It was quite a Saturday night at The Bank for the Baltimore Ravens. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Ravens’ dismantling of the Pittsburgh Steelers and get Baltimore football fans ready for a huge Sunday NFL Divisional Playoff heavyweight brawl with the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the upcoming playoff game between the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills, highlighting the Ravens’ recent dominance over the Pittsburgh Steelers and their confidence in facing the Bills. They reflect on the Ravens’ playoff history, noting that with a healthy Lamar Jackson, the team has consistently reached the divisional round since 2019. They also discuss the challenges of playing in Buffalo, including the cold weather and the Bills’ undefeated home record. The conversation emphasizes the importance of the Ravens’ offense and defense, particularly in the playoffs, and the excitement surrounding the potential matchup between Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens playoffs, Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Washington Commanders, AFC contenders, Super Bowl, defensive performance, offensive strategy, playoff history, quarterback talent, divisional round, cold weather, game analysis
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
8
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T am 1570 towns for Baltimore. We’re Baltimore positive. It is positively a divisional playoff week. The ravens are going on the road to Buffalo this week. We monitored all things all weekend, National Football League. One thing I’ll tell you, Luke, that I did not know that there are a lot more Washington commanders fans in my I mean, how many Ravens fans are? I know many Eagles fans and your brother in law and all that, because the teams have been good, but once the team gets good, you never find out who’s really like. I mean, it’s been 30 years Washington commanders. Did you have any in your life after the Doink on Sunday night. I
Luke Jones 00:41
mean, I think I knew most of them, but how could you not be excited? I mean, I’ve said this to people in my life.
Nestor Aparicio 00:47
I know you’re about to say it and it’s about to offend everybody in my life. Don’t say it again that you like their quarterback. Go ahead say it. I love their quarterback.
Luke Jones 00:55
8I think Jaden Daniels is he might already when you look at the quarterbacks in the NFC, now, the AFC has mahomes and Lamar and Josh Allen and Joe burrow, but you look at the NFC, Jayden Daniels is already really high on the list, and I think he’s going to be the best in the NFC. So are you saying the Washington commanders are
Nestor Aparicio 01:17
going to be in a Super Bowl before this is over with? That’s not that’s not even all these people that doing. They didn’t even think that’s possible. We’re Ravens fans. We really believe we can go to Buffalo and Kansas City and win like we’re about to talk about that, we’re going to expend a lot of oxygen. Is there any thought that you think the commanders could sneak in?
Luke Jones 01:37
Not this year, but boy, if you’re someone who doesn’t like that team in Landover, or, you know, they’re going to wind up in DC, you know, with the new stadium, I
Nestor Aparicio 01:47
don’t feel like it’s a strong tournament over there right now. I’m a little worried they’re two hours away from making a Super Bowl, because I, I feel like they got some good luck going on right now. So the ravens, we’ll get to that in a minute. But, you know, after the weekend, it is amazing, Washington, Philadelphia, Baltimore, all in the tournament. That’s crazy, right?
