JR SportBrief Hour 2

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There's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast, Your Weirdest Fears, the show that explores the odd things that make your heart stop. I am so scared of the Grinch. He is bad vibes. We talk to everyone from therapists to exterminators to lizard man. I was 25 when I actually got my tongue split.

I have one tattoo that covers my entire body. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. I'm being joined by super producer and host Dave Shepherd and everybody listening all over North America. So whether you are in Miami, Florida or Seattle and everything in between, thank you for tuning in. We got a busy weekend in front of us. The NFL playoffs are less than 24 hours from getting going. We got two games on Saturday. We got three games on Sunday. We have a Monday night matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

And we got you covered here. So if you want to talk to me, if you want to listen about football, you're in the right damn place. You can holler at me.

It's simple. 855-212-4CBS. You can also tweet me. I am at JRSportbrief on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook as well. And if you just want to participate by listening, good on you. You could be listening on your local affiliate. You could be listening on Sirius XM channel 158. You could be listening on a smart speaker or you could be locked in right now on the free Odyssey app. I appreciate everyone who tuned in and locked into the first hour of the show.

I get started 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 Pacific. You know, before we got into the teams that are actually going to be participating in the playoffs, we took some time to look into, I don't know, a couple of teams, individuals, a coach who are not in the playoffs. Like Aaron Rodgers a couple of days ago after being eliminated officially from the playoffs by the Detroit Lions.

Aaron Rodgers did his whole. Yeah, I don't know if I'm coming back. It depends on if the Packers want me back.

And yeah, we'll go from there. Even though last season he signed a three year deal for one hundred and fifty mill this upcoming season, if he plays, and I think he will, because he's earmarked for 60 million dollars. Brian Kootenkunst, the man running the show up in Green Bay. I guess he needed to kiss Aaron Rodgers ass today. He made it very clear that he wants him back.

Listen to this. If Aaron wants to come back, he'll be here. He's said multiple times this year that he doesn't think it'll be just his decision. Do you guys want him as your quarterback next year?

Yeah, like I said in the bye week, I think I want all these guys back. That's that's part of that. He's certainly going to take some time. You know, I think that's that's fair. And as we work through this, I think he takes his time, kind of makes his decision just on his playing career in general.

Then we'll get together and move forward that way. Yeah, I think he has 60 million reasons to come back. OK, speaking of coming back, it's it's clear it's finally been announced. Sean McVeigh let the Los Angeles Rams know that he will be back with the team this upcoming season. Heading into the Super Bowl last year.

Obviously they won. There was the whole is he going to stick around or is he going to win the Super Bowl and leave? Well, he won the Super Bowl. Those questions persisted after he won and he made it clear that he would come back for one more year. And he just did that. And they stuck a lot of injuries.

They went five and twelve. And now we had to have another conversation as to whether or not he was going to stay. And he told his his team and staff that he will be returning. I have no idea what the Rams will do next year. You know, Jalen Ramsey has kind of sent out some some notes that he might have played his last game as a ram. And then we have to hope that Matthew Stafford and Aaron Donald and Cooper Cup, the most important players on the team, are actually healthy next season.

I guess Sean McVeigh, he's had an easy streak. Not I want to call it easy streak, but he's had a lot of success in the NFL as a young head coach. Let's keep this in mind. He's 36 years old right now. He was hired right before he turned 31 years old. And he has known nothing but success until this season. And so I guess he's looking to embark on the challenge and more power to him before he eventually runs to, I don't know.

Television, hosting, streaming, whatever will go out there and pay him the big, big bucks. Let's move on to this, though. The team that they actually beat, they being the Rams, to go to the Super Bowl last year in the NFC title game was a San Francisco 49ers. And the Rams went. They won. They beat the Bengals.

And that's all she wrote. The 49ers are looking to go back to the Super Bowl again. You can say that the 49ers right now are the hottest team in the NFL. Ten straight wins.

And it's a little surprising that they've had ten straight wins because Jimmy Garoppolo went down. You bring in Christian McCaffrey. He lights it up. Debo Samuel goes down. You're bringing in a rookie quarterback in Purdy that people have to go. Who the hell is this guy? He's actually Mr.

Irrelevant. And the 49ers have just destroyed people, basically at the hands of their defense and then also being innovative offensively. You know, Purdy to Kittle is a touchdown connection that even Jimmy Garoppolo has lacked. There's a lot of times you look at George Kittle on the field and you go, they just want him out there blocking?

That's a big dude. Do you want him out there scoring? And so even George Kittle, he has seven touchdowns in the last four games. Debo Samuel just came back from last game and they're going to take on a Seahawks team that started six and three, finished the season three and three and came back down to earth. So all things considered, if you're looking at the 49ers and the Seahawks, there's a good chance. This is going to be a complete ass whooping. Geno Smith will probably be running for his life.

Nick Bosa will probably know his blood type before this game is finished. And so the 49ers go into the NFC Championship game and go into the Super Bowl and losing and going through Jimmy Garoppolo's injuries and drafting his replacement. Who also got hurt to start the year. That's why we saw Jimmy G. Kyle Shanahan made it very clear. We're going into the playoffs and we ain't think about nothing but one thing. Right when we could tell the game was out of hand versus Arizona, I think everybody was like that. We're like, all right, finally, we made it. We took care of business. We did as good as we can in the situation we had.

And for the most part, we stayed pretty healthy doing it. So I think once we got to that fourth quarter, everyone was thinking about it. We got home as fast as we can and just started waiting to find out who we'd play. And very quickly, we found out and realized we had lost today because we're playing Saturday and we're ready to go. Yeah, we got football tomorrow for 30 p.m. Eastern time. The 49ers will take on the Seahawks. The 49ers beat Arizona, beat the living hell out of them. Thirty eight to thirteen. That was nothing but a warm up game.

How much do you need to warm up when you're already hot? Ten straight victories. And this is crazy. Brock Purdy. This is a rookie. And it's not like he has a lot of pressure on him to go out there and just light up the scoreboard. Thirteen touchdowns to only four interceptions is something I think any quarterback would sign up for. Whether you were recently selected in the draft or whether you're a vet, Purdy is 5-0 as a starter. And we know he has all the help in the world on the defense with Bosa and Warner up front. He has Debo returning. You have McCaffrey out there as well.

This is just a perfect, perfect situation for Brock Purdy to go out there and have success. And so the 49ers are killing it. And who would be surprised if they go to the Super Bowl? Not me.

This is the first step of doing so. And the Seattle Seahawks, which have a record of nine and eight. I told you they started six and three.

They ain't finish all that hot. Defense is pretty eh. Geno Smith is probably going to be comeback player of the year. But I don't think any of that is going to be enough to slow down these 49ers. Despite that, this season has to be considered a success for the Seahawks.

Has to be. You trade off Russell Wilson. You throw the future completely into the abyss. And you start Geno Smith, who now has a career resurrection. And now you got the pick as well from Denver. This is a win, win, win all the way across the board for the Seahawks.

And so I assume the luck will run out tomorrow, but they have a great foundation to build on. Kenneth Walker has been dealing with a bum ankle, but he had an amazing rookie season. A thousand yards on the ground, nine touchdowns.

It's a it's a beautiful situation, a beautiful scenario. And no one at the Seahawks made it to the playoffs. Pete Carroll, always looking to be the optimist. He said, look, it's a big deal to be in the playoffs and the team that we got here over the Detroit Lions. It is good to. Really a great reward for our guys who've been working so hard. And you've been hearing us talk about it. They have this opportunity to keep going.

And we're all excited about the fact that the way the day turned out yesterday. Just so, so sunk into the being Lions fans, man. We love the Lions. Coach Campbell did a great job with his crew and they played a fantastic football game to get the win to give us the chance.

So we'll try to do something with it. Unfortunately, we're playing the Niners and they're loaded and they're loaded and healthy and on a roll and about as hot as you could possibly get. And doing it in a really commanding fashion to, you know, with the young quarterback who's doing so well, just kind of buck the odds, you know, that everybody would think you could do that.

And everybody in the media anyway. So we'll see how we how we get our guys back for this weekend. It's coming up quick with the Saturday ballgame is I don't know if Pete Carroll is getting ready for a funeral for his own team.

I don't like shepherds. He what the hell did he just say? Is he getting ready for a funeral? Is that what he's doing? Oh, he's exhausted because he's doing so much waving and waving.

I mean by a white flag. He's like, oh, yeah. Yeah, they got it. He chuckled.

He's like, oh, he's like, we got to take on the 49ers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's his concession speech. You know, he's doing his chat.

He's channeling his inner TCU. Oh, ouch. What's true? It's not going to be that bad tomorrow. It can't be.

Oh, JR. 65 to 79ers are not going to whoop their ass down that. The hottest, the hottest team in the NFL going against the Seahawks team that only got in because Aaron Rodgers doesn't show up when it matters most. Well, you managed to just throw throw three barbs in one shot. That's that's talent, chef.

Well, I appreciate that. Listen, Rodgers is a very easy target. I think TCU I think there's I think we're still hungover for what we saw that Monday night at four days ago. That actually happened. That wasn't a nightmare.

Exactly. And then with Pete Carroll, like, let's be real. Geno Smith is a great story.

But there's a reason why Geno Smith has not been a legitimate franchise quarterback at any point in his career and hasn't even been a predominant starter for the last six years. So how many how many times does he get sacked tomorrow by Nick Bosa? Like you said, he's going to know his underwear size. He's going to know the shape. He's going to know the smell. He's going to know everything about Geno Smith.

He's going to know what kind of peppermint he uses before games. Well, that's that's very detailed. Well, I'm just saying, I mean, Bosa, you know, he has a reason to believe he's the defensive player of the year. Yeah, the man had 18 and a half sacks.

I know we got 17 games here. Still a hell of a lot. They bring see his it there's no it doesn't matter how you slice it. The 49ers are probably the best defensive team in the game. That's that's number one. Number two, when you go out there and think about their their offense, looking at Purdy is you're kind of I think you're looking at the wrong thing. He's efficient. He's not trying to play out of his mind.

He's not trying to do too much. And when you got if I was playing quarterback and I had to snap the ball and go, oh, well, this is George Kittle over there. Wait, wait, wait. Christian McCaffrey is right here next to me. There's Debo Samuel.

Can you make my life any easier? And so nobody's asking and you have a great defense, awesome defense. So nobody's asking Brock Purdy to go out there and just hit him on the shoulder. Say, hey, man, we need you to win us the game. Hey, Brock, we need you to go out there and and deliver at least three touchdowns. We need you to put up 21 for us so we can go out there and have success. That's not what anybody's asking of him.

What we're going to find out about Brock Purdy, which is pretty awesome, is. OK, you did it in the regular season. Can you do it in the playoffs?

Can you come back? And leave the 49ers on a game time drive. Can you leave the 49ers on a drive that sets up a game winning field goal? Can you come back from a potential deficit tomorrow against the Seahawks is going to be that warm up? I don't think he's going to have to come back tomorrow against the Seahawks. I don't think he's going to have to come back and lead them on a game winning drive.

But that that's probably going to come as he moves forward in the playoffs, which I think most people believe he will do. I mean, if you got the Seahawks tomorrow, what's your justification? Besides telling me that you you got a strong feeling that they're going to win. If you believe the Seahawks are going to beat the 49ers tomorrow, what's your justification?

Are you a psychic? They're probably going to get their ass whooped. And sure, any given Sunday, any given Saturday, anybody can win. It'd be a disaster if the 49ers didn't wipe them out tomorrow and then move on. I think that's what we'll see. The 49ers will take care of the Seahawks.

I think we're in store for the 49ers 11th straight victory. And I think Brock Purdy. Yeah, we we haven't seen him overcome adversity. We don't know if he can. We don't know if he will. But I know he ain't bad for a quarterback selected last and a dude who they called Mr. Irrelevant. Who knows? Brock Purdy might be the first dude to be Mr. Irrelevant. And Super Bowl champion. In less than a calendar year.

Can you imagine that? I got faith in Purdy. Let's see what he can do. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. What are your thoughts? Do the Seahawks stand any chance? And how you feel about Purdy?

Is this just a flash in the pan? Or do you think the 49ers can actually win with this guy? I think they have such a great, well-rounded team.

I believe that they can. 855-212-4CBS. I'm going to get to your calls on the other side. We're going to get into the Vikings, the Giants, the Jaguars, the Chargers. We're going to talk about it all. It's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. JR, every time I get into an Uber, I always turn the Uber drivers onto your show.

We talk about sports. Tell them how awesome you are. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. Hey, speaking of Uber drivers, shout-outs to everybody out there driving all the drunk people around on a Friday night. And if you're not drunk yet, then I don't know.

I don't know what to say. Just be safe out there on the roads, everybody. Please, don't drink and drive. Don't be a jerk to other people out there on the road. Yeah, I said it. Who cares? 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. We got NFL playoff action getting way over the weekend starting tomorrow. We got the 49ers and the Seahawks.

