JR SportBrief Hour 4

Fall is just around the corner and home is the center of it all. At Ashley, seasonal decorating's a breeze with their range of designs and materials. Snuggle up on a family-friendly sectional or an ultra-modern sofa. Or gather outside and enjoy the crisp, cool air with a new fire pit or conversation set. From minor refreshes to total overhauls, Ashley has the essentials to make your home fall functional and fabulous.

Shop in store or visit Ashley.com today. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. It's the J.R. Sportbrief Show here on CBS Sports Radio. Much love to everybody tuned in locked in all over North America. Hope you had a good night. Hope you enjoyed the games. Hope you're safe. Hope you're well. I hope you're cool. I'm going to be hanging out with you for one more hour. I've been hanging out here since 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 Pacific. Every single weeknight, I am holding it down for four hours. Live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to super producer and host Dave Shepherd. He's holding it down for us in New York.

An appreciation to you once again for listening. If you tuned in to game one, if I want to call it that of Monday Night Football, the Saints beat the Carolina Panthers the final score 20 to 17. The game wasn't all that close. Boring ass game. Bryce Young showing a little bit of life later on leading a 75 yard drive ending in an Adam Thielen touchdown to make the game look like something.

But outside of that, that game was a damn nap. Meanwhile, if I want to consider it to be game number two of Monday Night Football, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Browns, they went back and forth. It's like a boxing match.

Just exchanging blows. The first blow of the game. A pick six on the opening play of the game.

Alex Highsmith picking one off to open up the game against a Sean Watson. Unfortunately, in the second quarter, Nick Chubb goes down. We ain't gonna see Nick Chubb for a long time. Man, Mika Fitzpatrick went right into his knee the wrong way into the side. This man's knee bent like the letter L. You ain't gonna see Nick Chubb for a minute.

And so he's gone. And then the game went back and forth. But ultimately, the Steelers Alex Highsmith forces a fumble at the end of the game. TJ Watt picks it up around six, seven minute mark. TJ Watt runs it in for a touchdown.

And that's pretty much all she wrote. Another big play of the game. To end things, the Browns had the rock. Deshaun Watson throws it down the sideline. No pass interference called. Joey Porter Jr. had a whole fist full of jersey.

One on each side under each armpit of Donovan Peoples-Jones. The referee decided not to call it. It was on fourth down. The ball went over to Pittsburgh. Victory formation. And that's all that she wrote. The final numbers here for Deshaun Watson.

Still trying to find some type of groove. 235 yards passing. A touchdown and an interception. That INT was the one that opened up the game. Even though it was a tip.

And Kenny Pickett. Man, if you're a Steelers fan, are you excited about this guy? I'm not. 222 yards. A touchdown and an interception himself.

Look, here's the deal. The Steelers defense won them this game. Just to name the game. You think Steelers, you think defense. They were able to go out there and force four turnovers. Including three fumbles. Two of those scores automatically.

Or two of the turnovers automatically went to scores right away. So Pittsburgh wins. 26-22.

But outside of that, I told you. Nick Chubb. Damn it. That knee injury? Everything in that knee is tore up. Everything.

Everything, everything, everything. Troy Aikman and Joe Buck, they made it very clear. We not replaying it.

Because it was just nauseating to watch. Head coach of the Browns. Kevin Stefanski. He talked about Chubb after the game.

And he said, yeah, what are you stupid? Of course he's going to be gone for a long time. Nick's got a very significant knee injury. Which is, you know, you feel for the person. He's a great football player as we know.

But he's an even better person. So we will support him every step along the way. Do you anticipate him being done for the season? I do. Yeah.

I guess if you're a reporter, you have to ask that question. But I mean, damn. Did you see his knee? He might be out parting next season. He might not come back to play. And I'm not, you know, last week we did a whole top 6 list. Inspired by Aaron Rodgers, who by the way, had some type of surgery with new technology on his achilles. He's thinking he could be back by January. Okay. As if the Jets even matter come January.

