September 27, 2024 • 38 mins
Team insiders, Ryan Mink and Garrett Downing, discuss the magnitude of Sunday night's Ravens-Bills game, why Baltimore has been so good at home in primetime, why this year's challenge against Josh Allen is different, and much more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome into the Lounge presented by DraftKings. I'm Ryan in
here with Garrett Downing and we are going to talk
about the biggest news items of the week as well
as preview this huge Sunday night football game between the
Ravens and Bills at M and T Banks Stadium for
our Darkness Falls game, which is going to be super fun.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
But first, Garrett, you know, this is a big game.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
A lot of people, a lot of eyes on this one,
a lot of talk this week leading up to this game.
Bills are three and zero. They have the best point
differential in the NFL. When you look at the power rankings,
as I'm sure you pour over the power rankings every
single week, Garrett, you know it's the Bills or the
Chiefs at the top of those power rankings right now.
And so this is a really good team, probably better
(00:47):
than team than people expected, considering they had a lot
of free agency losses coming here to Baltimore against this
Ravens team that is now riding a big win from Dallas.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Yeah. And also the other part with the Bills is
they're coming off this game or they just looked unstoppable
against Jackson.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Dismantled the Jaguars.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
They playing a national TV game and they look awesome
on Monday Night Football and completely dominated that game. So
you're three and zero and the last time people saw
you as a national televised game where you looked unbeatable.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
So the Ravens should have looked that way in Dallas,
but it got a little too tight.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah, they looked that way for about three quarters and
we're going to talk about that. But so so, the
Bills are definitely one of these teams that the Ravens
are looking at as this is a really good, I think,
litmus tests for where the Ravens stand at this point
of the season. And it's going to be a really
tough opponent because I think one thing that was interesting
to me actually was that the Ravens were actually are
(01:40):
actually favored in this game m hm. And I think
that that speaks to a couple of different things. One
of it is certainly the confidence that I guess Vegas
has in the Ravens and the talent that this team
has Vegas. But also, you know, the Ravens have been
excellent at home in prime time, so all that stuff
is part of the factor that goes into this game.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
And The Ravens are just a good team, right, I mean,
record aside, they're sure they're one and two, right, but
I think they proved in Dallas what they certainly can be.
And you know, they have their flaws right now, as
we've discussed, and we'll discuss more. But these are just
two really good teams that even before the season started,
coming into the year, you would have said, oh yeah,
(02:19):
Ravens Bills Chiefs, Yep, those are gonna be the ones
that are contending for the AFC title, you know.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
And it's interesting though, to your point, like you made
the point, I think a lot of people thought that
the Bills might fall off a little bit. Stefan Diggs,
who've been such a good player there for so many years.
He's now in Houston. They've lost some other key players
on defense on that team, so like they've taken some hits. Michael, Yeah,
they've lost some key players on that team. And I
(02:45):
think that maybe the external feeling around that team was like,
maybe this is a step back season for them, and
early on it absolutely does not look that way.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
They look as good as effort.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Well, these two teams have two guys under center that
are really good. You know and Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson,
they're both guys that can put a game on their
shoulders and no matter who they have around them, who's
blocking for them, who they're throwing to, when the balls
in their hands, you got a good shot. And I
think that that's some of what we've seen from both
(03:17):
of these teams early in the season.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yeah, now when we're talking about this game, of course,
it's primetime game is Sunday night football. You mentioned darkness
falls by the way, if you're going to if you're
going to the game where black teams in all black,
so where your black gear, you're your Black Ravens jersey,
and get in early, get into your seat by eight
o'clock so that you see all the intros.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Playing at M and T.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Bak Stadium in a primetime game as an opponent is
tougher than anywhere else in the NFL, and.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
The numbers back that up.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
During John Harball's ten year as head coach, which started
in two thousand and eight, the Ravens have played twenty
three home primetime games. During that stretch, they are twenty
and three. That is by far the best winning percentage
in the NFL. Seattle second at seven to seventy four.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Right, everybody likes to talk about twolf Man and see
out on how tough it is there, which it is.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Yeah, it's tougher here in the twenty three games. In
these twenty three home primetime games, the Ravens have a
two hundred and thirty seven positive. The scoring differential is
two hundred and thirty seven points in the Ravens favor right,
So like they have pretty much dominated these a lot of.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Them haven't been close.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Yeah, so it's now does that is that going to
be a factor in this game? You know, obviously what
you've done in the past doesn't necessarily apply at all.
It's Sunday, But I think it speaks to the challenge
of the environment that teams come into during these games.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yeah, and I think it, you know, there's just something
to it. Like anybody that's I agree with what John
Harwall said this week, anybody that's been at M and
T Bank Stadium for one of these primetime games knows
what we're talking about. Like the energy in there, the feeling,
the just it's something different.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
It really is.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
It's hard to describe, but it is just electric. And
I think that you know, not to pat ourselves on
the back, but like, you know, our team here on
the business side, like puts on a pretty darn good
show and on the football side, like the players talked
about it this week, there is a different juice level.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
You know, when you're.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Playing these games at home, you're wearing the all black
uniforms that they love. Uh, you know, the lights go out,
you got Lamar's intro waving the towel over his head.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Like it's different.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
And and I think that all plays into you know,
and typically, you know, the Ravens, you get a good
team that you're going against, and the Ravens usually get
pretty sharp when they're going against the top competition.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
They play their best.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
And uh, not to mention the Ravens have just been
a good team for a long since two thousand and eight.
You talk about winning percentages, the Ravens just point blank,
anywhere they've gone, they've had a good winning percentage.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Even better winning percentage at home exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Just but it's better. It is better, Like there is
something to it.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
And I don't think it's just that's like cherry pickstat
like it's real and uh, and I expect that to
be the same case on Sunday night.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
I think that all those things play into it to
a certain degree. And you've seen over the past couple
of years there really be more of an appreciation for
how good the atmosphere is at MT BAG City. And
you see Pat McAfee talking about it, you see Taylor
Lawan talking about it, Travis Kelcey talking about it. Like
There's been a lot of guys, prominent players or media
(06:27):
players turned media personalities who have spoken to just what
that atmosphere is and it's gonna be that way on Sunday. Now.
Once the game starts, I think it kind of becomes
a game, like all that stuff is pregame, But I
think that you ride the emotion of that a little bit,
especially early in the game.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yeah, I mean you can feel that that emotion and if.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
You're in the press box waving your towel, give me
a town, right, as I said, cash there.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Yeah, gonna go buy a black suit.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
A couple of days to make that happen.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, exactly, we can do that.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
But yeah, I think that the players definitely feed off
the energy from the home crowd.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, there's no doubt about it.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
So in terms of some of the big talking points
for this game of the news of the week, and
then we're going to dive into some of the specifics
of this game. One of the big talking points going
into this has been Justin Tucker.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
We have not discussed really ever during his tenure Tucker struggling.
This is uncharted territory. But he's missed a kick in
each of the last three games and it's surprising. And
so Justin did talk with reporters on Wednesday and discuss
his mindset, his approach, the technical issue that John Harwall
(07:48):
talked about on Monday that's causing these miskicks. What was
your takeaway after hearing what Justin had to say in
his time with reporters.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Yeah, I mean he acknowledged the mental side of it
and said, you know, it's particularly difficult for a kicker
as opposed to any other player. Right, Like you're a
wide receiver and you drop a ball, Okay, you might
get the ball on the very next play, Yeah, you can.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
You can erase that very quickly. For a kicker.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
You just gotta wait, right and you're just sitting there
and if you know, in the case of this Dallas game,
Justin Tucker misses that kick and then he's watching that
the Cowboys kind of rally off of that right and
go down and score touchdowns and the Scoes tightning, and
he's it just makes you feel worse and worse and
worse and worse, right, And so you know, he acknowledged
(08:34):
that that this is this is a challenge mentally for
a kicker, and you're not going to get through it
until you make some kicks. But you know, he told
our guy Clifton Brown that like, basically, you have to
check in with yourself mentally, where's my confidence at and
my confident?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Okay, done? Check right, And like you can't dwell on it.
You can't keep like, am I confident? Am I still confident?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Next day? Next morning? Am I confident?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Today?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Nah? You just got to be like, am I still
a dude? Yes? Okay, let's go.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah, you know, and that's that's a challenge, right, And
uh so I think that he's dealing with that as
well as you know, the technical aspects of cleaning up
his kicks.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
There's a few things I'll say about Justin. He is
always and we've talked about this before he operates differently
than most kickers. He's somebody who is the loudest in
the locker room. He's obviously no has no issue being
the center of attention on or off the field. And
not every kicker, not every specialist, is like that. And
(09:43):
so he is always someone who's been comfortable in the
spotlight and holds his own In a locker room full
of big personalities, he might be the biggest. And I
think that that has always served him well, and I
think that speaks to his confidence. And when I when
I heard from Justin this week, indicated to me like
his confidence is not shaken, which is really important. And
I don't think it's just I don't think he's just
blowing a smoke. I think that he's sincere and he's
(10:05):
still very confident, and I think that so that's good.
