It was a dominant and impressive offensive effort against the Buffalo Bills until it wasn’t good enough to win. Punt. Fumble. Punt. The fourth quarter finish wasn’t good enough for the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night in Orchard Park. Luke Jones and Nestor grade out a stunning 41-40 loss and look ahead.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ 40-34 loss to the Buffalo Bills, highlighting the offense’s dominance with 8.6 yards per play and Derrick Henry’s 9.4 yards per carry. They criticized the defense and special teams for crucial mistakes, including a fumble by Henry. Despite the loss, Aparicio remains optimistic about the Ravens’ Super Bowl potential. Jones noted the offense’s impressive performance without key players like Isaiah Likely and Zay Flowers. They also discussed the importance of finishing games and reducing turnovers, emphasizing the need for better execution in crunch time.
- [ ] Review the final drives and identify areas for improvement in play-calling and execution.
- [ ] Analyze the defense’s performance and identify ways to shore up the unit’s weaknesses.
- [ ] Emphasize the importance of ball security and finishing games strongly in practice.
- [ ] Evaluate the usage of personnel packages and formations in late-game situations to optimize the offense.
Ravens’ Offensive Performance and Defensive Struggles
- Nestor Aparicio introduces the show, mentioning the Ravens’ current record and upcoming events, including the Maryland Crab Cake Tour.
- Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the Ravens’ offensive performance, praising the offense while criticizing the defense and coaching decisions.
- Luke highlights the Ravens’ dominant play against Buffalo, noting their high yards per play and the impact of turnovers.
- Nestor reflects on the Ravens’ history of dominating games and the importance of holding onto the ball.
Offensive Strategy and Player Contributions
- Nestor and Luke discuss the Ravens’ offensive strategy, including the use of misdirection and the effectiveness of players like Ronnie Stanley and Derrick Henry.
- Luke points out the absence of key offensive players like Isaiah Likely and Zay Flowers, and their impact on the game.
- Nestor emphasizes the importance of the offensive line and the quarterback’s ability to scramble effectively.
- Luke mentions the Ravens’ success against various defenses and the specific challenges posed by Buffalo’s defense.
Challenges and Opportunities for Improvement
- Nestor and Luke discuss the Ravens’ need to improve in crunch time, particularly in terms of holding onto the ball and making key plays.
- Luke highlights the importance of finishing games and the impact of turnovers on the outcome.
- Nestor reflects on the Ravens’ history of close games and the need for better execution in critical moments.
- Luke mentions the Ravens’ potential for improvement with the return of key players and the need to stay healthy.
Comparisons with Other Teams and League Trends
- Nestor and Luke compare the Ravens’ offense to other teams in the league, noting the Ravens’ unique ability to dominate games.
- Luke discusses the impact of preseason practices on game performance and the challenges of playing sophisticated NFL offenses.
- Nestor reflects on the Ravens’ success in scoring points and the importance of maintaining momentum.
- Luke mentions the Ravens’ potential to be one of the top offenses in the league and the need for continued improvement.
Final Thoughts and Future Outlook
- Nestor and Luke discuss the Ravens’ future prospects, including the potential for a Super Bowl run and the importance of staying healthy.
- Luke emphasizes the need for the Ravens to focus on the little things and avoid self-destructive mistakes.
- Nestor reflects on the Ravens’ history of success and the importance of maintaining a positive attitude.
- Luke mentions the challenges of facing top teams and the need for the Ravens to perform consistently in all aspects of the game.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens offensive, Bills game, Derrick Henry, Lamar Jackson, turnovers, Buffalo defense, Isaiah Likely, Zay Flowers, playoff loss, crunch time, special teams, John Harbaugh, Todd Monk, NFL offenses.