I can't wait to see that. We'll get to the Vikings and the Giants and we'll talk about tomorrow's night matchup between the Jags and the Chargers. So we'll talk about some of the other matchups. But right before we went to break, we took a look at the 49ers and the Seahawks. I told you about a team in the 49ers that have won 10 straight games. They got a rookie quarterback out there in Brock Purdy. He's thrown multiple touchdowns in six straight games. That is the longest stretch or streak for a rookie. Let alone a rookie who was tabbed Mr. Irrelevant for being the last dude selected in the draft. And he has found a connection with George Kittle. Seven touchdowns in the last four games.

Just to Kittle alone. Deebo Samuel just came back. The 49ers defense is one of, if not the best in the NFL. And this does not bode well for the Seahawks who, quite frankly, their defense is not one of the best in the league. Their offense performed good at the start of the season, but I'd say more recently finished kind of flat at three and three. You got the star running back. Kenneth Walker's been dealing with an ankle injury. And at the start of the season when they had a little bit more balance to their offense, you know, Geno Smith was amazing. He wasn't asked to go out there and do too much. More recently, since Kenneth Walker's been limping around, the offense has certainly been stunted just a little bit. Just a little bit. And even if you look at someone like Metcalf over the past couple of games, he's been a little MIA.

You got to go ahead and find him and even really get the ball against the New York Jets. So it's looking like this might be a beat down. The 49ers over the Seahawks. But nonetheless, this season, this year for the Seahawks has been a massive success because what they were expected to do was absolutely suck. And so kudos, congratulations to the Seahawks for even being here in this position. But it sounded like even Pete Carroll knows.

We probably going to get our asses whooped. 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. It's 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. Ron is here from South Carolina. JR, thanks for taking my call.

Retiring from the same industry for 25 years. I want to tell you that listening to your soft, low key voice and the manner in which you really get to your points is fascinating. And I think you're the best now. And you're actually the opposite of the guy that got a radio guy of the year, Mad Dog Russo. And so you wonder who's doing the voting nowadays, but it's a pleasure to listen to you. Now, let me tell you about Seattle. OK, thank you, Ron.

Go ahead. Seattle won their Super Bowl last week when Detroit won that game. Seattle proved a lot of people. No one would think they would make the playoffs. And I know you know more than I do, but I don't think the quarterback that left Seattle left with a lot of friends in the locker room.

And I think a lot of people were happy that he ended up in the garbage can and they made the playoffs. But going forward, I look at the points for nine and a half points right now. It's like, what is going on? I mean, if you went to bet the Georgia game last week with a TCU, you would have realized right off the bat at 13 and a half points, who does Vegas want you to bet? They wanted you to take TCU. The TCU was an 85 percent national favorite. They knew they were getting the money. Take those points. Vegas made a fortune last week. Why is this point spread so darn low? And thirdly, I'll end it and listen to you by saying 49ers are in an excellent team.

They are solid from tit to tat. You know that better than I do. And they are going to put a butt beating on the Seattle team that's just going to go out there and have fun. Nothing to lose. But guess what? They're going to lose and the score might be pretty similar to what the Georgia game was. But going forward, I appreciate you taking my call. And that's three things about the game. I don't understand the spread and absolutely 49ers.

I was thinking in my head, what should it be? And usually when you see double digits or more in a playoff game, you really take the dog. They tell you to. But I'm thinking they got to be giving them 15 points. 14 and a half. And I looked it up and it's nine and a half points. Doesn't that surprise you? Well, Ron, I'll put it to you this way.

It's going to be a whole ass whooping. That's kind of low if you ask me. That's what I said. Yeah, I think, you know, I haven't sat down and thought about the score, but I think they're going to have more than two touchdowns on them.

So we'll see. Hey, Ron, I appreciate you calling from South Carolina. Kittle might have two himself. Correct. Well, he's certainly been on a great connection with Ron Purdon.

He's unreal and they're finally throwing the ball to him. Yeah. Well, thank you, Ron. I appreciate you, man. Thank you, partner.

Talk to you. No doubt about it. Yeah, no, Kittle. Yeah, he's right. Kittle is finally getting the ball. I told you this. Seven touchdowns in the last four games.

Hey, Shep, he agrees with you. It may be a 65 to 7 ass whooping. Ron might have had five things if he didn't hang up.

