3YPC- Baltimore Ravens @ Miami Dolphins *PREVIEW*
And we’re on. This is three yards per carry. I’m Alfredo Artiaga. Simon Clancy is here. Chris Kaufman is here. And this is the week that we preview a Thursday night football game. So you will not have us for Friday, Saturday, Sunday. You’ll get us again on Monday. So we get like a a reprieve from the season uh for a little while. But it should be an interesting game. And we will cover it in this game. We will talk exclusively this game, maybe a little bit Ravens big picture stuff as well. But first, uh, we are brought to you by 305800 pain. Better Business Bureau accredited with an A+ rating. Your car accident pro personal injury specialists, fast connections with trusted doctors and attorneys, always ready to take your call 247. Again, 305800 pain. 305800 pain. And of course, Thompson cigar. I’m a customer. You should be, too. Use the promo code three yards per carry. That’s the number three. Yards per carry. The name of the podcasts. And you get special discounts up to 20% off. 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GOI is a global leader in smart lighting innovation and recently they announced a partnership with the Miami Dolphins bringing GOI smart outdoor light lighting solutions directly to your homes and to the homes of all Dolphin fans on October 30th and that’s this game for the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens game on Thursday Night Football. [ __ ] will be creating the ultimate fan experience at the Hard Rock South Plaza, lighting up the Touchdown Terrace and hosting fan activities at the booth. Go’s lighting will be on display around the stadium and Dolphins fan zone before and during the game. Be sure to check it out. Go to goi.com for more information. That’s go ov.com. As you can see, I put up their website right there. You can check out their website. They have a bunch of specials rolling for this week. Some end on Halloween, which is the 31st, which is just two days from now. So, we suggest that you help them out because they helped us out. All right, guys. Let’s start here. Ravens are going to be completely healthy. So, let’s start when the Ravens have the football, when the Dolphins are on defense. Do you share the optimism? I’m going to start with you, Simon. Do you share the optimism that I kind of share share it myself that is being shared all across football shows today and this week that the rev Ravens are ready to be that team that they were supposed to be? They were kind of a dumpster fire along with us for a while, but now they’re they’re kind of poised to be completely healthy here down the stretch. Do you share the optimism that they all share and I share with this team with this Ravens team going forward? Yeah, I mean, look, it’s a good team with good players. I know there’s some issues around John Harour this season. Um, they’re well coached. Um, and on offense, you know, take Patrick Mahomes out of the Chiefs, take Josh Allen out of the Bills, you know, you’ve seen what’s happened, albeit until they brought in Joe Flacco, but even then, you see what happens when Joe Burrow gets taken out of the um of the Bengals. And the same thing happened with the Ravens. You take Lamar Jackson out and, you know, you can’t you can’t succeed. You can’t win, albeit, you know, to the level that they need to to make the playoffs. All of a sudden, he’s back. He says he’s 100% healthy. and we are going to be unfortunately the recipients of that because I’ I’d absolutely fancy us against a Cooper Rush or a Tyler Huntley, but a fully fit Lamar Jackson with something to prove trying to drive his team uh into the playoffs and be the first team in in NFL history to come back from where they’ve come back from to make the playoffs would, you know, probably not surprise anybody. And like you say, you know, Derrick Henry is running really well. Flowers, Baitman, Hopkins, you know, Mark Andrews, Isaiah Likely, Charlie Kola scored at the weekend. They’re getting the left tackle Ronnie Stanley back. So look, this is a good team that that people thought would win a Super Bowl. And when you remove Lamar Jackson from the equation, then it’s obvious that that that isn’t going to happen. But he’s back. And as I said, we are going to, you know, we’re going to feel the full force of Lamar tomorrow night. Chris, all is forgotten. Like they belong in the conversation with Buffalo, Kansas City, the Colts. Well, it’s more like all is remembered because uh you know they did they did lose three games with Lamar Jackson at the helm. I brought that I brought that up. But they lost the games to the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs, you know, and uh and so you know the Buffalo Bills game that was a one-point game. The Detroit Lions game, you know, it was a shootout. They’ve they’ve obviously had some uh trouble on their defense the way we have, but in other words, they lost to really good teams or, you know, teams that know how to play um really well uh during the regular season and particularly the postseason. So, um you know, those sort of those sorts of uh postseason clashes that you know, they can go either way and they were not the recipients of those those wins, but they did compete in those games. And so with Lamar Jackson back, you’re like, well, at the very least, you’re back to that