Shuffling off to Buffalo to begin the March to February

The Baltimore Ravens’ players will get the weekend off and away and then it’s “go” time in Owings Mills. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the final cuts, concerns and where to focus as the Buffalo Bills await next Sunday night for a revenge bowl that will wreck someone’s Monday morning to start the season.

Luke Jones and Nestor Aparicio discussed the Ravens’ final roster cuts, noting three undrafted rookies made it, with Jones predicting 52 of 53 players correctly. The Ravens will have a mini-bye weekend before preparing for the Buffalo Bills. Key concerns include the team’s run defense, given the loss of Michael Pierce, and the readiness of veterans like Ronnie Stanley and Marlon Humphrey. Both hosts emphasized the importance of winning the first game for potential tiebreakers and psychological advantages. They also reflected on the nostalgia for past teams and the evolving nature of fandom.

• [ ] Analyze the Ravens’ performance in the season opener against the Bills.
• [ ] Follow up on any roster moves or waiver claims the Ravens make before the Bills game.

Ravens Final Cuts and Weekend Getaway

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the CBA mandate that the Ravens will be off over the weekend, with players flying off to Saint somewhere.
• Luke Jones mentions the initial 53-man roster has been set, with three undrafted rookies making it, and Luke had two of those in his final projection.
• Luke notes the CBA mandates three days off, and the team will reconvene on Monday to start preparing for the Buffalo Bills.
• Luke explains the transition from training camp to regular season mode, including the defensive huddle holding up cards for scout team stuff.

Roster Set and Potential Moves

• Luke Jones discusses the roster being pretty much set, with no big surprises, and Jalen Armor Davis being waived as the biggest surprise.
• Luke mentions the Ravens have a deep and well-regarded roster, with many executives and head coaches considering them or Philadelphia as the best roster.
• Luke notes the importance of staying healthy, especially for key players like Lamar Jackson, who did not go on IR.
• Luke predicts that Isaiah Likely will not play in the first four weeks, but he avoided IR, and the team will break up on Wednesday for a few days off.

Concerns for Upcoming Buffalo Game

• Nestor Aparicio expresses concerns about the upcoming Buffalo game, particularly the need to see how Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, Mark Andrews, Ronnie Stanley, and the offensive and defensive sides perform.
• Nestor highlights the importance of Matt Abika, Roquan Smith, and the back end of Kyle Hamilton in the game.
• Nestor discusses the need for veterans like Marlon Humphrey and Roquan Smith to look spry and fit early in the year.
• Nestor mentions the potential attrition of older players as the season wears on, using examples like Eric Weddle and Steve Smith.

Buffalo’s Run Game and Tackling Concerns

• Luke Jones discusses Buffalo’s ability to run the ball against the Ravens last year and the replacement of Michael Pierce.
• Luke notes the lack of tackling in practice and preseason games, which could affect the team’s readiness for the physicality of the game.
• Luke mentions Derek Henry and Lamar Jackson as key players who could take advantage of the tackling issues.
• Luke highlights the importance of tackling and wrapping up players in the early stages of the game.

General Concerns and Preseason Sloppiness

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the general sloppiness that could occur in the first game of the season, comparing it to college football preseason games.
• Nestor mentions the importance of not having too many penalties and ensuring the kicker performs well.
• Luke notes the importance of winning the first game to have a head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over the Bills.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential for bad blood and the pregame pomp and circumstance, which could add to the sloppiness of the game.

Nostalgia and Historical Context

• Nestor Aparicio reflects on the nostalgia for older teams like the 1975 Colts and the 2000 Ravens, and how time has changed the way people view these teams.
• Nestor mentions the importance of historical records and the challenges of preserving the history of teams like the Colts.
• Luke Jones discusses the different degrees of fandom and how the Ravens’ sustained success has affected the nostalgia for older teams.
• Luke notes the importance of celebrating recent successes and how the Ravens’ success has made it easier to move past older teams.

Generational Shifts in Fandom

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the generational shifts in fandom, with younger fans being more focused on the present and recent past.
• Nestor mentions the importance of historical records and the challenges of preserving the history of teams like the Colts.
• Luke notes the importance of celebrating recent successes and how the Ravens’ success has made it easier to move past older teams.
• Luke discusses the different degrees of fandom and how the Ravens’ sustained success has affected the nostalgia for older teams.

Historical Relevance and Personal Connections

• Nestor Aparicio shares personal stories about attending Colts games and the emotional attachment to older teams.
• Nestor mentions the importance of historical records and the challenges of preserving the history of teams like the Colts.
• Luke Jones discusses the different degrees of fandom and how the Ravens’ sustained success has affected the nostalgia for older teams.
• Luke notes the importance of celebrating recent successes and how the Ravens’ success has made it easier to move past older teams.

Future of Fandom and Historical Preservation

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the future of fandom and the importance of preserving historical records.
• Nestor mentions the challenges of preserving the history of teams like the Colts and the importance of historical records.
• Luke notes the importance of celebrating recent successes and how the Ravens’ success has made it easier to move past older teams.
• Luke discusses the different degrees of fandom and how the Ravens’ sustained success has affected the nostalgia for older teams.

Final Thoughts and Preparation for Buffalo Game

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the final preparations for the Buffalo game and the importance of winning the first game.
• Nestor mentions the potential for bad blood and the pregame pomp and circumstance, which could add to the sloppiness of the game.
• Luke notes the importance of tackling and wrapping up players in the early stages of the game.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential for penalties and the need for the kicker to perform well.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Ravens final cuts, Buffalo Bills, training camp, roster set, practice squad, Jalen Armor Davis, Michael Pierce, run defense, tackling, preseason, penalties, special teams, Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry.

SPEAKERS

Speaker 2, Speaker 1, Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

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Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 task Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. We are positively into that holding period here, where not just will they not play football this weekend. But I didn’t understand the CBA mandated that the Ravens will be taken off over the weekend. So guys will be flying off to Saint somewhere, as they’d like to say, and then reconvening next week for football. But before that, there were the Turk came. That’s all I can say. There were cuts. Luke Jones is here. He brought it all to you on our W, N, S, T tech service, brought to you by coal, roofing and Gordian energy, checking in on the GBMC hotline. What is up? My dude? A little bit of downtime here. Little Kyle bradishness, little Labor Day. Maybe celebration over the weekend, and then next week, go time, right? Like this is sort of the last exhale for you and me before it’s go time.

Luke Jones  00:55

Yeah, no question about it. I mean, the initial 53 man roster has been set. We can get into that a little bit, nothing earth shattering, but certainly some good stories with three undrafted rookies making it, as I had told you, and as I had predicted at Baltimore positive.com I had two of those. I I got 52 of 53 on my final projection. So not bad,

Nestor Aparicio  01:16

but I never doubt your ability to read Eric the cost and John Harbaugh’s

Luke Jones  01:20

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mind. Well, honestly, it’s more so just you pay attention to practice. I mean, if you’re going to be out there, you pay attention, right? I mean, that’s kind of how it works. But, yeah, this is their last exhale. You know, it’s a mini bye weekend, you know? I believe they, I think the CBA mandates three days off. They’re getting Thursday through Sunday off. They’ll be back in the building Monday, and it’ll be game week, right? I mean, they’ll be talking about and they’ve already been preparing for the Buffalo Bills. You always know when it’s late in training camp and they’re starting to transition in the regular season mode, obviously the roster cuts, but you’ll see the one of the lower assistance on the totem pole, holding up the cards. Right when you see the defensive huddle and they’re holding up a card, I’m just holding up a roster right now, if you’re watching us on video, but they’re that scout team stuff you want. When you see that, you know they’re running scout team stuff at that point in time. Oh, they’re they’re giving you the bills defensive looks as they’re starting to prepare for week one. So we’ve gotten through three fake football games. The initial 53 man roster has been set. We’ll see what happens in terms of the practice squad, if they claim anyone off waivers. Is there a I don’t know if. Is there an outside linebacker that plays really good special teams, that shakes free, that that is appealing to them? Is there another offensive lineman that they liked from somewhere else that shakes free? That doesn’t happen too often, but it could happen, so we’ll see how that plays out. But the roster is pretty much set. As I said, not too many big surprises. I think Jalen armor Davis being waived was the biggest surprise, but off injured corner in the final year of his rookie contract, that is a vulnerable combination of circumstances there, and he ultimately was cut. But you know, overall, when you have a deep roster, when you have a roster that is as well regarded around the league as the Ravens is right now where, I think, if you hold 10 to 15, I don’t know, executives, head coaches, whatever around the league, I’m get, I’m guessing quite a few would say the Ravens have the best roster, either them or Philadelphia. I think would probably be at the top of the list for most people. So no, no big show. We would say, when healthy? When health Sure well, and that applies for everybody, right? I mean, everyone has to stay healthy, so that’s a big part of this. But going into week one, the roster, for the most part is, you know, few guys banged up, but I don’t think anyone that’s going to miss week one other than likely. And I, I’ll be remiss if I mentioned Isaiah likely did not go on IR, so that tells you they’re hoping he can play at some point here in the first four weeks. I don’t think it’s going to be week one, based on seeing him, you know, he was on the practice field a couple days ago, and you could tell he’s walking like he’s out of the boot and all that. But he doesn’t look like someone where he’s gonna be playing football in 10 days, right? I mean, it’s not quite at that level, so I’m guessing that’s more of a later in September kind of thing for him. But he avoided IR and they have their 53 they’re going to break up here as they get into, you know, conclude Wednesday’s practice and have a few days off to exhale and then refocus, right? I mean, all training camp, that monotony and that every day kind of hurry up and wait mentality finally goes out the window, and it’ll be buffalo week when they get back to Owings Mills on Monday morning. I don’t want to do next

