Loop The Redeemer kicks up a memorable win in Rio

The run to Rio de Janeiro ended with an interesting Loop. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss all aspects of the Baltimore Ravens 34-31 win over the Dallas Cowboys on the foot of the kicker whose burden has been heavy since last season’s exit miss in Pittsburgh. This time, it was 56 yards and “good” on a day when the field, the play, the tackling and the run game weren’t always good enough. The guys in purple return to America from South America at 2-1. That’ll work…

The discussion assessed the Ravens’ narrow international win over Dallas and the team’s remaining weaknesses.

Game Outcome

• Lamar Jackson, Zay Flowers, and Tyler Loop delivered in the final seconds: Jackson found Flowers, and Loop made a 56-yard game-winning field goal.
• The Ravens survived a goal-line stand and benefited from questionable Dallas play calling, clock management, and penalties.

Team Issues

• The defense again struggled with tackling and surrendered a fourth-quarter lead.
• The offense had poor short-yardage execution, while injuries to the interior offensive line created uncertainty at center.
• The field in Rio remained a major player-safety concern, though neither speaker identified a specific injury caused by the surface.

Next Focus

• Open questions include whether Javon Gwyn or Tyler Linderbaum’s replacement can play center, and whether the defense can correct its late-game problems before Tennessee visits.
• The conversation also previewed upcoming Baltimore Positive programming and the Friday Pizza John’s broadcast.

• Host the Baltimore Positive program at Pizza John’s in Essex on Friday, featuring newest sponsor Rosedale Bank. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Bring Ravens Bird scratch-off tickets to distribute at the Friday Pizza John’s event. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• If time permits this week, write a critical piece about Amy Adams and the Titans wearing Oilers colors. (@Nestor Aparicio)

Ravens win in Rio

• The Ravens defeated the Cowboys on Tyler Loop’s 56-yard field goal after Lamar Jackson connected with Zay Flowers to set up the kick.
• The speakers characterized the game as entertaining, unusual, and ultimately fortunate for Baltimore.

End-game execution

• Baltimore made the necessary final defensive stop despite a controversial pass-interference call.
• Dallas was criticized for goal-line play calling, clock management, a false start, and failing to exploit open receivers.

Roster concerns

• The defense’s tackling and fourth-quarter performance remain significant concerns.
• Short-yardage offense and center depth were discussed after injuries to the interior offensive line.
• Jackson’s designed runs and Flowers’ return were viewed as decisive offensive factors.

Field and coverage

• The Rio playing surface prompted extensive criticism and questions about player safety and NFL oversight.
• Broadcast limitations made it difficult to determine the timing and details of some injuries.

Program planning

• Friday’s Baltimore Positive broadcast will take place at Pizza John’s with Rosedale Bank and other sponsors.
• Upcoming programming will include Ravens analysis, baseball coverage, and the show’s anniversary programming.

Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We call this thing Baltimore Positive. We’re positively going to be at Pizza John’s on Friday. I’m wearing the Pizza Johns Christmas gear here. It was like a a puppy love and rescue thing. So I’ll be doing all that for a couple Super Bowl. But on this Friday, we will welcome our newest sponsor, Rosedale Bank, over Kevin Benson, who I’ve known for a long, long time. I’ve been threatening him for a long time about coming on the program, so we’re going to do it at Nessix on Friday at Pizza Johns, where I made a Pizza Johns run right after the loop field goal went through, which I’m going to be talking about all week. Brought to you by friends at the Maryland Lottery, I’ll have the Ravens Kiss Face Birds to give away on Friday. It’s been a lucky batch, and we’re going to be at all of our sponsors. I was at Costas on Sunday afternoon at Timonium. We’re going there. We’re going to be back at Fishmonger’s Daughter in Catonsville in a few weeks, and of course at Koco’s down in Lauraville. But this week it’s Pizza Johns on Friday, and our newest sponsor at Rosedale Bank. Also, GBMC keeping me healthy. We’re getting back into those segments as we’re into the fall, as well as Farnan and Dermer. And Luke is wearing the Farnan and Dermer gear. Luke, you missed out on Thursday. We were at State Fair, and we had Zach Dermer out. Caspar Wells came. Alan came. Richard Abrahams came. My my old heck company buddy from Reisterstown Road Plaza, so we told some stories and whatnot. Stayed away from baseball, like the playoffs and the Orioles and the Rio thing. I think when they went out of town on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, everything on my timeline were people like Leonard Raskin that were down in Rio. I don’t know. I didn’t experience any. I wish I were there. I was very happy to be driving to Pizza John’s to get a pizza after the game and listening to the post-game show with Keith Mills. But I would just say it-the strangest week, right? Look, all of it-the field, the game, the way it ended, weird coaching decisions. I mean, I’m not going to say they were lucky to win. I think we can all say that, and they did what they needed to do and kick the field goal. But very memorable, just a very memorable. I think if you went to Rio, and I’ll ask Raskin, and I had a handful of other people that were down. Clancy was down there. People I know were there. It was kind of a an interest. It was unlike a game in Dallas. I’ll say that it

