September 20, 2025 • 28 mins
On this episode of the Twentyman in the Huddle podcast presented by Copilot+ PC, Tim Twentyman is joined by Justin Rogers and Ryan Mink previewing the Detroit Lions Week 3 matchup vs. the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Fourth and goal for the Lions from the four golf takes,
the snap fakes, the gear rolls right, gott a man
wide open. I'm in Ross Saint Brown one two, three
times today touchdown Detroit Lions. Welcome to Week three of
the NFL season. I am Tim Twentyman. This is the
twenty Men in the Huddle podcast and I am joined
(00:22):
by Justin Rogers. He does a great job for the
Detroit Football Network. Used to be with the Detroit News,
went off on his own. He also does the Lions
Collective podcast, which if you haven't heard it, him and
the collection of guys who cover the beat do a
great job there. Thanks for joining me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I clearly forgot I agreed to do this. I got
all dressed up for this, Tim ready to go.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Well.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Hey, one of the things that you do you put
a lot of time in, and I like that you do,
is you do the film reviews every week. And I
have to believe that when you turn that tape on
on Tuesday, it was a much better watch this week
than when you did, you know, week one coming off
of Green Bay. What'd you like? What jumped out about
the tape to you? When you watch that perform which
against Chicago last week.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I think the focus clearly is the offense. Right, you
go from effectively scoring six points. You can, you know,
throw in Tesla's touchdown at the end there, but it
was a six point performance in my opinion in Green
Bay to fifty two against Chicago, and obviously those look
very different. I loved the game play John Morton came
up with. You know, all week they talked about getting
(01:22):
back to who they are and establishing the run, and
they built in this narrative that you believe that's what
they're gonna do is come out and try to pound
the rock. And what they did is they almost use
that to their advantage by setting up the play action.
And so the very first two drives, first two plays
play action, some explosive games off of that. Then you
go later in the first half, you get the thirty
(01:42):
four thirty six yard pass down to the one I'm
on l Saint Brown.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Play action.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
You get the first and goal touchdown to Brock Right,
play action. You get the first play of the third quarter,
the sixty four yard pass Jameson Williams.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Play action.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
The theme here, it's all of these first down plays.
It's the plays where you expect the team to run,
where they ran kind of into a brick wall repeatedly
against the Packers. They led the Bears to believe that's
what they were gonna do, and then they went to
their quote unquote bread and butter that Dan Campbell said
they needed to get to in their play action passing,
and they did it mostly on first downs, and that's,
(02:13):
you know, was the source of so many of their
explosive plays in this game. I loved that plan of
attack for more and it showed, you know, I think
great foresight in how to capitalize on what the Bears
do best.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
And I think it showed too, if you protect Jared Golf,
He's an elite quarterback. He could stand there, read the defense,
deliver the football accuracy accurately. And it was just another
one of those performances with three hundred plus yards one
hundred and fifty plus rating. How we've gotten used to
some of those now over the last few years. You
have to play good offensively upfront in order to do that,
(02:44):
and in order to do the play action, which you
talked about too, there's added seconds to that operation. When
you do the play action. What did you think of
the offensive line? Do you feel a little bit better
about it after week two than you do than you
did coming out of week one.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah, Look, you have to clean up two parts of that, right.
You have to clean up the the pass protection. You
have to clean up the run blocking. I thought the
pass protection took a major step forward. I don't remember
exactly the number, but he got hit once twice maybe
when they had laporta blocking Montes sweat on kind of
the sixty four yard pass to Jmo, Like, there's very
(03:16):
little pressure that Jared Goff faced. When you have that
kind of time, that kind of clean pocket, and you
have those weapons, like, it's really hard to fail in
this league. And it's even harder to fail when you
have the experience to know where to go with that football.
Because it is really the run game I think has
some work to do. And I know the final numbers
were great, one hundred and seventy seven yards five point
nine yards per carry, but if you look at the
film and you look at how those yards came to
(03:38):
be a ton of perimeter runs. Credit to the wide receivers.
Sam laporta major major performance as a run blocker. A
lot of great, great perimeter blocking, very little yardage up
the middle. I think that's the area where this team
needs to grow. If this offense that, you know, fifty
two points tough to complain, right, but if you want
sustained success, you have to run the football between the tackles.
(04:00):
That's where we need to see growth from Tate, Ratlich,
Grant Glasgow, Christian Mahogany, the collective together. If this offense
is going to continue to be one of the leads
in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
And justin you got to think that's going to come
to with just more time on desk, right, more reps.
And it's not just well they work together all training camp.
Why don't they have a figure out? Game reps and
practice reps are completely different and being able to come
back and study sixty plus game reps and watch that
film and learn from it a scheme you're not familiar with,
a player you're not familiar with, it's very, very different.
(04:28):
And I think that growth with Ratledge and with Mahogany
and even Graham. I know he's a veteran player, but
he's playing with two guys he's never really played with
next to him, and that matters. And I think we're
going to continue to see positive steps in that regard.
You talked about the weapons too, and one that continues
to marvel me. And we talked to Scotty Montgomery this week,
and I thought it was really interesting when he talked
(04:49):
about kind of the subtleties in some of the routes
and how when you're in the near the goal line,
how a three yard route and a five yard route
can look exactly the same, but there's just so many
subtle differences. And how I'm on ros Saint Brown operates
in those routes and runs those and the chemistry that
he has with Jared Golf and how they're on the
same page. The back shoulder throw right before the half,
(05:09):
in the corner of the ends, it's a perfect example
when you watch the film, do you ever still marvel
at saying? I know we've seen it for so many
years now, but I still find myself marveling sometimes at
his little subtleties in his routes, the way he gained
separation at the top of the route, how Jared'll throw
it before he's even turned around, just knowing where he's
gonna be. Do you still marvel at it?
Speaker 2 (05:30):
It look, every guy on that rosters more athletic than
you and me, right, Like, there's there's just impressive physicality
athleticism with each other wrestler, but you have a certain
appreciation for the greats. I think at Calvin Johnson all
the time in that conversation, like felt like every day
we watched a practice he did something where you're just
like you got to pick your jaw off the floor
and same brown in this game. There's one play that
really stood out to me, and it was the first
(05:52):
play of the second drive. Wasn't a particularly long gain,
sixteen yards, you know, a good gain. At the line
of scrimmage, he's nudged by Penay's brother, so he's got
to avoid that first comes off as an inbreaking route.
He's now bracketed by the linebacker Edmunds, a very good
linebacker and a very good linebacker and coverage. He beats that,
and he's covered one on one by Jalen Johnson, a
(06:14):
fantastic cornerback who you know had had some plays in
that game before he left, right, and he beats that.
He beats all three golf puts on a perfect ball,
you know, low in a way that only his receiver
can get. But it's like, damn, that's that's a really
fine bit of execution by you know, one of the
few guys I think that can accomplish that in this league.
