Ravens Are Attempting to Discover Their Early Defensive Id

But within the fourth quarter, the Saints went to a fast passing assault that saved Shough out of hurt’s approach. The Ravens made protection errors, missed tackles, and didn’t have a sack within the fourth quarter.

“It is rush and coverage together,” Hendrickson mentioned. “When we had good coverage, sometimes our rush was not there, and sometimes when our rush was good, the coverage was not there.

“Playing as a unit is one thing we have to determine — what our 2026 Ravens identification is transferring ahead. You take it on the chin and transfer on.”

Particularly galling to the Ravens were the missed tackles and coverage mistakes in key moments. On third-and-13 in the third quarter, a checkdown completion from Shough to tight end Juwan Johnson became a 25-yard gain that led to a Saints field goal. In the fourth quarter, a coverage mistake left Chris Olave wide open in the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown catch. Second-year tight end Malaki Starks was in coverage on the touchdown.

Fellow safety Jaylinn Hawkins missed an opportunity for an early interception, was flagged for holding that gave the Saints a second crack at their game-tying two-point conversion, and missed a tackle on a critical third-and-8 checkdown (again to Johnson) on the Saints’ game-winning touchdown drive. Starks and Hawkins were the Ravens’ lowest-graded defenders in the game via Pro Football Focus.

“I’ve loads of confidence in Malaki Starks, and so I’m assured that he’ll bounce again and be the kind of participant that I do know he can [be],” Minter mentioned.

“I believe defensively, we generally is a complete lot higher on the issues that we’ve got management over, like taking angles to the ball, tackling higher and stapling individuals to the bottom. We will at all times chase higher scheme — that’s my job and our defensive employees’s job. But we additionally have to play in a approach the place we will sort out a checkdown on third-and-13. It is a mixture of all people.”