The 2024 NFL season kicked off Thursday with the Kansas City Chiefs holding off the Baltimore Ravens 27-20. But it seems that over and above everything else, one thing that has become the talking point is the illegal formation penalties. The 2024 season opener quickly turned into a yellow-hanky extravaganza and the Ravens stood on the receiving end of it.

On the Ravens’ first drive of the game, the offense was flagged three times for illegal formation. Twice on left tackle Ronnie Stanley while once on right tackle Patrick Mekari. Over the course of the entire night, Baltimore got five total illegal formation penalties. Four of them were accepted by the Chiefs.

The opening-drive penalties were not costly for Baltimore. The Ravens overcame the debacle, as they managed to march 70 yards in 11 plays for a touchdown from Derrick Henry, who scored his first as a Raven. The fourth penalty affected the Ravens negatively. Stanley was once again flagged late in the second quarter. This time, the penalty stopped a potential scoring drive. It denied a 9-yard passing gain on second-and-12 at the Kansas City 39-yard line.

As a result of the penalty, Baltimore was in second-and-17 and didn’t gain another first down on the drive. The drive ended with Justin Tucker’s missed 53-yard field goal attempt. Understandably, the entire fiasco left players, fans, and analysts furious alike.

Jason Kelce, never one to mince words, took to X (formerly Twitter) to voice his frustration: “I haven’t seen this many flags in a row since Jawaan Taylor last year.” He followed up with another zinger: “Man they are not messing around with these tackles alignments. And to be fair, Stanley is still to far back!” When an All-Pro center is calling out the refs, you know something’s amiss. And he was not alone in this.

“Offensive linemen are going to hate that they are finally calling that penalty,” JJ Watt, the former defensive star, wrote on his X. The Pat McAfee Show’s Boston Connor echoed the sentiment of many fans on X: “Alright, I’m sick of the illegal formation penalties. Go back to the old rules on the Oline.” Connor Hughes, NFL reporter for SNYtv summed up the general sentiment on X: “Oh my god I don’t care where they line up anymore just let them play.” However, the officiating crew argued that it met the definition of an illegal formation. So what does the definition say?

The rulebook says: The offensive team must be in compliance with the following at the snap:

• It must have seven or more players on the line.
• Eligible receivers must be on both ends of the line, and all of the players on the line between them must be ineligible receivers.
• No player may be out of bounds

Penalty: For illegal formation by the offense: Loss of five yards.

The first of the three points was considered on Thursday. So as per the rule, seven or more players should be lined up on the line of scrimmage. Stanley is supposed to be one of those players. Basically, what it means is Stanley’s helmet must be in line with the belt-line of center Tyler Linderbaum.

As things stand, Stanley’s feet seem to be in the right spot. But he was standing upright, which is why he got flagged. Had he leaned forward like his other offensive line counterparts, his helmet would have been correctly aligned. Notably, this sudden obsession with tackle alignment isn’t coming out of thin air. In fact, the Ravens’ Thursday night opponent has some contributions to that.

Last season, the officials faced criticism repeatedly for not penalizing Chiefs right tackle Jawaan Taylor when he lined up well behind the line of scrimmage on several occasions. Such an act from the offensive linemen gives them an unfair leverage advantage against defenders. It seems that whatever we saw on Thursday night is an outcome of those. That criticism reportedly led to officials making it a point of emphasis to crack down on illegal formations. Meanwhile, Stanley, who stands at the center of this, voiced his displeasure after the loss.

Technicality or entertainment? What to prevail in the season ahead?

Stanley straightaway alleged that the penalties were not called impartially, and he was ‘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. 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,” Stanley told reporters, according to the USA Today. However, focus on the offensive linesmen was something that was quite expected this season.

NBC broadcast mentioned that after the controversy last season, the league wanted the referees to have a keen eye on the offensive linemen behind the line of scrimmage. Looking at this, it seems that the game just gave a trailer of what to expect as the season progresses this year. In fact, as Stanley claimed, they also knew that.

“We knew that they were going to make a new emphasis on the illegal formations. 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,” Stanley said. Amid this, one thing’s clear: the NFL might be playing with fire by prioritizing technicalities over entertainment.

Christian D’Andrea pointed out the absurdity of the situation on X: “should have been ~30 yards on the DPI. instead, Ronnie Stanley is lined up a yard-plus off the line of scrimmage and gets called for illegal formation, penalties offset.” It’s like being pulled over for going 56 in a 55 – technically wrong, but come on!

Some argue these calls are necessary for fair play. After all, the rulebook states that “No player may take a position that is neither clearly on, nor clearly off the line of scrimmage.” But others see it as needless nitpicking. Steve Palazzolo sarcastically remarked on X: “If you’re into illegal formation penalties, this is the season for you.” Notably, this isn’t the first time illegal formation calls have stirred up controversy.

Remember the 2022 Giants vs. Commanders game? A Washington touchdown was negated in the final moments because of an illegal formation penalty, despite Terry McLaurin checking with the side official about his positioning. It begs the question: Are refs obligated to advise players on their alignment before the snap?

As the season progresses, we’ll see if this strict enforcement continues or if it’s just early-season overzealousness. One thing’s for sure: if the NFL keeps prioritizing ruler-perfect alignments over exciting plays, they might find fans changing the channel faster than a ref can reach for his flag. After all, as the rulebook reminds us, football is about “eligible receivers on both ends of the line,” not about measuring inches in the trenches.