8Luke Jones 02:03
Yeah. I mean, it’s fun from a local standpoint, but when you dislike those other teams, when you have those not not that you would consider them rivals to the ravens, because they just don’t play frequently enough, but it is fun. And
Nestor Aparicio 02:16
I got a team that was eliminated that we don’t like the
Luke Jones 02:19
Pittsburgh Steelers, which is like, I mean, look, there’s plenty to talk about with the ravens, and I don’t want to dwell on it too much, especially right off the bat, but boy, that that’s not a good situation there, that’s getting uncomfortable there, that the mike Tomlin Steelers thing is starting to feel like Andy Reid in Philadelphia. It’s starting to feel like Marvin Lewis. Like Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati,
Nestor Aparicio 02:43
8Marty Schottenheimer. Throw that Marty, Marty schottenheim
Luke Jones 02:47
city. I just yeah, that that was bad on their on their front but let’s not dwell too much on that. Let’s, let’s give the Ravens their flowers. Have
Nestor Aparicio 02:54
fun. Let’s go with Pittsburgh the next time we’re going to see them in a playoff game, right? Or
Luke Jones 03:00
how about seeing them in the divisional round? Right? I mean, I was thinking about this right before we began our conversation. When was the last time this time of year? Now I Pittsburgh got off to a good start this year. They got off to a good start in 2020 but both of those seasons, they kind of they circled the drain late in the year, right to the point where they went into the postseason and no one was feeling good about them. And 20 it was the Browns going into Pittsburgh, albeit that was the COVID year. No fans, but the Browns beat the pants off them, if you recall, in the wild card round this year, no one was giving them a chance, and rightfully so, because they stunk on Saturday night. But when was the last time going into the tournament, not talking about Pittsburgh making it, because they’ve found a way to be just better than, barely better than mediocre to get in. When was the last time this time of year you thought Pittsburgh had a chance to win the Super Bowl? It’s probably 2017
8Nestor Aparicio 03:55
Well, it’s when they had a quarterback dude. They’ve had Kenny Pickett, they’ve had Bag of Donuts. They’ve had all of this nonsense. They have to compete with Lamar Jackson and Joe burrow, and that’s why, that’s what prompted that clown Haslam, who doesn’t know his ass from his elbow and knows how to cheat customers, that is as pilot, pilot jays, that they ran out and got to Sean Watson because they felt like we have to compete Steelers went got Russell Wilson, because that’s all they could do. That’s that they they are in no man’s land drafting 21st or whatever it is, they’re going to be drafting right like, like, there’s a point where you can’t do it unless you get Jaden Daniels, and if you get Sam darnold, you better hope that it’s not the second place that he blossoms. You better hope that you have something around him when he’s 2223 24 so that he’s just not a failed experiment. I mean, Lamar Jackson would have been a failed experiment almost anywhere else, because it would have been really hard for him to succeed anywhere else. Um,
Luke Jones 04:55
I disagree with that, because Lamar has proven to be such an extraordinary. Very
Nestor Aparicio 05:00
talent. I’m saying coaches around him and talent, what you’re saying. But I wouldn’t have failed anyway to believe in Him, because there was a lot of GMs that said, I’m not betting my only job, Ryan
Luke Jones 05:12
8proven out to not be very smart so well anyway,
Nestor Aparicio 05:16
I’m not I’m not disagreeing with you. I’m just saying, if you’re a GM and you’re like, I’m betting on a quarterback. I just got a job. I mean, come on, man, you’ve been at this two decades, running around these combines where one year it’s jets gear, the next year it’s Falcons gear, the next year it’s card I mean, that’s the life of these coaches and these scouts, but if you take a chance on a quarterback and you’re wrong, you’re probably never going to work in that job again, right? Like the Phil savages, George coquinas is all those guys that had to gig one time and they had the wrong quarterback. They never get another chance. I think there is a point where somebody wrote on Sunday night. There’s only really ever five great quarterbacks in the league at any given time. Some of them are the Russell Wilson’s or the matt Staffords that you feel like, yeah, maybe, maybe they were once or weren’t, but having it and not having it is the difference between Mike Tomlin getting hazed at this point because his team wasn’t good enough, right? I mean, and guess what? They’re not going to be good enough next year. You know why we have Lamar and they have Joe burrow? Yeah,
Luke Jones 06:18
well, Joe, Joe burrow, I didn’t follow what you meant by that. No, in the division. In the division, oh, Cincinnati, okay, I’m sorry, no, I’m saying, if you’re in Pittsburgh,
Nestor Aparicio 06:28
you’re already you have the third best quarterback in the division, and that’s not going to change between now and kick off. It’s not,
8Luke Jones 06:35
it has, but at the same time, I’d also throw out there the most expensive defensive roster in the NFL. I mean, at some point in time they allocate all their resources towards their defense like it’s 1999 they’ve got to adapt. And Mike and Mike Tomlin is part of that problem. I mean, let’s not act like Mike Tomlin doesn’t have a lot of clout and say over how their roster is built anyway. That’s their problem. Pittsburgh radio can enjoy that for the next however many months, because I don’t think Mike tomlin’s going anywhere, and I’m, let me be clear, I’m not saying he should necessarily be fired, but they’ve got to start looking at that way differently, because they’re not good enough. They’re mediocre. They’re in football purgatory, and they
Nestor Aparicio 07:12
have been for a while. If you expect them to beat Lamar, they got to go find a borough, go do it. Josh Allen, Pat mahomes, they need to get a quarterback.
