As regional rivalries go, this would be a lot more interesting if these two teams played more often but rarely have the stakes been higher for a Philadelphia vs. Baltimore matchup. Luke Jones and Nestor preview Eagles at Ravens and review a full Thanksgiving plate of turkeys – on and off the field – and football leftovers.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the upcoming Eagles-Ravens game, highlighting the high ticket prices and the short week for the Ravens. They analyze the Eagles’ 9-2 record and the Ravens’ recent defensive improvements. Jones emphasizes the importance of AJ Brown and Saquon Barkley for the Eagles, while noting the Ravens’ offensive depth. They debate the challenges of clock management and officiating, with Jones noting the Ravens’ 23-1 record against NFC teams. Both agree on the potential for a high-scoring, entertaining game, with Jones predicting a Ravens win due to their recent defensive performance and offensive capabilities.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Eagles at Ravens, Thanksgiving football, short week, high ticket prices, mental challenge, Philadelphia Eagles, Lamar Jackson, AJ Brown, Saquon Barkley, Ravens defense, NFC record, offensive weapons, bye week, Super Bowl preview, football game
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive. And if you’re watching out on YouTube, I swear to you, I didn’t realize I was wearing green and El Guapo. I just looked in the closet and thought, I haven’t worn the El Guapo shirt in a while, they got a great sports bar underneath, and I snuck in there for brunch a couple Sundays ago because they have this little A La Carte brunch thing. So hey, if it welcomes all of the ankles fans down here over the weekend to spend their money, please come on by Coopers down in Fells on Saturday, doing a huge oyster thing all day long. Uh, we’ll introduce crab fries. God, you people, um, we’ll introduce you to crab cakes properly after we get done with the sweet potato pie. All it brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery. We get the crab cake tour back out on the road. We’ll be at Cocos, hopefully victorious, and I won’t be wearing green, Mister yuck green, at least at the end of the week. And our friends at Jiffy Lube, multi care, power up. Luke Jones, get back and forth to Owings Mills to present short week, getting back late. We’re all stuffed with pumpkin pie. We all watched three football games all day, all night. And when Miami got off the bus in Green Bay, I knew that wasn’t going good, right? I mean, once you because you and I were there on a cold day, Green Bay, cold’s different, but happy post Thanksgiving to you, Luke Jones, and I know you’re working hard, sort of a weird week at the castle, with the holiday, with all the Madden Thanksgiving this and that. I mean, pretty big football game on Sunday, short time to prepare. Where’s roquan team looked pretty good the other night. And then you get a week off. You have two weeks off, really, after we get through this one. But big, big game here, big stakes, late afternoon, Sunday, in darkness as the eagle fans come down here, 350 bucks to get into the game right now. Really tough ticket with the Eagles fans, supply and demand. Yeah,
Luke Jones 02:04
I was even looking at that on Thanksgiving evening, and that was for sitting at the top of the upper deck in the corner. Better tickets than that, better seats than that. Oh, prices were they were definitely hopping, but you just laid it out. I think this is such a fascinating week. Another good test. Ravens coming off of a short week. We talked about the Monday night game and the travel and the challenge that that presents you have Thanksgiving, you have two teams who are facing each other for the first time in four years, although they see each other in the preseason. I don’t know what that really amounts to. Lamar waving to the opposition from the sideline, because we know it’s preseason action, but some really interesting football game. I mean, this is a Philadelphia team that’s nine and two. They got off to a shaky start on the heels of that collapse they had at the end of last year. Think there are a lot of questions about Nick Sirianni and his relationship with Jalen Hurts. Where was the defense big Fangio coming in and mean, they’ve been on a roll, albeit, when you look at their their winning streak, not exactly playing a ton of juggernauts. So in that way, we kind of throw it out there in the way that we talked about the Chargers a
Nestor Aparicio 03:14
bit. But that said, By the way, I saw the giants in the Cowboys play all afternoon, right, Thursday, and it’s like, yeah, you know, division vision there,
Luke Jones 03:24
okay. I mean, even, even, even Washington, has not been what they were, what they were through the first six, seven, it looked like a six Furlong horse.
