Thirty years later, Marvin Lewis is still teaching us football

Both of these guys look a little older and more seasoned these days but whenever Marvin Lewis spends time with us, we learn. Nestor and the Pittsburgh native discuss life in Baltimore and Da ‘Burgh and talk football magic and tragic as the Steelers and Ravens scuffle to the top of the AFC North and the Super Bowl XXXV champions will be honored downtown this weekend.

Nestor Aparicio and Marvin Lewis discussed the upcoming Pittsburgh week, highlighting the rivalry between the Steelers and Ravens. Lewis shared his domestic life, including grocery shopping and cooking for his wife. He compared Pittsburgh and Baltimore, praising Baltimore’s crab culture. They delved into college football changes, criticizing the lack of contractual stability and the financial pressures on coaches. Lewis emphasized the importance of loyalty and stability in coaching, noting the challenges faced by coaches like Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh. They also touched on the NFL’s unpredictability and the impact of injuries on players like Lamar Jackson.

• [ ] Get together for crab cakes in Baltimore this weekend.

Pittsburgh Week and Personal Updates

• Nestor Aparicio welcomes listeners to WNST 1570 AM and mentions the Maryland lottery and GBMC, where he had a colonoscopy that found pre-cancerous polyps.
• Nestor jokes about Marvin Lewis calling him an old guy and mentions Pittsburgh week, asking Marvin about his current activities.
• Marvin Lewis clarifies that he doesn’t play golf as much as people think and shares his domestic life, including doing groceries, laundry, and cooking for his wife.
• Nestor and Marvin discuss Marvin’s life in Pittsburgh and Baltimore, comparing the two cities and their blue-collar work ethic.

Comparing Pittsburgh and Baltimore

• Nestor asks Marvin to compare Pittsburgh and Baltimore, highlighting Marvin’s experience with both cities.
• Marvin praises both cities for their hardworking people and physical football but gives Baltimore an edge due to its crab culture.
• Nestor and Marvin share stories about their experiences with crab cakes and lacrosse, with Marvin mentioning his friend Dave Petromalo from Johns Hopkins.
• Marvin recounts his initial confusion about lacrosse when he moved to Baltimore and his subsequent appreciation for the sport.

Marvin’s Involvement in College Football

• Nestor shifts the conversation to Marvin’s involvement in college football, mentioning his potential coaching opportunities at Notre Dame and other big-time programs.
• Marvin discusses the changes in college football, including the financial aspects and the impact of coaches jumping ship.
• Nestor and Marvin talk about the unintended consequences of these changes, such as the lack of loyalty among fans and players.
• Marvin emphasizes the importance of coaches staying true to their contracts and the challenges of maintaining stability in college athletics.

The Impact of Financial Influence on College Sports

• Nestor and Marvin delve into the financial influence on college sports, including the impact of boosters and the changing landscape of college athletics.
• Marvin criticizes the lack of a unified contractual system in college football, which allows coaches to leave their teams easily.
• Nestor and Marvin discuss the effects of these changes on players, including the transfer portal and the challenges of finding new opportunities.
• Marvin highlights the importance of compliance and the changes in how coaches can interact with players and their families.

The State of NFL Coaching and Player Dynamics

• Nestor and Marvin discuss the current state of NFL coaching, including the longevity of coaches like Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh.
• Marvin reflects on his own coaching experience and the importance of stability in coaching positions.
• Nestor and Marvin talk about the challenges of coaching in the NFL, including the pressure to win and the impact of player injuries.
• Marvin shares his thoughts on the current state of quarterbacks in the NFL, including Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson.

The Importance of Team Dynamics and Player Development

• Nestor and Marvin discuss the importance of team dynamics and player development in the NFL.
• Marvin emphasizes the need for players to understand their roles and the importance of collective effort in achieving success.
• Nestor and Marvin talk about the impact of player injuries and the challenges of maintaining consistency in performance.
• Marvin shares his experiences with young quarterbacks and the importance of developing their skills and confidence.

The Upcoming Baltimore-Pittsburgh Matchup

• Nestor and Marvin discuss the upcoming Baltimore-Pittsburgh matchup, highlighting the importance of the game for both teams.
• Marvin shares his thoughts on the current state of the Steelers and Ravens, including the challenges they face and the potential outcomes of the game.
• Nestor and Marvin talk about the impact of player injuries and the importance of coaching in determining the outcome of the game.
• Marvin emphasizes the need for both teams to rise to the occasion and play their best football.

The Role of Coaches in Maintaining Team Stability

• Nestor and Marvin discuss the role of coaches in maintaining team stability and success.
• Marvin reflects on his own coaching experience and the importance of building strong relationships with players and staff.
• Nestor and Marvin talk about the challenges of coaching in the NFL and the need for coaches to adapt to changing circumstances.
• Marvin emphasizes the importance of staying true to one’s principles and maintaining a positive attitude in the face of adversity.

