[Blogs] ‘Judgment’ Penalty Costs Ravens

[BR News]

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Here we go again.

A year after being plagued by penalties, two questionable calls against the Ravens’ defense were costly again on Sunday, this time resulting in six decisive points in Baltimore’s 15-10 loss.

The call that will likely get the most attention came against Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs on a roughing the passer penalty. It helped Cincinnati record its fourth field goal, which gave the Bengals the lead for good.

After Baltimore surrendered a 60-yard kickoff return, Suggs seemed to make a big play for the defense by getting pressure on Palmer. Palmer got rid of the ball as Suggs dove at his chest and then No. 55’s momentum brought Palmer hard to the ground. Suggs helped Palmer off the turf.

But officials threw a flag claiming Suggs drove Palmer to the ground with excess force.

“To apply your body weight on the quarterback as you drive him into the ground is a judgment call, and that’s the way that I looked at it,” referee Gene Steratore said after the game.

Instead of a 2nd-and-10 from the 41, the Bengals had a first down on Baltimore’s 26-yard line. The Ravens held Cincinnati to a field goal four plays later, but it gave the Bengals a 12-10 lead with 4:38 remaining in the game.

“The NFL [is] definitely going to do their best to protect the guys that pay their bills, the quarterback,” said Suggs, who was also flagged for a controversial roughing the quarterback penalty in the Ravens’ regular season loss to Tom Brady and the Patriots last year.

“I was already engaged with him, so if I have to do the play over with him, I’d do it again. … It’s definitely up for speculation, but he made the call.  Did we win or lose right there?  Absolutely not.”

Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh was visibly steamed on the sideline. Afterwards, he said there were “a lot of things that were debatable.”

“I think it’s hard for us to determine right now what roughing the passer is,” Harbaugh said. “If that’s roughing the passer, how are you supposed to get Carson Palmer – a 250-pound quarterback – down other than tackling him?  In the strike zone, and he took him to the ground.  There were plenty of other times we couldn’t get him to the ground. It takes effort to get a guy to go to the ground.”

An earlier penalty on Ray Lewis started the controversy. Lewis blitzed from the right side and was cut at the knees by a Cincinnati blocker. As he rolled to the ground, Lewis’ foot caught Palmer’s, causing the quarterback to fall for an eight-yard loss.

That would have resulted in a fourth down and knocked Cincinnati out of field goal range, but after a lengthy discussion, referees stuck to their decision to flag Lewis.

Cincinnati was granted an automatic first down on the 32-yard line and kicked a 46-yard field goal to take a 9-7 lead with 19 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

“Six points was given off of B.S,” Lewis said. “It’s embarrassing that you can actually put them in field goal range off of two calls like that.  They couldn’t get in the end zone by themselves.  That’s why everybody straps on their helmets. If you’re going to earn it, earn it.  They didn’t earn it today.”

[url=http://blogs.baltimoreravens.com/2010/09/19/judgment-penalty-costs-ravens/]View the full article[/url]

[Mike29]

Maybe there needs to be like a whole new wave of zebras brought into the nfl cause it seems like this happens to the ravens every year.

[rayray5227]

hes right. those calls blowed

[balancer]

what a pathetic offensive performance...same ol same ol i guess.

[prnravfan]

Add Seratore to the Walt Coleman list of the most wanted refs in Baltimore.

[kevin7773]

It shouldn't have to come down to this. Our offense stunk up the field. The defense did its job. The offense needs to stop with the turnovers and score some points. Flacco looked like a deer in headlights out there today.

[ravenpic]

They gave the Ravens 2 bad calls that really hurt us. This isn't the NYC ballet. It's pro football for gosh sake.

[BlurredVision]

Just a horrible call. Hit Palmer as he threw the ball, not after he threw the ball. Those kind of calls need to be reviewable............
Same thing with the call on Lewis....Come on now, enough with protecting the quarterbacks to the point where you cant even touch them

[Charmcityking34]

Ray and Suggs have every right to be upset over those bs calls. What is this, flag football

[TreTheRaven]

How can one blame the flags on this loss

[OtownRavenfan]

I guess we are back to the 2007 Ravens with bad offense and good defense. I think we should put Marc Bulger back there to take a few snaps

[arct]

Absolutely BS, If these refs are calling tackling a penalty, then what the hell are you supposed to do, touch him with two hands. All these refs should get on their knees for blowing the game.

