November 22, 2024 • 38 mins
Team insiders Ryan Mink and Garrett Downing break down the top storylines and matchups in the Ravens vs. Chargers "Monday Night Football" battle, including what the HarBowl illustrates, more motivated former Ravens, the way Baltimore's offense gets back on track, and the Ravens defense's new challenge.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome into Lounge presented by DraftKings. I'm Ryan Mink here
with Garrett Downing, and we are going to talk about
the biggest news of the week as well as preview
the big Monday night football game between the Ravens and
the Chargers out at LA. So, Garrett, you know this
is a big, big game for the Ravens coming off
a tough loss to Steelers, and you know, I sent
(00:28):
certainly a very business like approach for the Ravens this
week amidst the game that has lots of other storylines
is rolling around it, including the Harrorball Brothers going at
it for a third time, including all the Ravens that
are now out there in LA with the Chargers. But
at its core, I sense a very hungry team, eager
(00:50):
to get back on a winning the winning note in
a big game.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
This is a massive game, and I think when the
schedule came out, you felt like, oh, this is going
to be a fun game. It's the Harbor, it's Monday
at football, and the Chargers last year weren't very good,
but okay, maybe it'll be a little bit better and
it'll be more of a storyline.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
You knew they were going to be better with Jim
Harball at the home Let's be honest, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
You knew that they were going to be better, but
it's like, oh, this is the storyline may maybe dominate this,
right And like, the storylines are great and they're exciting,
they're fun, and we talked to Jack horrid Baugh the
podcast this week, so like.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
We're going to talk about them today.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Those storylines are great, but this is a really important game.
The Ravens are competing with the Chargers for playoff positioning
and they're in the thick of the playoff battle right now.
They're after losing the game to Pittsburgh. You're looking they're
certainly looking up at the Steelers and the division standings,
and they have some cushion when it comes to the
(01:41):
wild card race. But you don't want to drop two
games in a row, especially two games to AFC teams.
And I think this is going to be a really
when you look back at it at the end of
the year, this is definitely going to be one of
those games that turns out to be pretty important in
determining what that AFC playoff picture looks.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Like, Yeah, well let's just start there kind of with
what does the picture look like the Ravens right now
currently sit at the number seventh spot, which would be
the final playoff spot, which is crazy to think because
I still, despite what was a sour lost in Pittsburgh,
feel like the Ravens are absolutely one of the top
(02:17):
teams in this whole league right not just the AFC,
but right now they're in the seventh, seventh spot. They
have a two game lead on basically the two teams
that they would be contending with.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
And just to go the teams that are above them,
it's the Chiefs, the Bills, the Steelers, and the Texas.
Those would be the four division winners. Then the wildcard
teams it's the Chargers, the Broncos, and who would be
the sixty Chargers would be the five Broncos would be
the sixth Ravens or at the seventh spot right now.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
That's correct, And so the two teams that are still well,
there's three teams kind of still on the hunt, and
the Ravens have a two game lead on well more
than two games on some of these teams. On these teams,
so the Dolphin sit at four and six, Okay, the
Bengals are four and seven, and the Colts are five
and six, So the Ravens have a two game lead
(03:07):
on the Colts and more than that on the Dolphins
and the Bengals. And if you're looking at it, you
probably got to get to ten wins to get in
the playoffs. That's what it looks like. That's oftentimes been
the magic number. That's what it looks like again this
year in AFC picture that's really kind of separated, you know,
the contenders from the pretenders and those are that are
just out of it already.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Right, And so you know, the Ravens to get to
ten wins have to win half of their remaining six games.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yep, they're sitting at seven to four right now, six
games left. You gotta win, gotta win half of it.
I can do that math sixth left in half, that's three, okay,
I'll get you to ten exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
And you know, two games on the schedule, the Ravens
have a home game to finish the regular season against
the Browns. They also travel up to MetLife Stadium to
take on the New York Giants. So those are two
games they absolute should win. I know they already lost
the Browns, but bringing them back home, you should win
that game. So that leaves four on paper tougher games,
(04:06):
starting this week against the Chargers. The Ravens also have
another rematch with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Well, first it's Chargers,
then Eagles at home. The Eagles are really hot, one
of the hottest teams in the NFL. Then you have
a rematch against the Steelers, and then you have a
Christmas Day game out in Houston. And so those are
those are four challenging games the way I kind of
look at it, You gotta win, got to win one.
(04:29):
You gotta win one of those, right and the other
two that you define, got to shake care of business
and take care of it exactly. So you'd like to
win this one against the Chargers and cross that off.
Then you'd be feeling, I think even more comfortable. All right,
The Ravens are at least going to be in the dance.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, it's also nice to win against an AFC team.
And who knows once it all comes down to like
tie breakers and all that stuff. You can't play out
every possible scenario here. But you want to win your
you want to win your division games, and you definitely
want to win your conference games. So getting a win
again as one of the teams you're competing with in
the wildcard race would be a really good thing for
(05:04):
the seam. And also, like we're talking about the wildcard race,
the division is not done yet, but the Year have
the lead and the Ravens have another game coming up
against them. Steelers still have five of their six division
games remaining, So the AFC North.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Is not out of the question, not absolutely anymore, especially
when you face them again. Yeah, you can really make
up some ground quickly. You beat them back here at
M ANDT Bank Stadium. So that's kind of how the
playoff outlook looks right now. And you know it's gonna
be a tough test out there in Los Angeles, and
certainly one of the conversations around this the central conversation
(05:40):
this week is a rematch between John and Jim Harbaugh,
and as fans probably well know, this is the third
time they've battled. They faced all the way back in
twenty eleven on Thanksgiving Night here in Baltimore. The Ravens
beat the forty nine Ers that night in a low
scoring affair, and then of course the Super Bowl rematch
(06:00):
between the brothers that the Ravens won and Jim already
said that this isn't about he and John. I'm John.
I think it's fair to say he doesn't want to
make it about him too. It's not about it's not
about the coaches, it's about the players, it's about the teams.
It's about winning this game. But there's no doubt that
this is a fun storyline. Yeah, certainly in this game.
(06:21):
And you know, for these brothers, they've known nothing but
success basically as coaches. Right, And the third iteration is
certainly lower sakes than the Super Bowl, but a it's
a testament, just like a chance to sit back and say, Wow,
pretty incredible what both these guys have done in their
coaching careers and be all right, can Jim, can Jim
(06:45):
get one? Where can John? Can Big Bro keep holding
off Little Bro?
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Yeah? Yeah, John's won two of course, the Super Bowl
and then the previous one was a Thanksgiving Day game here,
Thanksgiving night game in twenty eleven against the forty nine
Ers that the Ravens won. I think my take on
the whole Hardball Bowl aspect, Hardbull aspect of this game
is that it's a fun storyline. It's deciding, and it's
fun to talk about and it's really cool, and it
speaks to their success as coaches and their family success
(07:13):
and just who they are as coaches and people. And
it's pretty remarkable to have two coaches who are head
coaches in this league, who've been doing it for this long,
who have both been so successful. All that's remarkable, and
so it's good storylines. There's going to be I'm sure
the feature on Monday Night Football leading into the game,
and all the feature stories are coming out over the
course of the week, and there's a lot of questions
to both of them during their time with the media
(07:34):
this week about this game, and that's part of it,
and I get it, and we're guilty of that too.
That's part of the and I think that to a
certain extent. Yeah, you want to have of course, you
want to have bragging rights against the other for this game,
but I honestly think that it's I think that it's
going to have basically no bearing on the game. That's
(07:54):
like my honest feeling. I just think that once this
game starts that all that stuff goes out the window,
and it's all pre stuff all week leading into it.
I just don't think it's gonna have any bearing on
the game.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, I don't see how it would have a bearing
on the game. I mean, I think these are just
two similar teams because they have both brothers as coaches, right,
like two similar brothers, different in their own ways, but
at the core, right, their core principles are both the same,
and thus that is how their teams play, That's how
(08:26):
their teams have been constructed. That's why the Chargers have
sixteen former Ravens, you know, in their organization. And so
when you have two very like minded and like structured
teams going at it, it's gonna be a darn good game.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
It is gonna be a good game. And as we
talk about the whole hardball ball aspect of this, we
got an email from Matt Stewart and we had Jack
harbaughll their father on earlier this week. So go back
and listen to that episode. It was really enjoyable, and
Matt said, I listened to every episode of the Lounge,
but never wrote in I was so disappointed after Sunday,
even though it was a regular season game, It's still
(09:02):
the Steelers, and I wanted to beat those guys so bad.
To be honest, I didn't want to listen, read, or
watch anything about the Ravens all week. But then you
had Jack Harball on. Thank you, That's what we all needed.
I found myself smiling the entire time I listened. Sometimes
it takes someone who's has the wisdom that only comes
with age to put things into perspective. As much as
we all want the Ravens to win every week, at
(09:23):
the end of the day, it is just a game.
What matters is the impact you have on those around you.
You can tell that Jack has embodied that throughout his life.
I think his interview was one of my favorite episodes
of Lounge. All right, Yeah, thanks for making this week
better and putting a smile on my face today. So
Jack Harble has that ability on people. He has the
ability to put a smile on people's face. So thank
you Matt for that for that nice email. As always,
(09:45):
you can email us at the Lounge at Ravens dot
NFL dot net. We're gonna send Matt a T shirt.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Oh, he definitely get.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
A T shirt. Any of the emails that we read
on the air will make sure to send you a
T shirt. But I you know, I do think that again,
the story line is fun to talk about and I
think that in terms of how the teams are built.
To your point, I think that that is that will
have an impact on the game. And it's sixteen former
(10:10):
Ravens who are now in LA. The nickname of Ravens.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
West we've all used for LA Ravens as him.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah, like, and it's real. You look at that team
and you're like, oh, he was here, he was here coaching.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
They hit the highlights of those former Ravens that are
now in LA. You have JK. Dobbins, Gus Edwards, Hayden Hurst,
Bradley Boseman, Tony Jefferson, Sam Mustafer, and Eric Tomlinson. Those
are the players that are over there in LA. And
then you know, obviously it's in the front office. You
have Joe Ortiz, who's their GM now, uh, Jim.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Harble, long time friend of the Lounge, Georg one of
the original.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
We should dial him up, let's just call it.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Let's castle him right now. We had a hard enough
time getting him to do interviews with us when he
worked here in this building. I can only imagine how
quickly he would hit block if he saw either of
our numbers come through.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Okay, I think I'm going to text gonfess Joe this week.
And then Greg Roman, you know, their offensive coordinator, and
Jesse Minzer their defensive coordinator who got his first job
in the NFL, NFL coaching job here in Baltimore, and.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
So and Jesse followed. He replaced Mike McDonald as a
defensive coordinator at Michigan and then went with Jim obviously
to LA. So a lot of connections that exist between
these entire organizations. It is kind of crazy just that
that with LA it's it's the coaching side and it's
the personnel side. Like those there's so much overlap in
(11:40):
terms of how these teams are built in the identities
of the organizations.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
And Jim Harball, former Ravens quarterback, that's true.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Can't forget that one.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Can't forget that one. Yeah, it's it's pretty incredible. I mean, yeah,
as soon as Jim was hired out there, you knew
that he was going to take a bunch of guys
with him. He knew he was going to have these
Ravens connections, and and that John was going to put
in a good word.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
You know, you're saying when Joe was hired or when
Jim was hired.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
When Jim was hired, you know, like I figured, yeah,
he's he's there's gonna be some carry over there.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
N He's been watching this team obviously and talk to
his brother about these guys.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Yeah, and then and then when Joe Ortiz went, then
for sure, Now okay, he's then he knows these players
and so he wanted some of them, and you know,
just to speak to JK specifically and Gus. You know, like,
I feel happy specifically for JK that he's having such
a great season for them, leads them in rushing and
(12:36):
is really among one of the league leaders. He's he
has seven hundred and twenty six rushing yards so far
this year, and uh, I feel happy for the dude.
I mean, I still I am a devout believer that
JK Dobbins could have been a star in Baltimore and
would have been a star had he not suffered his
litany of injuries here like that dude is a monster,
(13:00):
and I'm happy to see him healthy, staying healthy out
in LA and having all the success he's having. Now
I want him to get you know, about five rushing
yards in the game.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Obviously, that success can be put on pause. This week exactly.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
But like I am, from a distance, just glad to
see him having success. JK.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Dobbs had a lot of allies here, A lot of
people were rooting for him. Nobody liked to see the
way that his career really played out here. With the injuries,
the preseason game, then the achilles last year, he was
kind of robbed of what his potential could have been here.
You saw glimpses of it, but it was disappointing that
you didn't get to see the full realization of it.
And so and look, this was somebody second round pick.
And then after those injuries, you wonder like, is he done?
(13:41):
I mean that knee injury was major, and then you
tack on top of it a torn achilles, You're like,
is he done? That was that was the narrative that
he's probably just done. Even if he comes back, he's
not gonna be the same. I knew he wasn't, so
I give him. I give him credit for working his
way back, and I agree with you. I'm happy to
see him having the success that he's having this year.
It's it's fun. I mean, it's it's been good to see.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yeah, I agree, I mean, he's in a Greg Roman offense.
You knew, you knew in that offense they can scheme
up the run that he was gonna have plenty of chances.
I mean, this team is kind of built like the
Ravens of a few years ago, right, The Chargers are
building like exactly yeah, yeah, run heavy, yeah, with the
same guys. Yeah, you know, and so, uh yeah, I'm
really happy for him, happy for Gus. Gus has been
(14:23):
dealing with some injuries this year, but he's back on
the field and he's healthy, and I think even got
the start for them last week. JK still let him
in touchdowns and led him in carries and had a
couple of scores. But uh, you know, it's a it's
a tough thing for the Ravens to contend with coming,
you know, against this Ravens defense that's been strong on
the run. But you know, this, this is a this
(14:45):
is a well schemed operation. And my question to you, Garrett,
is does the Ravens familiarity with what Greg Ruman does
and how he schemes up the run. How much does
that help Baltimore's defense going against it.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I do think it helps him. I think that the
Ravens know how Greg Roman wants to call an offense
and just the principles of what he's going to run
and the scheme of things. It's the old classic, I
know what you're going to do, and you know what
I'm going to do. So who has the advantage there?
I think that plays into it. But I think that
just fundamentally having a part of what made the Ravens
offense and the Charges are running a similar scheme, but
(15:21):
the big difference is that they're not running the quarterback
as much, certainly as they did here is Greg Roman
did here in Baltimore with Lamar. But I think that
having an understanding of just the principles of how you
want to run an offense and seeing that in practice
every day, for the guys who were here at that time,
and for the coaches, certainly most of them were here
at the time that Greg Roman was here, I think
that will help the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
What are some of the cues, what are some of
the tells? They know all that stuff, They know all
Greg's tricks. Now we've spent we spent a lot of
time over the years saying, all right, is Greg going
to open up the vault? The vault was the phrase
here of Baltimore during the gig room in years and
you know how deep does he go into it? Does
(16:03):
he crack it open or does he not? Yea, I
have a sneaking suspicion that going against his former team
where things didn't quite end, you know, the way Greg
Rouman probably wanted, or any of us wanted, with a
championship and him departing that, Greg's gonna be spinning that dial. Baby,
He's gonna be punched in the code to open up
(16:25):
the vault.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
I think, you know, whenever you go up against your
former team, I think that that is absolutely going to
be part of it. You want to beat him. It's
like similar to time we talked about you want to
beat your brother and that whole storyline. I think that
you probably have as much, if not more motivation when
you're going up against your old team. And that's how
Greg's gonna feel. That's how JK. Dobbins.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
I was going to say Jk's feeling that way too.
He never got the chances here, not as part because
the injuries, but also when he was healthy, he felt
like he deserved more opportunities.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Yeah, everyone used, We spent all this time last week
talking about the whole Patrick Queen element of things and
how he was motivated.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
It's just I think it's a little bit different with JK.
There's some simi because he was a free agent and
the Ravens moved on, right, They didn't bring him back.
They pivoted to Derrick Henry. It's worked out well for
both sides. Like that is the takeaway here from the
running back situations. In both places. It's worked out well
for the Chargers. It's worked out out well for JK.
You got a fresh start. I think that was all good.
It's worked out in Baltimore here with Derrick Henry. But yeah,
(17:19):
like I think that JK will probably have and Greg
will have some of those feelings of like, all right,
I'm gonna show you what you missed out on.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Yeah, Like, I'm sure that if they're having conversations this week,
they're hoping for one hundred yards from JK on hundred
yards from Gus Bradley Boseman leading the way and most
of those and there, and the Chargers put up a
ton of yards on the ground in an la win.
That's what they're hoping for over there, And of course
the Ravens are hoping for the opposite, and like I don't,
I don't actually think that it's just gonna be motivation.
(17:51):
Like I don't. I don't think that Greg Roman was
gonna call the game any differently other than the fact
that if there's any tricks that he has up his sleeve,
like this is a game where he could break the
ball game, this is the game. Yeah, I could, I
could see that being a part of the equation, But
I still stand by what I said when you asked me,
do I think do I think that the familiarity with
(18:11):
this offense, which can catch people by surprise because there's
so much that happens in terms of the motion and
and the blockers moving in different directions. I think that
having an understanding of that will help this Ravens defense.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
I think it helps the Ravens more than it helps
the charters. Like I think, you know, Greg Roam, what's
scheming up for what the Ravens defense is going to do? Eh?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I mean it would run the same defense, to be honest.
