Getting Lamar back on the field is the ‘only’ thing for Ravens

Spending a bye weekend on the couch allowed Luke Jones and Nestor to watch the rest of the NFL and the emerging young quarterbacks coming to life. This week, the 1-5 Baltimore Ravens will need to get off the mat and win two football games in four days beginning with the Chicago Bears on Sunday before flying off to Miami to play the woeful Dolphins. How to win two in a row?

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ current struggles, highlighting their 1-5 record and the importance of their upcoming games against the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins. They emphasized the need for Lamar Jackson’s return and the team’s offensive line issues, noting that the Ravens have been sacked 15 times in four games. They also discussed the potential impact of Joe Flacco’s return to the Bengals and the broader implications for the Ravens’ season and coaching future. Nestor criticized the team’s lack of winning mentality, while Luke remained hopeful for a turnaround.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Determine the Ravens’ path to making the playoffs despite their 1-5 start.
• [ ] Analyze Lamar Jackson’s status for the upcoming Bears game.
• [ ] Evaluate the Ravens’ offensive line play and potential roster moves to improve it.
• [ ] Monitor the performance of other AFC teams and how it impacts the Ravens’ playoff chances.

Maryland Lottery Crab Cake Tour and Upcoming Events

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the Maryland lottery crab cake tour, mentioning upcoming events at Cocos and Pizza John’s.
• Nestor talks about the Maryland State Fair breakfast event next Tuesday.
• Nestor mentions his recent visit to Costas in Timonium and his plans for the Maryland crab cake tour.
• Nestor notes that it has been a week since he last spoke to Luke Jones, who has been reading about the Ravens.

Lamar Jackson’s Injury and Upcoming Games

• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss Lamar Jackson’s hamstring injury and the possibility of him playing against the Chicago Bears.
• Luke mentions that Lamar’s practice status will indicate his readiness to play.
• Nestor expresses skepticism about the team’s injury reports and the possibility of Lamar having a setback.
• Luke notes that the Ravens are currently 1-5 and the next two games are crucial for their season.

Ravens’ Record and Public Perception

• Nestor and Luke discuss the Ravens’ record and the public’s perception of the team.
• Nestor mentions that the Ravens are still considered a good team by Vegas, despite their current record.
• Luke agrees that the Ravens are better than a 1-5 team but acknowledges the issues they face.
• Nestor compares the Ravens to other teams with similar records, such as the Jets and Dolphins.

Offensive Line and Pass Protection

• Luke Jones emphasizes the importance of the offensive line in protecting Lamar Jackson.
• Luke mentions that the Ravens’ offensive line has regressed this season, contributing to Lamar’s sacks.
• Nestor and Luke discuss potential trades for offensive linemen, such as Kevin Zeitler from the Tennessee Titans.
• Luke highlights the need for better pass protection to keep Lamar healthy and effective.

Defensive Line and Pass Rush

• Luke Jones discusses the Ravens’ defensive line and the lack of a pass rush.
• Luke mentions that the defense made some progress in the Rams game but still has issues.
• Nestor and Luke talk about the importance of stopping the run and improving the pass rush.
• Luke notes that the Ravens’ defensive line has not been as effective this season compared to previous years.

Coaching and Team Dynamics

• Nestor criticizes the team’s lack of winning mentality and the behavior of players like Marlon Humphrey and Mark Andrews.
• Luke acknowledges the issues but believes in the team’s potential to turn things around.
• Nestor expresses frustration with the team’s performance and the need for a cultural change.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of winning games to change the narrative and regain public confidence.

Upcoming Games and Importance of Victories

• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of the next two games against the Bears and Dolphins.
• Luke stresses that the Ravens need to win these games to stay relevant in the playoff race.
• Nestor mentions the potential impact of losing these games on the team’s future, including coaching changes.
• Luke highlights the need for the team to play well and win to avoid further scrutiny and criticism.

National Media Perception and Future Outlook

• Nestor and Luke discuss the national media’s perception of John Harbaugh and the Ravens.
• Luke believes that Harbaugh’s success and Super Bowl win will protect him from immediate job loss.
• Nestor argues that the national media will be critical if the Ravens continue to struggle.
• Luke suggests that a trade of Harbaugh could be a possibility if the team’s performance does not improve.

Impact of Injuries and Player Health

• Nestor and Luke discuss the impact of injuries on the team’s performance.
• Luke mentions that the bye week came at a good time for the team to rest and recover.
• Nestor expresses concern about Lamar Jackson’s health and the team’s ability to keep him healthy.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of player health in the team’s success and the need for better injury management.

Final Thoughts and Predictions

• Nestor and Luke share their final thoughts on the Ravens’ season and their predictions for the rest of the year.
• Luke believes that the Ravens have the talent to turn things around but acknowledges the challenges.
• Nestor remains skeptical but hopes for a strong finish to the season.
• Both agree that the next two games are crucial for the team’s future and the fans’ confidence.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Ravens, Lamar Jackson, hamstring injury, Chicago Bears, Miami Dolphins, offensive line, defensive line, pass protection, bye week, John Harbaugh, playoffs, Joe Flacco, Bengals, NFL, football season.

SPEAKERS

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Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, AM, 1570 tasks in Baltimore. It is Baltimore positive. It’s still kind of the bye week, although the bye week is over for the most part. It’s World Series week around here, if you’re counting, and it’s also crab cake season. I spent Sunday evening at Costas and Timonium, just to make sure I was checking the place out after a rocking at the races. We’ll be there on Wednesday afternoon, doing the Maryland crab cake tour courtesy of the Maryland lottery. I have a lucky batch. Much luck. It’s luckier than it looks on the field. I’ll tell you that right now the Maryland lottery scratch offs. We’re also going to be doing the show at Cocos in two weeks. We are at Pizza John’s in two weeks as well. And we’re getting the show back out on the road to Fave these. And we will be at State Fair next Tuesday morning for breakfast. So we’re moving the show around, getting a lot of guests. This guy here, he’s, he’s had a it’s been a week since I’ve talked to you. I don’t do we go week in a year ever without talking. Very unusual that we don’t we don’t talk for a while, but Luke is been off reading about the purple birds. Actually, probably been watching Shohei Otani, like all the rest of us here, and getting ready. All I cared about Luke was that they practiced last week. They took a couple of days off. Harbaugh got his feelings hurt by my dear John Harbaugh letter, and that’s fine. He thinks I hate him and I’m holding him accountable. I just was making sure nobody got arrested over the weekend, because that would be the next bad thing that could happen to them at one in five is take a weekend away. The next worst thing could happen, which everybody’s texting me, saying, Lamar is playing this week, right? Like, like, they got two games in four days, Lamar is going to play, right? And I’m like, I don’t know. I really I don’t know what to say. I don’t believe whatever they say. I’ve written that there will be a press conference by Wednesday of the week. We’ll find out. But what do you think is Lamar going to play? You covered the team,

