There’s no sugar-coating an ugly loss than ends with a 16-play drive where your defense can’t get off the field and your new “defensive genius” head coach has no explanations after losing to the New Orleans Saints and a neophyte quarterback at home. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Ravens defense and how Tyler Shough somehow willed the Saints past a group we believed to be more formidable at all three levels.

The discussion assessed the Ravens’ disappointing loss to New Orleans and the challenges facing the team before its Brazil game against Dallas.

Loss Assessment

Luke and Nestor agreed the Ravens should have beaten the Saints but repeated longstanding problems: poor third-down defense, missed opportunities, inconsistent execution, and failure to close out the game.

The disputed goal-line ruling was a factor, but Luke emphasized that the Ravens’ own mistakes put them in position to lose.

The defense was viewed as the primary concern, especially given Jesse Minter’s dual role as head coach and defensive play-caller. The group must improve coverage, tackling, pressure, and late-game execution.

Brazil Challenge

The Ravens face logistical and competitive challenges in Brazil, including travel, unfamiliar conditions, turf, and possible absences for Zay Flowers, Ronnie Stanley, and Nnamdi Madabuike.

Dallas has significant offensive firepower through Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and George Pickens, while its defense remains vulnerable to Derrick Henry.

Open questions: Can the Ravens’ defense lead the team in Brazil? Will the injured players return, and can the team avoid repeating its early-season habit of losing winnable games?

Attend State Fair in Catonsville on Thursday and distribute Maryland Lottery scratch-offs during the Maryland Craptake Tour. (@Nestor Aparicio)

Attend Pizza John’s in Essex next Friday, October 2, for the Maryland Craptake Tour. (@Nestor Aparicio)

Ravens Loss

New Orleans overcame the Ravens late despite entering the game as the less-favored team.

Discussion covered the disputed goal-line call, missed chances, third-down defense, and late scoring drives.

The loss raised concerns about whether the team has genuinely changed its recurring habits under a new coaching staff.

Coaching And Accountability

Jesse Minter’s postgame tone was viewed positively as calm, direct, and focused on accountability.

Luke cautioned that statements after the game matter less than correcting the problems on film and during the next game.

Coaching decisions discussed included the defensive approach and a third-and-one deep pass to Chris Moore.

Defensive Expectations

The defense was expected to carry more responsibility because of offensive injuries and turnover.

Players including Malik Starks, Trenton Simpson, Kyle Hamilton, and the secondary were discussed in evaluating the unit’s performance.

The Ravens need better coverage, tackling, pressure, and third-down stops.

Dallas Matchup

Dallas presents a greater offensive threat than the Ravens’ earlier opponents.

Baltimore’s offense may be limited if Flowers and Stanley remain unavailable.

The game’s travel and field conditions add uncertainty to an already difficult week.

Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, doing purple therapy here today, but in good spirits, I assure you. On Thursday, we’ll be at State Fair in Catonsville, giving away the Maryland Lottery scratch offs. Right side up with the Kiss Face Bird. It’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland Lottery, GBMC. Keep me healthy, feeling healthier. Keep passing on the French fries over at Pizza John’s, but I’ll have another chance to have French fries and gravy next Friday on the second of October. I might even be able to lure Luke Jones over to Essex, although Essex is a long way from Owings Mills. Maybe a better chance at State Fair on Thursday. Casper Wells is going to be joining us on Thursday. Alan McCallum is going to be there. It’s all brought to you by Farnan and Dermer. Zach Dermer is going to be joining us as well over at State Fair. So, little breakfast on Thursday, little Brazil game. Who knows what the turf’s going to be in Brazil? But certainly, it’s been brought up already as we go over, and I’m thinking to myself, Leonard Raskin’s going. Would it be something if they get there and walk around, and it’s like when Billick and Goose were up at the vet for for that preseason game? You know, they canceled a game in Mexico City years ago. I’m just saying it’s a strange week. But Luke, I’m not here to talk about next weekend because we still haven’t finished last weekend yet, which we’ll be doing here all week. Luke Jones is here. He is Baltimore Luke, and of course we’ll be in Owings Mills at least part of the week. They’re going to fly Thursday night to Rio to take on the the Cowboys. And by the way, Commanders quarterback injury. You know, I don’t like seeing any of that stuff. But how are you, man? You holding up okay? I’m trying to be the voice of reason here on the Free the birds 20th anniversary. Where I’m not even making you talk baseball. Think about it. I mean, it could be worse. We could not have the Ravens here, and we could have to talk about getting swept by the Brewers over the weekend. What do you think of that? I mean, not like the Ravens were much better on

