Ravens keep spirits bright with complete effort in Cincinnati

A big effort on a frigid day in Cincinnati has renewed hope for the Baltimore Ravens. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the heartening 24-0 shutout win over Joe Burrow and the Bengals with a complete effort and a clear path to a January success style.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Ravens’ heartening win over Cincinnati in frigid conditions, which improved their record to 7-7. They highlighted the team’s critical need to win out to secure a playoff spot, with potential matchups against Pittsburgh, New England, and Green Bay. Jones praised the defense’s performance, particularly in stopping Joe Burrow, and noted the importance of Lamar Jackson’s health and the team’s ability to handle success. They also mentioned the impact of injuries, including Teddy Buchanan’s absence, and the potential return of Darius Washington. The conversation concluded with plans for upcoming events and crab cake tours.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Continue to work on improving the passing game and getting more consistent production from the offense.
• [ ] Analyze the Patriots game plan and prepare the team to beat them at home on Sunday night.
• [ ] Monitor the injury situation, especially with Woozier and Buchanan, and adjust the defensive game plan accordingly.

Ravens’ Victory and Upcoming Events

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the Ravens’ victory over Cincinnati in frigid conditions, expressing concern about injuries and the team’s playoff hopes.
• Nestor mentions upcoming events, including crab cake tours, a special show at Costas, and a visit to Dundalk.
• Nestor talks about his plans to slim down and tone up for 2026, with Luke promising to give him purple hats and goggles from Planet Fitness.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of the Ravens’ win and its impact on their playoff chances, including potential matchups with Pittsburgh and Buffalo.

Luke’s Analysis of the Game

• Luke Jones describes the win as heartening, noting the team’s critical need to get back on track after recent losses.
• Luke highlights the importance of the game for both the Ravens and Cincinnati, given their respective struggles and the extreme cold conditions.
• Luke discusses the early struggles of the Ravens’ offense and the critical play involving Jamar Chase’s drop, which changed the momentum of the game.
• Luke praises the Ravens’ defense for their performance, particularly on third down, and notes the team’s balanced and complimentary effort.

Ravens’ Performance and Injuries

• Nestor and Luke discuss the Ravens’ performance, noting the team’s ability to play well in cold conditions and the importance of Lamar Jackson’s health.
• Luke mentions the injuries to key players like Ronnie Stanley, Marlon Humphrey, and Teddy Buchanan, and the potential impact on the team’s performance.
• Nestor and Luke talk about the importance of the Ravens’ upcoming games against New England, Green Bay, and Pittsburgh, and the need to win to secure a playoff spot.
• Luke emphasizes the need for the Ravens to handle success and avoid complacency, especially after their recent five-game winning streak.

Defensive Performance and Future Games

• Luke praises the Ravens’ defense for their performance against Joe Burrow and the Bengals, noting the team’s ability to cover and make key plays.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of the Ravens’ upcoming games against the Patriots and Packers, and the need to win to maintain their playoff hopes.
• Luke highlights the challenges of playing in cold conditions and the importance of the Ravens’ ability to adapt and perform well.
• Nestor and Luke talk about the potential impact of injuries on the team’s performance and the need for key players to step up.

Ravens’ Playoff Hopes and Team Dynamics

• Nestor and Luke discuss the Ravens’ playoff hopes, noting the team’s need to win four games in a row to secure a Super Bowl spot.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of the Ravens’ upcoming games and the need to perform well to maintain their playoff chances.
• Nestor and Luke talk about the team’s dynamics, including the role of key players like Lamar Jackson, DeAndre Hopkins, and the running game.
• Luke highlights the need for the Ravens to handle success and avoid complacency, especially after their recent five-game winning streak.

Upcoming Events and Community Engagement

• Nestor talks about upcoming events, including crab cake tours, a special show at Costas, and a visit to Dundalk.
• Nestor mentions the importance of community engagement and the team’s efforts to connect with fans and supporters.
• Nestor highlights the importance of the Ravens’ upcoming games and the need for the team to perform well to maintain their playoff chances.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of the Ravens’ performance and the need for the team to handle success and avoid complacency.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Ravens win, Cincinnati game, extreme cold, Lamar Jackson, defense performance, injuries, playoff hopes, New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, Darius Washington, DeAndre Hopkins, crab cake tour.

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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, inching, just inching closer to Christmas. Santa coming down the chimney. We got a couple of crab cake tours still ahead. This week, gonna be Costas with a very special show on Thursday. I have managed to corral the great Calvin stadium that had me out singing carols and Christmas songs and all sorts of things last week in Edge. Mayor will be at Costas and Dundalk on Thursday. So brought to you by the Maryland lottery. Well, we’ll have the new candy cane scratches. I have a handful of these ravens left. I had some winners at honeys in halethorpe over the weekend. Had a great chat over there. Man, they filled my belly last week. Man, if it wasn’t fadleys And it was honeys, we gertrudes on Friday this week, with John shields and Dan Rogers, and then next Monday, wrapping things up with Planet Fitness as I try to slim down and tone up for 2026 Luke, they promised to give me the big purple hats that say 2026 and the goggles and all the stuff that they break out of Planet Fitness for New Year’s. Tell you what? The victory over Cincinnati on such a cold day, it checks a lot of boxes. For me. I’m very concerned about injuries in the aftermath, and you know all that’s going to go into that and just where they are. If they win enough, they’ll get a chance to go to Pittsburgh, and they’ll get a chance to play for their honor and get a chance to maybe host buffalo before all this is over, with maybe New England, if they beat them up enough this week. But I would just say the fact that they’ve leveled the season out, that they made your prediction look bad over the weekend when you know people to write them off and like all of that. And then New England loses. Green Bay struggling. They’re on the schedule like and here we go. Micah Parsons, my God, mahomes in Kansas City out. So just so much thing, so much moves. On a weekend where you pitch a shutout, Lamar wins. When it’s five degrees out, Lamar looks better. The running game look better. Cincinnati, yeah, I know. What do you got for me on that?

