The collective effort of the Baltimore Ravens’ defense shined in Los Angeles in a big win over Justin Herbert and the Chargers but most impressive was the ability to play and win without the anchor of the unit in Roquan Smith. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the short week before Saquon Barkley and teh Eagles arrive.
Luke Jones and Nestor Aparicio discussed the Ravens’ impressive defensive performance against the Chargers, highlighting the absence of Roquan Smith and the collective effort that filled the gap. They noted the Chargers’ lack of offensive weapons and the Ravens’ ability to limit big plays. Jones praised Malik Harrison’s performance and the overall defensive improvement, emphasizing the need for Smith’s return. They also discussed the offensive balance, particularly Mark Andrews’ resurgence and the contributions of Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman. The conversation concluded with optimism about the Ravens’ playoff prospects and the upcoming game against the Eagles.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens win, Roquan Smith, defensive effort, Malik Harrison, Chargers offense, Mark Andrews, Derrick Henry, Eagles game, short week, Philadelphia Eagles, defensive improvement, playoff standings, AFC North, offensive balance, Kyle Hamilton
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:02
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. Make sure you’re setting a spot out on your dial, subscribing, clicking on us, following us on blue sky and leaving us on X like everybody else is leaving us behind the Ravens left the former San Diego superchargers behind at in LA with a sort of a weird beat down in some ways, certainly later in the game. Second half was different than the first half. Luke Jones joins us now. We can you find all of our coverages. We wish you a happy Thanksgiving. We’re going to have a short week at the Eagles in but the residue on Monday night is still pretty thick hardball on our ball, Lamar and the early struggles of the game, but then the roquan Smith factor and roquan Smith not starting you and I spent the weekend chatting about this. We got up Monday morning not practicing the hamstring now, short week for the Eagles, an impressive thing for them to win on the road, 3000 miles from home without roquan Smith.
Luke Jones 01:04
Yeah, no question about it. I mean, you think back to even the Ray Lewis days and those times that Ray wasn’t out there, even some vaulted ravens defenses, it didn’t look the same. So obviously, this team’s had its issues with the middle of the field, and roquan Smith has been a part of that, the past defense, all of that, and we know that they’ve gone through some change here. I mean, Marcus Williams has been benched, Eddie Jackson’s no longer on the roster, so they’ve made changes on the back end. But when you’re trying to replace roquan Smith, when you’ve already had some concerns and issues at the inside linebacker position, that’s something that has the the the potential to ruin the game for you. And when you saw how the first drive went, not that it was only about the inside linebackers, but certainly that was part of it. And you’re looking at this thing and you’re seeing the Chargers run the ball early in the game and do the things that they did, you really have concern. Probably factored into John Harbaugh going for it on that fourth down inside his own 20 yard line late in the first half, just not knowing how the rest of the game was going to go. But Malik Harrison steps up, I mean, led the team in tackles and brought a physicality, certainly not someone that you want to have in coverage a whole lot. I think that’s obvious, but he played a good football game, and I think you saw this defense collectively settle in after that touchdown drive to start the game. That was pretty ugly, right? I mean, the Chargers kind of, I wouldn’t say they gashed them, but it was methodical, and they steadily moved down the field and made it look pretty easy. I mean, ravens didn’t even get them into a third down on that opening touchdown drive. But from that point on, yeah, they they were bending. You know, it’s not as though they they were forcing three and out, three and out, three and out, three and out, but they were able to get stops, and they were able to hold the chargers to three points. And as I’ve said, as many people have said, as we’ve talked about for weeks now, the bar isn’t that this defense needs to get up to a top five or a top 10 level. It’s be closer to average. You know, talking specifically about the past defense, we know they’ve been able to stop the run. But what we’ve seen the last couple of weeks, and building on what they did in Pittsburgh, you know, which was the silver lining their defense, I think you have to be pleased, and to do that without your defensive leader, your most emotional leader out there for the defense, and knowing how important he is, that’s impressive. And for me that I think this game my biggest takeaway beyond just the fact that the Ravens needed to get a win on the road, on the heels of Pittsburgh, and knowing that Philadelphia is coming in this week, on a short week, it’s, yeah, this was an under the hood game, I think for the defense, for them to perform the way they did, without roquan Smith, I think that was that was encouraging to me, this, that was the takeaway from me. That bodes well for the rest of the year, as the calendar is about to turn to December, that we’re starting to see some positive signs from this defense, and to do that without roquan Smith, even more impressive,
Nestor Aparicio 04:15
Luke Jones is here. He will be there all week long. We got a weird, short week, and eagles coming in, and you mentioned defensively and sort of stepping up some degree, I I feel like Herbert doesn’t have the weapons that you know, maybe Jim Harbaugh would want him to have, certainly in this offense, it took years to figure out Derrick, Henry, Mark Andrews was the only weapon this team had, and now it feels like even Aguilar can catch a ball and that they have made strides there defensively for me and what it didn’t feel like the Ravens were tested as much on the backside. And certainly pass rush was another part of this in a quarterback who isn’t isn’t inclined to run, but can run in Justin Herbert, yeah,
