Running back Tampa 25 years later with Ravens RB coach Matt Simon

These milestones continue to add up as the 25th anniversary of the Baltimore Ravens’ Super Bowl XXXV win is coming later this month and Nestor is catching up with many of the Purple Reign legacies about life – on and off the field – as we celebrate the night we all felt the civic pride of that first miracle in Tampa. Reflections here with the man who coached Jamal Lewis, Priest Holmes, Sam Gash and Femi Ayanbadejo a quarter of a century ago.

Nestor Aparicio interviews Matt Simon, the running backs coach for the Baltimore Ravens during their Super Bowl 35 win. Simon reflects on the unique chemistry and leadership that defined the team, emphasizing the importance of collective effort and unselfishness. He highlights the significant impact of defensive prowess and the role of players like Priest Holmes and Jamal Lewis. Simon also discusses his coaching journey post-Ravens, including stints with the San Diego Chargers and various college teams. He touches on the current Ravens’ season, noting the challenges faced by the team without a healthy quarterback and pass rush. Simon expresses hope for Lamar Jackson’s future success.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Provide more details later this month about organizing the February ‘cup of soup or bowl’ fundraiser for charities and the Maryland Food Bank
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Contact and schedule Super Bowl 35 reunion guests (Mike Flynn, Brandon Stokely, Trent Dilfer) for upcoming show appearances and anniversary events
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Call and visit Priest Holmes (using the obtained phone number) to reconnect in person
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Arrange and have a crab cake meet-up with Matt Simon to talk about football and offensive evolution

Ravens Super Bowl 35 Reunion and Reflections

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the show, mentioning the Ravens’ recent loss in Pittsburgh and the upcoming Super Bowl 35 25th anniversary reunion.
• Nestor highlights the importance of the Maryland Food Bank and the Maryland Crab Cake Tour.
• Nestor mentions reaching out to various members of the Super Bowl 35 team, including Mike Flynn and Brandon Stokely.
• Nestor introduces Matt Simon, the longtime running backs coach during the Brian Billick administration, who still lives in Maryland.

Special Chemistry of the Super Bowl 35 Team

• Matt Simon reflects on the unique chemistry and collective effort that made the Super Bowl 35 team special.
• Nestor and Matt discuss the lasting relationships and bonds formed among the players and coaches.
• Matt emphasizes the importance of overcoming adversity and the collective effort to create something special.
• Nestor and Matt discuss the impact of the team on Baltimore sports and the mystique of the greatest defense ever.

Adversity and Team Dynamics

• Matt Simon discusses the role of adversity in creating great moments and the team’s ability to embrace their strengths and weaknesses.
• Nestor and Matt talk about the unselfishness and respect among the players and the defense’s ability to support the offense.
• Matt highlights the importance of Brian Billick’s leadership and the players’ buy-in to the team’s philosophy.
• Nestor reflects on the maturity and leadership of the players, including Ray Lewis, Marvin Lewis, and others.

Running Back Room Dynamics

• Matt Simon shares his experiences coaching the running back room, including the relationships with Priest Holmes and Jamal Lewis.
• Matt discusses the challenges and successes of managing the transition from Priest Holmes to Jamal Lewis.
• Nestor and Matt talk about the impact of Priest Holmes on the team’s success and his role in creating defensive challenges for opponents.
• Matt emphasizes the importance of selflessness and teamwork in the running back room.

Matt Simon’s Coaching Journey

• Matt Simon recounts his coaching journey, including his time with the San Diego Chargers and various college teams.
• Matt shares his experiences working with notable players like Ladanian Tomlinson and Michael Turner.
• Matt discusses his transition from running back coach to quarterback coach and his current role at Ohio Northern University.
• Nestor and Matt talk about the importance of stability and consistency in coaching and the challenges of instant gratification in today’s society.

Ravens’ Season and Future Outlook

• Nestor and Matt discuss the Ravens’ recent season, including the challenges faced by the team without a healthy quarterback and pass rush.
• Matt emphasizes the importance of finding the right chemistry and adjusting to the team’s strengths and weaknesses.
• Nestor and Matt talk about the high standards set by the Ravens’ franchise and the need for retooling and adjustments.
• Matt highlights the importance of free agency, the draft, and the role of head ball coaches in creating the right team dynamics.