that this is a team that is, you know, very competitive with some of the best teams in the NFL um on Sunday. Uh and the Dolphins, frankly, are not. So, um so I think that that’s probably what Vegas is thinking because otherwise, you know, you look on the face of it, this is a Baltimore Ravens team that, you know, has racked up some losses. Uh this is a Dolphins team that has racked up some losses. This is a short week. Baltimore Ravens are traveling on the short week. Homefield advantage usually worth three points and home field on Thursday night football is worth even more um because uh the road team traveling on a short week is is in a really rough spot. So So giving seven and a half points um to us is is just absurd almost um especially after the win that the Dolphins had against Atlanta last week. uh a very complete win, which you know, I don’t care if it was Atlanta, it still it still looked like a big turnaround win. So, on the face of it, that looks pretty ridiculous. But I think it just has to, you know, you have to reach back into that memory a little bit and say in those first four weeks, listen, they did lose, but they lost to really good teams. Simon, let’s start here. when they’re on offense, Dolphins are on on defense, they’re Dolphins are going to have to change some things, aren’t they? Like, they’re going to have to take some chances because they’re going to have to devote more bodies to the box and they’re going to have to leave themselves vulnerable to the big play. So, Anthony Weaver is going to have to change his ethos, right? He’s going to have to change his philosophy of not allowing the big play at all costs. Like, he’s going to have to take chances in this game, right, Simon? Or would you expect complete conservative game plan from Anthony? The game plan will be similar to the game plan at the at the weekend against Atlanta. The the um banana in the tailpipe is obviously, you know, Lamar Jackson can do things that Kurt Cousins could only dream of doing, especially this version of Kurt Cousins. And so, you know, do you enter into situations where you have a spy? Do you you know, all of those things? And you go back and look at our inability in big games against Buffalo to to do the things that Josh or to shut down the things that Josh Allen is so good at doing. Um you know those kind of third and 10, third and seven where he just manages to escape contain, get off platform, out of structure, pick up first downs and and that’s what Lamar can do. He can kill you wi with that. And and that’s the thing for the Dolphins and I think that’ll be the thing for Anthony Weaver is how how do you play Lamar? Um because realistically you go back to the last two games that we’ve played against the Ravens. Um and for seven of the eight quarters that we played against them, uh Lamar has absolutely killed us. You know, I mean, there was the big comeback, but we were down 3514 going into that fourth quarter when we beat them a couple of years ago in the Kevin Harland game. But, you know, um we then got absolutely spanked at the back end of the season down at their place. Um, and you know, they’ve run pretty much wild uh over us and that team really hasn’t changed a lot on offense. Uh, and in fact, they they probably got better cuz they added Derk Henry. Um, so look, I I I think the biggest question for me is what what they do about the Lamar factor, but there’s an awful lot of really good players to cover, but if I’m Anthony Weaver, I’m trying not to do too much that was different, both in the downto- responsibilities, but also just in the the way that everybody played in terms of it just felt for the first time all season on both sides of the ball, but on defense, as we’re talking about it, it felt for the first time like the thing had a meaning that it knitted together properly the way it should do. Um, each unit was working off one another. Um, and that’s easier to do when you’re not playing Drake London, you’re not playing Michael Penn, and you’re playing a Kurt Cousins, as I said, who, you know, has obviously seen better days. It will be a completely different kettle of fish tomorrow night. But I think that the way that you play is the way that you played your best football and that was a that was on Sunday. So, I don’t see too many I’d be surprised if there were too many changes cuz I think they found a formula and um Chris, I I think if you break from that formula, you’re going to enter into some pretty difficult waters. I think the key is going to be whether uh the Dolphins can repeat that performance. you know, as much as the absence of Michael Penn in favor of Kirk Kirk Cousins, who’s, you know, clearly on the back end and and getting over some injuries from recent times and just uh just off rhythm coming in uh for for Penn uh in that game. Um, you know, I think really it was about Drake London’s absence. Uh, and that’s and because that’s the area that can really hurt the Dolphins where they’re weak in the secondary. Um, you know, so I think that between uh his absence as well as, you know, that that perhaps um you’re not looking at uh what’s his name? uh the Kyle Pittz as as quite the the player that uh that you might face in somebody like uh Isaiah likely or uh you know or or certainly Mark Andrews. Um, so I think that uh the challenge on Miami will be okay well can