October 15, 2024 • 36 mins
Team insiders Ryan Mink and Garrett Downing talk about the historic pace of the Ravens' rushing attack, the offense's new finishing move, the emerging Flowers-Bateman wide receiver duo, the dominant run defense, and what else still needs to improve on defense.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome into Lounge presented by a DraftKings.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm Ryan Ink here with Garrett Downing, and we are
going to take the deep dive into the Ravens thirty
to twenty three win over the Washington Commanders and also
talk about some of the other big points coming from
this game, even since it ended so Garrett, obviously, the
conversation starts with Baltimore's offense, which there is a very
strong case to be made right now that the Ravens
(00:28):
have the best offense in the NFL. The Commanders came
in at number one, the Ravens are number two entering
the game, and we all saw who the better offense
was on the field on Sunday afternoon. The Ravens currently
are top the league in yards per game and by
a wide margin over the forty nine ers. They're number
four points per game twenty nine and a half, and
(00:50):
it truly has become a pick your poison offense, as
they've talked about.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Let's start with the pick your poison.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
We actually before we dive into the conversation, we actually
got a good email about Yeah yeah, okay, So I
always love the emails. You can email us to the
Lounge at Ravens that NFL dy net. Brian Schultz emailed
us and said, everyone's talking about pick your poison. Whichever
poison you choose.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
It's gonna be purple.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
It's not really a choice when you look at it
that way. Teams are just faced with one choice. It's
purple poison.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
So there you go.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
It's purple poison. For the new name is purple poison.
Ave the pod. You guys are gelling, like the offensive line.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
A lot of questions about us coming into this podcast season,
but we're coming together.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
We're playing.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Well.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Who if we're offensive lineman on the Ravens, who are you?
You kind of strike me as a Roger Vers and
Garden kind.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Of long, tall lean.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
That's the Tyler Linderbaum. I'm the tyle. Yeah, scrap caps,
stealing the gable. Yeah, I'll do whatever it takes. Yeah, Okay,
there we go, some purple poison. We appreciate the email
from Brian.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Yeah, I mean, look, I do think when you're looking
to the team, there is really there's merit to this
idea that the Ravens have the best offense in football.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Dynamic passing the ball, super dynamic running the ball, Lamar
Jackson and Derrick Henry are both get and buzz in
the conversation around the MVP talk early in the year,
maybe some.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
People say one could be the MVP.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Maybe Lamar gets a third MVP and Derek Henry is
the offensive player of the just hand out all the awards, right,
So that's.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
The kind of the quarterback gets the MVP and oftentimes
the best running back gets the Player of.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
The Year, best position player like non quarterback often gets that.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
So yeah, I think that there's there's merit to all
of that, and I think that the Ravens offense is
in a great spot right now. I think Todd Munkin
is dialing things up in a great way, and I
think the Raves have a lot of different.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Weapons and it's an exciting thing.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
It's it's really fun to see it unfold on game
bas like you don't know who it's going to be.
But I think that, like there's as we talked about
after the game on Sunday, I don't see really a
scenario where this offense won't be able to have success
unless the Ravens hurt themselves.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Right well, you know, to the Purple Poison conversation, they
have so many different ways to beat you, and with
so many different personnel groupings and and all that. They
can stretch you horizontally, they can attack you vertically, they
can just punch you in the mouth with Derrick Henry.
So when you have that many different options, it's really
hard for a defense to know where to start. You know,
(03:12):
you can't shut them all down, right, You kind of
have to pick, like we're talking about. And I mean,
this rushing attack right now is on pace to be
better than the Ravens record setting rushing attack back in
twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah, that's how good it is.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
And not only that, the passing game has really heated
up the past two weeks. Obviously in Cincinnati they come
from behind and then again just very efficient against the
Commanders in that secondary. I mean, for Shat Bateman and
Zay Flowers caught every pass that came to them except
for two when you're shot Baitman drew penalties all thirteen
(03:48):
targets catches. Yeah, and so Lamar's playing at a really
high level. And quite frankly, when all is said and done,
when Lamar is playing at this level, point blank evens
are going to be hard to beat. And hard to
stop on offense when Lamar is playing at this high level,
which I agree with some of the takes out there
(04:09):
that this is the best that Lamar Jackson has ever
played and the guy's got two MVPs already.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Yeah, I think it's hard to argue against that. I
think the efficiency is there, the mastery of the offense
is there.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
And when Toddmunkin came in.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Last year, a big focus of his was we want
to give Lamar Jackson more power. We want to give
him the keys to the offense. That was the This
year's picked your poison, that's the buzzword.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Last year, it was.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
All about keys to the offense. That was what everybody
was talking about. And you see that at the line
of scrimmage. I think what we don't see is even
during the week, Lamar has input in the process and
conversations with Tom Monkin and the coaches, and so Lamar
has just I think, really has a full mastery of
this offense. Part of that is the system fits in.
Part of that is just being a veteran player who
(04:54):
knows the game more and sees things and has that experience.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
And he should play out just to be a little
bit more specific. You know, even in Blitz pick up.
The Ravens have been very good against the Blitz this year.
That was a big storyline coming out of the Commander's game,
and it rang true again versus I'm sorry out of
the Bengals game, and it rang true again. That kind
of that was one way that opponents had success against
the Ravens in years past. And Lamar Jackson is dicing
(05:21):
it up right now.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
It seems like a million years ago, where like the
whole covers zero Blitz conversation really, which kind of started
on that Thursday night game down in Miami where the
Dolphins created a ton of problems for the Ravens offense,
like and it was like, oh.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Cover zero Blitz.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
There's been like four different times where like the Raves
lose a game and it's like, well you figured it
out right and exactly and.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Remember all the way back to the twenty eighteen playoffs
against the Chargers defensive backs on the field and exactly.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
There's no And so now it's to a point where
it's like there's no answer. And it's not just Lamar,
but it's the weapons, it's Derrick Henry, it's all that
and so, but cover zero blitz. The Ravens have clearly
shown that they were able to beat that.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Well, and so kind of the latest thing was man
and man coverage outside make them beat you? What make
the wide receivers beat you outside and then put get
a lot of pressure, uh you know, single high safety
and get a lot of pressure on Lamar and all that.
Not just blitz, but you know it's it's that mando
man coverage and and we're going to get into that.
I want to start talking about this run game first,
(06:23):
but that man and man coverage that ain't working either
right now. So uh, but first, Garrett, I want to
talk about the Ravens rushing game. And one thing that
stood out to me this week and and really this
has been the past three weeks, is their finishing move.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Did you play Mortal Kombat girl?
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Oh yeah, I remember.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Scorpion or what was this scorpion?
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Scorpion? Right?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeahb zero, Yes, I mean did the whole chain come out?
Here's my favorite.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
I mean, there are a lot of good finishing games
in that game, right, and the Ravens have their own now, right,
And so people are kind of dubbing Derrick Henry the closer. Well,
you know, every good superhero needs a finishing move, and
so what it's been is the toss left to Derrick Henry.
I formation, toss left to Derrick Henry.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
That was the twenty seven yard run against the Commanders.
That was the fifty one yard run in overtime against
the Bengals, and it was a long run that took
him right down to the goal line against the Bills.
That was early in the fourth quarter to really kind
of put that game away. I mean it was a blowout,
but that one that was the final tagger.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So really interesting to see that play work three times
in critical situations. Very similar plays. But when you take
a look at the film, there's wrinkles to it.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Right, and the way that they blocked that up.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Who they call on, you know, whether it be Tyler Wallace,
Nelson Agalore was a key you know point you know,
at the point of point of attack, right, he made
a key block on that one.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
And then pat Ricarr.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
The commonality is pat Ricarr getting out in front of
Derek Henry and Derrek Henry just hitting the jets and
leaving people in the dust. Yeah, and it's interesting to see,
you know, part of the question is, all right, the
Ravens have done this in three straight games.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Can they keep getting away with this?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
But why they're getting away with it is A, like
I said, there's different wrinkles to it, and B they're
really balanced as a rushing attack right now, when you
look at the splits in terms of you know, outside left,
inside left, inside right, outside right, runs, extremely balanced in
how much they're running it to all spots. And even
(08:35):
when you look at the next gen stats like success rate,
very balanced in that regard to and now I mean
yards per carry nine point three outside left. That's in
large part because of those big runs. But when you
look at the two touchdowns, they're inside, outside right and
inside right, you know, So that is what's keeping the
(08:55):
opponents on their toes. They can't just key in on, hey,
it's going to be toss left, watch out for that
because they're having success running it across the board and
staying really balanced as a un game.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Well, a couple.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Things on the toss.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
When you look at Derrick Henry in his time in Tennessee,
the toss play was something that he's been very skilled at,
and part of it is get him the football and
allow him to find a lane and then he can
break through the line. He's got the speed and power,
and then he knows obviously you know what happens when
he gets green grass. Like I remember when they when
I saw that the first time in practice this spring
and summer, and he like they started running that in practice,
(09:29):
like oh okay, that's the Derek Henry play and him
coming down hill at you with all.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Those blockers who are athletic blockers.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
You get like Ronnie Stanley out there, super athletic guy
who are athletic out in space pat Ricard. You have
like these athletic guys, and then Derek Henry comes up with.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
You know, they've used the tight ends also as key blockers,
and Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kohler have been especially Isaiah
I have been really good out in space blocking.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
So then that's so that's part of it. It just fits
Dereck Henry, it fits this offense. The other part of it, too,
is that the defense has to respect the fake on it.