Reflections on Super Bowl 35 and the Future

• Nestor and Matt reflect on the 25th anniversary of Super Bowl 35 and the lasting impact of the team on Baltimore sports.
• Matt shares his thoughts on the importance of continuity and stability in coaching and the challenges of managing change.
• Nestor and Matt discuss the evolution of the Ravens’ offense and the impact of Lamar Jackson on the team.
• Matt expresses his hope for Lamar Jackson to win a Super Bowl and the importance of building a team ready for him.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Ravens Super Bowl 35, Matt Simon, offensive philosophy, team chemistry, Ray Lewis, defense, Brian Billick, leadership, player relationships, coaching journey, NFL stability, Lamar Jackson, offensive line, Maryland Food Bank, Maryland Crab Cake Tour.

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SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Matt Simon

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W n s t am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are, Baltimore, positive, positively into a new year having some fun around here. Despite the outcome of the Ravens in Pittsburgh at eight, nine, Luke will be in Owings Mills, monitoring all of that. If you’re on the W n s t tech service, brought to you by cold roofing and Gordian energy, you’ll get any breaking news. If there is any breaking news, we’re in the baseball season, in the playoff football we’re going to be doing a cup of soup or bowl that happens in February. That’s for all of our charities and for the Maryland Food Bank. I’ll be telling you more about that later in the month. We’re going to get the Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road. Man, it’s great getting older and having younger and older friends, and a couple weeks ago, the Raven Super Bowl, 35 team reconvened for the first time, and a 25th anniversary that is coming up on January, the 28th of this month, it’s hard to believe it’s been a quarter of a century. I am reaching out to people. Mike Flynn just text me a minute ago. But this is not Mike Flynn, but this guy knows Mike Flynn. I’m chasing around. Brandon Stokely is going to be on this week as well, some veterans and some legends in the Super Bowl. 35 team, not just the story, tell about that and their time. And to do the where are they now for all these folks, and Trent dolfer is going to be coming on. I’m chasing everybody, but first up because it’s the beginning of the year, and first up because he still lives here in Maryland as well. It was so great to see longtime running backs coach of the Baltimore Ravens during the Brian Billick administration. He left after the 2005 season and then went on to coach and coach and coach Moore, and winds up living right here in the great state of Maryland. Matt Simon is our defending champion who dude, I think you came out to the radio station back in like 9899 2000 you Del Rio Rex. I had all you guys new highs. All you guys were in here fossil during that area, era of coaching, and it was just so good to see you and everyone else in that room one more time at the modell residence to talk about the good old days and that that night in Tampa, back in oh one, a

Matt Simon  02:09

special group, special group of people, just a unique chemistry that really collectively came together and did something special.

Nestor Aparicio  02:19

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Do you feel that when you’re 25 years further removed, and these really young guys are now my age, and middle age, these young fellows you coached up when you see a Femi, even dejo roll through, there guys were in your room. I think we all keep relationships, you know? I mean, I see Matt Stover, I see Kyle Richardson. I’m like, I see you guys all the time, you know, I want to see the guys I don’t see at parties, but you live here and you know, I don’t know relationships through all of it with me and Brian and Marvin and just people that I’ve kept all of my life. Mike Smith, there really is something special about that bond, and only, I mean, I got invited three days before I showed up. I was excited about being there. I thought it was going to be a good time. I was blown away as my favorite night of the year. I told my wife who couldn’t be there, I said, this is my favorite night of the year. And I didn’t think about that or anticipate it going in, but it’s such a special thing for you guys who won.

Matt Simon  03:14

It is a special thing, and it’s a special group of people. I think sometimes, you know, it’s such a hard and fragile thing to accomplish, to create, to create all these egos and personalities and talents and pull them together and then create some kind of magical chemistry that basically becomes at some particular point almost unbeatable, and, and, and when you have that collection and that chemistry going, it’s really lightning in a jar, and you, you, you build something there, and there, that electricity continues to live on. Because that moment was so surreal.

