It’s Super Bowl or bust for the Baltimore Ravens. We all know that but there’s been a lot of change to navigate and Sunday is just start of a long journey for the men of Jesse Minter. Luke Jones and Nestor get ready for Indianapolis and beyond as another purple season with Festivus on the brain arrives just in time for the leaves to change and the kids to go back to school.

The discussion focused on expectations for the Ravens’ first game under Jesse Minter and the unresolved risks facing a veteran roster.

New Era

• The coaching change creates a new era, but expectations remain unchanged: the Ravens are expected to contend for the AFC Championship and Super Bowl.
• Luke emphasized that Week One will provide the first meaningful evidence of whether the new staff can manage games, communicate efficiently, and improve the team in high-leverage situations.
• Nestor questioned how fourth-down decisions, clock management, and overall game operation will differ from the previous regime.

Key Questions

• Can Lamar Jackson stay healthy while a reworked interior offensive line protects him?
• Can veteran players including Mark Andrews, Ronnie Stanley, Roquan Smith, and Marlon Humphrey return to high-level performance?
• Will the Ravens tackle effectively against Derrick Henry and Jonathan Taylor, and can the defense become a top-five unit?
• Will the team’s favorable early schedule produce a strong start, or expose growing pains in the new coaching system?

Action Items

• Host the Maryland Crab Cake Tour appearance at Costas in Dundalk on Friday, including the planned crab cake event with Congressman Johnny O. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Return to State Fair for the Maryland Crab Cake Tour on the 24th. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Host the Maryland Crab Cake Tour appearance at Pizza John’s on the 25th. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Schedule and host the upcoming Maryland Crab Cake Tour appearances at Koco’s, Costas in Timonium, Beaumont in early October, and Fishmonger’s Daughter. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• Return with football coverage on Sunday and Monday after the Ravens-Colts game. (@Nestor Aparicio)

Week One Context

• Week One results are unpredictable and do not determine the season, but they will shape confidence around the Ravens.
• The Colts present a serious challenge despite questions about their Super Bowl ceiling.

Coaching Transition

• The group discussed the end of John Harbaugh’s tenure and the need to evaluate Jesse Minter on actual game decisions rather than preseason impressions.
• New leadership must meet the same high expectations established under the previous regime.

Roster Evaluation

• Health at quarterback and the performance of the new interior offensive line are central offensive concerns.
• The roster contains many older, expensive, or underperforming veterans whose seasons could determine the team’s ceiling.
• Mark Andrews and Roquan Smith were identified as particularly important rebound candidates.

Matchup and Schedule

• Derrick Henry and Jonathan Taylor make tackling a major defensive emphasis.
• The early schedule was viewed as manageable, making a poor start especially concerning.
• The conversation concluded with anticipation for the first real game of the Jesse Minter era.

Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We call it Baltimore positive. It is the thing you’ve been waiting for. Even though the baseball stadium’s still behind me, it’s football season. I even wore my Purple Planet Fitness team gear out here as well. I even fit a little better into it. It used to. It shrunk. It grew in the closet, or maybe I shrunk. I’m not sure. All brought to you by our friends at the Maryland Lottery, where I am not going to shrink down from two fried crab cakes. We get the little ones, the five ounces, but I’m going to get two fried crab cakes at Costas on Friday on the Maryland Crab Cake Tour. Johnny O, our congressman’s coming out. I have pointed questions for a guy that works on Capitol Hill, as you can imagine, and of course it’s our 28th anniversary around here. Big appreciation to our partners at GBMC, also our partners at Farnin and Dermer, and Luke is wearing that across his chest because they love sports. We’ll get Zach on here at some point too. We’re going to be back at State Fair on the 24th, but for now, Dundalk this week and the 28th anniversary. Getting a lot of rock and roll around here, and I’m getting inspired to call old rock stars and stuff, but you know what I used to do in football season, Luke? I I used to get inspired to call old football players and have them on. And I’ve seen you know a lot of that going on. Season starting, obviously Wednesday night, Thursday night brought some surprises, especially if you’re a Rams fan. I know that made Howard Balser happy, and I talked to him this week about the Pro Football Hall of Fame and voting, but dude, you and I have had a lot of baseball on our breath over the last five, six months. And this morning, it’s Friday before the game. I’m like, baseball segment, Matt Blunt, man. Let’s talk football. And I have a feeling once the game happens on Sunday, Monday, football, and then whatever happens, good or bad, whatever injury, whatever win or loss, and all you need to do is watch the Rams on Thursday night. They’re gonna go 25 and zero, you know, and they’re zero and one, and they’re on a long ass flight home, and everybody’s got their feelings hurt, and you know Miles Garrett’s gonna look good getting off the bus, but he’s zero and one like he always has been. Yeah, yeah, that

Luke Jones 1:59
that’s one interesting way of putting it, but yeah, it’s the ultimate reminder. And I think I mentioned it to you, or I was talking to someone recently, where I I always think back to that Patriots Bills game week one, right after the Patriots wave goodbye to Lawyer Malloy, and he joins Buffalo, and Buffalo just completely stomps them in week one. It was a Rex

Nestor Aparicio 2:19
Ryan biggest win of his career, right? Was that right? No, no, no, no. This was way.

