Throwing the flag on bad officiating and lousy Ravens football after loss to Steelers

We’ll fully acknowledge the dodgy officiating but we won’t purple sugarcoat the fact that the Baltimore Ravens are 6-7 and flailing on the field before being failed by the zebras. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the mediocre Ravens mess after another loss at home to the Pittsburgh Steelers amidst the presence of the Super Bowl XXXV champions 25th anniversary.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Ravens’ disappointing performance and officiating in their loss to the Steelers. They highlighted the Ravens’ mediocre record (6-7) and lack of wins against top teams, noting only one win against a team with a winning record. Jones criticized the team’s inconsistent play, poor pass rush, and defensive struggles, particularly against Aaron Rodgers. Aparicio emphasized the team’s underperformance, the officiating controversies, and the fans’ frustration. They also touched on the team’s leadership, coaching, and the impact of injuries on the roster, suggesting a need for significant changes.

Maryland Crab Cake Tour and Holiday Spirits

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the Maryland crab cake tour, sponsored by the Maryland lottery, and mentions various events and locations.
• Nestor talks about his holiday activities, including drinking eggnog and enjoying gingerbread, and mentions the Maryland crab cake tour.
• Nestor mentions his plans for the week, including events at DiPasquale’s and Honeys and Hale Thorpe.
• Nestor talks about the cold weather in Baltimore and his plans for the upcoming week in Cincinnati.

Reflecting on the Steelers Loss

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the recent loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the officiating in the game.
• Nestor mentions his post-game activities, including texting with Mike Tomlin and listening to post-game radio.
• Luke Jones emphasizes the importance of the overturned fourth-quarter calls and the frustration of Ravens fans.
• Nestor and Luke agree that the officiating was a significant story but decide to focus on the team’s performance.

Assessing the Ravens’ Performance

• Luke Jones criticizes the Ravens’ performance, calling them “painfully mediocre” and questioning their potential.
• Luke points out the Ravens’ lack of wins against teams with winning records and their inconsistent play.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the Ravens’ struggles in division games and the team’s overall mediocrity.
• Luke mentions the Steelers’ fringe playoff status and the Ravens’ failure to live up to expectations.

Comparing the Ravens and Steelers

• Luke Jones argues that the Ravens and Steelers looked equally matched in the recent game, which is a knock on the Ravens.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the Steelers’ ability to win games despite their quarterback’s age and the Ravens’ struggles.
• Luke mentions the Ravens’ lack of a consistent pass rush and the team’s reliance on Lamar Jackson.
• Nestor and Luke talk about the Ravens’ offensive struggles and the need for better coaching and leadership.

Defensive Performance and Special Teams

• Luke Jones criticizes the Ravens’ defense for allowing 27 points in three quarters to the Steelers.
• Luke points out the Ravens’ struggles against good quarterbacks and the need for better defensive performance.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the Ravens’ special teams’ issues, including a missed extra point and a kick out of bounds.
• Luke mentions the Ravens’ inconsistent play and the need for better overall performance.

Job Security and Coaching

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the job security of coaches and the need for changes in the organization.
• Nestor mentions the Ravens’ lack of good coaches and the need for better leadership.
• Luke talks about the Ravens’ failure to live up to expectations and the need for changes in the coaching staff.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the impact of injuries on the team and the need for better player management.

Fan Reactions and Team Culture

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the fans’ reactions to the team’s performance and the lack of enthusiasm at games.
• Nestor mentions the empty seats at games and the lack of excitement among fans.
• Luke talks about the team’s lack of connection with the fans and the need for better engagement.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the impact of the team’s leadership and the need for a cultural change.

Super Bowl 35 Weekend and Team Legacy

• Nestor Aparicio reflects on the Super Bowl 35 weekend and the legacy of the team.
• Nestor mentions the presence of team legends and the impact of their contributions.
• Nestor discusses the team’s history and the need to honor the past while looking to the future.
• Nestor and Luke talk about the importance of maintaining the team’s legacy and the need for better leadership.

Future Outlook and Playoff Hopes

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the Ravens’ playoff hopes and the challenges ahead.
• Luke mentions the Ravens’ potential opponents in the playoffs and the need for better performance.
• Nestor talks about the importance of winning out and the need for better overall play.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the team’s potential for improvement and the need for better coaching and leadership.

Final Thoughts and Team Direction

Nestor and Luke discuss the team’s potential for improvement and the need for better coaching and leadership.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones wrap up their discussion with final thoughts on the team’s direction.

Nestor mentions the need for better leadership and the impact of the team’s performance on the fans.

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Luke talks about the importance of maintaining high expectations and the need for better overall performance.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Ravens loss, officiating issues, mediocre team, Pittsburgh Steelers, Lamar Jackson, defensive struggles, pass rush, coaching criticism, fan frustration, playoff contention, injury impact, team performance, Super Bowl 35, empty seats, organizational issues.

SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Speaker 1, Luke Jones

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Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Come home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive because we’re not taking phone calls here. You can call down at the fan a little later on if you wish to be Baltimore negative about the refereeing or the coaching or the quarterback or the offensive line or the pass rush, or any or just losing the Pittsburgh in general. We’re gonna be out doing the Maryland crab cake tour in good spirits no matter what, because it’s the holiday season, and I’m drinking eggnog every morning of my life and enjoying it, and I have gingerbread available all sorts of things, including crab cakes. Maryland crab cake tours back out on the road, brought to you by the Maryland lottery. I will have candy cane scratch offs because I’m going to write to Roz today reminder. And then on Thursday, we’ll be at DiPasquale’s in the morning, I’m shuttling guests in and out. And then Friday, no problem getting guests at honeys and Hale Thorpe. I got a full house over there for our first appearance over there, I’m going to have some delicious some pot stickers, and we have some great Asian food. Talk about some Asia cuisine as well as have some crab cakes and some crab dip as well. No chili for me in Cincinnati next week, but it was chilly in Baltimore on Sunday, where Luke, I’m tired of talking about him losing and I certainly, you know, I put the post game radio on. I went over because I’m locked out, and I was texting back and forth with Mike Tomlin after the game. So I have my post game. You know, Sunday night football goes to the locker room. Yeah, you know, I figured it out with Tomlin, but I went got some pizza and pizza John’s, and I listened to the post game. And it’s real easy after this one to go into the referee hole, right? And that’s not what you and I do. It’s not what you and I do. You’re already nodding out on the video, but I’m just gonna, I’ve been thinking about this because you and I did not do radio in the aftermath on Sunday night, we waited a few hours, kind of slept on it a little bit awakened before the chickens and the crows on Monday morning. And I’m gonna give you what was that show when he asked me first take. Go ahead. You get first take. Luke Jones for the win.

Luke Jones  01:57

Well, I’ll go back to what I wrote at Baltimore positive.com and I started off with the officiating, because it is officiating, because it is a big story, because the rest of the league’s talking about it. Was talking about it Sunday night, was talking about it. Monday morning, right? Those two overturned fourth quarter calls would have been even more infuriating in an alternate timeline, had the Ravens been the team we all thought they were going to be in 2025 and they were duking it out with buffalo, or maybe Kansas City wouldn’t also be six and seven right now, and they’d be fighting it out for the number one seed and home field advantage. You’d you’d be infuriated about that, if you’re a Ravens fan, and fans are still ticked off, and I understand that, because regardless of the ramifications, I don’t know how you reconcile the ruling that Aaron Rodgers catches his own deflection on a ball that looked like it was going to be intercepted by Teddy Buchanan, and the Ravens have the ball at least in field goal range right off the bat, and the decision to overturn Isaiah like least go ahead touchdown with 243 to play. I mean, right off the bat. I just want to clarify that I agree with all the frustration there. I I would be infuriated if I were a Ravens fan looking at that and if this team were the team we all thought they were going to be. And that was the difference between maybe being the number one seed and

Nestor Aparicio  03:18

having home field. And right, you’re betting on this stuff? Sure. So that’s, that’s the other part of this, because that really is where the angst comes in. For a lot of people are bleeding heart, you know, we got to win. It’s 25th anniversary of the rape, like all of that, and we got screwed. And even Jason Garrett, you know, it’s Sunday night, they got screwed three times. And I’m sure they’re, you know, the talking head, Stephen A everybody will be at it all week long in regard to that. But there is the point where, like they lost it.

Luke Jones  03:46

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Can’t mask the truth that is becoming more and more clear, and has become abundantly clear these last two weeks, when the Ravens just dropped back to back. Boom division games, this team at best, is painfully mediocre, painfully mediocre. And that’s probably a nice terminology when you’re talking about a team that’s under 500 as we’re going into the second week of December, they’re just not a good football team. And we can keep sitting here until we’re blue in the face, talking about, well, well, what about the rest of the AFC, and Kansas City, this, and buffalo that, and New England’s not that good, and Denver’s not that good. The Ravens aren’t good. They have one win all season long against a team that currently has a winning record. I mean, that’s just, it’s what it is. They’re not a good football team, not saying they’re the worst in the league, or they’re the browns, but they’re not a good football team, and we can. I mean, fans can sit there and and keep waiting for this team to show up, the team that Vegas thought was the Super Bowl favorite and the team so many people were picking to represent the AFC. I mean, maybe you can do that when they’re sitting at home in January. I don’t know. No, but I can’t let

Nestor Aparicio  05:02

everybody on TV thinks they’re making the playoffs. Well, that’s a crazy thing. I’m like based on what losing to Pittsburgh, Cincinnati,

Luke Jones  05:10

Pitts not good either. And that brings me to my second point, beyond just the fact that saying that the ravens are painfully mediocre, not a good football team, however you want to categorize them, that’s not good. It’s six, and seven, right? What do they do? Well? And we’ll get to the specifics of the game. But my other point, my big takeaway from Sunday’s game, and bear hang with me here, is how equally matched these teams looked, how similar they looked. Nestor, that’s not a compliment to the to the Baltimore Ravens. That’s not a compliment to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are exactly what they’ve been for years now, which is a fringe playoff team that no one thinks is going to make any noise at all in January, a team that hasn’t won a playoff game in nearly a decade. TJ Watts never won a playoff game, and the Ravens have fallen to their level. That’s that. It’s a knock on the ravens and what we continue to wait for them to be that they’re not more so than a compliment to the Steelers. And look, let me be clear, Pittsburgh deserves credit for coming into Baltimore and beating the Ravens. They made more plays than the Ravens right off the bat, but starting with the deep ball on their first offensive play, that

Nestor Aparicio  06:23

and Aaron Rodgers is the smartest guy on the field by a lot when he plays up the line third down and waits to see what you’re going to do and makes you call a timeout because he’s about to slit your throat.

