1.6.22 - Jr SportBrief Hour 4

No one's more locked into the NFL than First and Pod. Why is it not within the realm of possibility that Geno Smith was a victim of a horrible organization, bad offensive coaching, and then went and played behind three high-level talents and only got spot starts and did okay, by the way?

Well, because it's just, it doesn't really happen that often anymore. Subscribe to First and Pod on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe to First and Pod on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. It is the J.R. Sportbrief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Welcome to the weekend, right?

Friday night, Saturday morning, this is a good way to get things started. I'm going to be hanging out here with you for one more hour. I'm being joined by super producer and host, Dave Shepherd.

And so whether you're listening on the score in Chicago, whether you're locked in on the fan, I don't know, you could be listening on the ticket, you could be on the game. I'm glad that you're here. You want to talk to us. 855-2124 CBS. You want to get a hold of me?

I'm on social media at J.R. Sportbrief. And Shep, you're the Good Shepherd underscore, right? Yeah, I'd be correct, sir.

The Good Shepherd underscore. And we got a lot to do. Why? This is the final week of the NFL season, the NFL regular season. By the time I sit here a week from now, we're going to be getting you all set and ready for the start of the NFL playoffs.

And it's nice to be here in this position. It's been a wild week. If we think about how things started just right after the holiday, Monday night football, you got the Buffalo Bills, you have the Cincinnati Bengals out on that field in Cincinnati. And we know everything that has taken place with DeMar Hamlin. And we saw this man almost just about lose his life and be resuscitated on the football field.

That's Monday night. And we had some some tense days thinking about what his future might be in recovery. And here we are on Friday morning receiving news that he he was awake as of yesterday and that he's recovering. The doctors had a press conference, told us his first question was, hey, did did we win? He's like, yeah, man, you won the game of life. And then moving on into today or I should say Friday morning, he was able to connect with his teammates via FaceTime and and speak to them briefly and show hand signals and and have the breathing tube removed from his lungs.

What the doctors have called a remarkable recovery, which is a beautiful thing. And so it's now I guess a little bit more and very much so appropriate to have discussed next steps where a lot of owners or the owners of the NFL did do today. We know that Thursday the game was officially canceled. There will be no remake between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Buffalo Bills. And so they will be short a game for the regular season. And so the NFL owners decided to make a rules change. The rules committee decided to alter, you know, what would happen in case of a cancellation to try to make things as even or fair as possible, which we know is impossible.

There's no such thing. And so what they have come up with is to go ahead and say, all right, look, if the Bills or the Bengals go to the AFC Championship game, having no idea what would have happened in their game this past Monday, the game will be played at a neutral site. And the odds are very high that we will see either the Bills or Cincinnati in the AFC Championship game, probably against the Kansas City Chiefs.

So prepare yourselves. That game is likely to take place in a neutral site. And then and more appropriate for this upcoming weekend, Baltimore will take on the Bengals. And to try to make things even there, the Bengals by technicality have already won the AFC North. But to try to be even or equal or fair to the Ravens, if the Ravens win on Sunday, they will have beaten the Bengals twice this year. Their record will have improved to eleven and six. The Bengals record would have fallen to eleven and five. And we don't know if they would have won or lost against Buffalo.

And so it's real simple. If Cincinnati wins, it's without a shadow of a doubt fine. If they go to the playoffs and have to face each other, Cincinnati would get a home game. But to try to make things even for Baltimore, they would flip a coin to determine who would get the home game.

And so there's a lot of complexities here. Roger Goodell actually spoke on Friday and he said, listen, folks, we could have sat down and done trigonometry algebra. We could have drew straws. We tried to ultimately look at the entire scenario and come to a conclusion that was fair for all. We believe this is focused, focused approach that would only affect four teams and directly address the potential for competitive inequity, resulting from 30 teams playing 17 games and two playing 16 games. It was critical for the owners to vote today so that clubs know going into this weekend what they're playing for.

Yes, it's tough doing. And so that's that's the AFC scenario as of right now. I should say the AFC scenario for the teams that are pretty much at the top because there are still two more spots that need to be determined in. Well, not two more.