Luke Jones 2:21
was a great football game. I mean, it just was. I mean, looking at it objectively, if you had no skin in the game whatsoever, if you weren’t a Cowboys fan, if you weren’t a Ravens fan, it was a really entertaining football game. And let’s think about this. I mean, how many games have you really said that about as far as these international games, right? So many games in London at Wembley that start at nine in the morning and it’s a slog, and neither teams really. Both teams look sleepy. We’ve seen so many games like that. So for this to deliver in the way that it did for the league, and it helps that Rio is an hour ahead rather than five or six hours ahead, right? And and getting into some of the timing of these international games, but boy, I just kept kept coming back to, it felt like for the second straight week the Ravens were going to make Jesse mantra or Jesse Minter’s mantra of be at our best when our best is needed into a little more than a punchline. But then you remember, the Dallas Cowboys have gotten a doctorate in that over the last three decades. Oh my God! Yeah, I mean they’re so

Nestor Aparicio 3:20
horrific.

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Luke Jones 3:21
Yeah, I mean you talk about a team that just is no longer America’s team. I mean they are in terms of okay, they’ve got a big following, all that, but the the lack of success on the field speaks for itself, right? But when you look at the final 30 seconds, final minute, right, wherever you want to do the breakdown as far as what happens there? Credit the Ravens; they get a stop at the goal line, right? But you look at Dallas from their play calling, the clock management, the decision to kick, and it’s really funny as they kick off there and they boot it through the end zone. And I saw Schottenheimer after the game said that Brandon Aubry kicking two kickoffs out of bounds factored into that, but I thought back to the end of the first half last week against the Saints. Right, the Ravens kick the ball in play, and the Saints get the long kick return and they get the cheap three points at the end of the first half. It was the same exact scenario, except it was the end of game rather than end of half. So, but it was a reminder that in crunch time, you need your very best players to make plays, and Lamar Jackson and Zay Flowers made a play there. I mean, they just absolutely did, and let’s credit Tyler Lue, faced a lot of scrutiny. I will continue to say the Ravens absolutely should have brought in competition in the spring and summer. I’m not going to waver on that whatsoever, but because if even if he is the guy, why would that have mattered, right? Are you shocked to make the kick when he came out? You’re watching on TV like I’m watching on TV, and I’m thinking the turf, the this, the that, the like the whatever. You know, I gave it a 50. I mean, it’s a long kick. It’s a long kick for any kicker in history. Not an easy kick in general. Again, I was shocked because Tyler Loop has the leg talent, right? It’s never been that I thought, oh, this guy’s like Matt, late career Matt Stover, and he. But in the the reality of the NFL, and I said this a lot to you throughout the off season, and I we talked about this last year when he only made one kick from beyond 50 yards. You need to make kicks like this in the National Football League. Like if you’re going to be the next Justin Tucker in terms of a guy that can be a kicker for 15 years and and can be the guy and make game-winning kicks and maybe make it to a couple Pro Bowls along the way, whatever. You’ve got to make it from 50 plus in the modern NFL. I mean, it’s just it’s that simple. So I’m not going to say I was shocked. I’m also not going to sit there and say that I had 100% confidence that he was going to make it. But just the fact that it got to that point, right? And part of the equation for me. Anyone who paid attention to the injury report this week, Dallas went into the game multiple guys down in the secondary, they lost a couple guys, and a couple other guys were in and out over the course of the day. That’s where it still blows me away that they didn’t force a kick return there because the guy covering Zay Flowers on that play, and they ran man coverage, which that was kind of surprising as well. He had been elevated from the practice squad the previous day, the safety that was way too deep in that on that play, which I guess you know you don’t want to give up a 60 yard touchdown, but still you don’t want to give up a 20 plus yard completion there. He was literally a third string safety. I mean, they were down to think about the Ravens at their most injured times in the season. All the more reason why you

Nestor Aparicio 6:40
wouldn’t want to play overtime if you’re Dallas, right? Like, I mean, you mentioned everything but the penalty at the goal line too, because that’s really what screwed them, right? Yeah. Well, well, you just said

