It wasn’t quite Johnny Unitas running around San Diego a half a century ago but it wasn’t the finest hour of the former Ravens’ Super Bowl MVP quarterback coming “home” to face a bigger, better foe on a day when Lombardi Trophies were being hoisted. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the fall of Joe Flacco and the Cleveland Browns to a AFC North purple powerhouse in Baltimore.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Ravens’ 34-16 win over the Browns, highlighting the Browns’ good defense, particularly Myles Garrett. Luke noted the Ravens’ struggles with the run game, with Derrick Henry managing only 23 yards. Despite a slow start, Lamar Jackson had four touchdowns. The Ravens’ defense and special teams contributed significantly, with a blocked punt and a punt return. Concerns were raised about injuries to Marlon Humphrey and Kyle Van Noy. The conversation also touched on the Browns’ poor offense and Joe Flacco’s performance, and the Ravens’ upcoming games against Detroit and Kansas City.
Action Items
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Discuss the potential impact of Joe Burrow’s injury on the Bengals and the rest of the AFC North division.
- [ ] Evaluate the severity of Marlon Humphrey’s groin injury and his availability for the upcoming game against the Lions.
- [ ] Monitor the status of Kyle Van Noy’s hamstring injury and its impact on the pass rush.
- [ ] Assess the plan for integrating Jaír Alexander back into the defense and the reasoning behind his deactivation.
- [ ] Analyze the depth and versatility of the Ravens’ offensive weapons, including the role of DeAndre Hopkins and the return of Isaiah Likely.
Outline
Ravens’ Victory Over Browns and Joe Flacco’s Performance
- Nestor Aparicio discusses the Ravens’ victory over the Browns, highlighting the lopsided score and the struggle in the first half.
- Luke Jones acknowledges Cleveland’s good defense, particularly Myles Garrett, and the Browns’ success in slowing down the Ravens’ offense.
- Luke Jones notes the Browns’ defense made it difficult for the Ravens to get the run game going, with Derrick Henry only managing 23 yards.
- Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the evolution of the Ravens’ offense, particularly the role of Derrick Henry and the lack of deception in their play-calling.
Defensive and Special Teams Contributions
- Luke Jones emphasizes the importance of the Ravens’ defense and special teams in the game, including a blocked punt and a punt return.
- Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the Ravens’ ability to get early contributions from their defense and special teams, which helped them in the second half.
- Luke Jones highlights Lamar Jackson’s performance, noting he had four touchdowns despite not having his best game.
- Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the mental standpoint of the Ravens’ defense, noting their urgency after a bad game.
Joe Flacco’s Future and Browns’ Offensive Struggles
- Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss Joe Flacco’s future with the Browns, considering his age and the team’s lack of offensive success.
- Luke Jones mentions the possibility of the Browns moving to Dylan Gabriel or Shador Sanders as their quarterback.
- Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones reflect on Joe Flacco’s career and his current struggles with the Browns.
- Luke Jones notes the Browns’ good defense but poor offense, which makes it difficult for Joe Flacco to succeed.
Ravens’ Injuries and Upcoming Games
- Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the injuries to Marlon Humphrey and Kyle Van Noy, and their potential impact on the Ravens’ upcoming games.
- Luke Jones mentions the importance of Isaiah Likely’s return to the offense, which could diversify the Ravens’ play-calling.
- Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the Ravens’ upcoming games against Detroit and Kansas City, and the importance of staying healthy.
- Luke Jones emphasizes the need for the Ravens to protect big leads and avoid giving games away, as they did against Buffalo.
Jair Alexander’s Inactivity and Future Prospects
- Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss Jair Alexander’s inactivity in the game and his deactivation by the coaching staff.
- Luke Jones explains the reasons behind Alexander’s inactivity, including his knee injury and the need for more practice time.
- Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones reflect on the importance of Alexander’s readiness for the upcoming games, particularly against Detroit and Kansas City.
- Luke Jones compares Alexander’s situation to Marcus Williams’ last year, noting the coaching staff’s decision to slow play his return.
Offensive Evolution and Player Roles
- Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the evolution of the Ravens’ offense, particularly the role of DeAndre Hopkins and the ensemble of wide receivers.
- Luke Jones highlights the importance of Hopkins’ presence on the field, noting his ability to win on the outside and be a red zone target.
- Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the contributions of other wide receivers like Bateman, Flowers, and Wallace, and their roles in the offense.
- Luke Jones emphasizes the importance of managing egos and keeping everyone involved in the offense, particularly with the diverse talent on the team.
Ravens’ Team Culture and Leadership
- Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the importance of team culture and leadership in the Ravens’ success, particularly under John Harbaugh.
- Luke Jones highlights Harbaugh’s ability to manage a team culture with different generations of players and avoid locker room duress.
- Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones reflect on the importance of persevering and winning on a weekly basis, despite the challenges.
- Luke Jones notes the contributions of the defense and special teams in the Ravens’ victory, which helped them rebound from a slow start.
Looking Ahead to the Season
- Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the Ravens’ upcoming games and the importance of staying healthy and protecting big leads.
- Luke Jones emphasizes the need for the Ravens to continue their strong performance in the defense and special teams.
- Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones reflect on the importance of managing egos and keeping everyone involved in the offense.
- Luke Jones highlights the importance of the Ravens’ upcoming games against Detroit and Kansas City, and the need to stay focused and prepared.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens, Browns, Joe Flacco, Lamar Jackson, defense, offense, injuries, special teams, DeAndre Hopkins, Jair Alexander, Marcus Williams, AFC North, Detroit Lions, Kansas City Chiefs, NFL.
