Luke Jones and Nestor discuss Greg Roman and Ravens anemic offense against Browns
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
ravens, game, week, lamar, point, run, deacon jones, falcons, offense, playoffs, saturday, play, win, justin tucker, cincinnati, passing, gave, nfl, lose, team
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
W n s t Towson Baltimore and Baltimore positive Happy Holidays merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah Kwanzaa. Whatever you’re celebrating Happy New Year. Happy, bring the relatives over and do all that stuff. We’re we had the relatives over last week. My wife’s been out of town. We have our German friend who saved my wife’s life coming to town this week. So it’s obviously a special holiday for us around here, but I want to give a shout out to everybody that has supported us all year long. Gina shock came by Costas on on Thursday, she ate my crab cake. I turned my back. Next thing I know she’s eaten my crab cake. She’s like, Yeah, you’ll get another one up. So cheetahs shot came over was just such a great time. John Allen, my dear friend, Joyce buchi. My artist. My art teacher gave me an appreciation art back in 1982. All together with rock and roll bands. If you have kids out there. Deacon Jones is here. He knows about having nieces. Your niece is going to be into the band milkshake very, very soon. I mean, come on a serious children’s band here now over three four generations of kids. And Lisa Matthews and Michael Gill, who was wearing his Orioles gear by the way, overcast is all it was brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery I had scratch offs we had winners we had this incredible a group in for lunch a cost this they all got lottery tickets, everybody was having a great time onto the Christmas tree all the property by the Maryland lottery or friends who could well and when the nation they got to win the nation certified master installer shirt on windows, siding, doors 866 90 nation you buy two you get two free and 0% financing, which is even a better deal than they gave me back in August. When I got my windows in summertime. There were bad time to get new windows. All right. Luke Jones is here forever to be called Deacon Jones or in this case, Uncle Deacon Jones. And Happy Holidays to you I know was it’s good to have the family around. Everybody’s in one piece. And you’ve had some issues this year with your family, whatnot. But man watching this football on Christmas Eve I mean, it’s making me think of my dad in a bad way. I’m gonna have to get all my goes to the post my, my ticket stubs, right? Like my Clark judge in conversation who was at that game uncovered that game and I’ve had long chats with him about that. And yeah, Christmas Eve Falcons in tickets are cheap. Is Lamar playing?
Luke Jones 02:18
8
I think so. I think so. And we saw reports over the weekend that reinforced that. And I know what the Stacey Dale is doing the sideline reporter reporting, I guess it was for NFL Network indicated that I think what they’re telling her right, sure, sure. And until he’s out on the I mean, at this point in time, it truly is a case of he’s got to practice, right, you can’t miss two weeks and then miss another week of practice. And then suddenly, you’re going to be playing on Saturday. I mean, that’s not how it works at this point, that first week. Yeah, you can by the idea of missing a week of practice and still playing. But you get to a point where you got to see what it looks like physically, you know, but I think you know, when you looked at the reports of it being a sprain, PCL, and, you know, the David Charles of the world, you know, on Twitter, and doctors and sports medicine types, kind of interpreting what that means when you hear reports of a sprain PCL, they said that this would be a two to three week thing, maybe a little bit longer, but right around that. So we’ll see, you know, ultimately, we’ll have a better idea when we’re tweeting out the injury report Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and see if he’s out there now. We’ll see if there’s wiggle room in terms of if he’s practicing fully, or is it limited? And then you wonder, okay, how much is he actually doing? So but I think all along the expectation was going to be Yeah, he’s gonna miss the Pittsburgh game. And he was very likely to miss the Cleveland game. And that’s how it played out. So I did find it interesting that he didn’t make the trip to Cleveland. But after making the trip to Pittsburgh, so, you know, again, the Ravens put that put that out there to NFL Network that, you know, they were just being extra careful, then whenever the swelling that has rehabs going well, again, we’ll see. We’ll see. You know, all along. I don’t think anyone who spoke with any level of medical expertise thought that this was a season ending injury. But everyone kind of said, yeah, he’s gonna miss some time. So no, I think we’re at that point now where we’ll see if he’s out there. I would say this. Atlanta Falcons are not first place or second place in the AFC north. Regardless, if Lamar is not right, don’t put them out there. If another week would really do wonders for him. Don’t put them out there. I mean, it’s that simple. They’re already in a position that as I said to you in a previous conversation, they’re in a position this weekend where a win and a loss by another wildcard contender puts them in was still two weeks to go after that. So it just speaks to don’t do anything dumb here. Absolutely. Make sure he’s right physically because their only chance and this is where it’s going to bring us to Greg Roman and where he is and where he He’s going where the organization is going with or without him at this point in time, but their only chance upset. I don’t want anyone to say salvage. I mean, they’re nine and five again, let’s keep reminding ourselves as best Yeah, they’re still
