We knew the Baltimore Ravens had some great football players and other veterans of repute but until we see it on the field, we can’t evaluate the differences between this year and last year. Luke Jones and Nestor give praise to new head coach Jesse Minter and the entire operation of the men of purple after a thorough 41-23 beating of the Colts in Indianapolis to start a season with the promise that comes with Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and Zay Flowers touching the ball.

The discussion assessed the Ravens’ 41–23 season-opening win over Indianapolis and identified the team as an encouraging AFC contender.

Offensive Strengths

• Luke and Nestor highlighted Lamar Jackson’s health and playmaking, an explosive first half, and the offense’s ability to score through multiple weapons.
• Zay Flowers emerged as the offense’s most important supporting player after recording 150 receiving yards before leaving with a hamstring issue.
• Derrick Henry remains especially valuable for controlling games after the Ravens build a lead, while the offensive line must reduce penalties.

Defensive Outlook

• Jesse Minter’s debut was viewed positively: the defense created takeaways through Roquan Smith and Marlon Humphrey and generally limited Indianapolis after its opening drive.
• The two-high defensive approach may concede some rushing yardage while prioritizing prevention of explosive passes.
• Can Flowers return quickly, and does Baltimore need additional veteran wide receiver insurance before the trade deadline? The status of Flowers and Jacoby Lane remains unresolved.

• Host the Maryland Crab Cake Tour at State Fair in Catonsville on the 24th. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Release the 28th anniversary list of greatest bands this week, including related rock-and-roll stories and backstage concert photos. (@Nestor Aparicio)

Season Opener

• The Ravens defeated the Colts 41–23 in Indianapolis.
• The result created optimism about the team’s AFC contender potential and Jesse Minter’s coaching debut.

Offensive Performance

• Lamar Jackson’s mobility and health were major positives.
• Zay Flowers produced an explosive first half before leaving with a hamstring concern.
• Derrick Henry provided a strong option for closing out a game with a lead.
• Penalties and the offense’s reduced production after Flowers exited were identified as concerns.

Defensive Performance

• Roquan Smith and Marlon Humphrey recorded takeaways.
• The defense improved after Indianapolis’ opening drive and emphasized limiting deep passes.
• Luke and Nestor discussed the expected tradeoff of allowing some rushing yards while protecting against explosive plays.

Forward Look

• Baltimore faces New Orleans next.
• The team must monitor Flowers’ and Jacoby Lane’s injuries and evaluate receiver depth.

Nestor Aparicio 0:02
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Tassel Baltimore. We call this thing Baltimore positive. Wearing my GBMC gear in an effort to get Christine to get me some new GBMC gear, but I am walking a mile. We we walked a mile here for nine months with the Baltimore Orioles. We can now say they are a DOA, and it is fully football season. And the team that can deliver a parade, at least delivered for one day, the kind of parade that me and my daddy would appreciate beating hell out of the Indianapolis Colts in Indianapolis to start the season. We’re gonna be doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour next Thursday at State Fair. We were at Costas on Friday doing a lot of rock and roll for the 28th anniversary, and if I haven’t shaved in a couple days, it’s because I’ve been up all night looking at Van Halen and Aerosmith pictures, waiting, waiting for 1 p.m. to happen. And dude, right out of the gate, um, we’re gonna go through it, Luke. Right? I mean, we’re gonna go through the good, the bad, the ugly, all that. Uh, but by the by, they look the part of an AFC favorite, right?

Luke Jones 1:07
AFC contender, sure. I mean, you can certainly look at what Buffalo did in Houston. You can look at the Bengals actually starting a season off looking pretty good for once, right? I mean, that that generally hasn’t been the case the last few years at least. But I think, by and large, when you consider what the last seven and a half months, we’ve talked about it a lot. It’s been the honeymoon with Jesse Minter, right? Hadn’t won a game, hadn’t lost a game, right? Nothing really to be unhappy about. A player’s excited, all of that, but you don’t really know until you kick it off for real, and we saw this Thursday night with the Rams and the 40 Niners, right? And there were people, national pundits, talking about the Rams going undefeated, and they lose, and now Miles Garrett’s on the shelf, and suddenly they’ll probably be okay. But it speaks to how things can change so quickly. But I think if Sunday was any indication the Ravens and Jesse Minter? There’s a chance for this to be a fruitful marriage, and I’m not just talking 2026. You’re hoping that he has a tenure anywhere close to what predecessors like John Harbaugh and Brian Billick had. So it starts off on the on the right foot. You never really know in week one. There’s plenty to clean up. There’s no doubt about that, but beyond, I guess, a couple of the injuries, specifically to Zay Flowers, who was just unbelievable through the first 25 minutes of that football game, fastest guy

