The past cannot equal the future this month for Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. Anything less than a Super Bowl berth will be a failure. Luke Jones and Nestor set the scene for the first step in the AFC tournament – a third meeting between bitter rivals on a frigid Saturday night in downtown Baltimore.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the upcoming playoff game between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers, emphasizing the importance of Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson. They reflect on the Ravens’ past playoff performances, noting turnovers and penalties as critical factors. Jones highlights the Ravens’ regular-season success, including a top-tier offense and defense, and stresses the need for composure and smart play. They also discuss the Steelers’ recent struggles and the potential impact of cold weather on the game. Both agree that the Ravens should win but caution against underestimating the Steelers.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
King Henry, playoff game, Ravens vs Steelers, Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, ball security, turnovers, playoff history, weather impact, offensive line, defensive performance, Super Bowl contender, playoff experience, team composure, cold weather
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 towns of Baltimore and Baltimore, positive. No, this is not k, i, L T in Houston or not even Nashville. I just, I’m in on the King Henry train. And anybody watching out on YouTube or listening. You know that I have been threatening King Henry, where here and because it’s discounted, heavily discounted on the internet. Luke Jones, I just want everybody to know I’m all in on King Henry, as predicted two seasons ago, that they would be, and this is my word, and I got to go back and see how many superlatives I used and how thick I threw it on, knowing that the Costa wasn’t going to deal for him anyway, right? Like so I just thought he would never get here. And I certainly didn’t think this $175 Jersey would be available on the internet for less than $40 so I bought it. Tag still on it. I guess I can return it if they don’t run the ball on Saturday night, they run the ball six times and lose in the snow. But I’ll say this, um, I got a Hall of Fame Jersey and I think, and I talked to Lee Steinberg this week. I’ve talked to a lot of people in advance of this game in much better tone than John Harbaugh spoke to all of you Monday on the internet. Softy. How dare you soft out on driving to owing smells. I’ll say this. They got a chance to win the Super Bowl here. And this jersey is my $42 buy in, delivered in a little bag. It’s nice. Smells good too, that they can do this. And I always believed they could do this. I’m picking against them on Christmas Day, losing by a point to the Steelers. I hope that’s not the case on Saturday night, because they’re the better team. They’re probably the better team next week in Buffalo or, God forbid, the bills should fall off, then they would get the game right. We haven’t talked about any of that, but this is such a huge week. The weather’s been weird. The Holidays been weird. The football was weird last weekend. But this is, you know, this is what it’s all about. You and I get together with what did Bill Parcell say? It’s why you lift all them weeks. This is why you and I get together the other 40 East eight weeks of the year. To say, are these the four weeks where they’re going to clear that hurdle? And that hurdle is looks a lot lower with Derrick Henry running the football. It just does for me.
Luke Jones 02:29
I mean, they’ve been in the this position, how many times now, right? I mean, 2019 they were the best team in the NFL in the regular season. Last year, they were the best team in the NFL in the regular season. DVO a suggested that their record, their points differential. I mean, they’ve been here before, right? I mean, the characters, the cast of characters, has been altered slightly year to year, right? But you know, Lamar Jackson, healthy Ravens have a chance. They always have a chance with a healthy number eight, and when you add a future Hall of Fame. Running back to that picture when you have nine Pro Bowl players total, when you have the best offense in the NFL, and really did from the first couple of the weeks of the season on, you know, oh, and to start aside I get, I suppose their offense was great from that point on, and when you have a defense that since week 11 has been among, amongst the very best in the league, and in some categories, has been the best in the league, albeit not against, you know, the most juggernaut of a schedule down the stretch. You know, as far as offenses they played. So it’s all sitting right there. Is it the most ideal setup from a matchup standpoint, from a travel standpoint, no. I mean, unless you’re the number one seed, you know you’re going to have to go on the road, right, barring some strange things happening over the next couple of weeks, as you alluded to, probably going to be on the road in the divisional round as well, barring a buffalo lost the Denver but I mean, everything about this team from Lamar Jackson, who, in my mind, is the MVP, although I’m not, certainly not going to dwell on the MVP race anymore, because who cares at this point in time to your point, you know, you get through the regular season. You get through, you know, beginning with free agency, I suppose, all the way through the draft and OTAs and mini camp and training camp in the preseason, and you play 17 regular season games, and you have the ups and downs of that, this is what matters for this team, right? We’re past the individual accolades. We’re past talking about the Ravens being first in dboa And how many Pro Bowl players they have and how many records they set, whether we’re talking to Lamar Jackson or Derek Henry, this is, this is what you play for to your point. It’s why you lift all those weights. That’s why you go through the mental and physical grind of a four month regular season to get to this moment. And they certainly can’t take the Pittsburgh Steelers like lightly, but they’re a 10 point favorite for a reason. They’re. Really, really good. And I think Pittsburgh, even when they were playing at their best, there was questions as far as how great that was, and certainly the way they played over the final four weeks of the regular season, but big time questions as far as whether the Steelers are any good at all at this at
Nestor Aparicio 05:16
this stage. So nobody thinks they can win. By the way, I have real graves on nobody thinks they can win.