Nestor Aparicio  04:55

week’s show this week, but we could do last week’s show next week. I. We talked a little bit about this earlier in the week, about that Buffalo game and that sometime between now and the next time you and I speak, certainly by by the time they play next week, you will have seen that on NFL Network. If you watch ESPN, if there’s any preview of the game, you’re going to see the drop, you’re going to see the fumble, you’re going to you’re just going to see all of that all over again on that cold night, as they go as we’re two weeks out on this, or a week and a half out on this. What is your largest concern? Of bills Raven Sunday night. That game, this game winning. The game will break down other parts of it. But as you look at it at 50,000 feet, I have said out of the gate. And this is a general September question for the first quartile. I’ll use symbolic terminology, even though it’s not really a quartile when they play 17, right? Yeah, it’s a quartile minus A quartile. So yeah, somebody teaches math will teach me that. But veterans for me, you know, obviously you need to see how Lamar looks and but then after that, Derek, Henry, Mark, Andrews, Ronnie Stanley and the offensive side defensively, I need to, you know, there’s a lot I want to see. Matt abika living up to the contract, roquan Smith living up to the contract, seeing where he is on the age timeline, and then the back end of Kyle Hamilton, how they’re going to play, how, how they’re going to mix that with that special sauce that he has as roving safety into the mix and utilize that to maybe pick a ball against Josh Allen and win. And then Marlon Humphrey, you know, just how veteran legs are looking early in the year, because these guys should be Spry, right? I mean, in a general sense, they haven’t played their baby. They’re candied, they’re bubble wrapped, all of that here. This time they should be fit, but they haven’t taken a lot of hits. They haven’t taken a lot of abuse. They’ve all been measured for weight, body fat, strength, speed, they they know the playbook. I get all of that. Then you got to go out and you got to be young again. You know what I mean? You got to be at your best, whatever your best is. And there’s always some attrition with older guys as the season wears on. If you think about like an Eric Weddle or even Steve Smith, some of those guys that aged in the end of the year, where Ronnie Stanley is on Thanksgiving, where he is on Christmas. You know, some of these really key guys, Marlon, Humphries, another key guy, roquan, key guy, Derrick, Henry, you know, no bigger key other than Lamar. So that’s my totality of aging for this. That’s what I’m keeping my eye on. But the Buffalo game specifically for you, what worries you, and what do you think you need to see next week in Buffalo?

Luke Jones  07:43

Yeah. I mean, just to address your point, I mean, some of the guys you mentioned aren’t that old, right? I mean, now, Kyle van Noy, absolutely valid. Ronnie Stanley is on the wrong side of 30 Not, not that he’s 36 but we also know that very extensive injury history, specifically with the ankle. So yes, there’s some of that, but my specific concern as it pertains to Buffalo coincides with that slightly in the sense of, if you think back to how that game went, obviously the Ravens turned the ball over three times. But what was the one thing Buffalo was able to do that was surprising in that football game, it was how they ran the ball against the ravens, right? So not and the Ravens had a fantastic run defense last year. We all know that. But you are replacing Michael Pierce, who you know was obviously your run stopping nose tackle. And look, I mean, Michael Pierce missed some games last year, so it’s not as though they this is foreign territory for for them in that regard, but you do have that, that piece of it, and you you covered this, they, their veterans haven’t tackled anyone all summer, like truly tackled someone all summer, and we’ve talked about this as a league wide issue, as fewer And fewer teams are playing their starters in the preseason. We’ve seen it here in recent years. Tackling does suffer around the league. I think if you look at weeks one, two, getting

Nestor Aparicio  09:10

an angle, the speed of the game like I think that, I think

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Luke Jones  09:14

wrapping up and bringing them to the ground is, you know, as much as any of that stuff, I think that just the literal act of doing that Derek Henry could take advantage of that? Well, no question. And right? I mean, absolutely, but buffalo ran the ball on them last year, and especially, you know, when that first half, when Buffalo was able to take advantage of turnovers and and built the lead that that ultimately held up for them thanks to Mark Andrews dropping the two point conversion pass, they, you know, they were able to control the clock a little bit more. And look, I mean, it’s not as though they absolutely gas them. We’re talking about 147 rushing yards on 36 carries. It was 4.1 yards per carry. It’s not as though James Cook was popping off eight. Eight yards a clip, right? I mean, it wasn’t anything absurd, but if you’re talking about a week one game on the road, James Cook got paid, you know, had his hold in, or whatever you want to call it, at the start of camp, but they paid him, so he should be good to go. Josh Allen, we know what he can do running the ball, just like Lamar. You know, not exactly the same, but can burn more like Derek Henry, more like a linebacker, yeah. I mean, we’ll run, run, he’ll run through you more. So Lamar runs around, you know, away from you. Josh Allen, I mean, we, we’ve talked about Lamar taking too many hits. I mean, Josh Allen encourages it. He delivers the hit, being the big guy that he is. So I think in a just in a general sense, that’s probably something as I’m looking at this in the early stages, and we’ll get, you know, we can get more specific into it as we get closer and closer to that day. But, yeah, I think that would be my general concern going into it. But you, you made the the Perfect Point. The bills are saying the same thing about Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson, right? I mean, their starters haven’t Nestor and I know they played, I think they played their starters, you know, at least somewhat in the summer, but not a lot. I mean, even the teams that played their starters now, it’s not like it was 15 years ago where you’d say quarter, half and the third preseason game they might play three quarters like, I mean, no team is playing their starters that much anymore. I mean, it’s, you’re talking about a couple series here and there at most, for in most cases. So that’s absolutely two teams that want to run the football who tackles better. You know, it’s such a simple thing. It’s just like saying, I mean, you could talk about the turnover battle and every single football game that you see, right? I mean, when, when you hear a commentator say that, that tells you, Well, they don’t really have anything original to say about the game, but I do think it’s it this is a little more unique in the way that both these teams love to run the football, and you have two defenses that they don’t tackle in practice to the ground the way that they did 30 years ago. They don’t play very much in the preseason or at all in the Ravens case, you know, when you’re talking about there’s other than Trenton Simpson and Malachi Starks. I mean, you think about their starting defense that’ll be out on the field on week, Sunday night football in less than two weeks. Now you’re talking about Matt abika didn’t play in the preseason. Travis Jones didn’t play in the preseason. Broderick Washington didn’t play in the preseason. So your D line, you know, John Jenkins played very sparingly. Aeneas Peebles did play a good bit. So there you go, but he’s your six round rookie. He’s the last guy in that rotation. So you’re at your starting linebackers. I mean, roquan didn’t play. Van Noy didn’t play. Oh, wait, in play TVs, Robinson didn’t even play. So that level of the defense only a couple guys, and then in the secondary, like I said, Malachi Starks is real. Out of the guys that are going to play in that secondary, Malachi Starks is the only one who played it all in the preseason, and he sat out the last game. They held him out entirely in the third game, which I think was smart, because, you know, what else did you need to see from him? So that that’s, that’s my concern, as far as, like, other than just, hey, the bills are really good. The Ravens really good. It’s a it’s two AFC heavyweights going at it, right? I mean, may the best team win on on Sunday night football to open the season. But you do, kind of you don’t want to be shell shocked in terms of not being ready for the physicality, and that lends itself to the point you were making. Not that the Ravens have all these old players. I mean, yes, roquan Smith’s a veteran. He’s 28 you know, he’s not 30. This isn’t Ray Lewis in his age 36