Luke Jones 07:20
They need to do it, and they got to figure it out. And it might be that you need to trade do what the Rams did, or
Nestor Aparicio 07:26
8do the way San Diego used to think they have a quarterback and they might never beat these teams.
Luke Jones 07:33
Justin Herbert on on Saturday afternoon. This is funny, and again, I’m breaking my
Nestor Aparicio 07:38
commercials away. It’s first thing you do when you play like that in January, no more commercials for you. I
Luke Jones 07:43
It’s funny. I rolled into the Ravens press box right around when that game was kicking off, because I wanted to beat the tailgate crowd and I wanted to watch that game. And I had said something to another reporter in the press box saying that, you know, I think Justin Herbert’s really improved. I thought he played really well down the stretch, meaning he only had three interceptions all season. I think everyone knows that now, right because of what happened on Saturday, but from the moment, I complimented him, I don’t know if he completed another pass after that. I mean, it was the ultimate kiss of death, where I’m not going to, not going to stick up for Justin Herbert again, because he was absolutely horrendous. But it’s also a reminder of what we know all too well in these parts, that just because your team or your quarterback plays a certain way in a regular season, that doesn’t guarantee anything for January, and certainly, Lamar and the Ravens have learned that lesson multiple times. It’s why even going into Saturday nights, what ended up being a blowout, convincing kind of win over the Steelers, that there was still, at least amongst the fans. And I wrote about this at Baltimore positive.com still that that nervous energy right from the fan base, media. You know, the players and coaches aren’t going to admit it, but I think it’s it’s there. It’s part of your history. It’s part of your scar tissue. But they went out and they just, they took care of business, that, that old nervous energy that even showed up in that Houston playoff game last year where the Ravens got off to a slow start, and, you know, we remember the final score, and it was a blowout, because it was a big second half for the ravens, but it was 1010, at halftime. You know, it was very unnerving at halftime, because everyone knew the Ravens were way better than the Texans, but they hadn’t really shown it in the first half. That was not the issue on Saturday night, as the Ravens just came out and dominated from Jump Street, Pittsburgh didn’t show any semblance of a pulse in the first half, it wasn’t until that third quarter that their offense did anything at all. And even then, when they score, they have the 98 yard touchdown drive. And you know, you’re thinking for just a moment, here are they going to try to get back in the game while the Ravens needed all the four plays to score a touchdown, and at that point. You knew, all right, this Pittsburgh is not coming back. The ravens are winning this game. So, I mean, hats off. It was a dominant performance. As much as people are going to talk about the problems that the Pittsburgh Steelers have, and they they do have their problems. They’re not very good. They stunk at the end of the year. They stunk from five games in a row. I mean, there’s no, there’s entities for that, right? And and look at the scores of those games. Other than what the Cincinnati game, they lost all those games by more than one score, you know, right? I mean, this wasn’t like, Oh, they’re losing one point games. They’re getting their getting their tails kicked a little bit. So the offense is is below the bar. Oh, their defense stunk too, though. I mean, let’s not, they didn’t want to tackle Derek, Henry, did you see the effort on some of Patrick queen? He should have to walk back to Pittsburgh after the way that he his effort on on Derrick Henry’s last touchdown run. But the ravens are just way better, and they played way better. This is what we’ve been waiting to see with the Baltimore Ravens. In January. We’ve seen them be great in the regular season from 2019 on, whenever Lamar Jackson’s been healthy, right? But it hasn’t translated. It hasn’t carried over to January. And I don’t just mean Lamar, I mean the entire team, you know, the various things, you know, turning the ball over, and penalties and coaching decisions, not running the ball against Kansas City, right? I mean, all those dropping passes. Sure, sure. I mean, not just Lamar, but we, we focus on Lamar because he’s the best player. He’s the MVP of the league. But what they did on Saturday night, from the get go, is they look like the regular season Ravens. They look like the best version of themselves. I mean, the defense pitches a shutout in the first half, third quarter. I mean, we can talk about that. There’s still elements to that defense that make you pause, especially as you’re talking about a a match up in Orchard Park against the bills, and probably seeing the Chiefs after that if you’re able to get past the bills. But the defense has played it up much higher level down the stretch. We know that, and this offense, even without zay flowers, well, on Saturday night, very, very, very difficult to stop, right? And obviously the run game led the way in a major way. But it’s not as though they didn’t make plays in the passing game when they needed to. So just that version of the Ravens that showed up Saturday night is going to be extremely difficult for anyone to be and look, it’s going to be, I mean, ravens, bills, you see what the league thought of that 630 on Sunday night. That’s kind of the premier slot of those four divisional matchups. So tells you what the league thinks about the potential of Lamar against Johnny. I thought
8Nestor Aparicio 12:39
Saturday night was the key. But I guess it’s not Sunday nights when they get their ratings back to Walt Disney and and the end of the end and nobody working on Sunday, Saturday night. People got some plans do things. Maybe audience would be down a little bit at 11 o’clock. And the other thing is, the game peaks at nine o’clock at night. So it peaks when people are awake, as opposed to the Steelers Raven game never peaking and putting people to sleep, quite frankly, the other night, right? Yeah, fair.
