John Harbaugh entering massive make-or-break year as Baltimore Ravens head coach

the Baltimore Ravens 2024 season is just 2 days away and it's a big one for John Harbaugh we talk about why and so much more coming up next year on this episode of lockdown [Music] Ravens you are locked on Ravens your daily Baltimore Ravens podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome into another edition of locked on Ravens your daily Baltimore Ravens podcast I'm your host Kevin ostriker Ravens wire here with you on the lockon podcast Network your team every day thank you so much for being here making lockon Ravens your first listen each and every day and a part of your day in general free and available for you always on all podcasting platforms that includes in video form on YouTube where you can like And subscribe to the channel and also you can tune into to us in audio form or you can follow along wherever you get your favorite podcast today's episode of lockon ravens is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account use code lock on NFL for $20 off first purchase turns apply download game time today what time is it game time we are so close to the Baltimore Ravens 2024 season kicking off two days away two days we have all the coverage you need here on lockon Ravens so if you're an everyday thank you for tuning in every single day if you're new to the channel welcome in hopefully you enjoy and if you're somewhere in the middle welcome back in we have lot to talk about the Ravens face off against Kansas City in Kansas City in a couple of days but there are some other story lines to dive into and kind of with the way content goes and just the content schedule hadn't had a chance to talk about this yet but wanted to at least get the conversation out especially because I think I promised I was going to do it at some point in the offseason right before the year and now is the perfect time to do so and that's about John Harbaugh I think it's a big gear for John Harbo I think it's a make a break here for John Harbor talk about why in the first part of the show when we will have the uh ever so riveting John Harbaugh conversation which I think there are many different sides of but then in the second part of the show we'll start diving a bit more specifically into the Ravens and Chiefs matchup some big storylines for the game in general and then finally we'll be diving into another National Media Take by Stephen A Smith and just talking about that a little bit because it was about Lamar Jackson and kind of the teams that he has had around him we can actually relate this back to an interview that we did over the weekend so I want kind of dive into that conversation as well so John Harbaugh this is a make or break year in my opinion for him now I want to lay out my opinion of him and if you've been in every day if you've been with me for a while on lockdown Ravens you know my stance on John Hara I think John Harbaugh is a good coach I think that good things need to come to an end sometimes and I think that in other situations there are other ways that you know things can can go John Harbaugh has had a great run and I think that there are other opportunities for him this season look if he if he leavs this team to a Super Bowl that that that's great but there are other things that need to happen here because look let's face it if John Harbaugh you know doesn't get the job done in Baltimore it's a poor year he ends up getting let go and there's there's a parting of ways and whatnot there'd be 15 teams lining about the door to get him as their head coach I think he's that respected across the league I think he is that good of a coach but so it's it's going to be a matter of how far can he take this team because at this point the playoff success right last year was a good step in the right direction right I thought that was good but there are other underlying things with harbu such as some of the decisions he has made you know some of the ways the game plans have gone in the playoffs right he's certainly not excused from that we know there are a lot of people to blame for that Harbaugh is not the only one but Harbaugh is certainly one of them and for this Ravens team that has not been back to the Super Bowl since that 2012 2013 season despite being pretty competitive in most years it it's almost a matter of how they've lost in the playoffs as opposed to them losing in general where you know if they went out there played their best game had you know moments and they played to their strengths this might be a bit of a different conversation but some of those underlying things that we have seen from John Harbaugh I think they they concern people and they have had people go out on John Harbaugh my thing is I'm not in one camp or the other in terms of you know should they move on or should they not this season has to play out first right I can't give you a definitive answer until the season ends but if this ends in a wild card loss if this ends in a divisional round loss I'm sure people would even make the the argument if it was an AFC Championship loss I don't know if I'm going to go that far because I'm not sure the Ravens would if they do make it back to the championship