Despite the defense’s strong performance, the Ravens’ inefficiencies and missed opportunities on offense – including a crucial two-point conversion attempt – contributed to their eighth loss in nine games against the Steelers. Luke Jones and Nestor emphasize the need for growth and maturity, especially in high-stakes games, and noted the team’s history of struggles in Pittsburgh.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ recent loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, focusing on Lamar Jackson’s subpar performance and the team’s overall offensive struggles. They highlighted the Ravens’ penalties, poor play-calling, and lack of composure, particularly in rivalry games. Despite the defense’s strong performance, the offense’s inefficiencies and missed opportunities, including a crucial two-point conversion attempt, contributed to the loss. They emphasized the need for growth and maturity, especially in high-stakes games, and noted the team’s history of struggles against the Steelers, losing eight of the last nine games.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens loss, Lamar Jackson, offensive struggles, defensive performance, penalties, coaching discipline, rivalry games, character building, playoff readiness, Pittsburgh Steelers, regular season success, January focus, composure, leadership, play calling
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
8
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. We’re taking the Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road this week. Will be a green mount station in amstead on Thursday, and it’s kind of a special week around here. Yes, I’ll have the Raven scratch offs to give away. We’re going to talk some horse racing out there. We’re gonna talk to my friend Karen Faulkner about leadership and different things in the real world and networking and things I do around here. But also it’s Music Week. There’s it’s international music day on Friday, I have a just a trove of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame interviews that have never been on Earth, that I haven’t listened to. Found myself listening to Debbie Harry the other day and old Robin Zander, people that are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame now that a decade ago were not so I’ll be unleashing some of that, as well as some modern music interviews later on this week. Luke and I’ll still be talking football. You can find us previewing the Chargers game as well as Thanksgiving next week, but just a special week for music around here. Big thanks to our friends at curio wellness and foreign daughter, as well as at Liberty, pure solution to power me up with the water and our 26 oysters for our 26th anniversary. And, of course, our friends at Jiffy Lube multi care, powering Luke up and back and forth up to Pittsburgh with our friends at Royal farms. Speaking of royal farms, we we did, like, a whole thing on Justin Tucker and the kicking game and the special teams look. That led me to coaching a little bit on hardball, and where are they on Zach or and Dean Pease and Chris Wharton and and I think through all of this, we just expect Lamar Jackson to go in the phone booth, lead a drive to get them down to the end zone. And let’s start with the two point play and maybe work backward through Sunday’s game, because we’ve talked about a lot of things. We haven’t talked about the fact that the offense sort of failed all day. Yeah.
Luke Jones 01:54
I mean, Let’s call a spade a spade. I mean, Lamar Jackson, and not just him, let’s be very clear. And we saw the zay flowers drop, for example, we saw at times the past protection, not looking great. But that was not the Lamar Jackson we’ve been accustomed to seeing in 2024 as he’s been the favorite for MVP of the League for the third time in his young career. So look, that’s not to say that you expect Lamar or he needs to play great every week, it is a team game, even, yes, with the quarterback. And as far as his track record against Pittsburgh and the Miss games and the record going into Sunday, there were people like myself, for example, who were pointing out that he had played a whole lot against Pittsburgh, especially here in recent years, and last year’s game in Pittsburgh. Go back and watch that game. Lamar Jackson played fantastic football for about 53 minutes, and then the final seven minutes through the pit, force the ball to Beckham that was picked off, turns it over again. But that was not that loss wasn’t on Lamar Jackson last year. And let’s be clear, this loss on Sunday was not on Lamar Jackson by any stretch of the imagination, however, and we talked about this a lot back in January with the loss to the chiefs. When you do have an MVP quarterback and he doesn’t play anywhere close to his best football it’s going to be really difficult to win that day. And this was a day where the defense played quite well, and Pittsburgh was zero for four inside the red zone, and we’ve talked about all the different ways that they still could have and should have found a way to win that football game. But at its most simplistic level, when you have a tremendous franchise quarterback that plays at a very high level and he doesn’t play at a very high level, chances are you’re going to struggle to win those games. The same is true of Josh Allen and buffalo. The same is true of Patrick mahomes, although this year might not be the best example of that, because he’s played far from his best season, and and the Chiefs finally took a loss on Sunday, so, but that speaks to the chiefs, their defense being what it’s been and, but also, mahomes has a track record, and at the very least, has played sound football for the most part, understanding some of the limitations of their offense. But, but the point is, if you have a great quarterback that you’re paying