Kyle Goon: In his first loss, Ravens coach Jesse Minter’s questionable calls show inexperience

There’s more than enough blame to go around after a game like this. But Jesse Minter knows it only trickles down from the top.

For longtime viewers of the Ravens, the latest fourth-quarter letdown loss to the New Orleans Saints approached slowly and steadily. You could see it peeking over the horizon as the Ravens finished a 52-yard, 7:37-long drive with a field goal instead of a touchdown. These losses only coalesce at the end — but they’re never sudden.

But, if the rookie head coach could feel defeat advancing, he only waved an arm to speed it along in the fourth quarter. When Minter’s best was needed, Baltimore did not get his best.

That’s somewhat to be expected. This is, after all, Minter’s first crusade in one of the NFL’s most high-pressure, high-expectation jobs. Few first-time coaches are expected to immediately overhaul their teams into Super Bowl contenders — but Minter is.

After just the second game of the season, there’s plenty of time to learn from rookie mistakes. But, even with just a quick once-over, the accounting will be tough to stomach. Among the decisions that fall at Minter’s feet, these will remain some of the burning questions he’ll have to consider before the next kickoff:

Why did the Ravens throw deep on third-and-1? That play call will haunt this team. The last coaching staff was criticized for getting away from Derrick Henry too often, and in this loss the future Hall of Famer had just five second-half carries as the Ravens were attempting to protect their lead. To that point Henry had averaged 4.3 yards per carry, and he stood in the backfield on third down as a decoy.

A lot of this falls on coordinator Declan Doyle, who might have been proven right if Chris Moore had only held on to Lamar Jackson’s deep pass. But, in a tie game, the Ravens wound up going three-and-out with just a minute and a half of possession, punting on fourth-and-1 to a red-hot Saints offense.

“Just a play that we liked, thought we had a shot there for an explosive [play],” Minter said. “Obviously it didn’t work out, so it’s always going to be looking at it after the fact.”

Why overthink it? Why not run it with Henry there? Punting on fourth down, albeit with bad field position, only doubled down on the decision not to use your hammer when Henry was probably the right tool for the job.

Why did the Ravens struggle to bring pressure late in the game? The defense’s clear best possession came in the third quarter, when the Saints started at their own 26 then were blown all the way back to the 9. Trey Hendrickson and Mike Green got sacks, and the Ravens were crowing with pride at a pass rush that seemed to find its stride.

That was the last time the Ravens would record a sack of Tyler Shough, who was 12-for-14 for 119 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter. The Saints were 3-for-5 on third down and converted both fourth-down opportunities (though many Ravens fans might disagree with the final goal-line play that was upheld as a score). They did this without starting left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr., who exited in the third quarter with an ankle injury.

The Ravens were not perfect on pressures in Week 1 but had a strong effort against Colts starter Daniel Jones. Shough was much more composed, getting the ball out quickly and coming back for two touchdown drives to finish the game. The third downs were particularly painful — two third-and-long conversions occurred on drives when the Saints scored points.

“It’s a bunch of different things,” Minter said. “We let them off the hook on some simple check-downs where we didn’t leverage the ball. A few of those, and missed the chance on a couple interception-type plays.”

After the Ravens grabbed a pick and a fumble in Week 1, the lack of turnovers loomed large. The defense didn’t feel quite as dynamic. The pressure rate was only 33.3%, a drop from the season debut. With Minter as the defensive play-caller, it’s on him to tighten that area up.

Why did Minter use his challenge on a pass completion for 3 yards? This didn’t swing the game, but it’s one of those head-scratchers that made him look as inexperienced as he is. When Chris Olave caught a 3-yard pass to get to third-and-5, Kyle Hamilton waved his finger for a challenge — but that’s why players aren’t able to throw challenge flags, because they get caught up in the moment.

It’s a coach’s job to be judicious in a pivotal spot. But Minter used the challenge, saying he thought he saw a bobble when Olave hit the ground. The call was upheld, and on the next play Olave had a 12-yard catch — meaning the Saints would have converted whether it was 5 yards to the sticks or 8. It was an odd moment to throw the flag.

There was probably at least one other time when having a challenge would have come in handy. With 5:41 remaining on the Baltimore 44, Shough sneaked the ball across the marker on fourth-and-1 — or did he? It might have been worth a second look, but the challenge was gone. At minimum, it would have been a higher-leverage moment to throw the flag.

There are a lot of other reasons the Ravens lost Sunday, and it bears scrutiny that, though the coaching staff has changed, much of the personnel remains.

Captains such as Jackson, Henry, Hamilton and Roquan Smith need to take a long, hard look in the mirror and think about why their groups have been a part of so many of these late letdowns against less talented teams. They bear a tremendous amount of responsibility for this becoming one of the Ravens’ unfortunate hallmarks.

But Minter is the head coach now, and when it comes to losses, the head coach eats first. He will get time to learn from his mistakes, but the learning curve in Baltimore is steep.

Growing pains are to be expected. That doesn’t mean, however, that they are welcome.