What comes next for Bisciotti and DeCosta in job search?

While we’re all watching NFL playoff football, the Baltimore Ravens are on their first head coaching job search in 18 years. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the games on the field and the field of coaches that Steve Bisciotti and Eric DeCosta will be sifting through on video calls all week and the criteria and desires for a job that is considered the best in the league.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the recent NFL Wildcard games, highlighting the excitement and close finishes, including the Rams’ 31-17 win over the Panthers and the Packers’ 28-13 victory over the Bears. They also delved into the ongoing coaching search for the Baltimore Ravens, with John Harbaugh’s future uncertain. Jones emphasized the importance of finding a new head coach who can reinvigorate the team and get along with owner Steve Bisciotti. They also touched on the potential candidates, including Kevin Stefanski and Clint Kubiak, and the impact of Harbaugh’s potential departure on the franchise.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Organize and schedule the Maryland crab cake tour appearances later this month, including logistics and dates
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Plan and announce details for the ‘cup of soup / bowl’ community event during the first week of February and share participation instructions
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Provide live Facebook coverage and post-conference commentary of the press conference aftermath for station listeners
• [ ] Attend Steve Bashati’s Tuesday press conference in Owings Mills and report on the event

Nestor’s Introduction and Personal Updates

• Nestor Aparicio welcomes listeners to WNST AM 1570, mentioning the month of January and the hiring season for coaches like John Harbaugh.
• Nestor talks about the Maryland crab cake tour and the upcoming cup of soup or bowl event in early February.
• He shares personal updates, including wearing his El Guapo shirt to support a vandalized restaurant and his upcoming doctor’s appointment.
• Nestor mentions the Maryland lottery and GBMC as sponsors, and his plans to visit the State Fair.

Discussion on NFL Wildcard Weekend

• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the excitement of the NFL Wildcard weekend, mentioning various games and their outcomes.
• Luke highlights the high-scoring games from previous years, contrasting them with the close, exciting games from the recent weekend.
• Nestor shares his experience watching the Rams-Panthers and Packers-Bears games, noting the fun of watching football even when his team, the Ravens, is not involved.
• They discuss the impact of the job search for coaches like John Harbaugh and Steve Bisciotti during the offseason.

Reflections on the Ravens’ Season and John Harbaugh’s Future

• Nestor and Luke reflect on the Ravens’ season, discussing the impact of Tyler Huntley’s performance and the potential consequences if he had made the game-winning kick against the Bengals.
• They debate whether John Harbaugh’s job security would have been affected by different outcomes, including the loss to Houston.
• Luke mentions the importance of having a franchise quarterback like Lamar Jackson and the expectations that come with it.
• They discuss the potential candidates for the Ravens’ head coaching position, including Anthony Weaver and Kevin Stefanski.

Potential Coaching Candidates and Organizational Changes

• Nestor and Luke discuss potential coaching candidates, including Kevin Stefanski, Clint Kubiak, and the possibility of hiring someone from outside the organization.
• They consider the impact of hiring someone like Anthony Weaver, who has experience in multiple organizations, on the team’s dynamics.
• Luke mentions the importance of finding a coach who can reinvigorate the team and get along with both the players and the owner.
• They discuss the potential for organizational changes, including the role of Eric DeCosta and the impact of the coaching search on the team’s stability.

Steve Bisciotti’s Press Conference and Media Relations

• Nestor expresses frustration with Steve Bisciotti’s lack of media availability and his decision to exclude certain media outlets from a recent press conference.
• He criticizes Bisciotti for not being accountable to the community and the media, especially given the significant impact of his decisions on the team and its fans.
• Luke acknowledges Bisciotti’s tendency to be honest but notes the importance of transparency and accountability in his role as the team’s owner.
• They discuss the potential questions Bisciotti might face during his upcoming press conference and the importance of addressing issues like Justin Tucker’s performance and the team’s financial decisions.

The Future of the Ravens and the NFL Playoffs

• Nestor and Luke discuss the future of the Ravens, including the potential impact of the coaching change on the team’s performance and fan engagement.
• They analyze the NFL playoffs, mentioning the performances of teams like the Bills, Broncos, and Eagles, and predicting the outcomes of upcoming games.
• Luke highlights the importance of the coaching search for the Ravens’ long-term success, emphasizing the need to find the right candidate to lead the team.
• They conclude by expressing their excitement for the upcoming football season and the potential for a new coach to bring fresh energy and success to the Ravens.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

NFL Wildcard, John Harbaugh, Steve Bisciotti, coaching search, Justin Tucker, Lamar Jackson, Ravens offseason, playoff games, head coaching candidates, Anthony Weaver, Kevin Stefanski, Clint Kubiak, team performance, media relations, community impact.

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SPEAKERS

Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T AM, 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively into the month of January, into the hiring season of Steve shotty and certainly for John Harbaugh and all sorts of coaches out there are looking for gigs here. There were some games this weekend as well, and we’re going to get the Maryland crab cake tour back out on the road later on in the month. We’re going to be doing a cup of soup or bowl. We’re going to be doing that first week of February, and gonna be doing that all over the community. I am wearing my El Guapo shirt today, not my state fair shirt. We’re gonna be doing the show at State Fair. But El Guapo was vandalized, along with a whole bunch of other restaurants. My dear friend Lou weincam, whose family owns Franco’s restaurant next to Beaumont, businesses, were vandalized and destroyed on Sunday morning, and I want to give them some love, and I’m wearing my guapo shirt, so get over, get back over. Support the 21228, I’ll be back over there for a cup of Super Bowl next month, brought to you by the Maryland lottery, as well as our friends at GBMC helping keep me alive in 2025 and I’ve actually got a doctor’s appointment 2026 I’m getting there, almost acting like a 57 year old. Luke Jones is here. He’s acting like a teenager, little remote control rams, Carolina bears, packers trying to stay away, trying to fall asleep, trying to figure out John Harbaugh’s going to be the pack. Going to be the Packers coach if they’re going to fire their head coach. Really good football this weekend. In addition to if anybody’s been listening in on the radio or even on our blog, it’s all been job, job, job coach, Coach, Coach. Justin Tucker. Justin Tucker, Steve bishati, Steve Basti Lamar. Lamar, but the other teams are playing, and there’s a Super Bowl at stake, and I don’t know, you know, I’m still a quarterback guy this time of year, aren’t you?