Nestor Aparicio 05:13
well, they can sound shells by winning football games here, right? Like they win a lot of football games like it feels like they were on a five game losing streak in their nine and five, and they last for five minutes and Justin Tucker Miss kicks and things went wrong. I mean, the real issue here is, do they have enough talent, that defensive injuries? How Lamar can Lamar be? And then beyond that? Even if Lamar is Lamar? They’re not beaten three of these teams? And yeah, I mean, I’m watching this. I’m watching where they are, where older players always are this time of year. By the way, congratulations to Messick. I wear my Argentinian blue today to support them for all the old guys out there. But for you know, see, Calais is Campbell in that circumstance, obviously, Marcus Peters, you know, and he’s not even old. He’s only old by cornerback standards, not old by JPP standards. Or, you know, where’s Josh Bynes and, you know, all of the older people that they have around the team, flute, a lot of guys on the offensive line now as well. Mark Andrews looks old feeling old this time of year. Greg Roman and the offense and like, if they’re going to win, the defense is going to have to be really good. And they’ve been fine. 13. I mean, to your point over the last month, let’s not beat the defense up but worried more about their health row, Quan Smith. I’ll give Eric the constitute thumbs up on that deal to make defense better. Now. How can the offense be better?
Luke Jones 06:42
Yeah. And the point I was trying to finish is, this is a non starter. If Lamar comes back a diminished version of himself, I think you need a 100% Lamar Jackson. That’s why I said if you’re not getting that this week, and you think waiting another week increases the likelihood of him being 100%. Or it’s at least say like 98% Right? No one’s 100%. This time of year, kind of to the point you we’re making them fine. But assuming Lamar is back and healthy, how does this offense operate moving forward, and this is where I go back to Saturday’s game with Greg Roman. And you look at the micro versus the macro, right? The micro on Saturday, and this is coming from the guy who’s talked about the passing game needing to be better. I mean, we spent an entire segment talking about that. The micro on Saturday, where they were on Saturday, with a backup quarterback and with an opponent that has been one of the worst defenses in the NFL and stopping the run this year. They needed to run the football more now. Some of the language has been a little too strong. It’s not as though they abandon the run and they only ran 12 times right this wasn’t this wasn’t cam Cameron and in that infamous Monday night Jacksonville game where what the Ravens ran the ball eight times or whatever it was, but I think you look at how the game played out and I kind of look at their first full drive of the fourth quarter. It was keep in mind Justin Tucker had missed the field goal on the drive that to start the fourth quarter and yeah it started in the third and you know he get the fuel gets blocked. Cleveland miss it you know Katie York misses the 38 yarder to keep the minute so the Ravens takeover with just under 11 minutes to go and three timeouts. Nestor, that’s an eternity in the NFL, right? It’s a 13 three game at that point. Why in the world? Do you throw six straight passes at that point in time. And that’s where I just look at this thing with Greg Roman. And say, boy, he’s great at building a running game. And that’s the one thing you can hang your hat on right now with this offense is their running game, especially the last two weeks after it. It kind of looks choppy, but Dobbins is back. 70 Stanley is Ronnie Stanley is back, Kevin Zeitler was back on Saturday. And they ran the ball and they ran the ball extremely well. And as much as guys like be have talked about the fact that yes, you need to pass better. And that’s a macro level issue, right? That’s a big picture issue, not just for these final three weeks, but more. So January and really moving forward. When you’re talking about what’s going to happen with this offense. What’s going to happen with the large axens long term contract status. Is there an extension is there the Franchise Tax? Who knows? That’s a macro level, but the micro level on Saturday of just seeing them run the ball so well. And being just abysmal throwing the football and not leaning harder into the running game that they did. That’s where you look at Greg Rome and then just say, Where’s the feel for him with what he has as an offense? Where’s the rhythm? Yeah, where’s the just some any semblance of really being able to read the room, so to speak, and I get it. He’s trying to juggle those two things. And John Harbaugh talked about this after the game and I know some people took issue with what he said he’s not wrong about the passing game needing to be better, but at the same time, in the moment as you’re trying to win a football game, you need to lean into What’s worked?
