Chiefs vs. Ravens: AFC Clash to Kick Off the Season

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Nick Ferguson previews the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens ahead of the NFL season Nick Ferguson: The following presentation is a production of Ride the Wave media.

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Alex Hardy: We are those guys.

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We hope to be four guys.

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You're the latest from the National Football League and Nick Ferguson.

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From the time that we started this podcast during the NFL offseason, we've been inching, crawling, tippy toeing towards the NFL regular season.

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And now we're here.

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It's week one, baby.

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Right around the corner, Nick Ferguson.

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What's going on, my man? Nick Ferguson: It is football time in America, which means as though, uh, a lot of the honeydew lists that we had during the spring, they no longer exist because now we gotta put everything and everyone on the back burner.

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Alex Hardy: I hope you cleaned out those gutters.

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You shovel the driveway, you can never tell in Denver.

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You're talking spring weather.

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You might as well be shoveling in, you know, picking up fallen leaves.

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That's just how things are.

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Um, but here's a honeydew list for the National Football League in lack of a good transition because they don't pay me enough for those.

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Uh, Nick Ferguson.

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It's been long enough.

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We've talked about ten or so teams that are in contention for the Super bowl.

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So we might as well be talking about the team that's just coming off winning the Super bowl back to back, be it the Kansas City Chiefs, but we have the AFC championship rematch to kick off the 2024 NFL season.

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So what we're going to do, we're going to preview those Super bowl defending Chiefs two time, and we're going to preview those Baltimore Ravens who they just lost out to Kansas City in the AFC championship game last February.

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January.

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It was January.

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So, Nick, we'll start with the Kansas City Chiefs, but overall, we're talking about a team that, hey, Patrick Mahomes is here.

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They are pretty much favorites to go to the Super bowl.

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Is that name brand value at the most premier position in all of sports.

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Is that enough alone for you to just write the Chiefs off as the AFC contender, the team to beat going for that three peat? Nick Ferguson: Well, I'm not going to write them off and I'm not going to pencil them in as a, uh, three peat.

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Right.

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And I know maybe you being a Patriots fan, that I know sometimes that might do something to you and your psyche, but here's what I would say.

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Being Kansas City Chiefs fan, you got to be happy and optimistic that you have kind of solidified the quarterback position with Patrick Mahomes and what he's been able to do.

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Now, there's some issues that Kansas City is going to be presented with.

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That's going to determine whether they can get back to where they once was because they did that with Mahomes and Mahomes magic.

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But they also did it, a, uh, great spagnola defense where they were able to sneak the quarterback, uh, get turnovers and get the ball back to their offense.

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But things for Kansas City look a little different because, you know, there's no MBS, he's not there anymore.

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And Kadavius, Tony, he's no longer there.

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Rashid Ryan's, what's going to happen with his situation and his off the field issues.

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But that's why they drafted Xavier Worthy, who is the speed, sir, out of Texas, and they grab Hollywood Brown, who was, by the way, Hollywood Brown is going to be injured.

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So for me, this may develop into the Travis Kelsey Xavier worthy show, but then we'll get to a later talking about the Baltimore Ravens.

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But I don't believe it's as cut and dry because there are so many teams in the AFC.

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They've done some great things building that roster.

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Alex Hardy: That's right.

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The Denver Broncos, the New England Patriots lead that list off.

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Nick, I joke, but really, you, you started with the offense, so let's talk about that side of the ball.

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You discuss the receiver room, you know, attacking that position in both free agency and the draft.

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Right? There's no one to one replacement for Tyree kill.

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So let's moneyball this and try to replace it in the aggregate.

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Rashee Rice broke out as a, I don't want to say gadget, but an underneath player, um, low average depth of target when he wasn't, you know, stretching the field.

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Uh, so the additions of Hollywood Brown, who you said will be out for week one in that matchup against the Ravens with the shoulder injury, uh, avoiding the pup list, however, and Xavier Worthy, who they used in the first round.

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Now, how does the dynamic of this offense change when you talk about two players in Hollywood Brown and Xavier Worthy, who are known to stretch the field, and then we'll kind of get into what other pieces kind of insulate and allow Mahomes to be able to do that? So the, the progression from the offense, led by Rasheed Rice and Travis Kelsey fast forward to they're still the main two target guys, in my opinion, and, and, and guys who I am drafting a lot, we'll get to, from a fantasy football perspective.

