Luke Jones and Nestor assess the wreckage of the Buffalo Bills and who is going to Super Bowl LVII in Glendale? Great AFC and NFC Championship Games ahead on Sunday.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
cincinnati, buffalo, bills, bengals, game, year, quarterback, play, talking, winning, ravens, good, week, team, super bowl, baltimore, felt, josh allen, season, beat
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
What about W en st tasmota more and Baltimore positive we are positively into the championship week around here and we’re gonna be doing the Maryland crabcake tour over in Catonsville this weekend with our friends at State Fair you find all that information out at Baltimore positive.com course all brought to you by the Maryland lottery conjunction with our friends at window nation 866 90 nation and you buy two you get two free and you get five years 0% financing, but you don’t get to see into the windows of the souls of the Buffalo Bills fans of the Dallas Cowboys fans of these core fans that made it all the way to the division weekend. Home Game snow globe and buffalo. Look what the hell happened to the bills over the weekend. I thought they were winning the Superbowl?
Luke Jones 00:49
8
Yeah, I mean, I think of all the results from the divisional round that easily is the most surprising not that I thought the Bengals couldn’t win. I mean, we’re talking about a team that went to the Super Bowl last year here in Baltimore and in Pittsburgh think there needs to be an acknowledgement there’s there’s a new kid in town as far as running the AFC north the last couple years. It is what it is st webforms different hearts. It is it is I mean, whether you like them or not. And there’s plenty that plenty of trash talk and they’re brash and bold and in some ways kind of reminds you of the the old ravens in terms of how they they do a lot of talking but they’ve backed it up. And you know, going back to what I was just saying the idea that buffalo could lose the Cincinnati wasn’t shocking, but considering the elements considering they were playing at home, they you know what they look like? They kind of look like what the Miami Dolphins typically look like going to Buffalo playing in the cold in the snow. Like they they didn’t look like they really wanted to be there. And you know, I mean, clearly they wanted to win but boy a lot of missed tackles, they got beat up at the line of scrimmage on both flashed around. I mean Cincinnati dominated them. I mean, they really did. I mean it was 27 to 10. And you know, that’s not you know, a blowout in the way that the Eagles blew out the giants on Saturday night, but I mean they controlled the game from start to finish. I mean, it was a couple points. It looked like buffalo had a chance to swing the momentum a little bit. But I mean Cincinnati just they took it to home. And I think what we talked about at this time last year, that is holding true again that Bengals defense while it doesn’t blow you away statistically, in at least in the regular season. They’ve they’ve stepped up. I mean, look at how they played look at how they limited that buffalo offense. So you have to give them a lot of credit. And I mean Joe burrow going on the road winning another playoff game. So impressive. I mean really impressive. Again, if you tell me the Bengals beat the bills, I’m not batting an eyelash over that the Bengals were playing great football. I mean, look at the long winning streak. They had to close the regular season, but to do it in the fashion in which they did it. so convincingly mean that that was impressive. I mean, that was again, the eagles had the biggest margin of victory of the weekend. And I mean they dominated the Giants. But to do that on the road against buffalo, considering the backdrop of tomorrow Hamlins there everything they’ve gone through I mean, the the script was there, right for Buffalo to be the team of destiny and the Bengals squash that idea very quickly on Sunday afternoon. So I have to give them credit. They go to Kansas City now and they’ve beaten the Chiefs three times in a row. So and they don’t care where they
Nestor Aparicio 03:27
play. I mean, they just played on the North Pole. I mean literally, right? Like once you go to the North Pole and you play like that, and you throw the ball. He threw the ball 31 times in the first half inch though.
