Tony Romo isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
But more often than not, Romo rises to the occasion. While his partner on the NFL on CBS, Jim Nantz, is responsible for delivering the soundtrack to said big moment, Romo can often — and perhaps unintentionally — step on Nantz’s toes. That wasn’t the case during Week 13, though, as Sunday’s Kansas City Chiefs-Buffalo Bills game reached its crescendo.
Down by three, Kansas City possessed the ball with a little over two minutes remaining and two timeouts; seemingly, the perfect amount of time for Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes to march his team down the field and tie/win Sunday’s contest. But, as has been the case all season long, the reigning league MVP was forced to overcome poor wide receiver play.
However, the egregious mistake made by Chiefs receiver Kadarius Toney was insurmountable. Toney lined up offsides on a would-be go-ahead touchdown. Mahomes found Travis Kelce — as he usually does — up the seam, only for the All-Pro tight end to throw a perfect spiral on a pitch and catch to Toney for a go-ahead score.
That was quickly erased off the board as Toney, who has struggled with drops — including a few brutal ones in the team’s season-opening loss to the Detroit Lions — came up short again.
Naturally, the former quarterback in the booth blamed Kansas City’s wide receivers, perfectly encapsulating the team’s 2023 season through 13 games.
“I can’t believe it; I think this is coming back…You got to be kidding me,” Romo said as head official Carl Cheffers announced that Toney was lined up in the neutral zone. “This just can’t happen. These receivers can’t get out of the way of hurting the team. Too many times at the end of the game.”
“These receivers can’t get out of the way of hurting the team. Too many times at the end of the game.”
Tony Romo on Kadarius Toney’s offsides penalty, which nullified a go-ahead touchdown for the Chiefs in Sunday’s loss to the Bills. pic.twitter.com/XtIe2aUrj7
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 11, 2023
Romo, of course, is referring to instances that Mahomes has been let down by his receivers this year. We’ve already pointed to the cases where Toney was the responsible party, but that’s without mentioning Marquez Valdes-Scantling dropping a go-ahead 53-yard touchdown in the team’s 21-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this season. There was also that time when Skyy Moore dropped a touchdown pass from Mahomes in the end zone in a 24-9 loss to the Denver Broncos.
And just last week, Mahomes couldn’t connect with MVS or Richie James, who fell in the middle of the field during one of the game’s most crucial moments on a third down play. Now, none of James, Moore, or MVS are inherently responsible for what transpired in Sunday’s loss — that’s on Toney. But the more significant issue here is that this is a continuous pattern; there’s not just one culprit either. Everyone has a hand in the cookie jar.
The Chiefs’ championship hopes become increasingly fragile with each drop and missed opportunity.
