RAVENS VS COLTS - MY POSTGAME THOUGHTS!

See, this is the official start of the Jesse Mentor era because we ain't in preseason no more. This ain't no practice rounds. Things are live. And the Baltimore Ravens started off this season. They kicked off this season with a big semi-statement win because there were some statements that they made in this game that were not the best, but a semi-statement win against THE INDIANAPOLIS COLTS ON THE ROAD. AND THIS Colts team, they were pretty good last year, especially when they had all of their starters. But the BALTIMORE RAVENS, THEY HELD OFF 41-23. And I'm here to share my postgame thoughts from that game THAT WE ALL WATCHED AND WE LOVED AND HAD SOME parts that had us stressing out and had us a little worried and had us a little nervous and had us a little concerned, but then we had a lot of excitement, a lot of good stuff happened, too. A lot MORE GOOD THAN BAD. But I'm here to share my postgame thoughts on that game. And I know this is Jesse Mentor's first game as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. I know he's a defensive-minded guy, but I'm gonna start with the Ravens offense. So, the Colts, they had went right down the field on the Baltimore Ravens, scored on their first drive. So, it was up to the Ravens to respond. How did they respond? What did they have? A a threeplay drive. First, it got started with special teams with Chris Moore getting a big kick return. He put him at the 50. Uh and then Z Flowers [laughter] Z Flowers was going crazy this game. It really sucks how it ended for him. It really does. He had like 150 yards in the first half and he and he was still going, but then unfortunately he got hurt. He had a hamstring injury. They said Z Flowers had actually broke his own record for receiving yards. He like he set his career. This man was well on his way, and this is not an an exaggeration at all. Zay Flowers was well on his way to potentially having a 250 yard receiving game. Seriously, because the Colts were not stopping him. Whether it was Sauce, whether it was whatever other quarterbacks they had on, they were not stopping Z Flowers at all. At all. Number one receiver, might not ask. But he unfortunately got hurt uh in the first half and he was still on the sideline early on, but then a lot of us were looking around like, "Oh yeah, Z Flowers ain't coming back." But he finished the day with five catches for 150 yards and a touchdown. And his touchdown and even the the catches that all led to him getting 150 yard. Like five catches for 150 yards. That's crazy. He averaged 30 yards a catch. 30 yards a catch. [snorts] And with Zay Flowers, what makes him so special? The reason you heard the saying before, the reason why a lot of people love you, they'll hate you for the same thing. And that's Z Flowers agility. That's Z Flowers making people miss. That's Zay Flowers cutting back. So with Zay Flowers, he did that and that's the reason why he got so many yards in the first place. So I'm so glad. And we know Z Flowers. He joked about it this offseason. He said, "All right, I ain't cutting back no more. I'm running straight." But we know like, "No, don't run straight." Or I mean, run straight. But do your thing. Be you. Do what makes you special. And that's exactly what he was doing. Speaking of special receivers, Jacobe Lane is somebody that we were all very, very excited for. Uh, but both him and Z Flowers, they did not finish this game. Jacobe Lane, he had a touchdown, even hit the Ray Lewis dance. He was waiting to celebrate and he he did his thing, but it got negated by penalties. And we'll talk about the penalties, but Jacobe Lane said he got a wrist injury and who knows who knows what's going to happen now. It's like, man, we It's tough being a Ravens fan. Very, very tough. It ain't for the week. So, we'll see what happens with him. Um, but as far as everybody else for the Baltimore Ravens offense, Mr. Lamar Jackson, who got that rushing touchdown on the first drive of the game, uh, looking at his numbers, he's finished 17 for 25 for 324 yard. I ain't realized he had over 300 yards for 324 yards. one touchdown. Should have been two, but one touchdown, no interceptions, and got sacked two times for 20 yards. With Lamar Jackson, he had a good game. Um, there were a couple of drops. There were uh some where Lamar sailed it. There was one where tried for Jacobe Lane in the back of the end zone and it was just a little high. Um, there was another one that was intended for Jacob Lane where Lamar just ain't put enough on it. So Lamar had his little hiccups here and there, but it wasn't anything crazy at all. It wasn't anything where like, "OH MY GOODNESS, LAMAR, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHO ARE YOU THROWING TO?" But Lamar, he was fine. Uh, and then he also had to move a little bit. He ran seven yards, excuse me, seven carries for 40 yards and that touchdown. And with Lamar in this game, um, just kind of segue into the offensive line is, well, it's not funny, but I was going to say it's funny how we had a lot of questions from team keep it clean this week leading up to this game where people were like, "Hey, what's the biggest concern?" And they would say their biggest concern is the offensive line. And I would be like, "Why? For what? We ain't even seen these guys all play together yet. How are y'all like worried