Luke Jones 1:57
Sunday. I mean, no, I hear you. And and look, I mean, I’m. I don’t think I’m being over the top here. I’m. No one’s suggesting the season’s over. No one’s suggesting that Jesse Minter’s not still going to be a really good coach. No one’s saying the Ravens can’t win the Super Bowl this year. But what we saw Sunday was no bueno. Much of the same old thing that we saw in the past, right? And and and like I said, to me, it’s the lesson that probably was a little unrealistic in hindsight to just think, just assume all of these elements that, let’s face it, have been part of the Ravens’ DNA for a long time now. Right? We’re not talking about Ray Lewis and Ed Reed and and and the old days. We’re talking about the Lamar Jackson era, and really some of these issues started even predated Lamar a little bit, but you know it’s a reminder that old habits die hard, and some of what they did on Sunday are things that they need to be able to remedy, because yeah, I give New Orleans a lot of credit, but at the same time, I I also don’t think the Saints are suddenly one of the very best teams in football, and yeah, we can talk about Zay Flowers, and we can talk about Namdi Matabike, and we can talk about Ronnie Stanley leaving the game late in the third quarter, and those are very real factors, and those are factors that against the best teams, yeah, I I I I would even go as far as say probably should be backbreakers against the very best teams, but the very best teams also do find a way to win games when you’re not at full strength. And as I noted in my column at BaltimorePositive.com, if you’re relying and counting on being full strength to remedy all that ails you, that generally is not going to work out very well in the National Football League, right? You are rarely going to be at full strength. You are rarely going to be in a position where all your starters are healthy and you don’t have anyone meaningful on IR, right? I mean, that’s just not how the game works. So that’s where it’s very important for this team, and I think you know the the wasn’t a whole lot said about what the post game message was, but the the sentiment that Jesse Minter apparently offered the players is come into work ready to be honest with ourselves as far as what we didn’t do well and what needs to change and what needs to be better and and look yeah I liked

Nestor Aparicio 4:17
his tone in the post game I mean having watched it I’m like look man there. dude, I’m going through my old clips of Gene Ubrio and all the hockey coaches who loved me and hated me in post-game press conferences, and people new to the party here, because I know some people are new to the party here. It ain’t my first rodeo judging new coaching or podium discipline or even what they’re saying and what they’re doing over the course of my lifetime. So, not being there to ask questions is completely bizarre to me, and watching it later is a little bizarre to me. And it’s even more bizarre on the outside. And I’ll say this for you, being on the inside, and I I haven’t never said this. I don’t think. Watching how the questions are couched to kiss the ass of John Harbaugh for many, many, many, many years, and watching how Albernaz and how prickly he is around, and they lose a lot, right? And he’s he’s new to this. They lose a lot. The the Orioles do. So, and and there’s a lot more of it than there is of John Harbaugh, who only got to lose nine times a year last year. Like literally, Albernaz has lost nine times since the last time you and I got together. It feels like right, so there is a part of all of this. But I do look, man. I’ve beaten Mark Andrews up and Wilk for the rest of eternity about running out the back door and not having accountability. But I mean, I wrote down some of the stuff that that Minter was saying about accountability and the way he spoke about it, sort of like Harbaugh without being a prick. I mean, Harbaugh really went into it to, and and this New York thing is going to be a whole different thing for him. As I, you know, as I’ve been pointing out that it’s going to be combustible because Jamison Hensley’s never been combustible with anybody other than me, so like there’s not going to be any combustible. And I think Minter sort of understands that from the beginning that like he doesn’t like he’s going to fight with anybody in any way, but it also feels to me like there is going to be a different demeanor after a loss, right? Like you know what I mean. Like that was a tough loss on Sunday. I mean, in a lot of ways. I mean, just home first game should have won it down on the goal line. They didn’t cross the goal line. I’ll keep going back to that. I mean, much people want to beat me up for thinking I’m taking the the the Saints side because they tried to Roquan Smith tried to rip off the quarterback’s head at the goal line. The ball never crossed the plane that that I’m that I feel full. And if I wagered on this, and this is one of the things I would talk about with wagering and all of that, is like who settles these bets and why? Like I I can’t imagine being someone that seriously bets on this and the way it’s adjudicated, I mean, literally, it’s just not-it’s insane. But but that being said, we all witnessed it at the goal line. I, you know, I watch all of these coaches, and I’ve seen a million different demeanors. Right, this is my chance to judge him because I’m never going to meet him because of Chad Steele and Steve Bashati, and I’m not good enough to meet Jesse Minter. I’m not a good enough journalist, being on the outside. So I get to judge it, but it doesn’t feel like you have to apologize to him before you ask the question, which is a whole different thing than the last 19 years around here. And it also feels like he’s not going to be combustible. It feels like from the beginning, the accountability part of it, I’m gonna like that part of him, even though he’s not accountable to me and he’ll never answer a question for me. And I put a lot of blood in the bricks to be able to ask these questions and to have an FCC license and have the privilege of having you there to ask questions.

Nestor Aparicio 7:59
But on the outside, I like the post-game demeanor, and I like what you said about like you feel like when they get to work on Monday, it’s not about maybe in the way it was with John being really prickly and making the building uncomfortable and doing all of that. It’s more like, hey, we’re going to get in here and take a serious look at what this is, and we’re gonna fix it like men. And we’re not gonna, you know, like it just it feels toned down after a loss in a a good way for me. I I don’t because they’re gonna lose. They’re gonna lose, and they’re gonna lose, and they got screwed on the call. They did. They got screwed on the call. Lamar didn’t have any problem bringing that up. Lamar leaned in that we got screwed on the call more, but that’s I’ve watched Lamar’s act for eight or nine years, and there’s things quite frankly I don’t like about it, which you know, but in in an accountability sense, dude, this is a tough week. They got to dust off, they got their ass kicked, they got to fly to Brazil, 5000 miles. They got to play on turf. That whatever they got to eat, whatever they’re served, every part of it. The air is different. Every part of being there, they’re going to be handled like the Beatles. Like from the minute they get there, security is incredibly risky in that part of the world. Speaking to a guy here who dealt with the Colombian police? You know what I mean. Like so, like I, they have a very weird week, and they’re playing the biggest brand in the world down in a place that everything’s going to be freaky to them. The next, the next eight days is going to be really freaky thing for a lot of some of these guys never been out of the country, so like I’m just saying like he’s got a lot to manage this week, and his calmness might really suit them well this week. I’m we’re gonna find out because this is the week I thought they would lose. This is the week where I thought like they win two lose. This is the game I had penciled in as the five and one six. One. This was the one because I thought they’re good team. You know, weird game. They’ll be two and zero. They’re not, and they might not have their tackle, and they might not have their wide receiver, and they got to go play in Brazil in a couple of days. So picking that part of it up for me, the Minter Harbaugh thing. This is a this is a test on how you’re going to control the building because you need to bounce back. You can’t be one and two 5000 miles flying home next Monday morning. Yeah,