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T am 1570 tassel, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively, taking the Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road. We’re going to be at the Beaumont on Tuesday of this week. We’re going to have Councilman Pat young, also my lawyer, buddy Chad cause, is going to come on and discuss democracy in the United States of America. Fresher looks. I got a handful of Lucky sevens as well as whammy whammy in Catonsville. So we’ll be there on Tuesday. I will have Raven scratch offs as well. They will be victorious. Raven scratch offs also counting down our tastiness treats this week with the top four, number four, number three, number two, number one, all non sponsors. One of them is actually vegetable dish. Actually. Two of them are one of them is vegan, I think maybe not, that might have eggs or something like that in it, but nonetheless, deliciousness, tastiness, it’s all brought to you by our friends at Curia wellness, which brings us to 27 years of w, N, S, T, 30 years, actually only 29 years, 30 season of ravens football, and Luke chronicling it from the teeny weeny little Kevin Byrne press box up in the corner of the end zone, and I was monitoring on television, Luke, I’ll say this one thing from from the other eight. You know, lopsided score and all but much more of a struggle. And I sort of predicted that. And when you look back, the first time the Ravens have won two in a row against the browns in like four years. So it’s not like this is a season sweep or just a thing, but now we have the Joe burrow injury, the domination of the browns, whatever the Steelers were, whatever that kid was thinking when he let the ball go over his head into the end zone, but the ravens are the dominant team in this division, and now they stand to look at Detroit and Kansas City and say, Where are we going? But the measuring stick on Sunday is, oh no, ravens offense didn’t look like the way you wanted to look, that’s for sure.
Luke Jones 01:58
Well, but we also acknowledge that Cleveland has a good defense, and I think that was kind of lost last year with everything they went through with the quarterback position. And look, I’m not going to shed any tears for miles Garrett, because he re upped, you know, he he consciously said, I’m going to stay here, and he’s making a lot of money in order to do it. But you look at what kind of player he is, and, I mean, if there’s a better defensive player in the league, I mean, it’s a very short list. I mean, I for my money, he might be the best. But you look at it every year, and you look at their defense, and you see the job they’ve done relatively speaking. You know, when you’re talking about Lamar Jackson and this ravens offense, when it’s been at its best over the last five to six years, it’s always relative terms that you’re referring to. But they’ve, they’ve had some success against the Ravens. They’ve had some success at not stopping Lamar but slowing them down. And a big part of that is that is that front that’s led by miles Garrett. So they really did a good job in that first half of making things very difficult. I mean, the Ravens never got the run game going. I mean, you look at the final numbers, Derek Henry had 23 yards, and eight of those came on his longest run of the day. I mean, he did nothing. You know, Lamar was bottled up very well. I mean, they for as much pressure as they got on Lamar Jackson, Lamar only took off twice, right?
Nestor Aparicio 03:31
As you say, they’re not playing the option the way they did before. Derrick Henry doesn’t the offense looks different than it did three, four years ago, in that way, in regard to not Lamar ability to run, but their ability to disguise it or or perhaps, if you have the right front for your ability to cage it a little better, a little better, maybe so much that it’s not, hey, you’re gonna play that in the first quarter. Watch me run in the second quarter. You know, we’re gonna play that all day long that that ball, I’m going to hide the ball and we’re going to trick you. There wasn’t a lot of tricking going on. You’re right, I mean, and I don’t think there is as much tricking as there is. Here comes Derek Henry, stop it.
Luke Jones 04:13
Yeah, well, I mean, I think there’s still plenty of deception and, you know, read options, stuff like that. But, yeah, it’s different. But at the same time, very few defenses out there have miles, Garrett and Mason Graham, who was, what, the fifth overall pick in this year’s draft. I mean,
Nestor Aparicio 04:29
the part to me two weeks into this, right? So we know who he
Luke Jones 04:34
is, we Yeah. I mean, Isaiah McGuire’s done a nice job for them. So, like, that’s a good front. And they see the Ravens twice a year. And to your point, yeah, this, this offense has evolved with Derrick Henry, but, like, it’s completely different. That what’s different the most, the different part about it, compared to before, was Derrick Henry carries the ball 300 plus times a year, whereas before it was J K Dobbins and Gus Edwards, or Mark Ingram and Gus Edwards, right? I mean. You kind of had a little bit more of a timeshare, which also included a few more design runs for Lamar Jackson.
Nestor Aparicio 05:05
Well, Lamar didn’t run around eight or 10 times on Sunday, either because, oh, that’s what it takes for him to break free two or three times and have that 32 yard run where he embarrasses you. He embarrassed him. He, he has his plays, dude. He, I mean, of course, everybody, he has a play, right? Yeah.
Luke Jones 05:23
I mean, of course, but, but this is a, it’s a really good Browns defense. I mean, their offense stinks. Their offense stinks. And I feel for Joe Flacco. And, you know, at some point in time it’s going to make sense for them to to go to Dylan Gabriel or shador Sanders. I mean, it’s going to happen at some point because Joe’s 40, and they’re not playing for anything with Joe being their quarterback, but their defense is really good. So that, that, again, is to me, why it was so important that the Ravens got the early contributions. I mean, not just early, I mean all day long from their defense and for their special teams to step up. I mean, they got the punt return. They had the blocked Punt by Jake Hummel, which put them on a short field. I mean, they averaged three yards per play in the first half. I mean, it’s not as though this offense was was humming now, they got going in the second half. And in the second half, they took full advantage of the short fields and the passing game got going. I mean, it’s funny to say this. I mean, it didn’t feel like Lamar had his A game, and you look up and he had four touchdowns and, no, I mean, easily, should have, frankly, should have had an interception in the end zone there that Cleveland just dropped. But that’s Lamar, though. Like, even when it doesn’t feel like he plays incredible, amazing football, you look at the numbers and Oh, four touchdown passes, right? I mean, it’s hilarious to kind of think about it in those terms, but that’s what this offense is. So that’s why I said, you know, if you’re taking something away from this game, in a game that they fully expected to win, in some level, some comfortable degree, you know, some comfortable fashion for me, it was, Hey, your defense rebounded in an emphatic way. Albeit, no one’s confusing the Browns for the bills. We get that no one’s confusing Joe Flacco at age 40 to Josh Allen. But they did that, and their special teams contributed in very positive ways as well. No, it wasn’t perfect. I mean, they still had some plays here and there that you kind of look at and say you’d like to have that back. I mean, the defense, they give up another touchdown on the deflection. I mean, how Marlon Humphrey doesn’t pick that off there? But, you know, that’s, that’s a bad luck. But they played really well, and that was good to see. And I think just from a mental standpoint. I mean, when you hear, I said this to you when we were kind of breaking down the game Thursday and Friday going into the weekend that, you know, some of the reaction from the Ravens defense, you sensed a little more urgency than you would expect after one game. You know, one bad game. It’s easy to say that the ravens, the 2000 ravens, gave up 36 points to Jacksonville in week two, right? It happens?
