Nguyen was not a fan of Head Coach John Harbaugh’s non-challenges.

“In two separate instances, it appeared a Ravens runner got the ball past the first down marker but Head Coach John Harbaugh didn’t even appear to think about challenging the calls,” Nguyen wrote. “With 4:48 remaining in the first quarter, on third-and-3, Lamar Jackson scrambled, lowered his shoulder against linebacker Kenneth Murray Jr., and extended the ball past the marker. Instead of taking the time to let the coaches upstairs review the play to give a recommendation on whether to challenge or not, the Ravens tried to catch the defense off guard. They hurried to the line and ran a wildcat play with Gus Edwards taking the snap that was stopped short of the line.

“With 8:31 remaining in the third quarter on second-and-22, Jackson completed a pass to Nelson Agholor, who looked like he got enough yardage for the first down. The replay clearly showed Agholor rolled over a defender’s body to get past the sticks. The Ravens hurried to the line and attempted a pass on third-and-1 that fell incomplete. To their credit, they did convert on fourth down but it didn’t have to be that hard.”

Harbaugh has explained his thinking for not challenging the plays, and The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec was less critical of the decisions.

“Harbaugh said the Ravens did not challenge the spot on Jackson’s 2-yard run in the second quarter that preceded Gus Edwards getting stuffed on fourth-and-1 because they didn’t think there was enough evidence to overturn it,” Zrebiec wrote. “Their review of the play, Harbaugh said, reinforced that belief. The Ravens have staff members who study reviews and claim that plays, like the Jackson run, where ball carriers are almost going out of bounds parallel to the first-down marker rarely get overturned. On the second one, Nelson Agholor’s 21-yard catch in which the ball was spotted probably a yard and a half shorter than where it should have been, creating a third-and-1, Harbaugh said he and his staff thought the team had been given a first down. With the offense in hurry-up, the Ravens coaches apparently didn’t realize quickly enough that it was actually third and not first down.

“The explanation on the Jackson run makes sense. That was a borderline call and Baltimore had done the research on how many of those types of plays get overturned. Unless you’re confident you’re going to win that, losing a challenge in the second quarter when you are inches away from the first down isn’t preferable. On the second one, I have no issue taking the Ravens at their word. Two other coaches, who were in the box upstairs, mentioned that they didn’t realize it wasn’t a first down. Still, you would think that somebody on the sideline would have noticed that the chains hadn’t been moved and Baltimore could have handled things accordingly.”