Illegal formation penalties were a common occurrence on Thursday 2024 NFL opener between the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs. And the Ravens aren’t exactly thrilled about it, suggesting after their narrow 27-20 defeat that officials were too critical of their alignments.
“Whatever calls they made, it’s their decision,” left tackle Ronnie Stanley told reporters Thursday night after he drew four different flags for the violation against Kansas City. “But it didn’t feel consistent with what we were told” in the previous 2024 season.
“I’m going to challenge them to call it the same way they’ve been calling it tonight all season,” Ravens coach Jon Harbaugh added. “Hopefully they will be consistent.”
The NFL often has a point of emphasis when it comes to tenure each year. this year, as reported by Football Zebras and confirmed by Harbaugh after the game, the focus properly enforces an illegal formation that penalizes teams that do not properly line up seven different offensive players along the line of scrimmage at the start of a play. Stanley, in particular, was a repeat victim of the power play Thursday, allegedly lining up too far behind the line to get a lead on Chiefs pass rushers.
The same infraction also cost Chiefs right tackle Jawaan Taylor in Week 1 of the 2023 campaign when officials sought to cut down on offensive linemen pushing the limits of pre-snap alignment.