Probably not. But the fact is, man, we talked about catastrophic injuries. Talked about Alex Smith and the infection in his knee. That man, you saw his leg tonight. You saw his leg just, I don't want to say come apart. Ain't nobody like supposed to bend that way.

Let's just put it that way. Deshaun Watson didn't have a great night on the field at all, but certainly took time out of his own press conference to show love to Nick Chubb. I just sent all my prayers to him. I mean, at that moment, it was tough once we saw the replay and exactly what happened.

It's just a lot of flashbacks to the previous one he had in college. Yeah, it was tough. Yeah, it was tough. The entire crowd in Pittsburgh saw the replay and you heard the audible just groan and then shout out to everybody in Pittsburgh.

They cheered him on as he was placed onto the cart and then taken to the back. Good luck to Nick Chubb, man. That's just a rough watch.

That was terrible to see. 8-5-5 2-1-2 for CBS. That's 8-5-5 2-1-2 for CBS.

Let's take a listen to the bookends here. The Steelers defense getting things started from the beginning. Alex Highsmith able to grab the ball off of a tip and take it in first play of the game for a touchdown. This is courtesy of Westwood One. Yeah, that put them on the board immediately.

Six to nothing. Let's take a listen to what would have been the final score of the game. Steelers were trailing at this point and Alex Highsmith, the man who just scored that touchdown, he knocks the ball out of Deshaun Watson's hand, about six, seven minutes left in the game and TJ Watt picked it up, ran it in for a TD. This is from the Steelers radio network. Watson under center. Steelers showing blitz.

Long count. Play action fake. He's back. And the ball is out and he's going to pick it up. And that's TJ Watt running for the end zone. Steelers with the touchdown. The strip by Highsmith and his bookend buddy Watt scooped and scored and the Steelers take the lead. Their second defensive touchdown of this game. Grand opening.

Grand closing. Pittsburgh wins 26 to 22 earlier in the game in the second quarter and what would have been Kenny Pickett's only touchdown. George Pickens takes it 71 yards for a touchdown. 855-2124 CBS. We got Sean calling from Ohio. You're on the JR Sport Reshow.

Go ahead, Sean. Hey, how you doing? I'm excellent.

How are you? I'm not doing too good because the Browns lost. But I just want to, I think the loss of Nick Chubb, like you said, is catastrophic. You know, there's not another Nick Chubb out there on waivers to pick up. Jerome Ford don't scare nobody.

No one's going to game plan around stopping him. But I think it has to be better play from Deshaun Watson. Did he have three turnovers tonight? Oh, yeah.

Oh, you asked me. He had that. Yeah, because he had two fumbles and an interception, right?

Yes, correct. And two of those went for a score. Yeah, so I mean, there's just got to be better play from Deshaun Watson. You know, before Chubb got hurt, Cleveland has talent on the offense side of the ball, but they're just not, to me, they're just not getting, we're not getting a Deshaun Watson that plays for the Texans. We're getting a Deshaun Watson that's not playing very well. And that's just what I see. Yeah. And he, you know, it's not just what you see.

I think it's what everybody sees. Deshaun Watson pretty much admitted as much following the game as well. Even on the first play of the game where the interception was tipped off of the hands of Bryant, Deshaun Watson went out and, or after the game, he said, listen, man, you could you could put the even that turnover on myself.

So he's accepting he's accepting blame here. And I know we saw him at the end of last season. I don't want to call that a warm up. This is two games into this season. I'm not going to completely I don't want to say throw dirt on what Deshaun Watson can be. He has certainly stunk. He has admitted to stinking when it comes down to his turnovers.

I think it's 11 TDs to eight turnovers overall since he's been here with the Browns. And so, you know, there's definitely room for improvement. I'm not going to I'm not going to just completely put him down. I don't think he's lost it. I just think he has to get reacclimated to a new situation and be back out there. I still think there's hope for him.

Well, yeah. Well, I hope so, because we're going to need it. We're going to need him more now than anything now that we're going to need more now than ever, because, well, because of the injury, Nick Chubb, they paying him a lot. He also got sacked six times tonight, so not necessarily getting all the best help.

