In the second quarter of Sunday night’s game between the Ravens and the Jets, Baltimore defensive tackle Haloti Ngata applied a blindside hit to New York quarterback Mark Sanchez, knocking the ball loose. Linebacker Jarret Johnson scooped it up, ran into the end zone, and with the extra point the Ravens led, 27-7.
Referee Mike Carey, who presumably was focused on whether Sanchez’s arm was going forward when the ball came out, missed the fact that Ngata put his helmet into Sanchez’s back.
The league office didn’t.
The NFL has fined Ngata $15,000 for roughing the passer. “Specifically, on a pass play, he lowered his head and struck the opposing quarterback,” AFC information manager Corry Rush told PFT.
In other words, the league has conceded that a flag should have been thrown.