Luke Jones 05:22
I mean, I look, I think this isn’t playing the browns, right? This isn’t like what last Saturday’s game was. This isn’t that. Let’s be clear about that. However, I think it’s very clear if the Ravens play their best game or anything close to their best game. And I’ll even say if the Steelers played their best game, you know, if both teams play their best games, the Ravens win, and they probably win by maybe two scores, right? I mean, that’s, that’s what kind of, you know, we saw. They won by 17, even though Pittsburgh certainly didn’t play their best game back in week 16. But the Ravens didn’t either. The Ravens fumbled the ball three times in that game and recovered it so but at the same time, and you know, we talked about this a little bit in the aftermath of the Browns game, you’ve got to be sharp. You can’t make mistakes, you can’t have penalties. I think the common theme, and I wrote about this a little bit at Baltimore positive.com on Tuesday, as Lamar Jackson was celebrating his 28th birthday, if you look at the Ravens playoff losses in the Jackson era, they’ve turned the ball over in all of those losses, but one, I think they had a minus two or worse turnover ratio in those games. You know, they turned the ball over three times against Kansas City last year. And I think where you take some some solace, where you take some optimism, is that the Ravens just set a franchise record for fewest giveaways in a season. You know, for you know, for ravens history, but that said they weren’t a team that turned the ball over a ton. Last year, they didn’t turn the ball over a ton back in 2019 so it really is as simple as going out and playing like the team that you’ve been in the regular season. But this is nothing new. I mean, this is we’ve talked about this in past January. So for them, they are going up against the team that has struggled. But all that talk I just made about turnovers, Pittsburgh tied for the league league in takeaways. I mean, it’s something they do. The Ravens turned it over three times in the the loss in Pittsburgh back in November, as I mentioned, even though it worked out for them, the Ravens fumbled the ball three times in that home win. That if they don’t recover those fumbles, that could be a really different ball game. So you’ve got to be clean with ball security. You’ve got to be smart. You can’t have penalties, which we know, this team has had penalties at a very high rate this year. So, you know, these are the kind of things that will always hurt you in any football game. But boy, I mean, it’s magnified in January, it’ll crush you. So if they can take, can’t
Nestor Aparicio 07:59
eliminate you any other time,
Luke Jones 08:00
right? I mean, it’s it, you know, but you’re one and done well, and that’s
Nestor Aparicio 08:04
where your nuts get tight in a cold game on a Saturday night at home, if somehow this is 14 to 12 in the fourth quarter and and it always is, it always is, except three weeks ago, it wasn’t when it became a pull away. Russell Wilson got blown up with the three yard line on a play that a guy of his age and his stature and his magnitude, with Justin fields as their backup, shouldn’t have been taking that, that risk, and it looked like he could have scored a touchdown stolen. I keep seeing that play five times this week. It keeps showing up. And you know the mistakes, right? I mean, just the mistakes they made that. Made it a 17 point game instead of a three point game where maybe our kicker gets the IPS and their kicker hits a 54 yarder. I don’t know. I mean, I just know that you and I spent a lot of oxygen, not a whole lot, because they played three days after the day they played so but we have spent a lot of oxygen here over our career, our relationship of 16 years of doing this 32 playoff game, you know, like 34 times, 35 times. You and I’ve driven in that in the car together dozen or more times, and busses, the whole deal, back and forth for this rivalry, always being a part of it, always being in that little room down where they just appear from the back of the locker room, and Suggs is there, or raised there, or whatever. I mean, I have nothing but memories with Elvis gurbach there, you know, like so Tony, Sarah gusta, for crying out loud, they all have. There’s an