Rob Long | 105.7 The Fan Baltimore Host

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Visit FelixCatInsurance.com slash terms for all terms and limitations. We're pleased to welcome Rob Long from our Baltimore affiliate 105.7. The fan gets ready for the big bad morning show in these moments, and we'll give him a little early prep work. Happy Thanksgiving belated to you, Rob. I hope you had a nice week. Did you take time off or were you working?

No, my favorite holiday. I didn't take time. I took off naturally. I was off Thursday and Friday, but I worked the rest of the week. Gotcha. All right. My favorite holiday, too, for the meal, generally.

Although this year I did set a pie on fire, but that's a story for another day. Okay, so let's talk about these Ravens. They've got a new offensive coordinator, right? We know that Lamar Jackson has felt a little freer.

He's talked about the ability to change things or maybe submit his own suggestions. What do you see that's the major difference between the Ravens offense this season and last year? Better pass offense. It seems like receivers have space. There were multiple times with several analysts and former pro football players pointed out that the Ravens would have two and sometimes three receivers in the same spot. And as a quarterback, that means defenders, that many defenders are around as well.

You don't have that now. You have you have a lot of wide open receivers, which tells me you're setting it up differently. But you don't see receivers bunched together as much running routes now. And you see a probably more decisive Lamar Jackson.

Why? Because, you know, it's easier to make those decisions with their spacing. Why the issues in the red zone? Because that still bothers me about the Ravens this year. Sometimes they get too cute, honestly, you know, because Edwards is the man, you know, running inside, you know, you know, maybe even run Lamar off tackle a little bit on some of your RPOs. But to me, the Ravens sometimes get way too cute when they're inside the red zone, especially when they're inside the tent instead of doing what they do best and giving the ball to Gus Edwards, who never falls backwards. Because Edwards was destroyed yesterday on the third and one goal in the backfield. He somehow ended up falling forward for the first down.

That's what he does. And sometimes it seems like they go away from it. There was a time last night when they ran the first two plays inside the tent and Edwards wasn't even on the field.

Why? That's your best, that's your best situation with him there and sometimes they get too cute. So they are averaging 27 points per game, but there are certainly games where it's clear that it's going to be a grind. A lot of that happens in the AFC North, so those games are a different animal. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Rob Long from Baltimore getting set for the Big Bad Morning Show on 105.7, the fan. So Rob, the defense has been amazing and I would say a great surprise for the Ravens considering they lost multiple starters to injuries. What is the hallmark of this defense? To be honest with you, Amy, getting to the quarterback, which I thought was going to be the biggest weakness of this defense.

I mean, J'Baby and Cloudy, who knew? I was not for that signing because he just hadn't gotten it done in a while. I'm a big South Carolina Gamecock fan and he hasn't played this well since his sophomore year in college, to be honest with you.

What he's doing right now is just unreal. He had two more quarterback hits last night and a sack. They had nine hits on Justin Herbert, which I think makes things a lot easier for the secondary. But speaking of the secondary, Kyle Hamilton, the Ravens' Mike McDonald, our defensive coordinator, has been the genius in how he's... I didn't think Kyle Hamilton could play a traditional safety in the NFL. Well, I still don't know whether he can or not because they don't play him as a traditional safety. He plays a hybrid position that makes him absolutely phenomenal. He may play last night as a linebacker. He may play 30 yards downfield last night. He may play in the intermediate routes. Kyle Hamilton is becoming an unbelievable defender and a force on the defensive side of the football.

Of course, everything changed last year once they traded for Roquan Smith. Yeah, he has been devastating in many cases. It seems like he's always right in the center of the action, which is huge. I heard him interviewed on Westwood One last night and he was talking about the fact that they take such pride in the defense.

And you can really feel that pride and that confidence. So then when it comes to the defense, with the pressure that's put on them because the offense still at times does not put up the points that they can. Would you say that that's the better unit or would you still say the offense with Lamar Jackson?

I'd say it's the most consistent unit. They fought four turnovers last night. Four turnovers. And the Ravens managed 20 points total in their football game, not being able to score on the turnovers. I think the defense has been the most consistent unit on the Baltimore Ravens, the most reliable unit.

Because there's time when the offense really struggles. I don't think one game where the defense may have struggled a little bit. But overall, in the 12 football games they've played thus far, to me the defense has been the most consistent unit for the Baltimore Ravens team. Yeah, the only team that's giving up fewer points than the Ravens right now per game is the Niners.

And we're talking about a tenth of a point is the difference. So essentially they're each giving up 15 and a half points per game, which is pretty incredible. So the Ravens have the best record in the AFC at 9-3 going into the bye. What do you want them to do coming out of the bye? What do you need them to do coming out of the bye?

Well, I need them to, some of the guys that have banged up a little bit, get healthy. And when they come out of the body, they clean up what you talked about, the red zone. That's strategic. That's not always execution. Sometimes that's strategic. The game plan.

And again, I believe they get a little bit too cute there. The Rams are a team that you can't just sleep on coming out of that bye. Then you have the Jaguars, the 49ers, the Dolphins, and you close out the season with the Steelers. The offense has to be more consistent. You know, you can't have your defense give you the ball back four times unexpectedly if you come away with very little. But they have to be a little bit more, to me at times it seems like the offense has an agenda and not a plan. You know, take what the defense gives you and not force your way into what you thought you were going to have before the game started. I think, don't get me wrong, I'm much more happy with this offense than I was last year, the year before. You know that, Amy.

We thought about that several times. Right. But there's still some things that they can clean up. And I think that red zone offense is the one thing that I'm really concerned about moving forward. It is interesting though that this season we're seeing decidedly fewer plays that are designed runs for Lamar.

