The stakes have never been higher and the task is clear for the Baltimore Ravens. Luke Jones and Nestor preview a Ravens at Bills NFL Divisional playoff matchup in Buffalo that has intrigue all over the field and a hard Monday morning for the loser. And a potential trip to Kansas City to see Patrick Mahomes as a reward for victory. We can’t wait for this one in Orchard Park!
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the upcoming Ravens-Bills playoff matchup, highlighting the significance of the game and the challenges posed by the cold weather in Buffalo. They reflect on the teams’ previous meeting in Week 4, noting the changes in both rosters and strategies since then. Jones emphasizes the importance of turnovers, special teams, and the performance of Derrick Henry and Josh Allen. Both agree that the game will be a close, high-stakes contest, with the potential for either team to emerge victorious. They also discuss the broader implications of the game, including the possibility of facing Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in the AFC Championship.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens playoffs, Bills matchup, heavyweight fight, Derrick Henry, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, cold weather, game planning, defensive challenges, offensive strategy, turnover concerns, special teams, kicker performance, health of teams, playoff pressure
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, and we’re getting up on it. It’s almost game time. I can always feel in the air. We got buffalo weather here toward the middle of the week, and the end of the week, we’re going to get the Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road in a cup of soup or bowl two weeks from now, we’re doing that beginning at Costas on Super Bowl week, and the Ravens are two hours of football away from getting there, we will have the match eight ball scratch offs give away from the Maryland lottery. And we’re doing lots and lots of stuff, planning, lots of stuff. I’ve been eating lots of food going around the sponsors, getting around town a little bit, talking to people when I’m not running between the the snow and the cold and the 20 degree days. And there’s a lot of anticipation, not just here. I’ve been out in Buffalo all week talking to folks up there. Luke Jones joins us now. He’s been back and forth to Owens mills and in the locker room, getting the vibe, getting the feel. You know, one thing I think anyone in our audience should really respect about you, and certainly our situation, a given, Chad steal and I’m out and you’re in or whatever, is the fact that you’ve been there. You’ve been there a lot. You’ve been there good times, bad times, Flacco times, condiff times. I mean, you’ve been covering a team a long time in this era, you’ve been obviously, a lot closer to it than I have been in the disappointments. And I think about being in that locker room in New England 15 years ago when Ray Lewis said, go out, do something, make put a smile on someone’s face after they got eliminated, and Ed Reed’s locker in Indianapolis. I’m not sure if you’re with me just yet. At that point where he was talking about retirement, he was so despondent. You know, Flacco had a purple hip that he told me about after he won the Super Bowl. Later, he said it looked like an eggplant, is what he compared it to. And you know, these postseasons, they all take on a life of their own. You and I were kidding each other about Josh Allen taking a, you know, fingernail in the in late in the game, and where we are was a flowers, but everything so magnified and the air, I can feel it in the Buffalo people. I know you feel it in the locker room. I feel it going around town. I’ve been to Cocos this week. I’ve been to Costas. I’ve been at Cooper’s a couple times up Cooper’s north, people coming up to me and talking about it. I’m wearing my goofy it’s Eric Henry jersey. It’s like nothing else mattered, right? It’s like none of the other games mattered. They were playing that you knew you were going to play into, like the Yankees did for 15 years of the Braves to get into the playoffs. But, man, this is really getting this is serious and game planning, the way the Steelers game plan went, the amount of breakdowns that you have and the amount of options that this offense is going to bring on a 15 degree night, make this just something I think you and I could talk about from now until 630 on Sunday night.
Luke Jones 03:02
I mean, think about how much oxygen you and I, who do this for a living, but fans, you know, media, we spend so much time throughout the year, throughout the calendar year, not just the season, talking about these hypothetical matchups and talking about Lamar Jackson and John Harbaugh, and this current era of the Ravens that has been so good in the regular season, and we’ve spent so much time talking about what taking down Patrick mahomes and the chiefs, which is presumably next week, if the Ravens can get by the bills on Sunday night, and talking about the other contemporaries in the AFC, Josh Allen, Joe burrow, right? I mean, the greatest of the great quarterbacks in football right now, and we know that the top guys reside, reside in the AFC. I think maybe Jaden Daniels will have something to say about that in the NFC over the next couple years, you know, with the way that he’s trending already as a rookie. But we know what it’s been, and we’ve talked about this for years. And when you have one of these matchups, that is a hypothetical that you discuss for you know, back in February and March and free agency and the draft in April and OTAs and all that. And you get to that point, and you understand the opportunity that’s presented, but you also understand that how fragile it is, how abruptly it can end for either of these teams. I mean, Buffalo and the Ravens have both been talking about the Super Bowl. And, you know, Buffalo had a different kind of off season, of course, where, you know, there was a perception that they might take a step back. I don’t think anyone thought they were going to be bad, but here they are, and they’re the number two seed, and they earned it. And, you know, they beat Kansas City in the regular season. They’re they’re dying for their next shot at Patrick mahomes and the chiefs, just as the ravens are after what happened last January. But you know, you look at this game, you look at these two teams, and obviously Week Four comes to the to the conversation and what happened there, and I flat out asked Marlon Humphrey. On Wednesday, you know, what did you like about how the defense played? You know, what happened in that game that the defense played as well as it did against Josh Allen and the bills and you know, he went into it a little bit in general terms, but he also acknowledged three and a half months ago, look how much they’ve changed I mean, they brought in Amari Cooper since then, and on the Raven side, look how much their defense has changed, from a schematic standpoint, from a lineup standpoint, when you talk about the safety spots and inside linebacker next to row, Quan Smith, so, so you