Luke Jones  01:53

Luke, I think so, but until we actually see him out on the practice field, and we’re at the point now where you don’t have to speculate about whether he’s on the field or not, and whether that means he’s gonna he needs to practice at this point, right? We’re, we’re far enough removed from the Kansas City game where he’s not going to sit out the whole week and then run through the tunnel on Sunday and be ready to play, right? We we’ll get an indication they’re back on the practice field Monday. The first injury report is Wednesday, so you will have an idea where this is trending. Now, he could be listed as limited. There could still be some ambiguity, some uncertainty with the status, but I mean the expectation, the earliest reporting that was done on it. And look, I mean, it’s, it’s a hamstring, it’s tricky, right? I mean Jayden Daniels with the commanders now that there’s going to be all kinds of talk about his hamstring now, after he got hurt in the Dallas game on if you get re hurt, you’re on watch well and right. That’s That’s why the Ravens needed to be as care, as careful and cautious as they were, leading into the bias, as much as one in five hertz as despondent, as terrible as it feels one in five, and Lamar having a setback against the Rams, and he’s out another month, then we’re talking about, okay, who’s going to get fired? What’s, what’s their draft pick going to be all of that, right? If Lamar comes out of the tunnel Sunday at one o’clock and he’s healthy, and he’s playing against the Chicago Bears, and they win. And I saw the early line Vegas clearly thinks he’s going to play. I saw the Ravens six, six and a half point favorite over the bears, right? I mean, which looks like a one in five team? Well, I mean, you know, they they look like a one in five team. The last couple weeks, most teams look bad with without their star quarterback, so

Nestor Aparicio  03:40

we’re still buying who they are at halftime against buffalo. If you’re buying that there are six and a half point favorite this week, you’re buying that they’re going to be a very good team once they get healthy like and wherever that is, whatever that belief is, that belief still sits in Las Vegas on on everyone’s apps. By the way John Martin came on last week, and I’ll give you this, he gave me all the numbers, and I don’t, I don’t even understand all the hold that like I understand it, but I don’t. But the way he explained is, the state of Maryland, the numbers were enormous in September, just for wagering. But the amount of, amount of money we the betters lost, and the house got the hold. Was extraordinary in September, and the reason for that is everybody bet on the ravens and on the commanders in this state, and lost bets. So just as a little aside, I know you’re not the betting guy and I’m not the betting guy, but it would tell you that consumer confidence on the ravens and on Lamar and on my prediction that they’re going to be seven and seven, that they’re going to go six and two the next eight weeks, which is what I’ve said publicly, I think that they’re capable of doing Vegas. Thinks they’re going to do it right. If you think that they’re going to they’re going to be a touchdown favorite at home against the team that’s got a much better record at this time of this. Reason The belief is one in five is not dirt on their coffin. One in five is just setting them back to the point where they’re going to be 10 and seven instead of 12 and five.

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Luke Jones  05:12

I mean it. They still have that path. They still have that path. That belief is there. The perception is there. Look, do I think the ravens are better than a one in five team? Of course, I do if, if we’re talking about when they’re at full strength, even

Nestor Aparicio  05:29

whatever I’ve seen bad teams play. If you’re going to compare them to the Jets, you’re going to compare them to the Raiders you’re going to catch, and the Jets won. So like, you know, somebody seems the Browns have won game. So jets are owing seven No, excuse me, not the Jets the Browns have won. Yeah, right, right. Dolphins have won. They’re I’m trying to think of the teams that have won, that have one win, that are terrible, um,

Luke Jones  05:51

one wins, and they’re terrible

Nestor Aparicio  05:56

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when they don’t have roquan Smith, Marlon, hubs go to Kyle Hamilton, the quarterback, you know, the tight end. Run through the players that they don’t Ronnie Stanley, let’s not forget him. But they might be a one in five, not might be they are, if Cooper back, if Cooper rush and Tyler Huntley, are their quarterbacks. They are the Jets. They are the dolphins. They are the brown they are what they are. With Lamar, they’re six and two. And there are different things. So I’ll hear that from the gambling perspectives. The reason they’re one in five is Lamar hasn’t played the last two weeks because he played. They’d be three and three or like, that would be the thought, right?

Luke Jones  06:36

I think so. I think so. I mean, look,

Nestor Aparicio  06:39

I Lamar is worth 10 points on the line. I guess he’s

Luke Jones  06:43

worth a lot. He absolutely is worth a lot. I mean, there’s and some of that is also not, not a great belief in the bears, like, look, look, I think the bears are improved from where they’ve been. I think the bears certainly, this is not a game. I’m not going to sit here and say the Ravens just roll the ball out and if Lamar runs through the tunnel, then all is well. They were on their way. They were one in three with Lamar, right? I mean, and this is where the truth lies, somewhere in the middle. Do I think the ravens are truly better than a one in five team? Yes, I do. Do. I think, do I think all their issues are cured once Lamar runs out of the tunnel, once roquan Smith is back. No they we saw issues the first few weeks of the season, even before the these injuries started to pile up. So the the reality of it is, even if they are better than one in five, and I think most people believe that you can’t wipe out those six games those that one in five is going to be part of their record. That’s going to they’re going to carry that the rest of the way. And that’s why, as I wrote in the aftermath of that rams loss, that the math really starts to count against you the rest of the way. We

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Nestor Aparicio  07:49

talked to Joni manzalino, right, right. He talked he had a buffalo 500 record with you, or he could say we were decent when I was here, yeah. Except you were 20 games under 500 before you started. And

Luke Jones  08:01

we talked about that when they were 16 and 34 right? I mean, at that point in time, that’s a pace to lose 110 games. I know we can go back and find our conversation from Memorial Day, where I would say, Nestor, I don’t really think the Orioles are truly a 110 loss outfit, but you thought they were going to hit the ball, and they never hit the ball, but they certainly have underperformed, and they’ve underperformed to such an extreme that it’s ruined their season. And the Orioles never went on a run that ever made you think that they were truly going to get off the mat to the degree that they were going to have a chance to win a wild card, right? They had

Nestor Aparicio  08:37

that we’re gonna have to play 800 baseball for a month, and the Ravens are gonna have to play 800 baseball for a month right now, right?