Luke Jones  01:45

Yeah, and it’s funny. I mean, just to go on a brief tangent here, but throughout the week, it’s head coaches firings, who’s got General Manager openings, all of the business side that is preparing then for the offseason. I mean, all these teams that are out of it, it’s a reminder then come Saturday and Sunday and even Monday night, that there are teams still alive and there is still football being played. And I think it’s fascinating the last couple years. And I I’ll go back and just humor me for this, because I think it’s pretty it really speaks to just how great the weekend really was last year or two years ago in the wild card round, the final scores were 45 to 1426, to 748, to 3224 23 Okay, so a good game There. 3117 32 to nine. Last year in the wild card round, 32 to 1228, to 14. That was ravens beating Pittsburgh. 31 to 722, to 1023, 20 okay. Good game there. And 27 to nine. This was a great weekend of football. I mean, my goodness, when, when the one blowout was still a one score game until the fourth quarter. You know that it was a really good Saturday and Sunday. I mean, just fantastic. I mean lead changes and one score games and, you know, questionable decisions here or there, or questionable going forward on fourth down, or any of that. I mean, just, well,

Nestor Aparicio  03:21

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we were sitting at Costas and Timonium on Saturday afternoon when the Rams Panthers game was ending. We kind of timed it out. We’re like, halftime. We’re gonna get there. We gotta, you know, we did our little planet fitness thing before that. And like, Alright, let’s go get focused here. And we were there for the beginning of that. Took some food home, and then Saturday night, packers bears, just, just from a not Raven’s not in it. I will say this my first observation, and I reached for my phone five times to tweet this. It’s a lot less fun when your team’s not in it. I mean, yeah, like, just in a general sense that we can’t win. But it is fascinating, and this leads to the job search part that we’ve talked about at ad nauseam is before the game, middle of the game, after the game. It’s John Harbaugh here. It’s Steve bishad. He’s talking there along with a dozen other teams. Right? Like league is going through this huge thing where all these billionaires now are bringing zoom calls in, and everybody’s looking for the next great thing, but at least what’s going on on the field, you know, Justin Herbert aside and whatever’s around him that some quarterbacks, with all these ads we see during the week making pizza ads and all that they show up. I mean, the Kittle injury terrible, but I’m wearing green, and it’s not for the packers or the Eagles right now, right? Yeah.

Luke Jones  04:40

I mean, it’s, it’s fun. And again, as I said, I mean, for all the coaching, search, GM, search, horrible ravens, all of that, you take a back seat when the games still start, and then it is a reminder that, oh, they’re not playing anymore, and even though they’re maybe they’re in the headlines Monday through Friday. You. And 12 O’Clock through or 10 o’clock through one o’clock on Sunday, once they kick off, then yeah, you are, you know, you do move to the background. And, you know, there’s two different ways of looking at it. One, yeah, it’s not as fun when your team’s not in it. And two, I, and I, even a few Ravens fans in my life, have said this, it’s not stressful, but they also acknowledge, yeah, you’d rather be in it. But there was not a belief, just like we said, had Tyler Luke made that kick Sunday night, and even, let’s say the Ravens beat Houston on Monday? Maybe, maybe, maybe that would have changed things, but,

Nestor Aparicio  05:38

well, would still be the coach right now, which is really like the kind of week we’ve had, because that ball sailed right, and the trajectory of the franchise is really the first chapter of Purple Rain three, right. Like, whatever Purple Rain three is going to be, like, that ball sailing wide right. Har ball would still be the coach beat Houston. Oh, you think they would have fired him after, oh, I think it’s very well pop, well, all right,

Luke Jones  06:04

if they lost, if they lost to Houston, well, first of all, I’d say this, if it truly was based on a kick, then, man, I have the ravens are way less than I think they are. I mean, I I think, and, you know, this was out there. This has been, you know this, I don’t know how much of this is reporting, as much as just the sentiment, I think the sentiment and the way Steve was feeling, and where they were as an organization, I think John was in trouble if they didn’t make a run. I mean, I just think that’s to me, if it truly did come down to Tyler Luke missing now, they weren’t going to fire him If

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Nestor Aparicio  06:42

Tyler Luke talking Sean having to make a run now too, right? Sure, the floor had to make a run and like, that’s, that’s the next thing. Once you get here, 345, years in a row, the owners are antsy, right? Because the fans become ants.

Luke Jones  06:54

Well, expectation should be higher at that point. I mean, I mean, you know, at some point in time, yeah, if you’ve got a franchise quarterback, and buffalo certainly has one, in the same way that you’d view the ravens, right? I mean, when you have that kind of guy, and you have a when you have a quarterback that’s won an NVP, yeah, expectation should be higher, especially in a year when Patrick mahomes is sitting on the couch while rehabbing his torn ACL, right? I mean, so I think looking at it through that lens, fair or not, I think that becomes your reality after so many near misses, and we’re going to see with buffalo. I mean, they obviously got the job done in Jacksonville against a Jaguar’s team that was as hot as anyone to close out the regular season. So you wonder, okay, was this their close call? And then they make a run on the NFC side. I’ve wondered that about the Rams. You know, you tend to think of these teams, generally speaking, and it’s not a hard and fast rule, it’s more just anecdotal over time. But you tend to think of these Super Bowl, eventual Super Bowl teams. There’s usually a game somewhere along the way where they survive, right? I mean, the Eagles last year, they beat the heck out of the chiefs. In the Super Bowl, they handled Washington, but in the divisional round, they had a tough go of it against the Rams. You know, the Rams easily could have won that football game. So, you know, we all remember the Ravens in Denver, for example, Jacoby Jones and the Mile High miracle, right? We think back to the Tennessee game for the 2000 Ravens. So when you look at the first round and you kind of see a team survive, that’s where you kind of look at it and say, Okay, if we’re looking back at the Rams being in the Super Bowl a few weeks, we’re looking back. We’re saying, Man, they barely survived against Carolina. And same thing with the bills. And I know the bills, you know, both these teams are wild cards, so they’re on the road. I understand that, but they’re teams that are highly thought of, highly regarded Bill Same way, if this is the year Josh Allen’s finally going to break through. One, they’re going to be doing it on the road. And two, yeah, they it was tough sledding for them in Jacksonville, and you know, they fortunate that they were moving on, right? So you know that, but it was just a great weekend in that way that you had a lot of close games, as I said, in recent years, the wild card round, since they’ve moved to this, three wild cards, seven playoff teams in each conference, the wild card round has generally been nothing to write home about. It’s been a lot of lopsided multi score finals where you kind of see the haves and the have nots, so to speak. But that was not the case over the weekend, you know, for Saturday and Sunday. I mean, until Sunday night. And like I said, it’s not like the Patriots destroyed the Chargers. They scored and made it a two score game in the fourth quarter. So, you know, that was a defensive struggle with lots of quarterbacks, you know, quarterbacks being hit and sacked, and adopt a away with three sacks for the chargers, which certainly was not lost on Ravens fans watching Sunday night football. So it was a fun weekend. And, yeah. As you bring it back to what’s happening here

Nestor Aparicio  10:02

locally, that would not be an endorsement for John Harbaugh or Zack or would it Sure?

