#DotGate: The Ravens Get a Slap on the Wrist for Violating the Helmet Radio Rules
NFL.com - The Baltimore Ravens were fined $200,000 by the NFL on Wednesday for violations of the Coach-to-Player Communications Policy during 2018 preseason games, a source informed of the situation told NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport.
The fine stems from multiple Ravens players simultaneously wearing helmets with coach-to-player communications components while on the field.
This isn’t the first time the Ravens have been fined for an infraction under the collective bargaining agreement. In June, the Ravens forfeited their final two organized team activities as a result of an undisclosed infraction. Owner Steve Bisciotti and coach John Harbaugh were fined $100,000 and $50,000, respectively, for the violation.
The Ravens and Harbaugh were fined $343,057 and $137,223, respectively, for a similar OTAs infraction in 2016. The organization also was forced to cancel a week of workouts in 2010 for violating rules under the previous CBA.
Uh-oh. That’s a big “Oops!” I guess not knowing a league rule is the kind of thing that could happen to any team. I mean, these coach-to-quarterback systems have only been in use since 1994. Meaning that if they were a person they’d be old enough to have their Master’s degrees by now. And the coach-to-defensive player system has only been around for 10 years. So expecting every team to know that you’re not allowed to use it like a conference call is a big ask.
It really takes 25 years or so for a rule to really sink in before everybody gets up to speed on it. And as long as we are all in agreement that in no way does this mean the Ravens were cheating. They just assumed the rest of the teams would have no issue having three or four players and coaches on their like a game of Fortnite. Because there’s no competitive advantage to that. Just because it’s a rule doesn’t mean the rule needs to be enforced. Any more than the rules regarding OTAs and workouts. So let’s not get all crazy looking at all these violations by this one team and jumping to the conclusion there’s … I don’t know … a pattern here.
Let’s not forget that this Ravens franchise is all about fairness and competitive balance. Remember when the Patriots beat them in the 2014 playoffs with all those legal gadget formations? What did they do? Got them outlawed. Remember when the Pats beat them in 2016 and Shea McClellin jumped their center to block a kick? What did they do? Got jumping the center outlawed. Because the Baltimore Ravens are about nothing if they’re not about integrity. So there’s no reason to take draft picks away or suspend the coach.
So they didn’t know there’s a rule saying you can’t have a chat room going in your helmets, even in preseason. Honest mistake. There is absolutely nothing to see here when it comes to DotGate. Though as someone once put it:
