On a day when the Baltimore Ravens seemed to have everything working against the over-matched New York Giants, the dozen penalties were a reminder of the mistakes that has led this team to five losses. Luke Jones and Nestor recap a 35-14 beatdown of the hapless Giants in the Meadowlands and short week before Pittsburgh arrives.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones recapped the Ravens’ 35-14 win over the Giants, highlighting Lamar Jackson’s five touchdowns and 84% completion rate. They discussed the Giants’ depleted roster, with six of their 11 starters not playing. The conversation shifted to the Ravens’ penalties, leading the league with 997 yards, and the ongoing issues with kicker Justin Tucker, who missed an extra point. They emphasized the importance of the upcoming game against the Steelers, noting the Steelers’ recent loss to the Eagles and T.J. Watt’s injury. The discussion also touched on the Ravens’ need to avoid penalties and execute better to succeed in the playoffs.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens domination, Giants penalties, Lamar Jackson, Pittsburgh week, Justin Tucker, bye week, defensive issues, offensive performance, playoff preparation, division lead, health concerns, field position, kicker concerns, rivalry game, short week
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
8
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, doing two Maryland crab gate tour stops this week, brought to you by the Maryland lottery and Jiffy Lube. We will be on Tuesday at cheese. It’s been too long since I’ve said that. I gotta get back to I’ll play their ad for free, because it’s so freaking good, the meatballs and the the delicious cheese, garlic bread will be on the menu, replacing the crab cake, because it’s the holidays. Had the Feast of the Seven Fishes last week. I can have the Feast of the crab cakes. On Wednesday, we’ll be Acosta’s on Wednesday. Lots of great guests, Gina shock stopping by Wednesday, and lots of old friends for my Dundalk show, some old family friends, including my favorite middle school teacher, Calvin stadium, who will be making his return. I think he’s 88 now, or 89 so that’s Wednesday. Tuesday. We are stacked with guests. Marty Conway Sam says, John Maroon. Allen McCallum, all joining us at amici. Luke Jones joins us now. I like competitive football games. I mean, we’ll get one on Saturday. That’s cool. 16 and a half point spread. I mean, you and I laugh when it was 15 to start last week. Little do we know it would go the other direction, and then the Ravens would just cover because, you know, I mean, the great drew lock, didn’t get to play on Sunday. Instead, it was, Who are these guys? I mean, my God, it’s the end of the year. Team should be trying to get better, not tanking. It certainly feels like the Giants could be in line to pick up a young Heisman quarterback, perhaps.
Luke Jones 01:36
I mean, they could. I mean, they’re going to, you would think they will that they better do that, because they’ve already said goodbye to Daniel Jones and to your point, Drew locked in play. Tommy DeVito leaves the game with a concussion. They’re down to Tim Boyle. They might have had a better chance with Tim Tebow at quarterback on Sunday, but, I mean, let’s face it, this giants team, when they were at full strength back in September and October was not very good. I mean, you’re talking about a team that hasn’t won a game since Columbus Day. But what really stood out for me, Nestor, and I’m with you, as far as I’m concerned, we’re on the Pittsburgh week. There’s no need to belabor the point about what we saw on Sunday, which was domination from the ravens, especially on the offensive side. But looking at the Giants depth chart, which, as you know, teams sent out their game release the beginning of the week, so for the beginning of the
Nestor Aparicio 02:27
week anymore. Thank Chad Steele, I just got to throw that, because you’re like, you know, depth chart in three years, I missed my death chart. You know, I missed guard when
Luke Jones 02:36
8I say that. I’m saying that more so for anyone listening right now than you. But yes, of course, but of their 11 listed starters at the beginning of the week, that’s not including Dexter Lawrence, the Pro Bowl defensive tackles who who’s already on IR, that’s not including Aziz ogilary, who was a big name that we talked about at the trade deadline, already on IR. Six of their 11 starters that were listed at the beginning of the week on their depth chart. Defensively did not play. So Lamar Jackson and this ravens offense that has made good healthy defenses look bad at times this year, they did what you would expect them to do, and Lamar Jackson had a great day. Five touchdowns completed, 80% you know what? 84% of his passes. 