A flock of Ravens were quick to blame Mike Tomlin after the Steelers coach nearly interfered with a Jacoby Jones kickoff return in Baltimore's 22-20 win over Pittsburgh on Thursday night.
"(Tomlin) did it on purpose," wide receiver Torrey Smith said.
"He made the tackle, so to say," pass rusher Terrell Suggs told reporters. "But this is a rivalry game, and you do what you've got to do to win. It isn't a foul if the ref doesn't call it."
As the coach watched the play unfold on the massive RavensVision boards, the officials saw nothing wrong with Tomlin standing stationary with his back to Jones on the strip of white paint that hugs the field. Tomlin hopped out of the way just as Jones was volting by, but the Baltimore wide receiver acknowledged it "broke my stride a little bit" during his 73-yard return.
"I eased up," Jones told NFL Network's "NFL AM" on Friday. "At the time when I was looking at him, I was like, 'I ain't going to run through him.' Everybody was like, 'You should've ran over him,' and I'm like, 'Man, good God, I'm not that type of person.'"
After the game, Ravens coach John Harbaugh asked of Tomlin: "Did they credit him with the tackle on that? Hey, that stuff happens. It happens. I really don't have anything to say about it other than, stuff like that happens."
Harbaugh was in a forgiving mood after the narrow victory lifted the Ravens to 6-6 on the year and thrust Baltimore into pole position for the AFC's sixth playoff seed. The Steelers, meanwhile, look cooked, with more than just an ugly punt return to ponder on the day after Thanksgiving.
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