SPEAKERS
Speaker 1, Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore. Positive it is football season. The ravens are oh and one. We’re going to begin one Oh no. Next Tuesday, we’re going to be at the Beaumont and Catonsville, doing the Maryland crab cake Tour presented by the Maryland lottery. Of some new sponsors around here, including our friends at GBMC, liberty, pure always with us here, keeping our water deliciously perfect here this time of year. And of course, all of our sponsors. We had a great, great August. We were out down at the Mako, doing our tastiness with our friends at Curia wellness. And I’m wearing my curio wellness gear here. We’re doing our countdown this week, including some tasty treats. That’s all I’m going to say, some baked items and other veggie items. My number two items, a veggie item, for those who like veggie items. So doing a little bit of that. In the meantime, anything we could do to not talk about the last four minutes of the football game on Sunday night, Luke Jones is here. We’re going to give some praise to the offense here. We’re going to give some damnation to the defense. We’re certainly going to give some responsibility and accountability the coaches, even though John Harbaugh wants no piece of me lately for reasons such as Sunday night, and they don’t like questions around there about, you know, predatorial kickers and things like that, either. But in the meantime, the loss is the loss, but we still look at it, and I’m writing in my column this this week at Baltimore positive I still think they can win the Super Bowl, and I still think at some point they’re going to win the Super Bowl, and they’re good enough, and they certainly showed themselves for the better part of two hours And 45 minutes on Sunday night to have the other really good team in the league, the other team with the MVP, and they went in and, I mean, they took Buffalo’s lunch money all night long. I mean, it was, it was a dominant effort, until they lost the game.
Luke Jones 01:56
Yeah. I mean, it was until the final three drives where they went punt, fumble, punt, but we’ve seen now three times that these teams have played in the last calendar year, and it’s been said before. This isn’t any bold pronouncement. I think anyone who’s much more of an X’s and O’s film nerd than than I would ever claim to be, this is a really bad matchup for how buffalo likes to play defense. And let me be clear, the Ravens tend to be a bad matchup for just about every defense out there, save for a couple maybe. But you look at the last three meetings now, going back to week four last year, the Ravens 7.9 yards per play in that game that they won, and they won decisively, 7.3 yards per play in the divisional round, despite having lost, you know, at the heartbreak at the end of the game and 8.6 yards per play on Sunday night. It really, truly is now, let me be clear, the defense had a major hand in what happened late in Sunday night’s game, and the special teams was poor as well. But it truly is as simple as take care of the football against this really good buffalo team, and you should win. And unfortunately, Derrick Henry had the fumble. Derrick Henry hasn’t put the ball on the ground a whole lot. We know that, but go back to the Pittsburgh game in Pittsburgh last year, had a fumble early in that game that proved to be pivotal. So there was so much to like.
Nestor Aparicio 03:31
Well, they don’t punt a lot. They don’t give the ball up a lot. They tend to score points when they have the ball and when they they get the ball and somehow relinquish possession in any way, whether it’s turnover, whatever. It’s a little bit stunning, because they do just go up and down the field at will, and they’ve been doing this for seven years. I mean, I go back to that game at the LA Coliseum. I mean, that stadium’s gone. They’ve already played a Super Bowl with SoFi and planned another one. You know what? I mean, like, that stadium’s been there a while, but I go back to those purple uniforms that night. Jalen Ramsey was a part of the rams that night. I was on the field. He started a riot 20 feet away from me that night, I saw him try to do the same thing. You know, he’s in Pittsburgh. Now I look at this era beginning around that period of time where they track, meet you, and they track. I mean, they looked as impressive on Sunday night, if you judge the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and they got a 15 point lead even when the kicker misses the Extra Point. You’re looking at it saying this, they’ve refined it and made it even better when they’re pulling Ronnie Stanley and Linder bomb out to or whomever they would pull out to blow up the left side of the line and take out. I mean, Ronnie Stanley’s taking on cornerbacks at their pancaking them, and you got Derrick Henry coming down your neck, and the entire rest of the offensive lines moving right, including the fastest man on the planet, Lamar Jackson, who might keep the football. I mean, just on a play by play basis, the things that go. Through the minds of safeties and linebackers and where their hips are and what their reads are, and what feet are doing, hands are doing at the speed of light, and you’re either going to get Lamar or Derek Henry or zay flowers running past you pick your poison.
