With the 7-2 Ravens riding an eye-opening winning streak and big games with Cleveland and Cincinnati coming at home this week, Dennis Koulatsos and Nestor discuss the complimentary and dominant brand of football the Ravens are playing in November.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
lamar, team, ravens, odell beckham, game, week, run, year, ronnie stanley, alice cooper, good, players, dennis, nestor, defense, win, talk, sunday, super bowl, thursday
SPEAKERS
Dennis Koulatsos, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome back at W and st Towson, Baltimore. And Baltimore positive we are positively into what should be a really good good time here. If you’re in the land of pleasant living and you love the local teams whether it’s the the Orioles and whatever cleanup they’re going to be doing after the Crixus Rangers won the World Series for the first time. We’re gonna have some baseball activity or later on this month, and we got plenty of football activity 72 the Cleveland Browns coming to town along with the Cincinnati Bengals. It’s all gonna happen really quickly. I’m getting the Maryland crab cakes. We’re back out on the road a courtesy the Maryland lottery conjunction with donation or I have tickets to give away lots and lots of families this week. Our guest here knows a lot about families and Lexington market. And we’re also going to be Costas next week. We’re going to be a state fair. We’re going to be Coco’s we’re going to be we’re going to be at Pappas in Parkville. Making our debut there on the 21st a whole schedule is up in Baltimore positive Please come on out, support us. We have great great guests on booking all sorts of people that have been waiting their turn to have a crab cake. And now people yell at me like when do I get my crab cake? This guy came over to Dundalk and cost us and our 25th anniversary sponsored by curio wellness. Of course he is here each and every Thursday took a little respite earlier in the month. Maybe you went away a little bit and the Ravens you believe and the Ravens are like um, you know, now they’re like number one with a bullet in the Power Rankings 37 to three on a picturesque day in downtown Baltimore. Just the way art modell would have drawn it up right Dennis Colossus.
Dennis Koulatsos 01:26
It was wonderful. The crowd was into it, the team, the team, which was suffocating the offense was efficient. I’m telling you it was a perfect day in Baltimore this past Sunday.
Nestor Aparicio 01:36
Well, Luke and I’ve had some themes this week. And I guess the first theme is the defense right? Like Lamar is always there. We could talk about Beckham in the running game and young Keith Mitchell whose Father’s gonna come on, you know, Dennis had to look this up, let Raskin challenge me he’s like, was Keith Mitchell on the planet when his father didn’t know he was not he was not conceived. I have Anthony Mitchell coming on this week. That play happened in January of 2001. Keith Mitchell was born in January 2002. So I’m gonna talk to Anthony about you must have a hell of a celebration that spring, you know, to bring Keaton into the world. But do we’re old enough now that we’re seeing the guy’s kids run around out there, including Orlando Brown, which you know, these long gone right. And we’ll see him next Thursday night here trying to beat us. But we’re in a different era here, brother.
Dennis Koulatsos 02:22
I look, I pray that we’re here long enough to see their grandkids play. That would be a phenomenal blessing. But we’ll take it one day at a time. And Keaton Mitchell is certainly a great story in a season full of great story, this forest for the Ravens but I think we can all agree this team will go as far as Lamar Jackson will take them he’s got to stay upright. He’s got to be available, looking ahead and December in order for us to continue this part of the celebration. But what’s in front of him right now Nestor is the number one seed in the AFC for the playoffs. That’s what’s on the table and we’ll know in a few days after they take care of the browns, the Bengals, how far they’re going to go towards that process to that end.
