12.7.23 - JR SportBrief Hour 2

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Shopify.com slash Odyssey podcast. You're listening to the JR Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio.

It's the JR Sportbrief show on CBS Sports Radio. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America. Super producer and host Dave Sheppard, he's holding it down for us in New York City. Thank you for holding it down and listening wherever the hell you might be. At work, at home, at school, on the road, overseas, under the sea.

I don't know where you at, but thank you for listening. Show gets started every weeknight at 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 p.m. Pacific. A busy, busy day, a busy, busy night. LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers. I just tweeted this. LeBron James really needs, really wants this half million dollars because the Lakers lead the Pelicans 90 to 60. It's about five and a half minutes left here in the third quarter. Still plenty of time for the Pelicans to go on a run, right?

Right. We'll see. NBA is a wild place. We know the Indiana Pacers, they dispatched of the Milwaukee Bucks, you know, earlier this evening to go ahead and advance to the finals and represent the Eastern Conference. The Pacers beat the Bucks 128 to 119. Tyrese Halliburton went out there and dropped 27 points to go along with 15 assists.

He did not turn the ball over. Tyrese Halliburton hasn't had a turnover since November 30th. It's a long time for a point guard, the man who handles the ball and is playing 35 to 40 minutes a night.

Absolutely ridiculous. And then meanwhile, in the NFL right now, the Patriots lead the Steelers 21 to 18 out in Pittsburgh. The Patriots haven't scored in the second half. They had all 21 of their points in the first half.

They went into halftime up 21 to 10. Bailey Zappi has thrown three touchdowns and the Pittsburgh Steelers about to have the ball momentarily with about four minutes left to go here in the fourth. And so let's see if Mitchell Trubisky has some magic in his arm as these Steelers have a record right now of seven and five. And if they win this game, this sounds crazy because the Steelers are just them trying to score is almost impossible. They have an option if they come back and win this game to go up eight to five.

So we'll keep you up to date on all of this as we continue on. Shep, does anybody actually win this game like the Steelers win? Right. If they win, they win. But does anybody win this game? It's like a waste.

Yeah, it is. There's I mean, I think the NBA really lucked out with having their game, that being LeBron James, that being Jonathan Zucupo kind of up against Thursday Night Football. Yeah, Jay, I'm not going to lie to you. I haven't paid much attention this football game. Like I know the Steelers made it interesting with the two point conversion. They're down three right now trying to stop them on third down. But I couldn't tell you one thing about this game.

I really couldn't. There is literally no interest because Bill Belichick seems to not want to be there. No one seems to actually step up a quarterback, including Bailey Zappi.

Mac Jones is an afterthought. Well, Bailey Zappi had three touchdowns in the first half. Right, right, right. Numbers were ridiculous to start the game.

Great. But you got to also kind of, you know, put your foot on the gas pedal and they took it off it in the second half. And this shouldn't even be a game. I don't know. I don't know if New England took their foot off the pedal or if they just got lucky in the first.

Fair enough. But then it's 21-10 and Zappi throws a real costly interception. This game should have been over in the third quarter.

These are two teams that are just piss poor when it comes down to scoring a football. They really got to stop getting these games so wrong, JR. Well, I don't know if it's getting the games wrong, whereas it's so much of... I mean, it's only a couple of days after Sunday. Like, the games are going to suck. We've had enough players come out and tell us and let us know, like, yo, it's hard to recover. Like, don't expect these awesome games on Thursday after we just went out here and busted our asses on Sunday.

That's a that's a hell of a turnaround. And it really shows by the time you look at the product that we get on Thursday in comparison to what we actually have when the players have an entire week to recuperate. And so for a football team, that's 2-10 and another one that's 7-5 and had to fire its offensive coordinator to try to get a jolt. Yeah, these are two in net teams when it comes to scoring the football. And who knows, maybe Mitch Trubisky is about to set us up for, I don't know, a touchdown. Maybe the Steelers hit a game-tying field goal and then we get extra crap football between New England and the Steelers.

