Proof of the return of Keaton Mitchell is on the field

We don’t read too much into August football games. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the speed and effectiveness of Keaton Mitchell and other remnants of an early Ravens preseason win over the Colts as training camp shows some new faces and the return of injured hopefuls.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Ravens’ preseason win over the Colts, highlighting Keaton Mitchell’s promising performance and the potential impact of La Johnte Wester as a punt returner. They noted the underwhelming quarterback play of Cooper Rush and Devin Leary, and the unfortunate injury to sixth-round cornerback Bilal Kone. The conversation also touched on the importance of special teams, the need for depth at safety, and the potential of a diversified offensive strategy. Additionally, they mentioned the upcoming Maryland crab cake tour and the importance of Tyler Loop’s performance as the Ravens’ new kicker.

• [ ] Monitor Tyler Badie’s progress as the team’s kicker.
• [ ] Continue to evaluate the depth and versatility of the Ravens’ secondary.
• [ ] Assess the performance of the team’s linebackers, particularly Trenton Simpson, as the preseason progresses.

Keaton Mitchell and Preseason Football Recap

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the low attendance at the Ravens preseason game against the Colts and reminisces about wearing Colts jerseys.
• Nestor mentions the Maryland crab cake tour and Luke Jones’ travels with the football team.
• Luke Jones talks about Keaton Mitchell’s performance, noting his encouraging returns and the importance of Lamar Jackson’s health.
• Luke highlights the Colts’ quarterback issues and the underwhelming performance of Cooper Rush and Devin Leary as backups.

Keaton Mitchell’s Potential and Special Teams

• Luke Jones discusses Keaton Mitchell’s promising performance and the impact of his knee injury on the Ravens’ decision to sign Derrick Henry.
• Nestor Aparicio reflects on the changing value of explosive returns in football due to head trauma concerns.
• Luke Jones credits Pro Football Focus for highlighting La Johnte Wester’s 87-yard punt return, noting its significance.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the decline in the Ravens’ punt returners and the potential of Wester to bring back that explosiveness.

Injuries and Quarterback Play

• Luke Jones discusses the unfortunate knee injury to Bilal Kone, a sixth-round cornerback, and its impact on the Ravens’ roster.
• Luke mentions the lackluster quarterback play in the preseason game, with Devin Leary struggling as the third-string quarterback.
• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the importance of having a reliable backup quarterback and the challenges of investing resources in them.
• Luke highlights the need for better pass protection and the potential of Mike Green as a standout rookie.

Special Teams and Linebacker Performance

• Luke Jones praises the special teams units for their performance, including Chris Horton’s punt return and kick return units.
• Nestor Aparicio and Luke discuss the decline in the importance of explosive returns in football and the impact of punters getting better.
• Luke Jones notes the quiet night for the linebackers, with only undrafted rookie Jay Higgins making a splash.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the Ravens’ need for more impactful plays from their linebackers and the potential of Trenton Simpson and Teddy Buchanan.

Secondary and Offensive Strategy

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the importance of the secondary, particularly the back end of the defense, in the upcoming season.
• Luke highlights the potential of Malachi Starks and the need for a veteran safety to complement the young players.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of having a diverse offensive strategy, including the use of speed packages and the potential of Keaton Mitchell and La Johnte Wester.
• Luke emphasizes the need for the offensive line to execute both pass protection and run blocking effectively.

Kicker Concerns and Future Outlook

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the concerns about Tyler Loop’s performance as the Ravens’ new kicker.
• Luke notes the importance of Loop’s growth and consistency, comparing his performance to Justin Tucker’s struggles early in the 2023 season.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the potential impact of having a reliable kicker on the team’s success, especially in close games.
• Luke highlights the importance of the Ravens’ preseason games for evaluating Loop’s performance and making any necessary adjustments.

Upcoming Events and Final Thoughts

• Nestor Aparicio shares details about the Maryland crab cake tour and the tastiness tour, including the schedule and locations.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of the Ravens’ upcoming preseason game against the Cowboys and the excitement around it.
• Nestor reflects on the challenges of balancing the crab cake tour with the Ravens’ preseason games and the importance of the team’s performance.
• Nestor and Luke conclude the discussion by emphasizing the need for continued growth and improvement from the Ravens’ players and coaches.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Ravens preseason, Keaton Mitchell, Cooper Rush, Devin Leary, Lamar Jackson, special teams, punt return, kick return, Bilal Kone injury, quarterback play, offensive line, secondary depth, Tyler Loop, Maryland crab cake tour.

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SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 task Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive. It is certainly a an interesting weekend here. As we’re getting through football here and baseball and the Orioles have taken to the field, and the Ravens took to the field, and there were very few people at the game. The Colts were there. I am surprised that a man of my age would look down and see those colts jerseys, and just for a minute like check back a little bit. But we’re gonna be doing the Maryland crab cake tour next week, down in Ocean City. I am out doing my tastiness tour that is taking me a lot of tasty places, and we’re sharing all that. And Luke has been traveling around with the football team. And, man, we talked about Keaton Mitchell, and they talked about Keaton Mitchell. And, you know, I like anything that rhymes with Nestor. I like So Western. I, you know, see him doing his little celebration, running around a little bit, I don’t know. Man, it was preseason football, right? I you know Cooper rush, and not a lot of people there, and the other team’s quarterback got hurt, which gave me the heebie jeebies about the night I was down at the Georgia Dome eating some Hooters wings up in the club level, and Michael Vick’s on his back and a Dallas Thomas. So not a good scene for the Colts.

