If anyone can complain about penalties, it is the Seattle Seahawks
The Chiefs really want to complain about a bad penalty call, really? The Seattle Seahawks actually have something to complain about, unlike the guys in Kansas City. The fact this is still being debated is ludicrous.
The 12s know where I'm coming from on this. No, I'm not about to blame the Seahawks' current 6-7 record on bad calls. The Hawks have been penalized one heck of a lot this season, true. It's also true that a lot of those penalties were correctly called. The team isn't exactly the most disciplined outfit around, and that can hardly be ascribed to the refs.
It's also true that the NFL has made some absolutely egregious calls this season. It is indeed a fact that many of those ridiculously bad calls have come at the expense of the Seahawks. This is why I view the current hue and cry over the offsides penalty called against the Kansas City Chiefs Kadarius Toney an absolute disgrace. Let me be absolutely clear here: the problem isn't the call itself, it's the whining after the fact.
The Seattle Seahawks actually have been screwed over by officiating
All credit to the Chiefs Travis Kelce, who made a very heady play that could have turned around their game versus the Bills. With just over a minute left in the game, Kelce was about to be tackled. He lateraled the ball to Toney, who raced into the end zone untouched. Just one problem: Toney lined up offsides on the play. The official threw the flag the moment the ball was snapped.
After the game, both Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid went off about what they viewed as a terrible call. As reported by Kevin Patra for nfl.com, Reid said, "Normally I get a warning before something like that happens in a big game." Uh, okay, fine, maybe you normally do get a warning, But this idea that offsides on the offense is never called is absurd. It might be rare, but it's been called 13 times this season already. It's just a thought, but maybe it isn't called very often because most players know where the line of scrimmage is located.
As Richard Sherman correctly pointed out on Undisputed, the idea that the ref should have warned the Chiefs or Toney is ridiculous. Like Sherm says, this is the pros. Everyone there has been playing football for years. Yet they expect a babysitter to tell them where to line up? Catch Sherm's reaction, along with the video of the play here:
To their credit, both Mahomes and Reid have since backed off their complaints. Gee, I dont know what could have happened. Maybe they realized it was Toney they were defending, a guy so incompetent he has more drops this season alone (four), than touchdowns in his career (three). Maybe they realized that, yeah, a guy who's in his third season in the league should know where the line of scrimmage is.
Meanwhile, in Seattle, we have idiotic refs who call phantom grounding penalties. They call pass interference when the opposition trips over an entirely different player. They miss pass interference calls when opposing players tackle our receivers in the end zone before the ball arrives. And DK Metcalf gets called for a penalty while Fred Warner gets off scot-free. So yeah, Chiefs, whine about one of the few accurate calls the refs have made this year. Ignore the fact that it was on first down, and you had three more chances to pick up a first and failed.
Again, this 6-7 season is on the heads and shoulders of the Seahawks players and coaches, not the refs. As bad as the officiating has been, Seattle earned the majority of the calls that have gone against them. Mahomes and Reid have accepted the call. Oops. It's time for the media to accept it, too.