But let's see. And the Steelers... Mike Tomlin could have another season with a winning record. Mike Tomlin could have another season where the Steelers go to the playoffs.

But let's all be real. And I think even Steeler fans would tell you this. Steeler fans ain't got a chance in hell to win nothing.

They don't. They didn't have one with Kenny Pickett. They sure don't have one with Mitch Trubisky.

They aren't enough miracles in the world. This is the most whatever 8-5 team I've ever seen in my life. Well, they're not 8-5 yet. But yes, if they are 8-5, they deserve this win because the Patriots look like they have this wrapped up. You know, J.R., the question I have for you is a lot of people bring up the.500 record of Mike Tomlin every single season.

The guy never falls short of that. Offensive, no pass interference. Right, second and 10.

But it has. Wait, game over. No, I'm saying, like, they're going to get the ball in the games. They didn't call pass interference.

Right, no, I just want to make sure. I'm not far behind. But J.R., Mike Tomlin, the last time he won a Super Bowl was the 2008 NFL season. That's 15 years. That's an eternity in the NFL. And so at what point do Steelers fans get restless with, we're sick and tired of Mike Tomlin always finishing.500 and above and, yes, squeaking into the playoffs. But we have not seen a Super Bowl in 15 years. Now, they got back a couple years later versus the Packers where they forgot to show up in the first half. But I wonder how much that's coming into the equation with Mike Tomlin, because it doesn't seem like he's getting close to a Super Bowl in any time soon. And he hasn't recently either. Well, that's well, a lot of Steeler fans already want him out of there.

I could tell you that. Really? Yes, yes, yes. Want him out?

I can get I get being frustrated, but want the guy out? For who? Who are they going to replace him with? It's a better option. People don't have that answer. But I can I can tell you people and there's enough people in Pittsburgh talk to me. I talk to enough people in Pittsburgh. When I'm in Pittsburgh, you'd be surprised at how many people are just like, I we need a new voice.

And it's just like, do you see what he's done? And the reality is like Mike Tomlin is like any coach. He can't go out there and coach garbage cans and win a championship. The fact is they had Ben Roethlisberger. They don't have Ben Roethlisberger. Ben Roethlisberger started to break down and get hurt, you know, during the end of his time there in Pittsburgh. And now they're a team in transition. And so I'm not necessarily going to pin that on Mike Tomlin.

The fact that this team exists right now at seven and five, they may fall to seven and six. But the fact that they're even above 500 right now is a credit to Mike Tomlin and the fact that a lot of the players or players, let me just say in the general sense, they enjoy playing for him. So I'm not I'm not going to kick Mike Tomlin. No different than I'm not going to kick Bill Belichick, who I think is one of the best football minds that the game has ever seen. But he ain't winning now. And so, I mean, there's so much more that goes into do we keep a coach? Do we get rid of a coach? You know, then did he win a Super Bowl? When is the last time he won a Super Bowl?

Is he a good dude? There's a lot of factors that go in. But for the Steelers, it's one of the reasons I respect them, is that they're not here for, you know, harebrained decisions. They're not going to just hit the button because, you know, the fans are upset, like their team that believes in continuity and they believe in their system. Unfortunately for the Steelers, their system ended up drafting Kenny Pickett. Kenny Pickett is hurt.

The man had surgery, unfortunately for him, on Monday morning to go out there and repair a high ankle sprain that's supposed to help him heal even faster. Well, this is another game. Can't end, excuse me, can't end soon enough. Los Angeles Lakers over the Pelicans 108 to 69. About 30 seconds to go before we reach the fourth quarter.

So I don't know, man. I thought we were going to have some good games. This game stinks. The Pacers game was okay.

And Monday, on Thursday night football is, yeah, it might end up being a close one, but people are just going to complain the rest of the evening about the lack of a pass interference call. Wild stuff. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Before we went to break, we talked about this former Jaguars employee who decided to steal 22 million dollars from the team. And yes, of course, he went ahead and bought any ridiculous thing that you could think of. Well, we know about people buying ridiculous things in the world of sports. In a lot of cases, it's been the Yankees. They're the baseball team that's been able to go out and spend what they want until Steve Cohen came to town in New York. And until a lot of the other teams caught up with the New York Yankees. Until the Yankees got Soto, which they did last night.