Luke Jones  01:21

No, it wasn’t. I mean, I don’t have nearly as much interest in that. I mean, it’s dislocated Pinky look, looked a little bit like Brian Baldinger, quite frankly, from a little clip that I saw. But, I mean, they had their quarterback issues. That’s why they’re playing their quarterbacks. They’re trying to figure it out. You know, the the ravens, what we saw is nothing. You better not have anything happen to Lamar Jackson, because Cooper rush and Devin Leary didn’t look like it, right, even as a backup. You know, Cooper rush, you know, we’ve kind of talked about it going back to OTAs, I’m still waiting to see the Cooper rush that we saw in Dallas, which was not Dak Prescott, let’s be clear, but someone that was still able to win them some games. I mean, it’s been kind of underwhelming going back to the spring, but you kind of just named two of the three headlines in my mind from Thursday night’s preseason win over Indianapolis. Your, your, your side point about Indianapolis being in town, how about the fact that the Colts came back to Owings Mills to practice a couple of days ago, and yet it wasn’t even a blip on the radar. It speaks to the fact that we’re 30 years later, right? Well, the Ravens

Nestor Aparicio  02:25

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people wearing j i, were they wearing Jimmy Irsay pins? They might have been. I, it looked that way to me, like Barbara, anybody that had a collar had like, you know, the old respect pin that. But it looked to me like a lot of ravens personnel had it, yeah, well,

Luke Jones  02:43

they, and they did announce and recognize his passing. They put a graphic up on the board. As far as you know, Yuri was born, and the fact that he had passed away, you know, going into this training camp. So there was a recognition there. But, you know, to bring it back onto the field, you mentioned it. Keaton Mitchell, I think the returns on him, as far as how he looked in the spring, how he’s looked early in training camp, were encouraging. But even have having covered 15 plus years of training camp practices in my life, you never really know until you take it to the next step, how does someone look when you get to the first preseason game, how does someone look in the second and third preseason game? How do you look in week one? How do you look in week five? Right? Keith Mitchell made it back last year, but in the limited opportunities that he had, didn’t look like the guy that we saw back in 2023 who was phenomenal. I mean, we’ve talked about it in passing. I’m not sure the Ravens go sign Derrick Henry when they did if Keaton Mitchell doesn’t tear up his knee, that’s how good he looked as a rookie. Now I’m not saying, but that looks in a smart move, and that didn’t work out, because that’d be crazy talk, but it speaks to how well Keaton Mitchell was playing as a rookie. We saw very much some some flashes of him looking a lot like that. Obviously had 220 plus yard runs. The touchdown run was well blocked. I think any back you know worth his salt scores, or at least gets inside the five there. But it was his 20 plus yard run a couple plays before that where he showed some good vision to bounce outside and took off. So that was good to see La johnte Wester, who the Ravens drafted in the sixth round out of Colorado. Deonna. That’s a great name there. That’s, you know, he is John Day Western and a productive player at Colorado, but the Ravens really drafted him for his punt return ability. And I have to give pro football focus credit for this. I did not see this right away, but I saw this as I was waking up early Friday morning to kind of go over and see what had been written about it. His 87 yard punt return for a touchdown, more punt return yards than any single return. Returner the Ravens had last year. That’s talking total, like total return yards for tylen Wallace as a punt returner, or, you know, Deontay Hardy, or what Steven Sims. I you know, they had four or five, six different guys return punts last year, none of them in memorable fashion. So

Nestor Aparicio  05:19

just been diminished to me. It has like these kickoffs are, are weird, and they’re, you know, we’re not. There is an excitement level of that play, and I will hear head trauma all day long. I’ll always take the side of, let’s have less head trauma as I get older. And friends of mine who played this game, I can’t speak to them anymore because of head trauma, so I view it differently. But it’s changed the game in that way, and it’s changed the value of, I go back to a Jermaine Lewis, or to, you know, even 12 years ago with Jacoby Jones, the value of having that kind of an explosive return, or I’m a billy white shoes Johnson guy from back in the day, and Howard Stevens is coming back for the 75 Colts. They’re doing a reunion next month. So, and I thought about Marshall Johnson, who was a returner of my youth that I always cheered for try to make the team back in the Bert Jones era. But, yeah, you know, it was a swashbuckling thing, right? I mean, for, I mean, we had a Hall of Famer here for half a minute, and Devin, Devin Hester, right? Another thing that rhyme with Nestor and Wester, so but, but I don’t know that that’s going to exist in the game anymore, right? Like, like Jim Palmer going 358, sir, you know. I mean, it just feels like it’s being phased out of the game. The importance of it?

Luke Jones  06:42

Well, I don’t know so much about the punt return. I mean, the punt return is still very similar to how it’s always been. The kick return we’ve seen change dramatically. You can always kick away from a punt return 50 years. But the reality is, the Ravens just haven’t had very good punt returners in recent years. I mean, they just haven’t. They’ve had guys who, at best, are what, tylen Wallace and and I know tylen Wallace did have a return, you know, a couple years ago, so I want to acknowledge that. But for the most part, you know, you have to go back to DuVernay. Probably do Rene’s first or second year, you know, obviously he started to decline and wasn’t quite as explosive his last year or so, I guess after that foot injury that he had in his next to last year as a raven, I’m trying to get all my years, keep all my years straight, but, but Western, I mean that that was explosive. I mean, you saw that’s something where you say, okay, just catch the ball kid, because you can run. I mean, you could see the vision. They also blocked well too. I will give Chris Horton’s a punt return unit some credit, and kick return unit as well, because rasheen Ali had a long kick return as well. But you know, that’s something that they were lacking last year. They were not lacking very much last year, once they got their defense figured out midway through the season, and their past defense was better after they benched Marcus Williams, they benched Eddie Jackson, they made the changes they did with our Darius Washington coming in and Hamilton playing off the ball more frequently. But one area where they never really figured things out was special teams. Tucker was a big part of that with his struggles the first two thirds of the of the season, but they just weren’t impactful to the way that to the degree that you always expect a John Harbaugh coached special teams unit, you know, and Chris Horton, but John Harbaugh, with his background, you always expect that to be a big priority. And it just wasn’t a particularly strong special teams unit by

