Is it time to “move on” from John Harbaugh?

When you park Derrick Henry with a two-score lead at home and the season on the line and lose the game, it’s time to discuss the job security of the head coach. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss yet another blown 4th quarter home lead, this time to the New England Patriots and the future of John Harbaugh became quite the hot take topic amongst Baltimore Ravens fans on the internet in the aftermath. But it’s a fair question: who is running this mess?

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ disappointing 4-11 loss to the New England Patriots, highlighting the team’s repeated failure to hold onto leads and the controversial decision to bench Derrick Henry in the final drive. They criticized head coach John Harbaugh for his lack of in-game adjustments and accountability, noting the team’s systemic issues and the impact of Lamar Jackson’s injury. Despite the Ravens’ recent win against the Bengals, their overall performance and playoff prospects were deemed poor. The conversation also touched on the potential for organizational changes, including Harbaugh’s future, and the team’s upcoming games against the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Ensure Luke asks Steve Bisciotti about Justin Tucker in a future interview or press interaction
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Publish Nestor Aparicio’s written piece about the Ravens season on Baltimore Positive
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Attend and represent the show at Planet Fitness on Monday during the holiday week
• [ ] Publish Luke Jones’s written piece about the Ravens season on Baltimore Positive

Discussion on Baltimore Ravens’ Performance and Future of John Harbaugh

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the Baltimore Ravens’ disappointing performance, particularly blowing a 4th quarter lead to the Patriots.
• Nestor expresses frustration, suggesting that John Harbaugh should be fired, while Luke defends the team, noting their inconsistent performance throughout the season.
• Luke mentions the Ravens’ recent win against the Bengals, but acknowledges their overall struggles and the impact of Lamar Jackson’s injury.
• The conversation touches on the decision to keep Derrick Henry on the bench during a crucial drive, which Luke criticizes as a significant strategic error.

Critique of John Harbaugh’s Coaching Decisions

• Luke Jones argues that John Harbaugh’s rigid rotation of running backs, including keeping Derrick Henry off the field during a crucial drive, is a major issue.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the lack of accountability from John Harbaugh, who is not seen as actively involved in game-time decisions.
• Luke compares the situation to Buck Showalter’s decision to leave Zach Britton in the bullpen, highlighting the importance of recognizing key moments in the game.
• Nestor suggests that John Harbaugh’s long tenure and close relationship with team owner Steve Bisciotti may protect him from being fired.

Historical Context and Systemic Issues

• Nestor and Luke reflect on the Ravens’ history of blowing leads and the systemic issues that have persisted under John Harbaugh’s coaching.
• Luke mentions the team’s struggles with running the ball and the impact of injuries on their performance.
• Nestor criticizes John Harbaugh for not being hands-on with the offense, suggesting that his lack of involvement is a significant problem.
• The conversation highlights the need for drastic changes, including potentially firing John Harbaugh, to address the team’s ongoing issues.

Impact of Lamar Jackson’s Injury and Team Dynamics

• Luke discusses the impact of Lamar Jackson’s injury on the team’s performance, noting that his absence has led to a decline in offensive productivity.
• Nestor and Luke talk about the team’s reliance on Jackson and the challenges they face with his backup, Tyler Huntley.
• The conversation touches on the dynamics between John Harbaugh and his coordinators, with Nestor suggesting that Harbaugh may not be as involved in game-time decisions as fans believe.
• Luke emphasizes the need for a comprehensive review of the team’s coaching and personnel decisions to address their ongoing struggles.

Future Outlook and Potential Changes

• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential changes that could be made to the coaching staff and the impact on John Harbaugh’s future with the team.
• Luke suggests that Steve Bisciotti may be hesitant to make drastic changes, given his long-standing relationship with Harbaugh.
• Nestor argues that the team needs to consider firing John Harbaugh to make a fresh start and address their systemic issues.
• The conversation concludes with a discussion about the team’s upcoming games and the challenges they face in securing a playoff spot.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Baltimore Ravens, John Harbaugh, Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, fourth quarter collapse, playoff hopes, coaching decisions, offensive strategy, defensive issues, player performance, game analysis, season review, future outlook, fan reaction, team management.

