It wasn’t pretty but it was the way the Baltimore Ravens have needed to win games where the defense can’t make a stop. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss another La-marvelous come-from-behind Ravens victory over the Bengals and Joe Burrow.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens win, Lamar Jackson, Bengals game, defensive struggle, offensive weapons, Joe Burrow, Marlon Humphrey, fumble recovery, two-point conversion, offensive line, pass rush, Super Bowl contender, historic offense, playoff concerns, injury impact
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive. We hope you set a spot out on your dial for us. We’re going to be dialing up the Maryland crab cake tour very soon, all month long, into December, tons of dates, tons of friends, post election stuff, all are brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery. I’ll have Raven scratch offs to give away. Hopefully this is as lucky a batch as the Ravens were on Thursday night against the Cincinnati Bengals. Also our friends at Jiffy Lube, multi care, sending Luke back and forth. And, of course, our 26th anniversary in our oyster tour, all brought to you by curio wellness, foreign daughter, as well as liberty, pure solutions, keeping the water running clean, and I’ll be hydrating here for the next four years, if not the LEX the next 10 days. Luke Jones joins us now after a an interesting evening at the bank, as they would say, losing by two touchdowns late in the third quarter, lots of points go up on the board. Missed Extra Point. I didn’t know where to begin. I’ll begin with this. Joe burrows, really good quarterback. And also begin with this. The ravens are a better team than the Bengals are right now.
Luke Jones 01:08
They are and Lamar Jackson is the best player in football right now. You know, Joe burrow is great. I agree. Lamar Jackson’s playing on another world right now. It’s another level right now, and the Ravens needed that. And we’ll talk a lot about the defense as we continue to talk about the defense every single week. But Marlon Humphrey said it himself. Lamar Jackson and the offense are carrying this football team right now, absolutely carrying them. And it was a very strange game, a game that kind of sort of felt like a defensive struggle for a while, or at least looked that way on the scoreboard in the first half, and then the score finishes 3534 and ends up being the shootout many of us anticipated or expected so, but two quarterbacks playing at a very high level, The Ravens offense continuing to do what it’s done, despite a very choppy, very, you know, at times lethargic and at times just flat out unproductive first half, and a Bengals offense that was without T Higgins was without Orlando Brown was without one of their tight ends that they lost to an ACL last week, and Well, Joe burrow and Jamar Chase continue to work and work and work and then work some more. But Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense, they had a little bit more in the tank and they had more weapons to utilize across the field. So spend this football game. I mean, we talked about this with back in week five, the the overtime thriller in Cincinnati, and talking about a game that the Ravens won, that frankly, felt like they shouldn’t have won. I know this game was more back and forth. I mean, certainly Cincinnati, the turning point was the fumble, and Marlon Humphrey forcing that fumble. So at least the defense did make a play at a point where they absolutely needed it down two scores, as you mentioned, but still, ultimately, at the end, the MVP of the league through the first 10 weeks is Lamar Jackson, and he made a few more plays. And the Ravens defense, at the very least, they got the stop on the two point conversion penalties or not. And you know, and certainly there were plenty of people who opined about that, but the Ravens get a win, though, dude, I
Nestor Aparicio 03:26
might have kicked the ball. I mean, if I were them. I mean, I that’s always the question about winning or losing, we can win it right here. You know, I didn’t love the way the Bengals were playing, even though they were in the end zone. I thought they needed a breather. To be honest with you, I thought kick the ball. Get the 35 seconds, get get Lamar to his knees, get off the field, and then figure it out in overtime. Give yourself some breath, because I felt like that was would have been better for them. But hey, they went for it. There were a lot of third and fourth down plays where Joe burrow just played Chuck and duck and then chase caught one later on, that the only way you’re gonna you’re gonna enact one of those kind of plays. But I don’t think it was a curious decision. I think on the road, you would say the book says, go for it. I didn’t. I love the Ravens. Chances on that because I didn’t love the Ravens. I didn’t love the way either one of these teams were playing four days after all of this, all of the injuries, it felt like the Bengals were missing a huge compliment in their offense. And it felt to me like running the ball was tough for the ravens, especially early on and Derek Henry and they couldn’t score points and they couldn’t control the ball. I I don’t know I would have kicked the ball. I didn’t tweet that or anything at 11 o’clock at night, but I would have kicked the ball.
