Rightfully holding head coach John Harbaugh accountable for the stench of this Ravens disaster

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh thinks Nestor “hates” him. Actually, we’re here as local media to hold him responsible as the head coach of the team for the pathetic effort in the aftermath of a 44-10 loss and the embarrassment of the stadium emptying out in the 3rd quarter. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the horrific showing – on and off the field in recent years – and all roads lead to the top of the organization.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ poor performance and lack of accountability. They highlighted the team’s 1-4 start, the fans’ frustration, and the need for better coaching and roster management. Specific issues included the defense’s inability to stop the run, the offense’s inconsistency, and the impact of injuries. They criticized the team’s handling of media and community relations, citing examples like the Justin Tucker incident. Nestor emphasized the need for accountability from John Harbaugh and Eric DeCosta, predicting a fall guy in Zach Orr. They also noted the importance of the bye week for self-scouting and potential roster changes.

• [ ] Assess the front office’s roster decisions and explore options to improve the team.
• [ ] Evaluate the coaching staff’s performance and consider potential changes.
• [ ] Improve communication and accountability within the organization, including with players, coaches, and the media.

Accountability and Media Credentials

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the topic of accountability within the Ravens organization, mentioning the poor performance against the Houston Texans.
• Nestor discusses the importance of media credentials, the owner, the coach, and the tight end leaving the team when the season goes awry.
• Nestor recounts an incident where a player went after a media member for saying the team lacks accountability.
• Nestor shares his experience of being thrown out by a PR director and documents it for the team’s management.

Luke Jones on Accountability and Team Performance

• Luke Jones emphasizes that accountability runs deeper than just media interactions, focusing on fixing issues behind closed doors.
• Luke mentions Kyle Van Noy’s hesitation to answer questions about accountability and suggests it might be due to the need for time to assess the situation.
• Nestor criticizes Van Noy for losing his train of thought and suggests he knows the team is incapable of winning with the current roster.
• Luke discusses the team’s struggles with running the ball, stopping the run, and getting pressure on the quarterback, highlighting the poor performance of the defense.

Challenges Faced by the Ravens Defense

• Luke Jones points out that the defense has been playing poorly even before recent injuries, with issues in stopping the run and getting pressure on the quarterback.
• Luke mentions the lack of takeaways by the defense, with only two takeaways through five games.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the team’s reliance on Cooper Rush and the need for a better backup quarterback.
• Luke highlights the importance of the bye week for self-scouting and making necessary changes to improve the team’s performance.

Fan Reactions and Team Morale

• Nestor and Luke discuss the fans leaving the game early and the empty seats during the Houston game.
• Nestor shares his experience of never seeing such a large number of fans leaving early in his 30 years of attending games.
• Luke acknowledges the fans’ frustration and the lack of fight shown by the team during the game.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of the team’s performance on player morale and trust within the team.

Accountability and Team Leadership

• Nestor criticizes the lack of accountability within the Ravens organization, mentioning the owner, the general manager, and the head coach.
• Nestor shares his experience of being treated unfairly by the team’s PR director and the media’s role in holding the team accountable.
• Luke Jones discusses the importance of accountability within the team and the potential consequences of a poor start to the season.
• Nestor and Luke debate the likelihood of John Harbaugh being fired and the potential fall guy, Zach Orr.

Impact of Injuries and Future Outlook

• Nestor and Luke discuss the significant impact of injuries on the team’s performance, with key players like Lamar Jackson, Roquan Smith, and Kyle Hamilton missing games.
• Luke highlights the need for better roster building and the potential for dynamic changes in the future.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of the bye week for self-scouting and making necessary adjustments to improve the team’s performance.
• Nestor emphasizes the need for the team to hold themselves accountable and make the necessary changes to avoid a poor season.

Community Perception and Team Reputation

• Nestor criticizes the team’s lack of community engagement and the owner’s focus on selling PSLs and corporate memberships.
• Nestor shares his experience of being treated unfairly by the team’s PR director and the media’s role in holding the team accountable.
• Luke Jones discusses the importance of community engagement and the potential impact on the team’s reputation.
• Nestor and Luke debate the likelihood of John Harbaugh being fired and the potential fall guy, Zach Orr.

Final Thoughts and Future Plans

• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of accountability within the Ravens organization and the potential consequences of a poor start to the season.
• Nestor shares his plans for the Maryland crab cake tour and upcoming events, including rescheduling a guest due to his birthday.
• Luke highlights the importance of the bye week for self-scouting and making necessary adjustments to improve the team’s performance.
• Nestor and Luke conclude the discussion by emphasizing the need for the team to hold themselves accountable and make the necessary changes to avoid a poor season.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Ravens performance, accountability, John Harbaugh, injuries, defense struggles, media credentials, fan frustration, Kyle Van Noy, roster building, bye week, community engagement, coaching staff, player trust, playoff chances, stadium attendance.

