The Baltimore Ravens will be without their speedy wide receiver on Saturday night in an AFC Wild Card playoff game with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Zay Flowers injury and how the Ravens will attack their rivals at home on a cold winter night in a knockout game.
Luke Jones and Nestor Aparicio discussed the Ravens’ playoff matchup against the Steelers, focusing on the potential impact of Zay Flowers’ injury. Flowers, who missed practice on Wednesday, is unlikely to play, which could affect the Ravens’ offensive strategy. Despite being 9.5-point favorites, the Ravens face challenges, especially if Flowers is out. The conversation also touched on the Ravens’ recent playoff struggles and the importance of winning at home. They highlighted the Ravens’ offensive depth, including Rashad Bateman and Justice Hill, and the potential matchups against the Bills and Chiefs if they advance.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Flowers injury, Ravens attack, Steelers matchup, playoff week, Zay Flowers, Ravens offense, Steelers defense, playoff history, Ravens favorites, playoff pressure, Ravens playoffs, Steelers playoffs, Ravens strategy, playoff predictions
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We’re Baltimore positive.com. Please check us out. Make sure you’re clicking on me and subscribing. I’m making that up. You can’t click on me. Please don’t click on me. Um, we are into Pittsburgh week part three. It is a playoff matchup on home turf on a very wintry night. On Saturday night, Luke Jones is here to join us. He’s been out in Owings Mills for the sort of truncated practice schedule this week, although they did have the extra day from playing last week as well, earlier on Saturday, both of these squads. So zay flowers, that’s the I was out all day on Wednesday. I went to Nacho mamas and Canton for the final time. Don’t make me cry. Was Elvis’s birthday. Don’t make me cry twice. And you know people at the bar, you know, much as Chad Steele thinks nobody knows who we are, they recognize me, and they all come up, and they all say the same thing, see flowers. See flowers. It must be a playoff week here this week, and I don’t know if say flowers is going to play, but nine and a half point favorite, no offense, they don’t win. It’s not because it’s a flowers. I
Luke Jones 01:08
mean, you can point to that as one of many reasons if they weren’t to win on Saturday night, but I’m sure there would be much more going wrong, right? And that’s kind of been the story of recent years, Raven Steelers with some of these games that we would even describe as inexplicable losses, but clearly, zay flowers health a big story this week. We all saw what happened in the Cleveland game early in the second quarter. Still, one of those weird things. I’ve watched the replay numerous times. And from one angle, it doesn’t look like anything, but then you see the other angle, and you say, oh, like, you know, he kind of, his knee was kind of bent in an awkward direction. You know, this isn’t a catastrophic injury. Let’s be clear. I don’t think the ravens are hiding something where, you know, this would be a two month injury, or anything like that. It’s not even hide from you guys, right? Like you saw him, right? We’ve seen him in the locker room a little bit. He’s walking, albeit with a limp. I think it’s important not to read too much into that one way or the other. You know, there can always be, he’s making it. He’s just faking the limp in the locker. I mean, there can always be some gamesmanship at work, but there’s a legitimate injury here, right? And I think when you’re when you’re talking about a wide receiver or a running back, and there was plenty of discussion with Chase brown for the Bengals going into week 18, right? I mean, they were holding out hope he did a pregame workout, and it was pretty apparent to anyone who saw that that he couldn’t go, you know, it’s one thing for an offensive lineman, a defensive lineman, to put on a brace. And you know, depending on what your exact responsibilities are, you might be able to play through that and be able to play through that at a relatively high level. But when you look at zay flowers, it’s not as simple as, oh well. He’s running straight line sprints and looks fine. And let me be clear, I’m not we haven’t seen him do that even this week, but the change of direction, I mean, the way that ravens and fans have nicknamed him the human joystick, right? I mean, the way that he, you know, Lamar Jackson’s called him the joystick, that he could just change directions on a dime. When you’ve got a bad knee, you can’t easily do that, right? I mean, I’ve had 2006 so I can tell you, you know, yeah, I mean, it’s just, it’s one of those things that can you play through it if you’re 95% with that knee or 90% with that knee, maybe, but even then, how effective are you? So I think you know, I would expect, and certainly you want to be on the wnst tech service as we get the final injury report, and certainly as we get the 90 minutes prior to kickoff on Saturday night, we’ll send out the game day inactives, but I’m guessing the list them is questionable either way. I mean, if they list them as doubtful, or they list them as out, then we’ll know for sure going into Saturday night. But I think based on what we saw Saturday, based on some of the reporting we’ve seen from the Ian rappaports of the world based on some of the language that John Harbaugh has used, which, you know, you try to read the tea leaves a little bit. It really feels like it would be, I don’t want to say, a miracle if he plays Saturday night, but it would be very unlikely, you know, I, I heard one reporter categorize it as, you know, kind of be a Hail Mary situation. I mean, that might be the most fitting. I think the big question for zay flowers probably is the divisional round. And not just Can he play, but how effective can he be? I mean, this is the problem when, when you hear the head coach and you hear reporting that says it’s not a season ending injury, agreed from the standpoint that it’s not a two month thing, but the season could be over Saturday night, the season could be over next week, right? Or the season could be another month, right? We just all know. So that’s where it is tricky, because there’s just not a lot of season left. And you know, if you’re the ravens, yeah, you have Rashad Bateman, and I think another x factor that could help replace. Of the things that zay flowers does on the perimeter could be a Justice Hill, albeit in a different role, but justice Hill’s practicing fully, looks like he’s going to be back and ready to go, so that will help from a blitz pickup standpoint, and maybe some of those underneath perimeter type plays that they try to get, say, flower the zay flowers, the ball in space. Maybe that goes to Justice Hill on a couple you know, I’ll be at different place because he’s a running back compared to a wide receiver, of course. But that is another weapon that you might have with some of that underneath stuff that you’re not going to have with zay flowers. Most likely that maybe you do look at Justice Hill a little bit. Maybe is Keaton Mitchell active? Who knows? I mean, what we’ll have to see. But well, the
