Chiefs vs. Ravens: AFC Clash to Kick Off the Season

Kansas City Chiefs vs. Baltimore Ravens: Week 1 NFL Showdown

Hosts Nick Ferguson and Alex Hardy dive into the exciting start of the NFL regular season with an in-depth preview of the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens. As the Chiefs aim for a three-peat, they analyze the impact of key roster changes, the dynamic offense led by Patrick Mahomes, and the formidable Spagnola defense. Meanwhile, the Ravens, fresh off a successful season, face critical coaching changes and new additions like Derek Henry. Will the Ravens' physical defense and

 

revamped offense be enough to topple the reigning champs? Tune in as Nick and Alex break down both teams' strategies and make their predictions for this AFC Championship rematch.

• 00:00 Nick Ferguson previews the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens ahead of the NFL season

• 09:56 Kansas City decided to retain defensive tackle Chris Jones after trading Dara Snead

• 19:28 The Kansas City Chiefs take on the Baltimore Ravens in primetime Thursday night

• 29:40 Baltimore Ravens drafted running back Derek Henry in the second round

• 38:18 Nick Saban: It's going to be another exciting NFL season

Nfl, Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Super Bowl, Afc Championship, Nfl Week One, Nfl Offseason, Fantasy Football, Nfl Draft, Nfl Defense, Nfl Offense, Wide Receivers, Nfl Coaching Staff, Afc West, Afc North, Nfl Playoffs, Nfl Preview, Nfl Regular Season

Kansas City Chiefs https://www.chiefs.com/

Baltimore Ravens https://www.baltimoreravens.com/

Patrick Mahomes https://www.patrickmahomes.com/

Lamar Jackson https://www.baltimoreravens.com/team/players-roster/lamar-jackson/

Travis Kelce https://www.chiefs.com/team/players-roster/travis-kelce/

Andy Reid https://www.chiefs.com/team/coaches-roster/andy-reid/

Steve Spagnuolo https://www.chiefs.com/team/coaches-roster/steve-spagnuolo/

NFL https://www.nfl.com/

Denver Broncos https://www.denverbroncos.com/

New England Patriots https://www.patriots.com/

Hollywood Brown https://www.baltimoreravens.com/team/players-roster/marquise-brown/

Samaje Perine https://www.chiefs.com/team/players-roster/samaje-perine/

Clyde Edwards-Helaire https://www.chiefs.com/team/players-roster/clyde-edwards-helaire/

Chris Jones https://www.chiefs.com/team/players-roster/chris-jones/

Lejarius Sneed https://www.titansonline.com/team/players-roster/legerius-sneed/

Roquan Smith
League and Nick Ferguson. From the time that we
started this podcast during the NFL offseason,
we've been inching, crawling,
tippy toeing towards the NFL regular
season. And now we're here. It's week one,
baby. Right around the corner, Nick Ferguson. What's going on, my

(00:33):
man?

>> Nick Ferguson (00:35):
It is football time in America,
which means as though, uh, a lot of the honeydew lists
that we had during the spring, they no longer
exist because now we gotta put everything and
everyone on the back burner.

>> Alex Hardy (00:48):
I hope you cleaned out those gutters. You
shovel the driveway, you can never tell in Denver. You're
talking spring weather. You might as well be shoveling in, you know,
picking up fallen leaves. That's just how things are. Um,
but here's a honeydew list for the National Football
League in lack of a good transition because they don't
pay me enough for those. Uh, Nick Ferguson. It's

(01:09):
been long enough. We've talked about ten or so
teams that are in contention for the Super
bowl. So we might as well be talking about the team
that's just coming off winning the Super bowl back to back, be
it the Kansas City Chiefs, but we
have the AFC championship rematch
to kick off the 2024 NFL season.

(01:29):
So what we're going to do, we're going to preview those Super
bowl defending Chiefs two time, and we're going to
preview those Baltimore Ravens who they
just lost out to Kansas City in the
AFC championship game last
February. January. It was
January. So, Nick, we'll start with the
Kansas City Chiefs, but overall, we're talking

(01:51):
about a team that, hey, Patrick Mahomes
is here. They are pretty much
favorites to go to the Super bowl. Is that name brand value
at the most premier position in all of sports. Is that
enough alone for you to just write the
Chiefs off as the AFC contender,
the team to beat going for that three peat?