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Nestor Aparicio  08:39

any may go back to the, you know, Billick putting Ed Reed back there, and Harbaugh putting Ed Reed back there, and say, make a play, you know. And it feels like that hasn’t been as much of their game. But I don’t think it’s as much of the game either. You know, in a general sense that we’re going to have Hall of Fame returners, because half the game’s kind of been taken away, kind of,

Luke Jones  09:00

yeah, yeah. I mean, I again, I mean, I think that’s more of a kick return thing, but I think there’s still opportunities on the punt return side. Now, have punters gotten better? If teams been more leery about kicking to high impact return specialists? I think there’s probably some validity that

Nestor Aparicio  09:15

all the Ravens like a punt in fourth and six will go, you know,

Luke Jones  09:19

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sure, yeah. I mean, on that side, but they’ve been looking for this and Wester, it was a heck of a debut. Now, he also was the only one who did anything in the passing game for them. I mean, obviously, you know, if we want to get to more negative impact, first of all, the unfortunate knee injury to Bilal Kone, their six round cornerback, ugly in real time. Just watching it from the press box. I know there’s video out there for people to go review it, you could tell right away that that was serious. They you know, they were close to the tunnel. They brought the card out right away. They put his left leg in an air cast. John Harbaugh already confirmed torn ligaments. He’s out for the year. Unfortunate. Do I think he was going to. A major impact on the 2025 Ravens. No, I mean, it was a six round pick. The fact that they drafted two corners in the sixth round already was leading to some roster questions as far as, all right, are you going to keep both those guys? What does that mean for Jalen armor Davis, who I thought played well on Thursday night, as he should, as a fourth year corner going up against, you know, more backups and whatnot in a preseason opener, but now with con a done that probably paves the way for Jalen armor Davis, if he’s healthy, which has been the story of his career, unfortunately, probably makes him all but a lock to make the roster at this point. And you’re going to see opportunities for other guys in terms of filling out the back right? They they sat their top four corners, Marlon Humphrey, a woozy a Jair Alexander and Nate Wiggins. They sat out on Thursday night, and smartly, you know, I agree with that tactic, but unfortunate with Kone. I mean, that was, it was ugly and it’s painful. I mean, you’re talking about a kid in his first NFL game, and he had a little bit of a shoulder issue to start camp, but, you know, it seemed like he was finally starting to get going. I mean, he had good coverage on that play. I mean, he was right there as a third down play that held them to a field goal. But so that was a bummer to see. And you know, I mentioned it in passing, but you know, just the quarterback play in the passing game, it’s not Lamar. You know, Cooper rush isn’t going to be Lamar. You know, Devin Leary is not going to be Lamar. You know that they sat their top three wide receivers, but, I mean, John Harbaugh, it was so bad that, I mean, go listen to, you know, you can go to Baltimore positive.com and listen to Harbaugh’s post game, and we’ll certainly have it on our airwaves throughout the weekend, but he almost, I don’t want to say he was making fun of it, but he kind of is just like, man, what’s the record for the fewest passing yards in a preseason game? I mean, you could tell he wasn’t, like, going out of his way to crush those guys, but you could tell he wasn’t pleased with the quarterback play.

Nestor Aparicio  12:01

I mean, there is a point where, like, have you practiced? You guys have been out there, you know, for a couple of weeks. You can’t make a first down, make a play fast.

Luke Jones  12:09

And I would also say, you know, the past protection that, at times, left something to be desired. I mean, the Ravens did play three of their

Nestor Aparicio  12:18

starters. Oh, I saw Rosengarten out there running around early. And I, you know,

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Luke Jones  12:22

the fall Lele played where, I mean, he got run over. Oh, on that. I mean that that one was easy to see. Man, that’s not going to be fun for him to go over that with, with the coaches, you know, as they’re reviewing the film. So, so there were certainly things to work on. This was certainly not a perfect performance. But you also think about it in the context of how many guys they said. I mean, they had five projected starters playing on Thursday night. The three guys on the offensive line, Rosengarten follow and Andrew Voorhees, by the way, Voorhees couple really nice blocks, including the block on the touchdown for Keaton Mitchell. So those three played. And then on defense, obviously, Malachi Starks is going to play, you know, as a rookie, he played, and, you know, I thought did some nice things, and we saw Trenton Simpson play and play a lot, you know. And if there’s another area, I wouldn’t say these guys played poorly. But was it really, until the undrafted rookie in the fourth quarter, Jay Higgins, that they had any kind of splash plays from their linebackers. So that’s still, you’re still looking to see more from Trenton Simpson. You’re looking to see, okay, can Teddy Buchanan, their fourth round rookie? Can he push him at all? I thought it was kind of a quiet night for those guys, so, but pick it after the quarterback enough to hurt him the front, did the front did? I mean, I’m talking about the inside linebacker play, where I just thought it was quiet, right? I didn’t think, you know, you didn’t see someone make 11 tackles, right? I mean, you didn’t see someone like, Who is that, right? I mean, where we’ve even seen that, like I said, it was the the undrafted rookie Jay Higgins, late in the game, who, you know, had the pick, had a batted pass, and had a big hit, you know, kind of a Ray Lewis, like hit. It was clean, but it was a hard hit over the middle. So what you don’t, you don’t see very many of those anymore, but so, you know, I mean, I think overall, obviously, the headliners that you mentioned are the major takeaways here. It’s a preseason game. We’re going to talk about this, and then we’re going to forget about it by you about it by Wednesday of next week, or now, right? I mean, I was going to be a little more diplomatic, but the reality is, I mean, the only thing of real, certain consequence is the injury, right? Bilal Kone, who, like I said, wasn’t going to be a guy that did much more than maybe special teams. You hope, right? I mean, you hope you don’t have a run of injuries where he was going to have to play this year, but some unfortunate for him, because they like him. I mean, they, they thought in the sixth round, they they had a guy who could, could develop into outside depth guy, and he still could, you. But it’s unfortunate, right? I mean, it’s not just the injury, it’s all that missed developmental time. Now we saw that with David ojabo, who did have a sack early on, unblocked on the play. I’m not sure. You can’t really take much away from that, other than good for David ajabo In that moment. But you know, it’s just anytime you lose a player you’re reminded of it’s preseason, and yes, guys have to get ready for football by playing football. You can’t just put them in bubble wrap, but it does reiterate and remind you why. Yeah, the Ravens keep their start, their established starters out of harm’s way, and just say, hey, practices joint practice with the Colts that we had on Tuesday, that’s good enough, right? And we’ll see them in a couple weeks. They’ll have a joint practice again, with the commanders. That’s the most valuable work at this point in time, in 2025 for established starters. But you can’t rest everybody, right? And that’s where it’s unfortunate for, you know, a kid who think there was some promise there still is. Again, I don’t want to make it sound like his career is over, but, man, if you’re squeamish, don’t go back and look

