The Baltimore Ravens stole a 30-23 overtime win from the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night. Here are Baltimore Beatdown’s top takeaways from the thrilling victory:
Jesse Minter and his staff deserve credit for confident finish
Jesse Minter landed on a favorite mantra shortly after arriving in Baltimore: “Be at your best when the best is needed.” His team heeded his words on Sunday night, overcoming self-inflicted errors throughout the first three quarters for a masterful fourth-quarter comeback and overtime win. There were big moments when the Ravens fell short,
but in the biggest ones, calm coaching and smooth execution prevailed.
Minter and his staff were prepared for seemingly every scenario. Case in point: asking Tyler Huntley to drive 70-plus yards down the field for a game-tying touchdown was probably not on Baltimore’s pre-game wish list. But Declan Doyle pulled all the right levers, including targeting Falcons depth cornerback Mike Ford as soon as he entered the game for a touchdown. Doyle followed that up with a brilliant two-point conversion call, using Zay Flowers as eye candy to break Derrick Henry into open space out on a wildcat sweep. Opting to take the ball in overtime to keep a gassed Falcons defense on the field for a long, punishing drive was another smart decision that paid off with a Huntley touchdown seven minutes and 14 plays later. – Nikhil Mehta
It’s time for a changing of the guard at tight end
After looking fairly good through the first four weeks of the season, Mark Andrews’ performance in Week 5 was a reminder of his limitations at this stage of his career. While he did have a couple of timely first-down catches in the fourth quarter and overtime, it was a disaster class showing from Andrews up to that point. The veteran dropped a would-be touchdown on the opening drive of the game, failed to reel in a two-point conversion catch that would have tied the score, and lost a fumble that was then returned for a touchdown. He also failed to reel in a couple other passes that were knocked out of his hands by a defender. Andrews can still have value to the offense, but the Ravens need to begin featuring their rookie tight ends more and lessen his role. Matthew Hibner and Josh Cuevas have both shown some pass-catching juice in their limited opportunities thus far. They both bring more to the table athletically than Andrews does right now, and Andrews’ hands unfortunately continue to prove themselves as unreliable in big spots. – Frank Platko
The Ravens badly needed a real center
First-round rookie Vega Ioane deserves praise for stepping in as the Ravens’ emergency center over the past few weeks, but his inconsistent snapping would have cost the team eventually. Huntley did an excellent job of handling Ioane’s snaps on Sunday night, but last week’s acquisition of Cam Jurgens will hopefully bring some stability via a true center. Ioane will also be able to move back to his natural position, where he can continue a strong start to his NFL career without the burden of running the operation at the line of scrimmage. – Nikhil Mehta
Baltimore is turning over a new leaf in close games
After the win, Kyle Hamilton and Zay Flowers both acknowledged that the Ravens have a history of losing these tight matchups. But Jesse Minter’s “be at your best when the best is needed mantra” may have taken root in the locker room. His team did not play their best football for the first three quarters, but the defense kept them in the game and the offense mounted two impressive scoring drives to close it out. That would have been impressive with Lamar Jackson and Trey Hendrickson on the field; without them, it’s a tremendous accomplishment. – Nikhil Mehta