They have to respect Lamars Jackson and the fake because
if you don't, there's gonna be one of these times
where Lamar fakes a toss and then spins out to
the right and.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
There's nothing bout boot leg out the back.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
There's nothing but green grass, or he throws.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
It or it's action bootleg and he throws it over
your head.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
That can happen.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
And we saw that when you watch the twenty seven
yard run on the Ravens final drive against the Commanders.
Two Commanders defenders, two defensive backs completely running in the
wrong like ran themselves out of the play. Yeah, because
they were respecting Lamar Jackson's ability to boot leg out
in the back of it.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
And so that's the other part of this is it's
the combination of Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson having the
respect both of their running abilities that really puts defenders
in a bind.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Yeah, and it's working. It's working perfectly on that play,
but not just that Play's that's the finishing move, that's
the closer. And Yeah, there's been a kind of an
interesting conversation this week. Micah Parson's started this conversation on
his podcast when he made the point that Lamar Jackson
and Derreck Henry might be the best quarterback running back
(11:07):
duo in NFL history. So that's coming from Michael Parsons
who is a pretty dark good player.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
They had a pretty dark good game against and he.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Had he had a first hand look at that a
few weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
He had troubles.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
And so the first of all, what's your take on that.
I've got some list year I did my history.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Yeah, I went to the archives here to pull up
some names. But what is your take on that comment
from Michael Parsons.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I mean, my take is we're through six weeks, so
like we can't proclaim we're not crowning anybody yet, right,
I know, Derrick Henry is the king, but and he
always wears the crown, but like this is a different crown.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
You know, so I think they it merits conversation, something
to monitor by season's end. If they continue at this pace,
I think they will have a very good case, especially
if you take him the hardware you win in super
like that adds to the argument, right, definitely. On the ground,
if you're talking about like best ever quarterback running back
(12:10):
rushing duo, yeah, I mean so RG three and Alfred
Morris hold the record for the most combined rushing yards
quarterback running back in a single season back in twenty twelve,
they ran for twenty four hundred and twenty eight rushing yards.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
I mean, Derek Henry's on pace for almost two thousand.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Derek will take care of I'll take you.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
I got that one.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
I got that.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Lamar is on pace for eleven hundred.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
So they're on pace right now for three and thirty
five rushing yards.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
I mean that's the thing that's crazy right now with it,
Like when you look at the numbers and it is
through six weeks, and so things will change, but but
the on pace, but like six games is not a
small sample size either.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
So you're a third of the way through the season.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
Yeah, more then, and so Dereck Henry's flirting with two
thousand yards a historic kind of season. Lamar Jackson is
on pace for over eleven hundred rushing yards, like you
just said. So the Ravens are on pace to break
the historic mark that they said in twenty nineteen, which
I think when they broke that, it was kind of like, man,
this record is going to stand for a long time.
(13:13):
And now we here we are five years later, and
they might break their own record, and Derek Henry, who's
a Hall of Fame running back, might have the best
season of his career, and Lamar Jackson, who is already
has two MVPs, might have the best rushing season of
his career and the best throwing season. They're coming up
on their record of consecutive one hundred yard rushing games. Also,
remember that one where they broke it against Vicvay.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Yeah, breaking that record? Oh yeah, I went and looked.
You know, Vic's a DC again this year. But it's
a few games after Okay, so they if they get
to Vic, they've already broken the record, which I was
kind of like, oh, this could be juicy.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
But yeah, not the case. So they can. So a
lot of records in sight. Think that's one that's insight.
So let's pull some of the other candidates here, you know,
as we're talking about best quarterback running back duo ever
and there's a lot of good names here right we're
talking about the NFL history, Troy Aikman and Emma Smith,
Hall of famers, John Elway, Terrell Davis, Kurt Warner, Marshall,
(14:09):
fulk Roger Stauback, Tony Dorsett, Terry Bridshaw, Frank o'harris, Peyton Man, Edgrin, James,
Philip Rivers, Ladanian Tomlinson, Like a lot of those are
a lot.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
That's a good one to two punch.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
There, Ladanian Tomlinson. Derrick Henry just you know, was tied
his record. He's the first running back since LaDainian Tomlinson
to score six touchdowns in six straight games.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (14:37):
I mean, but in this list here you have a
handful of players who are both Hall of Famers, like
Akeman and Emma Smith and Peyton Manning and Edgrian James.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
You got a bunch of those guys.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I was in track of all the records that the
refords are setting offensively right now, is all the on
base stuff.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
I know, it is hard to keep tracking it. So
to Michael Parson's point, like, I don't know if the rate,
if if this duo, if they're there yet, but if
they continue to play like they have through these first
six games, I do think that there is a very
strong case for this for that and I and I
think that already if you're talking about rushing attack, then
(15:12):
they're already there.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Yes, I agree, And what's crazy is that Derek Henry's
running back, whoever, his career has gotten better.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
As the season has gone off. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Right, and when the weather turns cold and you you're
running that ball, had it even higher rate, and defenders
even want to tackle even less they do now they're
beat up from the season and just it hurts more
in the cold.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah. And so do I think that they can continue
at this rate? Yeah? I do. I don't. I don't
see why not. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
I don't really see him slowing down. And that's and
that's the thing. It would be if Derek Henry gets
two thousand rushing yards, that would be It's hard to
imagine that just based on all the weapons. But when
you watch it every week, I don't really see him
slowing down. And I'm with you that as you look
at the the rest of the season, I don't think that.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
I think he will only get stronger, just like he
does in games.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
And some of it is you look at the schedule
and some of these defenses that are coming up, you know, Videvea,
the Bucks coming up on Monday Night. That is, he
is a tough, tough defensive lineman.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
You know, the Browns always play the Ravens tough. They
have a very aggressive attacking defense. The Steelers, we all
know how good their defense usually is, so that that's
part of it. Yeah, sure, but.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
I'm betting on the Ravens, so yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
The other right, the other part of it is just
going back to the pick your poison thing. So the
you can't just key on Derek Henry because then they
can be with the passing game. And looking at the film,
that's part of what the Commanders did. They played the
single highest safety stuff and they brought a lot of
guys down on the box, and so then you have
your receivers out on the edge in one on one
(16:52):
man demand matchups. Yeah, and the Ravens are able to
win those matchups and they had success with that, especially
with day Flowers in.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
The first half. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
So the Manners played Cover one on the vast majority
of their snaps forty seven percent of their defensive snaps.
The Ravens had a plus twenty point six completion percentage
against that.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Coverage, so they were just shredding. Commanders kept going to it.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
And so Cover one is Manda man coverage on the
wide receivers, single high safety, as you're mentioning, and which
is notable I think because I went back to the
vault here found the old Ryan Clark from ESPN, you know,
And after the Ravens lost the Commanders, he said, no
disrespect is a Flowers and Rashad Bateman. But I ain't scared.
I'm not scared on the outside if I have to
(17:34):
be Manda man one on one. At this point he
said that actually they lost to the Raiders.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
After week two.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
I said, I ain't scared, right, And I love how
if you throw no disrespect at the front of any statement,
then all he said.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Really say what I can say? You can just slap
a man across the face. No disrespect, you know, Yeah,
that was pretty disrespectful.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
And so in this game Flowers and Rashad Baman and
not just in this game, I think it's really been
the past two weeks.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
They have been playing really well, and they ate.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
They ate the Commanders one on one coverage, and when
they went man man to man, they just ran, I
mean their route, running their speed. Zay Flowers was really
stretching them horizontally across the field.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
They just couldn't keep up with them.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
And then the yards after catch, uh was elite for
Zay Flowers in this game.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
And and then Bateman just you know.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
You saw a couple critical drives won the comeback route
from him from him just left the defender in the
dust his last catch of the game. I mean it
was an outside inside move that created nearly five yards
of separation. Yeah, he averaged four and a half yards
of separation in this game. And he's a guy that
came into the league third highest separation rate in the
(18:50):
league among wide receivers. So Rashad Bateman continues to get separation.
