Baltimore Ravens

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has been listed with a variety of injuries when he missed practice in recent weeks, but none of them were cited as the reason he was off the field on Wednesday.

The team’s injury lists rest as the reason why Jackson did not participate. He has been listed with knee, ankle, and toe injuries since returning from a three-game absence due to a hamstring injury.

Jackson has not missed any games despite missing practices the last four weeks.

Cornerback Chidobe Awuzie (shoulder) was also out of practice on Wednesday. Running back Keaton Mitchell (knee), linebacker Tavius Robinson (foot), and cornerback Nate Wiggins (foot) were limited participants. Safety Ar’Darius Washington (Achilles) was a full participant.

Neither Robinson nor Washington is currently on the 53-man roster for Baltimore, so they’ll need to be activated to play against the Bengals this week.

Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins is back in concussion protocol, but he had a limited practice on Wednesday. That gives him a chance to be cleared in time for Sunday’s game against the Ravens.

Higgins missed Week 13 with a concussion and then hit his head on the turf multiple times in Week 14.

He has 46 receptions for 667 yards and nine touchdowns in 12 games.

Defensive end Trey Hendrickson (hip/pelvis) did not participate in Wednesday’s session as he underwent season-ending core muscle surgery. Fellow defensive end, Shemar Stewart, looks like he’s ready to return from his knee injury as the rookie, who is on injured reserve, had a full practice.

Safety PJ Jules (ankle) did not practice.

Those were the only four players on the roster not to have full participation.

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has missed a day of practice in each of the last four weeks and that streak continues this week.

Reporters at the open portion of Ravens practice noted that Jackson is not on the field with the rest of the team. Jackson has not missed any game action despite the missed practices.

It is not clear what physical issue will be listed as the reason for Jackson’s absence. He has been listed with ankle, toe, and knee injuries in recent weeks and he also missed three games with a hamstring injury earlier this season. The team’s injury report will bring word on the reason for his inactivity on Wednesday.

The Ravens fell behind in the AFC North with last Sunday’s loss to the Steelers and will try to improve their chances of winning the division in Cincinnati this weekend.

There’s a common pattern when it comes to bad calls in NFL officiating. The team that believes it was hosed complains. The team that was aided by the error stands silent.

On Sunday in Batimore, a pair of fourth-quarter plays introduced renewed confusion into the catch rule. Both negatively impacted the Ravens. Both helped the Steelers salvage a much-needed win.

The Ravens understandably were upset. The Steelers have been understandably quiet.

“You know, it’s always been debatable,” coach Mike Tomlin told reporters on Tuesday regarding the ruling that wiped out Isaiah Likely’s go-ahead touchdown with 2:47 to play. “It seems like — I’ve just learned to kind of move on, to be quite honest with you. I moved on from Jesse James, for example. I don’t even know what year that was. [Editor’s note: 2017.] There are going to be controversial calls in big games. I think I always focus my energy on making enough plays to minimize that in terms of determining the outcome of the game. That’s why you won’t hear me calling New York postgame for explanations and things of that nature. You guys asked me that, maybe earlier in the year regarding something. It’s not going to change the outcome. I just work to keep moving, and I just like to put together a comprehensive enough plan and make enough plays, where the game’s outcome doesn’t hinge on one play or a couple of plays.”

But it still can. All the preparation and effort can go out the window, thanks to one — or two — bad calls.

So, given the replay ruling that Aaron Rodgers made a catch (when he apparently didn’t) and that Isaiah Likely didn’t make a catch (when he apparently did), does Tomlin understand the current catch rule?

“I do,” Tomlin said. “I just think that I just think that football is so bang-bang and exciting. I think that’s why our fans love it. It’s a difficult game to play because of the speed. It’s a difficult game to officiate. I think as a collective, we have some things in place that kind of, you know, protect us all in an effort to get things right. Ruling that catch a touchdown makes it automatically reviewable, where I don’t have to decide to challenge, etc. And so there’s a lot of things in place, interrelated variables relative to that discussion.”

The more likely reality is that Tomlin isn’t questioning the rulings because they helped his team retake control of the AFC North. And his handling of the situation isn’t surprising. That’s what teams do when a bad call for the opponent creates a good outcome.

But, as Chris Simms said on Wednesday’s PFT Live, it would be refreshing — and useful — for the team that benefitted from a bad call to call it what it was. As to the Rodgers catch, the rule regarding maintaining possession through the act of going to the ground was ignored. As to the Likely non-catch, the rule regarding acts common to the game other than taking a third step with possession (extending the ball, warding off an opponent) was disregarded.

As to both plays, the replay standard was misapplied.

Here’s the reality for Tomlin and the Steelers. The same uncertainty that the league office has now reintroduced into the process of deciding whether a catch was or wasn’t made could sting the Steelers, at some point.

Tomlin’s overall approach to bad calls is extremely pragmatic. However, he can both accept the outcome of a given ruling while questioning its accuracy — or admitting its inaccuracy.

Given the two plays, everyone expected Ravens coach John Harbaugh to have a gripe. No one expected Tomlin to say, “You know, the rule wasn’t properly applied.”