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Luke Jones  06:34

I mean, he played his best game as a Steeler, which I know was not a high bar. This was a team that had not completed, they didn’t have a completed pass of air yards going 20 plus yards renegade here on, you know, like it wasn’t fire the coach, it wasn’t the kiss that Tomlin blew. Like the whole deal, I

Nestor Aparicio  06:56

all sorts of things went down because it was a very emotional weekend with the Super Bowl 35 team in I would be remiss if I’m starting any segment here and not saying that I was, you know, lubricated up this weekend with Super Bowl 35 sugar plums and and a lot of emotions about a lot of people and a lot of people in town in front of all of this. I don’t even know how that went. That’s its own segment. We’ll, we’ll talk about pass, fail on all of that, because Brian Billick was, I mean, Marvin. I mean, everybody was here, and the the notion that Lamar looked healthier and he did, right? I mean, he looked better. Yeah, better, better, right? So, I mean, I think that’s part of the lead story in regard to what they’re going to be in Cincinnati, and what Cincinnati was over the weekend, which was one freak play away from beating them. You know me as a freak. That was a freak interception at the end, and that actually happened during the TV time outside switched over, and I’m like, Wow. What a moment to switch over to that game, because for me, with the Ravens in not doing anything, well, that’s really the lead story, right? The lead story is not the officiating. And we can go into that rabbit hole, but we’re probably not going to, because I don’t think you and I have 15 minutes in us.

Luke Jones  08:12

I mean, I acknowledge it right off the bat. I I don’t understand, right? I don’t understand how Aaron Rodgers catches the deflection like and that seemed to catch and Isaiah. Isaiah likely isn’t, but I don’t know what else to say about that, and I certainly am not going to sit here and complain about that for two hours, you know, with all of our segments and completely ignore the fact that this just isn’t a good football team. It’s like I said, my big takeaway is the last few years, when the Ravens have lost games to the Steelers, right? And that’s happened, but we’ve all agreed that, generally speaking, when you’re talking in a big picture sense, the Ravens have been the superior team to the Steelers for several years now, when Lamar Jackson’s been held because they’ve had a quarterback, right, right? They’ve been the better team. They’ve had the better record. They’ve won the Division more frequently all that.

Nestor Aparicio  09:01

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But you will say that the Steelers and Tomlin have kept this thing together over a decade without a premium quarterback. Last three years of Roethlisberger, it was a little bit like where Aaron Rodgers is right now. Like six or seven years, sure, sure. Yeah, so. But their defense was always thought to be, it could be elite. They got some great players, but it’s always been good enough to make games 2321 at least against us, right, at least in the division, to be slapping around that you’re always playing them at Christmas, the game always matters. It’s always a knockout punch for somebody. And this year the schedule made, or make, or made two of them. There’s still another one of these coming the last week in Pittsburgh, and it’s made the season interesting, I think, in the realm of, do you really believe in New England and Denver and the raves are gonna get the test New England? Oh, about 13 days, right? So they’ll figure that out. But the notion that whoever wins. Division is going to get a home playoff game, and they’re going to see a team, Buffalo

Luke Jones  10:04

won’t be probably Buffalo’s point. Probably buffalo, yeah, okay, fair enough, but, yeah. I mean, I just, but, but just to continue my point, it felt like, in recent years when the Ravens would lose to Pittsburgh, it felt like the Ravens were dropping down a couple levels from what we’d seen over the course of the season, and they get beat, and Pittsburgh deserve credit Any Given Sunday, week to week League. We understand all those talking points, but what we’ve seen the Ravens largely be since the first three and a half quarters of the Buffalo game, right? I mean, that’s the only time all year, for more than a couple drives here or there, where the Ravens at all, in my mind and in my eyes, resembled the Super Bowl contender that they were last year and the year before and 2019 like we haven’t seen that dynamic team all year, right? We just haven’t. We’ve seen bits and pieces of things looking good for a quarter or two, and that’s about it, but Sunday felt much more like these two teams are in the same weight class, right? This wasn’t the rave weights. This wasn’t the Ravens just, you know, having a bad day. This is kind of what the Ravens have been. I mean, to your point, we saw a better version of Lamar Jackson, especially in the second half. The offense was better in the second half. Now, let’s be clear, I’m not saying that that’s that what we saw from Lamar Jackson was anything close to the two time MVP best player on the planet, kind of Lamar Jackson that we’ve seen. I mean, he’s still not that guy. And the problem is they need that guy at this point, because you’re talking about a team that now you know, at least in terms of not having to rely on a ton of help, kind of has to win out, right? I mean, you