game but look if it's a disappointing season they can't get the job done I mean look who who are they gonna who are they gonna get rid of because I think at that point A Change Would have to be made and are they going to get rid of the first year defensive coordinator are they G to get rid of the secondy Year offensive coordinator they've already done that the past two seasons right both their coordinators have left and it's obviously for different reasons right Greg Roman gets let go mik McDonald ends up going to Seattle but again you're going to place all the blame on a first year defensive coordinator and kind of say hey all right you're you're done or a secondary offensive coordinator and say okay we're done here at that point something would have to change so this is a makeer break here for John Harbaugh in my opinion look we can go back and look I I have the stats right here for you in terms of John Harbaugh and what he's done over the course of his Ravens career since taking over in 2008 it it it really is incredible it's 100 72 wins including the playoffs 160 regular season in 12 in the playoffs he's obviously a Super Bowl champion and since 2008 the third most wins in the NFL over that span he has the most wins in Baltimore Ravens history for coach surpassing Brian bilck and the success is there the resume is there for John Harbaugh but in the playoffs recently particularly in the Lamar Jackson era but look again this team they just made their first AFC championship game since that 2012 2013 season right it had been a while and they did it they did it that is why I am a big I'm a big proponent of growth and I have I've had this same take for probably two three maybe even four years now that I've said at the before the start of every single season you know it's it's really important for growth from a developmental standpoint from player standpoint coach whatever it may be but also is where you finish in the standings and how you do in the playoffs so let's just go through Lamar Jackson's 10 year first year in 2018 rookie Lamar Jackson Right comes in for Joe Flaco and he gets injured they make the playoffs they get in there and they lose in the Wild Card round all right first year okay second year 2019 they go 14- two have a great season and losing the divisional round in pretty disappointing fashion right again not saying it wasn't a big deal because it was but second year Lamar Jackson you know is disappointing but you move on okay not great but still third year you end up getting over that pump and you know actually making it to the divisional round but you do it on your own maror you beat tennessy in the wild card so that's great right you do it your own way but then you lose to Buffalo and you're like all right that's growth right divisional round you get the buy and you lose well you get a playoff one under your belt the next year that's great obviously the next season injuries were big and Ravens missed the playoffs right they they just weren't good enough with Lamar out they missed them then the next year Lamar misses the end of the year again the Ravens do get in the playoffs they go to Cincinnati and Tyler Huntley fumbles the game away so two years without Lamar Jackson so too disappointing right that's a step back but you look at the injury situation with Lamar and you're like you're like all right fine like okay so then the next year comes around and the Ravens obviously do what they do they have a great year you know they go 13 and four they get the they get the one seed but we're now on year seven of Lamar Jackson right I think we can all agree they held on the Greg Roman for a little too long this Ravens organization is very loyal I would rather have an organization be very loyal than not loyal at all I think that is one of their better qualities but it can also haunt them at times it can't but if there are these other things again that happened this season where the game management is off or and again people are going to do this this season because I think it is such a strong topic where after two disappointing exits in both 2019 and 2023 EV there's there is a bunch of people and you know I'm sure that you know there are people on both sides listening to this right now there are some people who are like you know I don't care get him out of here there are also some people who are like he's a great coach keep him for forever both those things right we're not going to know what side he lands on until after the season right nothing is happening during the season unless they go like one and eight and even then I don't know what they would do but to me everything John Harbaugh does this season is under a microscope for both good and for bad right I think it's a good thing and a bad thing right I don't think it's necessarily okay if John Harbaugh misuses one time out here it's like oh fire him get him out of here right that I think is a little might be a little overboard but if he makes a mistake of course we're gonna hold him accountable here we have done that before we're not going to stop doing that but if he has a good game we're gonna of course tell we're gonna talk about it we're gonna talk about it the AFC is tough the Ravens are in a tough