Very little. I mean, that's the guys who
were two time defending champion maybe. I don't know
that that's an emotional guy. That's not, that's
not Tony Gonzalez out there. That's young player.
They're likely saying like we're not scared of you.
I mean, they show that they have a lot
of firepower that they could hang with them. I
mean, the, the, the game that it
went toe to toe, no pun intended, maybe
it was tended. But I mean, like he
, he was serious, they got something to prove
. I thought the highlight was spot on with showing
how happy Patrick Ma was when the game ended and
when that went down to the shoelace because I think
he saw Lamar coming in and frankly the way the
Ravens have been playing, they very easily could have
converted on that two point conversion because Lamar was just
picking up steam as that game went on. Yeah
. Yeah, Lamar was going, I mean toe
to toe but Lamar to me like Lamar showed me
that he is Lamar and Lamar Jackson is an MVP
player. We know that two time MVP player,
but just the way the throws that he was making
, finding his, his receivers, Xavier worthy the
way they utilize rpo on this thing. I'm like
, it's a dangerous combination, especially in the early
in the game when you saw them running rpo with
, with uh Derek Henry and the way to utilize
that getting off into the edge when he hits that
edge, he's 88 and not the gate. Um
I, I love Lamar Jackson. I, I
really thought that they were gonna pull this game off
that one toe, that one toe changed everything.
We could have been in a different situation. But
Lamar Jackson, he's ready for the 2024 season.
Look, it's, it's one of those deals where
you look at the, the game and it's like
, all right, two minutes left on their own
10 yard line down. Seven is Lamar gonna get
this done and you can roll your eyes because in
the history of these big games, it hasn't been
that he never really had that opportunity to take his
team. Lamar Jackson marched his team right down the
field, made huge plays and I, I look
at this thing and it's like I, if they
played as well as they did, they did this
with three neophyte offensive linemen who are really getting their
feel for this. They did this less than a
month after their offensive line coach passed away. They're
doing it with a 32 year old defensive coordinator who's
calling his first game like, I, I know
we're the Pollyanna show and sometimes we, we love
every team but like as devastating a loss as it
was, I'm coming out of that game if I'm
a Ravens fan and I'm feeling great about my team
. I'm like, we went toe for toe with
those guys. We almost stole the game at the
end that we go for two, we win that
game at the end and Lamar had to go 90
yards in about a minute 40 he did it.
He went the distance. We were just a centimeter
short. I will say this though. What makes
Lamar so interesting is year to year. We get
a different narrative on him. It's like, all
right, last year it's Lamar is gonna be more
from the pocket because it's Todd Monk's offense. It's
not Greg Romans. We're gonna see a lot more
pocket. Lamar. He wins. MVP. He
was running all over the field last night running the
ball in such a way that he looked like the
best player on the field running the ball here.
Peter. It's the most rushing yards he's had in
a game in four years. This is like they
unleashed him. It was like, all right,
Lamar, we're back to the old, he's like
you said, Akbar, he's 15 pounds lighter.
They say he's down to 205. Apparently, he
looked at my fear is this, you can't do
that for 17 games in the, you can't do
that for eight games. Jamri Connor came down and
lowered the boom on him. And it's like,
is Lamar getting up? Like, you can't do
it. You can't, it's not sustainable. He
was on this thing where he was lowering his shoulder
and it fires you up as a fan. And
it's like, oh, it's a great highlight.
But, so part of me is like, was
he thinking like, this is a playoff game?
I don't care if it's week, one, week
seven, I have to win this game. Maybe
I don't play this way next week against Dallas.
Maybe I don't play this week against Cincinnati. But
like in KC after the way, we lost it
, it's a championship game. Like I'm giving everything
I have and I will risk bodily harm to do
it because that's what makes me bad. Like he
was amazing last night. I don't think that style
of play is sustainable over the next couple of months
and Peter, I think you're, you're so right
. I mean, going into this game, we
already know we set the headlines four and one,
excuse me, one and four against, uh,
Patrick Mahomes. But what was interesting too to see
him lead an offense to put up 452 yards against
a spag defense. Like that's, that, that
doesn't happen. Like this is the second ranked defense
last year coming out of last year. So it's
, uh, it was, it was a good
move. We, we, we gotta talk about
the flowers miss though. That's pretty big. If
you didn't watch the game, if you only saw
the highlights before the likely Jack, we should show
it right now on the highlight. He's got Z
Flowers who's as close as he has probably to a
number one receiver is no one around him whatsoever.