know, Humphrey really downplayed there being much, much of anything you take away from that. Kyle Hamilton was asked as well in the locker room. He said, it tells us what we already knew is that we can do it. You know, we can stop Josh Allen, we can stop the bills. We did it in week four, but it’s going to be a tall order, and we understand that we’re up to the challenge. We embrace it. But you know, when you have a game like that in week four, look, the Ravens would love to be be able to go out there and Derek Henry scores an 87 yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, and the defense gets after Josh Allen and Kyle van Noy and adopt a away have great games against their tackles, which was, you know, one of the big stories of that game for the defense, that despite all their other issues in the first half of the season, they played really well that night. You know, it was clicking that night for whatever reason. But you You also know that. You know, especially when you look at these divisional games, you know where the Ravens lost to the Steelers back in what a week 11, and we saw what happened in week 16 in the wild card round. Completely different. So I think the ravens and the bills are both expecting this to be a really difficult, exciting, highly competitive football game. Two of the three best quarterbacks in the world, for my money, wherever you want to rank those guys, it depends on the market right now. I mean, Buffalo loves their guy, Baltimore loves their guy, and rightfully so. And you have two teams that you know, the bill is more historically speaking, but the Ravens recent years in terms of not breaking through in January. I mean, the urgency is there, but we also know one team’s going to move on and the other is going to be cleaning out their lockers on Monday. So that’s, you know, that’s the drama, that’s the theater of this, and that’s what makes this, you know, ratcheted up a little bit more than normal for a divisional round game, you know, as we talked about earlier in the week, I mean, it’s, it’s exciting, and, you know, the players try to not make it out to be more than what it is beyond the obvious that you’re playing for a chance to go to the A, F, C title game. But I think everyone senses that there’s a little more juice than even the normal amount that you would feel understanding your you know, one of the Final Four in the conference at this point,
Nestor Aparicio 07:55
the one thing I would say on all of these playoff matchups, and I go to Herbert last week, I go to CJ Stroud, maybe even last year, a little bit playing in or even the young kid out in Denver who, you know, had a little fight in him early in the game and got a taste of playoffs, but got smacked around the way Lamar did in 18 and 19, even when he had a lot, maybe a lot more help around him. As a a cheaper player, he wasn’t a $50 million player at that point. Um, you know, you get the feeling that the mahomes Lamar thing in the postseason got the taste of that last year they played some regular season games, and you had Derrick Henry, whose Jersey I’m wearing here, the Houston older he’s ran over this team, our franchise here, five years ago now, and now he’s ours to run over buffalo on a 15 degree night, which is all I spent two years talking to you about. And we’ll get to the weather, and we’ll get to Zay, and we’ll get to concerns and game planning and all of that, but this Lamar Josh thing for me, and bring my homes in and bring Joe burrow in, you know, bring the other whoever’s going to step up, I don’t know, whoever the next Jaden Daniels going to play on Saturday night, right? Maybe still be alive. We might have Washington, Philadelphia and Baltimore all in the Final Four next weekend. Possible, very possible. You know, if you like that, there’s your parlay pick that this week. Put $5 on that bet. Nestor.com Check that out. But in all sincerity, is this the second, not first? Because they did play in the plague. And the weird thing couple years ago, and the Ravens lost that right. Things went wrong that night, on a cold night, and the weirdness of 6000 people in masks and all of that and that, I think they wanted me to check in, go through Canada and spend four days in Buffalo, and I had to do all sorts of stuff to get a press credential to go up to Buffalo. I remembered, I didn’t go. I don’t remember. A lot about that game, or much about anything about that year, year and a half, we were all stuck in the house, but the notion that this is the beginning of, over the next five or six years, three more of these kinds of games in the way that next week, no matter what, as long as Kansas City wins, and if Kansas City doesn’t win, there’s another story for CJ Stroud, making the next step and going to Baltimore or or Buffalo next week based on what happens on Sunday. But these fights and these January matchups, Manning and and Brady, Brady and rothless Burger, Flacco and Brady, just those things that won’t even Mark Sanchez throw him in there, or whoever else has been into this, but Alan and Lamar. It feels to me like we play up there next year, regular season, there’s all that going on. But I also feel like this is the first of other Ali Frazier fights that are going to go on in these AFC matchups, because they all have their $50 million quarterbacks. Everybody feels really good about them, even I’ve come around to your way of thinking and thinking, well, the more seven years it might not get broken in half because of the rules and because the sliding and because of things I didn’t think about like, and just the fact that nobody can catch him at this point to break him into that if these quarterbacks are going to be here and the salary caps going to be here and Deft and forget Pittsburgh, I’ve thrown them out already. Las Vegas, anybody doesn’t have it? Cleveland, Indianapolis, picket Miami, they’re all out. Forget all of them. New England, even though Mike Rabel is not going to quarterback for them, they all stink. They don’t have a quarterback. They stink until they find me a Josh Allen, a Lamar ama homes a borough or the Hall of maybe and Justin Herbert, or, you know what? Who’s I’m not pissing on. He’s been a great regular season quarter PJ strategy, right? Yeah, I mean, I’ll hear you, but we’re getting into heavyweight fights here in Ali Frazier’s and the era of, I would always kid you about being a tennis fan of, you know, Connors and and Lendl and Borg and Mac and where, you know, good, good golf before, when Tiger took the slide, when it wasn’t a one man show. This is an interesting time for all of this, and these are the games that make all of that. And I don’t think this is the last fight amongst them so, and I don’t think it’s the last 15 degree night, and I will say this for me, I’ll let you into the weather a little bit. But 15 degree nights, or 15 degree nights. And these teams needed to be built for this, including two with Tonga villaloa, or anybody else that’s going to come out of 80 degrees and sunny and try to go win in Buffalo, because you had to be built all along, all along to win this game. And that’s why 22 is out on the field.