If he had, that would have created real momentum to get the catch rule cleaned up, quickly. Because the end result is that, years after the NFL supposedly fixed the catch rule, it’s broken all over again.

The previously settled catch rule has once again descended into full uncertainty and borderline madness, after the league office overturned Sunday’s ruling on the field that Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely completed the process of scoring what should have been a fourth-quarter, go-ahead touchdown.

On Monday night, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford — a constant presence in the NFL since 2009 — commented on the various shifts and changes to the catch rule, while also lamenting the periodic absence of common sense.

“Since I’ve been in for 17 years now, I feel like the rules changed every third or fourth year,” Stafford said on the SiriusXM Let’s Go! podcast. “You look at the Ravens game against the Steelers and Isaiah Likely’s play and at the end of the game and is it a touchdown? Is it not? Sure felt like one. Sure looked like one in my eyes.”

Stafford expressed sympathy for the officials, who are required to see things in real time and make quick decisions.

“I’m sure they’re getting help from New York,” Stafford acknowledged.

But here’s the point. As to the two controversial (and irreconcilable) catch/no-catch decisions from Steelers-Ravens, New York overturned seemingly correct rulings made by the on-field officials. “Clear and obvious” has quietly and systematically taken a back seat to someone (good luck figuring out who it is) replacing their assessment via replay review for the snap judgment of the officials, without giving those decisions the broad deference that the rules require.

Put simply, the league office has gone rogue. It’s misapplying the replay standard. And, for whatever reason, it’s ignoring key elements of the catch rule. As to Likely, the review process disregarded the multiple ways he could have satisfied the process by performing an act common to the game and treated the absence of a third step as dispositive. As to the Aaron Rodgers non-catch, the review process didn’t consider the requirement that a player going to the ground must keep possession until he lands.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow as a player because sometimes it may not say it in the rule book or exactly show you, but man, you know it as a player,” Stafford said. “Hey, I caught that ball, or I didn’t catch that ball. Or this was a fumble or it wasn’t. And to have that overturned and cost your team possibly a chance at the playoffs or whatever it is. . . . I wish sometimes common sense would override the rule a little bit.”

We’d settle for the rules being applied as written. As written, the rules codify common sense. As interpreted by the replay process on Sunday, the league office proved the age-old maxim that common sense ain’t.

With NFL teams possibly planning to swoop in on South Bend, Notre Dame is scrambling to keep coach Marcus Freeman.

Here’s the reality: Teams with vacancies are permitted to interview him now (if they haven’t already).

Those teams are the Titans and Giants. There’s no requirement for those teams to announce or even to disclose that they have interviewed Freeman.

That’s the rule as it relates to any coach who currently isn’t working for another NFL team. The mad dash to request permission to interview assistant coaches comes after the regular-season ends. Paperwork is filed with the league office, and the official inquiries inevitably, if not immediately, are leaked to reporters who are employed by the league.

For unemployed coaches and/or current college coaches, there’s no external paper trail.

Whether Freeman would be interested in the Titans or the Giants is unknown. Both teams have been dysfunctional in recent years, with revolving doors and chronic struggles. It could be a hard sell to get Freeman interested in either job.

Freeman also can be discreetly contacted by teams that have yet to fire their current head coaches, with no league rules violated. As the end of the 2025 regular season approaches, teams that know they’ll be making a change will be (or should be) trying to identify all potential candidates. Freeman and/or his representation can be contacted without consequence.

Given that Notre Dame has made clear its desire to keep Freeman, he doesn’t have to rush for the first bad opportunity in the NFL. He can wait, if he wants, for a good, stable job to come upon. The Steelers or the Ravens, for example, would be attractive, since both teams have kept their current coaches for 19 and 18 years, respectively.

And what if Andy Reid retires in the next few years? Who wouldn’t want to coach Patrick Mahomes — even if the rest of the roster currently needs plenty of work?

Regardless, the potential pursuit of Freeman isn’t something that must wait until the regular season ends. It can begin right away, and the teams that are talking to him can keep it as quiet as they choose.

The Ravens signed veteran offensive guard Laken Tomlinson to the practice squad on Tuesday, the team announced.

In a corresponding move, the Ravens released veteran outside linebacker Carl Lawson. Lawson played in one game, making a tackle on 26 defensive snaps against the Bengals on Thanksgiving.

Tomlinson, 33, began the season as the Texans’ starting left guard. He started seven of the team’s first eight games but was benched and then waived last week.

The Ravens are looking for depth at the position, with Ben Cleveland suspended for the next three games for violating the NFL’s substances of abuse policy.

Tomlinson earned Pro Bowl honors in 2021. A 2015 first-round pick out of Duke, he has started nearly every game he’s appeared in over his 11-year career with the Lions, 49ers, Jets, Seahawks and Texans.

The NFL’s curious decision to overturn a touchdown reception by Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely reintroduced needless confusion into the question of what a catch is, and what a catch isn’t.