Nestor Aparicio 05:43
two tight end things differ, because that’s more about possession than it is taking the top off or safety falls down and say flowers is gone, and they’re right. I mean, that’s the thing about this team that I don’t know that we have ever seen here before, is the breakaway ability we always talk about like Jamal Lewis had breakaway ability. Ray Rice, as you and I remember in New England on a cold night and a first playoff game, Breakaway ability. This team has multiple including the freaking quarterback, which nobody in the history of sports
Luke Jones 06:14
ever had, yeah, I mean other Michael Vick, right? I mean in terms of quarterbacks who can do that, but, yeah, well, he’s still the
Nestor Aparicio 06:22
fastest guy. He’s faster than say, flowers, right? Um, yeah, probably the
Luke Jones 06:28
fact that I think about right, but the fact that I’m even saying, um, the fact that I’m even thinking about it, how how fast he is, right, speaks how fast both of them are. So, and let’s be clear. I mean, Rashad Bateman’s fast. I mean, go look. I mean, you don’t think of him in the same way, because he’s a bigger wide receiver. But, man, when you look at some of these different analytics sites that track separation grade and different route running, things like that, I mean, Rashad Bateman separates so but these
Nestor Aparicio 06:56
were abilities the last five years they did not have in these games, including a 265, pound running back. By the way, I’m wearing my Derrick Eric, somebody warned me that I gotta wash it. I’ll wash it if they win this weekend, I promise you I’m not going to wear it every day. It was a hit at Nacho mamas, I must admit he was a hit in my dentist office. People love them all, including Amy. Amy, whatever the hell Her name is, you’re screwing up their franchise this week, and Bella checks going to the we’ll get to the league in a minute. Because I don’t know if the games are more interesting or the gamesmanship off the field or more interesting, but from the Ravens perspective, that kind of speed is what Willie Snead didn’t have when Mark Andrews was, I Don’t be disrespectful, their only receiver back in the beginning of the Lamar revolution. I was going to call it the experiment. I’ll use John’s word for that. But they haven’t had this kind of and throw Justice Hill in there too, that if he has to sort of spell some of those plays in some way. But they do have the ability, especially, it’s Pittsburgh possession game, likely Andrews moving sticks, the things that they want to do to shorten the game on Saturday night, on a cold night, and keep the ball. They’ll have the ability to do that. I say, I mean, I’m not count on them not winning because they don’t have safe flowers. You know what? I mean, I on the Pittsburgh side, and we’re worried about their kicker getting healthy, and their defensive linemen get like, if I’m a Pittsburgh fan, those guys got to play
Luke Jones 08:16
right, right? And and I one thing, I’ll push back on a little bit. I mean, they did have Hollywood Brown in 2019 and 20. I mean, that guy comes drafted, but, but, but your overall point, I agree. I mean, there’s more speed, you know, there’s more diverse, diversification with this offense. But, yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 08:31
if you took Hollywood out of it, they wouldn’t had much. Oh, right, you take Hollywood out who’s a flowers bank still got lots of, lots of toys,
Luke Jones 08:40
sure, sure. But he is your number one wide receiver. He’s your Pro Bowl wide receiver. So it hurts. I mean, it him not being out on the field most likely Saturday night. It certainly hurts. I mean, you don’t want to be playing without him, but, I mean, that’s where you need to look at this thing. And to your point, you do have eight other Pro Bowlers that are still going to be on the field Saturday night. You still have an offense that has been the best in the league, right? I mean, in terms of efficiency, in terms of yards per game, in terms of having the best quarterback in the league in 2024 in terms of having the, at least the best running back in the AFC, you know, saquon Barkley might have something to say in the other conference, but Derek Henry’s been that great there. I think you know one thing that I asked Harbaugh about even earlier in the week, you know, even when it was pretty apparent that zay flowers status was at best going to be iffy. That keep in mind, unlike last year, at this time, they have a healthy Mark Andrews. I mean, Mark Andrews at this point last year, was practicing, but was still not back. Did not play against Houston in that divisional round game, and while he played against Kansas City, it wasn’t really Mark Andrews, and we’ve seen a mark Andrews, who’s he’s caught a touchdown in six straight games to close the regular season. So he’s not getting the same volume that he did a few years ago, because the because of your point, they have so many other weapons now to really branch out and expand this offense, but. Doesn’t mean he still can’t do the things that the ravens are going to need him to do on third down inside the red zone. So so it hurts. I mean, you’d like to have zay flowers out there, but I’m with you. I mean, if we’re sitting here Sunday night or Monday morning talking about a raven’s defeat, yeah, we’re talking about zay flowers to some point, but we’re probably talking about six other things that went wrong, right? So I still fully expect this team to go out there and play good football. And I think a really interesting factor here having gone back. And I know I saw some talking heads referring to some of what we saw in week 16, but you think back to the first meeting between these teams. Derek Henry, remember, had the early fumble, wasn’t really much of a factor, you know. And I think he had 13 carries in the first game. And some people pointed to to the volume, the lack of volume of carries, and I’ll hear that to an extent, but Pittsburgh bottled him up. He had one run that accounted for about half his yardage in that game. Cleveland bottled him up five days ago, first half, right? They did, but, but, but here’s the difference, even with that Cleveland game, and I was going to cite that from the second Pittsburgh game from Jump Street, they ran all over them, and they ran between the tackles, which isn’t really, hadn’t really been what the Ravens mo had been with Derek Henry, with his greatest success had been more of