And so everybody is thrilled about the outfielder with the 30 plus home run power, the ridiculous 400 on base percentage, 25 years old. He's not a padre. He's a Yankee. And in a lot of cases, the Yankees have thrown money around at players all over the damn place.

Jason Giambi's of the world, the Gary Sanchez's of the world. If you can show up and play like Garrett Cole, who's now getting 36 million dollars a year and is also a Cy Young winner, Yankees will buy anybody except for the trade for Juan Soto does not, did not come with a contract extension. So the New York Yankees are kind of flying by the seat of their pants, hoping that this experience is so good for Juan Soto that he decides to stay and maybe give the Yankees a little bit of a discount. And so their general manager, you won't talk about people getting fired, Shep. A lot of Yankee fans want to dump Brian Cashman. And he basically said, yeah, we acquired Juan Soto, but we also understand he may not be here for the long run. Listen to this.

I haven't had any conversations regarding that. So we understand that he's a pre-emptian at the end of this term. But, you know, we understand that it's a possible short-term situation. Man, the Yankees got a handiup. That's an expensive ass outfield. You got Aaron Judge making 40 million per. Like, what the hell what the hell is Soto going to get? What are the Yankees going to offer Soto? I mean, if you're going to pay Aaron Judge $40 million a year, you automatically just going to tell Soto, you're going to make 42? Like, I can't see that. Shep, that makes sense.

Like, what are you going to, what is, what does Boris say? Hey, you got to pay me $2 million more than what you're already paying Judge? Like, that's, I can see it happening. Right. But that's, that's kind of wild that, okay, now he's a Yankee. So what's going to be the number that keeps him around?

Well, probably less than the Otani thing. But Boris is right. Yeah, right. But Boris is all about getting his guy to free agency. And he's never in the business of giving a hometown discount.

That you know with Scott Boris. Who the hell else is giving this guy a giant deal? Like, let's think about the competitive teams. Like, he's, he's not going, he's not going to play for any of the LA teams, right? He ain't going to the Texas Rangers.

That's not happening. I guess it's really between the New York Yankees and the Mets. And I think the Mets, they, they would be the team that's, oh yeah, yeah, sure, we'll ante up. I just find it hard to believe, and I could be wrong, that just one year after signing his contract and coming up through the New York Yankees system, that it would be so easy just to say, oh yeah, we traded for Juan Soto. Hey Aaron, we going to pay him more than you. It might happen.

It certainly could. Wild stuff that we got going on in the world. Speaking of Aaron Judge, he weighed in on Juan Soto in the trade earlier today. He was on Fox 5 New York, and he said, I don't want to just stop with Soto.

We gots to get more players. Listen to Aaron Judge. We gave up, you know, quite a, quite a few pieces to get him, you know, but he's a, he's a generational talent. You know, he's, you know, his track record is, his stats speak for themselves, and I think everybody, everybody in the Yankee universe is pretty excited to have him on board.

And he left him. We might be seeing some, some, you know, home runs out in right field. Exactly, exactly.

You got to just make sure that he knows you're the captain. We'll be talking. Do you know what I'm saying? Right away, just let, we're excited.

Like you said, we made some big moves, you know, past couple days and looking forward to making a couple more, but it's, it's going to be a fun season, I think. Did they tell you beforehand before it hits the paper? Every now and then, every now and then. I don't want to get you in trouble.

I went to Brian Cashman and I and, and you know, yeah, we don't need any problems this morning. Shep, was that Rosanna Scotto? Sounded like Rosanna Scotto, right? I'm, I'm pretty sure. Yes, she's on that, she's been on that show for a long time.

I don't remember her name. I feel like she's been on Fox 5 since they created it. Right.

