9.8.23 - JR SportBrief Hour 1

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. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. It's the J.R. Sportbrief Show on CBS Sports Radio.

Yes, if you knew this or assumed correctly, I would happen to be J.R. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. It's a Friday night. It's a busy football weekend.

It's officially the beginning of September, at least football-wise, and we've got a lot to talk about. Thank you so much to super producer and host Dave Shepherd holding it down in New York City. Thank you to you, the listeners, people tuned in and locked in all over the country. The Uber drivers, the Lyft drivers, the factory workers, the people in the hospitals, the people at the police stations, the people at the fire stations just hanging out playing cards. What's up, y'all? Thank you to people who are really holding it down.

The restaurant workers, bar workers, people at home, people at work, people on the road, people going from coast to coast, city to city, from work to home, home to work. You don't got to worry about this. I'm going to be with you for the next four hours. This is when I get started.

10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Pacific. It's every single weeknight. If you're looking for me any other day outside of Monday through Friday, don't expect it. And I told you this is a good football Friday. This is the first official football Friday. We got college football. We got professional football.

And over the course of tonight, we'll even talk about some of the other sports that have taken place and are just elevated right now. How about this? Congratulations. Oh, no, not con- Chef, when somebody loses, it's not congratulations, right? They're losers.

It depends. Is it a hard-fought battle? No, Team USA lost. They're losers. Oh, yeah, there's no congratulations there. Congratulations to Germany for beating Team USA. We're going to talk about that.

Congratulations to Novak Djokovic. I think he's a jerk. We're going to get into that.

It has nothing to do with the vaccine stuff, but separate reasons. I think he's a jerk. And then, of course, throughout the course of the night, we're going to talk about some NFL football. Right?

That's what you came here for, right? Right here across, not across the street, but right down the road from me, right here in Atlanta, Georgia, five minutes away. Falcons right now, this minute, they're hosting a pep rally as they get ready to host the Carolina Panthers this upcoming Sunday. People are ready for football, man. We had the first taste of it last night with the Detroit Lions beating the Kansas City Chiefs.

We saw Kadarius Toney forget how to catch a football. It's nice. This is a good time of year. Here in Georgia, it's still warm. It'll be warm for quite some time. Never really get freezing cold. And, Shep, my understanding is in New York, it's been hot for no damn reason, right? That would be true. But, obviously, the rain kind of made up for that this afternoon. And, obviously, the USA, I shouldn't say USA, but the US Open had to shut that roof.

They had to close it up, which is why maybe you think Djokovic is a jerk because he was really ticked off with how the fans were treating him. No. It has nothing to do with it.

Not at all. Well, anyway, well, New York Giants will be in action. We'll talk about the Giants. New York Jets will be in action. We'll talk about the Jets. They play on Monday night, so we got a ways out from there as Aaron Rodgers makes his debut.

Dallas Cowboys and the Giants mentioning the Giants. There's just a lot of great matchups. And even tomorrow, and for the life of me, I'm like, damn it, everybody in Colorado is going to wake up to some football. You got the Buffaloes going to take on Nebraska. That's going to be a whole hell of a lot of fun as well.

And so this is kind of going to be a routine. Let's think about this here for a minute. The calendar here in the United States of America in the fall, could you possibly imagine a Sunday from September to January with no football?

Think about that for a minute. The NFL dominates the schedule. The NFL dominates people's viewing habits. It dominates people's behavior.

This is why it's approaching a 20 billion dollar business. You got church at 8 o'clock typically? Well, we might move it up so you can get home to watch the game. You do service in the afternoon, we might move it up.

You got service at night or mass or whatever you do. They might change it just so people can watch football. Stores are opening and closing due to what? The football schedule. Let's think about the holiday of Thanksgiving. There's a couple of things people think about for Thanksgiving. There's food, family and football.

People have that tattooed on their bodies. So the NFL is here. You can tailgate. You have a legitimate excuse to run away from your family.

You have an excuse to sit on the couch all day if you should choose. NFL is good. It's going to occupy people's time. It's going to occupy my time. Damn it, I get paid to talk about the NFL. Not too shabby. And so there's a lot that I'm really looking forward to of this season.

We saw part of it last night. Caderius Toney, I don't want to say the poor guy, he deactivated his Twitter account last night. The man goes out and drops four passes, helps lead to a pick six. He might as well have been a secret agent for the Detroit Lions. And he deactivated his Twitter. Probably a smart move because this is the same dude who would DM New York Giants fans just to troll him.

