Former Ravens running back and Super Bowl XXXV champion Jamal Lewis tells Nestor he would’ve loved to have run the ball with Lamar Jackson
SUMMARY KEYWORDSwin, jamal lewis, running, baltimore, game, years, ravens, play, team, lamar, shannon, afc championship game, tampa, dynamic, ray, super bowl, row, running backs, joe flacco, tennesseeSPEAKERSJamal Lewis, Nestor J. Aparicio Nestor J. Aparicio 00:01Welcome home we are wn S T am 1570, Towson Baltimore. We’re having us a week here. We must be playing an AFC Championship game against Kansas City Chiefs this week, because all the people are coming home. We had just a beautiful week of visits with lots and lots of folks Brian Billick and Marvin Lewis Joe Flacco stop by I haven’t had this guy on he always comes by radio row with a Super Bowl. We’re not going to be doing radio row this year. We’re going to be doing crabcake row right here in Baltimore. For the Maryland Food Bank. We’re doing five consecutive days of live broadcast from nine until five we start things on Monday and fate Lee’s Tuesday we’re going to be at cost this Wednesday, Coco’s Thursday and where my state fair shirt over Kingsville then Friday at Pappas, I’m going to have Raven scratch offs, I’m going to have holiday scratch offs, 2024 scratch offs, and we’re going to basically have a cup of soup or bowl for the Maryland Food Bank to come by and get a free cup freebo soup, Maryland crab cream a crab and do something nice for our friends at the Maryland food bank. This guy here did something nice for all of us here in Baltimore. He was part of the Super Bowl 35 champions. I don’t get to have him on as often as I would like. He’s always an advocate for mental health and awareness and all the things that go on post football life. Jamal Lewis look at what you look dude, are you like Slack? Are you making a comeback? What’s going on, man? You’re Jamal Lewis 01:20right. I’m not doing that. He’s better man than I am. But I’m good, man. I’m good. I’m good. Everything’s good. I was at the game this weekend. Just happy for the for the Baltimore Ravens family. And everybody there and just really rooting the boys on and hoping they can finish it on out. Nestor J. Aparicio 01:39You know, you think about that. Your original guy put a brown helmet on right after you were Raven. Like you’re one of the guys that did what he did. It’s you know, I don’t guess you don’t think much about that. The Steelers. Ravens. Bangle that the whole triangle that but you’re playing both franchises like you did, right? Jamal Lewis 01:53Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I played in both. And, you know, I must say it was my retirement home. I can tell you that. Nestor J. Aparicio 02:01All right. So you come back here and you’re the former rave and it’s been 23 years. By the way, if they win this Sunday, it’s the 23rd anniversary January 28. I don’t need to tell you what day it was. You remember it as well. And you come back and see this new thing. Younger people, some of the people were 23 years old, and we’re at the game, ticket prices were a little depressed really cold out. But the fans, we’ve really passed a torch to a new group of fans. I think you saw that this week. Jamal Lewis 02:27Oh, yeah, it was a whole different group. Man is I think that’s all around the league as well. But at the same time with the ravens, just seeing how things have really evolved. You know, just what the game as a whole period. But just in that city man is just, you know, you still have that, that that great group of fans that we had at our time, but now you got a younger group, they’re more energetic, and they get that crowd going. And you know, they start drinking early. And, you know, it’s just a great atmosphere. Nestor J. Aparicio 03:01Today, I’d say all that. But I’m gonna get off my lawn guy. And I’m an OG and you know, Tampa 2001. The whole deal. Can you express to someone, a child, anyone under the age of 18, that never saw Ray Lewis dance, because he’s gonna do his little thing this week, you’re gonna make them the player and they should do and he’ll dance, it’d be good. But to see Ray dance when he was in his prime, like, you know, like Saturday Night Fever, that what happened for you to be out of that tunnel, because all of you talk about but not just you, the visiting teams that only saw it once, or came in as a visiting player, you got to experience it a whole bunch of times. But I tell people, it was never really the same in the stadium after Ray stop dancing. Like literally, we stopped winning to some degree and like, what are all the things that have happened, but the atmosphere has never been the same? Because Ray dancing was there was you didn’t go to any other stadium in the league and have that happen? Didn’t happen? Jamal Lewis 03:56No, it didn’t happen anywhere else. It was one of those things that was really unique. And luckily, you know, an