The Ravens knew the NFL was going to emphasize illegal formations on offensive tackles this season. The league had made that clear, so Baltimore had focused on that in practice throughout the summer.
But when the lights came on for Week 1, Ravens left tackle Ronnie Stanley seemed to be in the middle of the crosshairs.
Stanley was flagged three times for illegal formations, including twice on Baltimore's opening touchdown drive. Right tackle Patrick Mekari was also penalized for the same thing once. The Chiefs, meanwhile, were not penalized once for the same infraction.
After the Ravens' 27-20 loss to open the season, Stanley tried to explain his perspective on the onslaught of penalties.
"The way it was going through the game, I really feel like they were trying to make an example and chose me to be the one to do that," Stanley said. "As far as I saw, they weren't doing it on both sides of the ball. I know that I was lined up in good position a majority of those calls they made."
Stanley said he plans to review the tape and send in evidence to the league if he sees he was lined up correctly. That's common practice for teams after games, especially early in the season when rules are being emphasized as such.
"They put a thing out that they said they were going to call that differently. [Not] understanding how differently, we were the first offensive series of the season with that, and I think they saw probably everybody watching it," Head Coach John Harbaugh said.
"It'll be interesting to see if they call it the same way the whole season. I'll challenge them to call it the same way they called it tonight the whole season, so hopefully they'll be consistent about that."
Stanley said there was a lot of dialogue between him and officials during the game to try to rectify his stance.
"They just kept saying, 'You need to move up.' I was like, 'How much more do I need to move up?'" Stanley said. "It's not my first year playing in this league. I know where to line up. I was lining up a lot ahead of what I usually do. I know my helmet was breaking the center's butt."
If any part of the offensive tackle's helmet is breaking the plane of the center's rear, they're lined up correctly. Last year, it became clear that some offensive tackles were trying to gain an advantage by lining up too far in the backfield, giving themselves a little more time and better angles to block pass rushers.
Chiefs right tackle Jawaan Taylor was one player that drew a reputation for that and for routinely starting his kick step a fraction early.
"I would say I lined up no differently," Stanley said. "I would go as far as to say I was lining up more in front of what I used to do in years past because of the emphasis. … It definitely hindered us as an offense."