Luke Jones 05:16
Yeah, well, and I think what was kind of lost, and how great the offense played until their final three drives, and what happened in the final five minutes was they did that without two very important pieces to their offense. On Sunday night, there was no Isaiah likely, and we know what kind of weapon he’s become for Lamar Jackson, to the point where we’re all wondering, prior to him having foot surgery, back in late July of whether he was gonna overtake Mark Andrews or not for the number one tight end. And obviously they’re on the field a whole lot together, so that’s a little bit of a ceremonious ceremonial thing than anything, but also understanding that they’re both in contract here, so they didn’t have zay flowers on the field, and they had an elevated practice squad tight end in Zaire Mitchell paid and lining up in the Pat Ricard role. He was playing fullback. And who’s the guy with two names? I said the same thing, right? Yeah, and Derek Henry still averaged 9.4 yards per carry. And I made mention, I want to go back to it for a moment, because I mentioned it, but I didn’t really explain myself. Look, the Ravens offense is a bad matchup for everybody, right? I mean, there are very few defenses in this league that are well equipped to not stop them, but slow them down in a better manner than 90% of the league, right? We’ve seen Cleveland have some success, you know, with how they like to play defense. And say what you want about the Cleveland quarterback situation. The last several years they have had some good defenses. So we’ve seen them have some success. We’ve seen Pittsburgh have their share of success. We’ve seen Kansas City have success against them, but that buffalo defense, it is much more of a modern day NFL defense in the way that you think of it’s lighter, it’s more athletic. They like to be a nickel. There are linebackers for as good as Matt Milano and Terrell Bernard are they are lighter. They are smaller guys. So when you have the Ravens going up against them, it’s always that question of and that was my question going into the game was okay, knowing you’re not going to have record and even though likely he’s not a blocker as much as a receiver, as a tight end, it’s still someone you’re missing. I was questioning how much too tight, too tight end, heavy formation football they were going to be able to play compared to what they like to do, and they still ran that a ton. I mean, you go and look at the final snap counts. I think Zaire Mitchell paid and played, he played three fewer snaps than DeAndre Hopkins. Now that’s simplistic, but that shows you how much they still wanted to use a fullback, how much they were still using two tight ends. When Charlie Kohler plays 31 snaps, Mark Andrews played 38 out of 51 snaps. So it shows you there was still a whole lot of 12 personnel, 22 personnel on the field for them, or 21 person, by the way,
Nestor Aparicio 08:01
you also mentioned they ran 51 plays because they didn’t run drives. They just like sprinted to the end zone.
Luke Jones 08:07
Yeah, yeah, they score. They kept scoring, right? I mean, look, that’s what is so incredibly, extraordinarily frustrating about this game. I mean, this offense was not even at full strength, and you saw what they were able to do. Now, granted, it would have been nice to see them finish the game on a higher note, without a turnover and without going three and out twice, right? So, but I also understand it’s a lot to ask to to go through the entire night, and what they had through the first three quarters, they had one punt. You know, they went field goal, Touchdown, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, punt, Touchdown, touchdown, and then the final three drives, punt, fumble, punt, right? So even more so you know, not as much about the offense, but still, yes, about the offense they need to finish. But man, there was so much to like. And look, this team’s gonna boat race a lot of teams this year, and I didn’t need to see Sunday night to to feel that way. And I do still feel that way about that part of it, you know, I’m, I’m not, I’m not going to talk about the Super Bowl or January because, you know, it’s, well, Detroit,
Speaker 1 09:15
look vulnerable, you know, I guess. And what’s, what’s
Luke Jones 09:19
kind of amazing about this game in general. If you watch the league on Sunday, you know, even go back to Thursday night and Friday night. Although Herbert played great football against Kansas City’s defense Friday night, you didn’t see a lot of a ton of great offensive performances, right? We talk about this a lot, how teams are playing fewer and fewer of their starters in the preseason, and as much as we tend to look at that and say, Okay, what does that mean for the tackling element, right? And I talked about that with you going into this game. How would the Ravens tackle? Well, we saw instances of them not tackling well. We saw instances of buffalo not tackling Well, right? But there’s also the element of the offenses. And when you’re talking about. Motion and some of these option routes and all the different things that a sophisticated NFL offense does compared to what we saw in the NFL 25 years ago, or what you might see at college or the high school level, anything like that. There is that element to not playing a whole lot of truly real football over the summer, that is your timing going to be right? Are you going to have everything in sync? And that’s why you know, just from an entertainment standpoint, how the Ravens played offensively and the bills how they played, that was impressive, because you saw a lot of games in the you know, what? The Houston and La 14, nine. You have San Francisco and Seattle. 