After the stunning death of a coach, how the Ravens are playing this season for him

BALTIMORE — For the previous seven seasons, when Baltimore Ravens offensive linemen left the field after a drive, they would head to the sideline to hear a trusted voice. Then, Joe D’Alessandris would get down on one knee and instruct “my boys” on what needed to be improved.

When the Ravens host the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday (8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video), the unit will get together after each series at the same spot at M&T Bank Stadium, but their longtime offensive line coach won’t be there.

D’Alessandris died of a heart attack at the age of 70 on Aug. 25. The loss of the man affectionately known as “Joe D” 11 days before the season kicked off devastated a group that was already undergoing the biggest changes on the team. Now, as the Ravens head into the second half of the season, the sadness of not getting to say goodbye to D’Alessandris has been replaced by the motivation to make him proud.

“His presence is always felt here,” right tackle Roger Rosengarten said.

All they have to do is look at the wall behind their bench or glance at the back decal of their helmets — where the “Joe D” is displayed prominently in white lettering, in white lettering, along with “Jacoby 12,” which honors former Super Bowl star Jacoby Jones who died on July 14.

Others see D’Alessandris’ imprint in the old school work ethic and toughness that has made the Ravens’ offensive line the muscle behind a team that leads the league in yards per game (445.9). The line is clearing paths for Derrick Henry, the NFL’s rushing leader, and blockading pass-rushers from quarterback Lamar Jackson, who is the second-favorite to win his third NFL MVP trophy.

When you ask the Ravens how D’Alessandris might react to their success, they smile.

“He would still be getting on us in the meeting rooms,” Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum said. “He certainly would. He’d be still impressed. He’d always be impressed with Lamar and the things he’s able to do. He would love watching Derrick Henry run the football, just saying, ‘Hey, we got to block for this guy. He’s going to make guys miss.’ But he’s certainly going to find a lot of things that we can work on, that’s for sure.”

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Hard work and discipline was instilled in D’Alessandris while growing up in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, a blue-collar town outside of Pittsburgh. When he was a teenager, D’Alessandris spent his summers with his father working at the steel mill. The grizzled workers taught him that one shot of whiskey got you ready for your long day of work.

It’s no surprise hard work was the trademark of D’Alessandris’ offensive lines over his 45 years of coaching. Under D’Alessandris, the Ravens’ offensive line was the first group on the practice field and typically the last to leave it.

“He was a very serious coach,” left tackle Ronnie Stanley said. “He always wanted to do more. I don’t think it was ever enough. He was always looking for an advantage.”

The first time Ravens coach John Harbaugh spoke with D’Alessandris was when he interviewed for the offensive line coaching job in 2017. Harbaugh was immediately impressed with D’Alessandris’ concepts to pick up blitzes.

“He’s an old-school coach, but he’s got this really flexible system that is really kind of new-school relevant,” Harbaugh said. “I think his No. 1 superpower was pass protection.”

In the previous seven seasons, Baltimore tied for eighth in fewest sacks allowed with 268. Over that time, Ravens quarterbacks had an average of 2.53 seconds in the pocket, which is the fourth-highest rate in the league.

Every Wednesday during the regular season, D’Alessandris announced, “It’s time to get back to basics.” Every lineman knew what that meant.

D’Alessandris would get out the chute. The linemen get in their stance and charge under the 4-foot high metal apparatus and block a teammate, which was a way to emphasize staying low and balanced.

The drill wasn’t the players favorite, but they couldn’t argue with the results. From 2017 to the 2023 season, the Baltimore offensive line ranked in the top 10 in win rates for run and pass blocking.

“He loved to coach for coaching’s sake,” Harbaugh said. “He was a teacher and a developer of talent.”

D’Alessandris’ passion was connecting with players and getting the most out of them. He mentored five Pro Bowl linemen in Baltimore in Marshal Yanda, Orlando Brown Jr., Kevin Zeitler, Stanley and Linderbaum. But D’Alessandris beamed as much about the mid- to late-round picks and undrafted players who became starters like Patrick Mekari, Bradley Bozeman, Ben Powers, Matt Skura and Daniel Faalele.

D’Alessandris used tough love in the meeting room and on the practice field. He wasn’t known as a screamer but would raise his voice when ticked off enough.

When Mekari was an undrafted rookie, one of his first meaningful interactions with D’Alessandris was asking him about a combination block that he thought was called “a ping.”

“A ping? A f—ing ping?,” D’Alessandris responded. “It’s called a f—ing plug.”

Every year, D’Alessandris would tell the rookies this story.

Still, no matter how much D’Alessandris would criticize or correct a player, he’d pull up a chair next to him in the cafeteria a half hour later and ask about their family. He had a knack for remembering the names of everyone’s wife, cousin and even pets.

“He never wrote a player off,” Harbugh said. “He always gave every player the same attention, whether he was the All-Pro player or the guy that was the free agent that nobody thought would make the team. He was genuinely interested in people.”