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Luke Jones 2:22
This was way before Rex was still with the Ravens at this point in time. Oh, okay. I’m mixing up the errors. I remember Rex beat the Patriots one night, and it was like. But the point. But the point is, you you will have some week one results where you just go, “Wow, no one expected that to happen. I mean, not that San Francisco beating the Rams should be like considered impossible, but the way that it played out, right? All the the juxtaposition of the 40 Niners going out there, what eight days early, and the Rams leaving at the last possible minute. I thought that was interesting just to see how that played out. But oh yeah, I mean that I saw even a couple national pundits were suggesting the Rams going undefeated, and while they lose their first game, so so much for that. Rams might win every game from this point on, but it does speak to Week One being the unknown, right? Ravens

Nestor Aparicio 3:11
better go undefeated on Sunday at this point because Monday morning will not smell feel good around here. And this is a Colts team was eight and two last year, so like I talked to all the Indianapolis people this week, thinking to just roll the ball out, and we got more talent. Okay, I mean Rams had more talent too, till they didn’t.

Luke Jones 3:26
Yeah, I mean you just don’t know, right? I mean and look, I mean week one doesn’t decide anything either. I mean, I’ll push back a little bit on what you said. If the Ravens lose Sunday, it doesn’t mean that they’re not going to be a really good team still in 2026. It just means it’s week one, and it messes our confidence next week. Of course, of course. Well, especially I have to point this out, and this was like the best example I’ve seen yet of can we play a game, please? Please, I saw the other day, and it’s not anyone I follow. I’m not, you know, I’m not calling it. It’s it was just a Ravens fan because social media with algorithms and all that, will will will someone will be a in a prominent tweet even though there’s no reason for them. It was a Ravens fan suggesting that Jesse Minter was would be an upgrade over Mike McDonald even, and I’m just like, can we let Jesse Minter? Maybe he will be. Maybe Jesse Minter’s going to win four Super Bowls and Mike McDonald won his one, but Mike McDonald’s won and out, right? Right. Well, Mike McDonald won a Super Bowl in his second year, right? I mean, just let let Jesse Minter coach a game, please. Like before we put him in the Hall of Fame, and I’m not saying that that he’s that he’s not going to be a really good coach, right? I I like this coaching staff on paper, I do, but at the same time, there’s a lot of new, and you don’t know what’s going to happen. And there are fair questions. There are a lot of things to be excited about, but there are fair questions that you and I have talked about. So, I saw that. I’m just like, my goodness, fair questions. John Harbaugh want any of those?

Nestor Aparicio 4:55
Fair questions. Yeah, I mean, it’s just. Well, glad to get rid of him. I mean, mentors. You know, it it’s quiet, but boy, John lit the place on fire Wednesday, didn’t he? A little bit. It did. I mean, I’ve I’ve I’ve heard that 30 different times, though, right? I mean, and look, I mean, there there is some merit. Such a jackass. I just need to say that out loud. Like he was always a jackass. He was a jackass when I was having breakfast with him. But like you put up with it because he’s the king. Now that he’s gone, just I don’t. God bless them. I mean, that’s all I can say. You know, God bless them. You know, I’ve just never never met a more disingenuous person in all. I thought about this, Luke, because I’m I’m on a bandwagon about this because I really that’s the last

Luke Jones 5:38
thing I want to talk about. But go ahead. I’m I’m I’m I’m so I’m just so tired of talking about John Harbaugh. Like not of John of of people still talking about him. Everyone got their wish. He’s gone. Like can we go ahead? Sorry. Am I wishing

Nestor Aparicio 5:50
for the Giants to lose? No, I thought about this the other day because people call me the prick about all of this, and we lost Barry Melrose this week, right? And I knew Barry. I covered Barry, and it got me thinking about every coach I’ve ever met, every coach I’ve ever covered-not the coach of the Edmonton Oilers in you know in 1988 that I talked to one time. I’m talking about coaches I covered. I’m talking about every UMBC coach from Tom Sullivan and Monica DeCandilo, from men’s sports to women’s sports, high school coaches that I’ve covered. Bobby Nick was a coach I covered before he died. So I’ve covered. I can’t begin to tell you how many humans like you’ve covered baseball and football and for us and the Terps and but like I cover all sorts of things and all you know lacrosse coaches and I’ve gone to Philadelphia with Tony Seaman to watch hockey games. I mean I’ve just spent so much time around coaches and leaders, and you were a teacher, and you know how much I love my teachers. All of my teachers, all of my professors. I think of all of these coaches in that way. Barry Melrose being one of them, who was just beloved by everybody he ever touched. Apparently, in in the aftermath, I’m not the only one that thought he was a great Guy, I just the John thing in 18 years of him being here. Oh God, just watching that Wednesday. That’s all I want to say. He is one of I can’t think of a second or third or fourth human I ever covered, from Ray Miller to Johnny Oates, who I’ve wound up getting along with, to Davy Johnson, who made time for me long after he was going. Like it’s just I I I can’t fathom anybody on Team John at this point except Giants fans, I guess. And that’s the way he goes, right? Same against the world, and that’s I mean Jesse Minter’s not going to inspire that piss and vinegar, right? He’s never going to have one of those kind of press conferences because I don’t think it’s his personality, nor is it Mike McDonald’s person. Like literally, like this is John John going to New York and saying I’m the guy. That’s not what we’re getting here, and that’s probably it is a breath of fresh air. I think for you and for everybody out there, right? It

Luke Jones 7:51
is. At the same time, it’s about winning football games, and John Harbaugh won a lot of football games over the years too. So I’ll I I hear what you’re saying.

