Jesse Minter couldn’t have asked for a much better schedule for his first six games as an NFL head coach.
The Ravens got a soft launch to his first season in the role, and they mostly took advantage with a 4-2 start. They have dealt with their fair share of injuries, for sure, and two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson might still have to miss another week with his ankle injury. Minter had to navigate a trip to Brazil and his offensive line has been in disrepair and he doesn’t seem very confident in his kicker anymore, either (maybe they’ll consider a trade?).
Oh, and he’s already blown three 10-point leads and ended up losing two of them. Nothing is every easy and boring around here, is it?
So what do we make of Minter through his first 1/3 of a season in charge? You’ll have to read the column to find out.
Game Manager: B-
The Ravens showed a flawless execution in Brazil to win a game despite having only seven seconds to pull off that game-winning sequence. They rallied on the road with a back-up QB, after a rough first half, to win in Atlanta in the only game Minter wasn’t the favorite.
They won a game in which they had to cycle through three centers, landing on a rookie guard who then held down snapping duties. They dealt with the usual spate of penalties that come with start-up operations and largely overcame it. Minter made a ballsy call to take the ball in overtime of that game in Atlanta and it led to a seven-minute TD drive.
So at a macro level, given how new this is to him, and some of what’s been thrown at him, his feels appropriate to us.
Motivator/Weekday Coach: B+
These players like him and they respond to him. They start games well, and seem generally prepared. He knows how handle the media and convey what needs to be conveyed and he’s generally protective of his players.
He hasn’t tried to BS the fans about injuries and they have taken the long-view with a serious of injuries that should pay off down the road. I don’t have many real issues here. He hasn’t put his foot in his mouth, we haven’t seen any player have major discipline issues or fly off the handle in-game. I don’t have a lot of issues here.
Defensive Coordinator: C-
Maybe I am holding him to too high of a standard. But he was a stud with the Chargers without having a top roster and his adjustments and in-game tactics were remarkably on point. So I expected as much here, with these players used to his concepts from their time in Mike Macdonald’s similar defense here.
This side of the ball got loaded with resources in the offseason. It was supposed to be plug-and-play and supposed to start winning on third down and with the pass rush and in coverage and, especially in the fourth quarter. Not so much. They have fallen apart after the half despite having games in hand time and time again, and the secondary has actually been the biggest underperformers on the team. It's gotten bad enough that corner might be the biggest need on the team.
Minter has to wear that. The corners and safeties don’t have an interception yet. These choke gene is alive and well and now it’s 16 times being DeCosta-ed (blowing a 10-point lead and losing) since 2019.
Total Grade: B-
Expected the defensive coordinator thing to be his carrying trait and strength. Wearing all these hats all the time isn’t for everyone and it can take a while to figure it out and that’s an ongoing process for this coach who happens to be the rare first-timer who is replacing a potential Hall of Famer and has a team with Super Bowl expectations.
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