Luke Jones  08:43

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That’s where, and that’s where you look at it, and you say, okay, when you’re one and five, look at the math, since the league pivoted to a 17 game schedule, the the format of three wild cards there, the benchmark is 10 and seven. Mike McDonald and the Seahawks last year, the only team to go 10 and seven in this era with this format and not make the playoffs. So 10 and seven is the mark that you’re looking for, right? I mean, that’s not to say that it’s impossible if you’re nine and eight, if all these teams in the AFC end up not being that good. And look one of the funniest, and this was just a random person on social media, you know, a random fan on Twitter on Sunday afternoon made the comment that, well, I think 16 teams in the league are bad, and there are 16 teams that have a chance to be good. And it’s not quite that extreme, but there is a whole lot of okay, who’s really, really good, but I think there’s a very distinct line as far as who’s really, really bad, and what’s scary for the Ravens is, I don’t think the ravens are truly a really, really bad team in terms of the eyeball test, in terms of when they get their guys back, but their record says they are. So that’s a heck of a hill they have to climb here nine. Of 11, which is what they need to do to be 10 and seven when I look at the state of their defensive line, when I look at the state of their offensive line, and I for me, and I wrote this at Baltimore positive.com obviously, we all know Lamar being healthy and upright is number one, and he’s number one by a wide margin in terms of what this team needs by 10 points on the line. So with that thought in mind, acknowledging that for me, for all their issues, when we talk about pass rush, short yarded situations, red zone offensive line, like all these different things, I go back to their offensive line needing to find a higher level of consistency and a higher level of play. However, that’s done internally, whether that means Eric Decosta makes a trade of some sort, you know? I mean, I’ll throw one name out there, just an exam as an example. This isn’t reporting. It’s just common sense. Looking Kevin Zeitler, playing for the Tennessee Titans. Is Kevin Zeitler, the guy he was four years ago. No, but seems to still be playing at a pretty high level.

Nestor Aparicio  11:00

I’ve seen a lot of X players places, you know, I saw Colias Campbell running around with the Arizona Cardinals. I think he looked better in purple.

Luke Jones  11:09

But Kevin Zeitler is a guy who’s playing on an absolutely dreadful football team. Can probably be had for very, very little. And seventh round pick, probably, you know, I mean, some maybe not a seventh round pick, but you’re not talking a lot, a lot, right? I mean, you’re talking about a guard in his mid 30s, right? I mean, on a one year deal. So can they make a move like that? And I’m just using Zeitler as an example, because he’s familiar to people. I could probably go through the league and name five other guys that people have never heard of, right? So, but my point with that is, if Lamar is the most important and you need to keep him healthy, and you’ve had issues with your offensive line, I mean, Lamar has already been sacked, I think 15 times in four games. That’s only eight. He’s only been sacked eight fewer times than he was sacked all of last year, right? I mean, that’s that’s jarring when you hear that, and, okay, I get it. It’s Lamar Jackson. Does he occasionally hold the ball a little bit longer than he should? No question about it. He also holds the ball longer than he should in other instances where he makes incredible plays, right? It’s the secret. It’s part of the secret sauce for Lamar Jackson. Well, the secret sauce is you don’t want him to give up on a play, exactly, and he’s not going to. I mean, Team Martin even said that the quarterbacks coach speaking over the bye week, he was kind of asked about that. So when you see other guys like Flacco just throws the ball away, guys that are going to get hit staffer when they just get rid of the ball. And let me be clear, is there a time and a place when Lamar needs to do that a little more often? I think so, right? I mean, we’ve talked about this even as he gets older, he’s going to get caught more quickly than he used to, but even, but even just instances where you just say, Hey, it’s okay to throw the ball away on first down if it’s not there. I mean, can’t the Kansas City game was a perfect example that he threw that interception. They were on the move on their second drive. You know, they had scored on their opening drive. Things were going well, and he’s pressured on first down. It wasn’t his fault. Just throw the ball out of bounds. Instead, he tries to force it to mark Andrews, what Chanel? I think it was. Leo chanal made the play and and that game completely flips from that point on. That’s just one example, but we also know Lamar makes these incredible plays where he does hold the ball and hold the ball and hold the ball and scramble and scramble and look downfield right or take off, right? I mean, we’ve seen him, so you don’t want to coach that out of him, but that’s why you need some better offensive line play. Look, I don’t think the ravens, by any stretch of the imagination, need to have the best offensive line in the NFL for Lamar Jackson to play at an MVP level, right? But I know Ben Baldwin, who’s an NFL analyst, he he’s put together, and he’s done this for a few years now, he’s put together a composite of different offensive line ratings that you’ll find from pro football focus sports info solutions. ESPN has metrics, and there’s always subjectivity in these so that’s why I think it’s helpful to have a composite of it. But through six weeks his composite rankings that he has that kind of accounts all those different measurements, the Ravens 28th in the NFL in terms of pass protection. Last year, they were 13th. Respectable, not not elite, but respectable. Year before that, they were eighth. So it tells you where their offensive line is this year in the here, and Zeitler was a part of that one two years. Zeitler was part of it two years ago, no

Nestor Aparicio  14:26

question. I mean, and the emerging Ronnie Stanley and the young tough Linder bomb Rosengarten, one year yet, but yeah, yeah, that line also had Moses years ago.

