From Loop to Lane, Ravens first preseason win showed some things

We’re always looking for standouts and reasons to watch the slog that the NFL preseason is during August and Saturday night’s 24-7 win over the Philadelphia Eagles revealed a few new twists and potential contributors for the Baltimore Ravens. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the rising star of Ja’Kobi Lane and the falling stock of Ryan Loop as well as the construction of the offensive line as the week ahead in Minnesota will see starters getting real work on the backfields as they scrimmage the Vikings before a preseason game on Saturday afternoon.

The discussion centered on what the Ravens’ first preseason game revealed about rookie development, line depth, Tyler Loop’s reliability, and the importance of the upcoming Minnesota practices.

Rookie Momentum

Training camp standouts

• Luke said Jacoby Lane has been the biggest story of camp and confirmed that momentum in the 24-7 preseason win over Philadelphia by standing out against backup defensive backs.
• Luke also pointed to Matt Hibner for a productive first quarter and Venga Yoane for a strong debut at guard, including a rep where he finished blocks at multiple levels.
• The takeaway was that several draft picks did what they were supposed to do against backups and may be able to contribute in year one.

Line Questions

Center competition

• Luke said the starting offensive line appears mostly set except at center, where Danny Pinter currently looks more likely than Ethan Posick to open the season because Posick is still ramping back from an Achilles injury.
• Luke added that Javon Gwyn helped himself and may have strengthened his roster case.
• The unresolved question is whether Pinter is simply the healthiest option or a strong enough answer for September.

Minnesota Focus

Next evaluation points

• Luke said the two joint practices with Minnesota, and the following Washington work, will matter more for starters than preseason games because they provide controlled reps against unfamiliar schemes, including Brian Flores pressure looks.
• He expects continued ramp-ups for injured players such as Madabike, Teddy Buchanan, and Travis Jones as the regular season gets closer.
• The biggest concern remains kicker Tyler Loop after his missed first preseason field goal. Can he handle live-game pressure, or does the team need to revisit competition before Week 1?

Action Items

• Arrange for Ron Cassie and Max Weiss to appear on next Wednesday’s Baltimore Positive show. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Have Ravens-themed Maryland Lottery scratch-off tickets available on air during next Wednesday’s appearance at Koco’s. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Host Baltimore Positive appearances at Fishmonger’s Daughter in Catonsville this week and at Koco’s on the 26th. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Attend the Baltimore Orioles’ home games during the Vikings joint practices and report back on the experience.
• Reach out to former teammates (including Jonathan Ogden) and other members of the 1996 Ravens team to reconnect. (@Nestor Aparicio)

Outline

Preseason Takeaways

• Luke said the 24-7 win mattered less than whether young players stood out against backups.
• Jacoby Lane was the main story, with Matt Hibner and Venga Yoane also drawing praise.
• Luke also credited Jesse Minter and the staff for a disciplined showing with only three penalties and strong third-down defense.

Offensive Line

• Most starting spots appear set except center.
• Danny Pinter currently looks ahead of Ethan Posick, who is still working back from an Achilles injury.
• Javon Gwyn also played well and may have improved his standing.

Upcoming Prep

• Two joint practices in Minnesota are viewed as more important for starters than the preseason game itself.
• The Ravens will use those sessions to test protection, run-game execution, and communication against unfamiliar looks.
• Luke expects continued ramp-ups for Madabike, Teddy Buchanan, and Travis Jones before final cuts at the end of August.

Kicker Concern

• Tyler Loop missed his first preseason field goal, which immediately renewed concern after last season’s miss in Pittsburgh.
• Luke said the issue is no longer practice performance alone but whether Loop can execute in live pressure situations.
• Open question: if the inconsistency continues, will the team stay committed or seek outside competition?

Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We call this thing Baltimore positive. It’s summertime here in the big city. I was down at the beach last week doing the Mako thing in Ocean City, Maryland. Had Tom Palazzo on. That’s brother Sam. He does the tourism down there. We had the mayor of Towson, Rick Mihan and all the Mehans, Ron Mihan, Little Mehan, who’s six foot six, all the Mihans were there. We had Ocean City Mayor Rick Mihan, not Ron Mihan, on, but Ron still with that left, the legend of Ron Mihan. You’re gonna look that up, Luke. Trust me, he played a little football around here at Towson. All been brought to you by our friends at the Maryland Lottery, I will have the Raven scratch also on Wednesday. They’ll be right side up, I promise. Over at Fishmonger’s Daughter, our friends at GBMC who have not given me gear yet. I need to get some good gear. I have my T-shirt from Walk a Mile, but Farnum and Dermer-they’ve come through with the gear. And I got to be honest, I saw this bowling shirt, and I said to Zach, “I’m like, dude, is that like a Dundalk thing? Is that the you poking at me? Because they closed my bowling. Fair lanes East Point closed, so it’s Colt lanes. All that, even the the bowling lanes. That’s now the church over on Wise Avenue by Patapsco. We don’t go to that side of Dundalk, but nonetheless, gave me a bowling shirt, and I thought it was ugly. I saw it on the rack, and I’m like, “It’s gonna look ugly on me. I’m gonna look like the dude, or worse yet, one of the other characters. And then I put it on, and I I see it, and it has nice fit. And Planet Fitness has me all fit, and I’m feeling all yogic, and I’m like, “It’s a good looking shirt, so I’m gonna wear it. American Standard and our friends, the comfort guys at Farnham and Dermer. I’ll get Zach at to talk some baseball. Last I talked to Zach, he was giving up on the Orioles and Raven, Raven, Raven. And now, which bird do we follow? Because these birds are, I don’t know. I watched the game the other night. New announcer. Hi, Rod Woodson. How are you? I miss you. I love you. I know you were out there in the little Kevin Byrne press box and a lot of empty seats and a lot of players that won’t be playing in the National Football League anytime soon. But a star is born, Jacoby Layton. You told me I can’t say WNST listers. Anybody that follows Luke Jones or Baltimore Luke, they know you were onto this kid.