But look, when you got T.J. Watt staring you into your face and ain't always going to work out that way. Eight, five, five, two, one, two, four. CBS. Jeff is calling from Baltimore. What's going on, J.R.? How you doing? What's up?

I'm hanging in there. Well, I'll get your opinion on something. Do you think the NFL should make it where teams can have one or two challenges per game where they can challenge a call on the field that they think should have been made, but wasn't and you go up to the booth, maybe have three or four people.

It would have to be unanimous. Everybody says, yeah, that was a penalty. And they call down to the refs and say, OK, you know, that's a penalty.

And I'll give you one purpose. I'll bring up the Cleveland Pittsburgh game. But one other game quick. Look at the Denver Washington game yesterday. The two point try by Denver at the end. Everybody knows that was pass interference on Washington. Right?

Yeah. No, clearly. Why should the team be allowed to throw a challenge flag and go up to the booth and say, yeah, that's obviously a penalty. And again, it would have to be unanimous. Everybody in the booth maybe have three or four people.

If one person descents. OK. No, but if everybody agrees, why you call down and say, hey, you guys screwed up, throw a flag and call the penalty. So for all of that, why don't you just adjusted and say in those final two minutes that now you can't.

Why don't you I mean, why we got to add extra people upstairs or why we need to go through that for. Well, I mean, however many people they have up there, it would it would have to be unanimous, whoever, you know, however many people up there would have to all agree on it. I mean, that was clearly interference on that Washington guy yesterday and the Cleveland Pittsburgh game.

I agree. I mean, that wasn't pass interference. It was holding. He grabbed the guy's jersey. Joey Porter grabbed his jersey. The receiver that's holding. But all that same play.

And you can go back and look at this when you get a break. The left end for Pittsburgh, I think it was T.J. Watt. He's clearly in the neutral zone. He might even have been on Cleveland's side of the ball when the ball was snapped. He's all he's at least in the neutral zone. I don't know how you got a referee standing right there on the sideline, looking down the line of scrimmage.

How he doesn't see that is beyond me. There were two penalties that should have been called on Pittsburgh, one at last play. But good show. Keep up the good work. Well, thank you, Jeff. Appreciate you for calling from Baltimore. I mean, as long as we got human beings out there.

Is anything ever going to change? I mean, we can go week to week to week, every NFL season, and we can go back to back days, consecutive days, consecutive games. He talked about Washington and coming back and being Denver yesterday after that miraculous Hail Mary by Russell Wilson. We're talking about what what might have been a pass interference.

The only way to maybe get away with it was that the ball was too far out of bounds or at least thrown too far out of bounds for it to be that. But come on, man. Every week is is is a missed call.

Somebody missed that. Nobody cares. All anybody does is complain. So what what's the real impetus for the NFL to change any rules? I mean, every now and then they'll adjust the rule and say, oh, well, we'll try this for a season or we'll adjust this for a season. And then they move it back. Let's keep in mind they did adjust the rules, especially following the Saints in the Rams. That disaster that we saw in the playoffs back in was that early twenty nineteen.

And then they switched the rule right back. And so, look, as long as people are tuning in and watching, people will be complaining about the next game. 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. Mauricio is here from Tucson. Mauricio quickly, quickly, quickly. You're on CBS Sports Radio to save from hair and get to heaven. And my prayers are for Nick Charles, just like Adrian Peters. I prayed for him. He got healed. He got left and came back.

Even we nearly broke Eric Dickerson's all time rushing record season. And when when the running bar, any player to have that communication with God, you know, all things can be done with God. You know, you see hold five times champion and blesses.

He blesses who he anybody is blessed, you know, like my my cost of bouncing around defenders and going around and joking and going in the touchdown. OK. Now Christian McCaffrey. Excellent. OK. Yes. Yes. But just having God, you know, it's a big difference. Like with the Holy Spirit and foreman and always having him in mind, you know, like Jesus resurrected at thirty three.