the outside, you know, the zone, stretch, toss play, things like that, where we’d see him, you know, turn up what looks like. It’s gonna be an eight yard run into a 30 yard gain. But I think if you look back to that week 16 game, ravens used a lot of pre snap motion more than normal with their run game. And if you look at Pittsburgh, you go back and review that they had all kinds of issues being lined up properly, and the run fits were poor, all of that. Now, part of that, I think, is acknowledging that they had some guys that were missing that week. There’s no question about that, but they weren’t as they weren’t as banged up on their defensive line. Now, watt wasn’t 100% but he played, you know, he didn’t even have a game status designation for going into that game. They had Highsmith back. They had their edge guys. They had most of their defensive line. I want to say maybe Ogan Joby wasn’t playing off the top of my head. I don’t have the injury report in front of me, but the point is, some of the pre snap motion and some of the things the Ravens did with their run game that kind of went a little bit anti
Nestor Aparicio 12:26
tendency, as he left handed Well, that’s what they do in these games. And
Luke Jones 12:30
they just Pittsburgh had all kinds of issues in that. So I think that had to have been a colossal point of emphasis this week for Pittsburgh to try to figure that out with some of the pre snap motion, and it’s not as though the Ravens never run motion, let me be clear, but they ran it a little bit more with in concert with their ground game. And Pittsburgh had all kinds of issues with that. That’s why Derek Henry had the big start to that game and had such a big rushing total collectively. So yeah, that’s gonna be a big part of what they do. I mean, I don’t think that they’re just going to run it three times, you know, in a cloud of dust the either they’re going to pick their spots, and even if zay flowers isn’t out there, they’re going to be aggressive, throwing the ball when it makes sense. But again, that week 16 game when the Ravens came out and they ran the ball and they ran it effectively, Todd monkin kind of said, makes it way easier, and you can control the game when you can do that, you know you and then you can throw when you want to, not because you need to. So I think that’s a big challenge for Pittsburgh. There’s no question about that. But at the same time, we’re still talking about the the money matchup in this game is still the Ravens offensive line against the Pittsburgh defensive line. Pittsburgh won that first meeting, pretty emphatically. Second meeting, Ravens won that, that battle, but I think that’s still going to be a colossal match up here. You alluded to it. Cam Hayward’s been sick this week, missed a couple days of practice. I expect him to be out there, but you know, if he’s missing a full week of practice, you know you do. Question, is he going to be 100% normal cam Hayward? But that’s a big key, as I’ve said to you a number of times. And I don’t say this to be disparaging. I just say this to more so point out relative weaknesses on this football team. I’m still looking at the guard positions. If there’s something you know, whether we’re talking not, I don’t feel as strongly about it, but if we’re talking this Saturday night or against Kansas City, and the title game at the Ravens make it there and the Chiefs make it there, if there’s something that trips up the Ravens in their quest to make it to the Super Bowl, I still think you look at that interior offensive line as Being more problematic than other areas on this football team. And look again, that’s a compliment to McCarey and FAU le, that it’s held together as well as it has because we had major concerns about that, but it’s still, relatively speaking, one of the weaker points of this football team that you know, if you’re looking at a matchup with Pittsburgh. Org, or you’re looking at a matchup with Kansas City in a couple weeks, you know, that’s where you look at it and say that’s going to be pretty key, pretty pivotal, in terms of their ability to control this game. But that said, the Ravens have edges all over the place, you know, elsewhere, you know, on either side of the ball. I mean, even, you know, six weeks ago, we would have been talking about Pittsburgh having the much better defense than the Ravens. I’m not so sure about that. Now, when you see how the Ravens defense has played since week 11, I mean, they’ve been number one, number two, number three, in a number of categories since week 11, which you know at this point is a pretty decent sample size. You know when you’re talking six or seven weeks so I think from that standpoint, you and I have spent a lot of time talking about the what ifs the the unthinkable, but knowing the history of this rivalry, still plausible scenario of if the Ravens lay an egg and lose on Saturday night, we’ve talked about that a lot, but that said
Nestor Aparicio 15:58
what, by the way, can I finish your thought? But I want to talk about what if they lose, just to do it, because at some point they’re going to lose, or they’re going to win the Super Bowl, but, but, like, I’m wearing this Derek Henry jersey, I’ll finish your thought on me, just
Luke Jones 16:08
to finish my thought, because, you know, again, we’ve had some discussions this week, and we’ve talked about that kind of scenario quite a bit. We have to, because what’s the history of this team and in recent playoff runs, right? You know? I mean, it’s been coming up short and losing the teams that were underdogs and all that. But I still look at this across the board, even without zay flowers, and I just say on paper. And if you’re asking me how this plays out, how it should play out, or even should win this football game, there’s a reason why they’re a 10 point favorite. It’s not solely because, well, you know, since Pittsburgh lost the last couple games, you know, last four games, Ravens won the last four, the entire body of work supports that the ravens are better and markedly better. But you’ve got to go out and do that, and you have two teams who know each other extremely well. And that’s where there is the cautionary tale of you know, even if you don’t have zay flowers, you got to come out, play clean football, no penalties, no mistakes, stay ahead of schedule, run the ball, be in second and short and third and short. Don’t Don’t do dumb things to put yourself in third and long and and types of situations where you must throw the football defensively. Same thing. You can’t put them on, give them penalties that give them short fields and third down conversions and things of that nature. But you know, again, all things being equal. You know, the Ravens have a pretty distinct edge in most departments in this matchup on Saturday, and that’s even without zay flowers playing.
