NFL deems Patriots' substitution vs. Ravens legal

The NFL disagrees with Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh's assertion that the New England Patriots should have been penalized for running illegal plays during Saturday's divisional playoff game.

A league spokesman told Chris Mortensen of ESPN that the Patriots' substitutions were legal from both a formation and reporting standpoint.

Harbaugh took exception to the offensive formation the Patriots used on their second drive of the third quarter, when they lined up only four offensive lineman along the line of scrimmage and used another player as an ineligible receiver.

The Ravens were unable to make the necessary substitutions and identify the eligible receivers as a result, and Harbaugh ended up drawing an unsportsmanlike penalty for running onto the field in objection.

"We wanted an opportunity to be able to ID who the eligible players were," Harbaugh told reporters after the game, which ended in a 35-31 victory for New England. "What (the Patriots) were doing was they announce the ineligible player and then Tom (Brady) would take them to the line right away and snap the ball before we had a chance to figure out who was lined up where. That was the deception part of it. It was clearly deception."

Harbaugh stopped short of calling the tactic cheap or dirty, but said it was one "nobody has ever seen before."

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick provided the following explanation for his strategy: 

"It's a play that we thought would work," he said. "We ran it three times, a couple different looks. We had six eligible receivers on the field, but only five were eligible. The one who was ineligible reported that he was ineligible. No different than on the punt team or a situation like that."