Luke Jones 03:37
Yeah, yeah. I mean, they made plays. I mean, the chase almost had the other touchdown that was overturned. I mean, what what would have been a phenomenal play, but they made plays, I mean, 2023 to 36 242 yards, two touchdowns. I mean, that’s that’s bad weather quarterbacking, right there. I mean, were you just say, I don’t care what the elements are. I’m just gonna go out there and make plays and I I’ve got great receivers, you know, and chase and Hayden Hurst hadn’t had a big game for them at the tight end position. So they went out and did it and they ran the football too. I mean, that’s the the element. We talked about this early in the season when the Ravens played them in week five, that Sunday night game. What was one of the biggest issues for Cincinnati early in the season. Lots of talk about the two high looks, they were having issues with that the Ravens still gave them some problems with at the end of the season, but they weren’t running the football. They ran the ball. They ran the ball a lot on Sunday. So you have to give them credit and
Nestor Aparicio 04:33
you know if your backup offensive line isn’t great it but but they can still roll great a little bit and you can move the ball forward, and you can get a couple of first and you don’t even need to score points or kick feet just to just to be able to prove you can move the ball a little bit. I mean, they got three fifths of their offensive line out and they went out there and dominated Now we talked about Von Miller a little bit in the broadcast and the differences As of right bills from this Sunday versus the bills we saw 1314 weeks ago, right? It’s a long time ago that the Ravens played the bills that the difference makers in the skill position players still shine. If you give him a second, just give him a second right? I mean, and the backup offensive line doing that I mean, I I stand and applaud with the Bengals are doing and I tell you what, you love football. I love football. I’ve we’ve loved football, all our lives. You know, Bengals at chiefs this week. It’s the game this is this is something to be looking forward to on Sunday afternoon.
8Luke Jones 05:36
No question about it. I mean, I mean, look what they did in the AFC championship last year. I mean, it was a really good football game. And I mean, Cincinnati was behind in that game and you’re thinking okay, well mahomes And the Chiefs back in the Superbowl No surprise there. And
Nestor Aparicio 05:48
they were staying where Bengals jerseys. Last year, I watched that game with the Chaucer with my wife. I remember that. Because I was going to the Super Bowl and sort of you know who’s gonna be there and all that and I’m like, the pinnacles aren’t allowed to go to this. You know what I mean? Like, there was a feeling about that. Oh, you know, whatever stigma you add about the Brown family or Marvin or Kenny Anderson or Boomer sighs sir Boogie, Clark, you know, whatever. CHRIS COLLINS were taken all the way back. Right. This this is it’s not your father’s Bengals. I mean, you know, they’re winning games here now. That really good teams do and it snowed in January in Buffalo and Buffalo was the best team. This is the dream scenario in Buffalo, right? Like we’re gonna get them up here on our on our terms. That’s everyone’s fear is going to Buffalo in a snowstorm in January and having to play a team that has fundamentally been better than than most of the other teams. Kansas City aside the rest of the year. I mean, demoralizing does it begin to express my thoughts. If I’m from Western New York right now. I mean, it’s it’s really disappointing for Bill’s fans, I think, specifically. And I guess, you know, the other side is the Bengals fans have been waiting forever. It makes me sort of root for the Bengals a little bit, some sort of strange way to like, get this done, get it out of their system, because we were gonna have to deal with them. And this Joe burrow thing we’re seeing now, it does make me wonder what they’re thinking in Owings Mills, in regard to we have to deal with this.
Luke Jones 07:18
Yeah. I mean, the entire division, Pittsburgh’s having the same conversations right now. I mean, Joe burrow, has changed everything for the Bengals. And they have other good players. Let’s be clear about that. But you have a guy like Joe burrow. I mean, you’ve got a chance every single week, every single year. You know, he, he he recently said it. Now he doesn’t view them as their window being wide open. He says his window is his entire career. And some people will love that some people hate that kind of talk. But I mean, he’s, he’s bold, he backs it up. He’s won a national championship at the collegiate level. And he’s a winner away from going in the back to back Super Bowls. So it’s tough to play defense last year against the Rams. Yeah, yeah. Well, and again, that’s Cincinnati defense has been they’ve they’ve risen to the occasion in the postseason, and I get it they lost to the Rams. It’s not like they got blown out in the Superbowl. It was a close game one scoring and
Nestor Aparicio 08:10
8I think that that’s given them a little bit of hunger that I think you and I’ve seen, when Billy kind of missed the field goal. And next thing, you know, we’re having a parade 53 weeks later, right?
