The Baltimore Ravens will head to Kansas City with heavy hearts and a lot of questions about their offensive line in the aftermath of the tragic death of longtime coach Joe D’Alessandris. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the heaviness of the task on the field – and more importantly off it for the folks in Owings Mills who loved their offensive line coach.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
offensive line, year, coaches, ravens, week, feel, thursday night, playing, joe, season, chiefs, football, players, lele, days, kansas city, run, nestor, lamar, orioles
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, Towson, Baltimore, Baltimore, positive. We’re still out at AM, 1570 make sure you set your dial. I know lots of folks are podcasting these days and seeing us on YouTube and checking us out on the socials. We will be at Cocos on Wednesday, kicking off football season as well as September, as well as back to school. And we’ll have some scratch offs in Maryland lottery. Have the Gold Rush seven doubles. I still have a big pile of these. Gonna have Raven scratch offs as well. We’re gonna be doing 26 oysters in 26 days. It is the Maryland oyster tour in conjunction with the crab cake tour, because September as an R and because I’m hungry, and the Orioles were in a pennant race, and I can watch baseball every night, and football teams playing on Thursday night. September has rolled in, and I don’t know, you know, from the Ravens perspective, Luke, they’re, they’re still replaying those three runs. I saw Brian Baldinger did a big baldies breakdown on three key plays from the AFC Championship game. So what’s old is new again, and I would think for anybody watching ESPN, watching NFL Network this week, it’s gonna be a whole lot about mahomes and Lamar Jackson, but certainly from your perspective of being out there, this has been a whirlwind month for the ravens, and the loss of Joe delis Anders a true tragedy to kick off the season, I saw the Jacoby Jones. They’re dedicating the season and all that, but just this preparation, and it feels like they’ve been in camp forever. Feels like the longest summer ever without playing a football game. It really does.
Luke Jones 01:35
And we talked about this a little bit back in late July, but with starters not playing at all in the preseason now, and established starters, right? I mean, they certainly, you know, their offensive line and some other spots, Trenton, Simpson on the defense, but it just, it feels like more of a grind than ever because of that. And they got into camp a little bit early because they’re playing this Thursday night game against the chiefs, and, you know, the timing of the end of the preseason was odd. Typically, NFL teams, for those that are playing over the weekend, they’re playing Sunday or Monday night, they get Labor Day weekend off. Basically, you’re back in the building Monday, but you get three days off, and that’s mandated by the CBA, but with the ravens and the chiefs, you know, it’s game week now, so they had the middle of the week off, so that was strange, how that coincides with cuts and whether guys are going to be back on the practice squad, and all the different things that go on at the end of the preseason with cut down day. But for that to coincide with your days off, you begin your practice week on Friday, going into labor day weekend. They’ll practice Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, travel to Kansas City on Wednesday. I mean, it’s a, it’s a different kind of week. And to your, you know, to the point that you made that goes so far beyond football. I mean, Jacoby Jones is so revered in the history of the franchise, what he did for the Super Bowl 47 team, but he’s detached from the current ravens, from the standpoint of, yes, some of these guys knew him and he’d come around, but he’s not one of your guys, right? I mean, Joe Dallas Anders was one of their coaches. You know, this offensive line that we’re going to talk so much about, and have talked so much about, there’s a very human element to this that I’ve tried to tread carefully, because you still, ultimately, they still, and they’d be the first to tell you, they still have a job to do, and these guys are still going to go out there and win games and be a playoff team, be a Super Bowl team, and the offensive line such a big question mark as far as their ability to do that. But this was their coach, and this is someone that was so revered in the building, and even guys like me, who, as local media, don’t get to talk to the position coaches.