Nestor Aparicio 10:00
Let’s face it,
8Luke Jones 10:02
even though we talked about the fact that from a math standpoint, yeah, the passing game is more valuable because you can make bigger plays, and you can move down the field more quickly. The three biggest plays on Saturday, were all runs, right? I mean, it was Dobbins, or Gus Edwards, breaking off, you know, 20 plus yard run. That’s what worked for them. The passing game didn’t work at all. I mean, go look at the yards per attempt, it was it was terrible. So I recognize what he’s trying to do, I think, but at the same time, you still need to try to win a football game in the meantime. So it’s a mess. I mean, it really is. And I I’ve really struggled with this point in time Nestor to see a scenario that the status quo can continue moving forward. And I mean, at the end of the season, I don’t think you see a move here. I mean, I know some people pointed out Hey, John Harbaugh fired cam Cameron with three games to go on the regular season. And I suppose that’s a valid comparison to some degree. But the idea, they still were playing with their backup quarterback the last couple of weeks. And I just don’t know, from a personnel standpoint, it’s not as though you have Anquan Boldin and Torrey Smith, and Jacoby Jones as your top three wide receivers here where you say, oh, yeah, let me put James urban into the offensive coordinator role, or George Godsey, or whoever I mean, it’s tough in that way. So I think what we’re going to see happen and who knows, maybe, as you and I are talking right now, maybe the brass is getting ready to make a change. But I just, I don’t know, I don’t see how you fix this thing here. In the next few weeks, I think you just get Lamar back healthy, you lean into the running game more than they have. And you try to see in the meantime, if you can start hitting on some play action and hope you can get Lamar into enough of a rhythm, that you can start building some momentum in the way that we saw. Keep in mind, remember how remember how bad that passing game looked in the first half of the Tampa Bay game. But then the second half, they came out running the ball. And Lamar was eight for eight threw two touchdown passes, it was a very efficient operation. And they carried that over not to the same dramatic degree. But the New Orleans game The following week, you know, it was a higher functioning offense overall than what we’ve seen for the most part since October. You know, can they get into that mode? Again? I don’t know. I think that’s their best shot. As far as as it relates to the rest of this year. Now, big picture. I think, more and more I look at this thing. And I feel some change is just inevitable at this point in time. And so it’s a rough, difficult set of variables that you’re talking about right now, as it pertains to the fact that your franchise quarterback is a pending free agent and not to say Lamar is gonna hit the market, you know, he’s not going to but in terms of tag, long term deal, where Lamar is with this thing, where they are in terms of roster building at wide receiver and this this passing game and this offense, what that means on the other side of the ball and some of their pending free agents. You mentioned some of the veteran players on this team and some of the pending free agents, you have Marcus Peters going to become a free agent.
Nestor Aparicio 13:14
I’ll do this. It’ll be a way different team next year, well, Lamar getting deals like $50 million, or whatever mean, it could be dramatically different if he finds himself sideways with the franchise in March, right? Like if he really wants to add to here, and this doesn’t end well. And this ends in three weeks, four weeks to your point like they would really have to spit up there oatmeal did not make the playoffs. And I’ll tell you what answers might roll around here. If at 95% Christmas week, somehow they don’t make the playoffs. I don’t even know what that would mean. That would mean you’d have to lose the Pittsburgh and Cleveland for sure. But to your point they get back in this week and if the Jets lose and like I don’t know what some other chargers maybe you’re one of the other teams that loses this week if they win and they are a high much higher percentage to beat Atlanta with Anthony whatever his name is a quarterback brown then they would be against beaten the Steelers are certainly Cincinnati I mean, they’re going to lose that Cincinnati game I’m convinced to that. I’ll put that up as an L right now. I’ve watched them play less sometimes the burro raved can’t win that game.
