 The Baltimore Ravens are a very, very strong team. And over these past couple of weeks, they've gotten even stronger because they've had a familiar face return and they added a new face who could be of some significance. But there's some Ravens fans that feel like there may be an issue that may cause problems. Do you? Do I? Do my special guests agree? Well, we are gonna bring them on and see Team Keep It Clean. You are in for a great one. So Team Keep It Clean, two very, very special guests in the building. My God, James and Glenn from Forward Know Sports Talk. Fellas, I appreciate you coming through, especially on such short notice as well. How are y'all doing and how have things been? Cause it's been a little while since we had y'all. Yeah, been a little while. I can only speak to myself, but it's been awesome. Yeah, I'm always grateful to be here, of course with the OG and Ravens podcasting. Always good to us. So appreciate you having us on. And man, I mean, it doesn't feel like it's been months since the last Ravens game. I'm tired of watching all these teams out here, blowing coverages, laying down. I mean, I wanna see some high execution football and I can't wait to see it this Saturday. Yeah, man, cause Ravens, we've been watching, we've been very spoiled by their defense. We saw during the Bucks and Eagles game, you saw how upset Ray Lewis got from watching that defense. Yeah, cause that was disgusting. It looked like he wanted to suit up and take James Bradbury's place. But anyway, speaking of something that has been a little offensive, there's been a conversation amongst a lot of Ravens fans. Isaiah likely has been going crazy. He has been killing it, crushing it. Emile Mar-Jackson's chemistry has gone through the roof. But some Ravens fans have had the disgusting conversation of possibly talking about trading Mark Andrews in the future. We're not even gonna talk about that. But there's another conversation that Ravens fans have been having as well in regards to Isaiah likely and Mark Andrews. And some people feel like it's a problem with Mark Andrews making his big return. And some people feel like Lamar Jackson that he'll be so focused on Mark Andrews that he'll just completely forget about everybody else. How do y'all feel about that? We'll start with you, James. All right, cool. Yeah, so that one is comical to me because as fans in 2019, 2021, all the way up to this year, we all did that. We forgot about everyone else except Mark Andrews. So you would expect Lamar Jackson to kind of do the same thing. Now you can say Hollywood Brown was there and this, that, and the other, but let's be honest, it was basically names and faces, where's 89, right? Like that's kind of what the situation was. This year, you already saw that even when Mark was healthy, if the Target Share went down, they were already dispersing the ball. It was a well-rounded pass attack. And yeah, maybe there was a concentration on Mark in that red zone because he's simply our best red zone target. So I don't have a concern about that at all. I mean, I just don't understand how too many good weapons is ever a bad thing. And let's not forget, Mark Andrews is our best offensive weapon outside of Lamar Jackson. Like let's not disrespect the guy. He is that, it's that simple. So no, I don't have any concerns about it. And it's kind of a bummer that people would be concerned about it. I feel great about it. Good. And Glenn, where you at with this whole thing? Yeah, I mean, I think what people are looking at is that the offense, you know, certainly seemed to get its footing towards the end of the season when Mark wasn't here. And I think that's made people think that that's because Mark wasn't here that they gained their footing. But Jimmy's right. Back in 2019 and even in 2020, he was, it wasn't a ton of weapons around them. Right. So of course, and the majority, get the majority of the targets. But another thing I always point out is that we watch the Ravens with a magnifying glass. We analyze everything they do. And we don't sometimes notice that having one guy lead your team by probably a pretty good margin in targets is normal across the league. It's something you see literally on every team. And so I just wanted to pull up, pull up, you know, one offense. I look at like the Chargers, for instance. Keenan Allen got 150 targets. Next closest was Austin Eckler were 74. So you're talking literally more than double the next closest target getter. And the same can be said with the Chiefs. I mean, it's clearly Travis Kelsey. Rashid Rice is relatively close. And then it literally cuts in half the third guy. So it's normal for your best players to lead your team in targets. That's just how it goes. But what I will say is I hope that we see a steady flow of both of those guys because Isaiah likely has certainly proven over these last few weeks that he is not just like a serviceable option. That this guy is a matchup nightmare for defenses. And so I want to see both those guys in the game, both those guys getting targets. Hey, man. Now, with that being said, because before last year, and it was a completely different offense, it was under Greg Romer, there seemed to be just this lack when both of them were on the field at the same time. To where they just couldn't both produce. And not that we needed both of them to go over 100 yards, both of them to catch a touchdown every single game. But it just seemed like they couldn't get both of them going when they were both in the game. And then even earlier at times this year, when they were both on the field, it seemed like it was a lot of the same thing. But ever since Mark Andrews went down, Isaiah likely has just taken off. And it's been a beautiful