about the offensive line?" Uh, I I I don't get it. For for what? like, but yeah, we saw it today. Why a lot of people were worried. Um, Lamar Jackson on the lone turnover from the Baltimore Ravens. Lamar Jackson got sacked. He end up fumbling. Colts recovered and that led to an easy touchdown for them. Um, but on that play and a lot of other ones too, he would snap the ball whether it was play action or not. uh the defenders, Colts defenders, their defensive line and passers all in his face. All in his face. And that happened too many times. Like even on a highlight play from Lamar Jackson where it was third and 16. Lamar Jackson ran for about 17 18 yards. We like, "Yeah, but then you got to rewind that play and think, wait a minute, that play actually should have been a sack." Ravens offensive line let coach defensive line straight through and Lamar had not one but two Colts defenders all over him. How he got out of that I couldn't tell you cuz we done seen Lamar do some crazy stuff and that just adds to the list. That's why Lamar Jackson is Lamar Jackson because he's the best in the world and he just makes some stuff happen where you like oh my goodness. And that was another play right there. So that that [snorts] should have been a sack. That should have been a negative play. It was bad. Offensive line was bad on that play, but Lamar Jackson made something happen. But we cannot forget that does not excuse the offensive line for plays like that and several plays that happened like that throughout. So I got to see why everybody was so concerned about this offensive line specifically with their pass blocking. Now what I will say, this was their first game playing together that this offensive line, some of them played in the preseason, but they did not play all together in the preseason. So this game, without not any disrespect to the Colts at all, uh but this was sort of like a preseason game for this was a ramp up period for them because they haven't played together and now they going against live competition where it counts. So yeah, this was a uh a big deal for them. Um but so pass blocking, if I had to give them a rating, if I had to give them a grade for pass blocking, I would probably say a C+ be. Yeah, I probably say a C++. Uh, now run blocking because Derrick Henry, he had him a little game today, ain't he? That boy Derek. Okay, King. What's up, baby? Derek Henry, he finished with 24 carries, 144 yards, and not one, not two, but three touchdowns. The thing I loved about Derrick Henry the most was the consistent use of Derrick Henry. We've seen so many times through our previous coaches, and I know this was one game, so we got to see consistency, but it's a great start. Everything that the Baltimore Ravens have talked about this off seasonason, specifically with Derek Henry, even going back to Zay Flowers, too. Let's talk about that first with Z Flowers. They said Z Flowers is going to be lined up all over the place. We expect a big year for Zay Flowers. Zay Flowers is going to be doing a lot of stuff. We saw that in this game from Jump with Derrick Henry. They said the same thing with Derrick Henry. They expected big things from him. He's a king. He's Derrick Henry. But they also said they want to use him more in the passing game. They did just that. But guess what? The stats ain't gonna tell it all because Dererick Henry only had one catch for 19 yards and it was a beautiful catch because it came on a screen play. So a play designed specifically for Derek Henry and I love that. But see that wasn't it. So you Oh, one catch. That's him being more involved in a passing game. Like really one catch. No, he was out there on plenty of passing downs too. So I love like that. And that's so important because when Derrick Henry's out there, you don't know what's gonna happen now. He if 22 is out there, yeah, it could be a run for sure, but now if they continue to incorporate him like this, then it could be a pass as well. So that opens up the offense that much more. Speaking of the offense being opened up that much more, Lamar Jackson, he was under under center a lot today. And that just makes things so much less predictable because if Lamar's just strictly in the in the pistol, if Lamar Jackson is just strictly in the shotgun, then that limits the offense. That that that that hinders the offense almost. Well, not hinders cuz it's still Lamar Jackson, but it it it limits the offense because it doesn't show our full capability. And even though for years like they've been running out of the pistol and out of the shotgun and the offense has been going crazy a lot of times adding more under center plays that adds that much more to your playbook. And this is something that I know I have been begging the Ravens to do since the Greg Roman days. As far as Derrick Henry getting more involved in a pass game, this is something I've been begging the Ravens to do. Well, ever since we got him, cuz he ain't been here that long, but ever since we got Derrick Henry, I've been wanting them to get him more more involved in the passing game so much because over in Tennessee, it was such a giveaway. It was always a giveaway. Derrick Henry on the field, run. Derrick Henry off the field, pass giveaway. That's what it was 99% of the time, I did not want the Ravens to mimic that. But, you know, the first couple years went with Derrick Henry, they mimic that. Even though Derek Henry still went off, so it's like, yeah, you knew he was running. Can you stop him though? The man got what, 1900 yards? 