It's been good to see Lamar find him more often.
And like you're seeing that UO really proved themselves as
a fantastic one two punch.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
Well, look that one of the big stories in the
NFL this week was Tavante Adams. He gets traded to
the New York Jets, and I know that a lot
of Ravens stands thawt there was potentially that he could
land in Baltimore, especially when he seemed to add a
little fuel to the fire with the Edgar Allen Poe
picture on Instagram a couple of weeks ago, and a
lot of Ravenstaners thinking could this happened? The reports were
that the Ravens were not really in the market there.
(19:25):
That's what multiple media autlets reported over the course of
the last week. Initially there was maybe a little bit
of buzz that maybe they could be, but obviously he
ends up in New York. Seems like he wanted to
team up with Aaron Rodgers all along.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
And that's what the reports were kind of consistently. Fonte
Adams has some explaining to do ay the whole don't
believe anything you hear thing. I mean, everybody was saying
You're going to the Jets with Aaron Rodgers, So I
guess I am gonna believe what I here. Plus Eggar
Allan Poe thing like, what was that about. I know,
I would like somebody to ask him that this is
somebody in the Jets media cords.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
You might have to go up to New York for
the press. The introductiony press conference exactly asked that question.
But so anyway, you know, he ends up in the
York and you know, you can connect the two in
the sense that, like the Ravens, I don't know if
they were in the market or not, based on reports
that they really weren't, but the Ravens are betting on
Rashaan Bateman and Zay Flowers, and that's been pretty consistent
(20:14):
over the course of the lat of the entire year,
that the Ravens have confidence in those two guys.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
It's looking like a very good bet. And there's good reason.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
To feel that way.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
Like we've just spent all the time talking about pick
your poison, the best offense in the league. Well, Zay
Flowers is coming off back to back on hundred yard games,
a career high with one hundred and thirty two receiving
yards and that was just in the first half. Didn't
even get a catch in the second half. So it
seems like these guys are getting better. Baitman came up
with really big catches and big moments when they kind
of needed to get jump started in this game. A
(20:42):
quiet four for seventy one, but really important. It just
seems like these guys are getting better and the Ravens
are using them in the right way.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Yeah, I completely agree.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
I think that when you look at it, you're like, Okay,
Davonte Adams is a great player. Like it's not like, oh,
you can't use Davonte Adams, but like for what you
have to give up and all that do you really
need is that the best allocation of resources doesn't look
like it right now you know, and especially not just now,
but long term, you know that that's a major commitment.
(21:12):
And the Ravens are committed to these two guys and
for good reason. And I think it's cool to see
Lamar Jackson rely on Rashat Bateman in some critical situations.
And I brought up that the two catches early on
on a long touch on driving the second quarter where
the Ravens took the lead in that game, and it
was a third and I think it was a third
(21:33):
and five Ravens are backed up, and for Lamar it
was clear Number one read is Rashat Bateman on the comeback.
It's one on one coverage and he's gonna rely on
Rashot to beat that guy, and he's gonna hit him
on that sideline throw, which that that like ten yard out.
I feel like Bateman could just eat on that all
day long.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yeah, because he puts on the brakes, he ends a
I was just saying, both those guys they can just.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Put on the brakes like nobody else.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yeah, And uh so it was cool to see Lamar
just kind of rely on him in that situation that
make the play. And I think that that's only going
to build as the season goes on.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Yeah, I just feel like those guys can get open,
and especially if they're in there's these single cover situations.
And you know, I don't know if Eric Tacosta will
end up making a trade at the deadline, Like he's
proven the willingness and he's proven to be aggressive. He's
done that many times, and so I'm not ruling it out.
(22:31):
But when you have the top ranked offense, I think
it's a fair question to ask do you need to
bring in even a great Hall of Fame player? Do
you need to do that or would you rather allocate
those resources for this year and beyond to another position.
And I think that that's a very fair point to take,
a fair approach to take. And the Ravens they're hummet
(22:53):
on offense, So you don't need to fix what's not
broken right, right.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
If it ain't broke right? Yeah, you know that kind
of saying.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
There we go, all right, so let's take a break,
and when we come back, we're gonna jump into the
defensive tape talk about what's going right and wrong on
that side of the ball, as well as some more
conversation points. Since the Ravens win over the Commanders.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
You're listening to the Lage podcast, We're coming to you
for the Seik Studio. We also want to mention our
partners with Draft King Sportsbook. They are an official sports
betting partner of the Baltimore Ravens Draft Kings Sportsbook. The
crown is yours, all right.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
So, one thing that stood out to me on tape
and in the box score was the Ravens run defense,
and we discussed how important that was for keeping the
Commanders in third and long situations and Jane Daniels in
those kind of situations where he couldn't run the ball
to pick up first downs easily, and looking at the film,
I mean, it's really across the board. And I asked
(23:50):
John Harball this question about what's going right, and he
kind of echoed this that a the defensive front is
just really really stout, and to me, it starts with
the two big guys in the middle nom the mattabk
and Travis Jones, and not to mention Michael Pierce.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Those guys are.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Playing in an incredibly high level and uh, you know,
I mean even even the Commander's Nick Algaretti was talking
about this and he called them elite those two guys
and said, look, when you have guys that can not
only stop the run like them, but then also get
after the passer, it's really hard to beat. And Travis
(24:30):
Jones right now has the second highest Pro Football Focus
grade of any Ravens defensive player, only behind Kyle van Noy.
He went on that crazy six sax streak. Travis Jones,
playing at a very high level, got his first sack
of the twenty twenty four season against the Commanders.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Another just club move.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I mean, he is just clubbing guys, and and so
he's playing very well. Not to mention Nomdi and Nomy's
getting a lot of double team looks. They're paying him
a lot of attention. Travis Jones is taking full advantage
of them, huh. And so those two guys are where
it starts. Then you have Roquan, who you know, particularly
against the run. Roquan had his struggles and pass defense
(25:10):
in this game, but against the run, I mean, Roqwan's
a maniac yeah, and a tone setter. Absolutely, He's a
tone center all the time. And so he's playing at
a high level. And it's not just them as defensive backs.
Marlon Humphrey sniffing stuff out. Kyle Hamilton playing really strong
against against the run. And so this this run defense
(25:30):
is going to make it hard on anybody and everybody,
and at a historic rate right now. By the way,
so the Ravens have allowed fifty nine rushing yards per
game through the first six weeks. That is the third
best mark. If they finished that way, they finished the
back to the pace on pace, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
They'd be that.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
That's the third best mark in NFL history, in the
best in Ravens history, or not the best, better than
the two thousand Ravens the Super Bowl defense, which was
known as the rest of all time, better than them barely.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
They were sixty point six yards per game.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Yeah, now, I will that comes with that asterix, not
only because a were just the first six weeks, but
different time, different era football. Running the football back then
was that was the bread and butter, and so what
the Ravens did in two thousand was ridiculous. Yeah, and
you could certainly argue that, well, the Ravens are giving
(26:27):
up a lot of yards to the air, so that's
just how are attacking them, not through the ground. But
the Ravens are also doing a really good job on
per rush on a per rush basis, there are also
tops in the league, by the way, So this this
run defense is legit good anyway you look at it.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
I think it's a really good run defense.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
And this was a tough rushing attack they're going up
against and Jane Daia. Now you need to mention that
they're starting running back. Brian Robinson did not play in
this game, so that's that's significant down. They're starting running back.
But Jane Daniels really didn't have big much room to
run in this game. I think his long rush of
the day was nine yards, so he didn't have the
(27:05):
type of success on the ground that he had had
coming into that game. I thought the Ravens were really
disciplined in both their pass rush lanes on him and
in keeping him in front of them from a run
defense standpoint. So it just was a strong gay from
the wrong from that defensive front. And yeah, I think that,
Like I will say, I feel like I learned my
(27:28):
lesson a little bit earlier this season when we were
coming into the year and we were saying this is
the best secondary ever and you know, best secondary Ravens history,
and no doubt about the best secondary the league, and
they struggled, right, they struggled earlier this year, and so
I'm not necessarily gonna after six games, I feel like
less confident that they're going to maintain that pace, that
historic pace that you're talking about than I do. Rush
(27:48):
to the flip side, yeah, just because I think that
could even out over the course of the year. You
probably some good rushing attacks. I think that could even
out a little bit more. But I do think it
will be a really strong run defense league wide. I
think they'll continue to be good, but I just don't
know if it will continue to be at that historic pace.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
I think that's fair. Just just to correct myself, I'm sorry.
