The Kansas City Chiefs cruised to victory on Sunday afternoon with a rather famous fan in attendance. While the majority of the focus was on Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift, with a little bit of Chicago Bears existential dread mixed in, another Chiefs storyline emerged. Offensive lineman Jawaan Taylor was (again) hit with a controversial illegal formation penalty.
The call actually negated a Chiefs touchdown. Had the game been a little closer, that call probably would have fueled days of online discourse.
The Chiefs ran away with a 41-10 victory and Kelce scored a touchdown in front of Swift, so nobody really cared about the (Jawaan) Taylor thing, but Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid still went to bat for the five-year NFL vet after the game.
Kansas City Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid defend Jawaan Taylor after controversial penalty call
"I don't understand," said Mahomes. "I watch a lot of tape and he's not deeper than any other tackle in the league. He's made adjustments, but they're not good enough, I guess."
Andy Reid expressed a similar sentiment in his post-game press conference.
"He might be being picked on just a little bit here," the coach opined.
This comes on the heels of Taylor getting hit with several such penalties in the Chiefs' Week 2 win over the Jaguars. It's clear NFL referees on keying in on Taylor for one reason or another. Whatever adjustments he has made, the officials don't appear satisfied.
It is easy for NFL teams and fanbases alike to cook up conspiracies when they feel slighted. There's no discernible reason for refs to have a vendetta against Taylor; it's more likely that Taylor was, in fact, lining up illegally. Kansas City will have to hammer home the basics again in practice before a Week 4 road trip to face the New York Jets' quality defensive line.
Taylor has been playing the game "honestly," as he puts it, for four years before arriving in Kansas City as a free agent. He was out of the public spotlight in Jacksonville, so perhaps a move to the bright lights of KC — and well-documented finagling of the rules in Week 1 — was enough to get him on the refs' no-fly list. That would reflect poorly on the refs, of course.
No matter your read on the situation, the Chiefs need Taylor to continue protecting Mahomes. The offensive line is an essential element to a Chiefs offense that needed a few weeks to find its rhythm. Taylor is a forceful presence in the trenches, but these penalties are starting to steal his mojo. He, and the Chiefs, will hope the calls taper off in the weeks to come.