Source: Cooper Neill / Getty
The 2023-24 NFL season kicked off Thursday night, and things didn’t go as planned.
The Kansas City Chiefs, helmed by two-time Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes were expected to easily steamroll Jared Goff’s Detroit Lions… but that’s not all what happened.
Travis Kelce is traditionally one of Mahomes’ favorite targets, but the tight end was out with a knee injury that left QB1 looking for others to make big plays. That role was dolled out to Kadarius Toney –recently acquired from the Giants– who was unable to rise to the occasion.
In the Chiefs’ 21-20 loss to the Lions, Toney was targetted for five throws but only caught one, with the first coming on a crucial third and 6 in the first quarter. Another came when the ball bounced off Toney’s hands and into the palms of Lions’ rookie safety Brian Branch who ran it into the endzone for a pick-six that tied the game 14-14.
Another crucial mishap came with under 3 minutes left in the game when Toney was unable to reel in the catch that would have helped them inch closer to field goal range.
Prior to the game, Mahomes spoke about the impact he hoped Toney would have on the field, having witnessed his capabilities in practice.
“To be able to go out there and have that weapon it would definitely be a huge positive,” Mahomes said. “He’s done a great job in the practices that he’s been in so far and I’m looking forward to him continuing to step up.”
Social media was shocked by the loss and laid all the blame at Toney’s cleats, which led to him deleting his X account and restricting his Instagram account’s comments.
See how brutal the roasting is below.