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Luke Jones 2:18
Well, I mean, everyone’s been talking about him, I mean that’s what’s been so fun about this. I mean you have a kid who has a pretty big personality. I think we all saw that even draft weekend and his reputation in college, and you know being a really interesting third-round pick. And I’ll be totally honest with you: when I saw him in OTAs in the spring, he didn’t really stand out to me in the way that others were talking about him. But as I said to you, probably starting what two and a half weeks ago, I mean, this is a young man who has had a highlight catch almost on a daily basis, and all he can’t prove anything more than what the what whatever the opportunity is at the moment, right? So, what did you want to see on Saturday night? You wanted to see it carry over, understanding Lamar Jackson wasn’t going to be out there, and Zay Flowers and Rashad Bateman and half the offensive line, like they weren’t going to be out there. But as I always talk about with these preseason games, and I touched on this last week when we were previewing this game, you know, as much as you can preview a game knowing it’s going to be all backups versus all backups, when you have young players, when you have draft picks, and when you’re trying to project what’s real, you want to see them stand out against other backups, right? The fact that Jacoby Lane’s going up against the Eagles’ number five, number six, number seven corners, right? You want to see him stand out, stand out in that situation, and he did, right? He looked really good, and I mean, I’ll say this: Joe Fignano, the third-string quarterback, who, by the way, until the last week was barely even getting any 11 on 11 rips and reps until Skyler Thompson gets hurt and goes to IR. He did a nice job throwing the football. Like if you knew nothing about him, you would not have guessed he was an undrafted rookie. So, but the story, you know, the the the biggest star because he’s been the biggest star of training camp, and because wide receivers are going to stand out compared to offensive linemen. And I’ll get to Vengo Yone in a second. Wide receivers only stand out when a quarterback gets on the ball. Correct, but but you saw Lane do what he did. It was good to see Matt Hibner have have a really nice first quarter, especially 50 receiving yards. You know, a rookie tight end that, and I’ve I’ve talked about this. The tight end room, including Mark Andrews, pretty underwhelming the first few weeks of camp, good to see Hibner show some explosiveness, right? You want to see those guys stand out against other backups because if they don’t, that lends you like it’s kind of a simplistic way of looking at it, and it’s not a, you know, it’s not a one size fits all. Development’s not linear. We know all those things, but if if it’s a. If you’re not really standing out against backups, that tells me, then you’re probably a backup at this moment in time. But when Jacoby Lane stands out against backups, you say, “Hey, that’s really intriguing. They’ve got a a young six foot four option at the X receiver spot, which is something they haven’t had in, I mean, since when? I mean, go back to Michael Jackson at at the beginning. I mean, they just they have not had tall receivers like that that have made an impact. And again, we’ll see how does he do against Minnesota in the joint practices? How does he look in the second preseason game? How does he look against Washington in the joint practice. How does he look in the third preseason game? There’s nothing else he can do right now to prove himself other than whatever opportunity you you’re facing at that moment in time. Go play and go carry over and go sustain what you’re doing, and he did that on Saturday night. So that was fun to see.

Luke Jones 5:58
I thought you know his post game in the locker room, he had a really impressive quote where he’s talking about, “Look, this hype train’s a lot of fun, but I also know I can drop one pass and it starts going in the other direction, basically eluding the confidence, and especially at the wide receiver position where catching the ball is, you know, something that can be so, you know, so schizophrenic, for lack of a better term. I mean, we you you see guys get the yips, right? I mean, we’ve seen that even with veteran players, that can happen. But the longer he can keep his confidence going in the positive direction, and stacking good plays, and stacking good days, and good reps, and the fact that Lamar Jackson trusts him and wants to keep throwing him the ball in practice. I do wonder more and more as time goes on, might they have something here? You know, it’s too early to say, but he’s checked every box. You know, every checkpoint to this point, you’d look at him and say, “That’s you know that he looks the part. So that’s exciting. That’s fun. I mean, my goodness, this franchise that for years couldn’t even hit on a first-round wide receiver, let alone potentially finding a third-round guy that might-I don’t know-at the very least be a good number three wide receiver for them this year, man, that would really-that’d be a big deal for their chances in 2020. Well, the graveyards, along

Nestor Aparicio 7:18
with first-round draft picks, the Perryman’s and the Batemans, and we go down the lists, right?

Luke Jones 7:23
Let alone, you know, having any hope in third or fourth or fifth round guys. I mean, you know, that not much of anything to write home about. I mean, some guys that became special teams per decades. Yeah, like so.