institutional memory about this that says nine and a half points is really disrespectful to the Steelers and to be thinking like they’re going to cover it and all that, I’ll hear it. They’re good enough to do all of that. And I’ve said this, and I know I said it to you, they start walking over teams here, then you know that they become that team that’s not going to get beaten because they’re good enough to be that team, but they damn, damn been good. Enough to be that team all year because they’ve made mistakes, because they’ve had penalties, because their kicker hasn’t been good, because the middle of their defense was a mistake, because some days the offensive line can get overwhelmed by a miles Garrett or by a raider defense. So steel has been once lucky. You know, whatever? They’ve had some bad luck. They’ve made their own bad luck in the in when they’ve had bad luck, um, and I lost to the Eagles couple weeks ago. You know what I mean, like at home. So their potential, and our discussion of their potential, and maybe one of the reasons I’m not wearing a purple Jersey today, and you’ve got a press credential, and I don’t, I don’t have to paint this as though they they’re just going to walk every they’ve really made this a hard road, an interesting road, and a great Purple Rain three Road, as you’ve pointed out, which is the year you’re the one seed. You don’t appreciate it. You get your ass beat. You run the ball six times, and you get mad, and you go, get King Henry right. And then you blow up your offensive line, and you let Patrick Queen go, and you let all your defensive coaches go, and it takes you weeks to figure it out, and the young guys on the offensive line, you still don’t believe in the guards, right. Like really that if the guards get them blown up, and there’s three penalties, and they lose one of these games because of that, or they just get overwhelmed and Lamar gets tangled up, just something awful happens. We pointed out the guards are 21st and 22nd in their mind of the starting 22 for some reason, safety was top four when they gave Marcus Williams all the money, and then he can’t play, but they got a guy that’s five times better they don’t have to pay. So that’s worked out good. So I mean, there’s all sorts of pieces in all of this, including dude, Tucker’s gonna have to make kicks. Tucker’s gonna have to make two kicks this week. Maybe three. Cold buffalo, two kicks, maybe three. You’re going to be at the 3438 it’s going to be fourth and something. So these games are, I don’t know. Dude, I don’t know. They’re going to have to really, it’s been so cold this week. Everybody has, have you seen The Shining? You shining? Guy? Okay, yeah, of course. Remember the scene in the labyrinth at the end where he’s going through and, you know it’s a blizzard, and you don’t know which direction you’re gonna go in these postseasons. Take that on, and the blizzard comes when you’re losing by three points to the Steelers with nine minutes left to go, and your own fans have been booing you, and they’re cold and they’re pissed, and har balls thrown some stupid challenge flag that did just dumb stuff that happens in football games, that happens to this team the net doesn’t have the chiefs. They find some stupid way to win games in the end because they put themselves in a stupid position to win a game in the end, instead of a stupid position to lose a game in the end. And I just hope that’s not the case here, because the Steelers have this ability to get under the skin of certain players, to get penalties, to do all of that kind of unorthodox stuff. And I would just say this, I went back and reread my chiefs piece last year, ravens lost their composure in that game. Yeah. I mean, right, right. And I’m just saying, like, don’t think that Mr. Tripping Jacoby Jones guy, and Mr. Let’s send our coach off the bench to get von tes perfect to lose a playoff game. And so like the mind games of what goes on when you’re not good enough. I mean, dude, tomlin’s getting off the bus and he knows he doesn’t have the better players.
Luke Jones 13:43
Yeah, and let’s face it, I mean, as much as we’re talking about the Ravens recent playoff history, I mean, that’s all you hear about in Pittsburgh, is how that team’s played in December, multiple years.
