Report Card: Stars Earn Top Grades in Ravens’ Opening Win

The Ravens stars shined in their season-opening win over the Indianapolis Colts, but a slew of penalties, some concerning injuries and a few mental errors leave plenty of meat on the bone in terms of this team still improving throughout the course of the season.

Let’s get to some grades.

Offense Overall: B+

Generating 41 points, 506 yards and 7.9 yards per play against a quality team on the road sounds like a much-higher score than a B+. There were just so many penalties that continued to wipe out points, first downs and possessions that it did deserve a ding or two. On the bright side, Lamar Jackson looked extremely comfortable in the offense, particularly before Zay Flowers went down. Derrick Henry didn’t look like the calendar gained any ground on him this offseason, and the re-worked offensive line did some really nice things, surrounded by sporadic flags at inopportune times. Injuries in the receiving room are truly worth monitoring at this point.

Quarterback: A

Jackson was 17-25 for 324 yards and a touchdown, and contributed another 40 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Nice stats. What the stats don’t show was that absurd 17-yard scramble on 3rd-and-16 that began as what appeared to be a certain sack by two Colts defenders. Put that one on his Hall-of-Fame highlight reel. He also was brilliant with the majority of his passes, starting with a great toss to Flowers on the first play of the game and just continuing throughout. The pass to Chris Moore on third down to start the fourth quarter was both brave and on point, and one of my favorite balls of the game was his toss to Flowers on third-and-12 at the end of the first quarter. There was miscommunication on a few passes, and the fumble knocked him down a little, but he was spectacular.

Running Back: A

Henry ran for 144 yards on 24 carries and had three touchdowns, as well as a cool 19-yard catch-and-run early in the second quarter. Henry was physical and routinely broke the first tackle before falling forward for extra yardage. Justice Hill had a nifty 10-yard catch-and-run with some sideline tip-toeing in the fourth quarter during an important time-consuming drive.

Receivers: B

Look, Flowers got an A+ just for his first-half work, with 150 yards on five catches and an incredibly explosive touchdown that saw him weave through much of the Colts’ defense. Things did bog down a bit when he left. Ja’Kobi Lane teased us with a touchdown catch that got called back on a flag, and he went out with an injury. Rashod Bateman caught a nice ball, but that was also wiped out by a penalty. Mark Andrews was solid, overcoming a false start and a drop to finish with 49 yards on four catches. Rookie Matthew Hibner had an impressive 13-yard catch-and-run, and he also had a big block on Henry’s long touchdown run. Moore’s 53-yarder was a gigantic play.

Offensive Line: B-

There were just so many flags. And there were a few plays when things broke down entirely too fast. But I thought the majority of pressure Jackson did get was because he was holding the ball waiting for anybody to get open, and surprise starting center Jovaughn Gwynn had some big-time blocks throughout the game. Gwynn and John Simpson helped spring Henry on his long touchdown run, and the two combined to bust Henry loose on a 22-yarder in the third quarter. Ronnie Stanley had a big block on Henry’s third touchdown of the game, sealing the edge. It looked like the tackles spent some attention helping out interior rushers at times, with the tight ends protecting the edges.

Defense Overall: B

The first drive had a bunch of us talking to ourselves, but things mostly tightened up after that until the fourth quarter — but it never busted loose and put the game into question. The Ravens adjusted after that first drive, and there were a ton of defensive backs blitzing, with linebackers dropping back into passing lanes on many plays. The Colts only had 251 yards of offense, and it is a talented group, with good players at every level. The Ravens won the turnover battle and consistently got pressure at Jones. The Ravens held the Colts to 3-11 on third and fourth downs.

Defensive Line: B-

Travis Jones looked like the best player on the field at times, and he had four tackles, two of them for loss. Tavius Robinson was consistently in the backfield and had a sack and several hurries. Calais Campbell had a big run stop midway through the second quarter, and John Jenkins destroyed a third-and-1 run late in the first half. Broderick Washington and Trey Hendrickson were both pushed out of lanes on big runs, and while Hendrickson didn’t have any sacks, he did put some heat on a few times and forced Jones out of the pocket. They weren’t bad in this one by any means, but there were times they were slashed in the run game.

Linebackers: B+

Roquan Smith had a really strong game, finishing with a team-high 11 tackles, making an athletic play on a first-quarter interception and putting a good lick on Jones late in the first half to force an incompletion. He did miss Jonathan Taylor in the hole late in the first half, but… it was Jonathan Taylor. Smith got him a few times, too. Trenton Simpson had two tackles for loss and came off the edge quite a bit.

Defensive Backs: A-

Marlon Humphrey was really good, forcing a fumble he recovered in the second quarter, breaking up a deep pass on third down later in the half and making a huge open-field tackle late in the game after he had left earlier with an injury. Kyle Hamilton was everywhere, forced Jones into Robinson for his sack, and blew up Jones to force an incompletion in the first half. Malaki Starks had a pass-interference flag, but also had a sack to basically seal the game and had seven tackles. Jaylinn Hawkins provided excellent deep coverage, and was also in with Starks on his sack. Nate Wiggins was in on a couple tackles and broke up a third-down pass late in the third quarter. This group was pretty sticky all game.

Special Teams: B

They really struggled in stopping kick returner Seth McGowan, who had a 66-yard return included in his 164 yards of returns on the day. But other than that, the special teams were very good. Tyler Loop quieted the skeptics for at least a week, making all five of his extra points and both of his field goals, including a 57-yarder that was of the no-doubt variety. He needed a game like this one. How about rookie punter Ryan Eckley, who carried over his excellent summer into this one, putting all three of his punts inside the 20, allowing zero return yards and averaging nearly 47 yards a kick. Chris Moore was also terrific, averaging 30 yards a return and having one for 42 yards. LaJohntay Wester had a 30-yard kick return and averaged 10 yards on his punt returns, while also contributing a couple catches.

Coaching: A

Winning your first game on the road gets you an “A.” It’s the perfect start.

But let’s go a little deeper here. Minter’s defense got beaten far-too easily on that opening possession, particularly in the middle of the field. And the lack of pass rush transported much of the Flock to that crazy fall and winter of 2025. We didn’t like it. But they got aggressive with where they were sending pressure, and seemed to have a plan on third downs. On offense, it was as advertised — roll-outs, under center, a lot of movement before the snap and the generation of explosive plays downfield. These flags will get cleaned up as they play more together — at least I’d assume they will. There was also a commitment to feeding Henry and riding him and Jackson’s ability to convert third downs to avoid any catastrophic loss of lead to begin the Minter tenure. The Flowers touchdown was a really cool design with the receiver coming out of the backfield on a choice route.

Here’s something I jotted down, as well: Minter played the clock well, running it down as far as it could go to set up Loop for a 45-yarder that would put the Ravens up three scores with about 4 minutes left and basically end the game. Loop nailed it and Minter got every second from the clock he could in the process. Smart coaching.

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Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2026/09/13/report-card/ravens-41-colts-23/