Nestor Aparicio 7:36
We’re 30 years into this. So

Luke Jones 7:38
again, it’s way it’s way too early to know. I’m not. Let’s be let’s be clear. I’m not fitting him for his jacket to go to Canton just yet. You know, like let’s not like let’s not go nuts. But he’s been impressive, and he was impressive on Saturday night. And by the way, he wasn’t the only draft pick that was impressive, but he’s been the story. But I think it’s fun. Again, it’s something that preseason game they they had 25 notable players that didn’t play. You know whether whether we’re talking about guys coming back from injury like Madabike and Teddy Buchanan or just the Lamars of the roster, the Derrick Henrys, right? Guys that for no reason you’re going to put out there at least for the first preseason game. So yeah, it’s a bunch of backups, but like I said, you want to see those guys that you’re saying, hey, whether it’s Jacoby Lane, Venga Yane, who I thought looked really good. I’ll get to him in a moment because there’s something I want to bring up about him that really impressed me, or you know, talking about some role players, you know, depth guys. I I spent 15 minutes talking about T.J. Tampa with you last week. You know the idea of where they were after the Wiggins injury, after the Marlin Humphrey injuries. Even though those were minor injuries, it it shines a spotlight on okay, what’s your depth behind those guys? So you want to see guys like that stand out in this setting. You know it’s the fact that they want 24 to seven, and that’s well and good. And and look, I thought it was a credit to to Jesse Minter and the coaching staff that they looked like a really well coached team. Three penalties, they only gave up what six first downs. I mean, they yeah, it it was really impressive. I mean, 0/3 down conversions allowed, but that said, most those guys that are on the field aren’t going to have much of a role on this team. They’re going to be special teams players and guys that are playing if if others get hurt. But it was still good to see. And again, you saw enough guys stand out where to me you come away at least in you know, just looking at the draft class in its totality, you know, there were 345, guys that did nice things over the course of the night. Where you say, hey, that’s that’s a good sign that this this this draft class can bear some fruit in year one, which is not always the case.

Nestor Aparicio 9:55
Luke Jones here, he’s Baltimore, Luke, and quite the historian that. You brought up the Green Bay Rain game 30 years ago. This I did

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Nestor Aparicio 10:05
at Memorial Stadium. We ran a bus from Clauda Pub and Loonies on the square in Canton out to those preseason games specifically, and it was in the early days of the Nasty Van as well. My kid was 11, so he was not driving the van. But I do remember the rainstorm at the stadium that night. I was in the press box when it happened. I literally, so like I watched the rain just douse Brett Favre and everything else that was there that night. But it does feel like it was 30 years ago. I don’t like want to date you or make you feel like sometimes 30 years ago, like Cal Ripken’s 3121, 31. Oh, it was 30 years ago. Sometimes things feel a little closer or further away. That game feels 30 years ago to me, dude.

Luke Jones 10:55
I was not quite 13 years old. I was 12. I mean, that was my first NFL game that I’d ever attended, and it was I had a ball, but my goodness, we got absolutely drenched in the first half. I mean, so it

Nestor Aparicio 11:07
was it was like a biblical

Luke Jones 11:08
kind of rain. It was crazy. It was just a crazy, and and then it was you know in the in the second half. I don’t remember too. I remember Eric Zire threw a touchdown relative to a couple

Nestor Aparicio 11:18
snaps that night, didn’t he?

Luke Jones 11:19
Yeah, like this was in the era when starters played. Yeah, like

Nestor Aparicio 11:22
played. Yeah, I’m guessing

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Luke Jones 11:24
Favre played maybe a quarter. You know, like I’ll

Nestor Aparicio 11:27
look up the stats, but it’s funny. Yeah, I

Luke Jones 11:28
mean, it’s not always easy to find preseason stats from 30 years ago, but but yeah, I that was just such a fun time. I was, I went, I went with my dad, and I think I went with

Nestor Aparicio 11:41
august 17, it’s like literally the anniversary. No,

Luke Jones 11:45
I said that to you. I, I, it’s funny because I I posted that on my social media, and I just thought it’s funny. I just randomly thought about it. I said, you know what? This is coming up. I wonder how close this is to the 30th, literally 30 years since I attended my first NFL game, and I I looked at it. I was like, man, this is two days off at at the time when I’m sitting in the press box Saturday night. But you know, a reminder of especially my lifetime. You know, you got to remember me growing up. There was oh, the Bucks might come here, the Bengals might come here, all that expansion, all of that, like I never knew anything but the Colts being these mythical creatures, right? You know, like they were they were folk heroes, like you know they were guys that were old and gray, but they meant so much to my dad. They meant so much to my grandpa.

Nestor Aparicio 12:33
So that was a different experience for me. Yeah,

Luke Jones 12:36
yeah, but but for but for my generation to have something like this is this is new, and I like the Stallions too. Like I like that. That was a nice that wet the appetite. I think for you know 10 year old me, 11 year old me. But it wasn’t. Did you have a couple of those

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Nestor Aparicio 12:50
games or a lot? I went to a couple. A couple.

Luke Jones 12:52
Couple. I mean, I could never get over like punting. You know, three downs. You know, just too many punts. That that was the thing that that kind of stuck with me. But it was fun. I mean, I couldn’t get over the good teams

Nestor Aparicio 13:03
and sponsor my show. To be honest with you, that made me. But but they,

Luke Jones 13:06
you know, those were fun teams. I mean, you know, Mike Pringle and Tracy Ham and O.J. Brigantz and all that. So, but but no, just thinking back to that night and thinking about what it’s been and what it’s become-good, bad, and indifferent-but lots and lots of winning. I mean, let’s just call it what it is. I mean, two Super Bowls, lots of playoff appearances, all that. But it’s just-it is wild to think how different my life was at that moment in time. You know, beyond the fact that I was just a teenager, but I didn’t know anything about like having a Baltimore football team, but you know, to to think 30 years later and to now be at a a point where I’ve covered the Ravens now 16 years full time that’s it’s pretty cool. It was one just one of those moments that you can’t get too cynical, right? Like you you got you do have to look around and say, hey, this is still pretty cool, you know? Like even on even when you’re covering a your six straight training camp practice and it’s 98 degrees and you know you’re just hot and tired, but but it was definitely a strange and like I said, thinking back to that, yeah, it does feel 30 years ago. There’s no doubt about that.