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SPEAKERS

Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio, Speaker 1

Nestor Aparicio  00:02

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T am 1570 tacit Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, positively, getting you ready for the rams and the Ravens, but picking up the residue of just a horrible, horrible beat down on Sunday at the hands of the Houston Texans, we are getting the Maryland crab cake tour out on the road, all of it presented by our friends at the Maryland lottery. Have these, these sort of, these Matt Raven scratch offs. I kind of like these. They were lucky batch. We were down at fayley’s Lexington market. I gave them out. People are digging them. We’re having a good time. We’re going to be at Cocos in a couple of weeks. We’re rescheduling Costas because it’s my birthday week this week, till times get better. Half Price beer for the whole city. I’m just making that up. Luke Jones is here. He is a Baltimore Luke out on the interwebs. We have, we’ve talked about this, the fans leaving the game early, and how bad it was and how nice the weather was, and how awful the second string looked on Sunday. And Luke, I want to talk about accountability in this segment. This is people are going to get a little itchy, and because I’m going to talk about media credentials, and I’m going to talk about the owner, and I’m going to talk about the coach, and I’m going to talk about tight end slipping out the back door when the season goes awry. And just in a general sense, accountability came up in the post game, and I know you were in the room when Kyle van Nestor was asked, and there was a pregnant pause, and he had to think about it, and then he couched the answer the way he needed to couch the answer, maybe on the Aaron Rodgers show, or the muscle guy from Indianapolis, I don’t know, man, like I’m not around there, which fill in your own punchline. I covered the team for 27 years. Off the bus. I was thrown out by a really, really horrible PR director who had no accountability in front of everyone. I documented it for all of them. I actually regurgitated it to Eric, to Costa and John Harbaugh last week with mixed results after one of their players went after one of the media members for saying that they weren’t accountable. It was an ugly week at practice last week. I can’t imagine it’s going to get better this week.

Luke Jones  02:21

Luke, no, it’s not. And look, I mean, accountability runs far more, far deeper and far more consequential than talking to us media guys for 15 minutes after the game. 1,000,000% that’s bare minimum. You’re right. You know, that’s the front facing part, which I’m not they can’t even get they haven’t gotten that right, but even poor at that. But in terms of what’s really going to matter for a football team, fixing it, you know, in terms of players playing better, coaches coaching better, everyone getting on the same page, assessing blame, but more so figuring out solutions that’s done behind closed doors. So I would say this, and you made mention, specifically Kyle van Nestor was asked about accountability. I will also say this, having covered him a few years now, he is apt to think about it at the podium for a few seconds, you know, with certain questions. So I don’t want to make too much of that specific instance and and say and jump to the conclusion that, oh, well, that means they’re not accountable. Or he’s saying certain individuals aren’t well, he

Nestor Aparicio  03:34

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lost his whole train of thought and said, What was your question at once, like in the aftermath of the game, for a veteran player who’s only here to win a Super Bowl, who’s now one in four, this is and he knows they’re incapable of winning, right he knows they’re no good. He knows better than anybody. He knows better than anybody in the room. They’re no good right now, and they can’t win with Cooper rush, and they can’t run the ball right now against the good team. They’re not what a bad way