>> Nick Ferguson (02:11):
Well, I'm not going to write them off and I'm not going
to pencil them in as a, uh, three
peat. Right. And I know maybe you being a Patriots
fan, that I know sometimes that might do something to
you and your psyche, but here's what I would say. Being
Kansas City Chiefs fan, you got to be happy and
optimistic that you have kind

(02:32):
of solidified the quarterback position with Patrick
Mahomes and what he's been able to do. Now, there's some
issues that Kansas City is going to be presented with. That's going
to determine whether they can get back to where they once
was because they did that with Mahomes and
Mahomes magic. But they also did it, a, uh,
great spagnola defense where they were able to sneak the
quarterback, uh, get turnovers and get the ball back

(02:54):
to their offense. But things for Kansas City look
a little different because, you know, there's no
MBS, he's not there anymore. And
Kadavius, Tony, he's no longer there.
Rashid Ryan's, what's going to happen with his
situation and his off the field issues.
But that's why they drafted Xavier Worthy,
who is the speed, sir, out of Texas, and they

(03:16):
grab Hollywood Brown, who was, by the way,
Hollywood Brown is going to be injured. So for me, this
may develop into the Travis
Kelsey Xavier worthy
show, but then we'll get to a later talking
about the Baltimore Ravens. But I don't believe it's
as cut and dry because there are so many
teams in the AFC. They've done some great things

(03:38):
building that roster.

>> Alex Hardy (03:40):
That's right. The Denver Broncos, the New England Patriots lead that
list off. Nick, I joke, but really,
you, you started with the offense, so let's talk about that side
of the ball. You discuss the receiver room, you
know, attacking that position in both free
agency and the draft. Right? There's no one to
one replacement for Tyree kill. So let's moneyball

(04:00):
this and try to replace it in the aggregate.
Rashee Rice broke out as a,
I don't want to say gadget, but an underneath player, um,
low average depth of target when he wasn't,
you know, stretching the field. Uh, so the
additions of Hollywood Brown, who you said will be out
for week one in that matchup against the Ravens with the shoulder

(04:21):
injury, uh, avoiding the pup list, however, and
Xavier Worthy, who they used in the first round.
Now, how does the dynamic of
this offense change when you talk about
two players in Hollywood Brown and Xavier Worthy, who
are known to stretch the field, and then we'll kind of get
into what other pieces kind of insulate and

(04:41):
allow Mahomes to be able to do that? So the, the progression
from the offense, led by Rasheed Rice and Travis
Kelsey fast forward to they're still the main
two target guys, in my opinion, and, and, and
guys who I am drafting a lot, we'll get to, from a
fantasy football perspective. But the additions
of two, you know, quote, unquote, speedsters to stretch

(05:02):
the field, what does that mean for Patrick Mahomes and his top two
target getters from a year ago.

>> Nick Ferguson (05:07):
Well, the idea is that it forces Matt
Nagy, Andy Reid to be
a little more creative in what they do with their office. I mean, think about it. When
they lost Tyree, kill, everyone was always into the
world, but they found ways to do
other things. Now, they were not taking the big, flawed
shots down the field. It became a lot of
misdirection. Crossing routes are, uh,

(05:29):
crossing routes often misdirections. M underhanded
throws, overhanded throws. I mean, whatever Patrick
Mahomes could dream up, it was readily available. And they're
going to have to do the same thing this particular year because
you don't really have that big body wide receiver that
inside the red zone you can go to. So for them, they're going
to go back to that same theory they had a couple of years ago.

(05:49):
It really based off explosive plays. But when they get
inside the red zone and they get inside those tight formations,
third and short, fourth and short, that is the
Travis Kelsey show. So you still have to
contend with that and with the
improvisation of, uh, Patrick Mahomes.
These are skills that you cannot teach.
And any, when you have a quarterback like that,

(06:12):
it makes life easier for you if you
are, uh, a receiver or you guys catching
at the backfield. Now, here's something that they also did.
Samaji P. Ryan was a member of the Denver Broncos. Now
he's gone over to join the
Kansas City change. The enemy here in Denver said the
one thing that we know about Samaji P. Ryan, dating back to

(06:32):
when he was with the Cincinnati Bengals and Zach Taylor,
he was great between the tackles, but more importantly,
he was great receiving the ball on the backfield.
So you think about what you can add in the mix
with peews and the
hard driving, I'm gonna run through you
mentality of Isaiah Pacheco. Play action is
there and I can tell you as a former defender, anytime

(06:55):
a quarterback sticks the ball out and you think he's going to hand it
off, defensive eyes draw
straight to him like a mark to the flame, open up
things down the field. This is how, uh, the
offense will be more creative and allow them
to do things now, this season that they were not able
to do last season.

>> Alex Hardy (07:14):
Now, two things on that, I think it's fascinating. First
of all, the two time Super bowl defending champions
again this week as we're recording the podcast, making
key roster additions from teams that would be
thrilled to be in post season conversation, let alone
back to back defending champion Samaj P. Ryan, coming from the
Denver Broncos, uh, judge Smith Schuster

(07:34):
reunited after getting cut by the Patriots. Uh, Peyton
Hendershot is going to be their third tight end coming over
from Dallas. So it is interesting and a job
well done, I will say, because with Clyde Edwards
Ilair going on the uh, non football injury
list and he's going to miss the first four games as a minimum.
This is a team that is looking to win their games in
December and January and February.