1713, right? Denver, 20 to 12 over Tennessee, the commanders, they beat the Giants. But, you know, it’s not, it’s not like they ran up and down the field. They had 21 points in that game. You know, so for the ravens and the bills to score into the low 40s on opening night. I mean, that’s they’re playing a different sport than the rest of the league, right? I mean, that’s what we saw on Sunday night. So that’s where you look at this and say, Yeah, I think the Ravens offense, you know, for my money, they’ll be right at the top in so many different categories. You know, running the ball and throwing the ball. You know, Lamar was incredible from an efficiency standpoint, last year, throwing the football and throwing for touchdowns and not throwing picks, and his passer rating was amongst the all time great single season passer ratings. So there’s so much to like and and there’s still more meat on the bone. Like I said, you didn’t have likely you didn’t have Ricard, and they still did what they did against Buffalo. And, like I said, that buffalo defense, which is a very modern, you know, it’s a modern, structured kind of defense where you say, yeah, we’ve got to play a nickel. We’ve got to, you know, we’re going to be a little bit lighter because we need to be more athletic. Well, the Ravens just, you do that, and the Ravens just kill you with the run game. And we’ve seen that. I mean, the Ravens have just completely gashed them, but got to hold on to the football. You got to sustain a couple drives when you need to at the end of the game. And that’s where you know, if you’re Todd monk and if you’re John Harbaugh looking at this offense, if you’re Lamar Jackson, and you know all these offensive players, yeah, you loved what you did over the first 50 minutes of that football game, but, my goodness, just you got to make another play you as much as maybe it was unfair because the defense didn’t do its share and the special teams didn’t do its share, you still got to make a play at the end, and they didn’t do that so very, very frustrating, because there was just, there was so much to like, and again, more meat on the bone. I think. I mean, it sounds crazy to say that because a 40 point performance, but like I said, you add likely to the mix. You add Ricard back into the mix. You know, you got to stay healthy. I mean that that applies for every team. But man, you add the DeAndre Hopkins factor, which we saw with a highlight touchdown. The Ravens like to say the sky’s the limit, and that’s such a cliche that you hear athletes talk about, you know about good teams, but it really does feel like this offense could do just about anything at once, but man, got to finish the football game, and that’s where you’re left with the sour taste, even after the dominating, gaudy numbers that we saw over the first 53 minutes of that football game for the offense.
Nestor Aparicio 13:28
Let you know a couple things. What did you like the most about I mean, they talk a lot about the offensive line. I saw file lately, pancaking guys, pass rush. Lamar ran for his life backwards 25 yards at one point and then ran 20 yards forward. But Lamar as a pocket passer, as a guy who used to run forward in the linebackers, I see him running now, Fran Tarkington style, right like backwards faster than anybody can chase him. But a lot more of that, though, since monk and got here, yeah, where he is literally scrambling for his life, and sometimes gets caught, and sometimes he winds up out in the middle of a pasture 15 yards away from in like, how did Ed Oliver not get him to the ground? How did Joey Bosa not get him to the ground? How did Russo not get him to the ground? Like, you watch all of this, and I say, Well, you like Lamar because Lamar is an improved player. You don’t think Derek Henry’s lost anything, whether it’s a step, whether it’s boat racing a safety who’s a four, seven safety at this point in his career, right? Like, let alone linebackers catching him, or anything like that. I mean, when the safeties can’t catch him and the quarterbacks maybe not be able to catch him at need an angle to catch him. You have so many queens on the on the chessboard, you know that you can move around. And I look and say, What? What do you fix on the offense and what do. Really fixing those last three drives, other than fumbling? Obviously, that’s something that just can’t happen. But even then, like you had four plays to get 10 yards to keep the ball and win the game, and you punted on one of them, and you took Derek Henry off the field in another one. So I mean, part of it’s strategic, and are we in base? Are we in 12? What? You know, what? What are we going to put out on the field, in what circumstance and down in distance, but on a one by one basis, if you’re going to rank and look at these guys, nobody needs to get benched. No. I mean, we’re not in Marcus Williams or, you know what? I mean, we’re not at that place, right?
Luke Jones 15:39
No, I mean, and obviously we’ll get to the defense with another conversation. But you look at this offense, look, I would still say most of Derrick Henry’s best work is still on the outside runs, right? So you know that you can all they can,
Nestor Aparicio 15:55
misdirection, yeah, the line going one way, Lamar going one way, and the ball going the other like that, is that is their offense. I mean, literally,
Luke Jones 16:03
sure, sure. So, so you could still say, okay, running between the tackles. You know that that’s and it’s not like they can’t do that. Let me be clear, right? I mean, we’re, we’re talking about the best rushing attack in the NFL, maybe the best rushing attack in NFL history, when you look at what this is fully capable of being.
Nestor Aparicio 16:20
Well, your buddy, Aaron Schatz, would come on and could make a story about that. Yeah.