Luke Jones 08:18
Yeah. Well, and and what we’ve seen in recent years, however, is the Super Bowl hangover. No one’s talking about that this year, right? I mean, everyone talks about the Super Bowl loser. How many times in recent years go back the last 20 years, how often that team doesn’t just fail to get back to the Super Bowl. A lot of times they don’t even make the playoffs. And yet Cincinnati and guys like me who can consider themselves really smart, but we’re wrong all the time, just because no one knows what’s going to happen. By the way, I’m not very smart. That was that was a joke.
Nestor Aparicio 08:48
I think you’re smart.
Luke Jones 08:49
I appreciate that. But the thought was, we kept looking at that second half of the Bengals schedule, right. We kept talking about that, wow, it’s a bear of a schedule. That’s why I thought the Ravens were gonna win the division before Lamar Jackson gets hurt and go down. The line of things that go down the list of things that Cincinnati looked like, was gonna be a problem for them. And they just kept winning, and they kept winning, and they kept winning. So I mean, it’s just really impressive on their part, but you said it, I mean, yeah, they miss Von Miller, there’s no question about it for Buffalo. But that that was not a good performance in terms of an under the hood type deal. When you consider where they were last year, that classic divisional round battle they had with Kansas City, you know, going back and forth all the talk about overtime and changing the overtime rules. And all that. I mean, that was set up for Buffalo to be that team to to have their vengeance right to have their, you know, their validation this year, so to speak.
8Nestor Aparicio 09:47
I felt like it was their year long before Mr. Hanlon, I felt like that, you know, they’re credible. They they’ve moved into that space. Yeah, I mean,
Luke Jones 09:55
I think as it pertains to the AFC and you know me, I’m a football nerd and looking at different ends. analytics numbers, I mean, DVOA, and EPA and all these different, you know, football power index for ESPN go down the list of all the different metrics you can find. They widely regarded buffalo as the best team in the NFL. But I will say this the eyeball test for the bills later in the season, it hadn’t looked as good. It hadn’t look as as dominant as it had looked early in the season. Now, that didn’t mean that they weren’t going to win or make a run. But it was early on in the season where you looked at them and just said, Wow, I mean, they’re, they look kind of sorta unbeatable overall, but, you know, they didn’t look quite as dominant there. And you can talk about Von Miller a lot. And I think that was a huge factor. No question. But what we saw on Sunday that went beyond Von Miller, I mean, that was, that was a game to me that wasn’t impressed with what the bills had under the hood, quite frankly. I mean, they just, they were not very tough. Again, they look like a warm weather team coming to that environment and not wanting to be there, right. I mean, they looked like a team that was kind of miserable in that way. But, you know, I think the interesting thing,
Nestor Aparicio 11:08
burros look a little bit like Jack Torrance at the end of the shining a couple of times he kind of had, he kind of had the perma grin going on. From that from the cold. I mean, burrow looked like he was hurting at the end, like literally show to Josh Allen. He’s all bloody and like, I mean, that was one for the ages. You know what I mean? I’ve sat out in the snow and playoff games, I’ve gone to 100 playoff games on the road and good weather, bad weather. That was kind of an all timer because those were to not the Kansas City might not be the best team. And they may prove that at home next week. But I felt like this was heavy weight. Look, you and I talked about this after the demore Hamlin injury. That was a Monday night game that like I thought was the game of the year kind of right. We had special food, we had a bottle of wine pick. We were like we were into that game and then it stopped. And obviously the trend like all that that happened, that rematch. Boy, it’s like I guess Ali Frazier, you know, you look at all of them and say, where are they on the spectrum? Boy, this is one more the bills and the Stefon Diggs thing, right. I mean, I know he had terminal but not a good look in the I mean, it feels like they’re, we have our own problems here with our quarterback and why in press comp, we have our own issues here. But up in Buffalo when this kind of disappointment happens. And you mentioned what happens after you get beat Cincinnati bird up and here they are, hmm, you know, bills or build the stadium. And they are the don’t tell anybody. They’re the only thing that matters in West. I mean, they like they’re a really big deal. They’re in every household and the drama in the aftermath of this, but eat them up a little bit.
