September 14, 2025 • 28 mins
Team insiders Ryan Mink and Garrett Downing break down the defense's strong performance, clutch plays by several reserves, how the offense pivoted, and more from the Ravens' 41-17 win over the Cleveland Browns in the home-opener.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome into the Lounge presented by DraftKings. I'm Ryan Mink
here with Garrett Downing, and we are going to break
down the Ravens.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Big and I need big.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Forty one to seventeen win over the Cleveland Browns, as
John Harball said, was a bounce back win. The Ravens
coming off a really tough loss in Buffalo.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
They needed this one.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
You know, you come back home against the division rival
that you should beat, that your widely favorite too beat.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
You need to beat them. And the Ravens not only.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Beat them, but pulled away down the stretch, which you
especially love to see considering how they coughed up that
lead in Buffalo.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yeah, there's a few things I like about it. I
really like the way the Ravens closed the game. That
to me stands out really on both sides of the ball.
They came up with big plays Offensively, they came up
with turnovers on defense. I turned those turnovers into big plays,
put the offense in position to capitalize, or just took
it all the way to the house themselves on the
Roqueuants with scoop and score. So they closed the game
(01:03):
the way you want to see a team close things out,
especially when they're playing somebody who they're better than. They're
playing at home and they're the better team, and you
want to see him close it out. You don't want
to see him hang on for dear life. You want
to see him put the exclamation point on things. And
the Ravens were able to do that today. And the
other piece that I like about it is like they
did not allow last week's game to beat them twice.
(01:25):
That was the thing that everyone was talking about all
throughout the week, and they didn't do it. They came
out and they played a team. You know, all we
all talked about last season how the Ravens lost the
openers to Kansas City and then came home in a
game that they were heavily favored to win against the
Raiders and dropped it. Yep, And so that was fresh
on the minds of fans and players and coaches at
(01:46):
everybody this week, and the Ravens did not have a
repeat performance of that, and so I thought it was
just it was a good day across the board for.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
This team I think overall. And Marlon Humphrey spoke this
week about it. He said, we weren't a mature team
in Buffalo. That was the that he used was maturity
and this this win required maturity a because the Browns
did not make it easy early in this game. I mean,
it was like kind of a slog of a first half.
(02:13):
And that's often how it just is with Cleveland. You know,
you get a tough defense division rival like that can happen,
but you can also it can also get frustrating and
lead to the unraveling of a team. You know, if
you don't have that maturity, you come home, you're expected
to win. Things are tougher earlier on, Like you could
(02:35):
see a team kind of just coming apart. The Ravens
offense was back down, you know in the shadow They're
own end zone multiple times early in this game. And
John Harvell actually said that was the most impressive thing
for him offensively, was just that they didn't break in
those situations. And that was important early in this game
until they kind of got a little bit of a
(02:55):
breathing room and then pulled away. But like and then
the maturity that they showed, like we said to two
pool away late in the game. Look, with with five
minutes left in the third quarter, they kind of had
a oh here we go again or please no again.
Moment in the third quarter, five minutes left, fourth down,
Marlon Humphrey tries to intercept a fourth down pass uh
(03:17):
and instead it goes through his hands straight to Cedric Tillman,
the Browns wide receiver, for a touchdown. Now it's a
ten point game again with five minutes left in the
third and you're like, oh my god, you know, like
we did that, that would.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Have been hit. It would have been twenty to three
and you would have the ball, like, that's that's probably it.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
If he just that pass down instead it tries to
intercept it, right, that's probably probably ballgame, right, And you're
just thinking, like the Ravens have the worst luck in
the world, and like, here we go again with just
like fluky plays, you know, just like they had some
of in Buffalo. But then to score twenty one straight
(03:53):
points after that in the fourth quarter Devonte's Walker touchdown,
rokwand Smith sixty three yard fund recover for a touchdown,
DeAndre Hopkins touchdown.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Ballgame done, just so.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
To me, it was the maturity even in a tough
first half, and then in the second half to close
the game out.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Well. John Harbaugh made the point like you look at
the final score forty one to seventeen, said basically, to
be honest is the final score doesn't really indicate it.
But this game was a grind. Yeah, And to me,
a lot of times when you're the team that wins
forty one to seventeen, you're not off the sad Like, hey,
it was closer than you think exactly, but it was.
It was a close game for really three quarters and
(04:31):
then the Ravens pulled away in the fourth quarter, and like,
I think that's a good thing. Like, I mean, everyone,
everyone on Twitter, even the announcers during the game, when
it's a fourth quarter and it's a two score lead,
it's a ten point game, everyone's pulling up the stats
about fourth quarter losses at the Ravens where they've had
two score leads and how many have they've blown and
(04:52):
all this stuff. Like everyone's pulling up the stats and saying,
is this going to be a similar situation? And it wasn't.
And so I think that the Ravens deserve a lot
of c it for that. And I was really like,
to me, like I was encouraged by the defense today.
I thought the defense played at a really high level
Roquan Smith was the guy who had the big scoop
and score touchdown. He was all over the field, had
(05:13):
fifteen tackles, multiple tackles for loss, Like he was God,
he was awesome, he was ridiculous. He was awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
And with ray Lewis in the house, that was like
a ray Lewis esque performance, just like he was everywhere.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Yeah. Cool note on that too, by the way, when
he took the touchdown, when he scored the touchdown and
ran that back, we have those new suites there from
Troe Price. His family was sitting in the one right
where he ran into and so he runs into the
end zone and gave the ball to a family member
and celebrated with his friends and family. That's a pretty
(05:44):
cool moment for him. Just perfect timing and perfect placement.
So that was pretty sweet.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
And gosh, fifteen tackles, eight solo, three tackles for lost,
two quarterback hits in a touchdown.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
And I know there's been some talk about Rokwan and
is he not playing up to the standard that he
has earlier in his career. And I actually thought in
Buffalo last week, like I thought he was pretty good
in Buffalo. I thought the defense as a whole didn't
have there, did not have a very good game. But
I don't put much of that on Roquan. He had
a bad mistackle, one bad miss tackle against Buffalo, but
(06:17):
I thought he was all over the field in that game,
and he's all over the field in this game. Like
I thought, Rokuan was awesome today, and I think that,
like the talk around him, in my opinion, has been
a little bit overstated in terms of is he playing
up to the standard. I think Rokwan Smith is still
a great player and he showed that today.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, I mean overall, it was just a really strong
defensive effort. I mean, in Joe Flacco's return to M
ANDT Banks Stadium, he was twenty five of forty five
for a buck ninety nine, a touchdown and interception, got
sacked twice. He had a sixty five quarterback rating. I mean,
they put the clamps on him. And also it was
really good to see defensively the takeaways. That was one
(06:56):
of the takeaways. Sorry, couldn't help myself from Buffalo from
both the past two games in Buffalo was zero takeaways,
you know, and really those are what made the difference
in this game. You had the Nate Wiggins interception on
Flacco as he was rolling out being chased by Roquan Smith,
and Nate Wiggins to get that interception early this game
(07:17):
set up a touchdown, huge play and then really the
one that I sit the Tavious Robinson sack on Joe
Flacco coughs up the ball and Roquan takes the house.
