The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - WSNT Nestor Aparicio Talks Texans vs Ravens Sunday Match Up 

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

WSNT Nestor Aparicio Talks Texans vs Ravens Sunday Match Up 

Nestor Aparicio is one of the long-time voices of Baltimore sports. When you want to get, I mean, the know-how, know-what, what, what's going on. We say hi to Nestor WN-S-T Radio. Now, my partner, Nestor, wants to know how you got the name Naster, nasty Nestor. So please explain to him how you got such a nickname. It's a long story, but there's an artist. The sports cartoon is to your name R-C-I-C-G. He's a bit of a legend here in drawing Bob Ursay cartoons back in the 80s back when we lost the Colts.

And I do remember George Bland, believe they're not, I'm kind of old. But so I lost a bet about Eddie Murray and the Philadelphia Phillies. And I volunteered to babysit his kids who were six and four. And my kid was like four at the time. And I sent him all to bed early. And they started calling me nasty Nestor instead of Uncle Nestor. and when I went on the radio in 1992, you know, I'm a sports writer from the sun in the 80s is what I did.

I was a music critic and a hockey writer. When I went on the radio, I had a guy, he said to me, you know, like a radio guy. He's like, you should have a nickname. You should do, you know, you should be something. And I'm like, well, you know, these kids call me nasty nester, so I'll start calling myself that. And he said, you better damn well be nasty.

So 35 years later, here I am. And it's not even something I use. You know, Get Nasty was on billboards here in the 90s around the city. But, you know, that kind of has a different kind of connotation. I mean, when I took it on, it was like Janet Jackson, nasty boys, you know. Like the Beastie Boys had, you know, he had an album, right? So it was just sort of a name. But now it's, you know, given the certain of the political ramifications of that, I'm nice, Nestor now.

You are. And they call me Mr. Texas down here in Nestor. No, they don't. Yeah, they do. Nobody calls you. You're the only one. Stopping right now. now. All right. So Nestor, let me ask you this. The Texans have blanked the bed multiple

times in Baltimore over the years. I have told my audience a, oh, you think you're bringing me. I appreciate it. He brings facts to this kind of conversation. That was nasty. So my partner and I argue about the definition of a must win. How is either you're definitively a must win or it's a relative must win. I'm telling my audience, Nestor, if you, if the Texans cannot beat the Ravens this Sunday, it's never going to happen. First of all, how banged up are the Ravens besides what you're seeing on the injury report? And on top of that, how just desperate is this squad going, oh, my God, Cooper Rush is going to try to beat one of the best defenses in the NFL coming up on Sunday? Well, I've been covered hardball from the beginning, right? So, you know,

18 years of watching him come out and, you know, be gloaty sort of when they're, you know, beaten teams 50 to 10 as they've done and, you know, run NFC teams ragged here. They're 24 and 2 against NFC teams since Lamar came and defenses couldn't stop them. You know, when Lamar's in peril, there's a whole different feeling in the building, right? I mean, Cooper Rush or Lamar, it's just, you know, it's like Tom Moore used to say with the Colts. If Peyton gets hurt, we're F. You know, that's it.

Whoever the backup is, it doesn't matter. But then you get into this one and three and, you know, Lamar's going to. come back at some point. It might even be Sunday for crying out loud with the hamstring, but how bad a shape are they going to be in? I mean, Cleveland's terrible. Cincinnati's terrible. Pittsburgh has a 41-year-old quarterback, and their defense

hasn't been good, but Pittsburgh's Pittsburgh, right? So, you know, I don't know if the Ravens win the division at 9 and 8 or 10 and 7. It's a far cry from 13 and 4, 14 and 3 like they thought they were going to be in hosting the FC championship game, but, you know, they're

piling up the losses. And injury-wise, I've never seen anything like it. I mean, it's the 30th year for the Ravens this year. I can't remember a time where there's been more promise. And we just came off a baseball season here where, you know, they were supposed to win 90 games and they were dog meat because everybody got hurt and they weren't very good. So the fan base here is a little reeling on that in a general sense.

Although the Terps are winning in football for the first time like ever. But for the Raven fans to think, playoff, playoffs, playoffs, playoffs, Lamar, Super Bowl, getting knocked out in Buffalo, Andrews drop in a pass, losing an AFC championship game with Taylor Swift on the field two years ago to the Chiefs. Like all the bad vibes of that were, well, Roquant's getting better. Kyle Hamilton's great.

Marlon can still do it. Ronnie Stanley got signed to a contract this offseason. Three or four teams are going to chase him down and get him $20 million a year. And he was thought, I don't know, a year or two ago to just be damaged goods because he'd been injured. Now, Stanley's hurt. Lamar's hurt on the offense. Defensively, everybody, all their 20 million plus dollar players, Marlon Humphrey, Roquan Smith, Justin Matabitke is now out for the year. He has a neck injury, which is concerned the whole building that, you know, he might not play again.

I mean, there's some real career concern about his neck injury. And then Kyle Hamilton showed up on the injury report the other day. and he's their best player on defense for sure, and they haven't figured out how to use him. You know, they'd like to have him up on the line and be sort of that 11th guy to do whatever he can do because he's built a little bit like a linebacker, a little bit like a gigantic safety,

but he's quick as a cat, and he's a smartest guy on the field. I mean, Kyle Hamilton is a Hall of Fame prospect for them, and they've had to move him back to a traditional safety role because their inside linebackers have been garbage, their pass rush has been non-existent, and their defensive lines decimated. I mean, this is a mess.

You're right. I mean, it's not 1 and 8 on Sunday afternoon. I'll be shocked, guys. Nestor Aparisha with us here on a Sports Talk 790. And we here in Houston have had nightmares at Derek Henry. He has owned the Texans, especially when he was a member of the Tennessee Titans. What do you make of his season? Obviously, the fumbles have been an issue.

Yards per carrier are still pretty good. And especially knowing that with Cooper Rush, with the reins, that the Ravens are going to try to establish the run on Sunday? Yeah, I mean, I could sit here and go all day about Lamar and Derek Henry and what's been wrong with it. I mean, I'll just start with that. I mean, the offensive line hasn't been great, and they have not put a lot of resources into the offensive line.

I just gave you a whole bunch of guys who are giving $20 million to, including Lottie Stanley. Tyler Lindelbaum is their center and the right tackle they drafted in Rosengarten last year. They were expecting better out of all that, but the guard plays just been. awful. And really, the offense and Munkin and the things he wants to do with Lamar with sleight of hand and RPO's and getting Dayflowers into mismatch situations and getting Bateman down the field. And they have your guy D.Hop who's had one of those crazy aerial catches that you all are so familiar with. He's had one every week here in four weeks. He's straight Hall of Famers. So they've got a crowded

room, Mark Andrews, the tight end, and Isaiah likely they have all these weapons. They really miss Pat McCard, who is their sort of a uniquely, you know, cannonball sort of blocking back that has really been effective for them over a number of years.

He was a defensive lineman out of Maine, and he was Harbaugh's project like seven years ago to make him a fullback or make him sort of an H-back blocking back, gigantic tight end when they want to go heavy. And when they were going heavy with crappy running backs or banged up running backs, It wasn't very good.

But once they brought Derek Henry and I thought they were a championship outfit, you know, I lobbied for that Derek Henry thing for two years when it was obvious that the Titans, he almost dealt him at the trading deadline at one point. And Ravens could have used him in their running game a couple of years ago in playoff time. And when they got him, I thought this is a game changer. And other people like, geez, these old, you know, other side of 30, whatever. Last year, he was unbelievable. But it really was steam.

And it really was, you know, I was taught football. 30 years ago by Marvin Lewis. Alignment, assignment, technique. I mean, those guys held their blocks last year. They pulled guards. They did athletic things. They had Pat Ricard.

They have the best quarterback and the fastest guy on the field in Lamar. And then they had this bowling ball with Derek Henry, who would go the other way because you're scared that Lamar's going to get loose on the right side. Next thing you know,

Derek Henry's running, and you've got a safety trying to bring it down. It was a brutal offense last year to deal with. This year, I don't know. Your defense side, D'Amico Ryan, everybody's going to, you know, look at this and say Cooper Rush, Derek Henry, if you can stop Derek Henry, great. But it's really about losing blocks at the front line because Henry's had no place to run. The scheme's been a little weird.

You know, they haven't really wanted to run Lamar much, really, over the first five weeks. And now he's hurt with the hamstring when he comes back, which the burst of speed going to be like. weapons-wise for Cooper Rush, if you can throw the ball a little bit, these tight ends got to wake up here. I mean, they've got to win that 5 to 12-yard range, especially on first down. And this offense over seven years with Lamar, it's been astonishing. They're in second and two, second and one, second and three,

more than any outfit I've ever seen until this year. And that was really their benefit. First down, get six, seven, eight. nine or 12 yards you get in getting fresh sticks and never going into third down and when they do it's short distance and then on fourth down they would just go for it that you know any distance any place on the field they would do that all those things are gone now i mean i don't feel that mojo even with lamar coming back because the offense hasn't been very good in general all right nestor let's get the crystal ball up four o'clock eastern time when you're talking to your folks

post gaming youtube whatever you do how's it's it going to play out In your mind? Well, I mean, to me, if Cooper Rush is going to play, it's a different team, and I don't even know what it looks like. I watch it in the preseason. He wasn't very good. He wasn't very accurate. And again, he's not going to have a lot of time.

I mean, you guys have edge rushers. It's a different game. They really struggled against Cleveland. You know, Cleveland's a good defense, Miles Garrett, all that. Really good players have overwhelmed the offensive line here even before Lamar came. And Derek Henry, he's sort of the savior this week, right? I mean, if he can run and get him four or five yards and they can maintain the ball a little bit with Cooper Rush, maybe they can win the field goal 20 to 16 or something, but I expect a low scoring game.

And honestly, I expect the Texas to win. I expect the Texas to win 27, 17, something like that. Okay. I think it's, that may be too high to be honest with you. Last question 30 seconds. The obligatory, hey, the crab cakes from Baltimore are great. You brought that up many a time. What's the second best food in your city?

Oh, well, we're a seafood city, so I would have to say something with rockfish or, you know, like that. Yeah. Well, the second best food in our city is a place called Ekabin here that makes broccoli tempore. That's unbelievable. But, you know, we have a pretty interesting cuisine palette here. But locally, you know, go with the rockfish. Okay, very good. Nestor, you are a star.

Thank you for coming on the show. I would say we'll talk to you come playoff time, but I think one of us will not be in that situation. So we'll just see who that is later this year. Most of these teams can still make the playoffs, guys. Relax. Yeah, okay. But we'll be the 3.30 Netflix game on Saturday, no matter what the case may be. You know this, right?

Yeah, you guys are really, really, you're like the second city in Texas. Don't be that way. You're a way better city than the other place. So you know what I mean? A better city, but have you seen the football history here? I mean, come. Please. Look out football.

Here we come. Oh, here it is. This is what we don't need. We don't need this from you, Nastynester. Yeah, they suck, too. We need nice, Nestor. Thank you, I love the Oriolans say with my life, and you know that. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

That's why I went on a show. He's like, we talk more Oilers. Earl Campbell, Timmy Smith, Kenny Burrow, all that. Nestor, thank you for the time, my friend. I really appreciate it.