Key Takeaways From Ravens Dominant Win Over Eagles In Jesse Minter's Coaching Debut

Jesse Minter, adorned in a hoodie and sweatpants on a 90-degree August night in downtown Baltimore, serving as a head coach for the first time ever while also calling plays for the Ravens defense, couldn’t help buy smile.

The result of this preseason opener at M&T Bank Stadium didn’t really matter and, like the Ravens, the Philadelphia Eagles didn’t dress any of their key veteran players, but no coach will ever apologize for a victory, and Minter’s squad were in command for all four quarters in a 24-7 thrashing.

Extrapolating too much from an exhibition game – especially one like this so devoid of regular talent – is dangerous work. But the Ravens have plenty to feel good about after this debut. They ran an overall smooth operation, devoid of some of the procedural issues that can dog a new regime, rookie offensive coordinator Declan Doyle got to see all of his rookie draft pick talent pop at least to some degree and Baltimore avoided major injuries.

Oh, and Minter’s defense pitched a shutout most of the night. Mission accomplished.

Here are the key takeaways from the contest:

Lane Leads The Way For Rookies

The Ravens have four rookie pass catchers they need to show up this season with Zay Flowers the only returning receiver or tight end coming off a strong season in the NFL. And Ja’Kobi Lane, THE story of camp so far, showed up all over the field, hauled in a touchdown pass, had an 18-yard reception and caught all three targets for 38 yards. He was so good he was out of uniform in the second half; pretty special for a rookie.

"He attacks the ball," QB Lamar Jackson noted when interviewed on the sidelines on the Ravens broadcast of the game.

"I know it's preseason but I just want to stack games and keep going," Lane said when interviewed by the broadcast after the game.

The third-round pick had a showcase and didn’t even really play in the second half; the receiver taken a round later, Baltimore-native Elijah Sarratt, made several contested catches, showing up in the underneath areas as expected, and he caught five balls in his debut. He had a late fumble – there are definitely teaching moments – but made a strong impact overall leading the team with six catches for 66 yards.

And speedy tight end Matthew Hibner showed off his acceleration on an early go ball from quarterback Snoop Huntley for a quick 29-yard gain and he, too had five grabs. "I kind of blacked out," Hibner said of the excitment of making a play like that so early in the game.

Rookie “Joker” Adam Randall, who only played running back one year at Clemson, got a heavy workload here (12 carries for 46 yards and a touchdown) but the hybrid stuff in the pass game was not put on display here.

Defense Shines

Minter kept things vanilla and the Ravens kept almost everyone of note in street clothes for this one (even Trenton Simpson). But he got stick coverage from his starting corners – TJ Tampa looked the part as expected - and the entire secondary shined.

Minter played around with some defensive back nickel blitzes with great results (safety Keondre Jackson got pressures on a near interception) and the Eagles went 0-for-9 on third down and had 76 total yards through three quarters. This defense had serious issues on third down under former coordinator Zach Orr. The Eagles didn’t mount a real drive until extreme garbage time.

No one will apologize for any of it.

Time For A Kicker Competition?

Ravens kicker Tyler Loop never got tested from distance as a rookie and didn’t have to try many clutch kicks and his miss from 43 yards in Pittsburgh in Week 17 ended their season. It’s been a shaky camp for Loop and his miss from 49 yards early Saturday was ugly.

It was bad off his foot, had no chance and was wide right and short. He was short from 50 several times in warmups. There’s no harm in bringing in some competition and plenty of veterans on the street.

“See how the operation was,” Minter said, wanting to see the film and noting this was a new holder for his kicker, “but very happy how he was able to bounce back from that.”

Rookie punter Ryan Eckley shanked his first punt, 27 yards right out of bounds. Kicking specialist coach Randy Brown looked anguished on the sidelines with Loop’s miss – he was good later in the game – and the front office better get real about this.

Under Center Is Real

Doyle wasn’t going to show much and this was no stage for pulling out your best stuff. But Doyle did get Huntley under center several times and they ran some pass plays under center without play action and they leaned into play action when backed up deep early in the game.

We know from studying Doyle’s mentors – including a lengthy discussion with Broncos head coach Sean Payton – how much operating under center matters and Huntley hit successive big plays out of it (with play action) finding Hibner for 8 yards and Lane for 18 on successive plays.

It was a mere flash of what is to come.

Fagnano Flashes

Joe Fagnano, an undrafted free agent out of UCONN, hasn’t gotten a chance to do much in camp and he was thrust into playing nearly this entire game with third-quarterback Skylar Thompson went on IR this week. And the kid was damn good.

"Man he clearly handled it pretty well, major shoutout to him," Minter said of the QB.

This could have been ugly but the offensive line, having some issues in camp, more than held it’s own. Fagnano was poised and never got happy feet and got rid of the ball quicky enough. He was a little too comfortable on a goal-to-go pass late in the first half, throwing the ball late and getting picked off, but Minter didn't mind that pass either, praising the Eagles defender

That was about the only mistake. He went 22-of-28 for 224 yards with a touchdown. Good on him. Worth more of a look without a doubt with this franchise really in need of a quality developmental option at QB.

“For him to even bounce back from that and come back in the second half and play well,” Minter said, “that’s kind of what we’ve seen.”

Smooth Operation

With everything new here, especially on offense, there was concern that penalties, lack of cohesion, could be a real problem. This was anything but that - there was nothing off before the snap and the offensive line held up very well. They helped keep Fagnano in position to succeed.

The Ravens had just three penalties for 25 yards and Minter was quite enthused about that as he should be.

“We want to own the pre-snap operation, really in all three phases,” Minter said. “Huge point of emphasis for how we operate … Tough, disciplined performance from our guys, which we can build on.”

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