Nestor Aparicio 2:31
on the field. No, he’s not right. Literally, there

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Luke Jones 2:33
wasn’t a whole lot to be upset about. Okay, the penalties. We can talk about that. You’d rather your defense not come out on the opening drive and and have them march right down the field, but 41-23 in the opener against a team that, as we talked about a lot, not that there are very high expectations for Indianapolis this year, but they started off really hot last year and they were a team that looked like they at least had a chance to be in the conversation in the AFC in what November, and obviously that went the other way the rest of the way. So you don’t, you never really know. But I don’t know how you don’t come away from that game really, really encouraged by what you saw. Frankly, there was a lot of good to see in all three phases, including hey, Tyler Loop made a long field goal and then made a field goal to to kind of remove any small morsel of doubt about the outcome in the fourth quarter. There was just a whole lot to be happy about as it pertained to Jesse Minter’s debut and Declan Doyle’s first game calling plays at any level. I think you come away from this one feeling quite excited about the Baltimore Ravens, even if yes, there will be some some relative negatives that we’ll talk about that they’ll need to clean up here moving forward.

Nestor Aparicio 3:44
Full disclosure: I got out of shower Sunday morning, and the first thing I reached for it just happened to be this silly Houston Oiler-colored thing that I have, and it wasn’t the Derrick Henry jersey, and I wouldn’t wear that. I was gonna wear it. I thought about it. Had look, if those creeps in Tennessee didn’t put the jersey back on, I’d be wearing my Derrick Henry jersey. I really would be. You know how good looking it is until it’s not anymore. But I got a chance to dust off that tweet from three years ago, buddy, that said they would be my word unstoppable with Derrick Henry, and I guess it really was sort of a three-prong punch, right? There’s the Lamar Zay Flowers part of the first half and sort of spreading the ball around a little bit and sort of feeling out the engine, meaning Bateman caught one, Mark Andrews dropped a couple and then caught one or a couple. But but then there’s the Derrick Henry thing that when you’re winning by two touchdowns, three touchdowns at halftime. It kind of should be the plan, right? Like you know, whether Zay Flowers is hurt or not, whether he’s zigging and zagging. And I said they were going to score 60. You don’t need to score 60 when you’re up 30. I mean, I you know just like give Derrick Henry the ball, feed the beast, and go home. I mean. And 652 52 like okay and and at this point in his career um I don’t know you want to put Lamar in the Hall of Fame for the for the MVPs if they if both of their careers stop right now Derrick Henry’s got the stats to be the Hall of Famer you know before Lamar based on longevity but I don’t know. As I sit back in week one and watch this thing and know how they’re going to freight train most of these teams in next six or seven weeks if they stay healthy or that they should. I mean, I saw the Saints try to squeak out their little two point thing on Sunday, and we’ll get them this week. We’ll have plenty of time to talk about all that. But you know, they got a couple special players on this team, and I don’t, and that doesn’t mean Roquan with the pick or Kyle Hamilton sort of changing the game just as a decoy in the middle of the field, and Malachi Starks who had a little bit of a squeaker of a game comes in and makes the big play at the end when they’re up three touchdowns. But I mean, everybody got a little taste. I mean, Ronnie Stanley had in had the the the penalties, and I mean the whole front line had penalties, right? I mean whether it was right, literally across negative

Luke Jones 6:06
by far. Other everybody had penalties,

Nestor Aparicio 6:09
right? But as far as getting beaten, Vaughn had that happen a couple times, and up the middle as you expect, and didn’t see as much of Hendrickson as maybe you won or whatever. But in a general sense, I mean Humphrey stripping the ball. I don’t know, big big effort, big big effort, and kudos to Jesse Minter. Dad’s on the field. DeCosta sneering on fourth and three, and they don’t get it. I mean, it was it was quite a day out there at the Hoosier Dome.

