Luke Jones and Nestor discuss Andrews extension and Ravens prep for Steelers showdown

It came as a shock to most Baltimore Ravens fans when the club re-upped veteran tight end Mark Andrews for three more years but Luke Jones and Nestor try to make sense of a lot of the team’s offseason issues with salary cap, veteran players and a big renegotiation with Lamar Jackson. So, Eric DeCosta got started early during a crucial week of preparation for another Pittsburgh Steelers showdown for first place in the AFC North.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the unexpected three-year, $39.3 million contract extension for Mark Andrews, which includes $26 million guaranteed. Jones noted Andrews’ declining production and the Ravens’ interest in retaining Lamar Jackson’s trust. They also previewed the upcoming Steelers game, emphasizing the importance of running the ball and the potential for a close, high-stakes matchup. Both teams are 6-6, with the Ravens needing to win out to secure a playoff spot. The conversation also touched on the Ravens’ offseason plans, including potential free agent decisions and the importance of maintaining team cohesion.

Maryland Crab Cake Tour and Upcoming Events

• Nestor Aparicio announces the Maryland Crab Cake Tour, sponsored by the Maryland Lottery, with events at six different locations.
• Nestor mentions giving away Raven scratch offs and candy canes at each event.
• The tour includes stops at Fadel’s, Deep Creek, Honeys, Althorp, Costas, and Planet Fitness.
• Nestor highlights a special rock and roll Christmas edition at Costas on the 18th and a high-profile event at Gertrudes on the 19th with Dan Rodricks and John Shields.

Mark Andrews Contract Extension

• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the unexpected three-year, $39.3 million contract extension for Mark Andrews.
• Luke Jones expresses surprise, noting that neither he nor Nestor had predicted this move.
• Luke explains that Andrews’ production has not been statistically impressive this year, unlike Zay Flowers.
• The extension is seen as a potential move to keep Lamar Jackson happy, given his trust in Andrews.

Factors Influencing Andrews’ Contract

• Luke Jones mentions the influence of Isaiah Likely’s performance and contract negotiations on Andrews’ extension.
• Eric Decosta’s non-committal comments about Andrews’ future are highlighted.
• The extension includes $26 million guaranteed, with a team option for a third year.
• Luke discusses the cap implications and the importance of Andrews’ role in the offense.

Market Comparisons and Future Implications

• Luke Jones compares Andrews’ contract to other top tight ends in the league, noting that George Kittle and T.J. Hockenson earn more.
• The discussion includes the potential impact of Andrews’ age and declining production on future performance.
• Nestor and Luke agree that the extension is a market deal, with Eric Decosta reading the tea leaves for future roster planning.
• The conversation touches on the importance of keeping Lamar Jackson happy and the potential for drafting a tight end in the future.

Pittsburgh Week and Steelers Preview

• Nestor Aparicio shifts the conversation to the upcoming Steelers game, emphasizing its importance for both teams.
• Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Ravens’ recent struggles, including five turnovers against Cincinnati.
• The conversation highlights the Steelers’ defensive issues and their recent performance against Buffalo.
• Nestor expresses confidence in the Ravens’ ability to run the ball effectively against Pittsburgh.

Historical Context and Team Dynamics

• Nestor and Luke reflect on the historical context of the Ravens-Steelers rivalry, including past playoff games.
• The discussion includes the impact of key players like Marlon Humphrey and the importance of winning the division.
• Nestor mentions the potential for a close game, with both teams fighting for playoff positioning.
• The conversation touches on the broader implications for both teams’ seasons and future roster decisions.

Coaching and Team Performance

• Nestor and Luke discuss the pressure on both John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin, given their long tenures and recent performance.
• The conversation includes the potential for changes in coaching staffs, especially if the teams fail to make the playoffs.
• Nestor emphasizes the importance of winning the division and securing a home playoff game.
• The discussion highlights the need for both teams to perform well in the remaining games to achieve their goals.

Player Health and Injuries

• Nestor and Luke address the health of key players, including Lamar Jackson and Aaron Rodgers.
• The conversation includes concerns about Jackson’s ankle and the potential for Mason Rudolph to play for Pittsburgh.
• Nestor expresses confidence in the Ravens’ ability to manage injuries and maintain performance.
• The discussion touches on the importance of player health in the playoffs and the potential impact of injuries on team dynamics.

Final Thoughts and Predictions

• Nestor and Luke share their final thoughts on the upcoming game, with Nestor predicting a close, nerve-wracking contest.
• Luke expresses skepticism about both teams’ current performance, emphasizing the need for improvement.
• The conversation includes the potential for unexpected outcomes, given the teams’ recent struggles.
• Nestor and Luke agree on the importance of the game for both teams’ playoff hopes and the broader implications for their seasons.

Luke Jones and Nestor discuss …prep for Steelers showdown.mp4

Thu, Dec 04, 2025 7:09AM • 58:11

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Mark Andrews extension, Ravens prep, Steelers showdown, Lamar Jackson, Isaiah Likely, offensive line, defensive line, playoff hopes, contract negotiations, team performance, injury report, free agent market, cap management, Super Bowl aspirations.

SPEAKERS

Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 to Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. Hope you’re tuning us in on your radio dial and setting spot for us as we drive around the beltway. We’re getting pretty good at this ravens thing. It’s Pittsburgh week. Here again, we’re going to be out doing the Maryland crab cake tour in six different locations, all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. I’ll have Raven scratch offs to give away. Also going to have the candy cane pepper, minty, smelly stuff that I always wanted to be Santa Claus, and give away candy cane. So this is the closest thing I can do. So it all begins at fadeleys on Wednesday, deepest squalies On Thursday, honeys and alethorpe on Friday. Following week, we’re going to be at Costas doing our special rock and roll Christmas edition on the 18th. And then on the 19th, we were, you know, we’re all over the place, and I’m going to Planet Fitness on the 21st but on the 19th, we return, we’re going upscale gertrudes in the BMA with Dan Rodricks and cousin John shields. And I got great guests come into all these things. So it’s going to be fun. And the football, I think win or lose this Sunday is going to be interesting. And if nothing else, the wnst tech service, brought to you by Cole roofing and Gordian energy, keeps Luke Jones very much on his toes on a Wednesday evening when the Ravens give a three year deal to mark Andrews, which can’t say I saw that coming. Can’t say you saw that coming, and I can’t say that anywhere in our archives, even for the AI that’s listening to everything we do. But you and I have ever said contract extension for Mark Andrews in any breath at any point before he dropped the ball in Buffalo and ran out the back door and getting his USAA commercials and whatever I I, I don’t see. I’m stunned, but I’m I’m close to very, very surprised. That’s all.

