December 16, 2025 • 38 mins
Team insiders Ryan Mink and Garrett Downing break down where the Ravens stand in the chase for the AFC North crown, why they feel confident the Ravens can overcome the loss of Teddye Buchanan, and what they've seen from the offense that says it's turned around.
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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 getting ready for
the home stretch. Here, Garrett, three games to decide the
AFC North. The Ravens are one game behind the Pittsburgh
Steelers following the Steelers win on Monday Night Football over
the Miami Dolphins. We both watched that game. Turns it
off early. It wasn't going the way I wanted.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
It to go.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Yeah, I just kind of put cold water on a
good football weekend exactly.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
But the Ravens are still very much in the thick
of this race and still control their own destiny. So
we're gonna break all that down, give you some injury
updates and other updates from John Harball's Monday press conference,
as well as look back on some of the film
from the ravens twenty four to nothing shutout win over
the Cincinnati Bengals. So Garrett, let's just first talk big
(00:50):
picture here. The Ravens are still in fine position at
thirty seven percent chance of making the playoffs, according to
the New York Times slash Athletic, which all right, all right,
you know I wish you were higher than that, but
I could work with thirty seven and the Ravens control
their own fate.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yeah, that's the biggest thing to me is as it
stands right now, the Ravens control their own destiny if
they went out there in the playoffs. And I think
that's the mentality of this team. And I think it
is easy to start going down the path of like,
had you won this game, you would be in much
better position. If you'd only beaten the Steelers, or if
you'd beaten the Bengals, or if you pick a game,
if you'd won this game, then you would be in
(01:29):
a much better situation. And I think it's only natural
to kind of go down that line of thinking. And
John Harbaugh closed out his press conference on Monday speaking
to that a little bit and basically made the point
that like, there's no benefit in looking backwards and trying
to replay all that in your mind and think about, well,
if you had done this, and you'd be in a
(01:49):
different situation. The way that the team is looking at
it is that this is the situation we find ourselves in.
This is our lot, and we need to go and
make the most And there again, their mentality is really
about winning out, and I think Lamar honestly does a
really good job of that. I think it's only natural
for fans and us and we're going to talk about
(02:10):
all these scenarios of like, well, if the Steelers lose
this game, what's the implication. I think that, like Lamar
is a is a real guy who sets the tone
in terms of like, it's not about what they do,
if it's about what we do. Let's go out ourselves
and take care of business, and then we don't need
to worry about the Dolphins coming up with an upset
on Monday Night football.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Don't worry about that, focus on ourselves.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, Now winning out would be a real challenge for
the Ravens. And now they played much better ball against
the Bengals, which we're going to talk about that, you know,
kind of the team that we've been expecting to see
all season long. They showed up in Cincinnati and is
that here to stay or not?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
We're going to talk about that. But in order to
win out.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
The Ravens would need to beat the New England Patriots,
the Green Bay Packers in Lambeau, and then close out
with a victory in Pittsburgh. Those are three Division leaders
as it stands right now with the combined record twenty
eight thirteen and one, so certainly a daunting challenge to
win out Absolutely not impossible. I think the Ravens can
(03:11):
do that, but it's not a cakewalk. The Steelers remaining schedule,
they traveled to Detroit to face the Lions. Lions are
fighting for the lives. They're eight and six. Then the
Steelers go to Cleveland for a division rivalry game and
then host US in the finale in Pittsburgh. So that's
(03:31):
kind of how it's how it is laid out right.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Now, let's get into this.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Did you know this before we get to all the
playoff scenarios on that point of winning out, this was
a sat I was not even aware of until this week.
Did you know that Lamar Jackson has never lost a
game in his career in the weeks fifteen, sixteen, seventeen,
or eighteen undefeated in his career.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Now, some of those there, you go, I mean, I think,
chalk it up.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
That's my point.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Now, Now, some of those years didn't play because he
was hurt at the end of the season, and also
in some week eighteen games has sat because the Ravens
have had the number one seed wrapped up, so there's
not a lot of games in that.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah, us, you know, in that SA size, I want
to know what the record is.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
It's sixteen to no.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Sixteen to no.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, that's a lot of games.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
That's a lot of games. So it's a pretty good
stretch there. So hopefully you can keep it going over
these last three.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Which is kind of crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
I mean it speaks to Lamar like being in kind
of that mode late in the season, right, But like
we all know, Lamar is is not like playing in
the cold. He would rather not. Yeah, so it is
interesting though, like he and the Ravens. You can't chalk
all these victories up just to Lamar obviously, but like
he and the Ravens played some good ball in late December.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
I do actually think like the cold thing, Like he's
a Florida guy and we know that he doesn't prefer
playing in the cold. Actually thought you didn't mind very
well call game. I mean that was the coldest game
in Ravens history on Sunday against against the Bengals, and
Lamar looked good and this team played its best overall
game yep, And on the Monday Night football game. There
was a story about Aaron Rodgers and he basically and look,
(05:02):
when I think of Aaron Rodgers, I think about him
playing in the cold. He played in Green Bay for
the regularity of his career, and he made the point
that like, I'm a California guy that likes walking along
the beach, Like that's my preference. I don't like playing
in the cold either. But he's played like a thousand
games in the hold and some of his biggest moments.
So even if you don't like it, I think that
Lamar has done fine in cold weather games, as evidenced
by Sunday against the Bengals.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, completely agree.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
All right, So let's go through the scenarios for the
Ravens to win the AFC North for a third straight
year and get into the playoffs. So all three scenarios,
you have to beat the Steelers in the regular season finale.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
That's just the way it works, which is.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Fine, Like to be you can't expect to be division
champions and lose to the team you're competing against. Your
art trival twice. Yeah, so you gotta beat the Steelers
to get in.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Fine.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Really, to me, it's about forcing that winning getting game
in week eighteen, that's what you want, Like that game
would be awesome.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Right, You just basically force a game seven, like that's
what exactly. That's so considering the way the Raves start
of the season, yep, to put yourself in a win
again in a situation in week eighteen, that is what
you want exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
And in order to do that, the Ravens can win
the next two games. That would definitely do it. So
put yourself in a position to win out. Like we
talked about, if the Ravens split with the Patriots and Packers,
then they need the Steelers to also lose one of their.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Last two games.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Right, So if the Steelers, the Steelers kick off against
Detroit at four twenty five, right on Sunday, when the
Ravens take the field, like if the Steelers lose to
the Lions at four to twenty five, when the Ravens
take the field against the Patriots, they will know if
they win that game, you get game seven in Pittsburgh, right,
(06:46):
And so the Ravens can drop one of their next
two as long as the Steelers also drop one of
their next two. It's the other scenario, and then a
third but unlikely scenario would be that the Steelers lose
both of those games to the Lions and the Browns.
In that case, the Ravens could also lose their next
two games and then still be able to win the
division crown with a win in Pittsburgh in the finale.
(07:08):
So basically, if the Ravens of Steelers finished tied in
the AFC North, then the Ravens are division champions because
of the tiebreakers.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Yeah, the Ravens basically have to keep pace with the
Steelers going into that game.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
Yep, that final game.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
You have to be at least you can be one
game back, right, but which is where they already are?
Speaker 4 (07:25):
Is there already one game back?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
You can't afford to lose any more ground, and you
go into that game and then you have a chance
to finish the season with the same record, but the
Ravens would have the tiebreaker. So a scenario that you
just mentioned there briefly, and I want to get to
an email here. As always, you can email us at
the Lounge at Ravens at NFL dot net. We often
get good emails from Andrew Constantino. And Andrew asked, friend
(07:47):
of Lounge, friend of the lounge. If the Ravens beat
the Patriots on Sunday, the Steelers lose to Detroit, that
Green Bay game would be meaningless to the Ravens. Again,
So this situation, the Steelers lose to Detroit, the Ravens
beat the Patriot Sunday night, suddenly that Green Bay game
is meaningless. Is there any chance the Ravens would rest
starters on a short week to have them ready for
(08:09):
the Week eighteen game at Pittsburgh. I think the answer
is no. But it's a fun thought experiment. So we're
getting ahead of ourselves here, but it's an interesting situation
if the Ravens were to find themselves in that spot.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah, I mean, it would be meaningless in terms of
the race for the crown.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Obviously.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
I don't think you're gonna hear anybody hear the arm
under our Performance Center say it's meaningless. John Harball ain't
gonna say it's meaningless.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
And so it gets into the whole debate that we've
had many times about the regular season finale and resting
starters go into the playoffs and you know, momentum and
all of those things. It gets into that debate the
momentum versus health debate, and so I think that some
guys that are dealing with more nagging injuries, bigger injuries,
(08:58):
it wouldn't surprise me if they rested some of those starters.
