After the first look at the new and younger (and cheaper) offensive line of the Baltimore Ravens, Luke Jones and Nestor can only say it needs to improve for the running and passing game of Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry to be truly effective.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
offensive line, run, ravens, lamar, play, week, teams, game, oyster, luke, talking, thursday night, touchdowns, lele, orioles, yards, ball, friday, thought, terms
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:02
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, Towson, Baltimore, Baltimore, positive and am, 1570 i Thereโs a whole like am dial on your car. Just make us the whole AM. Now thatโs all. Make it. I can be number six. I donโt need to be number one or number two. Just make us number six. Weโre number six. Make us number five. Like Brooks, Robinson and Joe Flacco, thatโs fine. Just set a spot for us, because it is football season. It is baseball season. Luke is about to join us. Itโs all brought to my friends at the Maryland lottery. I have the Gold Rush seven stumblers. I will have these on Friday when we do the Fells Point oyster festival. Weโre doing 26 oysters in 26 days and 26 ways. Luke, I had an oyster in Hamden that was a fried oyster fritter on a Benedict of French toast with a poached egg. And I know youโre thinking like, maybe not. I looked at it on the menu like a deviled egg. I thought, maybe not. I ordered it and it was it, if anything is better than that. Later this month. From the oyster tour, I want come see me as Joe Flacco would say. I want to know about it so our friends at and you know, I now have a prop for this. Luke liberty, pure solutions. Theyโve been providing our water forever. I now actually have a prop. I have a shirt too. See your 1-800-253-2692, if you canโt remember that, just 800 clean water, 800 clean water. Liberty, pure solutions takes care of all of our water needs, all of our plumbing needs. But more than that, if you have well water, Iโm that guy. Want to stay healthy well stay safe. Liberty, pure Solutions does that Jiffy Lube. Multi care gets Luke back and forth from Owings Mills to Camden Yards and his palatial estate somewhere near Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania, our friends at Royal farms, putting the gas in Jiffy Lube, making sure things are happening. And we call these wise conversations because we were wise enough to take Sunday off after Thursdayโs loss and extra days extra time theyโre still owing one. I got a lot of football in me on Sunday, and itโs a long season around here, Luke, but itโs no fun being on one for any of the teams that lost this week. Yeah, itโs not
Luke Jones 02:10
I would say this having watched as much of the action as I could, having also been at Camden Yards covering the Orioles lose two out of three to the reigns. Iโm just
Nestor Aparicio 02:19
saying if you had Roku, you could have stayed home.
Luke Jones 02:24
I kind of wish I had, based on how the Orioles didnโt hit the ball, but I had red zone up, and I was following it. And Iโll say this much. Look, itโs not good to be Owen one. Itโs not fun to be Owen one. It is only Owen one, however, and compared to how a lot of teams around the league played, and, more specifically, how the rest of the AFC North looked, including the Steelers, who did win but did not score a touchdown in the process of doing it. I think you come out of the weekend feeling a little bit better about the Ravens overall. You know, we talked about this at length on Friday when we broke down the disappointment of the season opening loss. But I said at the time, nothing about Thursday nightโs performance really changed my mind about the team or where itโs going or anything like that. I already had concerns about the offensive line and and there was nothing that really changed about that. It confirmed my concerns to this point, and thatโs certainly something they need to figure out. Thereโs no doubt about that. But you look around the league offense, not very good quarterback play, not very good I saw Steve. Is it Palazzolo? I know weโve talked. Weโve had him at Radio row. He used to be with pro football focus. He just moved on from there recently, but he tracked it week one NFL passing touchdowns. Now this is excluding Monday Night Football, and assuming Aaron Rodgers and Brock Purdy donโt throw 412 touchdowns between them, or anything crazy like that, but this is shaping up to be the worst week one in terms of NFL passing touchdowns that weโve seen in a long time go back to 2019 There are 61 touchdown passes in week one, 2021 61 2022 51 the last two years, Nestor last year, 37 this year, going into Monday Night Football, 33 I mean, weโre talking roughly half of what we saw five years ago in terms of week one passing touchdowns. I think offensive line play, I think a lot with cover two