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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. It is a Festivus, but not for the rest of us. It is a holiday week here. Happy holidays. You’re celebrating Hanukkah, you’re celebrating Kwanzaa, certainly celebrating Christmas. This week, we will be doing that around here. We got a lot of programming. We’ve had great radio conversations. They’ll be having. There will not be a lot of great radio conversations about the Baltimore Ravens efforts on Sunday night. Luke Jones joins me now to, I don’t know, put a bow on the season. Get ready for Green Bay on Saturday night. See if Lamar is going to take any more toward all shots. And dude, what a disaster. I mean, you blow it. You blow a lead at home. Again, I’m writing about firing John horrible. Everybody’s writing about firing John horrible. Steve’s not firing John horrible, but maybe he should,

Luke Jones  00:55

yeah, first of all, Merry Christmas. Happy holidays.

Nestor Aparicio  00:58

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To everyone. Christmas to you. Magnon cookies. I’m feeling good about myself, and I’ll say this

Luke Jones  01:02

right off the bat, and this is going to come across as a low blow, but it’s not really meant to be. This football team isn’t worth ruining your Christmas offer. I mean, it’s just not because they haven’t been that team all year, right? I mean, you know, I was writing them off after the Pittsburgh loss, and to their credit. They got off the mat, beat the Bengals in Cincinnati, for whatever that’s worth. I mean, you’re talking about a Bengals team that won on Sunday, but is what they are. They’re shut them out, yeah, but, but they’re, they’re five and 10,

Nestor Aparicio  01:32

right? They scored 45 points the other day, so

Luke Jones  01:36

I’m giving them credit for that, but we’ve waited for whatever the 2025 ravens were supposed to be. We’ve waited for that since the final 10 minutes of the Buffalo game in week one. So it’s apropos that whatever, however you want to categorize this loss, and let’s be clear, practically speaking, win or lose on Sunday night, Lamar Jackson taking a knee to the back late in the first half probably ends any practical, real hopes of whatever you were still holding out hope that the Ravens could become if they had won the last two games, if they had won in Pittsburgh in a week 18 showdown that now feels remote at best of happening and getting into the playoffs, whatever that was going to be, that probably ended when Lamar takes the knee to the back. But that said to your point, what we witnessed blowing an 11 point lead in the fourth quarter, again, defensive collapse, and I’ll say this, I kind of came to this epiphany. And hopefully this makes sense. I ran it by a couple people, and they, you know, that are baseball people, and they kind of thought that it wasn’t a bad analogy, not having Derrick Henry in the game for the penultimate drive. Now, when they got into the two minute, I get that right. Not only lasted two plays before. Zay flowers, coughs,

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Nestor Aparicio  03:06

I have a feeling I know where you’re going.

Luke Jones  03:08

Are you gonna Zach Britton, me, yeah. Zach Britton. Me, are you really Brit me, I really feel and look, I think this to me, this is meaningful, not because of who I am, but just because of the opinions I’ve had, right? I’ve been the one that has been more apt to defend run pass ratio, even going back to the AFC Championship Game a couple years ago, the nuance, right? The idea that what that team’s profile was wasn’t necessarily what people expected it wanted it to be in the AFC title game. I wasn’t the one that was doing cartwheels over the Ravens acquiring Derrick Henry. Not that I thought Derrick Henry couldn’t play anymore, but this idea that that was going to be what cures their January shortcomings, I was skeptical of that, right? I haven’t been. I’ve been the one that’s talked over and over this year about their for success rate running the football, despite the raw numbers, the volume numbers looking what they’ve been, but my goodness, Nestor, you’re up three points in the fourth quarter after New England scores a touchdown and gets the two point conversion. That’s what you got Derek Henry for, and he’s not even on the field. I mean, that was, that was, and look, this isn’t a Todd monkey thing. Yes, it is. It’s a John horball thing. He’s the head coach. He has final say. And if he’s just going to sit that out right there and just let them continue to go with the rotation. And look, it was a rotation Derrick Henry two series, and Keaton Mitchell gets a series. But if you’re so rigid in your process that you can’t recognize in that moment that Derek Henry should be on the football field, what exactly is it that you do around here as the head coach? And I say that somewhat facetious. Graciously, but I would say the same of any head coach in that situation. I really feel. And to your point, only one man is going to answer this, and whether we actually get an answer or continued silence is we’re going to find out over the next month. I suppose it’s up to Steve bishati,