Luke Jones 12:59
Oh, not just this game, but Kansas City, the weather is not very good in late January, right? I mean, it’s not good in Baltimore, let’s, let’s face it. And I understand 15 degrees is colder than it was last Saturday against the Steelers, but, I mean, it’s reality. But you know, you’re the point that you made as far as these heavyweight fights, you know, I think what’s interesting about Lamar and Josh Allen. And obviously there was a same draft class, I think you know, for all the talk about Mayfield and obviously Sam darnold went right after him. I mean, Josh Rosen was an utter failure, but Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson were, were of that group, probably the most polarizing in terms of how you felt about him. I mean, Josh Allen, the bills clearly loved him. There were other teams and other scouts who said guys not going to be accurate enough, you know, Lamar, we don’t need to rehash that. We’ve talked about that for years, right? But you have these two guys who have just turned out to be way better than a lot of people thought from Jump Street, but have just gotten better and gotten better and gotten better, and you see what they’ve become and where, I think you just made the point that. And even 2020 when they met in the playoffs, obviously Lamar through the pick six to Taran Johnson, Josh Allen didn’t play great that game. Go back and watch. It’s not like Josh Allen was the one that carried the bills to a victory that night. He made fewer mistakes than Lamar, but he wasn’t great. You look at the regular season meetings that game in the rain two years ago, when the Ravens had a lead and then buffalo came back in the second half, Josh Allen was really good in the second half of that game, but statistically, it’s not as though they’ve had matchups where you’d say, oh my gosh, these two guys have both been unbelievable. You know, they’re head to head matchups. It’s been a little choppier. Lamar was excellent back in week four, but he didn’t have to do a whole lot because, I mean, Derek, Henry, first play, 87 yard touchdown, right? I mean, it got the tractor trailer got rolling, and buffalo never got going. So. But you know, I think when you have these quarterbacks, mahomes says, you know, speaks for itself. You know, the Brady, the New England of this era, until anyone proves other you know proves otherwise and does you know, does something about it. But with both Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, these are the kind of quarterbacks that assuming reasonable health, right? Which you have to assume, for anyone playing this game, they’re going to be there for a long time. And even when they don’t have the best supporting cast, they’re still going to be there because they’re that great, right? Whereas even Joe burrow, who is great, don’t get me wrong, but where’s he at a disadvantage that organization, the ownership of the Cincinnati Bengals, not nearly as trustworthy as an organization to you know, this year is a perfect example. He had a he had the kind of year that, if the Bengals have been in the playoffs, Joe burrow would be in that MVP conversation with Lamar and Josh Allen because of what he did. But, you know, you have these quarterbacks that should be around for a long time, but, and this is you made the comparison going back to the early 2000s through, you know, the mid, you know, 2015 ish,
16:16
it was Brady and the Patriots at the top, but Manning in the Colts, and then Manning in the Broncos, Roethlisberger with the Steelers, and then Flacco with the ravens, They were all trying to have their turn, right? I mean, they were all took, smell like a decade, yeah. I mean, it took, it took manning a long time. And then, you know, he, he when they were really good. Then in, in Denver. You know, they came up short. Took him another decade. Yeah. I
Nestor Aparicio 16:43
mean, I had Brandon totally on this week, and we still forget he was on the other end of the Mile High miracle. Didn’t get to win the second time with with Peyton and and, you know, he’s 37 years old when he got here. You know what I mean? Like, it, it, it flies by, and Brandon played 17 years in the league and won two Super Bowls. And it feels like holy cow, he was on 10 good teams. You know what? I mean, really good teams, right? Yeah. He played with Payton eight years, where they won 1314, where they Dungey was sitting guys out after Christmas, and he was one of them, you know, so like, but they lost games because Brady Roethlisberger, Flacco, Flacco, you know, like all of that happened in there, and that’s where we are. Now, you better make sure you get yours. And you better make sure you get yours when you’re healthy. And you better make sure you get yours in the fourth quarter when you got a three point lead and you got Derek Henry, and you know what I mean? And now here we go. You know, as you can tell, I’m pretty fired up, Luke, because you can Yeah, I’m ready for this.
