We’ve become pretty adept at interpreting Ravens rookie head coach Jesse Minter.
What he says, what he leaves unsaid, and what he means.
It’s helped us decode some personnel trends and definitely get a jump on who was not going to be playing in Week 1, and it also applies to the way he is talking about his offensive line. Minter, just at the start of his career, isn’t going to be overly critical of players, and definitely not guys on the side of the ball he isn’t coaching (offense). And certainly not in situations like Sunday – brand new offense, rookie offensive play caller, on the road, and with a makeshift offensive line that’s never played together tbefore.
He’s going to accentuate the position and avoid the negative, as he should. We’re here simply to tell the truth and the Ravens interior offensive line suffered in pass protection as I suspected they would and bowed repeatedly and thank goodness the Ravens played almost the entire game with a nice lead and could run the ball damn near 40 times for 200 yards. I continue to believe that Ethan Pocic is the starting center as soon as they feel his health and conditioning is where it needs to be coming off a torn Achilles.
Immediately after the game, when asked about the offense, Minter leaned into what Derrick Henry did on the ground, as he should. Of course, when you have Lamar Jackson and Henry in the same backfield, and you use a blocking TE/Joker for 40 snaps (Durham Smythe) and use an extra OL for seven snaps to get jumbo, and the Colts DL is beset by injuries and they are short on linebackers, that should be the case.
And on Monday, after a chance to review the film – a lot of it was not pretty for this group in pass protection – Minter continued to frame any inquiry about this unit through the lens of the run game, because, well, positivity and all. And there were basically seven penalties at the line of scrimmage on offense, too, which needs to be cleaned up
“I thought in the run game we were really good,” Minter said Monday. “We were rolling off the ball. I thought a lot of our movement passes and play actions we handled really well.”
As for everything else … Here are some of the concerns coming out of the first game.
Pass Pro Woes
The Ravens surrendered a 49% pressure rate Week 1, fifth worst in the NFL. And that’s with the Colts not blitzing much at all (certainly not be Lou Anarumo standards he set prior as a coordinator). Twists and stunts and exotics will truly test this newly-formed line when we get there. And the Ravens being able to run the ball with the lead helped a ton.
Oh, and Lamar Jackson is a football genius who bails out lines in general, and he turned a sure sack into a 19-yard, first down run. Rookie Vega Ioane will be a stud, but his inexperience showed on a sack, two pressures, three hurries and some instances where he and Gwyn, making his first career start with 11 snaps of experience prior, were out of sync. Colts defensive tackle DeForest Buckner clearly was not quite himself in his first game back from neck surgery, but Gwyn was beat three times and a blatant hold – he had to do it prevent Jackson getting smashed – negated a touchdown. The other guard, John Simpson, is not special.
I expect to see plenty of help given to these guys with Smythe and tackle eligibles.
Penalties
There were five penalties called on this group and there was always going to be growing pains with all this newness. But they were happening with staggering regularity at times and continually negated big plays or first down or touchdowns. (full breakdown here). They backed the Ravens up further when they didn’t’ have great field position.
The false starts were not all on the OL, but it remains to be seen what this looks like in a pressure-cooker situation or if the Ravens have to chase the game and open things up. The interior offensive line has always been their biggest question mark – especially with star defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike making his return on the other side of the ball – and that remains the case entering Week 2.
“It is the pre-snap penalties,” Minter noted of work to be done. “There are a couple of those. (Left tackle) Ronnie (Stanley) kind of got caught one time where he didn’t really realize another guy was blocking a guy, and we ended up in a chop block situation. A couple of those penalties might happen, first game as you are dealing with it …
“Was it perfect? Absolutely not. There are a lot of things to chase. I just like the mentality of the group. You watch the first play of the game. On a play that we may potentially even fumble that ball down there inside the 5-yard line, four of our offensive linemen are the first people there to recover the ball. That is just the way those guys play.”
They are certainly game and gritty. Remains to be seen how good they are a protecting the quarterback, a major issue last year.
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