The fiasco over putting Lamar Jackson as a “full” participant on a Friday afternoon injury report when he ran scout team and they knew he wasn’t going to start on Sunday has just begun for John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens. His “excuse” was far less than believable as Luke Jones and Nestor also take general manager Eric DeCosta to task for pushing the gambling line five points on a Saturday in the NFL with pretty blatant dishonesty and “gamesmanship” for no one.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ handling of Lamar Jackson’s injury report, accusing the team of dishonesty. Despite Jackson being limited in practice, he was listed as full on Friday, leading to a significant point spread shift and potential NFL discipline. Luke detailed the timeline, noting Jackson’s limited participation and the team’s gamesmanship. They criticized both John Harbaugh and Eric DeCosta for the deception, which could result in fines or draft pick penalties. The conversation also touched on the broader issue of NFL teams manipulating injury reports for competitive advantage.
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Investigate the extent to which Head Coach John Harbaugh and General Manager Eric DeCosta were involved in the decision to list Lamar Jackson as a full participant in practice when he was not.
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Discuss the broader pattern of the Ravens’ organizational dishonesty and lack of transparency, and how it impacts the team’s relationship with the media and fans.
- [ ] Analyze the Ravens’ handling of Lamar Jackson’s injury status and determine if the team violated NFL injury report rules.
- [ ] Follow up on the potential disciplinary actions the NFL may take against the Ravens for inaccurate injury reporting.
Lamar Jackson’s Injury and Team Dishonesty
- Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the Baltimore Ravens’ handling of Lamar Jackson’s injury report.
- Nestor expresses frustration with the team’s dishonesty regarding Lamar’s injury status.
- Luke Jones outlines the timeline of Lamar’s practice participation and the team’s actions.
- Nestor and Luke debate the team’s motivations and the potential consequences for dishonesty.
Timeline of Lamar Jackson’s Practice Participation
- Luke Jones details the practice participation of Lamar Jackson and other players.
- Nestor and Luke discuss the significance of Lamar’s limited practice reps.
- Luke explains the NFL’s injury report rules and the implications of listing Lamar as full.
- Nestor and Luke agree that the team’s actions were dishonest and could lead to league discipline.
Impact of Injury Report on Gambling and League Discipline
- Nestor and Luke discuss the impact of the injury report on gambling and the NFL’s response.
- Luke explains the NFL’s history with injury reports and gambling.
- Nestor and Luke debate the extent of the team’s dishonesty and the potential consequences.
- Luke suggests that both John Harbaugh and Eric Decosta are responsible for the dishonesty.
John Harbaugh’s Role in Injury Report Dishonesty
- Nestor and Luke discuss John Harbaugh’s involvement in the injury report dishonesty.
- Luke argues that Harbaugh is not fully aware of the injury report rules.
- Nestor and Luke debate the extent of Harbaugh’s knowledge and responsibility.
- Luke suggests that Eric Decosta is more involved in the team’s dishonest practices.
Eric Decosta’s Influence on Team Dishonesty
- Nestor and Luke discuss Eric Decosta’s role in the team’s dishonest practices.
- Luke argues that Decosta is more involved in the team’s dishonest practices.
- Nestor and Luke debate the extent of Decosta’s influence and responsibility.
- Luke suggests that Decosta’s competitive edge drives the team’s dishonest practices.
NFL’s Response to Injury Report Dishonesty
- Nestor and Luke discuss the potential consequences for the Ravens from the NFL.
- Luke explains the NFL’s history of fining teams for dishonest injury reports.
- Nestor and Luke debate the severity of the potential consequences.
- Luke suggests that the team will face fines and possibly lose a draft pick.
NFL’s Injury Report Policy and Gamesmanship
- Nestor and Luke discuss the NFL’s injury report policy and gamesmanship.
- Luke explains the wiggle room in the injury report language.
- Nestor and Luke debate the extent of gamesmanship allowed in the NFL.
- Luke suggests that the team’s actions were unnecessary and crossed a line.
NFL’s Response to Gambling Scandal
- Nestor and Luke discuss the impact of the NBA gambling scandal on the NFL.
- Luke explains the heightened sensitivity of the NFL to gambling issues.
- Nestor and Luke debate the extent of the NFL’s response to the Ravens’ actions.
- Luke suggests that the NFL will take disciplinary action against the Ravens.
Nestor’s Criticism of John Harbaugh
- Nestor expresses his frustration with John Harbaugh’s dishonesty.
- Luke defends Harbaugh, suggesting that he is not fully aware of the injury report rules.
- Nestor and Luke debate the extent of Harbaugh’s knowledge and responsibility.
- Luke suggests that Harbaugh’s actions were driven by gamesmanship.
Nestor’s Criticism of Eric Decosta
- Nestor expresses his frustration with Eric Decosta’s involvement in the team’s dishonest practices.
- Luke defends Decosta, suggesting that he is not fully responsible.
- Nestor and Luke debate the extent of Decosta’s influence and responsibility.