Nestor Aparicio 03:02
Yeah, I don’t want to give any benefit the chats the overthrowing the out but Sunday on the couch beginning at 9am. And we’ll have some surprises from Europe later in the week around here as well. But beginning with the Miami Kansas City game, and then I watched the Ravens dismantles you know the one o’clock game split. There were bad team versus worst team like all the one o’clock is that four o’clock happens. And there’s a Dallas Philadelphia and then at night I’m freaking worn out. So it’s Joe burrows thumb right. And I mean I all I could do like Fred Flintstone and Barney with toothpicks in the eyes at 10 o’clock to stay awake. But man why we had it was a playoff kind of day on Sunday with playoff caliber matchups throughout the thing. And I’ll tell you, Cleveland and Cincinnati are emerging at this time. They’re getting healthier. They’re better. We’re getting better versions. And I think when you lose your running back and he’s one of your best players now miles Garrett will make a statement for that. And Jim Schwartz Well, this week, you’re seeing teams that have seen us twice now. And we’ve seen them twice. The divisions at stake, the Ravens have a really comfortable League, which makes me itch because you and I’ve been at this 2728 years now. They don’t ever have to game leads or game and a half leads. They’re never lived there. They’re always the stalking horse right? Forever with Pittsburgh, even sometimes Cincinnati, never with Cleveland. But this is a different space for them. And they are as healthy as they’ve been. And you mentioned Lamar Lamar, Lamar boydle Looking back in a half an hour before we got to Lamar talking about the defense at this point, and what the defense is trying to do given up threes and sixes and pissed off about it at home. I mean, that really goes back to a different era Dennis it really does. Yeah, but they can’t
Dennis Koulatsos 04:47
win without Lamar. We saw that last year in the playoffs. They had Cincinnati on the ropes and then that awful 14 point swing after that Tyler Huntley fumble on the goal line. So to me Yes, defense will win championships, but you still have to have Dude, you got to have the quarterback and the nice thing about him is he’s being very calm back there in a pocket. Very efficient with the ball and now with his run pass combination, thunder and lightning with Gus the bus and Keaton Mitchell, the sky’s the limit. And the other piece of this Nestor is Kansas City. Their offense isn’t as scary as it once was. Their defense is better maybe, but they don’t have any any superstar wide receivers. Travis Kelce has certainly lost a step now 34 years of age. So if there was ever a season to take down the chiefs, this is it. This is a window that’s wide open for them right now. What
Nestor Aparicio 05:32
you’re saying to me is you want the ravens to have the number one seed so that Taylor Swift comes here,
Dennis Koulatsos 05:39
never thought about that we have a great angle wouldn’t hurt. What’s your angle?
Nestor Aparicio 05:43
I mean, it’s a single. Lots of serial episode angles on Thursday from three to five driving you home on a Sunday Sports voice heard again on Sunday morning before the game and and I love you will look at together and have long forums on Thursdays. We run them early in the show, usually three o’clock hour, but then you’ll hear Luca Dennis here on Friday and Saturday. You hear me and Dennis cutting it up. We did a whole thing on the Maryland stadium authority last week. I’m following that up in a big way this week. chasing down the governor who was allegedly getting together with me later on in the month I got a dozen crabcake doorstops the mayor is involved as well in all of this but the defense and taking center stage for the football team and Ro Quan Smith. I talked about this this summer and I know I said this to you back in August all this oxygen for Odell Beckham and his money and Lamar is contract and even Dobbins was still in play then and Todd Monken Todd Monken Todd Monken. And we all hate Greg Roman, he’s terrible. Boy, the defense is the side of the ball that hasn’t taken any time off. It’s gotten healthier. And this is a nod to Eric to Costa and George kookiness, and really the organization over the lifetime over the century. Whether it’s, we’re gonna identify Trevor price, we’re gonna identify Matt Burke, we’re gonna identify brand Quan bold, we’re gonna identify Steve Smith. We’re going to maybe make some mistakes on Jeremy Maclin or maybe just hit a single or double with Mike Wallace or whomever those players are