It turns out that the โLamar Jackson vs. Josh Allenโ debate for MVP was a tad bit premature. As Luke Jones and Nestor discuss another Mahomes and Kelce Super Bowl in New Orleans, we wonder what itโs going to take for another AFC team (and quarterback) to break through in the Taylor Swift era.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the upcoming Super Bowl in New Orleans, highlighting their event schedule at various locations in Baltimore, including Costas, Fadleyโs, Cocos, State Fair, and Coopers. They reflect on past Super Bowl experiences and the dominance of the Patriots and Chiefs in recent years. Jones notes the importance of turnover in playoff games, citing the Ravensโ loss to the Bills and the Eaglesโ victory over the Commanders. They also discuss the potential matchup between Mahomes and Kelce versus the Eagles, emphasizing the Chiefsโ consistent performance and the challenges faced by other teams in the AFC.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Super Bowl, New Orleans, radio row, Hall of Fame, Joe Flacco, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles, turnover battle, icy conditions, food pantries, charity event, media guests
SPEAKERS
Speaker 1, Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore. Positive I would hold up my monopoly scratch off in the middle lot, but I picked them up yet, because the Super Bowl is coming. The cup of soup, or bowl begins at Costas in Dundalk on a Monday the third Iโll be telling everybody about that all week long. Let me just do a real quick rundown on that. Lukeโs going to be here. Weโre going to talk Super Bowl. Weโre going to talk about Taylor Swift and Taylorโs, oh no, Jason No, Travis Kelsey and Patrick mahomes. Weโre going to be at Costas on the third. Weโre going to be at fadleyโs on the fourth. Weโre going to be at Cocos on the fifth, weโre going to be at State Fair in Catonsville in the sixth weโre going to be Coopers on the seventh. Itโs all brought to you by friends at the Maryland lottery, and weโre doing it for various food pantries in the communities that we are serving, including Dundalk and Costas. We have a Super Bowl match up. We had a hell of a week here at looking down on my docket, it almost feels like Iโm going to New Orleans and sitting on radio row because Bob Ryan will be gracing us with his presence this week. Mike Nolan, former Defense coordinator, head coach of the San Francisco 40 Niners, Jamal Lewis, will be here. Theyโre having a big hoot nanny down at the stadium on Super Bowl Sunday with Verizon. My wife is a horizon team member, so weโre Team horizon around here in the general sense. So weโre going to be talking a little bit about that, and get down to the stadium on the ninth for Super Bowl Sunday. Ross Tuckerโs gonna be here. Ira Kaufman will be here. Sam COVID is of Woodlawn, Maryland and Jacksonville. These are all Hall of Fame voters. We have a Hall of Fame vote up with the Steve Smith, Marshall, yanda, as well as Terrell Suggs, and last but not least, Luke, I think youโve heard of this guy. Heโs a little maligned around here. I donโt know that heโs got any skin in the game in Philly, because heโs from Jersey, but Joseph Vincent Flacco will be joining us here at some point this week. Itโs almost like a real Super Bowl week. Almost makes you want to get out of New Orleans. Get out of bed at five in the morning, and I morning and put on a jacket, because itโll be freezing down there by the time we get there. And, you know, up and down Canal Street, and you and me drinking those awful Pat OโBrien hurricanes that you like that I vomit. And so weโre skipping all of that. Weโre going to do charity next week. Does that sound good? That sounds good? Yeah,
Luke Jones 02:19
in a former life, Iโd have a hurricane or two, but the thought of that now, not so much. I give me a good meal, which you can hang
Nestor Aparicio 02:27
over lately because I saw the one you had New Orleans 10 years ago. Like you felt really bad that A, youโre with your boss, and B, you just felt bad and see that was that game day, that was not Super Bowl week, that was two years later. I know, did you Yeah, the Monday night game that night when we were up on the roof. Wait, what would you say? Did you throw up in the Super No, no, no,
Luke Jones 02:49
I wasnโt like, I just, I had a i i had a headache.
Nestor Aparicio 02:53
Can we do bro talk for just a minute here? Because weโre not, we donโt Phillies in the game. So the bros are all after not greasing the polls or writing, I can
Luke Jones 03:01
do as much bro talk as possible as a deacon at my church and an older, wiser version of this.
