As one of many Pro Football Hall of Fame voters weโll have on Baltimore Positive this month, NFL historian and author Jason Cole returns to discuss the candidacies of Marshal Yanda, Terrell Suggs and Steve Smith Sr. as well as what the Ravens need to do to make the next step from January into February. And, of course, the Chiefsโ attempt at the unprecedented three in a row in New Orleans.
Nestor Aparicio and Jason Cole discuss the NFL, focusing on the Kansas City Chiefsโ dominance, particularly their three consecutive Super Bowl appearances. Cole highlights the Chiefsโ impressive execution and minimal mistakes, noting their statistical underperformance but game-winning strategies. They also discuss the Philadelphia Eaglesโ success, crediting their balanced offense and defense. Cole praises the Eaglesโ head coach Nick Sirianni for his motivational style. Additionally, they touch on the Baltimore Ravensโ potential, emphasizing the need for Lamar Jackson to reduce mistakes. Finally, they address the Hall of Fame prospects of Terrell Suggs, Marshal Yanda, and Steve Smith, with Yandaโs impressive resume being particularly noted.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Super Bowl radio row, NFL insider, Hall of Fame voters, Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs, Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens, Derek Henry, Philadelphia Eagles, Saquon Barkley, Mark Andrews, media accountability, Hall of Fame prospects, NFL coaching
SPEAKERS
Jason Cole, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T am 1570 task Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. We are positively doing a cup of soup or bowl all week long next week. So this week, weโre actually doing some Super Bowl radio row conversations with some old friends. Youโll hear from Joe Flacco. Youโre gonna hear from Jamal Lewis, a whole bunch of old writers and coaches and different folks. This guest is a defending champion around here as a long time NFL insider covering many different beats as well as the league itself. He is on the Pro Football Hall of Fame voters committee. That means many things to lots of fans. I think in reality, when I bring on these ladies and gentlemen that do this, as Iโll be doing over the next couple of weeks, to talk about Terrell Suggs and Marshall yonder, Steve Smith and everything else. These are all people that have really been covering the game a long time. So I love having Jason Cole on as our defending champion. You can find him out on the interwebs, and anytime that Stanford and Cal get together, heโs usually in the middle of some sort of food fight with Amy Trask, how are you, my friend? Itโs been a while weโre not weโre like ships in the night. We only get together on the internet once or twice a year, and I usually call you when something happens with Lamar Super Bowl week, but itโs good to have you on. I still follow and the NFL, even when they throw you out, you still sort of watch, right?
Jason Cole 01:19
Everybody does. Doesnโt matter whether you belong or whether you donโt belong to the club. So yeah, Iโm doing great. So thanks for asking.
Nestor Aparicio 01:26
Well, itโs that time of the year where everybody licks their wounds, except for Patrick mahomes or Tom Brady. Right? What mahomes has done, and we would always get into this back when I met you 20 years ago. Of what does it mean? Tom Bradyโs in his fourth Super Bowl in six year and eighth Super Bowl like it starts to stack up, and you start to wonder whether Lamar burrow or or Josh Allen on the AFC side, let alone Herbert or Stroud or any of the rest, are going to break through, because the Chiefs have managed to put together a pretty special elixir here, even when theyโre not so good and only lose one game. So pretty good, man.