division it's really hard to win a Super Bowl right Harbaugh has one it's hard to do that and he still is somebody that you cannot deny his impact as a players coach either that's the other big thing to me is if you get rid of John Harbor after the season whether it's due of disappointment or whatever it is you have to be sure you have somebody who was at least as good if not better than him because if you downgrade in the coaching Department that's a loss for you that's a loss right we can have different conversations on what that coach would look like but we're talking months and months and months and months from now right if the Ravens start slow they start I don't know and I I know it's a different level of okay what is a slow start to some people if the Raven start one and four that'd be a really bad start two and three even is probably pretty slow right they start slow that conversation gets louder and louder and louder again I'd be shocked if something happened mid-season with him but the Ravens could also have a situation they go four- one but again none of it matters when they get to the playoffs doesn't matter your early start mid end of season once it gets to the playoffs that's when it starts that is what John Harbaugh is being judged on this year that is what Lamar Jackson is being judged on this year that is what this team is being judged on this year the Ravens are being judged on their playoff performance that's all everybody's going to talk about and honestly probably rightfully so in a lot of aspects where we know the Ravens are a good regular season team they are historically a good regular season team they they've had their success in the playoffs too right don't get me wrong but with the way the Lamar Jackson tenure has panned out we know they can get the job done we know they can get into the playoffs but what do you do in the playoffs that is going to be what John Harbaugh is judged on this season when it comes to his future with the Ravens moving forward but it's coming up in the second part of the show we're going to be talking about out Ravens and Chiefs big story lines Thursday Night Football opening game of the season stay T plenty to talk about here on the show first the show is brought to you by FanDuel you've heard us talk a lot about FanDuel America's number one sports book and like I love going on FanDuel looking at all they have to offer we have something a little different for you now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 you get a threee feed trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV then with YouTube TV Bas plan you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon at a market game all you need is a Google account and the current form of payment you can cancel anytime Ravens and Chiefs they opened up the Ravens that is is two and a half Point underdogs on FanDuel that is now moved to three the rav is now three-o underdogs against the Kanas City Chiefs so if you like that line head over to FanDuel just visit fanduel.com download America's number one Sportsbook we return our second segment locked on Ravens Kevin AER still here with you on this Taco Tuesday two days away from the Ravens opening game against the Kansas City Chiefs appreciate everybody for being here today making lock on Ravens a part of your day your first listen each and every day be sure to make your second list in lockon fantasy football where experts across our Network bring you all the Insight you need to know to win your fantasy leagues we're doing a ton of lock on Ravens fantasy leagues I'm up to I believe 19 or 20 now I have a lot of them still some spots available and some so if you're interested again just message me over on Twitter Instagram wherever and uh if there are still spots left we can wear something out but fantasy football really exciting what else is really exciting is that football is back it's in the air you can kind of feel the temperature dropping a little bit depending on where you are obviously right but man it's just it feels like it's in the air and that to me it's just it's the feeling that I absolutely love and I'm sure that everybody watching listening today you absolutely love it too and I'm I'm right there with you but this game against Kansas City is a huge tone Setter for the season now let let me let me get some stuff out of the way at the start of this segment as well if the Ravens win this game they're not guaranteed to win the Super Bowl if the Ravens lose this game their season is not over right I'm not putting too much stock into a week one game but I ended up talking yesterday on the Kansas City Sports Network with with Haley Lewis and you know I I gave my Ravens perspective on the game and in that segment I said well look September games you don't want to overreact to those right you know it's early season teams are getting things right I generally give it two months I give it two months to establish because some things are Trends other things are not you got to establish and kind of work through what is a trend and what is just an early season hiccup but you know when we look no one talks about September Games in September right it's like oh it's early season you know when we do talk about