Nestor Aparicio 03:10
Itโs a reform ministry. Itโs fine, sure, sure. Deacon Jones, bless me, Deacon, for I have sinned. I have stepped into the we all have, right, but different than a lot of people you meet. I really was confirmed in CCD, and I held a I mean, I was an altar boy with Johnny Rollo. So even after all of that, I found myself in New Orleans as a young man. And this was the Super Bowl. That was the Drew Bledsoe Brett Favre Super Bowl. Okay, it was the first Super Bowl where I really went and set up on radio row. Now I was on radio row at the Minneapolis Super Bowl, which almost was this Super Bowl, right? Bills, Redskins, 90 in the Minneapolis one. I was there with Keith mills. I was in the radio row there was a little bit like a baseball card convention at the Holiday Inn down here on Cromwell. It was just in a it was a little function. Itโs the room where they put the median out of work. Itโs the media work room at the Hyatt in Minneapolis. So that was 1992 I had been on the radio five weeks, six weeks, Steadman got me tickets. I was not a media member, but I was on the air. I fished guests. I fished Keith mills. From there on a pay phone to do Kenny Albertโs radio show that became my radio show in january 1992 so in 93 I did not go to the Super Bowl, the Leon let game. 9495 I started going to all every Super Bowl i That was the year the Ravens were moving here. Itโs the year Marvin Lewis was the defensive coordinator of the Steelers. It was the Switzer Tempe Super Bowl. I went on to that rate. Now Iโm nasty Nestor. By then I have a. Know, didnโt have a station, but I was on 1360 broadcasting from the Towson Sheraton, by that point, for sure, 95 so weโre getting the football team. We donโt know their name. Itโs in dispute. Viviano says we might get the Bengals, and thereโs going to be a swap. There were things going on in January of 96 that were messy. That was that Super Bowl, Marvinโs on the field. OโDonnell throws the pics, all of that stuff I did radio row two of those days from my own show, Spiro Marie, because hosted the show and I got dick. Shap did my show. From there, the nicest man. Um, but so I did the, did the radio row thing, but the real radio row where I put equipment together, and, my God, the amount of equipment we needed to broadcast live in 1997 January of 97 end of the first Vinny Testaverde year, Kevin Byrne wasnโt it didnโt have a press box name for him in the corner, and they were still honoring real media members back then. So in 1997 I went down to New Orleans and set up to do radio row. And it was set up in the Hyatt, which is a circular hotel with the elevators that are glass that go through it. When you were a kid, you saw because they brought ESPN Tom Jackson, Chris Berman, they were there. It looked like Christmas. It, you know, looks like the opry land hotel a little bit. So they set the radio people up throughout the entire hotel. If there wasnโt a room, I was just on a veranda with, I donโt know, Ricky waters and Randall Cunningham and Jerome Bettis and Darryl green sitting next to me, but there was a sports talk show host named Mike North legend. He was a hot dog vendor on the south side of Chicago, and he got a radio show, and it was popular. Let me tell he is popular because in Chicago they love the bull, the bulls, oh my god, the bulls in the 90s. So he made a career doing this stick. Heโs still alive. Heโs a friend of mine. Heโs not tell him. I said so. But Mike North was there, and he was he was big leagueging Me rip to Bob uker, by the way, but he was big leagueging me in a way that was fun. Oh, you got a schtick in Baltimore. Yeah, you got a team now. Ah, so weโre out on Bourbon Street, and heโs trying to show me how to grow hair on my chest in various ways. There was a a house of ill repute with that we ran into. I know youโre going to find this hard to believe. Paul Schaefer and Dan Aykroyd were in a house of ill repute in New Orleans that we ran into. We had some drinks with them. So Iโm drinking beer, and it was like the Richie Cunningham thing. And Happy Days, they give you the beer in like little six ounce, eight ounce cups, and itโs all drafting. You donโt know what it is. And Scotty P, from amicis, I love you. Scotty P, even though your team lost on Sunday, Hale keel, um, Scotty P, was with me. It was just the two of us. And Hennessy flew down and ZZ Top played, and last thing I know, they were high fiving Fred McGriff, and we thought Steve was dead. It was one of those. It was a new Irelandโs night. I mean, weโre talking like a hangover, the movie with the tiger in the bathroom, kind of night, right? I mean, it involved Fred McGriff. It involved the Allman Brothers. I mean, it was crazy. But Mike north, on the Thursday night of the end of the week, I went out on Bourbon Street with him because he was barking at me all week on radio row. Hey kid, weโre gonna take you out. So Iโm gonna show you my town. Iโm like, Youโre from Chicago. Act doesnโt matter, you know. So we were, I was so hungover on that Friday that I was driving the porcelain bus in the menโs room at the Hyatt on radio row at I went on the air two oโclock, then at 157 I said to Scott, you might be hosting the show today. So this is amateur hour. You know, 30 years ago. Itโs ancient history, and this is why I donโt need another New Orleans Super Bowl, and I donโt need another mahomy, I but I donโt. This is a good football game, dude. And I tell you what, we can talk about the bills, we can talk about the commanders and whatever. Um, I was underwhelmed by the early game. The late game was obviously compelling. Um, I feel bad for Buffalo, but these are the two best teams. Donโt we want that?
