[News] NFL Ruling: Ravens Lose One Week Of Organized Team Activities, Fined

[BR News]

After wearing pads for a small portion of rookie minicamp, the NFL has punished the Ravens by docking them three days of Organized Team Activities and fining the organization and Head Coach John Harbaugh.

View the full article

[runcontrol]

It sucks to see them lose practices for something stupid, but I guess this is the best case scenario. They are only losing 3 of their 10 voluntary practices isn't too bad, but losing some days during training camp could hurt.

[rmcjacket23]

Just now, runcontrol said:

It sucks to see them lose practices for something stupid, but I guess this is the best case scenario. They are only losing 3 of their 10 voluntary practices isn't too bad, but losing some days during training camp could hurt.

They aren't losing any training camp days.

[ravensnj]

Good! Less chance of injuries.

[eze17]

Don't do the crime if you can't lose the time...

[budkretz]

Do the higher muck-mucks in the league have nothing better to do than to worry that the players might have had to exert themselves in practice! The NFL is so picayune and two-faced. They lie to Congress and try to manipulate studies and statistics on concussions, something that will impact a player's life and then they fine and take away time for practicing in pads. As we understand it, the practice in pads lasted for only about 5-10 minutes and once it was brought to the Coaches attention it stopped. Yes the Ravens made a mistake and yes they should have known better, but they did commit heresy or start another deflategate? A question for Commissioner Goddell and any other schmuck in the league office, have you ever made a mistake? On a side note to Mike Preston (whose article in the Sunday Sun was lame), do us all a favor and keep writing about lacrosse, we're tired of your Ravens bashing articles.

So now our players lose 3 days of VOLUNTARY practice that helps the marginal veterans and rookies who are vying for a job to impress the coaches, gives players time to understand the playbook, allow players to recover from past injuries, get in shape, bond with teammates and not be elsewhere and getting in trouble. If any of these benefits are hurting the league , then by all means stop all practices!

The Ravens should pull a Brady and take it to court and continue to make a mockery of the league. No!!! We have too much class!

I'm just glad the games are exciting and the Ravens our team lays it on the line every time they are on the field - except for next week!

[rmcjacket23]

4 minutes ago, budkretz said:

Do the higher muck-mucks in the league have nothing better to do than to worry that the players might have had to exert themselves in practice! The NFL is so picayune and two-faced. They lie to Congress and try to manipulate studies and statistics on concussions, something that will impact a player's life and then they fine and take away time for practicing in pads. As we understand it, the practice in pads lasted for only about 5-10 minutes and once it was brought to the Coaches attention it stopped. Yes the Ravens made a mistake and yes they should have known better, but they did commit heresy or start another deflategate? A question for Commissioner Goddell and any other schmuck in the league office, have you ever made a mistake? On a side note to Mike Preston (whose article in the Sunday Sun was lame), do us all a favor and keep writing about lacrosse, we're tired of your Ravens bashing articles.

So now our players lose 3 days of VOLUNTARY practice that helps the marginal veterans and rookies who are vying for a job to impress the coaches, gives players time to understand the playbook, allow players to recover from past injuries, get in shape, bond with teammates and not be elsewhere and getting in trouble. If any of these benefits are hurting the league , then by all means stop all practices!

The Ravens should pull a Brady and take it to court and continue to make a mockery of the league. No!!! We have too much class!

I'm just glad the games are exciting and the Ravens our team lays it on the line every time they are on the field - except for next week!

Yeah, this is a major overreaction (though I'm not surprised).

1. The punishment isn't that harsh, which is reflective of the "crime" not being that harsh. If there's one thing your parents hopefully taught you, its that "mistakes" come with consequences, particularly "mistakes" that appear to have been intentional. 

Actions have consequences, and so should this action, regardless of how long it lasted. Its not a sufficient punishment to just say "thats OK guys, just don't do it again". Punishment is very reasonable for the "crime" based on what I see.

2. The reason pads aren't allowed is primarily due to the fact that the NFL is being constantly sued by people claiming that they didn't know that slamming their heads into other people might not be good for their long term health (still get a good chuckle out of that one). 

I don't get the DeflateGate analogy at all, because the punishment levied between the two aren't even in the same stratosphere of severity. Do you really think a four game suspension, a large fine and a loss of a 1st round draft pick is even equatable as a punishment to the forfeiture of three days worth of, as you acknowledged, VOLUNTARY workouts?