Luke Jones 14:19
Well, I mean, I don’t know if I’d go that strong division games you just don’t know I mean we see weird things happen we talked about this with Charlie batch and Ryan mallet and ravens Steelers. I mean, you don’t
Nestor Aparicio 14:30
8make me my words. When I’m waking up in Cincinnati four o’clock in the morning after I sit in the press box in Cincinnati, Paul Brown, whatever they’re calling it that isn’t your name to that. If somehow that Monday morning the ravens are the champions at the division at this point. The Bengals I would say a whole lot of issues that had to happen between Christmas Eve and January 9, like that none of us see happening right now or that there’s been any pets. had agreed over the last eight weeks to believe that this team is capable of that. Sure. And again,
Luke Jones 15:05
I mean, I just I don’t speak in absolutes in the NFL. I mean, you just don’t speaking in absolutes in the NFL, the chiefs were taken overtime by the Houston Texans on Sunday. I mean, let’s, let’s, let’s just remember that. But your point, I don’t disagree with your big picture point there. I really don’t. You look at the scenarios for this week. And I’m looking at this right now as it’s fresh. I think it’s accurate. You know, it’s on Twitter. So it must be true, right? Gotta be true. Absolutely. But my understanding is the Ravens clinch a playoff berth with a win, and they would need a New England loss and a Jets loss or a win, and a New England loss and a Miami loss, or the other scenarios, a win and a Jets loss and a Miami loss. So basically, it means those other three AFC East teams, they need to have them to lose this week. And of course, they need to beat the Falcons, which I think they will, again, they’re going to make the playoffs. As bad as frustrating as Saturday was, I don’t think it means suddenly this team’s going to this losing out. I just don’t. They’re not that bad. You know, I still think the ravens are a pretty good team. I just don’t know if they’re doubting more and more that they’re any better than that. But I know the Falcons are a bad team. I know Pittsburgh is not very good. So if you can’t win one of those games, again, you kind of look at this thing and say okay, well, maybe maybe heads will roll to the point that you made so
Nestor Aparicio 16:31
well. They don’t make the play if something happens, and they’re not playing football, because like, between you and me. All right. Billy Joel was playing up in New York the other night, right? And he got sick and he can’t play. The next gig is January 13. And I’m like, kind of Jones and to see Billy Joel because he got sick. And because we’re all getting older, right? And I’m like, That’s the Friday before playoff weekend. Like I would have told you at any point the last eight weeks like they’re gonna be playing football at some point. You know, there’s a wacky Monday night game they play in that weekend, right? They play to Saturday, three Sunday and one Monday at least they did last year, right? So a little wacky, how that whole thing works out on the wildcard weekend. But that’s the wildcard weekend. And I’m like, Yeah, are they gonna make it? Are they not whatever? I would say the way they look, the eyeball test says they’re not good enough to be a playoff team. And then you watch the rest of the league and you see the record at nine and five. And you see the 10 get you win. And you see that we’re sitting here they spit all over themselves in Cleveland the other day, we’re not really sure the quarterbacks coming back because they lie, right? We don’t know. Right? And they’re gonna come down on Christmas Eve. It’s not going to be very frenetic as an atmosphere, right, it’s going to be chilly, it’s going to be Christmas Eve, it’s going to be whatever it is. And we just think they’re gonna roll the ball out and beat the Falcons. Right Like literally, that is the big hope to get into the playoffs because if they happen to lose the Falcons, they lose this game. All of a sudden, nicot Slippery for them. I believe that I don’t think you you need to have to beat the Steelers. And then certainly the Bengals we’ve talked about that. But this is the game here this week where it’s just well, they’ll just roll the ball out there and beat the Falcons this week beat they certainly didn’t look the part the other day and if they have to play without Peters and without glaze gamble in stopping a real running back, right. I mean, this team has a running back. I do this is it’s a sleepy week. It’s sleepy around here. I’m doing best thought we’re all by pumping up the tree and you’ve your Deacon Jones and your Uncle Luke and you’re like, they better be careful. This game here is really, really important. Oh,
Luke Jones 18:34