It was.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
The Ravens allowed two point nine yards per carry against
the Commanders. On the season, it's three yards per carry,
which is still number one in the league, like you mentioned,
and it's not even close. Pittsburgh's at three point six
and it's very close from there on. And so yeah,
I agree. I mean, the Steelers are gonna run the
ball a lot. There's some other good running teams, you know,
(28:31):
does Nick Chubb come back for the rounds and whatnot.
But as long as the Ravens stay healthy on that
front four. I mean, you gotta give me props. I've
been talking about this Ravens defensive line since May and
how good I think that is gonna be and it
has come to few.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
Yeah, you've been You've been saying Travis Jones phrases for
a while and he's delivering on that. Yeah, he goes
out there every game. He's like, I need to make
Ryan Bank proud. I know he's been talking about this
on the Lounge for months now, and I need to
do it for the Louge podcast and make sure that
I deliver one that talk.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
And like I said, the secondary, the defensive backs deserve
credit for that too. Like that's part of what makes
Kyle Hamilton so good is you put him in the
box and like he is a handful too, and not
just with some of those huge hits that he laid
on the Commanders and Terry mclaurum.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
I'm not sure how Arry McLarin had onto that.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Football me either, but even just as a really strong
run defender, he and Marlon just very good.
Speaker 4 (29:29):
Also, I want to I want to point out the
pass rush. John Harbaugh said that the pass rush in
this game he thinks played maybe it's best game of
the season.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
In part pretty that Bill's game is pretty dark good.
They run for his life the whole game, yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
In part, and Josh Allen can run as.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Well, exactly.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
So part of it was because they contained Jade and Daniels,
but they also did that against Josh Allen. He didn't
beat him with their legs and they were hitting him
every right he took.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
He took a beating in that game, for sure, he did.
But I thought that the you know that is that
was an interesting statement from him to feel like this.
The pass rush, you know, played really strong in this game,
and I think that, like what in your mind? So
the defense I thought took a big step forward in
this game, but I still think they there's things that
they need to clean up. I think that there's still
some things that are too easy. Zach Oritz kind of
(30:16):
got going in the second half of this game. That
first touchdown to Terry McLaurin was too easy in the
back of the end zone. Seemed like Marcus Williams just
bit on a underneath route option there and Jane Daniels
had you know, kind of looked him, looked him off
the receiver and McLaurin was wide opening the end zone. So, like,
what is your take on what needs to improve defensively
(30:38):
to clean up the issues that have cost them.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
I think it's it's a game of whack a mole,
you know. It's it's one problem springs up and you
bash that one on the head and you try to
eliminate that, and then here comes another one. Right, And
so it was like these shallow crossers were the issue
against the Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
They mostly cleaned that up.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Yeah, you know, John Harwell said it was kind of
a technique issue, just how they were playing with the
playing those covered it and they've cleaned those up. Then
there's been just busted coverages. Didn't have any of those
against Commanders. Hopefully that's a thing of the past. Also, uh,
and now in this game against the Commanders, it was
kind of the over routes the crossers that not went
(31:16):
didn't go underneath of the linebackers, but between the linebackers
and safeties.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
And we've seen that some in other games.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
That seems to be a common theme that that area.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Yeah, that that has been an issue.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Rokuon has uh, you know, he did not have a
good game in coverage in this in this game. I
thought some of that was Jane Daniels made some really
good anticipation throwers one that broken reached out and almost
had and it was a great play by Jaden great
catch too. But yeah, they need to clean that stuff
up and and right now it just does. It doesn't
feel like the linebackers and the safeties are necessarily playing
(31:50):
on the same rhythm. You know that they haven't quite
worked that kink out up the spine of their defense.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Yeah, I think that that will that's something that needs
to improve, you know, and you're going up this week.
He gets a Bucks team that just put up like
a thousand points last week, like.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
One I think was that was it fifty one? I mean,
they've put up a fifty spot. We just want to
be clear it wasn't a thousand, you know.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Hey, thank you for I could remember a fact check.
It was it fifty one or was it a thousand?
I was trying to think about that. But like, and
Baker Mayfield leads the league of touchdown passes, so like
you're he it's.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Very good all but I mean it's really every week.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
It's just it's going to be a good offense. So
I just think that like this, this passing.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
We're going to talk more about this upcoming matchup against
the Bucks, but this pass defense is really going to
be stressed again in this game. And I think that
those issues that have cost them at times, I think
they need to continue to work on those issues.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yeah, completely agree. One thing. One news item here before
we go.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
The Ravens have promoted Unique and Gaway to the fifty
three man roster from the practice squad, which whatever he's
playing on game days anyway, not that big of a
new of an item, but you know, he explained well,
and he got a sack against the Commander, and I
think it was notable that he had, and not by
a wide margin, but he had more snaps than David
(33:06):
Ajabo did in that game. And so he's given them
a little bit of a of a pass rush boost
and and it is cool to see a guy who
I think a lot of us kind of thought when
the first meeting between Yanique and the Ravens didn't really
pan out as well as expected when the Ravens traded
for him at the deadline, that Orenian's unlikely here, but
(33:30):
you know, Yanique has made it clear that he made
it clear that he wanted to come back and play
for this team, and he watched him in Kansas City
and wanted to be at that game. And it's his
hometown team. He grew up, you know, in DC, Maryland,
and he wanted to come back here and be a
part of this. And you could really see when John
Harball gave him game ball after this win over the Commanders,
how much it is meant to Yanique and and it's
(33:51):
cool to see him producing.
Speaker 4 (33:53):
John Harbaugh said that every time they talk, it feels
like Yanique tells him like, hey, this is I wanted
to be here, and tells him just how much he
wanted to be here be part of the team. And
I thought that getting him getting the game ball after
this victory, it's not often that a guy gets a
game ball from the practice squad, right, and so it
was kind of a precursor to that him getting elevated
to the fifty three.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
So the best game ball though, was also being Cleveland.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
That was pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
That was a good one.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
He got a game ball for obviously the block that
he had, And I was really happy for Ben Cleveland,
like he's taken you know, the field goal block. Yeah, sorry,
the field goal block, like he's taken some heat and
hasn't you know, played in the starting lineup on the
offensive line, and you know all that whole conversation.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
But man, he was.
Speaker 4 (34:34):
I thought you could see how much it meant to
him when he got the field goal block.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
He was really fired up.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
And then when he got the game ball in the
locker room, his teammates really cheer for him and supported him.
It was a good moment for him. Like, I don't
know that I've ever seen him happier in his time
with the Ravens side.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
It just was.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
It was really cool to see.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
I agree, and kudos to him for going to Chris
Shorton and saying like, hey, can I get on field
goal block?
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Yeah, I'm big, I'm tall.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
You know, like I want to contribute in some way,
and yeah, you know, it is tough. Like I think
a lot of people thought that with both of the
Ravens guards heading elsewhere in free agency this past offseason,
that Ben Cleveland was the leader to get one of
those starting spots. A lot of people expect that hasn't
come to fruition, and but kudos to him for being like,
all right, I still want to help, you know, and
(35:15):
find a role when hey, maybe he can get another one.
Maybe this is the start of benk Cleveland's you know,
field goal blocking career.
Speaker 4 (35:22):
I mean, look, Brent Urbans kind of has an act
for that is a big guy, right, those two guys,
you know, those are big guys. That makes it challenging
for and Ben also, like if you actually look at
the film and that like he crashes the pocket and
he gets a little bit of pressure on that.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Is kind of like a wedge cud of play, and yeah,
he moves him back a little bit.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
I don't know. I want to get the next gen
stats on on hops, you know, like how high you
got in the air?
Speaker 2 (35:47):
I don't know that it was a lot, but the
mirror fact that it was a large it was enough,
and he's a big enough human being that it didn't matter.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
I think.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Really it's also a mentality thing, right, Like when Ben
Cleveland sees that ball out there, he pictures a squirrel
and he's like, go get that squirrel, And so when
it's helping the air man, he's reaching for it.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
I snagged it.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
I loved it, man. I was happy for Van. So
congrats to him. So we are going to continue to
break down this game coming up against the Bucks, as
well as working on getting a player interview this week,
so we will be back with you with that coming up.