You know, in that scenario, you can't rest everybody. Yeah,
you just have to have enough players to field a team.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
And I think that you know.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
If guys are ready to play, and like, everybody's sore
at this point of the season, but if if you
are not, if you don't have a defined injury, let's
just say, then you would probably play. You know, I
don't think that you'd want to lose the momentum going
into what would be a win and.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Get in game again. In Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Yeah, I think it's hard, probably within a season, to
shut it down and then throttle it back up every
eighteen game. And so my inclination is that you probably
play people in that game. The tricky scenario that you're
mentioning though, is like if a guy's dealing with nagging
injuries or he's been banged up, then maybe that's the
opportunity to not play him. Also, you start going down
that path and it's like, well, Lamar has been banged
(09:49):
up at times this year.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
How's he feeling.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
If you make the decision not to play Lamar, then
all of a sudden you're like, you know what, you
might as well shut down this guy and that guy.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
And so I think Lamar would probably play.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Yeah, I think so too.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Again, this we're putting the car in front of the
hort here horse here in a major way because neither
of these things have happened. And you also were projecting
on the health scenarios status of everybody.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
The Patriots and the Steelers lose the Detroit I mean,
I will talk about this.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
I hope that is the debate.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
I appreciate the question.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Yeah, it's a good question from Andrew, and it's fun
to discuss and debate. But I hope the Ravens are
in the spot where they have to. I hope this
is the storyline for next week.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Me too. I'll tell you who wouldn't like it.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
All the TV producers in the NFL reflex the game
to Saturday night.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
That's true, That's that's true.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
That's a good point.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
But again, you can email us at the lounge at
Ravens dot NFL dot net. Andrew appreciate the question as always.
Uh So just in terms of looking at those standings again,
it's again, it is pretty simple, you know for the Ravens,
and I think that their mentality, as I already mentioned,
is is just to keep winning and then put themselves
in the spot to force that week team game. I'll
(10:55):
say this, And watching the Steelers on Monday Night football,
I think a lot of Ravens fans were hoping like, hey,
could we get a little favore here from Miami, and
the Steelers just dominated that game.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
I don't know why I fooled myself into thinking that
was gonna.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
I know, I know it was a ga in to it. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
And the thing about the Steelers that that stood out
to me, especially after watching them beat the Ravens a
week ago, is like they're playing some of their best football.
It seems it seems like that offense is finding itself.
Aaron Rodgers is spreading the ball around. Their offense looks
to have rhythm to it, and their defense made life
really hard on the Miami Dolphins. And the Dolphins came
into that game running the ball really well. Wasn't much
(11:32):
room for them to run against the Steelers on a
cold night in Pittsburgh. It just seems like they're playing
really good football. And so the reality is the Ravens
they may have to win out if they're going to
get to the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
I think that that's a very real possibility.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Yeah, my takeaway from that game was Aaron Rodgers is
kind of dialed in right now, you know, and they
have now shown him back to back games that they
have different ways to win. It's in the passing game.
You know, against the Ravens, they aired it out, went deep,
multiple big shots really or what you know, that was
their offense in that game. Then against Miami you just
(12:06):
see Aaron Rodgers and kind of uh, you know, game
managers such a negative word, but like that's kind of
what he's so good at, diagnosing defenses, getting the ball
to where it should go and taking easier completions, short completions.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
And that's what he's done for the majority of the year.
Get the ball out of your hands.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
You're not gonna hit pick your pick your spots to
take shots down the field, but for the vast majority
of it, get the ball out quick, get it into
the you know, to the open receiver and let them
get yack. And they're the Steelers are fine. With kind
of slow marching down the field with these six yard gains,
eight yard gains, you know.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Uh, and and.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
So they're showing different ways to win Offensively, they seem
like they're more they're on the same page now more.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Than they were earlier in the year.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
And Aaron Rodgers is just playing good football right now.
And so I hate to see it, to be quite honest.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Yeah, I wish. I wish they were a mess. That's
what I would prefer.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
They went through a losing skid there where it looked like,
you know, and Aaron Rodgers is blaming his wide receivers
are not showing up to meetings and stuff, and it
looked like they could come on glued. And that's kind
of what happened in Pittsburgh down the stretch last year.
They had a big lead in the division and came
undone down the stretch, And it's looking.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Like that might not happen this year.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Yeah, it's kind of the opposite.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
It seemed like I kind of pulled them together a
little bit that stretch there when they lost that game
against Buffalo, and so, yeah, like I said, I think
the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Now, I think I think they're gonna have their hands
full in Detroit. I think that is gonna be a
tough game. Yeah, I agree, Steelers. Detroit can definitely run
the ball. And I'm not gonna say the Steelers run
defense is fixed because of what they did against the
Miami Dolphins, who have shown over the years they have
not played good football in cold weather. And so Detroit's
fighting for the lives in the playoffs. Another team very
(13:51):
similar to the Ravens. You know, some of these teams Ravens, Steelers,
Chiefs that people thought were gonna be amongst the best
of the league like scrapping. And the Lions are scrapping
right now. And they can run the ball for sure,
So that in Detroit tough.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Place to play. That's gonna be a tough game for
the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Yeah, for sure it would.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
It would certainly be nice if Detroit's able to do
the Ravens a favor and then the Ravens can take
care of business against the Patriots on Sunday at.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Mpt make Stadi.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
We're not gonna be easy. That's a tough assignment. Patriots
are one of the best teams in the league. But
that would be a great Sunday, So a couple updates
want to run through from John Harball's press conference on Monday.
First of all, let's talk injury updates.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
We do.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
The biggest news on the injury front is that Teddy
Buchanon rookie linebackers having a great season. He's out for
the rest of the season. Torn Acla went down on
punk Coverage, non contact injury.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Difficult to see that.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
I mean, he's second on the team and tackles and
playing extra Rokwan Smith has really emerged and had a
great rookie season. It's a it's a really tough blow
for him in this defense.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, I really like Teddy. I thought he's played really well.
It's it's tough for any rookie to start on the
Ravens defense, let alone a fourth round pick, let alone
a guy who played one year big time college football. Right,
like Teddy's story this season was incredible and to play
as well as he was playing, and so that is tough.
(15:09):
I think the optimistic viewpoint is that Trenton Simpson has
been playing good ball too. You know, he's in his
third year and when he's been on the field, he's
done well. And now Teddy beat him out for the job, really,
But Trenton had kind of carved out a niche here
over the past month, month and a half or so
as kind of this versatile front seven piece, and he's
(15:32):
been doing well within that role, and so he's going
to have a larger role now moving forward. It's kind
of they're going to rely on him more next to Rokwan.
Now we all know Kyle plays a lot in there,
and so it's not like that player's playing one hundred
percent of snaps, but Teddy had played I think close
to seventy percent, And so Trenton's in a big spot
(15:52):
and he's played well so far, and you need to
continue that.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Part of the Trenton Simpson move on at the outside
linebacker where he was taking some snaps was a reflection
of the Ravens just were in need of players there
as Tavius Robinson was hurt and they were short handed.
Tavius Robinson now is back, and so I think that
like the versatility that Trenton brings, while valuable, it's not
as needed right now. What's needed now is for him
(16:16):
to go play that will linebacker spot and played at
a really high level tackle.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Run and tackle.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
And it's been up and down for him in his career,
and Teddy ultimately ended up winning that job. But John
Harbaugh expressed optimism and confidence and Trent and Simpson and
his ability to step in there. He filled in for
Teddy in the second half of the game after he
went down. Defense still came up with a shutout.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah, Hard said he's really not worried about it.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, nine tackles, yes, and it was a shutout, right.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
So I think that like sim Trent Simpson has been
he's been building over the course of his career and
there's going to be a lot more on his plate.
But I think that the Ravens are feel confident about
his ability to be up for the challenge.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Chidoh Ouzie is also dealing with an injury, a foot injury.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Kind of a weird one.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Ran out of the back of the end zone on
a deep shot from the Bengals and kind of got
caught up in the netting, John Harball said, ended up
kind of crashing into the wall in the back of
the end zone.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
And an odd injury.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
John Harball did say it's not a major injury like
a Liz Frank, but they'll have to see over the
course of the week.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Kind of how that develops.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
It sounds like maybe he has a chance to play
against the New England Patriots. And then Ronnie Stanley went
down at the end of the third quarter, limped off
the field did not return. John Harwall said he looks
to be fine again. Another guy that's kind of sore,
you know, early this week. But as we said, a
lot of guys are sure.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
Yeah, for sure. So let's take a quick break.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
When we come back, we'll dive into that game from Sunday,
that shutout victory over the Bengals, share some things that
we learned from the film and also talk about some
key guys who are back from injury and the impact
that they had on that game. You are listening to
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(18:03):
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(18:25):
So as we look back at that game against the Bengals,
a big positive for the Ravens was getting our Darius
Washington and Tavious Robinson back on the field. And Tavious, man,
it did not take him long to get back in
the action.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
He played.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
He played one of his best football games as a
Raven coming back from the foot injury, and he added
something to this defense.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
I really was impressed with what Tavius brought. And I thought,
in particular his sack on the Bengals opening drive, they're
in range, they're in scoring range, and you know, for
him to bring down Joe Burrow and the open field
drive them out of field goal range, I thought that
was an early statement kind of play.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
And so good to have him back. And I really
like the combination that he and Draymont Jones give the Ravens.