Nestor Aparicio 13:58
The only thing to make this worse than being here is if they were losing up there in the fourth quarter, because they are down on the team. Man, right? I mean, like
Luke Jones 14:06
as they should be. I mean, they lost four in a row to finish the season. I mean, can you imagine that we’ve we saw what this was like in 2012 for example, where the Ravens lost three straight and they fire cam Cameron and Joe Flacco face down on the turf in Baltimore as Denver’s embarrassing them. We we know how that can feel at that point the season. I mean, even more recently, 2021 Lamar is hurt, and the Ravens lost what their last six games of the season, albeit, you know, no one believed in them with Tyler huntley’s their quarterback, but things can go the other way. But every everything we’re talking about with the ravens, I mean, Pittsburgh, all you’ve heard in recent years is, you know, they don’t play well in December. They haven’t won a playoff game. And how long they you know, Mike Tomlins skirting by on stuff he did 15 years ago, right? And I mean, some of the same things you hear about John Harbaugh, at least, as it pertains to January. And. Lack of recent January success, right or wrong, just the things that you hear people say, you know, some of it smarter than than others, other statements. But look, I mean, it’s a division rival, and as much as the Ravens absolutely are the better team. I mean, they are. They finished with a better record. They deserve to win the division, they finished with four straight wins. Pittsburgh finished with four straight losses. They have the better talent. They have the much, much, much, much better quarterback. They have a much better running back. They have, yeah, you know you can, you can kind of go back and forth as far as the defense. And both teams have some great defensive players. But overall, if you were to strip away the names Raven Steelers, and you know, you just had generic looking uniforms, you take the Ravens roster over the Steelers roster 10 out of 10. I don’t think there’s any debate, you know, if you’re looking at it, you know, as a whole, but you know, you think back to what happened in November and the mistakes and what Pittsburgh loves to do. Mike Tomlin loves to drag you down into the muck, right? I mean, that’s it’s what it is, you know. And you know, you mentioned some of the losing your composure element, which, yeah, I agree with you that did happen in Kansas City that cost them three points at the end of that first half, if you recall, because of a couple 15 yard penalties that gave the chiefs, you know, they were backed up, and suddenly they had a chance to steal three points going into the halftime locker room. But no, it’s, it’s
Nestor Aparicio 16:34
what happens when things go wrong, and that’s the big thing. It’s going to go wrong Saturday night. It always does in a Steelers ravens game, and that’s
Luke Jones 16:41
where I think, even though you look at the final score back in week 16, we talked about it, the fact that the Ravens fumbled three times in that game and recovered those fumbles, and you know, two of them were early, the other one was a late on a punt. That was kind of garbage time, but the biggest play was the hit on Russell Wilson, because that just changed everything, right, no question. I mean, that game is a completely different game, but, but even with that, even with that, if you recall, the interception occurred early in the fourth quarter. It was a seven point game at that point, and you’re thinking in your mind, fans and media were both thinking, all right, is this the here we go again, moment where the Ravens have left the door open and Pittsburgh is going to pull a touchdown drive out of there, you know what? And they’re gonna
Nestor Aparicio 17:22
figure seven points. You’re always one mistake away, right? I mean, that’s just it. But to the
Luke Jones 17:27
Ravens credit, Marlin Opry picks six and, you know, they’re up two scores. And then Tucker adds a field goal late to make it a 17 point game. They finished emphatically, and that’s something that more specifically to the Pittsburgh rivalry in recent years, understanding Lamar missed a handful of those games as well, but that’s something they’ve struggled to do. So I think the bigger picture, you know, the big picture idea here, and I wrote about this at Baltimore positive.com and Lamar was asked about this point blank on Tuesday when he talked where a reporter asked him, you know, Lamar, when you’ve looked back on some of these, you know, these past playoff experiences, Have you fought yourself maybe being a little too amped up at times? And he nodded. His eyes grew wide, and he flat out, said, I just get too excited, you know, I get too antsy. I start seeing thing. I’ve started seeing things before it happens, before it develops. You know, he thinks a route is going to break open, throws it, and then suddenly doesn’t realize that another defender converged, you know, on the player he was targeting. So I think not just for Lamar, but obviously he’s he’s the driver here. He’s the $52 million quarterback. He’s the guy who’s deserving of being a three time MVP, whether it happens or not, you want to see growth here. These guys have experience at this point. This isn’t 2019 where Lamar is 2223 years old. You know, same for Mark Andrews, same for Marlon Humphrey. And you know, you think about Ronnie Stanley at this point in his career, all the different leaders on this football team. And then you mix in someone like Kyle van Noy, who has won a couple Super Bowls, right? You’re hoping that these guys have grown, have matured, and that’s, you know, I don’t say that in a way to be disparaging. They’ve been great in the regular season. They’ve been great in the regular season for a long time, every time Lamar Jackson’s upright and healthy in December, they’ve been a really good football team at the end of the year. But that’s got to translate. And that’s what’s been so head scratching about this is, this is hasn’t been a team that, you know sneaks their way into the playoffs at 10 and seven and then you know, you’re hoping they go on a run. This has been a team that, by just about any measure you can look they’ve been really, really good. Now, this year, they stubbed their toe a little bit more earlier in the season, obviously started oh and two when they had the issues with their defense, and as a result, they went into the bye week at eight and five. When you’re when you’re eight and five, you’ve got no shot at the number one seed. But we know how they played down the stretch. We know how they played defensively down the stretch. And you’re a year older, you have those scars to remind you of what. Happened last year and in 2019 and in Buffalo in January of 2021 if you want to throw that one in there as well, it’s time to see a maturation. It’s time to see them take the next step. And even in defense of them, they did take at least an additional step last year, right? They got to the AFC title game, which they hadn’t done in this era. But now it’s time to go a step further, and it’s not going to be easy, because you’re looking at it setting up to be a game in Buffalo next week, potentially, and again, all this is understanding they have to beat the Steelers. We all know that we can look ahead, because you and I are suiting up on Saturday, but you’re looking at a game in Pittsburgh. You’re looking at the ultimate redemption opportunity of going to Kansas City, going into enemy enemy territory, and knocking off the chiefs and ending their reign and and getting some revenge for what happened last year. But it all starts with taking care of business against the Pittsburgh team that you’re absolutely better than, but you better than. But you know what you look at these playoff games, save for that trip to Buffalo in January of 21 and you know, that was a COVID year, what? There were 6000 people in the stands in Buffalo. Other than that game, the Ravens have been favored in all of these playoff games that they’ve lost, right? Right. So I looked at it. I mean, you look at it right now as you and I are talking in real time, you know, the spreads 10. You know, it’s been somewhere eight and a half, 910, they were a 10 point favorite over the Titans five years ago when Derek Henry came to town. So there you go. Bring it full circle to you hope that that makes a big difference there, but it’s been to be, I’m trying to
Nestor Aparicio 21:43
figure out which team was the better team, because you would say last year’s team, because they were the one seed, was so balanced right now, it feels like because they have Derek Henry, this might be the best team. We’ll find that out. They went through the tournament. They’re the best team, right? Lamar with yonda was really special, because no one figured that defense out and had Pagano, his brother, not come in and done that Hokey Pokey thing. They might have, they might have been more devastating that year than but
Luke Jones 22:13
that was lamar’s rookie year. I mean, I think they were, I think that was, I commend them for what they did and the willingness that they had when placo was hurt and they were four and five, they just said, You know what we might be, we might all be getting fired at the end of the year, the way that this is trending. So let’s try it. We’re going to play the kid he’s been getting better in practice. We’re going to transform our offense. It’s the reason why Greg wrote, part of the reason why Greg Roman was on that coaching staff, even though Martin morning, we was still the coordinator, but the upside to that group offensively was not there in the way that it was even the following season
Nestor Aparicio 22:50
because of Willie Sneed and those guys, right? I mean, Lamar,
Luke Jones 22:53
Lamar was 21 years he wasn’t ready, right? I mean, it was, it was commendable. I mean, it was awesome. What they
Nestor Aparicio 22:59
could have run their way to it, maybe, somehow, some way, maybe the defense was also, you know,
Luke Jones 23:05
and why, I would still probably put the 2023 team as you know. If we’re ranking these teams in the regular season, I’d still be a little more inclined to go with last year’s team because they had more balance. They weren’t quite as good offensively last year as they’ve been this year, but they were still excellent, you know, they were still outstanding off I mean, Lamar is MVP of the league. They still had the number one running game, even, even without Derrick Henry, which was always my point in terms of allocating resources in the offseason, which, you know, it was a debate, you know. I mean, my thought was they didn’t
Nestor Aparicio 23:39
need Derek Henry against Kansas City. They just needed to run the ball and not make mistakes and not you know, but that, but I said it would have been nice to have Eric Henry, sure, but, but I’ll
Luke Jones 23:50
still and look, I don’t say this to pick on the MAR Jackson. I say this to compliment his greatness and what he has been over the course of his seven seasons in the NFL for him to be as great as he has been in the regular season for and to be as underwhelming as he has been overall in the postseason. It’s just been such a head scratcher because he’s been as great as he’s been. And look, if we were talking about last year’s title game, and through the lens of Patrick mahomes played his A plus game, and Lamar played his A game, and Kansas City just found a way to win by one point. That would have been devastating as well. Let’s be clear. You know, it’s never that way, though. It’s always about mistakes and missed opportunities. I understand that. But at the same time, go look at a couple of those. Josh Allen, Patrick mahomes January games where, like Josh Allen, especially, you go back to the game where it was 13 seconds to go or whatever, and the overtime, 4138 or whatever. I mean, those they went back and forth. I mean, that was Ali Frazier, right, in simplistic terms. But
Nestor Aparicio 24:54
I think a modern miracle game was like that too, sure, just from a back and forth touchdown question, yeah. But. And
Luke Jones 25:00
I think that’s where it’s just the frustration lies, not in that, that the ravens, not just that they haven’t broken through with winning these games, it’s that they’ve just looked so out of character, that they haven’t played well, that it’s been lamar’s deep, the d plus or c minus version of Lamar, rather than even the B version of Lamar, right? I mean, he doesn’t have to be an A plus every week, but you need,
Nestor Aparicio 25:23
it’s hard to beat the Chiefs with B, though that’s like, you know what? I mean, B can beat the bears or the browns, what that that’s and I mean, he never brings a B game to these NFC games. And they straight train these teams because they’re just, they don’t have the personnel. The Steelers scare me in that way. And I’ve talked about that, that if there’s something that slows down Superman, whatever that kryptonite is, the Steelers have been that don’t have to be that this week, they’re the better team. But scheme wise, familiarity wise with Patrick Queen knows what Mike Tomlin knows what the way that roster was constructed in the way they’ve been built to play this game they’ve known all along. Never got to play a playoff game against the the Ravens. You know what I mean. Think
Luke Jones 26:07
about it through this lens with where Pittsburgh is. And look even when Pittsburgh was playing at their best, no one. No one was taking them seriously in terms of being a real Super Bowl contender. Am I right? No one, even when they beat the Ravens in mid November, was anyone actually thinking Russell Wilson was going to take the Steelers to the Super Bowl now? And they certainly don’t think that now, after they’ve lost their last four but think about this Nestor, if you’re the Steelers right now, reeling been bad. Their offense has been awful, even their defense hasn’t been as good down the stretch, although I will point out they are much healthier than they were in week 16. When you look at some of the guys that missed that game and, you know, relatively clean injury report for them, at least as we’re, you know, kind of midway through the practice week. But a win in Baltimore over the steel over the Ravens that make the Steelers season, right? I mean, I I can’t imagine that if Pittsburgh were to come in here and upset the ravens, stun the ravens and the Raven season, that anyone in Pittsburgh would care all that much if, you know, they go to, you know, wherever, can’t, whatever, however, it would play out and lose in the divisional round that anyone would consider that anything. But you know, a season that you tip your cap to and say, Hey, we could talk. We could brag all year about,
Nestor Aparicio 27:30
oh, this is their season. This is their Michigan, Ohio State, right?
Luke Jones 27:33
Whereas, at the Ravens win Saturday, they’re doing what they’re supposed to do. And kudos to them for that. Because, hey, you know, you don’t take anything for granted given recent history, you know, with the Ravens in January, but if they follow that up by going to Buffalo and losing no one’s viewing this season as a success. Now I’m not sitting here saying fire coaches or get rid of all the players or anything like that, either, but it would feel disappointing, whereas if Pittsburgh wins Saturday, it’s kind of everything’s gravy from there, I would assume, I mean, I would think that’s where the the fan, the heads of the that fan base and that media group, and, you know, that football team, would be at this point in time. So, you know, through looking at it through that lens, I mean, they look at this as a chance to save their season. You know, save some face in terms of the fact that they lost the division and lost their last four and looked really bad doing it in the process. But all can be well for them, whereas, with the ravens, take care of business against a team that you’re a 10 point favorite over division rival or not, a team that you’re absolutely better than, and then it’s the response to that is, Okay, what’s next, right? You go on to Buffalo, the bills, take care of the Broncos, you know, like, that’s the next question. Whereas with the Steelers, I mean, again, if they win Saturday, I mean, that’s everything for them. So, you know, through that, looking at it, through that family for everybody,
Nestor Aparicio 29:00
right? Like, some of these places are firing there, we’ll get to the league thing, but people firing their coaches, and the Cowboys are going to trade their coach, you know, you know who’s doing what, and who’s going where, and what the Raiders are doing, and Tom Brady and, I mean, there’s drama everywhere. Yeah, I got Bears fans in my life. You know what? I mean? Like, Bengals firing the defensive coordinator. So, like all of that, Marvin Lewis and I were texting his he got blown up, you know, Tuesday afternoon, right? So it all of that’s going on, and in Denver, they feel like they’re on to something, whether they win or not. The chargers. I mean, I had Clark judge on, and he made this case. He’s like, okay, chargers win. Chargers will go to Kansas City and beat them because they know them. They play them tough and hard ball does things and that he’s not supposed to do, and he wins these kind of games, whatever. And I’m thinking, can you imagine