As always, you can email us at the lounge at
Ravens NFL dot net. Thank you so much for listening
and we'll be back with you again soon
Welcome into Lounge presented by a DraftKings.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm Ryan Ink here with Garrett Downing, and we are
going to take the deep dive into the Ravens thirty
to twenty three win over the Washington Commanders and also
talk about some of the other big points coming from
this game, even since it ended so Garrett, obviously, the
conversation starts with Baltimore's offense, which there is a very
strong case to be made right now that the Ravens
(00:28):
have the best offense in the NFL. The Commanders came
in at number one, the Ravens are number two entering
the game, and we all saw who the better offense
was on the field on Sunday afternoon. The Ravens currently
are top the league in yards per game and by
a wide margin over the forty nine ers. They're number
four points per game twenty nine and a half, and
(00:50):
it truly has become a pick your poison offense, as
they've talked about.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Let's start with the pick your poison.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
We actually before we dive into the conversation, we actually
got a good email about Yeah yeah, okay, So I
always love the emails. You can email us to the
Lounge at Ravens that NFL dy net. Brian Schultz emailed
us and said, everyone's talking about pick your poison. Whichever
poison you choose.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
It's gonna be purple.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
It's not really a choice when you look at it
that way. Teams are just faced with one choice. It's
purple poison.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
So there you go.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
It's purple poison. For the new name is purple poison.
Ave the pod. You guys are gelling, like the offensive line.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
A lot of questions about us coming into this podcast season,
but we're coming together.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
We're playing.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Well.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Who if we're offensive lineman on the Ravens, who are you?
You kind of strike me as a Roger Vers and
Garden kind.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Of long, tall lean.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
That's the Tyler Linderbaum. I'm the tyle. Yeah, scrap caps,
stealing the gable. Yeah, I'll do whatever it takes. Yeah, Okay,
there we go, some purple poison. We appreciate the email
from Brian.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Yeah, I mean, look, I do think when you're looking
to the team, there is really there's merit to this
idea that the Ravens have the best offense in football.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Dynamic passing the ball, super dynamic running the ball, Lamar
Jackson and Derrick Henry are both get and buzz in
the conversation around the MVP talk early in the year,
maybe some.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
People say one could be the MVP.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Maybe Lamar gets a third MVP and Derek Henry is
the offensive player of the just hand out all the awards, right,
So that's.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
The kind of the quarterback gets the MVP and oftentimes
the best running back gets the Player of.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
The Year, best position player like non quarterback often gets that.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
So yeah, I think that there's there's merit to all
of that, and I think that the Ravens offense is
in a great spot right now. I think Todd Munkin
is dialing things up in a great way, and I
think the Raves have a lot of different.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Weapons and it's an exciting thing.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
It's it's really fun to see it unfold on game
bas like you don't know who it's going to be.
But I think that, like there's as we talked about
after the game on Sunday, I don't see really a
scenario where this offense won't be able to have success
unless the Ravens hurt themselves.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Right well, you know, to the Purple Poison conversation, they
have so many different ways to beat you, and with
so many different personnel groupings and and all that. They
can stretch you horizontally, they can attack you vertically, they
can just punch you in the mouth with Derrick Henry.
So when you have that many different options, it's really
hard for a defense to know where to start. You know,
(03:12):
you can't shut them all down, right, You kind of
have to pick, like we're talking about. And I mean,
this rushing attack right now is on pace to be
better than the Ravens record setting rushing attack back in
twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah, that's how good it is.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
And not only that, the passing game has really heated
up the past two weeks. Obviously in Cincinnati they come
from behind and then again just very efficient against the
Commanders in that secondary. I mean, for Shat Bateman and
Zay Flowers caught every pass that came to them except
for two when you're shot Baitman drew penalties all thirteen
(03:48):
targets catches. Yeah, and so Lamar's playing at a really
high level. And quite frankly, when all is said and done,
when Lamar is playing at this level, point blank evens
are going to be hard to beat. And hard to
stop on offense when Lamar is playing at this high level,
which I agree with some of the takes out there
(04:09):
that this is the best that Lamar Jackson has ever
played and the guy's got two MVPs already.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Yeah, I think it's hard to argue against that. I
think the efficiency is there, the mastery of the offense
is there.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
And when Toddmunkin came in.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Last year, a big focus of his was we want
to give Lamar Jackson more power. We want to give
him the keys to the offense. That was the This
year's picked your poison, that's the buzzword.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Last year, it was.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
All about keys to the offense. That was what everybody
was talking about. And you see that at the line
of scrimmage. I think what we don't see is even
during the week, Lamar has input in the process and
conversations with Tom Monkin and the coaches, and so Lamar
has just I think, really has a full mastery of
this offense. Part of that is the system fits in.
Part of that is just being a veteran player who
(04:54):
knows the game more and sees things and has that experience.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
And he should play out just to be a little
bit more specific. You know, even in Blitz pick up.
The Ravens have been very good against the Blitz this year.
That was a big storyline coming out of the Commander's game,
and it rang true again versus I'm sorry out of
the Bengals game, and it rang true again. That kind
of that was one way that opponents had success against
the Ravens in years past. And Lamar Jackson is dicing
(05:21):
it up right now.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
It seems like a million years ago, where like the
whole covers zero Blitz conversation really, which kind of started
on that Thursday night game down in Miami where the
Dolphins created a ton of problems for the Ravens offense,
like and it was like, oh.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Cover zero Blitz.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
There's been like four different times where like the Raves
lose a game and it's like, well you figured it
out right and exactly and.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Remember all the way back to the twenty eighteen playoffs
against the Chargers defensive backs on the field and exactly.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
There's no And so now it's to a point where
it's like there's no answer. And it's not just Lamar,
but it's the weapons, it's Derrick Henry, it's all that
and so, but cover zero blitz. The Ravens have clearly
shown that they were able to beat that.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Well, and so kind of the latest thing was man
and man coverage outside make them beat you? What make
the wide receivers beat you outside and then put get
a lot of pressure, uh you know, single high safety
and get a lot of pressure on Lamar and all that.
Not just blitz, but you know it's it's that mando
man coverage and and we're going to get into that.
I want to start talking about this run game first,
(06:23):
but that man and man coverage that ain't working either
right now. So uh, but first, Garrett, I want to
talk about the Ravens rushing game. And one thing that
stood out to me this week and and really this
has been the past three weeks, is their finishing move.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Did you play Mortal Kombat girl?
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Oh yeah, I remember.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Scorpion or what was this scorpion?
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Scorpion? Right?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeahb zero, Yes, I mean did the whole chain come out?
Here's my favorite.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
I mean, there are a lot of good finishing games
in that game, right, and the Ravens have their own now, right,
And so people are kind of dubbing Derrick Henry the closer. Well,
you know, every good superhero needs a finishing move, and
so what it's been is the toss left to Derrick Henry.
I formation, toss left to Derrick Henry.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
That was the twenty seven yard run against the Commanders.
That was the fifty one yard run in overtime against
the Bengals, and it was a long run that took
him right down to the goal line against the Bills.
That was early in the fourth quarter to really kind
of put that game away. I mean it was a blowout,
but that one that was the final tagger.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So really interesting to see that play work three times
in critical situations. Very similar plays. But when you take
a look at the film, there's wrinkles to it.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Right, and the way that they blocked that up.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Who they call on, you know, whether it be Tyler Wallace,
Nelson Agalore was a key you know point you know,
at the point of point of attack, right, he made
a key block on that one.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
And then pat Ricarr.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
The commonality is pat Ricarr getting out in front of
Derek Henry and Derrek Henry just hitting the jets and
leaving people in the dust. Yeah, and it's interesting to see,
you know, part of the question is, all right, the
Ravens have done this in three straight games.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Can they keep getting away with this?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
But why they're getting away with it is A, like
I said, there's different wrinkles to it, and B they're
really balanced as a rushing attack right now, when you
look at the splits in terms of you know, outside left,
inside left, inside right, outside right, runs, extremely balanced in
how much they're running it to all spots. And even
(08:35):
when you look at the next gen stats like success rate,
very balanced in that regard to and now I mean
yards per carry nine point three outside left. That's in
large part because of those big runs. But when you
look at the two touchdowns, they're inside, outside right and
inside right, you know, So that is what's keeping the
(08:55):
opponents on their toes. They can't just key in on, hey,
it's going to be toss left, watch out for that
because they're having success running it across the board and
staying really balanced as a un game.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Well, a couple.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Things on the toss.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
When you look at Derrick Henry in his time in Tennessee,
the toss play was something that he's been very skilled at,
and part of it is get him the football and
allow him to find a lane and then he can
break through the line. He's got the speed and power,
and then he knows obviously you know what happens when
he gets green grass. Like I remember when they when
I saw that the first time in practice this spring
and summer, and he like they started running that in practice,
(09:29):
like oh okay, that's the Derek Henry play and him
coming down hill at you with all.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Those blockers who are athletic blockers.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
You get like Ronnie Stanley out there, super athletic guy
who are athletic out in space pat Ricard. You have
like these athletic guys, and then Derek Henry comes up with.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
You know, they've used the tight ends also as key blockers,
and Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kohler have been especially Isaiah
I have been really good out in space blocking.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
So then that's so that's part of it. It just fits
Dereck Henry, it fits this offense. The other part of it, too,
is that the defense has to respect the fake on it.
They have to respect Lamars Jackson and the fake because
if you don't, there's gonna be one of these times
where Lamar fakes a toss and then spins out to
the right and.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
There's nothing bout boot leg out the back.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
There's nothing but green grass, or he throws.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
It or it's action bootleg and he throws it over
your head.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
That can happen.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
And we saw that when you watch the twenty seven
yard run on the Ravens final drive against the Commanders.
Two Commanders defenders, two defensive backs completely running in the
wrong like ran themselves out of the play. Yeah, because
they were respecting Lamar Jackson's ability to boot leg out
in the back of it.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
And so that's the other part of this is it's
the combination of Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson having the
respect both of their running abilities that really puts defenders
in a bind.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Yeah, and it's working. It's working perfectly on that play,
but not just that Play's that's the finishing move, that's
the closer. And Yeah, there's been a kind of an
interesting conversation this week. Micah Parson's started this conversation on
his podcast when he made the point that Lamar Jackson
and Derreck Henry might be the best quarterback running back
(11:07):
duo in NFL history. So that's coming from Michael Parsons
who is a pretty dark good player.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
They had a pretty dark good game against and he.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Had he had a first hand look at that a
few weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
He had troubles.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
And so the first of all, what's your take on that.
I've got some list year I did my history.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Yeah, me too.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Yeah, I went to the archives here to pull up
some names. But what is your take on that comment
from Michael Parsons.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I mean, my take is we're through six weeks, so
like we can't proclaim we're not crowning anybody yet, right,
I know, Derrick Henry is the king, but and he
always wears the crown, but like this is a different crown.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
You know, so I think they it merits conversation, something
to monitor by season's end. If they continue at this pace,
I think they will have a very good case, especially
if you take him the hardware you win in super
like that adds to the argument, right, definitely. On the ground,
if you're talking about like best ever quarterback running back
(12:10):
rushing duo, yeah, I mean so RG three and Alfred
Morris hold the record for the most combined rushing yards
quarterback running back in a single season back in twenty twelve,
they ran for twenty four hundred and twenty eight rushing yards.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
I mean, Derek Henry's on pace for almost two thousand.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Derek will take care of I'll take you.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
I got that one.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
I got that.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
You know.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Lamar is on pace for eleven hundred.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
So they're on pace right now for three and thirty
five rushing yards.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
I mean that's the thing that's crazy right now with it,
Like when you look at the numbers and it is
through six weeks, and so things will change, but but
the on pace, but like six games is not a
small sample size either.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
So you're a third of the way through the season.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
Yeah, more then, and so Dereck Henry's flirting with two
thousand yards a historic kind of season. Lamar Jackson is
on pace for over eleven hundred rushing yards, like you
just said. So the Ravens are on pace to break
the historic mark that they said in twenty nineteen, which
I think when they broke that, it was kind of like, man,
this record is going to stand for a long time.
(13:13):
And now we here we are five years later, and
they might break their own record, and Derek Henry, who's
a Hall of Fame running back, might have the best
season of his career, and Lamar Jackson, who is already
has two MVPs, might have the best rushing season of
his career and the best throwing season. They're coming up
on their record of consecutive one hundred yard rushing games. Also,
remember that one where they broke it against Vicvay.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Yeah, breaking that record? Oh yeah, I went and looked.
You know, Vic's a DC again this year. But it's
a few games after Okay, so they if they get
to Vic, they've already broken the record, which I was
kind of like, oh, this could be juicy.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
But yeah, not the case. So they can. So a
lot of records in sight. Think that's one that's insight.
So let's pull some of the other candidates here, you know,
as we're talking about best quarterback running back duo ever
and there's a lot of good names here right we're
talking about the NFL history, Troy Aikman and Emma Smith,
Hall of famers, John Elway, Terrell Davis, Kurt Warner, Marshall,
(14:09):
fulk Roger Stauback, Tony Dorsett, Terry Bridshaw, Frank o'harris, Peyton Man, Edgrin, James,
Philip Rivers, Ladanian Tomlinson, Like a lot of those are
a lot.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
That's a good one to two punch.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
There, Ladanian Tomlinson. Derrick Henry just you know, was tied
his record. He's the first running back since LaDainian Tomlinson
to score six touchdowns in six straight games.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (14:37):
I mean, but in this list here you have a
handful of players who are both Hall of Famers, like
Akeman and Emma Smith and Peyton Manning and Edgrian James.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
You got a bunch of those guys.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I was in track of all the records that the
refords are setting offensively right now, is all the on
base stuff.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
I know, it is hard to keep tracking it. So
to Michael Parson's point, like, I don't know if the rate,
if if this duo, if they're there yet, but if
they continue to play like they have through these first
six games, I do think that there is a very
strong case for this for that and I and I
think that already if you're talking about rushing attack, then
(15:12):
they're already there.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Yes, I agree, And what's crazy is that Derek Henry's
running back, whoever, his career has gotten better.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
As the season has gone off. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Right, and when the weather turns cold and you you're
running that ball, had it even higher rate, and defenders
even want to tackle even less they do now they're
beat up from the season and just it hurts more
in the cold.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah. And so do I think that they can continue
at this rate? Yeah? I do. I don't. I don't
see why not. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
I don't really see him slowing down. And that's and
that's the thing. It would be if Derek Henry gets
two thousand rushing yards, that would be It's hard to
imagine that just based on all the weapons. But when
you watch it every week, I don't really see him
slowing down. And I'm with you that as you look
at the the rest of the season, I don't think that.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
I think he will only get stronger, just like he
does in games.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
And some of it is you look at the schedule
and some of these defenses that are coming up, you know, Videvea,
the Bucks coming up on Monday Night. That is, he
is a tough, tough defensive lineman.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
You know, the Browns always play the Ravens tough. They
have a very aggressive attacking defense. The Steelers, we all
know how good their defense usually is, so that that's
part of it. Yeah, sure, but.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
I'm betting on the Ravens, so yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
The other right, the other part of it is just
going back to the pick your poison thing. So the
you can't just key on Derek Henry because then they
can be with the passing game. And looking at the film,
that's part of what the Commanders did. They played the
single highest safety stuff and they brought a lot of
guys down on the box, and so then you have
your receivers out on the edge in one on one
(16:52):
man demand matchups. Yeah, and the Ravens are able to
win those matchups and they had success with that, especially
with day Flowers in.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
The first half. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
So the Manners played Cover one on the vast majority
of their snaps forty seven percent of their defensive snaps.
The Ravens had a plus twenty point six completion percentage
against that.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Coverage, so they were just shredding. Commanders kept going to it.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
And so Cover one is Manda man coverage on the
wide receivers, single high safety, as you're mentioning, and which
is notable I think because I went back to the
vault here found the old Ryan Clark from ESPN, you know,
And after the Ravens lost the Commanders, he said, no
disrespect is a Flowers and Rashad Bateman. But I ain't scared.
I'm not scared on the outside if I have to
(17:34):
be Manda man one on one. At this point he
said that actually they lost to the Raiders.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
After week two.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
I said, I ain't scared, right, And I love how
if you throw no disrespect at the front of any statement,
then all he said.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Really say what I can say? You can just slap
a man across the face. No disrespect, you know, Yeah,
that was pretty disrespectful.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
And so in this game Flowers and Rashad Baman and
not just in this game, I think it's really been
the past two weeks.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
They have been playing really well, and they ate.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
They ate the Commanders one on one coverage, and when
they went man man to man, they just ran, I
mean their route, running their speed. Zay Flowers was really
stretching them horizontally across the field.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
They just couldn't keep up with them.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
And then the yards after catch, uh was elite for
Zay Flowers in this game.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
And and then Bateman just you know.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
You saw a couple critical drives won the comeback route
from him from him just left the defender in the
dust his last catch of the game. I mean it
was an outside inside move that created nearly five yards
of separation. Yeah, he averaged four and a half yards
of separation in this game. And he's a guy that
came into the league third highest separation rate in the
(18:50):
league among wide receivers. So Rashad Bateman continues to get separation.