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Luke Jones  14:36

Had Morgan Moses. Yeah, Morgan Moses, right, yeah, yeah. So, it really speaks to and we’ve talked about this. I mean, the regression has been there across the board. I don’t think Tyler Linder bombs been as good as the Tyler Linder bomb we saw the last couple years in terms of past protection. We’ve talked about Stanley’s health, certainly the guard tough with the center with two bad guards. Oh, no question, that’s really tough. No. Question. I think that’s the biggest factor. But my point is, you kind of see across the board, no one on that offensive line would I say has played better this year than he played last year. I don’t think anyone’s played as well this year, dude. I don’t know if anybody on the team’s played better this year than they played last year. I think that’s I mean, I don’t know that I got a guy. I don’t know that I have a name to give you right now. I mean, I would have said, I’ve been a better fan this year. I would have said, maybe Nate Wiggins, but Nate Wiggins the last couple of weeks hadn’t been as good. Jordan stouts probably punted better this year than the last couple years. No, but I’m That’s seriously. That’s what you kind of go through the list, and you kind of say, who has it been? And again, this goes back to our main point here of do I think they’re from a true talent level standpoint, from a week eight and onward standpoint, are they better than one in five? I absolutely believe that that doesn’t mean that they don’t have their issues, though, and when you’re talking about needing to win nine of 11 to get to 10 and seven, is their offensive line going to have find a level of consistency that’s good enough to go on that kind of run? Are they going to be able to find enough on their defensive front where their pass rush has been non existent, not just their pass rush, but they haven’t stopped the run particularly well? I mean, one of the Silver Linings from that rams game was they did stop the run at a higher level, right? They the defense made some progress in that game. It wasn’t perfect, and I think the Rams actually were sloppy in that game. And you know, that helped them out a little bit at a couple points, certainly with some drops and Stafford missed a couple throws. But there was at least an argument to be made that they took a step in the right direction, right? We talked about, you know, alohi Gilman and Hamilton playing in the box all that. But my point is, this isn’t suddenly a perfect football team once Lamar runs through the tunnel and roquan Smith’s back. And, you know, you kind of look at where they very clearly have some flaws. You know, if nothing else, you talk about Matt ABK not coming back, and what that means for their pass rush and their ability to stop the run and where they are in the trenches. But, you know, on the flip side is Ronnie Stanley going to stay healthy, right? I mean, we’re talking about three straight games now where he’s either, you know, he sat out entirely against the Texans and in the Kansas City game and the Rams game, he retired early because he couldn’t go right. His ankle was bothering him. Is the bye week going to remedy that, or is this more of a chronic, long term thing with his ankle? Right? They were lucky

Nestor Aparicio  17:28

to get a bye week this early, given where they are, given where they are, that this bye week wasn’t November 30, that that, if they get their ship righted, and by next Friday, you and I are talking about them being three and five, and they bounce back, and they haven’t been in jeopardy against these teams, and they beat the bears 31 to 14. And like, I won’t be shocked by that, but that’s better. That better be where they are. They better not be losing to the Miami Dolphins next Thursday night. And I don’t know if even the coach is still going to be the coach by the time they get there. They still getting their ass kicked by the browns, he might not be the coach by the time they hear this.

Luke Jones  18:08

You just took the words right out of my mouth. I was going to say, yeah, and we’ll get to the bears here in a moment. But just since you brought it up, I don’t know who their coach is going to be at that point. Because, I mean, that’s a disaster you talk about crashing and burning. We kind of forget about this. But the dolphins and look at their best with Mike McDaniel, I think we all thought at their best, they still were a bit of a paper tiger, right? I mean, they beat up on bad teams, but hey, the record was what it was. But think back to Week 17, two years ago, the penultimate game of the regular season. Miami came in. The number one seed was on the line in that game between the ravens and the dolphins, and now the Ravens handled them, ended up boat racing them as the game went on. But it really speaks to how this league changes. I mean the dolphins especially, but, I mean the ravens are one in five, right? So, but to your point, yeah, it’s a non starter for me. If you don’t with these two games, right? I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  19:12

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you lose both of them, you’re one and seven the season, like, if you lose to the bears, this week is the most important game they’ve played Nestor franchise, because four days rest and going to Miami is never good. Lamar going to Miami, I don’t know. I mean, that always worries me on three days, like, lamar’s health worries me. Let’s start with that. We just sit 15 minutes on that, like, how Lamar is on Sunday, how Lamar is the middle of this week, if he’s not out there by Wednesday, running around looking the way you need him to look.

Luke Jones  19:41

Oh, no question. Well, and you said it. I mean, the bye week for that reason alone. I mean, forget about any of their other injuries when Lamar Jackson’s dealing with the hamstring, yeah. I mean, your bye week coming at this point in time was perfect. I mean, it would have been nice if it came two weeks earlier, I suppose. I mean, maybe, maybe he only misses one game, as opposed. Two depending on the timing, but until he’s out there. But no, I, and you know me, I, I really don’t like being a prisoner of the moment. I don’t like how overused the term must win is. I mean, this bears game’s a must win. You can’t fall to one in six. I mean, you just can’t. At that point you’re asking to go the to win

Nestor Aparicio  20:23

nine of your last 10. I don’t know if you know, but Joseph Vincent Flacco has shown up in Cincinnati now, and he’s got receivers. And you know, I mean, for Flacco, it’s like the dream thing, because he’s been on these stiff teams for a decade. Maybe had a chance with Denver the first time around, but he’s been on all these stiff teams now they’ve given him a team with receivers like Cleveland was two years ago. Cleveland had receivers two years ago, and some protection for him, and maybe even some semblance of running game. I don’t think the Bengals are good. I think Joe Flacco is dangerous two times against the Bengals throw into Jamar, Jason T Higgins, that’s what I think.