Luke Jones 10:30
and and that’s where I’m. I’m a little less moved to to interpret too much of what was said after the game, right? I mean, well, you listen

Nestor Aparicio 10:36
to him a lot. I don’t. Just so you know, but I’m just wondering that I’m not listening to his August. You’ve been with him embedded for six weeks. For most of the fans, they’re getting sort of a fur. Like I don’t know that every fan sitting there on the sweaty practice. Like this is after a loss. I want to see how he acts. Like literally, I would have loved to been in the room, dude, because it’s what I do professionally. Chad, Sash, Moo. all of you. Like it’s what I do. Is this is what I do? And looking at it from afar, I’m I’m giving it a thumbs up. But they, this is a tough week. That’s tough. I was just gonna say, I mean,

Luke Jones 11:17
I I don’t think anyone cares about the post game press conference if you come out and do similar things next week, and and that’s kind of my point. And that’s not to say they’re they’re not going to get things corrected. Look, I mean, it’s not like the Ravens had these long, persistent losing streaks under John Harbaugh. They bounced back well plenty of times in in that regime, right? I mean, at some point in time, we’ll stop making the comparisons. But we also know this is not your typical first-year head coach. This is not your typical new head coach coming into a place where it’s like the Browns, which is bad every year, changing coaches every other year. Right? I mean, this is a really different environment. And look, this is part of what was appealing about the job. But at the same time, the level of pressure is different, right? When the Bills hired a new head coach, and and it was just Joe Brady sliding over from the offensive coordinator spot, but the expectations are high in Pittsburgh to a lesser extent because I don’t think again watching them play on Sunday, no one, no one thinks the Steelers can win the Super Bowl, right? That doesn’t mean they won’t win the division and the way they did last year. I don’t know why Harbaugh’s going to get his ass

Nestor Aparicio 12:30
kicked Monday night out in L.A. and nobody thinks they can win the Super Bowl, but he’s going to have a fine year. But Minter, Minter’s got to win a couple of games in January for this to even feel like it’s level water with this talent, with this talent. I mean,

Luke Jones 12:43
and and that’s that’s not an easy place to be. And and I said to you a lot throughout the spring and the summer when we finally saw the schedule. What did we say about the early season schedule? It was very forgiving on paper, and the point that I was making, and and lots of people were making, was when you have a first-year head coach who’s challenging calls for the first time and overseeing the the game management for the first time, and when you have an offensive play caller who’s doing it in a game for the first time, no matter how brilliant you think Declan Doyle is, inevitably there were going to be hiccups, and guess what? There probably will still be some more in that way because that’s-it’s really tough to do. It’s really easy to coach the game from the couch or the press box, right? But when you’re in it, when the bullets are flying for real, and you realize just how fast it’s moving over the course of three hours, inevitably you’re going to have some hiccups. Now we said that the saving grace was the early season schedule. Looking how it did on paper, well, you’ve already lost the game that everyone thought you were going to win. And who knows? Maybe at the end of the day, at the end of the season, maybe the New Orleans Saints will be playing in the NFC Championship, and they’re going to be that latest team that comes out of nowhere and just shocks everyone, or the truth will probably be somewhere in the middle that they’re better than people thought they were going to be, but probably still not a team that’s going to be playing in the Super Bowl or playing in the NFC Championship game. Point is, it’s a game the Ravens should have won. They’d be the first to tell you that they led the entire way until the run that’s called a touchdown on fourth and goal from the one that, as you said, certainly didn’t seem like it was a touchdown. Like I said, I’m not, I’m not all that moved by feeling sorry for them with the comedy of not comedy of errors, but the errors that they made in various ways at critical junctures to lead them in that position, but you dropped it. And Jesse Minter can say all the right things after the game. Players can say all the right things after the game. I have no issues with anything that anyone said, but at the same time, it’s a show me league. Right, you can keep talking about. I mean, the thing that that was I was unmoved by was hearing all the players talk about. You know, I mean, Marlon Humphrey had a quote somewhere along the lines of, you know, we’re really tired of being in this position. I mean, I’ve heard that for a decade now. You know what I mean? So, like, at some point in time, whether it’s a new coach or the old coach or anyone in between, do something about it. Finish, right? And look, I mean, Jesse Minter. That what’s unique about him now is we’re not just talking about him in the way that you talked about the head coach, meaning John Harbaugh in the past, but it’s also like Jesse, you’re calling the defense. What the heck was going on, right? Why why couldn’t you challenge Chris Olave in coverage more? Why couldn’t you tackle better, right? I mean, like what what was going on with your defense? And I know Anthony Weaver’s part of that too, but Jesse is you know he he’s got the wheel on Sundays during the game for for calling the defense. So there’s an extra layer to that. There’s an extra layer of pressure, quite frankly, where Jesse is both head coach and defensive coordinator on that day. And I’m not saying that to be disparaging of Anthony Weaver or disrespectful to Anthony Weaver, but we have to call spade a spade. Who’s calling the plays? Jesse is right. So there is a an extra element there that it’s not just handle this as the head coach, but it’s also you need to get with Anthony Weaver and the rest of the defensive staff and like figure out what happened there.

