The January march to February begins by beating the lowly Browns

Plenty has gone right for the Baltimore Ravens this season regarding good health, Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry and historic offensive productivity. The defense and special teams problems feel like ancient history as the team carries a three-game winning streak and are a gaudy 18-point favorite to finish off the AFC North crown with a victory over the lowly Cleveland Browns on Saturday afternoon. Luke Jones and Nestor set the stage for a January path to February.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Ravens’ upcoming game against the Browns, highlighting the Ravens as 18-point favorites, with concerns about Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s performance. They debated the potential impact of Jameis Winston starting and the Browns’ overall poor performance. They also reflected on the NFL’s scheduling decisions, particularly the late announcement of game times, and the significance of the Ravens securing a home playoff game. Additionally, they analyzed the current state of NFL quarterback play, praising the athleticism and versatility of modern QBs like Mahomes, Lamar, and Allen, and discussed the playoff prospects of various teams, including the Vikings, Packers, and Chargers.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Ravens playoffs, Cleveland Browns, Jameis Winston, Dorian Thompson Robinson, NFL scheduling, Christmas Day games, quarterback carousel, Baker Mayfield, Super Bowl contenders, AFC heavyweights, NFC playoffs, Jalen Hurts, Sam Darnold, health concerns, playoff matchups

SPEAKERS

Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

8

Nestor Aparicio  00:02

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T AM, 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore. Positive.com make sure all of you new YouTubers out there who’ve been watching us set a spot on your radio. Dom, we can’t even be number six, Number Number eight, Number 12. We’ll be on the second panel after the queue in 98 rock and POC. Now that Lori de Young’s gone, I think I am the longest tenured radio voice in Baltimore. Now 30 I’ll be 34 years very soon, Luke Jones is going to join us. Now. I’m going to sound better than him. And I know you’re thinking like you never sound better than him. He’s Luke, you’re Nestor. He’s a media member, and you’re, whatever you are, looks a little under the weather. At least the Ravens aren’t under the weather right now, and you hope that the Browns are under the weather on Saturday afternoon. We’re going to get to baseball. We are going to get to Corbin burns. We’re going to get to Mr. Rubenstein and Mike Elias and Japanese pitchers and all of that. But it is a football week here, and as it turns out, dude, we’re getting together in perfect timing, because they moved again. Because they moved the game up a day and a half on us after I fell asleep on that Atlantic commanders game on Sunday, like us, I had a lot of football I you know? I mean, all the Christmas Day I gave I had no Christmas dinner in my house. You know why? My wife landed at three o’clock. We weren’t gonna make a ham. It was eight o’clock was like, we skipped Christmas. We went to the Beaumont, had a delicious steak the other night. It’s fine. We skipped Christmas for the National Football League. Then he put a game on Thursday night, then he put two games on Saturday. Then they put, like, remember the old music place? They would have the albums in the back that were cut up. All the games on Sunday were like, the cut off albums. They were like, the ones that, like, you don’t really want this, but it’ll still play. And it did play. And then we got a schedule, and lo and behold, I guess they think we matter, because we’re playing early on Saturday, and Raven loss to kick off the weekend would create some disarray for the Steelers and some other things, right?

Luke Jones  01:58

I mean, it would, but, and it could happen the early line had what the Ravens is, an 18 point favorite. Now, I think a lot of that’s based on if Dorian Thompson Robinson starts who I’ve seen enough. I’ve seen enough of that guy. He can’t play. I mean, that organization and look it would, it would behoove them to lose, quite frankly, but they can’t look at anyone with a straight face and say that their best chance to win is putting him out there. But so I think that’s a big reason why it’s 18. So if Jameis Winston ends up starting, which we know Jameis Winston earlier this year, he did it against the ravens, gives them at least some semblance of a fraction of a puncher’s chance? Well, they’re trying

Nestor Aparicio  02:41

to lose right at this point. I mean, I really want to win because of draft picks and they nobody needs a quarterback more than them. I guess. I don’t think they’re going to come back and make Jameis Winston their guy and win five more games next year and have him throw 28 interceptions, right? Like, I mean, that’s the way I look at Jameis Winston at this point. Somebody would have looked at Stan darnold that way last year, right? Like so somebody would have looked at Gino

Luke Jones  03:08

8

Gino Smith. Smith, I was going to say he’s been better than that,

Nestor Aparicio  03:12

but, right? But he was given up on my point. Baker Mayfield, by the way I looked at him yesterday, and I literally thought out loud, and this is a fun little conversation for us to can you win a Super Bowl with Baker? Might he? Might the Buccaneers be the team the Ravens face once they get through this gauntlet? Because Baker Mayfield’s one of those guys. Like, I don’t think you can win a suit. I mean, that’s where we are this time of year. There’s Josh Allen, there’s mahomes, there’s Lamar. Everybody thinks Joe burrow can win a Super Bowl, but his team can’t get in the playoffs, right? But, you know, quarterbacking at this point, when you look at the body of work and how many quarterbacks every organization goes through, and who was playing on Sunday, including Tyrod Taylor, Snoop Huntley, and don’t laugh, Joe Flacco, too, that’s a trifecta. There. You want to, you want to bet on something. Bet on bet on a bet. BET, bet. You want to get me to bet on something? Get me to bet on three former Raven quarterbacks, starting in week 17 in a National Football League.

