Baltimore Ravens look like victims of NFL officiating statement

The Baltimore Ravens may have a gripe with NFL officials.

In the Ravens' season-opening loss to the Kansas City Chiefs , they were flagged five times for illegal formations . Three of those came on the Ravens' opening drive. The NFL is making it a point of emphasis to force linemen to lineup at the line of scrimmage as opposed to dropping back.

The numerous flags drew the ire of Ravens coaches, players, and even fans and analysts.

Tackle Ronnie Stanley, who was flagged three times for illegal formation, accused the referees of making an example of him . Stanley said the referees of Thursday called it differently than training camp refs.

"I really feel like they were just trying to make an example and they chose me to be the one to do that," Stanley told reporters ( via The Athletic's Jeff Zrebiec ). "As far as I saw, they weren’t doing it on both sides of the ball and I know that I was lined up in a good position the majority of those calls they made .... I would even go as far to say, I was lining up more in front of what I used to do in years past because of the emphasis."

ESPN's Scott Van Pelt called the game "the ref show."

Indeed, it seems the Ravens got a tough whistle on Thursday. Across the other Week 1 games (pending Monday night's game), illegal formation penalties were way down, according to Kevin Oestreicher of Ravens Wire.

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said that while teams knew referees would be aggressive in policing illegal formations, he was glad the Chiefs got to see the precedent set on the Ravens in the opening drive.

Reid added that the precedent set by the officials on the opening drive made it easier to coach his linemen.

Of course, it's still on the Ravens to adjust. Five penalties for illegal formation is not the reason the Ravens lost.

Baltimore will surely adjust for Week 2 and make any gripes known to the league office.