Luke Jones 6:39
Yeah, yeah. I want to go back to what you said about Derrick Henry because I’ve got a different spin on this at this point in time. And look, what you said, and especially considering where they were when you’re playing the second half, Zay Flowers is out for the game, Jacoby Lane’s out for the game, right? You you already had put down Tez Walker and Elijah Surratt, so you’re already in a position where Legente Wester is lining up, doing the things that Zay Flowers does, and Chris Moore, who had a really nice game, kick for turn, all that. Which, by the

Nestor Aparicio 7:09
way, is exactly the way they did it in preseason games, right? Like those were the guys out there running around. So they they they at least had reps ready to try.

Luke Jones 7:17
Well, I mean, Chris Moore’s been in the league for a decade. I mean, sure, he’s he’s hung around because he knows what he’s doing. He’s not. I mean, if he has to play regularly, that but to our point,

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Nestor Aparicio 7:25
you don’t have to go to them when you’re up 17 points. I

Luke Jones 7:28
know, but but I want to go back to because you you led with Derrick Henry, and I’m not going to lead with Derrick Henry because for me, I think you’re seeing a transformation with this offense. That Derrick Henry is now the third most valuable player on this offense. Lamar Jackson by a wide margin, right? Captain, obvious. I think we’re seeing Zay Flowers become such an incredibly dynamic receiver. And look, the hamstring we’re going to see. I would, I would certainly hope this was way more precautionary, considering. And I, I don’t know for certain if it’s the same one he was dealing with at the end of the summer, but you see someone, and especially now with Declan Doyle, who I mean, say Flowers lined up in the backfield a couple times pre-snap, right? You’re seeing him motion, and you’re seeing him being utilized in so many different ways, and he’s just-I mean-he’s the human joystick in terms of the way he can change directions on a dime, right? And and well, that first drive when he he yeah, I mean that that play

Nestor Aparicio 8:28
was all him. You know what I said? I said to my wife, I’m like, they’re wearing the right shoes, right? And then he slipped twice when he had the thing, and I’m just thinking, like, it felt to me like he had a real grip on the field and on turf, a guy like him can be deadly. Different than grass, I think, for for a speed guy.

Luke Jones 8:46
Sure, I mean on a fast track. I mean, and we’ve seen this with Lamar over the years at different times, right? And I mean, Lamar’s scramble that escape in the sec on the second drive was just when you consider at that point he had had what five or six live bullets at that point in the game. After not being hit or being threatened to hit the entire summer, right for Lamar to escape there and take off. One, it showed you how healthy he is compared to the second half of last year, and two, it just speaks to his incredible, extraordinary Hall of Fame, never before seen kind of ability with the second play that it’s called as a quarterback, right? There’s the design first play, and then what he does when things break down or things go awry. But we could do

Nestor Aparicio 9:31
anything, literally, no question. He’s the fastest guy on the field, right? So, so

Luke Jones 9:36
right away, it’s a reminder that whether you’re Declan Doyle, or whether you’re Todd Monkin, or whether you’re Greg Roman, once upon a time, or even Marty Morningwig, right? Lamar’s first year when they kind of ran the the the bumper, you know, the electronic football version of that that offense that they did when Flacco goes down halfway through the year. Lamar makes everyone look smart. I mean, he does. When Lamar’s right and healthy and upright, he makes everyone look smart. I mean, he just does. And that’s not to say the coaches haven’t made him better too, but he’s that special. Well, you get a second

Nestor Aparicio 10:12
chance in a play, almost like you did with the Maryland lottery to win the big prize, right? The second chance in there is when really bad things happen to you, if you Lou Emma Reno, Anna Rumo, Anna Rumo Rumo, yeah, I know it’s a hard one. Anna Rumo, if you’re him, dude, when he came out of that pile and came running, if you’re him and you’re the guy that was there the first leg breaks that happened in Cincinnati. I mean, you got. I mean, I want to see the NFL films of him talking about the nightmares he’s had chasing Lamar Jackson with 19 times now. Oh, and