Luke Jones  04:09

Well, I’ll give you the rundown on each of them. Snoop Huntley, compared to DTR, looked like Dan Marino. Joe Flacco, turned the ball over a couple times. Wasn’t very good, but was way better than the Indianapolis defense. Who should have had to walk back to Indy after they gave up 40 plus to the Giants. I mean, pu pu at a game that they needed to win. And then Tyrod Taylor was replacing Aaron Rodgers, who I saw had one of the lowest QBRs. You know, that’s ESPN passer rating that kind of a little more extensive, had one of the lowest ever in a game where they just got throttled by the bills. So not, not a great day for former ravens quarterbacks. But you mentioned Baker Mayfield. It’s that hell of a year. I mean, go, look at the numbers he’s put up in that offense. He’s

Nestor Aparicio  04:56

a one, one. And I start to think like it took golf a minute to become golf. Off right football more than a minute at you. It took Matthew Stafford 10 years, three coaches, my poor boy, Jimmy Schwartz, I mean, Megatron, he had it all right. And finally, he gets a ring, right? So it all comes in different ways, and as it goes through, about to enter the beautiful season here or the playoffs, where teams will have a chance to rise, resurrect whoever. Jayden Daniels, he gets to start his postseason legacy. All of this going on. It’s kind of an exciting week. There was a lot of football. Feels like the Ravens played three minutes ago, and they’re going to play again on Saturday now. And it feels like this game’s a walk over to me, right? Like we’re not going to talk much about this, or take the Browns seriously, or take Jim Schwartz or miles Garrett, and we watched him play on Sunday, and they can’t get out of their own way. Just got to win Saturday. I don’t think there’s any layups in the league. And I said to my wife when I was reading the schedule off, I’m like, somebody’s going to, as you like to say, play with their food and and get burned. I don’t know who it is. It better not be the Ravens. I mean, Harbaugh has no track record, really, for losing these kinds of games. I mean, there was a Cincinnati game a couple years ago, but there’s no thought that they’re not going to win a division and play a home game next week, right? Right. It better not be right. That’s the lead story here, where you don’t have a

8

Luke Jones  06:16

much of a voice, sure, sure. I mean, but on the flip side, and again, like I said, if Jameis Winston ends up getting the start instead of DTR Cleveland and the Ravens can both point to the first meeting in Cleveland, which we know there were a lot of circumstances that went on with that in terms of dropped interceptions and Kyle Hamilton what two plays or might have been the play Before the game winning touchdown, and Jamis Winston played well enough. Did the things that Jameis Winston does, which is he’ll make some great throws, but he’ll also throw the football to you, so you have to be ready for it. So let’s

Nestor Aparicio  06:50

give the press press conferences in the league these days, though, right? I mean,

Luke Jones  06:53

I mean, he’s certainly entertaining. There’s no doubt about that. And like I said, he absolutely gives them a better chance to win than DTR, who I was texting. I think I said it to you as we were texting, he’s terrible. He, he might be the worst that they’ve had at that position, Spurgeon win. I mean, we’re going through some I mean, he’s, he’s as bad as Spurgeon win. He’s as bad as all the backups you can throw out there. Tim couch. I mean, go down the list of all the and there have been plenty of bad we know that. I mean, it’s the browns, but he’s that bad, so we’ll see. I know Stefanski was non committal about it, but regardless of who

Nestor Aparicio  07:28

8

are they trying to win, or are they not? And I guess that’s a question for all of these jets and these other organizations to say, are, you know, yeah, you’re out there and you’re going to play hard, because the coach is Coach hard, and that’s the way we play in this league. But then there’s the who the players that you select to put out there. It speaks volumes for what your franchise agenda is at this point. And the franchise is bigger than,

Luke Jones  07:54

yeah, and let’s face it, I mean, there, they lost plenty of games, even with Jameis Winston. I mean, this wasn’t, this wasn’t a case that they were winning with. They could have lost 12 games of Flacco this year if they wanted to. I mean, they would have, they’d have a similar record if Deshaun Watson had been their quarterback all year. I mean, that’s how bad he was and and they just redid his deal, trying to add some void years to make it a little more tenable with the cap and everything. So it sounds like he’s going to be back. But look, regardless of who’s playing at quarterback. It’s a bad football team. They’re banged up. Had a couple other key guys on their defense get hurt on Sunday, and the Ravens are a better version of themselves compared to what we saw when these teams last met. So from that standpoint, yeah, I mean, it’s as simple as you’re playing early and you need to go out and take care of business. You’ve had extended rest. Now we talked about this with the other side of three games in 11 days. They did get a mini buy that was a little bit longer than even your typical Thursday game. So you come back into work this week, by most accounts, it seemed like they were healthy, getting out of the Christmas Day win over Houston. So you’re healthy, you’re getting back to work. You know that you’re playing in the first round of the playoffs, but you know that a win on Saturday guarantees that it’s a home game, and we’ve talked about how important it is to have at least that first round home game, and they’ve done the work since the bye week to secure that

Nestor Aparicio  09:17

to their supposed to win his brother next week, huh? That’ll be prime time, probably Saturday night or Sunday night, right, as I’d see it anyway. I

Luke Jones  09:24

mean, maybe, or it could be Pittsburgh. I mean, that’s that, that’s where there’s intrigue. And because I even had a few people ask me, Well, why didn’t they have the ravens and the Steelers play at the same time? And I understand that from a division standpoint, but I assume Pittsburgh’s going to want to still play, because, you know, if they win, then they get the Texans, rather than the Ravens in the first round, you know, or at least the possibility of the Ravens in the first round. So, and I think anyone who watched Houston play on Christmas Day, you’d rather play the ravens, you know, I don’t care who you also