Nestor Aparicio  13:37

season. So it certainly felt, to me and maybe to some of the fan base, like it was a slowdown for him that he does, yeah, like an emerging let me be eight year old hall of fame linebacker.

Luke Jones  13:47

Let me be clear. He needs to be better. There’s no doubt about that. I wholeheartedly agree. Now, there was a lot going on that I think was conspiring against roquan Smith, Patrick England Smith, you had Trenton Simpson, who we saw, what they thought about him last year. They benched him after the bye week, and he didn’t even play on defense down the stretch. And you had the safety mess, right? I mean, think about all those over routes that you know, those 20 yard dig routes and things like that, that just killed them, because their safety play was a disaster through the first 10 weeks last year. I think when you saw them make the changes, you saw a better version of roquan Smith down the stretch now. Was it peak? Was it all elite, all world to the degree that we saw maybe a couple years before that? No, you know, I agree with you. They need more from him as a $20 million linebacker, if they don’t see more from him then, not saying he’s cut, but you’re starting to have value concerns about where he is. So, yeah, you want to see that and, you know, but I think my other area that I’d be a little concerned about is, you know, just how much time Jair Alexander missed over the summer, and should OB am I surprised by. That, no, that’s why you were able to sign those two guys for a combined, what, five and a half million dollars. However, how much of that was being careful, and how much of that is, is there some actual, legitimate concern about Alexander’s knee, right? I mean, so I’m all for slow playing him in August, but got to turn it on, right? I mean, gotta go play football. And that applies for any of these guys that have missed practice time over the last few weeks.

Nestor Aparicio  15:26

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So, and I think around the league, we’ll start seeing this on Thursday night, the general sloppiness. Yeah, in the same way that anytime, and you’re an old college football fan like me, whether it’s Penn State, Maryland, whatever it is, Maryland would play Kent State, or they would play West Virginia early, or they play somebody. They usually play the Little Sisters of the Poor playing Robert Morris or something. But they, you know, they play that kind of game, and you get all your sloppies out early in that preseason. Now, there’s none of that in college football anymore. I mean, the games change and all that, but the resting part of the the NFL players. It really is a weird box of chocolates next week. And always, there’s some team that gets their ass kicked that winds up being a good team. The Ravens last year, yeah. What were that? Right? I mean, so starting to season, oh, and two, I mean, they didn’t get

Speaker 1  16:18

their butts kicked, but they lost. They were owing to no question. But, yeah, but, I mean, I remember some Steelers teams just getting freight trained on opening week. You’re like, Oh, my God, I think, you know, do you remember the year the patriot? What was that? Oh, three. What was it? I’m trying to think who they was. They parted. I think it was with lawyer Malloy. He wound up with buffalo. I think, I think it was lawyer Malloy and the bills just, I mean, they stomped them. Patriots won the Super Bowl that year, but week one that, yeah, you’re right. I mean, there’s always that it’s not a true look at the league, and for everybody out there that gambles on this or whatever.

Nestor Aparicio  16:56

Okay, man, there are no comparables. I don’t want to hear any. There’s no comparable in this. This is the last game from last year for this team in the same place. There’s no comparable to cold last year at night, versus whatever this is going to be next week, versus the players, versus the health of the players, versus, to my point, how none of these guys should be fatigued. And I hope that I’m getting arrested this weekend either. I will point that out that goes across the league. Somebody’s getting somebody’s going to get a call. The cops are going to be involved somewhere. 32 teams in the league, you know, 32 times, 53 it’s about 17 under guys. Somebody’s going to have the cops called on them this weekend. You got to make sure it’s not you or your team or your locker room or your security guards. So but in this particular case, I would say the to know anything about the league next week. If you think you like the commanders last year and you should bet on them this year, this is my first, you know, one 800 gambler, get some help because, like, Hey, man, I don’t think there’s any way of knowing what we’re going to get next week, and that makes it more exciting, I think, from a fan standpoint, that we used to base things on the preseason, or what we saw in that very important 3/3 preseason, first half didn’t look so good. Running game didn’t look so good against the Rams, or whatever we used to do around here. We don’t have any of that, yeah, but we have right now, which is going off of last year’s track record, going off what your eyes have seen on a practice field, but also knowing, like, what you’ve seen in a practice field has been

Luke Jones  18:27

flag football. Yeah. I mean, there’s always that unknown, and that’s why this game’s so important. And we’ll talk about it in a few weeks, when they go to Kansas City, right? It’s really important now, if they go to Buffalo week one, and they win. Look, you love it because you’re one and, oh, you love it because that’s a head to head tiebreaker advantage that you have over the bills. But it’s not going to exercise any demons. It’s not going to, you know what?