defense. Yeah, thatโs been talked about you, and I talked about that quite a bit last year. But point is, I get it. It was choppy. And you know the raisin the raisins, the Ravens did not have a clean, rhythmic passing game for a full 60 minutes on Thursday night by any stretch of the imagination. But when you look at how they performed and what the final numbers look like compared to a lot of teams around the league on Sunday, I think you come out of it feeling better. Better about this team and saying, Look, yeah, they got to figure out how to win and beat Kansas City at some point if theyโre going to get to where they want to go. And theyโre probably going to see them again in January, if both teams are healthy and upright. But based on what we saw around the league, there are a lot of teams looking for it, including the Cincinnati Bengals, who put up the, you know, the Carolina Panthers, we knew they stunk, right? I mean, okay, maybe people thought theyโd be better, but they stunk last year, right? So youโre not shocked by that. The Bengals to lose to the Patriots at home, easily the most surprising result of the weekend. And if youโre the ravens, expecting them to be your biggest threat in terms of trying to win the AFC north. I think you feel better about things than they certainly felt on Friday morning. Look
Nestor Aparicio 05:48
on a Monday, itโs easy to talk about Sundayโs game. Iโm going to go back to Thursday. I want to see where the ravens are. And I want to talk about, in retrospect, having watched most of the teams in the league play now, my wife and I even got the first half of that Sao Paulo game. And before I fell asleep on Friday that we went up to Cooperโs north and I had a glass of Cabernet, and I had a delicious black and tuna wrap, and the next thing I know, Iโm asleep, and I wake up like, what happened to love, whatโs going on? You know? Um, there was a lot of football over the weekend, not to mention college football that I me and everybody else didnโt watch Mike Loxley, by the way, and you and I could talk about that, because that was, thatโs its own thing. And my wife and I had a long conversation about that in the car on Sunday, having an oyster over at Urban oyster, but the the offensive line and the running game and what the Ravens really want to do, right like, so I wrote my column this on Friday, I saw you wrote your 12 thoughts and all the things you write. It was kind of weird, because itโs a Friday and a Saturday, and nothing else was kind of going on, um, the offensive line and running the ball. I still think, like, what are they trying to do? What do they really want to do with Lamar? They donโt want Lamar to throw the ball 50 times. They donโt want him in a pro set. They donโt want to be in a drop back passer, although youโll say heโs good at it and and they donโt want to be throwing screen passes. I you know they bring Joe Flacco back to do that to me. This when it works, when the offense works, whether itโs Greg Roman or Todd monkin, Iโm so bad Lamar. When Lamar works? When this his style works is when theyโre in second and two and second and three. When first down is really productive. When first down puts them in a position that you have to worry about Lamar hips, you have to worry about Derrick, Henry. You have to worry about the ball going over top. You have to guard, say flowers. You have to worry about too tight end, like all of the stressors that the Ravens offense and their talent, a lot of talent. So itโs JK Dobbins, apparently, from what I saw too, in chargers game, thereโs your money saved, Luke. But are they going to consistently be able to do what they want to do at HEART OF HEART OF HEART OF HEART. They want to be in second and two and second and two and second and three. They want to score touchdowns. I get that, like all of that, Lamar ran that. That was an awful game plan on Thursday night, right? They they ran. Lamar ran a lot. Lamar took a lot of hits. It didnโt work. The running game wasnโt working. The Derrick Henry thing didnโt work. Um, likely worked. I mean, you know, thereโs a star and thatโs and Lamar is an MVP. I mean, Iโm not, not down on Lamar. Iโm Iโm trying to figure out where, how this thing really works, and how itโs really effective. And when I think of 2019 and I think of the best elements of last year, and I know itโs hard to do every team in the league like to get seven eight yards on first down, right? But when they can do that, it changes everything. And they get defenses backing up. It changes Second down, it changes personnel, it changes all sorts of things. And I woke up Friday, and when Iโm writing my columnist in sobriety on Friday before I wrote my dear Eric the Costa letter, I thought to myself, thereโs nothing about this that feels to me like Derek Henryโs going to fall three yards forward after gaining five yards, and that this offensive line is consistently maybe