Should Raiders be ruffled by Ravens' fake FG?

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BALTIMORE -- Tom Flores, the two-time Super Bowl-winning former coach of the Raiders, howled in protest."To me," Flores said on the radio broadcast, "that is uncalled for. UN-called for."He was referring to the Baltimore Ravens pulling off a fake field goal, when they were already up by a score of 41-17, and holder Sam Koch taking the direct snap and running to the left side of the line untouched for a seven-yard touchdown run.Classless? Unnecessary? Bad sportsmanship? Rubbing it in?Well, a play earlier, Joselio Hanson barked at Anquan Boldin after keeping him from pulling in a touchdown pass in the right corner of the end zone. Boldin responded by pointing to the scoreboard. And the Ravens responded by calling the fake and pouring it on."It's (messed) up," said Raiders defensive tackle Tommy Kelly, "but at the same time, you've got to stop it."Kelly then asked reporters gathered at his locker if they would have called for a fake field goal with a 41-17 lead. When the consensus was "no," Kelly let it speak for him, so to speak.Paul G's Instant Replay: Ravens 55, Raiders 20
And that was as close as you'd get to a Raiders player or coach speaking out against the play."Oh no," said cornerback Michael Huff, "that's football. We're all grown men. Obviously, if we didn't like it, we have to stop it. I don't look it it like that."Added quarterback Carson Palmer, who was 9-4 against the Ravens in his career before Sunday's 55-20 drubbing: "That didn't bother me at all. They're trying to win a game, and we're trying to stop them. This is a classy organization, and they would never do anything like that to embarrass another team. I've played them a lot over the years, and I have a lot of respect for those guys."Of course, coach Dennis Allen refused to take the bait."It's our job to go out there and stop them," he said, succinctly.But was he surprised by the call?"No, nothing surprised me," he said. "Our job is to stop them, and we have to stop them."So what, exactly, went into the Ravens' thinking?"The thinking was it's an overload look," said Ravens coach John Harbaugh. "They've got eight guys on one side of the formation, and inside the 10-yard line, if they are going to give you that opportunity, then we're going to take it. That's pretty much what we always do, so that's why we did it."We are trying to win the game, so if you can extend your lead, you really should do that in this league. There is just too much talent over there to assume that they can't get back into the football game, so that's what we do."And the Raiders could do nothing about it.

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