We thought it would be easier to score touchdowns in this new Todd Monken offense. Luke Jones and Nestor assess the offensive line and red zone struggles of Lamar Jackson and the Ravens.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
lamar, offense, game, play, talking, ravens, feel, year, ball, team, field, week, red zone, offensive line, touchdowns, sunday, running, john harbaugh, yards, luke
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome back, W N st Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive we are positively getting out on the trail of the Maryland crabcake Tour presented by our friends at the Maryland lottery I’ll be giving away the Ravens scratch offs we gave a whole bunch of away up in Hollywood casino on Sunday made a great party up there. Happy Ending. At least that much in the the only game of the morning. We’ll be getting back up the Hollywood casino doing the Maryland crab cakes were presented by window nation. I am not a certified master installer but my shirt says so when the windows sidings and doors 866 90 nation you buy two you get two free 0% financing here in October and our friends at Jiffy Lube multi care. I gotta get my oil change my little light came on on Friday. It’s about that time I’ll get out there this week. I was waiting for my birthday to come and go and my big drug city event if you’re Luke chatting with my old science teacher George stolen here this week or hear my son on the air with Chuck Jacobs talking about proper old fashions with butterscotch which I enjoyed on Friday, let witchiness shock down at the fountain. Check that out all week long. Luke is going to be checking out practice, practice. We’re talking practice. They’re coming back home this week. While we’re watching the Philadelphia Phillies and the Houston Astros, and the Texas Rangers in the Arizona Diamondbacks play baseball, we’ll get some baseball in here. We’re gonna stick with football right now, as the Ravens get back from London, Luke will be on the backfields. And you’ll love we talked a lot about the win and the backup quarterback and the time change and the lions and all that. Let’s talk about the offense in the goal line and the problems they’re really having down on the goal line because it’s not supposed to be this way. And then when they drafted Lamar, I was talking about that game we saw in the internet loves when I talked about the Canton game where he’s running into linebackers and freaked me out five years ago. But I think the one thing we saw at that point was man and space, nobody’s gonna be able to stop this kid, they get down on the goal line and the three yard line, they’re gonna spread it out, and nobody’s gonna be able to catch him. That isn’t really been the case. I mean, I think we believed in the beginning. That that would be the ultimate is down on the Golan that this would be an unstoppable offense down there, it turns out that the spaces really tightens things up and makes their offense operate differently. And it hasn’t been good. And I know Monken is gonna go into laboratoire a year this week. They all our offensive line and saying, how, how can we be this ineffective at the goal line? Well,
8
Luke Jones 02:31
let’s we need to be transparent here. They were third in the NFL and red zone offense going into this week. The red zone offense was excellent the first four weeks of the season. Now the last two weeks, it has certainly taken a turn in the not so positive direction. And clearly on Sunday when you go one for five, officially one for six, really one for five. Again, Justin Tucker kicking a field goal for with one second to go inside the red zone.
Nestor Aparicio 02:56
It’s not a drive.
Luke Jones 02:57
It’s not a true Oh, for one for the offense. So let’s be fair in that regard, but it needs to be better. There’s no question about it. And I think for me, what’s concerning about this offense, or maybe not concerning is the right word, I think frustrating. Nestor is it kind of feels like there’s just something new that that, you know, it’s like a new leak springs every week, right? I mean, it was the drops big time in Pittsburgh. They didn’t have any Sunday, I can’t tend to see in London, they really didn’t have any issues with drops prior to the week five loss loss to Pittsburgh. So you know, now it’s the red zone. It was injuries to the offensive line a few weeks back and what they were dealing with there. It’s just, it feels like every time they get something I don’t know if solved is the right word, but at least it’s not your major flaw, then something else is popping up. It’s just been very choppy in that way. And for an offense to be great. You need to clean those things up. And really, for me, what the issue was inside the red zone, we can point to Tompkins play calling if we want I definitely think there have been some times where he’s lacks some feel for a game situation for what’s working. Those first three drives on Sunday, they were throwing the ball really, really well. What bog them down was the running game. It really was I mean Lamar was in a pretty pretty darn good rhythm early in that game throwing the football they got inside the redzone or they got inside the the 25 yard line you know in that first drive, and it just the running game really bog them down not being able to blow people off the ball not being able to move people at the line of scrimmage you know I think the past protection was good enough on Sunday but they just they didn’t move people between the tackles. I mean, look at Gus Edwards and Justice Hill their final numbers rushing the football, you know, running the football. I mean, it was what right right around three yards per carry between the two of them combined. That’s not what you’re looking for. I looked at this, looking at the entire game log now stir. When the Ravens had a situation where they had four yards to go or less, that was always a running situation under Greg Roman right. So I’m, I’m not even