CINCINNATI — A pair of costly controversial penalties involving Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer enraged Baltimore Ravens All-Pro middle linebacker Ray Lewis, who alleged that quarterbacks are given preferential treatment by the league.
First, Lewis was flagged for tripping Palmer in the third quarter with the first down setting up a field goal. Lewis appeared to be blocked into Palmer when his legs were cut out from under him.
And outside linebacker Terrell Suggs was assessed a roughing the passer call late in the fourth quarter, which led to the Bengals’ game-winning field goal in a 15-10 win over Baltimore on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.
Referee Gene Steratore claimed that Suggs intentionally slammed Palmer to the ground, but video replays showed that the three-time Pro Bowl pass rusher hit the quarterback a moment after he released the football and didn’t appear to do anything outside the rules.
“Six points was given off B.S.,” Lewis said afterward in a locker room defined by frustration. “It’s embarrassing that you can put them in field-goal range off two calls like that when they couldn’t get into the end zone themselves. That’s why everybody straps up their helmets to make sure if you’re going to earn it, earn it. But they didn’t earn it.”
Lewis vented that quarterbacks are given special protection by the NFL, which has acknowledged that protecting the men who engineer scoring drives is a major priority.
“I don’t think I want to be politically correct right here,” Lewis said. “I want to be honest. Honest is you put six points on the damn board by people doing their jobs. We laugh about it so much, quarterbacks getting of this protection. I get tired of whining about quarterbacks.
“Bottom line when you show a play a year ago where a man pulls up from hitting a quarterback and the quarterback keeps the ball, he’s a hero. Then you finish a play like we’re taught to do. That’s what defenders do: We finish the play. Terrell can’t stop in midair and pull up on Carson after he still has the ball.”
After the game, Steratore offered the following explanation in a pool report.
“The roughing the passer, as I defined it in my opinion on the play, is the defender who has driven his body weight onto the quarterback as he’s tackling him,” Steratore said. “He’s applying his body weight on there. It’s a judgment call, and, in my opinion, I felt like he had driven himself into the ground with the quarterback.
“The step aspect is not part of that judgment. It’s another category, but 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.”
That rationale wasn’t accepted by the Ravens.
And Suggs, who was flagged last year for grazing the leg of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady during a regular-season loss, said he has no intentions of changing his approach to the game.
“Absolutely,” he said. “The NFL are going to do their best to protect the guys that pay their bills, which is the quarterbacks. Maybe if it was a lesser quarterback, that call don’t get thrown.
“I’m not going to change the way I play. I’m a physical player, and I was already engaged in him. If I had to do the play again, I would do it again.”
Suggs broke into laughter when asked if he understands what the NFL wants him to do in that situation in the future.
“It’s definitely up to speculation,” Suggs said. “He made the call. Did we win or lose the game right there? Absolutely not. We just have to play better.”
Lewis made the point that the NFL is doing too much to baby quarterbacks.
“You always try to be careful because the league always tries to fine you,” said the two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year. “But there are so many rules that take away from the game. I get blocked into the player and you tell me that I tripped this man but this man fell over my feet.
“There’s too much crying from them. You already make the big money. Keep your big money. But don’t cry when you step on the football field. That’s war out there. If you want to go at it, go at it hard. But don’t disrespect the game like that."
Lewis reiterated that he believes the penalties were the reason the Ravens lost the game.
“It’s six points,” he said. “You don’t have to assume if they cost it. You don’t have to make it seem like I said this. It was six points. How many we lost by?"
Lewis was told that it was a five-point margin.
“Absolutely,” he replied. “Simple.”
As the rule stands currently, the Ravens say it’s hard to tell what to do when it comes to hitting the quarterback
"I think it’s hard for us to determine right now what roughing the passer is," Harbaugh said. "If that’s roughing the passer, I don’t know how you’re supposed to get Carson Palmer, a 250-pound quarterback down, other than tackle him. He hit him within the strike zone and he took him to the ground."
Lewis said he doesn’t plan to talk with officials and debate the penalties.
As far as he’s concerned, that would be a waste of time.
"They’re going to go back and pull up their review board,” Lewis said. “The bottom line is it doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, you’ve got people playing with snap this, broke this, hurt this, hurt that and that’s the way you repay us. When you look at the scoreboard and say, ‘Oh, my bad.’ My bad? Your bad doesn’t work in my world. I went through this a year ago.
“We can look at these plays all week, and the question you have to ask yourself, if you were going to call it again, why not instant replay those plays? If every human makes a mistake, why not instant replay the plays that you think was wrong. ‘I didn’t think you got blocked into him.’ You didn’t think? Look at the instant replay. That’s what it’s for."