Excuse me. In the AFC, the final spot will either be New England. You have Miami, you have Pittsburgh that still has life. You have Tennessee. I mean, damn it. You even have.

And this sounds absolutely nuts to say. You got Jacksonville. Jacksonville is still here. Jacksonville is alive. Jacksonville has a chance to go back to the playoffs for the first time since that championship game where Blake Bortles was the quarterback. And they've had an amazing turnaround this year with Doug Peterson as their head coach with Trevor Lawrence, who has been playing out of his mind. He's looking like a dude back at Clemson right now. Since November, Trevor Lawrence has thrown 14 touchdowns to two INTs.

And I'm sure he would have been ahead of schedule a little bit more if he had a qualified coach, high urban Meyer, if he had a qualified coach to help him at the start of his career. And so the Jacksonville Jaguars, they started off at two and six at one point five straight losses. They have now won five out of their last six games. They were four games behind the Titans and the Titans are just garbage.

I'm sorry. Tannehill is broken. Derrick Henry is coming back.

He wasn't there last game. I mean, you got Josh Dobbs that will be out there for Tennessee, who's now lost six in a row. The Jaguars need to just finish this off and let's get Trevor Lawrence his first playoff experience. Please sign me up for that. There is no reason for us to have to look at Tennessee in the postseason.

I would I would rather not. Let's let's stay away from that. A matter of fact, Trevor Lawrence, he spoke and this is what he had to say about playing this game against the Titans. And he still wants more. You know, it feels good knowing, you know, what we had to do to get here, but also jobs not finished. You know, we have we have we have to win this game to get in and then moving forward, we kind of we kind of get what we earn every week. So, you know, we're embracing that. I think that's kind of how it's been for us.

Like I said before, it's been like that for us for the past month, really. So the team's responded well to that. And, you know, I'm proud of the situation we put ourselves in. It wasn't easy to get in this spot, especially the way we started the season. And here we are with an opportunity to win the division. And this is the only game that matters right now. And we're just putting everything we have into to score one more point than them.

That's all that matters is winning the game. So that's what we're that's what we're focusing on. And like you said, I mean, it feels good to be in a big time game like this. Just, you know, the city has a lot of energy and everybody's excited. So, you know, we're excited for that. But at the end of the day, it's you can't make it bigger than it is.

We still got to go out there and execute and play well. It's just kind of still crazy to me that some of the first words that came out of Trevor Lawrence's mouth were the job's not finished. And it just makes me think of Kobe Bryant.

And it was totally different situation. Kobe Bryant was in the NBA Finals. I think a reporter asked him, hey, man, why are you why are you not happy? You're up 2-0 here in the finals.

I think it was the year against the Magic. He's like, happy for what? Kobe's just like the job's not finished. Hell of a mentality for Trevor Lawrence to have, even though they haven't even gotten into the playoffs yet. Want to hear Kobe JR?

Yeah, let's see a Kobe. Why not? We're up 2-0. What's the story? Are you not happy or you're only half happy or? Still to be happy about. You're up 2-0. The job's not finished.

Job's not finished. What would you be happy about? Yeah, let's see more of a progression from Trevor Lawrence. Let's see if the guy selected behind him is Zach Wilson.

Let's see if he can have any type of progression as well. 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS. That's 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS. Before the break, I was asked about an asterisk behind the season. No, I don't think we'll have one. I don't care how the season finishes or how it ends or where it ends. I know we will end in Arizona.

I'll be out there. But the fact is, it doesn't matter if the Bills and Bengals played one less game. There's no asterisk for this season. We also talked about who's going to secure the final spot in the NFC. Will it be the Packers? Will it be the Lions? Will it be the Seahawks?

I'm going to go with the Packers. They just have to win one game and they're in. Let's get to callers. They have been anxiously waiting. Let's go ahead and talk to Devin. He's calling from one of my favorite cities. He's calling from Portland, Oregon. You're on CBS Sports Radio, the JR Sport Brief Show.