Nestor Aparicio 08:01
Well, they’re playing a team in eight days at the score 52 no doubt. I mean, you know, defense is bad. Step forward this week is better. Joe Flacco and steamrolling them pretty good and bottling them up most of the day.
Luke Jones 08:13
Better be ready. And part of that is also Marlon Humphrey left with the groin issue. Kyle van Noy hamstring. I mean, they, they’re going to be a little more banged up now, you hope on the offensive side. Isaiah likely started practicing at the end of last week, so maybe he’s there.
Nestor Aparicio 08:27
Bengals aren’t a contender anymore, right, so because of their quarterback, I mean,
Luke Jones 08:31
it’s, it’s hard to say, let as Sunday night, you know, and you and I are going off of at this point, as you and I are speaking in real time the speculation and the report Sunday night. I mean, if Joe burrow has to get surgery and he’s out three months, it’s over, that’s the season. I mean, look, I and I think Jake Brown is a good backup quarterback, but come on, if he has to miss a month or a month and a half, they might be able to stay afloat, although you kind of look at their schedule and all that. And you say, Who are they gonna be able to hold on?
Nestor Aparicio 09:04
But Well, the biggest news of the week for the ravens, for me, was Joe burrow getting hurt. That’s fine, and more news than anything else, because it’s kind of that when you start to eliminate, you know, the teams and the risk board, you know that that matters a lot and sure, you know, and the Browns just everybody listen. I had you go back. I did hours of radio last week. Michael Reg, I came on. I had much bishop on. Bernard hit on me. I didn’t have him on. My former producer for Sporting News, but he sent me some texts with his bulldog and said, you know, this is how bad they are. I’m not 30 years into this brand. Brown state, 27 years into this and like we’re doing our 30th anniversary thing and trophies coming out, and I’m thinking, man, you know, it’s one thing to be the Buffalo Bills and have come close and to be, you know, have 17 years of ineptitude, but at least have some hope again. Or, you know, some other places, even the. Lions. We talked about the Rust Belt teams, lions, browns bills never won, none of them. Yeah, and we’re playing them all back to back to back to back to back this month, right? And I tell you, man, the Browns thing is so tragically hopeless. And watching this at the beginning of another year where they won three last year, and poor Joe Flacco run and I, no one loves Joe more than me, but my God, the team’s terrible. No, I mean, maybe that’s part and parcel in being the quarterback at this point, but I mean, gimme and Joko and me. I don’t even know what other spare parts I’d even take,
Luke Jones 10:37
well, on on offense. I mean, they’ve they have a good defense. I mean, we’ve talked about that, but look, I mean, the Browns are the only team that probably would be starting Joe Flacco at this point in time. I mean, that’s just, that’s just the reality of him being 40 years old. Because you kind of look at it in terms of like, okay, good teams need better than what Joe is at this point his career, and bad teams, generally speaking, either have someone they’ve drafted earlier than the where the browns, you know, these are mid round guys, you know, in the case of Shor Sanders, a fifth round pick, but generally speaking, you’re going with someone younger, with the thought that, okay, this guy has a chance to maybe be good in the next Couple years. So, so it’s a very select group of teams that even have any interest in Joe, right, beyond the backup, right? I mean, if he was a backup, that’s a different story. So, but you just look at their you know, they’re, they’re just, they’re bad. I mean, I, I’m kind of missing words here to try to not sound wondering
Nestor Aparicio 11:38
if he ran the bangles. Right now, whether that be better than Jake Browning.
Luke Jones 11:42
I don’t think Jake Brown is bad. I I
Nestor Aparicio 11:45
don’t know. I’m just saying whether Joe would look more capable. And that takes me back to a year and a half ago. Say, No, the only reason Joe’s on the field is it was the Cleveland Browns who employed him a year and a half ago and caught lightning in a box out of the league. Yeah, right. I mean, and the Colts thing last year was, you know what you expect for 39 year old version of Joe on a lousy team there, right? This team’s lousier than that, for sure, especially running the football. And they need to run the football, so it’s not a good fit for Joe to have any success at all. So I’m just just in talking about Joe as whatever that was. And the next time we see Joe here, it’ll be Ring of Honor and like all that. And they’ll, they’ll run all the tapes back and whatnot, keep Justin Tucker out of it, of course, but they won’t show the field goal in Denver or whatever. But for me, I look at it and say, Is he a capable thrower? Yes. Can he manage a game? Yes. Then he gets out of the pocket and really ended the game. He ended the game. I mean, if you were sitting here, I tell him that, like that pick ended, that their chances in a game where, like, maybe they block the next kick, maybe they get the next tip ball, maybe, you know, flat, somebody falls down, and Jerry Judy’s not in coverage, and you know, that becomes the 82 yard touchdown pass that they need to make it a field goal game, which it felt like it was way too close until flack go through the pick.