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Luke Jones 10:53
consider this, and I want to get I want to get back to Zay because I was trying to make a point there, but consider Lou Anarumo. Yes, experience going up against Lamar and plenty of the Ravens’ offensive personnel, even though it’s much different now, right? We know that they underwent quite a bit more change than the defensive side of the ball, but consider that you’re preparing for Lamar Jackson anyway. You’re preparing for Derrick Henry anyway. You’re preparing for Zay Flowers anyway. But then you throw in a first-time truly owning an offense coordinator in Declan Doyle, first time in his career that it’s completely his, and you’re trying to figure out okay how much of his offense is going to be Sean Payton, who was his first tutor in the NFL and and worked with him, and how much you’re gonna? He’s gonna draw from Ben Johnson, right? So you have such an extraordinarily wide net that you need to cast from a preparation standpoint just to prepare for the you know for this Ravens offense. Like you’re guessing for Lamar

Nestor Aparicio 11:57
when there was tape, right? It was third and off. So then

Luke Jones 12:00
when you get a situation where it’s third and long on the second drive, and you’re thinking, “Oh right, we’re going to get him off the field. It’s a tie game. No harm. You don’t have any tape to

Nestor Aparicio 12:07
show your defense to even like prepare for it at all. Like you

Luke Jones 12:11
have him wrapped up there, and he makes this incredible escape, and then you say, “Oh wait, this isn’t the diminished version of Lamar the second half of last season. I mean, right there. How do you not just throw your hands up? But Zay Flowers, there was quite a bit of discourse, and you know, I was more than fine with the deal that they gave him over the summer, because one, I think he’s that good of a player, and two, also trying to project out where are these wide receiver deals going in the next couple years, and I think when Natty will replace

Nestor Aparicio 12:42
him if you lose him, exactly

Luke Jones 12:43
right. I mean, it’s the same thing talking about Lamar, right? I mean, like you can say all you want about all you know injuries or or this or that you might not like or that he’s difficult to negotiate with any of that. It’s like, what’s your alternative, right? Like, what do you think you’re going to draft the next Josh Allen? You know, if you’re going to try to replace Lamar, but but with Zay, I think you just saw, and I think it was so stark the contrast in what happened with their offense when Zay goes out of the game. Right, he has his last completion, which or his last catch, which put him at 150 receiving yards with five minutes to go in the first half. I mean, just an extraordinary performance. Henry scores a touchdown on the next play, but then you look at the Ravens’ offense from that point on. Now, to their credit, they were able because they had a lead, and because this is what you should do, especially when Zay Flowers is out of the game and Jacoby Lane’s out of the game, they were able to lean on Indy with the run game, and that’s a credit to the O line, and obviously a credit to Derrick Henry. But you look at those first what five drives from the moment that Zay Flowers exits the ball game, the fumble, and obviously that was a you know just protection there. I mean, free rusher, and you know the guy comes off from the blind side, knocks the ball out, but then punt, they were able to get the field goal in the final 52 seconds of the first half. But then they come out punt, punt again. So for me, that was a pretty stark, you know, illustration of just how important Zay Flowers has become to this offense now. And don’t get me wrong, like this isn’t like I’m not complimenting Zay Flowers while attempting to tear down Derrick Henry’s value in the process. They’re both extremely valuable to them, but I think you just I think you’re seeing how highly the Ravens think of Zay Flowers. One that they paid him what they did and made him one of the highest paid wide receivers in the NFL, and two I think you see right out of the gate, how much of an emphasis, how much of a an effort there was to get him the football? I mean, we talked about this last year. He had already supplanted Mark Andrews in terms of Lamar Jackson’s, and it’s not a safety net because they’re completely different players, of course. But Zay is option number one now. There’s there’s no disputing it, right? I mean, you’re talking about someone who’s had 1000 yard seasons already, was second in the AFC in receiving yards last year, and that was even with Lamar missing a handful of games, and you just saw it. I mean, this offense looked completely unstoppable until Zay exits the game, and then you know they had the the Colts actually had a chance to make some stops, then at that point in time. So, so you know, I’m. I don’t say that to be disparaging or to be dismissive of what you said. Obviously, Derrick Henry’s still incredibly valuable and important to them, and especially when you consider if something happens to him, it’s the same deal that they’re talking about with Zay right now. Like, who becomes the number one? Like, you know, Justice Hill’s not going to carry the ball 20 plus times. Rashin Ali or Adam Randall, when he’s back on the field, aren’t going to be that kind of guy. So it’s important. But I just think, for me, I think you’re seeing, and this and this started last year, I think. But you’re seeing a shift in terms of the hierarchy, whereas I think Zay Flowers has just become that important. Well, he’s twice the

