Ravens Take Shot At Patriots Via Twitter, But Misspell 'Ineligible'
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Baltimore Ravens are still not over their loss to the New England Patriots in the divisional round of the playoffs, and were pretty happy on Wednesday when the league approved a new rule directly as a result of that game.
It's just too bad their spelling was a little off, likely given all of their excitement.
As the NFL meetings concluded in Arizona on Wednesday, owners approved a new rule that states players in eligible offensive numbers (1-49, 80-89) who are termed ineligible can only line up inside the tackle box.
You may remember the hoopla that followed New England's 35-31 win over the Ravens back in January, when the Patriots utilized a few different ineligible receiver sets. Despite officials announcing which receiver was ineligible (even going as far as saying "Do not cover him!" on one occasion), Ravens head coach Jim Harbaugh said those plays were "clearly deception" by the Patriots.
So a new rule was proposed this offseason, and Baltimore enjoyed a bit of a victory lap on Twitter when the news broke. Minus one minor detail: They misspelled "ineligible."
The team later corrected the Tweet, and it looks like their victory lap continued onto the team's official website:
Their write-up of the rule change read:
Owners have banned the Patriots' ineligible receiver trick they used against the Ravens in the AFC divisional playoffs.
While the Patriots contended immediately after the game – and once again at the owners meetings – that they did nothing against the rules during the game, the league's coaches and owners felt it shouldn't be allowed going forward.
They also misspelled Patriots tight end Michael Hoomanawanui's name in that story, but that's a pretty tough name so we can let that one slide. For the future though, we recommend they simply go with "Hooman."
As for the rule change itself, employing the sets the Patriots did in the AFC Divisional round will now be a five-yard penalty.