September Games in December that's when we talk about September Games when teams are fighting for playoffs spots teams are fighting for seeding for division crowns whatever it may be we talk about losses we do it every single year because in September yes it's true you don't want to overreact to a loss or a win in September that's not the final team you're going to see in December but you're going to see it on the final record in December you're going to see a win or a loss in the final record so you know regular season games they each have meaning to me they each do I try not to get too caught up in each one but every single one has meeting regardless September October November December whichever month you want to put in at all of them are going to show show up on the record all of them so you got to be able to set a tone and I think some of the biggest story lines here for the Ravens and Chiefs this time around and again we'll get to this over the course of the next couple of days is first of all can the Ravens slow down Pion momes in that offense we know the Ravens did it in the AFC Championship game and that's kind of crazy to say right because of how the game started but M Mike McDonald in that defense allowed zero points in the second half to Kansas City The Raven still lost somehow but again zero points in the second half to Kansas City that's impressive that's really really impressive so to me there's a lot of different things that you can talk about because I I I mean the Chiefs went through some losses the Ravens went through some losses but the Chiefs also added a lot of speed the Ravens added some power in Derek Henry how do the Ravens defend that speed though before we talk about the Ravens offense let let's continue talking about the Chiefs in their offense Maris Brown not gonna play in this game so that is a break for the Ravens right I think that that was a really good signing by Kansas City I think he's gonna have an impact for them this season but it's about Xavier worthy now obviously Rashid rice he's going to be on the field for him here but then other than that it's about stopping Travis Kelce who I don't think was 100% healthy last season really throughout the entire year but then it's okay judor mster who's back in Kansas City Justin Watson Sky Moore those are your guys if you and look this is much easier set than done right but if you can shut down Travis Kelce shut down rasid rice shut down Xavier worthy that makes the Chiefs one-dimensional in the Run game what ran Smith said was hey shut down the Run game make them one dimensional that was not a shot at momes not a shot at the offense saying oh we're not worried of course everybody's worried about pck Mahomes but it is factual that if you can take away one element of an offense it makes it a lot harder for that offense to succeed much like we saw hey does this sound familiar to you in the AFC Championship game when the Chiefs eliminated the Ravens ground game and guess what happened they fell flat on their face that is one of the key elements and I've been preaching that for years on this show is make it make an opposing offense onedimensional make it onedimensional even if they're strong in the past game like the Chiefs are we know momes is is that dude but if you can take away Pacho you can take away that running game it gives them one less option and it gives the Ravens one less thing to worry about so that's to me is really effective and important and stuff we talk about the Ravens offense where what will make that running game so effective for the Ravens if they can do it well so they can work the play action game off of that and if they do that well they can work the Run game off of that it all goes hand in hand here another big storyline is the loss for the Chiefs of lerus Sneed who obviously played a really big role for them and is a stud punched the ball out of Z flower's hands as he was diving in the end zone in the AFC Championship Game essentially turned that game fully in the chief's favor once that happened I think the game was pretty much over then but he's gone now he's in Tennessee so now it's Trent McDuffy and a bunch of other younger cornerbacks in that room that are going to be relied upon to step up and there's a lot of uncertainty there they're talented guys they are talented but it's one of the bigger question marks of can they step up for a full season without lerus need there in a graduated bigger role so for a team that has Z flowers and I'm sure mcduffy's gonna get his fair share on him but then it's Rashad baitman Nelson agar and then you know can Mark Andrew and as likely take advantage of those matchups you you know guys like Nick Bolton Drew tranquil those guys Leo Chanel those are linebackers and also with the safeties Justin Reed Brian cook those are players in that secondary that Baltimore's pass catching weapons are going to have to take advantage of want to talk about a big story line let's talk about the big boys up front offensive line for the Ravens man they're gonna have their hands full with Chris Jones I'll tell you that George caraus Charles manue not playing in this game he's not going to be back for a little bit after tearing his ACL and that