Nestor Aparicio 03:33
Yeah, so, but, but that said,
Luke Jones 03:36
in fairness, I want to give them their props, because they’ve won these games handily, for the most part over the course of this winning streak. So it’s a really interesting test in that way. I think there’s a mental challenge here, not singling out the ravens, but just looking at the variables in general, Monday night road game. So you’re on a short week. You do have your buy following this. So it’s an NFC game. Is it important to win in the sense that you want to keep pace with the Steelers? Yes. Is it the most critical game from a tie breaker standpoint, and looking at the conference and all that? No, it’s not. It’s an inter conference game. But all that being said, this could end up being a Super Bowl preview for all we know. Right? I mean, certainly you look at Philadelphia and the NFC right on the heels of Detroit who, if not for some awful clock management at the end of the game from the bears, maybe we’re having a different conversation about them, as people are waking up Friday morning doing their Black Friday shopping, dude,
Nestor Aparicio 04:34
I’m gonna back up on everything I said about horrible ever. And then every time I say it, you say to me, lots of Team strikes have this problem, and you’re like, Andy Reid has this problem. He’s going to the Hall of Fame and like, but whatever that is, I mean, you’re a billion dollar organization, it’s, you know, do better, same thing I say to the ravens and Sashi Brown and Chad Steele and just how they do. Better. Do better off the field. Do better on the field. Do better with clock management. Do better your billion dollar I mean, and do better with with refereeing as well. You know what? When, when bets are being placed on flags getting put away? We don’t, you and I did couple three hours of radio after the game there. We didn’t even talk about the flag getting picked up on PI and what that does at the end of the game, just, I just a lot, lot of things got to get better, but, but if the bears are your team, that’s that was just disgraceful on Thanksgiving Day. There’s, I need to say that, just
Luke Jones 05:31
in a general sense. And I was even talking about this with, you know, some of my family, that was over and we were watching the game, but I understand wanting to leave a timeout in your pocket. We all understand that, right? You don’t want to burn your timeouts early in the half. We’ve talked about those instances with the Ravens or other teams. Again. This is we see this around the league. When you get a chance to really watch other teams beyond just your own, you see how prevalent it is. But there’s such a factor when you have those timeouts at the end of the half to Yes, you’d like to keep one in your pocket, but you also want to preserve time right when time drains off the clock, you can have three time outs. It doesn’t add time back on the clock right there. There’s always a way to form your play calling and and adjust to try to account for the fact that you can’t stop the clock unless you go out of bounds, right? Stuff like
Nestor Aparicio 06:27
not staying in bounds, taking a sack, all of these but basic playground things that you probably if you had a high school coach, you played high school ball and you were a quarterback or a leader, you would be clock aware, dude, you’re out on these practice fields on hot days, cold days, every day they practice. Bail out of this in front of you, let alone what they’re schooling in classroom, let alone what’s happening at home when they take their their their office, books home and they’re looking at all of this clock management is it’s basic math, man, like I, you know, I mean, I don’t know what else to say, and the fact that none of them get it right, and that they don’t have somebody there to get it right, somebody there to be quality control at the 11th hour, to say there’s five seconds left, don’t snap time out off the field, bring the field goal. That’s where we are. We have to round for 27 seconds. Somebody’s got to be a grown up there that’s not the quarterback who’s under duress and trying to read the defense and get his line snapped up. And 12 took 12 seconds, like I just all of it was what you don’t want to see your team doing in week 12, right at this point, that you don’t want to see him doing that in August? No,
Luke Jones 07:49
I hear you, but the fact that it is so prevalent speaks to I understand in a vacuum, it’s basic math. I agree with you on that, but there’s so much going on, and I’m I go back to the point that Casey Stengel made decades and decades and decades ago. And obviously he’s talking about baseball, but it applies, most games are lost, not one, right? And part of that is, you saw why the bears are a four and eight outfit, right? And you see that. So I think they’re just, there’s so much going on. It’s such a fast game, it’s such a difficult game, on on, in so many other ways that it can be more challenging. So the teams that do those things well, the teams that don’t beat themselves, the teams that are smart with their time outs, or smart with their play calling, or they’ve coached their guys to know when to go to out of bounds, to know when to go down in bounds, to know when to score a touchdown, to know when to slide at the two yard line, as we’ve seen, those types of things become more prevalent in recent years, to know that, hey, it’s better to go down, not score, maintain possession, run out the clock, then score. And even though it makes the def you know your lead more advantageous, you know you’re giving them the football back. And you know that a weird thing can happen, whether you know, whether you’re talking about a kick return, we’ve seen all steps
Nestor Aparicio 09:05
of error, so Effort, Right? Going back to Jim Marshall and running the ball the wrong way. Yeah, so anything’s possible in the brain fart moment, but these are the things with the timeouts and the challenges that you know, and again, this be I will go on to officiating, because I think it’s just as important to say when these things happen in the heat of the moment, when they happen in the moment, like the play where the dude had his freaking head ripped off, literally, and came up pissed and got a penalty because he got his head ripped off. And I’m thinking to myself, You guys aren’t getting the calls right, man, like, let’s get the calls right. Let’s get the clock management right. Let’s get the operation right, as you always like to say, and I’m sure that’s what Raj calls it up on Park Avenue, which is. Let’s put the best face forward in all of this that we’ve all look like we know we’re doing like literally, because it that’s the part where, when it happens again and again and again, and you call for the coach’s head and you should be fired and all that sort of, yeah. I mean, I go back a dozen years later that if I had to present John Harbaugh for, you know, Coach of the millennium and Hall of Fame, dude, the condiff thing, as much as Cundiff get they sat on a timeout. I mean, like these moments. This was a dumb Thanksgiving Day game that didn’t have any relevance for the bears at all, other than it keeps happening in the franchise, like the Jets. It just keeps this ineptitude the browns, you know, for some of these franchises. But on top of that, then there’s the individual coaching, where it’s sort of like you don’t have anybody in the room to get that call right, and then you all have to go in, face the media, your family, get back on the plane, go home, you lost again, sit around all week for an extra three days, in their case, and be like, how do we screw that up?
Luke Jones 11:08
Yeah, at the same time, I’ll go back to what I just said, though it happens so often, and look, let’s call a spade a spade. You and I have never been involved working on a sideline, working in a coach’s box, playing same with fans, I think, when you’re watching it on your couch, or you’re in the press box, or you’re watching from the 35 yard line and in the third level, you don’t realize how fast it goes. Now again, the more egregious teams, the more obvious, over and over mistakes that certain coaches or certain teams make. I’m not excusing that, let me be very clear. But again, it’s so prevalent around the league, and that’s why I’ve said the times where I’ll take John Harbaugh to task, yeah, when it’s particularly egregious, yes, no question about it. But again, when you watch the league, when you go around the league, you know red zone. You don’t see that a whole lot, but if you’re watching full blown three hour games of other teams, you’ll see the imperfections, and that’s where I just I look at it over and over, and it’s where I have the same level of not understanding for for the officiating, meaning that I excuse it, but I also recognize there are only so many officials out there, and there are 22 players that are really fast, really big, the offenses and defensive have been have become so much more complicated in terms of scheme. I just think it’s difficult with the human eyes to literally see everything. And then when you couple that with how complex the rule book really is, I think one of the biggest things, you know, just to give one piece on the officiating, and then we’ll move on to Raven’s eagles, because eagles, because this is a really big game to talk about. But one of the big pieces of officiating that I think is so complicated, I have the privilege every summer when they bring an NFL officiating crew into each camp. So when they come into Owings Mills, we get a chance as media to to meet with the officials, and it’s, it’s very brief. I mean, it’s not like we’re it’s a session where we’re grilling them for three hours or anything like that. But you get a chance, and they get an opportunity to go through what the new points of emphasis are, what the new rules are. You know, the hip drop tackle, which I don’t even know if that’s been flagged once now, guys have been fined for it, which I think all along was going to be the solution in terms of trying to legislate that out of the game. But the point that I’m trying to make here is, if you’ve ever checked out the NFL rule book, it’s long, it’s extensive, it’s complicated. There is so much there that’s on any official’s plate that, let me be clear, they’re compensated. They’re paid. It’s their job.
