In an era where an MVP debate between Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen can be divisive, we defer to the legendary Hall of Fame voter and NFL historian Vic Carucci, who joins Nestor from Buffalo to discuss what makes a quarterback “valuable” and how he thinks of Ravens’ Canton candidates Terrell Suggs, Marshal Yanda and Steve Smith Sr. Oh, and there’s a little football game in Orchard Park this weekend with huge stakes in our hometowns.
Nestor Aparicio and Vic Carucci discuss the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens, focusing on their playoff matchup. Carucci highlights the Bills’ 13-win season, attributing it to Josh Allen’s elevation of the team and the revamped receiving core. He notes the Bills’ struggles against the run and their reliance on time of possession. Aparicio emphasizes the Ravens’ offensive balance with Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry. They debate the MVP candidacies of Allen and Jackson, with Carucci revealing his All-Pro voting. Both agree on the importance of running the ball and the potential impact of snow on the game.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Hall of Fame, Derrick Henry, offensive line, defensive issues, playoff expectations, game strategy, weather impact, MVP debate, running game, pass protection, game control
SPEAKERS
Vic Carucci, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:02
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, AM, 1570 task, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. We are positively into big, big week around here. The one is Luke said we’ve been waiting all year for this one. We’ll say that again next week, if we win this week, but Luke will be monitoring all things going on and always mills. We’re getting the Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road the day after the parade. It’ll be February 12. We’re going to be up at libs grill in the Harford County. All of it brought to you by friends at the Maryland lottery. Um, between the snowflakes and between the football and the Pittsburgh beat down and rooting for the Denver Broncos. As it turns out, we wouldn’t want it any other way. We’re going up to Buffalo right now, where the wings are good, the weather’s bad and the spirits are high. This guy’s been there a long time. He is in the greater buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. He has covered football from here to there and everywhere, and Rob Gronkowski went through all of that back in week four, before these teams met each other vicarious been our friend. He’s also one of my favorite survivors. My wife sends her best to you up in Buffalo, where I’m sure it’s balmy here this time of year, I guess I’ve been to a lot of big games. I’ve talked all this week about being there for the art show. Jay Schrader, 51 to three beat down the first time they ever went to the Super Bowl, where SIG and I were in the stands behind the one end zone with K gun offense Andre Reed, all of that. All these years later, you guys still haven’t had the parade. We’ve had two parades. We have a franchise back in the 80s when all that was going on. But I sense that the smell is there, the taste is there, the feel is there. And you know, quite frankly, beating Lamar Jackson was always going to have to be on the docket. Vic, it’s
Vic Carucci 01:44
really interesting. And by the way, always a pleasure to join you and and the very best to your wife too. Always think about her and her survival journey as with mine. But I’ll say this Nestor that it is this year, unlike those, and your recounting of that is spot on. But it felt different to me being part of both of those, from a, you know, from a media perspective, what we were writing about, what the narrative was then, was this dominant team that that you felt watching them were unstoppable. And of course, in the course of four consecutive years, they were unstoppable until they got to that final game, which was the Super Bowl, and then got stopped this team. The difference, to me, is the expectation far different when we were talking earlier in the season, before the first meeting of these teams. If you and I were talking before the season, it would have been more modest than what has occurred. Not a 13 win season in terms of how I saw it and how many others saw it. I saw this as a step back year, not a step out, year out of the picture, but just back because they had made those changes, because you’d moved on from your top two receivers, and especially Stefan Diggs, because the offensive line had two changes at Center and at guard, where Connor McGovern moving from guard to replace Mitch Morris, who is now in Jacksonville at center, and because of the changes in the back end, the safety position no longer the Micah high Jordan poyer duo change at corner, and a lot of moving parts in terms of who would really be there to kind of fortify the back end, and then still questions about the pass rush or lack thereof. And then here we are, 13 wins. Here we are at the divisional round of the playoffs. So they’ve exceeded expectation, at least from the outside. Obviously, that conversation is probably very different internally, but I would submit that this team is really good, deserving of consideration to be a team that you could possibly see playing in New Orleans in the Super Bowl. However, could they be just a tad ahead of the schedule to get there? And there’s, there’s part of me that still thinks the better version of the Buffalo Bills is the one that will take the field in 2025 or for that season, versus the one from the 2024 season. That’s
Nestor Aparicio 04:29
interesting that you would say that because, I mean, the Ravens have been felt like they’ve been built to win since Lamar, you know, shot out of a cannon in 19, not even 18, but in 19, they were so dominant until Derek Henry came in and took their lunch money. And it is fascinating that these offseason, because I sit here talk with the Orioles too, you know, whether they’re diminished, are they on the upper are they on the down? Right? And we’re in that off season now. We’re like, oh, they lost burns. And like, what? You know? What are they doing? And we feel that way with the Ravens every off season and two off seasons of. Go. It was Lamar and money and free agency and just, you know, where the Colts going to try to pluck him, or something like that. And this is two times now, this kid has gone out. Nobody really wanted him or wanted to make a space for him. He’s been the best quarterback in the league. Josh Allen, we’ll get it. I’ll let you do your MVP thing with me in a minute. But I think in the off season, it felt like from the Ravens perspective of being the one seed that failed, that they lost all their defensive coaches, they decided to blow up the right side of the offensive line with Zeitler and Morgan Moses, and it felt like they were going to be a diminished team. Patrick queen, just all the loss of the guys they lost, right? I mean, clowning, right? It felt like they’re going to be a little diminished. And I guess they have been the only 112 games you’re won 12 games here, right? But the part where the bills were diminished in the off season by digs and stuff, the bills were widely thought to be a diminished team, right? I mean, and it turned out that they haven’t been, and they’re not, but it felt like in week four, when the Ravens ran them over after you and I talked about Rob Gronkowski, growing up in your neighborhood, we did all the buffalo stuff that we did. And please, anybody wants to go back and learn, because I I could do a half an hour just on Vic and 40 years and voting for Hall Effect, all the stuff that you’ve been a part of. But in the case of this team, week four, the Ravens really slobber knocked them, and it really made you think like, well, maybe they’re a nine and eight or an eight, nine or a 10, and say maybe they are the diminished bills, but it certainly feels like that maybe awaken them a little bit, and if they weren’t diminished defensively, they have players that are going to be on the field this week that weren’t a part of
Vic Carucci 06:33
that in week four. Right? Look, I everything you’re saying is correct in terms of what the thought process was, versus maybe what it is. And the biggest point of all of the exceed, if indeed it’s exceeding expectation, I think it’s a fair thing to say about the spills team. It’s it’s one guy, it’s Josh Allen. It’s what he can do to elevate everybody around him and by everybody I’m not just talking about offense, but especially what he has done with this revamped receiving core, with a group that is so widespread in terms of who gets the ball and who’s involved week to week, and You really don’t see a quote number one player, you just see a variety of people who get to chip in, and that includes the backs. And you also see with Joe Brady running this offense fully for the first, I mean, for a first full season after taking over midway through last year, for Ken Dorsey, a greater commitment to the run, a greater commitment to balance on offense. And you saw this against Denver, a team that is kind of small up front and and yes, they get their strength is blitzing and getting pressure on the quarterback. And what do you do with that? You run right into it, and James Cook certainly did in this offensive line. Own that line of scrimmage. They own the the time of possession was like just an overwhelming like 41 to 18 minutes. It was incredible. The bills only punted once. The Broncos punted four times. It was that kind of disparity that tells you how many different ways they are able to succeed offensively. But the common denominator is Josh Allen, you know, feeding this group of receivers doing what he can do running the ball himself, and how that feeds into the the strength of the the run game as