Packers Playoff Hopes (Hour 2)

The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app. Your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown, and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience.

Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams, pause or rewind your local sports and news, and add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app. Your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown, and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams, pause or rewind your local sports and news, and add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today. Zach Gelb in for Maggie and Pearl off this entire week, Monday through Friday, 3 to 6 p.m. Eastern, across all of our great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, and that free Odyssey app. So excited to be here throughout the entire week.

You can always catch my show, the Zach Gelb show, on CBS Sports Radio, Monday through Friday, on many of the same places that you hear this show, from 6 to 10 p.m. Eastern, 3 to 7 p.m. Pacific. Brandon Stokely, former Broncos and Colts wide receiver, now does a talk show in Denver, is going to join us 20 minutes from now on the day a few hours ago when we found out that Nathaniel Hackett is officially showing the door in Denver. It wasn't a matter of if he was going to get fired, just when, and we got that answer today as it's December 26 for one Nathaniel Hackett getting shown the door in Denver. And where did the Broncos go from here? Is Sean Payton an option? I don't think Sean would want to go to Denver.

You also got to find a way to orchestrate a trade as well since his rights are still owned by the New Orleans Saints, but we'll get into that conversation, who could be coaching the Broncos. And where's Russell Wilson at? Like the view of Russell Wilson right now is down in the dumps.

It's a bad one. How does he restore his image and how does he start playing better and win back that locker room in Denver that it feels like they are against him right now with the way that Russ has isolated himself from the team. So we'll get that conversation cooking, no pun intended because Russ can't cook this year with one Brandon Stokely coming up 20 minutes from now. The Green Bay Packers yesterday, they get a win. It felt like for a lot of the game that the Dolphins were just going to be able to find a way to pull it out with the big play ability that you saw from Tyree Kill and also Jaylen Waddle as well. But when the game was over and the way that the fourth quarter did play out with the just turnovers and interception after interception after interception by Tuatunga Vailoa in the fourth quarter, the Packers get a win. They beat the Dolphins 26 to nothing. Now the Packers are sitting there at 7 and 8 and people are saying, now hold on, wait a second.

Are the Packers going to go to the postseason? And here's the craziest part about this and we'll get into more of the Green Bay stuff in just a second, but you look at the numbers from yesterday. If I were to tell you before the game that Jaylen Waddle have 143 receiving yards and a touchdown and Tyree Kill would have 103 receiving yards and combine both those guys would go over 200 receiving yards, you would have thought Miami was going to win the game. But Miami didn't win the game, they ended up losing the game by 6. And they lost that game because even with how many opportunities that Tuatunga had to go find a way to go get a lead or go secure the victory, he turned the ball over. 2020, that inexcusable interception, all of them are inexcusable to Jair Alexander. Then when they were down 23 to 20 and they were on a 9 play drive for 52 yards, moving the football, taking 6 minutes off the clock, he throws an interception. And with all that being said, 26 to 20, you could have wiped that away in the final 2 minutes when you get the ball back and 2 plays into that drive you throw a pick and you end up losing by that score of 26 to 20. I'll play in just a second the Jair Alexander clip.

How much Jair Alexander had to say about Tuatunga Vailoa. We'll get to that in just a second but that's a game if you're a Dolphins fan. That is gut wrenching, that is painful because you could have got your 9th one of the season and really set yourself up in a nice position to go to the postseason. But now you have to go up against the Patriots and the Jets who should not scare you. I know the Jets beat you earlier in the year and you've dominated the Patriots the last few years, but you don't know what you're going to get out of Tua in a big spot now. And Tua was trending in the right direction. Got off to the hot 3-0 start. Then had the unfortunate injury, what I would say were back to back concussions no matter what the NFL tells you.

Then he comes back and slowly got himself ingratiated back into the position and then started to dominate again. But the Tua that we were all doubting and the Tua that a lot of us are saying hmm I don't know if he's going to be a great quarterback like he was hyped and touted as coming out of college. That quarterback that we were skeptical of has crept back into the picture the last 4 weeks or so. I take out the Buffalo game because I thought he played well in the Buffalo game but it was still a loss in tough conditions. He was not good against the 49ers. He was bad against the Los Angeles Chargers.

With that offense, other than the one big play to Tyree kill where the defender fell down and then Tyree kill recovering a fumble and going for 50 yards as the ball just got a fortuitous bounce right into his hands, that Dolphins offense basically did nothing against the Chargers. And in a game up against the Packers where the Packers have been limping and the Packers have been a bad team all throughout the year, it looked like at times you were trending in that direction to getting a victory but the moment the game got tight. The moment when the game was close.