- Luke suggests that Decosta’s competitive edge drives the team’s dishonest practices.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Lamar Jackson, injury report, John Harbaugh, Eric Decosta, NFL rules, practice participation, Thursday night game, Miami Dolphins, gambling scandal, honest mistake, gamesmanship, Ravens management, media relations, soft tissue injury, competitive edge.
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W n s t, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore. Positive, positively, getting the Maryland crab cake tour out for a breakfast edition on Tuesday this week. Kind of we got a short week with the Thursday night football game. Luke will be on all things. If there is any breaking news on Lamar Jackson, you’ll get it first in our W, N, S, T tech service that’s brought to you by Cole roofing and Gordian energy. And of course, we will have the Raven scratch offs at state fair on Tuesday morning. I’ll be talking some baseball and new Orioles manager with Alan McCallum. Luke and I are going to talk some Orioles baseball. We got plenty of football ahead for you also our Maryland crab cake tour next week at Cocos on Wednesday, the fifth and then on the seventh, on Friday, at Pizza John’s in Essex. So hope Brody has a nice, safe Halloween. We got a big football game on Thursday night. Got World Series games going on. The Terps have a big game this week. Orioles have a new manager, but the biggest question is Lamar Jackson’s availability. Best ability is availability. Luke Jones joins us now. He is Baltimore, Luke, of course, and was in the Kevin Byrne press box, up under the victory arches for the ravens, victory over the bears, which we went a lot through the game, right a pass rush and this and that, and Snoop. I mean, a lot of Snoop and all of that, Lamar and our conversations, all of last week, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Full participant. I got that text from you. I’m thinking, well, he’s playing, you know, like good he ran the offense. He didn’t run the offense. They’re not honest. And a week after, I wrote something that Frank Kelly would probably call harsh in regard to John Harbaugh. Very honest and accurate portrayal of what my eyes have seen with John Harbaugh is that he will lie to you repeatedly, again and again, no matter what the topic, if it he feels as though it’s going to help his football team in some way. So the Lamar Jackson thing, I don’t know, Luke, I leave it at your feet. You’re the one out there. They let you come in, and they don’t let me in. So you can chronicle whatever they’re telling you, and then you and I have to figure out whether what they’re telling us is honest or not, because that’s just where we are. And the NFL is there right now, and the point spread moved five points, enough to make the FBI get involved, if we didn’t have some goof running the FBI right now, like we do, which a day and a half after all the gambling stuff last week, you, and I haven’t even gotten into that with the NBA, you’re a bigger NBA fan than i Oh, man, you got a credential. You’re in on this. You’re there to report on this accurately, for the gamblers, for the football people, for everybody. And when they give you false information and then call it an honest mistake, I mean, they’re just so dishonest. I’ll just leave it at that, and I’ll let you take the ball and
Luke Jones 03:06
run. I mean, few things here, and I’m going to kind of go through the timeline from my perspective, but it was something that was just so avoidable from the standpoint of it didn’t change anything. From the standpoint of him being listed as questionable, the bears were going to continue to prepare for Lamar Jackson, because you have to right, you can think someone’s not going to play. And to your point, we talked about this in the aftermath of last Monday, after Lamar wasn’t out there on Monday, and we talked about it again after Lamar came out late, you know, not late late, but late during the viewing portion on Wednesday. But it was pretty evident he wasn’t doing a whole lot. And I said to you, it was kind of like for show, like we well, I mean, I don’t know if it’s so much for show, but it was very clear that it was. And I
Nestor Aparicio 03:58
said this to you, but they clearly are trying to put on a show out there they
Luke Jones 04:03
are, but, but at the same time, like if Lamar plays, if he plays against Miami, and look, Adam Schefter has indicated he’s going to Jay Glaser has indicated, we’ll see, right? I mean, I’ll believe it when he’s playing, right? I mean, that’s where we are at this point. We have three different years of this happening, but if he is going to play Thursday night, just humor me on that. He does need to ramp up and have practice time. And with it being a Thursday night game, they don’t really practice this week, right? So there is something to the idea that even if he was never realistically or definitively going to play against the bears, that if he were to then be able to play against the dolphins. There’s the idea that he was going to have to log some practice time during bears week, because you’re just not you. There’s a walk through Monday night or Monday late afternoon. There is a light practice at most on Tuesday, and then you have a walk through Wednesday, and then you’re four. Line to Miami, right? I mean, that’s how a Thursday night road game schedule works. So even Lamar Jackson isn’t going to sit out for a month and then just return to a game, right, without any meaningful practice time. So that being said, we had talked about this last week, when we have reconvened after they practiced on Wednesday, I think everyone thought, Okay, well, he was limited, but hey, all systems go, and I, you know, and it wasn’t just me, as anyone who was out there pumped the brakes and said, Hey, he didn’t come out right away. If you looked at how they were distributing the reps, it was Tyler Huntley and Cooper rush and then Lamar taking a couple reps here and there. On Wednesday, Thursday, he did more, but it was still of that nature. I