The 2024 NFL season kicked off Thursday with the Kansas City Chiefs staving off the Baltimore Ravens, but the early story of the game was the illegal formation penalties.

On the Ravens' first drive of the game, the offense was flagged three times for illegal formation, twice on left tackle Ronnie Stanley and once on right tackle Patrick Mekari. One of the illegal formation calls negated a defensive pass interference on Kansas City, canceling what could've been a big gain of yardage for Baltimore. The Ravens were able to score thanks to a rushing touchdown from Derrick Henry, but it came with several struggles.

Stanley would get called for another illegal formation penalty in the second quarter, drawing the ire of head coach John Harbaugh.

Stanley said after the Ravens' 27-20 loss that he felt the calls were being applied unevenly and that he was being targeted.

"The way it was going through the game, you know, I really feel like they were trying to make an example and chose me to be the one to do that," Stanley told reporters. "As far as I saw, they weren't doing it on both sides of the ball. And I know that I was lined up in a good position in a majority of those calls they made."   

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Why is illegal formation being called so often?

According to the NFL rulebook, the offense must have at least seven players on the line, including two eligible receivers. On the penalty plays, the referees deemed Stanley was too far behind the line of scrimmage.

Typically, the tackles have been given leeway to line up just a few feet behind the line of scrimmage, but the NBC broadcast mentioned looking for offensive linemen behind the line of scrimmage was a point of emphasis the league wanted referees to pay attention to coming into this season. That means offensive linemen throughout the league will be watched more carefully this season.

Last season, Kansas City tackle Jawaan Taylor was heavily criticized for how far off he appeared to be lining up behind the line of scrimmage, and he was flagged a few times for it.

Stanley said the Ravens understood that refs would be closely watching for potential infractions, but he maintained he did not believe he deserved to be flagged.

"We knew that they were going to make a new emphasis on the illegal formations," Stanley said. "We were talking to refs in OTAs, actually, and got pretty good clarification. We were doing a good job in OTAs, and then all of a sudden today - whatever calls they made (are) their decision, but it didn't feel consistent with what we were told from the other refs earlier on."

Former NFL stars chime in on illegal formation penalties

Regardless of whether people agreed the calls were correct or not, viewers were unhappy with the amount of penalties were called for it. Some notable former football players chiming in on the flags included J.J. Watt and Jason Kelce.

"Offensive linemen are going to hate that they are finally calling that penalty," Watt, the former defensive star, said.

"Man they are not messing around with these tackles alignments. And to be fair, Stanley is still to far back!" Kelce said.

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