Getty Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.
During the Kansas City Chiefs’ 27-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 10, receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster took a hit from Jaguars safety Andre Cisco on third down in the second quarter that left JuJu in visible pain on the ground. Shortly after, the Chiefs ruled out Smith-Schuster (concussion protocol) for the remainder of the game.
#Chiefs WR JuJu Smith-Schuster knocked out of the game due to a scary hit by a #Jaguars defender. Hope he’s okay. #ChiefsKingdom
The hit from Cisco went unflagged — a flag was thrown during the play and then picked up — despite what appeared to be helmet-to-helmet contact. That’s why players came to JuJu’s defense after the game.
Leading up to Kansas City’s Week 11 game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday Night Football, JuJu didn’t log any practice reps and as a result was ruled out for the game on Friday, November 18.
Chiefs Kingdom has been waiting since the Chiefs-Jaguars game for a response from the NFL regarding Cisco’s hit. On November 20, the NFL broke its silence regarding the incident.
NFL Fines Cisco for Hit
The NFL fined Cisco $6,612 for unnecessary roughness for his hit on JuJu, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
Twitter users reacted to the NFL fining Cisco.
“Chris Jones was fined more for words that might have hurt Matt Ryan’s feelings,” one Twitter user wrote.
“CTE attorneys licking their chops when the NFL doesn’t come down harder on obvious helmet to helmet,” another user wrote.
@JFowlerESPN CTE attorneys licking their chops when the NFL doesn’t come down harder on obvious helmet to helmet.
“So Jamin Davis got fined $10,000 for a missed facemask penalty but this dude only got fined $6,000 for the hit that could literally have Ended Juju for the rest of the season that’s crazy,” another user wrote.
@JFowlerESPN So Jamin Davis got fined $10,000 for a missed facemask penalty but this dude only got fined $6,000 for the hit that could literally have Ended Juju for the rest of the season that’s crazy
“OK so if anyone else hit helmet to helmet is going to be a 6K fine? Or is it only a 6K fine because it happened to a KC player?” another user wrote.
@JFowlerESPN @chiefshive OK so if anyone else hit helmet to helmet is going to be a 6K fine? Or is it only a 6K fine because it happened to a KC player?
“The officials should also be fined $6,612. For blatantly missing the call and complete ineptitude,” another user wrote.
@JFowlerESPN The officials should also be fined $6,612. For blatantly missing the call and complete ineptitude.
“About damn time. How does the NFL see that it was an issue but the refs who saw it and threw a flag then picked it up not see it as a problem?” another user wrote.
@JFowlerESPN About damn time. How does the NFL see that it was an issue but the refs who saw it and threw a flag then picked it up not see it as a problem? #nflrefsarebliind
Toney Set for Breakout Role in KC
With Chiefs wide receiver Mecole Hardman (abdomen) missing Kansas City’s Week 10 game against the Jaguars, newly-acquired receiver Kadarius Toney saw an increase in reps as a result and took advantage of them.
Toney registered 90 total yards on 6 total touches while also scoring his first NFL receiving touchdown by way of a 6-yard pass from quarterback Patrick Mahomes during the first half.
Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes connects with new KC receiver Kadarius Toney for Toney’s 1st career TD. PAT is good.
In Week 11, Toney was expected to see an expanded workload, partly because of his increased familiarity with the offense and partly because JuJu (concussion protocol) was on track to miss the primetime outing (he’s now officially ruled out for the game). However, with Hardman being placed on injured reserve on November 17, Toney’s opportunities moving forward have become plentiful.
Mahomes spoke on Toney’s involvement within the offense thus far and how that will evolve moving forward.
“He’s really got in here, he’s learned,” Mahomes said of Toney during his press conference on November 16. “He’s learned multiple positions. We’ve moved him around now, it’s not like he’s in that one spot. And so, we’ll just continue to build on that. We don’t want to overwhelm him. We don’t want to put too much on his plate, but we’re going to keep giving him more and more, and get him more involved in this offense because it’ll make this offense better as a whole as the season goes on.”