Luke Jones  20:56

And I think the big key for that is obviously they have to protect him. They did a good enough job of protecting him, and he got the ball out quickly, right? But it but it was funny watching that Thursday night game, which, by the way, as much as you’ve heard me hate and hate and hate on Thursday night,

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Nestor Aparicio  21:15

I didn’t think you had an Amazon subscription. I just thought for sure, you know, Thursday night, I didn’t think they got the games in Pennsylvania

Luke Jones  21:20

Right, right. Thursday Night Football has been good, like we’ve had some really good Thursday night games. I mean, there’s no question. But I did have to laugh in seeing how much talk, even from non Ravens fans, like just national NFL analysts on social media, we’re all talking about Joe Flacco doing the Ravens a favor, yada yada yada. And I kept saying, well, first of all, like, Can the Ravens win a football game before we start getting ahead of ourselves? Like, can they win a game? But my thought was, by the way, you’re gonna have to face Joe Flacco two more times, and if your pass rush is as punchless as it’s been, he’s gonna might embarrass you. He might carve you up in the same way that he did against the Steelers. Now I think that game Thursday night is also very much an indictment on pu on that Steelers defense, and I’ve seen that team play a few times now, that is not a good defense. I actually think Rogers. I thought Rogers played really well. I mean, as weird as like, those two picks were the I mean, the one was a fantastic defensive play. But both those quarterbacks, you know, the two gray beards, the 240 somethings, what you know us guys at our 40s, I mean, they’re showing that, you know, we could still do a little something, right?

Nestor Aparicio  22:32

Well, Aaron Rodgers will look a lot better with Jerome Bettis in his backfield, lines, Ward on his edge, right? And the same thing could be said for Flacco. He’s got wide receivers. They’re gonna win every battle every play. He’s got two guys that the Ravens would have a hard time marking. And if he can figure out how to get him the ball 1620 times a game by trying to throw the ball 50 times, he might be worth 28 points to the Bengals of you know, like, just in a general sense, he might be worth four touchdowns.

Luke Jones  22:59

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You got to get after him. You have to pressure him. Joe can at this stage of his career, we and we saw it in week two, right? The Ravens. You know, it’s not as though they didn’t sack him eight times or nine times, but if you make him have to move his pocket and move his feet, he’s he is very below average at this point in his career, but if not, and he’s confident what he’s doing, and you’re keeping the pocket clean enough, long enough that he can get get the ball out,

Nestor Aparicio  23:27

I think he’s even more than that, dude. Give him a running game. Well, put it, put him in second and three and second and four. He can be dangerous. If he’s in second and 16 and he’s getting sacked, and they’re in third and 12, then they’re done. I mean, and that’s what Joe’s been the last seven, eight years. That’s been the offense he’s had, which is very reminiscent of the of the Ravens mess here in 1516, and 17, which is no skill position, nobody to protect him. He’s dead in the water. I think he’s a smarter quarterback than he’s been. It is. It’s amazing to wake up on a Friday morning and see him lauded, and have people talking Hall of Fame with him, just because he’s hung around a long time going to Hall of Fame, but he might go to the Hall of winning four out of the next six games for the Bengals. I mean,

Luke Jones  24:14

at the very least. And look, I think it’s important not to get caught up in what happens in the Thursday night game in the division, generally speaking, not just not between the Bengals and the Steelers, just in a general sense, he makes them wildly more interesting than they were with Browning as their backup, right? I mean, with Browning as their backup, those three games after burrows injury, they look like they could be the worst team in the NFL. That’s how bad they looked so they become more interesting. Certainly, we’ve already seen it with the Steelers and Tomlin his disenchantment with the Browns trading them. And now, hey, that Thanksgiving night game becomes that much more interesting. You know, the game in Cincinnati becomes that much more interesting. What did you make of the

Nestor Aparicio  24:56

Browns trading him? I like, I didn’t think anything of it. I mean, I didn’t think.

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Luke Jones  25:00

Much of it, because you heard me say this. I mean, when I was watching Joe Flacco play the Ravens in week two, I kept saying to myself, Joe, go home. I mean, like, what are you doing? Yeah, and not so much, but not even so much, how he looked, just how bad the Browns look collectively. And it’s just like, you don’t need this. I mean, like this can’t be fun, but hey, he goes to Cincinnati, and we’ll see. And I think it’s also important to point out, last year he played in Indy, right? And he filled it. He had a big game for the Colts at one point, and then got benched not long after that, right? So, well, it’s easy to bench a 41 year old quarterback, right? Exactly. So, so we’re gonna see. But he makes him way more interesting. And look, I don’t think the Bengals are great. I don’t think the Bengals are going to win the division or anything like that, but they’re certainly way more interesting now with him at quarterback, and he was as

Nestor Aparicio  25:52

interesting as the Chargers uniforms were on Sunday. Gosh, it looked like Big

Luke Jones  25:56

Bird. I mean, Savannah, bananas, Big Bird, whatever you wanted to use, but, but, no. I mean, I, you know, just to bring it back to the ravens, look, you look around this league. Look around the AFC specifically, you know, and just stick to that right now. It’s fun. I mean, Indianapolis, give them credit, they still haven’t really played like a team that I view as a juggernaut, per se. You know, we just mentioned the Chargers. I mean, charges have lost three of their last four. The Chargers feel, you know, as much as in late September, it felt like, oh, maybe this is their breakthrough year. They’ve really come back to, well, they can’t protect their quarterback either. Yeah, yeah, so, but, but so you have Indy, New England. I mean, give them credit. They beat the bills couple weeks ago, right? I mean, but are they really? Are they ready to become elite? You know, Denver has the miraculous comeback on Sunday. We’ve already talked about Pittsburgh. You know, Buffalo’s four and two, but has this look like the best version of the bills of the last few years? Not really.

