Travis Kelce passionately defends Kadarius Toney whose costly penalty wiped out Chiefs TD vs. Bills

Travis Kelce still believes in the Kansas City Chiefs offense, and that includes teammate Kadarius Toney, who has received criticism for lining up offsides while negating what would have been the go-ahead score in Sunday’s loss to the Bills. 

Kelce made a point to defend his teammate during his latest “New Heights” podcast with brother and Eagles perennial Pro Bowl center Jason Kelce. Toney was on the receiving end of Kelce’s lateral pass that appeared to give the Chiefs the lead late in Sunday’s game. An offsides penalty against Toney, however, wiped out the play and the Chiefs ultimately lost the game. 

“I got all the faith in the world in that dude,” Kelce said. “He’s one our best players. 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 with the ball 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. … I’m trusting in 1-9 every time he’s out on the field.” 

Kelce also expressed his ongoing faith in a Chiefs offense that has not been producing up to its normal standard through 13 games. 

“When you watch the film, penalties in critical moments, turnovers in critical moments,” Kelce said while detailing the things that have held the unit back so far. “Yeah, it’s frustrating, but at the same time, we know a lot of it is self-inflicted, and we know that, moving forward, it can be fixed and we have the guys to be able to get it fixed. … I just wanted to make sure that Chiefs Kingdom, everybody knows that we have everybody we need here, and we’re going to get it fixed.” 

Back to the play, perhaps the most underrated part of the lateral was Kelce’s spot-on pass to Toney. Kelce told his brother that the pass was nearly tipped, which would have led to sure disaster. Instead, the pass was just another example of Kelce’s brilliance as a football player. 

“I saw him out of the corner of my eye in a lateral position,” Kelce said, “in a position where I knew if I could get him the ball he had the space to score a touchdown.” 

As far as the officials penalizing Toney, Kelce said it’s up to him and his teammates to make sure that outcomes are not decided by the zebras. 

“You can’t put it in the ref’s hands in that position,” he said. “We’ve talked about plays like this all the time, especially in critical moments. I love KT. If we get that opportunity again, I’m going to throw that shit right into his chest again. Hopefully, he gets there.”