When the defensive depth chart isn’t deep enough

The entire defensive line of the Baltimore Ravens was ravaged with injury before the game started in Kansas City. Now, with Roquan Smith, Marlon Humphrey and Nate Wiggins added to the injury report, Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the defensive deficiencies and obvious depth concerns amidst mass losses and an atrocious 1-3 start to a season with Super Bowl expectations.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ defensive deficiencies and injury concerns. They highlighted the impact of key injuries, including Ronnie Stanley, Marlon Humphrey, and Roquan Smith, on the team’s performance. The conversation emphasized the need for the Ravens to win their next game against the Houston Texans to stabilize their 1-3 record. They also noted the challenges of relying on backup players and the importance of maintaining team morale and finding ways to adapt to the current circumstances. The discussion included concerns about the team’s pass rush and run defense, and the potential impact of these issues on the upcoming games.

• [ ] Evaluate the game plan and defensive schemes to see what adjustments can be made to account for the personnel changes.
• [ ] Monitor the team’s morale and confidence levels, and address any concerns through open communication and positive reinforcement.
• [ ] Encourage the team’s leaders and veterans to step up and provide guidance and support for the younger, inexperienced players.
• [ ] Analyze the infirmary report and determine which injured players have a chance to play this week against the Texans.

Defensive Deficiencies and Injury Concerns

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the challenges faced by the Baltimore Ravens, including the impact of injuries and the need for a strong performance against the Houston Texans.
• Luke Jones highlights the severity of the injuries, mentioning key players like Matt Abika, Ronnie Stanley, and Marlon Humphrey, and the uncertainty surrounding their return.
• The conversation touches on the historical context of injuries in the NFL, comparing the current situation to past seasons and the challenges of recovering from such setbacks.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of the upcoming game against the Texans, emphasizing the need for a win to stabilize the team’s record and morale.

Impact of Injuries on the Defense

• Nestor Aparicio expresses concern about the depth of the defensive line, particularly with key players like Matt Abika and Broderick Washington out for the season.
• The discussion includes the potential impact of these injuries on the team’s ability to control the line of scrimmage and keep the ball away from Lamar Jackson.
• Nestor mentions the challenges faced by the secondary, with players like Nate Wiggins and Marlon Humphrey dealing with injuries, and the uncertainty surrounding their availability.
• Luke Jones adds that the defense has struggled even before the recent injuries, raising questions about the coaching staff’s ability to adapt to the current personnel.

Challenges of Playing Backup Players

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the challenges of relying on backup players, particularly in a high-pressure situation against the Kansas City Chiefs.
• The conversation highlights the inexperience of some of the players, such as CJ Akoye and Keon Martin, and the potential for them to be overwhelmed by the competition.
• Nestor expresses concern about the team’s ability to maintain consistency and effectiveness with a rotating cast of players.
• Luke Jones emphasizes the importance of the coaching staff finding ways to make the most of the available talent and adjusting the game plan accordingly.

Strategies for Overcoming Injuries

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss potential strategies for the Ravens to overcome the current injury crisis, including the importance of getting key players like Lamar Jackson and Ronnie Stanley back as soon as possible.
• The conversation touches on the need for the coaching staff to make adjustments to the defensive game plan, focusing on the strengths of the available players.
• Nestor mentions the importance of maintaining team morale and avoiding a mental and emotional spiral, particularly given the team’s current record.
• Luke Jones highlights the need for the Ravens to find ways to win at least one of their next two games, emphasizing the importance of earning a playoff spot.

Evaluating Player Performance

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones evaluate the performance of key players, including Lamar Jackson, Ronnie Stanley, and the offensive line, noting areas where they have struggled and areas where they have shown promise.
• The conversation includes a discussion about the importance of consistency and avoiding high variance in game performance.
• Nestor mentions the need for players like Mark Andrews and Justice Hill to step up and contribute more to the team’s success.
• Luke Jones emphasizes the importance of the Ravens finding ways to be efficient and effective, particularly in high-pressure situations.

Looking Ahead to the Texans Game

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the upcoming game against the Houston Texans, emphasizing the importance of winning to stabilize the team’s record.
• The conversation includes a discussion about the potential impact of the injuries on the team’s performance and the need for the coaching staff to make adjustments.
• Nestor mentions the importance of the team’s leaders, such as Marlon Humphrey and Roquan Smith, in providing guidance and support to the younger players.
• Luke Jones highlights the need for the Ravens to find ways to be competitive and win games, even with a depleted roster.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones conclude the discussion by emphasizing the importance of the Ravens finding ways to win and stabilize their record.
• The conversation includes a discussion about the need for the team to maintain focus and avoid a mental and emotional spiral.
• Nestor mentions the importance of the team’s leaders, such as Marlon Humphrey and Roquan Smith, in providing guidance and support to the younger players.
• Luke Jones highlights the need for the Ravens to find ways to be competitive and win games, even with a depleted roster.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Ravens defense, injuries, depth concerns, Lamar Jackson, defensive line, Ronnie Stanley, Marlon Humphrey, Roquan Smith, Patrick Mahomes, Houston Texans, next man up, pass rush, run defense, Kyle Hamilton, Jair Alexander.