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Nestor Aparicio 16:02
amount of cap number two. His value on the field, the productivity’s there. But I would say, on in my scenario, to say closing the door with Derrick Henry. Of course, I would agree with you. I don’t need Derrick Henry to be the primary part of the offense, or Lamar running into linebackers or having to escape traffic to be part of it, I thought it was a nice sprinkling, and certainly the tape they put together that New Orleans is going to have to deal with this week, and Atlanta, and on and on and on, is we got a lot of ways to kick your ass. Now that being said, the offensive line needs to be better, the operation, all of that, but they’ve clearly put a lot of time into this, and Lamar learning the offense cadence, verbiage, terminology, all of that. For every Ronnie Stanley and Mark Andrews and Zay Flowers who had to learn a new language this year, you know, kudos. It was just, you know, I mean, we’re going to say that for the the rest of the week, right? Like what a good effort it was. We’re gonna come back Wednesday, but the flowers, hamstring, and all that. I want to. I do want to talk about that first cut and the burst, the cut, the move, the burst to the end zone, right? Like boom, hamstring, dude. Woo! Right, like that takes that away, and that’s what’s special. And I think we saw that with Lamar. You take sort of that speed kills in this league, certainly. And when that is your game, when you’re as big as me, you got to have your wheels. And that’s disturbing. The lane thing obviously bothersome. I mean, just the fact that they played the second half with the backup wide receivers with the big lead held it no problem, and we’ll get to the defense. Oh, we will get to the. I mean, I’m I’m with you. We’ll get to the defense, good, bad, and ugly. But in a general sense, I I don’t want to pat myself on the back, and I didn’t make any prediction before the game, but I kind of thought 4123 would have been kind of sort of where I might have put it to say they’ll probably score a lot. They’ll probably give up a couple because I do believe in the Colts, but they scored more early on time, taking advantage of opportunities, and even at the goal line, they did they they left at least three points on the board, if not seven, had they made that play. You know, Colts didn’t have much of a pass rush, I’ll say, but they got Sauce Garden, they got some special players. I, I don’t want to say they’re going to score 40 every week, right? But it did feel in the beginning, at least when they’re really freight training them early, like that Miami game a couple of years ago, where it felt like, oh boy, here we go. And and the Miami game, the Flacco had in Miami once too, where he threw the ball everybody’s head and it’s 49 to seven or whatever it is. It felt like that sort of potential. Where look out the next five or six weeks. I mean the Cowboys thing might be a little different. They don’t have any Micah Parsons anymore, but they’re going to score points, dude. I mean, and I Zay Flowers better get back, and Lane they better have all their pieces. But it it does feel like offensive line will be good enough, but these weapons they have are kind of otherworldly when you see them out there on a carpet.

Luke Jones 19:20
Yeah, and again, I think it’s important not to overreact, good or bad, to what you see in week one. I mean, we we learn that lesson every single year. I picked them to win by 11. I I said 2413. I probably thought the offense wouldn’t be quite as good, obviously, but I thought the defense might be. I you know I was a little skeptical of Daniel Jones, and other than the first drive, I mean, it’s not like he did a whole lot, right? I mean, he he wasn’t very good after the first drive. Jonathan Taylor ran the ball. I figured I even said to you a couple weeks ago as I was kind of sizing up what I thought the Ravens’ defense, you know, how it would look different. And keep it in mind, Jesse Minter. It’s this isn’t a complete departure, right? Gore didn’t run the Mike McDonald defense nearly as well, right? We I think we all can we can all agree on that at this point in time. But I think you expected they were going to get back to more the two high shell, and that’s kind of become you know Mike McDonald started doing that against Joe Burrow, and that’s when the Ravens started having more success, kind of containing the Bengals, and you know it’s been a mixed bag. They’ve had some really good. I mean, even last year, Bengals scored a bunch of points on Thanksgiving night, and then the Ravens shut them out a couple weeks later in Cincinnati when it was eight degrees, right? So, so there’s been a lot of that. But I figured, and the one thing when you’re talking about two high shell, and with the Ravens specifically, they’re going to play so much nickel. I mean, go back and look at how many plays that they didn’t have three safeties on the field. There might not have been any other than maybe right at the goal line, right? I mean, that’s just what you’re going to see. You’re going to give a little bit in the run game when you are playing nickel and dime as much as the Ravens are going to play. And and Jesse Minter, I’m sure he would say, yeah, we got we can’t let Jonathan Taylor bust 19 yard runs, but you’ll give and you’ll live with some of those four and five yard runs if it means a team doesn’t give up on that. But then you’re making stops on third down and you’re not letting the ball go over your head, right? So so I think you’re going to see a little bit of that. I don’t necessarily think, even if I, even if this Ravens defense is as good as I think it’s going to be, and it can be, assuming they stay healthy, I don’t necessarily think it’s going to be a 2000 like run defense, right? I think that’s where in the modern game, you will give a little bit with your run defense if it means you better position yourself to take away deep balls, take away big plays in the passing game. This is why I’ve said to you for years and years and years, right? I mean, you know, Derrick Henry’s so great. Well, why don’t you just hand it to him three times over and over and over and over? And yeah, you can do that at the end of the game when you have a lead. Tennessee