going to be. But the Odell Beckham thing took up all the oxygen and Lamar is contract took up all the oxygen. But the biggest things that have happened here for this franchise to make this a Super Bowl team, not Lamar came out of the box on the 32nd Pick and the you know the revolution and everything they tried to do on that side of the ball running it. Willie Snead bringing an offensive lineman the under the radar. The unsexy thing is when you trade for a lottery pick that you’d have to stink really bad to get ro Quan Smith, you pay him market money at it before you know him before you’ve met him. You’ve given him $80 million and he comes in and shows you why. But then you find Kyle van Noy you find Davian clowny you on earth Gino stone to make him this player, Brandon Stevens who you tried to get on the field you tried to get on the field you draft Hamilton, your draft Queen these first round draft picks Humphrey is going to the hall rich at this point, Matt APKs leading the team in sacks. I mean, this isn’t any one thing. This is everything. And this is Mike McDonald being in the same position the Marvin Lewis was in, which is get a lot of toys in the garden, you know, and McDonald’s gonna get a job out of this. Whether they win the Superbowl or not, I believe that but this is really about having really good pieces and identifying guys like Kyle van Noy ng Davian clowny, and Ro Quan Smith in other uniforms and saying, We’re gonna bring them here and we’re gonna make them even better than they are. It’s just
Dennis Koulatsos 08:42
been an amazing run for all the things you just mentioned. A master the defense has been amazing. You were early on on him in the preseason. Mike McDonald certainly is the name of getting hotter and hotter out there. In fact, I’ve been telling people he’s terrible. He’s the worst coordinator I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Yeah, he’s no good. It’s just the players but no, give him credit. His schemes are very good. The players are fresh. You can tell they’re having a lot of fun. That’s true. And that’s that’s contagious. Right Patrick? Queens haven’t got a flood Kyle van Noy. I saw him on the Pat McAfee show. Two or three weeks ago, he was sitting there in a sweatshirt. You know, just cutting it up next to you know, he’s on the ravens and making a difference, right. That’s the amazing part how they were able to get guys like clowny and then boy to show up, show up in good shape and make a difference right away?
Nestor Aparicio 09:26
Well, Van Noy brings in a pal, right? I mean, say we got Justin Tucker. He’s won a Super Bowl, okay, and hardball and all that. But when you inject that into the huddle, when you in check, and this is where Burke and Bolden and you know they Steve Smith, you know, they mean they’ve tried to bring in players that can can breed some of that into a franchise they quite frankly, no offense to Ronnie Stanley who’s not earning his money, or Marlon Humphrey who likes to run his mouth, or Lamar. Who’s Lamar? Right? Guys? I want anything. None of these guys have won it. They’ve won one playoff game and they’re banging around 678 years into this. And Kyle van Noy comes in and says, I dealt with Bella checks ish. We got to do things differently around your row Quan Smith comes in and says, I’ve been to and 14 Every year I don’t like losing. You know what I mean? Like, and
Dennis Koulatsos 10:23
yeah, that’s a great point. That’s a great point Nestor when when those voices are amplified, the championship caliber voices whether it’s van Noy or garlic mo Quan Smith, those who want to ring by the way? Yeah, the guys you want your mouthpiece is not the guys that have been here for a while and haven’t gotten over the hump. I think that’s a big, big difference right there. Yeah, I
Nestor Aparicio 10:43
don’t want to hear from Mark Andrews or Ronnie Stanley or Marlon Humphrey or even Lamar about big games. I mean, like, you know, you guys beat everybody’s acid 2019. And then you went out there and couldn’t make a fourth down. And then you kick the ball around, right? Like when it mattered at home in front of our fans. So the fact that these 37 A three beat downs exist. That’s the kind of tape I need to see. For me to go up to Hollywood casino and buy in right on December 1, when I’m doing my thing up there. Let her let her and I got together earlier and we talked about this as well. And Luke and I talked about this and you’re at the game by the way, what a beautiful day to be at the stadium for you right I mean, that’s the date that’s why Yeah, season ticket was gorgeous.