(07:56):
So for those of us playing fantasy football,
maybe distress that Samajp Ryan is the more
pass catching back compared to Isaiah
Pacheco. It's about making sure they have, uh, a
balance distributed offense so
that no one guy has to carry the load and be less than
100% when it comes to the postseason,
which far and away much more important,

(08:18):
uh, if they were to reunite with the
Ravens in the AFC playoffs compared
to when they get them in week one. My other point of
emphasis, Nick, this going back to the receivers, uh,
the numbers coming from rich rebar of sharp
football analysis on throws of ten or more
yards. Last year, Patrick Mahomes threw a touchdown

(08:39):
at a rate of 1.2%.
So just barely 1% of his throws over
ten yards down the field last season resulted in a
touchdown. His first three years were
11%, eight and a half percent and
8%. I'm throwing those numbers out there for one of two
reasons. They weren't able to stretch the field. And as a
defensive back, Nick, we'll transition to the sphagnola

(09:00):
defense shortly here. But the COVID
two, I'm sorry, the two high defense
employed against the likes of Patrick Mahomes and other
elite quarterbacks, how has that shifted
more of the downfield, uh, vertical
offenses compared to maybe a death by
1000 paper cuts?

>> Nick Ferguson (09:19):
Well, the idea is when you play cover two,
you basically keep everything in front of.
So having two high safeties, you tell the quarterback
right away you can't throw the ball outside
the numbers. Now, if you want to throw it down the middle, maybe you
can with a little success, but we're going to force you
into checkouts. Now, the one thing you can do versus

(09:39):
cover two is run the ball. And
you don't have to run the ball to a point where you're rushing
for 130 yards a game. No,
alison, you could be successful running for 60
85 yards with Isaiah Pachenko because what it
does, it keeps the defense honest.
And if you play cover to your mic linebacker,
he is responsible for plugging the a or

(10:01):
b gap in the run, but also getting down the middle of the
field between the hashes on the pass so
if you run successfully and then you run play action,
guess what that linebacker has to do? He now has to
honor that run, which means that he's going to be late getting
back on those dig routes. And this is where
those crossing routes have worked. You know, great for

(10:22):
Travis Kelsey and Patrick Mahomes, but the
biggest thing is Patrick Mahomes and Travis
Kelsey being on the same page. They
work in unison together, almost like a couple
of guys that you are fond of. When you think about Rob
Gronkowski and his, his bromance with
Tom Brady or Giant, this is what you talk about,

(10:42):
guys being on the same page and the right hand
knowing what the left hand is thinking. As long as they
have those two guys in place, Kansas City
would always be in the conversation offensively. And what
they've learned to do is listen. The game
is about evolution. And before there was chunk
plays down the field, they said, you know what, we

(11:03):
don't have to do that anymore. If we can get first
downs, right, every so many plays
we're getting first downs, it's putting us in position where we
can go and score. And oh, by the way, they get Harrison
Butler, who can kick from 40 yards out. So those
are points that, uh, they, they say, you know what, even if
you take, keep us out, uh, of the end zone, which is really hard to
do, we still take field goals for 40 yards

(11:25):
out. Yeah.

>> Alex Hardy (11:27):
Yep. There's really no limit to where the offense can,
can end and at least have more drives
that end with points on the defensive side of the football.
Some transactions that are worth going over with this
football team, they retain a lot of their guys, right.
It was a, it was a, uh, uh, major
decision by this franchise. We spoke about it on this
podcast, incessantly deciding to

(11:49):
retain Chris Jones, the defensive
tackle over luxurious need their
shutdown uh, all pro corner who they
traded to the Tennessee Titans. So Nick,
that pivotal decision, making the choice on
the older nose tackle compared to the younger
corner, uh, and having more guaranteed money
for Chris Jones than what the Titans ultimately had to

(12:11):
give to legerious need your decision
on their decision and sort of how that played
out with the rest of Spagnolo's defensive roster.

