3 Ravens most to blame for disastrous loss to the Saints

Despite a new coaching staff and some major changes, the Baltimore Ravens can't avoid some of their old habits. In their home opener on Sunday, they lost 24-17 to the New Orleans Saints, giving up 15 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. Unacceptable.

This loss brings back a lot of familiar frustrations for Ravens fans. But who is most to blame for this embarrassing loss? While the offensive line was generally poor, especially in pass protection, there was no player worth singling out to me. Furthermore, whether you want to blame Lamar Jackson or Rashod Bateman for the game-sealing interception, both players had a strong showing outside of that play. As such, I'm opting not to include them in this list.

With that out of the way, let's blame some Ravens.

3 Baltimore Ravens shouldering blame from their Week 2 loss

Malaki Starks

It was easy to expect a big season from second-year safety Malaki Starks, who was solid, but not great, as a rookie. However, Week 2 was a nightmare for him. Starks made several critical errors in coverage and missed some tackles. There was no mistake more detrimental than this coverage blunder that gave Chris Olave a wide-open touchdown.

Another awful play from Starks was this missed tackle against Juwan Johnson. In a game that was decided by one touchdown, it's not far-fetched to say that Starks' lackluster defense was a key reason for the loss. As much as I want to be patient with Starks, if these mistakes continue, moving Kyle Hamilton to a true safety role and reducing Starks' snaps might have to be on the table soon. This is especially true since Jaylinn Hawkins had some massive mistakes as well.

Declan Doyle

One of the most frustrating tendencies of the Ravens' former coaching staff was not feeding Derrick Henry down the stretch of games. It cost them several games in the past two seasons. Unfortunately, that trend continued with the Ravens' new coaching staff on Sunday. Despite being up 14-3 heading into the second half, offensive coordinator Declan Doyle ran the ball just five times with Henry.

The King rushed for 51 yards and one touchdowns in the first half. Yet for whatever reason, Doyle didn't involve him in the offense to close out the game. That makes no sense.

Had the Ravens continued to involve Henry in the second half, they could have shut the door on the Saints. Instead, Baltimore's commitment to the passing game led to some short drives and allowed the Saints to claw back. On 3rd-and-1 in the fourth quarter, the Ravens even opted to take a deep shot to Chris Moore instead of giving the ball to Henry. I'm not sure how you can defend that decision.

Worst of all, the Ravens were without Zay Flowers and Ja'Kobi Lane. Plus, Baltimore's pass protection was shaky all game. It simply makes no sense why Doyle didn't call more plays for Henry.

To be clear, I still think Doyle has plenty of promise, as he showed last week, but this is a major hiccup.

Jesse Minter

Much like Doyle, I'm still high on Jesse Minter overall. Regardless, he had his hands all over this loss. The ill-advised challenge call on a five-yard Olave catch cost the Ravens a timeout, which could have benefited them on the last drive. The Ravens' defense also struggled immensely on third downs. Part of this is certainly on the players. But Minter deserves some blame here.

He didn't bring the pressure on defense in the second half. Minter and his unit could've closed out the game by being more aggressive. Instead, his play calls were conservative, which let Tyler Shough get comfortable, and this helped the Saints mount a comeback.

Again, I'm not panicking at all. This is Minter's second game as a head coach; bumps along the way are expected. Regardless, there's no denying he could've been better on Sunday.

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