After another wide receiver mistake cost the Kansas City Chiefs another tightly contested game, leaders in the locker room voiced support for Kadarius Toney.
Toney, who lined up offsides to wipe away what would’ve been a 49-yard go-ahead touchdown in the final two minutes of Kansas City’s 20-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills, received public support from quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce on Wednesday.
“All the receivers know I believe in them,” said Mahomes. “That’s how I roll. If you’re in this locker room and I see how hard you work, I’m going to trust in you in big moments and I’m going to give you chances to go out there and make plays.”
Mahomes said his message to Toney remained solid.
“Just be you,” he said he told the former first-round pick out of Florida. “You’re going to make mistakes; stuff is going to happen in your life. How do you accept that adversity and get pat it and do it the right way? If you make one mistake, that’s not going to define you, it’s going to be how you respond to the mistake.”
On this week’s episode of the New Heights podcast, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce said despite both mental and physical mistakes from the offense, the necessary talent is on the roster to make a Super Bowl run.
After Mahomes told reporters Sunday he was upset the play was wiped away from Kelce’s Hall-of-Fame highlight reel, the Chiefs’ tight end said he joked with Toney that the play would need to be replicated.
“I went up to KT today and I told him, ‘Man, we had that place f—— rocking,” Kelce said with a laugh. “Arrowhead was on fire after that play, and I told him, ‘Aye man, we’re just gonna have to do it again, big dog.’”
When Kelce got to the sideline, he said there was no discussion with head coach Andy Reid about the play.
“Dude, in retrospect,” he told his brother Jason, who plays center for the Philadelphia Eagles, “could you imagine if that got tipped? I can just see Coach Reid in my head, just ‘come here.’ It was close. When it left my hand I thought it got tipped. So you probably won’t see me doing that every game.”
Kelce also said Toney lined up similarly throughout the game without warning from the officials and cited a breakdown by ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky as evidence.
The Chiefs take on the New England Patriots Sunday at noon.