Like the other part of it, too, is he's not hiding,
you know. He he talked reporters for like fifteen minutes
in the locker.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Room, multiple rounds.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Love exactly.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
And sometimes when a guy is struggling, they avoid the
locker room when the media is in there because they
don't want to get the questions, or they do it
begrudgingly and they'll get a couple of questions and they
get out of there. Like Justin kind of held court
in there as a bunch of pelete it's a bunch
of reporters came up and talked to him for multiple
rounds and answered all the tough questions. So I just
don't think that he I don't think he's running from it.
I don't think that his confidence is shaken, and I
(10:38):
think that his persona and attitude I think he has
served him well throughout his career. I go back to
when he was in the competition with Billy Kundiff as
a rookie, and Billy Kundiff, who was coming off a
bad miss at that point, but he was a pro
Bowl kicker, like don't let's not forget that, and Justin
would kind of trash talk during practices and he carried
himself in a way that caught a lot of people's attention.
(10:59):
And I think that that mentality has always been part
of who he is, and even in the midst of
the struggle, I don't think that that is going to change,
and I think that will help him get out of this.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
I agree in terms of what the technical issue is
he didn't go in the specifics, but he's he did
say this to to Cliff, He said, I didn't finish
directly at my target line. I made the same air,
which is highly correctable. But I made the same air
a couple of times. So, you know, to our point
(11:30):
when we were discussing during the Film Breakdown podcast, like
they know what the issue is, and I remain confident
just as Justin does that that's something that they can
definitely correct. Like Justin Tucker still has a great leg
all the you know, he also made it a point
to say the misses are on me. You know, it's
(11:52):
not on Jordan Stout, It's not on Nick Moore, you know,
it's on me and another respectable you know, thing for
him to do kind of to your point about answering
all the tough questions, like whenever he says the makes
are us the misses or me? And so you have
to respect that about Justin. And I think that those
three guys will certainly get through this. It's gonna take
(12:15):
some makes, it's gonna take him knocking down some and
then I think once he does that, this will all be,
you know, we'll we'll forget that this conversation even happened.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Yeah, I think in like the crowd or whatever, there'll
be some if he goes out there on Sunday for
a fifty two yard field goal, there's gonna be some
nervous energy amongst fans as that happens.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
And maybe maybe maybe for him as well. But I
think that.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
I think that he again will have the He has
the ability and still has the mindset and certainly the
talent to overcome that, and I think he will. I
think that by the end of the season. I don't
think the conversation will. I don't think we're gonna be
talking about the field goal unit much at the end
of the season. And like a concerning way.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
So another kind of talking point this week was the
Ravens in the fourth quarter, right, That was a big
talking point after the game. How do you avoid these
fourth quarter lapses when you have a big lead. What's
the key both sides of the ball. Lamar was asked
about it this week, and it is clear that it
is something that he he despises. He does not want
to give up a late lead, and he really looks
(13:20):
at it like he looks at it from the offensive standpoint,
talk about not pointing the finger. He looks at it
from the offensive standpoint, like, now we shouldn't be out
there like running clock. We need to be putting up points,
and that needs to be what we're focused on, Like
we need to go out there and build off that lead,
keep putting up points. If the clock keeps running, that's
a nice If you put up points and the clock running,
that's that's the perfect scenario. But it's clear that giving
(13:44):
up those late leads is something that irks him, and
he is focused on that offense not allowing that to happen.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, I mean, I don't really think the offense was
much to blame. I agree for the laps in Dallas,
you know. I mean they in the fourth quarter, they
drove down for a field goal attempt, they had one
three and out, but then the muffed on sidekick, and
then they closed the game out, so that the offense
ultimately did its job. Did it score a lot of points, No,
(14:12):
but they were in field goal range. They should have
gotten at least three. Yeah, and so you know that,
I again think that's respectable of Lamar Jackson not to
kind of throw the defense under the bus.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
You know, I think two.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
It's it's definitely a talking point in the defensive meeting
rooms when you go back and watch. It wasn't like
they were super super passive. They were in coverage somewhat,
but they blitzed you know that they dag or blitzed
several times during that fourth quarter. Kyle Hamilton I thought
was was kind of interesting. You know, he's like, basically,
(14:50):
he's kind of saying, everybody focuses on the times when
you don't you don't close it out defensively. Like we've
had some games going back to next year, the Lions
game last year when they just absolutely smoked them from
start to finish. You know, they've they've had games where
they close them out. But he's like, nobody focused on this.
They only focus on the ones that you lose.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Yeah, it's kind of the nature that it's kind of
like the conversation we have with Ryane Sanley this week
on the podcast where you can passblot great for thirty
five plays, you give up a strip sack on one
of them.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
You had a terrible day.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
And you watch you watch around the NFL and like
these fourth quarter scoring fests or no, that's not reserved
just to the Ravens, right, like this is kind of
how NFL games often go, right, and I and I
kind of wonder, you know, do offenses by the time
the fourth quarter rolls around, like have they kind of
figured it out right, like what you're trying to do
(15:45):
to them defensively and they kind of catch up a
little bit.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
It's like a picture in the seventh inning.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah, yeah, exactly right, like the batting or he's gone
through the batting or a few times exactly they know
what he's throwing exactly. Maybe, Like I'm just saying, like
when you compare it around the you do see a
lot of fourth quarter scoring. It seems like all of
a sudden, those offenses figure it out. Now, with all
that said, you look at the Ravens point differential quarters
(16:10):
one through three and then the fourth, like they're more
than doubling up teams. Since the beginning of last season,
you're beginning of twenty twenty three and the start of
twenty twenty four, they've scored more than twice as many
points as their opponents in quarters one through three, and
in quarters four they have a negative point differential. Yeah,
So like to I understand what Kyle Hamilton's saying, but
(16:32):
there is something to it, right, Like the Ravens have
not been particularly strong in the fourth quarter of these games, yep,
so it needs to get corrected. And to what you
were saying before, Like Lamar Jackson was pretty clear when
Marlon Humphrey came up to him on the plane on
the flight back from Dallas and he's doing his you know,
victory Instagram live and he's like.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Hey, Lamar, what do you got to say to the people?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Lamar's like, Nah, I'm not falling around today, right, I
don't want the camera on me. I'm not sitting here
high five and on the plane. I'm still angry, you know.
He said he was not happy about the way that
game ended. So that gives you a look into Lamar
Jackson's mentality.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Yeah, I don't think Lamar has always kind of been
that way where if a game ends and he doesn't
feel like he, individually or the offense do what they should,
like in his mind, like, you got to do what
you're supposed to do, and that's continue to put up
points and put the game away and keep your foot
on the gas whatever metaphor you want to use, Like
that's the way that he views it, and so if
(17:33):
you don't do that, he's going to be sour about
the fact that the team collectively wasn't able to do that.
And I think that you saw that in that video,
and I think that that's he kind of carried that
same mindset during his time with the media on Wednesday,
where he basically made the point like, Yeah, we shouldn't
be giving up leads, we shouldn't be as an offense
(17:56):
having success the first three quarters and not in the fourth.
Like that's the way that he looks at it.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
And so I the part of the challenge here.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
It's similar to the Tucker conversation, Like there's the mental aspect,
there's the there's the technique aspect, and the scheme aspect
and x is and like all of that. So it's like,
is this a mental thing where you get to the
fourth quarter and you and you get frazzled by the moment,
or is this there's specific technique things that are happening
that you need to do Differently, I think that probably
(18:27):
it leans more in that direction over the mental thing.
But I don't think the mental element of it is zero.
I think there's there's a component of it, and I
think what the Ravens are really focused on is trying
to clean up the technical things, look at what they
can do as players and his coaches to do things
differently to ensure that they're not giving up these leads.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, I would agree with that.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Then last thing for me is, you know, obviously the
primetime matchup here is Lamar versus Josh Allen. As you mentioned,
these are two of the best quarters in the league
squaring off, and I thought that it was interesting this
week hearing from both guys and again gives you a
glimpse into Lamar Jackson's psyche. You know. Lamar I asked
(19:13):
him the question of do these these matchups against other
great quarterbacks, like what do they do for you? You know,
like do you really treasure these kind of games?
Speaker 4 (19:23):
And he was just like, you knew what you were
gonna get, was like answer he was gonna get?
