Coming into Saturday night’s wild-card game between the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Miami Dolphins, Chiefs right tackle Jawaan Taylor had been the NFL’s most penalized player, with 17 regular-season infractions. And with 8:24 left in the second quarter of this game, it appeared that Taylor had cost his team yet again. From the Miami eight-yard line, Patrick Mahomes handed the ball to receiver Rashee Rice, who seemed to score a touchdown.
But referee Brad Rogers called an Illegal Block Above the Waist penalty against Taylor, which negated the touchdown and put the ball at the Miami 18-yard line. Two plays later, Harrison Butker kicked a 26-yard field goal to put the game 13-7 in Kansas City’s favor.
Here’s the problem: Taylor didn’t commit a penalty on this play. The replays showed that Dolphins defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand pushed Taylor into edge defender Justin Houston.
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) January 14, 2024
Per Rule 12, Article 3 of the 2023 NFL Rule Book:
When a defensive player is held by an offensive player during the following situations, Offensive holding will not be called:
(a) if the runner is being tackled simultaneously by any defensive player.
As this rule should apply to all illegal blocks, Taylor should not have been flagged, and the Chiefs’ touchdown should have stood. We’ll see if that affects the final score in a way that makes the NFL take notice.