Kudos to John Harbaugh and the Ravens for Using a Trick Play They Had Outlawed

I love it too, Geoff Schwartz. I love when a football coach comes up with a radical new idea and executes it to catch his opponent off guard. One of the true joys of a game that’s been played since the 1800s is seeing it continue to grow and evolve thanks to these brilliant innovators.

But wait. I feel like I’m forgetting something. What is it about trick formations … the Ravens … John Harbaugh … where the tight end lines up versus how is eligible to go out for passes …? What I am thinking of? Oh right! This:

That would be the Patriots running formations in the Divisional Playoff which confused the Ravens as to who was an eligible receiver and who was ineligible. These same Ravens that were coached by the same John Harbaugh who ran that play last night that confused the Steelers. Now it’s coming back to me.

And if I remember correctly, that John Harbaugh’s reaction was something like this:

So outraged by the unfairness of the Patriots flouting the rules in this underhanded and devious was he, that Harbaugh took a 15-yard Unsportsmanlike to protest. Even though the Patriots had cleared the formation with the officials ahead of time. And in spite of the fact one official pointed to Shane Vereen and told the Ravens defense “Don’t cover 34.” A little assist that I imagine is kind of rare in pro football, for all the good it did them.

Anyhoo, after the game, Harbaugh was not exactly gracious, calling the formation “clearly deception”:

Because he clearly prides himself of being an Autobot and never a Decepticon, he planned to do something about it after the season. Until Tom Brady said this immediately after the game:

That was adding insult to injury and the end of the season would not wait. And the bullying only got worse when it was revealed the Pats named the formations “Baltimore” and “Raven.” So instead of merely waiting to outlaw the use of eligible tight ends where eligible tight ends ought not to be, the Ravens alerted the Colts and Mike Kensil to the fact they felt the Patriots footballs were a little on the squishy side. And the rest is Sore Loser/Sting Operation history. Which of course didn’t stop Harbaugh from still going ahead and getting the rule changed so that he and his staff wouldn’t have to work so hard to protect the integrity of the game.

Twice:

That is, until it serves the Ravens’ purpose to come up with their own version of the very play the Pats triggered them so badly with four years ago. And I applaud them for their ingenuity. Or would, if they weren’t such bitches about it being done to them. Never mind studying the rule book, Harbaugh. Keep writing your own and Belichick will still know it better than you.