Hey JR, happy Friday night from the Pacific Northwest, buddy. Thank you. Go ahead. I got a two-parter and if I can give it to you, then I'll hang up and listen to your thoughts if you don't mind.

Sure. First off, die-hard Seahawks fans, I don't see us losing to the Rams. Obviously, I'm pulling for the Lions. Packers are favored.

I think Dan Campbell can get a lot out of his team when it's unexpected, though. That might be against a popular opinion, but pulling for the Lions, hope they can pull an upset off. Secondly, we got a pick-up league at our work, straight up, and I'm down two points right now. I want to know what you think about my two flyers for this weekend.

And that's Carolina over New Orleans and New York Jets over Miami. Thank you. Have a good night. Oh my God. That's tough. Thank you, Devin, for calling from Portland.

Huh. Shelby, why is he asking me? Is he going to give me some money if he wins anything? Apparently, we didn't learn a lesson this week about fantasy secondary to what actually happens in the NFL for real.

Yeah, it's like, but you going to give me some money? I forgot the first thing. He asked me about Carolina. Carolina was definitely one of them, yeah.

Carolina taking on the Saints. I'm not giving him an answer. He's a 2-0.

You're not giving me no money? Does that game even matter? I mean, let's be honest, J.R. No, it doesn't matter.

It matters for his pocket. They had their chance to finally give Steve, the head coach, a shot at coaching next year, and they blew it. Yeah. Yeah, he's going to be out of that job. I mean, he's already calling Harbaugh.

That's not going to happen. And then, what did he ask me? The other one?

New York? That's the battle of the backups. We got a rookie backup, and then we got Joe Flacco out there. That's not a backup. That's a third stringer at best. The third stringer? He's not a backup? No, no. A backup is like a guard new michu, you know?

Number two? Right. Or trying to think. Or even like a Blaine Gabbert. That's a backup. Joe Flacco, the fact that he's still in the league is a miracle. It shouldn't be a backup.

I'm trying to give the guy, I'm trying to give him some credit here. Well, this is his swan song, J.R. This is the last time we ever see Joe Flacco on an NFL field. They actually asked Joe Flacco about that today. They said, hey, do you feel this is going to be your last time on the field? And he said, man, that's not up to me.

That's up to the league. Well, I don't know. Is somebody going to sign him up to sit in the quarterback room next year? I don't know.

I'm not so sure. You want to hear from Joe Flacco? Yeah, let's hear him.

What did he say? I haven't even thought about it. You know, it's never really been a thought of mine. I've always said that, you know, I'm going to let these guys, you know, at some point the NFL is going to make the decision for you. But, you know, I love playing football and that's what I do. OK. You can love something. That don't mean it's going to love you back.

I can't speak from experience. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. Robbie is calling from Jacksonville. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, J.R., what's going on tonight, man?

I'm good. You love the Jaguars, right? Oh, I love the Jags, man. Also, I love the Vols. So it's been actually a surprising year since the last time I called you.

But my point is, you understand loving something and it not loving you back. Absolutely, man. I mean, since I've been young, I've been rooting for probably the worst two teams in existence. So, you know, I'm used to it. Well, Jaguars got some hope this weekend, man.

I think they're going to do it. Yeah, man. I mean, the city's pretty electric right now. What I paid for tickets was pretty outrageous. But, hey, it's worth it to be in the stadium. In Jacksonville? Dude, so cheapest tickets, I paid $210 and I'm sitting in the nosebleeds. If you want to sit, like, in the lower bowl at all, it was probably around $354. Hey, listen, there are a couple of clubs I know on the other side of the train tracks where I think you might have got a better deal and you'd be able to watch the game.

Yeah. Hey, man, that's okay. As long as I'm in the stadium, it's cool. They're expecting, like, the biggest crowd in, like, a decade here. So, I mean, you know, I was there for 2017, but, you know, we haven't had much to be hopeful for. So, I'm pretty excited for this year, man. Yeah, they've won five out of their last six and they got a real coach who's won a Super Bowl in Peterson. You got a hot young guy in Lawrence who's turned it up, so I think you got a W, man.