gets bad teams. I donโt know. I mean, I donโt think the Raiders have a bad front and we have a bad team, but I am worried about that element of when this has been really successful, thatโs been the formula, when they score the 40 and 50 points and theyโre just, you know boat racing teams. Theyโre boat racing teams because they can keep the ball and they can enforce their will on the run and scare the hell out of you in the past. And then thereโs lamarโs hips, right? You have to worry about all of that. But if you canโt stop the run, youโre not going to beat the Ravens. If you can stop the run a little bit, I donโt know, I donโt know. I donโt know that the Ravens can win that way a lot, or often, or in January, and weโve seen that when they fall behind, when theyโre 10 points, that, like all of those things, they they have a harder time. And I know youโll say they came a Tippy, tippy toe away from maybe even stealing the game the other night, but it wasnโt that. Game plan they want. What they want to do this week is being second and two, first and 10, be in second and four, first and 10. Ball goes over the top, big play. Come back. Run it again, second and three, second and four. That thatโs thatโs how the timing of this work, when they work great, when theyโre going to win 13 or 14 games. Yeah.
Luke Jones 10:20
Well, and look, itโs a simple formula. You need your offensive line to play better, having reviewed the game, having re watched it, I came out of it not quite as concerned about the past protection, because it did get better as the night went on. Now Iโm not, let me be clear. Iโm not saying itโs perfect or that doesnโt need to improve as well. Let me be very straightforward about that. However, where my grave concern graves too strong. Itโs week one. Letโs not overreact too much. Anyway. We overreact in week one. But letโs also be measured, not grave, but potentially fatal. Flaw, if we donโt see long term improvement, is very much on the run blocking side. I think, having reviewed the game, Tyler linderbaum, there were maybe one or two reps where he didnโt look great, you know, the holding call. I thought, for all the hand wringing about the illegal formations, the holding call on him, I thought was really ticky tack. And though the illegal formation madness aside, I actually think Ronnie Stanley played really good football on Thursday night. That was a good version of Ronnie Stanley. Now the big question is, are you going to get that for 19 more games, potentially, or, letโs say, at least 15 or 16, you know, if weโre being a little more realistic, knowing his injury history, but you know the rest of the offensive line, and specifically the right side of the offensive line, just had so much difficulty moving anyone in the run game and for this to work at the optimal level, you know, everything you just mentioned, you know, being productive, getting 678, yards on first down. And look, every, every team wants to do that. I, as I have said to you over the last five, six years, where the Ravens have had this, you know, Lamar Jackson era offense, where itโs been way more successful than not. Weโve talked about it a lot that the best third down offense is what the offense that avoids third downs altogether, right? And to do that, you need to be really good on first down. So I look at the O line, and as Iโve said throughout training camp, even going back to OTAs, itโs in pencil, not pen. Iโm going to be interested to see, not necessarily that there are drastic changes this week, but what does right tackle look like in terms of McCary and Rosengarten? Right? I mean, McCarry started, Rosengarten played a little bit really rough start for him. You know, I donโt think he necessarily played with a ton of confidence, which, hey, line up against someone like Chris Jones. Thatโs, thatโs a challenge for someone in their first NFL game. Thereโs no doubt. So I expect him to get better. So what do we see there? And I think the big one is Daniel falay. Itโs been an interesting experiment. Going back to the end of OTAs and mandatory mini camp. I think he is better in past protection than some have made it out to be. You know, even going back talking about the preseason performances lumped in with what we saw week one, but I donโt know how much of that is his technique and how much of that is heโs 380 pounds, just trying to get around him from a past, you know, from a pass rush standpoint, I could argue he has a little bit of an edge there, but he is just, Iโm not seeing it with him as a run blocker. And that sounds counterintuitive, right? When youโre talking about someone whoโs 380 pounds, youโd like to think, oh, man, heโll Maul people. But offensive linemen need to have good footwork, right? Theyโve got to have quick feet. Even though weโre talking about 300 plus pound individuals, they need to be able to move. And you know, when youโre talking about counters and pools and traps and all those different things, youโve got to have the quickness to to get to where you need to be to make the block, and whether weโre talking about the three preseason games or what we saw Thursday night, Iโm just not seeing that from Daniel Fowle. Iโm not and Iโm not saying that theyโre going to bench him this week or that. Iโm adamant that they need to bench him immediately. But