8

Nestor Aparicio  09:53

get Joe burrow and Russell Wilson. Sorry, no, I mean, the league doesn’t make any mistakes with television. Mean the league punch. On a Sunday night game or Monday night game, it’s because they’ve been handcuffed by the network and by the schedule and by things. But I can, I be really honest with you, this is full forthcoming, and probably wouldn’t be the case if I still have my press credential. But I didn’t know there were Saturday games. I thought that they played. I just thought everything was really there’s nothing more unfair than John Harbaugh finding out at 11 o’clock last night that he has to play four o’clock on Saturday, like that. That’s just effed up. I mean, I don’t know what else to say from a football perspective, for the league to do that to any team. I’m not going to sit here sing the blues for John as an 18 point favorite at 430 on Saturday, or for the league and their television how they’re trying to make money and give games to Amazon and Apple and Netflix and, Lord knows, YouTube, whoever’s coming next, right? But it’s a little goofy. I mean, you know, like, fine doesn’t matter. Matters a lot to the Steelers. They gotta play on Saturday night instead of Sunday. And I think it matters to fans who are holding tickets too. Like, it’s just, I don’t know, I’ll get on that tangent forever, and it’s one thing for baseball to say. We’re going to play Tuesday, Thursday, Friday at three in the afternoon. It’s baseball. It’s short schedule. The last weekend is a crescendo on that Sunday in October. This is different. This is this is a bunch of dicks and suits getting together and lawyers and money people doing things that they shouldn’t be doing in regard to football, and there’s no much like Chad Steele out there. There’s no grown up in the room. There’s no grown up to stand up and say, shouldn’t be waiting until 11 o’clock on Sunday night having 28 teams wondering whether the plane at 430 on Saturday. That’s screwed up. That’s all,

Luke Jones  11:37

I agree. Let me correct something I said when I when I last I misspoke. I’ve obviously meant to say that if you’re the Steelers, you’d much rather play the Texans than the Ravens in the first round. Well, I think everyone, the

Nestor Aparicio  11:49

way they’ve got this scored is the Ravens need to win to secure the division right. Once they do that, the Steelers are going to need to win to be the right five for themselves and Joe burrow, and it’s going to be a competitive game, and the struggles don’t want to lose, so they they pay, and it’s great. It’s good theater. I mean, burrow and Russell, it’s so they fixed their television thing. I just think, from a scheduling standpoint, it’s

Luke Jones  12:11

8

goofy. Yeah, I think I would be curious to know, and I’ll see if I can find out this week. I’d be curious to know if the league told the teams that played on Christmas, or even go as far as the Thursday night game Seattle, for example, who played the bears on Thursday night. I wonder if they told those teams, hey, depending on how all this plays out, you might have a higher probability of playing on Saturday, more susceptible. Okay, right? Because part of this is also, I mean, look, since, since Wednesday, and obviously the team got some days off, but the coaches were back in there over the weekend, and they’re preparing for the browns. I mean, they knew they were playing Cleveland. It’s not like it was a unknown, short week, mystery opponent, which you can get with the playoffs, right? The Ravens don’t have to get on a plane. The Browns do exactly, exactly. So, you know, from that standpoint, same thing. You know, Bengal Steelers, neither of them are on a short week. I mean, the Bengals played Saturday. So, so there’s some of that, but your point about the fans? Yeah, I mean, this is why I say though constantly, we’ve had this discussion so many times about Thursday night football, for example, and people complain about it, but I what do I always say, if you’re going to continue to watch you’re telling the NFL you’re fine with it, right? So, so much,

Nestor Aparicio  13:25

I know canceled their Christmas this year to watch the Ravens play. That’s insane.

13:30

I mean, it’s insane. And I’m not like a

Nestor Aparicio  13:33

hardcore, you know? You know where I stand on religion I was raised, or Lady Fatima Catholic, all of that, right? Like, my whole lifetime doesn’t even matter. You sit there. The thing that made me crazy on Christmas Day was when JJ Watts doing the game, not very good, by the way, it was kind of terrible, actually, all of it, but saying we need a little violence today. And I’m thinking, dude, it’s Christmas Day. I mean, it’s Christmas day. Are you? You profess to be a Christian. All of you do. Oh, all of you, you know

8

14:05

today, like talking about football though. Man, we

Nestor Aparicio  14:12

didn’t argue about this, and you’re the man you’re

Luke Jones  14:14

saying. That is silliness, though there’s lots of things you can critic. Come on. Man, canceling Christmas

Nestor Aparicio  14:19

8

day like for the league, and this is now going to be the thing. Christmas is going to be usurped as the day we watch football, like Thanksgiving has been, because they’re not going to give it up now, now that they’ve done it, they’re going to play three games on Christmas, if they can. Sure. I I just

14:41

want, I think that’s a low blow.

Nestor Aparicio  14:43

No, he said, nothing wrong. A little violent. We need more time in the context of football, yeah, but I just come on,

Luke Jones  14:51

get off my lawn. Moment, right there. I’m not gonna let you go on that one. Well, I

8

Nestor Aparicio  14:55

just went. I just went. It is, it’s a silly thing,

14:59

yeah. Right? And we’re talking in the in the in the context of NFL films and Jonathan and

Nestor Aparicio  15:05

all of this is okay. Like, I wake up and it’s Christmas Day, and at one o’clock there’s seven and a half hours of stop Christmas. Put on a purple hat. Let’s do violence. Let’s ignore the family and all watch the little screen. Like, it’s like I just really are taking Christmas sacredly as a league, then both stop Pittsburgh and Houston and tell all of them they have to cancel Christmas Day, and if that’s Get off my lawn five days after Christmas from a guy who’s not high and holy in any way. I just think

Luke Jones  15:39

8

that specific comment was a silly thing to criticize him individually. I’m just

Nestor Aparicio  15:44

saying in the middle of the day I hear it, so I’m saying it. He said he should own it. That’s fine. Nothing

Luke Jones  15:49

to own. It’s fine. He’s doing his job anyway. I agree with your general point. I just think that’s a silly

Nestor Aparicio  15:56

well, we don’t have a game to talk about. You don’t even have a voice to talk about it. We haven’t even have a voice to talk about it. We haven’t even argued that Corbin burns. Luke Jones is here. He is Baltimore. Luke, okay, so what do you have? You had a weekend? I I’ve, I haven’t. I just said everybody for wrecking the holiday and playing the games. And now LeBron is going to argue that, no, no, no, we are Christmas. That that’s the part that drove me nuts. How about Jesus, Christ and God and the Holy? How about them owning How about something other than commerce, not Oh, how about families owning Christmas? How about that?