Nestor Aparicio  26:58

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I’m okay with a team that nobody’s gonna win 15 games. I mean, I’m okay with everybody being 11 and six and 12 and five and 10 and seven, because there is Kansas City might be the best team. Buffalo on a day might be the I can’t talk about the ravens and one and five, even in that win a game, win it. But, but the chargers and the Bengals and the Steelers and all the rest of these teams that are flawed, the Patriots flawed teams in different ways. It’ll make for a more interesting tournament. No question, ravens can get there, right? Like, if John can coach them up and get them to 10 wins, which, you know, I think there’ll be seven and seven. I think they will win six of their next eight games. I believe in their pedigree. I believe in John’s tough guy coach, and I believe all these tough guys will get back. I believe there’s a lot of want. I don’t necessarily believe some of these guys are winners by their nature, or certainly don’t behave like winners when they run out the back door like spoiled children say flowers last week. Mark Andrews, when, when I see that about players, I know you think it’s I’m a jerk, and that’s okay, the audience get I’ve been doing this my whole life. I’ve been doing this since I was 15 years old, looking in the eyes of men, of grown ass men being a five foot nine little, you know, Whipper Willa that I am in front of all these big men. And I’ve seen guys that look like winners and guys that don’t, and I’ve seen guys hide and I’ve seen guys make excuses, and I’ve seen all that. I haven’t seen anything winning from this ravens bunch. I haven’t seen them win. I haven’t seen them do what’s necessary to win, and that includes Marlon, Humphrey, Ronnie Stanley, just down the line, of all the people that that have been here, that are here who were not a part of winning a Super Bowl where Joe Flacco did and Justin Tucker did. You’ll be back in the league in two weeks too. So I just, I need to look in the whites of the eyes of these guys and say, You champion. You got to win a championship, you guys. Because when the cost of drafted these guys, and Harbaugh brings these guys in, one in five right now is the ultimate Purple Rain three script being written right there. One in five, if they’re a champion at the end of this, if they’re standing in Santa Clara, where I was watching football on Monday or Sunday night, if they’re standing in Santa Clara in February, and they’re on the field as the AFC team after being one in five, I will tip my cap, because you have done yeoman’s work. That’s all I can say. And and half of the games left are against their against Flacco and and Aaron Rodgers, if they make it. I mean, they’re 41 year old quarterbacks and get their legs broken too. But in a general sense, the division is sitting there for them if they’re going to be a playoff team, least three and one, if not four, and oh, against the Steelers and the Bengals, let alone beating up on the bears and the dolphins and the Vikings with whoever Carson Wentz is their quarterback, whatever that is, maybe wince wins, so they better win the next three. I mean, we better be sitting here talking about them at four and five and if they drop another one accidentally, or something bad happens. But this Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, things real for them this year. Based on the schedule, that they’re going to be some big football games around here in December, if they can figure out how to win a couple in November. Yeah.

Luke Jones  30:07

I mean, no question. I mean, they’ve got to go win football games. Look, it’s easy to come out of the bye week, especially with the assumption that you’re going to be healthier the we’re assuming right now. Again, we’ll reconvene assuming

Nestor Aparicio  30:22

this week for the game, early in a week, we’re assuming Lamar plays. We’re assuming woke one, probably not, right? I don’t know about

Luke Jones  30:29

probably not. I mean, late now, we didn’t see them. There wasn’t any media access to any of their practice. They practiced a couple times during the bye week. He was at the point where he was starting to do a little bit of off to the side, side field work. You know, with the trainer going into that rams game, I think it was that Thursday or Friday we saw him. That’s generally a good sign that you’re trending towards getting back on the practice field in the next week or two. So, but I think there’s, there’s some uncertainty there. But, you know, I think the expectation is Lamar is going to be out there. But for all this talk, and it’s easy to come out of the bye week, not easy. It’s manageable. Like you can you have a lot of time to sit around and think, you have a lot of time to look at the rest of the league, and as we said there, and by the way, I’m in agreement with you. I think Kansas City is the best team in the AFC, regardless of the fact regardless of the fact that they’re four and three. You look at how they’ve played the last few weeks, this might be the best their offenses look since they had Tyree kill. I mean, it’s, it’s

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Nestor Aparicio  31:32

and they might only need to win 12 games to be the one seed.

Luke Jones  31:35

I mean, I mean, who knows? Like, literally, right.

Nestor Aparicio  31:38

Like, nobody’s gonna have to win 15 to be the one seed, like that’s, nobody’s going to win 15 so like the notion that if they’re the one seed, you got to come to pop in Kansas City and play them in January and that. And I’m not even thinking for the Ravens. I’m thinking for

Luke Jones  31:52

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anybody else, whoever it is, but two years ago, they’ve already proven they don’t, they don’t need that either, right? I mean, they, they won in Baltimore, right? I mean, they, they went into Buffalo and won. Well,

Nestor Aparicio  32:02

who’s going to be the one? See buffalo or Kansas City, right?

Luke Jones  32:04

Well, Indianapolis is six and one. I mean, at some point, well, no, that’ll be something, wouldn’t it? No, it would be. But look, I don’t think anybody’s afraid to go in there and play it. No, to me, it would be kind of like, remember, what, what? What year was it? Was it 20? When it was one of these years where Tennessee was the number one seed in the last five or six years, and you kind of looked at that and said, I don’t buy that right. Like but if your record allows you to be that, then that’s what you are. Right?

Nestor Aparicio  32:35

Was that with Ryan Tannehill?

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Luke Jones  32:39

I might, I might, I might be not remembering that exactly right. But my point is, yeah, 2021 Tennessee was the number one seed. I’m looking at I 21 nobody went to the games. That’s why I don’t know 2121 everyone was back. 2020 was the year you’re thinking. Anyway, the point is, we have seen it happen in the past where the number one seed isn’t necessarily perceived as being the best team in that conference. So but the point what we’re looking at is, I think you have a league where you’re still trying to figure out who the truly great teams are. I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  33:12