mean, you could flat out see practice video from some of the photos, you know, the local news, photogs that are out of practice. On Thursday, you could see that Tyler Huntley was the one taking the snaps from Tyler Linder bomb, and while Lamar was taking snaps from Corey Bullock, their backup center, that’s a tell, right? So there was more than enough smoke indicating, hey, this is not anything close to a shorter thing that Lamar is playing on Sunday. However, when you say he’s full go on Friday and fully acknowledging. Look, I’ve said this over and over, and this is why I don’t tell people much when they ask me on Twitter or or Facebook, how so and so, looking at practice, we don’t see a whole lot, right? We don’t get this. We only see the beginning of practice when, I mean, a lot of the starters are trickling out while they’re doing special teams work, guys like Lamar, even if he’s at 100% you’re not going to see him doing full blown sprints or anything like that during the open portion of practice. So you can’t really Gage, all right, like, how good is the hamstring, right? Yada yada yada. So, so there’s always some ambiguity. There’s always some uncertainty there. There’s always a as unrevealing as the injury report is from a standpoint of, okay, you have DNP did not participate. That means someone doesn’t practice whatsoever. You have full participation. And then what covers the range in between those two extremes limited. So when you say he’s full on Friday, it does change things. From the standpoint of, oh, I mean, if he’s full, and I’ve done this long enough, I’ve covered up an NFL team for 15 years on a full time basis, typically, and I’m not counting someone coming back from an ACL, someone coming back from a two month injury, typically, if you’re talking about Someone coming back from a short term or even a medium term. And you know, if we want to call this Lamar Jackson hamstring injury a medium term injury at this point because he’s missed three games, then fine. But typically, if you’re talking about someone trending limited, limited to full on Friday, more often than not, that tends to bode well for their availability. So I definitely wasn’t 100% that he was going to play on Friday, but I felt
Nestor Aparicio 08:12
I had a highly availability before after
Luke Jones 08:15
practice, after after, after practice.
Nestor Aparicio 08:19
Asked John Harbaugh was, did Lamar run first team today? What would John Harbaugh say to it’s nothing.
Luke Jones 08:26
He would absolutely say, I’m not going to get into who’s what. You know, that’s tactical. I’m not going to but he said he was full, right? So he said he’s full. And as someone who look I’m not Adam Schefter, I’m not going to sit here and say that I am, but I do know the rules of the injury report. I was fully aware of the language that so many national reporters were citing as we now turn the turn the page to Saturday and at what 10am or so, NFL Network puts out a report that Lamar only ran scout team right away, I’m thinking that’s going to be a problem with the league, like the league’s not going to like hearing that because he was listed at full and the language, and I’m not going to bore people, but it comes down to two very simple things. And this isn’t anything new. You do a simple Google search of NFL injury report policy, and I don’t know why, but the 2017 version of it comes up. It came up on the first page on Google search. So this is nothing new. This is not language that was added in the last year or two, so John Harbaugh or Eric Decosta, who, I think that’s the one to really look at here, if you want my personal opinion, and anyone else that’s involved in the injury report, how guys are listed all of that, right? And the training staff is part of that. They absolutely are. But you look at the language a couple keys that when you’re talking about someone, if they’re going to be listed as limited that means they did not take their quote normal repetitions during the team portion of practice. And then as you go further, you can see the language flat out says participation on the scout team, no matter how extensive by a player whose normal repetitions would be with the starters, but for his medical condition, would not alter the player’s proper designation as limited
Nestor Aparicio 10:16
participation. And by the way, this is before they were even in on gambling. This you know, if that was 2017 gambling was even they were doing this, but, but if you had of competitive fairness, right, they were,
Luke Jones 10:29
but if you actually look at the history of injury reports in the NFL, it absolutely started because of gambling that they don’t anyone who follows that history knows that, that it was tied to that, even if the NFL at that point was, you know, the No, we can’t be involved in gambling. I mean Shame,
Nestor Aparicio 10:47
shame these dishonest, whether you’re doing it to be covert in regard to gamesmanship, whether you’re doing it in regard to being on the up and up. Um, you know John Harbaugh, not an up and up guy, and for him to sit there and say it was an honest mistake,
Luke Jones 11:06
well, but, but here’s the thing, even if it was an honest mistake, it’s still a violation of the rules. It still warrants discipline. It still warrants I’m guessing, the ravens, at the very least, are going to get a hefty fine if they don’t lose a draft pick. And I don’t think it’s like, it’s not gonna be a first round pick, but there’s going to be some, some repercussions here. There’s no and there should be, again, whether, whether should
Nestor Aparicio 11:28
there be, let get me out of this. Why should there be? Explain,
Luke Jones 11:32
because they listed him as full and he wasn’t. I mean, I mean, because he’s listed as a full participant and he wasn’t. I mean, whether you’re talking, look, I’m going to say this, and this is going to sound harsh, because I know plenty of people are listening. Are you know, involved in Draft Kings and things like that? If you were betting on the Ravens hinging on Lamar Jackson playing or not? There’s a long history here to say that that wasn’t smart, right? Regardless of what the Ravens did on Friday. I mean, I would just say, like, you kind of, you kind of were asking for it, just because of the history of that knowing Lamar has generally, you know when, when you think he’s coming, coming back. Add a week or two to it, at the very least, right? I mean, that’s