So you know, when you when you have the defense,
like as as good as this offense is and the
firepower that it has, if you give it extra possessions,
it's leaked out.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Yeah, And and like I'm like the Browns offense it's
not as good as Buffalo's offense. Like I'm not gonna
I'm not going to try to make that comparison, but
like the takeaways thing is real and the Ravens have
made that a focal point and to get that today
and then like on those takeaways, I mean, Wiggins almost
takes it to the house. He puts the offensive position
that they turned that into a touchdown and Roque does
(08:00):
take it to the house. And so like like it's
not just getting the ball away. They're doing something when
they get when they get their hands on it too,
especially the Wiggans one that was that was really impressive
for him.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
This is, by the way, you know, I always should
have had another pick with Marlin too.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Should have had three. By the way, just as a reminder,
I took Wigas to lead the team in interceptions this year,
and he's got one and.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Named to lead the team SAX.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
So I'm feeling real good about my season predictions. I'm
gonna remind you of that all throughout.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
The oh I would have had one who got hell
late in the game. I should have had a sack there.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Yeah, well I would have had one. I'm just gonna
keep reminding you of of my small success.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
You're looking good. You're looking good so far. I'm not
gonna lie. Uh So.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, a great defensive performance for the Ravens defense. And
this is honestly what I expected when I said that
they would be the number one defense in the league.
I wasn't looking great on that prediction after Week one,
but you know, last year it took a little while
for the defense to get things turned around, and the Ravens.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Said it this week.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
The players that make plays are gonna play, and if
you're not making plays, you ain't gonna play. And and
we saw it today. I mean, JayR Alexander was a
healthy scratch. Now you know, part of that is really
health related, uh, which of course plays into performance.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Also, healthy scratch is kind of in air quotes a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah exactly, like it's not exactly a healthy scratch. He
missed a month of training camp. John Harwall feels like
that certainly has impact impacted the way he played in
Week one. It's a it's a practice position. He feels
like he wants to let Jayir get physically right, let
him get stronger in practice for a little while, and
then come out and here in practice. He said clearly
(09:39):
in his postgame press conference, he expects jay R Alexander
play great football for the Ravens this season. You know,
don't read too much into a scratch, but you know JayR,
John Harvill said, JayR was pushing me. He wants to play, yeah,
you know, and so like not an easy decision.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
TJ.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Tampa stepped into JayR Alexander's kind of spot and had
a fourth down pass breakup played well here. Today we
also saw Teddy Buchanan, the rookie fourth round pick, is
now a starter. I mean to play the vast majority
of the snaps was the whole game next to Rokwan
Smith and so another you know, and again John Harball
(10:17):
set off the game. Hey, it's not an indictment on
Trenton Simpson. Trenton's played well in week one two, Just
Teddy's playing better. Like that's who they're rolling with right now.
Teddy had six tackles, two solo, So Trenton had four tackles.
So you know how we'll see those snaps divvied up.
We'll see John Harball kind of said it would be
(10:37):
a fairly even split after week one, it looked like
it was more heavily Teddy Buchanan here today.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Yeah, I think that that speaks to those adjustments, speak
to what Marlon Humphrey was talking about this week that
the Ravens they are they're not waiting around on anything,
Like they feel like this is a team and a
defense that has all the pieces and all the players
and they're not messing around. And so if they feel
like they need to make any kind of changes, scheme adjustments,
(11:04):
personnel changes, like they're going to do that. This is
a team that's ready to win right now and they
are doing everything they can to make that happen, and
so well, today was a good sign in that regard.
And like Hardball said, which I hear, part of it's
getting him in football shape. Like he missed a month
of training camp. This is also a guy who missed
a lot of football last year, wasn't on a team
the entire off season for the most part, signed on
(11:27):
the last day of mini camp and then comes in
in training camp practices for a week and that is
on the shelf for a month. So like not much
football for him over the last eleven months.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
And so well, obviously you know, he had knee surgery
at the beginning of the year calendar year, at the
very end of last year basically, and so I think
also then he had his knee drained during training camp,
you know, like he's kind of managing that knee as well.
So there's also kind of a health element I think
in play.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Yeah, And I I still think that, like looks as
Harball said, he's going to play a lot of important
football for this team. And so I'm not closing the
book at all on that story. I just think that
as it stands right now, putting TJ. Tampa out there
and giving him an opportunity and allowing Ji Year to
get healthier and more ready is the best thing for
(12:19):
the team of the defense.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Well, he could be out there Monday night against the
Detroit Lions in the next game, because the Ravens do
have some injury concerns coming out of this game. Marlon
Humphrey left the game late with what was reported as
a groin injury and so he did not finish the game. Also,
Kyle van Noy left the game with a hamstring injury
(12:41):
in the first half and was ruled out at the
start of the second half. And so John Harball after
the game said that neither are season ending injuries by
any stretch, but they'll re evaluate on Monday and see
get more insight on those but two obviously very very
key players, and now you know their status is going
(13:03):
to be a little bit more in question for Monday
night in the Detroit Lions, and we'll see if they're
going to miss time. You know, hamstrings usually can be tough,
Groins can be kind of tough. Sometimes those things can
linger a little bit. So hopefully they returned to practice
this week, but we'll see if they don't.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
You know, TJ.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Tampa's certainly going to get more playing time. Kean Martin
came in and took the slot snaps after Marlon Humphrey left,
but who knows, they might need Jay R Alexander active
to have enough players.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Yeah. Well, also Marlin when he was on the sidelines,
he was still trying to test it out and kind
of stretch and do a little bit of running on
the sidelines before ultimately being ruled out to the lockerom
you know, and didn't return. So yeah, we'll see what
the status is there. But yeah, you're playing on Monday
night against the Detroit Lions. So I'm looking up here
and they put up fifty two points and I'm on
(13:54):
Ross and Brown had night catches for one fifteen to
three touchdowns. So you want your secondary at full strength
going up against that passing attack and that receiver. But
we'll stay that conversation for another day. That's something that
will kick down the road.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Well, the Kyle van Noy one I think is interesting too.
You know, now Mike Green, the rookie step right up.
You know, he's the backup to Kyle van Noy, So
it might be the second round picks time to kind
of shine.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Yeah, So let's take a quick break. When we come back,
we'll dive into the offensive side of the football. Barely
even mention Lamar Jackson through four touchdown passes today, so
we'll get into that. We'll get into that when we
come back from this break. You're listening to the Lounge podcast.
