Ravens QB Lamar Jackson criticizes refs over safety call that wasn’t justified

As Lamar Jackson took the field for the Ravens’ final drive in a 28-25 win over the Dallas Cowboys, Fox cameras caught him saying, “Stop fooling us, bro.”

The comment came after linebacker Chris Board was penalized for holding the Ravens’ kickoff return, running back Deonte Harty’s 35-yard return 10 yards to the Baltimore 21-yard line. And it was preceded by penalties for illegal contact and roughing the passer that helped Dallas advance down the field for a touchdown and bring the game within three points.

The holding call was the final penalty in a game in which the Ravens were flagged 13 times for 105 yards, making them the most penalized team in the NFL.

The quarterback continued to criticize the officiating on Monday, posting on X that the refs would have called a safety for the Ravens if he had thrown a pass to one of his linemen from the team’s end zone — something Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott did in the second quarter, only for the refs to call an “illegal touching” penalty that allowed the Cowboys to punt.

Jackson’s response not only addressed the penalty or lack thereof, but also the perception that the Ravens are being treated differently.

“That would have been a safety if I did that,” Jackson posted.

He was responding to Ravens outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy, who posted after the game: “Today I found out if a QB is going to a safety you can just hand it off to an O-lineman and you’re good to go?!?! What?!?!”

The Ravens have been slamming some of the penalties they’ve been called since Week 1, starting with all the illegal calls against left tackle Ronnie Stanley. The veteran not only questioned the calls against him, but also whether the referees were calling him and the Chiefs’ offensive tackles the same way.

After the Ravens’ Week 2 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, where their offense was repeatedly delayed by defensive penalties, safety Eddie Jackson said there were some “BS” calls.

The Ravens weren’t just the most penalized in the NFL, they were also penalized far more than their opponents. They had seven more penalties and 61 more penalty yards than the Cowboys, eight more penalties and 94 more penalty yards than the Raiders and one more penalty for 19 more yards than the Chiefs.

Some have been fair, others have been questionable.

As a coach, John Harbaugh has always found the balance between reviewing penalties and not criticizing the officials. He avoids fines by asking whether or not there are things in the play that the coach can teach the player.

For example, after the Week 1 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Harbaugh said they could coach cornerback Brandon Stephens to put himself in a position where he wouldn’t be called for pass interference — but that the play cornerback Marlon Humphrey was flagged for wasn’t anything they could coach.

On Monday, he explained what the referees saw on the questionable roughing the passer penalty against outside linebacker Odafe Oweh that erased a third-down stop on Dallas’ final drive.

“They said Odafe Oweh picked up Dak Prescott and threw him to the ground,” Harbaugh said. “That’s what they said they saw.”

He also commented on the penalties called on rookie cornerback Nate Wiggins, saying there was “a pass interference penalty where he didn’t even touch the guy, but he had another one where he grabbed the guy.” The obvious penalty ended up working in the Ravens’ favor: While Wiggins’ penalty was more egregious, it was offset by a holding penalty called on the Cowboys.

Harbaugh also explained the safety call. Defenders Nnamdi Madubuike and Travis Jones rushed Prescott in the end zone, and he threw the ball to guard Tyler Smith with no eligible receiver in the area. Instead of being flagged for an intentional grounding, which would have resulted in a safety because Prescott was in the end zone, Dallas was called for an illegal touchdown. The officials spent a few minutes with Harbaugh explaining the call on the sideline.

“I’ve never heard of this before, and I don’t know if it’s ever happened or if they’ve seen this before, I’m not sure, but they said it wasn’t an intentional grounding because somebody caught it, even though it was an illegal receiver that caught it, which is a penalty,” Harbaugh said. “So basically, they’re getting rewarded for having a penalty at that level. It’s probably not what they want, under the rules, so we’ll see. It might be a loophole in the rule, I’m not sure. It’s something they’ll probably look at.”

But for all the questionable calls, there were plenty of legitimate ones. So the Ravens will take the ones they have doubts about to the league and then control what they can control: their own technique and discipline.

“There’s some things that are puzzling, but there’s also some that are legitimate, and when you have the numbers that we have right now, it’s too many,” Harbaugh said. “It’s just something that has to be cleaned up. The ones that maybe shouldn’t be called, we can’t do anything about that. But the ones that should be called, we have to clean up. It’s our responsibility to do that. It hurts us. It costs us points in the end.”