John Harbaugh didn’t just lose Ravens locker room, he lost the city of Baltimore

There is about to be a culture change in Owings Mills. Or is there? Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the firing of John Harbaugh and what Steve Bisciotti will do next for a head coach and a leader and face of the franchise. What this means for the Baltimore Ravens.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the firing of John Harbaugh by Steve Bisciotti, highlighting the suddenness and lack of communication within the Baltimore Ravens organization. They noted the rapid interest from other teams in Harbaugh, with seven reaching out within 45 minutes. The conversation touched on Harbaugh’s tenure, his recent struggles, and the impact on team culture. They speculated on potential new coaches, emphasizing the importance of aligning with Lamar Jackson. Nestor criticized the organizational culture and lack of accountability, while Luke defended Harbaugh’s legacy and suggested the need for a new coach to stabilize the team.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Get the Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road (organize events and schedule appearances with sponsors)
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Organize a ‘cup of soup or bowl’ community event in early February at sponsors (coordinate with Costa’s, Koco’s, State Fair and plan donations for the Maryland Food Bank)
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Publish Maryland crab cake tour dates (announce the schedule publicly)
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Write and send a letter to the Ravens ownership/management expressing concerns about accountability and culture

Firing of John Harbaugh and Initial Reactions

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the firing of John Harbaugh by Steve Bisciotti and the immediate aftermath, including the shock and disbelief among fans and media.
• Nestor and Luke Jones reflect on the timing of the firing, noting that John Harbaugh was unaware of his dismissal until Tuesday afternoon.
• The conversation touches on the lack of integrity within the organization, with players and media finding out about the firing on social media before being informed by the team.
• Nestor and Luke speculate on potential candidates for the head coaching position, dismissing Jason Garrett as a possibility.

John Harbaugh’s Legacy and Recent Performance

• Luke Jones reflects on John Harbaugh’s legacy, noting his successes and the high floor of the team even in less successful seasons.
• The discussion highlights the recent struggles of the team, particularly in January, and the growing dissatisfaction among fans and media.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the rapid reporting of John Harbaugh’s firing and the role of his agent in disseminating information.
• The conversation explores the messy internal communication within the team, with players and family members finding out about the firing through social media.

Cultural Dynamics and Leadership within the Ravens

• Nestor Aparicio criticizes the organizational culture of the Ravens, describing it as bully-like and reflecting on the personalities of key figures like Steve Bisciotti, John Harbaugh, and Chad Steel.
• The discussion delves into the dynamics between John Harbaugh and Lamar Jackson, with Nestor suggesting that Lamar Jackson’s influence played a significant role in the firing.
• Nestor expresses frustration with the lack of accountability and integrity within the team, citing examples of players not showing up for media appearances and the general discord.
• The conversation touches on the importance of leadership and culture in sports, with Nestor emphasizing the need for a coach who can command respect and build a cohesive team.

Impact of the Firing on the Ravens’ Future

• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of the firing on the Ravens’ future, including the importance of finding a coach who can work well with Lamar Jackson.
• The conversation explores the possibility of the Ravens hiring an offensive-minded head coach to ensure stability and continuity with their franchise quarterback.
• Nestor reflects on the importance of the next coach’s ability to connect with players and build a strong team culture, drawing parallels to the success of past coaches like Brian Billick.
• The discussion highlights the need for the new coach to have a strong defensive background, given the team’s recent struggles on that side of the ball.

Steve Bisciotti’s Role and Accountability

• Nestor criticizes Steve Bisciotti for not being more engaged and accountable, suggesting that his lack of public presence and communication has contributed to the current situation.
• The conversation touches on the financial success of the Ravens and the importance of the team to the city of Baltimore, emphasizing the need for ownership to take responsibility.
• Nestor expresses frustration with the lack of transparency and communication from the team, calling for a more proactive approach from Steve Bisciotti.
• The discussion concludes with Nestor and Luke reflecting on the importance of the next coaching hire and the potential impact on the team’s future success.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

John Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens, Steve Bisciotti, Lamar Jackson, Todd Monken, coaching change, team culture, player locker room, offensive coordinator, defensive strategy, franchise quarterback, coaching search, organizational ethos, fan reaction, leadership.

SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones

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Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore. Positive the Maryland crab cake tour is getting back out on the road. I still have some holiday hope. Still smells like the holidays around here, but certainly smells like a new season out. Knowings Mills, we’ll be getting the crab cake tour back out on the road. We’re also doing a cup of soup or bowl that’ll be happening in early February at all of our sponsors, Costas Koco’s, figuring it all out, State Fair. We’re going to be everywhere one day doing some good turns for community, some charity stories as well, hopefully for the Maryland food bank. And during the time of the year, it’s getting cold, although it’s a nice week here right now. Luke Jones joins me now in the aftermath, we have had a couple of hours to sleep, which really didn’t have in the aftermath of Pittsburgh. You always told me, these night games make you loopy till Thursday. Well, we ain’t got till Thursday, Tuesday afternoon. Steve bishotti Fired John Harbaugh, we went on and did a piece in the immediate aftermath, which I’m really happy we did, because, like, I think there was a stunning part for both of us. And I’m like, I don’t even want to talk about this, because I don’t know enough about this, and I need a journalist, you know what I mean. And I did some work in the overnight, and I did a little of this and that, and you did a little of this and that, and, yeah, we slept on it and shocked on you know, I mean, change isn’t it’s gonna happen at some point, but the circumstances of the football going to the right and then playing a game this week, and Lamar and Todd Monken, in the aftermath of all of this and hard balls, Agent yelling to everybody, everybody’s calling, everybody wants to hire my guy within an hour. And the notion that Har ball went to work Tuesday thinking he was still running the team, and apparently chairs were thrown, right? I mean, like, they like, he nobody knew. Players didn’t know we didn’t know that. In the aftermath, we’re like, well, maybe John is that the way? Maybe he’s got a job lined up. I don’t get the vibe. And again, you had been around there more than I have, and their lack of integrity shows right away that I’m not allowed in to even know. So I don’t know, and I’m not going to be wildly speculative, other than the result is the result, and we’re going to work backward from there, and rumors be damned, and previous reporting and all of that. Har ball’s out. Lamar won the war. Steve’s looking for a coach. Eric, apparently, is here. And, um, John kind of thought that he was going to roll this back, and it didn’t kind of work out that way. Tuesday afternoon. It’s weird, dude, and we’re just peeling back the layers of what happened and the result of what happened. And I don’t know whether Jason Garrett will be back in town in 48 hours.

Luke Jones  02:52

No, Jason Garrett’s not going to be the next head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. I I would be. That would be the most stunning development in franchise history. And I’ll leave it at that, because Jason Garrett seems like a perfectly nice guy, and Ed knows football, but maybe not in 2026 to the way that you would want to but it’s strange you wake up Monday morning, and the shock factor of how they Lost Sunday night in Pittsburgh kind of leaves you still in a little bit of disbelief. Like, did that really happen? You wake up, it’s like, did I dream that? Did that really happen? There was still a little bit of that lingering by Tuesday, and season always ends, like, boom. I mean, it’s always so abrupt. I mean, yeah, you know when? And that’s, it’s always been that way for the ravens, right? I mean, save for 2015 John Harbaugh has and I guess the final week of the 2016 season, right, the Antonio Brown stretch across the goal line knocked him out of the playoffs. I mean, they have played so few games where they were a lame duck and eliminated and nothing to play for in the history of the John Harbaugh era. I mean, that speaks to even when they weren’t at their best. You know, the latter Flacco years, Lamar years, where he was hurt at the end of the season, they still had a high floor. I mean, his last win as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens was going into Green Bay without Lamar Jackson and beating the Packers on the road, right? I mean, that those were the kinds of scenarios where John Harbaugh thrived, where they they were the underdog. Ryan mallet, yeah. I mean, the floor was very high. The problem was the ceiling hadn’t been high enough here in recent years, right, in terms of breaking through in January. But certainly still surprising, even if there was certain acknowledgement of this happening, or at least whether this should happen, right, I think there was a growing number of certainly fans, but even media, even those who would have been categorized as quote John Harbaugh type guys, were acknowledged. That they had underperformed in January for a long time, quite frankly. So as you’re trying to process all of it and try to look ahead, you’re still looking at okay, how did it go down? You know that the timing of it? I found it interesting that it got out there as quickly as it did, considering reporting that John Harbaugh hadn’t informed his staff that players found out on social media. So I would say thinking about it through that or looking at it through that lens, I’m guessing Brian Harlan, his agent, was pretty quick to get that information out there, and there was very rapid reporting in terms of what was it, I think Adam Schefter said in the first 45 minutes, seven teams had reached out to him about John arboll, which, by the way, there aren’t seven other openings. So that speaks to at least one team that, my guess

Nestor Aparicio  05:54

is Miami, but that’s just me.

