Once again, it’s a training camp and a grueling regular season of “Super Bowl: Or Bust” for Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss holding up on those plans for Santa Clara and start preparations for a September 7th kickoff in Buffalo with super expectations meeting the realities of the NFL offseason.
Luke Jones and Nestor Aparicio discuss the Baltimore Ravens’ high Super Bowl expectations as training camp opens. Jones reflects on the evolution of training camps, noting the shift from grueling two-a-day practices to more modern, gradual ramp-ups. They highlight the Ravens’ preseason schedule, including joint practices with Indy and Washington, and the importance of starting the season strong. Concerns are raised about the offensive line, particularly the guards, and the need for a pass rusher like Jadavion Clowney. They also discuss the pressure on veteran players like Marlon Humphrey and Mark Andrews to perform in January, emphasizing the team’s history of playoff disappointments.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens training camp, Super Bowl expectations, offensive line, pass rush, injury concerns, joint practices, preseason games, Lamar Jackson, Marlon Humphrey, Mark Andrews, Ronnie Stanley, John Harbaugh, playoff performance, roster spots, veteran players.
SPEAKERS
8
Speaker 1, Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
You welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, AM, 1570 tasks of Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, positively into the all star break around here. We’re gonna take a break from baseball in this segment. You talk some football, because we are when the all star break comes. The next thing it happens, not just a trading deadline and and Luke gets to go to Wildwood, and I get to go to Mako and eat my 27 favorite things next month in our 27th anniversary, but we got some football going here this time next week, Luke Jones joins us now from his palatial estate in Pennsylvania, after a week on the boardwalk Max pizza, he is properly tanned and filled with sunshine and sand and family, love and all that, just in time. I you know, I would say, Luke, I’d send your ass out to Westminster for bloggers, pancakes and two a days, and you’d be there. But you know, as Plato pointed out, this is cream puff stuff. This, this modern training camp that you speak of and cover, correct,
Luke Jones 01:01
no doubt. I mean, I can remember my first couple I mean, obviously I went to training camp for years as a fan. I mean, I remember, it’s actually the summer of 2000 my best buddy and I probably went out there four or five times before we both went off to, you know, I guess not college, but we had our own football camp because that was my senior year of high school. But, yeah, it’s a lot different than then, you know. And I think back to oh nine and 10, which are my two training camps that I did cover in Westminster. And
Nestor Aparicio 01:29
you never did one with Billick, though, right? You were only a hardball guy, right? Oh nine was Billick worked with me by the time you came around, right? Yeah, yeah,
8Luke Jones 01:37
exactly so. But I remember the 830 practice in Westminster, and then the special teams practice at three, I think it was and, oh no, shade. It was hot, all of that. I mean, okay, the ray Lewis’s and the ED reeds of the team, they usually didn’t have to work in the afternoon, although sometimes they did, because sometimes it’d be a full blown two a day. But man, it’s a far cry, far cry from those days. You know what you see now. And that’s not to say that these guys aren’t working hard, because they are, but it’s definitely different. Westminster made things harder on them. Oh yeah, no question. And you know, it’s, it’s interesting to see you. You’ve almost seen you saw this trend for the last 15 years or so where teams stayed home, and now it’s swung a little bit from some teams are starting to at least get away for part of camp, and that’s where you kind of get into some of these joint practices and different things like that.
