Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Declan Doyle is not dodging the heat after that brutal loss to the New Orleans Saints, especially when it comes to the controversial third-and-1 deep shot and those gnarly protection breakdowns. The criticism hit fast after the game, and Doyle faced it head-on this week, pulling back the curtain on the thought process behind that super scrutinized call and breaking down the technical issues that kept those drives from ever getting going.
That Third-and-1 Deep Shot? Doyle Had a Reason (Kind Of)
Look, the whole world saw the Ravens go deep on third-and-1 late in the game instead of just giving the ball to Derick Henry, and everyone was scratching their heads. Doyle totally gets why people are mad, but he explained the team thought they had a read on what the Saints’ defense would do. He said, “We felt like we had a pretty good bead on what they would do in a situation like that. Obviously, you’re coming off of a drive previously where we got the ball in the plus 49 [and] we went backwards. [We were] trying to establish a rhythm, and yet at the same time, being aggressive and being able to go after a defense that you feel like is predictable in that moment.” They were banking on a one-high zone look, thinking there was a chance for a huge play downfield. The gamble totally failed, and Doyle didn’t try to sugarcoat it. He straight-up said he wishes he had called something else after seeing it blow up. That’s a tough pill to swallow, but at least he’s owning it.
O-Line Woes: Technique, Communication, And The Young Guys
That third-and-1 call wasn’t the only headache Doyle addressed. He also dove deep into two protection breakdowns that totally stalled out what could’ve been promising drives. One was all about technique against a pressure look they actually expected from New Orleans. Doyle broke it down: “We’re in an eight-man protection, they run the Mike through, and we just have to do a better job from a technique standpoint of working through the shade, recognizing pressure, and being able to push through to that backer pressure player.” The second screw-up was a pure communication error. “The play after that is really the drop-back where we have a little bit of miscommunication between center and back. We’ve gone through that with our guys and have worked to fix that.” These comments really highlight the struggles for that Ravens offensive line, which is clearly still trying to figure things out. The Saints kept hammering the interior, especially young starters Jovaughn Gwyn and Vega Ioane, and Baltimore just couldn’t stand up to the test. The silver lining? Doyle sees both mistakes as totally fixable, not some deep, systemic problem. The team *did* move the ball effectively in stretches, creating chances. The problem was just failing to finish.
Now, all eyes are on the Dallas Cowboys. The Ravens know another performance riddled with protection lapses and plays that get second-guessed could sink them into a really deep hole this early in the season. Doyle’s biggest challenge is making sure those lessons learned against the Saints actually translate into clean execution when the Ravens hit the field in Rio de Janeiro.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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