tsylvester Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 After having Justin Tucker experiment with a new type of kickoff earlier this year, the Ravens won't be allowed to utilize their new kick anymore, and that's because it has now been deemed illegal by the NFL. Ravens coach John Harbaugh raised some eyebrows back in Week 3 when he sent Tucker out in a clear onside kick situation during Baltimore's game against Kansas City. With 2:01 left to play, and the Ravens trailing 33-28, the Chiefs thought an onside kick was coming, but instead, Tucker hit them with a surprise dropkick. JUSTIN TUCKER BROKE OUT THE DROPKICK FOR HIS ONSIDE ATTEMPT (it did not work) pic.twitter.com/Xcb2S6bjSx Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) September 22, 2019 Although the Ravens didn't recover the onside dropkick, one aspect of the play did work out in their favor. When the Chiefs fielded the kick, they called for a fair catch, which means no time ran off the clock. With 2:01 remaining, that means the Chiefs had to run a play before the two-minute warning, which basically gave the Ravens an extra timeout. If the Chiefs had fielded the ball, the clock would have run down to the two-minute warning, and the game would have been all but over because Baltimore only had one timeout left. It was a smart strategy, but you won't be seeing it ever again, and that's because the NFL has banned it. In a recent interview, Harbaugh explained that the league office let him know that the Ravens will no longer be allowed to use the kick, even though the team had been cleared to use it against the Chiefs. "We talked to [the league office], we explained exactly what we were doing and how it was going to go, and they said it was legal, we could do it," Harbaugh said, via the Ravens' Twitter account. "We talked to the officials before the game. They called the league office, again. They had been in contact with the league office, the officiating office, and they said it was legal." In the weeks after the game, the league apparently decided it didn't like what it saw on the field. "Probably, the competition committee decided they didn't want to see it," Harbaugh said. "Someone on the competition committee -- probably the chairman [Falcons president Rich McKay] -- decided with [senior vice president of officiating] Alberto [Riveron] they didn't want to see it, so now, it's not legal. So, that's pretty much how it works, and how it worked in this case."https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-bans-ravens-crazy-kickoff-dropkick-after-watching-baltimore-use-it-just-one-time/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vmax Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 If Bellacheat would have done it then he would have been declared a genius and the league would have no problem with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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