The Future of College and Professional Sports

• Nestor and Marvin discuss the future of college and professional sports, including the potential for further changes and challenges.
• Marvin shares his thoughts on the importance of maintaining the integrity of sports and the need for clear guidelines and regulations.
• Nestor and Marvin talk about the impact of technology and social media on sports and the importance of staying connected with fans.
• Marvin emphasizes the need for continued innovation and adaptation in order to keep sports relevant and engaging for fans.

Final Thoughts and Future Plans

• Nestor and Marvin wrap up their conversation, sharing their final thoughts on the topics discussed.
• Marvin expresses his appreciation for the opportunity to talk about football and share his insights with listeners.
• Nestor and Marvin discuss their plans for future meetings and events, including the Maryland crab cake tour.
• Nestor thanks Marvin for joining the show and expresses his continued admiration and respect for him as a coach and a person.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Pittsburgh week, Baltimore, Steelers, Ravens, football, Marvin Lewis, coaching, college athletics, Lane Kiffin, NFL, quarterbacks, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, fan loyalty.

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SPEAKERS

Marvin Lewis, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore. Positive it is Pittsburgh. Week around here, no crab cake tours this week. I can’t afford that. Next week, we’re gonna have three. We can do five before Christmas. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. I’ll have Raven scratch offs to give away. Also our friends at GBMC, this guy will be very happy to know that I’ve had my old man colonoscopy at GBMC two weeks ago, and they found found pre cancerous polyps. So I would like to say the folks at GBMC may have saved my life two weeks ago, and I know that that makes Marvin Lewis happy, because he, um, you’ve been calling me an old guy for a long time, ever since I was a young guy. Marv, but you know, Pittsburgh week, and I know you’re bored, you’re just golfing, you know, at this point. So I figured I would call you up and say, let’s talk some football. How you been?

Marvin Lewis  00:52

Marv, I’m good. But Lester, see, I get this. I don’t know why everybody thinks I play golf. I play nine holes of golf in the last two months. So you know what I mean. But last time I

Nestor Aparicio  01:05

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said I’m coming to your part of the world, you’re like, I’m at a golf tournament in Salt Lake City or park so so like, celebrity

Marvin Lewis  01:12

goals in Nebraska? No, I was at a golf outing in Nebraska. Yeah, we went to a private club in Nebraska. And then I would think I was in, oh, no, I was in, maybe Hilton Head. I was at a golf tournament, golfing.

Nestor Aparicio  01:26

What are you doing then, other than calling radio, I heard you on the radio two weeks ago calling a game so you run, you’re on in Baltimore. I heard your voice, but you know, what are you doing? What’s what’s domesticated? Your ass off for 50 years.

Marvin Lewis  01:38

Coach, I’m domesticated. I do the groceries, I do laundry, I do service people, I do the car wash. I get my wife’s lunch every day. I fix her dinner when she comes home. I’m domesticated. It’s what I do.

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Nestor Aparicio  01:52

Isn’t that nice? It is nice.

Marvin Lewis  01:55

I found a whole week here. I found a whole part of the world I didn’t know existed. My wife says, I’m out of my bubble.

Nestor Aparicio  02:01

When can you tell me, like, get off a football for a minute. Just you lived in Pittsburgh. You grew up in Pittsburgh. You coached in Pittsburgh. You’re coaching a Super Bowl in Pittsburgh. You came to Baltimore. You’re the only guy got paid by every team in the FC north. I guess you hung around long enough at Cincinnati. But what comparing these cities and Pittsburgh and Baltimore? You’re a guy that lived in both passionately wore both of the shields, you know, other than rod Woodson or handful of other guys like you, there aren’t a whole lot of guys that could have an honest to god comparison about it. What makes Pittsburgh and Baltimore special in your mind?

Marvin Lewis  02:35

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Well, I think both kind of had the blue collar workers, you know, I mean Pittsburgh, obviously, and Baltimore both a lot of hard work and people. And, you know, they they love their physical football and but I gotta give Baltimore the edge because of what you mentioned earlier, the crabs.

Nestor Aparicio  03:04

I already told Marcella, you’re going to be ordering for the holidays at Cocos. You’re Coco Oh,

Marvin Lewis  03:09

I just sent, I just sent one of my friends in McDonald where I grew up, at crabs two weeks ago, crab cakes from Cocos. So yeah, I got

Nestor Aparicio  03:20

a jump for not wearing my I’m wearing my Coppin shirt today, my Coco shirts.

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Marvin Lewis  03:24

You should have wear the cocoa shirt. I’m like one of their frequent flyers at Cocos, and it’s because of Dave petromalo from when he was at Johns Hopkins, who turned me on to them, who graciously sent me crab cakes from Cocos.

Nestor Aparicio  03:38

Did you ever hold the lacrosse stick in your life? Oh, yeah, not.