19 1,980 yards the first year or like [snorts] over 1,400 yards last year and now this year he started off over 100 yards and three touchdowns. But I I loved how Declan Doyle didn't forget about Derrick Henry. Derrick Henry started this game off strong, but the Ravens allowed him to finish it strong as well. They continue to feed Derrick Henry. Now again, I know it's one game, so we got to see consistency, but that was such a great start for this coaching staff. It it it was amazing to see them not forget about one of their biggest weapons on this team, that being number 22. Uh Mark Andrews. Um well, let's stick with the running backs first. Justice Hill, he had six carries for 18 yards. Uh so he helped clean some stuff up and he had a couple of catches, too. He had uh oh, one catch for 10 yards. I thought he had more than that. And that catch for 10 yards, that ended up being a first down. Lamar threw it to him in the flats and he ran up the right sideline and he kind of stumbled for that first down but he got it. So, oh yeah, shout out to you, Justice Hill. Um, but Adam Randall, he is somebody that he's going to be very valuable in my opinion this year because with Derk Henry, uh, he is our starter, he is our finisher, he's our closer, but Derrick Henry gets tired. So, with Justice Hill, he's a complete opposite of Derrick Henry. He's a different type of running back. With um, Rashene Ali, he's a different type of running back. He's not the exact opposite, but he's not Dererick Henry. Like, but Adam Randall, not that he is Dererick Henry, because he's not. He's Adam Randall, but he's the closest thing that we have to a Derrick Henry. And when he comes back, like, he would be such a good fit in my opinion to help close out games, too. Cuz Derrick Henry, he'll be going, he'll be running through people, running over people, just making the defense worn out. But Adam Randle brings that same that that not the same, sorry. But he brings a lot of physicality, too. So, I'm looking forward to when he comes back after this stash. I mean, after he gets off an injured reserve, uh, and he can contribute in a lot of different ways. So, so shout out to him. Uh, more into the receiving game. Chris Moore, he had a catch for 53 yards and we needed this catch more than ever because this catch came when we had lost Safe Flowers. We had lost Jacobe Lane and our receivers were Chris Moore, um Rashad Baitman, and Lejante Wester. Why? Because TZ Walker inactive, Elijah Sat inactive. So, we were down to just three receivers. And two of those three receivers are our kicker returners. So, we were and they kept them at kick return, too. I thought Ravens were going to take them off a kick return and just have Justice Hill doing a kick return. They said, "No, no, Chris Moore, you're staying. You're staying." And I think with Leonte West, he obviously stayed at Punt return, too. But Ravens were like, "Look, our special teams going to stay on special teams, and they just going to be on offense, too." I said, "Man, them boys got some real good standing up, man." Cuz I would have been exhausted. But Chris Moore with that 53 yard catch. Uh, it was a play action. Rashad Baitman and not Leonte. I forgot who the tight end was that helped clear things out for Chris Moore, but they helped clear things out for Chris Moore. He went deep and it was just a beautiful route, a beautiful throw and catch by Lamar, excuse me, throw by Lamar Jackson, catch by Chris Moore. I remember when we first signed Chris Moore. You can even go back and watch the video. I questioned it. I was like, what are we doing? Why are we bringing Chris Moore back? I didn't have a problem with it, but I just questioned like for for what. And there we go. Question answered right away in week one from jump. So, shout out to Chris Moore uh staying ready so he ain't got to get ready. and the Ravens, they brought him back and he proved to be extremely valuable literally from the jump on both offense and special teams. Um Mark Andrews, he had four catches uh for 49 yards, so not a crazy day. Uh but he did have one dropper, you know, the der everybody going to be looking at what is that gross. Um so nobody really went crazy except uh Z Flowers. Uh Doran Smite, he had one catch for four yards. Uh we talked about Justice Hill, Jacobe Lane, he had one catch. He should have had two catches, but of course penalties. We'll talk about the penalties shortly. Uh Leonte had two catches for 15 yards. Um Rashad Baitman with Rashad Baitman. This was just another one of those games, man. It was another one of those games. And I I can't say what happened because I didn't look at all the film and I'm not a film expert or anything like that. So could he have been getting open? Who knows? I don't know. But he just may and maybe this just was one of them games where he things were off because when he did have a nice catch, it got negated by penalties, which we'll talk about in a little bit cuz we got to talk about the penalties cuz yeah, the penalties ugly. But Rashad Baitman, he just he did some nice blocking though. So I give that's amazing. Like really all these receivers, the tight ends, they did some nice blocking. But then there was some blocking by the offensive line. There was some holding and a lot of penalties which we'll just talk about now. Now, them penalties on offense were bad. Ravens were their own worst enemy so many times throughout this game on offense. Ravens would be in third and five or third and six. They were converted. Lamar Jackson would throw a completion. We cheering. We happy. We like, "Yeah, we got it." Oh, yellow flag holding, blocking the back, clipping. It was always something like and and it continued to always be something. Ravens made things so much harder for themselves than they needed to be. So, and and it was consistently with those penalties, those penalties were happening throughout the entire game. Literally, like we just talked about with Jacobe Lane, his touchdown, beautiful touchdown, nice throw, nice catch, uh, from Lamar to Jacobe Lane, but it got negated all because of a penalty. Penalty. So, this game, Ravens won, 41 to 23, but this game should not have been that close. And saying that like with an 18-point win that that sounds like how Hamilton caught us last year. It sounds spoiled, but it's really not when you look at it. This game should not have been that close. It really shouldn't have been. But again, Ravens, they were their own worst enemy. But see, the the thing about this is even with all these penalties, specifically on offense, offense was going crazy with the penalties. The fact that they still put up 41 points, the fact that we still won and we won by as much as we did, even with all the penalties, that's scary for the league. It really is because we were not even at our best yet. And we were down Z Flowers, Jacobe Lane. So, we were missing some guys. the offensive line. They were they were rough, but we still won by 18 points still. So, this team, man, and I know it's just week one, but it's week one in football is football. So, it needs to be said that they they can really be something serious. And this game shows some nice traits for this Baltimore Ravens team. specifically on offense since we talking about offense right now. Declan Doyle, the play calling. I liked it. One of the things I loved the most too was there was a drive where I think it was Derrick Henry's second touchdown I believe, but there was a drive where we were moving that ball and we had got to the red zone. We got close to the goal line and it was I think second or third and goal and I think it was third and goal. So I was saying, "Hey, Ravens just need to run it with Derrick Henry. Don't get pretty. Don't get cute. Don't don't get all that. just run it with Derrick Henry, please. Cuz I we done seen it a lot of times, but Ravens get cute in these situations. What do they do? They line Lamar Jackson up in pistol. They had I forgot what tight end was lined up to his right, but then they had uh Derrick Henry behind him. So, I'm like, "Oh, okay. I I don't know what's coming." What they do? They snapped it. Tight end, lead blocker, gave it to Derrick Henry. Boom. Touchdown. They ain't get cute. They ain't get pretty. They didn't get all fancy. They just said, "Derk Henry, we're going to stick with what's been working and give it to him." And I I I love that. so much. There were some play there were a lot of plays where and y'all film experts, exes knows guys, y'all understand this so much more than me. Um, but there were some plays where I saw the tight end would be in motion and Lamar would snap it and a lot of times it would look like the tight end like he how do you explain it? It almost looked like they were getting ready like Lamar was getting ready to run into the tight end or Derrick Henry's getting ready to run into the tight end. It just looked like the tight end was just in in the way, but he wasn't like that was how it was designed because I kept seeing it over and over and over and it was just I was just, okay, all right, Declan, hey, you got it. You you designed this stuff. We scored 41 points. So, obviously something's going right. Even though again, could have been more. Should have been more. But, so that that was just that was blowing my mind because I kept seeing it. I'm like, man, this tight end's gonna run into the but nope, the tight end was fine. So, it was just it it was nice to see, man. So, this again, this offense, it's a work in progress, but again, to be able to score 41 points against a good Colts team, for that to be a work in progress, I'll take it. Now, I don't want to take them penalties. Y'all can lead them penalties in Indianapolis. But besides that, shout out to the Ravens. Shout out to Declan Doyle for stamping this game and showing his little brother why he is his little brother. One of the biggest reasons that Jesse Mentor was even brought to this team was to improve the defense. The defense over these past two years, ever since Mike McDonald left and Zack Oil had took over, Ravens defense had been bad. Uh they gave up so many passing yards. They didn't have a pass rush. Uh they did not generate turnovers. Um they could not get pressure. Uh it was just rough in so many different ways. But Mentor was brought in to really turn them around and get that old thing back. And the way that this game started, it was not looking like that was happening because the Colts on their first drive, they uh got the kick return and then once they got on offense, they moved that ball all the way down the field through the air on the ground. And what was happening was on first down, we would stop him. It's like, okay. On second down, we will stop him. It's like, okay. But then third down came up and then the middle of the field was open. I said, "Oh no, did our old defensive coordinator sneak in here from Seattle?" Anyway, anyway, so then uh another first down happened. Then another second down happened. We like, "Okay, it's third down again. Hey defense, y'all about to show." Then third down, they were converted. So we were looking like, "Hold up. We ain't tripping yet. It's the first drive. They ain't play together. Colts got the touchdown like all right let's just see how things keep on going and boy did things certainly turn around after that in a lot of ways every way but from the very next drive Ravens they look so much better and they were really holding the Colts down man and Colts they didn't get another touchdown until the Lamar Jackson fumble to where the Colts recovered and and Ravens defense was backed up so it was very tough to ask anything of them even though we still hoped But it was tough to be put in that position. Um, but the defense, they generated turnovers, man. It was beautiful to see that Rocoan Smith interception. I said, "Whoa, Ro, that's you." We loved it, man. We really did. That was such an amazing pick. Um, and to have the awareness for Roan to be able to just go up and get that pick was great. Then there was a uh play where Jonathan Taylor, he had the ball and Marlon Humphrey, he wanted the ball. So what did he do? He ripped it out. So that that was just it was a beautiful thing to see it because Jonathan Taylor uh one of the best running backs in the league. Um he really liked it obviously and uh and he he gave us work. He gave us work. He gave us trouble. He gave us stress. He was annoying. Jonathan Taylor is really like that. But what's crazy is I don't know if y'all remember during the game when he was approaching 100 yards. Like he was gashing us. First he had like 84 yards. Then he got a run and he was up to like 95 or 96. Then he got another run where he was up to like 90 99 yards. So then there was a run where he ended up getting stuffed. Raven stuffed him. And I I said it on the stream too. I was like, man, you know what would be crazy? Would it be funny too if Jonathan Taylor ended this game with less than 100 yards cuz he he literally got to 99? This man finished the game with 19 carries for 98 yards. That's crazy. I know a lot of y'all remember back when um Ravens had this streak and that would have been a perfect game for how crazy that streak was. But remember when Ravens had this streak to where they would not allow a 100 yard rusher? Like that was a big thing for their defense. Obviously it was a long time ago. not recently, but do y'all remember, put in the comment section if you remember that they had this long streak where they just would not give up no 100 yard rusher to nobody. But then that streak started being broken and then I was like, "Oh, okay. All right. This the streak is ended." Shout out to Undertaker and Brock Lesnar. Anyway, um Daniel Jones in this game, he went 19 for 31, 166 yards. So, nothing crazy there. One touchdown, which was to this tight end, Tyler Warren, I believe. Uh and then one interception. Who was to our guy Rocoan Smith. Um he got sacked twice. His his QBR was 28.7. Yikes. But anyway, um in this game, he our pass rush, it was not what I envisioned it being. I know we ain't got Beaks back yet, but even still, um I felt like with the guys now, they did make some nice plays here and there, but it wasn't consistent as I thought it was going to be. Now, I know this is the very first game. That's something to keep in mind. That's so important. Things will get better, especially cuz personnel is going to get better cuz we're going to get healthier, but I just I thought it would be more. Um, Tavius Robinson, he continues to look good. Trey Hendrickson, and I people were telling me during the stream, "Oh man, this man is getting held. They keep holding him." But then I had looked at a bunch of highlights on Twitter, Trey Hendrickson, and that man was getting choked, grabbed, all kinds of stuff. And I don't think we saw not one flag on it. Not a single one. So Trey Hendrickson, he kept getting close and there was even one play where he literally grabbed Daniel Jones. He grabbed his jersey, tried to get him, but he just was out of reach. But on that play, he got held too. So Trey Hendendrickson, I know a lot of people like, "Oh man, we spent all this money for Trey Henderson. What was that? Oh man, he's supposed to look a lot better." Trey Hendendrickson going to be just fine. I ain't worried about no Trey Hendrickson, man. I don't think you should be either. It it it will be just fine. And a lot of times Daniel Jones, he was getting that ball out quick. He was not holding on to the ball for very long. Not too many times. He did sometimes, but not too many times. And I think that's what the Colts wanted. They wanted him to have this game, get his feet wet. His first game back since tearing his ACL is Achilles. I forget which one it was, but his first game back. Like, this is a big deal for him. So, so much, like they always say, so much of it is mental. So, you're not going to want your quarterback to get beat up. You ain't