NFL Updates: Ravens Reporter Previews Ravens vs Bengals

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00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on SportsGrid. Always great to have Melissa Kim on the show,

00:07of course, from Bleacher Report, the digital host, and also on 105.7, the fan, getting

00:12ready for tonight's game. And Melissa, like you and like the Ravens, not a lot of time

00:17off in between last week's game. I guess the good news for the Ravens is it was non-competitive

00:22in the second half of their game last week against the Denver Broncos, but I know that

00:25they're not gonna feel great about that regardless, because no matter what, we know when they

00:30play the Bengals, anything goes. When they play a divisional game, anything goes, right?

00:35We saw that in the loss to the Browns just a couple weeks ago, because these two teams,

00:41all four of these teams in the division, they know each other very, very well, and who's

00:45playing, who's Achilles' heel and all that, too. So yeah, these division games, they know

00:50what it means. They mean just a little bit more, obviously, when it comes to the playoff,

00:54because that's already a conversation around here, right? What are the playoffs gonna look

00:58like for the AFC North, as well as the Ravens themselves? So yeah, I mean, last game against

01:05Cincinnati, it came down to the wire, had to play in overtime, with a whopping number

01:09of points for both of these teams. So I really think that this one is gonna come down to

01:13how the defenses play, right? Whose defense is gonna be able to show up in a short week,

01:19especially in a primetime game in Baltimore, under the lights, it's gonna be a big one.

01:24Yeah, 52.5 is the total tonight on Fandles. So they're expecting a lot of points scored

01:31between these two teams, and that's been the case all season long. I mean, Baltimore usually

01:35shows up on offense. Bengals usually show up on offense, but not on defense, and that's

01:39been their season this year, that's why. By the way, Lamar Jackson's been great. Right

01:44now, 61% completion percentage. He's been fantastic with 20 total touchdowns. We probably

01:50could say the same thing, with the exception of one play for Joe Burrow against the Raiders

01:54last week. Just like a crazy pass he threw to the Raiders, the guy ran it all the way

01:58back for the touchdown. Beyond that, he's been great, too. Head-to-head matchup, the

02:02Ravens lead 6-4. So they say that it's not a quarterback league, and you know, it's not

02:07just the quarterbacks. I gotta tell you, Melissa, I don't agree. I think that that's the focus

02:11tonight.

02:12No, this game, absolutely. And the thing with Joe Burrow is that because they're a record,

02:15he hasn't gotten as much attention, right? But he's having, quietly, I want to say having

02:19a phenomenal season, as you saw those numbers. I mean, just absurd, right? He's been throwing

02:24the ball probably the best since he's been in the league, right? I would argue for that.

02:29But quarterbacks heavy? Yes, for sure. But then this offense, it's very strange to be

02:34saying I haven't covered this team for years, to say that the Baltimore offense is the highlight

02:39of this team, right? This is a franchise historically based in the defense, when you think back

02:42to the days of Terrell Suggs and Ed Reed and Ray Lewis. So to say that you've got Lamar

02:48Jackson throwing to a number of weapons that, you know, they're just endless, right? This

02:53offense has described itself as a pick-your-poison offense. Rashad Bateman, the wide receiver,

02:57mentioned that a couple weeks ago, and the offense has kind of embraced that and been

03:01calling that because you look at, obviously, the guys he throws to, Zay Flowers coming

03:06off of a game last week where he caught for more than 100 yards. You know, Mark Andrews

03:11is back. He is indeed back. And then you have guys who are a little bit more reliable, obviously,

03:15have been in the past, like Nelson Aguilar. And then you have guys like Isaiah Likely,

03:20who will not play, by the way, tonight. But then you have other guys emerging as well,

03:24Charlie Kohler, the third-year tight end, who hasn't gotten a whole lot of looks, but

03:28he's certainly someone that they keep on the field a lot because he's such a big body can

03:31block. And I haven't even gotten to the ground game, right? As we look at Derrick Henry here,

03:36where he scored his career 100th touchdown last week against the Broncos. And then on

03:43top of that, he scored a touchdown in every single game that he's played in a Ravens uniform.

03:49So his numbers are just absurd there. And I think he's on pace to a 2K season. Let's

03:53call it what it is right now. We're halfway through the season. He's already over a thousand

03:56yards for the season.

03:58Yeah, you know, I thought he was a Hall of Famer before he joined the Ravens, but he

04:02just stamped his ticket to Canton, I thought, with the season that he's having now. I got

04:06to be honest, I am stunned. I mean, you think about the league, it's supposed to, they're

04:10supposed to be, Melissa, smart general managers out there winning Super Bowls. Nobody wanted

04:14Derrick Henry, really, except the Baltimore Ravens. And it's, you know, to me, you know,

04:19I don't know who to blame here, if it's the, you know, 30 teams that didn't want him or

04:24the one that did, basically. So that's kind of the case here. And, you know, Mark Jackson

04:27right now, Melissa, is favored to win the MVP of the NFL, tied with Josh Allen. They're

04:33both three to one. Mahomes four and a half to one. Goff has to be in the conversation

04:37because he's been so good. Daniel's probably going to win the rookie of the year. Maybe

04:41MVP, we'll see. Feels like a four-player race at this point. There are some people that

04:45feel it's a two-player race, Melissa, because Mahomes, outside of last week, really hasn't

04:50had a Mahomes-type season.

04:53I would agree with that. And look, obviously, I'm going to champion for Lamar Jackson because

04:56he's the quarterback that I cover. They're calling it the MV3 year, right? That's what

05:00the guys around the locker room have been calling it for Lamar. I mean, I think he's

05:04running the ball, obviously, phenomenally well. We know that what he can do on the ground,

05:07but his arm this year, I think he's really proven this year that he can be a true dual

05:11threat quarterback. And I remember three seasons ago, when we were going into training camp,

05:16he had mentioned how hard, in particular, that he had worked in terms of the pass game.

05:21And he was bringing wide receivers down to Florida with him, where he's from, where he

05:24trains in the offseason, to really build that chemistry with him because that's how badly

05:28this guy wants it, right? This is how badly he wants to be able to be great and to be

05:33the best. And he comes off of games like last week or some of the phenomenal games that

05:38he's had, and you ask him, how do you think he played? And he always says, we've got a

05:42lot of things to work on. We can get better. And Derrick Henry is the same way. So I really

05:45think that these two together have really brought some major chemistry to this team,

05:50but also set the standard, right, of what they think that they're capable of and what

05:53they can accomplish. And you really see all the guys on the offense, especially those

05:58wide receivers, really buying into it this season.

06:01Melissa, let's, let's end with the trade deadline. The Ravens yesterday or the day before got

06:06Tredavious White. So certainly that was a nice addition to their defensive back crew

06:10and they needed somebody there. Deontay Johnson, I'm curious your thoughts on him because

06:15I thought the Ravens were good in that spot, having Zay Flowers and having Rashad Bateman

06:20and having Mark Andrews. Is it the likely injury, the reason why they got Deontay Johnson?

06:25Is this a depth move? It's not that he's a bad player at all. I'm not saying that. It's

06:28just, I thought they were good with what they had.

06:31I think especially with likely, obviously the injury, I think that's a good point. But

06:35also on top of that, you think about down the stretch, right, guys that they're going

06:39to need hopefully in the playoffs. And he's someone who has a lot of experience, obviously

06:43one of the few guys in the league who can say that they've played on the Steelers and

06:47the Ravens. And also he's a special teams guy too. That's kind of where he's going to,

06:50I think, earn some of his money on the Ravens. He talked to us a lot about that when he first

06:54got here, that he has definitely gotten some reps on special teams where they do unfortunately

06:59need some help as well. But I will tell you in terms of the defense, this fan base was

07:05dying for someone on the edge, right, to rush the passer. They wanted an edge guy. And so we

07:11heard a lot about that this week. But I mean, they're going to go with the guys that they

07:16have. They have some great guys there, some veteran guys too, and Kyle Van Noy. So we

07:20shall see how that journey goes for this defense as the season goes on.

07:25Yeah, the defense has struggled. One of the worst in the NFL against the pass, much better

07:29against the run this season. Now Melissa, of course, is covering the Ravens.

07:34So she's not going to come on this show and pick Pittsburgh or Cincinnati to win the division. But

07:39let's look at the odds anyway, okay, just for posterity. I will be an honest, honest person.

07:44No, you're not. We know. It's okay. The Ravens are heavy favorites to win the division. They're

07:49the best team in the division. I mean, I'm not going to sit here and say that they're not.

07:53But Melissa, I've seen Pittsburgh play Baltimore a zillion times. And I can tell you right now,

08:00the spread is going to be three wherever the game is played. And usually you take the points

08:05wherever the game is played too, because it goes right down to the wire and the Tucker's kicking

08:09a field goal and winning or not attempting a field goal and losing. To me, that's where

08:14the division is going to be decided when these two teams play each other again.

08:17Oh my gosh. And I put a lot of stake in Mike Tomlin, right? For as long as he's coached in

08:22the league and never had a losing season, he's doing something right over there for sure. So

08:26I agree with you on that. It's going to come down to these two teams as it has so many times

08:30in the past. So that week 11 matchup they play next week. So I am very much looking forward to

08:36that first matchup to just kind of for it to be like a litmus test of where these two teams stand

08:40right now. Because I have concerns obviously about the Baltimore defense, also have concerns about

08:44the Steelers offense. So I think it's going to be a really fun thing, ground and pound matchup

08:50that we always see between these two teams. All right. Well, Melissa, enjoy the game tonight.

08:55And I don't know, but I'm guessing with the game being played tonight, maybe you get a break this

08:59weekend. Maybe you do from the NFL. Fingers crossed. We shall see. Thanks, Melissa, for coming on.

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