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Speaker 1: Welcome into Lounge presented by DraftKings. I'm Ryan Mink here

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Speaker 1: with Garrett Downing and we are going to check in

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Speaker 1: following the Ravens mini buy over the Thanksgiving weekend. The

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Speaker 1: Ravens at six and six, coming off a tough loss

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Speaker 1: to Cincinnati Bengals. Five games left, and Garrett, we are

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Speaker 1: entering December football.

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Speaker 2: This is when things get cold and heat up football.

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Speaker 3: Well done, well given, Yeah, I think as as everyone

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Speaker 3: was reeling after the game on Thanksgiving, the loss of

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Speaker 3: the Bengals and and that kind of spoiled Thanksgiving for

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Speaker 3: Ravens fans, you go into the weekend and it offers

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Speaker 3: a chance for the team to have a little mini buy,

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Speaker 3: as you mentioned, which I think is always beneficial at

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Speaker 3: this time of the year. That's one of my favorite

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Speaker 3: things about Thursday Night football is that you get the

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Speaker 3: back end of that, especially nice if you win and

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Speaker 3: you can just enjoy the rest of the weekend well.

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Speaker 1: And it's especially nice for the Ravens considering they had

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Speaker 1: an earlier by this year. Yeah, you know, past two

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Speaker 1: years it was a very late by, which was nice

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Speaker 1: before that December stretch run. Now they kind of get

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Speaker 1: a mini bi before that run.

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Speaker 3: My big takeaway coming out of the game on Thursday

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Speaker 3: and then watching the games this weekend is week thirteen

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Speaker 3: for the Ravens. It just didn't exist. Just scratch it

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Speaker 3: off the schedule. It didn't exist because we were all

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Speaker 3: disappointed after that game on Thursday night, and you're just like,

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Speaker 3: you're mad. You had this opportunity and you lose to

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Speaker 3: a team that you were favorite to beat, and there's

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Speaker 3: frustration around that you didn't look good doing it. It

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Speaker 3: just was not the night or the result that anybody expected.

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Speaker 3: But then, as we're going to talk about, the Steelers

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Speaker 3: lose to the Bills on Sunday and the Ravens are

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Speaker 3: right back where they were at the beginning of the week.

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Speaker 3: And so like for all of the hand ringing, which

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Speaker 3: I understand, like the disappointment and the frustration in that game,

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Speaker 3: the Ravens are right back where they started the week,

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Speaker 3: and so week thirteen, erase it from your memory. Do

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Speaker 3: the men in black thing get out the pen, Just

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Speaker 3: erase it from your memory.

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Speaker 1: Then I don't even know what what is that called.

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Speaker 1: It's like a magic eraser wand yeah, the one.

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Speaker 2: Whatever it is.

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Speaker 3: Some of the younger listeners will not know the Men

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Speaker 3: in Black reference. You have to go back and check

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Speaker 3: out that movie. But basically that's the treatment that I'm

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Speaker 3: putting towards that game from Thursday night.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, And fans around the AFC North are

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Speaker 1: not feeling great, except for Bengals fans.

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Speaker 2: I guess they're the only ones coming off of a win.

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Speaker 1: But in Pittsburgh, you know, they lost to the Bills

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Speaker 1: twenty six to seven, and it was ugly on their part,

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Speaker 1: and the Steelers have really been reeling. They lost the

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Speaker 1: Bears before that, they beat the Bengals, but I mean

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Speaker 1: they have lost three of their last four and so

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Speaker 1: and it goes back further than that, you know, in

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Speaker 1: terms of them playing not winning football, and so they're

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Speaker 1: not feeling great about their chances right now. The Ravens

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Speaker 1: are favored currently to win the AFC North.

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Speaker 2: I think you have the odds on that, Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Right now. The ESPN prediction here in terms of winning

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Speaker 3: the AFC North, the Ravens have a fifty eight percent chance,

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Speaker 3: the Steelers a thirty five percent chance, and the Bengals

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Speaker 3: have entered the chat at a seven percent chance to

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Speaker 3: win the AFC North. Honestly, just looking at the division

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Speaker 3: like this is not what we're used to seeing. This

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Speaker 3: is typically one of the best divisions of football, but

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Speaker 3: with multiple teams that are either either in the playoffs

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Speaker 3: or contending to be in the playoffs. Last year, two

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Speaker 3: teams made it with the Bengals knocking on the door.

