Ravens Secondary Report Card Following Week 1 Win Over Colts

Ravens head coach Jesse Minter arrived from the Los Angeles Chargers with a reputation for running zone-heavy defenses that make life difficult on opposing quarterbacks. Baltimore’s Week 1 win over the Indianapolis Colts offered an encouraging example of that approach. Daniel Jones struggled to generate much through the air, finishing with -0.47 EPA per dropback, 5.4 yards per attempt and a 72.8 passer rating, according to NFL Pro.

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Baltimore did have to tip its cap to Jonathan Taylor, though, who still found success despite the loss. Some of that may have been a byproduct of how often the Ravens used extra defensive backs to contain Jones.

A Defensive Back Party

Per Next Gen Stats, the Ravens used nickel personnel on 28 plays and dime on another 23, while lining up in base defense just twice all game. That meant Jones was regularly facing five or six defensive backs, giving Baltimore more bodies to shrink passing windows and discourage throws downfield. That was especially important against Alec Pierce, Indianapolis’ primary vertical threat and arguably their best receiver overall. Pierce does much of his damage by taking the top off of defenses, something that is much harder to do when Baltimore has a litany of bodies in the secondary.

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To beat this sort of scheme, Jones needed to be on his A-game and quickly find his zone-beaters when Baltimore littered the field with defensive backs. That did not happen. Instead, many Indianapolis drives petered out into harmless checkdowns or incompletions. Jones struggled badly against Baltimore’s nickel and dime packages, posting -0.43 and -0.52 EPA per pass, respectively. Taylor, however, benefited from the lighter boxes. The Ravens allowed 7.0 yards per rush from dime personnel and 5.4 from nickel.

This performance warrants an A-. Minter structured his defense in a way that made attacking Baltimore through the air extremely difficult, but replacing interior help with extra defensive backs gave Taylor more room to operate on the ground. That tradeoff worked against Indianapolis because Jones could not punish the Ravens through the air. Future opponents will see the same numbers, though, and Minter will need answers when teams decide to test those lighter boxes.

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This story was originally published September 14, 2026 at 1:03 PM.