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Welcome to Good Morning Football.

Look at this.

We are all at the breakfast table today, along with Isaiah Standback, Rashad Jennings,

and longtime guest, first-time co-host, Tehran Armstead.

My name is MJ Ocaser-Ruiz.

Let's start the show.

Good morning, everybody. You know, we haven't done a fantastic job of being bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, when it's dark and early in Los Angeles. But here we go. That is our job. Hey, Toronto, one hour down. Are you Yeah, feeling great. A wait? Yeah, I'm good.

Let's roll.

Fantastic. He said it. Let's roll. Let's get to the lead block. And there's a lot of meat on this phone, guys. Former Louisville teammates, Lamar Jackson and Jair Alexander are now reunited in Baltimore. The Ravens adding him to a cornerback room that includes 24 first rounder,

Nate Wiggins and veteran Tobolow-Wousier. All-Pro Marlon

Humphrey is happy that the offense is stacked with stars, but he wants the defense to be front

and center. Take a listen. I feel that when I first came to the Ravens, it was all about the Ravens defense. It was all about the Ravens defense. It was all about the Ravens defense. And I feel like I've let that standard being here, I think the longest defensive guy. I feel like I've let that standard kind of slip. And that's something that I want to get back. I want it. Obviously we love Lamar Jackson. a great, great player. But I want, you know, the Ravens identity to be defense.

Okay, that's a strong statement. And I like that. And he's hands on that. Okay, the Ravens have bolstered their defense. Lamar is arguably at the peak of his powers. Derek Henry is still at the top of his game. I mean, the stars really seem to be aligned for this squad. But what will the 2025 season mean for the Baltimore Ravens and more specifically for Lamar Jackson? I truly believe that, you know, what you just heard on air is what they have to get back to. I really believe that their defense has always been at the core, has really been the ethos of the Baltimore Ravens. That's what we've known them to be over all their successful years. And I really think that they're really going to take a tremendous step forward. You talk about Zach Orrin in his first year as a defense coordinator. He was out there able to do some things. They're able to have a top 10 defense, but they weren't dominance, right? They were effective, they were impactful. They impacted a game in a lot of different ways.

But I think that now... a top 10 defense, but they weren't dominance, right? They were effective, they were impactful.

They impacted the game in a lot of different ways. But I think that now with some of the additions that they have, right, they have the Kyle Hamilton as I would be out there. You have Humphreys, okay, Jaira Alexander, you have a three-headed monster out there, the cornerback position that's going to allow their safeties and now be able to intermingle and do the things that they want to do.

Then you look at the Kyle Van Nuys, you know, you got Nambi and Madabouquet, who can go out there and do some things as well. He's a problem on the inside. So I think that they now have gotten back to having a solid front seven, and the one piece that they were missing was having that three-headed monster at the cornerback position. now they have it. Now they can go out there and be dominant on the defense side of the ball.

Yeah, and they're always going to be a defense of mindset of team. I think even with Lamar Jackson, I love Humphrey taking that ownership and responsibility and trying to put it back on the defense. That's what he's supposed to do. That's what outstanding athletes, premier players, captains of teams do. Put the onus on me.

I love that about them.

They are going to have a dominant regular season as I see them doing consistently.

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