The record says the Baltimore Ravens are 4-5 but Luke Jones and Nestor go all “Baltimore Positive” in celebrating three wins in a row for the men of John Harbaugh after another win over the Minnesota Vikings and the possibilities of a AFC North title. It’s been a much better month for health and results but is this team really a Super Bowl contender?
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ three-game winning streak, including their victory over the Minnesota Vikings. They highlighted the Ravens’ improved performance, noting the importance of maintaining momentum. Despite concerns about the team’s offensive line and red zone efficiency, they praised the defense’s progress and the contributions of players like Roquan Smith and Draymond Jones. They also discussed the AFC landscape, emphasizing the Ravens’ potential to win the division and the challenges posed by teams like Buffalo and Kansas City. The conversation concluded with optimism about the Ravens’ playoff prospects and upcoming games against Cleveland and the Jets.
Ravens’ Winning Streak and Baltimore Positive
- Nestor Aparicio celebrates the Ravens’ three-game winning streak, mentioning their victory over the Vikings in Minnesota.
- Nestor humorously compares himself to a TV game show host, noting his success in making people win.
- Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Ravens’ current standing in the AFC and their recent wins, including a close game against the Steelers.
- Nestor expresses skepticism about the Ravens’ performance, noting their struggles earlier in the season and their current status as a playoff contender.
Ravens’ Performance and AFC Landscape
- Luke Jones emphasizes the importance of the Ravens continuing to win and improve, despite not being a dominant team yet.
- Nestor and Luke discuss the performance of other AFC teams, including Indianapolis, Denver, and New England, noting their easier schedules.
- Luke suggests that the Ravens could potentially win the AFC North and face a tough opponent like Buffalo or Kansas City in the playoffs.
- Nestor expresses confidence in the Ravens’ ability to win their division and perform well in the playoffs, despite their past struggles.
Ravens’ Offensive and Defensive Improvements
- Luke highlights the Ravens’ defensive improvements, noting the better performance of the secondary and the contributions of players like Roquan Smith and Teddy Buchanan.
- Nestor and Luke discuss the Ravens’ offensive struggles, particularly in the running game and the red zone, and the importance of Lamar Jackson’s mobility.
- Luke mentions the Ravens’ success in handling the Vikings’ crowd noise and their ability to remain composed in a hostile environment.
- Nestor and Luke agree that the Ravens need to continue winning and improving to solidify their playoff position.
Upcoming Games and Challenges
- Nestor and Luke discuss the Ravens’ upcoming games against Cleveland and the Jets, noting the importance of these games for their playoff chances.
- Luke emphasizes the need for the Ravens to avoid complacency and maintain their focus, given their recent success.
- Nestor mentions the Ravens’ history of struggles against the Browns and the importance of being prepared for their next game.
- Both agree that the Ravens are in a better position than they were a month ago and are capable of continuing their winning streak.
Ravens’ Long-Term Outlook and Team Dynamics
- Nestor and Luke discuss the Ravens’ long-term outlook, including the importance of developing a consistent run game and improving the offensive line.
- Luke highlights the contributions of players like Draymond Jones and Travis Jones to the defense and the pass rush.
- Nestor and Luke reflect on the Ravens’ overall performance and the need for continued improvement in all areas of the game.
- Both express optimism about the Ravens’ potential to perform well in the playoffs and compete for the AFC title.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens, three in a row, Vikings, Baltimore, crab cakes, Maryland lottery, AFC, playoffs, defense, offense, Lamar Jackson, red zone, special teams, schedule, wins.
SPEAKERS
8
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T am 1570 to Baltimore. We’re Baltimore positive and positively into three victories in a row. Count them up three. Maryland crab cake tour last week, we had a great time at Pizza John’s. You’re going to be hearing all that this week at Cocos, I brought together two legendary chefs and friends of mine, Marcela Knight, who owns Cocos as well as Nancy Longo down at Pier point, had a phenomenal conversation about Baltimore and crab cakes in East Baltimore and small tomorrow and all that good stuff. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. Had some lucky winners as well. I put a video up of two ladies that came behind me at Cocos the other day, and it really Luke, when this thing falls apart and I finally get kicked out of the market altogether, not just the ravens and the Orioles and I, I have no audience, unlike the 2 million people that have checked out our work here in the last 28 days, I want to be a TV game show host. I I feel like with the loss of Chuck Barris, with the loss of of you know, all the great wink Martindale, all the great host, Alex Trebek, that there needs to be a new I think it’s going to be me, because I get when I scratch these off, people win, Luke, Joe, that’s all I’m saying.
