Ravens say they had headset trouble on ill-fated final drive against Cardinals

The Baltimore Ravens have had their share of problems this year. That’s kind of implied when a team has only one win as midseason approaches.

During their 26-18 loss to Arizona on Monday night, part -- but definitely not all -- of the trouble was due to malfunctioning headsets, which made communication between quarterback Joe Flacco and the coaches on the sideline difficult.

“It was happening on and off throughout the game, but it got bad in the final drive,” Ravens Coach John Harbaugh said.

And that’s when Baltimore needed it the most. Trailing by eight with 1:53 left in regulation, the Ravens needed to go 76 yards with a vocal Arizona crowd doing its best to assist their Cardinals.

Baltimore resorted to old-school tactics, like sending players in and out of the game to bring in the call from the sideline or simply yelling it out.

“It was way too hectic out there,” Flacco said. “We were running guys in and out. It was just too much communication going on for the amount of time that we had left and guys were just confused. Rightfully so, it is loud out there and it was just a little bit too hectic.”

The Ravens did manage to move the ball down the field, getting as close as the Arizona 4-yard line. An illegal shift penalty pushed it back to the 9 with 13 seconds remaining, but Flacco’s pass on the next play was intercepted in the end zone.

“There’s always going to be some confusion,” Harbaugh said. “The good thing was that we got everything done fast. We didn’t lose any time. We’ll go back and study it, but according to the clock, we got things done pretty darn quickly.”

Buffalo Bills Coach Rex Ryan and Pittsburgh Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin have complained of experiencing similar technical problems during games this season.