It was a fun night for Baltimore sports fans beating the Steelers at home but the holiday work is far from complete. Luke Jones and Nestor recap the Ravens 34-17 win over Pittsburgh and prep for a quick Texans’ Christmas slog in Houston with high stakes and fatigued football players.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones recapped the Ravens’ win over the Steelers, highlighting Marlon Humphrey’s game-changing interception and Lamar Jackson’s three touchdown passes. They discussed the importance of the win for AFC North standings and playoff seeding, noting the Ravens’ slight favorite status against the Texans. Concerns about player health and fatigue were raised, especially with a quick turnaround for the Wednesday game. They also touched on the potential playoff scenarios, emphasizing the need for the Ravens to win their remaining games to secure a favorable playoff position.
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 tasks of Baltimore, Baltimore. Positive Merry Christmas. Happy holidays. Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Christmas Eve, Happy New Years. Happy clinch. Miss the ravens are in the playoffs again. All of our Maryland crab cake tours in the last month been brought to you by our friends to Marilyn lottery, as well as Jiffy Lube, MultiCare. We’re very appreciative of all of our sponsors, the ones that are remaining with us next year, the ones that aren’t, but that’s okay, because the ravens are making the playoffs. Luke’s going to be monitoring things on Christmas Day, as will I sort of a really short week here. Luke and I are going to get together, and I think we’re going to discuss the remnants of Pittsburgh. But this Houston things right in the midst of all of this. I mean, I’ve got eggnog on for Christmas Eve. It’s a short week. There’s no traffic. Happy Christmas to you. How are things? And big, big victory over the skills. All I need to do is pick against them and they’ll win. That’s that’s a new deal for me. I think I was
Luke Jones 01:05
going to start with saying, What day is it? I mean, Saturday, game, Sunday, back at practice, Wednesday afternoon. Wait, Wednesday afternoon game. That sounds like COVID, right? Four years ago, when they went out to Pittsburgh with Lamar JV squad. He is, he is. That’s the good news this time around. But a whirlwind last few days and the next few days ahead, but huge win for the Ravens on Saturday night AFC north. We’re going to see what happens here. It’s not a slam dunk, one way or the other. I think I looked at guess it was ESPN power index, their analytics, the ravens are a slight favorite, but it’s kind of close to a coin flip, because we’ve talked about the tie breaker for common games that Pittsburgh still has, but
Nestor Aparicio 01:49
we’ll know that by four o’clock Wednesday, right? We would think so the city or not, right? Well,
Luke Jones 01:54
I mean, it’s that. But keep in mind, Cincinnati and week 18 plays Pittsburgh, and we know how an AFC North game can go, so there’s still made that it was wild. Although I thought he was down. I thought he was down like that
Nestor Aparicio 02:09
was. I was one of the greatest, best I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen Lamar, I’ve seen all sorts of crazy quarterback play in this league. But I thought that one really stood out as I don’t know I’ve ever seen that one before. That was kind of a good one
Luke Jones 02:23
there. That was pretty crazy. Speaking of that, how about the the end of the of the Bucks Cowboys game Baker Mayfield escaping and he flips it to his running back and and White loses the ball then, after a great effort by Mayfield, but, but no bringing it back to the Ravens. I mean, such a a big, cathartic win on Saturday night, Marlon Humphrey with the defensive play of the year, first defensive touchdown of the season, the first pick six of his career. I mean, we’ve talked about Humphrey
Nestor Aparicio 02:53
this. He wasn’t taunting or anything there, right? Oh, his his explanation. I will say such a goofy human. I mean, like, just following him, and why? Like, right, dude, you were taunting. Don’t, don’t stop.