Marvin Lewis  03:42

I mean, when we moved to Baltimore, the funniest thing is, we went to a neighbor’s barbecue in Baltimore, and I had no freaking idea, what is that ball in and when you pick it up, I couldn’t believe how hard it was. And literally, Mark, yeah, yeah, our neighbor was one of the people featured in the book 10 bears. He was the white guy on the lacrosse team at Morgan State.

Nestor Aparicio  04:11

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Oh, okay, and but lacrosse didn’t come to you at all in Pittsburgh.

Marvin Lewis  04:16

No, no, not until we came to Baltimore, not till we came to you know, finksburg, Owings Mills, Westminster, Reisterstown. Then we learned about lacrosse, and I was so fortunate enough to get an opportunity to go to Johns Hopkins and meet Coach petromala, and then become great, really good friends with Dave, and fly back and go to games, go to games, if they came here to do Ohio State, when, when Ohio State took up lacrosse and it was just for and what a great sport. My my grand, my nine year old grandson’s in Charlotte now he’s playing lacrosse, and it’s what a great sport.

Nestor Aparicio  04:57

Marvin Lewis is our guest. It’s Pittsburgh week. I want. I just love you. I miss you. I feel like you’re bored enough to come and do my show. And if at this point, why wouldn’t I be 30 minutes late on a zoom, you know, making an appointment with you and having you still love me through all

Marvin Lewis  05:10

I know, I had to drink a little bit more out of my Yeti, you know, because I figured it was six o’clock in Baltimore, so I was good to go, even though it was four clock here.

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Nestor Aparicio  05:20

I got aI now, right? And in the old days, back when you used to do my show, and we were pals, and you coached here, and you would sometimes come over to the radio station to do the show, sometimes you call in, and that goes for Rex, Ryan, Mike Pett, all that, Mike Nolan, all the guys of your era, in the Billick era, were all sort of in on it, and a part of it in the community, and it’s probably why we loved it so much through all of this, if I had an AI assistant telling me, these are the things you need to ask Marvin Lewis about right now, if I was doing my national show now, I would be looking for hot takes, right tell me how you feel about the Lane Kiffin thing in college sports and college coaching. It’s something that I know you got involved in later in your career, after you left Cincinnati. But there were times when Cincinnati you you might have coached Notre Dame. At one point, you might have coached big time college football at one point this, as I recognize it, or don’t recognize it over the last five years, and you had your toes in it with her as it was changing, like literally explain it to me better than maybe I’ve had it explained to me just how much it’s changed and what it’s doing to the framework of the sport. When a team that’s on the hook to win a national championship loses its coach to its rival on Thanksgiving week, it’s just all the optics stink. Marv and I love football, and you love football,

Marvin Lewis  06:43

yeah, I don’t. There’s no way to sugarcoat it. And and obviously, Lane made a decision financially for his family, or, you know, the future of his family, the family down the line,

Nestor Aparicio  06:59

and where you want to be and where you feel like you feel like you can win, and where it’s a good

Marvin Lewis  07:03

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well, that’s and that’s why he made the decision he made. He feels like he has a better shot and winning a national championship or being a perennial playoff team at LSU compete with the Alabama’s, the Georgia’s of that SEC now Tennessee at a LSU, as opposed to an Ole Miss. And again, that comes from the financial backing. Look what the guy at Texas Tech did this year. He said, I’m tired of being second fiddle, we’re going to go buy us a football team. And he invested a lot of money. They went out and spent a lot of money in n i L, and they got a lot of new players, and unfortunately, that’s the state of where college athletics is, and it’s not very good. It’s not good for the kids, because life’s not that way, and that’s just not the way it works. And it’s unfortunate for these ole, Miss players to have to go into the playoffs. I don’t know the man that they promoted, the defensive coordinator, the head coach, but hopefully that staff will rally, the kids will rally, and they’ll go win that, win some games, and have an opportunity to get in the playoffs and go forward. So but, but yeah, I mean, I mean, I think it was crazy for people to sit there and think that the ad was going to allow lane to coach the Ole Miss football team and then go be recruiting for LSU, because also the timing of the signing dates and when the portal opens up in a month, it’s all out of whack.

Nestor Aparicio  08:37

Did you sit with Herm and Ray and all the guys at Arizona State back in the beginning of this and see whatever the unintended consequences would be, that old guys like you wouldn’t just be ball coaches anymore, that there was a whole different level. And it’s not like all the years you were in the NFL, 30 years in the NFL. It’s not like you’re out of college sports. I mean, my God, I see you at the combine like you’re as into college football, being the head coach at the Cincinnati Bengals or the defensive coordinator of the ravens, as you would be being involved, because they are the pipeline. They’re they’re when they show up in April. They’re college kids every year when you get them, so you’re not far removed from it. But then you made the move into college sports and to see that all of these smart people wouldn’t see the unintended consequences, and where, when there were no guard rails, how this could be really more poisonous than money in a bag. Used to be back in the day with

