Chiefs’ Andy Reid puts referees on notice: ‘Getting to the point of being ridiculous’

Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid was critical of the league’s officials Monday during a call with reporters, saying they have gone too far while searching to call penalties against right tackle Jawaan Taylor.

Reid’s comments came one day after Sunday’s 41-10 Chiefs victory over the Chicago Bears, when Taylor received two more illegal procedure infractions for lining up off the line of scrimmage.

“I just think they’ve got an eye on him, and they better keep an eye on everybody else too,” Reid said Monday. “Because it’s to the point of being ridiculous.”

On Sunday night at his postgame press conference, Reid defended Taylor, saying he didn’t see what the refs were calling when rewatching on film.

“He might be being picked on just a little bit here, I felt today,” Reid said Sunday. “I thought they (officials) did a good job the week before. 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.”

Last week, Reid said publicly that right tackle Jawaan Taylor needed to be responsible for fixing his recent penalty problem. Against Jacksonville, Taylor had five combined penalties, which matched the most by any NFL player since 2016.

The spotlight on Taylor stems from the national television season opener, when NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth repeatedly spoke about Taylor potentially being lined up too far back before the snap. The league sent a memo to all 32 teams the next week to emphasize that the rule would be enforced.

Since then, however, Taylor has been singled out — at least according to the data.

Via NFLpenalties.com, there have been 22 illegal formation calls this season, though most were announced without giving a specific player number for the penalty.

Only four times this season have offensive tackles been named on illegal formation calls. Three of those have been on the Chiefs’ Taylor, while one was on Philadelphia’s Jordan Mailata in Week 2 — a foul that was declined.

The other 30 NFL teams haven’t had an offensive tackle whistled specifically for the foul.

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes also defended Taylor after Sunday’s win, saying his view on the tablet showed Taylor and left tackle Donovan Smith lining up in the same spot on one play when Taylor was flagged. That penalty wiped away a Chiefs touchdown, bringing back a long TD pass from Mahomes to Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

“I just don’t understand it,” Mahomes said. “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.”

Mahomes later said the Taylor circumstances were “crazy to see,” saying he hoped the situation would calm down later in the season.

“But he’s making adjustments,” Mahomes said, “and it seems like even with his adjustments, they’re not good enough, I guess.”

After further review of the tape Monday, Reid also said he was ready to “double down” on his assertion that Taylor was not at fault for his flags against the Bears.

“They got their point proved now out there to the world,” Reid said of the officials. “So let’s make sure we’re staying consistent.”