Luke Jones 03:05
I will say, I’ll say this much. I’ll the very first time he did it, I would actually accept it. But then at toward the end of it, it’s like you’re not even looking anywhere close. Where to where David ajava was. Of course, you were talking about. But anyway, huge play, a play they absolutely needed to have. As I wrote a Baltimore positive.com Minka Fitzpatrick’s interception, what happened there with Lamar and Bateman? Bateman stops. You know, whose fault is it? Who knows? But that was the here we go again moment, right? I mean, that was the moment where you’re saying, oh my gosh, is this going to happen against the Steelers again? It’s a seven point game. You’re getting ready to go up two scores, and then Marlon Humphrey does that two plays later, and the Ravens absolutely needed it, and they got it. So you
Nestor Aparicio 03:50
don’t even wishing in the aftermath. People thought 17th, which blew him out. I’m like, I don’t know, man, it was a really close 17 point football game for my tastes, because it feels like on either side, you could say player two here or there was not a domination now, the Derrick Henry and tackling him thing, yeah, I don’t want to say I told you so two years ago, and we’ve had fun with this all along, but when I was watching that on Saturday night, and I’m Following your tweets, and we’re following along. And after the Humphrey pick, when it was clear they were going to win, I started to really think about the difference between him and everything else. And I mean, Jamal, Lewis, Ray, rice, take anybody you want. I mean, that’s ever played this position for this team, and I’m thinking comparable, as I wrote my column, is, if it’s comparables Jim effing Brown, I don’t know. He’s not comparable to Eric Dickerson. He’s not comprom He’s not comparable to Barry Sanders. I mean, like, this is an insane thing they have that they can win a Super Bowl with. Like, if I’m putting $1 on them to win the Super Bowl right now, it’s because nobody’s going to want attack. Limb on a cold night.
Luke Jones 05:02
You really changed your tune a lot in one week, because you just said a week ago you wouldn’t put $1 on the ravens, but
Nestor Aparicio 05:07
I wouldn’t put $1 on them to win three games in a row next month on the road. I still I think that’s a mess
Luke Jones 05:14
for that. Did you see Buffalo’s defense again on Sunday? Well,
Nestor Aparicio 05:18
there you go with Derek Henry. So yeah, sure, Bucha better worry about, like, San Diego or or Denver coming in. You know what I mean, like, like, the whole tournament is about health for me, and about ravens are healthy. Well, whatever that internal fortitude is that allows you to take a really close game and beat the Steelers by 17 and have your fan base say, hey, we covered, you know what? I mean, like the Ravens smell real good right now, but, but Wednesdays like tomorrow,
Luke Jones 05:47
sure. And that’s the biggest this win, as big as it was, as important as it was, from an AFC North Division hope standpoint, from a psyche standpoint, from a standpoint of, as you alluded to, not wanting to have to win three straight road games to get to a Super Bowl. It was wildly important. It was a win of what you hope will be great magnitude looking back at it, but if you go out and lose on Wednesday, doesn’t mean quite as much, right? I mean, yes, Dave clinch to play off spot. We knew that. We knew that that was a foregone conclusion weeks ago, right? We knew this team was going to be in the playoffs, but you have to follow that up with a win against Houston, and it’s a Texans team that a very emotional loss against the chiefs, with what happened with tank Dell, just an awful scene, and CJ Stroud and so many players distraught over that. But
Nestor Aparicio 06:40
by the way, the Justice Hill thing, when he hit the turf, I had my cattle. I got up and went for a walk because I knew they were going to a TV timeout. I didn’t want to watch it again. I thought he was dead. Like, I mean, I swear to you, I thought, Oh, my God, he’s unconscious. And I thought this, I don’t want to see the ambulance come. I don’t want to see them roll the commercial. I don’t want to hear the Hush Tone of the announcer. I don’t know, dude. I mean, it’s happening every week, right? Like you and I just gave two examples of it happening on Saturday, and they only played two games on Saturday. I
Luke Jones 07:16
mean, it’s always been a brutal game. Nestor. I mean, that’s it’s not anything new. I don’t like it when it happens, either, but it’s part of the game. You play tackle football, even when you’re a kid. You know that bad injuries can happen, but the good news is, Justice Hill got up, walked to the locker room. Certainly don’t anticipate him being out there on Wednesdays in the concussion protocol, as you’d expect, but it was good to see him get up and for the Ravens. Good thing they have Derek Henry, right. Good thing they have Keaton Mitchell, who probably is going to get some opportunities against the Texans. But, you know, you just look at the totality of the win, Lamar Jackson, three more touchdown passes. I mean, what was amazing about that game was Lamar finally breaks through to have a big game against the Steelers. Interception aside, he’s played really good football overall, right? And Derrick Henry did