Marvin Lewis  09:38

boosters, yeah, I You’re, you’re 100% right. I don’t think anybody looked at, you know, how it was going to affect down the line, how it was going to affect the building of a team. And you know, there’s always been an issue, and this is where the players were, and why they push forward. Is the coaches were jumping ship. And. Again, that comes down to the presidents and universities. If you sign a contract, you’re a coach, and so they should hold them to the contract. They shouldn’t allow the buyouts and all those things. And again, it’s different. That’s why you know the fact that college football has never came to a unified contractual whatever you want to say it thing to keep coaches in their spot, like the NFL has

Nestor Aparicio  10:28

Ohio State’s fight with Michigan, and all the big 10 teams are fighting with each other, and then they’re fighting with the back 10, and then the fight with the SEC. So it never was in any way,

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Marvin Lewis  10:37

no, but there was an opportunity, there was an opportunity for them to fix that, to say, look, if, if the presidents to say, look, we’re going to pay our football coach X amount more than we’re paying the head of the medical school, then he’s got to stay to task. He’s got to be our football coach for the contract until we make a decision that he’s not. He just can’t jump ship every year. And unfortunately, that’s where we are with college athletics. And then they allowed the players to jump ship where they have the free transfer, and they’ve kind of reined it in a little bit. But most of these kids, when they go into the transfer portal with 5000 go in only maybe 1/5 get an opportunity, or less than that, to go at the same level they’re at, or up, or, you know, where the others are disappointed. And that’s the problem with it, you know. And but it is what it is. And as they say, the nose is out of the camels is out of the tent.

Nestor Aparicio  11:43

Well, coming out of Pittsburgh as a kid, you were a good football player. You went out west, you played for to get a degree, to be a coach, to go on your pathway as an athlete or student athlete, which is really what you were. And then next thing you know this later in life, you’re at Arizona State, and it started with we’re going to recruit and do it the way we’ve done it all. And then by the time your period of time was there, it’s how much you’re going to pay me, and how quickly all that changed. And I mean, I remember when I saw Mike Loxley, Maryland had done a deal with the Ravens for preseason football about three years ago, whenever it started. And Loxley, who I know well, and his swab for the bone marrow registry, I knew him the first time for he went to Alabama back and whatever and however you feel about Maryland or under armor, Kevin Plank or Steve bati or money or College Park, or being Washington School, not Baltimore School, they’re advertising in the Ravens preseason game. So, you know, there’s nobody at the games, but the kids got their Terps jerseys on. He’s got four kids, and he’s got his Maryland gear on, and it’s the first year where we’re going to pay kids n i L, right, and Marvin, I swear to God, they cut down onto the field. And it was probably, I don’t even know who the sideline reporter was, but whoever it was cuts to them, and it reminded me of classy Freddie blassie or the Grand Wizard or Lou Albano, like Mike was tapping these kids. I got the best you recruits here. We’re paying these kids top money, and I’m like, Oh my god. It was like, you couldn’t believe that a coach is saying this, but that is, that’s where the sport is, and it’s happened in the blink of an eye. And I think it’s changed a lot of things about the younger version of Marvin, the 45 or 50 year old version of you who would be the Lane Kiffin version of like, I’m in it now. What do I do? Because it’s changed in this generation, like Jed fish is a friend of mine, and from the era, and Coach O’Brien, and I see he’s in it at that point. And I’m thinking the stories that would be told about this era, and no guard rails. And then I would say to you, all right, the Lane Kiffin things, wrong, the Mississippi thing, whatever. What are you going to do about it? Like, who’s going to come in and play god? That’s the part that I’m very confused about. And I think when this thing began a few years ago, the unintended consequences are right up there with AI and the internet.

Marvin Lewis  14:13

Yeah, no, they are. They’re, it’s, it’s, it’s huge, and it’s, it’s, affects the the kids, it affects fans. It affects the programs. Because the fans, you know, it’s a new team every year, and so the fans really can’t, they don’t, they don’t feel as much loyalty. I would say

Nestor Aparicio  14:31

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basketball, especially where you really there’s only a couple of guys, and you got to kind of get to know them a little bit, yeah.

Marvin Lewis  14:37

So that’s really, it’s, it’s a change. And, you know, it’s not necessarily all positive. Do you

Nestor Aparicio  14:44

think anything saves it? In your mind, you think about this a lot more than I do. What do you see this in any way getting, I don’t see normalized going back the way it was. It’s not but getting more stabilized, not normalized.

Marvin Lewis  14:55

They thought that the revenue sharing thing that they put in place would help. Leveling out some, but I guess there’s ways around that. And, you know, I’m just, you know, when i The time I spent with Coach Edwards and coach Dillingham there at ASU, they got it going, you know, with Kenny in Kenny’s first year in 23 and then, obviously, last year in 24 and then winning the big 12 championship. It kind of kicked off this year, but not like most of the programs and so, but for some of the kids, it’s good. You know, some of the things you never think about, like the parking pass for campus, things like that. Now those things are being taken care of, you know, with meals. Yeah, well, meals have already been kind of part of it, but yet, you know, now there’s just some other things.