That's one thing that's kind of an interesting element of
this is that they really run the same defense. Jesse
Mentor when he got to mission, I mean Jesse Mencher
knows his defense. Then he went to Michigan, took over
for Mike McDonald, just was running the same defense that
Mike Mike then game heer brought the same defense and
now was running the defense in Seattle. But Jesse knows
the defense and Greg knows the defense too. So that
(18:52):
kind of goes back to the I know what, you
know what you're gonna do.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
But I just think that when you're talking about who
has the advantage in that, I think the Ravens have
more of the advantage. Knowing the tendencies, knowing the tels,
knowing all the intricacies of how Greg Roman wants to
run the ball, yeah, and not just run the ball,
how he plays off of the run and does in
the passing game. I think that's advantage Baltimore.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Yeah, I think that. I think that could absolutely be
the case. I mean, the other obviously big piece of
the offense for the Chargers, a pretty big piece here
is Justin Herbert, quarterback who's been It's interesting, he's been
really efficient this year. He's not throwing the ball as
much as he did in previous years, but he's been
incredibly effective, and that's part of the Greg Roman offense
and the transition to more of a run first scheme.
(19:39):
But Herbert, it's it's kind of been a resurgent year
for him, and his efficiency is reminiscent. Like that's one
of the things, especially in that twenty ninety season with Roman,
like Lamar didn't throw the ball a ton, but his
efficiency was out of this world exactly. There's elements of
that with justin' Hurts.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
High level quarterback play, yes, and I mean he's throwing
thirteen touchdowns in only one interception. He has a career
career high one hundred and two point one quarterback rating. Like, look,
Justin Herbert is a supremely talented guy. Like you just
talk about arm talent, his ability to scramble and run
like you don't think of him as he's certainly not Lamar,
(20:15):
but he can run kind of like a Josh Allen
esque runner, but maybe even a little bit faster than Josh,
but like a big dude. And when he gets rolling
down hill, you can be a problem. He's not going
to lower his shoulder like Josh, like Josh Allen exactly,
like he'll slide, but like he's fast, he's got some
speed and He can definitely beat teams with his legs,
(20:36):
but really his arm. He has a special arm, one
of the top arms in the league now. He also
kind of reminds me a little bit of Josh Allen,
and their careers have been similar, and the talking points
around them is like he can get really, really hot.
And we saw that last week. If you watch the
Chargers Bengals game, I mean they were on fire. He
was just slinging it all every plays. Bengals going to
(20:57):
stop him at all second half was a much bigger
struggle for the Chargers offense and for Herbert specifically. And
so like when that canon is calibrated and dialed in,
it's tough to stop. But if it gets a little
off kilter and he gets has pressure in his face
and those things, it can start. It's that shooter can
(21:19):
be off aim right, he misses the target. And so
that is the challenge for this Ravens secondary that had
improvements in Pittsburgh. But I'm not going to sit here
and trumpet and say, hey, the raven second everything's fixed,
all good. I'm not worried about justin Herbert come to
town and look, this is Greg room in an offense
(21:40):
the passing game is not going to be the focus,
but they have some playmakers out there that can beat you.
Lad McConkie the rookie, he was a very high second
round pick. I think thirty fourth overall is kind of
been Justin Herbert's go to guys, especially in third down
situations things like that. Yes, the rookie has six hundred
and fifteen receiving yards. That's that would rank second. And
(22:00):
on the Ravens roster, Joshua Palmer, big body dude. Quentin
Johnston another big body, fast guy, so they have they
have targets. Will Disley is their tight end who's been
pretty rocks olid and on a roll as of late.
So you know they they have players that can hurt
(22:20):
you in the passing game. Only it's not just that
you have to defend the Greg Roman run scheme.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Yeah, Herbert's good. I mean, Herbert is having All you
need to do is listen to Jim Harbaugh. I mean
he gushes about Justin Herbert every chances to get any
chance he gets, talking about just the player he is,
personal he is, and how good, how good of a
how well he's playing this year. So there's a lot
of there's a lot of love for Herbert, I think
in the NFL world right now, and for good reason,
(22:45):
and so the Ravens defense is going to have their
handsful with him.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
One of my favorite clips that I've seen from other
teams this year who like mike up their players and
coaches and whatnot, was Jim Harbaugh miked up before a
game and so he catches passes from Justin Herbert and
warm ups every week, Jim lets one go through his hands,
he drops one, and he is just cursing himself, just
(23:08):
oh man, he's letting himself have it. So maybe that's
the key to getting them off their game right. If
you break up the chemistry between Herbert and Jim Harball
pre game, I want to see John Forward defensive back
them down, just getting it, just getting their heads right.
It's a mental game.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Well that clip I saw that clip too, is funny.
You see talk about competitive Jim even there's competitive with
himself during pregame warmups. In the game, he's not playing,
but they ended up winning that game.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
So I don't know, if I don't know, if your
theory right, if that's the key, yeah, yeah, I don't know,
but it can't hurt.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Right, can't hurt. I'm on board with that.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
All right, We're gonna take a break. When we come back,
we're gonna flip it to the other side and talk
about the Ravens offense and their matchup against the Chargers defense,
which might be the more important matchup in this game.
Coming up on Monday night.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
You're listening to the Latch podcast. We are coming to
you from the Seakeek studio. We all, I want to
mention a partners at Draft King Sportsbook. They are an
official sports betting partner of the Baltimore Ravens Draft King Sportsbook.
The Crown is yours. So this offense, the Ravens offense
against the Chargers defense, it's good versus good. The Ravens
from a point standpoint, from a yard standpoint, the number
one offense in football. From a point standpoint, they're the
(24:18):
second best offensive football, putting up thirty point four points
per game. Well, the Chargers, they've got the best defense
in football in terms of points. They're allowing only fourteen
point five points per game. They rank eleventh overall in
total yards, so it's a really good defense. As we mentioned,
Jesse Minter is a defensive coordinator there, He's already getting
some buzz from a head coaching consideration standpoint this offseason,
(24:42):
and really good operation there. Derwin James, great player. They
got Joey Bosa on the edge. So they've got talented
players and a good scheme. It's gonna be a tough
defense to go up against.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Yeah, I think this Ravens offense is obviously motivated from
the fact that they did not have their best showing
in Pittsburgh. The question is, all right, you know a
week prior to that, and numerous weeks before that, you know,
we were sitting here talking about how unstoppable the Ravens
offense is. Well it got stopped. Okay, can it get
back on track? Can you know, can Lamar kind of
(25:14):
bounce back from what was one of his tougher games
and and you know, be that that MVP performer again.
I absolutely think that he can. You know, this is
a this is a strong Chargers defense, but you know,
they ranked twelfth in the league in pass defense. They're
giving up two hundred and six yards per game. That's
pretty middle of the road when you look at it
(25:35):
from a yard standpoint, I mean eleventh in total defense.
Like you said, eleventh against the rush, twelfth against the pass.
You know, their teams have moved the ball on them.
It's scoring points, right, they're number one in points so
and they're number two in the league in red zone defense.
Opponents are only scoring a touchdown forty one percent of
the time. So that's I think where a lot of
(25:57):
this game is going to boil down to. Is can
the Ravens punched the ball into the end zone and
not be settling for field goals. That'd even be better
considering Justin Tucker's trying to pull out of a slump
right now, Hey, let's just put in the end zone.
Let's let him kick some extra points. Yeah, sure, we're
good with that. And the Ravens have been excellent in
red zone offense. They're number one in the league, scoring
touchdowns seventy seven point eight percent of the time. So
(26:19):
it's number one red zone offense first, number two red
zone defense. I think that's where this game is decided.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Yeah, I think that just overall, this offense, I think
is going to be super motivated to get back on
track after just having a rare off game in Pittsburgh
where a lot of things didn't go right. Turnovers, penalties.
Things were out of whack in that game, so they're
going to be looking to get back on track. I
like Lamar Jackson on Money at Football.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Yeah yeah, I always like the Ravens. I always like
the Ravens in big games on the road, like primetime
games on the road. I like them primetime games and too.
I just like to get Ravens in primetime games. Yeah,
they've been actually saying that Lamar has been excelling in
primetime games. The Ravens have been excellent in primetime games,
so I think that's good. I also mentioned one of
the things that that got them out of.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Whack last game was penalties, and that's been a big
point of emphasis for John. Harball has talked about it
multiple times this week that they need to clean up
the penalties, need to cut down on those. An interesting
element is so the Ravens ranked thirty second in the
league in terms of penalty yards, the Chargers rank first penalties.
That is something that the Ravens know they have to
clean up. It's holding, it's pre snap stuff, it's illegal
(27:28):
men downfield, it's all those things. And the Chargers have
been really good on the penalty front this year, and
so if you get into a game, I expect this
to be a close game. All the indications are that
this is going to be a close game. And if
you have a close game where the penalties get out
of whack in one direction, then that's how you can
lose a game totally. And the Ravens know that, and
(27:50):
so I think that that's going to be a really
important element that they have to take care of them
in this game.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
John Harball is not going to like losing the penalty
battle against his brother. No, No, that is that is No.
I am sure that that is a major focus. And
like we've been saying, this Ravens offense, honestly, if it
gets out of its own way, it's going to be
it's tough to stop. You know that. That's been the
common denominator in the Ravens losses this year has been drag,
(28:16):
as Todd Monkin likes to talk about. And Uh, if
they can avoid the drag, the turnovers, the penalties, those things,
then I think that they're going to put up a
lot of points out there in LA despite going against
the good defense.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
And just because you think that they're that good of
an offense, Yeah, yes, I agree. I mean they're this offense.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
I mean Zave Flowers scored two touchdowns last time. That
not the meaning that last year's matchup necessarily just transfers
over this year. But I just for all the reasons
that we've talked about before, this is a stronger Ravens
running game. They have Derrick Henry's you know, Derrick Henry
is Derick Henry. He's I think he's going to get
back on track after what was not a great game
in Pittsburgh for him either, including the fumble. Zay Flowers
(28:59):
I think is going to give their defensive secondary fits.