Luke Jones 13:03
And keep in mind with Sunday now, when they get to the divisional round, they do the staggered like they give it the conference championship start times three and 630 so that’s what I’m saying. It gets over before 10 o’clock, not after 11 o’clock. Yeah, it’s a Super Bowl timing, but at the same time. It’s the NFL, right? I mean, any of this, any of those spots, are going to draw, but they told you what they thought with ravens bills being in that spot. I mean, I think, you know, we’ve watched it from afar, because the the Raven, you know, Ravens fans have been envious of seeing the chiefs and buffalo face off in the playoffs so many times, because it’s generally been at the at the Ravens expense. Or, you know, the couple years that Lamar wasn’t healthy and they didn’t make it, but, you know, I think for all the mahomes, Josh Allen, you know, showdowns that we’ve seen in January, you know, you’re waiting to see Lamar involved in one of those, Lamar involved in one of those where both quarterbacks are going at it. I mean, I don’t know. I don’t know how the bills are going to stop the ravens, but at the same time, I certainly expect the bills to score more than 10 points, like they did back in week four. I mean, that was a long time ago, but I think you have two quarterbacks that are playing the absolute best football their career this year, and it’s appropriate that they’re going to face off, and the winners most likely going to go to Kansas City. I mean, I, I think everyone looks at the AFC right now and you see three very serious contenders, and then Houston’s there, right and hey, the Texans pull off the upset against the chiefs. Then great, we’ll, we’ll give them their compliments, and then it’ll be buffalo or the Ravens hosting the AFC Championship, but I think we’ve talked about this, you know, waiting for at various points this year, we’d mentioned Cincinnati if they were going to get off the mat and go on a run. And, you know, Joe burrow is fantastic, but it’s been the three teams in the AFC that you thought were serious Super Bowl contenders, the champs. US Buffalo and the Ravens, right? And obviously the Ravens lag behind with five losses. But from a talent level standpoint, I think we all looked at the ravens and said, they certainly are capable, especially if they get their defense playing at a higher level, which they did from mid November on. So I mean, this is exciting. This this is, this is the one of those marquee matchups you talk about all off season, right? You talk about it in training camp. You talk about the elements of your team and how they’re going to match up against Kansas City and buffalo, because those are the other two teams that have been there, and specifically can’t getting past Kansas City, but you can’t go to Kansas City unless you beat buffalo. So, man, it’s going to be fun. I mean, I think you could tell already, you know, before we even get into any specifics of the matchup. I mean, this is, this is exciting. You know, you’re talking about two of the very best teams in the league. And, you know, we, we saw a lot of not so great football over the weekend in terms of these wild card matchups being pretty lopsided. You know, Sunday night gave us a good game, finally. But, but, but this is, this is everything you could ask for. And you just, you know, you you hope that, that, for the Raven’s sake, that they end up on the, on the good side of it. But there’s no guarantee here. And I think Vegas kind of expressed that with the bills being as of Sunday night anyway, a one point favorite,
Nestor Aparicio 16:20
shocked that the bills are one point favorite. They lost my four touch. No,
Luke Jones 16:23
8no, because, I mean, they lost by four times. I hear that, and that’s where the Ravens should be very confident, right? But at the same time, that was three and a half months ago, it’s in Buffalo, right? The bills haven’t lost a home game all year. I think the bills offense has only gotten better over the course of the year. Josh Allen, you know, other than Lamar playing at an MVP level, well,
Nestor Aparicio 16:45
one of the MVPs gonna wake up Monday morning out of the tournament, right? Yeah, yeah.