well. An offensive line that gave up only 14 sacks, they gave up two against Denver, which came in with 63 and led the league, but they really controlled that too. Josh was unaffected by the pass rush, so his ability to find extra receivers, his better decision making, less of the hero ball, stuff that I think had had worked to his detriment earlier on, he’s he’s a growing, maturing quarterback, as we can say for Lamar Jackson, for sure, and I think that is why we find this team at 13 wins, why there is a an overarching sense of confidence that this is the right roster as it’s put together, to to actually do better than what it was doing in The at a time when it was Allen to digs, and, you know, Not to disparage that at all, because that was amazing. And people were enthralled with the idea of those that duo, carrying this team the distance. And they almost did. They almost did. They got to the AFC Championship game. They got to divisional round games. But you know what puts you over the top? Now, if there is a concern, and I know we can get into this when we start talking about the matchup with the ravens, part two here of this season, it’s the defense. It is a unit that struggles. I don’t think it’s gotten any better against the run. Than it was in that early game at Mt bank state. Well, that’s problematic Vic and Denver. And I’ll add this Denver Nestor doesn’t have a run again. And that was that, was that that can’t be forgotten terms of how that game went. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 10:16
you talk about defensively and the problems. And I’ll come back to Lamar and Josh Allen and what they do and how Derek Henry has changed everything here, and I don’t want to play the role of Kreskin. I’ve been at this a long time, and I’ll probably never be a Hall of Fame voter like you, although I’m on the short list here in Baltimore of seeing more football than anybody that Derek Henry things unbelievable, because for two trading deadlines. I have openly said, because they traded for roquan Smith around here, they make those kind of deals at the trading deadline. So it’s not outside of the realm to think that, you know, they traded for Eugene Monroe in the middle of the season, you know, who was a lottery pick. And, you know, big offensive line that they so there, they could have dealt for Derek Henry, if they wanted to give up too much, maybe at that point. And I made the case that he would have changed them. Now. Lamar was injured two years ago, different but last year, specifically, in the way that they didn’t run the ball against Kansas City. They didn’t play in the first round because of the buy last year that their running game lack that. And they would always go back to Lamar. Lamar, Lamar, which they did against Pittsburgh. The ran the ball 10 times in the first quarter in this playoff game. So they’re not against that part of it. But there’s something about Derrick Henry, and by the way, Vic Carucci is up in Buffalo. He is our resident hall of fame voter in a buffalo resident, a buffalonian, I believe, is what they’re called up there. Derek Henry to me about three, four weeks ago. By the way, I bought it. I have an oiler Derek Henry Jersey I’ve been wearing when I’m not wearing my curio. Oh, purple Jersey here, but I’ve been wearing it all week because it’s fun. You know, I’m an old oiler fan. And I said, if art modell came back, and I had Five minutes with him and said, the Ravens have a running back. He’s this big guy. He’s unbelievable. And I hear art saying, Who’s he reminds you of? Like, say, art, Jim Brown. There’s never been another Jim Brown. You know that? Vic, you know like, I’ve never, I’ve been on the radio 33 years Vic, I’ve never compared anybody to Jim Brown that, you know what I mean
Vic Carucci 12:24
that conversation. So just to insert this, because it’s so funny, you mentioned that a long time friend and I were watching the the Raven Steelers game. Had had him and his wife over for for dinner, and then we, you know, we settled in watch the game. And, and he is, you know, rabid, I mean bills and saber season ticket holder and, and a very now as knowledgeable sports fan as you’re going to get, especially buffalo sports. And as we watch that game, and he and I are about the same age, we invoked Jim Brown’s name, right? It was
Nestor Aparicio 13:00
first time in your life, probably first time since Jim Brown, probably right,
Vic Carucci 13:03
when you see someone who looks like he’s just more of an adult, more of a man, than who is around him.
Nestor Aparicio 13:11
I called it Fast Times at Richmond High. Remember that when the guy just ran everybody you know,
Vic Carucci 13:15
squatting people away, that the law in, you know, just and then the close ups when you see Derek’s arms, and not just the definition, but the length and how those stiff arms just can really devastate, I mean, Minka Fitzpatrick to hit him and make him fly.