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Nestor Aparicio  15:45

Somebody buys your steak because you’re out at the restaurant. That’s not well, you

Marvin Lewis  15:48

still have to be careful with that. You still have to apply for those things. Oh yeah, if a coach goes out and say, I want to take my

Nestor Aparicio  15:57

if I see the Towson State basketball team out tonight, you could

Marvin Lewis  16:00

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do it. You could probably do I could buy him a pizza. The coach can’t do it. The coach, the coach has to apply. Hey, I’m taking my group out for a dinner tonight. Understand, he’s got to let compliance know, and if you know, and that’s one of the things that in order to build esprit de corps and the camaraderie of the team, the position coaches, you know, do with that, but yeah, there’s a there’s a lot of difference now and how it used to be. It’s like

Nestor Aparicio  16:29

finance department in the Cincinnati Bengals or the Pittsburgh Steelers. When you work for for cower, it’s just compliance. It sounds like, yeah, you have worked at a university. I’m sure they’re lawyers too.

Marvin Lewis  16:41

Oh, yeah, but it’s, it’s funny, because it’s just, it’s just totally different. And, you know, it is what it is, and it’s not going backwards. It’s great for some of the families, because it’s life changing, as long as the kids are counseled right on putting the money away to give them a jumpstart in life. Marta Lewis is here.

Nestor Aparicio  17:05

He’s giving me a jumpstart in my radio career. Back in 1995 96 when he came in here in a whirlwind, 30 years later, he’s still doing my freaking radio show. We’re trying to have some fun. So it’s Pittsburgh week, and you tell me what you’ve been doing. You’ve been calling radio around the country, but going to football games and sitting up in a booth like a like a media guy like me, and because you’re

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Marvin Lewis  17:26

a different perspective, different perspective,

Nestor Aparicio  17:30

it is a different perspective, especially when the game’s going on in real bad football.

Marvin Lewis  17:34

Nestor, have you done bad games? Well, I’ve seen a lot of bad football, not necessarily bad games, but but bad technique, bad coaching, but it all comes down to the things we’re talking about with college athletics, they don’t get enough time, you know, for to say that we’re going to, we’re going to have a 20 hour week in college football, with three of it being the game, and Yet we’re paying the guys. That’s ludicrous, right? That’s ludicrous. Nobody talks about you mentioned student athletes. Nobody talks about that anymore, you know, but it is what it is.

Nestor Aparicio  18:10

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But how many hours you can coach your kid? That’s compliance.

Marvin Lewis  18:15

That’s compliance. And yes, there was compliance right there in ASU all the time, and, you know, she sat in the in the football building, and you know, you know, there was everybody always teased because they thought originally they were just there to keep an eye on me, so I didn’t coach the players when I wasn’t one of the on field coaches.

Nestor Aparicio  18:36

Oh, okay, so I mean, there’s all sorts of strains of all of this. And then there’s the NFL, and you’re watching these games every week. The league is so unpredictable. And I always say when I have John Martin on, I talk about the lottery and sports wagering and all that. I said Marvin, back in 1996 had a red pointer, and Schwartz, he was over in the corner eating some peanut butter and jelly sandwich or whatever, and you had your little red pointer. And red pointer, and I’ll never forget you looking at me and saying, I don’t have people bet on this, because I don’t know what’s going to happen. And I coach it, and I’m here every day, and I have no idea, but the league this year for where the Ravens thought they were, where the Chiefs believed they were, where the bills wanted to be, even the Eagles, you know, on the back end of what they did last year, it’s week to week, and this week, Cincinnati smells good and buffalo smells good, and Pittsburgh and Baltimore don’t, or whatever. But there really is no super team here. And I don’t know if we’re buying into Bo Nix, buying into Drake May, buying into Daniel Jones or Trevor Lawrence, but it’s going to be a whole new kind of tournament this year, because there’s no favorite anywhere in the tournament, and it’s been a long time since we haven’t felt that a powerhouse, or at least an elite team or three at the top, it feels like a mad scramble.

Marvin Lewis  19:54

Marv, yeah, there’s no question about it, but you mentioned like when I started. The NFL, there was no there was no casinos. There was no gambling. If, like, somebody asked you if you wanted to go to a charity golf tournament casino, I think you had to sign away your first born. And once the owners figured out they could make money by letting all these betting apps in and all this stuff in, boom, it was Katie bar the door. And that’s what happened so but, but you’re 100% right right now the NFL, you know, because of the salary camp, there’s always been a degree of parity. And then you have these teams who fall into a quarterback, draft a quarterback, and the guy emerges and then puts him a cut above everybody else until everybody else scrambles to catch up. You know, however you do it. You know, our way was to try to put the quarterback on his back. But, you know, he can’t do that as much anymore. They put me in jail. Now, the way our guys used to play more, I would go to jail

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Nestor Aparicio  20:55

every time I hear the DMX song. You know, I think of you and Tony, saragusa and

Marvin Lewis  21:02

I do, you know, they would put us in jail.