Luke Jones  04:01

they’re in, and they’re not stopping the run, and they haven’t gotten the past. You know, they haven’t gotten pressure on anyone that wasn’t a statue in Joe. I hate this. I feel like I’m picking on Joe Flacco so much, but like, that’s literally the only point of reference you can talk about in terms of any success for the defense, right? I mean, least the offense has put up points. It’s just been this very Jekyll and high kind of, I mean, the defense has been playing bad. That’s why I reject just chalking it up to injuries, because they weren’t playing well, even before some of these veteran, you know, including some of these veteran players themselves, not playing well. But how do you fix it? And how do you get yourselves functioning at a higher level. I mean, for me, and again, this is where Sunday was so alarming. It’s not that they lost, it’s the way it looked. Right, if they lost by seven, that they lost by 10, I don’t even say way it looked. I’d say the way it felt. I mean, the way it looked, the way it felt, the way it you know, the way it’s. Grounded, I guess, after the game more. So just, I think guys just did not have many answers. I mean, I I like the fact that guys weren’t so eager to say, well, you solved who was missing, right? I mean, we didn’t have Lamar What do you you know, you didn’t hear that. We didn’t have roquan Smith, we didn’t have Kyle Hamilton. You didn’t hear that. We all know that that’s a major part of this, you know, where, let’s not be completely unfair, amidst all the frustration that’s completely reasonable, and questions that are very reasonable to ask, but you do question how you fix it, and that’s where, that’s where, I think, where van Noy is coming from here, in terms of, you know, when he asked, he was asked if there’s been enough accountability after recent losses, and he said, That’s a good question. I think maybe you can answer that better after the week, you know. And I think I don’t know if he’s talking just in terms of how we respond, you know, speaking as Kyle van Nestor in terms of, okay, how do we respond against the Rams, what changes do we make at the bye? Because we know the bye week is following that, and that tends to be a time when players might get away, but the coaches really tend to drill down on self scouting, and generally speaking, in these parts, you’re talking about what has worked, because the Ravens so rarely are in this kind of one in four territory that they find themselves right now. But you’re also trying to figure out, okay, what hasn’t worked, what, what tendencies do we need to break here? What’s something that we need to pivot and do more of, what’s something we found that we’re actually good at? And, you know, we need to lean into that a little more and a little less of what we have been trying to do. I mean, all that takes place at the buy and it’s not to say that the bye week is when miracles are performed, right? I mean, there’s certain elements of this football team, like the pass rush, for example, like the fact that you’re going to have a defensive line that, by the way, had Travis Jones and Kyle van Nestor back on Sunday, right? I mean, as much as we can talk about the secondary and roquan Smith being out their defensive line, okay, you’ll get Broderick Washington back, but Nnamdi Mada BK is not walking through that door. So that kind of sort is the group you’re going to have. So boy, you either need to figure it out with those guys, or Eric da Costa needs to go make a move, because that group’s not even close to being good enough right now. But you know that that’s where I think van Noy was coming from, a little bit more than necessarily, it being a direct attack on a lack of accountability. But I don’t know, like, I can’t read his mind, right? He’s a veteran player who’s clearly frustrated. To your point, he’s in the, you know, the November of his career, Thanksgiving of his career at best. You know, even it might be closer to Christmas. You know, if you’re going to use the calendar, uh, metaphor, and you know, he went into this season thinking that he had a really great chance to win. I mean, we all thought that, right? I mean, we all thought that this no one thought they’re gonna be one in four. I mean, so, yeah, the injuries are a big part of it. And as I’ve said, the silver lining, and I’ll continue to point it out, because it is extremely valid, is that they’re going to get guys back. You’d like to think you have the personnel to do this. I mean, all the talk about your roster, and, you know, even though it’s funny, I I saw someone make reference to this, you know, and it might have been during the Sunday night game, as the bills were losing, but Marv levy had the had the quote that, you know, depth is a great thing until you need to use it. Well, the ravens, they’ve kind of found the answer out, you know, found out the answer to that one up here, over, you know, certainly against Houston. But, you know, they’ve got to find answers. You’ve the offense. It’s kind of easy right now to look and say, okay, clearly, there’s a major drop off when you go from Lamar Jackson to Cooper rush. And clearly they need to get more consistent, but there’s more there’s a much higher baseline to go off of. I mean, there’s, I think there’s still sixth or seventh in the league in scoring. I mean, it’s clear the offense hasn’t been like this miserable unit from start to finish, right? I mean, it’s just been they haven’t been able to sustain drives when it’s been good, it’s been great, but they’ve also had these stretches where they’ve really faltered at some critical times, the defense has just been playing bad for all but one game, right? I mean, it’s, that’s where you look at it and say, Where’s the base, how are we raising the floor here? How are we raising the baseline, right? I mean, that’s, that was a big part of what they did last November when they finally said, Okay, we’re done with Marcus Williams in the starting lineup. As much as we love playing Kyle Hamilton all over the field and closer to the line of scrimmage, we’ve got to elevate the floor of our past defense, so we’re going to put Kyle Hamilton back in a more conventional safety spot, even if that means he’s not going to make the same splash plays. We think we’re going to remedy giving up big plays, and we’re going to put our Darius Washington into the lineup every snap, because he’s played well, and boom, before you know it, they’re playing much better, albeit. And I’ve seen a few people point this out here over the last couple of weeks, they didn’t necessarily play a juggernaut Slater of offenses late last year, so. So maybe there was a hint of some smoke and mirrors going on there. You know that that it wasn’t this elite unit suddenly, but it was just merely better. And you know, I’ll hear that to a point, but they also, you know, held the Texans to two points on, you know, the defense pitched a shutout against the Texans on Christmas Day last year. And it’s not like the Texans were complete stiff so, but wherever they are right now. I mean, you’ve got to start by you’ve got to start being able to stop the run somewhat at least. You’ve got to find a way to harass quarterbacks a little bit more. And I don’t know exactly what that answer is, Nestor, you know, I think one point that I look at with their coverage is back end. They’re trying to not have the ball thrown over their head to the degree that it did last year. And they haven’t necessarily given up a ton of huge plays like that, but they can’t get off the field on third down, right? So at some point you have to look at this and say, well, you’re still giving up 35 points a game. Maybe it’s been a little more death by paper cut than you know to play three plays 80 yard kind of draw, and they’ve

Nestor Aparicio  11:16

mixed a couple of field goals in there, but a couple 50 yard field.

Speaker 1  11:20

At some point you have to question that and say, Do you know we’re not making stops anyway? Well, you’re not making the other team punt. Let’s start with that. So, so do you have to maybe look at this and say, maybe we do need to take a few more chances and that look, it might end up being just as bad, but this isn’t working right. This off coverage, keeping everything like it’s still not working, right? So you can say all you want, well, we don’t want to get beat over the top. Well, you’re still getting beat overall, so maybe you do need to blitz a little more. Maybe we have different quarterbacks coming up here who can’t beat you over the top, or don’t have systems. Jake Browning’s not going to beat you over the top, right? So March Chase, but, yeah, okay, but I think it has been different the last month, when it’s golfing mahomes, you know, and even CJ Stroud, he’s no slouch, by the way, he’s not but he he also wasn’t playing at a very high level. I mean, he going back to last year, hasn’t, you know, you look at where he finished off his rookie season. I mean, Let’s call a spade a spade. The ravens are a get well opponent at this point. On defense, at the very least. I mean, my goodness, how could they

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Luke Jones  12:27

again, Joe Flacco and the browns, all right, I’ll give you that one Sure. Defense, two takeaways. You know, they harass Joe Flacco because he can’t

Nestor Aparicio  12:35

move. You know, that’s two more than the Jets, who have the worst in the history of the game, or something like that. So, yeah, it’s not that far off

Luke Jones  12:41

well, but that’s their Ravens. Only takeaways are the two in that game, though, the Wiggins interception and the role,

Nestor Aparicio  12:47

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there’d be a peanut punch in there somewhere, right, somewhere, somewhere. I mean, you’d like to think that, and, well, they put no pressure on the quarterback at all. There’s been no I mean, I’ve never seen anything quite like this, especially in a month when I actually touched John Dutton and Joe irman, you know, sex pack. I mean,

