 You know what's funny is that when fans hear some former Baltimore Ravens players speak about the current state of the Ravens, they'll listen to them and be like, oh, they're just bitter, they're mad, they're mad that they went out on the Ravens terms instead of their own terms. Oh, they just got all this hate toward the Ravens organization. And then there will be other players that when they speak, fans listen and they listen good. And one of those players is none other than our friendly neighborhood superhero, Ed Reed, who was on the Great Dane podcast and he had a lot to say about the current state of the Baltimore Ravens. And he talked about film study. He talked about not even just with the Ravens, but he said that's just so important film study because in college, a lot of these players are not being taught the right way how to study film. He spoke about how him and Ray Lewis, they used to be up like crazy at like two, three in the morning just studying film. And when you look at how many plays the both of those two made, it makes sense. It makes a whole lot of sense. He talked about leadership. He talked about different players on a team who are in maybe younger players ears, but those younger players respect those leaders and that it makes such a big difference. He talked about with the Super Bowl that year in 2012 when they finally wanted that he said that they had to take it. They had to go into the playoffs with the mindset of there's a lot of other teams trying to get the Super Bowl, but we have to take it because he had said he had been in too many positions before too many games before too many playoffs before where they gave it away. So stuff had to change that year and they certainly got it done. But some other things that he talked about were no excuses. No excuses. What was he talking about with no excuses for the injuries? And it started with, I know Baltimore has always been big on next man up. So there's no excuses when you lose people, you know, but those things do count. And he was speaking about all the guys that got hurt. Now it's crazy because I, maybe it comes from being a Ravens fan for such a long time, but I always thought next man up. I thought the Ravens originated that I really did. I always thought that because that's the only place that I had heard it from. I had always heard Ravens say next man up, next man up, next and they've been saying that for years, for years. So when I heard another team say it, I was like, what they know that's Ravens only Ravens say that. But Ravens have been big on that for so long when guys have went out, having other guys be able to step in and maybe not be as good as the original guy was, or sometimes they can be even better than the original guy was. It all just depends. But Ravens have been big on next man up for a very long time. And Eric Reed was just reiterating that when he said that he did say you do take a step back when you lose guys like Lamar Jackson, you know, that's your motor. Tyler Huntley actually stepped in and did a decent job. The guys got to help him out, obviously catching the ball and stuff like that. And that is very, very true. Tyler Huntley did step in. He was asked a lot because like, when you get asked to step in and feel it for Lamar Jackson, that's a tough task right there. And Tyler did it. He did a decent job, man. He really did. We all love Tyler Huntley. We appreciate it. Tyler Huntley. He did this thing. He boosted his stock even though he's still going to be with the Ravens next year. But it helps him for the future when it comes to those future opportunities. But we know that Tyler Huntley, as good as he did, and some games were better than others, especially that Packers game. He was still not a Lamar Jackson. And while Tyler Huntley did do a good job, the Ravens won one game without Lamar Jackson. One. And that continues to show just how valuable Lamar Jackson is to these Baltimore Ravens. Anyway, he also said, but you know, it was just tough, a tough year, a lot of injuries playing. It's going to be hard to get through that. Those guys gots to get healthy, you know. And I think the Ravens will be all right. You just got to clean up a lot of little mistakes, secondary wise, defense and offense. And yes, that is true. And that's the same thing that I've been saying literally all year long. The Ravens, the adjustments that they had to make, but it ended up being too little, too late. But it was just miscues. It could be drops. It could be interceptions. It could be an up tempo game. It could be just doing what the defense is giving you and attacking their weaknesses, focusing on your strengths, just so much stuff, not leaving guys on islands, maybe blitzing a bit less, wrapping up tackling. The thing about a bunch of little mistakes, if they don't get corrected, if they don't get addressed, then they ended up, they ended up adding up to big mistakes. And then it just gets to a point where it's like, ah, you can't do anything about that. And it becomes too little, too late. And that's exactly what happened to the Ravens. It became too little, too late. One of those things that I felt like they could have done a lot better