you’re trying to get me to take the cult seriously right now. Look,

Luke Jones  33:17

I’m not going to sit here and state an argument that I think that they’re definitively the best, or anything like that. But at some point in time, like six and one is six, and the rated should be so lucky is to go 10 and seven and have to go to Indianapolis and play a playoff game that that would I want to be here the second week of January talking about that? Yeah. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying they’ve gone through and won against a bunch of juggernauts, but they’ve also won a lot of these games very convincingly. I mean, they went on the road against the chargers and won by two touchdowns, right? I mean, they, you know, I and I get it. They blew out the Raiders, they blew out the Titans, right? They blew out the dolphins. I get that. But we’ve talked a lot in the end in this town in recent years about the Ravens. When they get on this roll and they start boat racing team after team at some point in time, you do take notice, because, generally speaking, in this league, you don’t see a ton of blowouts, although the early slate of games on Sunday, you saw quite a bit of lopsided football. But but for me, we can keep talking about all these scenarios and what the Ravens path is go win a football game on Sunday. They haven’t won a game in over a month. Go win. Go beat the Chicago Bears, who are improved, but I’m not sitting here. I watched a good chunk of that bears game on Sunday. Are they better than they’ve been in recent years? I mean, it’s the bears, right? It’s a really low bar. Do I think they’re a juggernaut that’s going to come in here and handle the Ravens if the Ravens play any semblance of good football? No, I think the Ravens should win if Lamar Jackson is on the field. But you know what? We’ve been saying that all year, and they’re one in five, right? I mean, you. At some point, gotta just, you need to just win football games. I mean, keep trying to project out old nine of 11 and well, this team isn’t that good and that team is no win some football games. Earn the right to be put back into that conversation. I mean, that was one thing that was kind of interesting to me. Is after that rams loss, it really felt like the national attention on the Ravens. You know, you’re still hearing them mentioned in passing, but typically you’re just here. I heard a couple references over the weekend where someone mentions, oh well, you know, Baltimore is just a disaster at one in five right now, but everyone kind of stopped talking about them. I mean, you’re one in five, right? I mean, they’re in last place. The Browns have a better record than them. Not that I think the Browns are truly better than the ravens, but the Browns have a better record than them. Right? Now you need to go win football games. It’s that simple. And to your point, when you look at these next three home against the bears at Miami. Yes, I get it. It’s a Thursday night, but Miami has been absolutely dreadful. They are terrible. You better go win, like, period. You need to win these two, these next two, non negotiable. You lose one of these games and you’re at one in six. I mean, I can’t I mean, if you lose the next two, then, I mean one in seven, like it’s over, like you stink, you’re bad. You don’t deserve to have anyone talking about you in terms of path to a playoff but you need to win these next two because at some point in time, we can’t keep ignoring your record, right? We can’t keep ignoring reality. At some point it’s just, well, that’s just who you are, right? I mean, that’s just how we got that. We got to that point with the Orioles, you know what, once it got into, well into May, and it’s just like, Guys, this isn’t being four or five games under at this point. You’re 15 under. I mean, it’s over, like you’ve completely buried yourselves, no matter how you play the rest of the way. I mean, they’re already at a point where, you know, you’re kind of wondering, like you’ve said, they’ll get to seven and seven, but then you look at their last three games, at that point, if they’re seven and seven, they need to win their last three and you’re talking about home against New England at Green Bay, at Pittsburgh. I would, I would challenge that you might need to be better than seven and seven, even if you really, truly want to give yourself the best chance in that in those last three weeks to make it so

Nestor Aparicio  37:24

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let’s start with Chicago, right? And Miami. And I think the weirdest part for fans, if you haven’t looked at the schedule, there’s two Thursday night games Thanksgiving week as well. They have two really crunchy, weird four day breaks, whereas if they’re hurt that week, they’re going to lose two games. If they’re healthy that week, they could steal two games, right in any circumstance, but they’ve already given the games away. All the rope is gone in the season for them, and you know, the blood’s in the water for people like me to write John Harbaugh letters about why he should or shouldn’t be fired. Why, 18 years into this, this hasn’t worked? Why Marlon Humphrey and and Mark Andrews and zay flowers run out the back door and you know when they lose and like just, just in a general sense, the scrutiny will be a lot worse than my column was last week, if they’re two and eight two weeks from now, and if they’re losing games to the dolphins and the Vikings and the bears, I mean, then you’re just bad. I mean, I watch these teams play one o’clock on Sunday. They all played at the same time, and I’m thinking to myself some real indictment, because you lose to these teams, you’re not a playoff team, and no matter how you’re constructed, but with no rope, you’re really not, I mean, you’re really not a playoff team, because you’re, you’re stacking these losses up. And, you know, it’s a it’s a dreadful time for the city, as a sports fan like me, doing this for 35 years with the Orioles and all the promise, and the new owner, who’s a clown, and then this thing here, where we are with Lamar and how much money they’ve spent, and where the appetite is for having lost big January games here the last five years, and the Orioles haven’t scored a run in the playoffs in 12 years, or whatever it’s been so like they haven’t won anything. So I think, from the fans perspective, to have something really go wrong this week or next Thursday, and they pick up the water that’s going to kick them out of the boat early. If they pick up a seventh or seventh loss in October,

Luke Jones  39:33

it it starts

Nestor Aparicio  39:34

to sail the season away. And we start talking about draft picks and where they’re going to be, and Eric, the cost is job, and John arbog, because we’ll talk about it, and you’ll get it. You’ll get fired at WJZ or Bal. They wouldn’t let you on the air to do that. But the national people, the Stephen A Smiths, will have the blood in the water for John Harbaugh, not nasty Nestor, it will be a national story as to the Ravens imploding and they’re. They’re on watch. They’re this close to it happening. And by the way, Tucker is going to come back and kick for the Giants or some god forsaken team two or three weeks from now, and that’s going to bring that story back out. And it should be brought back out like Rashi Rice was brought back out last week.

Luke Jones  40:14

I mean, I, I’ll disagree with I mean, I’m not talking about the Tucker thing going back to your previous point. I think it’s See, I think it’s the opposite. If you lose one of these games, like, no one talks about you the rest of the year. Oh, really, yeah, I think they’re, I think, I think

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Nestor Aparicio  40:29

when they’re playing on Thursday night football and they’re three and nine on Thanksgiving, on Thanksgiving, like, well, against Joe Flacco in Baltimore, and the stadium’s empty. Like, dude, no, there a lot of bad looks ahead here for old Stevie boy in the stadium, because nobody’s gonna go to the

Luke Jones  40:49

games. I pointed no one’s talking about you. On the talking head shows you’re just like you’re in that you know you’re you’re just irrelevant.

Nestor Aparicio  40:56

Then get your ass beat by Joe Flacco on Thanksgiving night, people talking Black Friday about you. I promise you, John arboll be getting fired in the media on Thanksgiving, on Black Friday. I don’t think Joe Flacco on Thursday night. And they’re four and 10, or some, God for say, whatever, because they’re one in five now they’ve got H, O, R, S, you know,

Luke Jones  41:17

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they’re, they’re, they’re replicating that. I don’t think the national media perceives John Harbaugh in the same way as he’s perceived here. I think it’s much more like, oh, you know, they’ve gotten off to a rough start. They’re injured like, you know, we’ll have to

Nestor Aparicio  41:30

see. I always say he’s the hardball that doesn’t cheat, so he has that going. But, you

Luke Jones  41:34

know, my I guess my point is, I think they just, you know, they lose one of these next two games, and they’re one in six, or two and six. I mean, I just think no one’s talking about them anymore. I mean, like, they’re talking about buffalo, they’re talking about Kansas City.