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Nestor Aparicio 7:59
He had a lot of good football players too.

Speaker 1 8:02
Yeah, he might have that

Nestor Aparicio 8:03
next job. That’s all I’m also going to

Luke Jones 8:05
give him credit for winning football games though. Like you know, everyone that’s left behind and okay, the Ravens are in better shape. Look, I thought it was time. I I suggested probably sooner than you did that at different times the last couple years where it’s like, do you want you wonder if this has run its course? You wonder if it’s run its course. Well, the Ravens better win three Super Bowls now over the next five years, right? If it truly was all about John Harbaugh, right? Which look, everyone owns it, right? John owns it, Lamar owns it, Mark Andrews owns it, Zay Flowers owns it, Marlon Humphrey owns, right? All these

Nestor Aparicio 8:38
names of guys that it’s been so long they’ve been around that I had a press pass five years ago that I stood next to them in their lockers after bad beats, in the season, out of the season, wherever you know, like, and Marlon Humphrey saying we choked and all of that. I did indie radio this week with Beanie Bob, of course, and they asked me about the team and what I expected, and I said, this is a team full of underachievers in lots of ways, and they’re all still here, and John’s gone. I mean, Mark Andrews, what has he won? You know, what’s Roquan Smith won around here after he left the Bears? He wasn’t even here for the really bad beats. You know, Marlon Humphrey was, Ronnie Stanley was. So, you know, but John Harbaugh’s not anymore. So that breath of fresh air of that sort of institutional, we’re in a tough spot. Eight minutes left to go in the game. Everything you and I would say about how John’s going to manage it goes out the the back door, dude. The first fourth and one they have from their own 48 yard line on Sunday, literally, or fourth and two, or fourth and three. They gonna punt? Are they gonna go for it? I mean, philosophically, we’re gonna see. I mean, I know you didn’t want to talk about John eight minutes ago, and I do a lot of things around here to piss you and everybody else off by bringing up topics that are necessary, because it’s been managed one way for 18 years, and on Sunday it’s gonna feel different, and I don’t know how it’s gonna feel. Different because the preseason games don’t even register. So in game, John did all sorts of stuff to piss off Joe Enoch. Certainly, shout out to Cole Roofing and Gordian Energy there. But like, I have no idea what a Jesse Minter head coaching thing looks like any more than maybe John would even know that Mike McDonald could go to Seattle and be a ghost whisperer to lose his starting quarterback five plays into the game and still win the game. You know, pretty good. Yeah, and and

Luke Jones 10:30
when I, I I’m just I’m exhausted hearing about it at this point in time. Everyone got their wishes. What

Nestor Aparicio 10:35
new leadership looks like now? Now, what does new leadership look like? But are they going to be one and five the next six weeks? I would think not. No matter what, their schedule doesn’t dictate that.

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Luke Jones 10:46
It’s a new era, but the same old expectations. Am I am I right? I mean, okay, like we we can keep you know people can keep tearing down John Harbaugh and trashing John Harbaugh. They went 12 and five two years ago. They went 13 and four three years ago, right? They’ve done this in the regular season, right? If if they’re 13 and four, and now

Nestor Aparicio 11:06
Jesse Minter has that Cadillac, right? We’re still

Luke Jones 11:08
going to be talking about will this team get it done in January, right? So in that way, yes, it’s a new era, but it’s the same old expectations. Kyle Hamilton said it best the other day. I mean, he flat out the self awareness that he has, and I’ve talked about this a lot, but he flat out said, “Look, most of the time when you bring in a new head coach, you’re generally in a position where you’re rebuilding, you’re kind of in a transition, you’re you’re you’re making some changes. Whereas he said, “Like this, we’re not in that position at all. We’re we have high expectations. We’re trying to win a Super Bowl. We we know that everyone’s expecting us to be good, and we’re expecting it out of ourselves more than anyone. So it is a different position, and I mean it’s the same deal with Buffalo right now, right? I mean they they’ve got a rookie head coach, but they still have very high expectations. In contrast, John Harbaugh going to the New York Giants, if they go eight and nine relative to what they’ve been the last couple years, more than the last couple years, quite frankly, the last decade for the most part, that’ll be viewed as a successful season there, right? If

Nestor Aparicio 12:13
he goes to the playoffs and loses 41 to 10, week one in L.A. or whatever, they’re they they’ve won. They you know they there was a great hire for them, and it’s been a really good year around here. I don’t even know what a good year would look like. A good year looks like an AFC Championship game appearance. I mean, yeah, and then excuses if you lose it somehow. Like, I mean, I think the fan base gonna be rabbit here, and I think it’s gonna get. This is my prediction. My prediction is they’re gonna be six and two or seven and one. My prediction is they better. They better be if they’re three and three and lose to the Saints and lose to the Falcons. I mean, like if that’s what they are, if we’re slapping around on my birthday, middle of October when the playoffs, baseball playoffs are heating up, I I’ll be shocked if they’re three and three. And that’s not me holding a high expectation. That’s me looking at the teams they’re playing and looking at their roster and saying they’re a whole lot closer to the Rams, and the Rams are 0-1, right? Like I think they have a top six to eight personnel roster, and I think anybody would say that. I think all the betting, and now it’s about good fortune, good luck, these new coaches, the new system, how the old guys hold up, and how the old guys hold up, and where the young guys are, I’m going to be watching that. I’ll be talking a lot about that on Monday, more than John Harbaugh on Monday mornings.