Nestor Aparicio  16:10

at that, because I remember the Anthony Poindexter injury 25 years ago. And it’s that sort of player, that kind of guy, that you’re hoping that he can be a real contributor, especially at a position where deep depth is. You know what it’s all about? Luke Jones will be out on the practice fields the next couple of weeks. The Orioles are doing whatever they’re doing. I tell you what I’m doing, the Maryland crab cake tour. And I’m doing the tastiness 27th anniversary of what we’ve been doing around here. I have the lucky sevens double, I guess because of our 27th anniversary sort of makes sense, as well as the pressure lock with the Whammy, we will have the Raven scratch offs by the end of the month. We’re gonna be doing the show everywhere. But I’m in Ocean City next week, and I gotta say this, Luke, I go down to Ocean City Wednesday for for Mako, they have a bunch of events. A lot of them involve alcohol and chicken wings and beach and girls and sandals and music and secrets and figures and like all that stuff. And then Thursday, Friday, I work at the convention center, which is it really like the Super Bowl, sort of except that it’s Maryland people and people saying, Hello, but it’s in a convention hall. It’s 20 degrees. The hockey games on. It’s 92 outside. Your classes fog up when you walk out. You need a sweatshirt all day. Then you walk out, when you walk out, you’re like, I don’t really want to look at girls. I don’t really want to go to the boardwalk. I don’t really want to be around people so that. So you do all of that. And then Saturday, I’m driving home, and every day I’m picking up some tastiness things over on the eastern shore that I’ve learned that taste really good, that people should stop and get. And Saturday I’m coming home, and I’m like, Yeah, I’m coming home, and in my calendar it says ravens at cowboys. And I’m thinking the second one, and I’m thinking, Am I really going to build my Saturday night around around this next week? You’re like, well, we’ll forget about this soon. Or Now we mentioned the the injury, unfortunately. And I’m thinking, Well, there’s two more of these. I didn’t build my night around it on Thursday night, but a lot of people did, and they were excited about it, all the bars and specials and stuff like that. And I’m thinking maybe somebody put on a Lamar jersey and went out to a bar, but nobody went to the game. I just, you know, I do wonder what the takeaways are when they’re a bunch of guys that I we sit here and Keith Mitchell talk about Starks, I guess we could talk about Tyler loop, right, you know, and a couple of and the injury. But other than that, there never is much to pick from these things ever, even when they’re in Dallas,

Luke Jones  18:45

yeah. I mean, it’s always, you know, they’re little bits and pieces, right? I mean, I’m not going to sit here and lose my mind because the the passing game looked horrible with Devin Leary. He’s, he’s the third string quarterback. He’s going to be on the practice squad at best, right? I mean, what I’d like to have seen a little more from Cooper rush, sure, but even then, you know how my feelings on backup quarterbacks and and investing many resources? I mean, it’s a losing investment, right? I mean, you can spend all this money on your backup quarterback, but when you have a quarterback like a Lamar Jackson, like a Josh Allen, like a Patrick mahomes, like a Joe burrow, that guy goes down your seasons, like you’re just, I still think Matt Schaub could have got it done. Joe had gone down. So, yeah, he didn’t. He had his chance that year, although they were already, season was already lost by then, but, but yeah, so that’s where you’re, you’re just, you’re looking for standouts, right? I want to see like, for example, I’ll give you a good one. I thought Mike Green looked good in his first preseason action. But you know what? If he’s going up against second and third team guys, he better look good. I He better stand out in that scenario, right? Not saying he has to have five sacks and and look like Lawrence Taylor in that setting. But I want to see some signs that, okay, this guy has a chance. Chance to be an impactful player as a rookie, and I absolutely think he does. He’s at a really nice camp.