Luke Jones  01:54

Yeah, I think stunned would be the wrong word. I know I’ve at least opined once or twice in the last couple months about the possibility, right? If for no other reason, not so much that Mark Andrews has had this great year statistically, because he hasn’t. I mean, no one on this offense has had a great year statistically. Certainly, no one you can really point to and say, okay, that guy’s gotten way better. I mean, zay flowers is having a good, good year, right? I mean, he’s kind of been the entire passing game. I mean, Andrew’s, Andrews a little bit, and then it’s kind of been all over the place, right? I mean, I mean, we’ve talked about that a lot. We’ve talked a lot about that even more recently with Lamar Jackson himself struggling. But I think because of what’s happened with Isaiah, likely. I mean, you know, there was scuttlebutt over the summer that they were talking that, you know, the Ravens had even given him, you know, offered him what they thought was a good deal. I mean, I don’t know the specific numbers, but would have been a really good deal relative to what his production had been through his first three years. And he wanted more than that, which is not surprising, right? I mean, you’re talking about someone who’s a fourth round pick and certainly has flashed, I don’t know top five tight end ability that that that’s ambitious, but at least top 10 ability he’s flashed. And knowing that he’s four and a half years younger than Mark Andrews, and knowing Andrews is was in the last year of his deals, 30 years old, has been hurt some you know, I think we all assume that if they were going to extend one or the other, it was going to be likely. And let’s face it, I mean Eric to Costa early in the offseason, when he was asked about Mark Andrews future over and over, he was very non committal. He was very complimentary as far as what he had done, but certainly did not say definitively until really after the draft, that, yeah, Mark Andrews is going to be here. We anticipate him being here. You know, it was very much an open ended, non committal kind of way of talking about him. And we know what. Obviously, a trade never came to fruition. And you’re saying, Okay, well, they’re going to go in to their contract year, and we’re going to see if someone gets signed. We’re going to see how they play, and the franchise tag could be in play for likely, if he has a big year, and they’re far apart going into free agency. But yeah, to sit here and say that I thought a couple months ago that the Ravens would be announcing a three year, $39.3 million contract extension that includes 26 million guaranteed per Mike garofolo of NFL Network. I’m surprised by that. It’s not so much that I hate the idea of them extending Mark Andrews, because, you know, I mean, he’s still, he’s still an important player in their offense. He’s still someone that mark or that Lamar Jackson trust, and I think that is an element to this story that should not be ignored when you’re talking about your franchise quarterback and the guy that’s been his security blanket from the time they both entered the league. So I think that is a a significant portion of this that not saying that this was a mandate from Lamar, you know, that that would be. Too strong, but all things being equal, of course, Lamar is going to like Mark Andrews being around for a couple more years. That said he also has a friendship with Isaiah, likely. I mean, those two hang out outside of football, at least during the season. So it’s certainly interesting. Is it a little rich for what my preference would have been, probably, you know, if you would ask me a month ago and said, Okay, if you’re not going to do anything with likely, what would you feel comfortable with, with Mark Andrews and I probably would have said somewhere in the neighborhood of two years. 22 years, 22 you know, 10 or 11 million per year. This is 13. You know, we’re going to see how it plays out. I mean, I think we have to see what the year by year breakdown is. But it feels when you say 26 million guaranteed a three year deal, 39.3 that sounds like a two year deal with the team option for a third year, basically. So we’re going to see how it plays out. But that said, I mean, we are talking about someone who it’s going to be 31 next year. His production has dipped the last couple years. Touchdowns were really What bowieed His production the second half of last year. You know, he’s a touchdown machine. He’s still very valuable in the red zone. But as is always the case with these kind of deals, you’re trying to project out what someone’s going to do over the course of the deal, not what he’s done in the past. And that’s where I look at this and say, okay, back in at the start of 21 that’s when they signed him to that four year, $56 million contract. That was a home run of a contract. I mean, he was wildly productive in 21 I mean, 21 maybe the greatest receiving season that Raven has ever had. When you look at what he did, was still very productive in 22 until the ankle injury in 23 he was very productive. Like I said last year, he was a touchdown machine, even as the volume dissipated somewhat. But you are counting on someone to remain pretty darn productive the next couple years. And, okay, you know, he was a $14 million average annual value over the course of this deal that’s expiring. It’s 13 now, with inflation, with the cap increasing, it’s less, right? And it’s not just a million dollars less per year, it’s, it’s more than that, when you think in terms of inflation. And there are going to be some other tight, younger tight ends that are going to get deals. I mean, we’re going to get deals. I mean, we’re going to see what likely is going to get. I, you know, I, I would think he’s probably someone who, maybe he takes a one year deal, somewhere where he can build up his market value and hit the free agency the next year. We’ll see how that plays out. But you would, you wouldn’t expect the Ravens with where they are, with their cap, with what they need to do with Lamar Jackson, with what they need to do with their offensive line and maybe their defensive line and all of that, you wouldn’t think that they’re going to extend two tight ends. I mean, if there’s going to be a second, maybe it’s Charlie Kohler, at a lower rate than what either of those two were going always going to get. But you know, this is definitely surprising, as far as what the value was, but at the same time, we’re talking about someone who’s the all time leader in receptions, receiving yards, touchdowns for this franchise. This is a Ring of Honor guy, regardless of what happened in Buffalo, regardless of not living up to what you’d like him to be in the postseason, which you can say about just about everyone on this current, you know, this current iteration of the ravens, so definitely surprising. But another factor I will throw in there that does help from a cap standpoint, because you sign it now, whatever his signing bonus is going to be, you can actually apply that to the rest of 2025 as well. So that will help the cap numbers for the future years a little bit as well. And keep in mind, remember, they they had all that cap space that they had ahead of the trade deadline. They didn’t make a monster move, right? They didn’t go out and get Quinn and Williams or someone like that, where it was going to be a big number. So so they had some cap space that, you know, that could absorb this extension a little bit as well. So we’re going to see again. I’m not going to say I’m over the moon about the dollars that they’re spending here. That said this has been someone that’s been really dependable, really productive, has been really important to their offense. Lamar Jackson still trusts him to this day, as I said, that’s still a part of this story that I think shouldn’t be overlooked or dismissed. I mean, you know, it’s certainly one. Put this in the same category as the Odell Beckham deal, which felt like a Lamar tax all along. Right? You know, I don’t think this is that, but at the same time, you’re talking about someone that you’re now counting on to be really productive on the other side of 30 the next couple years. So we’re going to see how that plays out, but it does crystallize what the tight end position looks like for 2026 a little bit when going into this year, Andrews likely Kohler, and even throw Pat Ricard in there, all pending free agents, so they at least know that Mark Andrews is going to be a raven here over the next couple years.

Nestor Aparicio  09:57

Yeah, this is such a market deal. Right? This is Eric looking and saying, who’s going to be here next year. What do I need to use draft capital on? Where are we going to go in the free agent market? What’s likely really going to get and are we likely going to get him? Is somebody else going to just wow him, and we’d be better off staying with what we’ve got and and I again, I go back to your first point, which was your instinct in this, which is always dead on when it comes to these things, because you’re in the locker room, and you and I get together and chat, and I think the instinct on this is Lamar is the operation. Let’s keep Lamar happy. If Lamar wants Odell Beckham. We’ll give him. Odell Beckham will give him. I mean, this like, if this keeps Lamar grounded and and Andrews is also a guy that isn’t trying to be a stat freak about his role in the offense. He clearly likes it here. I mean, it’s a lot of money they overpaid him. I’ll give you, I mean, I wonder if his agent was as shocked as we were when the Costa called and said, Hey, let’s talk long term deal, really? Yeah. I mean, I got the right guy. I’m Mark Andrews agent. Like I’m, I’m, I don’t stunned is, you know, stunned is a word I don’t use much, stunned is jaw dropping. There are things that would stun me, but this isn’t stunning. But from I take 100,000 foot look, and I say, well, Eric’s reading the tea leaves. He’s always the smartest guy in the room. He’s prepared. He likes this deal. John likes this deal, but I think Lamar likes this deal, yeah.

