With yesterday’s 16-13 win against the St. Louis Rams, the Baltimore Ravens have now run their streak of games decided by 1 score (8 points or fewer) to 10 straight games.
Unfortunately, they only have a 3-7 record to show for their efforts.
While most of the blame for that record can be placed on injuries (an IR list to match the size of my kids’ Christmas lists), play calling, and general lack of talent, it’s not exactly a stretch to place a portion of that blame on the officiating this season.
Throughout the season, I’ve heard many Ravens fans voicing their concerns over the officiating, and how the inability of the zebras to call games by the book have cost the Ravens a handful of wins to date.
Truth be told, those fans aren’t that far off:
–Week 1:Â Broncos seal victory with Interception of Flacco, where DPI should have been called.
–Week 2: Oakland continued game-winning drive on bogus holding call against Will Hill.
–Week 10: Officials admit the Jags weren’t set on their 2nd to last play (pre-Doom facemask) and game should’ve ended before GW FG.
That’s just 3 examples of penalties on the final drives that may have cost the Ravens a win. With those 3 alone, the Ravens could be looking at 6-4, and 2nd place in the AFC North as opposed to 3-7 with a top-5 pick in the 2016 draft all but imminent.
This week however, the tables turned as the Ravens were actually aided by the officiating, as a missed call late in the game helped propel the Ravens to a victory… only to see Ironman Joe Flacco tear his ACL & MCL on the final drive of the game that never should have happened to begin with.
The Non-Call Gift
With the score tied at 13 and the Rams facing a key 3rd down, Case Keenum chucked a pass to Tavon Austin down the Rams sideline. The pass feel incomplete, as Austin was defended closely by Jimmy Smith (the closest he had been to a receiver all game).
The problem with that play? Jimmy Smith was given a major gift, as he was clearly holding on to Austin’s jersey and pulling.
Here’s a closer look.
And a still shot for good measure.
Typically I’m all for letting guys play, especially in the final minutes of a close game where you don’t want the officials deciding the game; however, in a game where Tony Corrente’s crew was calling even the most ticky-tacky of penalties, a grab this like this should have been called for the sake of consistency throughout the game.
Heck, if this is a DPI penalty…
…then surely Jimmy Smith should have been flagged for defensive holding at the very least.
On a side note, this DPI that should have been on Mosley was actually called on Lardarius Webb who, not only wasn’t involved in this play, but was all the way on the other side of the field from where the flag was thrown (but 57 looks like 21, right?). Not that a flag should have been thrown at all…
Flacco’s Injury
So how did the non-call on Jimmy Smith lead to Flacco’s injury?
It’s rather simple: had Jimmy Smith been flagged for DPI, the Rams would have extended their drive with a 1st and 10 from the 25. This would’ve given the Rams a fresh set of downs with 1:46 left in the game, and Baltimore without any timeouts to stop the clock. The Rams simply would’ve handed off to Gurley a few times, called a timeout and kicked the game winner (roughly a 42 yard attempt if they didn’t advance at all, which is much more feasible that the 52 yard attempt that Greg Zurlein barely missed).
Instead, the Rams and Ravens each took a turn missing 50+ yard field goals, Keenum fumbled on the Rams final drive, the Ravens marched back down and won the game… but lost Flacco for the season on that final drive.
Essentially, the ‘gift’ from the officials that gave the Ravens their 3rd win of the season ended up costing the team much more than a victory.
Suffice it to say, I don’t think any Ravens fans (or players) will be mentioning Tony Corrente’s name this Thursday when giving thanks around the table.
