 Of course, a lot of us were thinking that this was going to be the week on Monday night football where Ravens rookie first round draft pick wide receiver Rashad Bateman was going to make his 2021 season debut. Even his trainer was like, Oh, it's game time. Even put we ready in the background and all. And then in the very next clip that he put, it was of Rashad Bateman. He said, it's go time, but let's read what Jeremy Fowler, who is the bearer of bad news has to say. He said, Ravens rookie wide receiver Rashad Bateman will not make his debut this week. Instead, gearing up for week six against the Chargers per source. Ravens discussed a pitch count for the first round pick, but coming off the groin injury, they wanted to give it a little more time. And with that, I have zero problem with that. Yeah, I was excited to see Rashad Bateman this week. I know what everybody was. We all were, but I have absolutely zero problem with them resting him, with them waiting yet another week just to make sure there are no setbacks, just to make sure everything's good to go. Because think about this. If you got to have somebody on a pitch count, if you're going to have somebody on a pitch count with their snaps, then usually that means that they ain't ready yet. Now, when he does come back, I know he ain't going to be full go and when I say full go ain't going to be like he going to be a start out there. What not? He going to be out there 24 seven with the offense. No, I don't expect it. I expect him to again be gradually brought along as the season goes on. But with with Rashad Bateman, we got to remember this is not just a random free agent pick up that the Ravens got. This is not a quick bandaid wide receiver that the Ravens are using to help out. No, this is somebody that's a big part of their future. So if there if it's something that's a big part of your future, you don't rush it back. Even though you wanted to be out there so bad, you just like, oh, it's Rashad Bateman week. Let's go. But you don't want to rush it back. Now, one thing that I hope Ravens fans hear this and I hope they I hope they hear it clearly, too. I really hope that because with every week that passes with every practice that passes with every day that passes with every game that passes and Rashad Bateman, he hasn't made his debut yet when he does come back. Ravens fans, please temper your expectations, please. I'm telling you this for your own good. Please do that because reason being because. You and I feel like the pressure is like mounting for Rashad Bateman every week that he doesn't play and he really can't do anything about it. But I feel like every game that he doesn't play every week that passes, Ravens fans, their excitement and anticipation for Rashad Bateman. It grows and it grows and it grows and it grows and it grows and it keeps growing because it's like that. It's the build up. It's the build up and it's the weight and it's just being anxious. Oh, man, we finally going to get to see him play this week. Oh, no, not this week. OK, next week always going to be next week. OK, not this week. Oh, OK, and you just it keeps building up and I can understand it because again, we all feel in the same thing, but we got to remember. And we got to be realistic about this thing, too. We do expect him to be a contributor, but it's going to take some time. Now, if he comes in and goes off from jump, hey, we go have no problem with it. But I'm not going to expect that because if you expect him to come in, say, oh, I think he's going to come in and catch like five catches for like one hundred twenty two yards and two touchdowns. We wouldn't complain if it happened. But I don't think we should expect it to happen yet. And what the thing that I don't want to happen with Rashad Bateman is what happened with Rashad Parryman. And I know they are two different receivers. I'm not saying they're the same receiver. I'm not saying that they have similar play style. I'm not saying that. So don't take that from this. But what I'm saying, I do not want to happen with Rashad Bateman towards what happened with Parryman. And it was with the anticipation and the buildup and the weight and the weight and the weight. And then when it wasn't this immediate, just him going off immediately. People turned on him quick. They turned on him right away. And then some other stuff happened, too. But we don't even need to get into that. So with Rashad Bateman, please be patient. His time will come. And his games where he's going off will happen. But just take it easy. Now, the news wasn't all bad because we got some other news from one James and Hensley. So Jeremy Fowler, again, that's the same guy who said, hey, I've talked to all these NFL executives and they say that this is going to be the year that Lamar Jackson gets figured out. That was Jeremy Fowler, if you didn't remember. Again, the bearer of bad news. He said, when it comes to good news, I don't even talk about them. Boys are no good news. We ain't worried about that. But bad news. Oh, give it to me. Give it to me because I want to ruin these Ravens fans days. But James and his James and Hensley, he said, while Bateman won't play. So why Rashad Bateman won't be making his debut tonight, which is fine. We understand. The expectation is that Ravens wide receiver Miles Boykin. Boy Boykin. Hey, man. Oh, I can't wait. But anyway, he said, the expectation is that Ravens wide receiver Miles Boykin will make his 2021 debut tonight. He has missed the first four games with a hamstring injury. So while Bateman is out, that's OK. Boykin is up. And the thing about Boykin and I told you all this from jump. I said, when, when, when, when, when, when soon as both of these guys were activated on the same day from Andrew Reserve, I said that my expectation is that Boykin is always, he was going to play before Bateman does. He was going to play before him because definitely because of the two different injuries along the hamstring was growing. But Boykin has been here already. Boykin has done that already. He's played already. And I feel like the expectation is sad to say. But I feel like people's expect, excuse me, people's