Game recap

Ravens @ Colts

2026 Wk 1 · IND 23, BAL 41

A debut scoreline is the first hard evidence of what a new staff changes and what it keeps. Minter came from the defensive side, and the offense he inherited scored 41 while his defense gave up 23. The four coaches ahead of him on this list include Sean McVay, still with the Rams, and Dennis Erickson, whose San Francisco stint lasted two seasons. A big first game predicts neither path.

FanIQ Research · September 14, 2026 · 7 facts, every one from the play-by-play

Jesse Minter's head coaching debut: 41 points. Only four coaches since 2000 scored more in a first game.

Rare

Most points in a coach's first game as head coach of that team, 2000 to 2026 (217 debuts)

Coach	Team	Season	Week	Pts	Opp pts
Dennis Erickson	SF	2003	1	49	7
Sean McVay	LA	2017	1	46	9
Wade Phillips	DAL	2007	1	45	35
Steve Mariucci	DET	2003	1	42	24
Mike Martz	LA	2000	1	41	36
Jesse Minter	BAL	2026	1	41	23

Two hundred seventeen head coaches have opened a stint with a team since 2000. Six of them reached 41 points on day one, and Minter is one of the six. He shares the 41 with Mike Martz, whose 2000 Rams needed every point in a 41 to 36 game. Baltimore won by 18.

Why it matters. A debut scoreline is the first hard evidence of what a new staff changes and what it keeps. Minter came from the defensive side, and the offense he inherited scored 41 while his defense gave up 23. The four coaches ahead of him on this list include Sean McVay, still with the Rams, and Dennis Erickson, whose San Francisco stint lasted two seasons. A big first game predicts neither path.

A 300-yard passer plus a 140-yard, three-touchdown rusher: 11 games since 1999, and Henry is in two of them.

Rare

Every regular season game since 1999 with a 300-yard passer and a teammate with 140+ rushing yards and 3+ rushing TDs

Season	Wk	Team	Opp	Passer	Pass yds	Rusher	Rush yds	Rush TD
1999	4	CAR	WAS	Steve Beuerlein	334	Tim Biakabutuka	142	3
1999	17	GB	ARI	Brett Favre	311	Dorsey Levens	146	4
2000	17	BUF	SEA	Doug Flutie	366	Antowain Smith	147	3
2004	8	KC	IND	Trent Green	389	Priest Holmes	143	3
2005	14	KC	DAL	Trent Green	340	Larry Johnson	143	3
2005	17	KC	CIN	Trent Green	344	Larry Johnson	201	3
2006	8	KC	SEA	Damon Huard	312	Larry Johnson	155	3
2019	4	CLE	BAL	Baker Mayfield	342	Nick Chubb	165	3
2020	16	NO	MIN	Drew Brees	311	Alvin Kamara	155	6
2021	2	TEN	SEA	Ryan Tannehill	347	Derrick Henry	182	3
2026	1	BAL	IND	Lamar Jackson	324	Derrick Henry	144	3

Lamar Jackson threw for 324 yards on 25 attempts. Derrick Henry ran 24 times for 144 yards and three touchdowns. That pairing has happened in 11 regular season games since 1999. Only two rushers appear more than once: Larry Johnson three times across 2005 and 2006, and Henry twice with two different passers, Ryan Tannehill in 2021 and now Jackson. Jackson also ran for 40 yards and a score of his own.

Why it matters. A defense can usually sell out to stop one of these two things. The list above is short because a game where the pass and the run both hit their ceiling needs a defense that has no answer to either. Larry Johnson did it three times in two seasons for Kansas City, twice with Trent Green, and that run is the closest comparison to what Baltimore put on the field here. Henry appearing twice with two different passers points at the back rather than the system.

Baltimore's offense ranked 12th in the league last season at +0.034 EPA per play. It opened 2026 at +0.321.

