Ravens dealt brutal injury blow during preseason

While that was the case as Ravens first-year head coach Jesse Minter took his team to work out against the Minnesota Vikings, that was not the big issue for Baltimore. The intense practices brought some painful news to the Ravens as backup center Danny Pinter suffered a torn patellar tendon in Wednesday’s practice.

Pinter joined the team in the offseason after spending the last five years with the Indianapolis Colts. He was listed as the team’s No. 2 center behind Ethan Pocic, but he did not look like a backup when he was on the field. He had impressed Minter and the other Ravens coaches when he had practiced with the team’s starters.

It seems likely that Pinter would have received quite a bit of playing time even if he wasn’t starting this season because of his versatility. However, that is no longer a possibility because of the seriousness of the injury he suffered.

The Ravens are hoping to bounce back from a rare losing season after finishing with an 8-9 record a year ago under former head coach John Harbaugh. Minter represents a dramatically different type of leader than Harbaugh. Minter will make all the defensive calls on Game Day, and that’s quite a bit different from Harbaugh’s CEO approach to coaching.