The Jesse Minter era in Baltimore has hit its first major fork in the road. After giving up 35 unanswered points to the Bengals in the second-half of Sunday’s game, questions are starting to rain down on the Ravens.
Unfortunately, Baltimore’s second-half meltdowns have now transcended multiple coaching staffs. Coming into Week 7, the team had already blown double-digit leads to the Saints and Browns. However, Sunday’s collapse was on a completely different level. The Ravens didn’t just get beat in the second half;
they were completely annihilated.
Fans and media are predictably rushing to play the blame game and rebuild the roster, but it’s too early in the season to be calling for sweeping changes, especially after three straight games with a backup quarterback. A 1-2 record without Lamar Jackson is closer to an expected result than an outright disaster. It’s less that the Ravens lost those games and more how they fell apart when their best was needed.
With a locker room, coaching staff, and front office searching for answers, let’s look at what aspects of the 2026 Ravens should be of concern, but more importantly, where there could be some light at the end of this currently dark tunnel.
Reasons for Concern
The blown leads are clearly a player-driven issue
John Harbaugh’s firing in January led many to believe that the team’s history of collapsing late in games and blowing double-digit leads was over. Instead, the Giants have put forth several solid fourth quarters while Minter’s Ravens are still struggling down the stretch.
Don’t get me wrong, it was time to move on from Harbaugh. If anything, this shows that there is clearly a systemic issue impacting the players in the second half. The moment any type of adversity hits, they collapse like a house of cards. When the Bengals scored coming out of halftime, fans all had the same feeling: it’s over. Based on the Ravens’ body language, they felt the same way. The game snowballed out of control from there.
So what is the issue? It would be irrational to pin all of these collapses on one player. However, there are a few members of this defense who have been constants through different eras, like Marlon Humphrey, Kyle Hamilton, and Roquan Smith. This trio in particular is considered the leaders of the Baltimore defense, but only Hamilton truly rises to the title on the field. Humphrey and Smith have seen a gradual decline in performance over the years, and unfortunately, the Ravens are still paying them a lot of money.
Aside from their play, Humphrey and Smith are supposed to be the veterans in the room who speak up, hold other players accountable, and rally the troops when adversity hits. However, this doesn’t seem to be the case. Humphrey is an extravagant off-the-field personality, which draws plenty of criticism. Smith was initially thought to be the next great linebacker and leader of the Ravens’ storied defense. Aside from his first two seasons in Baltimore, it hasn’t quite worked out that way. Both are still solid players, but not nearly as good as their price tags or reputations suggest.
As Minter alluded to in his Monday press conference, he is looking for one of his players to step up, not just on the field, but on the sideline and in the locker room. Ray Lewis and Ed Reed aren’t walking through that door anytime soon. The Ravens need a powerful voice within their defense to rally the troops when adversity hits. I’m not even sure if the younger generation of players respond to that type of motivation. It’s possible that the players are being told to play loose and free in stressful moments. If so, they’re taking it too literally.
This, in my opinion, is the root cause of these defensive collapses. Younger players rally around the vets. Lewis, Reed, and Terrell Suggs held those around them accountable, even the coaches. I’m not sure that personality exists in the Ravens locker room right now, and whether it be via trade or otherwise, someone needs to step up and re-establish the once-great Ravens defensive culture – if it even exists anymore.
The performance on Sunday wasn’t merely a talent or play-calling deficiency – the players looked defeated, just like they did after the Texans, Chiefs, Bills, and Lions games last year. It’s a problem, and it needs to be corrected fast.
Suspect roster construction
Eric DeCosta is frequently thought of as one of the better general managers in football. The Ravens have been very good at drafting prospects, developing them into solid players, extending the best ones, and receiving compensatory picks when the rest eventually price themselves out of Baltimore. Most of the time, it works. However, the current state of the Ravens is defined by a glaring weakness in the trenches.
Early in the Lamar Jackson era, DeCosta reallocated resources from the trenches and into the wide receiver and defensive back rooms. He still drafted a few good linemen like Tyler Linderbaum and Travis Jones, but in later rounds, there were a lot of whiffs. Before selecting Vega Ioane this year – who is looking like the Ravens’ next great guard – five of the previous seven first-round picks were spent on receivers and defensive backs. Obviously, Zay Flowers and Kyle Hamilton were hits, but returns on Rashod Bateman have been mixed at best and the jury is still out on Nate Wiggins and Malaki Starks.
