How long could you expect Justin Tucker to make 60-yard field goals with ease and precision? It’s been more than a decade and the “GOAT” is suddenly not automatic anymore. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the aging and recent struggles of Justin Tucker and the emergence of the splashy Purple Rising uniforms after the 35-34 win over the Bengals as the Ravens prepare for Pittsburgh Week.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Justin Tucker, missed kicks, special teams, confidence issues, long range, extra points, defense concerns, Pittsburgh game, purple helmets, kiss face logo, uniform changes, field position, decision making, kicker reliability, Ravens history
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
8
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, AM, 1570 Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore, positive celebrating 26 years, along with our partners at curio wellness and foreign daughter as well as liberty, pure solutions. One 800 clean waters. The way we make it happen around here, they take care of all our plumbing needs, as well as in the north county, anywhere in the area you have well water, they make it taste delicious, make it safe for you. That is liberty. Pure solutions. We’re going to get some politics in here and some election stuff next week as we get ready for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the aftermath of a late night on Thursday, a narrow victory for the Baltimore Ravens over the Cincinnati Bengals. Luke Jones joins us now. He is powered up by our friends, Jiffy Lube, MultiCare back and forth, as well as our crab cake tour being powered up by our friends at the Maryland lottery. I have these scratch offs to give away. I have a whole litany of dates. We’re gonna have a lot to talk about here over the next four years on the American side, and certainly a lot talk about next couple months on the football side as the defense, the defense, the defense, Lamar, Lamar, Lamar. And then we pick up the pieces Luke, the kicking game and the special teams play, and we talk about things like pass rush and rushing offense and his the greatest offense in the history, and they’re going to go on fourth down. And we also have the greatest kicker, and we have the goat, and he kicked from anywhere, especially in Detroit. Um, I don’t know. Man, missing extra points and stuff, feels like his confidence is a little weird. And again, you’re in the locker room. I’m not. I really do know Justin Tucker. I just don’t know him anymore. I’m not allowed to know him anymore, but he was always, dare I say, cocky young man, and confidence is a big part of his deal. I think, from the singing and the playing cornhole and just his personality, there are things I miss about my press credentials. I’m not sure, Justin Tucker being one of them or not, but it feels to me when I see him on television, there’s something he’s not used to. Missing kicks, like and I and yeah, went through a little stretch a couple years ago, missed a couple kicks, but like you, like people start to be concerned about a 30 something kicker that’s missing extra points now and has lost the long range that he once had, whether he’ll get it back or not. I’m sure he’s working as hard to figure this out as anybody, but it feels like his confidence is a little shook. Yeah, I
Luke Jones 02:41
think that’s fair. I mean, even if Justin Tucker wouldn’t admit it, I think at this point, how could it not be? And look, I still struggle with this. I’m, I don’t know exactly what this is, right? I mean, he’s not 43, years old, where, you know, it’s Morton Anderson at the end, or Gary Anderson at the end where you’re looking at these, or Matt Stover, for example. Matt, we’re here, and that’s partners with Liberty, pure solutions as
Nestor Aparicio 03:07
well. I was gonna say Matt would have something every time I talk to Matt about being an old kicker versus a young kicker, it’s probably a good week to bring Matt on. I’m gonna chase him down.
Luke Jones 03:15
But, but certainly Matt did not have the same range later in his career. You know, we famously made the kick in Tennessee in the 2008 season, where it was kind of as much as he as long as he could kick one. And it’s not like that was a 58 yarder, right? So, you know, so Justin Tucker’s not in that category. We haven’t seen him come up woefully short on kicks. You know, the missed extra point on Thursday night was another wide lap kick. I mean, this feels like something in their operation, something with him, with his, you know, his swing mechanics, you know, swinging his leg. Something with Jordan stout as a holder. I don’t know exactly, again to sit here and try to act like I’m Jerry Rosberg or Chris Fortin, or, you know fossil, or any you know Kansas City’s special teams coordinator, you know Dave tobe, I’m not Dave Job’s kid or John Harper, right? Exactly, right, right, exactly. John Harper, right. So, but it’s something, and it’s, it’s unsettling because, again, in the same way we’ve, we’ve banged on the defense so much and ragged on the defense so much, and specifically the past defense, because you have this unbelievable offense and this unbelievable MVP quarterback playing better than he ever has. And this, you know, this offense that could set all these records you still need to get three points when you need three points, or in the case of what happened following the tylen Wallace play, which was just crazy, right? I mean, it brought back memories of his punt return against the Rams. You know it ties the game, or you think it’s going to tie the game, and then Tucker misses an extra point. Now let’s be very clear, the Ravens scored on their next drive. Mark Andrews catches the touchdown. Lamar runs for two, they wouldn’t have gone for two had Tucker made that. So it didn’t really have any impact on the game in that way, from a scoreboard standpoint, because they they would have just kicked the extra point there had Tucker made the previous Extra Point. But again, it’s something now, not just in Tucker’s head, but if you’re John Harbaugh, if you’re Todd Monken, I think it looms in the back of your mind a little bit when you see your kicker not being as reliable as he’s been. And look, I don’t think this is at a point where we’re I don’t think we’re even particularly close to bringing in other kickers to try out or anything like that.
