Baltimore Ravens head coach Jesse Minter pointed to one element that the team must clean up for Week 2.
Despite the fact that the Baltimore Ravens handily beat the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1, they still managed to have one element that could have caused many issues against a more prepared team.
During Week 1, the Ravens committed 10 penalties and were given 86 penalty yards as a result. Those kinds of penalties can lead to stalled drives, missed opportunities, and more. Head coach Jesse Minter spoke about that as the element the team must clean up.
The Ravens beat the Colts with a final score of 41-23, and things could have gone much worse for Baltimore if their opponent had been playing a much cleaner brand of football. Simply put, Indianapolis could not generate much of anything on the field.
That said, the Ravens cannot afford to commit 10 penalties per game and expect to walk away with a victory.
During media availability on Friday, Minter spoke about stopping those pre-snap penalties.
"I will say this, I think we focus on the pre-snap process a lot ... not to give the guys an out, but a few penalties in the first game, the speed of the game, and grabbing a guy or those types of things at some point with the playstyle you are trying to play ... it's the pre-snap ones to me that we continue to harp on, we continue to focus on, we harp on it a lot," Minter said.
Essentially, Minter is saying that he gives grace to the team in that it is the first game of the season, but he also stated that the issue is pre-snap penalties. The team has been focused on not committing such bad plays, and they will need to ensure they keep that cleaned up.
Baltimore is facing some strong competition this season, and slip-ups like pre-snap penalites may lead to much worse results, especially down the stretch.
An example of a penalty that stopped forward momentum occurred in the red zone when quarterback Lamar Jackson threw a dart to rookie receiver Ja'Kobi Lane. The touchdown was then called back due to a holding penalty.
That is the perfect example of what can happen with the pre-snap penalties that Minter said he is continuing to harp on. This is also knowledge that is well known to most teams.
Undisciplined teams can run into all kinds of trouble, and the Ravens need to ensure they play disciplined football to give them the best shot at winning.
Baltimore is set to face the New Orleans Saints in Week 2, followed by the Dallas Cowboys, Tennessee Titans, and Atlanta Falcons. While most of these opponents are considered "easy" wins on paper, that is never the case.
The Ravens could, however, set themselves up with a strong opening record if they continue to mitigate mistakes.