The moment when the game was tied in the 4th quarter or you found yourself in a lead but still had a chance in a deficit but still had a chance to go take a lead. Tuatunga Vailoa just turned the ball over, over and over and over again in that 4th quarter. Like you look at the Packers this year. They lost to the Vikings. They beat the Bears. They beat a Bucs team that had no one healthy. They beat the Patriots in overtime against Bailey Zappi. Then lost to the Giants, lost to the Jets, lost to the Commanders, lost to the Bills, lost to the Lions. Had that crazy 14 point comeback against the Cowboys.

Lose to Tennessee, lose to Philadelphia. They beat the Bears and Rams, whoopty damn do. The Bears and Rams stink.

And then you're going up against the Dolphins team and I give them credit, they got a victory. So that Dolphins loss yesterday, it's bad because the Packers just aren't a good team. But here you go again, where Aaron Rodgers, who for the last 3 years is 13-3, 13-3, 13-3 and has his shortcomings in the postseason, even with all the injuries that they've had in the offensive line, even with all the chemistry problems that Rodgers has had with his young wide receivers, Green Bay has an opportunity to make the playoffs here.

And let me preface this by saying, if you listen to my show, last week when Green Bay got that victory up against the Rams, I'm like, oh stop it. There's no way that the Packers are going to make the playoffs. But now, I still don't think they're going to. But if you look at the scenario for them to make the playoffs, first they have to win out. And I don't think that's very likely, but I don't know what Minnesota has to really play for these final two weeks of the season. And they play them this week. Then after that they play Detroit, who is still alive to go make the postseason.

They need to bounce back, win after getting embarrassed as Carolina did everything they wanted on the ground up against the Lions. And then you look at how else they get in, they need the Giants to lose out. I don't think the Giants who beat the Packers are going to lose out.

I do think the Giants clinched a playoff spot at home this weekend, going up against Indianapolis. But then you look at the commanders, who are waiting to see if they're going to go back to Carson Wentz, which I think would be a mistake. Even though Taylor Ham Heinecke is not this great quarterback, they did pull Taylor Ham Heinecke over the weekend against the 49ers, and now we're waiting for Ron Rivera's official announcement on is it going to be Heinecke or is it going to be Wentz? And if it is Carson Wentz, why would I have any belief that Carson Wentz is going to take command of the Washington commanders?

I don't. I don't trust Carson Wentz. So for the Packers to get in, let's look at it the realistic way because I think we can all agree it's not realistic for the Giants to lose out. When they're going up against the Colts who stink and then the Eagles who pretty much have nothing to play for that final week of the season because I would imagine they have the number one seed locked up by then. But for the Packers to make the playoffs, they have to beat Minnesota and Detroit.

Not easy. But all they need are the commanders to lose one out of two against Cleveland who's officially eliminated and then Dallas and we don't even know what that game is going to mean for Dallas. It's not inconceivable for the commanders to lose one out of those two games. But the toughest part is the Packers winning out. And when I look at the Packers, even though I think a lot of people today are going to be saying, you don't want to face Rogers come playoff time. You don't want to see Rogers in the postseason getting hot towards the end of the year starting to develop some chemistry with these wide receivers and the run game getting going as well. With just a team that, and I'm more of a guy that with what I've seen throughout the entire year, that's what I tend to believe compared to past just fears and past praise of a player.

And it's not always that way. But the way that I've watched Green Bay all throughout the season, I still would be more surprised than my expectation being that the Packers are going to make the playoffs. I still don't think it's likely, but it's not out of the realm of possibilities because last week I would have said no shot.

I did say no shot. I said it's more likely they go 0-3 than 3-0. But with Minnesota and Detroit being in your way, Detroit's been a gritty football team this year.

Minnesota has been a good team, just not a great team. It's not out of the realm of possibilities that the Packers beat both those teams. But this could be a totally different conversation and we could be talking about the Packers being out of it if Tua didn't turn the football over yesterday. And it just shows you when a team plays with fire a lot like Green Bay, sometimes you touch that stove, you don't get burned. They didn't get burned on Sunday. They didn't get burned yesterday on Christmas Day. But they have been told don't touch the stove and they've been touching the stove too many times this year.

And they're in such a deep hole right now. It's not likely they get to the postseason. I'm just going to assume the team that we've seen throughout most of the year in the Green Bay Packers, in the big spot they go to touch the stove and they're like, Ah, my hand!

