On Saturday, the Pittsburgh Steelers—in an unusual but anodyne move—elected to receive the kickoff when they won the coin toss in their AFC wild-card game against the Baltimore Ravens.
To hear veteran linebacker Kyle Van Noy tell it, that's where the Ravens' patience with the Steelers ran out.
"The first thing I thought when it happened was desperate," Van Noy said on Tuesday's edition of the McCoy & Van Noy podcast. "I was standing on the sideline like, 'Oh man. This is disrespectful, taking the ball first.' We were all kinda pissed off about that."
It showed, as Baltimore jumped out to a 21–0 halftime lead and won a 28–14 decision that wasn't that close.
Van Noy, who produced a tackle in the victory, implicitly framed the coin toss as a root of the Ravens' dominance Saturday.
"Their defense getting almost 300 yards rushing on them—I'd be pretty embarrassed if that happened to me," Van Noy said.
More of the Latest Around the NFL
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Ravens Defender Felt 'Disrespected' Over Steelers Kickoff Strategy in Wild-Card Game.