Luke Jones 13:29
Yeah, I mean, I that’s that’s that’s a big question for this team. I mean, I look, it begins with Lamar Jackson being healthy, right? Lamar Jackson’s healthy. If Josh Allen’s healthy, right? Joe Burrow, right? I mean, the Bengals have missed the playoffs three years in a row. Joe Burrow hasn’t been healthy, right? I mean, it’s that simple. We for for as much as people want to talk about Lamar Jackson and his health, I mean, Joe Burrow’s had has missed more games and had more major injuries than Lamar Jackson. So, but but you go down the list of those true franchise quarterbacks, that select group of I don’t know five to seven guys that are at the top, and then say like the next tier of guys that are you know on the fringe of being considered quote elite. It’s the same story. If those guys are healthy, for the most part, you’re going to expect those teams to be in the mix. So it begins with that with with with the Ravens and the offensive line clearly plays a big part in that, and all eyes are going to be on the center-not just the center, but the guards. Right? I mean, they’re going to have three new starters at the interior line spots, so you have that. But yeah, you you look you look a little broader. You you look at the number of veterans on this team that are either on the wrong side of 30, or the last year of a contract, or have been a value concern for a year or two in terms of not living up to what their contract is, and it is going to be very pivotal. And you can find those guys basically just about everywhere on either side of the ball, right? I mean, whether you’re talking about Ron. Stanley at left tackle. Whether you’re talking about Mark Andrews at tight end, on the defensive side of the ball, I mean, you have Roquan Smith, you have Marlon Humphrey. Every

Nestor Aparicio 15:09
room has a a real veteran, right? Yeah, something like that. 30 something in it, right? Yeah,

Luke Jones 15:14
I mean, like more or less, right? I mean, it’s not a not a perfect comparison, but that’s pretty close, right? And and look, you you don’t want to be too young either, right? You want to have a mix of veterans with young players that are on the rise, and and you want to have you know like good leadership. You want to have some guys that have, you know, that have been through it. Even in this case, guys that have been through it and failed in some of those January moments where you’re hoping that you eventually get over the hump. You’re hoping that that ends up being scar tissue that makes you better in the long run, and that’s when you do bring in a new coaching staff when you’d gotten to the point where this thing had run its course with John Harbaugh, and everyone just needed a change, right? And for me, it’s not even so much about needing to tear down John Harbaugh, by any means. It’s about hey, you got to try something different here because to you, what you just mentioned, the idea that they have a top 567, roster in terms of perception. Let’s say in terms of how you win the

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Nestor Aparicio 16:21
Super Bowl with this roster where you and I sit with the Orioles and say they can’t win the World Series with what they have, and we would say that about 15 teams can’t win the the Super Bowl. Just who is their quarterback? Right, exactly. We might have said that about Sam Darnold, right? We might have said that, right? I but we there are still there are dozen teams, right? The Browns aren’t winning the Super Bowl, period, right? Like, let’s start with that. So, and the Giants aren’t winning the Super Bowl either, by the way. So, while we got John Harbaugh on here, you know, I don’t know what their odds are, but they gave me 100 to one. I wouldn’t give you $1 because I just don’t think they’re going to win the Super Bowl. That’s all.

Luke Jones 16:52
Well, and I, and the team the Ravens are going to play on Sunday. I don’t think the Colts are going to win a Super Bowl with Daniel Jones, right? Just that simple. Just But now that said, doesn’t mean that you just look at that on paper and say, “Oh, all you have to do is roll the ball out there and show up, and you’re going to win. No, you got to play good football. So, and I, I do think when you look at this matchup to to make to bring it back to the micro a little bit here. I mean, we’ve spent seven months talking about the macro, right? We we’ve spent seven months talking about the big picture. I do find this to be an interesting matchup from the standpoint of these two running backs. And think about it: all we talk about in the preseason now is what the starters don’t play, and and guys don’t tackle to the ground during practice, and that’s been the case for a long time, right? But I think in this matchup specifically, when you’re talking about two 1,500 yard running backs in Derrick Henry and Jonathan Taylor, and that’s not even taking into account Alamar Jackson, or in the case of the Colts, even though there’s some questions about his health, Alec Pierce, who’s one of the best deep ball threats in the NFL, but you better be you better be ready to tackle either side, right? Because you’ve got some guys that if you miss a tackle, especially on you know outside zone, something like that. I mean, Derrick Henry goes for 70. Jonathan Taylor can do the same exact thing. So I mean, that was one thing I asked Anthony Weaver this week. You know, what is the message this week specifically, I mean, tackling’s a focus every week, right? A point of emphasis every week. You need to tackle, no duh. It’s it’s pro football, but when you haven’t done it in terms of fully done it live to the ground since last January for these guys, it is it it is a little more. I think it is a talking point that’s probably keeping the coach, defensive coaches, up a little bit more this week than next week. When okay, they’ll play the Saints and and these guys have all played a. They don’t know what they have either until they get out there and see. Right? There’s always some unknown. I mean, there there absolutely is, and that’s where there’s excitement with someone like Jacoby Lane, for example, a rookie who had a really nice summer. How does it translate? On the flip side, though, you don’t always know what you have with your veteran players, right? I mean, Mark Andrews. Let’s call a spade a spade. Mark Andrews has declined the last couple years statistically, and that didn’t stop the Ravens from giving him a contract extension last December. What’s he going to look like? And the difference now is there is no Isaiah Likely, there is no Charlie Kohler, right? So, what’s Mark Andrews going to look like? He doesn’t need to be the 2021 version of himself, but I think you’re certainly hoping for him to be better than he was last year, and you’re hoping that you know new system, new ways to use him, new route, new routes, new passing concepts, all of that, and yeah, there there is an element to this of these guys feeling revitalized with a new coaching staff. It’s been called a breath of fresh air. Again, it doesn’t need to be an indictment on the past as much as it’s just hey, it’s new, it’s different. It’s not something where you slide into the same patterns of thinking and all of that. So you’re hoping that there is an element that Jesse Minter and Declan Doyle and Anthony Weaver and the rest of these new coaches at various position groups can bring out something different in some of these guys or reverse some trends. But the other possibility is Mark Andrews is just another year older. Ronnie Stanley’s another year older, right? And and we know what the connotations are when when you say someone’s just another year older, right? On the defensive side of the ball, Roquan Smith is a big name for me. One, you kind of look at the depth chart.