Luke Jones 09:39
Sure. Well, I mean, what we want, and locally is the ravens to be in the game. But itโs funny, I just have to go back when you were going back to that timeline and reminiscing. The thought popped in my head, okay, 1996 that was five years before Tom Brady arrived and the Patriots arrived. True Bledsoe is in his awful Brady. Oh. Brady did that for 20 years, for the better part of 20 years, you know, Joe Flacco and a couple others with exceptions, but it was the Patriots over that entire period of time that was Darth Vader, and then it immediately goes to Patrick mahomes and the chiefs. Now, five of the last six years, theyโve gone to the Super Bowl. I mean, itโs just, it really is remarkable. But I thought it was interesting because you saw a few ravens players. Marlon Humphrey was the big one that I saw on social media. He made the comment. And I saw a few other Ravens fans, you know, reporter ravens Twitter types make the comment that, you know, the one the game that really stuck. Stood out the most for the Ravens this year, being a game that they really, truly lost, was that Philadelphia game, and the fact that they, you know, especially Philadelphia in the second half, fourth quarter, saquon Barkley takes over. They ran the ball against the run defense that stopped just about everyone, right? And buffalo obviously had some success in the first half last week against the Ravens run D. But, you know, you look at it and you made the comment Philadelphia, I think. I mean, Detroit, if they had not been ravaged by injuries on the defensive side of the ball, I would have liked to have seen what that looked like. I mean, I you know, that was a pretty extreme list of injuries that their defense suffered over the course of the season. But Philadelphia offense defense able to run the ball even if Jalen Hurts, doesnโt put up big numbers as a passer, heโs got a J Brown and Devonte Smith and Dallas Goddard, so itโs not as though he didnโt have weapons. And that defense, you know, we talked about that, that defensive front, and the problems they gave the Ravens back in early December. And by
Nestor Aparicio 11:46
the way, we also when they were chewing up the commanders and scoring points. I remember you and I having long conversations about, well, you know, I mean, Jalen, Jalen, Jane Daniels is good, but defense isnโt any good. It the Washington defense. And in the end, that did them, man, right? Like just you, you canโt do this without being balanced, right? And that goes for the greatest show on turf, rams. That goes for any of the Peyton Manning teams that werenโt good enough when, when the Patriots were, because they would rent Chad Brown at the end of the year. And, you know, like we rented Kyle van Noy and sort of slobber knock teams defensively. You have to be able to stop name it. Josh Allen. Brett Farr, pick your era. John Elway, whatever it is, you got to go out there and man up and play defense at the end of the game, and even buffalo couldnโt do it to get the ball back at the end of the game on Sunday night. To give Josh Allen one more chance. If your defense canโt get the ball back, youโre not going to win four of these games in January. Youโre not. Youโre not going to win these games 41 to 38 every week. Youโre not.
