Kevin Bowen breaks down Colts vs. Ravens

Nigel (0:01)

My name is Nigel, Jason Hammer is here, final score of that Colts game, 41 to 23 Colts lose a horrible home opener to the Ravens. And man, oh man, I did not have fun watching that game. I had fun watching the first of the series, the opening drive, and you were there, Hammer. Did you have fun at that game?

Jason Hammer (0:21)

I had some beers before the game.

I saw a touchdown to give us the lead. And then after that, the wheels fell off, baby.

Nigel (0:31)

In typical Colts fashion, right after that first touchdown, the kicker missed the extra point.

Jason Hammer (0:37)

Kevin Bowen, who does the morning show on 107.5 The Fan, joins us.

And KB, like we've been crapping all over the defense, rightfully so, and we'll do that during this conversation. But special teams was not good either from that missed extra point. And then the kickoff almost gets ran back to the house. It was a complete debacle yesterday.

Kevin Bowen (1:01)

An abomination. I'm glad you had some alcohol to enjoy.

I was searching for some in the old press box there. Yeah.

Honestly, one of the more pitiful performances I've seen from the Colts in quite some time. And I think the context around that is home opener. You know, after all this off season of higher sense of urgency and five years without the playoff and seven straight losses to end last season and Baltimore's got this new coaching staff and you've got this continuity, the Colts have all 22 starters healthy. Like it wasn't supposed to look like that. And you know, in the NFL world, guys, that was an ass kicking. Like NFL teams don't come into another stadium, win by 18 with 10 penalties. That's the only thing that stopped Baltimore all day long was one of their best players got hurt at halftime and they had a million penalties.

Jason Hammer (1:50)

Yeah, and defensively, there were no answers, right?

The linebacking corps was awful in the off season. They drafted this kid from Georgia that was supposed to be the replacement for Zaire Franklin. He didn't see the field yesterday. Let's focus a little bit on the linebacking corps. What is going on here?

Kevin Bowen (2:13)

Yeah, I didn't think I'd be uttering the phrase of you miss Zaire Franklin, but you clearly did miss Zaire Franklin.

Yeah, obviously, CJ. Allen, the rookie out of Georgia who's been a little banged up in the off season. Yeah, I kind of warned our listeners leading to the game. I wasn't expecting him to play much, really very little if at all, but I was still fun to see him get zero snaps, especially in a blowout. Usually, you empty the bench and again, the NFL game, you're only dressing 53 guys. It's not like you're putting in a walk on and you're trying to get all them in the game. The other alarming thing is one of the linebackers they did start, Jalen Carlis, he played 42 snaps yesterday, and he had as many tackles as Hammer.

Jason Hammer (2:54)

Oh no, that's not good.

Nigel (2:58)

I heard Hammer tackled his wife after the game. I'm not sure. Hammer might have one or two up on him.

Kevin Bowen (3:05)

So when you get the old goose egg there in the old tackle department from the linebacker position, obviously, it's an awful day.

That is an area of real concern just because there's not a lot of experience there. You didn't really invest any in it. And that is one thing that you don't think you can just chalk up to and say, oh, that's a week one, you know, slot that away in week one and it'll be a different story moving forward.

Jason Hammer (3:29)

So after the game, I posted on social media, fire everyone. And I know people will say, oh, that's an immediate reaction. You need to calm down a little bit. But here's the thing, KB, I am a paid season ticket holder. I don't sit in the press box. I don't sit up there and have the media nachos and the media hot dogs anymore. Those days are done. I want to be a drunken fan. And I was told in the off season by Carly Earthsay that this organization is going to be better. They understand what the expectations are. You had a full off season for the Baltimore Ravens. You knew they were going to run the ball. It's Derek Henry and Lamar Jackson. They had over 200 yards on the ground. It was a disgusting effort. They were being booed in their own building. I think that warrants the conversation, at least, of somebody losing a job. Is that fair?