Luke Jones 6:48
it. I mean, you questioned their play calling, and and philosophically, I mean, even on that fourth down, and and look, I’m not going to sit here and say that I definitely go for it, but that should have been a consideration because of just how depleted their secondary was, but hey, that’s not the Ravens’ problem. The Ravens made a play. Lamar Jackson credit him for calling the timeout immediately, and Tyler Luke makes a kick. I mean, good for him. That that kid. Oh yeah, you got to feel good for that. Can only imagine what his off season was like, right? And you know you can say all the right things, and and you know we didn’t talk to him until what mini camp, I think it was, from the time that he talked in the post game locker room in Pittsburgh. We didn’t hear from him again publicly until mandatory mini camp in June, I think it was, or maybe the final OTA. Point was that it was June, right? So you you have no idea what someone’s going through in all that time, and and that’s not to say that he didn’t handle it well or anything like that. But that’s we all have what ifs over the course of our lives, right? I mean, in any walk of life, you have what ifs, and I just couldn’t help but think what he had to endure there, and then to have this opportunity so early in the season, and again, so much of last year, leading up to the miss in Pittsburgh, we talked about it. He he went through almost an entire season of really being untested. He didn’t get that game-winning kick opportunity until Week 18 in Pittsburgh, and he missed it. Right, so so much of that was just he was an unknown commodity, and then when he does get his first chance, it’s in the biggest spot of his life, right? A season-ending situation, and he missed it. You just don’t know how someone’s going to respond to that. And again, that’s why I thought all along: bring in competition, bring in competition. The Ravens did it. They clearly had a lot of confidence in him, and he made them look really smart with making a kick in that spot. And to your point, I mean, when you talk about the field conditions, which by the end of the week I was just like, “There’s only so much we could say about this, right? I mean, as I noted, I think I said this to you last week. As I noted to a veteran player in the locker room, it might have even been the week before when some of the discourse started about the field down in Rio, and I said to that individual, I said, “Do you think the NFL really cares when half the owners don’t care about the playing surface in their own stadium? And that individual, he just kind of shook his head, right? I mean, he just he didn’t have anything to say about it, but it was like, “I hear you. So, but but it felt like the game, for the most part, played mostly true. Right? Don’t really remember too many examples of either side slipping and sliding, and it hindering the game. But in that moment for Tyler Loop, after Lamar and Zay Flowers, who I’ll I’ll be the first to admit, I was really surprised that Zay Flowers played. I saw him do a workout at one point last week, and it’s not that he looked awful, but he did not look like someone to me that was a couple days away from playing in a football game. But those guys make a play, and Tyler Loop comes in, and I mean, it reminded me a good bit of. Tucker’s at the time his NFL record kick in Detroit five years ago. It reminded me a little bit of that. It was a similar, you know, the Ravens weren’t in a position where they only had seven seconds, but they I believe they had a a fourth down conversion or two in that game. I think there was one to Sammy Watkins in that game.

Luke Jones 10:17
I believe I could be wrong on that. I don’t have it in front of me, but it was the same kind of thing where you just say, “Wait, how did how did they just win that? Right. So credit them. Was there some good fortune? Sure. At the same time, Dallas got the ball at the goal line on a pass interference call that, at best, was controversial, right? At best, was questionable. There were

Nestor Aparicio 10:44
several sort of pushes and shoves and grabs in the early in the game as well. Zay Flowers, yeah, there there

Luke Jones 10:50
was a DPI call to shove that dude. Yeah, I mean that was that. But in the final in the last seconds, there, I mean that was that was a really really brutal call on Nate Wiggins, right? I mean, you see, they both had their arms hooked, but then you see Lamb just absolutely pulling on him there. If anything, it should have been offensive pass interference, but just the fact that they were able to get a stop there, yeah, the Cowboys’ incompetence helped. It generally does in these situations, right? I mean, New Orleans benefited from the. Can we discuss that for just a

Nestor Aparicio 11:20
minute because like we beat we beat Harbaugh up around here for a good 18 years on this and you were always like well it happens other places too you know watch it happen it happens all the

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Luke Jones 11:30
time I mean it really does it’s it’s so

Nestor Aparicio 11:33
incredible they pay these guys $20 million a year and they have all of these handlers around and they don’t have an operation. They don’t really have. I wouldn’t want them running emergency recall for the county, as an example. Like they’re just not. They haven’t thought it through. They’re football people, but they’re not operational people in two minute warning. Very few of them really do something other than what their gut tells them. You know what I mean? Like they’re flying by the seat of their pants a little bit, for sure. It

Luke Jones 12:05
can be right. I mean, I think you try to rehearse those things as much as you can. And Minter talked about the end of you know end of game scenario where he even talked about the fact that seven seconds is probably about the the absolute minimum that you’re going to need to try to throw throw a deep ball down the middle, right? To try to get in range for a 55 to 65 yard field goal, you know, whatever you think your kicker’s range is, and wherever you can get the ball, quite frankly. But yeah, I think these scenarios. I first of all, I say this all the time. It goes so it moves at such a faster pace than anyone realizes, right? I I say that all the time about anyone when when you have a chance to just watch a practice and you realize how fast everything moves, right? But I think I think the same applies on the sideline, and that’s why the teams that tend to rehearse those things the best generally will do better in those spots. And that’s not to say you’re never going to have hiccups, I mean both sides had hiccups in this game. There’s no doubt about it. I mean, it was kind of three games in one, right? I mean, the Ravens come out and were awful for the first 13 minutes of the game. They mostly dominated in the second and third quarter, and then Dallas in the fourth quarter. I mean, we see another double-digit, you know, two-score lead evaporates for the Ravens. I mean, still plenty, a plenty of issues to talk about on the defense, right? Which the defense is the healthier side of the ball right now. Yeah, man, we’re