Nestor Aparicio 13:42
Do I understand players to know this the coaches, then there’s just, there’s so much to it that guy that holds the stick that you know, that moves the chain right, needs to know there’s 98% of it. And I think if you’re gambling on it, you think you know it, you know
Luke Jones 13:56
but, but there’s so much involved, and it moves so quickly that and now couple couple that reality with HDTV and 4k TV and super slow motion, and every camera angle you can think of in some of these more high profile broadcasts that you end up seeing, that a whole lot does get missed. And I don’t think it’s because officiating is markedly worse than it was 10 years ago or 15 years ago, or 20 or 25 years ago. I just think you can see more clearly. A great example. Yeah, right. I mean 30 years ago that Isaiah likely play probably would have been a touchdown, right? It was replayed that, you know, and you get the ultra high definition camera angle that the little bit of his black, you know, the tip of his black shoe is touching white in the back end zone, you know, back of the end zone. So, just like I told
Nestor Aparicio 14:51
Bradshaw, a rent, you know, Renfro, the Oilers would have been in a Super Bowl. I mean, it would change the history in cases where replay. Three was better than not replay, right? So, so I
Luke Jones 15:03
don’t say any of this with that. Everything’s fine, right? That nothing should try to get better. Let me be very clear. I just think it’s when you throw all of that together, all of it, every single variable we just mentioned, and variables we didn’t even mention, I think it’s a lot more difficult than when you’re watching it from afar, just on TV or from the stands. I think it’s way more difficult than sometimes we realize. And I think anyone who ever went out to Westminster over the years for training camp, anyone who’s had a chance to sit really close to the field, and you know those times when you’re not blocked by all the players, and you get a chance, I want to ask you this to see how effective, to see how fast it is. Tim watts, it
Nestor Aparicio 15:46
did the show last week at Green mount station on the crab cake tour. We were up in Carroll County, had a great crab cake, and Tim was my first ravens reporter, and he and I discussed this at length in the piece. You can go watch it, because in that era, when the team moved here in the late 90s, the media could be on the field the last five minutes of the game. So the last five minutes, and then it became two, and I don’t even know what and when, and COVID and when the Chad Steele era took over to say they’re going to throw people like me out. Let’s start with that, let alone let me in. But I had been on the field hundreds of times in the last moments of games the first 1518, years the team was here, I was literally on the field every game. I felt like I didn’t see the game as well sometimes from down there. Sure, I also felt like sometimes it was cold, gonna go to overtime, just whatever the deal was about being down there. I don’t want to say I was spoiled on it or not spoiled on it, but I don’t even know, or if our audience, if I don’t know, our audience doesn’t know, did you ever go down the field the last two minutes, was that ever a part of your era of reporting? No, I
Luke Jones 17:04
mean, I could have, but I stayed in the press. You know, at that point, social media was a bigger thing. You didn’t necessarily the years where you could still do that. It’s not like everyone had a a sexy iPhone that long gone though, right? Yeah, for the most part. I mean, unless you’re, unless you’re national media. You know, I think there’s a little bit of that still, but, but, but again, when you when you’re that close, and you can attest to it, it is so much faster than it looks on TV. It’s so much faster, it’s so much bigger. It really,
Nestor Aparicio 17:34
it’s right, exactly that. That’s the thing that television doesn’t portray the actual chaos of players on the benches saying, what are we doing? They’re all evaluating the game. They’re all doing a broadcast in their mind of, am I going in? Are we punting? Are we going? Where’s my helmet? What’s my assignment? On the line, the O lines, like, hey, if we go back in, we got to time out like everybody’s communicating. The fans are going nuts, no matter where you are, no matter you know, home or away, whatever it is, it’s loud, right? Headsets are on right, and the clocks moving right, right. So I do think we chaotic. It’s chaotic in a way that it’s just not up in Section 513 even though Don Mueller’s beating on my arm saying, what are we going to do? Hey, nasty, what are we going to do? You know, I would say all of that. And having stood on the 30 yard line next to Johnny Unitas while it’s going on, and Bill it’s on the headset, and Rod Woodson and Ray Lewis are back here trying to grab Gatorade and, you know, like Shannon Sharp’s mouth and off goose is in somebody’s ear. There’s just stuff going on, man. And I remember that I could put my mind back into that to say how fast Patrick Johnson’s feet tip toe in front of you at the 12 yard line, and where the sticks are, and all the bodies moving, and whether he had possession or not, and the clock’s moving, boom. I mean, it’s different on TV. It really is. And I’ve experienced that over the last three years, and I think I can speak pretty clearly. You know, as someone who’s been in the middle of it all, a lot, it’s different. And I can, I can speak to that, yeah, yeah. I
Luke Jones 19:22
mean, and again, this isn’t to make excuses to your point, especially for the coaches who are the most, you know, the guiltiest of offenders, they absolutely have to be accountable for that. But again, it’s chaotic. I think it’s unsettling and unnerving sometimes when you’re that close. I mean, even practice, which the speed of a train of a spring OTA to a training camp practice to a preseason game, to a late preseason game, to a regular season game to a playoff game. I mean, there are levels to that, and you and I have talked to plenty of players over the years that would tell you that. And you know, it’s a. Same thing for the coaches. It’s same the same thing for anyone that’s involved processing information, even when, even when you’re like to your point, talking about, you know, the in yesteryear, when media could could be on the field the last couple minutes, and if something happens right in front of you, again, you’re not even involved. The only thing going through your mind is you’re watching the game, and you’re starting to mentally prepare what questions you’re going to ask post game, but you’re not involved in the game itself. It can be unnerving just just being that close to it. So again, you know, this is this conversation to
Nestor Aparicio 20:31
