Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid knew that starting right tackle Jawaan Taylor would be kept under a watchful eye in the team’s Week 2 matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Taylor came under fire following a 21-20 Week 1 loss to the Detroit Lions for getting away with several false starts as well as lining up significantly further back on the line of scrimmage than he should have. A week later, he was penalized five times and even benched in the fourth quarter because of his mistakes.
Though Taylor struggled against the Jags when he wasn’t getting away with blatant penalties, Reid stated that the 25-year-old lineman’s bad habits can be easily fixed.
“He’s naturally quick without having to cheat on that thing or get caught on it, and he’s strong, so he doesn’t need to do that,” Reid told reporters on Monday. “He’s a smart kid. We can fix it. He’s been doing this for a number of years, and he works extremely hard at it, but once you’ve had three of them in a row or so and they don’t get called…they’re going to have an eye on you and so you’ve got to back up. He’s got to back up and start over on this and just slow it down.”
Taylor is the most-penalized player in the NFL (49) since 2019. His five penalties on Sunday marked not only the most in a single game since 2016, but also the most by any Chiefs player in over two decades, per ESPN.
Against the Jags, Taylor was penalized twice for false starts, twice for holding and once for illegal formation, which he’d only been flagged for one other time in his NFL career.
His first penalty came early in the second quarter and turned a second-and-9 into a second-and-14, forcing the Chiefs into a throwing situation that ended with a Patrick Mahomes interception.
His third and fourth calls came on the same drive late in the third quarter and halted a potential scoring chance, forcing the Chiefs to punt on fourth down with a 14-6 lead. His fifth flag was even more costly, knocking KC back from a second-and-goal opportunity from the 10. The five-yard penalty meant the team ultimately had to settle for a field goal instead of a possible touchdown.