(06:35):
It's what makes him elite. And I got to break
it up because I think it's it's hilarious. There was
a play in training camp DJ Miller, you know, cornerback
they bring in from the USFL or UFL. He broke
up one of those end zone plays to Amon ros
Saint Brown when it was the second team defense versus
Firsty Muffetts. And like, I don't care what DJ Miller
does with the rest of his life. He has that because.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I send me that tape. Can I just put that
on the phone on my phone? Is a screen saver? Ye?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Like he's so pristine. Yeah, in those those little red
zone routes, the quick snap off, the one he had
I thought was a perfect example is the one of
the very end of the first half with you know,
just not just an outroute but also coming back toward
the pylon, giving even that little bit more separation. It's
so so difficult to stop unless you guess right. And
(07:22):
so you know, credit to DJ Miller for guessing right.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Look at DJ Miller. I don't get me a shout
out a little nitro. I love that all right real quick.
Before we moved to Monday night at the pass rush,
it showed a little bit more signs of life. Marcus
Davenport didn't practice on Thursday. Dan Campbell said, we're gonna
have to wait till the end of the week, still
getting some tests there. I think either way that goes
with Marcus, if he plays or he doesn't play, I
think we both probably accept or expect al Kadi Muhammad
(07:48):
to have a bigger role. What did you like about him?
Dan talked about just the motor that never stops. I
remember the preseason play where he saved a touchdown where
he came off the line of scrimmage. I think he
ran twenty yards downfield, tackled somebody inside the ten yard
line on a screenplay in the preseason. I said, why
you know that's one of those hustle plays. It's one
of those plays that a glue piece on the roster
(08:09):
kind of makes you know, not one of your main guys,
but an important depth piece that when he's come when
he's asked to come in, make some place I thought
Muhammad did that last week with a couple pressures. He
had this sack. I think we both expect to see
a bigger role this week with him.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Sure, I think back when they signed him, and you know,
just as I tend to do just a general curiosity.
I know it was to the practice squad, but they
needed edged up last year, right, And so I threw
on his tape from his time in Indie and nothing
stood out. Like I was like, okay, that's a practice
squad body, Like, I don't see it. I know he
played eight hundred snaps, he had seven or six and
(08:43):
a half sacks or whatever it was, but like it
wasn't particularly impressive film. And you know, you got to
take in scheme into consideration or whatever. The stat that
I really like pointing out is is last year, you
look at pressure rate, how often are you generating pressure
per rush attempt? Right, Mohammed's pressure rate was not far
(09:03):
off from Zadarias Smith. Now he played you know, something
like forty percent of the snaps, right, So how much
of that can be extrapolated out over a bigger workload,
That's what you always want to know. But if you
look at the way Mohammad played last year. It was
a lot of snaps in like fewer games, and so
you know that he can handle this bigger workload. I
(09:23):
think it was a big mystery why he didn't play
a lot more in the first game. Then you say, okay,
they played forty eight snaps. Maybe that makes a lot
of sense. Devenport goes down. He's put in there for
a bigger workload, and I thought really shined and that's
a really nice piece to have. He's an absolute bargain
at his contract, and so it gives you a little
(09:44):
bit of confidence. You still want to see depth. You know,
there's still concern about depth. Now you have to bump
one per something. I mean, somebody else has to come
up from lower. And you know, when I look at
the overall pass us picture or sex is good, it's good.
When did those four secs come to him? They all
came in the second half, when the score was getting
away from hi Pen your years back. That's when obviously
lots of teams have pass for success. I didn't see
as much of the first half, and I think that's
(10:05):
still concerning. When you go to Baltimore, you're not gonna
have a three score lead, unlike you're gonna have a
three score lead in the second half, so you're gonna
have to find a way to affect the pocket before
it gets to that point.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
All right, let's talk about Baltimore because obviously a lot
of people are hoping that's maybe a Super Bowl preview
of you know, two elite teams in this league. Obviously
a tough task going on the road in that environment.
We know what happened in twenty twenty three when they
went there. They got their butts kicked, they got them
handed to them, and they've all seen that film and
they've they've owned up to that. I think they're eager
(10:38):
to go Monday and have a second shot at those guys.
But when you look at that matchup, when you look
at this game number one in Justin Rodgers' book, the
Detroit Lions have to do. What if they're gonna come
out with a victory Monday night.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
It's gonna sound strange because you think of it as
a run first team because Derrick Henry has been added
to that equation since twenty twenty three, slid better like
that's a Gary part about it. But I think this
team has to cover you know there they lean so
heavily on their man coverage, and you know, I don't
want to throw a guy under the bus. But Terry
and Arnold has not been good enough to start this year.
(11:10):
We saw him in camp, unbelievable camp for him, right,
I thought DJ Reid had an unbelievable camp. He hasn't
lived up to as they've been really really good in
run support. Credit there. But Arnold got worked over pretty
good against Chicago, and it could have been worse. It
could have been worse if Muhammad doesn't hit Williams, he
gives up another long reception, if TYLERK Williams doesn't tip
that ball and fourth down, Arnold was beat there. So
(11:34):
Baltimore doesn't have the greatest receivers in the world, but
they got capable ones. I mean, obviously DeAndre Hopkins has
accomplished a ton of this league. He's long in the
tooth at this point. Whatever still good touchdown in weeks
one and week two, say Flowers a good receiver. Fore
Shad Bateman is So I really need to see the
secondary hold up a man de man because a lot
of tension is going to be put to that backfield,
(11:55):
whether it's it's Henry or the scramble ability of Lamar Jackson.
If you can't cover those guys, you're in for a
long day.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
And obviously step one is going to be stopping on
the Browns obviously did a terrific job last week. Then
they still gave up forty one. It was their focus.
They run blitz. Henry had eleven carries for twenty three yards.
I think they had forty five yards rushing. But what
was the difference the forty one points was Lamar Jackson
threw four touchdown passes. And I think if you're the Lions,
you obviously have to go in stopping Henry and containing
(12:23):
Lamar in the pocket. If you get Lamar into a
run pass situation, it's really tough to beat him. You
make him stay in the pocket. If he throws four
touchdowns like he did last week, and you lose your tip,
your cap and move on to to Cleveland week four,
and you say, hey, that's an MVP caliber player and
he just beat us. And to that point too, just
about how much credit he doesn't get as a passer.
(12:47):
Ten straight games with two touchdown passes and a ninety
plus passer rating, so he's going for eleven straight in
that game Monday Night. Sky can do it all, but
I think you have to go into it saying we
can't let Henry get roll. We can't let the run
pass option with Lamar be a thing. We've got to
make him stay in the pocket and make him beat
(13:07):
us throwing the football. If we do, we can deal
with it.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
I can't believe how much his game has evolved as
he's come to the league.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Like amazing, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
And I know he won the MVP in twenty nineteen,
absolutely deserved, twenty twenty three, absolutely deserve. His best season
was last year, and all due respect to Josh Allen,
certainly an MVP caliber season. Lamar Jackson was the MVP
in the league in my book. He rushed for more
yards than he had in four seasons. He led the
league in passer rating QBR, yards per temp, touchdown rate.