give enough space that if Shannon sharp came no question with a, you know, with a load and Javon curse is trying to tackle him that I wasn’t getting my legs wiped out and be ready to get out of the way, right? I mean, it’s like with the helmets, the one thing to and we’ll get to the eagle, the one thing I can tell you. And I think about that Eagles game in 96 to Jay Graham game and the Tie game, and like all of that Memorial Stadium, I was down the field for a lot of that game, and because it went to overtime, right? Like, so I got to watch, like, a whole game down. I
Luke Jones 21:00
sat in the AMI. I sat in the open end zone where they had the, you know, the bleachers that they put up for 96 and 97 scoreboard from your case, yeah, yeah. My the funniest thing I remember, because, as you would expect, there were quite a few Philadelphia brethren who had made the gym. You were 13? Yeah, I was, I was 1414, so I what I remember as because what there was a the lat, there wasn’t there a late field goal that, you know, missed, and it’s like, okay, it’s gonna be a tie. Both. I remember both fan bases just kind of talking to each other. It was pretty harmonious, because neither team was very good at that point, and everyone was just
Nestor Aparicio 21:43
like, you suck. We suck. Like, it was just less, yeah, it was really like that. It
Luke Jones 21:49
was very funny. But yes, that was the only tie in ravens history. I was there as a fan, as a 14 year old sitting in the open end zone.
Nestor Aparicio 21:58
I you know, the thing I told Tim, and we’ll move on about the Eagles. It was a rams game, I remember, but the Eagles game, maybe two, had an onside kick. Man, on side kicks when you’re standing at the 30 yard line next to Tom Maddie and Johnny Unitas back when, I mean, like, I mean the helmets hitting each other, there was a level of violence. And I talked to Tim Watts about the time I covered boxing, and Reggie gross hit the guy’s jaw, and the blood went all over my my notebook, and all of a sudden I wasn’t at Superstar Billy Graham wrestling matches anymore, you know, like, all of a sudden it was like, whoo. This is a different thing going on here. Like, you know, as a journalist, I don’t know how to portray that in the, you know, in the sports section. When you write who won the fight, but it’s like, I learned some stuff tonight. Luke Jones is here. We’re gonna get the football it is a Thanksgiving weekend. I remember we had a good holiday. We’re doing the Maryland crab cake tour all next week, all next month. Eggnog is going to be involved. Marcel is already like, whipping up the whatever she put in it last year was delicious. My wife’s coming down so she can drive me home. That happens on Wednesday, and then Thursday, we’re going to be over to BMA with John shields, Chef shields, and Dan Rodricks is one of my all time favorite people, like sort of Uncle Dan to me. So he’s doing his show again. I’m going to bring him on. We’re going to talk about journalism and hostile takeover of like his newspaper and like, all this stuff. So anyway, um, but we got a football game, and we had two football games this week, and then you and I, like, what are we going to talk about next week? I mean, maybe the Orioles will sign somebody, um, becoming a theme for me, at least in the off season. But it really like this game is going to put them in a in a place for two weeks they get this Giants game, they better win that one right. And then the schedule gets weird and wonky and shortened and and prime timey and big timey with the Steelers game and what’s happened to them. Boy, this is a big, big Ball State game coming after all of this football this weekend, the chiefs are going to play on Black Friday, and they play late in the afternoon on Sunday and all that. We all sat around feeding our faces all day on Thursday, and the Ravens. Man meanwhile, played till midnight, got on a plane all night, came home, you went out to the press conferences. You’re around there a little bit trying to get roquan Right. Um, set me straight on the game. We’ve had a good time talking about, you know, ancient history and and officiate, officiating, penalties, things we’re going to be talking about forever, and coaching. But this is a big, big football game, man, yeah, like
Luke Jones 24:33
I said earlier in our segment, I mean, it’s, it’s not big in the sense of when you think of these games where, when you’re talking about an in conference game, tie breakers, things of that nature, but it still counts in the win loss department. And you want to stay right on Pittsburgh’s heels, Pittsburgh plays Cincinnati. I mean, everything’s right there for the ravens to you know, from a division standpoint, now, obviously the number one seed, and you know that that’s pretty bleak at this point, without. Now Kansas City and or Buffalo losing some football games here down the stretch, but the division it’s right there. Philadelphia is right on the heels of Detroit, as I mentioned. I mean, this is a game that six, not six weeks, two months from now, if we’re talking about these two teams meeting in New Orleans, wouldn’t be shocked. Both teams have work to do, and certainly
Nestor Aparicio 25:24
decided to run the ball. Both teams spent money on a we’re gonna run the ball, and even though we think we passed the ball, we got athletic quarterback who throws the ball well, I
Luke Jones 25:32
mean, hurt he throws the ball better than well, but go ahead. No, no, no, not. Oh yeah. Super Bowl got great wide receiver Sure, sure, you
Nestor Aparicio 25:43
know what I mean. So, like, I look at this and say, these teams in these ideologies that they’ve committed to now, the Ravens defense has let them down. The Eagles defense was letting them down earlier in the year as well. But the Eagles smell better right now coming into this. But to your point, you know, scheduling is everything, and it feels like the ravens are taking on some, you know, some big dogs this year, like bills being one of them, even though they’ve lost to these, you know, miscreants in Cleveland and Las Vegas, the Ravens have still Texans and Steelers ahead, right? Just beat the chargers, and they were big stuffing, right? And went out, beat his brother, and like all of that, Herbers got all the commercials. But you know, this is an Eagles team. It’s a little tested to me, having played this role and having to what your point like, if you’re defining their year so far, lot of turmoil. I mean, they’ve had a lot of turmoil, a lot of ups and downs, but the signing of the running back has changed everything for them. Signing of the running backs changed a lot of things here. Well, I
Luke Jones 26:48