Adding to that confusion, indirectly, was last night’s failure to overturn the ruling on the field that Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts had possession of the ball long enough to fumble it. (It didn’t matter to the outcome of the play, since the Chargers recovered the ball. But if it had trickled out of bounds, the ruling that Hurts had the ball long enough to fumble it would have determined which team was awarded possession.)

The possession rule is virtually identical to the catch rule. From Rule 3, Section 1, Article 7 (Player Possession): “To gain possession of a loose ball that has been caught, intercepted, or recovered, a player (a) must have complete control of the ball with his hands or arms and (b) have both feet or any other part of his body, other than his hands, completely on the ground inbounds, and, after (a) and (b) have been fulfilled, clearly perform any act common to the game (e.g., extend the ball forward, take an additional step, tuck the ball away and turn upfield, or avoid or ward off an opponent). It is not necessary that he commit such an act, provided that he maintains control of the ball long enough to do so.”

Watch the play. If Hurts possessed the ball long enough to fumble it, Likely had it long enough to catch it.

Also, and as previously explained, if Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers had the ball long enough to complete the process of catching it, Likely had it long enough to catch it. (It’s impossible to reconcile the two rulings, and the NFL knows it.)

Bottom line? It took the NFL years to create the impression that it has finally figured out what a catch is. In one fell swoop on a December afternoon in Baltimore, the league has thrown the entire question back into the “who the hell knows?” category.

Congratulations.

The NFL has announced eight finalists for this season’s Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award.

A panel made up of former NFL players Warrick Dunn, Larry Fitzgerald, Curtis Martin, and Leonard Wheeler chose the finalists after each team nominated one player for consideration. The award goes to the player that “best demonstrates the qualities of on-field sportsmanship, including fair play, respect for the game and opponents, an integrity in competition.”

Cardinals safety Budda Baker has been selected as a finalist for the third straight season. Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David, Saints linebacker Demario Davis, and Vikings right tackle Brian O’Neill are the other finalists from the NFC.

The AFC finalists are Colts defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, Jets defensive tackle Harrison Phillips, Dolphins defensive tackle Zach Sieler, and Ravens linebacker Kyle Van Noy.

Current NFL players will cast their votes for one of the finalists and the winner will be announced at the NFL Honors event during Super Bowl week.

Sunday’s Steelers-Ravens game included two very controversial decisions by the league office’s replay apparatus to overturn rulings on the field regarding catches. On Monday, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said he spoke to the NFL about both the decision to wipe out an interception of a batted ball (turning it into a reception by Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers) and the decision to take away what the on-field officials had determined to be a touchdown catch by Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely.

“We had a conversation with the league office, and they were they were gracious enough to spend a lot of time on the phone with myself and [G.M.] Eric and [former NFL official] Tony Michalek,” Harbaugh told reporters. “And we appreciate that. It didn’t clear anything up, it didn’t make it any easier to understand, either one of the two calls, they’re very, very hard to understand how they get overturned. But they did, and that’s where it stands.”

Harbaugh later was asked whether the discussion included an effort to reconcile the replay ruling that Rodgers had completed the process of making a catch with the replay ruling that Likely had not.

“That’s part of the conversation. Sure, that was weaved into the conversation,” Harbaugh said. “I mean, you know, [Rodgers is] going to the ground, you have to have control of the football, you have to survive the ground when you make a catch. I mean, that’s what a catch is. You know, you can’t say the time element’s like that, and he satisfies the time element when you’re going to the ground. The time element doesn’t apply to going to the ground. So it’s a pretty clear cut.”

It is clear cut. At least it should be. Whoever made the replay ruling as to Likely (and no one ever knows for sure who makes these rulings) decided — in defiance of the rule — that Likely could only complete the process of the catch by getting a third foot down. His effort to extend the ball and/or to ward off the defender who was trying to bat it away was not considered, even though it absolutely should have been.

Likewise, whoever made the replay ruling as to Rodgers necessarily determined that he maintained possession through going to the ground, even though he clearly did not.

It’s an astounding outcome, one that not only ignores the rulebook but also fails to honor the “clear and obvious” standard that applies to every replay situation.

More than a decade ago, the NFL centralized the replay process in order to ensure that the “clear and obvious” standard would be consistently applied by the same person, eliminating the potentially varying interpretations that had been adopted by the various different referees, who previously had final say.

Now, “clear and obvious” is disappearing. Rulings from on-field officials are not receiving the deference that the rules clearly require.

It’s not good. For the league, for the team, for the officials, for anyone. And it introduces the ever-present possibility that someone (who, no one knows for sure) will ignore the real-time judgment of the officials and supply their own instead.

At a time when the legalization, normalization, and monetization of gambling has caused many to be looking for any/all evidence that the fix is in, the quickest way to legitimize those concerns is to have a replay function that changes rulings in a way that disregards the rules.

That point can’t be overemphasized. Why even have officials making these decisions if someone in Manhattan is going to ignore them when performing replay review?

It’s not what the owners voted for, and it’s incumbent on the owners to clean this mess up. Because it’s becoming increasingly clear and obvious that Commissioner Roger Goodell and his lieutenants have gone rogue and re-written the rulebook.