To deal who and what for who? A big week ahead for DeCosta and Ravens as Vikings and trade deadline loom

The deals began over the weekend with the Baltimore Ravens sending Jaire Alexander to Philadelphia but Luke Jones and Nestor expect the additions to be larger than the subtractions as the complex games of NFL trade deals crescendo on Tuesday afternoon.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ recent performance, noting their two-game winning streak and the importance of their upcoming game against the Minnesota Vikings. They analyzed the AFC playoff standings, highlighting Buffalo’s impressive defense and Kansas City’s potential. The conversation also covered the Ravens’ recent trades, including the $2 million cap space cleared by trading Jaire Alexander. They emphasized the need for the Ravens to improve their pass rush and offensive line to secure a playoff spot. The discussion concluded with plans for upcoming events and the importance of the Ravens’ next few games.

Action Items

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Follow up on the Ravens’ preparations for the Week 10 matchup against the Vikings.
• [ ] Monitor the Ravens’ activity at the NFL trade deadline.
• [ ] Assess the team’s performance and potential upgrades needed on the offensive line and defensive front.

Outline

Ravens’ Recent Performance and Upcoming Games

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the Ravens’ recent performance, mentioning their two-game winning streak and Joe Flacco’s impressive performance.
• Nestor and Luke Jones talk about the upcoming trip to Minnesota and the Vikings’ decent performance over the weekend.
• Nestor highlights the importance of the Ravens’ games against the Steelers, Colts, Lions, Vikings, Bears, and Tigers.
• Nestor mentions the impact of the World Series and the NFL’s decision to avoid the spotlight on the NBA and FBI issues.

AFC Playoff Standings and Team Performance

• Luke Jones analyzes the AFC playoff standings, noting Buffalo’s impressive defense and Kansas City’s potential as the best version of their team in years.
• Luke mentions Denver’s and New England’s good performances, as well as Indianapolis’s 7-2 record.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the Ravens’ path to the playoffs and the importance of the upcoming games.
• Nestor mentions the Ravens’ need to go all-in and improve their roster, particularly the pass rush.

Jair Alexander Trade and Cap Space Management

• Nestor and Luke discuss the trade of Jair Alexander, noting the $2 million in cap space cleared and the late-round pick swap.
• Nestor mentions the potential acquisition of Justin Tucker by the Falcons and the need for a pass rusher.
• Luke explains the reasons for Jair Alexander’s availability and the impact of his injuries on his performance.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of cap space and the need for Eric DeCosta to make amends for the failed acquisitions of Jair Alexander and Cooper Rush.

Minnesota Game Preview and Team Dynamics

• Nestor and Luke preview the upcoming game against the Vikings, noting the importance of winning to maintain playoff hopes.
• Nestor expresses concerns about the team’s ability to handle chaos and composure in a tough road game.
• Luke highlights the need for the Ravens to run the ball effectively and the challenges posed by the Vikings’ pass rush and crowd noise.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of the next few weeks’ games, including the Steelers, Bengals, and Patriots.

NFL Trade Deadline and Potential Acquisitions

• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential trades the Ravens might make, including defensive tackles, outside linebackers, and offensive linemen.
• Luke mentions the importance of upgrading the defensive line and the challenges of making trades in the NFL.
• Nestor and Luke talk about the potential impact of Kevin Zeitler and other players on the Ravens’ roster.
• Nestor highlights the importance of the trade deadline and the need for the Ravens to make significant improvements to their roster.

Ravens’ Offensive and Defensive Line Concerns

• Nestor and Luke discuss the Ravens’ offensive line, noting the need for better performance from Andrew Voorhees and Daniel Foley.
• Luke mentions the challenges posed by Ronnie Stanley’s ankle injury and the need for better health management.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the depth issues at outside linebacker and the need for more players to step up.
• Nestor highlights the importance of running the ball effectively and the challenges posed by the Vikings’ defense.

Ravens’ Playoff Hopes and Team Performance

• Nestor and Luke discuss the Ravens’ playoff hopes, noting the need to go 7-2 in the remaining games to reach 10 wins.
• Luke mentions the importance of winning games against the Steelers, Bengals, and Patriots.
• Nestor expresses confidence in the Ravens’ ability to make the playoffs but emphasizes the need to prove it in the upcoming games.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of emerging quarterbacks and teams on the AFC playoff landscape.

NFL Playoff Scenarios and Team Dynamics

• Luke discusses the potential playoff scenarios for the Ravens, Bills, Chiefs, and other AFC teams.
• Nestor and Luke talk about the importance of the Ravens’ performance in the upcoming games to secure a playoff spot.
• Luke mentions the challenges posed by the AFC’s competitive landscape and the need for the Ravens to make significant improvements.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of the trade deadline on the Ravens’ roster and playoff hopes.

Ravens’ Injury Concerns and Health Management

• Nestor and Luke discuss the Ravens’ injury concerns, including Ronnie Stanley’s ankle injury and the need for better health management.
• Luke mentions the importance of keeping key players healthy and the challenges posed by the tight schedule.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of injuries on the Ravens’ performance and playoff hopes.
• Nestor highlights the importance of the Ravens’ health management and the need for better injury prevention.