Nestor Aparicio  20:05

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That’s why baseball has Norfolk for Kobe mayo, right? No question, right. I mean, if

Luke Jones  20:09

you’re a top prospect, you should break a triple A, right? I mean, there’s

Nestor Aparicio  20:13

even the NBA. People watch this developmental league in the summer and stuff like that. That’s kind of what it’s about. So, so

Luke Jones  20:18

that’s what you’re kind of looking for, right? I mean, I if you’re looking like for this cohesive productivity and like in the offense to look like the Lamar led offense that we see once the season kicks off for real, of course not. I mean, you don’t have the same guys out there, but what you saw from Keaton Mitchell early on that looked like that can play now he how much is he going to get the ball? I mean, you have Derrick Henry. I’m not going to sit here and suggest you get the ball to Derrick Henry less. I mean, I think you in a big picture sense, you’d probably like to not have Derrick Henry carrying the ball 30 times a game in September and October, especially, two in the third fourth quarter. No question. So you already have him. Justice Hill is the third down back, and I don’t think that’s going to change, because he’s better with Blitz pickup receiver out of the backfield, but I do think the ravens, I think it would be, you know, I don’t want to say it would be dumb, but I think it would behoove them to find a way to get Keith Mitchell at least five touches a game, you know, in some in some way. I mean, and it’s not always going to be that many. Sometimes it’ll be more than that,

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Nestor Aparicio  21:23

if it’s but if you’re in a speed package on the field, if you’re going to put zay flowers on the field, Keaton Mitchell on the field, Hill on the field, Lamar is always on the field.

Luke Jones  21:35

Maybe throw maybe, based on what we saw Thursday night, maybe la johnte Wester gets a five plays a game, and there’s a speed

Nestor Aparicio  21:42

pack when all of that happens, you know, maybe it’s D hop going across the middle, you know, that actually makes the play. But man, if you got first off the quarterback being that kind of a weapon always is a problem for for every team. It has been for eight years now. I don’t expect that not to be a problem. But to me, I look I loved Eric Henry. I love run the ball up your ass. They’re going to need to do that in Buffalo, you know. But I also like against certain teams and certain packages that play a little heavier to say we can create mismatches by bringing their Jalen armor Davises onto the field.

Luke Jones  22:19

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No question. I mean, it’s it Todd monkin talks about this so much. And other you know, Greg Roman talked about it. Did they ever really do it? No, but monkin talks about this a lot. It’s diversifying your portfolio as much as possible, right? I mean, can you play with speed? Can you play heavy? Can you play two tights? Can you play three wide receivers? Can you play pony where you, you know, you’re in 22 personnel? And maybe you have some instances where you do thunder and lightning, and you have Derrick Henry and Keaton Mitchell in the backfield on a given, you know, given play, or a given pack, but you always have that the quarterback could take off, no question, right? I mean, that’s, it’s the great equalizer, right? It’s the, it’s the great eraser for playing chess with two queens. Yeah, we’ve talked about that, and that’s why I’ve always said, look, I mean, I’m not going to sit here and say that Lamar should seek out running 15 times a game, but if you’re in a position where a defense really has bottled you up and figured out your game plan, man, it’s nice to have it in your bag, right? I mean, it’s, it’s a golfer who has every single club in the bag for every situation. I mean, that’s what you want with your offense. That’s what you want to be able to do now. You have to have the offensive line to to execute all of that, right? You know whether you’re going to, you know, pass protect, you know passport, obviously, pass protection or run blocking. But even with run blocking, I mean, are you going to do gap manpower? Is it going to be outside zone? All of that you want to be as multiple, as diverse as you can be? And it really feels like and it felt this way last year. I mean, this offense was unbelievable last year. I mean, wasn’t just Derek. Henry Lamar threw for over 4000 yards for the first time in his career. I mean, go, look at his yards per attempt, the fact that he had 41 touchdowns to, what, four interceptions. I mean, it can’t get any better than that on paper, really. You know, it’s not necessarily that this offense, I think I’m predicting it to be better statistically. But can it be even more diversified? Can it find a couple more ways to beat you. You know, one thing that we’ve talked about in passing, and I’ve written about it at Baltimore positive.com they’ve worked a lot with cadence. You know, that’s something that they’ve talked about as maybe a next level step for them, is diversifying their pre snap cadence a little bit. I mean, think about it. You always go on one the defense figures that out pretty quickly too, right? And it can give them a little bit of an advantage and you a disadvantage. So can you diversify your cadence? Now, the problem with that is, if your guys can, can’t handle that, what’s going to happen? You’re gonna have more false starts and more illegal motions. So that’s something they’ve been working through here the first couple weeks of camp. Will they get so good at it? That they’re going to be a team that really relies on varying their cadence more than in the past. We’ll see. They might have to scrap it because they have had a lot of false start penalties the first two and a half weeks of camp. But it’s something they’re working on, right? It’s something new, and that’s why Keaton Mitchell being back to the guy he was prior to the knee injury, that’s another element to their offense that they didn’t have last year, and that’s, you know, that’s scary for for the opposition to to realize that. And again, it’s not that Keaton Mitchell is going to get a ton of touches in this offense, but he might get four or five, and he might take off for 50 yards on one of those right at a time when Derrick Henry’s not in the game, and that’s where a defense, you know, subconsciously, probably thinks they’re going to, they’re going to relax a little bit when Derek Henry’s not in right? But you hand it to Keaton Mitchell, the boy that could be a different dynamic for them. So, you know, those are the things you’re just you’re trying to figure out. I mean, let’s face it, I mean, on the other side, you have Indianapolis, who’s trying to figure this out with their early first round pick from a couple of years ago, who, to this point, has been able to stay healthy, and when he has, he hasn’t been good, right? Daniel Jones has already failed in New York, right? I mean, he’s not even with the Giants, having paid him, you know, not a top of market deal, but paying them real money, and it didn’t work out. They’re trying to figure that out. So even with some of their good supporting cast that they might have, and they have got some talent, I mean, Warren their tight end out of Penn State. I mean, certainly a guy, I think that’s going to help whoever’s playing quarterback, but that’s a team that’s trying to figure out who the heck they are. Right now, the Ravens know who they are. It’s why they didn’t have to play many of their starters. But you’re still trying to tweak and test things out. Well, you’re trying to find a level of competition to get better, right? Yeah, no questions, no question. But, but again, to go back to your point, there aren’t these major, sweeping takeaways, but if you can pull a few things here and there that you like, and then yeah, a few things here and there that you don’t like, like I said, I mean, I I still have questions about off ball linebacker other than roquan Smith, right? And I think a solution for that ultimately is going to be they’re probably not going to play a ton with two linebackers on the field. I’m guessing you’re going to see them be in dime more than your typical team in 2025 even, would have been more with they had their Darius Washington too. Sure, no question. And that’s part of that’s why I still this comes

