There were going to be problems with the Ravens offensive line in Week 1. Going on the road, in a brand-new offense, with a five-man unit that never played together in the preseason, with a rookie play caller, was a big ask.
And on a day when Declan Doyle’s offense rolled up 500 yards and 40 points in a 41-23 dismantling of the Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium, there isn’t a lot of picking of nits that should go on. However, there were seven penalties that essentially happened at the offensive line of scrimmage – they were happening once a drive for a good chunk of the game – and there was a burned timeout in an in opportune time and it’s obvious that some real questions are going to be asked of this unit as tougher defensive challenges await.
To their credit, they got better as the game went on and they leaned into running the heck out of the football (202 rushing yards) with Derrick Henry leading the way and they kept Lamar Jackson from taking big hits. However, the pass protection did wilt at times and center Jovaughn Gwyn, in his first NFL start, had some issues, but the penalties are something surely the coaches will make a talking point as they review this film Monday, particularly offensive coordinator Declan Doyle.
The Ravens had 10 penalties for 86 yards overall in the game.
“We have a lot of things we can clean up and get better at,” head coach Jesse Minter said after winning his first NFL game. “I give the Colts a lot of credit. That’s a good football team. But, I thought in the second half, we really put our foot down and did what we needed to do to get a win. Just a lot of great individual performances too, all the guys: Derrick [Henry], our offensive line, Zay [Flowers].”
It wasn’t just that the penalties happened, it was when they happened.
There was some confusion early. Veteran Mark Andrews had a false start from the Colts 2. Ronnie Stanley had an early chop block penalty negating Henry’s first-down run. Stanley had a false start on second-and-seven.
Gwyn’s hold negated a touchdown pass. Rookie Vega Ioane’s hold negated a 19-yard gain on third down. Ioane’s hold negated an eight-yard run on second-and-eight. An Illegal shit negated an 11-yard gain on third-and-10. And there was a late false start on third down (Justice Hill).
The interior group will be under review. Veteran center Ethan Pocic has played neatly 6000 snaps; Gwyn had played 11 in his career on offense prior to Sunday. Pocic is coming off Achilles surgery and clearly wasn’t all the way back and the Ravens made a point to stipulate that Gwyn was the starter for Week 1.
The Ravens allowed two sacks, and 11 pressures, with six coming between Pocic and Ioane. There is little doubt that the 14th overall pick is going to be a mauler sooner rather than later as he adjusts to the league. The center situation, well, that’s probably one week at a time.
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