Speaker 1 (19:29):
He was like nah, you know, and it's just funny.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
He's just like, I don't care who we're playing. I
really don't. I don't care about the quarterback on the
other side. I just want to win.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
And it's interesting because this is like who he is,
you know, like in Week one, before the Chiefs game,
people were like, Hey, are you and Pat Mohoe's friends
And he's like nah. And he was like do you
take anything from his game?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
And he was like nah.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
And you know, like he the only quarterback that I've
seen Lamar really give flowers to is Tom Brady. Yeah, right,
the goat And he'll he'll he'll, you know, rave about
Tom Brady and the chance seven Super Bowls and how
he thinks he's the best and all that stuff. But
like his peers currently playing, he's not. He's not out
(20:20):
here to gush about them. You know.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
He respects him.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah, And he said that about Mahomes and I'm sure
he feels that way about Josh Allen this week. He
respects him, but like he is not gonna sit here
and build up this matchup and talk about how great
they are and all that stuff. On the flip side,
Josh Allen couldn't stop saying great things about Olamar Jackson,
you know, and and how he really revers how all
(20:44):
the criticism that he's taken over his career, and how
he's persevered and and how he's changed the game. And
he feels like quarterbacks around the league play differently because
of Lamar and you know how kids look up to
him across the country, and and you know how he
loves him and loves watching him and all this stuff.
And he was going on and on, and it's just
(21:05):
so funny to compare and contrast these guys in the
way they look at a matchup between them.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
I think Lamar has I really believe this with him.
He has said this many times. It's not I'm not
even on the field with Josh Allen. I'm not even
on that We're not even in.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
The field together.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
The same applies for Josh Allen and Lamar, I know,
but that he talks about it very different, but he
does it.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
That's just how he operates. He has never looked at
it as like this is not a me verus Josh
Allen game. I just think he has never viewed it
that way. And he's been asked whenever there's a big
matchup of quarterbacks, mahomes Allen probably at the top of
that list, Burrow, but like he has never builded up
as like he you know, the hype, the hype trailer
that they're gonna do before the game on Sunday night
(21:45):
on NBC, like they're gonna show these two guys, or
they're gonna put the two of them on the graphic.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
They're gonna put their stats next to each other.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
That's how it goes. That's how the NFL works. But
like Lamar has never played into that. He's never gonna
give you the voiceover track that you want for that trailer,
because hey, it's just not how he is. He doesn't
see the game that way. And he also like he's
trying to beat these guys. And so I think that
that kind of is part of his psyche when it
comes to talking about his opponents, like he's not going
(22:11):
to go out of his way.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
The respect is there. That's always been clear with him.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
He never he never bashes opponents, but he just is like,
I'm trying to beat these guys. And I think that
that's the way that he he looks at it. He
looks at it more from I'm going up against the
Bill's defense. Josh Allen's going up against our defense, and
all my focus is is scoring, putt up a bunch
of points and making it really hard on them.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
I think it's also because Lamar's just one of one.
Like Lamar just operates his own way.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
All the time.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
He never deviates from that, right, So, like he's never
going to like put on this fake like, yeah, you know,
this matchup is really cool, it's great for fans and
all this stuff, and like do like the typical quarterback
dance around this kind of thing. He just he's just
like he just wants to win badly. He wants to
(23:04):
play well, and he doesn't care how that comes off.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Yeah, he's just He's just himself at all times. And
I and I love that about Lamar. He's one hundred
percent genuine.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
The fact of the matter is, though, what's so interesting
for fans and for those on the outside, And even
John Harball and Kyle Van Noyd talked about this, they're like, yeah,
for us, like these are the kind of matchups and
the kind of games that you remember for the rest
of your life. And and maybe when Lamar you know,
is sitting on his front porch at seventy years old
(23:37):
and reminiscent about the good old days, he'll talk about this, right,
like maybe his perspective will change.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Then it probably will, right, Actually, I'm not so sure
it will retrospect.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I'm not even sure he'll be like, did I beat
him or not, you know, but like for the rest
of us, you know, when we're looking back on these days,
like we'll remember these highlight matchups right between two great
quarterbacks in their prime. And Van Noi talked about, you know,
Brady and Aaron Rodgers and being part of that and
how he'll look back on that. And John Harball even
(24:08):
was like, Yeah, these are the games you remember, you know,
when to of the best go toe to toe.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
And what's interesting about it is that like the similarities
between Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen, there's a lot of them, right,
like just their backstories and kind of where they're at
in their careers. Right. I mean, here's two guys that
were very much doubted coming out in that twenty eighteen
draft class. Right. Josh Allen was very much doubted about
(24:36):
can he be accurate enough? He has this this you know,
really strongest canon for an arm but can he kind
of tame it? Can he be accurate enough in the NFL?
And or is he just too reckless and wild? You know,
Lamar obviously the questions about whether his running hybrid style
can translate to the NFL.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
And then you know, they've.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Both proven it earlier in their careers that yes, they're
gonna be they're gonna be very good, They're gonna be
all right, you know, and and quickly become two of
the best quarterbacks in the league. Lamar a winning at
MVP in his first season full season as a full
time starter. But both haven't gotten over the hump yet,
(25:18):
right because a guy named Patrick Mahomes who's beating them
both in the playoffs. He beat Lamar in the AFC
Championship game. He beat Josh Allen in the AFC Championship Game.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
A few years back.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
I think it's actually wasn't you know it was AFC
Championship game.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Yes, And Josh beat Lamar in the divisional playoffs, right, So, like,
these are two guys that are both kind of you know,
in the court of public opinion, when you rank the
top quarterbacks, it's Homes at the top, and then it's
Josh Allen and Lamar jocking right. And you can win
all the individual accolades, you can win the passing, you know,
(25:51):
you can throw for the most yards in the league
and all that stuff, but until you beat Mahomes, you're
not gonna get past them. And both those guys are
knocking on that door, and so it's just, you know,
both have this kind of hunger about them and that
makes I think this storyline even more interesting against this game.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
And you like set it up that way.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
You talk about the quarterback matchups and where they rank
and how they stack up, you know, quarterback ranking wise,
all this stuff. But again, Lamar, like, I really don't
think he any of that is on his mind.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
Zero of that.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Oh yeah, he's he's just like he's He was asked
specifically about that whether he gets tired of his whole
quarterback ranking, and he was like, I mean, I know
that they happen, you know, I'm not like he's on
social media. He knows people do this all the time.
But he says like, yeah, I don't care. That's just
been going on for forever.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
And will and it will see you that way. And
he just he just he looks at things from a
very much more like specific stance, I think than how's
this game gonna affect my legsi? You know, and the
broader question, well, all that is fun and exciting, and
it's part of what makes this specific game so great.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
That's why when they were making.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
The schedule they said, let's put this on Sunday night
for four because this is one of the marquee matchups
in the league with two of the best players. But
I just don't think Lamar really buys into that, and
I think that that approach has really worked for him,
and I think that that's part of what makes him
who he is. So let's take a quick break. When
we come back, we'll dive into some of the specifics
on how the Ravens can stop Josh Allen and slow
(27:24):
down this potent Bills offense. You're listening to the Lounge podcast.
We're coming to you from the Seakeek Studio. We also
want to give a shout out to our friendst Draftking
sports Book. They are an official sports betting partner of
the Baltimore Ravens DraftKings sportsbook. The Crown is yours. We
were just talking about Josh Allen. He's thrown for six
one hundred and thirty four passing yards, seven touchdowns, zero interceptions,
and also has two rushing touchdowns.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
So he's been great.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Yeah, I mean, the interesting thing, there's a lot of
interesting things about Josh Allen this season. You know. The
reputation is this is kind of a wild, reckless dude
who's turned the ball over too much in previous seasons
and you know, either via interception or fumble, and that's
kind of been his Achilles skill and that's the way
to get him well, zero interception so far, right. And
(28:08):
on top of that, he hasn't been this rocket launcher
kind of guy that you usually think of, you know,
when you when you stack up the quarterbacks in terms
of air yards per attempt, you know, he's not he's
not throwing these bombs down the field. And I think
part of that is is because of his personnel and
even in passing yards, right, Like, I mean, he's sixteenth
in the league passing yards. You usually think Josh Allen,
(28:30):
Oh yeah, he's gonna be top five.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
He's sixteenth.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah, he's behind Lamar, He's behind a bunch of guys, right.
And so it's been you know, even though Josh Allen is,
you know, nearer at the top of the MVP conversation
early this year, probably it hasn't been a Josh Allen
esque kind of season so far.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
It He threw four touchdown passes against Jacksonville Monday night. Yeah,
so he's been really efficient.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
I think that's the word.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Yeah, but like that's not which that's the opposite of
what you think of with Josh Allen. I take it
like you think yeah, And back to my point earlier,
all the questions about him coming out in the draft,
like what you don't think about efficiency? You think he's
going to hit you for a big play at any time, Yeah,
in any moment, but he's going to turn the ball over,
And that's kind of the flip side. Well, it's been
very much the opposite so far this year for him.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
I also think that they've been they've been aided. You know,
James Cook has been pretty good to open the season.