Yeah, he was on his way. I think, you know, we might get a, it might be like 30 to 14 or something like that. This should be a bye game, honestly. Oh, my God. Yeah, they might as well just make it a bye game. Well, not everybody can just wake up and be the Eagles, OK?

I mean, ouch. 855-2124 CBS. Michael is calling from Atlanta. You're on the JR Sport Brief Show. Who's going on, JR? How are you? I'm excellent, Mike.

What's on your mind? I disagree. I'm a huge Seattle fan, but you got to remember this. This game is a divisional game, right?

Yeah. Last game they played us, they beat us by like seven points. And that's when Homer was going down the field. He fumbled the ball.

Then another one, Purdy, he threw it right to Diggs, but he dropped the ball. So this is the formula to beat the 49ers. It's going to be hard, not just with Seattle, but for anybody.

So are you subscribing to the idea that San Francisco has already beaten them twice, they won't beat them three times? Yeah, that's part of it. That's definitely part of it. But this is what you have to do, though. You have to stop that run, which is a big if. But if you stop that run, you make Purdy beat you with his arm.

And once you put that pressure on him, which we did like two times late during the game, you're probably going to make some mistakes. It's a big if, but if you can't do that, I believe you can beat the 49ers. So it's an if, and you believe that they can. I believe that they can, too. I just think it's unlikely. If you take your Seattle Seahawks hat off, do you think the Seahawks are going to beat the 49ers tomorrow?

Yeah, I think so. And then another thing, the Rebels are going to play a big part of it. Supposedly it's going to be Rainey and Wendy, and we've seen what happened when they went in there to Chicago. And it was a slot mess, and the Bears beat them. Anything can happen when a divisional game is playing each other. Yeah, we know anything can happen. I just don't think the odds are in the Seahawks favor. If I would have to go ahead and put a percentage on this, I would probably say 80 to 20 that the 49ers win.

Let's see if they do. But I think we can shock the Rebels, so I call back in celebration, JR. Love you, my brother. Go Hawks. Well, thank you, Mike. Appreciate you.

No doubt. He said go Hawks. He had a Hawks. They were able to pick up a buzzer beater tonight against the Pacers. Good for them. Sure, anything can happen.

I'll put it to you this way. If the Seattle Seahawks beat the 49ers tomorrow, they wouldn't be doing anything but disappointing a whole lot of people, primarily 49ers fans who have been itching to go back to a Super Bowl and actually win one. And then even outside of that, if the Seattle Seahawks beat the 49ers tomorrow, my approach is going to be they're delaying the inevitable. OK, they got past the 49ers, but they're going to get their asses whooped. It's just a matter of time, so good luck tomorrow against the 49ers. You'll definitely need it.

I think they're going to handle them. 855-212-4CBS. I'm going to get some more of your calls on the other side of the break. And then I want to talk to you about another game that I don't feel is as clear cut. It's the Minnesota Vikings and the New York Giants. I'm going to take your calls.

We'll talk about this NFC playoff matchup. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. First time caller. Pull over the phone. This is the man in the middle. The man in the middle.

The man in the middle. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

on CBS Sports Radio. First-time caller. Had to pull over to the side of the road just to make sure I didn't miss my opportunity. Want you to know that I appreciate your candor. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. Yeah, if you got to pull over on the side of the road to talk to me, then do that. We don't need no distracted drivers out here. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. We've been talking about the 49ers, the Seahawks. We talked about the teams that didn't make the playoffs like the Rams. Sean McVeigh is returning. We talked about Aaron Rodgers.

Team is telling everybody that they want him back. And then we're going to get into the Vikings and the Giants. We'll talk about the Jags and the Chargers. We got a lot of callers on the line. So I want to make sure that they get their opportunity to speak before we jump into some of these other matchups.

855-212-4CBS. Let's start off here with Greg. He's calling from Maryland. Hey, Greg, you're live. Yes, JR. Can you hear me? I can now. Go ahead.

OK. Yes, your point on Aaron Rodgers is pretty much, in my opinion, exactly correct. Basically, you've got a guy who's pretty much, like you said, basically on the line, he doesn't know what he's doing right now. He doesn't know what he wants to do, in my opinion. But he's still an excellent football player. And I don't really particularly like the guy, and I'm not a Green Bay Packers fan. But if you were to put him on the line, if he was a free agent, and any team could pick him up.