290, yards, 50 rushing yards. Rashad Bateman, great day for him. Mark Andrews sets franchise record for career touchdowns scored. What else do you want me to say? They did exactly what we expected them to do? I i saw you were really close to nailing the final score prediction. I said 3112 I think was my score prediction, which was pretty close. I had 3713 because I thought they would kick a field goal or two, and then they just didn’t kick field goal. So then right, 13 went out the window. So yeah, I mean about the as I wrote at Baltimore, positive.com and I know you had similar sentiments as well. Look, are there any meaningful takeaways from this game? No. I mean, there just aren’t. But that said, that doesn’t mean there’s a whole lot to be upset about, other than I suppose penalties continuing to be a thing. But what was the bye week? Just going to fix all that. It’s something we’ll continue to talk about. To your point, Justin Tucker, he made five extra points, but did not get tested. Other than that, in fact, they had Jordan stout kicking off in the second half, which I thought was an interesting development. You know, maybe something that they’re looking to do to maybe take a little bit off of Tucker’s plate the rest of the way, who knows. But by and large, 3514 win. There isn’t that much to be upset about, that much to be overly concerned about. The defense did some bending, yes, but they also limited the giants on third and fourth down, which is a big reason why they only came away with 14 points. So it’s on the Pittsburgh week. Let’s face it, the most significant development of the day occurred. 100 miles south of MetLife Stadium, with the Steelers losing to the Eagles well in the late slate on Sunday afternoon, makes it a one game, one game deficit in the division. And hey all eyes towards Saturday with Raven Steelers. And what’s easily the biggest Raven Steelers game we’ve seen in several years. And we’re going to have, you
Nestor Aparicio 05:21
know, the week to do that, and we’ll get to that a little later, but I do want to stay with the Giants game, and because this is where we evaluate the team, right? Like they lost to the Eagles. The Eagles are better than we think, right? I mean, eagles beat up on Pittsburgh, and, you know, didn’t give Pittsburgh a chance to kind of get up and at home, carried their business at home. Now the Ravens have to carry their business at home here this week, the penalties and what they mean when you play good teams. When I look at their five losses, I think they didn’t really play poorly in any of the five games. They just made huge mistakes, breakdowns in the defense, things like that, but they haven’t been beaten out on the field since probably Week One. Kansas City was probably the better team that night across the board. But you go through their other losses, not just because it’s Cleveland and Las Vegas, but the way they lost games, even to the Eagles, and saying, mistakes, mistakes, penalties, that if you took all the penalties out of the season, or took half of them, pick any of the half, this would be a far better football team because of down and distance, because they they drives would not have stalled. Defensive penalties that just put seven points on the board for the Giants. I mean, literally before the half, they couldn’t help themselves. But and then there’s the penalties they don’t even get called for. They hit quarterbacks in the head a half dozen times. That’s happened this year, and they haven’t gotten called when that would have been 15, 1515, more, including with the game on the line with burrow a couple of weeks ago, like, I don’t know, they just the discipline part of what I need to see from a team that’s leading the planet and penalties, and they’re not dirty, you know? I don’t, I don’t think the ravens are a dirty football team, but I think they come in a little late and a little high, a little too often, and that’s penalties that aren’t even getting called, let alone the ones that are getting called, I just, I’ve not seen this from a horrible team, you know. Like, it’s a little strange to me to lead the earth in penalties. You’re the ravens, not the Raiders, you know. And it’s ongoing. It 12 more against the worst team on the planet on Sunday, like that. That is that’s something worth leading the story with today as they continue to win, because it’s not necessary. These, these are, these are not penalties of if you hit the quarterback in the head by accident, I can almost accept that, but jumping off a line of scrimmage, the pushing and pulling of jerseys in the secondary, just stuff that their coach better than this, at least. I think they are, I don’t think much of John Harbaugh as a man, as a human, but I think he’s a really good football coach. I mean, I think
Luke Jones 08:06
he’s, of course, he’s a really good football coach, but, I mean, this is who they are. At some point in time, it’s like, was the bye week just going to change all that. I mean, and I’d say this, they didn’t commit penalties against the Eagles, and they still, they lost, right? I mean, they lost that game. You know that more so their kicker not making field goals, not making kicks. I mean, so, yeah, when you look at their five losses, the penalties have played a big part of that. And Justin Tucker played has played a big part of that. And if you want to boil it down to being a little more simplistic, Marcus Williams played a big part in their losses, right, Eagles game aside, because he had already been benched by that point. But you know, this is, this is who they are. And I hear what you’re saying about John Harbaugh. And look, I I think we oversimplify the whole penalty discourse, whether we’re talking about complaining about officiating, because yes, they are absolutely ticky tack ones. But to your