Luke Jones 12:51
Yeah, well, and the other part of it, thatโs true, and I donโt disagree. They turned the ball over four times. I mean, again, you go back to ravens bills, and we talked about that a lot. Weโll weโll be talking about that all off season, right? Weโll be talking about it next year. When that, when, when those teams clash. You look at these playoffs, and I get it, Buffalo didnโt lose the turnover battle on Sunday night in Kansas City. But you look at these games, Washington against Philly, the Ravens last week, when you turn the ball over three or four times in a game, youโre gonna lose unless you take take it away, three or four times, youโre gonna lose 95% of the time. I mean, thatโs what youโre talking about. When you when itโs a minus two in the turnover department, you lose like 80% of the time. I think that was the last analytics number that you know that just and by the way, history is
Nestor Aparicio 13:47
more disconcerting when you think about building your football team to play in, I donโt want to say dome conditions, but just normal conditions, whatever normal conditions would be. And then you find yourself in a game with these skill position players like Lamar, and youโre in ice. And this goes back to my Houston Oilers, back in 1980 trying to win on the ice in Pittsburgh, and Pittsburgh squirting the field down when the Raiders showed up in the 70s, because it is the great equalizer of the football on both sides. I mean, unless you take the air out of the football, which Tom Brady figured out how to do that too, and thatโs not me starting to flaky. That is legitimate. Take the air out of the football, and itโs not going to come out. And that peanut punch thing that you know, that we saw happening on Sunday night, a little bit more in the AFC Championship game than maybe we saw Marlon Humphrey trying it around here during the course of the year. The peanut punch thing is, is enough, and getting up and trying to run with the football after youโve been down, and not having control of the ball and all of that. But the icy night thing that is just unpredictable on. Unaccounted for and even in the game last week with the Ravens in the bills. It wasnโt supposed to snow during the game like that was never really the forecast, but it did, and Lamar on that back turn trying to do something heโs done a million times on a million playgrounds successfully, can hold on to the ball. Itโs made even worse, the great equalizer for the ravens to be eliminated this year that they went and played on an icy night and kicked the ball around. I canโt even blame them for that. You know what? I mean, like, itโs an icy night like, but Sunday night wasnโt icy in Kansas City, and given the ball, Kansas City was sloppy. Well,
Luke Jones 15:39
I think. I mean, first of all, I will blame youโve got to take care of the football. Itโs more challenging in the elements. No question about that. And the example Iโll use is Look how well buffalo took care of the football last week in conditions that were worse in Orchard Park than they were in Kansas City. Now they didnโt lose any but buffalo fumbled four times on Sunday, that game, as close as it was, as entertaining as it was, Kansas City deserved the win. They were better. They were better. But that game, Buffalo had some and everyone will talk about the spot on fourth down, and I get that right and and I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment of a multi billion dollar business in the NFL, should have better technology to handle dude, letโs go. But that said buffalo fumbled four times, recovered all four. Josh Allen, statistically, you look at the game and say, Oh, he had a good game. I donโt think Josh Allen played a great game. I think he, I mean, to his first two passes could have, should have been intercepted on the opening drive. I think buffalo had some things that even went their way in that regard, when you put the ball on the on the ground four times and recover all four, you know youโre thatโs not, thatโs not making the football Gods happy. Letโs put it that way. So
Nestor Aparicio 16:59
I think it comes he did do something I never seen anybody do, which was the defender had held his guy in the route, he pointed, got the flag, and then threw a meatball. Yeah, I canโt say that. Iโve seen that a whole lot in the history of the game, literally, sure, like, even Tony Romo was deeked by Yeah.