what he did. Can’t mention Derrick Henry without mentioning the offensive line and the way that they blocked between the tackles. Let’s face it, most of Derrick Henry’s greatest production this year has been on those outside toss plays they ran between the tackles a ton against Pittsburgh. And say what you want about the Steelers defense being banged up. They weren’t really banged up on the defensive line, other than, I guess, TJ watt, who wasn’t 100% but you know, they had all of their defensive tackles and interior linemen other than Ogan Joby. They had all their edge players, so they had their linebackers. So the fact that the Ravens offensive line produced the way that they did and blocked the way they did for Derrick Henry and he ran the way that he did, that was encouraging. I said to you all along, if this Derek Henry thing was was truly going to be worth it, it’s going to be for this time of year, in January, I don’t, I don’t care what his rushing yardage is in September, October and November. I’ve said over and over and over, the Ravens have had a great running game from the moment Lamar Jackson stepped on the field as their starting quarterback. So for me, it was never about, oh, well, you won’t need a 2000 yard back. No, you need if he’s really going to be worth it, he’s going to make a difference in January. And if he doesn’t, then you should have spent that money on Kevin Zeitler, for example. You know that
Nestor Aparicio 09:26
when the bills were out there running around the Patriots old uniforms, it was seven degrees in Buffalo, terrible uniforms. But you’re not, you’re not thinking the Lamar Jackson’s going to throw the ball around on a seven degree night in Buffalo. You know what I mean? Like, like, he he might a little bit Mark Andrews might be effective, but, you know, I wouldn’t think you’re going downfield all night. You’re gonna go downhill all night at that point. And to my thought, they’re gonna have to go play a game in Buffalo, they’re gonna have to go play games in Kansas City. And they’re built for that, right? Like. You can’t say they’re not, from the defensive standpoint. They’re built for that. They’re built for cold weather. Maybe lot. Not Lamar, who looks cold like me anytime it’s below 65 I mean, although
Luke Jones 10:10
look at his record in December, he must be doing something right, because he, you know, they played cold games. And it’s not like he’s been bad in those I mean, he really has to go, Look, I’m
Nestor Aparicio 10:19
just saying, like, it’s just cold. It’s cold. Everybody gets cold. I mean, the fans, everybody gets cold, sure. And I think you I’ve just seen it cost teams. I mean, I’ve seen teams get knocked out of the playoffs because they get cold. I think Denver got, kind of got knocked out in the Mile High miracle game because it got cold that night, because it was freaking cold. And I don’t think there’s any way you’re a kid from Florida and you it, you normalize seven degrees in Buffalo in the third quarter and tackling Derrick Henry. And there’s a, as I said, a fortitude, part of what I saw the Ravens do here that lets me know they’re ready to put their big boy pants on. And look, we’ve talked about this a million times. Marlon, Humphrey, Ronnie, Stanley, Lamar, they all have Andrews. They’ve all sat around tell them, you know, back when I was a real media member, before they stole my press credentials, I would sit in the locker room at the end of the season and hear them make excuses for losing to the Chargers or the bills or the Titans or whomever it is, at some point they need to have games like Saturday night and have that feeling going on this time of the year. And they have it right now. We’ll see if it carries over to use or not. And by the way, you know, Wednesday’s a different day. Christmas is a different day for all four of these teams. All four of these teams are going to the playoffs, right? Like, there’s all sorts of weird scenarios where the Steelers are still up and they win the tie breaker. Is there any scenario other than the Ravens tanking in the Steelers winning on Wednesday, where they would take Cleveland off? I mean, everybody’s got to play hard next weekend, no matter what kind of sort of right? Um,
Luke Jones 11:56
yeah, I think so. But, but even even the scenario that if Pittsburgh wins, and let me, let me make sure I’m talking through this correctly, because I’m trying to do it. I’m trying to figure it out too. But here’s so here’s the difference if Pittsburgh were to win on Wednesday and the Ravens lose, it’s still not over. Because the reason why would be should Pittsburgh lose to Cincinnati in week 18, which is on the table. I mean, it’s a division game. They take on another division loss, they would take on a division loss, and if the Ravens would win, they would finish tied, but the Ravens would have a better division record, and then they would take the AFC north. So point is, there’s Berg has to play too, no matter what is what they do. So, so the bad scenario that almost played out for the Ravens on Sunday would have been had buffalo lost to New England, which that, that was dicey. I mean, they were down 14, nothing, second half. Of course, the Patriots offense kind of, you know, they may. I think he’s a promising quarterback in a big picture sense, but, you know, you