In play-calling debut, Declan Doyle takes Lamar Jackson and Ravens’ offense to new places

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On Saturday night in Indianapolis, on the eve of the Ravens’ grand 2026 debut, coach Jesse Minter sat in on an offensive meeting and sensed a storm brewing.

“You just feel a confidence,” he recalled Monday. “They were going through the openers and talking through it, and just the confidence that the players have in each other, that they have in [offensive coordinator Declan Doyle], that Dec has in the players, that we have in the offense as a team, obviously, and all those guys — it’s just cool to see.”

In a 41-23 win Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium, the Ravens tore through the Colts. Led by star quarterback Lamar Jackson, running back Derrick Henry and wide receiver Zay Flowers, the offense rolled to 506 total yards, the second most in a Week 1 head coaching debut since 1970.

The Ravens have dazzled in season openers before. But Sunday’s blowout win was full of intrigue and surprises. Here’s a look at how Doyle, in his play-calling debut, engineered one of the NFL’s most impressive openers.

Outside-zone success

The Ravens knew what they were getting in offensive line coach and run game coordinator Dwayne Ledford.

“He is the definition of outside zone,” left guard John Simpson joked after Sunday’s game.

Over Ledford’s past five seasons in Atlanta, he helped turn the Falcons’ line into one of the NFL’s best run-blocking units. Their specialty was outside zone,​​ a popular run concept that gets the offensive line moving laterally in unison, reaching and walling off defenders while the running back stretches the play toward the sideline.

Before Minter hired Ledford and Doyle this offseason, outside zone was already a staple in Baltimore. According to Sports Info Solutions, the Ravens’ 677 yards on outside zone and “stretch” runs last season were the sixth-most in the NFL. (The Falcons, unsurprisingly, had an NFL-best 1,060.)

But Sunday’s performance offered proof of concept for an offensive line replacing its three interior starters. The Ravens had 13 carries for 89 yards (6.8 per carry) and three touchdowns on outside-zone and stretch concepts against Indianapolis, with Henry doing most of the damage (12 carries for 88 yards). The Colts allowed at least 89 rushing yards on those concepts just once all last season — in a game, also unsurprisingly, against the Falcons.

Henry, who first emerged as a star in the Tennessee Titans’ outside-zone-heavy run game, had three such runs go for at least 10 yards Sunday, including a 32-yard score in the second quarter and a 22-yard gain one quarter later.

“[Ledford’s] whole philosophy is just speed off the ball,” Simpson said. “So just honing in on the small things, small details, just getting to our sticking point, getting to our landmarks and stuff like that, it just made it so much easier for us. Just being able to play through the movement that they would bring, having guys like Derrick makes it way easier for you.”

Under-center change-ups

The Ravens’ play-action-heavy approach Sunday was predictable. Doyle is, after all, a disciple of Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson, who used run fakes at one of the NFL’s highest rates last season.

Less clear was just what the Ravens’ play-action attack would look like. One answer arrived on their first play from scrimmage.

Jackson lined up under center, got a quick snap, faked a handoff to his right, then peeled back to his left, away from traffic at the line of scrimmage. Flowers was breaking open toward the left sideline. Jackson hit him in stride, then watched Flowers turn a 20-yard catch into a 49-yard catch-and-run.

One quarter later, Jackson wrong-footed the Colts again. Another under-center run fake to the right, another bootleg to the left, another easy completion to Flowers, this one for 12 yards.

In the span of one half, Doyle had given NFL defenses one more thing to worry about. Over Jackson’s first eight seasons in Baltimore, he had just three designed under-center play-action rollouts to his left (nondominant) side, according to SIS, and never more than one in a single year. He did it twice Sunday.

More conventional under-center passing plays worked for Jackson, too. He went 5-for-6 for 110 yards on eight such play-action drop-backs Sunday, though he was sacked twice, including the play on which he was strip-sacked. Overall, Jackson lined up under center on over half of the Ravens’ offensive plays, a notable change in offensive philosophy.

“Best player in the league,” Henry said of Jackson, who had 324 passing yards and one touchdown, along with 40 rushing yards and another score. “He’s been one of the best players in the league for a long time. That’s never [been a] doubt in my mind. I know what Lamar’s about. You all have seen it. He just keeps showing you.”

Flowers’ surprise spot

Flowers had the best half of his career Sunday. He caught five passes for a career-high 150 yards and one touchdown while averaging a ridiculous 13.6 yards per route run — a rate more than double his single-game high last season (6.6 yards per route run, according to Pro Football Focus). Only a minor hamstring injury that sidelined him late in the second quarter could sour his day.

Flowers’ on-field deployment over the game’s first 23 minutes was unsurprising. He lined up in the slot four times, lined up out wide (but inside the numbers) four times, and was in motion at the snap — again ending in the slot — another time.

But on his 10th pass game snap, Flowers showed up near Jackson in the shotgun. Running back Justice Hill was lined up outside the numbers. Over his first three seasons in Baltimore, Flowers had made cameos in the backfield. He’d just never started a route from there, according to SIS.

That changed with Doyle’s second-and-9 play call. At the snap, Flowers looped outside left tackle Ronnie Stanley, then cut back over the middle, using the flexibility built into an apparent “option” route to attack the Colts’ soft spots. Jackson beat Indianapolis’ poorly coordinated zone blitz with a sidearm throw, Flowers caught the pass in stride, and off he went. Helped by the Ravens’ downfield blocking, Flowers weaved his way to the end zone for a 54-yard score.

“To take your quote-unquote weapons — your best players — and move them around and create different ways to get them the ball, create different ways for Lamar to be successful as a quarterback, create a bunch of different ways for Zay to touch the ball ... I just really love the scheme and the versatility that it creates and the confidence that it builds into the players,” Minter said Monday.

Other highlights

• The Ravens majored in 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end and three wide receivers) despite playing without Flowers and injured rookie wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane (wrist) for the entire second half. Their 11 personnel rate in just the first half Sunday was 58.3%, according to SumerSports. Under former offensive coordinator Todd Monken, the Ravens used 11 personnel on more than 40% of their snaps in a season just once, in 2023.
• Doyle also dabbled with heavier personnel groupings Sunday, using 13 personnel (one running back, three tight ends and one wide receiver) on 15.6% of the Ravens’ snaps and deploying six offensive linemen on 10.9% of their snaps, according to SumerSports. Jackson was 5-for-5 for 57 yards out of those looks.
• Flowers wasn’t the only player to show up in unexpected presnap spots. On the Ravens’ opening touchdown, a 5-yard keeper from Jackson on a read option play, Doyle borrowed an exotic look from Monken’s playbook. Left tackle Ronnie Stanley lined up next to right tackle Roger Rosengarten, while rookie tight end Matt Hibner took Stanley’s usual spot. Tight end Durham Smythe, lined up in the backfield, looped around Hibner on an “arc” block, keeping Jackson untouched as he strolled in for the score.