Joe Flacco, Torrey Smith Took Shots at Mike Tomlin for Tripping Up Jacoby Jones

Mike Tomlin interfered with Jacoby Jones on a kickoff return during Thursday night’s Ravens/Steelers game in Baltimore. The Pittsburgh head coach stood with one foot on the edge of the field, altering Jones’ return. Tomlin wasn’t flagged on the play, but he apparently did enough to slow down Jones during his 73-yard return and keep him out of the endzone. The Ravens settled for a field goal and eventually went on to win 22-20.

Don’t expect Tomlin and the Ravens to exchange Christmas cards, particularly with Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco who joked about the coach’s near-tackle afterward with reporters.

Here’s Flacco in the Baltimore Sun:

"“Mike Tomlin stopped us one time,” said quarterback Joe Flacco while discussing the Ravens’ missed opportunities on offense. “I took some flak kind of joking around at the Super Bowl saying that I was going to run out onto the field and tackle somebody if this guy breaks it. I caught some flak for that; that’s exactly what he just did. He was looking at the big screen the whole entire time. He knew where he was. He knew where Jacoby was. He pulled my move.”"

Jones was less critical of Tomlin:

"“As soon as I hit the hole and I was running down the sideline, I was looking at him the whole time like, ‘Is he going to move?’” Jones said. “Literally, I was thinking, ‘Is he going to move?’ I just weaved out of the way. I broke my stride a little bit but I still should not have gotten caught. I would have done the same thing if I was him. … “Before I got to him, he was halfway on the field. He gave me a little juke, and I tried to juke him. It is what it is. He was on the field.”"

Tomlin said he watches most returns on the jumbotron, but accepted the blame for straying too far toward the field.

"“… I do it quite often, like everybody else in the National Football League. I was wrong, I accept responsibility.”"

The two teams don’t play again in 2013. Thanks to last night’s win the Ravens took a big step forward at the Steelers expense for the final AFC playoff berth.

Ravens wide receiver had a laugh at Tomlin’s expense, writing and posting “Do the stanky legggggg” on his Instagram account:

View this post on Instagram

Do the stanky legggggg

A post shared by Torrey Smith (@torreysmithwr) on Nov 29, 2013 at 5:04am PST