The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Los Angeles Chargers 19-17 on Sunday night. Between the Chiefs' latest close victory and a Buffalo Bills loss, Kansas City finally has some breathing room atop the AFC.
To pull out the lastest win the Chiefs relied on a stout defense, Patrick Mahomes doing just enough whenever he needed to and a lucky bounce to beat the Chargers on the final play of the game.
They also got a little help from the officials who again refused to flag right tackle Jawaan Taylor for consistently moving right before the ball was snapped. He did it so often on pass protection that NBC's Cris Collinsworth actually complimented him.
"He's definitely moving before the snap. So, good for him. If he can get away with it, it gives him an extra step. And that little lean back and he's able to get it done."
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 9, 2024
Cris Collinsworth on Chiefs RT Jawaan Taylor. pic.twitter.com/BBgUmRHEqo
"You know what we have over here as well," said Collinsworth. "Jawaan Taylor sorta can lean backwards a little bit as well. He has one of those sort of stances you can get a little run/pass tell so who jumped first? The officials said the defense."
Mike Tirico then pointed out that Taylor "has had a microscope on him throughout his couple years here in KC and before that in Jacksonville," before immediately saying, "there you go again," as Taylor again jumped early.
"I mean he's definitely moving before the snap," continued Collinsworth, "but good for him. If he can get away with it it gives him an extra step and that little lean back and he's able to get it done. So to his advantage he has corrected one of his flaws which was he used to be off the line of scrimmage but now he's got his helmet up over the belt line of the center and he's fine."
So not only did Collinsworth praise Taylor for his false starts, but he commended him for lining up legally, unlike he at the beginning of the 2023 season when he did it so often that the NFL had to crack down on illegal formations. Just an incredibly low bar here.
You have to wonder how the NFL feels about this. They've got one of their most high profile broadcasters praising a guy for basically getting away with a rules violation on every single play while pointing out that the officials are ignoring it. And this is happening in primetime on national television.
Between this and the Los Angeles Rams right tackle doing the exact same thing on one of the biggest plays of the game against the Buffalo Bills you would think the NFL might want to do something about this.
Appears that the Rams got away with a false start that wasn't called on the 4th and 5 play.
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) December 9, 2024
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/kiDWv9TKz5
Or other linemen can start jumping on purpose because what's the worse that could happen?
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Cris Collinsworth Compliments Chiefs Lineman Jawaan Taylor on Consistent False Starts.