a lot of money and he doesn’t play well in a given week, chances are you’re probably your chances of losing that game are much higher than they typically are. No duh, right? I mean, that’s a captain obvious statement. So Lamar didn’t play well. I think you give Pittsburgh a lot of credit, but I also just think his accuracy just felt off. There were times where I thought he had some layups to make, so to speak, in terms of, you know, maybe some underneath throws that were there that he went for the bigger play, which, at times you love that when that happens, right? You don’t want your quarterback to be completely risk averse either. But this felt a little bit like you. In January of last year, Lamar, you know, against Kansas City, where it felt like at times he was trying to do too much, just missed some throws. And when he would make a throw like the one to zay flowers bounces right off is his number on his, you know, on his chest. So it just was not a good performance offensively, you know, I saw some people make mention, you know, Derek Henry had, what, 13 carries. He broke the one run. But let’s face it, he didn’t do a whole lot other than that. And going back to the penalties, and, you know, this gives, goes back to coaching as well, you know, discipline and wanting to play sound football and these types of games a rivalry game. But you know, they were in position a lot of times where they’re in first and first and long and second and long. You know, that’s not necessarily the time you’re going to lean on the running game when you’re already behind the chains. So it’s difficult to operate that way. So, you know, we can debate a call here, a call there. Certainly the two point call not having Derek Henry on the field, I think was interesting to put it kindly. But I think for me, from a coaching standpoint, I just look at it much more through the lens of this is a rivalry game. How many coaches and you see this more at the collegiate level, Nestor, how many coaches end up getting fired because they can’t beat their rival consistently enough? And let me be clear, I’m not saying this and suggesting this as me calling for John Harbaugh to be fired, let’s be very clear. However, they’ve now lost eight of nine to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and many of these losses have looked like what we saw on Sunday, where you’re shooting yourself in the foot, and it’s self inflicted mistakes and it’s penalties, and it’s a questionable play call here or there, and it’s not executing on a play where you absolutely need to have it, and all of those different things. Those are all things that are reflections, that’s a reflection of coaching. Now it’s not just the coach. The players still have to go make the play. Derek Henry fumbled that ball. Isaiah likely fumbled that ball right before halftime. That gave Pittsburgh three points. So players aren’t absolved. Let’s be clear, it’s never just one or the other, right? It’s this all gets thrown together. But when you make the kind of mistakes that the Ravens made on Sunday. Yeah, that’s a reflection of coaching, and I think in a big picture sense, again, because we’ve said it over and over and over, this team’s all about January. You want to see growth in those areas. You want to see maturity taking place. And I feel like Sunday, as I said, when Marlon Humphrey picks off that pass. For me, it felt like there was an opening there for this to be such a character building win to to win the game when you didn’t really feel like you deserved to win the game. I mean, Ronnie Stanley even said that after the game, it’s like even if we had won, I wouldn’t have felt like we deserved it. But if you had, you point to that and say, Man, this is another one of those games where everyone’s saying same same old ravens, but you found a way, but they didn’t find a way. I want
Nestor Aparicio 08:01
to talk about discipline with them. Can I do that? Just to interject, because, like you can talk about play calling and whether Zach or is a good enough defensive coordinator, or whether Marcus Williams is a good enough safety, or whether it’s in their best interest to play Kyle Hamilton more deep than up on the line of scrimmage like a real safety, and have him play honest as a safety, just to make sure balls aren’t going overheads. Make sure he’s good at that. As you know. We know we can shoot a gap. We know we can rush. We got that, but you can, you know when you’re when your best safety is not playing safety. You know baseball, we’d say your best catcher is not catching, and we got past balls. Put your best catcher in so, so you know what I mean, don’t make him a first baseman. I would say from a discipline standpoint, and this is me top down, and this does speak to the fact that there’s no police out there, right? Like John is his own policeman, the fact that you have a press pass, and I don’t, they don’t want to answer questions. He doesn’t want to answer questions about Eddie Jackson, that there is a defiant part of all of them, and a dripping with arrogance through all of it, of their excellence. And they piss excellence, and bashati is excellent. He’s the best owner. And our ball is going and they’re Lamar is working on the third MVP. So they’re all really smart, and all of that. Underneath of all of this is the fact that they lead the universe in penalties. And we used to make fun of the raiders for this forever and, and some of them and, and I would say this comes from really deep wisdom that I have, from spending a lot of time around the Marvin Lewis’s and the Brian billicks on the field, off the field, and coaches of all kinds, and in hockey, where Gene uriako would send guys out there to fight and get penalty minutes and roll up the crowd, and you know, Earl Weaver would come out and rip up the rule book to get the crowd