[TreTheRaven]

Ray, I love you but look at the starting quarterback for this loss and not the flags. 4 interceptions isn't exactly impressive numbers.

[Milton145]

no forget the freakin penalty...FLACCO lost the game. im sick of people making excuses,

[Charmcityking34]

Flacco and Cam definitely lost the game for us today. I want more of Rice and MaGahee, thats playing like a Raven!

[ravenfool]

these calls will continue to plague nfl teams across the country until the nfl wakes up and realizes you shouldn't have part time employees controlling the outcome for a billion dollar business. stop worrying about the players and their images and put a quality product on the field... and let the players decide the outcome

[BlurredVision]

Like people are saying, this was a BS call, but...........you WILL NOT win a game with 4 turnovers.

[stroker]

Let play flag football.

[ravenusrick]

lets face it we are the raiders of the east ,what can be called agianst us will be called.but it doesn 't apply to the other team.....

[purpleflock]

yah lewis is right the refs tacked on 6 points but dont devert the attention to them by makeing a forum like this we shouldnt have been in a situation where the refs could be a factor in this game the bengals did not beat us flacco did

[Hammar88]

Agree with BS calls. Defense was awesome again!Offense is starting to scare me. We are not still in pre-season people.All the changes we made on offense to be better it is just mind blowing to me how we can\'t make more TD\'s. Seems like it takes an act of God to get in there and it shouldn\'t. We have the talent but nothing to show for it.Flacco can connect to Mason blind folded because of the time they have spent together. Looks like to me that there definately needs to be more time spent with Boldin and TJ. We just aren\'t there yet offensively. C\'mon Cam get them connecting like we all know they can.Z-man where\'s the improvement on Flacco

[Guest Mr. Nobody]

listen people, we have a hard as rock defense; the penguins won today with their defense and their 2nd qb on the sideline injured; we didn't want to run the game because we thought we have such an explosive qb with so many top notch guns; the guns were there but no explosion on the trigger; bulger needs to take the field now, two bad games in a row need to be stopped

[Steve H]

The bottom line is those calls should not have made a difference in the game. Defense played exceptional. The offense was pitiful. The worst game in Joe Flacco's career. This is the second game in a row that Joe seems to be prcoessing way too much information at the line of scrimmage. He is looking at his wide receivers first then looking for the check down. Last year and the year prior he was only interested in check downs. Defenses now have that extra second to get closer. The result is picks when the pass is rushed. Pull out last years play book and wait for things to develop down field later in the game. Joe will come around but we lost a game that we should won. Cinci did not beat us. We just simply lost it ourselves

[Hammar88]

After all Z-man that\'s why you were brought here,to help Flacco right

[RavenInMiami]

stop blaming one player, flacco did not loose this game the whole team did from defense to special teams! but this post is asking about the refs calls, which were bs i know tripping is a flag but only if its on purpose which this was not! and the roughing call should only apply if the ball had left is hand before suggs hit him which it did not. this where judgment calls which is all ways a problem with ref's!

[ravensdude52]

im getting really sick of these bs calls. if you're gonna get points in the nfl, you should have to earn them. the bengals didnt earn 6 of their points. without those, this would have been a completely different game

[Hammar88]

mute points raveninmiami - you can make chages to improve blown ref calls
you make changes to your team so that the blown calls don't effect you to lose

[Guest Mr. Nobody]

@RavenInMiami: only one player shot us in the leg by trowing 4 ints; two of them brought the bungals in kicking position at the end of the plays; that's six points too init?

[Steve H]

If Joe Flacco has the same problems next week against the Browns then Marc Bulger should definately be in the conversation of the coaching staff. Bulger looked better than Joe in one of the preseason games. He seems to be getting pressure from his WR's to look for them first. This is understandable for players like Boldin and Housh. But that is not Joe's style of football. It is all about short yardage until one of the WR's has clear man to man then you take your shot. We are not the Pats or the Colts. At least not yet.

[Steve H]

Our defense has gone 8 qtrs and not one TD ha sbeen scored. I hope that someones pinch me and I wake up from this nightmare because there is no way that the Ravens are 1-1.