With another win over the Cleveland Browns and the record finally back to .500, the Ravens will soon be seeing the rest of the AFC North up close. Luke Jones and Nestor assess Baltimore’s positioning in the AFC North playoff race with the Jets and Bengals coming quickly this week and the Steelers picking up the pieces of Aaron Rodgers’ hand injury.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ current standing in the AFC playoff race, highlighting their recent four-game winning streak and the upcoming games against the Jets and Bengals. They noted the impact of Aaron Rodgers’ injury on the Steelers and the potential for Mason Rudolph to start. The conversation emphasized the importance of health and winning games, with the Ravens currently 5-5 and in a strong position to potentially move into first place in the AFC North. They also touched on the challenges of three consecutive road games and the need for continued success to secure a playoff spot.
Action Items
[ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Discuss the Ravens’ chances of winning the AFC North and securing a playoff spot.
[ ] Analyze the Ravens’ performance against the Jets and Bengals.
[ ] Follow up on Marlon Humphrey’s status and availability for upcoming games.
[ ] Monitor Rashod Bateman’s recovery and potential return timeline.
Outline
Ravens’ Recent Success and Health Updates
Nestor Aparicio discusses the Maryland crab cake tour and his personal health check-up, encouraging others to get screenings.
Nestor and Luke Jones talk about the Ravens’ recent four-game winning streak and their position in the AFC playoff race.
Luke Jones highlights the importance of health in the NFL, noting that the Ravens have improved since the first few weeks of the season.
The conversation touches on the impact of Aaron Rodgers’ injury on the Pittsburgh Steelers and the potential for Mason Rudolph to start games.
Upcoming Games and Division Rivalries
Nestor and Luke discuss the upcoming games against the Jets and Bengals, emphasizing the importance of these AFC North matchups.
Nestor expresses confidence in the Ravens’ current form, despite a close win against the Browns.
The discussion includes the potential for the Ravens to move into sole possession of first place in the AFC North.
Nestor reflects on the challenges of maintaining a winning streak, especially with three straight road games.
Comparisons with Other Teams and League Dynamics
Luke Jones compares the Ravens’ recent performance with other teams like Kansas City and Buffalo, noting that no team is currently dominant.
The conversation highlights the importance of quarterback play and the challenges faced by teams like the Chiefs and Bills.
Nestor and Luke discuss the potential for the Ravens to make a playoff run, despite the current state of the offensive and defensive lines.
The discussion includes the impact of health on team performance and the importance of winning games to secure a playoff spot.
Challenges and Opportunities in the Playoffs
Nestor and Luke talk about the potential for the Ravens to face tough opponents like the Patriots and Packers in the playoffs.
The conversation includes the importance of winning games now to reduce the pressure later in the season.
Luke emphasizes the need for the Ravens to continue winning to secure a higher seed and avoid playing on the road in the playoffs.
The discussion touches on the potential for the Ravens to make a deep playoff run, despite the current challenges.
Team Health and Future Prospects
Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of maintaining team health, especially with key players like Marlon Humphrey and Rashod Bateman.
The conversation includes the potential for the Ravens to face tough opponents in the final weeks of the season.
Nestor reflects on the importance of winning games to secure a playoff spot and the potential for the Ravens to make a deep playoff run.
The discussion concludes with a focus on the importance of winning games now to secure a higher seed and avoid playing on the road in the playoffs.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Ravens, AFC playoff race, Jets, Bengals, Aaron Rodgers, Mason Rudolph, health, offensive line, defensive line, Lamar Jackson, road games, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Thanksgiving, Black Friday.