organization, you know, they got behind it as well, because they knew that it was a staple that he was going to do it. And that was his way of winning the crowd. And that was one of Ray’s big thing was winning the crowd. You know, when I first came in, you know, that’s what he told me. He said, Hey, man, you gotta win the crowd. And that was the way that he did it, you know, along with his play on the field, and the leader that he is, but, you know, I remember being, you know, on the field running through the tunnel, and I couldn’t wait for the defense to be, you know, we wanted the defense to be announced, you know, because we knew what it did to the opposing teams. As they were on the sidelines. They were more anticipating seeing it. And we were just like, yeah, y’all go ahead and feed on it to feed on into it and, and of course they would, and but it got the crowd going. And like I said, that was that’s a staple here in Baltimore and, you know, raise great, great, great place. You’re a great leader. And I think it’d be it’d be great. And I hope that they hope they do that this weekend. I’m sure they are because he’s going to get the crowd going can’t wait to see it. That’s a change Nestor J. Aparicio 05:11your life to have won that game as opposed to not winning it. 23 years ago, you know, talk about one day one chance like, like a Kentucky Derby horse, you know, you get one chance to run the course. You know what? Well, we won, you know, got to ring the whole deal. But for you to remember, what do you remember about that time? And God, you were young, right? And that’s probably the one of things you’re like, I’ll do this three more times. No, you won’t. Oh, Jamal Lewis 05:34yeah, I thought I thought that too. But I was 21 years old, at the time. And honestly, it was just a great feeling. And I can remember walking off the field after practice one day in the stadium, and it was the day before the game like walkthrough type deal. And I remember walking, you know, out of the stadium, going back to the locker room, and I just had this feeling and I just said, You know what, we have to win this game, we can’t leave as a loser. Because if you lose, it don’t matter. And you know, we had a great season. A lot happened that season a lot of our relationships built I think a lot of people careers was built, you know, that season as well. On that team, a lot of coaches really thrived after that game as well. Still today. So you know, it was just one of those days where you know, Coach always say, Hey, you win this game. You win in the Superbowl. Everybody’s like change and I think for me, it did and you know, everywhere I go in Baltimore they call me champ you know, so it’s one of those days where we would have lost there wouldn’t have been calling me champ Jamal Nestor J. Aparicio 06:48Lewis is always a champ to us we love having him on usually a radio row of government mental health and other things. And you know, we’re so far removed from this thing now with and I you know, I’ll talk about Lamar with you. We’ll get into that and certainly T Martin and some other things where you have some commonality. But the one commonality you and I have is all these years ago, the day you got drafted you come in, you come onto this team, and you know, I was here when there were on the purple Barney uniforms and Ted was here and they weren’t very good. And Jim Harbaugh was the quarterback right like so. Then Brian comes and there was this thing we’re like, goose was already here. Brunette kind of came into it. They recruited Sam defensively. But Marvin recruiting rod Woodson and then Shannon Sharpe being recruited into the offense that you had these two bonafide Hall of Famers who are, you know, but rod hadn’t won yet. And Shannon had one and seeing what that would do for a 21 year old guy for not just for Ray to see it on the defensive side, but for you to see it in the offense. I was kidding. Brandon Stokely here this week, about all the little pills Kim herring to about all the little supplements, or as Shannon would happen, you would measure every carrot stick every celery stick. I mean, just seeing discipline and seeing guys who are going to go to the Hall of f and fame come in and say I want to be in Baltimore, that rickety little room you had out here. There wasn’t even half as nice as what you had in Tennessee when you’re in college, but bringing it together. Now they make movies about you guys. I mean, that defense specifically, but your team in general. I mean, it’s a team full of celebrities and superstars. God rest your soul, you know? Oh, Jamal Lewis 08:29yeah, absolutely. And coming in and it was just a different dynamic. And I think that was the plan that Ozzie feel Savage, you know, Billick and that crew, you know, that they really put together that team was very unique. Starting out, you really didn’t know it, but at the same time, when you