Sure, Lamar Jackson was back on the field in a “limited” role on Wednesday in Owings Mills. That’s a great sign. But, as Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the return of No. 8 to the practice field, no one is sure what two hours of football on Sunday against the Bears and Thursday night in Miami is going to look like in the speed of the NFL on the field.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens, hamstring injury, practice participation, game preparation, offensive line, quarterback performance, team record, leadership council, locker room distractions, player accountability, injury recovery, game strategy, fan reaction, media coverage.

SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 task of Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively, taking a crab cake tour out on the road. We were at Costas all day. On Wednesday, I got berated about Justin Tucker because he couldn’t have done it. But you’ll hear all of that this week, Leonard Raskin came out and join me. We had some friends from Planet Fitness. If you do live in the Towson, Timonium, Cockeysville, Hunt Valley area, Planet Fitness has a grand opening on Saturday. Save a lot of money. It’s $20 forever for black card. Pretty good deal if you make it over to Timonium on Saturday. So I want to give a shout out to our partners there. Also curio wellness. And my tasting is tour. My tasting has took me back to places. It’s going to take me back to Cocos for coconut shrimp on the fifth back to Pizza John’s for a cheesesteak on the seventh of November. And of course, next Tuesday, we’re back at State Fair in the morning, and I didn’t put the chicken and waffles or the shrimp and grits on the on the on the list, but I’m going to have them both on Tuesday morning. Alan McCallum is going to join me on Tuesday morning. We’re going to be in the middle of the World Series in at State Fair, and I we’re gonna be in the middle of a very shrunken week next week as the Miami Dolphins wait over the hill for the Chicago Bears. Luke Jones joins us now, and Luke I had some lucky Raven scratch offs in the Maryland lottery as I was giving them away, I was in the bar and Costas, and I looked up, I got the NST text. It was on TV, number eight has walked onto the field. So I’ll say this. And I mean this from my heart of hearts, my my broken Purple Heart, they got a chance with him, right? So I mean him walking on the fields better than him not walking on the field. It’s a better, better conversation we’re having on Thursday than we were on Monday.

Luke Jones  01:38

Of course, of course. And I do want to say that with the caveat that let’s see what his participation level looks like the rest of the week. I don’t get the sense that he did a whole lot on Wednesday, even when some of his teammates were asked, like Kyle Hamilton was asked how he looked, and Hamilton kind of paused.

Nestor Aparicio  01:58

So it’s a booster. No, I’m not. It’s a booster, but you’re sounding the alarm that maybe that he’s not 100% can we say that?

Luke Jones  02:10

Oh, he was limited on Wednesday. Contrast, roquan Smith was full participation. Adobe woozy, hey, was full participation. Patrick Ricard was full participation. Ronnie Stanley was full so this isn’t as much good news as I think it is right now, right now, but I want to make sure that it continues to be good news. That’s why I keep you around. Because I didn’t realize all this. I didn’t It’s just and look, we see the first 30 minutes or so of practice. He jogged onto the field about 20 minutes into the viewing period. And

Nestor Aparicio  02:40

outperformative, right? Like, they script this for, for you guys, right? For the public. Really, it’s part of the reality thing. I mean, it can be Benny testifier. He used to just walk out with everybody. So did Joe. I mean, just, it wasn’t, it wasn’t this purple plumes of smoke to say, hey, we’re going to show that he’s out on the field, right? I mean, like, I’m thinking, like, hardball, because our balls twisted. Dude, trust me, you know, like, and the fact that he’s 20 minutes into a 30, it feels to me like he wasn’t fully with it on Wednesday. Does that? That’s my read, as a fan, as a media guy, that we should be cautious in what we think his capabilities are going to be on Sunday. Physically, is that? Is that the official word?

Luke Jones  03:20

Well, I mean, it’s, it’s not the official word, because the official word is no official word, right? I mean, John Harbaugh didn’t want to

Nestor Aparicio  03:26

get into it. That’s the Ravens way. Yeah, of course, competitive, right? A lot of teams do that. That’s okay, but people gamble on this, but go ahead, yeah. Oh, and they’re making money on it, but

Luke Jones  03:36

go ahead. That’s, that’s on the people who gamble on it, though, they need to know that it’s the

Nestor Aparicio  03:41

truth. John Harbaugh lies. I wrote that in my column this week. As long as you know that you’re good to go make your bets place, your bets,

Luke Jones  03:46

gentlemen, I’m laying that out there. I’m not saying that. That’s definitely what it is, but at the same time, he was a late arrival onto the field. Now, there are plenty of examples over the years where a player is getting treatment of players a little bit late out onto the field. Players can be laid onto the field because they’re drug tested, right? Because that goes on throughout the season as well. So there are lots of reasons for that, but I’m noting that because he was limited, because we didn’t see him do a whole lot during the open period, a lot of people asked me how he looked. Let’s be clear, during the opening portion of practice that media are privy to watching. It’s generally not a time period where Lamar Jackson, or anyone who’s not taking part in special teams, because that’s the special teams portion of practice is moving strenuously. Is moving 100% full effort anyway. So to sit here and say that he looked great, or to sit here and say he looked bad. What would be disingenuous. It’s almost a stretching period the first half an hour, right? Yeah. I mean, it’s, you know, he threw some passes. Look, he took reps behind Tyler Huntley and Cooper rush. That should tell you something, right there, at least in terms of Wednesday. That’s why I’m just saying. Let’s see what the participation looks looks like by the end of the week, if he’s full. Go Thursday, Friday into the weekend. Then, yeah, he’s playing. But if it’s, you know, if we see something where, for some reason, he’s not out there Thursday, or he seems very limited again, and same with Friday, then, then you start to

