3 of the biggest overreactions to Kansas City Chiefs commanding Week 3 win

Overreaction #3: With biased messaging, referees are impacting the game too much

We have to talk about it. Everyone is. No, not Traylor Swelce (need to workshop that a bit), but rather Jawaan Taylor drawing more penalties in Week 3.

Taylor drew two more flags for lining up off the line of scrimmage against the Bears after receiving two for the same infraction last week. If Taylor is breaking the rules, fine, then he deserves the penalty. But, during the game, the broadcast did not make it clear whether or not Taylor's head broke the plane of Creed Humpherey's beltline. Even Reid was critical of the call in his post-game

“He might be being picked on just a little bit here, I felt today,” Reid said. “I thought [the 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.”

Reid doubled down on his comments on Monday with an even sharper response to the flags. “I just think they’ve got an eye on him, and they better keep an eye on everybody else too,” Reid said. “Because it’s to the point of being ridiculous.”

It is Andy. The numbers show it.

For background's sake, Taylor got this ball rolling against the Detroit Lions in Week 1. Chiefs fans watching the game will remember the NBC broadcast team going on and on about the borderline false starts, but then Taylor lining up abnormally deep. The NFL responded with a memo ahead of Week 2, emphasizing the illegal formation.

Since then, Taylor has had four illegal formation penalties. That is an insane amount, but it accounts for 25% of the league's illegal formation calls. There are only 12 other illegal formation penalties this season, and there are 29 other teams. How does that not look like referees are targeting Taylor?

Former Chiefs All-Pro Mitchell Schwartz calls this "pathetic", and that feels like the right word. Reid and Mahomes are candidly responding to the issue and defending Taylor at this point.

"It's wild to me," Mahomes said. "When you go back and look at the tablet and they're both (both tackles) in the exact same spot... I don't understand it. 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."

The 2022 Chiefs were massive beneficiaries when it came to penalty flags in big moments. But that is not a satisfying way to win a game or decide a postseason tilt. Taylor's penalties have not affected the Chiefs winning in Week 2 or 3. If this continues, the chances of that happening only increase. Referees are humans; I get it. But they can be easily swayed through subliminal messaging, like what they received following Week 1.

This needs to stop, or clarity needs to be provided. Those are the only two outcomes that benefit football fans and the game alike.