With the loss of emerging speedster Keaton Mitchell in the Ravens running game, Luke Jones and Nestor discuss potential solutions and Melvin Gordon and Justice Hill as the Ravens head to Santa Clara to take on the San Francisco 49ers on Christmas night.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
keith mitchell, ravens, offensive line, play, lose, week, run, team, ronnie stanley, talking, mitchell, point, game, lamar, super bowl, injury, keaton, football, eggnog, kid
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor J. Aparicio
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:01
wn st Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive it is Christmas week. Oh ho happy post Hanukkah good everyone Happy Kwanzaa Happy Christmas Happy Festivus for the rest of us the Ravens who qualify for the playoffs we have qualified to get away Maryland lottery scratch I was gonna be doing this wise markets on Monday of this week. We have the unwrap the cash we have the scented Oh snap. These were big hit because they’re small and they smell like gingerbread and they’ve had a lot of winners, our friends up peppermint payouts as well. The Maryland lottery sponsoring us along with our friends at window nation 866 90 nation I’ve got the shirt on I am not a certified master installer. I just play one on the radio, an ad on the web elsewhere friends at Jiffy Lube, my little orange lights on I’ve got to get to the Jiffy Lube. I almost wanted to one at York Road across from foreign daughter on Friday night but I ran out of time. We had a great conversation with Jean Jacques Michael Braun fine and Wendy brown find from curio, an incredible educational series and segment we did as well as learning about laundry detergent and getting a stink out of your stank with our friend Drew Westervelt from hexa former not not hex the department store an ex ATX lacrosse player who has a local product that that makes my stuff smell good after I’m all sweaty from Planet Fitness. Look Joe joins us now the Ravens get a little extra time here to enjoy the holiday and enjoy the ham and enjoy the turkey and enjoy the eggnog and all that stuff. We have praised Lamar Jackson, the ravens are 11 and three to qualify for the playoffs. They’re headed to Santa Clara which really isn’t San Francisco and it’s not really San Jose and it’s certainly not Oakland, out in the bay area on sat on Monday night for Christmas night. And a lot of football between here and there. One thing we know this, this will be the marquee matchup for the entire league through the weekend. We’ll be talking about that. But who’s going to run the ball and the the injury to Keith Mitchell very unfortunate. Look, I mentioned last segment like sort of like a body bag game. Every game. It’s, you know, it’s Marcus Williams or it’s Kyle Hamilton last week or it’s Ronnie Stanley or it’s keith Mitchell. Certainly the Keith Mitchell injury is going to elevate Melvin Gordon, it’s going to put a bigger spotlight on Gus Edwards. And the offensive line and how that synergy between Ronnie Stanley JK Dobbins mark and all the guys that aren’t here anymore. And all the guys that aren’t coming back and Ronnie Stanley might come back, but he ain’t gonna be Ronnie Stanley the rest of the way. I think that’s pretty obvious.
Luke Jones 02:30
Oh, he hasn’t been Ronnie Stanley most of the season really. But at start with Keaton Mitchell, I mean, first of all you feel for the kid, as you know, as father very well, Super Bowl 35 champion, Anthony Mitchell has been such a great story. But you’re gonna miss his production. You look at Sunday night’s game, and they finished with 251 rushing yards. So you say okay, well, concerns about the running game can’t be that can’t be that serious. But when you consider that 97 yards for Lamar Jackson on 12 carries. And you mentioned in a previous segment 12 carries feels a little on the high side compared to what we’ve seen with Lamar this year. That wasn’t there weren’t 12 design runs, look, go back and look at how many of those were scrambles because either no one was open downfield, or the pocket was just breaking down time and time again. So you look at that. Lamar, running ball is still a great thing is still wildly productive and wildly efficient and wildly explosive, maybe not as explosive as it was four or five years ago, but you get the point. But the other homerun hitting element that they’ve really come to appreciate over the last month and a half to two months has been Keaton Mitchell. I mean, he averaged 8.1 yards per carry on Sunday night. You look at what he’s done for the season. This kid has carried the ball 47 times and he’s averaged 8.4 yards per carry. I get it 47 times isn’t a season’s worth of a workload. But it’s it’s it’s not nothing either. So to now subtract that. And boy, I mean, the knee injury that did not look good. And that was one of those where you didn’t even want to go back and look at the replay because he just went down in a heap. So you worry unlock I mean, what well, maybe we’ll find out the diagnosis. You know, JK Dobbins, we never really got the details until much much, much later. But that’s one of those where you look at the timing of the season. It’s already getting to be late December. You wonder if he’s going to be ready for next year. I mean, that’s that’s what’s just