8

Luke Jones  16:31

That’s all. They’re gonna start going down that road. If we’re gonna start going down that road, I would say a lot of Christmas is commercialized and not sacred. I

Nestor Aparicio  16:39

don’t anyway, Ken Jones on his, on his, let’s get your voice back, and then I’ll let you come back and yell about that later.

Luke Jones  16:44

Let’s pivot. And because this is more of a last week conversation to complain about the Christmas games, I think what we saw over the weekend. I mean, you know, there’s some really as much as there were some bad games, there were some really good games. I mean, the Denver, Cincinnati game on Saturday was wildly entertaining. I mean, it’s he’s fighting to make the playoffs. I think the Bengals, for as much as you don’t fear their defense whatsoever. I think everyone Cincinnati, or not, Cincinnati, Kansas City, buffalo, the ravens, the three real contenders in the AFC, in my opinion, none of them want to see the Bengals get in. And I don’t mean that that they’re terrified that they can’t beat the Bengals, because Kansas City Beat the Bengals. Ravens beat the Bengals twice, but compared to Denver, compared to even though the chargers, you know, I think the Chargers are very much ascending. I just think they need a little more talent, skill, talent, but,

Nestor Aparicio  17:41

8

but they’re more balanced. The chargers are speak to be a balanced team. To me, yeah,

Luke Jones  17:46

but, but, I think when you’re talking about an upside play, you know, when you’re talking about a team that’s a wild card going to be on the road, Cincinnati is the team that you look at and say they could knock off one of the heavyweights in the A because they can score 35 right? Exactly, exactly. And again, that’s not to say, let me be clear, and there’s still a long shot to get in because, because you just look at, you know, they need to win and they need Miami to lose, right? I mean, they’re and they need Denver to lose to Kansas City’s backups on Sunday. So, so they’re not in a good spot, but they very clearly are the team that if they sneak in, your buffalo would be nervous as all heck,

Nestor Aparicio  18:30

by the way. That’s another reason they play Saturday night, right? Because if they win, it creates real pressure on Miami and Denver ahead of time. It puts them in a position. It puts them in a marker, if they were to win, yeah.

Luke Jones  18:42

I mean, I get, ideally, you’d want all those teams playing at the same time, but I think they’re, you know, you get told they sold television on Saturday, yeah, exactly. And that’s, I mean, I suppose the Ravens Browns is on Saturday because Lamar Jackson is ratings gold, and he might only play three quarters if the ravens are up by five touchdowns. But, you know, I mean, that it kind of is what it is. But anybody has

8

Nestor Aparicio  19:05

tickets woke up on Monday morning and found that, oh, I’m going to the game Saturday, not Sunday. That’s literally what happened in this town, sure. Well, I mean, they,

Luke Jones  19:14

I will say, in fairness to the league, they never set a time for any of these games. You know, in the past, they’ve kind of set times, and then they move it around all along, it’s been TBD either Saturday or Sunday. But did they have to wait till 1130 on Sunday night? Of course not, but they did. And I assume people will show up around the league. They

Nestor Aparicio  19:33

can do anything they want, which is obvious, where you have a media credential, and I don’t, I’ve been the guy on the radio here 40 years. So they do, they? They march to their own beat. We sit here and talk about it. It’s all good, but the tournament itself, as it starts at next week, and what teams can and can’t? I keep going back to your eternal wisdom of saying they’re a bad, good team or a good, bad team, which I thought was great. I still think about that, and I won. Are, where the lions, Vikings, packers, where all of that is on the NFC side, where the Eagles are without really a quarterback right this minute. Now, you think hertz gets back two weeks from now and will be able to play, but that’s also an interesting side of the bracket. The AFC side is going to be a dog show, right? Like, just from the very beginning of the hardball brothers getting together here, probably the Steelers going down to Houston, the bills, who can’t play defense right now, are going to probably play the Broncos, I guess. I mean, I, I keep that, yeah, I think, guess the Broncos will beat the Chiefs this week. So when I try to, like, stack up next week and the actual tournament, we’ll have time to talk about that, but health weather emerging quarterbacks, right? Veteran coaches like Harbaugh and Tomlin and Reed and Sean Payton probably in this thing as well. So it’s going to make for a nice, colorful tournament next week where, sure nobody thinks they can beat Patrick mahomes, really, but Lamar might, and Josh Allen might, and the NFC is going to send somebody, and it might be Baker Mayfield, who I didn’t even talk about, right? Yeah.

Luke Jones  21:11

8

I mean, it could be, I mean, I think in the AFC, I think it’s pretty clear cut who the three heavyweights are, who the three most serious contenders that I think most people would perceive. I think that’s pretty clear. I mean, you know, Pittsburgh has shown you who they are at this point, until they get off the mat, they look like a team that’s falling apart in the month of December, which, by the way, is something the Steelers have done low key, done a lot of here in the last six, seven years. Go look at their December record. It typically involves a losing streak of this magnet, also

Nestor Aparicio  21:41

three playoff teams in a row.

