The Kansas City Chiefs' loss against the Detroit Lions surprisingly sparked a debate about offensive line techniques. Jawaan Taylor, one of KC's offseason acquisitions, started at right tackle today. However, fans started noticing a trend with how Taylor played at right tackle, a style that seemed a bit illegal.
There are two main talking points about Jawaan Taylor. The first part that the Chiefs RT is doing “wrong” is his position. Taylor is constantly lined up too far back from the line of scrimmage. That usually gives him an advantage over Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson. The other mistake that Taylor is making is him starting a tad bit too early. Eventually, Taylor was called for a false start after a particularly egregious play.
In the middle of the Chiefs-Lions game, two star players on the opposite sides of the scrimmage line talked about Taylor and his penalties. Retired edge rusher JJ Watt first chimed in with his take on Taylor. His point essentially was that it was likely “illegal”, but since it's never called, the linemen should just continue to abuse it.
“Watch closely, many offensive tackles jump the snap count and leave just before the ball is actually snapped. It’s a little thing, but makes a huge difference. Refs generally let it slide. As long as they don’t call it, I’d keep doing it too if I was them.”
Afterwards, Eagles tackle Lane Johnson chimed in with a simple two-word rebuttal.
“*On time 😉”
JJ then responded with a GIF. I think Chiefs fans will side with Johnson here.
With defensive ends getting better and better each year, offensive tackles need to find ways to keep up with the edge rushers. If the refs aren't going to enforce this rule strictly, then we can't really blame Taylor for looking for a way to find an advantage.
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