Ravens Head Coach Jesse Minter Takes Ownership Of Teams Latest Collapse

Ravens coach Jesse Minter stressed that all three phases of the team need to be better after Baltimore continued its distressing trend of playing double-digit leads and wilting in the fourth quarter in his home debut.

While Minter is new to the organization in this role, he is well aware of this franchise’s years of problems blowing games it should win, and it’s something that dates back over multiple play callers on both side of the ball. Minter’s defense is supposed to be the strength of the team, given his roots to John Harbaugh’s former staff here and the fact the scheme he is running is very similar to what Mike Macdonald utilized when the Ravens were contending for the Super Bowl.

Minter was reticent to get into too many specifics of everything that went into a 14-3 lead over New Orleans (a 9.5-point underdog) becoming a 24-17 loss at M&T Bank Stadium – offense, defense and special teams melted down in an all-too-familiar script. But he also didn’t shy away from the fact this problem is deep rooted and not new for a good chunk of this roster even if the staff is revamped. And perhaps because of that history – NFL-high 15 losses in games they led by 10 or more since the start of 2019 and 10 of them at home – some of the players seemed to be trying to do too much rather than stay within the confines of what was being asked of them.

“I’m focused on creating a mentality and continuing to create mentality that we play our style in those big moments,” Minter said in his Monday press conference with a trip to Brazil to face the Cowboys looming. “I felt like guys started pressing a little bit and were trying to make plays and search for that big pay in key moments … In reality, your identity as a player needs to show up in crunch time, in those situations.”

Total Debacle

Minter’s defense suffered critical breakdowns with undisciplined penalties, losing contain on some rushes, failing to wrap up on check downs and not understanding, given the down and distance, where the ball was clearly going to be going in certain scenarios. For the second straight week Minter by far led the NFL in usage of dime personnel (six defensive backs) – doing so five times the NFL average Sunday but unlike Week 1 he got torched in it by the Saints, rolling up 200 yards on 21 plays against dime.

Quarterback Tytler Shough, who has destroyed dime in his 11 career starts, lit Minter up on third and fourth-down against those looks (8/9 for 142 yards with a 118. 8 rating) - HYPER.

“Always looking inward first,” Minter said assessing the defeat. “Looking at play calls, decisions, all those things.”

Minter said the coaches spent time considering whether or not to try a shorter kickoff at the end of the first half, rather than boot it into the endzone. New Orleans broke off a big return that led to three points before halftime and the Ravens had another critical breakdown on a blocked field goal that loomed large and questions continue to be asked of the kicking game and youngster Tyler Loop.

“I saw us really not read the way the return was going to go,” Minter said. “I need to have full conf and trust in our kickoff team.

As for the block, Minter said their operation was not smooth and allowed for the pressure to break through.

Minter also said there was considerable dialogue about whether to go for it in the second half from their own 37 after a third-and-one pass to veteran special-teams ace Chris Moore went incomplete, rather than take at least one crack with Hall of Fame running back Derrick Henry if not more.

“I think there are a lot of calls in every game you go back and forth on,” Minter said.

Moving On

Unlike Ravens teams of the past that have been haunted by these collapses, Minter must find a way to break from this trend. When the Ravens broke outside their comfort zone to sign free-agent pass rusher Trey Hendrickson to a $30M/year deal, Minter spoke of him being “a closer” and the import to ending these fourth-quarter failures.

He’s hopeful that injured veterans like top receiver Zay Flowers and All Pro defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike could be back to face the Cowboys – the Ravens fly to South America after Thursday’s practice – and will continue to address this issue with the locker room in hopes of putting it behind them. Welcoming those players back on what could be a challenging playing surface could present other issues.

The Saints executed a 16-play drive in the fourth quarter, scored 15 points in the final period, held the ball over 12 minutes and 26 plays, while Baltimore ran just nine. The Ravens averaged a pathetic 3.4 yards/play in the second half and took the ball out of Henry’s hands. There is blame all around.

“We’ll attack it,” Minter said, “and we’ll own it … We’ll own it together and try to do better.”

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