It's like, hey, man, get a life. And so the NFL season is underway. But when we pull up to Sunday, there's some games, there's some individuals, there's some people that I want to watch.

I am looking forward to seeing. I think it's OK to call them two disasters. Las Vegas in Denver. Russell Wilson versus Jimmy Garoppolo. Right. Real exciting quarterback matchup.

I'm being a jerk. I'm being sarcastic, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what Russell Wilson does, how he bounces back. For years, his teammates have called him like a teacher's pet.

Now he has a head coach who's telling him to stop kissing babies and being a politician. We got a team that went five and twelve last year is paying Russell Wilson all this money. And they stunk. If I got to be honest, from a storyline perspective, it would be amazing if the Broncos stunk again. I just believe that they'll be average and they're taking on a running dumpster fire in the Las Vegas Raiders. What can we expect from them year to year?

Just just to be a joke. I mean, at this point, Jimmy Garoppolo making his debut. Let's see how long he can stay out there on the field. And then the running story for them, unfortunately, right now is Chandler Jones. This is the same Chandler Jones who, I don't know, six years ago or so, he rolled up to a police department butt ass naked because he was on some synthetic marijuana. Hey, Shep, you live in New York. You've seen naked people outside, right?

I've seen naked people inside. OK. Was it Chandler Jones? No, it was people that didn't care. OK. Well, maybe Chandler Jones, they say he's dealing with personal issues. He will not be playing against the Broncos.

And he has gone on multiple social media rants saying he doesn't want to play for a team with McDaniels as head coach and Ziegler as general manager. And so what a way to start the season. The Raiders are already being the Raiders.

How about this? Mentioned it last night and it it made me sick to my damn stomach. We talked about them the past two nights. The Ravens. What are they doing? Greg Roman is out. Munkin is in as offensive coordinator.

They got all these new weapons. You got Lamar Jackson telling everybody how great it is to to have these new weapons at his disposal. And then Odell Beckham Jr. tweaks his ankle. The Ravens are always a a must watch team over the past several years with Lamar Jackson. They went from being a defensive led team with Joe Flacco. And now you pick up this athletic Marvel and Lamar Jackson and now he has help.

Is the help going to stay healthy? Is Lamar Jackson going to stay healthy? This is a storyline that damn it, I will follow the entire season and they open up the year. And I don't want to consider this a gimme game. It could be a trap game if you take a look at their defense. They got Houston.

And so you can get an early look at C.J. Stroud, even though he's probably going to be handing the ball off to Pierce the majority of the time. And Baltimore has a chance to to kind of go out guns ablaze and right out of the gate.

Another game I'm looking forward to. And I want to see how this guy, the head quarterback, goes the whole season. Geno Smith in Seattle. They're taking on the Rams. Geno Smith starting off hot like fire last year, surprising everybody.

I know everybody in Seattle has to be thrilled. You get rid of Russell Wilson. You think you're going into the toilet. You think that you're going to suck. You have a better season. Then the guy who left. There has to be some sense and some feeling of satisfaction.

Knowing that you're a better squad. The Seahawks still made the playoffs, got eliminated. They fell apart a little bit towards the end of the season.

You still got to give them their credit. And Geno Smith was rewarded with a three year deal. One hundred and fifty million dollars. Not too bad.

Not too shabby. Is he going to be able to keep it up? The Seahawks are going to be battling likely for one of these wildcard spots because they play in the same damn division with the 49ers.

How about this? I want to see what happens between Jordan Love and Justin Fields. Fields should take him to the woodshed, right? He's the guy expected to take that next step. Nobody knows what Jordan Love is going to be.

I know what I'm confident in. The fact that Jordan Love is probably not going to be a Hall of Fame quarterback. The odds of him being a Pro Bowl quarterback, you might as well cross your fingers and just hope for the best.

But we're moving into a different space. There's so many other teams and so many other organizations, so many storylines to pay attention to. Is Stefan Diggs going to lose his mind? Playing for the Buffalo Bills. How long does it take before Aaron Rodgers gets into a...

It won't be a loud shouting match, but it will be a mental shouting match with a member of the New York media. How long is that going to take? Joe Burrow getting all that money. Is he going to stay healthy? Is his calf OK?

