The Baltimore Ravens were penalized by the NFL for violating league rules about offseason training activities and will lose their “final two OTAs this week,” while head coach John Harbaugh was fined $50,000 and franchise owner Steve Bisciotti was fined $100,000. According to the Ravens, the penalty is because of contact made by defenders in pass coverage “during the early part of OTAs,” which isn’t allowed. Harbaugh claims that they’re doing “everything within [their] power and ability to practice within the rules,” which sounds nice and all. Except for the fact that this is the third time Harbaugh and the Ravens have been penalized for offseason activities. In 2010, Harbaugh and the Ravens were penalized for improper “intensity and tempo” and lost a week of practices. At the time, Harbaugh said, “It won’t happen again.” In 2016, Harbaugh and the Ravens were penalized for “using full pads at a session during their rookie minicamp,” and lost a week of practice, while Harbaugh was fined $137,223 and the team was fined $343,057. The team released a statement saying, “We made a mistake and we are sorry for that.” Please forgive us if we don’t believe Harbaugh this time around. Imagine the outcry if if the New England Patriots had violated offseason league rules on three separate occasions. We know that the league penalized the Seattle Seahawks for “excessive on-field physical contact,” on three separate occasions in 2012, 2014, and 2016 and the Seahawks had to forfeit a fifth-round pick in addition to monetary fines. So where’s the Ravens’ penalty? How many times does Baltimore get to break the league rules before they get in trouble? None of this would matter if they just listened to Tom Brady and studied the rulebook.<doc-sep>Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz USA TODAY John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens were fined by the NFL for violating offseason workout contact rules, the league announced Wednesday. The Ravens also were stripped of their final two days of organized team activities, which were set to conclude this week. The team will resume action on June 12-14 for mandatory minicamp. Harbaugh said in a statement that the Ravens had been "singled out" for pass coverage contact during OTAs. "We have tried very hard to eliminate contact in pass coverage during OTAs, even so far as to pull players out of practice who struggle with these adjustments," Harbaugh said. "I am confident we have done everything within our power and ability to practice within the rules, and we will continue to focus on preparing, teaching and practicing the right way." More:Clawing for his career, Robert Griffin III is back in overdrive as he starts with Ravens More:For Johnny Manziel, recovery takes priority amid comeback in CFL General manager Ozzie Newsome supported Harbaugh but said the team would crack down on the issue. "Sometimes breaking old practice habits of these players, especially rookies, takes more repetitions," Newsome said in a statement. "We'll continue to be vigilant about this." Harbaugh and the Ravens were punished for a similar in fraction in 2016. That same year, the Seattle Sehawks were stripped of a fifth-round draft pick, fined $400,000 and docked a week of OTAs after the league found them to be repeat violators of contact rules. Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was also fined $200,000. Later in 2016, the Falcons were also penalized as for the infraction and were docked three days of OTAs. Follow Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz on Twitter @MikeMSchwartz.<doc-sep>Photo : Patrick McDermott ( Getty The offense and the punishment here are minor and don’t much matter, but the excuse is very much indicative of how things work in the modern NFL. Advertisement Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, Harbaugh will be fined $50,000, and Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti will be docked $100,000. In a statement, the Ravens indicated the issue was prohibited contact during passing drills—and tried to put the blame for the infraction on the players (emphasis mine): RAVENS STATEMENTS REGARDING THE NFL RULING GENERAL MANAGER AND EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OZZIE NEWSOME: “We are vigilant about practicing within the Collective Bargaining Rules. I am. John [Harbaugh] and his assistants are. I attend every practice and then watch the practices again on video. I see how the coaching staff teaches, corrects and addresses issues immediately on the field. In meetings, I have watched John’s presentation to his players and assistants regarding how to properly practice and the pace of these sessions. We have players competing, including rookies and those fighting to make our team. Sometimes breaking old practice habits of these players, especially rookies, takes more repetitions. We’ll continue to be vigilant about this.” HEAD COACH JOHN HARBAUGH: “We take very seriously reading, understanding, abiding by and playing by the rules. Our coaches, staff and players have worked extremely hard to run the offseason program according to all the Collective Bargaining Agreement rules. Our team has been singled out for pass coverage contact during the early part of OTAs. We have heavily emphasized these CBA pass coverage rules in meetings, and coached them diligently on the practice field. It has also been our priority to include our veteran players, along with new Ravens who have practiced and played for other teams, in the process and use their input and ideas. Even with consistent and repeated teaching, these rules pose considerable adjustments for the young players. We have tried very hard to eliminate contact in pass coverage during OTAs, even so far as to pull players out of practice who struggle with these