Luke Jones  02:09

I think the word that comes to mind for me is heartening. I think this win got them, got their arrow pointed back in the right direction after what happened the last couple of weeks, I think it was more than fair to ask to have doubts about whether this team was going to get off the mat after what happened these last two weeks. I’m sorry. I mean, you’re talking about a sub 500 team that the second week of December. That’s more than fair to ask that question. So I thought it was very critical, not just for the ravens, but also for Cincinnati. I mean, we’re so focused on what happened with the Ravens the last couple weeks and losing on Thanksgiving night and falling to Pittsburgh last Sunday. But keep in mind, the Bengals mathematically were already behind the eight ball to an extreme degree, and then they lost a very win, a winnable game in Buffalo, you know, with the pick six, and, you know, some critical mistakes, and you know, they competed with the bills, but they didn’t get the job done. So for me, especially when you add the extreme cold into the equation that we alluded to. But what kickoff was 10 degrees, I think it was very or at least I imagine it being very pivotal how these teams were going to start in this football game, and how that would impact them. And I think what was kind of disconcerting for the Ravens early on is they punt on their opening drive to get one first down. It kind of falls apart, right? I mean, miles Murphy blows up the last two plays of that drive, and they punt. And then Cincinnati is going down the field kind of methodical. They’re not gashing them in the run game, but they’re doing enough, and they’re moving and they’re they’re just outside the red zone. I think that Jamar Chase drop on second and four on that drive, which obviously the Ravens get the sack two plays later, knock them out of field goal range. I think that play was really big. I think from that point on, I mentioned the arrow right that at the end of the day, that arrow was pointing upward for the Ravens again, but very early in that game, Cincinnati kind of came out looking like the team that was more physical and more prepared for the cold, and I felt like it flipped on that drive there, and not that the Ravens just steamrolled them from there, because it took a while for the offense To get going. But I really felt from that point on, the momentum, the arrows started pointing in the Ravens direction. And then obviously the offense comes to life at the end of the first half, and the defense just, I mean, they did what they did, especially on third down. It was a very odd game. I mean, the Ravens ran 40 plays, right? It was

Nestor Aparicio  04:39

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two to one. Easy. It felt down, and they felt old school like strange though, you know. I mean, you know, anytime Snoop’s getting snaps at the end, right? Like, you know it was, you know, it was a beat down of a team that came in here and took their Turkey two weeks ago. Dude, sure, sure.

Luke Jones  04:57

And look, I mean, it’s as close. I mean, John horball said it after the game, and it’s tough to disagree with him that he thought it was their best game of the season. It was their most complimentary, their most balanced. It’s the, I think, the best they’ve looked overall since the first three and a half quarters of week one in Buffalo. Well, heartening

Nestor Aparicio  05:15

was your word, right? I mean, we’ll keep, I’ll be I’ll use that all week, especially because we’re going to honor Ed Lauer. Got a fresh heart on Thursday. It cost us. So heartenings There you go. A great word. I’ll send that over to him. Yeah?

Luke Jones  05:25

So I also don’t want to get up, you know? I don’t think we should get ahead of ourselves. They beat a four and 10 football, yeah, right, the bar is really low. They might have gotten him fired to coach. I mean, I mean, the bar is really low, and has been. But when you’re six and seven and you have one win all season against the team with a winning

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Nestor Aparicio  05:42

record, but Pittsburgh goes DO, DO and poopoo here next couple weeks, and the Ravens push them out. You know, you have, I mean, Cleveland, you don’t have to worry about, right, like, you know, other than miles Garrett going to the Hall of Fame. Not much to recommend there. I mean, there could be a complete overhaul on three quarters of the division if the Ravens can dust off, beat the Patriots this week, hold their own against the Packers and beat the Steelers, that’s all they really need to do, right?