Luke Jones  11:41

And I think that’s fair. I think what’s interesting, and you, you kind of alluded to it just now, I would have been interested to see what the market would look like for Mark Andrews, knowing that the production has dipped quite a bit from the last couple over the last couple years, especially this year. I mean, not that he’s had a horrible year, but, I mean, look at his numbers. I mean, he’s not putting up. Certainly this isn’t 2021 for him. Like, let’s, let’s state the obvious. But you think about it, through the Lent looking through the lens of the Ravens were open to dealing him this offseason. That was obvious, right? I mean, that was very obvious. Eric Decosta had multiple opportunities, whether you’re talking about the combine, the tree, pre draft luncheon. I mean, it wasn’t until after the dust had settled in, the draft was over that at that point, he said, Yeah, I fully expect Mark Andrews to be a raven this year, right? So if, if there wasn’t a team calling the Ravens at their asking price, and look, I mean, we’re not talking about that, they were going to get a first round pick. I mean, no one was going to was going to talking in those terms at the same time. It made little sense if a team was only going to ask for, you know, only going to offer up a fifth round pick, right? Because at the very least you’d say, well, you’d get at least that for a comp pick for him, and then you’d have them for the for 2025 so but, but that said, considering it felt like interest in him was relatively lukewarm, at least at whatever the Ravens were asking for in return, that’s where you do look at this and say, you know, would he get 13 million on the open market? I mean, you look at the tight ends in the league three years, yeah, well, I mean, and again, it’s when you look at how it’s probably pushing paper, I’m guessing, I’m guessing it’s two years, and then it’s a team option for the third right, kind of like the Derek, the Derek Henry extension, you know, it’s two years, and then you have a team option. So, you know, but you look at the guarantee, 26 million, I mean, that’s the first two years of the deal, essentially guaranteed. And obviously there’ll be a signing bonus that will be part of that structure. So but, but you look at the rest of the league, you know, and I’m looking at these numbers over the Capcom, which has all the contract stuff, you know, George Kittle right now is top of market for in terms of average annual value. He’s making just over 19 million per year. Trey McBride, the great tight end for the Cardinals, 19 million a year. Kelsey, still at 17. Of course, his future very much up in the air after this season. TJ Hawkinson, who’s been, you know, I mean, part of the, just the the Death Valley, that is the Vikings pass catchers at this point with their quarterback situation. But you know, he’s, he’s put up no numbers this year, and he’s at

Nestor Aparicio  14:17

16, the Raiders guy is going to get a lot of money, right? Well, well, yeah, I

Luke Jones  14:20

mean, Bowers is the best. I mean he, he’s the, he’s the cream of the crop. I mean, he’s, he’s going to be the top of market once the time comes for him. So, but, you know, that said, I mean, you’re still talking about someone who offers a high floor, other than the ankle injury two years ago, has been pretty durable. You know, he’s been more banged up and sore, and, you know, been on the injury report at times over the last couple years. But you know, other than that specific stretch, that specific injury, it’s not like he’s missed a ton of games, so you’re counting on that to continue. And like I said, as the cap continues to go up, you know this, this is a way different, 13 point. 1 million per year for three years in 2026 and beyond is way different than 14 million a year in 2022 when this current deal started. So there’s inflation at work here. But as it stands, you’re still talking about someone who’s in the space of, you know, top five, top six, top seven kind of money for, you know, in terms of AAV. So it’s definitely like I said, the number was higher than I would give that said you’re in a position where your entire room is full of pending free agents, you’ve got to do a lot of other business, including extending your quarterback. Yeah, to

Nestor Aparicio  15:39

your point, it’s one less thing I got to worry about next year. It’s one thing that keeps Lamar happy. We know what we’re getting in March for whatever that is, right? Yeah, you

Luke Jones  15:47

just need them to continue to be productive, right? I mean, you don’t want this to be a case where you know, and a lot of people will point to Kelsey and say, Look, Kelsey is what, 36 or 37 I mean, off the top of my head, that said, that’s the exception, right? You can’t treat every player. Every tight end is going to age like that. Todd heap, I think, was 30 when the Raven said goodbye to him. And Todd, he played one more year, and then he was done, right? I mean, you know, so that’s where you look. It’s a tough job, you know? I mean, and that’s part of it, too. I mean, Todd heap, my goodness, you know, God bless them. The number of you know, nothing personal, but the hospital balls that Kyle bowler was throwing up to him early in his career. I mean, let’s face it, he took a beating over the course of his career. It’s great player, but took a beating. And, you know, Mark Andrews has gone over the middle quite a bit as well. It’s a different game in 2025, than it was 1520, years ago, of course, but it’s still difficult. So we’re gonna see again. You know, that is it an overpay? In my humble opinion, yeah, that said you also weren’t going to resign them for 5 million here either. Like, let’s be realistic, and you know, so there would have been a market for them. But I do think the Lamar Jackson factor here is something that should be acknowledged as you’re entering an offseason where you’re going to have to get something done with him. So if this is something you can point to that’s going to keep him happy, you don’t have to be in this. Okay, what are we going to do? Andrews? Are likely, likely or Andrews? Are we going to keep either of them? Are we going to have to go draft a tight end in the first or second round?

Nestor Aparicio  17:19

So what’s likely gonna get right. That’s, that was sort of the longer form version of, like it felt like they wanted to go in that direction. It’s felt that way for 18 months and

Luke Jones  17:31

but he’s had a bad year. I mean, like he was hurt, and look at his production. I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  17:35

he’s and I guess Eric reaches to his people and says, Hey, do you want, two years at 14 million. And his people laugh at that, right? Yeah, well, I mean, I

Luke Jones  17:46

mean, literally, I don’t know, that’s probably not, probably not far off, right? It’s probably not too far off. I mean, whether it was 14, whether it’s

Nestor Aparicio  17:53

nobody’s given Isaiah, likely three years and $50 million on potential, right?

Luke Jones  17:57

I mean, not after this year. You wouldn’t think. I mean, last year, and even the second half of 23 when he was filling in for Andrews, you know, over the second half of the season, and put up really good numbers. But no, he hasn’t done it for a full season. And I mean, you look at this year in nine games, he has 18 catches for 223 yards. Doesn’t have a touchdown. Now, he should have had a touchdown on Thanksgiving night, but, well, he was sloppy with the ball at the goal line, and it cost him. So that said, the skeptic in me does look at that and say and say, Okay, if you’re not going to pay Isaiah, likely I’m fine. That doesn’t mean you need, you absolutely need to pay Mark Andrews whatever he wants, but they deem that to be a number they were comfortable with, and we’re going to see how it plays out. And like I said, if it’s something that keeps the waters as calm as possible, as you’re entering this offseason, knowing you need to get a deal done with your franchise quarterback, knowing how difficult that was the last time around, you know, because of a lack of an agent and negotiations, and just how that can be challenging, and understanding that, oh yeah, assuming the Ravens aren’t going to make a magical run here and win the Super Bowl, you’ve got a whole lot you need to address with this roster. In terms of your offensive line, Tyler linderbaum is going to be a free agent. So what’s going to happen there? Are you prepared to make him the highest paid center? You know, if not, are you going to be able to get something done with him, or are you looking at losing him? And then you’re talking about all three interior line positions being a major question mark. So, so there’s a lot, I mean, there’s a lot of tentacles that I mean, you and I have talked about, and once this season comes to an end, we’re going to dive, you know, we’ll be eyeball deep and talking about all that, because it’s, it’s a lot, I mean, it’s, they have a lot of work to do. They have a lot of holes in this football team. I think that’s evident when we’re talking about them being six and six going into week 14, even, whether they’re playing for the division lead or not. That’s not the standard that’s been set around here in recent years. So. So it is interesting, but they deemed Mark Andrews to be too valuable to lose, especially when you’re looking at it trying to compare what’s happened with likely this year and their confidence in being able to get something done with him, whether they wanted to get something done with him because of just the contract year not going the way that anyone wanted it to go for him. So they decided to go in this direction. And, you know, at the very least, that’s something they can check off, right? I mean, they probably will need to look to draft a tight end as you get deeper into the draft, right?