I think it is. How does Deshaun Watson bounce back with the Browns now that he has a full year? Expectations for the Jacksonville Jaguars. They shocked everybody coming back against Los Angeles.

Los Angeles always choking. What does Trevor Lawrence do? Does he elevate himself into the MVP conversation?

What does Anthony Richardson look like? Is he going to be just an athletic marvel thrown to the wolves? I think the answer is yes, because the Colts sure know how to ruin a good thing. The commanders, new team, new management, new ownership.

Magic Johnson met with the media, met with the people, met with the town, told everybody, told the players, listen, you don't have to worry about any of that nonsense. Y'all can just go out there and worry about football. The Cardinals are tanking.

There's just a lot. Hey, Shep, when you think about this upcoming season, is there anything, any person, anybody, any team, any storyline that you are very interested in? For me, J.R., we talked about it last night. It did not go the way the Chiefs wanted in week one. Granted, they're down the greatest tight end in the history of the sport. Just ask Patrick Mahomes.

But to me, for the first time in 20 years, are we going to see a repeat champion? We know Mahomes doesn't need an A caliber receiver. He just needs his tight end buddy. And so it's going to be fascinating to see how they respond in week one, because if there's anybody that can make that claim, that he's going to chase Brady down in terms of legacy, it's Patrick Mahomes. He's got to start, though, by a repeat.

Okay. I want to see how many cheeseburgers Andy Reid is. Well, he's got enough impersonators to eat the whole world, for God's sakes. I mean, J.R., you see how many guys impersonate Andy Reid these days? Well, how many people have his body tight in his face? Well, that's the point. I mean, whether he was in Philly or Kansas City, I feel like every other year we see an impersonator step up at a press conference pretending to be him, or the camera just happens to spot an Andy Reid impersonator with a pizza menu.

Hey, look, there's a lot of people who like cheeseburgers and wear glasses. That's true. That's just what it is. Yeah, if they can be, I don't know if the word is even decent, if they got guys who can catch the football, they'll be fine. I hope last night was the worst of the worst. I hope last night was an aberration. But I think the Chiefs will be okay. I mean, it was a couple of seasons ago, people looked at him and they're like, oh my God, Patrick Mahomes fell off and he's terrible.

And that was with Tyrekel. So let's see what happens, man. I can't even call it a holiday anymore. I feel like I've seen so much football over the past week. It's just, it's full throttle now.

It's like putting your foot on the accelerator and slowly creeping up, and then you press all the way down and you just go. Yeah, and remember, JR, speaking of going, there is a quarterback and there's not many of them. The only quarterback that comes to mind when he has started and then played a full game, he's never lost. He's the last overall pick from 2022 and nobody's talking about him. The only time he's been brought up is how he's been in the middle of the mistreatment of Trey Lance, and that is Brock Purdy.

Can the 49ers finally get over the hump and do something they haven't done in nearly 30 years, win a Super Bowl? You know, all Brock Purdy has to do is be okay. Yeah, he was more than okay last year, though. Is that fair?

Yeah, sure, absolutely. But at minimum, with all the help that he has, all he has to do is be okay. Like, man, just put the ball in the direction of Christian McCaffrey. Hand it off to him. Flip or pitch the ball to Deebo Samuel. They will be okay. Look at big-ass George Kittle in the middle of the field and just lob him the ball. I think they'll be okay.

This is a gross exaggeration. But if there was one team this season that me, no talent me, would love to play quarterback for in the NFL and think that I could have success and be the 49ers, I mean, like, this is easy. If anybody comes my way, I just hit the deck, and if I got two seconds, I'm just flipping it to one of those guys. Should be fun. The NFL season, the first NFL Sunday is upon us. Congratulations to everyone who's going to be watching now on YouTube. Yeah, YouTube Sunday, Direct Ticket, whatever the hell they call it. It's not on DirecTV anymore, and that's something worth celebrating in and of itself, because DirecTV, broadcasting the NFL games in the year 2022 in the modern era, was complete trash. So long to DirecTV. Hello to YouTube. Hopefully it works. And shout-outs to everybody getting ready for the first NFL Sunday. Tell your wife, your spouse, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your family, tell them to kick rocks. The NFL is back. Tell them you do not want to be bothered until early February. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio, 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. What are you looking forward to this upcoming NFL season? What storyline, what player do you really want to lock in on? I want to see what Justin Jefferson does. Is he getting to 2,000 yards receiving? Is he going to be the first to do so? Are the Ravens going to stay healthy? Is Justin Fields going to take that next step?

