Instant Takeaways From The Ravens’ 41-23 Week 1 Win Over The Colts

The Baltimore Ravens throttled the Indianapolis Colts by a score of 41-23 to kick off their 2026 season. Here are the instant takeaways from Baltimore Beatdown’s staff!

Explosives, explosives, explosives

One positive takeaway from this game is that the Ravens’ new-look offense is clearly capable of generating explosive plays. Zay Flowers was the primary engine of that in the first half, but even after he exited the game, Chris Moore and Derrick Henry added long chunk gains. With a healthier wide receiver room, the Ravens will likely be even more potent in the passing game. – Frank Platko

Penalties, penalties, penalties

It’s easy to come away from this game with plenty of positive takeaways, but I will point out the one glaring negative in Jesse Minter’s head coaching debut, which was the amount of penalties, particularly on the offensive line. With no preseason reps as a starting unit and on the road to start the season, some penalties were expected, but the amount of them is unacceptable. The only thing stopping Baltimore’s offense all day seemed to be ill-timed penalties, which needs to be cleaned up as the unit begins to gel together over the course of the first month. – Dustin Cox

Another takeaway is that the Ravens’ offensive line is clearly not gelled together yet and will need to clean up penalties. It’s almost a miracle that the Ravens were able to score 41 points when they were victimized by what felt like at least one negative pre-snap penalty or offensive line violation on every drive. Committing this many penalties is not sustainable for offensive success moving forward. – Frank Platko

Declan Doyle won’t be in Baltimore for long

Declan Doyle’s resume includes apprenticeships under Sean Payton and Ben Johnson, two of the NFL’s most innovative offensive minds. Now he’s working with one of the league’s best offensive trios in Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, and Zay Flowers. Jackson started his third MVP campaign on Sunday afternoon, while Henry and Flowers looked like OPOY candidates with several explosive plays. If the Ravens can clean up the penalties, they could be the best offense in the league, and other teams could come calling for Doyle as early as next offseason.

Zay Flowers was worth every penny…

One major takeaway from this game should be that Zay Flowers is absolutely worth the contract he received this offseason. Flowers was basically uncoverable in the first half of the game, racking up 150 yards and a touchdown. His impact was felt even more when he left the game with a hamstring injury, as Baltimore’s offense struggled to sustain drives. The Ravens need a healthy Flowers going forward, even if that means sitting him for next week’s game. – Dustin Cox

…but the Ravens will need a plan if he misses time

My takeaway is the Ravens need to have a better game plan if Zay Flowers misses time. While most teams would struggle if their top wideout was out, the Ravens offense looked completely inept for a large portion of the game. No other pass catcher was able to take over, especially when Ja’Kobi Lane went out as well. The eyeglass is over Rashod Bateman, who needs to have a bounce back season and get back to his 2024 form, where he did take over some games and during the playoffs when Flowers missed time. – Zach Canter