Nestor Aparicio  05:13

one, well, I keep going back to playing him when he’s not 100% isn’t in anybody’s best interest. But when you’re one and five, I will use Tom Brady’s word. They’re desperate, and every game’s a playoff game. I heard that coming out of there this week

Luke Jones  05:26

too. And that’s the other problem when you have a backup quarterback who looked as woeful as Cooper rush looked in those two games, right? I mean, look at the 40 Niners. I’ve used them as an example, as a contrast to what we’ve seen with the ravens, as far as their inability to rise up despite their injury, Mighty Mac, I mean, the Mac Jones, yeah, he hasn’t been great for them, but he’s played well enough, it’s been complimented W’s and not else that they’ve won, right? So, so if you were in a position where, first of all, if you had won one of those two games, like we were really saying at the time, if they could have been two and four, then there’s not as much pressure for this specific game on Sunday. And there’s also the wrinkle, and you talked about this a lot in one of our conversations earlier in the week, you also have the caveat of, you have a quick turnaround for the game in Miami four days after the Ravens play Sunday. So look, Lamar Jackson, being on the practice field is good news. It’s always good news. I just want to pump the brakes a little bit on it, meaning 100% no questions asked, that he’s 100% he’s going to play, and there’s no fear of a setback and all

Nestor Aparicio  06:31

that. Right? And I tell you what, him being ginger on Wednesday just tells me he’s not 100% right? Like, because they much rather have him not be a mystery and walk out there and practice and play and be okay. I don’t think they’re playing coy on him being perfect. I don’t think it’s that way. John’s playing all these head games. He does it with me, you know, he sends me his God loves me, text and all that stuff. Sure, God would love me for me to be a reporter John. So, God knows I’m a reporter John. So I would just say, with John, I’m everything’s a mystery to me, and I’ve learned that over 18 years of dealing with this and their lack of integrity and their lack of so we’re always guessing, and they like it that way, so they can point at us and call us liars and say we’re wrong, like, like all of that. That’s that’s who Chad steel is. It’s who John Audible is, clearly who Steve Adi what they want the organization to be, because he sits on top of this. But I would say if Lamar is out there at 100% and they’re one and five and running around, he’s not playing games with the bears at this point, I don’t think because, like, they’re one in five, they need him out there 100% in practice and not having us talking about it today and just talking about, can they win instead of, is he going to play? If he plays, what’s his percentage? If he’s not, 100% it’s not going to be good. I’m just being honest. Well, like, if he’s not, if he can’t run on Sunday, I’m not saying play Cooper, Rush. I’m with you. I go back to your last point. Say that stung

Luke Jones  07:57

part of the problem. That’s part of the equation here, right? I mean, and I said to you, after Monday, when he wasn’t out there, Lamar needs to practice. Not just for Lamar sake, to get his game clock back, you know. And again, I’m using that with the caveat of, oh, they were being, you know? People were saying, Oh, they’re being cool oil on Monday, right? No, he needs to practice. This offense needs him to practice. They all need to be practicing in the sense that what you just said they are one in five, and the urgency is at an all time high. And Kyle Hamilton said it Wednesday, they need to be treating all of these games like their playoff games, right? I mean, that’s

Nestor Aparicio  08:29

so if this world playoff game this week, this wouldn’t be about being coy. Get his ass out on the field. Get him practice, and let’s get things normal, if he’s limited and willing to tell you that, I don’t think it’s a mind game for the bears to be preparing for Cooper rush. You know what I mean? Like, I’m thinking about it in technical football terms versus just duty. We wake up we don’t know whether he’s coming out to practice or not. If I believe John, I’d say he doesn’t know how Lamar is going to feel today, or certainly how he’s going to feel on Sunday. But let’s, let’s make this clear. This is the headline. He’s not 100% as of this moment. He’s not if he had to play this morning, I would expect less than 100% of Lamar Jackson today, where I don’t know that I felt that way when he walked on the field Wednesday in the national news, Lamar is back. Lamar is back. You and I are talking about it a little differently than Lamar is back, but I

Luke Jones  09:18

think it lends itself to the idea that that should have been the assumption all along from the time that he didn’t practice Monday, right, because of what we just said, if he’s 100% you’re not being coy at this point in time. First of all, the idea that you’re going to be coy. I mean, so So do we think if there’s even a little bit of doubt that the bears are just saying, Oh well, we don’t have to worry about Lamar whatsoever. We’re not going to prepare for Lamar. We’re going to be ready for Cooper, Russia. No, they’re preparing for Lamar Jackson as much as possible. And they’re

Nestor Aparicio  09:45

preparing for Lamar Jackson to be eminently catchable, because he’s going to run at 80% like

Luke Jones  09:51

but they’re not going to prepare for that. They’re going to prepare for Lamar to be 100% right, right? And sure that said, the idea that there’s. Um, oh, wow. They’re going to prepare for Lamar. The joke’s going to be on them. We’re going to trot out Cooper rush or Tyler Huntley. You know, I mean, to

Nestor Aparicio  10:07

your point, with hamstrings, it’s, it’s a good bet to think that Lamar is not going to scamper for 78 yard touchdown on this Sunday, which was his special power, his magic power over on his best day, is he’s always a threat to do that this Sunday, I would say, if you’re betting on the team or against the team, this is a Sunday where that’s going to be taken away from him. That you know that I sit here before the game and say, that’s one thing, if I’m the bears that I’m thinking, well, let him play. We want him to play at 80% because that makes him a little bit more vulnerable. Just one time, one sack, one place, and we’ll get him out of the game. Because that’s the way these people think. I mean, I don’t know if I’m the bears that I’m preferring a less than a percent. Lamar Jackson, over there are other alternatives. I mean, fair enough being still throw the football, but Lamar is gonna play. But Lamar like, I feel like, I feel like Lamar is gonna play. You know,

Luke Jones  11:00

it’s funny, because just talking, because, look, we’re out there every day of practice. We kind of observe what we see. It was evident that he wasn’t taking, I mean, he was listed as limited, right? He didn’t practice Monday. There’s evidence here, there’s documented evidence here, that he’s not 100% just yet, right? Whether that means he’s 99 or 98 or 90 right? I mean, I don’t think it’s much worse than that, or he wouldn’t even be out there like, I don’t think this is if

Nestor Aparicio  11:27

they’re seven and two and playing the Jets this week. He’s out there with it, with a with a clipboard, probably,

Luke Jones  11:32

probably, but you’re not in that position, right, right? And he understands that, and the team understands that, right? I mean, that’s why I said that’s the difference now, as opposed to when you were one in three coming out of the Kansas City game, you’ve dropped two more games since then, right? So it is different now than it was talking about this in week four going into week five. So we’re going to see again. This isn’t me saying he’s not playing. This isn’t me saying that he’s not going to be in in very good health come Sunday. But the evidence to this point in the week does make me take some pause. Now I will say this. And this was kind of talked about because some, I’ve seen some opine, I saw Dan Graziano on ESPN even had a a little snippet in one of, you know, their insider column they do on, I think it’s Wednesday mornings, and he was pointing out to the or pointing out the idea that maybe Lamar, maybe the target, is Thursday night’s game against Miami next week. But I also think, just from an optic standpoint, if he’s practicing on a limited basis, even if it’s limited all week, and then doesn’t play Sunday, that almost looks worse than him not being on the field at all. Right? And so I don’t know, I would also say we have a long enough history now with what happened in 2021 and what happened in 2022 and I’m not questioning or suggesting there was anything that was nefarious going on there, but those were two injuries where and maybe, maybe maybe the bone bruise on the ankle was a different story, because he did try to play or practice. Was that the third week of December, something like that, he couldn’t walk. He was out there one day and he could barely walk. I mean, he looked like Fred Sanford out there walking. I mean, I remember at the time, Dion looked like that at the end of his career, too. It was so pronounced that I don’t like for a moment I thought he was like trolling us, just like playing a gag, and then we didn’t see him again the rest of the year. It’s like, oh, well, he was out there and shouldn’t have been. You know, the knee, there was a little more ambiguity, right? I mean, the ravens, a week or two into that injury, did think he was going to return, and he didn’t. And but it was a PCL injury. I cited it at the time. I’ll cite it again. I mean, that was the brashawn paramin injury that he had his rookie year. That is a tricky kind of injury. That’s what Jair Alexander is still dealing with a year later, right? So, but, but my point in saying all of that is in the best possible way we could categorize and describe those previous situations with Lamar is he doesn’t seem to be the fastest healer in the world. And I don’t, I’m not saying that he’s jaking it or anything like that. Some players heal more quickly than others. Some players push injuries more, you know, they’re there. There’s more of a hey, I’ll play it less than 100% than other guys. And to your point, and I’ve said it as well, given Lamar Jackson’s style of play, and let’s also throw the other factor out there, Nestor, we talked about Lamar is playing style. We talked about the fact that they’re one in five. The state of this offensive line is also a major part of that as well. If this offensive line was past protecting and playing and performing as it did two years ago. Or go back to the 2019 season when Marshall yonda was still the anchor there. Then, yeah, you’d feel way more confident about a less than 100% Lamar playing behind that offensive line. But you also have a very leaky, very porous off. Of lines. So I’m not saying all this to throw cold water on the idea that Lamar is definitely playing on Sunday. I’m I’m saying this to throw out the reality that there are a lot of variables at work here and the hor the hard truth is the clock is really ticking in terms of your record and what another loss would mean, and knowing if you drop this game, and you’re one in six, you have three straight road games, let alone talking about what lies ahead after that. So yeah, there’s a heightened sense of urgency here. Yeah, I think you know, if Lamar Jackson’s as close to 100% as he can be without actually being 100% I think there’s definitely a rationale to give it a go and to play and and see how, see how it goes, but you have to be at a certain point for that to even be part of the conversation. And that’s where I just look at this and say, okay, he didn’t practice Monday. He was limited on Wednesday. The way that players kind of talked about him, you know, is in very generic terms. So I don’t know how much he did Wednesday. Let’s just see how the rest of the week plays out. Right? I mean, if Wednesday was the dip your toes in, but then Thursday, hey, you’re taking your reps, you’re still limited, but you’re much closer to full. And then Friday, you’re full, then he’s gonna play, right? And then everyone will be happy about that and excited about that, as they should be, and the Ravens need them. We know that, right? But Well, we hope the news gets better over the next 48 hours, right? Like, literally, Yeah, question. And look, there’s still going to be even, even assuming he’s out there Sunday. It’s a hamstring. It’s one of those injuries that has a higher setback rate, right? I mean, it’s, I think, back to last year, and he’s in the news because he just had another injury, you know, a broken collarbone for Mike Evans. But think about it, Mike Evans had a bad hamstring going into that ravens Monday night game last year. We saw him wide open for a deep ball, and he pulled a hamstring, or right or, I think he dropped it as he pulled his hamstring again, and he was out, I think, a couple more weeks after that, right? So we also understand that that’s part of the risk here, and the same applies for roquan Smith or any of these other guys with hamstrings. I mean, it’s not a torn ACL, but it’s something that can linger and cause a setback, and it can be something that really hurts you for an extended period of time. That’s why you have to try to be as careful as possible. But the clock is ticking so loudly now in terms of we already know that, you know the the number, the math suggests you need to win nine of your last 11 just to get to 10 wins right, which is the benchmark that I feel confident in them, making the playoffs in some shape or form, but you lose one of those right off the bat. Then you’re talking, I mean, nine of 10, right? And then playing in Miami short week. And I get it, the dolphins are trash. But as Kyle Hamilton even pointed out, he’s like, look, we have to have the self awareness that other teams are looking at us on the schedule right now as the GET RIGHT game, as the game where we can say, Hey, man, we can bury ball. Well, we don’t have to worry about a pass rush. Yeah, right, exactly. I mean, they have all these other flaws, and that’s why I wanted to throw out the offensive the state of the offensive line being another consideration here, whether Lamar plays or not, right in terms of how effective, if they stink and Lamar is healthy, he won’t be healthy long. I mean, look, Nestor, they were one and three with Lamar, and I know he left the Kansas City game early, but they were already on their way to a loss by then, right? I mean, that game wasn’t trending. Well,