Luke Jones  21:43

But, I mean, yeah, but, but that kind of serve. They’re a bad, good team. They’re a pretender, right? I mean, they’re, they’re a playoff team. They’re legit. I mean, I’m not,

Nestor Aparicio  21:52

well, good team means your playoff teams are a bad, good team means that you’re a visiting playoff

8

Luke Jones  21:56

team. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, but, but, yeah. So you look, you know, you look at the top three in the AFC, and you just said it. I mean, I’ll say this much. And I had a chance to watch that Minnesota Packers game. I think the Vikings have been such an interesting team all year because of expectations of where they were. They draft JJ McCarthy. They have Sam darnold becomes their quarterback, because McCarthy is out for the year. It’s been this journeyman, you know, he hasn’t even been able to stick as a backup in recent years. And not only has he had this really good season, I mean, he’s had a good season like, this isn’t like, oh, you know, they’ve carried him. He’s played really well. And, I mean, the Vikings, they took care of business. And I know Green Bay made it interesting at the end, but they really have taken care of business. They’re 14 and two. They

Nestor Aparicio  22:47

seem to, don’t win by enough and don’t get enough style points. They only win by a touchdown. They, you know, they, he, he’s nine and one and one and one score. Game. Like, alright, you know, like, I, you don’t win by 18 every week. You just don’t in the league. And as much as we’ve seen Lamar boat race teams over the last six or seven years and the 99 rams, that’s not normal. And I think you know when you’re winning close games every week, I don’t know it. It speaks to leadership, and it speaks to holding your water in a way, where you’re not the one fumble in the ball, you’re not the one coming up short of the sticks. You’re not the one having bad challenges and bad time outs and penalties and just all of those things that make you lose a three point game you should have won against Cleveland or Las Vegas or remember, by the way, my wife was watching the browns. She turned to me she hadn’t watched a lot of football this year. She really, I mean, she, she’s a little sour about giving 20 years of her life and all that money and time, and her ass still hurts from there, so she doesn’t watch a lot of football, but she sat and watched the brown she turned to me. She’s like, Oh my God, they’re awful. And I’m saying, yeah. I’m like, yeah, yeah, they’re pretty bad, you know. Like, so how do the Ravens lose to them? And I’m like, I’m surprised she knew they lost to them, but she does,

Luke Jones  24:03

yeah, I mean, it’s, there’s definitely plenty of that. But you know, to go back to what I was saying about the Vikings. I mean, they’re going to play Detroit in the Sunday night game, and both those teams, I mean, you’re talking about two lost teams, right? I mean, you’re talking about teams that have been really, really, really good, and you’re talking about two teams that, especially in the case of the lions, you know, they’ve been bad most of my lifetime. I mean, even someone listening who’s Yeah, I mean, say for a couple years, right? I mean, a couple decent years under Jim Caldwell, a couple decent years with Barry Sanders in his prime. And that’s it, right? I mean, that’s what you’re talking

Nestor Aparicio  24:38

8

when they lost a championship game to the Redskins down in DC, like 91 something like that, yeah? Like, I remember that because I was on the radio. Then that’s, you know, how long I’ve been on the radio. Dog Wayne, Fox, Bobby Ross, you know, just all of that, right? And, yeah, we’ve had Eric Hipple on the show, and for Gary Danielson from. Time to time, the lion story is the best story in the league, in the league by far, and them in the Super Bowl would be, you know, historic in a historic kind of way, in a way that I don’t think people here really appreciate the Honolulu blue and all of that. And I remember when Jim Schwartz got the job there, he said to me, we were over his place in St Michael’s, and he said to me, you you do know, like, if you talk to the people at the Detroit Free Press about clicks hockey town and the Red Wings and the pistons and the bad boys and the Tigers and all that, the lions, by far, are five to one, the bigger brand than any of those brands. They just have stunk forever. Everyone loves the lions, but the Lions have given them nothing to love, and this was 50 years ago when Schwartz was coaching the lions, and they are that sleeping giant of a franchise that’s never been awakened, kind of like the browns, but the Browns are more obvious to us than the lions really are as a big brand, but Detroit’s a big place with a lot of people, a lot of displaced people, michiganers everywhere, which is why you always see Tigers hats when they’re in town and water. Behind every one of those Tigers hats is a poor lions fan that ain’t had anything to cheer about since Greg Landry, you know, like so that to me, and seeing even their draft, having, you know, half million people down there for the draft and the like all of that, Detroit is a sleeping giant of a football town that’s never been awake in that now this is their month. They better own it, dude, to your point, they’ve never been any good. Now that they’re good, the level of expectations to the roof. They better win on Sunday night. They better not cough up the one, right? That’s a death knell. They cough up the one at home.

Luke Jones  26:45

I mean, it’s not coughing it up though. I mean, Minnesota is really good too, and that’s kind of my point. Here you have these two teams that, you know, in the case of the Vikings, there were no expectations. I mean, they just drafted a quarterback, right? I mean, they just drafted McCarthy Sam darnold was going to be a placeholder for seven weeks, or something like that. I mean, that was what they had in mind when they do that. Yet, he’s played the way he has. The Vikings have played the way they have. And Detroit with Jared Goff, you know, who not like he was a bum in LA, I mean, he he took them to a Super Bowl, you know, they lost, but he took them to a Super Bowl. So it’s not like he was an utter failure, but certainly has elevated his star since arriving in Detroit. But both these teams and I’m working under the assumption right now, Detroit takes care of business with Monday night, as you and I are talking about this, as they’re playing up. You know, 40 Niners team that’s completely depleted by injuries at this point, but, but that’s the that’s what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about 214, and two teams, if that happens on Monday night, facing off on Sunday night football, and the loser doesn’t just miss out on the number one seed doesn’t just miss out on home field advantage, but they go on the road. They won’t get a home game at all, and they will their their consolation prize is to go to Tampa Bay against that offense in the first round. So, and I get it, I mean, Tampa Bay is nine and seven, but assuming, you know, assuming they take care of business and they win the division over Atlanta at this point, because they’re a game up, that’s not a great first round draw, you know, considering the way that that Bucha ears offense is played. So, boy, you talk about a game with high stakes, you know? I mean, as much as we complain about ravens Brown’s 430 Saturday national TV game, like, why, from a competitive standpoint that game. I mean, my goodness. I mean, talk about theater in the same way that, hey, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention it, because you did mention Jaden Daniels. I mean, how about that Washington, Atlanta game Sunday night? I mean, great football game, really was. And for as much as we talk about all of the quarterback royalty in the NFL being in the AFC at this point in time, when you’re talking about mahomes, Lamar, Josh Allen, Joe burrow, and then, you know, you kind of get into Justin Herbert and guys of that nature in the NFC, there isn’t as much of that, right? I mean, you’ve got golf. Sam darnold, Jalen Hurts, you know, Baker Mayfield at this point in time. But my goodness, Jaden Daniels, what he’s done this year, and I’ll even I’ll give Michael pennix, in his second career start, a nod for throwing the game tying touchdown on fourth down.

