ESPN's Jesse Minter Review Raises Bigger Question

To start, Jesse Minter is not at fault for his starting and backup quarterbacks going down; those are circumstances that he cannot control, only navigate around as best he can. That navigation, though, has been rocky, to put it nicely. Baltimore losing without Jackson is not the problem by itself, but rather the manner in which they have lost over the past three weeks. Against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cincinnati Bengals, and Buffalo Bills, Baltimore has lost by multiple touchdowns and looked completely outclassed.

To me, that is the more pressing concern. If the hope is to make the playoffs, how will they be able to do that when their final four games of the season are against divisional rivals who have all been at least competent this season? If Jacoby Brissett comes in and plays decently, would decent be enough to match Cincinnati’s passing offense or Pittsburgh’s stingy defense?

This is not to say that Baltimore’s second-half troubles are not worrying. The way Cincinnati tore them apart after Baltimore played well in the first half suggests more than a simple difference in roster construction. The players, of course, deserve blame for playing poorly, and Cincinnati deserves praise for making the needed adjustments, but Minter should also face scrutiny for how his team responded in the second half.

These were already loud criticisms when John Harbaugh was the coach; Minter was brought in to provide a clean slate and establish a new identity beyond that. He still has time to prove that he can do those things, considering he is only midway through his first season, but he must establish that the Ravens can at least be competent without Jackson and play well in the second half. Otherwise, questions about whether the coaching change actually addressed Baltimore’s problems could start to surface sooner rather than later.