>> Nick Ferguson (12:20):
Well, the idea is really simple that
we know pass roush and coverage are
married, so they say, look well, who was very
instrumental in helping us get to this point. It wasn't
Patrick Holmes, which is crazy. It was Chris
Owens. Right. Even at this stage of his
career, he was very impactful, commanding those
double teams, creating one on one matchups for guys like

(12:43):
Carlotta's on the outside. So they were
willing to let Dara Snead walk to
Tennessee and say, you know what? We'll just go get
another guy to put out there, because we want to make
sure we keep our main guy, who's Chris Jones,
who can create the most chaos up
front. So when you do that and you have a guy like that, you
can do anything in the back end. That's like with Tampa Bay back in the

(13:05):
day. They have war set. The Rams had Aaron
Donald. When you got dominating guys like that up front,
he could do whatever you want to do in the back end, and you can have a
mediocre back end. And that's what spagnola and the chief decided,
well, we want to put the bulk of our investment right
there and something that we know that we can guarantee
that we're going to get this play, play in and play

(13:26):
out and so consistent. But here's the one thing about
Kansas City I, uh, mentioned Chris Jones. You have George
Carlock. You got Nick Bolden on the second level at the
linebacker position. They have played makers same
similarly on every level of their defense, and
they're hoping that, yeah, you lose in a Derri snee,
but if you keep those core guys, you can make the
same type of noise. And that's what they're thinking. And

(13:48):
we'll make several tweaks on our defense, team wise,
personnel wise. But as long as we have Patrick
Mahomes and we can give him the ball, that's going to
guarantee us that we're going to put points on the board. And
think about this, Alex. There are 32 teams in
the NFL. How many teams are out
there that can score? 28.2?

>> Alex Hardy (14:07):
Gay, right? Not your team. Not my team.

>> Nick Ferguson (14:10):
Exactly. So if you got Kansas City that I
could do it, and you can get some extra, uh,
plays from your defense, turning it over. You are
always in that conversation. So I see
why some were pegging the Chiefs
to have a three p. I'm not, but
I can see why that is the conversation.

>> Alex Hardy (14:29):
Well, it also helps that the Kansas City Chiefs
know how to draft corners. Right. You let a
luxurious need go, one, because of the play and
effort that they get on the defensive line. Um, but Trent
McDuffie, Joshua Williams, who's coming into his third
year, uh, Jaden Hicks,
you know, in the. In the secondary,

(14:50):
they've just been able to systematically
pluck and find players that fit their style of football.
Right. The one advantageous to having a long
established coaching tenure is that you
identify players that fit your
system and you find players that by
playing in your system, you can get the most out of them.
Because I understand you want to highlight

(15:11):
what players are good at, but identifying and
understanding what you need out of players to be good
makes the process so much easier. And, you know, no, no
better pairing than Andy Reid and Steve Spagnolo in the NFL
at that point. They're developing, you know, George
Carloftus and Mike Dana, who came back on a three year
deal. They can afford to, you know,
this happens to all contending teams. They lose

(15:34):
critical and key pieces to super bowl championship
teams all the time, but being able to replace them, Nick,
is what makes them as good as they are.

>> Nick Ferguson (15:42):
Well, you know, it's funny that you said that, uh, uh, that
it reminds me of a philosophy that worked for
almost 20 years, and that was called the patriot
way. Right. Uh, the idea
is bloody brilliant because the idea is
that there's some coaches who overthink the
process of coaching and play calling. When it's really
simplistic. You find out what guys can

(16:05):
do and you put them in position to succeed, opposed
to saying, well, here's what a guy can't do. Yeah, we know
he can't do it, but you want to put him in a position where
you exploit the skillset that, uh, he
does well. And once again, I got to give, you know, Brett
beach and everyone over Kansas City, you know, their flowers,
because they've done a great job of doing they.

(16:25):
And you can say, maybe they took a page out of Bill Belichick's book
and say, look, let's not overthink it. We got a guy
who's extraordinary at the quarterback position.
Let's put players around. And this, these don't have to
be the best players in the world because we're going to
function as a team, not as an
individual. And that's why Kansas
City is the bell of the ball and everyone's

(16:47):
looking to knock them off top with a mountain.

>> Alex Hardy (16:51):
Uh, transitioning to the NFL draft, we spoke at
length about Xavier Worthy, who was the 28th pick overall,
kind of stacked in there with a number of wide receivers going in
that range. Of course, you had the three going in the
top ten between, um,
neighbors and Marvin Harris, junior and Roma
Dunze. And then you had this range where it's the

(17:11):
Xavier Worthies, the Keon Coleman, the Xavier
Leggettes. Um, um, these guys are constantly going to be compared
against one another, uh, as they progress that
and Xavier Worthy's teammate ad
Mitchell put up more stats this past
season. In Texas is offense, but
obviously going to play for Patrick
Mahomes is very different than going to play for Anthony

(17:33):
Richardson. But no surprise that both of them
appear to have, um, an early
look at some fast, uh, starts with the
injuries on their depth charts ahead of them. Uh, and then
I wanted to focus on their second round selection, Kingsley
Sua Mattia, the massive
tackle at a BYU res experience.
Yes, he played on the side, uh,

(17:55):
uh, years ago and then transitioned to left
tackle. So BYU had him playing both sides after
he was a five star recruit who originally committed to Oregon.
And again, with how much of a precious
commodity that this position is and the number that
we saw go in the first two rounds of the draft,
Suvatia is right there, top of the death
chart. He is going to be out there manning that

(18:18):
left tackle spot for the Chiefs on Thursday's
opening night. I mean, just, uh,
um, you know, for someone who you say is
raw, there's no better place for him to land than Kansas
City to ultimately be responsible for keeping
Patrick Mahomes blindside protected.