mean, I think you just look at what Derek Henry and saquon Barkley have done, I mean, and let me be clear, and I’m going to continue to continue to emphasize this, these were two teams who’ve had a lot of recent success anyway, right? But when you add a Derrick Henry, when you add a saquon Barkley, yeah, it gives you a different element. It puts less on the plate of your quarterback, not the Jalen Hurts has ever been as dynamic of a runner as Lamar Jackson. He still run plenty, and obviously they run the brotherly shop, the tush, push whatever you want to call it. That has become such a game changer. We saw the Ravens do that inside their own 20 yard line late in the first half on Monday night. But there’s a reason why teams are are doing it even in those situations, because it works, because when you’re talking about fourth and one, and yes, the analytics play into that. The analytics have said for a long time, when it’s fourth and one to go just about anywhere on the field to go for it, but when you have a play like the tush push that has become so incredibly difficult to stop, if you can run it, if you can execute it, if your players are disciplined enough to know how to line up and the guys that are lining up behind your quarterback or whoever’s taking the snap. In the case of the ravens, Mark Andrews, and they know how to push the proper way. It’s really not as big of a risk as it looks on paper or as it has been traditionally. And I think that’s a big reason why the Ravens did that. If that had been fourth and two, they weren’t going to go for that. If it had been fourth in a legit one, they probably weren’t going to go for that. But it was fourth in a foot, maybe a foot and a half, maybe two feet at the absolute most. And they said, Let’s do it, because we want to possess the ball again. This goes back to possession. And this goes back to what we were talking about a little bit earlier in our conversation. But when you have Derek Henry, when you have saquon Barkley, who has been so dynamic. In the case of Barkley, you know, people were talking about him as being in the MVP conversation, at the very least, do I think him or Derek Henry have any shot to actually win it? No, absolutely not. But what saquon Barkley has done for that team has given them some extra juice that again, they’ve been really good. They’ve had good offenses in the last couple years. Last year’s late season collapse aside, you know they’ve been in that territory. But you add someone like that, it’s a reminder of all the talk about the running backs all the talk about running backs being devalued in a general sense. Do I think running backs should get these big, long term contracts? No, absolutely not. I’ll still continue to say that, but there are always some exceptions to the rule, not that you’re going to give Derek Henry a long term deal at this point in his career, but in the case of saquon Barkley, who was miserable in New York and the Giants stunk. He did get injured, and he did deal with some of that, but at least in year one of a long term contract, he’s been as advertised. I mean, this is a pretty special matchup, just from a stylistic standpoint, in terms of you’ve got the number. One and the number two leading rushers in the NFL. You better tackle both of these teams, no question in week 13. But that said, both of these teams also have other things they can do. And I’ll tell you the guy that’s really as much as Barkley has all these yards. And look, you know, you know, it’s no secret that I watch a lot of Penn State football here in southern Pennsylvania. I saw Saigon Barkley back in college, so I have great respect for the kind of player he is, but you want to know who the player that’s really the dynamic difference for that Philadelphia offense. It’s AJ Brown when AJ Brown has missed time for them and and I can attest to this because I was even talking to my brother in law, who’s a big, knowledgeable Philadelphia fan, and he wholeheartedly agreed with this. When AJ Brown has missed time for that Philadelphia offense the last couple years, their offense kind of stinks. I mean, he is that difficult to deal with. Go look at his numbers right now, in terms of receiving yards, he’s right up there, and he’s missed games this year. Go look at what his rates are, his receiving yards per game. He is a threat to take it all the way anytime he touches the football. He’s a threat at any level, whether you want to throw a deep ball to him, whether you want to throw a slant underneath. It’s a great yak guy, all
Nestor Aparicio 31:15
of that. So I think there’s like a Randy Moss kind of guy. He’s terrific.
Luke Jones 31:19
I mean, he’s absolutely terrific. So that that right there. Look, I’m taking nothing away from saquon Barkley, who, I think if he’s really going to be at his absolute best in really hurting the Ravens this week, if it were me, if I were Nick Sirianni and I were that offensive coaching staff, I’m looking at saquon Barkley and saying, How can I get eight or nine catches out of the backfield for Barkley isolated against whether it’s roquan Smith or Trenton Simpson or Malik Harrison or Yeah, even, I don’t want to say that he’ll win these matchups, but if Kyle Hamilton happens to be give him a chance to break a tackle and run away, and that’s yeah, because of the beat the ravens, because the idea, because the idea, even with saquon Barkley, if the idea is they’re going to give him 20 carries and he’s just going to run between the tackles or try to run outside, I’m not saying he won’t do anything, because their offensive line is really, really good, but we’ve seen this ravens defense for all the hand wringing and all the angst about their past defense, even though it’s been better the last couple weeks, and this will be another really good test for them. They’ve stopped the run. So I think, if you’re Philadelphia, is where does pride kind of take over, and where do you say, Hey, we might need to think about how we’re going to use saquon a little bit differently this week, and in the same way that the Ravens deal with this, there are weeks where we like, for example, Cincinnati sold out trying to stop Derrick Henry, well, Lamar threw for a ton of yards and touchdowns against them to do that. So this is just going to be a fascinating chess match, because you have two teams who have so many weapons. You know, we’ll see about Devonte Smith. He’s practiced on a limited basis with the hamstring that kept him out of the Rams game for Philly last Sunday night. But, I mean, both these teams have weapons. You know, Dallas Goddard, when he’s right and healthy, is a heck of a weapon as a tight end. Another question about the ravens, middle of the field, right? He’s another option there that can, that can potentially hurt the Ravens. So, really good, you know, really good matchup, really good offenses, I think, for Philadelphia, look, their defense has played outstanding football the last seven weeks or so. However you look at their their winning streak, Cleveland, the Giants at Cincinnati, okay, give you. Give you that one. Even though we know the Bengals record, we know what they’re capable of doing, and how close they came to beating the Ravens twice this year, Jacksonville, at Dallas, Washington and at at the Rams. Again, they’ve won some of those games handily. But those, those names that I those teams that I just named off, not talking about juggernauts for the most part, that they’ve gone up again. So this is where we come back to that old stat Nestor, what conference of the Philadelphia Eagles play in that’d be the National Football Conference. And what is Lamar Jackson’s record against the NFC? It was 23 and one, right? 23 and one, and stop and adding it up.