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively, taking the Maryland crab cake tour out on the road. All of it brought to you by the Maryland lottery. Be doing that after Thanksgiving. Got a whole series of dates coming up before December. Then, of course, our big cup of soup or bowl happening in February. Also big week for me personally. This week, I’ve been chiding all of the men in my life to have a colonoscopy, get your PSA number checked, do all that stuff. I am going in and have the Special Milk shake and everything for Thursday night. Sounds like it’s going to be quite the adventure. I I’ve been assured that I will survive it and I’ll feel even better knowing that I’m healthy. So remind everybody out there, on behalf of our friends at GBMC, to do it, because I’m doing it. Luke Jones is here. He’s doing it. The ravens are doing it. Everybody’s doing it. Mike Elias isn’t doing it just yet, but victories four in a row, and the Ravens very much back in this thing. And you and I have been talking here in the aftermath of the win over the Browns about pathways and teams in the way, and New England this, and Denver that, and all these upstart teams and all that. Hey, man, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, waiting right here. The jets coming up this week, but the Cincinnati, Pittsburgh thing is weird as it was when the schedule came out that all of these games are back loaded. This is what I talked about. Maybe this is the time the year where the ravens are trending in the right direction, and Aaron Rodgers is on the injury report, and the Bengals don’t know which Joe is playing, and it doesn’t matter, because their defense doesn’t have enough Jimmy’s and Joe’s, yeah,
Luke Jones 01:45
and it’s a reminder that you’re one play away right from your season teetering or changing or, you know, in the case of the ravens, they’ve gotten healthier since the first five, six weeks of the season. And, you know, even though they were missing some guys on Sunday, they’re, for the most part, you know, they’re not dealing with too many long term injuries, other than Matta BK being obviously the big one. And you know, lo and behold, even in victory on Sunday, Pittsburgh, who their defense did a nice job against the Bengals offense. So I’ll begrudgingly give them credit there, even with Jalen Ramsey with his senseless ejection. You know, the big story coming out of that game is Aaron Rodgers and his hand, and how much time is he going to miss, and what does this mean for Pittsburgh now, and Mason Rudolph potentially starting games here, at least in the short term. You know? I mean, it’s not that Aaron Rodgers is Lamar Jackson or Patrick mahomes, or Joe or Joe burrow. I mean, obviously Joe burrow has been talked about quite a bit, and now that’s changed the trajectory of the Bengal season. I suppose, although Joe Flacco has put up points. I mean, Sunday notwithstanding, their defense is willful. But you get to this point in the season, and we hear it all the time. You hear coaches talk about it, your players talk about it. How in the NFL, games are lost more than they’re won, and a big element of that is how healthy you are. And obviously the Ravens were not very healthy early in the season, on top of not playing very well and having a tough schedule that’s flipped for them in the sense that they’ve won four in a row, albeit not against a juggernaut slate of opponents, and they’re one game back of Pittsburgh, and okay, the steel the Steelers win on Sunday, but they lose their quarterback, at least for a little while. It seems, you know, we’ll see how this plays out in the coming days, but, you know, it certainly changes things when you’re talking about Mason, Rudolph, compared to, yes, even a 42 year 4142 year old Aaron Rodgers. You know that that’s that’s a different animal there. So we’re going to see how this plays out. And it is strange. I mean, obviously they play the jets on Sunday, but Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and then at Cincinnati, three, three, A, F, C, North games in a row. So it’s going to be really interesting to see how these next few weeks play out. And let’s face it, a great opportunity for the ravens to not just move above 500 but depending on what happens with Pittsburgh, a chance to move into sole possession of first place in the AFC North Well,
Nestor Aparicio 04:18
watching the Pittsburgh Cincinnati slog that happened prior to the ravens, slog gave me a different level of confidence that the ravens are still the best team here, whether, whether they were 62% to win the division before the weekend began, and whether Pittsburgh won and they won, which both happened and they again will see each other shortly. And plenty, I mean, plenty of football. We’re gonna have four, you know, four big, big days with these division games. But it feels to me like the ravens are the best team now, that, being said, they needed a fourth and one miracle play off the edge to run for a touchdown to beat the browns. They were losing to the browns. They might have lost to the Brown said that fourth down play not gone swimmingly. If someone would have hit the gap, stopped it, I don’t know, blew it up, whatever fumbles, anything could have happened that would have changed the day, and four and six would have felt a lot different than five and five, and it feels like, my god, it’s been just an epic, epic slog, just to get back to 500 at this point and staring at the jets and staring at, you know, a weekend Cincinnati team, whatever they’re going to be there, they better not be good enough to beat the Ravens next Thursday night and wreck Thanksgiving. So all that being said, you pencil the Ravens in at seven and five on the other edge of this, by Black Friday, by next Friday, you would never have known they were one and five, right? They could have been one and one and two and two and three and two and four and two and four and three, you know I mean, but the teams they lost to, and the way they lost and the way these victories are going to feel about as hollow as the Cleveland victory feels right now. I mean, yeah, it’s important. It got in the fight. It’s all that. But there was nothing about it that leads you to believe this is an impressive or a dominant team or a Super Bowl contender, until they start stacking them four in a row this week will be three in a row on the road, right?
