The Baltimore Ravens' first drive of the 2024 NFL season got off to a rough start.
The Ravens' offensive line was called for three penalties in the game's first seven plays, as tackle Ronnie Stanley and tackle Patrick Mekari were both whistled for illegal formation penalties—a point of emphasis for the officiating heading into the season. One of those penalties offset a defensive pass interference violation that would've moved the ball deep into Chiefs territory.
This is ridiculous.
— Coach Dan Casey (@CoachDanCasey) September 6, 2024
This is not an illegal formation. pic.twitter.com/02x8jmB1tB
In other words, unnecessary flags were flying in the game's opening minutes. Cris Collinsworth took notice of the officiating crew's eagle eye to start the season and brought it up on the NBC broadcast.
"Wow. They are calling this razor-sharp here," Collinsworth said. "... Taking a huge play off the books for the Ravens down the field."
The Ravens were called for illegal formation three times on the first drive (twice for Ronnie Stanley) of the 2024 NFL season.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 6, 2024
"Wow! I mean, they are calling this razor-sharp here." - Cris Collinsworth 🏈🎙️🦓 pic.twitter.com/TecSqGP9nQ
The recently retired Jason Kelce, who is not on an NFL roster this season for the first time since his college days at Cincinnati, also weighed in.
I haven’t seen this many flags in a row since Jawaan Taylor last year
— Jason Kelce (@JasonKelce) September 6, 2024
And everyone else watching from home had a similar thought:
Glad we get to watch the refs tonight
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) September 6, 2024
do we stop watching now or is it the refs the whole game we think
— Zach Bryan (@zachlanebryan) September 6, 2024
Welcome to the ref show.
— Dan Fetes (@danfetes) September 6, 2024
The NFL is back baby.
11:49 left in the first quarter of the first game and we already have ref show!
— ꌚꏸꋫ꒓ꉣꌚ (@scarpizio) September 6, 2024
I was really hoping the league would crack down on illegal formation. Kept me up at night.
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) September 6, 2024
Stanley was called for another illegal formation penalty before the first half concluded.
Thankfully, the game picked up from there. Baltimore fought through the penalties and opened the scoring with a five-yard touchdown plunge from Derrick Henry, and the Kansas City Chiefs quickly fired back with 13 unanswered points of their own.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Cris Collinsworth, Jason Kelce React to Flurry of Mundane Penalties in Chiefs-Ravens.