8

SPEAKERS

Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 task, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively, continuing the purple therapy here, and certainly therapy on the field, off the field for the fan base. And the purple sky is falling and the realities of injuries out. Knowings mills. On Wednesday, we will be at fade leaves. I’ll be healing my purple wounds with a delicious crab cake. I might even get two crab cakes. I’m probably going to take some fresh fish home. I brought some some fish seasoning home. I want to try so we do that down to fade. Least we’ll have a raven scratch offs to give away from the Maryland lottery. Hopefully this is a luckier batch than we’ve seen thus far on the field, checking in on our GBMC hotline. He will have all the injury reports and the infirmary reports on the W, N, S, T tech service brought to you by cold roofing and Gordian energy. Be welcome. Luke Jones, back on and you know, some point I’m gonna get back to Pizza John’s and do a show and try to make you happy and soothe your purple soul. But after what we’ve dealt with with six months of baseball, I don’t I like a season that would go completely off the tracks would be really, really difficult, I think, for the fan base here, Luke

Luke Jones  01:15

and just shocking. I mean, just shocking that look, we’ve talked about the January stuff for years. And you know, whether we’re talking about it again this January or not, remains to be seen. They’ve got work to do to climb out. These are problems they don’t have in Cleveland or other. I mean, these are things that aren’t even worth talking about right now. You know, Jan, forget about January. Like you gotta beat the Houston Texans. You gotta figure out a way to beat the rams and be three and three at the bye week. But, I mean, it is, you know, when you look at it, how miserable this baseball season started out, and then the reality was, they just could never recover, right? I mean, you know, they played like a 500 team from June on, but you know, when you’re 18 under Memorial Day weekend, 500 team the rest of the, you know, last three months of the season is not going to cut it. So, so, you know, there was so much excitement, as there always is, as there should be when you have a Lamar Jackson led team, you know, and we know how many games they’ve won in the regular season, regardless of what January has looked like and how that’s played out. So for this to start the way it has. It’s just, it’s not just one in three, but it’s also the injuries and climbing out of this hole knowing that you’re banged up. And yes, you know, other than the MATA BK one, we’re not talking about guys out for the year necessarily, and I’m not saying he’s out for the year, but that’s the one where that, you know, there’s outside speculation and concern that it could be one of those. But the rest of these are hamstrings and ankles and things of that nature. I mean, the Stanley one’s unsettling just because of his history with that ankle. I think that’s you know, because you’ve always wondered with someone like him with an injury like that, that he dealt with multiple surgeries, all that you do worry at some point, and your hope was it was going to be later on, but there’s always the concern of, like, when something like that just becomes chronic, right? You know, someone just wears down. I’m not saying that’s what this is, but, you know that thought crosses your mind, but where they stand right now? I mean, you got to try to get as many of these guys healthy as you can. I mean, I think van Noy, there’s a good chance. I think he plays next Sunday. You know, Travis Jones practice this week, so he didn’t go Sunday, but he practiced two days. That would lead you to think that he’s not overly far away. You know, Stanley will see he did a workout before the game, and you know what he you know, was out after, but the second series, so some of these other guys, it’s hard to say, you know, you and I spent half a segment talking about Lamar and just, you know, it’s complete conjecture right now. You hope it’s very, very minor to the point that he can play Sunday, but he might need a couple weeks. And if he does, what does that mean? You know, what does a Cooper,

Nestor Aparicio  03:59

8

Cooper rush led team look like, but, well, the D line was where it all began. Right, right? With Matt a BK and, and then Jones and, and then Washington, Roger Washington like, okay, so that alone concerned me enough to pick against them on Sunday. I thought that’s a real problem. I mean, mada BK alone would be a problem, but thinking about ordinary offenses, gashing them, and what Patrick mahomes could do with Kelsey and with Smith shoes, I mean, just, you know, a compliment of veteran players, is what I would say with and certainly with you with the Center for the Chiefs being a pro bowler as well. What that was going to represent for problems controlling the line of scrimmage and therefore controlling the football, keeping the ball away from Lamar, even if Lamar is perfect and Henry’s everything’s perfect, if you don’t give him the ball, then you don’t have to worry about it. And can you chew clock and you are you going to move? Move the sticks. I mean all of that mahomes with the baseball passes the little darts that he likes to throw, the short four to seven yard across the middle. Fast baseball passes the left, or the underarm passes, and the three quarters and all that. I thought that that would really be problematic for this front seven. And I think when you and I chatted on Friday before the game. We chatted at length about the front seven that, unto itself, is problematic to me. Now pile on Ronnie Stanley not being able to protect the quarterback, whomever the quarterback is, if the quarterback is not Lamar Jackson. Now pile on roquan Smith in street clothes in the second half of the game, and Marlon Humphrey hasn’t been great when he’s played, and now maybe it was an injury issue. You know, Lord knows, I’d never want to give him the benefit of the doubt, because he’d never give it to me. But, um, in the case of these key figures, and what it means to see Kyle Hamilton showing up in the post game is the only guy that’s going to come to the podium and sort of face the music about it. It is a, I don’t want to say, Where’s the leadership do the Johnny Oates turn over the buffet. I know the leaders are there. Marlon Humphrey, roquan Smith, Ronnie said, you know, we’ll go through the list. He’s over hurt right now. Yeah. These are, these are the leaders. And I’m wondering what happens, start with the defensive line, but then second level, backside depth. Who the hell are these guys? You know, who? I mean, a lot of these names, by the time we got to the third quarter, certainly the fourth quarter, when sort of the towel had been thrown in. I’m looking at these guys, and I’m like, can’t possibly expect these guys to do the job that starters were doing, in totality, let alone on a play by play basis, against last year’s AFC champs.

Luke Jones  06:56

Yeah, playing on the road, it’s hot, down three touchdowns by the time you get in your question. I mean, you know this? I mean, this isn’t our first rodeo talking about injuries. I mean, we spent two thirds of the baseball season talking about injuries. But you know, specifically with the Ravens. I mean, I think back to 2021 I think back to 2015 and you know, football teams love their slogans, right?

