The Sunday night the Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Kadarius Toney’s offensive offside has sparked a firestorm of controversy over the rule and its application.<\/p>\n
The flag cost the Chiefs and fans (eventually) of one of the best plays of the season and a possible Chiefs win over the Buffalo Bills – Patrick Mahomes threw to Travis Kelce who them threw to Toney for a go-head touchdown with 70 seconds left. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough to swallow,\u201d Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes told ESPN. \u201cNot 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\u2019re human. They make mistakes. But every week, we\u2019re talking about something.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s the call. Just in that moment. Not for myself. To have a flag change the outcome of the game. I\u2019ve never had offensive offsides called.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year, offensive offside was called just twice (Jalen Tolbert of the Dallas Cowboys and Chris Olave of the New Orleans Saints), however this year it’s been a applied more rigorously.<\/p>\n
Entering week 14, it’s already been called 10 times with Jon Runyan getting called twice for it in the same game (1Q and 2Q vs the Jaguars):<\/p>\n
Week 4: L. Dickerson (PHI)
\nWeek 6: E. Wilkinson (ARI)
\nWeek 7: O. Torrence (BUF) – RB
\nWeek 7: D. Lewis (SEA)
\nWeek 8: I. Seumalo (PIT)
\nWeek 9: J. Runyan (GB)
\nWeek 9: J. Runyan (GB)
\nWeek 9: C. Whitehair (CHI)
\nWeek 10: R. Shaheed (NO) – WR
\nWeek 12: D. Peoples-Jones (DET) – WR<\/p>\n
On that list, of the nine players flagged, six were lineman, two were wide receivers and one running back.<\/p>\n
Only Whitehair (3Q) and Shaheed (4Q) were flagged for the violation in the second half. The rest were all first half penalties.<\/p>\n