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Speaker 3: This year looks like it's only going to be one

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Speaker 3: team as it stands right now, and so it's it's

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Speaker 3: a little bit of a different scenario when it comes

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Speaker 3: to the AFC North. But yeah, like the truth is,

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Speaker 3: we all wanted the Ravens to beat the Bengals, of course,

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Speaker 3: of course, of course, but we also knew that it

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Speaker 3: was going to come down to the Ravens playing well

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Speaker 3: against the Steelers and beating them. Like, even if the

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Speaker 3: Ravens had won last week, this game against the Steelers

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Speaker 3: would still have incredibly important playoff implications like that it

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Speaker 3: was always going to come down to, I mean.

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Speaker 1: You need to knock the Bengals out. You need to

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Speaker 1: deliver the knockout blow to the bank.

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Speaker 3: You would like them to just remove from the conversation, That's.

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Speaker 1: Correct, I would like I would prefer as you said,

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Speaker 1: they entered the chat Eves kind of left the door

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Speaker 1: creaked open for them. Now, don't the Ravens get another

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Speaker 1: shot at him in Cincinnati here in two weeks. But

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Speaker 1: but yes, the Steelers, that's who the Ravens are tied

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Speaker 1: with for first place. And so there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: AFC North football left to be played. Three more games,

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Speaker 1: two against Steelers, one against Cincinnati, and the Ravens need

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Speaker 1: to win at least two of the three, have to

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Speaker 1: and to be the to be the AFC North champion,

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Speaker 1: you got to beat the other AFC North teams. That's

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Speaker 1: what it comes down to.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, totally.

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Speaker 1: And so let's just look ahead what the road to

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Speaker 1: the division crown looks like for the Ravens, which, by

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Speaker 1: the way, would be a third straight for the Ravens,

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Speaker 1: which has never been done. All Right, So the Ravens

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Speaker 1: remaining five games at home against the Steelers at Bengals

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Speaker 1: versus the Patriots at M and T Bank Stadium, at

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Speaker 1: Packers at Steelers. So that's a that's a challenging December

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Speaker 1: that they're going to have here, I mean, two against

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Speaker 1: the Steelers, that's, like I said, going to largely determine

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Speaker 1: THEFC North and then you have the Patriots, who are

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Speaker 1: first place the number one seed right now in the AFC,

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Speaker 1: and then at Lambeau against a good Packers team.

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Speaker 3: This is a really tough schedule for the Ravens to

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Speaker 3: finish things out here, considering the AFC North piece of it,

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Speaker 3: and then the Again, then you're playing playing the best

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Speaker 3: team in the conference of standings wise in the Patriots,

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Speaker 3: and then a road game in Lambo on Christmas weekend

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Speaker 3: against a team that they're going to be obviously fighting

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Speaker 3: for playoff implications as well. There, so really tough schedule.

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Speaker 3: The Steelers, though, is not really a walk in the

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Speaker 3: park either. They have played with the Ravens waye. The

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Speaker 3: Steelers remaining schedule is at Ravens versus the Dolphins at Detroit,

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Speaker 3: who they're going to be certainly playing for their their

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Speaker 3: playoff lives, then at Cleveland at Baltimore, So I don't

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Speaker 3: think it's as challenging, but it's not a cakewalk either.

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Speaker 1: And just for a good measure, Dolphins have been playing

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Speaker 1: a little bit better football recently.

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Speaker 2: They have.

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Speaker 3: And then just I'll give you the Bengals schedule here

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Speaker 3: they are at Bills, then Ravens, then at Dolphins, Cardinals,

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Speaker 3: brown So in terms of the three teams, they have

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Speaker 3: the softest schedule remaining with games coming up against the Browns, Cardinals, Dolphins. Again,

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Speaker 3: Ravens Bills is not by any any means. So it's

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Speaker 3: kind of funny for Ravens fans.

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Speaker 1: And the Bengals basically have to win out or close

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Speaker 1: to it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's tough to know what's going to get it

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Speaker 3: done in the in the AFC North, to be honest,

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Speaker 3: is it is it ten wins? Is it nine? Is

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Speaker 3: it nine and eight? Does that get the division with

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Speaker 3: tiebreakers scenario?

