New Data Could Support Ravens Penalty Complaints

The Baltimore Ravens were flagged for illegal formation a whopping five times in their season opener.

Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley (79) grips the jersey of Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson (55) after a play in the fourth quarter during an NFL wild-card playoff football game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023, at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati. The Bengals advanced to the Divisional round of the playoffs with a 24-17 win over the Ravens. Baltimore Ravens At Cincinnati Bengals Afc Wild Card Jan 15 373 / Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

The officials weren't the reason the Baltiore Ravens lost Thursday's season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs, but they're still understandably not happy with how the game was called.

The actual penalties were relatively even, with Baltimore taking seven accepted penalties to Kansas City's six. It's not the number of penalties that were the problem, though, it was the type of penalties.

Specifically, the Ravens were flagged for illegal formation five times, while the Chiefs weren't flagged for it even once. Left tackle Ronnie Stanley, who had three of those penalties, even said after the game that he felt like the game wasn't being called evenly, as Chiefs right tackle Jawaan Taylor was seemingly lining up the same way yet didn't have a single illegal formation.

"I'm looking at their tackles, especially the right side, and I know I'm lining up in front of that guy," Stanley said. "And they didn't call him one time. It's a little bit of making me feel like I'm crazy, [that] I don't know where I'm lining up. I feel like we'll watch the film. They just need to be held accountable if that's what it is. If it's that egregious that they are making those calls -- and they shouldn't be -- they should be held accountable."

As the rest of Week 1 unfolded, the "point of emphasis" on illegal formation penalties seemed to fade away. According to Kevin Oestreicher of Ravens wire, the other 29 teams (not including Monday Night Football) combined for just 15 illegal formation penalties in Week 1. Fans can and will do what they want with that information, but those are just the numbers.

Illegal formations in Week 1 (excluding MNF):

- Ravens: 5
- Every other NFL team combined: 15

Average amount of illegal formation penalties per team:

- Ravens: 5.0
- Every other NFL team combined: 0.52 pic.twitter.com/Ahmn2a2AwY

— Kevin Oestreicher (@koestreicher34) September 9, 2024

All that said, the Ravens do have a key piece of evidence they have yet to review: tracking data. Players have chips in their shoulder pads that can track precisely where they are, and with that data, they can see if Stanley's criticism is justified or not.

"We know exactly where the Chiefs' tackles were lined up and exactly where our tackles were lined up, so we know," head coach John Harbaugh told reporters Monday. "If someone wants to do that, maybe our guys will do that. That's probably a good idea. I'll have them send it to you, from the league and you'll have it."

"That's public information, as far as I know. If it's not, I'm sure we'll get a memo from the league on that, so that's one of those ones that's black and white. You can look at that and know exactly where they're lined up, so you can know exactly whether it's being called consistently or not."

Maybe the tracking data supports Stanley's claims, maybe it doesn't. Either way, it will be valuable information as the Ravnes adjust to this new "point of emphasis."

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