Luke Jones 16:23
I mean, it’s, you know, and that’s without, you know, that’s what, not even talking about Justice Hill, Keaton Mitchell, was a healthy scratch. And I think that that was much more of a special teams decision, because Ali does so much on special teams. And, you know, you can only have so many running backs active, but there’s, like I said, there’s more meat on the bone in that way. But, yeah, they’re between their interior offensive line, you know, and the guard specifically, can still be better, as I pointed out to you when we were kind of breaking down the that final drive that they had, you know, that Derrick Henry run on first down, go back and look at that play. What really blew that up was Ed Oliver pushing Andrew Voorhees back about two yards and and that eliminated any chance of Derek Henry getting anything decent on that first down run. So there was an example of that, you know, certainly the play calling. I mean, Monk and should be second guessed for that, right? I mean, you know there even if you even go back to think, back to the crazy scramble and then Henry’s touchdown, even then, I think everyone was asking, why did the Ravens come out throwing on the first couple plays of that drive, right? I mean, it got to, got to third down and, or, I guess, you know Lamar, you know, with his scramble, you’re kind of asking those first couple plays of that drive, you know, why are you got a two score lead here in the fourth quarter? Why? Why are you dropping back to throw, and then Lamar scrambles and does a special thing, and then Henry runs for a touchdown at that point. So I was even questioning it there, even though, obviously it worked out very, very well with that drive. But I mean, it’s, you know, you just look at that last drive and you just say, how do you not give it to Derrick Henry twice? Or even if you’re not going to give it to Derrick Henry on second down, why are you taking him off the field and eliminating that possibility in, you know, for Buffalo’s coordinator, and you know, they’re, they’re defensive players looking at that so, you know, you you’re always going to second guess play calls. And let me be clear about that. I mean, Todd monk and had a great day of great night overall. This offense had an extraordinary night overall. They scored 40 points, right? I mean, how many times in the history of this franchise have they scored more than 30, let’s say and lost football games. Not many, you know, you probably have to go back to, like, the 96 ravens, right, with Vinny chucking it all over the field and but the Ravens defense, having Ray Lewis and, you know, one or two other decent players, and that’s it. You know, they couldn’t stop anybody that inaugural season, as we’re now celebrating the 30th season, but, man, you scored 40 points. Buffalo doesn’t have the best defense in the league, and like I said, on paper, I do think they are. The ravens are a brutal matchup for how the bills really like to play defensively. But that said, the ravens are a brutal matchup for everyone, save for a couple teams in the league that if you go back
Nestor Aparicio 19:21
to 5150 weeks ago, whenever it was where they just kicked the bill’s ass, the weight differential looked like a heavyweight and a welterweight, right? Like literally just the Ravens ran them over like they did on Sunday night. It was a very similar sort of beat down for the first 52 minutes of it,
Luke Jones 19:40
yeah, no question. I mean, Ed Oliver’s a heck of a football player, don’t get me wrong. And he made some plays. I mean, like I said, I mean, include, you know, I mean, he had the force fumble. I mean, right? I think it was Oliver who stripped that. Oh, yeah, he didn’t want to punch the ball. Yeah. So he’s a great player, but you just look at him, just as one example, he’s 287 pounds, you know, you look at. Bernard and Matt Milano. I mean, these are, these are smaller tight end, 130 pound linebacker Terrell Bernard is 224 pounds. He’s listed at that. And you know, generally, these guys tend to be a few pounds lighter than what they’re listed as, unless you’re talking about the fat defensive tackles right then, then you say, Well, you know, but hey, you just look at that, and it’s why I’m not surprised that the Ravens ran the ball the way they did. And you know, the one thing I’ll give buffalo credit in the playoff game was they did a well enough job, a decent enough job on Derek Henry in that game that it wasn’t the overwhelming storyline of the offense, right? I mean, Lamar had to do more through the air. You know, they had to find other ways to move the ball, and they did. I mean, their offense moved the ball extremely well. In that January game, they didn’t take care of it, right? It was three turnovers, but this was much more like the week four meeting last year in the sense that, I mean, you look at Lamar, he had 19 pass attempts. You know, they had, they had one receiver with more than two catches. Why? It’s because Derrick Henry had 169 yards rushing on 18 carries. You mentioned Lamar, and it’s an astute observation. Yeah, there weren’t Lamar carried the ball six times. What? Maybe one of those. Two of those were designed runs, right? I mean, the others were scrambles. And Lamar, to your point, he is at a point, and it’s, it’s really trended that way, big time the last couple