Comparison

Offensive EPA per play, 2025 regular season, league top 5 plus both teams

Rank	Team	Plays	EPA/play	Success%
1	NE	1017	0.159	48.5%
2	LA	1056	0.145	51.8%
3	BUF	1065	0.136	48.5%
4	GB	993	0.115	47.7%
5	DAL	1104	0.098	46.6%
9	IND	1011	0.072	46.3%
12	BAL	956	0.034	44.6%

This game, offensive EPA per play

Team	Plays	Yards	EPA/play	Success%
BAL	60	509	0.321	50.0%
IND	53	251	-0.241	41.5%

No offense in the 2025 regular season averaged better than +0.159 EPA per play across a full year. Baltimore, 12th at +0.034, doubled the league leader's rate for one afternoon and gained 509 yards on 60 plays, 8.5 a snap. Indianapolis came in ranked ninth at +0.072 and finished the game at minus 0.241. The Colts' defense had allowed +0.004 per play in 2025, 16th in the league.

Why it matters. EPA per play is the cleanest single read on how much an offense moved the field per snap, and a jump from +0.034 to +0.321 is far outside normal week to week variance. The direction matters for Baltimore because its 2025 baseline was built on the run, second in the league at 156.6 rushing yards a game, and this game added a 324 yard passing day on top of 202 on the ground. One game is a small sample, and the opponent's defense was middle of the league last year rather than elite, so the baseline to watch is whether the passing half of this holds.

First half mirror image: Baltimore +0.381 EPA per play, Indianapolis minus 0.381.

Split

Offensive efficiency by half, both teams

Team	Half	Plays	Yards	EPA/play	Success%
BAL	1st	35	326	0.381	45.7%
BAL	2nd	25	183	0.239	56.0%
IND	1st	30	112	-0.381	33.3%
IND	2nd	23	139	-0.059	52.2%

Score at the end of each quarter

Quarter	IND	BAL	Plays
1	6	14	40
2	13	28	57
3	16	31	32
4	23	41	38

Baltimore gained 326 yards on 35 first half plays, more than Indianapolis gained all game. The two offenses posted the same EPA per play number with opposite signs before halftime. After the break both teams moved toward the middle: Indianapolis improved to minus 0.059 on 23 plays, and Baltimore eased to +0.239 on 25 while still adding 13 points.

Why it matters. The first half is where this game was decided, and the size of the gap there is the point. A 0.76 EPA per play difference between two offenses over 65 combined snaps is a rout in efficiency terms, not a few big plays. The second half numbers are closer to what two decent teams normally look like, which fits a 28 to 13 halftime lead: Baltimore ran more and threw less, and Indianapolis got the ball back more often. The Colts' 23 second half snaps are a modest sample, so read their improvement as direction rather than magnitude.

Henry's eighth three-TD game ranks third since 1999. Jonathan Taylor, across the field, is tied fourth.

Milestone

Most regular season games with 3+ rushing touchdowns, 1999 to 2026

Rank	Player	Games
1	LaDainian Tomlinson	12
2	Priest Holmes	9
3	Derrick Henry	8
T4	Jonathan Taylor	6
T4	Marshall Faulk	6
T4	Shaun Alexander	6

Derrick Henry's eight games with 3+ rushing touchdowns

Season	Wk	Team	Opp	Carries	Yards	TD
2018	14	TEN	JAX	17	238	4
2019	17	TEN	HOU	32	211	3
2020	12	TEN	IND	27	178	3
2021	2	TEN	SEA	35	182	3
2021	5	TEN	JAX	29	130	3
2021	6	TEN	BUF	20	143	3
2025	17	BAL	GB	36	216	4
2026	1	BAL	IND	24	144	3

Henry scored from 4, 32, and 3 yards out. That is his eighth regular season game with three or more rushing touchdowns, one behind Priest Holmes and four behind LaDainian Tomlinson. Two of the eight came against Indianapolis. Jonathan Taylor, who scored twice for the Colts in this game, sits one place below Henry at six, level with Marshall Faulk and Shaun Alexander.

