The most important aspect of the last night’s game is the Ravens walked away with a huge victory. After watching both the Browns and Bengals win, they needed to win to keep pace in literally the most competitive division in NFL history.
They beat a New Orleans team that has a reputation for being virtually unbeatable in primetime in the Superdome. As if the task wasn’t tall enough, the Ravens not only had to beat a tough team in a difficult environment, they also had to overcome one of the most poorly officiated games this year.
I am in no way one of those conspiracy theorists who think that Roger Goodell and the NFL hate to see the Ravens succeed. Steve Bisciotti spends a lot of money to keep his team consistently competitive, and Ravens fans fill the Bank every game day. The Ravens are a model of consistency and the NFL would be grateful if every team followed suit.
I also know that NFL referees have an incredibly difficult job. You can easily compare it to an NFL tackle. They rarely get any positive recognition and only make headlines when they do things poorly. It’s a tough job.
With all that said, Monday night, specifically the first half, it really seemed like Bill Leavy and his crew were doing absolutely everything they could to give the Saints every opportunity they could to win the game.
Mark Ingram’s fumble on the opening drive may not have been a fumble, but it was incredibly close. The ruling on the field was a fumble and in order for a call to be overturned there needs to be conclusive evidence. The ruling on the field should have stood, but it didn’t, and fortunately for the Ravens their defense stood strong and it didn’t cost them.
Later in the 1st quarter, Will Hill was flagged for a phantom illegal use of hands penalty. It occurred on the Saints own 24 yard line on third down and extended a drive that resulted in a touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham.
In the second quarter the Saints had the ball on their own 39 yard line with 6:52 left in the half. Brees threw a pass short and the play should have resulted in a punt on 4th down. Instead, despite his clear effort to slow down his massive body to avoid a penalty, Haloti Ngata was flagged for roughing the passer, and the play resulted in another 3 points for the Saints.
I’m sure that it was most likely just a sub par effort by Bill Leavy and his crew. Those calls usually even themselves out by the end of the season. Hopefully the Ravens get a few in their favor in the weeks ahead considering what happened on Monday night.
Were some flags thrown in an effort to avoid having a first place team sit at 4-7 in their division? No, but if the officiating is so poor that we even have to entertain that question, the NFL better clean it up quick before it affects the outcome of a game in January.
