What did the Ravens show in September? Here are 5 stats shaping a young season.

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In his first September as an NFL head coach, Jesse Minter was afforded only so much beginner’s luck.

The Ravens lost their star wide receiver in Week 1, their starting left tackle in Week 2, and a second and third potential starting center in Week 3. They collapsed at home in Baltimore and nearly on the road in Brazil.

And yet, after a pulsating 34-31 win Sunday over the Dallas Cowboys in Rio de Janeiro, the Ravens will enter Sunday’s Week 4 home game against the lowly Tennessee Titans with a tie for first in the AFC North and a plausible case that their best is still ahead.

“It is great to win a game again, but then, so many things that we can do better, that we can get better at and that we will chase,” Minter said Monday. “So it’s an exciting time for us. We are excited to get back here and have a normal week at home.”

It’s silly to draw any conclusions from three games. But it’s tempting to look for trends. Here are five stats that shaped the Ravens’ September and could inform what comes next.

9 yards per route run

Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers’ September was incomplete and unprecedented. He lit up the Indianapolis Colts in the first half of Week 1, missed the New Orleans Saints in Week 2 and, on a not-quite-totally-healthy hamstring, cooked the Cowboys late in Week 3. He had 84 receiving yards on just 15 routes Sunday, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, including the crucial 27-yarder that set up kicker Tyler Loop’s game-winning field goal as time expired.

With 234 total receiving yards on 26 routes, Flowers’ 9 yards per route run is the highest mark of any player with at least 25 routes over the first three weeks of a season since at least 2016, according to NGS. It’s also over three times better than his production last season, when Flowers (2.6 yards per route run) finished sixth among qualifying NFL receivers.

Flowers’ down-to-down efficiency and league-leading target rate (48% of routes) will drop as his playing time increases, but an uptick in participation only will make the Ravens more dangerous, not less. Flowers leads the NFL with 19.5 yards per target, 0.7 expected points added per route and a 38.5% first-down rate, according to NGS. Offensive coordinator Declan Doyle has especially weaponized him on crossing routes, with five such catches on six targets for 83 yards.

2.7 yards per inside run

The Ravens’ uneven rushing attack can be distilled quite easily: Outside the tackles, they have one of the NFL’s best ground games. Inside the tackles, they have one of the worst.

Through three weeks, on runs that Sports Info Solutions has charted as directed to the left inside, middle and right inside, the Ravens have 25 carries for 67 yards (2.7 per attempt). Only five teams have a lower average on inside runs. Only two have a worse success rate.

On running back Derrick Henry’s two fourth-and-1 stops Sunday, the Ravens’ failures were elemental: Their offensive line couldn’t get much knockback against a poor Cowboys run defense. Henry finished with 25 yards after contact on inside runs against Dallas — and yet had just 23 yards total on those 11 attempts. Overall, the Ravens are averaging just 0.7 yards before contact per carry on inside runs. Only the injury-depleted Green Bay Packers and rebuilding Cleveland Browns have fared worse.

The Ravens rebuilt their interior offensive line this offseason to better protect quarterback Lamar Jackson and pave more holes for Henry, but now they’ll have to manage with a midseason rebuild. Vega Ioane is expected to move from right guard to center after injuries to Jovaughn Gwyn and Ethan Pocic on Sunday. His relocation will only add to the pressure on left guard John Simpson, who had an up-and-down September, and backup guards Andrew Vorhees and Emery Jones Jr. (though it is possible the Ravens will opt to sign or trade for help.)

7.1% pressure-to-sack ratio

The Ravens signed outside linebacker Trey Hendrickson this offseason to boost a pass rush that couldn’t reliably deliver quarterback pressures or sacks.

So far, Hendrickson’s helped solve the pressure problem. The finishing, however, still needs some work.

The Ravens enter Week 4 with the NFL’s No. 10 pressure rate (36.4%), according to SIS, a healthy boost from last season, when they ranked 30th (32.8%). Yet their sack rate (5.1%) remains in the NFL’s bottom third, ranking 23rd a year after finishing 31st (4.3%). Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott was sacked just once on 45 drop-backs Sunday.

Hendrickson’s pass rush profile mirrors the Ravens’ own. Despite playing with a reportedly broken finger the past two weeks, Hendrickson ranks seventh in the NFL in pressures (14) this season, according to Pro Football Focus. But that production has translated to only one sack, a 7.1% conversion rate out of step with his performance in recent years. In 2024, when Hendrickson had 18 sacks for the Cincinnati Bengals, he had a 21.7% pressure-to-sack ratio. In 2023, during a 20-sack season, Hendrickson had a 25.3% pressure-to-sack ratio.

Even if Hendrickson’s top-end burst has declined, pressures tend to be more predictive of pass rush success than sacks. And with a more locked-in Ravens secondary, Hendrickson should have more opportunities for clean-up sacks.

1.6 average yards of separation

Only nine cornerbacks have allowed more yards when targeted in coverage this season than Marlon Humphrey, according to PFF. He allowed 95 yards Sunday and has given up 166 overall entering Week 4.

But it’s not as if Humphrey has routinely found himself out of position. According to NGS, Humphrey is averaging just 1.6 yards of separation from the receiver he’s defending when the ball arrives, the third-best mark in the NFL among qualifying defensive backs and No. 1 among cornerbacks. Seattle Seahawks safety Julian Love ranks first in the league (1.3 yards of separation) and has allowed just 16 yards in coverage. Arizona Cardinals safety Andrew Wingard is second (1.4 yards) and has given up just 36 yards.

Humphrey was cooked downfield Sunday on a 49-yard bomb to Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, but most of the completions he’s given up have been hard earned or have come on well-designed zone beaters. Still, target prevention is a skill, and Humphrey needs to do more to force quarterbacks to look elsewhere. No Raven has had more passes thrown his way this season.

3 deep completions allowed

Even as Ravens safeties Malaki Starks and Jaylinn Hawkins have struggled at points this season, they’ve done their most important and consistent work as the secondary’s last line of defense.

Last season, when a leaky run defense forced coordinator Zach Orr out of his preferred two-high-safety structures, the Ravens’ downfield pass defense struggled. It gave up five completions of at least 20 air yards in a season-opening loss to the Buffalo Bills and finished the season with an NFL-worst 34 deep catches allowed, according to SIS.

This year, the Ravens have largely deterred deep shots. Opponents have attempted just five passes of at least 20 air yards, the second fewest in the NFL. The Ravens have allowed just three such completions, tied for the ninth fewest. Prescott attempted four throws at least 15 yards downfield Sunday, his fewest in a game this season, and completed two.

Minter has opted to try to stop the run without pushing a safety toward the box, allowing the Ravens to use more split-safety looks, jumping from a 32.6% usage rate in 2025 (second lowest in the NFL) to 54.7% in 2026 (eighth highest), according to NGS. Those lighter boxes have hurt the Ravens’ run defense at times, but they’ve also forced opposing quarterbacks to look for targets short of the sticks more often.