Luke Jones 20:40
You know, for the rest of that position group, I don’t know if they have another great option at the mic if something were to happen to Roquan Smith. But more than that, you look at his cap number and you look at how he’s played the last couple years, and I still think him having a little bit of a renaissance here is a major key for this Jesse Minter defense being as good as everyone wants it to be, right? Meaning, can it be a top five caliber defense as opposed to where it’s been the last couple years, where they’ve had major, major stretches where they were a poor defense even? So, but that’s another guy that you’re looking at it. And in the case of Roquan Smith, I mean, he’s in the next to last year of of his contract. You look at the cap number. This feels like a big year for him. That’s either going to determine one: do the Ravens want to proceed and move forward with him, still be in their inside linebacker? And in that case, that would probably mean looking to extend him to a contract at some point in the next 12 months, or if it doesn’t go well, we might be talking about an exit strategy for him. Well, this is where I would even bring up

Nestor Aparicio 21:46
how astute you are, because anybody that’s listened to this show, even the people that hate me and love you, know that the day that they signed him, you brought him over and traded for him. You looked at that, and I mean, you’ve talked about the Costa having some itchy trigger fingers at various points with Earl Thomas, and you know whatever his mistakes have been, they’ve been mistakes of fast decisions. You know, like desperate, we got to win now. I got to have this. I got to have this player in uniform tomorrow morning. Roquan was one of those guys at a point, and that day you’re like, kind of like Pete Alonso. This is probably not going to smell good three, four years from now, and we’re at that point where we’re smelling it and just wondering like, what is this? Because, dude, the day they brought him in, I thought they had a Hall of Famer. He’s not a Hall of Famer. The day they brought Derrick Henry in, I thought it would transform their offense, and I don’t know that they had the right pieces around, but they’ve had this whole off season to retool, new coach, new young offensive coordinator Lamar in his prime. Say flowers like they have a real receiver that they think, which they haven’t had forever, right? I look at it and say the Roklan thing. It it speaks to when we talk about these things long term, and they make that kind of deal that we have an institutional memory. So does our audience that’s listened to us. My institutional memory on you, whether you work for me, with me, or whatever. If I listen to you on the radio, I remember the day it was signed. You were a little like, that’s going to be a rich contract at some point. And I think, you know, the market interest thing last year, we we universally panned that today. They they like him more than we do. I I don’t like guys that bag out on press conferences after they. I don’t like guys that drop balls and I was just gonna say let’s start with that. You know, like I don’t like un. I mean, I just Mark Andrews. Somebody asked me about him the other day because of the Dexcom and my my wife has a Dexcom and like all that. And they asked me if I talked to him or knew him or whatever. And I’m I’m really I’m thumbs down on all of them for obvious reasons because they let you in and don’t let me in. But Mark Andrews for me, I I don’t understand. I just don’t understand that. And I’m maybe they didn’t like Isaiah Likely. Maybe they you know whatever they’re or it’s it’s really about Eric because this Mark Andrews just Jesse Minter just met him. Not met him. He worked with him before, but like Jesse Minter had no part in this, and now it’s like, all right, take a washed-up tight end and try to figure out how to get him 48 balls this year and make an impact on third down somewhere, and not get the quarterback blown up because, dude, it’s not 2019 for him. It just can’t be.

Luke Jones 24:18
Yeah, and but but I mean, you’re talking about someone who had 422 receiving yards. I mean, there needs to be some bounce back, right? I mean, it’s got to be more than that, right? It doesn’t need to be 900, but you’d like him to be, I don’t know, 600, 700 yards. Is that doable? That shouldn’t be impossible. If you think that’s impossible, then then you were insane for extending his contract, if you’re not thinking that there can be a a realistic rebound here, but but yeah, it’s another pivotal player. And just to address the Roquan Smith thing, I mean, I and I think you portrayed it accurately. I didn’t hate the deal, but I definitely looked at it and said. You need him to play at a really, really high level these next three years to make that deal look, the you know look like something. I think

Nestor Aparicio 25:10
we love the player, and at some point between then and now, they they should have won a Super Bowl. I mean, the Kansas City game would be the you know the one where like if they win that game and go to the Super Bowl. We probably smell different about Marlin Hump, about all these guys, quite frankly, because they haven’t won that kind of game. And when they lose that kind of game, they run out the back door and disappear for nine months and get the coach fired and like and get USAA ads. So I have to bring all of that up because that is that is the totality of what fans you’re buying into? A group that has been not at its best when it’s needed to be, right? When the bright lights are on, that’s it. That’s that’s the story.