Nestor Aparicio 03:51
I never met Joe delessandro, so I can honestly say that, yeah, but, but I you know not
Luke Jones 03:57
someone that I’ve had numerous long conversations with over the years, but seeing him, whether it’s with media or cafeteria workers or custodians or whoever in the building, anyone on the business side, community relations, whatever, everyone knows, knew Joe D and he always had a kind word for anyone, even if it was just hello and A Smile and eye contact, and how are you doing? And the weather’s really nice today. I mean, just a really sweet man, and to to go through that from a human standpoint, but also what it means from a football standpoint. And having George warhop Come in, who’s a long time former NFL offensive line coach, I mean, he’s qualified, but he doesn’t know these players in the same way that Joe D did, and developing them and sorting things out. So it’s a question from a football standpoint, but you don’t want to trivialize it and recognize that there’s a human element aspect to this, that the whole team’s feeling. I mean, the coaches think. Not the coaching staff. Nestor, you know how much time these guys, these coaches, put in, the hours they put in that they’re away from their families and they’re with their fellow coaching brethren. I mean, that’s there’s a human side of that. And I don’t want to belabor the point, but it is a point, and it is something they’re going through right now, and it’s not an excuse, but it’s a very human, real thing that they’re going through. And again, with a position group that is the biggest question mark for either side of the ball going into this 2024 season. It’s just something else that really complicates things football wise. And again, I don’t say that to be insensitive to the memory of Dallas Andrews or his family. I mean, again, this is, or anyone that he that cared about him. It’s a very sad thing that happened. But it’s, you know, it’s just something else to add to this. So I mentioned the schedule, and, you know, just it kind of being a strange week. And you know, you’re used to kicking off on Sunday or Monday that for the season, and you’re playing the Thursday night game, which, you know, that’s, you know, it’s not that big of a deal at the end of the day, but when you add this human element to what’s already been going on, it’s just, it’s a strange time. It is. And I don’t say that from a doom and gloom standpoint. It’s just it’s, it’s different, and they’re going through a lot. So we’re going to see how the offensive line plays out, and we’ll see how George Warhawk, who they hired when Joe D had been hospitalized and taken his leave of absence. So it’s not like he’s brand new, but he’s still getting to know these guys. This thing happened
Nestor Aparicio 06:32
really suddenly with Joe D, right? I mean, I don’t, I don’t even know what happened or, you know, like in that way, but this felt like something that on July 15 at the All Star break, they never could have seen anything coming like this, right? I mean, like he wasn’t. Was he sick in March and April and May? And we didn’t, I don’t know, because I didn’t hear them talk about anything else. And to your point, if we’re talking about anything with this football team the last seven months, it’s been the offensive line, right?
Luke Jones 07:03
All we know, and look, this is out of respect for his family and their privacy and whatever they elect to make public at some point or they may not, and that’s okay too, right? I mean, this is unfortunately, this is part of life, and we know that we don’t talk about this a lot in terms of you and I getting together, talk about football, but it is a very real part of life. And you know, Joe D had lost his wife a couple years ago to, you know, a rare form of Parkinson’s. So, I mean, their family’s been through a lot these last few years, but all we know publicly speaking, and John Harbaugh talked about this at the time of Dallas Sanders being hospitalized, and you know, them saying at the point, at that point he’d be taking an extended leave of absence, was that he had a surgical procedure at some point earlier in the summer, and there were complications stemming from that. I don’t I don’t want to speculate beyond that. That’s more than I
Nestor Aparicio 07:56
knew a minute ago, honestly, because when people pass I am that guy that doesn’t say what happened? Like a general sense, for me, in the world of Facebook, when someone, especially someone young and suddenly, unless it’s a car accident, and we, I don’t ask, I find it to be very modern rude. You know, it’s certainly on the radio from a public perspective, right? So I don’t ask and I didn’t seek it, and I just know that this is stunning and shocking to them. I I don’t I don’t get to go out there anymore. The way they treat me is stunning and shocking as well, but I don’t know enough about it other than what I gleaned from you and what I glean from the outside. But this, I put myself into the mind of I covered this for 30 years. On the inside, I talked to these people back before Harbaugh was the creepy coach. I met all the coaches. I knew all the coaches. I knew their families. I mean, when Clarence Brooks passed away, I knew him well, very, very well for long stretches of time. If hardball had been more normal and Chad Steele were more normal, I would know, Joe. I mean, I just don’t and haven’t and haven’t been allowed to, and therefore, you, I’m writing about this at Labor Day. I’m moving on, but they can’t move on. And I don’t think this was something in any way from a football perspective, from an emotion perspective, from a preparation perspective, that they it felt at at all like that he had been ill, and that they had felt like this was going to be a thing, because I know how highly they thought of him. That is very, very as long as he’s been there, the fact that he was a decorated guy before he got I mean, he’s a really, a real coach’s coach, and a real OG in a world of young coaches, right?
