Kansas City Chiefs offensive tackle Jawaan Taylor has a target on his back, and his head coach and quarterback aren’t happy about it. After the veteran tackle lined up off the line of scrimmage multiple times in Week 1 and got away with it, the league put their officials on notice to ensure Taylor doesn’t get away with it again – but are the refs getting out of hand?
In the first half of Kansas City’s matchup with the Chicago Bears, Taylor was penalized in the first half, erasing a touchdown pass from Patrick Mahomes to wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling off the board. Irritated by the nullified scoring play, head coach Andy Reid immediately came to his correct tackle’s defense during his post-game conference.
“I checked out all the looks that our right tackle got called on, and you know, I’m seeing it on both sides of the ball,” Reid stated. “I’m seeing it within our lifetime, and you might be picked on just a little here. I thought [the refs] did a good job the week before, but today, I thought it was too much. I mean, I wasn’t seeing it, but you know, still, we got to keep working on that and get through this.”
Mahomes was equally frustrated with the officials and stuck up for his right tackle.
“Yeah, it’s wild to me,” Mahomes started. “I mean, when you go back and look at the tablet, and they’re both in the exact same spot, I don’t understand it. It’s hard; he’s playing great football, and he’s getting these penalties thrown on him. I know it’s hard to officiate, but I watched a lot of tape. And he’s no deeper than any other tackle in the league. I mean, there’s other guys that are even further back than he is. So it’s crazy to see, and hopefully, it kind of calms down as the season goes on. But I mean, he’s making adjustments, and it seems like even with his adjustments, they’re not good enough.”
Taylor has been penalized in each of Kansas City’s games thus far, and according to Football Database, he is the most penalized player in the NFL through three weeks with seven total fouls for 43 yards.