Luke Jones 25:48
I mean, that’s been Jesse Minter from his introductory press conference. He’s talked about being at your best when your best is needed. I mean, that has been his line. That that probably got in the job. That’s been his catchphrase. And look, we’re gonna find out. I mean, it’s one thing to talk about the fourth quarter on Sunday if it’s a three-point game. It’s another thing to talk about that in January, right? And that’s Jesse Minter by extension is going to own that, even though he hasn’t been here for that, or even when he was here years ago, it was on a in a way less consequential fashion. But it’s the same deal, and like maybe he could beat

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Nestor Aparicio 26:22
Joe after belly. I mean, maybe no. I mean, like

Luke Jones 26:26
you laugh, but you kind of look at it. You see that. You think of George Seifert winning a Super Bowl the the year after Bill Walsh steps away. I mean, not exactly. You know, there there pit some things. But this is where this is what Kyle Hamilton was talking about the other day where this is a very unique spot for the Ravens and for the Bills and to a lesser degree the Steelers. I think just because no one actually looks at the Steelers and thinks they have a ceiling of being able to win a Super Bowl, right? I just don’t, and I get it. That sounds silly. That sounds arrogant because they won the division last year, but let’s face it, who who are you actually betting money on? If you have to bet on one, Lamar Jackson or Aaron Rodgers, another year older with their respective teams, I think most people are still going to say, I’d like the Ravens’ chances of breaking through this year rather than a 43 year old Aaron Rodgers breaking through this year with Pittsburgh. I don’t know. Maybe I’m wrong on that, but I think that would be the consensus. But point is, you know, with all of this, it is it is a challenging spot to be in if you’re Jesse Mincher and this coaching staff because, and they know it, like they embraced it, right? I mean, these guys wanted this job because of Lamar Jackson, right? They wanted this job because of Zay Flowers and the the talented players on both sides of the football. But there, there’s an expectation with that, right? We just said it. If John Harbaugh goes eight and nine or nine and eight with the Giants in year one, most of these head coaches, new head coaches, first year head coaches with their new respective teams, if they go eight and nine, nine and eight, I mean that that that fan base maybe not throwing them a parade, but they’re really excited. If the Bills, most of those franchises, just want to play a game that matters after Thanksgiving, literally half

Nestor Aparicio 28:16
season. But

Luke Jones 28:17
if the Bills or the Ravens go eight and nine or nine and eight, that’s that’ll be a failure for those two teams, right? So that’s, and I’m not I’m not shedding anything. I’m not saying anything new that we haven’t been talking about since January. But that is something that just take makes me take a little more pause. That you do have a lot of new that you’re navigating, and that’s where going back to the point you made a little bit earlier talking about the early season schedule, that’s where the early season schedule is huge. Can you imagine the Ravens having the early season schedule this year with a new coaching staff that they had a year ago, where you know, yes, injuries started to mount, and that that was the factor as well. But you just looked at that schedule over the first six or seven games last year, and you-they weren’t going to be six and zero. That was a bear, right? Exactly. I mean, you didn’t want them to be one and five either, and and that’s where the disaster, you know, in terms of getting the ball rolling towards John Harbaugh being fired. But you look at this, even with some new, even with the idea that Declan Doyle might, there might be a little bit of chopiness with the offense early on, or Jesse Minter might have a clock management snafu at some point in time, right? And and these things are going to happen because even veteran head coaches have those things happen, right? Andy Reid to this day still is not known as someone who’s particularly great at managing the clock, and yet he’s won multiple Super Bowls and will be a Hall of Fame coach. I think that’s the

Nestor Aparicio 29:42
first thing we’ll see with with Minter is those things that we thought John was bad at in those moments and in those fast decisions where you burn a timeout because you can’t make a decision, like all of that in game management where stuff happens real fast. Real fast. I mean, I saw Jesse Minter had his dad around this week. I mean, dude, they’re all doing a lot of praying on that when they wake up on Sunday morning. That when that clock is ticking down and they get the play in and the right play and what the sheet said and what we talked about on Tuesday, what we’ve talked about for a month now about circumstances. If this, then that’s what our decision is going to be. It’ll be interesting to see how fluid that is because it never felt that way with John. It never felt like John had his act together in those moments to have built a system that would allow for that. For in that moment, not having panic, but just having already made the decision ahead of time and just and and make it, and I think that that’s where, when I’ve read books about like Bill Walsh, and I mean I I do this too, and I I don’t know that I’ve talked to Marvin or Brian or people I know really really well about that, and I think it’s different for like hockey with trots changing lines and different things like that. In football, we all sit and watch it, and the clock winds down. It’s kind of like baseball. Baseball has no clock, or used to have no clock. But the the the notion of what you’re going to throw next, what pitch you’re going to like, all of that. The football decisions for me are always those fourth down. Are we going to go for it or not? Clocks ticking, can’t get the play in. The operation, as you would call it, right? Like the operation wasn’t good around here recently. I’d like to see that better.