8Nestor Aparicio 05:40
Bottom line is next week in Pittsburgh kicking into the open end because they lose the toss, they’re losing 24 to 22 with 18 seconds left, and Justin Tucker has to make a 49 yard field goal in Pittsburgh to win. How do you feel about it? I I guess I still feel really good about it from the, you know, bulk of the work, and who he is and where he’s been, and where everybody thinks he’s going to the Hall of Fame and like all of that, I guess. But he hadn’t had to kick many of them, you know. And if he does, it’s because of the damn defense, you know. So I would just say that hasn’t been the scenario, because they’ve won games and, you know, they blown out, they’ve blown out, blow wins where he’s missed kicks, and we don’t even talk about it, but there’s points. We’re missing extra points, and this isn’t the 17 yard little chip shot that it used to be in Matt stover’s era. Um, they intentionally made it a little bit more thoughtful than that, as well as a two point conversion, which is how the Bengals lost the game, you know, said to my wife, you know, back in the day, they did, you know, twos and eights were like for safeties and weird things. There was no two point thing in the NFL that was such a college thing. And you know, it’s it certainly changed the the pool cards, you know that my dad would bring home where you got a zero and a seven and felt like you could at least win the first quarter, but, but missing kicks and putting all of that together, I don’t think, and this probably I sound like John Harbaugh. Now, I don’t think it’s going to affect the way John coaches at all. He’s the kicker. They’re going to have him go out on the backfield, work at getting better at it. He’s going to put his little thing together and fight through the marching band and kick during I mean, you only gets judged what? Couple five, six extra points. He had 40 of them. He misses one, and we’re freaked, right? Like, literally, and then he gets judged when, oh, Lamar, we’re dead on the 41 yard line. Hey, dude, go kick a 58 yarder. We’ll give you a shot. But where that when that happens at the end of the half, it doesn’t affect field position, but when it starts to affect field position, and now John has to say, Am I on for a 49 yard field goal with three and a half minutes left to go in the second quarter before I mismanage a time out or challenge a play I shouldn’t am I going to punt? Am I gonna go on fourth in 4/4, and 6/4, and eight? My, my, uh, full lately. Held on that last player. We’d be down in the red zone now, like these real game time situations for John and saying automatic, oh, we stalled at the at the 38 Dude, that’s 55 that’s automatic for him. Send him in. We’ll take the three points, and on the road, we’ll take a three point lead here on the first drive of the game. It’s quiet. It’s sleepy. We’re in Cincinnati, old days. Just take the three points. It’s automatic. Now it’s if he misses it. Joe burrows got the ball at the 51 we do. We really want three points. It was at fourth and manageable. In Hell, we have Lamar Jackson, no so and say flowers and misdirections and Montgomery will draw it up. Makes it look like Derek Henry’s going that way. And here we everybody pulls and Mark Andrews will catch a 14 yard pass on fourth and four. I mean, burrow is trying to hit these fourth down things down the field, like I don’t know how they’re going to manage that, because a they afraid train teams to scoring touchdowns. They go on fourth down. They don’t kick a lot. That was never punt. I mean, the fact that they stalled three or four drives on Thursday night, little sleepy and tired and they actually had to punt. They don’t do a lot of that either. So the kicking part of this is not something you and I talk a lot about, because they’re not in that Tucker’s got to make a kick to win the game, even if it’s a 38 yard field goal. In Pittsburgh next week. It’s certainly worth talking about, because we don’t talk about it much, and we just sort of rubber stamp and say, Well, that’s one thing we don’t worry about around here since the beginning of time, really. If you go Billy Cundiff, not aside and again, Harbaugh didn’t call that time out. I’ll mention that today they put him in Canton because he’s one of the top 10 coaches of all time, according to Tony Romo, I would just say, from the kicking perspective, I think it’s going to alter John’s thoughts as weather and how Tucker looks on the backfield, what John would know about what’s going wrong here, that they can all come in the room. Randy comes in and says he’s just pulling his foot point one 2% of the arc of the beam of the measurement that we have, and what we can correct that, or, yeah, he doesn’t have the distance he had, and he’s not hitting him on the backfields the way he once did, and he looks like he’s hanging, hanging his head a little bit, and he’s not even drinking royal farms coffee. He’s drinking Starbucks, because I’ve seen that as well. And, you know, social media. So like, I just wonder when it comes to Tucker, how it affects John when the game really is on the line, because there haven’t been a whole lot of situations where they needed Justin Tucker to bail them out lately it’s been Lamar. Lamar. Lamar, yeah, that’s