Nestor Aparicio 22:04
tried that for a decade. It worked, but inherently you have to

Luke Jones 22:08
pass the ball in the modern NFL to have success, right? So, so I think when you flip that,

Nestor Aparicio 22:15
Greg Roman even admitted that, right? When you flip that

Luke Jones 22:18
around and you look at it philosophically from your defensive standpoint, you’d rather be more stout and and keeping things in front of you with the passing game. Make teams dink and dunk and throw the ball underneath all the way down the field because most quarterbacks, some can do it. Tom Brady was famously patient for just taking the dinks and dunks all the way down the field, right? I mean, that’s why the Patriots won as many Super Bowls as they did. At least one of the reasons why they did. But I think you know Jonathan Taylor he had a good game. But other than that first drive, I mean I I was very pleased with how the defense played. Roquan Smith has a takeaway. Marlon Humphrey has a takeaway. Right, two big question marks for this group, and you check those boxes as well. So, again, was it perfect? No. Would you like to come out better on your opening drive if you’re, you know, if when you’re playing Buffalo or Cincinnati or a team like that? Of course. But beyond that, I thought the defense played well, and offensively, especially when before Zay Flowers exits, I mean that was just, I mean they just they throttled them. I mean that was that felt like they had a if Zay gets healthy and you know at some point in time you’re going to start leaning into their defense more with Derrick Henry when you have a lead anyway. I mean there was going to be that in the second half anyway, even if Flowers never goes out. But that’s why I called it

Nestor Aparicio 23:41
textbook. I mean, to me, it was textbook, right? Yeah, but

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Luke Jones 23:43
but that looked like an offense that could have scored 60, right? I mean, like that’s how they were humming early on. So, but one other point I want to make, and I I mentioned Lou Anarumo, and I talked about how much he had to prepare for. There was someone, a high-ranking member of the Ravens organization, that had a chance to talk to at the very beginning of training camp, and look, a lot of the things that that we’ve talked about are not things that the Ravens are strangers to, right? They understood the interior offensive line, tight end, talking about you know depth at inside linebacker behind Roquan Smith. I mean, throw out all the different things that we’ve talked about, depth at wide receiver behind Zay, but one thing that this individual brought up, and again this was late July, so it was a long time ago, but I think it it bared out the way that this game ultimately played out. They talked about the fact that boy, the first couple weeks we are going to have an opportunity because there is no book on Declan Doyle’s offense, right? You can you can try to piece it together. You can hypothesize what it’s going to look like, and now New Orleans is going to go. They’re going to look at all this tape and say, “Oh, like okay, Lamar’s under center more. They they they’re going to use a lot of pre.” Motion. We’re gonna pray like crazy that Zay Flowers isn’t gonna play in week two, right? But, but, but with this week one game specifically, you just had such. There, there was an advantage, and there’s two sides to it, but because you also don’t know if how Declan Doyle’s gonna handle it, right? But there’s there was very much a thought of they don’t know what’s in store for them, right? Because Todd Monkin had been a coordinator before elsewhere, right? Greg Roman had been a coordinator before elsewhere. In Declan Doyle’s case, again, it was kind of you know a clean slate. All right, you can kind of you know he’s not going to reinvent the game, right? So, you you know, like the things that Lamar likes to do and the things that he does well. You know, the things that Zay Flowers does well. You know, Derrick Henry. We we talked about it the other day. I mean, he’s someone that, considering how big he is, generally speaking, his strength is still the perimeter, right? And outside zone and all of that. And we’ve seen that play out the last couple years. But, but I do think there was there was a factor of the Ravens just being able to completely overwhelm them with what they’re seeing, right? And I think that played out when you see touchdown, touchdown, fourth and goal unsuccessful at the you know at the three, which I had no problem with that, especially with the way that the defense was already starting to settle in, and then touchdown, touchdown, right, and then Zay goes out and they had the fumble, and that obviously was a a play that kind of halted the momentum for the offense as well. But but I think you know that was that was their opportunity for Week One. Now the challenge becomes if you’re Declan Doyle, and and he already saw that with the ways that Lou Anarumo adjusted in the second half. Now there is some tape out on what you want to do. So how do you keep it fresh, right? And that’s a challenge for any coach, right? You you never quote figure it out. There’s always that’s always a moving target, right? You have the things that are going to work the best, but teams will then know that okay, well, you like to do A, B, and C, and this is how we’re going to take those things away, and then it’s on the D, E, and F, right? So, so, so there was a little bit of that at work, and I think you know that’s not a that’s not to be disparaging. That’s just the case, right? I think if you assume that Declan Doyle had competency and an aptitude to do this job, and I think we all could see that, right?

