Both sides of the ball fought for the Kansas City Chiefs during the team’s 30-21 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. In KC’s first loss of the 2024 NFL season, starting the game was rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy. Worthy caught four passes for 61 yards and a touchdown on the Chiefs’ third drive of the game, setting up a potential performance for the young speedster. Then he didn’t catch another pass.

Worthy was targeted just once after that Sunday practice, and his missed connection sparked more postgame chatter than his high-octane practice.

In the second quarter, on the drive immediately following the one that relied so heavily on Worthy, Mahomes attempted a deep pass to Worthy near the left sideline. Worthy was wide open, but as he followed the ball, he dragged his right foot, caught the ball, landed on his right foot and landed with his left foot out of bounds.

Had Worthy dragged his left foot after securing the ball, the Chiefs would have had another explosive play on a drive that would have resulted in a three-and-out after the miss.

After the game, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid mentioned Worthy’s big day and the on-field accident in his opening comments after the game.

“Dignified and (tight end) Noah (Gray) had some good days“, Reid said. “Worthy will learn from whoever is on the sidelines, we’ll have to take a look at it on tape to see exactly what happened, but we were close on that one, on the ball deep. “

Later, during his press conference, Reid was specifically asked about the near-connection.

“He’ll get better in those areas and then we’ll get him the ball a little quicker as we go along,” Reid said. “I have to see him. We’re going to watch him on tape and see exactly if he was able to drag his foot, if that was possible. If that’s the case, then he can learn from it, yes.”

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes took a more direct approach when speaking to the media after the game.

“It’s probably just me throwing more in bounds to the guy who’s wide open for a touchdown,” Mahomes said. “If I throw it inbounds, it’s a walk-off touchdown. I just have to be better there.”

The connection between Mahomes and Worthy has been inconsistent during Worthy’s rookie campaign, with plenty of blame to go around. In last week’s win over the Denver Broncos, Mahomes missed a potential touchdown due to an inaccurate throw that took Worthy out of boundsmaking the pass uncatchable. The previous week, Worthy rushed out of bounds and turned another near-surefire score into a long incompletion.

Learn more: Andy Reid on Chiefs’ loss to Bills and what KC can learn from first loss