Why it matters. Three-touchdown games are a goal line workload stat more than a big play stat, and they only pile up for a back an offense keeps handing the ball to inside the 10. Henry has now done it in both a Tennessee scheme and a Baltimore one, and his 2025 and 2026 entries came at ages 31 and 32, well past the point where most backs stop getting those carries. The Tomlinson and Holmes totals were built in offenses designed around one back; Henry shares his with a quarterback who ran for a score here too.

Indianapolis led 6-0 after a missed extra point. Baltimore then scored 28 straight in 20 minutes of clock.

Trend

Every score in the game, with the running score

Qtr	Clock	Team	Play	IND	BAL
1	10:36	IND	Jonathan Taylor 1 yd run, extra point no good	6	0
1	8:25	BAL	Lamar Jackson 5 yd run	6	7
1	4:08	BAL	Derrick Henry 4 yd run	6	14
2	7:04	BAL	Zay Flowers 54 yd catch from Jackson	6	21
2	5:12	BAL	Derrick Henry 32 yd run	6	28
2	2:18	IND	Jonathan Taylor 3 yd run	13	28
2	0:05	BAL	Tyler Loop 57 yd field goal	13	31
3	8:00	IND	Spencer Shrader 58 yd field goal	16	31
4	12:50	BAL	Derrick Henry 3 yd run	16	38
4	10:32	IND	Tyler Warren 9 yd catch from Daniel Jones	23	38
4	4:13	BAL	Tyler Loop 45 yd field goal	23	41

The Colts scored first, but Spencer Shrader pushed the extra point wide right and the lead was 6. Baltimore then scored on four straight possessions that reached the end zone: Jackson at 8:25, Henry at 4:08, Flowers on a 54 yard catch at 7:04 of the second quarter, and Henry again from 32 yards at 5:12. From Taylor's touchdown to Henry's second, 20 minutes and 24 seconds of game clock passed and the score went from 6-0 Indianapolis to 28-6 Baltimore. The Colts never got closer than 15 after that.

Why it matters. The run of 28 straight is the whole game in one stretch: the only lead change came on Jackson's 5 yard run, and Baltimore never trailed again. Four consecutive touchdown drives in the first 25 minutes is what a +0.381 first half EPA per play looks like on the scoreboard. The kicking note is real but small: even with the extra point, Indianapolis would have trailed 28-7 at the same point, so the missed kick changed the shape of the deficit rather than the outcome.

An 18-point win is Baltimore's largest ever over Indianapolis. The Colts still lead the series 10 to 7.

Milestone

Baltimore's seven wins over Indianapolis since 1999, by margin

Season	Wk	Type	Site	BAL	IND	Margin
2026	1	REG	Away	41	23	18
2012	WC	POST	Home	24	9	15
2011	14	REG	Home	24	10	14
2020	9	REG	Away	24	10	14
2001	12	REG	Home	39	27	12
2017	16	REG	Home	23	16	7
2021	5	REG	Home	31	25	6

Seventeen meetings since 1999, playoffs included. Indianapolis has won ten, and its margins run as high as 28 (31-3 in 2008) and 24 (44-20 in 2007). Baltimore had never beaten the Colts by more than the 15 of the 2012 Wild Card game until this one. The 41 points are also the most Baltimore has scored in the series, ahead of the 39 in 2001.

Why it matters. This series has been lopsided in one direction for most of its history, with the Colts' Manning era accounting for the biggest margins and both playoff wins. Baltimore's seven wins had all been by 15 or fewer, and five of them came at home. Winning by 18 in Indianapolis reverses the usual pattern of the matchup, though the current rosters share little with the ones that built the 10 to 7 record.

FanIQ answers any NFL stats question with receipts, on your phone.

Get FanIQ free Get it on Google Play