saying short yardage. I mean that’s still relatively short yardage if we’re going to include four yards to go, but they ran the ball a total of 15 times when they had four yards to go or less, and the only converted seven of those, you know, that’s, that’s not great, especially for a team that takes such pride in running the football. That’s not, that’s not anything to write home about. So, for me, I mean, it really was there between the tackles running game that left a lot to be desired. Now, I want to point out, Tennessee does not have a bad run defense whatsoever. Yeah, that’s not a terrible defense, overall. So you keep that in mind. But if there’s something I’d point to with this offensive line, beyond the injuries beyond whatever lingering health concerns, you know, Ronnie Stanley might have or Morgan Moses coming back from from the shoulder, Tyler Lindenbaum with the ankle, and they just have, they didn’t dominate it, the line of scrimmage, that the way that you’d like to see a team do that in running the football, especially when you get inside the 20. So, you know, it’s something that has to be better, they have to execute better. I think Todd Monken at times is not necessarily called the most imaginative plays, you know, and that’s gonna happen as well. Coaches go through periods of time where they’re trying to feel things out and see what their team does best and trying to pick the right play in the right situation at the right time in the football game. That’s not That’s not easy to do. I’ve never been a play caller. So I want to be clear about that. Not expecting perfection from Todd Monken, or this offense, but it absolutely has to be more consistent. And a lot of people you know, I find some irony in the fact that some of those situations where the Ravens kicked off on Sunday, were times where John Harbaugh and Greg Roman would have gone for it. And well,
Nestor Aparicio 06:53
8that’s what I did that the Holy Nosov he’s changed, right. Like literally, we saw at the beginning of the game and force and inches is to go always Randy, were on the field. And all of a sudden inside the five yard line, it’s that bring on Tucker, let’s take three. That’s a philosophical change from week to week. And maybe that’s a London we got to get the plank, John John played the game differently on Sunday thought about the game differently than we’ve seen him and and I don’t know, you got the press pass. I don’t you ask him about it, but and he’ll say, Oh, I don’t know what you’re talking about, like playing dumb. That’s the heart. I don’t miss that part of these press conferences at all. John Harbaugh lying to me and me spending the day to go out there to do it. I’m not doing that. But something changed about the way they thought about the game on Sunday. And the way they thought about the outcome once because they played the game differently.
Luke Jones 07:43
Well, and that’s where you do have to acknowledge it is different week to week, you are playing a different opponents week to week. Are you going to do that against the Kansas City Chiefs or the Buffalo Bills? Or certainly this year, the Miami Dolphins the way that they score points. No, you’re gonna have to score touchdowns, you know, but because even the Ravens defense as good as it is not going to hold those teams down entirely. So I do think there is something to the idea that you’re in London, you’re going up against the Titans team that entered what week they entered the week, I think they were 26 in the NFL and points per game. It was a team that certainly was struggling to sustain drives, you know, until the Ravens started giving them yardage with penalties in that third quarter. So,
Nestor Aparicio 08:33
first field goal now, there’s gonna be six of them, right? You kick the first one and say sure it’s time, well, then the next time and then the next time and then then and all of a sudden, you’re like, it’s the fourth time we call it on talk or what am I doing down here, then it becomes something we talk about on Monday morning, because I don’t think it didn’t go into the game thinking they’re gonna kick field goals inside the red zone, they think they’re gonna punch the ball in. But something about the confidence level on fourth down says we’ve got to kick the ball well,
Luke Jones 08:59
and again, it goes back to your offensive line, not necessarily moving people with the line of scrimmage and winning at the line of scrimmage the way that they’re accustomed to doing or at least accustomed to doing under Greg Roman and what their offense was before making this change. And I’m and I’m not not singularly blaming Todd Monken there are always different variables that work there. All these offensive linemen are also a year older, you know, other than Linda bomb, you’re talking about a veteran group there. So you’re talking about that factor as well. But I will say this, if you told John Harbaugh privately if you told this football team privately the coaching staff specifically, players are always gonna want to go for players always want to score touchdowns. But if you’re looking at this pragmatically, if you say on Saturday night, you’re gonna be in position for Justin Tucker to kick six field goals. And they’re not going to be your we’re not talking 53 yards here we’re talking about more of the chip shot variety for Justin Tucker. They would probably tell you, you know what, as long as we score a touchdown with those six field goals At some point along the way, that’s probably going to be good enough to beat the Tennessee Titans based on where they are right now with Tannehill where they are with their offensive line where they are with the fact that their first round wide receiver from a year ago was hurt not playing you know, they have DeAndre Hopkins, but not a whole lot else in terms of past catchers, by the way how
8Nestor Aparicio 10:18
you feel that your defense, I don’t think it’s last on Harbaugh that the defense is better than the offense.