Luke Jones  10:06

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But at the same time, adopting, oh, we had 10 sacks last year, and he had seven and a half with the Chargers this year. Like, no, I’m not, I’m not going to sit here and defend them. But at the same time, it’s not like OA had never produced, ever

Nestor Aparicio  10:20

as even plenty of chances here go get rich, right? Like, literally, sure.

Luke Jones  10:25

And even, even with him doing what he did with the chargers, I’m i, if I’m a team, I’m still not giving him a big bag of money. Of course, yeah, you know whether the Ravens or anyone, I mean, I’m sure someone will, because that’s how desperate teams are for pass rush. But, but, yeah, you look at that and you say, that’s that’s not, it’s not ideal, certainly, but, but yeah, you just, you look at these now with based on the results, okay, which head coaches or not head coaches, which head coach candidates, you know, which coordinators now are freed up to talk. You know, Jesse mentor has been eliminated. The Chargers have been eliminated. So Jesse mentor can talk to the ravens, or whatever other teams want to talk to him. And they’re

Nestor Aparicio  11:06

there are fascinating to see if the shot he wants another hardball guy or not, where he’s going to go try to somebody from Seattle, or, you know, anything that has a horrible route that would speak to how he feels about John. You know, yeah.

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Luke Jones  11:19

I mean, there’s two ways of looking at that. There’s one where you’d say, you know, maybe it’s best to really start fresh and you want an outside perspective. I think there’s so much merit to that when you’re talking about 18 years, and not just 18 years, but the coaching tree that involved

Nestor Aparicio  11:38

Anthony Weaver, to me, because he’s been five other places. That’s the thing in the groups, you know? I mean, it’d

Luke Jones  11:43

be a little bit different if you were talking about, like, for example, and I don’t even know if Chris Horton’s The best example of this, but like, let’s say Jerry Rosberg were still the Ravens special teams coordinator after all these years. Let’s say he had been with John 18 years. Way Dave Tobes been with, yeah, that’s different. You know, that would be, that would be, I mean, that would be awkward, yeah, that would be downright awkward. Whereas, like Anthony Weaver, yes, he’s a former ravens player, yes, he was their defensive line coach for a few years. But it’s not as though Weaver was with Harbaugh for 12 years. In the way that, you know, you’d look at someone like Chris Horton and say, Okay, well, he was

Nestor Aparicio  12:22

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Weaver also got passed up here as DC for Zach,

Luke Jones  12:24

or he did. And I don’t know how serious of a candidate Anthony Weaver is in the Ravens minds, right? I mean, they, they’re talking to him as they should, like I said, talk to as many people as you can, but yeah, you wonder about that. At the same time, you

Nestor Aparicio  12:38

also would have a guy who knows everybody in the building and is liked by everybody in the building. And that might set that might settle the building down a little bit. I mean, it could, it could. You could point to Damico Ryan’s and say, you know, look what happened there. I would all that would be, and I love weave. I mean, I’ve known Anthony the day he was drafted. I I would not be a detractor of them hiring Anthony Weaver. I would expect to get my press credential back because he knows better.

Luke Jones  13:00

But yeah, I mean, I think you mentioned me in a detractor, Nestor, I’ll be totally honest with you. And if this sounds dismissive of the process, I don’t mean it to be. It’s more so like acknowledging I don’t have, like, I’ve never hired a head coach. I don’t know exactly what makes someone they’re going to hire who Steve likes, but you’re going to, but there’s, but there’s going to be unknown, right? I mean, there’s going to be unknown even, like we’ve talked about Kevin Stefanski, for example. Okay, you could sell me, you absolutely could sell me on Kevin Stefanski, from the standpoint of whenever he had even semi competent quarterback play in Cleveland, the Browns were pretty good. So the idea that you bring him in knowing that there’s regardless of the Ravens

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Nestor Aparicio  13:46

would be about the Vikings to take him back a step and say, when that’s how he got the job, right?

Luke Jones  13:50

Sure, but, but the point with that would be, you bring him in with better ownership, better General Manager, more stable infrastructure, certainly a world’s better quarterback. You could absolutely convince me that Kevin Stefanski would absolutely kill it here. In fact, I think, I think Kevin stevanski should be one of the, you know, I don’t know where I’d rank them, but he should be one of the top candidates if, if that’s what you’re looking for in terms of an offensive guy, right? If you’re looking in terms of that, if you’re valuing experience a little bit more. So not that he’s taken his team to an AFC title game or an NFC title game, but you look at him through that lens, he’s a pretty appealing candidate. But at the same time, you know, the cynic could say, well, he was in Cleveland. You want to hire the Browns coach like really? So you can kind of do this with any of these guys like Clint Kubiak, I’ve, I’ve talked about him being a guy that I like at the same time. I’m not going to sit here and say that with the conviction that I’d put my mortgage on it, that he’s definitely going to be a great head coach. I don’t know he’s Josh McDaniels. Yeah, right, exactly. I mean, Josh McDaniel you know, I mentioned all that being said. You see Shanahan’s kid running around out there? And you’re like, I want that. I mean, I think you just, you look, and that’s why, to me,

Nestor Aparicio  15:05

Shanahan had Lamar Jackson, they’d never lose it feels that way, right?