going to want him to be holding on to the ball forever, especially against this defense, these Ravens, cuz you know, somebody come in there to whack you. So, shout out to Daniel Jones being back, being healthy because yeah, man. This this team this team was nice last year. They were nice, man. They were really really nice, man. So, they still going to be some in the uh in the AFC South. Um Alec Pierce, who had gotten a lot of recognition, a lot of attention. I know he wasn't 100% healthy this game. He had four catches for 61 yards. Nobody went crazy though in the air. Josh DS, he had two catches for 31 yards. And that's crazy because Josh DS I didn't even realize this till like literally reading the stats just now on the very first drive. That is oh that is crazy. That's such a crazy adjustment. Josh DS remember what we talked about with Colts offense on that first drive where there were two first downs and they both came on third down and the receiver was wide open in the middle of the field. Both of those were to Josh DS. He ain't have a catch the rest of the game. for over three quarters. He literally had his only two catches on that first drive, didn't have a catch for the rest of the game. That's crazy, man. That's insane. I did not realize that he got targeted four times, not a catch the rest of the game. Keenan Allen had a bunch of catches. He had six catches for 32 yards. But yeah, nobody went crazy for them. No, nobody at all, which we we love, man. That's what we want from the defense. Like again, 23 points, it's they got 23 points. They shouldn't have had, but they they got it. So, but our defense like not that they played better than 23 points cuz they I mean, they obviously didn't they gave up 23 points. One of them was a long field goal. I think it was a 58 yard field goal. Um but like and then one of the touchdowns was when you know the Ravens offense turned it over in our own territory. So Colts like not had a layup but they were right there. Um but man again our defense man they they look like they could be something serious too man. Now we're going to have tougher challenges for sure. And we know even though they lost the the the Saints they going to go into Bank Stadium with a little bit more a little bit of confidence. I know their hearts got ripped out of them because they lost in overtime to the Lions, but um we're gonna have some more challenges, man. And I think with Tyler Sh and I ain't trying to get into no game preview or nothing like that, but like what does he have to lose? What are the expectations for the Saints? Like obviously internally with their team, like they going to want to do some stuff, but Ravens got to watch out, man. He I think he gonna be loose with that ball, man. But anyway, we'll see how everything ends up going. Malachi Starks, he got a nice sack. His sack came on uh Jesse Mentor where Jesse Mentor on fourth down, I Yeah, fourth down. And this was like the fourth down that would have helped the Colts gain some momentum and kind of come back. But Jesse Men said, "No, I want to end it." And he brought so many Ravens to the line of scrimmage. They were crowding that thing. And I was thinking, [laughter] he ain't about to send all these people. He sent all those people pretty much. He sent the house, man. And he got to him. He got to Daniel Jones. So, he really trust this defense, man. He really trust this defense. And And that takes me back to uh and we we going to talk about this in coaching. But yeah, you know what? We'll save that for coaching. Y'all stick around for when we get there. But we got to talk special teams first. Now, even though we in a new football season, our old friends at Heart of the City are still taking care of y'all. When you go to their website, which the link is in the description, you can use code engraving 25 to get 25% off. Not just one item, like a hoodie like this. They got flags, they got t-shirts, they got banners, they got plenty of hoodies, all with different styles that you can choose from. But you use code engraving 25 to get 25% off your entire order, the whole thing. So, hit up Heart of the City. Use code engraven 25. The link is in the description. Please never try to tell me that I ain't trying to put you on. Our special teams, they were special today. Got to give a huge shout out before we talk about any other aspect of special teams. We got to give a huge shout out to Tyler Loop because I Tyler Loop obviously heard everything that's been being said. Uh he knows what's going on. He's been asked every question, but he said like, "Hey, they brought in Jake Moody. Okay, I'm cool with it. I I'm good with it." He said, "Everything going to be what it's going to be." And Tyler Loop, it didn't seem like his confidence was shaking from Jake Moody in that pressure the other day. Uh he said he welcomes the competition. It makes the team better and he's with it. And today, yeah, he hit a 45 yard field goal, but that man also hit a 57y field. Jake Modi, excuse Whoa. Tyler Loop hit a 57 yard field goal. That's crazy. I remember when he lined up for that field goal. I had said it before. I said, "Look, half of his goals, I I can't really hold it against Tyler Loop because even though kickers all making some 57 yard look, their kicker made a 58 yard, but I was like, I can't hold it against Tyler Loop. However, this goes." But he went out there and he drilled it and then he made his next kick again from closer from 45. Uh but it's like he essentially sent the Ravens a message like, "Hey, you can open up a spot on the practice squad. You can let Jake Moody go somewhere else, but now Ravens don't do that. Wait." But [snorts] I loved it. We loved it. It was amazing to see. Even his very first kick kickoff of the season, he got him a touchback. I called that man touchback Tyler. I said, "Okay, let's get it, man." So, shout out to Tyler Loop, man. This is what we hope would happen. And obviously, consistency is real. Uh, we hope that he makes every single kick. We hope that he can shut any single doubter up. Anybody that's even been nervous about Tyler Loop, I hope that he shuts all of us, especially myself up and gives us all the confidence in the world that he got it. And you know, with with that kick that he with both kicks that he made, especially the second one, that was a it was a pressure situation. Not the biggest pressure in the world, but it was pressure nonetheless because the game was not the closest, but it was still kind of close. So, if he would have missed, like that would have given them momentum and that would have gave them a little boost like, "Oh, he missed. Okay, we can still get ourselves in it." But he didn't miss. So, we ain't even had to have that conversation. Um, on kick return for us, Chris Moore, thank you. Thank you. We appreciate you so much. Again, when they signed him, I was like, but he's valuable, man. He's valuable in different ways. Not just offense, but special teams, too. Cuz on offense, we saw him make that big 53 yard catch. We saw him blocking, but then on special teams, we saw him with the kick return. That put us in good field position. That's what we need. Chris Moore said, "Oh, when I left, I was a kicker returner here." And he picked off picked up right where he left off at. So shout out to Chris Moore just continuing had a long career for what a fourth round draft pick at wide receiver who started on the Ravens. That's that's scary business right there, man. But he survived. He survived and he not only survived but he thrived, man. Shout out to Chris Moore. Very very happy for him. Um now on special teams on our us kicking the ball off to the Colts. Ow. Oo, we gave up two big returns. One, Tyler Loop had to drop that shoulder. Tyler say, "Look, don't play with it." Like, I I dropped a shoulder, knocked somebody out. Now, he did get a little run over, but that's okay. The effort was there. So, we appreciate that. [snorts] Um, but then there was another one toward the end of the game where we gave up a big return. I was like, "Hey, hey, hey. I know we ain't got the no special teams as no special teams head coach no more, but still, we got to tighten that up." But I saw somebody in our comment section during our live stream. They said, "Hey, Anthony Lavine, you need to get it together on special teams." And I said, "Whoa, whoa, you ain't gonna be talking to Anthony Lavino kind of way because Tyler Loop made a 57 and a 45 yard field goal." So Anthony Lavine, he gets a pass from me since Tyler Loop made those field goals. So yeah, he he get a pass. He all right with me. So shout out to Anthony Lavine. um that Swiss Army knife, Mr. Do It All from when he was playing for the Ravens and that Super Bowl champion with the Packers, too. Shout out to him. But anyway, um special teams, they they had some very, very special moments in this game. Coaching, wow, coaching was something serious in this game. It really, really was. And I I've seen people say, "Man, coaching is the difference why we actually won this game versus last year in week one where we had a significant lead. Score 41 points too as well, but we end up crumbling and we fell apart and we lost." Ravens had so many reasons to fall apart in this game. Number one, the penalties. They could have let all them penalties, which did hold them back from a lot more than they could have achieved this game, but they could have let all them penalties mess everything up in the long run. injuries, Zay Flowers being out, Jacobe Lane being out, they lost TJ Tampa as well. So, they were losing guys that could have let the Colts get right back in it. And that could have really shook the Ravens and had them like, "Oh my goodness." Like, "Oh, what are we going to do now, especially because of Zay Flowers, because he was going off like crazy the way that he was, [snorts] but they didn't." Yeah, they had their mess ups. They had the mistakes. Even the the the turnover, too. That was another thing. A lot of times we've seen when the Ravens, they could be rolling, then they have this one turnover and it's like, oh, and then everything just falls apart, but it didn't. It really didn't. So, shout out to this new coaching staff. And again, it's one game. We got to see consistency, but this was a great start because they got put in tough situations. They got put in tough scenarios. They got put in stuff where it was like, "Oh my goodness, what's going to happen now?" But they made their way out of it. Jesse Mentor, he showed the ultimate trust in this just football team as a whole because when Jacobe Lane uh when Lamar Jackson threw that touchdown pass to Jacobe Lane, beautiful, but it got called back because of Holden. Ravens were like, "Okay, Holden moved back." So, they got some positive yards after that. So, then it was fourth down. Jesse Mentor did not hesitate. He was not like, "hm, what do we do? Should we go for it? Should we not this?" And when you look at his face, like he was just sitting there and he had them right back out there on fourth down like and it's like it's like they knew I I think he must have told them before like look let's get some positive yards and we going forward on for them. No questions asked. No ifs or but no we are we are doing this and he had the utmost confidence in his team. Now on the flip side it it was like if that's he had the utmost confidence in his offense to get it and they almost did. They obviously didn't, but then it was like, "Okay, if my offense don't get it, my defense will have them right there backed up." So, I trust him and he trusted them and it paid off because the Colts ended up punting the ball. So, Jesse Mentor, amazing man. Declan Doyle. Oh, boy. Declan Doyle. Zay Flowers. Zay Flowers catch his I think like 54 yards, something like that. Let Let me look at it right now so we get the exact number. Zay Flowers touchdown catch. Oh, 54 yards. Yeah, 54 yards. Lamar threw to Zay Flowers. Zay Flowers made some people miss. Excellent blocking. Z Flowers got a bunch of yak. Touchdown. That's a huge play. Declan Doyle the entire time. Not smiling, not smirking, not jumping up and down, not celebrating, not hyped, not excited. Just look straight face the entire time. man. That man is cold blooded. He cold blooded. And before this season even started, so many of us Ravens fans felt like, "Oh man, this man might be one and done." I saw somebody in our live stream say, "Oh, Declan Doyle, he's going to be a one-year rental." Because so many people feel like like Declan Doyle, he ain't going to be this like unknown guy, and he's not unknown throughout the NFL, but he's a hot commodity, man. And people going to watch what he does with this offense. I know he got a Chico with Lamar Jackson, but still they're going to watch what he does with this offense and be like, "Ooh, that's head coach material right there." So, we don't anticipate on having him for too long. So, it's important that the Ravens maximize this, that Declan Doyle maximize it mental, everybody maximizes this because we just don't know what next year what's going to happen. But, it was just it it was amazing to see. We we just talked about with Anthony Lavine how again getting a special teams the kickoff unit they gave up some big returns but Tyler look with the field goals man like they get a pass from me they get it and with Anthony Weaver he is our defensive coordinator we know Jesse Mentor's calling the plays but I'm sure he got his fingers on this defense as well and he probably giving Jesse Mentor plenty of input and things that he sees from his end. So, as far as coaching, this was a nice win for the Ravens. Um, great win. There were no like what is a coach doing? The only thing when they went for it on fourth down, I was saying that I would have took the points only because I've been scarred so much by the previous coaching staff for a lot of different reasons on fourth down and just going for it in different situations. A lot have been good, but a lot have been like, woof, what are we doing? But I would have took the points, but I'm not mad that they went for it, especially with the call that they had drawn up. And it was for Jacobe Lane, too. U but the pressure got there. What's new? But the pressure got there and Lamar sailed at Jacobe Lane. Couldn't get it. So that's what pressure does, man. It messes stuff up. But all in all, um good game. Good first game cuz this a lot of these guys hadn't played together yet. They had not played together. Well, none of them had played together all the way yet cuz this was the first time all the starters were playing. So this was very, very different than preseason. Much different. But even with all the mistakes, even with all the hiccups, even with all the mess ups, even with all the errors, the Baltimore Ravens still got the job done. I enjoyed this postgame thoughts and this could have went 5050. Well, really 33 33 33 because could have won, we could have lost or we could have tied, but we won. So, this postgame thoughts is a lot more enjoyable than it could have been in some other scenarios. But make sure you subscribe to the channel. We got a whole lot to talk about uh this week based off of this game alone and some different news that came out from this game. Subscribe to the channel, leave a like on the video, click that thumbs up button. I appreciate everybody that watched this video. I appreciate everybody that's been supporting the channel. I appreciate everybody that's been in the live stream. We've been having a lot of fun in them live stream. Ain't nothing like it, man. So, I love y'all so much. And on that note, we out. [music] >> [music] >> The flock flies to the [singing] wise. It's a wonderful thing. Look what vision and commitment [music] is and some discipline brings. When a becomes one, the [singing] moon swings and the flock sings [music] for another ring. Man, we tuning in. Engraving vids in that scene tonight. Team keep it clean. Hold it down the spot [music] to ignite a name in the lights. A north star ain't feeling far when you run that north every year. [music] That's just [music] >> [music]