Nestor Aparicio  07:20

Next man up. Next John. Use that at halftime. Yeah, John went with it. No, you

Luke Jones  07:26

can’t throw in the towel, right? You have to rally the guys. And part of that is also you as a coach or as a teammate. You can’t publicly just say, Oh yeah, our backup stink, you know, like,

8

Nestor Aparicio  07:41

like, you have to John’s charm and winning all these preseason games is the backups don’t stink here. Allegedly, they don’t. But that still

Luke Jones  07:50

doesn’t mean you want them playing against the defending AFC champion and the team that’s been the dynasty over the last six years. So, but yeah, I mean, you look at this and that that’s part of the challenge for the defense specifically. I mean, obviously Lamar is a huge discussion. You know what your offense looks like with Cooper rush compared to Lamar Jackson? Obviously Ronnie Stanley is, but just the sheer volume of guys that this defense was missing come the second half of Sunday’s game and take into an account, into account what you had mentioned, as far as the guys that were out even before the game started. That’s where you are looking at, Zach or Chuck Pagano, the rest of that defensive coaching staff. And you kind of have to drill down. And this is easier said than done, because the group wasn’t playing well before these injuries, right? So that’s, that’s part of the, you know, the systemic concern about this. Well, now you’re playing guys you didn’t want to play to be but, but now you’re in a position where, I mean, you think about what their defensive line was on Sunday, you had Josh or John Jenkins, who put was kind of the bright spot of the Detroit game. He played well. He was there one defensive lineman. He’s a veteran guy. Well, yeah, he’s 36 years old, you know, now that leaves you to some concern as far as how old he is, and, you know, how much treads left on the tires, especially now he moves into a starting role like he did. But you had him, you had Brent urban, who has been around, I know he was just promoted from the practice squad, but he’s been around here a long time, right? I mean, he he came in two and a half weeks into training camp. Whatever it was, you know, Brent urban is what he is, as far as you know, what you’re going to get out of them, but you at least know him, and you trust him as much as you can trust the player in that position. But you look at the rest of this, CJ akoyo akoye was playing his first NFL game on Sunday. I mean, this, this is the kid remember we talked about for a little while in the preseason, in terms of, you know, hasn’t played football a long time. Good story. You know, what was on the Chargers practice squad for a couple years, and, like the Ravens liked him enough to want him back on the practice squad. They were. Happy, cleared waivers, but he’s, he’s green, you know, he he’s this massive individual, but he’s green, like He’s not someone you want out there playing against the Kansas City Chiefs or the Houston Texans right now. You know, maybe a silver lining is he’ll learn and develop in the process of this. I mean, you kind of, you know, it was funny for all the talk about Xavier worthy coming back for the chiefs, and obviously he played well. Taekwon Thornton has, you know, through some of the adversity that they face the first few weeks, he’s kind of like becoming a nice player for them. You know, caught a touchdown in that game. So, so you’re hoping maybe there’s a long term silver lining with some of this, but in the in the short term, you’re not just trying to figure out who’s available, you’re also figuring out, what can we call what can we put together in terms of a defensive game plan that is going to make sense when you’re talking about such inexperienced guys that are playing for you? It, you know, it’s one thing when it’s the bullets are flying in real time, and these guys go down an injury, go down with injuries in game, but, you know, privately, they’ll probably have a pretty good idea by Wednesday whether roquan Smith has a chance to play this week, whether Marlon Humphrey has a chance to play this week. You know, go down the list, and you’ve got to figure out what you can do like you when you don’t have established veteran leaders, whether they’ve been playing well or not, you know, like, as you mentioned, with Marlon Humphrey, who has had a bad start to this year, you know, even before he got hurt on Sunday, but it’s still way different, having him out there and things you might do with him, rather than an undrafted rookie and Keon Martin playing the nickel for you next Sunday, potentially. And look, he actually made a couple plays where you say, hey, good for him, like he played well enough to make the team, like he wasn’t even a guy that was on their radar. And he

Nestor Aparicio  11:49

Wiggins went out late too, and Wiggins was having trouble getting a call in at one point, right? But, yeah,

Luke Jones  11:55

8

but that, see, that’s the one that that that concerns me, because if there is one thing prior to, you know, and obviously, the floodgates opened on Sunday, right? I mean, not so little. I mean, maybe I’ll be able to identify a couple things that were positive about their defense over the course of 60 minutes on Sunday. But, I mean, it was just horrible, right? I mean, but if there was one thing through the first three games that I thought their defense could hang its hat on a little more. I thought it was Wiggins, and, you know, I’d also say maybe not to the same degree, but a wussier. I thought the outside corner coverage had been mostly pretty good, right? Jair Alexander in the fourth quarter of the Buffalo game aside, I think that’s something that had worked pretty well for them. But now with Wiggins, when you know his arms in a sling, and, you know, it’s an elbow, whatever it is. I mean, you know, Harbaugh said none of their injuries look right off the bat like they were concerned that they were like out for the year, kind of things. But, you know, if you don’t have Nate Wiggins and you don’t have Marlon Humphrey, then, okay, you’ve got a woozy a I you know, Jair Alexander, let’s see how you look. You’ve been a healthy scratch three weeks, trying to work your way back into you know, this is why we signed you, right, so, but you kind of have to look at it from a coaching standpoint. Yeah, you need to make adjustments to be better. But just how much adjusting can you do in terms of complexity and what these guys can even handle,

Nestor Aparicio  13:20

or just that they’re going to get overwhelmed and one on one battles physically

Luke Jones  13:24

well, one on one battles, or just, you know, how comfortable are they with the fully expansive defensive system of the Baltimore Ravens, right? I mean, we can all think back to 2021 wink Martindale last year as defensive coordinator. We all remember that that bears game, he had Chris westry. Chris westry, who, you probably have forgotten that name on an island when they ran a cover zero Blitz and they had him on outside coverage in crunch time. Now, the Ravens still found a way to win that game. But there was a perfect example of like, and that was part of winks demise, you know, like, you know, when you just kind of sum it up that last year, yeah, they were so injured. But, you know, wink never really showed an app, you know, an ability to adapt based on what the personnel was. And look, he might so

Nestor Aparicio  14:17

this is what we’re going to do, whether we can do it or not. And the

8

Luke Jones  14:20

truth zero might be that, what do you want me to do? You know, like, are we just going to play a basic cover too, and then, like, teams will beat that way, right? That’s just that. So it is tough. Like, this is not ideal. Like, and John Harbaugh talked about it in the post game, you know, having a chance to listen to his comments, like he kept alluding to the circumstances they’re dealing with right now. You know what he’s talking about there. It’s the injuries. Now, again, that doesn’t excuse the poor play, even before these injuries started mounting, but what it does concern you is you are now in a one in three hole that is not insurmountable by any stretch of the imagination, but you’re already kind of, you know, early season by. Behind the eight ball, so to speak. And now you’re in this position where, how much can you really trust to put on the plate of some of these guys that are replacing because, as I you know, I made mention the next man up. You can only say that so many times until, like, it’s a t shirt slogan, and it sounds cute, it’s a rallying cry, and, yeah, you’re going to say it publicly, but