Like Lamar Jackson was incredible last year. Derrick Henry's existence,
(13:39):
the threat that he possesses, only stands to make Lamar
Jackson better. And if you look at those numbers, the QBR,
the passer rating, the yards PERTENP, they're up this year
after two games, like he has transformed into this all
round player and he has no problem beating you with
his arm. I'm sure he probably would prefer it a
lot less rest to his body, right.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Specialty I think will be kidding this one. You know,
when you when you got two teams like this and
you got an offense that's so capable. I think on
both sides the difference could be we see the kickoff
now is a bigger part of the play. I wonder
if this week, week, week three, we see that part
of it, you know, maybe affect the game, you know,
switch the field a little bit, give you a big
boost with it, with it with a touchdown return. I
(14:20):
think special teams and games like this against two really
good teams, it's always something a little quirky, isn't it.
It's special teams. It's a pump return. Takeaways are going
to be huge. Who can hang onto the football? Who
can generate the big one? If you're Detroit, that's got
to be a must on the road. So it's just
a game I'm really looking forward to, real quick, a
couple more before we finish up. Here your your biggest matchup,
(14:40):
and let's go, not Lamar, Let's go. Is there something
else they're not gonna have, probably Kyle Vanoy. We'll see
about Humphrey, one of their star cornerbacks too, and that's
your leading sacker and probably your best cornerback, so that
could be a factor. I'm just curious what maybe besides
Lamar and obvious ones, what's a matchup that that they
(15:02):
think it's going to be important for Detroit.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, I mean I obviously highlighted the cornerbacks to to
Baltimore receiver, So let's let's flip it to the other side.
And to me, it's it's Jared Goffers Kyle Hamilton, right
like that is. Lions fans are very familiar with Brian
Branch and what he brings to the table and the
versatility right it's it's unbelievable how he can go from
pass rusher to box safety, to robber to deep safety
(15:25):
to man on man coverage on third down, Like it
is a very very rare and special skill set. Kyle
Hamilton might be the only player in the NFL that
does it better than Brian Branch. And he's what I
don't know, six four two twenty like a gargantuan safety
and he can do it all and so we talked
to Scotty Montgomery today wide receivers coach. I was like,
(15:46):
how important is it to id Or Hamilton. It's like,
that's the guy you have to know where he's on
the field every single play because he's capable of wrecking
games from the back seven. And so you know that's
that's gonna be the chess match for Jared is finding
him using that to kind of give hints on what
they're thinking about doing defensively. And we know so often
(16:06):
Jared comes the line with two plays right. It's picking
that right play, that right read to mitigate the factor
Kyle Hamilton can be.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
It's gonna be a chess game. I think all the
way around both sides of ball and special teams. John
Harbaugh we always talk about Dan Campbell team and how
much important he puts on special teams. John Harbaugh does too.
I think all three phases is going to be a
terrific chess match. Obviously a game Monday night, it's kind
of a statement, you know, measuring stick mesuristic for sure
of just how good this football team is. I think
(16:37):
they want to make up for their last road game
Week one. They want to show that they can play
better on the world handle that situation a little bit better.
That will be key to but it'll be fun. We'll
both be there. It should be a fun matchup.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Hopefully for the national television audience, they get a better
game than last time in Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Let's hope so. Justin Rodgers, Tim Tawinuman, thanks for joining
movie right back, Welcome back to the Twin in the
Huddle podcast. I am very happy to welcome in Ryan Mink.
He does a great job with Ravens dot Com. He's
the editorial director there. He also does the launch podcast. Ryan,
thanks for joining me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Well, look, it was good news in Detroit and Baltimore
week two. You know, after both teams fell week one,
they get that kind of big win week two. What
was the most impressive thing about Baltimore's win against Cleveland
for you and week two?
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Yeah, I think it was the defense playing a lot better.
You know, certainly a rough fourth quarter the season opener
in Buffalo. They needed a bounce back effort from the defense,
particularly the past defense. They got that against Cleveland. Now
it's you know, Joe Flacko and the Browns. You know,
so we're not talking about the Detroit Lions offense coming
to town. But it was a good bounce back effort
(17:53):
for the defense and then particularly just played well in
the fourth quarter twenty one at twenty one unanswered points.
It was good to see them close the game out.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
You know, it was a crazy stat line. I went
to go look at that that Cleveland box score and
it was like twenty one rushes for forty five yards,
Dereck Henry with twenty three yards. But Lamar Jackson just
continues to impress. I saw. I saw a great statistic
ten straight games of at least two passing touchdowns and
a ninety plus passer rating dating back to last year
(18:23):
in the playoffs. Just how good is this guy? When
that run game, which Baltimore is obviously is so known for,
they just couldn't get it going against Cleveland. But still
you've got Lamar like to the rescue. Just how good
a football is he playing right now?
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Yeah, this is the best football he's played in his career.
I mean, last year he didn't win MVP, but it
was his best season really by far, one of the
best seasons statistically that any quarterback has ever had. And
I think he's just kind of leveled up this year. No,
he does a great job protecting the football, only had
four interceptions last year, has yet to throw one this season.
Not going what over here, but you know, he's he's
(19:00):
a field really well. Of course there's the broken plays
that he can make something out of nothing. That's just
kind of Lamar ball. And yeah, he's playing at a
very high efficient level right now. I mean currently, no
quarterback in NFL history has ever had a higher quarterback
rating than Lamar Jackson's right now. He's passed Aaron Rodgers
this past week, which you know, all of course everybody
(19:23):
knows Lamar Jackson is the best rushing quarterback of all time,
but now you're actually having the conversation statistically, is he
the best passing quarterback? You know, he's got the highest
career quarterback rating. It's kind of absurd.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
What is the biggest concern for Baltimore with Detroit coming
in Monday night?
Speaker 3 (19:42):
I mean, I think just the arsenal of weapons that
Detroit has, I mean, particularly at wide receiver. You know,
i'mana Rossaint Brown coming off a three touchdown game, Jameson Williams.
I mean, the big play threats Sjamier Gibbs, you know,
I mean, it's just go down the list, and certainly
the Ravens defense gave up almost four hundred passing yards
(20:03):
and week ones of the Bills, and the Bills don't
have nearly the wide receivers to the Lions do, and
so I think that that is the concern for Baltimore particularly.
You know, Marlon Humphrey left Sunday's game with an injury.
We'll see if he's able to play. Kyle van Noy
left with an injury to his hamstring. So two of
your defensive leaders going down against the high octane passing
(20:27):
offense like the Lions.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
That's not good.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
You mentioned the four hundred nearly four hundred yards against
Buffalo Week one, over one hundred yards rushing allow, you know,
the first two weeks. Any concern there a little bit?
I know Cleveland, I think they average over better than
five point oh per rush. They obviously had to abandon
it later there, But any concern there because we were
so used to seeing Baltimore, number one, number two, number
three in the league stop in the run. That's been
(20:50):
a hardball thing ever since he's taken over that job.