I mean, these are two heavy handed, physical dudes, and
you know, Tavi's that outside lineback kicked Draymont more in
toward that d ND role that we talked with him
about another friend at Loune and I just think it
(19:24):
adds some more bite to this Ravens defense. And really
it was pretty remarkable the amount of pass rush that
the Ravens got. Ten quarterback hits on Joe Burrow, five
of which from Draymont Jones. Tavis also had the pressure
that on the interception, but it was incredible without blitzing.
They only have four blitzes the whole game. The Ravens
(19:46):
did so not a lot of extra pressure from Zach
Orr but still able to get to Joe Burrow. I
thought that was a really good sign for this defense
going down the stretch. They're gonna have to do that
against Drake May and Georgia. You know they're going to
need to continue that here down the street.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Well, you mentioned the interception. That was the other play
with Tavius that stood out to me. He was the
one that was applying the pressure on the the Kyle
van Noy interception, which you kind of forget the start
of that play because there was so much excitement on
the back end of the play, which was handing them
all off to a lowhi Gillman and letting him run
to the house. But on that play, I give zach
Ran defensive coaches a lot of credit because that was
really schemed up.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Well.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
First of all, Kyle van Noy is.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Obviously dropping on that play, but also Travis Jones. Travis
Jones faked base pressure up the middle that he backed
off into coverage. You don't see the three hundred and
twenty pounder backing off too often, but the Ravens did that,
and they've done that who of course we remember the
Michael Pierce interception from last year.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
The Ravens have.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Done that with their defensive tackles of that seemed to
confuse the line and open things up for Tavius to
get in there and apply pressure on Burrow.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Well, both guys, I thought van Ney also, it's it's
this pressure technique where you kind of start your pressure
you touch, you reach out and touch the offensive lineman,
so there they slide to block you and then you
back off. Yeah, right, so they're already kind of committed.
That opened the lane for Tavius, who did a nice
job of seizing upon that and kind of beat his
(21:07):
man also, and then he's barreling down on Joe Burrow.
Burrow saw Travis Jones. Travis was was dropping underneath to
kind of take away the quick throat to the tight end.
That's where Burrow tried to go. He was like, all right,
I'll test my luck with Travis Jones in coverage or whatever.
But he's kind of stumbling as he throws and just
(21:28):
throws up a softball to Kyle van Noy, who picked
it off.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Yeah, and then obviously that the rest of that play was,
uh was one to remember.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
And the question is now Kyle Van Noy went on
his podcast and he said that he considered taking it
back all the way, that it was looking pretty good.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Looking at that end zone all the way down there.
But he was like, ah, i'll hand it.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
It was pretty good, but it was pretty far.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
He was pretty far.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
And he but he does believe that he could have
made himself ninety five yards if he had not handed
off to a Lowhi Gilwin.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
So what do you think?
Speaker 4 (22:05):
Uh, that's a great ques.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Honestly, Like when I was watching that play and Aloha
started to get through the offensive lineman kind of get
through the wash there, it was all of a sudden,
he was just nothing but green grass. Like, I was
surprised at how easy he made it look once he
got past that first layer. So I think that van
Noy could have probably gotten by the offensive lineman in
pursuit and then take it to the house. Now there
(22:28):
was a tight end who was chasing down Tanner Hudson
right who was right behind, who I think had a
decent chance of catching Van Noy if he did try
to take it to the house.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
That was your main that's the main guy that you
gotta worry about.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
That's the guy. And the offensive linemen weren't really a problem.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
No, they were just they were kind of they were
there first time the play.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
They were they were there at first, but they were
going to be beaten breeasily.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
And so then it's a question of can you out
run Tanner Hudson And that's that's a little dicier for him.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Well, so I did some digging, all right. I got
scientific on this because I wanted to answer the question
would he have made it right? So I went back
and I looked at Kyle van Noy's top speeds. Okay,
he hit eighteen miles per hour, that's right around even
for his career, and he hit it early this year,
Week one, eighteen miles p hour.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Not a great play to get it on.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
It was a touchdown, the tip touchdown in Buffalo where
ball got tipped in back in the ends and he
was trying he was chasing Josh Allen as Josh Allen
through that pass and KBN hit eighteen miles per.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Hour on that pretty good, petty good.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Okay, now, lo he hit like he was over twenty Yeah, okay,
But so I plugged this in.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
This is the beauty of AI. Okay.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I went back and found Tanner Hudson his speed when
he hit nineteen point five eight miles per trying to
chase ALOHI okay, So let's say Tanner.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Runs just as fast. Yeah, desplite who he's chasing. Okay.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
The question is would a man traveling eighteen miles p
hour beat another man traveling nineteen point five eight miles
p hour in one hundred yard race if he had
a ten yard head start.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Kvian had a headstar.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
This is like my act questions back exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
I was like, there's no way I can answer this
myself anymore.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
The train lead's.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Baltimore at ten ten am exactly That's.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Exactly what I was thinking about. I was like, there's
no way I could solve this on my own. But
this is what AI s here, Okay, so I plug
that in. Yes, the man traveling eighteen miles per hour
would beat the man traveling nineteen point five eight miles
p hour because he completes the remaining distance approximately zero
point two two seconds faster.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
So that's it's tighty.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
He's hustled the entire way down the field, like Gilman
got to like the twenty yard line and he realized
that nobody was really going to catch it, and he
got a cruise into the This was.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Going to be a photo finish himself. So like, could
you have gotten a shoelace tackle?
Speaker 4 (24:46):
And how much gases in the tank?
Speaker 3 (24:48):
I think?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Right right? Does he maintain that speed?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
This train might have been slowing down near the end,
so I don't know.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
All right, Well, look, the uh, the powers of AI
tell us that he could have done it.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I believe, So you believe. I believe.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
I love it. I love it. That's great.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
But the other point, just quickly to go back to this,
I mentioned it off the top and talk about Tavius Robinson.
We got sidetracked with the act questions here. But but,
but our Darius Washington did come back in this game
and didn't have a didn't make a big impact from
a stat standpoint or anything.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
But first of all, like.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Just incrediblenaps two tackles, yeah, fifty STAPs two tackles, just
to get back on the field.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Considering the torn achilles in the spring, when a lot
of people thought that was a season ender, pretty remarkable,
and it also like it speaks to his recovery. And
talked to John Harball about this last week, and he
talked about the fact that it was one of the
best recovery processes that he's seen and and felt like
this was of course Ardarius deserves a lot of credit
for working his way back, but had a lot of
(25:49):
praise for him. And even during the game, he had
a conversation with our Darius on the sidelines and made
the point that just basically, how how impressive is it
that you're able to play be out here, flying around
given what you've had to overcome. Even in the game,
he was thinking about that for Darius Washington, and I
think that speaks to how impressed the Ravens had been
(26:10):
with his work ethic and willingness to try to get
back on this field.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Yeah, and he inspired this team honestly last week and
moving forward, just that story of seven months after an
achilles to work your way back to just get on
the field, Like every other player on this team and
especially the defense, looks around and says, yeah, I'm sore,
but man, look at what that guy just went through.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Just to get back, like to.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Give it everything you got, even when you know it's
not looking good for this team to make the playoffs,
like to keep fighting and get back, Like how how
can I complain about my soreness?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (26:46):
And also just the way that Ourdaius plays and everything.
Multiple players said he added some more juice to practice
last week, and then John Harball said the same thing.
In the game, just like watching this guy play, he
adds an energy level. And we all remember what he
brought to this defense in the second half of last season,
Like here's the shortest dude on the field and he's
(27:07):
popping people. Yeah, you know, unafraid of anything, and so
that just rubs off on everybody. And I do think
that it could help lift this defense the rest of
the way. The guy who I remember. The story that
I remember is Threll Suggs coming back the Super Bowl year. Yep,
very similar story. That was an achilles that he popped
(27:28):
in the spring, the spring exactly playing basketball or something
like that, I remember, And he came back late in
the year and.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Ravens on the Super Bowl. So right back there we go.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
I like the idea of that, hey, because he made
it back way earlier than anybody expected.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
I think he wasn't even a full seven months, and the.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Fact that was an incredible recovery, and so yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Just think that when you have a guy that does that,
I do think it can serve as a source of motivation.
And that's the case for a Darius. A couple other
notes just from the game on Sunday. One point that
was kind of a fun one is John Harball was
talking about chasing perfection and he mentioned the perfect play
from the game. And it's probably not one that you
necessarily would have thought of as the perfect play because
(28:11):
you're probably thinking, okay, is that the touchdown return? The
interception return? Like what is it? It was actually a
pitch play to the right. Derrick Henry went for about
twenty yards a nineteen yard run, and he said that
was the perfect play where everybody did exactly what was
expected of them and the Ravens ended up picking a
nineteen yard game on that play.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah, it's kind of cool. The bigger, the larger point.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Was you always have to keep chasing perfection. That's what
the Ravens do, right, And they played a great game
against the Bengals.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Did they play a perfect game?