Nestor Aparicio 17:38
Luke Jones is here. He is Baltimore. Luke out on the interwebs. You can find him there. You can find both of us out at Baltimore positive.com the Maryland crab cakes were presented by friends at the Maryland lottery is going to get back out on the road at some point, when we get the snow off the ground, we figure out what’s going on with the Ravens. So I don’t I’m not macabre about this, but I did a couple things because I am nasty Nestor and I like the bitch about things and whatever. One thing I’m a little shocked about is the ticket prices. It’s gonna probably be the only home playoff game there is. It’s not a hot ticket at all for either fan base, the $100 ticket right now. Steelers fans don’t want to sit in the coal washer. Team get eliminated. Ravens fans, I don’t know what the I don’t You said something to me even off the air earlier this week, like it’s not the same. Now you’re up in the corner and the the little kids press box up there, and I’m watching on TV, and I see all the empty holes, and I see all the visiting fans when good visiting teams like Pittsburgh that travel everywhere. When tickets are 100 bucks, it feels to me like there’s going to be Steelers fans buying those tickets in the end. I don’t know how much of a home advantage or field or whatever. But I do remember, I go back to when I was a real media member, when I was a real fan, and, you know, bought tickets for 26 years that these kinds of games were my phone would ring off the hook. They would have a home plate. They’ve only played nine home playoff games in 30 years. I didn’t like, I had to do the math, and I’m like, have they played 10 home playoff games yet, because I’m thinking like the Peyton Manning game in oh six, and the Denver game, and then the the Titans game, where Schwartz came in and beat us with Anthony, right? And then we didn’t play much of anything during the flak where we had the one Houston game where they all came in here and read and ran around City Hall. We kicked their ass, uh, Flacco handed the ball off. Too much in that one, um, but we don’t play a lot of home playoff games. And I’m thinking to myself, and I’ve already had Raskin on this week, and the people that spend a lot of money on club seats, the people that I know around town, I’m thinking to myself, it’s like Bill Parcells, why you lift all them weights? This is why you buy all them tickets and buy all them purple jerseys and but like, it’s playoff game, I I just I smell that the fan base here just expects them to go roll the ball out and win, and I would say, and that’s you don’t need to respond on the fan thing. Where I want to take this is somebody’s going to get eliminated on Saturday night, and somebody’s probably not going to look good doing it. Tomlin had the this will be five in a row for them, and if they lose this game, 35 to three, which the ravens are. Capable of putting a donut on them. I mean, the ravens are capable of just beating their ass. I don’t think the Steelers are capable of beating the Ravens as I think the Steelers are capable of winning 23 to 21 and you know when a field goal at the end on a cold night when the ball’s popping around and Lamar fumbles on the eight yard line or but it was the other way around here, Christmas, and Christmas was two weeks ago, and Russell Wilson was sticking it up their ass and coming down, and if he didn’t run into our Darius Washington, the whole thing might have smelled different that day all the way around. I don’t think they’re as mismatched as 10 points. I certainly don’t think that the Steelers pedigree in these kinds of games is to show up make it dirty, have it be 2317, in the fourth quarter, one way or the other, and have a pathway to winning the game as the fourth quarter begins. I would be shocked if the Steelers don’t have a pathway to win the football game at whatever time that’ll 1010, o’clock on Saturday night. The season will be in peril. My prediction, my prediction isn’t that they go out and win 38 to three, and it’s 24 to six and a half time that might be they’re good enough to be that. That’s why we love the Ravens. That’s why we that’s why everybody on TV thinks they’re offense, defense, Hall of Famers. Coaching hardball is a genius, except when he doesn’t call a time out and kind of fist is a kick. He’s a genius except when he’s not. And I don’t to me if the Ravens blow them out. I know Mike Tomlin got an extension. I talked to will graves this week. He’s a made guy, and like all of that. And I don’t know, man, it’s hard for the Steelers to dust off if they lose 35 to 13 on Saturday night, and I tell you what the Ravens lose by a nose hair, in any way, whoever the goat is, and I don’t mean greatest. I mean goat. I mean Tucker misses two kicks. I mean somebody named Derek Henry or Lamar fumbles or defender falls, that like whatever were would happen in this rivalry where everything’s a field goal, everything’s a safety, everything’s a one score, one score. I bet these teams have played for 30 years, 70 times, and the time of of the games being one possession game, probably 92% of the time they’ve ever played as a franchise, they’ve been within one score of each other, because that’s the way this franchise, that’s the way this is played. Steelers got embarrassed couple weeks ago. They they’re embarrassed totally. I don’t think they want to wake up Sunday morning embarrassed. I am expecting the Steelers best shot on Saturday, not nine and a half. If you’re giving me $1 and say, give me the points. I mean, just give me the points, because it’s nine and a half points, and the Ravens could go out there and beat them. Now, what happens if the Ravens lose on Saturday night? Because they’ve lost these games more than they’ve ever won them in this era, really, that’s true, yeah.
