Baltimore Ravens fined by NFL, will lose two OTA sessions after violating rules
Wednesday 6 June 2018 22:05, UK
The NFL has fined Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh and owner Steve Bisciotti and cancelled the team's final two days of organised team activity (OTA) for an undisclosed infraction on Wednesday.
Harbaugh must pay $50,000 and Bisciotti owes $100,000, the league ruled.
While the violation was not revealed, the Ravens released a statement shortly after the decision.
"We are vigilant about practising within the Collective Bargaining Rules," general manager Ozzie Newsome wrote.
"I am. John [Harbaugh] and his assistants are. I attend every practice and then watch the practices again on video. I see how the coaching staff teaches, corrects and addresses issues immediately on the field.
"In meetings, I have watched John's presentation to his players and assistants regarding how to properly practice and the pace of these sessions.
"We have players competing, including rookies and those fighting to make our team. Sometimes, breaking old practice habits of these players, especially rookies, takes more repetitions. We'll continue to be vigilant about this."
Harbaugh also released a statement, inferring that the penalty was over contact made during passing drills.
"We take very seriously reading, understanding, abiding by and playing by the rules," Harbaugh's statement began.
"Our coaches, staff and players have worked extremely hard to run the offseason program according to all the Collective Bargaining Agreement rules. Our team has been singled out for pass coverage contact during the early part of OTAs.
"We have heavily emphasised these CBA pass coverage rules in meetings, and coached them diligently on the practice field. It has also been our priority to include our veteran players, along with new Ravens who have practised and played for other teams, in the process and use their input and ideas.
"Even with consistent and repeated teaching, these rules pose considerable adjustments for the young players. We have tried very hard to eliminate contact in pass coverage during OTAs, even so far as to pull players out of practice who struggle with these adjustments.
"I am confident we have done everything within our power and ability to practice within the rules, and we will continue to focus on preparing, teaching and practising the right way."
The Ravens and Harbaugh were fined approximately half a million total for a similar infraction in 2016.
While they'll lose scheduled practices on Thursday and Friday, mandatory minicamp begins for the Ravens next week.
Sky Sports is your home of the NFL in the UK, we will have all the action live when the season gets underway in September, including news, features, live blogs and more in-depth coverage than ever before
You can now receive all the latest NFL news and more on your personal devices. The Sky Sports mobile app will keep you up to date with the latest news from your favourite sports, now including American Football - here's how to receive the alerts you want.