Nestor Aparicio 02:31
But they took them hardball, took them out to play the Rams, right? They went somewhere, didn’t? They didn’t? They get on a plane. When they do the preseason games, they do those little, yeah, that’s what they do now, right? Yeah, yeah, they’ve done that where they’ll go out there instead of coming in the night before the preseason game. Boom, you’re out. But they’re not going to green Briar the way Belichick would take the team down to Virginia or whatever, right? Yeah, but,
Luke Jones 02:54
but, but you are finding a few more teams here and there starting to do a little bit more of that stuff again. So you know, it’ll be interesting to see how it evolves. But, yeah, I mean, this is, you know, the ravens are, you know, they’ve got a preseason game against Indy, you know, they have Dallas and Washington, you know, they’re gonna have some joint practices Indy coming here and Washington. You know, they’re gonna practice with the commanders. So, you know, so you do that. But yeah, the days of two a days and all that. It’s very much a gradual ramp up. You know, you won’t see any pads for the first few days. You won’t see any hitting for the first few days. And even when they do hit, that over the last few years. Nestor, man, if I’m just talking about practices in during training camp, the periods that are fully live, meaning tackling to the ground. Man, you’re I could probably count the reps on two hands and have fingers left over. I mean, they don’t do that. I mean, they just don’t. They didn’t do much of that 10 years ago, or, you know, let alone the beginning of the John Harbaugh era, necessarily. But boy, it’s changed a lot. And I’m not not saying that it’s changed for the worse. I think there are elements of it that are for better. But you do also have questions, as far as you know, what? How do you start the season? And I think for this ravens team that has Super Bowl expectations as high as any team in the league, right? I mean, they’re right there with Kansas City and Buffalo and the AFC,
Nestor Aparicio 04:17
8all the teams they play in September, Philadelphia being a defending champion like you look at the Ravens Super Bowl odds. They’re as high as anyone’s right now, as they should be. You know, I was at Cooper’s pub on on Sunday, and I was watching the Frank Robinson rain delay and and Terry’s the manager there. He’s been on two time cancer. So very optimistic Ravens fan in a general sense. Anybody knows. Terry knows that, but he said, this might be the best team we’ve ever had. This is like, you know, who’s going to stop this offense? Like, and look getting the help in the secondary. And you and I talked about it for a minute as the mandatory close, what feels like about a month ago now, a couple weeks ago, and this thing’s going to get on as fast it happens, like a wave, right? Like. Right now it’s like, oh, football season. So it’s next once a week, you know, like, trading deadline happens. I’m eating food next month, and we’re playing football in Buffalo, right? Here we go. So it does happen quickly, but fortifying all that, the one thing Terry said to me, and I’ll give him the shout out, is I think they’re still going to sign Clowney, or they’re going to get somebody to get after the quarterback. And I think that that’s a reasonable expectation. I think that might be the only reasonable expectation you and I would have is they’ll add something, to lose something, they’ll get to have an injury. They don’t want to have all that will happen. But I think the pass rush is the one thing we’re looking at. And the thing I brought up with him at the bar was, I’m always worried about the offensive line, and I’m, you know, Ronnie Stanley, God bless him. You know you mean like it’s, I always feel like borrowed time with guys like him, who are Humpty. Dumpty got put back together again under six foot, eight and 300 pounds. You
Luke Jones 05:50