Luke Jones 10:25
Right. And that’s my point about them going up against Tennessee. So look, that’s not to say you go into it saying we want to kick field goals. But if you’re having some issues with your execution, if you’re not running the ball between the tackles the way that you would like, you are a little more apt to take three in those scenarios in those situations, compared to this Sunday against the Detroit Lions, let’s say who, you know, I’m not saying they’re the greatest show on turf, but they they’ve scored some points and Jared Goff is throwing the football effectively this year, they’ve got some really talented wide receivers, including the kid, you know, their first round pick from a year ago who began the year suspended with gambling, he made a big play. And you know, he adds to that group. So little different story, potentially this coming Sunday, where you’re talking about some of those redzone scenarios where you might need to go for it on short yardage because you might need a couple more touchdowns than just settling for Justin Tucker field goals. So it’s always different. There’s always a different opponent, where you are health wise, where you are personnel wise, all of those factors are different week to week. Yes. No one, no one’s going to sit there and say they’re happy about going one for five, officially one for six inside the redzone. But at the same time, was it good enough against the opponent they played in London on Sunday? Yeah, it was so gotta get better, no doubt about that they’ve got to run the football more effectively between the tackles, because you don’t want to put it all on Lamar Jackson, and they’ve got to execute and Todd Monken is gotta have the right feel for what’s working best. And when you have that feel of stick with it? You know, there have been some times this year where, you know, I think he’s lacked a little bit of feeling. And I think part of that is, we’re all asking this question, what is the identity of this offense beyond Lamarr, putting on the cape, and there are certainly instances in times where that is what you want to do, and that’s fine. But you don’t want to have to do that for 60 minutes, you know, for an entire 60 minutes. You don’t want to have to do that every single week, every single drive every single quarter. So I think there, there is some question about this offense in terms of what their identity is, what their optimal identity is going to be. And, you know, again, it’s looked good for stretches, you know, I still go back to that Cincinnati game, and how effectively they ran a quick game against the Bengals defense, you know, with a banged up offensive line and some injuries. And, you know, they operated that very well. And you know, they won a football game on the road against, you know, the the team that’s been the division champion the last couple of years. But those periods of time where it’s looked very high level, that’s been fleeting. And we’ve seen choppiness and collectively, we’ve seen them have issues finishing football games and finishing drives recently, the last two weeks, with the red zone specifically. So they’ve got to get better. There’s no doubt about that. But again, I will go back to if Saturday night, you tell John Harbaugh, you’re going to kick six field goals. He’s gonna say, you know, if we need to get better in the red zone, but if we score a touchdown, with those six field goals would state it. That’s probably going to be enough against the Titans and their offense, knowing how good our defense is. So you’re always making those decisions. And that’s, that’s this is coming from the analytics football nerd guy, right? I read that stuff. And I know how many times coaches should go for it rather than kick in terms of looking at wind probability and models and all that different stuff. But all of that into account. You’re still evaluating and making decisions based on who your opponent is based on the health of your line and how well you’re running the ball and things of that nature. And you had a group that was struggling to move people consistently in the running game on Sunday. So you know, I think for me, it’s what worked to win Sunday’s game against the titans in London after a long week away from home, third straight road game. But of course, it has to get better you cannot be in a position where you’re in gold ago, the way they were a couple of times and having to settle for three if you do that, especially when you start playing better teams. That’s a recipe for getting beat.
Nestor Aparicio 14:40
Luke Jones joining us here he’ll be in Owings Mills all week long. We’ll still be watching some baseball talk a little baseball around here as well for your Luke and I chatting from drugs city. He also was our guest on the crabcake tour last week at the fountain that drug city from my 55th birthday double nickels out there. Somebody compared me to Terrell Suggs, I did not like that. Although he will be entering the Ring of Honor apparent Last week right this is this is this week Right? This is yeah I had that in my calendar that this is homecoming week right
Luke Jones 15:08