Nestor Aparicio  11:40

know, if they went out feel like he had any Superman qualities on Sunday, that it felt like that burst of speed, that electricity matter, but

Luke Jones  11:49

still clunky, still inconsistent, right? I mean, look at the operate. The two minute offense at the end of the game was awful. I mean, just awful. And that’s not just Lamar. I mean, just the entire operation. It was slow. Guys weren’t lining up properly. I mean, that shouldn’t be happening in week 14. Nestor, you know that, especially for a team that fancies itself even a playoff contender, let alone a Super Bowl, I had

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Nestor Aparicio  12:09

somebody I really, really respect, and I don’t make things up on the radio after 30 years, who came up to me on Friday night, who’s in a position of no who said to me, this person’s not in a position to know this isn’t a this person is in a position of knowing how came up to me, sober. You know, it was that kind of party, if you wanted it to be, but this was just us talking, and he said to me, they don’t have good coaches. That’s literally what he said to me. And I think you probably know who said that to me, but they don’t have good coaches, man. And I’m like, Hmm, so this whole thing, man, I I do wonder where it goes, because our fans tell me I’m wrong, tell me I’m wrong, but I don’t think our fans would ever yell fire, horrible, fire. I don’t think we’ll ever hear that in the stadium. I don’t, I don’t, I don’t know. Maybe I don’t know. I mean, I listened to the Bal Post game show, poor Keith mills and test Tony’s boy, you know, over there, like, I don’t know, and there’ll be no calling for it at W, b, a, l, because that will not be allowed, because Dan juris, which will allow that sort of thing over there, and ravens.com like, I don’t know where the end is, but this is sort of thuddy and and you Got a quarterback you got what Tomlin doesn’t have. You know, the Bengals are going to come to me, the Bengals again in the offseason, and they’ll be the Bengals, the bungles, whatever, but they still have the quarterback. I mean, that was obvious in the snow running around, you know, at four and eight or whatever the hell they were when the game started, that this division and where they are. I don’t know where the heart transplant comes here, because that’s why they dealt for roquan Smith, right? Because they didn’t have enough leadership, because Marlon Humphrey is a pretend leader. Always has been. I don’t know where Ronnie Stanley is Lamar. You know Lamar is, what Lamar is. I mean, this is not he’s a great athlete. He’s a great player. He’s evolved as a quarterback now. He has no offensive line, and he’s got Derek Henry in the September of his song, and he’s got Bateman not catching the ball flowers, I guess they can’t get him the ball enough. Yeah.

Luke Jones  14:34

I mean, flowers is all. I mean, it’s basically their entire passing game. I mean, likely he’s come on here, other than when he gets close to the goal line, right? I mean, but who’s

Nestor Aparicio  14:42

had a good year? I asked you that last week, and now we’re another 60 minutes into this and saying, who’s playing what? Travis Jones. Maybe I don’t know. I mean, I

Luke Jones  14:51

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mean individual players, Travis Jones, Kyle Hamilton, although Kyle, you know, I was kind of hoping for Kyle Hamilton to have a signature moment Sunday, when you think about Pittsburgh, they like how much they love the ding. And dunk and and all that. But maybe this is where we transition a little bit here. I mean, we can talk all we want about the offense, right? We said Lamar Jackson looked better in the second half. The offense came alive in the second half. They scored some points, looked better than it’s looked in recent weeks, against some bad football teams. But I mean, if we’re beyond just the universal look at the ravens and how I just said they’re painfully mediocre, right, and how I said they looked evenly matched with Pittsburgh, which was much more a knock on the ravens and whatever we thought their potential to be, and not really a compliment to the Steelers. Was wildly disappointed with their defense on Sunday. I mean, okay, I get it. They bowed up in the fourth quarter, and they got three three and outs and gave them a chance at the end. But, my goodness, they gave up 27 points in three quarters to Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers, whose offense has looked anemic in for weeks and weeks. I mean, go back. Go and look at what Rogers numbers have been since, I don’t know, the third week of October. And I mean, they’re throwing the ball over their head multiple times, and you know, they did it without any semblance of a running game. And everyone thought that Pittsburgh was going to have any chance to beat the Ravens in Baltimore, they were going to have to run the ball and control the clock. And they didn’t really do that. But it didn’t matter, because they made big plays in the passing game. So I think for all the talk about the defensive improvement, and certainly they’ve improved from where they were the first five games of the season, when they were the worst defense in franchise history through the first five weeks, we understand that that bar was so low, it was tough to not think they were going to get better defenses at average, maybe a little bit above average at best. They feast on bad quarterbacks, and we saw that after the bye week, right? They they made two a look bad. They made JJ McCarthy look bad. They made Dylan Gabriel and shador Sanders look bad. They, you know, Tyrod Taylor had his moments against them, but obviously the Jets didn’t do a whole lot against them offensively. But again, step up and weight class when Joe burrow, who you just mentioned, comes into town and Aaron Rodgers, who just turned 42 years old, and let’s face it, has not looked like the Aaron Rodgers of Green Bay by any stretch of the imagination, you see what the defense did against those two quarterbacks, not impressive. So what kind of quarterbacks are you going to face in the playoffs? Nestor, I mean, how does that generally work? More often than not, you’re going to face better quarterbacks in the playoffs, even if you get there.

