Never before have two smiles caused so much controversy in Baltimore.
The Ravens had numerous chances to tie up the Steelers game in their 23-20 loss last week. Two of those blown chances came from veteran Derrick Mason‘s dropped touchdown pass and after Haloti Ngata‘s personal foul on a late hit following a punt return.
When I watched the plays I thought Ngata was completely out of line, but Mason was being a veteran and putting a dumb play behind him. Mason makes that play 99% of the time, unfortunately it just happened to be that 1% when the Ravens needed it most.
Ngata, a Pro Bowler, tacked on a dumb 15 yard penalty, was not visibly criticized by the coaching staff, and laughed off a game changing penalty.
“I could have just let up, but with me, I’m not really in punt return too often, so I just didn’t really see where Chris Carr was and I just kept on going, Ngata told BaltimoreRavens.com.” “Depending on what penalty it is; if it’s a holding penalty, [that’s] definitely a technique thing, and you’ve just got to work on that. But you’ve just go to work your technique, keep your mind clear and move on.”
What do you think of the controversial grins?
Neither grin bothers me. Both guys are hard players trying to give it all on the field. If the grins don't bother the coach, who are we to let it bother us. They are really not accountable to us.
Ngata's grin was the only one that got to me. But I was upset that no one said anything to him about it.