Ravens’ Offensive and Defensive Strategy

• Nestor and Luke discuss the Ravens’ offensive and defensive strategies, including the importance of running the ball effectively.
• Luke mentions the need for better pass protection and the challenges posed by the Ravens’ offensive line.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of the Ravens’ defensive line improvements on their performance.
• Nestor highlights the importance of the Ravens’ offensive and defensive strategies in the upcoming games.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

NFL trade deadline, Ravens, Vikings, AFC playoff standings, Jair Alexander, cap space, pass rush, offensive line, Justin Tucker, Eric Decosta, Minnesota game, Carson Wentz, defensive line, Kevin Zeitler, playoff hopes.

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SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. And I’m wearing my Cocos pub shirt here, not my 40th anniversary shirt. I’m gonna have to get the Marcella and everybody over there for that on Wednesday. But we are doing the Maryland craft cake Tour presented by the Maryland lottery. Have some Raven scratch offs to give away. Much luckier now that they’re two in a row, getting a little bit of downtime and rest time while I’m watching the Steelers win, and poor Joe Flacco, his arms got to hurt after 470 yards. But on Wednesday, we will be at Coco’s pub, and then on Friday, later on this week, we’ll be at Pizza John’s, and you could see that on Luke’s head. Luke likes the pizza John’s hat as well. Luke’s going to be any breaking news, like if they trade someone else or acquire someone else, and we have the trading deadline like they did. Why? With Jair Alexander over the weekend, you’ll get it first on W NST tech service that is brought to you by coal roofing and Gordian energy. Luke, I bring you in. We have many, many things we will be discussing here as the week gets going, and trip to Minnesota, they look pretty decent over the weekend, getting their like normal quarterback back. So we got that going on ravens trades in out. All of that will happen the the just the aftermath of an incredible World Series, which we can get to and really kind of a good weekend to be on the couch measuring the chiefs and the bills and the Colts and the Steelers and the lions and the Vikings and the Tigers and the bears. Oh my, it’s great. Good weekend of sports. You know, sometimes, like when Trump and cash Patel are putting the whole NBA in prison over gambling, and when last week, it’s hardball lying, and you and I are in the middle of it and trying to figure it out, and then the NFL decides it doesn’t want the spotlight on Har ball and the Ravens lying. They give him the $100,000 slap on the wrist, the parking fine. But like when the games come on and Game Six leads to game seven, and the Ravens play on Thursday, and all the games on Sunday, even Joe Flacco, very credible performance with the Bengals. You know, ravens are very much in this even though it was kind of a quiet weekend on the couch. If you’re a Ravens person,

Luke Jones  02:19

yeah, I think that’s fair, and I think go no further than looking at the AFC playoff standings. And obviously we’re nine weeks into this. There’s a long way to go. We’re officially halfway through the NFL schedule with 18 weeks every team having a bye week. But you just mentioned Buffalo and Kansas City, and that was a good game. I think Buffalo was really impressive with their defense. Considering they’re missing Ed Oliver and they have some new guys playing in their secondary, they did a heck of a job. I still think this might be from a true talent level standpoint, this might be the best version of the chiefs we’ve seen in a few years, but they’re five, five and four. Buffalo is six and two, and currently in second place in their division. It’s wild to look at this AFC right now. Denver’s like good all of a sudden. Well, not just Denver, but you have New England. You have Indianapolis, whose loss notwithstanding, on Sunday, is still seven and two. I mean, you have a very wide open AFC right now. And look, I think many of us are still pointing to Buffalo Kansas City, many around the league are still pointing to the Ravens in terms of their path to being there. And did you see cowards act? What the snow thing? Yeah, it’s kind of silly,

Nestor Aparicio  03:38

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but, but, but nonetheless, that is funny to say that cower really believes as willing to go on television and say, I think the Ravens will be there in January. I don’t think any of those guys put any of that on. They shouldn’t be putting it on. If they’re there’s so much gambling going on for them to put things on. But, you know, it’s kind of telling, and also telling that the gambling public does think that the ravens are going to look I wrote a blister to John Harbaugh two weeks ago, and I still encourage everyone to go read it about honesty and integrity and involve God involved all sorts of things football. Justin Tucker, who’s going to be back kicking for somebody, probably the Falcons, based on what I saw over the weekend, that I I believe. You know what I mean, like, I believe in their talent. I don’t really believe in the offensive defensive lines as much as I’d like to, or that maybe, as I did in the spring or in the summer or even week one, but I could still be talked into believing that Malachi Starks and Nate Wiggins are coming on, that at some point they’ll figure out a pass rush. You know what I can really be talked into today or tomorrow, dude, that Eric the cost is the genius that will make the next roquan Smith acquisition for a pass rusher and give up a second round pick or whatever, maybe to try to improve this thing. Even though three and five does it pass the sniff test of being we’re going to go all in. I think there’s a lot of. Reasons for them to still want to go all in?

Luke Jones  05:02

Yeah, well, and you know, all in is such a simplistic term. Look, should it? Should they give up a premium draft pick for a rental? Then I think that’s a that’s a much greater debate there give up a premium draft pick for someone that’s going to be around beyond 2025 Sure. I mean, if it’s the right guy, but that’s what’s that. That’s the intrigue for the next couple days here at the next time you and I reconvene later in the week, we’re going to see what that looks like. Right? We know they traded Jair Alexander over the weekend, which it was a salary dump that they cleared $2 million in cap space. I mean, it’s a late round pick swap. He wasn’t playing, wasn’t playing well early in the season, when they were actually using multiple corners on the field. Now that there are three safety defense and they usually only have two corners on the field, his path to the playing time was very, very steep. You know, you’re talking multiple injuries. Guy played in two games all year. So,

Nestor Aparicio  05:56

you know, here’s an interesting thing, and I don’t want to mix the bloodlines of Orioles and ravens and whatnot, but there’s a guy there that would be a little better than a Colt and cows or maybe a little Adley rushman or a little bit of whatever the potential was going to be. And in the second act, he’s just a guy in the secondary, right? And I know that Chuck pagano wrote him a love letter on the way out and like all of that. But he didn’t get on the field when he did. It wasn’t well, they really were counting on him to be this insurance policy that they needed, and they needed right away. They were one in five two weeks ago, with him or without him, like all of that. And it does speak to sort of the next thing that happens when you get looked at, when you’re a number one draft pick and you get injured, or you’re not as good as you were, or the salary cap number doesn’t measure the, you know, the productivity that the next place you go, you got to play your way onto the field, right? And he just that this didn’t happen here, right? Yeah.

Luke Jones  06:57

I mean, he’s been hurt. I mean, that was the reason he was available. That’s why Green Bay cut him in early June, and he was available to the Ravens in mid June. That’s why the Ravens could sign him for $4 million despite the fact that this was at one point Green Bay’s Marlon Humphrey, right? I mean, that’s what you’re talking about here, in terms of that kind of tax bracket, that kind of contract, a two time Pro Bowl selection, but he’s

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Nestor Aparicio  07:18

a $20 million cornerback that we can’t is not healthy. It’s like having a $20 million pitcher that’s not healthy, right?

Luke Jones  07:25

Yeah, well, and when he and it wasn’t even so much that he wasn’t healthy, it’s when you have the the number of injuries that he’s had over the last five years, and we talked about it over the previous four years, going into 2025 he played in more than seven games once. Now he made the Pro Bowl in the year, the year that he did that, but it speaks to the lack of availability, and then it catches up with you. He’s 28 I mean, by age, you don’t necessarily think of a 28 year old. 28 year old corner is being washed up, but it might just be that those injuries take such a toll that he’s a much older, 28 than you know, someone who’s been healthy, you know, so.

Nestor Aparicio  08:05

And we talked about, we saw this with Jimmy Smith here, right? I mean, literally, we saw wouldn’t, and he had a heart of a lion to play as long as he did. But I saw it with Anthony Poindexter. Had a gruesome injury, you know, a generation ago. But, man, when your wheels are your wheels, and that’s your your I mean, it’s very, very difficult. But that being said back to like your point, which is cap space, where we are, Decosta, not being afraid to say, cut my losses, wherever it is. And it’s, let’s get this roster as good as it can be tomorrow, literally, so that we can go win a couple of more games against I mean, by the way, this Minnesota game, we’ll get into this. But looks like, you know, this isn’t the Jets, you know, it’s a different kind of game on the road this week, really, is,

Luke Jones  08:52

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yeah, yeah. I mean, I you know, we can get into Minnesota here for 30 seconds at least. But, I mean, impressive. They went into Detroit. I mean, that, you know, we think of these AFC North games, right? I mean, some of the issues the Ravens have had going into Cleveland, even when the Browns aren’t good. I mean, we saw it last year with Jameis Winston doing what he did, although the Ravens dropped a few interceptions over the course of that game. But JJ McCarthy, I thought he missed some throws. I’m not going to sit here and say that he was fantastic, but he was poised being in that environment. I thought he handled himself very well. Made the big throw on third down the back shoulder throw to ice it so

Nestor Aparicio  09:27

we could go. We were sitting here with Carson Wentz with no arm and one arm, and he, you know, like, and thinking, like, Hey, man, we’re gonna get a little we’re gonna get a nice little ticket downtown Minnesota. It feels like it’s gonna be a different visit this week. That’s all I was gonna say. From where we were last week to thinking they’re going to stack victories, but that being said, Lamar is Lamar, and they’re upright. And there’s plenty of reasons, I think, to be bullish about the Ravens. One of them would be, what are they going to do on Tuesday night?

Luke Jones  09:56

Right? Yeah, no question. I mean, that’s the that. That’s what the. The focus is on what I wrote about at Baltimore positive.com on Friday coming out of the Thursday night win over the dolphins was, hey, spotlights on Eric to Costa now, and let’s call a spade a spade. And we just said it. And while I respect the fact that he said, Look, we’re going to get rid of Jair Alexander, there’s no path for him to play. This is a sunk cost. We don’t think he’s good enough. We already have Adobe Woozi, a who’s barely playing at this point. TJ, Tampa is not playing at this point. We’re playing three safeties. We don’t really have a path, and we’re not very confident, even if he has to play, right? So you get to a point, what is the value here? Had found a partner in Philadelphia where you swap late round picks. I mean, it’s negligible. They’re getting a six round pick in a next year’s draft. I mean, who really cares at least right now? I mean, maybe you draft the next to Dallas Thomas, or maybe it’s something that you included in another

Nestor Aparicio  10:54

trade. Oh, by the way, the biggest story over the weekend wasn’t Jair Alexander. The biggest story is that they didn’t get docked pick for what the shenanigans last week like, literally, that that sure whoever did that negotiating, because they could have really been taking a task last week. They really could have been.

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Luke Jones  11:11

They could have, and I, I don’t want to spend too much time on it, because, you know, we’re talking about the trade deadline, but I think it was a case where the NFL probably looked at that and said, Okay, how much attention do we want to draw to this? Do we want to hammer a team and then the spotlight and the scrutiny is on our league in the aftermath of what’s an ongoing story with the NBA and FBI and all that? Or do we roll here? We put a fine out there. We say we don’t think there was anything malicious or deliberate. We think this was something that was incompetence, basically, you know, in Kinder words, you know, something that a team screwed up. And we’re going to

Nestor Aparicio  11:54

move past it, which is a lie. I’m not going to let that just sit there. There’s nobody that thinks this was about in common. I

Luke Jones  12:01

mean, it comes down to this look, I don’t know if people are lying or not, like I’m not. I’m not a deity that that knows 100% certain, but I would say this in response to what you just said. And I’m not disagreeing, per se, but I have a lot of respect for the Ravens organization in terms of football operations, knowing rules, making transactions, following, you know, following all that, right? And the idea

Nestor Aparicio  12:31

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of a big legal department, a big information department, would just say competent people, they’re right, yeah, I

Luke Jones  12:38

would just say that I think too highly of them to think that they didn’t know that rule and that. And I’ll leave it at that, right? I mean, well, the

Nestor Aparicio  12:46

Chicago Bears thought Lamar was playing, and the betting public thought Lamar is playing. The world thought Lamar was playing. So there. How about that? Sure, sure. And like I said, that’s what they led the world to believe. So

Luke Jones  12:59

but to bring it back to what we’re talking about here with gyre Alexander, I mean, look, they wasted $4 million or it was going to be a waste of $4 million they made a trade on Saturday that made it a waste of $2 million and hopefully you’re going to take that $2 million in cap space, and, you know, parlay that into paying someone else that can help your football team. And obviously, in the after you and I didn’t get a chance to get into this too much, but Miami fires General Manager Chris Greer on what was it Friday morning? I guess it was. It was certainly Friday. And now they’re apparently open for business. Now that doesn’t mean they’re trading everybody, but they’re going to trade some individuals, whether it’s Bradley Chubb or Jalen Phillips or Matt judon, we’re going to see how that plays out. I mean, obviously there’s been a, I guess a little bit of chatter about Jalen waddle. I certainly don’t think the ravens are in the market for a wide receiver. I think that it’s all defense, edge, defensive tackle types. I mean, I think that’s what they’re really looking for at this point in time. So we’re going to see if there’s a trade partner there, or whether it’s someone else around the league. Obviously, there’s been talk about the jets and Quinn Williams and you know, someone that they can acquire to be a pseudo just or namdi Mata BK replacement, you know, whether we’re talking the rest of this year or beyond, not knowing what his future is going to entail. So that’s, that’s the thing. I mean, I’m not going to pat Eric decosto on the back too much about the Jahir Alexander trade. I mean, it was a signal that it was a failure, right? I mean, $4 million like it wasn’t this extremely high risk move. We know that, and we talked about it at the time. I didn’t even have that high of expectations for the Jahir Alexander move. I thought he’d be better and play more than he did, so But you look at that move, and couple that with the Cooper rush move, which was another $4 million I mean, it’s $8 million spent in an off season where you didn’t have a whole lot to spend on free agents. They got nothing. I mean, that was a net negative that they got out of those two individuals. So you know this to me, as I wrote at Baltimore positive.com this is an opportunity for Eric Decosta to make some amends in terms of better positioning this 2025 football team, we know, and it’s not I’m not even criticizing the overall philosophy that the Ravens largely ran it back from a year ago. I mean, they were a win away from being in the AFC title game. They’re Mark Andrews catch and fumble away from having a great chance to beat the bills in that game that No, they weren’t going to make these drastic changes. They suffered attrition in the way that any team is going to when they have a high price quarterback and a cap that’s tight when you have a number of big contracts on your books. But what? What few resources they had, you know, other than, okay, the DeAndre Hopkins signing has been good. You know, we could argue they should be using him more than they have, right? But that’s

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Nestor Aparicio  15:55

worked out. They used a draft pick that kids gotten on the field right and played, and it really helped the collar Hamilton thing, sure. And I give him a thumbs up on, on exiting away. Who was. I don’t even notice that he’s gone. And I’ve noticed the kid that they’ve gotten for him in a position where, to your point, they don’t want to play bass anyway, you know, they, they needed a low he Gilman. And that’s really, you know, part and parcel of the injury that happened back in the spring, right?

Luke Jones  16:22

It is, it is, I will still challenge that. That a move, not necessarily a low he Gilman, but a veteran safety, could have been acquired before early October. I mean, that move was that that injury was mid May, well, if it’s acquired

Nestor Aparicio  16:36

dude, and he plays January 7 for the 10 and seven ravens, and he helps get him the 10 and seven

Luke Jones  16:43

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I always look at it is like, but that also wasn’t the plan, right? I mean, like

Nestor Aparicio  16:49

being baseball judgmental when like this, You savage kid isn’t even heard from in July and is helping him win important games. Or even going back to you and me, and we’re you’re even getting a little gray, and I see it coming in there. Bryant McKinney just sort of came from nowhere, and without him, they don’t win, period, right? So these things happen, and they happen around trading deadlines, or they happen when players emerge in some way or Come on, you know, I don’t even know where that is. I mean, who’s not to say Isaiah likely doesn’t become like the big star of the whole banana in December and January, because that’s just the way the offense flows, or whatever happens. But this team has a lot of potential, and for us to be talking about them dealing in in they have to play Pittsburgh twice. They play Cincinnati twice. They look like tougher games than maybe you thought of the Bengals defense. I mean, you talked about Swiss cheese. But I looked at this as, I don’t make excuses for three and five. I don’t work for the team, as you’ve been known to say once in a while. I if you gave me $1 and make me bet it as to whether they’re going to be playing in January or not, I would be along with cowards shoveling the snow off and saying, I still think they’ll be in a playoff game. That being said, we got to prove something to me in Minnesota this week. This is one of the tough games all of a sudden as I see it, and even more so Trappy in that you take on a sixth loss here. No bueno, you know, I mean, no bueno. I’ll give you Cleveland and the Jets and whatever you have coming down the pipeline, and I’ll even give you Cincinnati that you know, Flacco, they’re gonna his arms. He’s getting injured like all. He might not play, but, but for me, next three, four weeks, this is the game here. You can’t drop this game. And I feel differently on Monday morning than I did about it Thursday night.

Luke Jones  18:44

Yeah, I think that’s fine, and this is why I said to you, when you said it a couple weeks ago, when you thought that they’d get to they’d be seven and seven, I’ve said they need to be better than seven and seven through 14 games, because if you’ve dropped a couple more, then you do look at the last few weeks and you know, just a few days before Christmas New England, that Patriots game looks way different now than it did five months ago, when you’re talking about going to Green Bay a couple days after Christmas, when you are at Pittsburgh, week 18.

Nestor Aparicio  19:14

Pittsburgh, week 18? Well, I started looking at all this and I’m thinking, all right, let me, let me put my purple cap on here, and I’ll be a true believer, because I am a true believer. I all this hatred that comes my way, about hating the team, and all that if I had $1 I’d bet on I’m not against them. Most weeks that being said, that game at Pittsburgh, they all become playoff games on the road at Green Bay, playoff game at Pittsburgh, playoff game just to play, to play in because if you think you’re getting in Pittsburgh, is going to be the team in your way. And I think we all saw that over the weekend, when they took care of business in a way that the Steelers take care of business, and then you have to go see them late in December. And you know, if you’re built to do that, you better take care of Minnesota in a blimp. And, you know, but. Before the pumpkin spice gets stale, you know,

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Luke Jones  20:02

right? I mean, and that’s the point. I mean, that’s why I’ve been saying for a while now, when you kind of look at this next month, you know, and we’re still kind of within that timeframe. I mean, these are the games where they need to get on a roll. I mean, you can’t drop a Thursday night game in Miami, and they took care of business, right? This choppy first half, kind of an ugly first half weird, but they did what they did in the third quarter to seize control of that game, and didn’t look back and fired and the dolphins quit, right? I mean, totally, but that’s what you’re kind of looking at with some of these games. Now I agree with you, not so much. Minnesota. Now, two weeks ago, I might have put the Vikings in a similar category, because Carson Wentz is not good enough. And, you know, is admirable. He’s playing through an injury or whatever.

Nestor Aparicio  20:45

But Carson Wentz, so you’re not going to get anything on him. He’s been benched

Luke Jones  20:49

three or four different times now, right the the Carson Wentz, that was an MVP candidate before he tore up his knee in in LA with the Eagles. What look right around.

Nestor Aparicio  20:58

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That was him in Pittsburgh press box that day it happened. I remember where I was the minute that happened. And then they won the Super Bowl anyway, which is crazy, but,

Luke Jones  21:07

sure, but, but, but my point is, we’re a long way away from that version of Carson Wentz. That was eight years ago, right? He’s since been benched in multiple cities for multiple quarterbacks, JJ McCarthy. Look, we don’t know what JJ McCarthy is going to look like on Sunday. We really don’t. I think it was an admirable effort. I think it was a really good team effort. I mean, I their pass rush really got off after Jared Goff and that football game

Nestor Aparicio  21:31

so and that’s a hell hole to play, dude. I’ve been in every stadium it is. I’ve been in every stadium in the league. That place, Denver’s really tough. And I think Denver with the oxygen, I’ll you know, like my wisdom on all this from what were fairy tales when I was a kid, until actually walking into these buildings like Buffalo’s not nearly as intimidating as you think, because it’s way open air. It doesn’t get nearly as loud as some of the other buildings do, dude, that skull thing, when that rains down on you, and you got to go out there and operate the offense late in the game if you’re down a touchdown, you know, Lamar has got to drive them or whatever. And the running games not there. I, you know, I fear that they need to be ahead. On Sunday, you know, they need to be ahead and and the crowd, I’ve been everywhere, man, I’m telling you, there’s nothing like that place. That place is great. I mean, really is. It’s great. It’s a great place to go watch football game. Yeah.

Luke Jones  22:28

I mean, you just said it and the crowd part, yes, fully acknowledging that part. But you need to be able to run the ball. Detroit did not run the ball against them, even playing at home on Sunday. I mean, they average 3.3 yards per carry. I mean, Gibbs and Montgomery are, if not the best running back duo in the NFL. They’re certainly top two or three in terms of combination. But, you know, for my money, they’re the best. But you kind of look at that, you look at the fact that golf was sacked, I think, five times in that game, not that Lamar Jackson is immobile, like Jared Goff far from it, and Lamar can get away, but we know the state of this offensive line. So you mentioned the crowd noise that you expect in Minnesota with that pass rush bearing down on your offensive line that, let’s face it, we don’t feel great about, you know, even if the Ravens pull off a trade for, let’s say, a Kevin Zeitler, in the next 24 hours, or what

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Nestor Aparicio  23:23

have you, it’s just going to be chaotic. That’s all I’m saying. There’s if there’s a level of chaos in that building that will will show itself, and something’s going to go wrong. And when something goes wrong, that’s what always worries me about the Ravens When, when, that’s how the breakdowns in the second half and these blown leads and all that. It’s a composure issue that I have for the team, for the organization, in many respects, in regard, you know, everything from when things go wrong, how do they react? And you know, that’s what I want to see from a team that’s really on the ropes. I mean, feels nice that they won a couple games last week, and it feels like there’s some momentum in all of that. But if they’re going to be that team that’s going to be 10 and seven, that bill cower shoveling out that I’ve shoveled out for them, and that their pedigree shows they’re gonna have to earn their way, you know what I mean, and even if it’s half assed and they win by half a field goal in some awkward way, in a really sloppy effort. They’re going to have to really earn their way here the next five or six weeks into being what me and Bill cower still believe them to be, which is, I’m not making any plans in early January just yet. Yeah.

Luke Jones  24:36

I mean, you’ve got to go seven and two to go 10 and seven, right? And look, I mean, I really nice win for Pittsburgh on Sunday. I mean, they, they made Daniel Jones kind of look like the New York Giants version of Daniel Jones, and they got, what, six takeaways. I mean, look, you’re not count. Your defense isn’t going to do that every week. I’ll say that much. But they took care of business, and they got, they won a game that a lot of people didn’t think they were going to win. And good for them. Them. But even, even if you have your doubts about what the Steelers are going to be the rest of the way with their schedule and what their record is going to be, I mean, you’re still talking about needing to go seven and two just to get to 10 wins, right? I mean, that’s what, that’s the bed that the Ravens made for themselves.

Nestor Aparicio  25:15

Well, I’m part of the two better not be losing to Pittsburgh, right? Like, we need both of those games,

Luke Jones  25:21

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of course, but you need to get to the point where those games are. You know that you’re optimized to make it those games count in the best possible way for yourself, right? I mean, you drop Sunday’s game, and then, you know, you start looking at late November into early December, and you still have two games with the Bengals, and look, Bengals can’t stop anybody. I mean, we thought the Ravens defense was bad a month ago. I mean, look at that defense. I mean, it’s just horrendous. And it’s incredible because they have a Joe Flacco, a version of Joe Flacco that is doing, you know, not exactly like Joe burrow, but playing well enough where, if they even had just like a run of the mill, average to below average defense, right? Just not a horrendous group, man, the Bengals would be a fascinating story right now. I mean, they’re still interesting, even with how terrible,

Nestor Aparicio  26:16

oh man, you can’t take your eyes off it, right? I mean, you really can’t, but they

Luke Jones  26:20

can’t stop anyone. So like, you look at it through the lens of, okay, Joe Flacco can come into Baltimore and if the Raven secondary isn’t, you know, on their P’s and Q’s and they’re not able to get to the quarterback that, yeah, they’ll score some points. But are they going to stop Lamar and this offense at all? I don’t know. But the point is, well,

Nestor Aparicio  26:38

we’ll get to find out over Turkey and pumpkin pie.

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Luke Jones  26:41

But you, you need to do the requisite work to get to that point, right? You need to win these games. I mean, these are winnable games, and I agree with you, Minnesota is not going to be a cakewalk. I thought that even before Sunday, when they go into Detroit and beat the lions. But it is still rookie quarterback. It is still a team that is four and four. I mean, they’re not, they’re not great. You know, this isn’t a juggernaut version of the Vikings, but they still have talent. They have Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. So, you know, they’ve got some big, big time wide receivers that can make plays you’ve got to get after the young kid, right? You got to get after this basically a rookie quarterback, I mean, in his second year, after sitting out all last year. But it’s not, not going to be a just roll the ball out and you’re going to automatically win. But the ravens are favored, and they should be favored in that game from a talent level standpoint, when you just look at the quarterbacks, if nothing else, but you’ve got to go do it, right? I mean, this is where you go back to when they were one in five, and you’re thinking, okay, margin for error. Can’t have, can’t have these bad days, right? You can’t roll out of bed and get out of bed on the wrong side. If I’m sitting

Nestor Aparicio  27:50

here next Monday, still talking about their crowd and being disruptive and chaotic, then we got a problem. You know what? I mean, like, they’re gonna have to handle it,

Luke Jones  27:58

period, no question. And I mean, as a favorite on the road, right? If they don’t, then they’re three and six. And you know, that path just gets a little bit tougher, not that it’s over, like the season’s not over, if that happens, but this is where you are when you already have five games. Look, I feel the same way, not not the same way, but similar sentiments right now with Kansas City. I just said to you a few minutes ago, I think from a true talent level standpoint, from a roster construction standpoint, this might be the best version of the chiefs, or maybe the highest ceiling for the chiefs that I’ve seen in a couple years. They’re five and four, though, and Denver seven and two, and the Chargers are six and three. Where you look at this thing and say, not necessarily that I’m sitting here saying, Oh, I think the chiefs are going to miss the playoffs, but that that’s going to be a dogfight for that division. And you do wonder what kind of toll that takes on a team to to have to navigate that just to win your division, before you even think about whether you’re the number one seed or the number two seed or get home playoff games. One thing are you playing at home in the second round, whereas buffalo getting that win and looking the way that they did, and I get it New England still a half game up on them in that division, but buffalo man, if I were them, I’d feel really encouraged by the fact that their defense looked the way it did without Ed Oliver, right? I mean, Ed Oliver is a beast. We saw that against the Ravens in week one. But they they manned up and they did some things to slow down a Kansas City offense that the last couple of weeks was, was looking very difficult to stop so but, but that said, you look at the state of the AFC right now, if the playoffs started today, you know, ending Monday Night Football, right as you and I are speaking in real time, but kind of looking, you know, looking ahead, bills are the top wild card, and the chiefs are out, right? I mean, they’re they’d be the eighth team in the A, F, C, as things are constructed, the Ravens would be 10th. Right now. So it just speaks to the fact that all these teams, in terms of the quote, established AFC elite of the last four or five seasons, they have work to do. I mean, they do. So that’s what makes it interesting. There are all these landmines now in the AFC that they’re just better quarterback,

Nestor Aparicio  30:18

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emerging quarterbacks, right? Emerging teams. Peyton’s got his act together with Denver, right, like har balls brothers two years into the deal now, with this kid in in Southern California trying to figure out some patriots who come on, they’ve got a guy now,

Luke Jones  30:31

Frank May a lot, yeah, yes and and look to sit here and say that any of those teams I’m buying as the most serious Super Bowl contender right now, it’s tough to say that. Well, the Colts were the one seed until they actually had to play on Yeah, right. It’s tough to say that. But that’s not to say that those teams can’t wreak some havoc, right? I mean, look at the ravens, you know, going back six years ago. I mean, the Tennessee Titans came into Baltimore and beat them, right? Is there a team within that group that, right now, these kind of up and coming teams that can disrupt the the establishment, so to speak, and knock off a buffalo, or knock off a Kansas City, or if

Nestor Aparicio  31:10

we had a running game on a January night with a guy like Derek Henry, yeah, well, we have that. So, like, you know that the things that you didn’t have before you go and you try to get Now, the question is, a three and five, can you get there? And where’s Derek Henry’s role in this? And where’s the offensive line? Because they’re going to have to do these things, right? I mean, running the ball late in the game in Minnesota on Sunday at 330 in the afternoon should be the entire goal, right? Be ahead. Ice the game. Run the ball. You’re on the road. Let’s get the hell out of here right before and five, right? It’s, it’s what

Luke Jones  31:44

they did in Miami. They couldn’t run the ball at all until they had a lead against the dolphins, and then they could run the ball right now, you need to be able to run the ball in more game neutral situations, because you’re going to put too much on your quarterback when you’re not a great pass protecting offensive line. So they’re still searching for that, right? I

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Nestor Aparicio  32:01

love this team so much more when they were in second and one and second and two every set of downs, because somehow, some way, the sleight of hand, the RPO, the dual thread, the hot reads at the line of scrimmage to get the tight end eight yards. What, you know, whatever that, it’s all predicated, to your point, on the offensive line being better, right? Better, yeah.

Luke Jones  32:21

And I just, I don’t know how much better it’s going to be, right? I mean, still waiting for Andrew Voorhees and Daniel Foley to get better, right? I don’t know.

Nestor Aparicio  32:32

Is that a spot where Zeitler, where you believe in the trade deadline?

Luke Jones  32:35

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I mean, I don’t know if that’s the most likely acquisition to be made, but yes, I would absolutely take an offensive line upgrade. I mean, wholeheartedly would embrace that, because those guards aren’t very good, and by extension, then I think that puts more on linderbaum. I think at times, that can make things more difficult for Rosengarten, even though Rosengarten hasn’t necessarily taken the step forward overall that I would have liked to have seen from him based off of what his rookie year looked like, which I thought was very promising. And in Ronnie Stanley’s case, it’s, you know, how’s the health, how’s the ankle, right? I mean, he played, he played a full game on Thursday night. They took him out for the last series, just because they were up three touchdowns. And I was fine with that. I mean, you should take people out when it’s a blowout, by the way, Washington with Jayden Daniels, right? I mean, what a mess that is. But the point is, with Stanley, is he going to stay healthy now? Is that ankle right? I mean, he had three straight games where he either missed the game entirely or had to tap out after a couple series because it just wasn’t right. How much of that is going to carry over as you now are playing every single week, right? You don’t have a bye week to look forward to at this point in time, and you need to keep winning, right? You don’t have, you don’t have many games on this schedule where you can punt. You know, if Stan Lee isn’t feeling great physically, and if it’s not him, then it’s note, boom, who, to me, is a step down from what Patrick McCary was in the past, filling in for Ronnie Stanley. So, you know, I still have major questions there, but on the flip side, I mean the defensive line, right? I mean, I think Travis Jones is playing well. I think he’s playing better than he was earlier in the year when he was banged up. So that helps in terms of missing Matt abigay, but they are just, it’s not just, for me, a quality issue. They’re light also, like the quantity, the depth is a question. I mean, go back, going back to what you said about the Gilman trade, where they dealt a dafeo way. Look, I’m not sitting here saying a dafeo. He was great. I’m not going to say that at all. But they’re really, really light at outside linebacker right now. I mean, these last couple games, they’ve been playing three outside linebackers, and then, yeah, they’re using Hamilton at the edge, and Trenton Simpson’s lining up and playing some Sam as well. But that is not a place you want to be, especially when David ajabo Is your number three, right? I mean, especially with

Nestor Aparicio  34:59

Team One. To run the ball on your ass? Yeah? I mean, it’s fun.