Luke Jones 04:44
I mean, they could have, and the Ravens could have marched down the field and scored. I mean, they’re not going to take a knee there. I mean, they’re going to try to score. The Ravens had scored four touchdowns on four straight possessions, so I see why they did it. And let’s be also, be clear you. The Bengals could have gotten it, and they’re up one, and the Ravens still could have won the game. Now, Justin Tucker reliability there. I mean, that’s something for another segment, as we’re just getting into this game, but I think the Bengals were appropriately aggressive. They needed to be from the moment that the fumble happened. They couldn’t stop the ravens, you know. Were they gonna get a stop in overtime? You know, are you gonna leave it up to the coin flip and whoever wins the coin toss in overtime? You know? I mean, I I’m not saying you’re wrong, but I don’t. I didn’t have a problem with them making that decision. I think they were appropriately aggressive. I don’t, didn’t necessarily love their play calls in some of those situations. I mean, throwing long on third and short and fourth and short back to back plays was was odd. But at the same time, they
Nestor Aparicio 05:50
don’t have a play. Their play is burrows, scramble in the pocket, out of the pocket, look up either dirt the ball or find Jamar Chase. That was kind of their play. I mean, and on that two pointer. It was a lousy play for them. I didn’t like their odds to begin with, down on the goal line, like I just, I don’t know if I on their side. I didn’t like their chances. I think it played into the Ravens hands
Luke Jones 06:13
in that case, maybe at the same time again, what about their defense? Showed you any confidence that they were going to stop the Ravens? I mean, I and again, the Ravens could have tried to score before the end of regulation.
Nestor Aparicio 06:23
So he did an unbelievable job of running around with Lamar that he didn’t they couldn’t bring him to the ground, just like the last time, just like that play where Hubbard had him, had him, had him after the fumble and the touchdown, the play of the year. I’ve been a couple of play of the years lately, though I don’t lose saquon Barkley thing. I mean, there’s been some crazy stuff. But the play of the year in Cincinnati, to me, that was, that is the Charlie Brown of the Bengals and the Ravens, is that Lamar is like a bumper car. I mean, like they can’t get him to the ground, and that’s a problem and, and he was beyond brilliant in the fourth quarter, right? Like, we’ve seen him do a lot of things, that fourth quarter is right up there. It’s top five for him, I would say quarter Absolutely.
Luke Jones 07:06
I mean, especially considering the circumstances, they’re down two scores, and, you know, down 14 points. I mean, we’ve seen this team down 1014, points. You have to go back a couple years. Nestor, they, they didn’t trail by 14 points all year. They didn’t trail by 14 points at any point. Last year. So you’re talking about
Nestor Aparicio 07:24
the first thing they’re going to do, Luke, when they’re down 14 points, they’re going to abandon the run. I mean, as we all said, right, and
Luke Jones 07:32
truth, but they really didn’t. I mean, they still make mixed in some runs. Cincinnati was stopping it. I mean, Derek Henry was a non factor in that game. It kind of liked the first game until the overtime run, where, where Derrick Henry bust the long run after the missed field goals. So look, you give them credit and and maybe this is where you look at this game and say how bad the Ravens offense was relative to what you expect in that first half and into the third quarter. Yet, Cincinnati didn’t grow the kind of lead that made that safe enough, right? I mean, okay, they got they went up 14, sure, but then they turned the ball over and they gave their ball to the Ravens on the short field. I mean, if they march down in the field there and kick a field goal, and they go up 17, they and they don’t give the Ravens a short field, we might be having a very different, different conversation right now, but I’ll say this, you know, and all the comparisons between burrow and Lamar, I mean, they both put up brilliant numbers. They both were brilliant throwing the football. Lamar scrambling ability added to what he did throwing the football and throwing it all over the field. And, I mean, tylen Wallace,
Nestor Aparicio 08:36
well, tackling was
Luke Jones 08:39
gross too. Uh, sure, sure. But especially on the edges. I mean, just like letting Lamar find that scene, letting Kylan Wallace, I mean, just pu on the tackling for the Bengals, really. I mean tylen Wallace, Lamar does that to a lot of teams, let’s, let’s be honest. But yeah, they, they were allergic to tackling on the sideline, but, but this is the point I was getting ready to make. The ravens are winning football team, the Bengals are not. The Bengals have some great players. The Bengals got to a Super Bowl three years ago now. I mean, how long are we going to continue to talk
Nestor Aparicio 09:12
about that? They only have 10 guys left on that team, right from that team. I
Luke Jones 09:15
mean, I don’t know if it’s, you know, I
Nestor Aparicio 09:17
don’t Well, that was, there was a lot of veterans on that team.
Luke Jones 09:19
I mean, I don’t cover the Bengals or anything like that, so, I mean, it’s more than 10. But I mean, look, they have Joe burrow, who’s brilliant. They have Jamar Chase, who’s brilliant. They have T Higgins, who’s a heck of a receiver, but he can’t stay on the field. It’s one of the reasons why they’re not going to pay him, and he wasn’t on the field, even though, you know, you look at the final output and what they did through the air against this ravens defense anyway, it didn’t really matter, but their offensive line, which stunk three years ago, still stinks, and they were without their best offensive lineman. Let’s face it, part of the part of the story of this game. And the frustration for the Ravens pass defense is that they got to Joe burrow a lot. You know. They. Pressured him a lot. The pass rush wouldn’t say it was perfect, but it was worlds better than it’s been in recent weeks, and maybe part of that was just Travis Jones being back healthy and being part of the pass rush, and Matt abike Having a his biggest game of the year. But they got pressure, and yet the Ravens still couldn’t cover consistently on the back end. And look, I mean, Jamar Chase is great, yeah. But, I mean, look at the numbers. You knew that that burrow was going to go to him primarily, but at the same time. I mean, there were other guys that made plays for them, and there were, you know, their tight ends made some plays, certainly so. But by and large, the ravens are seven and three. The Bengals are four and six at this point in time. And you can look at those two teams and look at a handful of plays in some of these games, and the Ravens have a couple blowout wins, of course, over Buffalo and Denver last week, but you kind of look at the Bengals, and as much as we have this narrative, some of it true, some of it exaggerated by the fan base, in my opinion and media. You know, I don’t want to pick on the fans exclusively, but the things that people accuse the Ravens of being too often, in terms of beating themselves and losing games they should have won. I mean, the Bengals their entire season is that. I mean, look at some of the games that they’ve lost, including two against the ravens, where you look at that and say you had a two score lead in the fourth quarter in that week five meeting, and they had a 14 point lead in the second half on Thursday night. And I mean, they fumbled the ball away. I mean, I gave the Ravens daylight, gave the Ravens an opening to to get back in the in the football game, just like that, winning teams find ways to win, and I know the Ravens still have the January mountain to climb. So no one’s getting ahead of themselves, especially with the way this defense is right now. Because again, that is a completely different animal than anything we’ve talked about in the Lamar Jackson era right now. But Cincinnati, I mean, they, they come up small at big moments. And to your point, whether it’s, you know, a decision, a coaching decision, which, as you recall how much I despised how they handled their final kick in overtime back in week five, you know how, how Zach Taylor handled that situation, and then they they miss a long field goal because of their operation, or, you know, whether to go or not to go play call in a certain situation, whatever, the Bengals aren’t a winning team in the way that you need to be a winning team to fancy yourself a Super Bowl contender. And look, they’re four and six. Maybe they’ll string together enough wins to sneak in as a wild card, but they’re certainly out of the division race at this the Ravens might
Nestor Aparicio 12:48
not want to see them in January as much as they see the Ravens. They they play the Ravens talk. I mean, I, I mean, I don’t think anyone are not only just entertaining, but they’re dangerous. I mean, the Bengals are dangerous for the Ravens. They are, for me, more, maybe more so than the bills. Who feels like, you know, they handle their business against the bills that the Bengals have. Have 11 catches, 264, yards, and he’s still catching the football, and the game’s over. And I don’t know what they would do about that.