I would agree. It's like Mr. G in New York. It seems like that's how long she's been around. Yeah, no, he's been around forever too. No, but Mr. G, Mr. G is not still doing the weather in New York, is he? I'm pretty sure he is. No, he's not. I'm pretty sure he is. Mr. G gotta be retired.

No, I don't think so. What is he doing? One, one day a week? Listen, he can't do five days a week. That Mr. G gotta be in his eighties. I mean, Bob Barker was doing Price is Right till like almost 90. I mean, he was almost like a wax figure. That's not the same. Well, I mean, you gotta know, you gotta know something to do, do the weather, right? Well, you gotta stand up the whole time on Price is Right though in your late eighties.

So, I mean, I'm sure all the other 23 hours where they weren't shooting the show, he was laying on his back. That's, that's fair. That's no, I'm almost positive Mr. G is still doing it. Yeah. Okay. Pop quiz.

You ready? Yes, sir. The hell is Mr. G's name? Irv. Is it? Yeah.

Are you serious? That's his name. Irv what? Where's G come from? I think it's Irv Gekofsky. Yeah, well, that's the G. Right. Oh my God. You are right.

Yeah. Irv Gekofsky. Irv Gekofsky with the weather doesn't have the right ring to it, does it?

No, no, it does not. It's not going to be Mr. I. Mr. G, I guess, sounds better.

It's constant and over a vowel, right? Yeah. Well, and there you have it. You are correct.

And then also, you're also right about this. Mr. G is still alive. No, I know he's still alive.

He's still doing it. Well, I'm not in New York. I ain't watching Pixel 11. Yeah, but you are in, no disrespect to Atlanta. We love Atlanta, but you're a New Yorker, you know, through and through.

You're being disrespectful to me? No, I just, Mr. G is not only alive, but he's still doing, I'm almost positive he's still doing it. He's New York's most popular weatherman. Where is Yolande Vega? I have no idea who that is.

You don't know Yolande Vega? No. I know the Patriots got stopped on third and short, now it's fourth down. You mean to tell me that these idiots got the ball back? Well, the given, well, it was third and short.

The Steelers got the ball back with 15 seconds. Wow. Where the hell are they situated at?

In their own territory on the, what is that? Let me tell you something, this game is so bad, we have spent two minutes on a weatherman in New York and either of us are not even sure if he's still even active doing it, so. Man, you know Yolande Vega from the lottery? I have no idea who that is. I'm Yolande Vega. I don't know who that is, no. Shep, come on. Yeah. You gotta Google that and then you gotta play it on there so we can hear it. Oh, it's you, Yolande Vega?

I'm Yolande Vega. You know what? I got a better chance of winning the lottery than the Pelicans do of coming back on the Lakers in this game. What a blowout and disaster this has been for New Orleans. This is almost 50 points. Am I stupid with math or is this almost 50?

No, no, no, no. It is a 49, oh my God. It's a 50, now it's a 52 point lead with the Austin Reeves III. This is ridiculous. This is a 52 point lead, JR. So what do we do?

Cancel the in-season? I'm sorry, I'm sorry. No, my bad. Now it's 40.

79-119, so it's a 40 point lead. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, we went from fifth, what is that? 20, yeah, 23. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, you're right. 40 point lead.

We both are stupid at math. How about that? No, we just don't anticipate there's going to be a 40 or 50 point blowout in a semi-finals game of an NBA in-season tournament where the Pelicans are healthy for once. Hey, about this, this other ass game is over with. The Patriots beat the Steelers 21 to 18. The Patriots now have three victories and the Steelers fall to, what is it, seven and six. Barely zappy, three touchdowns in the first half. I thought tonight's games, I thought this was supposed to be a fun night. Like even with the football and the two basketball games, but I mean, we got one coach winning and he's like, yeah, I don't care who doesn't like the fact that we're here.

This is just, this is sad. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio. I'm going to try my best not to be sad.

Barely zappy is currently talking to Westwood One. The Patriots beat the Steelers. Pacers go out there and they beat the Bucs in a surprise and the Lakers are putting a beat down here on the Pelicans. We'll talk more about it. We're going to hear from all the players as the night continues on.