Who is going to emerge in the NFC? What's going on with Mr. Love, Jordan Love? We got a lot to do. We're going to talk about it all. I'm going to get to your calls on the other side of the break. We're going to talk about the U.S. Open. We'll talk about Team USA losing.

We'll get into Deion and the Buffalos and Nebraska and Colorado and Belichick and Hertz. We got a lot to do. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. J.R. wants to hear from you. Call him now at 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4227. It's the J.R. Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We're pulling up on the first NFL Sunday for the season, for the 2023 season.

A lot of storylines, a lot of things to pay attention to. How do the Eagles bounce back from the Super Bowl loss? How do the Kansas City Chiefs perform after what we saw last night?

You know, are the Detroit Lions going to be scrappy all year? What does Geno Smith look like in his second year full of expectations as Seahawks starter? What's going to happen with Jordan Love as Packers quarterback? What about the rookies? You know, what about somebody like Bryce Young who's going to be here in Atlanta taking on the Atlanta Falcons in his debut? What is Bryce Young going to do? As a matter of fact, he spoke about it. Let's take a listen.

This is what Bryce Young had to say about his first NFL start. It's definitely exciting. It's a blessing to be here. So, you know, with it around the corner, you know, it's surreal. But at the same time, there's so much, you know, energy and focus that just goes into the game plan, goes into trying to prepare to get ready. Myself, us as a team, you know, we're all in that mindset. So, of course, I'm super excited. And, you know, it's definitely a blessing to be in this situation. But, you know, obviously it's a results-based business and, you know, we want to have success. And for us to be able to have that, we have to earn that right. Yeah, numero uno.

I love it. Numero uno. Select the number one. I think he's going to lose on Sunday, though. Falcons actually have a good team.

It's just a matter of the quarterback. Mr. Ritter, what does he do? All he has to do is be average. Don't be a bum.

Just be average. They drafted Bijan Robinson. They got Cordell Patterson, Algier. They got all these running backs. They got Drake London. They got Pitts to throw the ball. They got all these weapons. The head coach, Arthur Smith, he's like, yeah, we got some weapons, especially Bijan. For Bijan that's out there, you know, just how has he, you know, can you sum up just the onboarding and how he's at the point where you got him now? Sure.

Sure. And that's what happens when you take somebody high. There are great expectations. You know, that's when you make those investments. You got to make sure it's the right person.

You got the right plan. So far, so good. Again, just like the question about the communication. The first big test, real stressful environment. He passed them all so far.

And he's exactly what I thought he was and in some ways he's even more mature than I realize. And handling expectations and pressure because that's not easy. It gets harder and harder, especially, you know, with everything at your fingertips now. I mean, if you live in through your screen, it could be a toxic wasteland. Oh, well, yeah, that's called the Internet. He's right.

Stay away from the screen. Call me, though. 855-212-4CBS. Marcus here from California. Jay, what's going on? No hard feelings. You hung up on me yesterday, man. I was kind of butthurt on that, but we're not going to touch on that.

What a great way to start a call. Darren Waller. I can't believe it, man. I have him and Travis Kelsey and Krista Watson on my fantasy team. And all three of them are probably not even. Well, Kelsey didn't play us today. But Waller and Watson might not even pull. Watson's out, I think, right?

He got ruled out. It comes down to Waller. Like, both of my starting tight ends might not even play.

Do you think the Giants have any chance if Waller doesn't play? Yeah, I mean, well, the fact is, and thank you, Mark, for calling from California. The fact is, between the New York Giants and the Cowboys, they play each other hard, man.

That's what it is. I know the Dallas, and matter of fact, we're going to get into that at the top of the hour. Because ultimately, the New York Giants have been getting their asses handed to them.

Handed to them by the Dallas Cowboys. And Darren Waller's supposed to be the big option that comes in. He's having a hamstring issue. Hamstring issues is what unfortunately has slowed him down the past couple of seasons when it comes down to the Raiders. And he's injury-free and looking healthy. Everybody's excited to see Daniel Jones throw him the rock and then hamstring. Hamstring. And that's the last thing that anybody wants to deal with, is a hamstring. I don't care what athlete, what sport, those things linger. They don't go away.