What do you think? I mean, well, honestly, I think, so I grew up here in Fernandina Beach, actually, which is right across the bridge from Uli. So, I grew up with Derek and played football against him in high school. You know, I've seen that man do some pretty incredible things. And also, you know, he always plays well when he's at home in Jacksonville. So, Jags shut him down. I truly don't see any way the Titans can beat us.

Yeah, I don't either. I mean, Dobbs is going to be out there throwing the rock. Yeah, also, shout out to my boy Dobbs. I love him, you know, just because I'm a Tennessee fan, but hey, it's not about that right now. Yeah, Derek Henry is going to get a, he's going to have a lot of handoffs, let's just put it that way.

Hey, JR, really quick, too. I just wanted to give a little, like, little anecdote, or not an anecdote, just a little comment about Derek. Okay, so, in middle school, they would take, Derek was not allowed to play after halftime because the kid was so good and so big. I mean, it just wasn't fair.

They literally would not let him play after halftime. And he's been that same size since he was probably in sixth grade. Have you attempted to tackle Derek Henry as a child? No, I have not, because, so, I was a kicker and punter, so I never had to worry about that. I was going to ask if there's photographic evidence of you being trucked, but it doesn't exist. No, not by him, but if you know who Patrick Young is, he used to play at Florida, he was a basketball player. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.

There is photo evidence of him straight up dunking on me, poster slamming me in high school, so, for what that's worth. Oh, that's cool. Do you have it hanging in your house? No, I need to, man. I need to get him to sign it soon. Man, that'd be cool, man. Hey, Robbie, good luck to the Jags. Call me on Monday if they win or lose, okay?

Yes, sir. Also, hey, to Shep, good, hey, I appreciate you bringing up the Kobe thing, man, that was awesome. So, have a good night, guys. You as well. Thank you, Robbie, for calling from Jacksonville.

Thank you, that was chair. Yeah, the job's not done. Yeah, the job's not done, Shep. That was you. Yeah, well, our job isn't done yet either.

855-212-4CBS. You're up 2-0. What's the story? Are you not happy or you're only half happy?

Instead of being happy about it. You're up 2-0. The job's not finished.

It's not finished. Yahya knows the job's not finished. Let's talk to Yahya from Buffalo. Go ahead, you're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, how you doing, JR? I'm okay, Yahya, go ahead. Yeah, man, I just wanted to thank you, man, for treating my ears, man. I love this show.

Thanks. I'm going to say, why are we even wasting time talking about Cincinnati and Ravens? Who really thinks that the Ravens are going to beat the Ravens? Well, we had, I don't know if you heard him in the first hour, we had a caller. He said that this scenario with the AFC playoffs isn't fair even to the Ravens, and I had to say, okay, sure, you might have a valid point.

And I, it took him, it was like pulling teeth. I said, listen, man, I said, what team is hot? And he said the Bengals. And I said, well, what team is not hot? And he reluctantly said the Ravens.

And then he's like, but if, I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, but we know what the reality is. The Ravens are like a one-wing bird right now. So, you know. Yeah, yeah, they don't have a chance. And one thing about Kansas City, they can't complain either because they lost to the Bills.

I think that's fair. But I'm going to say this, I appreciate you giving a shout out to the Bills and to the Super Bowl, man. This city, this community has been through so much, going back to that racist piece of trash, drove three and a half hours to the east side of Buffalo, where I grew up at. Gunned down nine African-Americans in the grocery store, we just had a generational blizzard. The body count is up to 47.

The people right now is going up every day. A storm before that. This team has been through so much. Dudes are in and out to line up, even though it's Mike and I, many for the season, all types of guys are about to line up in the field so long as it's me. It's the best team in the league, it's the best quarterback.

The corner's in the Super Bowl. It's up to y'all to listen to the show, because we got the Saturn with the four straight Super Bowls and lost them all. It's not a sarcasm to that. So I got to trust it. I got to trust it for you. Well, hold on.

Can you message? Yeah, yeah, I got to be honest, man. I tried.

