Mahomes’ message to embattled Toney: ‘Be you’

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick Mahomes said he had a simple message for wide receiver Kadarius Toney as the Kansas City Chiefs practiced for the first time since Sunday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills.

“Just be you,” Mahomes said he told Toney, whose offside penalty late against the Bills cost the Chiefs a go-ahead 49-yard touchdown. “That’s all you can do in life or in this league. You’re going to make mistakes. Stuff’s going to happen in your life. How do you accept that adversity and get past it and do it the right way?

“You make one mistake, that’s not going to define you. It’s going to be how you respond to that mistake.”

Coach Andy Reid said earlier in the week Toney would remain in the lineup. The mistake against the Bills was not the first costly one Toney made this season. He deflected an easily catchable ball to a defender who returned it for a touchdown in a one-point loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 1.

The Chiefs’ wide receivers, other than rookie Rashee Rice, have struggled much of the season. They lead the NFL in dropped passes with 29.

But Mahomes said he hasn’t lost trust in any of them as the Chiefs have lost four of their last six games to fall to 8-5, one game ahead of the Denver Broncos in the AFC West.

“All the receivers know I believe in them,” he said. “That’s just kind of 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 and for everything I know their mindset seems like it’s in a good spot and they just want to go out there and continue to get better and better. I can see that by how hard they’re working out here. And I feel like if we can just continue to push through the grind that we’ll end up on the other side of it as the season goes on.”

Mahomes said he spoke with Bills quarterback Josh Allen since Sunday when a TV camera caught their exchange after the game in which Mahomes said about the officials penalizing Toney, “Wildest f—ing call I’ve ever seen. Offensive offsides on that play, man. F—ing terrible.”

On Wednesday, Mahomes said, “We’re good,” but otherwise wouldn’t elaborate on the conversation.

Allen on Wednesday confirmed that Mahomes reached out to him.

“Yeah, he reached out to me. I was like its football, it’s a game of emotion. I know he didn’t mean anything by it. I know the cameras kinda caught the last few seconds of what we were talking about. He’s an ultimate competitor. He wants to win. That’s why he is who he is,” he said.

Tight end Travis Kelce also defended the Chiefs’ receivers on his weekly “New Heights” podcast that he hosts with his brother, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce.

“There’s a lot of media pointing fingers on the skill players on our team, I say f— that,” Kelce said. “Excuse my language, we usually cuss in lighthearted ways, but you guys had to feel that, whoever is talking s— on our skill players and our offense.

“This is a group effort and when you turn the film on what’s real is that we’ve got guys that can play this game and we’ve got guys that we can have success with and win championships with. I know it, I’ve been on championship-winning teams. When you watch the film, penalties, turnovers and critical moments, it’s everybody, it’s not just one guy. Everybody is getting a piece of the pie.”

ESPN’s Alaina Getzenberg contributed to this report.