Luke Jones 06:23
Yeah, and that’s something that you and I haven’t mentioned enough, you know, in some of our previous discussions, where we dove into the game a little bit deeper, deeper. I mean, this was three straight road games. Now, we think in baseball, of long road trips where, you know, you’re literally gone away from home for a week and a half. I mean, it’s a little bit different in the NFL, you come home, sleep in your own bed, you practice during the week, all that, right? Not, not the same thing as a trip to London or, you know, like the teams that were playing in Spain Sunday morning, Washington and Miami. But three straight road games is a challenge. You know, it’s challenge to win on the road in the NFL, we talk about that a lot. So for them to do that, albeit Miami, Minnesota, Cleveland, you know, not, not murderers row, in the same way that, like when they played buffalo, Detroit and Kansas City in a four week period to open the season. But it’s still notable, especially for a team that was two and five at the time to do that, so they put themselves in a better position in that way. And you know, as much as we talk about it in terms of, okay, they’ve won four in a row now, after losing four in a row, that’s when you do look around at the rest of the league and see that there are other teams that have issues, even other teams that you fancy as really good teams. I mean, Kansas City has the same exact record as the Ravens right now. They didn’t start. Didn’t start off one in five in the same way. And, you know, they’re like, I said three or four weeks ago. I mean, dummies like me were saying, Man, this might be as great as Kansas City has actually been in three years. I mean, like, and, well, they’ve lost back to back games now, and lost coming out of the bye, and they have a very minute chance now at winning their division. I mean, think about five and five for them compared to five and five for the Ravens. I mean, if Pittsburgh right now, we’re nine and two, we’d be talking about the Ravens in terms of like, Okay, how many wins is it going to take that you are going to be in position that you can steal a wild card, right? There’s
Nestor Aparicio 08:21
some crazy stat where mahomes hadn’t played a road game in the playoffs a couple years ago, like they were like a home team forever and ever and ever. Like the road trail for them is not something that they’ve done like in this way, right? Two, two
Luke Jones 08:35
years ago they did. I mean, they they won in Buffalo, and then they came to Baltimore and beat the Ravens before then they had, I don’t think mahomes had played a playoff road game before then.
Nestor Aparicio 08:44
That’s what I’m saying. Like, you know, the pedigree of them scuffling into the playoffs and having to go the whole thing on the road is,
Luke Jones 08:52
oh, it’s different. It’s tough. But if there’s any team that you would point to and say, Hey, I’m this is not me burying the Kansas City Chiefs. Let’s be clear, in the same way that you know Buffalo for all. And by the way, as much as we’re I saw a lot of people you know the speaking not so flat and not so flattering terms about them. They are seven and three like I get it, their run defense stinks. And that’s that’s generally not something that is going to translate well in January, typically, if you can’t, at least stop the run. Yeah, that, that, that can be, that can be problematic, to say the least, but at the same time, they’re seven and three, but are they going to, are they going to catch New England, right? I mean, you know, patriots give them credit. The record is pretty formidable, even if you’re not completely a believer in them, in that those terms. But you know, you just look at it for the Ravens. I mean, there, there’s, you can poke holes in any of these teams at this point in time. And, yeah, you can poke holes in the Ravens too, right? I mean, that’s but there’s just a wide open nature to it. You said it in a previous segment, and. I wholeheartedly agree. I mean, the NFL loves what it sees in the AFC right now. I mean, this is how the league is constructed to be. You know, the that’s why, what Kansas City has done over the last six years on the heels of what New England did for the better part of close to 20 years, is it defies logic in terms of what the league is supposed to be, but it also is a reminder of just how important quarterback play is, and that’s why, even at five and five, no, you’re not going to bury the chiefs, yet, even at one in five, you weren’t burying the Ravens at that point, assuming Lamar Jackson was going to come back and be healthy in a relatively reasonable amount of time, which he was, you know, maybe a game longer than we thought, but still, you know, three games is not out for three months. It, you know, in the same way that, you know, I mean Cincinnati, I mean with Joe burrow, although it’s just weird, because, you know, Joe Flacco has put up big numbers for them, and, you know, Sunday aside, but their defense, they can’t stop anyone. So, you know, that’s kind of a different, a different animal that we’re talking about here. Well, there is no complete team here at this point. No, no. I mean, it’s, you know, in the NFC. I mean, I