Luke Jones 16:50
I mean, that that’s that. That’s what’s great, that’s what’s great and awful about it, right? I mean, you’d love to be in the position that Kansas City is in. Well, the chiefs had one loss in their first 16 games, and that’s why they’re in the spot that they’re in. But they’re in. But this is, this is what happens when the three best quarterbacks in the league, and I think I don’t know if anyone would disagree about that at this point in time. I mean, you can rank them how you want, and mahomes because of what he’s done in January, to me, deserves that top spot until someone knocks him off the mountain. But I think everyone would look at that and say, if you’re going to name your top three quarterbacks in football, it’s in some order, mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen, Joe burrow, if he had a better team around him, sure, but I think those three guys are the best. So that’s, you know, there’s, there’s a beauty to them all being in the same conference. But there’s also a kind of a you groan about it because you say, Oh, they’re all in the same conference. Because we were just talking about how Jaden Daniels might already be the best quarterback in the NFC. And it just speaks to the quarterback talent that is in the AFC, and how tough that is, how daunting that is. At the same time, Kansas City right now is looking at ravens bills and saying, oh, assuming we beat the Texans, we’re going to have to beat one of those teams. And right now the bills are saying, Okay, we’re at home this time. But boy, we have to play a lot better than we did back in week four. So you know, the Ravens should despite the fact that they’re a Road Warrior here and they’ve got to play away from home and and understanding the challenge of that, there’s nothing about the Ravens right now where they should be looking at themselves and feeling any anything less than full confidence, right? I mean, their offense is
18:38
unstoppable when it’s playing at its best, and their defense had a couple hiccups in the third quarter. Sure, you’re nervous about Brandon Stevens and trenavious White, you know, whoever’s lining up on that side of the field on any given drive, but you know, but besides that, you know, their defense has played really, really well. So there’s no reason whatsoever for anyone to be looking at this game with any level of fear, and that’s where Week Four does come into play. And you say, Well, you know, the the bills came into Baltimore feeling really good back in week four, and the Ravens beat the pants off them. So no reason to think, not necessarily, predicting that to happen again, but no reason to think the Ravens can’t go up there and get the victory. No reason at all. Game of the weekend. Chiefs are a seven and a half point favorite in the 430 game against the Texans. Late game on Saturday is Washington at Detroit. That is an eight and a half point spread in that game, no respect for the commanders on the Doink Eagles will play the early game on Sunday, and then the Ravens a one point dog in Buffalo,
8Nestor Aparicio 19:40
not just you and I, have spent the last 50 weeks discussing the loss of Kansas City and the fact that they could never, they couldn’t do anything until they get back to Kansas City. Like, literally, like, it’s, it’s, reminds me very much at 12 and 13 with the Ravens losing the condiff game up. New England, and it was Groundhog Day for 51 and a half weeks until they got back there and did it again. And the second time around, you had some confidence that if the game had been extended another minute the year before, they would have been there. I don’t know. I mean, maybe the Pinky Winky toe of of Isaiah likely being out in the early game was saying, that’s how close we were, right? That’s out there. That’s how close we were to beating them the buffalo thing, I don’t know. I don’t spend this week thinking they can’t beat the bills or that there’s any DNA or trip tonight, in the case of Patrick mahomes, who didn’t play this weekend. He’s on commercials. He’s doing the double check and like all the rest of that, I think, for the fan base, the relief, as you pointed out, and buying tickets late, and the fact that Steelers fans didn’t want to go. Steelers