Ravens won’t be fined for comments
Ravens defenders Ray Lewis and Ed Reed won’t be hit in the wallet for their comments regarding the officiating during Baltimore’s 27-21 loss to the Patriots on Sunday.
NFL executive vice president of football operations Ray Anderson, who was present at the game, made the decision not to fine the players today. His ruling was first reported by ESPNBoston’s Mike Reiss.
The Ravens were called for a pair of roughing the passer penalties in the game. The Patriots ended up scoring on both drives in which the penalties were called
“It’s embarrassing to the game,” Lewis said after the game. “[Tom] Brady is good enough to make his own plays. Let him make the play. When you have two great teams that are going at it, let them go at it. Both of their touchdown drives had personal fouls that kept drives alive. Did that win or lose the game? No, but it got them 14 points.”
Reed’s comments concerned the spotting of the football on a couple of key plays. When asked about his opinion of the officiating, he replied:
“Terrible. Nothing to take away from anybody else’s job, but at some point, we have to be better about that. This game has evolved too much not to precise when there is a spot, when there is a penalty, when anything is going on on this field. We’re too smart as human beings.
“The history of the game — from where it’s been to where it’s come to — to not be precise … This is a game of inches. This has been a game of inches for years. Now you’re putting one person in charge, or two people in charge [of spotting the ball], and they’re making things bad. I swear it felt like 2007 almost, when we played the Patriots at home. They don’t need no help. They’re a great team. They don’t need any help from anybody. We don’t need any help from anybody. We definitely don’t need anyone taking it away from us.”
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