years. You know, certainly in 23 but more so last year. And what we saw on Sunday night, yeah, Lamar is in a position where he’ll run around, he’ll run around. He’ll run around, and you made mention of facing pressure. There are also times when Lamar is actually the one responsible for the pressure, because he holds on to the ball longer. But it works, right? It works to a phenomenal level, until you make a mistake, until you make a mistake. Now, Lamar didn’t, didn’t turn the ball over on Sunday night, and he does such a great job taking care of the ball. That’s why it was so you know, you realize the last two two turnover games that Lamar Jackson has had, so two turnovers in a game, not four or five or just two, two turnovers in a game, are the Ravens last two playoff losses he you have. You think back to the Kansas City game, which was the end of two seasons ago. Until now, he’s literally had two games where he’s turned it over twice. It was that Kansas City game, the AFC title game, and last January. So he does a phenomenal job taking care of the football, but Derek Henry in one spot, and it’s, you know, again, he hardly ever fumbles, but, man, it just happened at the worst possible time, and it just speaks to this team in crunch time, just as great as the offense was, and it was fantastic over 55 minutes. I mean, you gotta, you gotta do something there, protect the ball, get a first down on the last drive. You know, you do that and you’re going over the
Nestor Aparicio 23:05
win. That’s another thing. Like they’re they’re not want to throw the football and running downs in that situation with the clock management, and we all beat Harbaugh about the clock and stuff, but given the passing part of the offense that it felt like Bateman and Andrews weren’t on the field. You know what I mean. It didn’t feel, you know what I mean, it didn’t feel like they needed them, because they run the ball so well, and they’re breaking off 40 yard runs and all that, but chucking the ball around is something it didn’t feel like they wanted to do in Buffalo to some degree, because the running games working so well. But there is a point where, like, you know, the track meet part of what they do in throwing the football. You know, I like to see a little bit more of that in some way. But when you got a 15 point lead with four minutes left to go in the game, I can’t sit here on Monday morning and second guess they didn’t throw the ball enough, or whatever they did what they needed to do. But that is also a weapon they have that was not at all unleashed in this throwing the football was not what they wanted to do. Did even it almost looks like then they throw the football, if you didn’t know better, because they run it so well, and
Luke Jones 24:13
in the history of the game, they’re averaging 10 yards of play and they’re not even throwing the ball. Yeah, it’s crazy, right? I mean, and it’s not like they didn’t make plays in the passing. I mean, zay flowers had a, we barely even mentioned him. He had a great night. I mean, it’s 143 yards, a touchdown, seven catches on nine targets. Lamar was 14 of 19. You know, it’s a 74% completion, 14 and 19 and seven on what the flowers is, what I’m saying, like, sure, sure. Yeah, well, but, but, again, ran for 238 yards. You average 8.2 yards per carry. You and I have talked a lot about what this, you know, there
Nestor Aparicio 24:48
was one football, right? You have seven offensive stars, and there’s one football, right? I mean, again, you ran 50 plays because you run the ball so well, the fat back goes 50 yards, 60 yards. There’s. Not three yards, three plays for Bateman to go six for 58 the way he would in some other offense by being in Joe flat goes off. And by the way, Flacco threw a couple of picks. And I don’t know if you watch the game or not, or where you were red zoning on Monday, or whether they were stuck, really his fault. My God, they were bread basket. It was almost like the the off the the wide receiver pitched the ball to the quarterback. They weren’t crazy, they weren’t
Luke Jones 25:27
perfect throws, but they certainly were not throws where you said, Oh, that’s on the quarterback. That’s an interception. Yeah, exactly so. But, no, but, but to go back to the ravens, I mean, yeah. And that’s why I said This is so frustrating, because their offense, I mean, that was, that was incredibly impressive. I mean, it really, really was sit here and pick on it, you know, and in the end, well, you pick on it because of what they did at the end or what they didn’t do at the end, right? I mean, you go, field goal, Touchdown, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, punt, Touchdown, touchdown. And then the last three drives of the game, three and out,
Nestor Aparicio 26:03
two and out on a fumble, and then the final drive. Just knowing, get one first down. Get one first down. And it’s Mo, it’s very likely, dude, if you and I stopped the earth in its in its movement at 1115 on Sunday night, said, What would have to happen for them to lose Well, and what would have to happen? It would have to be a three and out, a turnover, a block kick, a PL, you know, a muff pawn, a turnover, something right, like something weird, would have to happen for them to squander this again, especially if you knew Buffalo was going to miss the two point conversion.