Luke Jones 22:51
And specifically, whether you want to talk postseason, you know, losing to teams that they’ve been, you know, Tennessee, five years ago, they were a 10 point favorite over the Titans that that night, you know, that’s that’s the interesting part about this. I think for either team, to your point, if Pittsburgh loses by one point, you know, if they lose in that fashion where the Ravens win a close game, there’s disappointment. There’s your typical fans at the end of the bar complaining about Tomlin in the same quarterback wasn’t good enough, right, right? There’s all that, but I think there’s, right, there’s, there’s, I think there’s a resignation to the to the point of the resigned to the fact the Ravens were just better than this this year. You know, however, to your point, if the Ravens were to blow Pittsburgh out, which from a talent level, from a roster comparison level, that absolutely is plausible, right and up and even when we point to week 16, I’ll remind everyone that was a one score game until Marlon Humphrey has the pick six. That’s why I keep
Nestor Aparicio 23:49
bringing it up. People feel like, oh, we just beat their Goal, goal at the end after a Hall of Fame quarterback threw a pick six he shouldn’t have thrown after he got nailed at the I mean, the steel that was a close game. That was not a 17 point game. It really wasn’t.
Luke Jones 24:04
8It was an emphatic fourth quarter for the ravens, you know. I mean, no question there, but yeah, so, so I think if Pittsburgh were to lose a close game, that’s kind of all right, fine. If Pittsburgh gets blown out on the heels of having lost your last four. I don’t care who your coach is, and I’m not saying that means Mike Tomlin is going to get fired, because he’s not. But that’s a bad look. That’s an alarming statement, from a standpoint of, I was leading the
Nestor Aparicio 24:33
division December 15, right? And not nobody got hurt. This isn’t
Luke Jones 24:38
stumbling. I mean, that’s just a full blown face plan into the ice. You know,
Nestor Aparicio 24:42
fathom a Steelers franchise coming in here on Saturday, that would be surprising, really shocking, and then and the Ravens are capable of blowing anybody out. That’s real question.
Luke Jones 24:53
I mean, yeah, we’ve seen that for years now. I mean, with some of the teams, some of the high profile teams, they’ve even blown out. I mean, you know what? We’ll be talking about, if the Ravens win and buffalo wins on Sunday, we’ll be talking about the Ravens going up to Buffalo and ravens bull mountain
Nestor Aparicio 25:06
week. By the way, while the ravens are doing all that, they lost eight and nine to the Steelers in this run. They’ve only won one in a row. And
Luke Jones 25:12
that’s why, on the flip side, you look at this and if you allow yourself to even think about the unthinkable, but how unthinkable Is it because of recent history in January, or recent history against Pittsburgh, if the Ravens were to lose? And I’m in agreement with you, I can’t,
25:33
I mean, I, I guess anything can happen in a sporting event, really, when you think about it, but I can’t fathom any kind of a sequence of reasonable events that would lead to the Steelers blowing out the ravens, right? I mean, I just, Pittsburgh doesn’t blow out anyone, right? I mean, they just, they don’t have the offensive firepower. Their defense is good, but it’s not steel curtain, 1970s historically great. So, so that would have to be some, some things that I don’t even want to utter, you know, you’re talking injuries to your best players, things like that. If the Ravens lose my hair, it’s the worst loss of what right? And that’s, that was the point I was just going to make, if, if the Ravens lost by one, you know, fluky as it might be, you know, weird, weird kind of thing. Wind takes a really, you know, really weird wind gust that blows a Justin Tucker field goal wide left that looks like it was straight on craziness. Right? Ball gets batted up in the air, or when Lamar is trying to throw it to a wide open wide receiver and it’s ticked off in return for a touchdown, or something like that. You know, crazy stuff the Shannon sharp plays Denver, right, right? I mean, and look, I mean, that’s playoff games. I mean that that’s one of those plays is going to happen in one of these games at some point the ravens, if the ravens are going to the Super Bowl, something like that’s going to happen in their favor. I mean, we’ve seen it, the Mile High miracle moment of silence
Nestor Aparicio 26:55
for Jacoby Jones, right here, right? Yeah, exactly
Luke Jones 26:57
so. But that’s when, if you look at it and you allow yourself to even think about that, and how can you not because of what we just said? I mean, it’s you hope the team’s not dwelling on it too much, but fans and media can certainly think about it. I mean, we’re not playing in the game, but if you don’t win this game, let’s be clear, we’ve talked a lot about Super Bowl or bust, right? We’ve talked about it a lot in the context of this team has nothing else to accomplish, other than to get to a Super Bowl and win it. Right? It’s the last thing left on Lamar Jackson’s already Hall of Fame legacy, right? It’s the last thing left on the legacy of half dozen other good, really good, or great players from this era of ravens football that you know, the mark Andrews and Marlon Humphries of the roster, who’ve been the Pro Bowls. But hey, you need a ring, right? That’s what you’re looking to get. So if you go to Buffalo next week and lose, it’s disappointing, but you’re the number three seed playing on the road against the