3. Its not the benefits that are hurting the league. Its the people who put their rookie's in pads during OTAs when they know they shouldn't that are hurting the league. 

[eze17]

  11 minutes ago, budkretz said:

Do the higher muck-mucks in the league have nothing better to do than to worry that the players might have had to exert themselves in practice! The NFL is so picayune and two-faced. They lie to Congress and try to manipulate studies and statistics on concussions, something that will impact a player's life and then they fine and take away time for practicing in pads. As we understand it, the practice in pads lasted for only about 5-10 minutes and once it was brought to the Coaches attention it stopped. Yes the Ravens made a mistake and yes they should have known better, but they did commit heresy or start another deflategate? A question for Commissioner Goddell and any other schmuck in the league office, have you ever made a mistake? On a side note to Mike Preston (whose article in the Sunday Sun was lame), do us all a favor and keep writing about lacrosse, we're tired of your Ravens bashing articles.

So now our players lose 3 days of VOLUNTARY practice that helps the marginal veterans and rookies who are vying for a job to impress the coaches, gives players time to understand the playbook, allow players to recover from past injuries, get in shape, bond with teammates and not be elsewhere and getting in trouble. If any of these benefits are hurting the league , then by all means stop all practices!

The Ravens should pull a Brady and take it to court and continue to make a mockery of the league. No!!! We have too much class!

I'm just glad the games are exciting and the Ravens our team lays it on the line every time they are on the field - except for next week!

Yeah, this is a major overreaction (though I'm not surprised).

1. The punishment isn't that harsh, which is reflective of the "crime" not being that harsh. If there's one thing your parents hopefully taught you, its that "mistakes" come with consequences, particularly "mistakes" that appear to have been intentional. 

Actions have consequences, and so should this action, regardless of how long it lasted. Its not a sufficient punishment to just say "thats OK guys, just don't do it again". Punishment is very reasonable for the "crime" based on what I see.

2. The reason pads aren't allowed is primarily due to the fact that the NFL is being constantly sued by people claiming that they didn't know that slamming their heads into other people might not be good for their long term health (still get a good chuckle out of that one). 

I don't get the DeflateGate analogy at all, because the punishment levied between the two aren't even in the same stratosphere of severity. Do you really think a four game suspension, a large fine and a loss of a 1st round draft pick is even equatable as a punishment to the forfeiture of three days worth of, as you acknowledged, VOLUNTARY workouts?

3. Its not the benefits that are hurting the league. Its the people who put their rookie's in pads during OTAs when they know they shouldn't that are hurting the league. 

Thank you for the eloquent response. As a Raven's fan I hate to lose the practice days, but as a football fan right is right.

[runcontrol]

  23 minutes ago, runcontrol said:

It sucks to see them lose practices for something stupid, but I guess this is the best case scenario. They are only losing 3 of their 10 voluntary practices isn't too bad, but losing some days during training camp could hurt.

They aren't losing any training camp days.

I guess I could have worded that better, i was saying losing a few practices next week isn't bad because they are only voluntary practices. Things could have been a lot worse if they would have lost some days during training camp.

[Raven552]

I'm late to the party here.. but how did the league know about the pads if it was only 5 minutes?  

Will the players still be allowed to workout, on their own, at the facility? 

[runcontrol]

46 minutes ago, budkretz said:

Do the higher muck-mucks in the league have nothing better to do than to worry that the players might have had to exert themselves in practice! The NFL is so picayune and two-faced. They lie to Congress and try to manipulate studies and statistics on concussions, something that will impact a player's life and then they fine and take away time for practicing in pads. As we understand it, the practice in pads lasted for only about 5-10 minutes and once it was brought to the Coaches attention it stopped. Yes the Ravens made a mistake and yes they should have known better, but they did commit heresy or start another deflategate? A question for Commissioner Goddell and any other schmuck in the league office, have you ever made a mistake? On a side note to Mike Preston (whose article in the Sunday Sun was lame), do us all a favor and keep writing about lacrosse, we're tired of your Ravens bashing articles.

So now our players lose 3 days of VOLUNTARY practice that helps the marginal veterans and rookies who are vying for a job to impress the coaches, gives players time to understand the playbook, allow players to recover from past injuries, get in shape, bond with teammates and not be elsewhere and getting in trouble. If any of these benefits are hurting the league , then by all means stop all practices!

The Ravens should pull a Brady and take it to court and continue to make a mockery of the league. No!!! We have too much class!