We are coming to you from the Sea Keek Studio.
We want to mention our partners with Draft Kings sports Book.
They are an official sports betting partner of the Baltimore
Ravens Draftking Sportsbook. The Crown is yours. So the offense
(14:41):
a little slow out of the gate here, you know,
the first half was like just not that exciting a football,
to be honest with you. There wasn't much offense, a
number of punts. The Ravens are backed up in their
own end zone for a lot of the first half,
and as you mentioned, the fact that they didn't allow
that to really hurt them, like no disaster place, no
strip sacked, no interception, like nothing that was catastrophic in
(15:03):
those situations. That was really important for this team and
something that was a big reason why they were able
to win this game. Brown's defense is excellent. Miles Garrett
might be the best defensive player in football. He looked
like it today. Jim Schwartz is an aggressive, veteran defensive
play caller and builds a really good scheme. So like
(15:23):
that's a good defense.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
He can cause you problems. And the biggest surprise of
the game, I think for the Ravens was the inability
to run the ball. I mean they ran a twenty
one times for forty five yards. Dereck Henry, after a
monster game against the Bills, had eleven carries for twenty
three yards along of eight you know, I mean, Derek
Henry average two point one to carry.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
I mean that's the low compared to what he had
last year. You know, just that's his lowest in the
Ravens uniform. So that's not really what any of us expected.
And surprising to see he didn't have any room to run.
The Browns were kind of winning the line of scrimmage
in that rushing attack and made life really hard on
him when the Ravens were trying to get that ground
game going early.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Yeah, but I mean, goodness, gracious, you look up at
the scoreboard and forty one points and you couldn't run
the ball, which is really the Ravens bread and butter
and where the all offense is often predicated on the run.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
It's quite a day. You know.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
The Ravens really kind of had to pivot. The Browns
defense was so suffocating against the run that the Ravens
pivoted in the second half of this game and they
went a little had a little bit more success with
outside runs. But honestly, like they had to throw the ball,
and Lamar Jackson stepped up to the plate nineteen to
twenty nine for two to twenty five and four touchdowns.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
It was you know, I didn't think he.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Had his sharpest first half, but goodness gracious, they got
it done in the second.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah, I mean they poured it on. And what I
liked is like he got everybody involved in the action.
This was from a passing game standpoint. It was the
entire receiving corps who was getting involved in the things.
Flowers Zey stout line seven catches seventy five yards, did
not get in the end zone. It's not like gaudy stats,
but when this offense needed a spark, Zay was the
(17:08):
guy to kind of provide it. And he talked about
that after the game. A little bit. I asked him
about that, and he said, like, first of all, his
personality just lends himself to being a guy that can
provide a spark. And he even made that point like
I try to be positive, I try to be upbeat,
and so a spark can come anywhere, and so I
try to bring that energy with me whenever I'm on
the field. And I thought he did that.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Today the eleven targets.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Yeah, and then you round it out, Tyland Wallace gets
in the end zone, two catches, twenty five yards a touchdown.
Davontees Walker. All this guy does is catch touchdowns. Is
Chris Carter two catches, two touchdowns that going back to
last year, he's got three career catches, three touchdowns. Yeah,
all he does is catch touchdowns. And then DeAndre Hopkins
(17:50):
nearly all he does is catch touchdowns. Had two catches
for one touchdown, one that was initially ruled a touchdown
that came off the board that I'm still like, are
we sure he wasn't in right? And of course last
week he had that ridiculous catch in Buffalo, But yeah,
his catches today we're ridiculous. Like his degree of difficulty
on these catches. It's the highest degree of difficulty overall
in the league when you look at the three catches
(18:12):
that he has, all on the end zone, all tightly contested, ridiculous.
Talk about a good addition this offseason. Yeah, yeah, it's
like it's been preposterous. I mean when Lamar Jackson just
hasn't had this receiver over his career. The guy where
like he's covered, but he's not covered. He's never covered,
(18:32):
you know, And.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
So I really think that there's the nice part is
like you have these explosive weapons in Zay Flowers and
Rasha Bateman, like get the ball in their hands and
they can make anything happen. And then you have just
such reliable pass catches and Tyler Wallace and DeAndre Hopkins
who so like it's really difficult to defend this Ravens
(18:55):
wide receiver corps. And honestly, that's how the offense is
run through. The passing offense has run through the wide receivers.
You know, Mark Andrews one catch for two yards today
did not have a big impact in Buffalo either, and
so you know, he had one punch out of his
hands in the end z in here today. But the
Ravens passing game has run through that wide receiver corps
with Isaiah Lakelee out, and then we'll see maybe Isaiahlakelee
(19:16):
returned soon, he returned to practice on Friday. Maybe there's
a chance he comes back on Monday and that changes
the offense. But right now Ravens are leaning on those
wide receivers and heck, you look at how many forty
points and then forty one this week.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Haven't been bad?
Speaker 3 (19:29):
No, no, not at all, And like I just go
back to Hopkins. We said it all throughout training camp.
This is a guy that looks like he's giving the
Ravens a new element to the offense. And that's exactly
what it's been like on that on the first play,
the big the touchdown that was called back like he
was Lamar rolls out of the pocket and like Hopkins
(19:50):
wasn't open, he just threw it up. It was tightly
contested guy, he was kind of blanketed and that was
just a that was a fifty to fifty ball. Like
I'm just gonna trust my guy to go up and
make a play and has been probably gonna he's probably
gonna get a gold jacket in his future by making
those plays throughout his career and now he's doing it
for the Ravens. And everyone was joking about it because
(20:10):
he said it when he came off the field in
Buffalo Wash. Everyone's saying on Washed, huh, doesn't look like it.
Lamar made that point, say Flowers made that point, and
and man, he's really added something to this offense. So
that's a good piece of the equation that I think
is really going to pay dividends for this team this year.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
I think I think part of the storyline in this
game overall was just these kind of reserves that made
huge plays in this game. We talked about devontees Walker,
Tylan Wallace early in this game. You know, special teams
really gave gave the team a spark. Jake Hummell with
the blocked punt right up the middle was a huge
(20:50):
play early on. Lejontay Western with a long return of
Shoelace tackle saved the touchdown return for him on a punt,
and so I thought it was Jordan Stout also, I
think overall had had a really good day and was
was key when the Ravens offense was backed up early on,
and so I thought special teams also, and just in
(21:10):
role players, really good day for them overall.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
And when you have a game that's, as Harbaugh described
a grind, Like, when you have a game that's a grind,
you need those types of moments. You need a game
changing play from special teams, and you get it in
a block point, you need a big return. Like so
the Ravens were able to get some of those plays.