>> Nick Ferguson (18:34):
Well, yeah, he's going to be tested on Thursday
night for sure, but I mean, as
you're a rookie offensive lineman and to play your first
game of the regular season at home, where you're
playing in front of a, uh, favorable crowd, so you don't have
to worry about the defensive advantage due to the
crown noise. But here's the. Also the, uh, also the other
thing that the baby go gives you. And

(18:57):
it's crazy that I keep making these Patriots references
just, it is, it is true. When you think about what Tom
Brady was with the New England pages, the idea
was that like a damn arena for the Miami Dolphins, he was able to get
the ball out of his hands on time and the rhythm. So with
Patrick Holmes having that same capability,
it makes your life easier as an offensive lineman because

(19:18):
you don't really have to hold your blocks that long. It's one
1002, 1000, the ball is gone. Either
he's shoveled it to Travis Kelsey or he's pulled the ball down
and he's running.
So for me, it's going to be, I'm not going to
say an easy day for the rookie left tackle, but it's
not going to be one of those stressful days that a normal left
tackle would have when he's playing in.

>> Alex Hardy (19:39):
His first home game and you round things out. I mentioned
Jaden Hicks, the safety out of Washington state, playing some critical
depth. Uh, and then they took some
shots. Uh, Hunter Norzad, who was the
center for Penn State and CJ
Hansen, a guard at Holy Cross, a, uh, good run blockers according
to pro Football Focus. But again, we'll have plenty of

(19:59):
time sitting behind established veterans to become better
pass defenders. So, Nick, as we
are going to transition from Kansas City to the
Baltimore Ravens, uh, what is the floor for this Chiefs
team and your ceiling? Ultimately, though, I think you're
teasing that we're still going to be waiting on the
first three straight Super bowl champion.

>> Nick Ferguson (20:19):
Well, I started with the ceiling first. Obviously, they're
always in, uh, the conversation. So
worst case scenario for the Kansas City Chiefs,
that they end up with that second seed
and then have to play on wild cards Saturday.
But when you look at the floor, obviously his
winning, uh, AFC West, I mean, to look at the
west now and to proclaim

(20:41):
anyone else in that division
toppling the Kansas City Chiefs, you
know, I'm not a violent person, but I would kind of shake the hell out of
you saying that you must be wide because there's no one
right now that I would say that is going to
become the supreme team in the AFC and, uh, the
AFC west at the particular points,
that's kind of the floor for Kansas City

(21:04):
winning AFC outright. But the
ceiling is obviously that second seed, if not
the number one seed in AFC conference.

>> Alex Hardy (21:13):
Those are the Kansas City Chiefs. They go head to head with the
Baltimore Ravens in week one, one
Thursday, uh, night kicking off, and we've got
to cover that other side of the field, Nick Ferguson. So the Baltimore
Ravens coming off of a very successful
2023 season, which ultimately netted them not
only the mvp for the

(21:34):
quarterback, uh, Lamar Jackson, but they were also the number one
overall see in the AFC. However, despite
having home field advantage, Kansas City showed
up and beat them, uh,
luxurious need providing the key defensive play to stop
what would have been a Zay Jones touchdown.
So we now fast forward to what
was a very busy offseason, both for

(21:56):
arrivals and departures. Uh, let's start
with the negative. They lose some critical pieces
that they had on this defense,
namely pretty much their entire defensive coaching
staff. Right? Mike McDonald, who had been traded
between the harbor brothers, uh, now the
head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, and his top assistant,

(22:16):
Anthony Weaver, the, uh, next defensive
court, or, uh, the would have been in line to be the defensive
coordinator, now signed with the Miami
Dolphins, um, to man that same position.
So now we circle back
to, uh, redoing this entire
Harbaugh staff on the defensive side and a team
whose identity is known as a

(22:40):
play defense type of team,
established culture much like we discussed with the Kansas City
Chiefs, and it's going to look a lot different
right where you have, uh. Why
would they sort it this way? Where's my defensive coordinator?
Zach Orr is now becoming the defensive
coordinator with, um, a
number of their assistants moving on elsewhere, either following

(23:02):
McDonald to Seattle or Anthony Weaver to
Miami. So Mark Leone was hired as the inside
linebackers coach. Dennis Johnson on the defensive
line and Doug Mallory over the defensive
backs. Nick, as we, as we look, you
know, a thousand miles away from this
type of picture. Yes. Patrick Queen, Jadevian
Clowney, Gino Stone, uh, Ronald Darby,

(23:25):
all of these key losses on the defensive side of the
football. Let's start with the coaching staff. I mean,
what type of philosophy? Knowing that
this is something Harbaugh has been preaching and been consistent
about through his entire time as a head coach, and they've cycled
through defensive guys before, but an
entire defensive coaching staff ripped out.