Nestor Aparicio 13:35
That was a hall effect. When he’s up. You’ll just put that on and sit down right? Like there will? I mean, I can’t, but he doesn’t have a ring, right? So, you know, now we’re three weeks out, and what thick this road. And I said, not, look, I’m not writing Purple Rain three. You can ask Eric the cost about that, but I wrote Purple Rain one, purple I keep joking with Luke. I’m like, when you write Purple Rain three, about this, the acquisition of Derrick Henry, and the thought of this beast of an offense where you have these two elite, greatest to ever do it here. And I started to think, and I think about these things in the shower, because it’s what we think about. Music’s playing, and I’m thinking, I’m having Vic Carucci on this week. Last week I had Clark judge on. At some point, I’ll find balls, or I’ll find all of you and bring all of you on to talk about this hall of fame process, as it refers to Steve Smith and Marshall yonda and and Portal Suggs is also up, and your vote on all of this. But I’m thinking like there was, you know, stall back in Dorset, there was Franco Harrison and Terry bridge. There was Troy Aikman and Emmet Smith. So I’m thinking about these one two put OJ didn’t have that, right? Yeah, dude, Ferguson, right, but, but there, but that part of that running back, Earl Campbell had pastor any fine, but he wasn’t a Hall of Famer. And Dan would be the first admit that this thing’s. Different in where it is and where Derrick Henry is, and the perception, to your point, that everybody thought the bills were falling apart in the off season. Nobody thought when they signed their well, they’re going to win the Super Bowl because they had lost the offense. Because we all know it’s about more than one player or one addition in football, but this is pretty up there. And if they climb this mountain, winning in Buffalo, winning in Kansas City, and doing it with this running game, with this quarterback who’s in the Hall of awesomeness. This is a weird this a great story. What’s happened
Vic Carucci 15:32
in the Baltimore Nestor. This is the difference in the discussion, because it’s not as simple. And I thought this was how it was boiled down, from a Baltimore perspective, it’s not as simple as saying you need to add a, you know, a great or really high level running back to make the difference. It’s you need to add an ingredient and then have the and this is where Todd monkin comes in, of course, in John Harbaugh, the understanding, from a schematic standpoint, of how he and Lamar work together, and this is what makes it so potent. Derek Henry alone, just pounding away and wearing down a defense and running, you know, those big chunk runs, or consistent runs of the five yard plus variety average would be significant, would be would be helpful to winning. But you combine that with a quarterback who is an absolute freak in his ability to buy time decide why, while he is doing that dance that he can do, that only he can do. I mean, I think Josh Allen is a great mobile quarterback who’s running is a weapon and a half and will be felt. That’ll be something the ravens, of course, are going to have to deal with, and every team’s going to deal with, but it’s different than what Lamar does in that up, front, back, side, angle thing that he can, you know, he’s got this sixth sense to do, and how that works with the running game of of, you know, of Derek Henry, that he then when Lamar pulls it down and goes and has that sudden explosiveness where you think he’s gliding, He doesn’t even look like he’s running. It’s that glide right that you guys know so well about. You’ve watched it, but it, but it’s still, oh, every time I watch it, I’m amazed. And then I see as a defense, what are you supposed to be ready for on the next snap? Because it could be that, it could be Derek on the inside. And then, you know, let’s not discount Hill not let’s not discount the screen that he could throw, the darts that he can throw, that all weave into this. And ultimately, we back to what we were saying about Buffalo’s offense, how it has evolved. It went from Josh big arm, throw it deep and hit, you know, Stefan Diggs, which was dangerous enough, but now it is those types of play, the screens, the, you know, the intermediate throws, the the opportunities to attack a defense in layers, and then eventually set up a maybe a bigger throw. But it’s not Bombs away. He had one big 50 yard throw against Denver, and that was to Curtis Samuel for his first playoff touchdown. But other than that, it wasn’t a Bombs Away attack, and the Ravens are not a Bombs away team, even though they have the capacity to do it.
Nestor Aparicio 18:38
Dick crew, She’s our guest. You can hear him out on series, find him anywhere out on the internet. And every time I get guys like you together, I don’t be too respectful, because I’m 56 now. I’m getting to be a little older. I’ve been at this four decades myself. All of you are like in the halls of justice. For me, when I come to you and start talking about Hall of Fame and things and comparisons, which Sean Harbaugh hates comparisons, I mean that that’s life, you know, that’s chocolate and vanilla, right for me and and it’s what I’ve done for 34 years here, saying, You know what? What would I prefer? And I don’t know about the Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson MVP argument, or what makes a player more valuable, but I want to ask you, just from your we’ve been hearing MVP. MVP, you were always one of those guys I read when I was a kid who was voting on all of that and football digesting and sporting news. And you know, all of the senior writers that are now, Peter King, all these people that vote on the Hall of Fame. I look at all of you and say, comparing and contrasting. Josh Allen was compared to John Elway the other day, and I thought, maybe more and more, some Elway and some far, you know, built in there, and some sort of linebacker way to maybe want to run you over. But when I think about this valuable thing, what is valuable? I I’m not all that interested in the argument, and I don’t participate to take a phone call. Calls the way we used to back in the day. Um, and somebody’s going to lose on Monday, and it won’t matter who’s the most valuable player, the one that lost won’t feel very valuable on Monday, because they’re both not going to move on in the tournament. But what is a valuable player to you? And you had a vote, where do you vote? Vic, yeah.