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Nestor Aparicio  18:53

It would exercise some demons. For me, go to Buffalo and have three penalties for 15 yards. Okay, fair. Go to Buffalo and not jump offside, go to Buffalo and catch the ball when it’s thrown to you. But assignment, alignment, technique understood, makes his kicks like you want to see a crisp version of the game. It ain’t going to be that way. It’s going to be the sloppiest Game of the Year for all the reasons we talked about real there could be bad blood, there’s going to be vibe, there’s going to be where the bad guys coming in? There’s Lamar didn’t win the MVP. There’s all of that pregame, you know, pomp and circumstance. And then there’s, how are you and I going to react at 5:30am on Monday morning the eighth of September, at as to how they played? You know, how does Ronnie Stanley look? How does Lamar look? How did Derek Henry run the ball? Oh, he fumbled. Oh, he scored three touchdowns. Oh, they freight trained them, whatever it is you just want to say, okay, they lost 3128 but they look good. Yeah, they, you know, they fumbled. Zay flowers fumble. Whatever happens in the game if they lose by a field goal. But. You don’t want them to have 13 penalties for 158 yards. You don’t want the kicker missing two kicks in an extra point.

Luke Jones  20:07

You want two guys having a season ending injury, injuries, right? Yeah, I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  20:11

so I’m just running through all the things that could happen, because we’re already predicting it ain’t going to be crisp, it’s probably going to be sloppy, it’s not pretty, but it’s us. There you go, John, I just did the post game for you.

Luke Jones  20:22

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Yeah, I mean, and look again for me, there’s not going to really be that much big picture stuff to take away from this. It’s going to be, did you win? And if you did win, hey, great. Come December, when we’re talking about who’s going to be the number one seed, you have that head to head tiebreaker in your back pocket, you know, if it happens to be you and the bills are both, I don’t know, 11 and three, you know, going into the last few weeks of the season, right? And you say, hey, they won in week one. Not sure how much that means in terms of if they play again, but if they do play again, that means they’re going to play in Baltimore, right? I mean, so, so you kind of have that scenario, but in terms of, you know, it being cathartic, or like this rite of passage, or anything like that. No, because, and, and if they lose, it doesn’t mean that they’re doomed to lose in January either. Other than you might have to, you might be going to Buffalo then, right? I mean, so it’s important, but it’s also just important in the sense that it’s the first game you want to get off to a one to no start. You don’t want to be oh and two, like you were last year, where we look, they recovered very well from that. It was fine, other than you were the number three, rather than having any chance to be the number one seed in the AFC. I mean, that’s it’s really what it comes down to. I mean, it’s important in that way, they could win by five touchdowns on week one. That doesn’t mean they’re winning the Super Bowl, right? I mean, they demolished the bills back in week four last year, and we saw what happened when they played in the divisional round. They lost in heartbreaking fashion. So, but yeah, you have to try to come out as sharp as you can be, understanding that, yes, you’re probably going to have, you know, at least a few penalties. And I’m glad you mentioned the penalties, generally speaking, that was a major point of emphasis for them this off season, and, you know, this spring and the summer to be better in that regard. I mean, if there’s couple things you could really point to that were not good about this football team last year. I mean, it’s not much, right? I mean, even the defense, they cleaned up to the degree that they did down the stretch, where they were one of the best defenses in the league by the end of the regular season, even if the numbers, the overall numbers, didn’t necessarily, necessarily reflect that. But penalties, they have to be better in that regard. They way too many penalties last year, and they need to be better on special teams. And that’s not just Tyler loop, by the way. They need to be better. You’re hoping that la johnte Wester, we saw him return the punt for a touchdown against the Colts. Kids, explosive as a return man. But what does he need to do? First catch and secure the football and then see what you can do in that regard. But, you know, they got nothing from their return game last year, you know, especially punt returns. You know, we

Nestor Aparicio  23:07

get older, but the punt returners all still stay the same age, right? I mean, we get older, and we’re like, son, and these guys are 2122 23 the ball is going to be up in the air. It’s going to wobble around. 11. Guys are going to try to take your head off, catch the ball like and that goes back to any pick any of these punt returners. It’s always the same game, though. And you know, Ed Reed understood that, no

Luke Jones  23:30

question well, and it’s funny, you mentioned getting so I’m looking at the Ravens roster. You know, Malachi Starks was born after Jamal Lewis ran for 295 yards in 2003 he was born that November. So as Jamal Lewis is on his way to let him know, I definitely have socks older than just get nasty, but that’s what I’ve just said. Like I remember when we got to the threshold of players that were born after the Ravens came into existence and after they won their first Super Bowl. Now we’re at the point where, yeah, Malachi Starks, yeah, he was born two and a half months after Jamal Lewis ran for 295 against the browns in week two that season. I mean, so we’re talking about but, but, no, just to bring it back to, I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  24:12

you want to get one that wasn’t born the day they Flacco won the Super Bowl, then we’ll have something,

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Luke Jones  24:16

yeah. I mean, we still stop a little ways until then. But yeah. I mean, it’s, it’s crazy. It’s crazy. I mean, think about it. I mean, this is good. This is the 25th anniversary of the Super Bowl, 35 team at this point. I mean, that’s, that’s wild to think about that. I mean, it’s wild to think that the ravens, now, you know, they’re coming up on. The Ravens have been in Baltimore nearly as long as the Colts were, right? I mean, we’re, we’re almost perfectly at that point, right? I mean, so that’s crazy. I mean, the Colts have been in Indianapolis now longer than they were in Baltimore. I mean, I can, I can continue here, or have I got

Nestor Aparicio  24:54

enough? That’s enough that, yeah, you know what I mean.