It's the JR Sport Reshow on CBS Sports Radio. Don't move. Thank you. Now for tonight's win four number, the first ball out. It's eight the next. It's two the next. It's five and the last. It's one. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

I would rather have Penn State, Michigan, USC, UCLA win the national championship besides Alabama, but I'm glad Georgia beat the breaks off of them and using their intestines as jump ropes for celebration. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. Hey Chef, whatever happened to Dave? Whatever happened to him? That's a good question. Dave, if you're listening, call JR. Yeah, I mean, talking about using intestines as jump ropes and he would get very graphic.

Sometimes he had me concerned, but he's pretty out there. Anyway, NFL Thursday Night Football is a wrap. The New England Patriots beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 21 to 18. The Patriots pick up their third victory.

They are now three and 10. In Pittsburgh, the Steelers, they fall to seven and six. Mitch Trubisky at the helm tonight threw one touchdown, one interception. Bailey Zappi threw three touchdowns. All three of his touchdowns, all those scores were in the first half. I mean, it realistically Patriots didn't score another point after halftime.

Pretty sad, pretty poor, pretty miserable. And then we already talked about this. On the NBA side, the Pacers advanced here. You know, damn it, this game is, man, blowouts really move in the NBA. Lakers beating the Pelicans 122 to 81, a little less than six minutes left in the game. Earlier this evening, the Pacers, they beat the Bucs 128 to 119. And the expectation was that the Bucs were going to take care of the young, you know, Pacers team, but the Pacers get up and down the court, up and down the floor. And I believe the bench players for the Pacers had 43 points. Meanwhile, the Bucs couldn't muster more than 13 off of their own bench. And so this was a big surprise for the Milwaukee Bucs. Giannis with 37, Damian Lillard with 24.

And this is worth noting. Bobby Portis had four points. Bobby Portis on the season is averaging about 11 and 12.6 rebounds and an assist coming off the bench. Not bad for your backup forward, right?

Not all that bad. It's being reported by Chris Haynes that Bobby Portis passionately challenged head coach Adrian Griffin, first year head coach, and teammates in the locker room after being eliminated by the Pacers in the end season tournament. Is it that serious? I mean, you beefing with the rest of the bench? Are you beefing with yourself?

Is this a culmination of multiple things? Like the Milwaukee Bucs, Damian Lillard just got there. I wonder what's going on behind the scenes that's making Bobby Portis, you know, stream from the mountaintops as the motivating factor of reason. I mean, one of Bobby Portis' biggest moments was punching one of his teammates in the face and breaking his face. I don't know if I want to listen to Bobby Portis try to motivate me. Meanwhile, Adrian Griffin is a first year head coach and he's, you know, is he having his power challenged?

We'll see. 855-212-4CBS. We got Chris calling from Toronto. You're on the JR Sport. Show us up, Chris.

How are you, buddy? Great show, as always. Let me say, I love to listen. I wanted to talk about this Jon Rahm thing to the Live tour. You know, if I was the commissioner of the PGA Tour, I would be extremely concerned. You know, obviously Jon Rahm jumping, you know, he's either number one or was number one. Number three, number three right now.

Number three, but that's not really the big part of it. The big part of it is this continuous guaranteed money that keeps getting thrown in these guys' faces and they're having a really hard time saying no to it because don't remember when Live first started, Jon Rahm and Macklemore were one of the two guys that were the expressed the most venom towards it, you know, and now he, you know, it's hard to turn down 300. Was it $300 million guaranteed money? I think it is, right?

Is that what he got? So, I mean, if they keep throwing guaranteed money at these guys, who are the next guys to leave? And then what becomes of the PGA Tour after that? Just a bit of a stomping ground for guys to prove themselves before the Live guys come and give them this guaranteed money. The only question I have though is, like, not all those guys are getting all guaranteed money, correct? Or is everybody that you see on that? I think that everybody who signs with Live, you're going to know what you're going to make. I don't think there's any debate about that.

