Report Card For Ravens Rookie Play Caller After 5 Games: Straight A's?

The greatest unknown for the 2027 Baltimore Ravens – a team that was changing its identity in a major way for the first time in nearly 20 years with John Harbaigh gone as coach -was on the offensive side of the ball.

The greatest risks with this team, in terms of roster and coaching, came on offense, with first-time play caller Declan Doyle, basically the same age as quarterback Lamar Jackson, taking the reigns for the first time, implementing an offense that did not previously exist and doing it with some very significant questions about the interior of the offensive line. The degree of difficulty for Doyle was already significant – would anyone besides Zay Flowers make plays downfield? – and it ramped up further with that offensive line repeatedly collapsing and Baltimore entering Week 6 looking at perhaps it’s sixth different combination of starting linemen.

Oh, and the defense that was supposed to carry the team early has been mostly meh, and it’s already blown two 11-point leads that Doyle’s unit built, and a secondary loaded with top draft picks and huge contracts has been largely suspect in coverage so far. Special teams blunders also had plenty to do with the team’s lone loss (4-1), and Doyle has had to operate without Flowers for large chunks of games or one game entirely, and his alleged move tight end (Mark Andrews on a silly contract extension) can’t actually move much and his left tackle missed time and Lamar Jackson didn’t play last week and hasn’t practiced fully in quite some time.

Yeah, that’s a lot.

“There’s challenges every week, whether it’s at quarterback or different wideouts, or different tight ends as you lose guys throughout the year,” Doyle said Thursday before practice. “I’ve said it to the group, ‘It’s all about fixing this week’s problems.'”

And Doyle has navigated it all overwhelmingly with tremendous Aplomb. No, that’s not a typo (though heaven knows I make my share) – that “A” is capitalized for a reason. I’m tempted to go with an A+ here, honestly, but it’s still a little early for that. It’s been a pretty Amazing start, and here’s some of what stood out in him earning that grade:

Zay And Pray Another Way

Oct 11, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers (4) celebrates after defeating the Atlanta Falcons in overtime at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

So some fears were confirmed – at least so far – about Andrews being cooked and the lack of a go-to pass catcher for chunk yards besides Flowers. But man, if he’s going to be a one-man army, let him do it in truly historic fashion where he is showing up in the endzone and in the redzone like never before. And cashing in. His five redzone targets are already half of last season’s total and he’s on pace to shatter his career high of 13 (remember he’s only run 91 routes all season due to injury).

Doyle has already used flowers three times as much in the backfield as he was deployed there ALL OF LAST SEASON, and made sage adjustments to the perimeter run game when in IOL cratered. He ramped Flowers slot usage from 38% in his first three years to 52% this season and he’s been close to unstoppable with a two-way go there.

Flowers has produced like a top five receiver and given that Rashod Bateman remains mostly a decoy and Devontez Walker is super fringy and rookie start Ja’Kobi Lane has played one half of football all season due to injury and Andrews and Bateman lead this team in route runs by a mile with little to show for it because of the injuries, they’ve needed that sort of ascent from an already very good football player.

Stick To The Basics

Oct 11, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry (22) celebrates with teammates after scoring a two point conversion during the fourth quarter against the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

For all the explosion in this attack and with Doyle rightfully backing up Flowers and Jackson calling him a “genius” this summer, by and large, managing games and managing the clock and playing complimentary football with a struggling defense matters greatly. And it can be very hard for some young coordinators to live with “three-yards-and-a-cloud of dust” when dictated by margin, down, distance, game flow, time remaining.

The personnel problems have put Doyle in situations where repeatedly the KISS method – not pyro makeup; just Keep It Simple Stupid – is what was required and he's leaned into that and accepted the ugliness in the stats that come with it. The fact that Derrick Henry has run more times through five games than any 32-year-old running back since the 1970 merger speaks to that (and that despite Henry sporting a league-average 4.2 yards/carry and not the 5.5/carry from his first two years here).

He’s understood by and large the significant limitations of this offensive line at times and tried to help them out. Recently losing “Joker” blocking tight end Durham Smythe was another hue blow and Doyle had some interesting workarounds in the game plan in Sunday’s comeback win at Atlanta. He also brought along back-up Snoop Huntley in a smart, old-school manner in that game and didn’t have him attacking the middle of the field until the final two-minute drill, and he’s woven Henry more into the screen game than before to help combat pass-protection issues and a bogged-down run game at times.

“I think he is the most brilliant offensive mind in football right now,“ right tackle Roger Rosengarten said. “I think he's done a great job with weaving in those play calls when the right time is called. I think anytime you call a screen, it's about time and operation with those sorts of things. Dec is one-of-one at calling them and making sure they're called at the right times.”

Quick Study

May 10, 2025; Lake Forest, IL, USA; Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Declan Doyle answers questions after rookie minicamp at Halas Hall. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Doyle isn’t repeating the same mistakes over and over. That hasn’t always been the case around here.

When it becomes clear that trying to run between the tackles isn’t going great, he adjusts. When he takes the ball out of Henry’s hands and Lamar’s hands in critical third downs of what became a loss against the Saints, and his offensive line gets further compromised by injury, he leans into old-school stuff on the ground. He has to get major credit – along with the entire staff and especially OL coach Dwayne Ledford – for getting rookie guard Vega Ioane to perform so admirably thrust into center with difficult defensive assignments.

He’s using more pre-snap motion and cadence than ever before, he installed the under-center offense we knew was coming and, yes, there have been too many penalties in part because of some of that, but this offense is exceling on early downs despite all those issues and they are finishing drives despite some short-yardage issues.

The Ravens rank fourth in points scored and sixth in total Offensive Expected Points Added and sixth in points/drive and Jackson looks primed for another MVP run. If Doyle keeps this up, the buzz for possible head coaching openings will be very real by Christmas, maybe even Thanksgiving.

We’ll have another progress report by then.

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