Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes appeared to express regret over comments he made to Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen after the Chiefs’ loss on Sunday.
Mr. Mahomes was seen and heard complaining to Mr. Allen about offsides call that penalized the Chiefs and took a touchdown off the scoreboard during the final moments of the game.
“Obviously, you don’t ever want to react that way,” the Chiefs quarterback said in an interview on 610 Sports in Kansas City, according to reports. “I care, man. I love this game, I love my teammates. I want to go out there and put everything on the line to win.”
The two-time Super Bowl champion continued: “But, obviously, can’t do that, can’t be that way toward officials or really anybody in life, so I probably regret acting like that. But more than anything I regretted how I acted toward Josh [Allen] after the game, because he had nothing to do with it.”
When the two walked onto the field after the game ended, Mr. Mahomes said that it was the “wildest [expletive] call I’ve ever seen” and that the “offensive offsides on that play” was “terrible,” according to video footage of the incident.
Moments before that, Mr. Mahomes was seen apparently berating the referee after the call, forcing teammates and coaching staff to hold him back. “Frustration is growing for Mahomes,” said CBS color commentator Tony Romo during the broadcast.
On Monday, Mr. Mahomes added that he was “still hot and emotional, but you can’t do that,” adding, “It’s not a great example for kids watching the game. I was more upset about that than me on the sidelines.”
Ultimately, he conceded that the offsides call, which penalized Chiefs wide receiver Kadarius Toney, was correct. The offsides penalty wiped out a touchdown after Mr. Mahomes threw a completed pass to tight end Travis Kelce, who then threw a rare lateral pass to Mr. Toney, who scored the go-ahead touchdown. The Chiefs lost the game 20–17, putting them at 8–5 on the season.
“Obviously I’ve seen it now, and if he didn’t check and they weren’t good, it is a foul. It is something you rarely see called in the NFL. But it was a foul; it’s part of playing the game, man. You learn from it, it’s part of being a person, you learn from your mistakes and try to be better next time,” Mr. Mahomes said during the radio interview.
The NFL’s rules stipulate that players or coaches who criticize referees can be fined. But he told the station that he'll accept any punishment that is meted out to him.
“You have to accept the consequences of your actions, and that’s something that I’ve always stood by. I obviously didn’t act in the way that I usually act, and if there’s consequences that come from that, I obviously accept those,” he said.
After the game, Mr. Mahomes and Kansas City coach Andy Reid faulted the officiating crew for the call, claiming that it wasn’t egregious offsides.
“I’ve played seven years [and] never had offensive offside called,'' Mr. Mahomes told reporters during Sunday’s press conference. ”That’s elementary school [expletive] we’re talking about. There was no warning throughout the entire game. Then you wait until there’s a minute left in the game to make a call like that? It’s tough. Lost for words. It’s tough. Regardless if we win or lose, just the end of another game and we’re talking about the refs. It’s just not what we want for the NFL and for football.”
And Mr. Reid claimed that neither he nor any of the Chiefs receivers were warned about offsides, saying the call was “a bit embarrassing in the National Football League for that to take place.'’
But one of the referees, Carl Cheffers, told ESPN that judge Mike Carr saw Mr. Toney was offsides and correctly made the call.
“Ultimately, they are responsible for wherever they line up,'' the said. ”No warning is required, especially if they are lined up so far offsides where they’re actually blocking our view of the ball.
