Why illegal formation penalties dominated Ravens vs. Chiefs season opener, and what it means for rest of 2024

The 2024 NFL season kicked off Thursday night, and it did so with just as much hubbub surrounding offensive-line penalties as it did high-scoring action from the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs. The Ravens, in fact, couldn’t make it a single drive before drawing three different flags for illegal formation, an infraction committed by left tackle Ronnie Stanley four times in the first half alone.

Why the sudden onslaught of flags for illegal formation? And what does it mean for the rest of the season?

First thing’s first: The NFL often has a point of emphasis when it comes to officiating each year. Sometimes it’s testing out pass-interference replay (remember that?). This year, according to Football Zebras, it was cracking down on illegal formation.

The infraction designates that a team has failed to properly align with seven players on the line of scrimmage at the start of an offensive play. Offensive tackles are typically permitted to line up “off” the line if their helmet isn’t behind the waist of the center, but this has been a gray area in recent years, most notably in Week 1 of last season, when Chiefs right tackle Jawaan Taylor was repeatedly and “egregiously off” against the Detroit Lions, resulting in several flags and even more social-media critique.

“The formation fouls were reviewed with teams extensively before, during, and after training camps by the officiating department,” Football Zebras reported Thursday. “The bowing of the linemen is an advantage in pass rush situations, and the [NFL’s] Competition Committee said it had to be shut down.”

Stanley, for what it’s worth, still believes the referees unfairly targeted the Ravens in the game against the Chiefs, telling reporters afterward that “whatever calls they made, it’s their decision” but that “it didn’t feel consistent with what were told” by the officials during the offseason.

“I’ll challenge them to call it the same way they called it tonight the whole season,” Ravens head coach Jon Harbaugh added. “Hopefully they’ll be consistent.”

As for what’s ahead, don’t expect illegal formation calls to die down immediately. Fans worried about a season-long slog of penalties, however, needn’t be too worried. CBS Sports rules analyst Gene Steratore noted last year, in the wake of Taylor’s Week 1 violations, that the first week of regular-season action tends to be a “wake-up call” for both players and officiating crews. Up until that point, no one has really worked with full-speed NFL action since the year prior, and therefore widespread infractions tend to even out in ensuing weeks.