Luke Jones 16:29
Look, to for me to look at this final score, and if I hadn’t watched the game and I went from Friday to Sunday evening and looked at the box score and looked at how it played out, which was going to be more believable-that the offense was going to have some issues without Zay Flowers, and then Ronnie Stanley exiting the game, or the defense just was hopelessly not going to be able to get off the field on third down. And I get it; they don’t have Matta BK. If you want to throw Teddy Buchanan in there, you can. Although Trenton Simpson, to me, was yeah one of the bright spots for them. He was around the ball day, yeah. So so I don’t think they’re missing Teddy Buchanan a whole lot in that context, in that light. But point is, I think you could understand some of the shortcomings of the offense a little bit more. And I’m not excusing them. I’m not not absolving it, but call spade a spade as far as who they were missing, but the defense. I mean, you played without Madabike for 15 games last year too, right? Until we see him back on the field and looking like the pre-injury version of himself, there’s going to be a little bit of question there in terms of what does he look like. All of those things. Anytime someone comes back from a long-term injury, but the point is, you’re playing at home. You’re supposed to have this defensive mastermind, this defensive genius. And look, I I think Jesse Minter’s a heck of a defensive mind. I’m not saying that to to mock, but I’m saying that to lay out the fact that the expectation should have been there for the defense to lead the way on Sunday, and it really didn’t. I

Nestor Aparicio 18:00
mean you could say that it did through three quarters? I suppose they let that that I would call him a kid, but he’s not young. But they they let him have a hell of a day. I mean, and and he looked. We’re we’re going to sit here and praise him a little bit in the aftermath, like you did with Lions, and say, is he better than we think he is? And I compared him to Jake Galone earlier, and you know, he feels like he had some moxie to win the football game on the road. I mean, he didn’t look scared, and the announcers kept talking about his demeanor, his demeanor as Spiritidas and Adam Archuleta was his demeanor, demeanor, and they would put close-ups on him, and he looked like he’d been there before. It did. Yeah, it didn’t. It it looked like you know his calmness, like Joe Flacco, would serve him well, you know.

Luke Jones 18:43
Sure, sure. And I don’t know if you and I, if we did, we mentioned it in passing. But Anthony Weaver on Thursday called Tyler Shock a poor man’s Josh Allen, which to me sounds like a a compliment, right? For someone who’s barely played in the league, it really. well. And Anthony Weaver’s watched all this film, so for him to make it comparable, that’s really something, right? Yeah. But it also speaks to how the National Football League is and how professional athletes are wired to feel slighted. New Orleans took that as a little bit of a slight, and I think that’s kind of silly, but when you’re talking in terms of motivation and the psychological psychological element of playing professional sports, playing sports at the highest level, you’ll take anything that you feel is going to give you even a 1% dude. If you’re telling me I’m playing

Nestor Aparicio 19:36
like an MVP, I like hearing that. You know, but but they but

Luke Jones 19:40
they took it like they heard the poor man’s part of it, and that was taken as a little bit of a slight. Which I think, again, objectively speaking, I think that’s insane. But it speaks to how an athlete, how a professional team, especially a team like the Saints, who let’s face it, I mean, the Saints have been completely irrelevan. Relevant since Drew Brees walked and John Payton walked away, right? I mean, the what do you? When’s the only time we talk about the Saints? We talk about them in the off season as far as how they managed to get cat compliant again. Why they drafting? No, but we’ve talked about them being over the cap and and being and finding a way to get under the cap every year. The roster, the state of the roster be damned if they’re under the cap, right? I mean, that’s kind of in the punch. Are they still

Nestor Aparicio 20:24
playing Drew Brees? Yeah, but but

Luke Jones 20:26
but I think like that that was just interesting to me because even in the post game there there were a couple references to oh he’s the poor man’s you know he he played really well and the Saints deserve credit but that’s also where on the flip side yeah I mean the Ravens. It’s great to say everything you said after the game. That’s well and good, but it’s a show me league. And now to your point, you’ve got to make the corrections. You’ve got to turn the page. You’re going up against a Dallas team that offensively has a heck of a lot more firepower than on paper than Indianapolis or New Orleans, dude. This

Nestor Aparicio 21:02
is the toughest week of the year for them, and you know until the games really with the logistics.

Luke Jones 21:09
Sure. Well, I mean, this is

Nestor Aparicio 21:11
this is an undertaking for them, and and the field, just all of it. This is a really tricky, dicky week to come home one and two because I I didn’t I don’t want to say I I didn’t see this coming but there’s no point from the minute the schedule was announced where I looked at this and felt like one and two would be anything they’d even be staring at in any way but flowers and and and Stanley Lane to some degree, Madabike up in the air? Question mark. All of that. Hendrickson’s now injured. We’re questioning Humphrey a little bit about his age. Mark Andrews has been, you know, serviceable. Derrick Henry’s been fine. You know, is healthy at least. Like I’m, you know, you need that. Lamar’s healthy, right? You know, let’s talk about healthy, healthy, healthy, healthy. Because without that, they got nothing. I mean, look at the Commanders right now, right? But for me, where they are, the notion that they’re going to go down the Dallas-I don’t know if they’re favorite. I don’t. I’m not a points. I’m. I’m sure Big Poppy will tell you this week, or you know, the the Ravens as they sit there and have their little seances out, Knowings Mills with their draft stuff all around them while they do all this gambling stuff right in front of their football players. I don’t know what the the spread is, but like, I wouldn’t bet. I watched the Cowboys play at 4o’clock. I don’t know. I’m going to pick against the Ravens this week. You know, I’m telling you right now. Like, you don’t have to wait till I don’t have to wait till Friday for you. But I don’t love their chances. I just think it’s tough all the way around. I and if they look good this week in a general, if they would have won 38 to 16 the way I thought they were going to, like I just thought they were going to roll the ball out. I really did. Like I even made fun of the Saints during the week. Like literally, I mean, if you go back and look at Baltimore Positive, I put up like they’re going to be two and zero on Monday. Like that, they’re going to win. They’re they’re the better team, and I’m not.

Luke Jones 23:06
It’s not always how it works. So I’m not fired up

Nestor Aparicio 23:08
about it. You were more fired up about it Monday morning than I was in regard to like a little more of disgust or a little more of has anything changed? I’m going to write all of that and feel all that, but I’m feeling one and two next Monday morning, and that’s not. And after a long trip, I mean, this is taking a different kind of turn. And they have, I mean, the Falcons look like they stink. I mean, they got a couple of games here. I mean, I thought the Browns looked like they stink until they didn’t stunk. You’re down in Tampa, and the storm comes and all that. It is the National Football League, as John Harbaugh would always say, anything’s possible. But this is a really tough week. And one and two is a place I didn’t, in my mind, the last eight months. I didn’t think we we could be talking about a one. I knew we could be talking about an eliminated Orioles team next week, but I didn’t know we were going to be talking about. I mean, I expected that. I I I didn’t. I don’t know. I I I’m a. I guess I’m a little more shook up from this this Saints loss, then I’m leading on because it’s like this isn’t it’s not good water to drink this week. I don’t think. Well, I mean, it just it speaks to everything

Luke Jones 24:10
we’ve

Speaker 1 24:11
talked

Luke Jones 24:11
about in recent years about getting out of the gate slow. And look, I mean, I’m not going to sit here and and you know, and I’m not say suggesting you were either. I mean, like Cowboys have all kinds of issues. I mean, I mean, okay, they beat the Commanders on Sunday. Did you watch them against the Giants on Sunday night in Week One? I mean, that that was a horrible performance. So all these teams have their warts, right? But I think Sunday illuminated the fact that the Ravens have some warts still, and they have scar tissue, right? I think a big part of this for them is yes, the challenge of going to Rio and the challenges that presents, and the fact that Dallas has plenty of firepower on offense. Now I do question how much Dallas can stop this Ravens offense because that that defense has just been so bad for a long time. They don’t have anybody to chase. So tackling

Nestor Aparicio 25:01
Derrick Henry, right? I mean, I mean, we saw

Luke Jones 25:03
that a couple years ago. I mean, that was even when they had Micah Parsons a couple years ago, and they still couldn’t stop Derrick Henry. So, look, I’m not going to sit here and and be as you know, fatalistic’s not the right term. It’s week three, right? I mean, even if they lose, I mean, doesn’t mean the season’s over by any stretch of the imagination. But you know, I’m not. I’m also not going to prop the Cowboys up more than what I think they are. But at the same time, the Ravens don’t deserve to be propped up as much as we might have thought a week ago at this time, right? It’s a it’s a reminder that you can lose games in this league, and you don’t have to be, you know, you can be the superior team and lose, right? You ask me today, who’s better, the Saints or the Ravens? I still think the Ravens are the better football team, but they weren’t on Sunday in the fourth quarter, and that’s all that matters, right? And that’s that’s been the lesson for this team. But I think where it’s just a little more disconcerting is if you’re thinking about this in terms of not just winning the division or not just being good enough to make the playoffs, but to break through in January, and obviously we’re a long way away from that. This team has a ways to go to prove that they’re even ready for taking the next step in January when you still drop a game in September that you shouldn’t have lost, right? And that’s something that was part of the John late career John Harbaugh DNA, but I think it’s just the the simple fact of wanting to be the number one seed, wanting home games in January, right? Not be not wanting to be in a position like they were two years ago when you went to Buffalo instead of having Buffalo come here, right? I mean, it’s all of that, and every game you lose, whether it’s week two or Week 16 matters in that race, right? And okay, we can look at this and say, well, it’s an NFC game. If you’re going to lose a game, you’d rather it be an NFC game than an AFC game in terms of conference record and tiebreakers and all that. We know that, but it’s still a game that you were hoping to have in hand that you no longer have. So I think that’s where you just look at this thing, and you know, for all the talk about bad starts, and I mean, last year was the extreme, right? When you’re one in five, but even two years ago, when they started zero and two, right? They lost the the toenail Isaiah Likely toenail game in Kansas City. They lost week one, and then they came home in week two for their home opener against the Raiders team that no one thought of whatsoever in terms of any kind of high regard, and well, Max Crosby did a number on them that that day, and Gardner Minshew made just enough plays, and they pulled out a win, and they were 0-2. Right? This had the feel of that Raiders game two years ago, that Colts game three years ago, right? An early season game where you look on it, look at it on paper, and it kind of lulls you into a sense of okay, well, that’s a win, right? I mean, look, i i spent I spend time trying to break things down, and I pointed out Chris Alave, and I pointed out the big throws that Tyler Shuck made in in the second half of that comeback against Detroit in Week One, and I didn’t think the Ravens were going to lose, right? And guess what? Neither did they, and they fell into the trap once again. Even without, even with John Harbaugh and Zach Orr and Todd Monken, and you know, if you want to go back further than that, Greg Roman, even with all those guys long gone, and that’s where I said the DNA of this team, the scar tissue of this team. That let’s face it, John Harbaugh. That’s no longer attached to John Harbaugh. He’s in New York. You you said it. I mean, the Giants.

