The Baltimore Ravens ran a fake field goal despite leading 41-17 in the third quarter of last Sunday's win over the Oakland Raiders. That decision sparked a debate: Were the Ravens running up the score?
Thanks to a great segment from NFL Network's "Sound FX" (shown above), we know Ravens coach John Harbaugh saw the criticism coming.
"Thinking about the fake," Harbaugh said over his headset to his special teams coach, Jerry Rosburg. "Pretty ballsy. You want to run it 41-17 or you want to save it? I'm not opposed to running it."
"You can't line up in a total overload and say we're not going to do something like that," Harbaugh explained to an official. "You're on the 5-yard line. You're on the 5-yard line. They're going to say it's rubbing it in. ... If you're going to give it to us, you gotta line up safe."
"That's why you guys get the big bucks," the official responded.
We agree with Harbaugh. This isn't college football. These are professionals. If the Raiders had a problem with the play, they could have stopped it.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