Nestor Aparicio  15:22

at the end of that football game on Sunday in Kansas City, had I had my rightful press pass and a belly full of barbecue and gone through there? I think it’s alarming the amount of injuries they had during that football game and to whom it happened to alarming and unprecedented, unprecedented. I mean, in one game, got guys that chin strapped up for kickoff and were good enough to play, including Ronnie Stanley, who, I thought that was the biggest problem. When Stan Stanley two two series, he’s out that’s really bad. I’m thinking that’s really bad. That’s not good, in addition to everything that happened to D line, and next thing you know, Roke one’s out. Marlins in the tent. Wiggins has an elbow, and then Lamar has got Yeah, I mean, God. I mean,

Luke Jones  16:12

it’s tough in an in game scenario, I mean, but at the same time, I also have the memory of 2021 when, what was it about a 10 day period before the season even started. But it was right before the season started that they lost J, K Dobbins, Gus, Edwards, Justice Hill, so their top three running backs were all gone before you played a game. And if you recall, Gus Edwards and Marcus Peters literally had season ending ACL injuries within like, a couple minutes of each other to the point where, like, they ended that practice early, like this. You know, media wasn’t out there for it, but they ended that practice early because guys were, like, literally that distraught. So they’ve had some but in terms of just that many in game, and then, like, you’re swimming upstream. I mean, you’re already swimming upstream going into the game with the guys that were out on their defensive front. But then what happens in game? Yeah, like it it’s dude.

Nestor Aparicio  17:08

8

It’s all your fault. Because you kept saying all summer, they’re really healthy. Last year, they’re really healthy. They were healthy, healthy, healthy, healthy. Do you know how healthy they were? Well, now we look up here, it’s not even October.

Luke Jones  17:18

You remember my my comment to that was that’s why it hurt to not break through last year, because they were probably as healthy as they’ve ever been in the history of the franchise. And I get it the timing of the zay flowers injuries, that was crummy, and sure that had an impact. I mean, maybe they beat buffalo if zay flowers is healthy that night. But we also know injuries are part of the game and, you know, you’re seeing how the other side of it is, you know, compared to what it was last year. I mean, you know, go back to the spring we and we talked about it at the time. I mean, we kind of have forgotten, like, they lost our Darius Washington, who was one of the big figures that helped their defensive turnaround last November and December, not saying like he’s an all pro. He would have been an 80% snap guy for this offense this year, well, for the defense. Defense, I’m sorry, I knew what you mean. I just wanted to clarify, but yeah, because I think the way they really wanted to play, and this, to me, is also where I start to look at even some of their problems defensively, before these injuries started piling up. Keep in mind, they had ardarius Washington, and then they drafted Malachi Starks. Over the last five years or so, when the Ravens have been at their best defensively, they’ve played a lot of three safety ball, right? And doing that allowed them, you know, especially you know 2023 you know 2022 to a lesser extent, because he was a rookie still, and they didn’t try to put too much on his plate. But 2023 the way they could move Kyle Hamilton around to the degree that they did. You know, they’ve lost that ability going back to last year when Marcus Pete or Marcus Williams was so bad that they had to bench him, and then Hamilton played more, more of a conventional scene. He hasn’t been as much of a factor. He hasn’t been that splash guy, right? I mean, and it’s not even that, he’s played poorly, you know, I thought he had a bad game against Detroit, you know. And it’s not his job to flow to the ball anymore, right, right? I mean, like, just to be that kind of like, that wild card player, but when they lost our Darius Washington. Now, like, and I don’t want to completely like, hey, they could have added a veteran safety, like, there were veteran safeties out there. I mean, so. But the point is, they instead, now have gone, pivoted back to being corner heavy when they go, you know, nickel, three corners, and when they’ve played dime, so far this year, it’s been four corners. And we even saw that on Sunday when, you know, before Humphrey exited, when they went dime, you have TJ Tampa come play on the outside, and then they have a woozy a and Marlon both playing inside. You know, kind of slot corner, you know, nickel and dime, you know, I, I think, in this day and age, you. When teams are in nickel and in even in dime, as much as they are, I think it’s problematic when you’re relying on corners to do that, and I think that’s where, and I can’t even say that I would fault them for this, because I’ve been surprised by it, like even before he got hurt, Marlon Humphrey’s been bad this year, like missed

Nestor Aparicio  20:20

tackles. And the other thing is, is when a guy like that isn’t locked down and it’s not Revis island out there, you are a lot less likely to say to TJ Tampa, we’re going to have a package where you Blitz, or Kyle Hamilton just go run wild and Blitz the quarterback on every play. Go to the ball. Go to the ball. Go to the ball. You know, model the quarterback, stay on him. You know, like, go to the ball. Go to the ball. There’s none of that when the ball is going to go over your corners heads and and, most importantly, you know, you can’t get home with a rush. I was

Luke Jones  20:57

just going to say, I mean, that lends itself to probably needing to rely on four man rushes way more than you want to, and they don’t have the personnel for especially without Matt abika on the field. No doubt they don’t have the personnel to do. So look,

8

Nestor Aparicio  21:12

we’re four games into this. They’ve had no pass rush that’s winning. We can say the most awesome,

