NFL looking into why Steelers failed to remove hockey rink boards from field before playoff game

Pittsburgh, PA--The Baltimore Ravens are protesting their 31-24 second-round playoff loss in the Steel City on Saturday because of "unusual and dangerous" field conditions and have filed an official complaint with the NFL.

On January 1, 2011, Heinz Field, home to the Steelers, hosted the NHL's Winter Classic, the league's annual showcase, outdoor game. After the Penguins and the Washington Capitals battled in the New Year's Day rain, the Steelers instructed the stadium's maintenance crew to remove the ice and glass but leave the boards.

"It was an unusual request," said Bill Laughlin, Heinz Field head grounds crew supervisor. "I thought they were joking. But, we left them in place. The Steelers had something up their sleeve."

Fifteen days later, with no hockey players in the vicinity, the skeleton of the rink was still, strangely, in place.

"When I came out of the tunnel and saw the hockey boards I thought it was for a pregame ceremony or something," said Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco during a postgame interview on Saturday. "Then the game started ... and the boards were still there."

Despite the rectangular-shaped, 40-inch-high wall barricading the center of the field, the Ravens managed to take a 21-7 halftime lead and were in complete control of the game.

"The boards apparently were not a problem during the first two quarters for the Ravens," said Steelers' fourth-year head coach, Mike Tomlin. "They could have filed a complaint before the game or refused to play."

At the coin toss before the game officials asked the captains gathered at mid-ice, er, midfield if playing with the boards was agreeable to both squads. There were no objections at the time.

"The Steelers have been practicing for two weeks with the boards," said Raven's head coach John Harbaugh, "using them to set picks, jump off of to catch high passes and, my favorite, to hide behind. We weren't able to game plan for the boards. Our players were not ready. It's not right."

Several Ravens were carted off the field after sustaining violent collisions with the anchored wall. Cornerback Chris Carr, while pursuing Steelers' wide receiver Hines Ward, ran full speed into the Pepsi advertisement at the south end of the field. The wall also very nearly blocked Billy Cundiff's 23-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

"We're investigating what transpired in Pittsburgh on Saturday," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced from the league's offices in New York on Monday. "If the Ravens agreed to play the game with the rink's boards intact, then there is little I can do. It is both an 'unusual and dangerous' condition, but if they knew what they were getting into, then ..."