Luke Jones 13:14
Yeah, I’m trying not to be disrespectful here watching Joe over the course of the day, I had two words that that kept coming to mind, go home. I mean, I and he loves to play, right? And someone is paying him once again for an 18th season to play. So God bless. And he’s in a way higher tax bracket than I would ever dream of being in so you know that I don’t say that to be disrespectful, but to answer your question, he’d be a disaster in Cincinnati, because their offensive line stinks, just like the Browns offensive line. I think the Browns interior line is okay. Their tackle stink, you know, and they didn’t have Conklin on Sunday, so that means he can’t run the ball. But, yeah, you have but there’s that. And look, if there’s perfect protection for Joe Flacco, can he still throw the ball around and have some success? Sure, how many teams in the league can provide truly perfect pass protection? I mean, even, even the great offensive lines are still going to surrender some pressure. And if there is even a hint of pressure, Joe can’t move. I mean, he just can’t. And you saw, I mean, you saw him throwing it at the feet of guys. You saw him inaccurate, throwing it out of bounds, all of that stuff you saw seven or eight years ago here, when that, you know, the line didn’t hold up and the running game wasn’t there. But even then, he could still make special and, yeah, I don’t feel like he can make those throws that are unless it’s all perfect. Then okay, the arm still plays, but if he has to move, whereas I thought two years ago, I thought he moved okay, but
Nestor Aparicio 14:59
I. You know, I gotta make this thing with special year and a half ago, and again, that’s the only reason. Was five games Sunday, because no other team would put him in charge, because he had that success that they could sell it to the fans now they can’t sell it to the fans
Luke Jones 15:12
anymore, right? Sure. I mean, they’re just, they’re going nowhere. And, I mean, who knows what’s going to happen with Stefanski, and, you know, they’re here we go again. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it’s, you know, again, as you and I in our previous segment, talked about just how good it’s been around here for the ravens and on field, success and continuity. And not that it’s perfect, but,
Nestor Aparicio 15:32
well, that’s one of the reasons he’s not throwing Elias out of the ship right now, because it looks like an imbalance. So keep him on. Hold it together. Let’s try to, you know? Yeah, we’ll see. I don’t know this is bad teams. The hardest thing to do stop losing. We all know that, right? And once you start, and here we go again with the browns, and that’s all I could think about on Sundays, like it’s week two. You have a 40 year old quarterback, and none of this is good enough, and the defensive line, and poor Jim Schwartz trying to draw it up. And some weeks they’ll keep it 10, three at halftime, or 13, three at halftime. And then you can’t have your quarterback go out and and throw a pickle. Like, sure, that’s all. I mean, that’s it. I mean,
Luke Jones 16:11
and not just that. I mean, think about it. They had a punt blocked. I mean, those are the, those are the kind of things that, frankly, the Ravens did, let not. Lamar didn’t throw a pick, but they turned the, you know, they, they didn’t take care of the football, you know, in the case of Derrick Henry, and they just, you know, not, didn’t do smart things at times where they needed to be smart and careful and and on their p’s and q’s. So, you know it, it’s the browns, right? I mean, how many times have you and I sat here and kind of like, laughed at it? I mean, I don’t wish any ill will towards Joe Flacco, of course not. But, I mean, he’s 40 years old, can’t move.
Nestor Aparicio 16:55
I just feel bad. It wasn’t Johnny Unitas running around in yellow pants at Jack. It wasn’t great, but it was. It certainly wasn’t great. And his family and kids, you know, the fact that he made it back here to have that moment to get knocked out in Rocky three you know what I mean? Like, literally, right? Like, whatever that was, it wasn’t. But that does not I will lend him the glory of his deeds and all that being said, Where do the Ravens pick up the pieces here? And how do you even evaluate this? Because from the Ravens perspective, it wasn’t like a great effort. I mean, any way around. I mean, there’s no way to look great at stopping Joe Flacco knock yourself out. Um, there’s no way to sort of Candy Coat the fact that, you know, they couldn’t win by enough points, they won by three and a half touchdowns. And we’re like, well, it’s pedestrian effort or whatever. But Detroit, Kansas City, coming in, Kansas City looks like they’re on the ropes a little bit. Detroit looks like they’re coming offensively from where they were last week. This is where the season gets really interesting, bro, because they’re one and one. Bengals are two and Oh, but don’t have a quarterback, so I don’t even know what that means. Steelers gave a game away at home against the Seahawks. Weird and the league’s weird. Russell Wilson was throwing bombs. Should have won the game. So things happen in this league that it’s never perfect, to quote King Harbaugh, but you try to survive it and get through it. The biggest concerns to your point, like in the castle, the football side of this all the pomp and circumstance of Ray Lewis and Steve Bisciotti hugging up, it looks like Steve needs to buy a razor with all that money he’s got. I’m still concerned about the injuries. I’m concerned about the team itself and how they’re going to match up against the lions. And it’s also a little bit of like this offense and getting bottled up a little bit by the schwartzes and stuff like that. You know, I want to see that power game we saw a little bit more against the bills, right?
