By any measurement, the Baltimore Ravens saw the junior varsity in the Meadowlands on Sunday with the New York Giants. As a 6.5 point favorite at home on Saturday afternoon, Russell Wilson and the Pittsburgh Steelers come to town looking to test the improvements to the Ravens’ pass rush and secondary.
Luke Jones and Nestor Aparicio discuss the Baltimore Ravens’ defense and pass rush as they prepare to face the Pittsburgh Steelers. Jones highlights the evolving defense, noting the benching of Trenton Simpson and the increased role of Brandon Stevens. He emphasizes the importance of reducing penalties and improving the pass rush. Despite concerns about the defense, Jones believes the offense, led by Lamar Jackson, is capable of carrying the team. They also discuss the challenges of playing two games in four days and the potential playoff scenarios, including the need to win the division and the difficulties of playing on the road in January.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens defense, pass rush, Steelers game, AFC North, Marcus Williams, Brandon Stevens, Trenton Simpson, penalties, Michael Pierce, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, offensive line, playoff teams, short week
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore. Positive reminder to set a dial. If you’re driving around and listening to set us, we’ll be number six. We’ll be number 12. If you want just put us on the dial. Make sure you’re tuning us in here through the holidays. We’re getting you ready for the stillers on Saturday night. Luke Jones joins us now from Owings Mills and Parts Unknown. All are brought to you by our friends at Jiffy Lube MultiCare, the Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road this week. We’re at a meetings on Tuesday down a little Italy with lots of guests, and then on Wednesday, we’ll be at Costas in Dundalk, signing off for the holidays, but not signing off in the air. Luke and I’ll be after it again, after the Steelers game on Saturday night, to get you ready for the short week and Christmas on Wednesday. Weird, weird week and a half for you, covering the team for me, talking about the team for the holidays and the shopping and the wrapping and everything else that’s going on. This is really where it steps up and gets strange for the whole building, having to play two football games by next Wednesday, Luke, it definitely
Luke Jones 01:03
does, but they’ve known this since May, right? So you’ve made plans, and you’ve made contingency plans, and you’ve tried to figure out, you know, one your advanced scouting and who’s been working on the scouting report for this game, who’s working on the Houston game? What’s the training staff doing in terms of getting guys ready physically, uh, what’s your practice schedule? So they’ve thought about all those things. Now it’s a matter of going out and carrying out that plan and trying to win two games
Nestor Aparicio 01:30
in four days against playoff teams like it’s this is this is tough. He’s a tough week. Man, sure.
Luke Jones 01:37
No question about it. I’m not going to sit here and sugar coat it, but at the same time, and we said this in a previous segment, and we’ll continue to say this, you said it so I’m not putting words in your mouth. I think we both feel on paper, and ultimately, you are what your record says you are, and the Pittsburgh Steelers are ahead of the Ravens in that department, but on paper, I think you like the talent of this ravens team better than you like the Steelers, and maybe even how Pittsburgh showed up against Philadelphia on Sunday illustrated that the fact that if they don’t have George Pickens on the field, that offense lacks explosiveness the defense, okay, I’ll get Pittsburgh the nod there, but this is a Ravens defense that’s playing better over the last month, penalties aside on Sunday, but it’s also an evolving defense. So as we see the Ravens now go into this stretch, as they’ve come out of the bye week, and we see, once again, Marcus Williams healthy scratch. I mean, it’s not even a talking point anymore. They don’t even, they don’t even think enough of him to have him active on game days. And I, I’m guessing there’s an injury element to that. When you’re talking about someone that you’re going to need to cut in the off season, and most likely going to be a post June 1, because of the cap space and the accounting for that. But he’s, he’s a healthy scratch, you know, he’s not even active from a backup standpoint. I mean, the Ravens briefly. You know that Kyle Hamilton left the field, albeit very briefly, when, when the game was still kind of sort of a game, he came back, but they moved Brandon Stevens to safety, right? And we saw Brandon Stevens playing some safety late in the game when they started shuffling things around. Well, that’s
Nestor Aparicio 03:20
what they’d like him to be next year, right? I mean, if they do, he’s a free he’s a free agent, so fair enough. We’ll see, yeah, sign guys like that very they let the Geno stones go,
Luke Jones 03:32
usually, right? And look, I mean, there was an argument. Look, four months ago, we were talking about the possibility of Marlon Humphrey maybe playing out his last year with the Ravens from a salary cap standpoint, and he’s had arguably the best year of his career, at least the best year he’s had in a few years. And, you know, they drafted Nate Wiggins, so, yeah, I think Brandon Stevens, unless, unless there ends up being no interest in him on the open market, or very little interest in him on the open market, I would think, you know, he’s probably going to be moving on. But, you know, you look at this defense, it’s evolving. And the latest development with that, you know, we’ve talked so much about the safety position, but as we talked about, at least in passing, the last few weeks, we had talked about Trenton Simpson and the fact that, you know, Malik Harrison chipping away at some of his playing time. Chris board chipping away at some of his playing time. Trenton Simpson was benched on Sunday. He didn’t play until late in the fourth quarter. Go back and look. He was on the field for the final drive. I think maybe got on the field for one snap before that. So it was Malik Harrison and Chris board next to row Quan Smith, depending on down in distance and which sub package they were using. But it’s our latest example of this defense evolving, right? I mean, who would have thought back in September that you’d look at the final snap count for week 15, and ardarius Washington would be the guy that goes the distance? You know? Starting and playing 100% of the snaps, and gets a ball, gets an interception late in the game, right and and it’s not because of injury, it’s because Marcus Williams was so bad to the point where they benched him, and Eddie Jackson was so bad to the point where they cut him a few weeks back. So our Darius Washington, who had been a slot corner primarily over his first three years with the Ravens. Now they’re starting free safety Kyle Hamilton, playing more deep safety, you know, and we’ve seen what that’s done for the defense, maybe, maybe not, seeing him make as many highlight plays in that position, but he’s filling a very important role for them. I mean, we we’ve seen it. This team is not giving up the big plays that that it did. They gave up a couple completions of 20 plus yards on Sunday. But by and large, you look at the defense, it’s not as though the Giants were getting these huge chunk plays. Penalties were the issue more than anything. I mean, you look at the Giants, there their total number of first downs, I think they had, what was it? It was 19 first downs for the game. Eight came on penalty. So penalties. So that’s where we’re kind of talking about this defense, from a general standpoint, this football team, you know, they’ve had penalty issues in all three phases of the game at different points. But when you’re looking at this defense, it’s clearly evolved, and they added Michael Pierce back into the mix. He’s off IR. He played on Sunday, so that helps them up front as they especially this matchup going up against Pittsburgh, knowing that the Steelers want to run the football, they’re going to try to run the football, even if the Ravens do a good job of making things difficult for them in that way. But this defense looks a lot different than it did even six or seven weeks ago, and penalties aside on Sunday, and that’s a big part of this, right? It’s a big part of this offense, defense or special teams at times. But, you know, we’re seeing a defense that has at least not cleaned up the penalties, but they’ve knocked off, given up the big plays, you know, the the touchdowns to Jamar Chase and 50 yard completions and the ball going over their head, they have largely cut that out, and they’re going to need to do that, because forget about the playoffs for a moment, just these next two games, bringing it back full circle, talking about the short week. You know, we’ll see about George Pickens, because obviously he’s dealt with a hamstring and has missed the last two games. But Nico Collins for Houston, you know he can catch the long balls, and we know that these are quarterbacks that will throw it deep, so that’s something that they have improved with. But in by and large, we’re just seeing a lot of evolution for this defense, in terms of rotation, who’s lining up, where, who’s starting, who’s not starting anymore. We’ve seen it. And coming out of the bye week, the big headline in that regard was Trenton Simpson, who, let’s face it, the Ravens drafted him last year, you know, not not this past spring, but the year before that to be the heir apparent to Patrick queen. And that’s not me saying that they should have resigned Patrick Queen for what he ultimately got on the open market, but it does speak to the fact that, you know, they’re disappointed in Trenton Simpson. There’s no way to sugar coat it when you’re talking about someone who, in week 15, is no longer starting when he began the year as the starter next to roquan Smith. Man,
Nestor Aparicio 08:23
the defense is crazy. I mean, we talk so much about wide receivers and then missing on wide receivers for years and years and years and the offense itself. And you and I have discussed whether they really want to throw the football. They look like they want to throw the football more now than they did three, four years ago. I have backed off of they don’t want to throw. I did not backed off that. Lamar running still their best play, because that was their best play. Even his pants were falling down. I felt a draft man. That was really fun. Did you hear his comment after that? I have to stop that kid. I mean, I was really fun Lamar. I mean, the time I’ve spent around Lamar, Lamar is a likable human, yes. I mean, there’s a reason that Lamar has had the success that people have gravitated Lamar is likable. He’s not Jeff George. You know what? I mean. He’s not that guy. He’s not Aaron Rodgers,
Luke Jones 09:10
yeah, yeah. I mean, no question. But no, I sorry. I deviated from the deviation
Nestor Aparicio 09:16
would be this on Trenton Simpson and on missing on wide receivers, because they’ve been great at drafting tight ends, right? They’ve been great for the most part, on offensive line. Ben Cleveland aside, although I did see him on Sunday, but the defense over 15 years of you doing this longer than that now with me, I think back to the kid from Florida State that couldn’t play safety, and then I think back to the other kid that they drafted from Florida who couldn’t play safety. And then I think about the $55 million Hall of Fame knucklehead from Seattle that they gave money to, like the whiffs, whether it was Patrick queen, they drafted him to be roquan Smith, and he wasn’t very good. And they brought roquan Smith. And then he went to Pittsburgh and got paid. Queen did right the defensive side of their evaluation for all of this. I don’t think there’s ever been any question about Ronnie Stanley being a stalwart left tackle, or they went in on Marlon Humphrey personality aside, he’s a good football player. They’ve, they’ve figured that out, and they, they’ve made it there, but the rest of a lot of this has been them taking Trenton Simpson and saying, you’re going to be a starter until such point where, like, they can’t anymore. Malik Harris was a starter two years ago, and, you know, they’ve had Chris Porter around here for a long time to not put him on the field. It’s pretty telling about how they feel about all of these players, when there are healthy scratches, when Eddie Jackson’s on the field making plays and is off the reservation three weeks later, like the new defensive coordinator, the fact that they they had to bring back the old defensive coordinator In the middle of the season. It has been, I mean, Purple Rain three when you write it and they win the Super Bowl a couple of weeks from now, we’re all dancing down Bourbon Street with umbrellas like Tom Benson, um, the defensive story for them over the last decade and players that they’ve invested a lot of money in two safeties. Now they paid that they Oh, my God. And then the safeties they’ve drafted that they just had to say, Elam, you’re no good. You know, it really has been problematic in that way. But they’ve been very fortunate. I mean, Kyle Hamilton, amazing player. The fact that they could get roquan Smith, the fact that Decosta angled that thing with the bears when they should have never given him away. I mean, I you know, I mean, from an organizational standpoint, that’d be like the Ravens giving Kyle Hamilton away right now when they gave roquan Smith away. So the way this defense has been built through an awkward trade and a trading deadline for a superstar player that they think can go to Canton. I don’t know. I’m not feeling Canton on Roku on right now. I’m feeling like Pro Bowl pretty good, but the defense and the the sunk money, the dead money, the bad money, the draft picks, the belief in all of these. I mean, Eric believed a lot of money in Errol Thomas and a lot of money in Marcus Williams. They all got together. They all bought in on it, and they all believe in Zach or to some degree, but they didn’t believe in him in week five, when they’re basically getting them some help around here, the defense has been a question mark all along. The penalties that go into this and it really, I don’t know that it’s gotten better, that I believe that they figured it out, and they’ve tightened this thing up when they’re benching their linebacker in week 15.
Luke Jones 12:52
Well, I mean, to go back to what you said as far as over the years. I mean, every team is going to have misses. I mean, the Ravens drafted Jonathan Ogden Ray Lewis, and then who was next to Ron Jenkins, who stunk, right? I mean, you know, you’re always going to have misses, and they traded up to get to Ron Jenkins, right? Exactly. I mean, I mean that, you know, that was a second round pick. I mean, not that you’re expecting him to be the third Hall of Famer drafted in a row, but the point is, you’re going to have some of that. You’re going to have certain contracts. I mean, for as much as we talk about the Steelers defense right now. I mean, they drafted Devin Bush a few years back to be their next star linebacker, and he couldn’t play. So you know, you’re going to have that. But this defense specifically, and really it just goes back to when you look at the change that they the changes that they underwent over the off season, starting with Mike McDonald and you know, the other assistant coaches that went out the door replacing them, not that Zach or is not going to be a good defensive coordinator, not that the guys that they replaced at the other position, Coach spots are are incompetent, but it’s a lot of change, and sometimes you’re not going to hire someone who’s as good, at least right away. And even if you do hire someone who’s as good, you don’t have as much institutional working knowledge that goes out the building. And suddenly you know you’re you’re scrambling a little bit. And then when you cut, when you factor that into some of the players and depth pieces that they lost, lost, whether we’re talking about Clowney, Patrick queen, Gino stone, you know Ronald Darby, although they corner his
Nestor Aparicio 14:29
when I think humans names, this team would be a lot better if they had Patrick queen, right? Yeah, sure, but, but at the same time, you know, that’s why they won 15
Luke Jones 14:37
games last year, right? Like Kansas City would be way better with a healthy Rasheed rice right now, and buffalo will be better with some of the healthy players that they lost, especially early in the season. And, you know, so Cincinnati with some of the guys that they lost. So, I mean, he can play this game with any team, but yeah, when you look at the adjusting they’ve needed to do on the fly, and I’m with you. I don’t think anyone views this defense right now said, Oh, wow, this defense is incredible. But I think there is a higher degree of confidence now than talking about that third the aftermath. Stop
Nestor Aparicio 15:12
Josh Allen from kicking a field goal with 55 seconds left to go and he gets the ball in the 18 yard line. They’re up two points. I mean, in Buffalo. I don’t, I don’t know. I mean, that’s what we’re asking here. We’re asking, can you stop Josh out? Not Tommy DeVito or liberty Devito or, you know, Timmy Boyle or whoever they I’m talking about the best of the best. Now, having to do it on the road. And the practice will be Russell Wilson this week at home, right? The practice will be short rest Wednesday night against the kid, they can’t find protection floor down and Houston, he’s running for his life right now, but they’ve won the Division, and that might be where you have to go and play again three weeks from now. So I’m just I don’t know if the defense is good enough, and I certainly don’t know if it’s good enough on the road against the competition I’m talking about, to go into Buffalo and into Kansas City and hold your water against those teams in that environment, given the fact that you don’t know who your your your linebacker even is, in week 15, and you’re playing around with special teams guys out there, because you guys not Good enough and and you’re out there, you know, running Brandon Stevens around at safety, trying to figure it out, because your safeties haven’t been good enough all year, really.
Luke Jones 16:30
Um, but aren’t all these other teams asking the same question, talking about stopping Lamar Jackson? I mean, have you seen how many points the bills have given up the last two weeks? I
Nestor Aparicio 16:39
saw how many they gave up to Lamar 10 weeks ago. I mean, and
Luke Jones 16:43
look, I’m not saying that to trash the bills. I just think what you’re presenting is not unique to any of these other teams right now. I mean, Kansas City, we haven’t even mentioned it. I mean, Patrick mahomes high ankle sprain. Do I think he’s going to miss a lot of time? No, I don’t. In fact, I’m skeptical that he’ll even miss a game knowing that he’s been like Gumby, the way that he gets bent back sometimes in these games, and you think, Oh, his knee or his ankle, and then he’s fine. So, but, but, but that said it’s an issue for them, right? It’s been an issue for for Kansas City, with injuries or Sunday aside, their defense not being as good as it had been last year, especially over the last six, seven weeks, buffalo, their offense looks great. Josh Allen has been phenomenal. I mean, it’s when you consider Lamar Jackson’s numbers right now, when you just look at it statistically and where he is now with what, 34 touchdowns and three interceptions. You know, it’s kind of the opposite of last year, where Lamar was the MVP favor and ultimately won. But you looked at the statistics and they didn’t wow you. Now, Lamar has a statistical profile where you say, oh my gosh, yet, right or wrong, agree or disagree. Vegas says Josh Allen is the favorite to win the MVP right now, and he’s playing other world football in a way, like Lamar right now. But both those quarterbacks have to deal with Patrick mahomes in Kansas City, right? I mean, it’s just the reality of life in the AFC right now. So, but, but what you mentioned about the defense. Look, do I think the defense is good enough for them to win a Super Bowl? Yes? However, that’s what the offense leading the way. That’s not saying good enough. If the ravens are going to think they’re going to win playing Trent Dilfer kind of offense, or even how their offense played in the A F C title game last January, if their offense plays like that, then No, they won’t go to the Super Bowl, right? So, so that’s that’s working under the assumption that the offense, which has been by it, by far the superior side of the football, and one of the very best offenses in football all year, they’ve got to do it. And that’s why Saturday is such an interesting test, because we saw them struggle against Pittsburgh the first time around. We’ve seen them have their issues against this Pittsburgh defense, you know, but we saw them have their issues against the Philadelphia defense a few weeks ago. So that’s the big test, though. So for me, it’s, it’s not so much that all the defense needs to get better and better and better and better. It’s improved. It absolutely has improved. And look, I mean, you know, they were they this defense was never put together with the idea that Trenton Simpson, or whoever was going to play weak the weak side, spot next to roquan Smith, what needed to be their best player, their second best player, or their fourth best player. But yeah, Trenton Simpson struggled, maybe not as noticeably as Marcus Williams and Eddie Jackson at safety, but he struggled, and they obviously have pulled the trigger and saying, oh, one they started playing them less and less before the buy and during the bye week. I mean, if he didn’t play against the Giants, there’s no reason to think he’s going to play against the Steelers or or the Texans or buffalo or Kansas City next month, at least at this point in. Time. So So yeah, they make that, that change. And I think for this defense, what has become evident is, look, it’s not going to necessarily wow you, from a standpoint of holding a team to six points or something crazy, as we’ve seen, the Ravens at their very best defensively over the course of their history, but over the last month, you know, the last four games. Go, look at it. Very few big plays given up, very little giving up in terms of touchdown passes, which, I mean, they were leading the, you know, they were worst in the league not long ago in terms of giving up touchdown passes and all that. So I’m not saying it’s not, it doesn’t still have its issues. I’m not saying it’s best in the league. But is it good enough? Yeah, it absolutely is good enough, but that’s assuming Lamar Jackson is going to be Lamar Jackson in January, and Derek Henry is going to be Derek Henry in January. And yeah, your offensive line has to fare better against a Pittsburgh front or a Kansas City front, or, if you get there, the Philadelphia front in the Super Bowl, right point is teams that have talented defensive fronts, you’ve got to hold up. So, you know, I expect the offense to do the heavy lifting. That’s how they’re that’s kind of their makeup. Right now, you know, when you have one of the two or three best quarterbacks on the entire planet, when you have one of the best running backs on the planet, when you have an improving group of pass catchers, you have one of the very best tight ends who just set a franchise record for touchdowns over the you know what? What he’s been over the last six or seven years, talking about Mark Andrews, what Rashad Bateman did on Sunday, and what he’s done. You know, we haven’t, we haven’t really belabored that point too much, but give him credit. Rashad Bateman stayed healthy, and he’s had a nice season, you know, he’s been, at the very least, a really, really rock solid number two wide receiver, you know, behind zay flowers. So offensively, yeah, I’ve got my questions about the offensive line. When you’re going up against those tougher defenses, we’ve seen that play out. Lamar Jackson in this group has to break through in January, so yeah, from that standpoint, the offense has to do the heaviest lifting. But that’s kind of by design at this point, right? I mean, that’s when you have a 50, a $52 million quarterback who’s a two time MVP, and could win a third one before it’s all said and done. Yeah, you got to roll the ball and say we’re good for 30 points this week. Lead the way, right, right? And, and, and even if it’s not 30, but it can’t be 20, it can’t be 17, it can’t be 13, right? It can’t be what we’ve seen unfortunately in some of these playoff matchups. So So through that lens, I absolutely think this defense has improved enough to feel more confident, but that’s assuming your offense is going to play at a high level. I mean, you you go and you see what the kind of games that Buffalo has been involved in these last two weeks, against Detroit, on Sunday, against the Rams the previous week, which? Look the Rams. You look at the NFC West, the Rams could be in the playoffs. You know, when it’s all said and done, I think they, they still have that talent, at least on the offensive side of the ball to make that kind of run. So, so for Buffalo, you’re looking at that, and you’re kind of saying, okay, can the Ravens win? And look, the Ravens pounded buffalo in week four. We know that it was also week four, right? I mean, at some point in time that that was an eternity ago. So the question is, if you look at how buffalo is firing on all cylinders offensively these last couple weeks, more than the last couple weeks, but you get my point. It comes down to, can the Ravens win that kind of game with them? And I Yes, I think they can. But to answer your question, yeah, you’re gonna have to get a couple stops here and there against Josh Allen, right. I mean, that’s you can’t let them score a touchdown every single time. But they’ve to me the defense with the changes they’ve made. You know, whether we’re talking about personnel, whether we’re talking about scheme, keeping things in front of them a little bit better. Can they get enough stops, assuming your offense is playing at a high level? Yeah. Now the question though, she got to do that 234, times in a row to be a champion and with the way things are, the way things are going right now. I mean, knowing that one, you got to beat Pittsburgh on Saturday, and then you’re going to need the Steelers to lose another game, which, hey, they play Kansas City after that. So it’s not, not out of the question, but you’re going to be on the road. So how’s this going to look on the road? And I’m not saying that’s going to be easy. I’m not saying that it’s a sure thing by any means. Nothing is in January. But to go back to your, you know, your original point? Yeah, I think this defense has improved enough that I feel more confident in that way. But they’ve got to keep it going, right? You can’t have a if you let, if Pickens plays on Saturday, and you let Russell Wilson throw a 60 yard touchdown to him, and with eight minutes to go in the four. Quarter to give Pittsburgh the lead and you lose the game, then, yeah, we’re having a much different discussion again. So you’re only as good as your last performance. So that applies for the defense. We’ve talked about that a lot with Justin Tucker at this point in time. So you know, but do I like where the defense is now, compared to that Cincinnati Thursday night game going into that mini buy and saying, Oh my gosh. I mean, yeah, you won, but oh my gosh. Can you stop anyone? You know? Can you stop, stop them once so you know, they’ve they’ve done a much better job since then, albeit not always, against juggernaut offenses. But yeah, I overall, and again, penalties were a problem on Sunday, and that’s part of this. It’s part of every phase they’ve they’ve had penalty issues. But in terms of where they’re trending, I do feel much better about the defense now compared to where they were four or five weeks ago, and at the very least pass rush,
Nestor Aparicio 25:56
um, for me with you, mentioned Clowney earlier here. I don’t think his name’s come up in a month or two. You know, Van Noy feels half out of gas, and it feels like, I mean, I saw a job, oh, running around the other day, and that the people that they’ve counted on, whether it was Tyus Bowser, whether it’s, you know, signing van Noy, and even Clowney, which felt like it was a little bit of a reach a year and a half ago, when they did that, they had so much more productivity and getting after quarterbacks in a way that I I don’t have any confidence that there’s going to be a pass rush on Josh Allen or Patrick mahomes, or that those guys won’t be able to get rid of The ball when they want to. And again, I don’t want to talk so much about Russell. We can talk about Russell Wilson this week and winning the game. I think they’ll win this week, I guess. I mean, they’re home, and you mentioned the schedule makers, and we’ll, we’ll do a whole segment on the league because, I mean, I watch the Eagles play again this week, and watching what’s going on. The NFC and the lions were everything, until Josh Allen came to town. And now Josh Allen’s mystical, um, mythical or whatever. That’s one of his teammates said about him. I would just say for the pass rush for me, it I just assume there’s not going to be one, and they’re going to have to cover their ass off or go up in the air and get the ball at some point, because I don’t feel like that’s been a big part of their game this year is, hey, it’s third and something. Buckle your chin straps. We’re coming to get you. It’s not that kind of defense. And, and it hasn’t been over 15 weeks, I don’t think that’s going to happen. Yeah. I mean,
Luke Jones 27:37
look, we’ve talked about this. I mean, if you go look in terms of sacks, you know, they’re, they’re third in the NFL and sacks. So it’s not like it hasn’t it’s never been there, right? But it is feast or famine. So you look at it from a pressure rate standpoint, and obviously, you know, there’s next gen stats, there’s pro football focus, pro football reference. They all and trying to quantify pressure, their subjectivity to what pressure looks like, right? Is it hitting the quarterback after he lets go of the ball? Is it getting in his face? It forces him the pump fake? I mean, there’s different degrees of pressure, right? You can’t just easily. And there’s pressure on Tommy DeVito, and there’s pressure, oh, sure, sure, but, but just in a general standpoint their subjectivity to trying to measure that. But I’m with you. I I’m not sitting here trying to make an argument that this is a great pass rush by any means. I I think to a man the Ravens would say it’s not a great pass rush. I mean, looking at their next gen stats, they’re 23rd and pressure rate, despite the fact that their third in sacks. So that tells you that they’re getting home with a pretty decent level of frequency compared to other teams. But are they being consistently disruptive? Are they disrupting the quarterback, making him pump fake, making him shuffle his feet, making are they sacking the
Nestor Aparicio 28:54
quarterback and getting possession of the ball? For me, you sack the sack in the quarterback when he runs and scrambles and loses three yards. It’s called a sack, whatever it is, or it’s no gain, right? But I’m talking about impact plays that affect the ball. A real sack in a real key situation, because you get an edge and nobody blocks you and there and Marlon Humphrey off the edge, or whatever that would happen, where now, oh, it’s second and 18, or it’s now third and 16 because of that sack, or they’re off the field because it’s third down and you make a play. I haven’t seen enough of that, or the threat of that, that if Patrick mahomes is in third and something because they’ve had a penalty or whatever, that it’s just going to mean a possession, because the pressure is going to get there and make him get rid of the ball. I don’t really care about Tommy DeVito or Tim Boyle or like any i Sure i My focus now it’s Christmas week. My focus now is on, not even on Russell Wilson, but on laying it down here over these next two games. To say, what is this defense as we enter January? Is it something you. Believe in or not, I don’t know. I’m not a believer. I’m not a believer that the ravens are going to run the table, that they’re playing that kind of football right now to go win three games next month, two that they shouldn’t win, where they’ll be underdogs on the road in bad weather, with whatever the circumstance would be. The circumstances a turned ankle for Patrick mahomes Or a turned ankle for TJ watt, that’s a big deal. I mean, in both of these instances, in the coming weeks, one player, and you mentioned to me about the pass rush and defenses and players and all of that, and big plays and the Bengals, well, the Bengals have a wide receiver they can’t stop. You know, the Raiders had a pass rusher that the Ravens couldn’t account for. Like it’s one player, sometimes, maybe it’s Pickens on Sunday, in the case of the ravens, it’s usually Lamar or Derek Henry, and you can’t tackle them, and you’re going to lose because of that. So I would like to think that the Ravens have a credible threat in that way, and I think that the ravens are capable, but I haven’t seen the program come together here. And to your point, 12 years ago, when Joe Flacco was planking this week, there was no thought that they would be that team. I need to see more of a pass rush for December. I need to see the penalties go away. I’m convinced Lamar is going to the Hall of everything, and can make every play run on the like I’m down with that. I’m down with Lamar can go into the phone booth and win a game or two in January, but he’s he needs more help than what I’ve seen him get in the last six to eight weeks, not just the body of work against the Giants, just in a general sense of, are they good enough right now defensively to win a Super Bowl and have to do it on the road? The biggest test will be, hey, if they can win this week and hold their water, and the Steelers don’t win against the chiefs, and they can win the division, I haven’t thought about them winning the division in a couple of weeks. I think of them as a wild card, because I keep seeing Kornacki and everybody put everything up. They’re always in the second column, not in the left column. They’re in the middle column with that 567, thing going on. And I need to think about them in the left column for me to think they’re a Super Bowl team, you know what I mean? And that’s where Saturday becomes, you know, win this game, give yourself a chance to win the division. Give yourself a chance to make Pittsburgh come here next month. Give yourself a chance to win a home game, and maybe somebody trips up buffalo or trips up Kansas City along life’s highway. I can believe in them as a Super Bowl team if they can win Saturday night and have a chance to win the division, I don’t believe in them winning the Super Bowl if they lose on Saturday night and they have to go get it on the road, I wouldn’t believe in them because they can’t hold their water at home against Steelers. That’s bad enough, but to think that they’re going to go do it on the road next month, I haven’t believed they’re winning the Super Bowl in a while. Luke, you know what I mean? Like, you know, it’s been since October, since I really believe, because when you’re in that middle column and you’re talking about going and doing this on the road, and my quarterback’s freezing on the sidelines, and it’s 40 degrees, and you’re thinking about Buffalo, and I just don’t, I don’t think they’ll play well and be able to steal games like Flacco did in Denver in the cold, even though that was a freaking miracle, I just you know, let’s see what you got on Saturday night against your division rival who’s beating your ass pretty good and owned you at home here. Let’s see a TJ Watts ankle does this week. Let’s see how short rest goes. But the schedule maker, and I’ll bring this up in the next segment, because we’ll talk about the league. It’s uncanny. This Houston, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Baltimore, thing that they elected these teams to play on Saturday, play on Wednesday, and they all made it to post in a way that they’re happy they didn’t pick Aaron Rodgers, yeah. Well,
Luke Jones 33:53
at the same time, they’re all now sweating it out with with Patrick mahomes ankle. You know the
Nestor Aparicio 33:59
Barry Rogers wasted enough Sunday night, Monday Night Football for the whole season. Yeah,
Luke Jones 34:03
look, I mean, I hear what you’re saying. And look, I’ll continue to say that Buffalo has its issues. Kansas City has its issues. Pittsburgh has all these teams have issues, including buffalo, who, I mean, Josh Allen. Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson are the best football players on the planet right now. I mean, that’s, they’re at another level. They’ve been way better than Patrick mahomes now. Mahomes has history on his side, and that doesn’t mean that he’s not going to do it in January, right? But he also might have home field advantage too. Yeah. I mean, it’s shaping up right now, but there’s, there’s no question that both Alan and Lamar have been better than Patrick mahomes Right now, but that said, both their teams have issues. Both their teams have questions. I am glad you brought up the pass rush, because as much as I was laying out some of the other issues and even defending the Ravens with look, I mean, every team is going to have some whiffs with draft picks, and you’re going to have some free agent signings that don’t work out. You’re going to have a trade where you say, Oh, well, that didn’t really work out the way we hoped it would. You’re. Every team has that. Every team has that. And I would still challenge the Ravens harshest critics that I see on social media, that you would think that they’re five and nine, as opposed to the other way around, to go look around and go look at the track record for other teams. If you think the Ravens can’t draft, or you think the Ravens make bad plays, slightly
Nestor Aparicio 35:18
underperform, the Steelers have over performed, and that’s where we are, sure, but, but
Luke Jones 35:23
look, pass rush has been a blind spot. It’s been something that’s been tough. It’s been challenging for them. You know, I mean, you go back to the end of Terrell Suggs run in Baltimore, and you know, what do they have to kind of write home about over the last,
Nestor Aparicio 35:42
let’s say 789, years, Judah left. I mean, Judah was a nice little second piece with Suggs. When that, I
Luke Jones 35:48
mean, Judah was successful. I mean, side area Smith was a fourth round pick. I mean, it’s not as though they it’s not as though they haven’t found anything. But in terms of a long term solution, in terms of your next Terrell Suggs. When I say your next Terrell Suggs, I don’t mean another hall of famer, but another player where you say, Oh, that guy. He’s gonna be there, one of their edge rushers for the next decade. You know? I mean, always, always played well enough to get a fifth year option. And look, he has a career high in sacks this year. He’s been better. But is he a guy that’s going to anchor your pass rush for the next six, seven years.
Nestor Aparicio 36:22
You know, I don’t know. I’ve been underwhelmed by him, just a guy to me. I mean, out of all these names of like a pass rusher, I didn’t say
Luke Jones 36:30
he was I didn’t say he was great. I’m saying he’s but he has been better this year than he than he was the last couple years. I mean, he, he has eight sacks, right? I mean, again, we still look at it, but he has more sacks this year, yet his pressure rate was better last year. So again, we’ve got to get away from solely looking at sacks because, and you know, you illustrated it Well, talking about the pass rush. I mean, the ravens are third in the NFL and sacks. Does anyone feel like the Ravens have the third best pass rush in the league? No, not even close. They’re not the worst in the league either. Let’s be clear. I’m trying to be fair here, but it’s been, at times it’s good, and then other times it’s non existent. So yeah, it’s something that is tough. And again, in this day and age, it’s really difficult, because you have quarterbacks who get the ball out so incredibly fast, and then you have other quarterbacks, and now the ravens are fortunate, because they don’t have to face Lamar Jackson, but Josh Allen’s another good example of this. Of you can get you can pressure him, but guess what happens? He leaves the pocket, and then he’s even more dangerous. So a lot of times. And we saw this with Jaden Daniels, when the Ravens played Washington earlier in the year, we saw we, we’ve seen this when they face Josh Allen, getting pressure on those guys isn’t always like, what kind of pressure are we talking Yeah, but because it needed, you get pressure wide on Lamar. You don’t have pressure on it, right? It seems to be you gotta, you have to cage them in, right? You’ve got to be disciplined with your your rush lanes so that, I mean, it’s tough, that’s why I continue to point to look. I think this defense can be good enough, but that doesn’t mean I’m saying the defense leading the way. No, Lamar, the offense is going to have to lead the way. You know that, and they have that. The reason why they’re nine and five is not because of their defense. It’s because Lamar Jackson’s played at an MVP level, and they’ve got this offense that is first, second, third, fourth, and just about every category you can think of. You know, go, look at their profile. They’re like, top four or five and just about everything at this point. And they’re first or second in a lot of those categories. So, yeah, I mean, what this goes back to what we said in our first segment. Nothing Sunday, really. No major lessons to take away from Sunday’s game. Like I said, Trenton Simpson benched. All right? That’s the biggest takeaway defensively, other than you need to cut out the penalties, right? And we’ve been talking about that since week one. Week two. I don’t know if it’s changing at this point to your point, they can’t let it kill them. You can’t have 100 yards of penalties. You better have only have 50, let’s say if you want to win in January. So you know they’re chasing it. I feel better about this defense now than I did six weeks ago. Does that mean I feel great about it or it’s perfect? No. So the challenge is still there, you know, they gotta take care of business against Pittsburgh. You know, they’ve got to go on the road against Houston, you know, because we know, if you want to talk about winning the division at all went out, right? I mean, Steelers aren’t going to lose you know, they’re not going to leave Cincinnati
Nestor Aparicio 39:38
at home when we go to Cleveland. I think Cincinnati is more dangerous than Cleveland, to me in that last week, when they’re going to play them at the same time and do all that, and they’re going to have to, because the division is going to be probably a middle off the Ravens loses tailors this week. I guess the division is over. I mean, so you know, knowing that the season stays on, but that means. Had a Christmas Day. It is really uncanny. We’ll get back to that. We’ll we’ll start. I want to go through the league. Luke is here. He is Baltimore. Luke. He’ll be out knowing Mills for the short week, the Saturday night game, Wednesday game. We got the holidays. We’re doing two crab cake tour stops, brought to you by the Maryland lottery. Conjunction with Jiffy Lube multi care. We are at amicis on Tuesday in Little Italy. Lots of great guests, lots of friends coming by. And then on Wednesday, I’m a Costas in in Dundalk, come on by. Get some crab Imperial, uh, see the tree. Have a beer. Enjoy yourself. It’s a holiday week around here. It’s a Festivus for the rest of us. I’m airing my grievances here all week. I’ll be airing them at amicis. What’s wrong with you people? Um, that’s for your state, in Pennsylvania, and how y’all voted. I am Nestor. We are W, N, S, T, A and 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking football, ravens, holidays and Santa Claus. We’re Baltimore positive. You.