8yeah yeah homecoming week against a not so homecoming opponent. And even back in May I mean we saw what the lions were the second half of last year I think the potential was certainly there on paper for them to take the next step but in the same way we talked about the browns or any number the Bengals 25 years ago. You until they do it, they’re still the lions, right? Well, you look at their record right now and you say that looks like a pretty darn good football team now we’ll see where they are come November and December and January if they’re in the tournament, but this is going to be this is not a homecoming game, you know, in the way that you traditionally think about it. So Ravens have to get themselves re acclimated to the east coast and being home again and being being on Eastern Time and The Lions themselves you know they’re coming off of a road win at Tampa and they’ve looked pretty good so this is like like we said in our previous conversation it’s gonna be a nice litmus test I think for both these teams going up against I think what everyone would perceive as quality opponents whether they’re pretty good good or great you know, time will tell for either either of these teams but you know, foreign to against the team that’s lost one one game. That’s it’s a pretty good test for John Harbaugh’s team, specially coming home from London. With that long plane ride home. You are
Nestor Aparicio 16:26
among the people that were looking to run Greg Rome announced that his time was up and we needed to refresh this and thoughts that and they freshened up the wide receiver room with Odell Beckham gave him a lot of money brought him in, I haven’t felt that impact or seen that impact? Certainly not on the field for what they paid him. I think we all could have predicted that the day they paid him. Most people believe that was some sort of come on to get Lamar sign. Who knows. I mean, I don’t talk to these kids anymore. And even if I do, when I see you talk to them, I don’t feel like we’re getting any truth out of any of this. The truth comes on Sunday when they play call right and in regard to Monken. And the whole offensive thought of sent sent soccer and we’ll kick a field goal but we can go 60 yards down the field. I call it dink and dunk. That’s, I mean, that’s silly to call it thinking dunk. But it’s a little bit of what it is because they don’t go down the field much or well. And protecting Lamar for Mississippi, three Mississippi, four Mississippi, five, get Lamar out of the pocket at that point, Lamar MAs? Well, Ron, you might as well not pass at that point. Because if he gets out of the pocket, to your point, it’s the best play they have, which is him running for 14 yards or maybe 45 yards, or maybe just eight yards because the first guy gets an angle on him and forces him down. I saw Lamar hooks slide on Sunday, I’ve you know, I see Lamar playing differently. I see them playing differently with Lamar that may or wanting to I see that Monken then all of a sudden we want to do things differently. We want to do things differently. Game on the line, spread them out let Lamar run in third quarter, fourth quarter to get a first down because we need the ball and it’s a six point game or 10 point game, whatever it is, we got to keep the ball. Lamar running, still their best play. What’s their second best play? It used to be Mark Andrews, and it feels like teams want to take that way. And then it used to be well JK Dobbins that’ll be well he’s gone. And ze flowers they only get him the ball so much, Bateman who I know you’ve been down on played but he was a part of the interception play that you could say that’s Lamar is interception. But I didn’t see any battle. I didn’t see any comeback. I don’t know where he’s supposed to be in regard to stopping and turning and getting the ball. I I’m not impressed with the offense. And I’m not I don’t want to say I’m unimpressed with mungkin but I don’t know where mungkin confidence level is with this group. Because it feels to me like the offensive line as much as we thought they’re veteran they’re good if we get up if we get a site learned a Moses and a Stanley and Allender bomb out there. We’ll figure out Simpson and he got her will be better in week seven, week eight, week nine while we’re here now. We’re getting there and I don’t know man did the Greg Roman out with Rome and an M with mungkin. I don’t see that. I don’t see huge differences. I think it’s different. I don’t see the productivity being any better. And certainly, I don’t see this revolution that John horrible talked about five years ago, the revolutions over the war’s over they’ve stopped that this Lamar is going to run left Lamar is going to run right we’re going to run run Lamar 16 times a game for 138 yards he’s going to get your ass once for 60 yards at least that’s what it feels like that’s going away in the same way that by the fifth year for Cam Newton for Steve McNair for Steve Young. For any of these quarterbacks you think they’re going to run and that’s going to be what they do, and you’re going to pay them to do that. I don’t know I you know I’ve questioned this Lamar contract from the beginning, I’ll continue to question it. But at some point, throwing the football and throwing it successfully, not 21 to 30 and dink and dunk and we’re holding on for dear lives and we’re kicking field goals and we’re not good in the redzone. I’m talking about the whole offense, and being something where we’re six weeks in and saying, What are they good at, besides giving Lamar the ball and spreading out the world and having him take angles where they miss the flowers things promising the Andrews thing? I don’t know about his health, from the offseason and what we’re getting and his ability to get open and their ability to scheme him open and take advantage of the things they were the first couple of years that really worked for Lamar to mark Andrews mean. So we start to see that six, eight times a game again, I’ll feel better about the offense, and especially against bad teams. I I’m perplexed that the offense and why. And I did predict this back at Labor Day, I said, you watch all this talk about the offensive defense will be the stronger side of the ball. It is. And I’m waiting for that not to be the case.