Nestor Aparicio  21:05

Y’all gonna make me lose my mind up in here, up in here, you know, that’s right.

Marvin Lewis  21:10

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And it’s just different, you know, the way the game is played, it’s it’s officiated differently, you know, but, you know, but again, the essence of football is still it. You got a big game this week in Baltimore, two teams pissed off, embarrassed over there. I mean, Barrett and

Nestor Aparicio  21:34

Benko sat in our field and ate Turkey while 60,000 Ravens fans left, and 2000 fans, they

Marvin Lewis  21:42

were already gone. They left early. They left early. And it’s so funny. I have done the two ray or Bengal games on the Sunday before the Thursday games, and it’s it’s been amazing how on a short week, they’ve looked like a different football team. Oh, I mean, I did their big game in Green Bay with Joe’s first game, and then they come back and beat Pittsburgh, and then I did their game in Cincinnati a week ago, when they lost to the Patriots, and then they come back and beat the Ravens on Thursday night.

Nestor Aparicio  22:19

Be honest, there’s this much you would still love to be coaching the Bengals with Joe burrow as your quarterback, right? Oh, having Joe burrow back,

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Marvin Lewis  22:24

wouldn’t love to coach Joe burrow. This is a long line,

Nestor Aparicio  22:32

so I got into it this week with Luke early in the week, about where we are with quarterbacks and Lamar right now, who doesn’t look right, he doesn’t look healthy. And then there’s he’s not throwing the ball well, he doesn’t have the acceleration, doesn’t war, he doesn’t have the want to run through the middle of the field and be, you know, put the cape on the one in five star, the injury. All that’s gone wrong for the ravens, including everything wrong on Thursday night against the Bengals. And I’ve looked at all of the quarterbacks in the league, where mahomes is and his supporting cast, where Josh Allen is, and his supporting cast borough, obviously, protections always been the issue for him. I see Orlando Brown’s kid still trying to protect him. And I think to myself, I would take burrow over all of them. I mean, if I, if I could just take a player right now for the next five years, injuries aside, and the injury history and all that, I love the way Joe burrow plays, and I fear them the next couple of weeks that they can win a couple of games here and make this thing a lot more interesting than anybody believes they can.

Marvin Lewis  23:37

Yeah, well, they played, they settled down, they simplified. They’re playing better on defense over the last three, four weeks, since the Chicago game. You know, they’ve gotten better but, but you know, Lamar put the team on his back last year and willed him into the playoffs. So, you know, that’s what you’re looking for. Again, he’s missed some games. He comes back. Yes, he his timing didn’t look great in the passing game a week ago on Thursday night.

Nestor Aparicio  24:02

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Well, they’re not practicing either. He’s not practicing on Wednesday. He hasn’t practiced a lot in the last two months. And I think that that that shows up on game.

Marvin Lewis  24:10

It does. It might. Yeah, no question about it, in my opinion, it shows up. And, you know, even like the when you get a guy like I was so fortunate to have an Andrew Whitworth, who, you know, at times, I had arrested him on a Wednesday, but we got to December, big wit said, I’m practicing on Wednesday, because he knew what it was about then. And I think that’s the thing that, you know, I wouldn’t bet against Lamar at any point, you know, I’ve, fortunately, I’ve seen these guys all too long, just like I saw the, like you mentioned Bo Nix earlier, just like I saw him and Jaden Daniels and penics and Cam Ward, you know, and Caleb Williams. So I’ve seen all of these guys at their college before their college and. As they played in the Pac 12. And you know, there’s something special about these young men, but, but Lamar has, he has special ability. He put that team on his back last year, and he made some amazing plays, runs, throws, and did it. And, you know, but it’s going to be a it’s a big time football game. You know the press conference by Aaron Rodgers and TJ watt. Those were some of the best press conferences I’ve ever heard from NFL players. Why? Because they put the onus on themselves. They didn’t take blame and say this, this guy. We got to do that guy’s got to do that better. That guy, I have to do better. We aren’t playing collectively enough. We are not playing kick ass defense. I’m not going there. I came here for a reason. I believe in what we do. I believe in our coaches, and we have to figure it out and get better together. And, you know, and so there’s going to be, you know, a sense of urgency, a titan of the resolve, and I’m sure it’s from both teams. I haven’t listened to the players from the ravens and their their, you know, comments after their game, but I’m sure, you know, John is going to set his jaw and they’re going to get ready to go. You know, I just, like I said, I just did the Chargers game last week after they got annihilated in Jacksonville, and they would look like a different football team yesterday in SoFi stadium. So, I mean, and that’s part of professional athletes, you know, you don’t get to rub their nose in it very long, and they’re going to rise up and come back and bite you back.