No, but I mean, like, I haven't watched it too much because I got to be honest with you. I love golf. I just, I love the PGA format better than whatever this team thing is and everybody wearing, first of all, the shorts part throws me off, but I mean, even those guys, like, even those guys, those names that you don't really recognize, are those guys also getting guaranteed money or are they just part of the team and then they get the money when they win? I believe they're getting some form of guaranteed money.

Is it going to be to the same extent? I don't think so, but I think there was going to be a set amount of money because let's be real, you out on the PGA tour. It's not, ain't no set amount of money there that you're going to participate.

It's some rough going unless you're finishing at the top, you know. Hundred percent, which makes it so problematic for the PGA tour because now you have to compete with guaranteed money now for everybody on that list and the guys who are the guys you really want, the big names, they're getting crazy guaranteed money. And where are they supposed to get this money to go to more sponsors like the Waste Management and Rolex and these guys and say, you got to fork over more money? Well, I think what we all have to wait on is what is a potential merger going to look like? We know Liv, PIF or SIF, Saudi Investment Fund, we know that they're the ones who come in with the money and the PGA is the one who comes with the experience of actually running the tour. And so let's see if the deal goes down. It's interesting timing that Rom would sign the deal right now when they've been working on a merger. But you never know when you have two gigantic entities like this and then, you know, SIF is certainly not even just a large entity. It's a foreign one to the United States of America. There's going to be a lot of scrutiny.

It wouldn't surprise me if the deal does not go forward and then we still are left with the PGA and a Liv. Hey, Chris, thank you for calling from Toronto, man. Bro, you have an amazing show. Keep it going. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Appreciate you. Hey, listen, a great caller from Toronto. Let's go from somewhere very cold to somewhere pretty warm and comfortable. Dave is here from Miami, the home of Art Basel. You're on CBS Sports Radio. What's up?

What's going on, JR? How are you? I'm good.

How's it going in the ATL? It's fine. You know, I didn't step over a crack. I didn't break nothing. I didn't get robbed. I'm good.

I sure don't miss New York, man. I got to say that first off. First off, anyway. Did you hear that? Yeah, yeah. No, getting a Hunter & Hunter chant.

Oh, what's going on, Dave? I missed it. You can have that cold, bro. You can have it. Get your mittens on and everything, all right? So enjoy yourself out there.

I appreciate that. But no one wants the cold. We want the smoke, and we want Miami, man.

Yeah, the smoke, yeah. Anyway, I just want to talk about Los Angeles basketball, the two sides of it. Do you see the Lakers winning the cup, number one?

And number two, is there any truth to the rumor that Russia Westbrook from the Hollywood Fakers is going to Miami? That's all I got for you, JR. Thanks. Okay. Well, thank you, Dave, for calling from Miami.

Well, I remember the second question. I don't see Russell Westbrook going to Miami. I mean, they barely pay the dude anymore. He's now coming off of the bench in Los Angeles. They've chopped his minutes down. Does Miami want him? Does anybody else on the team want him?

What, to show up and chuck shots? And we're seeing the end of a couple of point guards, right? Russell Westbrook, I'd be surprised if he goes on the up and up, and it's the same for Chris Paul. Now, strained his calf and had to miss a couple of days. I know he came back, but let's be honest, man. Chris Paul, best days are behind him. Same thing for Russell Westbrook.

855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS. We are going to take a break. When we come back on the other side of the break, we're going to hear some of the football from tonight. Yeah, the exciting matchup between the Patriots and the Steelers.

And then also, the Lakers might have already advanced by then to the finals of the in-season tournament. We'll talk about it all. It's the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. Man, I have all the respect for you. First of all, JR, I appreciate you bringing the truth every night. I listen to you on my way back from work at this time. Big fan, I just started listening to your show a few months ago, and I'm hooked, man. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. Yeah, I'm glad you hooked on this show.

There are worse things you could be hooked on. It is the JR Sport Brief Show on CBS Sports Radio, 855-212-4CBS. The NBA in-season tournament, the final is set.