Luke Jones 09:37
No, no question about it. I mean a lifer, right? I mean plenty of years as a college coach and coached with what Kansas City, the Chargers think there was one other team in there that’s escaping me at the moment, but, you know, it’s done in a long time. And you know he, like I said, he had had that procedure, but he had been back coaching. I mean, he he spoke to the. Media was either late July or the first couple days of August. You know, it was right around then. I mean, talk to the media. So, I mean, it’s not like he had had a procedure, had taken an they were fully
Nestor Aparicio 10:08
expected this year, right? I mean, they like that was the plan, and now it obviously tragedy strikes. But and, and how that affects the team, I don’t know. I’m just talking about it from a human level, going in that building, I’ve been watching this from the outside, and you know, I’ll be sharing my feelings about the building next week, but you know, he’s the kind of guy I missed and the kind of and I’ll write about this next week, the differences as a human between John Harbaugh and Brian Billick and the kinds of humans they used to have in that building that I met and interacted with and have kept friendships with all of my life. Um, that’s all gone because of Chad Steele. Part of that is, I don’t have much to say about Joe DeSantis, because he was pretty much hidden from everybody for a long period of time. He does the three four times a year. They they would like, kind of like the Costa shows up a little bit, just enough to give you 10 minutes to sound like he did something. But for all of their coaches, they’re the ones that put in the work. I mean, and I don’t know that fans really understand that brotherhood of the players aren’t there all off season, the players aren’t there. You know, on Monday and Tuesday, the coaches are the brotherhood of adults and evaluating the players, their management structure. There’s a lot of interaction amongst coaches.
Luke Jones 11:32
A lot there is, there is, and I think, and this isn’t about the coaches, but I think what was most telling to me in the wake of Joe, Joe D’s passing, was seeing guys like Matt Scarra who have not been ravens for a few years, right? I mean, former players who’ve been gone for a few years. Matt scurrup wrote a really nice tribute to him on social media, Instagram, Twitter, you can go find it. But, I mean, that was a kind of that, right there is the perfect example of what a position coach can mean to someone’s life. I mean, Matt skirrow was an undrafted practice squad, fringe kind of NFL player, and Joe Dallas Anders helped develop him into a starting caliber center. Now he had the knee injury, and his career was never the same after that. But, you know, that’s the kind of guy that you know resonates, you know, that guy that’s an undrafted player or a late round pick who blossoms, look, Dallas Sanders didn’t do a whole lot of coaching for Tyler linderbaum, right? I mean, Tyler linderbaum came in and was expected to be that kind of guy, you know, Dallas Anders came in at the end of the Marshall yanda. You know, run. You know, he probably didn’t teach Marshall yanda a whole lot his last couple years in the league. But for guys like Matt scurra or Patrick McCary or Bradley Bozeman, you know, guys that are either late round picks or undrafted and they develop into legitimate NFL, you know, either starting caliber or really good backup offensive linemen. I mean, someone like Joe D and then look, there are plenty of guys around that, like that around the league. You know, I’m not saying he’s unique in that way, but doesn’t make him any less special to those individuals who care. You know, he cared enough to develop them as players, but also cared about them as men and as human beings. So, you know, there’s an element to that. And look, let’s be clear, because these guys are such routine, oriented individuals, and they’re such creatures of habit. You know other way? No, you know, no other way but to move on. In terms of diving into your work. You know, whether you’re talking about the coaching staff or the players, you know they’re that doesn’t mean they forget about them, but they’re just creatures of habit. They get back to work. That’s what they do. And I think a lot of people, even in everyday life, you know, when you deal with loss, one way that you not move on with that but you deal with it is you just have to throw yourself back into work or something, you know, exercising, whatever it might be to to try to escape that a little bit, but, you know, so, so, you know, from that standpoint, you know, they’re preparing for the chiefs, and they’re thinking about football. But that’s, yeah, that’s just another, you know, again, the human element. I don’t want to down, I don’t want to overemphasize the football part of this, but, yeah, it’s just, it’s another thing that they’re dealing with right now, specifically on that offensive line. So you know, it’s probably not something that you and I will bring up a whole lot as we get into the season, and we’re just talking about football. But doesn’t mean it’s not there, especially for especially for some of the veteran players, rookies, you know guys Roger Rosengarten and you know Voorhees, guys that haven’t been here as long. Maybe that doesn’t impact them quite as much, but it’s certainly another variable to throw in here, as we’re focusing on it from a football standpoint. So you know, it’s just, it’s, it’s. It’s very strange. It’s very difficult. I mean, mid August, he was coaching, and then suddenly he’s hospitalized, and here he’s going to take an extended leave of absence, you know, at that point there, I think there was still plenty of optimism that he was going to be okay, whether he was going to come back to coach or not, and, you know, and then two weeks later, he’s gone. I mean, so it’s, again, it’s something that I’ve tried to tread carefully talking about, because, you know, this is something that goes beyond football. It’s someone’s life, you know, and it’s someone they these guys all knew and worked with and spend time with, and spent more time with him than their own families during the season, you know, coaches and players. So you know, when something like this happens? I mean, it’s, it’s definitely a challenge. It’s not, you know, don’t they move on. The wheel keeps churning in terms of being a football team, but it’s definitely something that you know, that that’s going to wear on them and be in the back of their minds and on their hearts over the course of this