Uh And I think it could be another big Z game.
And I think, yeah, I think the Ravens offense has
more talent than the Chargers defense.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Well the Zay Flowers piece. I do think this could
be a game for him to He's been quiet the
last two games and a few weeks ago he was
top five in the league and receiving yards and everyone's
doing the projections like he's going to finish the eighteen
hundred receiving yards and all this stuff, and he's been
a little bit quiet. I do think that getting him
rolling again. I think that when he's and he catches
a few passes and makes some people miss, and I
(29:35):
think he can be like when the offense is sluggish,
I think he can be a jump start. He's he's
electric when he gets the ball in his hands. I
think that he's really hard to cover in space and
then you can probably get these ten yards to him.
And so I like getting him involved in this game,
and I could see him having a really nice game.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. And well, I think the
Ravens have more talent on offense than the Chargers two defense. Like,
let's also not take away from them. I mean their
secondary is darn good. At corner, Christian Fulton has been
one of the top corners in the league if you
look at PFF, one of the top guys in the league, right,
Asante Samuel Junior known takeaway kind of guy have to watch,
(30:14):
be careful, not their own picks. Lamar has been really
good at that. And then like we talked about with
Joey Bosa, while the other guy on the other side,
Khalil Mack one of the best pass rushers of his generation. Right,
so we've talked many times about all right, what slows
down the Ravens offense, it's it's pressure, it's it's one
of those defensive players really kind of dominating at the front.
(30:34):
The Ravens tackles Ronnie Stanley and Roger Rosengarten, after going
against Watt last week, have their hands full with kind
of a duo this week coming from both sides.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Well, I mentioned Derwin James. He's intriguing because there's similarities
with him and Kyle Hamilton. They're versatile, they're not the
exact same player, they don't get used in the exact
same way, but their similarities in their game and the
way they play both physical, both man, and they make contact.
Like look out their physical guys who are not afraid
to come up and hit. So I think that Derwin
(31:06):
James is one of those X factor type.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Guys we're in on Derwin James come out of the
draft in that twenty eighteen draft. Yeah, can you imagine
if the Ravens had drafted Derwin James then traded back
still in and gotten Lamar.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
That would have been crazy.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Plus Mark Orlando like that, Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Yeah, they there was a lot of buzz about it
was actually just kind of doing the full revision of
history here. But there was interests or buzz about the Ravens.
If Derwin James fell, they ended up trading away, and
then the.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Chargers felled up.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
He fell, he had a chance taken, but then they
traded back. Chargers ended up taking him. But it was
just very similar to draft story related to Kyle Hamilister,
where this is a guy he's like a top five
player in the draft, but he plays this position.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
That may not be valued that where does he exactly
plays a tweener? All that stuff.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
So the Ravens got that guy, and of course a
few years later.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
We didn't pass up the second shof when Kyle Henton
phone in the laps said, yes, I'll take that game.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
I'll take him very much. But yeah, both the similar
style players and Derwin James is a guy you can't
let beat you because he has that ability to do it.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Yep. All right.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
So and then one other point that I think we
definitely want to mention, actually two a couple of things.
Justin Tucker you mentioned him and the struggles that he's had.
We did talk with Justin this week and he provided
his perspective on they're just working on everything, and he
made the point like it doesn't really care how I feel.
Someone asked him was how are you feel and how
are you handling the slump? And his point was like,
it doesn't really matter, Like I appreciate the thought, but
(32:34):
I just need to make kiss. That's what I need
to worry about. And he was also asked about the
Ravens vote of confidence him in him where John Harball
was asked this week, you bring it in competition at
Kicker and he said, that's what we're looking to do
right now, and Justin said, my focus and my plan
is to reward that vote of confidence. And of course,
like Justin has built up a really long runway long
leash because of how good he's been over the course
(32:56):
of his career, and so that confidence is justified.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
But I think that he is justinified, just had justified
very much.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
He's he wants to get back on track for a
million different reasons. And I have not, like I've not
lost the confidence in his ability to write the ship.
I still think that he can do it.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Yeah, I agree, I think that once. You know, I
think that making the fifty four yarder was big.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
He kind of glossed over that because like he missed too.
You lost the game, so you kind of forget. Oh yeah,
he did come back ahead a fifty four yarder. It
would have been a much different conversation if you just
go over three and you miss all three of your kicks.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Definitely, Yeah, And so I think that helped. I think
that Justin is approaching this just says he has earlier
this season when we were having a lot of these
similar conversations and he kind of pulled out of it.
Then he pulled out of the slump once this season.
Now he's kind of back in it. And it was
just a businesslike approach. And you know, it's interesting because
(33:56):
I kind of go back and forth on this, right,
because we had doctor Trish on the pod, right, and
Doctor Trish, I don't know how much you would recommend.
You got to feel the emissions, You got to work
through the emissions and the mental side of it, versus
like Justin's approach was kind of like, I appreciate you
asking about my emotions, but I can't like feel my emotions.
I just have to look at this like, all right,
(34:18):
this is my job. This is the next step I
have to do is to get better at my job
and take a very analytical approach.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Well, he's actually been. It's kind of interesting over the years,
like high and low, mostly high because he's been so good.
There's just haven't been many low moments. But it's always
that he make a big kick and like, what are
your emotions going into it? And he's like, honestly, in
a lot of those situations, like, my emotions don't matter.
I'm thinking about the technical aspects of things that I'm
not I'm not overly emotional about.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
He's very emotional after he made the kicks. But yeah,
but yet you're right, like when he talks about his
mindset approach as he approaches any kick, whether he's in
good times or bad, it's always very dialed into the details,
very workman like.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yes, so I think that he'll be able to pull
out of it. And would it shock me if he
ends up kicking a game winner in this game? Like,
would not? It would not shock me if he were
to drill a forty eight yard game winner.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
It's nice to be indoors too. You just eliminate that
mental ass part of the game and you can kind
of just focus on striking the ball. That's just one thing,
that one less piece of the equation. Yeah, so maybe
that can help him. Yeah, I agree with you. It
would not shock me if there's a long attempt in
Justin drels it totally, which will be awesome.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
I would like that.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Also on the injury front, this week, the big news
has been Roquan Smith. We're not sure if he's going
to play or not, but he mispracticed time because of
a hamstring injury that left him exiting the Pittsburgh game early.
If the Ravens don't have Roquan Smith, that makes the
job of defending this Chargers rushing attack that much harder.
And you know, Malik Harrison came in for ro Quan
(35:54):
last week in Pittsburgh, and you know, I generally I
trust Malik and run situations. I think against the past,
it's a little more difficult for him. He's just a
big body dude. And you know, Roquan. While I don't
think that Roqwan has had his best season yet this year,
he was playing his best game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
(36:15):
And I think that when Rokwan's not on the field,
you're going to feel it even more and say, man,
all right, you know, Roquan was really helping this defense
kind of hold its water.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Yeah, I think there's a couple different elements where it
would show up. One is he's a great player, and
removing great players from a defense hurts, so obvious one there.
The other part is communication. He wears the green dot
and he's if you ever watched him, dialed in on
him during a game, and he's talking to everybody. He's
yelling out things throughout the entire prestat process. So you
(36:47):
lose that without him out there. Kyle Hamilton took over
the green dot helmet against Pittsburgh. I would think he
would be the guy if that were to happen again,
if Rokwan can't go, I would Thinkyle Hamilton would be
that guy. He's really obviously smart, veteran player who knows
what he's doing on the back end of that defense
and communicate with everybody. So I think Hamilton would be
(37:07):
that guy. But you would have to replace both of
those elements. I do, like, you know, going up against
the Chargers, they are a run heavy team and so
Millie Carrison fits that a little bit. But of course
they're still going to pass and you need to be
able to hold up and pass coverage. I also wonder
if there's any situations where the Ravens lean on Kyle
(37:29):
Hamilton played more that traditional safety role, do you move
him up at all? It's almost like an extra linebacker
in situations especially.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
I think that that kind of we all really like
the changes in the improvement in the secondary with Kyle
playing deeper with ourt areas, But if Roque's going to
be out, you'd really like to have Kyle Hamilton kind
of up closer to the box because he can he
can definitely help you in that regard. So it's like,
are you willing to give up the good things that
(37:58):
you got from last game against Pittsban to better defend
the run? That's tough.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
I think that's part of what Zach orr is gonna
have to figure out this week is how they want
to just staff that, how they want to manage the
roles and the packages that they're using in this game.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
YEP. So, like we said, this is going to be
a really good game. Two very good teams charges on
a four game winning streak and the Ravens a hunger
team looking to bounce back from a tough loss. So
expected to be an awesome game Monday night in Sofi Stadium.
