KC Chiefs' Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes Call Out Officials for Jawaan Taylor Penalties vs. Chicago Bears
The Kansas City Chiefs' offense returned to form on Sunday and had an impressive outing against the visiting Chicago Bears. With that said, it didn't come without some apparent mistakes that sparked plenty of controversy.
Despite amassing a staggering 456 total net yards and having by far their best performance of the season thus far, the Chiefs' offense encountered some adversity in the first half of Week 3. On two separate occasions late in the second quarter, starting right tackle Jawaan Taylor drew a penalty for an illegal formation infraction. This comes just one week after the big-money free agent signing was called for five penalties in Week 2's win over the Jacksonville Jaguars... which came a week after Taylor's pre-snap depth and subsequent jump at the snap were both brought into question on the season-opening Thursday night broadcast.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid backed Taylor in the days leading up to this week's game, saying that the 25-year-old merely needed to "start over on this and just slow it down." Apparently, Reid's point of view in this week's game shifted his mentality a little bit. In his postgame media availability, Reid implied that his tackle may be getting singled out by in-game officials.
"I checked out all the looks that our right tackle got called on today, and I'm seeing it on both sides of the ball," Reid said. "He might be being picked on just a little bit here, I felt today. I thought they did a good job the week before but today, I thought it was too much. I wasn't seeing it. Still, we've got to keep working on that and get through this."
Taylor did get pulled from Sunday's win for a while, although Reid said it had to do with him getting hit in the mouth and suffering a cut. In Week 2, Taylor got benched at the end of one Chiefs possession so Reid could get him to effectively hit the reset button and relax a bit. This outing didn't appear to be a similar case as even Reid, who is normally known for his calm demeanor and extremely tight-lipped approach when asked about refs' calls, had something he clearly wanted to get off his chest.
Speaking of folks who notoriously take the high road in regards to officiating decisions, quarterback Patrick Mahomes also chimed in on Taylor's pair of penalties. Kansas City's superstar signal-caller describes the focus on Taylor as "wild" and something that shouldn't be a big deal when factoring in the alignments and stances of other NFL offensive tackles.
"It's wild to me," Mahomes said. "When you go back and look at the tablet and they're both (both tackles) in the exact same spot... I don't understand it. It's hard because he's playing great football and he's getting these penalties thrown on him. I know it's hard to officiate, but I watch a lot of tape and he's no deeper than any other tackle in the league. There's other guys that are even further back than he is. It's crazy to see — 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."
It's still early in the season, so this isn't something that can or should hold the Chiefs back from getting where they ultimately want to go. With that said, it's absolutely been an issue through three weeks and Taylor's best efforts currently aren't good enough in the eyes of those judging him during games. The latter penalty on Sunday wiped out what would've been a 50-yard touchdown pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling. On the following play, Mahomes suffered a late hit and rolled his ankle. Keeping the Kansas City offense on the field longer than is necessary can have a compounding effect. For the Chiefs' sake, as well as Taylor's, everyone will be seeking clarity and improvement in the days and weeks to come.
