The Struggling Ravens Can Look to Jaguars’ Sideline for Inspiration

On Thursday night, the Ravens and Jaguars will meet in Baltimore for a clash that was supposed to feature two AFC powerhouses. The Jaguars are 5–2 and continuing to excel under second-year coach Liam Coen. The Ravens, on the other hand, are 4–4 and missing star quarterback Lamar Jackson, but still looking to mirror the success the Jaguars have had with Coen in their first year under new coach Jesse Minter.

The 2025 NFL season was a resounding success for several new coaching hires. Three of the seven coaches hired—Coen, Mike Vrabel and Ben Johnson—led their teams to the postseason in Year 1, with Vrabel’s Patriots even reaching the Super Bowl.

Coen was chief among those success stories. His first “Duval” might not have been inspiring, but the way he turned the oft-forgotten Jags into a contender absolutely was. The Jaguars improved from 4–13 to 13–4, winning the AFC South and narrowly falling to the Bills in the wild-card round.

Following the turnarounds of Coen, Johnson and Vrabel, 10 teams sought similar success and hired new coaches after the 2025 season. Of all the hires, few seemed better positioned to execute the next great turnaround than Jesse Minter, who joined the Ravens as the replacement to longtime coach and Super Bowl champion John Harbaugh.

Minter was superb as the Chargers’ defensive coordinator for two seasons, and considered one of the top coaching candidates entering the hiring cycle. He would also be joining a team featuring a two-time MVP in Jackson. While the Ravens failed to make the playoffs in 2025, they were only a missed Tyler Loop field goal short of doing so and had regularly been a contender in prior seasons. Minter appeared to be both the right coach and in the right opportunity to be the next success story.

Instead, the Ravens’ season appears to be falling apart as they’ve lost three consecutive games and now sit at 4–4 in an AFC North featuring three other teams with records above .500. Much of that is due to bad luck as Jackson missed three games with a sprained ankle. He returned against the Bills in Week 8, only to sustain a broken finger on his first snap that could potentially keep him out for the remainder of the season.

Beyond the injuries to Jackson, Baltimore still appears to be finding its way as a team. In recent years, second-half mistakes have often plagued the Ravens, including drops, fumbles and turnovers at inopportune times that cost them wins. They appeared to exorcise those past demons in their Week 3 win over the Cowboys in Brazil and their overtime win over the Falcons on Sunday Night Football the following week.

“Last couple years, ever since I’ve been here, that’s a game that we lose,” All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton said during the Ravens’ postgame celebration after their win over Atlanta. “This win right here I feel like is us.”

Perhaps Hamilton jinxed it, or perhaps this year’s Ravens aren’t as different from their past squads as they thought. Following that overtime win over Atlanta, Baltimore blew its next two games against the Browns and Bengals. In both games, the Ravens took a double-digit lead at the half while holding their opponent scoreless, only to fail to score any points in the second half and lose both games.

The Bengals’ comeback was spurred in part because of a fiery halftime speech from Ja’Marr Chase, which received praise from several teammates. Notably, when asked days later if he’s seeing what he wants from the leadership in the locker room when things begin to snowball, Minter said, “We have guys that care and want to do it right, but there are also moments in the game where it’s like, ‘Who’s the guy that’s going to grab everybody and get them together on the sideline?’ I think, as a team, we’re working through who that is. Who is that person? Who are those players? … I think there are moments where we need a little bit more.”

When the Ravens lost to the Bills the following week, after Jackson and backup Tyler Huntley both exited the game with injuries, Derrick Henry also acknowledged that their leaders need to do little more to help them stay motivated.

Ravens running back Derrick Henry acknowledges that the team's leaders "have to do a little bit more" after Sunday's 36-10 loss to the Bills.

🎥: Brian Wacker, @baltimoresun pic.twitter.com/l8oyofxT0F
— The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) November 1, 2026

In contrast, the Jaguars appeared to cultivate a strong identity quickly under Coen. From Coen going after Robert Saleh for his sign stealing comments after their win over the 49ers to clapping back at Sean Payton for his “small market” remark, he has brought a Northeast attitude to this Northern Florida city.

On the field, Coen’s expertise has also produced better results. Coen is the Jaguars’ offensive play-caller, and their offense has turned into one of the best in the league. This season, they rank third in EPA per play and EPA per pass, seventh in success rate and fifth in points per game.

Minter’s defense remains a work in progress. The unit ranks 18th in defensive EPA per play and success rate, 22nd in points allowed per game and 15th in yards allowed.

A potential bright side for the Ravens as they look to achieve similar success that Coen has had is that it took some time for things to jell for Jacksonville. Through eight games a season ago, the Jaguars were 5–3, just one game better than the Ravens are now—and that was with a healthy quarterback.

As Trevor Lawrence detailed to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer before the start of this season, it was not easy for him to adjust to Coen’s offense when the coach arrived in Jacksonville, which led to inconsistency early in the year. Lawrence finally felt the offense click in a Week 12 win over the Cardinals.

Despite him and the offense committing four turnovers, Lawrence recalled Coen reaffirming his belief after the win, “He was like, Man, I thought you played good. I know we had some turnovers, you had a throw or two you’d want back, but I thought you played well. And I told him I felt the same way.”

The Jaguars would win their final eight games of the season while becoming one of the hottest offenses in the second half of the year. They still are imperfect—in particular, they’re still too prone to committing penalties—but Coen’s attitude has seemingly spread to his team, including to Lawrence. While the sixth-year signal-caller isn’t known as a fiery quarterback, he was seen yelling at his center Robert Hainsey in their win over the Eagles after a delay of game penalty.

It’s hard to see the Ravens having the same second-half turnaround in Minter’s first season because of the injury to Jackson, but it’s still possible, especially if Tyler Huntley doesn’t miss extended time or Baltimore trades for another quarterback.

Beyond the quarterback situation, if the Ravens want to contend for the playoffs still, they’ll need to see Minter’s defense have a similar rise over the remainder of the year that the Jaguars’ offense did last season. Perhaps even more importantly, they’ll need to solidify their culture and leadership to get them through adversity. It will be disappointing if the Ravens miss the postseason this year—for a second consecutive season in what should be Jackson’s prime—but it’s also O.K. if they rebound and do so next year when they have their preferred quarterback room and are in their second season under Minter.

There’s still plenty of time for the Ravens to turn their fortunes around this season, even with a massive question mark at quarterback. Coen’s Jaguars worked through plenty of kinks early in his first season before finding their groove in the second half of the year and becoming one of the best offenses in football.

The Ravens aren’t where they wanted to be midway through the 2026 season, but when they take the field on Thursday, they can look at the Jaguars for inspiration. If they manage to pull off an upset win, perhaps that could even spark a run of their own.

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