As always, you can reach us at the lounge at
Ravens NFL dot net. We'll have our post game breakdown
immediately after the game and we look forward to it.
(38:34):
Ravens fans enjoy that game.
Welcome into Lounge presented by DraftKings. I'm Ryan Mink here
with Garrett Downing, and we are going to talk about
the biggest news of the week as well as preview
the big Monday night football game between the Ravens and
the Chargers out at LA. So, Garrett, you know this
is a big, big game for the Ravens coming off
a tough loss to Steelers, and you know, I sent
(00:28):
certainly a very business like approach for the Ravens this
week amidst the game that has lots of other storylines
is rolling around it, including the Harrorball Brothers going at
it for a third time, including all the Ravens that
are now out there in LA with the Chargers. But
at its core, I sense a very hungry team, eager
(00:50):
to get back on a winning the winning note in
a big game.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
This is a massive game, and I think when the
schedule came out, you felt like, oh, this is going
to be a fun game. It's the Harbor, it's Monday
at football, and the Chargers last year weren't very good,
but okay, maybe it'll be a little bit better and
it'll be more of a storyline.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
You knew they were going to be better with Jim
Harball at the home Let's be honest, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
You knew that they were going to be better, but
it's like, oh, this is the storyline may maybe dominate this,
right And like, the storylines are great and they're exciting,
they're fun, and we talked to Jack horrid Baugh the
podcast this week, so like.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
We're going to talk about them today.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Those storylines are great, but this is a really important game.
The Ravens are competing with the Chargers for playoff positioning
and they're in the thick of the playoff battle right now.
They're after losing the game to Pittsburgh. You're looking they're
certainly looking up at the Steelers and the division standings,
and they have some cushion when it comes to the
(01:41):
wild card race. But you don't want to drop two
games in a row, especially two games to AFC teams.
And I think this is going to be a really
when you look back at it at the end of
the year, this is definitely going to be one of
those games that turns out to be pretty important in
determining what that AFC playoff picture looks.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Like, Yeah, well let's just start there kind of with
what does the picture look like the Ravens right now
currently sit at the number seventh spot, which would be
the final playoff spot, which is crazy to think because
I still, despite what was a sour lost in Pittsburgh,
feel like the Ravens are absolutely one of the top
(02:17):
teams in this whole league right not just the AFC,
but right now they're in the seventh, seventh spot. They
have a two game lead on basically the two teams
that they would be contending with.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
And just to go the teams that are above them,
it's the Chiefs, the Bills, the Steelers, and the Texas.
Those would be the four division winners. Then the wildcard
teams it's the Chargers, the Broncos, and who would be
the sixty Chargers would be the five Broncos would be
the sixth Ravens or at the seventh spot right now.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
That's correct, And so the two teams that are still well,
there's three teams kind of still on the hunt, and
the Ravens have a two game lead on well more
than two games on some of these teams. On these teams,
so the Dolphin sit at four and six, Okay, the
Bengals are four and seven, and the Colts are five
and six, So the Ravens have a two game lead
(03:07):
on the Colts and more than that on the Dolphins
and the Bengals. And if you're looking at it, you
probably got to get to ten wins to get in
the playoffs. That's what it looks like. That's oftentimes been
the magic number. That's what it looks like again this
year in AFC picture that's really kind of separated, you know,
the contenders from the pretenders and those are that are
just out of it already.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Right, And so you know, the Ravens to get to
ten wins have to win half of their remaining six games.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yep, they're sitting at seven to four right now, six
games left. You gotta win, gotta win half of it.
I can do that math sixth left in half, that's three, okay,
I'll get you to ten exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
And you know, two games on the schedule, the Ravens
have a home game to finish the regular season against
the Browns. They also travel up to MetLife Stadium to
take on the New York Giants. So those are two
games they absolute should win. I know they already lost
the Browns, but bringing them back home, you should win
that game. So that leaves four on paper tougher games,
(04:06):
starting this week against the Chargers. The Ravens also have
another rematch with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Well, first it's Chargers,
then Eagles at home. The Eagles are really hot, one
of the hottest teams in the NFL. Then you have
a rematch against the Steelers, and then you have a
Christmas Day game out in Houston. And so those are
those are four challenging games the way I kind of
look at it, You gotta win, got to win one.
(04:29):
You gotta win one of those, right and the other
two that you define, got to shake care of business
and take care of it exactly. So you'd like to
win this one against the Chargers and cross that off.
Then you'd be feeling, I think even more comfortable. All right,
The Ravens are at least going to be in the dance.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, it's also nice to win against an AFC team.
And who knows once it all comes down to like
tie breakers and all that stuff. You can't play out
every possible scenario here. But you want to win your
you want to win your division games, and you definitely
want to win your conference games. So getting a win
again as one of the teams you're competing with in
the wildcard race would be a really good thing for
(05:04):
the seam. And also, like we're talking about the wildcard race,
the division is not done yet, but the Year have
the lead and the Ravens have another game coming up
against them. Steelers still have five of their six division
games remaining, So the AFC North.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Is not out of the question, not absolutely anymore, especially
when you face them again. Yeah, you can really make
up some ground quickly. You beat them back here at
M ANDT Bank Stadium. So that's kind of how the
playoff outlook looks right now. And you know it's gonna
be a tough test out there in Los Angeles, and
certainly one of the conversations around this the central conversation
(05:40):
this week is a rematch between John and Jim Harbaugh,
and as fans probably well know, this is the third
time they've battled. They faced all the way back in
twenty eleven on Thanksgiving Night here in Baltimore. The Ravens
beat the forty nine Ers that night in a low
scoring affair, and then of course the Super Bowl rematch
(06:00):
between the brothers that the Ravens won and Jim already
said that this isn't about he and John. I'm John.
I think it's fair to say he doesn't want to
make it about him too. It's not about it's not
about the coaches, it's about the players, it's about the teams.
It's about winning this game. But there's no doubt that
this is a fun storyline. Yeah, certainly in this game.
(06:21):
And you know, for these brothers, they've known nothing but
success basically as coaches. Right, And the third iteration is
certainly lower sakes than the Super Bowl, but a it's
a testament, just like a chance to sit back and say, Wow,
pretty incredible what both these guys have done in their
coaching careers and be all right, can Jim, can Jim
(06:45):
get one? Where can John? Can Big Bro keep holding
off Little Bro?
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Yeah? Yeah, John's won two of course, the Super Bowl
and then the previous one was a Thanksgiving Day game here,
Thanksgiving night game in twenty eleven against the forty nine
Ers that the Ravens won. I think my take on
the whole Hardball Bowl aspect, Hardbull aspect of this game
is that it's a fun storyline. It's deciding, and it's
fun to talk about and it's really cool, and it
speaks to their success as coaches and their family success
(07:13):
and just who they are as coaches and people. And
it's pretty remarkable to have two coaches who are head
coaches in this league, who've been doing it for this long,
who have both been so successful. All that's remarkable, and
so it's good storylines. There's going to be I'm sure
the feature on Monday Night Football leading into the game,
and all the feature stories are coming out over the
course of the week, and there's a lot of questions
to both of them during their time with the media
(07:34):
this week about this game, and that's part of it,
and I get it, and we're guilty of that too.
That's part of the and I think that to a
certain extent. Yeah, you want to have of course, you
want to have bragging rights against the other for this game,
but I honestly think that it's I think that it's
going to have basically no bearing on the game. That's
(07:54):
like my honest feeling. I just think that once this
game starts that all that stuff goes out the window,
and it's all pre stuff all week leading into it.
I just don't think it's gonna have any bearing on
the game.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Yeah, I don't see how it would have a bearing
on the game. I mean, I think these are just
two similar teams because they have both brothers as coaches, right,
like two similar brothers, different in their own ways, but
at the core, right, their core principles are both the same,
and thus that is how their teams play, That's how
(08:26):
their teams have been constructed. That's why the Chargers have
sixteen former Ravens, you know, in their organization. And so
when you have two very like minded and like structured
teams going at it, it's gonna be a darn good game.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
It is gonna be a good game. And as we
talk about the whole hardball ball aspect of this, we
got an email from Matt Stewart and we had Jack
harbaughll their father on earlier this week. So go back
and listen to that episode. It was really enjoyable, and
Matt said, I listened to every episode of the Lounge,
but never wrote in I was so disappointed after Sunday,
even though it was a regular season game, It's still
(09:02):
the Steelers, and I wanted to beat those guys so bad.
To be honest, I didn't want to listen, read, or
watch anything about the Ravens all week. But then you
had Jack Harball on. Thank you, That's what we all needed.
I found myself smiling the entire time I listened. Sometimes
it takes someone who's has the wisdom that only comes
with age to put things into perspective. As much as
we all want the Ravens to win every week, at
(09:23):
the end of the day, it is just a game.
What matters is the impact you have on those around you.
You can tell that Jack has embodied that throughout his life.
I think his interview was one of my favorite episodes
of Lounge. All right, Yeah, thanks for making this week
better and putting a smile on my face today. So
Jack Harble has that ability on people. He has the
ability to put a smile on people's face. So thank
you Matt for that for that nice email. As always,
(09:45):
you can email us at the Lounge at Ravens dot
NFL dot net. We're gonna send Matt a T shirt.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Oh, he definitely get.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
A T shirt. Any of the emails that we read
on the air will make sure to send you a
T shirt. But I you know, I do think that again,
the story line is fun to talk about and I
think that in terms of how the teams are built.