Oh, the stove is hot! That's what I think is going to occur. They'll probably, in my opinion, split these next two games against Minnesota and Detroit is probably the way that I look at it. But if you go into week 18, where let's say the commanders lose this weekend to Cleveland, and then you have the Minnesota Vikings, let's just say lose to the Green Bay Packers, imagine that potential game of Green Bay and Detroit the last week of the season. Imagine a playoff spot's on the line that week for both those teams and it's a win and you're in game. That would be something crazy because the Packers for most of this year haven't looked like a playoff team.

But right at the latest when you thought they were going to get knocked out and it was going to be coffin nails, bam, bam, bam. You do have the Packers start to say, Yeah, we're still here. Don't forget about us. We're still over here. We're off in the corner.

You may not be thinking about us, but maybe they're slowly, slowly, slowly inching closer and closer to the adult table, let's just say. And that would be one of these seven playoff teams in the NFC. I got to play you Jair Alexander. This is after the game on the field. Jair Alexander talking about the interception he got against Tuatunga Vailoa.

Here is one of the better cornerbacks in the league in Jair Alexander. Walk us through that play. What happened and how'd you grab it? Oh man, that's easy. So I'm just lining up. I've seen number 10 motion over. Hey Jones.

I've seen number 10 coming across the field. I said, Oh snap, he fast. So I bagged off. When I bagged off, I seen him coming. He ran right in front of me.

I was like, wow, is he really overthrowing it? Took it down the sideline, turned up with my guys, gave the football to a little kid wearing 23. I love it. Merry Christmas to you. I already had more to say. That was fantastic. If you celebrate it, Merry Christmas.

Go to Tuatunga with your family. We got to do it, baby. Packers back. Translation. Tyree kill was open.

Wow. Look how quick Tyree kill is. Let's just try to make a tackle and keep Tyree kill in front of me. And then Tuatunga gave him a gift. Tuatunga was Santa yesterday for one Jair Alexander as he got the interception.

I also want to play you one more audio clip here and then we'll take a break and we'll get to Brandon Stokely. But if you watch SpongeBob SquarePants throughout the years, you have Patrick Star. And there was this Nickelodeon broadcast yesterday for the Rams going up against the Denver Broncos, where the Rams opened up a can of whoop ass on the Broncos and then Nathaniel Hackett got fired today. And during a bad decision by one Russell Wilson, the voice of Patrick Star was an analyst on the Nickelodeon broadcast. And this may be the ultimate low point of Russell Wilson's career when Patrick Star is ripping Russell Wilson.

Listen to how this sounds. No, I think he burnt whatever he was cooking. Bobby Wagner with the interception, the SoCal kid back home. Patrick, how exciting is that? Bobby Wagner coming to town and doing that with his old teammates. How about that? That's not what Russ wanted to cook.

A SpongeBob SquarePants character of Patrick Star in the Nickelodeon broadcast intended for children. Just putting Russell Wilson in a body bag on Christmas. We'll go out to Denver next and we'll chat it up with Brandon Stokely, who could replace Nathaniel Hackett as head coach as Nathaniel Hackett is now out.

And is there any optimism on this long contract for Russell Wilson to turn around in Denver? Zach Gelbin from Aggie and Perloff right here on CBS Sports Radio. So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app. Your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams.

Pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app. Your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams. Pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later.

There's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today. Zach Gelb here with you on CBS Sports Radio in for Maggie and Perloff. Nathaniel Hackett out in Denver, as that's a surprise to no one.

We'll see what happens with the future of Russell Wilson. Let's welcome in a man that's won a few Super Bowls in the NFL, played with the Baltimore Ravens, the Indianapolis Colts, and then also the Denver Broncos and does a talk show daily out in Denver on the fan, and that is Brandon Stokely. Brandon, hope you had a great Christmas. Appreciate the time. How you been? Doing great. Thanks for having me, Zach.

Appreciate it. So, this wasn't a surprise that Nathaniel Hackett is out. It wasn't a matter of if anymore, it was just when. Are you surprised at all that he just didn't get the final two weeks of the season?

A little bit, yeah. Like you said, definitely thought he would be gone here right after the season was over, but they've gone through a real rough patch, and they kept him, and it seemed like they were supporting him, and they were going to at least let him finish out the year, but another spotlight game, national spotlight game, and another embarrassment. I guess they just decided, hey, we're going to do it 100% at the end of the year. Let's just go ahead and get this process going so we can be a little bit more open about our new coaching search, and certainly that's what happened, but it's too many embarrassments, and I think it just was a culmination there with yesterday's game and that spotlight, that national spotlight on Christmas that they just couldn't ignore anymore. And forget the score. We know the score is an embarrassing part yesterday, but Brett Rippett and Dalton Rice, they're getting into it on the sideline.