Luke Jones  15:09

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I mean, my goodness, you look at what he’s done with Brock Purdy, who is, is really good, like, I, you know, I don’t want to be disparaging a Brock Purdy wanted. Brock Purdy is there for, I mean, he was a late end of the draft guy, I mean, and that’s a credit to them for finding him and identifying and saying, Hey, this could work with him. But also, yeah, they coached him up, and they have a great system in place. And yeah, it helps that they have Christian McCaffrey, let’s, let’s also throw that out there, and George Kittle, until the unfortunate Achilles in Philadelphia on Sunday.

Nestor Aparicio  15:38

And now you look and all the other guys,

Luke Jones  15:40

of course, and that, and that’s why you know so much of this still comes back to this, if you’re the ravens, if you’re Steve bishati, and whether he would state it this way, or whether even consciously thinks of it this way, the idea is not there. Is own like, like this isn’t like finding a needle in a haystack. The idea should be in this hiring cycle with, I don’t know, 35 different names that are going to be interviewed across I mean, maybe it’s closer to 40 or 50. I don’t know. You have eight teams with openings, as we were coming out of the weekend, pending anything that could happen. Green Bay, you know, any, any of, any of the remaining teams that we’ve talked about. So whatever that number is, say it’s 40, and I, and I don’t know, I’m just making that up based on how many guys the ravens are talking to and other teams are talking to some different guys. But there’s a lot of overlap of those 35 or 40 candidates. Does anyone really believe that there’s only one guy that would make a good head coach out of that group? No, there’s probably, if you’re the Ravens of all the guys you’re going to talk to, I don’t know, are there? Is there two? Are there three? Right Choices? And you just need to make sure you’ve you pick one of those three dude.

Nestor Aparicio  16:55

Every time I saw Jason Garrett stand up Sunday that on NBC, I thought, how could he have been the golden child 18 years ago and can’t get an interview now.

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Luke Jones  17:03

Well, it’s because he had a decade in Dallas that, you know, they were good, but never anything quarterback whisperer, you know? I mean, okay. I mean, hey, if you want to go higher or, I mean, if you want to go talk to Jason Garrett, I’m sure he’d take an interview. I just, I took an interview with Tennessee. That’s why I’m saying. I just think his, I think his times past, yeah, I just, I think that ship sailed in the same way that, you know, if John Harbaugh goes somewhere and it’s a total flop, you know, it’s, it’s his Pete Carroll in Vegas, which I’m not, you know, but

Nestor Aparicio  17:36

if that would be his, Jimmy Johnson is Nick Saban, it could be his

Luke Jones  17:39

bad I mean, yeah, there are plenty of coaches, even Hall of Fame coaches like you just said it Jimmy Johnson in Miami. He had a past his prime. Dan Marino is his quarterback, right?

Nestor Aparicio  17:47

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Have $150 million in the bank, and he’s not going to the Hall of Fame any quicker than Jon Gruden is who also won, or Brian Billick, who also won like so you go somewhere and fail. You know he won’t smell as good, right? Exactly. The next time around, writer’s offense doesn’t smell as good after I watched it play in Fox Pearl Sunday night. Sorry.

Luke Jones  18:07

I mean, I mean, if Pete Carroll wants to coach again, after what happened in Vegas, is there any team that even wants to interview him? Now, Pete Carroll’s even older than horrible, right? I mean, he’s advanced in age, so, so that’s a factor as well. But point is, there’s a shelf life where you look attractive, right? And you get to a point where, and that’s where. I mean, you’ve seen, not necessarily, I don’t think this is how NFL teams feel, but I’ve seen enough pundits and analyst types, you know, in the NFL media space, I’ve seen at least a few say like John Harbaugh is this unbelievably attractive candidate right now, but they’ve kind of asked the question, but, but should he be? And you know, it’s just being it’s just a rhetorical question where you say he is 63 he is 13 years removed from his last Super Bowl. He did. The perception is the Ravens did absolutely underachieve in January, despite having not just Lamar Jackson, but some of these years where they had 1112, 13 Pro Bowl selections. Right? So you could also be the skeptic and say, Is he, is he really the best candidate out there, or is

Nestor Aparicio  19:17

he just the most shot? He’s paying him 50 million to go away and might sign up for Clint, pub, correct, whatever, right? So you never

Luke Jones  19:23

know, right? So, like, again, that’s why, I mean, so much of this is just as scientific as you try to make it. There’s art involved. And yeah, like you mentioned it at Yeah, if Tyler loop made the kick on last Sunday night, would John still be their head coach? Well, yeah, of course, because they would have been preparing for a first round Wild Card Game hosting the the Houston Texans. Now that said, if, if they had lost to the Texans, then, you know, I’m of the thought that you might have had the same exact outcome just a week later, right? I don’t know if there’s again. Is that? Tyler loop making it is him making it, as opposed to missing it. Was that really the last straw? Or was the last straw the New England loss back in week 16 was the last straw. Losing back to back on Thanksgiving in the week after that, to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh at home was the final straw, just being the fact that they were three and six in their own building, where they need to sell tickets, and they were owing three in home primetime games, right? With which, by the way, matched the number of home primetime losses har ball had over his first 17 years as head coach. I mean,

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Nestor Aparicio  20:35

I think he’s getting asked tough questions by giants ownership or Cleveland ownership, or whoever regarding this stuff.

Luke Jones  20:41

Well, anyone, anyone? I mean, yeah, if not, then kind of Shame on them. And I don’t say that to dis John like you should always ask head very tough questions in these kind of environments, because it’s a really tough job. And if you’re going to pay someone all that money, you want to know what you’re getting into with that person, right? I mean, I because you don’t want to be in a position where, and I’m not suggesting John would do this like to me like this. You know, you have some long time head coach who has made a lot of money, has won elsewhere, is comfortable in his own skin, maybe doesn’t have the level of urgency that he wants had. And you know, if you come in just expecting that, that guy’s going to be the perfect candidate without asking some tough questions, the

Nestor Aparicio  21:28

fresh energy that you’re looking for, yeah. I mean, you’re old, right? I mean, you Frankie, you know coach who, you know,

Luke Jones  21:35

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if I’m the Giants or any of these teams, like, I want to, I want a version of John Harbaugh coming in that’s like, don’t get me wrong. Like, you know, you don’t want them to be a jerk, but at the same time, like, you want to see a guy that is absolutely reinvigorated and a guy that that doesn’t seem like he’s resting on his laurels at all, and with

Nestor Aparicio  21:52

the Giants, you better take Chad steel with him, stand at the front door and treat the media up there, like, like, toilets, like, literally, because, like, that’s a tough job for him in New York. That’s an easier job for him in Green Bay. Oh yeah, yeah. I’m just saying, like, some of these things are what’s good for his wife and where she wants to live for horrible I’m talking about not for these other candidates. Stefanski, the first seat he can get in at this point. He’s kind of got to get in it, right? Like that. That’s part of falling out of this that Jason Garrett is now perceived as yesterday’s lunch, even though, you know he was a whisperer to Tony Romo, right, right? He helped Romo get another job, get a get a broadcasting job. So to paint, Jason Garrett is the village idiot in your mind, or my mind, or anybody, he’s an idiot. I just not the right guy, not the right guy for right now, I don’t know what makes John the absolute right guy in any of these places, other than he fits the suit. He’s not Brian dable. If you’re in New York. He’s got a badge in Green Bay’s but you know, he’s going to be the guy that stabilize things for love and like in Cleveland, I’m telling you, dude, the Cleveland thing, they should give him part of ownership. They have to open a stadium there, sell tickets. They have to do all sorts of things there. And he could shove it up the Ravens backside and maybe make another $50 million doing it if he’s convinced that he’s going to have control there. I mean, hell, they gave Sashi brown control there at one point. You know what I mean, like, seriously.

Luke Jones  23:19

I mean, I would think the Browns would love to hire John Harbaugh. And look, we’ve talked about it. I mean, rounds were his favorite team, like they were his childhood favorite team. I mean, there’s, there’s got to be something to that. In addition to, we would all agree, the best head coach is whether, regardless of how they portray it, they all have egos. They have to, right? You have to have that to be successful. I don’t mean necessarily, not that you’re going to mistreat people, but you have to have that inflated sense of, you know, even if it’s like baking it until you make it kind of confidence, right to be a head coach, man. And this wouldn’t just be John Harbaugh, this would be anyone. It’s why the Browns still are able to hire head coaches, no matter what the history of it is, because you’re always the guy that thinks you’re going to be the one to fix it. You’re the one that’s going to ride in on the white horse Jim

Nestor Aparicio  24:13

Schwartz there and do a lot worse than hiring him, who already knows the building and knows the defense. So I know he interviewed out there, but who knows? I mean that with all of these jobs open, it makes it this incredible shell game for this week alone, I think we’ll start getting some seats by the end of the week, but I don’t know that Steve’s in a hurry. And as I pointed out, the ravens are the job everybody wants. Every one of these guys would pick the Ravens over any of the jobs, other than Harbaugh can’t have it. And then har ball’s the one they all want, which is what I got off of television over the weekend. And you’ve adeptly said that. Well, that’s Kevin Harlan, and that’s, you know, the Harbaugh name, and all like, great, but that is the reality. Oh, I’m not just using that. Arthur Blank. Would love to bring. John Harbaugh win those goofs out in Arizona. Would love to bring John Harbaugh in right like any of these organizations would, he would deodorize their place in their mind. But you and I have dealt with him and players that have played for him and Lamar would say, not the right guy for me, certainly not the right guy for me. Listen, I can write a huge letter disparaging John Harbaugh, and I have but that I wouldn’t hire him because I don’t do the paranoia thing. Well, I don’t do the lying thing. Well, I don’t do the lying and hold the Bible up on the other side to sanitize it, which is what I’ve watched John do for a decade now, since he’s won, and I think his personality has changed. He’s a different cat walking into any of these jobs than he walked into before, and therefore he’s a different kind of candidate. And the other thing is, and this doesn’t speak to these billionaires, to your point, Haslam would pay anything to get the right coach. Arthur Blank would pay anything. I mean, brought Matt Ryan, but he’ll do anything to win. Some of these guys are do anything to wing guys be shot. He’s already won. He’s made $4 billion in value since the last time he got in front of you eight years ago. That’s how accelerated the money is for these franchises, making more money than he ever thought possible when he bought the team, and he’s less involved than he’s ever needed to be, because the thing’s throwing off so much money that even Sashi brown can’t f it up.

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Luke Jones  26:29

Sure, sure. I think what’s fascinating to me with all of this, and obviously it changes with the results of the wild card round, and now you have candidates who might have had very limited time to interview, who now have all the time in the world to interview. But it is really interesting, when you think about it, with the Ravens having the best job, perception wise, or reality, right? I mean, certainly, certainly. I mean, it’s a great job, just in the sense of how much is in place relative to what most these jobs look like great job. You win here. But I just mean in terms of, regardless of how you you or anyone might feel about the owner or certain

Nestor Aparicio  27:11

dude, five for the next coach, sure,

Luke Jones  27:15

where is, like one in five with most of these coaches, you’d say, well, yeah, he’s a first year head coach, and they just fired their coach because they stunk the previous year, right? I mean, so it is different in that way. But think about it, there’s this really interesting game of chicken that’s going to be going on in terms of the market when the Ravens have the best job, and how many of these candidates might be holding out for that, and then on the flip side, hardball is the best candidate, and how many of these teams might be holding out hoping that he’s going to pub

Nestor Aparicio  27:45

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runs the market this week. That was my point. But the dance ever that there’s ever been he’s the most attractive head coaching candidate in the history of the league. He’s going to get more money than anybody

Luke Jones  27:59

agreed, but he’s the most attractive candidate, except to the team that has the best job opening. So that’s why I said there’s like this, no, seriously, there’s this really interesting push pull at work here, where you have all these candidates who obviously, you know they’re all going to be talking to other teams besides the Ravens. But if the Ravens might pick them, they don’t really want to necessarily commit just yet, even though, at the same time, there are a finite number of openings, so you don’t want to wait too long. But if the rate, if you think the ravens are going to pick you, you want to go to the Ravens. And on the flip side, all these teams are hiring or are talking to other candidates beyond John Harbaugh. But if John Harbaugh is going to pick them, they don’t want to rush to hire one of the other candidates. So it’s almost like free agency in a way like you like the way that we, you know, we’ve talked about, and we’ll get into it with the Orioles here, where, you know, you still have the top two, two of the top three starting pitchers that are still out there on the free agent market. And, you know, everything, everyone’s kind of looking around like, okay, maybe I’d like to sign one of those guys. I might have a trade in place to trade for so and so’s number two starter. But can I get one of those guys just by giving them a contract, right? I mean, like, so there’s, there’s some of that at work with this, you know, all these teams that are, there’s also the report that harbor wanted power too, and I don’t believe that. And, yeah, but I mean, but I don’t know. There’s nothing I wouldn’t believe about John. He’s been too dishonest with me over too long a period of time for me not to believe anything. But I’ve never seen him as wanting Eric’s job or wanting to be in on the personnel side. Yeah, like he’s never complained to me, if he’s complained to me more about the quarterback than he has about anything that’s come from Eric’s office, and Eric apparently was teary eyed and a mess that this happened, and now Eric has to go out and look for a coach that I don’t know that he really ever wanted to look for. Well, I mean, whether he wanted to or not, what? Maybe it’s more so whether he expected to or not, right? I mean, I think maybe that’s

Nestor Aparicio  29:57

he was shocked at three o’clock on Tuesday that a hard ball got five. Iron imagine how shocked tar ball was, sure.

Luke Jones  30:02

I mean, I, you know, I mean most of the reporting, I mean things that I had heard Monday and Tuesday, talking to a couple people here and there. I mean, not that anyone was like 100% iron clad. He’s one, you know, there’s no, no discussion whatsoever. He’s coming back. But it was very much the expectation was very much more so expecting him to return and there to be some changes to his staff. I think everyone, think everyone saw that writing on the wall, at a minimum, more so than the idea that he was in grave danger of being fired. But there was, there was an acknowledgement of, you know, until Steve, Steve puts out a statement saying John’s my guy. We’re disappointed, but we’re moving forward, right? I mean, so until that happened, there was always a little bit of doubt, but, yeah, I mean, I think, I think it’s all, I think it’s very clear at this point that most people in the building were still expecting John. I mean, even some of the anonymous player reporting since then, you know, most of the players have said that maybe they weren’t shocked, but they were still surprised, and they still figured

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Nestor Aparicio  31:05

Steve summoned somebody to his house. And I can think that that could only have been roquan Smith or Lamar Jackson. I can’t imagine it’s Ronnie Stanley or Kyle van Noy or, you know, like, I’m thinking like, Who would that have been on the roster that Steve bashati would be the ain’t zay flowers come into his house. So if that reporting is accurate, then these are all questions in line for bashati as he stands in front of the media. And as I pointed out, and I’ll say this, I’ll stand on any mountain, and, you know, stand on the World Trade Center and say the first questions for him should be about Justin Tucker, like you talk about the coaching all you want. He’s been hiding for so long that there are stacked up questions. I don’t how often has he been asked about Lamar Jackson, once, maybe, maybe never, by you. And that was the time that I got locked out at the pool four years ago, down in down in Florida, down at the breakers, where he was sitting with Jameson Jonas and Jeff zreback. And I’m looking at the back of Chad Steel’s head out at the beach so, and I guess he talked about Lamar then a little bit, you know, over the ocean water in the background. Because, I mean, I witnessed where that happened. It was unprofessional. I mean, like, of all the unprofessional things they do to think that that’s a press conference. Come on. Man, come on. Man, you made $6 billion on the team. Dude, so he’s getting in front of people on Tuesday. I’ll say this about him. Man, he ran for me on the balcony two years ago. I’ve spoken to him more times than I than if I open my phone, just texting with him, and he’s not even a texter, or at least he ever used to be, sound like I haven’t communicated with him. He didn’t know who he was throwing out and why he was throwing him out and Chad steel and why he’s not having you know he he’s not a dumb man. He’s a brilliant man, and he’s orchestrated this orchestration where he doesn’t have to get in front of the media and answer questions about a potentially predator kicker. He’s gonna he should have to answer those questions. There’s a he should answer questions about getting 600 million of your not your money. He lived in Pennsylvania, my money, our money, citizens money to build the black wing to be less accountable. Couldn’t be less accountable, dude. He hadn’t had a press conference in eight years well, and it’s like I said, be less accountable, like, literally for all the money he’s making. I mean,

Luke Jones  33:27

even if we’re looking at it through the lens of 2022 at the owners meetings, like you’re saying, I mean, then, you know, reporters had to get on a plane and their outlet had to fund them going compared to having a press conference.

Nestor Aparicio  33:42

I want to say something out loud, and zrebek and hear this, and Hensley can hear this, and the banner and the sun, and I saw Dan juris last week, but I I don’t need to show up to people and let them know what I think of them at a at a cocktail event. I have a radio station and a social stream, I can do that out loud, or I can let them know face to face, but why make them uncomfortable? You know what I mean? But like the notion that Jameson Hensley works for the league and ESPN and the league partner, and they’re not a local, he’s not a Baltimore Sun reporter, where you bought the paper for a quarter anymore. Neither zrebek, who works for the freaking New York Times, they’re both behind that Jameson’s not behind a pay wall, so I’ll at least give him that most of the stuff, everything’s Rebecca ever writes, is behind a huge pay wall. Everything the banner does is behind a paywall. Everything the sun does is sophomore and his amateur hour, as all of it is at this point, no one reads that shit. So like because nobody can get to it. So there is a point where I saw him out behind a wall, and you can look at the videos and the pictures of this, at the breakers where I was thrown out and chat still looked like he wanted to eat me across the fire pit was I was standing with Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh media, and Jameson’s up with Eric dicost His wife, wanting to write a story. Worry about her social media acumen, but I saw the wall out there in the ocean, and I’m thinking New York Times, ESPN, a guy from the banner who used to be at the sun, and they have a paywall, and they’re they were brand. They didn’t even exist for five minutes at that point. They were a brand. They weren’t even an entity at that they didn’t even have a sports department. In the beginning the banner, and I like the banner. I’m not anti banner. I’m anti paywall, and I’m anti me getting kicked out letting the banner in. That’s what I’m anti. After 30 years of doing this work on behalf of you and me and getting in cars and driving to Pittsburgh and, to your point, flying on somebody’s dime mine, or the lottery or GBMC or curio anybody that underwrites us, that allows us to do what we do. The fact that he’s sitting out there with the New York Times and ESPN and a paywall site, it’s disgraceful. And I tell him to his face if he let me in on Tuesday, or if he’d answer a call. I mean, like, literally, it’s just, it’s disgraceful for what I signed up for 30 years ago. Imp in his $6 billion entity as a sick as a as a civic concern, is like Rubenstein says, a philanthropic effort. I mean, it’s just not to joke. So so I’ll say this about bashani, whenever he’s gotten in front of me, whenever he’s gotten in front of you, in front of the media, he’s been almost dangerous about how honest he is, about what an honest person he’s been, which is why I never would have thought he would throw me out after sitting in my house after the six Miller Light, strumming my guitar on my couch in my home and taking me backstage to sit with Jimmy, or say, for an hour and a half trying to get the Colts records back to Baltimore. So if you see Steve, let him know. I wrote him a letter. Anybody they can go read it. But we have lowered the effing bar here for all of it, for all of it, building stadia, funding it, paying for it, not having press conferences, having a lying coach, just all of it, having a kicker that’s running around the City saying, Do you know who I am? So give all of that to Steve when you see him on Tuesday, on my behalf. Okay, okay, I

Luke Jones  37:32

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am fascinated to see what he’s going to say Tuesday, I am.

