Ravens right guard Chris Chester denied Thursday that he intentionally tried to injurePittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison while drawing a false-start penalty, the Baltimore Sun reported.
"It's not as it may appear to them," Chester said. "No, there was nothing malicious about it."
Harrison and several Steelers players told the *Pittsburgh Post-Gazette* on Wednesday that they were upset over the play in question. On the extra-point attempt after Joe Flacco's first-quarter touchdown pass to Anquan Boldin in last Sunday night's 13-10 Ravens loss, Chester fired off the line to hit Harrison -- which offensive linemen aren't taught to do on field-goal and extra-point tries because doing so opens gaps in the blocking wall.
"Of course it was deliberate," Harrison said Wednesday in the Steelers' locker room, according to the Post-Gazette. "There's no way that happens on an extra point because (offensive linemen) don't shoot out. It's obvious it was blatant. It was on purpose."
Defensive end Brett Keisel, who is on the Steelers' extra-point defense, agreed, saying: "I think it was a designed play. He just took off and kept driving him. I do think it was intentional."
Harrison, who said he twice ran over Chester on plays before the incident, was asked if it was a cheap shot.
"Yeah, it's cheap," Harrison replied, "but when it comes down to it, it's only a 5-yard penalty. They move back to the 7 and re-kick. It's not going to hurt them."
Chester said that wasn't the case.
"It's unfortunate that they feel that way," Chester told the Sun. "It was simply a mix-up in the huddle call on what we were trying to do, and I can't say too much with respect to our schemes. I don't want to give away too much information, but it was simply a mix-up in the huddle call."
Ravens coach John Harbaugh was asked his thoughts on Harrison's allegations -- and had a blunt response.
"I could care less what he thinks," the coach said.