Luke Jones  21:17

the most ticked off Ravens fan right now would say, oh, Nestor and Luke sound like they’re just making excuses for Zach or Zach, like everything’s been bad, including the coaching, right? Like everything has been bad, like, really bad on defense, even before these injuries started piling up. But now, when you’re just living in the reality of the moment of how many of these guys are going to be available or not for at least the next week or two, you know, at least until you get to the bye week, and then you hope that everyone, other than maybe Matt ABK has a chance to rest up. And you can kind of view it as a reset then. But in the meantime, you try to win at least. You know you want to win both these games, you better win at least one of them. But what exactly can you do when you’re facing the possibility, let’s say, of not having some of these guys, and when you’re talking about couple guys in the secondary, and then you’re Mike kleinbacker, and knowing what that means, regardless of you know whether you’ve loved how roquan has played, you know even going back to last year. You know, whether he’s been at his absolute best or not, it’s still roquan Smith compared to rookie Teddy Buchanan, Trenton Simpson, who’s been benched twice now over the last calendar year. And they had, I mean, they had Jake Hummel playing linebacker. He’s, he’s one of their special teams aces. And look, maybe Jake Hummel will be able to do a little bit better than people thought, you know, if it comes to that, but this is not how you built your football team. So I mean, again, there’s a lot of right now. One, what’s the infirmary report looking like, and how, how many of these guys can practically play coming, this coming Sunday, because obviously this is a incredibly important football game in a lot of ways, in the standings. And I just think mentally at this point, you know, you you don’t want to have that mental and emotional spiral continue, but, man, I mean, when you’re talking about some of the personnel that we’re laying out there right now, I mean, what, what exactly can you do? You know in terms of disguise and pre snap stuff that they like to do, and trying to manufacture pass rush when you don’t have all your horses up front, and you know when, even when you do, it’s a question of how good it is anyway. I don’t think

Nestor Aparicio  23:35

anyone really understands how confused young players can be in that environment when they haven’t played, right? Sure? Like, what those guys, what yellow stream they were pissing Sunday afternoon, being out there with Patrick mahomes and maybe even waking up hoping to get in the game they all want to play, then they get in and not really ready. You’re like, you’re not expecting that to happen, like watching Kobe Mayo’s at bats earlier this year, or just in a general sense of you think you’re ready, and then the bright lights come on, and you got to go play in that environment. As a collective, I don’t mean just one, any one of those names. You’re giving me six names of guys on defense who are not names of any guy we ever wanted to have on the field, or names you and I have even spoken about here and and we do this for hours a week, and they’re out playing against Patrick mahomes on Sunday. Some of them may have to play again this week. And when you think about how multiple you can’t be, how untrusting the coaches are, in general, how much fire there already is for Zach or Sure, to your point, it just really leads to a very uncomfortable franchise right now. I it just really, this is, you know, John Harbaugh. Everybody thinks he’s. Such great leader. You know, Hall of Fame, you’ll always be in Hall of shame, to me, but this is where, you know, big bucks rally the troops, next man up all of that stuff. They got real problems out there, dude. I mean, like, yeah, and, and when your best players are hurt, you’re screwed this league.

Luke Jones  25:17

8

Yeah. I mean, and, and, you know, the same would be true for any of the teams that aren’t one in three right now, but would be three and one if they had the same number of injuries moving forward, but where you’d say they’d be in trouble. But yeah, I mean, the the part that concerns me, beyond the injuries, which, you know, that’s the short term, like obvious, no, no, no, duh, kind of statement is, you know, it’s just, I think it’s, you have to be really careful to, you know, what’s between the ears right now? I mean, just in terms of doubt, in terms of what you and I doubt, right? Well, sure, but, but I’m just look those guys. They know they’re one in three, I

Nestor Aparicio  26:02

mean, and they know they’re playing a bunch of backups, right?

Luke Jones  26:06

And they know that the buy is a couple weeks away still. And, you know, Houston may be one in three, but that’s a team that was in the playoffs last year. And you know, certainly you’re telling me that Michael Ryan’s and Houston, you know, these next couple of days, I like that coaching staff. Before those guys come back in Tuesday or Wednesday, or whatever they’re they’re licking their chops looking at the state of the Baltimore Ravens right now. They’re looking at this as they’re

Nestor Aparicio  26:36

facing a different team than the team that we thought for six months they were going to face.

8

Luke Jones  26:40

And no question. And in some way, the ravens are looking at it and saying, well, at least Houston’s not foreign. Oh, and firing on all cylinders themselves right now, but, but to your

Nestor Aparicio  26:49

point, it doesn’t diminish the expectations of the fan base here and the the level of disappointment.

Luke Jones  26:55

And I alluded to this talking about, you know, my between the ears comment, look, we’ve talked about this team with some of their late fourth quarter leads, you know, over the last few years, where that has happened more than it should. And we’ve certainly talked about January. But what they’re in right now, and like I said five years ago, yeah, they had a stretch where they lost three out of four, you know, with Lamar upright. And then on the back end of that was when they had the covid outbreak for that crazy post Thanksgiving, Wednesday afternoon Steelers game. So, you know, that season was just so strange in and of itself, like the camaraderie wasn’t the same for all those guys all that, right? So it’s almost like not an asterisk, because, like, it was a real season, but it was certainly a different season than what what you’re dealing with right now, but losing three out of four in November, when you’ve gotten off to a certain requisite start that has you firmly in playoff position and contending for the division, or leading the division, or whatever it might be, It is way different when you’re one in three, and when you think about this team, this current era, this isn’t the kind of adversity that they generally, that it’s generally been their forte to handle very well, but one they had, like, none of these guys were around in 2015 right? I mean, Brent Orban was in a second year, like, in, you know, injured, like Zach or was on a team, yeah, Zach or was on the team. But the point is, like, this group hasn’t been through something like this this early in a season, and really something like this in the regular season, right? I mean, say what you want about January, like, you have a bad day, it’s over, right? Like, there’s no like, there’s not, like, a multi week, there’s no negotiation, like, yeah, like, there’s no, like, coming back the next week when you lose in Buffalo or lose to Kansas City, like, the last two seasons. So you know. And again, that was one of the reasons why I did pick Kansas City on Sunday, not thinking it’d be a blowout, like it ended up being, or how humbling and how awful this performance was, but just in terms of, you know, they kind of went through that they had that big you know, that December two years ago, remember they lost to the Raiders on Christmas Day, and like everyone, thought they were dead, like thought they were dead in the water, and They, they they picked themselves up, and they ended up winning a Super Bowl. Now this is not me saying the ravens are not capable of doing something like that over the next three and a half months. Who the heck knows what’s going to happen, but the raid like this is very rare, uncharted territory for the Lamar Jackson era ravens to kind of be in this kind of position they have, just for the most part, even with their occasional fourth quarter collapse type games

Nestor Aparicio  29:50

8

for the most part, week in and week out, like they’re just so used to winning. But they have talent you most weeks, and they can’t do that without talent.