Nestor Aparicio 13:28
gonna go through all of that, but we are like stuck in this kicker made the kick. Yeah, they they went down and survived the field. Good decisions, bad like all of that. But in it in a general sense, I think when the dust settles and the lousy Titans come in and the lousy foul and the five and one six and one scenario that I talked about, while every other team in the division’s two and one. I mean, don’t look at the Browns. I mean, and we’ll do a whole segment on how weird it is that you know the Chargers can’t win. You know, teams that thought they were going to be good. The Buccaneers are zero and three. I mean, it’s crazy. But in their case, the good fortune of snatching victory out of Jaws at defeat. I mean, they dude, they were four plays from the one yard line. It was like Jimmy Smith all over again. It was like Varbaugh and his brother, and they won, and they won in like the play down the middle of a kick. Defense, big special teams moment, taking opportunity, one play and a kick. Like, and they just fixed the whole thing. The Orioles wish they they were so lucky to just fix it all. You know, literally in one series, but they sort of fixed it all very, very quickly because I think had they gone in there and lost and had the long flight back, like our demeanor about the team would be really like holy hell, what happened? Because it was holy hell right up till the the ball went through, and you know I I. Didn’t love overtime for the Ravens, but I certainly didn’t love it for the Cowboys with their secondary. Right, like I looked at it and thought, like they might win in overtime. This thing might be a tie in overtime, is the way I looked at it a little bit. But I also looked and thought to myself, man, they’re one and two. That when it was that when they were on the one yard line, I’m like, holy hell, they’re gonna lose, and they look bad doing it. And the new coach, and they they had a lead, and the lost it again. And and Nance can’t stop. I mean, Nance and Watt. I’ve never accused any. They were cheering for the Cowboys. Nance certainly was cheering for the Cow. Like it was weird, and the crowd sounds didn’t sound like the European crowds, where it crescendoed, it almost sounded like they they knew a little bit about what was going on when they weren’t doing the wave, and that song that they sang, I I got that on Shazam too, but all of it would be terrible if they lost, but they didn’t, and the way that they won leads us into happy talk, and I guess we’ll do some happy talk for a while. But like in a general sense, totally weird game. I mean, I and not a great anything or even the outcome. I mean, the center’s thing that I mean that injury looked horrible to Posik after you you lose Gwynn. So I mean, lots of things were going wrong, you know, in the football operation, but it smells just beautiful when a kicker makes a 56-yard kick, and it washes away all the sins. It really does.

Luke Jones 16:28
Winning is the great deodorizer, right? I mean, that’s just what it is. I mean, it is. I mean, think about it. I mean, as far as their issues, I mean, you already mentioned center. Hats off to Van Goghane. I mean, he played very sparingly at Penn State, as far as a little bit at center here and there, right? But he’s been a guard. Hey,

Nestor Aparicio 16:46
I don’t want to interrupt you, but I was on the way back from Pizza John’s listening to the post game show, and you know I never listened. I mean, dude, there was nobody in Pizza John’s at 830. There was nobody in on the road. There was nobody anywhere, and so it was very quiet. I don’t know who’s listening to it, but I almost called in to Keith and Nick, and I’m listening, and they replayed the the call. And by the way, Kyle Yeomans-that’s his name, right? Kyle, right? She sounds like Jamie Costello. Like, don’t tell anybody. I got to tell Jamie. If anybody knows Jamie, tell Jamie. But like I’ve listen, I didn’t listen to the game. I watched. I got in the car to get pizza and salad when the game ended, and I thought, “Oh, I listened to the locker room in the car. So it was great, right? So that’s what I wanted to do. So little, what I I didn’t do the first 28 years. I would have been running around Maricanna Stadium trying to figure out where the elevator was, and so I take these things as a blessing at some point when Chad Steele threw me out. But I’m listening, and the replay of it, they played low snap, like Kyle Yeoman says, snap is low on the last play. On the on the last play, listening to it on the radio, and you know doing the play-by-play was low snap. Lamar handles Safe Flowers across the middle down. Did he get it one second? We got one second. And Rob Woods is like he was down. That’s one second. They’re going to put one. You know. So I’m listening to it, and I thought snap was low, and I thought it was just funny because it just shot out that way. And you mentioned Yuani, and I’m like, dude, he’s the center now, right? He’s going to be the center this week. I mean,

Luke Jones 18:25
I, I guess, right? Let’s see. I mean, let’s see what happens with Gwyn. I mean, Posick, yeah, that didn’t look good. I mean, you never want to completely judge something just on how it looks, but it didn’t look good. It didn’t really. I, I don’t think I ever saw a replay of like Gwyn hurting his ankle, right? I think that was more a case of he came to the sideline and like I messed up, you know. So we’re we’re gonna see. I mean, yeah, on their practice squad. I mean, I trying to think off the top of my head if they have any interior linemen that would be of any ilk as it pertains to being a center. I love the way Nancy.