Luke Jones 28:33
If the Giants go nine and eight and sneak in as the last wild card, they’ll be ready to throw a parade in New York for John Harbaugh. That’s what, but what it speaks to. I mean, they don’t even have to make the playoffs for that to be considered on the right track, and him having a good first year. It’s a much different animal, not just for Jesse Minter, but for the players. Right now, it’s a case where you say, “All right, we changed up all the coaching variables. So if you guys still do the same things, what do you think people are going to do? You think they’re going to be more inclined to blame Jesse Minter, or are they going to look at all the players and say you guys are doing the same exact thing? So that’s where. And I’m not, you know, that that’s not me going scorched earth on them. That’s just what might, you know, what is going on in their minds from a psychological standpoint when this happens again so early in the season, even with a new regime, that’s where you got to battle through that, and that’s where you need to trust your teammates. And it goes back to what Jesse Minter said, and not not even so much what he said in his post-game press conference, but what players alluded to his message being to them of be ready to come in and let’s get honest about what we saw on the tape, and I think that’s the challenge for this team this week. In addition to the logistics of going to Brazil, it’s that mental part of not looking at this through the lens of, all right, here we go again, screwed by the refs. You know, this went wrong, that went wrong. We didn’t do this, we didn’t do that. We didn’t like the coach’s decision here. Like it’s it’s really easy to fall back into that that that pattern, right? Well, it did throw on third

Nestor Aparicio 30:08
third. You know, with the sure, I didn’t like that. I mean,

Luke Jones 30:11
I I didn’t like that at all. Like again, I didn’t like Jesse Minter’s challenge. I thought that challenge for three yards of field position, unless you had a replay that that made it so crystal clear. I didn’t like that even through the lens of you kind of gave New Orleans an extra timeout to think about that third round throwing a dart, which is the hardball way. Yeah, right. Yeah, I mean it just the challenges. Yeah, but this is Jesse Minter doing that for the first time. As I said, there were going to be some hiccups along the way, but the problem is you were hoping they’d be able to overcome some of the early hiccups, given the schedule they have, they didn’t on Sunday. So they’re one and one. They’ve got to make the corrections. They’ve got to get real with one another. They’ve got to clean things up. You know, I definitely want to see some adjustments of defense. Even even going back to the Colts game now, to me, how they played defensively on Sunday made me slightly less impressed with what I saw in Week One because Week One I was like, okay, Colts had the good first drive, you know, they they ran the ball with Jonathan Taylor, but but they didn’t, you know, they didn’t score a whole lot. I mean, like you you know, there was a turnover deep in their territory, all of that. But for me, the way the defense played on Sunday, I was a little less impressed with how the defense played in Week One. If that makes sense, right? I mean, it’s kind of like the cumulative build there. You know, in the aggregate there, I look at it and say, okay, well, I need to see more from the defense. I mean, I I want to see them confuse the quarterback a little bit more and bring the quarterback down when you have a chance to do it, which they didn’t do on on a few occasions on Sunday, and I want to see the I want to see the coverage better. You know, I need to see better. I’m I’ll throw a name out there, and I’m might be picking on him a little bit here. Malki Starks has to be better. Like that wasn’t very good. He’s a first round pick in his second year. Like it’s time to start. You know, I don’t want to be part. I don’t want to be talking about him in the way that I’ve talked about Jackson Holiday the last two months, right? I mean, like it’s not the same thing, and I’m not, you know, I’m not down on, not calling him a bust, anything like that. But he’s got to be better. They’ve got to be better on the back end, right? And jesse Minter’s expertise isn’t just defense, but it’s secondary defense. So they’ve got to clean some things up. They’ve got to make some corrections. They’ve got to be better because, oh yeah, C.D. Lamb, George Pickens, Dak Prescott. I mean, not gonna get any easier this week in that regard. When you talk about that kind of firepower, I mean, you thought Chris Alave was tough. I mean, you’re talking about, regardless of the head case that Pickens can be, you’re talking about a two of the top receivers in the NFL that you’re going to be going against next Sunday in Brazil. So, got to turn the page. Season’s not over. Sky’s not falling. This is. I’m not being Chicken Little, but it’s a big week for the defense to step up this

Nestor Aparicio 33:00
week, right? Because the offensive line, Stanley Flowers, where it is, they’re not at the offensive line in a general sense. They’re not at full power. I mean, you see that in a second after three and outs and all of that. Like, if Derrick Henry can’t get them the yardage and Lamar can’t go in the phone booth, they don’t have skill position players. That’s why they ran to give Zay Flowers all that money. You know what I mean. And the way they utilized him, and the way they they made a playbook around his speed being able to do things that would allow Derrick Henry to be better, or Lamar to be better, or or Mark Andrews to get open, or even Bateman, who had a couple of receptions. Right. So like at some point for me, the defense needs to not be the reason they lose on Sunday in Brazil.