He could have rose from the from the purple rose. Thank you. Thank you. Take a breath. Take a breath. Thank you. Thank you, Marie.

He he took when I asked you when he finally took a breath, he took a big one and he was breathing all in that microphone. Look. Yeah. All the best to Nick Chubb, man. But let's let's be real. I don't know.

I could tell you this much. Can he bounce back? Of course he could bounce back.

I think he going to come back. Look, Adrian Peterson tore his ACL. Nick Chubb, unfortunately, tonight, that man tore everything in his knee. Everything. His knee is not even I don't know what it's hanging on to right now. Skin.

I don't know. It's that was terrible. It's the JR sport re-show here with you on CBS Sports Radio eight five five two one two four CBS. That's eight five five two one two four CBS. I'm going to get some more of your calls on the other side of the break. I do want you to hear some of the audio, some of the commentary following the Saints and the Panthers, the Saints winning that one twenty to seventeen. You are listening to the J.R.

Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Thank you, man. We love you down here in Texas. OK, Joe. Hey, how are you doing, man? I love your show. Love the topic.

Thank you. I'll be listening again in the future. This is a great show. Call in now at eight five five two one two four CBS.

It's the JR sport re-show here on CBS Sports Radio. Yeah, we've been doing a lot of talking, unfortunately, about Nick Chubb and his injury. We've talked about the Steelers defense winning the game tonight as the Steelers went out there and beat the Browns twenty six to twenty two. And then we had the first game. The Saints beat the Panthers twenty to seventeen in Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. And this game sucked.

I just got to be honest. I sat down and watched it. I tried to watch both games the best that I could when I got on air before I got on air. So obviously pretty busy in the first game was nothing but a field goal festival. I mean, heading into halftime, New Orleans led the Panthers six to three. And then we took two two scores by the running back. Tony Jones Jr. to make the game twenty to nine. Carolina couldn't do a damn thing until the end of the game where the fans have pretty much already left. And Bryce Young went on a drive and capped it with a three yard touchdown pass to Adam Thielen with a minute left in the game in a two point conversion to at least make the score look respectable.

New Orleans holds on twenty to seventeen. Derek Carr didn't look all that good himself. Missed some passes through an interception. Two hundred and twenty eight yards. No touchdowns. One INT. And then Bryce Young. One hundred and fifty three yards passing to go along with a touchdown.

Not a pretty game to watch. Frank Reich, the head coach of the Carolina Panthers, former quarterback. Now coach as well.

Work with plenty of QBs. He says that we are this close. Take a listen. Seen this before. It's not that far away.

It looks bad, but really, I don't believe it's that far away. We make a couple plays here. We are here and there.

And next thing you know, you got twenty eight, thirty points. Just I know that's true. I know we have the players and the coaches to do it. I have zero doubt about that. It's just, you know, it's not that far away.

I have zero doubt about that. It's just we have to execute better on offense. Well, I mean, damn it. The Saints need to execute better on offense as well. Dennis Allen spoke afterwards and he said, yeah, we can do better ourselves.

You know, certainly it wasn't as clean as we still would like it to be. But yet at the same time, you know, I saw some improvement in a few areas. And, you know, look, we're just going to have to keep working and keep grinding to keep, you know, continue to get better.

As we do that, to be able to get wins going along the way is is is a good problem to have. Let's hear from the rookie quarterback. What does he have to say about tonight? Bryce Young speaking afterwards and said, yeah, we didn't get the job done. You know, obviously it's a there's Phil and there's there's you know, we come in with a plan and you know, you you go throughout and again, you fill the game out. I don't feel like I don't I don't think there was there was and I don't feel like the direction that we should have gone. And there's something wrong with this. But it was just us not executing. I think we were put in great positions to execute. First and foremost, I have to do a lot better job of executing.