you stop Z Flowers? You know, can you stop can you stop um you know Rashad Baitman? Can you stop uh those those tight ends Isaiah Likely and Mark Andrews? uh if they are fully healthy, which uh is apparently they are, um then I would presume that those guys can make a big impact in the uh in the passing game in a way that the Falcons were left uh were left short. You know, they they weren’t able to do that. So, um, so Miami it’s it’s less about to me I mean the formula yes they they are going to try to repeat some of the things that he did last week schematically but um really it’s going to be about whether the the Ravens can make you can make the Dolphins secondary and linebacker coverage pay in a way that the Falcons could not. Now, I don’t see a way that the game script can be kind of clean. Like, it was rather clean against Atlanta. Like, the game script was clean against Atlanta. It was not clean against the the Jets. They forced three turnovers against Atlanta. It was just one turnover. That was consequential, but it was one turnover. And it was uh time of possession that was actually hurting that that Falcons uh offense because at one point their splits were eight rushes, 10 passes, and um Kirk Cousins was seven of 10 at that point, but the score was 17-3. And the next time that they touched the ball, they were 24-3. They ran the ball two more times and they were down 31-3. So then it was just abandoned ship. can’t just run the football anymore. There is virtually no way on earth, right, Simon, that they can play a clean game script against the Ravens offense and win. They’re going to need multiple turnovers. As many as three, maybe. I think they’re going to need turnovers. And look, most teams need turnovers to win. I mean, you know, it’s it’s hard to win modern football games. Doesn’t matter who you are if you’re if you’re not getting turnovers. Um and uh so yeah, I think they’re going to need to try and get the ball back and you know, Derek Henry, for example, as great as he is, has been susceptible to fumbles. Um, you know, so I I I think there will have been an emphasis in the short week of, you know, just making sure that hat on a hat, you know, trying to punch the ball out, all of the things that we’re seeing predominantly defensively around the NFL that almost tackling has become um almost like second fiddle uh to trying to knock the ball out. And it, you know, if somebody gets beaten over the top and the defensive back or linebacker is chasing them down, the first instinct these days is now not to tackle. It’s to try and punch the ball out from behind. to to try and you know get possession back. So, I I think that that there will be a big uh emphasis on that this week. And um but yeah, I think it’s it is hard to shut down really good offenses and this is a really good offense with a what two-time MVP quarterback, uh a Hall of Fame running back, future Hall of Fame running back and you know, I mean, DeAndre Hopkins probably Hall of Fame wide receiver. Obviously not the height of those powers anymore, but you know, Pro Bowl tight end in in Mark Andrews, you know, Baitman, Z Flowers, first round pick. Baitman first round pick on a on a good second contract. Likely, I say likely. They’re likely, you know, so Ronnie Stanley really good left tackle. So, you know, it’s going to be hard and they’re going to have to play absolutely lights out. Um, and you just don’t want it to turn into like some sort of civ in the second. you know, if they can get the ball. I mean, Lamar won’t have played for three weeks, so he will be a bit rusty. And, you know, um, yeah, I mean, how many turnovers can you get on defense versus how can you retain possession on offense and not, you know, that’s they need to play a clean game on offense as well because they can play complimentary football, then maybe they do have a chance, but it it looks like an uphill battle, I’ve got to say. Uh, Chris, you want to add something before we go to break here? Yeah, just that um I think that uh to tag on that um against the run and perhaps I’ll regret these words, but um but I think that when a team a defense starts getting its run fits, it becomes sort of um you know, infectious uh and sustainable. And um and so, you know, when you’re not getting your run fits, again, it’s hard to turn that around. But when you kind of start locking into place a little bit, um, which they have been, I think, little by little and then sort of all at once last week, um, I think that that is sustainable and will bleed over into this week. So, that’s not actually what I’m going to be worried about. Uh, again, I may regret those words as Derrick Henry, you does what he has done way too many times, but I think that’s not going to be it. It’s going to be about Lamar Jackson coming off that layoff. As you said, he could be rusty. Uh it’s going to be about um whether the the secondary of the Dolphins and the linebacker coverage can hold up because they will in particular be challenged by um by those tight ends and by those wide receivers uh and how they use them. So, I think that um I think that it’s going to that’s going to be the game. That’s going to be the not just the defensively for the Dolphins, but probably the whole game. And uh if the Dolphins aren’t up for that task, then it’s going to be a long one. Yeah, I read a stat that