Luke Jones 18:50
Yeah. I mean, I’ll be honest. I mean, you look at this game, and I said it before, I mean, and you just alluded to it, you know, when you face the browns, especially when you face the Browns at home. It’s a thankless task, right? I mean, you can’t win by enough points. I mean, I suppose if you win 51 to nothing or 63 to nothing or something absurd, but it’s a thankless job, especially on the heels of what happened in Buffalo and the narrative that continues for this football team in a big picture sense, there’s nothing you can do that people are going to say, Oh, wow, that was, man, you just beat the Cleveland Browns. Holy cow, right? No, there’s none of that, right? I mean, people scoff, but as I said, on a day when the offense had had their difficulties getting going in the first half against a good Cleveland front. And again, I’ll continue to say Cleveland has a good defense. I I think the question for that group, for Schwartz and for miles, Garrett and that unit, is going to be at one point, do they kind of throw up their hands and just say, I mean, gosh, guys like we held, we held Baltimore to. To to 10 points and three yards per play in the first half, and you guys couldn’t do anything, right? I mean that that’s kind of what it where it becomes, and you can only do that so many weeks. I think that
Nestor Aparicio 20:10
game could have stayed sloppy and stayed a better fight if, if, if the Browns didn’t give it away offensively, and that’s where, when your defense is that. But that’s my point. You go back to the 2001 Ravens. Do a little history. Just can’t, you can’t give the game away, and the only chance they have, and that’s demoralizing as hell to look up see you lost by three touchdowns. It’s, I mean, it really is. Actually, would you look and see what you did to Derek Henry and Lamar Jackson and say, man, we gotta have a better chance of winning that game
Luke Jones 20:41
well, but that, that’s my point. How many weeks in a row can you do that before it starts to bleed into your performance and your focus? And that’s where I mean, that’s why the 2000 ravens are such a historic group, not just because they won a Super Bowl, not just because they had a great defense, because they didn’t kill each other in the midst of a five game touchdown drought, right? I mean, you know, they held it together. Brian Billick held it together. The the leaders of that locker room held it together in extreme circumstances. So, but, you know, for the Ravens themselves, I mean, yeah, the the injuries. I mean, you know, Marlon Humphrey came back out of the locker room in the fourth quarter, and he was moving and running and doing some, some stuff on the sideline to try to get loose that that tends to make me feel that the groin injury isn’t too bad, but it’s a groin injury, even if it’s minor. Is that going to take him out of play for Monday night or the next couple weeks? Right where they’ve they’ve got the big Monday night game against Detroit, and then they go to Kansas City, where you have a chance to, I don’t know. I mean, the chiefs are what go to the Giants. I mean, I’m guessing they’ll win that games. But even if they win, you’ll have a chance to make the Chiefs one and three, right? I mean, that’s that regardless of what happens in week three, that’s going to be your task. Or, I mean, if they somehow lose to the Giants, it could be on four. You could bear it completely bury him. But you know, beyond the injuries, beyond the big picture, you know the narrative of this team in January and protecting big leads and which are there, and that nothing that was going to happen against the Browns was going to to erase that, you know, I feel really good about this football team as it pertains to the regular season, as it pertains to the AFC north, as it pertains to, you know, their strengths, their defense, I fully expected to be better against the browns, to be better, generally speaking, than they were against buffalo. You know, the Jair Alexander thing is interesting, no doubt. And they’ve got to get healthy. And I’d still say the edge Rush is still a relative question, right?
Nestor Aparicio 22:46
Hey, well, it’s gonna be tested now with teams that want to throw the ball.
Luke Jones 22:49
Sure. Sure so. And I think the other thing that came out of Sunday’s game that Nestor, that didn’t necessarily get a lot of attention, but go look at a snap count. Teddy Buchanan’s a starting inside linebacker next to roquan Smith. I mean, he played almost, I mean, Trenton Simpson got a couple series, but you look at the final snap count, Teddy Buchanan played 60 of 69 snaps. Now, granted, there was garbage time at the end there, and they pulled roquan for a few plays, and they rested some other guys, but Trenton Simpson, he played 15 snaps. So even the timeshare that we saw in week one, that was almost a 5050, split. Teddy Buchanan was a guy, and
Nestor Aparicio 23:28
from this speech to the defense, saying, if you’re playing well, you’re on the field. If you’re not, you’re off.
Luke Jones 23:32
Yeah. And you know what? I think that was an interesting part of this, because, and you know, maybe we spend a couple minutes and we can, we can touch on Jay or Alexander more at some point, but the fact that he was inactive, and I had alluded to you talking about, you know, based on the comments that I was hearing, not reading
Nestor Aparicio 23:51
Wednesday, the outcome of, I kind of thought coaching stay so if he was mad at you, you’d say, Hey, man, your coaches said you’re sure, wherever it is, you’re Not ready to get out there and do this.
Luke Jones 24:02
Right? This, right? I was not at all surprised that he did not play on defense. I was a little surprised that they went a step further and deactivated him, you know. I thought, you know, as you know, and I this isn’t just the Ravens. This is just how the inner workings of an organization works, right? You have a lot of egos, right? You have a general manager, you have a head coach, you have scouts, you have assistant coaches, all of that, and they’re all as much as they’re all on the same page most of the time. There can also be times where that doesn’t fit quite as well, because, I mean, Jair Alexander, not that he was this big ticket item that they signed in terms of price, because they they got them for $4 million in mid June. But if you rank their acquisitions in the off season, he’d be near the top of the list, right? There’s a
Nestor Aparicio 24:53
level of expectation in the same way that Tyler O’Neill has on the baseball field.
Luke Jones 24:58
Yeah. So, so I So, I think what was in. Interesting about this is it’s very easy to draw a parallel with what Marcus Williams last year. And Marcus Williams did not get benched until initially, what week eight against Cleveland was the first time that he sat. He played against Denver, but
Nestor Aparicio 25:14
he was an $18 million cap number, right? Oh, sure, no, quite well, but.
Luke Jones 25:18
But the point is, you saw how long they tried to stick with him and try to make it work at and all of that. And let me be clear, I’m not saying that Jair Alexander has been buried here, because I absolutely there are plenty of times John Harbaugh will say something, or a coach will say something, or a general manager will say something, and you kind of say, oh, that’s, you know, they’re just saying that because that’s all they can say. I genuinely believe John Harbaugh saying that. Jair Alexander, I expect to play great football for us. I expect he’s going to be fine. He’ll be out there very soon, playing great ball for us. I think in John’s mind and in their minds, this was about, hey, let’s let’s slow play this. Let’s pump the brakes. Let’s give you a couple weeks of practice. Get yourself in game shape. You missed three and a half weeks, the final three weeks of training camp, on the heels of a season where you only played seven games because of that same knee.
Nestor Aparicio 26:09
We’re going to be a good team. We’re going to need you, yeah, December and we’re going to have atrophy. Somebody’s going to get hurt. We’re going to need you to play. We’re going to
Luke Jones 26:16
need you to play. But at the same time, you’re not on scholarship either what you did against Buffalo was below the bar. So let’s pump the brakes. We’re going to put you know, we’ve got Marlon and we’ve got Nate Wiggins, who had a who had a big day on Sunday. We’ve got a woozy a TJ Tampa played sparingly as the fourth quarter in the AI, though made a play. Did No, he did and, and look, I mean Jair Alexander, if he’s not going to step up that TJ Tampa will continue to take snaps away from him. But I think this was an interesting case study in terms of reacting to what happened in week one, where, if they did not go through what they went through with Marcus Williams last year, I do wonder if Jair Alexander would have been a healthy scratch on Sunday, I do wonder if Jair Alexander would have played and and look, I think if you, if you want to be a little more cynical about it, you could say, well, if you didn’t deem them ready to play against the browns, are you really going to have the confidence to put them out there against Detroit? Are you really going to have the confidence to put them out there against Kansas City in a couple of weeks. So I think that’s a fair
Nestor Aparicio 27:22
question. But was the question, Is it physical, or is it mental? And that’s the big thing. And I think
Luke Jones 27:27
yes, you know, I think, I mean, clearly, he had a PCO injury in his right knee midway through last year. That was a major problem in Green Bay. I mean, there were, you know, there was speculation and conjecture about that him and the team being on the same page as far as how they were managing the injury all that, right? And we it led to the divorce in early June, right? Uh, for a player who was making a heck of a lot of money, they’re Marlon Humphrey, you know, for to put it in pretty
Nestor Aparicio 27:54
similarly, a guy they drafted, well, a guy they paid after they drafted, absolutely.
Luke Jones 27:59
I mean, he’s one of the highest paid corners in the league, so, so you have that he had a good start to training camp. At the same time, five or six days in the camp, he had his knee drained, and then two days after the first preseason game, he couldn’t practice, and they were managing his knee, and they were managing his knee, and they and it was smart to do that. Let me, let me be clear. I’m not saying that you have him go out there and practice at less than 100% but he missed a lot of times,
Nestor Aparicio 28:24
knees in the middle of August, and thinking these guys are going to be able to run against the Buffalo Bills? Well, early September,
Luke Jones 28:30
not so much, even just that. How about the big picture question? And that’s why, this is why I continue to remind people there’s a reason why he was available for $4 million in mid June. He might be a total bust for them this year. He might not be very good, but it’s worth the upside if you can get him in a place where he’s right physically, up right enough physically to play. I don’t I don’t even care what the number is, but he’s in a position to help you in December and January. That’s all this should be about. And that doesn’t mean you just rest them that whole time. But whole time, because it doesn’t work that way either. I think a lot of people thought, Oh, well, you know, they slow played Jair the first three, the last three weeks of camp, and it’s like, no, at some point you got to get out there and play, and you do have to practice, and you do have to be ready to compete at that kind of level. This isn’t just like, you know, you don’t just put these guys in bubble wrap and then think that they’re going to be great. To be great, right? I mean, and, and that might be part of the issue of why the defense played the way they did against buffalo. They didn’t play in the preseason, but we also understand that you don’t play in the preseason, then that means you don’t lose two of those guys the season ending injuries in a meaningless
Nestor Aparicio 29:36
game, playing that the Cleveland game this week felt a little like a nice preseason tune up. It felt like there was a little bit of peril in the beginning, but in the end, and now they’re one and one and the battleship now it’s like, okay, righted, but they got some football under their belt to know Jair Alexander, not good enough. Hey, I tell you what this Buchanan kid stepping up things we can do in. The offense, What? What? What are we waiting on Pat Ricard for the things that we’d like to do once we get him back, once we get back to full health, and that being said, the health of this team not perfect, with Kyle van Noy, the pass rush, all of that. There are definitely some question marks going into this long week against Detroit, and health becomes one of them in week three,
Luke Jones 30:23
it does. And I mean, the good thing is that it doesn’t sound like any of these injuries they had on Sunday are like catastrophic, but they’re not Joe burrow for three months, right? And you made a point, and I meant to touch on it then, but then the conversation kind of was a good one. No, no, you made a point where you kind of talked about this idea of surviving and just taking care of business. And you looked at you, look at the rest of the AFC north. I mean, obviously the Ravens took care of business against the Browns Cincinnati. They win the game, but they lost in the sense that Joe burrow, you know, he might be out for the season. I mean, they’re saying three months if he has to have foot surgery, you know, toe surgery. I mean, that that puts you in mid December. I mean, are they even going to be in a position where you’re even going to want to try to bring them back at that point in time? I mean, maybe they’ll get better news, and maybe they’ll, they’ll avoid that, and maybe he’s back in a month and a half. But, you know, for, for and look, we have, we have to acknowledge this too. The narrative on Lamar a couple years ago was what, he can’t stay healthy, right? I mean, that that was the concern. Joe burrow has been way more injury prone than Lamar Jackson at this point. I mean, let’s just, let’s just call it what it is. At this point, he can’t stay healthy, and that’s not a knock on him, as much as it’s just the product of, he’s had some some injuries, and their offensive line stinks, and the offensive line stinking has been, you know, we there’s hand wringing about the Ravens offensive line. And I get it. I get it. Daniel Foley is a below average NFL starter in my mind. You know, we’ll see about Voorhees, right? I mean, Rosengarten had a really rough week one, right? And is in his second year, and they’re still, you know, he’s got a long way to go that until he becomes like a pro bowl type right tackle. We get that. But then you see some of these teams in the league, in the offensive lines they tried out there. I mean, knowing the injuries that Joe burrow has had, I mean, for the Bengals to have not done more with their offensive line. And I get it. Hey, they paid the benches. Played the Browns last week, and we played, you know, we played the browns, and the Bengals got bottled up by the Browns last Sure. Oh, no doubt, I think. I mean, that was part of it. And I also the other point I had made to you was, keep in mind the Browns offense made the Bengals defense look pretty good too. So that was part of it as well. But, you know, so much of this win the game, check it off, keep yourself in position, keep yourself relatively healthy, survive advance. We talk about the word of attrition all the time in the NFL, right? 17 games, and it’s going to be 18 games here at some point the next couple of years, right? I mean, it’s inevitable. You know, so much of it is about surviving. So much of it is not winning the game, necessarily, but not losing the game. And we saw the Ravens lose a game in week one that they absolutely should have won, right? So you hope, you hope you finally learn the lesson at some point, right? And I don’t want to bring that up too much, because we spent plenty of time talking about that last week, but you just look at the rest of the division, you look at the rest of the league, and you see what happens in terms of injuries, you see what happens in terms of personnel. You see what happens in terms of coaching decisions, all of that. And the Ravens aren’t immune to that. And the Ravens have dealt with some of that, no question. But they went out there, and unlike Pittsburgh, who was a favorite against Seattle, playing at home, they didn’t take care of business, and you saw them shoot themselves in the foot. I mean, that kickoff play was unbelievable. You know, I saw the highlight of that. I’m like, what was he thinking?
Nestor Aparicio 33:54
I think he thought the ball was going to roll in through the end zone, yeah,
Luke Jones 33:57
or, I mean, just like, or just like college, and if you just let it hit the end zone in college, it’s just a touchback, right? It’s not that way in the NFL. But you know, you look at those plays, and you look at what happened with Cincinnati, with Joe burrow, now who knows when and if he’s going to be back, and it’s just count your blessings, right? I mean, count your blessings that, okay, the Ravens had a few injuries on Sunday. Wasn’t perfect. The offense was sluggish early on, but, you know, they won. They’re mostly upright. They’ve got one of the very best quarterbacks in the world. They’ve got one of the very best running backs in the world. Sunday notwithstanding, as far as the numbers, what DeAndre Hopkins a Hall of Famer? I mean, I mean, I’m glad you brought that up, because, I mean, you kind of forget about it. And it’s funny, because at a couple different points in that first half, I even asked a couple of the reporters sitting close to me in the press box. I’m like, has Hopkins even been on the field? Because they don’t play him a whole lot. I mean, he doesn’t play. They’re very. Very specific and deliberate on when they want to use him. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s like five snaps a game, but you know how many snaps he played out of 56 on Sunday? 2030, or no. Sorry, I looked at this incorrectly. 1010, he played 10 snaps. So now there will be times where he has to play more, because it will become one of those deals where it’s like, hey, if he’s in the game, Lamar is going to throw on the ball. But the point is,
Nestor Aparicio 35:27
Bateman and flowers are 99% guys, right? And also,
Luke Jones 35:32
when you bring likely back, I mean, they’re going to be running more to tight end sets and all that. But you see this offense evolving. I mean, look at tylan Wallace. Look at devontes Walker. Didn’t even play an offensive snap in week one, and he catches two touchdowns. Now that it’s not saying that means devontes Walker is going to become a starting wide receiver, but the point is ensemble now, yeah, you have an ensemble and so much diverse diversification, right? It’s diversifying your portfolio, what cards not even on the field to like? I mean no likely, right? I mean no likely. And, you know, like, you know, it’s feel more and more like likely. He’s better than I mean this, and it felt this way at times last year. But Mark Andrews, I mean, it’s not, he’s clearly not the guy he was a couple years ago. Or at least it’s certainly looking that way. Now, maybe there’s no question, and his target share is just not, not the same. But the point is, with Hopkins, here’s someone that you brought in, and I said this to you the day that they signed them. This is Odell Beckham at the appropriate price point, right? Odell Beckham had moments. Now you’re hoping that Hopkins can stay healthier than Beckham did two years ago. But Beckham had his moments, and he even had some games where you’d say, hey, that kind of sort of looked like the old Odell Beckham. The problem was always paying him $15 million Hopkins is making, you know, five or whatever it is, with incentives. So ain’t no telling me at this point, Hopkins can’t kill you. Just January, on a cold night, to go up in the air and just come down with the ball. Might be, I mean, it literally might be a thing where he makes one or two plays a game, and some of those might be bigger than others, but it comes down to, Can he win on the outside? Yes. Can he be a red zone target for you? Yes. Can he catch 5050, balls? Yes. So who was doing that with consistency for them the last couple years prior to his arrival? You know, at times, Mark Andrews, you know, Bateman became more of a deep threat last year. So I don’t want to completely, but it’s a different skill set. And you know, zay flowers is the number one. You know, he’s the guy that’s going to get most of the targets and they’re going to throw the ball to him at any level, and he’s going to, it’s funny. There was one example, you know, one of the times he has the ball in the open field, I think the Ravens have two of the most terrifying guys to try to tackle on the open field, three, because I don’t want to forget about Lamar. I mean, no, no, da as I’m sitting here saying this, but Lamar Jackson for what he can do. Derrick Henry for, for the physicality, but not just the physicality, but he can also just run away from you as well. And then zay flowers with his change of direction. I mean, what a nightmare trying to tackle
Nestor Aparicio 38:14
any Sanders off the dime when he gets the ball right. I mean, you know
Luke Jones 38:19
he’s not going to run through you. But, man, he’ll, he’ll turn on a dime and change directions and make you look silly and break your ankles. So, man, you just talk about all those guys that I just named. I mean, we haven’t even mentioned Justice Hill and his receiving ability. I mean, Keaton Mitchell has been a healthy scratch the last couple weeks. We’ll see. You know,
Nestor Aparicio 38:38
especially now, sometimes they put Hill out there to protect Lamar, to me too, because he’s best blitz pickup guy, no question but. But he also can catch some passes out of the backfield. Play 14 guys. So we’re talking about Ricardo Hopkins. Likely, we’re talking you can’t play two tight ends and three wide receiver and fat back. And this is where monk and really creates a
Luke Jones 39:00
circus here. Well, it’s Todd monkin, having to keep everyone happy is the wrong word, because wide receivers want the ball in every single play, right? I mean involved, to feel to feel valued, right to feel worth, right to feel like you have a meaningful role in the offense. And I think that’s where monk and Lamar Jackson are key. And this goes back to my point about, like, the league being week to week, and everything that you have to do to persevere and to win on a weekly basis, check your egos at the door, right? I mean, you’re, you’re already, I mean, look at the Miami Dolphins right now. I mean, pu what a disaster Mike McDaniel might be fired by the time someone hears your you and our conversation. I mean, that’s, he’s on watch. I mean, he’s on notice, whether it’s this week or a month from now, that feels like that’s coming to an end. But, I mean, you know, and look, they’ve had personnel injuries all kinds of stuff, but you look at where that team was a couple years ago and how. Uh, explosive and amazing, that offense looked
Nestor Aparicio 40:04
fired their manager in May. It happens quick, right? Sure. I mean, just happened. I have friends that are dolphins fans. It felt like they were on to something,
Luke Jones 40:11
and that now it’s looking like, Oh, they’re, they’re heading towards a rebuild, right? I mean, new coach. I mean, what’s going to happen with two? I mean, Tyreke Hill, it kind of feels like, one, he’s going to be traded. But two, does who wants them, you know, because he’s so high price compared to like and obviously the off field domestic battery accusation like, you know, that is he gonna change? Is he gonna is the juice worth the squeeze of taking that on? Oh, so. But my point, with all of that is and a lot of egos involved in all this. So the teams that can handle that, can absorb that and manage that and keep it not that it’s always Kumbaya, because it’s not, and we don’t get a full picture of what goes on behind closed doors, but the teams that do the best job of managing that, and obviously you have to have the talent. We all understand that part of it, man, you know, that’s why I that’s where I push back the most, with, with criticism of John Harbaugh, right? Everything that happened last week, I mean, should have gone for it on fourth and three. Absolutely shouldn’t have punted there, you know, blown leads, yada yada, yada yada, right? He’s not perfect. Not not saying he is, but to think how he’s managed a culture, a team culture, as long as he has over different generations of players at this point in time. I mean, you talk about the end of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed to Joe Flacco in the midst of the Joe Flacco era, now the Lamar era, and you think about how little locker room duress and, you know, hurt feelings and and guys run in their mouth and unhappy, like, how little of that there’s been, not that there hasn’t been some. But that’s hard to do, because you see Mike McDaniel, he was the flavor of the month two or three years ago, and now I I’m already firing him before he’s even been fired, right? But so I think that that’s a really underrated part of making all this work and making all this work over 17 games, and that’s where you know the ravens, the fact that they rebounded the way they did, and the fact that it was the two phases of the game that propped them up, that had failed them in week one, and that happened in week two, when the offense got off to a slow start. You know, that was good to see, not making any ball proclamation. It was a win over the browns, but just from a you know, what you try to take away that, to me, was what was encouraging that the defense and the special teams did the heaviest lifting until the offense found its rhythm in the second half.
Nestor Aparicio 42:38
He is Luke Jones, he’s Baltimore, Luke, we will be getting together several times this week because the games extended to Monday night with lions. We’re gonna take a look around the league, talk some more about the kicking game, as well as looking ahead to Detroit instead of looking back toward Joe Flacco and just kind of a weird game on Sunday. Great celebration. Luke and I chatted at length about the 75 golds and the return there my beautiful day over at Union brewing. We’re gonna have a beautiful day in Catonsville on Tuesday. I’m doing the Maryland craft cake Tour presented by the Maryland lottery. I’ll have some fresh Raven scratch offs to give away. Also going to be joined by Councilman Pat young, who’s running for Baltimore County Executive. And also my my lawyer pal Chad cause and I are going to talk Springsteen and seventh grade civics for some folks out there, also our curio wellness, 27th anniversary, man, I’m eating good in the neighborhood, I’m telling you right now I got the Final Four this week of our tastiness. Make you want some chicken and rice and some black beans, or maybe some delicious meatballs and some garlic toast. All of it coming your way. All of it brought to you by our friends at curio friends at curio wellness. Baseball season rounding out here over the next two weeks, Luke’s going to be down at the ballpark. Later, I’m going to have some baseball thoughts as well. It’s a it’s a month here to take a little breath and certainly with the proceedings in America, and just enjoy these Sundays with football. Because, like, they’re back a little bit this Sunday. We get the whole day to watch. We get two games on Monday night this week at seven and 10. So all we need the opioid for the masses, right? The opioid for the masses, football. More football. I’m Nestor. We got more football a half. Luke and I were Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.