Luke Jones 27:28
And you hear the comments from guys like Sean Payton and Ben Johnson talking about this assistant that was on their staffs to say Declan Doyle’s going to be really good at this, but you know there there there was the little bit of the unknown that works in your to your advantage a little bit. But that said, and we’ve laid this out as well, it’s still Lamar Jackson, it’s still Zay Flowers, it’s still Derrick Henry. I mean, that is a lot to account for. And then, if Declan Doyle ends up being as good as the Ravens and others think he can be, one he won’t be here very long, probably just this year, and that’s it. But there is a a matter of oh my gosh, now you throw a new wrinkle into this thing that they have going on, and that’s exciting. You know, I’m bummed about Jacoby Lane, right? I mean, wrist being ruled out as quickly as he did, and I know Jesse Minter with the initial post-game press conference didn’t have an update. But you know, it sounds like the the the wrist was wrapped either in a cast or you know a hard splint. You know that’s just such a bummer because you know me, man. I’m Mister. Don’t really care about a whole lot of what I see during training camp at this point, but man, he was exciting to watch this summer. And man, hopefully it’s not like a season-ending thing. I’m not suggesting it is. I have no idea, as you and I are speaking in real time at the moment. But well, the more threats they have to catch the ball, the better. Well, it’s not just that, but it also it it really kills his momentum too, right? If he’s going to miss some time now, so that’s just a bummer in terms of the upside, and frankly, if you do look at this thing, and this is another lesson that probably is a little more of a negative lesson to take away. If I’m Eric DeCosta, I’m already kind of thinking between now and the trade deadline, do I have enough Zay Flowers insurance right now? I mean, do I? And you know that that question. I love what he’s been asking

Nestor Aparicio 29:23
that question for 30 years, right?

Luke Jones 29:25
Well, well, before it was even trying to find someone like they didn’t have a one, a

Nestor Aparicio 29:30
two, a three, anything

Luke Jones 29:30
exactly. So, but but if there’s one thing that I you know could kind of poke poke some holes in in terms of their roster building this off season, look Jacoby Lane, exciting to see what he did in the summer. I’m still excited about him long term, right? But there was certainly something to be said of, you know, was there there were some veteran receivers out there? Would it have would it have hurt to bring another one into the mix?

Nestor Aparicio 29:54
I need a here and now, and out of my maybe, right?