Nestor Aparicio  03:56

I think it also spawned everything in our city about sports and Ray Lewis on that side. But more than that, the mystique of the greatest defense ever that they’ve now made movies and done all of this stuff, that it wasn’t just a winning team record setting, something that will never happen again, even if the league gets a little bit more defensive again, it’s still an offensive League. It’s designed to be that way. Teams aren’t supposed to shut other teams out ever, and let alone a couple times a year, and hold other teams without touchdowns and Super Bowls and whatnot. But I think that team is different than other teams, not just here in Baltimore, because it was our first and all of that, but just in the history of the game with when you walk into a room with Shannon sharp Ray Lewis just down the line that the quality of the players that were here, Rob Woodson, we, I mean, at the time, I think we saw it and felt it, but I’m sure you weren’t feeling it knocked over that year when they weren’t scoring touchdowns.

Matt Simon  04:54

Well, it the funny part of the story is it is through. It’s it’s through every struggle and adversity that great things are accomplished. You can’t have the great moments without adversity. And we could talk about the Michael Jordans, we could talk about all the great failures that turned into incredible accomplishments. And this team is really no different. The that it’s inadequacies is what turned and flipped us into a juggernaut. Well, I mean, I’m sitting with

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Nestor Aparicio  05:26

Trent doe for he wasn’t even the starting quarterback at the beginning of the year, right? So, I mean, you change quarterbacks the head coach was an offensive head coach that leaned into the defense. And you know, all these years later, you have that night in Tampa. So what do you remember best when, when you pull your ring out and grandkids ask, or somebody ask, or you see it, or radio guy that you’ve known for 30 years, you come on the show and say, when you think of that time, what’s the first thing you think about

Matt Simon  05:56

in Reality, the unselfishness of a group of men that is demonstrative or, as say, respectfully, dominant. What we were on defense, it was the defense’s ability to embrace what we did have on offense and in special teams, and it was our offense’s ability to embrace and not try to be something that that was to self serve the offense, but rather something that could accomplish a great defense. And so those things coming together, really, you still have to take your hat off to Brian billick’s leadership for that, and then also the coaching staff, as well as the players embracing it and saying, Hey, this is who we are, and this is how we will win.

Nestor Aparicio  06:54

I would just say, from all of my travels and I covered sports for over 40 years, hockey, baseball, basketball, football, soccer, I mean, team sports, professional, college, amateur. I mean, I, I think I’ve done everything I look in the room at the humans there, and I wrote a book about that team, and I wrote a book about the next team, you know, the Flaco team. And, yeah, I have great admiration for Joe Flacco as well. The rest of the thing you know, Ray Rice’s legacy and hardball and things that happened with the second Justin Tucker, things that happened the second time, not much different than Jamal or Ray. And I know you had a whole thing with Jamal During his period of time and stuff like that. But there’s a point where I look back as a 57 year old, I walk in a room now, and I think about how you won. And if I had to write the book differently, I would, because at the time, Billick would even say, it’s not about my leadership. It’s because we have grown ups. It’s because goose and and Burnett are not going to let anything happen on that defense, that rod Woodson is not going to let anything. And Ray cares too much to let anybody, let anybody down. Or Marvin would say, my bad didn’t work around here. He told me that when I wrote the book 25 there’s no bad my bad around here. There is no my bad dude, do your job, but offensively, Shannon sharp, Harry, Swain, Trent, Dilfer, just a lot of really people that as we 25 years later, see them as really incredibly grown up people evolve people, and they were that when they were in their 20s or 30s. And that’s not always the case, as rod would point out, who went into coaching, you know afterward that people have changed. Younger people have changed. At that point you had such incredible leadership on the field that you know, no disrespect to any of you coaches, but you knew people were going to be doing the right thing because you had the right kind of people around there. Football wise, that we’re going to say we don’t have blown assignments around here, we’re going to work harder. And I think that the slump in October forge that for you guys. Forge that there was no finger pointing because Shannon wasn’t going to allow it, and goose wasn’t going to allow it, right, like just wasn’t going to be

