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Maybe it’s because we live in a society where we can have a coffee delivered to our front door while we stream films in our living room just days after a theatrical release. Maybe we’re just impatient and used to getting results right now.

Bryce Young is starting to look like the perfect reminder that some things take time.

He was atrocious last year.

2024 started terrible.

The fact that we saw the coaching changes but the same results on the field seemed to confirm our priors pretty handily right off the bat. And since we like to overreact, the benching felt like a retirement party.

Then, of all things, right after head coach Dave Canales once again confirmed that Andy Dalton would be starting his sixth straight game, Dalton was involved in a car accident, sprained his thumb, and we go right back to where we started this season.

Last year, Bryce threw 20 turnover-worthy passes in 16 games, which was good for 3.8%.

In the first two games of 2024, it ballooned to 7.1% before being benched.

He tossed just 10 TDs all of last year and NONE before his hiatus this season. He hasn’t morphed into something wildly unexpected, but in the games he’s played since being reinstalled as a starter, he has a 6-3 TD to INT ratio. It's nothing remarkable, but it's still a giant leap forward for him.

Since returning, he’s only had one game with multiple interceptable balls (against a tough Denver D) and has just been so much cleaner and comfortable looking. I’ll sit down with the film his afternoon since I didn’t catch the entire KC game, but writers closer to the team have noted how he’s just much more willing to stand and deliver from the pocket, even against blitzes. This all passes the sniff test, and just like a defense rounding into form after a couple of months with a new scheme, I’m not sure why we weren’t a bit more patient after the entire coaching staff was turned over to start Bryce’s second campaign.

In the end, the 30-27 loss may have been labeled as heartbreaking by the media, but just like the other 30-27 game yesterday afternoon, it was probably the best-case scenario. You got to see a young QB shine against a complicated defense with a high-end DC but still ended up helping your draft position for next season. A ton of good feelings and sunshine right now, but this roster is still a long way away from being relevant in the division, no matter how horrid it currently is. A high draft pick can go a long way towards relevancy.

I still wonder what his ceiling is due to his height, but it’s not unprecedented. Kyler Murray is about the same size. Maybe it's not a great week to prop the Arizona quarterback up as a measuring stick, considering how Sunday went, but he’s certainly still in the conversation for a top 10 quarterback.

In the end, we overreact to small samples, both for the good and the bad, and maybe I’m guilty of that again here, but I like good football. Most good football requires good quarterback play, so I’ll be rooting for Bryce.

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My best take ahead of Sunday

Miami truck-stick offense. Trades, injuries, & poor coaching have seen me downgrade this Pats defense about as far as I have for one team in-season. I was a little concerned that we’d have a sad-sack second half in a blowout, but Tua kept the foot on the gas long enough to cash the team total over 27.5 with some room to spare. Over the past four weeks, he’s been in rare air. He’s completing almost 80% of his passes, leading the league in EPA/play, and getting this team back into the playoff mix. 

My worst take ahead of Sunday

Anything AFC South-related? I didn’t see the Houston defense no-show coming. Also, backing the Colts was a slow, painful death. At certain points, I just wanted the Lions to start scoring in droves as they’re apt to, if nothing else but to kill the final glimmer of hope left inside for me for Colts +7.5. Stranger things have happened (hell, stranger things DID happen yesterday in multiple games), so I was holding out for some Richardson magic, but truthfully, they were likely doomed when two first-quarter drives in the red zone ended with short FGs. The Lions keep rolling, and now get a Bears team off back-to-back soul crushers. Houston as a teaser leg and Indy +7.5 were ugly.

My Good take that maybe shouldn’t have worked out

A bet that I did consider dead and buried was Dallas/Washington over 45, sitting at 3-3 entering the 2nd half. Blocked kicks, missed kicks, turnovers in the wrong part of the field. It was 100% under-bettor porn for 30 minutes.

Once we started to get some steam, my mind was firmly stuck on the most likely paths to overtime and how often both teams kick FGs in the extra stanza. Luckily, instead, the game went full-ass berserker mode. Stuck at 22 total points, likely needing four scores with about eight minutes left, we would somehow find SIX MORE SCORES, including five TDs, two on Cowboys kick returns. The ultimate recipe to get a game over the total: three scoring drives that took less than 15 seconds.