Luke Jones  24:58

But yeah. I mean, it’s. The 30th season for this franchise. And look, it’s not perfect, but boy, out of those 30 seasons, they’ve had it. They’ve had a legit shot in 20 of them, 20 of them, and even even a few that you wouldn’t put in that category, they were at least like in playoff, like, fringe playoff contention, right? You think of the oh two team. You think of the oh six team, yeah, well, oh six. I mean that that’s the team for me. That still hurts. I mean, I still think about that. I bought my I was just out of college. Todd heap doesn’t feel good about it either. I was just out of college. I bought my brother. We bought playoff tickets. That was my Christmas present to him, and

Nestor Aparicio  25:42

8

I have video of me blubbering, yeah. One day I’ll post it, yeah. And really, that was kind of the I couldn’t believe they lost. I think that’s what I’m and you know what? It’s

Luke Jones  25:53

funny. It’s funny because I made this point in passing. I mean, the Colts back earlier in August, they came into Owings Mills and practice against the Ravens 20 years ago or 25 years ago, that would have been a massive story. I mean, the Colts are back in Owings Mills. I mean, think about that. It wasn’t even a blip on the radar this summer, which speaks to from a generational standpoint, how far we’ve moved past those memories, not that we forgot

Nestor Aparicio  26:19

me corral in the Colts two weeks from now, from 1975 and let me be clearing, and if I can get Bert Jones and Lionel Mitchell on a program awesome. I don’t know if George Kuhn, Robert Pratt are alive, Ken Mendenhall, but I’ll Glen dowdy, Roger Carr, sack pack, but it just it speaks. It gets to me 50 years later. And let me be

Luke Jones  26:39

clear, this is not me saying to the older generations of fans, get over it, because I was the generation that didn’t have a football team until I was 13. But it speaks to, from a generational standpoint, how far along we are now.

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26:54

There you go.

