Being a rookie head coach won’t earn Jesse Minter any slack during his first season in charge of the Baltimore Ravens. Not when he acts like “a deer in the headlights” far from “ready for prime time,” and his team wastes a 14-3 lead to lose 24-17 at home to the New Orleans Saints in Week 2.
It was a failure on both sides of the ball at M&T Bank Stadium. Saints’ second-year quarterback Tyler Shough shredded Minter’s defense through the air, while the first-year boss okayed offensive coordinator Declan Doyle practically ignoring star running back Derrick Henry after halftime.
Each factor prompted PressBox’s Glenn Clark to bemoan how Minter “wasn’t ready for prime time today. He was a deer in headlights. It’s okay to say ‘it’s only his second game’ but this team is trying to win the Super Bowl. The second game matters too. It was a terrible day for the new head coach. It has to change immediately.”
It’s okay to say “it’s only his second game” but this team is trying to win the Super Bowl. The second game matters too.
It was a terrible day for the new head coach. It has to change immediately.
Those are tough words, but it’s difficult for anybody connected to the Ravens to not be mildly concerned about Minter’s apparent failure to adjust during the Saints’ comeback.
Particularly when that failure continued the Ravens’ damaging streak of being out-coached in the fourth quarter. A streak that prompted a surprising message from franchise quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Damning second-half numbers sum up the mistakes of Minter and his coaches.
Jesse Minter Out-Coached vs. Saints
When a coach loses the second half, it usually means his opposite number has made better adjustments. Saints’ head coach Kellen Moore certainly had a better read on what Minter and the Ravens were doing defensively.
Shough and wide receiver Chris Olave easily found a huge hole in Baltimore’s zone coverage when they connected for a 21-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
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Minter’s area of expertise is defense, but not one part of his unit functioned properly this week. Shough was sacked three times, but the Ravens barely even felt his collar when it mattered most.
Things were just as rough for a Ravens’ offense that couldn’t muster a single score through the final two quarters. A unit that “took over at the New Orleans 49 and led 17-9 late in the third quarter. From that point, they ran 12 plays for 27 yards,” per Baltimore Positive WNST’s Luke Jones.
Oof.
There’s a lot of blame to go around, but Minter’s due more than his fair share.
Ravens Already Repeating Basic Errors
Minter’s Ravens are repeating basic errors good coaching’s supposed to fix. Mistakes like committing a litany of penalties each week.
Minter’s Ravens were flagged 10 times for 86 yards during the 41-23 win over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1, per Pro Football Reference. Seven more flags were thrown the Ravens’ way against the Saints, costing Minter’s team 34 yards in a tight game.
Stand-in receiver Chris Moore incurred two of those penalties, per Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic. Minter had made a major statement about the journeyman pass-catcher, but Moore struggled to adequately replaced injured go-to target Zay Flowers.
The latter’s absence had a hugely negative impact on Doyle’s offense. An impact brutally illustrated by the critical miscommunication between Flowers’ primary replacement Rashod Bateman and Jackson on the game’s decisive play.
Missing core playmakers can hinder any coach, but Minter has no such excuse for his other follies in Week 2. Like allowing Doyle to dial a deep shot to Moore on 3rd-and-1, instead of having Jackson hand the ball to Henry with the Raven up by eight.
Few coaches like to micro-manage their coordinators, but the man in charge has to set the direction for play-calling. That direction’s based on sound, situational football.
Minter displayed a worrying lack of awareness for the latter and how to manage the clock. Most notably when he challenged a three-yard completion to Olave on 2nd-and-8 with the Saints at the Ravens’ 42-yard line and 11:39 on the clock.
The Ravens lost the challenge, a decision that would haunt them during the Saints’ game-winning drive. As Zrebiec put it, “Losing that challenge on a 3-yard play looks even worse now. The Saints are in FG range with about 3 minutes to play and the Ravens have only two timeouts.”
Smart clock management and keeping a team on schedule with the right plays are the core jobs of any head coach. Minter got both things wrong against the Saints.
The Ravens will hope the 43-year-old newbie turns a bad day at the office into an invaluable learning experience.
Ravens’ HC Jesse Minter Called Out for ‘Prime Time’ Mistakes