To your point, I think that that is that will
have an impact on the game. And it's sixteen former
(10:10):
Ravens who are now in LA. The nickname of Ravens.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
West we've all used for LA Ravens as him.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah, like, and it's real. You look at that team
and you're like, oh, he was here, he was here coaching.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
They hit the highlights of those former Ravens that are
now in LA. You have JK. Dobbins, Gus Edwards, Hayden Hurst,
Bradley Boseman, Tony Jefferson, Sam Mustafer, and Eric Tomlinson. Those
are the players that are over there in LA. And
then you know, obviously it's in the front office. You
have Joe Ortiz, who's their GM now, uh, Jim.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Harble, long time friend of the Lounge, Georg one of
the original.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
We should dial him up, let's just call it.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Let's castle him right now. We had a hard enough
time getting him to do interviews with us when he
worked here in this building. I can only imagine how
quickly he would hit block if he saw either of
our numbers come through.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Okay, I think I'm going to text gonfess Joe this week.
And then Greg Roman, you know, their offensive coordinator, and
Jesse Minzer their defensive coordinator who got his first job
in the NFL, NFL coaching job here in Baltimore, and.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
So and Jesse followed. He replaced Mike McDonald as a
defensive coordinator at Michigan and then went with Jim obviously
to LA. So a lot of connections that exist between
these entire organizations. It is kind of crazy just that
that with LA it's it's the coaching side and it's
the personnel side. Like those there's so much overlap in
(11:40):
terms of how these teams are built in the identities
of the organizations.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
And Jim Harball, former Ravens quarterback, that's true.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Can't forget that one.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Can't forget that one. Yeah, it's it's pretty incredible. I mean, yeah,
as soon as Jim was hired out there, you knew
that he was going to take a bunch of guys
with him. He knew he was going to have these
Ravens connections, and and that John was going to put
in a good word.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
You know, you're saying when Joe was hired or when
Jim was hired.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
When Jim was hired, you know, like I figured, yeah,
he's he's there's gonna be some carry over there.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
N He's been watching this team obviously and talk to
his brother about these guys.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Yeah, and then and then when Joe Ortiz went, then
for sure, Now okay, he's then he knows these players
and so he wanted some of them, and you know,
just to speak to JK specifically and Gus. You know, like,
I feel happy specifically for JK that he's having such
a great season for them, leads them in rushing and
(12:36):
is really among one of the league leaders. He's he
has seven hundred and twenty six rushing yards so far
this year, and uh, I feel happy for the dude.
I mean, I still I am a devout believer that
JK Dobbins could have been a star in Baltimore and
would have been a star had he not suffered his
litany of injuries here like that dude is a monster,
(13:00):
and I'm happy to see him healthy, staying healthy out
in LA and having all the success he's having. Now
I want him to get you know, about five rushing
yards in the game.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Obviously, that success can be put on pause. This week exactly.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
But like I am, from a distance, just glad to
see him having success. JK.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Dobbs had a lot of allies here, A lot of
people were rooting for him. Nobody liked to see the
way that his career really played out here. With the injuries,
the preseason game, then the achilles last year, he was
kind of robbed of what his potential could have been here.
You saw glimpses of it, but it was disappointing that
you didn't get to see the full realization of it.
And so and look, this was somebody second round pick.
And then after those injuries, you wonder like, is he done?
(13:41):
I mean that knee injury was major, and then you
tack on top of it a torn achilles, You're like,
is he done? That was that was the narrative that
he's probably just done. Even if he comes back, he's
not gonna be the same. I knew he wasn't, so
I give him. I give him credit for working his
way back, and I agree with you. I'm happy to
see him having the success that he's having this year.
It's it's fun. I mean, it's it's been good to see.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yeah, I agree, I mean, he's in a Greg Roman offense.
You knew, you knew in that offense they can scheme
up the run that he was gonna have plenty of chances.
I mean, this team is kind of built like the
Ravens of a few years ago, right, The Chargers are
building like exactly yeah, yeah, run heavy, yeah, with the
same guys. Yeah, you know, and so, uh yeah, I'm
really happy for him, happy for Gus. Gus has been
(14:23):
dealing with some injuries this year, but he's back on
the field and he's healthy, and I think even got
the start for them last week. JK still let him
in touchdowns and led him in carries and had a
couple of scores. But uh, you know, it's a it's
a tough thing for the Ravens to contend with coming,
you know, against this Ravens defense that's been strong on
the run. But you know, this, this is a this
(14:45):
is a well schemed operation. And my question to you, Garrett,
is does the Ravens familiarity with what Greg Ruman does
and how he schemes up the run. How much does
that help Baltimore's defense going against it.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I do think it helps him. I think that the
Ravens know how Greg Roman wants to call an offense
and just the principles of what he's going to run
and the scheme of things. It's the old classic, I
know what you're going to do, and you know what
I'm going to do. So who has the advantage there?
I think that plays into it. But I think that
just fundamentally having a part of what made the Ravens
offense and the Charges are running a similar scheme, but
(15:21):
the big difference is that they're not running the quarterback
as much, certainly as they did here is Greg Roman
did here in Baltimore with Lamar. But I think that
having an understanding of just the principles of how you
want to run an offense and seeing that in practice
every day, for the guys who were here at that time,
and for the coaches, certainly most of them were here
at the time that Greg Roman was here, I think
that will help the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
What are some of the cues, what are some of
the tells? They know all that stuff, They know all
Greg's tricks. Now we've spent we spent a lot of
time over the years saying, all right, is Greg going
to open up the vault? The vault was the phrase
here of Baltimore during the gig room in years and
you know how deep does he go into it? Does
(16:03):
he crack it open or does he not? Yea, I
have a sneaking suspicion that going against his former team
where things didn't quite end, you know, the way Greg
Rouman probably wanted, or any of us wanted, with a
championship and him departing that, Greg's gonna be spinning that dial. Baby,
He's gonna be punched in the code to open up
(16:25):
the vault.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
I think, you know, whenever you go up against your
former team, I think that that is absolutely going to
be part of it. You want to beat him. It's
like similar to time we talked about you want to
beat your brother and that whole storyline. I think that
you probably have as much, if not more motivation when
you're going up against your old team. And that's how
Greg's gonna feel. That's how JK. Dobbins.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
I was going to say Jk's feeling that way too.
He never got the chances here, not as part because
the injuries, but also when he was healthy, he felt
like he deserved more opportunities.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Yeah, everyone used, We spent all this time last week
talking about the whole Patrick Queen element of things and
how he was motivated.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
It's just I think it's a little bit different with JK.
There's some simi because he was a free agent and
the Ravens moved on, right, They didn't bring him back.
They pivoted to Derrick Henry. It's worked out well for
both sides. Like that is the takeaway here from the
running back situations. In both places. It's worked out well
for the Chargers. It's worked out out well for JK.
You got a fresh start. I think that was all good.
It's worked out in Baltimore here with Derrick Henry. But yeah,
(17:19):
like I think that JK will probably have and Greg
will have some of those feelings of like, all right,
I'm gonna show you what you missed out on.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Yeah, Like, I'm sure that if they're having conversations this week,
they're hoping for one hundred yards from JK on hundred
yards from Gus Bradley Boseman leading the way and most
of those and there, and the Chargers put up a
ton of yards on the ground in an la win.
That's what they're hoping for over there, And of course
the Ravens are hoping for the opposite, and like I don't,
I don't actually think that it's just gonna be motivation.
(17:51):
Like I don't. I don't think that Greg Roman was
gonna call the game any differently other than the fact
that if there's any tricks that he has up his sleeve,
like this is a game where he could break the
ball game, this is the game. Yeah, I could, I
could see that being a part of the equation, But
I still stand by what I said when you asked me,
do I think do I think that the familiarity with
(18:11):
this offense, which can catch people by surprise because there's
so much that happens in terms of the motion and
and the blockers moving in different directions. I think that
having an understanding of that will help this Ravens defense.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
I think it helps the Ravens more than it helps
the charters. Like I think, you know, Greg Roam, what's
scheming up for what the Ravens defense is going to do? Eh?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I mean it would run the same defense, to be honest.
That's one thing that's kind of an interesting element of
this is that they really run the same defense. Jesse
Mentor when he got to mission, I mean Jesse Mencher
knows his defense. Then he went to Michigan, took over
for Mike McDonald, just was running the same defense that
Mike Mike then game heer brought the same defense and
now was running the defense in Seattle. But Jesse knows
the defense and Greg knows the defense too. So that
(18:52):
kind of goes back to the I know what, you
know what you're gonna do.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
But I just think that when you're talking about who
has the advantage in that, I think the Ravens have
more of the advantage. Knowing the tendencies, knowing the tels,
knowing all the intricacies of how Greg Roman wants to
run the ball, yeah, and not just run the ball,
how he plays off of the run and does in
the passing game. I think that's advantage Baltimore.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Yeah, I think that. I think that could absolutely be
the case. I mean, the other obviously big piece of
the offense for the Chargers, a pretty big piece here
is Justin Herbert, quarterback who's been It's interesting, he's been
really efficient this year. He's not throwing the ball as
much as he did in previous years, but he's been
incredibly effective, and that's part of the Greg Roman offense
and the transition to more of a run first scheme.
(19:39):
But Herbert, it's it's kind of been a resurgent year
for him, and his efficiency is reminiscent. Like that's one
of the things, especially in that twenty ninety season with Roman,
like Lamar didn't throw the ball a ton, but his
efficiency was out of this world exactly. There's elements of
that with justin' Hurts.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
High level quarterback play, yes, and I mean he's throwing
thirteen touchdowns in only one interception. He has a career
career high one hundred and two point one quarterback rating. Like, look,
Justin Herbert is a supremely talented guy. Like you just
talk about arm talent, his ability to scramble and run
like you don't think of him as he's certainly not Lamar,
(20:15):
but he can run kind of like a Josh Allen
esque runner, but maybe even a little bit faster than Josh,
but like a big dude. And when he gets rolling
down hill, you can be a problem. He's not going
to lower his shoulder like Josh, like Josh Allen exactly,
like he'll slide, but like he's fast, he's got some
speed and He can definitely beat teams with his legs,
(20:36):
but really his arm. He has a special arm, one
of the top arms in the league now. He also
kind of reminds me a little bit of Josh Allen,
and their careers have been similar, and the talking points
around them is like he can get really, really hot.
And we saw that last week. If you watch the
Chargers Bengals game, I mean they were on fire. He
was just slinging it all every plays. Bengals going to
(20:57):
stop him at all second half was a much bigger
struggle for the Chargers offense and for Herbert specifically. And
so like when that canon is calibrated and dialed in,
it's tough to stop. But if it gets a little
off kilter and he gets has pressure in his face
and those things, it can start. It's that shooter can
(21:19):
be off aim right, he misses the target. And so
that is the challenge for this Ravens secondary that had
improvements in Pittsburgh. But I'm not going to sit here
and trumpet and say, hey, the raven second everything's fixed,
all good. I'm not worried about justin Herbert come to
town and look, this is Greg room in an offense
(21:40):
the passing game is not going to be the focus,
but they have some playmakers out there that can beat you.
Lad McConkie the rookie, he was a very high second
round pick. I think thirty fourth overall is kind of
been Justin Herbert's go to guys, especially in third down
situations things like that. Yes, the rookie has six hundred
and fifteen receiving yards. That's that would rank second. And
(22:00):
on the Ravens roster, Joshua Palmer, big body dude. Quentin
Johnston another big body, fast guy, so they have they
have targets. Will Disley is their tight end who's been
pretty rocks olid and on a roll as of late.
So you know they they have players that can hurt
(22:20):
you in the passing game. Only it's not just that
you have to defend the Greg Roman run scheme.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Yeah, Herbert's good. I mean, Herbert is having All you
need to do is listen to Jim Harbaugh. I mean
he gushes about Justin Herbert every chances to get any
chance he gets, talking about just the player he is,
personal he is, and how good, how good of a
how well he's playing this year. So there's a lot
of there's a lot of love for Herbert, I think
in the NFL world right now, and for good reason,
(22:45):
and so the Ravens defense is going to have their
handsful with him.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
One of my favorite clips that I've seen from other
teams this year who like mike up their players and
coaches and whatnot, was Jim Harbaugh miked up before a
game and so he catches passes from Justin Herbert and
warm ups every week, Jim lets one go through his hands,
he drops one, and he is just cursing himself, just
(23:08):
oh man, he's letting himself have it. So maybe that's
the key to getting them off their game right. If
you break up the chemistry between Herbert and Jim Harball
pre game, I want to see John Forward defensive back
them down, just getting it, just getting their heads right.
It's a mental game.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Well that clip I saw that clip too, is funny.
You see talk about competitive Jim even there's competitive with
himself during pregame warmups. In the game, he's not playing,
but they ended up winning that game.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
So I don't know, if I don't know, if your
theory right, if that's the key, yeah, yeah, I don't know,
but it can't hurt.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Right, can't hurt. I'm on board with that.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
All right, We're gonna take a break. When we come back,
we're gonna flip it to the other side and talk
about the Ravens offense and their matchup against the Chargers defense,
which might be the more important matchup in this game.
Coming up on Monday night.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
You're listening to the Latch podcast. We are coming to
you from the Seakeek studio. We all, I want to
mention a partners at Draft King Sportsbook. They are an
official sports betting partner of the Baltimore Ravens Draft King Sportsbook.
The Crown is yours. So this offense, the Ravens offense
against the Chargers defense, it's good versus good. The Ravens
from a point standpoint, from a yard standpoint, the number
one offense in football. From a point standpoint, they're the
(24:18):
second best offensive football, putting up thirty point four points
per game. Well, the Chargers, they've got the best defense
in football in terms of points. They're allowing only fourteen
point five points per game. They rank eleventh overall in
total yards, so it's a really good defense. As we mentioned,
Jesse Minter is a defensive coordinator there, He's already getting
some buzz from a head coaching consideration standpoint this offseason,
(24:42):
and really good operation there. Derwin James, great player. They
got Joey Bosa on the edge. So they've got talented
players and a good scheme. It's gonna be a tough
defense to go up against.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Yeah, I think this Ravens offense is obviously motivated from
the fact that they did not have their best showing
in Pittsburgh. The question is, all right, you know a
week prior to that, and numerous weeks before that, you know,
we were sitting here talking about how unstoppable the Ravens
offense is. Well it got stopped. Okay, can it get
back on track? Can you know, can Lamar kind of
(25:14):
bounce back from what was one of his tougher games
and and you know, be that that MVP performer again.
I absolutely think that he can. You know, this is
a this is a strong Chargers defense, but you know,
they ranked twelfth in the league in pass defense. They're
giving up two hundred and six yards per game. That's
pretty middle of the road when you look at it
(25:35):
from a yard standpoint, I mean eleventh in total defense.
Like you said, eleventh against the rush, twelfth against the pass.
You know, their teams have moved the ball on them.
It's scoring points, right, they're number one in points so
and they're number two in the league in red zone defense.
Opponents are only scoring a touchdown forty one percent of
the time. So that's I think where a lot of
(25:57):
this game is going to boil down to. Is can
the Ravens punched the ball into the end zone and
not be settling for field goals. That'd even be better
considering Justin Tucker's trying to pull out of a slump
right now, Hey, let's just put in the end zone.
Let's let him kick some extra points. Yeah, sure, we're
good with that. And the Ravens have been excellent in
red zone offense. They're number one in the league, scoring
touchdowns seventy seven point eight percent of the time. So
(26:19):
it's number one red zone offense first, number two red
zone defense. I think that's where this game is decided.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Yeah, I think that just overall, this offense, I think
is going to be super motivated to get back on
track after just having a rare off game in Pittsburgh
where a lot of things didn't go right. Turnovers, penalties.
Things were out of whack in that game, so they're
going to be looking to get back on track. I
like Lamar Jackson on Money at Football.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Yeah yeah, I always like the Ravens. I always like
the Ravens in big games on the road, like primetime
games on the road. I like them primetime games and too.
I just like to get Ravens in primetime games. Yeah,
they've been actually saying that Lamar has been excelling in
primetime games. The Ravens have been excellent in primetime games,
so I think that's good. I also mentioned one of
the things that that got them out of.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Whack last game was penalties, and that's been a big
point of emphasis for John. Harball has talked about it
multiple times this week that they need to clean up
the penalties, need to cut down on those. An interesting
element is so the Ravens ranked thirty second in the
league in terms of penalty yards, the Chargers rank first penalties.
That is something that the Ravens know they have to
clean up. It's holding, it's pre snap stuff, it's illegal
(27:28):
men downfield, it's all those things. And the Chargers have
been really good on the penalty front this year, and
so if you get into a game, I expect this
to be a close game. All the indications are that
this is going to be a close game. And if
you have a close game where the penalties get out
of whack in one direction, then that's how you can
lose a game totally. And the Ravens know that, and
(27:50):
so I think that that's going to be a really
important element that they have to take care of them
in this game.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
John Harball is not going to like losing the penalty
battle against his brother. No, No, that is that is No.
I am sure that that is a major focus. And
like we've been saying, this Ravens offense, honestly, if it
gets out of its own way, it's going to be
it's tough to stop. You know that. That's been the
common denominator in the Ravens losses this year has been drag,
(28:16):
as Todd Monkin likes to talk about. And Uh, if
they can avoid the drag, the turnovers, the penalties, those things,
then I think that they're going to put up a
lot of points out there in LA despite going against
the good defense.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
And just because you think that they're that good of
an offense, Yeah, yes, I agree. I mean they're this offense.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
I mean Zave Flowers scored two touchdowns last time. That
not the meaning that last year's matchup necessarily just transfers
over this year. But I just for all the reasons
that we've talked about before, this is a stronger Ravens
running game. They have Derrick Henry's you know, Derrick Henry
is Derick Henry. He's I think he's going to get
back on track after what was not a great game
in Pittsburgh for him either, including the fumble. Zay Flowers
(28:59):
I think is going to give their defensive secondary fits.