came in, it was just that perfect sprinkle of experience. You had some older guys that were the shear the sharps, the rod Woodson’s and you think about it, you know, even Ray was young at that time. So therefore, you had some equalizers there that could come in and actually, you know, I think that was a dynamic they wanted to really put together you know, somebody that can come in and really train up Ray as well to be the player that he ended up becoming, I think being around guys like rod Siragusa. You know, Shannon Sharpe, you know, these guys that Rob Burnett, you know, it was just a great group of guys that were sprinkled around that team that really just made up the dynamic that we had that year and the one that they make movies about now and you know, we still have you know, our Hall of Famers like it you know, well every now but the you know, Ray and and Shannon and all these guys you know, it Nestor J. Aparicio 09:52was just let’s not forget, oh, Jamal Lewis 09:56my God, right. So you know, these guys that you had that you could always lean on, you know, I could go talk to a rod was and say, Hey man, you know, this is how I’m feeling about this or, or that or how do you handle this or handle that. And you know, Shannon, I worked out with Shannon when I was in college, you know, every year when I came home for the offseason worked out with Shannon. So it was it was crazy, you know, me being drafted to a team that he had just got pulled into as well. And, you know, I just knew his work ethic. And everybody kind of corralled around those guys, you know, so we had a bunch of lead horses that was out in front of us. That was really pulling the rest of that team and everybody jumped on board and and bought into the process. Nestor J. Aparicio 10:44Jamal Lewis is here he ran the football for us back in Super Bowl 35. We are celebrating an AFC Championship game in Baltimore for the first time since 1971. My dad attended that game. My first Colts game was in 74. Lucas out knowings Mills was any breaking news you’ll get on the WSD tech service. We’re doing our crabcake row doing all this cool stuff tomorrow and I lost a friend of mine a gentleman named Harvey Meyers ran a place called the Emerald tavern. He put a satellite dish in my parents house and he and I went together in 1998 the Tennessee Titans were playing the Vanderbilt stadium 9899 And we went over to Knoxville I went one time in my life. I’ve been in the I’ve been to Nashville twice. I went to a basketball game there to Terps played a tournament game there lost the St. John’s but I went there for one football game to Kneeland and I saw Tennessee play Georgia in the big place up top and rained like hell. They had a running back named Jamal Lewis and a quarterback named T Mar. Does that sound familiar to you at any point? Oh, yeah. Know, I had heard T Martin’s name and a long, long time. And I remember him from that day. I remember writing about you and Purple Rain won and you come in here and Phil savage talking about your box drills and your injury and you fighting back from all of that and your strength, and team art. And all these years later, it comes back up as a mentor to to Lamar and when you come back to Baltimore, you don’t just come back to Baltimore to friends. You got other people that are that have been drafted into this from your childhood. Jamal Lewis 12:17Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, it t was T was Tennessee. When I got there. He was kind of my mom, mentor, my big brother, when I showed up on campus. So me and T spent a lot of time together, driving back and forth to Atlanta and catching rides and hitching rides and just then the other day and all of a sudden he got his shot out to Peyton, you know, had left and went on to the draft and went to the Colts. And all of a sudden, you know, we go 13 And oh and win a championship in college. And he was just a great leader, a great player. And it didn’t surprise me that later on, I went to go see a high school game and he was the offensive coordinator over at North Atlanta High School. And I went to see him throw the ball around the field. And after that, he went on I think to New Mexico State, then he went to Kentucky and went somewhere else and kind of Nestor J. Aparicio 13:14we don’t just life. Right. It’s a fact of life. Right? Yeah, Jamal Lewis 13:18he went on this chain. And then all of a sudden, you know, after the whole Tennessee debacle and, and the hiring of the coaches and everything there and he left there and and all of a sudden I was happy to see that they brought him into the ravens and I think that a great fit. kind of knew he would end up in that role. You know, Whitney Omar, I think they probably relate to a lot. They probably relate you know, a lot, you know, just as far as you know, just their their upbringing and just being a a black quarterback, you know, growing up coming through