Luke Jones  05:55

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Yeah, maybe so, but, but that’s all of that initial reporting, seem, that seemed to be very much agent driven from the head coach’s agent to the point where the ravens,

Nestor Aparicio  06:08

everything that Mar doesn’t have in an agent, right, like to get out in front of this, right? Literally, sure,

Luke Jones  06:12

but, but, you know that it seemed then the Ravens were kind of scrambling to, you know, players said that they got texts from family and things of that nature. So, you know, it’s It was messy on that front, you’d like to think that when you’re making a change of this magnitude, that you control the message a little bit better, at least internally, with your own people not saying that you’re necessarily going to keep it away from everyone before you put out a statement. But, you know, so that was, well, we

Nestor Aparicio  06:40

found that at five o’clock. I’m wondering if it happened at 1234, you know, like, it certainly feels that way. It feels like they came together for lunch, got together at noon, talk for a little while. I’m not firing Todd monk, and I have other options here. You know, like he came in saying today, you know, like, I don’t want it to be like this, but, you know, I and these are, I know these dudes who’s got the bigger jaw is, that’s who they are. I mean, it really is. It’s, they’re, they’re, they’re bullies. Both of them, Steve bishati and John Harbaugh are bullies, and Chad Steel’s a bully, and that’s the organizational ethos is bully, and the culture is bully. And so I don’t know how that eight, nine kick sale wide. I’m into you for 50 million, maybe 60 million over the next three years. Like, like, you got to pay me, and if I walk out of here without the job today, I’m going to have seven other job offers. And you can have the quarterback, and you can have the team, and you know, like, you can do what you want, but like, I need to run the building, and Lamar is running the building, and the players are running the building, and the players in the aftermath, there has been lots of talking just the hours after whispers, people are saying that he lost the locker room, dude, I would go so far. And this would be me being not nice to John, and that’s okay, because, you know, I think he lost the city, dude, right? Like Steve, seeing the stands, the aftermath. I mean, the thing that got Brian fired was Mike Preston, the column the sun, and the Steve’s buddies saying, like, he lost the locker room. Well, if there’s a perception, he lost the locker room, and you’re the one in the locker room, and you could speak to reports earlier in the year and monkey and how maybe monkey and Lamar or John and Lamar, but if you’re gonna pick the coach or the quarterback, and we talked about this several times in recent weeks, so maybe we shouldn’t have been as shocked as we friggin Were on Tuesday, like, literally, we spent the whole day together Monday, and we just did not, we did not rehearse or scrimmage. Hey, John’s gonna get fired tomorrow and get pissed Steve off and and his agents by six o’clock, all hell’s gonna break loose. You and I did not scrimmage that at all. We haven’t scrimmage it yet. We’re doing it right now. Um, but I would say I can hear Steve saying, How many more years is John going to be here? Do we really want Lamar? Well, I mean, you’ve made it clear, and I’ve made I mean, who do you want? Kirk Cousins. I mean, like you got Lamar. He’s under contract, as Dennis kalatzo has pointed out. And a whole bunch of content that I have to burn from Tuesday because we were talking about state of the ravens, no good anymore. But Dennis said something that I just thought was brilliant, which is, Lamar is under contract for 74 he’d have to do anything. He’d have to renegotiate. He they’re not benching him. They’re not trading him. They’re not whatever. They’re going to just go no trade clause, right? I mean, they can’t do anything, and that’s going to be him being nice to renegotiate after. Are talking to Tom Brady about its value, but I this is really complex. It was already a mess when the ball sailed wide right from the minute that happened, and you met me in the car, and I was thawed out, and you were out of breath, and we were doing radio at five in the morning on Monday like we already knew it was going to be kind of a wild ride. That was our theme, you know, all day on Monday morning, as we were half assed upside down at the courtyard in Monroeville, got great pastries, though, but I would say, for me, culture, who’s coming in, they’re getting Lamar, and they’re getting Lamar is running the place in the near short term. And that’s not unusual, and that’s very NBA, and that beats Well, Coach has the right to pick his coordinators, and you’re the employees, and we’re going to have practice in the morning, and you’re making $74 million a year. And why the hell aren’t you here at OTAs?