Nestor Aparicio  17:35

What you’re talking about is borough May and love the next three weeks on the road in the cold, and I don’t know two of those three on the road. You can’t name three quarterbacks better in the league than that. Not only want to hear about my homes right now. Put Josh Allen in there. You’ll see him. Hey, if you see him, you’ll get

Luke Jones  17:56

the wild card round. Yeah. So, so that’s where I look at this thing. And I said it to you a few days ago, when we were breaking down this game, I said to you, ultimately, I’m going with the ravens, because I think the Ravens defense is the best unit on either side of the ball for either team. That was not the case on Sunday. So kind of goes back to the point that you just made. We can, we can single out a couple individuals here and there that are having good years. But what does this team like? What’s this team’s identity? What does this team hang its hat on in terms of what they’re really good at? I mean, even the special teams, which overall, over the course of the season, I think, have been better than they were last year. Special Teams are bad on Sunday. I mean, maybe their worst performance of the year, at least going back to maybe, like the Buffalo game, right? It’s an

Nestor Aparicio  18:45

extra point in December. It sounds like, ah, you know what?

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Luke Jones  18:49

Well, not just that he kicks the ball out of bounds to start the second half. I mean, think about that whammy right off the bat. Now, I understand the defense was able to hold Pittsburgh to a field goal on that drive, but you had just gotten the touchdown at the end of the first half. You know, you missed the extra point, but it’s a one score game. You’re feeling better.

Nestor Aparicio  19:05

It’s like a double fall tennis. It’s stupid, right? You’re feeling

Luke Jones  19:09

better about where you are going into the third quarter, understanding that Pittsburgh’s going to get the ball, and Tyler, Luke kicks the ball out of bounds, and then you give Aaron Rodgers all day long. I mean, some of those, I mean, any optimism about the pass rush taking some steps forward has completely evaporated the last two weeks. I mean, I’m sorry, like that. That was one of those plays, and I even tweeted this out. That’s one of those plays that, if you’re on the backfields in training camp, and that’s a seven on seven drill, they’re blowing the whistle because the quarterback didn’t get rid of the ball quickly enough, because he’s just held the ball. And you say, Nope, that’s a covered sack, nope, that you’re not just going to stand back there for eight seconds. But you know, he finds Metcalfe for 41 yards so on that play. So, I mean, it’s just just wasn’t good enough, like I said in recent years when the. Ravens have lost to the Steelers. It felt Yes, on a in any given Sunday, kind of a way that the Ravens turn the ball over multiple times. A weird play happens here, weird play happens there, and and Pittsburgh somehow miraculously wins. Pittsburgh led most of the way on Sunday.

Nestor Aparicio  20:17

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Yeah, given the races, and I’ll continue to bring the referees back audience here, because that’s what the audience is talking about. Talking about the referees. Well, you can acknowledge it right off the bat the screw you want to play, then you put yourself in and you’ve been playing from behind all day, and your kickers kicking the ball out, and you’re just doing not tackling basic things. I mean, this was a 42 year old quarterback out there. But again, I go back to how smart he was in not in adjusting to the Ravens defense. I mean, he sort of, he did some film study this week. He did not want to come to Baltimore and be embarrassed. I mean, that’s it. I mean, I said that all week long, that like there is some heart of some champion over there, where you have a quarterback and a coach should have done it. And you got a bunch of guys, like a bunch of guys here that have $100 million in the bank and feel like they’ve done something, but they, yeah, I have four and a half fingers, and they have less playoff wins, all of them than that, you know.

Luke Jones  21:14

So, yeah, well, and not just Aaron Rodgers, but I think Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers remember, they have DK Metcalf, who might not be the guy he was in Seattle, but it’s still someone who can make plays, I mean, and they finally got him the ball, and they got him the ball and some big play fashion. So, I mean, that’s again where, again we can talk about the officiating to her blue in the face, and I already said I can’t reconcile the Rogers play being deemed a catch by him, and the likely play not being a catch, that said Pittsburgh had the lead from what, midway through the first quarter, through the end of the game. I mean, they were and I’m let me be clear, I don’t think it was like, oh, it’s not like they were destroyed by the Steelers. I’m saying like, it felt like two middling, mid, mediocre, fringe playoff teams duking it out on Sunday, and the Steelers made a couple more plays, and the Ravens were on the the tough end of a couple controversial calls. And like, that’s that right to your point

Nestor Aparicio  22:17

when you say that, that it was a sloggy game on these sloggy teams. The problem with that is, you look at the rosters and see how much money the Steelers are spent on the defense, and they have a 42 year old quarterback, and they have a well paid coach, and the Ravens have all the same things, MVP quarterback, $50 million quarterback. They got roquan Smith, they got Marlon Humph, they got Ron they have Kyle Hamilton’s going to the Hall of something. Mark Andrews gave him some money. He dropped the ball so like again. So I look at the names, pro bowler, pro bowler, Pat mccart’s got more TV commercials than Lamar has ever had. I mean, I see Ricard eating pizza, doing all sorts of things. So they’re these guys, are core guys in both of these cities, whether it’s Hayward and watt, and you know that whole group in Pittsburgh to say, neither one of these operations are any good, but to the fan bases and, I think, to the general media and gamblers, especially on the Raven side of things, people are still looking at the Ravens roster and say, well, they got Lamar, they got Derek, Henry, they got Diop, they’re just gonna, they’re gonna find a way to win the division. And I’m like, What way is that? Beating New England, beating Green Bay? I mean, we’ll hits Bergen, winning, winning.