so heartbreaking for the kid. And it’s it’s a bad loss for this offense in terms of wanting to have another homerun hitting element. We talked about this back in week one when they lost JK Dobbins. We said it at the time, you know, didn’t mean their Super Bowl hopes were dashed and I’m not at all implying that but and losing Mitchell that that their Superbowl hopes are severely impacted by this but it impacts it. It hurts their chances just because From what we’ve said they’ve had so many different ways that they’ve been able to win football games. When you’re not firing on all cylinders, which is most weeks, you’re not going to play perfect football most weeks. A Keith Mitchell is a difference maker. He’s the kind of guy that’s been a home run hitter for them. So to lose that, and then you look at the rest of their backfield mean Gus Edwards has 11 touchdowns I get it. I’m not saying he’s having a bad season, but weeks one through nine 4.4 yards per carry since week, 10 3.5 yards per carry. Justice Hill gives you a little more of a speed element. And maybe can we’ve seen him break some runs from time to time, but not not at the rate that Keith Mitchell was doing this? And, you know, you mentioned Melvin Gordon. I mean, Melvin Gordon has been out there really, for two years now for anyone to take. I mean, he’s been on the Ravens practice squad all year, running backs have gotten hurt around the league, no one’s come calling. So it’s not to say he can’t help. But is he going to be anything close to what Keith Mitchell has been able to give them? And for me, it wasn’t what Keaton Mitchell’s done to this point, Nestor, it’s what you could envision him doing the rest of the way. Especially if you get into January football games where it’s windy, or cold, or rain or snow. And you’ve got this kid who’s just flies. He’s so fast. So it’s a major disappointment. And then when you couple that with what you mentioned, which concerns with the offensive line, quite frankly, I mean, let’s face it, I mean, Ronnie Stanley, no, he left the game late. They’re going to check them out as far as concussion protocol, potentially. But he’s not playing like Ronnie Stanley. I mean, the ravens are rotating their Offensive Tackles, which, by the way, I don’t think is a bad idea. But it’s a major reflection of where they are at those two positions right now that you’re talking that you would even consider to say, oh, Patrick McCarthy spelling Ronnie Stanley for two or three series is a good thing. Daniel fire Lele spelling Morgan, Moses for a couple series is a good thing. No, I mean, that just tells you where those guys are. First and foremost, health wise, and I want to continue to point that out, but also where they are ability wise right now where you you don’t have the full confidence that they can hold up for 65 or 70 plays or heaven forbid, you have more than that you go into overtime. So, you know, it’s something that’s a concern. And as much as Lamar Jackson played terrific football on Sunday night and really masked some of those issues. Their past protection was not good. And I mean, you look at San Francisco, and the defensive line that they have, you look at some other teams, you know, like a Cleveland potentially coming into Baltimore in the second round, as you know, put Joe Flacco aside that Browns front, you know, what that can mean in the challenges that can present. So you know that they need their offensive line to protect Lamar Jackson better. And it’s so odd because they go back and forth. And Sunday was a great example of this. There were some times where Lamar had all day, right? I mean, there were times where he’s just standing back there. And no one was getting open downfield. So there you say, Okay, well, the coverage on the back end or wide receiver separating the play call whatever it is, there times where the protection is, okay. And then there are other times where the protection is just awful. So it’s kind of been a feast or famine in that regard regarding this offensive line. But certainly, when you talk about this team, and its longevity as it pertains to making a deep run in January getting to a Super Bowl, everything they they want to do and everything they can do. They certainly you look at the offensive line and specifically at the tackle positions. That that’s that’s a concern at this point. I don’t know how anyone can dismiss that doesn’t mean they can’t overcome that. And I mean, my goodness, we think back to a few years ago, Kansas City got to a Super Bowl with their offensive line completely ravaged by injuries. Now, Tampa Bay finally made them pay for it in the Super Bowl. The point is you can you can overcome those things. But losing Keith Mitchell, that’s such a non Lamar element of your running game that you’re so I’m gonna miss the rest of the way. And again, Ronnie Stanley and Morgan Moses, you know, this rotation. Again, I don’t disagree with it. But the fact that you need to do this the fact that you feel compelled to do this, that doesn’t lend a ton of confidence for your your Oh lines, ability to hold up in protection the rest of the way and even with Lamar back there, you certainly don’t want to be putting him in harm’s way. You love his ability to get away, but you’d rather him not have to exercise that quite as frequently as he has here of late.