Luke Jones  29:58

They can’t do that right now. I. And you know, again, whether that talent was playing up to its potential or not. I mean, you know, but one in three is one in three. And I think you just, man, you just, you can’t start doubting yourself. And, boy, that’s an easy thing for me to say, is I’m just sitting here at my dining room table talking about it, you know, and watching it from the sideline during practices and all that. But I just think there, you really run the risk of guys starting to lose confidence in one another. And that’s, you know, that’s just, it’s not a good place to be on top of the injuries, right? So, you know, it’s, we’re gonna find out some things this week. I mean, it’s who, among the players that are healthy who’s going to step up? I mean, you know, they had one, they had one sack on Sunday was tavius Robinson, right? I mean, they need guys like him to step up. I mean, I’ll give you one. Go back and read my 12 thoughts going into the Sunday’s game. Where’s Adolfo?

Nestor Aparicio  30:59

Way he’s playing for a lot of money.

Luke Jones  31:02

He’s making $13 million this year. Now, we can certainly debate whether you know I mean that, and that wasn’t completely in a vacuum. It’s a fifth year option, and the Ravens being where they are, and the fact that they haven’t signed him to a long term deal, I think, tells you he they view him more as like a guy that keep around an extra year, but we’re not going to marry long term like, I don’t think I’m talking out of turn speculating, but he

8

Nestor Aparicio  31:28

was hoping to get a dozen sacks this year to go out in the market and get an $80 million

Luke Jones  31:32

deal. You need him right now. And Where’s he been? I mean, I’ve seen him flash, you know, he’s got had some quarterback hits here and there the last few weeks, but certainly not making a big, a big impact. There’s never

Nestor Aparicio  31:43

been a point where I thought he’s a dominant player, no, and I noticed, I think he’s already sacks more

Luke Jones  31:48

8

fine player than, you know, than that’s why, I think that’s why you’re not seeing them giving him an $80 million contract, right? I mean, but those are the kind of guys if you’re going to endure these next couple weeks assuming you’re going to be out without at least a couple of these guys here and there. You know, considering roquan Smith was ruled out coming out of halftime, I don’t want to say it’s impossible, but generally speaking, Nestor, that’s generally not a circumstance where you’re expecting the guy to play the next week. Same with Humphrey with the cap. Now, maybe not, maybe they will be ready. And if they are, then great, good. You know, that’s better for this ravens defense. But you’re the Texans are going to be there at one o’clock next Sunday, so you’ve got to try to figure out the the best way you can to prepare, and some of these young guys to to the point that you made a few minutes ago, you know, they’re these young guys going to be in a different position this week, where some of them are going to know, like, hey, like, I’m playing this week, you know, I mean, might be Keon Martin saying, hey, I need to be the nickel this week. Or, you know, they’re at least going to have me split snaps with Kyle Hamilton, and maybe they put Sanusi Kane at safety with Malachi Starks, and they try to play things that way, because they need to be more physical with their front seven, you know, than than putting an undersized, undrafted rookie at the nickel. So we’ll see what those decisions ultimately look like next Sunday. But you know, you have to hope that the coaching staff can come up, and this is either side of the ball, you know, especially with the big Lamar question, but you’ve got to come up with a game plan that’s appropriate for the guys that you have out there, while also recognizing that it can’t be so vanilla that you make things incredibly easy for CJ Stroud and the Texans offense, or that Texans defense that can Still is still capable of flying around, you know, especially if you’re not gonna have Lamar out there so and it’s not gonna be a fun week in Owings Mills, that’s for sure. I mean, I think guys can be tight, you know, I think you’ve you try to be as loose as you can. But you know, the the magnitude of where you are when it’s one and three. No, see, not season’s not over by a long shot. But, yeah, start winning some football games.

Nestor Aparicio  34:06

Yeah, I’m not even, like, I stopped snowboard watching, like the Chargers. I was worried about them winning or losing, and the Steelers. I mean, you’re gonna lose every week. It doesn’t matter what the Steelers do. I did

Luke Jones  34:15

have to laugh, though, at one the Chargers kind of doing a charger type thing, right? Even if it’s Jim Harbaugh that felt very the way you’ve thought about the chargers for forever. I said to my wife, do you know how many times the San Diego Chargers played a one o’clock East Coast game overwhelmed? They might as well just yeah, the Seattle Seahawks, all those teams have always had that. But you think about that through the lens of what this game meant, and that’s why I said, I mean, Kansas City was the team that had more urgency here, and I was saying that with an assumption that the Chargers would win, and I was wrong, so But you look at that now, they’re two and two, they’re one game behind the chargers, and suddenly their offense comes to life. Now how much of that was the terrible ravens defense? Well, we’ll find out over the next few weeks, but suddenly the. Chiefs look like the Chiefs again, and the Ravens are unrecognizable right now, right in terms of what this

Nestor Aparicio  35:06

is unrecognizable, I’m gonna, I might use that.

8

Luke Jones  35:09

I mean, it’s kind of the I mean, and again, this even goes back to like their, whatever they want their identity to be. I know I’m harping on it. I’ve harped on it, on three different, three different pieces that you and I have done, you know, breaking down this game. But I keep going back to that first drive of the second half, third and three, and you take Derrick Henry off the field, you need a touchdown, and you take Derrick Henry off the field. I mean, like, like, what, what are you trying to be right there? I mean, that that’s a finesse team thing like that. That reminds me, like, the 2000 St Louis Rams right there would do something like that. You know, not the Baltimore Ravens. So, and I get it, your offensive lines not playing at a high level right now, but what so you’re not even going to try? You know, it’s not like your past protecting that that well, either. So like, what are we talking about here? I’ll, I’ll take my chances with Derek Henry trying to get three yards on two plays than what they did.