No, he'd be gone. Exactly. Yeah. No, I don't think it's so much that he doesn't know what he wants to do. I think that he needs to drag it out. And Shep said this earlier on.

It's a matter of insecurity. And he can be awesome. He could be great. But along the way, he needs to be patted on the back and told that he's doing good and that we want you.

And that's become pretty apparent over the past several years when you think about Aaron Rodgers. They need to hold his hand and reassure him that he's wanted and needed, etc. Mike is calling from San Diego. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, thanks for having me on.

Sure. Hey, so I actually, by way of Iowa, so I'm an Iowa Hawkeye by heart and know a lot about Brock Purdy. I know he went 0 and 3 against us, but he's a gamer. You know, I mean, he's more of a clock manager.

I would liken him to a Baker Mayfield if Mayfield didn't have the hype. He's definitely somebody that can lead that Niners team. They've got a great defense.

I can't really see the Vikings or even the Cowboys coming out of the NFC, you know, taking them over. And I do think that, even though I'm a Hawkeye, I do think that they'll do well, you know, moving forward. Well, thank you for putting aside your Iowa-Iowa state bias, man. I appreciate that.

You got it. All right, thank you, Mike, for calling from San Diego. Let's talk to Troy calling from Vancouver, Washington. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up, Troy? Hey, JR. Thanks for taking my call. Clearly a class act.

It's the first time I've called. Hey, first off, the Niners are going to completely dismantle Seattle, and I'm not a fan of either one of them, but it's clear they're going to get exposed at every facet of the game. Also, I had a question about what you think about. My son's a big Chargers fan.

You know, I'll take it off the air even. I'm just curious what you think about that game. We're going to talk about the Jags and the Chargers in a little while. I'll give you a preview.

I think that that is going to be probably one of the more interesting games over the weekend. I'm going to get to that soon, Troy, okay? All right, thanks.

All right, no doubt. Thank you for calling from Vancouver. Arthur's calling from Virginia. Go ahead, Arthur. Hey, JR.

Thanks for having me on. I have a quick comment and then two suggested rules changes here. First of all, I have to tip my hat to the Ravens for locking up Roquan Smith for five years, not letting him get to free agency as a Lions fan. I was kind of hoping he'd hit the open market, but Ravens are just such a well-run organization.

I have such respect for them. But for the playoffs, they went from six teams to seven in each conference, and when that happened, I thought, why do you just want one team with the buy? It seems so unfair, and I really still feel that way. I think they should just go to eight teams and be done with it. It adds more intrigue, more fan bases, more teams holding out for the end, you know, of a regular season, hoping their team gets in. Aside from all that, I mean, I think about the NBA. The Phoenix Suns have been finished first like the last two years. Imagine if they didn't have to play a first-round series. You wouldn't respect them as champions.

I personally have to disagree with you there. We only have this many teams in the playoffs in the first place, not necessarily for competitive reasons but for monetary reasons. So to think that expanding to eight teams in the playoffs and going back to two teams in each conference getting a buy is just, it's like, okay, we already got a team in the playoffs right now.

It's the Buccaneers. They got a losing record. And with the NFL now already moving to 17 games, why do I want to watch a bunch of 500 teams run around in the playoffs for no reason? So for me personally, we already got too many teams in the playoffs, if you ask me. Well, it's about the number one seed. It's too big an advantage. I mean, the Titans last year were not better than the other six teams in the conference. They're getting too big of a break. And when this whole thing happened with Buffalo and Cincinnati missing a game, that just exposed it. No, well, that is an extreme instance that hopefully we never have to experience again. So to pinpoint that as a reason I don't think is big enough.

And this format is relatively new in and of itself. And so I don't think we have enough ground to look at Tennessee having one more game than anybody else. Let's get this going for a few years.

I can just tell you what I know what it is. Looking at a bunch of 500-esque teams in the playoffs doesn't do anything to me. And expanding it out, I mean, it doesn't, it don't do nothing for me. It's like we got enough teams in the playoffs as it is. And so sure, okay, instead of two teams getting a bye, one team gets a bye. Okay, yeah, fine. That doesn't bother me.

Let's put the whole NFL in the playoffs. Kevin's here from Buffalo. What's up, Kev?

What's up, J.R.? Thanks for having me, man. Appreciate you. Certainly. So being from Buffalo, obviously, you know, I'm a Bills fan, but I'm also a Buffalo Bills realist, right? Okay. So I do understand, you know, why there's a little bit of concern about Buffalo. They haven't been playing, you know, up to a power where like Josh Allen with his turnovers, things like that. But I just wanted to ask you, and like coming from the rest of the league and people, let's say that they don't have a dog in the flight.