Luke Jones 17:49
And you just made the point. Look, I and I talked about this. We talked about this a lot leading into the Pittsburgh game. You know, the what if scenario, heaven forbid, the Ravens had lost that game Saturday night. And what that could have meant, I said, anything could have been on the table, from coaching changes to all, all kinds of stuff. Clearly, they passed that test. They passed it emphatically. Now you’re just at the point where, hey, you’re going on the road, you’re going up against another all world quarterback. You’re going up against another team that played, you know, had a better record than you, is playing at a high level. Now, that’s not an excuse for not going up there and having a great opportunity to win and needing to play well and not shooting yourself in the foot and all of that. But, you know, this is, this is what I talked about at the beginning of our conversation where, you know, for me, this game’s a coin flip. I mean, it really is. And that sounds kind of, you know, and I’ll make my pick, and you’ll see it at Baltimore positive.com closer to the to game time. And check that out over the weekend,
Nestor Aparicio 18:47
the bills. That’s why I’m wearing a Derek Henry jersey. I’m already predicting you’re me. Why are you making that assumption? I don’t know. I’m just big. I now he’s making the Ravens. Everybody’s over.
Luke Jones 18:58
Why are you making that assumption? No, heads or tails. I haven’t flipped the coin yet, dude, I’m breadcrumbing, but I, but I just You made up. You made a point. Look, there’s no need to be fatalistic about this. If the Ravens lose on on Sunday night, it doesn’t mean they’re doomed. It doesn’t mean that Lamar is never going to win one. It doesn’t mean they need to blow up the team anything like that, right? Whereas the the nuclear scenario was losing to Pittsburgh, because we all saw how lousy that Steelers team was down the stretch. So that doesn’t mean you’re not disappointed. That doesn’t mean fans aren’t mad. That doesn’t mean that there is an accountability if they run the ball six times again or they turn it over, many scenarios
Nestor Aparicio 19:40
can I miss a kick? I can make a kick. I mean, but our ball can make a good decision. He can, you know, there’s a million different things that can go wrong. This
Luke Jones 19:47
is, however right. And you made, you made two points that I wholeheartedly agree with. Derek Henry’s 31 he’s played great. This is exactly the moment you got him for and to this point. And as I said to you, I said, all along, I didn’t really care what he did in the regular season. I fully expected Derek Henry to be great in this offense.
Nestor Aparicio 20:06
There’s been great Sunday night we go out and we say, Oh, he looks old, right? But he also is not going
Luke Jones 20:14
to do this forever, right? And right? And coming up in the next year or two, you’re gonna have to pay Kyle Hamilton, you’ve got to pay Tyler Linder bomb, you’re gonna have to figure out what you’re doing with your left tackle spot. Ron Ronnie Stanley is a free agent. Again, you always have those things, and that’s not to say that, but you have the Derek Henry factor. And you said it, and it’s ironic saying this, because you know the way it’s looking, as we’re getting to the latter portion of the of the practice week, it’s not looking great for zay flower status on Sunday. I think that’s becoming evident, right? And and people will know at this point. I know John Harbaugh on Monday. You know, when we asked him about about it, he alluded to the possibility that zay could play without practicing. I’ll buy that the first week coming off of an injury. That doesn’t happen when you’re talking about someone missing multiple games at they need to get out on the practice field and see what he looks like. Even if he does play Sunday night, I have major doubts how effective he can be understanding he’s slight of stature, and that’s normally not the issue, because of how fast and and agile and the way he could change direction. If he can’t do those things as well, then that’s more of a concern just how effective he can be anyway. That aside, his team is extraordinarily healthy, and we’ve talked about this so much, and it is a credit to the resources they’ve invested in terms of their strength and conditioning, nutrition, recovery training staff, the doctors that they employ in the Greater Baltimore area, all of that. And we also know that bad luck is part of that, right? You can be the most extraordinarily conditioned, healthy football player, and if the wrong player falls into your knee, crashes into your knee at the wrong moment, you’re done, right? I mean, you’re done, and you’re talking about next year. So that’s where you look at this team. And you know, what makes this interesting is Buffalo is way healthier than they were back in week four. We talked about it at the time, although we were so focused on the Orioles getting ready to start a postseason run at that point that lasted two days. But we didn’t know it at the time, but I think it’s such it’s so intriguing that you think back to that week four game, Matt Milano was on IR Terrell Bernard, their middle linebacker was out that that night, Teron Johnson, their nickel, where they play nickel almost exclusively. I mean, nickel was their base defense, and he they count on him to cover, but they also count on him to play the run and to, you know, play with some physicality there. Those guys are all going to play. Let me be very clear, that does not mean I necessarily think that they’re going to stop Derrick Henry, because I think that buffalo front seven is light, and they’re going to have to play their butts off to not let what happened back in week four happen again.