Your phone sucks, man. I'm just letting you know. Okay, because I'm driving. Can you hear me?

I'm just going to ask this question. Well, hold on, hold on. I'm going to put you on hold and try to talk to Shep.

The phone sucks. I can't keep you on anymore, okay? Hold on. Sorry about that.

I was trying to, basically, if you understood what he was saying, he's like, hey. He's like, Buffalo done had it rough. We know about the, unfortunately, the mass shooting that took place. And then we know about the snowstorm.

And now you have, unfortunately, these the issue. Thank God he's here with Damar. And then he's talking about the injuries in Buffalo that I made out. And he's 100 percent correct. He's putting it in a larger perspective as to what the city had to deal with. And it has it has been rough. And that's certainly one of the reasons that, well, just strictly Damar to root for the Buffalo Bills.

It makes it very easy. Shep, did you do you know what the hell else he was trying to say to me? Yeah.

So in the spirit of the Buffalo Bills, JR, despite the fact that we are talking about four straight losses in the 90s with those Super Bowls teams, Marv Levy and obviously Thurman Thomas and Andre Reid and Don Beebe, Jim Kelly, et cetera. Even though they lost all four times, what Yaya wants to know is, do you still consider that team a dynasty? What? That was not my question.

It was the very exuberant, fervent Yaya from the truck. There's no what are we supposed to do? Give the Buffalo Bills from 30 years ago? We're supposed to give them.

What do you call it? A participation trophy? Yeah.

Come on now. JR, they are treated like royalty in Buffalo, though. Yeah, as they should. That don't mean any of this still loses. What are we going to do?

Oh, AFC champions, God bless them four times in a row. I'm not saying you mean this from a literal sense, going back to the figurative, literal conversation. Don't open that up. No, I'm not. I do not.

And also, I do not think one person in that Buffalo community would ever attach the name and label loser with Jim Kelly. Oh, no, absolutely. Right. You get what I'm saying? No, it's not about them being losers as people or athletes. No, I get that.

I totally understand that. But I think in the minds of Buffalo, Bill's Mafia, what I believe is, they truly believe getting to four straight Super Bowls is a lot more impressive than winning one. Well, yeah, going to four straight is impressive by itself.

Yes. But if you're going to ask me, are they a dynasty? How about you win one and then win two and then, you know, win two out of four and then talk to me about are we a dynasty?

Don't don't ask me and you won nothing. That's facts. And when it comes to going to the Super Bowl, they lost. They're losers.

I'm sorry. It hurts to hear, but they are. If the Chicago Bulls went to six straight finals or six out of eight and they lost all six, you're going to ask me, are they? No, they're losers. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio 855212 for CBS.

Speaking of a loser, I'm going to tell you about a big one on the other side of the break. He made somebody bark like a dog and he's a dog piece of trash himself. It's the JR Sport Brief Show. I'll tell you what it is on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. First off, I just want to say mad respect for your show. You always got a lot of good points. I agree with a lot of things you say. I just want to say I love your show.

Me and my grandpa listen to it every night. I needed a JR fix tonight and I'm glad you're on. Call in now at 855212 for CBS. Yeah, you needed a JR fix, what? What am I, a dealer? I'm not a dealer. I'm just a guy here talking about sports. But anyway, you know, right before the break, Yahya, one of our callers from Buffalo, he wanted to ask me whether or not do I consider the Buffalo Bills of the early 90s a dynasty? And I said, no, they lost. They're losers.

I'm not calling them specifically losers. I've met Andre Reed. He's a great guy. I've met him. I've interviewed him.

And he's great folks. They're not individually losers. But when it comes to the team, yeah, they lost. I'm sorry. The accomplishment is amazing. They're no dynasty. But if you want to know someone who is a loser, this came down the pipe yesterday.

I think we mentioned it briefly. Vince McMahon of the WWE. The man who basically consolidated professional wrestling as entertainment, not even across America. But the world, turning it into a multi-billion dollar business, he in turn becoming a billionaire, the first guy who founded the XFL.