It's going to go down on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on national television, broadcast TV on ABC, as the Pacers will take on the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers just smashed the Pelicans. The final score there, 133-89. LeBron James had 30 points in 23 minutes.

Yeah, the ageless one. I mean, he's going to be playing at a high level, I guess, forever. And so LeBron James knows everybody's looking forward to seeing him play on Saturday. No, it is not the Milwaukee Bucks, but LeBron James, he did speak with Allie La Force on TNT after the victory, and this is how that conversation went.

Ron, 38 and still great. That was your stat line for today. How'd you put your team in a position to succeed like always to start this one? We got to defend. I think we came out with a defensive mindset, and when we defend, we're going to give ourselves a good chance to win any ball game. You and Anthony Davis all season have been trying to emphasize to this team, it doesn't matter what the score is, every single possession matters. Did you see that tonight?

I think so. I think we're continuing to get better, but the most important thing, we continue to get healthy. And as we get healthy, we get our length back. Guys are buying into what we want to do defensively. We're helping each other with sharing the ball offensively, and we're just playing Laker basketball right now. When it comes to another championship experience this time on Saturday, what are you most looking forward to? I mean, listen, it's still December, so I'm not getting too crazy about the whole thing. I understand this thing has been great in season tournament, but it's still December. But it is another game for us to get better, and we want to try to win the game because we're a team that wants to get better every single game.

We go out there every quarter, every possession, so we had another opportunity to do that. LeBron James is trying to stay away from any, just any type of insinuation that I'm going to be happy with this, even though it's not another championship. He wants nothing to do with it. He's like, yeah, I'll take the championship, the in-season championship, but people are going to run with this if I say I'm looking forward to winning it.

So he just avoided it. 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS. That's 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS. Meanwhile, we know that the Steelers, they took an L tonight, losing to the New England Patriots and Bailey Zappi, who just got dragged off of the bench and just said, hey, here's three touchdowns to start the game. 21 to 18, the Steelers, they end up losers against the New England Patriots. 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS.

How about this? I think that this call, I think I know where it might go. We're going to Pittsburgh and we're talking to Troy. You're on CBS Sports Radio.

Go ahead, Troy. What's up, JR? How you doing, man? I'm excellent. What's on your mind?

Depression, for sure. Leaving this game, this offense is just inept. The quarterback play that we've had all season is inept. The control of the team, the product that they're putting on the field is unlike Steelers football.

It's something we haven't seen in a really long time around here. I'm always a Mike T guy. I've been a Mike T guy my entire life. I do believe the moment that Mike T has gone from our team, every other team that's looking for a coach will be in line to get him.

Like I said, I think he's a great leader of men. I've always had his back, but there are some fire offenses that are finally happening in Pittsburgh. Two 2-10 football teams on a playoff stretch making terrible in-game decisions, whether it comes to not challenging the right play or challenging the wrong play, calling timeouts when timeouts are not supposed to be used.

Whether you have an offensive coordinator or a defensive coordinator, when you have a coach like Mike Tomlin, he has overall say, especially like he likes to say in the weighty moments. In the weighty moments, we have not been making good decisions. Fourth and one from the goal line on the second drive with the Cardinals last week, we run a draw at a shotgun. We have fourth and one two or three times tonight. We do the QB sneak and we get it. Why don't we do that last week? Canada was terrible, but I think we're beginning to see the untimely get the boot of a franchise. Okay, well thank you Troy for calling from Pittsburgh.

Thank you so much. Yeah, well he's calling from Pittsburgh. He's watching every single game, every single play, every single snap. I'm like, bro, I didn't see everything from last week because I'm not going to turn on the Steelers to see them suffer through trying to steal the ball. I'm like, to see them suffer through trying to score points, that's that's not my MO. And yeah, people have been calling for Mike Tomlin to get the boot anytime the Steelers come across is just okay, but let me know when they have a quarterback.

That's it, it's really that simple. Until they have another solid set quarterback, I'm not expecting nothing from them. You got Mike Tomlin on a week-to-week basis, not now obviously because he's out with a high ankle sprain, but Mike Tomlin has to come out and constantly defend Kenny Pickett, so much so that it's it's not about his stats, his numbers, his efficiency. It's about what he's been able to do late in games.