I think that's a great point from role players who
aren't like the who's who and and Tess Walker is
(21:34):
another one, like just credit to him is like he
was great all off season and in training camp. But
the question was kind of like where is where is
he fit? Because like I just don't know where the seams?
The answer, well, time and he's he's he's played his
way into a role on this team, and like he's
(21:55):
not going to be a guy that is the number
one receiver, but he makes his opportunities.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
No one's that was a fourth down.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yeah, Like you know, we just got done having a
conversation all week long about where are.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
The Ravens aggressive enough?
Speaker 1 (22:08):
You know you have these late leads, are you gonna
be aggressive and kind of are you gonna maintain the lead?
Or are you gonna keep grabbing the lead right and
going for more? And John Harball, to his credit, the
Ravens were down there in the red zone and went
forward on fourth down when they could have easily settle
for a field goal, turns into a devontees Walker touchdown
(22:29):
at the back of the end zone. And so credit
to Harb's for having the guts to call that. One
credit to Lamar Jackson, devontees Walker and the rest of
the offense for getting it done.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
So one last thought on the offense for me moving forward,
I do think again, this Browns defense is really good defense.
With the talented players on that front, they are gonna
need to have more success in terms of controlling line
of scrimmage in future games. And it's hard to criticize
the offense on a day where the team ends up
having forty one points. Of course, one of those was
a couple of those up on the defense, or the
(23:01):
defense scored it or set out by special teams. But
my point is like, you're gonna need to run the
ball better than they did today.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Yeah, generally speaking, I'm not worried about the Ravens run game.
I'm not gonna sit here and hit the panic button
after one game, Like we said, this is a this
is attacking downhill style Cleveland Browns defense, and like they're
run blitzing you. They were determined to take Derrick Henry
out of this game. Now, other teams might try the
same thing. They might see that formula. So like, you
(23:27):
got to have a way to still run the ball
even though everybody knows Derrick Henry is a monster and
that they are going to be aggressive to try to
stop him.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
You gotta be able to do it anyway.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Yeah, and so I thought that the Ravens in the
first half, you know, the Browns defensive line made some
plays in the backfield, Mason Graham, the rookie fifth overall pick.
I thought that they were having some trouble up front. So, yeah,
they got to be better. I'm not I'm not gonna
sit here and say I'm like worried about the Ravens
ability to run the ball.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Yet, No, I'm not either. I Also, I just think
that you want to see you want to win that
battle in the trenches, even if it's a up against
really really good defensive front like Cleveland has Lamar sacked
three times today. Again, none of those things hurt the Ravens,
but it's just as you projected forward. You want to
be able to hold up, you know, up up front
quickly before we wrap here, A big storyline coming into
(24:19):
this game was a return to Joe Flaccom and it
certainly I think it was probably a kind of an
emotional day for Joe on the field, not the day
that he would have wanted, just and had the final
numbers and ends up Dylan Gabriel ends up entering the
game late when it was well in hand. But what
was what were your thoughts about seeing Flacco back here
(24:40):
in Baltimore but at the time we're in a Browns uniform.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Yeah, I mean it was. It was cool, you know,
as could be expected. A lot of pregame, you know,
him dapping people up and hugs and Dennis pitted down
there with the Flaco Elite T shirt and you know,
Tory Smith, just tons of it was like a it
was like a greeting line, you know, at like a
wedding or something. People are just lining up to say
(25:04):
hi to Joe and uh.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
And so that was neat.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
It was one of them. Oh yeah, I talked to
him before the game. Yeah, oh, Yeah, would you Joe
talk about I was in line. Uh. I. I just said,
it's weird seeing you in Round's uniform. Is this weird
for you? And he said he like, he just laughed
and basically said, yes, it's pretty weird. And uh. And
so anyway we talked to me, I was locked in.
I don't want to you don't want to frightenize with
(25:28):
the end.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
You go down there fratenized with the team of the opponent.
That's stuff for you to do.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
I'm locked in.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
You're you in order to talk to him, pregame, you
have to get here a pregame. So locked in, locked
in your car, ninety four kickoff. But no, it was
fun to talk to him briefly and you could tell.
But like he said, he had a huge group of
family here. Around forty people that were here, Oh my god,
and so a big crew.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
It takes up half of them. How many kids?
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Hey, I know, I know, but yeah, it was definitely
kind of a It was a cool moment I think
for him, strange in a lot of ways, but as
you'd expect, very well received here, both by players, staff, fans, everybody.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Big hug from Lauren Jackson after the game is too.
You know, you can tell that was not your normal
dap up kind of hug that was.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
That was a hug hug.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Yeah, that was like two guys who have great admiration
and respect for one of which I think is like, like,
I know, we talked a lot about the Flacco thing
this week, but like, I don't think that we probably
spend enough time praising the fact that both these guys
have this good relationship and like the transition from one
to the other. The Ravens executed that as well as
(26:41):
it possibly could have, and that succession plan is so rare.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Not just the Ravens executed it, but the two players
involved executed it.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
They did, and like in order for those guys that
have still have a good relationship and not be adversarial
and you know, finish the game and it's and it's
you know, high fives and hugs. I think that like
that speaks to both of them, two.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Very genuine beats, like extremely genuine guys. There's no fakeness
about either one of them, and they're both like one
of one. Nobody copies, they don't copy anybody.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Else, Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
And so I think they're as different as they are
is certainly in play style, they're alike in so many
ways and that's why they've also been both had tremendous
success here and so it was it was just cool
to see Joe play.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
I hope he has a great season.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
I mean, I don't want the Browns to get a
lot of wins, but I hope individually he plays well.
And but the Raven's defense got after him.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Yeah, but today, yeah, totally. And then lastly, this was
the Raven celebrated the thirtieth season. It was just in
addition to Joe, a lot of former players back in
the building, and so it was cool to see these guys,
ray Lewis, Jonathan walk out with OZI he knew something.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
That was the coolest moment in celebration for me.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Yeah, Ozzie is recognized as the legend of the game.
And behind him as he's introduced, it's Ray Lewis and
Jonathan Ogden both holding the Lombardi Troie.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
The two trophies special movement.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
That was special. And Ozzie is a guy that like
never wants to be in front of the camera. He's
always happy to being behind the scenes, but fit to
see him get that moment in that ovation, flanked by
the two players with the first two picks in franchise history,
that was a pretty powerful moment, and I think it
just was.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
It was fun to see that well, and Joe Flack
was a pret during good pick and Lamar Jackson was
a pre durned good pick too, so it was kind
of fully an Azzie new some kind of day here, yes.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
For sure, for sure. So again, it was great to
see the Ravens win this one in convincing fashion. They
improved to one on one on the season. As always,
you can email us give us your thoughts at the
lounge at Ravens dot NFL dot net. We will enjoy
this one and then turn the page to the Detroit
Lions coming here to MCBAK Stadium on Monday Night football
(28:46):
next week. Thank you so much for listening. We'll talk
with you again this week.
Welcome into the Lounge presented by DraftKings. I'm Ryan Mink
here with Garrett Downing, and we are going to break
down the Ravens.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Big and I need big.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Forty one to seventeen win over the Cleveland Browns, as
John Harball said, was a bounce back win. The Ravens
coming off a really tough loss in Buffalo.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
They needed this one.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
You know, you come back home against the division rival
that you should beat, that your widely favorite too beat.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
You need to beat them. And the Ravens not only.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Beat them, but pulled away down the stretch, which you
especially love to see considering how they coughed up that
lead in Buffalo.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yeah, there's a few things I like about it. I
really like the way the Ravens closed the game. That
to me stands out really on both sides of the ball.
They came up with big plays Offensively, they came up
with turnovers on defense. I turned those turnovers into big plays,
put the offense in position to capitalize, or just took
it all the way to the house themselves on the
Roqueuants with scoop and score. So they closed the game
(01:03):
the way you want to see a team close things out,
especially when they're playing somebody who they're better than. They're
playing at home and they're the better team, and you
want to see him close it out. You don't want
to see him hang on for dear life. You want
to see him put the exclamation point on things. And
the Ravens were able to do that today. And the
other piece that I like about it is like they
did not allow last week's game to beat them twice.
(01:25):
That was the thing that everyone was talking about all
throughout the week, and they didn't do it. They came
out and they played a team. You know, all we
all talked about last season how the Ravens lost the
openers to Kansas City and then came home in a
game that they were heavily favored to win against the
Raiders and dropped it. Yep, And so that was fresh
on the minds of fans and players and coaches at
(01:46):
everybody this week, and the Ravens did not have a
repeat performance of that, and so I thought it was
just it was a good day across the board for.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
This team I think overall. And Marlon Humphrey spoke this
week about it. He said, we weren't a mature team
in Buffalo. That was the that he used was maturity
and this this win required maturity a because the Browns
did not make it easy early in this game. I mean,
it was like kind of a slog of a first half.
(02:13):
And that's often how it just is with Cleveland. You know,
you get a tough defense division rival like that can happen,
but you can also it can also get frustrating and
lead to the unraveling of a team. You know, if
you don't have that maturity, you come home, you're expected
to win. Things are tougher earlier on, Like you could
(02:35):
see a team kind of just coming apart. The Ravens
offense was back down, you know in the shadow They're
own end zone multiple times early in this game. And
John Harvell actually said that was the most impressive thing
for him offensively, was just that they didn't break in
those situations. And that was important early in this game
until they kind of got a little bit of a
(02:55):
breathing room and then pulled away. But like and then
the maturity that they showed, like we said to two
pool away late in the game. Look, with with five
minutes left in the third quarter, they kind of had
a oh here we go again or please no again.
Moment in the third quarter, five minutes left, fourth down,
Marlon Humphrey tries to intercept a fourth down pass uh
(03:17):
and instead it goes through his hands straight to Cedric Tillman,
the Browns wide receiver, for a touchdown. Now it's a
ten point game again with five minutes left in the
third and you're like, oh my god, you know, like
we did that, that would.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Have been hit. It would have been twenty to three
and you would have the ball, like, that's that's probably it.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
If he just that pass down instead it tries to
intercept it, right, that's probably probably ballgame, right, And you're
just thinking, like the Ravens have the worst luck in
the world, and like, here we go again with just
like fluky plays, you know, just like they had some
of in Buffalo. But then to score twenty one straight
(03:53):
points after that in the fourth quarter Devonte's Walker touchdown,
rokwand Smith sixty three yard fund recover for a touchdown,
DeAndre Hopkins touchdown.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Ballgame done, just so.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
To me, it was the maturity even in a tough
first half, and then in the second half to close
the game out.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Well. John Harbaugh made the point like you look at
the final score forty one to seventeen, said basically, to
be honest is the final score doesn't really indicate it.
But this game was a grind. Yeah, And to me,
a lot of times when you're the team that wins
forty one to seventeen, you're not off the sad Like, hey,
it was closer than you think exactly, but it was.
It was a close game for really three quarters and
(04:31):
then the Ravens pulled away in the fourth quarter, and like,
I think that's a good thing. Like, I mean, everyone,
everyone on Twitter, even the announcers during the game, when
it's a fourth quarter and it's a two score lead,
it's a ten point game, everyone's pulling up the stats
about fourth quarter losses at the Ravens where they've had
two score leads and how many have they've blown and
(04:52):
all this stuff. Like everyone's pulling up the stats and saying,
is this going to be a similar situation? And it wasn't.
And so I think that the Ravens deserve a lot
of c it for that. And I was really like,
to me, like I was encouraged by the defense today.
I thought the defense played at a really high level
Roquan Smith was the guy who had the big scoop
and score touchdown. He was all over the field, had
(05:13):
fifteen tackles, multiple tackles for loss, Like he was God,
he was awesome, he was ridiculous. He was awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
And with ray Lewis in the house, that was like
a ray Lewis esque performance, just like he was everywhere.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Yeah. Cool note on that too, by the way, when
he took the touchdown, when he scored the touchdown and
ran that back, we have those new suites there from
Troe Price. His family was sitting in the one right
where he ran into and so he runs into the
end zone and gave the ball to a family member
and celebrated with his friends and family. That's a pretty
(05:44):
cool moment for him. Just perfect timing and perfect placement.
So that was pretty sweet.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
And gosh, fifteen tackles, eight solo, three tackles for lost,
two quarterback hits in a touchdown.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
And I know there's been some talk about Rokwan and
is he not playing up to the standard that he
has earlier in his career. And I actually thought in
Buffalo last week, like I thought he was pretty good
in Buffalo. I thought the defense as a whole didn't
have there, did not have a very good game. But
I don't put much of that on Roquan. He had
a bad mistackle, one bad miss tackle against Buffalo, but
(06:17):
I thought he was all over the field in that game,
and he's all over the field in this game. Like
I thought, Rokuan was awesome today, and I think that,
like the talk around him, in my opinion, has been
a little bit overstated in terms of is he playing
up to the standard. I think Rokwan Smith is still
a great player and he showed that today.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, I mean overall, it was just a really strong
defensive effort. I mean, in Joe Flacco's return to M
ANDT Banks Stadium, he was twenty five of forty five
for a buck ninety nine, a touchdown and interception, got
sacked twice. He had a sixty five quarterback rating. I mean,
they put the clamps on him. And also it was
really good to see defensively the takeaways. That was one
(06:56):
of the takeaways. Sorry, couldn't help myself from Buffalo from
both the past two games in Buffalo was zero takeaways,
you know, and really those are what made the difference
in this game. You had the Nate Wiggins interception on
Flacco as he was rolling out being chased by Roquan Smith,
and Nate Wiggins to get that interception early this game
(07:17):
set up a touchdown, huge play and then really the
one that I sit the Tavious Robinson sack on Joe
Flacco coughs up the ball and Roquan takes the house.