Nestor J. Aparicio 09:44
Yeah, the one thing about the passing game and the Jaguars they had a lot of communication problems last week, they had a lot of different players in the backside that they didn’t throw the ball better, is a little bit disconcerting and I don’t know that we saw enough as a flowers are enough for OB J didn’t see much of the game. And then we saw him with the massager on his on his leg later in the game. But the fact that he ran so much, and it felt like he threw so much because they wanted to throw, right, they get back into pro set. He’s patting the ball, the you know, ring around the Rosies happened and he’s trying to escape the pocket. All of it looks so much different than it looked five years ago. And the effectiveness of it is really set up by the run game, right? I mean, to your point, this eight yards per run that some of the I mean, all of their running backs went back to 19 in the Lamar system, and then pretty gaudy yards per carry. I mean, Gus was that guy a couple of years ago as well, when he’s the fourth quarterback. I do find it a little disconcerting that they keep losing pieces, right. Mark Andrews, loose Keaton Mitchell, Ronnie Stanley, they’ve been battling that the whole time. But whether Macquarie’s on the left side, the right side for lay lay, you know, you really think he’s ready to play four quarters of football. If they needed him to win a playoff game. I don’t know. It would start to look like the Bengals or the Chiefs with beaten up offensive lines in January. They’re starting to get to the point where there’s some attrition here though, right? When you get to January, you’re like, No, Andrews, no, Keaton Mitchell. How are they going to beat the 40 Niners this week? How are they going to score with the dolphins two weeks from now? It’s going to take it’s going to take skill position players not named Jackson. Even though we were successful in Jacksonville the other night, maybe they named a town after but I don’t know that Melvin Gordon has breakaway speed. Certainly Gus Edwards doesn’t. That was something that the home run speed that Keith Mitchell had, is something that they’re just not going to have right now.
Luke Jones 11:41
Yeah, I mean, it’s just and again, it’s you look at the overall numbers. It’s not as though this kid was on his way to rushing for 1200 yards, we know that it’s been something that he came on late, you know, came off IR had the injury back in the preseason. But, again, you’re talking about your ceiling in terms of what you can do down the stretch, what you can do in January, and you’re just you’re gonna miss that element, doesn’t mean this, you can’t overcome it. But it just for me, it feels like that’s gonna put more on the more which, hey, you have a $52 million a year quarterback. That’s how it works. Kansas City right now. I mean, there’s so much talk on the pressure on Patrick mahomes. Because they basically have Travis Kelce. And what brushy rice, and that’s about it, you know, in terms of past catchers that they remotely trust, and the ladders, a rookie who is just now getting a certain trust level. So I mean, this is how it works. And it’s the dirty little secret is, it’s only gonna get worse in that regard. Because in the coming years, when Lamar is making more money, and you do have less flexibility than other positions, it puts more on the quarterback. We saw this with Joe Flacco. The second half of his ravens tenure compared to the first I mean, it’s just how it works. It’s not a knock on your quarterback or the team or anything like that. It’s the reality of the salary cap. So, but losing Mitchell, it’s just, that’s one that it hurts. I mean, it does just in terms of just having another way that you can find big plays. And you know what’s interesting, and you met, you made mention to this, and it really goes back to what you were talking about in our previous conversation. And this is a team that, unlike Greg Roman, and we can debate the mores play from the pocket and what he does as a pastor now compared to four years ago, and all that I mean, go round and round with that debate, as you and I have so many times. But I think what you look at where Todd Monken is as a play caller, I mean, this is a team, when you look at the game situation being neutral, meaning you’re not playing with a lead, like they were in the second half, where they obviously leaned very heavily into the running game. But when it’s a first half, look at the past run splits first down, where you know, under Greg Rome, and that was run, run, run run on first down, they’re really not that there, they really don’t do that they’re a team that throws a lot on first down, which is much more of a modern day analytics approach to offense, you know, you throw on first down to set up second and shorter third and short and then you don’t think overthink it. Second and short term. In short, you run the football. Yeah. And that’s kind of a different way of approaching it, then. A lot of traditional play calling would look at it where you said, Oh, I’ll throw it on. I’ll throw it on first, or I’ll run on first down, throw on set, you know, second and you know, whatever. I mean, you look at the sequences and we can play out different ways, but they’ve really been a team that has actually been pretty past heavy on first downs when it’s a close game, you know, first half look at it, especially. And again, that’s an analytics minded approach to offense in 2023. So I mean look at look at the halftime stats. It’s crazy to think because this team finished with what 250 rushing yards but at halftime LMR was 11 of 16 for 134 yards they had run as a team 12 times for 47 yards with Lamar, accounting for 30 of those yards. So they got next to nothing from there schemed up running game in the first half. But they were able to get a lead, because of some of the miscues that Jacksonville had especially late in the first half. They had that 10 point lead, and they were able to lean lean into it. I mean, look at Lamar, second half stats, I mean, you only completed a couple passes. The big plate of likely everyone will remember that. But go look at what the Morris passing totals were in the second half, it was hardly anything other than that. That’s not a knock on the mark just speaks to how the game was able to play out. So the Ravens really, they threw to take a lead, and they ran to protect their lead. I mean, that’s really how offensive football, that’s kind of the philosophy across the board in 2023. Right or wrong. That’s how teams typically approach it. But, again, losing Mitchell, that homerun potential. That’s where you do have a little more concern to say, okay, is this gonna have to be Lamar running a little bit more than you were envisioning the rest of the way? Because he’s not getting a lot of explosiveness from Gus Edwards. I mean, maybe Justice Hill can do it. And we’ve seen again, Justice Hill has some Spina it’s not as though he can’t make some people miss, but certainly hasn’t done it at a level that Keith Mitchell has in this at this early stage of his career. So Melvin Gordon, yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see if they add someone. I saw some Feds already talking about bringing back Kenyan Drake, although he’s on the Packers practice squad at the moment. But you know, it, it stinks. It really doesn’t. And again, I feel for the kid as much as anything because he was such a good story and the talent. I mean, he’s been starting for them, you know, and that not that Gus Edwards has been phased out. But we’ve seen Keith Mitchell starting games, we’ve seen him get the first crack, we’ve certainly seen him be the biggest home run hitter that they’ve had other than Lamar as a runner. So what also
Nestor J. Aparicio 17:00
speaks to him be better pass protection, the fact that he was out there, right, just in a general sense that, that he has improved as a football player, he, he has earned their confidence in all aspects of the game, not just Hey, kid, you’re fast, go run the ball, don’t get our quarterback killed. Well, that
Luke Jones 17:15
was still a work in progress. But we have seen that more of late. But that’s that’s really the biggest reason why you’ve seen Justice Hill on the field, because I’ve gotten that question quite a bit, you know, in recent weeks. Well, you know, why is Justice Hill out there so much? Why isn’t it more Keaton Mitchell, it’s pass. It’s been passed protection. Now, again, Mitchell, we were seeing more of the last couple of weeks. And if you go back and look, some good reps and some reps where you say, okay, he’s an undersized, undrafted, rookie. That’s a lot to ask of a kid in pass protection as a rookie, when he’s not just not very big. Now, Justice hills, not very big either. But you know that that was part of it. But again, upside potential, thinking about where this team is not not just in week 15. But where they’re going to be in week 17, where they’re going to be in the divisional round, where they’re going to be in the AFC Championship, you’re hoping or the Super Bowl. I mean, that’s part of it. So when you lose someone like that, again, it’s it puts it puts a damper on it. Not impossible. I mean, there’s one guy this team could lose right now. And the season’s over for all intents and purposes in terms of a Super Bowl. It’s Lamar Jackson, we’ve we saw that firsthand here in Baltimore the last couple of years. So but yeah, you know, when you’ve lost Mark Andrews already, even though likely he’s done an amazing job as an understudy. I mean, he has stepped up better than I think even his biggest proponents at anticipated I mean, kid can play, there’s no doubt about it. So you were able to make that up. And you were feeling better and better about not having Mark Andrews, not, I mean, you’d love to have them but you’re feeling better about that absence, with the way it likely is played. Now it’s a case of Okay. Can you get enough consistent production out of the rest of that running back position? Down