I'm just glad the games are exciting and the Ravens our team lays it on the line every time they are on the field - except for next week!

This has very little to do with Goodell and the other higher ups in the NFL. The players and their union decided that they can't wear pads during these practices, just like the union decided to get rid of two-a-day practices. I am pretty sure they outlined what the penalties can be, and the NFL decides what practices will be cut and how much the teams will be fined.

Edited May 26, 2016 by runcontrol

[eze17]

I'm late to the party here.. but how did the league know about the pads if it was only 5 minutes?  

Will the players still be allowed to workout, on their own, at the facility? 

Benjamin Watson, the teams union represenative, advised the coaching staff that they were violating the rules by requiring the players to dress in pads for a special teams workout. It's assumed that he notified the player's union, which in turn notified the league office.

Yes, players will be allowed to privately work out at the team facility, but may not interact with the coaching staff.

[budkretz]

  46 minutes ago, rmcjacket23 said:

  57 minutes ago, budkretz said:

Do the higher muck-mucks in the league have nothing better to do than to worry that the players might have had to exert themselves in practice! The NFL is so picayune and two-faced. They lie to Congress and try to manipulate studies and statistics on concussions, something that will impact a player's life and then they fine and take away time for practicing in pads. As we understand it, the practice in pads lasted for only about 5-10 minutes and once it was brought to the Coaches attention it stopped. Yes the Ravens made a mistake and yes they should have known better, but they did commit heresy or start another deflategate? A question for Commissioner Goddell and any other schmuck in the league office, have you ever made a mistake? On a side note to Mike Preston (whose article in the Sunday Sun was lame), do us all a favor and keep writing about lacrosse, we're tired of your Ravens bashing articles.

So now our players lose 3 days of VOLUNTARY practice that helps the marginal veterans and rookies who are vying for a job to impress the coaches, gives players time to understand the playbook, allow players to recover from past injuries, get in shape, bond with teammates and not be elsewhere and getting in trouble. If any of these benefits are hurting the league , then by all means stop all practices!

The Ravens should pull a Brady and take it to court and continue to make a mockery of the league. No!!! We have too much class!

I'm just glad the games are exciting and the Ravens our team lays it on the line every time they are on the field - except for next week!

Yeah, this is a major overreaction (though I'm not surprised).

1. The punishment isn't that harsh, which is reflective of the "crime" not being that harsh. If there's one thing your parents hopefully taught you, its that "mistakes" come with consequences, particularly "mistakes" that appear to have been intentional. 

Actions have consequences, and so should this action, regardless of how long it lasted. Its not a sufficient punishment to just say "thats OK guys, just don't do it again". Punishment is very reasonable for the "crime" based on what I see.

2. The reason pads aren't allowed is primarily due to the fact that the NFL is being constantly sued by people claiming that they didn't know that slamming their heads into other people might not be good for their long term health (still get a good chuckle out of that one). 

I don't get the DeflateGate analogy at all, because the punishment levied between the two aren't even in the same stratosphere of severity. Do you really think a four game suspension, a large fine and a loss of a 1st round draft pick is even equatable as a punishment to the forfeiture of three days worth of, as you acknowledged, VOLUNTARY workouts?

3. Its not the benefits that are hurting the league. Its the people who put their rookie's in pads during OTAs when they know they shouldn't that are hurting the league. 

Thank you for the eloquent response. As a Raven's fan I hate to lose the practice days, but as a football fan right is right.

My response which was purposely tongue in cheek!! It addresses the absurdity of today's society, worrying about minor things and everyone's right rather than doing what is for the good for the majority. My reference about Brady is that he made a mockery of the league by going to court in order to play. How many comments were made last year while those shenanigans were ongoing? The Ravens won't make a fuss (at least publicly) and will take the high road and get back to business.

Now look at the consequences and who gets hurt? Not Harbaugh or the team. They can easily absorb the fine. But what about rookie, UFA or marginal vet who is trying to be the 50th to 53rd player. Could these 3 days mean the difference from him making $500,000 (or whatever the minimum is) or their being cut and being simple folk like you and me hoping to live paycheck to paycheck. Yes, to a professional ballplayer who has not made the squad yet the time in front of and with a coach can make the difference come August. This chance is now lost. Is this what the player's union wants, missed opportunities for players to become part of the league and union. I don't think so. Yes, practices need to be safe but don't restrict competition. A fine and "Bad Boy" would have sufficed.