Nestor Aparicio  37:35

He doesn’t lie. Usually, that’s the thing for him, though he’s usually too honest, which makes it more fun, makes it more like a tightrope for Chad steel.

Luke Jones  37:44

I mean, honesty’s a good thing, I think. So, yeah, so we’re gonna see.

Nestor Aparicio  37:49

I was honest last Tuesday when he said, John’s not the right guy anymore, right? I mean, like, that’s where the lead story, and he was honest about that, and that’s, that’s where the Packers and the dolphins and the Steelers, if they’re looking at Mike Tomlin and their situation and where he is and whatever happens when the they’re making these tough decisions on these leaders and like, right now, dude, a third of the league’s looking, looking for new head coach. A third of the league like, it’s crazy. I mean, there’s a lot of money at stake and a lot of there’s 31 other guys like Steve bishati that think they’re the biggest, best, Baddest, biggest checkbook, all of that, and they’re all chasing John Harbaugh right now. And it’s, I need some Fisher’s popcorn, even though it’s the wrong time of year,

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Luke Jones  38:34

I was gonna say they’re all chasing John Harbaugh, except the ravens, who have the best job. So it again, it’s what makes it, makes it really interesting.

Nestor Aparicio  38:42

Win the tournament. Who? I mean, I’m fascinated to see how Seattle bounces back this week, how Denver bounces back. New England purported themselves extremely well on Sunday night, right? The whole rank buffalo, you know, here we go. I mean, even the 40 Niners, who don’t look equipped like they get past Philadelphia to bloody Philadelphia and Jacksonville to have the road teams perform pretty well. Good weekend football, really good weekend. The San Francisco Seattle thinks great well.

Luke Jones  39:12

And think about it. I mean, we know. We knew the chiefs were out. We knew the Ravens were out right. So on the AFC side, it was always more wide open as although buffalo is the default team that’s been there over and over and over, but to your point, they’re the number six seed, and they’re going to be on the road again, and boring, you know, pending what happens with the other game, they’re most likely going to be in the on the road if they beat Denver, so and Then on the NFC side, I mean Philadelphia who didn’t look right all year. I mean, even when they played, even when they won, didn’t look right. Their defense had played really well over the last couple months, but that offense just you know, whether you’re talking about hurts or their own line in saquon Barkley, not looking the same. Team and AJ brown on the sidelines. AJ Brown, who dropped three passes on Sunday, I mean, but the defending champs are out after the first round. So, I mean right now, bills Broncos and on the AFC side, New England. You know, obviously Monday Night Football pending outcome Houston or Pittsburgh, and then on the NFC side, okay, the Rams were there five years ago. It’s hard to believe that was five or four years ago, you know, with Stafford in 2021 but bears. I mean, what a comeback that was. I mean, the bears, I don’t think they’re making it to the Super Bowl. But, man, they’ve got some cheese late night on. They’ve got some Mojo going with all these comebacks. My goodness, oh, they got like, they also Ben Johnson’s got that Billick fu part of him in him that is and Ben Johnson like each other at all. But Ben Johnson’s The biggest reason why, if you’re the ravens, you’re open to Clint Kubiak. You know you’re open to someone like that because Ben Johnson’s a first time coach, and look at what he’s done with the bears in year one, right? Look what, look what Cohen did in Jacksonville.

Nestor Aparicio  41:11

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Here are these things. And this is where you’re going to talk to Basti. You want somebody to reinvigorate the building. That’s not a young guy, right? I mean, not an old guy, right? You want someone to reinvigorate Lamar. Well, you better figure that out, right? Like, you want someone to get along with Eric and think Eric’s a genius, even when he’s not sometimes, right? Like, and then you really have to get along with the owner. Because sure, you know, going back to John Harbaugh’s wife, who once said to me, You have no idea how hard Steve is on these people, like, generally, and I don’t know how involved Steve is, the perception is Steve’s on the outside and isn’t around much, other than dealing with John. He’s not in the building a lot. I am fascinated to see what Steve looks like, how he comports himself, what it looks like, the thing with Eric on the days, because Eric works for him too, and is perceived as a son just this is a real sloppy time in Owings Mills. Man, this is a this a big press conference to have me locked out of Tuesday, but I’ll be in there on Facebook at 158 banging on the door and watching everybody chat upon all of them in the in the in the links way worse than any columnist or radio station ever did who ran road trips. You know, I love the Ravens. Boy fans are a holes, you know, right on their thread, all in the middle of all of it. It’s like I would always say to horrible. You’re worried about me and Preston, really, you should just read the threads on your own in the middle of your press conference. You’re getting fired every week when you lose by everybody, and they’re all drunk. And when they can’t reach to you, they reach to me. See the email I got last Sunday night. I’m in the car trying to stay warm up next to the Taco Bell, and I’m getting shat upon with personal IMS email. People are nuts when they lose like, I mean, it’s just really and I have that bashati press conference that he humorously the last time he kind of got together, read fire this guy get this guess guy do this biscotti. He made fun of his name. He had a whole humor thing he did. You can go see it. It’s on my bird tube. And what happened to that guy? What happened to that guy? What happened to the guy that wanted to get the Colts records back so bad that he dragged me onto the back end with Jimmy or say for cigars 15 years ago. What happened to that guy? I mean, they you know? What happened to the joy of owning the team on behalf of the community? What happened to loving the community? What happened to black lot Black Lives Matter? What happened to all that I don’t know, dude, just sleazy is the word I’ve used of you being in and me being out, and the fact that ice might come over here and grab a guy like me and not a guy like you, we’re in a whole different world, man, like we just are. So I hope the press conference that I learned something, and that when it’s over with, I feel like they might be more honest than I think they are, at least with you, but just the fact that I’m not in there, you know, I don’t I wonder how many tough questions are going to get asked. I know how Chad does these you’re going to get about the fifth or sixth question, maybe the eighth or ninth, because we’re really not that important anymore, and it’s going to get point. I mean, I it never used to be that way. Is what I’m saying. Steve used to walk in there and just take questions. I don’t think that that’s going to be the tenor of Tuesday. And I think if anybody asked a Justin Tucker question, you might not have your press credential on Wednesday, which is insane, that anybody that I should say that out loud to you, that you might not want to ask a Justin Tucker question, because they might throw you out because they threw me out. This should be fair game. He has. He’s a billionaire. He’s made $6 billion taking $600 million of civic money. He should be willing to answer anything for anybody, anytime. Really, that’s how I feel

