This lengthy preview of the Ravens season opener in Indianapolis is chock full of the mystery that always comes with a September kickoff game. How much can we possibly know with so much change? But, as Luke Jones and Nestor get ready for the new look of Jesse Minter and the offense of Declan Doyle against the Colts, we all know it’s about Lamar Jackson and the quest for a Super Bowl that will define another NFL season in Baltimore.
The discussion assessed the Ravens’ readiness for their season opener against the Colts amid major coaching and personnel changes.
New Era
- Jesse Minter is beginning his first season as head coach after 18 years under John Harbaugh.
- Declan Doyle will call plays for the first time, creating uncertainty about how the offense will differ from prior seasons.
- The Ravens are favored, but Week 1 road games and both teams’ unfinished identities make the result uncertain.
Center Concern
- Javon Gwyn will make his first NFL start at center after Danny Pinter’s injury; Ethan Pocic is recovering from an Achilles injury.
- The key question is: Can Gwyn provide at least average play while protecting Lamar Jackson and supporting a reworked offensive line?
- The offense is expected to use more under-center formations, outside-zone concepts, and 11 personnel, with Durham Smythe providing blocking support.
Defensive Test
- Expectations are higher for the defense because Minter specializes in defense and most of the personnel remains intact.
- Trey Hendrickson, Kyle Hamilton, Roquan Smith, Marlon Humphrey, and Nnamdi Madubike are central evaluation points.
- The open questions are: Will the pass rush and secondary become more disciplined, and will Madubike return effectively?
- Host the Maryland Crab Cake Tour event at Costas Inn in Dundalk on Friday, including Raven scratch-off giveaways and scheduled music guests. (@Nestor Aparicio)
- Host a breakfast edition of the Maryland Crab Cake Tour at State Fair on the 24th, in two weeks. (@Nestor Aparicio)
- Host a Maryland Crab Cake Tour event at Pizza Johns later this month. (@Nestor Aparicio)
- Write and publish a Dear Jesse Minter piece assessing the new Ravens head coach. (@Nestor Aparicio)
- Write a Dear Lamar letter during football week. (@Nestor Aparicio)
- Return to Koco’s for a future Maryland Crab Cake Tour event next month. (@Nestor Aparicio)
- Create and share a year-long countdown of the 28 primary bands and artists in his life, including stories, photos, and ticket stubs. (@Nestor Aparicio)
Week 1 Context
- Ravens-Colts matchup in Indianapolis
- Impact of new coaching staffs and Week 1 uncertainty
Offensive Changes
- Declan Doyle’s first game as play caller
- Increased use of under-center formations, outside-zone runs, and 11 personnel
- Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, and Zay Flowers as key offensive factors
Center Competition
- Javon Gwyn named the Week 1 starter
- Ethan Pocic remains a potential later-season option after Achilles rehabilitation
- Offensive line performance identified as a major season variable
Defensive Expectations
- Jesse Minter and Anthony Weaver expected to improve structure and communication
- Trey Hendrickson added to strengthen the pass rush
- Evaluation of Roquan Smith, Marlon Humphrey, Kyle Hamilton, Calais Campbell, and Nnamdi Madubike
- Run defense may be secondary to limiting explosive passing plays
Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. It is football week around here, and football season brings Raven scratch off from the Maryland Lottery. We’re going to be at Costas Inn on Friday in Dundalk. Don’t be confused with my Koco’s shirt. I was at Koco’s this weekend getting some coconut shrimp that were delicious. Brought home some ribs and some of that delicious coleslaw over there. Met some tourists at the bar. We will be at Costas this week, celebrating 28 years of music. I have some music guests coming by, some old friends. My pal that I camped out for concert tickets with in the early 1980s is going to be coming out telling old REO speed wagon and sticks and journey stories, amongst others. Our friends at Fern and Dermer also put us out there. The Comfort Guys and GBMC. We will be at State Fair in two weeks for a breakfast edition on the 24th. We’re also going to be at Pizza Johns later on in the month doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour. This guy is making his way out to Owings Mills trying to wash the Orioles off of our brain and out of our mind. Yeah, I hold this Baltimore Colts belt buckle from my childhood. I think we got this at Sears Roebuck or the actually the Sears Outlet over Merritt Park in Dundalk, 1974, five, six, somewhere in there. I don’t know, man. I’ve had Bob Kravitz on this week. I’ve had Mike Chapel on, who’s one of the Hall of Fame voters in Indianapolis for the Colts franchise. Just the game, you know, doesn’t mean anything. The older people that missed out on that ’66 celebration, they would be the ones that remember the Baltimore Colts, and they’re insignificant to the Orioles. They’re pretty insignificant to the NFL at this point too. Big game for the Ravens, right? Road game favorited. Everything’s a question mark until it’s not. But the Ravens are supposed to go and be impressive and win on Sunday, Luke. I hope they they fit that suit.
Luke Jones 1:52
Well, I mean, you never want to just make assumptions, right? When you have a new coaching staff, when you’re going on the road, week one has a tendency to be kind of weird, anyway. I think you go. I mean, I the the example that people use is what was it? The 2003 Patriots went to Buffalo, and the Bills just absolutely pummeled them. And well, the Bills ended up stinking, and the Patriots won another Super Bowl that year. So, so you you’ll always get some Weird week one surprises. Whether it ends up being something that’s real or just an aberration, but I think in the case of the Ravens, I mean, think about it. You’ve got a new head coach for the first time in 18 years, right? You’ve got a a first time play caller as your offensive coordinator. You have a head coach who’s calling the defense, and mind you, a defense that is very similar to the one that Mike McDonald ran so successfully a few years back in Baltimore. So you have a a very healthy football team, right? Other than losing Danny Pinter, and we’ll get to the center position in a moment. But you know, everything the vibes are really good. The vibes were excellent over the course of the summer. I mean, you couldn’t have hear you couldn’t have heard enough good things that players had to say about Jesse Minter and about Declan Doyle and about Anthony Weaver. So now’s your your chance to go out there and put it all together and go win a football game. And yeah, whether it’s a blowout, whether it’s a one point win, whatever it is, go do something that’s of substance, right? We’ve had what now? Late January was when Jesse Minter was hired, so we’ve had February, March, April, May, June, July, August, and now we’re into early September. We’ve had what seven and a half months, something in that neighborhood, of time to talk about Jesse Minter. He hasn’t yet won a game or lost a game, right? And I’m not talking about the three preseason games. Let’s go change in a few days, right? Exactly. So I think there’s an excitement that always resonates with Week One, anyway. But when you have this new era that you’ve you’ve embarked upon, there’s some excitement here, and I think there’s a there’s a little bit of like what is it going to look like, right? I mean, I think Declan Doyle. I mean, you say, okay, he’s a Sean Payton pup. He worked with Ben Johnson in Chicago last year. How much of this offense is Sean Payton? How much of this offense is Ben Johnson? And how much of this offense is Declan Doyle from the time he was a kid playing Madden and just wanting to be a ball coach, how much of that offense is going to be just ideas that he’s come up with over the years? So there’s a lot of excitement, and in terms of anything recent, about the only thing that I can even compare it to at all. Again, 18 years since the Ravens have been in this position, but I go back to like the 2019 opener down in Miami when that was Lamar’s first full year, you know, first full season as starting quarterback, right? Greg Roman now being the offensive coordinator. It worked out really
Nestor Aparicio 4:49
well that day, as I remember. It did, right? But there’s
8
Luke Jones 4:52
a little bit of what is this going to look like? But even that, I mean, there was, you know, there it was still John Harbaugh, right? It was still. You know, is still the the same for the most part a similar coaching staff, but this is new. I mean, there’s there’s new. There’s a novelty to it. If they
Nestor Aparicio 5:09
get kicked in the teeth and they’re losing 13 to three at halftime somehow, and they fumble the ball three times, and they’ve had drive stall, and the kids miss the kick, seeing where the equilibrium is when they’re looking around for who’s holding their water, and John’s not there anymore. Sure. From a fan standpoint, from a media standpoint, we’re going to be there for a minute when you have leadership that’s been here as long as it’s been there. Because you could say what you want about John, he probably would screw it up and screw up the clock, and you know, like whatever at the end. But you had some level of oh, we got a grown up there. I don’t know what Jesse Minter is. I’m writing a dear Jesse Mint. We’re gonna find out what kind of head coach he is. You know, he might be Bud Carson for all I know, or Richie Pettibon. He might be Bill Belichick. I he might be Mike McDonald. I don’t. I but whatever it is, you find out when you get kicked in the teeth a little bit, and that you hope that doesn’t happen Sunday. You’d like to think to your
Luke Jones 6:00
point, like ah they’ll be up 21 to six at halftime. They they’re going to be fine. Well, I mean you don’t know. I mean this is a Colts team that does have some talent, right? I mean this was a team like it’s easy to look at where they were at the end of last season and say oh well you know they fell apart but that was also a team that was pretty darn good the first half of the season last year so you know they’ve got Daniel Jones back, healthy. I assume, right? He’s going to play and all that. You know, it’s it’s not a team that you’re just going to roll the ball out, right? Like you can’t just show up expecting to win. You’re going to have to play well. But all things being equal, if we’re talking about these teams in terms of their potential, their ceiling, how they’re perceived, all that, yeah, the Ravens should win this game Sunday. I mean, I’m I’m picking them to win Sunday, but that said, I I also think back to the last time these teams played in the regular season. It was in September of in September of 2023, and that was a game. Remember, the Ravens blew it late, right? I mean, one of their many fourth quarter meltdowns that they’ve had that they had had over the last decade of the John Harbaugh era, so, but but I just think there’s an excitement, right? You get to a certain, and and this is the case every season, but especially when you have a new coaching staff and there’s so much new with just how the Ravens feel right now. You go through a preseason, and you know you have the training camp practices, and you have the preseason games, and you have the joint practices, and there’s a certain equilibrium to it, right? It it it feels very repetitive after a while. The idea now that knowing that in a few days they’re going to play a real game, there is going to be a real game to to put to Jesse Minter’s name, to put the Declan Doyle’s name, that that’s exciting, right? And I think there’s plenty of optimism. Not to say there aren’t some question marks. There are fair questions, just like there are about every team. I mean, even the L.A. Rams do still have some question marks, as crazy as they look on paper, and as much as the hype machine is just out of. By the way, while
Nestor Aparicio 7:59
you’re on the Rams, I I got an inbound text over the weekend, and it had to do with OJ from Phil Savage. Phil Savage is a worker for the Los Angeles Rams.
Luke Jones 8:12
Yeah, he’s
Nestor Aparicio 8:12
in the Rams organization. So there gives me a reason to root for the Rams.
Luke Jones 8:16
There you go. Well, the Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald will get plenty of reasons as well. Yeah, the Aaron
8Nestor Aparicio 8:22
Donald thinks fun, right? I mean, you know,
Luke Jones 8:25
and you and I haven’t talked about it much in passing, but how about the fact that Miles Garrett’s no longer in Cleveland, right? I mean, these AFC North teams, as much as you didn’t like, as much as otherwise you were fine playing the Browns, you didn’t want to go up against Miles Garrett. Hold
Nestor Aparicio 8:38
on here, hold on a minute. The Browns got Worse, they did.
Luke Jones 8:43
Jared Verse, the guy that came that came back. Who’s talking about you, Paul? Yeah, I mean Deshaun Watson for for now. I had Munch
Nestor Aparicio 8:51
Bishop on this week, primarily talking Guardians because he has literally denounced the Browns. Like he’s been on the radio 50 years. He’s like they’re immoral. Don’t talk
Luke Jones 8:59
about him anymore. Yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 9:00
yeah, like literally, won’t talk about them. Yeah,
8Luke Jones 9:01
yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, but but no, just to to bring it back to the Ravens. I mean, we need a data point, a real data point. You know, we’ve we’ve been even in training camp. You’re still talking in off season terms, right? You’re still talking in the big picture terms, other than when you get an injury to Danny Pinter, for example, right? Or Zay Flowers, who you know is back on the practice field, but the last couple weeks, you know, think you know my understanding was dealing with a little bit of a tender hamstring that they just wanted to make sure he was okay, as they should be smart in late August with something like that. But you know, you just get to the point where it’s like, all right, it’s time for something real. It’s time for something real to watch and to experience and hopefully enjoy if you’re a Ravens fan on Sunday, and to to then be able to assess right what looks good and that you know that’s where it kind of brings me to you know the headline story from Monday out knowings Mills as Jesse Minter had his first quote Monday press conference of the season. Was officially, as I’ve been alluding to you for a couple weeks now, as I’ve been saying, look, no matter what we thought about the Ravens when they signed Ethan Posick and the idea that we assumed he was going to be the starting center, I kept telling you all signs are pointing first to Danny Pinter, and then when he gets hurt, it was way more Javon Gwyn. You know, not just him starting the preseason games, but looking at how they were handling the reps and and everything. Well, we officially learned Jovan Gwin with what is it? 11 offensive snaps under his belt in the NFL will be the starting center on Sunday. So going to add 60 or 70, maybe 80 to you know. Yeah, yeah. I mean, we’re we’re going to see what that looks like now. Minter was very clear about this, as he should be. I mean, it’s a captain, obvious statement. Javon Gwynn is the Week One starting center. That does not mean he’s going to continue to be the starting center if he goes out there and well, looks like a guy who’s only been a backup in his NFL career, right? So, as I said to you all along, the the thing that had kind of complicated this competition, and we should have, we probably should have been a little more, you know, I don’t know, focused is the right word on it or not, but the fact that Posik had an Achilles back in December, you know, we’re not talking about someone that was a multi-time All-Pro center to begin with, but just a solid starting center in his career, but he had an injury very late last season. He was not with the team until the Ravens signed him in mid July, right? So he did not have. Not to say this isn’t me implying he didn’t have like he wasn’t rigorous with his rehab or anything like that. I’m not suggesting that at all. But he wasn’t with the team, right? He’s rehabbing on his own, so that can complicate things as well, but this is someone who did not have a normal off season, was rehabbing, recovering from Achilles surgery, all that. It’s probably in hindsight we probably all should have been a little more conservative in terms of like, okay, what does signing him mean for at least the early portion of the season? I think I said this to you on air, but my theory that I had kind of been kicking around before Danny Pinter gets hurt in that joint practice with the Vikings is I was really wondering if this was heading towards Pinter starting at center week one, Gwynn being the backup, and I actually wondered if they were going to put Posick on IR to begin the season, right? To say, okay, we’re going to give you four weeks. Keep working in the weight room. Keep strength strengthening that calf and and that Achil, you know, that leg that always atrophies whenever you’re talking about an Achilles. I mean, I I vividly recall when Steve Smith had his Achilles. What was that? 2015, and he was back on the field that spring.
Luke Jones 12:40
It was so striking to me seeing the atrophy in that leg. Like the leg’s just skinnier than the other one, and that that’s normal. Like that, but that’s what a player goes through. And if you actually looked at Posik during training camp, and I saw a couple pictures here and there, it’s not something you can notice like in real time. But his it was his left Achilles, I believe it was. That leg’s a little bit skinnier than the other one, so I do wonder if the plan was okay. Let’s see what it looks like. Let’s see what the other guys look like. If he’s ready, great. If he’s not ready, let’s kind of slow play him with the idea that he can be a better option for October and November and December, and we’ll evaluate it that way. Or maybe Javon Quinn is this diamond in the rough that Dwayne Ledford said, “Hey, I was developing this kid in Atlanta for a few years. I actually think he’s he’s coming along, and I think he’s got a chance that he could play. Well, this is
Nestor Aparicio 13:39
about Ledford’s reputation as much as anything else, and the other part of this is you always want your backups to get better, get better, get better. That doesn’t mean that they’re really going to be ready to play when you have to. They have to play, but that doesn’t. That’s when chaos ensues, usually, right? I mean, when you’re putting a guy in there that you know is not good enough, and you you hope he’s going to be good enough most plays. You just hope it’s not on third and 12 that it gets Lamar blown up, or or whatever that circumstance would be for whatever offensive lineman that you would put in. Because any time, look, dude, we’ve been doing this a long time. We’ve been talking about this offensive line a little while since Marshall Yanda left, right? Like about whether it was Zeitler and and Morgan Moses when it was good, or when they left and it was Villanueva and you know other people, so I would look at it and say, it’s not Luke and Nestor being a little sensitive about the offensive line or whatever. This can tank your season,
Luke Jones 14:36
sure. I mean, look what happened last year, right? Lamar got hurt and was a lesser version, and I’m not saying he got hurt solely because of the offensive line, but it very much impacted and hindered the operation as a whole. It made Todd Monkin seem way less smart than he did the previous two years, right? Well, Flaghill got
Nestor Aparicio 14:56
hurt when a backup lineman was involved with him, right? I mean. Can completely
Luke Jones 15:00
ruin your season. So yeah, like, and and let me be clear. This isn’t me saying that the offensive line is not going to be good enough. But this is a very fair question right now. It’s it’s been their biggest question. I mean, it was their biggest question with two guards who, frankly, shouldn’t have been out there last year. But they didn’t have anyone better, and it’s it was the question that was going to persist persist from the moment that Tyler Linderbaum, you know, got $27 million from from Vegas, right? That you were never going to pay, so you still had to replace him. As I said, fiscal responsibility can’t play center, and the Ravens understood that. I’m not I’m not saying like they were turning a a blind eye toward it, but this is where you look at this thing and say, okay, Jovan Gwyn, we love how he looked in the spring and the summer. Coach Ledford thinks he can play. Coach Led, he likes him, right? Just like he liked Danny Pinter, even though the you know the front office brings in Posick and he’s an option, and he’s still there. He’s on the roster. He’s on the team, but you can love Javon Gwynn all you want, but he’s going to make his first NFL start Sunday, and he might swim, and maybe wow, maybe you do have a diamond in the rough, and then you say, “Man, well, the first
Nestor Aparicio 16:16
things first. At 65 snaps, you better get right, sure, or whatever, right? Like, I mean, this is a little different than a guard setting up wrong and getting pinched out. He’s touching the ball.
8Luke Jones 16:27
Touches the ball now. As I’ve said to you throughout the summer, I think they’re going to be a lot more under center than they’ve ever been during the Lamar Jackson era by design. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think you’re just that play action under center. There’s been a lot of statistical analysis in recent years that talk about the efficiency of that kind of, you know, that element of an offense. So I think you’re going to see plenty of that. But they’re still going to be in shotgun. They’re still going to be in pistol at times, right? And he’s got to make sure. Yeah, he’s got to snap the ball. I mean, keep in mind Tyler Linderbaum occasionally had issues snapping the ball, so even a even a Pro Bowler can have issues with that. But but I think it’s it’s kind of the headliner here, even though like there’s so much newness overall. But in terms of the players, I mean you’ve got a kid starting at center who’s never started a game in the NFL. He was a seventh round pick in 2023. I mean, this is this is kind of like go back to like when Matt Scurro went from practice squad to starting a couple years later. And by the way, that worked out okay for a year or two before he got same thing with
Nestor Aparicio 17:30
Mike Flynn. I mean, they had a history of that. Yeah,
Luke Jones 17:33
it does happen, right? And again, this is where I know plenty of people that know football better than me, have talked very highly of Dwayne Ledford as an offensive line coach and the body of work that he had in Atlanta and other places he’s been throughout his coaching career. Where they say, like, don’t sleep on his hiring being not just the best position coach that they hired, but one of the best moves they made all off season, just because of how, what what his reputation is for coaching people up. But you get out there, and it’s one thing to see how someone looks in practice. It’s one thing to see how someone looks against backups in preseason games. But how’s he going to look going up against the Colts’ defensive front? Right? We might be a week from now, we might be talking about him being so bad that are they going to switch to Posick, right? Or we’re going to be saying, you know what? And look, generally you’re not focused on the center in the middle of a game, right? Generally people are watching the ball, but we might be saying a week from now, you know what? For all the talk about Jovan Gwyn and the fact that that was his first NFL game, I didn’t really notice him too much, and that’s a good thing for offensive line play. If you don’t notice someone, that’s generally like an umpire or a referee in in a game. Generally means they did a good job if you don’t notice them. So that’s what you’re looking for here. I mean, is Javon Gwynn going to be Tyler Linderbaum? I’m guessing not, right? Like, that would be a heck of a story if you’re talking about someone who comes out of nowhere and is a Pro Bowl caliber player. But if he can be, I don’t know, an average starter, coupled with the fact that you have Yoane now at right guard, which is, I’ll say it right now: is a massive upgrade over Daniel Falale, just based on what I’ve seen in the summer, right? And and his reputation coming out of Penn State and all that. And you have John Simpson at left guard, who is not a great player as it as it pertains to ranking the best left guards in the league, but he’s better than Andrew Voorhees. So you’ve gained you’ve gained ground at both guard spots. You’ve upgraded both guard spots. I’m I’m comfortable saying that. Now, how much of an upgrade? That’s up for debate. We’ll see, right? But they’ve upgraded those spots. So the big key for this offensive line, and and that’s also acknowledging, does Ronnie Stanley have one more good year of football left in him? What’s Roger Rosengarten look going to look like this year? So, like all these questions are there, but for center, you know it’s a downgrade. They understand that, but you just can’t have it be going from a Pro Bowl center to now having a bottom five in the league center, right? That’s no good. That’s not going to help your operation. But if it can at least be, you know, Gwyn, or if it’s Posick at some point in time, right? If they can at least be, say, a middle of the pack starter, then I think that I think then you might not have a top five offensive line, but it can be good enough considering, yeah, you still have the Lamar factor. Whether he’s going to run a whole lot or not, you know he’s capable of doing that. You still have Derrick Henry, right? So that’s where what you’re looking for here. You’ve upgraded the guard spots. You just can’t have the center be such a downgrade that it ends up being a net negative when you’re trying to like assess the group collectively. I I hope that makes sense how I’m kind of laying that out there, but you know I think that’s what you’re looking for here, and we’re gonna find out. I mean, Javon Gwyn, he’s gonna sink or swim, right? If it’s so bad, I don’t know. Maybe Postix’s in there by the third quarter if it’s that bad. I’m guessing it’s not going to be that bad.
Luke Jones 21:16
I think this kid showed enough during the preseason, albeit I get it; they’re fake games, but you’re still going up against competition. I thought he showed enough to at least say, I think there’s a real chance here that he can be good enough for them at that spot. And you know that that’s then when you say, okay, is Awana going to be, you know, an above average starter as a rookie, which I think is plausible. I don’t think he’s going to be an All-Pro right off the bat, but I think he can be above average. Can John Simpson be solid, right? Can Ronnie Stanley? I don’t, and and you know wherever Ronnie Stanley was last year, I think he was above average, but what wasn’t a top three left tackle in the game or anything like that. I think that ship sailed as far as where he is in his career, but can he still be above average there? Can Roger Rosengarden take the next step and be above average on the right side? Right. I mean, if you have that collectively, that sounds like a pretty decent offensive line then, right? I mean, it’s not, it’s not the 93 Cowboys, but it’s it’s good enough with what you have, you know, at quarter certainly what you have at quarterback who forces a defense to account for him differently than your typical guy. So, so that’s what you’re looking for here. And I think in the case of Javon Gwynn, there’s just a lot of unknown right now. I mean, this kid’s never, he’s barely played in the NFL, but he’s developed for a few years. Dwayne Ledford liked him enough to say, “Hey, come to Baltimore with me. You know, I mean, it was a league. It was a veteran minimum contract, right? I mean, it wasn’t wasn’t this major investment. It was a let’s see what it looks like. It’s a flyer. Well, I mean,
Nestor Aparicio 22:50
let’s be honest. They would rather not have the kid play. It’s not like he’s earned this position to the point where like he’s won the job. He’s he’s the guy playing it. There’s some place like this on the field for every team in the league where some seventh round guy is going to have to be your safety this week, or you know whatever it’s going to be. But it is the the center quarterback thing, and for me, things I’m watching. There’s no more Ricard. Who are the tight ends? Where’s Lamar’s binky? Where’s Derrick Henry’s ability to run and have burst at this point in his life and his career? And will he have that opportunity? He’s going to get to the line of scrimmage. You know, I I want to see the first 10 snaps and just see if the offensive line is moving left or right in a general sense and how quickly Lamar’s getting the ball at. I mean, the one thing we don’t question at this point is Lamar’s great, right? Like Lamar should should be in the prime of his career, and this should look great for him. And say Flowers didn’t wear himself out squirting fans the other night at the baseball ballpark, so he should have plenty left. That, yeah, your best players need to be your best players. I mean, Kyle Hamilton, you know, the way Minter’s done the team captain thing and sort of harbors, but not. And I, I, I just want to see their stars shine on the road to start the season in a new format. Um, I, I just want to see their best players look good because that’s what that’s what I’m going to be watching, not so much where the center is and how things get blown up, but how does that relate to Lamar looking good or Jay Flowers looking good?
Luke Jones 24:28
Of course, yeah. I mean, you always need your best players to be at their best, right? I mean, it’s that simple. I mean, a big reason why the Ravens weren’t good enough last year is they had a diminished version of Lamar Jackson from what about week three or week four on right, a one him missing games entirely, and then him not being the typical Lamar, right? And that’s the case with any team, right? That’s when you have a franchise quarterback. If he’s not at his best physically and health wise, yeah, you’re going to struggle. Well, you can only decoy him so much.
Nestor Aparicio 25:00
I’m interested to see how this new offense, where there should be in the app in in the batter of of this of this thing of this cake, that the whole idea is he should be a decoy on every single play. On every single play, you should oh snap worry about him running with the football, I mean that’s just
8Luke Jones 25:22
the that’s the default, right? I mean whether he’s going to, you know, I I certainly think his days of running for 11 or 1200 yards are long gone. But okay,
Nestor Aparicio 25:32
we’ll see.
