Chukwuma Okorafor was whistled for the same penalty three times during the New England Patriots preseason loss to the Washington Commanders on Sunday night.
One of Okorafor's three illegal formation penalties took a first-half touchdown pass from rookie quarterback Drake Maye to wide receiver K.J. Osborn off the board. Even NFL referee Shawn Hochuli poked fun at the veteran offensive tackle, who was playing on the left edge after spending a majority of training camp on the right side.
Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo, like countless fans on social media, expressed frustration regarding Okorafor's pre-snap penalties. Mayo pointed out how fellow offensive tackle Mike Onwenu also was whistled for the same penalty during a flag-filled game for the visitors.
"The most frustrating thing for me is if a referee or an umpire tells you, he warns you multiple times, really both tackles, they warn you multiple times that you're too far back and they throw the flag a few times," Mayo said during a video conference Monday morning. "We just have to do business as being is being done."
Mayo confirmed the Patriots were given warnings by Hochuli and his crew.
"Move up. I mean, there's no one else to blame," Mayo said. "It's pretty clear when you watch it on film you have to break the center's hip. That was the most disheartening part for me as a coach, and it was definitely a learning experience for me as well. I have to be tougher on those things going forward. If you want to blame someone for that, you can blame me for that one."
Okorafor is "willing to listen" to coaching, Mayo said. But the 27-year-old, who played right tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers the last six seasons, clearly wasn't able to adapt in the moment.
"It's just one of those things where you've been doing something a certain way and you're in the middle of a game and they ask you to change it up, we have to have that mental agility to be able to do that," Mayo said. "I would say last night we were very rigid in our thought and it was unfortunate."
The Patriots were whistled for 157 yards of penalties (!) in the contest.