Vic Carucci 20:15
Well, first of all, yes, the vote, and the voting is in the hay. The hay is in the barn, of course, for that, because it is a want to repeat this for those who don’t, still, I’m not entirely sure understand it. It is a regular season award based only on the regular season body of work, and we voted our ballots were due this past Wednesday, so
Nestor Aparicio 20:40
that’s done. When does that get announced at the honors? Announcement will be February 6, at the honor so it happened, okay, right? Got it. They voted on the Pro Bowl. That’s how little I care about it is that I’ve been at the Super Bowl 20 years. They they started doing it that way instead of just giving a press release, right, right?
Vic Carucci 20:55
So we voted, same voting panel, voted on all pro APL, pro this past Monday. And then, of course, that announcement came out Friday, and you learned that Lamar was the first team quarterback, Josh the second team quarterback, and and of course, you know, all politics are local. So as, as was said by the, you know, Tip O’Neill, the great, late speaker of the house. All politics is local. And for the fan bases, you’re not going to sell the idea of one guy being better than the other, because if it’s not their guy, it’s wrong. And I fully embrace that. That’s That’s what fandom is all about. So and we are admonished by the AP. Let me just put in this disclaimer that we cannot reveal our I can reveal my voting for all all pro because that’s been announced. We cannot reveal our voting for the individual awards, besides MVP, all of those will be announced on February 6, until they are revealed in that honor show. So I’m not giving you that vote, but I will tell you that for all Pro I actually did have Josh Allen as my first team ballot guy, Lamar as my second team ballot guy. It reversed in terms of the larger voting and 30. I think Lamar got 31st team votes. Josh got 18. I believe the number was 18 or 15, something like that. 18. I think it was, and I was one of those who gave him a first team vote. I know history says that only two players, two quarterbacks, who’ve gotten Second Team All Pro or weren’t First Team All Pro won the MVP. So it would, if history says anything, it doesn’t bode well for Josh to be the MVP. But you asked a question about what determines value, value, and it’s this is my answer. It’s bigger Nestor than the numbers and Lamar. Numbers are great, and Lamar is as deserving as anyone to be the MVP of the league. And if he didn’t get it, it doesn’t mean he was less deserving. It just means he didn’t get the votes in this particular and very subjective opinions of 50 voters. That’s all it is. Majority of 50 voters, and
Nestor Aparicio 23:22
I don’t think any of them would have the exact same definition as to what most valuable players, right?
Vic Carucci 23:27
So I define it as you know, I start with, don’t I mean, if it’s as simple as stats, then you don’t need humans to vote for it. Just put the stats out there and and rank them accordingly. I think it’s a bigger discussion than that. I think it’s what you see, what a player does, in terms of the big picture of as I laid out with the bills the team that was stepping back with its, you know, various changes, and how what was his role in allowing them to not just overcome the changes, but to elevate to be a better team, to be a 13 win team, which is, you know, something, they hadn’t been in a long time, and put them in this position of entering the postseason as the number two seed, which is also a big deal, and to where they didn’t have to play, he didn’t have to play in the last game, and they could get sort of a quasi buy against New England in their season finale, which is helpful when you consider the Kansas City Chiefs had to, excuse me, didn’t have to, and has had almost two it’ll, it’ll effectively be almost a three week stretch of rest before they play their game. That may also work against them, but the ravens, right down to the wire, you know, had to play and did to win the division and to get the the third seed. I say that there, there is no way the Ravens would be as good as they are without Lamar. But yes, Derek Henry is. Is probably the headline of the story, I think, sort
Nestor Aparicio 25:03
of penalizing Lamar a little bit, but not, I mean, because, and it’s a
Vic Carucci 25:07
bigger story now in the postseason, which, again, has nothing to do with our voting. But what was the narrative about the postseason? Didn’t run enough, didn’t, you know, didn’t, didn’t put enough commitment to that. And we presume, and if, if the Pittsburgh game was any indication that’s going to be different, and I believe that is their best, best path to success, they still got to be able to throw it. And, you know, they they need, they need those you know, they need Andrews, they need the likely. They need all those targets to be what they are. But I also think that the value to the team can be measured in more ways than numbers. And this was the other thing that I I understand, because what we do for a living, what others do at ESPN and all the other talking head outlets, they need fodder. They need content. This MVP discussion became great fodder became great content, and it got it always is when it’s not obvious, right, right? And people went back and forth on it on almost on a daily basis, and it that meant nothing to me, because I never saw it. Nestor. It’s not a weekly Award, and the opinions would always be based on what happened that week, what recency bias. And you got to block that out when you’re trying to vote on this big Carucci here, he votes
Nestor Aparicio 26:36
on a lot of things, including the Pro Football Hall of Famer, two things left, tackling Derrick Henry, something the Steelers didn’t want to do last week, something that the bills didn’t do very well the first time around. Make the case for me that they can slow it down, neutralize it, force turnovers, do the kinds of things that they’re going to need to do in a game that I’m assuming is going to be short possession game, and a game that if, in my wisdom, this game is about, are the Ravens going to be in second and two all night? If it is, it’s going to be 35 to 10 again. And if they’re not, what happens when fourth and two happens in the sweet spot between, let’s say that 18 and the 40. Are you kicking field goals on fourth and 2/4, and 3/4, and four? Are you staying on the field? Are you trying to get three points? Because that three versus six sacrifice and that question of its fourth and something manageable, we’re on the 20 something. I don’t know that the Ravens love the kicker anymore. And I don’t know that the I mean, yeah, he’s going to the Hall of Fame. And you can vote on, that’s another name for you, Vic. You can vote on Justin Tucker later on in life. But there is a point where scoring touchdowns is going to be paramount on Sunday, and you can’t do that by kicking field goals or by cheaping it out on fourth down and punting the ball away in midfield? No,
Vic Carucci 28:01
I, first of all, I love how you broke that down. Yeah, if they’re in those, those second or third and manageables throughout they being the Ravens because of how they can run the football, you’re right. That could be game set match. That’s probably the and that, if you’re asking John Harbaugh and everybody in Baltimore on that team, what is the ideal scenario, that’s it, because it would be effectively a replay of the earlier game. Couple of things I’m not sure that the bills are any more equipped to play the run better this time around. Yes, Matt Milano is back and in the lineup. Yes, they’ve got other people that are that are healthy or, you know, who didn’t either finish that game or were, you know, hurt beforehand in the lineup, but they haven’t shown me any any ability to consistently shut things down up front. The issue is at the line of scrimmage, and I don’t see that. I see more penetrator quick kind of guys. I don’t see enough beef that really slows it down. And in terms of their defensive style, that’s what they want. They believe affecting the quarterback is more important than beefing up to stop the run, and they built their roster accordingly. And I think that could be a big problem because of the anomaly that they have here. They don’t face this kind of who does on a regular basis, nobody, okay. They don’t face it in their division, really. They don’t fade. You know, the teams that they play twice a year, and they really didn’t face it on their schedule, but this is what stands out to me, because this is where the recreation of the game could of the setting could be, Sunday night football, San Francisco, 40 Niners come to Highmark stadium. It’s snowing. It’s miserable, at least if you’re outside, although the fans were live. COVID, because the bills were, you know, it was, it was a route, and they were and they got it going. But before that route got going, Christian McCaffrey suffers the second season ending injury of his career, knee. I believe it was then he had coming off the Achilles. Right now, he’s got a knee, and he leaves the game. He was he was having success. They were starting to get rolling with their run game, and the bills defense had no answer for it. But he leaves the game. The game changes. I don’t know if that would have changed the outcome, but I doubt it would have been as lopsided as it ended up being. I took note of that, and I pointed that out afterward, I said, you know, be happy. Celebrate the bills. You know, did the job. And we know the 40 Niners aren’t the 40 Niners team that they had been. Still that was noteworthy. This could be different. First of all, this won’t be different in terms of snow the forecast is calling for that. Is that a good thing from a traction standpoint, footing your equipment staff of the race, Lamar is not going to like snow. Lamar won’t like the snow and equipment staffs with cleats and such, because offensive guys know where they’re going. The defensive guys don’t. So that’s part and parcel to how this should work, and if the snow is a problem for anybody, that the net is a factor. And it may not always be the you know, the bills, just because they play here doesn’t necessarily mean they love snow any better than anybody. Yeah, the ball
Nestor Aparicio 31:33
sports that no matter what, right, you know. So it’s a great equalizer for mistakes. And it it, yeah, it’s equalizer for both teams, I think.