Speaker 1 (28:39):
No, But like John Harball's belief is that you can
achieve perfection. It's not like it's always this carrot on
this end of the stick that you can never quite.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Get that you can achieve it.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
At times it flashes and said that was an example of.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
That perfect play. What I really love.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
About watching that play back because as soon as I
came out with the Presthcrams, I was like, all right
to go watch that and it was blocked up exceptionally well.
I think my favorite part of the play, beyond the design,
which was was clever, it was misdirection toss. It was
Charlie Kohler on that play. He's the backside tight end
(29:17):
responsible for kind of backside blocking use man. He pulls
all the way around and Charlie was trucking. Yeah, I
should have looked up top feed on him, and he
was moving to get out in front of that play
and in front of Derek Henry on that run, and
that just kind of bowls into some Bengals there to
try to kind of clear the rest of the way.
I thought it was a very impressive hustle play by
(29:39):
Charlie Kohler, who.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Got the highest grades.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
From Pro Football Focus among anybody on the Ravens offense
and continues to get high grades. He's gotten high grades
all really all season, and so that that was a
pretty cool play for Charlie.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Well, he also had three special teams tackles and got
a game ball after the game did on hardball, so
the coaches certainly took notice of what he was able
to do.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
And then we have an email here that I want
to read.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
This is again.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
You can email us at the lounge at Ravens dot
NFL dot net. This is from John Strummel, who says
I had a very dick and seond thought about the season.
The Ravens' best game and their worst game came against
the Bengals, same opponent, wildly different outcomes. It makes this
year feel more unpredictable than any Ravens season that I
can remember. Week to week, even quarter to quarter, It's
(30:24):
impossible to know which version of the team is going
to be there. Curious what you think. Does this season
feel uniquely volatile to you? Or is this just the
modern NFL turned up to eleven and he says thanks
for keeping us saying and entertained this year.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
So what's your take? Is that just I guess actually,
let me just start on this.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Like my take is that I look around the league
and this is what it seems to be like from it.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
Just seems like that's the case.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
I feel like we say this every year, but there's
no one dominant team like in the past.
Speaker 4 (30:52):
For the past sure, sure, like the Chiefs are out
of it. They've been the dominant team. The Eagles won
the Super Bowl last year.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
It doesn't take read some of the headlines of Philly
from the past month, like, there's a lot of volatility
in the NFL, and it seems to be more than
I can remember.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Well, especially Yeah, in the AFC, the traditional Titans are
not leading the way and you know you the division
leaders right now or the New England Patricots who people
thought were going to be better this year, but didn't
think they were going to be like contending for the
number one seed.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Right, And and then you have the North is down
which usually this is really the strongest division. Now Ravens
Steelers duking it out. That's nothing new. The South, the
Jags are leading the way, the Texans are really really good,
the Colts are now the Colts were the kind of
the darling girl in the year. Then you have the
(31:45):
Broncos in the West that are right now the number
one seed in the conference. And so it has been
really weird in the AFC. Now, I do every single
year the whole NFL Circle of Pair already graphic comes
out of like, well, this team beat this team, but
then they beat that team and they beat that and
(32:05):
it's just like crazy, like everybody beats everybody, you know
over the.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Course of the NFL season.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
It's just at what, at what week of the season
does that circle get completed?
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Yeah, is the question.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
So I do feel like generally speaking, the league is Yeah,
it's it's a tough league to win in. And and
even Charlie Kohler when he joined us talked about this,
like why there's such high variance is because it's such
a team game and you have to have like everybody
doing the right thing to have success. That like it's
(32:37):
even it's easy even for really good teams. Like one
little park goes wrong and you know that plays busted
or and that play decides the game or whatever. Right,
I mean, how many games have the Ravens been in Isaiah?
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Likely?
Speaker 1 (32:50):
You know, the call against the Steelers kind of change
that game. The fumble at the goal line against the Bengals,
maybe that changes that game. Like there's like little time
any things. It's a game of inches that like decide
how a game swings.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
And momentum I think is a real thing also in
the league, and so it can be kind of crazy.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah, I mean, the Ravens did their worst game was
the five turnover game on Thanks Saving Night against the Bengals.
They were very hungry to avenge that loss and felt
like they should have played a whole lot better. And yeah,
this was their best game against the Bengals. Now we
got to do it again against the Steelers. That was
not a great game from start to finish. And now
the Ravens need to go play the best game in
(33:33):
week eighteen.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Yeah, Well before they get to Week eighteen, they got
to play the best game Week sixteen Patriots.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Like that's the question for me.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
The final thought here is like can the Ravens keep
Can the Ravens keep it going?
Speaker 4 (33:43):
Based on what they did against the Bengals? That is
the question.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Is that version of this team gonna be what we
see on Sunday Night Football against the Patriots.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
I do think that it feels like they've turned a corner,
and I don't want to say that it's just this
past game against the Bengals. A I think the defense
has been playing better really for months now, and now
had they they hadn't played that well against a top
tier quarterback, you know, as they did they shut down
Joe Burrow.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
That's really hard to do.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Drake may Is has been in the MVP conversation for
much of the year. So can they do it again
against a very good quarterback? That's but I think that
the defense has like been good for a while, right,
it's whether they can achieve that greatness the offense, as
crazy as it sounds like, even when they had the
five turnovers against the Bengals and and at times against
(34:35):
the Steelers, like you've seen these these flashes of like, Okay,
it looks like it's come together, and okay, it looks
like Lamar's healthier now, like he's starting to move better,
he's starting to run a little bit more and be
a little more decisive and and like, oh, man, like
the way he he ripped that pass from the pocket
and stood in there, Like, man, that I've seen that
(34:58):
Lamar a bunch before, you know, so, like I think
for people like us and our very loyal listeners who
watch this team so much, like you've been kind of
seeing it, and it felt like this win over the
Bengals was to turn the corner moment. Now, that doesn't
guarantee you anything, as you just got done saying like
the variance is crazy, but I do think that there's
(35:19):
real momentum behind the offense and defense for this team
right now.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
This might be a terrible analogy, but like whenever I
do a home improvement project and you're working on something,
I can get like a lot of times, like ninety
percent of the way there, but it's also it's always
multiple trips to the hardware.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Str you're just like my wife, you get ninety percent
of the way there.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
You know, it's like it's a like I'll have to
go back to the hardware start a couple of times.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
I get most of the way there, then I.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Got to watch ten more videos on YouTube and I
got to figure it out. And it's like the Ravens
have done a lot of things where it's like, oh,
they're right there, but you just have to finish the play.
And like they took a couple more trips in the
hardware and it seems like they've they've turned.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
A corner on that front.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
And it just that's the way it's and I know
that it's like some fans are tired of hearing like
I don't know, some some fans are tired of hearing like, oh,
we're really close. And it's easy to say that, but
I do genuinely believe there's truth to that. With this
Ravens team and what we've seen from the offense over
the last month. And it's not like the game against
(36:23):
the Bengals was some like juggernaut offensive performance, but it
was efficient and it like it passed the eye test
to me, and I think that we're going to see
that the rest of the way. That's like my inclination
is that Lamar's healthier. This offense is is finding something
and if they avoid the miscues of basically turnovers in
(36:43):
the red zone, which has undone them this year and
their losses, if they if they avoid those.
Speaker 4 (36:50):
Then I think they're going to be just fine.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
Well, I think if they can continue to run the
ball the way that they did against the Bengals, and
that's a big tall task, you know. I mean, the
Bengals run defense has not been very good this year.
But if the Ravens can continue to do that and
like stay balanced, more balanced than out of third and
tens and all that stuff, Like, I thought that that
(37:14):
really helped the offense against the Bengals.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Yeah, so I'm with you, and I think that the
run game, if you can keep it, if you can
continue operating like Derek Henry had eleven carries average over
nine yards of carry, had one hundred yards. I don't
think that's going to be the case every single week.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
But he didn't have a lot offensive plays forty one.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
But yeah, but if but there's a long history that
shows that Derek Henry's at his best late in the season,
and I think we saw that on Sunday, and I
expect that to be the case the rest of the way.
And he he runs all those hills unless all those
weights during the offseason so that when the Raves are
in this situation late in the year, the team can
count on him. And I think that they are going
(37:54):
they know that he's ready for that assignment, and I
think that he's going to deliver. And I think this
offense as a whole is is ready to put it
all together and have some really good games here down
the stretch.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
YEP, I totally agree with that.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
It's gonna be gonna be a fun stretch and Sunday
Night football against Patriots is gonna be real fun. So
we're still getting ready for that game. We'll be back
with you later this week to prep you for that big,
big matchup.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Th big Sunday night football matchup. Thanks for listening.
Welcome into the Lounge presented by DraftKings. I'm Ryan Mink
here with Garrett Downing, and we are getting ready for
the home stretch. Here, Garrett, three games to decide the
AFC North. The Ravens are one game behind the Pittsburgh
Steelers following the Steelers win on Monday Night Football over
the Miami Dolphins. We both watched that game. Turns it
off early. It wasn't going the way I wanted.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
It to go.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Yeah, I just kind of put cold water on a
good football weekend exactly.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
But the Ravens are still very much in the thick
of this race and still control their own destiny. So
we're gonna break all that down, give you some injury
updates and other updates from John Harball's Monday press conference,
as well as look back on some of the film
from the ravens twenty four to nothing shutout win over
the Cincinnati Bengals. So Garrett, let's just first talk big
(00:50):
picture here. The Ravens are still in fine position at
thirty seven percent chance of making the playoffs, according to
the New York Times slash Athletic, which all right, all right,
you know I wish you were higher than that, but
I could work with thirty seven and the Ravens control
their own fate.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yeah, that's the biggest thing to me is as it
stands right now, the Ravens control their own destiny if
they went out there in the playoffs. And I think
that's the mentality of this team. And I think it
is easy to start going down the path of like,
had you won this game, you would be in much
better position. If you'd only beaten the Steelers, or if
you'd beaten the Bengals, or if you pick a game,
if you'd won this game, then you would be in
(01:29):
a much better situation. And I think it's only natural
to kind of go down that line of thinking. And
John Harbaugh closed out his press conference on Monday speaking
to that a little bit and basically made the point
that like, there's no benefit in looking backwards and trying
to replay all that in your mind and think about, well,
if you had done this, and you'd be in a
(01:49):
different situation. The way that the team is looking at
it is that this is the situation we find ourselves in.
This is our lot, and we need to go and
make the most And there again, their mentality is really
about winning out, and I think Lamar honestly does a
really good job of that. I think it's only natural
for fans and us and we're going to talk about
(02:10):
all these scenarios of like, well, if the Steelers lose
this game, what's the implication. I think that, like Lamar
is a is a real guy who sets the tone
in terms of like, it's not about what they do,
if it's about what we do. Let's go out ourselves
and take care of business, and then we don't need
to worry about the Dolphins coming up with an upset
on Monday Night football.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Don't worry about that, focus on ourselves.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, Now winning out would be a real challenge for
the Ravens. And now they played much better ball against
the Bengals, which we're going to talk about that, you know,
kind of the team that we've been expecting to see
all season long. They showed up in Cincinnati and is
that here to stay or not?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
We're going to talk about that. But in order to
win out.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
The Ravens would need to beat the New England Patriots,
the Green Bay Packers in Lambeau, and then close out
with a victory in Pittsburgh. Those are three Division leaders
as it stands right now with the combined record twenty
eight thirteen and one, so certainly a daunting challenge to
win out Absolutely not impossible. I think the Ravens can
(03:11):
do that, but it's not a cakewalk. The Steelers remaining schedule,
they traveled to Detroit to face the Lions. Lions are
fighting for the lives. They're eight and six. Then the
Steelers go to Cleveland for a division rivalry game and
then host US in the finale in Pittsburgh. So that's
(03:31):
kind of how it's how it is laid out right.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Now, let's get into this.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Did you know this before we get to all the
playoff scenarios on that point of winning out, this was
a sat I was not even aware of until this week.
Did you know that Lamar Jackson has never lost a
game in his career in the weeks fifteen, sixteen, seventeen,
or eighteen undefeated in his career.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Now, some of those there, you go, I mean, I think,
chalk it up.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
That's my point.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Now, Now, some of those years didn't play because he
was hurt at the end of the season, and also
in some week eighteen games has sat because the Ravens
have had the number one seed wrapped up, so there's
not a lot of games in that.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah, us, you know, in that SA size, I want
to know what the record is.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
It's sixteen to no.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Sixteen to no.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, that's a lot of games.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
That's a lot of games. So it's a pretty good
stretch there. So hopefully you can keep it going over
these last three.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Which is kind of crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
I mean it speaks to Lamar like being in kind
of that mode late in the season, right, But like
we all know, Lamar is is not like playing in
the cold. He would rather not. Yeah, so it is
interesting though, like he and the Ravens. You can't chalk
all these victories up just to Lamar obviously, but like
he and the Ravens played some good ball in late December.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
I do actually think like the cold thing, Like he's
a Florida guy and we know that he doesn't prefer
playing in the cold. Actually thought you didn't mind very
well call game. I mean that was the coldest game
in Ravens history on Sunday against against the Bengals, and
Lamar looked good and this team played its best overall
game yep, And on the Monday Night football game. There
was a story about Aaron Rodgers and he basically and look,
(05:02):
when I think of Aaron Rodgers, I think about him
playing in the cold. He played in Green Bay for
the regularity of his career, and he made the point
that like, I'm a California guy that likes walking along
the beach, Like that's my preference. I don't like playing
in the cold either. But he's played like a thousand
games in the hold and some of his biggest moments.
So even if you don't like it, I think that
Lamar has done fine in cold weather games, as evidenced
by Sunday against the Bengals.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Yeah, completely agree.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
All right, So let's go through the scenarios for the
Ravens to win the AFC North for a third straight
year and get into the playoffs. So all three scenarios,
you have to beat the Steelers in the regular season finale.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
That's just the way it works, which is.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Fine, Like to be you can't expect to be division
champions and lose to the team you're competing against. Your
art trival twice. Yeah, so you gotta beat the Steelers
to get in.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Fine.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Really, to me, it's about forcing that winning getting game
in week eighteen, that's what you want, Like that game
would be awesome.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Right, You just basically force a game seven, like that's
what exactly. That's so considering the way the Raves start
of the season, yep, to put yourself in a win
again in a situation in week eighteen, that is what
you want exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
And in order to do that, the Ravens can win
the next two games. That would definitely do it. So
put yourself in a position to win out. Like we
talked about, if the Ravens split with the Patriots and Packers,
then they need the Steelers to also lose one of their.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Last two games.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Right, So if the Steelers, the Steelers kick off against
Detroit at four twenty five, right on Sunday, when the
Ravens take the field, like if the Steelers lose to
the Lions at four to twenty five, when the Ravens
take the field against the Patriots, they will know if
they win that game, you get game seven in Pittsburgh, right,
(06:46):
And so the Ravens can drop one of their next
two as long as the Steelers also drop one of
their next two. It's the other scenario, and then a
third but unlikely scenario would be that the Steelers lose
both of those games to the Lions and the Browns.
In that case, the Ravens could also lose their next
two games and then still be able to win the
division crown with a win in Pittsburgh in the finale.
(07:08):
So basically, if the Ravens of Steelers finished tied in
the AFC North, then the Ravens are division champions because
of the tiebreakers.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
Yeah, the Ravens basically have to keep pace with the
Steelers going into that game.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
Yep, that final game.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
You have to be at least you can be one
game back, right, but which is where they already are?
Speaker 4 (07:25):
Is there already one game back?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
You can't afford to lose any more ground, and you
go into that game and then you have a chance
to finish the season with the same record, but the
Ravens would have the tiebreaker. So a scenario that you
just mentioned there briefly, and I want to get to
an email here. As always, you can email us at
the Lounge at Ravens at NFL dot net. We often
get good emails from Andrew Constantino. And Andrew asked, friend
(07:47):
of Lounge, friend of the lounge. If the Ravens beat
the Patriots on Sunday, the Steelers lose to Detroit, that
Green Bay game would be meaningless to the Ravens. Again,
So this situation, the Steelers lose to Detroit, the Ravens
beat the Patriot Sunday night, suddenly that Green Bay game
is meaningless. Is there any chance the Ravens would rest
starters on a short week to have them ready for
(08:09):
the Week eighteen game at Pittsburgh. I think the answer
is no. But it's a fun thought experiment. So we're
getting ahead of ourselves here, but it's an interesting situation
if the Ravens were to find themselves in that spot.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah, I mean, it would be meaningless in terms of
the race for the crown.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Obviously.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
I don't think you're gonna hear anybody hear the arm
under our Performance Center say it's meaningless. John Harball ain't
gonna say it's meaningless.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
And so it gets into the whole debate that we've
had many times about the regular season finale and resting
starters go into the playoffs and you know, momentum and
all of those things. It gets into that debate the
momentum versus health debate, and so I think that some
guys that are dealing with more nagging injuries, bigger injuries,
(08:58):
it wouldn't surprise me if they rested some of those starters.