point, you can also go through any team, not just the ravens, but you can go through and you can find penalties throughout games that aren’t called, right? So there’s almost a randomness to it, in a general sense, but when you’re a team that has nearly 1000 yards in penalties on the season, which I’m looking at it right now. After 112 yards of penalties on Sunday, they’re up to 997, for the year. And that’s applied penalties. That’s applied penalties, not declined, and, you know, offsetting things of that nature. So, yeah. I mean, how much of it is coaching, how much of it is the players themselves. I mean, we are talking about professionals here. These aren’t high school kids. These aren’t college kids, right? All these, all these players, showed an aptitude, an ability, talent, to get to this point in time. So I’m not just going to say it’s all on the coaching when things go poorly and the players get all the credit. And things go well, because that’s one of my biggest pet peeves about discourse in 2024 as it pertains to sports, right? So it’s some combination of both. I’m not going to let the coaching off the hook either. But again, this is who they are, and it’s week 16 that’s tough to
Nestor Aparicio 10:18
overcome against buffalo in Kansas City. It is January. That said it is, if you’re going to play that kind of football in late January, it’s not lost you. It’s going to cost you a chance to go to Super Bowl,
810:29
but, but you just gave me an ex the Oakland Raiders committed penalties back in the 70s, and they won some championships. So it But your point is well taken. It makes things more difficult, right? It’s something else you have to overcome. And are you good enough
Nestor Aparicio 10:43
to play in first and 25 maybe they are, you know, I mean, they happen at times points. Yeah,
Luke Jones 10:49
you know, they happen at times and again. Look, I’m with you. I’m not sitting here saying that, that the penalties aren’t an issue, but I am sitting here saying, I don’t know if it’s going to get any better when we have now 14 data points to say that. I mean, looking at it, their best games all year from penalty standpoint, is the Philadelphia game. They had four penalties for 20 yards. The first Cincinnati game, they had five penalties for 21 yards. Other, the Washington game, three penalties for 33 yards beyond that, I’m looking at this right now, and they have 50 plus yards and penalties in every other game other than those three games I mentioned to you. I mean, this is as much of their identity as Derek Henry or Lamar Jackson or their defense giving up big plays until the last month or so. I mean, it’s, well, they
Nestor Aparicio 11:41
8just like three touchdowns, and I lead with how many penalties they have, because it’s absurd. Well,
Luke Jones 11:45
and part of and part of it is also this game more closely resembled a scrimmage than December football, like August. They’re really, right. It really was. I mean, devontes Walker caught a touchdown. I mean, you’re talking about a kid who offensive snaps. You could, kind of, you could single out the times where He’s even been active. I’m like, Who is it? Yes, I mean, some nice flip work on the back end line. So that was good to see for the future. I don’t think it.
Nestor Aparicio 12:10
I thought it was Deontay Johnson. I’m
12:14
like, No, it’s funny. You said that, because I was actually going to say, well, you know, they do have
8Luke Jones 12:18
some other receivers, you know, if Deontay Johnson, thing’s not going to work out, it appears he’s coming back, we’ll see. I mean, I know there was a NFL Network report over the weekend that that he’s going to have an opportunity to be back in the building and see what he can do. But, but yeah, they had a chance to get some young guys, some some run. They were able to rest some of those guys in the fourth quarter, Lamar and some other veteran players, as we mentioned, I think that’s that might be the best development to come out of this game, that they were able to rest some of those guys, knowing you’re on a short week, and then a very short week after that, knowing you need to win and keep winning. Because even if you look at the tie breaker profile, it’s not favorable for the Ravens when you kind of look at record and common games, which is what it could come down to if these teams are tied at the end of the regular season. So they need to keep winning. Obviously, they need to win Sunday or Saturday or the divisions done in Pittsburgh clinches. But they need to keep winning. And they need Pittsburgh to lose another game after that, to really to be in position where, barring something unforeseen from a tiebreaker standpoint, where the Steelers don’t get it, but they came out of this healthy. They were able to rest guys. They win by three touchdowns. Lamar Jackson was fantastic, not just with receivers running wide open. He made some great throws as well. Rasha Bateman made some good plays, good to see him look healthy after he had the knee issue that that kept him out in the second half of the Eagles game. So look, there was plenty to like. But again, we’re just not going to get ahead of ourselves, from a standpoint of recognizing that you beat a 10, two win football team that was already bad to begin with, and is even further depleted at this standpoint, you don’t apologize for it, but that’s why it’s very much a case of All right, good job. You did what you were supposed to do. Pat on the back. Get ready for Pittsburgh. And you know, the like I said, the most significant development was the Steelers not only losing, but TJ watt hurt his ankle late in that game. It doesn’t sound overly serious, but when you’re talking about a short week, is he going to be ready? Is George Pickens going to be ready? So yeah. I mean, I think the