Nestor Aparicio 14:17
well, this is an experiment all along. Right? You look at him and you say, Sure, this is hardball, saying weโre going to do something. Nobody else you were. Nobody else sees it, but we see it or and I always say horrible. Dell Sanders is dead. I mean, this was decisions of offensive line coaches that have been here five weeks. This has to be more about monkey and more about Harbaugh and more about senior leadership, looking at this and saying, what do we have here in these players that weโve drafted? Is this the best weโre going to do? And to your point, Ben Cleveland, what I mean they itโs very telling as to whoโs on the field, as to how they feel about the guys that arenโt on the field. For me, sure,
Luke Jones 14:56
well, and I was just going to get to Ben Cleveland, and look, youโve heard me. I. I have criticism of Ben Cleveland over the last three years, right? Iโm not like the president of the Ben Cleveland fan club. Let me be clear about that. However, when he filled in for Kevin Zeidler the last couple years, albeit I get it, itโs only a few games, but they were still real NFL games, he played pretty well, like Iโm not saying heโs the next Marshall yonda Well, but he played pretty well. But to your point, and I think itโs evident, no matter what they say in a press conference format that they have, they donโt have a lot of trust in Him and but at some point in time, I can also remember once upon a time, the Ravens not having a whole lot of trust in Bryant McKinney, and it came down to it, he was still their best option at left tackle. When it came down to it, it helped win them a Super Bowl as much as we talk about Flacco and Bolden and some of the other heroes of that playoff run, Bryant McKinney being inserted at left tackle and the shuffling they did on the offensive line was way up there on the list of the reasons why they made the run they did in 2012 in that postseason. So Iโm not at all implying that moving Ben Cleveland into a starting guard spot is going to fix their offensive line. But at the same time, when I see fall Lele struggle the way that he did, and just the limitations that he has physically, I continue to look at this and say, I have a tough time believing and buying and accepting that heโs not one of their two best options at guard right before heโs at left guard. I thought he played a little bit better than we saw in the preseason. So that was encouraging, because I thought he struggled in the preseason and did not look all that great compared to, you know, how much weโve been talking about him, and you know, the perception that that was a steal for them in the draft a year ago. So, you know, I what I saw in week one for him. I want to continue to see growth. But, you know, I thought it was okay, you know, there, there was something to say. Hey, I want to see more of that. Needs to get better, no question about it. But I just look at Fall Lele, and itโs just heโs so limited physically, in terms of his feet and being able to move, and understanding that got a 250 pound running back, you canโt have a 300 pound running or up guard that isnโt getting to where he needs to go with trap blocks and different things of that nature. And again, Iโm not an offensive line guru in terms of evaluating it, but I just I donโt see him doing nearly enough as a run blocker to be encouraged by it, right? So weโll see. And again, Kansas City does have a good defense, and they proved it again on Thursday night, although they were susceptible to the run last year, which is why so many people lost their minds about how little the Ravens ran the ball in the title game. But what we saw on Thursday night, they didnโt run effectively, right? I mean, Derek carrot, Derek Henry, got 13 carries. Itโs not as though he touched the ball three times, 13 carries, any average, three and a half yards per carry. I mean, you can keep beating your head against the brick wall, or you need to run block at a higher level. I mean, Lamar 122 rushing yards. It sounds like, you know, that sounds awesome, and it was, and look, but that was largely Lamar scrambling. Those werenโt, you know, there were only he had the two design runs early in the first half, you know, kind of on those back to back plays. There wasnโt a whole lot for Lamar in terms of design runs that was primarily scrambling, which, donโt get me wrong, Iโm fine with that. You know, I like Lamar scrambling, but if thatโs your entire running game, as it basically was on Thursday night, thatโs a problem, right? That you donโt want that thatโs not ideal, right? No matter how much you love it. I mean, we agreed on this. You and I have thought, how many times about Lamar running? How much is too much? We absolutely are on the same page that Thursday night. Specifically, he took way too many hits, and you donโt want to see you see that over the course of the season, youโre begging for trouble. So, but that said youโve got to be able to move the ball on the ground. And you know, thatโs thatโs where I look at this. Somebodyโs got to run it, if
