The image of Toney that makes Patrick Mahomes look foolish for his complaints to the officials

Referees once again dominated the source of conversation in the National Football League, this time taking centre stage during the Kansas City Chiefs’ 20-17 defeat to the Buffalo Bills that left Patrick Mahomes incensed with a call against Kadarius Toney, but was the quarterback right?

The moment came when Toney delivered a late touchdown that would’ve given the Chiefs the lead following an excellent lateral move by Travis Kelce, only for the wide receiver’s score to be flagged for lining up offside.

Mahomes then had to be held back by teammates as he went after the referees, with the 28-year-old’s emotions boiling over. He had not cooled down by full-time either, slamming the officiating team in his post-match interview but he doesn’t seem to be correct in his anger.

“When officiating the line of scrimmage,” Gene Steratore, an analyst for CBS, wrote on X.com, formerly Twitter. “General philosophy is not to be overly technical and split hairs over very minor infractions (such as a receiver’s hand slightly breaking the LOS).

“However, when an infraction is so egregious and obvious, a flag has to be thrown. Kadarius Toney is blatantly lined up offside and in the neutral zone.

“You rarely see an offsides penalty on the offense, but that is not because this play in #BUFvsKC isn’t a foul. It is because a receiver rarely lines up offsides.”

Mahomes’ stats in Week 14

The Chiefs, who are the defending Super Bowl champions, have now lost their fifth game of the season as they hold a .615 record for the season.

They’re now on a two-game losing run after being defeated by the Green Bay Packers in Week 13 and they’ve now lost three times in the last four NFL games, marking a worrying run of form as they begin to head into the postseason.

Mahomes posted valiant stats but it wasn’t enough to get the Chiefs the win against their New York rivals. The QB threw for 271 yards, a 58.1% completion rate and one touchdown whilst he was sacked once and suffered one interception.

Fortunately, the Missouri outfit have a golden chance to get back to winning ways against the 3-10 New England Patriots in Week 15 on December 17.