Last week, Baltimore Beatdown asked Ravens fans to grade Jesse Minter’s new coaching staff through six weeks on the job.
At the time, the team was 4-2 coming off a loss to the Browns featuring another blown double-digit lead in the second half. In previous weeks, though, the Ravens closed out games against the Colts and the Titans and showed their mettle in tight wins over the Cowboys and the Falcons. Those results earned the coaching staff a B- overall grade from Baltimore Beatdown readers in last
week’s survey:
Minter and his staff came in with Super Bowl expectations, and through six games, the Ravens did not look consistently look like a true championship contender. There were two clear reasons for hope: the offense getting healthier, and positive adjustments from Minter as his first-year defense settles in. However, the team was still dealing with the second-half demons they tried to exorcise by firing John Harbaugh. It took some luck – a seven-second miracle and an overtime coin flip, to be exact – to reach four wins, and Baltimore’s record could just as easily be 2-4.
So, all told, 4-2 is meeting but certainly not exceeding expectations this early in the seasons. Variance between B and C is probably based on different weights for injuries and expectations for improvements. Frequent commenter jack aka potato jones sums it up:
I gotta give em a solid B. They obviously haven’t been perfect, but we’re seeing improvements with penalties and defense, and they’ve made the best of a terrible OL situation for the most part. I feel like an A would be at least a 5-1 record so B feels right.
Of course, these grades would likely be drastically different after Sunday’s loss to the Bengals – firmly in the C range, likely with a sharp bump in D’s and as many F’s as A’s (if not more). The same will likely be true of fans’ overall confidence in the team’s direction, which was up at 79% after beating the Falcons before dropping to 48% following the Browns loss.
After the catastrophe vs. Cincy, this number will plummet, potentially into the single-digits unless there is a positive update on Lamar Jackson by the middle of the week. But betting markets are hardly so fickle. The Ravens are still in a similar range to win the Super Bowl (+1100, via FanDuel Sportsbook) though their win total and playoff odds have taken a hit as they fall behind in the AFC North. Winning the division is not out of reach, but Baltimore probably has to sweep their remaining four matchups to do it.
