The NFL continues to crack down on illegal lineups.

The Baltimore Ravens learned this the hard way on Thursday night.

The Ravens were penalized three times for illegal lineup on their opening drive of the NFL season in Thursday’s 27-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Left tackle Ronnie Stanley was penalized twice on the drive. Right tackle Patrick Mekari was penalized once.

Before the night was over, Baltimore had a total of five illegal lineup penalties, four of which were accepted by the Chiefs.

The penalties in the opening drive cost Baltimore nothing. The Ravens overcame the flags and crowned the drive with a touchdown run by Derrick Henry.

Fourth penalty costs Ravens possible points

A fourth illegal lineup penalty proved costly. Stanley was penalized again late in the second quarter. This time, the penalty prevented a potential one-point drive, negating a 9-yard pass gain on second-and-12 at the Kansas City 39-yard line.

The penalty left Baltimore on second-and-17 and unable to gain another first down on the drive. The drive ended with a missed 53-yard field goal attempt by Justin Tucker.

What’s going on with all the penalties?

So why exactly have the Ravens been penalized so often? According to reports, harsh treatment has been a focus of referees since last season – which, incidentally, was also due to Baltimore’s opponent on Thursday night.

Referees were often the subject of criticism last season for failing to penalize Chiefs right tackle Jawaan Taylor despite his repeated lining up well behind the line of scrimmage. Offensive linemen are required to line up at the line of scrimmage to avoid gaining an unfair advantage over defenders. That criticism reportedly led to referees making it a point to crack down on illegal lining ups.

So what does this crackdown look like? Much like the Ravens-Chiefs game on Thursday.

Here’s one of the penalties that resulted in a flag against Stanley in the first quarter. His lineup wasn’t as blatantly illegal as some of the ones Taylor got away with last season.

But according to the referees on Thursday, it met the definition of an illegal line-up.

The rule book states the following:

The attacking team must comply with the following at the snap:

1. (a) There must be seven or more players on the line

2. There must be eligible receivers on both ends of the line and all players on the line in between must be ineligible receivers.

3. No player may be outside the boundaries

Penalty: If the attacking team positions itself illegally: loss of five yards.

Point 1 is what we’re talking about here. Seven or more players must be lined up at the line of scrimmage. Stanley is supposed to be one of those seven players in the above scenario. In practice, that means Stanley’s helmet must be in line with center Tyler Linderbaum’s belt line.

Stanley’s feet seemed to be in the right place. Had he leaned forward like some of his opponents on the offensive line, his helmet would likely have been in line with Linderbaum’s belt. But he stood tall and was penalized.

And he was punished again along with his teammates.

The penalties were often borderline and affected the flow of the game. But that is exactly what the NFL values. And it could be a sign for the upcoming 2024 season.