Luke Jones 01:10
Right? Awesome. That
Nestor Aparicio 01:12
sounds good. I wasn’t, wasn’t really, wasn’t really expecting you to start our ravens conversation with that. So I didn’t have a one three. Are we in first place yet? That’s all I need to know. Are we there yet? It’s close, right?
8Luke Jones 01:23
It feels like it’s close, especially if you watch the Steelers on Sunday night. I mean, they look bad, like they look bad. And it even puts into context the fact that, okay, they beat Indianapolis two weeks ago, but they forced Six turnovers in that game, and they still won by seven points, right? Normally, you turn over. You turn a team over six times. You’re wondering if you won by four touchdowns. So but hey, as I wrote at Baltimore positive.com when you look at the landscape of this entire AFC at this point in time, I mean no better example than what happened to Buffalo going to Miami on Sunday afternoon. If you’re the ravens, don’t worry about any of that. Just keep winning. Keep stacking wins. Kyle Hamilton said it best. I used it for my headline at Baltimore positive.com ravens just need to keep adding wins to their scar tissue. That was that was the term, terminology that he used, starting one in five that scar tissue. And it is right. They still don’t have the same margin for error as other teams in this conference, but they’re finding ways to win, and not that Sunday was necessarily an indication that the ravens are back to being the juggernaut that they’ve been
Nestor Aparicio 02:32
in look great. We’re halfway through the season, and I haven’t seen a minute where they look great. That doesn’t mean that they will look great in December, that they’re not capable of that, because we spent nine months here talking about how great they were going to be, and we look up in their one and five, and they’re hurt right, and old and slow and and bad in the trench, all, all of the things we’re going to get to here all week long as we Cleveland, OH, they’re just going to roll the ball out right. The Jets is going to roll the ball out right. I don’t know. I don’t I don’t know. Week to week. To your point. A lot of men that get paid with a lot of pride in this league and on any given Sunday, right? That’s the way it says. And the Ravens better make sure that they’re as sharp as they think they can be as a playoff team, because the rest of this thing to your point. You know, I’m looking at the rest of it, and I like our chances.
Luke Jones 03:18
I mean, it’s just just keep winning, keep getting better. I think if there’s one thing you can take away from these last three wins, which, again, hasn’t, hasn’t necessarily reflected that they’re a juggernaut getting ready to boat race teams week after week, as we’ve seen them be at their absolute best. But they are getting better, and they’re playing better in the second half of these games, the last 10 minutes on Sunday not withstanding that felt a little too weird. You know, a little too ravens like, as far as just not finishing and putting away a team the way you’d like to, but when you look at the rest of this conference, I mean, right now, Indianapolis, Denver, New England, are they truly the new elites in the AFC?
Nestor Aparicio 03:59
8I don’t. I mean, man, I believe more in the Patriots than I do the Bronco, you know, like, if you’re giving me, because I sit here and watch it all weekend, right? Like, I mean, like everybody red zone and stuff, Thursday night football, Sunday night, Monday night, all of that. You know, I the elite teams on record. I mean, if the Ravens had to go on a pathway of going to Indianapolis and winning and Denver and winning, instead of going to Kansas City and Buffalo and winning, and hey, the ravens are going to win the division. I mean, I’m on November 10. I’m on record of saying they’re talking about that. I was talking about that when they were one and five, when I was spanking John for being a liar, which he is. But like I said, they’d be seven and seven. Hell, they’re going to be five and five, right? Well,
Luke Jones 04:42
this is why I kept telling you, if they’re seven and seven, something’s it’s not, I’m not feeling good about it, right? I mean, because of this schedule. But you know, just to go back to my point about indie Denver and New England, that’s not me saying they stink at all. Each of those teams is eight and two. They deserve. This phrase, they deserve their flowers in terms of being good teams. My question is, when you look at their strength to schedule, which, if you look at DVO, a or ESPN, you know, they have their football power index, they all across the board would agree that those three teams have had have been among the easiest schedules in the league to date. My question simply is, are they truly heavyweights now in terms of the eyeball test, in terms of how they’re going to play in January, or are they merely the good teams that are at the top of the conference right now, record wise, because they’ve had an easier schedule. I mean, buffalo, look at how the bills have played over the last month Kansas City for as much as guys like me have pointed to Kansas City and said, from an eyeball test standpoint, this might be the best offense they’ve had in a few years. They sat at their bye week at five and four, they’ve already lost more games than they did last year. So what’s crazy about this? And I was actually thinking about this, and I’m going to put it out there. It’s probably going to tick off some hits right now. The Ravens might not. Might the Ravens have a really good chance here to recover. I mean, they’re one game out of the AFC north and Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh looks bad like this. Looks like how they looked at the end of last year, where their defense isn’t great, and now their offense is suddenly falling apart. But long way to go, fully acknowledging that, and two head to heads, but humor me for the possibility that the Ravens win the division and then they’re hosting someone like buffalo or Kansas City in the first round. That would just be, oh, I mean, after all the all the years of you know, talking about the number one seed and home field advantage and all that. It’d be great to play them at home, but not necessarily great to play them in the first round, right? So we’re going to see how it all plays out. Long way to go, but again, going back to my bigger point here, no, this ravens team has not been perfect. It’s been far from perfect, even over these last three games, as they’ve climbed their way closer to 500 but the defense continues to get better. The offense still has Lamar Jackson and so much talent, even if they’re still searching for a more consistent run game, even if they’re still trying to figure things out inside the red zone, I think we see the capability there. We see the talent there, even with the concerns about the offensive line, and they’re also getting contributions from their special teams as well. So you’re seeing a team that’s getting better, a team that, yes, has had a softer schedule, that was always going to play a part in climbing back into this, yes, a team that’s healthier than they were earlier in the season, that was always going to play a part, and that’s going to need to continue. Right? They had a couple guys get banged up, but no early indication of anything overly serious to any of their key players. But they’ve got to keep winning. But you look around at the rest of this conference, and it feels as wide open as the AFC has felt in a very long time. Because who are the bills? Who are, you know, I think the chiefs are still really good, but Denver’s eight and two, and the Chargers are seven and three, right? I mean, at some point in time, you have to acknowledge their path and how, how treacherous that could be for them to win the division. So just keep winning. Just keep winning, and keep finding ways to get better. There were certainly things to like about Sunday’s game well, there were also things that continue to pop up as issues for this football team. But you’ll take a 2719 win on the road, and as we kind of talked about, and I know I wrote about it, and plenty of people were writing about it, I think when you looked at this post by stretch. And maybe this is a little unfair to how they played in the Chicago game without Lamar, but you looked at the stretch, you kind of pointed to the Minnesota game as the one game that was the iffy game, right? You know that this three straight road game most difficult game for sure? Yeah, and certainly the Vikings were coming off of a really impressive performance against Detroit. You know, they’re a win that was more impressive than anything the Ravens had done to this point in the season. So for them to go on the road, handle the crowd noise, handle it way better than the Vikings did. I mean, eight false starts. Are you kidding me? That was good to see that that was a, you know, that that was even if it wasn’t the most impressive on the scoreboard, per se, that was a big boy win. That’s the kind of win if you are truly a good team wanting to be a great team, that’s the kind of game you have to find ways to win in the National Football League, it’s not easy on the road. It doesn’t need to be a blowout, but that’s the kind of game that if you’re truly serious about being a much different team than you were when you were one in five. That’s one you need to come away with a victory, and they were able to do that. So hats off to them. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 09:47
if I wrote a column this off the game, and I haven’t yet, and I was thinking about, you know, am I going to write something a little bit more long form? They’re doing a whole bunch of AI stuff this week. We had all these shows last week, and I’m thinking, if I’m right. Eating something. It wouldn’t even be tongue in cheek. I started to write something and saying, here’s the good news. So if this is a good news segment, here’s the good news, right? They’ve won three in a row. Their quarterback is upright. They’re they’re running back. Everybody’s upright, right? But the older players are upright. Good news. The guy they brought in, Draymond Jones, got after I noticed him more than I noticed adopt a o way here for five years. So in an afternoon, good news, kickers making most of the kicks he’s supposed to make, right? I mean, all things aside, he’s not Justin Tucker. I’m not expecting to hit 64 yard field goals in Denver, in the snow, right? But special teams better go. Go with that. Um, good news. Good news, yeah, I don’t know you young players emerging, maybe in the secondary. I mean, give me that, let’s go. Good news here for them. Good news is they’re four and five. Good news is they’re playing two crappy teams. Good news is the Steelers stink like, there’s a lot of good news for them. I’ll go through bad news. We’ll go through how awful the Vikings were. Like, I’ll, I’ll give you a big boy win. Maybe shonies Big Boy, maybe wimpys, but not like a real big boy win.
Luke Jones 11:17
I mean, the big one when I, when I said a big boy win, I meant going on the road against a team that’s not terrible, right?
8Nestor Aparicio 11:21
I’m trying to make this a good news segment, right?
Luke Jones 11:25
But I’m saying, but I’m saying, but the point is, it’s really difficult to win in the National Football League. Case in point, what the bills did on Sunday, right?
Nestor Aparicio 11:33
The Vikings weren’t jumping off eight times, and that quarterback just throwing the ball up for grabs
Luke Jones 11:39
8a little, yeah, he looked like someone playing in his fourth career game. I mean, there’s no question about that. I when I said a big boy win, I meant in in the context of, if you’re really the anything close to the team that everyone imagined you to be, envisioned you to be at the start of the year, that’s the kind of game you win, like point blank. It doesn’t have to be perfect, like you win, and they did, and they did, and that’s why, and, and specifically, you know, I use the term Big Boy in description of that drive at the end of the third, into the early fourth quarter, where they took time off the clock, they finally got the running game going. They’re converting, and they scored seven points, right? I mean, that the one thing that you could kind of talk about was their red so
Nestor Aparicio 12:17
they could have lost the game last Thursday night down in Miami, and they came out and they played great football for about 15 minutes and won the game. That’s something the buffalo tried all day to do. Couldn’t do so in the rain all you know, I was watching all of that on Sunday, and I’m like, same thing you’re feeling, which is, the good news is, the good news is there’s no super teams anywhere in the league, certainly not in the AFC, and it’s not his brother’s team out in Southern California. I mean, I’m not saying that the Colts are a pretender, you know, kicking the ball around half the morning in Berlin and finally winning, covering the spread too. By the way, it’s crazy in this week, we got these baseball players going to prison. Now, the NBA guy is going to shut that thing down. If Trump doesn’t get his name on the stadium down in DC, he’s going to come after the NFL. Because I’m sure you know this is, this is his game from the government down, and I talk about that the rest of the week, but the notion that baseball in the NBA have been caught up in this gambling thing. I start to watch games like that now, which is crazy, but colts don’t scare me. Denver, don’t scare me. Now the Patriots, I think differently. Of raybel, somehow, some way, I think he’s a he’s a better football coach than most of the rest of these guys, and I believe that going down to Tennessee, I believed he was going to be a good coach, and this is the second time around for him. He’s got an owner that sort of knows what he’s doing and getting out of the way and all of that. And it looks like they got a quarterback. So that’s the bad news for me. The bad news for me is you’re going to have to go back and deal with the lighthouse up in New England the rest of lamar’s tenure, from what I can see with this kid. Now, I would have said that about Cincinnati and borough, but he’s off the grid because he’s hurt, right? But I think the Patriots are more real if I’m if I’m being honest about things that concern me in January that aren’t named buffalo or Kansas City, right? Because I don’t think the rest of it concerns you. But dude, it’s two weeks for Thanksgiving right now. We’re talking about a team that’s a sub 500 team that hasn’t put together a half of good football yet, like the way we envision them, not the way that they freight train teams years ago, just what they were supposed to be now, which is monk and left, Monk and right, RPO, left, healthy. Lamar, right, Henry’s going to run you over late in the game. They’re going to razzle dazzle you some of the things we saw in Minnesota on Sunday, some in zay flowers out in space, can’t tackle him. Lamar running again, which is feels like last year’s, last time I saw that, right? And then the fear of, like, what’s he doing? Running, draw plays. Like, we got better plays than that, don’t we? Like, I’m thinking, you know, I also think about that, and I still think, and I wrote this down, and it’s not my lead. And it’s not me being a prick, even though, you know I am one, Lamar running is still their best play and their riskiest play. And I keep saying Lamar running, or the threat of Lamar running, is the best thing they have going for them, free snap every play, every play, the other team has to be concerned that that it is a play designed for Lamar that looks like it’s going to someone else, because Lamar is still when he’s right, the number one way that they’re going to beat you over the course of the long haul, not on any one given play. The threat of that on every play is something that made them so effective before that. That’s what you feel when Cooper Rush is in there, or Snoop huntley’s in there, or Gympie Lamar is in there, and, you know, he doesn’t want to run today. It’s like having a horse, you know, he doesn’t want to run today. You know? Yeah, there’s a threat, but not today. And that’s when he gets killed when he can’t run, or when you don’t want him to run. I I’m through that. We’re seven years, eight years into this. I’m finally going to give in to you and Harbaugh and say, let him run. Let he has to run. Because without the threat of him running, or without the reality of him running, there they feel more like a regular team with a really crappy offensive line, especially on third long, which they can’t get into. And the way they don’t get into third long is by being effective on first and second down. And that involves number eight.
Luke Jones 16:33
I mean, it’s it’s why they’ve been as successful as they’ve been. I don’t think it’s a negative. I think it’s an acknowledgement of reality. Now that’s not an endorsement for Lamar to run 25 times a game, but the threat of him running 25 times a game, the threat of him running every single
Nestor Aparicio 16:49
play he hasn’t built electric to me, like, if I’m a D coordinator and I’m watching and I’m worried about it, but I’m not as worried about it as I used to be in that way. And they need to monkey, needs to design things. They worry more about it. They just
8Luke Jones 17:03
need to run the ball better in general, right? I mean, Derek Henry had a pretty pedestrian day, right? Again, again, and they’re just there. They haven’t been very good running the football early in games. Now they’ve been able to get it going a little bit. I did like the fact that they got Keaton Mitchell involved in the first half. I mean, he and then he disappeared again, maybe a little bit more of that mixed in. But they’re just, they’re not very good on their offensive line, right? I mean, they’re not, they haven’t been great. And what they’re trying
Nestor Aparicio 17:31
to how I can think about them long term, like I keep thinking to myself, I want to blow them kisses today. I want this to be all positive. We’ll do a negative.
Luke Jones 17:38
But who do you love in the AFC? And look, let me be clear, when I talk about the rest of the A, F, C, that is not the ravens are winning the Super Bowl or going to the Super Bowl. That means what it is, it’s wide open. So who can get better, right?
Nestor Aparicio 17:52
8But you see the six foot eight guard, and you see all of this hope that they’ve put into the Michigan guy, and even Ben Cleveland is a backup. I mean that, you know, they get off the bus and they’re not. I’ve seen great offensive lines here. I’ve seen good offensive lines here. I’ve seen good enough offensive lines here. This is on the body of work below the bar, and I don’t know how that changes. I, you know, I’m, I’m one. I keep wondering, like, how they gonna win against good teams? Like, I don’t know how many good teams are going to play. I really don’t how many good defensive good front sevens. And I thought the Vikings had a good front seven. I mean, the Vikings had a lot
Luke Jones 18:29
of things to be. The Vikings have a good defense. Their defense is good. Like, they don’t look at that performance and say,
Nestor Aparicio 18:35
ravens had 12 points until they the other team put the ball in the carpet on the special teams, they had 12 points, like, literally, that’s where they were in the second half. So sure, it was not some juggernaut. It was
Luke Jones 18:47
very early. 2000s ravens ask. It stalled a
8Nestor Aparicio 18:51
lot. It stalled a lot it did, sure, but, and that’s where have having Justin Tucker around was good news, right? Yeah, well, and stall at the 34 yard line. No problem. Automatic.
Luke Jones 19:00
Boom, three points, right? I mean, I will say that three of those field goals were 30 yards. And in
Nestor Aparicio 19:05
when you miss a field goal, you give them the ball to 50 yard line too. We saw that
Luke Jones 19:09
8understood. But kicking field goals inside the red zone is that’s a loser in the long haul. There’s no question about that, and that’s why they they need to get better with their red zone offense. Their red zone offense is still leaving way too much to desire. In terms of you know, whether we’re talking short yardage, whether we’re talking about just more confined area, it has to be better, right? It didn’t on a day like Sunday, where your opponent is in self destruction mode, sure. And I will say one of the other things I liked about Sunday’s game, because we’ve talked about this narrative a lot, and even some of the uncomfortable feeling of the last 10 minutes or so where the Ravens didn’t put them away right, weren’t able to sustain a drive to to run the clock out. But look at that football game and see all the mistakes the Vikings made with eight false starts, three. Turnovers go down the you know, McCarthy just not being very good, right? But on the flip side, yeah, the Ravens had some issues in this game. There’s no question about that, couple bad drops right back to back, Mark Andrews and Isaiah, likely with drops in on a drive where they could have scored a touchdown and they settle for three instead. And yeah, I just talked about some of the Red Zone woes, but largely the Ravens were the better team in terms of handling themselves, remaining poised, not making colossal mistakes, right? And it’s a reminder of what you see in the National Football League on a weekly basis, that not losing the game is sometimes just as good as making the plays, the big plays, to win a football game. And that game, the Ravens were the much more composed team. I mean, with all the crowd noise, all the talk about playing indoors there and how loud it gets, think they have one pre snap penalty, right? It’s really good. I mean, the Vikings were the team that, even though I saw the
Nestor Aparicio 21:03
explicable, by the way, I’d never seen anything like it, and that kid, whatever he’s, I mean, like, you could hear it the stadium is, is a pin drop when the Vikings are on offense, because their fans are sophisticated, they don’t need to put up make some noise, or, you know, you’re, you Know, the visitors don’t like no, like, any of that crap that they do here, that neophyte stuff that the fans there know what they’re doing, and they made it quiet. And if I’m running Minnesota radio today, I’m like, the hell are you practicing out there? Yeah, getting your guys to jump what? What was that?
Luke Jones 21:40
I mean, whatever their cadence was, clearly, you get to a point where you’re jumping as often as you are that it’s time to just go on a regular count, right? There was some and, look, I don’t want to get into this too much, because I have nothing to go off of other than some comments. There were some comments that I saw in the post game Minnesota locker room that alluded to, perhaps the Ravens doing some things up front that were aiding in that happening. I have no idea, right? The referees didn’t, if the official didn’t call it, they didn’t call it, right? But there was a little bit of that kind of post game talk, and it’s tough because you only read the quotes in print. You didn’t hear what the tone was. You don’t know if these guys were saying it was maybe 10% of the Ravens doing some stuff like that, and 90% us still at the end of the day. But that, yeah, I mean, that was just times inexplicable, really inexplicable. I mean, we’ve talked about but we’ve talked about it with the Ravens offensive line. I mean, even going back the last couple years, when the Ravens were playing at a much higher level overall, and a much higher level offensively, we still would see how debilitating those false starts can be. Right three
Nestor Aparicio 22:51
times a game, it would cost them a try. You go from three times a game, they have to get in third and 18, and Lamar has got to get in the phone booth right to
8Luke Jones 22:57
get him out. I mean, no, and I think they even mentioned it early in the game. I mean, you know, the Ravens have actually been amongst the best teams in the league in third and long, but it’s relative, right? You might be the best team in the league in third and long, but that doesn’t mean that that’s going to be your optimal way for how you operate your offense, right? You’re in it too much. Yeah, exactly. It means that, yeah, you’re overcoming it more than other teams, but that doesn’t mean you’re overcoming it all the time. So, but the point is, with that, when you have a false start, you go from first and 10 to first and 15 or second and two to Second and seven. I mean, it completely changes the complexion of your drive. So, but that goes back to the point I was making, where I’ll credit the Ravens for playing in a hostile environment like that, where you are dealing with crowd noise and you are dealing with the tough defense on the other side Vikings
Nestor Aparicio 23:45
needed on Sunday. Sam darnold, sure, sure, I’m watching that. And I’m like, you know, maybe this kid’s Okay, and I believe in O’Connell and all that, but I just didn’t like his responsibility with the with the football,
Luke Jones 23:59
not just that, but how about the fact that, and he seemed to have, he seems to have a good rapport with nailer, you know, who made some big catches for them. They’re number three wide receiver, but, man, the body language from Justin Jefferson awful and like they’re, they’re just not on. I mean, he targeted him 12 times. So it speaks to the idea that it’s not as though he’s not trying to go his way. But, man, they look like two guys that need way more
Nestor Aparicio 24:23
8sometimes, when he wasn’t open and the ball was nowhere near him, right? So there’s a little bit of, it feels like there’s pressure on him to get the ball to that guy, because he’s on all the commercials and all that stuff. But I’m with you, dude. It was Antonio Brown looking body language. It was, it was really like, is that guy, you know? Is that guy, Jerry Maguire? Is that rod too? He doesn’t, and he doesn’t have that reputation at all. He’s got community, man, all of that. But, boy, it felt a lot more hot dog than it did. You know, mustard, ketchup or relish. You know,
Luke Jones 24:57
that’s where I’ll also say, hey, credit the Raven. Secondary, right? I mean, this defense is playing better. There’s no question about
Nestor Aparicio 25:04
that. And they’re drafted to be that. Sure, just put a lot of effort into making the secondary better than it looked the first seven weeks.