it’s very important. And look, they go out and lose Saturday, then everything we’re talking about. Yeah, sure. I mean, I’m not gonna disagree with you. But they’re facing a rookie quarterback, a rookie quarterback who was 13 of 26 for 97 yards in his NFL in his first NFL start in New Orleans. He says Ben return has some talent. He’s not very good. That football team is not very good. The running game is good. So your point about Coleus Campbell is absolutely valid. But that said, this is still a run of run defense that has played in an exceptionally high level. I mean, Cleveland was the first team that ran the ball on them to any meaningful degree. And it’s not as though the Browns gash them let’s be clear about that. I mean, they gave up 4.3 yards per carry. I mean, that was a very conservative Browns got the lead. And they knew the Ravens couldn’t throw the football so they kind of sat on it. And then of course, they missed field goals. So they kept them in the game. But I hear what you’re saying. I don’t think what happened Saturday in Cleveland is a signal that the ravens are just falling apart. I think it very clearly exposed. Tyler Huntley, which again, if if Lamar Jackson is back this week, mitigates that, you know, you’re not talking about that quite as much. You know, again, regardless of what Lamar looks like, as he comes back if he’s healthy and upright and playing, then Tyler Huntley is on the sidelines. So You hope that alone makes you better it should, you know, I not exactly going out on a limb, saying that talking about a former NFL MVP coming back to your starting lineup. But again, this is where we kind of look at Greg Roman, and come back to that question and looking at the week to week micro with the big picture of what this team needs to be able to do to have any visions of making a meaningful playoff run. And that’s where you look at the run game and say, yeah, they’re running the football really well. But they haven’t yet they. Pittsburgh was a great example of, they’ve run for over 200 yards, and they scored 16 points because they couldn’t throw the ball with efficiency and, and make enough plays in the passing game. So how do you balance that out? You know, it’s you still have to win the football game at the end of the day. Saturday, was a reminder of that, you know, they they didn’t win. But at the same time, you’re trying to figure out how to get this offense going and to find a little more balance. So again, Atlanta, not not a good team on paper, a team that’s really struggled, I mean, they just made a quarterback change from Mariota. To Desmond Ridder, the ravens are playing at home, but to your point, class, Campbell, whether he’s gonna be out there or not for this run defense, what the atmosphere is going to be like at the stadium knowing you know, early indications are it’s going to be very frigid and cold. And it’s Christmas Eve. So let’s face it, the Atlanta Falcons are not a marquee team that anyone looked at when the schedule came out and said, Oh, I can’t wait to go see the Falcons play. You know, that season 15 616 years ago when Michael Vick was their quarterback, so it really is a case of the ravens are going to have to, they’re certainly going to have to bring their own energy. I think that’s something that they’re not going to say that publicly about a home game. But I think it’s certainly a case where they need to come out and start fast. And the last thing you want to do is come out and be sleepy, like they were against Carolina, like they were against Denver, and then, you know, those were home games against lesser teams. And we saw those games were still the outcome hadn’t been decided in the fourth quarter. So if they do that, then it’ll be another very close game and you never know what’s going to happen then. So I hear everything you’re saying. That said, I don’t think the ravens are a bad football team. I’ve never thought that it’s just a question of just how good they really are. And Saturday was not a great indicator for them being much better than you know, they’re pretty good and nothing else and you know, they didn’t play very well on the road against the division opponents. So it really is a case of turning the page hoping Lamar Jackson’s back and running the football on play playing really good defense and we’ll see how far that can take them even if I’m skeptical that it’s going to take them much farther than being able to win these next couple games and that’s about it.
Nestor Aparicio 22:46
He is Luke Jones. He is Baltimore Luke out on social media places they still let him tweet uncle Ilan was throwing me off two weeks ago maybe right about that they’re on holiday right a lot on my column this getting ready for the Atlanta Falcons this week and talking about coaching and players and personnel and big picture things as Steve shot he goes to Uncle Larry to try to extend the lease here before larry hogan steps down and hands the reins to Westmore. So I’ve got my eyes on all things out there called the Maryland crab cake tour. We’ll get back after that into January of next year. Big thanks to all of our newest sponsors Randhir including our friends at drug city in gundogs to get over there lots of holiday shopping as well as some delicious booze and I’m stocking up here for the holidays this week as well in the liquor store as well as over at the fountain there had a delicious crab cake it cost this last week with a whole bunch of friends so check out the Maryland crab cake tour as well as our friends of fade these if you’re shipping crabcakes get on it right now. Order like get out there, click Order deliver, send them to places where they can’t get crabcakes that’s pretty much anywhere not here. Readily available for all of our sponsors out there as well. I am Nestor we are wn st am 5070, Towson Baltimore. Merry Christmas. We are Baltimore positive.com Stay with us.