But how special was it? Man, he don't pass the eye test. 8-5-5-2-1-2 for CBS. That's 8-5-5-2-1-2 for CBS. As a matter of fact, you mentioned Mike Tomlin. Here's Mike Tomlin. This is what Mike Tomlin had to say, and this is how he sounded after the loss. Disappointed outcome, you know, a lot to work on, but in terms of how the game unfolded, thought the significant difference, they got seven points off of their turnover. On the short field, we got zero off of ours, and so that's the difference in the game. And usually it is the turnover component and your ability to support each other on the other side of it, or inability, and that was the difference in the game in terms of the outcome, so that's disappointing. From a health standpoint, Alex Highsmith wasn't able to return.

He's got a neck injury of some description. I have more information for you. Obviously, the next time we come together, compliment those guys. They made the necessary plays. We didn't.

I thought we thought in the second half, but to come up short on the turnover in terms of the points is the difference in the game. Questions? Oh, okay. Were there any questions? I mean, he said a whole hell of a lot there.

He said a whole lot of nothing. I think Mike Tomlin just wants to go home and go to sleep, and why not after tonight's game? Why not after this season? 855-2124 CBS. Lucas is calling from Maryland. What's up, Lucas? Hey, thanks for taking my call. Die-hard Steelers fan.

I'm 51 years old. Still a big Mike Tomlin guy. I think he coaches so well that we won't ever get a good draft pick, and like what you were saying about before, like I don't think we have a quarterback in the room right now, so we'll keep on doing this nine and eight and ten and seven thing where we go to the playoffs, we just miss the playoffs, and we'll consistently just be average, and the biggest thing is that to lose the two teams that have two wins back to back at home, I mean, like the gentleman who was calling before, I'm very depressed. Like I'm just, I needed to get this off my chest. I'm just very depressed right now. Damn, it's Thursday night? Well, yeah, it's Thursday night, dude. We need to give away some hugs, man.

That's sad. Yeah, I do. I would like a hug.

That'd be nice. I'm very depressed right now. I don't know what to say. All right. Well, you sound like you're driving. Drive safe, okay? All right, thanks.

All right, no doubt, man. Yeah, be careful of the, what do they call that thing? The road rage. People are nuts.

People will get out their cars and whoop your ass. We don't need that. Oscar's here from Arizona. Go ahead, Oscar, quickly.

Diehard Raiders fan here. I hear all these feelings calling for Tom and Ted. I'm sorry, but I'll take Tom and the heartbeat. I love Antonio Pearson, what he's doing, but Tomlin has proven I'll take him any day, any minute you give him to me. He'd turn this franchise around in a heartbeat. Okay. Well, thank you, Oscar, for calling here in Arizona.

Yeah, people love playing for Mike Tomlin, but he, like every other coach in the NFL, if he wants to have and find success, find success, you have to just keep on rolling, man. That's it. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. I got to, damn it, I got to keep on rolling as we pull up on this break. When we come back on the other side, I'm going to continue talking about this deal. Let's continue my thoughts on Mike Tomlin, continue talking about this NBA end-season tournament. We got so much to do. As Charles Barkley sits on the screen in front of me, and I think the ESPN set is right next to them, who cares about ESPN basketball? They don't ever say anything worth a damn.

Anyway, 855-212-4CBS. Talk some basketball, talk about this crap football game. It's Thursday night. Everybody's depressed. Cheer up, Steeler fans. Be happy.

It's the chair on sport re-show on CBS Sports Radio. I'm Snoop Dogg, and I'm giving up smoke. I know what you're thinking. Snoop, smoke is kind of your whole thing, but I'm done with it. I'm done with the coffin and my clothes smelling all funky. I'm going smokeless. Solo Stove Fix 5. They took out the smoke. Now you can have a nice blaze without any clouds ruining your day. Go smokeless. Go to solostove.com.

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