know? Yeah. And look, I would also venture to say that of the 32 teams, and even of the 10 teams, let’s say that fancy themselves as contenders, like serious contenders of those 10, let’s say nine are talking about their offensive line right now. Everyone talks about their offensive line. No team has a perfect offensive line, and even if they have a starting five that they love, they’re concerned about their depth because of what you just said, because you know, chances are you’re going to need at least a sixth or a seventh offensive lineman that’s going to start at least a handful of games for you, so that that is always a concern, I think, for the ravens, you know, when you look at it with their projected starting five, certainly we’re going to point to the guards. We talked about the guards all last year, and they still could have, should have, would have won in Buffalo and had a chance to play in the AFC title game if they had, if Mark Andrews doesn’t drop the ball right and or fumble it on the previous drive, or Lamar fumble in the first half, right? I mean, all these things we’ve talked about, they’re in a very similar position. I mean, I’ve talked about this for several years now. Nestor and you know this, I struggle this time of year to talk about the ravens, because there’s only so much you can talk about beyond staying healthy, which is obviously a massive piece, which, if there’s a real, legitimate concern that I have, it’s they’re not going to stay as healthy as they did last year, because they stayed so healthy Last year, and just knowing how difficult it is to repeat that. Because, yeah, you can talk all you want about your strength and conditioning and your training staff and recovery and rest and giving players practices off and vet days and things of that nature, but it’s a full contact sport. And to to the point we just made a couple minutes ago, you don’t practice that in the summer for that very reason. But you also know that when the bullets start flying for for real, then you’re kind of at the mercy of, you know, your maker, in terms of whether guys are going to get healthy, whether whether someone’s going to have a catastrophic injury because someone crashes into their knee in the way that happened to Joe Flacco a decade ago, right? I mean, we’ve all seen those things happen so but you know, to go back to the point you just made about, like, say, the pass rush, you know, the offensive line you mentioned, I still think there’s a move to be made to add a veteran safety that you just feel good about as your number three, and hopefully does a better job than Eddie Jackson did when he was signed a year ago at this time. But I think I look at that, but there are very few roster spots up for grabs right now. Nestor I did a sizing up the Ravens 53 man roster, or sizing up just the roster at the end of mandatory mini camp. And obviously this was on the heels of them having signed Jair Alexander, I was being generous. This was conservative of me to say that I think there are 45 spots all but locked up at this point in time. And it’s probably the real number is probably closer to like 48 spots that are, for all intents and purposes, locked up. There are maybe 345, four, five, roster spots that are maybe up for grabs. That just speaks to how well balanced and talented this roster is, and that, that’s not to say they don’t have question marks. That’s not to say that sure I’d entertain the idea of jadavion Clowney being signed at the right price, right? Just using that example, because you met, you mentioned it, I certainly would be interested in adding a corner. If there’s a veteran offensive lineman to be had that could be a depth piece for you, for the interior offensive line, because you don’t have Patrick McCary anymore. And you know, Josh Jones is gone also. And you know, you’re kind of looking at, okay, you hope Voorhees can do left you know, can handle left guard. Who knows what’s going to happen with Ben Cleveland, as far as the potential suspension, you know, whether he’s going to be suspended a couple games because of a DUI. Daniel Fauci laylay is the most entrenched out of those three names that I mentioned. But you know, he’s not Marshall yonder. So. So, so I I’d hear a veteran, oh, lineman, but how many of those guys really shake three we’ve talked about that scenario playing out probably every year over the last five or six summers. And how many times has it actually happened? It doesn’t happen. So this roster, for the most part, boring of a stray veteran signing or borrowing a catastrophic injury or two, which you have to at least acknowledge the possibility this roster is very much set. And look, that’s a good thing. That’s a That’s a compliment to them, but it also makes this time of year kind of like, All right, let’s get going. Let’s get going, but let’s not get hurt before buffalo, right? I mean, that’s kind of where you are, because everything about this team points to Super Bowl contender, Super Bowl contender, Super Bowl contender, but this is the space they’ve been in for several years now. Right from from the moment that Lamar Jackson was MVP six years ago, they’ve been in this space,
Nestor Aparicio 10:55
and that’s where, you know, I will interrupt you. Luke Jones is here Baltimore, Luke, we’re going to talk football here all summer long as we get into this. But the veteran players, they have, the high paid players, Humphrey Stanley, I mean, let’s let Lamar be Lamar. I mean, if I disparage Lamar in any way, you’ll jump in and start reading stats to me and tell me he’s the Superman, right? Great. And that’s cool, but, um, older, you know, whether he’s faster, stronger, better. I mean, he’s definitely throws the ball better than he ever did. At some point he’s not going to run as well as he used to. Um, at some point last year, felt like he didn’t want to run as much. But that’s where Derek Henry comes in, and that’s where I say. I go back to all my old tweets. If they got Derek Henry, they’d be unstoppable. That’s the word I use, is unstoppable, and that was before they didn’t run the ball against chiefs two years ago or against buffalo two years ago. So for me, the Derek Henry piece, the Marlin Humphrey piece, the Ronnie Stanley piece, Chair Alexander. You know these guys that are 29 or 30 or 31 or 32 and they’re making a lot of money, and they got a lot Mark Andrews, great example, they got all these pelts on the wall. I mean, I’ll let the zay flowers and the Rosen gardens, and I’ll put roquan into the veteran side of that too. All these guys that, as my friend Dave Muir would always say about Mike Messina, much to disagree on Mark, who I’m hoping to get together with this week, a nude ring finger. That’s what, that’s what David Muir would say. Nude ring finger. Sure? What Billick used to say about the Eagles fan. So they’ve won two now, and so none of these guys have won anything. And you know what, they’ve won the house of excuses after they’ve lost the big game for whatever the reason. Lamar wasn’t good enough. Lamar wasn’t there. Our defense didn’t play well enough. Our kicker wasn’t good enough, or the weather was bad. The running game was bad. The defense was bad, whatever Mark Andrews dropped the ball, whatever it is, whatever the excuses were. They none of them have won, and now the Tucker’s gone. Who’s the ultimate loser, by the way? And I’ll I’m not. They might think that’s blown over. It hasn’t blown over. Baltimore, positive, I assure you, for the 16 women, it hasn’t blown over, I’m sure. But I would say for them, the veteran guys, I’m not blaming this on flowers or whatever. You know, the other the corner we drafted last year is going to be, uh, once he starts playing and really playing, and he becomes the guy making 24 million a year. But those key 30 year old men that have lost six times that they go back so far that I used to have a press credential, back when I was a real media member, and I would sit there and look at them at their locker after they lost an end of the year game that wasn’t during COVID, because COVID changed a lot of things, and they were all a part of all of that, but they there’s not a lot of reason for them to have confidence in January, right? They go 13 and four, or whatever it is, 15 and two, whatever it is when they go into it. Now, I’ll say this, Kansas City hasn’t had the best team in a couple of years. I mean, Kansas City is getting by on Taylor Swift and their fat quarterback, according to whoever that sports radio guy was. I’ll take their fat quarterback anytime, so he wins and and their coach wins, and our coach doesn’t win, and when the rubber meets the road, Marla Humphreys got a lot of Bucha about him, and not, you know, put up or shut up. I see the nude ring finger. I see Jalen Ramsey still running around, picking teams, right? We’re gonna, we’re gonna have to deal with him. So the Steelers are trying to win with Jalen Ramsey and Aaron Rodgers, right, like for Mike Tomlin, hanging on for dear life up there, but they made the playoffs last year. I mean, you know, like