Luke Jones 21:07
Yeah, I mean, I don’t necessarily agree with everything you just said. But the the big picture. Yeah, I mean, look, I have it right in front of me. There’s their rankings before Sunday. I’ll just go through it total offense, 13 Rushing offense, and primitive yards per game. And again, I like for attempt, I like rates rather than volume. But fourth in the NFL rushing offense passing offense, volume wise, 26. That sounds very Greg Roman, like I can’t disagree with you, at least on that front points per game tied for 17th. You know, they were 21.8 before they scored 24 On Sunday, third down, they’ve been really good. They’re eighth in the league. And third down, they were 50% on Sunday. So they’ve been good on third down. Red Zone, as I said to you, they were excellent in the red zone through the first five weeks of the season. Now what has gone away in the red zone specifically? And then I’ll get to you know, your bigger picture question because it certainly has merit what you just laid out at least part of it, I would say anyway, but
Nestor Aparicio 22:08
part of myself, you should just have me right? Well,
8Luke Jones 22:11
we disagree. That’s fine. You know, what we’re talking about is subjective at the end of the day, but at the same time, what works so well, in the redzone, the first few weeks of the season was they were at those points, they weren’t necessarily laying out a ton of designed runs for Lamar Jackson over the course of 60 minutes. But inside the red area, that’s where we were seeing some of those design runs for Lamar that worked really well. And it feels like they’ve gotten away from that a little bit over the last couple of weeks, you know, and they haven’t had as much success there. So anyone will tell you, I mean, and Todd Monken laid this out, you know, he laid out what’s most important for an offense and it wasn’t even his specific philosophy. It’s what any offensive coordinator would tell you. And red zone offense is up there, right, you get inside the red area where things are a little more condensed, a little more compressed, a little more crowded, you have to be able to score touchdowns. And again, they did an outstanding job doing that through their first four games that were 80%. Your best in the NFL in that regard. But the last couple of weeks, it has gone sideways. Now, people will say well, they went up against Pittsburgh, who is it the steel curtains, a great Steelers defense, but it is still a Steelers defense and capable. And then they went up against Tennessee whose defense isn’t great overall, but they were 14 in the NFL and red zone defense going into Sunday’s game. So they’re a defense that plays well inside the 20. So, you know, they they’ve got to figure it out there. I think that’s where the play calling at times has been choppy. But your overall question about this offense and what they do best. I’ll disagree with you on one thing you made mention that they don’t move the throw the ball downfield particularly well, the numbers actually suggest that they’ve been pretty good doing that the issue as has been they haven’t done it enough, or they haven’t gotten the proper pass protection to do it enough. Lamar has actually been quite good throwing the ball downfield, pushing it downfield, they haven’t done it a whole lot. You know, that would be an argument to do that a little bit more, but you need the proper pest protection. And you’ve got to have the you know, the right flow gameplan and all
Nestor Aparicio 24:19
those different would also say and go back and check this out on plays when they want to go down the field. Lamar drop to step three, step four, step five, okay, they want to go down the field. Now what happens when that happens? Sure. It’s either a check down, or Lamar escapes and runs or Lamar gets sacked or trapped or, or it’s an incomplete pass. Right. And they don’t have a lot of incompletes I mean, against all of it. I mean, the efficiency is part of what they do. But how many times they go into the huddle and say all right, we’re gonna have an eight plus on this play. We’re gonna you know, this is going to be this is going to be a real pass not a think pass. We’re going to try to get a first down on this play first and whatever second and what Ever, we’re gonna throw the ball, not a check down. They try that play a lot like they call that play in the huddle. And then how it turns out to your point you say they don’t throw the ball down the field that much. They’re efficient when they do. Lamar is not just winging it a whole lot. I see. I see these backup quarterbacks just throw the ball and pray, Oh, Lord doesn’t do that. Lamar will hold it, eat it, run it, try to make something out of it, extend the play, extend the play, then maybe dirt the ball. But Lamar is not a chuck and duck guy, which is part of the beauty of him is that he really does take very good care of the football. I mean, despite the problems you’ve had this year with fumbles and stuff like that. That has been my biggest issue over the six years with him. If I look back at the best part of Lamar Jackson, it takes pretty good for the football. I mean, by and large, forget the speed and the passing and all the question marks about his eliteness. And all of that. I do think he has, he takes care of the ball and doesn’t throw the ball around much despite the interception that Bateman got involved in. So them going down the field, part of that is that they don’t take that big pop, because they have another option, not other quarterbacks don’t have the option to run around, extend the play, you know, maybe make something happen. He has the legs to do that. And I think that takes away from their long passing game. Because once the play breaks down, he’s not looking down the field anymore. He’s looking at what’s in front of him. And he has a skill set that 80% of the other quarterbacks don’t have.