[Bat-mite]

Wow ... five minute violation results in three-day penalty?

[JimmyBlack]

1 hour ago, ravensnj said:

Good! Less chance of injuries.

No chance of getting those days off in July when it's 105 and humid is there?

[JimmyBlack]

5 minutes ago, Bat-mite said:

Wow ... five minute violation results in three-day penalty?

The fines are the outrageous part of the equation.

[JimmyBlack]

30 minutes ago, eze17 said:

Benjamin Watson, the teams union represenative, advised the coaching staff that they were violating the rules by requiring the players to dress in pads for a special teams workout. It's assumed that he notified the player's union, which in turn notified the league office.

Yes, players will be allowed to privately work out at the team facility, but may not interact with the coaching staff.

The coaching staff won't be interacting with Watson until he is out of their doghouse, too.

[JimmyBlack]

1 hour ago, Raven552 said:

I'm late to the party here.. but how did the league know about the pads if it was only 5 minutes?  

Will the players still be allowed to workout, on their own, at the facility? 

Watson snitched on them!

[The Mom Gene]

  1 hour ago, Raven552 said:

I'm late to the party here.. but how did the league know about the pads if it was only 5 minutes?  

Will the players still be allowed to workout, on their own, at the facility? 

Watson snitched on them!

We do not know that. It hasn't been said how they found out. Actually Watson was the one that approached Harbaugh and told him.

[Kinda_Dante]

47 minutes ago, The Mom Gene said:

We do not know that. It hasn't been said how they found out. Actually Watson was the one that approached Harbaugh and told him.

We all know Bill Bellichick was recording our practice and he reported it...

[The Mom Gene]

56 minutes ago, Kinda_Dante said:

We all know Bill Bellichick was recording our practice and he reported it...

Lolol

[mearzunkies]

  1 hour ago, The Mom Gene said:

We do not know that. It hasn't been said how they found out. Actually Watson was the one that approached Harbaugh and told him.

We all know Bill Bellichick was recording our practice and he reported it...

LOL

[Ravenous_Ravens]

  3 hours ago, eze17 said:

Benjamin Watson, the teams union represenative, advised the coaching staff that they were violating the rules by requiring the players to dress in pads for a special teams workout. It's assumed that he notified the player's union, which in turn notified the league office.

Yes, players will be allowed to privately work out at the team facility, but may not interact with the coaching staff.

The coaching staff won't be interacting with Watson until he is out of their doghouse, too.

Are you kidding? He won't be in the dog house over this. Its the coaches job to ensure the rules are followed at all times. Putting anyone in the dog house instead of taking responsibility is hardly a good tone to set to start the campaign.

[OLD SCHOOL SMASH BALL]

3 hours ago, eze17 said:

Benjamin Watson, the teams union represenative, advised the coaching staff that they were violating the rules by requiring the players to dress in pads for a special teams workout. It's assumed that he notified the player's union, which in turn notified the league office.

Yes, players will be allowed to privately work out at the team facility, but may not interact with the coaching staff.

So.....that brings up the question, is Ben Watson now persona non grata at the castle? Basically, the "Snitch"? And furthermore, what if any, implications will that cause him either in the locker room, probably not much, or in his treatment by the coaching staff? And also, should say Pitta emerge as a player this year, does that phone call push him out, of course nobody woukd say it be because of said incident? Thoughts?

[johnnypurple]

i love it when management breaks the rules and gets caught, ah it's no big deal. We'll get over it and did i hear Harbs mention 'God' in relation to all this...C'on man...if a player had caused these penalties and fines he'd be in very deep doo-doo

[YorkCountyRaven]

21 hours ago, johnnypurple said:

i love it when management breaks the rules and gets caught, ah it's no big deal. We'll get over it and did i hear Harbs mention 'God' in relation to all this...C'on man...if a player had caused these penalties and fines he'd be in very deep doo doo.

I don't agree, players have done worse and still are warranted by the organization. He'll be fine, Harbs is too good of a coach to be in the doghouse. Look at Belichick lol.

[nevermorebmore]

Maybe we're facing a real PR conspiracy here. Perhaps, the NFL handed down this size of punishment so ESPN will cover this football story instead of spend hours analyzing the NFL's alleged tampering with the NIH brain trauma studies. There's only so much time and oxygen in the 24 hour sports news cycle, and this will certainly garner some debate during NFL talk time. Was the Ravens punishment fair? Was it not fair? Which player ratted them out? It's certainly a safer topic to banter about than the alleged tampering with the NFL's biggest shadow issue: player health.