Luke Jones 04:58
and I. Think that’s a big part of this. I mean, look, let’s be clear, the chargers, yeah, their offense is still lacking some talent. I I’d say J, K Dobbins went down. That was big for them. I mean, Dobbins was running the wall. You know, they were, they were finding some room there, Gus
Nestor Aparicio 05:16
for Austin Eckler. And I realized, Oh, he’s not there anymore. Yeah, yeah. I
Luke Jones 05:20
mean, think about it. I mean, you know, this is a team that had Keenan Allen for years, you know, and just how dependable, how reliable he was, as far as just production. And, you know, McConkey is good, but we talked about this, that matchup of McConkey against Marlon Humphrey, primarily, was going to be one of the keys of the game. They did not let McConkey kill them, right? I mean, he got his I mean, it’s not as though they shut him down entirely, but they didn’t let him have 150 yards receiving, right? It wasn’t like he was automatically moving the chains on third down. So I the Chargers dropped four passes. I think it was, I mean, Quentin Johnston, first round pick, right? I mean, same, same class as a flowers. That shows you how a first round pick can go. And the Ravens have been there, right with previous guys, but he for as much progress as he’s made over the last six, seven weeks, you know, and was starting to look like he was turned in the corner, that was a major setback for him. I mean, they chargers left some plays on the field. Let’s be clear, this wasn’t a perfect defensive performance by the ravens, or, you know, elite, but they did the job, right? They they kept, kept it in front of them to your point. They didn’t give up the big plays. They generally were able to get off the field, you know. I mean, the Chargers got some third down conversions here and there. The top has injury changed everything for them, right? It really felt that was a big part of what they do, yeah, but, but that said that’s part of the problem, though, right? I mean, if you’re relying on JK Dobbins, and I don’t say this to take a dig at JK Dobbins, he’s been through a lot physically, right? I mean, he even putting aside the hold in and all that stuff last year. I mean, that still didn’t warrant, you know, anyone being happy for the guy getting hurt or anything like that. But when you’re relying that much on someone who has that kind of an injury history, it kind of speaks to where the Chargers are. And Joe Ortiz would be the first to tell you, as their general manager, he didn’t exactly walk into a great salary cap situation there. So I think it’s a credit to the Chargers as an organization that they’re in the position that they’re in right now. But as I said in our previous segment, as the night went on, I think you saw the difference between a really legitimate contender in the AFC, a really serious Super Bowl contender in the AFC and the Ravens. And I think the Chargers are that next tier down. I don’t think they’re a serious contender. I think they’re a playoff team. And I don’t want to say that, you know, I’m not being disparaging to the Ravens there. It’s a good win, but I think you saw the difference in the team that is much more complete on both sides of the ball. Well, offensively, much more complete. You know, defensively. I don’t want to get too ahead of myself with the Ravens defense right now, but you saw the difference there, and you know Herbert. I mean, he’d been red hot, so it’s not as though they weren’t putting up points. I mean, see what, look what they did against Cincinnati the previous week. Again, I want to give the Ravens defense their credit, but yeah, I think this is a chargers team that’s still, still at least one legit skill player away from having an offense that can pose more problems. But, yeah, the Dobbins injury certainly did not help them. And I think you saw over the course of that second half, they still wanted to try to mix in the run. And you know, Gus Edwards just that wasn’t the style of player that was really going to to give them what they needed there to stay on schedule. And ended up having them in a lot of third and long situations. You know, the roquan
Nestor Aparicio 08:43
Smith things interesting that they would have to think about playing without him, right? Because when they put this together in the off season, they’re not thinking about anybody being on the field but Marlon Humphrey and and the way they want to use Kyle Hamilton, not the way they’ve used him the last two weeks, but when they they schedule up a perfect defense, and then, whether that’s Zach or McDonald last year or just the the brain trust from all the way from Da Costa down, how was our defense going to look without roquan Smith? And playing one game without roquan Smith, we spent last week and the weekend discussing what that would look like. They were victorious. They were successful with this, with board and all of these different moving parts. But that’s not something they ever want to consider, and it’s not something that they didn’t feel like a championship team on Monday without Rokon Smith, to me, maybe offensively, they can run it up, but defensively, it felt like they’re really missing something without him and trying to get him back, specifically for the Eagles this week, but just in a general sense of how good your best players are, and they found this out two three years ago when they tried to play without their best players. You’re not going far, you know, without your best players on the field, despite the victory on Monday and. I they need roquan Smith back. He’s a big part of this. Well, yeah, I mean, if he’s
Luke Jones 10:05
not, then why are you paying him $100 million right? I mean, that’s what I always say about these, you know, when you’re talking about your elite, high priced players, you know, obviously the quarterback is a different conversation. I mean, that that’s the one player that truly it’s game over season over if you lose your quarterback, and the Ravens have been in that position a couple times.