Luke Jones 25:12
Sure, no question. I mean, failure of the Jair Alexander signing or not, there’s still plenty of talent in that secondary. And I’ll throw something else out there that I’ve been critical of. Roquan Smith’s playing really good football. And I’ll also say Teddy Buchanan is coming on. I think Teddy Buchanan, in terms of playing in space and in coverage and things of that nature, is looking, dare I say, encouraging for a fourth round rookie midway through his rookie season, right? He’s showing improvement, still having some trouble getting off blocks, you know, still not there yet, but looking better. So we’ve seen the transition of their defense, with Gilman coming on, Hamilton moving to the nickel, subsequently being in the box, being at the line of scrimmage, far more frequently we’re seeing roquan Smith back and healthy and playing some of his best football that we’ve seen in a while. You know, had a would be interception overturned on that was tough. That was a tough one. I mean, I I see why they overturned it, but I’ve also, I feel like I see three other catches like that across the NFL every Sunday that that that’s how upheld, right? I mean, it speaks to the lack of consistency, but makes a really nice plan coverage there. So their secondary feels like it’s writing itself the second level. The defense feels like it’s getting better. The big question remains, can they get enough pressure on the quarterback, and it wasn’t great on Sunday, but Draymond Jones, to your point, you noticed him. He got some pressure. Had a couple quarterback hits, Travis one guy we haven’t talked about a whole lot. I think Travis Jones is starting to come on. I think we’ve seen him play at a higher level here over the last couple weeks. Perhaps a sign that he’s over his early season knee injury that he had that cost him some time, and, I think, some effectiveness, but for me, it still comes back to the defensive line and the pass rush, and that’s that’s going to continue. But at the same time, I’ll remind people, you can go back even 15 years ago. You know, go back to the Greg Madison era. Right the transition from Rex. Madison was their defensive coordinator for a couple years, and then they went to Pagano. Go back and look at those teams. Even with Terrell Suggs on that roster, they didn’t necessarily have the most formidable pass rush at that point in time. So look, will that come up if they’re facing Josh Allen or Patrick mahomes, of course, but between now and talking about that hypothetical, you do have a defense that is playing at a higher level. And as we’ve said for a few weeks now, and you could see this starting with that rams game, the floor of this defense has risen considerably over the first five games. This looked like the 1996 ravens defense, right? I mean, they couldn’t stop anybody over these last four games, they’ve allowed fewer than 20.4 straight games, and they’re playing better. It’s still not exactly where you want it. I will continue to have concerns about the pass rush, and even with Draymond Jones joining the fray, that I still have concerns about that. But as it pertains to playing JJ McCarthy or the kid in Cleveland or Justin fields, I suppose in a couple weeks, I you know that you can what they have going for them defensively, will more than play against offenses like that. So again, it goes back to my overall theme, keep winning games and keep getting better. And meanwhile, we’ll all try to sort out what the heck this AFC looks like, right? What it’s what it looks like now, what it’s going to look like in a month, and what it’s going to look like come mid January, but the Ravens have certainly done some, some major work to get themselves back to four and five when you know, again, coming out of the bye, if I told you during the bye week that Lamar wasn’t going to play against Chicago, and reminded that they still had a trip to Minnesota to play The Vikings, four and five wasn’t wasn’t a layup when you looked at it at that point in time. So to get to four and five good for them. And meanwhile, the Steelers have lost three out of four and right on their heels, and this is a team that has a really good chance now to be not just over 500 by Thanksgiving, but it could be in first place. They could be in sole possession of first place. It just speaks to the nature of the National Football League, especially when you’re not playing in a juggernaut of a division. And it speaks to the idea that we were continuing to try to say, even though it felt really difficult at the. Time that one in five was not a death sentence, even though, certainly it wasn’t ideal. And I’ll remind everyone they still have five losses on their ledger. So they have to keep winning. They have to keep, you know, stay healthy. They have to keep getting better. But they’re certainly in a way, way, way better position than they were in a month ago. That’s stating the obvious. Well,
8Nestor Aparicio 30:21
they have no pedigree of losing these kinds of games to Cleveland and the Jets right, like these next two weeks feels like, all right, they’re going to get over the hump, you know, through this period of time here.