Matt Simon  09:08

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allowed well. And here’s, and this is also part of the piece, and that is in coaching, you got to be smart enough that it is it to get you got to get the locker room to drink the Kool Aid, so to speak. In other words, if it doesn’t come from the locker room, then it’s then it’s still leaning into the wrong direction. In other words, it can only come from a collective group of guys when everybody in the locker room is drinking the Kool Aid. Then now everybody’s embraced their role and their their piece. Everybody’s had to set aside their own personal agenda and buy in to what the team is all about. And that’s the beauty of it, and that’s what you really saw, is that you got a great group of an incredible group. Of talented men that basically bought in and put their own ego aside and said, This is who we are, and this is how we will get it done. And we embraced it.

Nestor Aparicio  10:14

And even in your room, where priest Holmes went on to make a lot of money and a decorated player, Jamal, you know, those guys kind of shared the load as well, and Jamal was a young guy at that point. And, I mean, and you went to, you know, Jamal was here through all the winning and, oh, three and the records and all of that stuff, all the off the field stuff, where you were mentoring him. And I had Jamal on the show last year again, and Jamal’s name came up earlier today from another one of my guests, just asking about how he’s doing and stuff. And I’m like, he’s doing great. And I saw him last year. I didn’t get to see him a couple of weeks ago when the reunion thing happened, but that was I see Femi all the time talking yoga with him and his girl and staying fit and AI with him and his Hopkins degree and all that. You had a really special little room in your running backs. I mean, you had a lot of different running backs rooms through the years.

Matt Simon  11:02

Rooms through the years. I have had some great rooms that was truly a great room. You build relationships. These relationships last a long lifetime the right way, well, and trust me, it’s, it’s them buying into, you know, they, they have relented or opened their their hearts and their minds to me, the SAM gash is the the Femi and bend Asia’s the they are all you know. Priest, still one of my, my most favorite human beings. And I have so many priest home stories, and

Nestor Aparicio  11:42

I’m going to, I’m going to visit with him. I got his number. I got to call I love priest, man. He’s great.

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Matt Simon  11:49

He is a wonderful guy. He’s a wonderful guy. And he’s really a very quiet, unassuming, but really, truly a great teammate. And you know, it was not easy for him, with the transition of Jamal coming on board within the organization and recognizing how things were going to go and it really this is where football becomes a business, so to speak. So so one of the things I looked at as in in my role as a coach was to do everything I could to maximize the process between the two of them. And I, lot of people don’t recognize how what an impact factor priest was, even while Jamal was still maybe dominating the headlines, so to speak, making the big runs or or or getting the most play Priest. Priest was a instrumental part of our success in sometimes in different roles as a third down back, also in double two back, two running back, combinations that we use to kind of challenge the defense a little bit differently. Priest really forced defenses to adjust to us differently, because Jamal and priest were on the field at the same time, and it created another dynamic where the defense was uncertain as to how to handle it, whether they played nickel defense or dime defense, where we could run on dime and we could throw on nickel because there was, there weren’t any linebackers who could cover priest homes. So it we had some dynamics there that you know, that if you were selfish and ego centric and driven, that this would have never worked. But a lot of these guys put those things aside, and that was the beauty of it. That’s what I enjoyed the most about my room, is there were so many of those guys that just took their ego and put it aside and said, Okay, what do we do to win? And let’s take this as far as we can go. And that’s where the magic happens.

Nestor Aparicio  13:58

Matt Simon is here. We’re making magic. 25 years later, after the Ravens won the Super Bowl, January 28 2001 purple rain ones available out of line. Just click. It’s free. Just go read it whenever you want a labor of love for me and certainly these relationships and bringing people back together. Alright? So let’s do the where are they now? With you. Matt Simon, 25 years later, I know you went on to coach in all sorts of places. 25 years, a long time you’re back here in the state of Maryland, give everybody your journey since you left here. It’s, um, I think it’s, it’s nice thing to have on your resume. The running backs coach at the Super Bowl. 35 champions.