Uh And I think it could be another big Z game.
And I think, yeah, I think the Ravens offense has
more talent than the Chargers defense.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Well the Zay Flowers piece. I do think this could
be a game for him to He's been quiet the
last two games and a few weeks ago he was
top five in the league and receiving yards and everyone's
doing the projections like he's going to finish the eighteen
hundred receiving yards and all this stuff, and he's been
a little bit quiet. I do think that getting him
rolling again. I think that when he's and he catches
a few passes and makes some people miss, and I
(29:35):
think he can be like when the offense is sluggish,
I think he can be a jump start. He's he's
electric when he gets the ball in his hands. I
think that he's really hard to cover in space and
then you can probably get these ten yards to him.
And so I like getting him involved in this game,
and I could see him having a really nice game.
Speaker 1 (29:52):
Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. And well, I think the
Ravens have more talent on offense than the Chargers two defense. Like,
let's also not take away from them. I mean their
secondary is darn good. At corner, Christian Fulton has been
one of the top corners in the league if you
look at PFF, one of the top guys in the league, right,
Asante Samuel Junior known takeaway kind of guy have to watch,
(30:14):
be careful, not their own picks. Lamar has been really
good at that. And then like we talked about with
Joey Bosa, while the other guy on the other side,
Khalil Mack one of the best pass rushers of his generation. Right,
so we've talked many times about all right, what slows
down the Ravens offense, it's it's pressure, it's it's one
of those defensive players really kind of dominating at the front.
(30:34):
The Ravens tackles Ronnie Stanley and Roger Rosengarten, after going
against Watt last week, have their hands full with kind
of a duo this week coming from both sides.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Well, I mentioned Derwin James. He's intriguing because there's similarities
with him and Kyle Hamilton. They're versatile, they're not the
exact same player, they don't get used in the exact
same way, but their similarities in their game and the
way they play both physical, both man, and they make contact.
Like look out their physical guys who are not afraid
to come up and hit. So I think that Derwin
(31:06):
James is one of those X factor type.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Guys we're in on Derwin James come out of the
draft in that twenty eighteen draft. Yeah, can you imagine
if the Ravens had drafted Derwin James then traded back
still in and gotten Lamar.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
That would have been crazy.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Plus Mark Orlando like that, Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Yeah, they there was a lot of buzz about it
was actually just kind of doing the full revision of
history here. But there was interests or buzz about the Ravens.
If Derwin James fell, they ended up trading away, and
then the.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Chargers felled up.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
He fell, he had a chance taken, but then they
traded back. Chargers ended up taking him. But it was
just very similar to draft story related to Kyle Hamilister,
where this is a guy he's like a top five
player in the draft, but he plays this position.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
That may not be valued that where does he exactly
plays a tweener? All that stuff.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
So the Ravens got that guy, and of course a
few years later.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
We didn't pass up the second shof when Kyle Henton
phone in the laps said, yes, I'll take that game.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
I'll take him very much. But yeah, both the similar
style players and Derwin James is a guy you can't
let beat you because he has that ability to do it.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Yep. All right.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
So and then one other point that I think we
definitely want to mention, actually two a couple of things.
Justin Tucker you mentioned him and the struggles that he's had.
We did talk with Justin this week and he provided
his perspective on they're just working on everything, and he
made the point like it doesn't really care how I feel.
Someone asked him was how are you feel and how
are you handling the slump? And his point was like,
it doesn't really matter, Like I appreciate the thought, but
(32:34):
I just need to make kiss. That's what I need
to worry about. And he was also asked about the
Ravens vote of confidence him in him where John Harball
was asked this week, you bring it in competition at
Kicker and he said, that's what we're looking to do
right now, and Justin said, my focus and my plan
is to reward that vote of confidence. And of course,
like Justin has built up a really long runway long
leash because of how good he's been over the course
(32:56):
of his career, and so that confidence is justified.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
But I think that he is justinified, just had justified
very much.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
He's he wants to get back on track for a
million different reasons. And I have not, like I've not
lost the confidence in his ability to write the ship.
I still think that he can do it.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Yeah, I agree, I think that once. You know, I
think that making the fifty four yarder was big.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
He kind of glossed over that because like he missed too.
You lost the game, so you kind of forget. Oh yeah,
he did come back ahead a fifty four yarder. It
would have been a much different conversation if you just
go over three and you miss all three of your kicks.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Definitely, Yeah, And so I think that helped. I think
that Justin is approaching this just says he has earlier
this season when we were having a lot of these
similar conversations and he kind of pulled out of it.
Then he pulled out of the slump once this season.
Now he's kind of back in it. And it was
just a businesslike approach. And you know, it's interesting because
(33:56):
I kind of go back and forth on this, right,
because we had doctor Trish on the pod, right, and
Doctor Trish, I don't know how much you would recommend.
You got to feel the emissions, You got to work
through the emissions and the mental side of it, versus
like Justin's approach was kind of like, I appreciate you
asking about my emotions, but I can't like feel my emotions.
I just have to look at this like, all right,
(34:18):
this is my job. This is the next step I
have to do is to get better at my job
and take a very analytical approach.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Well, he's actually been. It's kind of interesting over the years,
like high and low, mostly high because he's been so good.
There's just haven't been many low moments. But it's always
that he make a big kick and like, what are
your emotions going into it? And he's like, honestly, in
a lot of those situations, like, my emotions don't matter.
I'm thinking about the technical aspects of things that I'm
not I'm not overly emotional about.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
He's very emotional after he made the kicks. But yeah,
but yet you're right, like when he talks about his
mindset approach as he approaches any kick, whether he's in
good times or bad, it's always very dialed into the details,
very workman like.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yes, so I think that he'll be able to pull
out of it. And would it shock me if he
ends up kicking a game winner in this game? Like,
would not? It would not shock me if he were
to drill a forty eight yard game winner.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
It's nice to be indoors too. You just eliminate that
mental ass part of the game and you can kind
of just focus on striking the ball. That's just one thing,
that one less piece of the equation. Yeah, so maybe
that can help him. Yeah, I agree with you. It
would not shock me if there's a long attempt in
Justin drels it totally, which will be awesome.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
I would like that.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Also on the injury front, this week, the big news
has been Roquan Smith. We're not sure if he's going
to play or not, but he mispracticed time because of
a hamstring injury that left him exiting the Pittsburgh game early.
If the Ravens don't have Roquan Smith, that makes the
job of defending this Chargers rushing attack that much harder.
And you know, Malik Harrison came in for ro Quan
(35:54):
last week in Pittsburgh, and you know, I generally I
trust Malik and run situations. I think against the past,
it's a little more difficult for him. He's just a
big body dude. And you know, Roquan. While I don't
think that Roqwan has had his best season yet this year,
he was playing his best game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
(36:15):
And I think that when Rokwan's not on the field,
you're going to feel it even more and say, man,
all right, you know, Roquan was really helping this defense
kind of hold its water.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Yeah, I think there's a couple different elements where it
would show up. One is he's a great player, and
removing great players from a defense hurts, so obvious one there.
The other part is communication. He wears the green dot
and he's if you ever watched him, dialed in on
him during a game, and he's talking to everybody. He's
yelling out things throughout the entire prestat process. So you
(36:47):
lose that without him out there. Kyle Hamilton took over
the green dot helmet against Pittsburgh. I would think he
would be the guy if that were to happen again,
if Rokwan can't go, I would Thinkyle Hamilton would be
that guy. He's really obviously smart, veteran player who knows
what he's doing on the back end of that defense
and communicate with everybody. So I think Hamilton would be
(37:07):
that guy. But you would have to replace both of
those elements. I do, like, you know, going up against
the Chargers, they are a run heavy team and so
Millie Carrison fits that a little bit. But of course
they're still going to pass and you need to be
able to hold up and pass coverage. I also wonder
if there's any situations where the Ravens lean on Kyle
(37:29):
Hamilton played more that traditional safety role, do you move
him up at all? It's almost like an extra linebacker
in situations especially.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
I think that that kind of we all really like
the changes in the improvement in the secondary with Kyle
playing deeper with ourt areas, But if Roque's going to
be out, you'd really like to have Kyle Hamilton kind
of up closer to the box because he can he
can definitely help you in that regard. So it's like,
are you willing to give up the good things that
(37:58):
you got from last game against Pittsban to better defend
the run? That's tough.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
I think that's part of what Zach orr is gonna
have to figure out this week is how they want
to just staff that, how they want to manage the
roles and the packages that they're using in this game.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
YEP. So, like we said, this is going to be
a really good game. Two very good teams charges on
a four game winning streak and the Ravens a hunger
team looking to bounce back from a tough loss. So
expected to be an awesome game Monday night in Sofi Stadium.
As always, you can reach us at the lounge at
Ravens NFL dot net. We'll have our post game breakdown
immediately after the game and we look forward to it.
(38:34):
Ravens fans enjoy that game.
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