Nestor Aparicio  35:59

You know, is there anything we could say that maybe Mark Andrews has come back to life a little bit, I’m trying to, like, because we’re waiting on Ricardo to get back. We’re waiting, we’re waiting on likely to become a factor, right? Like, I mean, and now we’re at the top of this. Like, is Lamar going to be healthy enough to play this week? Start with that, and then work our way through Well, Ronnie Stanley, and then we, you know, and then Wiggins and Humphrey and roquan and the guys we know aren’t coming back on the D line. So I know the pass rush and the run defense is going to be suspect. I can count on that for Sunday, for CJ Stroud, but the rest of this, like, if you’re the Texan scouting this, you’re looking at this and saying, all right, Kyle Hamilton still looks like he’s running around at full speed. Worry about him a little bit. We obviously have to worry about Lamar or Cooper rush, or what kind of offense they’re going to have, but I don’t know who’s playing well. I mean, I’m looking up and down the roster and saying, who’s having a good year here on a one in three ravens

Luke Jones  36:58

team. Well, I mean, if we’re going to talk about the the full body of work, I mean, you know, until the last five quarters or so, Lamar had been playing very well, but is it going to be out there Sunday? You know, Linder bomb, I think, has played well overall.

Nestor Aparicio  37:13

8

Offensive line has not had the holding in. The penalty wise, they’ve cleaned a lot of that up.

Luke Jones  37:18

Yeah, they have cleaned that up. But, you know, they’re still not playing great though. I mean, they’re not playing very well.

Nestor Aparicio  37:25

They’re not playing great. I hear what you’re saying, Yeah, but, but they’re not in first and 20 and first and 20.

Luke Jones  37:30

Yeah, they haven’t had a ton of penalties, um, you know, Rosengarten lined up, you know, off the line was off the line. But they haven’t had too much of that. You know, they had a lot of that early last year. I mean, you know, the two delay of games were just, I don’t know. I’d have to, I’d like to go back and look at it as you and I are talking in real time. You know, I don’t know if Lamar was just trying to do too much in the final 10 seconds of the play clock, where it’s just like, hey, you’re on the road like you’re you can only you can keep searching for the absolute perfect play. But don’t let good be the enemy of perfect in those situations, because, you know, you lose five yards there then, like, whatever you were going to pick, doesn’t it’s a moot point. Then. So again, I’m not sure. You know, maybe that was monk, and maybe that was Lamar, who knows? And obviously crowd noise in Kansas City is a given. But, you know, just kind of going through the list, I mean, Justice Hill had a couple nice plays. I mean, that that was good to see. I mean, sure. I mean, and let me be clear when, when I’ve made my comments here about taking Derek Henry off the field, it’s not to say that I don’t like Justice Hill, or I wouldn’t like to see Keaton Mitchell involved, for example. You know, if you get him up and active for game day, but it just, it’s like I said, you look at their point total, right now, they’re one of the highest scoring teams in the league, but the sum doesn’t feel as great as all those parts, because it’s just been so up and down. It like high variance is the term that I’ve been using a lot. Whereas, like last year, steady, like great, but steady, great two years ago wasn’t always great and extremely explosive, but boy, it was really efficient. It was just so efficient they sustained drives and

8

Nestor Aparicio  39:14

no negative plays, either in regards to, like, incompletions and or sacks and, or runs for loss, or runs that were negligible, you know, two yards on first down, then that’s that’s not going to get it done in this offense. And it’s not what’s made this thing the revolution that John has talked about.

Luke Jones  39:36

Yeah. So, I mean, it’s just, I mean, let me be clear, they they still have and right now it’s harder to see because they have guys banged up and out of the lineup and everything when, if and when, and assuming they get most of these guys back at some point in the not too distant future, I still think this is a heck of a talented football team, whether they were the truly the best roster, or any of that stuff we were talking. Talking about three weeks ago or not. Who cares at this point? Like, to your point, scoreboard watching is kind of a you know, it’s moot right now.

Nestor Aparicio  40:07

The only scoreboard you need to watch this week at one o’clock, two and three. Yeah, no question.

Luke Jones  40:11

8

So, you know, I just mentioned the saving grace, does? You know I’m still not. I’m sorry. The Steelers aren’t going 14 and three. They’re just not. But that said neither of the Ravens at this point, because if they, if they were going to, that means they’d win their next 13 games. So expectations as an outsider need to be adjusted. And like I said, you can throw that stuff out the window right now. You got to figure out how to beat the Houston Texans with who players

Nestor Aparicio  40:38

on the playoff team right now they’re gonna have to earn being a playoff

Luke Jones  40:41

team. I mean, like, if you’re going to ask me to predict yes or no, do I think they’ll make the playoffs at the end of the year? I’ll say yes. But do I feel do I feel very good about that right now? Of course not, right? I mean, like, they’re one and three, so you’ve got to earn that. And that’s where as I’ve I’m working on at Baltimore positive.com you know, you could talk about the benefit of the doubt after the Buffalo game. You could even talk about the benefit of the doubt after the Detroit game and go, look, look how many pundits were picking the ravens to beat the Chiefs this week. And like I said, I was, I was genuinely surprised by that, you know, and not just because I picked Kansas City. I picked them to win a close game. You know, I thought it was going to be more of a coin flip kind of game, and I thought the home team, the healthier team, the more tested team, the smarter team. And I don’t mean that that the ravens are definitively dumb, but Kansas City is a smarter football team has been over the last five years, that that’s why they win as many close games as they do in the ravens, lose a lot of those close games. But, man, it’s they’ve got to find toughness, like they’ve got to find like you’ve got to find, uh, it’s gut check time this week, whoever’s going to be out there, because you you just, you’ve got to find a way like you just do. They’re not going to postpone the game. I mean, they’re just not whether Lamar is out there or not, whether whether Bron Smith is out there or not, or Ronnie Stanley or Marlon Humphrey go down the list. We know Matt abika is not going to be out there. So they’ve got to, they’ve they’ve got men. This is a week where, honestly, there need to be some tough conversations, you know, and