I wish I I really didn’t read, which was that Miami played their first clean game against the run in almost two years. They had zero missed tackles in the game against Atlanta. Uh I wish I didn’t read that. Okay. Because you know, you know who’s coming into town. Yeah. And the thing about that Atlanta game is that you have to ask yourself, was it, you know, was that the anomaly to what the rest of the season has been or is this the start of something moving forwards, you know, and I suspect it’s probably more anomalous than than reality. But, you know, tomorrow night will show. Yep. All right, we’re going to go to break and when we come back, we’re going to talk about where in my opinion the only place that this game can be won because they’re going to have to score some points and that’s when the Dolphins have the football against the Ravens defense. But first, these words and we’re back. All right, I said it before going to break and I’m going to repeat it here. Yeah, this offense, the Dolphin offense is going to have to win this game for Miami if they have a chance to win the game. Zero turnovers. They’re going to have to run the football incessantly, I believe, because they’re going to have to win the time of possession because they’re going to have to keep that offense off the field to have any chance in this game. Agree, Simon? Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, again, much as we talked before the break about what the defense needs to do, I think the offense needs to come out with the same script that it had at the weekend, and that’s continue to make a commitment to the running game. Even if you know early on it feels like oh it’s not working and you know guys are getting stuffed and it’s stuffed is that a word stuffed. Um it’s uh you know we’re averaging 2.8 or 3.2 two yards per carry and there’s got to be we can’t be in a situation where two is just going back and you know just challenging Kyle Hamilton and Marlon Humphrey and you know Nate Wiggins who’s turning in a great year and you know it can’t be that that situation and allowing you know their defensive lineman and Mike Green and people like that to just pin their ears back and and come after tour that that that is not a recipe for for victory I don’t believe um staying true to the run getting Ollie Gordon involved you know the three-headed running back system worked pretty well. I thought, as I said it on the Monday show, I thought Ale Ingold had his best game of the season. We’re going to hopefully they’ll they’ll continue to roll out that sort of, you know, Daniel Brunskill six offensive lineman almost to the point sometimes where you just think they may even just roll out in 14 personnel sometimes. Like I watched the Steelers against uh the Vikings in Dublin and Aaron Rogers’s offense ran 14 personnel probably more times than they ever run in Rogers’s career in one game. And you know they were using big Garnell Washington and they were bringing in an offensive lineman who was playing as a tight end and they had Johnny Smith and they had Frymouth and they had you know a running back as well and and they were just punching the Vikings in the face and it worked. And look this might be the next iteration of you know McDaniel. They they you know they got some they got some change out of Hayden Ruchcci and maybe they do do that. They line up in 14 personnel a couple of times and just just try and punch Baltimore in the face. Don’t forget no no um Justin Madab Andy Madabe. Um so you’re removing their best arguably their best defensive player not called K Hamilton or not even and they traded and they inexplicably traded their best edge player a couple years ago. Yeah, Adafay was traded to the Chargers. So um yeah, Mike Green had his first sack of the season at the weekend. Carl Vanoi is 108 years old, but you know he had eight sacks last year. Um they they’re starting to get some some change out of Trenton Simpson, but you know, you’ve got to know where KL Hamilton is on every play, you know, because he’s gonna he’s gonna um bait you into into throws. Um so I I just think establishing the run, bringing those safeties down into the box, Malachi Starks, the the the the rookie, uh down into the box, seeing what, you know, where is Hamilton gonna line up? Is Hamilton gonna line up as a strong safety? Is he gonna be a free safety? Is he gonna be the nickel? Is he gonna be a blitzer? Is he going to be the the linebacker? Is he going to be an overhang defender? Is he going to be an edge rusher? He’s been all of those things. Um so that will be really interesting to see what to see what they do and and can the Dolphins lure them into the the things that they lured Atlanta into at the weekend, which is, you know, run run run run, you know, mixing some screens, mixing some passes. But the more that you run, the the more that they’re going to have to come down into the box, the linebackers will play a bit close to the line, and that’s when he can hit those plays over the top, which we did to to great success, which is why Jaylen Mo went for 99 yards on on Sunday. So, I think that’s the key to me. But, they’re going to have to play an extremely another completely clean game where all the mechanism, everything works to perfection because you you just can’t get away with mistakes in the NFL and you certainly can’t