Lamar. Roquan. Hamilton. Humphrey. We’re still (mostly) buying that the Baltimore Ravens can climb back into the AFC playoff picture if they can get their best players back on the field against a weak upcoming schedule. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the many bye week issues and concerns for head coach John Harbaugh and the last place Baltimore Ravens.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ struggles, highlighting their 1-5 record and the issues surrounding John Harbaugh’s leadership. Nestor criticized the team’s lack of accountability and integrity, citing specific incidents and player performances. Luke acknowledged the impact of injuries, particularly the absence of Lamar Jackson, but emphasized the need for better offensive and defensive line play. They debated the team’s potential for improvement, with Nestor predicting a 7-7 season and Luke expressing skepticism. Both agreed on the importance of winning the next game against Chicago to avoid a disastrous start.
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Support local businesses like Pizza John’s and Curio Wellness.
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Attend events at Costas in Timonium and do the GBMC colonoscopy.
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Give away Ravens scratch-off tickets from the Maryland Lottery.
Bye Week Reflections and Local Business Support
- Nestor Aparicio discusses the Ravens’ bye week, mentioning their 1-5 record and his positive experiences with local businesses like Curio Wellness and Pizza John’s.
- Nestor encourages supporting local businesses and mentions upcoming events, including a show at Pizza John’s and a celebration at Costa Simtimonium.
- Nestor talks about his upcoming GBMC colonoscopy and encourages men to get screened.
- Nestor shares his frustration with the Ravens’ operation and his letter to John Harbaugh, expressing his disgust with the team’s performance and locker room issues.
Harbaugh’s Response and Team Accountability
- Nestor recounts John Harbaugh’s response to his letter, which included denials and expressions of love and family.
- Nestor expresses his disappointment with the team’s performance and the public’s reaction to the Ravens’ struggles.
- Nestor criticizes the players and coaches for their lack of accountability and integrity, mentioning specific incidents and players.
- Nestor emphasizes the need for the team to show more fight and accountability, especially with Lamar Jackson expected to return soon.
Injuries and Team Performance
- Luke Jones acknowledges the impact of injuries on the team, comparing the Ravens’ situation to other teams without their star players.
- Luke discusses the Ravens’ performance against the Rams, highlighting missed opportunities and key mistakes.
- Luke mentions the importance of Lamar Jackson’s return and the need for better performance from the offensive and defensive lines.
- Luke and Nestor discuss the team’s struggles with run blocking and pass protection, and the need for better coaching and player performance.
Offensive and Defensive Line Issues
- Luke Jones highlights the Ravens’ issues with the offensive and defensive lines, mentioning specific players and their performance.
- Luke discusses the lack of a consistent pass rush and the need for better depth and talent on the defensive line.
- Nestor and Luke talk about the team’s reliance on Lamar Jackson and the need for better play from the backup quarterbacks.
- Luke mentions the potential for trades to address the team’s defensive line needs and the importance of staying healthy for the rest of the season.
Player Performance and Coaching Decisions
- Nestor and Luke discuss the performance of specific players, including Cooper Rush, J.K. Dobbins, and the offensive line.
- Luke criticizes the play-calling and decision-making in key situations, mentioning specific plays and their impact on the game.
- Nestor and Luke talk about the need for better accountability and leadership from the players and coaches.
- Luke emphasizes the importance of winning the next game against the Bears to avoid a disastrous start to the season.
Future Outlook and Team Improvement
- Nestor and Luke discuss the team’s chances of improving and making the playoffs, with Nestor predicting a 7-7 record.
- Luke expresses doubts about the team’s ability to win nine of their remaining 11 games, given their current performance and injuries.
- Nestor and Luke talk about the need for better coaching, player performance, and accountability to turn the team’s fortunes around.
- Luke emphasizes the importance of winning the next game and the need for the team to play at a higher level to have any chance of success.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens bye week, John Harbaugh, Lamar Jackson, injuries, offensive line, defensive line, pass rush, accountability, player performance, coaching staff, playoff chances, schedule, team morale, quarterback issues.
