Calm down, Ravens fans: Refs didn’t give Chiefs an illegal timeout

The NFL season couldn't have gotten off to a better start. Well, except if you're a Baltimore Ravens fan, coach, player or front office member. Or if you're a Mark Andrews fantasy owner, but that's a completely different story.

The Ravens have been vocal after last night's game. Breakout tight end Isaiah Likely was spectacular on the field, but he had some sour comments, both to the Kansas City Chiefs and their fans after the game.

Walking out through the tunnel, Likely's response to fans was NSFW:

Linebacker Roquan Smith had gotten into it with a Chiefs player on the sidelines during the game, making some pretty wild comments about it after the game, noting that he will "see him when he sees him."

And this doesn't even begin to mention the complaining and blaming that the Ravens and the fans have done on the refs from the game. There were multiple illegal formation penalties called on Baltimore as well as some missed false starts that weren't called on the Chiefs right tackle.

But the biggest storyline that came against the refs was what appeared to be when they granted an illegal timeout to the Chiefs defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo.

Relax Baltimore, Andy Reid called the timeout, not Steve Spagnuolo

By rule, only the head coach, which is Andy Reid in this instance, can call a timeout. As the Ravens were set to run an offensive play with under 10 seconds left in the first half, Chiefs defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo was seen sprinting at a referee calling time out. Kansas City was granted a timeout seconds later, which, if called by Spagnuolo, is illegal.

Take a look:

But this video doesn't provide the full story as to what happened in these few seconds.

If you look closely, the referee that Spagnuolo is sprinting at isn't the one that granted the timeout. This was actually mentioned on the broadcast of the game. Instead, it's a ref on the other side of the field that granted the timeout.

And the ref on the other side of the field granted the timeout to the Chiefs head coach, Andy Reid, who was also signaling for timeout at the same time.

So, no, this timeout wasn't illegal and it shouldn't be used to push some sort of agenda that the refs are on the Chiefs side.

While there were questionable calls that received a ton of backlash, this timeout should not be seen in the same light.

Many in the media have already taken the video and ran with it, pushing the agenda that the Ravens were cheated. Maybe the refs made some bad calls and missed a few false starts (get used to it, Taylor gets those calls all season), but the whole timeout story should be put to bed.