Luke Jones  06:07

Well, I mean, just keep winning, right? I mean, we knew after, even in the aftermath of the Pittsburgh loss, that if they won out, they’re in, right? So you just keep winning. Now, I think that’s easier said than done when you’re talking about the fact that New England is coming in, and they’re they’re fresh off their first loss in a really long time, so it’s going to be interesting to see how they rebound from that, but certainly a step up in competition. I mean, look, I love how the defense played and part of that, and it kind of goes back to what I was saying in terms of how cold it was and questioning whether they were going to get off the mat. They were tough. You know, they played with an edge. I mean, you saw Draymond Jones chirping, you saw other guys chirping, and that’s something that, not that you’re like going out of your way to see something like that. But let’s face it, the Ravens did not exactly play like a very tough football team the last couple of weeks. I mean, that was, that was part of it, right? I mean, not just that they lost, but just the way that it it looked and so so to see that and to acknowledge because guys like me have pointed out that for all the defensive improvement that they had made since the first five games of the season, they hadn’t exactly done it against a host of great quarterbacks. They made Joe burrow look terrible on Sunday. There’s no question about that. So they

Nestor Aparicio  07:26

guys dropping the ball made it look terrible too. You’re no question. Well, well, played with that,

Luke Jones  07:30

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I mean, and I said it, I talked about the chase drop on their first drive that I thought was pivotal. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a worse 10 catch, 132 yard game than Jamar Chase had on Sunday. I thought he was terrible in that football game, but he got his chunk plays, because he’s Jamar Chase, right, so, but I would say he was low impact. They didn’t score. I thought he was bad. I mean, like, Look. I mean that drop killed their first drive, and then he had a pass, albeit it was high, went off his hands, and it’s picked off.

Nestor Aparicio  08:01

Leaders got a lead at this time of the year when you’re throwing nine and they’re they’re playing to stay in too Right?

Luke Jones  08:08

And that’s what I said. And after their opening drive, their offense went in a different direction, and the Ravens were ascending from that point on. So look like to me, like they got cold, yeah? Well, I mean, like I said to me, the start was it kind of looks like Cincy looking better very early, and then that it flipped on that catch. And I don’t think they are on that drop, and I don’t think they ever really got going again, but again, you credit the Ravens for doing what they did. It was complimentary. The defense was outstanding. I mean, the pass rush against the Bengals offensive line as maligned as they’ve been for years now, if you look at them, and I even linked to a stat that pro football focus had put out there, as far as their pass protection being much better the last month or so of the season. But the Ravens wasn’t what wasn’t like, they had six or seven sacks, anything like that. But they hit burrow. I mean, Draymond Jones had quite a few quarterback hits. I mean, they, you know, Travis Jones had a sack. Mike Green had a sack at the end of the first half. I mean, they, they tavius Robinson, albeit unblocked, he makes an impact in his return, his first game since week six. So that was good to see again. I get it four and 10. Bengals are a bad football team, but you lost to that bad football team a couple of weeks ago. So it was nice to see them again come out kind of weather, the early, kind of sluggish start offensively, the fact that Cincinnati moved the ball on that opening drive. They bow up and they get a stop there. They knock them out of field goal range, and from that point on, the defense played really, really good football. Yeah, Cincinnati missed some opportunities, of course, but at the same time, it’s

Nestor Aparicio  09:54

hard to catch the shutouts that cold, no doubt, very much so like i. Saw that in Chicago. I saw that a lot of services where the ball’s like a rock and it just doesn’t grip and clearly burrow through a couple passes, like, you know, Sonny Jurgensen or Billy Kilmer threw him, right? I mean, yeah, ducks, well, and Lamar, I thought, we haven’t talked too much about Lamar, but he only threw it 12 times, but past the flowers. And, I mean, that was gorgeous. Was like that was when Lamar 2223 24 when things are going right, that’s what it looks like. That’s heartening to see, on a five degree day up in the air that they might have a punch in them. And listen, man, the whole way, when they were one in five, we would have said, You better hope they’re not the team that’s playing in January. And at that point we thought as a wild card on the road, here, there, wherever they be, playing at home, if they can figure this out, they don’t need to win 12 games. They just need to win a couple of games, and then they get a game, then they’re in the tournament. I don’t know, but these injuries are stacking too, right? And just the the the Ronnie, Stanley, Marlon, Humphrey, the sort of the older guys that are a little bit more, just feels like every week, somebody’s holding something, something’s going wrong, and Buchanan just all the way around, right? They didn’t get out of this thing as healthy as you’d like them to be. But Lamar is everything, right? Yeah.

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Luke Jones  11:25

I mean, Lamar looks better. I mean, Ronnie Stanley’s fine. He was standing on the sideline when they were on that last drive. He looked fine. I mean, now he’s 100% or was he 100% before Sunday’s game, right? Marlon Humphrey went back in the game. I mean, Teddy Buchanan is disappointing. There’s no question about that, because, well, we saw Trenton Simpson last year, you know, he’s kind of been in a more specialized role this year. More so lining up as an edge. More so lining up, you know, when he lines up weak side, he’s kind of blitzing, you know, so they’re going to need him to step up. They’ll probably deploy Kyle Hamilton with some off ball linebacker duties at times that maybe he had, Buchanan was taken care of before, but, but, yeah. I mean, at the same time, I can’t sit here and and cry the blues about that when Patrick mahomes tears his ACL Micah Parsons season ending, you know, all signs with their you know, and what that means for Green Bay’s defense. I mean, not not just when the Ravens go there in a couple weeks, but what that means for the what that means for the Packers, you know, going forward in the NFC so, so from that standpoint, I mean, look, the Ravens had their injuries early in the season. And yes, they lost Nnamdi, mada BK, and yes, they miss him,

Nestor Aparicio  12:32

but we were talking to Darius Washington, come

Luke Jones  12:35

back, right? Yeah, they got him. I mean, ravens are pretty darn healthy right now, Nestor. I mean, like, I hear your general point, like, yeah, they had some guys get shaken up. And, you know, we’ll see about a Woozi a but generally speaking, I mean, they’re mostly intact. I mean, matta BK is the huge one, and obviously Lamar was playing less than 100% it feels like he’s closer to being healthy. I mean, we’re seeing him move. I mean, how about the fact that when they finally get their first touchdown? I mean, it started with Lamar Jackson scramble on first down, right got, what, 1314, yards there. So you’re, you know, you’re, I don’t know if we’re going to see Lamar running 16 times in a playoff game next month if they get there, but you need that to at least be a viable possibility, like he needs to be able to flash that he might do that, even if he’s only going to do it five times a game, right? If he can at least do it when he does it like that, it’s effective. And he’s looks fast and running away from some

Nestor Aparicio  13:36

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quarter of a game when you’re down four points in the middle of the field, you know, like, with three and a half minutes left to go. But I would, can he do it? Then, if he can do it, then, then it’s special, then it matters. The fact that he couldn’t do it a month ago is very obvious, that he couldn’t do it.

Luke Jones  13:55

Then Sure, sure. And, and even against Pittsburgh last week. I mean, you’re, you’re seeing, you know, when you get deeper into the game, it looks like he’s more willing to air it out a little bit.

Nestor Aparicio  14:08

RPO, going in January against teams that aren’t ready for it on a cold night, and you get Derek, one way, running you over Lamar the other way, you know, running around you or throwing it over your hand, they got to get reliably. Yeah, to mark Andrews or zay flowers. I Bateman. There’s another, you know, another name for you and, and there’s always a thing with Hopkins, while we don’t know why he’s not more involved where it’s, like, I still think he’s really good, you know, like, that’s my feeling about him. But I don’t know. Maybe you know, if he was really that good, he’d be getting 810, targets a game? Yeah.

Luke Jones  14:42

I mean, I think it’s tough because, I mean, even look at his usage in Kansas City last year and they, I mean, he was on a team that played in the Super Bowl, right? And you kind of looked at has, how the year went on, his role decreased. I think for him, it’s more so in the way that. Like that. You treat a lot of veteran players where you’re trying to whatever his pitch count is, right? You’re trying to whether that’s 20 plays, 25 plays, three routes, four outs, you know, compared to, like, trying to think that he’s going to be the guy that he was in Houston or in Arizona, where, you know, you’re trying to maximize whatever he can give you, kind of, like the way you kind of like the way you think about like a situational pass rusher, right? I think that’s kind of been the mindset for him. And look, I mean, he caught up a slant on an RPO, which, you know, the Ravens haven’t run a ton of RPOs this year, but they did there, and it works. So that was good to see.

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Nestor Aparicio  15:36

So I feel so Greg Roman, doesn’t it? Yeah. I mean, let’s face it, I mean,

Luke Jones  15:43

it’s been what out of the package for them. Yeah, it has. But like, this passing game in general. Mean, like, what is it? You know what? I mean, it’s a flowers, basically. I mean, I give Lamar credit. I mean, it was a great check on the on the Blitz that he throws it out to Ali in the flat, and Cincinnati had no one there, and it’s touchdown, but we know that there hasn’t been a whole lot of structure to this pass game this year. I mean, you know the idea of bringing in DeAndre Hopkins when they did, you know, the first two days of free agency was not for him to be a guy that’s going to catch 60 passes. The idea was a very specialized role. I mean, it was supposed to be an upgrade over Nelson Aguilar at the time. But, you know, there

Nestor Aparicio  16:23

shouldn’t be able to get Bates and flowers off the field and Andrews, you just gave $13 million a year too. You know, they, they should be on the field, right?

Luke Jones  16:31

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Like, I mean, they, well, they should be, but, like, it just hasn’t been a very functional passing game, you know, in the conventional way that you think about it, for most of the season. I mean, it just hasn’t been, I mean, zay flowers gets his and then everything else is kind of like, well, you kind of see what happens, right? I mean, Andrews will catch a touchdown here and there, but not a whole lot in terms of volume. I mean, you know, we saw Isaiah likely come alive the last two games, albeit with his issues getting, you know, close to the end zone or in the end zone. But, you know, he didn’t even, I don’t think he was even targeted on Sunday.

Nestor Aparicio  17:03

So it feels like there’s plenty of Keaton Mitchell and Ali the last couple of weeks, you know, and that that speaks to the ground game and things are trying to do in the running back, you know, using that position to not go down the field so much. And look, they’ve matriculated the ball. They’ve moved the ball. I mean, even in the two losses, we go back to likely catching a ball, pushing the ball, zay flowers pushing off. You know, referees screwing them, like all of by the way, the referees didn’t screw them this week. But through it all, they’ve moved the ball. You know, it hasn’t been 99 rams, or it hasn’t even been 22 or 23 Ravens. But, you know, they’ve moved the ball okay. And I think there’s no reason for me to think the next couple of weeks that this isn’t getting better and that I could, and you know, I don’t bet on this stuff that I will expect. I will hold my calendar open on the weekend of January, 10, 11th and 12th, in the thoughts that there could be a game here that weekend.

Luke Jones  18:07

I mean, sure. I mean, they won on Sunday. They needed to win on Sunday for that to really feel remotely realistic, right? Because if you can’t beat the Bengals, who are the last bad team left on your schedule. I mean, you know, it kind of goes back to like, okay, so when’s it going to happen, right? So again, not, not, not sitting here saying that everything is perfectly fine, but they need, they won a football game. They needed to win, and they did it with their most complete effort of the season, or certainly one of their most complete efforts of the season. And that that feels good, it it absolutely does. Because even even during the five game winning streak, I mean, there was the Cleveland game, the Jets game, where you know you’re winning, but you’re not really inspired by how they’re playing. So this, this had some inspiration to it. Like I said, it was heartening. I think it was encouraging. I’m not ready to sit here and and say Super Bowl plans are back on after one win over the Bengals, but hey, you’re going to have your opportunity, opportunity on Sunday night, New England Patriots come into town and you beat them in front of a national stage. And it looks not, not that you’re going to shut them out. 24 nothing, let’s be clear, but it looks complimentary and emphatic, and it looks high level like it did on Sunday. Then, yeah, then, then, then I will start to believe the again, right? Nature’s got their feelings hurt too, huh? Yeah. I mean, they had a big lead in that game. I mean, the other side of that is feels like Buffalo’s starting to, you know, now that Kansas City is completely out of it. And look, the ravens, the Ravens get there, all these teams can be talking about this, right? I mean, and by the way, there are good teams in this conference as I think we need to stop doing the yes, we understand it’s wide open. From the standpoint of Kansas City’s out of the picture. Now, and it’s going to be someone different. And even the one team, New England, buffalo, they’re a good team. Denver’s a good football team, I tell you, the team that people continue to sleep on, even though I don’t think it’s happening quite as much. Houston is a good football team. That defense is nasty, and I think CJ Stroud is playing a little bit better than people are giving them credit for right now. So now that said rivers, baby. Oh my gosh.

Nestor Aparicio  20:23

I How good was. I mean,

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Luke Jones  20:26

I mean, he wasn’t very good, but it was incredible. Like, first of all, he made it through the game, which I wasn’t sure that was going next for sure, right? Oh yeah, he’s got to be 3030, or 40 pounds heavier than he was five years ago. I mean, there’s no doubt about that, but, but no, just to look around the conference, look, there’s this wide open feeling, because, you know, it’s not going to be Kansas City. It’s not even going to be Cincinnati. Who was the one team that had done it in the midst of Kansas City’s run. So it’s going to be the last time

Nestor Aparicio  20:56

the AFC baby, let’s go last time. This is a it’s wide open for Josh Allen. It’s wide open for Lamar, right?

Luke Jones  21:03

But it’s also wide open for all these other teams who are good, right?

Nestor Aparicio  21:07

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So Aaron Rodgers thinks it’s wide open for him, too. Sure.

Luke Jones  21:11

Sure. Why not? I mean, I, I don’t really feel that way about the Steelers. I don’t feel that way about the Colts, per se. I mean, if you know as good as the Philip Rivers story

Nestor Aparicio  21:21

is how you feel about the Steelers when you’re driving up Somerset Hey,

Luke Jones  21:26

it has look. They they’re they’re still there. That doesn’t mean they’re not going to win the in the same way that two or three weeks ago, we were talking about the Ravens. They can win the division. That doesn’t mean that I necessarily believe in them as a high level Super Bowl contender. It’s different. There’s different levels to the playoffs.

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Nestor Aparicio  21:45

Beating the Bengals in the way they did. I said right from the top, they want a cold weather game on the road now. Beat a good cold weather game on the road is like, it’ll be a lot louder in Denver. It’ll be a lot different New England, if they have to go there and play.

Luke Jones  21:58

And you also don’t know if it’s going to be that cold, right? I mean, that that was pretty extreme. I mean, that was the coldest game in franchise history. Yeah, so there’s one thing, if

Nestor Aparicio  22:09

they wanted shut out against a good

Luke Jones  22:11

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quarterback, that’s the key for me. I mean, they beat a good quarterback, my goodness, if the offense couldn’t break through playing this lousy Bengals defense a second time, then shame on them. They aren’t then they are just a bad football team. So that was good to see, like but, but I’m not, like wowed by that. I I am more so more impressed by shutting out Joe burrow and the Bengals. Mean, this was the first time Joe burrow had been shut out since his 2018 season at LSU, which, by the way, was only like, it’s funny, that was like, two and a half weeks after the Ravens last had a shutout against the Titans back in we certainly, oh yeah. Oh well, yo. Shabas dropped that. You know, could have been a touchdown there. That Tinsley guy dropped one in the end zone. That would have been a nice play. But kind of play that you expect T Higgins to make, right? So no question. But at the same time, t Higgins didn’t play on Thanksgiving, and that didn’t stop the Bengals then, so I was encouraged by what I saw from the defense. There’s no question about that. I mean that that was a nice statement to kind of bounce back from the last couple of weeks, which, and I know John Harbaugh said it in the post game, that you know that the defense hadn’t played that poorly the last couple of weeks, and I hear it to a point, but like you can’t, you can’t sell me on the fact that they allowed two yards per carry against the Steelers when Aaron Rodgers threw the ball over their head for four different times, right? And they completely blew an assignment on Jalen Warren’s touchdown. So they had some they had some explaining to do, so to speak of what had happened. I mean, all the talk about how good their defense had been over the five game winning streak, and then they stubbed their toe two weeks in a row playing at home. So it was good to see them bounce back. There’s no question about that. Yeah, the Buchanan injury hurts, you know, we’ll see about a woozy. I mean, ouzier is not playing as much now, especially now with our Darius watch Washington back in the picture for sub packages. I’m not sure Woozi a it’s going to play a ton, even if he is going to miss some time here.

Nestor Aparicio  24:15

And by the way, on Washington, he’s shocked that he got back on the field. It is late season, right?

Luke Jones  24:20

But, I mean, it was mid May. It was like the second week of May. I’m not shocked, but I I’ll reserve some judgment as far as how he’s going to look. I you know, we’ve seen, I mean, obviously we all remember Terrell Suggs, right? I mean, but there have been other guys that have torn Achilles in the OTA time of year and then make it back towards the end of the season. So that’s not unprecedented. I think the big question is, how effective will he be and and how much is he going to play? Right? I mean, it’s not like he was on the field a ton, but he someone like him makes sense to mix in some dime package, especially now with Buchanan out of the picture, maybe it affords. Some opportunities. You know, when you go nickel, that you can actually it’s a nickel, but it’s kind of more like a dime, because Kyle Hamilton’s playing, you know, more linebacker, and then you bring our Darius Washington in, as, you know, a slot option, or maybe he’s playing some safety. Maybe you drop Malachi Starks closer to the line of scrimmage, or elohi Gilman closer to the line of scrimmage. So if you

Nestor Aparicio  25:22

are, I mean, gives you more options. Really helped his team last year. Oh, he was really, he was great last year. And, you know, getting that back would be huge. I don’t know where, yeah, the anticipation would be. I was kind of shocked to see him get cleared and listed you and I had talked much about him in regard to, to your point, getting them on the field and then in making an impact a different thing. Look, they need all the help they can get. I mean, pitching the shutout, wherever they’re going to be, they’re going to see a couple of pretty decent quarterbacks and decent offense this year, and let’s face it, whatever they’re going to be in January. I mean, they’re going to need to win four games in a row to win a Super Bowl. And somewhere along the line, they need to win two out of the next three and beat Pittsburgh. You know, have have that be one of them. And along the way, they did what they needed to do this week. So for that, you know, it it was cold in Cincinnati. That’s it’s not easy to do. Yeah.

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Luke Jones  26:20

I mean, their season could have been very much on the brink, right? If you lose that game. And you know, regardless of what other teams are doing, you lose that game, you’ve lost three straight division games, and you’re looking at your last three games and you’re saying, like, where’s how are we getting the arrow upward again? And that’s why I said, I mean, I mean that, and that’s what I worked on and wrote it at Baltimore positive.com the idea that they got the arrow pointed in the right direction again. I mean, there’s, there’s still a seven and seven football team, right? This team has flaws. I mean, to the point about going back to art areas Washington for a moment. I mean, the reality is, for their defense, and I know their pass rush was more productive on Sunday, they’ve got to cover. I mean, they have to cover on the back end, and they’ve got to mix and match, and they have to disguise, and they’ve got to flip coverage. And, you know, go from what what you’re showing pre snap to post snap. I mean, they’ve got to do those things. There’s no doubt about it, because you do not have a Terrell Suggs lining up off the edge. You don’t have a non di matabique lining up inside, right? I mean, not to say that they have nothing there, but it’s a below average pass rush. We know that 14 games into the season, I think it’s, I think that’s more than fair to say that at this point in time. So you’ve got to cover. So if you can add our Darius Washington to that picture in some shape or form, and again, I don’t think it’s going to be that he, you know, he’s not going to resume the role that he had last year. But I don’t think you’re, you know, first of all, I thought elohiy Gilman, you know, some of his for as much as we talked about, maybe his tackling kind of being the element of his game that leaves something to be desired. Thought he tackled well. I thought they, they tackled so well in the flats because it’s clear that they were trying to keep everything in front of them. And if you’re going to do that, you’ve got to tackle and I thought they did a really good job with that. Yeah, it helped that Cincinnati, a couple of their shots that they had, they didn’t necessarily take advantage of, but I thought, you know, with so much of that underneath stuff, I just thought they handled that very well. But you’ve got to cover. I mean, you’re just going to have to have to cover at a high level. And you know, we didn’t see that so much against Pittsburgh last week, and obviously it kind of broke down in the third quarter of the the first Bengals game, but we saw it for four quarters, obviously, when you’re talking about a shutout, so that was good to see, and they did it against a good quarterback, right? I mean, for as much as we can laugh about the Bengals and say, Oh, they’re the bungles. They’re four and 10, they’re out of the playoffs. They made Joe burrow look bad on Sunday. And okay, maybe some of that was his receivers. Maybe some of that is him and Chase, not being on the same page. Maybe some of that is how much time he’s missed. And, you know, it’s 10 degrees, and I don’t know. Maybe his foot was bothering him for all we know, but they made Joe burrow look really bad, and that’s something they have not done against the high level quarterback all year, right? I mean, best quarterback they had beaten to this point in the season had been Caleb Williams, I guess, you know, he’s not elite. I mean, the bears have been good, but he’s not elite. And you know, I mean whatever, whatever tua is at this point in his career, or in this

Nestor Aparicio  29:26

well, teams that can make adjustments, quarterbacks get up to the line of scrimmage and get themselves out of bad plays and into good plays. And that felt like Rogers, yeah, you know, I don’t know where Drake May is going to be on that, or Jordan loves going to be on that. Sort of younger quarterbacks in a very general sense, I don’t know Lamar is that guy, although he’s becoming that guy, and that was part of the Monken transition, was to give him more of the keys to the offense. As they would always say, keys to the offense means you get up to the line of scrimmage and you can diagnose what a defense is trying to do. And. And have two plays and get into the better play and make it work and make the other team pay for you, having done enough homework to know what they’re trying to do.

Luke Jones  30:12

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I’ve said it a few minutes ago, but it bears repeating. I mean, the Bengals showed Blitz, and John Harbaugh said in the post game it was right in their game plan to get into that play where Lamar hits Rashid Ali coming out of the backfield in the flat, no one covered him, and it’s touchdown, right? I mean, so that kudos to Lamar Jackson there right for all the talk about all the missed practice and how they haven’t looked very good situationally. I mean, we’ve talked so much about the red zone. We talked about how horrendous that two minute drive was at the end of the game last week against Pittsburgh. But, you know, they played. They played a very clean game overall. You know, zay flowers drop leading to the interception. Aside, Lamar threw high on that. You know, Andrews got his hands on it, which probably saved an interception. So, you know,

Nestor Aparicio  31:02

8

it wasn’t perfect, dusted off. I made mistakes, though, too. That’s what a shot exactly, right?

Luke Jones  31:06

And that’s the thing. And to your point, when it’s 10 degrees and the wind chill is below zero, you’re probably not going to play a perfectly clean football game, but they were pretty close high

Nestor Aparicio  31:17

marks for what? Yeah, it could be on a cold day in or a cold day in New England, or even a cold night in Green Bay a week, and after be a cold night in Baltimore this week, when they played the Patriots. And it was funny, you you said on Sunday night, Sunday night, that game’s been in my calendar at one o’clock for so long that I haven’t looked at my calendar in a week to look at it to see that it moved into the evening. But you know those two evening games, the coming up. They stand as sort of these. My week calendar, my Google Calendar, goes Sunday to Saturday. It’s in both. It’s in it’s in the calendar, both in one week. So you sense the crunch of Sunday night, Saturday night on the road in Green Bay and Christmas in between. Just they’ve gotten themselves into the position they need to be in, despite all the warts, despite all the problems, despite the injuries, despite the turnovers, despite the lack of pass rush, despite the lack of protection for Lamar, despite lamar’s injuries, all that they’re in a position to play a home playoff game in a couple of weeks to your point, your eyes lit up talking about their health and how good it’s been that they’ve been more healthy than other teams. We’re going to see Micah Parsons now, not on the field two weeks from now in Green Bay. That’s a big, big, big difference to a team that has struggled with the miles Garrett has struggled with having one guy wreck you and the number one game wrecker left on their calendar has exited. Yes, that’s a big win for them. That gives them a chance. And winning these games here, I don’t know what the combination is going to be lose this week, winning Green Bay got to beat Pittsburgh. Got to beat Pittsburgh. Oh, what’s Pittsburgh going to do next week? We’ll be watching all of that, but seeing them play good enough to win in January that that was an effort in Cincinnati, you know, again, against the team that whatever they are, and certainly with their defenses, but that, you know, that’s the kind of that’s what I need to see on the road on a cold day.

Luke Jones  33:23

Well, it’s a step in that direction. It’s heartening. Like I, like I said, I don’t want to. It took me a long time to get to where I was in the aftermath of the Pittsburgh game. You, you know how down I was on this football team this past week, and they deserved it, quite frankly. So one win over the bank goals doesn’t mean all is forgiven. And I’m back to where I thought, where they were week one, going in the Buffalo, right? But it’s got the arrow pointed in the right direction again, you know, compared to what happened these last couple weeks. And yeah, if you go, not if you go, if you play Sunday night at home win a prime time home game, which they haven’t, you know, they haven’t done this year, right? They’re zero for two and prime time home games, and you beat a team like the patriots, who were all trying to figure out just how great they are, right? They’re good, but are they good? Like Tom Brady era good and another dynasty’s loading, you know, with Drake may being a MVP candidate, or are they good, but haven’t really been tested, and if the Ravens can hand them another defeat, then everyone starts to doubt their viability. In terms of, like, are they a serious Super Bowl contender? And lo and behold, you’re saying, okay, all right, ravens, you’re back over 500 you’re in great position to play and win for the division title in week 18 and and suddenly, now you’ve got, you’ve got an eyeball test game, right? This game was better for the eyeball test, but. It’s still against a lesser opponent. But you go out and win Sunday night again, it doesn’t have to be 24 to nothing, you know, it can be 10 to nine, right? If, especially if your defense is going to play the way it did on Sunday, if you win that game, then all right, then we’re real. Then you’re starting to, you know, you’re cooking. Then then you’re starting to look like the kind of team that’s rounding into shape and getting hot at the right time, right? So, you know, you can’t, and some of this has to do with this football team, too. You’ve got to handle the success, right? They had a five game winning streak, and Cincinnati’s coming in on a short week, Thursday night game on Thanksgiving, and not Not that anyone necessarily thought the Ravens were going to beat him by five touchdowns or anything like that, but everyone was picking the Ravens in that game, and we saw what happened right now. Did they get complacent? Did they overlook them? Were they too? Did they? Had they gotten overconfident with a five game winning streak? That’s, I don’t know that, right? But the idea is you need to be able to handle success, right? It’s easy to talk about, you know, coming off of a loss and being motivated, but are you handling success? And you know, the last two weeks following a five game winning streak, didn’t really look like they had handled that too much, even though, like we said, it’s not like it had been this dominating five game winning streak that maybe they had in previous years with Lamar. But you know the idea that they dusted themselves off on Sunday and weathered kind of a slow start offensively and did what they did on the defensive side of the ball for four quarters. I mean, like I said, that was, that was encouraging, right? And doesn’t mean all is forgiven. I mean, they’re still seven and seven, they’re still, they’re still going to be playing, you know, these next two weeks, playing teams that have a better records than they do, right? I mean, that that’s not going to change, even with to

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Nestor Aparicio  36:49

me, there’s zero and zero if they’re playing January 10, sure. Honestly, you know, like, I can’t, I’m throwing the record out for them in a

Luke Jones  36:59

general but they have to get there. But what I’m saying is they have to get there, though, they have to accumulate enough wins, sure they have to get there. I mean, yeah, part of this also has to do with if they’re going to get there, that means they’ve won more football games along the way, and presumably, unless the other team, unless it’s just like, looks like two bad teams playing which week 18 might look that way, who knows? But otherwise, if you’re in a position where you have to get there, then, yeah, you’ve won, and you’ve done the heavy lifting in the same way we talked about this team when they were one in five, and at the time, the idea was they’re probably gonna have to win nine of 11. Right now, that might not prove to be the case if they end up getting in at nine and eight. And you know, you do the math of the next few weeks, and whatever happens with Pittsburgh these next few weeks, and and the Ravens, maybe nine and eight does it? But you know, they, they were always going to have to play to a certain level for you to really buy it, right? And you know, I’m not sitting here losing my head over a 24 nothing win over the Bengals, but it was a step up. There’s no question about that. They got a win. They got a win on the road. They got to win in extreme cold, and they did it with their defense, playing at a high level against the star quarterback, right? Regardless of Joe burrows, story of his season, he’s still Joe burrow, because we saw that a couple weeks ago, right? Beat him. So that was good to see. I’m just saying, Go do it again. If you want to start to start buying into it. Go do it again. Go beat the Patriots Sunday night, if you do that. Then, yeah, then, then I can start talking in more specific terms of January and being a viable viable not just getting in, but being a viable contender. And what is, yes, a very wide open AFC with good teams, but not like that proven Juggernaut, with Kansas City obviously being officially done well

Nestor Aparicio  38:55

this to give us a good chance to talk about Drake May and about Mike Vrabel and about patriots 2.0 or whatever this reload is in the Green Bay Packers without Micah Parsons and two games in six days and bright lights and big TV audiences and Lamar getting healthier, and maybe even the running game being able to run their way through January. Is Luke Jones. He is Baltimore Luke. He is out on the interwebs. I am going to be doing the Maryland crab cake tour twice this week. Once I get shoveled out of here, we will have candy cane scratch offs to give away. They’re going to smell really good. We’re going to be at Costas on Thursday. My middle school music teacher, Mr. Calvin stadium, is going to be joined by our friend, your friend and mine. My science teacher, Mr. George Shulman, who’s going to pick up Calvin, and we’re going to tell some old Dundalk stories. It’s going to be a Dundalk hootenanny. We’re going to be at Costas on Thursday. Gina shocks coming over, John Allen’s coming over. Gonna talk some rock and roll. We’re gonna sing some hits for Eddie Lauer. Gina and I called Ed Lauer last week and shocked him perfect. And Gina’s also had. Had open heart surgery when she was a younger woman and talking about that. So we’re gonna have, we’re gonna have a lot of heart it’s gonna be a heartening kind of week here. And then we’re gonna be Friday in the aorta of all the arts at gertrude’s on Friday, Dan Rodricks is gonna join us. I’ve got Casper wells, former major league baseball player, joining me on Friday at gertrudes as well. Just it, it’s going to be a great week. It’s already a great week. Johnny Oh stopping by this week. Dan Shaughnessy is coming by this week. Mark liebovich might, who wrote my favorite NFL book, big game, be a patriot fan. So he’s going to be coming on this week as well. He covers the Trump administration down in Washington for the New York Times. So great week here. We had a great week of crab cakes last week from DiPasquale’s and fadeleys. And then on Friday, I went to this really funky place in hail Thorpe called honeys. And Sumi made me these delicious it was like shrimpy toast, but it was crab toast, and it made me think of the coach, Charlie Eckman. So the holidays have been good. So far, we’re having a, you know, Trent dolfer And I held the Super Bowl. 35 trophy up to start the month. The ravens are back in this I’m having a hell of a month. It’s W, N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stopped talking Baltimore, positive holidays, the Christmas time and the Festivus for the rest of us. Ed, we hope you.