The Ravens wanted an explanation on the three critical calls that went against them in Sunday's 27-22 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and they got it Monday morning.
In a rare move, Head Coach John Harbaugh, General Manager Eric DeCosta, and former NFL referee Tony Michalek, whom the Ravens hired this offseason, requested and got a phone call with the league.
They spoke with Perry Fewell, who serves as the NFL's senior vice president of officiating administration, and Walt Anderson, who held that role previously and is now an NFL rules analyst and club communications liaison.
They said the referees got it wrong penalizing defensive tackle Travis Jones for unnecessary roughness on a field goal rush in the first half. Jones made contact with the long snapper, but it was not forcible contact to the head/neck area.
"It was the wrong call. It should not have been called," Harbaugh said, adding that the league permitted him to disclose that.
That penalty cost the Ravens four points since it wiped a field goal off the board and gave the Steelers a free first down, which they turned into a touchdown.
Harbaugh also asked for an explanation on the Isaiah Likely touchdown catch that was overturned and the Aaron Rodgers interception that was reversed after replay, but seemed to get less clarity on those.
Asked if there needs to be more clarification on what constitutes a catch, Harbaugh said, "Yeah, it's about as clear as mud right now."
Harbaugh said he appreciated the conversation with the league office, but he's not "comfortable" with the explanation.
"It didn't clear anything up. It didn't make it any easier to understand – either one of the two calls," Harbaugh said. "It's very hard to understand how they get overturned. But they did. And that's where it stands."
The Ravens also will write to the league about a holding penalty flagged on the Steelers' final punt, which cost Baltimore critical field position at the start of a game-winning drive attempt.
Ravens Offense Faltered After Touchdown Reversal
While the Ravens aren't satisfied with the call on reversing Likely's touchdown, Harbaugh also acknowledged that they did not get the job done on their end on that play or afterwards.
While Likely extended the ball to box out Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. at first, he didn't protect it well enough. Likely has now lost a potential touchdown in back-to-back games due to ball security.
Harbaugh said that is not how Likely is coached to catch the ball.
Even after that ruling, the Ravens had a shot to score a touchdown. They got an 8-yard completion to Derrick Henry on the next play, but their third-and-2 play was doomed from the start and resulted in a 3-yard loss.
"It's crazy that that happened. I don't think we had an understanding between the [coaches]' box and the field, in terms of what we wanted to do there, and that's [a] communication [issue]," Harbaugh said.
"We have to take responsibility for that on the coaching side, so I'll take responsibility for that one. It shouldn't happen. We thought we were going to be OK with the formation, and it didn't turn out [that] we were. So if I had to do it again, I definitely would've called timeout if I'd known that [and] felt that way."
The Ravens went for it on fourth-and-5, but Jackson's pass was tipped by Mark Andrews and fell incomplete. It looked like Jackson may have actually been targeting DeAndre Hopkins in the back of the end zone, though Harbaugh said he didn't know for sure.
The Ravens' following drive, in an attempt to win the game, started at their own 26 (after the holding penalty) with one minute, 57 seconds left.
The Ravens squandered more than a minute on their next three plays and gained zero yards. They had a holding penalty on Andrew Vorhees, a 4-yard completion to Rasheen Ali, and a 6-yard completion to Zay Flowers.
Baltimore got to Pittsburgh's 30-yard line, but Jackson was sacked as he rolled out to launch a Hail Mary to end the game.
"It wasn't good enough. I'll just leave it at that," Harbaugh said of the entire two-minute drill. "Suffice to say that we have to be better in those situations. We weren't in the right spot all the time. … We had to flip a formation one time."
Ben Cleveland Suspended Three Games
Ben Cleveland has been suspended for the next three games without pay for violating the NFL's Substances of Abuse Policy, the NFL announced Monday.
Re-signed this offseason to a one-year deal, Cleveland has played three offensive snaps in 10 games.
He has been a healthy scratch the past three weeks as the Ravens have turned to rookie Emery Jones Jr. instead.
Harbaugh Discusses Daniel Faalele, Interior Guard Play
Right guard Daniel Faalele had some rough reps in Sunday's loss that were highlighted on the CBS broadcast.
According to Pro Football Focus, Faalele was credited with four pressures allowed and scored the offensive line's lowest grade (45.3) in pass protection.
"I thought the guards [Faalele and Vorhees] played exceptionally well in the run game. They were moving people; they were wearing people out. So, that was good to see," Harbaugh said. "I thought they were mostly good in the pass game, but too inconsistent, probably.
"Every player has plays they want back. I can think of one where Daniel was hard-setting, like a hard-play action where it was more of a drop-back pass type of protection, he got overextended and got beat like that. That really shouldn't happen. He should be setting a different way there; he knows that. So, that was a mistake, [but] lots of other times, it was good."
The Ravens gave Jones a shot with 16 offensive snaps at left guard on Thanksgiving against the Cincinnati Bengals, but Andrew Vorhees returned to full-time duty against the Steelers.
"[Jones] played OK in the [Bengals] game," Harbaugh said. "It wasn't better than either one of the other two guys in [his] first game – he didn't outplay those guys. So, you go into the game with your best guys that you feel are playing the best, you have to meet players where they're at."
Tyler Loop Is Working to Be More Consistent on Kickoffs
The Steelers consistently had better starting field position than the Ravens Sunday, as they won the special teams portion of the game.
Tyler Loop had another kick go out of bounds, which gave the Steelers possession at the 40-yard line. Chris Boswell also had a kick sail out of bounds.
Loop hit one kickoff perfectly, as it landed just outside the end zone and then went into the end zone for a touchback, which meant the Steelers started at the 20.
However, Loop also had another kick land at the 11 and one land at the 14. The Steelers returned those kicks to the 35- and 41-yard lines, respectively.
"[Loop] is a young guy; he's a rookie, and so he's working on it," Harbaugh said. "He's not consistent at this point. We need him to be more consistent. We'd like to have the ball inside the five. If it leaks into the end zone, it leaks into the end zone sometimes."
