 A relationship between the Baltimore Ravens and quarterback Lamar Jackson has been a topic of conversation all throughout this year, especially early on this season, well really before the season started when the two could not come to terms on a contract agreement. And throughout this season, a lot of people have wondered and continue to wonder if this relationship will go beyond this year, if this will be the final ride Lamar Jackson's last ride with the Ravens, or if he's in it for the long haul with Baltimore. And that's still to be determined. But ESPN, they brought up a very, very interesting segment on if the Ravens should cut ties with one Lamar Jackson. And the way it started off, Molly started off by saying she brought up his current injury and saying that the most time that he's missed before when it came to injury was last season when he missed the last four games of the year. So Dan Ovloski, who's had a lot of interesting stuff to say about the Ravens, especially surrounding their scheme. But Dan Ovloski started, he said, my heart says you're initially insane to think that the Ravens should think about cutting ties with Lamar Jackson. He said he's one of the best players in the NFL. He's a great rep for the city and the organization. But my mind says that it's not a great organization for him. He's missed seven out of his last 22 games. He said that these past two years have been their two-year window. But because of the injuries last year and then this year, his play that started off at an MVP level, then it fell off because of the injuries this year. He talked about how the next six weeks are huge. He asks, will Lamar Jackson get back? What will he be like when he comes back? Can he take the Ravens on a magical run? But this is where Dan Ovloski, he took a little turn here. But hey, it's true because it's part of the business. Because this is what business people do. He said Lamar has taken 1,000 hits in his career. Now, we know when you look at a stat sheet and look at the amount of times Lamar had Jackson has been tackled or you look at the amount of times that he's rushed over his career, the numbers, they will not ever tell the whole story. If you're talking about tackles, that's one thing. But if you are actually talking about straight up hits, and we know tackles, they are physical, obviously. But you really talking about hits like that, like that? Yeah, I definitely wouldn't say it's 1,000. But anyway, we'll run with it for now to help Dan Ovloski prove his point. He said Lamar has taken 1,000 hits in his career. But this will be a conversation in the off season. And what he meant by that was it'll be a conversation between the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson if they talk in contract. Because of course, they will bring that up. And he said that the injuries have added up. The hits have taken their toll. Now, initially you could think like, man, yeah, Lamar has missed time. He missed time last year. Then the year before that in the playoff game, he got knocked out. Then this year, he's hurt too. Man, well, he gets a lot of rushing attempts. He gets a lot of rushing yards for a quarterback. Man, is he running too much? Because if you just listened to what Dan Ovloski said, you could think that. And I could understand why you would think that. Because it's like, hey, this guy's on ESPN. Those hits, oh yeah, they must be really bad. But when you look at how and where he got injured, context is everything. Because this year, he's obviously missed the past couple of games. But why? What point did he, where did he get hurt? Oh, right in the pocket, you say? Oh, they didn't bring that up. But that's OK. That's why I'm here to let you know. He got hit in the pocket. Right in the pocket on a sack. That took him out the game. And then last year, man, how did he miss those last four or five games of the year when he got knocked out of the Browns game? Well, it was on a passing play. And guess what? Somebody missed the block. So he had to scramble and roll out. And he did complete the pass in the process. But he got hit by a Browns defender low. And so that, again, in the pocket again. Oh, what about the Buffalo Bills game? You say, how did he get hurt and knocked out of that game? Well, he got a concussion in that game. Why? Because he snapped the ball. And the center snapped the ball way over Lamar Jackson's head. So he had to run and go get the ball. And then he had to pick up the ball. He scooped it and then threw it away. But in the process, when he threw it away, he got tackled by a Bills defender and his head right on the turf. And he got a concussion. That was the end of the game. So I just wanted to make sure that when it comes to Lamar Jackson's injuries, you had the complete context because I didn't want to leave you hanging. But anyway, it's still, regardless of how they happened, with Dan Ovlowski did have a good point because it still will be a conversation that the Ravens would have with Lamar Jackson, like, hey, look at these injuries. Why should we pay you X amount of dollars when you've had these injuries? Now, even with the context is business. In business, both parties are trying to get the upper hand. So Ravens are going to do everything that they possibly can to get the upper hand. Lamar is going to do everything that he possibly can to get the upper hand. So next, Steven A. Smith, who for the most part has not been a big fan of Lamar, hasn't really been interested in Lamar like that, doesn't really believe in Lamar like that. But he has some very interesting things to say when it came to this topic in this question. He said that Dan Ovlowski's head is insane, but his heart's in the right place. And then he flipped the script. So the segment was about should the Ravens think about cutting ties with Lamar Jackson. But Steven A. Smith said that Lamar should consider cutting ties with the Ravens. And he brought up some really good points. He said the Ravens shouldn't even consider cutting ties with Lamar. He said, when you look at what the Ravens have done, they've shortchanged them. He said they haven't maxed out on his potential. They haven't maximized the opportunities he's presented to them. And I'm thinking like, hold up, Steven A. Are y'all watching the channel too? Y'all been keeping up with team keeping. Let me know, Steven A. Let me know, because it's stuff that we've been saying for the longest. But anyway, he said, do your job and get talent around him so he won't have to do everything himself. If I'm Lamar, I'm thinking about moving on. I'm thinking about going to a franchise that won't be hesitant on not only giving me the money, but also spending it on resources around me. And I was like, yeah, hey, you're right. You're right. But let's keep going. He brought up Russell Wilson. I was thinking, OK, where's he going with this? But he brought up Russell Wilson, who went to Denver with a coach that he loved and that he had weapons around him and stuff. And he got paid the big money and he had an elite defense that showed up and showed out so much that the defensive players, they were willing to get in Russell Wilson's face because of what Russell Wilson