OWINGS MILLS — Baltimore Ravens Pro Bowl defensive tackle Haloti Ngata was fined $10,000 by the NFL for roughing the passer against the Miami Dolphins, according to a league spokesman.
Ngata struck Dolphins quarterback Chad Henne with the crown of his helmet and was penalized.
According to league spokesman Corry Rush, “Specifically, on a pass play, he unnecessarily struck the quarterback with his helmet.”
Ngata had expressed optimism that he could avoid a fine.
And Ravens coach John Harbaugh stuck up for Ngata following the Ravens’ win over Miami on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium. Ngata was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week after recording four tackles and a sack against Miami.
“I don’t know how to coach our guys after that call,” Harbaugh said. “I’ll be looking forward to hearing what the answer is. It’s confusing right now, to be honest.”
WHITE ADMITS OFFENSIVE PASS INTERFERENCE: Atlanta Falcons star wide receiver Roddy White acknowledged that he knocked down Ravens cornerback Josh Wilson on his game-winning touchdown catch Thursday night at the Georgia Dome.
With Wilson unable to stop him after being shoved to the ground, White cruised into the end zone on a 33-yard touchdown reception that Matt Ryan lobbed after rolling out to his left.
“Yeah, you’ve got to do whatever you’ve got to do to win,” White said. “It was one-on-one coverage with one guy. But he was kind of flat-footed, and he tried to grab me, so I just pushed him down.”
Wilson said that he got no response from a referee when he asked him what happened.
“You could say a lot of things, it’s the easy way to point your finger at the refs,” outside linebacker Terrell Suggs said. “I think us as professionals got to do a good job of looking at ourselves. What did we do that cost us the game? We got to do a good job of not beating ourselves.”
SUGGS SHINES: In a losing cause, Suggs had arguably his top game of the season.
He recorded two sacks and four quarterback hits on Ryan.
For the season, Suggs now leads the Ravens with 6 1/2 sacks ahead of Ngata’s five sacks.
“I just try to do my job night in and night out,” Suggs said. “We had it. There ain’t no other way to say it. We had it and we let them go. We let them escape, but there’s not many times this Ravens team’s going to let our fans down and let our city down. We’re going to come through more times than not.”
MASON BREAKS HIS FINGER AGAIN: Veteran wide receiver Derrick Mason acknowledged that he broke his surgically repaired right pinkie finger against the Falcons.
“It looks like it’s broken again, the same finger,” Mason said. “It doesn’t look good.”
Mason said he’ll have the finger examined again.
Mason initially broke the finger during an Oct. 17 overtime loss to the New England Patriots.
Then, he played through the pain against the Buffalo Bills before having the damage repaired with a pin inserted in the finger to aid the healing process during the Ravens’ bye week.
Now, Mason will likely have to play through the injury for the remainder of the season.
PENALIZED: Suggs was assessed a questionable facemask penalty.
“I was trying to get a piece of him because I read the ball,” Suggs said. “My hand was a little too high and the only thing I could grab was his facemask. That’s my bad. I cost my team. I’ve got to be a better professional and I’ve got to be a better teammate to not get those kind of penalties down the stretch.”
Meanwhile, the Falcons weren’t flagged when running back Jason Snelling hit Suggs’ facemask.
“It happens,” Suggs said. “We’re in the trenches. We kind of live by the creed: If the ref don’t call it, it ain’t no foul.”
QUICK HIT: Ed Reed wasn’t the only one expressing frustration after the game when he repeatedly said, “We let them off the hook.”
Outside linebacker Jarret Johnson agreed with Reed’s take.
“We had it won,” Johnson said. “He’s right, we let them off the hook. We had them and we didn’t finish it. ..
“You have to give them credit. We’ll learn from it. We’re not apologizing. We’re not holding our heads down. We’ll come out and keep playing.”