Nestor Aparicio  05:18

but shot, he will never have a press conference again, because you’ll be asking him about Justin Tucker. Because I’ll make sure you ask him about Justin Tucker. So, so he’ll never have a press conference again. Steve bishad, he is, he’s afraid of people like you. And I mean, I,

Luke Jones  05:34

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but I’ll point out. Buck Showalter managed the Orioles two more years after he left Zach Britton in the bullpen in Toronto and let Ubaldo Jimenez give up the home run to Edwin Encarnacion. This felt a lot like that. And look, that doesn’t mean John Harbaugh’s going to be fired in two weeks, but this felt like one of those

Nestor Aparicio  06:00

you think in a week of biblical passage, you find this to be a mortal sin, unforgivable. I just think it’s repeatable that they keep blowing leads. Yeah, I think that’s the thing that sticks to horrible. And I think the craziest stack you saw the time once that

Luke Jones  06:19

I did and I 103

Nestor Aparicio  06:21

and Oh, with a 12 point fourth quarter, and Mike Tomlin hasn’t won a playoff game in a decade. I hear what you’re saying. I’m just saying, if you’re gonna I don’t really care about the comparison the Hall of Fame, and neither one of them been Hall of Fame coaches in a long line.

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Luke Jones  06:35

And I think that’s the key, to me, that’s the key. I mean, at what point do we have to look at this thing and look they have a quarterback who has been hurt this year, right this year? I will give them more grace for that, in isolation, for this year, but the systemic issues that they’ve had where we’re talking about blowing another fourth quarter lead, where we’re talking about another personnel in game. Personnel question that pops up, and it’s not, hasn’t always been Derek Henry, but you know, two years ago, it was just not running the ball.

Nestor Aparicio  07:09

Ray Rice, when cam Cameron didn’t run the ball and they ran the ball three times. I just think Monday Night Football lost to a woeful Jacksonville and and this was a decade ago. I mean, John’s a special teams coach who parades as a head coach who he’s doesn’t have his hands on the offense, right? Okay? He doesn’t have his hands on the offense. He doesn’t so after the game, when a play call happens the way it does, he doesn’t have he’s not in the room. He doesn’t have the ability to run down the sideline and say, pick, pick a coordinator. Todd cam, Jim. Jim, just go through all the names of the coordinators and go down and say, Hey, should we be running here instead of passing? It just doesn’t work. You know, it doesn’t work that way. Fans may think it works that way.

Luke Jones  07:54

Oh, I disagree with that. Wait, so you’re saying he doesn’t have the authority.

Nestor Aparicio  07:59

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He’s the head coach. I don’t think he’ll run down the sideline and change that way.

Luke Jones  08:02

I don’t think he’s and he shouldn’t be the head coach then. And then I would ask you, I

Nestor Aparicio  08:07

would ask car ball, but he would lie to me, because he’s a serial liar. He’s a serial liar. But if I ask him, How many times in how many years, has it been 18 years,

Luke Jones  08:16

17? And that’s a

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Nestor Aparicio  08:19

problem, has he run down and said, I don’t like that play let’s get it let let’s change that. How many times has he ever done that on offense or defense, saying, I don’t like that play call? Let’s play cover two. I don’t Well, whatever it is, I don’t think John is nearly as involved in that in the line of fire of the game as let’s say Brian Billick was with the offense when he was the offensive coordinator, or pick any coach who ran a side of the ball, the Minnesota guy running the offense now, like it’s just, it’s, I just don’t think John does that. I think I’d be shocked if there were 10 times in the history of the team that John Harbaugh’s rundown and wanted to change out of a play or change out of a personnel package. I like I would just be shocked by that, because I don’t see it happening. They have a camera on them all the time. I don’t see him doing anything like that well.

Luke Jones  09:09

And that’s where see there’s a difference there in talking about a specific play call and talking about a conceptual idea we’re trying to Derek Henry should be on the field on this drive. Guys, I know we’ve had our rotation, this is a Derek Henry drive. He needs to be out there. It’s not John calling a specific play. It’s John just, frankly, having common sense and recognizing the moment in the game that no no one on the coaching staff apparently had in that moment.

Nestor Aparicio  09:37

So they put out some way about him, and they feel some way about Keaton Mitchell, and they feel some way about Ali and, you know, the injured before that, but they feel a certain way about down and distance and personnel, and they don’t love Derek Henry on the field in certain circumstances. And I don’t know why that. They’re never going to answer that, but it’s very clear this is intentional, right? Right? This is was no accident. I mean, Collinsworth is on the broadcast saying it’s Derek Henry. Time, it’s Derek Henry, and then Derek Henry doesn’t show up, and they lose and they blow a two touchdown lead. Oh, my God. I mean, we should be firing the coach today on the radio, we really and I’ve owned this station 28 years, and I’ve never fired a coach ever, ever on the air, ever, maybe Buck after the Britain thing. But, I mean, I knew how bad that could be. I knew they weren’t gonna replace buck with anybody nearly as good as buck. Yeah, you know, I think they could find a better head coach than John Harbaugh right now. I do. We’ll see on that. I mean, first of all, if their coach is coaching in Seattle right now, so,

Luke Jones  10:40

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but my point is, let’s there. We can recognize the potential for needing to make a change, while also recognizing that he’s done a really good job for a long time. And it’s not always guaranteed that you’re going to hire someone as good, if not better. Now you could say that, and then you never, ever, ever fire a coach, right? I mean, Brian Billick, what a Super Bowl. They fired him, right? So, Joe Flacco won a Super Bowl. They fired him eventually, and drafted his replacement, right? So, so I’ll push back a little bit on the idea that they can just easily find a coach that’s going to be better than him, but at the same time, there’s a recognition here of where’s this thing going. Two years ago, you were hosting the AFC title game and lost, albeit you lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion that is in the was in the midst of a dynasty until this year. So I’m not saying that that in isolation is so shameful that everyone should be fired. But then you come out the next year, get off to a So, so start. Cost your home field. You’re going on the road in the second round, losing buffalo this year, you didn’t get off to a So, so start. You went one in five, one in three, really by before the injuries really piled up. It ahead of the Houston and the LA games, but still one, one in three, but one in five. And now you’re in a situation where, let’s face it, nothing else needs to be said about the state of this current football team. Then they need help from the Cleveland Browns this coming weekend just to have and obviously they need to win, but just to have a prayer for the playoffs in week 18. That’s even if you have any confidence whatsoever that they can go into Pittsburgh and win. Well, they’re gonna have to go to Green Bay with their backup. And that’s the thing. Well, although it looks like Green Bay is probably going to be playing with their backup quarterback, or very well, could be with Jordan love and concussion protocol, but the point is looking at the last two years specifically, but also seeing the theme of blown fourth quarter leads the idea that you have a quarterback that’s a two time MVP should be, should have been a three time MVP, I think, in both of our opinions, and what do they have to show for that one AFC title game appearance, Let alone talking about a Super Bowl. So you look more playoff losses than wins in this era? Yeah, you look at it through that lens, and you have to question, what’s going on here? Why hasn’t this been better? Meaning better come the end of the regular season, into January, and I mean, they’ve, they’ve collapsed in December, they had their five game winning streak. They were back in first place. I don’t want to hear at the season ending press conference. Well, we started off one and five, yadda yadda yadda.

Nestor Aparicio  13:34

They bounced back from that. You had to win 10 games, and they can’t. They bounced

Luke Jones  13:37

back from that. And then they collapsed at the most important time in the season, three of these games at home, at home, and they lost all three. I mean, if that’s not telling like, like, if you’re not okay, or if you’re okay with that, if you’re going to turn your head at what happens there, then you have lowered the bar. And I say that more specifically for Steve bishati Looking at this. So I mean, again, I have no expectation until we hear from the owner, because he’s the one person who makes any call about anything of

Nestor Aparicio  14:12

that note, I might hope he didn’t punch a hole in the owner’s box last night. Like I’m unmoved about the idea of just

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Luke Jones  14:17

firing another offensive coordinator or firing the defensive coordinator, or firing the O line coach, or firing the pass rush. I’m unmoved by all that at this point, because ultimately, the buck has to stop for John with

Nestor Aparicio  14:30

fire the quarterback. The quarterback has a 70 million they’re going to come back and play with him next year no matter who the coach. I mean, he’s more powerful than the coach at this point. So they’re married to the quarterback, they’re not married to the coach, and they’re certainly monkey’s going to get fired over this, right? Like there’s no question about that, that the only way John can keep his job, and this is part of this is for all the people out there that don’t know, corporate America, this is how you keep your job. You fire the guy underneath you and blame. On him,

Luke Jones  15:00

even though you’re in charge of that guy. Yeah, right, but that’s where I go. I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  15:06

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that’s what’s going to have me monkeys fired Zach or will not be a defensive coordinator of this team next year. So the only way John will be able because John’s like a son to Steve, this isn’t going to get blamed on John. John’s going to go in and say, I don’t know what Todd was doing. We got to get rid of him.

Luke Jones  15:23

I’m not saying you’re wrong, but I look at that and I just scratch my head, because it’s just

Nestor Aparicio  15:27

like, well, what are the outcomes here then? I mean, pretend these two games don’t happen. You and I are going to do this for eight months, right? We’re going to do it for six weeks, like in January into February. Who’s going to be the coach, who’s going to be the OC, who’s going to be the DC, I know who the quarterback is going to be and unless Steve is selling the team to the Saudi Arabians here, and we’ll have, you know, some chic here, owning the team that the NFL lets in because he’s got money. You know, we’ll have to live tour here from the NFL if we won’t play our home games in Riyadh, literally, bashati and Lamar Kyle Hamilton, I don’t know. I don’t know who else is absolutely guaranteed to be on this team when they kick off on opening Sunday against the browns on September the 12th of 2026 or whatever it’s going to be like. I’m wondering where the changes come, because you and I have been doing this a long time, other than 15, maybe 17. You know, when they decided to draft Lamar in that off season, we haven’t had a lot of off seasons here, where the thing goes, boom, boom, before Christmas, before Santa comes down the chimney. And that’s a that’s a tribute to HAR ball. It’s a tribute to Costa and the players that they’ve put on the field, but as we sit here this year, where the expectations were through the roof, where my homes went away, where the bills weren’t very good, where all these things went wrong, where things went wrong for them, and they got up off the carpet and they blown another double digit lead, dude, if I would have told you a friend, they’re going to blow another double digit Lead on Sunday night and park Derek Henry’s ass and not run him, and the ball is going to go over their head, and they’re going to lose the game. We’re gonna have to sit here on Monday morning and talk about this. I would tell you that, given the stadium emptying out five times, you should lost six home games this year. Well, yeah, well, and you know, if I own the team and I love John Harbaugh, like a son, I would say it might be time. It might be one of those. We we won. It was great, but we haven’t won anything here in 12 years. And you’ve had the best player on Earth, and you’ve had a Hall of Fame running back that you’ve parked weirdly several times. You know, the whole running thing in har ball, this goes back to Cam Cameron. It goes back a decade of like and that’s why I said I don’t think he runs down and says I don’t like this. I I just don’t think he’s as involved in the offense as the media and the fans would like to believe. I just I don’t see signs of that. I really don’t. I’ve never seen signs that John’s over huddling with quarterbacks and OCS and getting getting his fingers into the mud of it’s third and whatever, what are we going to do here? And obviously, if you’re a good coach, you work that out during the week. You’ve, you know, you’ve prepared for all of that. But it never feels that way. It never feels like they sit around on Saturday and scrimmage out all right? 12 point lead. Eight minutes left to go in the game. What do we got? You know, we’re not going to have Derek. We’re going to have Derek on the field, right, Todd, right? That’s good,

Luke Jones  18:30

and that’s and that’s really where it is. It’s not a play by play ball kind of thing, right? Because there is. It’s chaotic. You only have so much time in between each play. But from the moment that Drake may throws the touch, you know, throws the 37 yard touch down to Williams, they get the two point conversion. I mean, you have a media timeout right there, right? That’s where it should be. As simple as, where are we in the rotation? This is a Derrick Henry drive. We got to get Derek on the field. Love Keaton. But this is Derek Henry time. This is why we have Derrick Henry especially. And this is where, you know, we failed to mention this. You didn’t have Derek Henry on the field in that situation and that, and that’s on top of your franchise quarterback not being on the field. I mean, it’s just, it’s unforgivable. It really is, I just, it feels like Buck Showalter leaving Zach Britton in the bullpen. And look, that was a playoff game this team, whether they even won on Sunday night, whether they were going to, you know, still have a bowl game, you get a double digit lead, right? I mean, even with Lamar getting hurt, I mean, Tyler Huntley played well enough, not that they were asking him to do a ton, but he played well enough that they had a two score lead in the fourth quarter. I mean, I just, I don’t know how many times we can keep looking at this and not have serious questions about more drastic change than. And we’ve talked about here, you know, other than just the coordinator, because, well, they’re

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Nestor Aparicio  20:05

not changing the quarterback and the offensive line’s not miraculously getting better in the off season. They have issues with Linder bomb. They have to move on from Stanley. I mean, I know they gave him money, yeah, all of that the defensive line, they gave the money to Jones. They’ve given the money to Andrew. They’ve committed to who they’ve committed to, and hardball’s got what, 60, $80 million he’d be owed by by bashati If he fired him. So there’s some leverage there that I don’t know. He didn’t mind giving Billy $20,000,000.15 years ago. So I don’t know, but, and you know, Powerball goes and takes a job with whomever the Giants, then the money would offset anyway. It won’t cost Steve any money. So I if the feeling is you want to move on, but Steve feels about John like his son. I don’t, yeah, as much as we’ll beat John up today. I don’t know that John would be fired, but John should, John should be held accountable. And that’s held accountable for a lot of things that John’s not held accountable for.

Luke Jones  21:04

And that’s the, I mean, that’s what I look at this look, first of all, just personally speaking, I’m not someone that’s terribly comfortable with. Just fire, this person, fire, you know what? I mean, like, just, I’ve never said that. I don’t say those things lightly, talk like that around I don’t, you know, even even talking about players being released, I don’t, I don’t say that lightly. You know, I tried. I’m not, and I definitely fail in doing this, but I try to be sensitive, understanding there’s livelihood at stake, especially when you’re talking about, you know, guys in training camp getting cut. You know, never gonna play football again. Never made any money in the somebody washed up, right? But I don’t know how you don’t look at what transpired on top of all the other examples of blown fourth quarter leads or questionable personnel decisions in game, things of that nature, and not look at this thing and really have some severe questions about where this is and where it’s going, and that’s just whether that means you ultimately are keeping the head coach or not. I don’t know how you don’t have some very difficult, uncomfortable conversations, because that was unacceptable on Sunday night, and you’re talking about a team that had won five in a row to get back to six and five, they were in first place in the AFC north. They had the Bengals and the Steelers back to back home, a Thursday night game for an AFC Divisional, AFC North Division opponent, which historically has meant a loss almost over and over and over when you’re talking about the history of the AFC north you then had extra rest to prepare for your biggest rival in the Pittsburgh Steelers coming to town, and their quarterback wasn’t 100% right with the wrist and how they looked left for dead, and everyone was talking about Mike tomlin’s future, and you lost both of those games. And then, to their credit, they got back off the mat. We said it last week. They they got the arrow pointed in the right direction again after what happened the previous two weeks, they did win in Cincinnati. We gave them their due credit for that, while also acknowledging the Bengals were four and 10. Let’s not get carried away here and then they come home. The NFL flexed them the Sunday Night Football. New England was granted. Drake May is a heck of a player. New England was banged up to all heck. I mean, going into the game, they had guys banged up. They lost a half dozen guys. It felt like due to injury. They lost running back and they had a two score lead in the fourth quarter. So you can’t, I mean, if you just, and I don’t

Nestor Aparicio  23:40

think Marlon Humphrey got away with that pass interference at the five yard line. He tackled the guy. Literally tackled him and brought him down to the and he almost caught the ball. And there was no flag. So anybody out there that, I mean, they were given a license to win the game on Sunday. They were given a they were given a fourth strike. They were given a

Luke Jones  24:00

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fourth out. They were they looked at they ran all over them. I mean, Derek Henry was having a great game, but the offensive line was having one of its better games. They I mean, look at the razzle dazzle played as a flowers. I mean, that. Look how well they blocked that up when he scores a touchdown there. So it’s not as though the offense was inept from the moment Lamar Jackson left the game, far from it, not saying it was perfect. I mean, heck, the offense hasn’t been very good with Lamar Jackson over the last month and a half. But I just look at that and it’s it’s one of those games where you just say you can’t lose that game when you’re in that position. And they did and they did it without their best player, best remaining player on offense, standing on the sideline for that Pen Ultimate drive. You know, the last drive they’re in two minute at that point. I wasn’t expecting to see Derrick Henry there, because they had to throw the football. And then we bring up the problem of zayf. HOURS fumbling again. As as much as you love his playmaking ability, he’s got a serious ball security issue. You know, it fumbled a couple times earlier in the season. We know what happened against Kansas City two years ago, so well. Derek Henry, also, yeah. Derek Henry, I mean, what the heck was Mark Andrews doing at the end of the first half? These are your stars, and they do things like this. That’s not indicative of a great winning culture of a football team. That’s more of what we’ve talked about, how this team seems to come up smallest at the absolute biggest moments, right? I mean, it’s just, and I keep coming back to who’s most responsible for that. And look, let me be clear, because I detest the mindset of that. You see it with a lot of fan culture, not, not Baltimore everywhere, the idea that when you lose, you just blame the coach, or you just blame the manager, and when you win, all the players get the credit. No, I’m the players have to be accountable here too. And you and I have talked a lot about this 2025 team, the number of guys that you could name that have been definitively better in 2025 than they were in previous years. It’s only a couple guys you can name that you would say are having great, truly great years, right? The punter being one of them, which isn’t really a great sign for your offense, right? But I just look at this thing, and that was awful on Sunday night. That was awful. That fourth quarter collapse was horrendous. And I’m sorry it begins with John Harbaugh. It has to start at the top there. And to your point, I’m not holding my breath, per se, and I I will continue to assume Steve bishati doesn’t have the appetite to make drastic changes to that degree.

Nestor Aparicio  26:51

Well, that would mean he’d have to have a press conference. He’ll never do that.

Luke Jones  26:55

But I mean it how you’re not having the most uncomfortable conversations you’ve had with your head coach with that after that. I mean, it’s it’s just not good. It’s just that wasn’t good enough to that was below the bar, to use John Harbaugh’s own terminology, that was below the bar as a head coach. And again, I’m with you wholeheartedly in terms of the you know, you’re not going to overrule a play call in the midst of a play clock, play to play, going from first to second down, second to third down. But from the moment New England made that a three point game, right there someone, John Harbaugh, Todd moncken, anyone on the offensive coaching staff, has to be looking at at that and saying, no, no, I

Nestor Aparicio  27:42

Yeah, we get it. This is Mitchell. Should be saying, What am I doing in here? You sure?

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Luke Jones  27:47

I mean, like, you know, I would almost, I would think Keith Mitchell probably wouldn’t admit it, because guys are competitive. Mitchell would because he won a Super Bowl. No, but, but I’m sure he was probably thinking in his head. It’s like, kind of surprised not going to Derek here. I mean, I don’t think you know, he wouldn’t admit that, and he’s not going to throw his coaches under the bus and on the you know, the same thing. I mean, Derek Henry handled the questions well in the post game locker room. But you’re telling me, Derek Henry wasn’t thinking to himself as he’s standing on the sideline to start that drive. And first of all, they come out throwing a pass to Rashad Bateman, who’s done next to nothing all year long. And you throw a first down pass, and then you get into trying to run on second down. And to their credit, they did convert on third down to Hopkins. There’s a huge conversion there. And then you had a chance to bring Derek Henry in right there, and they still didn’t do it. And it’s just, you know me again, I have not been the guy that sits here and says, Oh, well, you know, if you run Derek Henry 25 times, you’re under, you know, like the way that we cite records, you know what, when this has untouched the ball, which is because we understand, in reality, winning is what props running the ball more and more and more. But that said you were winning.

Nestor Aparicio  29:06

We were looking at a two score lead at home on a cold night against the Patriots on Sunday night football with the season on the line and our backup quarterback in there. Yeah, throw the ball to Rashad Bateman, right. Like, come on, it makes my head hurt.

Luke Jones  29:21

It really does. And that’s where the accountability has to stop with John Harbaugh there. And yes, to be clear, that’s not to absolve Todd monk. And of course, he gets blamed too, but his boss needs to get the most blame there. And I just look at that, and I’m just, how does that happen with an 18th year head coach. I just,

Nestor Aparicio  29:44

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my clone just wrote that stability has become a sedative. You want to work with that? That’s stability has become a sedative. That’s what my baby just wrote.

Luke Jones  29:54

Well, I mean, and look, that’s been, it’s been a lot of talk of that in Pittsburgh for a long time now, and we’re. Talking about it here in Baltimore. And look, let’s be clear, this isn’t just about Sunday night, but it isn’t just about Sunday. You know what I mean? Like, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened. It’s just the latest time it’s happened. And you know, you kind of look at two that to bring it back to a little bit, to the Mac, to the micro. But you look at the course of the 2025 season. I mean, Nestor, this, this game on Sunday night, was such a microcosm of the full whole season, wasn’t it? I mean, you get, you get the Derek Henry fumble early, and I’ll give you this. And this just shows how little I know and how big of an idiot I am, literally about 10 seconds before Derek Henry fumbled the ball there as they’re driving, I leaned to the person next to me in the press box and said, Man, this has been a butt whooping so far. I said, so far. Was it saying it was over? But my gosh, over the first couple drives the Raven that looked kind of like the 2024 and 2023 and 2000 like they had a rookie quarterback, yeah. I mean, like, and the Ravens were taking it to him. But from the moment Derek Henry fumbles, and let’s be clear, just because he fumbled in the first half has that has no bearing on him not coming into the game, and the drive we’re calling for him to come into the game, because Keith Mitchell could have easily fumbled, you know, in that spot too, right? I mean, like, but that, that that turned and that reminded you a little bit of early in the season, when Derek Henry fumbles in Buffalo, how he fumbled against Detroit, right? And, I mean, that was a pivotal play in those two losses. I mean, that was part of it. I mean, you know, nothing against Derek Henry, but he absolutely, and he would be the first to tell you that that was a big reason why they fumbled. Reason why they lost a close game. It’s always good so, so you have that happen. You have Lamar get hurt, as he got hurt early in the season. I mean, you just go down the list of everything. You know, you had the collapse. I mean, what they’re those were their only two appearances on Sunday night football, right? Buffalo. And then last, you know, Sunday night, you know, against New England, and you lose, you know, you blow a double digit lead in the fourth quarter of each of those appearances. I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  32:09

it’s just and you wind up doing it with everything Chris Collinsworth tells you to do, that you don’t do. You know, running the ball like the announcer means everything to people sitting at home and saying, that makes sense, that makes sense, and then they’re sitting there, and they lose, and then the world blows up afterwards. So Luke’s here, we’re going to continue to talk about the Ravens who were headed off the Green Bay and toured all shots for Lamar and a long off season. If things don’t go well here this weekend, and they don’t get the Cleveland miracle, the Christmas story miracle, they’re going to need from Ralphie in Cleveland here this week with the Pittsburgh Steelers and not to mention their own miracles at Lambeau Field. This week, we will be at Planet Fitness on Monday, and then we’re shutting it down for the holiday, for Santa for the week. Hope everybody’s had a the most wonderful time of the year. It’s been Christmas. I’ve been with friends all week. I had the greatest show, gertrudes on Friday, we had a great time at Costas. On Thursday, we’ll be hearing all that throughout the holidays, because I’m not here. I’m not built to sit here and fire. John Harbaugh, 24 hours a day at W NST, but Luke’s writing. I’m writing. It’ll all be up at Baltimore positive. We’re gonna come back continue to talk some football around here. I’m Nestor. He’s Luke. We are W NST. AM, 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore positive and Santa Claus and I don’t know, get some eggnog. Feel better about yourself. Have a roast. You.