If you think it's gone, then it might pull again. It's the worst. Hamstrings. We're going to talk about the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants at the top of the hour.

We're going to talk more about it. Because Jerry Jones is always chatting. You can go ahead and take a look at the New York Giants. They're kind of under the radar this season. All of the attention is on the other New York team because they acquired some guy named Aaron Rodgers.

And so it's really sucked the air out of everything else going on in the metropolitan area as the New York Giants just, they exist. There's no juice. There's not a word. There's not a peep. They're not on HBO with hard knocks.

Daniel Jones, he might have the personality as of a tomato can. I mean, Saquon Barkley showed up to work. And what else was there to talk about? Now the New York Giants have to show to everybody that last season wasn't a fluke. They got a few flukey close victories. Now they actually got to go out and win. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if the New York Giants made or missed out on the playoffs.

I think that's how razor thin it is in the NFC. There's only one team. Keep in mind, only one team is going to get a bye and only one team obviously is going to win the division. And so there's going to be a lot of teams fighting for these wildcard spots. The Eagles expected to go out again on top of the NFC East.

And so we'll see how things play out. We'll talk about the Cowboys, talk about the Giants at the top of the hour. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. I'm going to get some more of your calls on the other side of the break. We all know, I just mentioned the Eagles, they would love to go back to the Super Bowl. Well we got a tennis player who's not American, who's in America talking trash to our 19, 20 year old American players. I'm going to tell you about Novak Djokovic on the other side of the break. And then in addition to that, speaking of Americans getting their asses whooped, Team USA lost a basketball game to Germany. And I can't wait to tell you who Team USA is going to face next for a bronze medal.

It's going to be interesting if they lose that game as well. We'll never hear the end of it. It's the JR Sport Reef Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. More NFL Talk.

We're going to get into some college as well. 855-212-4CBS. You're listening to the JR Sport Reef on CBS Sports Radio. It's the great JR, man. Your show is so awesome.

We appreciate listening to you on a regular basis, my man. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Reef Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. In a few minutes I'm going to tell you about what took place at the U.S. Open earlier today in Queens, New York. I want to tell you what took place on the other side of the world with Team USA Basketball. But let's get back to the phone lines.

855-212-4CBS. So let's get into some football. Get your thoughts on what you're looking forward to this weekend, this season with your favorite NFL team. Well, they don't even have to be your favorite NFL team.

It could just be something that you are really interested in seeing. Robert is here from Annapolis. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, good evening JR and Shep.

Thanks for putting me on again. Well, obviously I'm looking forward to Lamar. He's got his money.

He's got a nice set of receivers. I may be a little distracted if the Orioles get in the World Series, but that's what I'm looking forward to. Okay.

Well, what do you think the Ravens are going to do this season? I'm very optimistic. Hold on. Take a breath. Take a breath. Take a breath.

Are you confident that they're going to stay healthy? Well, you have to be confident. You can't predict that. There's nothing you can do about it.

You just got to hope that happens. He was healthy his first three years, and the last two years he couldn't finish his seasons. But let's see where he goes now. Okay.

Thank you, Robert. Now, I wasn't referring to Lamar Jackson. I was referring to the whole team. I'm not asking you to predict it. I'm asking you if you feel confident that they'll do so. I mean, it's like, hey, I think they'll stay healthy or I don't think they will. And nobody knows.

Of course they don't. But it's football. People are going to get hurt.

And if we have to look at the guy's histories, I mean, Odell Beckham Jr. already listed on the injury report with a busted-up ankle. We haven't even played Game 1 yet. Somebody is likely, I think, to go down. Do I think they'll be able to overcome it?

Yeah. But there are going to be some folks who miss a game here or there. I hope Lamar Jackson isn't missing extended time. I really don't.

8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS. Tommy's calling from New Orleans. KJ, are you hearing me?

Loud and clear, yes. Got you. I got you in the elevator. The scene.

I think the scene is in the women's edition outright. I know it went in and later it's kind of a – sorry about the elevator. It's okay. You're going up. You're going down. Yes, I am. Okay.

Both. So anyway, yeah, I think the Saints are going to win outright and then anything can happen at that point. But I think the NFC, you know, obviously the Eagles can lose. And I think Kansas City is starting to, you know, show some chinks in the arm, you know. And I think it might be the Eagles and maybe Jacksonville in the Super Bowl. And, you know, the Eagles win – Wow. Hey, listen. If the Jacksonville Jaguars reach the Super Bowl, then good on them.