job of will be, as we saw, you didn't, without them all, you didn't win. Well, you won one game, but basically without Lamar, you didn't win. You were losers without Lamar Jackson. And we know that, hey, with Lamar Jackson, Ravens invested so much into Lamar Jackson, he is not invested as far as building around him. But I mean, they are very invested in Lamar Jackson as a player. He is their offense. They live and die by Lamar Jackson. And when he was out, they died. So when you lose that player, who is literally your everything, of course, you're going to take a step back. But if you take a step back and you have your backup first game, okay, I could understand if you lose that one because you got blindsided by an injury. You got blindsided by him being out. If you lose your second game without your starting quarterback, okay. But then to lose six games straight and for five of those games to be decided by one score, most by like a couple of points, inexcusable, inexcusable. In this podcast, Ed Reid, he talked about the two-point conversions. He talked about the heartbeat of the team. He said it's different when you're viewing the game as a fan, like when you're not actually there out there on the field. He talked about with some of those two-point conversions. He said, because I know a lot of, when I said it, a lot of people now engraving now, see that you don't know what you're doing. Ed Reid said, he said he would have played, he would have played for overtime. He said, he said it, not me. Well, I said it too, but Ed Reid said that he would have played for overtime. He said, because you as a player, you want an opportunity to play some more football, so he would have played for overtime. But again, make sure you listen to the podcast because there was a lot that this article and a lot that it was a lot, a lot of good stuff, as always. Because, you know, every don't talk much, but when he does talk, like, oh, yeah, you listen, but you don't want to be saying that, like every thing going to be somebody is talking, talking, talking, running his mouth. But when he does speak, he always dropping some gems. Anyway, he said that he also said about leadership. He said there are times when it's kind of like a roller coaster, you know, so you have to get some consistency there. And that comes with growth. You know, I said that a couple of interviews back that they were young. They got some vets, but they are also young, you know, so that comes with time. It comes to going through some stuff, you know, so hopefully those guys are mature after this year because they went through a good fit. Hopefully they come through next year and then they battle back. And he also mentioned how they got a lot of time to think about it. And yes, they certainly do since the off season started a lot earlier. But when he spoke about vets again, that that leads us to leadership. That leads us to leadership. And that is something that I feel like we don't talk about enough on here when it comes to these Baltimore Ravens, different things that they lack, different areas where they lack. And I remember we had a question from subscriber a while back and somebody talked about, man, with with the Ravens, they were like, with with the departure of a Mark Ingram have a bigger impact than people realized. And when it come to when it came to his leadership. And I was like, oh, yeah, he was a nice hype man and his leadership will be missing. His excitement will be missing. Him being the ultimate teammate will be missed. But I was like, I don't think it's that big of a deal. They still got leaders and stuff. But let's see what he had to say. He said, leadership matters. Look what Baltimore has done since Ray, Ray Lewis and I, that being a read and Juan Bolton, Terrell Suggs and all those loading out of all of us left. Well, maybe not left, but when we were not in the building after that, since 2013, I think they only won like one or two playoff games. Like the Ravens haven't done much. I just know we were big pieces to that. You know, no matter what nobody says, we were huge pieces to that as much as people wanted us to be gone. You know, it takes the right guys in the locker room. And oh, boy, this is an argument that a lot of fans, they tend to get this dismissive and defensive over because when some fans will bring up, what have the Ravens done since all those dudes left? No Ray Lewis, no Avery, what have the Ravens accomplished? No Anquan Boat, what have the Ravens done? And then a lot of people will be like, what that it was them. They were the real leaders of that team. They were the ones running the show. Not how it was them. And people are like, no, it was horrible, horrible. But then they point to everything that came after that. And there's been nothing. Now, regular season success is nice and it starts in the regular season. So got to give credit for that. But as far as postseason, when things matter the most, what accomplishments have there been? None, none. And everything, like we always say, everything is not all on coaching. It's not. But that's where it starts. That's where everything starts. And if you just look in that stuff for exactly what