Nestor Aparicio  27:33

to where Starks and where Hamilton learn the art of the craft of communication and being more multiple, and that’s hard for young football players, but it’s not hard for young, smart football players. Boy, they’ve really in their broadcast and with the partners and Jerry Sandusky and wood Woodson and and Evan really have blown a lot of smoke towards Stark so have you that I see Starks on the back of the jersey there, and the 24 I think, little bit of Foxworth, but not really Dwayne. You know, I see numbers and names in the early going. And when you get to be as old as I am, and you’ve seen them all, I just look, and I’m like, I’m going to be looking for him early on, and I’m going to be looking for Wiggins, quite frankly. Sure you know what I mean, I want to see that step up for the back end of the secondary. You know, I want to see him pick Josh Allen twice. I want to see him strip a ball. I want to see him make a play. You don’t want to see him not get beat. I want to see him get off the field on third down. So, I mean, I am expecting the secondary to be a strength to this football team, right?

Luke Jones  28:37

It better be, right. I mean, they’ve put a lot of resources into it. When you think about all the first round picks, right? You think about, I mean, even, and not that Jair Alexander is making a lot of money. I mean, there’s a reason why he was available in mid June for

Nestor Aparicio  28:50

high expectation. Guy around here, Hopkins, is better or worse.

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Luke Jones  28:55

I mean, Alexander the ceilings sky high. Hopkins, I don’t think he’s a high ceiling guy at this point, but I think he still goes back to what I said. He can win on the outside. He can win some contested catches. Still, he can be another option for them in the red zone. They don’t need DeAndre Hopkins to be the guy he was in Houston, the 1500 yard receiver, and that’s good, because he’s not that guy, that guy anymore. But can he help and compliment what zay flowers does and what Rashad Bateman does, can he step into a bigger role if something happens to those guys, which, that was a big key in Buffalo, they didn’t have zay flowers because of a, you know, he had a three week knee injury at the worst possible time, right? So you want to have more depth. So, but, but, yeah, I mean, this goes back to, how do you get a little bit better? And the secondary, there’s a lot of focus on that. Obviously, the secondary played so much better down the stretch last year, but they knew they needed to fix the safety position. They knew they needed to address corner because they didn’t really want to resign Brandon Stevens after a pretty disappointing year. But, you know, they’ve gone out and they’ve done that, but in. Case of Starks. I think one everything you just said is true. They are. I mean, that’s why they loved him so much as a player. I mean, this guy was a star, you know, stud, Captain, Red Star, kind of guy at Georgia, which, I mean, if you pay any attention to college football in recent years, I mean, that’s a that’s as great as it gets, as far as a program and a defense, so they like that element, and he’s come in, doesn’t have the safety net. Now, right? I mean that when they drafted him, they thought he was going to be the number three safety, because they had our Darius Washington, so he had a safety net. He doesn’t have that. But to this point, he’s handled it, I think, mentally and the maturity for him at his age, I think they are over the moon about those elements. That’s not to say that he’s not going to have some hiccups. I mean, Kyle Hamilton had some hiccups his first half of his rookie year, but can you limit those? And then I think as the year goes on, and I I still think, before it’s all said and done, there’s still a decent chance they’re going to add a veteran safety to at least be the number three guy. You know, the Eddie Jackson role that didn’t work out at all last year, but you know the idea of what that was, so I still think that’s on the table over these next three weeks. But you know, we’re, I mean, we’re still a month out from the season, right? I mean, it feels close, but it’s not that close just yet, so you have some time to kind of workshop that you know in the meanwhile. In the meantime, they’re looking at Sanusi Kane, they’re looking at bow braid, so they’re looking at some of their internal options. But I think the key is, yes, Starks needs to hold up, but if he proves he can do that as the year goes on. And I think from a looking at it from a long term perspective, I think they feel that he’s not, no, he’s not exactly like Kyle Hamilton. And that would be unfair to compare him to Kyle Hamilton, let alone Ed Reed, right? I mean, like anything crazy, but I do think when you look at how he profiled, I mean, he played a ton of nickel last year for Georgia. I mean, they they kind of had a need, and he did that. I think the Ravens feel that as he gets more comfortable, they’ll be able to move those two guys around and just get back to that optimal positionless defense that I’ve talked about a lot, where you know whether you have four, whether you have five, whether you have six guys in the secondary. I’ve seen the Ravens not do it often, but I’ve seen them have a few plays here and there with a quarter defense where they have seven defensive backs on the field during training camp. Well, the game is also not designed to be so heavy up front in the running game. In most places, we have Derek Henry. We rarely saw Derrick Henry or Derrick Henry like offenses where you’re like, Hey, man, we’re light in the back. If we put seven DBS on the field, we’re going to get run over. That’s not really the case with these DBS either, right? And that would be a little bit more, as we saw Rob Woodson in the press box. When rod, you know, moved to a safety, safety got bigger, safety got stronger, you know, and Ed Reed was a small ish safety, but had no problem coming up trying to tackle you until he couldn’t anymore, until his shoulder wasn’t any good. But having guys that aren’t going to get run over by Derek Henry, most of them are going to get run over by Derek Henry, but you know, I’m saying, in regard to heavy backs, that’s not the game of football anymore. The game of football is draft a bunch