Nestor Aparicio 34:15
I remember back when it was 19 and 16 and, yeah, you know? I mean, it just keeps adding up and it keeps going one, one is always the number. I get that part right. So which one was the one the Giants right through the interception legend, Martindale. And remember, that was another one of those games where the Ravens did some Galaxy brain stuff at the end of the game. It’s like, how did you lose that? There was some coaching like this, I think, yeah,
Luke Jones 34:37
after that weird stuff, weird stuff. So, but look, Vic Fangio has seen Lamar Jackson in the ravens, including last year when he was coaching the dolphins that did not go well, albeit not a defense that, at that point, was ravaged by injuries. And this Philly defense is better, but you know, this is it’s kind of like for me when I talk about the. Ravens going up against an NFC team. It’s kind of like when I talk about the Ravens going up against the chiefs, until I see something different happen here. It’s, it is difficult for me to to sit here and say, Oh, Philadelphia is going to win the ball game, right? So I think, look, I think this can be a really good football game. I you know, I have a lot of respect for this Eagles team, even though, again, this the schedule hasn’t necessarily looked all that imposing for them. But you know, when you get on a when, when you’re winning seven games in a row, you’re doing something right, and when you’re winning some of those games quite handily, you’re doing something right. But they have not gone up against an offense like this. And on the flip side, the Ravens look it’s it’s nice to see them do what they did against the Chargers. Nice to see them do what they did against the Pittsburgh talking about the defense, you know, not, not the outcome. This Philadelphia offense is a way different challenge, and that’s why I said AJ Brown, for me, more so than saquon Barkley even is the guy that you’ve got to account for. He likes to line up on the outside a lot. So we know the Ravens. Recently, it’s been more more Marlon Humphrey at the nickel and it’s been Kyle Hamilton as a deep safety. I don’t think Kyle Hamilton playing deep safety is going to change at this point. You know, they pick their spots, and he plays closer to the line of scrimmage when they when they can do it and when it’s advantageous. But they’re going to need him deep. So AJ Brown, or even potentially, Devonte Smith, aren’t toasting them deep, you know, get behind the safety. So they’re going to need Hamilton to do that. But AJ Brown is someone who generally, typically will line up on the outside more. So that’s going to be a big test for potentially Nate Wiggins, who we didn’t talk a whole lot during the chart about the Chargers game, but I thought Nate Wiggins, you know, I think he’s making some strides, still too many, still too handsy, you know, still too many penalties. But the rookie, from a coverage standpoint, I’ve really liked what I’ve seen from him. He’s small.
Nestor Aparicio 37:03
You feel that a little he is, he is my wife’s, like, Who’s that guy, you know? Like, so he’s small. I
Luke Jones 37:10
mean, He’s skinny. I mean, he’s not, it’s not like he’s five foot eight or five nine, like, he’s not a Tavon Young. Like, you know, I don’t want to say shrimp, but you know what I mean, wiry, wire, but he’s just, he’s very skinny, right? I mean, hopefully, yeah, I mean, not so much this week, but put him on the Thanksgiving dinner plan a little bit this off season. You have, well, bring
Nestor Aparicio 37:28
it over here, man, I’m telling There you go. Food, you know. So hey, finish up, because I got two little things for you before we were, yeah, but I was just gonna
Luke Jones 37:36
say, I mean, with AJ Brown, he tends the lineup on the outside more. I mean, you’ll see him in the slot somewhat, but more so on the outside. So Nate Wiggins, Brandon Stevens, tredavius White, who, again, we’ve seen the Ravens work him in as an outside corner. It’s going to be really interesting there. Or do you see Marlon Humphrey travel with AJ Brown? The Ravens haven’t done a whole lot of that in recent years, but they’re paying to do that kind of work. If there’s a week where that’s on the table, maybe this is the week for that. So that’s going to be fascinating again. Barclays a challenge. Jalen Hurts when he’s playing. His best is a heck of a quarterback. Dallas. Goddard, we’ll see about Devonte Smith again. He’s limited practice, work place will
Nestor Aparicio 38:18
be all looped up. Man, brunch going to 10 in a month. Fire. Oh, absolutely. That’s
Luke Jones 38:24
why I said. I mean, there could be a reunion of this in New Orleans in early February. That wouldn’t shock me either of these teams, quite frankly. I mean, they both have work to do, and they both are looking up at other teams in their respective conferences right now, but
Nestor Aparicio 38:42
we’d have better food and less flatulence, I
Luke Jones 38:44
promise you. But these are really good football teams, and I’m looking forward to it. And again, that Philadelphia defense, though, you better be ready for Lamar. You better hope that Vic Fangio has figured it out, because his last few tries against the Ravens. Yeah, he and John have that thing, and I like, it hasn’t gone well for them either. So Philadelphia is talented as their defenses their front I mean, they’ve got some absolute dudes on the defensive side of the ball, just like their offensive line has dudes on it. So good matchup. But that NFC thing is a thing until it’s not anymore, in the same way that beating Kansas City is a thing beating Pittsburgh is a thing for the Ravens. No, it’s a channel text. I
Nestor Aparicio 39:26