Nestor Aparicio  29:30

So how about Christmas? As much as I complain about Christmas day, four teams, mahomes, Lamar, CJ Stroud, Russell, Wilson, all African American quarterbacks. Sunday night panics. Jaden Daniels, I mean, you and I been watching football a long time. John Eisenberg’s book just came out a year ago about black quarterbacks. And I encourage everybody to watch those pieces, listen to those pieces. I was wearing my Warren Moon throwback over at Pappas last year when John was holding the book up in. Talking about it, but like this, has been a wave of talent and a game changing that we’ve seen, the revolution. Surprise, John doesn’t use that one more. He’s faces it on a Che Guevara shirt for the fan base, like hope with Obama. But the revolution of Lamar Jackson and what the league has done, you’re seeing the revolution of of not just black quarterbacks, but the style of game, and the way Josh Allen Baker Mayfield, white quarterbacks are playing the game because the pocket is moved, the players have moved, the athleticism amongst everybody except the front four. And I wouldn’t call non de mad or, you know, name anybody on the front line, not an athlete, not Tony, Sarah Gus, not withstanding, or Michael Pierce, but just in general, the athleticism of the game has moved. The game has changed dramatically, from John Elway and Dan Marino, really, from Joe Flacco a decade ago, and from Tom Brady quickly. Tom Brady didn’t play this style of game. No,

Luke Jones  31:03

no, not at all. I mean, playing from the pocket

8

Nestor Aparicio  31:06

still important, and that’s the part of this. While I agree with everything you just said, go look at the plays that Jaden Daniels made from the pocket on Sunday night. Go look at the plays that pennicks made from the pocket on Sunday night as rookies, as rookies in a huge game with so much on the line that’s impressive, you know, let alone talking about guys like Lamar and mahomes, who’ve been doing it for several years now. They’re being taught to read defenses way earlier in life. They they’re not giving given a playbook the minute they show up pennix and saying, Here’s what a pro offense looks like. There used to be a pro offense and a college offense or a navy offense, and it’s all this is morph. Yeah, it’s all hybrid at this point. I mean, even Joe burrow gets out on his snakes and moves around a little bit because he has to. It doesn’t structurally look like the West Coast offense, and certainly doesn’t structure look like Dan Fouts anymore. Well,

Luke Jones  31:56

I mean, I just think you look at it all things being equal, and I think Tom Brady would be the first to say this, and probably has said this. Who would you rather have? Would you rather have someone who is going to play great from the pocket, but must play from the pocket, or would you rather have someone who can be maybe not white, that elite from the pocket, but still really good from the pocket, and, oh yeah, when things break down, they can take off and run. I mean, that’s what you have with that’s what makes

Nestor Aparicio  32:23

you good in the pocket, is being able to take off and run and get a 19 yard run when you can’t pass the ball. That’s something Joe Flacco didn’t have the ability to do, right? Like that air off quarterback but, but

Luke Jones  32:33

8

you just look at all these guys, and they have that ability, so it just puts that much more stress on the defense. So, I mean, someone said it on social media at some point over the weekend. I can’t remember who it was, but they were really talking about, you know, taking a step back and recognizing how good this era is shaping up to be in terms of quarterback play. I mean, just look in the AFC, and that’s putting aside Jaden Daniels and panics and some of these other guys that are still on the younger side, right but right now in the AFC, you have mahomes And what he’s done to this point his career. You have Lamar, who could be on his way to a third MVP. You have Josh Allen, who could be the MVP if it’s not Lamar. And you have Joe burrow, who statistically has been as good as anyone, right? It’s just, I mean, he doesn’t play defense, all right? So those four alone. When you kind of look at this, I’m thinking back to when has quarterback play been this good from a league wide standpoint? Now, let me be clear. I don’t mean one through 32 I mean the top 10 quarterbacks, let’s say yeah. It’s been a while that I feel like it’s been this good with this many. There

Nestor Aparicio  33:40

was a time when far was hanging on and break. I was gonna say kind of, yeah, yeah. Rothless Burger, you know, the cat era of of, I mean, Phillip rivers is a great quarterback. I mean, like, they didn’t win anything, but was a great quarterback. So, like, I look at that era and say, Yeah, you know, we had eight or 10 in that, Peyton Manning, Brady and everybody else Drew Brees was a part of that. I mean that there that was a golden era. And then you go back to the 80s, and say, the 83 draft and everything, Elway Marino Montana, that late 80s piece, also, yeah, yeah. And Brando Cunningham was part of that too, although I don’t know he was great at that point, became great. Warren Moon, Warren Moon, there you go. So yeah, I mean that period of time there, there’s always, well, look, dude, just grab the playoff roster from 1992 1998 2004 and just look at the 1012, teams that are in the playoffs and who their quarterbacks were, and Eli Manning, I guess, is going to get to the Hall of Fame. You know what I mean? Like, I guess some of these guys that win will get to the Hall of Fame, but I think if you look through Hall of Fame quarterbacks, you’d see five to eight in any playoff stack. Probably right.

