Steve Davis: Fallout From Substitution Controversy
It doesn't look like the Ravens and John Harbaugh have much of a case in their unhappiness about how the Patriots used the ineligible player gimmick on 3 plays that resulted in a penalty on him and a touchdown for the Patriots.
Watching the national pundits, including ex-players and coaches, over the last couple days, he seems to be getting very little sympathy. The prevailing wisdom seems to be that they should have called a timeout either on the field or from the sidelines as soon as they saw a receiver line up at left tackle, and if they didn't do it the first time, they definitely should have done it the second time. If not a time-out, then the players should have checked into a "safe" call, like a zone.
In fact, there is an excellent analysis here by former NFL player Matt Chatham: Hot Mess NFL Rulebook Strikes Again
Chatham came on our show Tuesday morning to further explain. Matt Chatham Says The Ravens Should Have Adjusted Quicker.
Harbaugh said it was deceptive. It was, that's the name of the game. I don't like Belichick, but I don't think this was cheating. It was clever. If Kubiak had done it, people would have said it was brilliant. In fact, I bet there's 31 other teams right now thinking (a) why didn't we think of that? And (b) how are we going to use this next year?
Follow @SteveDavisBmore
Related Stories - Baltimore Ravens:
