It was an impressive performance on many levels for the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night but nothing impressed Luke Jones and Nestor more than finally seeing the promise of a running attack that couldn’t be stopped – early and late. Derrick Henry is (still) a Dude.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
run, game, passing, ball, lamar, play, lamar jackson, ravens, week, throw, offense, stop, linebackers, team, year, football, yards, offensive line, luke, defense
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, Jost, Baltimore, Baltimore, positive. We are positively into the busiest week we can imagine around here, playoff, baseball at home, maybe three days this week, maybe for another month before it’s all over with. But the football part of the the theater is over at least for two more weeks until the Washington commanders and Jake Daniels shows up. Luke Jones was at the ballpark on Sunday night. It was blackout. It was purple. Now it was Sunday Night Football out. And quite frankly, that’s the version of the Baltimore Ravens that we’ve talked about all season. That’s the version of the Ravens that can win 13 games and win an AFC Championship Game and go to the Super Bowl. Why did impressive effort on Sunday night? It took a team a month to get four quarters in, but they managed to do that on Sunday night. Quite an impressive victory. Lucas,
Luke Jones 00:51
yeah. I mean, I don’t know what you want me to say when you start the game with an 87 yard touchdown run by Derrick Henry, who I don’t think was even touched on the play. Look, God bless Derrick. Henry had an amazing night, but let’s give some credit to the offensive line and the right side of the offensive line at that. Roger Rosengarten starting at right tackle, Patrick McCary moves over to left guard, with Voorhees out, Daniel Fowle at right guard. I mean, we’ve spent so much time talking about the right side of the offensive line, and yet, the Ravens start off the game with that run to the right. And, I mean, it was magic, right? It was electricity in that stadium on the first play of the game. And you know, they never really stopped. I mean, they had the hiccups in the third quarter, but even then, they responded. And, you know, Van Noy makes the big play on the the trick play from Buffalo, and gets the the strip sack, and order was restored. So a very, very complete performance. Obviously, the offense was phenomenal. The defense was excellent. At a few points, there was a little bit of bending, but again, they, you know, they gave up 10 points to an to an offense that had been pretty unbelievable through the first three weeks of the season. I guess the only thing you didn’t see was, what a Justin Tucker field goal, right? You know, seeing something like that, seeing Justin Tucker hit for 50 plus yards, would have made everyone feel better about that aspect. But
Nestor Aparicio 02:17
why would I want to see him do that to win the game? But that was not necessary at all. Like, I mean, it’s crazy in the fourth quarter, it turned into a scrimmage. Like, you know, Johnson’s out there, and I don’t even know who their backup quarterback was, Mitch Trubisky. How about that, huh? Yeah,
Luke Jones 02:31
well, I knew that, but at the same time,
Nestor Aparicio 02:36
we’re gonna see him. Well,
Luke Jones 02:37
I didn’t see we didn’t think we’re gonna see Josh Johnson or Mitch Trubisky, so definitely a surprising outcome in that way. I mean, I picked the ravens to win. I know you picked the ravens to win. I don’t think anyone picked them to win in a blowout, not that anyone was picking buffalo to win in a blowout if they happen to pick the bills. But
Nestor Aparicio 02:54
overrated? Well, sure, yeah, I
Luke Jones 03:00
mean, and you know, I mean, it’s that doesn’t mean the bills aren’t going to be there in the end. But at the same time, there was a lot of discussion. And you and I didn’t talk about it at length necessarily, but lots of people talked about the attrition they they dealt with. And obviously Stefan Diggs, Gabe Davis, I think a big part of this game. And I did talk about this with you late last week, and I wrote about this at Baltimore positive.com I think the first few opponents that the bills face this year didn’t necessarily test the middle of that defense, the spine of that defense, the way that they should have. Quite frankly, when you’re talking about Matt Milano, who’s on IR Terrell Bernard, who was out, Teron Johnson, they’re very good nickel corner and and this is a team that plays a lot of nickel. They play a lot of too high safety, so they rely on gap integrity, right? I mean, everyone being in the right spot. It’s a lighter front for the most part, at least talking about the linebackers. And you know, the Ravens just went heavy, heavy and heavy with them, and just dropped the hammer over and over and over, whether it was Derek Henry or Lamar Jackson running the ball, or Justice Hill running the ball, plenty of Patrick Ricard, plenty of tight ends blocking. I mean, very, not exactly the same, but very similar to what we saw the Ravens do against Dallas the previous week, except, to your point, they did it for a full 60 minutes. You know, there wasn’t the the Oh no, what’s going on in the fourth quarter? You know, it started a little bit in the third quarter. But again, they made plays on both sides of the ball. And any any thought of a comeback. You know, they squashed that pretty quickly. I mean, despite the miracle Josh Allen scramble and deep completion to Shakir, but other than that, I mean, hats off to the defense. But I mean, this is just a very, very complete performance. And I said it to you before the game, if the Ravens won, it kind of reset their. Going to start. And to me, it kind of restores expectations to wherever your priors were at the start of the year. And that’s what I feel. I felt at the beginning of this season, that this is going to be one of the best teams in the AFC and certainly in the NFL. And it’s not to say that it’s perfect, not to say it’s going to be easy like this every single week. We know better than that, right? But at the same time, the Ravens showed you what potential they have, right? And, you know, it’s not like it wasn’t there in Kansas City in week one, you know, they took the Chiefs down to the wire. There was nothing to be ashamed of there, but, but, yeah, the Vegas game, that was a What the heck? You know? What the heck happened there the Dallas game. They tried to do it again, but just a complete performance. And I sit here right now and say, okay, they’re two and two. You can’t really claim to be the best team in the NFL when you’re two and two, but in terms of talent, in terms of their ability, in terms of their potential, with Lamar Jackson, one of the very best quarterbacks in football, derri Henry, who is the ageless one, Kyle Vannoy, the ageless one on the defensive side, another two sack game for him, which is just incredible when you think about it. But you know, the sky’s the limit for this team, they say that a lot, and that’s a cliche, yeah. That’s a Yeah, one of those things you hear that players say, or coaches say, and a lot of times it doesn’t mean a whole lot. But I think for this team, especially when you look at how little they’re really doing with their wide receivers and tight ends in the passing game to this point, I think the potential is there for this team to get even better. So hats off to them. They beat the team that was absolutely perceived to be the best in the NFL through three quote through three games, for whatever that’s worth, and they did it in very convincing fashion. All right, we’ll
Nestor Aparicio 06:48
get to Josh Allen in a minute, because you said they beat the best team, or the team was convinced to be well, he had played the best football for three weeks, so it was more like, how do you stop him? But I don’t even want to talk about that right now. I want to talk about the running game, and I want to talk about what talk about what that does. I saw Rex Ryan over the weekend saying nobody can stop their run, and if they do it the right way, if they run the ball the right way, and they have an offensive line that could get out and get after it a little bit, and that was always going to be the question about the right, right side of the offensive line that in the seam at the mesh point, when you’ve got Derek Henry that can go left and Lamar Jackson go right, go right, or, or, you know, we talk about the other running back that we forgot about, that they’ve given the bonus to who can block a little bit for being a little guy. Reminds me a little bit of Ray Rice in the way plays. You know, just can block three, down back, four, down back and catch a pass. Can do whatever you need him to do. Doesn’t even get on the field with this monster out there, right? And the monster is going to be the guy at the end of the game when you have a 25 point lead that you probably want to give him the ball and chew up the clock a little bit, but they have a running game, right? Like, and, you know, Greg Roman’s looking and saying, why don’t you give me Derrick Henry five years ago?
Luke Jones 08:11
Yeah, at the same time, I’m not going to shortchange Greg Roman’s running game. I mean, this is a team that ran for 200 plus yards 28 times in Lamar Jackson
Nestor Aparicio 08:21
saying, I’m not, I’m not the guy pissing on Greg Roman. I wasn’t the guy that ran him out of here. He did what they asked him to do with the personnel that he had. But, but what I’m saying is this, this, I don’t say it’s as good as they’ve had, because it’s been good. I mean, look at 2019
Luke Jones 08:38
it’s been great. It was great. It was historic, right? I mean, that’s that. That’s where look, Derrick didn’t have
Nestor Aparicio 08:43
Derek Henry. Derek Henry is the best running back of this generation, the most unique guy of this generation. And still, I think he showed on September the 29th 2024 at his advanced age, much like you and me, that he still has it. I mean, he ran away from everybody.
09:00
Yeah, look, you know, I can’t
Nestor Aparicio 09:03
say he’s lost his step. We’re not allowed to say, oh, here, No,
Luke Jones 09:06
he hasn’t. I mean, next gen stats, they supported that with the speed that he got up to 21 whatever, 21 point whatever it was. I mean, a locomotive, yeah, look. I mean, we want the Ravens need to see this in January, right? I mean, that that’s ultimately why they did this, right? It wasn’t to do this in late September, and this is great, but you’re never
Nestor Aparicio 09:29
going to tell me I was right about Derek hemmellori,
Luke Jones 09:33
do you really want to? Are you I was going to, hey, let’s get to the super bowl first. Let’s, let’s talk about that. Look, this is, this is exactly what they thought it could possibly be. And again, I’m going to continue to point out he wasn’t touched on that first play. And I don’t say that to take anything away from him. I’m saying that to compliment the blocking. I mean, they really blocked. Those guys. Blocked their butts off. They blocked their butts off against Dallas, the pre. This week, I certainly have more respect for this front than I did for that Dallas front that I think just stinks. I think buffalo right now is banged up. They’re a lighter front, and they play a certain way that they need that gap integrity, and they they kind of need all their horses. And when you’re missing two of your linebackers, it’s going to show up against the Baltimore Ravens, especially when they’ve noticed that Jacksonville didn’t test you inside, and certainly Miami didn’t do it. And Arizona played a good first half against them, but I think the one question about the bill’s defense was, can they stop the run? Can you play more physical with them? Whereas their first few opponents kind of played into their hands a little bit, and obviously Josh Allen and their offense was humming and got a lead, and that takes you out of it, right? I mean, we’ve talked about this with the Ravens. I think that’s why it was so key for them to jump out to the lead that they did, you know, after they force a punt and you score a touchdown right away, because you didn’t want to be in a position where you’re behind and playing against that front in a way that they start to pin their pin their ears back a little bit and try to get after this team. And we know that past protection, while it’s been good the last two weeks, it hasn’t been asked to do as much, right? They’re not having Lamar throw at 30 or 35 times. They’re gonna have to do that at some point, right? They’re not going to run to this prolific level every single week, unless you stop them, unless you stop them. Well, at some point in time, you’re going to have to throw it to your wide receivers and tight ends. I mean that you know this, this isn’t even 2019 like, the last two weeks. This has been Jamal Lewis 2003 like, where they’re not doing anything in the passing game, really. And I don’t say that as a knock on Lamar. Lamar is playing well, and, you know, they’ve used boot and different. He’s better than Anthony Wright.
Nestor Aparicio 11:50
I’ll just have you give you Yeah, you think,
Luke Jones 11:54
I think Lamar could play blindfolded better than Anthony Wright. Nothing against Anthony Wright, but, but, I mean, yeah. I mean, they’re, they’re running the ball at such an insane level over these last couple weeks. You know, I don’t think they’re going to continue to, yeah, they’re not going to have 87 yard touchdowns and average eight yards a carry every week, but they’re
Nestor Aparicio 12:15
not going to pass the ball as well as they run it. Their offensive linemen dictate that. Their their wide receivers sort of dictate, I mean, Mark Andrews dropping balls. I mean, I, I That’s curious to me, and we’ll get to all of that. But what do you want to see them do in the passing game when they’re running for 10 yards and 90 yards and and controlling the clock and taking the ball, taking the air out, and they have two running back three, if you count Lamar. That insults him. That is why he’s the MVPs, because he’s a great running back, but I don’t know he’s a great quarterback. He’s a great quarterback that’s not go past the football, then let’s go past the football. But I don’t think they need to do that. I don’t think they’ll be great at that. I don’t think he’s a great quarterback as a passing quarterback, if that’s what he has to do without a running game. And I think we’ve seen that over the course of times. Is when you can’t run the ball you get or when you get penalties, you get into third and uncomfortable, not second, because second down he can run for 12 yards, when they get a 10 yard penalty and make it third and eight, they get into third and uncomfortable. And I think a defensive coordinator, any of the defense coordinators to play against him, would say, I’ll take my chances with third and uncomfortable in Lamar passing, because he’s not among the top 10 passers in the he’s not a great passing quarterback. He’s He’s adequate when given time. He throws the ball well, he’s got a strong army. He can get out, he can extend play, he can do all of that, but he’s not a quarterback that you fear on third and long. This is not an offense you fear on third and long. These are not wide receivers you fear on third and long. So therefore, don’t get in third long often. How do they do that? They run the ball really well the first and second and pass efficiently and run wisely on RPO. And I don’t know about design runs, I don’t I hate design runs in that you know that I hate design runs? I hate Lamar leaving his feet. I hate him getting stripped to the I hate all of that. But to your point, that’s just, that’s what he does. And then you’ll tell me, he’s a pastor, he’s a thrower. Now he’s, he’s, he hasn’t won anything yet because they haven’t been able to put this together over four months of doing this,
Luke Jones 14:23
and it’s amazing how you’re so quick to just criticize a two time NFL MVP. But go ahead, sorry, you,
Nestor Aparicio 14:29
you and I, I’m just telling you on Thursday, nobody’s fearing Lamar coming. Very few,
Luke Jones 14:36
very few quarterbacks Do you fear in third and long?
Nestor Aparicio 14:39
Let’s be clear about that other lenses that you fear, it’s offenses you fear, not just the quarterback. I don’t think they pass block well enough for him to be a 300 yard passer many times in in the league this year, nor will they need to be when they’re touchdown leads in the third quarter. I don’t I’m not going to be the guy here encouraging them to throw the ball. More, which they don’t do as well historically and or consistently with this offensive line and this set of receivers, I got Derrick Henry give them the ball. That’s where I am on winning games. I I don’t want to see them getting cute and cut. Didn’t they do that in the AFC Championship Game? Didn’t they get cute and try to throw the ball all night? Right? I mean, I, you and I disagree on that. I don’t they’re running the ball. Run it more if they’re running it well, run it Weller.
Luke Jones 15:30
I mean, I didn’t say I don’t like running the football. All I was saying is, they’re not going to continue to be I mean, do you really think the formula for the for the next 13 games is going to be what wide receivers caught four passes on Sunday night and their tight ends, they’re two excellent tight ends caught one pass between them,
Nestor Aparicio 15:52
of course, against teams with bad pass rushes and a crappy secondary they might eat like you talk about the Redskins. Can’t stop anybody. You know, he might have three touchdown passes against a bad team, but if you’re gonna go out and play big boy football, I love, I love what I saw on Sunday, it doesn’t have to be 99 yard runs. I mean, that could have been a 15 yard run, and then you get a couple passes, whatever. But this is, this should never be passed first. It should be passed when you have to run, when you want to, you know, because that’s the way they’ve drafted this thing up. I mean, I, I again, you and I disagree on, look, we both can agree Lamar is an MVP and a great player, but how to use him? You know, I don’t think he’s a great passer. I don’t think, I just don’t. I think he needs protection. It needs a lot of things to go right, including guys catching the ball, for him to be to look like a passing quarterback, or for this offense to look anything traditional on any week. And I don’t want it to look that way. I want it to look like bumper cars, what it looked like the other night, because I think it could be successful. And I think they it looked like they took the bill’s soul. Sidelines. It looked like it took their soul.
Luke Jones 17:04
The only point I wasn’t. I didn’t mean for this to turn into a referendum on how my point is. What’s happened the last two weeks has been so incredibly dominant with the run game. I don’t I doubt. My doubts come with, I don’t know if you’re going to continue to be able to run to this level and throw so little, and I don’t mean that in like a that you wouldn’t consciously try to do it. If it’s working. Of course,
Nestor Aparicio 17:31
of course, they’re sending nine guys up into the box, and that’s really what you throw the ball over. I
Luke Jones 17:37
think that’s what, that’s really where you’re going to see where this thing really starts to swing, I think because of what’s happened. And look, a lot of this is what you’re seeing around the league. And this, you know, this, this really even going back to 2018 1920, even then, things were starting to trend in the direction of lighter linebackers, guys that MOOC, you know, guys that rely on speed and the
Nestor Aparicio 18:03
Hamilton being a prototype of all of that, right?
Luke Jones 18:06
Kyle Hamilton, it’s tough to call him a prototype, because there are so few players like him, right? I mean, he’s a six foot four safety who runs it and does it everything but those types of players you know, Kyle Hamilton being a linebacker like that, body type, or something like that. But the point that I’m trying to make here is, you know, we’ve seen the NFL kind of trend more towards speed and smaller players, not and I’m not talking about every defensive tackle in the league, but you know, you’re seeing more of that. And obviously the last few years, this has been a big talking point, with even Mel Kuiper suggesting it be banned around the league, which is just insane. I mean, I love Mel, but come on, but the two high safety looks and so many teams like buffalo like to stay in that, because it takes away the big play in the passing game. But especially if you’re a nickel playing too high, it’s going to leave you very vulnerable against the runs second and three, second and two. So, so I just think that this is a case of, you know, the Ravens. And look, there are other teams that have run the ball better this year than they have in recent years. You know, it’s not as extreme, you know, not as highlight driven as the Ravens with Derek Henry and Lamar Jackson. But you know, they’re kind of zigging it while everyone else Zags in another way, where they’re kind of leaning into that, because you have teams that have these lighter fronts, and they’re built to stop passing games, and they have lighter players, and certainly lighter linebackers, and they play lighter boxes because they’re worried about, you know, they’re kind of designed to stop passing games, and then you have the Ravens just going out there with heavy personnel. You know, whether it’s 1221, 22 personnel, you know, Pat Patrick Ricard has been more involved the last couple weeks, and, you know, just dropping the hammer on team. So I think what’s going to happen? Because again, I don’t think you’re going to continue to see zay flowers have one catch. Or Mark Andrews have zero catches, or Isaiah likely have one catch. But
Nestor Aparicio 20:00
if Justice Hill has six because you can get in the ball, and you get zay flowers into that circumstance, which they tried in the backfield, that Lamar can distribute the ball, get rid of the ball quicker, these offensive linemen can back up three steps, and he gets rid of the ball and distributes the ball to the outside, to somebody that has wheels and has lanes and can find them. And they, they have that in this offense. They really do, but,
Luke Jones 20:25
but I think what you’re going to see is teams are going to start stacking the boxes to stop Derek Henry to stop this running
Nestor Aparicio 20:31
Lamar to throw. They’re going to dare Lamar to throw right. Oh, and
Luke Jones 20:35
any team that can run the ball like
Nestor Aparicio 20:38
that, sure, then we’ll see how he does, and then, and then to your we’ll see how he does. Yeah, well, he has to call towards them, because we’ve seen it over and over and over. Then let’s go. Let’s go. I mean, I just think it’s like, you say it
Luke Jones 20:50
in a way, as though, like, they’ve never been able to pass the ball, and that’s just not true. Like, and I’m and, no, I’m not saying I want that they’ve
Nestor Aparicio 20:56
had trouble passing the ball when they need to pass the ball, and that’s when they’re behind by 10 points in the third quarter against the good team and every other system in the league, right? And then they can’t, just like most teams in the league anyway, dude, say that, and they have been had had the ball rammed up their asses by Gardner Minshew two weeks ago. So let’s not, don’t get fresh with me on that. Now, come on, now they, they’ve blown leads because they couldn’t stop the pass. So you’re saying, like everybody else in the league, I don’t know. I mean, the idea is to get the lead and that not to worry about throwing the football. I love that. I love that. But to your point, they, they’ll, they’ll find that on a cold night in January, they’re going to have to pass the ball, and they’re going to be behind. And when they get behind, that’s when I don’t I don’t love Lamar passing from behind. I love him Dickin and Duncan from ahead and taking a first down chance when given the opportunity. But I love second and two and second and three. I loved it in 2019 but frankly, Luke, we could talk honestly about this. Other than the Navy offense. I haven’t seen a whole lot of offenses run the ball and wind up in second and two and second and three like this program has, like the revolution has from the minute, hardball called at the revolution six years ago to say, this is how we’re going to do it. So I can’t sit here after they beat the asses of an undefeated team by running the ball and even entertain the thought that we think they’re going to pass the ball better, or they should move more back toward that. I mean, I would agree with you. They’re going to try to stop we’re
Luke Jones 22:30
going to have my point is they’re going to have to do that at some point, because team defenses are going to start overcorrecting. And then that’s when you’re going to see the swing. I’m not you’re kind of, you’re sort of putting words in my mouth. I was simply making an observation, as far as, like, you know, I don’t think they’re going to go the rest of the year with their wide receivers catching the three passes a game, right? Then they truly do become Navy, although that’s not actually true. Navy actually starting to throw the ball down. If you’re actually watching the mids, and they’re, they’re off to a good start. But that’s neither here nor there. But, I mean, it’s just been, I mean, this has just been, like I said, this has been more than, I mean, it’s more than 2019 like I said, it’s almost Jamal Lewis era, like how they’ve run the ball these last two weeks. Obviously, they threw the ball plenty in in week one, and they were behind in Kansas City, did a better job stopping the run game. Vegas did a better job, certainly than Dallas and and buffalo did it stopping the run, although Derrick Henry, they finally got some outside runs going as that game went on. But yeah, I’m in total agreement with you in terms of like, when you’re in the midst of that game, and that specific game plan against the front that hadn’t been tested, of course, run the ball like that. You know, I’m just, I’m just thinking about it more in the big picture sense, as far as what that could mean then for their passing game, where I think they can pass the ball way better than you’re giving them credit for, because they showed it last year and on the way to a quarter away
Nestor Aparicio 23:58
through the season, I haven’t seen it this year,
Luke Jones 24:04
well, okay, but, but it’s been, you know, I wouldn’t say that’s been because of, necessarily, because they’re passing game. I mean, it’s been more their defense, because they’ve been to it too. But
Nestor Aparicio 24:15
well, and let’s be honest, and this is where I’ll be a prick when they tried to pass the ball late in games and gone well, I mean, that’s how they lost the first two games, right? Like they they lost the game because at the end of the game, they squandered the clock, they gave the ball back to the Raiders because they went getting cute, passing the ball they couldn’t run when they needed to at the end of games, which is problematic in closing games where they had a lead or had a chance, so you know, and I agree with you that the bills look like the big, bad bills when they came in, they leave. And I feel differently about them and about their schedule and about the Arizona Cardinals. You know what week one may have represented for them? So I hear all of that, and I think the ravens are the best two and two teams. Him in the land, as they proved on Sunday night, but you have more confidence in last year’s passing game. It’s something we saw before. And I’ll say this, Mark Ingram was at the game the other night, and you and I have we both had clubhouse passes then, and we both ran around the locker room. You more than I, as Chad Steele would say, you work harder than I do, and I liked Mark Ingram more than you did, in retrospect, on and off the field. And I thought especially 20 year old version of Lamar, you know, speeding while video cameraing himself six years ago, that having grown ups like Mark Ingram around would do him well. I think the King Henry thing here and the arrival at this point in his career, let’s say Lamar has lost the step, but I don’t want to know that he’s got a step at this bite. I don’t want to see him running the way he used to run, and he did that a couple times on Sunday night. I know that’s a Superman. It’s a special skill and all that, but I think that he’s got a contingent. This is the best running back core he’s had. I don’t know. It’s not the best offensive line. I mean, Marshall yonder is not a part of it, right? We still have a long way to go with Moses and Zeitler and what they represented for a couple of years, for the kind of success they were a part of that MVP thing last year. I don’t know that they have that this year, I’m not a believer in Bateman yet. Worried about Andrews, worried about their want to pass the football when they run it so well. And if I was in the meetings this week, I’d be like, Hey, man, I Zay, I know you want to catch the ball. We’ll get you some action out of the backfield right now. But this is working, and we’re not going traditional offense passing on first down with Derrick Henry’s back here, and we could be in second and three all day. So I do think when they start to examine this, they want to throw the ball. Lamar wants to throw the ball. Lord knows, the receivers want to catch the ball and all of that. I just don’t, I don’t know that that they need to be great at that, or that we’re ever going to have a Monday where we’re like, look, Lamar really passed the ball great yesterday. Because I don’t think that. I think that’s the third or fourth option, and I think that option comes when they’re behind, and I don’t, I don’t think they’ll get leads throwing the football, because I don’t think they’ll be great enough to do that. I think they’ll be punting. If they do that, they try throwing the ball up and down the field, they’ll be punting. That’s my opinion, and that’s basically seeing the first two weeks and seeing when they tried to pass the ball with the game on the line. They couldn’t, and they lost. I want to see him win.
Luke Jones 27:19
Okay, all right, so they’re just gonna run, run, run, run, to a Super Bowl, is what you’re saying. Okay, I mean, and maybe they run, I
Nestor Aparicio 27:27
mean, if never throw, right? I
Luke Jones 27:29
mean, I’m just saying, at some point, look, I mean, they did what you’re saying they can’t do. They did a ton last year, and that’s all I’m going to continue to say. And look, I get it. It’s a different offensive line, but this offensive line is going to have to pass protect at some point, I mean, and look that’s going to come. And they’ve gotten better run blocking. The run blocking stunk the first couple weeks, and look at what they’re doing the last couple weeks. So let’s again. I’ll go back to, I hear everything you’re saying about Derek Henry and everything you’re saying about from a philosophical standpoint, but I’ll continue to come back to we’re seeing improvement from this offensive line. You know, Roger Rosengarten did a nice job. You know, I think this is an interesting development here. Not that Voorhees was playing poorly, but, you know, and obviously I haven’t had a chance to review the game or look at the all 22 but like Patrick McCary, that was his first career start at left guard. For all the versatility we’ve talked about with Patrick McCary, left guard was the last spot on the bingo card for him. I even asked Ronnie Stanley about that. He said, Yeah, he’s finally, you know, he could check all the boxes now. He started at every spot, but, but in all seriousness, I mean, you know what, what will this offensive line look like? Because you know how it’s evolving, and you know how they run blocking. I mean, the next step will Yes, they’re going to need to pass protect. Yes, they’re going to need to throw the football at points. I have no doubt about that. And you know, we talked about that five years ago. We what the talking point over and over was they’re going to have to throw the ball at some point in time more prolifically than they did. And you know, they have got they got better at that. I mean, Lamar Jackson was much better throwing the ball last year than he had been in previous years under, you know, with Todd monkin transitioning from Greg Roman. So we’re going to see the evolution of all that, because, like I said, at some point in time, these defenses are going to start putting eight guys in the box. And look, that doesn’t mean they’re going to stop the run entirely by any means. I’m not suggesting. Not suggesting that that doesn’t mean that this overcorrects and swings to Lamar and this offense passing the ball 45 times. I’m not saying that whatsoever, but it’s just like, wow, when you see that, then, then you’re going to have these defense or these defenses, these opponents throw their hands up and say, we truly don’t know how to stop them, and that’s when this offense will truly be as dangerous as it’s, as it can possibly be, but for what they’ve done the last couple weeks, yeah, forget about the passing game. I agree with you on that. I’m just thinking about it more, and it took
Nestor Aparicio 29:54
me half an hour to get you there. No, I
Luke Jones 29:58
again, you’re, you put we’re. Words in my mouth, but
Nestor Aparicio 30:00
we should stop. Let’s stop talking about day one. It’s a we got baseball games to worry about here. This year, the Maryland lottery provides the Raven scratch offs here. We’re going to have these next Friday. Lucas is going to be a year older. I’m going to be a year younger, because it’s not my birthday yet, but october 11, next Friday, we’re going to be pizza John’s in Essex. We’re going to be crab cakes, eating pizza. I’m probably going to be eating crinkle cut french fries, just like it did at the bowling alley, just like it did at Pizza Johns and Essex when I was a kid. All of it brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery. Conjunction with Jiffy Lube MultiCare, they power Luke up. Get him back from Owings Mills to Camden Yards. We will not have representatives at ravens camp this week. You can write Chad Steele out in Owings Mills and let him know that we have two reporters here. And why is he banning one and not the other? I am also writing to David Rubenstein he owns the baseball team this week about how my credentials have been denied this week for playoff games at Camden Yards. So the Kansas City Royals coming to town. I don’t know if that’s a break for the Orioles. It certainly would have felt that way last week about the Detroit Tigers and the Ravens about to run off to Cincinnati. We’re a long way from that. We got a lot of baseball here this week. Might be in New York before the Ravens even get to Cincinnati this weekend, Luke could be found at Baltimore. Luke, I can be found anywhere. The Internet travels. Our friends at curio wellness and foreign daughter, in conjunction with our friends at Liberty, pure solutions, have put me out on the oyster tour. The oyster tours lasted all month. You will begin to see day one of the oyster tour during the month of October. It’s all for the oyster recovery partnership. I learned a lot about them last week. We talked a lot about that on the air, about how the oysters clean up the bay, and our friends at Liberty, pure solutions keep your well water clean and our water fresh. Here at wnst, he’s Luke, I’m Nestor. We got baseball, we got football, we got football. We got football. We got baseball. Playoffs, playoffs, wildcard round here at Camden Yards, hang the bunting. Get there early, four o’clock games. It’s going to be it’s going to be fun week around here. I’m Nestor. He’s Luke. Stay with us. We’re Baltimore. Positive. You.
