Patriots Made Interesting Move To Combat NFL Point Of Emphasis

The NFL's newest initiative reared its ugly head Thursday night, and the New England Patriots sound like they're prepared for it.

Baltimore was on the short end of the stick when it was flagged for multiple illegal formation penalties. Tackles must be aligned with the rest of the offensive line except for the center, and if they are not, there will be harsher enforcement -- though only the Ravens were called for illegal formation and not the Kansas City Chiefs.

Thursday Night Football was vindication of sorts for Chukwuma Okorafor, who was dinged for illegal formation three times in New England's preseason finale. While the offensive line alignment is negligible to the grand scheme of play, the fact that NFL officials will actively seek it out is something teams will have to prepare for.

"We talked about it in practice," Jerod Mayo told reporters, per team provided-video. "I had two guys on both sides of the line of scrimmage making sure those guys were lined up correctly. Once again, we always talk about viewing business as business being done so we'll see what this crew has for us this week."

Mayo admitted he wasn't a rah-rah type of a coach and stressed he wants to see discipline in his side's season-opener. The Patriots head coach didn't have concrete updates on Vederian Lowe and Sidy Sow, but all eyes will still be on the New England offensive line against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1.