I still can’t believe they missed the extra point. We’re on to MNF.

Market

The lookahead was -3 for the Ravens, reopening around there before getting some Chargers money as we approached the weekend. While it’s still at Baltimore -2.5 at most shops, we are seeing support at that price, and it’s getting closer to returning the flat -3.

The total was as low as 47.5 on the look-ahead pricing two weeks back, opening at 49 Monday morning and slowly ticking up before finding resistance at 51.

Injuries

WR Ladd McConkey is questionable for the Chargers tonight. We’ll know later on, but after last week’s big performance, this would be quite the blow to the Chargers offenses, leaving the WR room a little thin and likely moving Jalen Reagor up to the WR3 behind Quentin Johnston and Joshua Palmer.

OLB Khalil Mack (groin), CB Deane Leonard (hamstring), OLB Bud Dupree (foot), CB Cam Hart (concussion), and S AJ Finley (ankle) are also questionable. TE Hayden Hurst (hip) and LB Denzel Perryman have been ruled out.

For the Ravens, CB Arthur Maulet remains out with a calf injury. Reserve S Sanuoussi Kane (ankle) is also out. C Tyler Linderbaum (back), LB Roquan Smith (hamstring), and DT Travis Jones (ankle) are listed as questionable.

Reports are that Roquan Smith is unlikely to suit up, but we’ll get official word in about five hours.

Matchup

My Ratings

Baltimore: 2nd ranked offense, 8th ranked defense
LA Chargers: 16th ranked offense, 10th ranked defense

Biggest Mismatch: Baltimore’s Run defense (2) vs Chargers Run offense (26)

Fun Fact: did you know the Coaches are BROTHERS?!

Some are touting this as a “top offense vs top defense” matchup, and while the Chargers’ defense has been very good (#1 in scoring against), it probably is a little propped up on the opponent's strength. DVOA, which adjusts for that, has them as the 8th best defense currently and, very importantly considering the matchup, 14th against the run.

So, while it was a down week against another tough defensive matchup for the Ravens, they are getting a little extra rest and will employ their dynamic rushing duo on the fast turf of Sofi Stadium tonight, likely to the usual success.

This would be a good matchup for the Chargers pass rush, but I have deep concerns about the health of both Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack. Lamar has been great at sack avoidance behind his cobbled-together offensive line, and it feels like this will probably continue, considering the injuries the star pass rushers are carrying into this game. Maybe something to watch for on the first few drives for Baltimore. If the pressure isn’t there, this could be a long night for the Chargers secondary.

The familiarity angle is a tough one since you would think it cuts both ways and ends up being a net neutral. I think the exciting coaching matchup is definitely Greg Roman’s innate knowledge of Lamar Jackson as his former OC. I’d expect that Chargers DC Jesse Minter spent some time debriefing him this week, but we’ll see what that’s worth considering the differences in the 2019 offense and now. In the end, maybe it’s worth nothing, and Lamar’s play just outclasses any sort of defensive schematic adjustments. Even in last week’s loss, he was very good, it was turnovers that doomed them in the end.

I suppose the real question that needs answering is still about Greg Roman. While they’ve unleashed Justin Herbert a bit more of late, they still only pass on about 50% of the downs, which is the bottom 5 in the league. This will get talked about plenty as we go through the day and into tonight’s broadcast, but as the entire world knows, it’s hard to run on this team, and the Chargers are not a terribly strong running team as it is.

We’ve seen things work out for the Chargers offense of late, but I am concerned about them ending up in bad downs and distances if the early runs are going nowhere (or backward). It’s not been a good coverage unit for Baltimore, but life is always a bit easier on clear passing downs where you can get creative with blitzes and disguised coverages.

Betting

I want to wait until we get final injury reports 90 minutes before kick for this one. If Ladd McConkey can’t go due to his shoulder and the rest of the final game designations are positive for the Ravens, I would be fine backing Baltimore at -3 -110 or better. My prices would adjust to roughly Balty -4.