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 to Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively, getting back out on the road on the Maryland crab cake tour. I do want to give a shout out to my friends at curio wellness, where my curio gear here today, and also the move lotion that’s helped my back so much during my travels here, looking up in the sky at hot air balloons. Last week, it is bye week around here, the ravens are one and five, but I’ve been eating some great food. So if nothing else, take tastiness as a hashtag. Go out support some local businesses that aren’t multi billion dollar businesses with no accountability. These are people that make delicious donuts, delicious food, including my friends at Pizza John’s. I’ll be doing the show over there where Cocos in early November. I’m going to be at Costa simtimonium later this week, celebrating 57 years, baby. 57 years, two Super Bowls and a one in five football team. I will have Raven scratch offs to give away courtesy the Maryland lottery, it’s been lucky batch. We’ll be doing that out on the crab cake tour as we get the shoe on the road, as well as my GBMC colonoscopy that’s coming up. Can’t be soon enough. My colonoscopy in a one in five season, but I’m five weeks out on that. So want to encourage all men to do what I’m doing, which is have a little bit of courage. I mean, just, just a little bit more courage. And maybe some of the Ravens have to come to the podium or speak to, you know, lowly reporters in the fan base after they lose football games. Luke, I have written and inked my disgust with the operation with John Harbaugh two weeks ago, before the long before they’re one in five, I sent John a missive about something that transpired in his locker room that you know about and I know about, that the public doesn’t know about, because the person involving it didn’t want it to be made public, so I haven’t made it public, but I was disgusted by it, and I fired off a steamer, and John fired back the usual. I have no idea what you’re talking about. I love God. I love my family. I love you. Everything’s good. One day we’ll sit down and talk about it. Sure we will. John. So I wrote a letter to John in my I want to say disgust, because I’m dude. You know me a long time. I’m way past disgust with these people. I’m appalled at all of it, but certainly when they’re five and one, no one cares what I think or who talks to who at the locker room or whatever, everybody’s a hell of a winner when they’re one in five, everybody wants Harbaugh fired Zach or fired Chuck Pagano, fired for even being a part of it. Monkey fired for running the ball like a goof on the goal line twice with Mark Andrews and meanwhile, like the backdrop all of this is the players haven’t been good enough. They haven’t been the second string. Guys aren’t good enough. Eric decostas brought in guys that can’t do it. Injuries have piled up, bad fortune, bad luck, and then, you know, maybe a couple bad contracts in here, not Marcus Williams notwithstanding, and some others. And I, what I’ve said to harbor in my letter is accountability is easy. That’s part of being a good person. Integrity is easy. Not lying should be easy, although it’s impossible for Chad steel and John Harbaugh and Steve bashati In this group to not lie. You’re the white guy in the locker room. I’m the Venezuelan watching National Hispanic month, heritage stuff going on while I’m the only Hispanic Heritage journalist that I’ve met around here in Whoa, about 41 years, who’s been been thrown out. So the incongruency and the lies and the lack of integrity that’s sort of built into it, but when they’re 15 and two. No one cares when they’re one and five. It’s fire everybody. And I’m not a fire everybody. Guy, I’m not even a fire John. Guy, I picked them to win the Super Bowl seven weeks ago. So when he writes to me, saying, I hate him and all of that, I think, where’s their head, man, where’s their mojo? Even when I’m writing to the coach, I’m thinking, where’s your head, dude, that any of this is acceptable and that running out the back door for your players is acceptable, or leaning on the we’ve got too many injuries is acceptable. Bad football is unacceptable. They’re one in five. It should be unacceptable to all of them from bashati head down, that what this stinking turd is should not be chalked up to. Well, Lamar is going to hamstring, or we can dig out of this and this, we’re so fortunate to be one in five because it gives us an opportunity to show them what we’re made of. And like, I feel like I’ve learned what you’re made of the first six weeks, and it’s paper mache.
Luke Jones 04:43
I mean, no one said they’re fortunate to be one in five. I mean, let’s not miss. Miss category
Nestor Aparicio 04:48
called it a great opportunity in the post game, okay, but he
Luke Jones 04:51
also acknowledged plenty of bad things. I’m going to be fair here in the midst of plenty of warranted criticism. But, yeah. I mean, look, the injuries are part of it. I’m not. I will not completely dismiss the injuries, nor will I. Lamar Jackson being out is bad in the same way that Josh Allen being out would be. I mean, I don’t know how many games buffalo would win at all without, without Josh Allen wasn’t, wasn’t that the whole crux of the the argument for him to win the MVP last year. We just basically take $150 million a player off the field, like we did two weeks ago in any organization, take the first $150
Nestor Aparicio 05:30
million off their payroll and expect them to go play the Yankees have a hard time with that. Aaron judge Dodgers have a hard time matter how much they spend they don’t have their players. Yes, yes. So So
Luke Jones 05:40