get away with mistakes against a Super Bowl contender like the Ravens should be. Yeah. Uh, great stat and I think you’ll you’ll appreciate this one, Simon from PFF. Kyle Hamilton has not played a single snap in the deep third in the last three weeks. So, he’s been near the line of scrimmage. Malachi Starks has played almost exclusively in the deep third the last three weeks. So, they’ve decided, okay, we’re going to get back to our roots. Kyle Hamilton’s going to be closer to the line of scrimmage. Malachi Starks Starks is going to be our deep safety and we’re going to get back to the roots of what made us good in 2023 when they had the number one defense in the NFL. Uh Chris, yeah, you agree with all points? I I think that the the thing about last week’s game plan is I’m not sure that it’s going to work when um you know, offensively when you do have Rocoan Smith and Kyle Hamilton uh patrolling the middle of the field. Um you know, I think that I I think actually you could see Well, first off, if if he does this before the game, then we’ve already lost. But if there’s only if there’s only two running backs active again, then we’ve lost. Yeah, game over. But, uh, if there are three, then that gives you some some signs of hope. Uh, and and it will be about the Dolphins, uh, going up against those, uh, kind of bigger, older players that they’re they’re putting up front. Um, you know, I think John Jenkins is up there. I think that, uh, you know, Brent Urban is still starting games. um you know it’s still so it’ll be it’ll be going up against them up front and actually imposing your will in the run game with three running backs in three different ways um you know in many different ways with the ground game but in the passing game I don’t know that they can get away with as much of what they got away with last week. Um so actually it it probably will have to come down to Tua hitting some uh some big plays over the top. The other thing they’ve done as well is that the trade for Alohi Gilman has worked really well because that along with Stark, so they’ve played a lot of Gilman and Starks in the in the deep third and and that’s just allowed Hamilton just to to do what he does best and you know he is their best player. I mean, he’s their best player, not called Lamar Jackson. Actually, pound-for-pound, he might be their best player, because he almost single-handedly affects every single snap in terms of how you how you how they play him, how Zach plays him. And I I thought what they did at the weekend, I watched some of the highlights of the Bears game. And you know, he was playing and we talk about Jaylen Phillips lining up in that tiger formation, Chris, where he stands over the no over the center. That’s what they did with Kyle Hamilton. Then they just blitz him and you know he was punking like Joe Joe Tuni on third down. He was like bouncing off guys and sacking Caleb Williams or blitz pressures. And you know I I think that you know if I’m Zach or knowing that Tua isn’t particularly mobile in the pocket and doesn’t handle pressure particularly well. I’d be sending arguably the best pound-for-pound defensive player in the league, not called Miles Garrett or or Micah Parsons on a blitz against an offensive, especially on that right side, you know, through the Cole Strange, Larry Borum in that area and send him off to tour, you know, that’s what you do with with gamechanging players who, like I said, can affect the play on every single snap. And that’s what Kyle Hamilton does. And that’s uh and that is an area where the Dolphins have consistently when when the Dolphins have faltered on offense and when Tua has faltered um it it has been recognizing those blitzes before the snap. Like it has been uh recognizing the spacing and the matchups and the numbers to where you know a guy is coming or you don’t know a guy is coming. You know, like there there are ways to be able to predict that. And um and I think that uh Tua hasn’t been up to snuff on that this year all too often. Um you know, particularly in that first game of the year against the Colts and we saw it again uh in some subsequent games um later on. So uh so you know, expect the Ravens to test them that way. Uh I still think that um that if they are able to read those blitzes, uh then Tua does beat the blitz pretty well um as far as you know, going hot. But, you know, Mike McDaniel has to lay down those hot options for him. Um, instead of, you know, having everybody everybody chipping and um and and coming in to block and then you’re left with nobody hot and, you know, it’s just not going to work out. It’s not going to be a good deal. So, um, so I think that, uh, I think that the Dolphins will have a challenge on their hands identifying those blitzes, um, and the sim pressures, but, uh, it’s probably still going to come down to whether Tua can hit a few big big ones down the sideline, um, or in the deep, uh, in the deep field. I think that if he can, then we can keep up. It’s also going to come down to whether the Dolphins score early in the first quarter, which they’ve not been doing. Um, and there was an incredible stat last week. That was the first touchdown that we’d scored, I forget what it was, in the first quarter, uh, in in quite a while. Or first touchdown pass that Tua had thrown in the first quarter in something like 12 