Nestor Aparicio  20:34

Caller would be, you know, they’ve gotten nice mileage out of that, for what that is,

Luke Jones  20:39

I mean, like, and you know what? I’m glad you brought that up, because that’s the other part of this. If you’re going to be a cynic, if you’re going to be skeptical, if you’re going to look at this with a little more scrutiny, the ravens, of all the different positions you could talk about, right tight end is a position where they have found some really good players, not necessarily in the first round. I mean, Andrews was a third round pick. I mean, Hayden, we forget. Hayden Hearst was the first round pick that year, and Andrews was, I mean, to say Far and Away is an understatement, as far as how

Nestor Aparicio  21:11

right around the time I fell asleep, is that right? Yeah, but,

Luke Jones  21:14

but, but with Andrews, I mean, you look at him, you look at Dennis pitta, who was a fourth round pick, right? I mean, they’ve Kohler and likely were fourth round picks. I mean, so, so, so you could certainly make the argument and say, Did you necessarily need to resign both one of those guys? Or do you say, Hey, we’re confident in our ability to go find someone. Maybe we’d sign a veteran. That would be a stop gap, and we’ll go draft a tight end. It’s a way they could have gone, because you only have so many cap dollars, right? You only have so many resources, and you’ve got to do something with that offensive line, right? I mean, whether you’re going to resign Linder bomb or not, they still have work to do on that offensive line. That’s obvious. So I just, I was very interested, surprised at the number certainly surprised that they were going to resign him. Because I’m, I’m not going to sit here and say that. I expected that. I mean, I think we were, we were all assuming this was going to be Andrew swan song. But as this year turned to October and November, and now we’re into December, and seeing the kind of year likely has had, that’s where you look at it and say, Are you really going to get something done there that you’re going to feel comfortable with, that he would have felt comfortable with? Felt comfortable with, quite frankly. So maybe this was the path of least resistance to say, hey, even if Mark Andrews isn’t going to be the guy he was in 2019 2021, and 22 he’s still a heck of an option in the red zone. He’s someone that our franchise quarterback still trusts and still likes and still goes to in third down red zone when got to have it kind of situations, you still see the ball going his way quite a bit. So you say, you know, even if we’re paying a little more than we’d like to, we still feel that this is an investment that we can put our head on the pillow and still feel good about for the next couple years. We’ll find out if that proves to be the case, or we’ll find out if there’s, you know, some buyer’s remorse a couple years from now, but they’ve got this done. And, you know, it’s one of many free agents that will we won’t be talking about him, but we’ll be talking about some of these other guys, and again, trying to figure out exactly what their caps going to look like, knowing they’ve got to get something done with Lamar Jackson.

Nestor Aparicio  23:22

He’s Luke Jones. He’s Baltimore, Luke. We don’t just talk about off season ish in the middle of the season Pittsburgh week here, dude. So you know, man, get to that. And I’ve had long conversations this week. My buddy Robbie ins McCaskey is up in Pittsburgh. He covered the pirates for years and years, but he considers himself a Steelers fan and immediate guy, and he’s into all the aspects of that in a Pittsburgh town, and will graves. And I did 45 minutes, and he was just phenomenal. Your boy, Aaron Schott sends his nerd love to you. And you know, we, we tried to get down to the DVO A and the science of trench play and evaluating offensive lines, which is really at the heart of where he is, and that’s really at the heart of this football game this week, right?

Luke Jones  24:05

It has to be, right? I mean, you look at, I mean, we’ve talked about the Ravens offensive line all year long. We’ve talked quite a bit about the defensive line. It’s been better, right? The pass rush. Up until Thursday night against Cincinnati, the pass rush had been trending in a better direction. It’s still not where I think anyone would like it to be in terms of inspiring a ton of confidence for January, but it’s better. I mean, Travis Jones has played well they’ve got, you know, Draymond Jones has been been a nice addition for them, and I think Mike Green has taken some positive steps. You know, I’m not ready to deem him a future Pro Bowl player just yet, but I think he’s improved, you know, from the beginning of the season till the last month or so. But, man, you look at that Pittsburgh team right now, and I mean, you and I spent so much time lamenting how bad the Ravens were on Thursday night, and five turnovers speaks for itself, right? I mean, you’re not going to beat anyone when you turn the ball over five times. Times, and it was disappointing how the defense couldn’t get off the field on third down in the second half. But fast forward to what happened in Pittsburgh on Sunday, and I mean that was it started last year when the Ravens were able to run all over them in first the December game in Baltimore, and then certainly that playoff game. I mean, Pittsburgh talked about this. They went into the offseason kind of using what happened to them in that ravens playoff loss as a compass point. I mean, it’s why they drafted Derek Harmon in the first round, who’s not going to play this week, who did not play against Buffalo. And I mean, the bills ran for 250 yards on them. I mean, it was, that was a, well,

Nestor Aparicio  25:44

they ran the same play over and over and over again. I mean, that was a

Luke Jones  25:47

high not not Heinz Field anymore, but the place formerly known as Heinz Field, that was a stadium record by an opponent against them. And if you’re the ravens, you’re looking at that and saying, all right, where’s lamar’s health? I mean, he practiced on Wednesday, but he was limited, still listed with an ankle, so there’s still, you know, you’re hoping he’s healthier coming out of this mini buy, he looked better running the ball in the limited sample that we saw against Cincinnati. Certainly moved better. But we know that that’s not right, and we certainly know their passing game is anything but firing on all cylinders right now. So you see what buffalo did. And to me, it’s the, I don’t want to oversimplify this, but it’s Derek Henry. It’s Keaton Mitchell. This week, it’s running the ball Lamar Jackson. What if he can do it a little bit at least? You’re you’re trying to run the ball down their throats. You’re trying to embarrass them in the same way that buffalo did. I mean, the term I used with you when we talked about it a few days ago was, I mean, the bills stole their manhood on Sunday. I mean, that was embarrassing. I mean, that’s embarrassing for any team. Well, that’s