Luke Jones  13:07

they’ve had, it’s, they were middle of the pack and takeaways last year. I mean, two years ago, they led the league in takeaways, right? I mean, with Mike McDonald. But last year, obviously it dropped off. And this year, I mean, you know, again, they have, they have two takeaways through five games. I mean, I don’t need to, you know, you don’t need to be a math genius to figure out that that’s not very many. I mean, you’re talking about a single digits pace for turnovers for a season. So Well,

Nestor Aparicio  13:35

let’s talk about accountability here, because I really did want to talk about that again, and for me, I would just say this on accountability. Harbaugh getting screamed at, coming off the field and fire, John Harbaugh, who has three years left on his deal, and who is the son to the owner and the general manager, who’s going nowhere, both of them, will do what they did to me in the Garden of Eden down there in Florida right five minutes before Chad steel threw me out after 27 years of doing my job on behalf of the fans and asking tough questions and holding these people accountable, they’re injured. You know, like it’s it’s so easy for John Harbaugh and Eric Decosta to say, the six Highest Paid guys aren’t on the field. We’re going to get our ass kicked. Have you seen Cooper rush? We’re going to get our ass kicked. It’s easy for you and me to say, get a better backup quarterback. Figure out left tackle. Maybe you shouldn’t have given roquan All that money four years ago when Luke said you shouldn’t have maybe, you know, I don’t go on and on. Maybe Jair Alexander wasn’t a great band aid for you, or a great clubhouse guy. Maybe he wasn’t a great chemistry guy for you. I don’t know. We can go on and on and on and on, but somebody’s ass is getting fired for this, and I’m guessing it’s going to be Zach Orr. And I’m guessing. Guessing that that’s going to be what accountability for a franchise that’s looked the other way on a running back punching his wife in a glass elevator, an owner who has evaporated a PR director that has gone around basically intimidating everyone in the media. I’m just the one that gave him a middle finger and said, We’re not going to play that. You’re not going to tell me what questions I’m going to ask in press conferences and tell me what I can and can’t say on a radio station that I’ve spent my whole life buying and owning from the FCC, as well as to an audience that I owe absolute reality, absolute truth to. I had some jack wagon on my Facebook over the weekend telling me I had somebody actually living classroom say I was too harsh. I’m like on what on the fascist who’s locking up people to look like me with masks or on the or on the head coach is making $20 million a year, who seeded the whole notion that I should be on the internet having my credibility question. So when it comes to accountability for them, from Ray Rice through Justin Tucker through how they treat the media, just all the way through how they deal with turmoil, how they don’t show up at podiums when their season ends. In Mark Andrews, but they can make commercials how their quarterback once told a man in Pennsylvania to perform fellatio on him, and it sat up on Twitter for five days until his until lamar’s girlfriend told him to take it down, like to drafting a second round pass rusher whom they need right now, who is not capable at this point of getting after the quarterback who had two sexual assault allegations in college and signing a lineman in bank Cleveland, who went out drinking, driving, allegedly, and then they give them a pile of money and say, Come on back in like they’ve had. They have no accountability. I held the head coach accountable last week. I’ll make that public in my time, maybe this week. I don’t know it feels like piling on when you stink as bad as they do, but they are professionals. They are being paid just like you and me are professionals and holding them accountable. You are allowed professional access. I’m treated like I have a different water fountain out back. And this is who they are. This is who they’ve been through the Justin Tucker thing. This is how they are inside of their own building as it as it pertains to women, and as it pertains to power, and as it pertains to being right all the time and being above the fray and above any criticism. That guy, Sashi Brown’s been running around making a million dollars a year for a couple years now, a couple million dollars a year, and hasn’t had to answer a real question. You know, so top down and shot, he’s running. He ran for me, and you witnessed it. You were the only one that witnessed it, but you witnessed it. So I would just say, accountability. Where art thou?

Luke Jones  18:03

Well, we’re gonna find out. We’re gonna find out. I mean, if there is none, then they’re probably not gonna climb out of a one in four hole, right? And then they’re gonna be dealing with a half empty stadium down the stretch, right? I mean,

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Nestor Aparicio  18:16

was that a shitty look? I mean, whoa. Oh oh, my God. Like when they turn 10 minutes left in the third quarter, it’s half empty. Nobody came back after halftime. By the time was three minutes left in the third quarter, it was worse than any preseason game I have ever seen. And I’m thinking to myself, what would make me walk out? Well, I’m a reporter, Chad, so I would stay in the seat that I paid for until the end, and then come down to the locker room and ask questions on the behalf of the citizens, on behalf of the fans, on behalf of your club, club, black wing, platinum, whatever the hell it is end zone, touchdown, goal post, premium lounge crowd. They were gone too. Even the free buffeting. Keep Moran, I guess I’ve eaten the food so I know better.

Luke Jones  19:14

Well. I mean, for me, look fans leaving early in a game like that. I mean, it’s beautiful day go. You know, all I’m saying is

Nestor Aparicio  19:22

I’ve never seen it. That’s in the history of 30 years. I’ve never seen anything like that on Sunday, never, never. I mean, I go back to Jacksonville, ass kickings in 98

Luke Jones  19:33

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2007 Sunday night, lost to the Colts. I left that game early as a fan. And I never left games early. Sunday night game getting their butts kicked embarrassed. You know, there have been a few, but you talk about the bowler when they cheered bowler getting hurt. I don’t know that was two years before. I’m talking about, I’m talking about the Sunday night game lost to the Colts the week after they lost to the Patriots. Gotcha, I remember that one? Yeah, back. I mean, they got completely massacred in that game. It it was, you. Know, the Patriots game the week before was custer’s last stand, by the

Nestor Aparicio  20:04

way, that was the year that the Feinstein wrote the book.