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Speaker 1: I have a hard time believing that eight and nine

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Speaker 1: gets in. Okay, So yeah, so the Bengals can afford

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Speaker 1: one more loss if they're if they lose one more,

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Speaker 1: the best they can finish is eight and nine. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and I have a tough time thing I would I

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Speaker 1: agree with you that. Now, if if they beat the Ravens,

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Speaker 1: uh and maybe because of tiebreakers, maybe if they if

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Speaker 1: they finished tied with us and they beat us twice,

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Speaker 1: then they could get in on a tie breakers, right

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Speaker 1: and they've already played the Steelers twice. They split with

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Speaker 1: the Steelers, right, and so it's possible. Yeah, But unlikely.

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Speaker 1: I would say, I think that whoever finishes nine to

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Speaker 1: eight has a pretty good shot, and.

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Speaker 3: I think there could be multiple teams at nine and eight.

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Speaker 3: I think that that's at nine and eight, I think

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Speaker 3: you're probably looking at a tie breaker scenario in order

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Speaker 3: to probably win that division. And I ironic thing here is,

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Speaker 3: obviously Ravens fans are cheering on the Bills on Sunday

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Speaker 3: going up against the Steelers, keep the keep the Bills

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Speaker 3: gear on this week after the Ravens game, because it's

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Speaker 3: it's you want the you want the Bills to take

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Speaker 3: down the Bengals in this game too. It's like just

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Speaker 3: interesting having these back to back games against Buffalo and

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Speaker 3: for a team that, like a lot of Ravens fans

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Speaker 3: don't like to see do well. That's not been to

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Speaker 3: Casey's last two games.

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Speaker 2: Yep.

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Speaker 1: But I think that this weekend's slate of action also

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Speaker 1: did hammer home the point that this is this is

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Speaker 1: about all about the AFC North and winning the AFC

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Speaker 1: North because the road the wild card road for the Ravens.

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Speaker 1: I think that that door is closing, and you look

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Speaker 1: at the standings right now. If the season were to

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Speaker 1: end today, the Ravens would be in the playoffs because

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Speaker 1: of their conference and division tiebreaker over the Steelers. But

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Speaker 1: the three teams that would be in as wildcard right now,

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Speaker 1: teams would be the Chargers, the Colts, and the Bills.

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Speaker 1: All three are eight and four, So those three wildcard

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Speaker 1: teams have a two game lead on the Ravens, and

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Speaker 1: the Ravens lost to the Bills head to head. The

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Speaker 1: Ravens have a worse conference record than the Colts and

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Speaker 1: the Chargers. They're three games back of the Chargers three

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Speaker 1: in the wing column at least, and even the number

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Speaker 1: eight team, the team that's on the outside looking in

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Speaker 1: are the Houston Texans seven to five, so they're one

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Speaker 1: game ahead of the Ravens and have a tiebreaker head

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Speaker 1: to head against the Ravens. So to me, it's all

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Speaker 1: eyes on the AFC North Crown.

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Speaker 3: Which it's kind of obvious here, but like that's the

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Speaker 3: path that you prefer. You prefer to win the division,

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Speaker 3: you get home game, you had those benefits to go

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Speaker 3: along with being for sure being and so the Ravens

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Speaker 3: our beneficiaries this year of the division being down from

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Speaker 3: a standing standpoint. Again, most years we're talking about two

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Speaker 3: or three teams getting in this year, we're probably talking

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Speaker 3: about one team from the AFC North getting in. And

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Speaker 3: you win the division, you get that home playoff game,

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Speaker 3: and you're set up in a pretty good spot there.

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Speaker 3: But and like, look, the Ravens aren't sitting here saying like, hey,

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Speaker 3: look we only you know, we only need to win

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Speaker 3: two or three more here. No, the Ravens are going

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Speaker 3: to be going week by week saying the playoffs start now.

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Speaker 3: We Like that's the mentality that they've been in, honestly

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Speaker 3: for the last month since coming back from their bye.

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Speaker 3: They won those five straight games, and and like, I

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Speaker 3: go back and I look at it like if when

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Speaker 3: the Ravens were one and five, and I'm not like,

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Speaker 3: I again acknowledge the disappointment of Thursday night, but when

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Speaker 3: the Ravens were one and five, if someone had offered

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Speaker 3: you six and six, would you take it? I think

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Speaker 3: most Ravens fans would be like, yeah, sign me up

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Speaker 3: for six and six. We're in the hut, right, You're

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Speaker 3: very much in the hits. Like again, you're one of five,

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Speaker 3: flash forward to six and six. I'm there, like, just

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Speaker 3: sign on the dotted line at that point. And so

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Speaker 3: like now, when you're in the moment and you have

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Speaker 3: a chance to go seven to five, you don't want

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Speaker 3: to hear about six and six. But like so all

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Speaker 3: that said, I think that the Ravens are in a

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Speaker 3: relatively good spot. They obviously control their own destiny. They're

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Speaker 3: gonna play the Steelers here twice down the stretch, with

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Speaker 3: an opportunity to deliver a knockout blow there to the

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Speaker 3: Bengals in two weeks. If the Ravens take care of

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Speaker 3: their own business, they're gonna be AFC North champs. And

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Speaker 3: they have the clear path to do that. And I

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Speaker 3: think that they're set up for success to do that.

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Speaker 3: But they have to go do it. That's the thing

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Speaker 3: they have to. Like just because you're the favorite right

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Speaker 3: now and they have the fifty eight percent chance to win,

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Speaker 3: that doesn't mean you get crowned anything. You have to

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Speaker 3: go out there and do it.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, Steelers coming into this weekend's game, it is it is.

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Speaker 1: It's not bright, it's not sunny. This morning in Pittsburgh.

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Speaker 1: They put up one hundred and sixty six total yards

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Speaker 1: against the Bills. They had ten first downs to the

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Speaker 1: Bills twenty six. I mean, rough performance over there, Aaron

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Speaker 1: Rodgers is criticizing wide receivers for not showing up to meetings.

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Speaker 1: Cam Hayward's beefing with Josh Allen. Patrick Queen suffered a

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Speaker 1: hip injury and didn't return. He was ruled out for

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Speaker 1: the remainder of that game. We'll see if he plays

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Speaker 1: against the Ravens.

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Speaker 3: Like they got some issues over there really on both

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Speaker 3: sides of the ball. The offense didn't do much of

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Speaker 3: anything against Buffalo. Aaron Rodgers left the game for a

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Speaker 3: period of time after getting crushed by Joey Bosa on

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Speaker 3: a strip sack that Buffalo returned. I mean his nose,

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Speaker 3: Like he's got a massive cut on his nose. After

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Speaker 3: the game, he's playing with his left hand fractured in

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Speaker 3: a cast. Like Aaron Rodgers is banged up right now.

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Speaker 3: Mason Rudolph came in for a period of that game,

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Speaker 3: and like there's just a lot of frustration in Pittsburgh

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Speaker 3: a lot. It goes back for a couple of years,

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Speaker 3: I think, based on the way go back to the

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Speaker 3: last season. They started those year really strong, faded down

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Speaker 3: the stretch and as you mentioned, they've lost three out

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Speaker 3: of four games. That game was in Pittsburgh yesterday. The

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Speaker 3: Bills ran away with it in the second half and

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Speaker 3: by the fourth quarter, Pittsburgh fans were booing renegade when

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Speaker 3: they played it in the stadium, and so like it was,

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Speaker 3: there's a lot of frustration there in Pittsgh.

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Speaker 1: Bills ran for two hundred and forty nine yards. It

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Speaker 1: was Pittsburgh run defense has been rough, it.

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Speaker 3: Has it has and if you remember, and we're going

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Speaker 3: to talk about matchup stuff of the course of this week,

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Speaker 3: but that was the Ravens key to success in that

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Speaker 3: playoff game against Pittsburgh. It was Dereck Henry in the

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Speaker 3: ground game and the Ravens just they rolled on the ground.

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Speaker 3: And so I think that they we're probably going to

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Speaker 3: see a steady diet of Derrick Henry in this game

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Speaker 3: coming up on Sunday. But yeah, so there's a lot

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Speaker 3: of frustration in Pittsburgh right now, and the Ravens have

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Speaker 3: a chance here to take that to create a little

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Speaker 3: bit of separation in the division. And so but look

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Speaker 3: that the Steelers and Tomlin, they're also really good about

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Speaker 3: when their backs are against the wall, the world's against us,

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Speaker 3: nobody believes in us type stuff coming off of that game.

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Speaker 3: They also are probably saying the same thing on the

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Speaker 3: Steelers podcast today, saying we have an opportunity against the

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Speaker 3: Ravens to create that separation even though this was a

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Speaker 3: really disappointing result on Sunday.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, all right, let's take a break.

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Speaker 1: We'll come back and talk about some of the other

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Speaker 1: Ravens news from over the weekend.

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Speaker 3: You're listening to the last podcast. We're coming to you

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Speaker 3: from the Seat Geek Studio. We want to mention our

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Speaker 3: partners at DraftKings sports Book. They are an official sports

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Speaker 3: betting partner of the Baltimore Ravens DraftKings Sports Book. The

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Speaker 3: Crown is Yours. So one of the stories coming out

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Speaker 3: of the weekend for the Ravens was a Twitter story.

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Speaker 3: So Lamar Jackson, a radio host from Pittsburgh, tweeted that

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Speaker 3: can we all agree that Lamar Jackson is at least

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Speaker 3: a little overrated. Lamar replied to that tweet and said,

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Speaker 3: say less. And then someone else added to the conversation

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Speaker 3: with his stats before the injuries from this season from

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Speaker 3: the first four weeks, and Lamar replied to that and said,

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Speaker 3: you know that this is what the haters wait for.

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Speaker 3: So there was a little twitter back and forth here,

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Speaker 3: and we've seen this before over the years, but a

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Speaker 3: lot of fans are saying, basically, you poke the bear.

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Speaker 3: You poke the bear with Lamar Jackson, and not that

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Speaker 3: he needs any extra added fuel, but making a mad

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Speaker 3: before Steelers week, it probably doesn't hurt.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I like it.

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Speaker 1: I liked I kind of like to see Lamar clap

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Speaker 1: back a little bit. We know Lamar is active on

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Speaker 1: social media. He sees this stuff, and he we also

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Speaker 1: know that he is a guy who's been fed by

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Speaker 1: the haters for sure, that he has been motivated that

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Speaker 1: by that really over his entire football career. And you know,

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Speaker 1: he's he's in the midst of a little bit of

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Speaker 1: a rough stretch right now, and certainly the injuries have

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Speaker 1: contributed to that, and he's coming off of one of

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Speaker 1: his toughest games in recent memory. And so I kind

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Speaker 1: of like him clapping back a little bit, chirping, you.

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Speaker 3: Know, as I've had some additional time to think about

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Speaker 3: the game from Thursday, I really actually sound maybe sounds crazy,

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Speaker 3: but like I can't of it feeling better as time

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Speaker 3: has gone on, and part of it is the result

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Speaker 3: of games this weekend but as I like, Lamar was

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Speaker 3: not at his best in that game. However, like if

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Speaker 3: a couple little things go differently, I think we're having

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Speaker 3: a very different conversation. Like if that ball pops out

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Speaker 3: of Isaiah Likely's hand one foot later and he's in

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Speaker 3: the end zone, then it's a touchdown, and we're not

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Speaker 3: talking about, Hey, Lamar hasn't thrown a touchdown in three

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Speaker 3: straight games. If that PI call on say Flowers, the

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Speaker 3: same Flowers doesn't get flagged, then we're not talking about

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Speaker 3: the same thing. If one of those deep shots to

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Speaker 3: tes Walker is completed, then it's a much different conversation,

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Speaker 3: like that he missed some throws in that game. He

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Speaker 3: grounded the ball to keep Mitchell on that pass out

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Speaker 3: to the flat, like he had some misthrows over the

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Speaker 3: course of the day. Like I'm not disputing that that

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Speaker 3: those things all happened, but like there were also these

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Speaker 3: moments where the game could have turned and gone a

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Speaker 3: different direction. Whether that leads to the Ravens winning the

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Speaker 3: game as another conversation, I think it certainly could have,

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Speaker 3: it would have helped may have resulted in the Ravens

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Speaker 3: win the game, But I also think it just changes

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Speaker 3: like the conversation. It changes the stat line, it changes

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Speaker 3: the narrative, and those are things that like those aren't

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Speaker 3: drastic swings like we're talking about on the Isaiah likely

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Speaker 3: play like a foot. If he's a foot further, then

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Speaker 3: he's into the end zone and it's a touchdown. And

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Speaker 3: that's it's a just a much different conversation. So I

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Speaker 3: think that, like I'm not, I really am not worried

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Speaker 3: about Lamar being able to operate at a really high

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Speaker 3: level down the stretch. I think that he's going to

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Speaker 3: do that, and I think that he's going to play

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Speaker 3: some of his best football during the month of December.

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Speaker 1: I think it was an off night. And there are

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Speaker 1: some weird things to what you're saying. I mean, even

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Speaker 1: his two fumbles. You know, most of the time, even

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Speaker 1: when Lamar gets hit from behind as he's trying to

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Speaker 1: escape pressure, the ball doesn't pop up right into the

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Speaker 1: other team's hands. And you know, most of the time

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Speaker 1: when he tries to pull back a throw it that

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Speaker 1: just slip out of theside of it and just fumbles.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 1: I mean that those were like weird, freakish fumbles. The

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Speaker 1: second one more than the first. I think the miss

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Speaker 1: throws was just like, whoa, you don't see that with

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Speaker 1: Lamar as far as he's come as a passer, Like

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Speaker 1: that was unusual. But to me, it was just like

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Speaker 1: just having a rough night and it kind of snowballed. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: And uh, I don't think that that's some underlying problem.

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Speaker 2: You know, he was asked about his mechanics afterwards.

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Speaker 1: It's like, it's not like his mechanics have gone out

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Speaker 1: of whack or anything, you know, Like, I think it

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Speaker 1: was just kind of a it was like a pitcher

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Speaker 1: who didn't have his curveball that night. You know, he

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Speaker 1: just kind of lost control a little bit on some throws.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a butcher who didn't have his curveball.

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Speaker 3: And then like there's some infield singles and an overthrow

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Speaker 3: and like basically like a bunch of other weird things

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Speaker 3: that went wrong that led to the final result. Right,

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Speaker 3: that makes it All of those things like by themselves,

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Speaker 3: they're not major things, but when they're when they're when

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Speaker 3: they're totaled up together, and then it just leads to

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Speaker 3: this like disappointing result.

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Speaker 2: Everything went wrong.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and then the narrative grows of like bad night

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Speaker 3: struggling the last few games. Not the same.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think that there's it's fair to

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Speaker 1: say like this offense hasn't performed really to a very

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Speaker 1: high level in quite some time, you know, So I

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Speaker 1: agree with you. I think Lamar is gonna absolutely play

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Speaker 1: better than he did Thursday night. That's not gonna be

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Speaker 1: the norm by any stretch. I think the question is, though,

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Speaker 1: like they need to get better at some of these

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Speaker 1: these fundamental things that have dogged them now for an

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Speaker 1: extended period of time. It's it's the question is how

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Speaker 1: much was that one bad night or how much as

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Speaker 1: like the Ravens offense is kind of off.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, right, I.

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Speaker 1: Agree Lamar is gonna play better, Like is he going

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Speaker 1: to play to that like really high level that you

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Speaker 1: were talking about, Like I hope so you know what

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Speaker 1: I mean, But we haven't seen that for a little

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Speaker 1: bit now, and so I have confidence that he can.

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Speaker 1: But like some things need to improve, not just with Lamar,

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Speaker 1: I think with the offense in general.

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Speaker 3: Right, there's kind of like the Lamar convers station. Wait,

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Speaker 3: and obviously he's where you start the conversation about the offense,

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Speaker 3: and then there's the overall offense conversation.

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Speaker 1: And Lamar is the center of the offense. So like

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Speaker 1: when Lamar's not playing you know, MVP level football, like

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Speaker 1: we are so accustomed to seeing, that hurts the offense

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Speaker 1: as a whole. And then there's other pieces that aren't

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Speaker 1: helping him out right and helping him be at his best.

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Speaker 2: Certainly, it's it's it's all, you know.

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Speaker 1: We all sit here and try to play armchair you know, doctor,

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Speaker 1: and and diagnose what's going on and and say, well,

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Speaker 1: what's the biggest problems.

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Speaker 2: What is the problem?

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Speaker 1: Well, there's a number of issues, and you got to

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Speaker 1: correct things and get better across multiple fronts. And Lamar's

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Speaker 1: part of that, you know. And and getting feeding Derrick

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Speaker 1: Henry and keeping him active I think is going to

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Speaker 1: be a big part of that down the stretch here.

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Speaker 1: I do think the whole Lamar or Derek Henry didn't

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Speaker 1: get enough. Kerry's narrative is overblown. And when the Ravens

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Speaker 1: are winning and playing good football generally, Carrie's come along

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Speaker 1: with with getting more first downs and all those things right,

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Speaker 1: And you're not in second and ten when you're not

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Speaker 1: going to handle a ball off.

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Speaker 2: And so.

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Speaker 1: I think across the board and I'm sure that's what

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Speaker 1: we're gonna hear this week from John Harball and Todd

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Speaker 1: Monkind and Ravens players, is like, we got to improve

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Speaker 1: across the board.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think they Given the conversation we just had

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Speaker 3: about the Steelers on their offense and some of the

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Speaker 3: struggles they've had on the Steelers on their defense and

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Speaker 3: some of the struggles they had there, and the success

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Speaker 3: the Ravens had on the ground against the Steelers late

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Speaker 3: last season, I think that on Sunday we're not going

436
00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:35,359
Speaker 3: to be having a conversation about man Derek Henry didn't

437
00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:36,840
Speaker 3: get the ball enough. Like, I don't think that that's

438
00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:38,480
Speaker 3: gonna be one of the talking points coming out of

439
00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:42,760
Speaker 3: the game for two reasons. One, I think the Ravens

440
00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:44,439
Speaker 3: are going to be focused and committed to that. I

441
00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:46,439
Speaker 3: also think that they're gonna have success doing it, so

442
00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:49,720
Speaker 3: like success breathe especially more opportunities not out there that

443
00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:53,600
Speaker 3: Patrick Queen's lot out there. And the one other note

444
00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:56,040
Speaker 3: we didn't talk about this in the immediate postgame pod,

445
00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:58,359
Speaker 3: just a little minor note coming out of the game,

446
00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:01,000
Speaker 3: the Ravens did shake up the offense line a little bit.

447
00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:03,880
Speaker 3: Emory Jones made his NFL debut, rotated at left guard

448
00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:06,600
Speaker 3: with Andrew Voorhees. Saw sixteen snaps, so it wasn't like

449
00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:09,440
Speaker 3: it was a huge workload for him. But and he

450
00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:11,840
Speaker 3: had a holding penalty on one of those on one

451
00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:13,960
Speaker 3: of those snaps, so it wasn't like a totally clean

452
00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:16,800
Speaker 3: debut for him. But I know Ravens Sans have been

453
00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:18,520
Speaker 3: excited about the possiblity of gett him out there on

454
00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:22,160
Speaker 3: the field and seeing him. We saw that, and Ronnie

455
00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:25,359
Speaker 3: Stanley talked after the game how he feels like he

456
00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:27,479
Speaker 3: was impressed by Emory and he showed that he can

457
00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:29,840
Speaker 3: play in this league. So I think that's a curious one.

458
00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:32,560
Speaker 3: Will we see will those will that rotation continue, will

459
00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:35,640
Speaker 3: they increase? Could Emory end up taking that spot? All

460
00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:38,920
Speaker 3: up in the air, but he has entered into the

461
00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:40,439
Speaker 3: mix there on the offensive line.

462
00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:44,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, that and I think that it bears pointing out.

463
00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:47,159
Speaker 1: You know, raven Stans have been talking about when are

464
00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:48,280
Speaker 1: they going to make a change. When are they going

465
00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:49,880
Speaker 1: to make the change? They made the change at left guard,

466
00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:52,520
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Yeah, that's where they identified

467
00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:55,320
Speaker 1: we need to shake things up a little bit more.

468
00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:57,080
Speaker 2: And I think it bears mentioning.

469
00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:00,560
Speaker 1: Daniel Fololeles had the fifth highest grade of anybody on

470
00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:04,119
Speaker 1: the Ravens offense coming out of that Bengals game, and

471
00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:06,879
Speaker 1: he's strung together two of his better games. He had

472
00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:08,560
Speaker 1: a particularly high run block and grade. I think it

473
00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:11,320
Speaker 1: was his highest run blocking grade of the season against

474
00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:14,480
Speaker 1: the Bengals. That's really good news. If he can kind

475
00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:18,399
Speaker 1: of elevate his level of play, especially blocking, you know,

476
00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:21,520
Speaker 1: running lanes, creating run links for Derrick Henry as we

477
00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:24,400
Speaker 1: get into December Bowl, I think that's going to be important.

478
00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:24,360
Speaker 2: All right.

479
00:22:24,359 --> 00:22:26,520
Speaker 3: Final note that I have just coming out of the

480
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:31,560
Speaker 3: weekend and the game on Thursday. As I watched the league,

481
00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:35,400
Speaker 3: a takeaway that I had is more than any other year.

482
00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:38,439
Speaker 3: It seems like this thing is anybody's ball game. And

483
00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:41,560
Speaker 3: by the thing, I mean the Super Bowl, Lombardi Trophy,

484
00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:44,199
Speaker 3: the path, like all that stuff is up for grabs,

485
00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:47,320
Speaker 3: like there's not one dominant team in either conference. The

486
00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:51,560
Speaker 3: usual suspects that were used to seeing in the mix.

487
00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:56,639
Speaker 3: At one point this weekend before the Steelers played the

488
00:22:56,760 --> 00:22:59,040
Speaker 3: Ravens were on the outside looking into the playoffs. The

489
00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:01,639
Speaker 3: Chiefs were on the outside looking at of the playoffs.

490
00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:03,800
Speaker 3: The Bengals were on the outside looking in. So like

491
00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:07,800
Speaker 3: you have Burrow, Mahomes and Lamar who at one point

492
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:11,800
Speaker 3: this weekend were all not in playoff conversation, right, And

493
00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:14,320
Speaker 3: so it's just not the teams that you're used to seeing.

494
00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:17,480
Speaker 3: It's Denver in New England leading the way in the AFC.

495
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:19,840
Speaker 2: It's Jacksonville's leading in the AFC South.

496
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:21,960
Speaker 1: Who would have thought these would be your division, your

497
00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:25,400
Speaker 1: division leaders in the AFC, New England, Baltimore. Of course

498
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:28,040
Speaker 1: you expect that, Yeah, Jacksonville and Denver.

499
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:30,760
Speaker 3: Yeah, not many people. And then and then you go

500
00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:33,919
Speaker 3: to the NFC. The Bears are your top team in

501
00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:36,720
Speaker 3: the NFC. They've they're the number one seed right now.

502
00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:39,199
Speaker 3: And by the way, the Bears have three losses. One

503
00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:41,119
Speaker 3: of those losses came to the Ravens with Tyler Huntley

504
00:23:41,119 --> 00:23:43,720
Speaker 3: as a starting quarterback. Right, So, like that loss or

505
00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:46,440
Speaker 3: that win for the Ravens, Like I know, when people

506
00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:48,280
Speaker 3: when that schedule came out, everyone just chalk that up

507
00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:51,080
Speaker 3: as an easy win. And then even and then even

508
00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:53,600
Speaker 3: at that point, coming out of the by Ravens fans

509
00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:54,719
Speaker 3: are like, man, this is a game, you gotta win,

510
00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:57,240
Speaker 3: gotta win gotta win. It's at home, doesn't matter who's

511
00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:01,080
Speaker 3: as a quarterback. That's an incredibly impressive win to get

512
00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:03,760
Speaker 3: that victory. Sure like it just gets better by the

513
00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:07,159
Speaker 3: week when you consider that they got that done without

514
00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:10,119
Speaker 3: Lamar Jackson on the field. The Rams, a lot of

515
00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:11,760
Speaker 3: people felt like they were the Super Bowl favorites. They

516
00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:15,680
Speaker 3: lose yesterday to the Carolina Panthers. The Eagles have been

517
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:20,240
Speaker 3: really struggling. They lose on Black Friday to the Dallas Cowboys.

518
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:23,040
Speaker 3: So like, there is not one team that is the

519
00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:27,040
Speaker 3: best in the league, hands down, the Broncos. Sunday night,

520
00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:28,639
Speaker 3: they go up against the Commanders who are three to

521
00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:30,920
Speaker 3: eight with the backup quarterback. That game goes to overtime

522
00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:33,159
Speaker 3: and gets decided on a two point conversion play. Like

523
00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:37,119
Speaker 3: it is wide open, and we always say getting the

524
00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,040
Speaker 3: dance and anything can happen. I feel like, as much

525
00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:42,720
Speaker 3: as any other year, that is definitely the case.

526
00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:45,480
Speaker 2: For the NFL. You know me, I'm a dancer. I

527
00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:46,640
Speaker 2: always say just getting.

528
00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:48,560
Speaker 3: The dance, getting the dance and anything could happen. And

529
00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:51,760
Speaker 3: I feel like, again more than any other year, it

530
00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:52,840
Speaker 3: seems like that's the case.

531
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:53,399
Speaker 2: I agree.

532
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,040
Speaker 3: So the Ravens are gonna work on putting their dance

533
00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:57,760
Speaker 3: is shoes on. That's right, But they just have to

534
00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:00,480
Speaker 3: make sure that they take care of business these final

535
00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:03,280
Speaker 3: five games of the regular seasons. So as always, you

536
00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:05,600
Speaker 3: can email us at the lounge at Ravens dot NFL

537
00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:08,119
Speaker 3: dot net. We love getting those emails. Thank you so

538
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:11,360
Speaker 3: much for listening. We'll talk with you again Laier this week.