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Luke Jones  10:55

Oh, okay, sorry. I didn’t know. Just to clarify something, his cap number is 74.5 he’s owed 51 point 2 million in base salary. So just wanted a little bit of housekeeping there, but the point still holds true. He’s under contract. He doesn’t have to renegotiate. Now, in most contracts, there’s language where you can take part of the base salary and roll it into a signing bonus. Things of that nature. But, yeah, I mean, they’re, if they’re going to extend him, make this contract structure more favorable from a salary cap standpoint, they need some cooperation from their starting quarterback

Nestor Aparicio  11:34

to do so. They need him to love it here, I’ve talked about that at length. Lamar just looked like he wasn’t having fun, and John’s not fun. And you know what? I mean, John’s less fun than he’s ever been.

Luke Jones  11:44

No one’s having no one had fun this year. Yeah, no one had fun this year. They didn’t win. They’re eight, nine. They started one in five. They lost four of their last six, right? I mean, so look, do I think John Harbaugh lost the locker room in the way that we’ve seen some head coaches lose the locker room in any major team sport. No, from the standpoint of they’re going out and getting dragged on the field, they’re they’re conducting themselves poorly. No, I don’t think it was that. I just don’t think they were winning enough. And I think when that happens. And we talked about this a lot as we talked over the course of this season and the bad start they got off to even before the injuries started. They were one in three, basically, and or not when they when they piled up, right? I mean, they were on their way to being one in three in the Kansas City game before Lamar got hurt, before Marlon Humphrey got hurt, before roquan Smith got hurt, and obviously the next couple weeks after that, I mean, they were, they were significantly injured so but we talked about it when you consider what happened in Buffalo last January, when you consider the theme of their offseason, and when I say the offseason, meaning more specifically, spring workouts in training camp, they were the theme was to be very intentional about playing winning football, to scrimmage those game scenarios where they’ve fallen short, to emphasize ball security, when they’ve had issues fumbling the ball at the worst possible time, those were all significant points of emphasis, and then you saw what happened right off the bat in Buffalo in week one. I will continue to say that that mentally damaged this team. Now, not saying that that’s an excuse. We’re talking about trying to explain what happens. So I think psychologically, however you want to quantify it, I have no idea, right? It’s not as though they went four and 13 from that point on, but I think that was a very significant mental hurdle for that football team. And I think when that happens, and when you start one in five, and when your starting quarterback is hurt, and when there are questions of questionable coaching decisions, it starts to add up. Now, does that mean lose the locker room in the way that like a completely dysfunctional team, where they lose the locker room and you have a coach in over his head? No, but do I think there got to be a, you know, even, and this could even go back to last couple years, where maybe the belief in their head coach had started to falter a little bit, not in a personal sense, as much as, why aren’t we better? Why aren’t we getting this done? Why aren’t we winning in January? Right in the same way that you and I have asked those questions, whether we thought John Harbaugh was going anywhere or not, we’ve talked about it, the idea that for as great as they’ve been in the regular season, that they weren’t breaking through in January, the sum wasn’t greater than the parts in January. And then when you have a season like this where you couldn’t even lean on regular season success anymore in that sense, sure, I’ll hear the idea of him losing the locker room in that way. But. You know, I think that’s, it’s a vague term, right? I mean, well,

Nestor Aparicio  15:04

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but I said he lost the city. I see that on the internet. There’s no question about, okay, all right, so so that you think that’s inarguable, that he lost the city, that that that is part

Luke Jones  15:14

of the Phoenix here. I mean, 100 nothing’s ever 100% and I don’t think it was 99% but for the fans, it was time, or it is easily. Yes, easily. I mean, I think even people that look social media is not real life. We talk about that in the sense that you’ll get a disproportionate percentage of extreme opinions

Nestor Aparicio  15:38

the loudest people are the angry people I get

Luke Jones  15:40

Yeah, but let’s face it, even you know you and I have plenty of rational, level headed Ravens fans in our lives. And I think even so many of them were saying, it’s time.

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Nestor Aparicio  15:52

I appreciate you. You think the company I keep

Luke Jones  15:56

has I said Psalm, right? Same for me.

