Luke Jones and Nestor preview Ravens and Bengals in crucial AFC North battle in Cincinnati
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens vs Bengals, AFC North, Lamar Jackson, Derek Henry, Ronnie Stanley, Roquan Smith, Kyle Hamilton, Mark Andrews, Patrick Mecary, offensive line, division rivalry, injury concerns, playoff hopes, football season, Baltimore positive
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W N, S T tassel, Baltimore, Baltimore, positive. We’re a week out on home football. Next week, it’s Baltimore V Washington. But in the meantime, Cincinnati is in the way. On Sunday, we’re going to be on Friday, celebrating birthdays. Luke had a really, really, really, really crappy birthday. The organs were eliminated on his birthday. My birthdays next weekend. I don’t know how it’s going to go. It’s the day after Sammy Hagar, the day before Jim Palmer. So it’s usually a really good birthday. On the 11th of October, we will be at Pizza John’s. I’ll have Raven scratch offs to give away meatball sob, cold cut pepperoni pizza. I’m trying to get them, talk them into doing a new kind of pizza called a Dundalk Venezuelan pizza, which would be the Hawaiian pizza with pepperoni, because that’s my favorite pizza, and it’s not on their menu. They have Hawaiian. My wife ordered a wine. No pepperoni, no bueno. Gotta have pepperoni, a little crunchies on there. So next Friday, we’ll do that for Luke. We’ll also have a crab cake. It is the Maryland crab cake tour. Prince. Cake Tour presented by our friends at Jiffy Lube, multi care. They power Luke up, get him back and forth. And my friends at at Liberty, pure solutions. I got my my half drank bottle of water, 800 clean water. They’re doing the oyster tour. The oyster tour is going to launch this weekend. Quite frankly, because I’ve been too damn busy. I went around eight oysters every day in September, I have not platformed at all properly for all of our sponsors, maritime magic this weekend, lots of baseball, Luke. It could be worse. You could be a Milwaukee Brewers fan, right?
Luke Jones 01:29
Yeah, boy. How about that? I mean, that was, I’m no New York Mets fan by any means. And as you know, I you know the Phillies are my National League team. More so for my brother in law, a nod to my late grandfather, who grew up with the Phillies and before the Orioles even came to town, but that Pete Alonzo Homer, that was one of the cooler examples of, and I don’t want, when I say cooler, more distinct, I guess, more striking, examples of a crowd that went from 100 to about, okay, however many Mets fans were smattered in that park. You
Nestor Aparicio 02:07
were not with me. You were not with me in Denver. But when, when Ray Lewis said you could hear a rap piss on cotton, I promise you, I promise you, that’s how quiet it was in Denver, because it was so cold. I mean, it was just so cold that people couldn’t even talk to each other after Jones caught the ball. And so, yeah, I mean the celebration, you could hear them celebrating in the stadium, because it was that church quiet. You could hear Ray Rice screaming on the sidelines, and I felt that way about the Mexican my wife got torn into that we’re going to get the Bengals and ravens, because that’s why we’re here. But Thursday night Dick yoga came back, had a little plan of fitness moment, and we’re sitting here, like, what are we going to watch? And she’s like, well, Thursday night football. I’m like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. There’s like, real baseball going on, and we put it on, and it was great drama. I mean, from what we’ve been through around here, and you’ve written the requiem for the Orioles. I’ve written a letter to David Rubenstein. My Katie Griggs letter is coming. We’ll see what they’re going to do. You were at the Elias press conference. You were at the Brandon high press conference. But my God, my God, dude, have we, have we said the R word this year, this week? I mean, is it like, like we have a talk Ravens? It’s like they didn’t exist Tuesday, Wednesday, they’re going to exist Sunday at one o’clock. And I think the the fold will come back to two and two. And hey, Joe burrows in the way, right? Yeah, and Joe
Luke Jones 03:30
burrow and the Bengals are one and three, so there’s no shortage of urgency on their end. I mean, this is a Bengals team that okay to be Carolina last week. Have they really been all that impressive? I mean, we saw him on Monday Night Football, Jaden Daniels, the kid in Washington, Chuck the ball all over the field against them. And boy, by the way, that that’s a little more of an intriguing matchup, you know, within the week to follow. But it’s an AFC North game. This has become the rivalry in the in the division. In recent years, the Steelers have, in very strange ways, beaten the ravens, but that rivalry has next to no juice right now, until we see otherwise, right? It’s ravens, Bengals, that’s what it’s been the last few years. Unfortunately, it’s often taken place with either Lamar Jackson or Joe burrow injured. So it’s always, you know, you always take a a moment to be grateful that both are healthy and upright in terms of just Entertainment’s value. But you know, this is a big football game. You know, this is the first division game of the season. The Ravens, we talked a lot about the Owen to start the last two weeks, they’ve looked like the best team in the NFL, if we’re being if we’re going to call a spade a spade. When you look at what they did against Buffalo, and even with it getting dicey late, I mean, they still went to Dallas and did what they did to the Cowboys for what the first 50 minutes of that ball game. So yeah, the ravens are trending up. The Bengals would fancy themselves thinking that they’re trending up. After an OH and three start. But, I mean, my goodness, this is a big game for both teams. I mean, I think for the ravens, it’s not the end of the world if you drop this one, but for Cincinnati, you drop to one and four. I mean, what are you Where are you going to go from there? I mean, that’s not an easy thing to now at home, especially you lose a home right? Exactly, and that’s the thing, they’ve lost some of these games at home, even some games against teams, you know, way worse, you know, than talking about a division rivals