that’s absolutely part of it. That said, yeah, if you want to just point to that and then just shrug your shoulders at the rest of it and say, well, we need to get healthy. We’re fine. You know that, as Buck show Walter would say, that would be convenient if you want to, if you want to do that, or you have to acknowledge that. Yeah, you do have issues that go beyond that, right? I mean, they were a healthy team in Buffalo, it feels like an eternity ago at this point in time, back in week one, but they were a healthy team other than what Isaiah likely, right, and Patrick Ricard, but those guys had nothing to do with the fact that they blew a 15 point lead in the fourth quarter. They were much healthier in week three against Detroit than they were last week against Houston, or where they were on Sunday. Right? Their defense did get healthier this past week, and we did see a better version of a Ravens defense. Now I’ll point out that the Rams did some things to help them as well, in terms of some drop passes. It certainly helped the puka nakua leaves the game with an ankle injury and came back in the second half. What was a non factor, right? I mean, you’re talking about the best wide receiver in the NFL, a guy that entered Sunday on pace to have 2000 receiving yards this year. He was at 19 99.4 or whatever the pace was. So it’s not as though the Rams played perfect football, but that’s part of the frustration here was that was a winnable football game. I mean, they led for a good portion of the first half. It was three, three at halftime, and then you come out in the second half, you give up a touchdown drive. Okay? You know, not the end of the world you’re down 10 to three, but when that happened on the heels of what happened at the end of the first half, where you fail to punch it in from the one on three straight plays, the Rams get their touchdown, and then zay flowers fumbles two plays later. I mean pu right? I mean, a game that was winnable and tied at halftime is 17 to three five minutes into the third quarter. I mean, you know, that’s below the bar, to use John Harbaugh’s term from a decade ago. So, I mean, there’s, there’s a lot going on right now. And, yeah, the injuries are a big part of it. And Lamar Jackson coming back will help this team immensely. I mean, Tyler linderbaum, you know, was asked about how much they missed Lamar, and he said, It’s Lamar Jackson, you know, it’s the best football player on the planet. Sure, he’s going to help us. But that said, you know, if, if you think it’s going to be as simple as Lamar just shows back up against Chicago, and it’s game on, and all their other issues are going to be fixed. Then they were one in three with Lamar Jackson on the field, right? I mean, that that Kansas City game was well on its way to being a loss by the time Lamar exited at the end of the third quarter. So they’ve got all kinds of issues. We know that, and I do think some of it is fixable or can be improved. But I still come back to where is your offensive line. Where is your defensive line? Can you run block consistently enough? Are your offensive linemen capable of run blocking consistently enough, because we have not seen any kind of consistency on that front here in 2025 can they protect, whether it’s Lamar Jackson, Cooper rush or Tyler Huntley? Can they protect sufficiently? And yeah, Lamar scrambles and will get away from from rushers that Cooper rush, or even Tyler Huntley isn’t going to necessarily get away from but you still need to be able to protect he can’t be doing that every single play. So you have that. And then on the defensive line, which, as we talked about in the offseason, that was something that if you were asking me to identify two or three position groups, that I was not as confident in in terms of their depth, it was certainly the D line. That’s why I was surprised that in a draft that was considered pretty deep and rich in defensive lineman, that they didn’t draft a D line until Aeneas Peebles in the sixth round, who was a healthy scratch on Sunday, right? I mean, kind of speaks to what. They are there. So, I mean, the D line, is roquan Smith going to come back and be roquan Smith? Are they going to stay healthy, right? I mean, these are a lot, is Zach or going to and the rest of the coaching staff going to figure this out, assuming Zach or is going to continue to be the defensive coordinator, you know, which John Harbaugh indicated after the game that he will be we’re going to find out, right? I mean, they’re going to have to play a game a week from Sunday, right? They get a respite this week to reset and self scout and rest up and try to recalibrate and try to get their heads right and try to be accountable to one another and have difficult discussions and and, you know, they’ll go away for a few days, then this weekend and come back and it’s go time. I mean, you need to view it like you’re in the playoffs the rest of the way, right? I mean, that’s you don’t need to win out. But nine of nine of 11 is what you need to get to 10 and seven, which is, like I said, the benchmark for feeling good about a playoff spot, you know, anything less than that, you’re you’re counting on Pittsburgh to completely collapse, right? I mean, you’re counting on other teams in the AFC to be lousy enough that nine and eight has a chance for a wild card, you know? So you can’t count on that. But 10 and seven again, with Seattle last year being the exception you look at the last four years, 10 and seven has been good enough to get in as a wild card. I mean, that’s kind of been the benchmark. So that’s what you’re looking at. But okay, I’ll hear it bears at Miami, at Minnesota, given their quarterback, okay, fine. At Cleveland, given their quarterback, okay, fine.
Nestor Aparicio 11:41
You can play that game all day, right? You can look at the schedule here and say they can win five in the next six. Dude, I wrote John Harbaugh a steamer, and even in it, I said, You’ll be seven and seven. I mean, I literally right here. What do I have in my pocket? Literally, I got, we want to do a Cocos gift card. Won’t do pizza, John’s what makes you happy? One crab cake you want pizza, wants each steak, I’ll bet you any sandwich of your choice on the tastiness menu, including the delicious fried lobster at the Beaumont, which is probably the prices menu. I’ll bet you whatever you want. I think there’ll be seven and seven. Okay. I mean, I’ll say that right now. It’s my birthday, it’s October, I they will be seven and seven,
Luke Jones 12:20
okay, yeah. I mean, look, I’m not, I’m not gonna sit here and say that’s impossible at the same time. I also can’t look at that schedule and just say, win, win, win, win. When you’re one in five, you know what? You know what all those teams are looking at right now. They’re saying, Oh, the ravens are on the schedule. They can’t play defense, quarterback, yeah. I mean, okay, yeah. Lamar still a nightmare for teams to defend. Now, offensive line stinks and is banged up. Is Lamar even going to be upright by drop the ball when the games on the line and then hide after the game? We talked about this. We talked about this last week. Now, stupidly, they three of the first five AFC offensive players of the week this season, played the Ravens that week. I mean that you know you’re talking about Josh Allen. You’re talking about is that like when they take you as a knockout poll every week. But the point is, they’ve been the Get well opponent for these teams. So look again, I agree, like the schedule sets up better, and that’s part that’s been part of this as well. We talked about this back in August. We talked about this in May, when the schedule came out, the fact that they were playing five of their first six against playoff teams from a year ago, and you and I talked about the need for them to get off to a good start. I mean, my goodness. I mean now when you look back at that, it’s like, yeah, you think, I mean, how about get off to a mediocre start? And you know, if there were three and three right now, I’d feel mostly okay about this football team if they were three and three right now. But when you’re one in five again, even if you’re firing on all cylinders, going nine and 11 or nine of winning nine of 11, going nine and two the rest of the way, that’s a tall order, even for a team that’s really, really playing at a high level, just because it’s the NFL, and you are going to have injuries, and you are going to have the ball bounce a weird way, and you’re going to have weird weather, right? I mean, the weather on Sunday ended up being far more pleasant than it looked like it might be when you looked at the forecast on Thursday, right? But you’re looking at a team that’s now needing everything to go nearly perfectly. The rest of the way as far as the things that can go perfectly. I mean, namdi matter BK is not walking through that door, right? I mean, tavius Robinson now has a broken foot, and what does that mean for your edge group that’s really thin at this point in time, whether it’s good enough or not. I mean, just the sheer numbers are a major concern at this point. So you have these things that have gone wrong that you’re not going to be able to control, but everything you can control. Man, it’s got to be so much better, and then you’re still hoping that you don’t have a crazy weather day that completely neutralizes what you do or, you know, or might help the other team in a certain you know, you’re hoping to have much better health. I mean, they’re going to need to be, they’re going to need to stay much healthier the second half of the season, that’s obvious, right? I mean, you have another run of injuries, like they had Week Three through week five. Yeah, it’s going to be all she wrote, right? I mean, and certainly, if Lamar misses any more time, it’s, you know, it’s absolutely, it’s over, right? I mean, that’s why I kept saying to you two weeks ago that you probably have to keep Lamar sideline through the buy right? Because if he tries to come back and plays at less than 100% or only 85% or, you know, whatever number, arbitrary number you want to throw out there, and then has a setback, then it truly is over. You know, if Lamar had tried to play Sunday and has a setback, and then he’s out another five weeks. Yeah, we’re talking about the draft, and we are talking about John Harbaugh’s future and the coaching staff’s future, and all these free agent to be their future. So it’s, it’s bleak. I mean, it is. I mean, I’m not going to sit here and I can see a path. But is it realistic? Do you really have the conviction and the confidence in this football team to do it? I mean, as I wrote at Baltimore positive.com, and this ties in with with what you wrote about and some of the things you’ve talked about, but this is uncharted territory for the Lamar era Ravens. I mean, it is they, I get it. They’ve had some years where, you know, they’ve had to make a run if they were trying to win the number one seed or trying to win the division, but they were never in a position where, oh my gosh, you need to go nuts here over the last 11 games just to make the playoffs, just to put yourself in the conversation for a wild card, right? I mean, to sit here for any team to say that you need to win nine of 11 just because you’ve been able to do it in the past, when you need to do it now and like, that’s just your reality that staring you in the face at the bye week. Man, that’s a lot. And because you are one in five, what is going on between the ears? What is under the hood? How much belief do you have in each other? Where is the leadership? Sure, sure, absolutely. So, like, those are all, those are all fair questions. If they if it was unfair to ask that, then why are you one in five? Then you know what I mean. Like, and look again, the injuries are absolutely a big part of it. I’m not gonna, I’m not gonna sit here and say, Oh, next man up, next man up. Like, when you have the degree of injuries that they had, especially against Houston, no, you’re not going to win football games more often than not. But for me, it was, you know, what was so alarming about the Houston game was just, just how ugly that was, how, you know, listless and how little fight was exhibited in that in that game. I mean, I used the term about the Orioles the first six weeks of their season. Remember, I kept saying, this baseball team exudes no redeemable qualities whatsoever, right? Now, that’s what the Ravens were last Sunday. Now they played better against LA, for what that’s worth, right? I mean, the defense was as good as it’s been since week two against Cleveland. I’m not saying that you’re not confusing that with the 2000 ravens, or even the 2023 ravens, but you’re hoping that elohiy Gilman now in that lineup, and Hamilton playing the nickel and playing closer to the line of scrimmage that can help you out, playing the run, that can help you out in terms of Hamilton blitzing a little more often and and helping out in those Well,