think there’s a few teams that look more complete than in the AFC right now, but, but at the same time, like, at some point, it’s like Denver deserves credit, New England deserves credit. Indianapolis, I still think Daniel Jones is going to turn into a pumpkin at some point in time. And you know, maybe we’ve seen some glimpses of that here in recent weeks with him, but they still have Jonathan Taylor, who might have the best chance of a running back winning the MVP in quite a long time, even though I don’t think he will. But, you know, you look at those upstarts and you say, well, at one point in time, Buffalo was that upstart. At one point in time, Kansas City was that upstart when they barely lost to New England in that 2018 AFC title game the Ravens with Lamar the first year or two. I mean, so, you know, it starts somewhere for these teams, or maybe they’re a flash in the pan, and maybe they’re, you know, thinking about like when Kerry Collins led the the Titans to be in the number one seed in oh eight, and the Ravens went in there and beat them, right? So you never really know. And that’s what makes this fun. I mean, we’re still six, you know, seven weeks out from the end of the regular season, and I still don’t know what to make of this AFC. I mean, I really don’t, you know. I still think Patrick mahomes will be heard from, I still think Josh Allen will be heard from, I think Lamar Jackson will be heard from. But those new teams that are sitting at the top as things, you know, get closer and closer to Thanksgiving. I mean, doesn’t feel like they’re going away
Nestor Aparicio 12:37
to measure themselves against the Patriots, right in the midst of all the Steeler and they’re going to measure themselves against the Packers too, sure, you know, and where it stands as to how much they need those games when they were losing late in the game against the browns, and it felt like they might lose once shadora Sanders came in. I’m like, he stinks like he stinks, and he’ll give him the game. And he was throwing the ball at him right out of the gate, and I’m like, Man, he’s going to turn he’s exactly what they don’t need a kid trying to earn his stripes out there instead of managing the game and just taking the six points he has on the scoreboard and trying to use it to win. You know, I started thinking about the end of the game and how good the Ravens could be, and what the perception would be if they lost. So if they lose their four and six, I remember back when it was one and five, it felt like, if they take their six loss, the season’s over, then they’re two and five. Well, two and six. Man, even Minnesota last week, I said they’re playing for, you know, their life when they’re that far upside down, four and six wouldn’t scare me right now, in some way, had they lost the game, I wouldn’t have felt like the season’s over, and I feel like they’re going to lose again. I think they’ll probably lose a couple of times again before it’s all over with, I just don’t know the devastation of the losses when you’re not really chasing any team that’s going to be more than probably 12 and five, right? Yeah.
Luke Jones 14:10
I mean, it’s, it’s tough to say. I mean, I think it goes back to the point I made when we first hopped on and started talking about the aftermath of this win, where you know every and this, this is the same when, whether you start one in five, or whether you’re five and one, right? I mean, every game you can win now is one fewer game that that you have to win later. Like, do you follow what I mean, like, in the sense that you know, if they had dropped Sunday’s game. No, the season wouldn’t have been over. But now you look at that Final Four game stretch and you’re saying they need to make sure that, you know, not, not necessarily, that you went out, but better win three out of four. You know, remember when several weeks back, when you said, I’ll, I’ll bet money on that. Be in seven and seven. And I said to you at the time, my thought is, you need to be better than seven and seven, because you don’t want to be in a position where the that last, you know, those last three games are must win if you want to get to 10 wins. And again, we’re projecting out. We don’t know what Pittsburgh is going to be, and especially now with if Mason, Rudolph starting games. I mean, I don’t know, Nestor. I mean the ravens, if they continue to win the games that they’re supposed to win, even if it’s not stylistically as appealing as you’d like it to be, right? I mean, like, they don’t look like the Juggernaut ravens of a couple years ago. But I don’t know, man, if, if Aaron Rodgers, let’s say he misses. And I you know, as as we’re talking in real time, someone’s listening, maybe, maybe there’s more definitive information. But if he misses, say, two to three weeks or something like that, that week 18 game might not mean anything. I mean, like, seriously, like, and I’m projecting way ahead here, and just humor me, but you don’t know. But the point is, the fact that they didn’t drop Sunday’s game, and they didn’t stub their toe, and they didn’t give one away and drop one to an inferior team, yada yada yada, puts less pressure on them later than half. It puts you in a position where, if you’re going to Pittsburgh or you’re going to Green Bay in week 17, where, don’t get me wrong, you still want to win and you want to build momentum, and you want to feel good about yourselves. And these are going to be good tests. Be good tests for them in terms of, okay, it’s, it’s, it’s certainly not gonna be easier than that come January. And you know, you might have a home playoff game, but you might not have more than that, depending on how this shakes out, or probably won’t. So yeah, that’s, those are going to be some good tests, but those will still be tests, but the more games you win now, you still have whatever little margin for error you have. And we knew it. I mean, it’s not like when they were one in five. We were saying, oh, man, they have to go 11 and Oh, or they’re not going to make the playoffs. I don’t think anyone ever thought that, because people looked at Pittsburgh and looked at this division and said, No, you’re not going to need to, you know, as it stands, in terms of aiming for anything higher than that. I mean, it’s kind of tough to look at that when you know New England and Denver have two losses and Indianapolis as well. I mean, you know, there would have to be some really those teams, really falling off to really think the ravens are going to have any kind of practical chance to be better than the number four seed. But that said, you still want to win, and you still need to get to that point, and you don’t want to just, you don’t want to be in a position where you’re just happy to be there, right? I mean, it’s not like the standard is that is lowered to that degree if you win the division and you’re at the point, whether you’re 10 and seven or finish 11 and six or whatever it is, you know, even if they win out right at that point, we’re gonna be thinking, not just, oh, win in the first round and then, hey, good season guys. No, we talking about them getting to a Super Bowl, because they’re the ultimate goal, right? So, but that’s why it was so big for them to win, because even in these recent seasons, when they’ve had better records, and they’ve had better overall teams, and their dboa was better, and all the different things we talked about 11 or 12 Pro Bowl guys, all that they still had some some games where they dropped it and said, How did they drop that game? You look at that early in the season and look, this isn’t to forgive one in five, but okay, the Buffalo game was a collapse. Fully acknowledged that, right? They led by two scores of five minutes ago, but Detroit just beat them right there. There wasn’t anything like, I don’t think the Ravens gave that game away. The Ravens didn’t beat themselves. Detroit beat them in that game. Kansas City beat them in that game. And then Houston and LA I mean, they were just so banged up, and Lamar wasn’t playing. I mean, like I wasn’t, we weren’t surprised by those outcomes. So on Sunday, had they lost to Cleveland, that would have been the first time since week one in Buffalo, where you say, My gosh, they just lost the game. They had no business losing. I mean, period. So the fact that they didn’t this isn’t a patent if they were losing most of the afternoon, right, exactly, exactly, but that’s still a game that we’ve seen them lose in previous years, right? That they lost in Cleveland last year and again every year the last couple years. So, so that’s where you look at this, if you’re looking in terms of big picture, you know, in terms of style points, stylistically, no, there was nothing about their offense that was pretty on Sunday other than just that one play call and executed the perfection with Mark Andrews. But we go back to the point that Kyle Hamilton made, and I wrote about this at Baltimore positive.com after the Minnesota game, that idea of scar tissue. You know, this team had a lot of scar tissue at the beginning of the year, and I talked about this a lot with the Orioles. Not so much this year, but in the second half of 24 remember how many times I said at the time, you’re hoping that this pays some dividends at some point, that they’re going through these struggles, and you’re hoping it makes them better at some point in the future, this ravens team and I. I talked about it a lot last year with you, where I said, You know what, when we knew that they weren’t going to be the number one seed last year, and I said, maybe the the team that finally breaks through is the team that no one expects to break through, and they’re not the number one seed and they don’t have home field, and they’re an underdog on the road, and they’re not as dominant, and maybe that’s the team that finally does it. And that kind of spent speaks to your point where you say, Can the Ravens do it? Sure. Why not this year? Because who else is, like, someone’s gonna win. I
Nestor Aparicio 20:30
don’t know you and I spent eight months thinking they would be rounded into being this talented, 1213, win team. They might be a 10 or 11 win team that is more talented than everybody else by the time they get to the second week of January, despite the fact that the offensive line, defensive line, feel very deficient right now. Yeah, and look deficient enough to have them behind for three quarters in Cleveland? Sure.
Luke Jones 20:55
Yeah. And obviously, that’s not the formula, because you know, if they play, if they play the way they did offensively and turning the ball over three times against a good team, you’re gonna get beat well, miles Garrett’s also Sure, sure, yeah. But you know, in the sense of, you’re hoping some of what they’re going what they’ve gone through in the first half of the season, pays off, from an intangible standpoint, from a standpoint of going through some adversity, looking like you’re done, right? I mean, how many people were ready to just fire everybody, and people were talking about the draft and all that. And I look, fans were frustrated. I understand one in five it’s terrible, of course, like, No, I’m not. I’m not beating Anyone up for feeling that way. But that was prevalent, right? I mean, they’re there. There were not a whole lot of believers at that.
Nestor Aparicio 21:41
I’m proud of being the guy that said they’d be seven and seven, they turned the season around, there would be a real season here, because I did look at the schedule, and now that you look at it, it’s gone even more optimistically than maybe you would have thought from a health standpoint, from a result standpoint, but not from an eyeball test standpoint, just
Luke Jones 21:58
Yeah, well, and, and, Look, it can also be fleeting, right? I mean, as as, as much as it’s better, right now, you’re one or two injuries away from not feeling so great about it again, right? And, you know, I’m not going to name names, you know who guys I’m talking about in that category, especially knowing that the schedule will toughen up here after this Jets game again, you know, with AFC North games, and then obviously three or four to on the road to finish the seat the regular season. So it can all change very quickly and but that’s again that goes back to the point of why it was just so critical for them to steal, escape, survive, whatever, however you want to categorize that win, right? I mean, however you want to describe it, on Sunday, ugly, all that, right? But they won it. I’ll take that over. Losing that game. And now you’re saying, All right, now you’re four and six, and you, if you want to win 10 games, you can only lose one more game the rest of the way.
Nestor Aparicio 22:58
Keep saying this is fun because it’s interesting to me, because the more we talk about it, the more there’s no dominant teams, the more that the games matter, and the Jets this week and Cincinnati soon thereafter, and what version of the Ravens we get. But I would say this, we’re all of the expectation that there, that there is another level here,
Luke Jones 23:21
you would hope so. Yeah. I mean, now, does this offense have more of a feeling because of the play of the offensive line then in recent seasons? Yeah, I think so. I I don’t know if their offensive line is going to find a level to make this a dominant offense overall. Can it be better, though? Yeah. I mean, you have a two time MVP at quarterback, and let’s face it, I mean, Lamar did not play well on Sunday. I mean, that was, that’s a bad game for Lamar standards. He played poorly. The two ints were, you know, one went off Keith Mitchell’s hands, and that was on Keaton Mitchell way more. And the other one went off what rosengarten’s helmet, which was just, you know, just a weird play. But he didn’t play well. I mean, he’d be the first to tell you he didn’t play didn’t play well, but they won a game when Lamar Jackson didn’t play well, right? How many times have people talked about while Lamar has to go in the phone booth and be Superman and carry them? They won a game where Lamar did not play very well, right? They won a game where their offense stunk for most of the game. That even that has not happened a whole lot. Even go back the last couple years, there weren’t too many times they’ve won games where you said Lamar was bad. Good fortune goes a long way in all of it. And look, luck is a way bigger part of of all this than anyone cares to admit. I say that quite often, and you know, we’re going to see how this plays out, right? And again, you look around the rest of the league and how much of it’s related to health, and, you know, I mean, look at Houston, how they’ve, you know, the Texans. I mean, they’ve been without their quarterback, and they’ve, they’ve found a way to, you know, to win a couple games, you know, albeit, they, they beat the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. But hey, the Ravens beat the Cleveland Browns, right? I mean, like you need to, sometimes it’s you’d rather be
Nestor Aparicio 25:06
they put who they put in front of you. Mean, there was lions and chiefs and ratings earlier in the year. You know, I’ll take the jets and I’ll take whatever version of the Bengals we get that can’t stop anybody.
Luke Jones 25:15
Yeah, well, and, and, you know what? Even in that game, whether it’s Joe Flacco or Joe burrow, we’re going to get a better idea of where this ravens defense is, right, like, in terms of, okay, everyone agrees it’s better. I mean, it couldn’t have been any worse than it was the first five weeks. But it’s it’s better, and I think it’s markedly better. Is it elite? Is it great? Is it the kind of group that you feel really confident can slow down playoff caliber quarterbacks and offenses. Well, Cincinnati has a playoff caliber offense. At the very least, they don’t have a play playoff caliber defense. And on the flip side, the Ravens just won a game against a playoff caliber defense.
Nestor Aparicio 25:58
Well, the ravens are going to get tested by these good teams all throughout December. So they’re gonna, they’re gonna get their measurement. We’ll find out. And they’re not gonna get it this week, but they’re gonna get it. And part of this is checking these two off the box and winning them both winning another division game at home on Thanksgiving night, maybe against Joe Flacco, maybe against Joe burrow, but either way, you know, it’s a big week around here, and have been a really good time for them to stay healthy. I saw Kyle Hamilton get dinged up toward the end of the game on Sunday against the browns. Just this is a good time to have good health and good fortune with these two games coming up here. Yeah, get themselves really right in at seven and five, we wake up on Black Friday, right?
Luke Jones 26:38
And we’ll see. You know, we’ll see about Humphrey status. I mean, he had a pin put in his finger. I mean, I’m guessing, ideally, you’d like to hold him out of the Jets game. You know what? We’ll see how that goes. I mean, Bateman doesn’t I don’t think Bateman’s gonna miss too much time, but you’d like to get him back here in the near future. But you said it. I mean, especially knowing you have a quick turnaround against Cincinnati, and I get it, the Bengals can’t stop anybody but Sunday’s game against the Jets, get a win and get out of that healthy. And I know that’s not like a skill. I mean, like, you know you’re, you’re kind of at the mercy of of just football, and it’s a violent game, but when you know what kind of stretch they have after that, I mean, I’ll say it now, you know, and we’ll talk about the Jets later in the week. That’s a game where you’d love to get Lamar Jackson out of the game with 12 minutes ago, in a perfect world, especially knowing Lamar has dealt with hamstring early in the year, knee here recently, man, you’d love to be up by three touchdowns or four touchdowns that you can get him and a couple of the other veterans out with 10 minutes ago, knowing that you have a Thursday night game against an AFC North opponent, and then you play Pittsburgh the week after that, right? So, you know, and obviously you’ve got to go play and look the Jets, you know, they, they weren’t embarrassed by New England on Thursday night. I mean, they, they look good for their first drive, at least. I mean, not so much after that. But, you know, I mean, it’s you play the team that’s in front of you, take care of business, and then business will pick up after that. But again, all all the ugliness of Sunday aside, they got to win, and that’s what matters. You move on. You try to get another win, and you do that. You’re over 500 which six weeks ago, Ravens fans would have been doing cartwheels thinking about that possibility. Well, I’m
Nestor Aparicio 28:25
excited, because it’s a fun season, you know, and it’s an interesting season from a storybook standpoint, or however it ends up, they were one in five. They battle back. I think they’re going to be fine in the long run, whatever fine means, like they’re gonna have to go out in January and win games, yeah, but between now and then, we’ll be the true believers around here. He’s Luke Jones. He’s Baltimore, Luke. I am Nestor. You can find me Nestor at Baltimore positive.com we’re both out on the internet everywhere the internet travels. I’m getting schooled up on AI. I have been bringing all my friends onto the show to have them poo poo AI as I continue to use it and move forward, and the Ravens move forward this week as well. If there’s any maneuverings, any moves, any Oriole trades, anything happens, you’ll get it first in the wnst tech service that’s all brought to you by Cole roofing and Gordian energy. Bill was actually the first guy to bring me AI about a year, year and a half ago, and now I’ve moved ahead of him, so we’ll see how the scoreboard goes. But I’m getting schooled up. If anybody out there is into AI, throw me a note. I like learning things. Send me to your teachers. Send me to your leaders. I am Nestor. We are W N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking. Baltimore positive. Stay with us.
Dining and Cooking