Luke Jones 13:19
They would do what these two games do, the Bengals self destruct enough, and the Ravens win. I mean, the at some point, and we talked about this going into Thursday night’s game, you know, when we were previewing this, at some point in time, you can keep talking about their talent. They’re not winning games. They’re four and six. I mean, at some point in time, as much as people here like to complain about the ravens and John Harbaugh. And you know, the games that they do lose, they they tend to have this tendency to beat themselves. And I get that, and I’ve been critical of that just as much as anyone else, when it’s been appropriate. But that doesn’t happen to them that often go look at their record over the last six years when Lamar Jackson’s healthy, they win a heck of a lot of football games, and they don’t lose very many. The ones they do lose. Sure, it’s frustrating and maddening, but the Bengals, they do that, those kind of things with regularity, and that’s why they’re four and six. And I’ll say this, their roster top to bottom isn’t nearly as good as the Ravens roster top to bottom. Now, again, the defense, we’re going to get into that, but I just think the spangles team compared to where they were three years ago, it’s diminished in terms of depth. Their defense is certainly a shell of what it had been. You know, starting with guys like Jesse Bates leaving, but Burro is fantastic. He’s playing at an MVP caliber level. I wouldn’t put him at with Lamar, but I think he’s the next step down right there with Josh Allen,
Nestor Aparicio 14:46
and he didn’t make a mistake all night, right? Like, I mean, through all of this on Thursday night, the wrist thing last year, the road, the noise, the lack of protection, the lack of skill position players, his second Pinkie isn’t. Right. The running games never been there since mixing left, right. Running back winds up fumbling the ball. You know, after being relatively pedestrian to begin with. And I mean, they use him more of a the their running game is a passing game, short passing game. They use him in that way because he caught the ball nine times. Running back up brown but burrow, to me, it’s like, I don’t want to say he’s flawless in any way. We have Lamar here. We see Patrick mahomes, but I look at burrow and I think this is kind of a sorry situation for him. And I don’t I’m not as tough on the Brown family or, I mean, they’ve made that team good at various points, or Duke Tobin. But to your point, there’s a pedigree issue missing. There was an injury issue missing for them. But boy, it’s not burrow. And when I watch him, I look and I think I really believe they were going to win a Super Bowl with him there, you know, like Marvin left, Zach Taylor came in and borough was good and and not just being out in LA at the Super Bowl three years ago, I just, I still believe he’s capable of winning a Super Bowl in the same way that Jared Goff and and, you know, Matt Stafford and other guys were good, Josh Allen, even to some degree, good enough to win a Super Bowl. He’s better than that, in my opinion, in some way, and we’re now getting as far into his career as we’re into Lamar career and saying, I don’t know, that franchise getting back to a Super Bowl. It’s got to be better than four and six if they want to
Luke Jones 16:32
get there, they’re not going to get to a Super Bowl, not this year. I mean, this year, right? Yeah, right, right. And I wasn’t suggesting that you were implying that, but yeah, I mean, it’s, they don’t have a very complete roster. The Ravens, okay, we can talk about the defense. And, you know, I Marlon Humphrey talked about this a lot, and talked about the fact that it’d be one thing if people said we didn’t have the players and we didn’t have the talent and all of that. But the bangles, you just look at it and say they have talent deficiencies. You know their offensive line. I mean, as as maligned as the ravens, offensive line was going into the season with three new starters. I mean, that group’s held it together really well. Overall. It helps that you have an All Pro caliber center in Tyler linderbaum And Ronnie Stanley looking maybe not all the way back to where he was in 2018 2019 but the best version of him we’ve seen since then, certainly since the ankle injury, and the other three guys have their growing pains, specifically Rosengarten and file Lele, but they’ve been good enough that Bengals offensive line wasn’t good enough. I mean, again, think how much we’ve been talking about the Ravens pass rush, or lack thereof, and their issues. I mean, they they harass Joe burrow quite a bit on Thursday night. And, you know, again, you just kind of look at that team, you know, they don’t have enough, but, you know, I feel like we’re focused too much on the Bengals. What about the Ravens? You know? What about the Ravens? And the fact that you look at the Ravens offense and you say, all right, say flowers. Isn’t Jamar Chase, but he’s pretty darn good, and he’s continuing to emerge. And Rashad Bateman has been a really solid number two wide receiver this year, and Mark Andrews, since the first month of the season, has looked much more Mark Andrews like, and they throw to Justice Hill out of the backfield. And obviously the running game speaks for itself. And Derek Henry has over 1000 yards already, and Lamar does what he does. And oh, by the way, Keaton Mitchell was activated and didn’t play a whole lot on offense, as you would expect in his first game back, but now you add him to that mix as either a perimeter runner or someone who could catch passes out of the backfield. And as I mentioned, the offensive line has been good enough. You know, it’s at least been average to above average, right? I mean, it’s not top five, but it’s good enough. And one thing that was encouraging for me, that was something that I think we’ve talked about, is when this offensive line finds itself in true pass set situations, times where the opposition knows you’re going to throw that’s where I think there’s been some question, and I think that’s where the Ravens have run into some trouble. But I think they in that second half, they held up pretty well, and obviously once the Ravens erased the 14 point deficit, then then it’s a little bit different, and Lamar scrambling. So that’s always a factor, even if you’re going to be going dropping back and throwing more frequent, helps the
Nestor Aparicio 19:25
offensive line that the fact that with third and 12, and you know, they’re going to pass or whatever, that’s trouble. Some Lamar is going to take on different kind of water on that. But the way guys hips move, and the way Monken has them looking like they’re going to run when they pass, and looking like they’re going to pass when they’re going to pass when they’re going to run that you see hip swivel and, you know, it’s, quite frankly, how defenses get in trouble against them, right? Like they’re not predictive. They can’t be predictive, right? I mean, that’s the unusual part of Lamar, is that that’s the one thing you have to account for in every play. Right?
Luke Jones 20:00
Yeah, exactly. And again, even if you’re down a couple touchdowns, there’s still the threat of him scrambling and taking off. And we saw that. And obviously we know he’s dealt with the knee and back issues a little bit the last couple weeks, where it’s limited him in practice but never jeopardized his status for these games. But you know, he’s so unbelievable in his ability to run around. I mean, think about the scramble play where he runs, what, 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage just to run 30 yards forward then, and he almost scores a touchdown. I mean, it’s the kind of thing that I don’t know. I think of NFL films and like Fran Tarkenton doing that way back when. Except Lamar is a 10 times the athlete or that that Fran Tarkenton was, and so are the guys chasing him? Sure, exactly, exactly. I’m not saying that to be disparaging to guys of the past, but like it, Lamar is just, we hear this so many times, someone being one of one in this day and age, and people wanting to throw out the term the goat all the time. Lamar is just so unique. He might be the most unique football player in NFL history. His skill set is unbelievable, and the Ravens have needed every bit of that because they’re not stopping anyone. And it’s not just the Bengals that they’re having these issues with. Right? They couldn’t stop the Browns a couple weeks ago. They couldn’t stop the Raiders back in game two when it mattered, the cowboys who stink came back on them in the fourth quarter. So you try to look at the context of how their defense is playing, and their past defense specifically, it’s time to stop mincing words. I mean, this past defense stinks. It stinks. Maybe they’re gonna find a higher level, but it’s wild Nestor. I was kind of thinking about this in the post game, and part of this might just be being loopy when it’s 2am and you’re wanting to get out. I
Nestor Aparicio 21:52
call it trash on Thursday night, because that’s the only thing
Luke Jones 21:55
I said my I said my piece. But I’m starting to think like it’s almost like a bizarro version of the 2000 ravens, in the sense that you have this offense that’s doing historic things now, and you have a defense that, I don’t want to put it in the five game touchdown drought territory of that offense at that point in time, in the middle of the 2000 season. But that’s what kind of striking disparity we’re seeing here. I mean, Nestor and I know you and I talked about Marlon Humphrey at different times. What being accountable, not being accountable, whatever, you know, personality aside, he was he didn’t mince words in the post game. I mean, he flat out said the defense like he said his quote was, we’re the little bros Lamar is carrying us, which is fun and great, but it’s not. And he said we got to figure out ways to finish games as a defense and not force Lamar Jackson in this offense to carry us, because that’s they can’t cover across the middle of the field, and that’s but that’s what’s so concerning, and that’s what’s so bittersweet about the exciting element of this game. I mean, it was so wildly entertaining, especially for a Thursday night football game. I mean, it started slowly, as they tend to do, but
Nestor Aparicio 23:08
you wouldn’t even watch it had you not been in market, um, this
Luke Jones 23:11
matchup, I would have because, you know, and I even saw some, I even saw some people say before the game that this matchup was too good for Thursday night
Nestor Aparicio 23:18
no one’s more anti Thursday night football than Luke Jones.
