Last week I wrote and spoke at length about how I buried the horseshoe with the Indianapolis Colts and the Irsay family 15 long years ago, right after Billy Cundiff missed the kick in Foxboro and I had to live there for a wistful Super Bowl week that should’ve been ours.
But after further pondering – and watching them once again run around with my childhood pajamas and the ghost of Bert Jones even 42 years later – the Ravens certainly haven’t won a lot of games in the friendly heart of the Midwest over these 30 years so a thorough beat down of the Colts in a comfy dome in downtown Indy to start the season is something any purple Baltimore football fan with a true blue soul should appreciate as just a little more special.
I know this: my Pop would’ve greatly enjoyed that one on Sunday.
Baltimore beats the Colts 41-23 and after nine months of walking a mile with the corpse of the Orioles around here, it was nice to spend a Sunday afternoon watching the local football team look as advertised: fast, powerful, dangerous and very capable of playing football deep into January.
Jesse Minter goes 1-0. Lamar Jackson looked healthy and spectacular. Derrick Henry is still a beast. And Zay Flowers, when available, is apparently uncoverable but his hamstring reminded us why we can’t have nice things at wide receiver without worrying about them around here.
Football season is officially back in Baltimore, and yes, there’s a lot of hope beyond the hype for this promising team and its new leadership and re-focus.
I’m not planning the parade route just yet after beating Daniel Jones and the Indianapolis Colts. But I am willing to acknowledge what my eyes saw Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium: a Ravens team that looked every bit the part of an AFC heavyweight.
8
That’s a good place to begin beyond just 1-0.
Jackson threw for 324 yards, added a rushing touchdown and performed one of those ridiculous Houdini escapes that should remind everyone that there remains absolutely no defensive scheme for the second play after the first play breaks down.
When Lamar is healthy, upright and moving like that, he makes everybody look smarter.
Declan Doyle looked smart.
Jesse Minter looked smart.
Eric DeCosta looked smart.
Steve Bisciotti looks smart. (And that’s all that really matters…)
8They all win when Lamar wins…
Flowers caught five balls for 150 yards before halftime and looked like a video-game joystick on the turf. Henry finished with 144 rushing yards and three touchdowns, exactly the way the Ravens envisioned this thing when they put him beside Lamar: build a lead, hand the ball to the giant man and let everybody get home before dinner.
Reminder:
Lamar and cast piled up more than 500 yards of offense. The defense, after allowing Indianapolis to walk down the field on the opening drive, settled down and held the Colts to 251 total yards. Roquan Smith took one away. Marlon Humphrey ripped away another. Maligned kicker Tyler Loop even drilled one from 57 yards.
There was truly something to like in every phase of the operation.
Was it perfect?
Nah, Week 1 never is…
8Ten penalties are too many. The offensive line had some sloppy moments. The offense clearly became less explosive when Flowers disappeared with the hamstring injury. Ja’Kobi Lane left with a nasty wrist injury. And I’m not interested in learning whether Chris Moore can become Zay Flowers for three months.
The Ravens need Flowers healthy because Sunday confirmed something we’ve long been discussing: after Lamar Jackson, No. 4 is now be the most indispensable (and expensive) piece of this offense.
But this is the NFL. Everybody has bruises today and certainly every team will find flaws on the Week 1 tape. The point is to stack victories while fixing the problems.
“We’ll clean that up…”
That’s really Job One for Minter – be the guy who makes it better and helps it “stack” week to week.
And, man, has the schedule presented an opportunity to stack some victories.
New Orleans comes marching in this Sunday after losing in overtime in Detroit. Then comes Dallas in Rio, followed by Tennessee at home, Atlanta on the road and Cleveland on the road.
8All five lost their opener.
The Saints, Cowboys, Titans, Falcons and Browns are all 0-1. Cincinnati doesn’t arrive at M&T Bank Stadium until October 25, followed immediately by the trip to Buffalo.
There it is; the purple runway to a runaway season.
This is where a legitimate Super Bowl contender separates itself from all of those Ravens teams we’ve spent years discussing on Monday mornings after blown leads, inexplicable losses and afternoons when we were explaining how they somehow managed to turn prosperity into misery.
As my dude Luke loves to say: “Don’t play with your food!”
The old “Harbs” Ravens occasionally had a bad habit of making lousy football teams interesting. This version has an opportunity to make October seem “boring” in the very best way. Well, at least until Lamar goes into the phone booth like he did one more time for Lou Anarumo in avoiding that sack and then running to the sticks.
Beat New Orleans. This should be a money week at home.
8Go to Brazil, hydrate, and beat that lousy Dallas Cowboys we watched roll over to John Harbaugh to pump up his giant beginnings.
Beat Tennessee, if not for solely their theft of Houston’s football identity 30 years later…
Don’t lose to Atlanta. And you better beat Cleveland. (Twice.)
Stay healthy. Clean up the penalties. Keep Lamar upright. Let Doyle continue discovering all of the fun ways to deploy Flowers. Let Henry close the bar every Sunday around three fifteen.
And let Minter establish immediately that this really is a different day in Owings Mills. (If the Ravens get to Buffalo undefeated I’ll never say the words “John” and “Harbaugh” again. Even if I privately use two other words for him already…)
Look, I believe Sunday mattered beyond just the 41-23 final.
For the first time in nearly two decades, the Baltimore Ravens began a season with somebody other than John Harbaugh standing there as the head coach. Everything about this summer has been about change, expectations and whether Minter could inherit a talented roster and make it feel different without screwing up all of the things that already worked.
8One game is one game.
But 1-0 beats the hell out of the alternative.
And after one Sunday, the Ravens look deep, dangerous, fast and hungry. They have Lamar Jackson looking like Lamar Jackson again. They have Derrick Henry waiting to punish tired people. They have Zay Flowers becoming a genuine star. And they have a schedule that is practically begging them to arrive at late October with the AFC taking them very seriously.
So enjoy Monday morning, Baltimore.
Football is back.
Hope is back.
The purple guys kicked some ass in Indianapolis.
8Now comes the grown-up part.
Don’t waste the runway and this very friendly welcoming schedule for Coach Minter.
Make the Saints go marching home sadly at 4 p.m. on Sunday. And then let the Cowboys fiesta begin in Rio…