expectation for Miles Boykin are lower than they are for Rashad Bateman, even though Miles Boykin has been here already. Now, I know I've seen every time we talk about Miles Boykin, I always see it in the comments section. So many people, what do you see in Miles Boykin, man? What are you so hype on Miles Boykin? Why do you like Miles Boykin so much? What's up with Miles Boykin? Why do you like him so much? Why do you such a big fan of Miles Boykin? I see that all the time. I got no problem with people asking the question because not everybody sees Miles Boykin the same way, which is fine. That's understandable. It's OK. It's not a big deal. Trust me, I won't hold it against you. If you don't see Miles Boykin the same way I see Miles Boykin. But when I see Miles Boykin and I said this before we added Kiki, I said this before we added TT, I said it way before this season even started. So before the passing game was where it is right now, we've been talking about this from a long, long ago. But anyway, with Miles Boykin, my biggest thing with him was just the lack of opportunity. It was never a thing where he can't catch. It was never a thing where he don't know how to make plays. It was the lack of opportunity. Now, I know some people say, well, but when he does get his chance, a lot of times he'll run the wrong route. He'll do the wrong play. Him or Lamar Jackson will be so far apart that chemistry is just all kinds of bad. And it has been. But how do you get better at something without repetition? How can how can you improve on something without repetition? Unless you mean to tell me that everybody's going to be perfect at something by their first couple of times trying to be perfect. Unless that's the case. Hey, you got it. But with Miles Boykin, I just felt like he needed more volume to get better. Now, is he going to just come in right away and get all that volume? No, I don't expect that. But the thing I do expect is to see significant improvement from Miles Boykin. Why? Because of TT and Kiki. And the reason I say that is because we've seen just the change, the drastic change, not just but the drastic change with our wide receivers, with our passing game. And the fact that even if the top two wide receivers say, for instance, they get a little silent during the game, we saw it last week against the number one passing defense against just a really good defense period. We saw it last week. Hollywood got his now. And Sammy Watkins contributed to. But in moments where they got quiet, here comes Pro Shae. And even do when they got in the mix a little bit, too. But for them to do what they did and involve the other guys as well. That's very promising for one Miles Boykin. And we know one of the biggest things with him. And I believe it was Keith Williams that said it when he spoke on Miles Boykin. Before the season started, when he was having an introductory press conference, he said, whatever these guys were last year, that was last year. That's not this year. So just because that's what they were, that does not mean that's who they are. So and we know what Miles Boykin, it was a mental thing. That's it. It was just a mental thing. That was the biggest thing with Miles Boykin, in my opinion. It was a mental thing. It's not that he can't be physical, because the thing is, I know a lot of people say, oh, man, he's six, five, but he he plays like he's like five, 10. Now, we do want to see him be more aggressive. But where do you get aggression from? How do you be? How do you attack the ball more? Do you? Is that from? Is that from a lack of being physical? No, that's from right here. It starts up here. If you can attack the ball more and actually go for it, that starts up here because if you ask anybody, I don't know, some people like they like to get on this, too. Oh, that shouldn't be a wide receivers number one trait. But if you ask somebody, who's the Ravens best blocking wide receiver? They'll tell you Miles Boykin from jump. They will tell you that every single time without fail. So how could somebody who's not physical be the Ravens best blocking wide receiver? How is that even possible? Well, I'm going to tell you, it's not. So he has the physicality. He just got to use it at the right places. And obviously he uses it when he's blocking. But now it's time to take it to that next level again, mentally and use it when attacking the ball, going to get the ball, taking that ball, using all six, four, six, five for you and taking that ball out of the year, making sure that cornerback doesn't have a chance to get it. But again, that comes with repetition. That comes with opportunity. And it also comes from better coaching, which is clear that the Ravens have that this year. They have a vast improvement on coaching because that has been something that for years and years and years and years before Giro. Before Marty Morningway, before Mark Tressman, before all these offensive coordinators that we done been to. The wide receiver coaches just have not been there. But this year, what they added with Kiki and TT. That took this their game to another level because that had that had been where the Ravens have struggled at for them. Pretty much the entire existence. They just struggle there, wide receiver every year, struggle, struggle, struggle. And they will continue to get these band-aids. Every year, wide receiver, they get these band-aids. They sign these guys, these 32, 33, 34, 35 year old guys. These band-aids and it just it would never work long term. The short term, a lot of times it worked out. Sometimes it didn't, though. But if you want to really take this team to the next level, especially if you get ready to pay your quarterback that next level money, you want to have some young, gifted, hungry, great, wide receivers in place. But to make sure you're young, hungry, gifted, wide receivers are young, hungry and gifted, you got to have the right people leading them and you got to have the right people coaching them. So that's what the Ravens invested in this offseason. And it's made a big difference. Team Keep It Clean, I love y'all. I appreciate y'all. And just like Rashad Bateman is this week, I'm out.