it is, because Ray Lewis and Avery, they not just every day players, they're not, they're really not. And we all know that they're not. So when you look at everything that happened or hasn't happened ever since they left, when when you lose your big time players, that's when coaching matters the most. When you lose your heart, when you lose your soul, your that's when coaching matters the most. That's when it matters the most and ain't no way around it is really not. And we see two playoff wins, one in 2014 and then one in 2020. Two. That's it. That's it. So many fans get upset when that gets pointed out. And but it's not coming from a place of hate from anybody. It's really not. It's coming from a place of we know who the Ravens are. We have high expectations for them because we know they can do better. And if you knew better, you would do better. But we knew that they can be better. So we just hope that they would do better, but they haven't been doing better. That's why stuff gets questions, decisions, this question. Coaching gets question. A lot gets question decision. It's just so much. And we just want the Ravens to have better answers. That's it. That's it. That is it. And the way that this season ended, it has continued to expose so much when it's come to just the lack, the lack of adjustments, the lack of success, the lack. And again, it's not all on coaches, but coaches play such a crucial part in the decision making, the end game decision making, the situational play calling that stuff makes such a big difference, a huge difference. Ed Reid also talked about in his podcast, he said, this is why him and Ray, they did so much film study. This is this is why, because they and they called it unconscious, unconscious competence. That was it. I was like, oh, I love that one. Unconscious competence. And they said, when when that pressure is on and as Ravens fans, we know this is true. But they said, when that pressure is on, no matter who it is, whether it's a coach, whether it's a coordinator, whether it's a player, when that pressure is on, a player is going to when everything's not working, a player is going to go back to their roots. They're going to go back to their bread and butter, whether that bread and butter is good or whether that bread and butter is bad. When stuff is breaking down and stuff ain't looking, they're going to go back to that bread and butter. So that's that's why it's so important that when whatever your bread and butter is, you make it something that is a good foundation. You have to because you're going to end up going back to that when all else fails, when stuff ain't clicking so good. But anyway, he also talked about how the locker room is for the players. You know, the locker room is led by players. Coaches don't lead grown men. It's a partnership. You know, it's truly a partnership when you get to the league. And that was very interesting as well, because it makes sense because in college and it sound like he was comparing it to college because in college, it's obviously a lot younger men. Usually from 18 to 21 to 22, it's younger men that the coach that's what coach really got to lead, because you have so many young men. You don't know this situation. You don't know what's going on with their family. You don't know what's going on in their personal lives. So oftentimes coaches become like father figures for these young men. But an NFL, not that they aren't grown men, but there are a lot more grown men than there are in college. And they've had a lot more experience and experiences in the NFL as NFL players, especially NFL veterans. Obviously, then somebody in college would. And I loved how he talked about the part where it's a partnership. It's not a grown man, lead another grown. It's a partnership. And to me, that really sounded like he was speaking about respect because respect, it goes such a long way. You can disagree with somebody, excuse me. You can not see eye to eye with them. You can think something that they're saying is completely wrong. But if you respect them, you'll still give them the time of day. You'll listen to what they have to say. And even if you disagree with it, the way that you respond to it is so much different for somebody who you would respect versus somebody who you don't respect. So respect is big. It's huge. So every he really, of course, drop Jim's as usual. Please listen to the entire podcast when you get a chance, especially like the first, like 30, 32 minutes of it. Because I know a lot of articles and stuff. Somebody may look at this article. Oh, man, they just took out this and that. And they just like they only put in certain spots. No, this was this was not one of those articles. Where they misquoted a read or anything like that, where they made something worse than what it really was with air. No, this is exactly what he said is how he said it. Nothing got altered or anything like that. No, this is this was it. And that's why I say, please listen to it for yourself. So you can hear exactly what Ed Reed said, because it's a lot more in there, too. So anyway, team keep it clean. Appreciate y'all love y'all. Shout out to a read as usual, man. We out.