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But the additions of two, you know, quote, unquote, speedsters to stretch the field, what does that mean for Patrick Mahomes and his top two target getters from a year ago.

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Nick Ferguson: Well, the idea is that it forces Matt Nagy, Andy Reid to be a little more creative in what they do with their office.

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I mean, think about it.

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When they lost Tyree, kill, everyone was always into the world, but they found ways to do other things.

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Now, they were not taking the big, flawed shots down the field.

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It became a lot of misdirection.

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Crossing routes are, uh, crossing routes often misdirections.

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M underhanded throws, overhanded throws.

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I mean, whatever Patrick Mahomes could dream up, it was readily available.

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And they're going to have to do the same thing this particular year because you don't really have that big body wide receiver that inside the red zone you can go to.

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So for them, they're going to go back to that same theory they had a couple of years ago.

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It really based off explosive plays.

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But when they get inside the red zone and they get inside those tight formations, third and short, fourth and short, that is the Travis Kelsey show.

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So you still have to contend with that and with the improvisation of, uh, Patrick Mahomes.

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These are skills that you cannot teach.

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And any, when you have a quarterback like that, it makes life easier for you if you are, uh, a receiver or you guys catching at the backfield.

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Now, here's something that they also did.

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Samaji P.

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Ryan was a member of the Denver Broncos.

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Now he's gone over to join the Kansas City change.

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The enemy here in Denver said the one thing that we know about Samaji P.

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Ryan, dating back to when he was with the Cincinnati Bengals and Zach Taylor, he was great between the tackles, but more importantly, he was great receiving the ball on the backfield.

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So you think about what you can add in the mix with peews and the hard driving, I'm gonna run through you mentality of Isaiah Pacheco.

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Play action is there and I can tell you as a former defender, anytime a quarterback sticks the ball out and you think he's going to hand it off, defensive eyes draw straight to him like a mark to the flame, open up things down the field.

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This is how, uh, the offense will be more creative and allow them to do things now, this season that they were not able to do last season.

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Alex Hardy: Now, two things on that, I think it's fascinating.

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First of all, the two time Super bowl defending champions again this week as we're recording the podcast, making key roster additions from teams that would be thrilled to be in post season conversation, let alone back to back defending champion Samaj P.

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Ryan, coming from the Denver Broncos, uh, judge Smith Schuster reunited after getting cut by the Patriots.

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Uh, Peyton Hendershot is going to be their third tight end coming over from Dallas.

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So it is interesting and a job well done, I will say, because with Clyde Edwards Ilair going on the uh, non football injury list and he's going to miss the first four games as a minimum.

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This is a team that is looking to win their games in December and January and February.

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So for those of us playing fantasy football, maybe distress that Samajp Ryan is the more pass catching back compared to Isaiah Pacheco.

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It's about making sure they have, uh, a balance distributed offense so that no one guy has to carry the load and be less than 100% when it comes to the postseason, which far and away much more important, uh, if they were to reunite with the Ravens in the AFC playoffs compared to when they get them in week one.

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My other point of emphasis, Nick, this going back to the receivers, uh, the numbers coming from rich rebar of sharp football analysis on throws of ten or more yards.

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Last year, Patrick Mahomes threw a touchdown at a rate of 1.2%.

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So just barely 1% of his throws over ten yards down the field last season resulted in a touchdown.

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His first three years were 11%, eight and a half percent and 8%.

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I'm throwing those numbers out there for one of two reasons.

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They weren't able to stretch the field.

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And as a defensive back, Nick, we'll transition to the sphagnola defense shortly here.

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But the COVID two, I'm sorry, the two high defense employed against the likes of Patrick Mahomes and other elite quarterbacks, how has that shifted more of the downfield, uh, vertical offenses compared to maybe a death by 1000 paper cuts? Nick Ferguson: Well, the idea is when you play cover two, you basically keep everything in front of.

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So having two high safeties, you tell the quarterback right away you can't throw the ball outside the numbers.

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Now, if you want to throw it down the middle, maybe you can with a little success, but we're going to force you into checkouts.

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Now, the one thing you can do versus cover two is run the ball.

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And you don't have to run the ball to a point where you're rushing for 130 yards a game.

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No, alison, you could be successful running for 60 85 yards with Isaiah Pachenko because what it does, it keeps the defense honest.

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Kansas City decided to retain defensive tackle Chris Jones after trading Dara Snead And if you play cover to your mic linebacker, he is responsible for plugging the a or b gap in the run, but also getting down the middle of the field between the hashes on the pass so if you run successfully and then you run play action, guess what that linebacker has to do? He now has to honor that run, which means that he's going to be late getting back on those dig routes.

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And this is where those crossing routes have worked.

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You know, great for Travis Kelsey and Patrick Mahomes, but the biggest thing is Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey being on the same page.

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They work in unison together, almost like a couple of guys that you are fond of.

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When you think about Rob Gronkowski and his, his bromance with Tom Brady or Giant, this is what you talk about, guys being on the same page and the right hand knowing what the left hand is thinking.

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As long as they have those two guys in place, Kansas City would always be in the conversation offensively.

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And what they've learned to do is listen.

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The game is about evolution.

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And before there was chunk plays down the field, they said, you know what, we don't have to do that anymore.

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If we can get first downs, right, every so many plays we're getting first downs, it's putting us in position where we can go and score.

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And oh, by the way, they get Harrison Butler, who can kick from 40 yards out.

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So those are points that, uh, they, they say, you know what, even if you take, keep us out, uh, of the end zone, which is really hard to do, we still take field goals for 40 yards out.

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Yeah.

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Alex Hardy: Yep.

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There's really no limit to where the offense can, can end and at least have more drives that end with points on the defensive side of the football.

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Some transactions that are worth going over with this football team, they retain a lot of their guys, right.

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It was a, it was a, uh, uh, major decision by this franchise.

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We spoke about it on this podcast, incessantly deciding to retain Chris Jones, the defensive tackle over luxurious need their shutdown uh, all pro corner who they traded to the Tennessee Titans.

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So Nick, that pivotal decision, making the choice on the older nose tackle compared to the younger corner, uh, and having more guaranteed money for Chris Jones than what the Titans ultimately had to give to legerious need your decision on their decision and sort of how that played out with the rest of Spagnolo's defensive roster.

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Nick Ferguson: Well, the idea is really simple that we know pass roush and coverage are married, so they say, look well, who was very instrumental in helping us get to this point.

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It wasn't Patrick Holmes, which is crazy.

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It was Chris Owens.

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Right.

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Even at this stage of his career, he was very impactful, commanding those double teams, creating one on one matchups for guys like Carlotta's on the outside.

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So they were willing to let Dara Snead walk to Tennessee and say, you know what? We'll just go get another guy to put out there, because we want to make sure we keep our main guy, who's Chris Jones, who can create the most chaos up front.

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So when you do that and you have a guy like that, you can do anything in the back end.

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That's like with Tampa Bay back in the day.

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They have war set.

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The Rams had Aaron Donald.

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When you got dominating guys like that up front, he could do whatever you want to do in the back end, and you can have a mediocre back end.

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And that's what spagnola and the chief decided, well, we want to put the bulk of our investment right there and something that we know that we can guarantee that we're going to get this play, play in and play out and so consistent.

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But here's the one thing about Kansas City I, uh, mentioned Chris Jones.

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You have George Carlock.

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You got Nick Bolden on the second level at the linebacker position.

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They have played makers same similarly on every level of their defense, and they're hoping that, yeah, you lose in a Derri snee, but if you keep those core guys, you can make the same type of noise.

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And that's what they're thinking.

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And we'll make several tweaks on our defense, team wise, personnel wise.

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But as long as we have Patrick Mahomes and we can give him the ball, that's going to guarantee us that we're going to put points on the board.

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And think about this, Alex.

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There are 32 teams in the NFL.

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How many teams are out there that can score? 28.2?

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Alex Hardy: Gay, right? Not your team.

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Not my team.

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Nick Ferguson: Exactly.

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So if you got Kansas City that I could do it, and you can get some extra, uh, plays from your defense, turning it over.

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You are always in that conversation.

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So I see why some were pegging the Chiefs to have a three p.

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I'm not, but I can see why that is the conversation.

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Alex Hardy: Well, it also helps that the Kansas City Chiefs know how to draft corners.

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Right.

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You let a luxurious need go, one, because of the play and effort that they get on the defensive line.

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Um, but Trent McDuffie, Joshua Williams, who's coming into his third year, uh, Jaden Hicks, you know, in the.

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In the secondary, they've just been able to systematically pluck and find players that fit their style of football.

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Right.

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The one advantageous to having a long established coaching tenure is that you identify players that fit your system and you find players that by playing in your system, you can get the most out of them.

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Because I understand you want to highlight what players are good at, but identifying and understanding what you need out of players to be good makes the process so much easier.

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And, you know, no, no better pairing than Andy Reid and Steve Spagnolo in the NFL at that point.

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They're developing, you know, George Carloftus and Mike Dana, who came back on a three year deal.

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They can afford to, you know, this happens to all contending teams.

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They lose critical and key pieces to super bowl championship teams all the time, but being able to replace them, Nick, is what makes them as good as they are.

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Nick Ferguson: Well, you know, it's funny that you said that, uh, uh, that it reminds me of a philosophy that worked for almost 20 years, and that was called the patriot way.

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Right.

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Uh, the idea is bloody brilliant because the idea is that there's some coaches who overthink the process of coaching and play calling.

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When it's really simplistic.

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You find out what guys can do and you put them in position to succeed, opposed to saying, well, here's what a guy can't do.

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Yeah, we know he can't do it, but you want to put him in a position where you exploit the skillset that, uh, he does well.

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And once again, I got to give, you know, Brett beach and everyone over Kansas City, you know, their flowers, because they've done a great job of doing they.

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And you can say, maybe they took a page out of Bill Belichick's book and say, look, let's not overthink it.

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We got a guy who's extraordinary at the quarterback position.

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Let's put players around.

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And this, these don't have to be the best players in the world because we're going to function as a team, not as an individual.

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And that's why Kansas City is the bell of the ball and everyone's looking to knock them off top with a mountain.

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Alex Hardy: Uh, transitioning to the NFL draft, we spoke at length about Xavier Worthy, who was the 28th pick overall, kind of stacked in there with a number of wide receivers going in that range.

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Of course, you had the three going in the top ten between, um, neighbors and Marvin Harris, junior and Roma Dunze.

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And then you had this range where it's the Xavier Worthies, the Keon Coleman, the Xavier Leggettes.

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Um, um, these guys are constantly going to be compared against one another, uh, as they progress that and Xavier Worthy's teammate ad Mitchell put up more stats this past season.

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In Texas is offense, but obviously going to play for Patrick Mahomes is very different than going to play for Anthony Richardson.

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But no surprise that both of them appear to have, um, an early look at some fast, uh, starts with the injuries on their depth charts ahead of them.

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Uh, and then I wanted to focus on their second round selection, Kingsley Sua Mattia, the massive tackle at a BYU res experience.

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Yes, he played on the side, uh, uh, years ago and then transitioned to left tackle.

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So BYU had him playing both sides after he was a five star recruit who originally committed to Oregon.

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And again, with how much of a precious commodity that this position is and the number that we saw go in the first two rounds of the draft, Suvatia is right there, top of the death chart.

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He is going to be out there manning that left tackle spot for the Chiefs on Thursday's opening night.

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I mean, just, uh, um, you know, for someone who you say is raw, there's no better place for him to land than Kansas City to ultimately be responsible for keeping Patrick Mahomes blindside protected.

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Nick Ferguson: Well, yeah, he's going to be tested on Thursday night for sure, but I mean, as you're a rookie offensive lineman and to play your first game of the regular season at home, where you're playing in front of a, uh, favorable crowd, so you don't have to worry about the defensive advantage due to the crown noise.

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But here's the.

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Also the, uh, also the other thing that the baby go gives you.

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And it's crazy that I keep making these Patriots references just, it is, it is true.

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When you think about what Tom Brady was with the New England pages, the idea was that like a damn arena for the Miami Dolphins, he was able to get the ball out of his hands on time and the rhythm.

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So with Patrick Holmes having that same capability, it makes your life easier as an offensive lineman because you don't really have to hold your blocks that long.

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It's one 1002, 1000, the ball is gone.

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Either he's shoveled it to Travis Kelsey or he's pulled the ball down and he's running.

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The Kansas City Chiefs take on the Baltimore Ravens in primetime Thursday night So for me, it's going to be, I'm not going to say an easy day for the rookie left tackle, but it's not going to be one of those stressful days that a normal left tackle would have when he's playing in.

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Alex Hardy: His first home game and you round things out.

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I mentioned Jaden Hicks, the safety out of Washington state, playing some critical depth.

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Uh, and then they took some shots.

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Uh, Hunter Norzad, who was the center for Penn State and CJ Hansen, a guard at Holy Cross, a, uh, good run blockers according to pro Football Focus.

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But again, we'll have plenty of time sitting behind established veterans to become better pass defenders.

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So, Nick, as we are going to transition from Kansas City to the Baltimore Ravens, uh, what is the floor for this Chiefs team and your ceiling? Ultimately, though, I think you're teasing that we're still going to be waiting on the first three straight Super bowl champion.

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Nick Ferguson: Well, I started with the ceiling first.

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Obviously, they're always in, uh, the conversation.

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So worst case scenario for the Kansas City Chiefs, that they end up with that second seed and then have to play on wild cards Saturday.

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But when you look at the floor, obviously his winning, uh, AFC West, I mean, to look at the west now and to proclaim anyone else in that division toppling the Kansas City Chiefs, you know, I'm not a violent person, but I would kind of shake the hell out of you saying that you must be wide because there's no one right now that I would say that is going to become the supreme team in the AFC and, uh, the AFC west at the particular points, that's kind of the floor for Kansas City winning AFC outright.

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But the ceiling is obviously that second seed, if not the number one seed in AFC conference.

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Alex Hardy: Those are the Kansas City Chiefs.

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They go head to head with the Baltimore Ravens in week one, one Thursday, uh, night kicking off, and we've got to cover that other side of the field, Nick Ferguson.

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So the Baltimore Ravens coming off of a very successful 2023 season, which ultimately netted them not only the mvp for the quarterback, uh, Lamar Jackson, but they were also the number one overall see in the AFC.

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However, despite having home field advantage, Kansas City showed up and beat them, uh, luxurious need providing the key defensive play to stop what would have been a Zay Jones touchdown.

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So we now fast forward to what was a very busy offseason, both for arrivals and departures.

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Uh, let's start with the negative.

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They lose some critical pieces that they had on this defense, namely pretty much their entire defensive coaching staff.

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Right? Mike McDonald, who had been traded between the harbor brothers, uh, now the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, and his top assistant, Anthony Weaver, the, uh, next defensive court, or, uh, the would have been in line to be the defensive coordinator, now signed with the Miami Dolphins, um, to man that same position.

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So now we circle back to, uh, redoing this entire Harbaugh staff on the defensive side and a team whose identity is known as a play defense type of team, established culture much like we discussed with the Kansas City Chiefs, and it's going to look a lot different right where you have, uh.

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Why would they sort it this way? Where's my defensive coordinator? Zach Orr is now becoming the defensive coordinator with, um, a number of their assistants moving on elsewhere, either following McDonald to Seattle or Anthony Weaver to Miami.

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So Mark Leone was hired as the inside linebackers coach.

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Dennis Johnson on the defensive line and Doug Mallory over the defensive backs.

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Nick, as we, as we look, you know, a thousand miles away from this type of picture.

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Yes.

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Patrick Queen, Jadevian Clowney, Gino Stone, uh, Ronald Darby, all of these key losses on the defensive side of the football.

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Let's start with the coaching staff.

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I mean, what type of philosophy? Knowing that this is something Harbaugh has been preaching and been consistent about through his entire time as a head coach, and they've cycled through defensive guys before, but an entire defensive coaching staff ripped out.

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Um, how, how does that affect where this team is compared to the success that they had this time a year ago? Nick Ferguson: Well, obviously, he's going to look a little different, but here's what Baltimore is preaching.

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While the uniforms may change, meaning the different people in the uniforms and the people coaching, the one thing that doesn't change is the Baltimore Ravens mentality.

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They're banking on, um, the mentality staying, you know, ecstatic and staying in place because they're gone all the days of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed.

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So now you have different people.

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Roquan Smith, man.

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So, yeah, it's physical, downhill, punishing talent, defense.

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And the way that it's been expressed to me, they don't give a hell who's in the Baltimore uniform.

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We do what we do, when we do it, uh, when we have to do what we have to do.

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I know that's a lot to unpack.

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Alex Hardy: Yeah.

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Nick Ferguson: But the idea is the mentality is still the same.

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Are they going to have some issues as far as personnel based on trying to match up and scheme wise? Yeah, you want to have those issues, but it's still, at the end of the day, we play physical football.

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We bloody the noses of our opponents.

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That's not going to change.

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So you're walking in, filling the gap for a guy who's now moved on.

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That is what we anticipated.

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We don't anticipate anything else but that.

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At the end of the day, did you punish the runner? Did you punish the quarterback? It's all about.

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Well, you might as well don't even call them the Baltimore Ravens anymore.

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Just call them Baltimore Punishers.

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That's kind of the mentality.

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And I'll tell you this, man, on Thursday night, I don't expect to see anything less.

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If, uh, I were to say anything less than guys running around imposing their will, then I'm going to really say, you know, McDonald not being there, Weaver not being there.

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There's really been a change in the culture for the Baltimore Ravens.

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Alex Hardy: Right? So the philosophy, the type of defense for John Harbaugh, for Jim Harbaugh, is relatively the same.

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It's just the emphasis and the identification for teams to look at what Mike McDonald did and the job that he did coaching up, um, not a harbor system, but something that has been mastered by the Harbaugh brothers.

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And his teaching ability is what I, you know, gave his greater calling to be a head coach.

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But it's relatively the same system, right, that the four three nickel zone that the Ravens have been playing since Rob Ryan was there manning that defense, um, I'm not too worried about them.

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I'm also not too worried about them.

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You mentioned Roquan Smith and, uh, Namdi madabouike, who, uh, just changed his name from Justin, um, just a couple of days ago.

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Um, Dominique is to give you all of the pressure on the interior of the defensive line that allows rushing lanes for so many of these guys that they have thrown darts at the draft.

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Uh, Duffy away, David, uh, ojabo.

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Um, just so many of these other guys that know how to rush the passer, um, which can also help them alleviate some of the stress that they have on the defensive.

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Uh, uh, backfield, um, um, you know, great players and Marlon Humphrey and Kyle Hamilton shout out the Fighting Irish, Marcus Williams as well.

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Um, and they even bring in Eddie Jackson from the Chicago Bears.

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They just.

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They've thrown all pro caliber players at so many different positions that being coached up and being on the same page is something that, with a team like the Baltimore Ravens, based on the level of success that they've had for decades, you kind of give them the benefit of the doubt.

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Right, Nick? It's like if we see these overhaul changes, um, coming from somebody less experienced, someone who doesn't have the same track record, you tend to worry, but you sort of write over these types of things.

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To borrow from Nick Ferguson, the Patriot way, you give them the benefit of the doubt because you've seen it before.

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So now both of us can compare these teams to the New England Patriots just to make you happy.

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Um, the key additions on the offensive side of the football, I think, were more noteworthy.

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The two year, $16 million contract handed out to Derek Henry coming over from the Tennessee Titans.

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Um, look, this offense has always been predicated on Mark Andrews being your top target getter, but what does it mean with Derek Henry stepping in with the addition of, um, uh, the subtraction of some key pieces on that offensive line, but the Ravens being able to kind of change what they want to do offensively, adding a key piece in Derek Henry, who to this point has defied, you know, the expectations for a 30 year old running back.

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Nick Ferguson: Well, it changes Baltimore and the fact that they don't have to lean on Lamar Jackson's legs as much.

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All you have to do is watch the career of Derek Henry.

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And you know what? He was with the Titans.

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I mean, the guy was a one man record crew.

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So you add that to the legs and the skillset of Lamar Jackson.

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Now you have, as I say, I mean, a great tandem backfield.

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Also, last season I felt as though, especially in the last game they played against Kansas, uh, city, that Lamar wasn't being the Lamar Jackson he was the week prior when he played against the Houston Texans.

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Mhm.

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The idea is that that's not the time to put handcuffs on your quarterback and force him to be a pocket passer.

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I didn't feel as though in that first meeting, with our last meeting, rather, against Kansas City, Lamar was putting stress on the defense with his legs.

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So now you add Derek Henry to that.

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Baltimore Ravens drafted running back Derek Henry in the second round Now play action opens up all across the field because Nick Bolton, bag Miller.

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You can act as though you don't want to plug those a and b gaps if you don't want to.

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All I know, if you don't do that, your safety is going to have a long day.

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And I can tell you, I mean, trying to tackle a guy like Derek Henry, like the entire game, you make it 16 tackles.

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Yeah.

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Um, you're going to make.

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It's going to make you question your idea of being in safety.

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So this is where it helps the evolution of Lamar Jackson and, uh, zay flowers, man, God bless his heart.

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You know, you go back to a couple of games and they can't see the game and he's like, oh, man, maybe if he just held off trying to push the ball over to get the touchdown, things would have been a little different.

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So you have to figure that he's going to be a little upset.

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And then also, Baltimore didn't use their tight ends as well in that last matchup.

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Isaiah likely, who was emerged as one of.

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They'll become tight ends.

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And obviously you mentioned Mark Andrews.

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This is an offense that for me, even though they don't have a lot of burners outside, that there should be a little more fluidity with the offense based on the run game being on track.

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And this is, that's what Derek Henry actually gives the Baltimore Ravens.

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Alex Hardy: And it all starts with JK Dobbins.

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With the season ending injury, week one, he's now in San Diego, or I guess LA.

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Uh, I don't know what that.

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I don't know what just happened there.

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Uh, he's now in LA with the other Harbaugh brother.

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Um, and it sort of goes from there, right, because they rely on Gus Edwards, who's also in San Diego, I mean, la, with Jim Harbaugh.

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Uh, and Derek Henry plugs a, uh, real need that they have, knowing that Keaton Mitchell is going to start the year injured.

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And they've been waiting and getting some, you know, some modest production out of, uh, Justice Hill in that reserve pass catching role.

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So a huge need that they needed plugged.

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Uh, they also effectively did that in the draft, uh, with the 30th overall selection, Nate Wiggins out of Clemson coming, uh, into last year's college football season, I think Nate Wiggins would have been ranked among one of the top corners as far as their NFL prospects, um, and then ultimately sliding after a modest, you know, disappointing season, I think, overall for the Clemson Tigers.

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But a guy who has elite closing speed was one of the best defenders in the ACC over the last two seasons.

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And it's just about getting up to play strength because he's a long, wiry kind of guy, which is in contrast to what physical corner play that we expect from this Baltimore Ravens team.

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You called them the bruisers, the punishers.

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Uh, I loved their second round selection.

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Uh, again, we talked about this with the Kansas City Chiefs, but Roger Rosengarden out of Washington, I think is a fascinating one because again, at the beginning of the season, we didn't expect too much out of that line in general.

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But what was interesting for me about Rosengarden, I think one of my favorite stats about him is that when Michael Pennix came over from Indiana in the transfer portal, they intentionally move Rosengarten from the left side to play right tackle, which for Pennix, the left handed quarterback is the blind side.

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So they identified that Rosengarden would be the key piece to protect his blind side.

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Meanwhile, you have two, you know, you have a, uh, Troy fit on who man, that left side go in the first round of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

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So again, his draft potential slipped, I think because of a physical profile or lack thereof, compared to his tackle partner at Washington.

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But a guy that, you know, I trust, Ryan Grubb and I trust, um, Kalyn DeBoer for where they are now.

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Right, Seattle, um, Sea Seattle and Alabama, respectively.

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But Rosengard was a guy that they identified as a leader of that offensive line who they asked to move to protect for Michael Pennix.

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And, you know, he gets to sit behind Patrick Mercari for a little bit.

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May even take over that starting job on either side if we get, um, an injury and rounding things out with the draft.

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Uh, Adisa Isaac out of Penn State, officer Robinson, not quite, as you know, buzz, uh, around him.

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But again, I'm, uh, going to give the Raiders the benefit of the doubt on that.

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Uh, and then depth tez Walker out of North Carolina.

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The receiver, TJ tampa out of Iowa State.

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The corner in the fourth round, uh, Rashin Ali, who will probably be their fourth running back at a Marshall, Devin Leary, um, in the 6th round, the quarterback from Kentucky, and a couple 7th round picks, Nick Samek of Michigan State and Sanusi Kane of Purdue.

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So effectively, this is a team that takes advantage of their compensatory picks.

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They always stack the draft, and if guys leave in free agency, they're always quick to resupply them.

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Again, I just listed ten guys that they took in the, uh, NFL draft, many of who will end up on the roster this Thursday.

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So, Nick, again, we've got the floor, we've got the ceiling, and then we're going to see who you got for Thursday night Football this week.

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Nick Ferguson: Well, obviously, uh, the floor for Baltimore is actually, you know, winning the AFC north.

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Obviously there's some competition, yes.

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In that division.

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A lot of competition, because I know someone is saying, well, how could you say that? You look at what Cleveland is capable of doing with the upgrades that they make, and you can't omit Joe Burrow and what's happening out there in Cincinnati.

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But there's something for me, I look at Baltimore and say, well, there's unfinished business.

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I mean, Lamar, you know, when he did his, uh, massive contract with the Baltimore Ravens, and even when you go back to when he was drafted, his idea is that he wants to bring a Super bowl to Baltimore and that will cement his legacy.

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But he's got it.

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He's got to get over these Kansas City Chiefs because they are standing in his way.

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And I believe that they, you know, Baltimore, that is, they definitely have that opportunity.

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So winning the AFC north, obviously, that's the floor for them now.

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The stealing for them is capturing that number one.

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See again that that is so vital, so important and is going to start Thursday while they go on the road to face the Kansas City chief.

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So that's the way I'm looking at Baltimore because I still see this as a two horse race.

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It's Baltimore and it's Kansas City.

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Alex Hardy: Mhm.

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Nick Ferguson: And for me, no matter who wins or who loses this game on Thursday night, to me, still going to come back to those two teams because the style of football they play.

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More importantly, Alex, the two guys who are under center for Baltimore in Kansas.

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Alex Hardy: City, well again, when you talk about how to break a tie for the playoffs, you know, number one to separate a playoff, you know, a one in a two seed or a ah, home field advantage versus not number one is head to head between those two teams.

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So again, this isn't baseball where games one, two and three are going to matter as much as 159, uh, 162.

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Well you only play 17 games.

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Week one is definitely where things are going to go off.

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So nick, before we split Thursday Night Football, first game of the season, you got the AFC championship rematch.

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We just spent time on both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens.

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Their strategies for winning on both sides of the football.

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So Nick, where we split we got Chiefs Ravens.

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Nick Ferguson: Well, it's going to be a crazy atmosphere but I'm going to have to lean heavily towards the Baltimore Ravens.

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It's the first game of season.

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And notice that we're talking about playoff seating at the week one of the NFL season.

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We are talking about playoff seed seeding.

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This is going to be so important.

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And if I'm not mistaken, when you look at Baltimore's schedule, they have a lot of their divisional games and the tail land their schedule as well.

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So that's why this game on the road is going to be important.

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And once again, if you want to get to the Super bowl as Kansas City prove a situation they had never been in in a while, you have to learn to win games on the road.

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And this would be a, uh, hell of a road win for Baltimore to start off the season.

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Alex Hardy: He's Nick Ferguson, tenure, safety in the National Football League knows a thing or two about those Kansas City Chiefs having played against them in the AFC west.

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I'm Alex Hardy.

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We are those guys.

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We hope to be your guys.

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Uh uh.

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Enjoy the football season.

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This is kind of our last episode before the games actually count, Nick.

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It's going to be another exciting NFL season So I'm thrilled that when we started with head coaching changes and you know, draft preview, here we are.

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And it's kind of a.

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It's a new reality where we have so much live game action to go off to, to overreact.

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And, uh, I'm thrilled that we get to do together, Nick, and for your audience to join us, uh, right here on, uh, a podcast.

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For every podcast, you can see our faces.

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You can do that on YouTube as well.

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So, Nick, before we get on out of here, before we watch week one of the NFL season, to say to the people, get your popcorn ready.

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Nick Ferguson: It's going to be another exciting season.

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And by the way, don't use that artificial crap on your popcorn.

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Get the real butter.

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Yeah, use that stuff.