Nestor Aparicio 14:28
ravens are a better team than the Steelers. So just that all year, right? Yes, there it is, right. All that being said, the penalties, the problems on the back end,
Luke Jones 14:38
kicking, the kick aswell, has been way better than Tucker. So
Nestor Aparicio 14:42
8all of that being said, I look at this and say the Ravens should beat the Steelers. I would have said in April and May or June and July and August, they would win this game. If Russell Wilson was slapping around at the end of December, I’d say, well, good for the ravens, because, you know, he must have been good enough to play. Good enough. But. It. I don’t think he’s good enough to win a Super Bowl. Um, but their defenses, and to your point, there’s something about this, the mystique, the rivalry, all of that this game here, Lamar hasn’t played them a whole lot. Russell Wilson hasn’t played the Ravens a whole lot. So, um, so it should be right. I mean, we’ve had years where the Ravens have run away and hit we had a lot of years where they were chasing the Steelers or chasing the Titans, or chasing the Jaguars, or chasing whoever they were in the division with the Bengals for several years. This is like a different kind of chase, because I think the Ravens have rarely caught anybody in any of these division races to win the division. This is one where they’ve played from behind a little bit here, and can sort of pull it out in the end. And they have a hell of a week with Christmas. Christmas is next Wednesday, you know, like they gotta go play again on the back end of all of this. But their health just keeps coming back to me and saying, if they can stay healthy, they can kind of win anywhere, because they have enough talent to do that. If they go out, don’t commit penalties, make their kicks. Lamar runs the ball. They can’t tackle Derrick, Henry, all of the things that, as John Harbaugh would say, their best selves, if they can show their best selves, they’re a really good football team. The problem is, over 15 weeks of seeing this. I’ve seen their best shot a couple of times, the Buffalo game being a great example. I mean, this time last year, we had so many examples of the blowout wins, of their domination, of all of that. All we see now is the potential for that. We’re not really seeing that. We’re seeing the potential for that, and that gets unleashed when you make your kicks, stop having penalties, and execute the way that we know they’re capable of doing in this offense, which is first and 10, second and two, first and 10, first and 10. You know, move the ball down the field. Don’t get yourself into these fourth and ones where you punt. He punked it fourth and one from midfield early in the game. I don’t have a script for John Harbaugh. You know he’s like Roddy Piper, right? He changes the questions on you. Well,
Luke Jones 17:11
I’ll tell you why he did that. It’s because he had no real fear of the giants offense. From the standpoint of, there was a time where, and look, you can also, you could also flip that around and say, well, that’s more reason to go for it, right? I mean, if you want to shape your argument that way, but I think that, I think he knew that that was a game where Tommy DeVito or Tim Boyle weren’t going to march them down the field over and over and over, unless you continue to commit penalties and you kick the ball down and hope they give it back to you down there, right, right? And that, and that was the thing there. I mean, obviously we’ve seen John Harbaugh, we be much more aggressive in those situations against better teams, because it’s a case of, you’re not sure you’re going to stop them. So yeah, they were conservative there. Would I have gone for it there? Probably because I’m the guy that’s going to be more aggressive about that. I’m the guy that likes what Dan Campbell does way more than what Mike Tomlin did in the fourth quarter on Sunday, which was pun on fourth and six with 10 and a half minutes to go down two touchdowns, and he didn’t get the ball back. So I thought that was a much more egregious error than what Dan Campbell did against buffalo, because, well, they had only stopped the bills once. The entire believes
Nestor Aparicio 18:22
in his defense more than he believes in
Luke Jones 18:24