Now The Rock has it, Dwayne The Rock Johnson. He's one of the biggest entertainers or, you know, owners and founders that we've seen on this planet, regardless of how you feel about professional wrestling. It's entertainment and it's lucrative.

And you might have heard this man had many issues last year with alleged sexual assaults and paying women off and sexual assaults in his own organization. And so after many years, about 35 to 40 years of running this organization, Vince McMahon, to the, I'd say the thrill of many fans and viewers, he stepped away. His son-in-law, former wrestler Triple H took over and, you know, people have enjoyed the product. They have a distribution deal with USA and NBC with Peacock. They have a distribution deal with Fox. You know, you can't make this up.

This is a great television, great entertainment product. And so Vince McMahon shocked, I guess maybe not, shocked the hell out of everybody and said, I'm coming back. He put out a note yesterday and said, I'm coming back. I'm coming back to sell the company because although it's a publicly traded company, he owns the majority of the shares. And so, yes, he stepped down as the boss, but he still had the major or majority ownership group of it.

And so now he wants to sell it to, I presume, Fox or NBC or Peacock or Universal, which owns all of that stuff. And people feel a way. And it's not surprising that he's returning because I guess he needs to pat himself on the back.

And I called him a loser. And we've had WWE superstars here on the show. We've had Bianca Belair on. We've had Drew McIntyre on.

What's that giant man's name? Braun Strowman has joined us. I have been to some of the shows. They have absolutely amazing athletes. And these people are legitimate athletes.

Bianca Belair, renowned track star. They've had Olympians and Kurt Angle. And we see entertainers who've been to WWE like The Rock, biggest movie star on Earth.

I think Black Adam didn't do well, but he's great. And so it's just a shame that Vince McMahon, who's pretty much been shown to be a... I would say a kind of a dirty, sleazy guy, is now able to come back and, you know, sell his company. But it is his, right? He can do what he wants.

But I don't think we can be surprised. I can unfortunately remember 10 years ago, one of his biggest female stars, Trish Stratus, who is now in his Hall of Fame, WWE Hall of Fame. He had her take her clothes off and had her on her hands and knees in the ring. He was asking her to bark like a dog. Listen to this if you can. Tell me in dog language. Speak, Trish. Speak. Damn it. Bark like a dog.

That's not what you said. Bark like a dog. Come on. Tell me you're sorry. All right, get up.

Get up. You disgust me. OK, now is that... Hey, Shep, is that art imitating life? Is that what that is? That's hell on earth is what that is. You know, 20... That must have been about 20 years ago, maybe a little more. That's disgusting. Hey, it's a different world we live in now. Could you imagine that being on TV somewhere in 2022?

Could you imagine seeing that on USA or TNT? Listen, JR, even if it was 20 years ago, to treat and denigrate a human being like that is despicable. That's ugly, man. No, I know.

You're proving that point. I can't believe there wasn't more outrage made about that, if I'm being honest. Man, people, there was a different filter 2022. I understand it's his show and he's the sheriff in charge and all that, but my God. I mean, he makes Dana White look like the pope. Well, FYI, Dana White, I believe power slap, right? I always forget this.

Yeah, yeah. Listen, power fight, power slap. I believe power slap has been delayed by a week, the debut of power slap.

Oh, thank God for that. Hey, Marco Belletti. Power slap, you're right. You're right, sir. It's called power slap? Yes, yes.

Hey, Marco, are you going to be tuning into power slap? Yeah, no, it's not really my thing, JR. If I want to watch two guys slap each other, I guess I could walk through the streets of New York. Yeah, for free, right?

For free? Yeah, no, I have no interest in that. Look, I've seen the clips. We've all seen it on Twitter or whatever social media. You see it, it comes across whether you want it or not. To me, it's just, I mean, ridiculous. You got two guys, they're just standing there looking at each other, closing their eyes, waiting to get slapped and see if they get knocked out. It's just stupid. Well, Dana White, he thinks that he can turn this into the next UFC. You know what's sad, though? He might be right. We watch everything now. People are just dumb.

We consume whatever's in front of us. Wouldn't shock me if it gets big. Power slap.