Nestor Aparicio 15:58
season, Gate City Chiefs are going to open the season, they’re going to hang a banner, they’re going to hand out rings, they’re going to have a good time. We’re going to show up and the game, and we’ll preview the game more next week, but the roster and setting things up and trying to have a game plan for the chiefs, right? I mean, just in a general sense of where they were last year and what we expect them to be doing this year with with Derek Henry, it is fascinating, because you’re one of the few people out there watching them practice and run around and seeing what they’re trying to do as we get on up on the season. How do you feel about the team? You know, the attrition, the off season, the loss of coaches, now, the loss of life of a coach, but also the McDonald thing and where they are with Zach or they’re ready to play football. John will have them ready to play football now, whether they’re better than the chiefs on Thursday night time will tell on that and how Lamar and the new offense of Derrick Henry, what the what the stat sheet is going to look like on on Friday morning when you and I get together, not just whether they win or lose, but how they’re trying to win. Yeah.
Luke Jones 17:08
I mean, look, I there’s always a little bit of curiosity this. There was always curiosity this time of year as far as what it looks like, because even when you played your starters, it was vanilla, right? You weren’t showing a whole lot. You’re certainly not game planning for your opponents, or anything new that you’re going to unveil. You’re not going to unveil that in one of these fake football games. So there was always that element of unknown that just makes week one, you know, even week two, week three, a little more intriguing than the rest of the season, just because of that element of surprise, or maybe not so pleasant surprises that that can can arise. But I think for this team, you know, first of all, roster cut downs, very chalk, very chalk. No real surprises. I mean, demarian Williams, you know, Pepe Williams, or fourth round pick a couple years ago, is your biggest cut. I mean, I we said all along he was going to be on the bubble. So there weren’t any big surprises. There no big surprises in terms of waiver claims or anything like that. So, you know, once, once the dust settles there, you begin to look at the team, and you say, Okay, this is kind of what I thought it would be going into training camp. This is kind of what I thought it would be going into mandatory mini camp, even. So,
Nestor Aparicio 18:15
speaking about it, you got the 53 right. Did you get everything I was I
Luke Jones 18:19
had one wrong. I did have Pepe Williams on the roster, and I had, I’m trying to think who I had off, Senussi, Kane I had see if you
Nestor Aparicio 18:27
were better, you could get one wrong and still win your parlay. I saw that on television.
Luke Jones 18:32
Yeah, but I’ll say this Nestor. I mean, you know, overall, I’m high on this football team. And look, I think there’s certainly guys that they lost, that that they’re going to miss, and beginning with Mike McDonald to the point where the defense, you know, are they going to be as locked in with as good of chemistry as well, synchronized with everything they like to do, pre snap, with rolling coverage and disguising coverage and simulated pressures and all those different things that that take a lot of practice and a lot of preparation and a lot of trust with whichever 11 players you have out on the field on any given snap. Is all of that going to be aligned the way that you’d like it to be, or the way that it was say at the end of last season, probably not right away, but that said I still fully expect when it’s all said and done, for this to be a top five defense. Because look, it’s the Ravens for the better part of a quarter century. Now, if there’s one thing you can count on the Ravens doing, it’s playing defense at a high level, even with the names having changed over the years, and they still have elite talent at every level of that defense. Do I have some questions about the edge rush? Sure, we had questions last year and the year before and the year before that, and it was still a quality defense. So, so everything else about this football team, you know, offensively or defensively, kind. Falls within the range of normal questions or normal potential hiccups, or what have you, and obviously the strengths that they have. But, and again, we’ve just spent a few minutes talking about this. The area the team that is still such an unknown for me is the offensive line. It really is an unknown, not just in terms of how they’re going to play, but how exactly it’s going to look I fully expect Andrew where he’s at left guard. I think at this point we fully expect Daniel Foley lay at right guard. Whether he’s going to continue to be that. Long term, we’ll see. But you know, question for week one, for Thursday night, is it Patrick McCary, or is it Roger Rosengarten? You know, who is it at right tackle? Is it the veteran, the rookie? Is it going to be a rotation like we saw last year? So I think there’s just, you know, there’s intrigue, would be the positive way of saying it, but there’s also, I think trepidation is the right word, but maybe anxiety, especially going on the road playing against the world champions hostile environment Kansas City, front probably going to be aggressive. So, you know, that’s that’s my biggest, you know, that’s right now. That’s my biggest question mark for this team, not just for week one, but in the big picture, I think the rest of this roster is Super Bowl caliber. That doesn’t mean that everything else is perfect, but everything else feels like it’s within the range of you know, even if their outside linebacker group isn’t the best in the league, I think they’re going to have enough there, coupled with scheming and the Ravens doing the things they do, and assuming Zach or even if he’s not Mike McDonald, still think he’s going to do a good job, and he’ll settle in, and the Ravens will do the things They do that, I think it will still be more than good enough, even if they’re not leading the league in sacks and leading the league in takeaways and leading the league and points allowed, I still think it’s going to be a very high level defense, because at the end of the day, they still have a lot of really good football players on the defensive side of the ball, and they have a very deep secondary. So they still have an MVP, a quarterback, they have Derrick Henry at running back, assuming that, you know, he fights off Father Time for another year. They have zay flowers and Mark Andrews and Isaiah, likely. But that offensive line, and I haven’t even mentioned Tyler linderbaum, who’s back on the practice field. I’m not concerned about his health, but he missed three and a half weeks of practice. That was more time for this group to try to get synchronized and try to get on the same page and have the chemistry they need. Where the heck is Ronnie Stanley going to be in all this, in terms
Nestor Aparicio 22:27
of all starts on Thursday night, which I’m just wondering, 123, where you know, how is that going to work when it hasn’t worked together in a loud stadium, in that environment, like, you know, this is, this is going to be fun. And I think the fun part is, is that there has been no preview on any of this. The preview was last January’s game. That was the preview,
Luke Jones 22:53
yeah, I mean, and that’s the thing, and this is where, because there’s been a lot of talk about how it looked in the preseason, right, with, and I don’t mean like the overall results, I mean the offensive line itself, right? And they didn’t move many people in the run game. There’s no doubt about that. You know, I thought Rosengarten looked promising. I think file Lele looked good from a past protection standpoint. Now, run blocking was another story, and that’s still, you know, is a 380 pound guard really going to be able to move and pull and trap and all the things that you need to do from a run blocking standpoint, you know, his past protection, I thought looked good, albeit against backups, right? You know, so, so there’s always that caveat. But, you know, Andrew Voorhees, I thought it was a rough summer for him in terms of how he looked in these preseason games. And he was kind of the guy that we perceived of those three spots that kind of have the tightest grip. Now, I think he’s still going to start. I think he could still be okay, but there’s just a lot of unknown. However, all that being said, Tyler bomb did not play a snap. Ronnie Stanley did not play a snap. Derrick Henry, who hopefully is a force multiplier for this running game, because you’re paying him to be that did not play a snap. Patrick card, who’s still going to factor heavily, whether he’s as a fullback or a blocking tight end, did not play a snap. So Lamar Jackson, the ultimate force multiplier, who absolutely helps your offensive line, just even in terms of your defensive line that you’re going up against, recognizing they have to be really disciplined, and they can’t just sell out to get to the quarterback, because they know that Lamar will take off and run for 30 yards if you’re not disciplined in your rush lanes. He didn’t play a snap. So there’s a lot at work here, even if, individually, there were concerns about Voorhees or, you know, Rosengarten, you know, dealing with physicality. You know, bull rush gave them some issues. I even seen that in training camp at times file. Lele is a run blocker, but keep in mind, it’s really difficult to evaluate offensive linemen just in isolation, right? You really have to see how it looks when it’s all fitting together, right? Yes, you can evaluate individuals, but my point. Is, I don’t use
Nestor Aparicio 25:00
anything like it in sports. Yeah, you know, maybe hockey lines to some degree, and, you know, guys skating on the wing and having that sort of thing in hockey. But I’ve covered all the sports. I can’t think of anything. And I look, I go back to 1996 with Steve Everett and T bone Jones and John Ogden. The offensive line was the first group that I really got to know well, 30 years ago, and got to know the coaches well and Jim colletta and those guys. They would always describe it as like a symphony, like a dance, like literally, if you do it silently, just to see how feet move in in tight space with very big men and very large men coming at them from another. You know the way Flacco got rolled on by a backup tackle. You know what I mean? Like all of that, when you don’t see it, I can’t evaluate it. You know, we’re gonna evaluate in real time on Thursday night, because there is no free evaluation for any of this. But how these guys work together? It’s, um, it’s probably one of the more difficult things to do in football, is to do in football, is to get that part synchronized, right, and to do it without practice, without live bullets. I know they’ve been trying that with loud music out there in Owings Mills, but it’s going to be a little different when the Chiefs come in and lace it
Luke Jones 26:13
up, yeah. And again, even the guys that were out there, they weren’t all out there together, right? Having three fifths of the line out there.
Nestor Aparicio 26:20
Often do these five guys even stood playing in shorts together and dancing around? There hasn’t been much of that over the last I mean, I mean,
Luke Jones 26:28
considering linderbaum had been out since August 1, I think it was, you know, and again, by all, all indications are that he’s fine, and they were being careful, you know, I had a little bit of a neck thing. And hey, you’re gonna, you’re not gonna mess around with that. So it’s fine for him individually, right? I don’t think he’ll, you know, I think he’ll step in, and I think he won’t individually miss a beat, but especially when you’re talking about a team that’s doing more zone blocking and when you’re doing outside zone and different things like that, boy, I mean, that needs to be synchronized, you know, when you’re running more manpower. Okay, you can you match up. You get a hat on a hat, and there’s probably a little less cohesiveness required for that, although you still certainly need it. But when you’re talking about the zone blocking, where you know you’re you’re moving sideways and you’re getting to a spot, and you’re kind of blocking an area, boy, that’s got to be lined up, and that’s got to be sharp, and the screws need to be tightened. And again, you just look at everything that’s happened, including, yes, Joe D and that element, it’s just there’s a lot and a couple of things that have been telling Nestor a games, it could all be fine, right? It could be a group that is average come week one and gets better as the year goes on. If they have that kind of trajectory, I think their offensive line will be fine, but it can’t be bottom five in the league out of the gates and then you’re hoping at best, it’s average, right? You want to be you want to have a high enough floor to start, and then you want to get better as the year goes on. But I think the Ravens Look, John Harbaugh is not going to come right out and say, I’m really worried about this. ERICA COSTA is not going to come right out and say, I’m really worried about this. I do think there’s long term confidence in what they’re doing that in the long run, you know? And then might, you know, Eric degosti even said a year from now, right? He feels like they’re going to be in great shape. But that doesn’t mean you don’t want to win this year and still give yourself your best chance this year, but this be the reason that
Nestor Aparicio 28:34
you should really struggle, sure, exactly. But that’s really my concern out loud, a week short season, is they go out three and out somebody gets off the edge, barries, Derrick, Henry, they punt, and you say, oh, you know what happened there? And then Lamar does the shimmy, you know, the phone booth thing, and runs around, and he’s going to run the ball 11 times on Thursday night so they can try to win. And I would. I’d like to see it not scuffle Thursday night. I’d like to see it even if they lose the game, even they lose the game, I’d like to see the offensive line be credible, not formidable, not top of class, but not the reason they’re losing in the fourth quarter. I think that’s fair, and I am worried about that. I am because the children the chiefs, and they’re on the road, and it’s all new, not to mention the defense being new, not to mention their offensive line coach died last week. I mean, like, there’s just a lot. There’s a lot going on here. There’s a lot, not to mention the fact that they got their ass kicked by this team. They traditionally get their ass kicked by this team. Mahomes is great. Like, they have all of that going for them. I just hope the offensive line, I hope that they lose it’s because the ball goes over Brandon Stevens head, or Marlon Umphrey said, and Travis Kelsey gets off, and it’s not because Derek Henry ran the ball 14 times for 34 yards.
Luke Jones 29:54
That’s fair, yeah. I mean, that’s why I said it a few minutes ago, if you’re trying. Trajectory is your average, or somewhere like that, to start off the year, and then you’re getting better, because these guys are young, and presumably will get better with more experience. And as they grow together and they get used to playing together, then I think that’s a really that’s a very promising trajectory for that offensive line and for this football team.
Nestor Aparicio 30:18
They win and run the football Thursday night and Friday morning. We’re talking about them being one and, oh, and Kansas City having their feelings, Sir, we’re gonna really be feeling good about the offensive line if that happens. I like, I really, they’re gonna have a hard time. Yeah, on Thursday night, if the offensive line is a minus in any way, sure?