thing to see. I remember before it just seemed like him and Lamar Jackson, their chemistry was just off. Now, obviously with more reps and just more opportunity, the chemistry is going to improve like we have seen it. I didn't think it was going to be this big and this significant, but we'll certainly take it. Do you think that with Mark Andrews coming back, that it could possibly interfere even a little bit with Isaiah likely and Lamar Jackson's new found chemistry? Lynn, we'll start with you. Yeah, I mean, I see targets are going to go down, right? There's no doubt about it. The question is, can he be efficient in the lesser targets? And I think he will. What we saw earlier is athletes need confidence. And they came out and Isaiah likely had that huge pre-season. Everybody was hype about it. And they tried to get him the ball early in that first game. He dropped a couple. His confidence was down. And I think that really affected him. His confidence right now is at a sky-high level. So I do think while less targets, he'll become even more efficient with those less targets. And I'm confident if he has the ball in his hands, whoever's guarding him, if it's a tight, if it's a linebacker, he's going to run away from him. If it's a corner or safety, he's going to run over the guy. So just, yeah, I want to see Mark get his targets in certain situations, but I don't want to see the disappearance of Isaiah likely. And I think his play level, the confidence level, I think he'll take advantage of every rep. Yeah, and one of the things that I just want to add to that is we had JT Sullivan on, or JT Sullivan on a few years ago, he does some great breakdown on quarterbacks. He talked about offenses. People always talk about the word balance and complimentary and things like that, but he talked about harmony, right? In that like, it can be unbalanced and still be a harmony. So the reason I'm bringing that up is because in moments, Mark has no problem being the ultimate teammate that everyone says Mark is, I'm sure, in just drawing a lot of attention. Maybe, you know, for a quarter, a game, the whole playoffs, Isaiah likely goes off. And I'm sure Isaiah feels the exact same way about Mark. And so I don't think it'll always be balanced in the way that the stat sheet ends up being, but I think that they will mutually benefit from one another being on the field at the same time. And I don't think Munkin is young enough. I think he's been on the block too many times to make this work. I mean, even at Georgia, I think his two tight ends were his top two receivers if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, and both of them, you know what I mean? They were both dogs. So he knows how to get it done. I feel good about that. And I think just the team is too locked in. They're too locked in at this point to let something as small as that, you know, knock them off track. Yeah, because I feel like it's a good problem to have something that you mentioned earlier when you were speaking was talking about the weapons and just how the quality of the weapons has improved significantly over the past couple even just from last year to this year, it's improved a lot. The way that the Baltimore Ravens and Eric, the Costa really attacked past catcher over these past couple of years, it has paid off in just such a big way and made such a big difference for Lamar Jackson. And you can never, ever, ever have enough weapons. Now, staying with the offense, but shifting to a different position running back. We know the Baltimore Ravens have had their fair share running backs this year. This man just thinking about this offense and seeing this offense is sad because J.K. Dobbins was a perfect fit for it, perfect fit. And then if he of course went down in the Texans game, but somebody that J.K. Dobbins is known to work out with in the off season is Dalvin Cook. And Dalvin Cook, of course, he talked about how he almost joined the Ravens this off season but ended up going to the Jets and I can see why, because Ravens ain't had a quarterback situation worked out yet. And then they had Aaron Rodgers and they were making all these other moves and whatnot. So he was thinking, oh yeah, this is gonna be sweet over there. But we know how that ended up. We're not working this self out. But with Dalvin Cook, Ravens have Justice Hill. Ravens have Gus Edwards and both of those two, especially over the last couple of weeks, minus that Steelers game, they both have been doing their thing. So how does Dalvin Cook fit into all of this for you? Yeah, I think what's interesting when they signed him, I thought it was just an insurance policy. It was simply a practice squad guy who's brought in in case the one, two punch of Justice Hill and Gus Edwards just wasn't getting it done after the absence and injury of Keaton Mitchell. But man, that week, 18 game, I think it opened the door a bit for him. I think Melvin Gordon, sure it was raining, but I mean, the one thing Melvin Gordon could not do is put the ball on the ground. That's the only thing. You can't average over three fumbles a year and then get a chance and you put the ball on the ground. You will never see the light of day in the playoffs. I mean, right away, right away. And then Gus Edwards, again, he wasn't the only one. Gus Edwards fumbles a second time. Back-to-back weeks he now fumbles. And we know about the early season struggles at the mesh point between Lamar Jackson and Justice Hill. Like we can't forget that those things happen. So what's encouraging is that they sign a guy in Dalvin Cook who can help any way you need it. It's not like you're getting a guy at the end of the season who can help be a power back and you can help be the hammer if Gus