John Harbaugh made a mistake late in the Baltimore Ravens’ game against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday that cost his team a timeout.
Rams wide receiver Demarcus Robinson caught a go-ahead touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford with with 4:41 remaining in the fourth quarter. All scoring plays are automatically reviewed, and the touchdown was quickly confirmed. Harbaugh thought it should not have been and believed Robinson stepped out of bounds before catching the pass.
Just before the Rams snapped the ball for a two-point conversion attempt, Harbaugh launched his challenge flag onto the field from about 30 yards away.
One official initially stopped the play and said the Ravens had challenged the ruling on the field of a touchdown. The problem is teams cannot challenge scoring plays, which are automatically reviewed. The officials got together and realized that Harbaugh had just illegally challenged a play, so the Ravens were charged a timeout.
Harbaugh should have known that he could not challenge in that situation. To make matters worse, Robinson was nowhere close to stepping out of bounds before catching the touchdown.
That was not Harbaugh’s finest moment. The Ravens had just gone down five points with less than five minutes remaining, so the timeout Harbaugh cost his team could have been very valuable.
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