Luke Jones 23:21
I mean, it’s it’s terrible most of time, graceful, yeah, but it was great on Thursday night. But at the same time, I keep watching this offense and watching this quarterback and seeing this is the greatest offense the Ravens have ever had. And it might not be close, and that’s coming off of a year in 2023 where they did really special things in the context of franchise history, and what Lamar did in his first full season as as a starter back in 2019 when they rushed for over 3000 yards and they were the first team in NFL history to average 200 yards passing in 200 yards rushing per game. This is historic. What they’re doing. Go look at their average yards per play and where that stacks up of the offenses of at least the 21st century, let’s say, understanding the game of football so much different now than it was trying to compare anything to 1970 so they have this historic offense. But I can’t help but continue to look at this defense every week and say, are they going to be the ones that ruin this in January? Because I have no confidence in this pass defense right now, and I get it Kyle Hamilton gets hurt, and you didn’t have them for the second half, but they got Kyle Hamilton in plenty of these games, and their past defense still wasn’t getting the job done. So that’s where I look at this thing. And again, like I said it, it’s almost like a bizarro 2000 ravens, the opposite of them, where you have this historic offense that’s doing unbelievable things, you have a 27 year old quarterback who is absolutely on his way to winning a third MVP award. I mean, that’s crazy. Uh. Mean, crazy, you know, can fully acknowledging Patrick mahomes in Kansas City and everything that that they have to go through in January, presumably. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 25:09
the problem is they might not win their division. Well, there’s that if they split with Pittsburgh, and, you know, they might finish a game behind Pittsburgh, and you’ll be the MVP of the league, but the defense is going to give up 440 points or something? Well,
Luke Jones 25:22
I mean, it just, but that’s, you know, whether it’s winning the division, whether it’s going on the road, whether it’s playing in the wild card round, whatever, you know, whatever the matchup is, you know, even if they, even if Kansas City has a rash of injuries and they fall apart some hypothetical way, you know, Patrick mahomes gets hurt and is out of out for the season, or something like that, and the Ravens work their way to the number one seed. You’re still going to look at this past defense, if we don’t see some dramatic improvement between week 11 and going into the playoffs, going into January, you’re going to look at this thing and say, what’s going to happen when you do go up against a better defense? And let’s, let’s let’s be clear. You know, the Ravens have put up unbelievable numbers, and I’m not diminishing that. At the same time, they have had a pretty favorable slate of defensive opponents. I know what they did against Denver last week, and I know what they did against buffalo in week four, but you kind of look at, by and large, most of the defenses they’ve played or have not been a whole lot to write home about. That’s fine. That’s fine. We saw them put up 24 points against Cleveland. We saw them put up 20 points against Kansas City. Those two teams have defenses that are, you know, especially Kansas City, but even Cleveland the capability of being a good defense, the charges play defense, they still right. That’s a good word. Yeah, we’re going to talk about Pittsburgh here, and obviously the Steelers, they don’t have an offense that scares you. But again, I’ll keep going back to the Raiders. Their season high was against the ravens and points scored. Dallas, I think, had one game Dallas. I think scored more against Cleveland. But other than that, I think the Ravens were their season high in points scored. I mean, you kind of go down this list and see that all these teams tend to have their best game offensively, safer Denver. And again, if you want to, if you want to fly the flag and say, but, but, but Denver with Bo nicks, then knock yourself out, I suppose. But you just look at this thing and say, if you go up against a team that has a tougher defense, that doesn’t mean they’re going to shut the Ravens down, far from it, but you can’t necessarily expect the ravens to score 38 in a game like that. And if that team has a good offense, then you might be in the situation you were in