games. Um, yeah. Yeah. It was like 12 games, 13 games, something like that. Yeah. So, uh, you know, if the Dolphins and and that’s not a coincidence that that things went off really well, uh, in that Falcons game. I think if the Dolphins can get out to that early um early punch, early lead like with the Falcons and with the Panthers, I think things will go better than they did with the Panthers this time because I do believe that the um that the defense is is kind of locking a little bit better into place right now. The other Yeah, just the other thing about Hamilton as well is he’s a massive Harry Potter nerd. He could be he could go Voldemort on our ass tomorrow night. like do you know what I mean? Like he has that ability to that he’s a rare one. You know he’ll line up in three positions on three different downs. First down he might be overhang or an edge. Second down he might blitz from middle linebacker. Third down he might be free safet single high free safety and just be because he’s got the ability to get sideline to sideline. And that for a defensive coordinator is just mana from heaven. So it’ll be interesting to see. Yeah. Well, last week what Jordan Brooks did on on on for us, you know, is kind of what what Kyle Hamilton will be in a position to do. But, you know, again, I can’t I can’t stress enough, do not forget Rocoan Smith. That’s the guy that gives us the most trouble. Um, particularly with where Mike McDaniel likes to attack opposing defenses and where Tua likes to oppo attack opposing defenses, uh, with layering throws into the middle and things like that. And Rocoan Smith is excellent at getting great depth. um in in in the passing game and and shutting down some of that and being a very smart defensive player. And so, you know, that’s that’s the player to me that he has a game, we lose. We lose. Yeah. Yeah. Uh Simon, a little one point for a little bit of optimism here. And my I’m on I’m Yeah. What makes me optimistic about one thing in this game is that the Ravens do trust Teddy Buchanan and Trent Simpson one-on-one with running backs out of the back field. We have the best maybe Christian McAffrey is a better pass catcher than Devon Achan, but my god, if they’re going to do that again and they’ve done it all season and they tend to do it consistently, then the Dolphins have to exploit that. And there is no way that Miami can win this game if Devon Han is not having a monster game like at least 150 yards from scrimmage. Agree. And he has to exploit Teddy Buchanan and Tren Simpson. Well, I’d say Trenton Simpson. I think Teddy Buchanan was the best um third down linebacker in the draft just gone in terms of coverage. Yeah, he was awesome. Uh he can play zone. He understands all of those, you know, responsibilities. Um, in terms of tracking, uh, backs he, you played James Cook and they played Jir Gibbs, so he understands incredibly speedy, sort of slightly lighter, but play recognition, play speed, pursuit speed, um, tackling ability, running to the ball, uh, he can turn and get downhill fast. I I think he’s a really interesting player. I think um the one player that you would want to get uh into is Trenton Simpson, especially on early downs. Um if you can get matched up on Simpson on early downs, great. But I think you know he’s going to come out the game on third down. Um and you’re going to see, you know, Hamilton, Starks, um Gil, uh Alohi Gilman, all of those players on the field at the same time. So makes it more difficult. But uh I think that you know trying to target and identify those matchups especially in the pass game are going to be absolutely key. But don’t forget what you might find is that you know if I’m Zach or if I’m John Harour I’m going to be looking at the Dolphins offense and going okay who who’s their best players on offense because we’ve got some absolute studs over here. Carl Hammond, I tell you what, why don’t you follow, you know, use your superpower to follow around Devon Chan on third down, for example, and, you know, snuff some of those inside screens out and those sorts of things. So, um, yeah, the the chess match of of what the superstar players do on both sides is going to be really interesting. And yeah, get the ball in. Obviously good things happen when you get the ball in Han’s hands, but you know with the kind of warning Chris that you know they might just put their absolute super stud on him as well. So yeah, that’s the d that would be the danger uh is where Kyle Hamilton gets to be used. Uh this is this is would would have been a great game to still have Darren Waller healthy. Um because not only could he occupy uh some of the attention uh but also he’s just a very uh he’s just a very high IQ player. From what little we saw of him, uh it was clear that he he is a high IQ player. He is a guy that gets available for for the quarterback. Um, and it’s those kinds of guys that will be, you know, really key in a game like this, I think. So, um, so they’re going to miss him. Uh, and they’re going to miss the threat that, you know, he won’t pose to the Baltimore Ravens defense. So, that does free up a chess piece to try and, you know, uh, take out Devon Aan. Um, the one thing I’ll add though is Trent Simpson as they’re getting healthy, he’s being phased out like he’s, um, he didn’t start. He played 10 snaps last week. I mean, is it’s not as not as much of a thing anymore. Uh Teddy Buchanan, it’s just a matter of, you know, when which week is he going to pick to uh to, you know, fully figure it out. And um unfortunately, we’ve had several of those young guys uh over the years that kind of figure it out against us, you know, and so um I think that that’s um we’ll see on that, but my worry is that we do not have anybody at tight end. at all. And and and we had a Darren Waller and that could have occupied some attention and he could have, you know, added some some veteran tricks with high IQ, but that’s just that’s just not there. I mean, one, sorry, going on. Yeah. Uh, and it’s already been confirmed, two things that have already been confirmed. Uh, Danny Brun will play tight end because Julian Hill will be out of this game and Frank Smith also confirmed. This is something that we talked about on the Discord. So, you know that you should become members of our discord cuz sometimes we know things, okay, and we share them. Frank Smith basically volunteered. Yeah. Yeah. I run personnel now. Which is which was interesting that he comes out here because he’s basically saying, yeah, uh people were demoted. Uh you know, and he doesn’t say it by name. Does that make a difference? Uh by the way, having Frank Smith down on the sideline running personnel all of a sudden the operation was a little quicker. And I think we could go straight to to picks after this, but your thoughts on that, Simon? Well, Frank volunteered. I mean, that everybody says all the players were effusive in their praise for him down on the sideline. So, clearly, you know, lots of things are good in principle when you’re winning. I I would say that the one thing I would look for actually when you talk about Daniel Brunskill, just to put it in, when you look at how athletic um both Aon Brewer and Patrick Paul are, I would imagine that Mike McDaniel would have seen Sunday Night Football and seen the Steelers throwing to Spencer Anderson, who is their their sixth offensive lineman. Wouldn’t surprise me if they’d snuck in a uh a little uh pass to a eligible um lineman in BR. You know, nobody’s looking for Daniel Brunkill out there. Yeah, Kyle Hamilton is not shutting down Daniel Brunskill. Um, you know, and Rogers rifled in a, you know, a ball to Anderson who caught it cleanly like a receiver and picked up seven or eight yards. It’s just the sort of thing that Mike McDaniel might think I can probably get away with this because nobody’s going to expect this to come. So, maybe just beware for the little uh six lineman eligible catch tomorrow night. It would be fitting this is the team that uh Robert Hunt had that uh that brilliant moment against. Yeah, of course. So, Baltimore Ravens, but uh I would like to see them uh I would like to see a Patrick Paul wildat. Yeah, me too. Like like Alabama does with uh with Proctor. Yeah, with Proctor. Let’s get that Let’s get that 340 350 pound whatever you know. Wild Krabs Kyle Krabs on his show, he he suggested, you know, you could have Daniel Brunskill snap and you could use Aaron Brewer. Yeah, absolutely. In a lot of those those plays, you could even use him as as a lead blocker as as a fullback. Yeah, but they they they never they never they try and never mess with the um the quarterback snap, I think. Um and and especially when uh when we’ve had some troubles with it uh recently. Um, well, it seems like they always do, but um, but yeah. Yeah. All right, it’s time to pick the game. Um, man, Lamar Jackson is back. And that’s what you want, by the way. You want to measure your team against other teams best. Have we gotten a Tyler Huntley in here? And we would have farted around and won by a field goal or something like that. What are you going to learn? Like, you want these young guys to get experience. You want the players, especially up front, that they’re going to play against a really good offense. The You want to see those rookies play against a really good offense. You want to test your wares against, in my opinion, the best roster, at least on offense, cuz they’re kind of diminished on defense due to injury. On offense, I do believe it’s the best offense in all of football. And they kind of proved it last year. They’re finally healthy for this game. So, this is precisely what you want. I think the Dolphin offense will play well. I think they’ll score points. Namely because they have some I’m not going to call it a schematic advantage, not like Charlie Weiss, you know, saying it’s a we have a schematic advantage. No, it’s just that the Ravens are diminished on defense and they tend to give away points and even against the the Bears last week when they were relatively healthy compared to what they’ve been, they were giving up a lot of yardage and it was just, you know, Caleb Williams making mistakes in the red zone consistently. Miami plays relatively clean. I think they score points. Problem is, how the hell are they going to keep Lamar Jackson off the scoreboard? So, they’ll be beaten by the scoreboard. They won’t they won’t cover, but it’ll just come in under. So, by seven points. So, Ravens 34, Miami 27. What say you, Chris? Wait, you you went to me first? I have a problem with that. Okay. No, I’m I’m just kidding. I’ll I’ll go. No, I think that um I think that the Ravens will get some some things done on offense, but I don’t think they’re going to get as much done on offense as, you know, as as a lot of people might think. I think that they’re looking toward a 25point outing, something like that. But unfortunately, I do think that um the Ravens return to health uh of some players, some key players is going to make the difference. As I said before, without a tight end to occupy uh the middle of the field, um you know, I think that this is going to come down to hitting passes over the top and that gets when when Miami has to focus on that, that tends to get Miami uh their offense in a bad place. Um and and then they get out of rhythm and it just doesn’t work. So, I think that this is like a 25-2 outing, you know, something like that. It’s just a weird there’s going to be a weird score. Um and with a lot of field goals or something on Miami side. Simon. Oh, now you come over to me now. You want me? Yeah. I think Ravens will win 35 18 3520 something like that. All right. And we’re going to leave it right there. The next time we talk to you, we’re going to take like a a small little hiatus here and we’re going to be off for the weekend. we get to watch consequentially free football. Any college football that you’re looking at on Saturday cuz I’m going to be watching horses. It’s going to be Breeders Cup Championship Saturday. So, I’m going to be watching horses on Saturday. So, I’m going to have to watch all my college football on Sunday. Any games that you have your eye on, Simon and then Chris for Saturday? Uh Penn State Ohio State this weekend, isn’t it? Oklahoma Tennessee is a good game. Uh Norah Cers against uh Old Miss will be a good game. Cincinnati with uh Brendan Sorsby, the guy that sounds like uh he’s from a Philip Pullman novel. Um playing Utah, that’ll be a good game. Um so yeah, there’s a few I think there’s a few um few decent games this weekend. So I was just scrolling down to see what else I’d missed, but um but yeah, I think those uh Georgia Florida I mean Florida unranked, but still should be an entertaining uh entertaining games here. There’s a There’s a few. There’s definitely a few. Yeah. And by the way, in case anybody who’s watching us on on YouTube, if you can see CK right under his name, it says cocky Heath fan. What the Heat have done, Simon, uh, let me explain it to you in like football terms. Uh, it’s as if the Dolphins would have come out this season in the wishbone and would have been averaging 450 yards rushing per game. Okay. The the Heat has come out this season and done the exact opposite of what anybody expected them to be. And it seems to be real. I’ll ask you there, Chris. First of all, give us something to watch on Saturday. And second of all, is it real? Uh, you know, I I about Saturday. I’m just I’m basically just uh just in it to to watch the red zone and watch it come to me. I’m not I don’t really care that much about the games, especially now that the uh South Florida Bulls lost to barely lost to Memphis and the hopes of getting into that playoff uh as you know from from the as the representative is are are dashed. So, um no, is is the Heat thing real? It it’s like watching um I I well I I’d attribute or I’d say I compare it to watching the Dolphins in 2022, you know, when we first started to see see the Mike McDaniel uh Tyreek Hill offense unfurl itself, especially against the Baltimore Ravens, you know, and um and and watching, you know, this which we’d been offense starved, let’s let’s be honest, uh in Miami, but watching that unfurl and be like, “Whoa, I’m definitely I’m not sure exactly what I’m seeing yet, but I’m like seeing something completely different.” And you know, it’s almost or like go back in history. It’s like, you know, watching for the first time how Mummy come out with his offense or something like that. What did I tell you? What did I tell you? What did I tell you, Chris? Uh that after watching six preseason games that they were averaging 25 three-point attempts per game and that that was ominous, that they were going to be awful. They’re averaging 47 now. 47 now. I mean, it’s absolutely shocking and incredible. Um the the amount the amount of uh the amount of pace and uh and and trust that they’re putting in their shooting that they’re just like, “No, don’t think about it. Just shoot it.” Um you know, don’t don’t shy away from certain guys taking it from from three. If you’re open, you’re open. You know, knock it down. Um it’s it’s just it’s really incredible to watch them. They’re they’re playing they’re playing a completely different brand of of basketball from what we’ve seen. It’s it’s it’s really I mean it’s it’s fun. It’s more fun than I’m having watching the Dolphins. Yeah, that’s a fact. Eric Spolza, best coach in town. Simple as that. All right, that’s it. There is no more. The next time we talk to you’ll be on Monday and we’ll talk about this game. Hopefully, there’s something to talk about in this game and not just an absolute, you know, pasting at the hands of the the Baltimore Ravens. But it should be fun. You’re going to see a lot of star power on that field for the Baltimore Ravens. So, it should be fun watching. But see you then. Cheers, guys.
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1 comment
When desperation and new confidence are combined, it can be a powerful elixir. Don't underestimate it just yet 😉