see, they’re very, very limited. But had buffalo lost there, Kansas City would have clinched the number one seed, and then suddenly you’re talking about Patrick mahomes, who played fine on the ankle, right? I mean, I think that was obviously overblown as far as the severity and the concern about that leading into their game against Houston. But what you didn’t want, if you’re a Ravens fan, is Kansas City going to Pittsburgh on Wednesday afternoon and not having anything to play for, and suddenly they’re calling off the dogs a little bit and resting some of their guys that are banging their quarterback who they’re back? Oh, there you go. All right, thank you. Yeah, so, so. But that didn’t happen, so Kansas City still has to play in Pittsburgh, albeit it sounds like they’re going to get sounds like Pickens has a good chance to play. Sounds like they’re going to get some of their other guys back. So, you know, we’re going to see how this two in a row dude, they went to Philly and lost. They went, I told you that schedule. I told you three weeks ago. We talked about this and we and we talked about their schedule and said, look, I mean, especially at that point, not knowing they were going to be without George Pickens. And what’s funny about Saturday’s game, what was lost in that? And you, and you alluded to this, I mean, I would agree with you. You look at 3417 and you say, well, the winning team dominated. The winning team control that look. The Ravens deserve full credit. The Ravens deserve to win that football game. That was an emphatic finish to that football game, but Pittsburgh moved the ball through three quarters against them, even without Pickens Darius Washington
Nestor Aparicio 14:27
made, as I said in my column, that would have been the play of the game, but it happened too early in the game to be the play of the game. But, you know, stripping the quarterback at the three yard line when he’s going in is a thing,
14:40
you know, like, it was also a really bad play by Russell Wilson, because it’s not like, he didn’t, like, he didn’t catch him from behind and, like, punch it out from behind. And it was this great play, like, Russell Wilson saw him coming, dude slide. Like, what are you doing? I mean, that was an awful play by him. Great play by ardarius Washington. And you’re right. I mean, you look at that play, potentially, it’s. 14, seven. You know, if he slides there, they score a player two later, you would assume, because they ran the ball okay against the Ravens. I think
Nestor Aparicio 15:09
the 25 year old was Russell Wilson, wouldn’t have gotten touched there. You know what I mean? Like it felt to me like he had slow on one and three yards to beat and a little bit of ground. It felt like he had a chance to get in right but he just ran straight at right at him. I mean, it was weird. It was really weird. Yeah, it was a poor play. And the decision to throw the ball that Humphrey caught, just a poor pass. Too great play by Humphrey out, you know all that, but Jabo
Luke Jones 15:35
pressured him. Yeah, it was good to see. But yeah, too bad Turner. I mean, this is why, when you and I, or anyone, not just you and me, have talked about the Steelers, I don’t even though Russell Wilson’s playing better than he did in Denver, he’s not the Russell Wilson in his prime in Seattle. I mean, he just isn’t. And he played quite well overall through three quarters. That fumble aside in the second quarter, of course, but I mean those, those two turnovers were absolute back breakers, so but on the flip side, to go back to your point, because I was making this point, the ravens, They recover their two fumbles and really a third fumble with Desmond King late in the game, although you know the game had been decided at that point, but you look at that back in week 11, when they went to Pittsburgh, the Ravens didn’t recover their fumbles. In week 16, they did. You know fumble recovery? Aaron shots would be the first to tell you. Analytics types will be the first to tell you, recovering fumbles is not a skill that that’s more of a luck. Now, forcing fumbles, that’s a skill, right? And we’ve seen that, and we’ve seen Terrell Suggs or Marlon Humphrey. Five years ago, I think, had a boatload of force fumbles, but it’s
Nestor Aparicio 16:47
the time of the year because you brought the Patriots up. You take the air out of the football and you can’t force a fumble, yeah, so if you can’t force a fumble, then that’s just as good. So I want to point that out for anybody out there looking to cheat or wondering what the Patriots did for years when they never fumbled the football,
Luke Jones 17:03
but, but you just look at that game, I mean, that was a major factor. And look, you have to take care of the football. That’s part of the game. You know? It’s not luck, okay? They were fortunate to recover their own fumbles, yeah, but you look at that, it’s part of the game. I saw Steelers fans on social media cried about how banged up they were. Availability and being healthy is part of the game, right? It’s an annual war of attrition. The Ravens, some years have not been so good in that department, whether you want to call it luck, or Steve Saunders and their training staff, or whatever it is, they’ve been healthy. You know, Justice Hill right now, aside and a couple other guys are a little banged up. It’s a short week. We’ll see. But by and large, this is a really healthy football team. This is a team who has Lamar Jackson playing his finest season. I mean, whether Lamar is going to win the MVP or not. Look, I am exhausted beyond belief talking about the MVP at this point in time. I feel like there’s some NFL fans out there care about the MVP more about what happens in January. It’s just that crazy. You see so much discourse, but Lamar is having a fantastic season, better than he was last year, certainly a different statistical profile than what he was five years ago, when he was unanimous MVP. But you have him, you have Derek, Henry, you have the best wide receiver duo this team has had since, in my mind, at least Steve Smith and Torrey Smith a decade ago, with zay flowers, who went over 1000 yards, Bateman with eight touchdowns. Now. I mean, it’s this is a really legitimate, serious, contending offense, and now you have a defense that still isn’t great. It’s not the 2000 ravens, we understand that, but it is certainly a defense that, at least in my mind, I think you would agree, is inspiring way more confidence the way they’ve been playing since about mid November than they did for through the first two and a half months of the season. I think we can at least agree on that much. So Well, they
Nestor Aparicio 19:01
had their chance on Wednesday to go on the road against this kid. They’re going to be running around down there. I don’t you know what they have to play for and what Kansas City at I mean, everybody’s playing pretty hard right now, from what I see. But you know, all of these also RANS that we sat around all day Sunday and watching two and 10 play and backup quarterbacks and all that stuff. We’ll see that with Cleveland next week as well, for the Ravens part, but these slobber knockers on Saturday and Wednesday, these four teams that are going to be in the playoffs, and then buffalo, which looks like they’re on the struggle a little bit right now. And then whoever the chargers and the Broncos are, you know, we get a real taste on Christmas Day of where these we’ve seen this little pre play in tournament, kind of sort of like a World Cup thing, like a play and everybody plays, everybody, right? It’s kind of weird, um, but the league set it up, and it set up nicely for for Christmas day to have meaningful. Games both sides and really statement games, I think, for these teams to say, where are you? Kansas City, to put Pittsburgh in the peril to have to go on the road, or Pittsburgh to go, you know, it hold their own launch on Christmas day, four days after everybody played and after getting beat for the second time. I mean, Pittsburgh goes three losses in a row in 11 days, right to three contenders, and they’re headed to wild card. Them to maybe go to Houston or maybe come to Baltimore. Steelers just go away as a thing, right? And I look, I don’t think the Steelers are a threat to win the Super Bowl. I think the Steelers are a threat to come back to Baltimore in three weeks from now and beat the Ravens 17 to 16 on a snowy day or something crazy happens that that’s possible to me, but I think the ravens are the better team. I think I felt that way all last week. I think I even felt that way when I picked Pittsburgh to beat them. I just felt like Pittsburgh has the ability to play defense against them, because they scheme it up and they have the players, and they spend the whole off season working on it. I wouldn’t want to see Pittsburgh again two weeks from now. I would way rather see pick your poison, Denver, San Diego, wherever we call them, Houston. And even though we’re going to see them again, that would be a road game. Obviously, that wouldn’t, that wouldn’t be what you want to see. But I’d rather see any of that. I really want to see Pittsburgh again. That’s just how I feel about them. Well, I mean, I just, I through the lens of a division, divisional opponent, who knows, you sure I’ll buy that, but through the lens of, it’s the playoffs. I mean, ravens are better than them eight out of 10 times. And I thought that for five years now, right, yeah, right. Except that, that I would only say they’re better fight they would split if they played 10 times, because the Steelers play them well, you know what I mean, like, and I don’t think Russell Wilson will do the stupid things he did the next time around, and if he doesn’t, it might have come down to Justin Tucker having to make a 52 yard field goal to win the game like that’s where, that’s how closely matched the teams are, and Pittsburgh worries me in that way. But getting them out of the way, I think they’ll lose on Christmas Day, right? I think they’ll lose at home, the Kansas City and gimpy Patrick mahomes comes in. But nobody seems to think the chiefs are any good. Nobody seems to think the Vikings are any good. All they do is win. I don’t
Luke Jones 22:30
think anyone thinks the Chiefs aren’t very good. I think people think they’re not 14 and one historically great. I think is more so what the discourse is, right? I don’t think people say when you think of a 14 and one team, you think of the 1998 Minnesota Vikings. You think of the 2007 patriots who are undefeated teams every week to win every week, right? Well, I mean, it’s been a grind for them. I mean, they they win one score games, and win says more about them than but yes and no, yes, it does, however, don’t, don’t dismiss the quality when you both vulnerability exactly because of what we just talked about. You don’t recover your fumbles, right? You you fumble the ball a couple times, and instead of falling on it, the other team gets it right, you trip on your offensive lineman’s foot on third and one, right? I mean, different things like that that can happen. So look, I’m with you. I believe City’s
Nestor Aparicio 23:26
playing better. They got wide receivers now they kind of figured it out, or
Luke Jones 23:30
O line is the big question, right? I mean, they have Joe toonie, their left guard, kicking out the left tackle the last couple weeks now, they should get their left tackle back, who they signed, and he heard his hamstring, obviously, but that’s the big question for them. I mean, mahomes his ankle. Saw it early in that game. He’s scrambling and scores
Nestor Aparicio 23:50
on Christmas Day. You don’t have to play again for three weeks.
Luke Jones 23:53
Sure, exactly. That’s why again. That’s why I think you were, you were a Ravens fan. You were nervous watching that Buffalo game, because even though you’re saying, hey, the bills, look, they’re vulnerable, but if the bills had lost that game, and then Kansas City has nothing to play for, then that Pittsburgh game on Christmas is way different. So that didn’t happen, of course, and well, the best scenarios here, everybody’s playing hard, even the commanders, yeah, but, but, no, but, to go back to your point. I mean, with the ravens and the Steelers, look, it’s a rivalry game, you know, think back to the last I was actually thinking about this somewhat on Saturday or Sunday afternoon, as I was just watching some of the different games and, you know, thinking about the residue of the win, big win on Saturday night, and thinking about the Houston game. But I think back to the last time the Ravens played the Steelers, back in the playoffs. It was the 2014 postseason. Remember Suggs with the interception with his thighs, right? You know that the time the Ravens finally broke through and beat Pittsburgh in January, but think back to the regular season now. I think the Ravens beat Pittsburgh in a Thursday night game at home early in the season. That might have been weak. Two. That was the Ray Rice week, right? I mean, the the day after this, the season opener, when the video comes out, they release them, and they had a short week, if you recall. So they
Nestor Aparicio 25:08
won next week. My wife had leukemia. The second time I remember pretty well, September 15, yeah,
Luke Jones 25:13
right. So, so, so that was early 2014
Nestor Aparicio 25:17
then I think it was, and they had gotten their ass kicked by Denver to begin the season two that year, right? No, no, no, that was 2013 I’m mixing you. 1014 was,
Luke Jones 25:27
that was the year they lost to Cincinnati at home in week one. Flacco took a terrible sack at the end of the first half. They lost like, 15 to 10 or something weird, anyway, point I was trying to make you know, before we start getting into the weeds too much, Ravens won at home early that year in convincing fashion. They went to Pittsburgh for a Sunday night game in mid November, maybe late November, Pittsburgh blew them out. So the third time they played Baltimore, going to Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh had won the Division, and the Ravens won. So the point is, with these you could try to analyze what happens in the first meeting and what does that mean for the second it doesn’t mean a darn thing. There are two rivals. They i You met, you said something that was interesting to me, because you made mention about Russell Wilson. The Ravens have a massive edge at the quarterback position. It’s not even close. Russell Wilson, okay, what he was a decade ago? Fine. He’s not that guy anymore. They have Lamar Jackson, who’s arguably the very best player in the entire universe, right? But he’s certainly one that, one of the two or three best players in the entire universe. No matter how you feel about if the Ravens go out there, there’ll be a two point favorite, right? There’ll be a favorite as they should be, right, right? But, well, you have to see how it plays out. So, you know, I I think if you’re the Ravens right now, they’re in the same boat as anyone else in the sense of Kansas City is going to be the number one seed, most likely. And you have to go through them. But anyone else, whether you
Nestor Aparicio 26:58
charge yourself, Denver, keep winning, though, too, which really forces the Ravens hands to not get caught and be, uh, you know, a six or a seven seed. I mean the pulling away part that you get to go to Houston instead of Pittsburgh, I don’t know, but I mean, the Ravens can control their own gig here by winning a little bit right, like winning on Wednesday on the road. We’re all feeling great. They just want it home. This is a really tough thing to do, to go down there and win, and it’s tough for them to win at home, too. But this is, this is the tough game for me, yeah, especially on the back end of all the emotions of Marlo feeling good, and Henry ran, you know, I think Henry ran, but I bet he saw as hell right now, you see, no, I guess. I mean, all are right now, right.
Luke Jones 27:44
No question. I mean, look, we talk about this all the time, and it’s such a weird week again. I mean, they were back in the building at lunchtime on Sunday, you know, as the one o’clock games on Sunday were kicking off. They were coming back in the building having meetings, like, it’s turning the page, turning the page that, oh, you’re playing the Houston Texans in a couple days, who are Division champions and, okay, maybe CJ Stroud and company, they haven’t been as good as they were last year. Maybe haven’t been as good as what expectations were for them this year, but they’re still in the playoffs, and they’ve got a good defense, and they have Nico Collins, you know, unfortunately, they don’t have tank Dell, but because of their horrific injury for, you know, not, not so much saying that, you know that it’s a bad thing for the ravens, obviously, injuries or injuries, and it’s part of the game. But you know, there’s still a capable football team. And when we talk about this, when it’s a typical Thursday night road game, we always talk about how challenging that is in general, how much more challenging is it on the heels of playing a physical Baltimore, Pittsburgh game, right? I mean, think about the history of these two teams after they play each other over the years. I mean, I can think of some of the biggest wins for the Ravens over the Steelers. Go look at who they played the following week and how they fare even some of their best teams over the years. It’s not necessarily pretty The following week, so then that’s magnified then when it’s a shorter week. So let me be clear, I’m not saying they’re going to lose. I’m picking the ravens to win this game. Little preview there for you. Still want you to go check out my 12 ravens thoughts and prediction as we get closer to Wednesday’s kickoff, but it They better not be looking overlooking this and even even if it’s not an overlooking type thing, fatigue is a real thing. Soreness is a real thing. A quick turnaround is a real thing. Playing a typical Thursday road game only it’s a Wednesday afternoon. That’s, that’s a challenge. I mean, that’s a massive challenge. And look, I’m not saying that to cry the blues for the Ravens. I mean, all four of these teams are in this gauntlet right now. All four of these teams come Christmas night, when they’re all back at home and they’re having a day or two to be with their families and open up some presents and all of that, by the way, they’re all making up. Playoffs too. They’re all making the play well, of course, of course. But they’re all going to be exhaling at that point in time, because then they’re all going to have their mini buy, and then they’re they’re going to say, okay, when are we playing next in week 18? Is it Saturday? Is it Sunday? The Chiefs can go to the Bahamas for a week if they want. If they Yeah, if they went on, yeah, Christmas, yeah, because they’ll have it locked up. I mean, keep in mind, Buffalo does have the head to head there, so, but you talk
Nestor Aparicio 30:22
about a different pathway for all of these teams over the next three weeks, four weeks, if the Chiefs win, they become a super favorite to me, just because they’re going to sit at home. I mean, just really sit at home and get better and figure it out. And I think Andy Reid and spagnolo tobe, those guys are hell on all of that. And it might be the Ravens coming in there first, if they have to go to Houston, right? You don’t mean or Pittsburgh, or whatever it would be, they’re going to get a good team in the first week. But we’re talking about like, I’m doing the math on when that would even be. The Chiefs wouldn’t play a real game again until the 18th or 19th of January.
Luke Jones 31:00
Yeah. I mean, hey, that’s why, that’s why it was so disappointing. The Ravens didn’t do it last year because they had that advantage, right? They were the team that sat for the first week. And look that that can have its pluses, which are obvious, but it can also have its factors that you know can can be a negative.
Nestor Aparicio 31:19
This is, you can’t lose this week, sure. Well, that’s that’s why I always said the number
Luke Jones 31:23
one seed. You know, whenever people would talk about the rest versus rust thing and whether you should rest your starters in week 18 if you have it clinched and all that, I would always say, give me the known right? If I don’t play Lamar Jackson in week 18, as was the case last year, I know he’s not going to get hurt that day. I know my best players aren’t going to get hurt that day, and yeah, they might be rusty for the divisional round, but I’ll take my chances on that, rather than running the risk of any of those guys getting hurt, and then I don’t know if they’re going to be there for the divisional round. So that’s Kansas City’s advantage. Well, the other
Nestor Aparicio 31:54
part of that is a Ravens are going to have to play Cleveland like, really play, play, full up. I mean, no matter. I can’t find a scenario here. Well, if they lose, but then even if you lose, you don’t want to lose to Cleveland and be the seventh like I just think that they’re going to have to play full season. The Chiefs are teetering on maybe not having to play a full season, and maybe the Texans as well wouldn’t have to play. There’s a couple of teams that won’t have to really play that last game and and rest people, but the ravens are not one of them, and that puts really everybody in harm’s way. You know what? I mean, it only takes one quarter of two injuries to really f you up. And especially that Pittsburgh game the other day there without Justice Hill this week, whatever, if Lamar had turned an ankle, if Derek Henry taken on a bone bridge is something that would cost you four days later. And by the way, I must point out this time of year, as the Colin Kaepernick media member after three decades, I’m just really happy the NFL takes player safety so seriously, because I really wonder what would happen if they didn’t I mean, would they play on Tuesday? When would they play? I
33:03
I’ve said, I’ve said it for years. There will be a time I don’t it’s not going to be imminent. Let me be very clear. There will be a time where they will get to a point where it’ll be on the table that they’re playing every day of the week. They’ll, they’ll figure out a way, they’ll go to 18 games. They’ll put an extra bye week in there, because it’ll make the schedule scheduling a little more flexible. And they will get to a point, they will at least attempt to get to a point where they stagger out the schedule so much that they’re playing every day of the week, or very close to it, right? We will see this could be right. What we’re seeing right now could be the pilot for a Wednesday Wednesday night football type initiative at some point in time, right? And if you do that, then you’re saying, play them all at the same time, when you could spread them all out, and people watch the Carolina Panthers play horse. Yes. I mean, they will. Oh, and we’ve said that Thursday night. We complain about how lousy Thursday night football is, yet everyone watches it still, right? I mean, I’ve said it over and over, people complain about Thursday night, dude, I don’t have a Netflix account. Am I kidding? I understand, but I mean, well, it’ll be on local TV.
Nestor Aparicio 34:08
I My, my, but the other game I won’t be able to get right, not if you don’t have a Netflix account. Correct? Seems freaking creeps. He is. Luke Jones, let me take a break. I got a guy. Gotta go. I gotta go urinate that you can enjoy myself in some way of the fact that Netflix, I got your now, I got your peacock right here. Apple TV, I got all of that going on. Uh, he is Baltimore, Luke. He’s more calm than I am. It’s, it’s a religious holiday. We’ll all sit around drink eggnog and do what God wanted us to do. Watch football on Christmas Day. There are two games. You can join our wnst Sex service by texting. I don’t say this enough. W N, S, T to 410-821-9678, we have a short week around here. Going to be doing a lot of music. We had just the greatest crab cake tour guests from. In a shock to John maroon to just down the list. Alan McCallum and Matt Campbell came by me. She’s last week. Calvin stadium came by with Jerry Piper. We did some old memories and some some Christmas caroling over Costas last week. All they brought to you by the Maryland lottery. Conjunction with our friends at Jiffy Lube multi care, always appreciative of all that make sure you set a spot on the dial. Make sure if you’ve ordered crab cakes from any of our sponsors, you eat them and eat get them fresh and be safe. Be nice to your loved ones. And this is one thing that I have been writing this week, and I’m going to say a little bit on social media, try to love your relatives as much as you love your football team. On Christmas day, he’s Luke, I’m Nestor. We’re back for more. We’re wnsda in 1570 Towson, Baltimore, Baltimore, positive. Stay with us. You.