And then, you know, I think, again, just our DNA, all of us, you know, we look in the mirror and, you know, we all want to be better as a unit. Damn. Is he old enough? I know the answer is yes, but he doesn't sound old enough to drink. Hey, Shep, I mean, this is this guy going to get beat to shreds like all season long? We saw from Trevor Lawrence two years ago. It's just the it's the curse of being a number one overall pick. A lot of upside and there's a lot of downside. He was sacked four times tonight.

Bryce Young. So every game is going to be a learning experience for him. And I don't expect not a damn thing from the Panthers this year. 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS is 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. I know that there was some folks who thought that their defense would certainly elevate them. And it's it's keeping them alive.

But I mean, sheesh, this is it ain't going to be a fun watch. What do we have here? We got Rick from Maryland. You want CBS Sports Radio? Hey, J.R., great show. I really enjoy you and Jody Mac and Shep's great. Actually, I'm calling from Baltimore. I'm in Baltimore County, but shout out to Jep that called from Maryland. He's a really good dude.

He calls and he's very insightful. But I want to get to this game. It was an entertaining game tonight.

Yeah. And when you're playing Pittsburgh, let's face it. In this division, in this north, it's usually Pittsburgh and Baltimore draft for defense. As long as they got the defense, they have.

They're going to be in every game. And I agree with you. I'm not sold on Pinkett. On Kenny Pickett, I'm there's something about him I wouldn't doubt if Trubisky is going to relieve him sooner or later, you know. Yeah, no, he's he's he's he's he's ordinary.

I don't. You see, the thing is with Kenny Pickett in the NFL, every time he snaps the ball, I feel like I'm watching him at Pitt. Like I feel like he wants to take off, but he knows that he can't get away with it in the NFL. And so there's still the hesitancy. And obviously the Steelers are still trying to babysit him to a certain degree.

I don't know. He looks like he is what he is, even if he is incrementally better. I don't know if that's going to be good enough to get the Steelers back to where they traditionally are. And that's like competing every single season for a playoff spot.

And sometimes more than that, you know. Yeah, you got to have, you know, that offensive line didn't look good at all either pass protecting. I mean, the Cleveland's got a hell of a defense to date. It was to me, it was a defensive game mainly, but it was very entertaining. And there were some hiccups. And, you know, you can't win in the NFL when you turn the ball over four times.

Usually that's a page for disaster. But, you know, the pass interference, so-called, what I saw as Porter was grabbing the receiver. Is that, do you think that's more discretionary because the refs didn't want to throw the flag? No, I think it's the only thing, and I've said this a few times. I think the only way that they didn't call that was because they felt the ball was too far out of bounds to be catchable.

That could be the only reason. I see no other way that you don't throw the flag there. Yeah, I was, a couple other things that I'll let you go and I feel for Nick Chubb. I mean, we lost J.K. Dobbins.

So, you know, it evens out. But a couple times now, they had a fourth and 13 Cleveland, then I'm thinking they got to pick up at least half of that because it's two down territory. Why was the Sean Watson going for the whole ball of wax? He might have saw somebody down in coverage, but he just overthrew that ball. And then there was a play, I think in the first half, where it was a free play.

It was a penalty against Pittsburgh anyway. And Watson sort of scrambled. And I thought he kind of gave up on the play. I thought maybe he could have ran that out.

And I couldn't understand it. Did you see, you remember that play? Man, I had to watch two football games and talk on the radio at the same time. Yeah, you know what? Sooner or later, one day I'm going to ask you and Shepherd, sit you down and ask you how many games you think you watch in the course of a season.

That would be really interesting. You said me or Dave? Which one, what? No, you and Shepherd. Oh, man, I got the ticket. I kind of flipped through every. If the game sucks, I ain't watching it. I kind of flip around and watch everything. Yeah, I hear you. I hear you.

A little bit more difficult to get into all of the intricacies when I'm on it here. A little bit tougher. Wow. I was happy the Ravens won. My Ravens won. But, you know, I got guarded optimism. It's early in the season.

Well, hey, what's up? You got something to fix Odell's ankle? Oh, I don't know. I don't know the extent of that. Harbaugh said it's not, he doesn't think it's very serious.

I really don't know. Yeah, well, anytime Odell gets hurt, it's apparently serious if you ask me. But we'll see. It's always, the good thing is it's always a competitive situation. The games are pretty much always good in the AFC North.

And good luck to your Ravens. Okay, Rick? Thank you very much and it was a pleasure talking to you again.

No doubt about it. Thank you so much for calling. Well, thank you. I cut him off by mistake.

Now I feel like a terrible human. Not really. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here on CBS Sports Radio. We got so many callers here that have so many thoughts and opinions about what took place tonight. I'm going to get some more of your calls before we roll out. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, JR. Thanks for having me on.

First time caller. You got a great show. I really like your show. You're really patient and I think you're really objective.

Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We've had a busy night. We had two Monday night football games. We talked about Colorado beating Colorado State. We talked about Washington and Denver. Denver being the Broncos. We talked about Russell Wilson. We talked about the Giants and their injuries. You know what, shut this.

We have to do tomorrow. We got to talk about running backs, man. Yeah. So Saquon goes down with an ankle, right? We got Nick Chubb has a completely blown out leg.

This man's leg is cooked. And then we want to give running backs all this money. I mean, it's tough out here. What about Dobbins? Oh, JK? Yeah.

I want to say he's old news, but he's not now at this point. It's just... And this is what? We just finished, what is this, week two of the season? Yeah. I mean, this is still week two.

Yeah, it's crazy. Joe Burrow is gone. Aaron Rodgers. And these are not obviously running backs. Joe Burrow, Aaron Rodgers. Somebody is yelling at us all over the country yelling about their player who's injured.

A lot of folks, a lot of people, folks, can't remember everybody. Would we be jerks if we just said Jimmy G at some point? Oh, we got to line him up, right? He's like a ticking time bomb for an injury.

Exactly. It's like Anthony Davis. It's like Kareem.

Even Kareem said that when he was here with us last week. Or Kawhi. Kawhi plays basketball, man.

Oh, when he goes to Colorado, maybe. Yeah, he was standing up watching the game. Yeah, Kawhi's a big sports man.

I've seen Kawhi at the boxing matches and stuff. You know what's funny? There's so much to talk about tonight. And I'd be really curious to hear you talk about it tomorrow.

And this is not far-fetched. Are we seeing the end of Bill Belichick? We've talked about this a little bit.

Yeah, let's earmark this for tomorrow. We got to talk about the running backs. And then we got to talk about Bill Belichick. Remember, JR, he hasn't done this since Tom Brady even wore a Patriot uniform. What, the 0-2?

Technically Brady was there, but I'm talking about Brady actually being a player. Yeah, what was that? Was it 2000 or 2001?

Right, it was the Mo Lewis hit. Yeah, that was the last time. And last night's game, I got to be honest, I fell asleep watching that game. The Patriots are a boring team to watch, man. I think Belichick fell asleep watching that game. I saw him throw that flag, though.

He didn't fall asleep then. He's looking miserable. You know what? We'll talk about Belichick tomorrow, but for the hell of it.

Just for sheer entertainment purposes, let's listen to Bill Belichick on the laws to the Dolphins from last night. Listen to this. Alright, not too much to say after that one. Tough loss.

Got to learn from it and just keep working harder and move on. When does he ever have a lot to say about anything? You got to ask him about the long snapper or the punter to get a decent response out of Bill Belichick. Or bring up Lawrence Taylor. Those are one of the two things that will get Bill Belichick speaking.

What I got to ask him, how much? Never mind. No, just what kind of impact Lawrence Taylor had on the NFL and specifically defense. It catapulted Barcelos and especially Belichick to new heights. It's why Belichick even had a head coaching job in the first place. Yeah, defensive coordinator giants. Yeah, absolutely.

Well, you know what? Let's listen to a happy head coach. You know, amongst all the football going on yesterday, Deion Sanders was highlighted on 60 Minutes for his work with Colorado. And a standout line that you might have heard, or maybe you didn't, they asked him about the best coach in college football. Listen to this.

Who's the best coach in college football today? Let me see. Let me see a mirror so I can look at it. You feel that? You think I'm going to sit up here and tell you somebody else? You think that's the way I operate? That somebody else got that on me? But I tell you this, I love and I adore and I respect. And every time I do a commercial with Coach Saban, it's a gift.

Just sitting in his presence and hearing him and and throwing something else out there so I could hear his viewpoint on it, because he's forgotten more things than I may ever accomplish. So I'm a student looking up to this wonderful teacher saying, just just just throw me a crumb of what you know. What if he want to throw Nick Saban anything, need to throw his son out there to play quarterback because Alabama still don't know who's playing. They're going to throw Milrose back out there and they are now. Alabama is has fallen off.

That's just what it is. They're not the big bad. Alabama is just going to step over everybody. They only beat South Florida 17 to three. I mean, they're not going back to Tyler Buckner. Are you sure about that?

Hey, look, I know Milrose gives out great high fives, but I don't know if you'd want him handed out high fives or throwing passes, man. Yeah. Sorry.

My apology. Alabama's whooping everybody ass for so long, so they'd be OK. Everybody can sit at the top forever. Let's get to some more your calls before you roll out.

Hey, shut. Maybe you can go. Do you have years of eligibility left?

Probably right. I'm not going five for 14. If you put me in Alabama's offense behind that line, then I will tell you. You can make it past the line of scrimmage. Yes.

OK. Eight five five two one two four CBS. That's eight five five two one two four CBS. Marcus here from California.

You're on the general sport brief show. Well, well, they are in terms of the running backs. You also forgot Jamal Williams.

Went down today. So, I mean, they're down to basically nobody. Not only that, though, but I mean, the reason they signed Jamal because he had 17 touchdowns last year with a goal line back for Detroit. And he barely sees any any any touches.

Same thing with Tyson. Al is here. They had first and go at the two yard line. And you're telling me you can't run it one play to get him in the goal line. It's like Arthur Smith wants Desmond Ritter to throw the ball.

That's the real is trash. He's terrible. Like you want him to throw the ball more. You have him and Bijan.

It makes no sense. And then what about Naje? I'm not I'm not going to go as far to call him trash. But he has let he has some ways of throwing away a game before you should start. Just don't call him trash. Let's just say him and Kenny Pickett are in the same boat. Let's just say you have I think we've seen more of Kenny Pickett. I'd give I'd give a Ritter a little bit more rope.

What about Naje, though? He had a 17 year old run and then a 21 yard run, which means that's 38 yards. I think he finished for 10 for 43. So he had eight yards, eight carries for five yards.

So that's the reason why I went after this guy. Fantasy was because Matt Canada came out offensive coordinator and so we're going to run the ball more. They lost Beyonce Johnson. He's not in there.

You knew Pickett was going to get some, you know, things. But just running back in terms of the NFL. And I want to ask you a question, too, in regards to a running back.

I want you to give me an answer and I'll give you my input. There's one team in the National Football League that has one back and then a backup. But this back is the primary back for the entire offense. What team do you think that is?

I don't know. Tennessee. San Francisco 49ers. They have Christian McCaffrey. You know, he's getting all the touches. And then they have Elijah Mitchell, who gets like maybe three, four carries a game.

Like that's it. But no other team in football. Everyone has like a running back by committee. Look at Philadelphia. They have DeAndre Swift and it's game well.

Penny, Boston Scott and they all get touches. So it's like, you know, not everyone could be Atlanta rushing for two hundred and fifty a game. But I thought that literally the Saints would rush more. Especially Carolina just gave up two hundred and fifty rushing yards. You know, so I thought they would run it more. And it's just teams are, I think, shying away from the run.

Not every team has a Christian McCaffrey, right? Where have you been? And Mark, we're at the end of the show, man.

So I got to let you go. Where have you been for the past forever? Teams are throwing the ball more than ever.