(23:45):
Um, how, how does that affect where this
team is compared to the success that they
had this time a year ago?

>> Nick Ferguson (23:53):
Well, obviously, he's going to look a little
different, but here's what Baltimore is
preaching. While the uniforms
may change, meaning the different people in the uniforms
and the people coaching, the one thing that doesn't change
is the Baltimore Ravens mentality.
They're banking on, um, the mentality staying, you
know, ecstatic and staying in place

(24:15):
because they're gone all the days of Ray Lewis and Ed
Reed. So now you have different people.
Roquan Smith, man. So,
yeah, it's physical, downhill,
punishing talent, defense. And the
way that it's been expressed to me, they don't give a
hell who's in the Baltimore uniform.

(24:36):
We do what we do, when we do it, uh, when
we have to do what we have to do. I know that's
a lot to unpack.

>> Alex Hardy (24:43):
Yeah.

>> Nick Ferguson (24:44):
But the idea is the mentality is still the
same. Are they going to have some issues as far
as personnel based on trying to match up and
scheme wise? Yeah, you want to have those
issues, but it's still, at the end of the day,
we play physical football. We bloody
the noses of our opponents. That's

(25:04):
not going to change. So you're walking in,
filling the gap for a guy who's now
moved on. That is what we
anticipated. We don't anticipate anything else
but that. At the end of the day,
did you punish the runner? Did you
punish the quarterback? It's all about.
Well, you might as well don't even call them the Baltimore

(25:26):
Ravens anymore. Just call them Baltimore Punishers. That's kind
of the mentality. And I'll tell you this, man, on Thursday
night, I don't expect to see anything less.
If, uh, I were to say anything less than
guys running around imposing their
will, then I'm going to really say, you know, McDonald
not being there, Weaver not being there. There's

(25:46):
really been a change in the culture for the Baltimore
Ravens.

>> Alex Hardy (25:50):
Right? So the philosophy, the type of
defense for John Harbaugh, for Jim Harbaugh,
is relatively the same. It's just
the emphasis and the identification for
teams to look at what Mike McDonald did and
the job that he did coaching up, um, not a
harbor system, but something that has been mastered by the
Harbaugh brothers. And his teaching ability is what I, you

(26:12):
know, gave his greater calling to be a head coach.
But it's relatively the same system, right, that the four
three nickel zone that the Ravens have been playing
since Rob Ryan was there manning that defense,
um, I'm not too worried about them. I'm also not
too worried about them. You mentioned Roquan Smith
and, uh, Namdi madabouike, who,

(26:32):
uh, just changed his name from Justin,
um, just a couple of days ago. Um,
Dominique is to give you all
of the pressure on the interior of
the defensive line that allows
rushing lanes for so many of these guys that they
have thrown darts at the draft. Uh,
Duffy away, David, uh, ojabo.

(26:55):
Um, just so many of these other guys that know how
to rush the passer, um, which can also help them
alleviate some of the stress that they have on the defensive. Uh,
uh, backfield, um, um, you know, great players
and Marlon Humphrey and Kyle Hamilton shout out
the Fighting Irish, Marcus Williams as well.
Um, and they even bring in Eddie Jackson from the Chicago

(27:15):
Bears. They just. They've thrown
all pro caliber players at so many different
positions that being coached up and being on the same
page is something that, with a team like the Baltimore
Ravens, based on the level of success that they've had for decades,
you kind of give them the benefit of the doubt. Right, Nick? It's like
if we see these overhaul changes,

(27:36):
um, coming from somebody less
experienced, someone who doesn't have the
same track record, you tend to worry, but you sort
of write over these types of things. To borrow from Nick
Ferguson, the Patriot way, you give them the benefit of the
doubt because you've seen it before. So now both of us
can compare these teams to the New England Patriots just to make you

(27:56):
happy. Um, the key additions on the
offensive side of the football, I think, were more noteworthy.
The two year, $16 million contract handed out to
Derek Henry coming over from the Tennessee
Titans. Um, look, this offense has
always been predicated on Mark
Andrews being your top target getter, but what does it
mean with Derek Henry stepping in with

(28:18):
the addition of,
um, uh, the
subtraction of some key pieces on that offensive
line, but the Ravens being able
to kind of change what they want to do offensively, adding
a key piece in Derek Henry, who to this point
has defied, you know, the expectations for a 30
year old running back.