He's got three rushing touchdowns, one hundred and eighty eight
rushing yards. Not monster stats, but they have had a
pretty good running game. But Josh Allen can also run
incredibly well, and they're leaning on his lips.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
They're continuing to do that.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
And the other thing that's interesting about their passing game
is like they just don't have It was Stephan Diggs,
like Stefan Diggs was the marquee attraction of that passing
game for many years and now you look at the
receiving corps and it's like he's gone, and it's not
like the Who's who cast. They're in that receiving corps.
Everybody's getting a little piece of the action and he's
spreading it a wa around really well, and there's not
(30:02):
like when.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
You're facing them.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
It's no longer a case of all right, stop Stefan
Diggs first.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
Completely, it's everybody in the mix.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Very balanced attack, and that's what the Ravens, you know,
aspired to be, as we've talked about with the pick
your poison. But you know, they only have one receiver
that's over one hundred receiving yards so far this year.
It's Khalil Shakir. He's been ultra efficient. He's caught every
pass that has come his way.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
He's been very good.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
But you know, one receiver of one hundred yards is
kind of shocking after three games. Yeah, that's that's odd, right,
And they have Dalton kin Kaid is a very talented
tight end who is coming off a.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Good game against Jacksonville.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
You know, they have Keon Coleman, who is a very
high draft pick for them this year, and so you
know they have some talented guys. But Josh Allen is
doing a really good job of spreading the ball around.
So it's going to be a very different matchup from
the previous two weeks, right where Ceedee Lamb was obviously
the guy that he wanted to stop with the Cowboys,
DeVante Adams was obvious, Slee the guy, or Shee Rice
(31:01):
was obviously the guy I mean Travis Kelcey also in
Kansas City. But in terms of wide receivers, so it's
it's a different kind of challenge for the Ravens secondary
this week.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Yeah, I think the little interesting supply you got Keon Coleman,
who was a second round pick for the Bills. There's
a little buzz about him as a potential target for
the Ravens during the draft process that they decided to
go wide receiver early, they went cornerback. They went with
Nate Wakens of course in the first round, late in
the first round, and it'll be I'm sure that there
could be some players where Nate's matched up against Keon Coleman,
(31:33):
and so that'll be a good battle.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
Of rookies there.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah, what hasn't changed about Josh Allen's game is that
he is still extremely hard to bring down, right, I mean.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
This is a big, powerful, dude.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
And you know, I was comparing contrasting he and Lamar
both very dangerous with their legs in very different ways.
You know, Lamar will run past you. Josh Allen White
trying to run through you.
Speaker 4 (31:56):
Yeah, and he often does.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
And so you know, you look at at how often
that even when people do get pressure, which opponents have
not gotten much pressure against this very tough Bills offensive line.
Even when they have, they've struggled to bring Josh Allen
down to the ground even more than in previous years.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
So far this season, he's only been sacked twice.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
This year, He's been sacked twice, which is the least
in the league, right among full time starters, right, So
that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Two sacks in three games. Yeah, that's nutty.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
So again, you know, a challenge for the Ravens secondary
and also for this pass rush that just added Yuneaton Docway,
who by the way, you know I talked to in
the locker room and he feels like I'm ready to
play right now. Put me in and uh, you know,
and it'll be interesting to see. This is the same
time that the Ravens side and Kyleve and noy last
year going into the.
Speaker 4 (32:49):
New mL and find the guy. What did Kyle say?
Speaker 2 (32:51):
It's the week four signing? Baby?
Speaker 4 (32:52):
What was Kyle's quote last year? Balling off the couch
and off the couch? That's right?
Speaker 1 (32:56):
And uh so the couch has another and you know
we we just had the sleeper sofa out. We got
another person that's jumping off there. And so you know,
can Yanik be that the bar is very high? Kylev
Any had nine sacks career high last year. I don't
know that we can sit here and expect you and
he can gooway to get nine sacks the rest of
(33:18):
the way. But can he provide some juice?
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (33:20):
And you know John Harball was encouraged by what he
saw on the practice field on Wednesday, and so you know,
I think he can add something. But whether it be
O Way, you know, Ojabo, all these Ravens pass rushers
the defensive front, they're going to have a tough time
putting pressure on Josh Allen And with how efficient he's
been as a passer, it's a tough balance because if
(33:42):
you don't get to him, you know, he can carve
you up.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Yeah, I think Kyle van Noy is going to be
an important player in this game. He's have four sacks
last two games, and he said this week that part
of it is just he's still he always has that
chip on his shoulder as a guy that's been doubted
and he continues to prove people wrong. And he was
on the couch last year. The league kind of forgot
about him, and then he had that big season and
so I think that I think he's going to be
(34:05):
an important player. And on Yanique, he's on the practice
squad right now, so in order for him to play,
the Braves would have to activate him. They could do
that three times. From a game day elevation standpoint, maybe
they do. That will probably be something that we find
that would be if that happens, that would happen on Saturday, So.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
Maybe he ends up playing.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
But regardless of Yanique, this this pass rush, van Ney
and Oway, Like I start the conversation with those two.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Oh, for sure, those are your leading guys.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
Like Yanique's exciting because he's new in the mix and
all that, but.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Like completely Way and Vana and mattab and you know
your interior pass rush as well. Uh, you know, Mada
led him in sacks last year, So that is certainly
a huge part of the equation. But yeah, all those
guys have their work cutout for him. The interesting thing
about the Ravens so far through three weeks is they
(34:52):
have not been blitzing at a super high rate. You know,
Zach orr Uh, we all thought, yeah, this is gonna
be one of the most you know, more aggressive guys.
You know, how many times do we say just he
was aggressive as a player, and I'm sure that's how
he's going to be as a play caller. It hasn't
really been like that so far for him. So the challenge,
(35:13):
you know, how much do you want to pressure Josh Allen.
He has tore up the Blitz this season. First, according
to Pro Football Focus, he has the best grade in
the league against the Blitz ninety two point seven. He's
nineteen to twenty five for two hundred ninety three passing
yards and six touchdowns against the Blitz this year.
Speaker 4 (35:32):
Zach, it sounds like, maybe you don't want to blitz him.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Zach gord S blitz at the eighth lowest rate in
the league, So you know, yeah, it just makes me wonder,
do you drop back and coverage try to create muney
of those lanes and see if you can pick him
off a little bit more than what he's done so far.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
Well, that also just means you need to have your
four man pressure, your base pressure package. You get to
him a BKA defensive line yep so. And then lastly,
you know, the Raves had a huge game on the
ground last week. Derek Hennery too, the rushing game as
a whole, two hundred seventyour rushing yards. The Bills rank
sixteenth in the league at stopping the run. I think that,
(36:09):
so it's not like they're the worst. I think they're
going to be better. Their defensive front is better than
what the Cowboys were last week, So I I think
that I'm not expecting two hundred and seventy yards, But
I do think that this could be another opportunity for
the running game to get rolling a little bit. And like,
this is truly one of these games in my mind,
where you use that to your advantage. And one of
(36:30):
the best ways to play defense is to just keep
Josh Allen standing on the sidelines, Like I really believe
that with this game and this opponent, keep him over
there standing watching with a baseball hat on. That's where
I like Josh Allen and if you can get Derek
Henry in this running game rolling, I think that's going
to help.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
The defense in a big way.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
The Bills are pretty banged up defensively right now. They
lost Matt Milano during the preseason during training camp, and
so you know, that was a star player in the
middle of their defense. That was a tough one there. Also,
their nickel corner is injured right now, and so the question,
you know, they like to play a lot of nickel defense,
(37:07):
and okay, can the Ravens run against that? Can they
take advantage of that kind of defense? You know? Can
they have not run a single defensive play out of
their base defense yet this year, right.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
And so does the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
If the Ravens can block their defensive front, and Ed
Oliver is a very good defense tackle, if they can
get push up front and force the Bills to have
to kind of get out of that nickel defense that
they like to play, then I think that that's really
advantageous for Baltimore.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
So look, it's gonna be a great game. It's gonna
be an awesome Avis here, we talked all about that.
I just think that this is a really good limbs
test for Where the Ravens Are. You and I both
think that this team can be one of the best
in the league, and this is an opportunity to show
that and this you know, it's big, It's really big
for this team. So I'm excited. I can't wait for
Sunday night again. It's our Darkness Falls game where Black.
(38:00):
If you're going to the game, make sure that you
get into your seats early, by eight o'clock so that
you're there for all the pregame intros and festivities we
have planned for that game.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Look, last week, I kind of kept it a little mild, right,
it worked, and it worked right, Okay, So you don't
mess with what's working.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Okay, okay, so let's go get Oh how do the
big don I go to this Saturday night football? You
know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (38:24):
If it's working, If it's working, you don't mess with.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
It, all right, get ready for a Now that's not
a beauty.