fans did not even want to show up for 90 bucks. Tickets were cheap. They were readily available. As I pointed out, I wondered who’s going to wind up in their seats. My ticket brokers like, that’s just an invitation for the Steelers. Now, my ticket broker lived here for 20 years. He moved to Florida five years ago. He still thinks the ravens are like before Wembley here. He doesn’t, because he’s a ticket broker and he knows the prices. He’s seen the $10 tickets to see Lamar Jackson played last couple years. But there was a point for the playoff game the other night where tickets were moving a little slow. People a little nervous. It’s cold. I’ll get that. But the cold part is, I don’t want to go down there and see them get eliminated by the Steelers. That did not happen. They’re going to go on the road. I mean, there’s a point where, if Houston pulls a miracle, and I know you think Kansas City’s vulnerable, everybody does, because they, everybody talks about them as being vulnerable, the most vulnerable one loss team in history, because of the Clark judge did three minutes on how lucky they were this year to win six of the games they won that they, you know, I’ll hear all of that, but they have such pedigree To take the week off, come back and play, but if somehow they lose on Saturday, the Ravens will be playing to host the game again. So all is not lost in any of this. In regard to their pathway, I will say this to you, and I guess it’s the long way of me saying this to get this out of you. What do you love about them right now? Because I think there’s, there’s a lot to love. Now. Haven’t seen the kicker. They haven’t been really tested in a passing game. In this way that they’re going to get tested the cold weather, running around in the fourth quarter in a close game on the road, snap count, things you could do at home you can’t do on the road. Ronnie Stanley can’t hear the snap count at home. How’s he going to hear in Buffalo this weekend? So there are some issues. But by and large, there’s nothing to not like about them to win the Super Bowl. Now, if they go to Buffalo, they lose by three points on Sunday out okay, they weren’t good enough and whatever, but they’re good enough. They’re good enough to win the Super Bowl. And this is one of those years like the Conde fear, where if they don’t win, if they don’t win the Super Bowl, if they don’t win these three games in front of them is going to be a whole another year carrying that ball. We’re talking about Tomlin today, Green Bay not be these teams aren’t good enough. They’ll just be one more team. It’s not good enough. And for Buffalo and for the DNA of their fans, I don’t know if you know this or not, Luke, they’ve never won. I sat up there when they were beating our shell 51 to three. I was at that game. It was 40 years ago. Jim Kelly was 40 years ago. I bills make me want to shout, shout. I was there with SIG. I’m gonna have a SIG on this week. But 40 years later, they’ve never won, and their fans carry that into a 19 degree game on Sunday night with the best player on Earth. They think Josh Allen against the best player on Earth. We think Lamar Jackson. It is a heavyweight fight, but there’s nothing to not like the Ravens right now. There’s, there’s no you mentioned Brandon Stevens and little perceived weaknesses. We talk about the offensive line, but where they are, they’re built to win these games, and if they don’t, we’re going to wind up talking about it for the next 51 weeks. Yeah.
Luke Jones 24:00
I mean, look, I’ve made a point in recent years now, obviously, once we get to an actual, real game, I make a pick still and do that, because that’s what everyone does. But when I’m trying to size up the Ravens in August, when I’m trying to size them up in early September, I’ve made a point in recent years to kind of, and someone will say, Oh, you’re it’s a cop out. It’s like, this is all, you know, predictions and all that stuff is all entertainment anyway, right? It’s something to talk about when it’s the third week of August. And, you know, I’m tired of taking attendance on the backfields and Owings Mills,
Nestor Aparicio 24:36
but they play three hours a week, 15 weeks a year, and there was a lot of other filler, right?