So you know, when you when you have the defense,
like as as good as this offense is and the
firepower that it has, if you give it extra possessions,
it's leaked out.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Yeah, And and like I'm like the Browns offense it's
not as good as Buffalo's offense. Like I'm not gonna
I'm not going to try to make that comparison, but
like the takeaways thing is real and the Ravens have
made that a focal point and to get that today
and then like on those takeaways, I mean, Wiggins almost
takes it to the house. He puts the offensive position
that they turned that into a touchdown and Roque does
(08:00):
take it to the house. And so like like it's
not just getting the ball away. They're doing something when
they get when they get their hands on it too,
especially the Wiggans one that was that was really impressive
for him.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
This is, by the way, you know, I always should
have had another pick with Marlin too.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Should have had three. By the way, just as a reminder,
I took Wigas to lead the team in interceptions this year,
and he's got one and.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Named to lead the team SAX.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
So I'm feeling real good about my season predictions. I'm
gonna remind you of that all throughout.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
The oh I would have had one who got hell
late in the game. I should have had a sack there.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Yeah, well I would have had one. I'm just gonna
keep reminding you of of my small success.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
You're looking good. You're looking good so far. I'm not
gonna lie. Uh So.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, a great defensive performance for the Ravens defense. And
this is honestly what I expected when I said that
they would be the number one defense in the league.
I wasn't looking great on that prediction after Week one,
but you know, last year it took a little while
for the defense to get things turned around, and the Ravens.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Said it this week.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
The players that make plays are gonna play, and if
you're not making plays, you ain't gonna play. And and
we saw it today. I mean, JayR Alexander was a
healthy scratch. Now you know, part of that is really
health related, uh, which of course plays into performance.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Also, healthy scratch is kind of in air quotes a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah exactly, like it's not exactly a healthy scratch. He
missed a month of training camp. John Harwall feels like
that certainly has impact impacted the way he played in
Week one. It's a it's a practice position. He feels
like he wants to let Jayir get physically right, let
him get stronger in practice for a little while, and
then come out and here in practice. He said clearly
(09:39):
in his postgame press conference, he expects jay R Alexander
play great football for the Ravens this season. You know,
don't read too much into a scratch, but you know JayR,
John Harvill said, JayR was pushing me. He wants to play, yeah,
you know, and so like not an easy decision.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
TJ.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Tampa stepped into JayR Alexander's kind of spot and had
a fourth down pass breakup played well here. Today we
also saw Teddy Buchanan, the rookie fourth round pick, is
now a starter. I mean to play the vast majority
of the snaps was the whole game next to Rokwan
Smith and so another you know, and again John Harball
(10:17):
set off the game. Hey, it's not an indictment on
Trenton Simpson. Trenton's played well in week one two, Just
Teddy's playing better. Like that's who they're rolling with right now.
Teddy had six tackles, two solo, So Trenton had four tackles.
So you know how we'll see those snaps divvied up.
We'll see John Harball kind of said it would be
(10:37):
a fairly even split after week one, it looked like
it was more heavily Teddy Buchanan here today.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Yeah, I think that that speaks to those adjustments, speak
to what Marlon Humphrey was talking about this week that
the Ravens they are they're not waiting around on anything,
Like they feel like this is a team and a
defense that has all the pieces and all the players
and they're not messing around. And so if they feel
like they need to make any kind of changes, scheme adjustments,
(11:04):
personnel changes, like they're going to do that. This is
a team that's ready to win right now and they
are doing everything they can to make that happen, and
so well, today was a good sign in that regard.
And like Hardball said, which I hear, part of it's
getting him in football shape. Like he missed a month
of training camp. This is also a guy who missed
a lot of football last year, wasn't on a team
the entire off season for the most part, signed on
(11:27):
the last day of mini camp and then comes in
in training camp practices for a week and that is
on the shelf for a month. So like not much
football for him over the last eleven months.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
And so well, obviously you know, he had knee surgery
at the beginning of the year calendar year, at the
very end of last year basically, and so I think
also then he had his knee drained during training camp,
you know, like he's kind of managing that knee as well.
So there's also kind of a health element I think
in play.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Yeah, And I I still think that, like looks as
Harball said, he's going to play a lot of important
football for this team. And so I'm not closing the
book at all on that story. I just think that
as it stands right now, putting TJ. Tampa out there
and giving him an opportunity and allowing Ji Year to
get healthier and more ready is the best thing for
(12:19):
the team of the defense.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Well, he could be out there Monday night against the
Detroit Lions in the next game, because the Ravens do
have some injury concerns coming out of this game. Marlon
Humphrey left the game late with what was reported as
a groin injury and so he did not finish the game. Also,
Kyle van Noy left the game with a hamstring injury
(12:41):
in the first half and was ruled out at the
start of the second half. And so John Harball after
the game said that neither are season ending injuries by
any stretch, but they'll re evaluate on Monday and see
get more insight on those but two obviously very very
key players, and now you know their status is going
(13:03):
to be a little bit more in question for Monday
night in the Detroit Lions, and we'll see if they're
going to miss time. You know, hamstrings usually can be tough,
Groins can be kind of tough. Sometimes those things can
linger a little bit. So hopefully they returned to practice
this week, but we'll see if they don't.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
You know, TJ.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Tampa's certainly going to get more playing time. Kean Martin
came in and took the slot snaps after Marlon Humphrey left,
but who knows, they might need Jay R Alexander active
to have enough players.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Yeah. Well, also Marlin when he was on the sidelines,
he was still trying to test it out and kind
of stretch and do a little bit of running on
the sidelines before ultimately being ruled out to the lockerom
you know, and didn't return. So yeah, we'll see what
the status is there. But yeah, you're playing on Monday
night against the Detroit Lions. So I'm looking up here
and they put up fifty two points and I'm on
(13:54):
Ross and Brown had night catches for one fifteen to
three touchdowns. So you want your secondary at full strength
going up against that passing attack and that receiver. But
we'll stay that conversation for another day. That's something that
will kick down the road.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Well, the Kyle van Noy one I think is interesting too.
You know, now Mike Green, the rookie step right up.
You know, he's the backup to Kyle van Noy, So
it might be the second round picks time to kind
of shine.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Yeah, So let's take a quick break. When we come back,
we'll dive into the offensive side of the football. Barely
even mention Lamar Jackson through four touchdown passes today, so
we'll get into that. We'll get into that when we
come back from this break. You're listening to the Lounge podcast.
We are coming to you from the Sea Keek Studio.