Nestor Aparicio 10:25
But I’m talking about contenders here. I’m
Luke Jones 10:28
not not talking about bad teams. You know, bad teams are just bad, right? I mean, well, bad teams are bad because they give their
Nestor Aparicio 10:33
quarterback $50 million when he’s not worth
Luke Jones 10:37
it. Sure, sure, but, but my point with this is your highest your high price. Players are important, and that’s that’s why the Marcus Williams thing is so problematic, right? I mean, he’s got the third highest cap number on the team, and they’ve had to bench them. I mean, that’s how bad that’s gone. That’s not something you foresee. I mean, you want to talk about issues. I mean, you just mentioned you don’t anticipate being without roquan Smith, other than just understanding injuries occur and guys are going to miss games over the course of their career. I mean, that’s just the way it works. But there’s one, I mean, Marcus Williams, you’re not sitting there in March and April thinking that Marcus Williams is going to be so bad that you have to bench them, right? I mean, that’s something you can’t anticipate. I mean, but you have to view it through the lens of you. There’s a player that that cap space. It’s like a season ending injury, right? And I think Marcus Williams is on the field for one snap at one point on on Monday night, but it’s just where they are. But you know, to get back to roquan Smith, he’s important, right? He’s your defensive leader. You know him and Kyle Hamilton are your defensive leaders. And even though this hasn’t been roquan’s Best Year, I think that, you know, he’d be the first to tell you that. And I think the, you know, the issues in past coverage, how much of it’s him, how much it has been trying to account for Trenton, Simpson, how much of it a scheme, how much of it is a safety play. I mean, it’s probably a combination of all those things. But that doesn’t mean you don’t want to on the field. You know, I saw no, no one of any consequence. But I, I saw some, some people on social media saying, Oh, rocon is bad in past coverage anyway. But you know, as we talked about before the game, what do you think the guys behind him are going to be if you don’t think he’s good in bass coverage? So, you know, that wasn’t something that, for whatever reason, I think the Ravens did a nice job defensively to try to account for it as much as possible, to to not have their linebackers isolated in coverage a whole lot. But that’s something the Chargers weren’t able to exploit to the degree that I thought they might. But, you know, it speaks to stepping up collectively, you know, Zach Gore talked about this. What was it Friday, you know, anticipating that, you know, for Juan Smith’s not out there. It’s not just going to be on Malik Harrison, it’s not just going to be on Trenton Simpson. It’s not just going to be on Chris board it’s going to be all those guys. But it’s also going to be the safeties. It’s also going to be the defensive line needing to play well, be stout against the run and to get pressure on the quarterback. It’s going to be on the coaching staff to scheme like I said, try to protect those linebackers as much as you can. And I think collectively, they did a really good job of that. You know, with roquan, he worked out, you know, you could see the videos on social media of him doing a pre game workout. I to me that that should have been at least an encouraging sign that he’s got a chance to play against the eagles on Sunday. You know, if he were that far away, I don’t think you even have him going through a pregame workout on Monday night. So they’re going to need them, right? I mean, what saquon Barkley is doing for the Eagles right now, and what that Eagles offense can do across the board, they’re going to need all hands on deck, no question. But it’s a hamstring injury. And as we talked about, it’s not something that you can necessarily play through in the way that you know, when you, you know, have, maybe have a bum ankle or a bum shoulder or things like that. I mean, a hamstring, you know, the lateral movement, stopping and starting. You know, change of direction, change of speed, all of that. I mean, that’s, it’s a challenge. But I think Malik Harrison did up. He played his ass off. I
Nestor Aparicio 14:06
was gonna say there’s a disappearing guy, Malik Harrison, you know, to see him running around. There’s a name that played a lot a couple years ago, sort of not in the Hall of we’re gonna pay him a lot of money. He’s not Jared Johnson, you know what I mean, but, but that being said, um, big effort for him, and a podium a speech for him as well. Not, not many folks even know what he looks like or sounds like,