game against Baltimore but man Chris Jones against whatever guard starts it appears the unofficial depth chart has fele there we'll see that that's a really tough matchup and I don't think it's going to go very well for being honest I think that he's going to lose that pretty hard and I think it's going to cause issues for the Ravens offense now I think they can overcome it but um look it's going to take a little while for this offensive line I think by the end of the season they'll be fine but we have to be realistic and say this is 60% new starters lender ball missed most of training camp they're going to have some continuity things they have to work out and and that's just it's probably a fact so you know can the Ravens block for Lamar Jackson effectively enough can they block for Derrick Henry effectively enough open up rushing Lanes protect a quarterback that's one of the biggest story lines for me and then can the Ravens pass rush do some stuff right I mean look let's just I actually was going to mention this in the third segment but since we're talking about the pass rush Justin matab is no longer Justin matab he changed his name to namdi which is his Nigerian given name which is Awesome by the way I I love that so it's namdi matab now which we saw this with adaf o when he came out of school he was going by Jason Jason O but adaf changed his name to adaf or I guess not even change he just decided to go by adaf just just like Justin matab is now going by Nami manab but look you got Nami manab out there you got Travis Jones Michael Pearson that interior those three especially matab can they get off to a strong start with ITA o David jaabo kyoi can they get pressure off the edge make pator Mahomes uncomfortable we know Mahomes much like Lamar's a wizard when he scrambles right they can both make plays happen but don't let Mahomes just sit there and pick you apart right get pressure make a move that to me is really important as well so just there there are so many things that can turn the tides in favor of either team Ravens and Chiefs I think is going to be an awesome awesome matchup overall come up with the final part of the show Stephen A Smith we talk about these National takes and of course they are not slowing down anytime soon with the season here had a pretty wild Lamar Jackson take we'll talk about that some of the teams Lamar Jackson has had around him and so much more come up next year on lockdown Ravens first the show is brought to you by game time I love going to Live Events no matter what kind so whether it's Sports Music Theater comedy I have a ton of awesome memories and I like go to a couple of year to make new memories as well now game time has a new feature called Game Time picks that makes getting tickets to your favorite sply of events even easier game time filters out that fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands 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time today what time is it game time and this show is sponsored by better help and there are so many things that I would love to learn now as an adult I don't necessarily have the time always to go and learn new things as often as I'd like and even some things maybe I knew in childhood that I knew but don't really know anymore I'd love to kind of get that back but you know kids they're always learning and grown but as adults sometimes we lose that Curiosity and you know there are plenty of things that a lot of people would like to learn maybe it's gardening maybe it's a new language maybe it's how to finally beat your best friend and bowling therapy can help you reconnect with your sense of wonder because you're back to school era can come at any age now therapy has so many benefits whether it's learning positive coping skills how to sit back Reon can Empower you to become the best version of yourself and is just for those who experienced major trauma it's for everyone if you're 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all available to you however you want to watch or listen to the show if you have a friend or a family member who also is a Ravens fan wants some daily Ravens coverage five days a week we go live after every single Ravens game piece of big news we'll have Game Day episodes on Sundays this year we have so much coming your way so really appreciate again all the support here on the show now don't don't we love these National takes don't don't we love them don't don't we just love these Stephen A Smith on First Take had had one of these it was a pretty interesting take and brought another quarterback into this scenario and that is Matthew Stafford now of the no he was of the Detroit Lions he is now of the Los Angeles Rams excuse me there but he was talking about Stephen A was talking about Matthew Stafford's Detroit days that's where I got it mixed up I was ready to go One Direction went the other one but yes Matthew Stafford now with the Rams but he played for Detroit for a while and Stephen A talked about Lamar and the teams that Lamar has had around him versus the teams that Matt Stafford had around him in Detroit and Stephen A ended up saying well look if you got to start a team around you like Matthew Stafford after 12 years we able to