Luke Jones  35:03

It’s either one, it’s it’s setting the edge, or it’s needing to get after the quarterback. So, yeah. I mean, as much as I would love to see another offensive lineman added, I have to look at this defensive line, whether we’re talking about a tackle or an outside linebacker. Look in an ideal world, yeah, you’d make multiple trades, and you’d add a few pieces there. I think you have to be realistic in knowing that one, they’ve already made a trade in October, and just knowing how this league

Nestor Aparicio  35:33

works, they made a trade the other day with Jair Alexandra. They’ve made two trades, two trades.

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Luke Jones  35:37

I mean that, I mean that, but that that was a salary dump. I mean they came, they gave no, I’m just saying, but they gave him away. But in terms of, like, impact, it’s great to start talking about all these other teams and their players, and you say, Oh, they stink. They’re not going anywhere deal them off. But you have general managers and head coaches who are trying to keep their job, if it’s the if it’s individuals who have multi year contracts, it’s not like the baseball culture where someone’s in their final year of arbitration and you know you’re not going to sign them long term, and there’s no franchise tag or any option like that, so you get what you want, what you can for that guy. It’s not the same thing in the NFL, where the idea of turning things around is very plausible, right? The idea of a team that’s not very good one year being very good the next year happens all the time. So I think we end up talking about many more names than actually truly become available for some kind of price that’s realistic in your mind. I mean, sure, if you want to go offer multiple first round picks or something like that, yeah, you can go get a superstar then. But what’s that going to do to your roster building for the next couple years? But I think in the Ravens case, man, if you and I are reconvening here in a couple days and they haven’t added at least a defensive tackle or an edge player, if they haven’t been added at least one of those. Man, I’m not feeling as as bullish. I’m not feeling as great about this team, not not so much about getting to the playoffs. But what’s the goal? The goal is for this team to make a run. You know, if they make it to the playoffs. We’re not going to be sitting here saying, Oh, well, well, well done. You overcame one in five. No. Everyone’s going to be saying, Okay, it’s time to take the next step. It’s time to put on the big boy pants. This is your chance. You made it. You’ve come this far. Why stop now? And it’s going to be tougher for me to envision that if this pass rush, this defensive front, hasn’t received an upgrade here over the next day or two. And look, that’s easier said than done. Like I said, I mean, okay, you can throw out the Miami names or jets or whatever team. I mean, people have talked about the Giants, although, you know that sounds like that’s not going to happen, but I mean, how many guys are truly available for a reasonable price? I mean, that’s just you can’t make deals that aren’t there on the other side, right? I mean, you can talk all you want about Max Crosby, but if the if the Raiders aren’t taking calls on them, then he’s not going anywhere, right? So we’ll see. But yeah, if I have to rank, you know, those are the three positions to me that are pretty obvious at this point that you’d like to upgrade D tackle an outside linebacker, or tied for first and o lines after that, for one, because I think the O line, I think integrating someone into what you do and swimming upstream, I think that can be a little more challenging as well. But, you know, it’s easy for me to say Kevin Zeitler, but the Titans might say, we have a rookie quarterback and we want to protect him, right? Regardless of how bad we are, we can’t make this we can’t say, oh, well, we’re going to take this fifth or sixth round pick or whatever, because I don’t think it would cost that much. But the idea is, this isn’t worth it to us to further damage our franchise quarterback by giving up our offensive guard, or some other team talking about, you know, whatever the position might be on the O line. So there are those considerations here. This isn’t the trade deadlines come a long way, but it’s not quite baseball or the NBA. Just yet. It’s become more more active, and we’re going to see how this plays out here over the next 24 to 36

Nestor Aparicio  39:21

hours well, and that’s the Ravens play it more than anyone else. That’s why the gyre Alexander thing over the weekend, if you’re on the wnst tech service, it’s legendary, two decades old now you can jump on at Baltimore positive sign up. You’ll get it all first. It’s all brought to you by Cole roofing and Gordian energy. Big thanks to my pal Bill Cole. In that case, we’re gonna talk some more trade. We’re loving to talk some World Series residue. Wednesday, we will be doing the Maryland crab cake tour, presented by the Maryland lottery. Ever even scratch offs to give away. I’m wearing my Cocos, established in 1985 almost a year Luke Jones was established in my son as well. Just 83 and 84 it’s been there a long time. Delicious crab cakes, delicious coconut trip. I’ll be there on Wednesday afternoon. I’ll have Raven scratch offs to give away all afternoon. Friday I’ll be pizza Johns and Essex doing the Maryland crab cake tour. And looking forward to it. GBMC is got me. I had actually read the instructions. It’s kind of thick on the appointment that I have later on in the month. That’s a male oriented appointment that no male wants to go through that I’m going through to make sure that I’m not cancerous and make sure that I’m safe, make sure my wife gets off my back about doing it. So if you have that going on, gbmcs around the corner for you, I’ll be teaching folks more. And if you’ve been listening the last couple months, you know about my partnership there. We’re very pleased about that also helping us power up our injury reports from Owings Mills, which would be significant if the Ravens had any injuries right now, but it’s it’s a good week for injuries. It’s good week for football, and it’s a good week for baseball as well as the offseason opens and a new manager comes the Camden Yats. We’ll talk more about that. I’m Nestor. He’s Luke. We R, W, N, S, T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore.

Luke Jones  41:00

Habba habba in a Habba.