Luke Jones 14:29
yeah. I mean, but you need that, right? I mean, you need that. We talk about this a lot in baseball. You know, when you have someone that comes in, makes a spot start and helps you win a big series, or someone in your bullpen, unexpected or, you know, some bench player, hailer, T garden hits, yeah, exactly, but, but we talk, and obviously, when you have a 162 game season, that’s a different level of posting up and availability and all that, but you’re going to have some injuries, right? I mean, to your point, no, you can’t really pull. And for in the off season in terms of saying what’s going to happen to roquan Smith? Chances are, when you sit there and say it, you say, well, we don’t have the cap space to really add anyone else of consequence as a backup, so we’re going to have to make it work. You know, that’s generally what the solution is going to be. I think the other game this year, that stuff that stood out in terms of being impacted by injuries. It was the Cleveland game, right? Marlon Humphrey was out that game. Nate Wiggins was out that game. They lost a couple guys on the defensive line, and, you know, they ended up losing a football game to a bad Browns team. And Jameis wins made Jameis Winston look like a superstar, which, by the way, he beat the Steelers this past week. So it shows you AFC North football and divisional play and all that, but. But the point is, when you’re losing, when you’re without one of your stars on either side of the ball, you know, if you can steal a win with those circumstances, then you’ll gladly take that. I mean, again, it wasn’t a perfect defensive performance, but you tell me, going into that game that the Ravens hold the chargers to, what, 16 points until the very you know, the last five minutes of the game, I’ll take that any day of the week. I would have signed up for that in blood. John Harbaugh and Zach Gord certainly would have. So from that standpoint, I think they did a really good job weathering the storm of not having roquan, and now you’ll see if he’s available this week, as as I said, for him to go through a 20 minute workout, whatever it was in pregame before the inactive list was announced. That tells me he’s got a really good chance to be able to play this week, not, not guaranteed. But if this was a case where he’s not playing till after the buy, then I don’t know why you even have him out there running the risk of a setback or anything like that on Monday night, unless there was at least some non zero chance that he was going to be able to play against the Chargers. You know, I guess
Nestor Aparicio 16:57
we talk about disappearing players or players we expect to be more a part of this. Mark Andrews re emerged again in a way that I keep waiting for him to be a big part of this. And I guess that’s 2019 you know, when you have Derek Henry, when you have Lamar, when you have zay flowers, when you have other weapons, it changes expectations on Mark Andrews to be what Travis Kelsey was, or what Tony Gonzalez was, or what Mark Andrews was in an offense where they didn’t throw the ball 50 times a game, and he still would wind up having six, eight receptions for 80 yards, 110 yards, a touchdown, whatever. But his re emergence and his importance to the operation, in addition to Derek Henry running the ball well and all the other weapons and the things that they want to do offensively, I tweeted at one point, the offense is better when he’s touching the ball, when he’s involved, when he’s catching the ball, when he’s catching touchdown passes, that’s when they’re winning football games. Yeah.
Luke Jones 17:56
I mean, he’s, he’s going to be a Ring of Honor guy for the ravens, right? I mean, that’s what kind of player he’s been for six years, seven years, and still going strong. I mean, I think the reality is, when you look at what he’s done from Week Five on, I mean, obviously, got off to the very slow start, didn’t even catch a pass against Dallas or Buffalo. What
Nestor Aparicio 18:18
did he have? Like, six catches the first four weeks. Yeah, right,
Luke Jones 18:21
but, but since then? I mean, in the eight games since then, it’s got 31 catches for 358 yards and six touchdowns. Now, that’s not the elect the 1000 again,
Nestor Aparicio 18:30
31 catches in how much,
Luke Jones 18:33
358 yards and six touchdown catches up. That’s very season number.