Luke Jones  20:08

No, that was on the, that was on the Oh, four season. I thought,

Nestor Aparicio  20:11

okay, they lost a couple of bad games. That was this Pittsburgh. It’s rare. It’s rare, right? And I was

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Luke Jones  20:16

just, you know, I wasn’t, I wasn’t poking holes in your argument as much as just acknowledging it’s been a couple, but not many. A couple, but not many. For me, it’s, it’s not, it wasn’t the fans leaving. It was, there’s the fans that never like

Nestor Aparicio  20:28

by the way, you’re also talking about all the stuff that got Billick fired in the end, sure,

Luke Jones  20:32

but, but for me, it was, it was the empty seats that stayed empty from pregame on through. I mean, there, there were no shows. Now, it wasn’t, you know, wasn’t like 40,000 no shows, but it was noticeable. Secondary Market was what it was. And obviously, Houston’s not a team that has a lot of juice.

Nestor Aparicio  20:49

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I think some people put $39 up on their ticket. They weren’t going to get 40 bucks. They were

Luke Jones  20:53

just going to eat it. And they ate, yeah, and they went to a brewery, or they did something else on Sunday, because they’re lawn beautiful, October, Sunday afternoon in the Baltimore area. So, like, you know, I certainly get it, you know, but it also speaks to the state of affairs. It was a

Nestor Aparicio  21:08

look, that’s all I’m saying. It was a visual that was stunning.

Luke Jones  21:12

I mean, there was that, and just the way they played, right? I mean, again, as I said, it’s not that they lost, it’s the manner in which it occurred. It’s the utter lack of fight that they showed that that’s what was eye opening. That’s what was illuminating here. And that’s where you question, okay, are you going to get off the mat here? Are you going to Yes, you’ll, you’ll get healthy. But that doesn’t mean you’re not going to have more injuries as the season goes on. And you know, do you get into a spot where guys start to lose trust in either one another or their coaches, do guys start making business decisions, right? I mean, and it’s too early to talk about in those terms, when you’re one four, but if one in four somehow becomes, you know, is two and seven, and you get some more injuries right

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Nestor Aparicio  21:58

out of the after the I would say Kyle van Noy does not want to play on a two and seven football, sure.

Luke Jones  22:03

I mean, Kyle van Noy alluded, over the summer, alluded to the fact that he didn’t love his contract, even being on a team that he fancied as a serious Super Bowl contender, right? And look, part of that is also Kyle van Noyes at a certain age. And God bless, he had a career year in terms of sacks. But, you know, this isn’t someone who’s a seven time Pro Bowl player, or someone like Terrell Suggs with 100 plus career sacks. So, so, you know, there’s, there’s a certain recognition there of him needing to understand where he is in his career, and how’s your

Nestor Aparicio  22:35

wrestling. Know your role? Yeah, I mean, a little bit, but, but that said, but his role as the leader, coming out and talking about this on Sunday in the really, the first meaningful time he’s gotten on the field for the you know, like, this is my point being nobody signed up for two and seven around nobody. Derek Henry, putting his very valuable body on the line two and 70 miles, kept his ass in Tennessee, ran around in an Oilers jersey.

Luke Jones  23:02

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Yeah, I mean, so so they’ve got, I mean, there’s a lot of soul searching going on, you know, for this week, and especially then the bye week, right? I mean, we talked about it last week, you know, in the aftermath of Lamar leaving the game, the uncertainty early in the week before it became apparent by Friday that he wasn’t going to play, and then ultimately, they rolled them out anyway, but we talked about the ramifications of one in five, right? And that’s why, to me, it was, it felt so important for them to try to figure out some kind of way to win this football game so that you could at least guarantee yourself two and four at the bye week, right? I mean, two and four doesn’t feel great. Don’t get me wrong, even if the Ravens somehow pull off a win against the Rams on Sunday, two and four doesn’t feel good at all, but it’s a heck of a lot better than one in five. You know, one in five feels eerily similar to how the Ravens or how the Orioles felt Memorial Day weekend, right? I mean, the Orioles were 16 and 34 and never recovered, never seriously recovered at any point. You know, they had their little run in early June that got to 11 under and you thought, Okay, if they can really start playing great baseball from this point on, there’s a path never happened, that one in five feels like that. And how many times during baseball season were we talking about, oh, well, you know, once they get this guy back, or they get this guy back and, you know, Bradish and wells and all right, I mean, those things that even the things that did happen late in the season, like Bradish and wells coming back, didn’t matter mathematically. They were cooked. They had already been sellers all that. When you’re one in five, I get it. There’s 11 games left after that. You know, Stranger things have happened in the realm of professional sports. But, man, there’s no margin for error whatsoever. I mean, there’s you’ve got to go on a heck of a run just to hope to. Maybe get to 10 wins, you know, forget about 13 and four, or dreams of being the number one seed, although point out buffalo lost on Sunday night. You know, no more unbeatens in the NFL through five weeks, which is on the quick side it feels like compared to most seasons. But, I mean, that’s not what the season was supposed to be about. You know, circling the wagons just to make the playoffs. It’s not what this is supposed to be about. Standards supposed to be way higher than that at this point in time. And that’s where, yeah, we do come back to the accountability question. And you and you have to question, you know, is the message getting stale with John Harbaugh on this coaching staff, is Eric to Costa, doing everything he can from a roster building standpoint. I mean, let’s face it, they basically ran it back right. I mean, they, they basically, they came as close as you can come to running it back right. And, you know, okay, every team drafts players. So throw that, throw the draft picks out for a moment, right, regardless of the quality of those guys or not. And I’m, you know, I see some fans that are really down on Malachi Starks, like, let’s, let’s wait, let this play out. I mean, Kyle Hamilton, five games into his NFL career, people were calling that a bust. And how dumb.

Nestor Aparicio  26:10

Well, especially when everything around us get you know, he’s up back there with Ed Reed and Ray Lewis right now,

Luke Jones  26:17

but in, but in terms of what they did in free agency or via trade. Okay, I’ll hear DeAndre Hopkins. DeAndre Hopkins looks good, right? Was it their absolute biggest need? I mean, you know, they threw the ball all over the place last year at a high degree, so, you know. But I’m not, I’m certainly not going to criticize that signing for $5 million he’s been as good as you could have reasonably expected. Jair Alexander has been a zero. I mean, to your point, I mean the most notable things he’s his most notable aspects as a raven so far, or are getting completely picked on at the end of the Buffalo game and taking away the ball from someone because he was mad he did the Ray Lewis dance after a touchdown on Sunday. I mean, and look, in the grand scheme of things, I don’t care that much about that, but you know, how about being good enough that your coaches want to put you on the field? I mean, I, I get it. They didn’t give him much money, and we talked about that, but he’s been a, he’s been a zero so far. I mean, he’s been a net negative based on the Buffalo game alone, right? I mean, not, not you know what amount he played on Sunday was kind of inconsequential, right? But, I mean, he’s been a net negative and he was on paper. Look to be your, your high profile signing, you know, your high profile addition to your defense, albeit it’s a one year deal. I get that, but did Eric Decosta need to be a little more dynamic in how he built this roster? Right? I mean, we, we all made assumptions. And, you know, I also go back to John Harbaugh, and I think he has attributed it to Bo Schembechler, even though multiple coaches have said this over the years, that you’re either getting better or you’re getting worse. You’re not staying the same. And you know, from a roster standpoint, you know there wasn’t dynamic change, and I’m not saying like needed to be radical, but they didn’t go out and get a high profile, established pass rusher, right, which felt like one of those missing piece type deals you could make. They didn’t sign a number three veteran safety, as I was clamoring for from the moment they lost our Darius Washington, right, which was mid May. It’s not as though that happened in on August 30. There were options out there, including options that didn’t cost a lot of money. So, you know, you kind of go down the list, and yeah, I am going to question the roster building, and I am going to QUESTION John Harbaugh’s coaching and his staff, right? And wondering if, if the message is getting stale, in some ways, that doesn’t mean that that automatically means they’re going to go five and 12, and he’s automatically should be fired or anything. But when you’re one in four, these things have to be asked. John likes to talk about confronting failure, right, confronting losing, right? I mean, he

Nestor Aparicio  29:03

can’t even confront me and look at me, dude. So, I mean, I, you know, he listen. I, I shipped him off a note last week before they lost. Like, accountability, that’s the theme of all of this accountability for all of them. Mark Andrews can’t go to a podium. They can’t get Jair Alexander in line, you know. I mean, they can’t get their owner to answer questions. They can’t get their team president to answer questions. So I would just say accountability all the way around is something that they have an answer for their kicker, yeah, you know, so they just, they usually don’t have to answer questions, and they say, look, look, look, we’re going to win next week. We’re going to win next week. What happens when you don’t win next week? Because they’ve done a lot of winning around here that sanitized everything, like Lamar coming here, really, you know, changed a lot of things for John. Our balls trajectory. Eric Decosta, all of that, and the way it’s worked out, and it’s no accident. I give John a lot of credit, although he thinks I hate him, John, I don’t hate you. I don’t hate anyone. I hold you accountable. I don’t hate you. I’m holding you accountable right now. Accountability is my theme for the week for these people for all of them, hot down, shotty down, all of them.

