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The talk of the first NFL game of the 2023 season was dominated by one thing, the Jawaan Taylor false start drama. The newly signed right tackle spent the night sitting deep in his stance and then seemingly leaving early on every play. It wasn’t until 58 minutes into the game that it was called. Announcers, analysts, and social media all were calling for the league to take action. While I understand the frustration, the whole discourse around this situation is dumb.
Jawaan Taylor False Start Drama
Let me start by saying this. I believe that what Taylor was doing should have been called. Rules analyst Terry McAuley explained the rule on the broadcast. “To be on the line, his helmet has to be on the waistline of the center. And to be honest, we’ve watched him all night, and he’s not even remotely close.” He mentioned that this puts the defensive end at a massive disadvantage. Taylor consistently lined up way off the line on passing plays and Aidan Hutchinson had trouble getting to Patrick Mahomes all night. It was a clear advantage but one that every team employs in one way or another.
Every Team Does A Version Of This
Every team isn’t doing this specific thing but this happens all the time in every sport. Teams find the line where refs are going to call it and push the envelope to see how far they can get. Are the refs not calling as many pass-interference penalties? Coaches will tell secondaries to be more physical. Are officials letting holding penalties slide? You better bet an offensive lineman is going to hold just a little bit more often. Taylor kept doing it because they weren’t calling it. For whatever reason, this crew didn’t find it to be that blatant. I promise you that if your favorite team employed this strategy you would be touting how smart your team is for pushing the envelope.
Work Around It
We all got mad because the refs weren’t calling the Jawaan Taylor false start. What we failed to see was the massive disadvantages. And the Lions exploited it at times! When Taylor jumps all the way back at the snap, he leaves the space between the tackle and guard, the B gap, wide open. We saw the Lions exploit this. Hutchinson would every so often line up inside on the guard and lo and behold would easily beat the tackle through the B gap. If Taylor is going to keep doing this, expect teams to scheme around it. Pressure will be sent through the B gap over and over until Taylor corrects it.
Telegraphing Plays
The other disadvantage this brought was that Taylor was telegraphing plays. When it was a run play, Taylor was snug on the line. No deep set. No leaving early. This is something that teams are going to be able to use as an advantage long term. If I can guess what the play is from my couch, I guarantee NFL coaching staffs are pointing it out to their players. While it may have given them an advantage for one game, it is not a great long-term plan.
Under A Microscope
Expect some letters to the league office this week. It isn’t a great look when a national broadcast is pointing out the breaking of a rule. In future games, I would expect that Jawaan Taylor will not get away with as many false starts. Memos will be sent out. Other coaches will work the refs more than Dan Campbell did. Officiating crews are all different and the one in the next game may have the pre-snap formation as an area of focus. We’ll see this pop up from game to game but I would expect this was probably the worst of it.
Focus On Other Things, Not The Juwaan Taylor False Start Drama
There were so many other interesting things that happened last night. Despite the perceived jumping early, Hutchinson was a wrecking ball and still was able to apply pressure to the quarterback. Jahmyr Gibbs looked electric in limited touches. The other Lions’ rookies, Brian Branch, Jack Campbell, and Sam LaPorta made big plays. The Chiefs might not have a good receiver on the roster. All of this is more interesting to talk about than debating on whether refs are secretly being paid by the league to protect Patrick Mahomes.
I get it. Refs are easy targets but the Jawaan Taylor false start drama is not as big of a deal as people are making it out to be. What it comes down to is this. One team was pushing the envelope on the rules to get an advantage. The other team countered by tweaking some of their game plan. This is how sports work and we need to stop being surprised by it.