adjustments. I am confident we have done everything within our power and ability to practice within the rules, and we will continue to focus on preparing, teaching and practicing the right way.” This is bullshit. The CBA has clear work rules for the offseason program, and a clear process for determining any violations of those work rules. Both in Article 21 and in Appendix G, the CBA states that “contact work” like “bump-and-run” is “expressly prohibited in all offseason workouts.” No pads can be worn except for helmets and protective knee and elbow pads. Appendix G also says “[t]he NFL will monitor all Clubs during the offseason to ensure player safety and adherence to live contact guidelines.” Article 21 requires teams to film their offseason program workouts, and both the NFL and the NFLPA can each designate a representative to investigate any alleged violations, which can include a review of the film. Look, it’s football, and football players want to do football things, even in June, when they’re not allowed to do most of those things. OTAs are for getting players and coaches onto the field months before anything actually matters, mostly to get to run through some playbook basics and to do various drills that emphasize technique. But I’ve covered enough OTAs to know that when a guy or group of guys starts to get a little rough with someone, it’s pretty standard for the team to tell them to chill. The Ravens were similarly punished two years ago for doing a non-contact punt protection drill with pads during a rookie minicamp—and initially claimed they didn’t know rookie minicamp had the same rules as OTAs. They also had to cancel a week of offseason workouts in 2010 (under the terms of a previous CBA) for breaking what the Baltimore Sun described as “the rules concerning the intensity and tempo of drills conducted at their offseason camps as well as the length of time spent by players at the team’s facility.”* Now they want us to believe they are being punished because a bunch of try-hard rookies just couldn’t keep their hands off each other even after being shown exactly what to do. Apparently no other team has this problem. What are the odds! The Ravens know the rookies—especially the undrafted ones—are less likely to make a fuss about the team’s shifty explanation here because of their precarious roster status. But that’s the modern NFL for you: When in doubt, blame the help. * This post was updated to add a reference to the Ravens’ 2010 infraction.<doc-sep>
The Baltimore Ravens will get slightly less preparation for the 2018 NFL season than the rest of the league, and they'll be forced to pay for it. On Wednesday, the Ravens forfeited two of their OTAs (June 7 and 8) and received a fine for violating the CBA's offseason workout rules. The violation and resulting penalty was first reported by Jeff Zrebiec. According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, owner Steve Bisciotti was fined $100,000 while coach John Harbaugh got stuck with a $50,000 fine. Shortly after the news broke, Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome and Harbaugh responded to the violation with two separate statements. Both Newsome and Harbaugh blamed the infraction on the difficulty younger players have adapting to practice pass-coverage rules. "We take very seriously reading, understanding, abiding by and playing by the rules. Our coaches, staff and players have worked extremely hard to run the offseason program according to all the Collective Bargaining Agreement rules," Harbaugh said. "Our team has been singled out for pass coverage contact during the early part of OTAs. We have heavily emphasized these CBA pass coverage rules in meetings, and coached them diligently on the practice field. It has also been our priority to include our veteran players, along with new Ravens who have practiced and played for other teams, in the process and use their input and ideas. "Even with consistent and repeated teaching, these rules pose considerable adjustments for the younger players. We have tried very hard to eliminate contact in pass coverage during OTAs, even so far as to pull players out of practice who struggle with these adjustments. I am confident we have done everything within our power and ability to practice within the rules, and we will continue to focus on preparing, teaching and practicing the right way." Newsome defended his coach's methods, and pretty much said the same thing. "We are vigilant about practicing within the Collective Bargaining Rules. I am. John [Harbaugh] and his assistants are. I attend every practice and then watch the practices again on video," Newsome said. "I see how the coaching staff teaches, corrects and addresses issues immediately on the field. In meetings, I have watched John's presentation to his players and assistants regarding how to properly practice and the pace of these sessions. We have players competing, including rookies and those fighting to make our team. Sometimes breaking old practice habits of these players, especially rookies, takes more repetitions. We'll continue to be vigilant about this." The Ravens will likely get sympathy from the Seattle Seahawks, who got hit even harder for similar violations in 2016, when they were docked a fifth-round pick and a week of OTAs in addition to being fined. They will probably not get sympathy from Tom Brady, who once told the Ravens to "study the rule book" after the Patriots befuddled them during a playoff game a few years ago. Maybe the Ravens should've heeded his advice. This also isn't the Ravens' first violation. In 2016, they were fined and docked three OTAs after they briefly conducted a non-contact punt protection drill with pads. In 2010, they missed a week of workouts due to an infraction. So, at least they're consistent.