Luke Jones 33:49
Yeah, they they need their defense to lead the way, and we kind of talked even before we talked about those injuries. Yeah, you

Nestor Aparicio 33:54
hire a defensive head coach. We kind of

Luke Jones 33:56
talked about that anyway going into the season, just with the the turnover on offense, right? How much new personality? Well, yeah. Jesse

Nestor Aparicio 34:03
Minter doesn’t know that Lamar is going to be here next year, but he he knows Kyle Hamilton, and Kyle Hamilton’s going to the to the Hall of Fame, right? Like he’s got players, he’s got all these draft picks. To your point, Starks, Wiggins, young players on the defensive side of the ball. They spent money on Hendrickson. They

Speaker 2 34:19
they’ve weaponized

Nestor Aparicio 34:20
this defense in a way that maybe it hasn’t been since like Rex, since like that sort of era where Ray was involved in it and Ed Reed was involved in it. Where I don’t want to say they’re not making the offense part of this. They drafted a first-round pick. They have an all-world quarterback, but for Jesse Minter to win Super Bowls around here defensively,

Luke Jones 34:42
got to be really good defense. Yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 34:44
and he has to have really good players. And so, as much as you’re like, well, he came for Lamar. We came to utilize Kyle Hamilton over the next three to five years as Lawrence Taylor, right? Like literally as the best player in the league. And am I? I remember I’m right about that. Correct.

Luke Jones 35:01
I mean, Lamar’s the overwhelming selling point for anyone in the same. But if you’re

Nestor Aparicio 35:05
calling the defense and you’re the defensive guy, of

Luke Jones 35:08
course you’re you’re you’re not going to look at this defense and say, “Wow, man, this there’s no talent here. There should be plenty to work with. However, that was also true with Zach Orr the last couple years, right? And and and look, all things being equal, if I’m being objective about it, yeah, Jesse Minter is a superior defensive mind to Zach Orr. I mean, the proof’s in the pudding, even what Jesse’s done at other stops. But you still have to go out and do it. And to this point, I mean, people kind of laughed when Kyle Hamilton gave the defense a C plus last week. I really didn’t think it was. I thought it was pretty reasonable to say that. I mean, the defense wasn’t. It’s not like it was 2000 esque against the Colts. It was good, but it wasn’t great. But yeah, then week two, when you can’t get off the field on third down and so many third and longs. I mean, man, that’s that’s when you make your money. That’s when you get sacks. That’s when you take the ball away, third and long, and instead they allowed the Saints to keep moving down the field all day. So a guy who started 11 games this week, exactly. So that this is definitely on the road this week. I mean, for as much as they’ll be focused on Zay and Ronnie Stanley, the O line, Lamar, because you always point to the quarterback whenever you lose, right? I mean, fair or unfair. That that’s how it works, right? The quarterback and the head coach get the the outsized amount of credit or blame. But really, for me, it’s I want to see this defense tighten up the screws here. I mean, this that was not good enough on Sunday. I mean, that you give up two touchdowns on your last two drives of the game, and not just not just touchdown drives, but a 518 drive and a six minute 38 second drive. I mean, these were long, methodical kind of drives. I mean, that last drive was 16 plays. I mean, not just did the Saints do it; they managed it so well too, right? To the to the point that I said that the Ravens, for as much as they the Ravens

Nestor Aparicio 37:07
let them go in with two minutes left, right? I mean, literally, there was a play where they just let them go in. Yeah,

Luke Jones 37:12
and and other than I do have to say this because as much as I’ve been praising the Saints, like that fade pattern incompletion, like what the heck was that? Where they stopped the clock on goal to go, right? But that aside, they managed that well in terms of scoring a touchdown, whether it actually was or not, and leaving as little time on the clock as possible. In the same way, the Ravens we thought had done that at the end of the first half until you give up a 53 yard kick return or whatever it was. So, but but I just you know, you’ve got to be better. The defense, with the defensive intellect, the brains that you brought in on the defensive side of the ball. In addition to being a more complete unit in terms of turnover, the lack of turnover, and understanding that yeah, Madabike’s not back yet, but that’s the group we had higher expectations for early in the season. Declan Doyle’s brand new at calling plays, right? He’s only been an offensive coordinator now. This is his second year as an OC, and Ben Johnson was running the show in Chicago last year. We know that, so I was much more inclined to say there could be a little more wiggle room for a little more grace, a little more, you know, a few more hiccups on the offensive side of the ball, even with Lamar and Derrick Henry, which speaks to, you know, I think being pretty forgiving. But the defense, well, he

Nestor Aparicio 38:36
had big balls to throw that third and one when you get Derrick Henry on. You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean,

Luke Jones 38:40
and and for me, I mean, if you’re throwing that to Zay Flowers, okay, okay, but you’re throwing it to Chris Moore. Do we talk

Nestor Aparicio 38:50
about coaching? This is coaching. Sure, it is called. Lamar comes in. Lamar’s happy to throw it. I guess as long when it doesn’t work, players always want

Luke Jones 38:58
everyone that’s not an offensive lineman always wants to throw the ball, or I guess Gary. Yeah, again, other than the O line and the running back, how

