ExtremeRavens Posted Tuesday at 10:31 PM Posted Tuesday at 10:31 PM Another day, more laundry. Last season, the Ravens had the undesirable distinction of racking up the second-most penalties and penalty yards in the NFL, behind only the lowly New York Jets. In all, Baltimore was flagged 132 times for 1,120 yards, per nflpenalties.com. Through the first half-dozen practices of training camp, the trend has continued. But even before all those yellow flags started flying in Owings Mills this summer, Baltimore took a step toward what it hopes will be a remedy, hiring former longtime NFL referee and umpire Tony Michalek, a source with direct knowledge of the agreement confirmed to The Baltimore Sun on Tuesday. Michalek has been with the team since the start of camp and his role will be to help with penalty explanations, rules interpretations and, of course, preventing penalties. He certainly brings plenty of experience. Michalek spent 23 years as an umpire before retiring in April and served on crews that were led by Gerry Austin, Gene Steratore and Jerome Boger, among many others. Michalek also worked a dozen playoff games, including two conference championship games and Super Bowl 42, per Football Zebras. The move, which The Athletic was first to report, is similar to one the Buffalo Bills made last year when they hired John Parry, who was an official from 2000 to 2018 and worked a pair of Super Bowls. The Bills, of course, beat the Ravens, 27-25, in the divisional round of the playoffs last season. In that game, Buffalo had one penalty and Baltimore committed five. Through the first handful of Ravens practices in training camp, the biggest problem has been false starts and other presnap penalties. That was also the case last season, when Baltimore drew 40 flags for various presnap offenses. That ranked middle of the pack compared with the rest of the league, but was no less frustrating. That annoyance has continued through the early days of preparation for this season, particularly when it comes to cadence. “You’ve got to keep pushing that,” coach John Harbaugh said of continuing to use a variety of cadences. “I’ve had coordinators like that here that didn’t really want to do cadence or didn’t really want to take a chance at having the issues — [they] will say, ‘Well, we’ll get into that later,’ but we want to get these plays off early. And what happens is, you never have cadence the whole season. “You can’t just bring it out two weeks from now, or three weeks from now or four weeks from now. It looks the same, it looks bad, and it always looks bad early.” Harbaugh then cited a Kansas City Chiefs practice earlier this week in which it was also a point of emphasis. “You have to do it from the get-go, you have to push through it, you have to practice it, and you’ve got to practice it under the toughest conditions — heat, pads, whatever it is, and try to get really good at it,” he said. Some penalties, the Ravens are more willing to live with. On Monday, wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins made a one-handed grab of a pass from quarterback Lamar Jackson in the back corner of the end zone for an apparent touchdown. However, he was flagged for offensive pass interference for using his other hand to grab cornerback Nate Wiggins’ helmet and face mask. But Hopkins is a future Hall of Famer and a contested catch artist, so coaches weren’t going to fret over the play. Some penalties are viewed as the cost of doing business. A false start at the beginning of practice earlier in the day, however, led to Harbaugh barking at the sideline. It was a microcosm of last season, when Baltimore was penalized for false starts 21 times, illegal formations on 10 occasions and delay of game a half-dozen times. It’s also early in the process, and better now than later is the philosophy. “There really isn’t anything different other than we’re starting back up again, and it’s hot, and we have a number of guys going in the game,” offensive coordinator Todd Monken said. “Sometimes, it’s the quarterback that takes a little bit of time at the line of scrimmage, more than he should, and then all of a sudden you’re making calls at the line, and you may forget you’re on a different cadence. “All of those things are a part of it, but I’m not going to give in. We’re going to fight like heck to be good at it. Why can’t we be elite at cadence? Other teams can; we sure as heck can be and should be.” In hiring Michalek, that’s exactly what the Ravens are hoping for. Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article Quote
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