Speaker 4 (38:33):
Yeah, I got a little bigger than that.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Get ready for a gwyn that's better
Welcome into the Lounge presented by DraftKings. I'm Ryan in
here with Garrett Downing and we are going to talk
about the biggest news items of the week as well
as preview this huge Sunday night football game between the
Ravens and Bills at M and T Banks Stadium for
our Darkness Falls game, which is going to be super fun.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
But first, Garrett, you know, this is a big game.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
A lot of people, a lot of eyes on this one,
a lot of talk this week leading up to this game.
Bills are three and zero. They have the best point
differential in the NFL. When you look at the power rankings,
as I'm sure you pour over the power rankings every
single week, Garrett, you know it's the Bills or the
Chiefs at the top of those power rankings right now.
And so this is a really good team, probably better
(00:47):
than team than people expected, considering they had a lot
of free agency losses coming here to Baltimore against this
Ravens team that is now riding a big win from Dallas.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Yeah. And also the other part with the Bills is
they're coming off this game or they just looked unstoppable
against Jackson.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Dismantled the Jaguars.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
They playing a national TV game and they look awesome
on Monday Night Football and completely dominated that game. So
you're three and zero and the last time people saw
you as a national televised game where you looked unbeatable.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
So the Ravens should have looked that way in Dallas,
but it got a little too tight.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah, they looked that way for about three quarters and
we're going to talk about that. But so so, the
Bills are definitely one of these teams that the Ravens
are looking at as this is a really good, I think,
litmus tests for where the Ravens stand at this point
of the season. And it's going to be a really
tough opponent because I think one thing that was interesting
to me actually was that the Ravens were actually are
(01:40):
actually favored in this game m hm. And I think
that that speaks to a couple of different things. One
of it is certainly the confidence that I guess Vegas
has in the Ravens and the talent that this team
has Vegas. But also, you know, the Ravens have been
excellent at home in prime time, so all that stuff
is part of the factor that goes into this game.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
And The Ravens are just a good team, right, I mean,
record aside, they're sure they're one and two, right, but
I think they proved in Dallas what they certainly can be.
And you know, they have their flaws right now, as
we've discussed, and we'll discuss more. But these are just
two really good teams that even before the season started,
coming into the year, you would have said, oh yeah,
(02:19):
Ravens Bills Chiefs, Yep, those are gonna be the ones
that are contending for the AFC title, you know.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
And it's interesting though, to your point, like you made
the point, I think a lot of people thought that
the Bills might fall off a little bit. Stefan Diggs,
who've been such a good player there for so many years.
He's now in Houston. They've lost some other key players
on defense on that team, so like they've taken some hits. Michael, Yeah,
they've lost some key players on that team. And I
(02:45):
think that maybe the external feeling around that team was like,
maybe this is a step back season for them, and
early on it absolutely does not look that way.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
They look as good as effort.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Well, these two teams have two guys under center that
are really good. You know and Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson,
they're both guys that can put a game on their
shoulders and no matter who they have around them, who's
blocking for them, who they're throwing to, when the balls
in their hands, you got a good shot. And I
think that that's some of what we've seen from both
(03:17):
of these teams early in the season.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yeah, now when we're talking about this game, of course,
it's primetime game is Sunday night football. You mentioned darkness
falls by the way, if you're going to if you're
going to the game where black teams in all black,
so where your black gear, you're your Black Ravens jersey,
and get in early, get into your seat by eight
o'clock so that you see all the intros.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Playing at M and T.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Bak Stadium in a primetime game as an opponent is
tougher than anywhere else in the NFL, and.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
The numbers back that up.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
During John Harball's ten year as head coach, which started
in two thousand and eight, the Ravens have played twenty
three home primetime games. During that stretch, they are twenty
and three. That is by far the best winning percentage
in the NFL. Seattle second at seven to seventy four.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Right, everybody likes to talk about twolf Man and see
out on how tough it is there, which it is.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Yeah, it's tougher here in the twenty three games. In
these twenty three home primetime games, the Ravens have a
two hundred and thirty seven positive. The scoring differential is
two hundred and thirty seven points in the Ravens favor right,
So like they have pretty much dominated these a lot of.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Them haven't been close.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Yeah, so it's now does that is that going to
be a factor in this game? You know, obviously what
you've done in the past doesn't necessarily apply at all.
It's Sunday, But I think it speaks to the challenge
of the environment that teams come into during these games.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yeah, and I think it, you know, there's just something
to it. Like anybody that's I agree with what John
Harwall said this week, anybody that's been at M and
T Bank Stadium for one of these primetime games knows
what we're talking about. Like the energy in there, the feeling,
the just it's something different.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
It really is.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
It's hard to describe, but it is just electric. And
I think that you know, not to pat ourselves on
the back, but like, you know, our team here on
the business side, like puts on a pretty darn good
show and on the football side, like the players talked
about it this week, there is a different juice level.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
You know, when you're.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Playing these games at home, you're wearing the all black
uniforms that they love. Uh, you know, the lights go out,
you got Lamar's intro waving the towel over his head.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Like it's different.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
And and I think that all plays into you know,
and typically, you know, the Ravens, you get a good
team that you're going against, and the Ravens usually get
pretty sharp when they're going against the top competition.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
They play their best.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
And uh, not to mention the Ravens have just been
a good team for a long since two thousand and eight.
You talk about winning percentages, the Ravens just point blank,
anywhere they've gone, they've had a good winning percentage.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Even better winning percentage at home exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Just but it's better. It is better, Like there is
something to it.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
And I don't think it's just that's like cherry pickstat
like it's real and uh, and I expect that to
be the same case on Sunday night.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
I think that all those things play into it to
a certain degree. And you've seen over the past couple
of years there really be more of an appreciation for
how good the atmosphere is at MT BAG City. And
you see Pat McAfee talking about it, you see Taylor
Lawan talking about it, Travis Kelcey talking about it. Like
There's been a lot of guys, prominent players or media
(06:27):
players turned media personalities who have spoken to just what
that atmosphere is and it's gonna be that way on Sunday. Now.
Once the game starts, I think it kind of becomes
a game, like all that stuff is pregame, But I
think that you ride the emotion of that a little bit,
especially early in the game.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yeah, I mean you can feel that that emotion and if.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
You're in the press box waving your towel, give me
a town, right, as I said, cash there.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Yeah, gonna go buy a black suit.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
A couple of days to make that happen.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, exactly, we can do that.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
But yeah, I think that the players definitely feed off
the energy from the home crowd.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, there's no doubt about it.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
So in terms of some of the big talking points
for this game of the news of the week, and
then we're going to dive into some of the specifics
of this game. One of the big talking points going
into this has been Justin Tucker.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
We have not discussed really ever during his tenure Tucker struggling.
This is uncharted territory. But he's missed a kick in
each of the last three games and it's surprising. And
so Justin did talk with reporters on Wednesday and discuss
his mindset, his approach, the technical issue that John Harwall
(07:48):
talked about on Monday that's causing these miskicks. What was
your takeaway after hearing what Justin had to say in
his time with reporters.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Yeah, I mean he acknowledged the mental side of it
and said, you know, it's particularly difficult for a kicker
as opposed to any other player. Right, Like you're a
wide receiver and you drop a ball, Okay, you might
get the ball on the very next play, Yeah, you can.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
You can erase that very quickly. For a kicker.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
You just gotta wait, right and you're just sitting there
and if you know, in the case of this Dallas game,
Justin Tucker misses that kick and then he's watching that
the Cowboys kind of rally off of that right and
go down and score touchdowns and the Scoes tightning, and
he's it just makes you feel worse and worse and
worse and worse, right, And so you know, he acknowledged
(08:34):
that that this is this is a challenge mentally for
a kicker, and you're not going to get through it
until you make some kicks. But you know, he told
our guy Clifton Brown that like, basically, you have to
check in with yourself mentally, where's my confidence at and
my confident?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Okay, done? Check right, And like you can't dwell on it.
You can't keep like, am I confident? Am I still confident?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Next day? Next morning? Am I confident?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Today?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Nah? You just got to be like, am I still
a dude? Yes? Okay, let's go.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah, you know, and that's that's a challenge, right, And
uh so I think that he's dealing with that as
well as you know, the technical aspects of cleaning up
his kicks.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
There's a few things I'll say about Justin. He is
always and we've talked about this before he operates differently
than most kickers. He's somebody who is the loudest in
the locker room. He's obviously no has no issue being
the center of attention on or off the field. And
not every kicker, not every specialist, is like that. And
(09:43):
so he is always someone who's been comfortable in the
spotlight and holds his own In a locker room full
of big personalities, he might be the biggest. And I
think that that has always served him well, and I
think that speaks to his confidence. And when I when
I heard from Justin this week, indicated to me like
his confidence is not shaken, which is really important. And
I don't think it's just I don't think he's just
blowing a smoke. I think that he's sincere and he's
(10:05):
still very confident, and I think that so that's good.