Nestor Aparicio 18:47
the lack of the pass rush against these kinds of quarterbacks is absurd. And Tom Brady, and I know you weren’t watching the game because you have a press pass and I don’t, but Tom Brady said during the game that you know, Matt, Matthew Stafford, comes up to the line. And by the way, Brady was fantastic on Sunday, like as much as you don’t like the sound of his voice, and you hear it, and, you know, there’s a lot of, sort of a rod, sort of faux Polish involved in it in some sort of weird, funky sort of way. Maybe it’s the avocado ice cream, I’m not sure, but dude, he’s so insightful, he’s so smart, he’s so quick, and he’s now got this enthusiasm about him that Romo lost somewhere along the line, you know, where he’s gotten better. I mean, he’s gotten better. He’s in the game, and he’s insightful. He’s very insightful, and he talked about challenges, especially when the rate. He’s talked about their resiliency at the end, but he talked about Matthew Stafford coming up to the line of scrimmage and getting his football team into a premium play. I’ve never heard of that. I. Never heard of that reference a premium play, which is to Tom Brady’s mind, I’m going to go up, I’m going to get you all set up. I’m going to figure out what you show me you’re going to do what I think you might be doing, what you’ve done in the past, what my brain and Bill Belichick and all of my 1520 years of going through this every machination of a safety beating down, backing up, where the Blitz could come from. Who’s my hot, whether my running back can really block like Justice Hill, or whether we really can’t block or not, who’s going to have my ass? Whether no booms that left tackle, and I know I have less than a half a step in that direction, all of this processing that happens, and then say, Oh, they got a, they got a they got a nickel that doesn’t belong on the field, and he’s matched up on DeAndre Hopkins, let’s go snap the ball. Boom, boom. We’re going to beat you a premium play, and that’s just something that half the quarterbacks in the league in any week can’t do. Aren’t given the license to do. Lamar wasn’t given the license to do that earlier. Now, Lamar is given the license to do that for better or worse most weeks. So is Joe Flacco for better or worse, right? Who should be able to read it better than Lamar, better than a lot of guys that he shouldn’t be throwing stupid passes. One of the benefits of Aaron Rodgers never turns the ball over. Never turns the ball over, never they’re four and one. He’s 48 years old, whatever the hell he is on, you know, peyote, mushrooms, whatever he’s eating this week, it’s working, whatever seance he’s having with Mike Tomlin, they’re in first place and waving their towels, and we’re one and five and trying to figure out who the quarterback is and who’s going to play offensive line, who’s going to rush the quarterback. And, you know, there is a point where premium plays for a quality quarterback is going to beat this defense as constructed. Now, I keep thinking, we’re dude. We’re six weeks into the year. One of the real reasons they’re one and five, they have no pass rush, none, sure, none. I mean, none, zero, yeah. And they just lost Davies, Roberts. I mean, like, and they don’t owe it. Who wasn’t very good at it to begin with. So now they went from we’re not very good at it to effort. Just, you know, we don’t need it. Let’s, let’s focus on the run. Stop a little bit. But I don’t. And then sending John Jenkins out to the podium. And I wrote my dear John Harbaugh letter that I hope everybody reads, but sending John Jenkins out to the podium instead of the guy’s making all the money. Gross, just gross. Yeah.
Luke Jones 22:26
I mean, I get it. He’s 36 he’s been around the league, but he’s not, he’s not a leader in this locker room. And look, I talked to John Jenkins like twice, right? I mean, I haven’t gotten to know him particularly well like the media. I think that’s the first time he’s been on the podium, right? I mean, it speaks to clearly, not a guy that has a status
Nestor Aparicio 22:46
or he’s 36 years old, and he’s played on 10 teams. He plays with every team for one year. He plays 11 or 12 games, and he’s a swing center, defensive tackle who has some girth to him, and, you know, I mean, yeah, I mean, like
Luke Jones 23:00
he made a heck of a play on Sunday, right? I mean, took the ball away. That’s something they hadn’t done.
Nestor Aparicio 23:05
Two points for coquinas and Eric Decosta, who thinks I don’t compliment him either. I mean, and for having that kind of player to be available to play, but it’s not up. It’s sub optimal, as my my partner, Tom cap, would say, Sure,
Luke Jones 23:22
optimal. I mean, you just said it. I mean, you’re already questioning the pass rush, and now the numbers are just having viable, WARM BODIES, right? I mean, okay, the pass rush is not good, but, of course, not right. But now you’re even lesser than you had been. And look, I’m, I’m not going to sit here and and cry over adafeo way being dealt. We talked about it a few weeks ago. In fact, I think I was the one who brought it up. It’s like, where is adafeo way? Like that. You’re making $13 million it’s go time. Like, this is a contract year. And I did see got a sack for the chargers, although it wasn’t like a pure pass pass rush set. Like, I mean, tua had rolled out to his side, and, you know, it was kind of a, you know, clean up sack or whatever, but, but no, like, how are you going to deal with that? And, okay, fair noted, they’ve, they’ve faced Josh Allen, they have faced Jared Goff. They have faced Patrick mahomes, CJ Stroud, who is playing better after a bad start to the season. Certainly, the Ravens had a big part in in that happening. And Matthew Stafford, a Super Bowl winning quarterback, these next six games, they’re going to face Caleb Williams, who’s playing better bears, quarterback, former number one pick all that. Tua. I mean, the dolphins are just a mess. They’re a disaster at Minnesota. I mean, Carson Wentz or JJ McCarthy at Cleveland. You’re talking about a rookie quarterback and Gabriel or shark Sanders by then, who knows? And then the jets with whatever that was in London. I mean, I. So yeah, you look at the next six weeks and the next six opponents, and you say, okay, their next five opponents, I think I rattled off five games there. Yeah, you’re not going to be playing quarterbacks at the level that they’ve played so far this year, but if you can’t get after even a young quarterback, you’re gonna find someone open eventually, right? I mean, that’s just how this works. So they’ve got a and it’s easier said than done. Maybe there’s a trade that to be made. Maybe you give up a premium draft pick to go get an edge guy or a defensive tackle with the thought that you’re not sure if namdi matter, BK is going to play football again, and you might need to replace him, not just for the rest of this year, but moving forward, who knows? So is there a move like that to be made? Could be but at the same time, you know, I mean, you’re you’re one in five, and even if you make a couple moves at the trade deadline, is that going to be enough, especially if you’re talking about like a rental so, I mean, they’ve got to figure that out, that that’s obvious, right? I mean, we’ve been talking about it, we, you know, we’ve talked about that off and on for years now. I mean, you go back to what was the last time they truly had a pass rush that you really felt, man, this is a heck of a pass rush. I mean, dare I say, I mean, you might have to go back to Suggs still being on the team, right? I mean, you go back to Suggs and doomerville, both having double digit sacks, but in 2014 I think it was, you know, they’ve had some guys sprinkled in since then. I mean, they’ve been able to scheme pressure. I mean, that’s, that’s kind of been their philosophy. You know, you’ve heard me talk about that analytics. You know, idea of you load up in the secondary and you scheme up pressure, well, kind of feels like the league’s caught up to the to that way of thinking, and they’re not stopping the run as consistently. And, I mean, they can’t get a pass rush to save their life. So, yeah, you need to be better on the back end. And I think going to three safety alignments is going to help. I certainly like that more than depending on all these corners in the way they work, just because, well, we’re seeing it. I mean, chanubi got hurt, should be back after the buy and Jair Alexander, I mean, they’re telling you what they think about him when he’s active and didn’t play a snap on Sunday, right? So, yeah, you can’t, you kind of go back to, let’s, let’s have three safeties on the field and, you know, we’ll kind of go from there. So Well, I
Nestor Aparicio 27:32
reference part of this in my accountability thing, which is, you drafted this kid in the second round to get after the quarterback who had real problems in college during an off season to Justin Tucker in regard to women and how women in the building are treated, which was my original missive to John Harbaugh three weeks ago about women being mistreated in his building. He took umbrage with that, and I said, See Tucker Justin, and who’s not kicking by the way, but will be for somebody else in a couple of weeks, but between Mike Green, Ben Cleveland, you know, their off season signings and transgressions, and Justin Tucker and drafting the kicker and like all of this smoke that sits up on The team about players of, let’s say ill repute, but questionable integrity, and then when it comes time for them to play, I mean, Jair Alexander was at the heart of the reason I sent the text to John Harbaugh two weeks ago and his behavior about accountability for all of them, and I don’t send them to mark Andrews, who’s still running out the back door, and say, flowers, you did it this week. But there is a it’s it’s a theme. It’s a way of life led on by Chad steel, and it seems to me like Derrick Henry has no problem being accountable, win or lose, fumble or not fumble, good days, bad days. We talked a lot about that, but the accountability of all of it to the backup players, to your point to say, well, we drafted this guy. If I saw TJ Tampa running around in the secondary, some of these guys I saw running around for the wrong reasons, including Malachi Starks, who got his ass fried a few times on Sunday, right? And key, certain key circumstances, Nate Wiggins playing with the shoulder thing, right? I mean, there’s just, there’s a lot of potential. There’s a lot of draft pick. There’s a lot of big money players, hardball thinks, I hate him. I picked the team to win the Super Bowl with John McClain. What’s
Luke Jones 29:32
that? I said I didn’t even do that. I wasn’t on but I certainly wasn’t expecting them to be one in five.
Nestor Aparicio 29:38
Picked them to win the Super Bowl. I figured at some point they’re going to get it together and look, man, they they had a nice offseason on paper for me. And I tell you what, Hopkins has been useful if they could figure out the way to use him, you know? And that’s all to monkey and having a lot of toys. And we talked about that with Greg. Roman, there’s one ball say flowers wants it. Mark. Andrew. Just wants it. Isaiah likely wants it. Bateman’s forgotten about they weren’t giving it to Derek Henry at all. Then you put Justice Hill on the field, you say, well, where’s Keaton Mitchell? So they have all these weapons. And Cooper rush out there, and nobody to pretend some guy named note, boom. And the tactic the guards are terrible. So, so I just all of it is in totality. You know what it is, Luke, it’s one in five at the bottom. Lesser, yeah. I mean, it’s, you know, it’s measured now we have, we have a measurement for it, yeah. I mean, you just mentioned all the weapons. I mean, in the past, when, when this offense was at its best. And go back to the Greg Roman years. I mean, like 2019 like, look at what their wide receivers were not, and that was a very different offense than what this monk in offense has been with Lamar,
Luke Jones 30:50