Nestor Aparicio  26:56

why I, you know, when I talked to will graves about this at length, I’m like, I don’t expect TJ watt and Cam Hayward and Mike Tomlin and Jalen Ramsey to get off the plane here and feel about rolling over and the Ravens better beware a fourth time that the Steelers fans are the ones the last three minutes of the game in the stadium, and the stadium’s empty again, because there’s been a Whole lot of that here this year when things have gone wrong, including on Thanksgiving night, I talked to Leonard Raskin about not getting his gravy boat the other night as well. But by the way, they’re 15 bucks on the internet. I would say my gut on all of this is everything you’ve just said that would make Cameron Hayward’s father cry, who used to do my show Iron Head back in the day, made a made a great commercial. Was a good guy that these guys had their manhood taken away, but a Buffalo Bills the other day. They’re not going to allow the season to be taken away. And you know graves even is like Tomlin can still look at his locker and say, We’re in first place. You know what? I mean, like, let’s not, let’s let not act like we’re going in there and we’re the Cleveland Browns. And the seasons over, far from it. And as bad as it was, this is the NFL, as bad as it was last week, horrible. The Bengals were horrible till they showed up here, right? I mean, the Jets horrible till the Ravens haven’t been a game two weeks ago. I mean, there’s nothing about this operation here at Nolan’s mills that you run with that gives me any confidence that they’re this is the week they’re going to find themselves and lay the hammer down, because Pittsburgh has a leaky defense. Like, okay, go exploit it. Go up. Don’t be up 31 to 10 with two minutes left in the third quarter and and should then we’re here on Monday, like, Oh boy, here they come. Now they’re coming. They’re going to go to Cincinnati, they’re going to hold their water. New England’s going to come in here, and they’re going to bloody New England’s nose and make this young man feel bad about himself. And then they’re going to go to Green Bay, and they’re gonna wrestle with them, but maybe lose by a field goal, and it’ll be cold, and then they still got to go to Pittsburgh, and they got to win, and they’ll come to life, and the running game will happen, and they’ll do all the things. And then we could talk about like where they are in January, but right now, until I see some scope of something that looks like that, there are six and 16 that somehow has a five and a half point favorite, just because the perception is the Steelers suck more into six and six teams. I’m not buying that because I’m I’m just I’m not buying into the steel you’re not going to convince me until I see them get their ass kicked here again on Sunday and get run on again, and Derek Henry has 218 yards again without Lamar being able to run. You’re not going to convince me that this is not a game that I would take the Steelers in the points and and say, this is going to be a ugly, awful, close game, and it’s going to be a pride game, and the Steelers aren’t going to have the Steelers aren’t going to. That to happen again. Not here. I I just think they’re going to fight harder. Whether they win or not remains to be seen. Whether, you know, likely keeps the ball when he goes in the end zone and say flowers, doesn’t extend his arm the whole way, and like with things go right for them and don’t go wrong. Five turnovers kind of wrong, or flags wrong, or offensive line getting pushed around wrong, but I don’t I throw last week completely. Might as well have been last century, to me, based on what I’ve seen from these two teams over 30 years, and specifically this group of humans, this dude, this isn’t Roethlisberger and Heinz Ward and Joe Flacco and Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. This is a bunch of guys other than Aaron Rodgers. If my dad were here say they ain’t done shit, you know, like, like, none of these guys, MVP, this money that contract is Derek Henry didn’t have a ring that D hop all the all these guys. No one on Pittsburgh does either, right? Aaron Rodgers and they, they’re all great players. Marlon Humphrey thinks he’s great. Just ask his accountants. Ask any of their accountants how great they are. Roquan Smith, he’s great. Ronnie Stanley, heroic, great. Mark Andrews just got 39 million more. So this isn’t these guys are all in the Hall of they think they’re really good. Same thing with Hayward, TJ watt, who’s been keeping up with his brother, Ramsey, who’s a loud mouth, just all the way around, you know, Metcalf, who’s in the Hall of possibilities. You know, like all of these guys, this is a, this a big football game here this week. I mean, it just really, really is. And because of what my buddy Jimmy Schwartz, and by the way, we’re gonna be in Hale Thorpe next week, he he never claimed Hale Thorpe. He always said, lands down. But I, I don’t know the difference over there, Baltimore Highlands, for all of you, we’ll be at honeys next Friday, doing the crab cake tour. Schwartz, he used to say, we got some Ra. Let’s say, What’s ra he’d say, red ass. We got our ass kicked last week, and everybody comes to work to make sure that doesn’t happen again next week. And Steelers got the game tape for last week too. No, no way. They’re coming in here and going to get pushed around like that. I don’t believe it, not by this group either. Yeah, this isn’t a group that’s pushed anybody around so that for that, I that’s where I’m I have to say to the Pittsburgh people I’ve seen our team play too, yeah.

Luke Jones  32:32

And I think for me, where I do take a little more pause on Pittsburgh is how they finished last year as well, when they fell apart completely last year. And I mean, the Ravens ran all over them twice late in the season, and they, you know, they ended up losing the division lead, and the Ravens win the division. The Ravens punk them in the playoffs, but that was last year, right? And you and I have talked about it, Marlon Humphrey, you know, since you brought him up, and I know he’s a different side of the ball, as we’ve kind of focused in here on the Steelers defense and the Ravens running the ball, wanting to run the ball their offense, wanting to get on track. But Humphrey, he was pretty he was pretty blunt about it, talking in the locker room.

Nestor Aparicio  33:15

Well, he’s a Bama guy and he’s he’s a loud mouth, and he’s an arrogant guy, and he didn’t like losing. Losing is not part of what he thinks is his DNA speaks to or his father’s, for that matter, but,

Luke Jones  33:27

but I, where I will give him some credit, is he will speak without a filter. He’s more inclined to speak without a filter than a lot of his teammates in this current iteration of the Ravens.

Nestor Aparicio  33:37

Oh, it’s self evaluative on me. It’s on us. I mean, that’s by the way, Marvin Lewis, specifically, this week on the show, stepped out and said he loved those Steelers press conferences. And I’m like, why? I was pretty flippant. And he’s like, because he talked about it being on them. Yeah. He’s like, TJ Watson, this is on me and us and we, and Aaron Rodgers, this is on me and was us and we, and I’ll at least say with Humphrey and I’ve stood next to the locker back when I was a real media member was allowed to breathe their air that I remember him after that chargers game, or maybe it was the Titans game. So then my wife got sick. That’s all I remember. But he said, you know, we choked, we choked, we choked.

Luke Jones  34:19

Titans game. Yeah, Titans game. I remember that, that quote vividly,

Nestor Aparicio  34:23

and that’s a long time ago, and they haven’t missed a drop since, and they blown an AFC Championship game at home. And, you know, they’ve blown lots of playoff games where it could have shoulda, woulda, mighta, and like all that, aside from Snoop Huntley playing games, I’m talking about, like, things that they’re going to look back on when they’re counting all of their money later in life, like the like my boys are all coming in this weekend. The Super 35 guys are all in this weekend. They don’t have to look back and say ifs and buts and candies and nuts and if Ray didn’t take the ball away from Eddie George, and if goose didn’t fall on this or, you know, any of those things, they went and did it, and they get the top. Talk about it. That’s something that none of these cats here this week know anything about, and they should probably honor that. You know, when they see Keaton Mitchell’s daddy and realized he made one of the biggest plays in the history of the franchise, because it led to them

Luke Jones  35:11

winning the Super Bowl. What I was getting ready to say, though, I mean, Marlon Humphrey said, like, look, talks cheap at this point, we need to go do it. We haven’t played great complimentary football, all three phases all year. You know, we think we’re really good team on paper. People have said they think we’re a really good team on paper. That’s been said a lot. It’s time to go be a good team then, like, we need to go do it on Sunday.

Nestor Aparicio  35:33

My god, he’s he wrote my column for me this week. That’s,

Luke Jones  35:37

you know, that that’s what he said, and that’s just what I just

Nestor Aparicio  35:40

said, don’t be a good team. Go beat New England. Go give Green Bay a run. Go give anybody some confidence that the next time we see the Steelers four weeks from now, it’s going to be a better team than the one where you kick their ass this week.

