The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Luke Jones: It's Tough To See The Texans Winning This Game

Episode Date: September 18, 2020

Luke Jones: It's Tough To See The Texans Winning This Game

is the Matt Thomas show. Two on Sports Talk 790. Fruce Feldman's right. I can confirm Houston Baylor canceled tomorrow. I don't know many details, and I can't get anybody on the record to explain what's going on. It won't take along, however, though. This sucks.

Sucks, sucks, sucks. Baylor Houston game. Canceled. Don't know any more than that. Literally coming down in the last few minutes. Try to get some on-air confirmation, except all I got was no game. So everybody's tweeting with me, is this true?

Yes, it is true. No Baylor, no Houston tomorrow. Damn. We'll get to more on this in a minute. Let's go to our next guest. here on the Matt Thomas show. Time is 102. Man, we haven't been such a good time, Rossi, and then that just

man, that's... I'm sorry, Matthew. Well, I mean, it sucks for the sport. Now, do I have closer ties to, of course? But yeah, I mean, this is awful. All right, we'll get to more of that in a minute. Let's say how to Luke Jones. He is

a part of WNST's coverage in Baltimore. He is on the Ravens beat. You can follow him. And I give you credit, Luke. You must have gotten at Baltimore, Luke, on Twitter very early in the game. Mad props to you on that. How are things? Going well.

It's going well. And, yeah, I signed up for Twitter when I don't think anyone was on Twitter. Probably like 2008, something like that. Well, I'll say this. So you as Baltimore, Luke, now how far is D.C. An hour drive, basically? It's not quite that far. But, I mean, it's a nice little drive.

But you guys don't even like each other, right? you don't ever, do you ever talk like Washington or Wizards or nationals? I mean, when I've only been, I've been to that area probably 10 times in my life, but I've never felt the sense of, well, we're Baltimore fans, but we're also root for the Washington teams too. Yeah, you'll get that with the caps a little bit with hockey, and obviously they won a Stanley Cup recently, so if it was a little more of that, you know, I mean,

there's some lingering old Baltimore bullets, Washington bullets, Wizards fans, but not many. So you're right. And I say this as a native Baltimoreian. It seems like it's more so Baltimore disdain for D.C. rather than the other way around. But we're okay with that. You know, we're the pit stop on 95 between Washington and Philadelphia, and that's okay.

Well, you're actually closer to the Naval Academy, which I love going to do games than Annapolis, so I give you credit for that. Luke, your squad was absolutely amazing against the Cleveland Browns. What went wrong in that game? because we know what everything went right. Was there something he came away with like the Ravens got to be better as they move along this season. And, you know, Cleveland's not great.

So maybe competition. But was there something that you thought, okay, not a perfect game. Here's what I want to see improved from week to week. It's really funny because when you go back and look at this game and you see the score, you see what Lamar Jackson did and the passing game did. And you say, wow, I mean, the Ravens just picked up exactly where they left off in the regular season last year. Now, what happened to them against Tennessee and the division? round is another story, but when you look at this game, they actually didn't play all that

incredibly well in the trenches. When you look at their offensive line, I mean, this is a team that set an NFL record for rushing yardage last year. They had 111 yards on 30 carries, 3.7 yards per carry. That was their bread and butter last year. That was their lowest rushing total since you have to go back to the 2018 playoff loss to the Chargers. So they didn't run the ball especially well. They didn't pass protect as well as just looking at Lamar Jackson's numbers and said, oh, he must have had great protection. I mean, Cleveland actually got some pressure on him, and Lamar just picked apart their secondary. So they didn't play incredibly well on the offensive line, especially on the inside. Matt Scura, their center is coming back from a major knee injury. He played week

one commendable to get back for the opener, but he's got a little ways to go, and he admitted that. And they're replacing potentially a Hall of Fame right guard in Marshall Yonda with Eric Phillips, a third-round pick. So there's a little bit of vulnerability there. And then on the defensive side of the ball, I would say, I mean, they are a team. They blitzed more than anyone in the NFL last year, and they kept that up on Sunday. They blitz Baker Mayfield on over half of his dropbacks, but they didn't get a ton of pressure on him, but they played so well in the secondary, and Baker was just not playing well.

Odell Beckham was a non-factor, and, I mean, the secondary just teased. So it's crazy when you see a 32-point win, and we always talk about what? It starts up front in football. The Ravens, I would think, to a man, and some players even talked about that this week, that they want to be a little bit better in the trenches than they were on Sunday, despite the fact that it was a blowout victory over Cleveland. All right. So with all that being said, they're going to jump on the plane for the very first time this season.

Look, this is not about Lamar in regular season and MVP awards and piling up big stat numbers. This is about him getting his first playoff victory. We looked at the box score of that game against the Titans last hour and basically at 500 yards in total offense, and for a guy that took a lot of the heat for the loss, how much pressure? Look, when you're a Super Bowl contend, you're going to have pressure. But does he have to have that zero playoff win around his neck a lot,

or is that just more national narrative than local? I mean, I think people talk about it. I mean, look, I mean, Lamar Jackson is, he's king, in this city already. I mean, there's no question about it. You're talking about a team that's less than a decade removed from winning a Super Bowl, a team that had Hall of Famers and Ed Reed and Ray Lewis. I mean, Lamar, in just a couple years, is on track to becoming one of the most popular athletes ever in this city's rich history in both football and baseball. I mean, that's just where he is. But, I mean, January, that criticism's there. And I think what's tricky for him,

what's tricky for this football team is they went 14 and 2 last year. They set all these records last year. They were, by every measure that you could really look, and from an analytic standpoint, from a point scored, I already mentioned the rushing game. They were a top five-calibre defense. They were the best team in the NFL in the regular season last year. But you don't do that in January.

I mean, your skeptics are going to point to that, and what do you say? You're wrong? I mean, he's 0.2. And to your point, he played – he didn't play his best game against the Titans. I'm not going to even try to begin to argue that, but go back and look at that game, look at some of the drop passes. I mean, early in the game, they're on the move. Mark Andrews has a ball go off his hands.

Tennessee picks it off. I mean, the Ravens couldn't stop the run. It's a big reason why they revamped their front seven in the offseason. So, yeah, Lamar didn't play great in that game, but to your point, you look at the numbers, and a lot of those numbers were when they were down by multiple scores, so you don't want to put too much stuff. talking to that either, but if you give me a list of the seven or eight things that went wrong in that game, he's not in my top three or four as far as things that really went wrong. But until he breaks through, and this is the same thing that, you know, even guys like Peyton Manning, I think

of Steve Young way back when, I mean, Hall of Fame quarterbacks that until they break through in January and one, win a playoff game, which is where Lamar is, and two, at least get to a Super Bowl, which that's where I kind of feel like the Raven standard is this year for this to be considered a successful season, he's got to break through. But he'd be the first to tell you, and all of his teammates would also say that needs to be an across-the-board team effort. But when you're talking about the league MVP, yeah, I mean, the pressure is going to be there. But it's not in a way where people in town are down on him in any way. It's just the nature of the beast.

When you're as successful, they were last year in the regular season, I mean, how can you not be expected to take that next step? Yeah, especially a home game and then losing it after a week off. That makes a lot of sense. Luke Jones, WNST Radio in Baltimore. With us, you can find him on Twitter at a very, very cool nickname at Baltimore, Luke. So we were half joking about which five players for the Ravens could get COVID and the Texas still have a chance. And then my beloved alma mater has got their cane cancel with Baylor and Marlesa COVID. So we're going to back off the COVID jokes.

Yeah. Let's get right. let's get right to it. How much of the Texans game did you see on opening night? I'm imagining you're a football fan, so you're watching a little bit of everything. The Texans couldn't stop the run. They couldn't stop the tight end.

They couldn't stop the quarterback. And Baltimore's got, if not as good, better at all three of those positions. So realistically, and again, you're trying, you know, you want the local team to wing. It's that your team that you cover. But I don't envision this thing. I don't see a scenario unless the Texans just four. tremendous amount of pressure and force Lamar to throw a bunch of interceptions and drop passes.

I don't think it feels like to me that Baltimore would have a letdown even though the game with the Kansas City's next Monday. How is this game not within 10 or 14 points? I just don't see it. Yeah, I mean, I have to admit to you, I mean, I was even talking to a couple other reporters as we were leaving the practice field this morning. And I was kind of saying, look, I mean, I don't think Houston's a bad team. certainly not having the Andre Hopkins changes the equation a lot

because even though he struggled had a couple drops against the Ravens last year, I mean, he was the best player on the field for the Texans that day and what was a very forgettable day for Houston. But I just look at this thing and I just said, you know, I mean the Ravens did look vulnerable on the interior line, but Edward Valer ran between the tackles on the Houston defense. So, you know, you look at that. I mean, J.J. Watts playing in this game.

He wasn't against the Ravens last year, but I mean, I'm sure you guys are asking the same questions that I am from afar. I mean, as much as I love the guy, you know, three-time defensive player of the year, how close is he to be in the guy he was five or six years ago? I don't know. You guys can probably say better than I can. But if the Ravens can manage him, and I would certainly be trying to move him around and trying to get him matched up against the rookie Tyree Phillips at right guard, I already mentioned that. But aside from him just kind of taken over in that way,

it is tough to look at, you know, Houston, whether they're going to be able to control the line of scrimmage. And you just mentioned it, too. I mean, Kelsey had the good game against them. I mean, Mark Andrews, who was so big for this team last year, and they had a first-round tight end in Hayden Hurst who they traded in the offseason. He and Andrews had played the same number of offensive snaps last year, and that worked out well for what there are two tight-end sets and all that.

But this year, you get the sense that they're just going to let Andrews have a bigger workload. And when you look at his yards and receptions per target and routes run, I mean, this is the guy that I think is on the come as far as entering that tier with Kelsey and Kittle and, you know, the absolute elite tight ends in football. So, you know, I think him over the middle of the field is big. And then, I mean, then you have, oh, yeah, Marquise Brown, who might be, you know, one of the top three or four fastest players in the NFL out at wide receiver. And, you know, he had 100 yards receiving in the first half against Cleveland.

So, I mean, there are just so many weapons that the Ravens have that, you know, getting back to the point I was making to talking to another reporter, I kind of do feel that, I mean, I think Houston will be more competitive than they were last year coming to Baltimore. I mean, that game was so disappointing in my mind because, you know, Lamar and Deshawn, I mean, it was just so much hype for that. But at the same time, seeing this be closer than, you know, a 10-point game somewhere in that neighborhood, I feel like it's going to be the Ravens making a lot of mistakes. And to your point, and this was something that Lamar Jackson admitted back in the spring and summer that he thought they were caught peeking ahead a little bit to a potential AFC championship game against the Chiefs when they lost to the Titans. You know, is there a little element to that? You know, the weirdness of going on the road with COVID protocols and all that, you know, just, you know, from their standpoint, prove that you're focused and ready to take care of business and not looking ahead to Kansas City next Monday night. You know, beyond that scenario, I'm kind of with you. I have a tough time seeing, I just think this Ravens team right now.

And I've been a skeptical guy over the year when it comes to the team. But you have to have a lot of talent, and you have to play such a disciplined football game to have a chance to beat them with the way they played going back to the beginning of last year. We'll leave it at that. My friend, Luke, it's nice to visit with you. Tell Nestor I sent my best and enjoy the football. Enjoy your season. I think you're going to have a lot more fun than perhaps Texans fans here in Houston.

Luke, we very much appreciate the time today. Thanks a lot, guys. Enjoy the game on Sunday. All right, that's Luke Jones, joining us from WNST Radio in Baltimore, where the Texans remain a seven-point dog this Sunday.