By CJ Carlson
Nick Bosa, the San Francisco 49ers superstar edge rusher, was asked about what he sees out of the Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman. After all, that’s who he’s going to line up against in the Super Bowl. Bosa didn’t hold back, simply saying, “they hold a lot.” While it might sound like trash talk, he isn’t exactly wrong, though giving the Chiefs any type of slight before the biggest game of the year isn’t a great idea.
Nick Bosa Isn’t Technically Wrong
For starters, the Chiefs starting tackle Jawaan Taylor, has had a rough year. He’s been very known for how many times he’s been penalized throughout the year, leading the league in offensive penalties with 20 of them already. This includes the postseason. What’s funny is that this stat makes him eight penalties higher than the next closest. Some of those penalties are inexcusable pre-snap fouls, but there are many instances of Taylor holding throughout his career.
In the past five years, Taylor has accumulated 26 holding penalties including the postseason, the most in the league. Ironically, the Chiefs other offensive tackle, Donovan Smith, has the third-most holding penalties in the last five years with 21 of them.
49ers Still Remember Their Last Super Bowl
San Francisco likely still has PTSD from a missed holding call in their last Super Bowl, that also being against the Chiefs. However, their tackles were Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz at the time. The 49ers CEO Jed York didn’t hesitate to share his thoughts on that particular holding call, saying “I remember Nick Bosa getting held on third-and-long and that not getting called. But it’s football. I should say this, I haven’t talked to anybody with Detroit, but I feel for them when you’re in a situation where you’re up and you think you can win a game and make it memorable, and things go the wrong way.
When you’re up by 10 points against a team in a Super Bowl, thoughts are going through your head like, we’re going to have a parade, somebody’s going to Disneyland, this is going to be awesome, and then you don’t.”
It’s very certain that the 49ers will be paying close attention to the Chiefs offensive tackles throughout the game, as they clearly already know that there will be holding infractions happening. The only thing we can hope for as fans is a game in which neither team gets brutally screwed over by a penalty that was or wasn’t called. It would be awfully nice for every single correct call to be made at the right time, but that’s just a little too much to ask for.