Nestor Aparicio 14:14
Let’s not belabor this because we’ve talked so much about the real offense and the real this and the real that and the crappy broadcast, which I could go on and on, and the new guy that’s the new Sandusky that it is going to become an acquired taste. I think around here at various points. I think all of Ravens media is an acquired taste in a general. When I put it on, I’m like, man, the days of Larry Rosen doing like even fake journalism. It doesn’t. It’s it’s not even it’s lousy magazine journalism. It’s lousy TikTok. I don’t know what it is. Anyway, all of that being said, I tended to get the game off because I was interested in the baseball game. The baseball game had more. I was watching from the press box. Yeah, the baseball game had more teeth for me once. Went into the second quarter and I thought the announcer was lousy and I thought Rod felt disinterested and I love Rod but I mean I mean hell I’m disinterested to some degree right like I turned it off. Minter the Minter’s voice where the calls are coming from, I mean preseason so awful in that way to like all the main players are in street clothes. You’re saying, oh, that’s a flowers, and that I know. Oh, that’s Hendrickson. That’s what he looks like in regular. That’s good. So, like, and then the interviews on the sidelines

Luke Jones 15:30
and whatever that nonsense is, like a bad All Star game. Let’s just set the scene for what they’re trying to get done. I mean, you know, let’s let’s be the the ones that do that, couple of practices in Minnesota, game in Minnesota, back home they’re going to make some cuts, no cuts. They don’t do a lot of cuts the way they used to, right? No, they kind of go all the way through now. It’s different, right? So this third game, and then, and then there’s going to be a cooling period, right? Like a nice. I mean, the 13th of September feels like a long time from now. I know it’s not, but it does feel like a long time from right now. Well, I mean, it’s yeah. I mean, think about it. Training camp. Go back to a couple years ago when they opened in Kansas City. Remember, they were the season opening game. They started training camp that year, like it’s like july 18 or something like that. This year they started it what the 29th, I think it was, because they’re starting so late. So so it is pushback a little bit, but yeah, these next couple weeks, I think, as it pertains to starters getting work, obviously we’ve talked so much about the joint practices in recent years. They’re going to have two days against the Vikings. I think there’s an added bonus there when you look at the Vikings and their defensive coordinator in Flores and what kind of trouble he can pose for an opposing offense, I think that’s a that’s a good tune-up for this offense. You know, in a controlled environment, right? Lamar’s not going to get hit. You you play more thud. You’re probably not going to tackle to the ground a whole lot, but you can get really good work against an unfamiliar opponent, you know when you get to this point in training camp, Marlon Humphrey and Nate Wiggins know Zay Flowers, and Zay Flowers knows them, right? Trey Hendrickson knows Ronnie Stanley, and Ronnie Stanley knows Trey Hendrickson. You want to go up against something that’s not as familiar, you know, to the point where okay, maybe you’re not game planning in the in the fullest fullest sense, but there’s a little bit of that going on. There’s a little bit of a okay. This is what we need to be prepared for. This is how we prepare for this kind of defense, or this is what we need to do. And they they like to run these sim pressures, like all that kind of stuff. So it gives you that in a way that teams, most teams, not everyone. I did see Josh Allen and a few other starters around the league running around this past weekend, but you know that that even those teams, it’s very fleeting. So this is this is very important work for them this week, and I think you know you’re getting to a point in the preseason now where okay, where is Namdi Matibike in his ramp up? Right, they’ve ramped him up very, very slowly. I don’t think that’s anything but by design. But now you’re starting to get to the point now where you are less than a month away from the start of playing for real, and you know probably in the next 10 days or so, I would assume we’re going to start seeing him start to hit some and be a little more physical and see how his neck responds. Same for you know Teddy Buchanan coming back from an ACL injury. Same for some of you know Travis Jones had a peck injury, right? That he was coming back from. So you’re going to start to see some of those guys kind of take the next level in their ramp up. The first couple weeks, you know, they’re they’re out there running around and stretching and doing individual and stuff like that. But you want to start seeing that. I don’t know if that’s Nestor. You know, I don’t think we’re going to see Madabike against the Vikings necessarily, like hitting. I I think we’re still too soon for that. But moving toward that, right? So so you have all that, but but yeah, um, I would expect, and I said this to you going into this game, and I think we saw it.

Luke Jones 19:05
It was evident with 25 notable players sitting out, probably about 20 of them healthy as as horses, just not being put in harm’s way. I don’t think that’s necessarily going to change for the second preseason game or for the third preseason game. If anything, I think you’ll look at someone like Venga Yoane, who I was really impressed with. Let me-I’ll get back to the big picture. But his first rep, and I-I saw our pal Brian Baldinger did one of his Baldy’s breakdowns on this, you know, on his social. But Yoane on his first rep, down block on the nose tackle, you know, and it was a combo block with Danny Pinter, so like it wasn’t like it was just him doing it by himself. Does that, climbs to the second level, hits a linebacker, and then hit a defensive back as the whistle’s blowing. I mean, that was the epitome of when when you hear an O lineman say looking for work. Searching for work. I mean, he had three guys on his very first play. He only played 15 snaps. He had one or two reps where I’d say, okay, wants to you know clean up his hand placement, or you know maybe didn’t didn’t maintain his block exactly the way you wanted. But boy, he looked the part, man. I mean, he looked the part of that’s a first round draft pick right there, and you want him to, you know, because there aren’t many guards that you draft in the first round, so he better be a really good one. And he he looked like that. I, of all the players, you know, when I rewatched the game on Sunday morning, of all the players that I kind of focused in on, he might have been the guy I came away the most impressed with. And that’s you know taking nothing away from Jacoby Lane or Keon Martin on the next. And that should be the way it is,

