Sunday’s victory for the Kansas City Chiefs was a much-needed team performance that relied on all facets of the game to get the job done. The game wasn’t smooth by any means as the defending champs committed various penalties that held them back, four from right tackle Jawaan Taylor alone.
The return to Jacksonville wasn’t memorable for Taylor, who played for the Jaguars to start his career before joining Kansas City this offseason. He’s been the focus of critics for his unique blocking alignment on the offensive line, forcing officials to pay extra attention to his movements. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes came to the defense of Taylor during Sunday’s post-game press conference.
Buy Chiefs Tickets“I mean, through social media, you knew that some of this was gonna get called, but he’s gonna get better,” Mahomes said. “They’re cracking down on some of the alignment stuff. But we’re playing football, man; he’ll get closer to the line of scrimmage.
“And I guess everyone else, but he’ll get closer so that they don’t call it and will continue to work the snap counts and stuff like that. But he’s a great player. He will continue to play, and he’ll get comfortable, and it’s hard, whatever. Kind of getting picked on a little bit to kind of still keep playing your game, but I have all the confidence in him in the world.”
Taylor will be forced to adjust his game before the Chiefs return to action next week against the Chicago Bears. He can appreciate that his teammates and Mahomes, in particular, have his back regarding the violations.