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D’Alessandris was in charge of the biggest question mark on the Ravens. Baltimore revamped its offensive line this offseason, replacing three starters.

The Ravens didn’t re-sign right guard Kevin Zeitler and left guard John Simpson in free agency and then traded right tackle Morgan Moses to the New York Jets. Baltimore eventually replaced their starters with Mekari at left guard, Faalele at right guard and Rosengarten at right tackle.

But there was another change that no one expected. When the players reported to training camp in July, D’Alessandris revealed he had “a procedure” and it could limit what he could do in drills.

D’Alessandris underwent heart valve repair surgery when minicamp ended in June, which allowed him to get back for the start of training camp. Doctors had been monitoring the situation for 10 years, and the procedure wasn’t considered a big concern. He had to pace himself and limit the number of late nights at the facility.

D’Alessandris didn’t want to burden others with his issues. If he had a doctor’s appointment, he would say things like, “I got to go see a guy about a dog.”

“The last thing I think he wanted is for someone to worry about him,” Linderbaum said.

D’Alessandris’ wife of 42 years died in May 2022, but his three daughters were there to help him. He also took comfort in his other family with the Ravens.

It went well for a few weeks until the preseason opener at home against the Philadelphia Eagles on Aug. 9. D’Alessandris was sitting down more than he normally would.

“He wasn’t himself,” Rosengarten said. “We could tell something was wrong.”

After the game, Mekari told D’Alessandris to go home and take it easy and offered to drive D’Alessandris from the stadium. “No, I’m good,” the coach responded.

A day later, D’Alessandris was absent from the early-morning meetings at the facility. He had collapsed at his condo and was rushed to the hospital.

The Ravens announced on Aug. 14 that D’Alessandris was taking a leave of absence and hired George Warhop, a 27-year offensive line coach, as the temporary fill-in.

“The prognosis was positive,” Warhop said. “I just thought I would hold the fort down for him. When he came back, we’d work together.”

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Linderbaum was woken up suddenly by his girlfriend. It was the morning after the Ravens had finished the preseason, and the players had the day off.

She needed to tell him the news a teammate’s wife had told her: D’Alessandris suffered a heart attack and died.

“I was speechless,” Linderbaum said. “It was sad. I mean, the last I heard, he was getting better.”

Doctors had diagnosed D’Alessandris with an infection and he was getting better with medication. The update from D’Alessandris’ family had been that he was getting strong enough to redo the heart valve procedure.

“I was just in shock. I couldn’t really believe it,” Stanley said. “And then just kind of thinking that I didn’t get to say bye. I didn’t get to see him. So that was kind of the whole emotional kind of roller coaster in that moment.”

The Ravens lost their season opener to the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, 27-20, on Sept. 5. The next day, the team attended the funeral service for D’Alessandris.

Baltimore then fell to 0-2 after a 26-23 upset loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. The offense was struggling, and the reworked line took the brunt of the blame.

The Ravens made a lineup change, moving Mekari from right tackle to left guard to replace an injured Andrew Vorhees. That allowed Rosengarten to start at right tackle.

But the bigger challenge was the emotional weight of losing D’Alessandris.

“It was definitely uneasy when he passed and just getting the whole thing rolling on the season,” Rosengarten said. “We started out pretty slow and then kind of started to pick it up. I definitely could say that there was some change within the start of the season with that. But now it’s just all about taking that momentum and running with it.”

The Ravens felt fortunate that Warhop, who coached offensive lines for eight NFL teams, was available. Warhop remembers being in the World League of American Football with D’Alessandris in the 1990s, and he worked under Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken when they were both with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers six years ago.

Harbaugh praised Warhop for how he has handled the unusual situation of coming into a situation where the scheme and calls were already in place. Over the last three months, Warhop has leaned on the players to explain some terminology to him while he has slowly made changes to fit how he coaches the offensive line.

The players talk about D’Alessandris every day. They’ll bring up one of his quirky sayings like, “don’t mix your mashed potatoes with your peas and carrots.” They’ll refer to run blocking as “snowplowing,” as D’Alessandris would.

“It’s still his room,” Warhop said.

Since the two season-opening losses, the Ravens’ linemen have become the unsung heroes of an offense that leads the NFL with 445.9 yards per game. In a 35-10 win over the Buffalo Bills, the linemen blocked so well that Henry went untouched on an 87-yard touchdown run. In a 41-10 victory over the Denver Broncos, Jackson was hit one time by the then-No. 3 defense in the NFL, which allowed him to record a perfect passer rating.

At the midway point of the season, Jackson leads the NFL in QBR (77.3) and Henry tops the league in rushing yards (1,052). After nearly every game, Jackson and Henry have thanked the offensive line, which has been playing for a higher purpose this season.

“They always wanted to make him proud and happy,” Harbaugh said. “Joe was always easy about letting them know when they didn’t do it right and he let them know when they do it right. He was an open book that way. The guys respect that. His approval was really valuable to those guys.”