Luke Jones  23:31

They’ll have their chance to do it, but they’ve had their chance to do it all year, right? I mean, I’ll go back to right around the buy, right when the Ravens were one in five. What did you hear the national media talking and look, we acknowledged it. We weren’t saying the season was over, right? We all we You famously said you thought they were going to be seven and seven, which, hey, if they beat Cincinnati, they’re going to be seven and seven, right? Although I said,

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Nestor Aparicio  23:54

although I said to you at the time, don’t turn me into a bad guy this weekend.

Luke Jones  23:57

I mean, hey, we’re keeping it real here. They’re six and seven. Like, what are we doing here? Like, not going to sit here and pat them on the back, but we said it at the time that, yes, there was a path after the Buy with a schedule that looks soft on paper, and it was, and they won five in a row, and they deserve credit for that, right, especially considering the best win in that stretch was against Chicago, and Lamar didn’t even play in that game. But we also acknowledged what a lot of the national, you know, the talking heads and the pundits weren’t talking about when they were one in five. It was they really, the injuries really, really, truly, didn’t pile up until they were well on their way to being one in three in Kansas City. Right. Marlon hubris left during that game. Roquan Smith left during that game. Lamar left late in the third. Late in the third quarter in that game, they were on their way to be in one and three. They weren’t winning the football game with those guys on the field. They weren’t playing well. So it goes back to they were one in three with Lamar Jackson. At that point in time. They went one and two in the three games that Lamar sat out, if they were. One and Two in the three games that Lamar sat out. What’s their record with Lamar Jackson? Five and five. Now, first thing anyone would say, Luke, well, Lamar has been hurt. Fully acknowledge that, right? But at the same time, you look at their roster, it’s not as though they’ve been completely decimated and shredded by season ending injuries, the matabique one, I will give you no question about that. They have missed him and missed him a bunch because the pass rush was one of those elements that we talked about going into the season wondering if it was going to be good enough, and you lost your best pass rusher. So I fully acknowledge that. But this is not Kansas City playing on Sunday night with multiple starters and even losing your backup left tackle on your offensive line. I mean, this offensive line has been intact all year, right? I mean, what Stanley missed one game Stanley missed parts of a couple other games. But it’s not as though, like when Aaron Schatz puts out the adjusted games lost due to injury list, which he usually doesn’t like. March the Ravens aren’t going to be anywhere close to the top in that right? I mean, they’re, they’re not, maybe not as healthy as they were last year, but they they’ve still been healthier than a lot of teams out there. I mean, go, look at what buff the state of Buffalo’s defense is right now with missing Ed Oliver and they were down a couple other guys on Sunday, so injuries are part of it. And look Lamar Jackson being banged up and missing time and not being 100% that’s absolutely zapped the Ravens of some of their ceiling. But at the same time, it goes back to the point that you just made. You still look at this roster and you see all these Pro Bowl players and all these high price players and high profile players, and it’s really tough to look at this football team and say that, that the sum is as great as their parts, I mean, and that’s, that’s generally speaking, that’s a bad reflection on coaching, and that’s where I have to look at that. And that’s, it’s not to say necessarily that everyone’s going to be fired or should be fired or will be fired, but an acknowledgement of No, this team hasn’t lived up to expectations, not even close. I mean, it’s one thing to say that you’re picking them to win the Super Bowl in August. I mean, they’re six and seven. I mean, they’re at a point now, where is there a path still? Yeah, of course there is, because the AFC North’s not good. And I, I still don’t think Pittsburgh is very good, but you’re not good. I mean, they’re not good. I mean, look, it’s just they have one win all season against a team that had a winning record, that has a winning record right now. I mean, they have a couple other wins where you’d say, All right, well, maybe, maybe that looks a little bit better. Now, you know, Miami’s played better since the Ravens won down there on Thursday night, and they can the GM. But, I

Nestor Aparicio  27:51

mean, they’re just, they’re just not good. I look at the good and I’m like, Oh my God, these teams are two, three wins ahead of them in this wild card thing they’re having. Like, how many teams are better than them? Is what I’m the way I’m looking at it. And I’m like, and how many six and seven teams I look at? So that team stinks Miami, well, they might finish with a record than the ravens, yeah.