Luke Jones  44:53

about it. I don’t disagree. I’m fascinated to see what he’s going to say. I am.

Nestor Aparicio  44:59

Well, they think. John in front of all of this, including the Ray Rice thing 10 years ago, that is through John in front of the brand. And John was lousy in front of the brand in that way. By the end, it really the lack of authenticity. It had worn off on dude. I’m because I’m locked out. I watched the Facebook. I watched the press conferences on Facebook. It gets the Facebook before it gets the Ravens calm. Now any fan would know that I’m now a fan, a non paying fan, former PSL holder, only 27 years, that’s all I give them hundreds of 1000s of dollars. Could build a nice place in Ocean City with my ravens fandom, believe me, but I watch, and I see how disgruntled people are, or the people that are there enough to want to watch a press conference in the aftermath of another win or loss, and har ball was the only face that ever moved in front of that, and Lamar doesn’t want to do it, and he’s not good at it, and roquan’s good at it, but he’s roquan Smith. He hadn’t played well enough to be good at it. So like there is a point where the face of the brand for me, since covid, has been sitting here watching these liars lie in my idiot box after games, instead of being in there and asking tougher questions that would get me thrown out if I asked them. And this is the time where the tough questions absolutely must be asked. That’s it. That’s all I’m saying as a journalist, as a citizen, as a fan, on behalf of the franchise, because this is a massive change, an earthquake, is what I called it in my column, and how they handle it, and the fallout of season tickets going out, and what they’re trying to do with sponsors and selling hope and energy here in a way that John had lost that energy. Lamar had it. Lamar brings the energy, no question about it, but it feels like it’s enervated Lamar, right? Like Lamar has less energy about him, and he is the energy in the building, and that’s Steve knows that. Steve smart,

Luke Jones  47:06

I don’t disagree with anything you’re really saying. I think anytime you’re talking about the face of a brand, 18 years is a really, really, really long time. I think that’s why you see, you get, you see CEOs of major brands, just after a while, it’s just, it’s time. It’s not even that someone did a poor job. It’s just time, even Michael Jordan left the bulls right. You just mentioned Lamar. I mean, I think eight and nine. Everyone wears eight and nine, right? Eight, Nines exhausting. When the standard and the expectation was, this was the year you were going to win the Super Bowl, and along the way, Kansas City fell out of the picture, right? I mean, so, you know, I again, I’m not disagreeing with anything you just said, but I think sometimes it’s just fatigues a thing. I mean, it just is. And I think it just felt like it was time. I don’t think it was necessarily some major indictment of John Harbaugh that the Ravens decided to make this move, regardless of how it was done, or, you know, over the phone all that like, I just think you get to a point where it’s really hard to sustain the same thing over and over and over and over and over, right? In the same way that that’s why you have so much admiration for a couple that is married for 50 or 60 years. I mean, my goodness, that’s incredible, right? And that’s a testament to those individuals.

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Nestor Aparicio  48:33

Anybody knows me has more admiration for my wife.

Luke Jones  48:35

So, so, right? So, but that doesn’t mean it’s not easy, or that that it’s easy doesn’t mean it’s not really, really tough at times. So, you know, I’m not getting philosophical here. I just, you know, I

Nestor Aparicio  48:47

think, well, he’s gonna pick a new wife, and that’s, that’s the fastest part about all this.

Luke Jones  48:51

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Sure, sure. And you’re hoping it’s another at least 10 years. Let’s say, maybe not 18. But say 10 would be what you’d say, hey, that’s that worked out really well. And you would assume that means a trophy at some point in time over those 10 years, whether it’s 2026 or two years from now, or, I don’t know, but they’ve got a lot of work to do beyond just the head coach. But yeah, it starts with you need to hire, you know? And I’ll say, I don’t think there’s just one guy that they must identify and hire. I think there’s a few guys that they could hire that would work out well in different ways. You just have to make sure you find one of them, because for every two or three guys that I think would be a choice where you’d say, that’s that, that’s a right answer there, there are going to be some wrong answers that they interview, that they hope that Raymond’s fans will hope that they ultimately don’t hire so no one knows what that’s going to be because, man, there are just a lot of variables, a lot of moving parts to all this. And that’s why it’s it’s why it’s so captivating. But it’s why there’s also such a sense of, you know, I don’t, I can’t. With 100% conviction, I know exactly who they’re going to hire and even if that individual will work out. But based on their track record, they they’re two for their last two certainly going back to 27 years now. So you’re hoping they make it three for three if, if this next head coach is along the lines of John Harbaugh or Brian Billick, then that means there’ll be a parade at some point here in the next few years, and that’s what everyone wants at the end of the day,

Nestor Aparicio  50:28

Luke will be in Owings Mills on Tuesday, when Steve shotty speaks. We’ll be here in the aftermath of all that, and Steve shotty will be speaking with a new head coach, and John Harbaugh is the flavor of the month it is. And we got football everywhere, and we got spring training around the corner as well. I even shook hands with Katie Griggs last week. So the Orioles are in play as well for spring training in a couple of weeks as well. And we’re going to be doing a cup of soup or bowl that happens first week February. We’ll be telling you more about it and how you can participate and help us raise the community and lift the community. That’s what we are W, N, S, D, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, we never stop talking, head coaching the Ravens in Baltimore. Positive. Stay with us.