Luke Jones 11:17
true. You totally missed an opportunity to mix in launch angle and exit velocity of his kicks, right by the way,
Nestor Aparicio 11:26
Rubenstein, the other night I met him over there, Beth defilow as a beautiful night. I mean, really, like, really a great evening for me to go and sort of witness how all this was going to work for him. But he admitted he doesn’t know much about baseball at all, and he openly sort and this isn’t like an economist guy sort of made fun of war and modern stats in the way that Jim Palmer would, in the way that a 74 year old guy would, as opposed to a 56 year old guy that’s trying to catch on to a 41 year old guy, you know, like through all of this. But I’m telling you, you’re picking on me for being an old guy. And I’m telling you, a guy that owns the team has no use for war or DVO way, by the way, I got to get Aaron shots on that. We have some extra time this week too
Luke Jones 12:18
8well, and I wasn’t trying to get us off track. I just thought it was funny because
Nestor Aparicio 12:22
Justin Tucker, I’m not going to let you avoid Randy Brown. No,
Luke Jones 12:26
I’m not. I’m not avoiding it again. And you alluded to this. It’s such a specific subset. Now, in terms of the situations where the ravens are leaning on Justin Tucker, to your point, you’re you’re in fourth. And one, you have Derek Henry and Lamar Jackson, even if they decide to give the ball to Charlie, Charlie Kohler on a tush push, as they did in Cleveland right the
Nestor Aparicio 12:50
days of him coming out after a flat go swing pass to kick another one yarder to steal three points. There’s just not much of that. Yeah, there isn’t right.
8Luke Jones 12:59
Yeah, not. And to your point, a lot of times it’s an end of half situation, an end of first half situation, where if you if you miss it, it’s disappointing, and it raises an eyebrow, but, but let’s face it, you know, that was a that was a big spot there. I mean, tylen Wallace had completely energized the stadium, and they were on the verge of tying the game, and then he misses an extra point. Now it wasn’t as dramatic, and I’ll remind you, Justin, Tucker’s missed some extra points in his career. The Saints game back in 2018 they lost the game on a missed extra point. You know that in that spot. So again, I I don’t know how much of it really changes anything, but it’s just something that weighs in the back of your mind, for Tucker, for Randy Brown, for John Harbaugh, for Todd monk and Colin plays. And I think, you know, early in the year, it was these whole, you know, 50 plus yard kicks, which not all of those are created equal, right? There have been times where you look at it and say, He’s given up. He’s trying to 59 yarder. That’s not a high percentage kick for anyone, but a 51 yarder, that’s a different story, right? That’s, that’s one you got to make more often than not, especially when you’re Justin Tucker and you’re, you’re making big bucks in the same way you’d say that about Bucha or or Brandon Aubrey in Dallas, or any of the top kickers in football. So you look at this and you say, okay, 50 plus. You know, that’s one thing. But what he missed, uh, I guess it was a 49 yarder. I guess it was earlier this year. Okay, that’s, that’s a little bit different. Now you’re talking about an extra point again. Go back and look Justin Tucker’s missed some extra points since, especially since they moved it to where it is now, which is, what a 33 yard field goal, as opposed to a 20 yard field goal, as it was with the the extra point at the two yard line. So again, it This isn’t they need to replace Justin Tucker, or they need to come work workout kickers. I don’t think they’re. Anywhere close to that, but it is. It’s got leaves. You shook a little bit because you’re you are talking about something that has just been, something that you’ve come to expect, and it’s a collective defense, right? You literally just took the word. You took the words I didn’t literally, because I hate when people do that, but You took the words out of my mouth there, because I was just gonna say, you come to expect a certain standard, and