>> Nick Ferguson (28:40):
Well, it changes Baltimore and the fact
that they don't have to lean on Lamar Jackson's
legs as much. All you have to do is watch
the career of Derek Henry.
And you know what? He was with the Titans.
I mean, the guy was a one man record
crew. So you add that to the legs and the
skillset of Lamar Jackson.

(29:02):
Now you have, as I say, I
mean, a great tandem backfield.
Also, last season I felt
as though, especially in the last game they played against Kansas, uh,
city, that Lamar wasn't
being the Lamar Jackson he was the week prior
when he played against the Houston Texans. Mhm. The idea

(29:23):
is that that's not the time to put
handcuffs on your quarterback and force him to be a pocket
passer. I didn't feel as though in that first meeting,
with our last meeting, rather, against Kansas City, Lamar
was putting stress on the defense with his legs.
So now you add Derek Henry to that.
Now play action opens up all
across the field because Nick Bolton,

(29:45):
bag Miller. You can act as though you don't want to plug those a and
b gaps if you don't want to. All I know, if you don't do
that, your safety is going to have a long day. And I can tell
you, I mean, trying to tackle a guy
like Derek Henry, like the
entire game, you make it 16 tackles.
Yeah. Um, you're going to make. It's going to make you
question your idea of being in safety.

(30:08):
So this is where it helps the evolution
of Lamar Jackson and, uh, zay flowers,
man, God bless his heart. You know, you go back to a couple of
games and they can't see the game and he's like, oh,
man, maybe if he just held off trying to
push the ball over to get the touchdown, things would have been a
little different. So you have to figure that he's going to be a little

(30:28):
upset. And then also, Baltimore didn't use their tight
ends as well in that last matchup. Isaiah
likely, who was emerged as one of. They'll become tight
ends. And obviously you mentioned Mark Andrews. This is
an offense that for me, even though they
don't have a lot of burners outside, that there should
be a little more fluidity with the offense

(30:49):
based on the run game being on track. And this
is, that's what Derek Henry actually
gives the Baltimore Ravens.

>> Alex Hardy (30:57):
And it all starts with JK Dobbins. With
the season ending injury, week one, he's now in San
Diego, or I guess LA. Uh, I don't know what
that. I don't know what just happened there. Uh, he's now in LA with
the other Harbaugh brother. Um,
and it sort of goes from there, right, because they rely on Gus
Edwards, who's also in San Diego, I

(31:17):
mean, la, with Jim Harbaugh. Uh, and
Derek Henry plugs a, uh, real need that they have, knowing
that Keaton Mitchell is going to start the year injured. And
they've been waiting and getting some, you know, some
modest production out of, uh, Justice Hill in that reserve
pass catching role. So a huge need that they needed
plugged. Uh, they also effectively

(31:38):
did that in the draft, uh, with the 30th overall
selection, Nate Wiggins out of Clemson coming, uh,
into last year's college football season, I think Nate Wiggins
would have been ranked among one of the top corners as far
as their NFL prospects, um, and then
ultimately sliding after a modest, you know, disappointing
season, I think, overall for the Clemson Tigers. But a guy who

(31:59):
has elite closing speed was one of the best defenders in the
ACC over the last two seasons. And it's just
about getting up to play strength because he's a
long, wiry kind of guy, which is in
contrast to what physical corner play
that we expect from this Baltimore Ravens team.
You called them the bruisers, the punishers. Uh, I
loved their second round selection. Uh, again, we talked about

(32:21):
this with the Kansas City Chiefs, but Roger Rosengarden out of
Washington, I think is a fascinating one because again,
at the beginning of the season, we didn't expect too much out
of that line in general. But what
was interesting for me about Rosengarden, I think one of my
favorite stats about him is that when Michael Pennix came
over from Indiana in the transfer portal, they

(32:41):
intentionally move Rosengarten from the left
side to play right tackle, which for Pennix, the
left handed quarterback is the blind side. So they
identified that Rosengarden would be the key
piece to protect his blind side.
Meanwhile, you have two, you know, you have a, uh, Troy
fit on who man, that left side go in the

(33:01):
first round of the Pittsburgh Steelers. So again,
his draft potential slipped, I think
because of a physical profile or lack thereof,
compared to his tackle partner at
Washington. But a guy that, you know, I trust,
Ryan Grubb and I trust, um, Kalyn
DeBoer for where they are now.
Right, Seattle, um, Sea Seattle

(33:24):
and Alabama, respectively. But Rosengard was a
guy that they identified as a leader of that offensive line who
they asked to move to protect for Michael Pennix. And,
you know, he gets to sit behind Patrick Mercari
for a little bit. May even take over that starting job
on either side if we get, um, an injury and
rounding things out with the draft. Uh, Adisa

