It goes without saying that there has been plenty of change for the Baltimore Ravens over the last 7 months.
The biggest change, of course, was the ouster of longtime head coach, John Harbaugh. Once Harbaugh got settled with the New York Giants, he proceeded to raid his former team by bringing in several Raven free agents; guard Daniel Faalele, fullback Patrick Ricard, tight end Isaiah Likely, safety Ar’Darius Washington and punter Jordan Stout.
Out with the old, in with the new.
To state the obvious, the task at hand for new head coach Jesse Minter is to lead the Ravens to the 3rd Super Bowl title in franchise history. However, his job will be a bit more nuanced than it appears.
As training camp ramps up, there will be plenty of discussion about position battles, what the new offense and defense will look like, how player X, Y or Z performs in this drill or that drill and how the roster will shape up come early September.
While discussion of those matters is certainly warranted, there’s a larger issue at hand for the Baltimore Ravens than the X’s and O’s and the Jimmy’s and Joe’s.
The Baltimore Ravens need to be mentally tough again.
For 4 quarters a game, for 17 games (or more), the Baltimore Ravens need to learn how to finish.
John Harbaugh had a successful tenure in Baltimore but ultimately lost his job because of his team’s tendency to come up small in the biggest moments. Blown leads, bizarre play calling and bone headed mistakes at critical times had become the norm in Baltimore. These struggles would happen in the regular season and then rear their ugly head at crucial moments in January.
Perhaps it could be said that Harbaugh’s firing wasn’t solely due to not reaching the Super Bowl again but rather in how his teams failed to do so. They didn’t simply play competitive football and fall short, they found spectacular ways to shoot themselves in the foot, time and time again, leaving the entire fanbase collectively shaking their heads.
It is in this vein, that Coach Minter must find a way forward. To get a talented group to play their best football when the lights are the brightest and to no longer come up small in the biggest moments.
It’s a touch ironic that the Ravens’ neighbors across the parking lot at Camden Yards underwent a somewhat similar turnover in their off season; bringing in a new staff, headed by Craig Albernaz, with the hopes of getting a group of young, talented ballplayers to get out of their own way and break through in the postseason.
Unfortunately for Baltimore’s Baseball Birds, their new era has not yielded great results thus far.
For the beleaguered fan base of Baltimore sports, we can only hope that Jesse Minter and his staff can break through. Unfortunately, none of our curiosity will be satisfied anytime soon. Perhaps it’s unfair to heap this much pressure on a first time head coach but the lingering doubts about the Ravens will only be quelled by postseason success.
On that ill fated January night in Pittsburgh, when Tyler Loop’s field goal attempt sailed wide, it marked the end of one era and the beginning of a new one.
Hopefully.
Jamie has been a Baltimore sports fan since he can remember. He grew up in Gwynn Oak and currently resides in Hampstead with his wife and 2 kids. He graduated from UMBC with a Bachelor of Arts in History. He’s currently employed at Verizon Communications in Hunt Valley.