Nestor Aparicio  15:59

Oh man, I don’t have a sense of humor after all of this. I don’t, you know, yeah,

Luke Jones  16:04

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I mean, just, but just, I mean, we’ve talked about the the increasing number of empty seats, and, no, that, that wasn’t all John horrible. There’s, I mean, go all the way back to what happened in London nearly a decade ago before that. Go back to Ray Rice, right? I mean, there are lots of factors that contribute to that. Go back to the factor of I mean, I just saw reporting on pro football talk that NFL attendance was down, you know, just under 1%

Nestor Aparicio  16:29

there were empty seats in Pittsburgh the other night, 60 bucks if you wanted to come and go Sydney upstairs and have a good time.

Luke Jones  16:36

So it’s never just one thing. But yeah, there’s been a lot of frustration, and there’s been a lot of finger pointing in a number of directions, but the head coaches, you know, you’re not going to fire the 53 man roster when you underperform the head coach, or the coordinators, or the head coach when he doesn’t want to part with a coordinator, they’re going to be the ones that face the heat. So from that standpoint, did he lose the city? I think, yeah, I think so. And you know, I’ll stand on what I said in our when I got on my soapbox in our initial conversation, if you can appreciate all that John Harbaugh accomplished, and respect that and celebrate that, in a long term sense, I I fully understand that people are excited about the possibilities this opens up and what you hope this can mean for the football team and bringing in an energetic, you know, new juice, new energy with a new head coach and what that could mean. I understand all that, but, like I said, the thing that bothered me was having the agenda that the Ravens need to move on by disparaging what a man has accomplished. You know, that’s, that’s something that just rubbed me the wrong way. You know, there were plenty of sound arguments to make to do this without saying, well, well, John Harbaugh only won the Super Bowl because of Joe, you know, Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. And you know, the same kind of thing that you could say about any head coach, like no head coach goes out there and plays a snap during the Super Bowl. So you need great players, but he, he absolutely deserved credit for what he did in the first half of his tenure here in Baltimore. So, but you know, it’s certainly, you know whether, I mean, it’s impossible to deny the Lamar Jackson factor here and the fact that they need to get something done contractually to help build the roster. Let’s put it this way. You know, I’m not going to sit here and and say that Lamar Jackson demanded this or anything like that, but it’s very apparent that he’s okay with this. You know, Steve bashati is not a dummy. Eric dicost is not a dummy. They they knew what the temperature was with their starting quarterback, with their head coach, before Steve goes ahead and lets John Harbaugh go and and, more specifically, I think it was much more about how Lamar Jackson and other players on the offense felt about Todd monkin, right? I mean, go back to some of the anonymous reporting earlier in the year about frustration with Monckton, and at the time, it felt very disproportional, right?