Nestor Aparicio 23:04
I’m trying to think of the strategy when you’re getting over, you know, when you’re just
Luke Jones 23:08
getting I just, you know, I mean, it, look it this, this sounds very simplistic. And, you know, it’s kind of a captain obvious thing the bills. There is a, there’s a pathway to beating the Ravens. If Derek Henry runs for 110 yards, I don’t think there’s a pathway if you let Derek Henry run for 200 again, he ran for 199 back in week four, right? The idea, and we’ve seen this, if you go back and look at most of the Ravens losses this year, or some of the games where it was really tight, you know, the Cincinnati games, what have you, you could see that Derek Henry wasn’t as much of a factor, even if he finished and had a couple popped a couple runs in the fourth quarter to protect the lead, final numbers looked better. But you look at the course of those games, he wasn’t necessarily the one that was driving the bus to victory for the ravens, I think the key for Buffalo is you can’t let Derek Henry just top of a 50 yard run on you. You know, if he runs for a buck 10 and his longest run of the day is 12 or 13 yards, then this is a way different game than it was back in week four, for example, where, again, you know, basically you let them run untouched 87 yards, the Ravens blocked it up really well. You know, I went back and re watched the game earlier this week, just to kind of jog my memory. And that’s how the Ravens get rolling downhill, and then you’re not going to be able to keep up. The key for Buffalo is, yes, they’re gonna have to do a much better job against Derrick Henry, and they need Josh Allen and their offense to be on point. You know, you have, it’s a heavyweight fight, you know, to go back to the analogy you used, and I think I mean, you gotta score points against the ray. In the same way that I don’t think the ravens are going to hold the bills to 10 points again. You know, I think that, especially on the road. I think Josh Allen in this offense is too great to expect that again. However, I think both teams, you know the goal is going to be, got to be able to get some stops. You do have to take some chances. One thing that Sean McDermott did back in that game, back in week four, there were 2/4 and shorts that he punted on in the first 15 or 20 minutes of the ball game, you know, talking game time that kind of, you know, you look back at those, and they’re kind of cowardly moves. They’re the kind of moves that you got to take chances against the Baltimore Ravens. We know this at this point in time, and this is where the Ravens have the advantage, because I don’t think the Ravens have to do any play differently, so to speak. The ravens are so multiple that they can win in different ways, right? But if you’re buffalo, I’ll be fascinated to see how they try to adjust with their defense and what they try to do differently. It will help them, because watch re watching that week four game, their backup linebackers were in a blender all night, not just with Derrick Henry, but Go, go. Look at who the Ravens leading receiver was that night. It was Justice Hill out of the backfield, right? I mean, those linebackers, those backups, were just getting annihilated. So I think buffalo is more, you know, more equipped to handle those elements, but they’re still going to have to play a little bit, you know, with a little more heavy personnel than I think they’re accustomed to. And then what does that do for the Ravens play action game? You know? What does that do for Rashad Bateman? Obviously, if zay flowers isn’t out or isn’t playing, then that’s an element that’s taken away from this offense. But, you know, I the Ravens just have so many pathways, I think, to a victory, whereas the bills can absolutely win this game. And I already said, when it’s Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, I you know that I have the utmost respect for both those quarterbacks, but I do think buffalo is going to have to be on point with their defense. You’re, like I just said, and I think, as I say, every week, you got to be willing to take some chances against the Baltimore Ravens, meaning going forward on fourth down, meaning, you know, and buffalo likes to run too. I mean, James Cook has had a heck of a year, you know, their lead back. And Ty Johnson, who, you know, is a local ties, you know, as a Terp and and all that dangerous out of the backfield. Saw him make an unbelievable touchdown catch against Denver. So, you know, they have, they have weapons out of the backfield, but I don’t think it’s necessarily, run the ball on first down, run the ball on second down and then convert on third down. That generally doesn’t work against the ravens and Pittsburgh found that out plenty these last couple times. So you know, I just, I look at this game, and Buffalo has the advantage being at home, but man, in terms of both of these teams, ceilings, in terms of upside, in terms of just how great they are when they’re playing at their absolute best, you know, I do Give the Ravens in Edge in that way. Now, you can’t commit penalties, can’t turn the ball over. You got to be on point with special teams. I think the kickers especially understanding how cold it’s supposed to be. And you know the wind in Buffalo, you know, I haven’t seen exactly how windy it could be, but it’s, it’s nighttime in Orchard Park, and in mid January, it’s going to that’s going to be a factor. And you have two kickers in Tyler bass, who missed the kick against Kansas City last year in the divisional round that cost them. And even though Justin Tucker hasn’t missed since the bye week, how many high leverage spots Has he really been in since then? I mean, the Ravens beat the Giants handily, and they beat the Steelers handily. In that week 16 game, they clobbered Houston, and, you know, they handled Cleveland, and then they then they blew out the Steelers. So two great teams, two great
Nestor Aparicio 28:54
I just, I’ve got temperature at game time at 15 or the wind chill three.