It's been good to see Lamar find him more often.
And like you're seeing that UO really proved themselves as
a fantastic one two punch.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
Well, look that one of the big stories in the
NFL this week was Tavante Adams. He gets traded to
the New York Jets, and I know that a lot
of Ravens stands thawt there was potentially that he could
land in Baltimore, especially when he seemed to add a
little fuel to the fire with the Edgar Allen Poe
picture on Instagram a couple of weeks ago, and a
lot of Ravenstaners thinking could this happened? The reports were
that the Ravens were not really in the market there.
(19:25):
That's what multiple media autlets reported over the course of
the last week. Initially there was maybe a little bit
of buzz that maybe they could be, but obviously he
ends up in New York. Seems like he wanted to
team up with Aaron Rodgers all along.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
And that's what the reports were kind of consistently. Fonte
Adams has some explaining to do ay the whole don't
believe anything you hear thing. I mean, everybody was saying
You're going to the Jets with Aaron Rodgers, So I
guess I am gonna believe what I here. Plus Eggar
Allan Poe thing like, what was that about. I know,
I would like somebody to ask him that this is
somebody in the Jets media cords.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
You might have to go up to New York for
the press. The introductiony press conference exactly asked that question.
But so anyway, you know, he ends up in the
York and you know, you can connect the two in
the sense that, like the Ravens, I don't know if
they were in the market or not, based on reports
that they really weren't, but the Ravens are betting on
Rashaan Bateman and Zay Flowers, and that's been pretty consistent
(20:14):
over the course of the lat of the entire year,
that the Ravens have confidence in those two guys.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
It's looking like a very good bet. And there's good reason.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
To feel that way.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
Like we've just spent all the time talking about pick
your poison, the best offense in the league. Well, Zay
Flowers is coming off back to back on hundred yard games,
a career high with one hundred and thirty two receiving
yards and that was just in the first half. Didn't
even get a catch in the second half. So it
seems like these guys are getting better. Baitman came up
with really big catches and big moments when they kind
of needed to get jump started in this game. A
(20:42):
quiet four for seventy one, but really important. It just
seems like these guys are getting better and the Ravens
are using them in the right way.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Yeah, I completely agree.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
I think that when you look at it, you're like, Okay,
Davonte Adams is a great player. Like it's not like, oh,
you can't use Davonte Adams, but like for what you
have to give up and all that do you really
need is that the best allocation of resources doesn't look
like it right now you know, and especially not just now,
but long term, you know that that's a major commitment.
(21:12):
And the Ravens are committed to these two guys and
for good reason. And I think it's cool to see
Lamar Jackson rely on Rashat Bateman in some critical situations.
And I brought up that the two catches early on
on a long touch on driving the second quarter where
the Ravens took the lead in that game, and it
was a third and I think it was a third
(21:33):
and five Ravens are backed up, and for Lamar it
was clear Number one read is Rashat Bateman on the comeback.
It's one on one coverage and he's gonna rely on
Rashot to beat that guy, and he's gonna hit him
on that sideline throw, which that that like ten yard out.
I feel like Bateman could just eat on that all
day long.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yeah, because he puts on the brakes, he ends a
I was just saying, both those guys they can just.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Put on the brakes like nobody else.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yeah, And uh so it was cool to see Lamar
just kind of rely on him in that situation that
make the play. And I think that that's only going
to build as the season goes on.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Yeah, I just feel like those guys can get open,
and especially if they're in there's these single cover situations.
And you know, I don't know if Eric Tacosta will
end up making a trade at the deadline, Like he's
proven the willingness and he's proven to be aggressive. He's
done that many times, and so I'm not ruling it out.
(22:31):
But when you have the top ranked offense, I think
it's a fair question to ask do you need to
bring in even a great Hall of Fame player? Do
you need to do that or would you rather allocate
those resources for this year and beyond to another position.
And I think that that's a very fair point to take,
a fair approach to take. And the Ravens they're hummet
(22:53):
on offense, So you don't need to fix what's not
broken right, right.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
If it ain't broke right? Yeah, you know that kind
of saying.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
There we go, all right, so let's take a break,
and when we come back, we're gonna jump into the
defensive tape talk about what's going right and wrong on
that side of the ball, as well as some more
conversation points. Since the Ravens win over the Commanders.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
You're listening to the Lage podcast, We're coming to you
for the Seik Studio. We also want to mention our
partners with Draft King Sportsbook. They are an official sports
betting partner of the Baltimore Ravens Draft Kings Sportsbook. The
crown is yours, all right.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
So, one thing that stood out to me on tape
and in the box score was the Ravens run defense,
and we discussed how important that was for keeping the
Commanders in third and long situations and Jane Daniels in
those kind of situations where he couldn't run the ball
to pick up first downs easily, and looking at the film,
I mean, it's really across the board. And I asked
(23:50):
John Harball this question about what's going right, and he
kind of echoed this that a the defensive front is
just really really stout, and to me, it starts with
the two big guys in the middle nom the mattabk
and Travis Jones, and not to mention Michael Pierce.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Those guys are.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Playing in an incredibly high level and uh, you know,
I mean even even the Commander's Nick Algaretti was talking
about this and he called them elite those two guys
and said, look, when you have guys that can not
only stop the run like them, but then also get
after the passer, it's really hard to beat. And Travis
(24:30):
Jones right now has the second highest Pro Football Focus
grade of any Ravens defensive player, only behind Kyle van Noy.
He went on that crazy six sax streak. Travis Jones,
playing at a very high level, got his first sack
of the twenty twenty four season against the Commanders.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Another just club move.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I mean, he is just clubbing guys, and and so
he's playing very well. Not to mention Nomdi and Nomy's
getting a lot of double team looks. They're paying him
a lot of attention. Travis Jones is taking full advantage
of them, huh. And so those two guys are where
it starts. Then you have Roquan, who you know, particularly
against the run. Roquan had his struggles and pass defense
(25:10):
in this game, but against the run, I mean, Roqwan's
a maniac yeah, and a tone setter. Absolutely, He's a
tone center all the time. And so he's playing at
a high level. And it's not just them as defensive backs.
Marlon Humphrey sniffing stuff out. Kyle Hamilton playing really strong
against against the run. And so this this run defense
(25:30):
is going to make it hard on anybody and everybody,
and at a historic rate right now. By the way,
so the Ravens have allowed fifty nine rushing yards per
game through the first six weeks. That is the third
best mark. If they finished that way, they finished the
back to the pace on pace, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
They'd be that.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
That's the third best mark in NFL history, in the
best in Ravens history, or not the best, better than
the two thousand Ravens the Super Bowl defense, which was
known as the rest of all time, better than them barely.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
They were sixty point six yards per game.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Yeah, now, I will that comes with that asterix, not
only because a were just the first six weeks, but
different time, different era football. Running the football back then
was that was the bread and butter, and so what
the Ravens did in two thousand was ridiculous. Yeah, and
you could certainly argue that, well, the Ravens are giving
(26:27):
up a lot of yards to the air, so that's
just how are attacking them, not through the ground. But
the Ravens are also doing a really good job on
per rush on a per rush basis, there are also
tops in the league, by the way, So this this
run defense is legit good anyway you look at it.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
I think it's a really good run defense.
Speaker 4 (26:45):
And this was a tough rushing attack they're going up
against and Jane Daia. Now you need to mention that
they're starting running back. Brian Robinson did not play in
this game, so that's that's significant down. They're starting running back.
But Jane Daniels really didn't have big much room to
run in this game. I think his long rush of
the day was nine yards, so he didn't have the
(27:05):
type of success on the ground that he had had
coming into that game. I thought the Ravens were really
disciplined in both their pass rush lanes on him and
in keeping him in front of them from a run
defense standpoint. So it just was a strong gay from
the wrong from that defensive front. And yeah, I think that,
Like I will say, I feel like I learned my
(27:28):
lesson a little bit earlier this season when we were
coming into the year and we were saying this is
the best secondary ever and you know, best secondary Ravens history,
and no doubt about the best secondary the league, and
they struggled, right, they struggled earlier this year, and so
I'm not necessarily gonna after six games, I feel like
less confident that they're going to maintain that pace, that
historic pace that you're talking about than I do. Rush
(27:48):
to the flip side, yeah, just because I think that
could even out over the course of the year. You
probably some good rushing attacks. I think that could even
out a little bit more. But I do think it
will be a really strong run defense league wide. I
think they'll continue to be good, but I just don't
know if it will continue to be at that historic pace.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
I think that's fair. Just just to correct myself, I'm sorry.