Nestor Aparicio  26:46

It’s Pittsburgh week. Marvin Lewis is my guest. I love him. You love him. He’s here. He’s bored. He’s doing sports radio with me, just like we always planned it back in the day for me with the Aaron Rodgers thing and where Pittsburgh is. And I feel a little uncomfortable even talking to you about firing coaches and pissed off fans and empty stadium, but I’ll say this on both of the sides, right? I mean, you lasted a long time in Cincinnati. I looked it up. Is it 1617? 18? How many years was it then I look at Tomlin, I look at horrible in a business where it’s not for long. You taught me that a long time ago, and you also taught me early on. You’re like, no, no, no. Don’t focus on that bullshit that that’s going on with fans and this and that. Focus on what’s going on in our building, in our meetings, what we’re doing, because that’s what’s real. What’s real is what’s going to happen out on the field, when not not all the conjecture, and he said in press conferences and all that. So the reality is, both of these coaches have been forever and have hung around forever. The reality is, one of them, at the very least, isn’t making the playoffs. There’s very little doubt about that, that winning the division is going to be the only ticket in and the Bengals are going to have some say in that, and they’re going to play watching Tomlin get the fire Tomlin thing in his Stadium after all these years, and watching the fans boo renegade in Pittsburgh now on my side in Baltimore, I’ve told you for years, back when you were the Coach here and you saw seats started to empty out. The Ravens have had three massive exodus late third quarter, fourth quarter, like a preseason game, like nobody in the stadium. Bashati has witnessed this now three times this year, including on Thanksgiving night, where the Bengals ate turkey. If the Ravens don’t make the playoffs this year, I can’t, I don’t know how that’s going to go, given what the perception of Lamar is now, the Steelers, I feel a little different with Aaron Rodgers and where they are, because it feels to me like the Steelers don’t have a plan, like I like it’s Aaron Rodgers is sort of the it feels like the last stop on the bus, to some degree, when you’re bringing Aaron Rodgers in and the blood on the nose and all of that stuff, the ravens are in a different spot, in the sweet spot of lamar’s career. This is really tectonic plate shifting, and this is only the first matchup. And I know you want to get on to the scheduling thing, because they play again five weeks from now, again, and that’s going to really settle the division between here and there. So this is the first of two, and for both of these franchises that you love and I love, you know, it’s really a strange, strange time and high, high stakes, given disappointment of the fans and the pressure on the franchises when the stadiums are emptying out and they’re booing renegade Pittsburgh.

Marvin Lewis  29:42

No, there’s no question about that. There’s no nobody in those two cities ever thought it would get to this and this this football season. But you know, Mike and both John and they’ve done a tremendous job at their jobs, and you know, I had to coach against them. And. You know, I know how they have done and they’ve kept the lid on things in their buildings, and they’ve done,

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Nestor Aparicio  30:07

you hear it when you’re you know? Yeah, you know. Now, I mean, like you would say, take all that out. That’s hard to take out. I say,

Marvin Lewis  30:14

well, it is. It’s hard to take out when it happens in your in your home stadium and that way. But, you know, we all come to an end. Brian Billy told me that a long time ago, this

Nestor Aparicio  30:26

ain’t came quicker than yours.

Marvin Lewis  30:28

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It did, but maybe mine should have come a little quicker, you know, looking back on it, I should have maybe stepped away and you know, then that record would look way better.

Nestor Aparicio  30:39

Yeah, but you love it. You love it so much.

Marvin Lewis  30:41

I do you stay with it just because of the people that you, that your coaches, because of them, their families and everything. You don’t want to put everybody through an uprooting and that whole thing. You don’t want to do that. And that’s the biggest part of it, you know, is that there’s, there’s there’s a lot of people in that building are counting on you to do your job at the very, very best that you can do it and and put W’s up there so and that goes not only in the coaching level, but every other level of that building, from sponsorship to sales, all those things, right? Yeah, yeah. It’s, it’s, it’s totally, it’s not like college athletics, where the women’s volleyball team just won the national championship and the football team sucks. I mean, when you don’t win in the NFL, the whole building is down, you know. And that’s the difference, you know, we’re all, you know, everything and how we feel happens on Sunday, and we feel better on Monday when we get that w you know, and and that goes for everybody in the building.