Nestor Aparicio  18:28

by the way, what’s the fascination with how he got hurt? Why? Like, that’s such a bizarre concept to say you’re bleeding. What happened? Like, the difference does it make you’re bleeding? Like, I, I don’t, I get all of this. Why didn’t somebody ask him how he got hurt? I’m like, What difference does it make it I mean, I that that’s my I mean, that’s my old guy.

Luke Jones  18:50

Guess my No, I hear you, and I agree for the most part. My only curiosity would have been, you know, did you tweak it at some other point leading up to the end of that drive, because everyone saw the last play where, you know, he goes to the ground and, you know, was tackled or hit, or whatever the play was, but it didn’t look that bad, right? Like that play in isolation, didn’t you didn’t see there wasn’t this, oh, he screams and grabs the back of his thigh, right where you see that with, you know, when someone really hurts a hamstring. So I think, I think there’s a curiosity in terms of, you know, did he tweak it in the second quarter, right? And he played through it for, you know, a quarter and a half or something like that. I don’t know, right? But I’m with you on that. I think, I think a lot of it’s just trying to diagnose it as best as you can. I mean, the David Chows of the Twitter and social media space, you know, and Dr Chow himself, you know, is pretty good at looking at video and and diagnosing. It’s not 100% but he does have a pretty high rate of doing that. So I think there’s maybe a question that it pertains to that, that if you can kind of see when it happened, you get a better idea of just how serious it might be.

Nestor Aparicio  19:57

But thanks for educating me on that. Because. Guy, I’m just not I, and if I gambled on it, I wouldn’t care. And I would just say, Well, you know, is he playing? What’s his percentage? What’s his chances? What are the match, you know, like, what? Like, I just that’s the part of it that I don’t understand. And I get the curiosity that if he fell out of bed the wrong way, or stepped on a nail, or, you know, not to bring up the Blue Jays thing here this week.

Luke Jones  20:20

But I also think, I mean, there’s a curiosity to it. But look, I mean, clearly it was a serious enough hamstring that he missed two games, and his status is still in doubt, even with the week off, right? I mean, to me, if you’re looking at it, so Sunday will mark four weeks, if you kind of look at what a grade one going to a grade two hamstring is, you know, generally, that’s like a four ish week kind of thing. And look, grade one versus grade two. I mean, there’s gray area, there’s there’s ambiguity, right there. Luke Jones has Googled this, yeah, no. But my point is, it’s not like you, you know, it’s not like the you put a, put someone in an MRI, and it spits out, oh yeah, this is a definitive grade one. It’s not a great right? I mean, you try to, you have some gray area. And, you know, so was this a grade one slash grade two like that would be right around the four week injury. So if that’s what it was, then this timeline isn’t all that out of the ordinary, right? And you would question whether he absolutely should go this week. But Cooper Rush has been awful. Tyler Huntley is not much better. Their offensive line is pass protection is terrible, so, but they have great skill position players, but, but they’re one in five, and they need to win, right? I mean, like so you have all these other factors. Look, none of this is ideal. Even if he plays Sunday, you’re going to be holding your breath. And I don’t when I say it’s

Nestor Aparicio  21:47

so weird for us to have this season on the brink like this, in the middle of the World Series, like you and I’ve been at this for two decades together, since 2008 nine, whatever it’s been. And we’re