the stretch here? And I do have some questions about that. And like I said, you you hope it’s not going to have to fall on Lamar Jackson to run a little bit more, but he’s also still their best runner, especially now without Mitchell on the field. So it was probably inevitable that Lamar is probably going to run more the rest of the way because come January, you’re gonna do whatever you have to do to win games, but it’s definitely a bummer. And it’s something that, you know, hey, injuries, look around the league. Look at the quarterbacks that are playing around the league, even on playoff contenders mind you. So the Ravens in that regard? They can’t You can’t say what was me too much. It’s certainly they’re in better position health wise than they were last year or certainly the year before that, but it’s definitely a bummer to lose Keith Mitchell, there’s no doubt Luke
Nestor J. Aparicio 19:48
Jones is here. He will be in Owings Mills all week getting ready for a Santa to bring all the fun here this week and certainly a lot of football being played all day every day leading up to well the last game which will be Christmas night on the Ravens out in Santa Clara taken on the 40. Niners we’ll have a chance to talk a little bit more about them and about McCaffrey and about Brock Purdy. We talked about them a little bit, but on this offense and on the offensive line, if Ronnie Stanley’s a guy they can’t even put out there 20 snaps a game are, you know, if he’s just not right enough that you’re better off to your point starting a healthy mCherry for the depth of the offensive line. I mean, I saw Zeitler go down for a minute, you know, early in the game, and I start to think to myself, there’s nothing that would screw this up. More. I mean, they’ve already lost a running back, they’ve already lost the key tight end and unlikely they may have certainly from a stat production on Sunday night replaced Mark Andrews, right. I don’t know where the Keith Mitchell thing will be because they don’t have anybody with that skill set. And that sort of speed. But the offensive line and keeping that as together as it can be at this point. That’s where you have to cross your fingers and say they cannot have any more attrition at that position.
Luke Jones 21:04
Yeah, I mean, the thing I’ll say in response to that is, that’s the league though. I mean, you’re just you’re not going to find offensive lines, anywhere in the NFL that has really high quality depth. I think the ravens are on the higher end of that, just because they have Patrick McHenry because they they have a SAM Mustafa that you could plug in, as they did earlier in the year for Tyler Linder bomb, because you have, you know, follow a lay to a lesser extent. I mean, certainly I think the confidence level is higher and mCherry at this point, cuz he’s played more. But I mean, that’s, that’s just the league. I mean, the reality is, look, your concerns are well founded and justified when you’re talking about feeling compelled to rotate your Offensive Tackles because of health and or performance concerns related to health at this point. But you look at where they still rank with an offensive line play subjective, we understand that. So pff is not the gospel, ESPN, pass blocking, run blocking win rate and all the different metrics that are out there to try to measure those things. They’re not got any single measure isn’t gospel, but this is an offensive line that’s very highly regarded. But it is concerning when you’re talking about the health of Ronnie Stanley when you’re talking about the health of Morgan, Moses, you know, to your point, Zeitler went down, didn’t miss a snap. But I saw the same thing and your heart stops for a second, right? I mean, you’re saying oh no, you can’t lose a guy like that. I saw one play where Linda balm was slow to get up. And he was just, I think it was just fatigue more than anything, I don’t think he was hurt. But that’s another one lender bomb who’s played at up Pro Bowl caliber level, for the most part add at the center position and a second season. But any team, even teams that feel really good about their offensive line play, it is so fleeting, where you are literally an injury. And certainly two injuries away from not feeling good about your offensive line at all. I mean, it’s just, you hear it, we’ve heard you and I for years at Radio row talking to different coaches and X’s and O’s football junkie types where they just tell you that offensive line play is not as good as it used to be and so much of it goes back to the college game and spread and you know, guys just not being quite as NFL ready. But it’s definitely a concern when I mean, you just you’re deliberately rotating your left tackle and your right tackle for health performance are both doing that it’s unconventional. I mean, Joe Dallas Anderson, our offensive line coach, John, according to John Harbaugh, he came up with this idea during the bye week and they’ve done it with Stanley I mean, last year they were rotating some with Stanley even. But the fact that you’re doing that, it’s where you look at this thing and say, Okay, you have three games to go on the regular season. You’re hoping you have more than one game and in January, you’re hoping it’s the number one seed three, your three games would mean they’re playing in Las Vegas. So you’re rotating now we’re not to Christmas yet and you’re hoping you have six games left and maybe week 18 If you lock things up against the dolphins and you don’t have to play you can sit out Morgan, Moses and Ronnie Stanley and give them a couple of weeks off. If you want to do that. Now, people will debate that whether it’s wise to do that obviously but you know they there’s still a long way to go for them and for this offensive line to hold up. Football
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:31
is better for anybody over the age of 30 I mean just at this point in the year they are doing giving one Smith a week off against the Steelers having Kyle Hamilton get right having Marlon Humphrey right. I mean just put put you know bring back Bobby Rainey you know for that game. But they have to win these two games a you know if they win these two games it would really set up a double buy for them. Time off for them purple bunting all over the plays homecooking I mean, it’s all sitting there for them. But sitting in front of them are probably the two best teams left in the tournament. Right? San Francisco’s the best team on the other side, Miami is probably the best team in the AFC over the body of work. But maybe buffalo would be that team. Now, Kansas City would be that team on any given day. But these are two January matchups in December that are going to if they survive them, you know, really kind of propel them into an easier pathway to get to a Super Bowl. Now, that being said, they come and pitch down their leg and they’re down 13 to nothing early in the game against the Chiefs here, because that’s the way the draw goes. And they wind up playing them. I’ll hear all of that. But I want time off. I want victories the next two weeks. I want Pittsburgh to be meaningless. I want home field advantage. I want no more injuries. I want the injuries they have to heal up a little bit. And getting guys back that I guess that’s the hardest part of this right is you look at Ronnie Stanley. And you say he ain’t gonna be right now Morgan, Moses, maybe you can make a case of third week of January. He’ll be a full complete player. At that point. You could certainly make that case for Kyle Hamilton coming back. I don’t know where Marlin Humphrey is. I mean, I don’t, I don’t know that we’re really going to see the, the old Marlin Humphrey. But from a from a physical standpoint, from a health standpoint, getting guys healthier. So they’re ready to play in that divisional game after the bar, because I’m going, that’s where my head is going right now. Because if they don’t earn the pie, and they lose this weight, somehow they lose the Miami, they gotta play for their lives against Pittsburgh in order to maybe have a buy or to take a week off or to keep home games. I mean, the Browns have an easy schedule. You know, there’s some teams in the way. For me, the healthiest version that they can be the third week of January is so important when you’re 11 Three,
Luke Jones 26:58
no doubt. That’s why I and it’s funny because people listening right now are thinking back to 2019. And the fact that they rested starters in week 17 that year and there was this the sentiment that maybe you shouldn’t maybe it was too much time that the whole rest first rust debate which every
Nestor J. Aparicio 27:16
time I see Tony Dungy He’s the king of that right? Because he dealt with it every single year with the Colts, right? But
Luke Jones 27:22
I always am. But I always felt that that was more of a self fulfilling prophecy. I mean, whatever whatever you want it to be, it can be in that regard. But I’m with you. It’s all the Orioles. Sure, it’s all about trying to shorten your path, shorten your obstacles to getting to where you want to be. And by doing that, the best way to do that would be yes, getting the number one seed but you know, even having a scenario where you can rest some guys in week 18. Now, you don’t if you don’t go out and beat the 40 Niners on Monday night, which that that’s I mean, they’re they’re going to be an under they’re an underdog for this game, as as they should be playing on the road against a team that’s widely regarded as the best team in the NFL if they aren’t, so you know that that’s reality, but if they don’t win this game, then you know it’s gonna be much more difficult to have that scenario where you can rest in early
Nestor J. Aparicio 28:12
lines four and a half to make you laugh. Ravens are four and a half point dogs. I’ll get you some action up.
Luke Jones 28:20
That sounds about right to me. I mean, it shouldn’t
Nestor J. Aparicio 28:23
lose on Monday night they are eggnog should be curdled. They’re supposed to lose.
Luke Jones 28:28
I mean, anyone who’s been dismissive of the 40, Niners I mean, you haven’t watched him play for the last five weeks. And look, let me be clear about this. You’re gonna be shocked if the Ravens go in and win Monday night, the ravens are playing at an incredibly high level. But now the 40 Niners have been, yeah, even the, if you have the darkest purple colored glasses on right now, the 40 Niners have at least been their equal for the last five weeks in terms of but I mean, they’ve blown teams out week after week after week. So, you know, they they have a front that’s much more formidable overall than Jacksonville, and we saw the issues that Jacksonville presented, you know, from a pass rush standpoint. So that’s gonna be a heck of a challenge. But the good news is, if you can win that thing, my goodness, then you are in a position where you could potentially lock it up. And we’ll have to see how all the different scenarios play out. I mean, again, there are people screaming right now saying take it one game at a time. And to which I say I don’t play so I can look, we can look ahead. But you know, they’re gonna have that. But I think what was still so important, and I’ll leave you on this point was taking care of business on Sunday night. It allowed the ravens to maintain this little bit of wiggle room they built. Now if they’ve dropped that game to the Jaguars on Sunday night. Now you’re talking with a much higher level of urgency to try to go out there and win in San Francisco. Now it’s a case of I look at this not as a game that they must win. But as a game that boy, they have a heck of an opportunity here. If you want to do what you laid out, which is have a chance to maybe even be able to run Some guys in week 18 and block this thing up in the next to last game against Miami. Then you went on on Monday night you went on Christmas night, but they’re now in a position where even if they don’t, they still have everything in front of them that they can control their path to that number one seed over the last two weeks of the season. And what more can you ask for? As you get to Christmas than that? I mean, this team can accomplish everything it wants to at this point, it’s sitting right there for them. As our old friend coach Bullock used to say,
Nestor J. Aparicio 30:30
play Santa Claus Luke ever I don’t have the outfit and often thought like, what would it be fun just walk around a Santa Claus and if people yell at you all day and say hi, Santa and whatnot. I get to do that on Monday at wise market. I’m giving away the unwrap the cash free scratch offs, people love these Peppermint. Peppermint payout they smell like gingerbread, the gingerbread smells like gingerbread. The Oh snaps. We had some winners last week at Farr and daughter curio wellness. We were together with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Gina shock one of my favorites, as well as Michael Brown find and Wendy Brown from curio, as well as drew Westervelt from hex. So that’s a detergent, a locally designed invented thing that gets the stink out of your stank from your planet fitness and hot yoga clothing. That’s all we’re gonna hear that this week you’re gonna hear JT the brick and I get together out in Vegas on Sirius XM talking the magic of Lamar Jackson, also tons of our Maryland crabcake tour stuff here. So if you hear some stuff on AM 1570 This week, you’re like, hey, that’s from earlier this year. That’s why we do the crab cake tour. So the next few weeks you’re gonna hear a lot of stuff, including some previews. I’m like sober is gonna join us this week from love from the Bay Area to talk to San Francisco 40 Niners as well. Luke is going to be out in Owings Mills, ravens get an extra day. This is the time where we all lose track. What day is it? Oh, it’s Christmas. Oh, yeah, it’s Christmas week, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, eggnog while this stuff going on. Next Wednesday after Christmas dust off, put the ham away, drink up the eggnog bring me some cookies. We’re gonna be down to fade Lee’s on for the final time and the old fade Lee’s next Wednesday the 27th I got some great guests. Nobody does anything on December 27. They’re all sitting around eating leftovers. So come on down have crabcake have some of that delicious mac and cheese will be fade these for the final time. I’ll be releasing our guests for that. Tom Kelso is going to join us at wise Derek Fraser former professional wrestler as well as John Mark who’s the Executive Director of the Maryland lottery. Who gives us these lucky scratch offs our friends when donation 866 90 nation reminding you by two you get two free 0% financing. All this rain and cold and fog and all this stuff. I got great Windows next step is going to be it says doors on here it says Windows siding doors I need to get some doors and 2024 866 90 nation a way to do that. And my little orange light came on as I was driving over to curio on Friday. I need to get my oil change. Thank goodness for Jiffy Lube multi care. There was one right across the street from curio wellness right on York Road. There’s one in your neighborhood. I generally use the one on mirror Boulevard and Dundalk by the old Bradley’s down near Germany Hill Road. Maybe take care of my car longtime at Jiffy Lube. So a big appreciation to them. All right, I am plotting the biggest radio row initiative we’ve ever had beginning on February the fifth. I’m going to be telling folks about that for the next six weeks. I love when a plan comes together so my sponsors don’t even know what I’m doing. Luke doesn’t even know what I’m doing. But I know what I’m doing and you’re gonna know what I’m doing too. So keep the week of Super Bowl week open and just in case you’re go to Vegas so you don’t go to Vegas because we’re gonna be doing some great stuff for radio row he is Luke you can find him at Baltimore. Look at on Instagram, the interweb X threads, Twitter, Facebook, whatever they’re calling it. We are wn st am 1570, Towson Baltimore. Stay with us. We got plenty of ravens ahead as the Ravens head to Santa Clara to take on the all powerful 40 Niners