Jason Cole 02:04
Yeah, two games that lost. I mean, you gotta count the the last game of the season, even though they that was an exhibition game for them. Um, you know, itโs hard to explain this is, this is such a staggering accomplishment to get three straight, in and of itself, to have a chance to win three straight and do something that no team has ever done before in the Super Bowl era, and hasnโt done since the 60s with the Packers, when they win three straight titles, itโs a level of concentration and a level of will that, you know, very few humans are capable of. And we know some guys like Brady do it. We seem, you know, come close, but oh my god, what Iโve watched this season, because theyโre really not from a statistical standpoint, theyโre not that great. Like what Baltimore did this year was far more impressive statistically, but when it comes to actually executing games and not making mistakes and doing things that get you the critical plays to get you through it. Kansas City is simply fabulous. So
Nestor Aparicio 03:11
part of that is spagnolo too. I mean, we talk so much about mahomes, the defense, their defense shows up in ways when other teams defenses donโt show up, including the bills, being able to stop the chiefs and get the ball back. You know, just in a general sense that your defense, these teams that win championships have a level of balance and Bella checks defensive mind was always behind everything Brady ever did, including taking the air out of the football in December, which is a really good idea in the snow, yeah,
Jason Cole 03:38
especially if you want to hold on to it more. Yeah, look, it is an amazing balance. And you talk about Spags, Spags is the perfect Lieutenant. I often talk about that is you have to have a combination of head coach and coordinators that works in sync, and Spags and Andy Reid are about as perfectly synchronized as you can imagine, between offensive play caller and defensive play caller and how they run this team and how theyโre trying to operate it. And you can get into a long, deep discussion about philosophy, but those guys know what they want, what each wants to do for the other, to protect, to protect each side of the ball well.
Nestor Aparicio 04:28
And then there was Eric the enemy. And you know the coaching tree of Andy Reid being this incredibly legendary thing, and all of it seated in the disappointment of, I donโt know which championship game you were at back in that era. I was always on the AFC side, but they lost some games at the vet they lost, you know, they lost home NFC Championship games and Donovan McNabb and the game down in Jacksonville, and that his Manifest Destiny not fulfilled, coming in from Green Bay and being a guy who. Who was a quarterback coach. Heโd never called an offense, right like as the head coach of the eagles to be now mentioned with Shula Landry, Lombardi, Belichick, weโre getting into that sort of level. Paul Brown,
Jason Cole 05:14
Paul Brown, weโre getting into the top five. Joe, Joe Gibbs, you know? Paul Brown. Lombardi, yes. Um, if he, if he stays another four years and he beat Sheilaโs record, do you then give him the, you know, the number one spot, you know, if you care about numbers, that
Nestor Aparicio 05:32
kind of thing, he might win three championships the next four years too. If they can retool he might,
Jason Cole 05:36
I would again, I would say the level of the level of focus that you need and the pressure that goes with it. I really think that we saw a lot of that this year play out with this team and like, itโs just so hard to emotionally get high enough to win these games. That is really hard. Itโs just really, really hard to maintain. And I know that they went 15 and two during the regular season. They won two playoff games now, so itโs been a spectacular year. But if you really watch the way they played, it has been a struggle in times this year, itโs been a very serious struggle for them. I mean, their offensive line is just not, is not very good. So there are. They havenโt made this easy, and I think that that just wears on people after a while. You know, theyโre going to have to replace Kelsey at some point in time, and theyโre going to have to do some other things. So maintaining this is not quite so easy, but you do start with the best coach and the best quarterback. And for right now. This is magnificent. It is just a really, truly thing. So worrying about whatโs going to happen the next three to four years, theyโre going to be good, I donโt know that they can be this good that long. Got it. This is, this is really, truly something Iโve Iโve never witnessed a team be this great over a three year stretch. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 07:04
part of it is they donโt make a lot of mistakes, right in the big games.
