Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid defend Jawaan Taylor after latest string of penalties
Kansas City Chiefs RT Jawaan Taylor continues to be the subject of NFL scrutiny, but this time Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes are coming to his aid and firing back at the league. Taylor was called for two illegal formation penalties during the team's 41-10 trouncing of the Chicago Bears in Week 3. The team […]
Kansas City Chiefs RT Jawaan Taylor continues to be the subject of NFL scrutiny, but this time Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes are coming to his aid and firing back at the league.
Taylor was called for two illegal formation penalties during the team's 41-10 trouncing of the Chicago Bears in Week 3. The team overcame one of the penalties, but the second erased a 50-yard touchdown catch by Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and the call was highly questionable.
Reid and Mahomes came to the defense of Taylor after the game, pointing fingers at the NFL for unfairly picking on their right tackle, even at the risk of facing league-imposed fines for talking badly about officiating.
"You know I checked all the looks that our right tackle (Jawaan Taylor) got called on today and you know I’m seeing it on both sides of the ball, I’m seeing it with our left tackle," Reid said. "He might be being picked on just a little bit here. I felt today (he was being picked on). I thought they did a good job the week before but today I thought it was too much. I mean I wasn’t seeing it but still, we got to keep working on that and get through this.”
It's easy to see that Taylor is being targeted by the league. He was a key figure in their illegal formation webinar that they shared ahead of Week 3. Yet, after two weeks it seems he's the only player this new crackdown applies to, even with plenty of examples throughout the league on a weekly basis.
“It’s wild to me," Mahomes said. "I mean when you go back and look in the tablet, they're both (Jawaan Taylor and Donovan Smith) in the exact same spot. I just don’t understand it, it’s hard because he’s (Jawaan Taylor) playing great football and he’s getting these penalties thrown on him. I know it is hard to officiate, but I watch a lot of tape and he’s no deeper than any other tackle in the league. I mean there’s other guys even further back than he is. 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, I guess.”
Mahomes, of course, was injured (albeit minor) on the ensuing play after the touchdown was nullified by Taylor's penalty. That play would have never happened if the league hadn't been intent on making an example out of Taylor.
The league appears to care a lot more about its image and feigning action in this illegal formation penalty situation after Week 1's outcry. It's clear that they need to work on coming up with a proper solution that is fairly enforced throughout the league.
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Featured image via Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
