Why Stephen A.‘s ISN’T worried about the Vikings giving the Ravens trouble in Week 10 👀 | First Take

Why Stephen A.‘s ISN’T worried about the Vikings giving the Ravens trouble in Week 10 👀 | First Take

Well, after struggling for most of the season, the Ravens finally back on the right track. Lamar Jackson returned last week from his three-game absence to lead a dominant performance against the Dolphins. Now, Baltimore will look to continue their win streak against the Vikings, who upset the Lions in week nine after getting their own quarterback JJ McCarthy back from injury. And so, are you concerned that the Ravens will get now upset though by the Vikings? This game’s not in Baltimore. RC, what do you think? You know what? I am concerned. I don’t believe it’ll happen, but you have to be concerned when you watch the film of what Brian Flores was able to do to Derek. I mean, I’m sorry, not to Derek, to Jared Goff last week. It was absolutely phenomenal. The pressure he put on him in the middle of the pocket, making Jir Gibbs a blocker instead of someone that releases on third down. It was a masterful performance by him. But that’s the only thing that scares me when you look at JJ McCarthy right now as he’s still trying to get an understanding of the NFL game. He’s played two good quarters and one pass. That’s what we’ve seen from him. And so now with Kyle Hamilton moving closer to the line, Zack Ore really really figuring out how to use him as a chess piece and the acquisition of Aloe Gilman, this defense has been on the rise for the last three weeks. And I think JJ McCarthy just still isn’t in a place right now to attack them or Lamar Jackson who has a stellar record against NFC teams. Stephen A. Maybe m may maybe um the Vikings will give us a reason to be concerned. I just don’t find myself very concerned about them for the Ravens for this game. I think that when you think about Brian Flores and what he’s able to dial up, RC Cam, I hearken back to 2021 when Brian Flores was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. Yes, I’m mentioning that because he should still be a head coach in the league, but I’m thinking about him and I’m thinking about how he dialed up the blitz against Lamar Jackson and made life a living hell for Lamar back then. And when Lamar defers to what he has become, particularly under duress when he’s blitzed, um, and how much better he is compared to what he used to be, he brings up that experience that he had against Brian Flores’s defense. So, he’s familiar with this man and how this man is going to bring the rain and gonna bring the heat. And Lamar Jackson’s a better quarterback because of it. I think about Lamar and what he’s going to do. I’m also thinking about Baltimore and how Baltimore’s only given up 13 points or so over the last few games and they forced so many turnovers. And then I’m thinking about JJ McCarthy. He’s still a rookie, y’all, in terms of his play. He’s two and one as a starter. He’s only completed 58% of his passes, which is lowest amongst, you know, quarterbacks with at least three starts. only four touchdowns, four interceptions, 14 sacks, which is the worst sack percentage among quarterbacks with a minimum of three starts. I think Baltimore can get to him. I’m just not worried about Minnesota in this game. Yeah. Uh when you look at the the gameplay of a JJ McCarthy, the thing that sticks out to me, he still has that look of of uncertainty a little bit. And when you have as many games started as he does, you are reminded that he’s still a rookie uh uh with his experience. Well, when you play a an intimidating lineage of a team like the Baltimore Ravens, these things is what kind of gives you heartache at night when you start to think like, “Oh, I’m playing Baltimore.” You don’t know from whoever came before to things that they’re there now. and you start to think of yourself like am I playing the Baltimore Ravens defense or am I playing Lamar Jackson these things show up in JJ McCarthy’s play even though he has the best receiver in the game and even that has been something that’s been kind of a head scratcher because his numbers have dropped dramatically you know this particular year so I’m not worried that the Minnesota Vikings can potentially you know give the Baltimore Ravens an upset even No, the record, you know, will say anything different. I’m just expecting the Baltimore Ravens to take this game and other games moving forward to really find their footing and their traction as the season uh goes on. I mean, we but we still have to remember as a team, not just JJ McCarthy, as a team, the Minnesota Vikings went into Detroit and won the game. That’s an extremely difficult place to do so. And so to just think that all the problems of the Baltimore Ravens are fixed automatically right now, I think that’s a bit presumptive. And so yes, the Baltimore Ravens have to go play their best ball to get this win in Minnesota. It feels like the defense is fixed though. Through the first five games, that defense was the worst in the NFL. The last three games, they’ve only allowed one passing touchdown. So they’re going in the right direction. One down, one more to go here on a Friday. But who’s counting, right? We have a fun one on Monday Night Football with the Eagles traveling to Green Bay to battle it out with the Packers for NFC Supremacy. Packers are hoping for a better performance than their disappointing, really not good at all loss to the Panthers in week nine. Meanwhile, the Eagles offense has seemingly figured things out. They should be well rested coming out of their by-week. And so, Monday, huge game for both of these teams, but is it a must-win for the home team in the Packers, Cam Newton? Yes, ma’am, it is. And I will say it this way. Will the real Jordan Love please stand up? We’ve been seeing two different phases and and and shades of Jordan Love this year. Why do you say is because when I see Jordan Love versus the Detroit Lions, I’m like, “Okay, that’s an MVP candidate.” When I see Jordan Love versus the Cincinnati Bengals, that is an MVP candidate. When I see Jordan Love versus the Washington Commanders, that is an MVP candidate. But on the contrary, when I see Jordan Love versus the Carolina Panthers, zero touchdowns. When I see Jordan Love versus the Cleveland Browns, questionable kind of performance. When I see Jordan Love really in the latter part of just shades of the Dallas Cowboys games, it’s just like what are we doing? Right? So, when I’m looking at the performances of who he is and how he plays now, it puts the onuses of how deep of a playoff run can the Green Bay Packers really go. Now, you start to say versus certain teams, we’re starting to see a different side, but that’s not even really accurate. Now, when you play against a a team like Philadelphia where everybody knows unanimously they are who we thought they were, it may not be pretty, but they get the job done. What do you do versus a tier one team like that? And I can’t wait to see. Stephen, what do you think? Must win for Green Bay. I think so. I’m going to tell you why. Um, you know, it’s still early enough. They’re battling with the Lions. We get that part. I think Green Bay is a team that needs homefield advantage come playoff time in order to make the kind of noise we summize they will make. And obviously if you lose this game that goes a long way towards derailing those hopes because it positions Detroit uh to have supremacy within the NFC North and ultimately if it comes down to that. But let’s look at Green Bay from a macro perspective dating back to last year. They were 0 and6 against the top three teams in the NFC last year. the L the Lions, the Vikings, and the Eagles. Last year, they were 11-1 against everybody else. They were 0 and2 against the Philadelphia Eagles. In those games, Jordan Love completed 55% of his passes, two touchdowns, four interceptions. Um, he became the first Packer not to throw a touchdown and and throw at least three interceptions in a playoff game as a quarterback. This is what we’re talking about when we talk about Jordan Love. And so when I look at Green Bay, I see, you know, you got Gary, you got Micah, you got the crew. I got that. You can get to the quarterback. I got that part. All right. And we’ve seen them lose to Cleveland. We’ve seen them lose to Carolina. And that was primarily because of their offense, not because of their defense didn’t show up, because their offense didn’t show up. It’s going to come down to Jordan Love and that and that Packers offense. And I think Monday night against Philadelphia, uh, it’ll go a long way towards helping them if they win the game. If they lose the game, it’s gonna be the same old same old Packers in recent memory in the most of our in most of our eyes. Why are we talking about Jordan Love like he a scrub? Like like like what are we asking? Like can like we got to just stop reading the stats and talk about how this man is playing. Let’s talk about what we saw in domination against Detroit and the Washington Commanders to start the season. No, let’s get to the Cleveland game. Absolutely. Late interception can’t happen. Matthew Golden is running down the sideline for a 95 yard touchdown. He catches the ball and runs out of bounds. Now, let’s get to what we saw against the Carolina Panthers since that’s something we want to bring up. They’re driving to score in the first quarter and Savon Williams gets the football stripped by JC Horn. These aren’t things that are on Jordan Love. Jordan Love wasn’t supposed to stop Rico Do from running the ball and absolutely decimating the Green Bay Packers defense last week. But I did watch Jordan Love lead a game a game-winning drive against the Arizona Cardinals. I saw that. I did watch Jordan Love throw for three touchdowns against the Dallas Cowboys in 337 yards. Oh, I did watch Jordan Love against the Pittsburgh Steelers in prime time. wind down at halftime, throw 20 20 straight completions and three ties in that game. I believe in Jordan Love. I’m not going to sit here and say that the play of Jordan Love this year has been below the line, has been below the level of expectation. Has it been perfect? Absolutely not. But to walk into this game against the Philadelphia Eagles, who I still believe control their own destiny in the NFC and say that it is all on Jordan Love, that Jordan Love has so much to prove. No. What Jordan Love can do is by winning this game, take that next step and say, “Hey, because of Jordan Love, they win the Super Bowl.” And here is my opinion. Matt Laflur got to put that on him. Matt Lafleur got to stop thinking that the run’s going to lead this team. It’s Jordan Love’s time. He’s proved that he’s ready for it and you got to put it on his shoulders. And Shay knows this cuz she from the Midwest and I know she agree with me. She ain’t saying it but she feeling in the heart. Well, Stephen, go ahead, Shay. I’ll let you go first. I I’ll piggy back off you, Shay. I I’ll get RC in a second. Go ahead, Shay. All right. I was just I was actually going to kind of agree with RC, not because of what he’s done this season, Jordan Love, but because what we’ve seen in years past. Jordan Love is the purest definition of a second half quarterback that we have seen in the NFL. Since he took over in 2023, this dude has had the highest QBR the second half of the season of any other starting quarterback. Now is his time, which is why I do feel like this is kind of a must-win for him for him to shut people down that maybe don’t believe that he has the same potential as some of these other quarterbacks. Go ahead, sir. Oh, RC is RC is sitting up here on national television accusing us of not watching Jordan Love and accusing us of not recognizing the surreal talent that he is. I recall us acknowledging that. I recall RC acknowledging that just like we watch the games, we also have the pleasure of watching RC. If I remember correctly, Shay, wasn’t it you with RC who was on the road for Sports Center with the training camps? Wasn’t Green Bay one of the places y’all went to? I believe. I believe I I think I think I remember it. I think I remember I mean far to bring that up because I think I remember it. Right. And and then while I watched I also saw RC previewing the NFL season. I saw RC dissecting the greatness of Jordan Love. I saw RC talking about what Green Bay was because of Jordan Love and ultimately in order for them to get to the next level, what Jordan Love had to be. Now, correct me if I’m wrong because it’s just the English language. But if you are articulating and verbalizing what somebody is, but what they need to be in order to get to another level, that implies that they ain’t there yet because something’s missing in terms of their performance. Now, I’m sorry if if if if somebody you say interpreted differently, but me, I think that I understood and deduced plenty of what RC said. And matter of fact, Shay, because you were there with them, I recall you asking him about Jordan Love. I recall I watched it. I watched it. It came on. It came on the sports center. It came on two o’clock in the afternoon. It was at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. and Shay actually was at 12 because sports in a hedge there and it was you that sat up there Shay and say hey we know they’re a good team and Jordan Love is really good and you even brought up his second half numbers and you talked about how great he was but we saw him against the Eagles last year and we need to see X Y and Z and RC was like yeah you absolutely right but for me to bring it up for me to bring it up oh so now it’s a problem Okay, understand. He watched the rerun. He remembered. He watched that rerun. Go on, Cam. Hey, Stephen Anthony. I like where y’all at right now. And I’mma tell you this. Uh, anybody who’s watching this, Stephen Anthony, Ryan Terry, and Shay Girtu Elizabeth has putting on a master class of how to use words. Since this whole episode, I’ve been keeping a running tab. trepidation, saliloquy, diet tribe, sensational, uh uh I can’t pronounce that one. I don’t even know what that is. Uh deduced. What else? Presump. I don’t know what even that all those words mean. I don’t know how to use it in a noun, verb, or whatever. But you guys vernacular is something amazing. And I’m just letting you know hopefully I can build up the character the absolute gall and just use these nouns and verbs in a way. I forgot I forgot to mention that that you know RC the way he came at us he was a bit pnicity as well. You can look that up too. You can look that up. You know what I’m saying? But it’s all right. It’s okay. It’s all right. All I care is as long as Cam don’t pull out my high school basketball film like he did.

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Ryan Clark and Cam Newton discuss the Baltimore Ravens’ upcoming matchup against the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers’ Week 10 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles.

0:00 How concerning are the Ravens on Sunday?
4:40 Is Monday a must-win game for the Packers?
10:00 Confidence in Jordan Love?
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