wasn't doing. Because y'all remember the game with that, I think it was a defensive lineman. He was yelling at Russell Wilson, and Russell Wilson was like, oh man, I'm sorry. My apologies, man. Back up, buddy. But he said that you don't see that happening in Baltimore because they know. They know. He said, you don't see the defensive players all up in Lamar's face because they know that it ain't Lamar's fault that he hasn't, while he hasn't had his most stellar season because he hasn't. He said, when you know you don't have the requisite pieces around you, you may feel compelled to do more than you should because you're trying to win. You know what's crazy? Well, not what's crazy. Always talk about how you don't discredit what fans see just because they're a fan. Do not think that fans are stupid just because they're fans. Do not disrespect fans' opinions just because they're fans. And so many fans, so many Ravens fans that I've talked to over the years have said this exact same thing that they see that Lamar is just trying to do so much so often because they can be this lack. They can be this lack. And so he got to make up for that lack. But anyway, so shout out to the fans. Stephen, they also talked about how Bateman and Dove going down with them going down that, of course, Lamar would feel compromised. But this is about what the Ravens haven't done as an organization to surround him. He said that this isn't about a deficiency with Lamar. He said that the Ravens are actually the reason that he's hurt because he has to do so much because he's asked to do too much to compensate what they lack. So interest and take by Stephen A. Smith. Now, I agree with most of what he said. The only part as far as the last part that the reason that Lamar Jackson is hurt is because because of the Ravens, they asked him to do so much in this case. I always say no because he got hurt in the pocket. I mean, put that on the offensive line. I think maybe somebody missed a block or whatnot. So this was he made it sound like to, in my opinion, he made it sound like Lamar got hurt. I see what the point that he was trying to make. I see the direction he was going. That's why I agree with everything up to but to that point because he made it sound like Lamar got hurt running or something like that. So somebody based off of what he said at the end to close out his argument, one could think that, oh, Lamar got hurt running. But that wasn't the case. But everything else that Stephen A. Smith said. Yeah, yeah, buddy. Keep it going, Stephen A. But then Marcus Pierce, he said that he was going to give them an example that will kill the whole conversation. Marcus Pierce, Mr. Swaggle. He said Lamar has been in Baltimore for five years now because he has. This is his fifth year. He said Lamar Jackson has won an MVP, won a playoff game. And he said he cannot ever count the Ravens out because Lamar can turn into Superman. Then he said, let's go to the other side. He said, Philly, of course, the Philadelphia Eagles, you all are familiar with them and everything that they're doing this year. But he said, Philly, they drafted a quarterback in the second round and didn't even know if he would play initially because they had a hundred million dollar quarterback in the building when they drafted Hertz. And it sounds like he's talking about Carson Wentz. But anyway, he said that they went out, got AJ Brown. Of course, they drafted Devonte Smith. They have an O-line that's built from the inside out. And he said, Harry Roseman surrounded a quarterback who people didn't know could be accurate or throw with anticipation. And Harry Roseman said that we're going to squeeze this orange and try to get as much juice out of it as we can. And this is where he got me. I was like, OK, I've made that argument on here myself before because there were so many people that talked about how they feel like, oh, with Jaylen Hertz, they wrote him off. They wrote him off. They said he started, said he can't throw, they said he's inaccurate. They said so much bad stuff about him, especially after that playoff game against the Bucks. But the Eagles are like, OK, that's cool. That's cool. We know that happened. We see that that happened. But you know what? Let's really go in for our quarterback. And let's really just go in with this team. We going all in. Let's make it happen. And you see how they're doing right now. You see what they did just now. And they are having a phenomenal season. And now, even though Jaylen Hertz is hurt and it'll be temporary thing, he'll be out this week. He's in the MVP conversation. It's been a beautiful thing. So anyway, he talked about how with Jaylen Hertz, with him being in the MVP conversation, the fact that he's in the conversation, just a conversation. He said Lamar, he already won one without even having half of the weapons that Jaylen Hertz does. So I was like, oh, well, Margot Spears, you got it. You got it because it's true. It's true. Lamar already won one. With a lot less. This is this was my this has been my argument for the longest. I see so many people talked about, oh, no, the Ravens, they don't need to add more weapons for what? Why should they add more weapons? Like if Lamar has already shown you what he can do with less, why would you not capitalize on that and give him more? Why not? But the fact that you have not, and it seems like you will not. That is what leads people to these conversations like this on the Ravens and Lamar Jackson cutting ties with each other because it is a real possibility in my eyes. I've said it time and time again, and I'm a Ravens fan. I love this team and they had a lot of ups and downs with these Ravens over the years, but you love them, but you got to be honest. And I think with people that you love or something that you love, it's always best when you're honest about whatever that is. And I've said it before and I say it again. I do not believe that Lamar Jackson will ever, at least under this current philosophy that the Ravens have right now, I do not believe they will ever maximize on his true potential ever. I don't. If they keep doing things that the way that they've been doing and then think about it, too, safe instance, they paid Lamar Jackson. What would change? What would change with the way that they operate? Are they all of a sudden going to be like, all right, Lamar Jackson, we paid you now, so now we're going to really start adding weapons around you. No, they would have every incentive in their minds to be like, all right, we paid them. Now we definitely ain't got to do nothing. And when he was cheap, they ain't really add around them like that. They didn't. So why when he got more expensive? Why would they all of a sudden add around him at that point? It just it wouldn't make sense, especially the direction that they've done. I think they still should. I think it was be smart, but they haven't. Will they ever? Well, we'll see. So will they end up cutting ties with Lamar Jackson? Will Lamar Jackson cut ties with them? It's to be determined. Love y'all team. Keep it clean. Appreciate y'all. And like Lamar Jackson could be after this year. Hopefully he's not. But we'll see how things go, but we out.