Luke Jones 30:33
I mean, they have,
Nestor Aparicio 30:36
I agree, Pittsburgh, thing couldn’t set up better for them. They’re getting better, and the other teams are getting worse.
Luke Jones 30:41
8Keep in mind, the Browns have beaten them four straight years. The Browns have a win over them in four straight seasons. So as much as Look, I get it, and their quarterback situation is not good, you know, with a rookie who’s worse than JJ McCarthy, right? But they still have a really good defense, and we’ve seen how this offense has struggled against quality defenses, so you know, and it’s on the road, so I’m look, not going to sit here and say that I’m predicting an upset. No, of course, I’m going to pick the ravens to win. But that message of not getting complacent and not relaxing now, just because you’re four and five and you’re one game out in the division, you cannot have that mindset going to Cleveland, because we’ve seen it. We’ve seen last place Browns teams beat the Ravens here even recently. So I agree with your general point, but I just wanted to push back a little bit because they lost to Jamis Winston last year, right? They’ve they lost to the Browns being in last place a couple years ago. So
Nestor Aparicio 31:41
all right, well, you be on red alert this week. I’ll go. I talked to the Cleveland writers, and they tell me they have no chance of winning here this week. And again,
Luke Jones 31:48
dolphins had no chance against the bills on some correct absolutely
Nestor Aparicio 31:51
right. Yeah, you got to be awake. But that’s all the more reason that these five losses, the scar tissue that we began this with, with Kyle Hamilton and where they are is that it feels like there’s been and that’s why I changed my backdrop here on my Zoom set for my 27th anniversary, feels like it’s been a little bit of an awakening for them. Yeah, the last couple of weeks. And I’ll still sit here and we’re going to we did a positive segment here. Now we can go through where the problems still lie for them, as far as historically, looking at these trenches and saying, What is this and where’s the improvement coming from? But to your point, if they go out every week and they’re the better team the next two weeks, they should roll the ball at and at least be the better team. But they got to go play. He’s Luke, he’s Baltimore, Luca. He’s gonna be in Owings Mills all week. We’re gonna be around. We’ve talked a lot of baseball. We ate a lot of pizza and crinkle cut french fries and cheese steaks on Friday pizza. John’s, our friends at the Maryland lottery. I was out on the road on the Maryland crab cake. Tore off some fresh dates for the holidays, I’m putting together right now. I’m just getting the nutmeg and the eggnog together. I’m getting new scratch offs in the Maryland lottery that are going to be scented. Going to smell like candy canes for the holidays, my bag will smell minty and peppermint tea. So I’m looking forward to I got some new spots. We’re going to be coming out and doing that as well. It’s a big week around here. Ravens are back in business, which is good. The Orioles go into off season business, and we had long, long chats. Rasig joined us. Ron Cassie from Baltimore magazine is also a baseball team head, sat with us over some pizza and some crab cakes and and whatnot, and a Cobb salad over at Pizza John’s on Friday. We had a great conversation. You’ll hear all that all week long. Also had some other fantastic guests about a lot of things. Ai. I talked to to Todd schouler and Bill Cole about that, and youth sports, a whole bunch of stuff. You’re going to enjoy it. He’s Luke. I’m Nestor. It’s big football week around here. Stay with us. We’re Baltimore positive.
