Ben Roethlisberger, Courtney Upshaw

Baltimore Ravens outside linebacker Courtney Upshaw tackles Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger during the first quarter of an NFL game on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2014, in Baltimore. Upshaw received a roughing-the-passer penalty on the play.

(AP Photo)

Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said he couldn't share his thoughts on the roughing-the-passer penalty called against linebacker Courtney Upshaw during the Ravens' game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night, but he shared some anyway.

At his Monday press conference, Harbaugh said he had discussed the play with Dean Blandino, the NFL's vice president of officiating. On the third snap of the Ravens' 26-6 victory, the outside linebacker from Alabama leveled quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for a 10-yard loss. But Upshaw's hit drew a 15-yard roughing-the-passer penalty for hitting the quarterback with the crown of his helmet.

Harbaugh said Upshaw had textbook tackling form, yet he still might have been outside the NFL's latest safety rules.

"I have a lot of thoughts on it, but I can't share with you for policy reasons," Harbaugh said. "I'll tell you this, though: I had a good conversation with Dean, and it's difficult, because the way the rules are written is one thing; what's possible to accomplish is another thing.

"There's no way to coach Courtney out of that. He's coming full speed, he's getting down into the strike zone and he's keeping his eyes up. He can't lift his head any higher than that. He also can't get his head off to the side because Ben's moving, and also the fact that if he gets his head off to the side, he has a real good chance of missing the tackle or hurting himself by dropping his head. We're never going to put our player in position to coach him to drop his head.

"Football has always been about seeing what you hit - heads-up football, keeping your eyes up. That's the name of the youth football organization program that we have in the NFL right now. We'll continue to coach them to do that. We'll try our best to keep our helmet off the body. But when you see what you hit, you have your face and your eyes up. That's a safe technique for a player. We're going to start with safety first."

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In the "2014 Official Playing Rules of the National Football League," Rule 12 Section 2 Article 9c, which pertains to roughing the passer, says: "A defensive player must not use his helmet against a passer who is in a defenseless posture -- for example, (1) forcibly hitting the passer's head or neck area with the helmet or facemask, even if the initial contact of the defender's helmet or facemask is lower than the passer's neck, and regardless of whether the defensive player also uses his arms to tackle the passer by encircling or grasping him; or (2) lowering the head and making forcible contact with the top/crown or forehead/'hairline' parts of the helmet against any part of the passer's body. This rule does not prohibit incidental contact by the mask or non-crown parts of the helmet in the course of a conventional tackle on a passer."

After the game, Upshaw told the Baltimore Sun the penalty wouldn't change the way he plays.

"The coaches told me not to worry about it," the former Eufaula High School standout said. "At the end of the day, you have to keep playing football. That was one call. You can't let that take over how you want to be aggressive."

The Ravens visit the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.