You know, in that scenario, you can't rest everybody. Yeah,
you just have to have enough players to field a team.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
And I think that you know.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
If guys are ready to play, and like, everybody's sore
at this point of the season, but if if you
are not, if you don't have a defined injury, let's
just say, then you would probably play. You know, I
don't think that you'd want to lose the momentum going
into what would be a win and.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Get in game again. In Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Yeah, I think it's hard, probably within a season, to
shut it down and then throttle it back up every
eighteen game. And so my inclination is that you probably
play people in that game. The tricky scenario that you're
mentioning though, is like if a guy's dealing with nagging
injuries or he's been banged up, then maybe that's the
opportunity to not play him. Also, you start going down
that path and it's like, well, Lamar has been banged
(09:49):
up at times this year.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
How's he feeling.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
If you make the decision not to play Lamar, then
all of a sudden you're like, you know what, you
might as well shut down this guy and that guy.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
And so I think Lamar would probably play.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Yeah, I think so too.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Again, this we're putting the car in front of the
hort here horse here in a major way because neither
of these things have happened. And you also were projecting
on the health scenarios status of everybody.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
The Patriots and the Steelers lose the Detroit I mean,
I will talk about this.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
I hope that is the debate.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
I appreciate the question.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Yeah, it's a good question from Andrew, and it's fun
to discuss and debate. But I hope the Ravens are
in the spot where they have to. I hope this
is the storyline for next week.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Me too. I'll tell you who wouldn't like it.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
All the TV producers in the NFL reflex the game
to Saturday night.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
That's true, That's that's true.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
That's a good point.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
But again, you can email us at the lounge at
Ravens dot NFL dot net. Andrew appreciate the question as always.
Uh So just in terms of looking at those standings again,
it's again, it is pretty simple, you know for the Ravens,
and I think that their mentality, as I already mentioned,
is is just to keep winning and then put themselves
in the spot to force that week team game. I'll
(10:55):
say this, And watching the Steelers on Monday Night football,
I think a lot of Ravens fans were hoping like, hey,
could we get a little favore here from Miami, and
the Steelers just dominated that game.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
I don't know why I fooled myself into thinking that
was gonna.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
I know, I know it was a ga in to it. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
And the thing about the Steelers that that stood out
to me, especially after watching them beat the Ravens a
week ago, is like they're playing some of their best football.
It seems it seems like that offense is finding itself.
Aaron Rodgers is spreading the ball around. Their offense looks
to have rhythm to it, and their defense made life
really hard on the Miami Dolphins. And the Dolphins came
into that game running the ball really well. Wasn't much
(11:32):
room for them to run against the Steelers on a
cold night in Pittsburgh. It just seems like they're playing
really good football. And so the reality is the Ravens
they may have to win out if they're going to
get to the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
I think that that's a very real possibility.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Yeah, my takeaway from that game was Aaron Rodgers is
kind of dialed in right now, you know, and they
have now shown him back to back games that they
have different ways to win. It's in the passing game.
You know, against the Ravens, they aired it out, went deep,
multiple big shots really or what you know, that was
their offense in that game. Then against Miami you just
(12:06):
see Aaron Rodgers and kind of uh, you know, game
managers such a negative word, but like that's kind of
what he's so good at, diagnosing defenses, getting the ball
to where it should go and taking easier completions, short completions.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
And that's what he's done for the majority of the year.
Get the ball out of your hands.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
You're not gonna hit pick your pick your spots to
take shots down the field, but for the vast majority
of it, get the ball out quick, get it into
the you know, to the open receiver and let them
get yack. And they're the Steelers are fine. With kind
of slow marching down the field with these six yard gains,
eight yard gains, you know.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Uh, and and.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
So they're showing different ways to win Offensively, they seem
like they're more they're on the same page now more.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Than they were earlier in the year.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
And Aaron Rodgers is just playing good football right now.
And so I hate to see it, to be quite honest.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Yeah, I wish. I wish they were a mess. That's
what I would prefer.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
They went through a losing skid there where it looked like,
you know, and Aaron Rodgers is blaming his wide receivers
are not showing up to meetings and stuff, and it
looked like they could come on glued. And that's kind
of what happened in Pittsburgh down the stretch last year.
They had a big lead in the division and came
undone down the stretch, And it's looking.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Like that might not happen this year.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Yeah, it's kind of the opposite.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
It seemed like I kind of pulled them together a
little bit that stretch there when they lost that game
against Buffalo, and so, yeah, like I said, I think
the Ravens.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Now, I think I think they're gonna have their hands
full in Detroit. I think that is gonna be a
tough game. Yeah, I agree, Steelers. Detroit can definitely run
the ball. And I'm not gonna say the Steelers run
defense is fixed because of what they did against the
Miami Dolphins, who have shown over the years they have
not played good football in cold weather. And so Detroit's
fighting for the lives in the playoffs. Another team very
(13:51):
similar to the Ravens. You know, some of these teams Ravens, Steelers,
Chiefs that people thought were gonna be amongst the best
of the league like scrapping. And the Lions are scrapping
right now. And they can run the ball for sure,
So that in Detroit tough.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Place to play. That's gonna be a tough game for
the Steelers.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Yeah, for sure it would.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
It would certainly be nice if Detroit's able to do
the Ravens a favor and then the Ravens can take
care of business against the Patriots on Sunday at.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Mpt make Stadi.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
We're not gonna be easy. That's a tough assignment. Patriots
are one of the best teams in the league. But
that would be a great Sunday, So a couple updates
want to run through from John Harball's press conference on Monday.
First of all, let's talk injury updates.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
We do.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
The biggest news on the injury front is that Teddy
Buchanon rookie linebackers having a great season. He's out for
the rest of the season. Torn Acla went down on
punk Coverage, non contact injury.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
Difficult to see that.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
I mean, he's second on the team and tackles and
playing extra Rokwan Smith has really emerged and had a
great rookie season. It's a it's a really tough blow
for him in this defense.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, I really like Teddy. I thought he's played really well.
It's it's tough for any rookie to start on the
Ravens defense, let alone a fourth round pick, let alone
a guy who played one year big time college football. Right,
like Teddy's story this season was incredible and to play
as well as he was playing, and so that is tough.
(15:09):
I think the optimistic viewpoint is that Trenton Simpson has
been playing good ball too. You know, he's in his
third year and when he's been on the field, he's
done well. And now Teddy beat him out for the job, really,
But Trenton had kind of carved out a niche here
over the past month, month and a half or so
as kind of this versatile front seven piece, and he's
(15:32):
been doing well within that role, and so he's going
to have a larger role now moving forward. It's kind
of they're going to rely on him more next to Rokwan.
Now we all know Kyle plays a lot in there,
and so it's not like that player's playing one hundred
percent of snaps, but Teddy had played I think close
to seventy percent, And so Trenton's in a big spot
(15:52):
and he's played well so far, and you need to
continue that.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Part of the Trenton Simpson move on at the outside
linebacker where he was taking some snaps was a reflection
of the Ravens just were in need of players there
as Tavius Robinson was hurt and they were short handed.
Tavius Robinson now is back, and so I think that
like the versatility that Trenton brings, while valuable, it's not
as needed right now. What's needed now is for him
(16:16):
to go play that will linebacker spot and played at
a really high level tackle.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Run and tackle.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
And it's been up and down for him in his career,
and Teddy ultimately ended up winning that job. But John
Harbaugh expressed optimism and confidence and Trent and Simpson and
his ability to step in there. He filled in for
Teddy in the second half of the game after he
went down. Defense still came up with a shutout.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah, Hard said he's really not worried about it.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, nine tackles, yes, and it was a shutout, right.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
So I think that like sim Trent Simpson has been
he's been building over the course of his career and
there's going to be a lot more on his plate.
But I think that the Ravens are feel confident about
his ability to be up for the challenge.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Chidoh Ouzie is also dealing with an injury, a foot injury.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Kind of a weird one.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Ran out of the back of the end zone on
a deep shot from the Bengals and kind of got
caught up in the netting, John Harball said, ended up
kind of crashing into the wall in the back of
the end zone.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
And an odd injury.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
John Harball did say it's not a major injury like
a Liz Frank, but they'll have to see over the
course of the week.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Kind of how that develops.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
It sounds like maybe he has a chance to play
against the New England Patriots. And then Ronnie Stanley went
down at the end of the third quarter, limped off
the field did not return. John Harwall said he looks
to be fine again. Another guy that's kind of sore,
you know, early this week. But as we said, a
lot of guys are sure.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
Yeah, for sure. So let's take a quick break.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
When we come back, we'll dive into that game from Sunday,
that shutout victory over the Bengals, share some things that
we learned from the film and also talk about some
key guys who are back from injury and the impact
that they had on that game. You are listening to
the Lounge podcast and we are coming to you from
the Seakeek Studio. We want to mention our partners at
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(18:03):
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(18:25):
So as we look back at that game against the Bengals,
a big positive for the Ravens was getting our Darius
Washington and Tavious Robinson back on the field. And Tavious, man,
it did not take him long to get back in
the action.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
He played.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
He played one of his best football games as a
Raven coming back from the foot injury, and he added
something to this defense.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
I really was impressed with what Tavius brought. And I thought,
in particular his sack on the Bengals opening drive, they're
in range, they're in scoring range, and you know, for
him to bring down Joe Burrow and the open field
drive them out of field goal range, I thought that
was an early statement kind of play.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
And so good to have him back. And I really
like the combination that he and Draymont Jones give the Ravens.