What's the truth there? Because I know Brett and Dalton kind of both downplayed it after the game. Yeah, I mean, things happen on the sidelines. Emotions get high, especially when you're getting embarrassed on Christmas, and it's been a very disappointing season, and so emotions get high. One thing said, another person thought he said something, and you don't want to push anybody, and you saw Dalton Rice push Rippett there, so you don't want to see that. Then at the end of the game, you see Randy Gregory throw a punch at a Rams player and hit him in the helmet, so it was a snowball effect. I mean, it was an absolute disaster from that incident to Randy Gregory to the scoreboard. It's like when you don't think it can get any worse, it just continues to get worse here in Denver. Brandon Stokely here with us.

So, obviously, hack it out. That needed to be happened, even though you'd never want to see someone lose their job, but I don't think this overshadows what Russell Wilson has done this year. If you were a teammate of his, what advice would you give to him? Because he's got a long ways to go in order to win back that locker room, I think. Well, he's got a long ways to go to just get to be a competent quarterback.

I really don't know what's going on. It's really mind-blowing to see how far he has fallen off. I don't know exactly what was going on in Seattle and how they handled him offensively, but he looks like a mess here. He looks like a rookie quarterback that has no clue of what's going on. He doesn't go through reads and progressions. He's not comfortable in the pocket. He looks at one read, and if he wants to get out and get outside the pocket, I don't know if it's because he can't see very well, or if he's just not comfortable going through his progressions.

Not quite sure, but that's first and foremost. This new head coach that they're going to hire, that's what you've got to look for if you're Greg Penner, who's the new owner, and that group is, who can we hire that we think we can get Russell Wilson back to playing at a competent high level? Because you're pretty much stuck with Russ probably for a couple more years, so it's all about finding that coach and getting the most out of Russell Wilson moving forward. And everyone right away is going to throw out the name Sean Payton. Brandon Stokely, I don't know why he would take that job right now. Exactly. I mean, Sean Payton's not coming to this mess. I mean, he's a smart guy. Why would he come to Denver and inherit a quarterback that's on the downside of his career that might be actually done?

And then what do you do from there? So Sean Payton will have his pick of jobs, and Denver's not one of the top jobs now. You just arguably might have, and we'll see how it plays out, made the worst trade at NFL history, and then you sign them to a big contract, so you're stuck with all of this for a while. And when you make those type of massive mistakes, usually there's consequences down the line here when it comes to salary caps, but when it comes to loss of draft picks that the Broncos have given up for Russell Wilson, why would Sean Payton want to come here?

The only reason that I can think of is if you open up the checkbook and you give him all the power he wants, plus you open up that checkbook and you write him a huge, huge check, which obviously this ownership group can do. So once you navigate away from Sean, I know what you said about the offensive side of the ball, and you've got to bring someone in that could fix Russ, but the first two names I really went to that I thought were realistic was Dan Quinn, who was the finalist a year ago, and then what D'Amico Ryans has been doing on that defense with the 49ers. Would you be surprised if they bring in a head coach that is his major emphasis on the defensive side of the ball?

I wouldn't be shocked. I think first and foremost for me that they have to get an experienced coach. We've had three first-time head coaches in a row, and they've all been a disaster.

They really have. So I don't think you can hire an inexperienced coach. You have to get an adult in the room. You have to get a guy that's been there and done that. I think that's the first thing that I would look for if I was hiring the next coach. Then after that, maybe you lean more towards the offensive side of the football, but I think that's secondary. And if you're going to go to the defensive side, you want to know, hey, well, who's your offensive coordinator going to be?

What is that plan going to be to get Russ playing at a high level? Dan Quinn. Dan Quinn was my guy last year. That's who I wanted for the Denver Broncos. That's who I wanted them to hire. That's who I thought they were going to hire. And then the momentum went to Nathaniel Hackett for some reason. So I don't know if Dan Quinn would want this job now. He's going to be a hot candidate next year, and he got overlooked last year. I think he really wanted this job last year, and he got passed over for it. So why would he want this job now? It's a complete mess.

You live in Denver. You talk to the fans each and every day on your radio show. Where are the fans at with Russell Wilson? Does anyone still have optimism that he'll find the way to be the quarterback of older?

They just all feel like this is a lost cause at this point. Well, I mean, it's been awful this year, obviously. But you've got to be hopeful and optimistic that if you get the right coach in here with the right system around him like Seattle had, maybe you can get competent quarterback plays from him.

I mean, that's all you can do right now is hope, because you're not going to be able to get out of this contract for a couple of years, really, realistically. So I think that's the sentiment. It's been very disappointing, because expectations were, since post-Tayden Manning, they were higher than ever. And all of a sudden, it's been worse than ever. So you really can't make it up how bad it's been this year because of the expectations and then how far they've underdelivered.

To wrap it up with Brandon Stoker, let me get to one of your other former teams, the Indianapolis Colts. Is it still bizarre for you to see Jeff Saturday on the sideline now as the interim head coach? A little bit, yeah.

It definitely is. That's a tough thing to do, not be around that program day in and day out. Then all of a sudden, you'd be asked to take over.

I don't blame him for taking the job. I would have taken it, right? This might be your only opportunity to get that chance. They've had a couple games there where if they could have finished them off, it would have been a great story so far. But they're on the primetime stage tonight. They got a chance to put one to a playoff caliber team in the Chargers.

So I'm pulling for Saturday. I love his attitude, his competitiveness. You see him on the sidelines.

It's the same thing when we were teammates. I'm pulling for that guy. Hopefully he can get a chance to be the guy and go through the whole offseason and make it his own.

It's really tough to take over a program and have the quarterback situation the way it was there and try to fix it. I'm pulling for the guy. He's a great guy.

He was a great teammate. I hope it works out for him. I don't see there's any way that he's back next year as the head coach. But the name that I keep on throwing around has been Jim Harbaugh. You know that Earth say Jim is going to make the phone call to try to go get Jim Harbaugh to be the next coach.

I just don't know if he'll leave Michigan. Zach, I'm trying to be all optimistic and positive and talk about my guys. You just kind of put that to bed right away like, nah, that's not going to happen.

Don't worry about it. It's not going to happen. Jim Harbaugh, man, that's a big name. He's been successful everywhere he has been. So it's going to be interesting to see what happens with him. It seems like he was going to be set at Michigan, but he's got an itch that he needs to scratch, and that's the NFL.

So I think he'll be back in the NFL this year. Where? I don't know.

It might be over here in Denver. We'll see. You know a few things about getting to a Super Bowl, Brandon Stokely. If you had to just make a prediction right now, who gets out of the AFC, who gets out of the NFC this year?

Oh, my goodness. I'm going to go with the Bills. I just love Josh Allen. If they can get that running game going like we saw them a week ago, if they can keep that more consistent, then it takes a little pressure off of him.

And then the NFC, I'm going 49ers. I don't know what's going on with Jalen Hurts. We saw the right tackle, Lane Johnson, but the Eagles get hurt. Forty-niners right now, even with Brock Purdy, I love how Kyle Shanahan could just call up an offense and take some pressure off of him.

And this guy just makes a couple plays a game, and that's what he's been doing. So I love that 49ers defense, love that 49ers team. So I'm going 49ers-Bills. And then before we let you run, Brandon Stokely, just getting back to the Russell Wilson conversation. It still always rubs me the wrong way, because I know that they had a little difference between Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson. Russell wanted to throw the football more, and Pete said, we don't want to have you throw the football as much as you like because of the potential turnovers. But it's still mystifying to me they couldn't find a way to make that work and how Seattle was almost okay with letting Russell Wilson go and didn't really put much of a fight up there. Maybe we all, not to this level, but maybe those should have been some signs now, looking back at it, that this wasn't going to work out in Denver.

Absolutely. You look at how this thing played out and how Russ is playing now, and Russ wants to cook. Russ wanted to be more of an in-the-pocket Drew Brees type of quarterback and play for the next 10 years. That's just not who he is. That's not how he operates.

He's not comfortable there. Did Seattle know something? Of course they did. They saw the writing on the wall. They probably thought they could get another year or two good years from him.

But then after that, what's it going to look like? So they made the move early, like we see the Patriots do all the time. And it's paid off in a big way for Seattle, obviously, with Geno Smith playing the way that he's played this year and the draft picks that they have accumulated for Russell Wilson. I mean, it looks like a disaster for the Broncos and just a grand slam for Seattle. You've got to give John Snyder and the GM there and Pete Carroll a lot of credit.

A lot of credit for making the move. Is your dear, close, personal friend Peyton Manning at all interested in becoming the next head coach of the Broncos? I mean, just Saturday's coaching, right? You see him coaching.

I was surprised by that. If Peyton Manning becomes the head coach, I'll drop dead. I'll just have a heart attack.

So there's my answer. I'll just be done. I'm done. I'm just done. I'm done. Yeah. I had to ask that question.

There's no way that would happen. Brandon Stokely appreciate the time. Good to catch up with you.

Hope you and the family had a good holiday season. Thanks, Zach. Appreciate you, buddy. Take care, man. You got it.

There's Brandon Stokely joining us at Gelbin for Maggie gray and Andrew Perloff. We will take a break when we come on back. The really seesaw ride of Baker Mayfield. You keep on seeing some bad, then some good. Some bad, then some good. Week in and week out.

What's the future of Baker Mayfield? We'll discuss. It is Maggie and Perloff right here on CBS Sports Radio. Zach Gelbin for Maggie Gray and Andrew Perloff as they're enjoying some vacay all throughout this entire week. So I'll be here Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. Eastern. Hope everyone had a great Christmas, a great Hanukkah.

Happy holidays to all as we get ready to bring in the new year coming up at the end of the week. Any big New Year's plans, Emmanuel? You're probably working here, I would imagine, right? Working here.

Yeah, I've done that before. When Pharrell used to host here, they had me fill in for Pharrell. When Pharrell would be off and enjoying New Year's and I'd be on the bench. And I remember, I think it was like two years, you went right on the East Coast from 1159 to midnight. And it was like, oh wow, you're on the air. You're like the first voice on CBS Sports Radio for the new year.

Not that probably anyone's listening on New Year's Eve. But yeah, I've worked a few times this year. See, it's tough. I got to have some, let's just say, some good game management, let's just say, on Saturday night into Sunday. Because Sunday, I got to come on in here and do ION football. And then before that, I'm on the fan in New York. So that's like an 11 hour ride of radio on January 1st. So I got to have fun on that Saturday night, but not too much fun where I miss my alarm early Sunday. Or look at the alarm and like, ugh, give me the coffee.

I need coffee. Can't go too crazy. Yeah, I'll put the over-under on like two and a half bacon, egg, and cheeses on Sunday morning to try to soak up some of the alcohol, maybe. That sounds enticing.

No, I'm all kidding aside. I'm watching the Michigan game. A lot of friends that are Michigan fans that went to Michigan. So we're going to watch the Michigan game at someone's house. And then after that, a buddy of mine invests in a restaurant. So about 20 of us are going to this restaurant. And then the restaurant turns into, not a club, but they take all the tables out after everyone eats.

And it's a nice way to count down the new year. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four... You get a free meal? No, not a free meal, unfortunately. See, that's the best part about my friend, for my friend investing in this restaurant. We always go and we put a lot of money in his pocket. But, hey, like sometimes he gives you a discount. But they're not comping the meal at all.

But I'm okay. I'm not looking for a comp meal on New Year's. I'm just happy I'm not having to go out to some club and spend $200 to wait in a line of 500 people deep to go get a watered-down vodka soda or something like that. I think it's going to be a pretty tamed New Year's Eve for yours truly.

In the back of my mind, I've got to remember, okay, Zach, you've got to go talk for 11 straight hours coming up on Sunday. The nights out are always overrated anyway. You drop more money than you ever planned. And then even those group dinners, now this is a little bit different. We don't have a fixed menu for this, but a lot of those restaurants, they do a fixed menu.

And they charge you an arm and a leg, like 140 bucks or something. And you know, I didn't really get $140 worth of food. I don't mind paying for food as long as it's good.

For example, on Christmas Eve, I went out with two of my buddies and we went to this phenomenal restaurant. It got a great French onion soup, some polenta fries. What else did we get?

Oh, we got some baked clams. Then I got this great lamb curry dish. We had some cheesecake for dessert, some onion rings. One of my buddies got beef wellington. My other friend got the fancy schmancy burger that they have.

And we had a few old-fashions. I don't mind dropping money for a good meal, but it does feel like on New Year's a lot of times it's that fixed menu, fixed price. And you leave and you go, hmm, I could have had a little bit better time on New Year's.

I say this over and over again. New Year's when you're in college, New Year's your first year or two, maybe even three out of college, really fun. As the years go on, and now I'm sounding like an old man, but I have gray hair now, so I can tell you that.

I do think New Year's is the most overrated holiday out of all the holidays. You actually have gray hair? Yeah, I got some gray hair. Wow. Yeah, I'm getting old here. I'm wearing the beanie though today.

Not to cover it up, I just wasn't feeling like combing my hair. Company man. Yeah, I'm wearing the Odyssey beanie.

This is one of the most comfortable beanies that I own. The company, you sometimes get a gift from your company and it's like crap. Like the Odyssey mug I could do without. Like an Odyssey t-shirt I could do without. The year they sent, the Odyssey, the power strip I thought was phenomenal.

Everyone needs like a portable power strip. Yeah, I don't think you were here for that one. I wasn't here for that one. No, but a very good gift. Because sometimes those things can now cost like 50 bucks. The beanie though, this is the gift that I probably wear the most. We got that last year around the holidays.