Vic Carucci 31:43
So if they’re running in this well, they being, again, ravens, that’s something to look at. Meanwhile, the bills have a running game too, and the Raven defense, and this is you asked me, what else would be different, I think, and where I didn’t, well, I was surprised, because it wasn’t a weather issue, it was just a game control issue, how the bills didn’t find their way to take advantage of that Raven secondary, which I think is the vulnerability is high. And to your point, you I didn’t, I guess I didn’t answer your question about, what do you do when field goal is an option if you’re kicking field goals in this game. I think for either team, it’s a mistake. This is the gotta score game because the, you know, not unlike Mike tomlin’s Very controversial and a decision that has people wanting him fired, I think going for it on fourth down. And, you know, keep keeping that opportunity to get in the end zone is much more important in a game like this, where it could very well be high scoring. Gotta make
Nestor Aparicio 32:49
a play on Sunday night as a C divisional game and up in Buffalo weather conditions. Vick Carucci, last point, because you are the Pro Football Hall of Fame voter, gotta just give it to you, and Suggs yonda and Steve Smith. Where are they in the pecking order? I had Clark on last week. I mean, Heinz word falling off crazy. I had a Leonard Raskin who does a segment me every week. We got into it about two weeks because he was asking me about it as the veteran, sage, Baltimore guy and all that. And I’m like, you know, for me, jared allen, I thought was in. I thought Heinz Ward should have been in, you know, Darren Woodson, my God, he should have been in 20 years ago. So I’m an old guy in that way. Willie Anderson’s a guy that, when he came here the last five minutes of his career, it was sort of like he’s going to the Hall of Fame, right, right? Well, we’re two decades later, and this propensity put wide receivers in Tory hold, who I’ve thought is also a guy I always dream as a kid of having your job and Scott Garza gig. I’ve been in line to do it until the things fell apart here with the ravens, but what a tough gig you got. I mean, I have often thought of y’all called me and said, You’re worthy. Will put you on the committee. I think that’s a lot. I mean what you guys do, it’s not as clear cut and fun as it is taking phone calls and playing that game. I seen all of you sweat this out. So many of you believe art modell should be in and he’s not in. And then I bring you fresh faces and say, Pick one. Suggs, yonder, Steve Smith, um, and you know, some people say, Well, Steve Smith played in Carolina. How does he get any traction? I’m like, it doesn’t really work that way. No, there’s no provincialism in your room, even though the art modell thing’s a head scratcher for me. But I just really respect the work you do, how much effort all of you put into it, far beyond taking sports radio calls on behalf of their candidate of choice, I
Vic Carucci 34:43
will say this Nestor and again, appreciate your words on that. It is an awesome responsibility. There is no denying that, and it’s also one that I relish, one that I love having, and am honored to have and cherish every. Know every year that that’s why
Nestor Aparicio 35:01
I do it. If you ask me to do it, I’m like me, okay, you know I but I’d be like I know. I know what I’m signing up for. It’s not a game.