Luke Jones 29:00
So, so the wind’s going to be blowing that, if the wind chills, that’s gonna feel like three degrees, yeah? So, so it feels like you’re kicking a rock, and there’s gonna be at least a breeze, at least a stiff breeze. So I’m
Nestor Aparicio 29:12
trying to think three degrees. The last time I felt three degrees is probably when I walked into the heart of freezer to get ice cream a couple Yeah, a couple years, yeah, I mean, like, three degrees is like, Dude, it’s been 25 here this week, and it sucked, you know, like, like, I just it’s gonna affect the game, and it’s gonna it affects humans. I know it does. And they got this, and by the way, it had Sal capacio on from Buffalo. He’s one of the sideline reporters there. He said he’s had his stuff singed and stuff down on the heaters, that they’re really, like, crazy, like, very dangerous, quite frankly, yeah, if you get too close up on them. And, you know, I think about the weather, and I think about turnovers, and I think about the weather. I’m saying to my wife, because, look, I tried to talk you in a. Going, I don’t want to go sit in the press book. We’ll go to Kansas City next week. They got barbecue. My wife’s like, Yeah, let’s go. And then I read the weather report. She’s like, F that. And then I came to my senses, and I text you back, and I said, that must have. I don’t know how beer talk happened at 10am but I got enthusiastic about maybe going up to this game. And I’ll say a couple things about noise, that when it gets that cold, and I don’t speak of this to be a jerk, but I’ve been to a lot of really cold games as a fan. I’m, like, a legit fan. You know, I have pictures of cheese on my head at the NFC Championship game, which the weather conditions were like this. You could look it up. It was like nine degrees. Was one of the five coldest games in the history of the game. It was in 1996 97 January, 97 and it was a Carrie Collins game. I mean, I’ve been out some really Mile High miracle. I was in the press box and it was freezing, but I did walk out. I mean, I know how cold it was that day I was on the field shooting post game. You can go find it on YouTube. I know what cold is. This is as cold as it gets. I mean, I don’t know. You know what I mean, like, it’s, it’s nasty, really nasty. And from a fan’s perspective, late at night, I had Mike Balani on this week, a legendary buffalo. He ran the buffalo Bisons for years the minor league baseball team. He told some great stories. And resig is his buddy. And reci came on, and we were just telling, you know, old tales of cold weather games and things that happened in Buffalo and like the lure of all of their losses. And, you know, 40 years ago, me going up there with a SIG for that crazy game when they beat the snot out of the Raiders. And, you know, it was 28 that day, and it was just kind of nice and flurrying and, you know, cloudy. It was beautiful, not like it’s going to be. They’re like people could be drinking at 10 in the morning. They’re going to be lubed up and all of this stuff. Agree with all of that, but they’re not as loud at nine o’clock as they would be at six o’clock. And when it’s cold, you wear gloves, and it’s just not as loud. It’s not going to be as loud as it could be. Arrowhead will be louder next week. I promise you. I’ve been in both buildings, the buffalo buildings, bigger, weirder, wider, more like, more like Jacksonville. It’s just, it’s and they’ve told me the new stadium is going to be straight down. And they have all sorts of things about the new stadium that were it to snow four years from now, when Lamar is 32 and doing this and still chasing his fifth MVP, third Super Bowl. First Super Bowl. I don’t know, but Laura is going to play in the new stadium. It’s two years from now, right? That if it snows there, it’s not going to land on the field or anything, because the building is going to be so warm, because it the building has, like, warming things, that it’s going to make it weird. So, I mean, I’ve heard about this this week. This is their home field advantage, you know, this is their thing. Is the sucker in a kid from Pompano Beach who’s all world, and to slow him down because it’s three degrees and it’s hard to freaking breathe, like literally, you know. So the conditions that play into this make this. John facili, for me, that’s not a regular game. It’s not Monday Night Football. It’s not believing what we watched on Monday, which was really weird, with the fire, right? Like Vikings fans on one half rams fans on there was like a bowl game. Was weird. This is not going to be like this. This is going to be nasty and cold, but not as loud as you think, right? And the crowd into it or out of it, one way or another, with kickers missing kicks. Their kicker missed the kick. He misses a kick in the third quarter. That’s 42 yards, that feels automatic, that would give them the lead, and they don’t have it. Crowd there will boo their own team. You know what I mean? Like the crowd is manipulated. But I’ve also seen Miami come in there and just freeze and wilt, you know? And I don’t, I don’t know about that, but I do worry about that. And now I don’t think Derek Henry’s gonna will. I think they’re built for this. This was my gig. This was my thing for years. This is why I’m wearing a derrick Emery jersey. If they got Derrick Henry, I always say they would win these games. Now I would say they can win this game, right? I mean, but I would have said to you, getting him, and I said this back in the spring when they got him, this is, this is, this is different than Lamar getting cold, and the passing game getting down, and them getting down by 12 points in the third quarter because they f up and somebody drops a ball. Or something happens that, and the bills make you want to shout, and they’re winning 19 to seven at half time, or something right, like something like that were to happen that you still. Have the ability for Lamar to run left, Derek Emery to run right. And I saw all of the confusion this week and football people breaking down what they did to the Steelers early in the game in regard to key reads. And on reading it that the read would be that Derrick Henry would get the ball. Lamar kept it anyway 10 times, and they never figured it out. Todd monk, it’s going to be working for somebody else next year, so you might only have him for 60 more minutes too. So you might want to work for that. So there’s just dude. I just laid it on you, but I could soliloquy all day, because I love this stuff, and I’ve been doing it all my life, and this is about as good as it gets for intrigue and drama and high drama. And it’s only high drama because they’ve f this up for five or six years in a row, because they haven’t won, and they have the best player on Earth, and they have the best running back that’s compared to Jim effing Brown. I’m running back. I went and bought a jersey with his name on the back. First time that I’ve owned this radio station that I’ve ever bought anybody’s jersey, a football, active football player’s jersey with a name on it. I’ve never bought one until now. And this, this is, this is their time. They better embrace it.
Luke Jones 36:14
You hope it’s their time. Buffalo saying the same thing, right? And buffalo saying, Hey, we’ve, we’ve came up short against Patrick mahomes, who came up short against Patrick mahomes and came up short against Cincinnati a few years back. So, yeah, I mean that, you know, obviously, the weather, the crowd, all, all of those factors. And look the crowd, so much of the crowd is dictated by how the game starts again, if Derek, if the Ravens run the ball 10 times, you know, if they have a a drive like they did against the Steelers. You know, the first couple drives of the night, the crowd’s going to get quiet and cold really quickly. But if they don’t, and Josh Allen and the bills are the ones marching down the field in their opening drive, and they’re taking a seven nothing lead, then that crowd’s going to feel it. But I think what’s interesting, you know, with the weather and we talked about turnovers, buffalo, fewest turnovers in the league this year, eight. Ravens third fewest turnovers in the league this year, 11. Now the takeaway side. Ravens had 17 takeaways even that, even as they got better and they did take the ball away a little bit more down the stretch, they did do that, in fairness, still much more of a middle of the pack, unremarkable defense in terms of taking the ball away, buffalo,
37:25
third in the NFL and takeaways. So as much as maybe that defense isn’t built physicality wise to stop Derek Henry up front and there, it’s going to have to be a collective effort. And again, I think the second level of their defense is
Luke Jones 37:42
astronomically important in this football game if they’re going to be able to get some stops against the Ravens. You know, you know this isn’t gonna be even with the cold weather. I’d be shocked if this is a 1713, game. I think both teams are gonna score points. I’m not saying it’s gonna be in the 40s either, because of the weather, but I think both teams are going to move the ball and score points. So it’s going to come down to, like we just said, Take taking care of the football. I think scoring touchdowns inside the red zone. You know, you mentioned the kickers. I mean, Tyler bass with his history, Justin Tucker with his first half of the season and being better. But, you know, does that creep back in? You know, what’s the weather going to be like in terms of the kicking elements and the wind and all of that? I mean, it’s, again, it comes down to it. And I think the ravens are, I give the Ravens the edge on paper overall, but
Nestor Aparicio 38:38
because I believe the ravens are going to run the ball they I just believe that that won’t stop all night, and that at some point will win them the football game, right? I mean, we believe it, and if not that, then the passing right, or whatever. And we do believe that this offense will outscore them and out will the bill’s defense. I
39:02
mean, I it can. That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. Right? Again. What I just laid out there is both teams plan the absolute best versions of themselves. How often do teams play the best version of themselves in on three but one specific game on the biggest night of the year and and all that. So that thing, it’s hard to be flawless when it’s three degrees out, right? It’s hard to be perfect. And even buffalo, like, look, they’re at home. They’re undefeated at home.
Luke Jones 39:33
Most of their games all season weren’t this cold, right? I mean, you’re, you know, September and October in Buffalo in November, different animal than what January is. So look again. And
Nestor Aparicio 39:47
by the way, Luke went to college at Syracuse. He did. He gave a weather report. He gave his meteorological
Luke Jones 39:52
wake up, wake effect snow. My 24 months in hell Syracuse doesn’t, you know, lake effect snow doesn’t seem like that. Be too much of a factor. I think there’s a little bit of snow in the forecast Saturday, but I don’t think it,
Nestor Aparicio 40:04
by the way, it’s supposed to snow here Sunday. So like, if the game were here, there would have been snow in here too. So I
Luke Jones 40:09
mean, I don’t, I don’t. Doesn’t sound like gonna be going to be huge. But could it could affect some watch parties, if people were congregating to watch the Ravens try to make it to the AFC title game. But you know what my final point on this? Because, again, you know, we’ve talked about this game. I’m so excited for this game. I look, I don’t know what’s going to happen exactly. I’m going to make a I’m guessing right? My prediction is a guess, because it’s that kind of game. And both these teams, I think, are, you know, have elements to them that, starting with the quarterback, are really special. So then it’s a matter of, what are all the other details? But I do think what’s kind of wild is you’re gonna you have this game that’s being advertised as a heavyweight fight. You know, I was watching NFL Network the other morning, and they were talking about this being one of the most hyped divisional round matchups we’ve ever seen. And they were comparing it to, you know, Brady Manning back in the mid 2000s when, you know, even though they met in the A, F, C championship game plenty of times, but there were sometimes those divisional matchups they they mentioned, what was it? Uh, in 93 I think it was Warren Moon against Joe Montana with the chiefs. And, you know, you think about all these great matchups, and look, I think this has the potential to be an all time great kind of matchup. I’m just reminded, what’s the reward for the winner? Oh, they got to go to Kansas City and play Patrick mahomes and the chiefs, right? I mean, it’s, which is still like, hey, you know, this could be, this is Fraser and form and getting ready for Ali, you know? I mean, let’s put the brakes on. Call it. This the AFC title game, right? So, you know, I mean, it’s, you know, I don’t think this is necessarily the US against the Soviets. And then, you know, the US won, and then it was a formality to winning, winning the gold, you know, in the next round in hockey in 1980 so, you know that that’s just, that’s something that’s in the back of my mind about this game, whoever wins that it’s like, Oh, congratulations. Congratulations, Lamar. You took down Josh Allen, your gift is, your reward is, you got to go do it against Patrick mahomes. And same for Josh Allen, congratulations. You took down, Lamar. Your reward is, you have to go take, take down the chiefs, you know, the the team that’s knocked you out three times already in your career. So, I mean, it just, it speaks
Nestor Aparicio 42:23
to saw 15 and two they are, but
42:28
I don’t know, man, I just want to say
Nestor Aparicio 42:30
that out loud, sort of laugh at it, so I can see it in the transcript on the internet, though, and chuckle at it.
Luke Jones 42:35
I just remember everyone, everyone was saying that at this time last year about the chiefs. And then suddenly January rolled around and they looked like, oh gosh, they’re the Chiefs again, and certainly the Ravens found that out. But I mean, this is again we spent, we spend so much time in our lives, with our livelihood, talking about these potential matchups. It’s all about January. What’s going to happen in January? Derek, Henry in January, Lamar in January, defense in January, defense needs to be better, you know, talking about that in September and October and November, here we are. And on paper, other than if you were playing at home, it doesn’t set up any better than this. I you know, I guess if, if buffalo had lost to the Broncos, and you’d be playing the Texans right now. I mean, sure, but in terms of just the Ravens aptitude, their capability, where they are right now as a football team, how healthy are they are, how great their quarterback is, how much better their defense is, Derek Henry, yes, their tight ends, the way their offensive line has played against off defensive lines like this, which isn’t an overpowering, overly physical, big offense defensive line. So I think it sets up for the Ravens offensive line to play well. But hey, right now and I can lay out things about buffalo that would say why it’s going to be different than it was back in week four. And they’ve got Josh Allen, who you know is right there in terms of quarterback greatness with Lamar Jackson and then both those guys trying to catch Patrick mahomes at this point. So bring it on, man. It’s gonna be fun. And you know, we’re gonna we’re gonna have so much to talk about, and it’s just gonna be a matter of what tone it’ll be come Sunday night and and Monday morning, and you hope not a full off season after that. You hope it’ll be turning the page then to talk about, presumably, Kansas City and Patrick mahomes, so, man, it’s this is, you know, to borrow the parcels live. We’re not lifting all those weights of the off season, but we’re certainly expending a lot of oxygen talking about this, and hey, it’s finally here. Well, last thing
Nestor Aparicio 44:43
for you, biggest concern is what, as you’re going to be writing this added at a Baltimore positive what is your biggest concern in a Monday morning Requiem for what could have been? I mean,
Luke Jones 44:58
I. Think it’s been the biggest concern all year. I mean, just you got to go out and play clean football, you know, penalties and it’s kind of a cop out, I understand, but like, that’s how strong this team is right now. I mean,
Nestor Aparicio 45:11
I would say beyond yourselves,
Luke Jones 45:17
beyond those things. If you want to give me, if you want to grant me one that I have to take go out on a limb a little bit more. I’m still not fully convinced on this past defense in the in the context of they played great down the stretch, but also acknowledging, look at who they played down the stretch. Pittsburgh,
Nestor Aparicio 45:44
yeah, 3013 are they getting off the field? And how often and can they get them? Can they get Josh Allen to the third and third? I
45:51
mean, just go, just but like I said, after week after week 10, you know, after that game against the Bengals, the second that Thursday night game. You know, when they benchmark is Williams. They started making changes that were much more noticeable. But at Pittsburgh,
Luke Jones 46:06
hey, it was the start of a turnaround, but Russell Wilson is not Ben Roethlisberger in his prime at the Chargers. Hey, I’ll check off on that Eagles for a half. And then, you know, the run defense to M broke. But then, after the bye week at the Giants Pittsburgh, Houston’s offense is not very good. Their defense is what drives drives the bus for them, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, so not I don’t want to be dismissive of the improvement they’ve made. They have made improvement. There’s no doubt about that. But what we saw in the third quarter on Saturday night, where Pittsburgh started to hit on some 20 plus yard completions, for whatever reason, and it might have just been that the Ravens kind of lost their edge a little bit. They were up 21 nothing, right? I mean, you can’t really fault them. They were that dominant in the first half. But if there’s something beyond just penalties, turnovers, those types of things that happen in any game that can cause you to lose. It would be that that the bills find some big plays in the passing game a little bit more. Because if they do that, then Josh Allen, when you start talking about what he can do with his legs, and then I think that allows them to get their running game going a little bit more, because I do think James Cook’s really good. You know, that’s where I look at this and say, I’m not fully convinced that the Ravens pass defense is invincible. Now, necessarily so. But that said the bills don’t have Jamar Chase and T Higgins at wide receiver. Their receivers are good. They’re not great. So that’s where you look at this thing. And still have a lot of confidence. I’m, you know, I’m confident in this football team. The if they play close to the best version of themselves, I think they’re going to win. But if they don’t, Buffalo’s a hell of a football team, and it makes it that much tougher, but I think it’s going to be a great game. He is Lou Jones.
Nestor Aparicio 48:05
He is Baltimore, Luke. He is out knowing bills. We’re getting ready for football on Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, blah, blah. We ran all weekend. And there’s Monday, Monday, Monday, with the national championship and poor Penn State. But hey, you know poor Pittsburgh, but Philadelphia in ravens, in even the Washington burgundies and whatever you call them, they’re in at this point too. So gonna be big weekend around here. Hope everybody enjoys it. Drive safely in the snow, if there’s such thing, we’ll be back on Monday morning on the back end of that. Luke and I will be watching during the game, on X, on social, on Facebook, on blue sky, on LinkedIn, everywhere. There is full coverage at Baltimore positive all week long. We’ve been in Buffalo all week. We’re doing a cup of Super Bowl two weeks from now. It’s all brought to you by friends at the Maryland lottery. Buckle up your chin straps. We’ve got a legendary instant classic coming Sunday night in Buffalo, we are wnst and 1570 Taos in Baltimore, and we never stop talking Raven’s flock and ravens football at Baltimore. Positive you.