Nestor Aparicio 18:55
youโre going to run it right, somebodyโs got to run it. Somebodyโs got to get 567, yards when they run it, not 123, yards,
Luke Jones 19:02
but, but, but also part of that is design runs though, right? But heโs still their best running back. What we saw him like being called running back. Heโs still their best play, their best rusher. Sure, and look again. I donโt I never want to see them apologize for that. However, when you bring Derek Henry in and youโre giving them $9 million this year, you need to have a functional offensive line thatโs going to allow you to maximize that investment. And thatโs where my concern really lies right now, the other thing I will say, only a couple option runs in there. You know, the read option with with Derrick Henry and Lamar that everyone talked about throughout the offseason, they did very little of that. Specifically. Now, I will say this, and this has been talked about by a lot of people smarter than me, even, you know, a lot was made about Derek, what he did at Tennessee, you know, not running out of shotgun, a whole lot being under center. More the Ravens did try to run. Under center. They were under center a decent amount. I think, if youโre going to do that more than you have in the past, which Iโm not surprised, to see them do that a little more. And let me be clear, theyโre still way more in shotgun than not, but youโve got to mix in passes and be balanced there and not too predictable there. So it wasnโt so much that that I had concerns about. But you know, I definitely want to see them mix in a few more option runs there and really try to put the defense in conflict, and that, in turn, should help the offensive line. You know, if youโre doing that. But you know, it just it needs to be better. The running game needs to be better. And again, you look at the final stats and you say, Luke, you sound crazy if youโre just looking at it from a box score standpoint. Yeah, they ran for 185 yards and 5.8 yards for Gary, but we know that most of that was Lamar scrambling, which, if you have to do it in a given week, then you have to do it in a given week. Iโm not you know, and I still think Lamar initiating and taking as much contact as he did on Thursday night was way more a byproduct of the opponent, and some carryover from the AFC title game and the national stage and all that. So I donโt think what we saw out of Lamar Thursday night is that Lamar suddenly, 2018 Lamar again, that heโs gonna be running into guys or anything like that. But youโve got to have a more productive, structured ground game, so theyโre chasing that right now. Thereโs no question about that. And thatโs where I do have more concern, where, you know, the past protection at least settled down some as the game went on. Now, they were chipping guys. And you know, whether it was Justice Hill or or the tight ends. I mean, we saw even mark Andrews stand in the past protect at times, you know, not a whole lot, but at times so they they were adjusting, and they werenโt asking their line, Justin Hills taking
Nestor Aparicio 21:45
on, you know, Chris Jones at the end of the game, and doing an okay job. It
Luke Jones 21:50
was commendable. Yeah, right. I
Nestor Aparicio 21:52
mean, but thatโs not, thatโs not ideal, right way you want to draw this up the next time you play to Kansas City Chiefs, of
Luke Jones 21:58
course, no question about that. So, I mean, look, they need, they have to grow from a past protection standpoint. But whatโs really behind right now, whatโs really lacking right now with the offensive line is the run blocking. I mean, that that that was not pretty. I mean, that was not pretty. I mean, even think back to that penultimate drive where, remember, they go for it on the fourth and one, and then they ended up kicking the field goal. Then on the fourth and four after that, you remember the fourth and one right? A chiefs defensive lineman was in the backfield ready, and Derek Henry broke the tackle, or they would have been stuffed in that position. So thatโs how close they came to getting nothing on that drive. And then weโre having a way different conversation than a toenail of Isaiah likely away from potentially winning the game. So,
Nestor Aparicio 22:42
you know, my column, I wrote the end at the end, it came close, but it wasnโt a close game.