Jim and John here in a championship game to possible. Sure, possible, possible, right, right? I mean, is it the look, most likely outcome? Of course not. But, you know, don’t tell Justin Herbert that. I mean, they’ve been to Kansas City and gotten their feelings or know their way there and and har balls, a soothsayer out there, and they, you know, they have some balance. They’re, you know, they’re not, listen, I’m not. They play well down the stretch, overall, I’ve seen the Jacksonville Jaguars go to championship games by, you know, finding a way to slip through a game because the other team screws up, then maybe winning a game because you play well, and then falling apart in a championship game because you weren’t good enough, right? I mean, the Flacco ravens of oh eight were probably sort of that team that flipped around a little bit to get to the to be a surprise team. I don’t know why the Chargers couldn’t be that team. They have the parts we like a quarterbacks and defensive leadership. They have some things. But I mean, as far as things that would get the ravens to the Super Bowl and fast track them unit, you and I just spent 90 seconds for the first time ever discussing not going through Buffalo and Kansas City to get there. And now that we’re up on it, there’s some pathways here. You know what? I mean, weird things happen, you know, in these games that make that possible. That’s all I’m saying. Oh,
Luke Jones 31:15
sure, well, and it’s no different than in Buffalo right now. You know the bills are are looking at that first round matchup. And hey, the Broncos have good defense. You know, they have a rookie quarterback who has played better than people thought he would this year, that you better be ready. But you know, some of the discourses also, they’re looking at Raven Steelers and saying, Hmm, from afar, I know the history of that rivalry. And boy, it’d be great for our path to
Nestor Aparicio 31:43
Steelers can steal that game. Get Lamar exactly Kansas
Luke Jones 31:47
City saying the same thing about anyone that can knock off buffalo or Baltimore, right? I mean, we know that as great as the chief’s record is, we know what the eyeball test has looked like. It’s not like they boat race teams every week. So again, there’s always that, and that’s you have to go out and play. And you know, you just mentioned some Cinderella the Titans five years ago, they went into what in the first round, when the Ravens had to buy first round, they went into Foxboro. They ended Tom Brady’s run in New England. And then they came to Baltimore and beat the Ravens. And before you know it, they’re playing in the AFC title game against the chiefs. Now they lost, but no one thought the Titans were going to be in
Nestor Aparicio 32:24
that. Like Franklin might get a job out of that. As I wear a Titans throwback jersey, whatever the hell that is. I mean,
Luke Jones 32:29
it feels like he has to end up in New England, right? Although we said that last year and that didn’t happen, but, but no, like you just you never know, right? I mean, as much as we sit here and try to act like we’re so smart about this, and I’m as guilty of this as anyone, let’s be clear, I don’t, definitely don’t know everything, but you know, that’s why you play the games. And this time of year, while there’s certain that you certainly will find some number seven seeds that are only in because they need to take seven teams, or you’ll find that occasional division winner that plays in a lousy division like Houston might be that team, right? I think a lot of people view Houston as that team right now, where no one’s really looking at them as a legit, serious contender, especially the way they played down the stretch. You know, we saw it firsthand Christmas Day, but you know, all of these teams are capable, especially if you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and you turn the ball over or you’re banged up. I mean, we haven’t spent much time on it, but zay flowers, it’s not looking good, as we said a couple days ago. I mean, I at this point, I’d be surprised if he plays, if he plays, what’s he going to look like? You know you’re talking about.
Nestor Aparicio 33:40
So what do they do there? Let’s extend this. What do they do? What do they do? I mean, I think,
Luke Jones 33:44
I mean, obviously you love having Rashad Bateman. And Rashad Bateman had a good game in flowers absence, but I think a lot of it is you probably lean a little bit harder in the 12 personnel. You know, I think you lean a little bit harder in the mark Andrews and Isaiah, likely, Charlie Kohler is back. So that gives them an element of 12 personnel when they like to run the football,
Nestor Aparicio 34:03
I think Justice Hill as well. In regard to those sweeps and the things that they do to get someone fast and shifty into space and, don’t, you know, to keep Mitchell’s another guy that different than than Henry, if that, if something’s not worth dude, if Derek Henry’s working, as I pointed out, he’s plan A, plan B, plan C. And if that doesn’t work, Lamar, how about that? You know, Lamar, I mean,
Luke Jones 34:28
I don’t right, I don’t know. I don’t know if Henry doesn’t need to be A, B and C, but he and Lamar, one and one, A, right? I mean, on a cold
Nestor Aparicio 34:36
