The NFL is rich in tradition, and the opening game of each season is usually a pretty good indicator of that.
How come?
The reigning Super Bowl champion almost always hosts the league’s kickoff game. It’s a time for that team to unveil its championship banner and celebrate with fans. It’s almost always played on a Thursday, after originally being moved to that time slot in 2002. The NFL also likes to do this funny thing where referees get overly fixated on a particular rule and throw so many flags that they confuse both the crowd and the spectators. And anger players, coaches and fans alike.
It’s great!
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The Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs met to open the season, and this traditional finale was the biggest headline of the game.
Ravens left tackle Ronnie Stanley was assessed three illegal formation penalties and right tackle Patrick Mekari was assessed one on Thursday. League officials told teams that penalty would be a focus this season. The Chiefs were not assessed a penalty, although their right tackle Jawaan Taylor was the most penalized player in the entire NFL in 2023 and many believe the rule is the focus.
“The way it went the whole game, I really felt like they were trying to make an example and they were picking me for it,” Stanley said, according to a video provided by the team. “From what I saw, they didn’t do it on both sides of the ball. I know I was in a good position for most of those decisions.”
What does this have to do with the Patriots?
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Patriots offensive lineman Chukwuma Okorafor was warned three times by referee Shawn Hochuli for illegal positioning as the Patriots closed out the preseason against the Washington Commanders.
Hochuli was of course assigned to the Ravens-Chiefs game and was also the one who imposed a penalty on Stanley.
It’s probably fair to say that every NFL team not based in Baltimore has benefited from the new enforcement of a long-standing rule, as the barrage of penalties is sure to have offensive tackles double and triple checking before every snap.
New England had to deal with the same problem, but at least they were made an example of in a warm-up game.
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