Luke Jones  21:56

pushing the only year where that happened, right? I mean, they were one, and they started that year one and six, it was over. You know, that’s the only year, even, even other years where things didn’t work out. So, like, you think of 2013 they didn’t make the playoffs. I mentioned, well, there

Nestor Aparicio  22:09

were years that they were clearly not good enough. They were sort of trailing Cincinnati. They had flaws. They had weaknesses. Whatever it was, you sort of knew that they were the fourth or best, fifth best team in the AFC, we’ve been believing they’ve been some people around here believe they’ve been the best the last four or five. Nothing about January would indicate that, but lots about their statistics and DVO a and when I bring on 10 year or I bring on, you know, any of the, any of the nerds about their operation offensively in the revolution and all of that stuff. You know why they played defense several of these years over the last eight years as well. This year is so I mean, it’s not even so far in it’s for people like us and pundits to look at it and say, not just that, it’s not their year, but on their best day, they’re probably overrated at this point, based on the offensive and defensive lines, that they can only be so good, like if they were zero and zero and starting the season this week and Lamar were healthy, I’d look at this and say they have some real weaknesses here that are not going to make them a 15 win kind of team.

Luke Jones  23:15

Or if you were talking about it, which is where they are, where it’s an 11 game season, you have a tough time envisioning nine and two because of what you just said. Now, the schedule on paper, yeah, it’s not the most imposing schedule, and I do think there are quite a few wins there. Seven and four is fine. Eight and three is good, but it still wouldn’t be good enough. Now, seven four leaves them eight and nine, right? I mean, seven and four is a good record, like, that’s, that’s, it’s not legendary, but it’s good seven and four. You know, can they go seven and four? Yeah, I think they can, like, assuming they stay relatively healthy. That gets you the 18th pick in the draft in April. But, yeah, that’s where you but this is, this is the bed you made for yourself, right? This is why we talked about it in terms of the Orioles when they were 16 and 34 you’re thinking about it in terms of, my goodness, you need to be, what, 28 games over, 500 the rest of the way, just win 90 games over right? Yeah, like, that’s what kind of crazy territory you’re in. So it’s not ideal, but you have to start somewhere. And even if he’s not fully 100%

Nestor Aparicio  24:19

on Sunday, it’s the Super Bowl, right? Literally, it’s the Super Bowl Sunday for them.

Luke Jones  24:24

I mean, it’s not, but, man, I would say, psychologically, if you come out of the bye week, if you’re one in six, what difference does it make if Lamar is playing in Miami on Thursday? But that, yeah, that’s, I mean, you could say, Okay, well, they could win nine. You just get to a point now where it’s like you’re, this is starting to sound like fantasy land. I mean, nine of 11 is already far fetched, right? When you consider just that it’s the

Nestor Aparicio  24:46

NFL, you have to go nine and two to get to 10. Leonard and I were talking about that. I’m like, what about this team makes you think they’re nine and I

Luke Jones  24:53

mean, like previous versions, like, hey, 2019 they won their last 12 games in the regular season. 2020 I think they won their last. Five in a row, 2023 they went on a heck of a run that year to to sew up the number one seed to the point where they rested their starters two years ago. They never lost. Well, that’s what I mean so, but this team hasn’t exuded any of those qualities. They don’t have that vibe right now. I mean, we’re talking about, you know, things being removed from the locker room. Like, dude,

Nestor Aparicio  25:22

let’s talk about can we talk about that? Because we haven’t talked about that. Luke is here. He’s Baltimore, Luke, they’re gonna play football on Sunday. I wrote the nastiest email to John Harbaugh that he so richly deserves for his fraudulence along all of this over two decades. Him, steel da Costa bishati pu all of you, you’ve earned your one in five now that being said, and they earned my truth, which is the truth. All of that being said, I’ve talked about accountability, integrity, all of that maturity. I mean, chat steals one of the most immature humans I’ve that I’ve ever dealt with, and I’ve dealt with this for 20 years, just on how where truth is, where integrity is, we’re looking in the AWARE being a person of your word is for all of this, right? And I look at the place out there, and I called it unruly, I called it sleazy, you know, there you can get all the words. I’m a synonym guy. I’ve got a so I have Rose theosaurus here, and I don’t use AI, but I should more often. I would say that from the fans perspective, to wake up on Tuesday to one in five football team where the quarterbacks limping, where the all of them have run out the back door in a way that I’ve never in 40 years of covering sports, and I’ve talked to a lot of people the last two weeks. Marvin Lewis Howard balls are people that have been doing this forever and ever, and going back to the Joe Flacco being the poster boy this week for everything. By the way, I love this thing about eating alone. I’ll never eat alone ever again and not think of Joe Flacco, which is even better, even better, because I’ve been the guy eating alone in Great Falls, Montana, at a snake house.

Luke Jones  27:09

Brother in law, who’s not even a Ravens fan, sent me that and said, Man, this is the most relatable thing an athlete, one of the more relatable things an athlete has

Nestor Aparicio  27:17

ever said, Well, you know Joe. Well, I know him. Well, er, and I just love Joe, but the notion of, are you professional? Do you understand even what your obligations as a professional are? Do you understand that this isn’t Pop Warner, this isn’t JV, you’re not the star of the varsity team, you’re not Nick’s Boyd anabama, and everything’s a free meal, and everything’s a free lunch, and the girls are free money for nothing, chicks for free, right? Like like that. Justin Tucker, we’ll get to that, because he was at the heart of the cornhole epidemic in their clubhouse. And look, man, I remember with the Orioles back in the 90s, guys doing crossword puzzles in the room. There was a dartboard at one point that, you know, they had some games and different things like that. And then football came to town, ping pong, ping pong and club asses in baseball, famous ping pong tables. I remember all of that. I have a radio station here. 28 years ago, I put a bubble hockey in the basement of ping pong. It wrecked my company. Nobody wanted to work. I’m being honest with you, before you got here, but this ray Bachman would remember this, anybody that was here? It’s before Forrester guy. This was a long this is Bob Haney era. I turned myself my place into a great place to be, because I wanted people to want to be at work, right? This is almost laughable, that it got out and the sun wrote it, you wrote it, and everybody’s writing about it, and I haven’t been in the locker room in years because I’m the reporter that’s not allowed to be there because I’m Hispanic, long haired, honest, all of that, right? People were laughing at them, dude, you’re one in five football team, and you’re taking the games out of the locker room. That’s more embarrassing than anything. Well, maybe not. I mean, what John’s done to me, personally and professionally, is gross,

Luke Jones  29:04

but then taking the games out. But here’s the problem. And look the, you know, reporting, I think some of this is semantics, to be totally honest, the Raven, you know, horrible, has a Leadership Council of players. And this goes back. I mean, this goes back to are

Nestor Aparicio  29:21

they the ones that endorse when Mark Andrews runs out the back door and when, like, Hey, dude, we lose somebody’s got to go face the media, not named John Jenkins. Do they have that in their leader? Not the media, the fans. Somebody needs to stand up and be accountable when we get our ass kicked. And Luke, I go back with this. And you were a little boy, but back in 9697 98 I don’t know if your dad brought you out to the barn or not, but they lost a lot. And I had Marvin on last week. They lost a lot, I’m telling you, in all of the years I did the show out there, I can name the two or three guys that stood me up and I never spoke to them again because like, you’re going to give me your word in Cleveland on Sunday afternoon. Tell me you’re coming out to meet fans. I’m going on the radio, and there was no internet to say, shows canceled or whatever. And I saw the look of kids, some little Luke that came down with his with Justin and daddy and 1997 and, you know, Goose doesn’t show up. That didn’t happen, and because they lost. I mean, I remember being out there after they got their ass kicked in Pittsburgh, and Wally Richardson came out, Kim Herron came out in 1998 like, like, dude, they lost a lot, and they had accountability, not accountability, to come out for two minutes to in the locker room where they work, to do what their job is, which is front face the community, win or lose, from an integrity level, from a just, from being a man, for being mighty men, mighty men, so their their council thumbs down on whoever their council leadership is, because I I don’t smell the leadership in that locker room that Kyle van Noy thinks he does, and certainly people like Marlo, like dude, from the minute I met that kid, that kid’s not a leader, that that, that kid’s just an elite athlete. That’s all he is. I mean, he’s an elite athlete until he’s not and he’s a heck of a full he’s been a heck of a Joe Flacco is an elite human, and that shows up every minute of every it doesn’t take up effing second off. Joe Flacco doesn’t take a second off. And with these guys, a lot of times, I don’t you know when Lamar is telling fans to perform fellatio on him on the internet, and it stays up for five days. And nobody, nobody around there. When, when female reporters are having people come up to them and say, You can’t do this. You can’t say that you, you’re you’re making things up about our accountability, like dude at places, sleazy was the word I used, I’ll stick with that. But I think this gaming thing for the fans, at one in five it, it’s a punchline for the fan base. It’s an it’s embarrassing for the fan base.

Luke Jones  31:52

See, this is the problem. And look what I’ve gathered. And obviously the Ravens were clearly doing some damage control with you know, I think it was mentioned on Pat McAfee and all.

Nestor Aparicio  32:03

Well, that’s Chad’s job. They’re in constant damage control instead of being in relationship building. That’s the God’s honest truth.

Luke Jones  32:13

Okay, let’s stick to the games here for just a moment. I acknowledge everything else you just said. But so I think some of this can be semantics, from the standpoint of, okay, who initiated this? Was it horrible talking to the Leadership Council? Was it some of the veteran players in the locker room that said, you know, do we need to get rid of some of this stuff right now? Like, is it a bad and this

Nestor Aparicio  32:34

is the probably Kyle van Noy telling the wife beater guy in Indianapolis, right? Like, they have, like, real relationship, right?

Luke Jones  32:41

Yeah. I mean, maybe, maybe. But, you know, I heard some other players that wanted it out. I don’t know. The problem is, this is why you don’t do any of that, right? Leave it in the locker room, because whoever initiated it, whether it’s the coaches, whether it’s the players, it’s going to be talked about, and then it becomes another distraction on top of everything. You’re going that’s going on that actually matters. I mean, this is eyewash. These guys aren’t late to the practice field because they’re they’re sitting there playing pinball, right? I mean, it’s eyewash. It doesn’t really matter. So that’s where to me, just leave it alone. You draw attention to something like this, and then it creates another distraction. It’s no different than you start getting into oh man, these guys in the locker room, they’re smiling too much. That means they don’t care. Oh man, these guys frowns too much. That means they’re completely defeated, and they’re not going to get up off the mat and play better, right? Joe doesn’t lay in the middle of the field, beat on the ground like a, like a, like a nine year old and a Charlie Brown. He did plank against Denver, like that. That did happen. But the point with all of this is it just draws more attention, like you have those things in the locker room, it’s fine. I have no problem with them having a ping pong table in the locker room and cornhole board. The cornhole boards have been in the locker room for years since Justin Tucker,

Nestor Aparicio  34:01

how you but he and Sam Cooke led the wolf pack, and I, I dude, I had to watch out for bean bags in my head, in the locker room, because they played corn. They love corn.

Luke Jones  34:11

And you know how many times it’s been played in the last 10 years? I could probably count on two hands and have fingers left over. It’s barely used anymore. So my point with all of that is, what are you doing? Like, like you’re doing something that ultimately, some reporters are going to know, not some, or all reporters are going to notice, and it’s going to come out at some point. Or you’re going to have a one guy in the locker room who might be agitated, agitated by it, or a couple guys in the locker room just let it be. And if you have an issue where guys are late to the practice field or late to meetings because they’re playing pinball or they’re playing cornhole, then handle that internally. Find them, discipline them, however you handle those things internally. But you need to, like, the last thing you want to do is start changing things, right? I mean that. That’s that reeks of, like desperation, and to your point, like it’s, it’s a punchline. Then whether it was John Harbaugh, whether it was Lamar Jackson, whether it was Kyle van Noy, whether it was Kyle Kyle Hamilton, like, just don’t mess with that. Like you mess with something like that midstream. Then it just, it looks like you’re it looks like you have no clue what you’re it looks like you’re changing the lawn furniture on the deck of the Titanic. Is what it looks like for me. It’s not even about who initiated that. It’s the fact that everyone went along with that in some shape or form. To think that that was a good idea. What did you not think anyone was going to notice? Did you not think it wouldn’t be asked about by someone at some point? Right? I mean, and by the way, like I some of the some of the dialog, some of the discourse that’s out there on social media. I’m pretty sure that stuff was taken out after the Kansas City game. So like this, this wasn’t like a one in five thing. It was, I guess, a one in three thing, but, but again, for me, these things weren’t when we’re in there for the 45 minutes that we’re in there three times a week, it’s not like 40 guys were like, like they were children, like, arguing, like, Oh, it’s my turn. It’s my you know, like, it was stuff that’s barely used. There’s a basketball hoop not far from Lamar Jackson’s locker. I mean, I’ll see a player shoot a basket or two for 30 seconds every now and then. But, like, usually it’s just a decoration, right? Usually it’s, you know, think about it in terms of, you know, anyone who remembers, and I don’t mean parties, but like, what a frat house just looked like? No, it had a pinball machine, like it had a ping pong table, right? And those things were just kind of in the locker room, right? So I guess my point is, when you take it out, whether it’s the coach doing it or whether it was a player driven idea, it leads to another distraction. And people were talking about that, and people were, I mean, Kyle Hamilton was asked about it, and he, you know, kind of gave up. He didn’t know which, you know, it’s just, it’s dumb, right? It’s eyewash. I don’t think that. I don’t think those guys playing ping pong in the locker room had any any impact whatsoever on the fact that they were one in three, the same way that, if you could take it out. I don’t think it has any impact on them getting better as a

Nestor Aparicio  37:19

if it leaks out in the media. If it leaks out in the media and it becomes a headline, I in some way, in some way, if my father was still alive, he there’d be a point for him that he loved the team so much, he’d say, well, good. They need to focus so at least there’s somebody out there saying, well, good. They should take boys away from these mill you know? You know, there’s sort of that grievance thing about it. If you’re pissed off that they’re one in five or whatever, that they’re doing all that they could do, I’m pretty sure they were doing all they could do to beat Kansas City. I’m not accusing them of not working hard or playing too much in the locker room, or I can accuse them of all sorts of things that they do. Here’s what I’m gonna accuse them of. You know what, not being a good enough football team, that’s at the heart of it, and being a banged up team and not having a quarterback, that’s what I would accuse them of. Right now. I would accuse their veteran players of underperformance and the young players of not stepping up. That’s what I would accuse them.

Luke Jones  38:16

And I’ll take the all the coaches to task. They haven’t done a good no one, no one has done enough, good enough job. Everyone owns one to five, from one in five, from the owner on down to the last ball, bot Ball, ball boy on the staff, right? I mean, that’s everyone is one in five. It’s not just John Harbaugh, it’s not just Lamar Jackson. It’s not just the offensive line. Is there

Nestor Aparicio  38:40

anybody on this, on this roster, that feels good about their own personal play? I’m, I’m like, I’m looking at and saying, Who’s getting themselves paid from doing this this year? And I’m and I’m like, and it’s even affected Linder balm and some guys that were in line to get paid. Look, no. I mean, I’m not going

Luke Jones  38:57

to sit here and say everyone’s playing poorly or anything like that. But yeah, like to sit here and say, If anyone’s having, like, a career year, I mean, I’ve seen some people mentioned Jordan stouts had a solid year punting. It’s like, okay, like, you know, like linderbom has, I remember when they didn’t punt around here, sure. And to be clear, you mentioned Tyler linderbaum, and I want to make sure we’re presenting this accurately. Like, he hasn’t had a bad year, but I would say he hasn’t been at his absolute best. And I think a lot of that has to do with the two guard the guards flanking 100% so yeah. I mean, you, you kind of look at this, I can say flowers or Bateman, have a great year when it can’t get passes off. I mean, zay flowers was having a strong year, until two fumbles against the Rams, but those are two really pivotal fumbles in that football game. So, yeah, I mean, I just again and to just put a bow on the whole game thing in the locker room again for me. And what you said, as far as the old school thought of that, I’ll hear that I acknowledge that John harbos father would say that’ll let them get the fans no confidence that we’re. We’re showing the fans, we’re doing something here, that we’re serious, but that, but again, that’s when you start getting into all these guys are smiling too much, or all these guys aren’t smiling enough, right? I mean, like you just start grab it gives you something else to hold on to, as far as everything that’s wrong with this football team right now, and well,

Nestor Aparicio  40:16

they’re one in five if you’re pissed as a fan, and we would always say this, you think that they don’t care. This was out there in the Billick era, when I took phone calls all day. Everybody’s angry. It’s like, it Rex and Brian and Marvin or whatever. And I’m like, they care a lot. They’re trying hard. So I

Luke Jones  40:31

don’t, I don’t think that, yeah, it doesn’t mean they know how to fix everything. Because I think that’s evident too. I mean, I’ve said it to you, I don’t see a path short of them going out and making a couple really legitimate trades. I don’t see a path for this pass rush, getting to a level where it needs to get where it’s at least Okay, where they can win nine games, not walking through that door, right? He’s out for the year, right? I mean, they traded away, not that old way was, was doing anything, but like, I mean, they have three healthy outside linebackers on the roster right now, and they’re gonna, they’re going to, I’m sure they’re going to either acquire somebody, sign somebody whatever, but for the time being, they’re probably going to elevate Malik hammer came on, Rucker from the practice squad, like, who, exactly, right? I mean, that’s what you’re talking Well, we’re down to who now, right? Exactly. I mean, you so, man, you look at that from an edge standpoint, from a D line standpoint, that’s when we go back to the whole Are they really constructed, even if they stay healthy from this point on, even if Lamar is healthy and upright, the rest of the way, are they truly constructed to win nine of 11, even with the schedule that’s pretty forgiving on paper. Man, that’s where I really have my doubts that your O line and your D line alone, forget about any other questions, are going to be consistent enough. And you know, hey, we’re going to find out, right? They’re not going to cancel the season. I mean, even if they lose on even if Lamar doesn’t play on Sunday and they lose, they’re not going to cancel the rest of the season, so we’re going to see how this plays out. And you know, you mentioned leadership questions. I have leadership questions as well. I think you always have to question leadership when you’re one in five for a team that had high expectations, right? I mean, that’s natural to question that we’re going to find out a lot about all these guys over the next I mean, it’s crazy to say still two and a half months, almost two and a half months a season left, right. I mean, this is not ending anytime soon, even if their playoff hopes happen to end in the not too distant future. So yeah, we’re, we’re gonna see what’s under the hood. And through six games, man, hasn’t been pretty, and this ping pong table and all this stuff in the locker room was just such an avoidable thing, like, just don’t mess with that. Don’t mess with that. I mean, seriously, don’t mess with that, because all it does is draw attention to something else, and it just makes people, I think, you know, people have mocked this rightfully, because it was just, it was a bad idea either way, whether it was player driven or coach driven. Don’t mess with that, because that’s just something else for people to gravitate to. To say, once again, that the locker room is fractured or you guys aren’t on the same page. You guys aren’t thinking about the right things, whatever, and and you know what? When you’re in that position, the answer is kind of Yes. Right perceptions, reality, when you’re one five.

Nestor Aparicio  43:22

He is Luke Jones. I am Nestor. They’re gonna play football at one o’clock on Sunday. Any breaking news will happen first in the wnst tech service. It’s all brought to you by cold roofing and Gordian energy. You know how good it is. I am doing crab cakes on Tuesday morning. We’ll be at State Fair in Catonsville. I will have Raven scratch offs to give away my big thanks to curio wellness as well as GBMC did a big segment this week. I have my colonoscopy set up for a month from now, so I’ll be talking a lot about that for all the fellas out there to get educated on the PSA, make sure. Hey, Luke, how old are you? Over 40? Yeah, you go. You’re on the list. You have been on the list 15 years, but you’re on the list for the colonoscopy. So for all men out there, I will be doing a lot of awareness and my own personal awareness in the next couple of weeks as well. So thanks to our friends at GBMC for keeping us healthy, and we’re getting out on the road. We’re doing the Maryland crab cake tour on the fifth at Cocos, and on the seventh, we’ll be at Pizza John’s in Essex. We were at Costas and Timonium the other day, even though Damien O’Doherty went to Dundalk, still looking for crabs and Timonium looking for me and Dundalk. I was in Timonium. I’ll be back in Dundalk. I’ve made a deal. I’m not going back to Dundalk till Gina schockets back for the holidays. So we’ll do a little rock and roll Christmas as well. So, big month ahead, big week ahead. Football on Sunday, football on Thursday. He’s Luke. He’s on it. I’m Nestor. We are W NST AM, 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stopped talking Baltimore positive.