Luke Jones  34:49

Yeah. I mean, probably, I mean, and let me be clear, I’m not saying it’s the best ever what we’re seeing right now, but most athletic ever. But I do think what you’re seeing right now with mahomes. Yes. I mean, he took right over for Brady, right? I mean, the chiefs have taken right over for the Patriots at that point, and until someone beats them, that’s kind of the way it is right now. By the way,

Nestor Aparicio  35:08

they’re the one. See, we’re not, we haven’t mentioned them at all because they don’t have to play for a couple weeks. You

8

Luke Jones  35:13

know, yeah, literally, yeah, exactly. I mean, they’re going to play their backups, and that’s probably going to help the Broncos get into the playoffs. But, you know, it is what it is, you know, that’s go beat him. But I just think you have mahomes. You have Lamar, who, if Lamar were playing at other points in time where there wasn’t a mahomes, or, you know, in the we said the same thing about Peyton Manning playing at the same time as Tom Brady, right? I mean, it’s, you know, you’re always kind of, you’re compared to your peers. And if you’re in a an era where you have a guy like that, it’s just like, oh, how are you going to beat him? How are you going to get over the top? But that’s what Lamar, Josh, Allen and Joe burrow are all dealing with right now, right? And you know, you can throw in some other guys as well, but I just think, especially this year, just look at the numbers those guys are all putting up. I mean, mahomes has been the weak link of that group, statistically, but he’s mahomes, you know. So, so it is really impressive. And you know, it does remind me, you know, I’ll go back to my childhood with the early 90s, where Joe Montana, then Steve Young, Dan Marino, John Elway, Warren Moon. I mean, go down the list. I mean, you’re talking about Hall of Fame. Troy Aikman, you won three Super Bowls. I mean, you know, that’s pretty special era, and I feel like this era is shaping up to be something along those lines for for the foreseeable future. Because when you’re

Nestor Aparicio  36:30

winning 14 games every year, that you know, that speaks to what Brady and Manning did. Flacco couldn’t do that. Roethlisberger did a little bit of it. Drew Brees that a lot of it maybe in a weaker sort of division, and playing different kind of opponents there. But you know, when you’re winning 1314, 15 games, and throw Lamar into that for this year, notwithstanding the Cleveland and Las Vegas turds that were thrown in, um, you know, 12, 1314, wins every year to your point, as long as the Ravens have Lamar Jackson, as long as Cincinnati has Joe burrow, as long as Kansas, you know, but you can’t say that about the Sean Watson. You can’t say that about CJ Stroud right now. As long as they add in, they’re going to be fun. There is that quarterback comfort level that if you have that guy, and he’s still not too old, you’ll have a chance. I mean, even if he is too old, the Jets went all in on Aaron Rodgers, right? Like and the question in LA, how long are we going to stay with Matt Stafford, well, I know what the next round looks like, right? So stick with guys you have that know what they’re doing and can do it,

Luke Jones  37:33

yeah. And, I mean, right now look at the playoff field, okay, Kansas City, well, you know they can win with Patrick mahomes, because they’ve done it multiple times. Buffalo with Josh Allen. I mean, who are you going to trade Josh Allen for? Same with Lamar with the Ravens. I mean, who you going to trade Lamar for? Other than mahomes, right?

Nestor Aparicio  37:49

8

He didn’t mention Jim Kelly. Is great quarterbacks with all Jim Kelly, yeah, no, you didn’t throw him in because,

Luke Jones  37:55

even though he was more mid 90s. I mean, Brett Favre. I mean, go, that’s what I mean, like this, this, but this era is shaken up to shaken up to be pretty special in that way, especially if Jaden Daniels, if you look at what he’s done as a rookie, I mean, Michael, look at that

Nestor Aparicio  38:10

era of Brad Johnson’s and Chris Chandler’s, and I’ll put Tony Easton in. But that was, there were some quarterbacks. Trent Dilfer, yeah. I mean, you know, and not been whomever. And if Sam Donald’s that guy this year, never, and he becomes Mark ripping, um, we thought that a Kurt Warner, I totally had his comeback, right? He’s a one hit wonder or whatever. I don’t know. It’s hard to do. It’s hard to do for what Sam darnold has done in one year if he never does it again, or even what the Eagles quarterbacks did in 17 it falls in those guys and kissing that things. Carson Wentz started that year. So piecing that together to win a championship. You do look at it and say, Can a Nick Foles win a championship? Can a Trent do for because that is how we look at it. That’s how we’ll measure it. We’ll pick the team we like by the quarterback. That’s why we all like my homes, right now, right?

Luke Jones  39:06

Yeah. And, and look, I mean, everything you mentioned are still outliers, right? I mean, Trent Dilfer winning a Super Bowl is still an outlier, right? Even back then, that still wasn’t the norm, but it

8

Nestor Aparicio  39:17

happened. The question can happen now we feel like there’s no chance Baker Mayfield’s winning a Super Bowl, like you just feel that way. And it happens, though, although

Luke Jones  39:27

I will say, I mean, again, go look at Baker’s numbers. He’s having a he’s having a really good year. I mean, he’s this isn’t he’s not. Trent Dilfer. Trent, Dilfer was what he was, right? Trent. Dilfer was dragged to a Super Bowl by the defense, and he didn’t mess it up. God bless him, that that’s what he was asked to do, and he did it well, but you just look at the AFC right now, mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar, I think everyone signs off on any of those three getting to the Super Bowl, even though Lamar and Josh Allen, they got to beat mahomes, we know that, right? But CJ Stroud, major step back this year. Here Pittsburgh with Russell Wilson 10 years ago. Sure, now, now I just, you know, Super Bowl not saying these teams can’t find their way into a play. I believe Joe Flacco

Nestor Aparicio  40:10

was going to go down to Houston and beat them last year in the first playoff game, but I didn’t think he could win a Super Bowl. Sure, there’s a point where, like, they’re, they’re not good enough to do that? Yeah, I

Luke Jones  40:21

8

think the chargers, I think Herbert is absolutely good enough. I don’t I’m not sure the team around him is good enough for them to win three playoff games in a row. They

Nestor Aparicio  40:31

come in here next Saturday night with Dobbins and Joe Ortiz and our ball’s brother on national TV. Setting up for me. It’s setting up for me, it’s setting up for me to be hardball versus horrible, probably Saturday night, because they would like the lights on it all. I mean, the leagues would get that next week.