Luke Jones 26:29
Yeah, I mean, I’ll disagree in the sense that I think he does look downfield a lot. But there are plenty of times where he’s where he’s going to take off right, rather than someone like Patrick mahomes, who will move around, but generally his goal is not going to be to take off. Right, Lamar. And we’ve seen that the last couple of weeks, he’s made some beautiful throws where he’s extended, plays and ran around, move to his left who was right and makes a throw, where you just say well, I mean, look at the touchdown to say flowers, he rolled to his left. And you know, it wasn’t this extraordinary tight window throw but the movement where you had him moving one direction, and then a flowers cut back towards the middle of the field and hits mid stride. It wasn’t again, it wasn’t a difficult completion to make. But just the stress they chose to put on the defense in that place. In that case, I mean, that’s where you see the potential for this offense, especially with those two, and their ability to extend plays. And the difficulty that a defensive back is going to have and trying to plaster someone like say flowers when Lamar Jackson is just scrambling around and running around and leaving the pocket and still looking downfield. So, you know, you look at the overall numbers Nestor and I just I just looked it up. I mean, Lamar, I think is 18th and the league in rushing yards. So you know, it’s not as though he’s not running at all, is he running as much as he has in the past not quite as much. And you know, I look at him in terms of yards per attempt, which is a great gauge for quarterbacks throwing the football, as I’ve always said, this was never going to be that the rain, the Ravens suddenly became the dolphins who are throwing, you know, who Lamar would have to 200 passing attempts or 200 Plus passing attempts through the first six games of the season. But, you know, he’s 10th and yards per attempt, you know, 7.2 yards per throw. I mean, that’s, it’s not top of the league, but it’s certainly not something that you point to and say, Oh, that’s been a major problem. It hasn’t been you know, he’s completed, what just under 70% of his passes. So there are a lot of statistics, when you look at this offense where you say, there’s promise there, there’s promise there that’s looks pretty good. But putting it all together, that’s where i i made a comment that it feels like they’re springing a different leak every week, you know, they get something cleaned up. And then something else, you know, creeps up that you’re concerned about was the drops two weeks ago, it was the redzone this week, and it was the between the tackles running game this week. So you know, they’re just struggling to put it all together. Right. And that really speaks to what you just said. There are things they do well and statistically supports that. But it hasn’t added up to, you know, having this top five or even top 10 offense in terms of points scored right now. So they’re chasing it. They’re looking for it. I don’t think the injuries have helped. I don’t think it’s helped that Odell Beckham has barely been on the field. I don’t think it’s helped but Bateman, as I’ve said, kind of looks lost to me in terms of where he is in this offense on the offensive
Nestor Aparicio 29:28
8line. We haven’t talked about that wherever you want to hear more Zeitler a year more of Moses when he’s been in there, Stanley we’ll talk much about these guys. But yeah, I don’t feel like the mark gets a clean pocket. I don’t feel like they’re running the hell out of the ball. I I mean, Lindor bomb was injured. He’s back now. He made the fatal flaw two weeks ago was Well, I I don’t and the left guard thing we we haven’t talked much about it through six weeks, but the offensive line is where this whole thing begins. Well, Maurice capable The wide receivers are capable. I think Mark Andrews is still capable. But I’m questioning Moses, Stanley Beckham, Bateman, Andrews, I’m questioning their health as much as their ability and their age and whatever the tiredness of all of it would be. Because on paper, we looked at this back in May and June and July and said, Oh my God, if they get this and if they get that, I mean, don’t tell anybody but Aguilar might be their best wide receiver. I mean, flowers fine, but like just Aguilar has been better than I thought he was going to be and more involved than I thought he was going to be probably the disbandment has been out there. And because Beckham has been a mystery, despite the fact that he’s making more money than all of Gabon.
Luke Jones 30:43
Yeah, well, and even Aguilar dropped, what should have been a beautiful touchdown from Lamar in Pittsburgh, you know, a pass that hit him right in stride downfield, it went right through his hand, which is why he’s on his fourth team, or whatever it is, and there’s no question about it. But you pose an interesting question about the offensive line. And this is where I am with this group. I think, first of all, you feel great about Tyler Linder bomb? You know, I think he gone back to questions about positional value and whether you should draft a senator in the first round and look to all that, oh, that’s there. And that’ll be answered in the coming. I
Nestor Aparicio 31:12
didn’t believe any of that, by the way, because I know how the organization really struggled after Matt Burke. And I would just say just in a general sense, centers really important, you know, we talked about indenture and Adley rutschman, handling the pictures and all that having the right center here, having seen some of the wrong centers, the guy they got from Tampa 10 years ago for for Flacco it didn’t work and, and drafting the small guy from Delaware and Greg kowski. And like all the other stuff. I’m not, I was never when they took the best center in the draft from Iowa. And I checked off on that immediately. I had no questions about that. Fair enough.