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Luke Jones  30:24

And I would say, to be very clear, the same is true of Brett Veatch, and we don’t think of Andy Reid as this major genius that they don’t draft Patrick mahomes, right? I mean, there’s great coaches, great executives, great football teams are always going to be married to the to the players that lead to success, right? And it’s a, it’s a give take. We wouldn’t remember Bill Walsh in the way we do if the 40 Niners didn’t draft Joe Montana, right? I mean, Brady and Belichick, right? I mean, go down the list. I mean, so that’s not that shouldn’t be meant as a way of being dismissive of John Harbaugh and Eric to Costa, they deserve credit for their part, and the same way that Lamar Jackson was a transcendent talent that a lot of people really got wrong, and a lot of people show their you know what, in how they viewed him. And even you know that lingers a little bit in some circles even today. I mean, not not like it did seven years ago, but but at the same time, when you are faced with the the amount of adversity that they’re facing right now, in terms of, yes, the injuries in the short term, but just the ramifications of getting off to a one in four start and staring down the down the barrel of one in five going into the buy and understanding what the math entails to climb out of that kind of hole the rest of the way? Yeah, we’re going to find out about that accountability piece piece, not not, not necessarily, in a front facing way, but the results on the field, right? I mean, you know everything you’re talking about. I’m not being dismissive of that, but there certainly has been a level of accountability on the field and to each other, because you wouldn’t have results like they’ve had over the long haul without being accountable to one another behind closed doors and inside the facility, inside the meeting rooms, inside the locker room, right? That’s been one of my biggest rejections of this idea that the Ravens have won in spite of John Harbaugh for 18 years to the degree that they have. If he were truly as incompetent as his biggest critics make him out to be, they would not win football games at the level that they won them. Now that doesn’t mean he’s beyond reproach. That doesn’t mean that there’s been flaws and fatal flaws to contributed to the downfall of this team in January, right? I mean, I’ll hear all that, but just this idea that John horrible is just this idiot that they’ve they’ve dragged to victories for 18 years now, like

Nestor Aparicio  32:48

dude horrible thinking that I hate him. I have never opened this microphone, never once in 18 years, and suggested that John Harbaugh be fired. And guess what? I’m not going to do that today because he’s not getting fired, but the owner thinks of him like his son. He’s got three years left on his deal. John’s not getting fired. John’s going to find a fall guy, because that’s what he does. So Zach Gore is going to be out the side door. He’s going to give you somebody’s head, because it’s not going to be his, because that’s not the way this organization works. It’s just not and if Zach Gor gets fired next week, this week, at the end of the year, whatever pagano John goes out and finds the next Mike McDonald, it’s genius, which was what he thought he had in Zach or there’s no way Zach Gore is going to be a genius with Matt apique out. Jones, injured, roquan Smith, missing, Marlon Humphrey, missing, Nate Wiggins, Gympie, no pass rush. He didn’t have the ingredients. He didn’t he didn’t shop for the groceries. So like the beating on Zach or have at it. John’s gonna fire somebody. It ain’t gonna be John, and I’m not here to fire John. I’m here to hold John accountable.

Luke Jones  34:06

Fair enough. That’s it. The point I was trying to finish was I will continue to this day to reject the notion that John Harbaugh is this incompetent idiot that the Ravens have been dragging to 11 and 12 win you know, 1011, 12 win seasons for all but a couple years of his entire tenure.

Nestor Aparicio  34:30

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He’s a hell of a football coach. I’ve said that a million times. What? How are they?

Luke Jones  34:34

And I generally speaking agree with you, but if this completely goes off the rails, I don’t know. And look, you might be right about Steve bishati there, but if this completely goes off the rails, and the injuries don’t relent, and they go six and 11, I don’t know. I don’t know, I really start to question then, if it has run its

Nestor Aparicio  34:58

Well, I’ll tell you what Steve didn’t. Like at all. Steve doesn’t like an empty stadium

Luke Jones  35:02

well and that and but that’s, that’s, that’s the byproduct. But Steve doesn’t

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Nestor Aparicio  35:06

have a head coach that recruits the community. He has a fraud up in front of this, not A, not a real community. I mean, look, I sat in the office with David Modell 25 years ago. I wrote it in Purple Rain. What they wanted in their coach. The coach is not in the modern era here to talk to the community or recruit the community. All that was built in with all the PSLs that were in, John was not hired to be out at the barn on Monday nights, hanging out and being nice to the people who actually fund all of this in the PSL. I mean, they are a corporate I mean, they’re sleazy operation in many, many, many capacities, and I’ve written about it. See Tucker, see, just in a general sense, how they’ve treated the media behind closed doors and in front, in front facing. So like I’ve I’ve seen how they feel about guys with character issues and whether they’ll draft them, whether they’ll put them on the team, whether they’ll cover for them or not. So for me, this has only been about one thing, winning football games. That’s it. That’s and you would say that’s all they’re about anyway. Okay, great. They’re not about the community, that about Baltimore. They’re not about recruiting. They’re they’re about selling black win memberships, much more so than $39 tickets, like I’ll playing games in Madrid, playing games in Brazil. I get all of that, but at the end of the day, John’s job is not to be front facing to anyone in the community. So and, and quite frankly, he’s salty in your presence, in my presence. There were times I get my whole day up drive over to Owings Mills the year 12 minutes, or what he has to say, and he acts like a jerk, and, and, and that’s gone on. And the fans have seen this. Fans have seen this. So when the fans turn on him and are booing him in an empty stadium, and the fans are leaving the stadium, and the fans are calling the fan and lighting up the phone lines with fire, John. Fire. John, this is not going to be the fire John network. It’s just not. It’s just not. If Steve wants to fire John, he’ll fire John. I don’t believe that will happen. I don’t even believe that maybe should happen. I think they have an ethos issue. I think they have an account of I don’t think I know they have an accountability issue. I have firsthand experience with this. I’m a professional. I’ve been doing this longer than anybody in the market. I they have an accountability power God issue. They think they’re God, they think they have power. They think they’re above accountability. And then the stadium empties out. The coach gets yelled at, and I’m getting texts from him asking me why I hate him. If I hated you, John, I’d be calling through you get fired every day. It’s not who I am, and I don’t believe you’re getting fired. I do believe you’re a fraudulent individual, John, and I would tell you that to your face, behind your back, but you’re hell of a football coach. Now, what’s going on now, Luke, if it was just you and me and I were protecting John, it’d be very easy to talk about these injuries and say that does them in, because I think at the top of the day, these injuries would do them in. I didn’t think they were going to beat the Texans. But to your point, the effort the post game. Do we believe in ourselves? The coach coming in like a church mouse after they get their ass kicked and acting like a diff, like the godly human he portrays himself to be, as opposed to the jerk he’s been to me, behind and in front of closed doors. And if anybody saw the Brent Harris preseason thing, it’s more garden variety John, as I know it to be. So I would just say John’s gonna have to deal with everybody else swirling to get him fired. I’m not the one looking to get John fired, but I’m saying they’ve they’ve burned up goodwill when people are walking out of the stadium and they don’t believe a word any of them says, nor should they believe a word that said, because I’m skeptical of most of what’s said around there and done around there, because I’ve been thrown out so and they would throw you out, or anybody else out, if they could. So, so to me, accountability when Mark Andrews doesn’t show up at a podium after they lose, it just in general, what accountability stands for? I would have said that had they won 44 to 10 on Sunday. I’ve been saying that for a long time that they lack accountability. And the Justin Tucker thing this offseason, my God. I mean, it smells to high hell. All of it 10 years ago. Nobody knew Sure.