And they, he just missed by a mile and
there's a miscommunication, there's the or maybe he just
missed it. Now, I remember about four years
ago, this is a totally different type of player
. Mitch Tbis once missed this receiver in the back
of the ends when he was a bear and it
became this meme about, look how wide open he
is. How could he miss this guy? Z
Flowers is wide open. You're at Arrowhead, put
the ball on him. That's a touchdown. You
go for two, maybe you get it. Maybe
you don't, he doesn't. And then he does
deliver a strike likely and if likely gets his toes
down, Lamar did his job. I think the
problem is, is that, of course, it's
only week one. It's more not damning the,
the, the Ravens, the money where they're crowning
the Chiefs. There becomes a thing where like we
can't beat these guys. Like I, I it's
re remind, I'm reminded of Pedro Martinez when he
would come out and I guess just the Yankees are
my daddy. I just can't beat them like and
he was so mad after the game in the clubhouse
and he just kind of threw his hands up.
If you're Lamar, you're like, God, I
gave it my all last night. I really,
really did. I, I played so hard,
I ran, I threw, I threw and I
, we still can't beat them. And there's this
thing where it's not just the Xs and Os.
It's like the next time they play the Chiefs,
it's like, man, they beat us in our
house was in their house. It becomes a thing
if you let it, I think Lamar really wanted
that one. I think it felt it when you
watched him, it looked like the AFC title game
was supposed to look like he's on the sidelines played
way harder, way more intense and he was way
healthier. I know that he was in the title
game. But if you were to just do a
blind item about like which one of these is the
title game? Which one is week one? And
you showed the title game and that night last night
, you would have thought that's the title game,
but he lost that one too. Are you feeling
afterwards? And I, I guess like, you
know, you, you get I'm saying it's not
sustainable, is that something he can do over the
course of his? Because he would have like 200
rushes on the season. You can't, I,
I wonder if he was running that way because it
was the Chiefs. Like he just, he knew
the stage and he knew how much he wanted to
beat them, whoever they play. Week two,
week three. I mean, Lamar knows what to
do. He knows how to protect himself. He's
not reckless like that. He's not like Anthony Richardson
, a rookie gets hurt. Like, I think
he'll go back. I think it was like,
I'm gonna flip into kill mode for this night.
I wanna beat this team and if I have to
truck people or run a lot, I will,
I suspect next week I think it'll be different because
I think he's smart. Can I run an observation
by you guys? Because that Z Flowers Miss,
that wasn't just the one time that happened in that
game. He was, was, he was tall
unlikely on that play that he almost got injured on
late that catch that likely made or did not make
with his foot on the ground. That one was
high likely had to go up for early in the
game. First drive, the touchdown scoring drive,
Zay Flowers, there was the offsetting penalty. Ronnie
Ronnie Stanley gets one of his half a dozen uh
penalties, but that throw to Zay Flowers, they
got called back on interference with Jalen Watson. Zay
Flowers had to stop on a dime and come back
for that. Maybe Lamar at this point because Patrick
timing was incredible for night one, Lamar, maybe
his timing was just a little off coming into this
one. And at some point, if you are
Lamar Jackson, you gotta tuck the ball in and
take matters into your hands. If you just feel
like you're a foot off, there's two things.
The, the, the line is bad right now
and they're trying to get good and Chris Jones is
one of the best players in the league and they're
not going to face face. That was a lot
of that. I don't know for all the hype
he got this summer. I mean, the thing
like my fear was at the end of the game
, Derek Henry wasn't doing much. I think he
had 16 carries, 40 yards and Justice Hill was
the guy like, and it was, and for
all you fantasy experts out there and I'm not mocking
you and I'm not saying fantasy is not important and
there aren't experts, but like Justice Hill was the
game plan today last night and that was not on
the script for any fantasy drafts or anything. So
it just tells you like these teams, they have
their own things and fantasy lives in another world.
But Derek Henry used sparingly at the end of the
game, even though in those first couple drives big
fourth down conversion and of course the touchdown, there
was that one where Lamar did the read option and
like Derek Henry up the middle is a fake.
It was like, oh, that's the offense but
I was really intrigued that he was not the focal
point by any means and I feel like you're absolutely
right. They should have given, he should have
had that 20 times 25. And they were down
, they were, they were down at one point
and the game plan, that game plan goes out
. But it was like, obviously first drive will
choose him a lot and then it wasn't much after
one game, but I hear what you, that's
a tempo too, especially for a young offensive lineman
like that. I mean, you know, you've
got some younger ones in there because Chris Jones made
it very, very difficult for them. So that's
why other times you saw Lamar Jackson run out like
, like, oh, I don't have a lot
of time here. I gotta go and he's got
a lot of speed too. So Peter, speaking
of that young offensive line, and you mentioned Joe
Dal Sandras, the offensive line coach with Ravens at
pass, the Ravens have to fly back today and
go to a service for him, which is just
really heavy emotionally for this team. So they now
have 10 days off that they have to, uh
, get ready for their next opponent. They play
Dallas next, which is like, no walk in
the park.