jKL
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) December 11, 2023
Mahomes’ temper tantrum brought much mocking from fans, and Mahomes himself later apologized.
Despite the condemnation of the refs, though, Commissioner Goodell thinks that they had it right all along.
Are Mahomes and the Chiefs saying this wasn’t offsides? If this isn’t off sides I don’t know what is. pic.twitter.com/kjI22Y5pyS
— Michael Lombardi (@mlombardiNFL) December 11, 2023
“I think almost everybody, [to] my knowledge, is acknowledging the officials were absolutely correct,” Goodell said Wednesday, according to Fox News. “That’s their job: to call when there’s a foul. There was no question about that foul. It was absolutely the right call. If you don’t call that, [then] our officials would have been subject to criticism also.”
Referee Carl Cheffers also noted that the video of the play is clear.
He also said that if Kadarius had asked if they thought he was offside at the line, they would have told him he was.
“Ultimately, if they looked for alignment advice, certainly we are going to give it to them,” Cheffers explained. “But ultimately, they are responsible for wherever they line up. 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.”
“We would give them some sort of a warning if it was anywhere close, but this particular one is beyond a warning.… If it’s egregious enough, it would be beyond warning,” he added.
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