Alonso, Gase defend hit on sliding Flacco, but league penalty seems unavoidable.

BALTIMORE — There’s little chance Dolphins linebacker Kiko Alonso will be able to talk his way out of a punishment from the NFL after what he did to Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco.

Late in the second quarter of Miami’s 40-0 loss in Baltimore on Thursday night, Flacco scrambled on a 9-yard run and as he slid, Alonso drilled him in the head hard enough to knock his helmet off. Flacco exited the game and is now in the league’s concussion protocol.

Alonso defended the hit, saying Flacco slid as late as possible and left him no choice but to go for the tackle.

“I was wondering, is he gonna slide?”

Alonso said. “And then it got to a point where I’m like, ‘I’ve gotta hit him,’ because he slid too late. It was bangbang.”

The play drew a personal-foul penalty for Alonso and spilled into a skirmish near the Ravens sideline.

It started with Baltimore center Ryan Jensen, who shoved Alonso to the ground and pounced on him. Line judge Jeff Seeman was taken down as the players fought. At one point, Ravens coach John Harbaugh got in Alonso’s face and they screamed at each other. Alonso also had to be separated from Ravens wide receiver Jeremy Maclin after the incident had mostly been settled down.

Alonso said he told Harbaugh, “Man, it was bangbang. I don’t know what else I could’ve done.”

The Ravens quarterback was immediately taken to the locker room and is now in the league’s concussion protocol. Flacco also suffered a cut ear that required stitches, according to CBS’s report at halftime.

Harbaugh did not comment on the play beyond saying it was penalized correctly.

Alonso hadn’t seen the video immediately after the game, but was aware of the damage it did to Flacco. He regretted the impact of the hit.

“Yeah, well, I hope he’s all right,” he said. “You hate to see that happen to people. I truly hope he’s OK.”

Several Ravens called Alonso’s hit dirty, and running back Alex Collins said the hit gave his team added motivation in an already onesided contest.

“He’s walking off the field, got blood coming from his ear,” Collins said. “We’re very passionate about our team and protecting the quarterback … so just seeing him go down like that, I could just see in everybody’s eyes that we wanted to finish this game strong for him.”

Dolphins coach Adam Gase defended his player Friday, saying Flacco’s late slide put Alonso “in a tough spot” because he couldn’t be sure if Flacco was giving himself up.

“He’s kind of waiting to see what’s he going to do, what’s he going to do,” Gase said. “And then when he’s sliding, his body is not like a true slide that you normally see. He’s kind of half in, half out.

“So it’s a tough play to tell a guy what to do. If he completely stays away from him and all of a sudden he keeps running and goes headfirst and gets the first down, then we all go, ‘What are you doing? Finish the play.’ And he comes in like that and Joe slides, I don’t think Kiko was trying to do anything maliciously.”