Like the other part of it, too, is he's not hiding,
you know. He he talked reporters for like fifteen minutes
in the locker.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Room, multiple rounds.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Love exactly.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
And sometimes when a guy is struggling, they avoid the
locker room when the media is in there because they
don't want to get the questions, or they do it
begrudgingly and they'll get a couple of questions and they
get out of there. Like Justin kind of held court
in there as a bunch of pelete it's a bunch
of reporters came up and talked to him for multiple
rounds and answered all the tough questions. So I just
don't think that he I don't think he's running from it.
I don't think that his confidence is shaken, and I
(10:38):
think that his persona and attitude I think he has
served him well throughout his career. I go back to
when he was in the competition with Billy Kundiff as
a rookie, and Billy Kundiff, who was coming off a
bad miss at that point, but he was a pro
Bowl kicker, like don't let's not forget that, and Justin
would kind of trash talk during practices and he carried
himself in a way that caught a lot of people's attention.
(10:59):
And I think that that mentality has always been part
of who he is, and even in the midst of
the struggle, I don't think that that is going to change,
and I think that will help him get out of this.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
I agree in terms of what the technical issue is
he didn't go in the specifics, but he's he did
say this to to Cliff, He said, I didn't finish
directly at my target line. I made the same air,
which is highly correctable. But I made the same air
a couple of times. So, you know, to our point
(11:30):
when we were discussing during the Film Breakdown podcast, like
they know what the issue is, and I remain confident
just as Justin does that that's something that they can
definitely correct. Like Justin Tucker still has a great leg
all the you know, he also made it a point
to say the misses are on me. You know, it's
(11:52):
not on Jordan Stout, It's not on Nick Moore, you know,
it's on me and another respectable you know, thing for
him to do kind of to your point about answering
all the tough questions, like whenever he says the makes
are us the misses or me? And so you have
to respect that about Justin. And I think that those
three guys will certainly get through this. It's gonna take
(12:15):
some makes, it's gonna take him knocking down some and
then I think once he does that, this will all be,
you know, we'll we'll forget that this conversation even happened.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Yeah, I think in like the crowd or whatever, there'll
be some if he goes out there on Sunday for
a fifty two yard field goal, there's gonna be some
nervous energy amongst fans as that happens.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
And maybe maybe maybe for him as well. But I
think that.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
I think that he again will have the He has
the ability and still has the mindset and certainly the
talent to overcome that, and I think he will. I
think that by the end of the season. I don't
think the conversation will. I don't think we're gonna be
talking about the field goal unit much at the end
of the season. And like a concerning way.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
So another kind of talking point this week was the
Ravens in the fourth quarter, right, That was a big
talking point after the game. How do you avoid these
fourth quarter lapses when you have a big lead. What's
the key both sides of the ball. Lamar was asked
about it this week, and it is clear that it
is something that he he despises. He does not want
to give up a late lead, and he really looks
(13:20):
at it like he looks at it from the offensive standpoint,
talk about not pointing the finger. He looks at it
from the offensive standpoint, like, now we shouldn't be out
there like running clock. We need to be putting up points,
and that needs to be what we're focused on, Like
we need to go out there and build off that lead,
keep putting up points. If the clock keeps running, that's
a nice If you put up points and the clock running,
that's that's the perfect scenario. But it's clear that giving
(13:44):
up those late leads is something that irks him, and
he is focused on that offense not allowing that to happen.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, I mean, I don't really think the offense was
much to blame. I agree for the laps in Dallas,
you know. I mean they in the fourth quarter, they
drove down for a field goal attempt, they had one
three and out, but then the muffed on sidekick, and
then they closed the game out, so that the offense
ultimately did its job. Did it score a lot of points, No,
(14:12):
but they were in field goal range. They should have
gotten at least three. Yeah, and so you know that,
I again think that's respectable of Lamar Jackson not to
kind of throw the defense under the bus.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
You know, I think two.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
It's it's definitely a talking point in the defensive meeting
rooms when you go back and watch. It wasn't like
they were super super passive. They were in coverage somewhat,
but they blitzed you know that they dag or blitzed
several times during that fourth quarter. Kyle Hamilton I thought
was was kind of interesting. You know, he's like, basically,
(14:50):
he's kind of saying, everybody focuses on the times when
you don't you don't close it out defensively. Like we've
had some games going back to next year, the Lions
game last year when they just absolutely smoked them from
start to finish. You know, they've they've had games where
they close them out. But he's like, nobody focused on this.
They only focus on the ones that you lose.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Yeah, it's kind of the nature that it's kind of
like the conversation we have with Ryane Sanley this week
on the podcast where you can passblot great for thirty
five plays, you give up a strip sack on one
of them.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
You had a terrible day.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
And you watch you watch around the NFL and like
these fourth quarter scoring fests or no, that's not reserved
just to the Ravens, right, like this is kind of
how NFL games often go, right, and I and I
kind of wonder, you know, do offenses by the time
the fourth quarter rolls around, like have they kind of
figured it out right, like what you're trying to do
(15:45):
to them defensively and they kind of catch up a
little bit.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
It's like a picture in the seventh inning.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah, yeah, exactly right, like the batting or he's gone
through the batting or a few times exactly they know
what he's throwing exactly. Maybe, Like I'm just saying, like
when you compare it around the you do see a
lot of fourth quarter scoring. It seems like all of
a sudden, those offenses figure it out. Now, with all
that said, you look at the Ravens point differential quarters
(16:10):
one through three and then the fourth, like they're more
than doubling up teams. Since the beginning of last season,
you're beginning of twenty twenty three and the start of
twenty twenty four, they've scored more than twice as many
points as their opponents in quarters one through three, and
in quarters four they have a negative point differential. Yeah,
So like to I understand what Kyle Hamilton's saying, but
(16:32):
there is something to it, right, Like the Ravens have
not been particularly strong in the fourth quarter of these games, yep,
so it needs to get corrected. And to what you
were saying before, Like Lamar Jackson was pretty clear when
Marlon Humphrey came up to him on the plane on
the flight back from Dallas and he's doing his you know,
victory Instagram live and he's like.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Hey, Lamar, what do you got to say to the people?
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Lamar's like, Nah, I'm not falling around today, right, I
don't want the camera on me. I'm not sitting here
high five and on the plane. I'm still angry, you know.
He said he was not happy about the way that
game ended. So that gives you a look into Lamar
Jackson's mentality.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Yeah, I don't think Lamar has always kind of been
that way where if a game ends and he doesn't
feel like he, individually or the offense do what they should,
like in his mind, like, you got to do what
you're supposed to do, and that's continue to put up
points and put the game away and keep your foot
on the gas whatever metaphor you want to use, Like
that's the way that he views it, and so if
(17:33):
you don't do that, he's going to be sour about
the fact that the team collectively wasn't able to do that.
And I think that you saw that in that video,
and I think that that's he kind of carried that
same mindset during his time with the media on Wednesday,
where he basically made the point like, Yeah, we shouldn't
be giving up leads, we shouldn't be as an offense
(17:56):
having success the first three quarters and not in the fourth.
Like that's the way that he looks at it.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
And so I the part of the challenge here.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
It's similar to the Tucker conversation, Like there's the mental aspect,
there's the there's the technique aspect, and the scheme aspect
and x is and like all of that. So it's like,
is this a mental thing where you get to the
fourth quarter and you and you get frazzled by the moment,
or is this there's specific technique things that are happening
that you need to do Differently, I think that probably
(18:27):
it leans more in that direction over the mental thing.
But I don't think the mental element of it is zero.
I think there's there's a component of it, and I
think what the Ravens are really focused on is trying
to clean up the technical things, look at what they
can do as players and his coaches to do things
differently to ensure that they're not giving up these leads.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, I would agree with that.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Then last thing for me is, you know, obviously the
primetime matchup here is Lamar versus Josh Allen. As you mentioned,
these are two of the best quarters in the league
squaring off, and I thought that it was interesting this
week hearing from both guys and again gives you a
glimpse into Lamar Jackson's psyche. You know. Lamar I asked
(19:13):
him the question of do these these matchups against other
great quarterbacks, like what do they do for you? You know,
like do you really treasure these kind of games?
Speaker 4 (19:23):
And he was just like, you knew what you were
gonna get, was like answer he was gonna get?
