For yet another week, Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Kadarius Toney has stepped into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
A week ago Kadarius Toney was cited for an offsides penalty to nullify his own dazzling touchdown. On Sunday, he gift-wrapped a fourth-quarter interception for the New England Patriots in the Chiefs’ 27-17 victory.
The blooper-reel miscue wasn’t too costly, as the penalty had been the week before in Kansas City’s 20-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills. But in hilarious fashion, Kadarius Toney’s play punctuated the problems Kansas City has had all season with its receivers.
Patrick Mahomes threw a pass over the middle to Kadarius Toney, who then juggled the ball behind him and into the waiting arms of Patriots linebacker Jahlani Tavai, who then added to the comedy of the moment when he tried to pitch it to a teammate as he was being tackled and the ball rolled out of bounds.
The Patriots took over possession of the ball, and while the Chiefs had a somewhat comfortable 27-10 lead with 9:20 left to play in the game, Mahomes wasn’t too pleased about being saddled with his second interception of the day, and his frustration toward Toney spilled out on the sidelines.
Kadarius Toney has been mistake-prone all season
Kadarius Toney’s mistake against the Bills far outweighed Sunday’s flub in terms of importance.
With the Chiefs at midfield and driving for at least a game-tying field goal, Mahomes threw to his go-to target, tight end Travis Kelce, who then tossed a perfect lateral to a wide-open Toney, who scampered the rest of the way for an apparent go-ahead touchdown.
But Kadarius Toney was lined up in the neutral zone to effectively nullify the touchdown and send Kansas City to a bitter defeat.
After the game, Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid expressed their displeasure with the referees and were fined $100,000 and $50,000, respectively, for their critical comments.
Reid later backpedaled and said Toney didn’t check with the side judge first. Regardless, Mahomes and Reid — and later Kelce — were initially trying to protect Toney, who’s suddenly become a poster boy for the Chiefs’ season-long problems with their receiving unit, which leads the league in dropped passes.
In Week 1, Toney dropped two passes, one that bounced to Detroit Lions safety Brian Branch, who returned it for a pick-six in the Chiefs’ 21-20 loss.
Toney, a former first-round pick acquired last October from the New York Giants, has been a huge disappointment beyond the obvious mistakes. He caught two passes for five yards Sunday and now has 27 catches for 169 yards, which equates to a meager 6.3 yards per reception.
After Sunday’s latest bungle, it wouldn’t be surprising if Toney’s next reception was a pink slip.