BALTIMORE (AP) — The Baltimore Ravens entered the 2026 season with a new head coach, a revamped roster and fresh hope for success.
Unfortunately, Baltimore still appears to have the same old habit of blowing fourth-quarter leads.
The Ravens were poised to win their home opener Sunday before an enthusiastic sellout crowd, leading the New Orleans Saints 17-9 with 15 minutes left. The place was buzzing, and the offense was clicking and first-year coach Jesse Minter was seemingly making all the right moves.
Then the game turned into a rerun of many years past. Controlling the clock with two methodical drives, the Saints scored a pair of touchdowns to pull out a 24-17 victory.
It was a throwback to the days of John Harbaugh, who was fired after the 2025 season in part because his teams failed to make a late lead stand up.
The loss Sunday was Baltimore's league-high 15th since 2021 when leading after three quarters.
“Everybody’s going to just say the same old thing of having a lead, things like that,” Minter said. “So man, you know, we will own this. We’ll look in the mirror. We’ll figure out what we can do to improve.”
Baltimore (1-1) had the ball once in the fourth quarter — going three and out — until its final drive began with 1:21 left. By the time the Ravens started their second possession of the period, their eight-point lead had become a seven-point deficit.
Lamar Jackson, who had such a marvelous game in a 41-23 season-opening win in Indianapolis, had his final throw of the day picked off to seal the Saints' first win of the year.
So, same old Ravens, right? Not necessarily, said defensive tackle Calais Campbell, who played with Baltimore previously before returning this season.
“History doesn't matter,” Campbell said. "It’s just in this moment ... we have to execute to win the ball game, and we didn’t get it done, right? You can talk about it from a story standpoint, but at the end of the day, in this moment, we didn’t get it done, and our history is irrelevant to the future of where we want to go.”
Jackson has endured most of those late collapses. He shook his head when asked to come up with the reason for the repeating disappointment.
“Things just don’t go our way sometimes at the wrong time. That’s what I believe,” Jackson said.
Minter has put a high priority on immediately fixing this flaw.
“It’s early in the season. We’re missing a few key guys, you know,” he said. “But that’s a game we need to find a way to win, especially when we have a lead like that. So look at ourselves first, try to get better this week, and then go to the next one.”
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