I'm more interested in getting to the bottom of the alleged tampering than trumped-up OTA punishments.

[rmcjacket23]

15 hours ago, budkretz said:

My response which was purposely tongue in cheek!! It addresses the absurdity of today's society, worrying about minor things and everyone's right rather than doing what is for the good for the majority. My reference about Brady is that he made a mockery of the league by going to court in order to play. How many comments were made last year while those shenanigans were ongoing? The Ravens won't make a fuss (at least publicly) and will take the high road and get back to business.

Now look at the consequences and who gets hurt? Not Harbaugh or the team. They can easily absorb the fine. But what about rookie, UFA or marginal vet who is trying to be the 50th to 53rd player. Could these 3 days mean the difference from him making $500,000 (or whatever the minimum is) or their being cut and being simple folk like you and me hoping to live paycheck to paycheck. Yes, to a professional ballplayer who has not made the squad yet the time in front of and with a coach can make the difference come August. This chance is now lost. Is this what the player's union wants, missed opportunities for players to become part of the league and union. I don't think so. Yes, practices need to be safe but don't restrict competition. A fine and "Bad Boy" would have sufficed.

Yeah, you missed the boat again.

1. What's good for the majority is to not have OTAs with pads on. If there's one thing we know, its that when NFL players put pads on, they like to hit each other. A lot. And when they hit each other, injuries happen. A lot. And specifically, head injuries happen. A lot.

Not sure if you are aware, but the NFL is being sued by former NFL players for head injuries that they claim the NFL failed to tell them about the risks of playing football. So when the NFL goes to court, they have to at least attempt to show a court of law that they are taking proactive steps to reduce the levels of head trauma associated. Now, in the grand scheme of things, the attempts they make to be proactive are more of a dog and pony show more than they are effective, but in this case, one method to reduce potential head injuries is to take away the ability for people to hit each other. Enter... padless OTAs.

And if the NFL did what you suggested they should do, which is slap somebody on the wrist and say "bad boy" when they violate these rules... how seriously do you think a court of law is going to take them when they say they have rules in place but don't appear to be enforcing them one bit? Not exactly a good look for the NFL and definitely not what's in every bodies best interest now is it?

2. I still have no idea why you keep making Brady comparisons. There's quite literally no similarities between the two. Brady is suing for something much, much, much different. Comparison simply doesn't work. Besides the fact that one could easily argue that its the NFL that has made the biggest mockery of that whole process, not Tom Brady.

3. Those players are going to have more than a lot of opportunities to show their skills to the coaching staff. The chance isn't lost. They can just work harder and make up for that missed opportunity. Or, they could have just not broken the rules to begin with.

Don't get the "restricting competition" aspect, because no competition is being restricted. They're all still at the same competition level, and they earned the right to lose OTA days. 

As far as the punishment, a fine MAY have been sufficient, although fining millionaires and billionaires is rarely a deterrent for anything. If teams felt they could have padded practices during OTAs and all that would happen is a fine, they'd all do it, because it'd probably be worth it to them.

In general, I think you've lost perspective here. Not really seeing the big picture and what this is really all about.

[RavenSwag]

They deserved whatever penalty the NFL gives to them. Harbs pockets got a lil light but missing 3 days of OTAs won't kill us. I'm sure the players don't mind it eventhough they won't say it unless you're a rookie. When we start kicking butt during the season nobody will remember those missed practices

[rmcjacket23]

6 hours ago, nevermorebmore said:

Maybe we're facing a real PR conspiracy here. Perhaps, the NFL handed down this size of punishment so ESPN will cover this football story instead of spend hours analyzing the NFL's alleged tampering with the NIH brain trauma studies. There's only so much time and oxygen in the 24 hour sports news cycle, and this will certainly garner some debate during NFL talk time. Was the Ravens punishment fair? Was it not fair? Which player ratted them out? It's certainly a safer topic to banter about than the alleged tampering with the NFL's biggest shadow issue: player health.

I'm more interested in getting to the bottom of the alleged tampering than trumped-up OTA punishments.

Punishment was standard for the offense. So kind of hard to argue fair vs unfair at that point. As of this morning, its not on the front page of ESPN anymore, meaning people have moved on.

Ray Rice talking to our rookies is more newsworthy than this, and that doesn't matter at all either.