in week one against Kansas City, or even what you were in against Cleveland a couple weeks ago. And you know, that’s not a good team, that’s not a good offense, but their defense was good enough, and we saw what happened there. So that’s where I just look at this thing right now and say, My goodness, everything about this offense is just unreal at the moment. And then they just added Keith Mitchell back to the mix, right? And we’ll see what his role is as a change of pace to Derrick Henry. I mean, keep in mind Derek Keaton Mitchell, he let the NFL in yards per carry last year, for anyone who had, I think it was 45 rushing attempts. I mean, the numbers were video game like, what he was able to do. So add him into that picture now, even even on a small scale, and it’s another dangerous weapon. So they have everything from an MVP quarterback on down, but the defense right now scares the heck out of me in terms of what that could mean for them for January, in terms of needing to win three in a row to get to a Super Bowl, if you’re not the number one seed, as it certainly doesn’t look like they’re going to be with Kansas City still undefeated at this point. So they’ve got to figure out a way to get better. They have to get better defensively. This is no longer chalking it up to Garbage Time games, or, you know, talking about the opponents you’re facing, or anything like that. We’ve just seen this week after week after week, with only a couple exceptions, that this past defense is just bad. It’s bad when you think of ravens, historically bad pass defenses, other than 1996 you all almost always had the caveat that they were really injured. 2007 they were really injured. 2015 really injured. End of 2014 you know, they were really injured. 2021 extremely injured by the end of the season. This this defense. Kyle Hamilton, second half on Thursday night. Not withstanding, this defense is missing Michael Pierce, and that’s it. This is a defense that’s close to full strength, as close as you can reasonably expect to be. So just think, what happens if they have a couple injuries, as you’re apt to do over the course of the season, and maybe even lose a guy or two for the year, so including Kyle Hamilton and Right, right, right. And, you know, fortunately, it sounds like it’s not serious, but they got to figure it out, because, my goodness, what a shame it would be if they waste what is such a historically special offense that’s shaping up here through the first. Games. You know, they’ve got to figure it out, because Lamar Jackson in this offense, maybe they are great enough to overcome it, but I’d rather not have to find that out on a week by week basis, especially as you get to January, we will get
Nestor Aparicio 30:14
to the defense, we will get to the offense, we’ll get to the kicker, we’ll get to the coaching decisions. We’ll get to game action as well. Raven still won. They still held on. They still held on. On the two point as well. At the end, didn’t even need to drive the field, kick a field goal at the end. Luke Jones is Baltimore. Luke anywhere the internet travels. I am Nestor. We are together putting the Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road. All of our sponsors. I got my state fair shirt on. I was waiting for the election to get over for certain things, certainly waiting for the holidays. We’re going to be at Cocos on December 4. We’re going to be at Costas next month, with Gina shock doing a whole bunch stuff around town, all of it brought to you by the Merrill Delano. Have the Raven scratch offs as well as some holiday no sniffers this year, no peppermint scented ones. They’re just peppermint, but they don’t smell like peppermint. So my bag doesn’t smell like peppermint. Also, our friends at Jiffy Lube multi care powering Luke back and forth. He’ll get a little bit of downtime here, but we get back on regular schedule again next week on Steelers and quick weekend, years fast sleep, as they say, presidential changes. We’re going to be doing segments on that, as we do the crab cake tour as well and the 26th anniversary of the Maryland oyster tour, presented by curio wellness and foreign daughter, as well as our friends at Liberty. Pure solution, one 800 clean water, if you need any plumbing or if you need well water services, they are the best. Luke’s the best too. Out late, up early, talking football, and it’s not even a Monday morning. I’m Nestor. He’s Luke. We are W, N, S, D, A, I’m 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive. I.