they’re, you know, these, these things that we look at, we’re so much better than them. We’re top three talent and all that. Well, some assets got a role when you’re a top three talent every year for a decade. And you don’t win, because every year we talk about them like this, and every year they got to go play buffalo in Kansas City in January. Whoever the next girl down the line is, maybe it’s Donald Trump’s other best friend, Jim Harbaugh. Maybe, maybe it’s the chargers that move into that spot that because they have a quarterback, right? I’m trying to think of teams that have Cincinnati. I’m always worried about Cincinnati, because I think that kid’s the best of all of them. I really do. You gave me any of the quarterbacks, I probably take, you know, injury aside and all that, at this point, next five years, I’ll take burrow. I mean, I just will, but a screwed up organization in a lot of ways, and Andrew Hendrickson, just all the things that are going on out there. I i Look at the big picture of all of this, and I want to see there. I want to see Mark Andrews bounce back from not just dropping the ball, but not walking like a man and even showing up at the podium five minutes later, and he’s off making television commercials like I the lack of accountability. If that makes me an old man, fine, but that’s where I have a problem with Trump. That’s where I have a problem with Sashi Brown. That’s where I have a problem with Katie grace. You know, you’re in front of it. Be in front of it. Be in front of it. For everybody, not that just the people that you like are going to kiss your ass. Take the tough questions. That’s the job. That is the job for all of them. And the tough questions come when you spit up your your meal every year in January, and you become, you don’t have choke, but you have CH, O, you know what I mean at this point, Lamar does, for sure, and it ain’t about Lamar. And, you know, I mean, I didn’t Lamar. Put the ball between EIGHT and a NINE, right? You got to catch it, right? You know? So I would just say for them, there’s a lot of scrutiny above and beyond, like, can they win week one? Can they win week three? Dude, I look at their September schedule worries me. This the toughest September schedule they’ve ever had, ever, I don’t ever remember September where expectations are sky high, where disappointment is stacked up for this franchise, as well as in Buffalo. I mean, they’re just as frustrating as we are worse. We got two parades, um, but I would say, you know, buffalo, Detroit, Kansas City, seeing all that training camp, has to be extra powder puff, because they can’t. They have to be a really good team in September, not round into a good team by the time they see Pittsburgh and in November or December. Because, look, man, I’m always ready to bury the Steelers. I mean, I’ve been sending Tomlin text, trying to bury him since, like, since he, he started kumbaya with Aaron Rodgers on, on AI, doing yoga classes and doing, Hi Oscar. You know, that was probably March. I started texting him, and now he’s the quarterback, and they’re maybe I’ll make a trip up the late Trove. You get up there, you know, I do like the western part of Maryland, um, see what’s going on. But the ravens, the expectations amongst betters, amongst fans, of which I used to be one of them, um, and thinking about this disappointment in this veteran cast of guys who all want to have their name up on the, you know, on the facade as Ring of Honor and all that, you know, you ain’t Ed Reed, you ain’t Ray Lewis, you ain’t Joe Flacco, you ain’t Anquan Boldin from you ain’t Matt Burke, for Me, yet,
Luke Jones 18:21
it’s fair enough. Fair enough. I mean that, look it, this isn’t rocket science. And look, they, they had a, you know, they, they played Kansas City in Buffalo last September. They also, they lost at Kansas City, all right. Week one, Isaiah, likely the toe. They came home and they laid an egg against the raiders in week two. Oh, and two, that, right there is the difference between playing up in Orchard Park and Mark Andrews dropping the ball in that stadium compared to the Ravens playing in Baltimore. Not
8Nestor Aparicio 18:48
so bad that John Harbaugh was texting me good morning last year when they were oh two trying to get me back on his side. That’s That’s how desperate John was.