Luke Jones  28:13

8

I mean, that’s and again, that goes back to to what I

Nestor Aparicio  28:17

was not talking about, draft picks two weeks from now. That’s all I’m saying. You know what I mean, like, literally, right? Well, I mean,

Luke Jones  28:24

I think it’s this still has the feel to me. And look, I I told you last week I wasn’t a big baller. I don’t believe in this football team. I mean, I just don’t that said. That doesn’t mean they’re necessarily going to lose out, although, boy, I I don’t

Nestor Aparicio  28:41

know which games I feel great about at this point. I don’t know. Do you feel great about any of them? This is where I would take a break, because my next topic is, is job security. But I would say, but I would say the whole segment on what makes everybody safe around here, and how upended the apple cart should and needs to be, and I’m not doing boo and Renegade and fire Tomlin or fire har ball, or I think the owner should be fired based on the information I have, because he’s awful. Just at a general just the Super Bowl 35 weekend, the empty seats, the bad look, just har balls. Demeanor about all of it, just gross. You just all of it. And I know things. I that I know that I shouldn’t know that. Well, hey, I should know them. But, you know, I spent the weekend with some legends as well, and my ears are burning, and that was before the game started.

8

Luke Jones  29:35

But just to and we will certainly, you know, we’ll get into all that because, I mean, it’s getting late, right? I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  29:43

we’re down to the last four games. We’re in December. Like, what happens if they lose out that there’s, there’s a chance of that? I mean, it’s not, especially if Lamar can’t make it, the can’t practice on Wednesday. You know what?

Luke Jones  29:55

I mean, like, it’s just not very good. I mean, nothing about it’s very good. I mean, it’s. Not horrendous. It’s not Cleveland Browns terrible, but it’s not very good. Like, it’s just not like. I don’t I don’t know how the for the good money Steve bashati is paying for this high price down, but I will say I don’t think Pittsburgh’s Very good. Pittsburgh still has to go to Detroit. These teams still meet week 18.

Nestor Aparicio  30:18

8

Do I think Pittsburgh’s going to have the division locked up with two weeks ago? No, I don’t really. You’re going to Pittsburgh on January 4, right? Probably, yeah, that said, and I think it might be the eight o’clock Sunday night game. Might be like, it’s going to wind up, it’s going to have stakes. I mean, I’ll, I’ll bet anything right now that it will, it will have a stake in the division, that that’s a big, big, big football game amongst two lousy teams for the rights to play next week at home against the bills, right? That’s pretty much. But that

Luke Jones  30:48

said, that said fully acknowledging that. Do I think? I mean, do I think the ravens are going to win out? No, do I think they could lose three of their last four? Absolutely. I mean, like, well, what are they going to do the

Nestor Aparicio  31:00

next three weeks? They’re going to get two in one pit. One, Pittsburgh and go one and two. The Pittsburgh goes to one. They go to one. I mean, Pittsburgh goes three and oh, and they go one and two. The game means nothing. I mean, Pittsburgh has

Luke Jones  31:10

Miami at home Monday night, like, this coming Monday night. Dolphins are playing way better. They’re in Pittsburgh. You would think they should they’ll certainly be favored in that game. They go to Detroit. I know the one thing the dolphins would be cold on the sides. Yes, they go do to Detroit. But I mean Detroit’s defense at this point in time now, with Brian branch gone, they go to Cleveland. I mean the browns, my goodness, losing to the Titans. Oh, my goodness. I mean for even for the Brown, the

8

Nestor Aparicio  31:37

browns, bloody the Steelers. Knows that we’ve seen it happen, losing Green Bay, forcing that would be so this year, where the way back in

Luke Jones  31:45

at that point, and at that point, they’re playing for the division, and the winners nine and eight, right? Yeah. So look, there’s a path. It’s possible the season is not over, no matter how it feels. But I don’t believe in this football team. I just don’t. And that’s where I kind of go back to the lead where, yeah, you can be mad about the officiating, and I get that, and I am scratching my head, along with everyone else, and that’s the kindest way I could put it. But I also can’t build up the rage that as though this team was duking it out for the number one seed or was a serious Super Bowl contender, they look nothing like that. They are. They are the definition of paper champions in 2025 I mean, it’s

Nestor Aparicio  32:29

just, if horrible is being honest, he could pull his guys in and say, We gave the refs a chance to screw us. Sure.

Luke Jones  32:35

8

And I hope that was part of the message, because, yeah, because if, if you were truly worth what you thought you were to be as a football team. I mean, you should beat the Pittsburgh Steelers. I mean, they ran for two champs. I mean, back to back home, AFC North losses on the same day that you honored your your first Super Bowl team. I mean, that’s and as you pointed out. We’ll get into it. You know, I know that for another conversation the empty seats, I mean just, just bad, just bad, to use John Harbaugh’s term from a decade ago,