Speaker 1 (19:29):
He was like nah, you know, and it's just funny.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
He's just like, I don't care who we're playing. I
really don't. I don't care about the quarterback on the
other side. I just want to win.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
And it's interesting because this is like who he is,
you know, like in Week one, before the Chiefs game,
people were like, Hey, are you and Pat Mohoe's friends
And he's like nah. And he was like do you
take anything from his game?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
And he was like nah.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
And you know, like he the only quarterback that I've
seen Lamar really give flowers to is Tom Brady. Yeah, right,
the goat And he'll he'll he'll, you know, rave about
Tom Brady and the chance seven Super Bowls and how
he thinks he's the best and all that stuff. But
like his peers currently playing, he's not. He's not out
(20:20):
here to gush about them. You know.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
He respects him.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah, And he said that about Mahomes and I'm sure
he feels that way about Josh Allen this week. He
respects him, but like he is not gonna sit here
and build up this matchup and talk about how great
they are and all that stuff. On the flip side,
Josh Allen couldn't stop saying great things about Olamar Jackson,
you know, and and how he really revers how all
(20:44):
the criticism that he's taken over his career, and how
he's persevered and and how he's changed the game. And
he feels like quarterbacks around the league play differently because
of Lamar and you know how kids look up to
him across the country, and and you know how he
loves him and loves watching him and all this stuff.
And he was going on and on, and it's just
(21:05):
so funny to compare and contrast these guys in the
way they look at a matchup between them.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
I think Lamar has I really believe this with him.
He has said this many times. It's not I'm not
even on the field with Josh Allen. I'm not even
on that We're not even in.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
The field together.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
The same applies for Josh Allen and Lamar, I know,
but that he talks about it very different, but he
does it.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
That's just how he operates. He has never looked at
it as like this is not a me verus Josh
Allen game. I just think he has never viewed it
that way. And he's been asked whenever there's a big
matchup of quarterbacks, mahomes Allen probably at the top of
that list, Burrow, but like he has never builded up
as like he you know, the hype, the hype trailer
that they're gonna do before the game on Sunday night
(21:45):
on NBC, like they're gonna show these two guys, or
they're gonna put the two of them on the graphic.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
They're gonna put their stats next to each other.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
That's how it goes. That's how the NFL works. But
like Lamar has never played into that. He's never gonna
give you the voiceover track that you want for that trailer,
because hey, it's just not how he is. He doesn't
see the game that way. And he also like he's
trying to beat these guys. And so I think that
that kind of is part of his psyche when it
comes to talking about his opponents, like he's not going
(22:11):
to go out of his way.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
The respect is there. That's always been clear with him.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
He never he never bashes opponents, but he just is like,
I'm trying to beat these guys. And I think that
that's the way that he he looks at it. He
looks at it more from I'm going up against the
Bill's defense. Josh Allen's going up against our defense, and
all my focus is is scoring, putt up a bunch
of points and making it really hard on them.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
I think it's also because Lamar's just one of one.
Like Lamar just operates his own way.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
All the time.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
He never deviates from that, right, So, like he's never
going to like put on this fake like, yeah, you know,
this matchup is really cool, it's great for fans and
all this stuff, and like do like the typical quarterback
dance around this kind of thing. He just he's just
like he just wants to win badly. He wants to
(23:04):
play well, and he doesn't care how that comes off.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Yeah, he's just He's just himself at all times. And
I and I love that about Lamar. He's one hundred
percent genuine.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
The fact of the matter is, though, what's so interesting
for fans and for those on the outside, And even
John Harball and Kyle Van Noyd talked about this, they're like, yeah,
for us, like these are the kind of matchups and
the kind of games that you remember for the rest
of your life. And and maybe when Lamar you know,
is sitting on his front porch at seventy years old
(23:37):
and reminiscent about the good old days, he'll talk about this, right,
like maybe his perspective will change.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Then it probably will, right, Actually, I'm not so sure
it will retrospect.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
I'm not even sure he'll be like, did I beat
him or not, you know, but like for the rest
of us, you know, when we're looking back on these days,
like we'll remember these highlight matchups right between two great
quarterbacks in their prime. And Van Noi talked about, you know,
Brady and Aaron Rodgers and being part of that and
how he'll look back on that. And John Harball even
(24:08):
was like, Yeah, these are the games you remember, you know,
when to of the best go toe to toe.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
And what's interesting about it is that like the similarities
between Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen, there's a lot of them, right,
like just their backstories and kind of where they're at
in their careers. Right. I mean, here's two guys that
were very much doubted coming out in that twenty eighteen
draft class. Right. Josh Allen was very much doubted about
(24:36):
can he be accurate enough? He has this this you know,
really strongest canon for an arm but can he kind
of tame it? Can he be accurate enough in the NFL?
And or is he just too reckless and wild? You know,
Lamar obviously the questions about whether his running hybrid style
can translate to the NFL.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
And then you know, they've.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Both proven it earlier in their careers that yes, they're
gonna be they're gonna be very good, They're gonna be
all right, you know, and and quickly become two of
the best quarterbacks in the league. Lamar a winning at
MVP in his first season full season as a full
time starter. But both haven't gotten over the hump yet,
(25:18):
right because a guy named Patrick Mahomes who's beating them
both in the playoffs. He beat Lamar in the AFC
Championship game. He beat Josh Allen in the AFC Championship Game.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
A few years back.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
I think it's actually wasn't you know it was AFC
Championship game.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Yes, And Josh beat Lamar in the divisional playoffs, right, So, like,
these are two guys that are both kind of you know,
in the court of public opinion, when you rank the
top quarterbacks, it's Homes at the top, and then it's
Josh Allen and Lamar jocking right. And you can win
all the individual accolades, you can win the passing, you know,
(25:51):
you can throw for the most yards in the league
and all that stuff, but until you beat Mahomes, you're
not gonna get past them. And both those guys are
knocking on that door, and so it's just, you know,
both have this kind of hunger about them and that
makes I think this storyline even more interesting against this game.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
And you like set it up that way.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
You talk about the quarterback matchups and where they rank
and how they stack up, you know, quarterback ranking wise,
all this stuff. But again, Lamar, like, I really don't
think he any of that is on his mind.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
Zero of that.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Oh yeah, he's he's just like he's He was asked
specifically about that whether he gets tired of his whole
quarterback ranking, and he was like, I mean, I know
that they happen, you know, I'm not like he's on
social media. He knows people do this all the time.
But he says like, yeah, I don't care. That's just
been going on for forever.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
And will and it will see you that way. And
he just he just he looks at things from a
very much more like specific stance, I think than how's
this game gonna affect my legsi? You know, and the
broader question, well, all that is fun and exciting, and
it's part of what makes this specific game so great.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
That's why when they were making.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
The schedule they said, let's put this on Sunday night
for four because this is one of the marquee matchups
in the league with two of the best players. But
I just don't think Lamar really buys into that, and
I think that that approach has really worked for him,
and I think that that's part of what makes him
who he is. So let's take a quick break. When
we come back, we'll dive into some of the specifics
on how the Ravens can stop Josh Allen and slow
(27:24):
down this potent Bills offense. You're listening to the Lounge podcast.
We're coming to you from the Seakeek Studio. We also
want to give a shout out to our friendst Draftking
sports Book. They are an official sports betting partner of
the Baltimore Ravens DraftKings sportsbook. The Crown is yours. We
were just talking about Josh Allen. He's thrown for six
one hundred and thirty four passing yards, seven touchdowns, zero interceptions,
and also has two rushing touchdowns.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
So he's been great.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Yeah, I mean, the interesting thing, there's a lot of
interesting things about Josh Allen this season. You know. The
reputation is this is kind of a wild, reckless dude
who's turned the ball over too much in previous seasons
and you know, either via interception or fumble, and that's
kind of been his Achilles skill and that's the way
to get him well, zero interception so far, right. And
(28:08):
on top of that, he hasn't been this rocket launcher
kind of guy that you usually think of, you know,
when you when you stack up the quarterbacks in terms
of air yards per attempt, you know, he's not he's
not throwing these bombs down the field. And I think
part of that is is because of his personnel and
even in passing yards, right, Like, I mean, he's sixteenth
in the league passing yards. You usually think Josh Allen,
(28:30):
Oh yeah, he's gonna be top five.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
He's sixteenth.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah, he's behind Lamar, He's behind a bunch of guys, right.
And so it's been you know, even though Josh Allen is,
you know, nearer at the top of the MVP conversation
early this year, probably it hasn't been a Josh Allen
esque kind of season so far.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
It He threw four touchdown passes against Jacksonville Monday night. Yeah,
so he's been really efficient.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
I think that's the word.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Yeah, but like that's not which that's the opposite of
what you think of with Josh Allen. I take it
like you think yeah, And back to my point earlier,
all the questions about him coming out in the draft,
like what you don't think about efficiency? You think he's
going to hit you for a big play at any time, Yeah,
in any moment, but he's going to turn the ball over,
And that's kind of the flip side. Well, it's been
very much the opposite so far this year for him.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
I also think that they've been they've been aided. You know,
James Cook has been pretty good to open the season.