Nestor Aparicio 05:28
contender. They beat the Ravens on Sunday, and the Ravens are two and three, and then we got a whole different meeting on Monday, but it’s a great game, I mean. And I think we knew that when we sort of set it up, if everybody’s healthy, that we don’t take Pittsburgh seriously yet and Cleveland. I mean, with the quarterback situation in Pittsburgh, at least that this was always going to be that game, and I had wondered aloud, are they two and two when they get there? Are they three and one? Are they four? No, I mean, I was about the Ravens now. I mean, the ravens are a Tippy, tippy toe and a burp against the Raiders away from being four. I mean, they’ve been good enough to win. They haven’t gone out there and really laid a turd in any way. The Bengals have laid some turds, and This better not be one for the Bengals, because if this is their turd, their season’s over, kind of, sort of, right? Yeah. I
Luke Jones 06:11
mean, I think it’s tough to say it’s season’s over, but in terms of trying to be one of those teams that’s jockeying for, first of all, winning the division, and what that means, if you lose a game in hand at home against your biggest rival, the team that you think is going to be the biggest threat to the division, and wanting to win the division, they’re kind of in scramble mode just to put themselves in wild in the wild card race. I mean, look, not so sure. The AFC is great this year, if you really look at it, I think some, some teams that you maybe had high expectations for haven’t really lived up to it yet. I mean, even a team like Houston, who a lot of people were so high on, you know, the eyeball test hasn’t necessarily looked what you thought it was. Would even, even if the record’s okay. So, you know, this is still, you know, especially with Kansas City. I mean, beyond just the the default Patrick mahomes Andy Reid, and that’s the massive caveat, right? We know that the Ravens learned that the Bengals have learned that in the past, the Bengals have etched them, although that was three years ago at this point in time. But even Kansas City, with their injuries and Rasheed rice on IR and Isaiah Pacheco on IR and Hollywood brown on IR. I mean, they’re a vulnerable, more vulnerable group, at least in terms of the regular season, as we saw last year. So, I mean, this is a major game for both teams, but I think really more so for the for the Bengals. I think the Ravens on paper, have been the better team. I think statistically, when you kind of look at it beyond just saying, Okay, well, they’re two and two, and the Bengals are one and three, that’s not that much better. But I think if you look at them across the board, roster wise, performance wise, the Ravens have been the better team. But, you know, this is Cincinnati team that’s still very talented. They, you know, they have Jamar Chase and T Higgins both on the field. Higgins had missed the first couple games, chases, contract
Nestor Aparicio 08:07
turmoil, right? I mean, it’s a turmoil. I was just kind of more of a story for them, as much as the losing, the turmoil. And that’s something that, you know, we go into the Orioles offseason, is who’s happy, who’s getting a contract, what do they need to do and all that. I mean, the Bengals are still in the off season in some to some degree, in that way, right? Like in a bad way. And they’re notoriously cheap, and they’ve already paid the quarterback, which they didn’t really want to do with Carson Palmer or or handy Dalton, or any of the other guys they’ve had, right? Um, this is like a different thing for them to and, and also the relationship between the quarterback and the wide receiver, right? Yeah. I
Luke Jones 08:44
mean, I, I think that relation that seems fine. I mean, I don’t think that’s been a problem at all, breaking
Nestor Aparicio 08:49
up that band I’m saying, saying we’ll get it. Yeah, well, sure, and that’s
Luke Jones 08:53
why I think there’s, there’s this urgency, because T Higgins is playing on the franchise tag and definitely feels out the door after the year and Jamar Chase. I mean, they haven’t gotten a deal done yet. Now, I would think they probably will. But again, to your point, that causes drama, that causes a distraction. I mean, this is a team that dealt with all kinds of distractions. Oh yeah, they’re quarterbacks coming back from wrist surgery, which is not something you want a quarterback. They’re throwing hand to be dealing with that. So maybe we shouldn’t be shocked by this start that they’ve had. But when you look at the losses, I mean New England, Washington, and we’re talking about those games being at home, so they thought they
Nestor Aparicio 09:35
were three year when the fan base looked at it, they’re like, I will beat those teams the way we thought we were going to beat the Raiders.