Nestor Aparicio  19:08

You got yelling at fans. We’re ass on the way out of, you know, the stadium as well. So like that always feels a little mutinous to me. You know what I mean? Like, I’ve been around this a long time, and you listen, and I had Matt Simon on this week, by the way, and I don’t have to burn that, because the 25th anniversary of the Ravens Super Bowl is coming up in three weeks. This is the week where they beat the Tennessee Titans, and this is, this is the anniversary, right now, of the Ray Lewis, Eddie George game, right? So putting things into perspective, 25 years ago, and the one thing about that team is there was no finger pointing, which led to them being able to win, because they figured it out they had a very unbalanced team, and that, you know, like there was a culture that 25 years later, when I walked into the modell’s home eight weeks ago, and Trent dolphers here, and Larry Webb. There, and Brandon Stokely is there. And I’m looking around at these men, and I’m thinking, these are really accountable men, like I’ve seen this for 25 years. Some of them have had tough lives, lost children, you know, lost money. There’s all sorts of things. And I think of who they are and what the ticker has, and I think about the culture of what this thing has become under HAR ball, in regard to guys dropping balls and not showing up for podium for eight months, the quarterback not coming to OTAs like just in a general sense of what John inherited in 2008 when there was no Twitter and all he had to do was fix Ed Reed, because Brian couldn’t, you know, like, Ogden was on his way out anyway. You know, some guys didn’t want to play for John. Like, you know what? I mean, that’s no secret, yeah, yeah, so, but that’s a long time ago, and that’s ancient history. The Jason Garrett thing is interesting because, you know, he was the hired if he wanted the job, right and before Jerry came and stole him back. So I don’t know how this thing’s going to go, but I remember how the last one went, and we’re already behind for accountability. The last time around, bashati would have been holding a press conference this morning at 10am. Somber, teary eyed, sitting there saying, I’m looking at the fans. I’m front facing the fans, and this means something to me, and I’m going to find the next Hall of Fame coach. He’s not going to do that. That’s our the bars. He’s already lowered the bar for himself, for his own accountability, which is why I’m writing them a letter. But I’ve written some notes down, and I like and I just want to go one by one, because you said something to me in the car on the way home. Not sure if you said about it on the air with me about Zach Taylor in in Cincinnati, about like, well, they don’t, they’re half assed, and they not going to make a change and all that dude I saw Flacco at his locker on the way out, like, beat the band for how much he liked that guy. And at that moment, I didn’t think anything about it. And then six hours later, bashati is firing a HAR ball. And I thought I don’t know the Flacco would be that way about har ball. I don’t know that I ever saw him like go that hard in on how much. I don’t know that he texts John Harbaugh once in the last 10 you know, like, literally, Harbaugh buried a relationship with me, and I speak to the fans and with the fans and among the fans and among businesses and among CEOs. And go look at my LinkedIn, believe me, I have a media kit for such things, and I offend people all the time with the truth, because the truth is, the culture sucks in their building. And John ran the building, according to the guy who’s the number one seed in Seattle’s got the weekend off. So the Joe Flacco thing about the coach said a lot to me. Here’s a guy in the league a long time came in and loved being in Cincinnati. Loved it so much. He stayed not to get a job next year. But like, I know Joe. Joe doesn’t need to work. Take a gig somewhere else. He might be the backup here to work in 13 years. Yeah, Joe, don’t need a gig, you know. And Joe’s the most honest human being I’ve ever met in sports. I like, I don’t have admiration for Joe. I have massive respect for Joe because, like David Modell, he never lied to me, and I’m going to be putting David modell’s Purple Rain one. I mean, I sat in David’s office before he was hiring Brian, and he told me why he was hiring Brian and why Terry Donahue, whose dad wanted to hire, who was UCLA coach, and you know, who was the guy, Dick Geron, who was the guy that became the Jacksonville Jaguar, or something, something? I don’t remember the guy’s name. So, Chris Palmer. Chris Palmer, thank you, yeah. Chris Palmer, yeah. Well, you’re obviously, you’re a historian, so I wrote a book about it, but I’m

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Luke Jones  23:58

first time I’ve thought about Chris Palmer in 15 years. Probably, yeah, right.

Nestor Aparicio  24:01

Of course, I haven’t heard his name, yeah. So, um, it’s like Eric Mangini. What happened to him? So he married Shapiro’s daughter or, right? So. So anyway, for me, culture leadership, and when I see Flacco talking about Zach, and I’m thinking to myself, you know, if Joe, Joe would tell me that over an iced tea. And like that means something. I don’t know what Joe would tell me about John if we had an iced tea this far gone about I know. What do we tell me about Billick? Right? You know, he did a couple weeks ago, right? So everybody’s got an opinion on all of this stuff, but the opinions I value the most are the people who have integrity. And you know, Shannon sharp was always one of those guys who’s telling you what way it was. What way it was. I mean, he’s had this successful media career. He’s got scrutiny and bad stuff. I hear all that Shannon won, the guy that’s played games. And, you know, he told you how it was, Rob Woodson tells you how it was, how it is. These are, I almost went FCC. These are effing grown men. Men. These are men of character, men of integrity, men I’ve known my whole life, like a lot of coaches, like Barry trots, people I talk about in sports all the time, that John Harbaugh’s not one of those guys, and the whole building reflected that. And Chad steel reflects that. Sashi brown reflects that, and my writing will reflect how I feel about it. As a person who was thrown out was a PSL holder flew around the world waving a purple cape, despite Ray Rice, despite Ray Lewis and Jamal Lewis and all the jurisprudence and all that, I got to know these human beings, and you’re not afforded that opportunity anymore on the inside, because they don’t want to be known, because Justin Tucker, you know what I mean, because guys have died in the offseason is quietly go away, and they put a patch up and, you know, but like, internally, the Tucker thing, the culture thing, where they are, the discord, in a general sense, that’s led to this. Har ball owns this, but Steve’s got to own this. Steve’s got to own this. And this is time for Steve to own things. And he’s not already owning this. He owned this with a press release on Tuesday night like and he’s not around. I don’t even know if he was at the game in Pittsburgh. I’m not freezing my ass off. Is even there I care when I care more than the owner. That sucks. And he’s made $2 billion since the last time he’s spoken to the media. He’s made two bill, the thing was worth three, 4 billion. Now it’s worth five, 6 billion, since the last time he met with the me, since Joe Flacco left, since he overpaid Joe Flacco. So there’s just so much money, and it’s so important to the city. You know what I mean? Like, I like, that’s where I everybody’s up in arms. It’s all over, you know, like it’s the biggest story in our culture, more important than a pedophile president on the day that the insurrection happened, that they’ve taken plaques down, and they’re making heroes. I mean, they’re rewriting history, you know, like all of this stuff happens. And in Baltimore, here’s the next coach. That’s the only thing that matters. We got a bridge. We can’t get rebuilt. That’s how important this is. And Lamar and the drama and and the 90 cume that they got when the ball sailed wider, even my wife was awake, and she tried to fall asleep. So people care a lot, and it means a lot to the city, and it’s fallen, and I feel it everywhere I go, whether it’s Ray Rice Wembley, racism that’s just rampant in general when you have a black quarterback in general, just in general, I smell it as a Venezuelan who’s been locked out by them. So I have all of that, but I also have the What are you putting in front of this? Are you putting something in front of this? Are you putting players in front of this and humans in front of this that are of the caliber of Joe Flacco and Anquan Boldin? Are you or are you not? And once you do, who’s the leader? Are they going to stand up the way my partner, Brian Billick did for years, the way Marvel like all these coaches I know would have had no part of having you in that press box and me not. And that’s just as a starter. That’s just as a starter of accountability, taking questions, being honest, not being a prick, not having a different standard for winning than losing. You know, good winner, bad loser. No, no, no, no, no professional, professional at all times. That’s what you and I are charged with. So so for me, the Flaco Taylor thing was something culture and what this means, what kind of person they’re going to put in front of the building that Steve’s going to say, this is the next guy. This is the last coach I’m going to hire.