Luke Jones 25:33
Oh, I
Nestor Aparicio 25:34
in the old days that’s the desperate move in the fourth quarter, though. Is that’s what they have when there’s 11 minutes left to go. Not Derrick Henry. You still want
Luke Jones 25:42
to, but I I would say to push back. Yeah, fine. I would also say when it’s there, take it. Right. I mean, when it’s there, take it. I mean, I I don’t want Lamar to just arbitrarily stand in the pocket and never take off. And I don’t think he will. I mean, even the very end of last year, he was starting to look better in that regard, but but no, I I think you kind of look at it and you know again to kind of stick on the offense and then we can move to the defense because I think the defense I have higher expectations for because one because Jesse Minter if that’s his area of expertise right right so I have higher expectations early in the season let’s say, whereas the offense, I could see there being a little more of a feel it out. Not that it’ll be bad, but that’s where you were
Nestor Aparicio 26:26
when you were 14 and Billick came in here as the offensive genius. You expected the offense to be great, right? We all, yeah, yeah.
Luke Jones 26:32
And then, and you know, and to be clear, that doesn’t mean I think the offense is going to be bad. Oh, we didn’t all think the
8Nestor Aparicio 26:36
special teams is going to get better when Harbaugh got here, but we didn’t have that level. I mean, it’s been 18 years, right? So they brought in the defensive genius. I it’s been a while. We’ve never had a defensive genius here. March of Broda was it? The defensive genius we have was Rex and Marvin, right? Exactly,
Luke Jones 26:51
exactly. So, but but with the offense, yeah. I mean, I I expect based on on what Ledford did in Atlanta, based on what Declan Doyle has come from, with especially with the Bears with Ben Johnson last year, I think you’re going to see a lot of outside zone running. I think you’re going to see a lot of trying to get to the perimeter, and frankly, that’s what Derrick Henry does best anyway. Derrick Henry, it it almost sounds counterintuitive to someone that would just look at Derrick Henry’s build. Derrick Henry’s better running to the outside, right? That’s not to say. Let me be very clear. It’s not to say he can’t run between the tackles. That’s not what Luke Jones is saying right here. But when you look at Derrick Henry, when he’s at his best, it’s the outside stretch kind of stuff, right? It’s the pitching it to him, and he just he gets out, yeah, one cut, and boom, he’s gone, stiff arming two guys down the sideline. I mean, we saw it the first play of the Buffalo game. Well, you got to get an
Nestor Aparicio 27:44
angle on him. Well, you don’t have an angle on him. Forget it, right?
Luke Jones 27:46
Exactly, exactly. So, so I, I, but I think, I think what they are going to want to do running the ball should be quite conducive with what Derrick Henry does best. Now, doesn’t mean I’m going to sit here and and predict a 2000 yard season. That said, I also don’t think he’s washed up, right? I don’t think he’s going to be washed up this year. I think Derrick Henry’s got at least another heck of a season left in him, because I
Nestor Aparicio 28:12
said they were going to win the Super Bowl when they brought him in. So I’m, you know, he defies the. I’m writing the Lamar this week. I’m writing a dear Lamar letter along with all the 28th anniversary rock and roll stuff, you know. I I believe that even more when they brought Derrick Henry in, so they’ve made a fool of me.
Luke Jones 28:28
Well, I mean, but but it’s not because Derrick Henry didn’t do a good job, right? I mean, Derrick Henry’s been everything you could have asked for over these first. By the way, when we get to the
Nestor Aparicio 28:35
defense, we better talk about that pass rush, buddy. Sure,
8Luke Jones 28:38
sure.
Nestor Aparicio 28:39
No, I’m just saying for DeCosta in his off season, and for you know the the big plan here, and you know everybody I talked to in Indianapolis same thing. They didn’t have a pass rush last year, right? So it’s a sport wide problem, which is why everybody wanted Max Crosby and Trey Hendrickson because you know Eric was going to have them both because that’s what they said. Yeah, I’m definitely
Luke Jones 28:59
not buying that part of it,
Nestor Aparicio 29:01
dude. They do so much lying. It just there’s, but but the results will speak for themselves. When you’re talking some some Max Crosby and for Hendrickson, they get to play this week.
Luke Jones 29:11
Yeah, but but but just to finish up on the offense, I mean, I you want this to look explosive. You want to see all the pieces in place. You want to be able to run the ball because that’s not going to put as much pressure of needing to be in two in true pass sets, right? Third and long kind of situations where it takes play action out of the equation, right? You want to you want to be able to run the ball. You want to be productive on first and second down. Frankly, want to as as I’ve said to you, the best third down offense avoids it entirely. Quite frankly, because you know you’re just moving the chains on first and second down, and you you just much more explosive, much more difficult to figure out when when you’re talking about the opposition, you know, the defense coordinator and every everything. But that begins. With the O line, you mentioned Patrick Ricard. I think, frankly, at least early on in the season, I think we’re going to see a lot of Durham Smythe on the field because I don’t, you know, I’m not saying that Hibner and Cuevas, the two rookie tight ends, I’m not saying they can’t block, but they’re rookies, right? And they’re not, you know, they weren’t. These guys aren’t first and second round picks; they were mid-round picks, so I think every guy slapping
Nestor Aparicio 30:23
around in these preseason games, we got at least a chance to get the you know get the dust off a little bit. And they both
Luke Jones 30:28
and they both did some good things in the preseason, like that. You know, I’m I’m not saying they were design
8Nestor Aparicio 30:32
plays for them, but I you know right,
Luke Jones 30:34
but I do think from a blocking standpoint, understanding this is not a team that has a fullback anymore. Durham Smythe will line up as the fullback occasionally. Mark Andrews will line up as the fullback occasionally, depending on what formation they’re in, right? But overall, that that that’s not going to be a thing anymore for them. More than just a handful of times a game. I mean, frankly, I mean Patrick Ricard over the last few years was playing plenty of inline tight end as well, right? I mean, like it’s not like he was lining up as a fullback every single play, so there that’s different. But Durham Smythe is the guy they brought in to to be the blocker, right? Declan Doyle was with him in Chicago. He said, “Hey, you know we we need this. We know that Mark Andrews, while he can block, that’s not his forte. Hibner and Cuevas, they’re young guys, so we’re not going to necessarily count on them being on the field for 45 snaps, but I think you’re going to see you’ll see occasions where they might be in 11 personnel, and and Smythe is actually just the blocking tight end on the field. I think they’ll be in more 11 personnel than they probably have ever been during the Lamar Jackson era, and obviously Jacoby Lane figures heavily into that because if you’re an 11 personnel, that’s three wide receivers. He’s won the number three wide receiver job. I mean, at some point he might be the number two if Rashad Bateman gets disciplined by the league, right? I mean, that’s that’s a possibility at some point in time, right? So, so you kind of view it through the lens of how’s this going to look different, more 11 personnel, more under center than they’ve been at any point during Lamar Jackson. That doesn’t mean exclusively, just more. You’re going to see more of that. I think running game. I think you’re going to see a lot of outside zone, a lot of stretch, trying to get to the perimeter, which I think again, to me, that that’s what Derrick Henry does best. So I think that’s I. I like that. I like that mesh. I like how that fits. You know, are we going to see as much mesh point stuff and zone read and read option? Well, if you’re not in shotgun, you’re not doing that stuff as much. So it will be interesting to see how much of that we do see. I don’t think it’ll disappear, but I don’t think it’s going to be what it was, you know, certainly going back to the days of like Gus Edwards, right, and and J.K. Dobbins being the running back. So, you know, I’m there’s just a fascination to really truly see what a Declan Doyle offense looks like. And if you’re the Colts right now, you’re kind of sitting there. Think about it. Let let’s call a spade a spade. Preparing for Lamar Jackson has been a nightmare for opposing defenses. So now you’re not just preparing for Lamar and Derrick Henry and just knowing what they do in general, and Zay Flowers what he does in general, but you’re now knowing that you have a new offensive coordinator, and it’s a guy that’s never called plays before. So you don’t really truly know, like you have, you know, you can kind of watch Chicago and you can kind of watch Sean Payton stuff, and okay, whatever little bit you can glean from the preseason when when it was Joe Fignano playing quarterback, but there is very much. I mean, I would imagine these last couple weeks there have been even more so than normal restless nights for the defensive coaching staff for Indianapolis because it is just such an unknown what it’s going to look like from their perspective. That said, you’ve got to be able to block. You can’t jump. You can’t have pre-snap penalties. You can’t hold. Right. You you can’t have illegal shifts and dumb stuff like that. So, and and you also know in week one when you had the starters who have not played at all in the preseason, there’s a little more of a tendency to think that some of that stuff could happen right out of the gate. So, there’s a lot of unknown.
