But Toney’s biggest impact of the night arguably came on a non-TD. On just the Eagles’ second punt of the game, Toney made a tough grab of Arryn Siposs’ short, spiraling kick at the Kansas City 30-yard line. There wasn’t an Eagles player within 10 yards of him when Toney grabbed it, though, which Toney said made him smell “blood in the water.” He made Zach Pascal miss before sharply reversing across the grain to spring the game-changing return.
“I saw (an) opportunity,” Toney said. “In that situation, I made the right return and the right decision.”
Toney raced down the right sideline, and the Chiefs had a perfect wall set up. After Siposs missed another tackle attempt, Toney twisted his way down to the Philadelphia 5-yard line. The 65-yard punt return was the longest in Super Bowl history, topping Jordan Norwood’s 61-yarder in Super Bowl 50.
“I saw a lot of white jerseys in front of me,” Toney said. “At that moment, I was really excited to get the ball.”
The momentum was fully on the Chiefs’ side now. Two plays later, Skyy Moore — running the same route Toney had earlier, except on the opposite side — also walked in for a score, putting the Chiefs up by eight points.
Not long ago, this felt improbable. Toney was a first-round pick who was withering on the vine with the New York Giants, who seemingly didn’t know what to do with him. He was traded to the Chiefs, who were coming off their biggest win of the season at the time against the 49ers but still needed some extra juice for the offense and return game with Tyreek Hill shipped out in the offseason.
Toney didn’t have a massive offensive role with the Chiefs but flashed his game-breaking ability with a three-TD game (two receiving, one rushing) in the regular-season win over the Jaguars. In the playoff rematch against Jacksonville, Toney had 50 yards of offense and 23 punt-return yards before suffering an ankle injury the next week in the AFC Championship Game against the Bengals.
That put his Super Bowl availability in doubt. But Toney was cleared prior to the game and made the most of his limited opportunities, averaging 27.3 yards on his three touches. It was his fourth touchdown in 10 games with the Chiefs after being held out of the end zone in his 12-game Giants career.
“At the end of the day, I know what I can do with the ball in my hands,” he said. “Not a surprise.”