He's got three rushing touchdowns, one hundred and eighty eight
rushing yards. Not monster stats, but they have had a
pretty good running game. But Josh Allen can also run
incredibly well, and they're leaning on his lips.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
They're continuing to do that.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
And the other thing that's interesting about their passing game
is like they just don't have It was Stephan Diggs,
like Stefan Diggs was the marquee attraction of that passing
game for many years and now you look at the
receiving corps and it's like he's gone, and it's not
like the Who's who cast. They're in that receiving corps.
Everybody's getting a little piece of the action and he's
spreading it a wa around really well, and there's not
(30:02):
like when.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
You're facing them.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
It's no longer a case of all right, stop Stefan
Diggs first.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
Completely, it's everybody in the mix.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Very balanced attack, and that's what the Ravens, you know,
aspired to be, as we've talked about with the pick
your poison. But you know, they only have one receiver
that's over one hundred receiving yards so far this year.
It's Khalil Shakir. He's been ultra efficient. He's caught every
pass that has come his way.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
He's been very good.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
But you know, one receiver of one hundred yards is
kind of shocking after three games. Yeah, that's that's odd, right,
And they have Dalton kin Kaid is a very talented
tight end who is coming off a.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Good game against Jacksonville.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
You know, they have Keon Coleman, who is a very
high draft pick for them this year, and so you
know they have some talented guys. But Josh Allen is
doing a really good job of spreading the ball around.
So it's going to be a very different matchup from
the previous two weeks, right where Ceedee Lamb was obviously
the guy that he wanted to stop with the Cowboys,
DeVante Adams was obvious, Slee the guy, or Shee Rice
(31:01):
was obviously the guy I mean Travis Kelcey also in
Kansas City. But in terms of wide receivers, so it's
it's a different kind of challenge for the Ravens secondary
this week.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Yeah, I think the little interesting supply you got Keon Coleman,
who was a second round pick for the Bills. There's
a little buzz about him as a potential target for
the Ravens during the draft process that they decided to
go wide receiver early, they went cornerback. They went with
Nate Wakens of course in the first round, late in
the first round, and it'll be I'm sure that there
could be some players where Nate's matched up against Keon Coleman,
(31:33):
and so that'll be a good battle.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
Of rookies there.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah, what hasn't changed about Josh Allen's game is that
he is still extremely hard to bring down, right, I mean.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
This is a big, powerful, dude.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
And you know, I was comparing contrasting he and Lamar
both very dangerous with their legs in very different ways.
You know, Lamar will run past you. Josh Allen White
trying to run through you.
Speaker 4 (31:56):
Yeah, and he often does.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
And so you know, you look at at how often
that even when people do get pressure, which opponents have
not gotten much pressure against this very tough Bills offensive line.
Even when they have, they've struggled to bring Josh Allen
down to the ground even more than in previous years.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
So far this season, he's only been sacked twice.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
This year, He's been sacked twice, which is the least
in the league, right among full time starters, right, So
that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Two sacks in three games. Yeah, that's nutty.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
So again, you know, a challenge for the Ravens secondary
and also for this pass rush that just added Yuneaton Docway,
who by the way, you know I talked to in
the locker room and he feels like I'm ready to
play right now. Put me in and uh, you know,
and it'll be interesting to see. This is the same
time that the Ravens side and Kyleve and noy last
year going into the.
Speaker 4 (32:49):
New mL and find the guy. What did Kyle say?
Speaker 2 (32:51):
It's the week four signing? Baby?
Speaker 4 (32:52):
What was Kyle's quote last year? Balling off the couch
and off the couch? That's right?
Speaker 1 (32:56):
And uh so the couch has another and you know
we we just had the sleeper sofa out. We got
another person that's jumping off there. And so you know,
can Yanik be that the bar is very high? Kylev
Any had nine sacks career high last year. I don't
know that we can sit here and expect you and
he can gooway to get nine sacks the rest of
(33:18):
the way. But can he provide some juice?
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (33:20):
And you know John Harball was encouraged by what he
saw on the practice field on Wednesday, and so you know,
I think he can add something. But whether it be
O Way, you know, Ojabo, all these Ravens pass rushers
the defensive front, they're going to have a tough time
putting pressure on Josh Allen And with how efficient he's
been as a passer, it's a tough balance because if
(33:42):
you don't get to him, you know, he can carve
you up.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Yeah, I think Kyle van Noy is going to be
an important player in this game. He's have four sacks
last two games, and he said this week that part
of it is just he's still he always has that
chip on his shoulder as a guy that's been doubted
and he continues to prove people wrong. And he was
on the couch last year. The league kind of forgot
about him, and then he had that big season and
so I think that I think he's going to be
(34:05):
an important player. And on Yanique, he's on the practice
squad right now, so in order for him to play,
the Braves would have to activate him. They could do
that three times. From a game day elevation standpoint, maybe
they do. That will probably be something that we find
that would be if that happens, that would happen on Saturday, So.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
Maybe he ends up playing.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
But regardless of Yanique, this this pass rush, van Ney
and Oway, Like I start the conversation with those two.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Oh, for sure, those are your leading guys.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
Like Yanique's exciting because he's new in the mix and
all that, but.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Like completely Way and Vana and mattab and you know
your interior pass rush as well. Uh, you know, Mada
led him in sacks last year, So that is certainly
a huge part of the equation. But yeah, all those
guys have their work cutout for him. The interesting thing
about the Ravens so far through three weeks is they
(34:52):
have not been blitzing at a super high rate. You know,
Zach orr Uh, we all thought, yeah, this is gonna
be one of the most you know, more aggressive guys.
You know, how many times do we say just he
was aggressive as a player, and I'm sure that's how
he's going to be as a play caller. It hasn't
really been like that so far for him. So the challenge,
(35:13):
you know, how much do you want to pressure Josh Allen.
He has tore up the Blitz this season. First, according
to Pro Football Focus, he has the best grade in
the league against the Blitz ninety two point seven. He's
nineteen to twenty five for two hundred ninety three passing
yards and six touchdowns against the Blitz this year.
Speaker 4 (35:32):
Zach, it sounds like, maybe you don't want to blitz him.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Zach gord S blitz at the eighth lowest rate in
the league, So you know, yeah, it just makes me wonder,
do you drop back and coverage try to create muney
of those lanes and see if you can pick him
off a little bit more than what he's done so far.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
Well, that also just means you need to have your
four man pressure, your base pressure package. You get to
him a BKA defensive line yep so. And then lastly,
you know, the Raves had a huge game on the
ground last week. Derek Hennery too, the rushing game as
a whole, two hundred seventyour rushing yards. The Bills rank
sixteenth in the league at stopping the run. I think that,
(36:09):
so it's not like they're the worst. I think they're
going to be better. Their defensive front is better than
what the Cowboys were last week, So I I think
that I'm not expecting two hundred and seventy yards, But
I do think that this could be another opportunity for
the running game to get rolling a little bit. And like,
this is truly one of these games in my mind,
where you use that to your advantage. And one of
(36:30):
the best ways to play defense is to just keep
Josh Allen standing on the sidelines, Like I really believe
that with this game and this opponent, keep him over
there standing watching with a baseball hat on. That's where
I like Josh Allen and if you can get Derek
Henry in this running game rolling, I think that's going
to help.
Speaker 4 (36:44):
The defense in a big way.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
The Bills are pretty banged up defensively right now. They
lost Matt Milano during the preseason during training camp, and
so you know, that was a star player in the
middle of their defense. That was a tough one there. Also,
their nickel corner is injured right now, and so the question,
you know, they like to play a lot of nickel defense,
(37:07):
and okay, can the Ravens run against that? Can they
take advantage of that kind of defense? You know? Can
they have not run a single defensive play out of
their base defense yet this year, right.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
And so does the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
If the Ravens can block their defensive front, and Ed
Oliver is a very good defense tackle, if they can
get push up front and force the Bills to have
to kind of get out of that nickel defense that
they like to play, then I think that that's really
advantageous for Baltimore.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
So look, it's gonna be a great game. It's gonna
be an awesome Avis here, we talked all about that.
I just think that this is a really good limbs
test for Where the Ravens Are. You and I both
think that this team can be one of the best
in the league, and this is an opportunity to show
that and this you know, it's big, It's really big
for this team. So I'm excited. I can't wait for
Sunday night again. It's our Darkness Falls game where Black.
(38:00):
If you're going to the game, make sure that you
get into your seats early, by eight o'clock so that
you're there for all the pregame intros and festivities we
have planned for that game.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Look, last week, I kind of kept it a little mild, right,
it worked, and it worked right, Okay, So you don't
mess with what's working.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Okay, okay, so let's go get Oh how do the
big don I go to this Saturday night football? You
know what I mean?
Speaker 4 (38:24):
If it's working, If it's working, you don't mess with.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
It, all right, get ready for a Now that's not
a beauty.
Speaker 4 (38:33):
Yeah, I got a little bigger than that.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Get ready for a gwyn that's better
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