Luke Jones 09:42
Yeah. So, I mean, it’s, it’s been a very odd start for them. I mean, they haven’t been blown out. I mean, they were like the Ravens. They had a chance to win in Kansas City, right? So they have things that they can take as positives. But I mean, you’re one in three the ravens are coming to town. If you lose, you’re going to one and four. So that’s where I think the rave. And obviously they’re up for this talk to roquan Smith at his locker on Thursday, roquan had more of a spring in his step, more of a twinkle in his eye that he’s had all year. And you know why? Because he loves playing the Bengals. I mean, we saw that from the moment he arrived. I think the numbers would even bear it out that some of those big games that Cincinnati had offensively against this defense have kind of gone away since roquan arrived. And I don’t think it’s solely because of him, in terms of him as a player, but I do think maybe mentality, mindset, aura, all those different things that, for whatever reason, felt like it was lacking against the Bengals, you know, maybe three years ago, let’s say. And obviously the quarterback not being on the field played a massive part of a couple of those losses. But I think with Smith now leading this defense, they’ve, you know, they’ve, they’ve been more physical with Cincinnati. They’ve beaten them up. They’ve Mike McDonald had kind of perfected how to slow them down. So we’ll see if Zach Gore can carry that over. I mean, that Zach or his defense looked great against Josh Allen last Sunday night, but this is a new challenge, a new week, so I think that’s where this is interesting. And I mean, it’s a division game, you know, I I think you could tell from my tone, I’m picking the ravens to win this week. I’m not even going to sugarcoat it or try to put drama in it, but it’s a division game, and you’ve got to come ready to play. And I think for Cincinnati, the big question is going to be, do you stack the box to try to stop the run? But if you do, are you going to handle zay flowers? Are you going to handle Mark Andrews, who, I mean, feels three weeks overdue for a breakout. I don’t think Mark Andrews is washed up, but went back to back weeks without a catch. I mean, that’s crazy when you really think about it in terms of kind of what that looks like. But at some point in time, and you and I argued about this a little bit playfully, in the aftermath of the Buffalo game, teams are going to start stacking the box, because what you’re just going to let the Ravens run for 300 yards against you every week. I mean, at some point teams are going to try to adjust, and that’s when I think the Ravens absolutely will be ready to throw the football then, and I think teams will struggle with that, because that’s, that’s how it’s worked. That’s how it’s worked for certainly going back to 19 and 20 and 21 so, you know, it’ll be interesting. I mean, this is a, it’s always interesting. It’s a division game. These teams don’t like each other. This is as close as we get to what Raven Steelers was 15 years ago in the modern NFL. I mean, everyone’s too nice in this day and age, right? There’s too much player turnover from from team to team. I mean, Geno stones on the Cincinnati side now, for example, but these teams definitely there’s a stronger disdain here than what in recent years has become mutual respect between Baltimore and Pittsburgh on the field,
Nestor Aparicio 12:50
right? Bro rubs guys the wrong way, right?
Luke Jones 12:56
I don’t even know if it’s so much borough. I don’t think the Ravens players dislike bro, I but there have been plenty of other guys on their offense and defense who have talked right. I mean, one thing that’s kind of been almost laughable about the Bengals the last couple years is how much they’ve puffed their chest out because they made it to a Super Bowl. They didn’t even win that Super Bowl, but they puffed out their chest about and look, I mean, if that gets you going, get you ready to play, that’s fine. But, you know, I don’t think it’s bro as much. I think, you know, Chase has talked, some of their guys on defense have talked, not specifically this week, but just over the last couple years at different times. So you know that these teams don’t like each other. And you know, roquan Smith has had said some things that if, if it was the opposition saying that about your team that I’m sure the Ravens would have taken some some exception to. But it’s fun. I like that. It’s okay to to have some bulletin board material on either side, right? I mean, it makes this more makes it more fun for guys like you and me talking about it. Where are you in 2001 see how this plays out. First Raven Super Bowl year the way the
Nestor Aparicio 14:01
you were 1920 like that. You were young, right? Oh, one Shannon sharp, the Super Bowl.
Luke Jones 14:06
Year I was I was, No, I would be super, super bowl year I was 1717, okay,
Nestor Aparicio 14:12
so I was a reporter. That real reporter 1918, and I remember Shannon Sharp’s locker in the new stadium was over toward the coaches. It was like the last locker by the coaches is where Shannon was on game day. And I remember being there, you know, at the locker when he talked about old plexiglass. And, you know, every time I see Shannon sharp, I think him calling old plexiglass. And I’m thinking, and all the Terrell Suggs, you know professional wrestling, you know hype videos that went with this 20 years ago. Um, yeah, I would say that this would be that week, right? Like the Ravens can’t the Ravens don’t get nearly as up to play Washington as maybe you and I and T bone do, right? You.
Luke Jones 15:01
Yeah. I mean, this is, like I said, this has become the new Raven Steelers for the time, for the time being. I’m not saying that Raven Steelers will never heat up again. That’s a legacy rivalry at this point. That’s that, I think, especially for younger people, they view Raven Steelers in the same way that you grew up viewing packers, bears or Dallas, Washington or I mean, for me, when I was growing up in the early to mid 90s, it was 40 Niners, cowboys, right? I mean, so you have some of these legacy rivalries that are helped when they’re in Division. But, I mean, Raven Steelers has been a little bit on the colder side, despite the fact that the Steelers have actually won so many of those in recent years. But it’s just been a weird dynamic, whereas this has been, it’s got that little bit of a nasty edge to it. I don’t think it’s, I don’t know if we’re ever going back to the days of Joey Porter going after Ray Lewis on the bus and in the craziness of 20 years ago. I don’t think we’re I don’t think that’s happening again. But this is at least you can tell these teams don’t like each other and like like I said, talking to roquan Smith, that is locker on Thursday afternoon, that’s that’s as energetic, and roquan’s always good with the media, let me be clear about that, but that’s as energetic as he’s been doing a stand around interview all season, and it’s because they’re playing the Bengals. I mean, you could just tell he flat out, said they don’t like us. We don’t like them. But he said, Hey, that’s fun. That makes it fun, you know, it’s a rivalry. So, you know, I mean, we’re gonna see the Ravens the last couple weeks. Like I said, they look like one of the best teams in football since, you know, the last two weeks the Bengals, they finally got a win. It’s not like they were, you know, that they were blown out in their first couple losses. But, I mean, you start, oh and three. I mean, you’re questioning everything. I don’t think they have a very good defense. You know, they need to prove themselves. Otherwise on that, and it’s going to start with not letting Derek Henry and Lamar run all over them. But if you do that, what are you doing? You know, what are you conceding from a past defense standpoint, and how did the Ravens take advantage of that? I It’s the ultimate cat and mouse game, and it always has been. That’s not a new point, but it’s more magnified when you have Derek Henry rolling the way that you have the last couple weeks, and, more specifically, your offensive line is starting to really come together. I’m going to be interested to see Voorhees has been limited this week. So is he back in there? Or do they say, Hey, Rose and garden at right tackle and McCarey at left guard. That seemed to work pretty darn well against the bills. Let’s see. Let’s see that for another week. I mean, I don’t think, I don’t think they’re married to a specific starting five. I think they certainly want Rosengarten in there. You know, as the season goes on, he’s your second round pick at right tackle. But those guys, they’ve gotten rolling, and let’s see if they can continue it. I mean, it’s a Bengals team that knows them very well, both the division rivalry games. You always know your opponent really well, but I think the Bengals better be ready, because I think buffalo had a mindset of, yeah, we play too high. Yeah, they run the ball really well. Yeah, we typically only keep six in the box, but we like what we do. We’re really disciplined in what we do. And then we saw how that turned out on the first play of the game. So I think Cincinnati, it’ll be interesting again. I’m waiting for teams to just start really loading up the box, and then we see play action and the passing game really start to do more from a volume standpoint. And I don’t mean 50 times, let’s be clear about that. You know, I’ve never said that, despite how you and I will kind of jab back and forth about, you know, passing game versus the ground attack, but teams are going to start adjusting. But I think the ravens are going to be ready, because they they have the talent to be a very capable passing game, and they showed that last year. They just haven’t had to really rely on it the last couple weeks. Because, well, when you run for 250 or almost 300 yards, well, yeah, keep doing that. I’m not going to sit here and argue against that.
Nestor Aparicio 18:59
Well, whatever that bet you would make the exotic would say, would they pass on first down right away and, you know, keep them honest, whatever you got. Derek Henry, run the ball and see if they can. You know, run it till they stop it. I mean, I think that was the whole idea, especially early in the season with all this. Luke Jones is here. He’s Baltimore, Luke. He’s powered up by our friends at Royal farms as well as Jiffy Lube MultiCare. He will be monitoring all things Sunday. I’d love to say that we would be in New York. Man had reservations of Peter lugers for us. I was all being less old table. I was all ready for three days in New York, and instead, it’s the Royals going to New York. So we are baseball less around here, but still writing about baseball. And you know, I guess that’ll go out of focus a little bit as we sit here and watch the rest of these teams play, and it’ll get back to purple focus. Um, one thing I’d like to say as we get into our birthday week here, and we’re quarter of the way through the season, right? I mean, a quarter of the way through this game will be a quarter of the way through the season, right? Um, injuries and good health. Now, I know if hardball is listening, you cheeks too smooth. And you, you’re talking about injuries, we haven’t had a lot of they really, they’ve been healthy. And I look, I want to say, if they’re healthy, they should be four or No, instead of two and two. We’ve watched the games, right? We we’ve watched the penalties, we’ve, you know, all of that, the passing game not happening yet. I mean, you say it doesn’t, I’d say, let’s see it work. You’ll say, way to work. It always works. Well, let’s see it work. Let’s see them win a game throw in the football. I don’t think they need to. I think they can win 1213, games without, without having to throw. And that would be my goal on the road. My goal wouldn’t be go to Cincinnati and throw. My goal would be to run. Run some more. Run some more. Throw if you need to. And you look up and it’s 31 to 10 in the third quarter, and where’s Josh Johns, you know what I mean. So I would have no problem with that sort of attack, but the health of the team in general that you and I have spent longer stretch, especially later in years, and we are early in the year, so good luck is, is with us that even with an injury, they could put McCarry in, they may have upgraded it by having to carry mccarry’s probably the better player at this point, right in either way. And it’s sort of like, well, we’ll leave him on the bench. Let’s leave our best hitter on the bench to pinch hit. Mccarry’s probably better than either one of these guys from knowing the offense all of that, but the upside of the other guys, I gotta get him to play. They’re young. We gotta get him to play. He’s a six guy. He’s a backup, sure. Nice having him when you have a problem. And I would also say it in your mind, is anybody else dinged beyond the point where, like, we’re worried about Ronnie Stanley looks healthy? For crying out loud, you know what I mean, the guys that we always worry about have looked pretty healthy.
Luke Jones 21:36
Yeah, I mean, and I’m glad you brought up Ronnie Stanley. We haven’t given him enough oxygen in terms of just how good he’s been. Now, look, it’s week four to your point. I mean, you knock on wood, you say a little prayer, you keep your fingers crossed, that that it continues. But this is as healthy, as good as Ronnie Stanley’s looked in years. I mean, it, it is. And of course, he’s one, one player rolling into his knee or his ankle away from that same conversation coming back and look, that applies everyone, right? I mean, everyone gets hurt at some point in time. That’s why I always kind of joke and I say the flipping, you know, my descriptor, that someone’s durable until they’re not anymore, but because that’s just how this game works. But he’s put in the work he was there. I mean, even when you and I were talking about OTAs and trying to figure out if anything matters, and it usually doesn’t, but Ronnie Stanley was there throughout the spring. Now, he practiced every day over the summer. I mean, that was not what we were seeing in previous years. And I don’t say that as a knock on him, it was just they very much had to give him days off, and they really had to manage things. And it wasn’t really a case where they even wanted him practicing three days in a row. So there was so much of that going on, whereas this off season, they cut his pay right, they voided the final year of his contract, making this a contract year for him. And they said, Look, Ronnie, you gotta go out and prove it, and you’ve you’ve got to try to get your body right as much as you can. And no one’s blaming you for that. We all know the catastrophic ankle injury that you had four years ago, but you’re also being compensated at a level where we can’t continue to go down this road if, if you’re not going to be anywhere close to the player you were then. And he was the first to admit, he talked about this in the spring, how it killed him last year to play at the level that he did, which just wasn’t very good, and he was hurt, and he was trying to play through it, and it was admirable, but it wasn’t getting the job done to the degree that the Ravens needed at that price point. So he’s come in, and would I say he’s playing at the level he did in 2019 you know, that might maybe not quite, but he’s been pretty darn close to that. He’s been good. He has absolutely been above average as far as how he’s played. And there have not been that many points over the last four years, even for a two or three or four game stretch where you would say that. So you hope that it, that it continues for his sake, for his career sake, and certainly for the 2024 Raven sake, you would love to be in a position at the end of the year with him, where you’re saying, all right, he’s he’s now going to be a free agent. What do we do here? Now? It’s not going to be another 100 million dollar contract, of course, that that ship has certainly sailed, and he’s 30 years old now anyway. But do you look at it and say, You know what? We’ll give you a three year deal at something that’s still going to make you, I don’t know, a top 12 left tackle in the league. I don’t know. I mean, again, we’re getting way ahead of ourselves. But as it pertains to where the football team is in early October, knowing that they have these questions elsewhere on the offensive line, it’s been nice to have Ronnie Stanley join Tyler linderbaum As it is, right? I mean, he’s, he’s been someone that we haven’t talked a whole lot about, and that’s, that’s kind of a deliberate thing. That’s a good thing, right? It’s. Like, whenever you talk about, you’re not talking about your offensive line, that usually means that it’s doing a really nice job. It’s like an umpire in baseball, although that’s become a bad analogy, because now, with with the strike box, we’re critiquing every single pitch, even if it’s really not that bad. So, but you know, Ronnie Stanley’s done a good job. And you mentioned Patrick McCary. You know, I don’t think McCary was necessarily great at left guard last week individually, but as a unit, it worked, and he knows his assignment. You can depend on him on any of those five spots. If you’re in need, you’re right. The young guys, yes, they have more upside. And I I do think Roger Rosengarten might be better than McCary in certain ways right now, but I certainly think he’s going to be better than McCarry across the board, long term, or at least that’s the vision when you draft someone in this he’s also
Nestor Aparicio 25:47
got a body that’s a right tackle body, and rose got really a center guard kind of body like literally, I mean putting him in tackles a stretch. I think,
Luke Jones 25:59
you know what? I don’t know. I almost think the opposite, just in terms of, I know. I mean, mccarry’s not a he’s not a gigantic guy. So, you know, you typically think, although the Ravens have been trying to trend more athletic, maybe slightly lighter guys anyway, although Daniel Fowle, like completely breaks that mold. So who the heck knows. I mean, that was kind of the perception going into the into the off season, and then making this but with McCary, I think the big question, and I just know this over the years, having talked to coaches and different people in the organization, they’ve always preferred trying to keep him outside at tackle because they felt that he could hold up physically better, and not just because He’s not gigantic, like, you know, like a guard, but he has a little bit of a back issue that he has to manage. You know, it’s just something that I don’t know if it’s chronic, and, you know, it certainly hasn’t cost him many games over the years, but it’s something that they feel, it’s kind of why they’d like, they like keeping him in that sixth man role in the perfect world, because it does save some wear and tear on him over the course of the season. So that’s just something to keep in the back of your mind. I mean, I think they want, they want to get Voorhees back out there. But if he’s not 100% you know, he hasn’t played at a level where you’re going to say, Oh yeah, we’ll send you out there at 80% I mean, it’s not Marshall yanda who can play through an injury like Marshall would do for so many times over the years. But, yeah, but McCarry. I mean, it was amazing on Sunday night. That was that mark, the first start he had at left guard, and that completed the set for him. He started an NFL game at all five offensive line positions. I mean, that’s, that’s really impressive. I mean, that almost sounds like something you would have expected to hear back in like 1965 right? I mean, where, where?
27:44
I
Luke Jones 27:45
mean, you even had two way players at times. You know, if you go far enough, back in NFL history, but you know, he’s just versatile. You know, he’s a valuable piece. He knows what he’s going to do. I mean, even if he’s not going to be 100% perfect with his win rate blocking and all that. He generally knows, you know he’s going to know his assignment. He knows who to block, right? He might not always execute it perfectly, but you need players like that. You know, we talk about that a lot in baseball where you have a super utility guy who has the ability. I mean, Jordan westburg could play legitimate defense at second base and third base can play shortstop in a pinch. I mean, you don’t want them there, really, obviously, I
Nestor Aparicio 28:24
think you could put him in left field and he could feel balls. I mean, he’s a ballplayer. Rob, yeah, he probably could, could do that. Should not kill you. He might be in a field or when he’s 31 years old, because that might be where he has to go play.
Luke Jones 28:34
Maybe, who knows? Maybe, maybe. But the point is, you like having guys that can do that, because stuff’s gonna happen, you know, guys are gonna get hurt, and you need some versatility. So it’s nice to be versatile. It’s really nice to be versatile and to actually have some ability, and not just say, hey, I can line up there. So, you know, we’ve spent, we spent a lot of time talking about this O line, and I’m not ready to sit here and say that the O line is fixed, or 100% as good as it could can possibly be. I think there’s still going to be challenges along the way. I still think there are questions in terms of, you know, as you get deeper into the season, other teams get familiar with your personnel, and other ways they might try to exploit but it certainly feels and looks better than it did a few weeks ago. And that’s kind of, that was kind of the vision here. I, as I said to you, going into week one, and not that it played out this way exactly, because they had, they had their issues the first couple weeks, no question. But I said to you at the time, you know, if this group can look somewhere close in the neighborhood of average at the beginning of the year, I’ll feel better about their chances of being an above average, rock solid offensive line as the year goes on. And you know, I’m not ready to say that just yet, that it’s about all above average and all is great, or anything like that, but I feel better about it. And I mean, look, no. Further than the derrick Henry’s first play against the bills, 87 yards. He wasn’t touched. I mean, I love Derrick Henry, and he breaks tackles and stiff arms and all that, like, don’t get me wrong, but he wasn’t touched on that play. How did bills get off at the line?
Nestor Aparicio 30:15
Literally, right? Yeah, for him and not touch him, right?
Luke Jones 30:21
Right? So, so that, so again, yeah. Derek Henry, yes. Lamar Jackson, no question about it. And those guys absolutely are force multipliers in terms of forcing a defense to account for you on every single play. But if your offensive line goes out there and gets a hat on a hat for everyone in that general vicinity of where you’re running the ball, and you block the backside up, even then, man, that’s, that’s saying something. So, hey, I mean, that’s the challenge for this Bengals front. I mean, we, we haven’t mentioned his name, Trey Hendrickson against Ronnie Stanley. I mean, that’s, that’s a key matchup. But this Bengals front, you know, they, they had some attrition, you know, in terms of guys leaving, and Sam Hubbard, you know, through the first few weeks of the season, was absolutely awful, their linebackers have been okay, you know, maybe a little better than I thought. I mean, I’m not big on their linebackers, but, you know, I think, you know, it’s still a defense that is trying to find its way a little bit. You know, they’ve lost some really good players over the last three, four years, going back to Jesse Bates, who made a big play in that Thursday night game, you know, for Atlanta that, you know, the Bengals have been chasing that. That’s why they, you know, they brought back von Bell. They’re hoping that Gino stone can give them better play at safety, because that was something that really hurt them last year. I mean, they were bad at safety last year. So, you know, it’s ravens, Bengals. I’m looking forward to it. To your point, the Ravens were an afterthought this week, until now, it’s Baltimore’s only hope again, right? Because the Orioles won’t play again until late March. So as much as the disappointment of the Orioles, you know, will linger, I don’t think that’s going away anytime soon, but I think this is for the for the ravens to have the performance they did against the bills on Sunday night. It left everyone feeling really good, and then people that are baseball fans in town forgot about the ravens, focused on the Orioles. Well, that ended really quickly, and now it’s back to the Ravens. And hey, you went on the road, you improved the three and two that no one to start is absolutely 100% in the rear view mirror at that point in time. And then you look at the schedule over the next month on paper and say, Hey, there’s quite an opportunity here to put yourself in position where you could be six and two a month from now, and really be feeling very good about not just being in the playoffs or winning the division, but hey, where’s Kansas City at that point in time, right? And where’s buffalo at that point in time? Where’s Houston at that point in time, in terms of the AFC hierarchy and playoff positioning and all that. But it starts with Sunday, and it starts with beating your division rival in the first of two meetings. And, you know, as we said earlier in our segment, so Bengals team that if they’re not desperate, they should be. Because, I mean, you fall to one and four and you’re, oh, and one against the Ravens in the division. I mean, that’s to your point. I don’t think your season’s done, but you’re that is an uphill climb the rest of the way to try to climb out of that. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 33:22
the ravens are two and a half point favorite on the road, right? So, like, just from the face of it, we haven’t gone in there many times a favor, because they’ve been perceived pretty good. Even back when Marvin was there, did they beat us regularly there. I’ve left that stadium, driving to Louisville plenty of times having lost talking to you and saying, hey Andy Dalton, who’s the redhead, who’s this kid? Luke Jones is here. He is Baltimore. Luke, I’m the redheaded stepchild of sports media here, but we’re gonna have requiems for the Orioles. If you read my David Rubenstein letter, Luke, it was in the locker room. We are going to press some Orioles issues here in the coming weeks to see if there really are changes, if they’re really going to react to 810, 1000 empty seats at a playoff game that were 10 bucks. I mean, weird week, just a weird week all the way around. Because I think you and I thought the Orioles could be successful. We prepare for them be successful. We thought this weekend would be different. I know Luke I I don’t have a crab cake tour other than pizza John’s next Friday, because, you know, I wasn’t buying green bananas. You know what? I mean, I’m like, Hey man, you know, we, I know how this magic carpet ride happens. I mean, we talked about that Mets brewers game in the beginning, the Brewers thought they were headed to Philadelphia, right? Or, you know, and, and then things change. So from a football perspective, good health, the one thing I wanted I was skipping interruptive, which I always am with you. But Ronnie Stanley sort of think about this a little bit as far as talent for the ravens and what the cost has put together and when in the off season, how many Hall of Fame talents do the Ravens have? Because for me. Ronnie Stanley was a Hall of Fame talent first, two, three years, getting the money. Marlon Humphrey, much like Chris McAllister, I thought Chris McAllister was a Hall of Fame talent, right, getting there and being healthy enough and staying the way you need to stay. Mark Andrews, you know, could be Travis Kelsey if he were in the right system. I mean, Mark Andrews, when it’s all over with, is going to say, I played in an offense where we just didn’t pass the ball. I mean, we just didn’t like producing numbers is easier when you hit a course field. It’s a lot harder when you pitch a course field. Um, so, I mean, but roquan is a Hall of Fame talent, right? Like,
35:37
I don’t, I mean
Nestor Aparicio 35:38
Matt a BK, I’m talking, I’m not talking about guys that have come into their own, or even say flowers or any, I’m not going to talk about any of those guys. Lamar is going to the Hall of Fame, I guess, right? I mean, I, I think he’s
Luke Jones 35:52
going to, I mean, boring, something that that changes his trajectory so dramatically. And I’ll say if he if and when he wins a Super Bowl, then, then he could retire at that moment and probably go to the Hall of Fame. But his trajectory barring something that unforeseen, that no one wants to see, right? I mean, a bad injury, something like that. I mean,
Nestor Aparicio 36:16
it’s if he doesn’t win a Super Bowl, he’s going to have a hell of an argument one way or another. Because that’s sort of that would be something that wouldn’t get him in. He’s got a lot of football. I mean, yeah, I’m with you. Lamar is going to the Hall of Fame. I’ll be back in the media then, and I’ll be the voter, and I’ll have to make his presentation. There you go. There you go. So there you go. I’ll be seen as the sage, respected guy who never lied about things like running backs punching their wives in elevators and just things like that. So, but I’ll say this Lamar Derek Henry, I thought Ronnie Stanley had Hall of Fame talent. I think Tyler linderbaum Probably has Hall of Fame talent at that position, based on what I’ve seen, I would say roquan Smith is a Hall of Fame talent. I would say Marlon Humphrey, could be you’re in love with Kyle Hamilton, and I am. It’s early. It’s like saying gunners going to the Hall of Fame. Now stop, um,
Luke Jones 37:10
oh, but, but wait a second, if you’re saying Hall of Fame talent, I mean, some of the names you just named are guys that are not even going to be an apt you know, they’re going to be an afterthought. They’re not going to be mentioned as a Hall of Famer. But if you’re saying talent, Kyle Hamilton absolutely is a Hamilton, absolutely is a Hall of Fame is
Nestor Aparicio 37:25
where Ronnie Stanley and Marlin were in year two or three, and saying, Sure, really good player. You know, where we are with roquan now a year or two more, saying, really good player, I don’t know, linebacker. How long do you hold up? Do you get a ring? You know? Do you play? Do you win playoff games, or do you lose them? Do you make the playoffs? Are you here long term? Are you going to stay healthy, right? Like, that’s the whole thing about even Lamar and everybody else to stack things. Henry’s on the other end of that. Now, where I think he might be, it is. But this is a really, when these guys get off the bus and you’re in Cincinnati, I don’t have any Hall of Fame talents. They have. I mean, Joe burrow is a Hall of Fame talent. But Hendrickson, maybe, you know, I mean that that’s a mark
Luke Jones 38:06
Chase. I mean, absolutely it’s it’s really
Nestor Aparicio 38:11
hard, as we found out with the baseball team, to have those kinds of players in your program. And on the football side, it’s very rare. And Eric’s been very good at drafting really good players, and there’s always a turn or two and there’s always a Perryman or a Bateman or a guy that gets hurt, or a Patrick queen that needs more help that, or even a CJ Mosley, who’s really good player, still a really good player that just exits right but this group here, of this is a hell of a talented team, and I think that’s one of the reasons two and a half point favorite on the road, even though they scuffled a little bit against the division rival and all that. I mean, the perception of the Ravens. And you said six and two, and I’m like, well, for six and two, they’re gonna win six in a row. Well, they’re good enough to do that, but then they have to go out and do it right?
Luke Jones 38:58
I mean, and again, that’s why I’ve been stressing, even though I said, Yes, I’m picking the ravens to win. It’s a division game. I mean, if we’re talking on Monday morning about the Bengals edging them out 24 to 20, I’m not going to sit here and be shocked about it. People will be disappointed, because it’ll be like, my goodness, the Ravens couldn’t pick up the you know, pick everyone’s spirits up after what happened with the Orioles, and they’re under 500 and here comes Jade. But right? But everything you just laid out because, you know, we talked about this a lot in the off season. We talked about this a lot in the spring and summer, right? Would it be fair to say that I was higher on this team than you were going into the season? I think so, right, overall. I’m not saying you were down on them, but I feel like I was higher on them than you were overall. That doesn’t mean I was saying that they’re going to win the Super Bowl like no questions asked. They’re just going to go 16 and one or anything. Reason I haven’t been high
Nestor Aparicio 39:47
on them is they want to have a running game, and I was worried about the offensive line. And I still would say, from a health standpoint, from a depth standpoint, from it, it’s only the quarter pole. I’m not worried about Derrick Henry being old and fat and slow. And beaten up in January. I mean, maybe he will be, but I am my concern. That was always your concern of tread on the tire. Hey, you’re going to run in January. I’ll take my chances with Derrick Henry over Anthony Mitchell’s kid, or over JK Dobbins, or anybody in the Hall of I mean, I wouldn’t want Adrian Peterson back now, but I don’t think I’m good with whatever Derrick Henry is, whatever that bus I saw last week, that locomotive. I’ll take my chances with his health in January before I would take it with Lamar right now.
Luke Jones 40:34
Okay. I mean, I don’t know why you brought up Lamar, but Well, Lamar better be healthier. They can’t win. Well, yeah. I mean, that’s what I was just going to say. Lamar is the one player that, if he gets hurt, your season’s over. I mean, okay, you can give the ball to Derek Henry 40 times every game, if you want. Tennessee Titans never won a Super Bowl doing it that way. They never got to a Super Bowl doing it that
Nestor Aparicio 40:52
way. They never had, they never had Lamar checks. Well, I
Luke Jones 40:56
was saying, if Lamar gets under that scenario, my only, my, my one little pushback to that would be Derek Henry’s averaging 20 carries a game. I am concerned about him holding up if he’s going to carry 300 plus times over the course of the season. Not that,
Nestor Aparicio 41:13
not that. I needed this. Lamar had. Lamar had a bunch for week one. Lamar has got a little carrier.
Luke Jones 41:18
Lamar doesn’t have 2000 rushing attempts under his belt in his career. That’s that’s all I would say about that. But I want to go back to the point that you were making about all these players, the reason why I was higher on this football team, in terms of figuring this all out, figuring out the offensive line, transitioning from Mike McDonald to Zach Gore, the depth that they did lose, and look the injuries, and you made up a good point and that that goes with this. They they don’t have quite as much depth at certain positions on the field that they did last year. So that certainly is something that’s a factor if some injuries pop up. But the reason why I still felt really good about this team, even though I did not feel good about the offensive line really at all was because of what you just said. They have. I don’t, and I don’t even know if I like saying Hall of Fame talent, because what you know, what does that really mean? Part of being a Hall of Famer is that you have to do it for a really long time. And that’s such the challenge in this game, you know, in this violent, physically brutal game, to do it for 10 plus years at an elite level, to the degree that people say you’re worthy of a gold jacket, but they do have premium, elite talent all over the football field. When you look at and I will throw Justin matabique into that, at
Nestor Aparicio 42:36
least that descriptor, and I’ll throw more dangers into that
Luke Jones 42:41
well, and we know, but assuming Mark Andrews isn’t done or washed or anything like that, and I still don’t think he is, I just think this has just been a very odd few weeks in terms of matchups and what the Ravens do well and what other teams don’t do well. That’s kind of led to that contributed to that. Anyway, his backups got a radio show, so, yeah, you know. But on deep, but on defense, you have Mata BK on your defensive line. Let’s throw van Noy in there right now. I mean, he was just named Defensive Player of the Month. I mean, I don’t know how he’s doing it at age 33 at the to the degree that he is, and we’ll see how he holds up over the course of the full year, but he’s been terrific. Always played well. You know, I’m not calling him elite, but he’s trending in the right direction. You have roquan Smith, off ball linebacker. And then in the secondary, you have Kyle Hamilton. And hey, you said it not me and but I agree. Marlon Humphreys playing at a high level to start this year, higher than we’ve seen at least the last two years. Let’s say so you look at that on defense, even with sack or even with Jade beyond Clowney, moving on, and other depth pieces moving on, like Gino Stone, who we’re going to see in Cincinnati on Sunday. And offensively, you have Tyler linderbaum. You have a better version of Ronnie Stanley, who maybe isn’t peak 2019 Ronnie Stanley, but he’s looked closer to that than the guy that we had kind of seen the last two or three years. So that’s good to see. You obviously have one of the two or three best quarterbacks in football, and a two time MVP at that position. You have Derek Henry, you have Mark Andrews, who I’m still, I’m still going to trust the body of work of the last five years for what kind of player he’s been. You know, zay flowers had a really good rookie year, and I still think, before it’s all said and done, he’s going to put do some really good things for this team this year. When, when teams force them to throw which I is coming at some point in time. I mean, at some point in time, if Derek Henry continues to run like this, you’re gonna have to put eight in the box, and at that point, then Lamar will chuck it over their heads. So, yeah, I mean, there’s, there’s talent everywhere, and that doesn’t mean that it’s perfect. That doesn’t doesn’t mean that they still don’t have work to do. That doesn’t mean there won’t be challenges ahead. It doesn’t mean there won’t be injuries ahead. It’s a long, long season, just like anyone that was ready to bury them at Owen two, they’re two and. Two. Now that doesn’t mean that they’re winning the Super Bowl either, right? I mean, Kyle Hamilton said that after Sunday night’s game. He said, This is a nice statement, sure, but we didn’t win a Super Bowl tonight. And he’s right, so
Nestor Aparicio 45:10
Well, Marlon’s been dogged by the bayou Barbie and Lamar Jackson on film all this week, which really speaks to what kind of guy Marlon Umphrey is. By the way, Chad steal banning me, that’s the one thing I’m like, dude, keep me away from Marlon Humphrey. It’s a good I don’t need to spend any time with Marlon Umphrey. So God bless you and everybody else that deals with that cat. But, you know, let him go play this week and count his money. But it is a it’s a big game, dude. And Luke Jones will be covering it. He’s Baltimore. Luke ravens are favorite. We’re going to get back after it Monday. If anybody gets hurt, it was my fault for talking about injuries this week. We all know that right. Um, Luke is at Baltimore. Luke. He can be found luke@wnst.net I am a very, very available individual as well. I swear this oyster tour is going to get out of Baltimore positive. I’ve eaten a lot of I’ve swallowed a lot of oysters this month. I thought we were going to be swallowing some Peter lugers up in New York this week. And I York this week, and I was gonna take you for my favorite Korean ice and I was gonna take you down to Chinatown for some dumplings and Kenny’s castaways. And alas, we’re gonna watch football on the telly from Ohio, ravens and the bangles. On Sunday afternoon, Luke will have it. Monitor will be out on Twitter, Facebook, X, whatever you call all of that stuff, and we’ll be back after it on Monday morning, doing what we do. We are wnst am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore positive.
