John Harbaugh defends Ravens running fake punt in blowout

The Baltimore Ravens raised some eyebrows Sunday when they ran a fake punt on the hapless Miami Dolphins despite being up 35-3 at the time.

Baltimore’s Anthony Levine took a direct snap on a fake punt 4th and 1 at the Ravens’ 30 and took it 60 yards for an easy first down. With the Ravens already thrashing the Dolphins, some felt that the call seemed like overkill.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh stood by it on Monday, saying that both Baltimore and Miami understood that the Ravens were pursuing an objective to keep their offense on the field despite the lopsided game situation.

Harbaugh on fake punt: "The point is and I know the Dolphins understand this, the objective is to keep your offense on the field and keep your defense off the field by any means necessary."

— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) September 9, 2019

Harbaugh has a point. If the Ravens didn’t want their defense on the field any more than they had to be, they had every right to run a fake, even in a 32-point game. It’s up to the Dolphins to do something about that. Considering some of their players don’t want to be there, it’s perhaps no surprise that they couldn’t.