And I guess he's the appropriate spokesman, I mean. You don't need to say, why does it even feel, even the name, Power Slap, it feels like a Simpsons skit. Look, UFC fans have been killing Power Slap. But to your point, can we be shocked if it has success? No. Maybe Power Slap will run on TBS opposite the XFL. I don't know.

It's just, maybe he'll have women barking like dogs in between the, I don't know. That's why I don't watch too much TV, folks. It's a wild world.

And I try to stay away from the internet as well, but hey, it's the world that we live in. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Thank you, first off, for making my drive from the south side of Atlanta to the north side every night bearable. I always enjoy listening to you, man.

Intellectual and introspective, I appreciate you. I just started listening to you about six months ago. Man, I love your show.

Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. And I love you for listening. There ain't no show without you.

And when I say you, whoever you are on the other side of these speakers or headphones or however you listen, no wherever you're listening, thank you, thank you very much. It's been a wild week as I shared with you. We went from the new year and unfortunately we witnessed what we saw with DeMar Hamlin earlier this week. At least for a few days there's a little bit of hope that was reestablished in just the goodness of humans and people and humanity. And hopefully we can continue on and that it doesn't always necessarily, we don't need to witness a tragedy for that to happen to understand and see the best of us as human beings.

We have gotten improved work and I do want to share this with you all before we roll out of here. We know that DeMar has had the breathing tube removed, that he was speaking and holding hands with family, he was communicating. We've heard the story from his doctors about asking who won the game.

They say you won the game of life. And then we know he spoke to his teammates earlier today for the first time via FaceTime from the hospital while they were having their team meeting. And he was able to show some hand signs and make some heart gestures and speak to them. So he's improving, which is an absolutely beautiful thing. And so head coach of the Buffalo Bills, Sean McDermott, he spoke to the media today and he says that the team stood up and they showed him a lot of love on FaceTime.

Listen to this. When I said that we had a treat in store, it was just you could see the look on their eyes in anticipation of what was probably coming in and then to get to Zoom. And when he came on the screen to to see the players reaction, they stood up right away and clap for him.

And, you know, yelled some things to him. And it was a pretty, pretty cool exchange for a few seconds there. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

It's easy to root for the Buffalo Bills at this point. I certainly will be. I want to see what they do this upcoming Sunday against the Patriots. Are they going to be emotionally drained?

I don't think so. I'm I'm expecting them to be ridiculously focused and that'll be a that'll be a must watch, I believe. Let's get some more of your calls before we roll out. Ryan Hickey will come through at the top of the hour and take you the rest of the way. He is absolutely awesome. Let's go to Joe. He's calling from Pittsburgh. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Yeah, I just wanted to say about the show, I'm going to nominate it for a Mark Coney Award. That's really a very good show tonight.

So I congratulate you. We all got our mojo back a little bit upon the good news regarding Hamlin. As far as the NFL is concerned, there's one way that could be bailed out on this whole thing. Kansas City winning, Buffalo losing, Cincinnati winning. Kansas City is outright the number one seed. Buffalo and Cincinnati would be tied for second. They played the same amount of games, conference games, common games, same record.

It goes to strength of victory. And Buffalo can over Cincinnati. I have to believe the NFL will respect that role since Buffalo and Cincinnati played the same amount of games. That would mean in the divisional round, Buffalo would have to go to Cincinnati if they both win.

And that game that never got played still gets played for bigger stakes. Joe, do you understand? I need an abacus to understand what the hell you just said to me. Well, you know, what can I say? I'm a numbers guy. And I don't know what's going to happen. Nobody does. But I know one thing. In the last week of the season, the teams that have to win, the teams that need to win usually win.

And if both teams need to win, the home team usually wins. You check it out over the years. OK. Thank you, Joe. Appreciate you, man.

I'll say it in simpler terms. I'm just looking for some ass whoopings, OK? Well, thank you, Joe. I needed an abacus, a piece of paper. I needed, you know, a number two pencil. He said a lot there. I wasn't taking notes.

I quit taking notes years ago. Lee is calling from San Diego. You're on CBS Sports Radio. J.R., thank you for taking my call, man.