Luke Jones  40:48

I mean, they could, but Pittsburgh’s got to win for that to happen, right? Uh, so, so we’ll see. But Denver, I think Bo Nicks has a a very promising future. Is he ready to do that now as a rookie? Now. So, you know, basically three, three quarterbacks, three teams that are the bonafide super heavyweights, and everyone else is, you know, I give Herbert and the chargers, maybe a slight nod over the others. But then in the NFC, I mean, Sam darnold, we’re gonna find out, right? I mean, they’re 14 and two Philadelphia, we’ve seen Jalen Hurts, albeit now they have saquon Barkley, which they did not a couple years ago. So I think that makes them even more interesting. The Rams with Stafford. I mean, every time you’re ready to write off the Rams, they go on a roll, right? They win some games, and suddenly they’re in the playoffs. Tampa Bay, we already talked out about that with Mayfield golf in Detroit. Jaden Daniels, you know, even Jordan love as as the Packers being the seven seed, they were disappointing on Sunday, but go, look at how they played the last six or seven weeks overall. I think the Packers as a seven, as seven seeds go, you don’t want to sleep on them. So well, they made a

Nestor Aparicio  41:58

comeback in Minnesota. And I they like. They made the game interesting. They showed how good they can be in the

8

Luke Jones  42:02

fourth quarter. Well, and look at what they did on the road against Dallas in the playoffs last year. I mean, they didn’t just beat them. They embarrassed them, you know. So, I mean, Jordan love I think, is one of those quarterbacks that is frustrating in the sense that at times you see flashes of greatness and and playing at an elite level, and then there are other times where he just looks okay, right? So, but that’s a lot of young quarterbacks and you know? But I think the NFC is really interesting in that way, that you don’t have these super heavyweight quarterbacks that are the elite of the elite, but you have a really interesting field and a really interesting collection of quarterbacks. So, you know, and obviously it’s not all set 100% but, you know, I kind of went through and, you know, kind of viewed the teams that are going to most likely be there. Atlanta still has an outside chance. Seattle was eliminated because of what happened on Sunday. So, you know, we’re going to see. But you know, to bring it back full circle to the Ravens. I mean, other than mahomes and the chiefs and, yeah, understanding the ravens are not in a spot where they’re likely to have more than one home playoff game, it’s going to be challenging. But, you know, the way they’re playing, the way that they’re finishing off this regular season, you have to like their odds as much as anyone. I mean, they’ve, they’ve have answered the bell coming out of the by the with the way that they’ve played on both sides of the ball. And now it’s a matter of doing what you’re supposed to do on Saturday against a horrendous Browns team. And then, hey, it’s go time after that. Gotta win every week.

Nestor Aparicio  43:36

Justice Hill available for the playoff game maybe, um,

Luke Jones  43:41

well, I mean, it’s a concussion. So, I mean, he’s got a chance, considering that happened against Pittsburgh, right? I mean, all these games are running together because there’s they happen right after each other. So he was concussed on the 21st so come this weekend, you’re talking two weeks. I mean, he could be available for,

Nestor Aparicio  44:00

8

I don’t mean this. I meant for the playoff game. Figure out how well another it’s two weeks from it, so he’s the one. Are there any other questions about guys they’d like to get to the field against the Chargers or the Steelers next weekend?

Luke Jones  44:14

I mean, to project out that far, and obviously concussions, you never know with 100% certainty. Sometimes guys, well, the eagles had that with Jalen Hurts right now, yeah, well, I mean, he missed one game. I mean, typically with the concussion, most guys miss one game and then they’re back. Now, that is not always the case. However, you know, Nelson Aguilar is an example of that. I mean, Aguilar, they thought he had a chance to be back for the Pittsburgh game, and then he wasn’t, and then he, then he wasn’t even an option for the Houston game. So I think he probably had some symptoms that resurfaced. I would guess. I don’t know that for sure, but, but, yeah, the health wise ravens are in good shape. I mean, they really are. I mean, it sounds better than your voice, yes. And let me be. Clear, I feel way better than I sound, for anyone who’s concerned, thank you. But you look too, if that matters, yeah. So, you know, it’s, but hey, this is the time of year, right? No one is truly 100% you know, Are you healthy enough to play? I feel great today, and

Nestor Aparicio  45:13

I do. It’s playing a fitness I think it’s, you know, it’s all that carrot juice I drank through the holidays. You know, we got a game at 430 this week. We didn’t realize that when I went to bed on some Sunday night, I thought they’ll play four o’clock on Sunday like everybody else and but the league throwing us a little purple curve ball with the Cleveland Browns on Saturday afternoon. So check your regularly scheduled programming and the local listings for the game in your neighborhood. Luke and I will be out of Baltimore. Positive, you can find us at am 1570 as well Maryland crab cake tour back after it next year, which is five minutes from now, on the seventh we’ll be up at lips girl next Tuesday in Bel Air. All that brought to you by the Maryland lottery as well as Jiffy Lube multi care. Want to say Happy New Year to everybody out there. I I think Luke and I will argue a little bit of baseball here as we go into the new year about Corbin burns, I hope you get your voice back in time to to yell at Jim Schwartz on Sunday about not being a home wrecker around here from Arbutus to to downtown. He is Luke. He’s Baltimore. Luke. You find him anywhere the internet travels, and obviously you can find my column. This his writing, all of our work at Baltimore positive.com you.