Luke Jones 12:43
8Well, I mean, you have that and you just have the factor of they have paid their quarterback we know that once a quarterback is making that elite top shelf kind of money, not that you’re done or anything like that. But we know that roster building becomes more and more challenging as time goes on. I mean, they gave Josh Allen his contract in like August of 2021. And now you know those cap numbers are they you have to account for that. That doesn’t mean you can’t still have a really good team but it does become more challenging. That’s why Cincinnati right now yeah, the message there has to be the urgency has to be there to do that right now. Not that they’re not going to resign job or or anything like that. But we know how this works ever
Nestor Aparicio 13:28
I love the announcers are all like, oh, Baroda Chase, this is gonna be a thing for Well, I don’t know, I mean, we’re gonna have a $61 million quarterback because that’s where it’s gonna be. And then you’re gonna have a $38 million wide receiver kid like, and they’re both gonna be 28 not 23. Like you better when I’m with you, dude, because it sounds like it’s together for a long time. And hey, as Ed returns down the Bethune Cookman thing and I think about Reed Lewis Suggs, how they kept it together here how they only had two coaches here. And now they only have one general manager here. You know, this is where the Duke Tobin’s and the mike browns and the Brown family and the Bengals, and whatever the bills are going to be, what the goal was, and what anything I mean, what are they proven right, as an ownership group, and how to hold this thing together and hold players together? I mean, the rams are a great example. You talked about the hangover going the other way. I mean, it falls apart quickly. And we might be finding that out and five and a half weeks here. When Lamar is wearing a dolphins helmet. We’ve got draft picks all of a sudden, right and cap space. Yeah, I
Luke Jones 14:31
mean, who knows how that’s gonna play out. But that’s why I said at the time of when they lost a Tennessee in January of 2020 people and I understood where you were really lucky
Nestor Aparicio 14:41
that day because you thought maybe we might be three years here, knock it back.
8Luke Jones 14:46
I mean, that’s that’s the thing. And I understood why people said it at the time because everyone was so devastated. I mean, that was as disappointing of a playoff loss. And people will say Billy Cundiff but yeah, that was right there at the AFC Championship. For me that felt So much like ravens, Indy 2006. You know, I mean, a team that was great in the regular season. And you know, it’s so easy just to try to tell yourself because you’re, you’re bummed, right. Yeah. It’s so easy to tell yourself. Well, they’ll be back. They were a year ahead of schedule. And we’re hearing the same kind of things about the Orioles right now with the rebuild. And while there, they might, they might have been a year ahead. They’re not ready to spend
Nestor Aparicio 15:22
on every team this weekend. That last Jacksonville, the Giants, right. Maybe the Cowboys, I mean, they got 30 more years to wait as far as I’m concerned. But these teams that have a young quarterback, that, you know, I don’t know if you believe in Daniel, my brother or not, but certainly you believe in Trevor Lawrence, right. So for these losing teams, their fan base, and the Jaguars fan base is, hey, we’re on to something, let’s buy some tickets. Let’s buy some. Let’s you know, let’s buy a piece of that. That was easy to sell. Three years ago, we had a 22 year old MVP quarterback that spit up and San Diego are, where they were in. They were in LA they were the chargers, you know, like when they came in and beat you the first time but the Titans thing getting run over that was we need to build our defense now. Right? So you will it always the pendulum swings back and forth for how we got beaten to your point with the pills that they got beaten across the board, right?
Luke Jones 16:17
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I mean, the overall point is nothing’s guaranteed, you know, and this is why, when you talk about rebuilding, like I mentioned the Orioles just in passing, I don’t want to change the topic. But we always think of these process. This process is being linear, right? Like it’s some gradual progression. All right, you’re gonna win nine games this year, and then it’s gonna be 10 next year, and that’s gonna be 12 the following, hey, we’re gonna win a Super Bowl after that. I
Nestor Aparicio 16:41
8mean, that’s it’s not Algebra Two.