Luke Jones 22:47
I mean, there are different ways of looking at it. I mean it, yes, it was a close game, because ultimately, itโs the points on the scoreboard is what matter, right? I mean, you know, you are in the same way that we built ourselves. Would say you are what your record says you are. The scoreboard is dude. I didnโt
Nestor Aparicio 23:01
get that last year after they lost that championship game. I thought, well, if they played them five times, they might want three or four of them. I donโt know that. I feel that way about this yearโs version of it, having seen him get beat twice now, and having seen this offensive line. And unlike the orals pitching, which may have somebody in, you know, Grayson might be coming back, and they might get westburg back in the lineup, Iโm not looking up and down Matt Burke and his prime and Marshall yonda, theyโre not coming here. You know, Brian McKinney, I donโt know whoโs coming here, but I was a little thoughtful in my conversations all summer with you that, like when the cuts happened and I was on vacation and the Orioles were in LA two weeks ago, that they would find somebody elseโs Kevin Zeitler or Morgan Moses. You know that somebody would cut somebody over money. Hey, we got this kid. Letโs, letโs cut the $6 million guard we have, because we got a kid that can play and heโs not, you know, whatever it is. I thought they would back into something where they would get a garter or a right something on that side of the ball, on the right side of the offensive line, that they could say, well, the year they got Andre garad, it didnโt work. You know, I mean, they brought Willie Anderson in, what you didnโt work work for a minute, but he was 100 years old. But I just thought that if they didnโt like what they saw all summer, they would do better than putting Daniel fall Lele out there to run around and starting the game with McCary. And the kid they drafted is not ready. If he was ready, heโd be. They wouldnโt be starting Patrick McCary. So I donโt know it. It feels a lot messier and when to Costa, the only time his head comes above water, like Loch Ness Monster. You know, when heโs acknowledging horrible, has to acknowledge it, whether he wants to or not. The rest of Iโll acknowledge it for you, John, that the offensive line might not be good enough right now. And I donโt know that we look at it and say, in November, theyโll be better. Okay? Maybe I donโt know. I donโt know. I mean, I. Donโt believe that right now. I have, thereโs no basis to believe that on those small sample size I have, and there is no preseason whenever you see them running around a gym shorts out there for a month, that doesnโt mean anything. Yeah, Raiders will be another test for them this week. I mean, Raiders front seven, weโll see. But if you canโt dominate at home and running the ball, I mean, offensive line and running the ball is about dominating on every play, not some place every play.
Luke Jones 25:28
I mean, you just, you have to be able to move people. I mean, itโs, itโs that simple. And, you know, we didnโt see it in the preseason and understanding it, you know, thatโs an incomplete evaluation, but you could still look at those specific individuals that were playing, even if Linda bam and Ronnie Stanley werenโt out there, and Derek Henry and Lamar werenโt out there and Patrick Ricard wasnโt out there, you know. So we understood it was incomplete, but when you looked at it on an individual basis, they werenโt moving people the way that youโd like to see. So and thatโs why I said, I mean, file a lay pass protection in the preseason was better than people gave him credit for the run blocking. Iโm just Iโm not seeing that for him right now. I mean, unless we see some drastic improvement in growth in that specific area, I donโt know if that experimentโs gonna last, let alone if itโs gonna work. So
Nestor Aparicio 26:17
thatโs what they want to do. They want to run the ball, but, but But to go back
Luke Jones 26:21