appreciate your greatness and say that's not on you we have't able to say that about Lamar Jackson now the reason that this is wild right the reason why you know this is like okay what's going on here well you know in Detroit Matt Stafford didn't have a ton but there was one guy you might have heard of him before nicknamed Megatron Calvin Johnson right he he was kind of good wasn't he he was kind of good Matt Stafford had Calvin Johnson had him for a while now you know he also had other weapons like Brandon pedig who you know other I can't even name you most of his weapons in Detroit back in the day like obviously I know who they are but I just off the top of my mind right now recording this late I couldn't tell you so I hear what he's saying in ter terms of like well the outside of Calvin Johnson type deal there wasn't really a lot but Lamar Jackson has not had anywhere close close to a player like Megatron like Calvin Johnson now you can argue hey you know that Mark Andrews that guy is pretty good and absolutely he is z flowers right he's there but you know early on in his career you know with Mark being there right he's the he's the longstanding beacon but like Seth Roberts will he need Dez Bryant Sammy Watkins like these are guys that these are guys we're talking about as number twos number threes even sometimes like number ones when guys went down like yes Maris Brown had a solid three years with the ratings he did before he got traded he had he had a good three years but it's about filling in the gaps and if you want to take the okay well Calvin Johnson is like all the way up here like incredible one of the best wide receivers of all time Mark Andrews is awesome but Mark Andrews is a lot of tiers below Calvin Johnson in terms of pass catching weapon AB not even ability but just like rankings you know resume whatever you want to say now the other part is you know Stephen A talked about the defenses Lamar has had and that's a valid point Lamar has had great defenses I think Lamar would have a lot worse of a win loss record if his defense wasn't what it has been now that doesn't mean he's had that 2023 historic defense every single season but more often than not Lamar's defenses has they've been good Detroit had terrible defenses and I get it but the main point here is well Calvin Johnson just kind of like he's just eliminates everything like he's all the way up there and then when Matt Stafford you know there were even still conversations about Matt Stafford when he was like okay well you're not gonna win anything gotta go somewhere else he goes to Los Angeles and he wins but then Stephen A also talks about how you know Lam more has you know less of an excuse to not handle business in the playoffs he says quote it ain't about playoff appearances anymore with Lamar Jackson it's about one dude that repeatedly stands in your way his name is Patrick Mahomes Mahomes is in Lamar's way Mahomes is the guy you gotta beat he's the guy you gotta Circle but I mean again this the I have never seen a game eraser like we have seen with Lamar Jackson in the Texans divisional playoff game like yes we can be honest Chiefs game was 10 times more important but you had to beat the Texans to get to where you were there to have the chance to have that important game so I mean look Mahomes there are a lot of players that can't beat Mahomes right there are a lot of guys who haven't beat Mahomes in the playoffs Lamar is not this like exception where everybody else can beat Pastor Mahomes and Lamar Camp that's not what we're talking about here we're talking about a quarterback that you know momes already has a Hall of Fame level resume it's not even close a lot of guys can't beat the Chiefs a lot of guys haven't beat the Chiefs this is not a Lamar only issue but to say Lamar you know they're not going to let him off the hook because oh you know he's had this team around him for years we've been talking about the lack of weapons around Lamar Jackson where he didn't get a Calvin Johnson he didn't get a Stefan Diggs a DeAndre Hopkins uh an AJ Brown he didn't get any of those guys Marque Andre has been great but that's not a wide receiver that other guys have had so I get the point of the defenses I understand it where he has had good teams around him right he has the Ravens have done a decent job roster building outside of wide receiver and that's great but to sit here and say that he's you know you can't say it about Lamar but you can say it about Matt Stafford and other guys it's like okay well Lamar hasn't had a Calvin Johnson so what are we talking about here so these are the tapes we're going to hear about these are the tapes we're going to see I'm not shocked we're going to hear them throughout the the entire season we hear them all offseason as well of course we'll talk about them we'll analyze him here on the show and of course talk more Ravens with you all year long that's all I have for here today on lock on Ravens thank you so much for tuning in again be sure to subscribe follow along video form and audio form truly does mean a lot coming up tomorrow more Ravens content is we're going to be even closer to opening night stay tuned to see you right back here tomorrow on lockon Ravens