Luke Jones 30:36
Sure. Look, I mean, I think that’s kind of the NFL for the most part, right? I mean, maybe the bangles a couple years ago, how they kind of defied the odds with their offensive line and Joe burrow somehow overcoming that. But more often than not, if you don’t at least get solid offensive line play, it’s extremely difficult to win.
Nestor Aparicio 30:55
They used a number one on the center two years ago. They used a number two on the right tackle. They’ve used a fortune in keeping Ronnie Stanley around, because they don’t feel like they can get better than him right now. They felt like they could get better and take a cap casualty. They probably would have done that so and they’re playing games with this guard position, whereas a couple years ago, they weren’t playing games with young Lamar and said, We’re gonna go buy Zeitler. We’re gonna go deal for most we’re gonna we’re gonna have veterans on this line. They’ve changed that up. And Linder bombs, the veteran, Stanley, I don’t know what he is. I like, I’ll let you know midnight Thursday night, how I feel about it, because I didn’t love anything. I haven’t loved, I haven’t loved anything about him in four years, five. I mean, like, it’s been a long time since I’ve looked and said, left tackle, they’re good, they’re okay, they’re not okay. They’re they’re in peril because he’s not going to be Ronnie Stanley again. There’s not going to be that ceiling again. So they’ve used capital on this. They’ve used draft capital, um, and however you feel about fall alay, or however you feel about Voorhees, this is what they signed up for, and however you feel about Ben Cleveland, who you know, and the other draft picks that they’ve that they’ve utilized, that can’t get to the field somehow.
Luke Jones 32:10
Yeah, I mean, look, I mean Ben Cleveland, third round pick, is he going to play at some point? I’m guessing he probably will at some point. I don’t think it’s going to be Thursday night, but if file Lele falters or he’s not as fast as Orlando, presumably he’s going to be the next man
Nestor Aparicio 32:24
up. Has the third Yeah, yeah, but,
Luke Jones 32:26
but you look, Tyree Phillips a few years back, was the third round picked. And even stick around long enough because he wasn’t good enough, you know, I mean, fall a lay, fourth round pick. Ben powers a couple years ago, fourth round pick, you know, you they’re not all first round picks. They’re not all second round picks. And you know, you’re really hoping, obviously, linderbaum has already become the anchor for that O line that was evident last year, uh, especially now with Zeitler and Morgan Moses out of the picture. But you know you’re, you’re hoping that Rosengarten, and you know, for what it’s worth, even if he’s not starting against the chiefs, he’s going to be the right tackle sooner than later. You know, barring an injury, barring something really weird, he’s going to be that guy. And I saw enough from him this summer to be optimistic. But you know, the guard spots we’re going to see, you know we’re absolutely going to see, because you’re talking about someone who was a seventh round pick. Who I get? It probably would have been a fourth round pick last year before he tore his ACL at the combine, but we got to see Andrew Voorhees do it at the next level and fall Lele. I mean, it’s a brand new position for him. So, I mean, these are major unknowns, and that doesn’t mean that they won’t be solid players for them, but until we see them go out and do it and everything you mentioned, the bright lights and all that. Keep in mind, Steve Spagnola knows that that’s an offensive line that has three new starters as well, so he’s probably going to throw the kitchen sink at them in terms of different stunts and trying to confuse them and seeing if they mess up their protection. So Tyler linderbomb is going to have to be on point pre snap. And easier said than done, when you’re talking about playing an arrowhead, where it’s so loud and you can’t hear yourself think so this is a challenge. It’s a good challenge. I think it’s going to tell us a lot about where they are right now, if they are bad and they lose on Thursday night, that doesn’t mean that the season sunk, but to your point, even if it’s in a loss, even if it’s a situation where you lose a 27 to 24 game, but your offensive line played pretty well. Wasn’t perfect, but played well enough they ran the ball and Lamar maybe gets sacked a couple times, but it’s not like he’s running for his life every other play. You know it but, but you lose a game 2724 Hey, you’re going on the road against Kansas City. You know, you’re an underdog anyway. It’s as much as it’ll feel lousy just because of a, you know, from a win loss standpoint, there’ll be enough to like from the offensive line to move forward then. But if your offensive line goes out there and gets destroyed, and, you know, putting aside getting anyone hurt or anything extreme, just that you struggled. Much then, yeah, it’s gonna, you know, doesn’t mean that they won’t give it
