Baltimore --

The 49ers didn't get many opportunities to score on the Ravens' defense Thursday, and one play from their 16-6 loss might haunt them.

Ted Ginn Jr. hauled in a 75-yard touchdown pass from Alex Smith early in the second quarter, but it was nullified by a chop-blocking call on running back Frank Gore.

On an early replay, it appeared that Gore had legally blocked safety Bernard Pollard, because Pollard hadn't been "engaged" - in other words, held up by another blocker while Gore hit him low. Head coach Jim Harbaugh said that guard Chilo Rachal had his hands on Pollard almost simultaneously.

"It was a bang-bang play for Chilo," Harbaugh said. "He really just got his hands on him. I wish he could have seen that and not put his hands on him. It was certainly a chop block, and it was a good call. You had one guy going low, and then Chilo put his hands on the defender, which turned it into a chop block."

Gore said he did not think that Pollard was engaged when he went down for the block. "It can go both ways," he said of the ruling. "The referee made the call and that's what it was. I would like to take it back. We just have to do better. That's the thing."

If the play had stood, it would have tied the longest pass of Smith's career (from 2006) and exceeded this year's high by 31 yards.