8

Luke Jones 29:56
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So my hope. And I think it’s reasonable to believe this is that because Zay Flowers had the hamstring at the end of the summer, the the the littlest grab that he might have felt right away is like, hey, I felt it, and right away Adrian Dixon, their trainer, was talking to him right after that, you know, that last catch he made. You could see him go to the sideline. He was kind of pointing to the thigh, pointing to the back of the thigh, and they shut him down. You hope this is way more. No, it’s week one. No, if this were December, maybe we’d be having a different conversation. If if we’re playing for the number one seed, but if there’s any doubt, let’s shut this thing down. We’ve got a lead. We’ll lean into Derrick Henry, and you hope that it’s not something where he’s going to miss more time. And if he does, certainly you hope it’s only a week or two, right? Because you have to. That’s how important he is now, right? You cannot throw caution to the wind in week one or week two. If Zay Flowers, if there’s any doubt, sit him next Sunday. I mean, I’ll flat out say that because you should have enough talent and with a full week to prepare and and do every all the adjusting you need to do that you should still be able to beat the the New Orleans Saints at home. That that said, New Orleans, hey, I mean they they they put up a heck of a fight in Detroit, so maybe a little bit of a reminder there that no, you’re not just going to roll the ball out. But I think I think everyone understands what I’m saying here. Zay Flowers is that important. It’s so early. You’ve got 16 games to go. If there were if there was any doubt there about whether he should go back in or not, I think they made the absolute right decision to shut it down. And you hope that that’s all it is, right? You hope it was way more precautionary than something that’s definitively going to keep him out for some time here, because again, we saw it. This offense not the same without him on the field, and yeah, you still have Derrick Henry. Yeah, you still have Mark Andrews. I was hoping you’d see a little more from Bateman after Zay exited the game, and that just didn’t happen. So, and and obviously some penalties negated some some first downs and some things of that nature as well. But but that’s one where you got to be careful with him because as I said, and again this isn’t a knock on Derrick Henry as much as it’s a compliment to Zay Flowers. I think Zay’s become the second most important person on that offense now, and boy, you need to meet. You want to make sure he’s right, especially when the schedule will start to pick up here over the next, you know, about a month from now. You know, if you need to be careful between now and then, so be it. That’s what you have to do. But boy, that looks so good over the first quarter and a half. I mean, that was just-it’s like a video game the way that he was running all over the field, and Lamar Jackson was finding finding him downfield, and just big play after big play.

Nestor Aparicio 32:47
Here’s Luke Jones. We’re gonna talk. Let’s see here: defense, tackling, more injuries. Bengals being decent, Steelers winning, Browns not so much, and we got plenty of football ahead all week long. Luke will be around. We’re going to be celebrating the 28th anniversary with tons of music this week. I’m releasing the 28th greatest bands and really some great stories. I’ve gone back. I Luke, I know you’re you’re young enough to remember this. You were kid. Do you remember the photo, Matt, where you had like negatives, you know, negatives that came when one hour photo? I found my ones from the Kiss concert in 1984 down at the Civic Center. So I’m going to be pulling some of the backstage with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. Very young Bruce Kulick. Eric Carr was still alive then. So some good rock and roll stuff here to start the week, as well as a great Maryland crab cake tour stop at Costas and Dundalk on Friday, we’re going to be at State Fair next Thursday. I’m going to try to talk Luke into coming out next Thursday instead of Friday. Luke, the oceans might be calling. The guys from Hootie and the Blowfish have offered to VIP me down at the beach, so I I might be doing the Darius Rucker thing. I might hold his hand, and you know, time running. I might be running with an angel to the beach. I don’t know. So that might be next Friday. So we might be punting on Pizza Johns into early October. You know, I was keeping that first week October open for the Orioles to play playoff games. You know that, right? Anything you want to say about the Orioles or no? You no? No.

Luke Jones 34:21
I mean, they lost two out of three over the weekend. Is what it is. Brad is shut down. I’m actually glad to get that sucks. I’m glad, but it’s yeah, yeah, yeah. I agree with all. I’m not happy about it because of how he’s pitched down the stretch, but I think that was the prudent move. You got to be thinking big picture at this point, especially they’re down to like 1% is their playoff chances at this point? So you got to do that.

Nestor Aparicio 34:43
All right, New Orleans ahead, plenty of football ahead, plenty of music ahead. Maryland Crab Cake Tour at State Fair in Catonsville on the 24th. I got some fun guests coming out for that, and we got some great stuff on the radio this week, including Mark Bryan from Hootie and the Blowfish, who checked in last week. They’re playing in Dewey. Have some music stuff here. Luke will have some football. We’re gonna have some baseball too. Trust me, we’re gonna do a little bit of that before they shut the sport down. He’s Luke. I’m Nestor. Stay with us. It is a fresh start to a fresh season with a lot of hope. It’s a good start for the Ravens on Sunday. Way to go! Back for more. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us.