And that to me, you're talking about strategic. That seems strategic not only to keep your quarterback healthy who finished the last two years completely banged up. But even as he goes over 5,000 yards rushing in so few games, still you want him to have a much longer life in the NFL.

I do want him to have a much longer life in the NFL. But Lamar Jackson was drafted in the first round, back in the first round no doubt. He was the first round's rapid because of his ability to run. Don't take away what makes him special.

Don't overthink it. That's what makes him special. When you take that away, I think he's a good passer. But what makes Lamar Jackson special is that ability to run the football. If I'm a DB and I'm 15, 20 yards down field and I got to keep up with Zay Flowers and Odell Beckham Jr. Well I got to keep up with them while having an eye also on Lamar Jackson. That's difficult. You played basketball. You played ball and man defense in basketball. We had to do that on the football field. That's not easy to do.

It's not. So when Lamar grounds himself or strategically they ground him, you take away an element of the offense that no one else in the national football league has. So I don't want him to get to the point where they stripped that away from him in the Ravens offense and Lamar is no longer special. Remember last year when we were talking about the receivers that Lamar Jackson had and no one had more than two years of experience, right?

So he was the most experienced guy and he's still in his mid-twenties. So adding Zay Flowers who was a first round pick, he's starting now to find his footing. But they've also got a Nelson Aguilar and a Rashad Bateman. Of course adding Odell Beckham Jr. Now these are, I mean Odell was a number one receiver, but we're not talking about guys that are going to blow you away. But I do like the fact that they've got some experience because you also have a couple of rookies in there like a Keaton Mitchell as well who's had a couple of great games this last month. These guys, they have reliable receivers.

I can't tell you the last time I've been able to say that. They have reliable receivers. They have receivers that will go and make a play for Lamar. Receivers that don't need the ball put on their numbers all the time. There were a couple of catches last night that were made where you saw receivers go up and Bateman went up and got the ball out of the air on the slant route. These guys are reliable receivers and I know Lamar, it's so much easier throwing a football when there's not the pressure of having to throw the perfect pass every time. And he's throwing a lot more perfect passes than he has the pass.

But I think a lot of that is the freedom knowing that I'm going to throw it in this area and these guys are going to make a play for me. Rob, before I ask you anything else, did you see, I'm sure that you did, but maybe other people did not catch it, that Zay Flowers was trying to explain his touchdown celebration to Lamar Jackson. It was about throwing the bouquet at a wedding reception. And Lamar was having nothing up. He was having none up.

Lamar wanted nothing to do with it. He actually gave him a face and turned and walked away. Like, dude, what are you doing? And so it made me laugh.

He said something to the effect, you got to practice that. Well, considering that I'm getting married in not even three weeks, it caught my attention. I thought, OK, that's funny that a bunch of dudes would come up with that as their their touchdown celebration. How many people can take a run for the bouquet at your wedding? Oh, I mean, there's going to be a fair number. Well, it's a pretty small group, but a fair number of like single women. So I wouldn't be surprised.

They might run from it, though, not wanting to be in the spotlight. OK, so before I let you go, then they're going into their bye at nine and three. That division obviously is still really good, even though it's seen quarterback iterations and a bunch of injuries. What are your impressions of the AFC North through these 12 weeks? First of all, they're going into the body, winning six of the last seven games.

You've got to love that. You know, that's that's not ignoring the winning stick to the last seven. The AFC North is a bunch of, you know, quarterbacks is not going to get it done. Cincinnati Bengals are going to fall. They have no quarterback. The Browns may have once to a quarterback that they had start the game yesterday, and I wasn't impressed with that group. The Pittsburgh Steelers. They're the only two teams in the national in the AFC North to have their opening day starting quarterback.

And I'm not impressed with picking. It's going to come down to the quarterback in this division and and also coaching. And for that reason, the Pittsburgh Steelers will come in here week 18 with a chance to either get into the playoffs or win the AFC North because it's Mike Tomlin. I mean, I just are we going to stop acting like Mike Tomlin? Is it Mike Tomlin?

Not me. All he does is win. That's all he does. And because of that, he's going to find himself in position to get into the postseason. And we gave team like I said, I don't know whether they have to win it to get in. Well, they may be in the position to win the AFC North.

I don't know. I think I'm thinking more in line. They'll be in a wildcard position because I don't think they'll be able to run with the Ravens over the next, what, five weeks or so five games. But I think you have to playoff teams from this division because I don't think much of the Browns right now.

That's a ship sinking. I think the bingo that ship has sailed already for the season. Yeah, it's unfortunate because of the quarterback injuries are affecting teams all over. But one thing is is sure is if you keep your quarterback upright and healthy. Well, then you can separate yourself unless you are the Buffalo Bills, who I can't even explain them right now. It's funny with so many rules to protect the quarterback.

So many quarterbacks are still getting hurt. Right. Right.

Half the NFL is dealing with so many rules to protect them. And it's still not working. All right. You can find Rob on Twitter. He's fired up. He's passionate.

Already had his coffee and he's drinking the purple Kool-Aid with the Ravens. So at Rob along sports and then on the big bad morning show getting set for their turn talking about Sunday Night Football. Great to have you. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. I think you said the name of my show so much because of that time I didn't know the name of yours. Well, because I just want to point out that professionals actually do know the name of the show that their host, their guests are coming from. I mean, just want to make sure we're on the same page here, Rob.

I would never call my show The Amy Lauren Show. All right. Talk soon.

And good luck and God bless you for your wedding. Thank you, Rob. I'm Snoop Dogg and I'm giving up smoke. I know what you're thinking. Snoop, smoke is kind of your whole thing. But I'm done with it.

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