Luke Jones 16:43
I mean, think about it. I mean, the Ravens know this better than anyone in 2000. I mean, they hadn’t even had a winning season. They hadn’t been to the playoffs, right? I mean, they benched their quarterback halfway through the season. And they say the word, let’s get that out for the kids. They went five straight games without scoring a touchdown. I mean, all these different things. And then, boom, they won the Super Bowl. And the following year, Jamal Lewis tears his ACL first day or first week at training camp. And, you know, they had let some guys go because they tried to keep the band together for one more run, and that’s fine. But we saw how that played out. They made it into the playoffs at one one game and then got their feelings hurt in Pittsburgh. I mean, you know that this can be so fleeting. I mean, you mentioned Jacksonville. How about the fact that five years ago, Jacksonville got to the AFC Championship with Blake Bortles, that at the time, there was probably a lot of excitement about what where they were going? Well, it was a one time thing. And that’s not to say that Trevor Lawrence is going to repeat that I, I think a lot of Trevor Lawrence, but you don’t know how this is going to go. And especially when you start talking about where the bills are, where the ravens are even Kansas City, you know, Patrick mahomes, I mean, even though they’re probably going to be redoing his deal in the next year or two anyway, because he’s underpaid relative to all the deals since then,
Nestor Aparicio 18:01
you know, I’ll be talking to Leigh Steinberg about that
Luke Jones 18:03
at some point. Yeah. I mean, they’re gonna have to tear that up. I mean, people people were impressed by the total of the deal. But the average annual value mahomes is still underpaid. I mean, that’s how good he is, even on a bum ankle on Saturday. But you have to take advantage because you just don’t know how it’s going to play out. And we’ve talked about this a lot with the ravens, and we’ll get into it, we’ll have a discussion about what we heard at the season ending press conference. But, you know, this can be so fleeting. And all it can take is a couple of bad decisions, a couple of injuries. I mean, in the Ravens case, and other teams that were impacted by COVID. And just how crazy that that made that season. I mean, when the Ravens were coming back from their 14 and two and their loss to the Titans. But I mean, you have to take advantage. And that’s where you give Cincinnati some credit here as much as they have done plenty of chirping to the point where I think it’s turned off a lot of people in terms of them complaining about how the league handled all these different scenarios and all the talk about a neutral site AFC Championship game. And to be clear, they thought they had a point as far as some of their beef I think they did. But when you consider how much public complaining they did, considering
8Nestor Aparicio 19:14
they go out to Kansas City kick their ass right now they’ve done something to go on the road and do this and do it as the bad guys and do it with the cigars and do it with the we got screwed and we still want how about that? What do you do to what’s next? You know,
Luke Jones 19:28
and I mean, but they need to feel the urgency because you know, they were talking you mentioned it, they’re talking about it on the broadcast. And you know what’s going to happen with a Jesse Bates who played on the tag this year, you know what’s going to happen with other free agents they have, you know, Joe burrow this offseason is the first time that they can potentially pay him. What are they going to do? How’s that going to impact the rest of the market? Now that’ll tie in with the more that’ll tie in with Justin Herbert. I mean, it becomes more difficult as you go on to try to keep it together. That’s why for Buffalo, I mean, this hat had to be devastating, not that they’re gonna fall apart, but you just don’t know this felt like to me their best chance their their window wasn’t going to be more open than it was this year for them and for them to lay the egg that they did credit Cincinnati but boy it’s gonna be a long offseason in western New York there’s no question about that
Nestor Aparicio 20:14
chalk doesn’t always talk about yeah I love how we just did a 20 minute segment about the championship games and then even mentioned that the championship games in Philadelphia love that a Luca can be reached at Baltimore look they will be playing a championship game in Philadelphia against a third string quarterback not ideal but certainly more than one of my mom’s favorite words was pretty she’d say well that’s pretty so every time we see Brock parity we think of my mom so fly Niners fly I don’t have a dog in the hunt the Niners in the Eagles, I look at it you’re gonna be dissecting all things John Angelo’s Oreos, Oreos all season spring training. Super Bowl coming up in two weeks in Arizona and of course, all things. Lamar Jackson, and the Baltimore Ravens. I am Nestor. We are WNS da 1570, Towson Baltimore. We never stop talking football Baltimore positive we got Rebecca hockberger. This week we got crabcake toward this week over at State Fair, we get a lot of things going on. Stick around with it’s gonna be good winter here. We’ll keep you warm at wn st and Baltimore. positive.com