Nestor Aparicio  41:50

I think they like to talk about failed empires and coaches and like, I think talking heads will be talking about them. It’ll be the lead story. The leech will be Kansas City rubbers winning, and then they go around the league. Old JB goes around the league, and coward says, oh, you know ravens coaching, I guess I’m talking more about all that talking head stuff will happen to John if they lose. It will Okay, it’ll happen to Lamar. Because, you know, he’s Lamar,

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Luke Jones  42:16

right? I mean, okay. I mean, you know, I don’t even know what this argument I project.

Nestor Aparicio  42:22

Well, the projection is, and we’ll take a break. The projection is what happens if they lose. Because they’ve never lost. Around here, we haven’t had 16 games. The Orioles have been 16 games under 500 may plenty, not when they’re supposed to be good. This team here was supposed to be a Super Bowl contender, and if the wheels continue to fall off the cart the next three weeks, I just think that that it’ll be a louder story in the national media than you think when they’re playing national television games and as as a also contender as the biggest disappointment in the league this year, which is what they would be. They already are the biggest disappointment league right now, one at five. I mean, if I woke you up right now brought you back at bye week, like my poor friend, Eddie Lauer, I want to give some love. We had a heart attack a month ago. He’s sitting up straight now and doing well, love you, Ed. But Ed’s been out for a month. Ed comes back and sees them one and five. He’s What the hell happened, you know? So if you just came into the movie here, one in five from opening day in Buffalo and say, what happened? You say, Well, Lamar must have got her

Luke Jones  43:23

well, yeah. I mean, it definitely did be part of Yeah, it’s not all of it, but yeah, no. I mean, I I hear what you’re saying, and I just think there I continue to see a much, much, much different perspective and perception of John Harbaugh, from a national standpoint, compared to how he’s talked about in town. And I’m not saying that’s right or wrong, I just think there’s a however

Nestor Aparicio  43:49

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he’s talked about in Baltimore. He’s earned it. He’s earned it, no but years in, he’s earned my criticism.

Luke Jones  43:55

But my point is, he’s won a heck of a lot, and he’s a Super Bowl winning coach, and I think the bill cowers of the league would say, you’re going to fire John Harbaugh to do what to hire who that’s going to be better than what he’s been for 18 years, and he immediately becomes the number one name that’s out there. You know, I think you hear way more of that than Well, Steve will never fire him. I wrote that well, and I probably, and I actually saw, I don’t know if it was Florio or who it was. It might have been someone locally, I can’t remember. He’s under contract for what, three more years, just $60 million decision, in all honesty, based on what I just said, The move would probably be to trade him. I mean, in all seriousness, like, if, if you felt like, if attendance completely crashes, continues to crash all that if they if the bottom completely falls out, and you feel that you need a reset in that way, and maybe John feels Hey, maybe, maybe we have reached a time where it’s time for a fresh start.

Nestor Aparicio  44:56

That’s one way to get me to stop writing letters to him Monday morning. Go coach the bears or.

Luke Jones  45:00

But I’m, but I’m just saying, I to me the the movement would in that mind and that, I mean, you’re already hearing the names out there, like Matt and Aggie. I mean, Arthur Smith, like, who, like, you look at these teams, and then you throw John Harbaugh on that mix, regardless of how Ravens fans feel about him right now, that would probably be the move. Would be not to fire him. It would be to trade him. And, you know, whatever you get. I don’t know what the exact it’d be something be something attractive, you know, but we’ll see. I mean, honestly, it just I’m not ready my individually, for my well being as someone who does this for a living. I’m not ready to have that conversation yet. I’m not ready for this season to be over over. Final nail in the coffin. You’re one in seven or one in six, they’ve got to win Sunday. I mean, it’s just that simple. It’s must win. It absolutely is must win. You don’t hear me say that very often, like even late in the year. You rarely ever it’s must win on Sunday, because at some point in time, we can keep projecting out and looking at the future schedule, and is this guy healthy or this guy’s healthy? Can you make this trade or that trade, like, go win a football game. You haven’t won a football game since September 14. Go win a football game. And then we can start talking in those terms. But until you do that, hey, the bears are going to come in with, you know, they’re going to smell blood in the water. I mean, they’re better. I don’t think they’re great by any stretch, but you’ve got to go play good football on Sunday. Regard, Lamar or not, like, I mean, Lamar on the field like, you still need to go play, and you need to play at a high level, and got to do the things that you haven’t been doing as a football team to go get a win. Do that? You’re two and five. All right, we can start talking in those terms more, but have to win on Sunday. You just have to, I mean, there it’s non negotiable at this point. Just period. Have to win.

Nestor Aparicio  46:53

Give John my regards. This week, Luke Jones will be out in Owings Mills. They allow him because he’s a nice guy out in the building. He will be out covering the one in five ravens in what will be a short week next week, against the Miami Dolphins, Chicago Bears coming into town, and World Series Baseball ahead as well. Luke and I have been watching the magic of show. Hey Otani, I can’t wait to talk baseball with you, man. I mean, when I was watching that over the weekend, I’m like, Hey, Luke and I are going to talk about this at some point. So we’re going to talk some baseball. We will have baseball. We will have a World Series together as we speak now, game seven, we’ll zip it up, we’ll lay low, and we’ll watch a game seven, and we’ll get ready for World Series action. I know one thing, dodgers will be waiting on the other side. We got plenty of football ahead this week. We have the Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road. I will be at Costas on Wednesday with the Maryland lottery scratch off tickets. My big appreciation, my friends, a curio wellness. Wendy bronfen joined us last week as well. I’ve been eating my face off. The tastiness stuff is all out. I ate so much like in August with my favorite foods that I haven’t like, and I traveled a little bit September, so I haven’t like been out for like, a chat fit beef sandwich. I haven’t been out for my favorite donut at the Pennsylvania Dutch market. So I haven’t had any Jamaican food since last time I was at the jerk cut. So my favorite place to eat all up at tastiness. It’s all in the front of Baltimore. Positive. All of Luke’s works on the right side, all of my works on the left side. I call John Harbaugh fraud this week, and I stand behind those words. I am Nestor. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, we never stopped talking Baltimore positive when they let us do.