Nestor Aparicio  42:21

well, they’re gonna play a lot of backups this week. I mean, I don’t, I can’t think that everybody’s gonna be I mean, it

8

Luke Jones  42:26

doesn’t mean, it doesn’t mean everyone’s gonna be out, but, yeah, I mean, I mean we’ve already talked about the defensive line. I mean, they were missing their three starters on Sunday. Now, like I said, I would hope Travis Jones is back, you know, because he practiced late last week. I mean, generally speaking, that, you know, even if he’s not going to go that week, that’s generally a good sign for the following week. But you’re not having met a BK. You’re not having Broderick, Washington. So you’re going to be counting on some combination of some of these, either less experienced or what about van Noy? Where is he? I’m out. I would think, because he practiced on a limited basis, and he did a workout pregame, you know, according to the reporters that were in Kansas City, I would think that’s should Bode pretty well for his staff.

Nestor Aparicio  43:13

Alexander is another guy that on the back end, they’re going to need him in a sling.

Luke Jones  43:18

I kind of, I kind of feel with him, like it kind of feels now or never right in terms of, like, if he’s still not healthy enough to play, and let’s be clear, he has not been on the injury report the last two weeks. I think this is much more of a they didn’t like what they saw in week one. They acknowledged that he missed a lot of training camp. He’s coming off of a PCL injury in his knee that cost him half of last season. If we can all think back to and I’ll use him just as one example, Rashad Pearman had a PCL injury that it took him a couple we saw even though he never lived up to the original expectations, but it took him a couple years just to get on the field and look like a an NFL wide receiver even because, you know, that’s a that’s a tricky injury. It’s not like this catastrophic ACL or meniscus, where you’re talking about cartilage deteriorating or anything like that, but it’s one of those that can be slow healing, and that guy’s had a lot of baggage in terms of the injuries. It’s why he was available for $4 million in mid June, as we said at the time. But when you talk about it now, if you’re in a position where Wiggins might not be able to play and Humphrey might not be able to play, like Jair Alexander’s got to go out there, give them something. If he can’t, then you start to question, like, why is even on the team? You know what I mean? Like, because if he hasn’t been on the injury report the last couple of weeks, that tells you he’s healthy enough to play, even if the question is building up to being effective enough to play at a high level, right? I use this all the time. I say there’s a difference between being healthy enough to play in a football game and being healthy enough to truly thrive. In a football

Nestor Aparicio  45:00

8

that job with the PCL, cutting, moving left, right, lateral, backwards,

Luke Jones  45:06

all of that, right? I mean, like, hey, their issues playing against the Dallas Cowboys aside, on Sunday night, the Green Bay Packers generally aren’t, aren’t in the business of getting rid of really good football players. They he was there, Marlon Humphrey. Now he was, he was, he was scheduled to make a heck of a lot of money this year. And I think all things being equal, they would have much preferred working out some kind of pay cut, restructure, you know, incentives, all that. And it just, you know, it got to the point where it was a divorce, right, of hurt feelings, and he wasn’t happy with how they handled his injury. Nestor, you know, allegedly last year and all that, but, but point is, the Packers clearly didn’t have a whole lot of confidence that he was anywhere close to the guy that he used to be. And that that doesn’t mean that Jair Alexander can’t come in Sunday and play well or a month from now, playing at a high level, whatever. But you look at the state of the cornerback position right now, and you say, If not now, then when you know? I mean, if he’s still not close now to being good enough to helping you, then, man, good luck. TJ Tampa and Keon Martin and whoever else you might try to call up from the practice squad or sign off the street, right? I mean, so you know, it’s, it’s not great. It’s not and I’m saying that as the guy that’s also saying season’s not over, 13 games to go, and that’s all still very true. You’re not gonna, you’re not gonna. I wholeheartedly reject any notion that the season is completely going down the tubes, and they’re completely, you know what? But, man, you’ve got to, you’ve got to find a way to start turning the tide here. And at least, you know, like I said, even if all these guys are going to be out the next two weeks, you must find a way to win one of those at the very least. Like the bare minimum has to be two and four, you know, you you want to get to three and three, obviously. But if you are going to have all these guys banged up and Lamar being at the top of the list, you know, you also need to be realistic, but they’ve got to find a way to win a football game here. And you know, it starts Sunday against the Texans, and maybe some guys will be back, maybe not, but they’ve got to, you know, egos need to be put aside, and you know that for coaches too. Mind you, sometimes it’s, Hey, I need some help with this.

Nestor Aparicio  47:25

It’s not good times for Zach Gore right now, Pagano, right? It’s not a really good times for monk and either, because that hasn’t worked out well. And I think to some degree, the offensive line, both of these lines, I mean, it’s just, we’ll continue on. And we’ve been at it for hours. The they still lost to Kansas City, still one and three. Luke’s going to have injury reports. All are brought to you by our friends at GBMC, the tech service is alive. And while that’s brought to you by our friends at cold roofing and Gordian energy, I am bringing the Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road. I will have the Madden Raven scratch offs to give away at fade leaves on Wednesday this week, will be a Costa sentimonium Next Monday, after the Houston game, trying to get back on the ball, get some guests out, continue conversations above and beyond football that are very, very important, in regard to democracy, in regard to our military, in regard to just all sorts of things that I’m quite mouthy about around the clock. But when the football team’s one and three, we have our own. I bring all of my military leaders in to discuss what ever we’re going to be doing against Houston this week. So Luke will be out knowing smells. I am here watching baseball at one and three and six and nine and Red Sox and Yankees and Dodgers and Padres and all that good stuff we are wnst am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, we never stopped talking Baltimore positive. You.