The Ravens Knew Tua Tagovailoa Was No Michael Penix

Let's move on to the Sunday night game. And this was a thriller. And it was funny because I had a text group that I was talking to some of the people during the game. And I had this like budding conspiracy theory that the NFL doesn't allow ties in these moments. And we've seen like weird situations where all of a sudden like a game will just get whacked or railroaded by a really weird call. And you're like, oh, someone wanted to get to Matlock or Law & Order SVU pretty quickly. But the Ravens escape, and I put escape in air quotes, 30-23 over the Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta was red hot, again, to start this game. Falcons were a good team, man. I think we had a race the first two weeks for our memory banks. Atlanta's a good team. Atlanta's a good team. Michael Penix threw for 240 yards in this one. Passer rating of 93. Drake London was a beast and has been a beast. Effectively, almost all of Michael Penix's starts. And while Bijan didn't have, I mean, 86 yards is still great. I mean, a lot of teams, the Eagles. Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people would take Bijan Robinson's down game, which was, I'm looking at it right now. 86 rushing yards. Yeah. 118 yards from scrimmage on 21 touches. Right. And, you know, but the more that Penix is in the game, the fewer heavy boxes the Falcons are going to see. And Penix is doing a great job of stretching the field. And I think that there's no better example than this. So, Tua Tagovailoa had to come in at the end of this game because Penix took a shot. And so Tua is piloting this team in overtime to try to lead them down the field to score a game-tying touchdown. And Chris Collinsworth pointed this out that the Falcons ran essentially the same play that they ran earlier in the game. And what Penix was able to do was kind of look off Kyle Hamilton in a situation and throw the ball in a different direction. Kyle Hamilton, when the play was run again, was looking at Tua and he's saying, i know you're not throwing it to anybody but drake may or uh i'm sorry drake london um and so he's like i'm just gonna park myself right here and i know this is where you're throwing the ball because i know you're not as good as michael pennix and that's exactly what happened it's it's unfortunate because Pennix is playing so well um and i thought he was even a little bit more confident using his legs in this game and he just looked a little bit freer in general um yeah i think but it's the durability thing like it just it sucks you know it bites you and i think Tommy Reese has done a really nice job of building the offense great job you know and like i just and you're right like the way he's spreading the ball around the way like it just feels like all five guys are eligible and and what they would tell you what his coaches would tell you is like his superpower i remember Jeff Albrecht saying this like and Albrecht made this comment to last year's staff right like so when Raheem and Zach Robinson was the OC when those guys were all still there like he said like I can't believe this kid's vision you know I can't believe he's seeing the things that he's seeing and so I think like what you're seeing here now is a guy who can have all five guys alive on every play and that's like that can that can really do a number on a defense and what they're able to do to you when they know that they have to cover every inch of grass in the field and that he's already there in year three is great you know like so um and it just sucks that like i mean like what did they say after the game now i missed that i i looked like ribs maybe or something like that yeah was that what it was yeah he took a shot to the ribs yeah but did i say like i don't know i don't know if there's any official on that yet but um but yeah i mean it's it's hopefully not serious um because obviously this has been a huge problem for him going back to college and the ACL he's had three ACL tears and this is always the question with them and i think you know part of it is like he's not unathletic but he's not the greatest mover in the pocket if that makes sense you know like he he's straight line fast but he's kind of clunky back there like he kind of plays in a little bit of like a seven on seven way where he's not all that elusive inside like the tight confines of the pocket which i think is why he takes so many of these hits yeah no i agree i mean you can see that there's there's definitely a clunkiness to it um on the flip side for baltimore you know i don't know what you what you want to assign blame to David Blau in washington i don't know again i think i've arrived at the fact that this is a jayden issue but you know we have the davis webb thing where he was already changed out as a play caller and we'll get to that but Declan Doyle is another one of these young guys you're probably not going to be there for very long and you know but this is a game where you're watching all the other young play callers kind of go through their growing pains he goes out and beats a red hot Falcons team with an aces call for a two point conversion at the end of that game that was great that was dude the fake jet the fake jet to Dave Flowers like yeah hell yeah and you know what like here's the other thing The ball handling on that's not easy. No, and they almost messed it up, too. Right, and Derrick Henry being capable of doing the ball handling. And yeah, you saw he bobbled it a little bit. But the ball handling on that play is not easy for somebody who doesn't play quarterback. And so just being ready with that call in that situation and Henry coming downhill with the defense getting stretched horizontally because Zay Flowers is coming across, it's like a relatively simple idea that was executed so well and now all of a sudden you got like this 250 pound force of nature running in space and all he needs is two yards and it was over it was maybe it's an awesome call and it's great like to like it's not just having that call because it's not like that's the most novel thing in the world but it's like holding on to it for that situation too you know what i mean oh yeah like being like knowing like and that's a feel thing it's a really good sign for a first-time play caller you know because i'm sure there are other situations when he's been tempted to pull that out you know well it's funny too because everyone's like derrick henry can't run in short yardage derrick henry can't run in short yards yes a bigger and i'm putting slow in air quotes here a bigger less you know he's not um he's not as quick to the hole which allows for penetration to yeah you said it uh that's what she said um but the um you know him the way that his body's constructed it's not just like turning handed off to him at the goal line it doesn't make sense you get him the ball in a gun run in space like at the goal line forget about it like that you're not stopping you know and so i think that was was was a great thing to just sort of break up that idiotic uh storyline The Ravens, they are surviving these games. They're winning these games. And it's so weird, Albert, because John Harbaugh goes to the Giants with the track record of losing these games and changes their fortune. And then the Ravens, under Jesse Minter, change the Harbaugh fortune and start winning these games down the stretch. It's wild. They're a real Super Bowl contender. I think so. Lamar is playing so well, and it's a shame he's hurt. and i think their ability to win a game like this without him is great you know what i mean like awesome awesome awesome um you know kyle hamilton making the play that he did the defense playing the way um that it was able to play at the end of that game not perfect through the game but at the end of that game um and i think like you know this is like one of the reasons why john harbaugh got fired because they thought so highly of that roster you know um last year and i remember like last year was we haven't had this is one of the best rosters we've had the last 25 years and that like level of expectation fair or not i think it's part of what got john last year and now i think you're seeing it right like i you know i'm just you know looking at at the like malachi starks is is starting to come and come into his own kyle hamilton roquan smith it's like just hitting on all of these nate wiggins is becoming a really good player at corner we know what zay flowers is It's just, you know, Vega Ione is becoming like an important offensive lineman for them. They'll have Cam Jurgens coming back. It's, it's just like hitting on all of these picks over the years. It's a really good team. And I think like sometimes the change in voice can help, um, regardless of how much somebody's accomplished. And I think Jesse's done a really nice job of coming in there and giving them a fresh perspective while still maintaining the bones of the Harbaugh program, which were good. Snoop Huntley by the way threw some darts in this one uh an ideal backup too for Lamar you know what i mean like i know and i was down on it to be honest with you i thought they could have upgraded a little bit better and yeah their relationship is so i mean you saw it they were communicating constantly on the sideline but like he threw some great balls uh on sunday and you can see like Lamar was like genuinely genuinely excited for him you know what i mean like there was no i mean i was it was cool watching that but i think like Huntley allows for you you don't need to change much when you put Tyler Huntley in there you know yeah so shout out to Snoop