Dennis Koulatsos 11:23
It was I had a jersey on I had a mark Andrews jersey on and I had an Under Armour, you know, long sleeve shirt underneath of it. And that’s all I needed, sat in the upper deck and it was just a beautifully beautiful day and I was surrounded by very, very enthusiastic raving fan base. I thought they showed up. Even Coach Harbaugh common halau the crowd was definitely gave the team a 12 man home field advantage. Well, there’s
Nestor Aparicio 11:47
plenty to cheer about. And I thought that one of the most telling things that happened all day, and I wrote about this and I’m going to talk about it all week, Odell Beckham and the amount of money they gave him and you know, I get to sit at home and watch the games on TV like everybody else now and Tony Romo, and Jim Nantz when they come to town. If you’re paying attention, if you’re watching the game and listening, there’s information that if I were embedded over there, I wouldn’t be getting certainly not at this point, right? They’d be lying to me. They’re telling him the truth. So when Tony Romo tells you, this is what Lamar didn’t like about Greg Roman. That stuff that they wouldn’t have been talking about last year. So I’m sitting at home and I’m picking all this up. But at one point early in the game, Beckham gets the first target. Right Bateman got the second when the Beckham was targeted early, it’s very obvious that he’s now healthy, and they need his personality his they can’t have him having two catches for 14 yards on his sheet at the end of the week. Right? And it doesn’t need to be seven for a buck 80 and three touchdowns because I don’t know that that’s who he is. But I think there’s a lot of ego there’s a lot of money. He catches a pass and Tony Romo or Nance says that’s his 15th reception of the year and I’m thinking 15 He’s making $15 million. It’s just November 6, like that’s a million to catch so far. Where’s the impact in this and then Lamar is out of the game and you should hope for this every fourth quarter right that they’re winning by four touchdowns and and Snoop Huntley throws a touchdown. And you want to win if Lamar throws the winning touchdown for the Super Bowl. He won’t be any more enthusiastic than he was jumping off the bench to get Odell Beckham that Odell Beckham is, is from my eyes. And again, shame on Chad steel for throwing me out that I don’t have a real answer on this, or that I go around and quiz people about this. But Odell Beckham looks to be a guy that everybody on the offense everybody in the team likes. It’s been a good addition. It’s hard to talk about bad things when they’re seven and two, there’s nothing wrong or everything’s fixed. But Odell Beckham being a part of this on the offensive side, it feels like that’s important to the team right now.
Dennis Koulatsos 13:54
It’s very important extra. It’s funny you mentioned Beckham, Jr. Before the game as I was sitting there with the Ravens faithful fans, I looked up to see how many catches he’d had for the year. And it was 14. And I mean, he’s making $884,000 a game 17 Game check, right? I did the math and I’m thinking, My gosh, he’s making you know, it’s, it’s amazing how much money this guy’s making. So it was nice to see him get four or five receptions Sunday. It was nice to see him celebrate on his birthday. And the other piece of it is he’s not a malcontent. You look at that guy. picking this up for the Steelers, and he was upset. He got targeted twice the other night and Deanna Johnson, he got a Thompson, he’d got Deonte Thompson got more targets and a touchdown than him. So the nice thing about Odell Beckham Jr. Mastery is that he’s been a total team player. And I think that speaks volumes. He’s matured, right? He’s not the same guy. He was four or five years ago.
Nestor Aparicio 14:50
Well, and they did their homework on this part of it right? I mean, after Earl Thomas and after, whatever you would consider to be is this guy going to be an addition or subtract Action, they looked at me and thought I’d be a subtraction they looked at him thought he be an addition. And, and seeing the enthusiasm for him. As horrible said in the locker room after the game, right like, this is it as a coach the whole it’s like when your dealership is running perfect when you have a great month, when everybody’s hitting numbers, when the weather’s good when things are shining, for any business for any, or for any any organization, you want things to go well, to have hardball making $50 million a year at the top of this. And they’re seven and two, and they just want 37 Three from the say, This is why we all get together we get together, because that’s what ultimately what you want to see. You want to see it really work and come together. And that’s heartening for the organization November 6, at a time where they had it going last year, Lamar got hurt they had and then they wanted to contract land, they went into the LA Marathon, right? Two years ago, they had in the plague and all of the mess that every mark Andrews and Marlon Humphrey and Ronnie Stanley, who has experienced the disappointment of not being good enough in January, sitting here in November, there’s not anyone in that building that doesn’t think they can’t win a Super Bowl. Well,
Dennis Koulatsos 16:15
the the other piece of this Nestor and I’m thrilled as a Ravens analyst and fan is that both ro Quan Smith and Lamar Jackson didn’t get lazy after they signed a big contracts after they got their bag, they both elevated their game, and they both have stayed healthy so far. And that’s exactly what you want to see. When you invest that type of money in these players because we’ve seen We’ve seen it with the Ravens that hasn’t always worked out whether it’s Ronnie Stanley or Darius Webb or Earl Thomas sometimes teams do make mistakes but so far with with Lamar and Ro Quan Smith, your two leaders on both sides of the ball. So far, so good. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 16:54
and yeah, that kind of investment and what they decided to do I don’t think they they ever question that was Smith or with with Lamar that it really is about winning for those guys not just getting their money, right? And you and I are big boys about this. We’ve watched it all and every sport that that is, yeah, that’s the Garden of Eden. Right? You know, I mean, like that, that’s, that’s the major league, Roger Doran, you know, I’m not gonna damage this valuable piece of property. And your guide Sam Lamar made business decisions this year. These aren’t business decisions this year. It’s don’t run till you have to write I mean, we know you can run in the fourth quarter for losing by 10 points in Buffalo. And it’s cold out. We’re gonna need you to run but don’t get broken in half against the Detroit Lions.