Luke Jones  28:57

Yeah, we’re going to find out. I mean, when you’re talking about a franchise that’s only had three head coaches, when you’re talking about a franchise that’s had only two general managers, and the old General Manager is still in the building every single day. So think about that when you make a change of this sort. I’ll push back a little bit on the fact that Steve bashotti Fire John Harbaugh shows that he still cares. Now, does he care in the way that he needs to? Does he care in the way that he needs to be in front of the fans talking? If he didn’t care at all, it would have been exactly, well,

Nestor Aparicio  29:30

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we’re all wondering how engaged he is or was, or needs to be sure. And this is a, it’s a great question, because it needs

Luke Jones  29:36

to be very engaged. No question. Yeah, but, but, but, I would just say if he didn’t care at all, and he was truly just in full blown autopilot mode. John Harbaugh would still be the head coach, and he just say, I’m not firing John, you know, I I’m comfortable with John. John’s been my guy for 18 years, so, so I’ll push back on that part of it, but your other points, you know, not gonna argue. I’ll just say that, yeah, it’s going to be fascinating to see what they identify here. There in terms of what kind of coach, in terms of the age of the coach, in terms of whether it’s a first time coach, which is what I think it’s going to be. I’m not going to say that’s impossible. I mean, could they go hire Brian Flores? They could sure. I know

Nestor Aparicio  30:13

this time around, you can bet on it. You couldn’t last time. You know, I saw the odds on who it’s going to be. One of them was the coach of the Vikings. And I’m like, well, that’s interesting. You know what? I think they need a quarterback and the Jason Garrett. John Harbaugh, never saw the game as a quarterback, because he was never a quarterback. And I really

Luke Jones  30:32

think they’re going to you think Jason Garrett’s a real candidate.

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Nestor Aparicio  30:37

No, Steve would move to the point of liking that mindset more for what the next thing is going to be, because quarterbacks are leaders and they’re strategists to begin with. Like, why catchers make managers sort of thing, like, why we hear Tony Romo and Tom Brady on their worst day. Phil Sims, his kid on their worst day, the quarterbacks who can express themselves. Matt Ryan on their worst day, they are by far the smartest people in the field. John Elway, you know, if you hear them talk football, they see the game in totality, the way Mike Flynn just couldn’t be in a guard man. You know what I mean, like I and that’s not look Mike fravel, I’m not taking I’m just, I mean, it’s Steve, and I’m talking to Steve right now. I’m talking to community. That’s the way I feel as a 57 year old. And if I were in the building, you’d have to talk me out of it. Eric would say, no way we can get anybody. And I hear that, but I think I’d like to talk to some people that could whisper to my quarterback and that my quarterback, it’s fair, would be able to be in a room with and really vibe with in some way.