Luke Jones  35:53

And he made the point that if you can’t get up for this one, I think it shows something about your character, and I think that applies for both these teams right now. We haven’t spent a whole lot of time. You and I have talked about this game for several minutes now. I mean, Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh, especially Mike Tomlin this week, but John Harbaugh somewhat, and certainly earlier this year, when they were one in five, these two head coaches are being talked about in different terms, and especially Tomlin this week. I mean, when you have James Harrison on a podcast talking about whether it’s time to move on from Mike Tomlin, when you have Ben Roethlisberger, I mean, these are guys that won a Super Bowl in, you know, a Super Bowl with Mike Tomlin, and they’re acknowledging maybe it’s not maybe this is coming to an end. Maybe this has run its course. Maybe this is Andy Reid in Philadelphia, back in 2012 and this is something that’s, you know, you and I have talked about it in lesser terms, but it’s been talked about in recent years. I mean, look, we’re talking about as much as you just spelled out, the Ravens lack of postseason success. It’s even worse for Pittsburgh over the last decade. I mean, it’s been nine years since they have a playoff win, let alone going to the AFC Championship or hosting an AFC champion.

Nestor Aparicio  37:08

This is the longest time they’ve gone without a playoff win since the Immaculate Reception. Yeah.

Luke Jones  37:13

So when you’re talking in those terms, no matter how accomplished either of these head coaches, they are. I mean, it’s, it starts to, you start to ask questions, and especially in this day and age, right? Where everyone’s attention span, everyone’s got a short memory, right? Everyone has a voice on social media, good or bad, all of that, that it’s, you know, it catches on like wildfire. I mean, look at how viral those videos went. Their fans booing Renegade. I mean, that’s how bad it got on Sunday in Pittsburgh.

Nestor Aparicio  37:45

By the way, I reached the Tommy Shaw to have him on the show because I, you know, I’m like, I’ll lay down the law right now. We don’t boo Renegade, Baltimore, Maryland, yeah,

Luke Jones  37:54

but, but, I mean, it speaks, you know what you were just talking about in terms of the Ravens needing to man up. I mean, they’re having those same conversations in Pittsburgh right now, and we are entering a period of time, and I’m not saying that this, or certainly week 18 will will be the end, but we are getting much closer to the end for both of these head coaches than the beginning, right? I mean, that’s they’re not going to coach forever, right? I mean, even if, even if, even if either one of these

Nestor Aparicio  38:22

guys ends up going on, Hey, Marvin said that too, there will be an end, you know, we all know that, right? So, so that’s

Luke Jones  38:28

where this is interesting, that you know that both of these head coaches are facing more fire now than they did for years and years and years, right? When you’re, you know, in Mike tomlin’s case, I mean, he won a Super Bowl in his second year, right? John Harbaugh won a Super Bowl in his fifth season, right? So, you know, these guys are now approaching two decades as the head coach of their respective team. So that’s where, I think, on Sunday, it’s also, you know, who’s going to man up for their head coach? You know, who’s they? These players hear the noise. I mean, on Wednesday alone. And look, I’m I’m not going to give plugs to talking head shows. I mean, for every good segment, you’ll hear six segments where you’re wanting to turn the channel right, because it’s just the most ridiculous hot take kind of stuff. But ESPN had a lengthy segment talking about Mike Tomlin and his future. And I know, I think it was Fs one had a lengthy segment talking about John Harbaugh on very similar terms, right? I mean, that’s, that’s really, that’s a really weird space when we’re talking about two teams that are playing for sole possession of first place on Sunday, but that’s the reality when they’re both six and six and they’re playing in a lousy division, so and the

Nestor Aparicio  39:38

reality is, one of them better win the division, better not be the Bengals and too. And like that, Bengals game this weekend with the bill. I mean, you start to look at their schedule, look at this and that, and the Ravens going in there, and what happens this week. And, I mean, there’s, there’s no margin for error for, you know, for any of these teams. And again, I keep going back to this. Dealers were built to be mediocre. The Ravens were built to win the Super Bowl. And if the Ravens inch into a home game and lose to the to his brother, which is the way it would line up right now, which is weird, like the Chargers would come in here or whatever, and they get their lunch money stolen again, and you’re Marlon Humphrey’s locker again after they’ve lost somehow, 31 to 27 and turn the ball over three times and had trouble running the ball, couldn’t hold a lead at home in the cold in January, the day after that, John Harbaugh doesn’t smell any better than he smelled it one in five. Yeah, and that’s what’s

Luke Jones  40:35

kind of odd about this game, because obviously, it’s a big game. I mean, you just mentioned Aaron shots. I mean, I know he put out on on social media earlier this week. I mean, this is, like, the biggest game of the year in terms of a probability swing for teams making the playoffs, right? When you look at what the Ravens percentage like, and again, these are probabilities. They’re numbers. I mean, it’s not doesn’t mean anything. You if you win the next one and then lose your last four, then, yeah, you out of the playoffs, right? But just knowing that the stakes involved for both these teams that said, You just said it. I mean, the goal here isn’t just to sneak into the playoffs and then you’re happy to be there and okay, you recover from one in five. I mean, that wasn’t the goal going into the season, and even in Pittsburgh, I will say this outside expectations, and I was actually having a conversation with someone in the Ravens media room earlier this week that it is interesting to see how Tomlin is being spoken about and the Steelers are being spoken about. When, in reality, did anyone really think they were going to be that good this year, like they’ve kind of been exactly what I thought they would probably 100% and that’s only because Rogers is still standing up, right? Yeah. I mean, it’s not like he’s been great. I would say this, their defense has been disappointing. There’s no doubt. I mean, considering how high priced that defense is, that defense stinks. I mean, it’s for how much those guys are getting paid. They have wildly underperformed, you know, and the Ravens certainly underperformed big time the first six weeks of the season has been better since then, though, still has it

Nestor Aparicio  42:04

all that being said, How many guys on the ravens are earning their money this year playing to their contract numbers? Whoa. I mean, whoa, not at all. You’re sitting here spitting at Pittsburgh about that. Hey, you know, pulled the mirror up in here because I’m looking around and I’m like, I don’t

Luke Jones  42:19

I can, I can, you know, I can criticize, criticize the Ravens all year. We’re talking about Pittsburgh too. I mean, so it’s, you know, if, if the ravens,

Nestor Aparicio  42:29

but everybody’s down on the Steelers, nobody’s down on the ravens, and it’s

Luke Jones  42:33

people down on the Ravens. I don’t, I don’t agree. You

Nestor Aparicio  42:35

think so? Yeah, I think it’s always feels to me like, yes, we’re always waiting for the sun to shine, and everything I just laid out, which is, hey, they catch fire. They kick New England’s ass. They’re going to they’re going to start to look like they’re going to round into form, because they have all of this talent. And then you and I come here every week and say, they get their ass kicked at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball all day long. And after 12 weeks, and that’s really hard to overcome, you know, like it just is. Well, I the

Luke Jones  43:04

reason I would perceive the Ravens be different, because the Ravens have more talent on both sides of the ball, correct? I mean Pittsburgh on the offensive side of the ball, no one wants Aaron Rodgers at this point, the Steelers were the only team who wanted Aaron Rodgers this offseason. What? I guess maybe he had a had a cup of coffee in a conversation with the Vikings at some point in time, right? Whereas Lamar Jackson’s Lamar Jackson, it’s why people aren’t counting out Kansas City, despite the fact that they’re in deep, you know what? Because they’re not in the division that they can win at this point. So they’re completely dependent on going on a run to to win a wild card, because they’re not going to catch the Broncos at this point in time, but I think, and this still goes back to the priors, and I’ve talked about that. I mean, look how many people were picking the ravens and win the Super Bowl before the year, right? That that’s a heck of it. Those kind of expectations and that kind of perception, that’s a tough thing for people to let go. So I’ll, I’ll hedge a little bit on what I just said. I think nationally, the ravens are perceived much better, yes, and you’re because even when they were one in five, how many people nationally were saying, well, they’re just injured, right?