Dennis Koulatsos 17:44
Now, as you mentioned, it was great to see Lamar Jackson exit the game with 1212 minutes or so, to go. That’s what you want to see as a Ravens fan. Shades of 2019 though, I think a lot of us are feeling that way. That team was dominant in the regular season. This team has been dominant the last three or four games and let’s see what happens going forward. You’re gonna need some luck. They’re gonna need some health to continue this thing but so far so good, man is when things are going well, the it’s it’s a force multiplier, isn’t it? Well,
Nestor Aparicio 18:12
they’re gonna get better. Better competition, too, right? I mean, Shaun Watson say what you want about his, you know, shortcomings but played a good game. They pitched a shutout against the team, they should have pitched a shout out against, they’re coming at the right time. Cincinnati is gonna be on short rest as an on the road and the borough finger thing, but they did what they needed to do to beat the Buffalo Bills. Right? So and it feels like his mobility is back. We’re going to get everyone’s best shot, whether it’s Justin Herbert on the road, whether it’s whatever San Francisco is going to be on Christmas night, we’re going to see to atone for a low tongue of Aloha as well. I saw him in his brother’s commercials over the weekend as well. We’re going to see the Steelers at the end looking to wreck things are wherever they’re gonna be. And they keep winning even though it’s not pretty. They are. There are no more bye weeks here for this team.
Dennis Koulatsos 19:02
Now right now all 14 and our division, our playoff bound are in the yard, which is amazing. Nine games into the season,
Nestor Aparicio 19:09
which makes it even more dangerous on Sunday. Of course, of course, every game is important
Dennis Koulatsos 19:13
and but looking, they got to travel to Jacksonville as well. It’s always been a tough town for us traveling through Jacksonville and they have Trevor Lawrence, it’s an ascending team. They’re probably still a year away. But again, any given Sunday, they can certainly lose. You
Nestor Aparicio 19:26
see ascending teams, Cleveland ascending team Cincinnati ascending to I don’t know what the hell the Chargers or the or the dolphins are. But I know they’re good teams. They’re their credit, much more credible than the Arizona Cardinals than some of the bad teams we’ve seen. I don’t think Detroit and Seattle were bad teams. I think styles make fights and these NFC teams that aren’t prepared for Lamar speed, but I think the defense now the defense is ready to lunch pail but they’re going to see better quarterbacks, the defense, offense is are going to make plays on the defense in a way We haven’t seen in a couple of weeks, and we’re gonna have to see how they respond to that because I think these next two games are going to be a lot tougher than the last two home games.
Dennis Koulatsos 20:07
I tell you how encouraged I am Nestor. When I got home after the game. I got a lot of start looking at plane tickets and hotel reservations for Vegas. I mean, I think this team’s got the inside track to get to the Super Bowl this year.
