KC Chiefs' Travis Kelce Defends Kadarius Toney, Explains Viral Lateral

Kelce dove into his highlight-reel play from Sunday and came to the defense of the Chiefs' dynamic wideout in the process.

The Kansas City Chiefs experienced yet another close loss this past week, and it was somehow due to a different kind of mistake than the ones that have plagued the team all season long.

You've probably heard about it by now, but one of the biggest touchdowns of the year was eliminated by an offensive offsides penalty. The creativity that tight end Travis Kelce displayed was second to none, with Kadarius Toney seemingly giving Kansas City a late lead against the visiting Buffalo Bills. A penalty took that away, however, and the home team lost by a final score of three points.

That isn't stopping anyone from learning more about the play. On a new episode of the New Heights podcast with his brother Jason, Kansas City's All-Pro pass-catcher explained his viral decision during the Chiefs' final offensive possession.

"Honestly, man, it was such a bang-bang [play]," Kelce said. "Like I caught it, turned upfield, saw the single-high safety — I knew it was man coverage — saw the single-high safety coming down, knew I had broken the contain angle of the guy chasing me. When I made the safety that was coming down to try to tackle me, when I broke his angle, I knew it was two-on-one. He was the only guy left. He was the only guy on that side of the field. I knew KT was over there from the route he ran, and I saw him out of the corner of my eye in a lateral position. In a position where I knew if I could get him the ball, I knew he had space to score a touchdown."

Kelce added that when the ball first left his hand, he thought the throw attempt got tipped by a Buffalo defender. He approached Toney this week and said the two had GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium "rocking" and that they'll "have to do it again" if the opportunity ever presents itself. Those odds are slim, of course, but wasn't the first time Kelce has done some pitch play during a game. His ability to improvise is on record, even with head coach Andy Reid not being the biggest fan of it. 

Unfortunately for the Chiefs, the play didn't count and the offense failed to do anything with its ensuing opportunities. Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes were quite upset with the decision to throw a flag at that point in the game, putting the officials on blast on Sunday night. Both have since walked things back a bit, although there's been no shortage of speculation and analysis regarding Toney. How often was he aligned incorrectly? Did he get a warning? What was the communication process like? Did Toney adequately check with the down judge on the aforementioned play? All of those questions are floating around this week, with Kelce also explaining the process and order of events a bit.

"I'll more so check [the] ball, check where the ref is and then get on the line," Kelce said. "When you rewatch it, that's what Kadarius did. You can go down the road, I think Dan Orlovsky — shoutout to D-O — I think he made a great point of he was doing that the entire game. He was kind of on the line of scrimmage, and the refs didn't really say anything. So how was Kadarius, in his mind, supposed to know that he's been offsides the whole game?"

Now 8-5, the Chiefs have lost two games and four of their last six contests. Different elements — turnovers, penalties, route mistakes, miscommunications — are culprits, leading to narrow defeats for the most part. The team is hard at work trying to fix things in time for the playoffs, with the next four weeks leaving some very beatable opponents on the docket. Kelce remains confident in Kansas City, as well as Toney. His response to anyone who wants to criticize the third-year receiver? Miss him with it.  

"You can say what you want about him being in the neutral zone here and there," Kelce said. "He lined up like that all game and didn't get warned. Blah, blah, blah. Don't call it in that position. You can't put it in the refs' hands in that position. We've talked about plays like this all the time, especially in critical moments. I love KT. If we get the opportunity again, I'm going to throw that s— right into his chest again. Hopefully it gets there. I've got all the faith in the world in that dude. He's one of our best players, man. He's one of the best players we've got with the ball in his hands. You turn on the film, you watch what he does when the ball's in his hands and you can't tell me you don't want that guy on your team. Everybody hating on KT right now, I'm not trying to hear that. You can f— miss me with it. I'm trusting in 1-9 every time he's out there on the field."

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