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What I really like is how quickly Harbaugh reversed course when it became clear that he was clowning himself. In his presser, he talking about how it was a deceptive, illegal-type formation. Once he reviewed the tape enough to realize that any pee wee football player knows it's a legal formation, he changed his complaint to not having time to match substitutions. Which is also factually, objectively, self-evidently untrue.
And ****ing asinine, because they're two completely separate issues. Let's just look at them separately.
1) The formation issue
Look at Peter King's screenshot of the formation:
Vereen was on the line of scrimmage, and so was Edelman outside of him. Since there must be seven men on the line, and only the two outside guys are eligible, that means that Vereen was clearly ineligible. If he'd run a route, the Pats would have been flagged for illegal formation (or maybe for illegal man downfield, depends on how they'd decided to call it). This is a basic, 101-level thing that the refs check for on every play, and that every defender on the field has been coached to look for on every play since high school at the latest.
Likewise, notice how LaFell and Amendola are both off the line up top. The result of that is that Hoomanawanui is the last man on the line, which makes him, by definition, an eligible receiver.
That's what keeps getting glossed over. The general understanding of the issue seems to be that, if Vereen hadn't declared ineligible, he would have been an eligible receiver, Hoomanawanui would have been a tackle, and that's that. Basically, that the entire sequence hinged on Vereen's declaration. But that's just not the case: the formation itself dictated that Vereen was ineligible and Hoomanawanui was eligible; he only had to declare as much because of the number he was wearing. Aside from that, the formation speaks for itself. It is always the case that the only eligible receivers on the LOS are the guys on the end, and in this formation it was Hooman and Edelman. Vereen was ineligible, whether or not he declared it.
A smarter, more aware defense would have recognized that and just left Vereen alone. The only reason to even consider defending him is if you're worried that the refs will miss it and blow the call, but the moment that he's declared ineligible even that reasoning is gone. This was a pretty elementary mistake, and while I can understand the players making it once in the heat of the moment (but not three times), I can't understand Harbaugh's failure to call a timeout and instruct his defense accordingly.
2) The substitution issue
When Kline came out of the game, the Ravens were given ample time to make their own corresponding substitutions. That's what the rulebook requires, and the Ravens absolutely got it, well after they (should have) realized the Pats only had four linemen in the huddle. The substitution rules are in place to ensure that the defense can match up to the offense's personnel, and the Ravens were given every chance to make substitutions to match the Pats' personnel.
What they weren't given was a bunch of extra time pre-snap to review the Pats' formation and try to figure out exactly what the Pats were doing. Which nobody was under any obligation to give them in the first place. If they weren't comfortable with their understanding of what's going on, that's what timeouts are for.
It's just a really stupid complaint coming from Harbaugh. He seems to be claiming that they were owed time to substitute after seeing the Patriots formation, which is stupid. They are owed time to make substitutions only when the Patriots make a substitution, and they got their time. If they were too dumb to notice that a lineman was being swapped out for a skill position player--which they 100% should have noticed, assumed something was up, and called a timeout shortly after the Pats came to the line and showed their hand--then that's just their own incompetence at work.
A couple of points:
1) The penalty you mentioned for Vereen going downfield could only be ineligible man downfield, not illegal formation, because the formation was legal. It would be ORT going downfield, which isn't an illegal formation.
2) Excellent point about the substitution thing that I want to expand on.
The defense is allowed to substitute when the offense does. It happens all game long. When the offense changes from 2 TE to 3 WR for example, a DB runs on and a DL or LB runs off, consistently without being told. The Ravens had that opportunity. What Harbaugh is asking for is that since its not a personnel group that he know how to counter that they stop and let him figure it out. Sorry, that's not the rule. Since you cannot declare eligible/ineligible without a personnel change, you are never in a position where you need time to adjust personnel to who is eligible after the announcement because you had the chance to sub already.
3) A smarter, more aware defense would not have left Vereen alone, because then Brady would have thrown him a lateral, and it would be off to the races. I believe that was exactly what they were hoping to accomplish with the confusion.