number two seed, right? If you go to Kansas City in two weeks, it’s devastating, because you’re thinking about revenge and and if you lose to the chiefs, It’s so disappointing. But those aren’t the kind of games where people are losing their jobs over it, right? But if you lose the Pittsburgh Saturday night, I don’t know as an organization, how you look at that on the heels of the disappointment of last year, being the number one seed and not getting to the Super Bowl, the disappointment of 2019 right, losing these playoff games where you’ve been favored in a number of them. And to your point, I mean, this will be their 10th ever home playoff game they’ve had that. This will be their fifth in the Lamar Jackson era, however, and and they did one, how many? One you know? They lost an 18 to to the Chargers. They lost in 19 to the Titans, and then they that was a road show in 20 during the plague, right? They beat Houston last year, and then they lost to Kansas City. So let me be clear, I’m not saying that the Ravens should fire John Harbaugh if they lose Saturday night. What I am saying, however, is you’ve got to really look at this in its totality, and say, How are we so great in the regular season? How have we been so great in the regular season? And this is not translating to January, and that’s where, you know, I would just say at that point to me some, you know, there would be a lot on the table there as far as directions you could go because, you know, especially if it’s a game where, you know, you really stub your toe and you know, Pittsburgh plays well, but doesn’t, you know, like, Russell Wilson doesn’t have the game of his life, or something. Like, you know what I mean? Like, if this is just Pittsburgh plays well and the Ravens play c minus d plus, kind of football, right. Played
Nestor Aparicio 29:41
well for three quarters two weeks ago, other than Russell Wilson running into our dairies, watch me, they were they were playing the game they needed to play to win that and they turned the ball over right. And the Ravens fumbled three times and recovered them right. The Ravens recovered all three of their fumbles. The two of those were early now the other one was another punt return that was late in the game. So you’re playing games by how the Ravens. Get blown out. That’s how the Ravens get blown at. The Ravens get blown out. Supposed he goes into the end zone, and then there’s a turnover. Then it’s 14 to nothing early or light 10 nothing or something turnover related and defensive breakdown related. That would put them behind a little bit early that’s happened this year. But that’s, that’s not out, but that’s, that’s not out of the realm of this profile of this team, quite frankly, this team has a lot of holes for being very talented. Um,
Luke Jones 30:27
they have holes. I don’t, I don’t know if I’d say they have a lot of holes. Um,
Nestor Aparicio 30:31
well, the penalties are a hole. I mean, that’s a hole to me that
Luke Jones 30:35
well, that’s, that’s a deficient, well, not when you say, I think more in terms of roster, but, okay, fine. But they led the league in penalties. That’s sure. Look, they’ve got their imperfections. It’s the reason why they lost five games, right? I mean, the only team you can look at in the league right now where you say, Oh, wow, that’s a team that doesn’t have many holes or many flaws. Well, I mean, I guess Kansas City, even though we know they haven’t blown anyone out this year, really, and Detroit in the NFC, right? I mean, everyone else, you could point to imperfections, but what you just laid out Nestor, that’s not a blowout, though. That’s a blowout, relatively speaking, for the ravens, because the ravens are never, I mean, what was the last time the Ravens not counting games where Lamar was hurt, right? Not counting end of 21 end of 22 what was
Nestor Aparicio 31:18
8the way the Ravens have blown other teams out that in the fourth quarter, it’s a three or four touchdown game. I I agree that, right? I mean, that happened that the Ravens lose like that. I mean, the last time they were blown out in a game
Luke Jones 31:30
was probably the first Bengals game back in 2021 I mean, that’s a long time ago, right? And, you know, they were blown out by multiple scores in that game. Of normally, you know, the idea of the Ravens being blown out is kind of, you know, we saw their comeback against the Bengals in that Thursday night game. They were down two touchdowns earlier in that game. You know, that’s very out of character. So anyway, I don’t want to get too much into the weeds, weeds, just on that part of the the conversation. But
Nestor Aparicio 31:57
falling behind changes the way they play the game, too. In regards to,
32:00
does for anyone, right? I mean, that’s the case for anyone. But I just, I can’t fathom losing to Pittsburgh on Saturday night and not looking at this thing and saying, Where do we go from here? Like, where do we go from here? I mean, of course, you know. I mean, you’ve got an MVP, a quarterback, so if Lamar doesn’t play well again, you know, it’s not like you’re going to get rid of them, right? I mean, it’s just like he’s got to figure this out in the same way that Peyton Manning had to figure it out in the same way that John Elway had to figure it out in the same way that Dan Marino never got a chance to figure it out in the end, or when he did. You know, the dolphins just got blown out late in his career. But what they they lost that game to Jacksonville. That playoff game wasn’t that Marino’s last game. They lost like 650, to 70. It was like 51 Yeah, crazy, yeah. There were. There was a lot of that going on in that era, in this game, where these games were blowouts, like ugly to your point, like, the Ravens went 51 to seven over Pittsburgh on Saturday