incited and what’s going to happen, and where emotion and energy is right, you. Uh, Luke, when they lost control of themselves early in the game, and the flags were flying and the pushing and the shoving and the bad blood, and you know, however many years, eight out of nine losses, Marlon Humphreys been out there for all of them, Ronnie Stanley Harbaugh, Tucker, the guy, the long standing guys that can’t win up there, the way art mode Elkin never went up there for 25 years back in the day, right? And the Billick was never sort of intimidated by that. And then it became what it became, first quarter, second quarter. Things aren’t going well. They’re not playing well. Steelers have a real defense. They’re punting a little bit more. They’re eight possessions in the first half for the state possessions and a half like crazy, right? So the lack of discipline that I saw when it was getting pushy and shovy and I just it woke me up to the fact of they lost the A F C championship game partly because of that. And I go back to that and what I wrote, because I read it again. Somehow, I’m doing all this music stuff this week and putting all this cool I wound up in our archives. And I read my column that I wrote my by the way, I wrote a column Nestor this week. Please read it. I wrote a column off the championship game last year, and because there was no Super Bowl column, and I didn’t write a lot about the Ravens in the off season, I’ve read it, and I was kind of like taken back to how Andy Reid and spagnolo said they’ll be the ones to get the 15 yards. And I go back to Jimmy Schwartz and me telling you a couple weeks ago that he sat me down and locked me in a room. You remember that Anthony Wright playoff game we lost to the Titans 22 years ago? I remember it. It was about getting Orlando brown to commit a penalty to move a field goal back further that eliminated them and the Steelers and Tomlin. And I’ve spent private time with Tomlin. I know how he really feels about John. I know how John feels about him, which is shocking that I got them on a stage with you in the middle, literally sitting in the middle of both of them, keeping them apart that there is a point where they’re both going to the Hall of Fame, right? Let’s say Harbaugh and Tomlin there. I think they’re both nothing I’m going to do or say to Peter King or Clark judge or Tony grossi to keep them in or out when their time comes. But I do think there’s a part that they believe we can rattle Marlon Humphrey. I see him on Twitter. We can rattle Lamar. We can rattle them. We can get them off their game. We can push and shove them into a penalty, into a face mask, into like I think there’s a feeling that you can bait the Ravens. And I think I’m an old hockey guy, that was the whole game. That’s what they sat around all day waiting to do, is bait the guy at the key minute, after a goal after a penalty, get a five on three and stick it up your ass. And it felt to me at various points that when push comes to shove, they’ll be more like that middle linebacker from the Bengals that cost Marvin his job at one point, right? Von says, perfect. The word was out on him, and the Steelers knew they had coaches out on the field. I saw Joey Porter. You think Joey Porter’s kid doesn’t in on this? So I just think that there’s a little bit of a head game that goes on with discipline, true discipline, true discipline, not having Chad Steele take guys press passes and then everybody lies about it. Real integrity, real discipline that I think that other coaches, including hardballs, best buddy Andy Reid, who is always calm, always calm, spagnolo, best pals with John, when it comes time in the AFC Championship game with two minutes left, go out and bait him into a penalty, say somebody’s mother do something because the Ravens will are, are potentially on the edge of doing something dumb, like Kelsey going after his own Coach in the Super Bowl last year, emotions are rancid when they run too hot. Yeah,
Luke Jones 14:27
8I mean, I’ll say this, there aren’t many teams that have been able to do that, right? Let’s be clear about this, or they’d be a seven and 10 outfit every year, right? They, they’d be what the Bengals are. They’re never in close games
Nestor Aparicio 14:41
to do this. They they only find themselves in close games five, six times a year. Like, literally, they blow at they they took your order advice, like, they blow out a lot of teams,
Luke Jones 14:49
although this this year, not as much because of the way their defense is played. But yes, you’re right on that. But don’t know, I don’t know if it’s I mean, obviously there are examples where the discipline. Plan is lacking. There’s no question about that. Well, they lead the world penalty. So you when you come if you know that, right, right? But, but they’re not. They’re, generally speaking, although they did get a couple of these in the title game last year, generally speaking, they’re not the team that’s dirty, personal foul, like, ridiculous kind of stuff, right? Like, which, which? Von says perfect is the guy that you were referencing. He he was dirty and crazy. What I mean? Who knows? I mean, I he’s one of those guys you kind of fear, like, what the outcome is going to be for him in his life, in general, anyway. But I think more than discipline, and obviously we’re splitting hairs, and these are semantics. At the end of the day, it’s a team that I feel like they lose their composure more quickly than they should, because of how good they are, right? They they should be more composed. And this goes also with the fact that
Nestor Aparicio 15:51
you agree with me, by the way, thank you, because you let me ramble. It doesn’t have it doesn’t happen a lot, but it happens in this most political game. They are vulnerable, and other teams are coaching it that way. That’s all I’m saying.