Matt Simon  14:31

What is nice I did a couple of years in California at chargers, when the Chargers were still in San Diego. I got a chance to work with ladanian Tomlinson and Darren Sproles and Michael Turner, and I had another great running back room there. Had some success, went all the way to the actually, to the AFC Championship game. Yes, I work for Marty and. Marty hired me, but then north Turner replaced him, and so I worked for, I worked for nor for Philip Rivers, probably there. By then Philip Rivers was there was a little different time, different team, little transition going on there, led ladenia, and we still had a top rushing, you know, running football team that that really, we actually led the league in rushing while I was there. Then there was some transition there, and I I did some NFL Europe time, and then from there, I actually got back into college ball. So I’ve did a lot of college ball in between, and that’s really kind of the landscape that I’ve been in in the last few years. I’ve got one of my Maryland sweatshirts on today. I worked for Loxley for a couple of bowl seasons there, and got got to a point where, you know, took took on, went from the field, you know, transitioned from being a running back coach to a quarterback coach. Got a chance to call my own plays, run the offense, some things that I’d always hoped and dreamed of doing and enjoyed it. I’ve enjoyed it few stops along the way, University of Delaware. I’m at Ohio Northern now, a bunch of years at the University of Buffalo, and actually was had a bunch of all conference players. A couple of them took a couple of shots in the National Football League during my time in college. Ball, always keep coming back to Maryland to grab some recruits and grab some players, and have built some relationships with local high school coaches here kept a home here during all my years away, so that the house was always here. And and my kids have grown up in this area, and, you know, and so my family’s still local here, so having a home here was, was was important.

Nestor Aparicio  16:59

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Was really good seeing you, man. You got any thoughts on the Ravens? How much NFL you watching these days? Are you still you’ll be watching all the games this weekend.

Matt Simon  17:07

Well, I’m addictive. Okay, all right, good. All right.

Nestor Aparicio  17:11

So you have some thoughts, then let’s, let’s, let’s, let’s have some thoughts on missing field goals in the season and the injured quarterback and a coach that’s been around 18 years. I mean, you mentioned your nomadic existence, and it’s not. Look kids today change jobs a million times. My dad still thought I was be working at the Baltimore Sun for 50 Years and get a gold watch that there was some a mark on you if you’ve changed jobs 100 times. Everybody changes jobs in the league. I mean, Jim Harbaugh’s coaching this week. Look at all the places he’s been since San Diego University, when he called me 25 years ago, it every coach moves around. What Tomlin and Harbaugh have done is it would be extraordinary at Northern Ohio or Delaware or Maryland, anywhere it’s outrageous at the NFL level, and it’s happened, and there’s always this calling in, this pulling for change. I don’t think it’s going to happen in either place, quite frankly. I mean, Tom was playing this week, but it’s, I guess it’s part of the business to have change, but somehow, in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and in a couple of other places where they manage stability, it’s, it’s been beneficial to have that stability.

Matt Simon  18:23

Well, stability is always important, but it’s always interesting. We live in a instant gratification world. Those little, those little tools we call iPhones, whether they’re galaxy or, you know, whatever the model is, or iPhones, these, these, these, these little things give us instant gratification. So there’s all kinds of apps and things, and, you know, social media pieces that kind of make us feel good or make us feel like we want to get the latest thing. And so with that comes a level of impatience in our society. I think that sometimes, you know, we always think that we’ve, we’ve got it, somebody’s got a leg up on us, so we’ve got to get something new and something more dynamic and something change. But I still really believe that there’s, you know, there, there’s a level of consistency that’s really important if you’re ever going to take the next step. And of course, the question, the question that we all ask ourselves is, what’s it going to take to take the next step? And a lot of times, you know, just changing, changing clothes over and over again is not going to get it done. It’s not going to it’s it’s not going to capture the real, the real chemistry that you need to to take that, that giant leap that gets you in the Super Bowl. And that’s the question that people have to ask themselves, what

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Nestor Aparicio  19:56

you think of the Raven season in a general sense, at eight, nine? And I. Everybody’s disappointed. It’s hard when your quarterback’s not healthy. I think it’s way harder when you don’t have a pass rush either. And I think that that really exposed them on Sunday night. And as I wrote at halftime, if they lose, it’s going to because they just can’t get after the quarterback. Eventually they’ll lose because of that. I said,

Matt Simon  20:15

Well, without question, you know, the the standard at the Ravens is high. You know, those standards have now been set if, if this is a franchise that had never reached its pinnacle, if this is a franchise that had never been in their their expectations wouldn’t be as high as they are. That’s the challenge that you have to embrace when in in leadership. There at the ravens, Eric Decosta, the entire staff, John Harbaugh, that that is what the standard is. So they understand it. They understand that’s the goal. The the pieces that it takes to take that next step are the keys. You know, that’s where they’ve got to find the chemistry and and, and really lock in on that and and retool this thing to where they need to go, and they’ve got to make a decision on how they’re going to do that, how they’re going to go about that. Because there were a lot of pieces to this team that made you think that this, this season, could have been a really special one. But obviously, as time exposed some of the flaws, we recognize that there were weaknesses. Now, every team has weaknesses. Nestor, every team does so then the question is, how do you retool or adjust to to implement your strengths that put you in a position where your weaknesses don’t hurt you. As we go back to the 35 Super Bowl team, you have to think in terms of one of the things. We weren’t this high flying passing offense, per se, so we had to recognize that that wasn’t our way to win, so to speak, that once we got off of that high horse and made some tweaks and adjustments and played to the strength of our defense and used our special teams units to kind of pull this thing together and create some big play dynamics, then Then we would became a little bit of a different personality in our in our team, the team that wins it all this year will have to find that chemistry again. And we can sit here and look at woos in the number one seeds, and we can see those personality profiles, but keep an eye on the field, if you will, and that other team that starts to create its dynamic, because that’s the funny thing about this game and this business, and why it’s so hard to dominate, and that is every year is a little different, And every team’s chemistry changes just a little bit. That’s where, where free agency and the draft have changed so many different things and those dynamics begin to change. Head Head ball coaches have got to do a great job of finding that that that chemistry, that makes them click.

Nestor Aparicio  23:19

I think that’s makes it even harder in college when you have the n, i, L, and sort of the revolving door, especially at the highest levels, to get the continuity that you want. Here, Matt Simon is our guest. He was the running backs coach of the 2001 Super Bowl champion Ravens. We’re celebrating 25th anniversary of that here this month we celebrated last month I’ll be celebrating the rest of my life. Matt, it’s, I think I realized that that night, but it is so good to visit with you. I’m glad you’re doing well and healthy, and you know, for getting everybody back together one more time, I’m sure on the 28th of the month, there’ll be some feelings, as the Ravens aren’t in the playoffs this year, but I woke up on the calendar Wednesday the 28th later on in the month, I’ll be like, I remember where I was. Can’t Believe It’s 25 does it feel like 25 years

Matt Simon  24:02

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to you? Matt, no, it doesn’t it. The only time it does is when, when you see the your players now have teenagers in their house, or high school graduations from their children, and you start to realize, oh, I

Nestor Aparicio  24:18

start adding up the math. I’m like, You got kids in college. Pete, you know what’s going on here? Matt Simon, always pleasure. He lives here in the state of Maryland and coaching out in Ohio and visiting with us and talking some football. One day, you and I’ll get a crab cake, and we’ll talk about the evolution of the Lamar Jackson offense, and having a running back who’s a quarterback who who’s faster than anybody on the field, and what it’s done for the Ravens over the last decade, because it really has changed the game. Really has changed the game, right?

Matt Simon  24:44

He really has. He’s a phenomenal athlete, just an incredible talent. I would love to see him get a Super Bowl. It’s going to happen. We just got to, we got to get a team ready for him,

Nestor Aparicio  24:54

yeah, well, I you know, and they’ve been trying to do that for a long time. Let’s see how they rebuild the offensive line here. Matt. Simon, who knows a little bit about offensive lines, of building offenses from our Super Bowl champion. Super 35 champs will be honoring them all month as they stumble in here through the exited Ravens. I kind of waited for this to have you know. Think it would be a playoff week for all of you. Instead, I’m going to wind up talking to Brandon Stokely about the Broncos being back in the playoffs. I am Nestor. We are W NSD. Am 1570 casting Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.