On Sunday, Baltimore Ravens special-teamer Brendon Ayanbadejo tweeted a series of comments centered around the idea that the New England Patriots' offense was built on gimmicks. By Monday, John Harbaugh had spoken with Ayanbadejo, who apologized to the Ravens coach and his teammates.
And on Thursday, Ayanbadejo admitted he knew he had made a mistake right away.
"It was something that came off in a negative light, so I just made an apology to my teammates and to the organization for representing us in a selfish manner," Ayanbadejo said, via CSNBaltimore.com. "I knew Coach Harbaugh had wanted to talk to me and what not. I knew once I tweeted.
"I go on Twitter quite often and engage in usually positive things and talk about things people don't want to talk about, whether we're talking about gun control or same sex marriage. Also when I'm watching games, whether it's NBA, college football, (college) basketball, MMA, I make my opinions.
"But when it comes to football, I'm not a fan. I can't tweet like I'm a fan. This time, it bit me in the butt. I made it right, and now we're moving on to the AFC Championship Game and, hopefully, to New Orleans (for the Super Bowl) as well."
Ayanbadejo's comments might be shared by other defensive players around the NFL, but up-tempo offense isn't against the rules. And it's not going away with Chip Kelly arriving in the league. Defenses like the Ravens' need to come up with a solution for the supposed "gimmick."
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