Nestor Aparicio 12:14
outline. The line reflected him playing. I
Luke Jones 12:18
mean, the line reflected him playing all week. I mean, this is one of those times that David that big old thought he was going to play, yeah, but, but at the same time, he didn’t practice Thursday, well, he didn’t practice well, he practiced. He practiced Thursday. He didn’t practice Monday, right? But, but he was Yeah, and reporters were saying that in Vegas, didn’t care at that point in time, right? So look, is, is there obviously a heightened sensitivity to this one, just generally speaking, because of the business that the NFL does with sports books, but especially on the heels of this NBA story, which has to have these leagues absolutely terrified at this point in time. But baseball’s had a lot of problems. But yeah, they should be, they should be disciplined for this. I mean, you can’t plead ignorance as an excuse. Well, Tony did, and he’s playing well, but especially if you’re talking about, I mean, Eric DECOs has been with the Ravens for 30 years. John Harbaugh has been head coach for 18 seasons now, the other members of their front office have been with them a long time. Everyone knows. They know these rules. Put it this way,
Nestor Aparicio 13:28
so honest mistake is honest mistake. I
Luke Jones 13:32
will say what they I will say this, $20 million a year. Hold on one second. Let me talk. Yeah. I will say this. I will give John Harbaugh this slightest benefit of the doubt, from the standpoint of, there have been times when John Harbaugh doesn’t necessarily reflect knowing, like roster rules in and out right in the sense that Eric Acosta would need to know them, for example. I’ll give you an example. Emory Jones, you know, the rookie third round pick had been on the non football injury list. He had a 21 day practice window that when that expires, you either need to put that player on the 53 man roster or he stays on basically IR for the rest of the year. John Harbaugh was asked about that, and he didn’t really seem to have a clear explanation of what the roster machination would be like, what what they would do procedurally. So can I sit here and say that John Harbaugh, 101,000% knows every single word of language in the injury report policy? I will give him the benefit of the doubt there, but in terms of everyone that is involved in that, from the general manager on down, I Call Bull shot, you know, bull hockey on no one being aware of if you have a two time MVP or that it is was not involved in gamesmanship, to have your bears think that he was gonna play, sure that. Don’t care about the gamblers. I mean, they care about the bears, and that’s what and that, to me, is what was so silly about this, because it was so avoidable, because if you still listed Lamar as limited on Friday, you could still list him as questionable, and the bears still have to prepare whether they actually think he truly is going to play or not. Are the bears going to sit there and say just because they think he might not play, and then say, Oh, well, we don’t have to worry about Lamar now that we’re going to put our feet up and, you know, have some cocktails on Saturday afternoon before we fly to Baltimore, and we’ll be fine, right? So it was an avoidable thing, because, I can also say, because I made this mention about the sequence of limited, limited, full and generally, that boat that bodes well for a player returning. I can also count cite countless examples of a player being limited, limited, limited, and then playing on Sunday, because I’ve seen that happen plenty. So whether you know, I certainly reject honest mistake from the collaborative process. You know, even if John Harbaugh wants to cite that he didn’t know specifically about that part of the injury report policy, the those involved someone new,
Nestor Aparicio 16:10
do the organizational dishonesty is what my well piece was about two weeks ago in regard to the lie about anything if they think it helps them win football. And let’s and let’s And sure, and that’s really and by the way, a lot of a lot of teams will do that, whether that’s right or not. Well, that’s why you put guardrails and rules, sure, so that they don’t do things and that they’re on the up and up, yeah. And they’re not hiding things from the media, the fans, their competitors, gambler, whomever, right like, in a general sense, that’s a standard that I can honestly say. They fail and they fail repeatedly. John has been caught many times. The last time he got pissed off at you and called me, screaming at me about you, was in regard to them playing Hokey Pokey with practices, practice times. I mean, John knows the rules, but then plays dumb, which is exactly what I accused him of, that Midwestern all shucks, golly gee, didn’t know the rule, not my job. Paul PR, that’s on PR, is what he said. I mean, I mean,
Luke Jones 17:16
he threw PR in the medical staff under under the bus, which, I mean, look, look, I will say this, they don’t work for him. It not so much pr, pr, they send out the injury report. I mean, they’re not, they’re not making up those designations. The medical staff is involved, right? It’s not John Harbaugh solely. It’s not Eric da Costa solely. But a couple things, you know, because I want to, I want to read the exact quote, but you made mention of this, and I mentioned other teams Pittsburgh, Mike Tomlin, right? I mean, a team that’s held to a high sin, they were fined back in 2019 for not disclosing that Ben Roethlisberger had an elbow injury that ultimately he had to have season ending surgery. Then, as a result, they didn’t report that. So there, this does happen, and the league, find Tomlin 25 grand and find the pits the Steelers 75 grand at the time. So there is precedent for these types of things happening other than Baltimore. That’s not excusing the Ravens. Well, Tomlin