everything that they’ve been through and where he is now. So I’m sure you know, a lot of what Lamar is growth and everything that he’s shown this year. And last I think a lot of that probably is a result of having a T Martin there. Nestor J. Aparicio 14:08John Lewis is here he was there. He’ll be here that you’re going to Vegas. You expect them to win the Super Bowl. I mean, as you expect, but mahomes What San Francisco Detroit what they did to them earlier in the year, from a football standpoint, I know you watch the game differently. You see the game through those eyes that won a championship. What do you see when you see this team because it’s unlike anything the league has ever seen because of what Lamar can do in the model which says Not bad for a running back and I always say well, him running the ball is still their best play. Right? Jamal Lewis 14:39Right. Yeah, I think that what you have here is the same thing I just said about our team back in 2000. You have sprinkles everywhere around that team. You know, we’re Hamilton on the back end, Queen and and row Quan at the linebacker position. You got to start you know defensive defense As the front, and then you go to the office side of the ball, you know, the dynamic receivers that they have with Lamar. And even though we have a running back shortage, but you bring it down and cook. So it’s one of those things where, you know, we have all the right pieces in the right places on that tape. So to say that, hey, look, you know, it’s expected for us to win. Yeah, I think it is expected. I think we are the best team in the NFL, and it’s showing, but at the same time, it’s I think it’s ours to lose, just because of not just the gods don’t feel but even when people have gotten hurt, or people have wind out of the game, you know, our bitch is strong as well. So we have a well built team. And I think it’s built to go deep into playoffs like we’re showing right now. And I think we do stand a chance at winning it all. Nestor J. Aparicio 15:53Well, we all know, JK Dobbins are supposed to be the running back. And then our guy Anthony Mitchell, his boy, Keaton’s running the ball. You mentioned Dalvin, cook, we talked about Justin Hill, the Gospels. One thing I find with running backs, and I don’t have enough of you on and I have more agents I chatted recently on who lives here, who represents Josh Jacobs out and in Vegas, your running backs getting ripped off, dude. I mean, he talked to you about your value, and your body abuse and like all that, how is it these running backs have gotten themselves into point where they’re not getting paid? Jamal Lewis 16:26Man, I just think it’s just the durability, man durability. And these offices now are so dynamic, you know, the thing about the wide receiver position, you have a lot of wire receivers, you know, and they serve different purposes. And I think the same thing in the backfield, you don’t have one back that serve all the purposes, you don’t have that, that fourth and 1/3 and short guy, or that goal line guy, you know, that can also go out you know, in line up in a slot position and go in work a linebacker and create that mismatch that you look for. So I think that’s really the issue. Because that guy, you don’t have a guy that’s going to be on the field, you know, the entire game, like we played, you know, you had a feature running back, you know, and they you might have had a third down back or whatever, but at the same time you had your guy, now you don’t have that guy, you know, so I think that really devalues because, you know, you’re not just paying one guy, you’re paying three. So they have to they spread that money around. And I think we are getting cheated, but you are a influential part of the game. And I think, you know, the team that runs the ball, the best will win the Super Bowl. And when you have a guy like like Lamar Hill, that’s the you know, he can throw the ball, he can run the ball, you know, I say my worst threat of me losing my position at the top of rushing for the Ravens is Lamar Jackson. So Nestor J. Aparicio 18:01less wear and tear on you though, like, oh, Jamal Lewis 18:04yeah, right. Right. Right. You know, it’s just, uh, you know, as I would have loved to play with the Lamar Jackson, because, you know, he’s just another guy that you gotta, they have to pay attention to, because he can take off, he can take it to distance. But you know, whatever kind of opens up that box and freeze, freeze it up. I think that’s great for running backs. But, you know, he’s dynamic man, and he’s really showing and he’s using all the tools in his toolbox. Nestor J. Aparicio 18:34Dude, every time you made it to the chains, we were up in Section 513. Move those chains, move those chains move those chains. And that was the thing that came from 33rd Street, Jamal Lewis this year. We usually do this radio row. I’m not going to be at Radio row. We’re