Nestor Aparicio 18:37
Or is that? Is that? No, that’s, that’s over the last eight that’s over the last eight games, eight games, okay? So that’s a half a season of thinking he’s going to catch 65 balls and catch 700 yards. Okay, 707
Luke Jones 18:48
50 yards and also, but it’s the six touchdowns, right? I mean, they don’t need Mark Andrews to be the number one receiver that he was four or five years ago, stop
Nestor Aparicio 19:01
gap, literally, third down. We’re looking for him every time, right, right. So,
Luke Jones 19:05
so now it’s third down. Okay, he’s still a big part of that, and in the red, red zone, we certainly still see that as you’re not in third
Nestor Aparicio 19:11
down much if they’re doing it right,
Luke Jones 19:13
right? Exactly, exactly, although they were in fourth down right on Monday night. But no, I mean, I mean Mark Andrews has looked much more like Mark Andrews since the first month of the season. I mean, the first month
Nestor Aparicio 19:26
was our accident too, right? And he had a serious thing go
Luke Jones 19:28
on, right? He had that and, I mean, that ankle injury he had last year. Now, I think the perception of that changes, because he worked his butt off to get back for the AFC Championship game, but let’s be clear, he wasn’t close to 100% at that point in time, so this was an off season. I’m not saying he was rehabbing the entire off season, but there was a lot of work that went into getting back to 100% and anyone will tell you when the first time that you have a season ending. Serious kind of injury like that, whether it’s, you know, a fracture like that, whether it’s an ACL, an Achilles, whatever that that’s that’s taxing, that’s exhausting, physically and mentally, to get yourself back to what you consider to be square one. So he went through that, you know, had the spring, had the summer, but to your point, had a car accident in mid August. You know, my understanding at the time was he was actually kind of banged up, just from a camp standpoint, even before the car accident, which, you know, thank goodness. You know, it wasn’t serious in terms of threatening his life or anything like that. But it was a serious car accident. You know, from what I understand. I mean, it was, it was pretty bad. This wasn’t just a minor fender bender. So, yeah, I’m guessing that probably slowed him down a little bit. And to your point, you have zay flowers. Now you have Rashad Bateman emerging as you know, we haven’t talked nearly enough about Rashad Bateman, how he’s emerged as a very legitimate number two wide receiver. I mean, when was the last time so many years we’re looking for the Ravens just to have a number one wide receiver, let alone talking about a very legitimate one two punch at the wide receiver position, and that’s without even talking about Aguilar or wherever they are with Deontay Johnson or anyone like that. So when you have that and Isaiah likely cutting into some of his targets and some of his snaps as well, then, yeah, you’re not going to have an 1100 yard version of Mark Andrews, who’s catching 100 balls and all that. But you know, since week five, he’s been very good, right? I mean, he’s been Mark Andrews, like it’s looked that way. Maybe the target share isn’t as drastic as it used to be, but that’s a good thing, in the same way that you don’t want Lamar having to run the ball 15 times a game if you can help it, it’s there in a single, you know, in a single week when you need it, it’s there. You know, Mark Andrews is certainly capable of putting up bigger numbers if you need them to, but they can spread them. They can share the wealth. They can spread the ball around a little bit more. So I think he’s played quite well over the last six, seven weeks where you know that early season narrative, I think that’s gone away. I mean, probably if you really want to talk about the tight end position. To me, it might even be a little more, Isaiah likely not being as as involved, right? I mean, he had the monster game against the chiefs, right? And since then, he’s kind of been chasing that, not that he he’s had his moments. He hasn’t been bad. Let me be clear. It’s just, there’s one football. There’s one football, and that’s, these are good problems that night when Derrick Henry can run it like that. You don’t need anybody else, right? Exactly. I mean, that’s the thing, if you’re going to run the football like that, you know, you don’t want Lamar throwing the ball 40 times in a game like that. Now, times where he has to throw the ball 40 times like he kind of had had to against the Bengals. Both games worked out beautifully, right? So, again, you want to be multiple. You want to be versatile. You want to have seven different ways that you can beat a foot, beat a team and the ravens, They can do that, right? You know? I mean, they do that, and that’s what makes this offense elite. That’s what makes this team such a an impressive outfit that’s averaging seven yards per play and has been right at the top in terms of scoring and rush offense, right up there in pass offense. I mean it, you know, they do everything really, really well. So, yeah, it’s you’re not if you’re Mark Andrews or zay flowers or Rashad Bateman or Lamar Jackson the passer, or Lamar Jackson the rusher, or or even Derek Henry certain weeks, not everyone’s going to have monster numbers every single week, but it’s all there. And I think you’re not