Nestor Aparicio 18:12
stepped out in front of Jacoby Jones, and it still doesn’t sure exactly. I
Luke Jones 18:15
mean, look, and again, I’m not saying this, this that to excuse the Ravens. I’m just saying there are lots of teams that do this, right? And to your point, that’s why. That’s why you have guardrails. But I want to read what John Harbaugh specifically said about this, because, in the interest of fairness, put his words right out there. So, you know, he was asked about what happened, you know, he was asked about what went into Tyler Huntley ultimately being the starter. But he said the other part of it, and he’s referring to the injury report. I’m not involved in those rules. I don’t know those particular rules. I think, in their defense, he practiced a full practice. I think they felt like because he did the same number of reps, it was a full practice. But when you dig in and you read the rule at the end of the day, it wasn’t right. So that’s what it was. That’s why, as soon as we found out, we changed it. Then the obvious follow up question was, what? Who’s they? Right? He said they, I asked John, you said, who was they? Who makes that decision? And then that’s when he said, that’s in the training room, and the PR on the other side, it’s not on the football side, which that’s completely incorrect, medical side, that’s
Nestor Aparicio 19:21
a lie. That’s not Incorrect. Incorrect is an inadvertent error. He is misleading you. He is lying to all of Nestor. I just I don’t let me, can I finish the quote? Yeah, but he’s accountable, and he’s not. He’s not showing accountability. He’s on him, and he does know the damn rule, damn Jack Nicholson that you damn well know the rules, John, stop
Luke Jones 19:45
wet and I will continue to say you need your your clearly, you know what your emotion towards horrible about this. You need to go a step higher. I think this is way more than just. Manager than the head coach, in my personal opinion. Do I know that with 100% certainty? No, but there’s been a clear pattern from the time that Eric Decosta became the general manager of the ravens, not announcing roster moves, waiting till it comes out on the wire hours later, things of that nature. And the reason why is Eric Decosta sees an edge in every single thing like that, even if there isn’t. I mean, I’ll give you a perfect example, and this is what I’m talking about here. Tyler John arball did announce on Friday, if Lamar wasn’t playing, that Tyler Huntley would start. He did announce, which that was peculiar at the time, a little unex, not peculiar, unexpected, let’s say so. Then he was asked if Tyler Huntley was going to go on the 53 man roster. Now, the Ravens could have elevated Huntley. He had one more practice squad elevation, but they had waived Zaire Mitchell, paid in, you know, the reserve tight end who was filling in for Patrick Ricard here over the first six games of the season. They had waved him so they had an open roster spot. And John Harbaugh was asked that. He was asked, and he said, I haven’t been given clearance to to say that we’re doing that only for the ravens to then do it two hours later. I don’t, I don’t know what competitive edge in the world that is, but because they already said he was going to play. He’s either going to be elevated or he’s going to be moved to the 53 man roster. So I think you know a lot of what you’re expressing towards John Harbaugh. And to be clear, I’m not saying this absolves John. He’s
Nestor Aparicio 21:31
part of the way. And I just want to fight with you, because I think I’m right, because I know both of these men exceedingly well. I think John runs the relationship. And I think in the end of the day, John edges this along, because it’s his
Luke Jones 21:45
paranoid. I think, I think Eric does way more of that than you’re than you’re saying. I mean, I mean, I 1,000% Wow. Eric does way more of that than you think. I mean, I just do i because I’ve seen it. When Ozzie Newsome was the general manager, the Ravens announced their roster moves when it was time to announce roster moves, there are plenty of times now where they don’t announce roster moves at all, and I’ve got to wait. Let me be clear, this isn’t me saying what was me, but reporters have to wait until the NFL transaction sheet is put out, which is usually around five o’clock, but sometimes it can be as late as six or seven o’clock, right? Even though that goes out at four o’clock around the league. So again, I don’t really see what the competitive edge, if anything, is there, right? I mean, it’s like a contrived advantage that you’re trying to think that you have. I think that’s way more Eric to Costa driven. I’ve seen a very distinct shift when comparing John Harbaugh being the head coach for the last 18 years, and Eric Decosta being the general manager the last six or
Nestor Aparicio 22:45
seven see, and I would say to you that when Ozzy went away, John went in and said to Eric, why are we reporting this stuff? Why? What? What do we we don’t have to. We shouldn’t. Let’s, let’s skirt although, although, to be honest, why do we need Nestor here? Why do we need why do we need to tell the truth? Why do we need to have, why do we need to have pressure? Press conferences? Well, you know what? Why does our locker room do? Why? Why does the guy that drops the ball in the goal? Why does he have to stand in front of the meat like I hear John, you know, like to me, I
Luke Jones 23:13
think Eric’s way more. I think you’re letting Eric off the hook. Big okay. I mean, I want to do that. No. I mean, I’m just well and because you see conversations happen. I mean, up. I’ll give you another part, you know, just to pull back the curtain a little bit. Friday, after practice, we waited at the podium for John Harbaugh. He was talking with with Eric Decosta and chat and a member of PR for 10 or 15 minutes before, you know, I’m sure they were talking about what they wanted to say about Lamar. I mean, it’s just just that simple.
Nestor Aparicio 23:44
So it’s not an honest answer. It’s not an honest I’m not saying they say they have pow wows. This is not some, just always an odd we just made a mistake about $1 million quarterback that moved the line five points. Just an honest mistake. Yeah, sure, sure, yeah. I mean, I, I just, and to be clear, like calling them out on this now, sure. You know, wonderful for me to write an angry thing two weeks ago about Justin Tucker, just little things like 16 women, just things that they that, as an organization, they’ve been sleazy. Just sleazy, was the word I used, um, you know, at this point when the NFL gets a hold of them this week on this issue, with the two time MVP that they made it appear as though he was going to play, and then made it appear as though he ran first team offense once they threw all of you out of there on Friday, dude, it’s, it’s dishonest, it’s sleazy, it’s, it’s, it’s not coy, it’s not gamesmanship, it’s dishonest, that that’s what it is, and they look at it as the way they do things. It’s. The way they it’s the way they do things. And that’s sad. I mean, it’s, I sit here and wear purple, but they’re getting called out on it by pretty much everybody, as
Luke Jones 25:10
they should. I mean, they’re gonna get disciplined, and they should be disciplined for it, because even even if it, even if it was an honest mistake, that’s not an excuse. I mean, you, you know, an honest I could make an honest mistake if I’m going 20 miles over the speed limit, I’m just not paying attention, right? I’m not doing it to be facetious, but I kind of space out and I don’t notice that the speed limit went from 55 to 40, and I’m going 60, I deserve a ticket. I mean, it’s just, you know, whether it’s whether I whether I say it’s an honest mistake, or whether I was doing it on purpose because I was on in a rush to get somewhere, right? I mean, that’s how life works. So this was not an honest mistake. I don’t disagree, yeah, I don’t think it was an honest mistake either. I’m just honest. I am just saying dishonest. I am just saying that. I think your direct criticism, you know, blaming John solely for it, I think you’re completely wrong on that. Okay? I think it’s, I think it’s way more. I think it’s Eric and John.
Nestor Aparicio 26:10
So being how strong? Well, I don’t disagree, John, you won’t involve Eric, because it’s Eric’s department. And I’m not disagreeing. I’m saying it’s probably more led by John in regard to this way we’re going to do it.
Luke Jones 26:27
Maybe I know, I don’t know. I think you’re, I think you’re letting Eric off the hook. Wait, and I don’t want to do that, believe me, I don’t know. I mean, I’m just saying, I think, I think, put it this way, who do I think is more likely to know all of those rules? To a T, I would say the General Manager. Now that doesn’t mean John Harbaugh is excused from I mean, he’s been part of injury report putting together injury reports for 18 John
Nestor Aparicio 26:55
Harbaugh as much as he plays this dumb guy, he’s not and to say, Well, how could I know the rules? Dude, you’re the head coach of the team 20 years. Stop, stop with this. And somebody in PR, somebody down the hallway, would come to you and say, Dude, people are gambling on this. John, we can’t like, it’s one thing to lie to Jeff zere back and Jameson and Luke and kick him out here and pretend that Luke’s practicing because we want to F with the bears defense. Like, I get that, but like, we this. We can’t do this. John, this isn’t, this isn’t what we do. In the same way that John and Eric could have gone down and said to Chad steel, we don’t throw media members out of here, dude, which is not what we do. There’s nobody in there to say we don’t issue press releases and chase reporters around telling them that they can’t do honest journalism. We don’t do that here, but they do that there. They do a lot of things there they shouldn’t do. And you know, we don’t take $600 million of money from people and never even tell them what we’re going to do with with the money. And you know, like, I don’t there’s so much wrong going on, but it does go down to a thing like this, where just being honest about who’s practicing is a declaration of war against them. You know what I mean? Like if someone would have reported Friday night, this is all bull shot. HE round scout team. He’s not playing Sunday like that. Used to be reporting, right? I mean, and knowing guys in the locker room and texting people. And I know you and I last week, you bird up Wednesday, when Kyle Hamilton was asked about Lamar on the field, and there was a weird, pregnant pause about, hey, what are they telling you, and what am I supposed to say? Yeah, and that was in the middle of the week, and I know that that was a tell for you to
Luke Jones 28:49
tell that he did next to nothing on Wednesday, which, which, by the way, that is allowed, right? You are absolutely allowed to have a player come out there, and that is within the rules. I will not take them to task for that whatsoever. In terms of, if he goes out there and throws one pass, he can be listed as limited. That’s fine, but the problem is, when he is limited and you list them as full,
Nestor Aparicio 29:12
are they doing that in an effort to put on a show? Are they doing that in every play on Sunday? But every team,
Luke Jones 29:19
every team does that look. Gamesmanship is legal. Gamesmanship is absolutely okay. I, you know there, there isn’t this. All teams do this, right? It’s why guys, we see guys listed as questionable all the time around the league, because the idea that teams will talk about it in terms of, if he, you know, we have to, we have to give our game status designation for Sunday’s game on Friday afternoon, if So and So hypothetically recovers to this degree, it’s got a chance to play. Players will be listed as doubtful. And we know doubtful means a player. You list someone as doubtful, you might as well list them as out, right? I mean, we how many times around the. League for a year. Do you see someone that’s listed as doubtful and they play on Sunday? Like, I can’t remember the last time the Ravens listed someone as doubtful and they actually played. I mean, it’s been that long. I don’t know if it’s happened during my time as a reporter, so. But the point is, with that, there is wiggle room within the language, right? Like I said, limited can mean one rep limited can also mean every rep minus one, right? I mean, that’s, that’s a wide range, and that’s why this was such a unnecessary thing that they stepped into here. I mean, they, you know, they brought this on themselves. Like, I don’t want to say like, you know, and I agree, I reject it being an honest mistake, but it was an unnecessary measure, because even if you still listed Lamar as limited on Friday, it was still three limited practices in a row, you absolutely still can list him as questionable under those under those
Nestor Aparicio 30:56
fan in the world went to bed Friday night thinking he was going to play Sunday, and they knew he wasn’t so but, but that’s I mean, that that’s all I’m saying, like, literally, right? That’s because dishonest. It was because it was just they were dishonest because, but by trying to rook the bears into thinking that they would be playing Snoop Huntley or playing Lamar, excuse me,
Luke Jones 31:17
but my point with what you mentioned on Wednesday with Kyle Hamilton. And you know, that was, again, his reaction there. You could kind of tell that to me, that that wasn’t about dishonesty from the organization that was trying to figure out just how limited he was. And that’s that was a tell to me that he was very limited on Wednesday, right? So I there’s nothing wrong with that, nothing I will absolutely reject any notion that that right there is dishonest from the standpoint of how all these teams operate, understanding this is a highly competitive environment, understanding that yes, there, there is wiggle room and flexibility within the rules for gamesmanship, for being a little bit coy, there’s no doubt. But there is a line that’s crossed, and they crossed the line when they listed Lamar is full on Friday. No question about that, and that’s why the league’s looking at this. If Lamar had been listed as limited on Friday and listed as questionable on Saturday, on Friday, and then ultimately was ruled out, or, you know, Adam Schefter gets it at 11pm Saturday night that Lamar is
Nestor Aparicio 32:20
out, was there a moment last week where they thought that he was going to play? I mean, was there one moment where he ever walked on the field or walked into a training room? And even in the aftermath, it was this, this two game, the doctors thought two and five days would be too much, and like
Luke Jones 32:37
like, and that’s a variable. It absolutely, as I said to you, even the idea that if the even if, in lamar’s mind, the plan all along was Miami, then he’s going to need to at least get a little bit of work in the previous week, because you’re not
Nestor Aparicio 32:52
going to have, well, how long are you going to fake the bears out into believing he’s playing and the line and the world? How long are you going to play that game when you knew Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, when he’s out running scout team, Friday he’s not playing. You issue a scouting report that says full, which gives you the idea that he’s playing like, how long are you going to play that game? In the old days, in John’s old man world, with his brother, played football that was, you know that? That was just let the buyer beware. I don’t think that the league can be in on that with gambling. I mean, you and I aren’t gamblers, right? The reason people are hawked out on all of this is how much money that five points moves the line. And the mafia can’t move a line five points, dude, you know what? I mean, they can’t have John Harbaugh and Eric da Costa in on it.
