Ravens Coach John Harbaugh Demands Answers After Controversial Overturned TD Leaves NFL Fans in Shock

John Harbaugh found himself dialing the league office on Monday, grappling with the confounding aftermath of a pivotal moment that unraveled in the Ravens’ recent defeat to the Steelers — a touchdown that, at first glance, seemed certain but was ultimately revoked. And after that call ended? Well, Harbaugh’s bewilderment hadn’t exactly cleared up. The NFL’s catch rule, he admitted, “is about as clear as mud.” Imagine the frustration when Lamar Jackson’s late-game hookup with Isaiah Likely appeared to flip the script in Baltimore’s favor — a play even analysts like Tony Romo backed wholeheartedly — only for it to be stripped away upon review. The officials ruled the ball came loose before the final foot touched ground, leaving the Ravens grinding their teeth in the locker room and their playoff hopes hanging by a thread. It’s a stark reminder that in football, understanding can be just as elusive as victory itself. LEARN MORE.

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh called the league on Monday, looking for clarification after a critical touchdown was called back in the team’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers the day before.

When he hung up, Harbaugh was just as confused as he was before he made the call.

“It’s about as clear as mud right now,” Harbaugh said of the NFL’s catch rule, via ESPN’s Jamison Hensley. “That’s how I feel about it.”

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson found Isaiah Likely late in the fourth quarter on Sunday afternoon, and it appeared like Likely had scored a go-ahead touchdown. Even CBS analyst Tony Romo was fully confident in the play as officials were looking at it.

But after a review, officials reversed their call and determined that it was not a touchdown. The Ravens did not score again after that, and the Steelers ended up escaping with a 27-22 win.

“The receiver controlled the ball in the air, had his right foot down, then his left foot down,” NFL vice president of instant replay Mark Butterworth said. “The control is the first aspect of the catch. The second aspect is two feet or a body part in bounds, which he did have.

“Then the third step is an act common to the game, and before he could get the third foot down, the ball was ripped out. Therefore, it was an incomplete pass.”

Plenty of Ravens players were livid in the locker room after the game. DeAndre Hopkins deleted a social media post criticizing the referees, and running back Derrick Henry said it was tough “when the game’s in the ref’s hands.”

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Harbaugh spoke with the league about that call, and an Aaron Rodgers interception that was reversed, on Monday.

“It didn’t clear anything up,” Harbaugh said. “It didn’t make it any easier to understand either one of the two calls. They’re very hard to understand how they get overturned, but they did and that’s where it stands.”

As for whether or not that call cost the Ravens the game, Harbaugh stopped short.

“You never know what cost you the game,” he said.

Regardless, the result stands. The Ravens now sit at 6-7 and fell out of first place in the AFC North with the loss. They are now ninth in the AFC standings, and will have to be just about perfect the rest of the way — starting on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals — if they are going to make a fourth straight postseason appearance.