Luke Jones 31:24
That that’s fair, and it’s funny you brought up Bill Walsh because I’ll remember one of the more memor one of the more impressionable things that Declan Doyle talked about at some point. I don’t know. I don’t. This might have been OTAs. Maybe it was training camp. I can’t remember when. It was sometime this spring or summer, and he was kind of asked about that kind of that kind of thing, right? Whether you’re talking about fourth down decisions, you know what scripting plays, whatever it is, and he actually cited something that Bill Walsh said that you want most of your decision making and preparing for those situations to happen in the air conditioning. And what he means by that is you’re scrimmaging and going through and laying out those scenarios and preparing for every scenario you can possibly think of to say, hey, we’re going to do this in this situation if this happens. Now, it’s also very difficult to anticipate every single thing that’s going to happen. Something will happen at some point in time. Jesse Minter, who may beat Vince Lombardi before it’s all said and done, right, might be the greatest coach of all time. He will mess some things up from time to time because every coach is going to. Because I also have the awareness of understanding, and you know it too. Anyone who’s gone out to training camp and has just watched practice from being 30 feet away, you know how fast things happen, and it’s way faster than it looks on TV, even. So something weird will happen at some point in time, and something will get messed up. You hope it doesn’t cost you a football game, right? You hope it’s not in the final 30 seconds, but it might be with five minutes ago in the first quarter that there’s something weird that happens, and and you’re not paying attention to the play clock, and you’ve got to burn a timeout, or you miss challenging something. You know, things will happen because you can try to scrimmage for every single scenario that there is, and there’s still going to be some things that that turn up. That well, that was the when Harbaugh

Nestor Aparicio 33:17
got embarrassed by Belichick up in New England. Sure, sure. Where the where the referees didn’t know the rules, literally, right? Well,

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Luke Jones 33:24
and and I would and I would even say in that spot, one that was always you know the Belichick Brady Patriots, whether they were doing things that were flat out cheating or something where you just say, wow, they really know the rule book because what they did there was legal. The NFL banned it the following off season, but what they did there was legal, and I would say you know what, John Harbaugh probably was just in a bad spot there because I’m guessing there were probably other teams that would have been in a similar position there where it’s like oh my god like what’s going on here is that a rule you know what I mean so sometimes it’s sometimes it’s sometimes you’re just a victim of circumstance too, where something can best pop up. Oh, how

Nestor Aparicio 34:04
about bad officiating? Let’s talk about that, right? Like that, you know, bad call. You are the victim of bad circumstance, though, right? No doubt

Luke Jones 34:10
about it. So, so with all of that, I think it’s just a reminder of, it’s a lot of new. It’s a brand new head coach. For as much as, yeah, it was time, and I think it was time to move on from John Harbaugh and to move on from that coaching staff. There was a lot of, you know, there were a lot of veteran coaches who’ve been around a long time, and that can be a bad thing. But that’s also a good thing in a lot of ways. In the case of Jesse Minter and a new coaching staff, that can be a great thing in a lot of ways. And I think it, I think it can be and will be over time. I think Jesse Minter is going to be a good NFL head coach. That said, none of us really know, truly know, Sunday is going to be the first truly meaningful data data point. The honeymoon officially ends on Sunday, right? Because Jesse Minter will either have a win to his name or a loss to his name. Same thing’s going to go. With every other new head coach around the league, but yeah, you look at these this early season schedule. It is a little more forgiving on paper. Doesn’t mean your automatic wins, but it is a little more forgiving if there do happen to be some growing pains here or there with Doyle calling plays for the first time. With the how about the Jesse Minter Anthony Weaver dynamic, right? If there happens to be a hiccup for some reason, you do look at those early games at Indy home against New Orleans going to going to Rio de Janeiro for the the Dallas games. So that’s you know that’s the wild card in these early season games. Tennessee at Atlanta. I mean Atlanta. Cooper Rush might be playing quarterback for them. I mean I rest my case, right, with where they are at least at the moment with their the health of their quarterbacks. And then at Cleveland, I mean you look at those first six games, I’m with you. I mean look, I’m not expecting six and zero. It’s the National Football League, but the Rams were expecting six and zero. Sure, but I’m just but I’m just saying it’s it’s the National Football League. I I I I would never be so assuming to think that they’re just going to roll the ball out and be six and zero. They they could be, but I’m not going to necessarily expect that. But yeah, if they’re three and three, you kind of look at this and say, ooh, what is going on? Ooh, are they up to to the task? Ooh, is this coaching staff as as impressive as we thought, or have some of these players gotten older than they need to be? Quite frank, in terms of you know, in terms of how they play. So, I don’t think they’ll do that. I think I expect this team to get off to a good start. I expect them to win on Sunday. I think I think there’s probably more scenarios out there for them to win comfortably some Sunday than to lose and and to to really look bad. But they still have to go out there and make plays, pre-snap penalties, tackling things that frankly you can practice in training camp, but you don’t fully simulate. You know, those are the things that you kind of watch out for in this first game, and even probably game two to to some extent. But you know, I’m looking forward to it.

Nestor Aparicio 37:16
This can be fun, man. Yeah,

Luke Jones 37:17
let’s have something real to talk about. I’m, I’m, you know, all the Jesse Minter narratives and all that stuff and all the, you know, player comments and you know all the the vibes, right? How many times have we heard about the vibes being great this this spring and summer? I mean that’s well and good. Go out and win a football game, have one and O to your name Monday morning, and then hey, now you’re a head coach in the National Football League, who’s won a game, and now it’s let’s settle into a season that has very high expectations that everyone’s embracing, but you still have to be ready for it.

Nestor Aparicio 37:51
You made me laugh because you’re like vibes, vibes, vibes, and I’m thinking that’s all I’ve heard. Like I mean, but you know what, dude? That’s good. When John Harbaugh leaves the building and someone else comes in. The vibes are going to be better, in a general sense, from that sense of 18 years of whatever that was and whatever he’s bringing to New York. So it it is fun disliking the Giants for the first time in my life because I liked Ernie, of course, and George Young a whole lot. I like George Young more than he liked me, but that’s a joke. He he would laugh at that. Lucas here. We’re doing crab cakes each and every week, Kirsty, my friends, at the Maryland Lobby, we’re going to be doing the Raven Kiss Face Bird giveaway at Costas and Dundalk this week. We’re going to be at State Fair on the 24th, Pizza John’s on the 25th. We’re moving it back to Koco’s. We’re going to be back at Costas and Timonium, and I know we’re going to get to to Beaumont as well in early October and Fishmonger’s Daughter as well, where we did the show a few weeks ago. Always, what a beautiful place that is over in Catonsville. All star friends at GBMC-they’re going to be upset that I’m going to be eating a fried crab cake at Costas on Friday in Dundalk because when I go to Dundalk, that’s what I do. Johnny O is going to be joining me, Congressman and Luke. If I told you that I camped out for concert tickets, does that mean anything to you? I say camped out. If I camped out for concert tickets, can you define what that even means?

Luke Jones 39:10
You mean literally to camp? Like you stay overnight at the ticket box office to get tickets?

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Nestor Aparicio 39:16
Do you think I’m the kind of guy that’s ever done that in my life once?

Luke Jones 39:18
I would assume maybe you did when you were a teenager or something like that.

Nestor Aparicio 39:22
See, I love this that you don’t know this about me and you know me pretty well. We did this a lot, and the guys that I did it with are all coming to Costas on Friday, and they’re bringing their ticket stubs. And I have my whole box of all of my Capital Center, Civic Center, just all the old ticket stubs. Then I have more new ones, which are paper because you had to print them out, and then the digital, which who the hell knows how my memory is going to serve. It’s good thing I got a Google Calendar, but I’m putting together like these 3,000 concerts I’ve been to. If I had to put together every baseball game I’ve ever been to, it’d be impossible, because because the press passes wouldn’t. I didn’t. I didn’t have ticket stubs. For a lot, I mean, I’ve been to 1,500 baseball games that I have no ticket stub for, and recollections of box scores. And was I there that night when Messina pitched or Ben McDonald? Like, but concerts, I’ve kept every ticket and every ticket that I could. But this is what screwed me up. It’s like Hammer Jackson had a backstage pass, so I never had a ticket at Hammerjacks, so any of that is memory calendars. Was I there that night? Was I not? And the other one is like bar concerts. Like when I see Tommy Comwell or Smithers, pay 20 bucks at the bar, you walk in, right? You go to bottle and cork and Dewey Beed, you walk in. So I got to figure all, but I’m I’m doing the math on all this. But these guys, as crazy as it will say, these stories are going to be batshit for you because I think Ace and I camped out like three days for Journey. We lived at the Reisterstown Road Hack Company across in Dmitry’s Greek Restaurant. There was a great Chinese joint there. Had great shrimp toast. We did stuff. We were 14 years old, 15 years, like 13 years old. Like, I just got to tell you how crazy, because you’re shaking your head. You’re like, yeah, and we’re gonna talk. I got witnesses. I got the tickets. What’s gonna happen is Ace, who was the keyboard player in my band years ago, he’s gonna have like seat three, and I’m gonna have seat four at the Journey concert in 1982 at the Capitol Center. So it’s going to be a good time. We’re telling some stories, mixing some music in. Luke and I have bitched enough about baseball, football. We’ve predicted enough, and now on Monday we get like a real season. So I’m excited about this. Luke Jones can be found at Baltimore. Luke, I can be found at Costas this week or at Baltimore Positive. If you want breaking news and it happens fast, you get on the WNST Tech Service. We’ve had that here for 20 years now. It’s all brought to you by Cole Roofing and Gordian Energy. And big thanks to Bill Cole and the Accelerant Crew for bringing me out on Thursday. Had a good time out there as well. And I think that’s all the. You have anything else? Next time you and I get together, the Ravens will be 0 and 1 or 1 and 0. Thank God, right?

Luke Jones 41:58
Yeah. I mean, let’s play a game. Let’s have a game to talk about. We’ve had these big picture conversations for seven months now, eight months, whatever it is, since you know the coaching change. So let’s play a game and let’s see what this thing looks like in the first game of the Jesse Minter era.

Nestor Aparicio 42:13
I hope it feels better than the Rams feel right now, flying over Tahiti on their way home, zero and one. He is Luke. I am Nestor. Happy weekend. Have a great football weekend, everyone. We’ll be back Sunday, Monday, but you can find us anytime at baltimorepositive.com.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai