The good news is that the Baltimore Ravens will travel less mileage than 30 other NFL teams this season but that doesn’t mean the road is any easier. Luke Jones and Nestor preview the season slate and key match-ups of Baltimore Ravens and a tough 2025 schedule.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ 2025 NFL schedule, highlighting key games and challenges. The Ravens open against Buffalo on Sunday Night Football and face five of their first six opponents, including playoff teams. They end the season with three of four games on the road against Cincinnati, Green Bay, and Pittsburgh. The schedule includes a Thanksgiving night game against Cincinnati and a bye week in week seven. The conversation also touched on the Ravens’ potential opponents, including Joe Flacco possibly starting for Cleveland, and the impact of injuries and team health on their performance.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Baltimore Ravens, 2025 schedule, Buffalo Bills, Sunday Night Football, playoff opponents, road games, Joe Flacco, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals, Derek Henry, Lamar Jackson, Thanksgiving night game, international games, NFL schedule release.
SPEAKERS
8
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:02
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive. We are taking the Merrill, the crab cake tour back out on the road. On the 28th of May, we will be back down to faith leaves. I’m looking forward to that. Actually, I’m going to be at Faith Lee Thursday afternoon for the crab Derby I’m the MCs. I gotta save my voice in this particular segment. It’s all brought to you by the mayor on the lottery. Back to the Future scratch offs. We will have these with us on the 28th fateley, and then we’re going back up to and I’m looking forward to this. Already started booking guests. If you know anybody in Carroll County, Hampstead, we’re going to be back up at Green mount station on the it’s the fifth of June. I said the seventh. I screwed that up. It’s the fifth of June. We’re going to be there. Luke Jones joins us now. We wait all year for the schedule, and because I have friends in Western New York, and we were very concerned about the buffalo thing, and we’re putting some things together with the bills mafia, and you’re going to have a press pass, and I’m going to be doing WWF Whoppers off the top of a bus, on the tables. We’ll do some backyard wrestling. And by the way, last chance to see rich stadium before they they rip it down. Luke’s here with all things NFL schedule, 2025 Luke, tell us what you know
Luke Jones 01:18
the schedule’s out, right? I mean, we’ve known these opponents for months, and most of these opponents we’ve known for years, but we finally get the schedule and look for all the pomp and circumstance and the way that the league drags this thing out and breadcrumbs it out multiple days. Now it is nice to get the schedule, to get that context, to know they’re going to open the season in Buffalo. I mean, second straight year the ravens are going to play the team that ended their season the previous January. So plenty of intrigue there. Sunday Night Football. If we’re going to Buffalo, I’d much rather go in early September than than December. So so that’s nice. But, I mean, I think my big takeaways from this schedule are the the way that it begins and the way that it ends. I mean, you look at the schedule at the beginning, five of the first six games are against teams that made the playoffs last year, so you’re hoping they get off to a better start than they did last year, understanding what that meant in terms of them playing in Buffalo rather than playing in Baltimore in January last season. And I think you look at how the season ends, where, even though we don’t know the dates, this team is going to finish three of their last four games on the road, and those three games are against Cincinnati, Green Bay and Pittsburgh. So I think the schedule itself, I don’t think there’s anything unreasonable about it, but certainly begins and ends in challenging fashion. And as I noted at Baltimore positive.com is I kind of just gave my thumbnail early impression on each game. I mean, nothing that’s that deep. You know, I think it’s interesting to think about the possibility of Joe Flacco starting a game in Baltimore as the opponent for the first time come week two, assuming he’s probably the favorite to be the Browns quarterback at least to start the year. But you know, I look at that week 18 game in Pittsburgh. It’s the first time since 2002 that they finished the regular season in Pittsburgh. So as late as they played a game there since what? Christmas of 2016 is probably the latest game they played there. You know, in recent years, all my, all my thinking on that, and I don’t have terribly high expectations for the Steelers this year. I mean, maybe Aaron Rodgers will have decided by then or not whether he’s going to play for them, but you better have your playoff half decided, because you don’t want to be leaving a week 18 weird Raven Steelers, who the heck knows what could happen. Kind of scenario up in the air for that trip out to Western Pennsylvania. But hey, you know the schedule is pretty challenging. It’s a first place schedule. All those different talking points we can talk about. But who knows? You know right now you say, Oh, you start the year off the challenging trip to Buffalo. Josh Allen sprained his sprains his ankle in mid August and is out the first two games of the season. Then that’s the perfect time to play buffalo. So you don’t really know ultimately with any of these games, but it is nice to know, and now the countdown is on for the ravens to be playing in Orchard Park come week one for Sunday Night Football, which, hey, it’s always good to be in the national spotlight. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 04:27
you’re a marquee team. You get a marquee game in a marquee way to kick off the season on the road. You know, I remember that turd they laid out in Denver a decade ago. You know, I was there for that one a mile high, suffering for oxygen at 5200 feet, I would say that you wake up Monday morning in your own one in Buffalo’s want to know that that that’s, that’s tough, and they had kind of a tough start last year. You know, overcame it at that point, but I looked at the schedule and all I saw was a bunch of road games late. You. You know what? I mean, that’s what I saw. I saw you better be ahead of the horse here if you’re going to play four out of five on the road to end
8Luke Jones 05:06
the season. Yeah, I think that’s completely fair. I think you look at that and again. I mean, it’s challenging opponents. I mean, going to Green Bay in week 17, whether it ends up being a Saturday game or a Sunday I mean, it’s one of those TBD situations where they could be slotted into they could be playing a Saturday night game in Green Bay on december 27 I don’t need to tell you what the weather could be like at that point in time. It will not be balmy. No, you wouldn’t expect so. And I mentioned Pittsburgh. I mean, I mentioned Cincinnati in mid December. You know, they do get the Patriots in that stretch, which I’ll even say this look, I think the Patriots, their talent deficiencies, are obvious, but I will say that’s a team that I think is interesting. From the standpoint of first year head coach and Mike Rabel, if there was something you would say about their teams in Tennessee, they played hard for him, and a lot of people slept on Drake May last year. I think for all the challenges that that offense had around him, I think Drake may play pretty well. So that’s a team that I would rather be playing in September than December. Not that I’m not at all suggesting to patriots I think are going to be a playoff team or anything like that. But if you’re in a scenario where you’re overlooking them and you’re looking ahead to the last two games. You know, you could find yourself in a little more of a dog fight than you think for that game. So, so, but obviously, playing on the road that much to finish the year, it’s definitely a challenge. But hey, there, there are also the perks to their schedule as well. I mean, I thought this. I mean, obviously, and we kind of buried the lead part of the lead here a little bit, and not mentioning Baltimore hosting a Thanksgiving night game. I’ll take that over a Christmas afternoon game any day. So glad about that, at least. But how about the fact, for as much as every team thinks the NFL hates them, is that and is out to get them from a scheduling standpoint, Nestor, this is going to be the third straight year the Cincinnati Bengals come into Baltimore for a Thursday night game. If that was flipped, Ravens fans would be apoplectic about playing your biggest division rival on a short week three years in a row, like that. So hey, just remember that the next time you there’s something about the schedule you don’t like, as far as for the speedy
Nestor Aparicio 07:23
years where we played in Pittsburgh in prime time every year, and they never played in
Luke Jones 07:27
one o’clock years, right? And again again, I don’t, and I don’t. I’m not suggesting the league’s out to get the
Nestor Aparicio 07:33
8Bengals. Yeah. By the way, the teams hate Monday night football games and stuff. They make a lot less money. People come. Let you know, like they would rather. I think all the teams would rather play one o’clock on Sunday that that that would be everybody in the league’s preference from a football perspective. Oh, no
Luke Jones 07:47
question. And that’s where I kind of look at the schedule. It’s funny, you’ve mentioned that. I think if you’re you know, if you kind of have that old guy mentality, if you’re going to the games, you like the one o’clock starts right look at the Raven schedule right now, as far as their home games, Cleveland, week two, one o’clock. You know, they do have the Monday night game against Detroit in week three, a rare Monday night home game. But week five, home, one o’clock. Week Six, home one o’clock. Go down the list. I mean, it’s just about all one o’clock starts, other than just those two prime time games. Now we know the league flexes the schedule, and I’m guessing there’s a decent chance, especially with the Ravens only having four prime time games at the moment, I’m guessing there’s a pretty good chance one of those games somewhere, at least, gets moved to 425,
Nestor Aparicio 08:33
you know what you want to do? If you don’t want to get flexed? Stink, just stink. They’ll keep you the Orioles, right? Yeah, yeah. No one’s gonna be
Luke Jones 08:40
putting the Orioles on Sunday Night Baseball at this point in time. But, but, yeah, so I think you look at it through that, through that lens, even though they do have some challenging pockets of road games. You know that they’ve got a stretch of three straight road games in the middle of the season as well, in addition to what they have at the end. You know, they have that stretch of three, what but with the bye week mixed in there, I No, not the bye week, sorry, right after the bye week, they’re at Miami, at Minnesota, at Cleveland, three weeks in a row. So, you know, they’ve got some challenging pockets that way. But you know, their home games, if you’re someone that you know has season tickets or likes to go to multiple games a year, you know those one o’clock games, you know, if you have to work the next day, that’s much more palatable than those Sunday night and Thursday night, Monday night games. So, you know, to sit here and and say that I have any any more sweeping conclusions about the schedule, other than what we’ve noted, you know? I mean, you have to wait and see how it plays out. I mean, it’s easy to say, yeah, they’re playing Five out of their first six against teams that were in the playoffs last year, but you never know what’s going to happen. I mean, who’s going to lose their quarterback? Who’s going to lose three? Got three defensive starters before the season even starts? You know who’s going to go through that? Where you get a team at the right time or. Or maybe because you’re injured, you get a team at the wrong time. So we just, you know, those are the things we don’t know. You know, you mentioned this a couple days ago, and I think it’s worth pointing out again, the Ravens with no London or international travel, they don’t have any true west coast games. I mean, they’re only going to travel. I think what Kansas City, you know, Minnesota, they’re only going to leave the time zone a few times, the Green Bay at the end. Green Bay, yeah, I mean, but you’re only talking an hour there. So I mean, they have the third fewest travel miles in the league this year now,
8Nestor Aparicio 10:35
years where they’ve lived on the west coast for a week. I mean, Minnesota is going to go live over Europe for a week and play Jackson signed up for this twice a year because they’re broke and their owner really wants to move the team over there. Um, you know, so not having an international game is that that’s first and foremost. And I guess the Ravens feel like they got penalized with that last year. It almost means you’re getting a whopper. Next year they’ll be in Brazil or Spain or Germany or wherever it’ll be, because the expansion of the International part has been far more aggressive than I thought possible, and I saw with my own eyes eight years ago. So do you in Wembley? I mean, it’s amazing that they’re playing games in Spain and Ireland and Brazil and Australia soon and well, no doubt Japan, they’ll play everywhere.
Luke Jones 11:19
Yeah. Well, I think that’s, I don’t know if compromise is the right word to describe it, but this is, this is the alternative to putting the Jaguars in London, which I think there’s still so much pushback and so much that has to happen for that to come up in your lifetime, maybe not mine, maybe, but, but it’s still, I feel that’s still down the road, like I don’t think that’s something that’s imminent by any means, but what you can do to brand your game and market your game is to to play in 10 different locales internationally over the course of a season. And
Nestor Aparicio 11:52
that’s where we’re taking a team that’s worth 4 billion here and making it worth 25 billion tomorrow morning by sticking it in London. That that’s that’s the way they do business. Luke, Oh, I understand, but there’s still logistics to that. This isn’t Bob Earth, say, picking Indianapolis over I understand. This is all of them, and they’re conglomerates, and they’re pushed for cash and
Luke Jones 12:13
8but there’s still, there’s still a lot that goes into that that is not the same as moving a team to Indianapolis. So I’m not disputing the possibility, if not likelihood, that it happens at some point in my lifetime, but I don’t think that’s a move that’s happening in the next five years. In the meantime, however, we are seeing them ramp up the international games. And I think, I think we’re at a point. I mean, the Ravens played in London two years ago. You know, we’re at a point now where I think you’re the expectations are going to become that you’re going to be playing an international game, if not every year, every other year. I mean, that’s where we’re heading.
Nestor Aparicio 12:48
Well, they’re adding the extra two games too, which gets the PSLs that they promised fans, sure, sure. Like the whole deal, sure
Luke Jones 12:55
and and to be clear, I mean, as long as that, you try to maintain some semblance of competitive balance with that. I mean, the Vikings are obviously a fascinating case study this year where, you know, they’re going to play what, in Ireland, and then they’re going to play in in London after, I guess it’s London after that. They have back to back international games.
Nestor Aparicio 13:13
They’re not really smart. They’re going to start beginning the season in the middle of August, and they’re going to add two bye weeks, because that’s what they’re going to get. And they’re going to have an August to February schedule. I mean, I don’t know if it was brought up by you. Maybe Marty Conway brought I think it was Marty who brought it up earlier this week that just the NFL schedule when you consider how long football is, how long, excuse me, how long hockey is, how long basketball is, certainly how long baseball has always been, that the off season of football is almost problematic from for Justin Tucker, amongst others, and Ben Cleveland and those who can’t drive from February to August being off that, you know, there’s going to come a point where they’re going to the football Gods will decide, get together in the middle of July, start playing in the middle of August, take a little downtime, get our 18 games in, have the bye weeks, be Around the international travel weeks, because that’s where the money is. That’s we’re going to China, China, China. We’ll go to Saudi Arabia. They’ll be playing games in Qatar. I mean, they won’t be. I mean, we take airplanes for free from them. We can play World Cups in Qatar. I mean, they’re the most corrupt people on Earth. Everybody knows that. If you watch World Cup games, you saw that. So they’ll, I mean, if Qatar puts enough money up, or the Saudis or the Chinese put enough money up, they’ll be playing games in Beijing. They just will, they will. They don’t care about anything but money. You know that?
8Luke Jones 14:29
Yeah. I mean, the only thing I I would disagree that it would be mid August, but I think you’d see it start Labor Day weekend, and then, you know, you add an 18th game, you add another bye week, so that’ll be another week of t a national TV game, so there’s more revenue there, and then that pushes back the schedule enough that the Super Bowls play Presidents Day weekend. I mean, that’s, I think that’s the long term vision for the NFL. I mean, I don’t know if they’ll ever I mean, could you go beyond 18 games? I mean, nothing would surprise me with the. NFL at this point in time, including much of what you just mentioned, as far as locals, that they could end up playing. Remember that when
Nestor Aparicio 15:05
you’re there on Thanksgiving night, the two games weren’t enough, that they have to bring the Bengals in on Thanksgiving night too. You have another
Luke Jones 15:11
game. Well, we got, I mean, if we, if we played, if we were playing Christmas afternoon games on Wednesdays. I mean, well,
Nestor Aparicio 15:17
8why let Mississippi have the Egg Bowl on Thanksgiving night is the only game, right? Why have any tradition like that? I
Luke Jones 15:23
mean, at some point in time. I mean, I’ve also thought at some point, I’ve mentioned this to you before, that in my lifetime, I would not be surprised if we saw the NFL get to a point where the schedule staggered so much that you have a game on every night of the week. I mean, that wouldn’t shock me, maybe not every night, but let’s say five or six nights a week. That wouldn’t shock me. And obviously there’s legislation, long, long standing legislation about playing games on Fridays and Saturdays. You know that that’ll go away and then they’ll do that so but you know, it is what it is at this point in time, and the international games are becoming, uh, more prevalent in terms of the schedule and, you know, I mean, it’s, it’s football, right? I mean, the fact that think about this, the sheer fact that you and I are getting together talking about the schedule release, as opposed to what baseball or any of the other sports, I mean, none of the other sports have anything in terms of their schedule release being an event whatsoever. I mean, baseball randomly puts it out on a Wednesday afternoon in August most years, right? I mean, there’s no heads up, it just comes out. I mean, I think the NBA and the NHL very similar. I don’t think there’s ever, certainly never a three hour announcement and all this bread coming. I mean, the Ravens put out a put out a video for, you know, a severance theme. You know, the Apple TV show, which, my apologies, I’ve been watching TED lasso. I haven’t seen severance, so I didn’t get any of the references there. But, you know, these teams with their social media and everything, have made this schedule thing such a dude, there’s six months where they don’t play, sure, where they don’t play, right? But, but they get that. They still get the engagement. It out, but they still get the engagement though, I mean, and they can only stretch it out so much. I mean, even the NFL recognizes, you know, you’re not going to be able to get, there’s no timeline to turn football into a 30 game season. You know what I mean? Like, you’re not going to go to that extreme, you know, but we’re going to go to 18 at some point here in the next few years. I think that’s inevitable, and we’ll see how and that buys them more international games, just more international games, another week of internet or national television package, actually two more weeks, because with an 18 game schedule, they’ll add a second by week. That’ll be the carrot that they throw to the to the NFL PA. So, you know, they’ll revamp the schedule and everyone will watch. I mean, we’ve talked about this, you know, we’ve talked about Thursday night football, and all the things that we say are all they do this, they do that. Everyone’s going to watch. I’ve complained about games being on Christmas. I’m glad the Ravens aren’t playing on Christmas for a third straight year. Will I have the games on in the background? At the very least? Will I be watching it carefully? No, will they be on in the background? Sure, I’m not going to sit here and lie and say that they won’t be. But, I mean, that’s the NFL has trained its audience, which is vast. It’s expansive. You know, it’s becoming more and more international, more global, because of the footprint that they’re trying to make in other countries that you’ll eat it up, right? I mean, go look at the numbers for the third day of the draft. Nestor. Go look at the ratings that they get for the third day of the draft, and compare that to all the other sports. I mean, it’s, it’s mind bug boggling.
Nestor Aparicio 18:45
I really sit and watch it, because that’s the day like it all starts to sink in a little bit, yeah, but that’s the day you get real analysis from analysts. Understood. But how
Luke Jones 18:54
many of those players do you actually know, very few, right? I mean, like, but they
8Nestor Aparicio 18:58
turned it into an all day television, bizarre, going place to place, and they actually have the general managers and the coaches come on and the players and the families, and there’s the door Sanders. That’s why that app. Oh,
Luke Jones 19:13
no question. I mean, they market say what you want about the downside of what the NFL is. And, you know, we’ve talked about that with Justin Tucker, the investigations, all the different things. The different things. So what they can get away with is what, what they can get away yeah, but, but give them credit on I mean, they market the heck out of themselves, and they do it really well. And they get thinking that even though you knew the Ravens 17 games, like their 17 opponents that they were going to play, we knew that from the day the regular season ended. I mean, that hasn’t been in question since January. Most of the games, other than what three games on the schedule have been set for years, you know? So all we getting are dates, times and networks. I mean, that’s literally all we got on Wednesday night. And people ate it up, and that’s all they were. Was talking about, and it fell
Nestor Aparicio 20:01
right into my Google calendar at the Pat Benatar concert. I thought it was great. You know, I looked down. I’m like, oh, there it is. But, but,
Luke Jones 20:06
8I mean, this is people are planning their falls. They’re planning their winters. I mean, planning their road trips. I think I said to you a couple days ago, I mean, I have a family member getting married in Charlotte, North Carolina, week four that Saturday with the Ravens playing the Chiefs late afternoon that Sunday. I’m weighing whether I’m going to go and take a early morning flight home to watch the game, or figure it out, or I may not go, but the point is, I now at least know what I’m dealing with that week. And that’s how everyone, I mean, football fans. You know, I don’t say this with any disrespect to anything else that goes on in the fall. I mean, you’re talking to someone who’s a believer goes to church every Sunday that I’m not covering an NFL game. But this is how people plan their falls. I mean, I mean, they’re planning their lives around a lot of these games, in many cases. So you know, that’s just reality. It’s not a commentary on anyone or whether they should or not. It’s just the truth. So, I mean, it is amazing when you step back and you kind of think about that for a moment, but it’s nice to have the context. It’s nice to know now every conversation you and I have now about the Ravens between now and September, you know September 7, when they when they open the season in Buffalo, we will be making a reference to between now and week one in Buffalo, right? I mean, we’ll be making that reference of opening the season against the bills, just like last year it was opening the season in Kansas City. We talked about that in just about every single conversation that would be mentioned in passing. So it’s nice to have the context. It’s nice to to finally know when you’re going to be playing these teams and and in a case like the ravens, where be remiss if I didn’t mention they signed Derek Henry on the same day that they put out the schedule. No shortage of enthusiasm, especially on the heels of what the Orioles are at the moment, the Ravens very much have the the full enthusia, full throated enthusiasm of the crowd, even in mid May. And that’s more a knock on the Orioles than a compliment to the Ravens.
Nestor Aparicio 22:07
Even Luke Jones is here. You can follow him at Baltimore, Luke, you can follow us at Baltimore positive as we get our crab cake tour out. And running through its Preakness week, we got all sorts things. The Orioles are in the stinker. Tons of Preakness coverage and future triple crown. And I talked some sports business with Marty Conway this week. Bodhi Miller came on this week, Olympic skier, part of the show. We’ve talked a lot about our dairies Washington. How dare I talk football during the schedule show here, Luke. But let me just throw this out at you. Um, because I, you know, I, in the past, I’ve done hours on this schedule, right? Like all day, taking phone calls. And where are we going? And are we doing a road trip to May? Hey, nasty. It’s been a show to a good road trip. Yes, it’s nice there. It’s balmy in November. What about Miami on Thursday night? Don’t go. Lamar won’t be ready to play. It’s a Thursday night game. So, you know, I tell people what to do, what not Kansas City, go get the barbecue. Don’t expect them to win. That’s late September. The questions for me, and I brought this up at the at the outset, was three out of four on the road at the end, right at Cincinnati, the Patriots, we talked about whether they’re going to be any good or not, variable at Green Bay at Pittsburgh. Part of the season for me is, you know, I believe the ravens are good, right? I mean, you believe the ravens are good, right? We believe they’re an elite team, a top five in the conference, kind of team, a playoff team, whatever you want to say about them, if Lamar is healthy, and Derek Henry, and we haven’t talked about his money and that wnst text you sent out, brought to you by Cole roofing and Gordian energy, but Steelers, you know when the Steelers are stacked into these games in December and January, and they’re two of the last five games you play, and the Bengals are two of the last six games you play. And I know that they’re waiting things now. And you talked about Joe Flacco and Cleveland and whoever Bucha rose Sanders, we already brought him up, right? We know the Jets are going to stink. We get them before Thanksgiving, but the Bengals and the Steelers and how they are and how the ravens are, and what physical position, man, you know, in a week when we lose our Darius Washington, which of these players on the roster that are key players, Kyle Hamilton, bro Quan Smith, Marlon, Humphrey, Ronnie, Stanley Derek, Henry Lamar Jackson, say flowers, likely Andrews is called the tight end position the pass rush. Um, how, how Nate Wiggins is looking as a first round pick. How, uh Molokai Starks is looking as a first round pick, um, and whether they’re on the field or not, and what version of them we’re getting, or whether we’re going to get to Cincinnati and Joe burrow is going to hurt again, yeah, gonna be able to play, or Lamar is hurt again. I can’t play because, you know, he won’t get sacked in the pocket, because we all know, you and I have that injury argument about him running around a lot. And I think he’s been much better about running around and when to run and when not to it helps having Derrick Henry has predicted here for a few years, but Pittsburgh specifically at the end, and Cincinnati, even more specifically, because I think they’re better, they’re better team, even though they’ve suffered some attrition here in the off season and and they’ve got there’s one of the not their star player, their third or fourth star player, doing a 25 minute soliloquy on two middle fingers to the organization in May, trying to get more money. Cincinnati got turmoil. Pittsburgh doesn’t have a quarterback, and meanwhile, we got a kicker in disgrace. We have our own issues here and questions that we all have for upper management and leadership in Owings Mills, but my football question is Bengals and Steelers and who they are, and what that is, and where the Ravens health will be. Because I believe the ravens are good. I believe the Orioles were good. Shows you how little I know. But I would say that Thanksgiving time when you’re at the game getting ready to eat your turd ducking and your chicken thing, your Jacoby Jones chicken thing and all that, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, New England at Green Bay at Pittsburgh. That’s bad to two in a row on the road in the cold. Oh boy. You know with Lamar I, you know to me, that’s six in a row on the road, because if you go on the road, you start losing. But this is a Cleveland stinks. I love you, Joe, Cleveland stinks. I think Pittsburgh stinks, but I’ve been thinking that for 20 years. Tomlin always proves me wrong, and I don’t think Aaron Rodgers should or will be their quarterback. Or if I were Pittsburgh, I’d even want him, you know, but that shows you out that desperate, desperate times call for desperate measures. Um Orioles are so desperate to sell tickets, they might call me. I would just say, with the Steelers and the Bengals, how they are is going to really define what I think of this schedule and where they are and what finds them in December. Because you might find a really, really messy Bengals, because they’re a messy organization, or you might find a 12 and three powerhouse. I mean, you may find trouble because they have a quarterback who’s a real a dude to me. I mean, they have a they have a top five dude, Joe, Joe burrow, should and could and will win a Super Bowl. Maybe not Cincinnati. Maybe he’s the matt Stafford guy that’s to escape. But it’s not buffalo week one or Detroit and week three, they both bother me. They both, you know, they’re both loseable games, winnable games. I guess they have to defend Lamar too, and then stop and tackle Derrick Henry, and do all those things we talk about. But the division games at the end, and the load on it, and the two in a row at the end does make me want to talk about the schedule a little bit more than as a punch line like we have the first 30 minutes. Yeah,
Luke Jones 27:42
I think that’s fair. I mean, anytime you’re going to play your two anticipated biggest threats to winning the division in the final six weeks, you’re going to play those teams four times. I mean, you’re going to play Thanksgiving against Cincinnati, the following Sunday, home against Pittsburgh, and then you go to Cincinnati on December 14. And then, of course, as we mentioned, you go to Pittsburgh for week 18, and we just know how
Nestor Aparicio 28:05
long turns an ankle against the Jets. He can’t play for three weeks. Sure? That’s, I mean, they have a better backup quarterback now. All that, but, but that, that would be a really bad time for roquan Smith to not be, you know what? I mean, like that, it
8Luke Jones 28:18
is, but, but that’s, you know, that’s kind of the story. That’s any team, right, but, but yeah, I think specifically talking about the Bengals. I mean, what’s going to happen with Trey Hendrickson? I mean, they got Jamar Chase done. They got t Higgins done. They’ve thrown that much money at their wide receivers. I mean, their passing game is going to be great. I mean, it typically is when Joe burrow is healthy, but is their defense going to be any better? I mean, even if they figure things out and work something out with Trey Hendrickson, that that he stays and they’re not trading them, or he’s not holding out and sitting out the season, or anything crazy, is that defense going to be any better? You know? I mean, I know they fired their defensive coordinator Lou and arumo, and you know he was the fall guy. Look at, look at how much talent they hemorrhaged on that side of the ball over the last four or five years. I mean, look, I know you love your wide receivers, and don’t get me wrong, Chase and Higgins are special players, but you got to be able to stop somebody on the defensive side, and they weren’t able to do that last year. I mean, it’s why they lost two games against the Ravens rather than won two games against the ravens, because their defense was just awful. So, you know, and look at what that meant in terms of them not making the playoffs, compared to the Ravens winning the division. So, so you have that. So, I mean, that’s, that’s my big question about Cincinnati. I mean, the the 30,000 look 30,000 foot, look at the Bengals. Can you start the season better? I mean, that’s been their downfall for going back the last three or four years. Now they just, they get off to such a bad start. And we know the Ravens started slow this past year, but not like the Bengals start right? Not like they start where you’re looking up and they’re one in three, they’re one in four, where you’ve got so much work to do. Just. Just to get to the point where you’re not taking on water anymore. So, so that’s my big question with them, with Pittsburgh. Look, will the Steelers end up being better than you think? Probably, because that’s Mike Tomlin. However, the other reality of Mike Tomlin is they haven’t been very good in terms of really, truly being a team to really be reckon reckon with, and a team that you actually think can do something other than make the wild card round and then get bounced promptly. They haven’t been that team in almost 10 years. You know that? I mean, go back to the end of the Roethlisberger era, even when Ben was still playing. You know, from about 2017 on 2018 on, I mean, even if they do make the playoffs, they’re not going anywhere. I mean, they haven’t won a playoff game in how many years now, you know, go back to what 2016 I guess it is off the top of my head. So is aaron rodgers going to change that? I don’t think so. I mean, I I assume he’s going to play for them. I think, Oh, you
Nestor Aparicio 31:00
do okay, you think that that, yeah, because,
Luke Jones 31:03
because, I think, because, because I don’t think the league would, I don’t think the league necessarily sets up the schedule to have them open the season against the Jets otherwise. And, you know, maybe not. I mean, maybe, maybe they don’t think he’s going to play, and it’s this, and to be clear, if he doesn’t play, then they will stink. Because, I mean, what Mason Rudolph, you know? I mean, what are they going to do? A quarterback? Rogers is, I guess, the only other option that could be out there. I mean, is there a play to acquire Kirk Cousins? Maybe? I mean, Kirk Cousins is still a falcon at the moment, but he’s not their starting quarterback anymore. So are they really? Are the Falcons really just going to let her cousins be on their roster making the money that he’s making? I mean,
Nestor Aparicio 31:47
8her cousins would make the Steelers credible. Oh sure. Her cousins
Luke Jones 31:51
would make a lot of teams credible. Now, is he making them a team? Meet the Ravens
Nestor Aparicio 31:56
two out of three times at the end of the year? Maybe, you know, maybe I give him more Rogers. 15.
Luke Jones 32:03
I mean, I don’t know if I give him more of the chance. I mean, I kind of view those guys in a similar light at this point in time. I mean, they’re, they’re not awful quarterbacks, but they’re not guys that are winning the games in January at this stage. I mean, it’s just, I mean, Kirk Cousins has never won games in January, you know. And in fairness, he hasn’t necessarily been on a lot of great teams or anything. I think he
8Nestor Aparicio 32:23
gives you a chance to win a game in October, November, better than Mason Rudolph, I bet that when we’re you know, yeah, I wholeheartedly agree
Luke Jones 32:29
with that’s why I said, I mean, if it’s not Rogers and they’re going to go with what they have, I mean, they’ll they’ll stink. And when I say they’ll stink, it doesn’t mean they’ll go three and 14, but they this would be the year Mike Tomlin streak of losing seasons would end if you’re going that route with your quarterback position. I think then again, they have DK Metcalf. Now they got rid of George Pickens. They still do have a very formidable defense. So you know, I’m not going to write them off that they’re two and 15, or anything crazy bad but, but you know, for me, I look at this division, the ravens, to me, have earned the right to be the clear cut favorite. I mean, they just have assuming Lamar Jackson’s healthy, they’ve been that team, the Bengals. I gotta see about their defense. I mean, I really do, and especially considering their best defensive player right now. To your point, just had a 20 minute Media Session taking the organization to task for contract dispute and all that. I mean, that doesn’t feel too good when you’re already talking about a defense that was bad, even with Trey Hendrickson last year. So yeah, burrow and chase and Higgins. I mean, that’s great. I mean, that’s absolutely great. Guess what? That was great last year, and they still didn’t make the playoffs. So so, you know, they’re, they’re a clear second. And you know, Pittsburgh, I certainly can’t put Pittsburgh with Cincinnati, until I at least see what the quarterback position is going to look like. And then we then we can have a little bit of a different discussion. But, you know, and then Cleveland’s at the bottom. To your point, love Joe Flacco. It’s going to be, if he is making the start week two. It’s going to be surreal. I mean, I know they went up to the Meadowlands three years ago, and Joe started for the Jets, and the Ravens beat them handily. But it’ll be a little bit different if Joe Flacco is starting a game in Baltimore for the opposing side. But that said, as much as you acknowledge that he’s 40 years old and that team is bad, so you know what? What’s that going to mean, especially the Ravens playing their home opener that day. So, so, you know, it’s the ravens and then Cincinnati and Pittsburgh after that, and Cleveland very much, bringing up the rear, as they have for most of the last 25 years. So we had
Nestor Aparicio 34:54
Minnesota and Miami in the middle of this back to back there, you know, night game at Miami. A short rest Thursday night. And then at Minnesota, you know that this is tough schedule, dude, at Kansas City, at Buffalo? Mean, it is. These are games where they’re going to be underdog. They’re going to be underdogs in five or six games this year, and that’s down from two or three. They’re going to be underdog in Buffalo. Be an underdog Kansas City. I don’t
Luke Jones 35:19
8know if I’d say five. I mean, there might be a few more, but you got to remember how how rare, how rare it is that they’ve been an underdog when Lamar has been healthy over the last few years. I mean, it’s very rare, but
Nestor Aparicio 35:30
I think there’ll be a favorite. So maybe it’s not five, maybe it’s four, maybe it’s three. At the angle,
Luke Jones 35:37
be a favorite in Miami. They’ll be a favorite in Miami. At Minnesota.
Nestor Aparicio 35:42
I mean, who knows what you mean, right? JJ McCarthy,
8Luke Jones 35:44
like, I think the Vikings are one of the most interesting teams in the league. I mean, I think very highly of their coaching staff. I mean, they had this fantastic season last year, but, you know, Donald’s gone, and they’re handing the reins to JJ McCarthy, and understandably so. But like, what are they going to be? I think Miami is going nowhere fast. I think, I think Miami, whatever window they had, which it wasn’t open very wide, obviously, I think they’re, I think they’re on the downside now, and I think you’re going to see that regime closer to being fired than, than, than a team that, uh, you know that, a team that you think is going to make noise, but it’s a Thursday night road game. And hey, as I even noted it in my initial reaction to the schedule, that game will conjure some memories of that dumpster fire that they played in Miami on a Thursday night, what, four years ago. So where I remember that was the the infamous zero blitz game where the Ravens offense and Lamar had no answers. That was
Nestor Aparicio 36:41
the infamous game where I got my press pass taken away four days before, when I asked John Harbaugh running the ball 23 times in a game he’s got to play his quarterback four days later, and then the quarterback was never the same after that. So, like, I remember that week pretty vividly after the Minnesota game. So Minnesota, Miami flipping that and that one was Minnesota, then Miami. Is that
Luke Jones 36:59
Minnesota game that was that an overtime game. It was, it was either overtime or, I know, they played like, I mean, their offense played like 90 snaps or something crazy, but, but, yes, but, but, yeah, that stretch. I mean, you look at those three games, I mean, at Miami Thursday, short game, short week. Again, I’m not a big believer in the dolphins. I think they’re on the decline big time at this point, but, you know, we’ll see at Minnesota. That’s, that’s a challenge. There’s no question about that. I mean, that’s, that’s a challenging game. I’m even if the ravens are favored, it’s like, oh, like, it’s a pick them, you know, minus one kind of scenario, right? I mean, I don’t think it’s much more than that, unless McCarthy is just terrible for them. And then, you know, I will say this as much as we throw dirt on the browns, and the Browns stink. Don’t get me wrong, they stink. The Ravens haven’t swept the season series since 2020, so, and we saw what happened against Jameis Winston last year in Cleveland. So Joe comes in here
Nestor Aparicio 37:55
8and beats them, and they’re Owen too, because they lost in Buffalo by field goal that Tyler Luke missed. You know? I I’ve just, it was a bad start last year, and I know John, and you know, the coaching staff for the next four months, it’s, we got to wake up one and Oh, on, we have to be buffalo. We’re going to start buffalo. We have to be buffalo, right? Joe Flacco, then Detroit that, you know, and then you get Nixon cuts and candies and butts, and you’re injured and you got because that’s all going to happen
Luke Jones 38:26
too. I mean, just think about and, and, I mean, they were owing to last year. They beat the panta off buffalo in week four, but that Owen to start, was the difference of that game being played in Western New York, as opposed to Baltimore last January. Now doesn’t mean that the Ravens definitely would have won, but you’d rather be at home than playing in Western New York, and the conditions, it wouldn’t have been pleasant in Baltimore either, but it wouldn’t have been that. So, you know, that’s why you have to start fast. I mean, you certainly don’t want to be in a position where you’re three and three over the first six games of the season. And not that the season’s over by any stretch of the imagination. But by then, you’re starting to wonder, can you get the number one seed? Can you get the number two seed? You know, we’re Cincinnati in relation to that. So so, you know, they have to start fast, but a big part of that is going to be starting healthy. I think they’ve got a now with the ardarius Washington injury, they got to make sure they’re on their P’s and Q’s on the back end of the defense. They can’t start with past defense wise the way they did last year, or they will be in some in some really tough games here or early in the season. But all of that being said, I have very high expectations for this team. They continue to be one of the four or five best teams in football, and have been every whenever Lamar Jackson is healthy and upright, they have been that team from the time that he took over, basically. So, you know, I fully expect that again, and now it’s just a matter of got to navigate it, and then if you navigate it. Yeah, win in January. I mean, it’s, you know, we could, we could, even if they beat buffalo, even if they go to Kansas City in week four and win. What’s that going to prove? You’ll feel, you’ll feel more confident. You’d rather win than lose. But is that really going to prove anything does? Is that going to really say, Okay, this is the year they’re going to get over the hump in January? No, it’s not going to prove anything, but you want to win the games, you have to, you have to qualify. You have to get to January before you can win in January. So, so from that standpoint, yeah, they’ve got to start fast. Those first six games are definitely going to be challenging. I think it. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention they’ve got a week seven by they don’t have a late season buy. You know, the last couple years they’ve had some late season buys. But I would also challenge and say, hey, the fact that you’re playing five of your first six against playoff teams from a year ago, that buy might actually be that they might want that by at that point in time and
Nestor Aparicio 40:55
again. I hope this inspires the Orioles. I mean, they don’t play a game between October 12 and october 26 we should be so lucky to keep the Orioles be playing games on my birthday, you know, or your birthday for that
Luke Jones 41:06
you’re gonna take that bet. I’m not. I mean, be you. That’s like I said about a week ago. I said, You know what my my biggest positive on the state of the Orioles is right now, the Raven schedule comes out next week. That’s what I said it Oh, it
8Nestor Aparicio 41:21
is amazing, though, because the bye week would have fallen right in the middle of the playoffs, right? I mean, October 19 is the bye week. That’s an unusual buy. I mean, my birthday has been october 14. All my life, I haven’t been a whole lot of bye weeks around my birthday. Boy, frankly, early, early to mid October. They’re usually later. And, you know, they’ve even had a couple of weird early by weeks. One year they they lost the buy because of the Houston balls. That was hardballs first year, actually, yeah, they had some weird stuff going on at various points. Luke Jones is here. Is weird, wild stuff. The NFL schedule is out freak. This is here, the Orioles stink. We’re doing the Maryland crab cake tour on the 28th at failey’s. I’ll have the scratch also the Maryland lottery and our friends at the back to the future. This is a bit of Lucky batch. Thus far, on the fifth of June, we will return to green mount station in Hampstead, where I love that crab cake up there. I might even get a few games in bowl a little bit next door at the green mount bowl. And I really a big, big weekend for Baltimore Preakness and the National eyes being here, all the big trainers being here, but not the Kentucky Derby winner this week and Oriole baseball this weekend as well. Luke and I will reconvene through the weekend. I will be in Las Vegas, Nevada, doing the Maryland party. You can Google it, the Maryland party.com you’ll see what it is about 2000 business leaders, executives, politicians, thought leaders, educators, all kind of getting together in Las Vegas and making Maryland better, believe it or not. So we talking about that all next week around here, which is a lot better talk about baseball and the Ravens have the week off. It’s one more week where that the Justin Tucker thing will go away and no one will ask about him and Tyler loop just Tucker’s not our kicker anymore. I am Nestor. We are W, N, S T. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. Lots of great, great stuff. Luke and I have been at it. I’ve been at with Marty Conway. I’ve been at it with a whole bunch of leaders and civic leaders, as well as baseball and football. Good stuff up at Baltimore positive through the preak this weekend. I hope you go grab it. You.