Nestor Aparicio  44:12

What’s even worse now they were one in five, they were horrible. Now they’re six, and six, they got their ass kicked on Thanksgiving. And you know what? This is my point. We’re all still sitting here believing they’re a touchdown favorite this week. They’re going to win. They’re going to find a way. They’re going to play that playoff game. They’re going to have that home game in January, and that day, the lights are going to go on because it’s Mark Andrews and zay flowers and Derek Henry and D op and like all of the like, they’re going to come off the bus that day, and for a month, they’re going to be world beaters. The Kansas City has done that a couple times, right? Like literally scuffled through. And I still think smart football people, and I haven’t had anybody that doesn’t believe it’s possible, at least right, because of the pedigree of these players. But we’re all waiting for it to happen, but nobody believes. Believes that can happen for Pittsburgh at all

Luke Jones  45:01

well, and that that goes back to like, what was their ceiling to begin with, right? I mean, you had a 42 year old Aaron Rodgers. I mean, you have, if

Nestor Aparicio  45:09

somebody, the Steelers or the team getting their ass kicked at home in a playoff game the second week of January, things have gone very well for them, sure, you know. And if, if the Ravens just get there. I don’t there’s no exhale here for anyone, for all the reasons we talked about all the nude ring fingers, right? Like, literally, sure if this is a whole different mountain for the Ravens than it is for the Steelers. But all that being said, it’s three hours of football on Sunday, and I’m not just thinking the Steelers are rolling over here. And I think if the Steelers win this football game, it’s hell around here Monday, right, right.

Luke Jones  45:46

It should be because, you know, if we’re talking about it on paper, because we can’t talk about the game until it happens, right? I mean, we could talk about what we think is going to happen. We can talk about what could happen, what might what we don’t think will happen, but, yeah, they have to go out and play. And we’ve seen that. We’ve seen that act a lot, right until the Ravens took it to Pittsburgh in December last year, and then obviously whipped them in that playoff game. I mean, we know what the narrative was of this era the Ravens. You know where the Ravens on paper have been much better than Pittsburgh has been for several years now. But we know the head to heads have not got, had not gone that way, right? And, I mean, what happened to them in Pittsburgh back in November of last year, right where they turned the ball over? Lamar doesn’t play well, Pittsburgh gets a, you know, they make a couple plays, right? The ball bounces their way. They get a, you know, a touchdown on a big play, something like that. I mean, back in 23 right? It was Kenny Pickett who, I mean, has been with how many teams now, but it was Kenny Pickett throwing a deep ball to Pickens over Marlon Humphrey’s head that allowed them to win a game that the Ravens felt like the Ravens should have won by three touchdowns, and did things to shoot themselves in the foot. So we all know what expectations are, but yeah, I’m not gonna sit here and say that. I I think they’re gonna beat them by four touchdowns, because they who, who if they played like when? If they look like that this year? Okay, browns in week two, but even that game, go

Nestor Aparicio  47:15

back and look at the first bills did to them the other day. And you think, Well, then let’s go be dominant. And I’m like, You should be able to do wake up. They lost by three touchdowns last Thursday night. So let’s not just think they’re going to roll the ball out and be dominant all of a sudden, because the Steelers somehow look vulnerable. I don’t you know. I’m going to remain bullish on taking points this week, and I’m going to remain bullish on this is a very, very dangerous game for the Ravens organization, as much as we’re talking about booing Renegade and Steelers and Tomlin and off the field and he’s getting fired and like all that, I don’t think hardball is getting fired. I just think it’s a really dangerous game for the Ravens.

Luke Jones  47:52

Are you picking the Ravens or the Steelers? I’m not talking about points. I don’t care. I don’t care about that.

Nestor Aparicio  47:57

I think the Ravens will win the game. I just think it’s going to be real nerve wracking.

Luke Jones  48:00

I don’t disagree. Let me, I will say this, however, if there is one like, if you told me right now, Luke, it’s going to be a blowout. But I’m not going to tell you which team blows out the other team. I’d be inclined to say the Ravens would be, because I I don’t know if Pittsburgh has an offense right now that is capable of blowing anyone out, because at

Nestor Aparicio  48:23

this point, I’m concerned about the Ravens turning the ball over three times and having a pick six and, like, it’s fine, because there’s been too much of that.

Luke Jones  48:31

They haven’t done that. That hasn’t been a week in and week out kind of thing,

Nestor Aparicio  48:34

but, but the fumbling the first month caught put them at one and five, right?

Luke Jones  48:37

I mean, it was part of it, sure, and but on the flip side of that, yeah, you would say Pittsburgh’s defense. I mean, the only thing that’s been a redeeming quality about that defense is they have taken the ball away. So look, I’m not gonna, I’m not sitting here. This isn’t me sitting here saying that I think the ravens are going to blow them out because I don’t have, I’ll break it down very simply to you, I don’t have a lot of belief in the Baltimore Ravens right now. I have even less belief in the Pittsburgh Steelers right now. And that’s, that’s succinct.

Nestor Aparicio  49:08

That’s pretty much what I was going to charge you with. I was going to say, you know, I mean, we suck less, right? Like, that’s it, right? That’s kind

Luke Jones  49:14

of what the story was a Thanksgiving weekend. Like, look, the Ravens lost by three scores. I’m fully acknowledging that the Ravens had self inflicted mistakes, that they turned the ball over. They at least move the ball. Pittsburgh scored seven points. They didn’t move the ball at all in the second half. I mean, that was they just like I said. I mean, Buffalo completely stole their manhood. Cincinnati didn’t steal their manhood as much as, yes, they played better than them and the Ravens, you know? I mean, you fumble the ball over the goal line, your quarterback has the ball slip out of his hand at the end of the first half, and you give them three points that way, right? I mean, there were give, believe me, give Cincinnati credit. They deserve to win that football game, but the Ravens gave them some help too, right? Right? And it was one of those games, whereas, like, Pittsburgh just looked completely anemic and punchless in that football game, they looked helpless in that football game. So, you know, in terms of perceiving one of those to be better than the other. I mean, I don’t know it’s like, Would you rather be poisoned or stabbed, right? I mean, it’s like what are those types of things? But, you know, you’d like to think, and this goes back to what Marlon Humphrey said, you know, if we’re truly as good as we think we can be, and how people have talked about us being and how, how good we were in the regular season last year, how great we were in the regular season two years ago. Go back to 1920 you know, like all the regular season success that they’ve had, and whereas Pittsburgh, even at their best, over the last few years, has been a team that’s scratching and crawling just to sneak into the tournament, right? I mean, that’s been them at their best. And, you know, whatever that says about that organization. You know, I’ll leave that up to people in Pittsburgh who follow them more closely than I do. But if this team is ever going to figure it out, boy, it better start Sunday, right? I mean, Time’s running out. You can keep talking about how great you’re going to be, or how great you think you are, but these last five games, you know, if you don’t go on some kind of role here, you know, I mean, I don’t know, maybe eight and nine will win the division. Maybe you don’t have to be that great, but even if that scenario plays out, you got to beat