Luke Jones 31:54
I’m not saying I don’t like centers, I was going off of what a decade of activity from the organization had told you how they valued centers, which wasn’t very highly so. And there’s hope everyone still has positional value. You know, Justin Tucker is quite possibly quite likely the greatest kicker in NFL history. That doesn’t mean you should pay him $20 million a year. You know, everyone still has a cost relative to what their positional value is and what it means for winning a football game. So that’s where that is. But point is we’re getting off track, you’re talking about positional
8Nestor Aparicio 32:26
value, they gave Odell Beckham all this money with positional value that had to do with making their quarterbacks feel good. I mean, like,
Luke Jones 32:35
it has something to do with positional value. And now that but that was a unique circumstances, no question about that. Anyway, getting off track because you asked me about the offensive line. Tyler Lindenbaum feel really good about him. There’s no question about that. I think Sam Mustafa did a nice job filling in for him for the couple games that Linda bomb was out. But you love having him back in there. He’s on his way to being at least a Pro Bowl caliber kind of center? I don’t I don’t think there’s I don’t think I’m going out on a limb saying that. And I think the numbers have supported that you can still get better. No question about that. But you feel really good about him. You know, I think Morgan Moses played was planning Well, it started out the season, the shoulder he missed, missed his first game in nine years, you know, really a credit to his durability. Came back, you know, without having a chance to rewatch the game. As you and I are talking about this, just based off what we saw how he played against Tennessee, you know, I think I think he’ll be fine. You know, the fact that he only missed one game. The fact that he practiced fully by the end of the week in London, I I would assume he’s going to be okay. I think the interesting one for me has been Kevin Zeitler. A little bit, not that I think he’s injured or anything like that. But I think he’s rebounded here recently. But he got off to a little bit of a rough start. And you kind of wonder, you know, he’s at an age where you just start to say, okay, are these guys going to be the same player as they’re a year older, and they’re on the wrong side of 30? So you know, are you getting? Not saying he’s been bad per se? But has he been the same Kevin Zeitler, who is a has been a fringe Pro Bowl type of right guard, and had been for the Ravens the last two years? You know, that’s where I questioned it a little bit. Now, like I said, he’s played better. The last, you know, that going back the last few weeks, so it’s trended in the right direction for him. I think John Simpson has been everything you could reasonably expect. Is he a guy that’s going to make the Pro Bowl No, absolutely not? Has he been a killer for them? Or a liability? I don’t really think so. I think he’s been fine. Overall, you know, for the big question for me is Ronnie Stanley. I think he really struggled, coming back playing against Pittsburgh, I’ll be in a very difficult matchup. And I saw on at least 12, one or two occasions against Tennessee, you know, not not his best work. So I think, I mean, he’s 29 he’s been through so much physically. There is that question, I think at this point time, one, just in his ability to stay on the field, but to and this is the scarier one. I think, you know, if he’s hurt if he’s too injured to play, I mean, the Ravens have kind of in there, right? I mean, they’ve had to lean on Patrick Macquarie or Alejandro Villa Nueva, Orlando brown moving from right tackle to left tackle. I mean, it’s where they’ve been for going on three or four seasons now. It’s just where they been. But I think we’re you where it’s a little more unsettling is if he’s healthy enough to play, and he’s not dealing with an injury that’s keeping him off the practice field or keeping them out on Sundays. What kind of player is he at this point in time? And that’s where I just think it’s, you know, there’s a little more question there. He’s been through a heck of a lot physically. And I’m not blaming him for that. You know, he had an awful, awful ankle injury. Three, three years ago, back in 2020. How much how much does that take out of you as a player? And as he’s approaching 30 years of age? Is his is his durability? Is his ability going to get better as he gets to 30? And he’s on the wrong side of 30? Probably not so worried about
Nestor Aparicio 35:55
with Stanley Zeidler. And Moses, we liked the veteran thing. I like it on paper. I don’t know that I love it in December. You know, I don’t know what I mean.
Luke Jones 36:04
8And look, I want to be fair to that group. They played that offensive line played well, last year. I mean, especially as the year went on, and you got Stanley back in the mix. You know, I mean, obviously, Ben towers was part of that group as well, that was an offensive line that was playing at a pretty high level. And, you know, I mean, you’re in a position where you had a bet you had backup quarterbacks playing late in the season, there’s always going to be a certain, you know, how much of it’s the quarterback, how much of it’s on the O line, when you have someone back there who shouldn’t be starting in the NFL starting games, you know, we saw that with Malik Willis in the fourth quarter. It’s not as though the Ravens pass rush got that much better in the fourth quarter than it was the first three quarters, it’s him holding the ball and not being able to find open receivers, and probably just not having the same command of the offense is Ryan Tannehill. And he got sacked four times as a result, you know, so So there’s always, there are always so many different variables at work, but for this offense to continue to progress and get better, and establish its identity over the long haul for the season. And they need that group to play at a high level. I think, as I said, I think the past protection for the most part has been when it’s been those guys on the field. And obviously, they some of those vets have missed some time. When they’ve been on the field, I think the past protection has held up. Okay, you know, it’s been fine. You know, even if it hasn’t been great all the time. I think it’s been good enough. But, you know, the run blocking in terms of just their schemed