when that isn’t the standard anymore, that’s when you look at everything else and say, oh, man, again, they got Lamar in this offense playing at such a high level. But now the past defense has some major doubts. And I don’t want to say major doubts for Justin Tucker, I don’t think we’re at that point, but it’s enough that we’re talking about it after a game where, let’s face it, he didn’t even try a field goal, right? I mean, I mean, we’re talking about one missed extra point here. So, yeah, it is something that’s in the back of your mind. And the fact that he missed another one left and remember, he banged one off the upright against Denver. Had another one that looks shaky. So you know, even some of his makes have looked iffy. And you know, it’s just not the iron clad 100% Justin Tucker being Justin Tucker that you’ve come to expect. Now, I’m glad you mentioned this, because keep in mind, Justin Tucker’s track record in the in the place formerly known as Heinz Field, is superb, a place where even Steelers kickers would tell you over the years how difficult it is to kick there, especially in the open end zone, with the way that the wind swirl and he’s he’s made some massive kicks there Over the years in the Flacco era or the Lamar era. So that will be, it will be interesting if this game, presumably, and I expect it to be close, because it’s AFC North football, and say what you want, as great as the Ravens have been in the Lamar era, they and Pittsburgh’s been mediocre to no more than decent, you know, a fringe playoff team in the Lamar era. They’ve had their issues with the Steelers. Weird things happen in these games. We’ve seen this over and over. So if they’re in a spot where he has to make a big kick Boy, that’s going to be a litmus test to say, okay, is this still more aberration than disturbing trend or new reality? So it’s again, I don’t want to dwell on it too much, because it ended up being inconsequential because they got the two point conversion on the ensuing touchdown. So no harm, no foul on the scoreboard anyway, but it’s hard to forget it. And again, it’s one thing to talk about 50 plus yard misses. Those are, you know, guys are more erratic from that distance, and even early on, remember that the big the first couple weeks of the season, there was this big number of 50 plus yard kicks that that we’ve seen regression to the mean across the league there. So I don’t think, you know, I think that that was overblown, generally speaking, you know, across the league. But when you start talking about misses inside 50, and in this case, a miss inside 40, and again, it’s at and it’s an extra point, not a field goal,
Nestor Aparicio 18:18
but what the game was on the line. Yeah, right, exactly, exactly
Luke Jones 18:21
and right. But you’re looking at someone who going back to 2018 and I, you know, I can even make this, you know, bring the splits in his career, he has only missed three field goals from inside 40 yards. This was not a field goal, understood, but to your point, it was a higher leverage kick than your typical Extra Point, knowing the spot there, knowing they they were trying to come all the way back from 14 down, and they had just had this unbelievable play by tylen Wallace, and everyone’s thinking you just tied the game, until he misses and you realize you didn’t tie the game. So
Nestor Aparicio 18:59
8it’s been matched over Mr. Kick in Miami, yeah. I mean, it’s in the back of everyone’s hands, crazy, like in this franchise that we talk about this kick being made, that kick being missed, sure, but we don’t have a lot of missed kicks. I mean, aside Billy cundieff mentioned the saints game a couple years Steve house in Minnesota, yes. I mean, yeah. And, you know, Graham Gano was a guy that was around like they had, they’ve had a pedigree here, right? You know, doing this and doing it so well that we memorably remember the memorable ones. And, um, this franchise has been so good games been on the line, but dude missing an extra point that ties the game in the fourth quarter. Ouch. I can’t remember a whole lot of that that happened around here. And again, it used to be like a real chip shot. It used to be a layup, um, it used to be really automatic, 99% kind of automatic. It’s not anymore. But that never affect. Justin Tucker, he you know what? I mean, it still felt like a chip shot here, and it wasn’t,
Luke Jones 20:03
yeah, and again, this happened in 2018 they lost to the saints that game in Baltimore. He missed an extra point. And that, you know, that was shocking, absolutely shocking. So for me, when you see Tucker miss or you see someone that is, you know, whether you’re talking about a unit or a player do something that surprises you. You want to see how they respond, right? And that’s where this Tucker thing is getting a little you know, it’s, it’s a thing. I don’t think it’s a massive thing just yet, but,