his offense. Well, but that that was too much though you as great as Mike Tomlin is as a coach overall, that has always been his blind spot is being too conservative in those types of spots, knowing where, hey, you got to take a chance because you’re down two scores at that point. Anyway, anyway. Going back to to what we were saying, yeah, it was, it was certainly different. It was certainly a different dynamic. But hey, if you’re John Harbaugh, if you’re Todd monkin, when you look at the state of affairs with your kicking game, specifically, now not that that was an instance where Justin Tucker was going to try a 60 plus yard field goal or anything crazy like that, of course, because it was too, too far out to even talk about that. But they’ve had to adjust, and I think that’s going to be one of the more fascinating dynamics the rest of the way, no matter how many kicks Justin Tucker might make. And look, he made five extra points on on Sunday, we’re not talking about him making any or missing any kicks. So that was good. But do you feel any more confident in what you saw from Justin Tucker on Sunday than you did during the bye week? No, of course not. So that’s where you look at this, whether you’re talking about Saturday against Pittsburgh, whether you’re talking about next Wednesday against Houston on Christmas Day, whether we’re talking about the Ravens playing on the in the playoffs and most likely on the road, you know, even if they get that home playoff game, if they’re going to make a run, they’re going to have to go on the road. There is that very fascinating dynamic of, how are they going to have to play this when you’re kind of in that 5050, gray area. Area in terms of, do I try a field goal here? Do I try a longer field goal here? What’s, what’s the distance to go to move the chains on fourth down, if it’s fourth and two, compare if it’s safe, maybe not fourth and two, say, fourth and 3/4, and 4/4, and five. Compared to Justin Tucker trying a 5051, 5253 yard field goal. How do you proceed there? And we haven’t seen har ball play it that way in a dozen years, because he hasn’t had to play it that way with the kicker, right kick, right? I mean, they did it a little bit back in 2019 right? I mean, we kind of joked at the time. It’s like, oh, I mean, they were, because they were so good on on so many of those fourth down situations. But that’s going to be a really interesting dynamic, because let’s face it, I don’t know what the threshold is for the Ravens or Ravens fans or anyone to suddenly be confident in Justin Tucker again. How many in a row does he need to make? I mean, let’s say he goes perfect for the rest of the final three games. He makes every every kick. But let’s say none of those kicks are necessarily a high leverage kick that you have to have at the end of the game, or something along those lines. Are we going to be any more confident in Justin Tucker in the wild card round, if that happens in the divisional round, in the AFC Championship game? No, it’s just kind of it is what it is. From that standpoint, he’s going to have to just keep making kicks and keep making kicks and keep making kicks until we suddenly say, hey, he seems like Justin Tucker again. So how do you proceed from a strategic standpoint, in looking at some of these, you know, when you’re anywhere, you know, from the 30 yard line out, let’s say you know, and obviously there are going to be some cases where you’re going to try it, because you’re going to be in fourth and long or something like that. But if it’s fourth and short to medium, then we might be talking about a different discussion, especially if the elements aren’t the best, and that tends to be the case in late December and January, as we’re talking about the rest of the way. So, you know, I mean, again, there was nothing to take from that. I mean, if we’re no one’s championing Justin Tucker, just because he made five extra points, right? I mean, it’d be a problem if he missed another extra point. But, you know, it’s, it’s not fixed, you know, it’s still there. So, yeah, how are you going to proceed? So, you know, I mean, from that stem and, and even if he made, even if he made a 51 yarder against the Giants, you know that that’s not the same as, you know, making one against the Steelers with the game on the line. So
8Nestor Aparicio 22:33
Well, he’ll have that chance Saturday that, I mean, this is going to be 19, 1617, think so, right? I mean, you know, this is going to be a field goal and a field position kind of game. Luke Jones is here. He is Baltimore, Luke, we have a short week that feels like a long week, and then we have Christmas. It’s weird around here, all the way around, great conversations, the Maryland crab cake tour, presented by the Maryland lottery, uh, moves twice this week to amichies on Tuesday, Wednesday, we will be i cost us, and Dundalk and I am not throwing into towel on Christmas a week before, but we’ll have no more crab cake tours until we gather on January the seventh up at libs grill in Bel Air. All that brought to you by Jiffy Lube multi care. They power Luke up. Kind of a strange week with Wednesday becomes Tuesday and Thursday becomes Wednesday and Saturday evening, the Baltimore raves going to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers. Lots of folks excited about that. First place on the line, the AFC north and the Steelers coming off a bad beat up in filthy on on Sunday, I can be found anywhere the internet travels, including our noone listens. Everyone hears documentary. Luke is up, of course, at Baltimore positive and anywhere out on social media as we get ready for the game this week, the Orioles might even do something before Christmas. Who knows? I am Nestor. He is Luke. Stay with us. We’re W, N, S, T, A M, 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive. You.