up running game, handing it to the backs. You know, I think that’s left a little bit to be desired. And, and let’s be clear about this. I don’t know how much of that also might be Gus Edwards, I’ll be totally honest with you, Nestor. I’m not sure we’re seeing the same explosive version of Gus Edwards, who broke so many tackles. I see a guy that yes, I’m not saying he’s not physical at all. But is he making as many people miss as he is he running through as many tackles as he did in the past? And? And I think that’s a fair question. I would say I don’t know if he’s doing that quite as much. So it just feels, and this goes for the entire offense. It feels like collectively, it’s just been a half a beat or a beat off from being what it really wants to be. And it’s looked really good at times. You know, we saw how it came alive in Cleveland against the Browns defense it, let’s call it what it is. That’s a really good Browns defense, if you see how they played all year, and how they played against San Francisco on Sunday. Statistically, that’s an excellent defense. And we saw the Ravens just beat them up in the second quarter of that game. And you know, they that’s where they scored their points, and they jumped out to their big lead and I get it browns had a third string quarterback playing who had no business starting games, but, you know, the Ravens couldn’t control that. But their offense really moved the ball exceptionally well for you know, that second quarter against Cleveland. I mean, they moved it up and down the field and scored touchdowns on him. But those time periods have just been too fleeting. It’s just spin off, you know, pre snap penalty or you know, blown assignment dropped passes against Pittsburgh red zone was against Tennessee. I mean, it’s just, you know, Lamar is great for 55 minutes like he was in Pittsburgh, and then he throws an awful interception in crunch time. It’s just they’re just off just a little bit every week and but I think what’s frustrating is it feels like it’s something else is off. Every week they fix something and then something else creeps up. And some of that is just that’s the nature of the NFL right week to week, right. We talked we hear that all the time. It’s a week to week League. So you’re always chasing perfection, you’re rarely going to reach it, you’re rarely going to find it. So that’s that’s kind of what they’re dealing with. But the offense has to be better collectively, you know, the entire body of work. It’s been okay, it’s been good at times. And then some other times it’s been really kind of weak, you know, look at their fourth, fourth quarter splits. They have not finished football games very effectively. Even some of these games where they’ve led they haven’t necessarily finished and been able to put teams away. And, you know, it’s burned them a couple of times. So it is a work in progress. That was a long answer to say it’s a work in progress. And I think that really applies across the board and everything they’re trying to do. And, frankly, every position group and I think, you know, going back to I mentioned Gus Edwards. Yeah, that’s why I’m intrigued to see if the Ravens work Keaton Mitchell into the mix, right. He’s an undrafted rookie. Let me be clear, I’m not saying he’s going to carry the ball 20 times against the lions. But I like
Nestor Aparicio 40:32
that matters at all. Anthony Mitchell’s one of the
Luke Jones 40:36
good pedigree, good pedigree, but I mean, this kid, we saw him in the preseason. And there’s not a whole lot that I take away from preseason in terms of performance. And I certainly don’t take anything away from statistics in the preseason, but traits, this kid has some serious speed, and I’d like to see what they can do. Maybe getting him involved seeing if you can get him to the edge, get him to the perimeter and see if he can outrun some people. So I’d like to see them work him in gradually here over the next couple of weeks and see if he can give them a little extra juice because that running game they’re missing the JK Dobbins homerun potential, they are justice Hills given them a little bit of that, certainly, but they’re not getting a whole lot of that from Gus Edwards these days. And, you know, I think with an offensive line that hasn’t been dominant, run blocking hasn’t been dominant, blowing people off the line of scrimmage. I think you’re looking for that little more of a homerun element there. So we’re gonna see what this looks like against the lions team. That’s been really good defensively, and we’ll see how this offense looks coming home playing in their home building for the first time in quite a while.
Nestor Aparicio 41:41
Here’s Luke Jones. He is Baltimore Luke you can find him out in Owings Mills all week long and anywhere the internet travels Instagram and Facebook and LinkedIn and Twitter and all those good places. The Maryland lottery is bringing our Maryland crab cake tour back home and out onto the road throughout November December. I’m putting dates together. I kind of held everything back because of the Orioles. Now the Orioles have been eliminated. We have ravens football this week against the Detroit Lions. Luke will be out noise Mills monitoring all that I have things happening around you including my 55th birthday, Luke joined us as well as George Shula, my old science teacher, I actually he was never my science teacher because he taught science and I didn’t still don’t understand. We went through photosynthesis and all the periodic table of elements and all that stuff. Also a chuck Jacobs, talk to us some old fashions with my son, my son first time on the radio and 20 years. He’s like I’ve been on since then I’m like, No you haven’t. You don’t call in anymore like you used to. So my kid actually came by and had an old fashion drug city on Friday. So you’ll hear all that this week. Great guests they had we’re booking the governor on now we’re getting around the around the state. We’ve been out Annapolis next month as well. We’ll be back at Pappas and Hunt Valley. We’re gonna get back to Coco’s for the holidays as well getting up on Thanksgiving for a couple weeks out on Thanksgiving. It’s crazy. Detroit Lions come to town it always makes me think about Thanksgiving. I just hope we’re not the lunch in this particular case or the dinner. In this case, Luke will be out there all week. I am Nestor. We are W NSTA and 1570, Towson Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore. Positive