keep forgetting he’s up there, you know, because a lot of times these games run, I’m like, do I know anybody? Do I like, you know, I root for Josh Jacobs because of Chad weaseling, my pal, and he revered so, like, I just try to find reasons to, you know, get behind the program with the Eagles. It’s sort of like Jimmy Schwartz once that day, and I can’t root for him in Cleveland. You know this, um, look where you go. Two things. Joe, pointless coming on the show next week. He wrote the book on Tom Maddie. He wrote me a note the other day. He heard the fight you and I got it because he loves the Orioles. And he’s like lives down in South Florida, in the Sarasota. Area, heard the fight you when I got into about money and and Rubenstein and the fans being Stockholm Syndrome under Angelo’s like, we’ve lowered our expectations that we shouldn’t be even calling on Juan Soto or even thinking that that’s even possible. So he wrote me a note. He’s like, You got me thinking about that, so I booked him on the show next week. But, um, but one thing I need to call you out on, because you said this is funny to me. You’re like, Lamar has less on his plate with, you know, with Derek, Henry, I’m like, no, no, Lamar has more on his plate. You know, I’m thinking Thanksgiving like there’s more things that he has. I understood what you meant by that, but I’m thinking like it’s an embarrassment of riches. And I talked, you want to hear a great piece. And I know it’s your guy, Aaron shots, your DVO, a guy who he always agrees with you. I feels like I’m fighting with you every time I fight with him. And I know you’re both a right because you put more effort into this. I believe in science, by the way, so except when it’s not science, but in the case of this offense and its historic nature and all of that that we can get into. They are eight and four, and if they’re eight and five, you know what I mean? Like, it’s got to take root at some point with good decisions from coaching, running the ball when they should, um, winning games, closing games. And really it is about the defense, like taking steps up here that I don’t think the Giants thing’s going to test them right, and I don’t even know that or not, Russell Wilson test them. But the notion that this defense, this time of year, we’re after Thanksgiving year, that the defense can continue to improve, and we gave them, you know, kudos as much as you can going out on the West Coast, hanging around on Monday night, you know, playing against some, you know, pretty talented offensive group out there that this is going to be a different kind of push and shove game, I think. And to your point, these linebackers and what happens in the middle of the field, and how the the talent players of the Eagles get negated in this game is what keeps this game from being 41 to 38 with two minutes left to go? Right?
Luke Jones 42:07
Yeah. I mean, it’s a good offense. I mean, it really is. And on the flip side, you mentioned Lamar. I mean, you know, and where I was talking about that was Lamar, not half not needing to run as often, right? I mean, he even talked about that this week, so but, yeah, they have so much. I mean, Nestor, Lamar Jackson, as you and I are talking, you know, as we woke up after Thanksgiving and, you know, as we’re previewing, preview, preview, previewing the weekends games and all that, Lamar Jackson leads the league in passing yards. Let me repeat that. Lamar Jackson leads the league in passing yards, not rate, not yards per attempt, not just touchdown passes, like we talked about five years ago when he threw 36 touchdown passes, passing yards, the volume part of their passing game has caught up, and that’s with, oh yeah, still having a 1300 yard back, and still having a quarterback who is right there in terms of leading the league in yards per carry and still runs the ball plenty, and having a backup running back in Justice Hill who can take off and run 50 yards for a touchdown, and having another running back in Keaton Mitchell who’s not even involved, but I’m guessing part of the bye week objectives will be, how do we work Keaton Mitchell in here a little bit more. I think that’s a curveball that they can maybe feature down the stretch. But they, you know, they have this, this abundance of riches, this embarrassment of riches, as you just alluded to, yeah, he has
Nestor Aparicio 43:34
right now, by the way, put that in there too, right?
Luke Jones 43:36
A knock on wood, right? Hey, I didn’t even mention, I’d be remiss. Michael Pierce designated to return this week. Is it going to play Sunday? We’ll see. Might be a post bye week thing, but he’s on his way back. So yeah, they’re going to get even healthier that way. Again, roquan will see he’s limited. He’s practicing. But you do have to be mature here. You do have to be grown ups here and say, we have the bye week right after this. We don’t want to be in a position if there’s any doubt you as you want to win this game, as much as you’d love to win this game, this also this. This isn’t a season over proposition, right? This isn’t even a division over I mean, I don’t think Pittsburgh is running the table. I just, I’m making that prediction here. I don’t think that’s even that bold. I just think they’re good, don’t get me wrong, and I’m not saying they won’t even win the division and the Ravens have to beat them when they come to Baltimore later this coming month. But at the same time, you can’t look at someone like roquan Smith or Michael Pierce for that for that matter, but certainly roquan Smith, if there’s any doubt about his hamstring, you need to hold off until after the bye week. This game isn’t that important to risk a setback, and then suddenly roquan is out until who knows when. So you know that that’s the one factor, but they are healthy. And you look at this team, you look at the biggest question mark, which has been the defense. Is Philadelphia is a step up here, you know, from Pittsburgh, and then the chargers, and now it’s a step up. Let’s see how it how it goes. I don’t think they’re going to shut them down, you know, I don’t think this is going to be a 17 to 10 kind of game. To your point. It’s probably more likely it’ll be 34 to 31 or something like that. But can the defense make some stops? And you hold them in the 20s? Let’s say, if you do that, then I like their chances to win the football game, because as talented as this Eagles defense is, again, I still think I’ll take the Ravens offense over the Eagles defense. So that’s where you look at it, on the other side and say, can you get enough stops? You know? Can you hold that all you know, can you hold that offense and check, can you prevent AJ Brown from wrecking the game? Can you prevent saquon Barkley out of the backfield from wrecking the game? Can you get some stops here and there? If you can do that, I’ll continue to say it this past defense, this ravens defense, does not need to be a lead. It does not need to be amazing. Just be decent. Be solid. Be rock solid. They haven’t given up a touchdown pass the last two weeks this team. Go look. They’ve already given up more touchdown passes than they did all of last year, and they they had accomplished that feat, if I say a feat, they did that a few weeks ago, right?