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Nestor Aparicio 20:41
right? Exactly. Exactly. It goes

Luke Jones 20:43
back to what I was saying, right? You put the film

Nestor Aparicio 20:44
on that. It should look that your first

Luke Jones 20:46
round pick should dominate against backups, right? And and that’s that that was indicative of that. So that was good to see. But but I would even say as we get deeper into the preseason, this could be a case where maybe you want a plays two series again against Minnesota on Saturday, and you know what? If it looks good, guess what I do? I don’t even play him in the preseason finale. If you see everything you need to see, if he looks the part, why are you going to mess with it, right? So,

Nestor Aparicio 21:13
well, I was going to ask, how about we know when this offensive line is ready for september 3. Yeah.

Luke Jones 21:20
Well, I mean, you’re not really going to know for

Nestor Aparicio 21:24
correct for sure. Eight’s not going to wear a jersey, right? Yeah,

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Luke Jones 21:28
exactly. And you know, Ronnie Stanley’s not going to play in the in the preseason. I mean, I wouldn’t think, you know, Rosengarden didn’t play on on Saturday night. I don’t think we’re going to see John Simpson. John Simpson was a little banged up late last week. You know, nothing serious, but they were holding him out of 11 on 11. But I don’t think you’re going to really know. But I I do think what was interesting, and this is something that I I’ve mentioned that I do watch and pay attention to this more closely in the preseason. When are guys playing? How much are they playing? When are they going in the game? Danny Pinter started at center, played the first two series. He exited when Yuane did. Ethan Posick did not play until deep into the second half. Now, I think a big factor here is still him coming back from the Achilles. But that being said, the week one clock is ticking at this point in time, and based on what we’re seeing, whether we’re talking about practice reps or what we saw Saturday night, I think Danny Pinter is going to be the starting center at least to begin the season. Now that doesn’t mean you know Posick could be the guy week four. I don’t know, or maybe he won’t be. Maybe maybe he’s not going to be the starting center. Maybe he’s going to be the backup, right? I mean, it’s not as though they gave him $12 million. I mean, but based on how it’s looked, based on the reps, I mean, it was about 15 snaps for Pinter. Javon Gwyn got some pretty extensive run. I think I thought he actually played pretty well. I think he helped himself securing a roster spot, and then it was Posick late in the game. I mean, he’s going up against guys who had no shot of making the team. So, you know, not saying he played poorly or anything like that, but I don’t know what you really gleaned from that. So, you know, as far as week one goes, I am-I don’t want to say it’s impossible, but man, I have my major doubts that Ethan Posick’s going to be their week one starting center at this point, just based on what we’re seeing. So, I think that’s interesting. But but to answer it about the offensive line in general, it’s hard to say, right? I mean, I don’t want to sit here and I’m not going to sit here and make too much out of 24 to seven backups versus backups. Like all to me, what that proved was, it looks like the roster has some good depth at quite a few positions. And like I said, I’ll I’ll give a tip of the cap to just Jesse Minter. Those guys were ready to play. They played well. They they kicked the Eagles’ butts on Saturday night. I mean, they did backups against backups. Now that doesn’t win you a Super Bowl, but it it is indicative that maybe your depth is a little bit better at certain spots, and you know we’ll we’ll see about some other spots. But but D O line, yeah, that continues to be a question. But I think we’re starting to, you know, it feels like Danny Pinter is going to be that guy. I mean, unless something drastically shifts over the next two weeks, this is kind of what we’ve been seeing since the start of training camp. You know, Bosk’s kind of been running with the third team, and the first week I thought, okay, well, he’s just learning the offense and he’s ramping back up, but he stayed there, and that that to me makes me feel like he’s healthy enough to practice and he’s healthy enough to be on the field, but he hasn’t gotten all the way back to pre-injury form. Remember when the Ravens had? He’s a

Nestor Aparicio 24:47
week six guy. Maybe he might be, yeah,

Luke Jones 24:49
or he might not be. And maybe Pinter just keeps the job. I mean, you know. But I’ve said that. Remember when the Ravens had their colossal injury plague season back in 20. A major theme of that 22 season, if you remember, it was J.K. Dobbins and Marcus Peters and Gus Edwards and all those guys that were coming back from the season-ending injuries that had kind of ruined their their chances. You know, Ronnie Stanley was in that in that group as well. I made the point at the time that there’s healthy enough to play and to be on the field, but there’s there’s also healthy enough to say you’re thriving and you’re back to all the way back to pre-injury form. You know, Posick to me remind really strikes me as someone who’s not close to being back to. We talk about Jackson

Nestor Aparicio 25:35
Holiday playing and May and playing now like that’s playing and thinking about it and playing yeah and not thinking about it when they have another option right now, and it’s a long season, and we got a veteran quarterback, and Pinter’s been fine. Hey, dude, when you’re the better center, you’ll play. You’re not right now, right? Well, you’re the better pedigree, you’re the better veteran, but you’re not healthy enough. Get your don’t worry, it’s August, dude. You’re a veteran. It’s like Caleus Campbell sort of rules, dude. If you’re going to help us in November, I don’t care about August. Yeah,