Luke Jones 18:57
And look starting oh and two did not ruin their season. Did not cost them the playoffs. Did not cost them the division or any of that, but it did cost them their shot at home field in at least the second round, right? I mean, in Kansas City finished what they had one loss until week 18, or whatever it was. So so, you know, maybe they never, maybe the number one seed was never going to be in the cards for them, unless they won at Kansas City week one, and, you know, just completely rolled, steamrolled the entire year, but they at least could have had home field in the divisional round, and that makes a big difference. So that’s where I think the lesson, if you’re John Harbaugh, if you step into his shoes and you’re trying to think like he’s thinking, That’s why all summer you got to be talking about guys. We got to start fast. We can’t start oh and two again, like we’ve got to start fast. We’ve got got to come out of the gate ready. And it’s not as though they were horrible against Kansas City in week one. I mean, they they were a likely toe away from having a chance to win that game with, you know, if that’s a touchdown in. Go for two. You go for the win. So it’s not as though they came out and they were horrible, but they weren’t firing on all cylinders out of the gate, and that cost them, and that cost them. What we’re talking about here, this is chasing their tail all year because they were gonna have to go play in Buffalo no matter what. Right? Because, so here’s the difference. You just mentioned Pittsburgh, the Steelers would do cartwheels. Steelers fans would probably do cartwheels right now, if you told them that six and six, well, if they can win a playoff game, you know, like, if they could win a playoff game this year,
Nestor Aparicio 20:33
if they can just be six and six, they have a good year. If they, they get the Thanksgiving and have a shot, then they’ve done a good job with Aaron Rodgers, because the Jets didn’t, you know, saying, like, but the Steelers are a better franchise. You know, that’s what they’ve been for several years now, like they’re that fringe team that’s finding a way to get in the playoffs. And even though Mike Tomlin doesn’t say this or feel this, probably, but in his brain, he probably knows, yeah, we were kind of the team that’s been happy to be there when we’re getting bounced in the wild card round because we’re not very good. Because that’s what happens when you have seven teams in each conference making the playoffs now, but the Ravens aren’t that like no one’s going to be happy with a wild card spot. No one cares about winning a wild card playoff game. Steve needs to get to a Super Bowl, to your point. But if they’re two and two on October 1, it doesn’t mean they stink. It means that they they beat either the lions or the bills or the the chief, right? I mean, like and they beat the browns, I guess, yeah, well, they better beat the browns. But you’re thinking they’re gonna be four and Oh, on October 1 and smell like that team or three and one with impressive victories and narrow losses because Tyler loop missed the kick against the lions or something like, you know. I mean, I’m just trying to set an expectation here that isn’t Super Bowl guaranteed, you know. Believe that, you know. I mean, all right, all right. Any of the guaranteed stuff is just silly. I mean that that’s just bravado in the off season. Now you can be confident, you can be optimistic. You can absolutely believe that they have as good a chance as anyone. Which I do, which I do, I honestly, exactly, but until they do it, I wouldn’t bet on them, though, you know why? Let me put the L up again. I wouldn’t bet on them because I’ve met Marlon Humphrey. I wouldn’t bet on them because they haven’t won. I wouldn’t bet on them because Humphrey, would you be all these guys are getting older, so would you? Would you bet on buffalo either? Though they wouldn’t bet on Kansas City, but that shame on me and I wouldn’t bet on Pittsburgh, shame on me. I wouldn’t bet against Cincinnati because I like their quarterback. Jim Harbaugh’s a witch, and he’s got a quarterback and no fans and no pressure and sunshine, and they play in LA LA, and they play in a easier division, and just a lot of things. So I’m trying to figure out where the balance of power will be, but it won’t be in the browns and Steelers taking the crown from the Ravens. And that won’t happen early in the year anyway, because all those games are back loaded. I mean, they’re front loaded with the most important games of the year, which is getting the pelt. And again, to your point, they beat the snot out of the bills last year when it didn’t matter. Yeah. I mean, I just, and that’s where I struggle. I don’t care about the regular season. I care about it. Understand fully, understanding that you have to put in the requisite work right? There is nothing they can do in the regular season that’s going to, quote, prove that they’re going to that this January is going to be different because of what you just said. They beat the living snot out of the bills in Sunday night football in week four last year, and that didn’t matter in January. And to be clear, if they lose to the bills or if they lose to Kansas City early in the year. That doesn’t guarantee that they won’t do it in January, but it’s certainly not going to make you nine and one on Halloween and Lamar setting records again, and everybody’s healthy and all that saying is they have a chance to have home field advantage. And look, two years ago they had that. Six years ago they had that. And that didn’t matter. The 2000 ravens were road warriors after wild card weekend. Same with the 2012 I’m holding my L up for them for so did they all have to own that? And that’s the heaviest burden of not July. That’s the heaviest burden of every day, from July through January,
Speaker 1 24:21
8the biggest challenge for this football team, wholeheartedly, is between the ears right now. It just is. And I don’t say that to be mean, it’s their history. These guys, they I don’t, I think to a man, if you gave them truth serum, and not the rah rah stuff that you’re going to hear at the podium, you know when the microphones are on, but they’d all say, Yeah, we got to do it in January. Like, gosh, we’ve set records Pro Bowls, MVP, quarterback, all pro positions on both sides of the football, guys that on this roster that have a chance to be Hall of Fame players. You know when you’re talking about Lamar, maybe Kyle Hamilton one day, right? I mean, you’re talking. About elite of elite talent at multiple positions, but until you do it in January, there’s always going to be something that feels lacking about this. And I don’t say that with any disrespect buffalo is having the same conversations right now with Josh Allen and that cast right everyone in the AFC that’s not Kansas City, okay, the Bengals got to the Super Bowl once. Four years ago, they didn’t win it. So they’re still, you know, there’s still that for all of those teams, the only teams right now that are fat and happy. You know, no pun intended on the, you know, you mentioned the Patrick mahomes thing, which is just hilarious. I mean, I mean, it just speaks to sports talk radio in June and July is, is not fun.