Nestor Aparicio  51:26

Pittsburgh now eight. You just said eight and nine. Could I even thought

Luke Jones  51:29

about that? But I doubt it. I That’s weird that said, I do have a lot of conviction at this point that nine and eight could win this. You have a lot of

Nestor Aparicio  51:36

conviction of this. And I’ve said this several times, and I’ll drop the mic on this. This isn’t even the game that matters, because they’re still going to have to go to Pittsburgh at the end, and they’re going to have to win that game no matter what, no matter how it looks this week, win or lose, even if they win, they’re still going to have to go to Pittsburgh and win the last game. I believe that, and I believe it’ll stay close enough, because I believe Pittsburgh will win the games are supposed to win, even if they lose this game, and I believe the ravens are just we’re going to be talking about Cincinnati again next week, even if they get their ass kicked. We’re going to be talking about them and what they can do against Lamar and playing on the road and third, like all of that, right? And also the New England thing. Watching that kid play the other night was illuminating to me, he’s really good. He’s really good, and then the Green Bay thing on the road is just such a dog trap. So they’re going to lose more games. You know, I don’t know if this is the one or not. They better make sure this isn’t the one. They better make sure Cincinnati is in the one. But they’re going to lose games. I don’t think they’re going to win out. And if they win out again, they’re going to smell so much better if they went out. They’re going to smell so much better if they get to Pittsburgh and don’t have to win if Pittsburgh just awful. Rolls over this week rolls over, loses the dolphins or whatever. And by the time you get there, they’re too behind you. And you, you know. And then you’re resting Lamar. I was gonna say you could do that.

Luke Jones  52:59

You can rest Lamar and a couple other guys, and then,

Nestor Aparicio  53:02

then we are, yeah, we’re talking, we’re talking nonsense right now. Then really, I think,

Luke Jones  53:07

until they do it, sure, I can’t sit here with any any great conviction and think that they’re going to win. We’ve done

Nestor Aparicio  53:14

an hour of Mark, Andrews and the team. We haven’t he talked about Lamar and his health, and we’ll see how that looks, planting the foot, throwing the football, all that cold weather this week, all that the

Luke Jones  53:23

ankle is what’s on the injury report this week. So, you know, I would have, I love the fact that he was out there Wednesday. You know, he trotted out to the field. You’re saying, Okay, this is good. He had the few days extra rest, but then he’s listed as limited, and he didn’t speak on Wednesday because he was getting treatment, which, look, I haven’t gotten any indication that there’s anything more than what is. The last couple weeks have been where it’s like, Hey, he’s gonna play. He’s not going to be listed with the game status. All that. But I would have liked, man, it would have been great to see him not be on the injury report at all, even just for this week. I don’t

Nestor Aparicio  53:54

think Tom Lin’s up all night. Worried about Snoop Huntley playing this week, but I tell you what, ravens might be up thinking Mason Rudolph might play some so that that certainly could be the case.

Luke Jones  54:03

Could be man i Boy,

Nestor Aparicio  54:08

you know, it’s, you know, they’ve lost to him before.

Luke Jones  54:12

Yeah, that was, but that was the end of, that was the end of that was the end of 23

Nestor Aparicio  54:17

I’m just saying, I’m just saying, Yeah, I mean, apparently he’s a huge character guy. He’s just a really, you know, yeah,

Luke Jones  54:24

I, I did say it to you after that game, though, with with the way Rogers was with his wrist and how he couldn’t take any snaps under center, I was half wondering if Mason Rudolph would be better just because of, like, where Rogers is health wise, right now. But we’ll see. You know, there’s, this

Nestor Aparicio  54:41

is an old gunfight. This one here. This is a rock.

Luke Jones  54:45

I don’t know if it’s a gunfight. I mean, it feels like they’re like they’re throwing pebbles at each other or something. I don’t know. I mean, it’s,

Nestor Aparicio  54:51

this is such Caleb Ramsey will start a fight in the third quarter. Somebody gets thrown out.

Luke Jones  54:55

Weird Raven Steelers game. Oh, I you’ll, you’ll appreciate this. I looked this up. This is obviously these teams have played. And I’ll leave you with this, because I know we’ve gone long here this. These teams have played so many big December games, and obviously the stakes are very high. This is the first time since 1999 that these teams both enter a December game against each other. Need their team being over 500 like, that’s, I saw that. I’m like, Man, that’s Tony banks, to cadre Ismail, like, that big where cadre had like, 230 yards, or whatever it was

Nestor Aparicio  55:31

at that game, yeah, rivers, that was our first great

Luke Jones  55:34

win for Billick, really, no, no. That was late 99 like that. That was the, you know, that wasn’t the opener. Was where they shut him out. Was 2000 but yeah, 1999 last time these teams met in December, and neither one of them entered the day over

Nestor Aparicio  55:50

500 so I think Q came out and did the show the day after that. I’m pretty sure he did.

Luke Jones  55:55

I mean, that was, you know, that was a monster game for him. I mean, that was, you know, his career Renaissance. You know, he was just kind of a, he was rockets brother at that point in time,

Nestor Aparicio  56:04

while we’re on that, I put Purple Rain, all of the old conversations about about, and not just Purple Rain the book, but everybody from that era, Tony Sarah goose, all the conversations with goose and Jack Del Rio and Mike Smith, and anybody associated with the team who’s ever done this year. Jamie sharper, Kim Aaron, it’s Mike Flynn. It’s all in there. Lots of storytelling. Brandon Stokely and John it’s all in there. Ray Lewis and Rod Woodson, it’s all in there. So they’re being honored this week, and that’s going to be a lot of fun, and I’m going to have a lot of fun with it. I didn’t even know it. Marvin said it to me in the segment I was doing a piece with Marvin. Marvin’s like, you know, I’m coming in this weekend. We’re getting crab cakes. I’m like, what? Because he’s a Cocos man. Marvin is so but he doesn’t want Coco’s. He’s, I can get, get Coco shipped. He wants crabs. So I’m taking him to Costas connected, you know? But this is going to be a fun weekend, and I want everybody to enjoy it, if you’re into such things. And if you want to read Purple Rain, it’s all up on Baltimore positive. If you have a copy, come say hello. I’m doing six shows through the holidays. We’re going to be at fadeleys on Wednesday, deepest qualities on Thursday, honeys and althorp on Friday. We’re going to be at Costas on the 18th. We’re going to be at gertrudes on the 19th, and we’re going to be at Planet Fitness in Timonium. Yes, it’s open. Yes, I’m bringing a crab cake over from Costas over to Planet Fitness on the 21st to get people ready to get in shape for 2026 I’m just getting used to writing 2025 on my checks. I’m making that up. I don’t have checks anymore, but it was always weird. Just it’s always weird when a year changes, and it’s always remember, Pittsburgh’s in town, and they’re both six and six, and we’re honoring the Super Bowl 35 champions, as I always it’s my team that was, that was, that was my team. We should all have a team that was my team. So my boys are all back in town this weekend, and the greatest defense ever, Marvin does it? Marvin always cringes when I say that to him, but it’s true, because I believe it. It’s Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.