(33:44):
Isaac out of Penn State,
officer Robinson, not quite,
as you know, buzz, uh, around him. But
again, I'm, uh, going to give the Raiders the benefit of the doubt on
that. Uh, and then depth tez Walker out of North
Carolina. The receiver, TJ tampa out of Iowa State. The corner
in the fourth round, uh, Rashin Ali, who will probably be their
fourth running back at a Marshall, Devin Leary,

(34:07):
um, in the 6th round, the quarterback from Kentucky,
and a couple 7th round picks, Nick Samek of
Michigan State and Sanusi Kane of
Purdue. So effectively,
this is a team that takes advantage of their
compensatory picks. They always stack the draft, and
if guys leave in free agency, they're always quick to resupply
them. Again, I just listed ten guys that

(34:29):
they took in the, uh, NFL draft, many of who
will end up on the roster this Thursday.
So, Nick, again, we've got the floor,
we've got the ceiling, and then we're going to
see who you got for Thursday night Football this
week.

>> Nick Ferguson (34:45):
Well, obviously, uh, the floor for Baltimore
is actually, you know, winning the
AFC north. Obviously there's some competition,
yes. In that division. A lot
of competition, because I know someone is saying, well, how
could you say that? You look at what Cleveland is capable of
doing with the upgrades that they make, and you can't

(35:05):
omit Joe Burrow and what's happening out there in
Cincinnati. But there's something for me,
I look at Baltimore and say, well, there's unfinished
business. I mean, Lamar, you know, when
he did his, uh, massive contract with the Baltimore
Ravens, and even when you go back to when he was drafted,
his idea is that he wants to bring a Super bowl
to Baltimore and that will cement his

(35:27):
legacy. But he's got it. He's got to get over these Kansas
City Chiefs because they are standing in his way. And I believe
that they, you know, Baltimore, that is, they definitely have that
opportunity. So winning the
AFC north, obviously, that's the floor for
them now. The stealing for them
is capturing that number one.
See again that that is so

(35:49):
vital, so important and is going to
start Thursday while they go on the road to
face the Kansas City chief. So that's the way I'm looking
at Baltimore because I still see this
as a two horse race. It's
Baltimore and it's Kansas City.

>> Alex Hardy (36:05):
Mhm.

>> Nick Ferguson (36:06):
And for me, no matter who wins or who loses
this game on Thursday night, to me, still going to come back
to those two teams because the style of football they
play. More importantly, Alex, the two guys
who are under center for Baltimore
in Kansas.

>> Alex Hardy (36:21):
City, well again, when you talk about how
to break a tie for the playoffs, you
know, number one to separate a
playoff, you know, a one in a two seed
or a ah, home field advantage versus not number
one is head to head between those two
teams. So again, this isn't baseball
where games one, two and three are going to matter as

(36:43):
much as 159, uh,
162. Well you only play
17 games. Week one is
definitely where things are going to go off.
So nick, before we split Thursday Night
Football, first game of the season, you got the AFC
championship rematch. We just spent time on both the
Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens. Their

(37:05):
strategies for winning on both sides of the football. So Nick,
where we split we got Chiefs Ravens.

>> Nick Ferguson (37:12):
Well, it's going to be a crazy atmosphere but I'm going to have to
lean heavily towards the Baltimore Ravens.
It's the first game of season. And notice that
we're talking about playoff seating
at the week one of the NFL season. We are talking about
playoff seed seeding. This is going to be so
important. And if I'm not mistaken, when you look at Baltimore's

(37:32):
schedule, they have a lot of their divisional
games and the tail land
their schedule as well. So that's why this game
on the road is going to be important. And once again,
if you want to get to the Super bowl as Kansas City
prove a situation they had never been in in a
while, you have to learn to win games

(37:53):
on the road. And this would be a, uh, hell of a
road win for Baltimore to start off
the season.

>> Alex Hardy (38:01):
He's Nick Ferguson, tenure, safety in the National Football
League knows a thing or two about those Kansas City Chiefs
having played against them in the AFC west. I'm
Alex Hardy. We are those guys. We hope to be your
guys. Uh uh. Enjoy the football season. This is kind of our
last episode before the games actually count, Nick.
So I'm thrilled that when we started with head
coaching changes and you know, draft

(38:23):
preview, here we are. And it's kind of a. It's
a new reality where we have
so much live game action to go off to,
to overreact. And, uh, I'm
thrilled that we get to do together, Nick, and for your audience
to join us, uh, right here on, uh, a podcast. For
every podcast, you can see our faces. You can do that

(38:44):
on YouTube as well. So, Nick, before we get on
out of here, before we watch week one of the NFL
season, to say to the people, get
your popcorn ready.

>> Nick Ferguson (38:54):
It's going to be another exciting season. And
by the way, don't use that artificial crap on
your popcorn. Get the real butter. Yeah, use that stuff.