Did we really? This is only a year old? Yeah, I think it's only a year old. I feel like I had this for five years.

I'm also terrible at keeping track of time. When I'm on the radio, and I say this to Hot Take Kiki, my producer of the Zach Gelb show, anytime that I say, oh yeah, something happened like two weeks ago, it could have happened two weeks ago, it also could have happened two months ago, it also could have happened two years ago. So that's usually what happens. Zach Gelbin from Aggie and Perloff on CBS Sports Radio. We'll get back into more general wraparound around the league in this Bronco situation where Nathaniel Hackett's out and we'll give you some names who could potentially replace Nathaniel Hackett for the Broncos coming up at the top of the hour. But when we continue to navigate with everything that we saw this weekend, the first three games of Baker Mayfield's career in L.A. have been very confusing. Because no one had any expectations when he went out to the Rams. You knew Matthew Stafford was going to be done for the season.

And it was okay. Low risk, high reward with Baker Mayfield. Then you find out last week on Kelly Stafford's podcast, Matt Stafford's wife, that Matt Stafford is going to play next year.

There was a thought that he could retire. And you go, okay, Baker Mayfield, let's see what he could showcase in the final few weeks of the season. And maybe a team, because he will be a free agent, will be interested in his services. And Baker is always a tough player to evaluate. Because no one would have ever thought that he was going to be the number one overall pick. He had a Heisman Trophy winning season, we all know that. And then it was a very secretive draft process where most of the years you don't know who the number one overall pick's going to be. And most people two days before that draft never thought it was going to be Baker Mayfield. Maybe it was Saquon Barkley, maybe it was Josh Allen, maybe it was going to be Sam Darnold.

Those were really the hot names in that draft at the time. And then I want to say it was a day and a half, two days before the draft where we all found out, oh, John Dorsey is going to be selecting Baker Mayfield with the number one overall pick in Cleveland. And I look back at Baker Mayfield's time in Cleveland. I can't say it was a disaster because he became the first Browns quarterback since 2002 to take him to the playoffs. And he got the Browns their first playoff win since 1995 when Bill Belichick was the coach of the Browns, going up against Bill Parcells and the Patriots. But then last year he was dealing with the shoulder injury.

He also had a lot of poor play. And you were wondering, was the poor play because of the injury, was the poor play just that he's not that good of a quarterback? And all throughout this offseason, it was we knew that Baker Mayfield was going to get replaced because they traded for Deshaun Watson. And by the way, Deshaun Watson, his last four games, he has looked horrible with the Cleveland Browns. Deshaun Watson, he should be sending thank you notes today to the Denver Broncos and sending thank you notes to Russell Wilson, because it wasn't for Nathaniel Hackett getting fired today and then also Russell Wilson just continuing to look horrible and his teammates not believing him and his teammates getting into fights on the sideline. I do think there would be a lot more conversation today about Deshaun Watson because on the field, even though he has two years of Russ to knock off, his first four games, he has not shown me much. And we knew the Browns weren't going to make the playoffs this year without having Watson for the first 11 games of the season, but they did officially get eliminated on Saturday when the Saints defeated the Browns, and the Browns at one point were up in that game 10-0.

And the Saints end up winning that game 17-10, where they score 17-1. And sort of one of the rumored destinations for Deshaun Watson, a team that was interested, were the New Orleans Saints. And the Saints did not win the sweepstakes for Deshaun Watson, but Watson has been horrible. So anyway, long story short, with Baker Mayfield, the big thought was he was going to get traded at some point, but just to where. I even started to have the discussion in this offseason, maybe you should just stay in Cleveland and suck it up for 11 games, because at least you have some talent around you, you know the system. Instead, he elected not to do that, which I can understand not wanting to check your ego out the door for a team that gave up on you, and kind of swallowing your pride and checking your ego out the door, as I was saying.

So you get straight to Carolina. Carolina, you knew Matt Ruhle got fired very early into the season. That offense was kind of late to the party, because Baker was the starter, but he had, what, a month to get really ready for the season and get to know his teammates. And they lost the first two games of the season, where I know he made that big throw up against his old team to Robbie Anderson, but they started off slow.

And in game number two against the Giants, in what was a must-win, I thought, for the Browns, they end up losing. Baker then gets waved, and he ends up with the Los Angeles Rams. And remember, he won his first game, had the 16-3 comeback in less than 48 hours of getting ready to prepare for the Rams up against the Raiders.

Then the week before that, the week after that, didn't look all that great, but he can't really knock them up against the Packers, even though the Packers aren't a great team, just because he hasn't had a lot of time there. But yesterday, Baker Mayfield looked impressive, finished his game 24-28 for 230 yards, had two touchdowns through the air, and you just wonder what the market's going to be as the Rams crush the Broncos yesterday, and the bigger story is the thing at Hackett L5, Russell Wilson continues to be horrible and has three interceptions, but the Rams did beat the Broncos yesterday, 51-14. And Baker's going to be a free agent this year. So you look at some potential destinations, I don't know if you go into the season, and I don't think you go into the season saying, Baker Mayfield, we have a lot of confidence if he's the starting quarterback. I do think, though, he's going to have a chance to compete somewhere outside of L.A. to go win a starting job.

Now, maybe he'll win it, maybe he won't, but I do think he's going to go to a place where he can compete for that starting job. Is it the Raiders, Derek Carr at three interceptions against the Pittsburgh Steelers? Maybe the Raiders just want to cut ties with Derek Carr after years and years of years, for the most part showing that he's not the guy. Tennessee, Ryan Tannehill's now banged up. I know you drafted Malik Willis, maybe Mike Vrabel's going to be inclined with a new GM coming in to give an opportunity to Baker Mayfield.

What about the commanders? Taylor Ham-Heinecke, it seems like his magic is starting to wear out and run out. I don't really believe in Carson Wentz. Would Ron Rivera take a flyer on Baker Mayfield?

Because I think the commanders have a really good team. Offensive line is improved. You have Antonio Gibson, you have Bryan Robinson Jr., you got Johan Dotson, you got Terry McLaurin, you got a defense that just got Chase Young back and has a lot of pieces, especially in that front seven. You've got a team like Indianapolis that could use a stopgap guy. Maybe they draft a quarterback this year. Maybe they pass on taking a quarterback and wait till next year.

Baker Mayfield, all he's going to cost you is money. And what about the Saints? I don't know what the Saints' team is going to look like next year, but Crystal Lave is in the conversation even though he's hurt right now for Offensive Rookie of the Year. You got Alvin Camaro. Can't really trust much out of Michael Thomason to the future.

You got some players on defense. Maybe Baker goes to the Saints, but right now all you have is Andy Dalton, Jameis Winston, and Taysom Hill. None of those three guys in the year of 2022 are quarterbacks that you have to have or will be in 2023. Could Baker go to the Jets? If they swing a miss on Jimmy Garoppolo, Derek Carr, I don't think they're trading the Jets for Aaron Rodgers. I don't think Tom Brady is signing with the Jets. But would the Jets be open to bringing Mike White back? I don't think Zach Wilson is already inactive for this weekend.

He's not going to be active. And Mike White has now been cleared. Maybe the Jets say, OK, let's have a competition between Mike White and Baker Mayfield if they run out of some possibilities there. So there's some options for Baker Mayfield. And even though he hasn't restored his image, he's done a nice job ever since going into L.A. in some tough situations.

And under some tough circumstances, we really don't expect much. And we've been talking about him more. Once again, I don't think you bring him in to say that's our guy definitely in 2022 or 2023, I should say.

Check that. But you could bring him in to compete for the starting job. And if he doesn't win the starting job, then he's thrown into the backup role and waiting for that quarterback to either unfortunately get hurt or struggle. And then you get inserted back into the lineup. So I do think there's a place for Baker Mayfield in the NFL in 2023, probably more likely as a backup quarterback. But he should go to a place where he has a chance to go, a realistic shot and a genuine shot to go win a starting job and maybe ends up winning that job.

And with the full offseason with the team, can go on out there and start to restore and reshape his career in the NFL. Zach Yelp here with you on CBS Sports Radio in for Maggie and Perloff. This portion of the program is sponsored by Prevagen. Prevagen is the most recommended memory support brand by pharmacists.

Coming on back. What's the strangest thing you're afraid of? Tails without fur on them, such as rats or possums. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast, Your Weirdest Fears, where we dig into the crazy things you're afraid of.

Everything from animal people, hybrids. You know, people who get surgeries to look like an animal to giant statues. If I ever saw one of those giant statues, I probably would poop my pants.

Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. So my biggest fear is there is going to be snakes in the toilet. We're all afraid of that one strange thing. I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new short 10 minute podcast called Your Weirdest Fears. We unpack where these fears come from, a rat climbed into my toilet and learn how to manage them. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. So my biggest fear is there is going to be snakes in the toilet. We're all afraid of that one strange thing. I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new short 10 minute podcast called Your Weirdest Fears. We unpack where these fears come from, a rat climbed into my toilet and learn how to manage them. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.