Baker Mayfield’s career resurgence with 15 touchdown passes in six weeks and the potent Tampa Bay offense featuring Chris Godwin and Mike Evans should provide a stout test for the Ravens’ leaky defense. But Lamar Jackson’s command of the offense plus Derrick Henry’s impact on the ground game makes this a fascinating NFC opponent with similar defensive issues. Let Luke Jones and Nestor get your ready for some Monday Night Football – and a lot of points – in Tampa.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay, Ravens offense, Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Monday night football, NFL top teams, defensive challenges, playoff caliber, Super Bowl contender, offensive line, injury report, crab cake tour
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T Towson, Baltimore. Am 1570 we’re Baltimore positive. At Baltimore positive.com lots of folks finding me for my birthday this week. Big thanks for that. Go out and support our sponsors for my birthday. Go get a crab cake that friends reach me. Where’s the best crab cake? I’m like all of them. Go to Cocos, go to Costas, go to fadelies, go to Cooper’s pub. Go at the State Fair, where we’re going to be doing the show in a couple of weeks as well. The Maryland crab cake tour is back out on the road. It’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery. I have the Raven scratch offs also our friends at Liberty, pure solutions, making our water crystal clear. One 800 clean water and Jiffy Lube, multi care. I wear my curio shirt as well as we have our 26 oysters, the tour is all coming to life. Uh, beginning this weekend, I had a Baltimore positive. We, uh, I have a little extra time on my hands this weekend. Um, we didn’t do a crab cake tour this week because I thought the Orioles could be hitting walk off home runs and gain free like the Cleveland Indians were, uh, excuse me, Guardians where I’ll never get that one right. Neither will have to fan base, based on what I’ve seen watching the gays, but this Monday night football thing, speaking of Cleveland, let’s talk about Baker Mayfield here a little bit. Luke Jones joins us now. He has been and it’s sort of a weird week for the ravens and for Harbaugh and for how they put things together, as my friend Brian Baldinger would say to me, 25 years ago, the fruit fly cycle every seven days, every seven days, then you mix it up. Go eight and a half, and then the press conferences are on Thursday, and the game’s on Monday, and they sit around the hotel in Tampa, and this whole thing was a little bit in doubt a week ago after the storms down there. Weird week. Weird week. And more than that, this baker Mayfield longing for Mark Andrews as well.
Luke Jones 01:45
Well, weird week, but also another challenge, another offense that’s playing at a high level. You just mentioned Baker Mayfield, who has, over the last two seasons now, or season and a half, I think we can at least say that much has experienced a career Renaissance. I mean, he leaves Cleveland a few years ago, and what was in Carolina wound up at the Rams where he played that was it a Thursday night game, or whatever it was, where he had was there for three days. And
Nestor Aparicio 02:11
by the way, still one of the more amazing things that and Flacco Cleveland. I mean, you and I know football better than most people, and to think that a quarterback and walk in a building a couple days later win a game anywhere, anytime. It’s not like being a starting pitcher. No, no. I
Luke Jones 02:27
mean, it was a credit to him and a credit to their coaching staff at the time, but he arrives in Tampa a little different
Nestor Aparicio 02:34
for that. Yeah, he changed my mind about him that night in some way. Yeah, it was a
Luke Jones 02:39
credit to him. It was a credit to that coaching staff, and perhaps a sign that, hey, this guy’s career isn’t just going to be being a backup and a journeyman at that point. And obviously winds up in Tampa Bay in the aftermath of Tom Brady’s retirement, and he’s turned his career around. I mean, you look at what he’s done. I mean, we’ve talked so much about Lamar Jackson and MVP, and he’s been brilliant and all that’s true. Baker Mayfield has 15 touchdown passes through the first six weeks of the season. I mean, you’re doing something right when you do that. And clearly it helps that he has Chris Godwin, who was having a career year, and Mike Evans, who’s still chugging along into his 30s, still playing at a very high level, but this is a Tampa Bay team that’s playing pretty good football across the board. I wouldn’t say they’re necessarily elite at any one phase, offensively or defensively, but if you look at them in terms of, like, their metrics, DVOA, things like that, they’re, you know, they’re kind of top 10 or somewhere in that neighborhood, in just about everything they do. I know not every raw statistic looks that way, but they’re four and two. They’re playing at home. To your point, I would expect for the fans who are in attendance that that’s going to be a pretty emotional, pretty electric atmosphere on the heels of everything that community’s gone through with the hurricanes, and just the cleanup and the devastation there. So for the people who have the opportunity to be in the building that night, I think it’s going to be exciting for them. And it’s a Tampa Bay team that’s foreign too, just like the Ravens. So I think the ravens, and we’ve talked about this now for a couple weeks, that they’ve established reestablish themselves as one of the NFL top teams. I think we all would agree with that, not that it’s perfect. We could talk about the past defense, what have you. But I think for this Tampa team, this is an opportunity on the national stage to go up against Lamar Jackson and a Ravens team that we know never loses the NFC teams, and we know how that’s worked over the last several years, but it’s a chance for Tampa Bay to say, Hey, don’t sleep on us in the NFC. So I think this is a really interesting game in that regard. And based on how these two offenses have operated, I think this is another week where you’re. Expecting plenty of points on the scoreboard, on both sides. So I think this going to be has the potential to be a really good football game on Monday night.
Nestor Aparicio 05:07
Also, some concerns about Evans, right? And we talked so much earlier this week about the Ravens good fortune and good health, and it’s a great time to talk about that. I’m sure Monday will get together again after there’s another, you know, 15 car crashes in the league on Sunday. And say, some other teams are getting banged up. The Ravens have had great fortune in that way in the city. Or and say, well, the number one thing that’s going to kill him is going over the top. And Baker Mayfield, the fact that, you know, the league is on to the Ravens secondary in defense. We talked about Dean peas last week and all that. This is another opportunity for the defense to play better, to say we’re not going to go on the road to get shredded for 3134 38 points and potentially lose on the road when Lamar puts 30 up and we put give up 31 or like that, it feels like it’s going to be a track meet of a kind of game. But they do have a concern with a wide receiver who’s special, yeah,
Luke Jones 06:03
Mike Evans dealing with a hamstring issue. I know, Todd Bowles early in the week said that, you know, he tweaked it. He did say that this is something he’s dealt with a little bit. You know, the early indication. And again, we’ll know more as we’re closer and closer to game time and get the final injury report over the weekend, but it’s, I mean, Mike Evans 5050, balls, right? I mean, he’s kind of epitomizes that big receiver that you don’t necessarily see quite as many of those guys anymore. It feels like, in recent years, even the most elite receivers tend to not be those six foot four, six foot five guys anymore, but he certainly is still the exception to that, but dealing with a little bit of a hamstring, we’ll see how it looks. I mean, the bowls had said he was getting better, you know. So we’ll see if this is more on the precautionary side or more of a legitimate concern. You know, they’re they’re also going to be very likely missing one of their starting corners in Jamel Dean, who hurt his hamstring the previous Sunday, you know, early in that win that they had over the over New Orleans. So when he was ruled out early in that game, you’re ruled out early with a hamstring injury in a game that’s usually not a situation where you’re going to turn around the following we can play so so they’re going to be down a starting corner, so that’s another factor. But I think what’s interesting, and you mentioned the past defense, you mentioned Baker Mayfield, and talking about the ball potentially going over their head, certainly they still have the ability to do that if you have a healthy Mike Evans on the field. But if you look at how Tampa Bay has profiled this year, even compared to last year with Baker Mayfield, it’s been much more of the underneath variety, much more getting the ball out quickly. And Tampa Bay leads the league in Yak yards. So it’s really going to be critical, not just for the secondary and this past defense to cover, but they need to tackle. Because really the the object for this Tampa Bay offense has been to get the ball in the hands of their playmakers as quickly as possible, and to let them pick up yardage via missed tackles, via just getting into open space. So I think that’s something that that the ravens, and we’ve seen them have their issues on that front, you know, maybe, maybe they’ve cleaned that part up a little bit, although, certainly two weeks ago, getting Cincinnati, you know, missed tackles on the long Jamar Chase touchdown. So not so much on that example, but that’s where this might be a game where, okay, maybe they’re not going to test you deep, although they could, because they’ve seen the Ravens give up that as well, but you’ve got to be converging on the football. You’ve got to be making crisp tackles. You can’t let guys get away and get downfield. So I think on that front, it’ll be interesting. I’ll point out Tampa Bay, it was coming off of a big rushing day. But at this point, Nestor Aparicio, with a couple other reporters, the Ravens run defense has been so incredibly stingy, and their past defense has been so bad at times that even if you are a team that prides itself on running the ball some, I’m not sure how much it behooves you to go into a game against the ravens and say, Oh, we’re going to try to establish the run. We’re going to try to do this. Yeah, I don’t
Nestor Aparicio 09:13
know who that team is at this point. Yeah. I’m looking at the calendar and the schedule and saying, well, it won’t be the Bengals and it won’t be the browns, and it won’t. And I’m looking ahead and I’m like, who’s going to really try to run the ball? And that’s all the more reason they better figure out how to stop the pass. Yeah, exactly. And tackle and just tackle in general. Sure, sure. I
Luke Jones 09:31
mean, you just have to have a cleaner operation. But yeah, through six weeks, and I saw a couple people make this comparison, and I saw a couple incorrect ones out there, but through six weeks, the 2000 ravens had given up a total of 304 rushing yards, little over 50 per game. The 2024 ravens given up 354 rushing yards. So they’re in that territory. They’re in that vicinity. Problem is it’s at a point now where the opposition says, Alright. Right. Fine. We’re not going to run against you. That’s okay. We’re just going to drop back every play and throw. And I think we saw that kind of starting with that Vegas game in the second half. The Raiders have a terrible running game anyway, but they got to the point even with Gardner Minshew, where they just said, All right, we’re just going to chuck it around the the field and see if you can stop it. And unfortunately, the Ravens haven’t been able to stop it with near the consistency. So I think that’s that’s just going to be the reality. And sure, there could be some opportunities for a team to sneak in a run here or there, but for the most part, we’ve seen teams just kind of look at this and say, All right, we can keep beating our heads against the brick wall and trying to run against a great run defense, or we can open things up and throw it around the field because they can’t stop it. So, I mean, that’s, that’s the reality of where the ravens are defensively right now. And you know, I, as I pointed out, there were a couple positive signs here and there against Washington, compared to Cincinnati, at the very least, but they still have a long, long way to go until we start looking at that past defense in a more positive light, and it’s going to be another challenge on Monday night, for sure.
Nestor Aparicio 11:09
Yeah, you mentioned that stadium and the community. And you know my mother in law lives down there, lots of friends, lots of family, lots of people I know who have family lives in the Tampa area. And you and I spent some time down there. And I think about Super Bowl 35 which is getting on 25 years ago now at that stadium. But think about memories in that stadium and going in there. I remember Trent dofer went in there Christmas time a year later, and it was a big deal, and Tampa was all lit up because of the Brad Johnson thing, and they were going to win a Super Bowl like all that. And then I think about going down there my wife had cancer because we were all wearing pink. And Chris pika was at that game for whatever reason. He was working or something. And Chris and I sort of tailgated. It was nobody there, and Flacco went out and put 50 on him. Or, you know, it’s like it was 35 to nothing like two minutes into the game, as I remember it. I don’t have the box for in front of me. You have the memory like, you know, like Mary Lou Henner about this stuff. But what I remember about that game was, at the end of the game, back when I was a media member, you know, the first 3637 years of my career, I remember being down on the field and in the tunnel when Tampa was coming off the field. That’s just getting her ass beat. I mean, you tell me the score. Was it 4240, whatever it was, it was it was awful. And I remember being in the tunnel watching Mike Evans come out. And, like, I, you know, I stood next to a lot of football players, right? Like, I’ve been in every locker room, planes, NBA. I’ve been, you know, ramp, been around awkwardly large people. I was there when John Ogden was drafted up in New York, you know, Evans walked by me, and I looked at him. I’m like, my god, he’s like a tree, like, I couldn’t believe how big he was against Steve Smith at the time, with the with the Ravens at different wide receivers that we had around here. And I’m like, where do we get one of those, you know? And it’s amazing all these years later. And he’s such a great name, because it’s a good times character, Mike Evans, great name, right? Like, I don’t know if he’s going to the Hall of Fame, because I don’t think maybe I don’t know. I mean, the Tom Brady years and all of that stuff, but hell of a career, and never misses games. I’m looking at his like he’s missed five games in 1112, years of his career. I think I’ll be playing on Monday night, but I think he’s a guy who bears discussing to some degree, in a franchise of Derrick Brooks, in a franchise of John Lynch, and you just the players they’ve had there. And every time I see Dungey and every time I see Mike Tomlin, I think of the Tampa two defense and and I, you know, just think of the defense that really for 20 years, them and the Ravens were the two teams playing defense. Now nobody’s going to play defense on Monday night. Yeah, I
Luke Jones 13:48
mean to go back to what you mentioned in 14 now it wasn’t two minutes into the game, but it was two minutes into the second quarter that Joe Flacco had thrown five touchdown passes. And yeah, the final score is 48 to 17, but it was really the first 16 and a half, 17 minutes of that ball game where the ravens are up 35 to nothing. So
Nestor Aparicio 14:07
can I give you one more memory about that day, and this is has everything to do with me being a snarky media prick. They have a great, great ice cream halftime tradition at Tampa Bay Bucks, and I’ve only been a media member, like, three or four, because we never play there, like, literally, right? Like, we play there every eight years. But they have a great ice cream buffet, that’s all I’m gonna say. And they do banana splits in Tampa up in the press box to there.
Luke Jones 14:36
Very good, good, all right, but, yeah, I mean, you look at where Tampa Bay has been, and obviously, most recently, it’s been the team that Tom Brady chose to finish out his career. Won a Super Bowl. There had success there. So that was good for the likes of Mike Evans, who also dealt with a lot of losing or early in his career, to to your point, going back to that 2014 game. But. You know, I think they’re at an interesting time where they’ve got, I mean, they still have two elite receivers. I mean, Mike Evans, as has the longevity. But again, don’t sleep on Chris Godwin. I think one of the pivotal matchups in this game is Chris Godwin in the slot against what I assume will mostly be Marlon Humphrey. I think that’ll probably be the way the Ravens proceed in this one. So that’s going to be critical. But I mean, Mike Evans is having a good year. It’s not like you look at Mike Evans and say, Oh, he’s washed up or anything like that. He’s been rock solid. But Chris Godwin, he’s got over 500 receiving yards already. You know, he’s got 43 catches. So, you know, we’ve seen zay flowers explode these last couple weeks. I mean, Chris Godwin has been excellent for them. He’s another year removed from that knee injury had a few years ago. So yeah, so they have, we’ve talked about this in how the Ravens have gone up against a challenging schedule of quarterbacks, Gardner, Minshew, not withstanding. But you look at the receivers that they’ve faced now, Cincinnati, it slaps you in the face, obviously, how good their two, their top two receivers are. But you know, last week, it was Terry McLaurin, and now it’s going to be Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. So I again, I think this is a big game, not this isn’t like a game that the Ravens look at it and say, Oh, we must have this one. We need to have this one. They want to keep it going with a four game winning streak. But I think for the Tampa Bay side, this is a game where, last year they were a nice story. They made it into the playoffs in a terrible division. You know, we know all about that, but I think this is a game that the Buccaneers can really kind of stamp their, you know, stamp their hand, I think a little bit in terms of, all right, this is a team that needs to be taken seriously in the NFC so I think what’s interesting, and you mentioned, the Ravens only play them every four years. I still find I forget about this every four years. But then you hear about it, and it’s like, Oh, wow. You start to think back Tampa Bay has not beaten the Ravens since that oh two game. What was it? Week two as a home opener, when they shut out the Ravens in Baltimore, right? I mean, that was the year, obviously the cap purge had taken place. Chris Redmond began the year as the quarterback, and we all thought that the Ravens might go three and 13 that year. That’s how bad everyone thought the Ravens were going to be after those first couple weeks, Tampa Bay has not beaten them since then, and I get it, they’ve only played five times since then, but they’re still the ravens are still five and oh, and then we get into Lamar, and knowing that Lamar has only lost one career game in a start against NFC teams. And that’s where you look at this and say, Okay, what is a little more interesting on that front we just talked about the offense, Todd Bowles, certainly someone who has a defensive background and saw them two years ago, albeit it it was the Greg Roman system at that point in time. Does that make any impact here in terms of an NFC defense going up against Lamar? Oh yeah, you throw Derek Henry into the mix now, oh yeah. Mark Andrews is coming off of his best season, or best game of the season. Isaiah likely kind of sort of had his coming out party against the Buccaneers two years ago in that Thursday night game. If you recall where the Ravens were trailing early in that game, Mark Andrews left the game with an injury, and Isaiah likely had a big second half, and that was kind of his big welcome to the NFL moment. So will the Bucks have any more luck because they’ve seen Lamar more recently than the typical NFC team that you know you’re talking every four years, and you think about the roster turnover and coaching turnover that typically occurs in four years. So I think that’s a makes this one a little more interesting on that front. But let’s face it, I think both these teams are going to score a lot of points. It’s going to be a matter of which defense can get a couple stops here and there. I mean, that might be the difference here. I I think this game, I’d be surprised if we’re talking about a game that’s 20 to 17 on Tuesday morning. I think you’re going to see at least both these teams in the high 20s, you know, if not going into the 30s scoring wise. So I think any team right now facing the Baltimore Ravens, where do you begin? I mean, you you have to be creative. You have to have enough soldiers. Quite frankly, you need guys that even with the right game plan defensively, they’ve got to be able to carry it out. You know you need to have a playmaker at every level. I think you have to be willing to take chances as a defense and not not just not be afraid of Lamar making you look bad, or Derek Henry making you look bad. I think you do have to take some chances to try to make some plays against this defense, because otherwise they’re just going. Going to, you know you can, you know, you can be afraid of the big play, or try to take some chances or play it safe, and, you know, be in a position where the Ravens could paper cut you to death. I think they, they just have so many different ways that they can beat you right now that again, it kind of goes back to your offense better score and score a lot, because I don’t think you’re going to get many stops against this ravens offense that, let’s face it, even early in the season when we were talking about the offensive line questions and concerns, they were still scoring points. I mean, it’s not as though this team’s come out there at any point and been held to 10 points or 13 points. I mean, at a minimum, they’ve scored into the 20s. So it’s not an easy task. Can a defense that saw Lamar at the very least and elements of this offense a couple years ago rise to the occasion? As I said, you know, it’s a solid defense. It’s not an elite defense in any way. So it’s going to be fascinating, but again, I come back to I’m not sure how many stops either team is going to make over the course of 60 minutes, so you better be ready to score points and score a bunch of points, so over the course of Monday night’s game. Here’s Luke
Nestor Aparicio 21:13
Jones. He is Baltimore luper. Get ready for some football around here and certainly some World Series Baseball at some point in coming weeks as well. All of our work up at Baltimore positive, we’re doing the Maryland crabcakes. We’re going to be at mama’s on the half shell coming up this Friday, the the 25th We’ll be there in the afternoon. Get some great guests coming out. Um, I’m not plugging everything, but we’re actually going to be in Owings Mills on a Friday for the first time in like three years. So I’m looking forward to that. Get some oysters out there as well, and gonna hang out with McCusker family and my late great friend, Scotty, his son Finn, will be there. So it’ll be a good time. All are brought to you by the Maryland lottery. Have ravens scratch offs to give away, as well as our friends at Jiffy Lube multi care put to saddle the rook. Alright. Last thing on Tampa, and because you and I are gonna do all like residue thing on this come Monday, where are you on Baker Mayfield’s Renaissance? Are you stunned? Shocked? I mean, I mentioned that that Thursday night game when he went out there and rams geared ran around, and I’m like, the rams are desperate. That’s how I felt. And then they won, and I’m thinking, nobody’s prepared to play on a Thursday night, but he was, and now he’s sort of filled in for Tom Brady winning football games. The thing hasn’t bottomed out in Tampa, the way you it has a New England. It has a New England twice now, right? So, and I don’t know where the bottom of that will be when it’s all over with for the Patriots, but and we’ll watch them play on Sunday night as well. I would just say for me with Baker Mayfield, I’m shocked all the way around. I’m shocked he was ever a one one. I remember distinctly having a conversation on that day we froze our ass off in Green Bay, you and I in the Lambeau Field press box. Was he was crotch shopping, doing something really dumb, you know, wagging his finger at fans dumb like the Eagles head coach wagging his fans his finger at the Eagles fans at home last week and then put his kid on his lap in the press conference. I would just say, for Baker Mayfield, I’m I’m shocked that he’s had this level of success, especially after the commercials in the beginning and the bottoming out of Cleveland. I tip my cap to him. He is. He’s a little bit of a rocky figure for me when it comes to quarterbacks and one one, and enough legs to be interesting, enough arm to be interesting, but I don’t look at him and ever compare him to, I dare I say, any of the real one ones when I’m talking Peyton Manning, and I would even put Andrew Luck and a couple of other guys in that category, even Trevor Lawrence, I thought was a much better prospect. Time will tell. In Jacksonville, and a lot of this, as Sam darnold will prove, it’s about environment. It’s as Baker Mayfield, as Geno Smith, all these resurrection guys that come back and then guys like Justin Herbert, these guys that we anoint and give them the TV commercials, and we wait for them. Baker Mayfield’s making a case for himself, and I’m interested to see him play against this team and at home and see what they have under the hood on Monday night, because I’ve been a baker Mayfield doubter, and the way you think I’m a Lamar doubter, I’m not, and I’m a Joe burrow fan, I guess I am, and thinking like I’m going to bet $1 on that guy to win a Super Bowl at some point, because of the kind of leader he is the organization he’s in with borough, I still concern myself with the fact that those are the Bengals. And I think to some degree I always thought that way about Tampa. Oh man, those kids down there, the Glazer guys, I mean, they brought Tom Brady and won a cup a couple more. I mean, I I’m shocked that Baker Mayfield’s had this success.
Luke Jones 24:52
Yeah. I mean, I don’t know if I’d say shocked. I think if you go back and look, I mean, go look at Baker two of his first three seasons in. Cleveland. In Cleveland, of all places, he had a really good rookie year. I mean, I vividly think back to that week 17 game in Baltimore where, remember, the Ravens clinched the division. CJ Mosley had the late play, and obviously the Ravens ran for a ton of yards in the infancy of the Lamar era offense. You know, with the transition from Joe Flacco to Lamar, but Baker’s first year, 27 touchdowns, 14 interceptions as a rookie. I mean, you’ll take that any day of the week, the way he played. Year two wasn’t as good. But then year 326, touchdowns, eight interceptions. I mean, again, you’re just talking about Tampa Bay and that environment. We know what Cleveland’s been, with the exception of a couple years right here and there, dude,
Nestor Aparicio 25:46
he arrived on the back end of Johnny Football.
Luke Jones 25:48
Oh sure, yeah, and, and Johnny Football was before or was after. How ever many failed picks? I mean, you mentioned one, ones. I mean, Tim couch was a failed one, colossal failure. We’ve seen way worse, way even, even Baker before. The last year or two, we’ve seen way worse, one, ones at quarterback before. But you know, you do look at the trajectory and the fact that they jettison him, they bring into Sean Watson, you’ll see how that’s been such a disaster for them. And Amari Cooper was able to escape and goes to Buffalo, I think a good landing spot for him. But with Baker, the question was, he winds up in Carolina. We know what the Panthers have been in recent years and under new owners, you know their current ownership, and are they ever going to figure things out? You mentioned, though goes to the Rams. Has that really weird, really impressive performance. And clearly Tampa Bay liked it, because they gave him a shot to be in the mix. You know, they didn’t just hand them the starting job after Tom Brady retired, but they said, Hey, come here, compete, see what you can do. You know, they’re thinking, at the very least he could be a really good backup. I think that’s where people kind of were a couple years ago, thinking, okay, Baker Mayfield, maybe he’s not going to be that franchise quarterback, but he can at least be a heck of a backup, and he’s proven that he can still be more than that. Now, if you want to sit here and ask me if I think Baker Mayfield is going to lead them to a Super Bowl this year, or at any point the next few years. I’m still very skeptical of that, but he certainly, you have to give him credit that he’s a legitimate starting quarterback in the NFL right now, you know, and is putting up some really impressive numbers. So hats off to him. And you know, he’s overcome adversity got the heck out of Cleveland. I mean, how many different people do you say that about over the course of at least 25 years, if not longer. So it’s certainly been a good story. And again, he’s very much put himself back into that firm footing of saying, okay, whether he’s going to be a long term franchise guy that’s going to give you a great chance to win a Super Bowl or not, that’s certainly up for debate at best, but he’s he’s one of the top 32 very comfortably, very easily. He’s in that realm of rock solid starting quarterback, and he’s playing better than that right now. As I said, I mean the numbers he’s put up the last couple weeks. You know, you have to give him credit and for Tampa Bay, for the investment, the modest investment made in him, it’s been a nice transition going from Tom Brady to him, at least in terms of wanting to be competitive again. I think Monday night’s a great opportunity for the bucks. And I, I’m not, not specific to the ravens, just going up against any team of the Ravens ilk on the national stage. And, you know, if they can come away with a victory, I think it’ll say way more about them than it’ll say anything about the ravens, other than, presumably, if the Ravens lose Monday night, we’re going to be continuing to talk about their past defense, because that’s just that’s the biggest eyesore right now. You know, sticking out like a sore thumb on an otherwise excellent football team, so we’ll see how it plays out. But yeah, the baker Mayfield thing has been it’s been a good story the last couple years, and I the joking this week with Mark, you know him with Mark Andrews. And obviously those two have a relationship, going back to their college days playing together. But, you know, he, he’s always had a personality that good or bad has been a lightning rod. You know, going back to what you were just talking about about him in college, that’s why some of these commercials and some of these brands have wanted them to film commercials, because they’ve liked his personality. They’ve liked something about his you know who he is as a person, to at least garner some attention. So I think the good thing for him is finally, it feels like you know he’s he’s cooled down. He’s calmed down on that front. I mean, the the Andrews joking is all in good fun, obviously, if you if you saw the clips, but you know he’s really been able to raise his. Game back to a level of where it was those first couple years in Cleveland, where, at that point in time the Browns were browns. Fans thought they had found their guy, you know, that he had taken him to the playoffs. You know, he he was having, you know, I don’t want to say MVP kind of numbers, but was certainly above average. A couple of those CDs,
Nestor Aparicio 30:19
they would have been way better to have paid him, of course.
Luke Jones 30:22
Oh, I mean, at this point, man, a potted plant might be better than Deshaun Watson at this point, that’s how bad he is. I mean, believe me, Amari Cooper celebrating as hard as anyone being able to get out of there and then landing at Buffalo with Josh Allen. So yeah, in hindsight, I mean the Browns fans, I’m sure on a daily basis talk radio in Cleveland, I’m sure they’re taking calls about Baker Mayfield and what he’s doing right now, in contrast to what Deshaun Watson is not doing right they
Nestor Aparicio 30:55
could have had Baker Mayfield as a starter and Joe Flacco as a backup, and done that the last three, four years. They might have won 11 or 12 games, especially with the 10 especially with the kind of defense they’ve had,
Luke Jones 31:04
yeah, yeah, but that, but that’s also where you go back to your point about Baker. I mean, let’s face it, things had gotten to a point where it had, it had gone downhill, right? I mean, I mentioned that as good as he was two of those first three years, and then the following year, it was not good, and he was banged up, and they weren’t playing well, and you get to a point where he was humbled. There’s
Nestor Aparicio 31:25
no doubt about that, sure.
Luke Jones 31:28
I mean, any team that’s in that realm where you look at other elements of your roster and you say, well, we got to figure out the quarterback. Well, Cleveland, I’m not saying they did it well, obviously they did it, but they clearly identified that as a priority, and they sold their soul. They gave up draft picks, they gave a handed him a fully guaranteed contract, and they did it to Deshaun Watson. I mean, the idea of going out and getting a franchise quarterback for them wasn’t necessarily wrong at that point. I don’t think you would have found anyone that was a big believer in Baker Mayfield at that point in time. I think at best, even if you still thought Baker could be a good quarterback, I think at best, there was a thought that it was time for a change of scenery for him, at the very least, and Cleveland needed a franchise guy, so they did what they did, awful decision, awful individual, more than anything, to pick rather than identifying the need for a franchise quarterback, it’s just they pick the wrong guy. You know, clearly, you know, that’s the understatement of the day. So in the meantime, Baker took him a year. Keep in mind, he got benched in Carolina. I mean, it’s not like things went well for there, either. I mean, knowing the Panthers have just been horrendous the last few years. That reminds
Nestor Aparicio 32:43
me all my middle school teachers, he was not reaching his potential. Yeah.
Luke Jones 32:47
I mean, say what you want. I mean, again, not so good environments. But I think he’d be the first to tell you. I think he’s probably talked about this. I’m, you know, I’m not, not a baker Mayfield historian here, by any means. But I think he’s probably acknowledged that, hey, you know, I I needed to recalibrate and reassess where I was in my career and embrace the opportunity to go to Tampa. You know, he did it in LA where, you know, again, it wasn’t like he put up big numbers for them overall, but he had that one game where you just say that that takes some aptitude to be able to do something like that in the same way we talked about Flacco coming in off the couch in Cleveland last year, and then He parlayed that into an opportunity in Tampa on the heels of Tom Brady retiring, and he’s taken the ball and he’s run with it, and he now has the Bucks playing, you know, playoff caliber football at the very least again. Think this is a big opportunity on their side for a statement, when for the ravens, it’s the next challenge in terms of, hey, you faced a pretty good run of quarterbacks and opposing offenses Monday night’s going to be no different, because Baker’s playing at a high level, and he has two elite receivers that you better be ready to cover, because those two guys are able to make plays assuming Mike Evans is on The field. And as we mentioned, you know, the hamstring will will monitor that as we get closer to kickoff. I’m
Nestor Aparicio 34:05
going to pretend we’re a gambling network now. I mean, it’s all the rest of them are three and a half point underdog at home right over under 49 and a half. I would just say this, as a gambling guy, I could not pull the trigger to bet against Lamar against the NFC thing. I think that’s one of the weirder things, even weirder than John Harbaugh’s incredible August I would say the amazing thing about Lamar against the NFC and the fact that they NFC teams don’t see it, can’t stop it, wherever it is, whatever you think Kyler Murray’s doing, whatever you think Jalen Hurts is doing, whatever you think. Any of the running quarterbacks in the league, and now we’re on to maybe a quarter of the league’s quarterbacks are more like Lamar and less like Peyton Manning or Tom Brady or Joe burrow, right? And Joe burrows not that way he ran. For 50 yard touchdown. I shouldn’t even throw him into that. I’m Josh Allen runs. I mean, most of the guys run a little bit. The Lamar thing’s amazing to me because, and maybe it’s because I’m out on Twitter and see other places where quarterbacks are an issue. And maybe Joe Flacco shows up in that Colt skier with his beard looking all sexy and looking 31 again in Indianapolis. But I think about anybody could have had Lamar a year and a half ago when I had Mike silver on two weeks ago. I’m like Tampa was one of those places he would have loved to go on and played in Florida. He would have loved have gone to Miami, Jacksonville, had their thing sorted out. And I don’t think that was a good spot. Indianapolis was a place for him. We’re seeing New Orleans now struggle. Carolina’s a mess. I don’t think that would have been good. Atlanta, interesting place for Lamar. I don’t I mean, they’re really going to win a Super Bowl with Kirk Cousins? Stop. So I’ll tell you right now, no, they’re not going to win a Super Bowl in Atlanta with Kirk Cousins. So I look at it and see this Tampa thing and say they signed up for Baker Mayfield. It worked out okay, better than a lot of places that looked at Lamar and said, Now we’ll take Anthony Richardson. He’s too rich for our blood. We don’t want to do that, or fight with the ravens, or get into a bidding war, whatever that restricted thing would have been a year and a half ago. But Tampa’s a place that could have had Lamar. Um, could they have though? I mean, did they really cap issues? They, they, yeah, they had money. Oh, it’s not just that.
Luke Jones 36:25
Where were they picking in the draft? You know what? I mean, like, they didn’t have a because, keep in mind this, this was going to require a trade with the Ravens. And, you know, you kind of look at that element of it too, where look. I mean, we can rehash all that if you really want to. I told I’m just
Nestor Aparicio 36:41
saying it’s no no candy that Lamar. Oh, I know NFC teams and nobody wanted Lamar. Oh,
Luke Jones 36:46
but it also just speaks to it’s really a credit to him that he just continues to get better and better. I mean, I don’t know how much of the you know the residue of the Washington game, but there were a couple different even this is former players talking and talking about how much of a command of the offense he has right now. You know, not just talking about what he’s doing after the ball is snapped, but what he’s doing at the line of scrimmage, what he’s doing pre snap, getting them in and out of certain protections, in and out of certain plays. I mean, year two on in the Todd monkin system. I mean, you think back to everything that we would talk about over the years in terms of what could be done to potentially never really stop Lamar but slow him down. Right? A couple of years back, it was a cover zero blitzing. Well, look at what he’s done against the blitz this year. I mean, he’s largely shredded it, you know, and you just you have
Nestor Aparicio 37:40
to recognize it to shred it right? Sure. Part of this was really the education of him under center, I think. And if I were writing the book on it, saying everything he brought with him every year, that he liked, that he excelled at, where they said in the beginning, well, maybe you’re not the greatest at reading defenses. Maybe that’s not what you did in Louisville, maybe. But here we’re gonna go to algebra one, and then algebra two, and then calculus, and all the things that I flunked out of, um, that we’re now at the point where reading deep deep could never be great unless he could get to the line of scrimmage and get them out of plays right, like it was never going to be great, great until he could pick his play and pick his poison and know exactly where the scene would be and whether he should get rid of the ball or take the ball and reading hips of linemen right and watching guys crash down in the running game, but in the passing game, it really has become, and I question this a year and a half ago, yeah, they’re going to have him read defenses. He hasn’t. They haven’t given him that early on, but he’s taken it on. And I think that’s the thing they knew about him. In the beginning. They thought, if he can survive long enough, he can be a three time MVP quarterback. Well, I
Luke Jones 38:49
think there were, there were always elements to him as a passer that people underrated. I mean, that’s obvious from the from the moment, you know, during the combine, when certain teams are talking about him moving the receiver. I mean, that was always idiotic, quite frankly. Because if you watch the guy at Louisville, he was in a pro style offense with Bobby vitrino and Louisville, and he threw the ball a ton. I was just and that’s the thing, like, Look, I get it. I’m not saying he was. Not saying he was the refined passer at age 21 that he is now, that the improvement that he’s made, he’s made a lot of improvement. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t get me wrong, but the floor was always way higher there than a lot of people wanted to give him credit for. Now, the Ravens had a Greg Roman offense that, let’s face it, wasn’t asking him to do a ton as a passer, but what they had him do as a passer, he did quite well. In his first full year, he led the league in touchdown passes. You got to be doing something right to be able to do that right. You can’t just do that with that with little ability. So it’s just been a matter of they got to a point where, I think, and we talked about this a few years ago, they outgrew the Greg Roman system. Greg Roman’s never been known as someone who has a high level. Whole complex, sophisticated passing game that you would compare to something that Tom Brady or Peyton Manning or someone of that ilk is running. So they went to version 2.0 which is bringing in Todd monkin. They still run the ball a ton. I mean, heck, they just brought in Derrick Henry, and Derrick Henry’s leading the league in rushing right. So it’s not as though they’ve abandoned that element, Lamar is running the ball as much as he has in three years. So it’s not like they’ve abandoned that either, but you have I, and I’d say their wide receivers are not elite in terms of group, but zay flowers is the best wide receiver that Lamar has played with in terms of in his prime, not talking about name guys like Deshaun Jackson or Dez Bryant when they were already in the retirement when the ravens brought them back. But you know, in terms of what zay flowers is, we’ve seen Rashad Bateman play well and do things that maybe didn’t live up to first round height, but he’s looking like a pretty rock solid number two wide receiver right now, they obviously have the two tight ends and Andrews and likely so it’s all of this coming together. And then you have a 27 year old quarterback who’s now in year six as a starter, and you trust him more. And you have a you have a system that has expanded and grown to say we’re going to do more at the line of scrimmage, we’re going to hand you the keys to get us in and out of plays. And if you recognize a certain look that you don’t like, here’s the answer for it, and you’re going to, we’re going to trust you to make that call. And and Lamar just, he has a really good command of this thing right now. So everything that always applied in terms of his speed and his ability to take off, and, you know, just a dual threat the RPOs, they’re running so much play action as they should. It would be insane for the Ravens not to use play action when you have Lamar Jackson and Derek Henry all, all those elements that were explained the bulk of that 22 and one record against the NFC still apply. And, oh yeah, you have your quarterback plan at a higher level than ever in terms of just how he’s operating, in terms of how he’s getting in and out of this thing. I mean, we’ve talked about it. Nestor Lamar has been stacked seven times in six games. Credit the offensive line, don’t get me wrong, but a lot of that is him understanding pressures and how to get them in and out of certain protections, and also, when the pressure is coming, him getting rid of the ball or taking off and not allowing that pressure to wreak havoc on the play, and to knock them back 10 yards, and suddenly they’re in second and 21 or something like that. I mean, it’s, it’s just a really clean operation right now, and it’s different. It’s different. I mean, I years ago, I used the analogy with facing Lamar Jackson. It’s like, you know, and this doesn’t even apply anymore, because the AO and NL, I mean, interleague play is so baked into what you see that you see everyone regularly. But you think back in the in the day of interleague play, or even before that, where Lamar is that pitcher who can throw 100 and also has a devastating breaking ball. And if you don’t see that guy, I mean, the batters who see that kind of pitcher struggle. I mean, the AFC Lamar is record against the AFC is great as well, right? I mean, like, he’s won a lot of football games. But then when you get into individuals who don’t see that on any kind of a regular basis, good luck. I mean, to your point, yes, there are more dual threats. And there are certainly other, you know, we saw Jaden Daniels. I mean, Josh Allen. Josh Allen, another one of those. One of one, you know, he he’s another special quarterback like Lamar, where you just say, Wow, that guy just does things that no one else can do, but in the case of Lamar, I mean, he’s still so different than even the best dual threat quarterbacks that it’s I would say it’s like preparing for Navy and college football. Their navy, certainly, they’ve modernized, you know, they’ve modernized their offense, and they’re in the top 25 as a result right now. So hats off to the mids, but it really is that element where you might think you have a defense that can handle this, or that, you know, with the opposition, but there’s just so much to deal with, and that’s why I keep coming back to All right, you might figure out a way to stop this team a couple times here and there, but you better score a heck of a lot, because I think at this point in time, I’m not sure what defense is out there that’s holding this team to under 20 points without the Ravens doing a lot of self destruction right, turning the ball over, penalties, things of that nature. Because I just, I just think it’s an offense that’s really firing on just about all cylinders. I mean, there’s very little about this offense right now, maybe, maybe penalties, but, but even that, they weren’t penalized much against Washington last week, so they clean that up. But, I mean, they’re just playing at a high level, and, you know, the offensive line is playing way better. I’m. Ready to say that that’s a top five or top 10 group yet, but they’re trending towards above average. I mean, that’s where we’re talking right now. And we said all along, if that group could just be above average, then this offense going to be, it’s it’s going to be hell for the opposition to try to slow down. And we’re really seeing that on a weekly basis now.
Nestor Aparicio 45:19
Luke Jones is here. He is Baltimore, Luke. As many of you listeners know, we have no shtick here. He’s Luke. I’m Nestor, and I do my thing, and he does his thing, and he tries to not be completely annoyed by me most of the time. But we are coming up on the one year anniversary of a momentous occasion that I’m looking forward to pointing out here on the internet. I will be pointing it out on social media and other places. And I want to point it out right now, because we’ve just done 45 minutes of conversation about Tampa versus Baltimore, and we haven’t discussed the most important thing, which is Derek Henry. We’ve only said his name one time. I think at 45 minutes, you go through the transcript here, we just pointed out that he’s going to get 100 yards, and they’re going to rush for three I think we did that 48 minutes ago, November 2, 2023 I made a major case earlier this week that adding Derrick Henry would have made the Baltimore Ravens unstoppable. We’ll never know, but that would have been fun. How do you feel about that quote year later, Luke, do you mind that I bring that up on the one year anniversary two weeks from now, and then bring that up every week that he’s healthy and they might win a Super Bowl because
Luke Jones 46:25
of him. It’s fine, okay. What am I what do you want me to say? Like, No, I disagree. I mean, I
Nestor Aparicio 46:31
just want when they win the Super Bowl, I won’t at least be able to say, I told you,
Luke Jones 46:35
so. Okay, I can. Can we at least say this? Can we stop? And I don’t mean you, because I haven’t heard you say this. Can we stop with suggestions that Derek Henry’s an MVP candidate? Stop. It’s Lamar. It’s not even close. Go look, and I’ll tell you
Nestor Aparicio 46:54
why, because you saw the first 10 years of Derek Henry’s career at Tennessee, and he was amazing.
Luke Jones 46:58
They didn’t win anything, and it just speaks to the value of a running back compared to a franchise quarterback. But I want to, I want to throw one stat out for you, and this speaks to Derek Henry being the first to tell you that he’s benefiting more from playing with Lamar Jackson than Lamar Jackson is benefiting playing from Derek Henry doesn’t mean that they’re not both benefiting. Let me be clear. I’m just saying Derek Henry is benefiting more, and I’ll tell you why. Go look at his numbers. You can see this on pro football reference, or any you know next gen stats, all of that, he is at a career high, an overwhelming career high in yards before contact before rushing attempt, even higher than where he was when he ran for 2000 yards in Tennessee. Now his yards after contact are also very good, but they’re not that’s still more so in line with what he’s done over the course of his career, with Lamar Jackson at quarterback, teams are they’re kind of paralyzed at the snap because they don’t know exactly what to do, and Derek Henry is absolutely roasting teams as a result.
Nestor Aparicio 48:15
Well, their hits are going the wrong way. It buys him another second. And let
Luke Jones 48:18
me be clear, I’m not saying this to be dismi, what he’s doing, he’s been phenomenal. But my point is, stop with Derek Henry being MVP. No, Lamar. It’s Lamar, and it’s not even close. It’s not even a debate. I I’m not,
Nestor Aparicio 48:32
you don’t know football, when you say that, that’s all. I mean there and there’s, there’s a whole litany of those people out on X they all have marstool. And let me be clear. Look, that doesn’t mean Derrick Henry
Luke Jones 48:43
may not be, you know, talking about him winning Offensive Player of the Year, because we know that that’s typically gone to whoever has the best offensive stats that doesn’t win MVP, even though you could make an argument that the MVP could be Offensive Player of the Year as well, but, but, but, no, I again, I just want to stress where Derek Henry is in terms of his yards before contact, you know, yards before he’s been touched. You know, we’ve talked about it on some of these sweet plays where, or some of these, you know, well designed runs where, you know, they’ve pulled lineman all that, where he’s not even being touched until, you know, in some cases, not touched at all. And it just speaks to Lamar, it speaks to this operation, speaks to the collective effort. And yes, Derek Henry’s been incredible. So look, the goal will continue to be what we’ve said about this offense for years now. You know, again, this is not the first time this offense has been in this kind of territory. They’ve led the league in scoring. They’ve led the in rushing. We’ve done we’ve seen them do this in the past. It’s all about, hey, it’s mid October now. That’s great. Looks like this could be the best team in football, you know, or they’re certainly in that conversation right now, after an OH and two start, it’s all about keeping this thing going, keeping everyone healthy, keeping everyone fresh until January. Sorry. I mean that’s we have to keep bringing that up because, again, we that that’s where this team’s been, and it’s a credit to them. My goodness, it’s a credit to them. But Derek Henry, for me, it was not about bringing him in to lead the league in rushing. It’s about him helping them win games in January. And that’s every move they make at this point is judged on that anything they might do at the trade deadline, you know, as we’re talking about, you know, do they, you know, do they try to add a safety that, do they try to add an edge rush? Or, do they, yes, do they try to add a wide receiver? You know, as plenty of people have opined and speculated about, but anything they do, it’s judged on January at this point. And, yeah, that’s why. Another thing about Lamar, you know, just to go back to go back to him and and Derek Henry’s the same way, you know, it’s a credit to him as well. You don’t sense any sense of satisfaction. I mean, we’ve seen Lamar flat out be ticked off at the end of some of these games Cincinnati. It was because of his fumble, you know, just a freak play, obviously, that he just dropped the ball. He was furious. You could tell he couldn’t even enjoy the victory, because he was that ticked off at himself in Dallas. He was ticked off about the fact that they had almost blown that lead in the fourth quarter last week. You know, he was, he was very willing to talk about Jaden Daniels and how impressed he was with him. But, you know, it wasn’t Lamar so much talking being overly satisfied with how they’re playing. You know, every time you ask him, he says, Hey, we can do this better. We could do that better. We got to clean this up. I mean, you really get the sense for him at this point. And he’s always wanted to win. You know, that’s never been anything other than that, right? But you’re seeing just the natural maturation of a franchise quarterback who is still looking to get to the top of the mountain, just like Josh Allen, just like Joe burrow, just like anyone else not named Patrick mahomes In the modern NFL, where you just get the sense that he is certainly not complacent, you know, he’s certainly not overly satisfied with where they are right now as a football team. And that’s what you want out of your franchise quarterback who’s chasing a Super Bowl and has that’s the only thing he is left to accomplish. Is that right, he’s done everything else you can ask for in the regular season, and the numbers, I mean, passing and rushing at this point, his numbers are elite across the board. You know, even the volume is way higher than it’s been in the past. So it’s all about January. It’s all about January, and specifically early February. So keep this thing rolling. The next task at hand is Tampa Bay on Monday night, and get to five and two and then, you know, just keep that thing rolling. I mean, that’s, that’s really what they’ve been able to do in past regular seasons, but they want to keep themselves in a position to be ready to roll come January. So health is a big part of that. And you know, they’re healthy, they want to try to keep that going as much as they can, but also acknowledging it’s a long 11 games to go in the regular season, and inevitably, they’re going to start dealing with some health challenges at some point in time. They’ve been quite fortunate to this point, because you and I barely even talked about the Ravens injury report on a weekly basis. I mean, they’ve been quite fortunate. They’ve very rarely had any starters missing any meaningful time at this point, and we know that it it’s a game of attrition, so at some point they’re going to deal with a little more of that, but in the meantime, they’re rolling, and Tampa Bay is the next team that uh has to be playing at a really high level to have a chance to pull off the upset Monday night. He is Baltimore, Luke.
Nestor Aparicio 53:31
He is Luke Jones. You can find him out in front of Baltimore positive. You can find him back and forth to Owings Mills. We got a football game on Monday night. We’re excited about that. We got World Series ahead and plenty of of residue on the back end, beginning on Tuesday morning to find it all out. Anywhere Baltimore positive is served on Friday, we’re gonna be serving up the crab cakes and the oysters, as well as probably some other delicious seafood delights, probably some chowder before it’s all over. Next Friday, we’ll be at mama’s on the half shell in Owings Mills put that one before. On the Friday, we’ll be giving away Raven scratch offs from the Maryland lottery. Also our friends at chiffy, Luke Baltic care putting us out on the road. 26 oysters. 26 days. The new oyster tour module is out at Baltimore positive to get educated, also to enjoy some oysters all around town. It is a month with an R. It’s a birthday month. Last week it was beats and crab cakes. This week it’s going to be oysters. It’s all brought to you by our friends at curio wellness and foreign daughter, as well as Liberty pure solutions. One 800 clean water is the way to make that happen. I have my clean water right here, right now. If you have well water system, that’s you definitely need. My friend Doug and those folks at Liberty pure solutions also plumbing. They do a great job with the plumbing work. Uh, he’s Luke. I’m Nestor. Another football week around here in October, we are wnst. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore. Positive. You.