Overcorrections have been another issue. After multiple injuries at center, DeCosta had acquire for Cam Jurgens from the Eagles. He looked good in his Ravens debut, but the second-round price tag was steep. Similarly, the neglect of the edge rusher room forced DeCosta to first trade two first-round picks for Maxx Crosby and then give massive contract to Trey Hendrickson when Crosby’s knee scared Baltimore out of the deal. Hendrickson has been good despite his finger injury, but the moves reeked of overcorrecting to address a position that was not properly addressed in previous years.
A number of DeCosta’s recent contracts have quickly looked like mistakes in hindsight. Mark Andrews looks like a shell of himself, and neither Jaylinn Hawkins nor John Simpson have lived up to expectations. This year, Andrews, Humphrey, and Smith currently comprise approximately 20% of the Ravens total salary cap. The Ravens are loyal to their players, perhaps to a fault. To compound the issue, they now are in a tight salary cap position that is preventing them from making any significant trade deadline moves. Any major trade would have to involve the other team eating a portion of the player’s salary – thereby raising the price of the deal – or the Ravens engaging in another round of cap gymnastics to either trade away one of their own or push more money into the future.
The one saving hope is that these contracts are simply spillover from the Harbaugh era. The front office and coaching staff both collaborate on how the team should be built. If DeCosta can get a Jackson extension done and clear cap space by parting ways with underperforming veterans, Minter should be in position to build his vision of the Ravens.
Reasons for Optimism
There have been flashes of the Ravens’ full potential
Let’s rewind to Week 2 of the 2022 season, in Mike Macdonald’s second game as the Ravens’ defensive coordinator. Similar to what we saw on Sunday, Baltimore surrendered 28 points in the fourth quarter to Miami, and blew a 21-point lead.
This was not an anomaly in his tenure. Macdonald — the coach who, for better or worse, Minter will be compared to for the remainder of his time in Baltimore — also has a history of poor defensive performances early in the season, especially in the second half of games. In 2022, the Ravens were 23rd in defensive EPA/play in Weeks 1-9, ranking sixth in the first half and 30th in the second-half. From Week 10 on, they were 6th in total defensive EPA per play with improvements to 13th in the second half. In 2024, Macdonald’s first year in Seattle, the Seahawks were 21st in second-half defensive EPA/play through Week 9 before improving to 5th over the back half of the season.
This year with Minter, the split is even more extreme. The Ravens currently have the best defense in the league by EPA in the first half and are 31st in the second half.
See a pattern? The defense these two coaches run is complex, and it typically takes time to iron out all the kinks. This could just be a blip on the radar. If the Ravens are first in the league in defense over the first half of games, something is working. We saw it in the first half on Sunday and in most of the prior two games against Cleveland and Atlanta.
The issue seems to be related to their coverage in obvious passing situations. I can’t say for sure if it’s a talent issue, poor play-calling, or a combination of the two, but history would suggest this will improve. Minter is still learning how to best utilize all of his talent.
All of this to say, I’d expect some changes to be made and for this unit to slowly round into form. Macdonald, the most talented defensive mind in football, had two of the worst defenses in the NFL to start his tenures in Baltimore and Seattle. If history is any indication, Minter can turn it around.
Lamar Jackson
The Ravens would probably be 5-2 right now at worst if their superstar quarterback hadn’t suffered a high ankle sprain three weeks ago. Minter has listed Jackson as day-to-day for two weeks now and disputed a report that the team was surprised he could not play on Sunday.
Regardless, with Jackson on the field, the Ravens offense is second in EPA/play this season. Keep in mind, he and Flowers have yet to play a full game together, and he has been dealing with a revolving door at center and right guard. If Jackson and the offensive line can get healthy, this is automatically one of the best offenses in football. Even an average defense, it should be a playoff team.
The question now becomes: have the Ravens dug themselves too deep a hole? Blowing the Browns and Saints games will surely haunt them for the rest of the year. With Buffalo and Jacksonville coming up, 4-5 is looking like a real possibility. If the Ravens want to stay in the playoff hunt, they’ll need to win at least one of the next two to stay above water.
Conclusion
The Ravens’ performance in the second half of Sunday’s game was pitiful. Part of me thinks these issues will continue to persist as long as the current cast of characters takes the field. The other part looks at the fact that Lamar Jackson is hurt and that historical trends suggest this defense will get much better over the next few weeks.
The issue is that in a crowded AFC, Baltimore is now in must-win mode. Another win and a 5-2 record would have given them breathing room, but that is not how the cards fell. The team does not have much time to figure it out, and after Sunday’s game, they will either wilt or win the next two games. With this squad, there is no in between.
If the first-half Ravens – arguably the best team in football – can put it together for 60 minutes, they will emerge from these next two games at 6-3. If the second-half slackers show up, they will get beaten handily.