Nestor Aparicio 39:06
about we get a yard and keep the

Luke Jones 39:07
ball? Sure, sure. Well, and and and people even said, and and I suppose there’s merit to it, even though they were backed up in their own territory. There were a lot of people that saw them throw the ball on third and one, their throw deep there, thought that they were gonna go for it on fourth and one, and and just run Derrick Henry then on fourth down, and you know, kind of that that school of thought that we saw quite a bit with Greg Roman and even Todd Monken, where you know football you take a shot and say, hey, it’s fourth, we’re gonna go for it on fourth down. Again, they were they were in their own territory there, so I mean, I think there’s certainly a little more discussion there than it being as cut and dried as some laid it out. Well, and also

Nestor Aparicio 39:43
how Minter’s going to play it when games in the balance because Harbaugh really was a gunslinger. He got to be

Luke Jones 39:49
eventually, yeah. Although, although it’s funny because he he very much was like kind of in that transition from Flacco to Lamar and. Early years, but then the last few years, John had actually swung back a little more conservative. If you kind of look at it through the the scope of the entire league, well, they

Nestor Aparicio 40:09
didn’t have the capacity to make those plays, and that’s not as good a team last. But I think even,

Luke Jones 40:13
but you could even find examples like I I think back right off the top of my head, the Buffalo game last year. Remember they punted the ball back to the Bills, and it’s like you guys are really punting the ball back. Like you’re not going to stop them, and they didn’t, right? So, look, you can you’ll always second guess those things when they don’t work. Chris Moore makes that catch, and the the defender doesn’t get his fingernail in there to knock the ball away. Everyone’s saying Declan Doyle, but man, talk about going against the tendency instead of giving the ball to Derrick Henry, just threw a a 50 yard gain to Chris Moore of all people. He’s a genius, and you know people would have said that had that happened that way, but it didn’t. And that’s where you look back to it and say probably a situation where you overthought it a little bit. But turn the page, make the corrections in all three phases, because there’s there is tape for everyone to look at as far as falling short and not doing what they need to do, and you better get ready for a weird week. This is one of those weeks where Marshall Yonda, you know, for for my money, the great will be Hall of Fame guard would often utter to his teammates and and would be asked to speak to the rest of the team as a man of few words, but when he’d say it, this is one of those weeks where he’d say, “Get comfortable being uncomfortable, because they need to get better, get right, and they know it’s going to be a weird week traveling to the southern hemi, you know, south of the equator to uh to play a football game, and certainly going to be strange for them, and there’ll be plenty of chatter, I guess, about the field. I do have to laugh as as one aside. I do have to laugh at some of the hand wringing and discourse that you’ll hear about the quality of the field, the surface, not because it’s not valid, but because well, half the teams in the league won’t even won’t even pay to have the best field for their home stadium, do you think the league really cares that much about the quality of the field somewhere else? And that’s where I just kind of look at it and and and kind of roll my eyes about this multi-billion-dollar empire, and yet the ways that they elect to go cheap, right? Where I just kind of laugh at it, and so hopefully it won’t be an issue, but there will be plenty of talk, and there will certainly be questions about it. And I do think it very well could have an impact on whether we see Zay Flowers, for example. Which I’d be inclined to be conservative another week because I’m still thinking about this team in the big picture, and we’ve seen it. This offense isn’t the same without Zay Flowers, but I don’t think that necessarily means you force him back onto the field in week three or week four if he’s not quite ready with that hamstring.

Nestor Aparicio 42:50
Her name is Lola. She was a showgirl. Copacabana this week hit the beach. I’m going to be telling Leonard Raskit about it. It’s Brazil week. The Ravens are headed off to Rio Americana, which is still a stadium I never went to. By the way, when I went to Brazil, the Brazilian people there swear to God, Luke, there was a soccer game Americana when I was there, and we were going to go, and everybody in the hotel said, “You can’t take your wife to a soccer game in Brazil. Don’t take her. She cannot go. They told me you must not take her. This is 20 years ago, so I don’t know. But they’re playing a football game there, and if Rush were playing there, I’d be first in line to see Getty Lee and Alex Lifeson. We’re doing rock and roll here. It’s our 28th anniversary. Kiss was first up. John Mayer is going to be second up. We’ve had some great stories. On Thursday, we’re going to be at State Fair in Catonsville having breakfast. I might get like some eggs and bacon and like go old school this week because I’m feeling it. I don’t want to make my doctors angry over GBMC because they are keeping me alive and well. I am feeling healthier, but I really do want some French fries and gravy, which is why we’re going to Pizza John’s. And on the second next Friday, we’ll be there for that. So the Maryland Craptake Tour presented by our friends at the Maryland Lottery. I’ll have the Kiss Face Birds to give away Thursday morning at State Fair in Catonsville. Next Friday at Pizza Johns in Essex. All of it brought to you by GBMC and Farnham and Derma. There are the Comfort Guys. 410 367777. The windows open here in the studio. The wind’s blowing through my hair. I’m feeling very comfortable here, but I’m sure I have to click the button for the heater at some point, and if that needs some help, our friends at Farnham and Derma are there to help you stay comfortable. Get comfortable being uncomfortable all week. I’m comfortable with the fact we’re probably not going to talk a lot about the Orioles getting swept over the weekend by the Milwaukee Brewers, but it is the anniversary of Free the Birds. It was 20 years ago today. What have we learned that I wouldn’t do it again? He’s Luke. I’m Nestor. We’re back for more. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us.