Nestor Aparicio 25:43
Well, I don’t participate in sports talk radio
Luke Jones 25:45
anymore, but, but, but every you have Kansas City and you have Philadelphia now, Kansas City’s ticked off because they got embarrassed in the Super Bowl, and Philadelphia who’s fat and happy right now. And that doesn’t mean that they’re not going to be really good again this year, but they’re the team that that they can bask in the limelight right now. They can bask in knowing that they’re getting their, you know, they got their rings, and they’re going to be raising a banner on opening night and all that everyone else. They’re like the Ravens. You know, they’re they’re chasing it, right? And the Ravens have been in that bridesmaid territory, but never the bride, for several years now, if not now, then when? And that’s where you do look at it. Mark Andrews, other guys that are on expiring deals, guys that are on the wrong side of 30 now. Lamar is 28 you know Lamar? You know that he’s not in that category as far as like looking at the end of his career. But Ronnie Stanley, he may have just signed his last contract. We don’t know that that might be the last deal that he signs. We don’t know Mark Andrews probably isn’t going to be a raven next year, you know, because I assume they’re going to resign Isaiah likely instead. So for those guys and and those guys having already seen guys already leave over the last few years that were, you know, look at Patrick Maury. You know, he’s not a Ring of Honor guy, but he was a big part of what they did on offense the last five, six years. You know, you see those guys go away and you know more guys will go away next year. You just say, Wow, if not now, then when? And I’ve said that for a few years now, I’m a broken record, wholeheartedly admit it, but that’s what I felt about this team, I think they’ve been ready. They’ve been in position to do it for several years now, but you got to go do it. And that’s where the mental part, I think these guys are. They’ve got to handle that part of it. And they’ve handled it in the regular season just fine, right? I mean, it’s not as though they’ve had a year where they’ve had this major step back, 2021 kind of, sort of, but they were so injured that year, but they’ve just got to be ready to, one position themselves, to be there in January, and that includes home field, ideally, and two, when you get to that stage, just got to do it. Man, this isn’t rocket science. You need your stars to be stars. I’ve said this so many times now, and it’s still true, and it’s still the truth, and it hurts. But you know what? Buffalo stay in the same kind of things, right? So, you know, you got to topple Kansas City, you got to get out of the tournament and get to get to the Super Bowl, right? I mean, anything short of that is going to be, where’s the Super Bowl this year that, since I stopped going, I don’t know, it’s in a San Francisco. What? Santa Clara?
Nestor Aparicio 28:21
Santa Clara, yeah. Oh, I’m pissed the Chad steel for not letting me come this year. That to be fun. One out there, San Francisco. Yeah, maybe I’ll go anyway. That’d be fun.
8Luke Jones 28:30
What Levi’s Stadium in? Santa Clara, so, you know, anything sort of a Super Bowl, it’s disappointment at this point. And if that, if that’s unreasonable, then then you don’t have very high regard for what the Ravens have been the last few years, and not you just in general, the expectation should be a Super Bowl, Super Bowl at this point. If it’s not, then, hey, it’s a lot of fun. These guys have been a blast to watch in the regular season, but we know legacies are defined in January, and until this team really genuinely breaks through, there’s going to be the asterisk, you know, you’re holding up the L, you know it’s the asterisk, right? I mean, this, this era, this last five six years, and this will be my final thought, this last five six years has easily been the best the Ravens have been in it from a regular season standpoint, in terms of
Nestor Aparicio 29:19
talent, stats, balance, elite offense, still a really good to great defense for the most part. All of that, but it’s about Super Bowls. We know that, you know, goes back to the promise Lamar Jackson made his the night he was drafted, right? And he knows that he’d be the first to tell you that, to be very clear, it’s about that for these, for this group, for this era of guys, that is going to include a few Ring of Honor players, at the very least, if not more than a few, over the next decade, as they’re doing those ceremonies at the stadium, you know they’re all, there’s all, there’s all. Of them have a Yeah,
Luke Jones 29:58
but attached to their. A resume right now, and it’s about breaking through and winning a Super Bowl. You know, go back to the Brian billickland, then the time is here. It’s time to go to a Super Bowl. You know, you can’t do that in August, but that’s what this year is all about. And if we’re sitting here having the same exact conversation a year from now, Nestor, you know, it’s going to be a disappointing and we’re going to be saying the same thing, if not now, then when Santa
Nestor Aparicio 30:23
Clara, and then they Inglewood, they’re going to so far again. So two California’s in a row, and then Atlanta in 28 and they haven’t given 29 or 30, I would think they’ll go back to Vegas, you know, before it’s all over with Phoenix, they also like and obviously down in South Florida, yeah, I wouldn’t think they’ll do Tampa ever again, or Jacksonville, I guess they would go to Miami again. But London, London, maybe, who knows, they did New Orleans again. So and Dallas, right? Jerry’s gonna want one soon. So we got all that going on. Luke Jones is here. He will be there at training camp all next week. He’s monitoring all things Orioles and all star and Ryan O’Hearn and trading deadline, and through with Wildwood and Max pizza, my turn comes next month. 27 of my favorite things to eat for our 27th anniversary coming up, we got a couple of crab cake tour stops this week. I am Nestor. He is Luke. We are wnst. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore. Positive. You.