Thank you. We went from Pittsburgh to you. What's what's the weather like in San Diego? What is it like, 60 right now? It's cool right now.

I mean, there is a storm that went through yesterday and I don't know where it started. First of all, I wouldn't be making this call if I didn't hear the news on tomorrow. You know, good news. Yeah. And I got a solution to this. Problem in the AFC and this playoff picture. And it's been resolved. It's called the San Diego, not the San Diego, the L.A. Chargers. OK.

They're going to make everything simple for everyone. Give me a little love, man. What do you think? I think the Chargers are going to choke like they do all the time. Sorry. I'm sorry.

I think they're going to they're going to choke. Seth is calling from Chicago. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Seth was here. I don't know where the hell he went, but he's gone. Rob is calling from Toronto.

Go ahead, Rob. Hi, J.R. I want to talk about the Chiefs.

I think that they have a chance to make it to the Super Bowl. They always do. Well, I mean, what else is new? Right. That's normal. Yeah.

Yeah. Are you upset about the home? Are you upset about like the home field scenario where they're probably going to have to play at a neutral site?

You are bothered by that. Yeah, I really am, because I feel like it's not fair that they had to cancel the Buffalo and Cincinnati game just because I mean, it did make me feel really bad. But I think that after that incident, I think that they could have continued the game the following day. Oh, no.

Continue the game the following day. Oh, no. That's not nice, Rob.

Rob, you said you you got it. You got a heart, right? Yeah. Yeah, but you can't you can't play the game. And it's this this individual for all intent purposes.

He could have been on his deathbed. You can't do that. Yeah, I know. Okay, I'm glad. What? My father used to be a doctor. Okay. And he he he once dealt with a patient and the patient had had such a serious condition condition that it it died.

And my father came home crying. I'm sure. Well, not not it.

He or she. Hey, Rob, I appreciate you. You you have a good night. Okay. Hey, bye.

Thank you so much, Rob. Wow. It almost it. The only it I know came out the sewer. Hey, chef, you know what I'm talking about the it right to clown. No, is that is that Chucky? No, Chucky's the doll.

It is the clown with the red balloon. I have no idea what you're you know, for someone who doesn't watch movies, you come up some pretty obscure movie references. That's a horror movie.

Gotcha. It's a horror movie. I know horrors.

I know horrors. Hey, let's do let's let's do us all a favor. Let's not call people it. That's some JR wisdom. Call people about what they want to be referred to, but don't call people it.

The only it I know was Cousin It. It's the JR Sportbrief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. And now I have to leave. I'll be back with you Monday night, 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 Pacific.

We'll be talking about the national championship game. And thank you to super producer Dave Shepherd. Thank you for listening. Hit me at JR Sportbrief. I'm done now. Ryan Hickey. He's coming up next.

He's awesome. Don't move. You need to know what's happening. It's time to get in the huddle.

This sham with Steve Kime out there in the desert. I mean, it's like no accountability. Never my fault. It's never his fault. Stuff just happens.

Losses just fall from the sky. It's not his fault. It's not his fault. It's not my fault.

It's not the owner's fault. We just have really bad luck. Just hang in there and keep throwing money at us and we'll figure it out. Shut up. Listen to in the huddle available on the Aussie app or wherever you get your podcast.

When you need to know what's happening, it's it's it's it's time to get in the huddle. You're fraudulent. You're not in the business of winning football games. You're in the business of trying to prove your own asinine decisions.

Correct. We can talk about the thing. Do I think the Saturday thing is the biggest joke in the history of the NFL? I do. But at least he was to say this ain't working for me.

I don't care that I just gave him extensions. Listen to in the huddle available on the Aussie app or wherever you get your podcast. No one's more locked into the NFL than First and Pod. Why is it not within the realm of possibility that Geno Smith was a victim of a horrible organization, bad offensive coaching, and then went and played behind three high level talents and only got spot starts and did OK, by the way?

Well, because it's just it doesn't really happen that often anymore. Subscribe to First and Pod on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast.