It’s the January matchup we’ve always talked about – the Baltimore Ravens needing to win on a 15-degree night in Buffalo by pounding the football. Bills insider Matt Parrino of Syracuse.com tells Nestor why Josh Allen has earned the love of Buffalo and what a Super Bowl parade would look like in Buffalo on a February day. And a debate about whether Lamar and King Henry can prevail in Orchard Park.
Nestor Aparicio and Matt Parrino discuss the upcoming playoff game between the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills. Parrino highlights the Bills’ 13-win season and their strong offense, particularly Josh Allen’s playoff performance. He notes the Bills’ defensive improvements and their success against the run. Aparicio emphasizes the Ravens’ reliance on Derrick Henry and the challenges posed by cold weather. Both agree on the game’s significance, with potential Super Bowl implications. They also discuss the Bills’ new stadium and the impact of weather on the game. The conversation reflects the excitement and high stakes of the matchup.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Buffalo Bills, Super Bowl, Josh Allen, Derrick Henry, Ravens offense, Bills defense, playoff game, home advantage, offensive line, turnover battle, fourth down, stadium atmosphere, fan excitement, game prediction, NFL playoffs
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Matt Parrino
8
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive. Make sure you’re clicking on us, following us, doing all the stuff out there, because traffic’s up. It’s first week of the year. We got big football games going on everywhere. Luke’s out. No X mills. He’ll keep it all square. The Maryland crab cake tour gets back out on February 12. February 12, the day after the parade. Wherever the parade might be, I will be up at libs grill in Bel Air giving away Maryland lottery. Have lucky magic eight, eight ball scratch off. I don’t know what I’m doing. We’re a couple weeks out on that. In the meantime, big football 18 degrees of game time up in Buffalo I have been to Frank and Teresa’s world famous anchor bear. I’m going to have rag and Balani on talking about the time we all set in the end zone and watch the K gun offense and Ted March abroad to run around and did the mighty taco we did the bills make me want to shout and but that was 40 years ago, and they’re building a nice little mall across the street there that’s impeding the tailgating, from what I can tell. But it is a hearty weekend for bills mafia. Matt Perino covers all thanks Buffalo Bills from syracuse.com he is a defending champion on this program, and everybody’s wound up up there from Syracuse all the way west, all the way to the Canadian border, even into Canada. It’s good times, and we got the game of the week, man. How are you? You holding on here? Okay, early in the week, Yeah,
Matt Parrino 01:29
I’m good. I you know, the thing is, you gotta, you know, just take it easy one day at a time, right? That’s what Sean McDermott always says. And I think that on that point he he’s got a good plan for a week like this, where there’s going to be so much back and forth the national noise. I mean, the unfortunate part about this is, we’re getting what could be the Game of the Year in the second round of the playoffs. And, you know, who knows? Maybe the winner of this game goes on to win the Super Bowl. And it’s exciting. I think all of them, from a Ravens bills perspective, at this point, the rest of the way, are going to be top of the top of the line. Super exciting, everything on the line. And that’s what we go through the 1718, weeks for,
Nestor Aparicio 02:07
Alright, are you provincial or are you not provincial? Because I don’t, you know. I don’t know enough about you, but the provincial part of my baltimoredom, you know, with look, I went to the bills championship games up there when my team was stolen and gone, right? So, like, we never thought we never thought we were going to get another team. We’ve had two parades since the Norwood thing that I participated in with art shell and Jay Schrader back in the day. And I’m an oiler fan. I’ve been wearing my Derrick Henry oiler Jersey all week, so I have a little history with y’all up there. But there really is something about not, you know, having the parade, not smelling the fruit that it’s devastating for the Vikings the other night, for their fan base, in places where it hasn’t happened, Atlanta, some other places, Cleveland, want to see them all the time as well, Cincinnati, too. But for you guys, I it is. I’ve been to all these places so many times over 30 years. As a fan in the upper deck, a media member, whatever, I just the buffalo is a special place, you know. And everybody I know that’s from there that shares in it. There is something where I really do want you to win. I want to say that out loud for all.
Matt Parrino 03:13
8Well, that’s very nice of you this year,
Nestor Aparicio 03:15
but I want you to win, you know, right? One of these years,
Matt Parrino 03:17
right? Um, no, it’s interesting, because if you look at these two teams side by side, there’s this all in approach that Baltimore took this year, going out and bringing in Derrick Henry at, you know, the other side of 30, there’s like a ticking time clock there,
Nestor Aparicio 03:34
right? Do you not like that? Or do you like that the day it happened,
8Matt Parrino 03:36
the Henry resigning? I mean, I think that at this the ceiling, which is what it’s been all year, I thought it could be really special. I just wondered if Derek Henry was going to hold up. And man, he just ever he’s like the Lebron James of football. The guy takes care of his body like nobody I’ve ever seen in professional sports. It’s absolutely tremendous and a devastating matchup for this bills team. And the bills this off season, they got rid of Stefan Diggs. They traded him. Everybody thought it was a soft reset year, and they go out and they win 13 games. Probably should have been 14, if they didn’t set everybody in the last week, beat the chiefs, beat the lions like the only real blemish on their schedule this year is the Baltimore Ravens back in week four, and they have a chance to right the wrong if you will. We’ll see this weekend they’re a home dog. Though they haven’t got a home dog in 42 games. Hold
Nestor Aparicio 04:27
on, that was one. It was the other way. The beginning of the week, it was one. It was one. Bills were favored by a point. Now you say it’s going the other way,
Matt Parrino 04:34
it’s going the other way, so all the money’s coming
Nestor Aparicio 04:37
8in. Doesn’t shock me. And listen, they won going away handily, but the bills bring back three key defensive components that weren’t a part of that game. The Ravens have, you know, struggled at various points with penalties with the defense on the back end, nobody’s exposed. Branded Stevens and i know i. You know, that’s all out in the DVO a world of if that’s a weakness to get after it. And then there’s just the fact that Lamar doesn’t love cold weather. Hasn’t played great this time of the year. They put themselves, really in a position to have to go to Buffalo, to go to Kansas City. I said, Look, nobody’s going to question this team if they win the Super Bowl, because they will have done it the slobber knocker tough way after last year, paving a road where they had to hold their lunch at home and couldn’t and didn’t and didn’t run the ball. Well, I’m the Derrick Henry guy, right? I’m the guy that was two years ago at the trading deadline saying, You love Lamar. I love Lamar. Lamar is not going to win a Super Bowl without a better running back without something that’s going to punish people once they get a lead in the third and fourth quarter to 10 point game in January on the road in Buffalo. And I think I’ve said that so much like a broken record, because it’s like, that’s what I always felt like they were going to have to do. I felt like that with Ingram in 19 they had that. I felt like they tried with Dobbins in the injuries and did. They’ve had some unfortunate things, but they were still winning games with the Tavis Murray. I mean, they, you know, put anybody back there with Lamar, and they become better. Put Jim Brown back there. It’s a whole different game, man, for
Matt Parrino 06:11
sure. This is a completely different team. And honestly, from a matchup perspective, the bills did a really nice job against the run against the Broncos last week. But the way the Broncos or the ravens are built, is kind of their kryptonite. They’re very small at the second level. They have a couple of safeties that are playing their first season together, and Damar Hamlin and Taylor rap rap is like over aggressive at times. And Hamlin is more that deep kind of coverage safety. I don’t think that you want him up in the box challenging Derek Henry, but they’re going to have to, they’re going to have to, as a team, find a way to flock to the football, no pun intended, and try to figure out a way to really punish Derek Henry, because that’s, to me, the success they’ve had against Henry in the past. He’s had his fair share of success against the bills, but when they’ve done well against them, they’ve taken him out. They’ve neutralized, him early, forced the team to really lean into the past, and when we’ve seen it the ball, when Baltimore gets up early in games, they can kind of cruise, continue to give the ball. He gets downhill on you, it turns into panic mode. Now, the bills have an offense in their own right that I think is about as scary as a offense as you can find, especially with the way that Josh Allen plays in the playoffs. He’s statistically the greatest quarterback in NFL history, numbers wise, in the playoffs now, against this Baltimore Ravens defense has played well second half of the season, it’ll be interesting. But there’s this other piece to this matchup, aside from the fan banter back and forth about MVP. But nobody puts chips on their shoulder like Josh Allen, and He can say whatever he wants publicly, he is going to find a way to take it personally, how it just seems like the masses have just considered what Lamar has done this year better than what he has done. And he’ll find a way to find that motivation in his mind. And I think he’s going to play like that on Sunday, and it might be a shootout, and it might have to go blow for blow, but this bill is offense. When eight straight games scoring 30 points a game, they put up 31 on the top defense in the NFL from the regular season last week, they’re going to be able to score points at home in Buffalo, and that’s going to be the excitement about it. Matt
Nestor Aparicio 08:16
Perino is our guest. He@syracuse.com’s Tell me what syracuse.com is, and what you do and how long you’ve been covering the bills. Because covering the bills, because I always like to put the credibility behind what
Matt Parrino 08:25
we do around here. Yeah, so I, I’ve been the bills beat reporter for the Syracuse Post Standard. That’s the newspaper in Syracuse, Syracuse com, they got into the bills game about 1015, years ago. I am the third iteration of beat reporter for them. And then we built the shout Buffalo Bills, football. Podcast, all of your platforms do you want to view from the other side this week, that’s my baby, and we spend a lot of time on that. Say
8Nestor Aparicio 08:50
that again so everybody can shout. Bills. Podcast, shout, shout, Bill. The bills make me wanna shout. There you go. I think I don’t know that that was born during that, that run back in the the K gun offense. And yes,
Matt Parrino 09:03
it was, it was so they had the shout song. I don’t know the year was that it was definitely going while the Super Bowl era was happening. Man,
Nestor Aparicio 09:11
I, I got in the car, drove six hours up there for that. And I’m telling you what. Man, if you couldn’t have fun that night in Buffalo, when they were going to Tampa to go their first Super Bowl, and to think all these years later, it’s still there in that want, but the stadium’s coming the stability of ownership after Ralph Wilson, leadership in the general manager and seeing it through with McDermott, you know, after Rex Ryan, who was, you know, here. And I know Rex is but, but what’s been built there, and I think what’s not lost in the translation of a guy who was in the Ravens building for three decades, where they really only had one mind, right? There was the Aussie mind that’s become the the cost of mine. Even from modell to Bucha, there’s only been one football mind, right? And one football way of doing things, even from Billick to. Uh, to hardball. The bills teach football, and I think there’s a development thing that the bills have gotten great at, and saying, all right, we got this special quarterback. How are we going to build around him without a $20 million wide receiver that might be aging? And the perception of the team in the off season was that they taking a step and a half back, not just a step. And I think the perception of the Ravens was they lost so much on defense. It was so disappointing. They, you know, they done everything they could do to be a one seat, still couldn’t get there. Mahomes is the kryptonite to the whole thing, both of these franchises, and certainly, Justin Tucker’s, the only guy that’s got a ring on our side for real, Van Noy and, you know, and some other cases, some veteran guys. But just from a Ravens perspective of being here, when Joe Flacco was here, there’s hard ball and Justin Tucker, and that’s it. And and they and if Tucker has to make a 52 yarder in Buffalo at 11 o’clock in a 3129 game, I don’t you know the the fan base here, and the football world is questioning that, because it hasn’t been happening. It’s fascinating that this appointment that somebody’s going to feel on Monday morning on both sides, and even if they win the MVP a couple of weeks from now, and the notion that you still got Kansas City ahead, I mean that this isn’t the Super Bowl, but it certainly is getting a build up here this week for both of not just the fan bases, that doesn’t matter the players themselves, and the testosterone level that’s going to be necessary in an 18 degree night to survive this one on Sunday night.
Matt Parrino 11:34
8Yeah. And I think the way that you lay that all out is is really well said, especially with how they’ve lean into their you know, of course, culture is the buzz buzz word, but really the belief that they have in the staff that Sean’s built, their pro and college staff that evaluates these players, they’ve done a really good job at pinpointing some really important pieces. Like you move on from Stephon Diggs, and you bring in a guy like Mac Hollands, who has been this kind of throw away in multiple spots over the course of his career. Comes in here. Has a career high in touchdowns. I did a story on him last week, and what he’s meant inside the building, and the guy that he is as a teammate, what he does on special teams, all the boxes that he checks that means something to so many people. Khalil Shakir, they’ve developed him as a fifth round draft pick. He’s second in the NFL in the regular season and yards after the catch. What they’ve been looking for over the past few years is they’ve kind of developed Allen in his own right. So they’ve done a lot of really good things. But offensively, Josh Allen, the weapons we can talk about all them, it stops and starts with this offensive line, the way that they’ve improved over the last three seasons and the pieces that they’ve put on there alongside Dionne Dawkins, who has been there Pro Bowl caliber left tackle for many years, has been tremendous. Their offensive line coach, Aaron Cromer, Joe Brady, calls them the best in the business and the proofs in the pudding. I mean, the way that he’s gotten the best out of all five of these guys. They’re playing at Pro Bowl or higher levels. You see a lot of the Film Junkies on social media, putting out weekly clips on Spencer Brown at right tackle. He’s quietly become one of the top guys. You talk about Panay Sewell at the top, when you get down to that next tier, you’re usually talking Spencer brown pretty quickly. And that’s where, to me, this bill’s offense has been able to kind of stay stabilized in the aftermath of digs and Mitch Morris and Dave Davis. Moving on, is this offensive line one through five is tremendous? Well, the Ravens
Nestor Aparicio 13:27
had this going before as well when Dobbins came in. And look, we have the pedigree back here with Ray Rice before that. Jamal Lewis is going to come in on the show next week as well. I would just say they got rid of Zeitlin. They got rid of Morgan Moses. And we thought, Oh, we were asking questions about the when they’re losing to the Raiders before they beat you guys and then lost to the browns. This is about the offensive line leading the world in penalties holding, you know, penalties as well. And running the football was always what they wanted to do with Lamar. Lamar wanted to run the football more than pass the football in the beginning. And I mean, I was shocked in the Steeler game the other day when Lamar has run the ball 10 times in the first quarter, which is, I don’t it’s ill advised, and it’s, it’s, you know, for me, this time of year, any time of the year, he gets hurt, it’s all over with. But I would say the offensive line, the Ravens went another direction, not so quietly, but they put all the money in the running back which nobody wants to sign running backs and give them money. I have their agents on all the time talking about that my buddy, Chad weasel years the agent for Josh Jacobs. Well, you know, when running backs aren’t important, you don’t need one. Well, if you have one, like Jim Brown. I mean, I keep thinking about if they got off the bus without him, how this would look differently in the aftermath, because there’s no replacing Derrick Henry. You’re not going to draft another Derrick Henry around here. So this feels like their best shot to do it, and yet they’re doing it with an offensive line that, quite frankly, with the guards. Luke and I talk about it all the time. I’m Luke, my reporter with The Ravens, and it’s if they’re 22 positions that they’ve put on the field. They’ve taken the guards 21 and 22 like literally at the beginning of the season, for draft capital money, thought about it, and especially getting rid of Kevin zeitger, who’s playing a pretty good brand of football too. I would just say the opposite is in effect, where the bills have built this offensive line around their quarterback in a way that they didn’t want to do it that way here. They’ve done it a different way here, but
Matt Parrino 15:30
it’s worked, right? It’s worked to this point, and I do agree that you know that there’s some question marks about those games that you mentioned, but in big games, even in some of their big time higher profile losses, like the Chiefs game, I still thought that, you know, Isaiah likely comes down with his feet and bounds. And we’re talking about a completely different kind of vibe around, you know, the their big time performances this season. And I just still think, going into the playoffs, they’ve been the hottest team as good as the bills have been down the stretch, and the Detroit Lions, and you can throw probably a team or two else in there, they’re just, they’re trending up at the exact right time. And I you mentioned the guards, the bills on the other side of the ball, on their defensive line, their defensive tackles, have to expose that, and in games this year, they haven’t always been able to do that. Now you have an ED Oliver and Daquan Jones starting defensive tackles for the bills who were just straight up pissed off in the locker room after the game. They heard the noise about how susceptible they were to the run, and they they hold the Broncos running backs to 35 yards, and they were kind of feeling themselves a little bit. But, you know, some of the questions I had after that game were like, Okay, that’s great, no, but you do know what’s up up next? And you know, maybe I’ll eat a little bit of it, but it’s going to be a challenge, even with the issues that you mentioned for the bills to hold up against the run game and eliminate some of those explosive runs, because that’s where Derek Henry, I think, puts you in such a bind, is that at any given time he can take a a third and eight from the their own 38 yard line to a first and 10 at your 40. And now it’s a completely different complexion of a drive, and defenses get defeated under that, and now you got to deal with Lamar Jackson as he moved down the field and then in the red zone. So how game is this defense to really stand up and hold up against the constancy of that over the course of a game will be interesting to watch.
Nestor Aparicio 17:16
I would just say this. Matt Perino is our cast of syracuse.com four downs is a lot for this offense. And you know, when they’re chunking off eight on first? I mean, they’re they eat in second and one, second and two, second and three, and that’s when they just kill you, because they’re just going after it, and especially with with Henry getting him in the backfield before the legs get moving and he gets to that second level where it’s going to take more than one to bring him down. And then there’s the turnover. Part of this is, you know, whoever puts the ball on the ground, and both of these team, both of these quarterbacks, both of these offenses. I mean, I always thought the original sim with Lamar was going to be that sleight of hand, the mesh point, at some point, the ball was going to hit the ground more than you wanted it to in that kind of an offense, Lamar has been impeccable at taking care of the football. It’s been, you know, aside from every other strength he has, including his passing game, getting better, reading defenses and moving defenses and calling plays at the line, and he audible at it, like all of those strengths, they take care of the football both of these teams. So I would say, yeah, the ball will pop up. There’ll be a turnover. To me, the game gets one when it gets crunchy on fourth and two and three. And are we going to go for it? Are we going to not are we going to stop it? Nobody’s going to want to punt in this game. Nobody’s going to want to kick a field goal in 18 degrees. So I see this as winning first down allows you to get the fourth down, and then you have to win fourth down too, you know, because they’re gonna go, you know, anywhere between the 30s, 30 fives, I would say, you know, it’s, it’s four down territory. Nobody’s gonna want to surrender the ball. And I think both teams think that, I got a quarterback, I got a guy, I got a system. We can make a fourth and four from anywhere on the field.
8Matt Parrino 18:58
I think the first game between this game between these two teams is almost going to supercharge Sean McDermott’s aggressiveness, because to be on the losing end of a, you know, three score game, whatever it ended up being, 3510 or whatever it was. And you remember in that game, they had a fourth and two, I believe, at their own 39 and he punted, and he was criticized heavily for that in that game, there was other things that led to it, and, you know, you know, some other plays, I think a turnover in that game too, but you’re right on the money. I mean, you have to play the best chance that you have to win this game, if you’re either team, is when the balls in Lamar Jackson’s hands or the balls in Josh Allen’s hands, and if you take it out of their hands for any extent, extended period of time gives the other team an opportunity, more chances, and that that to me, they’re so good, both teams on those fourth and shorts. There’s so many things. I mean, look at the bills on fourth and one. Last week, Josh Allen ends up throwing a 26 yard touchdown to the back of the ends onto his running back like it’s just insanity when you had that. Kind of play, making it the position you put your trust and faith in that. And I think Sean McDermott will? I think Harbaugh will? I think it’s almost going to be like a big game of chicken, like, who’s going to flinch first in those moments. I think it’s going to be a close game. I think this is going to be something where they go back and forth throughout the course of the game. Maybe somebody takes an early lead, the other team kind of comes back. It’s going to be a heavyweight fight, a lot of overhand rights. The bills being at home, though, is the one thing you know, if this game was happening in Baltimore, man, it’d be tough. I think the bills beat them in Baltimore last year. Maybe it was the year before. I can’t remember. It was real mucky, rainy day, but obviously a big difference now between these two teams and who they are. But I think it gives a slight advantage to the bills being at home. Well, they’re
Nestor Aparicio 20:43
both peaking at this time. Matt perinos, our guest, he@syracuse.com’s you can find him out on the inner webs. That’s P, A, R, R, I N, O, parting shot for you in the Buffalo part of this I saw the I’ve been making jokes all week that I saw the blimp shot from above the new stadium, the spaceship that’s going in there from Tottenham that they’re landing in Western New York, and the seats that are dry and all of the warm and all of that. And I said, Man, they’re they, they’ve given up some valuable tailgating space for a few key seasons here just to build that thing in the parking lot. But there is a point for the future of all of this that whoever’s grandkids were there 40 years ago, and me and, you know, sort of the shame of OJ being the greatest player in the organization and then all of that, and still not winning. There is a point where I think there’s going to be a parade there at some point in the Josh Allen arrow would give that the opportunity, but the stadium’s coming on at the right time. I mean, I love Jon Bon Jovi. I know he’s not real popular in western
Matt Parrino 21:41
uA. He’s not, no, he’s he just was, you know, had some things to say during that whole era. But the stadium to your point, it’s, it’s gorgeous. And I know some people are like, Oh, build a dome. Build a dome. I think that they’ve done kind of something in the middle. I think some there will be a level of protection the wind and all that kind of stuff. They have heat everywhere. So like, even when it does snow on the field, it’s probably not going to look the same as it did in the old stadium. But also, when you have a quarterback like Josh Allen, and the goal is to have a great, elite quarterback in the modern NFL, you almost don’t want the elements to affect it too much, because then it takes the advantage away that you have. And it’s crazy,
Nestor Aparicio 22:21
8right? You know what? I mean, the sport is built for you to want to get a home game, and you’d rather go play it in Arizona, in the dome, the way that the other night, right? Like there is a point in that, but it’s, you know, I don’t I’ve been to Green Bay, I’ve been to Buffalo. I don’t want to go back. I mean, listen, man, I spent a half an hour Monday morning trying to talk Luke. This is me throwing him under the bus, and my wife too. I’m like, Come on, man, it’s only six hours. Let’s go, come on. Let’s go do this. It’ll be fun. Like, we don’t do this much anymore. Let’s go last chance in the in the old stadium, which I’ve do, you know, plenty of times. And I say might even snow. Let’s go. Okay. And then it was like, 18 degrees. Nah. You know what I mean? There’s a like, I try, I literally, and they both were like, my wife literally came in and saw the forecast, and she dropped F that. She’s like, No, I’m out. And now I’m like, but come on, let’s be young again. Let’s think, you know what I mean. Let’s and I, I can’t, and my wife would tell you the most fun she ever had at a football game. It snowed like eight inches during a Vikings ravens game. Google it from like 14. There was like six scores in the last minute of the games, one of the craziest NFL games industry. She’ll still test the most fun ever. I’m like, come on, it’s gonna snow and what. But there is a hearty part of your culture that, you know, we don’t need no stinking domes in Buffalo. Come on, yeah,
Matt Parrino 23:49
for sure. And I think that there was, and there’s also a big part of that conversation that it’s like, okay, I don’t want to really necessarily foot the bill either for what, how much more money it was going to be. I mean, Ralph or Terry got a crazy amount of public money to build this new stadium. So the higher the price tag got, I think the more willing people were to say, you know, we don’t have to put a dome on it, but, you know, I think it is part of it. I think, you know, being outdoors and like, you know, in Western New York, it would just be weird, although Detroit has a dome. And, you know, Josh Allen, his two best games back to back this season were Detroit and out in LA itself. So it’s just this kind
Nestor Aparicio 24:28
of push and pull. Well, you walk in, it’s like Fenway Park. You see the wall, you want to hit it over. Matt Perino is here. He’s covering all things a buffalonian and the Buffalo Bills during just a great, great week for both of our towns and football, Lamar and Josh and the league and all of that, because the league is hurt and it needs to make more money and have more eyeballs. I want to get more gambling going this week. So if you are gambling, beware, this is a tough one. You know what I mean? Like somebody will get their feelings hurt, Matt, keep up the great work up there. Thanks for always being a great guest. And wings on your end, crab cakes on my end. Some point here, we’ll figure it out. We play back up there again next year, I think, though indeed, it’ll be fun. Take care, man. Uh, last trip to the old barn. Uh, we’ll get better weather when we kick off the season there in September. Well, if we kick off the season there in September, that might mean that they won the Super Bowl. I shouldn’t talk like that around here. I am Nestor. We are wnst. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. Keep in mind, Luke will have all the text coming your way as breaking news, happens, say, flowers, all that other stuff as a W, N, S, T, tech service that’s all brought to you by coal, roofing and Gordian energy. Back for more Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.
