After the Ravens were called for five illegal-formation penalties in their season opener Thursday, including three on Ronnie Stanley, the left tackle wondered whether NFL officials were “trying to make an example out of me.”
After 15 other NFL games in Week 1, Stanley’s treatment in the 27-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs proved exceptional. Even with teams notified before the season that illegal formation would be a point of emphasis in 2024 — by rule, a lineman’s helmet must be even with his center’s waist — officials called just 17 other illegal-formation penalties in Week 1, according to the NFL Penalties site. Only two other teams, the Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles, were flagged more than once.
But coach John Harbaugh said Monday that he’s “not worried” about Stanley’s risk of further penalties this season.
“We do have data on that — tracking data, they have chips in their shoulder pads,“ Harbaugh said at his weekly news conference. “So we know exactly where Ronnie was lined up relative to where their guys were lined up. ... I thought Ronnie was in [a] reasonable position there, most all the time. ... If it’s something that you didn’t expect, and it’s totally different what they’re calling in the game, you have to make the drastic adjustment right away, and then we’ll talk about it later. Ronnie actually thought he was doing that. When you watch the tape, I believe what he said bears out.”
Stanley told reporters after Thursday’s game that the game’s officiating “didn’t feel consistent with what we were told from the refs early on.” After studying Kansas City’s linemen during the game, he also said he felt his positioning was safer than some of the Chiefs’ alignments. Ravens right tackle Patrick Mekari was also flagged once for illegal formation.
“So it’s a little bit upsetting,” Stanley said. “I just feel like it’s kinda making me feel like I’m crazy, like I don’t know where I’m lining up. But I feel like we’ll watch the film, but they just need to be held accountable if that’s what it is. If it’s that egregious that they’re making those calls, and they shouldn’t be, they should be held accountable.”
Harbaugh said after Thursday’s game that he would “challenge them [the officials] to call it the same way they called it tonight the whole season.” With the NFL’s player-tracking technology, he said Monday, the judgments should be “black and white.”
“You can look at that and know exactly where they’re lined up,” Harbaugh said, “so you can know exactly whether it’s being called consistently or not.”
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the number of teams that were flagged for penalties more than once entering Monday night.