going to be doing crabcake row. I cup of Super Bowl on behalf of the Maryland Food Bank featuring 100 charity stories. This is beginning the week February 5, Luke will be out in the Las Vegas pending a Ravens victory this week. Tomorrow if I get together with you out on the road they’d be grabbing your handlers Chris Visser be grabbing you taking you over to Tampa and taking a different station I got your how are you? How’s your head how’s your life as your health as your family get give everybody an update because I’ve reached so many of you. The last couple of weeks. I’ve had so many of your teammates on him and Mike Flynn last week, rods coming next week. I got Duan Edwards on next week. I’ve had Stokely this week, Brian Marvin, all sorts of people. And all of you sort of stay in touch sometimes in some way. But you were very outspoken a few years ago about like being concerned about how much abuse your body took, and I think anybody that’s ever had a concussion in this sport, I branded SoClean just talking about I gotta get checked, you know, I mean, it’s very, very important for the ones you love and for yourself to make sure you’re staying sharp. Oh, yeah. Jamal Lewis 19:50Everything is pretty much good with me. You know, you still deal with certain things, whatever. But you know how to cope. You know how to deal with it. I stay busy. Just with my busy This isn’t things that I have going on the kids keep me busy as well. So that never runs short. So they keep me chauffeuring them around or whatever but you know, I will go radio road talking about depression and you know, just the state of being of depression and proud and what it’s done, you know, with me and, and how I’ve coped with it as well, you know, after playing the sport and to be done with a career, I’ve done all my life and, you know, being in front of the crowds, you know, every every weekend or, or dealing with fans and everything else, you know, coming at you to, to now, you know, you don’t really have that and just kind of going through that my story and, you know, after football and things I’ve been through, so that’s kind of the things that we’ll be doing on on radio row, doors, Superbowl or whatever. But all in all, I can’t complain, I’m good and healthy. I’m here, you know, Hey, what the ravens are doing, hey, look that keep a smile on your face. And that keeps you going? Well, Nestor J. Aparicio 21:02nothing will be better for you at all radio row, the putting the purple back on, and being a member of the ravens are in the game because I’ve been to those Super Bowls when we’re in the game. And there’s nothing quite like it. A lot of our fans trying to figure out a way to get out to Vegas and they party with us down in New Orleans or down in Tampa with you and it’s created the greatest moments of my career in my life where we celebrating 25 years of wn St. And we’re doing this thing called Stories of glory with curio and foreign daughter. And, you know, the top couple are those those moments whiskey Joe’s in Tampa on January 28, The New Orleans Super Bowl parade here with Joe Flacco and that team and Ray Lewis and what they did their incredible moments and Jamal, we’ve never had an AFC Championship game in Baltimore. Right. So this is a moment for our city on our home turf. If you remember the baseball owner was a creep and we didn’t even get to have the Thursday night hanging the the flag when we won here with Flacco. They weren’t doing that back in your ERA in the same way where it was a kickoff game and you had a second parade kind of sort of, but but we have something here this week. We’ve never had I’ve been on the air 32 years, we’ve never had an AFC Championship Game and there’s not going to be anything like it. And I hope you get back. I hope you have a good trip out to Vegas. I hope we’re successful and come back for the parade or something like that. Jamal? Absolutely, Jamal Lewis 22:23absolutely. I’m going forward. You know, I’m excited a look. I’m always gonna be a raven and proud of what’s going on in the city and proud of what what the Baltimore Ravens are doing and looking forward to that a Nestor J. Aparicio 22:35lot of things with you. I don’t know if that crabcake with you. So maybe we gotta put that on the agenda as part of the crabcake tour. Jamal Lewis always with us and always a simple 35 champion and always here for on behalf of a mental awareness and and keeping your health together. Make sure everybody’s feeling right about things. We should all be feeling good right now. It’s AFC Championship we Luke is out in Owings Mills. We’ve had the best guests we’ve ever had here this week, Joe Flacco was stopped by old friends Marvin Lewis, Brandon Stokely everybody stopping by to say hello and celebrating Festivus three we’re all hoping here I am Nestor. We are wn SDA and 1570, Towson Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore positive