Nestor Aparicio  26:57

Buckle. Yeah, you know I I touched I think I told you this in the other segment, because I did some baseball. Um, we were talking about Kyle braddish, and I was talking about Rudy may pitching for the 75 Orioles, and how the internet is just such a I mean, I was at hannamans funeral when Tim kirkian comes running up to me, pointing a picture of my cousin. And the first thing I did was like, run to baseball reference to see if it was 6465 look at dates, look at games, look at Box Scores, look at who pitch, look at attendance. You can even get the weather. If you want to know. You can know whether Bill Haller was buying home plate or whether Nestor Shylock was buying home plate or Luciano. You know, whoever it would be. I done that with tickets from the 70s, but the Colts, the Colts are this ancient thing for me, dude, right? Like, there’s still a point for you where you don’t believe I was old enough to even be a part of it, right? People see me out and I start talking culture ish, and they’re like, You’re not old enough. And I’m like, Dude, I went to a lot of colts games, a lot of colts games, a lot, you know, for a kid my age, it was not a once, twice, three times thing I went to, I don’t know if between 73 and 83 that’s 1011, seasons. I went to 40 colts games. You know what I mean? I went to five or six a year, every year, all of those years, even when they were really bad. I went. My dad didn’t go because I wanted to see don’t tell Chris Collins worth this, but he was a rookie the year that they got the Zubaz thing going in the helmets, the jungle thing. And I went out. I saw Jim Hart play for the St Louis Cardinals in 1981 82 strike. Here I found my Green Bay Packers ticket from the Tie game, the oh eight and one season with David hum. So like I remember all of these things, but I I wondered if I had my 75 tickets because I was at the Tony Lenhart game, the fog game. I remember the Browns game vividly when they started winning. And this is 50 years ago, I remember this stuff, but I found my ticket stub from the Jets game November 19, 1975 and I’m like, Well, I know they won because they won every game after September. They were the winning they were the team that didn’t lose. Until they lost, they won throughout October, November, December. They were like crazy winning streak. And after being really awful the fir they were like, one and four, and then it is one, they won, 52 to 19. I mean, and Roger Carr caught a 90 yard touchdown pass the first five minutes of the game. I remember this. I held the ticket, and I’m like, oh yeah. And I’m like, You know what I remember about that game, they were winning 38 to 13. And my dad said, let’s get on the We left early because my dad wanted to get out of there, you know. And they scored two more. They won 52 to 19. That day is 50 years ago, and I have a ticket stub, and it means that much to me. But when the colt, the Indianapolis Colts, come out, and they’re just another thing. To me, yeah, I mean, I don’t, I like, I don’t. I don’t even see the helmets the same way anymore, since I made peace with Jim Irsay almost two decades ago. I mean, it was, it was a 1415, years ago that I wrote that thing that wound up getting a million views in Indianapolis, just saying, I’m not going to be mad about this anymore. And my wife would tell you, unlike a lot of things that I promised I would change about myself, and haven’t. I have changed that. This doesn’t bother me anymore. The tickets, they make me think of my father. It’s warm, it’s fuzzy. I’m very I’m I’m even good with Chad Steele and Steve Basti, not really, but I’m going to hold him accountable. But like through all the football history, whatever has happened, I’ve come to the Jim Irsay mind frame. I remember when he said this to me, when I went for that walk with bashati, and bashati was trying to get the records back with me, back at the Biltmore 20 years ago, right after they won the first Super Bowl. I guess that would have been Oh 70607, in that range, Jim Irsay said to me, listen. And he was very sweet to me, and he began a friendship with me, and he said to me, I’ll do anything, but I can’t change history. I’m not going to do what Donald Trump is doing to black America and to the civil I’m just putting that part in because it’s true, but I’m not going to erase things that really happened. I can’t, I can’t erase the history of the moving of the franchise. Now, can we talk about Johnny United’s records? Because that’s what we were talking about. But like all of that 50 years of history, and all of that, um, 30 years of Raven’s history, and it’s sad to me, Luke, being the historian that I am, that you have become. And right, they only got written books on both Super Bowls, looking around, nobody else me. I wrote books in the locker room with a real press pass through all of that. Nobody cares, I mean, and that’s and Billick would say that, and even rod Woodson doing the games, or whatever, we’re past the point where that team matters as much as Mike Flynn, and I thought it did on the float that day. You know what I mean? As you age a little bit, the only thing that matters to these kids, you see it, you talk about it. Lamar Jackson, yeah, they don’t care about Trent dofer. They really don’t care much about Ray Lewis has entered that Brooks Robinson period, where it’s Cal Ripken is timed out. Cal Ripken is doing commercials. He’s 65 he’s there. But is he of any value? Is he going to work? Can he sell tickets? Can he sell bobbleheads? We’ll find out next week. What, you know, 30, it’s been 30 years since that. Yeah, so, like, this is a nostalgic period, but there ain’t going to be 47,000 people and doing Cal like, I don’t know, they didn’t get anybody out there. Adam Jones, can get anybody. So I, I am these reunions really aren’t like the old timers games to you and me, we were kids where people are warmer and fuzzier about winning teams, let alone the oh six team, which is why the 75 colts thing here, when I’ve hit the folks at Babe Ruth about getting light L on and trying to find bird, I have Burt’s number, but like trying to find these folks On a zoom who are 80 years old now, 7580 years old, right? Like looking for them. And I said to them, this is, you know, these are young girls that work at the Babe Ruth Museum. They don’t know anything about 75 calls, and they think of me as a young man. And they, they’re like, shocked that I know anything about the 75 Colts. And like, that was my first love. And you know what the girls have written to me because I haven’t talked to them, they’re like, We are blown away by how much the people that love that Team Love that team. Yeah, and the team didn’t win, but the oh six ravens aren’t going to have that, you know? I mean, I guess that’s my point of it’s hard enough to fall in love with the teams you love. They had a 10 year reunion for the team that won, and there’s not a parade for them anymore, and that, and that was lost on me in the parades. I thought they’ll be loved forever. No, they won’t. I mean, they’ll that maybe. But then time passes on and you’re into Lamar, or you’re into whatever Samuel pasayo You want his jersey you don’t want boot pals anymore,

Luke Jones  33:59

you know? Yeah. I mean, I look, I think there’s a middle ground with that. I like, I don’t

Nestor Aparicio  34:04

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think nostalgic than there. I don’t people are,

Luke Jones  34:09

yes and but I think there’s a middle ground there. I think, first of all, this also falls under the umbrella that I’ve said to you for years and years, fandom has various degrees of it, right? You have the people that are very casual, that love to go tailgate on Sunday and hey Lamar, and I’ve got a Lamar jersey, but like I the rest of the week, I’m not thinking very much of it, right? And then you have your die hards who are listening to us on a regular basis and reading on the internet, posting and message you know, message boards still exist in some circles, not, not like they did. I guess Reddit is kind of the new message board, you know, and social media and all that so. But look, I Are we as nostalgic as a society as we used to be? I don’t know. I, you know what I feel like in 2000 people said the same thing then about the generation before? You know

Nestor Aparicio  34:58

that? I think there’s a whole bunch. People red hats that are nostalgic about everything they used to want America to be. They vote. 75 million them voted that way. So those are the people that are there to buy the bobbleheads and buy the history and eat all of that up. But I would agree with you, there are people that went for years just to drink the beer and get the funny floppy ad, because they only went that night, opening day and floppy at night, and on school night or whatever. And they stayed engaged with the Orioles in a way, to at least know who their starting pitchers are going to

Luke Jones  35:27

be next year. And I would also say that might actually be an argument that the ravens are a victim of their own success in that way, in the sense that if they, if we were talking about the 2000 team, you know, 25 years now for that. And obviously you’ve talked about the Colts with 75 but if the Ravens had had a long period where they were, I don’t know, like the Jets. I mean, think about the Jets. I mean, you still hear them celebrate Super Bowl three. I mean, my goodness. I mean, you want to talk about something that happened a long time ago. I mean, how old Joe Namath is at this point? I mean, look, look at so many of the others from that team are gone. But I think because the Ravens have sustained and been so successful now over three different eras, right? You think of the Billick, you know, great, you know, starting in 99 through that period, and then horrible coming in. And that was the end of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, but then Joe Flacco and the Flacco era, and they win a Super Bowl that year, and now you have this Lamar team, which championships TBD, right? None to this point, but we would all agree it’s been, it’s still been a very fun last six or seven years. I mean, the regular season’s been amazing, but, yeah, January, so the legacy. But the point is, there hasn’t been a law like the Orioles have experienced for decades of not having much to write home about where, yeah, you do have to prop up the past to that degree. So I think in that way, maybe there’s not as much nostalgia, because, well, there’s still plenty to enjoy in the present and the recent past that you don’t have to go back as far now. They should be celebrated. And I still think there’s a middle ground here. I don’t think the new generation is completely doesn’t care about that.

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Nestor Aparicio  37:13

You sat down there for years during halftime celebrations and Hall of Fame this and this guy’s going there, and people don’t stand at attention the way you and I, as fans did. We’re taught to be. Thanks. Brooks day, Earl, riding around, Jim Palmer, riding around, just al Ripken.

Luke Jones  37:33

I’m holding up my phone right now for anyone who’s just listening, our attention spans in general have become that right in the same way that you don’t consume TV, in the same way, the same way that people, not as many people, go to movie theaters now, they just want to watch it on Netflix, right? I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  37:49

so, well, it doesn’t mean they’re not making a lot of money

Luke Jones  37:51

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in the NFL, sure. Oh, exactly. And look, I mean that part of it’s not even, you know, that’s not even in doubt.

Nestor Aparicio  37:56

Well, I pick, I pick on the baseball team all the time, and we’re doing a football segment, but picking on the baseball team about this is that they have all those red hats that voted for Trump that go collect bobbleheads and stand in line and do all of that. They don’t have the backfill. The NFL has the exact opposite. The NFL has the I don’t care about anything that happened before Lamar, and I don’t even care what Lamar did last year. Can I bet on it this week? Can I win some money this week? Can I be into the game? Can I wear the jersey this week, and it’s very much here and now, because it is here and now on their screen, and Bruce Laird and John Dutton aren’t, you know what I mean, like so. But I

Luke Jones  38:33

would also say, and I would say this even from my own personal experience, and you know me, I, I love history. I mean I, I mean, I love history in general, but, but specifically sports history I love, I mean, one of my favorite things to read about is 1920s era baseball. I mean, I, I love that. You know, even go like pre dead, you know, dead ball era leading into, you know, the Black Sox Scandal and all that, and Babe Ruth and, but, but that said, to bring it back more specifically to what we’re talking about here. I have a reverence for the 2000 ravens that I can’t have for Johnny Unitas. Johnny Unitas was folklore to me, even the sack pack in the 70s era, colts March abroad, and how wonderfully surprising that was in 75 that’s folklore. To me. I didn’t experience it. So about the only individual that I’ve truly had an authentic reverence for that I never saw play was Brooks Robinson, because my dad loved him that much. And I had the privilege doing what I’ve been able to do over the last 15 years, that I got to meet and talk to Brooks a few times over the years, and that was just, that was, that was my dad’s guy, so, but, I mean, I have a Johnny you. I have Johnny you memorabilia that my grandfather gave me years ago, and I got his autograph in 1996 on a Ravens, jaguars ticket stub. But Johnny you was folklore to me. So there’s always, you know when you’re talking about Jenna. Operations, and the further you get away from that time, there’s always going to be some of that, and that’s why I love Bert Jones so but, but I don’t think, I don’t think it’s necessarily that there’s a lack of respect. I think it’s just, in a lot of cases, like you just don’t have an emotional attachment to it, like you could. Luis Aparicio, I mean, obviously that’s family for you. I don’t have any reverence for him in the sense that you know that was so far. I mean, at least Eddie and Cal like, I want you know Eddie even as an Oriole, like I was very young. But I have flashbulb memories of chanting Eddie at Memorial Stadium, and my dad was an usher, so, but I don’t have the memories of Eddie hitting the two home runs up in Philadelphia in game five, because I was two weeks old, right? I have a memory of

Nestor Aparicio  40:47

it landed right below me,

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Speaker 2  40:48

yeah. So, you know, so some of what you mentioned, and don’t get me

Luke Jones  40:52

wrong, I’m not saying there’s not validity to it, but I think some of that is just as time passes. I mean, it’s it becomes folklore, like the cults are mythical individuals to me, you know, I mean, Gino Marchetti and art Donovan. It like I remember them as elderly men, but, but, yeah, I mean, so, you know, this is a 30 years, yeah, memory Lane’s great, but, yeah, as time goes on, it’s not going to be as meaningful to as many younger people. And that’s okay. I mean, I understand that. All

Nestor Aparicio  41:20

right, I’m gonna get my 75 colts tickets out. You get your 96 Johnny. You autograph Jaguar ticket out. We’ll meet next week. Buffalo Bills and the Baltimore Ravens gonna play football next week. Luke’s got it all handled. Wnsd tech service also has it handled. Brought to you by coal roofing and Gordian energy. Any breaking news happens there? We’re monitoring the Kyle Bradish comeback. We’re doing things around you’re happy Labor Day to everybody. Two things. Eat the gold watermelon while you got a chance. Maybe get a little corn and tomatoes still, but you get two weeks left on the peach cake. Follow along the tastiness of Baltimore. Positive. Stay with us. You.