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Nestor Aparicio 19:00
Those guys like well, he had 18 snaps or whatever it was in college, right? And at Penn State, it was

Luke Jones 19:04
very little, right? Yeah, and and and was probably a similar scenario. Probably their starting center got hurt, and Venga’s their best lineman, and they say, “Hey, can can you snap the ball for us too? So, but but yeah, I mean that’s that’s not great. I mean, let’s face it, and this is an extension of that. They were horrendous in short yardage. I mean, Derrick Henry wasn’t. He ran into those

Nestor Aparicio 19:27
dudes, man. It was awful.

Luke Jones 19:29
I mean, where is the tush push play for this team? Whether whether you do it like with Mark Andrews in the past, or however you want to do it, you need something better than that. Derrick Henry being seven yards away from the line to gain. Who’s the Smythe

Nestor Aparicio 19:42
guy running around effing up the operation too? Supposed to be

Luke Jones 19:45
their best blocking tight end. Yeah, well, he

Nestor Aparicio 19:47
ain’t no Pat Ricard thus far. I mean,

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Luke Jones 19:49
or just I mean, just the pre-snap motion, the timing of it was off, and but that was bad. I mean, obviously, we’ll talk a lot about the defense. I mean, the defense was not good. Second straight week where you look at it, especially in the fourth quarter, and just say like, really, really. I mean, like this is this is this is the segment we’re doing

Nestor Aparicio 20:07
where they won. You and I are going to do two more segments here. We’re like, what the hell? The offensive line that you know, just in a general sense. And I’m glad we’re not talking about the turf because we’re not going to talk much. I mean, there’s

Luke Jones 20:17
there’s just not. I mean, for me, it got to the point where it’s just like I don’t. What else do you want me to say at this point? Like, I I think it’s ridiculous, but I also think it’s ridiculous that the Giants and the Jets have played on the turf that they have in recent years. I mean, you and I, I think you and I talked about this recently, where the Ravens lost a couple guys a season-ending injuries in that Week One game against the Jets. Can I say

Nestor Aparicio 20:39
something? Because I thought about this in the middle of the game, but my buddy Winky Ransom, Ranzellis Ransom, grew up together, Dundalk High. He was down with his wife, and before the game, I’m on Facebook. He’s literally videotaping, you know, like showing the video of them lacing the field. He’s in the stadium, like you know, it’s an hour before the game, and they’re sowing the field, like literally.

Luke Jones 21:02
Yeah.

Nestor Aparicio 21:02
And I’m thinking to myself, and I’m I’m not being I’m being a complete dick. All right. I’ll just say it. All right. I’m just here. Here it goes. From the guy who you just said, well, I don’t know when the center left. Well, because we’re effing reporters and we’re not there. Because I’m not allowed to be there. And because like flying you 5000 miles didn’t feel like a great idea this week to cut to figure out when the center left the game, and we’re relying on CBS. We’re relying on Tracy Wolfson to tell us the field’s okay because they told her to say the NFL expects no problems with the field today, and I’m like, I mean, the bulljah that these journalists have to go through at Paramount and CBS and Fox, it’s a whole different level of anything I ever experienced. As I look through my old cut lines and old rock and roll stories from 40 years ago, when it was like a newspaper and like we were kind of like charged with telling the truth, like sort of that was the whole deal was telling the truth when we’re broadcasting on an FCC license. But I’ll say this: the field thing and everything that went into it. Here’s where I got a little pissy in watching it. I’m thinking to myself, Jerry Jones wants the camera on him. Steve’s on his boat in Bimini. Doesn’t want to be seen. I don’t want to be in him. Sashi’s there for me. Sashi will be there to high five everybody. And I’m thinking to myself, you own this billion dollar entity. You care about Lamar’s knees enough that you don’t really care, but you care enough. If you if they cared about these players, they’d all have the plastic helmets on instead of the hard ones, right? I said that last week. I’m like, why do some of them have them, some of them don’t? Because it’s okay to protect someone, but not others. Like I don’t. If it’s that much better to have it on, put it on everybody. But it’s not sexy. It doesn’t shimmer. It doesn’t, but they can figure some mylar out. I, you know, I I saw what the Bills were wearing in the Colts were wearing on Sunday. They’ll figure out the uniforms, but protecting players in a sport that’s gladiatorial, where they have stretchers, and I’m thinking of any other walk of life where there’s a stretcher and an ambulance and and medics and Leanne Curl is there and all the doctors are like. There’s no other walk of life. I mean, Bill Cole has people walk on roofs, but he doesn’t have people with ambulances underneath waiting for them to get injured. You know, injured on the job. My friends at Blondel Miller Schuller make a living doing this when people really get injured, like my dad hurting himself at the point or something. You know, but I’m thinking like of of all the things that they don’t care about. I mean, Hamlin almost dying in the middle of the field, concussion. There’s a whole movie on them hiding it and all of that. Their one responsibility. Forget the hot dogs and the tickets and the hot dogs tasting warmer inside the inside the perimeter, and them opening their little $25 billion thing down at the stadium for fans to all cheer so they can get it on television because they didn’t want to have it over Cordish’s place like they do in other times. Their only responsibility: the gambling, the whistles, the rules, the scoreboards, the stadium, the television. Their only responsibility to the players is the field. That’s it. Everything else is, we’ll handle that. We have officials for that. We have Chad Steele to handle the media and cover up all the dirty deeds. We have. We’ll make sure we get a picture of Jara in the you know because we have to do that per you know per like contract he has he has to be on television it’s important to him so like they they they handle all they think about flights arrangements sleep all of this stuff and their only responsibility the only tapestry the only thing they’re responsible for in the house. My house has water, electricity, a roof, like all sorts of sewage. All sorts of stuff has to happen.

Nestor Aparicio 24:47
Make my house work to make a football game work. The grass, the field. That’s the like. That’s the thing the players touch, other than the football itself and each other. And they can’t get the field right, and I’m thinking to myself, it’s your only responsibility. All the rest of this makes money, and it’s great, and the colors and the televisions-they get all of that impeccably right, so they can make money. But they can’t figure out the field. Like if I’m a player, I’m just sort of like, I know you want me to hit my head and kill myself and live less and I’m making a lot of money and CTE and I got to perform and I got to be at my like all of that. You can’t get the grass right. That’s all I. That’s what occurred to me when I’m watching this and thinking we’re sitting. They decide to play games 5000 miles away on another continent, fans decide to go. Everybody decides, and they can’t get the grass right, or they start thinking about it two weeks ago on a soccer pitch in the most famous stadium in the world. And there’s nobody thinking like this could really embarrass us or hurt Hurt Lamar, nobody like that. That’s the part that bothers me the most. And to your point, they don’t think about it in their own stadium, and that’s what I heard you in the back. And I’m thinking, well, they play Thursday night football. They they’re not, they don’t care about these players at all. And the number one thing they could do to show a little bit is to get the grass right. That’s all. And and I, you know, the little rubber things that were getting in the guy’s eyes years ago when David put that that iron shit down on the field. Like I, I don’t know, you know, I don’t know, but there’s a science involved in this, and whatever that was in Rio is not in the best interest of of Roger Dorn. Sorry, it’s my five minutes on.

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Luke Jones 26:40
I mean, I already said my piece 15 minutes ago, so I mean, I I don’t know what else you want me to say about it. I mean, it’s just I thought the game, but I thought the game played well enough.

Nestor Aparicio 26:51
Yeah,

Luke Jones 26:52
yeah, it played well enough. And yeah, look, we’re also I I saw some I did see someone point out we’re also not that terribly far removed from the Oakland then Oakland Raiders playing on an infield, right? So, so we also we have come a long way in a lot of but they’ve got billions of dollars now. I know this this isn’t

Nestor Aparicio 27:10
art not having enough money to fix the bat. I’m not arguing either. I

Luke Jones 27:13
just like we’re just we’re just being repented. Yeah, I know. I just got to the point by the end of the week where I also think it the scrutiny got to the point where do we do this with every field every week? Because I mean, I’m I’m sure we would still we would find things that aren’t perfect. And I saw some people make the comparison that it kind of it seems like from people that were there and by both teams’ accounts, it kind of played how some of the East Coast grass fields play late in the season. It’s not going to be perfect in December, right? I mean, you and I have been to

Nestor Aparicio 27:45
Pittsburgh, dude. It’s quick. Yeah. So,

Luke Jones 27:48
so you know, I mean, it is what it is. At some point in time, I’m not excusing it, but like I said, I mean, you can’t half these owners don’t care about their own field. So why are they going to care about a one-off? You know, meaning the collective body, not Steve Bischati and Jerry Jones specifically, but they’re part of the 32, right? So, but yeah, I mean, it’s just it is what it is. I’m glad that the field held up. It’s hard. You’d have to show me a very specific example. I mean, and just to clarify, I knew Javon Gwynn left the game. I’m saying I didn’t see a replay of.

8

Nestor Aparicio 28:21
Well, you’re at their mercy. That’s all. You you’re just at the mercy of the broadcast. But I’m just

Luke Jones 28:25
but I was talking more so in terms of just seeing. I noticed that he was out of the game because Posick was in. So

Nestor Aparicio 28:31
to our point, we don’t know how it. You know, we didn’t see it to know whether he could play this week or not. Right.

Luke Jones 28:36
Right, and we don’t know with the field specifically. I mean, were there any specific injuries that happened that were because of the field. I mean, you can have pristine, perfect fields, and guys get hurt all the time on those too. So some of it is just the nature of the game. But but to bring it back to just the game itself, I mean, you we talked about this a lot, right? I I kind of talked. I I went into the sports psychology element, right? I talked about the idea of what your mindset is coming off of a loss and knowing you have a 10-hour flight to Rio and playing one of these international games. There’s all kinds of discourse about the field, right? And what kind of mindset were you going to have? And quite frankly, I mean, the first eight nine minutes of that football game, that was starting to remind me a little bit of the London game in in 2017, right? I mean, it looked like the Ravens were in quicksand and the Cowboys were just faster and better early on. So they weathered that storm. Obviously, we know what happens in terms of them blowing a two-score lead to the point where I guess if there was a silver lining to that, they did it early enough where they had a chance to recover, unlike you know what happened with the Saints, where the Saints finally went ahead with very very little time left. But I mean, it’s just I was I was impressed by their resolve as much as I was disappointed last week, and it felt very same old Ravens. The fact that they. Were able to one get the stop after you know let’s call it what it was bogus questionable controversial pass interference call there on Nate Wiggins where you know if anything it looked like offensive they they managed to get a stop yeah I think the Cowboys gave them a a big assist I mean, even the third down play. Go back and look at that. Pickens was open. I mean, Prescott just threw the ball away. That that was open in the NFL. Quick out to the pylon right there. Dak Prescott, you’re a what in your 11th year now? Deliver the football and win the game for your team. And he just throws it away. I thought the play calling in general was kind of questionable for for the Cowboys on that goal line situation, and obviously,

Nestor Aparicio 30:44
I want to say about them though, it felt like they had an operation. It felt like they’d done it. There was a calmness about Dak Prescott running that fourth quarter. That

Luke Jones 30:54
not at the goal line, though. I I I

Nestor Aparicio 30:57
agree, but like in the in the process of them matriculating the ball down the field, getting out of bounds, stopping the clock. Lamar stopped the clock on himself, threw the ball away at one point. So like when they had the ball to give them more time, I felt like Dak Prescott had this far into his career. There was a calmness about it that if I’m a Cowboys fan, I feel I I felt good about that. That being said, they you know they they washed it away at the at the goal line at the yeah yeah I mean I mean

8

Luke Jones 31:30
and they had a false start and look I mean the Ravens had some critical pre snap penalties that hurt them along the way as well right I mean there’s a lot of that I mean it’s like I said I mean it felt like this was shaping up to be another Ravens masterclass of how to lose in the fourth quarter until the the Cowboys reminded you they have their doctorate, right? I mean, like that’s that’s what we’re talking about here. So it’s a win. It’s a big win. I think it’s a really huge win. I think you know. I mean, Lamar Jackson was outstanding in this football game. I mean, he really was. Did you notice a few more runs mixed in? I think at a couple different points, it’s like there you go. It’s what I’ve been talking about. Don’t and every

Nestor Aparicio 32:09
time he does it, you and I are asleep too. Like the defense fell asleep for a minute, just like oh my god, that’s the whole

Luke Jones 32:15
point, right? I mean, but that’s my whole point. I mean, Lamar had six carries for 50 yards. I mean, six carries is not anything crazy. I’m not suggesting him run it. He only really got hit once

Nestor Aparicio 32:25
down on the four or five yard line. He he got hit. He got tackled. But you know, like but

Luke Jones 32:29
for the most part, he doesn’t. I mean, even the one that got wiped out by a penalty. I mean, he he. There are four guys converging on him, and he slides. I mean, he slid like that. That’s something you didn’t see him do early in his career. I mean, it’s just that element is so incredibly valuable. It wasn’t until he had that design run on their third drive that was when their offense got going. Because I think when that happens, it’s one thing to just know Lamar’s there, but when he actually does it, I think that starts messing with the I discipline of the defense. Whether you’re talking about the linebackers, the DNs, the secondary, it just changes. They’re thinking

Nestor Aparicio 33:09
in the back. I hope he doesn’t change. I hope he doesn’t. And if he does, I have to have an angle on him.

Luke Jones 33:15
Or right. I mean, they’re

8

Nestor Aparicio 33:16
at least going to get a fresh set of downs.

Luke Jones 33:18
Just such a, it’s just such a game changer. And that’s why I. That’s why I’ve been so adamant, you know. You and I’ve debated this a lot, but but big time last week in the aftermath of that loss to the Saints, especially when you didn’t have Zay Flowers, and obviously they had Zay back this week, and that was he once again. It’s what I said to you after week one. He’s the second most important player on this offense. No disrespect to Derrick Henry, who’s still great.

Nestor Aparicio 33:42
Oh, he wasn’t in the game Sunday. They don’t win, right? Zay Flowers. They don’t win the game Sunday. He is

Luke Jones 33:46
just-he’s different. And man, you’re holding your breath the whole time. I mean, I’ll be totally honest. I didn’t think it was wise for him to play. You know, especially with the field condition, the idea that the hamstring had been an issue for almost a month prior to week one, he didn’t get through the first half. Like I thought, boy, they’re open. If he has a setback here, they deserve all the criticism they’re going to get for this. But he looked great. He moved well. Seems like he got out of the game fine, right? I mean, he he obviously made the last catch there, and that play. I mean, Lamar. Hope he didn’t hurt

Nestor Aparicio 34:21
himself running down the hug loop. I know that, right? I mean, that was kind of the thing. Like you see

