An unnecessary roughness call, a defensive holding penalty, a roughing the passer violation and a 12 men on the field infraction are possibly all that stands in the way of the Ravens being undefeated.
But instead, they are 2-2 entering Sunday’s game against the Colts, as the Ravens’ propensity to commit penalties at key times against the Steelers and Titans have them in second place in the AFC North.
In the past two games, the Ravens have yielded 163 yards on 19 penalties — none bigger than the 15-yard roughing the passer call against linebacker Terrell Suggs during the Titans’ 80-yard drive in the fourth quarter to produce a 13-10 win. During the drive, the Ravens also were whistled for too many men on the field, which gave the Titans second-and-5 on the Ravens 26 instead of facing third-and-10 with two minutes, 34 seconds remaining.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh said he was disappointed with the team’s 11 penalties for 91 yards against Tennessee, but believed his team showed restraint against the Titans, who committed 10 for 78 yards.
“I was very proud of our football team with how they grew throughout that football game in terms of keeping their composure,” Harbaugh said. “When you look at the tape closely, you can see where our guys kept their composure well. I think they showed a lot of class, and I’m proud of the way they responded.”
The team’s game-altering penalties against the Titans came after linebacker Jarret Johnson was called for a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty during the third quarter against the Steelers on Sept 29. Johnson’s late hit on receiver Hines Ward gave the Steelers a first down at the Baltimore 44-yard line and set up a 38-yard touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger to Santonio Holmes to spark a 23-20 win in overtime.
But the Ravens committing penalties at key moments is nothing new. The team had developed a reputation for being one of the NFL’s more undisciplined teams under former coach Brian Billick. This season, the Ravens are seventh in the league in yards penalized (267) after committing the fourth-most penalty yards last season, when they gave up an AFC-high 873.
“I know the type of guys we have now, and I’m proud to be coaching these guys,” Harbaugh said. “We’ve got competitive guys, men of integrity and character guys. We’re going to be rough, tough, hard-hitting football team. We’re going to do it with class, within the rules and with great self-discipline.”
Ravens linebacker Bart Scott said calls like the one against Suggs can have a major impact on the game’s outcome. The penalty came on a third-down play in which the Titans were called for a false start. But since Suggs roughed the passer, the Titans’ five-yard infraction — by rule — was not enforced.
“You go from taking five yards from them and a loss of downs, possibly, opposed to them getting a first down, 10 yards and a new set of downs,” Scott said. “When we had an opportunity to hold them on third down, we’re off the football field, we had an opportunity to get off the football field, and here we go.”
Suggs disagreed with the call, telling reporters after the loss “the referee has too much power in the game.”
“Does this make or break our season? Absolutely not,” Suggs said. “We’re sitting at .500 and we’ve got a whole season ahead of us. We are still sitting at number two in our division. We are going to go play some more football.”
Ravens (2-2) vs. Colts (2-2)
When: Sunday, 1 p.m.
Where: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis
TV/Radio: WJZ-13/1090 AM, 97.9 FM