Luke Jones  31:56

Yeah, I think that’s absolutely going to be important. Is that the end all be all. Are there no other considerations? No. I mean, you’ve always got to look at the person, the background, right? You know the have to have references that, that you feel comfortable with, as far as others who have worked with an individual or known an individual, to feel a certain way about them. But yeah, the look, is Lamar Jackson going to be sitting in on interviews? No. But is he a major consideration in all this? Yeah, in the same way that if the Ravens had, if John Harbaugh had quit after the 2014 season, or retired, or something like that, then there should have been a strong consideration for Joe Flacco at that point in time, right? That’s, that’s it all. That’s when you have a franchise quarterback, you know, strengths and flaws, if considered, that’s still going to be very, very important. So, yeah, I think you know. And this is to take nothing away from Brian Flores or Jesse mintern, not to say that they will, ultimately, won’t hire a defensive minded coach, head coach, because, you know, again, it’s not a hard and fast rule that you can’t deviate from. But a defense city, Luke, you know that they’ve got a man, they’ve got they’ve got to get back to that in some shape or form. I mean, my goodness, that defense was so far below the bar last, you know, the first half of last year. Hey, you just used a hardball line. I did well, yeah, it’s a good line. You’re gonna keep that

Nestor Aparicio  33:25

forever below the bar is gonna be across the across

Luke Jones  33:29

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the board, they were below the bar this year, right? I mean, what? We’ve talked about it, what were they good at? You know? What were they great at? Who had a great year individually? Like, it’s a short list of players so on on that list. So but I think inherently, ideally, especially when you look at Lamar now, who is entering year nine, who is turning, you know, actually on Wednesday, 29 years old, you’re looking at that now, this will be his third offensive coordinator. And we also know the reality that if you have a great offensive coordinator with a great quarterback, what tends to happen that offensive coordinator gets poached. Now it’s not every year, but even before the news broke about John Harbaugh, there were, you know, Todd Monken was reported him getting

Nestor Aparicio  34:20

a head coach. Well, the last time the defense was good around here, we lost our coach Exactly So, and he’s on bye week this week.

Luke Jones  34:26

So from that standpoint, if you have a head coach who’s an offensive mind, whether he’s a former quarterback or not, but his background is offense there, the idea is that he’s then in lockstep with your franchise quarterback, and no one can poach him then. So will they do that? I have no idea, but that’s certainly one direction they can go that would make a lot of sense, because then it’s you’re not in a position where you’re worried about if you, even if you hire a great head coach, and you have a fantastic year, you’re not then worried that well, you. The OC going to get poached, at the very least, if it is an offensive minded head coach, you know, that guy will be in place, whether he’s calling plays or not. That guy will be in place and in lockstep with my franchise quarterback. So, you know, maybe that’s an argument for Clint Kubiak, right? I mean, offensive guy. So we’re going to see how it plays out. And I’m fascinated to see who they’re going to interview. And I think last time it took you would know better than me. I think it was 20 days for the ravens to find John Harbaugh, ultimately, and hire him after the Jason Garrett stuff.

Nestor Aparicio  35:31

So we’ll have realtors out on Twitter in real time.

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Luke Jones  35:35

I would put us right about what AFC Championship going into Super Bowl, right around that? Well, you got to get

Nestor Aparicio  35:41

it done before Super Bowl week, because they don’t want to do it during Super Bowl week. So Right? Like, yeah, look, let’s take a break. We’ll come back. Luke’s here. I’m Nestor. We are I got my new Planet Fitness shirt on. It’s a little tight on me, so maybe I I can’t lose any more weight. I’ll blow away. It’s winter time here, but Planet Fitness has been on my team for a long time, our friends at GBMC as well as the Maryland lottery and the candy cane cash. I will have Maryland craft cake tour dates coming out. We’re definitely doing a cup of Super Bowl in a couple of weeks as well. I’m trying to get my bearings, like Steve bashati said the last time when he fired Brian Billick, he needed to get his equilibrium back, and so we’re trying to get our equilibrium back, as well as a work off those primaries we had in Pittsburgh, back for more Baltimore, positive. Stay with us.