Luke Jones 33:43
I mean, I hear you. I’m not sure what you’re wanting them to do, other than, like, what I said very explicitly, is you can’t, no. But my point they they were completely fine until they listed him as full on Friday. There was not they did nothing wrong. I will push back and you know, you’re I’m not
Nestor Aparicio 34:01
saying they did. I’m saying there’s a witching point where that report comes out and says, What is he and you’re being dishonest about it. Like, literally, that’s all on Friday, sure. Like,
Luke Jones 34:13
but what I’m saying is there and then call it an honest mistake. But this is where it was completely unnecessary, because they didn’t have to do that if they listed him as Friday, listed him as limited on Friday and he was questionable for Sunday’s game. They were, they were fine. Well, you know, we look, we all sit here and talk about the gamesmanship part of this. I mean, every, I mean Pittsburgh, you know, they’re, they’re regarded as a classy organization in your mind, right? I mean, well,
Nestor Aparicio 34:42
except when he was tripping Jacoby Jones. And I’ll bring that up every time, because
Luke Jones 34:46
that’s like, no. But my point is, they did it six years. Like this has happened before, but when you cross the line, yeah, you’re gonna get you’re gonna get disciplined. You should be disciplined. There’s no question, um, to go back to what you said, because you asked me, was there any. Point during the week where they thought he was going to play. I get the sense that coming back from the bye week, I think they thought, now thought is the key word here. I don’t think they knew. I think they thought Lamar was going to practice last Monday. And look, when you’re talking about a hamstring, it’s not a broken bone, right? It’s not a ligament that this requires surgery and extensive rehab, right? When you have these soft tissue injuries. Patrick Ricardo is a great example of this. When Patrick record his calf in mid August, the Ravens did not have any thought. He did not have any thought that he was going to miss the first six games of the season. But it’s a soft tissue injury and about and even confirmed this after Sunday’s game, when, you know, he made his season debut, mentioning that in passing, but he mentioned right around, you know, the end, the very end of August, going into game week for week one, he had a setback. Now, even at that point in time, they didn’t think he was going to miss four games, so they didn’t put him on IR. But it ended up being slow healing. There ends up being this frustrating pattern sometimes with these soft tissue injuries, hamstrings, calves, groins, things like that, right? So I think there was a lot not I think I know there was a lot of optimism that Lamar was going to be on the practice field last Monday and have a really good chance to play against the bears. It didn’t manifest, right? It didn’t happen. He put he practiced some, you know, even Wednesday, like I said, it was kind of a late arrival in the practice field. Some of the reaction, I’m not sure that everyone involved with the team, and all was entirely sure he was going to be on the practice field until he showed up on on the practice field. So was there some of that going on, you know, was there some of maybe they were hoping he’d give it a go this past week, and Lamar, you know, wasn’t ready, which, again, they’re, you know, these injuries, we have to be very careful. And I’ve cited this before. This doesn’t apply to you, but this applies to 45 and unders football fans who grew up playing John Madden video games where someone has an injury and it says it’s two weeks, and then they don’t play those two games, and then they’re back. And it’s like it’s not thought of ever again. There’s wiggle room with these injuries, and sometimes some guys come back really quickly, and other guys take longer. And there are a lot of factors at work there, you know, from, you know, a player’s DNA to how well they take care of themselves and how well they rehab, and all that different stuff. So that’s why we see it. I mean, there are some people where a hamstring is a two week injury. Some people it’s a four week injury. Some people play after one week, right? I mean, it’s so there is that, but I do. I did get the sense early last week that I think they thought Lamar was going to be on the practice field Monday, and that was going to give him a very, very strong chance to play. And that didn’t happen. And then practice some. But I think there was even, I would say, I think there was even still a, and I don’t want to put a percentage on it, but I think there was still even a hope that Lamar on Friday or Saturday, was going to say, Hey, I feel great. Let’s go. And I’m not, let me be clear, me saying that I’m not putting that on Lamar Jackson either. Like, let’s not make this that pressuring someone to come back and play before they’re ready to play, right? I mean, you know, I’ll leave that to fans and that kind of speculation. But you know, I I don’t think they put it this way. I don’t think they last Sunday night when they knew the players were going to be back in the building, that they thought at that point that there was zero chance that Lamar was going to play against the bears. I don’t get that sense at all. I think there was absolutely optimism. Expectation might be strong, but I think there was a lot of optimism that he would and then, you know, when he wasn’t out there Monday, it kind of set the tone for, you know, that optimism waning and he was limited Wednesday and Thursday. And like I said, if you listed him as limited on Friday with what he did, you still could have listed him as questionable. The Bears still would have prepared for Lamar to play, and then he’s ruled out, and the league wouldn’t have thought twice about anything that went on, because that happens around the league every week with any number of players that that’s part of NFL injury report culture and gamesmanship, that that’s part of it. But when you cross that line and you list him as full when he clearly was not, that’s when the league gets involved, especially on the heels of what 2436 hours after the an absolutely massive scandal in the NBA comes out with the FBI involved. So yeah, they stepped in it, and I’m in agreement with you. I I would reject the sentiment that it’s an honest mistake. And you know, whoever we’re going to blame it like it’s everyone that’s involved in that process. But for me, I specifically I look at Eric Decosta and John Harbaugh sure
Nestor Aparicio 40:04
he is Luke Jones. We are getting ready for new management with the Orioles this week. We got World Series games every week, every night this week. Also, we have Raven scratch offs to give away Tuesday morning. We’re going to be at State Fair in Catonsville. Come on out. Say hello. Be there all morning. Allen’s going to come by talk about the new manager as well. We’re also going to be at Coco’s next Wednesday in the afternoon, and then next Friday at Pizza John So double duty next week for the Maryland crab cake Tour presented by the Maryland lottery. Had a lucky batch. Here we were. We’ve been out of Costas. We’ve been a fadeleys. We’ve been doing some stuff here in recent weeks as we’re getting ready for pumpkin spice to turn to candy cane, you get scented candy cane tickets coming down the line from the Maryland lottery. My friends at GBMC stopped by this week. I’ve been talking to them. They’re doing our injury reports as well. And of course, the injury report pretty paramount. As we get ready for the Miami Dolphins on Thursday night, Luke will be in and around, and I might even be having some lunch with friends this week. I’m Nestor. We are W, N, S, T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore. Positive.