night, I don’t want to be tackling Derek Henry in the third quarter. That’s what I keep thinking. I mean, this thing needed to be built for a 20 degree night, whether it’s here Kansas City, buffalo, that’s what January is. It’s one of the things that makes the league crazy. I mean, you know, I used to spend those interesting nights with Lawrence Taylor back in the day, he always swore that a Florida team was never going to win the Super Bowl because. Because it just they couldn’t come up and play in the north, in the cold, and nobody wanted to do it. None of the players, the players, get off the bus. And same feeling I always had when I got off a plane in Green Bay or Buffalo wearing an oiler jersey, that oiler game that they blew in these jerseys with Warren Moon. I mean, dome teams always had that going on in cold weather places. There’s something about the weather that it’s the great equalizer for anyone. You get cold, you get caught. Did you see hardball pushing the wide receivers over to the heater last week? Like, literally, like, like, John knows John, there’s been, I mean, I was outside in the Denver game as Brent Harris, he was really outside. Like, there is a thing about sidelines getting cold. No matter how good or how fast you are, you’re cold, you’re not as fast, and if you’re warm, you’re more likely to want to. That’s why they’re always trying to stay warm. I just think this kind of game, tackling Derek Henry is the reason, like I said this before, and I don’t want to, I love patting myself on the back, but they did get to the championship game when championship game last year without him. They could have won. It was just gonna say they remember go without him. This is why they have him at this point, to slobber knock you, to be everything Gus Edwards wished he could be. And, you know, like they wanted, JK, like all of that, he is that by all measurement. He’s healthy as hell, right? Like it’s crazy this far into this and he he’s not the X Factor. He’s the everything factor. To me, that’s not Lamar. I mean, I don’t need to be disrespectful, and they have to watch it with each other, right? Because Derek Henry’s going to go to the Hall of Fame in this jersey before Lamar is probably done playing, you know, literally, right? So I think they’re but they also understand the time is now, and they’re not going to have four chances, five chances, to do this. And I bought this fun oiler Derek Henry jersey to wear maybe another year. But, you know, Lamar and Marlon Humphrey and Ronnie Stanley and these, they’re getting tired of losing these games and but so’s camera cam Hayward. And I talked to will graves about that this week, and Micah Fitzpatrick came to Pittsburgh to win and tasted that. And you know, all the Russell Wilson they they want to touch him and have that feeling, but then he gets blown up at the goal line here a couple of weeks ago, and he throws an awful pick to another guy thinks he’s going to the Hall of Fame. So like, big games, big players, big stakes. But the weather always a factor. The colds always a factor. The balls. Why do you think Tom Brady took all the year out of those footballs?
Luke Jones 37:36
Right? I mean, look, it comes down to it’s everything’s more magnified. You know, it’s win or go home, do or die, all those cliches that you hear about in the playoffs, but they’re all true, and you need to go out and be the team that you were at your best over the course of the season. Now, we didn’t see that all 17 games, but we saw it enough to know how great this team can be when they’re at their best. You got to do that in January. And that’s been, that’s been the collective theme is we can talk about this factor, that factor, that’s all six different things in all these different playoff losses that cropped up. But you got to be the best version of yourself, or at least close to the best version of yourself, if not, probably gonna get beat. I mean, it’s that simple. I mean, and I’ll go back to this my final point, the Ravens have a two and very well could be three time NFL MVP at quarterback, who has been as great as anyone on the face of the earth, not named Patrick mahomes. If you’re gonna throw January in there, if you’re talking regular season, might be the best. He hasn’t been that in January for whatever reason. And again, it’s not the only reason, but to win these games with these stakes and knowing everything that’s on the line. If you’ve got an all world quarterback, it’s really difficult to win if you’re all world quarterback doesn’t play like an all world quarterback. So that’s the test for Lamar. That’s the test for every other Pro Bowl player on this defense. That’s the test for John Harbaugh and his coaching staff, as they haven’t been very good in a lot of these games. To your point, you know, with not running the ball last year. So we’re going to see, and it starts with Pittsburgh, a team that they should, I emphasize, should be, and they’re a 10 point favorite. So everyone tells you that tells you everyone else thinks they should beat them, but gotta go out and do it. It’s that simple. There’s no magic answer here. Gotta go do it. It’s that simple.
Nestor Aparicio 39:33
He’s Luke Jones. He is Baltimore, Luke. He’s monitoring all things from the inside. I’m on the outside looking in sounds like a good song to write here this weekend, we’ve done a lot of work on the Steelers and the Ravens. You can follow everything we’re doing at Baltimore positive at an am 15 seven, as well as our YouTube channel, all the social medias, the linkedins, all the cool places that we go. It is a big week around here, and we’ll be here for the aftermath of it over the weekend as well. Well, I had Lee Steinberg on earlier this week. We gone up to Pittsburgh, chasing some folks around as well. The Maryland crab cake tour set for libs grill on Tuesday has been moved into February. It’s a little snowy up in Harford County, kids were out of school, lost some guests, so we thought it best to hang out, even if John Harbaugh expected me to get out there in the snow without my press credential to attend his press conference. Big week. Get the purple on. Buckle up the chin straps. We also got some baseball around here as well. We are wnst. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stopped talking Baltimore positive. I.
