Last year was an odd one for all sports leagues, and that included the NFL, where there was limited fan attendance for most of the season. The typical home field advantage we’re used to seeing was mostly gone. There were some other consequences to the lack of fans, too.
Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey spoke with Bleacher Report’s Adam Lefkoe for an interview shared on Tuesday. In the interview, Humphrey talked about what it was like playing last season. He said that due to the lack of fans, he could hear more play calls from opposing offenses. Specifically, he said he could hear Ben Roethlisberger tell the Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers what the plays were.
“Is he…telling them the play?”
Ravens CB @marlon_humphrey describes being able to hear Big Ben tell Steelers WRs what routes to run
(via @AdamLefkoe) pic.twitter.com/dU8F9Uf0nm
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) May 11, 2021
“The craziest thing about this year, we played with no fans. And we played the Steelers,” Humphrey said. “I heard Big Ben say something to the wide receivers. I’m listening and I’m like, ‘did he just tell him the play? Did he just tell him the route he’s about to run? And he does it again like the next play.
“I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know if they were in hurry up and that’s how they’d always done it or what, but he was just verbally telling them. I was like, ‘crap, I think I should be able to cover this route.’ And that happened a few times in a game.”
That’s pretty interesting.
Even if that was the case, the Steelers still beat the Ravens both times the teams played last year, though one game had multiple complications. Pittsburgh began the season 11-0 and finished 12-4. Baltimore went 11-5 and won a playoff game, though they lost to the Bills in the Divisional Round.