Luke Jones  39:49

Well, maybe this is all that catching up to them then. I mean, you know you’re, you know you’re,

Nestor Aparicio  39:55

injuries are what’s done them in I mean, I’ll start at that. They don’t have great football.

Luke Jones  40:00

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They’re defensive. The defense is stunk. Injuries are not widest defense. The defense stunk in the fourth quarter in Buffalo, okay, congratulations. You beat the Cleveland Browns. They stunk against Detroit, when Matta BK and Van Noy were the only ones missing, they had all those other guys. They had everyone but those guys for Kansas City, until late in the second and late in the second quarter when roquan Smith and Marlon Alfred go out. So they, they stunk in that game. They stunk. Sunday, I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  40:32

well, the evaluation of Marcus Williams stunk. The coaching of Marcus Williams stunk. The coaching of the linebackers and the evaluation of Simpson and Buchanan, he’s so, I mean, I mean, but, but also, the evaluation on matabeca is good trade for roquan Smith, really good Eric. Good job drafting Wiggins and Starks remains to be seen, right? So, I mean it, we’re trying to be fair. And like being fair to Michael ice to say, Well, you’re the village idiot for, I don’t know, thinking Charlie Martin could do it, but you look like a genius with Trevor Rogers, if we just give it a little bit of time, so time and energy will sort out Wiggins and Starks and, you know, the younger guys, but where they are right now as a Super Bowl component team, right now, they’re one in four, And they’ve earned it.

Luke Jones  41:19

They’ve they’re very lacking in critical ways, right? It doesn’t mean that it’s going to continue to be that way. I mean, look, in reality, do I think they’re going to go four and 13 this year? Of course not. You know, in the same way that when the Orioles were 16 and 34 I didn’t think that they were going to lose 110 games, right? Which was, I think, right around what that pace was at that point, I’m just off the top of my head, whatever it was, but you’re just

Nestor Aparicio  41:46

trying to get into seven and seven at this point, right?

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Luke Jones  41:48

Literally, right, yeah. I mean, if you get to seven, like, Sure. I mean that that’s you look at that as what should be very reasonable to do, given their schedule, given the fact that these injuries aren’t all season ending 12 critical players on IR, kind of a state of affairs, but a lot of this is still goes back to what’s under the hood and where’s this team’s mindset. Where are they between the ears right now is the coaching? Are players tuning out? The coaches are players trusting one another. Are guys trying to play hero ball, like there’s all that in addition to the injuries, where you’re trying to climb out of it, and they circled the wagons last year at Owen two, and you’re you’re way. This is way worse than oh and two, the smell test and the record. So yeah, we’re going to find out, and we’re going to be asking questions about the coaching staff and players and front office and what Eric Decosta can do or not do at the trade deadline all that. So this is a it’s not good. And yeah, I agree, injuries are such a significant part of it. But I can’t just sign off on that and say Que Sera Sera, right? I mean, it’s not just that there. There’s more going on here, and that was showing up even before these injuries mounted the last couple

Nestor Aparicio  43:15

weeks. He is Luke Jones. He is Baltimore, Luke. I am Nestor. We’re taking the Maryland crab cake tour out on the road. I will have Raven scratch offs to give away all fall long. We’re Coco’s first week in November. I am rescheduling Costas this week because of my birthday, some stuff going on. We’re hoping to get there next week. Had some guests blow up on me this week as well, but I did have a delicious dinner. Had the crab Imperial and it was fantastic. On Saturday, I watched a little baseball out of Costa simtimonium. Even had young people singing rush songs to me because I was wearing my rush stuff. It was not my Cooper rush stuff. I assure you of that Luke Jones can be found at Baltimore. Luke, I am particularly feisty this week on the John Harbaugh debate, not an empty stadium, and on the Zack or situation, and one in four starts, man, I gotta go into my way back machine to think about little nasty Nestor around here. And 9697 97 won’t even know that bad. 98 three and one start, one of those years right in 97 I believe it was. They’re all running together. He’s Luke, I’m Nestor. We have plenty more football ahead. We are W NST am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, holding the Ravens accountable. Yeah, we’re the only ones. We’re Baltimore positive. We’re.