Luke Jones 26:05
and you know, I mean, you have to keep in mind when you have an Achilles, you have atrophy with the calf muscle. I remember this vividly with Steve Smith when he came back. You know, from from the year that he had the torn Achilles, and seeing him in the spring, like it was striking how much skinnier the calf was on the on the, you know where he had had the Achilles. So you know I think you see if you look closely, you can probably see a little bit of that with with with Posik. But here’s where the scenario you just laid out is fine unless Danny Pinter’s not really starting caliber, but he’s the best you have right now, and that’s where you say, “Uh oh! Right. So that’s where I thought it was nice to see that. I thought Gwyn played pretty well. Also, I thought he acquitted himself well. But you know, I I’m not saying it’s set in stone, but we are getting to the point now where we’re under a month away. Whatever that offensive line is going, whatever that starting five is going to be, and the other four spots are set at this point. I don’t think there’s any question about that, but you want to be building cohesiveness. You want to be building chemistry, especially the center making the calls, setting the protection, identifying the mic, communication between the center and Lamar Jackson, all of that. You want to have that

Nestor Aparicio 27:25
consistency there. Yeah,

Luke Jones 27:26
exactly. So that’s where you look at it and say, you know, you just have to call spade a spade, like you said. I mean, if Posik’s not the pre-injury version of himself, yeah, he can keep practicing and he can be depth for right now, and he can keep working his way back. But in the meantime, you just go with Danny Pinter, or you go with Javon Gwynn if he ends up being, you know, if Gwynn unseats Pinter over the next two weeks. Point is, whoever it is, we are getting to that point now where it’s like, hey, you want to be settling into what that’s going to look like at least in the month of September. You know, you can revisit it, and you will have to revisit it if there’s an injury or something like that. But, but that’s you know I I think that’s kind of where we are. But I that said, I do think going up against Minnesota and then going up against Washington the following week in these joint practices, it’s going to be telling. You know, you want you want to see that group have a steady pocket. You want to see them open opening running lanes for Derrick Henry, right? I mean, the little bit that we saw, you know, of you know the two starters that were out there with the O line, you know, they they didn’t run the ball at a tremendous level on Saturday night. I’m not, you know, I’m not concerned by it. Again, it’s kind of just is what it is. It’s a bunch of backups out there, but you want to see in those joint practices, you know, you want to see the reports that hey, Derek Derrick Henry’s finding some running room, and and and Lamar Jackson’s getting plenty of clean pockets. You know, they’re running a lot of play action and different things like that that are working really well for them as well. But but yeah, these next couple weeks, I mean, this is this is where you get into this is the meat of prep time, and then you get to the final. You know, you get to final cuts at the very end of the month. Game install, and then it’s you know you’ll have a little bit of a lull. Those guys will get like four straight days off, and then then it’s go time. Then it’s game week, right? So so yeah, we’ve got about two weeks to go until they make you know two two weeks until final cuts. To clarify what you said, yeah, there are no. They used to have the cut down to 75. Like they don’t do that. It’s 90 to 53 on august 30. That’s what they do now. It’s because they need these guys during the preseason games. In the past, you would cut to 75, and then the final preseason game, you know, you’d end up playing with it was getting to the point where you you were only playing with 40 guys on your roster because you didn’t want to play any of your starters. So that was a change they made a few years back. But but yeah, these these next couple weeks, you know, it’s not going to be something that’s staring you in the face because these joint practices aren’t televised in the way that that the the. Games are televised, but you want to see you want to see good reports. You want to see positive. It’s a shame

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Nestor Aparicio 30:06
the only time the players play is on a backfield in Minnesota. It’s crazy. I

Luke Jones 30:09
know. Well, you’ve you’ve heard me say this for years now. My idea for reimagining the preseason, I’ll continue to say it. And you know, they’re we know it’s a matter of when they’re going to go to 18, and they’ll get rid of one. They’ll have two preseason games. But I’ve said for years what I would do is I would morph these preseason games into a preseason showcase. You’d still sell tickets, have a charity tie-in, all of that. But fans that go to the game, go to the stadium, they get to see Lamar Jackson and all those guys at least practice. You can even have them in their game uniforms. Why not? At least have them practice against the other team. And then what you do, if you want a live game setting for the young guys and the backups, play a play a 30 minute, play a half, right? Do a a full you know joint practice where where the starters get reps, and then play a 30 minute game. That’s what I would do. Get a get a get a charity tie in, and you know you could still sell tickets, you know, just at a reduced price. All that I think you could, if you’re actually caring about having a great event that really gets people excited for the season, as

Nestor Aparicio 31:15
opposed to what this

Luke Jones 31:16
is. Yeah, because it’s it’s not good. I mean, it’s good in the sense that the secondary market does allow, like for example, my brother-in-law and my sister went to the game Saturday night. They got free tickets from someone, which was great. Like it was fun date night for them. They got you know my mom watched the girls. Like that was that was fun for them. But in terms of the entertainment value that you’re asking your season ticket holders, must they ever be willing to

Nestor Aparicio 31:38
pay for that experience? I don’t know.