Vic Carucci 35:09
It’s not a I don’t look at it as the as a burden at all, even though there is a weight, a heavy weight, in terms on your shoulders, because of the lives you affect, beyond the person. And of course, when that, if that person is deceased, the you know, the families that are that are affected by it, and how much it means to them. And I, and again, I, you know, witnessed this. I’ve been part of this where it’s a family, a family support situation. How big that is? You mentioned about the and I’m so still in disbelief to be part of the greater buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. But how much that was a family, a family uniting and friends uniting behind the whole idea of it and so and being probably feeling happier about it than than even I did, and I was, I was over the moon. But the the point is, if, if you don’t share it with somebody, it doesn’t matter. And I say that to all of these candidates, whatever the Hall of Fame is, and this is, of course, as ultimate as we can get in our in our sport and our game of football. So what it means to to be a candidate, and the and the angst and the anxiety over, will it happen? I will get my worst night of sleep before the vote because of all that I just mentioned, what it means,
Nestor Aparicio 36:38
and you really don’t know who’s going that’s the other part, is tell me who’s going in. And you don’t even want to tell me who you’re voting for, because you might not even know, because the whole point is to listen to the candidacy,
Vic Carucci 36:48
right? I read so we get all, all kinds of research, and I have it and I mean, it’s, it’s stacked, that’s what I’m saying. It’s a real commitment digital. It’s digital. So it’s, but if you printed it out, but I leave myself with an open mind to hear this is why we talk for nine hours. Debate. In some cases, it can get hot and heavy, but really it’s pretty civil. We respect each other, and we listen to each other, and that’s the key. If you go into it listening, and you may you are very likely to hear some things that will impact your thoughts and change your mind one way or the other, on a particular candidate going in, it’s, it’s, and this isn’t one of those years, really, where you go in knowing that somebody’s such a slam dunk. You don’t need to hear a conversation. There will be those years that that you have that, and we’ve had those years and they and they’re forthcoming when the name is just mentioned, and then you just say, yeah, yeah, you know, you don’t even and then Fitzgerald will be that guy next year, right? You know, this isn’t this, isn’t that kind of year. This is a year for discussion and all the preconceptions, all the thoughts, all the betting. And then here’s the last point I’ll make, no matter who we put in, when that’s announced, there will not be an applause for how well we did in putting those in. It will be, why did you not What did you have against my guy? What did you have against this guy? Again and Nestor, I’ll say it for the millionth time. I’ve got nothing against anybody. This is a who I thought should be in based on my research, my opinion, my hopefully, expertise to make it. And then when you disagree with that, because it wasn’t your guy, that’s why you disagree with it. And you’ll call us names, and you’ll and there’ll be all this hula, you know, hullabaloo over that. Well, guess what? We’re the ones who have the vote. We will do the best job we can to do it. I respect those who say we got it wrong, but I would respect it more if you’d at least look at it and say, yeah, maybe you did okay with this. Maybe you got it right. And the ones who love those people that got in, the fans of those players, are going to say that, but you don’t hear they’re never as loud as the ones who tell us we screwed up. Don’t get me started
Nestor Aparicio 39:22
on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at six. And some of the people not in there. Vic Carucci is here. He is Pro Football Hall of Fame voter. You can find him out on the x and at social media, also at WG, r z. Want to give them some love up in Western New York, as well as Sirius XM and greater buffalonian and a Hall of Famer and snow in the forecast. You know, I made a little joke because they were doing because they were doing the cutaway on Sunday afternoon, like they’re building the new stadium there. I’m surprised they ever got it done, because it’s costing a valuable tailgating space. Hey, stay warm on Sunday and we got a great football game. You’re always great friend to the show, and after you put some. It’s in the Hall of Fame, and after you win the Super Bowl, I’ll come looking for you, and we’ll we’ll yell some more about football, but it’s always a pleasure to have you board. Thanks for everything you do. Same here. Nestor, take care. Vic Carucci joining us from the Greater Western New York, not North Tonawanda or Depew or Cheektowaga Orchard Park or let’s see what I’m leaving. One of them out. Lackawanna Jaworski. Be upset with me. Ever do that? I am Nestor. We are wnst. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, peace for the Peace Bridge in the Buffalo Baltimore rivalry. It’s going to be a great week for football here at Baltimore. Positive. Stay with us. You.
