Patrick Mahomes ’embarrassed himself’ with his furious protests after the Chiefs’ defeat by the Bills on Sunday, says Stephen A. Smith.
Mahomes was left fuming when an offside call denied Kansas City a last-gasp touchdown against Buffalo, which would have moved them 23-20 in front with just over a minute to play at Arrowhead.
Chiefs wideout Kadarius Toney was deemed to have lined up in the neutral zone before the play, meaning what looked like the game-winning touchdown was erased when he drew a flag for offensive offside.
When his final attempt to keep their drive alive fell incomplete moments later, the red mist descended for Mahomes as he slammed his helmet down and made his frustrations known with the officials’ call.
Yet Smith believes the reigning NFL MVP let himself down on the day.
Patrick Mahomes ’embarrassed himself’ with his furious protests after the Chiefs’ defeat against the Bills on Sunday, says Stephen A. Smith
Mahomes was left fuming when an offside call denied Kansas City a late touchdown vs Buffalo
That is despite the fact his teammate Kadarius Toney (center, bottom) was clearly offside
‘Patrick Mahomes may be the greatest quarterback we’ve ever seen,’ the ESPN analyst said on First Take. ‘[But] it’s the first time in his career I’ve seen him embarrass himself.’
Smith then included Chiefs coach Andy Reid in his criticisms as he continued: ‘I’ve known Andy Reid since the 90s. I’ve never seen them embarrass themselves until yesterday.
‘Your receiver lined up offside. Period. Period. Now, we don’t even have to get into the fact that the dropped passers by receivers have now elevated to 33… 33 dropped passes by Kansas City receivers this year!
‘By the way Kadarius Toney, not only was he offside, but then he was the one that Travis Kelce lateraled the ball to that ran it in for the touchdown. And by the way, he also had a drop earlier in the game.
‘So you’ve got a dropped pass, you lined up offside… Andy Reid, an offensive genius, we all know what the hell he’s doing when it comes to calling plays and patrolling an offense, we get where he’s coming from. Why the hell are these receivers this bad?’
The NFL is set to review Mahomes’ meltdown on Sunday after he questioned the officials and criticized them in a fit of rage at Arrowhead.
NFL.com insider Ian Rapoport posted on X: ‘While Patrick Mahomes’ post-game comments will be reviewed, his on-field yelling aimed at the refs before the game ended and then on-field comments while cameras were rolling and present may be more of an issue.’
When Mahomes returned to the sideline, he slammed down his helmet and had to be restrained by teammates as he appeared to yell at a referee, ‘We played our f***ing a**es off and you call offensive offsides!’
Mahomes’ fury with the officials was caught on a mic in an exchange with rival QB Josh Allen
The Chiefs quarterback said it was the ‘wildest f***ing call I’ve ever seen, f***ing terrible’
His fury then spilled over onto the pitch as he embraced rival quarterback Josh Allen after the game had ended.
‘Wildest f***ing call I’ve ever seen,’ said Mahomes as he shook his head in disgust.
‘F***ing terrible,’ he added.
Despite his outrage, a new photo has emerged which shows Toney was in fact the wrong side of the line of scrimmage before the Chiefs snapped the ball.
However, Mahomes added further fuel to the fire in his postgame media conference.
He added: ‘It’s tough to swallow. Not only from me, and football in general, to take away greatness like that, for a guy like Travis to make a play like that, you want to see the guys on the field decide the game.
‘They’re human. They make mistakes. But every week, we’re talking about something… It’s the call. Just in that moment. Not for myself.
‘To have a flag change the outcome of the game. I’ve never had offensive offsides called. If it does, they warn you. There wasn’t a warning the entire game.
‘And then you make a call like that in the final minute? Another game, we’re talking about the refs.
‘It’s not what we want for the NFL. It’s not what we want for football.’