Luke Jones 31:40
It’s not, you know. It’s certainly not full price. Drive

Nestor Aparicio 31:43
down the Baltimore from Pennsylvania for that. So

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Luke Jones 31:45
you know, as

Nestor Aparicio 31:46
a serious endeavor, and spend a couple 100. I mean, they had. I mean, they had

Luke Jones 31:48
fun. I hear it. Yeah, and I always had fun at the preseason

Nestor Aparicio 31:51
games too. I did.

Luke Jones 31:53
Greg didn’t get to see Jalen Hurts play either, right? I was playing that

Nestor Aparicio 31:56
Packers game 30 years ago. I did. I’m still wet. It was a blast. Yeah,

Luke Jones 31:59
I I remember that. Yeah, I I I I bought my first Ravens hat that night. So I I still flying B somewhere. Flying

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Nestor Aparicio 32:07
B.

Luke Jones 32:07
No, it was the it was the one that looked like the old time Batman logo. It was longer and it said like Raven. Dude, I couldn’t reach

Nestor Aparicio 32:16
the Zyre. Zyre and I connected years ago, and I always liked him.

Luke Jones 32:21
I always liked him as a player. I don’t. I like. I don’t. Zion and I

Nestor Aparicio 32:23
always got on good. It just. I haven’t talked to him in 30 years. I got. I got to get up with him. I got to get. I’m gonna. I’m. You know what? I’m on it. You’ve given me a little bit of homework. I’m gonna try to chase down Eddie Sutter and Mike Frederick and some of the 96 goons. Maybe even. Maybe even the big Hall of Famer. Maybe I’ll find him out in Vegas on the Strip somewhere. So the meme machine. Give me a reason to bother Marvin too, because speaking of that, it’s funny you mentioned you mentioned

Luke Jones 32:49
Jonathan Ogden. How about how big the Eagles’ right tackle is? That guy is monstrous. It reminds you of Jo, right? I mean, like a guy that’s six eight. You know, like you know, you’re okay. Big left tackles in the league. They’re 6465, but man, that that guy standing next to their guard. I I did see the you know a couple people tweeted out some of the screen grabs and you know looked like a looked like a dad with his like six six year uh six grade you know son in junior high football. I would say like it’d be cool for me to have had a picture of me and Jo and like J Lo, you know, who’s smaller than me is smaller than me, but like a picture of me and Jo is just as good, you know what I mean? Because I’m the

Nestor Aparicio 33:30
same size. Oh yeah, you get you get the deal. You know what I mean? Like just put Jo standing next to Jay Lew or like Steve Smith standing next to Bryant McKinney. You know, big big big differences there. Luke and I are standing on the shoulders of giants around here in the history of sports radio, in the annals of all of the best of awards we’ve won. We won best reinvention here at Baltimore Positive from Baltimore Magazine. I’m going to have Ron Cassie and Max Weiss out. It’ll look like I’m paying them off, but believe me, I earn this honor. I know this. We’re going to be at Koco’s next Wednesday. We’re going to have the scratch-offs from the Maryland Lottery. These are the Ravens flying bird. This is this original flying bird right there. This this should have been the real logo, the Kiss face. But I’ll have these on Wednesday. A fishmonger’s daughter in Catonsville this week, and then Koco’s on the 26th. We’re getting ready for football on the 13th. We’re getting ready for a big week of baseball around here with the Yankees in town and the Rays as well. Luke will be out at the ballpark as the Ravens travel out to Minnesota to take on the Vikings in joint practices all week long. I hope that they have a good time out there, and I hope the weather is cooperative for them out in the Twin Cities. Anything else you got that be on on the lookout for? I mean, it just feels to me like it just injuries and calm and no fights and no swinging helmets in Minnesota and yeah.

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Luke Jones 34:51
I’m I’m I’m I don’t do this often, but we’ve buried the lead a little bit here. I think we need to talk about the kicker, but that might be. Should we, should we break and do a?

Nestor Aparicio 35:03
No, go ahead. You want to talk? Oh, okay. Well, I just

Luke Jones 35:06
kind of, you know, we’re we’re very deep into this conversation. I was I was keeping it more on the positive side, but Tyler Loop, you couldn’t have asked for a worse way to start the preseason than him missing his first kick since January in Pittsburgh. I mean, I don’t, I don’t know what else to say about it beyond like I’m not going to sit here and say, oh, they need to bring in this kicker or that kicker or that one specifically. But look, you can show as much confidence in him as you want, but it doesn’t matter if he’s not going to make kicks, and he can cite how many kicks he’s made in practice? Look, he’s had a good training camp. He has, but you got to make kicks. Like this is the first live game setting he was in, and he missed his first kick. You know, that’s I’m concerned about that. I’m concerned. No, I know. And and again, I you know I kind of apologize. I should have brought that up to you know I was trying not to be negative about a 24 to 7 game, but it’s kind of sort of could be the most consequential thing that happened Saturday night, right? I mean, Yuane needs to be really good. He was really good. Jacoby Lane’s a great story. Keon Martin’s a good story. Jesse Minter’s

