After facing criticism over how they handled Lamar Jackson‘s status on the injury report last week, the Baltimore Ravens found out their fate on Halloween.
Baltimore got itself in trouble with how it handled their injury report in Week 8. After listing Jackson as a full participant on Oct. 24, fans around the NFL were expecting him to make his long-awaited return to play against the Bears, only for his status to change to limited the next day and rule him out against the Chicago Bears.
Backup quarterback Tyler Huntley made his first start of the season and was able to lead Baltimore to a 30-16 win. After the game, head coach John Harbaugh called the injury debacle an “honest mistake.”
The controversy happened because the NFL injury policy states: “Participation on the scout team, no matter how extensive, by a player whose normal repetitions would be with the starters but for his medical condition, would not alter the player’s proper designation as ‘Limited Participation.”
The Penalty
After investigating the matter, the NFL determined that Baltimore was at fault but only fined them $100,000. An expensive trick to receive on Halloween, luckily for the Ravens, they avoided the worst, which would have been losing a draft pick.
While the Ravens dodge the worst of it, it serves as a reminder of how seriously the NFL takes injury reports. In the end, Baltimore caught a lucky break when the league ruled that the mistake was on their part, but was not done intentionally to gain an advantage.
After the league made its ruling, the Ravens issued a statement: “It is critical that the Baltimore Ravens always operate with integrity and in full accordance with NFL guidelines.”
“We clearly made an error regarding player injury reporting and cooperated transparently with the league’s investigation. We accept the NFL’s decision and have taken steps to ensure compliance moving forward.”
For Baltimore, this was a costly lesson that could have been so much worse. In the end, the league deemed the violation to be an innocent mistake rather than something that could have been a lot more serious.
Huntley stepped up in Jackson’s absence. He delivered a solid performance to secure the team’s second win of the season.
Leave a comment