Luke Jones 24:41
8Exactly, so, but, but the point that I’ve made has been because of Patrick mahomes and Josh Allen and Joe burrow when he’s when he has a better defense, right? You know, we they’ve at least gotten to that point in in past years, I’ve made a point to say, are the Ravens good enough to get to. The divisional round, absolutely. And then I don’t know what’s going to happen after that, because of this landscape, because you have Patrick mahomes and the chiefs, because you have Josh Allen and the bills, because those teams are looking at the ravens, and if Lamar is healthy, the Ravens get to the divisional round. I mean, think about it. I mean, it’s other than Lamar rookie year, when they lost to the Chargers. And look, I mean, that that team, it was kind of wild that they, you know, that they had the run that they did, you know, with, with going from Flacco to Lamar midway through the year, but you know that that was a, a patchwork version of it, right? I mean, Marty morning wig was still the, you know, the offensive coordinator at that point in time. So, so that’s the year that I don’t really count. You know, I don’t put nearly as much stock into how Lamar played in that game, how the Ravens played in that game. So from 2019 on, look at it, other than the two years where Lamar got hurt and missed the end of the season, missed the playoffs. You’ve looked at the ravens, and with a healthy Lamar Jackson, they’re in the divisional round every year. 2019 they had the number one seed in a first round by 2020 they beat the Titans on the road. Got to the divisional round, lost in Buffalo. 2021 Lamar hurt. 2022 they made the playoffs, but Lamar hurt bounced by the Bengals in in the wild card round, which they had a chance to win that game, even without Lamar, if Tyler Huntley doesn’t try to put the ball out, you know, rather than going low like he was supposed to,
Nestor Aparicio 26:29
that is amazing. One of the games that came close to winning, he didn’t play, and they could have won that game,
26:34
but again, but this speaks to my point, they’ve, they’ve been good enough to be in the in the divisional round. Every single year, Lamar Jackson has been healthy this time of year other than his rookie year, so it just speaks to the landscape of the AFC and how difficult it is with these other teams and their other and their great quarterbacks. But the Ravens have been right there. Now it hasn’t shown up in terms of them winning playoff games, because two of the years, well, they were the number one seed. They they won their wild card game by default, because they didn’t have to play one So, but, but you just look at this team, and I’ve said it when I’m trying to size them up in, you know, around the draft or OTAs or training camp, are they good enough to be in the divisional round? And the answer has been Yes, year in and year out, assuming Lamar is healthy, and then I don’t know what’s going to happen after that, right? Then it’s who wakes up on the better side of the bed, who has home field advantage, you know? Who’s going to get the lucky bounce, who’s going to be better at taking care of the football, who’s going to be penalized less, right? I mean, those are the things we’re talking about in this game. I think buffalo, I think, I think they’re going to find a way to be a little bit better stopping the run than they were back in week four. Now that doesn’t mean they’re stopping Derrick Henry. That doesn’t mean they’re stopping Lamar Jackson, but they are playing at home. I think, you know, their defense is going to be healthier than it was back in week four. They had a few guys banged up at that point in time, and they got their feelings hurt because the Ravens beat, you know, they blew the doors off them. So I think there’s, there’s that element. But, you know, I think you look at these two offenses, and no disrespect to the Ravens defense, because they’ve played really, really well down the stretch, but we both know who’s driving the bus for both these franchises right now. It’s the quarterback and the offense, right? So I think both these teams are going to score points. Not saying it’s going to be first team to 50 wins, you know? I don’t I’m not saying it’s going to be that crazy, especially with the playing in the cold in Western New York, but I think both these teams are going to score points. And I think it’s a three hour scramble drill, you know, I think it’s what happens after the play breaks down on both sides. And who is going to get a hold of Josh Allen’s, you know, shoe strings? Who’s going to get Derek Henry down on the ground when, I mean, that’s the thing about Lamar running the ball 10 times in the first five minutes. That was kind of crazy, right? And I don’t know whether that was this really straw Pittsburgh and and to have them think, well, the market still run. I don’t know it was a weird beginning game plan the other night, just in regard to what the Ravens were trying to do, ground, ground, ground, ground, run, run, run, run, run. I get that, but it didn’t have to be Lamar to me. And I mean, and when the ball’s in the mesh point, Lamar calls the play in the huddle, and he snaps the ball. He doesn’t really know whether he’s running or Derek Henry’s running, but, but it’s January, so Lamar is going to run more about that. Yeah, you’re not holding you’re not holding back. I mean, I had no problem with it. In fact, I wonder, and I even opined about this, and what I wrote in my reaction to the win on Saturday night. I wonder if, and I don’t think this was necessarily deliberate. I think if you look at those plays, I think Pittsburgh was playing it a certain way, and I think the Ravens reacted appropriately, right? I mean, they drove 85 yards for a touchdown on their first drive, or 95 yards, sorry.