Speaker 1 17:18
I mean, I was just like, Okay, I guess he saw that all through some meatballs. To your point, yeah, he really did. Yeah. I donโt think this felt a little more Josh Allen earlier in his career than the Josh Allen that we saw last week against the ravens, for example, where he didnโt play a great football game, but he did a great job protecting the football and
Luke Jones 17:38
but Iโll still come back to I think it was much more evident in the Washington Philadelphia game. Philadelphia was just much better than Washington, and thatโs taking nothing away from Jaden Daniels, who is already one of my favorite players in the league, which makes me feel conflicted, because Iโve never had any any affection for that team down the road. You know, heโll not hail, heโll but I love that kid. I think heโs on his way to already be in the best quarterback in the NFC although Jalen Hurts. We got to
Nestor Aparicio 18:04
do a whole segment on that because, you know, I have a lot of angst about the Washington football team, yeah, you know. And to be honest with you, I didnโt, itโs not that I dislike the Eagles or, you know, I Iโm at the point where, like, you know, I like football, and thatโs fine, and I like the Houston Oilers, and they canโt win a Super Bowl and never will again. And the rest of it, I just as a journalist of doing this for 40 years, I just sort of watch it. But the Washington thing, I like Dan Quinn so much, and Iโve always liked him. My wife and I like him have spent time in Salisbury and like all that, so I canโt really root against him, and even all of the long suffering people that I used to like Scotty P, I just mentioned Scotty P 30 years ago. Weโre down doing our thing. He was making fun of me little purple Barney outfits. I mean, I remember it vividly being at the pool at the Hard Rock in Vegas with him reading all of Kevin burns notes on Eric Turner and Vinnie Testaverde and, you know, Leroy hoard, and you know, like pepper Johnson and just being made fun of by openly by Redskins fans. And I mean, like, whatโs happened to them as an Oriole fan, I donโt feel like I need to rub it in anymore. And just pictures of Dan Snyder. Heโs the biggest weasel there ever was. And the whole part of, like, disliking them as a Baltimorean, I donโt want to say I put down the sword on it a little bit, but my God, the last 30 years for these poor sobs. I mean, I have friends that are heartbroken about it, but they got a quarterback to your point, right? Yeah, and
Luke Jones 19:31
they have a new owner. And Iโm not saying that Joshua Harris is the best owner in pro sports, but when you upgrade from Daniel Snyder, itโs like what we talked about with Rubenstein compared to Angelos when it first happened, where you just say, All right, I donโt really know what kind of owner this guy is going to be, but I know what the last guy and the last family did. So look that that changes everything. And I this is a huge off season for them. Theyโre going to have a lot of cap space. Weโll see what happens. But when you have Jaden Daniels, and you see. Thatโs what that did alone, coupled with some savvy veteran editions, like Bobby Wagner and, you know, Zach Kurtz was a really helpful piece for a rookie quarterback, you end up having a season like they had so but Philadelphia was better on the on the flip side, looking at the AFC Look, I donโt think itโs a case that Buffalo and the Ravens are less talented than Kansas City, right? I think especially the ravens, if you look at the roster, top to bottom, ravens compared to Kansas City. All things being equal, taking the Ravens roster probably, but Andy Reid, Patrick mahomes, Steve Spagnola, Travis Kelsey, a team that doesnโt beat itself, a team that is Bucha Walter used to always say about players that were good in the clutch. They have a low heartbeat, a slow heartbeat. Thatโs Kansas City. I mean, they they donโt beat themselves, and theyโre just really smart. And I think the last two years, especially when you look at last year, you know, they went through that, that little bit of a tailspin in late November through Christmas. Remember, they lost to the Raiders on Christmas Day, and everyone at that point was ready to write them off, and they were going to be on the road, and they have didnโt have the number one seed, and they went into buffalo one, they went into Baltimore won then this year that theyโre a team that lost one game, right? Not not counting week 18, when they rested starters and Denver beat their junior high version of the chiefs, but they lost one game they werenโt all that impressive in the in the process of going 15 and one as silly as crazy as that sounds, you know exactly what Iโm saying when I say that. And when did they play their best football the season? They started tuning it up in mid December, and 32 points on Sunday night. Itโs their season high in points scored. I mean, itโs just they, they know how to do this. And when youโre the Ravens or youโre the bills. Thatโs why, last week, when there was all this talk about buffalo Baltimore being a legacy game for the winner, you know Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson, I said it to you at the time, and you agreed with me. Itโs like, hey, letโs, letโs pump the brakes here, because
Nestor Aparicio 22:17
hey, wearing suits on the honors night, right? Thatโs the thing.