That would be a massive leap for that squad. Let's see if it happens. Thank you, Tommy, for calling from New Orleans. I hope wherever he goes in that elevator, he finds his way. Saints just flat winning the NFC South. I don't know if I'm just going to hand it over to him, man.

I don't know about that. Michael Thomas, we would hope that he's healthy. Alvin Kamara, you know, what does he look like when he comes back?

Yeah, sure, we know he's going to receive. He's going to run the football. The Saints' defense should keep them alive. I think they're going to have competition with the Falcons. I mean, the Falcons aren't just going to lie down and hand things over.

If we got to look at the rest of the NFC South, yeah, we heard from Bryce Young on the other side of the break. No big expectations for me from the Panthers this year. And you could say the same thing from the Bucs. I mean, they weren't all that hot, what, eight and nine last year with Tom Brady? Do I think or expect them to be different now with Baker Mayfield?

No, the answer's no. I mean, they take on the Vikings to open up their season. So, yeah, the Buccaneers, I'm not expecting anything from them. But I'm not just going to hand things over to the Saints here.

I'm not going that far. And then they got this whole issue now with Mike Evans, knowing that, hey, if I don't get a contract tomorrow, then I'm not even trying to think about one. And there are even comments now about Mike Evans, if he doesn't get a deal, that there might be a possibility that he gets traded.

And so there's a lot of moving pieces and parts going on in Tampa Bay. As a matter of fact, Mike Evans, he was asked about Baker Mayfield and his performance so far. This is what Mike Evans had to say. What is Baker showing you? Man, a lot of energy, a lot of moxie, great ball placement, and super, super competitive. So I love that about a quarterback.

Energy and moxie. Well, let's see if the ball gets to him in the right spots. Let's get there first. The team that he mentioned, the New Orleans Saints, Derek Carr looking to make his first start as an NFL player for another team outside of the Raiders. Derek Carr is thrilled, happy through the roof that there's a team that actually wanted him. You leave a place where they, hey, they didn't want you anymore, and you step into a place where, hey, we want you, not only we want you as our captain. I feel that respect because all I wanted to do since I got here, I told you, I just wanted to earn the respect of my teammates.

I just want to take that and prove them right. It's like listening to Russell Wilson Jr. over here. He's a nice guy. I like Derek Carr. I don't think he'll be hanging out on Bourbon Street.

If anything, he might be running away from that place. I don't want to call him Squeaky Clean, but he's a good dude. Good on Derek Carr. Good luck to the Saints. But I'm not just handing the NFC South over to the Saints because everybody else is a disaster.

The Falcons are going to go out there and give a fight, without a shadow of a doubt. TK is calling from Green Bay. You're on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, how's it going tonight? Very well, TK. How are you? Oh, pretty good.

Pretty good. Yeah, I just wanted to talk about the Packers. I mean, probably right up there with the three rookie quarterbacks with Jordan Love, a lot of unknown what he's going to do. I think we had a lot of momentum in the offseason.

Get some national media attention that, hey, this Love guy might actually be pretty good. Here, Watson now is not ruled out. Dubs is questionable. But I'm just telling you, if they get a win in Chicago with that, you might have to look out.

I mean, the Lions look pretty decent, but I think the Packers are going to make a big charge for the NFC North. It all depends on the guy that we really haven't seen play. That's Jordan Love. That's just what it boils down to. I don't care what game he started last year.

It's irrelevant. This is his team, which is crazy to think about. Aaron Rodgers is really gone.

This is Jordan Love's squad. This probably isn't the best start that you would want for him with the receivers hurt. Let's see what he can do. I'm not going to draw a conclusion after one game. Jordan Love could go out there and throw four touchdowns and I could say, okay, there's potential.

Or he could throw three interceptions. I'm not going to crap on the guy. I think we need a larger sample size, but I've heard the positivity and the good things don't care until we actually see him play in extended times. I hope he works out, okay? Alright man, take it easy.

Alright, you too. I want my people in Green Bay to be happy. I mean, if he's just a five to ten year starter, you'd consider that a success, right? Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, Jordan Love. Look, if the Packers are going to be oh so lucky, then good for them.

