KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chiefs right tackle Jawaan Taylor drew two penalties in the team’s 41-10 win over Chicago Sunday, and head coach Andy Reid delivered a rare rebuke of officials for their treatment of his player.
Monday he delivered another unwavering defense of Taylor.
“Now that I’ve had a chance to look at it, I’d even double down more on what I said yesterday,” Reid explained. “I just think they’ve got an eye on him, and they better keep an eye on everybody else, too. Because it’s to the point of being ridiculous.”
At issue is Taylor’s alignment on the line of scrimmage. According to Rule 3, Section 19, Article, for players on the line of scrimmage, “his helmet must break a vertical plane that passes through the beltline of the snapper.”
In order to match the quickness of today’s edge rushers, many offensive tackles take a stance on the line of scrimmage with their outside foot in the backfield, especially on pass plays. Taylor drew widespread notice in Week 1 during the team’s loss to Detroit when the NBC broadcast focused on Taylor’s alignment and quick first step.
The NFL reportedly intended to crack down on the line of scrimmage penalties, but largely the focus fell exclusively on Taylor. He was called for five penalties in Week 2 against Jackson, including two false starts, one illegal formation and two holding penalties.
Officials flagged him twice against the Bears for an illegal formation for being lined up too far behind the beltline of center Creed Humphrey.
Reid disagreed after the game with the officials’ viewpoint.
“(I) checked out all the looks that our right tackle got called on today,” Reid said after the game. “I’ve seen it on both sides of the ball. I’m seeing it with our left tackle. He might be being picked on just a little bit here. But I felt today, I thought they did a good job that week before. Today, I thought it was too much. I wasn’t seeing it, but still we got to keep working on that and get through this.”
Monday, Reid went further by saying the officials need to refocus their attention elsewhere.
“They got their point, their point proved now out there to the world,” Reid said. “So let’s make sure we’re staying consistent.”
According to Pro Football Reference, illegal formation was enforced 45 times last season, 0.14 times per game. Through three weeks this season, there have actually been fewer illegal formation penalties called per game — 0.13, or 14 times.
Two of those 14 penalties were on Taylor. One of Taylor’s penalties was decline and does count in the statistics.
Reid said he spoke to officials before Sunday’s game against the Bears, and he will do so next week when the Chiefs face the New York Jets. He’s advocating for officials to enforce the penalty consistently across the league on all offensive tackles — or else leave Taylor alone.
“But they have an eye on him,” Reid said. “It all started on the Thursday night game. But you look around the league, and it’s just not consistent right now. So that’s the important thing.”