Nestor Aparicio 35:04
back the Orioles relief pitching. It’ll be something we talked about all year, because they there won’t show a lot of way to fix it beyond Linder Baum and Rosengarten being good, right? Yeah. I
Luke Jones 35:12
mean, again, okay, you could put Patrick McCary somewhere, but, you know, Patrick McCary, typically, his best place is as the sixth man, right? Whenever he has to play extensively, it usually starts to show a little bit. Yeah. Can you throw Ben Cleveland in there? Sure. But this coaching staff has told you everything they need to know about their belief in him. It’s clear that, you know, I think the guy he reminds me of, in terms of how they view him, I’m going to give you a name that you’re going to appreciate here, Nestor, a Nestor. It’s Bryant McKINNIE esque in the way that even when he’s out there on the field, and it’s looked pretty good, and look Cleveland when he’s played, and that includes filling in for Zeitler last year, it’s looked pretty good. But for whatever reason, and you would assume a lot of it has to do with practice field and meeting rooms and all that, even though they’ve never said that, but they don’t seem to have a strong belief and trust in Him to be a starting player. Now, well, that would be those other guys stunts with Steve spagnolo, right? Sure. And that’s the thing, if one of those other guys gets completely overwhelmed week one, Ben Cleveland could be starting week two, and he could start the rest of the year. So he’s been in the program three years? I
Nestor Aparicio 36:22
mean, he knows the offense, right? He should,
Luke Jones 36:24
yeah, yeah. But that’s where it’s kind of mystifying to look at it and you say, Okay, you really think file Lele is better than Ben Cleveland? I’m not. I don’t know enough about offensive line play to say definitive, definitively yes or no, but I feel like what we’ve seen from Cleveland felt like it was good enough, at least. You know, better than putting a 380 pound right tackle at right guard, I don’t know. I mean, so we’re going to find out. It’s the biggest question. Everything else about this team, I can sign off on even some of their other relative weaknesses. I’ll still sign off on even wide receiver, which if zay flowers goes down and gets hurt, then we’re having a big conversation about wide receiver. But you know, better than it’s been in other years, where we’ve been talking this time of year, but boy, I gotta see the offensive line. I’ve got to see what this looks like, and I’ve got to see it at least have a high floor, a high baseline to start off with, and then I’ll hear it getting better over the course of the year. But if to your point, they go out there on Thursday night, and Derek Henry carries 13 times for 33 yards, and Lamar sacked five times and rarely has enough time to throw, and he’s running for his life, and the only way you’re moving the ball is Lamar doing the phone booth thing that you’re not going to feel great, right? But if they can at least be solid, at least be at league average level with your offensive line in week one, then I’ll buy that being good enough with the with the understanding and the assumption that it’ll get better as the year goes on. So we’re gonna find out. There’s still a lot of unknown. And the point I tried to make, and this will be my final point, I’ll leave you with this. John Harbaugh, about 10 days ago. You know John? You know he’s a head coach. All head coaches at this level have ego and bravado, and they’re going to tell you that something’s going to be good enough, and they’re ready to tell you that you’re wrong. He acknowledged, I understand the concern. I understand that there are questions out there. There’s unknown here. Eric Acosta, earlier this week, acknowledged that there could be some hiccups with this offensive line early on. I think those are very honest answers from those individuals, and I think it speaks to the fact that even internally, there’s there’s some anxiety about how this is going to look early on, so we’re gonna find out our curiosity will be satisfied, as Buck Showalter used to always like to say, as the Ravens go out to Kansas City on Thursday night, Luke can
Nestor Aparicio 38:49
be found at Baltimore. Luke, you can also be found the trailing the Orioles and the Ravens. I am doing some writing. I’ve been away the last couple days, not just working on my tan, but also writing some Labor Day writings about our job and the work that we do here, and the work we’re restricted from doing as an organization, because I’m a bad guy. I’ve been a bad doobie. I’ve been a bad journalist, reporting too many facts. I’m a little pushy, so we’ll see how that goes up. But Chad Steele, you’ll get your letter. Greg Bader, you’re getting your letter Katie, Greg, you’re getting your letter Sashi, wherever in the cosmos you are, you’ve evaporated too. You’ll get your letter as well. Eric da Costa, your first up, and I am still alive. We’re wnst. Am 15 70,000 Baltimore, we never stop talking football chiefs, kickoff, Orioles in Baltimore. Sports.