Nestor Aparicio 46:21
I mean, that’s how bad the pace has been. So for them to go two straight weeks without allowing a touchdown pass, that’s some progress, albeit, I know that the chargers, and that would be something that would happen this week. If they’re not allowing touchdown they can do that right? And they start and get into a field goal game and they win 28 to 16, or something like that. I look for me getting the kicker right, getting the operation right, getting the defensive backside right, keeping the offense on time and in second and two and second and three and not in first and 25 starting getting the penalties right. I mean, these are all step ups that we’re waiting 12 weeks into the season like these are problems that have been going on. They’re not Whack a Mole there. They have been a ongoing issue, and they have a team that can exploit it this week coming in here, but they have this gaudy record against the NFC. They’re home. They’re on short rest. I mean, that’s what makes it interesting. That’s why it’s fun to talk about anything that you your prediction is going to be out at the Baltimore positive Of course it will be
Luke Jones 47:23
my 12 ravens thoughts. With the prediction, you can probably tell where I’m leaning, because I’ve, I’ve been so bullish on playing an NFC team. I mean, it’s just just the truth. Hey, the beauty to that, and if that continues, the beauty to that is, if the Ravens breakthrough in January, I they’re going to play an NFC team in the Super Bowl, so if they can get there, then you feel more confident. But that’s that’s if, and it’s a big if. If that continues on Sunday, it’s gonna be fun. I mean, again, the two leading rushers in the NFL, one MVP quarterback, and then Jalen Hurts someone who’s been taking his team to a Super Bowl. So you have that. You have a fantastic Philadelphia defense that has dudes all over the place against the Ravens offense that has dudes all over the place. So, I mean, this is fun. This is a lot of fun. The atmosphere, it’s going to be annoying to Ravens fans, because I think there are going to be a lot of Philadelphia fans, but it should make for if we’re being objective neutral, it should be a fun atmosphere, because you’re going to kind of have a reaction one way or the other to just about anything that’s happening. So looking forward to it, late afternoon game. It is interesting. Ravens short week. Keep in mind, Philadelphia played a Sunday night road game in the same building. So you know that advantage is that mitigated a little bit in that regard, that they had a big time travel travel game as well. And you know, they had an extra day, but not not a full day and a half in the way that it could have worked out. So we’ll see. You know, late afternoon game, it’ll get dark early. Can be chilly, so a lot of factors, a lot of meat on the bone for this one. And hey, when it’s all over, it’s gonna be the bye week. So you hope you get through this one relatively healthy. You know, you have a lot, a lot of guys that you’d love to be able to rest up and get off their feet, and they’ll get a chance to do that, but you’d much rather be nine and four than eight and five having the opportunity to do that. So we’ll see how it plays out, and we’ll see if we’re talking about Lamar Jackson being 24 and one against the NFC, or if we’re talking about the Eagles going into Baltimore, and want to say, do the impossible, but they’re the underdog, and I think that’s legit, right? So we’ll see how this plays out, but I’m expecting a heck of an entertaining football game. Lou
Nestor Aparicio 49:48
Jones is Baltimore, Luke. I just hope that I’m wearing green in my El Guapo shirt here. It was completely accidental. I just haven’t worn the shirt in a while, but I hope whoever is sitting in my seat that you. Steel threw us out of Section 513, seat seven and eight, row one, right on the rail there next to the camera. Whoever’s in that seat wearing the Eagles jersey that it’s Randall Cunningham. That’s all I’m asking. Or like Baldinger, or, I don’t know, I’m trying to think of other Eagles players that, like Jaworski, Josh Put, put a proper silver seven on and but don’t be sitting in my seat with some I mean, Kelsey, may I would put you. Kelsey is okay, by the way. Big shout out to Emily Reese. And I was gonna say Kelsey might want to, like, come back and play for this kind of team, but probably not. He’s doing like, he’s like, Letterman now he’s all that former w, N, S T intern, Emily Reese is his representative, and she’s like out running all over the world, doing all this stuff with him. So I gave her some love this week. So there’s a real Baltimore connection, even with Kelsey, the Philadelphia thing. But just don’t bring those cheese steaks and his pretzels into our seats. Up at 513 please tell me that 513 is still purple, because at this when our stadium gets taken over, Luke, Luke, it bothers me, you know, I mean, it’s like people to ask me what I said the Rubenstein last month when I met him over Beth, the fellow I’m like I talked about the empty seats, because it bothers me. I mean, as as from a civic concern, from everything I’ve ever been about for 33 years, it bothers me, with 20,000 fans come in and take over our stadium, it should bother Steve Bucha and Chad Steele and Eric da Costa and and Shashi brand. It should bother them. It doesn’t. And so there have at it. You know, they’ll come down. So if it doesn’t bother them, I would invite all of you cheese steak eaters down to Cooper’s on Saturday for proper oysters. There’s an oyster festival going on. Come on down, just like all the Phillies fans did back in the summer, when the boat, when the the planes came into, the boats came in, all Phillies fans for all weekend. So come down here, spend money, eat crab cakes, get all the stuff that you can’t get up there, trying to think of what that is, what you can get here, that you can’t get there. Probably everything years better than there. I mean, I think about it. I’m Nestor. He’s Luke. We’ll see if our football team is better. Four o’clock on Sunday, we’re W, N, S, D, A and 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stopped talking Baltimore positive. I.