Nestor Aparicio 20:19
I can’t believe you said that. That’s a spoiler. That’s terrible. Oh, no,
Dennis Koulatsos 20:23
no, no, it’s just planning for the future. Just trying to be a good fan and analyst and make sure that I’m there because I missed the 2000 the Super Bowl in Tampa Bay. May the 2012 when thanks to wn St. And I’m not going to miss another one. It’s just one of those things that tell everyone that if your team gets to the Superbowl, you got to be there. You gotta go. Alright, well,
Nestor Aparicio 20:43
I’m not making that commitment. But I will make a commitment to take you to YouTube the night before at the sphere.
Dennis Koulatsos 20:50
The sphere something else by the way we started a few months ago. I think it’s phenomenal really is. Well, I
Nestor Aparicio 20:54
went inside that thing last week. You were inside of it. That’s amazing. Yeah. And I saw you two last Friday. You were away and ill and we okay. We’ll talk about that next week. Yeah, yeah, sounds good.
Dennis Koulatsos 21:06
I met Alice Cooper. Off amazing.
Nestor Aparicio 21:10
Radio Star Alice Cooper. I didn’t even Wayne’s World thing. I didn’t do the we’re not worthy. We’re not into that. But I’m glad you didn’t. I’m not I don’t know, man. You know, he took me seriously. You know what I went up to Alice Cooper. We were backstage, literally backstage for the show. I was a guest at the band. It was nice, free beer. It’s delicious. Had a couple cronies. It was fine. I wasn’t driving. I was walking. The sphere was trippy. But you know, I went up to Alice Cooper. And this is what I said to him. I said, I just want to thank you for having my cousin’s jersey on the wall at Cooperstown in Arizona. Human vacuum cleaner, greatest shortstop ever. And I’m like, that’s what a guy named Aparicio, wants to hear, you know, thank you, Mr. Cooper. So I thought he owned the radio station out in Phoenix. Every time I’m out in Phoenix for the owners meetings are out there. He’s always on the air and I thought he must have owned a piece of it as an FM. He said, No, I never owned it. I just he said I thought I was gonna do it for like a year and I wound up doing it for 20 years. And he loved being on the radio. He does a radio show in Phoenix, but that he was performing in Las Vegas the next night. I did not know that. Or I would have said something to him. But we really we talked baseball when he was talking 69 So he’s a tight Detroit Tigers fan. I’m like, okay, suffering that, aren’t we? Right, right. Absolutely. 84 for him and 83 for us. All right. That is Colossus. We’ll be on Thursday from three to five. He’ll be back on so what he got was cars. 0% financing. I know you guys.
Dennis Koulatsos 22:28
We have Veterans Day weekend coming up on veterans out there. They’re getting a five year 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. Even in the household of the anyone living with a veteran gets that it’s a big big deal plus an extra 500 bucks and we’re taking care of care of our veterans military. This Veterans Day weekend. That’s the big story.
Nestor Aparicio 22:47
It’s almost like Rob Gronkowski in that commercial right? You can just be related to one right
Dennis Koulatsos 22:52
right. Just just be related. Just just be part of that greatness, that legacy of of our military, which we love. And Ford Motor Company is certainly supporting them this weekend.
Nestor Aparicio 23:00
My grandfather served in the US Army back in the 1920s and 30s. So yeah, he thank you for the service. So I know I could get in I think and my dad started Vietnam. So my uncle well, I’ll coastal Can I think it’s grandfather and parents. So I do have a grandfather that serves so that good. Good stuff. Good
Dennis Koulatsos 23:16
stuff. There you go. Come and save some money coons forward.
Nestor Aparicio 23:20
All right, I’m wearing the coons badge here you can find Dennis at security Boulevard and always find them out in front of Baltimore positive. He will be on Thursday for three of the five driving you home. No one more excited than the seven and two Baltimore Ravens that that is closers here on Thursday and again on Sunday morning, get you ready for the Cleveland Browns Luke is out and Owings Mills all week. He’ll join Dennis on the show Thursday and Sunday, as well. I’m doing the Maryland crab cake Tour presented by our friends at Maryland lottery this Friday at fade Lee’s next Tuesday. Cost is the whole schedule now up at Baltimore positive.com. Stay with us