Okay. Josh Allen, he was hurt, but he is a guy that is just a winner. He's hurt. Yes, he turns the ball over, but also he's a creator.

He uses his feet. Are the Bills in the country, are we the team that is like America's team to win the ball if you don't have a pony in the fight this year? Are we the guys that people want to win because they were like, man, the Bills, they've been through so much. God bless Tamar Hamlin. He's back.

He's healthy. They've been through so much. Yeah, the answer is yes, Kevin. Does that make you feel good?

I mean, the answer is yes. Well, it makes me feel good if we win, but you can't live on that, you know what I mean? As far as when Tamar was back last week against the Patriots, that first run back, that kickoff return, it reminded me of that movie, we're on a mission from God with the Blues Brothers. You know, because you do, you feel that, you feel like almost like a divine intervention, right? But after losing four Super Bowls back in the 90s, and I was like 10 years old at the time, and I think I probably cried four years in a row.

You kind of like, you know, you kind of gauge yourself. But now you say, you know what, these guys, we got it. Do we have the team to do it? Do we have the team to do it?

Yeah, he's going to go all night. Yeah, Kevin. Yeah, you got the team to do it, Kevin. Yeah. I agree.

I agree. Okay, have a shot. Do you drink?

What's that? Do you drink? I don't drink, no. Oh, okay. Drink coffee? Oh, yeah. Oh, hell yeah.

I can tell. Have some coffee and wait for the game, okay? Yeah, man.

Thank you. Okay, they're going to whoop the Dolphins' ass. Don't worry about that. Well, I'm worried about the Bengals. Well, don't worry about that.

Just wait for the game tomorrow. They'll be fine, okay? All right, brother.

Thank you. All right, thank you, Kevin, for calling from Buffalo. He's ready. I can't blame him.

He's hyped up for the Bills, as he should be. Yeah, and you know, listen, I mean, they're not going to bring it up necessarily now, but as we edge closer, you know the conversation is going to be, whoever wins, someone else got the short end of the stick. Partially, yeah, sure, but thus is life. Didn't we go through part of that last week? You went through all of it last week. It doesn't mean there's not going to still be those people that say, well, Buffalo, you know, they didn't get a chance to play it all out, and they should have had home field advantage, and it shouldn't be at a neutral site, and all that. Thus is life.

They still have an opportunity to go out there and play, make the most of a situation, even if it may not be what you want. People are always going to have something to say, and if you haven't noticed, we haven't dedicated and probably won't dedicate too much time to the Bills and Dolphins Sunday, because that will be an ass-whooping. Yeah, there's no need to dig it. You'd be doing your listeners a disservice, to be honest, right?

That would be an ass-whooping. There's nothing to preview. Say again?

There's nothing to preview. Yeah, what do I say? They're going to whoop their ass. Right. Who's quarterback for the Dolphins? I want to say Thompson, right? That's Skyler. Yeah, Skyler, right? Right. They're not David.

They're not holding like a contest, you know, somebody wanted their fans to start? No. Hey, one of my good friends, he's a dolphin bandit, and so he looks like a pirate, and what are their colors? Orange and turquoise? Is that what that is?

Sounds about right, yeah. Yeah, he paints himself in orange and turquoise, and he looks like a pirate, and shout-outs to the dolphin bandits. They look like pirates. I don't know what else to say.

They're really good guys. They should let my guy go out there and play quarterback. That's not a bad idea.

I don't think people realize how bad Skyler Thompson is. Uh-oh. Are you going to pile on? You going to pile on to the Dolphins right now?

He's got a one touchdown, three interceptions in his career. I mean, this is one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the history of the NFL postseason. You know what? They might save me some time on Sunday, though. Good point. This will be the first game on Sunday, a 1 o'clock Eastern Time start, and I think I'll only maybe have to watch, I don't know, 45 minutes, maybe 30, and then after that, all I'll have to do is check in intermittently.

That's it. I had all these dolphin fans telling me to an MVP, the poor guy's head is in a terrible place. When we come back, we'll talk about the Jags, the Chargers, the Giants, the Vikings on CBS Sports Radio. 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 NFL playoffs live on Odyssey. Touchdown as time expires.

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