Nestor Aparicio 23:48
going to run for 220 yards and throw for 420 yards and get Andrews eight catches and flowers seven catches. And it’s just not. And look, they had only run like six plays or eight plays in the middle of the second quarter they didn’t have the ball in the first quarter on Monday night, eight. I mean, how many plays Can they even run? And when they do run plays, they still want to run the ball first. You know, I’ve said that to you for years and years and years, Lamar the pass, or Lamar the MVP. Lamar can twirl it. Yeah, I love the past debate, man. You know, I love all of that. But at the end of the day, if they ran it and ran it and ran and ran it, they wouldn’t really want to do anything else if they’re doing it right, and especially if they’re on schedule and in first and 10, not first and 20, yeah, but,
Luke Jones 24:36
but you’ve got to be able to do everything right. I mean, you have to be up. You can take the run away. It’s what are you sacrificing to do it? And, I mean, the Bengals, they took, they did a really nice job defensively, taking the run away, but then we saw Lamar throw the ball over their heads all night, right? So, so again, and what you’re mentioning there, I mean, that’s John Harbaugh. That’s Jim Harbaugh. I mean. That’s Jack Harbaugh. I mean, that’s that’s Bo Schembechler. That’s been their identity for a very long time, and at times, probably detrimental. But where they are now, they can do everything. So yeah, don’t get me wrong. I’m not disagreeing with that. I don’t dislike the running game, but their identity is to be multiple. So if a team comes out and they want to load up the box to take away Derrick Henry, then, hey, we’re on Play Action. Or we’ll get Lamar the ball in space and do things like that. Or we’ll throw the ball if you want to sit back and too high, as the Chargers like to do, or like the bills wanted to do earlier in the season, then they’ll pound the rock with Eric Henry, right? Or teams will try to, you know, try to think that they’re going to stop everything. And you see how that works out. I mean, this, this is a, this is a great offense. This is the best offensive Ravens have ever, ever had. Point blank, the numbers support that now they’ve got to continue to do it. But
Nestor Aparicio 25:59
by the way, Aaron Schatz, your hero came on before the game. Go. Listen to it. Watch it. The DVOA captain, he said the same thing. And you know, he led his piece by saying, Look, I’m the guy that voted for Josh Allen for NP last year. That made them are not a, uh, unanimous. And yeah, called a hater. And Schatz is like, no, no, no, no. This is, this year. Is the top 10 of all time. Like, you know, this is it was compared to the Rams offense, 99 rams by Joe Buck during the broadcast on Monday night as well. All that being said, the success still doesn’t mean anything till January. And you and I’ve talked about that for years, that they can set records do whatever they want. Mark Andrews can catch this baby. Can catch that. Henry can run for this. Lamar can win awards. It’s dude, if they’re going on fourth and inches from their own 16 with two minutes left to go against the chiefs in Kansas City on the road in a championship game or a second round play. But whatever it would be, you know, I mean, it was a No guts, no glory. There were some decisions made on Monday night that you just have to tip your cap to John Harbaugh and say, Yeah, you really wanted to beat your brother. I mean, you put it out there. I mean, you put the game in peril, quite frankly. But you were successful, and it worked. And, you know, you won by touchdown, so but,
Luke Jones 27:21
but he would also tell you that, well, given the ball back to the chargers in that situation is is peril as well. Now again, I I’ll keep saying I would not have done that, but that’s the mindset. And look, you just laid it out there. The scenario could present itself that the Ravens have a three point lead in Kansas City in the fourth quarter, and they’re backed up and it’s fourth and inches. I’m guessing they’re going to go for it there. I do, because I’d much rather trust my offense to get six inches there than to try to stop Patrick mahomes, assuming the defense isn’t making leaps and bounds improvement over the next. Account for Chris Jones,
Nestor Aparicio 27:59
sure. Account for Steve spagnolo, of course, well, but, but
Luke Jones 28:03
it’s Patrick mahomes, so again, you know we’re getting they’re
Nestor Aparicio 28:06
going to be in a position to play in these games because they won games like Monday night, sure,
Luke Jones 28:10
and that’s why, again, for me, much more so than Derek Henry or Lamar Jackson or this offense. My biggest takeaway from what happened on Monday night was being encouraged by what we saw from the defense, because what we’re seeing these last two games on the road against Pittsburgh and against the chargers, and I get it, they lost against Pittsburgh, but it wasn’t because of the defense. We all know that that’s the kind of defense that will play with this offense in January. That’s the kind of defense, if it can at least be this, right? It’s not top five, it’s not top 10, but it’s been much more average to even at times slightly above average these last couple weeks. Defensively, that plays with this kind of offense, what’s been frustrating, but you don’t
Nestor Aparicio 28:56
mind punting in first and first quarter, first set of downs, you don’t get there, you got a penalty, you punt. You don’t mind doing that when you can play defense when, but to your mind at the two minute warning, as recently as Monday night, a punt there, felt like an admission that we’re going to give up points before they have and they give up points anyway. I was just going to
Luke Jones 29:15
say, and it’s, it was almost validation for John Harbaugh in that way that they score a touchdown, so they go up, you know, they’re going to go into halftime with the lead, leave too much time on the clock and well, and that’s the thing. I mean, you throw a 40 yard touchdown to Bateman there. I mean, again, as we said in our previous, previous segment, when they got that fourth and inches, they ran a minute off the clock on the next two plays. That fourth and inches was not about scoring points. That was the primary focus there was keeping possession of the football. Then they got the plate as a flowers, and then you’re in business, and then it’s, Hey, we’re going to try to score here. So I think that was a reflection of the confidence level in the defense at that point in time. And then it was, you know, kind of that. Validation of because they ended up giving up a field goal anyway there at the end of the half. But what we saw the defense do then in the second half, much better. I get it. The Chargers didn’t have Dobbins. I get it. They dropped some passes. I mean, the Chargers gave them some help, certainly. Oh, big time. Gave them possessions. But that said, hold them to a field goal on their first drive of the second half. And then three and out. Three and out. Game was over at that point in time. You know, Justice Hill, long touchdown put them up two scores. I mean, you know, at that point, it was all she wrote. You know, even when they score the touchdown, the time that they had to take off their you know, you knew at that point, assuming the Ravens could recover an onside kick, which has been an issue a couple times this year, assuming they could do that, I was okay with, you know, that Garbage Time touchdown there. I mean it, you know, again, it was, you’d rather it not happen. But I’ll take that going back to the beginning of our conversation. When you don’t have roquan Smith, you don’t know what you’re going to get, when you’re without your leader, you don’t know what you’re going to get. So and
Nestor Aparicio 31:05
then get good in the first quarter, the early part of the game was, was,
Luke Jones 31:08
it was very shaky, right? I mean, that first drive was bad. And then, you know, so they there was, he was 10 and not 14. They were bending plenty. They were bending. There’s no doubt about that. But this offense is so great. I will take bending. I will take giving up field goals rather than touchdowns and giving up methodical longer drives that take five six minutes rather than Joe burrow thrown it to Jamar Chase one play touchdown drives which you know they gave up in both Cincinnati games. So it’s, for me, it’s progress defensively. And I think again, no roquan Smith, how
Nestor Aparicio 31:49
much of that to you is Kyle Hamilton off the line and moving him back a little bit and trying to play it a little bit more honest? Well, I
Luke Jones 31:55
think there’s that. I mean, let’s give our Darius Washington credit. I mean, he stepped in for Marcus Williams, and,
Nestor Aparicio 32:02
yeah, you did. You didn’t hit like, an $18 million safety.
Luke Jones 32:06
I mean, you’re not seeing the ball going over his head, right? You’re not seeing him bust coverages. I mean, he’s missed, he misses some tackles. I mean, he’s like, five foot eight small guy.
Nestor Aparicio 32:14
He’s not an ideal midget.
Luke Jones 32:16
It’s almost, I’m not saying he’s the same exact player, but it’s almost reminiscent of Jim Leonard, you know, replacing, yeah. I mean, you know, he was a tiny guy, but
Nestor Aparicio 32:26
he, he helped the ivy was my favorite all time, small guy, Corey. I mean,
Luke Jones 32:30
Tavon Young was another one, you know, before the injuries caught up to him. So, I mean, it’s Look, they’ve had to shuffle some things. I mean, they, you know, they’ve had issues with scheme. They’ve had issues with high priced players not playing well. You know, they haven’t had too many injuries, but they dealt with it, obviously, roquan’s absence on Monday night. So, you know, again, the bar isn’t that this has to be an elite defense. I don’t this defense doesn’t. Is it isn’t, and doesn’t need to be as good as the offense, right? And is it, you know, just isn’t going to be but you know what we’ve seen the last couple weeks that plays that’s the kind of formula, that’s the kind of makeup that will play in January with this offense, and that’s where I’m heartened by what we’re seeing from the defensive side of the ball. And it feels like they’ve cleaned up things on the back end of the defense. Now, again, Philadelphia with AJ Brown, and, you know, we’ll see if Davante Smith is available, say Barkley. I mean, Philadelphia is loaded. I mean, they absolutely aren’t. And they’re a team that, you know, this ravens offense test anyone, and it’s the NFC thing, but their defense is playing at a really high level the last six weeks. Go look at their defensive metrics since they’re Yeah, they had a really choppy start to the season, but since about week six, their defense has played really well. So this is a test, but the Eagles are also facing their biggest test, coming into Baltimore, facing Lamar Jackson, knowing the NFC history all that, but with that game in mind, the Ravens coming up with that win Monday night, rebounding from what happened in Pittsburgh. Collectively, it’s a big win, important win, and now they’re in you know, they have much more sound footing as it pertains to their playoff standing as it pertains to the AFC North Stand, right on the heels of Pittsburgh after they lost in Cleveland on Thursday night. Just feeling a lot better about this football team than what we were talking a week ago.
Nestor Aparicio 34:24
Look, are you aware that I was a Philadelphia Eagles season ticket holder for a number of years in the late 1980s so I was, yeah, I don’t talk about it much because it’s a little dirty, but I was not an Eagles fan ever. I I never owned an Eagles hat, a shirt, a jacket. My buddy Russ letra bought one of the starter eagles, green, late 80s. I’m talking Randall Cunningham, rich co tight buddy Ryan Brian, Baldinger, sort of era, 8788 8990 so I have some fond memories. See the things I never rooted for, the Eagles. But I hated the Cowboys, the Redskins, the giants, and nobody cared about the Cardinals. They were in the division at that point. But I would go up with Russ letra. We would sit at the Penrose diner and watch the Eagles play, and I would pine away for the day where I could have my own football team so I could cover them for 30 years and travel around the country to have their executive vice president throw me out and allow you in. So this week. Eagles fans coming down. Your ticket prices are outrageous. Um, four o’clock game. Little bit of rest here. You know, team just getting back in on Tuesday morning. Just land in the airplane as we do post game on a Tuesday morning. And we have Thanksgiving ahead. We’re going to be doing the Maryland crab cake tour beginning next week, hopefully victorious Maryland crab they want to lose the eagles on Sunday. We’re going to be a Cocos on Tuesday, crab cakes won’t taste as good. Wednesday, we’re going to be at Gertrude at the BMA with Dan Rodricks discussing his show, as well as happy holidays. Happy holidays. We’re going to be doing a fadelies The following week on the 12th, and then we’re going to be at Costas, and then at amicis the week before Christmas. All of the schedule is up at Baltimore positive. All of it brought to you by our friends at Jiffy Lube multi care, as well as our friends at the Maryland lottery to have Raven scratch. Also, we had a lucky little batch last week as well. We had a lot of fun up at Green Mountain station in Hampstead. Had my dear friend Tim White. Tim Watts was the first ever Luke Jones. He was our first ever Raven reporter in 1997 98 he’s in all sorts of weird old pictures with John Harbaugh, or excuse me, Jim Harbaugh that I found the other day from the barn so and he was also at our 25 stories of Glory, our our infamous tailgate in San Diego in 1998 when they actually found pictures of us at the Costco buying the 30 cases of beer and wheeling it out on the dolly after my aunt Jane’s car. So memories, so long ago that charges were in San Diego. Now they’re in LA. The Eagles are still in Philadelphia. They’re coming to Baltimore this week. Luke’s going to be a camp all week. You can find him at Baltimore, Luke, you can find both of us at wnst. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stopped talking Baltimore. Positive. You.