I mean, these are two heavy handed, physical dudes, and
you know, Tavi's that outside lineback kicked Draymont more in
toward that d ND role that we talked with him
about another friend at Loune and I just think it
(19:24):
adds some more bite to this Ravens defense. And really
it was pretty remarkable the amount of pass rush that
the Ravens got. Ten quarterback hits on Joe Burrow, five
of which from Draymont Jones. Tavis also had the pressure
that on the interception, but it was incredible without blitzing.
They only have four blitzes the whole game. The Ravens
(19:46):
did so not a lot of extra pressure from Zach
Orr but still able to get to Joe Burrow. I
thought that was a really good sign for this defense
going down the stretch. They're gonna have to do that
against Drake May and Georgia. You know they're going to
need to continue that here down the street.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Well, you mentioned the interception. That was the other play
with Tavius that stood out to me. He was the
one that was applying the pressure on the the Kyle
van Noy interception, which you kind of forget the start
of that play because there was so much excitement on
the back end of the play, which was handing them
all off to a lowhi Gillman and letting him run
to the house. But on that play, I give zach
Ran defensive coaches a lot of credit because that was
really schemed up.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Well.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
First of all, Kyle van Noy is.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Obviously dropping on that play, but also Travis Jones. Travis
Jones faked base pressure up the middle that he backed
off into coverage. You don't see the three hundred and
twenty pounder backing off too often, but the Ravens did that,
and they've done that who of course we remember the
Michael Pierce interception from last year.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
The Ravens have.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Done that with their defensive tackles of that seemed to
confuse the line and open things up for Tavius to
get in there and apply pressure on Burrow.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
Well, both guys, I thought van Ney also, it's it's
this pressure technique where you kind of start your pressure
you touch, you reach out and touch the offensive lineman,
so there they slide to block you and then you
back off. Yeah, right, so they're already kind of committed.
That opened the lane for Tavius, who did a nice
job of seizing upon that and kind of beat his
(21:07):
man also, and then he's barreling down on Joe Burrow.
Burrow saw Travis Jones. Travis was was dropping underneath to
kind of take away the quick throat to the tight end.
That's where Burrow tried to go. He was like, all right,
I'll test my luck with Travis Jones in coverage or whatever.
But he's kind of stumbling as he throws and just
(21:28):
throws up a softball to Kyle van Noy, who picked
it off.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
Yeah, and then obviously that the rest of that play was,
uh was one to remember.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
And the question is now Kyle Van Noy went on
his podcast and he said that he considered taking it
back all the way, that it was looking pretty good.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Looking at that end zone all the way down there.
But he was like, ah, i'll hand it.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
It was pretty good, but it was pretty far.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
He was pretty far.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
And he but he does believe that he could have
made himself ninety five yards if he had not handed
off to a Lowhi Gilwin.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
So what do you think?
Speaker 4 (22:05):
Uh, that's a great ques.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Honestly, Like when I was watching that play and Aloha
started to get through the offensive lineman kind of get
through the wash there, it was all of a sudden,
he was just nothing but green grass. Like, I was
surprised at how easy he made it look once he
got past that first layer. So I think that van
Noy could have probably gotten by the offensive lineman in
pursuit and then take it to the house. Now there
(22:28):
was a tight end who was chasing down Tanner Hudson
right who was right behind, who I think had a
decent chance of catching Van Noy if he did try
to take it to the house.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
That was your main that's the main guy that you
gotta worry about.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
That's the guy. And the offensive linemen weren't really a problem.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
No, they were just they were kind of they were
there first time the play.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
They were they were there at first, but they were
going to be beaten breeasily.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
And so then it's a question of can you out
run Tanner Hudson And that's that's a little dicier for him.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Well, so I did some digging, all right. I got
scientific on this because I wanted to answer the question
would he have made it right? So I went back
and I looked at Kyle van Noy's top speeds. Okay,
he hit eighteen miles per hour, that's right around even
for his career, and he hit it early this year,
Week one, eighteen miles p hour.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Not a great play to get it on.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
It was a touchdown, the tip touchdown in Buffalo where
ball got tipped in back in the ends and he
was trying he was chasing Josh Allen as Josh Allen
through that pass and KBN hit eighteen miles per.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Hour on that pretty good, petty good.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Okay, now, lo he hit like he was over twenty Yeah, okay,
But so I plugged this in.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
This is the beauty of AI. Okay.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I went back and found Tanner Hudson his speed when
he hit nineteen point five eight miles per trying to
chase ALOHI okay, So let's say Tanner.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Runs just as fast. Yeah, desplite who he's chasing. Okay.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
The question is would a man traveling eighteen miles p
hour beat another man traveling nineteen point five eight miles
p hour in one hundred yard race if he had
a ten yard head start.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Kvian had a headstar.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
This is like my act questions back exactly exactly.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
I was like, there's no way I can answer this
myself anymore.
Speaker 4 (24:06):
The train lead's.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Baltimore at ten ten am exactly That's.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Exactly what I was thinking about. I was like, there's
no way I could solve this on my own. But
this is what AI s here, Okay, so I plug
that in. Yes, the man traveling eighteen miles per hour
would beat the man traveling nineteen point five eight miles
p hour because he completes the remaining distance approximately zero
point two two seconds faster.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
So that's it's tighty.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
He's hustled the entire way down the field, like Gilman
got to like the twenty yard line and he realized
that nobody was really going to catch it, and he
got a cruise into the This was.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Going to be a photo finish himself. So like, could
you have gotten a shoelace tackle?
Speaker 4 (24:46):
And how much gases in the tank?
Speaker 3 (24:48):
I think?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Right right? Does he maintain that speed?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
This train might have been slowing down near the end,
so I don't know.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
All right, Well, look, the uh, the powers of AI
tell us that he could have done it.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
I believe, So you believe. I believe.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
I love it. I love it. That's great.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
But the other point, just quickly to go back to this,
I mentioned it off the top and talk about Tavius Robinson.
We got sidetracked with the act questions here. But but,
but our Darius Washington did come back in this game
and didn't have a didn't make a big impact from
a stat standpoint or anything.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
But first of all, like.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Just incrediblenaps two tackles, yeah, fifty STAPs two tackles, just
to get back on the field.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Considering the torn achilles in the spring, when a lot
of people thought that was a season ender, pretty remarkable,
and it also like it speaks to his recovery. And
talked to John Harball about this last week, and he
talked about the fact that it was one of the
best recovery processes that he's seen and and felt like
this was of course Ardarius deserves a lot of credit
for working his way back, but had a lot of
(25:49):
praise for him. And even during the game, he had
a conversation with our Darius on the sidelines and made
the point that just basically, how how impressive is it
that you're able to play be out here, flying around
given what you've had to overcome. Even in the game,
he was thinking about that for Darius Washington, and I
think that speaks to how impressed the Ravens had been
(26:10):
with his work ethic and willingness to try to get
back on this field.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Yeah, and he inspired this team honestly last week and
moving forward, just that story of seven months after an
achilles to work your way back to just get on
the field, Like every other player on this team and
especially the defense, looks around and says, yeah, I'm sore,
but man, look at what that guy just went through.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Just to get back, like to.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Give it everything you got, even when you know it's
not looking good for this team to make the playoffs,
like to keep fighting and get back, Like how how
can I complain about my soreness?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
You know what I mean?
Speaker 1 (26:46):
And also just the way that Ourdaius plays and everything.
Multiple players said he added some more juice to practice
last week, and then John Harball said the same thing.
In the game, just like watching this guy play, he
adds an energy level. And we all remember what he
brought to this defense in the second half of last season,
Like here's the shortest dude on the field and he's
(27:07):
popping people. Yeah, you know, unafraid of anything, and so
that just rubs off on everybody. And I do think
that it could help lift this defense the rest of
the way. The guy who I remember. The story that
I remember is Threll Suggs coming back the Super Bowl year. Yep,
very similar story. That was an achilles that he popped
(27:28):
in the spring, the spring exactly playing basketball or something
like that, I remember, And he came back late in
the year and.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Ravens on the Super Bowl. So right back there we go.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
I like the idea of that, hey, because he made
it back way earlier than anybody expected.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
I think he wasn't even a full seven months, and the.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Fact that was an incredible recovery, and so yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Just think that when you have a guy that does that,
I do think it can serve as a source of motivation.
And that's the case for a Darius. A couple other
notes just from the game on Sunday. One point that
was kind of a fun one is John Harball was
talking about chasing perfection and he mentioned the perfect play
from the game. And it's probably not one that you
necessarily would have thought of as the perfect play because
(28:11):
you're probably thinking, okay, is that the touchdown return? The
interception return? Like what is it? It was actually a
pitch play to the right. Derrick Henry went for about
twenty yards a nineteen yard run, and he said that
was the perfect play where everybody did exactly what was
expected of them and the Ravens ended up picking a
nineteen yard game on that play.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah, it's kind of cool. The bigger, the larger point.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Was you always have to keep chasing perfection. That's what
the Ravens do, right, And they played a great game
against the Bengals.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Did they play a perfect game?
Speaker 1 (28:39):
No, But like John Harball's belief is that you can
achieve perfection. It's not like it's always this carrot on
this end of the stick that you can never quite.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Get that you can achieve it.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
At times it flashes and said that was an example of.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
That perfect play. What I really love.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
About watching that play back because as soon as I
came out with the Presthcrams, I was like, all right
to go watch that and it was blocked up exceptionally well.
I think my favorite part of the play, beyond the design,
which was was clever, it was misdirection toss. It was
Charlie Kohler on that play. He's the backside tight end
(29:17):
responsible for kind of backside blocking use man. He pulls
all the way around and Charlie was trucking. Yeah, I
should have looked up top feed on him, and he
was moving to get out in front of that play
and in front of Derek Henry on that run, and
that just kind of bowls into some Bengals there to
try to kind of clear the rest of the way.
I thought it was a very impressive hustle play by
(29:39):
Charlie Kohler, who.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Got the highest grades.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
From Pro Football Focus among anybody on the Ravens offense
and continues to get high grades. He's gotten high grades
all really all season, and so that that was a
pretty cool play for Charlie.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
Well, he also had three special teams tackles and got
a game ball after the game did on hardball, so
the coaches certainly took notice of what he was able
to do.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
And then we have an email here that I want
to read.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
This is again.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
You can email us at the lounge at Ravens dot
NFL dot net. This is from John Strummel, who says
I had a very dick and seond thought about the season.
The Ravens' best game and their worst game came against
the Bengals, same opponent, wildly different outcomes. It makes this
year feel more unpredictable than any Ravens season that I
can remember. Week to week, even quarter to quarter, It's
(30:24):
impossible to know which version of the team is going
to be there. Curious what you think. Does this season
feel uniquely volatile to you? Or is this just the
modern NFL turned up to eleven and he says thanks
for keeping us saying and entertained this year.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
So what's your take? Is that just I guess actually,
let me just start on this.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Like my take is that I look around the league
and this is what it seems to be like from it.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
Just seems like that's the case.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
I feel like we say this every year, but there's
no one dominant team like in the past.
Speaker 4 (30:52):
For the past sure, sure, like the Chiefs are out
of it. They've been the dominant team. The Eagles won
the Super Bowl last year.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
It doesn't take read some of the headlines of Philly
from the past month, like, there's a lot of volatility
in the NFL, and it seems to be more than
I can remember.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Well, especially Yeah, in the AFC, the traditional Titans are
not leading the way and you know you the division
leaders right now or the New England Patricots who people
thought were going to be better this year, but didn't
think they were going to be like contending for the
number one seed.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Right, And and then you have the North is down
which usually this is really the strongest division. Now Ravens
Steelers duking it out. That's nothing new. The South, the
Jags are leading the way, the Texans are really really good,
the Colts are now the Colts were the kind of
the darling girl in the year. Then you have the
(31:45):
Broncos in the West that are right now the number
one seed in the conference. And so it has been
really weird in the AFC. Now, I do every single
year the whole NFL Circle of Pair already graphic comes
out of like, well, this team beat this team, but
then they beat that team and they beat that and
(32:05):
it's just like crazy, like everybody beats everybody, you know
over the.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Course of the NFL season.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
It's just at what, at what week of the season
does that circle get completed?
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Yeah, is the question.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
So I do feel like generally speaking, the league is Yeah,
it's it's a tough league to win in. And and
even Charlie Kohler when he joined us talked about this,
like why there's such high variance is because it's such
a team game and you have to have like everybody
doing the right thing to have success. That like it's
(32:37):
even it's easy even for really good teams. Like one
little park goes wrong and you know that plays busted
or and that play decides the game or whatever. Right,
I mean, how many games have the Ravens been in Isaiah?
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Likely?
Speaker 1 (32:50):
You know, the call against the Steelers kind of change
that game. The fumble at the goal line against the Bengals,
maybe that changes that game. Like there's like little time
any things. It's a game of inches that like decide
how a game swings.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
And momentum I think is a real thing also in
the league, and so it can be kind of crazy.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah, I mean, the Ravens did their worst game was
the five turnover game on Thanks Saving Night against the Bengals.
They were very hungry to avenge that loss and felt
like they should have played a whole lot better. And yeah,
this was their best game against the Bengals. Now we
got to do it again against the Steelers. That was
not a great game from start to finish. And now
the Ravens need to go play the best game in
(33:33):
week eighteen.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Yeah, Well before they get to Week eighteen, they got
to play the best game Week sixteen Patriots.
Speaker 4 (33:37):
Like that's the question for me.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
The final thought here is like can the Ravens keep
Can the Ravens keep it going?
Speaker 4 (33:43):
Based on what they did against the Bengals? That is
the question.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Is that version of this team gonna be what we
see on Sunday Night Football against the Patriots.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
I do think that it feels like they've turned a corner,
and I don't want to say that it's just this
past game against the Bengals. A I think the defense
has been playing better really for months now, and now
had they they hadn't played that well against a top
tier quarterback, you know, as they did they shut down
Joe Burrow.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
That's really hard to do.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Drake may Is has been in the MVP conversation for
much of the year. So can they do it again
against a very good quarterback? That's but I think that
the defense has like been good for a while, right,
it's whether they can achieve that greatness the offense, as
crazy as it sounds like, even when they had the
five turnovers against the Bengals and and at times against
(34:35):
the Steelers, like you've seen these these flashes of like, Okay,
it looks like it's come together, and okay, it looks
like Lamar's healthier now, like he's starting to move better,
he's starting to run a little bit more and be
a little more decisive and and like, oh, man, like
the way he he ripped that pass from the pocket
and stood in there, Like, man, that I've seen that
(34:58):
Lamar a bunch before, you know, so, like I think
for people like us and our very loyal listeners who
watch this team so much, like you've been kind of
seeing it, and it felt like this win over the
Bengals was to turn the corner moment. Now, that doesn't
guarantee you anything, as you just got done saying like
the variance is crazy, but I do think that there's
(35:19):
real momentum behind the offense and defense for this team
right now.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
This might be a terrible analogy, but like whenever I
do a home improvement project and you're working on something,
I can get like a lot of times, like ninety
percent of the way there, but it's also it's always
multiple trips to the hardware.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Str you're just like my wife, you get ninety percent
of the way there.
Speaker 3 (35:39):
You know, it's like it's a like I'll have to
go back to the hardware start a couple of times.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
I get most of the way there, then I.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
Got to watch ten more videos on YouTube and I
got to figure it out. And it's like the Ravens
have done a lot of things where it's like, oh,
they're right there, but you just have to finish the play.
And like they took a couple more trips in the
hardware and it seems like they've they've turned.
Speaker 4 (36:01):
A corner on that front.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
And it just that's the way it's and I know
that it's like some fans are tired of hearing like
I don't know, some some fans are tired of hearing like, oh,
we're really close. And it's easy to say that, but
I do genuinely believe there's truth to that. With this
Ravens team and what we've seen from the offense over
the last month. And it's not like the game against
(36:23):
the Bengals was some like juggernaut offensive performance, but it
was efficient and it like it passed the eye test
to me, and I think that we're going to see
that the rest of the way. That's like my inclination
is that Lamar's healthier. This offense is is finding something
and if they avoid the miscues of basically turnovers in
(36:43):
the red zone, which has undone them this year and
their losses, if they if they avoid those.
Speaker 4 (36:50):
Then I think they're going to be just fine.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
Well, I think if they can continue to run the
ball the way that they did against the Bengals, and
that's a big tall task, you know. I mean, the
Bengals run defense has not been very good this year.
But if the Ravens can continue to do that and
like stay balanced, more balanced than out of third and
tens and all that stuff, Like, I thought that that
(37:14):
really helped the offense against the Bengals.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Yeah, so I'm with you, and I think that the
run game, if you can keep it, if you can
continue operating like Derek Henry had eleven carries average over
nine yards of carry, had one hundred yards. I don't
think that's going to be the case every single week.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
But he didn't have a lot offensive plays forty one.
Speaker 3 (37:33):
But yeah, but if but there's a long history that
shows that Derek Henry's at his best late in the season,
and I think we saw that on Sunday, and I
expect that to be the case the rest of the way.
And he he runs all those hills unless all those
weights during the offseason so that when the Raves are
in this situation late in the year, the team can
count on him. And I think that they are going
(37:54):
they know that he's ready for that assignment, and I
think that he's going to deliver. And I think this
offense as a whole is is ready to put it
all together and have some really good games here down
the stretch.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
YEP, I totally agree with that.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
It's gonna be gonna be a fun stretch and Sunday
Night football against Patriots is gonna be real fun. So
we're still getting ready for that game. We'll be back
with you later this week to prep you for that big,
big matchup.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Th big Sunday night football matchup. Thanks for listening.
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