Nestor Aparicio 29:57
Well, they all thought Henry had the ball. All right, tackling Henry on every play. It was bizarre,
8Luke Jones 30:03
right? But, but I think with again, I think a lot of it had to do with how Pittsburgh was playing it. But I also think that served a purpose for it allowed Lamar to settle into the game very quickly. I mean, Lamar, we talked about this. He admitted as much. I wrote about it last week, leading into the game, he acknowledged he’s been too amped up for some of these playoff games in the past. You know, where he’s been antsy. He’s had that going back to that idea that I mentioned nervous energy, where
Nestor Aparicio 30:33
I fails and you’re three and out now you’re back on the bench again, cooling off again. You’re all, you know, that’s the way it felt when he was young. Yeah, well, you know that when the first drive failed on fourth down, against it, when they were doing all that fourth down, go for it. Go for it. Go for it. You can’t stop us. And they got stopped, and they got punched in the mouth by Tennessee and by San Diego. They were San Diego. Then I think still,
Luke Jones 30:56
I’ll call him say they were, they were LA at that point, but yeah, they
Nestor Aparicio 31:00
really, they were cars they were, they were, they were Carson. They were, remember, they had gone out there a couple weeks before, that was at that game. I remember, yeah, in the soccer, the soccer facility, but it looks like I’m wearing a powder blue chargers throwback, but this might Derek Henry jerseys, if anybody needs to know. But I would just say there, was a point where they were playing that pinball style of football. They kind of went back to that the other night and against the Steelers, who said, Well, you can’t stop this. You can’t win. And the Steelers couldn’t stop it. They have they just ran, ran, ran, and that’s the Steelers, you know, crown of kudzu to wear the rest of the year. Yeah. I mean, they absolutely, they whooped him. They absolutely whooped him. I mean, that was one of the most lopsided Raven Steelers games we’ve seen. I mean, I certainly, I mean, the postseason, there’s no doubt. I mean, you go back to that 2001 game, you know, the Ravens offense couldn’t do much of anything. Jermaine Lewis had a putt return for a touchdown. I mean, I think that was the Ravens only touchdown in that game, but, but even that game, while the Steelers won by a few scores. It’s not like the defense was getting embarrassed in the way that the Ravens embarrassed the Steelers defense on Saturday night. I mean, that was the game that I thought of, even though the circumstances were different. You know, that reminded me of, you know, if you’re talking about it, on the flip side, how, how the Steelers absolutely destroyed the Ravens in that 2007 Monday night game, right in the rain, where Roethlisberger threw five touchdowns. I watched that game in a hotel room in Tokyo. I remember you saying that. I remember that vividly. I remember Susie COVID showing up in the rain. It was rain sideways, and I’m like, oh boy. Steve McNair, when we’re going back two decades here through this rivalry and talking about but the latest game the other night, Luke Jones is here, by the way, we’re gonna take a break. Really tough Steeler off season. And look, the Ravens off season won’t be any better if they lose on Sunday. Now they get any question, we got a lot of football. Ravens right at the buffalo this week. You can follow Luke. He’s gonna be out knowings mills. It is a normal week, I guess because they’re playing on Sunday night, not Saturday night. You know the notion that the bills are playing on Sunday, they play again on Saturday. I thought it would be Sunday. It is the big game. It’s the late game. We got a full slate of football all week long. We’re also going to slide in some Orioles bullpen conversation this week, but I’m going to be in Buffalo a lot of the week this week, talking to lots folks, some Hall of Fame voters coming on this week to continue our conversation about Suggs and Steve Smith, who was at the game the other night, as well as Marshall yonda, I’ll be reaching to some ravens alums this week as well. We have Mike Flynn last week. We got some others. Brandon Stokely is already checking in with a little Denver residue after the the Broncos bill. So big week around here. No Maryland crab cake tour this week, we are putting a cup of soup or bowl together for three weeks from now, for Super Bowl week, I have the working on some charities. Anybody out there? If you have a charity, a community group, a cause that needs to be spotlighted, please email me Ness at Baltimore positive.com or just throw me a note anywhere, Facebook X blue sky, wherever you happen to be, LinkedIn, throw me a note. We’ll get them on that week. We’re moving the show around. We’re going to be a casas, we’re going to be a Cocos. We’re going to be at State Fair. We’re going to be everywhere we are. That is the week of February, the third. All of it brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery, in conjunction with our friends at curio wellness, we are W N, S T, A of 1570 Towson Baltimore. Plenty of football left, plenty of time for me to wear my spiffy Derek Henry jersey. We’re wnsta and 1570 Towson, Baltimore. It’s playoff week. Let’s go to Buffalo. We’re Baltimore positive.