of safeties that that are two way and have a play sort of like a linebacker, right? I mean, and that’s, I think, the ravens, and they’re still not there that yet, because, like I said, they’re still working through who’s going to be their number three safety. I mean, Sanusi Kane has had a nice spring and start to summer. I think there’s potential there. I’m not ready to sit here and say that he’s the kind of guy that’s ready to play 30 snaps a game, or whatever it would be, as the third safety that comes on the field when you go into dime or just three safety nickel, as the ravens are apt to do. You know, other than last year, where they just had so many problems at safety. So so, you know, you still figure that out, but that’s what you want out of, out of a defense. And look, let me be clear, I don’t think they’re going to be in a quarter defense with seven defensive backs that often. I don’t you know that’s kind of extreme, but I do think they’ll be in dime quite a bit. And what you want is you want six defensive backs or five defensive backs that can all kind of do the same things, right? I mean, there were times last year, you know, the last couple years, there were times where, okay, Marlon Humphrey is playing the nickel. You know, he’s playing the slot, but you go and look at the play and how they flip their coverage and disguise their coverage, even after the snap. There were plays where Marlon Humphrey played safety, right? I mean, there are plays where we’ve seen it Kyle Hamilton is playing nickel, or he’s point rushing from the edge, or he’s blitzing up the middle. I mean, you want to have that kind of again, going back to what I said about Todd monk, and with the offense, you’re diversifying your look. You’re diversifying where guys are playing, you know, you drop in the cover three, but who exactly are the three guys dropping, right? I mean, so, you know, into those deep thirds, right? And who, who’s playing man, or who’s coming off their guy and blitzing the quarterback untouched. I mean, it’s, you know, it’s more complicated than that, but that’s what you’re looking for, right? That positionless defense, where you say, No, this isn’t having a free safety, a strong safety, two outside corners and a nickel, although there’ll certainly times where it’s where it’s that simple, but it’s, we’ve got five guys back there, and we’re gonna, we’re gonna confuse you, right? I mean, a big part of what they want to do on either side is to put the opponent in stress, you know, in a stressful setting, right in the same way that the Ravens with Lamar Jackson and Derek Henry at the mesh point, or whatever they’re trying to do offensively, they are putting a heck of a lot of stress on those linebackers to know where to go. And in the NFL, you take a half false step. That’s the difference between a two yard gain and someone going for 25 in this offense, or 50, right? I mean, it’s that simple. So, and it’s the same thing with opposing quarterbacks. You make them doubt the coverage that they’re seeing in front of them for an extra half second, or they’ve got to pat the ball. You know, they’re they’re double pumping, and they’re not sure that’s the difference between someone maybe intercepting a pass or the pass rush, which I we saw them be fantastic in terms of collecting sacks last year. But if you looked at pressure rate, it was a little more middling. And, you know, I think anyone knows, in recent years, when the Ravens have been in a position where their defense, their best defense, is rushing for it doesn’t go as well, generally speaking. But that right there, if you can deceive in the back end of the defense that gives Kyle van Noy or adoff A away, or Mike Green or namdi Mada BK, that extra half of a second to get to the quarterback. And, you know, hit, hit the quarterback as he throws. It’s incomplete, gets knocked up in the air strip sack, rather than just a quarterback hit, right? I mean, so there’s, you know, there’s a chain effect here, right? I mean, everything that happens at any point in the defense will impact others in a positive either a positive way or a negative way. So, you know, they’re, they’re working all that out. But, I mean, the potential is sky high. I mean, it absolutely is. There’s, there’s only a few positions on either side of the ball that I have great, you know, I don’t even know if great concern, relative concern, is probably the best way to put it. I mean, O, line depth, probably some D line depth, you know. But beyond behind their starters, a little bit of a question there. Third, number three, safety, inside linebacker, you know, other you know better. Not have anything happen to roquan Smith, because, you know, I mean these young guys, you know, are they? Are they ready, right? Kicker, you know, and obviously kicker right, which? Tyler loop missed the first one wide left. You know, that’s kind of how he’s missed kind of, kind of strange, because that’s the way Justin Tucker was missing last year. I’m not saying it’s the same exact issue, but he came back, and then ball, yeah, and then hit one from, from 52 that that looked really good, right? I mean, I don’t think one field goal Miss suddenly means, oh my gosh. They need to bring in a veteran. But you want to see improvement, you want to see growth, you want to see more consistency, right? And, you know, like last

Nestor Aparicio  38:30

I must say, right now. I mean, I never liked Justin Tucker. We can go through all the transgressions, but they’re not going to get a kicker like

Luke Jones  38:37

him. I mean, in his prime. I mean, how can you expect that? I mean, I don’t know how that’s going to happen this look, he and that’s not to say Tyler loop could end up being the best kicker in football over the next five years, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to be Justin Tucker in his prime, right? I mean, let’s be clear, part of this that made it easier to move on from Justin Tucker beyond all the off field transgressions and ugliness and all of that is the fact that he’s coming off his worst year as a kicker, right? I mean, okay, he figured it out late in the season, but we were talking about the possibility of them bringing in someone to

Nestor Aparicio  39:12

8

at least, wasn’t going to be ascending, he wasn’t going to be getting better as a kicker. Yeah.