Jason Cole 07:08
They donโt be, well, hey, I got a stat for you on this team. Theyโre, theyโre, theyโre, stand to be only the second team in the Super Bowl era that was out gained on a per play basis. In other words, how far they moved the ball versus how far their opponents moved the ball, they were in the negative territory this year. Thatโs only happened one time in the Super Bowl era, and that was a Patriots in 2001 which is historically not very good team. That was Tom Bradyโs first championship team, right? This before we thought Tom Brady was Tom Brady, right? And that he was all that special, we found out later what he really is, but we it was all just sort of bubbling up early on, and that team was a sort of a ragtag bunch of guys were kind of put together 20 free agents right now. It was a tough game. It was a tuck rule year. It was the great upset of the RAM. So, you know, I just, I look at this, and I say, what they are doing right now is almost unheard of. And yes, it is a matter of, they donโt beat themselves. They donโt do little things in games that hurt themselves. You know, like yesterday, they had two mistakes, the fumble When mahomes left the ball just a little too long and Pacheco knocked it out of his hands, you know that? That was the one turnover. And then when mahomes missed on a Second and nine play, when he stepped up in the plot pocket, and I was I was really keeping track diligently, those are the only two really obvious mistakes that they had in that game that hurt them in a significant way. So yeah, they donโt commit mistakes. They put a lot of pressure on their opponents to make every single play, and the bills almost did it yesterday. They played an incredible game. Jay
Nestor Aparicio 08:55
Coleโs our guest. He is a pro football hall of fame voter and a wise old soul when it comes to things NFL, I want to get to Lamar. Weโre going to get to Hall of Fame. Weโre going to do all that. But I want to get on to the Eagles for a minute, because this is sort of replacing my radio row. That if we were sitting in the convention center down in New Orleans, half hung over trying to figure out which benier We were going to have, or where good, what emeralds place weโre going to tonight for seafood. We would be talking about the Eagles as this. This is an amazing thing. It feels like five minutes ago with Schwartz and, you know, and that group there, and some members still sort of around half of them, but the Sirianni thing two Super Bowls now his thing with the fans, and heโs kind of an outlier of a head coach in a way that we donโt see him as the village genius in any way, and then saquon Barkley and the genius of signing him in the off season as well as weโll get the derrick Henryโs genius in a minute as well, because weโre all giving up on running backs. Iโm sure. Somewhere in the last 10 years, you and I were talking about, well, running backs arenโt cool anymore. Nobody gives them money. And all of a sudden, if the Eagles are gonna win the Super Bowl, you know, next week, no. Going to be a big day for saquon Barkley, and itโs going to be about Kansas City not being able to stop that, right? Pretty much.
Jason Cole 10:05
I mean, say quant. I mean, aside from Derek Henry, you know, this is, you know, this is incredibly stunning year for him. I mean, 2000 yards, everything that he did this the opening play, you know, yesterday, to get them kickstarted after it looks like Washingtonโs going to control the tempo of the game, then boom, like, Okay, you got your field goal. Have a good time. This is, this is how we play here, because weโve got weapons. We have serious weapons in Philadelphia. I mean, theyโve got that, that trio to the two wide receivers include, make it four guys, make it Goddard, the two receivers and take one. I mean, wow, thatโs thatโs an incredible group, and theyโre added in a very good offensive line and a defense thatโs played stunned in football. This is really a terrific team right now. I love the way they play the you know, the one downside is that Jalen Hurts is just, you know, having an okay year, and I think heโs been exposed quite, quite a bit. Itโs going to be a real test for for Kansas City and family. Spags is going to have his hands full trying to figure this out and really trying to put a lot of pressure on it hurts to be the one to have to make decisions to beat them. Because if you can do that, if you can put the game in Hertzโs hands and not in the sake oneโs hands, then you have a you have a real shot against Philadelphia.
Nestor Aparicio 11:35
Iโve known Vic Fangio a long time, going back to Billick here in five minutes with HAR ball, and they had their own wars of running the score up with his five minutes in Denver and all that. It is incredible that when the Ravens needed help, they reached to whoever the old man is, right? You know, letโs bring Dean peas back. Let me bring Craig Madison back for but like these old sage defensive guys, if they still have and Spagnola is now one of them, right there is something Marvin Lewis once said to me, I think the second or third time that he was going to get fired Cincinnati and survived it, is, we donโt get dumber. We really do get smarter. We get better at this, if weโre good at this, everyone. And that would speak to Pete Carroll getting a gig, you know, this week in Vegas, the Vic Fangio thing, and them just planting him in. And you talking about how incredible this defense is. Is there a Hall of Famer on that defensive unit?
12:32
Um, Philly, yeah.
Nestor Aparicio 12:35
I mean, you know Jalen
Jason Cole 12:36
Carterโs in the beginning stages of what he has Hall of Fame talent, Darius slay, maybe one day. But
Nestor Aparicio 12:48
on a man by man basis, I would get, I would take roquan Smith, Marlon, Humphrey and Matt Abiko onto my team and saying, I got better play. I have better I have better anchors. I didnโt see the Eagles as being this good defensively that we would say they can win the Super Bowl next week, because they can win the Super Bowl next
Jason Cole 13:04
week. Yeah, they could. I know, I look I thought that that this was the weak link for them last year. Their defense just fell apart in the second half of the season last year. So I thought they were better than this last year and underperform this year. Theyโre probably over performing a little bit, but especially when you consider the loss of flet Fletcher Cox, but they have a pretty deep collection of defense alignment, you know, they you know, if you want to give Howie Roseman credit for one thing, you know, heโs done some amazing things with that roster. Heโs made sure that he kept the depth on their defense on both lines, and then found the weapons on the outside on offense. So heโs done a really magnificent job there. And so you what you have is fan Gio has this collection of talent walking in thatโs pretty sound. Itโs not, maybe not what youโre talking about in Baltimore with some of the stars, I get that, but they have a rotation of guys along the defensive line who work really well. A couple of
Nestor Aparicio 14:07
these franchises like San Francisco have managed to flip coaches several times and make Super Bowls where Pittsburgh, Baltimore, New England, for a long time now, theyโre the ray bowl, and weโll see what they do there. But to keep that sort of stability going, the Eagles dude, they were signing Sam Bradford and giving quarterbacks money and using ones on the, you know, the kid from South North Dakota and, like theyโve done all of these really unorthodox, weird things. They gave all this money to a running back. They changed they hired a head coach at Sirianni that was not hot anything that I donโt know, that a lot of owners would have said. I want that guy to be my coach, knowing what Johnny Bravo looks like. I mean, a guy went after the fans 15 weeks ago in Philly, of all places. But here we are again. That word,
Jason Cole 14:54
but that works for him, that works for him and and, yeah, they. Want to, they want a championship with, with Doug Peterson having, sort of, you know, a, you know, one, a, kind of meteoric one season and then kind of falling apart. And, you know, look, they are different. Theyโre unconventional in terms of how they manage the team. I get that. But if you look at at sort of the formation of the team in terms of, you know, fundamental stuff, again, offensive line and getting weapons, you know, theyโve made it so that you can plug and play at certain spots that you normally canโt plug and play at, and you can plug and play a little bit at quarterback for them, and you can plug and play at coach a little bit for them. And it works. You know, they it worked. You know, three years ago when they got to the Super Bowl with Sirianni, and they had a nice, nice group. Then they went backwards a little bit last year, and now they plugged in the right guys this year. Itโs working again. But Sirianni, to me, Sirianni gives them that sense of hutzpah or gall that you kind of need to have in order for a team to really believe in itself. And this, I think it doesnโt work long term, I would rather have the Andy Reid approach, which is very steady. But you canโt always have that. You know, sometimes you need to have a guy who, you know is ready to flip off the vans and go to war with them, to to give your to give your locker room a little bit of energy and a little bit of hutzpah.
Nestor Aparicio 16:43
Jason Cole has chutzpah, if we could spell that with a ch,
16:47
alright? Very good, very good for a goy, very
Nestor Aparicio 16:50
trying. I daily Jewish girl, so I tried so for for Lamar and for the Ravens fans, and weโll get to mark Andrews and like all of that, and even Derek Henry, what do you say? Because I didnโt talk to you last Monday, you know, and the aftermath of the bills game, but they might have had the most talent, and maybe it didnโt get driven that way. They made a lot of mistakes, a lot of mistakes, lot of penalties, lot of everything, lot of MVP, lot of all of that. Itโs the course. Go ahead, stay the course.
Jason Cole 17:26
But not everybody gets patched from homes, okay? Someday, yeah, some you donโt get to have that guy whoโs perfect. You have a great player. You surrounded him with the right talent, particularly Derek Henry, learn the learn a lesson that between his second year in the league, when he had Ingram going so strong, and, you know, they were surprising people a little bit, but they had that power back, and now they have a power back again, that you need to have that complimentary system of a power back with A guy whoโs got the kind of quickness to create, to create problems on the edge, right? And thatโs what Lamar can do with their running game. So make sure you have that you know, because you donโt know how long Derek Henryโs going to last, but youโre going to milk Derek Henry as long as you can. Heโs the perfect compliment on Lamar. Lamar has, Lamar has done an incredible job over the span of his career, becoming a much more efficient passer. Heโs a better passer than I ever thought he would become. Give him all the credit in the world. Heโs Heโs done it, but he still makes one or two mistakes. So thatโs thatโs just been the story. You know, the championship game last year against Kansas City, the fumbles and the interceptions this year, one interception, one fumble, bad interception early in the game. You know, bad fumble. And you can, you know, heโs not the only guy in that game whoโs, whoโs a villain. You know, Mark Andrews had a rough day. Okay, so thereโs a lot of thereโs a lot of blame to go around, but they still should have won the game despite all the mistakes that they had. They still were right there. Donโt panic about this team. Donโt sit there and say, Oh my God, all is lost. Weโll never get there, because it may only happen once, you know, in in lamarโs career, but thatโs what happens. You know that, like, thatโs what happens in this league. Sometimes even great players only get one shot. But like, they have everything going the right way. Theyโve unfortunately wasted two of the greatest years in the history of any team. The last two years, you know their their yards per play differential was dominant. They have the right formula. They built the right way to win. Get yourself to a playoff, put yourself in position. They just happen to be playing at a time when Kansas City doesnโt make mistakes, and so you. You know, stay the course with what youโve got. Thereโs not, thereโs not a lot youโre going to be able to do, aside from the Chiefs having some down mirrors. I know
Nestor Aparicio 20:09
you find this hard to believe with all my positivity, but I was raised by a whole bunch of old curmudgeonly sports writers, jaded, and we just lost one of them. Phil Jackman, my favorite curmudgeon of all time few months ago, Iโm going to let you be the curmudgeon if you need to be, because youโre the old soul around here. You have been in as many locker rooms as I give or take, a couple I would think my years of hockey and baseball and all of that, Iโve been in exits. I wrote in my column last week, I was in the locker room when Bob Mason gave up the goal in the greatest hockey game ever played, and went over to his locker I was the first person to ask Billy Cundiff, you know, you know. And in Baltimore lore, the Armando Benitez home run, giving up the Tony Fernandez in 1997 was sort of the last chance the orals have really had to get it to go to the World Series. So Iโve been in all of these locker rooms as a 40 year journalist, 41 year journalist. Now, since I was 15 years old, the mark Andrews thing last week where they just, they dropped the ball, and then they donโt come to the podium. In the old world, weโd say, is he going to talk? Is he going to talk? Is he going to talk? We didnโt have to ask that back in the day, like just in a general sense, if you were the goalie in hockey, if you were the pitcher in baseball, if you were the Bill Buckner and the ball went between your little whatever it was, there was an expectation that you didnโt let your teammates have to do it on your behalf. Thereโs that, and then thereโs just the center general decorum of what it is, and that too much is given, much is expected. Theyโre making $16 million as a tight end. I I took a little umbrage, and I feel bad for the guy. I mean, again, I felt bad for Billy Cundiff when I was asking him what happened on the kick, but Iโm there, and what, and Lee Evans, what happened when you dropped the ball. These are all Baltimore references, of course, but they that give me where you are on all of this. And maybe you think Iโm the curmudgeon. I donโt
Jason Cole 21:57
know. Um, look, itโs not the itโs not the best look in the world. But Dwayne Starks, if you remember, did that one game in Baltimore and but Dwayne Starks at least came to the guys and said, Look, guys, I just need the day. You know, he at least said it to them, to their face. I canโt talk right now. Iโve had to. I canโt remember what game it was, but I remember it happened, probably the Jimmy Smith game, probably Yeah. And just he came to, he came to those guys and said, Look, guys, I canโt talk today. Give me a day. And he did. He did talk the next day. Kevin Byrne
Nestor Aparicio 22:33
came out on behalf of Ray Lewis after the Peyton Manning game in oh six at the vision game that was in Baltimore, lost to the Colts, Ray was sobbing in the trainers room, and Kevin Byrne came out and said, Look, Ray, you know, Rayโs accountable, just not in the next 20 minutes, itโs not going to happen, right? You know, itโs not happening tonight. Iโll get Iโll get him out, you know. But, like, there was that sort of thing that had thatโs 20 years ago, man. I mean, times have changed. But
Jason Cole 22:56
thatโs Look, it doesnโt, it doesnโt happen very often. And athletes are more out there than theyโve ever been because of social media. I donโt know that Andrews is one of those guys, but, you know, theyโre theyโre exposed and theyโre talked about more than they ever have been. So I donโt worry about as much as I used to, but I would like it if guys would, you know, at least say, like, not take four days. What did it take him four days before, and
Nestor Aparicio 23:26
it was an Instagram. It wasnโt, um, you know, it wasnโt mana
Jason Cole 23:30
culpa. It wasnโt. It wasnโt, hey, look, guys, you know, I owe you 10. I owe you 10 or 15 minutes to answer the questions, right?
Speaker 1 23:39
But, you know, like, that would be nice. That would be nice. PR
Nestor Aparicio 23:44
director. Two PR directors reached me, both of them, you know, Iโm not going to out them, but they reached me. They read my piece, whatever. Several head coaches in the league read my piece, and because I sent it and said, Where are you on this? Am I wrong? And none of them were like, Youโre wrong. They were more along the lines and the PR people thinking, and, you know, one of these coaches was an old PR guy as well, said he only making it worse on himself. And Iโm thinking, Well, youโve never really met the model media, because there is no, there are no attack dogs in ballroom, or even though Chad Steele thinks Iโm one of them somehow. But like this, if this happened in New York or Philadelphia, Chicago, it would really be a diff Denver, really be difficult. Yeah,
Jason Cole 24:26
but Aaron Rogers, Aaron Rogers happened in New York, and he wasnโt really called on the carpet and a lot of the things that he did either. So we donโt live in we donโt really live in that time, because guys can kind of pick and choose where they want to go with the media right now and still get their message out. So I donโt like it. Iโm a little bit more forgiving of it because of the age that we live in. We just live in this time. But yeah, I think that the guys are doing themselves more of a disservice than otherwise. Itโs sort of like at the end of the Notre Dame, the National Championship game between notre. Name in Ohio State, where after the game, some of the Notre Dame guys are swearing at reporters who are asking questions. Because those guys have never been in that environment, right? Theyโve never had reporters in the locker room ask them questions in a tough moment. Because the way that college works is they bring them all to the podium and they have their time to cool off. And, you know, they everything is very packaged and prepared so that they are, you know, told how they should react. Itโs not raw. And what we want in this environment is, we want the raw reaction. We want to know how people really truly feel. But sometimes how guys really truly feel is that theyโre so discomfort they canโt talk. And I get that like, what, what is Mark Andrews just saw the ball go through his hands. You know, a ball that he should have caught. And you know he knows what was on the line there. He knows all the work that went into it. I know how he feels now. Iโm disappointed that you didnโt talk directly to me as a reporter, if Iโm one of those guys, there used
Nestor Aparicio 26:06
to be a professionalism that was implied, that is no longer implied, including, and Iโm going to bring this up, the owner doesnโt come out anymore. The owner hasnโt come out since he got pissed off about Ray Rice getting outed when they had no integrity and lied. And had her lie, had everybody lie about what happened in a glass elevator has disappeared. So like there is no accountability in that way, from the top down to say, owner took $600 million of civic money to build to throw out you and everybody else out of the press box and put them up in the Little Kevin Byrne little press box in the corner now. And so there is the accountability of all of it has gone away. Jay, I mean, it really has
Jason Cole 26:45
well, because, I mean, media is not as powerful as it used to be. Itโs too itโs too segmented off. And, you know, there arenโt newspapers the way that we used to be in these people who can sway public opinion that you have to, you have to pay attention to. Thatโs just the thatโs the reality of life, right? Like, thatโs just the power of the media is much more disparate. Well, the
Nestor Aparicio 27:05
power of your media is to vote for Hall of Fame, right? So we talk about these moments is that, you know, Hall of Fame players come to the podium when they when they win, or when they lose, and my point to the mark. Andrews thing is, if you had won, youโd have been at the podium. And thatโs that should be a drop the mic that
Jason Cole 27:23
I get what youโre saying. Iโm not and Iโm not disagreeing with it, but I also recognize that in this era of media, there isnโt the kind of leverage to force people to do that. And even in the old era of media, there were moments in time when guys were just like they were, you know, they were too over the edge that they could not respond. And again, Dwayne Starks is one of them. Ray Lewis, that you bring up, these moments have happened in the past. Letโs not pretend that itโs never happened.
Nestor Aparicio 27:51
I had McAllister run out the back doors. I mean, you know, in a regular season, guys
Jason Cole 27:55
on the line, you know what? I mean, guys do it, and then what they should do, if theyโre if theyโre right, is they should show up and they should face the music. And Andrews hasnโt done that, and itโs really more to his detriment than it is to ours. As you, as you pointed out, I agree
Nestor Aparicio 28:12
with that. Jason Coleโs your last thing Hall of Fame. Suggs, yonda, Steve Smith, on the Baltimore side, 49 voters used to all get in a room drink coffee and yell at each other. Still do that sort of in a zoom environment. You know, I think on our end, Iโve been asked to rate them and think where I would put them. I thought subs would be the first of the three to get in because of positionally and where it is and all that, I have been told, No, no, no, the guard will be easier to get in, certainly, than the wide receiver. Youโre the guy in the room, so you tell me,
Jason Cole 28:44
Well, I did my survey of this where I started 419, former players, current, some current players whoโve been around a while, but you know, former players, coaches, executives, or some combination thereof. Suggs was, I think, finished fifth in that ballot. I canโt remember. I donโt have right from it. He finished top five. So Suggs has the defensive numbers that are sort of, you know, weโll get him in. Smith has a reputation. He finished very close behind Reggie Wayne and a little further down behind Tory Holt in that survey in terms of what pecking order you would put those three guys in. So I think Smith will get in eventually. Itโs going to take a couple of years, and I think youโre going to have to get hold. Youโre going to have to get Wayne into the hall fan, because theyโve
Nestor Aparicio 29:34
been waiting longer. I would have put him in ahead of either one of them. No,
Jason Cole 29:37
not yet. So letโs not get off topic. Here
Nestor Aparicio 29:41
was in and now is out right of the 15? Yeah,
Jason Cole 29:44
well, no, I donโt think Heinz has ever been in the 15, but Heinz is a really interesting case, and a lot of people have a lot of respect for him, but he hasnโt made the 15. And the last one, yonda, when I looked at these 15 guys. Eyes, the guy with the best resume is yonder of all the 15 players you want to talk about, peak level of performance, continuous, all pros, Pro Bowls, all the things that you know really differentiate you as an offensive lineman. Heโs the best offensive lineman you might have the best res. Heโs the best offensive lineman in this group. Thatโs number one. Number two, he might be the the best resume of all 15 guys, and that includes Luke Kiley, Eli Manning, Vin Thierry, you know, go on down the line, right? He is as as one other voter said, you know, if thereโs a John Hannah in this group. And this is a private discussion I was having at one point. If thereโs John Hannah in this group, itโs, itโs, itโs, you know, yanda, okay, so, and is going to get in, you know, at some point. I donโt want to reveal the results of of what weโve done or what we havenโt done at this point in time, but I do believe that, you know, Ian is going to get in at some point in time, whether itโs this year or whether itโs in the future. So I think all three of them have great cases. I donโt know what order theyโre going to go in. Exactly. My guess would be that sons would go in first, because he has the compelling sac numbers. But that could change very easily. Jason
Nestor Aparicio 31:23
Cole is here. He doesnโt change his mind too easily. Heโs been covered in National Football League for a long, long time. Miss you. Wish we get together. I donโt have Iโm done. Iโm done with everything. I was going to ask you, you know why the Giants couldnโt win with saquon Barkley, but Iโll say that for the off season. Howโs life good? You go into the game next week. Whatโs happening here? You still
Jason Cole 31:42
good. Iโm good. Iโm not going the game. Thatโs fine, because Iโd rather just sit at home and watch the game and have a Super Bowl party. So Iโm fine that way. You know, Iโve done 35 of them, so Iโm good. Iโm good. Where I am. I work hard at the Super Bowl, at the Iโm sorry, work hard at the Hall of Fame stuff. Do work at the 3013 and do a lot of freelance stuff. So Iโm Iโm in great shape right now.
Nestor Aparicio 32:10
I always love visiting with you, man, I run, so Iโm getting thinner and thinner on people that that are old schoolers like you, that can come on here and give me the kind of depth that that I like to talk about with football. So I appreciate it. Youโre always a great guest, and I hope weโre in the same room eating something good sometime soon, because it feels like I miss all, all of you guys my, you know, the sports writing guys that I knew for 25 years, we got to figure out reason to get together. Thatโs not a funeral. You know
Jason Cole 32:35
what? I mean? Yeah, that would be, that would be nice funeral. So not, not a good reason to get together. But no, I gotta say, You know what Iโve watched with the Ravens. Last two years, thereโs been some really magnificent football that just has not ended the right way for them. So I when I say stay the course, and to people who are probably really, really frustrated with that team. I really mean it. You guys, you got to stay the course with what theyโre doing. And, you know, people, Iโm sure there are people who are crazy out there who want to dump Lamar or dump Harbor, do all these things and make, you know, generating changes all over the place. I think that Steve Bucha, even though heโs maybe not showing up the way, he needs to show up and putting his face out there in public, you know, I know heโs a kind of a private guy, but he should show up every once in a while, if, even if heโs not doing that, heโs doing the right thing by staying the course and creating that sort of Pittsburgh culture of respect for the head coach. Thatโs thatโs really important to running any organization. I think consistency of approach and making the coach an authority figure is really, really important for them, even if it seems like itโs not working the way you want it to work. I did
Nestor Aparicio 33:57
a half an hour. You wouldnโt even talk about the Washington Program, 38 miles away, where they are really recruiting, and theyโve got a kid, you know, there is this thing happening in my community now where the Ravens havenโt had to try hard for a quarter of a century because the Orioles have stunk. Now the Orioles have transplanted. Obviously, the Washington football team is trans.
Jason Cole 34:15
Orioles are fun, man. The Orioles women organs. Now they gotta get a they gotta be a little bold and, you know, make a trade for Dylan cease or somebody like that, and make it work. But thatโs, thatโs a really fun organization, so itโs good. Itโs a good time in Baltimore and for Washington. So if you want to, you know, count the beltway total, the fact that Dan Snyder is no longer in the NFL, number one is a great thing. Number two, you have a you have a whole breath of fresh air between management, the head coach and the quarterback. I mean, thatโs really a special thing that we watched in Washington. So itโs back to a good time in the beltway for for football and for all sports.
Nestor Aparicio 34:58
Dan Quinn makes it. Possible for me to hate them anymore. So, I mean, I almost like found myself cheering for them in some way. Theyโre theyโre my NFC team. Um, never an Eagles fan around here, though, you know that this was a tough one.
Jason Cole 35:11
Thereโs only so far you can go. Thereโs only so far you can go with peace and love, and it doesnโt go as far as Philly.
Nestor Aparicio 35:18
Well, I was a season ticket holder up there for six years during the buddy Ryan and the rich kotite era, the Randall Cunningham era, the the Baldinger era of so I sat up in Section 721, row one. Youโll find this hard to believe all the ticket stops. We were in the family section at the vet. He is Jason Cole. Iโll be telling some old stories around here. Weโre W, N, S T, A of 15, 70,000 Baltimore. We never stop talking Super Bowl and a couple of Super Bowl for our charity. Next week, weโre Baltimore positive. Stay with us.