more on his plate, playing from the pocket, more, fewer. Design runs, scramble, but not scrambling and just taking off, but scrambling to buy time and throwing right? I mean, it there’s, it’s much more advanced, much different than it was. But back then, you kind of viewed it through the lens of, you know, the sum is greater than the parts, you know, in terms of the talent of the skill players and all of that. And now it’s the opposite, right? I mean, Isaiah likely has been back three weeks now. What does he stood out for? He had a couple penalties in the Houston game that stood out in a negative way, right? And I’m just using him as an example. But you mentioned Bateman, like Bateman’s completely disappeared from this offense. And, you know, so, I mean Cooper rush. I mean, well,
Nestor Aparicio 31:39
if you have no time to throw the ball and you can’t get the ball to him, and he’s not open, you know,
Luke Jones 31:44
Cooper rush, just, he’s bad. I mean, he’s bad. He was bad all spring and summer. He’s bad that that was a whiff, right? I mean, I’m calling it now. It’s a whiff. We’ve seen enough. Well, you always Raven lines up on the field and then we rave it, right? Sure. Well, but the point is, hey, you know, Josh Johnson was making the minimum. I mean, if this was, if this was your upgrade, boy, you wasted some money then, right? I mean, you just did, because he’s terrible, um, but that said, yeah, the protection is not where it needs to be, generally speaking. But look, last Sunday, rushed through three picks, right? We barely talked about him. Why? Because so many things were terrible in that game that I wasn’t going to single out the backup quarterback, as though I expected him to win them the football game right in the way that Lamar Jackson can win them a football game when things aren’t going well, otherwise, right? We’ve seen that. But Sunday should, and I emphasize should, have set up to be a set of variables much more conducive when to asking your backup quarterback, hey, help us win a football game here, because they were other than Stanley, and that’s a big one, don’t get me wrong, but I mean, the chiefs were without their left tackle on Sunday night, right? I mean, it’s not as though teams are never without their left tackle, right? I mean, that injuries do happen, but, but otherwise, they were pretty darn healthy on offense, right? Their defense was healthier than it was the previous week, and gave them a more representative effort, certainly, than they showed against the Texans, right? I mean, they showed fight on Sunday, they showed no fight against Houston, and they were just, you know, I mean, God bless them, and maybe he still develops into a good player. But to speak to where the Ravens were against Houston, they started Ruben Lowery at safety. They cut him on Saturday. They went. He went from starting as their number three safety, replacing Kyle Hamilton in the starting lineup to being waived. That shows you where they were in terms of their depth at that position, which guys like me and you were talking about needing a number three veteran safety, you know, from the moment that our Darius Washington tore his Achilles back in mid May, and it cost you a mediocre pass rusher, at least in the short term. So, but, but you look at you kind of look at this thing on Sunday, those variables were set up for hoping Cooper rush can play well enough to give you a chance to win a football game. And he, he stunk. I mean, he just did. I, i It’s nothing personal, but I haven’t seen what the Raven saw in him from the time OTA started until now. I mean, I just haven’t. And, you know, early on, you kind of say, well, it’s He’s new. He’s learning to assist. I mean, and you know what? I thought it was telling to see what their offense, how their offense came to life now they didn’t finish the drive and Snoop threw the ball away on the fourth down, which what, what is with ravens quarterbacks throwing the ball away on the on fourth down in the way that we’ve seen them in that situation, I mean, if it gets picked off. So what you needed, you needed to convert there when you throw it out of bounds, like, like you don’t have a chance. Cooper rush did the same thing in Kansas City a couple weeks ago. So, like that. There you go, with situ. Educational awareness, you know, with what’s supposed to be the most important position on the field, and then you kind of look at that and say, how much of that is the player and how much of that is the coaching, you know, I don’t know, but you know that Sunday’s game was winnable. Last week was not winnable in terms of just looking at the quarterback right. Sunday was winnable, but they had a backup quarterback who was not good enough, and no, they didn’t protect him very well either. And you know that that passport, you’ll get lamard back, but that pass protection is absolutely still an issue. Their ability to consistently run block now they got downhill in some of those more neutral situations. And they were able to run for, you know, Buck 70, whatever it was. But can you gain one yard when you need to get one yard? And they failed miserably. And whether you hated the play calling, or whether you put it otherwise you hate to play calling. Let’s talk about that. I mean, I didn’t like twist push back two times, you know? I didn’t like that back to back. I’m not, I’m not look it’s so easy, and I say this, and everyone does this, yeah, second guessing ways to fail, right? Should be included. Yeah, everyone does that, um, because I can remember plenty of examples of, you know. And I’m not, I’m not picking on fans when I say this, but I’ve seen plenty of people say early in the year when they didn’t do it, why didn’t they do the toosh push? They, you know, that the Ravens have been pretty good at doing that, you know. And there are times they didn’t try that. Well, this, well, they get cute. There’s no doubt about, no doubt. That’s kind of my big thing. Look, I think his body of work up until the last few weeks. I mean, speaks for itself, that what Todd monk has done with this offense going back to when he arrived amidst all the turmoil with lamar’s contract at that point in time. I mean, this offense was insanely elite last
Nestor Aparicio 36:56
year. You can call any play you want for Cooper rush at this point in that offensive line, right?
Luke Jones 37:01
You know, it’s just but. But that said, Why are they so allergic to not just not giving the ball to Derrick Henry in these short yardage situations, but they continue to have these instances where they take them off the field. And to me, I just feel like you’re doing the defense such a favor when you take that out of play. It’s the same thing when, whenever we’ve seen in the past where, you know, they do some kind of trickery with Lamar Jackson being motioned out, or he’s, you know, standing behind the formation, where I just say, like, I want Lamar to be a feared part of this play, whether he’s going to get the ball or not. I want Derrick Henry to be a feared part of this play, whether he’s going to get the ball or not. You can’t give it to him every single time. I understand that that’s not the argument here. The argument here is when you take him off the field entirely. I just I feel like you’re bailing out the defense, right? And I just with back to back tush push plays there. You know, I’d much rather give Derrick Henry the ball twice in those final three plays, and if he still gets stuffed. And look, they gave it to him 1/4 down and he got stuffed, right? I mean, the execution is part of the problem here. But, yeah, there definitely have been some times inside the red zone and in goal to go this year where it’s felt way too cute. I mean, there’s no, there’s no question about that, but at the same time you call a cute play, and it works out, Hey, Coach is a genius, right? As a great play call. So yes, it’s the play calling, and yes, it’s the execution. And yes, some of their they haven’t had Patrick Picard in any of these needing a yard situations, which is exactly why he’s on this roster. So that’s part of it, too. But man, you’re at the one you got a chance to go up 10, three going into halftime for a team that’s lost three in a row and is doing whatever it can to try to get a win. I mean, if this team were two and four right now, if they had won on Sunday, you and I are having a much different conversation. Not saying it’s all great and peaches and cream, but it’s certainly feeling better knowing that, okay, you gotta win. You’re two and four. This both post buy schedule is very manageable in terms of being able to stack some wins. You’re getting Lamar back, you’re getting roquan back, like you’re getting Ricard back, but one in five, I mean, I mean it just
Nestor Aparicio 39:36
it stinks. I’m on record saying there’ll be seven and seven. I’m sticking with that look. I’m not going to sit here and
Luke Jones 39:41
be stunned if they are, but, boy, I do have my doubts, regardless of the schedule, because I really and again, this kind of goes back to what happened in the Houston game. I’m really wondering what’s between the ears and what’s under the tank right now, and just how much these guys believe in each other at this point. And I don’t mean that. In a way that there’s a rift that, like, it’s a personal, you know, that guys hate each other in the lock
Nestor Aparicio 40:05
Well, the offensive line, a defensive line, aren’t good enough right now, right? Just in the general sense, but the film on they’ll see that Tom Brady talked about getting pushed around all
Luke Jones 40:12
day, and this is where I’ll kind of use a flowers as an example here, not, not talking about post game in the locker room, or any, any of that. But, you know, he fumbled twice. You know is, or were those examples of and the first one involved him trying to, desperately trying to make a play, right? The second one, he just took his balls, or took his slip of the tongue, took his eye off the ball, in terms of that handoff, and just muffed it, right? I mean, neither one’s excusable, right? But that first one is that an example of a guy just trying to do too much, right? Everyone, when you’re one in five, everyone’s trying to make the play to to get you going, right? Everyone’s trying to make the play to save your season. And that’s when you tend to run into some trouble in terms of assignment, alignment and technique, right? We’ve seen that. I mean, we certainly have seen that at various times over the last few weeks. You know? I mean, what’s going to get this team right? You know? What’s going to get this team back in a good position? Well, it’s going to start with the quarterback being back on the field. I mean, like I said, None of none of these teams that have elite quarterbacks are doing anything without their elite quarterback. Imagine that. Wow. It’s really profound, Luke, but you need Lamar Jackson back, and then you go from there, in terms of this coaching staff trying to find some answers and these players, you know, it’s gut check time, yeah, okay, you put up more of a fight against the Rams. Good. Still lost, right? I don’t think anyone’s happy, just because it was a more representative effort on Sunday. But you need to come out ready to go on a run, go on a roll, but at the same time, it starts with Sunday’s game. I mean, DeAndre Hopkins kind of said it in a in a kind of backhanded way of he said, you know, we need to look at the next game and try not to be one in six. You know, that’s kind of, you typically don’t hear a player express something in that way, but it’s the truth. It’s all about the bears. Can’t worry about the next 10 games after that. You got to win next Sunday, because if you don’t do that, and then you’re one and six, and, yeah, then, you know, then, then we’re talking about firings and future of players and coaches and and all that. Because, you know, you get the one in six, and I’m sorry, like, I can, I can buy into one in five and nine of 11, like, to some degree at least, but you come out of the buy and you drop another one, it’s over. I mean, let’s, let’s call it what it is. You know, you get the bye week, and you lose to the bears at home, and you’re one in six. Then, then I am ready to throw in the tow at that point in time, in terms of talking about it in any kind of a realistic path to the playoffs in the same way that you and I were done talking about the Orioles in that way by what the second week of June, something like that. So that’s Go, go fix things. Get right, get well, physically, all that. And then, boy, you need to be ready to come out and play at a much higher level than what we’ve seen over this first five or six weeks of the football season, that’s for sure.
Nestor Aparicio 43:21
We’ll take your phone calls here at 410 481 50. Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t want to hear you bitch all week long. Luke Jones is here. I’ll be talking to people with the intelligent conversations all week long. We’re going to take the Maryland crab cake tour to cost this for my birthday. I’m also going to do pizza. John soon, I got to get dates up by the end of the month, I was kind of hanging on and vacationing and by weekend, but I’m not going anywhere. I’m here to document it all. I wrote a letter to Dear John Harbaugh for the bye week that I hope all of you read out at Baltimore positive Luke will be covering all things, Luke and I’ll be watching baseball all week. Getty Lee, the Seattle Mariners, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the brewers are in on the fun with some new cast of characters, and I’ll be giving away Raven scratch offs on behalf of the Maryland lottery. It’s been a good luck batch. My friends a curio wellness have sent me out on the road doing tastiness. I’m getting my colonoscopy at GBMC with one of our new sponsors here, taking care of the community as we always do. And I’ve even had some Coppin State News as we get them back into school. And I had head coach Larry Stewart on a few weeks ago over at the Beaumont as well. He is Luke. I am Nestor. It’s by week. The football is going nowhere. The great conversations are going nowhere. The accountability for Katie Griggs and the Orioles is going nowhere. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We’re better than one in five. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.