Nestor Aparicio 36:14
undefeated,

Luke Jones 36:15
but man, I mean, they’ve they didn’t bring in any competition. They’ve shown all this confidence, I get it. They they have conviction about the kid, but man, missing the first kick that that he has a chance to to to put his foot on since Pittsburgh, that’s it’s gonna that’s gonna test everyone’s patience, right? I mean, you you already have fans now, and I don’t blame them. I mean, I I said all spring and summer I would have brought in someone to compete with him. Minter said after the game he was kind of, you know, didn’t really indicate that anything changed drastically. And you know, he made another field goal. I mean, it was good to see that he made his extra points. But we we we talked about it all last year, even before the miss in Pittsburgh. That the season really didn’t line up for him to have a ton of pressure-filled moments, even in the way Justin Tucker did as a rookie. You know, Justin Tucker had several game-winning kicks and game-tying kicks and and opportunities of that nature that that Luke just didn’t have until that fateful miss in Pittsburgh. That you know was a wave goodbye to John Harbaugh. Before you know, little did we know at that moment in time. But it’s just it’s not how you wanted the preseason to start for him. And now the pressure ramps up even more. And maybe that’s a good thing, right? They’ll either rebound from this and be totally fine, or pressure will break pipes, and then it’ll be obvious they need to bring someone else in. But, but yeah, that was kind of the one thing that you really come away from asking major questions about. I mean, you have to. You you can’t be naive about it. It’s not to say that even if he has a perfect preseason, that that means he’s fine either. But

Nestor Aparicio 38:03
dude, he can make 12 kicks on Wednesday and Thursday in Minnesota. Whenever they’re practicing Saturday night, he yips the first one. We’re going to be on his ass Monday morning here, and the rate and the Orioles might even be in the playoffs by then. And that’s what I’m saying. Yeah, I mean that’s why I thought this is a big deal. I agree with that, but it’s not. I don’t know that that’s the lead story from the first preseason game, but it certainly.

Luke Jones 38:24
I mean, it could be. It it might not be. I agree with that, but it could be very quickly. It could become. I thought we saved the

8

Nestor Aparicio 38:31
best for last here, as far as uh yeah the segment goes. But yeah, I mean that goes without saying. I mean everything else, all the other parts of this and Lamar and this and that, they’re going to need their kicker. They are.

Luke Jones 38:43
Yeah, and they need and and some of this is also his headspace, right? He just had seven months of working, getting back to it, fine tuning your craft, practicing, working on your craft, everything that you’re you need to do to get your head right, whether we’re talking about prayer or or whatever it might be in someone’s individual life, to be in that kind of a you know that kind of crucible. I mean, these guys are in the crucible, right? And anyone in pro sports, you face pressure. So some of this is also how will he respond to this? Because you can spend seven months convincing yourself that you’re over it and you’re fine and you’re not going to be defined by that, but then when you go out and miss your first kick, it’s just again, it’s the last way. If he was going to miss a kick in the in the preseason, that’s not the end of the world. You just wanted the first one, right? I mean, I think I think it’s anyone can understand that, and you know even the most optimistic fans right now. I think there’s a kind of holding your breath, right? Holding your breath for this this coming Saturday, holding your breath for the finale. But even if he had a perfect preseason, let’s face it, next time he has anything resembling Pittsburgh. At all, everyone’s going to be holding their breath. So, in that sense, I guess going to miss

Nestor Aparicio 40:04
kicks this year. So let’s not do that. But I know with it.

Luke Jones 40:08
But but again, it was just it was the fact it was the first one, right? I mean, first time. Well, it’s the question

Nestor Aparicio 40:13
as to whether he gets there september 13. At this point, when you start missing kicks, yeah, it it you know to your point, it’s not the lead story, but it kind of is in the question of if next week doesn’t go well, at what point do you enter september 13 thinking this is your solution? That’s all. Or if you lose a game because of him, we sat here and told him to be five and 06, and zero. Look at all these terrible teams. One of these games is going to be close, and it’s going to it it it’s going to be him. You know what I mean? At some point, it’s going to come down to him because that’s the way it works.

Luke Jones 40:43
Yeah, I mean, if he’s going to be the guy, and and and I would also say this, and this this was would be an argument against what I’ve kind of said throughout the off season, which is I’m bringing in someone to compete with him. Here’s the reality: you could decide today, you could decide tomorrow that okay, Tyler, we’re done with Tyler Lu. Whoever you bring in, you know, I mean, he can bring Justin Tucker back. And I say that, you know, I’m not serious in saying that. But whoever you’re bringing in, you don’t know if that guy’s going to be able to do the job either, right? I had someone ask me the other day on social media. It’s a fair question. Right now, the Colts have two kickers battling it out, and they asked me, “Would I send a late round pick for one of those guys? I said, “I’m not going to trade an asset for another unknown. Like, I don’t know if that can get that drive back we

Nestor Aparicio 41:35
sent to the Vikings.

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Luke Jones 41:36
So, Corey Vedvick, yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 41:38
let’s bring him back. That

Luke Jones 41:40
was one of Eric’s finest moments, like getting a fifth-round pick for that guy.

Nestor Aparicio 41:44
What player did he get? We have to go back and look that up. All right, Luke Jones is here. I’m sure he’ll research that for you. Add on the interweave him at Baltimore. Luke, Ravens are practicing in Minnesota. Orioles are home. Luke’s at the ballpark. I’m here. Any breaking news happens first on the WNSD Tech Service. Bill Cole’s going to join me at it, the Fishmonger’s Daughter. We were together down in Ocean City, Maryland, doing all sorts of networking and cool stuff. If you’re listening in and you hear voices here, like Emily Keller or Michael O’Connor, who is the mayor of of Frederick. Emily Keller is the special czar for drug Narcan. You see the naloxone ads. She is that person, and former mayor of Hagerstown, also the current mayor of Ocean City, Rick Mihan, never to be confused with Ron Mihan, who was quite the left-handed quarterback back in the day. And I saw him down at the beach. Saw a lot of folks at the beach last week. You’ll hear it all from Mako right here at WNST and AM 1570, where we never stop talking. Baltimore positive.