Luke Jones 34:14
But that said, this is a Colts team that, despite the fact that they lost, they’ve started seven and one last year, they finished eight and nine. Right, there aren’t no one’s really viewing them as the favorite in the AFC South. Right, I think they’re. I think the Colts can be decent this year, but I don’t think they’re. No one’s picking them to go to the AFC Championship. Right, so, but but you need to go and. Well, they had a great
Nestor Aparicio 34:37
start last year and they lost their quarterback. Right, so like they they think they’re going to be decent. They ask some questions about the defense, but this isn’t. They’re not playing a bad team. They’re playing a team that’s trying to find itself as well. And you know, the more I’ve talked about their coach and their general manager out in Indianapolis and the owner, third generation, you know, or. Say ownership, they you know it feels like this is a little bit of a test for them as well this week. Like this is a fascinating game, you know. I’m I and to your point, week one’s always a little weird. It’s even weirder when new coaches, new coaching staff, they’ve had their act together over in Indianapolis. They’ve had their system in, and they won some games last year. They they had a lot more success last year when they were having it than the Ravens ever did last year. So, you know, Ravens would have loved to set up and said we were eight two at one point. The Ravens didn’t have that kind of team last year. So so I I do. I’m a little weary of just rolling the ball out and saying, well, this is your father’s Colts team. Yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 35:41
they’re they’re going to have to play well, and they’re and they’ve get a lot to prove. This was a team that won the playoff team last year, right? I mean, seriously.
Luke Jones 35:48
And that’s what’s kind of funny about it. I mean, you look at these. Both teams finished eight and nine, but how both teams got to eight and nine is so. Well, we just act like the
Nestor Aparicio 35:55
Ravens won 13 last year or something because they’re the better team, and they’re the better team, and they have Lamar. Well, I don’t know. It’s like talking about Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson for the last two years around. You’re like, yeah, they got potential, but I don’t know. I’m not seeing it.
8Luke Jones 36:09
Don’t use Lamar Jackson’s name in the same breath as Gunner Henderson and Adley Ruchman. Lamar Jackson’s so much more accomplished. But I hear, I hear your point. I absolutely hear your point. Not this week.
Nestor Aparicio 36:19
He’s not yet. He’s got to go out and do it again-that’s part of the deal too. Gun Henderson was accomplished till he wasn’t. I’ll take Lamar.
Luke Jones 36:25
I’ll take Lamar Jackson over Daniel Jones 150 times out of 100 and feel really good. But dude, but dude, six months
Nestor Aparicio 36:32
ago, if you would have said, “Give me the next five years of Gunner, the next five years of Lamar, everybody here would have taken the next five years. You never know where the shelf is. We’ve talked about this with Derrick Henry. We’re going to find out with Roquan Smith. We’re going to find out with Kaleus Campbell. We’re going to find out with Nandy Matabika as to whether he’s really healthy or whether all this is smokescreen stuff. We’re going to find out where Marlon Humphreys got not just on the defensive side of the ball. And then there’s Hendrickson, who better be an impact player for all that we’ve talked about him in the off season. Yeah,
Luke Jones 37:02
and then and this is where we can. I think we covered the offense. I think I think we understand the optimism, but we also understand the question marks, right? And the fact that they have turned over personnel quite a bit on offense. Do you expect the
Nestor Aparicio 37:14
offense or the defense to be the better part of the team this year? All respect the minterm whatever you get. The players you have earlier and better.
Luke Jones 37:22
It’s tough for me to ever say the opposite side of the ball of Lamar Jackson, just because if Lamar is healthy and the best version of himself, we know what that looks like. It’s as good as anything on the planet, right? However, if we’re going to go early in the season, the first month, like let’s say September, I’m inclined to say the defense because I think one the Jesse Minter factor, two the personnel hasn’t turned over nearly as much. Right for the most part they’ve run it back, except they’ve added Trey Hendrickson. They’ve added Jalen Hawkins as a number three safety. That I, as you you know, I loved that move this off season. I thought that was one of the underrated moves that they made. You know, they have Namdi Madibike, who I’m guessing we’re not going to see him Sunday in Indianapolis, but all expectations are he’s going to be out there sooner than later. I mean, they didn’t put him on IR, right? I mean, if if they thought he was going to miss the first five games, he’d be on IR right now. So whether it’s going to be week two, week three, but we’re going to see him. So yeah, the expectations are much higher for the defense. Now that doesn’t mean that there aren’t still some fair questions, right? One, what does Madabike look like in his return? How to you know? One, is he going to hold up physically? Is the net like is he going to be okay, or is he going to have some contact and start having symptoms that cause him to be shut down again? Right. I mean, I we don’t know. We know so little about the injury itself that we’re kind of just spitballing on that. But we know he’s cleared. Like he’s out there. He’s taking team drills or team reps now, so he’s getting closer. But when exactly he’s out there, what exactly it looks like is he on a more of a pitch count? Is he a guy that, you know, is he going to be in every down player, you know, as the year goes on, or are they going to be more cautious with him? But yeah, you kind of look at every level of the defense. So up front, you’ve got Kaleius Campbell, who just turned 40 years old. I mean, the Ravens literally have a defensive player that’s 40 years old. Think about that. I mean, I I’m not. Have they had one before? I mean, not talking like Stover as a kicker, right? But I’m talking about a bona fide 40 year old on either offense or defense. I mean, what was was Randall Cunningham quite 40 when when he played for the Ravens, I can’t remember. But point is, it’s rare, right? And and Calais Campbell, like they’re counting on him to be a real part of what they do. But I assume it’s going to be not the Calais Campbell that’s playing 50 snaps. It’s going to be a Caleus Campbell that’s playing 2025, maybe 30 snaps on on a busy day. For him, so so you have him, Hendrickson. Obviously, the expectations are very high. It’s funny, someone I saw someone mention this on social media. I can’t remember. It was someone in the media, but I I can’t remember who it was. They kind of made a point that it’s like feels like people were sleeping a little bit on Trey Hendrickson, and I we all get it right. The Crosby thing, how that played out. At best, it wasn’t a good look, right? At worst, there was some nefarious things going. You know. However, anyone, you know, we’ve had months to talk about that. Everyone has their opinion on it. It is what it is. Point is, Trey Hendrickson’s still been a really, really good player in this league. I mean, as I said to you, he had two back-to-back seasons that both would have broken the Ravens single-season franchise record for sacks. Right, this guy had 35 sacks over back, you know, back-to-back years, not not that terribly long ago.
8Luke Jones 40:52
So there are really high expectations, and I think for him, the question is not just the impact that Trey Hendrickson’s going to bring, but the force multiplier potential that he has in terms of okay, he’s lining up against the left tackle. They they’re going to have to chip him and give a lot of left tackles help for him. What does that mean for Mike Green on the opposite side, or what does that mean for you know whether it’s Tavious Robinson or Zion Young or go down? Well, this is where the
Nestor Aparicio 41:20
genius of Minter has to be a part of the scheme.
Luke Jones 41:23
Absolutely, but but but even just I mean I mean the scheme is one thing, but when you have someone that can just win one on one like Trey Hendrickson, like just meaning like that means the other side has to account, and then the numbers game for the rest of your rushers should match up and be conducive to being able to to do some stunts and do some things where you can get some free rushers without even necessarily having the blitz. I still think they’ll they’re going to pick their spots and they’ll blitz with Kyle Hamilton and and do that kind of stuff. Like I don’t think that’s going away, but I think when you have someone like Trey Hendrickson and assuming Matt Abike is some semblance of what he used to be, right? Man, that’s a way different animal than what they were lining up with at any point after week two last year. So that’s exciting. But is Madabike going to hold up? Is Clayus Campbell going to give them one more good year of Caleas Campbell-like football at the second level, Roquan Smith. You’ve talked about him a lot. I’ve talked about him a lot the last couple years. You know, he hasn’t played like a 25 or $30 million linebacker the last couple years. They need him to play at least closer to that, right? The Minter effect you’re hoping can help him and put him in better spots to do the things that he does best. So, and then you get to the third level of the defense in the secondary. What does Marlon Humphrey look like this year? Right? They didn’t cut. They didn’t cut him. They didn’t cut his pay. They brought him back. He’s making a lot of money. Right? Go look at where he ranks. He still ranks. It’s not a top five corner in terms of pay, but he’s still pretty high up on that list, especially compared to where he
Nestor Aparicio 43:00
was last year performance-wise, so they clearly have shown confidence in one his ability to bounce back and stay healthy, and two, and I think this is the even bigger factor that Jesse Minter is going to have that secondary as a whole just playing at a much more cohesive, higher level together, rather than the busted assignments and you know the the over under routes and all the different stuff that they had issues with the last couple years. Was that well? They haven’t had good enough players to some degree. Well, you know, like to some degree, Marlin Humphrey wasn’t good enough. Roquan Smith hasn’t been good enough. The pass rush certainly wasn’t good enough. Madabike not being in there was detrimental, given all the money they invested in him and what the level of expectation would be for 40, 5060, snaps a week. I don’t know. I mean, Kyle Hamilton. I’ll give you that, but all the the linebacking core in general has been fair to middling. The pass rush has been fair to middling. The run stops been good at times, you know. Matapika’s been in there, and the backside’s been the thing that they want to shine. You know, where they’ve had more players and more money, and they’ve drafted there. Interested a
Luke Jones 44:20
lot there, yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 44:21
yeah. So, so there’s your three lines, right? And none of it. I can’t sit, dude. You and I sit here and do this for a living. I can’t look at any of those three lines and say I can blame it on Harbaugh or blame it on the defensive coordinator, blame it on DeCosta for bringing guys in. I mean, Kyle Van Noy running around, and yeah, he’s going to play some more too. They brought Aaron Donald. I don’t know, man. Glass Campbell’s here. There’s something in the water about making money in their late 30s and wanting to play football and do that job. Suggs did it for a long time too. But I look at this and say, where’s the elite part of the unit, right? Of of the three. Levels, I’m probably thinking it’s wherever you line up Kyle Hamilton, sort of, kind of. He’s their best player, and then how you utilize him to feature that, where six, eight plays during the game on Sunday, bad things happen because Kyle Hamilton makes them happen.
Luke Jones 45:18
Yeah, I mean Kyle Hamilton’s the best player on defense. I’m pretty comfortable saying that. That said, there’s a reason why they gave Trey Hendrickson the money he did, right? And the fact that he’s been a four-time Pro Bowl player. So you’ve added him, and yeah, I look. I hear the point you’re making, but you and I both know that you even had a conversation with someone that would know last year, someone that knows football extremely well, and flat out told you, their defensive coaching is not very good. So, even with enough talent, even with Pro Bowl caliber talent, if the coaching is not up to snuff, you’re going to have breakdowns, and you’re going to have things that go wrong. I mean, even last year, like we kind of lose sight the Ravens’ defense until the Pittsburgh game, or until the fourth quarter of the New England game. That is a group that played better as the season went on. I’ll remind everyone they shut out the Bengals in Cincinnati. What was that week? Was that week 15? It was whatever it was. They had periods of time where it looked better, but they also had their stretches where it was. I mean, early in the season, it was just absolutely horrendous, right? First four or five games, that defense was as bad as the 1996 Ravens. So it got better over the course of the season, but they still had so many breakdowns at so many of the worst times that even even when it’s better, it’s still not good enough. It’s kind of like talking about the Orioles’ offense, right? If it’s no good
8Nestor Aparicio 46:51
the last six minutes in the game, it’s no good. It doesn’t matter, right? If it’s not if
Luke Jones 46:55
they’re not at their best when to use Jesse Minter’s line, if they’re not at their best when their best is needed, who gives a darn, right? So, yeah, you look at that group, and I think they’re very much counting heavily on Jesse Minter and Anthony Weaver, and not just those guys, but some of the other coaches that they’ve added. Like we talked about it at the time, Mickens, the the defensive back coach that they brought in from Notre Dame, he is really highly touted. Like he is someone. Mike Mickens is probably a guy that I’m guessing, if this season or the next couple seasons go well, he’s probably going to be a defensive coordinator somewhere. I’m guessing that’s how it’s going to go. That’s how highly he was thought of when they brought him in. Like you, I mean, not just Kyle Hamilton, but some of the other guys to come out of that program at Notre Dame, you know, like they all sing the praises of how good he is, right? That said, they’ve got to go out and do it, right? It’s it’s kind of funny. There was a name that kind of got lost completely over the course of last season. Do you remember who their secondary coach was last year? Go for it, Chuck Pagano. Oh, that’s right. Of course, I’m sorry. I’m mistaken. And sorry, I didn’t. I wasn’t. I wasn’t doing that to put you on the spot. Point is, that was something a year ago at this time. Everyone was really excited about that, and their secondary was a mess last year for the most part, other than Hamilton, right? I mean, they had to, you know, they they brought in Alohi Gilman. They had to go back to the three safety locks, and Marlon Humphrey was bad. Nate Wiggins was inconsistent, right? I mean, like their secondary is a mess. Now, I’m not saying that to like embarrass Chuck Pagano, but the point is, you can have all these expectations and you can love all these coaches, but it still all has to come together. the The players can love the coaches as much as they say they do right now. You still have to go out there and play for them, right? That we’re still in the honeymoon period. The honeymoon period finally ends starting Sunday, right? Because there will be a win or a loss attached to everybody, right? And then it will build from there. And everyone loves, everyone can love their brand new coach before you play any games because you haven’t lost any games, but you also haven’t won any games either. Now we start to find out, but they collectively and just for me looking at it with with Minter being the headliner, right? Jesse Minter was hired to become a head coach because he’s considered a great defensive mind. Now he’s got other traits that are indicative of someone that should be a good head coach, and we’ll see how that plays out. Right? Again, it’s so new, but his calling card is his defense. So yeah, I do have higher expectations for the defense right out of the gate. Over the long haul, it’s still tough for me to to side against Lamar Jackson leading the the other side of the ball, right? But for the first month, I want to see this defense come out and be a problem, right? I want to see. Defense be a problem. You mentioned stopping the run. One thing I’m going to throw out there, yeah, because I told you the things to watch for the offense. Here’s something to watch for the defense. I don’t know. Like I think the Ravens’ defense has a chance to be a top five unit, and I absolutely do. I don’t know if they’re necessarily going to be top five stopping the run, and here’s why. In the modern day, when you play so much nickel and dime, and you play a lot of shell, you’re light. You you are light, but there’s an intentional element to that where you say, “I’d much rather have this team continue to think they’re running the ball just well enough, but then we get them in the third down, and that’s when we unleash hell and we get them off the field.
Luke Jones 50:50
If you go back and look at Mike McDonald a few years back, you go look at the Ravens’ run defense numbers, like they weren’t 2000 esque, right? Like they they weren’t like holding teams the two yards a carry. There were times, and don’t get me wrong, it’s not like they were bad against the run. That’s not at all what I’m saying. But in terms of modern defense, if there’s something you’re going to give a little bit on, it’s generally going to be that. Why? Because even the best running games in the league are going to average what about five yards a carry at best? The best passing games in the league are going to be throwing it over your head and averaging I don’t know 7.8 yards per attempt, right? So you kind of look at it from an analytical, a mathematical standpoint and say if we’re going to be a little weaker in one way or the other, I’ll probably give a little bit more with my run defense, just to make sure I’m not getting beaten on the back end and I’m not getting beaten on third down. So that’s something that it just if I’m looking in a big picture sense, I could see them being like maybe middle of the pack in yards per carry allowed. But if that means they have a top five pass defense. I’ll take that any day of the week in the modern NFL. But that said, yeah, lighter your lighter boxes, all that you’ve got to make sure that you are very disciplined in how you tackle. I think you’re going to see them try to probably at times even force things to the perimeter because then they’re going to count on their, you know, their their secondary and everyone to funnel to the football. So, you know, that’s that’s just something I’m curious to see how that looks. But I have very high expectations for this defense. And frankly, if the Ravens are going to be as good as we think they could be, if you’re laying out all the scenarios, I absolutely think that starts with the defense being much more Ravens-like than it was the last two years. Where I mean, even two years ago, when they got better at the end of the season, it still wasn’t good enough. Certainly was not Ravens-like. So you know, you bring in Jesse Minter, you expect him to restore the standard that they at least had in the second year of the Mike McDonald era, and they’re going to run a defense that’s very similar to things that McDonald did. So I think you’ll see a lot of those principles, not just return, but be much cleaner than what we saw the last couple years. Where I love Zach Or personally, but let’s face it, that just did not work out the way anyone wanted
Nestor Aparicio 53:20
it to. Turn the page, baby. We’ve had nine months to wait. We got football on Sunday. We’re going to talk more about it this week. Luke Jones is here. He is Baltimore Luke. It is the Indianapolis Colts taking on the Baltimore Ravens and be a football all week. Wednesday night, Thursday night, all week long. Friday we’re going to be at Costas doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour. It’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland Lottery. Have the Raven scratch offs to give away. Also, our friends at GBMC and Farnin and Dermer. I’m going to be back out at Koco’s and wearing Koco’s gear right now. Be there next month. Going to be at State Fair in two weeks. Out in Catonsville for a breakfast edition. We’re also going to be in Essex at Pizza John’s, amongst other places. Ah, we’ve been to Indianapolis this week. If you want to hear my pal Bob Kravitz talk about things, or Mike Chapel talk about things. We’ve done a lot of rock and roll. It’s our 28th anniversary here. I’m leaning into my rock and roll. Mark Bryan from Hootie and the Blowfish stopped by this week, as well as Rick Emmett and Gilmore from Triumph, and they’re coming back to Baltimore as well. I’ll be counting down the 28 primary bands and artists in my life with some fun stories and pictures and ticket stubs and every time I share this stuff on social media, people ask me all sorts of questions. So I’m just going to put it all out for once over the next year because Luke doesn’t really want to talk about baseball anymore. There’s not going to be any baseball to talk about. Which thank God for football. Thank God the Colts left and the Ravens came here and replaced them so they could face each other this week. I am Nestor. We are WNST. AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We didn’t talk about the kicker, but I have a feeling we will if things don’t go well.