Nestor Aparicio 20:34
but I think the massive part comes into decision making, right? That, or just between, if he misses the kick, they get the ball at the 50 yard line. What that does, situationally, in a close game, in a close game, and look, piss on Pittsburgh in first place. We can talk about the fine hardballs Brother at in city. Both of those teams play defense. They played defense, and they were going to challenge you in the middle of the field, and then it’s going to be more field goals. It there’s going to be decision two or three decisions in the next couple of weeks to say, Do we go stay kick which way the field is? What’s the score? What’s the game situation? And for the first time ever, it’s not just, Well, it’s inside kids 60 just send them out there, you know, like that went on for a decade here, dude, that a never gone on in the history of the game. Go away. Can Bill Walsh and Lombardi and anyone else, even, even the Coryell in the eras where they lit it up a little bit more and played AFL football, um, they’re bad that a whole lot of coaches have had, as easy as John Harbaugh, and he’d say it, being a special teams rooted coach, to say, I got a kicker that inside a 60. I’ll send him out there in any scenario, because, you know what, he’s not going to miss the kick. And if I don’t have to worry about turning the ball over, and I don’t have to worry about seven or three in the Flacco era, dude, they just went and stole points. They stole points at the end of every week, I’d be looking down the card and seeing 5153 55 he makes them all and but you know what that is? That’s a crappy ass drive where somebody picked the ball off and gave Flacco the ball at the 45 and they ran on first down, went incomplete on second down, and on third and eight, they had to look up and say, Oh, we’re still at the 41 let’s kick a 58 yard or steal three points here. Try to hang in. Win. Let’s try to win. 21 to 19. I don’t that That era is gone, but I think so is the decision making on Tucker at 35 two weeks from now, he’s 34 he’d be 35 on the 21st so next weekend, when they get together Pittsburgh, will be the last kicking of his 34th year. I don’t know what that means, but I mean, at some point it shouldn’t mean that he’s missing extra points, yeah, and that’s why I’m saying it’s in the head when you’re missing extra points, right? And
Luke Jones 23:00
again, you know, it’s his first missed extra point of the season. So I don’t want to make too much of it, but it’s on top of, you know, some of the early misses he had, on top of a couple not so great looking kicks last week. And you know, he had a miss the week before that. So, I mean, it’s, you know, this scene
8Nestor Aparicio 23:19
that measures everything, every kick he’s he’s out there kicking on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Randy, they have two special teams coaches. I mean, like, like, they, they, they’re measuring you. You give me the crap about launch angle and all of the baseball stuff. I
Luke Jones 23:33
was saying that as a funny thing. I thought you should have used that just because it would have been funny to hear you say launch angle and exit velocity for a kicker, right?
Nestor Aparicio 23:43
Listen, sure, if I watch the golf network, I would have other metrics or whatever that all of that is, because that’s Matt Stover always explained it to me like, like a golf game, I mean, literally lagging and follow through and every nuance that people like Justin Tucker have forgotten more. They’ve forgotten so much about it that I am the idiot in the corner trying to ask them questions about stuff that I’m trying to break it down so fans understand that, because I don’t understand every nuance of it. They do, though, and when it breaks down in a key situation, when they have three extra days to break such things down and they’re going to Pittsburgh and he’s turning 35 this is something that you and I aren’t the only ones talking about it. It better be getting talked about, knowing mills to some degree, because I think it’s going to alter their decision making.
Luke Jones 24:38
8Yeah, and I think it’s been a I think it’s been a topic of discussion even before that.
24:42
But look,
Luke Jones 24:43
I’m still not panicked over it. I’m not suggesting you are. Let’s get to the important things, though. What did you think of the uniforms? What did you think of the helmet? I was done talking about Justin Tucker, sorry, it’s
Nestor Aparicio 24:55
fine. It’s fine. It’s fine.