Teams are not paying to run it. Where have we been? Like, I'm going to employ more running backs to keep the costs down. And yeah, where have you been, man?

We know this already. Mike is calling from Pittsburgh. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, how you doing, J.R.? I'm good. What's up? Thanks for taking my call.

Sure. I just left the game. And Cleveland, to dispute one of your earlier callers who said that he thought that Deshaun Watson was not as good as he was at Houston. Let me say that as far as ball control was concerned, Cleveland held the ball at least 10 minutes longer than the Steelers did. Yes, that's accurate, but I don't think that's fully indicative of his own play. Deshaun Watson admitted that he hasn't played up to his own standards.

No. Well, in another realm, something I've been telling my sons for the longest all day today, offense scores points, but defense wins games. And it was just an overwhelming defensive effort by the Steelers. They kept them in this game. I mean, aside from penalties and everything, to me, I stood up through the whole game watching and wondering what Cleveland was going to do next. If they were going to throw or if they were going to run.

And I'm telling you, they balanced out to me. Now, if Deshaun can play better than this, the North had better wake up. Yes. Well, him playing better than this is returning back to what he was prior. Thank you, Mike, for calling for Pittsburgh. I just got to wrap the show up. Look, Cleveland controlled the ball. They rushed for 200 yards today. OK, 198 yards that they rushed for. They gave the ball up. They turned it over four times.

Two of those turnovers directly went to the end zone. Let's get Mailman in from Alabama. You get the last word. You got to hit me with a quick sentence, Mailman. Hey, what's going on, guys?

Two real quick points. You were out a few weeks ago and Shep did a great job. And I talked about the Falcons being one of the surprise team this year. So I really think they're going to surprise a lot of teams because they're really no dominant team in their division.

Last thing, J.R., man, it's an honor being on your show and I'm going to pull out of my mailbag. The biggest upset of the week is going to be Alabama beats Ole Miss 35-24. Look for Jalen Milro to handle his business this weekend. OK. Well, thank you, Mailman, for calling from Alabama and everything in the NFC South right now. Everybody got a victory except for the Carolina Panthers. They're 0-2. Falcons 2-0. Tampa 2-0. New Orleans now 2-0. Hey, I'm not all that shocked at anything the Falcons do.

I expect them to finish above 500. The J.R.S. sportbreeze show here on CBS Sports Radio is a wrap. Thank you to Shep. Thank you to everybody. I'll be back tomorrow. Don't move here on CBS Sports Radio. Amy Lawrence.

She's coming up next. Thank you, Shep. Facts are facts, like how contributing to employees financial security makes them want to work harder for their company. In fact, according to a 2023 study by Principal, 87 percent of employers say that better employee financial security means employees are more engaged and productive at work. The fact of the matter is that employees want to feel financially secure in their future.

So consider this. Principal helps you invest in your employees by providing customized benefits and retirement plans to help keep your employees more engaged and productive. When you take care of your team, they take care of business.

That's a fact. Learn how Principal can help you find the right benefits and retirement plan for your team at principal.com slash benefits. Products and services offered by member companies of the Principal Financial Group, Des Moines, Iowa.

For important information, visit principal.com slash disclosures. I'm here to tell you about Pom Pom at Home, where comfort meets elegance. Pom Pom at Home is offering 20 percent off site wide for a limited time. See why so many of the top designers use Pom Pom's luxury easy care bedding.

They have created a timeless, beautiful coastal living look that incorporates subtle tones and natural fibers offering a unique touch. Create your dream bed now. Get 20 percent off sheets, duvets, throws and more right now at pom pom at home dot com. Easy to use, easy to love luxury bedding.

Just enter code pom pom at checkout. No one wants to get sidelined by COVID-19, including me. I've got my work, my family.

I want to be able to keep my plans. I'm getting this season's COVID-19 shot. It helps protect against COVID-19, which can cause severe illness and hospitalization. Learn about eligibility and schedule your COVID-19 shot on the CDC site vaccines dot gov. Sponsored by Pfizer and BioNTech.