Luke Jones 34:25
the walk off there, and they’re doing the soccer celebration and all that, and you’re just thinking, man, I hope none of these guys pull a hammy because they’re all sprinting, sprinting to to greet Tyler Loop. But but no, I mean that final play. I saw Next Gen Stats had the velocity on the ball that Lamar threw, and everything there. I mean, Lamar just threw an absolute bullet down the middle, right? For anyone who questions his arm strength, Lamar has plenty of arm. There’s no doubt about that. He he’s you know there was probably some questions early. In his career about that, I mean, you saw that he threw an absolute bullet down the seam, and Zay Flowers makes the catch, gets down, they get the timeout, and then Tyler loops the hero. I mean, there you go; those three guys in the final seven seconds. Be at your best when your best is needed. I mean, they did it right. Hats off to those guys, and to the point that we’ve already made, and we’ll continue to make. There’s a lot of things to talk about that need to get better on this football team. There’s no doubt about it. Well, I’m going to

Nestor Aparicio 35:29
allow you to to do that. We could do offense or defense first. What do you want to do?

8

Luke Jones 35:33
Well, if we’re going to start talking about negatives, I think you have to start with the defense, right? I mean, tackling. Oh,

Nestor Aparicio 35:39
Wiggins.

Luke Jones 35:40
Yeah, I mean, lots, lots of, lots of tackling. All right,

Nestor Aparicio 35:44
we got plenty things going on. We’re gonna have some crab cakes as well as some pizza, and so, so Luke, I got a salad, I got some rigatoni and meat sauce, which I know you’ll appreciate, and I got a small cheese pizza and half the works. So I got cheese and then everything. So I am eating well this week. I’m wearing my Pizza Johns gear. Friday we’re at Pizza Johns in Essex. It’s all brought to you by friends at the Maryland Lottery. I’ll have the Ravens Bird scratch offs to give away. Also our friends at GBMC and Farnan and Dermer. They are the comfort guys keeping me comfortable. We had a great conversation over at State Fair right underneath of Joan Jett and Luke, leave it to me to bring Richard Abrahams out. I was in the third hour, fourth hour of doing radio there with Casper Wells. We did a lot of baseball with Allen. Alan came out. Where so you’ll hear baseball this week here. I mean, we have a new sponsor, Rosedale Bank. They’re coming out on Friday with us, so I’ll be. And they’re my bank, so it’s not like they’re on my. There’s a whole thing with Rosedale Bank saving this whole company, literally saving the gig during the PPP. So I got a lot to talk about Rosedale Bank, but so Richard Abrahams comes out. He’s my oldest buddy from camping out for concert tickets. We met in 1983, camping out for Billy Joel tickets in Reisterstown Road Plaza. We went through some stories and whatnot, and I had all my old clips there, and I found the actual clip of me ripping David Bowie, and the headline is “Boo for Bowie Flat Performance. I didn’t write the headline; that was Ed Hewitt, and Ed wrote some nasty headlines, as I’ve learned 40 years later. God rest his soul. But so I’m holding up the boo for Bowie, and Richard pokes me. He’s like, “Dude, look over your shoulder. And I looked over my left shoulder, and David Bowie is there, has been looking at me the whole time. So I’m underneath a David Bowie, I’m underneath a flea, and I’m underneath a Joan Jett, and I try to get Joan Jett in the shot, but David Bowie is staring at me while this is happening, and I didn’t even realize it. So that’s how good the coffee is at State Fair and the chicken and waffles. You don’t even notice the rock stars on the wall: Eddie Vedder and Cyndi Lauper and all that good stuff. Great time at State Fair. Great baseball conversation. This is a baseball week. Don’t bother Luke. Luke’s busy. He’s getting ready for football on Wednesday, Thursday, but he’s got baseball wall to wall, Phillies are involved, right? Yankees and the Red Sox every night. Padres keeping me up late at night, making me think about like Tony Gwynn, the Cubs, and Ryan Sandberg in 1984, which was 42 years ago, and it feels like was five minutes ago. And you know, even the the Indians aren’t the Indians; they’re Guardians. Now they get the week off. They gave the Guardians the week off, and the Rays have the week off, and the Brewers have the week off, and the Dodgers have the week off. So we’re going to watch a lot of baseball this week. We’re going to gather on Friday at Pizza Johns and Essex. And big appreciation to all of our sponsors that make this thing happen here, so that we can tell old rock and roll stories for our 28th anniversary this week, and I’ve got my my kids coming over on Wednesday. The reason John Mayer exists in my life is because of my kid. So this is the one thing in the countdown I got to get to the root of how my kid found John Mayer, so I can tell you AC/DC on Tuesday night in Philadelphia as well as we count down some rock and roll.

Nestor Aparicio 39:00
But we’re going to count up to two and one, and around the Ravens’ roster to try to figure who the center is going to be, and we’re going to get to the center of the tackling. And I didn’t really mean to wear Oilers blue here this week when the Titans are coming, so I’m going to have to cover up all my old Oilers stuff this week. And if I find time this week, I’m going to write something really, really nasty about Amy Adams and the Titans wearing these colors. Back from where we’re Baltimore Positive.