Key Takeaways As Ravens New Coaching Staff Blows Double-Digit Lead In Staggering Home Defeat To Saints

No team has made more of a habit of blowing double-digit leads the last half dozen years than the Baltimore Ravens.

It became their brand.

It got John Harbaugh fired as head coach just a little shy of 20 years on the job. The issue became so acute the Ravens were even doing it regularly at home, and wouldn’t you know it, the bugaboo immediately flared back up in the first home game under rookie head coach Jesse Minter. The idea that hiring some new coaches was going to cover up for general manager Eric DeCosta’s years of roster failures got put to the test right away in 2026, and the results were hauntingly familiar in a 24-17 defeat..

Baltimore blew a 14-3 lead to the Saints, nine-point underdogs, and Tyler Shough carved up the defense in the second half like guys like Gardner Minshew and Deshaun Watson did late in games at M&T Bank Stadium in the recent years. The Ravens drop to 1-1, bringing up all the same questions about DeCosta’s sweeping failures along the offensive line and sending the Ravens to Brazil next week facing all too familiar questions.

A suspect offensive line undermined any chance at big plays, as did injuries to a receiver position that screamed out for another proven pass catcher all winter as DeCosta did nothing but draft largely project receivers and tight ends. In the fourth quarter, the Saints absolutely dominated the Ravens as teams have done for years – with this one of the worst NFL teams in that quarter now across four different defensive play callers – but good luck blaming Harbaugh now (Minter also totally wasted a timeout on a silly challenge that showed you just how much of a product he is of that coaching family tree).

Everyone knew the ball was going from quarterback Tyler Shough to top receiver Chris Olave as the game got close and late, and Minter had no answers. After years of watching horrible tackling late in games, it showed up on play after play Sunday. And after the Saints ran an astounding 25 plays for 138 yards in the final quarter and dominated on third downs and scored 15 points to win, including a controversial fourth-and-goal rush from Shough (12/14 for 119 yards. Olave caught all five targets in the fourth quarter for 54 yards and a TD.

The Ravens went meekly on Lamar Jackson’s interception. Same ;ol story. Point the finger at the general manager, who should have been fired with the head coach. You hire rookie coaches, with a team that’s supposed to win a Super Bowl, there is time for on-the-job training.

Offensive Line Issues

Despite the Ravens coaching staff peddling all kinds of hype about their revamped offensive line, they stunk in pass protection last week and they had serious issues again Sunday. This group wasn’t going to be able to hold up long enough for Lamar Jackson to win pushing the ball downfield. And that was before Ronnie Stanley’s toe injury, that nearly kept him from playing, took him out of the game late in the third quarter. Getting Stanley through another season healthy was always a risk.

The Saints got interior push again, especially running same twist games up front and bringing edges rushers up the middle. There is no evidence Jovaughn Gwyn has any business starting NFL games at center and he got exposed last week and when the Saints brought numbers in the A Gap, problems arose. And once Stanley left and youngster Carson Vinson (no NFL starts) came in, New Orleans immediately brought linebackers up the middle and swarmed Jackson.

Yeah, they excelled in pass protection against the Colts last week, but that was a depleted Colts front and a team that lacked NFL linebackers. Derrick Henry wasn’t getting nearly as much space to operate in the backfield, this despite the Saints getting absolutely manhandled by the Lions in under center runs last week. And he barely touched the ball in the second half. Hmm.

They’d better get Ethan Pocic ready soon and if Stanley is going to miss time they’d better get a veteran swing tackle, because we are getting close to undrafted rookie Gerad Lichtenhan seeing action. With a $365M payroll, the lack of resources invested in the offensive line could undermine another season.

Dink And Dunk

We told you this would not be a week where the Ravens would be hunting explosive plays out of 11 personnel. The OL and lack of receivers was going to limit the scope of this offense, and Saints defensive coordinator Brandon Staley has put a blanket on Jackson in both prior meetings and did again today. It was going to be about taking what was there and spreading the ball around and trying to stay in third and short.

Jackson, who hit nine pass catchers in Week 1, completed passes to seven in the first half alone. There was one big play to Devontez Walker on an under-center, play action look, but otherwise the ball wasn’t going more than 10-15 yards downfield. Each week requires a different approach, and Declan Doyle didn’t get nearly enough YAC out of the horizontal passing game.

Dime Not So Prime

A week ago the Ravens absolutely suffocated the Colts with a sixth defensive back on the field. We pointed out this week that Shough destroys dime in his career (128 rating) and is terrible against nickel (75 rating). Minter continued to lean into dime as we thought he would, and Shough’s splits held true.

When this game was 14-9, the Ravens had run 15 plays of dime coverage and New Orleans racked up 137 yards (9.1 / play!). And he ran 19 plays of nickel to that point and the Saints had a total of 34 yards (1.8 / play!).

Minter leaned into nickel in the second half, and the Ravens had a great stand in the third quarter generating pressure with four and Mike Green slithering inside to register his first sack of the season. But on third-and-five, up 17-9, Minter brought rookie slot corner Chandler Rivers back on the field in his first NFL game and Shough tossed to Olave for 12 yards and he capped that drive with a touchdown pass to Olave.

Special Teams Issues

Tyler Loop did well enough Week 1 that the Ravens moved veteran Jake Moody off the practice squad and Moody performed well enough that the Ravens knows they are ready if they need him. On a day the Saints kicking game was superb, the Ravens had issues.

Loop had his first attempt of the game tipped and it fluttered wide from 49 yards. And at the end of the first half, he failed to boot the ball nearly deep enough, whether by design or not, the Saints busted a long return and it set up a huge field goal for New Orleans at the end of the half to make this a 14-9 game. Loop has now missed four kicks in this stadium this summer including the preseason. This isn’t going away.

Veteran return guy Chris Moore had the ball pried away on a return early in the second half, but luckily his knee was down first, as replay displayed. They asked a lot of Moore having to handle heavy reps on offense with the WR injuries, and this team should probably get real about adding a veteran receiver sooner than later.

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