"That's a false start!" Examining Jawaan Taylor's incredible (controversial?) first step

Looking in depth at the Chiefs right tackle's weaponized first step that has generated so much conversation.

The code is more what you’d call guidelines than actual rules - Hector Barbossa

Offensive line play is one of the least-understood, most misrepresented aspects of NFL football as far as I can tell (and believe me, there’s a LONG list of things that fans and media, myself included, don’t understand). There’s an incredible amount of nuance that goes into technique and assignments that varies from team to team and OL coach to OL coach. But because it involves massive, terribly strong men slamming into one another, that nuance is often ignored and it’s broken down to “who wants it more” and other such cliches.

It doesn’t help that the trenches, because they exist away from the ball, go ignored more often than the “skill positions.” They eye is drawn to speed and prettiness, and the trenches often don’t have those things to offer. And so week by week we ignore the art that is taking place at the line of scrimmage.

But every now and then, a subject comes up that brings the trenches to the forefront. And this week, Chiefs right tackle Jawaan Taylor managed to become the topic of conversation with his first step. And that conversation started with hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people shouting/tweeting some version of “THAT’S A FALSE START!”

I lost count of the number of people who asked me about Taylor’s first step after the game and subsequent article about the offensive line’s performance. And that makes sense. His first step consistently DOES create the appearance of a false start, particularly in pass protection sets.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time Taylor, or other tackles, have been the subject of conversation with allegations of consistent false starts. Last season, Taylor and Lane Johnson were scrutinized for their seemingly impossibly fast first steps that appeared to jump just a moment before everyone else. Heck, Taylor’s first step caused (or least contributed to) Joey Bosa to have a meltdown in the playoffs last year.

Let’s talk about that first step and about how Taylor (and other talented tackles) have figured out that they can bend the rules (or are they guidelines?) to the point of diving opposing fans (and players) to distraction.