Edwards isn't hitting, or you get a guy who can be a little scat back who can catch the ball in the backfield, maybe help him pass pro. Dalvin Cook can check every box. No matter what you need help with, he's a good goal line back. For his career, he's been a three down back. He can catch the ball. He can block. He can run between the tackles. He's one of the best zone runners in football for many years. So what's encouraging is that whatever this offense needs from Dalvin, he's shown that he can do it in the pass. Now the question is, does he still have it left in the tank? And Jimbo, I'll get your take on what do you think? Do you think that the offense and the surrounding and the situation in New York was just weighing on him and that's why the production was low? Yeah, I think. So initially, just like Glenn said, I was not a huge fan of it because I was like, outside looking in this guy seems like a me guy. And he's complained a lot in the office. I'm just, once again, outside viewing it. And then I took a deeper look. Man, the offensive line for the Jets, forget the whole situation. The offensive line was garbage this year. And then obviously, Wilson was in that. He's a dumpster fire. I mean, you can only expect so much from a VYU grad. And then he didn't even graduate, I don't think. But so ultimately, though, I do think that the situation he was in was a tough one. And then on top of that, the Jets weren't going to invest time and reps in. And when they want their young guys to go out there and see what they got and get it done and get some reps underneath them because you know, in their heads, the executives are moving on to next year. Maybe the coaching staff wasn't, but the executives were like, well, let's see what we got in these young guys because we're off the next year and hopefully Aaron comes back, right? But yeah, so I think the situation has more of an impact that I initially anticipated. I think he's a sneaky value add and might do some things this post season for us. You can't deny what he's done in the past when he's had a true opportunity. Right. Yeah, that's all he's done. This is be successful. That's true. And it feels like he couldn't have dropped off like that much after four hours. Right, that precipitously, you know, it's like night and day, it doesn't work like that. Right, right. So I'm looking forward to whatever he brings to the Baltimore Ravens. It is a nice, can't even call them an insurance policy because it's Dalvin Cook. It's still Dalvin Cook. We know how it was with the Jets so really what it wasn't with the Jets but it's still Dalvin Cook. Baltimore Ravens, they are a team and they've shown us this over the years. They are a team that even if a running back looks like he's down and out, they will find a way to squeeze everything out of him. We saw them sign guys like LeVion Bale, Latavious Murray, Devontae Freeman all in the same year. And LeVion Bale didn't quite make it but, and you see that was the end of his career right there, but Devontae Freeman, Latavious Murray, they kept pushing. And the Baltimore Ravens have done this with other guys too. Like Justin Forsett, I don't know, Terrence West a little bit and they've been, oh yeah, Drizzy, shout out to him. Cause man, we'll go way back. Remember the Ricky Williams days? Ooh, that dude should have won a Super Bowl that year. But they got it the following year, so it's all good. So hopefully they get it this year too. But shout out to y'all too. 410 Sports Talk, Team Keep It Clean. I know y'all know them already but make sure you subscribe to their channel because they do live streams. They cover each and everything going on with the Baltimore Ravens. They've been doing it for a while. Shout out to Tyler. Got to meet him at the Thursday Night Football game. So shout out to you Tyler. Hopefully you watching this. But nice meeting you, hope to see you again real soon. But Team Keep It Clean, check them out. Any clothes and words before we get out of here? Yeah, I just wanna say this. I just, I've said this every time we come on the show but just so you guys know, to give Inga's flowers, I will never forget the first time he came on our show. We were literally just a podcast and no idea how to use YouTube. I'm sitting in a hotel room with one of those snowball microphones, plugged up to my work computer, trying to figure this whole thing out. And In came on our show. We were using a Zoom, we just used Zoom and did audio only. We had like 60 listens and episodes. So thank you so much for being willing enough to hang out with us. We greatly appreciate it. Legend. Yeah, absolutely man. Thank you so much. No, and I gotta thank you guys in return because that was literally the first time that I used Zoom and who knew literally a couple of months later, the whole world would be using Zoom. Like so true. Let's go practice. There you go. I had no idea what Zoom was. I'm like, what is this? But y'all taught me how to live the new life in 2020. So I appreciate y'all. Hey, quick, quick, if I could just have one set, quick thing for the Ravens fans. Look, we got an opportunity to go to the FC Championship game. So all those that are attending this weekend's game, be loud, make an impact. Let the Texans know what a true home field advantage feels like because if they don't win this weekend, I can't go to the game next. So please do me a personal favor. Make some noise. Call some penalties. I want to see free snap confusion on that offense, ladies and gentlemen. That's right. You heard it from the man himself. Team Keep It Clean. Check them out. The links to all of their stuff, their Twitter, their YouTube, and everything else is down below in the description. I love y'all and we out.