Good for them. Hey, let me let me get this out the way. I don't want to talk about a Serbian tennis player, embarrassing American players or any other point of the night. So let's talk about Novak Djokovic, who's on his way to another Grand Slam final. This time the U.S. Open beat Blake Shelton, a 20 year old American, early this afternoon. Wiped the floor with this young man and Novak Djokovic decided to, I don't want to say mock him, but he did. He talked trash after or excuse me, Ben Shelton. Blake Shelton is the musician. Novak Djokovic did his own little cell phone celebration. That's what Ben Shelton does. So Novak Djokovic, who's 36, 37, mocking a 20 year old is pretty nice.

Why not? Anyway, Djokovic said he made him work for this victory. This is when he was on ESPN. Things were going really, really smoothly for me, and then he broke, he broke back and it was really anybody's game in the end of the third set. Obviously, it was very loud in this place with the roof closed. And but, you know, this is kind of an atmosphere that we all we all like to play in. So I'm really, really pleased with with this win today.

OK. He was so pleased with the win after he beat him. I told you he did his cell phone celebration that Ben Shelton does. And afterwards, Ben Shelton was asked about it.

Do you feel that this dude was out here mocking you? And the celebration is basically like picking up a phone and then hanging it up like this is over. Ben Shelton said, I got no issue with it.

I don't like when I'm on social media and I see people telling me how I can celebrate or can't celebrate. You know, I think if you if you win the match, you deserve to do whatever you want. You know, as a kid growing up, I always learned that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Well, not too bad. Nice and mature between him and Coco Gauff.

They can they can teach a lesson to the adults. But still. Come on, man. I'm not mad. I'm not being overly critical of Novak Djokovic. But damn, you got to mock the 20 year old guy who just lost.

The guy's never been here before. Why are you dissing him? I hope Novak loses. Probably not going to be the case. He's going to take on Medvedev, who actually just lost to world's number one Alcaraz.

And so let's see how that goes. Speaking of losses, the United States of America, the basketball team, took a loss early this morning. Team USA lost to Germany. The final score 113 to 111.

The sides for the Team USA did not work in their favor. Germany grabbed 12 offensive rebounds, leading to 25 second chance points. Germany shot 58 percent overall from the field. They also put up about 50 points in the paint.

Germany whooped America's ass. Dennis Schroeder, NBA, 17 points. Franz Wagner, 22.

Daniel Tice, 21. Anthony Edwards leading the way for the U.S. with 23. And they still took an L. Matter of fact, this is what that loss sounded like. Courtesy of Fevers Basketball. Yeah, you might as well believe it.

Say 1992, people are looking for autographs, trying to take the United States lunch money. And yeah, this isn't the United States of America's best showing. It's not LeBron and Kevin Durant and Devin Booker out there. But having said that, Steve Kerr, after they took that L, he said, yeah, they are great basketball players all over the world. And NBA, listen to this. The game has been globalized over the last 30 years or so. You know, these these these games are difficult.

This is this is not 1992 anymore. And so players are better all over the world. Teams are better. And it's it's not easy to to win a World Cup or an Olympic Games. Oh, man, I feel like a genius. Hey, chef, he took the words out of my I didn't hear the comment, but he took the words out of my mouth. Yeah, but you can win championships with the Warriors, too.

I can. That's right. Steve Kerr. Nice guy, by the way. Very nice guy.

Every time I've ever seen. I haven't seen him in years because now he's a big coach. But I used to see Steve Kerr when he worked for TNT. Nice guy. Real nice guy.

When he's not breaking dry erase boards and cursing people out. Nice guy. Hey, good luck to Team USA. They're going to take on Canada for the bronze medal. If USA basketball loses to Canada. Oh, my God. The Americans will never get the end of it ever.

The JR sport show your CBS sports radio on the other side, we'll talk about some other rivals, the Cowboys and the Giants. Don't move. Imagine you're looking at a balancing scale with everything you do for other people on one side and everything you do for yourself on the other side. If it isn't balanced, maybe it's time to spend a little more time on you. And therapy is a great place to start. Better Health connects you with a licensed therapist online who can help you find that balance and stick to it. Visit better help dot com slash positive to get 10 percent off your first month.

That's better HELP dot com slash positive. 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 principle 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 dot com slash benefits products and services offered by member companies of the principal financial group. Des Moines, Iowa. For important information, visit principal dot 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. Can I get a refill, please? 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.