We want to mention our partners with Draft Kings sports Book.
They are an official sports betting partner of the Baltimore
Ravens Draftking Sportsbook. The Crown is yours. So the offense
(14:41):
a little slow out of the gate here, you know,
the first half was like just not that exciting a football,
to be honest with you. There wasn't much offense, a
number of punts. The Ravens are backed up in their
own end zone for a lot of the first half,
and as you mentioned, the fact that they didn't allow
that to really hurt them, like no disaster place, no
strip sacked, no interception, like nothing that was catastrophic in
(15:03):
those situations. That was really important for this team and
something that was a big reason why they were able
to win this game. Brown's defense is excellent. Miles Garrett
might be the best defensive player in football. He looked
like it today. Jim Schwartz is an aggressive, veteran defensive
play caller and builds a really good scheme. So like
(15:23):
that's a good defense.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
He can cause you problems. And the biggest surprise of
the game, I think for the Ravens was the inability
to run the ball. I mean they ran a twenty
one times for forty five yards. Dereck Henry, after a
monster game against the Bills, had eleven carries for twenty
three yards along of eight you know, I mean, Derek
Henry average two point one to carry.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
I mean that's the low compared to what he had
last year. You know, just that's his lowest in the
Ravens uniform. So that's not really what any of us expected.
And surprising to see he didn't have any room to run.
The Browns were kind of winning the line of scrimmage
in that rushing attack and made life really hard on
him when the Ravens were trying to get that ground
game going early.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Yeah, but I mean, goodness, gracious, you look up at
the scoreboard and forty one points and you couldn't run
the ball, which is really the Ravens bread and butter
and where the all offense is often predicated on the run.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
It's quite a day. You know.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
The Ravens really kind of had to pivot. The Browns
defense was so suffocating against the run that the Ravens
pivoted in the second half of this game and they
went a little had a little bit more success with
outside runs. But honestly, like they had to throw the ball,
and Lamar Jackson stepped up to the plate nineteen to
twenty nine for two to twenty five and four touchdowns.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
It was you know, I didn't think he.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Had his sharpest first half, but goodness gracious, they got
it done in the second.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah, I mean they poured it on. And what I
liked is like he got everybody involved in the action.
This was from a passing game standpoint. It was the
entire receiving corps who was getting involved in the things.
Flowers Zey stout line seven catches seventy five yards, did
not get in the end zone. It's not like gaudy stats,
but when this offense needed a spark, Zay was the
(17:08):
guy to kind of provide it. And he talked about
that after the game. A little bit. I asked him
about that, and he said, like, first of all, his
personality just lends himself to being a guy that can
provide a spark. And he even made that point like
I try to be positive, I try to be upbeat,
and so a spark can come anywhere, and so I
try to bring that energy with me whenever I'm on
the field. And I thought he did that.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Today the eleven targets.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Yeah, and then you round it out, Tyland Wallace gets
in the end zone, two catches, twenty five yards a touchdown.
Davontees Walker. All this guy does is catch touchdowns. Is
Chris Carter two catches, two touchdowns that going back to
last year, he's got three career catches, three touchdowns. Yeah,
all he does is catch touchdowns. And then DeAndre Hopkins
(17:50):
nearly all he does is catch touchdowns. Had two catches
for one touchdown, one that was initially ruled a touchdown
that came off the board that I'm still like, are
we sure he wasn't in right? And of course last
week he had that ridiculous catch in Buffalo, But yeah,
his catches today we're ridiculous. Like his degree of difficulty
on these catches. It's the highest degree of difficulty overall
in the league when you look at the three catches
(18:12):
that he has, all on the end zone, all tightly contested, ridiculous.
Talk about a good addition this offseason. Yeah, yeah, it's
like it's been preposterous. I mean when Lamar Jackson just
hasn't had this receiver over his career. The guy where
like he's covered, but he's not covered. He's never covered,
(18:32):
you know, And.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
So I really think that there's the nice part is
like you have these explosive weapons in Zay Flowers and
Rasha Bateman, like get the ball in their hands and
they can make anything happen. And then you have just
such reliable pass catches and Tyler Wallace and DeAndre Hopkins
who so like it's really difficult to defend this Ravens
(18:55):
wide receiver corps. And honestly, that's how the offense is
run through. The passing offense has run through the wide receivers.
You know, Mark Andrews one catch for two yards today
did not have a big impact in Buffalo either, and
so you know, he had one punch out of his
hands in the end z in here today. But the
Ravens passing game has run through that wide receiver corps
with Isaiah Lakelee out, and then we'll see maybe Isaiahlakelee
(19:16):
returned soon, he returned to practice on Friday. Maybe there's
a chance he comes back on Monday and that changes
the offense. But right now Ravens are leaning on those
wide receivers and heck, you look at how many forty
points and then forty one this week.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Haven't been bad?
Speaker 3 (19:29):
No, no, not at all, And like I just go
back to Hopkins. We said it all throughout training camp.
This is a guy that looks like he's giving the
Ravens a new element to the offense. And that's exactly
what it's been like on that on the first play,
the big the touchdown that was called back like he
was Lamar rolls out of the pocket and like Hopkins
(19:50):
wasn't open, he just threw it up. It was tightly
contested guy, he was kind of blanketed and that was
just a that was a fifty to fifty ball. Like
I'm just gonna trust my guy to go up and
make a play and has been probably gonna he's probably
gonna get a gold jacket in his future by making
those plays throughout his career and now he's doing it
for the Ravens. And everyone was joking about it because
(20:10):
he said it when he came off the field in
Buffalo Wash. Everyone's saying on Washed, huh, doesn't look like it.
Lamar made that point, say Flowers made that point, and
and man, he's really added something to this offense. So
that's a good piece of the equation that I think
is really going to pay dividends for this team this year.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
I think I think part of the storyline in this
game overall was just these kind of reserves that made
huge plays in this game. We talked about devontees Walker,
Tylan Wallace early in this game. You know, special teams
really gave gave the team a spark. Jake Hummell with
the blocked punt right up the middle was a huge
(20:50):
play early on. Lejontay Western with a long return of
Shoelace tackle saved the touchdown return for him on a punt,
and so I thought it was Jordan Stout also, I
think overall had had a really good day and was
was key when the Ravens offense was backed up early on,
and so I thought special teams also, and just in
(21:10):
role players, really good day for them overall.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
And when you have a game that's, as Harbaugh described
a grind, Like, when you have a game that's a grind,
you need those types of moments. You need a game
changing play from special teams, and you get it in
a block point, you need a big return. Like so
the Ravens were able to get some of those plays.
I think that's a great point from role players who
aren't like the who's who and and Tess Walker is
(21:34):
another one, like just credit to him is like he
was great all off season and in training camp. But
the question was kind of like where is where is
he fit? Because like I just don't know where the seams?
The answer, well, time and he's he's he's played his
way into a role on this team, and like he's
(21:55):
not going to be a guy that is the number
one receiver, but he makes his opportunities.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
No one's that was a fourth down.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yeah, Like you know, we just got done having a
conversation all week long about where are.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
The Ravens aggressive enough?
Speaker 1 (22:08):
You know you have these late leads, are you gonna
be aggressive and kind of are you gonna maintain the lead?
Or are you gonna keep grabbing the lead right and
going for more? And John Harball, to his credit, the
Ravens were down there in the red zone and went
forward on fourth down when they could have easily settle
for a field goal, turns into a devontees Walker touchdown
(22:29):
at the back of the end zone. And so credit
to Harb's for having the guts to call that. One
credit to Lamar Jackson, devontees Walker and the rest of
the offense for getting it done.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
So one last thought on the offense for me moving forward,
I do think again, this Browns defense is really good defense.
With the talented players on that front, they are gonna
need to have more success in terms of controlling line
of scrimmage in future games. And it's hard to criticize
the offense on a day where the team ends up
having forty one points. Of course, one of those was
a couple of those up on the defense, or the
(23:01):
defense scored it or set out by special teams. But
my point is like, you're gonna need to run the
ball better than they did today.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Yeah, generally speaking, I'm not worried about the Ravens run game.
I'm not gonna sit here and hit the panic button
after one game, Like we said, this is a this
is attacking downhill style Cleveland Browns defense, and like they're
run blitzing you. They were determined to take Derrick Henry
out of this game. Now, other teams might try the
same thing. They might see that formula. So like, you
(23:27):
got to have a way to still run the ball
even though everybody knows Derrick Henry is a monster and
that they are going to be aggressive to try to
stop him.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
You gotta be able to do it anyway.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Yeah, and so I thought that the Ravens in the
first half, you know, the Browns defensive line made some
plays in the backfield, Mason Graham, the rookie fifth overall pick.
I thought that they were having some trouble up front. So, yeah,
they got to be better. I'm not I'm not gonna
sit here and say I'm like worried about the Ravens
ability to run the ball.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Yet, No, I'm not either. I Also, I just think
that you want to see you want to win that
battle in the trenches, even if it's a up against
really really good defensive front like Cleveland has Lamar sacked
three times today. Again, none of those things hurt the Ravens,
but it's just as you projected forward. You want to
be able to hold up, you know, up up front
quickly before we wrap here, A big storyline coming into
(24:19):
this game was a return to Joe Flaccom and it
certainly I think it was probably a kind of an
emotional day for Joe on the field, not the day
that he would have wanted, just and had the final
numbers and ends up Dylan Gabriel ends up entering the
game late when it was well in hand. But what
was what were your thoughts about seeing Flacco back here
(24:40):
in Baltimore but at the time we're in a Browns uniform.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Yeah, I mean it was. It was cool, you know,
as could be expected. A lot of pregame, you know,
him dapping people up and hugs and Dennis pitted down
there with the Flaco Elite T shirt and you know,
Tory Smith, just tons of it was like a it
was like a greeting line, you know, at like a
wedding or something. People are just lining up to say
(25:04):
hi to Joe and uh.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
And so that was neat.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
It was one of them. Oh yeah, I talked to
him before the game. Yeah, oh, Yeah, would you Joe
talk about I was in line. Uh. I. I just said,
it's weird seeing you in Round's uniform. Is this weird
for you? And he said he like, he just laughed
and basically said, yes, it's pretty weird. And uh. And
so anyway we talked to me, I was locked in.
I don't want to you don't want to frightenize with
(25:28):
the end.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
You go down there fratenized with the team of the opponent.
That's stuff for you to do.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
I'm locked in.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
You're you in order to talk to him, pregame, you
have to get here a pregame. So locked in, locked
in your car, ninety four kickoff. But no, it was
fun to talk to him briefly and you could tell.
But like he said, he had a huge group of
family here. Around forty people that were here, Oh my god,
and so a big crew.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
It takes up half of them. How many kids?
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Hey, I know, I know, but yeah, it was definitely
kind of a It was a cool moment I think
for him, strange in a lot of ways, but as
you'd expect, very well received here, both by players, staff, fans, everybody.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Big hug from Lauren Jackson after the game is too.
You know, you can tell that was not your normal
dap up kind of hug that was.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
That was a hug hug.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Yeah, that was like two guys who have great admiration
and respect for one of which I think is like, like,
I know, we talked a lot about the Flacco thing
this week, but like, I don't think that we probably
spend enough time praising the fact that both these guys
have this good relationship and like the transition from one
to the other. The Ravens executed that as well as
(26:41):
it possibly could have, and that succession plan is so rare.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Not just the Ravens executed it, but the two players
involved executed it.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
They did, and like in order for those guys that
have still have a good relationship and not be adversarial
and you know, finish the game and it's and it's
you know, high fives and hugs. I think that like
that speaks to both of them, two.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Very genuine beats, like extremely genuine guys. There's no fakeness
about either one of them, and they're both like one
of one. Nobody copies, they don't copy anybody.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Else, Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
And so I think they're as different as they are
is certainly in play style, they're alike in so many
ways and that's why they've also been both had tremendous
success here and so it was it was just cool
to see Joe play.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
I hope he has a great season.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
I mean, I don't want the Browns to get a
lot of wins, but I hope individually he plays well.
And but the Raven's defense got after him.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
Yeah, but today, yeah, totally. And then lastly, this was
the Raven celebrated the thirtieth season. It was just in
addition to Joe, a lot of former players back in
the building, and so it was cool to see these guys,
ray Lewis, Jonathan walk out with OZI he knew something.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
That was the coolest moment in celebration for me.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Yeah, Ozzie is recognized as the legend of the game.
And behind him as he's introduced, it's Ray Lewis and
Jonathan Ogden both holding the Lombardi Troie.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
The two trophies special movement.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
That was special. And Ozzie is a guy that like
never wants to be in front of the camera. He's
always happy to being behind the scenes, but fit to
see him get that moment in that ovation, flanked by
the two players with the first two picks in franchise history,
that was a pretty powerful moment, and I think it
just was.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
It was fun to see that well, and Joe Flack
was a pret during good pick and Lamar Jackson was
a pre durned good pick too, so it was kind
of fully an Azzie new some kind of day here, yes.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
For sure, for sure. So again, it was great to
see the Ravens win this one in convincing fashion. They
improved to one on one on the season. As always,
you can email us give us your thoughts at the
lounge at Ravens dot NFL dot net. We will enjoy
this one and then turn the page to the Detroit
Lions coming here to MCBAK Stadium on Monday Night football
(28:46):
next week. Thank you so much for listening. We'll talk
with you again this week.
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