to what you just said, I mean, look, part of the problem with that is, I mean, you were, you were watching around the league more closely than I was, having been out at the ballpark covering the Orioles for the early afternoon games. Offensive line play around the league is not very good. I mean, how about the mess that the Rams were dealing with on Sunday night with the injury. Itโs, itโs borderline miraculous that they were able to make that the game that they did, where it goes into overtime, considering the state of their offensive line, with guys going down with injury, and they were shuffling what they had, three or four different guys that had changed positions and all this. I mean, it was a mess. I think you see way more offensive lines closer to that, or closer to where the ravens are currently, than offensive lines that you say, Man, thatโs a thatโs a dominant offensive line or man, thatโs a really complete, steady, trustworthy offensive line. I mean, weโve talked about this for years. The quality of offensive line play in the league, or lack thereof. So I think part of the problem of what you just said, and look, I was in agreement with you, and Iโll remind everyone the trade deadlines not till early November. So you do have a couple months here, and so much can happen in terms of teams that have young offensive linemen that, you know, they want to get on the field, get ready to play. Teams will fall out of, you know, the wild card race, and, you know, some team will be two and six and might have a guard that has an expiring contract that theyโre going to want to try to see if they can get a late round pick for it. And if thatโs the case, I could see Eric da Costa pouncing on that, right? But is that going to be there in week two? Is that going to be there in week three? Is that going to be there in week four? I mean, thatโs the question mark right now. So as things stand in the in the present, you have what you have on your roster right now. So look, we a week from now, we might be talking about Ben Cleveland being the starting right guard, and maybe he replaces McCary, because they or not, McCarry fall Lele because they say privately, you know what? We donโt love Ben Cleveland. We donโt trust them. You know, we havenโt played them the last three years when people, you know, outsiders, thought he might be a starting guard the last three years, but he heโs the best we have there. So we need to go with him. You know, maybe we see that this week. Maybe not. But boy, you want to see some growth. And like I said, I can live with the fact that their past protection did settle in some as the game went on, but boy, you need to see a big jump from them in the run blocking department, because, you know, we saw it last year with Derrick Henry in Tennessee. He ran behind an awful offensive line, and go look at his numbers. Now he was still 1000 yard rusher, not saying he was terrible, but he didnโt look like the Derrick Henry of a few years before that. And the big reason why was heโs behind a lousy offensive line. So you know that thatโs where Iโm really looking to see some growth, and Iโm really looking to see if, potentially, there are a couple tweaks with the lineup, because, as weโve said all along, this was written in pencil, not pen, so itโs got to be better, and it starts with that. And yeah, I do think Todd monkin A goal this week is definitely going to be to mix in some more option runs and things of that nature that we kind of expected to see all along with Lamar Jackson and Derek Henry in the same backfield. He
Nestor Aparicio 29:40
is Lou Jones. He is Baltimore, Luke. Heโs monitoring baseball and football all week. Orioles in Boston. Orioles heading to Detroit this weekend. The Ravens hosting the Raiders. We got Pearl Jam in town. Springsteenโs in town. Stix is in town. Youโll hear some rock and roll this week from those Lofgren, the great, great mills. Lofgren, Marylander as. Well as Lawrence Gowan, Canadian from the band sticks, joining us here. Mark Viviano did a long form sit down with us last week at Cocos, as did micro. Sigliano. Weโve had all sorts of great guests here. Weโre doing Gambling Awareness. Weโre doing 26 oysters in 26 days on behalf of the oyster recovery partnership. Iโm a couple of days into that. Youโll want to follow that on social media as well. We will be at state fair on the 24th with Angela also Brooks. You will have Marilyn lottery scratch offs to give away. Iโll have Raven scratch offs giveaway, but I have a handful of Gold Rush seven doublers to get rid of. This week. Weโll be at Cooperโs on Friday for the oyster festival going on down to Fells Point. My dude, Dave, shining from the Washington Post, back from Patty and the Olympics. Heโll be joining us talk about the the Olympics, as well as Chad whistling, NFL agent who lives in Canton, my buddy, he a Terp. Can talk about the Terps and their crowds, and Mike Loxley and losing and all that good stuff. So plenty of things here. Baseball, football. It is a political season. Going to have an election in about eight weeks as well. We got oysters, we got crab cakes, and weโre a two sport town. Heโs Luke, Iโm Nestor. A M 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore. Positive. You.