Nestor Aparicio  31:45

Well, I think everything the Brown family was chasing with you in Cincinnati and giving you more chances, and you won more division. I mean, I you should be really proud of what you did. I’m proud of you. And I look and I see what happened in January, but I see what happened over 16 years, and I see wins and losses, and I feel that way for Tomlin and for Harbaugh as well, who, I mean, they haven’t won a whole lot of playoff games in recent years either, and they’ve hung in but it’s a tribute to what kind of organization you want to have. Well, in Pittsburgh, where they’ve had three coaches in our lifetime, in Baltimore, where they’ve had three coaches in the history of the team in 30 years, and even in Cincinnati, where they chase that by not firing their current coach when things go wrong after he went to a Super Bowl, like having some patience. I mean, even like what Sean Payton’s managed to do in Denver and what variables doing a second time up in New England, you always told me you got smarter.

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Marvin Lewis  32:39

Oh yeah, you get smarter and and I do think the stability of ownership, and I think the fact that you mentioned, you know, both with Steve with with Art Rooney, with Mike Brown, they’re in it with you. And it’s not like, oh, wait a second. I mean, they’re right beside you. And they, they feel it every single day, you know. And I’m not, was never as close to the Steve like I was watching, you know, the Rooneys operate, and art now, who’s running the team now, and obviously, you know, Mike Brown, who I just spent an hour and a half with a week ago. And you know, because when you spend every day for 16 years talking to somebody, your family and and that’s different that way. And my job was to help that get that football team to win, plain and simple, and and I understood that from the time and when I took the job, my thing was, you called me. I didn’t call you. You called me. So let’s go and and I think that makes a difference, but

Nestor Aparicio  33:46

hard to win too, right? It just No, it’s hard to win.

Marvin Lewis  33:49

It’s hard to win. It’s even harder to sustain it. Because everybody that’s in that, you know, these players think, oh shoot, it was all about me. No, no, no. It’s like these dBs, I watch these cornerbacks where they’re beat by three yards and the receiver drops the ball, or the ball is not there, and they gotta go through their celebration that I shut that guy on lockdown. So dude, you just should be embarrassed. Hopefully they don’t come look at you again. What are you doing? You are so lucky that the ball was overthrown and you your butt was torched. It is

Nestor Aparicio  34:23

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amazing the modern era, how every we celebrate

Marvin Lewis  34:28

choking dudes out. Man, if Dwayne McCain, Dwayne Starks or Chris McAllister choke both of them out, are you kidding me, dude, your job is to cover. That’s what you paid to do, and hope they don’t see your sorry tail and throw it your way. Celebrate. We all celebrate together, and that’s the deal. You know, games change. We’re too old for this Marv something. It, you know, I was just, I mean, come on, man.

Nestor Aparicio  35:06

Marvin Lewis, I love you. Thanks for joining me. I am I throw myself on the mercy of our friendship that I was late and blew you off. So I owe you cowboy Chow mushroom surprise at the

Marvin Lewis  35:19

you’re coming to Baltimore, bro on Friday. So you know what? Yeah, it’s the anniversary of the Super Bowl team.

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Nestor Aparicio  35:28

What you’re in Baltimore this weekend? Yes, guess where I am. I’m in Baltimore this weekend. All right, all right, we’re getting crab cakes. That’s it, man.

Marvin Lewis  35:38

Well, we is, how about real crabs? Can we get real I’ll

Nestor Aparicio  35:42

take you down to cost this Friday night. Let’s go. All right.

Marvin Lewis  35:45

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Well, Friday night, I’ve got to deal with it with the Liberator is so maybe, all right. Well, good meatballs. Yes, maybe

Nestor Aparicio  35:54

Dante’s a Dundalk guy. So if you’re, you’re, you’re setting me aside for a different Dundalk guy. I can live with that. That’s all I love that

Marvin Lewis  36:03

he is so done. Though he doesn’t think he’s done dog. He thinks he’s European.

Nestor Aparicio  36:08

It’s Eldersburg, for crying out loud. My God. Dante, all right, Marvin. I love you. Marvin Lewis is here, so you’re in town this weekend. In town this weekend. That’s breaking news. They took me off the press release breaking.

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Marvin Lewis  36:22

It’s called news breaking. That’s how Peggy’s friends call it. News breaking.

Nestor Aparicio  36:25

News breaking. Okay, well, news breaking is that it’s not going to get together and break bread with you this week. Judge, you just made my week. Marvin Lewis is here. We’re doing a Maryland crab cake tour. We’ll have some crab cakes left. It starts at fadeleys Next Wednesday. We’re going to be you talked about the Libra tours. We’re going to be at the deepest squalies, talking about the feast of Seven Fishes on Thursday, then in Canton, then on Friday, we’re going to be at honeys in hawthorpe. Um, I’m going to have some Asian food next Friday, so it’s going to be delicious. And then we’re going to be at Costas and Dundalk, aforementioned, on the 18th, Virginia shock Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and the 19th, we’re going upscale. We’re going to gertrudes at the BMA with Dan Rodricks and my cousin John shields. We’re also going to talk Seven Fishes that day as well. I am Nestor. My love and affection for Marvin Lewis never ends. That was a great segment of football conversation. It’s Pittsburgh week. Stay tuned. We got more for you. You.