It was.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
The Ravens allowed two point nine yards per carry against
the Commanders. On the season, it's three yards per carry,
which is still number one in the league, like you mentioned,
and it's not even close. Pittsburgh's at three point six
and it's very close from there on. And so yeah,
I agree. I mean, the Steelers are gonna run the
ball a lot. There's some other good running teams, you know,
(28:31):
does Nick Chubb come back for the rounds and whatnot.
But as long as the Ravens stay healthy on that
front four. I mean, you gotta give me props. I've
been talking about this Ravens defensive line since May and
how good I think that is gonna be and it
has come to few.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
Yeah, you've been You've been saying Travis Jones phrases for
a while and he's delivering on that. Yeah, he goes
out there every game. He's like, I need to make
Ryan Bank proud. I know he's been talking about this
on the Lounge for months now, and I need to
do it for the Louge podcast and make sure that
I deliver one that talk.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
And like I said, the secondary, the defensive backs deserve
credit for that too. Like that's part of what makes
Kyle Hamilton so good is you put him in the
box and like he is a handful too, and not
just with some of those huge hits that he laid
on the Commanders and Terry mclaurum.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
I'm not sure how Arry McLarin had onto that.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Football me either, but even just as a really strong
run defender, he and Marlon just very good.
Speaker 4 (29:29):
Also, I want to I want to point out the
pass rush. John Harbaugh said that the pass rush in
this game he thinks played maybe it's best game of
the season.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
In part pretty that Bill's game is pretty dark good.
They run for his life the whole game, yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
In part, and Josh Allen can run as.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Well, exactly.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
So part of it was because they contained Jade and Daniels,
but they also did that against Josh Allen. He didn't
beat him with their legs and they were hitting him
every right he took.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
He took a beating in that game, for sure, he did.
But I thought that the you know that is that
was an interesting statement from him to feel like this.
The pass rush, you know, played really strong in this game,
and I think that, like what in your mind? So
the defense I thought took a big step forward in
this game, but I still think they there's things that
they need to clean up. I think that there's still
some things that are too easy. Zach Oritz kind of
(30:16):
got going in the second half of this game. That
first touchdown to Terry McLaurin was too easy in the
back of the end zone. Seemed like Marcus Williams just
bit on a underneath route option there and Jane Daniels
had you know, kind of looked him, looked him off
the receiver and McLaurin was wide opening the end zone. So, like,
what is your take on what needs to improve defensively
(30:38):
to clean up the issues that have cost them.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
I think it's it's a game of whack a mole,
you know. It's it's one problem springs up and you
bash that one on the head and you try to
eliminate that, and then here comes another one. Right, And
so it was like these shallow crossers were the issue
against the Chiefs.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
They mostly cleaned that up.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Yeah, you know, John Harwell said it was kind of
a technique issue, just how they were playing with the
playing those covered it and they've cleaned those up. Then
there's been just busted coverages. Didn't have any of those
against Commanders. Hopefully that's a thing of the past. Also, uh,
and now in this game against the Commanders, it was
kind of the over routes the crossers that not went
(31:16):
didn't go underneath of the linebackers, but between the linebackers
and safeties.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
And we've seen that some in other games.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
That seems to be a common theme that that area.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Yeah, that that has been an issue.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Rokuon has uh, you know, he did not have a
good game in coverage in this in this game. I
thought some of that was Jane Daniels made some really
good anticipation throwers one that broken reached out and almost
had and it was a great play by Jaden great
catch too. But yeah, they need to clean that stuff
up and and right now it just does. It doesn't
feel like the linebackers and the safeties are necessarily playing
(31:50):
on the same rhythm. You know that they haven't quite
worked that kink out up the spine of their defense.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Yeah, I think that that will that's something that needs
to improve, you know, and you're going up this week.
He gets a Bucks team that just put up like
a thousand points last week, like.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
One I think was that was it fifty one? I mean,
they've put up a fifty spot. We just want to
be clear it wasn't a thousand, you know.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
Hey, thank you for I could remember a fact check.
It was it fifty one or was it a thousand?
I was trying to think about that. But like, and
Baker Mayfield leads the league of touchdown passes, so like
you're he it's.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Very good all but I mean it's really every week.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
It's just it's going to be a good offense. So
I just think that like this, this passing.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
We're going to talk more about this upcoming matchup against
the Bucks, but this pass defense is really going to
be stressed again in this game. And I think that
those issues that have cost them at times, I think
they need to continue to work on those issues.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yeah, completely agree. One thing. One news item here before
we go.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
The Ravens have promoted Unique and Gaway to the fifty
three man roster from the practice squad, which whatever he's
playing on game days anyway, not that big of a
new of an item, but you know, he explained well,
and he got a sack against the Commander, and I
think it was notable that he had, and not by
a wide margin, but he had more snaps than David
(33:06):
Ajabo did in that game. And so he's given them
a little bit of a of a pass rush boost
and and it is cool to see a guy who
I think a lot of us kind of thought when
the first meeting between Yanique and the Ravens didn't really
pan out as well as expected when the Ravens traded
for him at the deadline, that Orenian's unlikely here, but
(33:30):
you know, Yanique has made it clear that he made
it clear that he wanted to come back and play
for this team, and he watched him in Kansas City
and wanted to be at that game. And it's his
hometown team. He grew up, you know, in DC, Maryland,
and he wanted to come back here and be a
part of this. And you could really see when John
Harball gave him game ball after this win over the Commanders,
how much it is meant to Yanique and and it's
(33:51):
cool to see him producing.
Speaker 4 (33:53):
John Harbaugh said that every time they talk, it feels
like Yanique tells him like, hey, this is I wanted
to be here, and tells him just how much he
wanted to be here be part of the team. And
I thought that getting him getting the game ball after
this victory, it's not often that a guy gets a
game ball from the practice squad, right, and so it
was kind of a precursor to that him getting elevated
to the fifty three.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
So the best game ball though, was also being Cleveland.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
That was pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
That was a good one.
Speaker 4 (34:16):
He got a game ball for obviously the block that
he had, And I was really happy for Ben Cleveland,
like he's taken you know, the field goal block. Yeah, sorry,
the field goal block, like he's taken some heat and
hasn't you know, played in the starting lineup on the
offensive line, and you know all that whole conversation.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
But man, he was.
Speaker 4 (34:34):
I thought you could see how much it meant to
him when he got the field goal block.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
He was really fired up.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
And then when he got the game ball in the
locker room, his teammates really cheer for him and supported him.
It was a good moment for him. Like, I don't
know that I've ever seen him happier in his time
with the Ravens side.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
It just was.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
It was really cool to see.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
I agree, and kudos to him for going to Chris
Shorton and saying like, hey, can I get on field
goal block?
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Yeah, I'm big, I'm tall.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
You know, like I want to contribute in some way,
and yeah, you know, it is tough. Like I think
a lot of people thought that with both of the
Ravens guards heading elsewhere in free agency this past offseason,
that Ben Cleveland was the leader to get one of
those starting spots. A lot of people expect that hasn't
come to fruition, and but kudos to him for being like,
all right, I still want to help, you know, and
(35:15):
find a role when hey, maybe he can get another one.
Maybe this is the start of benk Cleveland's you know,
field goal blocking career.
Speaker 4 (35:22):
I mean, look, Brent Urbans kind of has an act
for that is a big guy, right, those two guys,
you know, those are big guys. That makes it challenging
for and Ben also, like if you actually look at
the film and that like he crashes the pocket and
he gets a little bit of pressure on that.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Is kind of like a wedge cud of play, and yeah,
he moves him back a little bit.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
I don't know. I want to get the next gen
stats on on hops, you know, like how high you
got in the air?
Speaker 2 (35:47):
I don't know that it was a lot, but the
mirror fact that it was a large it was enough,
and he's a big enough human being that it didn't matter.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
I think.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Really it's also a mentality thing, right, Like when Ben
Cleveland sees that ball out there, he pictures a squirrel
and he's like, go get that squirrel, And so when
it's helping the air man, he's reaching for it.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
I snagged it.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
I loved it, man. I was happy for Van. So
congrats to him. So we are going to continue to
break down this game coming up against the Bucks, as
well as working on getting a player interview this week,
so we will be back with you with that coming up.
As always, you can email us at the lounge at
Ravens NFL dot net. Thank you so much for listening
and we'll be back with you again soon
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