Luke Jones 26:41
Yeah, right. I mean, well, the fumble and then buffalo catches a touchdown on a deflection, right? I mean, there was the, there were the two plays that really swing. That one immensely, in terms of the Ravens being at, like, what 99% win probability to then what ended up happening?
Nestor Aparicio 27:02
Well, giving the ball at the 20 yard line instead of the two foot line too, it was also, but,
Luke Jones 27:06
I mean, it’s just, you want to play clean. And I even go back to a little bit earlier before you know that, before the punt where Simpson doesn’t down it at the one inch line, think about that drive. I mean, they, I think the Ravens had third and eight, and we this was at a point where I think people weren’t even paying that close attention, because you’re just up by two scores at that point, it’s the fourth quarter. You’ve got the ball, right? I mean, this was after the Henry touchdown. You kind of forget after Henry scores that touchdown to make it 40 to 25 the Ravens did made buffalo punt on their next drive, right? I mean, they got the ball back with a little over nine minutes to go. They run to Derrick Henry twice. Buffalo stops him. It’s third and eight, then tylen Wallace commits a false start, right there. Now, at the time, you’re saying, oh, that’s no big deal. Well, third and 13, Lamar completes the passes eight flowers for nine yards, right that nine yard completion, and obviously down and distance changes and and all that. So it’s not a perfect comparison, but there’s the difference right there of moving the chains and, and let me correct myself, that was a nine yard completion, but buffalo declined it because zay say flowers went a forward motion. It was illegal motion. So on third down, back to back plays there where you have a chance, and I get it, it doesn’t feel big at that time, because you’re up 40 to 25 and there’s under eight minutes to go at that point in time. But those are back to back plays where you committed a penalty when, man, you see how the end of that game plays out. If you get a couple first downs, there might be a very different end of the game at that point. So it all adds up all of these little things. And the Ravens look even with how well they were playing, and even with the fact that they were leading 40 to 25 you can go back and find little things sprinkled throughout the night that you need to be better and and let me be clear, if the Ravens won that game, the coaches would still be going over the little things with players, you know, whether it’s you know, you know, they at the end of the half, remember, they ran the play before the two minute warning, where you kind of looked at that and said, You could have just taken that down. Well, Buffalo ended up having one, you know, a couple extra seconds to kick a field goal at the end of the first half. So, and let me be clear, when I’m going through all of this, every team in the league has this kind of stuff. Even Kansas City will have plays over the course of the night where you want it back right? A penalty here, a penalty there, a play call here, a play call there, someone doesn’t execute a play the right way. You know, a coverage isn’t played the right way. So, you know, it sounds nitpicky, and it, quite frankly, it is. But when you have a lot of little things that then add up to a monumental collapse like what we witnessed over the final five minutes, then yeah. You go back and look at everything, because, you know, we’ll focus on on a couple of the biggest plays that happened late. But you know, there were 20 or 25 plays over the course of the night on either side of the football that you could point to and say, Man, that really had an impact. I mean, you know, we mentioned it with buffalo. I mean, multiple failed two point conversions. I mean, another weird thing, it ended up not mattering. But how about on the two point conversion when Kyle Hamilton picks off the pass and then laterals it back to Kyle van Noy in the end zone, if, if the Ravens don’t bring that ball out there, that’s a one point safety for Buffalo. I mean, think about that. I mean, it didn’t happen. And credit van Noy for getting out of the end zone, and
Nestor Aparicio 30:45
just some of it’s sort of knowing the rules and stuff, and Trenton Simpson on the line, and just little things. Man, they’re little things in the first game of the season,
Luke Jones 30:54
and it is. And again, every team has little things. I don’t want to make this sound like this is exclusive to the ravens, but when you are going up against the other very best teams. We talked about this two years ago in the aftermath of losing the Kansas City, think of the little things the Ravens didn’t do well in that game, compared to the chiefs, who put together two touchdown drives and and kind of sort of sat on the ball after after that, until the end of the first half, when the Ravens had a couple penalties and Kansas City got a cheap three right. Kansas City got a first down at the very end of the game when they needed it. And you think about the things the Ravens didn’t do, well, you know, fumbling and going across the goal line, if you’re zay flowers, and some critical penalties for the defense. And, you know, Lamar turning it over. And so when you have the kind of football team that this team has the potential to be, and it’s not even potential, they did it for 5055, minutes, so