Nestor Aparicio 33:00
night that Mike Tom, I can’t go back to Pittsburgh, you know what I mean like? And I think in this game specifically because of this matchup. And I think if you go back to the history of this, we’re playing the Steelers back in oh eight, and in the early the championship game there, and then the early part of of when Elvis Gorbach was around, and all of that, these are different kinds of games, because this is the epic rivalry in the league. It’s why it’s the Saturday night game this weekend. This doesn’t happen often. Four times in 30 years, this has happened
Luke Jones 33:29
first time in Baltimore as well. So I mean, it’s one of those scenarios where if they don’t win this game, then I guess I wouldn’t be surprised about anything that would happen, I would just leave it at that. I’m not that’s not my prediction, but I just I would be losing home
Nestor Aparicio 33:47
to the Steelers, nine and a half point favorite to play off game. When you’re on a four game winning streak and you got everybody healthy except say, flowers, i There are no excuses for them to
Luke Jones 33:57
lose, right? I can understand going to Buffalo and losing right? The bills are really good. I mean, the chiefs are the chiefs. If you lose in two weeks in the AFC title game rematch, if that plays out that way, but you can’t lose to Pittsburgh on Saturday night. You just can’t. You can’t. So that’s their games that said, finish. I fully expect the ravens to win. And I’ll leave it at that.
Nestor Aparicio 34:19
All right. Other games, the chargers, Houston games. Interesting. Chargers favored on the road a couple points. And the scenario that was brought up this week by Clark judge on the show. And by the way, he and I had a phenomenal Hall of Fame chat about Hall of Fame voting and Suggs and yonder and Steve Smith and all that. So please go check that out. He covered the Chargers forever out in San Diego. And he, you know, he’s like harbor wins these playoff John Jim Harbaugh talking about wins his playoff games. Got a quarterback on the road, their favorite, and they are the team the Chiefs don’t want to see that. They play the Chiefs really tough division. All of that that would make the Chiefs more vulnerable. And this is why Clark judge loves the ravens to go to the Super Bowl. He believes the charges are going to win. In and then go give the Chiefs hell, and that there will be a championship game here with the Harbaugh brothers in two weeks. So, like, that’s a scenario that I hadn’t thought about till Clark judge came and I’m like, because my scenario was horrible. Was going to play hardball this weekend. If the Steelers just held their water against Cincinnati over the weekend, they didn’t. But the notion that this tournament gets a little chalk doesn’t win this tournament. We all. We’re the Ravens. We chalk won the tournament. They don’t want the Super Bowl last year. Um, then the Sunday games, Broncos and bills. I can’t fathom a scenario where the Broncos are going to come into buffalo win. So I’m just assuming, like in my mind, the ravens are going to Buffalo next week, no matter what, no matter what, no matter what. But we’ll all be big Broncos fans on Sunday at lunchtime if the Ravens win on Saturday night. Right? No
Luke Jones 35:45
question, no question. I mean, just to touch on the first game. I mean, I mean, the Chargers go, look at how they played down the stretch. They had what they had, a loss to Tampa Bay that that that was not, not indicative of the team that they are. I certainly like them against Houston. I mean, we talked about this in the aftermath of the Christmas game residue, where they looked awful. I mean, they just absolutely looked awful in that game. I was a big CJ Stroud guy, and I still am, I suppose, but he’s been disappointing this year, but his offensive line’s been bad. Obviously, they lost some talent at the wide receiver position. They’ve added Deontay Johnson, so we’ll see how that works out for them. But I think the Chargers are playing good football. And I think of the three wild card teams, the Chargers are easily the most compelling because they have the best quarterback. I mean, Justin Herbert. He’s playing the best football of his career. Now it might not be the sexiest in terms of the numbers he’s putting up, but he’s playing good football. And I think an ex, an element to his game that wasn’t necessarily untapped with previous regimes in LA is he can run. I mean, he Pina Lamar, let’s be clear, no one is but he can move around, and he can run, and if you leave 10 yards of open green in front of him, he’s going to take it. And that’s been an extra element for them. I think the thing that hurts the Chargers as it pertains to whether it’s going to Kansas City, if, assuming they win, and I, you know, I’m picking the chargers to win this game, I still think they’re short on the skill talent. In the skill talent department, I still think they’re a legitimate wide receiver away from really being a serious, serious, serious Super Bowl contender. But that said to Clark judges, scenario, it’s a division game. If they come out and they stay healthy in this game, they go to Kansas City, the chiefs start slow, because we’ve seen teams coming out of the bye week do that. I mean, even last year, the Ravens were kind of sleepwalking through the first half of that Houston game. So I could see that scenario. So So I certainly expect the chargers to move on, and then we’ll see what happens chargers chiefs. I mean, they’ll certainly be compelling, because this isn’t a chiefs team at 15 and two. As great as that sounds, we know that the Chiefs haven’t been that dominant in being 15 and two on a week by week basis. You know, you’ve got to the chiefs are going to play smart, they they’re going to play close games, and they’ve got the experience factor, and that’s where they have the edge, if they’re meeting the chargers in, you know, in the divisional round. But, you know, I certainly expect the chargers to win. One thing, I agree with you, for the most part, with the bills Broncos game, but the ones the marquee matchup in that game is that Denver defensive line going up against the bills offensive line. It’s it’s strength against strength. I mean that Denver defensive line is terrific, and that bill’s offensive line was very good and stayed very healthy this year, which is kind of the difference for them compared to some, some recent years, you know, where Josh Allen was running for his life, a little bit more. So, you know, I and that’s not that Nestor. I’m not saying that matchup tips it one way or the other. I just think when you have a great defensive a great front going up against a great offensive line, it just it makes it compelling. But, you know, bills are playing at home. There are another team like the Ravens. I mean, you lose that game, you’re asking, what is it going to take for us to break through? You know, if you lose in Kansas City, it’s it’s frustrating, but it’s not unexpected. But if you can’t win home games where you’re in a 10 point favorite for the Ravens thing, yeah, how’s it what changes? You know, how’s this going to change what gives here. I mean, so, so, yeah, I like, I like buffalo in that game, but I do think that’s an interesting matchup, because that bill or that Broncos team that’s they’re playing with some confidence, you know, I understand. They beat the the chiefs, not even their JV, it was their junior high team that they played in week. They went in and played well, but, but, yeah, they did what they need to do. I mean, Bo Nicks. Bo Nicks has the factor working for him that sometimes can work with rookie quarterbacks. You see it one way, go one way or the other, right? A rookie quarterback’s either completely overwhelmed by the moment, or sometimes you’ll have someone who is is ignorant to the moment. And what I mean by that is he doesn’t really realize that he’s not supposed to be there. Jess. Jet. Well, Jay Daniels will have that Sunday night. Yes. Well, see the difference there is Jaden Daniels actually has, I mean, he’s played so well, one of my favorite players in the league already. I love Jaden Daniels despite the fact that he plays for Washington, that that’s where I’m I feel conflicted just because
Nestor Aparicio 40:15
I bought an oil or gear, don’t I don’t want to see you in Burgundy and gold. Oh no, no,
Luke Jones 40:19
no, but I see I loved him at LSU, he was my favorite quarterback coming out of this draft, I mean, and he’s played exactly as I thought he might be able to, even with a roster that I think is still not great around him by any means. But you know these rookie quarterbacks, I mean, it’s, it’s interesting. Bo Nix has no expectations. They’re not expected to win, whereas, yeah, the commanders, and I understand they’re going on the road at Tampa, but I feel like there, there’s some actually, some some juice, and some expectation for Jaden Daniels to play well, and for them to, you know, it’s not like the Buccaneers are, you know, we’ve seen the Bucks look really good at times, and other times they look not so good. I mean, even, even their week 18 game they started out in that game they were losing. And you’re kind of like, what’s going on here? So, you know, but, but it’s, you know, you see these rookie quarterbacks, and, I mean, it’s, it’s fun, because you think back to Lamar, as much as that game was a disaster against the chargers, it’s fun to think about a quarterback making his or Joe Flacco going to Miami in 2008 I mean, it’s fun because, you know, when you have a rookie quarterback, you go into the season you have no expectation whatsoever that you’re going to be any good. I mean, there’s a reason why you have a rookie playing quarterback. So so, you know, I think Bo nicks and the Broncos, yeah, I think they can go to Buffalo and and make it competitive. But I certainly, I fully expect the bills to handle their business in that game, and that should mean a Ravens bills divisional matchup that’s going to be really, really attractive, not just locally, but across the league. Alright,
Nestor Aparicio 41:49
Luke and I’ll be here after the game. I hope they get to LA. What’s going on in LA? You know how much I love Los Angeles, seeing it burn down like this has just been devastating over the weekend. So thoughts and prayers and strength out to everybody in LA before that rams Vikings game on Monday night, but we got football on Saturday night. We’ll be out on x and Facebook. You don’t have to worry about fact checking with us, because we don’t lie. So make sure you check that out, out on Facebook, and add on meta and all that stuff, and find us out at Baltimore posit the audio vault is up. The radio station is running. Emails are open. He is luke@wnst.net I am Ness at Baltimore positive.com, I am a very available individual to Monday to extending the season and potentially going off to Buffalo. I’m Nestor. He’s Luke. We are wnst. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking playoffs and Baltimore positive, stay with us.