Luke Jones 22:21
I mean, literally, right? And you look at it in hindsight, and I would have said the same thing, if the Ravens had won and lost to Kansas City. Did that game really do anything for Josh Allen when he lost to the Chiefs again the following week? Had the Ravens won and then gone to Kansas City and lost, would that have really done any anything for the ravens and Lamar Jackson, no, I mean, itโs, youโre still chasing the chiefs. I mean, itโs that simple, and thatโs why it is just incredible. And you know, as you were reminiscing about mid 90s radio row, I was just thinking, I mean, this is you had 20 years of Brady and the Patriots doing what they did, you know, putting aside spy gate to plate gate. All you know how unlikable they became after a while, all that putting that aside, just the results on the field, you had 20 years of that literally rolled right into Kansas City. I mean that the 2018 title game patriots beat the chiefs, and since then, the chiefs have just dominated the AFC. And itโs, itโs one of those situations where you think back to all those years, you know, even with Joe Flacco, even you know, the Steelers with Ben Roethlisberger, certainly the Colts with Peyton Manning, it was always man only Brady werenโt here. You know, could we have won that many more? And now itโs the same thing. You know, Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, Josh Allen and the bills burrow and the Bengals, although theyโve at least, you know, they beat the Chiefs once, although they didnโt finish the job at the Super Bowl. But you just look at it and say, Man, if that mahomes guy and the chiefs, if they werenโt there, what would the AFC look like? And right now, I mean it. I saw a couple people make the comments late Sunday night that itโs very reminiscent of the NBA in the 90s with Michael Jordan. I mean, you had lots of Hall of Fame players. And, you know, other than the two years where he went off to play baseball with Chris pike down in in Birmingham. I mean, no one else has a chance. So itโs, itโs impressive for what theyโve done, but for everyone else, itโs a very frustrating feeling. And you know, they they played a cleaner game, a better game, than buffalo did, and theyโre going back to the Super Bowl again.
Nestor Aparicio 24:33
Luke Jones is serious, Baltimore. Luke Deacon Jones, as we like to say, not the one with their head slap that Deacon Jones up in southern Pennsylvania, although you can watch my conversation with the Deacon Jones talking about getting after Johnny Unitas out of Baltimore. Positive, it is not a radio row week here, but itโs going to feel like a radio row week. Weโre going a lot of football here this week. Next week, of course, a cup of soup or bowl. Weโre going to be doing that for various food pantries in the area, all. Brought to you by friends at wise markets, as well as our friends at the Maryland lottery. I will get the monopoly tickets to hold up, man, Super Bowls in New Orleans. You get me thinking about all of this, because, like, there have been a couple of in the 911 Super Bowl was there, obviously our Super Bowl was there. So I feel like Iโve, Iโve, Iโve done this routine before, so the fact that weโre not doing it next week, the more I talk about it, though, it does, like, make me want to port a call burger. It does make me want to, like, get some fried shrimp. But you know what I found out that Costas has fried shrimp. Donโt ask me why. I didnโt know this the first 51 years of my life, but the last couple years, Iโve been getting fried shrimp with proper cocktail sauce. It cost us, and it is literally the same recipe and the same shrimp that they use at the Acme Oyster House in New Orleans. So I figured it saved us a lot of money. I figure Iโm probably old enough now that I wouldnโt get a hangover, but you never know. I donโt trust myself, you know what I mean, on a boat out in the in the Mississippi. So for all of that, weโll sit back. Weโre going to talk some football this week. Joe Flacco is going to join us. Jamal Lewis, all bunch of old friends, a whole bunch of Hall of Fame voters. Luke and I are going to talk some Hall of Fame. And weโre also going to talk about the game Kane City, Philadelphia as well. Weโre going to have ravens off season stuff. Weโre going to have Orioles in season stuff, almost. Weโre almost getting there. And of course, next week, weโre going to begin our thing at Costas on Monday. Weโre going to be taking the whole week. Iโm not doing the marathon thing next week, all day long. Iโm doing 12 to five, noon to five. Weโre not going live itโs Monday at Costas, Tuesday at fadelies, Wednesday at Cocos, Thursday at State Fair, Friday at Coopers. I need to memorize that, because Iโm going to be saying it all week. Saying it all week long. And I do hope you come out, bring some canned goods, dry goods, good stuff for local food pantries in Dundalk, Catonsville, Towson, simonium, downtown, for sure. Iโm going to get the grace hope and mission back this year, because I love talking to those folks last year too. So I am Nestor. Heโs Luke. The Super Bowl still happening. Weโre not in it, but we are trying hard. Weโre Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.