Luke Jones  39:17

I mean, that’s just, you know, that that’s the reality. So, I mean, in the case of Tyler loop. Part of that is, can you be better than what Justin Tucker was through the first 11 games last year. He was bad through the first 11 games last year. So the first question is, can you be better than that, right? So if he can answer that, then okay, we have somebody better be better than that. Because, right? I mean, he’ll Exactly. They’ll bring in another kicker. I mean, he’s a six round pick. I’ve said this over and over. I was saying this when they still had John Hoyland in camp. You know Hoyland? You could tell hoiland’s leg wasn’t nearly as strong as loops, but six round pick, you know that that’s not a threshold that you’re absolutely going to keep a guy. They didn’t this isn’t as though they drafted Sebas. Janikowski in the first round, right? And you’re kind of stuck with

Nestor Aparicio  40:03

it. I went through Graham Gano and Steve house, because these things happen, but,

Luke Jones  40:07

but I, but I to a man, I think they really do, like this kid. He’s got a really, I mean, the leg strength is not a question. He made a, you know, 6060, plus yarder at the stadium practice the other day, you know, he the leg strength is not a question. And for the most part, he’s performed in practice. I mean, he’s had a he had one, one really rough day back in the spring. He had another day in the spring that it was, you know, kind of like Thursday night, you know, he made one, missed one. And he had one, one camp practice, you know, probably the first week that he wasn’t great. Other than that, he’s been excellent. So you need to see growth. You need to remove those from the equation, right? You can’t have one of those days when you’re playing buffalo or Kansas City. We know that, but that was also part of their issue last year. I mean, for as much as we talk about them not getting off to a great start last year and the games that they lost, go look at some of those games. You know, the Eagles game, Tucker missed multiple kicks. The Steelers game, Miss kick. I mean, go down the list of the games they lost. Justin. Tucker had a hand in a few of those. So Tyler loop. Can he be a legitimate NFL kicker? Can he be an average NFL kicker? Can he be an above average NFL kicker, asking any more than that? I mean, you hope he can be better than that eventually, but I also recognize he’s a rookie, right? And to your point, you can’t put the burden on him thinking that he’s going to be peak prime Justin Tucker, right? I mean that that’s unreasonable, because that guy, that means he’s gonna miss some kicks, yeah, that means he’s gonna miss some kicks. But to your point, you talked about this, talking about the punting game more. So you’re also in a position, and the Ravens have been in a position in recent years. They haven’t relied on Justin Tucker as heavily as they did in the past. So there’s gonna be some of that as well. Yeah, fourth and

8

Nestor Aparicio  42:03

three from the 31 well, you know? I mean, I know Tucker can make it, but we’re

Luke Jones  42:06

going to score touchdowns. Yeah? I mean, fourth and fourth and one. It’s like, okay, yeah, we could have Tucker try a 50 yard field goal, but we’ve got Derek, Henry and Lamar Jackson, we’re going to get the first down and score a touchdown in three plays, right? So there’s still going to be that at work, but that is part of what we’re continuing to look at and monitor, and it’s why you’re seeing the daily updates from everyone who’s out knowing mills. Oh, you know, loop was six for six today. Oh, he was five for six. Oh, he was four for four, right? I mean, not keeping stats like that on Lamar Jackson, right? I mean, we know what Lamar is, but in the case of Tyler loop, yeah, they’re trying to figure it out. Disappointing to see him missed the first one, but did come back and make the second one in rock solid fashion. So next time, you know, as they’re getting ready to go to Dallas and you know, be kicking in a dome, you want to see, you want to see that leg play, right? I mean, they’re going to be facing a really good kicker, because what Aubrey is maybe the best in football. I mean, certainly has the best leg in football at this point. You know, for Dallas, one of the, one of the few things I actually like about their team at this point in time, given the mess they are. But, you know, you won’t, you want to see loop take the next step. And, you know, not let the the Miss on Thursday night, you know, kind of linger. And he already was able to make the second one on Thursday night, so that was good to see as

Nestor Aparicio  43:24

well. All right, Luke is going to be monitoring all things, fake football, real practice, real Orioles baseball as well as we get through. And it’s just been tough, man, last place baseball in Philadelphia. There you’re going west coast and soon here, getting a scorecard out all of that, and then getting your scorecard out for these preseason games, including the Dallas game next Saturday, which I’m like, Am I really going to build a set? I’ll be worn out by next Saturday, because we’re doing the Maryland crab cake tour all week long. We’ll be at Mako. We are doing our tastiness tour as well. And I’m fine. It’s a great tasting. It’s 27 my legitimate 27 favorite things to eat. I’m doing the countdown into the weekend. I’ve gotten people catch on already. I had a friend. I went to dinner at Costas with a friend last week, her husband, and she wanted me to tell her what the 27 things? I’m like, No, I’m not going to tell you that. You gotta follow along and then, like, we have a two days into it, and she’s like, jerk hot. Towson, wow, this is fun. I’m going to follow along. I’m like, what was the whole point? I’m an old radio Carney. Is what I am. It’s the Luke. It’s the slow season. Don’t tell anyone last place baseball, preseason football. But I have real lottery tickets to give away lucky sevens as well as as well as the Whammy and pressure luck, we’re gonna be out at Coco’s cost this I’ll give the whole schedule here, because I somebody hit me the other day like, Yeah, you didn’t put the schedule up, and I was going to be a Beaumont this week. We punted on Beaumont. Speaking of kicking, we punted on Beaumont into September when Evan Brown. Could join us, and we lost a couple of our guests this week as well. We’re going to be faithless on the 21st we’re going to be pizza John’s on the 22nd in Essex. We’re going to be at Costa sentimonium on the 25th we’re going to be at slant in Fells Point on the 26th and we’re going to be a Cocos in Laravel on the 27th so we bunched them all together, and we’re getting ready for the football season. I’m going to be in Mako in Ocean City next week, and we’re eating good here in the neighborhood. I am Nestor. He’s Luke. We are W NSD and 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive in our new sponsorship with GBMC that you’ll be hearing about, that means I need to make a doctor’s appointment.