Early in the fourth quarter on a bad throw from Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson intended for tight end MyCole Pruitt, Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey picked off the pass, racing home 37 yards for a touchdown that all but put the game away.
On the interception return, Humphrey appeared to be taunting Pruitt, holding the ball back for Steelers WR Calvin Austin III, who was trying to chase him down. In a heated rivalry, it would be understandable if Humphrey wanted to talk smack after a pivotal play like that, especially after he said following the Week 11 loss that he had to pray during the game because he was getting upset.
But after the 34-17 Ravens’ win Saturday night, Humphrey said he wasn’t taunting the Steelers. In fact, he said to reporters he was trying to pitch the ball back to Ravens OLB David Ojabo because “he’s a great guy.”
“I was right there by the guy and Russ [Wilson] kind of, he kind of threw it to me and then I was running. I wanna make this like pretty clear: when I was running with the football, I saw David Ojabo, a really great teammate of mine, and I was trying to pitch him the football,” Humphrey said of his pick-six, according to video via the Ravens’ YouTube page. “So some people brought up to me that it looked like taunting or something, but I was trying to pitch him the football, and there’s no taunting there at all.
“I just wanna make that very clear. And Ojabo’s a great guy. I wanted to pitch it to him. So, and then I got in the end zone and it was good.”
That comes off as Humphrey trying to do everything in his power to avoid a fine because it looked very clearly like taunting, at least by the letter of the law. It went uncalled, and that’s fine. It probably won’t have had an impact on the game regardless because the touchdown would have still stood and the Steelers would have been in a 31-17 hole.
But it was another example of officials simply not calling things based on the letter of the rule book, and that’s frustrating.
The first offense for taunting is a fine of $11,255, according to the NFL’s accountability policy. Humphrey hasn’t been fined for taunting yet this season, though he did have two fines back in Week 10 against the Bengals totaling $33,766 for use of helmet and facemask fouls.
Chances are, he didn’t want to make that pick-six a costly one for getting caught up in the heat of the moment, hence the explanation.
Maybe initially Humphrey tried to pitch the ball to Ojabo, but at the end with Austin in pursuit, Humphrey clearly taunted. Kudos to him for making a play, but it would be surprising if his wallet isn’t a little lighter next Saturday.