on Sunday night, and then you go back and look at those little things, it’s just like, gosh, these are the things that are contributing to you, really beating yourselves as much as anything. And again, Buffalo made plays. I don’t want to make it sound like they don’t deserve a heck of a lot of credit, but, my gosh, just this team’s, I’ve called it a master class in self destruction too many times. You know, when they lose, they never lose. It’s never by two scores or three scores or, you know, they they never have an lay an egg like that. I mean, the last time they’ve done that in a game, you know, not counting games that Lamar missed, you know, a couple years ago, but the last time that they were, you know, at least full strength with Lamar at the helm, that they lost the game, and really lost it handily. You have to go back to that. What was it? An October game against the Bengals in 2021 I mean, seriously, that’s how long it’s been when they lose. It’s these inexplicable, mind numbing, pull your hair out, excruciating self destruction, right? I mean, it’s really what it is. And it’s just, gosh, it’s like I said, When are they going to learn? I mean, this game gets one game, and, like I said, who knows? Maybe they’ll they’ll go 16 and one, I have no idea. Guessing probably not. But I don’t think they’re going to lose many football games, because there are very few teams in the league that can really hang with them. But Sunday night, it still goes back to, are you going to do the little things? Well, are you going to take care of the football? Are you going to play smart? Are you going to limit the mistakes in crunch time? And, you know, this is the latest example of Lucy pulling the ball away from Charlie Brown. I mean, it’s just, you know, I for as much as Kansas City has has work to do with how underwhelming their week one performance was, I’m sure Andy Reid and and those guys were watching that game Sunday night and thinking to themselves, same old Baltimore, you know, same old ravens, right? I mean, it’s buffalo. They win, and they’re happy and all that. And they’re thinking, man, we got to play better. We, we don’t want to be in a position where we’re down 15. But same old ravens, right? I mean, it’s just, it’s incredibly frustrating, because you see what this offense looks like. We’ll get to the defense, but you see how incredible this offense was and can be. But, man, you gotta finish, and I can’t give the offense a pass for what happened at the end of that football game.
Nestor Aparicio 34:18
Luke Jones is here. I am here. We will both be here all week long. We will be going to Cleveland this week to preview the browns, who always beat the Bengals and Flacco played well enough to win burrows. Want to know the Steelers have now won with Aaron Rodgers and the Ravens did what they did on Sunday night, which will continue to discuss. We haven’t talked a lot about the defense. We talked a little bit about the kicking game, certainly talked about coaching and strategy late in the games. He is, Luke, you can follow his work out of Baltimore. Luke, you can follow both of our work and also stay on the W, N, S, D, tech service, brought to you by Cole roofing and Gordian energy. If you’re on that, you know how good it is, and any breaking news, including eight and two thirds of no hit baseball on. Saturday night, they did play some baseball around here this week, Alan McCallum and I had a long chat about Davey Johnson’s impact on the Orioles Allen did the job that Luke has done for almost two decades now here at W, N, S, D, because we’ve been around for 27 years, but when we were born in 98 Davey Johnson had just been run off, along with John Miller and Eddie Murray and Mike messines and everybody else that came back on Saturday night, and we witnessed that as well. So a little baseball mixed in with our football. Here, we’re gonna mix some crab cakes in as well. Maryland crab cake tour is next Tuesday at the Beaumont in Catonsville. Really looking forward to that, because they have a great crab cake, but they also have that delicious fried lobster. My wife thinks it should be a lamb chop tour, because the lamb chops are so delicious at the Beaumont so we’re looking forward to getting back out to Catonsville, seeing Evan Brown and Tatro and our friends out there one of our favorite restaurants, right at Frederick road. Our friends at GBMC have sponsored our hotline. I’ve been doing some men’s health, health and awareness. I wrote this down because I was away for a couple days last week. I wrote down that this is the week I have to call GBMC. I have to get my checkup, my mail checkup, and I also have to get my phone off screen, and so I’m gonna have to make some appointments. We’re gonna be doing that with GBMC as we educate ourselves as well. Our friends at curio wellness been educating us about the cannabis space for a long time. It is tastiness. It is our 27th anniversary. This is the final week of the countdown. This is the top seven. I know there’s no buffalo wings on it this week, but there, there might be, might be some meatballs and some peach cake. Might even, I don’t know, might be some pizza pie and some cheese steaks. He is Luke. I am Nestor. The ravens are still, Oh, and one, we’re doing purple therapy. It’s our 27th year. We’re doing that. I’m Nestor. We are W, N, S, D, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.