8Luke Jones 16:02
I mean. But you know what? Okay, I would buy Andy Reid and Mike Tomlin. I’m not sure how many other teams are really coaching it that way. As much as this is just showing
Nestor Aparicio 16:13
the garment might when they come up to Buffalo into that hole and it’s 18 degrees out
Luke Jones 16:19
by the Ravens a month and a
Nestor Aparicio 16:21
8half, even more fuel for the fire for them, I understand, but they’re capable. They’re and they’re going to be pissed off, and we’re going to have to play there. That’s the point. We’re going to have to play there. Now understood, I
Luke Jones 16:32
just, I don’t want to, because I don’t think this is every other teams playing chess and the Ravens are playing checkers. No, I don’t think it’s that whatsoever. I But those, those two teams specifically, but I don’t know how much of it is even the other team baiting all the time, as much as it’s just their composure when things start to go awry, right? We’ve talked about this. I mean, we talked about this the last few years, with these fourth quarter leads they end up blowing where we say, you know, whether it’s the defense, whether it’s the offense, it just feels like, once it gets rolling in the wrong direction, like the ship, the ship just goes down. Right about
Nestor Aparicio 17:10
Lamar when I don’t love lamar’s energy, never have now, you know, he didn’t lose much. He didn’t lose my mean, like they’re kicking everybody’s ass, as long as we’re and as long as we’re losing, when they’re losing in the fourth quarter by 10 points and he’s pounding the ground, that is an emotion for me that I don’t love the optics of it. I don’t love the leadership of it. I don’t love I don’t love it. Now that being said, when he gets in the phone booth and he jig left and right here and there. Somebody misses him and he runs in the end zone, then it’s great. But I’m just saying it’s not the way you would couch it. And they’re
Luke Jones 17:50
not Tom Brady with smash tablets on the sidelines sometimes. So I don’t know, yeah, I got that specific part of it. I’m not as moved by that as PRI.
8Nestor Aparicio 17:59
I think we’d say that going to the Hall of Fame, but he but I’m just
Luke Jones 18:02
saying not everyone has even killed Joe Flacco and Eli Manning on the sideline either right. There are plenty of, plenty of Hall of Fame quarterbacks who would blow their top on the side. And I would just ask you, if I as a 56 year old man and a parent, and I would say, is that serving you well?
Nestor Aparicio 18:19
I would just say, in that moment as a phone up, I would say, is it serving you well? Is it getting us where we need to go? That’s where I would play Tony Dungy on it and say, you know, that’s just not. And I’ve spent a lot of time around the Marvins, and I’ve spent a lot of time around Brian losing his mind, but like, like, I get it, and I’ve done so much 40 years. I’m just saying, as an older human, I prefer calmer waters when the waters get choppy. And to your point, I don’t know who the leader of that composure is. Who’s everybody going to reign in and say, Come maybe it’s Tyler Linder, but I don’t know somebody’s going to have to reign in the let’s, let’s keep this thing calm. And Ray Lewis was great at that, by the way. I mean Hall of Fame at that. Ed Reed, they were calm guys for the most part. For the most part, I, and
Luke Jones 19:14
8I don’t want to make this just about Lamar, so let’s just talk about this in general terms. You mentioned Tony Dungy, good example, right? Teams in Tampa Bay had good teams. They always fell short. In January, they did, and it was, I don’t think that was his fault, but Jon Gruden came along, and I don’t think it was that Jon Gruden was a markedly better coach than Tony Dungy. I think that played out in Indianapolis. You know, to say that that wasn’t the case. However, we’re talking about a maturation process here. You mentioned Tony Dungy Peyton Manning did not win a Super Bowl until 2006 Peyton Manning came into the league in 1998 Lamar Jackson is still not quite at that point. You know, as far into his career as Pete Manning was, and I don’t say that. Mean that it’s going to play out that way automatically. You know, you still have to go out and do it, and Lamar and the Ravens might win it this year. But I think part of this process that you talk about, you know, and for me, it’s not any one specific example, it’s all of it together, the totality of it, and understanding that this team’s won a heck of a lot of games, and it hasn’t been that many teams that have, quote baited them in the way that you’re kind of describing it, but it’s happened on a couple occasions, sure, no question. But I think for me, at this point, and we’ve said it over and over, we’re going to continue to say it, it’s still about January, in the same way that if they won this game on Sunday, it doesn’t mean they’re winning the Super Bowl either, right? I mean, this is all building towards January, and what really matters for this football team, and I guess what’s discouraging about what we saw Sunday is that’s why I said when Humphrey picks off that pass, and what there was eight minutes ago, whatever it was at the time, and I’m thinking this is an opportunity for them to have a character building win here, where you say, oh my gosh, that game was ugly as sin, right? Their offense stunk and Tucker missed two field goals. They had so many penalties, and they still had a heck of a chance to win the football game in the final eight minutes, they clearly did,
Nestor Aparicio 21:15
and they had a quarterback to let it drive to give him a chance to win. But for
Luke Jones 21:19
me, that would have been an example of a character building win. When I’m looking at this through the lens of everything, you’re talking about, maturity and overcoming in game adversity, and when things aren’t going your way, and you feel like maybe you feel like the officials are calling penalties different for you than the other side. I mean, all the different emotions that run through coaches and players minds over the course of 60 minutes. It is a we’ve been we’re not in it, but we’re we’ve been close enough to it to understand how highly intense and emotional that environment can be. So for me, this was another example of wanting to see maturation in the process of that happening, and finding a way against your biggest rival that you’ve had such rotten results against now for four and a half years. You know, eight out of nine, understanding some of those didn’t mean anything in Lamar didn’t play in some of those. I understand all that, but it also wasn’t prime Ben Roethlisberger on the other side for those nine games, either. We’re talking about Russell Wilson at this point in his career. Kenny Pickett, Mason, Rudolph, and what was it? Duck Hodges, I think you know, going back five years, and it was Ben Roethlisberger at the very end of his career. So even with without Lamar and some of those games, there were still defensive breakdowns or things that would happen, or turnovers or penalties, whatever it might happen. So I guess for me, it’s whenever you have an opportunity to show growth in a game like that, in the same way we talked about it in week one after Kansas City, and you don’t that’s where you’re just looking at this. And it just kind of feels like same old story. Here we go again, this team that’s so good for such stretches of time in the regular season, and they’ve done everything you could possibly expect to accomplish MVPs Pro Bowls awards every week a regular season, best record point differential go down the list of all the things they’ve accomplished when Lamar Jackson has been healthy for this football team over the last six years, it is wildly impressive. It’s why I’ve labeled them regular season royalty. Over the last six years when Lamar has been healthy and upright, but we all know that those things aren’t the same as winning in January and winning a Super Bowl. So when you’re in the position they were in against Kansas City back in week one, and knowing what that win could have meant for them from a psychological standpoint, again, it’s not the end all be all. And you and I argued about it back in week one, as far as how meaningful that game really was, but it’s all you have to go off of until you’re back in the back in the arena in January, when it actually is a playoff game. I mean, Sunday was as close as the Ravens get to a playoff game in October or in November, excuse me, so when you see the same things plaguing them that we’ve seen in the past. That’s where I look at it and say, you know, it’s not about Mike Tomlin baiting them, or players baiting them or or getting offsetting unsportsmanlike conduct. It’s just, you know, it’s the maturation that you want to see over time. You want to see this team grow up, so to speak, right? And I don’t mean that like any individual, I mean as a as a team, right? In the same way that the Ravens had to do that in the early years, they lost. Ask gray Lewis and Rob Burnett, how many games they lost those first few years, they lost a lot, right? I mean, guys that that were there for 2000 and were there in 96 I mean, they went through a lot of losing Joe Flacco and that era of the Ravens. What Ray and Ed Reed at the end of their career, they didn’t lose a lot of games when Flacco arrived, obviously, but they went through their shortcomings in, you know, coming up short in AFC Championship games, and having what happened with Billy cundieff and Lee Evans, and going through what they went through in 2012 late in the season. Right? So, and that’s not to say that this team isn’t going to this might be that for them. And in January, we might be talking about the fact that, hey, they lost to Kansas City back in week one, and look what they did. They lost that game to Pittsburgh, that was so ugly, and then made all these mistakes. But then they they overcame in January, and they finally learned from those experiences. I guess for me, that’s what’s discouraging. It’s you want to see them start learning from those and be in that environment and figure that out against the teams that you’re going to be playing, right? I mean, that’s why, like in week one, okay, if they if they had beaten the chiefs, it’s not the same as January. And buffalo is a great example of this right now. Buffalo beats Kansas City in the regular season again on Sunday, right? They they’ve had Kansas City’s regular season number the last few years, but what has that gotten them in January? So we understand it’s different, but when this is all you have to go off of, when you have a game like this against your biggest rival, and, you know, throwing out Cincinnati right now because they’re four and seven, I mean, they’re not going to make mean, they’re not going to make the playoffs. They’re the Bengals. Might be talented, but they’re not winners at this point, right? I mean, they find ways to lose, but with Pittsburgh now, especially the way that you know, they’re on their way to being in the playoffs, and they’ve got the upper hand and trying to win the division when you’re in that spot, and it just feels too darn familiar with you know the shortcomings in the past. That’s where it’s just, it’s discouraging, it’s where you get that hole. Here we go again, kind of well on that team, the one thing we
Nestor Aparicio 26:35
haven’t talked about is the play at the two yard line. It would for the two point conversion and the timeout that was called, it looked like it was going to be a jump ball. They scrapped the play hardball. Even admitted on the podium, we killed the police went to the second play. I don’t know, I you know, defensing things up, showing things what you’re going to show. You know he’s going to call a timeout, probably anyway. Where’s Derek Henry there? Because that’s the one thing we would all Hear and Say that. I don’t wanna say, Where was Derek Henry all day. We can get into running and not running, and what teams do. Well, in the Steelers, I don’t dude you and I’ve been at a couple hours here, I don’t know. We see was really good defense. Yeah, you know, I mean, and we thought the Ravens would be really good defense, because they signed Matt abike, roquan Smith, roquan Smith, Kyle Hamilton’s The X Factor. They had Marcus Williams on the back end, Humphreys coming back healthy. They signed Wiggins. They had Stevens that, you know, okay, they lost, they lost Clowney, but the rush will be okay. And, yeah, they lost Patrick queen. But that boy, you know, did he lick his lunch? Um, you know he was, you know, from the minute he signed there, you’re gonna get the best out of him in these games. That’s all I can say. He, he, I wish he played that pissed off when he played here, you know, yeah,
8Luke Jones 27:57
I mean the two point play, yeah. This goes back to what we talked about, only it was Lamar Jackson in the Cleveland game, where you just say, look, he doesn’t have to get the ball. But why are you taking him out of play? Right? Why? Why would you take that out of the equation in the same way we talked about that in the Cleveland game, the direct snap to Derek Henry, where you’re saying, you know, short yardage. Why wouldn’t you want Lamar to at least be a factor there? You know, the they ran the tush push with Charlie Kohler. Why wouldn’t you want Lamar Jackson to be a factor there, even if just as a decoy? So, you know, it was to the short side of the field. It wasn’t blocked up very well. If you looked at it pre snap, it kind of looked up. Looked like everyone wasn’t on the same page. And full disclosure, I haven’t had a chance to, you know, as you and I are talking in real time, I haven’t had a chance to go back and re watch it multiple times or see the all 22 but, but at the same time, well, once the commitment came to the left and the whole defense came and yeah, it was over. Yeah, yeah. So there wasn’t enough real estate, you know, and this is something I wanted to at least mention in passing those ineligible lineman downfield penalties. I’m not saying that they’re never on the lineman, but you have to remember a lot of times when this is happening and you’re seeing this around the league a lot, it’s on RPOs. The whole point of a run Pass option play is the ball needs to come out so quickly that the offensive lineman fire out as run blockers, yet you throw it, you get it out of your hand so quickly they’re not beyond the line of scrimmage long enough for it to be called. But there were, at least, you know, and again, I don’t know how many, but I know there were, there was an occasion or two where Lamar held the ball too long, and when you mess up the timing of that, then it looks like Hey. Why is the lineman doing this? But there are occasions, and this is why again, you see this. You see that call more now than you saw in the past. I think we would all agree with that comes
Nestor Aparicio 29:58
to a scrambling quarterback that
Luke Jones 29:59
does. Know whether he wants to run or pass. Oh, and the offensive line can’t, can’t judge that, but you have to make Well, but, but the whole point, the whole point of that play, is you must come you the ball has to come out quick, or you have to run right. You can’t on a run Pass option. You cannot hold the ball and then throw it because the linemen are are firing out as run blockers. That’s part of the whole deception of the play. So if they fire out his run blockers and they’re receivers, then they’re ineligible players downfield. So I just you know that wasn’t the case on that play. But just in general, as we’re talking about, I think what was, what was just disappointing, is we’ve seen this operation penalties aside, just talking about the execution of their plays for the most part this year, other than the weird hiccup snap that they have every couple games where, you know, it’s a bad snap, and you just say, What the heck was that? But for the most part, the operation has been so good. That’s why their offense has been so dynamic, and Lamar has been in total command, and we’ve seen him adjust plays before the snap and adjust protections and do all the their operation just was not very good on Sunday, period. And to your point, and I think it’s fair to mention this. I mean, Pittsburgh’s got a heck of a defense, and at this point, I mean, it is what it is. And we can talk about the fact that some of these games were three, four or five years ago, but Lamar is one in four against Pittsburgh, right? I mean, we know Lamar is record against Kansas City at this point like that’s where you look at it and say, you’ve got to get Pittsburgh and Kansas City their their defense and their defensive coaches credit. I mean, they’ve, they have bottled him up and this offense up in a way that very few, I mean, not very few, no other teams have done consistently now, there have been a one off here or there Miami a few years back when that ugliest in Thursday night game comes to mind just as an example, but, but those two teams specifically have done a really Good job slowing Lamar Jackson in this offense to a more dramatic degree than we’re used to seeing. So all of that being said, Justin Tucker makes a couple field goals. Makes one, makes one of those two, right? We’re having a different conversation, and obviously the game plays out differently whenever you change something in the middle of the sequence of events. So you don’t want to assume everything happens the same, but I mean just too many mistakes. But for me, again, this was a missed opportunity to what I what I keep coming back to that this could have been a character building win, because they still had a great chance to win the football game in the final eight minutes, no matter, regardless of everything that had gone wrong over the course of the game, and I just felt like even an ugliest sin win over Pittsburgh would have, that would have, that would have done something for them, I think, in this big picture conversation that we’re having in terms of breaking through and maturing as a football team and overcoming adversity and all that. And I
Nestor Aparicio 33:01
8put all that aside, brother, they’re gonna have to play on the road in January, and I don’t like it as much that way. Nobody should.
Luke Jones 33:07
What team do you like on the road more? Right? You know what I mean like. And really, last year, part of the reason they had home field was they were so great on the road. But you look at it this year, it’s like they lost in Kansas City. Look nothing to be ashamed of there if we’re taking a step back and be an objective. But they lost in Cleveland, and, you know, this game in Pittsburgh. I mean, again, for as well as their defense played. I mean, to lose that game is incredibly frustrating. I mean, that was easily one of their best defensive performances of the year, if not, if not the best. I mean, it was right there, you know, especially considering they were put on a short field a couple times. I mean, oh, for four inside the red zone, and a couple of those were very short fields. So
Nestor Aparicio 33:49
Lamar hasn’t beaten the Steelers in 18 170 days. Okay, I saw that on the internet. That’s a lot. Again,
Luke Jones 33:56
it’s fair to note he hasn’t played them that many times since then, either, but he’s played him a few times, and collectively, Nestor since two, since the end of 2019 Can you name the only ravens quarterback who lined up in victory formation in a win?
8Nestor Aparicio 34:14
I bet you can’t snoop. I don’t know. Go ahead. Anthony Brown,
Luke Jones 34:18
the practice squad kid that backed up Snoop in 22
Nestor Aparicio 34:22
you say the Attorney General? No of Maryland, no, not that different. Anthony. Anthony Brown,
Luke Jones 34:27
8the practice squad quarterback. And look, go back and look, he barely did anything in that game. Not it’s nothing commentating. It’s not a commentary on the quarterbacking. It’s just this is what we’re talking about here over the last five years? Well, the games haven’t
Nestor Aparicio 34:41
been memorable because they haven’t been this high stakes in the way that we didn’t feel high stakes. Didn’t look high stakes. They’re slapping around with Justin fields couple weeks ago, and you’re saying, then they win four in a row. You go up there. Russell Wilson plays pretty pedestrian, as you pointed out on third he was bad. I mean, he wasn’t. He was. Bad, fair enough, they won. And you know, we’re gonna have to figure it out. And it’s horrible week again here all over again, right? Sure,
Luke Jones 35:08
sure. And again, it’s just, it’s another one of those. Here we go again in terms of the big picture and knowing what really matters. And to be clear, if they won on Sunday, we’re not sitting here again booking, booking accommodations for New Orleans just yet, either, let’s be clear, but it’s just it had an all too familiar feeling. And hey, say what you want about meaningless games and who was playing quarterback for either side lost eight of nine to the Pittsburgh Steelers. If everyone wants to continue to say that Raven Steelers matters and the rivalry is not dead and it hasn’t lost all this juice, and you and I’ve talked about that, I think the rivalry has been very underwhelming over the last four or five years, and Lamar Jackson’s frequent absences being a big reason why, you know, he’s been a recurring character rather than a central figure, and not his fault. I’m not bashing Lamar and saying that that’s just, you know, the circumstances have dictated that, but you can’t, you can’t have it both ways. You can’t say that Raven Steelers is this amazing rivalry and then brush off losing eight of the last nine against them and say, Oh, no, big deal. It is a big deal, because if it’s not then, then the rivalry is not what it was, right? It’s
Nestor Aparicio 36:20
lopsided. So far. The horrible lot thing is, Jim’s never beaten his brother, right? Yeah, yeah, no question, but, but, but I’ll,
8Luke Jones 36:30
I mean, I that didn’t sit well with Marlon up after the game. That didn’t sit well with Ronnie Stanley after the game. The guys, the guys that have been here, you know, and you know, like Linder bomb. I
Nestor Aparicio 36:40
remember when Rob Burnett said to me in 1996 when they lost there, that he had never won there, and he been in the league Eight, seven or eight years like I remember Rob Burnett, it’s in Purple Rain one literally about what the Steelers represented to the modell family in 1996 97 and 98 and what this thing’s become 30 years later, and Mike Tomlin, when he sees me, rides my ass about owning the Ravens like the last few times I’ve seen Mike, he is given me a funny thing, like, I’m associated with John at this point in some way, but yeah, and now they’re giving it to you in the locker room after they lost because they’ve they’ve done the math, they’ve walked that road out of that locker room to the bus underneath of that tunnel, driven across the bridge on the way to the airport, and not feeling so good, right? I mean that, yeah, and to be clear, Kansas City still paramount, right? I mean, chargers are paramount, right? Now, I don’t know.
Luke Jones 37:40
I’m not. I’m talking about me talking about this. I don’t need to focus on the Chargers other than just talking about that game. And we’ll get into that plenty as the week goes on. But you know, Kansas City is still the Everest, right? Kansas City is Everest. The Steelers aren’t Everest, but the Steelers are a checkpoint along that way, especially if you’re talking in terms of circumstances wanting to win the division and at least have a home playoff game, and now that’s in more and more peril after what happened on Sunday. So again, in a big picture sense, you want this team to graduate. You want this team to mature in the sense of when they get into these kind of games that they don’t do the things that they continue to do and cost themselves football games in these shapes, in these instances, and, well, we’re talking about it again. It is what it is, and you’re going to have doubt. And when I say you I mean just in a general sense, you’re going to have doubts about this football team in January when you see them do what they did on Sunday. Because we’ve just, we’ve seen this movie a few too many times, no matter how much overall success they’ve had in the regular season over the last five,
Nestor Aparicio 38:47
8six years. He’s Baltimore, Luke. He’s powered up by our friends at Jiffy. Luke, MultiCare as well as royal farms. We’re hoping that Justin Tucker’s a little more powered up and Luke, because comedy is my thing. You know, on the internet, especially on blue sky. I’m just doing nothing but comedy. There. It’s my new career. Someone’s someone put on the timeline, and I didn’t retweet this because, out of my respect for royal farms and the fact that I did have royal farms chicken during the game on Sundays. Well, less chicken, more kicking. I am Nestor. We are W, N, S, T, am 15, seven. I didn’t write it. I just read it. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us.