824:56
You segue
Nestor Aparicio 24:58
anytime you want. Yeah. Joe. Owns, right? So
Luke Jones 25:00
normally you’re the one who segue. So I had a chance to do it,
Nestor Aparicio 25:04
8dude, anytime you want to host the show, come on in. I’m a better guest. Let’s go. First things first. And I said this in the free game on Thursday, you and I got together very early in the morning and did one long segment. I was always of the belief that that logo should have been the primary logo on their helmet. And I told my wife this, and I’m going to brag a little bit and be a little bit of a jerk, because it’s revisionist history. But the week that the logo, it became clear that the guy who drew the thing and had to be in the crest that David was. And, you know, David and I were famously very close. And I remember David and we had so many more conversations off the air than we ever had on the air, like we had a lot on the air in the beginning. And then he, once Steve came in, he became much more of a private figure in my life. So I had hundreds of hours and dinners. We were very close. But David, at that point, his private answer to me over the dispute and all of that was, we’re not going to play with a disputed marking. That’s what he would he said to me that wasn’t, like, any legal issue, was the way he talked about it. And we’re gonna get a new logo. And I’m like, All right. I mean, I thought the crest thing was fine, but, like, come up with something, you know? I mean, all right, you get to do it all over again. Sell some more. Ish, right? So, and this is right before we’re going to the Super Bowl. They’re still considered the lousy ravens to because, dude, not everybody’s old like you and me, these kids, they don’t know these barstool idiots. They don’t know people that eat seafood at the wrong side of Dundalk. They don’t know. They don’t know. They don’t know. They don’t they don’t know. They don’t mean who to vote for. But nonetheless, the real history of this is the the logo that we know the ravens, and I’m trying to my this. This is the kiss face low. I’m holding the lottery ticket up. I don’t even have like the regular logo, because I burned all my stuff after Chad Steele threw me out of my seats that I paid. I don’t have like a regular Raven logo. I used to have it on my wallet. The this, I call it the sickle. I don’t know what else to call it the half moon. Bee side bird. That was always weird because of the way the bee worked on both sides of the helmet being left and right. For me, there was a backward logo that always looked a little weird. Steelers don’t have to worry about that because they only wear it on one side of their head. Um, I told David at that time they were going to do it in the sun. And I’m like, Dude, that kiss face logo, that’s pimp. Put that on your side of your thing. Red Eyes, gold beak. Let’s go. I went on a vacation that was before I was married. I went on vacations 1999 I guess eight, nine, I you do the math. You look it up. I know the era, um, and I came back from a week of being away, and it was the week that the sun did the the mail in, vote in, call in thing. And I never set my peace. I never, like went on the radio for a week and said, I just thought that his face was going to win dude. Kind of, like I thought there was no chance that this criminal could become president again. Like, I just thought, Nah. I mean, Nah, you know, like I looked at the side sickle thing with the B and I looked at this angry ass bird that we’ve been looking at that you saw on the helmet. I always, always, always, always preferred the logo that was on the helmet Thursday night. I always thought that should have been that so, and I always thought the helmet should be purple. Always, always, I mean, and especially when they went to the second helmet, when they went to this different logo, the second logo in 99 I said to David, I’m like, you’re out there wearing the white. The whole idea was to wear the purple, because, can I say something nice about David? Because we’re stretching here, but I want to do this because it is, it’s very you mentioned the Marilyn and Kevin Plank and under armor and all of that. David was the original, original fashionista. You know what I mean? David brought Rebecca Romaine in to do a photo shoot, Google it with Vinny Testaverde. I remember a very, very young Ray Lewis, David did a showcase with the jerseys over to Galleria that the Orioles did when they put Baltimore Finally, after our radio station killed them and I lost my media credential, put Baltimore back on the road jerseys, which these kids just they don’t realize how much blood I have on the bricks about all this and how I sort of snicker about all of knowing all of this stuff, especially. Knowing the humans, and I’m never going to know David Rubenstein or he didn’t care either. Yeah, people don’t care about me. I don’t care about them. But the original idea with the Ravens jerseys was purple and birds and angry and like all of this stuff. And then when David got sued, it really kind of chipped him up a little bit, because I, I think he really whatever went on. He thought it was like Bucha to the day he died. He’s like, I didn’t steal anything. Was ridiculous. But if we’re gonna change it, let’s change it. But the B had to be part of it. The B had in David’s mind the so even if the sun pole said the kiss face was number one. I mean, I didn’t spike the ball on the kiss face, and I was the only one doing relevant sports radio at that time. There was no internet. There was a sun pole. And I went away on vacation and came back and I was like, I remember even saying to David, I’m like, What’s wrong with you, dude, that kiss face is like, should be on the helmet. And when you wear these white jerseys, white on white, the Dwayne Starks Super Bowl white, there’s no purple. Well, we’ll make the piping a little more, dude. There’s no purple. We look like a we look like the Mean machine. And they won the Super Bowl in those those. So God bless them. And every time I see it, I see that little bit of purple and rain Lewis on that 52 but they weren’t purple enough for me. So I thought all along it should have been kiss face, purple helmet. I didn’t care if it was Matt purple. I don’t even care if we stole the Vikings purple. We had a different color palette than them, anyway, but I liked Purple Helmets. I like kiss bird. So I am a massive proponent of the look, in a general sense, on a traditional purple shirt, white pants, normal, not this color rush gold, like, I don’t like the kit. So you’re asking about Thursday night. I don’t like the kit. I love the helmet. I did think this, and I never tweeted this, and after my long, loving soliloquy of David Modell and how much he loved logos and how much he wanted it to be Baltimore’s team and that he’d be rolling over in his grave to know how poorly I’ve been mistreated. F being being the only one that could tell these stories 30 years later, but I couldn’t believe that David selected the B. I couldn’t believe that the kiss face didn’t win the pole. And my biggest observation on Thursday’s helmet, and all that is the logo felt really small on the helmet. That’s all I that’s all I kept seeing is it felt like the Kevin burn press box. It felt like a mini version of this sort of like little tiny heart logo looking thing in the middle of the helmets, which now feel more small and sleek, and everybody has a different helmet, right? But it felt like the logo should be 15 or 20% bigger in the middle of the helmet, and that somehow something needs to make it stand off of the purple a little bit more to be a little angry, or maybe some more white splotches in order, some silver or something like that. But I would just say, I love the kiss helmet. I always love the kiss helmet. Yeah, they almost got their ass beat. The defense didn’t play. People didn’t like that. But there’s my six minutes on 30 years of Raven history with logos and helmets. I think if they put that helmet on a purple and white and did it appropriately, it’d look hot, yeah,
Luke Jones 33:29
um, I like the logo. As I said to you in our pre game. It’s front facing, though it’s it’s tough. I much prefer a profile logo like, you know. I think of you know, to your point, and I understand the ravens, the regular logo. It looks a little wonky on the side where you have to change the direction of the the way the bird’s facing with the B, but it that logo didn’t look great to me on a helmet. I like the logo itself. I’ve always liked that secondary logo, but I am so. So that part aside, wholeheartedly agree the logo needs a little more white, because I can tell you, and obviously you joke, because I’m up in the corner of the end zone, now in the press box, but from afar, it looked like just a purple helmet.
Nestor Aparicio 34:14
It’s a black sea cow on a Yeah, yeah.
Luke Jones 34:17
So it needed to be bigger. And I think it does need a little more white to it. Couple thoughts. I honestly like that purple, the matted purple look certain times the light would hit it and it didn’t look like it matched the jerseys perfectly. But that might just be me, because I had some people in the press box disagree with me on that. So whatever, you know, maybe I’m partially color blind or something, I don’t know. But a couple thoughts or suggestions as we’re workshopping this, and this is funny that we’re spending as long as we are. But why not? I’m the fashion tweets guy anyway,
8Nestor Aparicio 34:48
but they can listen to his bitch about the defense or praise the mind. I
Luke Jones 34:54
mean, but a couple things I’d like to see what the regular logo would look like on that helmet. I. Think that could look really sleek, just as a change of pace, even just with, you know, and the Steelers have, you know, they’ve done a gold helmet, you know, as an alternate look going back. Well, there are no years ago anymore.