Nestor Aparicio  33:11

below the bar. I received some confirmation over the weekend, and I’m going to close with this, and we’ll come back and we’ll get into it. We’re going to talk about coaching. We’re talking about the freaking refs. We’ll talk about all that, right? I got some information over the weekend. Do you know the word I’ve used to describe the organization? Many, many times I’ve used the word begins with an S, ends with a Y, sleazy, and sleazy is where I’m going to leave it. And I think as I traverse the city, and this is really disconcerting to me as we get to the holidays, right? And I’m wearing my purple curio, you know, shirt, and I’ll get my orange one out. How people feel about the Orioles, and you and I talked a lot about that last week, in regard to Birdland and in regard to whatever was a damage control. They don’t even acknowledge the damage. The Orioles, they’re a last place team half million. They don’t even acknowledge it. And the Ravens have this smell of arrogance about them at every I mean, just to hear, just to breathe the air of Sashi brown or Steve bashati or di cost at this point, who used to be a dude used to sit in my house, used to have coffee with me five times a year. Used to be my my friend used to be a professional relationship that that had, that had some, some meat to it, all of that has fallen apart. The Super Bowl, 35 champs came in, and almost half of them acknowledge before they went to the stadium on Sunday. It’s not the way it used to be. I saw them on Friday night. They’re asking me, what’s up with the empty seats? What’s up with this? What’s up with hardball? What’s up? What’s up? You know, like all of this, the out the people that don’t know the players. People that own car dealerships 1000 miles away and are off living their lives, doing other things, having a beautiful life, almost all of them, although there’s been a lot of tragedy involved with Super Bowl 35 team, just in a general sense, you know, as I’m sitting at a table with Trent Dilfer and Brandon Stokely, right, and you start to consider what they’ve been through with their families. Jay Lou two two seconds away up to the sky. So there’s been real humanity amongst these 50 something and 60 something year old humans to come back and my 30 year relationship with these men and their wives and their wives, many of their why? Had more fun with their wives than I did with them, in some degree, because they wanted to hang out with each other. And the wives were over talking to me because they remember me from 30 years ago. So there’s a familial feel of that modell feeling that I felt on Friday night that I haven’t felt in years.

Speaker 1  35:59

Luke, years, years, years, years,

Nestor Aparicio  36:03

around the joy of the team. And I know there are a lot of people still hanging on buying their PSLs and Mueller’s up in 513 and I see my boy Jeff, and some people buy tickets. I’ve had a lot of people say over the recent years, I’m giving mine up. I’m selling whatever. I’m getting too old, too tired, whatever, but the backfill of the next generation, my kid, who’s your age, who doesn’t want to go and I want to talk more about that, because sleazy, sleazy is not a nice word. It’s not a word. I’m a wordsmith. I looked up the synonyms I have AI, my clone helped me. Sleazy is like, that’s not a word I use, and I’ve used it, and it’s been backlashed to me on it, and then I find that information, confirm information, just about all of it that really It sickens me, and it sickens me to see the empty seats and that they have to put up on their billboards when to cheer, when the Steelers are in town, and then the Steelers score, and the television lit up with terrible towels. And I’m like, Oh, that’s a bad television. Look, I’m not there. I realize the Steelers fans are all sitting behind the bench or trying to, but there are Steelers fans everywhere. They weren’t just behind the bench. And not that that’s a cardinal sin that their fans want to get in, but the fact that our fans don’t want to get in week after week after week, and that their brand manager is Chad steel, like like, who’s never been in front of a mic, who doesn’t stand in front of the brand, who doesn’t speak. The one who speaks is the coach, and half the time he’s a prick, and he’s in a bad mood because they’re losing. And the whole look of it, the ads I get served, their social media, the ticket ads in the middle of the games. Come, come be a part of it. Come be a part of the situation or the power and the real men who built it and the people who stood upon this to fill it and create enthusiasm. And yes, I’m pointing at myself because I found only 1000 barn pictures from back in the era where they were four and 12 and wearing purple Barney uniforms and were a joke and arts getting kicked by the dogs. That’s the team that won the Super Bowl. That’s what rallied all of this. That’s what’s kept people in the upper deck for the last 25 years, the hope of that and that feeling that you had. And you know, it’s a Barry Manilow song. I’ve been up down, trying to get that feeling again. Hello, that feeling doesn’t feel like it’s going to come back in the next five weeks, and if they get a game against the bills on the 11th, it ain’t going to feel like the Broncos game did in 2001 and ain’t going to feel like the Colts game did no six. I don’t even know if it’s going to feel like the Chiefs game did three years ago, because the disappointments stack up on the field, off the field, the officiating, the gambling, all the things you and I say, God, what happened to the league? What happened to the presentation of the game? What happened to somebody on the radio in the city being able to criticize them without getting their press credential taken away, like, what are they doing? So that’s a question for bashati, because I hope he doesn’t have like that. What’s that blind spot on the internet where you’re you’re web blindness. You don’t see the ads that you don’t see the empty seats, you don’t see these standings. You don’t see the fact that you people don’t want to come to your games. You don’t see the Seat Geek prices on game day. You didn’t see the stadium empty out three times this year. You don’t see that your coaching might not be very good. You don’t see the picking out, picking out, the personnel might not be so great on the offensive and defensive line. You don’t see that your brand manager. It behaves with an arrogance and your team president that it’s gross, all of it’s gross. I’ll leave it at that. We’ll come back talk some more football, because I need to go off on that, because team six and seven and I just learned some information this weekend that’s just disturbing to me. So I’m Nestor, he’s Luke. He’ll have plenty more to say about football, and I’ll come back and try to not be cranky because we’re Baltimore positive, and even though we’re not in first place. Yeah.