Any little bit of concern there, especially with some of
the injuries that you mentioned to.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Yeah, not a ton of concern. I think the Browns
kind of broke one late in that game against this
Ravens second stringers.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
So not too concerned with the run defense.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Brokewon Smith is coming off a fifteen tackle game, including
three for loss. I mean, arguably his best game of
his career. You know, the Ravens did have under the
radar loss with Michael Pierce on their defensive line. Former
Minnesota of Viking. Y'all probably do Michael Pierce, Oh, we
know him very well. Yeah, he retired this past all
(21:31):
season to the Ravens. You know, that was a loss
to the run de But overall, I'm not too concerned
with that.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
Now.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
You know, Dave Montgomery and Jamier Gibbs, the talents that
they are, you have to be concerned when they're coming
to your place, because if the Lions can get that
play action game going, you know, if they're able to
run the ball, play action with golf, then your tough situation.
The Ravens can stop the run, put golf in those
third and longs, I think they're go have much more success.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
You know, Zay Flowers has been a guy that's really
had a great start to this season. I think you
look at their statistics, I think he's got what fourteen catches,
two hundred and eighteen yards and a touchdown two games.
I think their next best receiver has four catches. So
it's really been the kind of the Zay Flower show
for that offense. Where's he taking his biggest leap in production,
just leap as a player in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
You know, I wouldn't say that there's really any difference
from last year. I think it's just kind of how
the target share has has gone down in the first
two weeks.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
I mean, Zay looks like the same player to me.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
He is explosive, he gets the ball in space, he
can make people miss. I mean he's just kind of
a human joystick kind of guy, you know. And and
so I think that it's the Ravens do have, despite
what the stats show, a wide assortment of weapons. This
is the best wide receiver group I think that the
Ravens have ever had. I mean, you look at Rashad
(22:58):
Bateman as the number two. He had a really good
uh season last year. He is a deep threat, big
play guy. He just hasn't you know, materialized yet.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
Not that he's made.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
He's made the most of his opportunities, but it just
they haven't gone to him a lot yet. I mean,
you look at DeAndre Hopkins. I mean, the guy's got
two touchdowns and two games really probably should have had three,
got one got overturned and ruled down the half yard.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
Line against the Browns.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
He's making the most of his opportunities and can still
make contested catches like he always has. Mark Andrews has
been a very small part of the Ravens offensive attack so.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Far, but that's not going to last.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Yeah, that can always change exactly.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Let all touch tight ends and touchdowns last year and
had a slow start to last year. And then there's
the possibility that Isaiah likely returns this week from his
foot injury.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
So uh, you know, he practiced on Friday.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
We'll see out here this week if he if he's
practicing and kind of ramps up, But there's that possibility,
and so the Ravens really do you know, as much
as it looks like the Ze Flowers Show right now,
they really feel it's a pick your poison offense similar
to kind of Detroit where they can go in any direction.
I mean you talk about the Browns game and Derreck
(24:13):
Henry getting limited. Well, three of the four touchdowns that
Lamar Jackson threw where DeAndre Hopkins and devontees Walker he
caught two touchdowns. Who nobody knows about Devonte Walker? Tyler
Wallace probably a name you've never.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Heard, you know.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
So like they've they've gotten production kind of up and
down this wide receiver unit.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Well usually end with this, but you've kind of, you know,
alluded to it is maybe who's one of those guys
that that Lions fans might not know who could impact
because obviously you've gotten impact from, you know, maybe some
of your unheralded players. Who's maybe one guy that that
could be that guy that Detroit fans are like, who's
that guy and why is he making all these plays
on Monday night football?
Speaker 4 (24:54):
Ye, devontees Walker would probably be a good one.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
I mean, he's a second year wide receiver, he was
a fourth round pick a year ago.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
He's got speed. The guy's got just wheels.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
I mean you watch him on tape and if he
gets a step on defensive back, they're just not catching him.
And so you know, going deep on shallow crossers. You know,
he he I'm not going to put him in the
same category as James and Williams yet, but you know,
shades of a similar player, and so I think that
he's somebody to watch out for. And then Justice Hill,
(25:26):
the Ravens backup running back, is a very good player
that a lot of people don't know, and especially on
third downs, Justice Hill is often the kind of the
go to guy.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
What is the biggest matchup from your perspective sitting there
in Baltimore midweek? Where do you see this as like
this is the area where Baltimore's got to control this
game Monday night.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
I think it's Salamon Ross, Saint Brown and you know
how they match up against him, especially if Marlon Humphrey
isn't able to play, and we'll see it's kind of
a groin injury for him, but he's also a pretty
darn tough dude, Like he's gonna play if he can play.
But you know, is he up to is one if
he does play, and can they keep up with Dom
and Ross and Brown and you know all the ways
(26:09):
that they use him.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
I think that's probably the matchup to watch.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
You know, one guy that here that's that's played pretty
well obviously last week, but really the first two weeks
is Brian Branch the talented safety here. And I wanted
to ask you this question because obviously you've been around
Kyle Hamilton for a long time, and just the ability
of those safeties to come down and play in the box,
to cover light corners, to play the nickel. Just how
valuable has Kyle been to that defense because he's a
(26:36):
guy that that I compare Brian Branch to it. To me,
it's it's kind of Kyle Hamilton, Ed Reid and Brian
Branch are kind of that that versatile guys that can
do a lot of different things. Just the benefit of
watching Kyle overears because Detroit fans are seeing it with
Brian Branch now, and just how fun and how big
of an impact a guy like that can have on defense.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Yeah, I'm really massive.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
I mean I think to two players that are different
in stature, certainly Brian Branch and Kyle Hamilton, and Kyle
Hamilton is like a six foot four monster. You know,
Brian Branch is built differently, but they use him in
similar ways. You know, Kyle Hamilton plays all over the
Ravens defense at Nickel obviously deep safety, free safety in
(27:18):
the box safety. He plays some linebacker at times. You know,
he can be a kind of a dime linebacker, and
so yeah, they use him everywhere, and that is hugely valuable.
I mean, I think just keeping the offense guessing as
to where your safeties are lining up really kind of
keeps them. They have a tougher time locking in on
(27:38):
what's going on defensively and so and obviously just the
ability to kind of go matchups. You know, it's almost
the game turns into a game of basketball at times,
and it's a matchups game. You talk about a guy
like Samuel Porta, you know, does Kyle Hamilton sometimes match
up against him and and try to eliminate that threat.
(27:58):
So yeah, very valuable to have a safety that can
play multiple positions.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Well, so many weapons are going to be featured Monday
night in Baltimore, both offensively and defensively. Dan Campbell is
looking forward to this game. This could potentially be a
Super Bowl matchup just with the way these two teams
are built. Should be a fun one in front of
a national audience on Monday Night. I can't wait for
Ryan thanks so much for taking the time, and I'll
make sure I come by and say hello in Baltimore
(28:24):
on Monday night.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
All right, thanks Simmy. Yeah, I hope we meet in
the super Bowl. That'd be awesome.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Well, that would be fun when we'll have to do
one of these again in February for sure.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
Sounds good. Sign you up.
Fourth and goal for the Lions from the four golf takes,
the snap fakes, the gear rolls right, gott a man
wide open. I'm in Ross Saint Brown one two, three
times today touchdown Detroit Lions. Welcome to Week three of
the NFL season. I am Tim Twentyman. This is the
twenty Men in the Huddle podcast and I am joined
(00:22):
by Justin Rogers. He does a great job for the
Detroit Football Network. Used to be with the Detroit News,
went off on his own. He also does the Lions
Collective podcast, which if you haven't heard it, him and
the collection of guys who cover the beat do a
great job there. Thanks for joining me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I clearly forgot I agreed to do this. I got
all dressed up for this, Tim ready to go.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Well.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Hey, one of the things that you do you put
a lot of time in, and I like that you do,
is you do the film reviews every week. And I
have to believe that when you turn that tape on
on Tuesday, it was a much better watch this week
than when you did, you know, week one coming off
of Green Bay. What'd you like? What jumped out about
the tape to you? When you watch that perform which
against Chicago last week.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I think the focus clearly is the offense. Right, you
go from effectively scoring six points. You can, you know,
throw in Tesla's touchdown at the end there, but it
was a six point performance in my opinion in Green
Bay to fifty two against Chicago, and obviously those look
very different. I loved the game play John Morton came
up with. You know, all week they talked about getting
(01:22):
back to who they are and establishing the run, and
they built in this narrative that you believe that's what
they're gonna do is come out and try to pound
the rock. And what they did is they almost use
that to their advantage by setting up the play action.
And so the very first two drives, first two plays
play action, some explosive games off of that. Then you
go later in the first half, you get the thirty
(01:42):
four thirty six yard pass down to the one I'm
on l Saint Brown.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Play action.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
You get the first and goal touchdown to Brock Right,
play action. You get the first play of the third quarter,
the sixty four yard pass Jameson Williams.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Play action.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
The theme here, it's all of these first down plays.
It's the plays where you expect the team to run,
where they ran kind of into a brick wall repeatedly
against the Packers. They led the Bears to believe that's
what they were gonna do, and then they went to
their quote unquote bread and butter that Dan Campbell said
they needed to get to in their play action passing,
and they did it mostly on first downs, and that's,
(02:13):
you know, was the source of so many of their
explosive plays in this game. I loved that plan of
attack for more and it showed, you know, I think
great foresight in how to capitalize on what the Bears
do best.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
And I think it showed too, if you protect Jared Golf,
He's an elite quarterback. He could stand there, read the defense,
deliver the football accuracy accurately. And it was just another
one of those performances with three hundred plus yards one
hundred and fifty plus rating. How we've gotten used to
some of those now over the last few years. You
have to play good offensively upfront in order to do that,
(02:44):
and in order to do the play action, which you
talked about too, there's added seconds to that operation. When
you do the play action. What did you think of
the offensive line? Do you feel a little bit better
about it after week two than you do than you
did coming out of week one.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah, Look, you have to clean up two parts of that, right.
You have to clean up the the pass protection. You
have to clean up the run blocking. I thought the
pass protection took a major step forward. I don't remember
exactly the number, but he got hit once twice maybe
when they had laporta blocking Montes sweat on kind of
the sixty four yard pass to Jmo, Like, there's very
(03:16):
little pressure that Jared Goff faced. When you have that
kind of time, that kind of clean pocket, and you
have those weapons, like, it's really hard to fail in
this league. And it's even harder to fail when you
have the experience to know where to go with that football.
Because it is really the run game I think has
some work to do. And I know the final numbers
were great, one hundred and seventy seven yards five point
nine yards per carry, but if you look at the
film and you look at how those yards came to
(03:38):
be a ton of perimeter runs. Credit to the wide receivers.
Sam laporta major major performance as a run blocker. A
lot of great, great perimeter blocking, very little yardage up
the middle. I think that's the area where this team
needs to grow. If this offense that, you know, fifty
two points tough to complain, right, but if you want
sustained success, you have to run the football between the tackles.
(04:00):
That's where we need to see growth from Tate, Ratlich,
Grant Glasgow, Christian Mahogany, the collective together. If this offense
is going to continue to be one of the leads
in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
And justin you got to think that's going to come
to with just more time on desk, right, more reps.
And it's not just well they work together all training camp.
Why don't they have a figure out? Game reps and
practice reps are completely different and being able to come
back and study sixty plus game reps and watch that
film and learn from it a scheme you're not familiar with,
a player you're not familiar with, it's very, very different.
(04:28):
And I think that growth with Ratledge and with Mahogany
and even Graham. I know he's a veteran player, but
he's playing with two guys he's never really played with
next to him, and that matters. And I think we're
going to continue to see positive steps in that regard.
You talked about the weapons too, and one that continues
to marvel me. And we talked to Scotty Montgomery this week,
and I thought it was really interesting when he talked
(04:49):
about kind of the subtleties in some of the routes
and how when you're in the near the goal line,
how a three yard route and a five yard route
can look exactly the same, but there's just so many
subtle differences. And how I'm on ros Saint Brown operates
in those routes and runs those and the chemistry that
he has with Jared Golf and how they're on the
same page. The back shoulder throw right before the half,
(05:09):
in the corner of the ends, it's a perfect example
when you watch the film, do you ever still marvel
at saying? I know we've seen it for so many
years now, but I still find myself marveling sometimes at
his little subtleties in his routes, the way he gained
separation at the top of the route, how Jared'll throw
it before he's even turned around, just knowing where he's
gonna be. Do you still marvel at it?
Speaker 2 (05:30):
It look, every guy on that rosters more athletic than
you and me, right, Like, there's there's just impressive physicality
athleticism with each other wrestler, but you have a certain
appreciation for the greats. I think at Calvin Johnson all
the time in that conversation, like felt like every day
we watched a practice he did something where you're just
like you got to pick your jaw off the floor
and same brown in this game. There's one play that
really stood out to me, and it was the first
(05:52):
play of the second drive. Wasn't a particularly long gain,
sixteen yards, you know, a good gain. At the line
of scrimmage, he's nudged by Penay's brother, so he's got
to avoid that first comes off as an inbreaking route.
He's now bracketed by the linebacker Edmunds, a very good
linebacker and a very good linebacker and coverage. He beats that,
and he's covered one on one by Jalen Johnson, a
(06:14):
fantastic cornerback who you know had had some plays in
that game before he left, right, and he beats that.
He beats all three golf puts on a perfect ball,
you know, low in a way that only his receiver
can get. But it's like, damn, that's that's a really
fine bit of execution by you know, one of the
few guys I think that can accomplish that in this league.
(06:35):
It's what makes him elite. And I got to break
it up because I think it's it's hilarious. There was
a play in training camp DJ Miller, you know, cornerback
they bring in from the USFL or UFL. He broke
up one of those end zone plays to Amon ros
Saint Brown when it was the second team defense versus
Firsty Muffetts. And like, I don't care what DJ Miller
does with the rest of his life. He has that because.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
I send me that tape. Can I just put that
on the phone on my phone? Is a screen saver? Ye?
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Like he's so pristine. Yeah, in those those little red
zone routes, the quick snap off, the one he had
I thought was a perfect example is the one of
the very end of the first half with you know,
just not just an outroute but also coming back toward
the pylon, giving even that little bit more separation. It's
so so difficult to stop unless you guess right. And
(07:22):
so you know, credit to DJ Miller for guessing right.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Look at DJ Miller. I don't get me a shout
out a little nitro. I love that all right real quick.
Before we moved to Monday night at the pass rush,
it showed a little bit more signs of life. Marcus
Davenport didn't practice on Thursday. Dan Campbell said, we're gonna
have to wait till the end of the week, still
getting some tests there. I think either way that goes
with Marcus, if he plays or he doesn't play, I
think we both probably accept or expect al Kadi Muhammad
(07:48):
to have a bigger role. What did you like about him?
Dan talked about just the motor that never stops. I
remember the preseason play where he saved a touchdown where
he came off the line of scrimmage. I think he
ran twenty yards downfield, tackled somebody inside the ten yard
line on a screenplay in the preseason. I said, why
you know that's one of those hustle plays. It's one
of those plays that a glue piece on the roster
(08:09):
kind of makes you know, not one of your main guys,
but an important depth piece that when he's come when
he's asked to come in, make some place I thought
Muhammad did that last week with a couple pressures. He
had this sack. I think we both expect to see
a bigger role this week with him.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Sure, I think back when they signed him, and you know,
just as I tend to do just a general curiosity.
I know it was to the practice squad, but they
needed edged up last year, right, And so I threw
on his tape from his time in Indie and nothing
stood out. Like I was like, okay, that's a practice
squad body, Like, I don't see it. I know he
played eight hundred snaps, he had seven or six and
(08:43):
a half sacks or whatever it was, but like it
wasn't particularly impressive film. And you know, you got to
take in scheme into consideration or whatever. The stat that
I really like pointing out is is last year, you
look at pressure rate, how often are you generating pressure
per rush attempt? Right, Mohammed's pressure rate was not far
(09:03):
off from Zadarias Smith. Now he played you know, something
like forty percent of the snaps, right, So how much
of that can be extrapolated out over a bigger workload,
That's what you always want to know. But if you
look at the way Mohammad played last year. It was
a lot of snaps in like fewer games, and so
you know that he can handle this bigger workload. I
(09:23):
think it was a big mystery why he didn't play
a lot more in the first game. Then you say, okay,
they played forty eight snaps. Maybe that makes a lot
of sense. Devenport goes down. He's put in there for
a bigger workload, and I thought really shined and that's
a really nice piece to have. He's an absolute bargain
at his contract, and so it gives you a little
(09:44):
bit of confidence. You still want to see depth. You know,
there's still concern about depth. Now you have to bump
one per something. I mean, somebody else has to come
up from lower. And you know, when I look at
the overall pass us picture or sex is good, it's good.
When did those four secs come to him? They all
came in the second half, when the score was getting
away from hi Pen your years back. That's when obviously
lots of teams have pass for success. I didn't see
as much of the first half, and I think that's
(10:05):
still concerning. When you go to Baltimore, you're not gonna
have a three score lead, unlike you're gonna have a
three score lead in the second half, so you're gonna
have to find a way to affect the pocket before
it gets to that point.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
All right, let's talk about Baltimore because obviously a lot
of people are hoping that's maybe a Super Bowl preview
of you know, two elite teams in this league. Obviously
a tough task going on the road in that environment.
We know what happened in twenty twenty three when they
went there. They got their butts kicked, they got them
handed to them, and they've all seen that film and
they've they've owned up to that. I think they're eager
(10:38):
to go Monday and have a second shot at those guys.
But when you look at that matchup, when you look
at this game number one in Justin Rodgers' book, the
Detroit Lions have to do. What if they're gonna come
out with a victory Monday night.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
It's gonna sound strange because you think of it as
a run first team because Derrick Henry has been added
to that equation since twenty twenty three, slid better like
that's a Gary part about it. But I think this
team has to cover you know there they lean so
heavily on their man coverage, and you know, I don't
want to throw a guy under the bus. But Terry
and Arnold has not been good enough to start this year.
(11:10):
We saw him in camp, unbelievable camp for him, right,
I thought DJ Reid had an unbelievable camp. He hasn't
lived up to as they've been really really good in
run support. Credit there. But Arnold got worked over pretty
good against Chicago, and it could have been worse. It
could have been worse if Muhammad doesn't hit Williams, he
gives up another long reception, if TYLERK Williams doesn't tip
that ball and fourth down, Arnold was beat there. So
(11:34):
Baltimore doesn't have the greatest receivers in the world, but
they got capable ones. I mean, obviously DeAndre Hopkins has
accomplished a ton of this league. He's long in the
tooth at this point. Whatever still good touchdown in weeks
one and week two, say Flowers a good receiver. Fore
Shad Bateman is So I really need to see the
secondary hold up a man de man because a lot
of tension is going to be put to that backfield,
(11:55):
whether it's it's Henry or the scramble ability of Lamar Jackson.
If you can't cover those guys, you're in for a
long day.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
And obviously step one is going to be stopping on
the Browns obviously did a terrific job last week. Then
they still gave up forty one. It was their focus.
They run blitz. Henry had eleven carries for twenty three yards.
I think they had forty five yards rushing. But what
was the difference the forty one points was Lamar Jackson
threw four touchdown passes. And I think if you're the Lions,
you obviously have to go in stopping Henry and containing
(12:23):
Lamar in the pocket. If you get Lamar into a
run pass situation, it's really tough to beat him. You
make him stay in the pocket. If he throws four
touchdowns like he did last week, and you lose your tip,
your cap and move on to to Cleveland week four,
and you say, hey, that's an MVP caliber player and
he just beat us. And to that point too, just
about how much credit he doesn't get as a passer.
(12:47):
Ten straight games with two touchdown passes and a ninety
plus passer rating, so he's going for eleven straight in
that game Monday Night. Sky can do it all, but
I think you have to go into it saying we
can't let Henry get roll. We can't let the run
pass option with Lamar be a thing. We've got to
make him stay in the pocket and make him beat
(13:07):
us throwing the football. If we do, we can deal
with it.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
I can't believe how much his game has evolved as
he's come to the league.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Like amazing, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
And I know he won the MVP in twenty nineteen,
absolutely deserved, twenty twenty three, absolutely deserve. His best season
was last year, and all due respect to Josh Allen,
certainly an MVP caliber season. Lamar Jackson was the MVP
in the league in my book. He rushed for more
yards than he had in four seasons. He led the
league in passer rating QBR, yards per temp, touchdown rate.
Like Lamar Jackson was incredible last year. Derrick Henry's existence,
(13:39):
the threat that he possesses, only stands to make Lamar
Jackson better. And if you look at those numbers, the QBR,
the passer rating, the yards PERTENP, they're up this year
after two games, like he has transformed into this all
round player and he has no problem beating you with
his arm. I'm sure he probably would prefer it a
lot less rest to his body, right.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Specialty I think will be kidding this one. You know,
when you when you got two teams like this and
you got an offense that's so capable. I think on
both sides the difference could be we see the kickoff
now is a bigger part of the play. I wonder
if this week, week, week three, we see that part
of it, you know, maybe affect the game, you know,
switch the field a little bit, give you a big
boost with it, with it with a touchdown return. I
(14:20):
think special teams and games like this against two really
good teams, it's always something a little quirky, isn't it.
It's special teams. It's a pump return. Takeaways are going
to be huge. Who can hang onto the football? Who
can generate the big one? If you're Detroit, that's got
to be a must on the road. So it's just
a game I'm really looking forward to, real quick, a
couple more before we finish up. Here your your biggest matchup,
(14:40):
and let's go, not Lamar, Let's go. Is there something
else they're not gonna have, probably Kyle Vanoy. We'll see
about Humphrey, one of their star cornerbacks too, and that's
your leading sacker and probably your best cornerback, so that
could be a factor. I'm just curious what maybe besides
Lamar and obvious ones, what's a matchup that that they
(15:02):
think it's going to be important for Detroit.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, I mean I obviously highlighted the cornerbacks to to
Baltimore receiver, So let's let's flip it to the other side.
And to me, it's it's Jared Goffers Kyle Hamilton, right
like that is. Lions fans are very familiar with Brian
Branch and what he brings to the table and the
versatility right it's it's unbelievable how he can go from
pass rusher to box safety, to robber to deep safety
(15:25):
to man on man coverage on third down, Like it
is a very very rare and special skill set. Kyle
Hamilton might be the only player in the NFL that
does it better than Brian Branch. And he's what I
don't know, six four two twenty like a gargantuan safety
and he can do it all and so we talked
to Scotty Montgomery today wide receivers coach. I was like,
(15:46):
how important is it to id Or Hamilton. It's like,
that's the guy you have to know where he's on
the field every single play because he's capable of wrecking
games from the back seven. And so you know that's
that's gonna be the chess match for Jared is finding
him using that to kind of give hints on what
they're thinking about doing defensively. And we know so often
(16:06):
Jared comes the line with two plays right. It's picking
that right play, that right read to mitigate the factor
Kyle Hamilton can be.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
It's gonna be a chess game. I think all the
way around both sides of ball and special teams. John
Harbaugh we always talk about Dan Campbell team and how
much important he puts on special teams. John Harbaugh does too.
I think all three phases is going to be a
terrific chess match. Obviously a game Monday night, it's kind
of a statement, you know, measuring stick mesuristic for sure
of just how good this football team is. I think
(16:37):
they want to make up for their last road game
Week one. They want to show that they can play
better on the world handle that situation a little bit better.
That will be key to but it'll be fun. We'll
both be there. It should be a fun matchup.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Hopefully for the national television audience, they get a better
game than last time in Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Let's hope so. Justin Rodgers, Tim Tawinuman, thanks for joining
movie right back, Welcome back to the Twin in the
Huddle podcast. I am very happy to welcome in Ryan Mink.
He does a great job with Ravens dot Com. He's
the editorial director there. He also does the launch podcast. Ryan,
thanks for joining me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Well, look, it was good news in Detroit and Baltimore
week two. You know, after both teams fell week one,
they get that kind of big win week two. What
was the most impressive thing about Baltimore's win against Cleveland
for you and week two?
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Yeah, I think it was the defense playing a lot better.
You know, certainly a rough fourth quarter the season opener
in Buffalo. They needed a bounce back effort from the defense,
particularly the past defense. They got that against Cleveland. Now
it's you know, Joe Flacko and the Browns. You know,
so we're not talking about the Detroit Lions offense coming
to town. But it was a good bounce back effort
(17:53):
for the defense and then particularly just played well in
the fourth quarter twenty one at twenty one unanswered points.
It was good to see them close the game out.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
You know, it was a crazy stat line. I went
to go look at that that Cleveland box score and
it was like twenty one rushes for forty five yards,
Dereck Henry with twenty three yards. But Lamar Jackson just
continues to impress. I saw. I saw a great statistic
ten straight games of at least two passing touchdowns and
a ninety plus passer rating dating back to last year
(18:23):
in the playoffs. Just how good is this guy? When
that run game, which Baltimore is obviously is so known for,
they just couldn't get it going against Cleveland. But still
you've got Lamar like to the rescue. Just how good
a football is he playing right now?
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Yeah, this is the best football he's played in his career.
I mean, last year he didn't win MVP, but it
was his best season really by far, one of the
best seasons statistically that any quarterback has ever had. And
I think he's just kind of leveled up this year. No,
he does a great job protecting the football, only had
four interceptions last year, has yet to throw one this season.
Not going what over here, but you know, he's he's
(19:00):
a field really well. Of course there's the broken plays
that he can make something out of nothing. That's just
kind of Lamar ball. And yeah, he's playing at a
very high efficient level right now. I mean currently, no
quarterback in NFL history has ever had a higher quarterback
rating than Lamar Jackson's right now. He's passed Aaron Rodgers
this past week, which you know, all of course everybody
(19:23):
knows Lamar Jackson is the best rushing quarterback of all time,
but now you're actually having the conversation statistically, is he
the best passing quarterback? You know, he's got the highest
career quarterback rating. It's kind of absurd.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
What is the biggest concern for Baltimore with Detroit coming
in Monday night?
Speaker 3 (19:42):
I mean, I think just the arsenal of weapons that
Detroit has, I mean, particularly at wide receiver. You know,
i'mana Rossaint Brown coming off a three touchdown game, Jameson Williams.
I mean, the big play threats Sjamier Gibbs, you know,
I mean, it's just go down the list, and certainly
the Ravens defense gave up almost four hundred passing yards
(20:03):
and week ones of the Bills, and the Bills don't
have nearly the wide receivers to the Lions do, and
so I think that that is the concern for Baltimore particularly.
You know, Marlon Humphrey left Sunday's game with an injury.
We'll see if he's able to play. Kyle van Noy
left with an injury to his hamstring. So two of
your defensive leaders going down against the high octane passing
(20:27):
offense like the Lions.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
That's not good.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
You mentioned the four hundred nearly four hundred yards against
Buffalo Week one, over one hundred yards rushing allow, you know,
the first two weeks. Any concern there a little bit?
I know Cleveland, I think they average over better than
five point oh per rush. They obviously had to abandon
it later there, But any concern there because we were
so used to seeing Baltimore, number one, number two, number
three in the league stop in the run. That's been
(20:50):
a hardball thing ever since he's taken over that job.
Any little bit of concern there, especially with some of
the injuries that you mentioned to.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Yeah, not a ton of concern. I think the Browns
kind of broke one late in that game against this
Ravens second stringers.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
So not too concerned with the run defense.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Brokewon Smith is coming off a fifteen tackle game, including
three for loss. I mean, arguably his best game of
his career. You know, the Ravens did have under the
radar loss with Michael Pierce on their defensive line. Former
Minnesota of Viking. Y'all probably do Michael Pierce, Oh, we
know him very well. Yeah, he retired this past all
(21:31):
season to the Ravens. You know, that was a loss
to the run de But overall, I'm not too concerned
with that.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
Now.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
You know, Dave Montgomery and Jamier Gibbs, the talents that
they are, you have to be concerned when they're coming
to your place, because if the Lions can get that
play action game going, you know, if they're able to
run the ball, play action with golf, then your tough situation.
The Ravens can stop the run, put golf in those
third and longs, I think they're go have much more success.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
You know, Zay Flowers has been a guy that's really
had a great start to this season. I think you
look at their statistics, I think he's got what fourteen catches,
two hundred and eighteen yards and a touchdown two games.
I think their next best receiver has four catches. So
it's really been the kind of the Zay Flower show
for that offense. Where's he taking his biggest leap in production,
just leap as a player in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
You know, I wouldn't say that there's really any difference
from last year. I think it's just kind of how
the target share has has gone down in the first
two weeks.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
I mean, Zay looks like the same player to me.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
He is explosive, he gets the ball in space, he
can make people miss. I mean he's just kind of
a human joystick kind of guy, you know. And and
so I think that it's the Ravens do have, despite
what the stats show, a wide assortment of weapons. This
is the best wide receiver group I think that the
Ravens have ever had. I mean, you look at Rashad
(22:58):
Bateman as the number two. He had a really good
uh season last year. He is a deep threat, big
play guy. He just hasn't you know, materialized yet.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
Not that he's made.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
He's made the most of his opportunities, but it just
they haven't gone to him a lot yet. I mean,
you look at DeAndre Hopkins. I mean, the guy's got
two touchdowns and two games really probably should have had three,
got one got overturned and ruled down the half yard.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
Line against the Browns.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
He's making the most of his opportunities and can still
make contested catches like he always has. Mark Andrews has
been a very small part of the Ravens offensive attack so.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Far, but that's not going to last.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
Yeah, that can always change exactly.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Let all touch tight ends and touchdowns last year and
had a slow start to last year. And then there's
the possibility that Isaiah likely returns this week from his
foot injury.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
So uh, you know, he practiced on Friday.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
We'll see out here this week if he if he's
practicing and kind of ramps up, But there's that possibility,
and so the Ravens really do you know, as much
as it looks like the Ze Flowers Show right now,
they really feel it's a pick your poison offense similar
to kind of Detroit where they can go in any direction.
I mean you talk about the Browns game and Derreck
(24:13):
Henry getting limited. Well, three of the four touchdowns that
Lamar Jackson threw where DeAndre Hopkins and devontees Walker he
caught two touchdowns. Who nobody knows about Devonte Walker? Tyler
Wallace probably a name you've never.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Heard, you know.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
So like they've they've gotten production kind of up and
down this wide receiver unit.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Well usually end with this, but you've kind of, you know,
alluded to it is maybe who's one of those guys
that that Lions fans might not know who could impact
because obviously you've gotten impact from, you know, maybe some
of your unheralded players. Who's maybe one guy that that
could be that guy that Detroit fans are like, who's
that guy and why is he making all these plays
on Monday night football?
Speaker 4 (24:54):
Ye, devontees Walker would probably be a good one.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
I mean, he's a second year wide receiver, he was
a fourth round pick a year ago.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
He's got speed. The guy's got just wheels.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
I mean you watch him on tape and if he
gets a step on defensive back, they're just not catching him.
And so you know, going deep on shallow crossers. You know,
he he I'm not going to put him in the
same category as James and Williams yet, but you know,
shades of a similar player, and so I think that
he's somebody to watch out for. And then Justice Hill,
(25:26):
the Ravens backup running back, is a very good player
that a lot of people don't know, and especially on
third downs, Justice Hill is often the kind of the
go to guy.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
What is the biggest matchup from your perspective sitting there
in Baltimore midweek? Where do you see this as like
this is the area where Baltimore's got to control this
game Monday night.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
I think it's Salamon Ross, Saint Brown and you know
how they match up against him, especially if Marlon Humphrey
isn't able to play, and we'll see it's kind of
a groin injury for him, but he's also a pretty
darn tough dude, Like he's gonna play if he can play.
But you know, is he up to is one if
he does play, and can they keep up with Dom
and Ross and Brown and you know all the ways
(26:09):
that they use him.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
I think that's probably the matchup to watch.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
You know, one guy that here that's that's played pretty
well obviously last week, but really the first two weeks
is Brian Branch the talented safety here. And I wanted
to ask you this question because obviously you've been around
Kyle Hamilton for a long time, and just the ability
of those safeties to come down and play in the box,
to cover light corners, to play the nickel. Just how
valuable has Kyle been to that defense because he's a
(26:36):
guy that that I compare Brian Branch to it. To me,
it's it's kind of Kyle Hamilton, Ed Reid and Brian
Branch are kind of that that versatile guys that can
do a lot of different things. Just the benefit of
watching Kyle overears because Detroit fans are seeing it with
Brian Branch now, and just how fun and how big
of an impact a guy like that can have on defense.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Yeah, I'm really massive.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
I mean I think to two players that are different
in stature, certainly Brian Branch and Kyle Hamilton, and Kyle
Hamilton is like a six foot four monster. You know,
Brian Branch is built differently, but they use him in
similar ways. You know, Kyle Hamilton plays all over the
Ravens defense at Nickel obviously deep safety, free safety in
(27:18):
the box safety. He plays some linebacker at times. You know,
he can be a kind of a dime linebacker, and
so yeah, they use him everywhere, and that is hugely valuable.
I mean, I think just keeping the offense guessing as
to where your safeties are lining up really kind of
keeps them. They have a tougher time locking in on
(27:38):
what's going on defensively and so and obviously just the
ability to kind of go matchups. You know, it's almost
the game turns into a game of basketball at times,
and it's a matchups game. You talk about a guy
like Samuel Porta, you know, does Kyle Hamilton sometimes match
up against him and and try to eliminate that threat.
(27:58):
So yeah, very valuable to have a safety that can
play multiple positions.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Well, so many weapons are going to be featured Monday
night in Baltimore, both offensively and defensively. Dan Campbell is
looking forward to this game. This could potentially be a
Super Bowl matchup just with the way these two teams
are built. Should be a fun one in front of
a national audience on Monday Night. I can't wait for
Ryan thanks so much for taking the time, and I'll
make sure I come by and say hello in Baltimore
(28:24):
on Monday night.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
All right, thanks Simmy. Yeah, I hope we meet in
the super Bowl. That'd be awesome.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Well, that would be fun when we'll have to do
one of these again in February for sure.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
Sounds good. Sign you up.
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