Nestor Aparicio 35:11
I mean, yeah, really are no. I mean, I mean, the Packers have a white helmet now, you know, so where they all these teams better, whatever the hell they want, Madre city Connect. I mean, just, you know, the NBA out. I mean, Ovechkin was wearing the lowest of everybody hated and they thought it looked regal.
Luke Jones 35:28
8I’m like Screaming Eagles trash for a cap, you know, for for every home run, and most of the times it’s the really sleek throwbacks that are really the best, like, for example. Example, the Eagles have started wearing their kelly green, again, as a throwback. That’s a great uniform. I mean, it just is, whether you like Philly or not. I mean, it just is. But the other suggestion, and I can’t take credit for this, because I saw a couple people mention this on my social media. I’d like to see that what the shield would look like on that helmet, you know, the BNR shield. You know the midfield shield as an alternate. You mean?
Nestor Aparicio 36:02
You mean this one right here? Yeah, I got you the crest, right? Yeah. I
Luke Jones 36:07
mean, you know, there’s their their midfield logo. I you know, when they have like Maryland, it
Nestor Aparicio 36:12
would be perfect.
8Luke Jones 36:13
But Sean just say, like Maryland too, as an alternate, as an alternate, I wouldn’t want to see that as their primary logo. You know, their primary helmet logo, but I’d like to see what that but it was fine. To your point, if they had lost, you know, I’m not sure the defense is feeling it right. And the color rush, I don’t like the gold numbers, because, as I often say about all these different alternate uniforms, oftentimes, and college teams are so guilty of this, it’s awful. And I’m not talking Maryland specifically, but just in general, when you see it, so many of these uniforms look good in the photo ops, right? All the the press release, email photos that they send out, you know, the the stock photos they send out, until you see them on the field, and you see how it shows up on TV, and especially when you’re in the crowd and you can’t read the numbers well enough, the Ravens gold isn’t that bad that you can’t read it, but it’s it’s tough to read, at least I found that even from the old press box. So it’d be
Nestor Aparicio 37:13
like the Andy Warhol tomato can, and he’s from Pittsburgh, so I’m giving a little Pittsburgh preview this week that if it were 11 tomato cans, it would look crappy, like the photo op of one jersey, something 12 grapes running around out there and or 11, in this case, 12 of one play, but, but for some Time out, right? Yeah, but 12 stacks of grapes out there. It looks a little weird. And by the way, I’ll leave you with this because I gotta go to the bathroom after such a long segment here and and get a helmet out of me. I, you know, too much royal farms coffee here. If you take that helmet and you fix it, the purple helmet, and get it right with the kiss face on it. To me, the only thing that would make the kit better would be to try the mustard pants again. That’s all. Bring those back, right? And the purple album. Come on now. Come on. No, I still love them. This
Luke Jones 38:14
is me, shaking my head, No,
Nestor Aparicio 38:16
8you’re the mustard pants.
Luke Jones 38:18
You’re the only one
38:19
play well,
Luke Jones 38:22
they’re no, they’re terrible. They’re terrible. Those pants look like the color of being
Nestor Aparicio 38:27
what I need to do, I need to bring Todd rattan back on here. He almost wound up at game five of the World Series together in New York, but that we didn’t, but he’s the logo guy. He lives in Philly. Now. He’s my cheese steak buddy. I’ll bring him on, and we’ll speak this out, because it’s on the tip of my tongue with Ovechkin wear throwbacks this week, and it’s on the tip of my tongue every week. To your point, the Eagles look great last week. The Eagles look like, Hey, where’s Randall Cunningham man? Bring back Keith buyers. What’s going on here? Let’s go. Let’s go where? That’s where baldy wore that uniform so you know, it was good. I am Nestor. He is Luke. It is a long weekend. It’s going to be a long four years. Going to be a long two months here. It’s certainly a long 10 days getting ready for Pittsburgh next week and watching Russ bake in danger, Russ in Pittsburgh. And take the rest while you have it. Ravens fans. Enjoy the games on Sunday. Enjoy the game on Monday night, enjoy the hot stove. Baseball talk and when Mr. Rubenstein is going to get in on Juan Soto, we’ll have it all together. Here. I am Nestor. He is Luke. There you go. Special teams. Fashion tweets after a 3534 victory, we’re Baltimore positive. Talk about the important stuff here.
