At least one of Schuster’s fellow Kansas City wide receivers believes Cisco’s hit was dirty.
Kadarius Toney, the Chiefs’ big pre-trade deadline acquisition, sounded off in his postgame comments to the media.
“My reaction, I was angry. I was kind of mad,” Toney said of the hit. “I don’t like no dirty plays.”
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Cisco was initially flagged for a personal foul, and it did appear that the safety hit Smith-Schuster in the helmet while trying to dislodge the ball.
But the officials eventually picked up the flag despite Smith-Schuster’s injury. Referee Brad Rogers explained that decision in a pool report after the game.
CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore, a former NFL referee, disagreed with the ruling. He said on the game broadcast and Twitter that Smith-Schuster should have been considered a defenseless player.
The Chiefs agreed with Steratore. They certainly appeared miffed that the flag was picked up, and they were further upset with Cisco when he put a hit on Marquez Valdes-Scantling a few plays later that left the wideout banged up.
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Still, Toney said, the Chiefs didn’t let that distract them; instead, they used it as motivation.
The Chiefs extended their lead to 20-0 shortly after the hit on a Patrick Mahomes touchdown pass to Noah Gray.
Jaguars coach Doug Pederson tried to walk a fine line with his postgame comments about Cisco’s hit.
“You want your guys to play hard, to play aggressive and play within the rules. That’s what we’ve got to do,” he said, per The Washington Post. “You don’t want to take the physicality away from anybody. This is a game where you have to play snap-to-whistle. You never want to hurt anybody, but you want to keep the aggressiveness.”
