diff --git a/tools/zuul-projects-checks.py b/tools/zuul-projects-checks.py
index 417611ca1e..05673b1105 100755
--- a/tools/zuul-projects-checks.py
+++ b/tools/zuul-projects-checks.py
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@ def check_system_templates():
     print("=====================================")
     for entry in projects:
         project = entry['project']
+        # TODO(mordred) Generalize this, but for now, avoid doing this check
+        # on ansible.
+        if project['name'] == 'ansible/ansible':
+            continue
         try:
             correct = False
             for template in project['templates']:
@@ -94,7 +98,7 @@ def check_release_jobs():
     for entry in projects:
         project = entry['project']
         name = project['name']
-        found = [tmpl for tmpl in project['templates']
+        found = [tmpl for tmpl in project.get('templates', [])
                  if tmpl in release_templates]
         if len(found) > 1:
             errors = True
diff --git a/zuul.d/projects.yaml b/zuul.d/projects.yaml
index 17c79adbc2..fd0a5900f8 100644
--- a/zuul.d/projects.yaml
+++ b/zuul.d/projects.yaml
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@
 
 - project:
     name: ansible/ansible
-    templates:
-      - system-required
+    # ansible/ansible does not include system-required on purpose. We do not
+    # gate ansible/ansible and we should NOT be doing merge-check on it.
     check:
       jobs:
         - shade-ansible-devel-functional-devstack: