1.5.24 - JR SportBrief Hour 2

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I get started now if you haven't figured it out. It's 6 p.m. Eastern time. Three Pacific.

Super producer and host Ryan Hickey. He's holding it down for us in New York City. I wish you nothing but good vibes wherever you're at. You could be in your vehicle.

You could be in the road, in the sky, in the airport, at home, at work. Whatever you're doing, thank you for listening to CBS Sports Radio. I'll be hanging out here with you for three hours. It's a four hour show.

One hour's in the books. Thank you to everybody who called up in the first hour of the show as we had an opportunity to take a quick recap of the 2023 NFL season. We're entering into the final weekend of it before we get to the playoffs next Saturday. We talked about the Steelers and in their hopes of getting into the postseason. We talked about Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars. Showed that Trevor Lawrence may not play.

I think it's going to come down to the wire. I'd be shocked if he doesn't go out there and suit up. As of right now, Trevor Lawrence is listed as questionable. And it's like, listen, man, it's not my shoulder.

It's not my body. But I will assume that Trevor Lawrence is going to go out there unless he absolutely cannot throw a ball and the team decides to rule him out. We have so much more to do as the show continues on. In the next hour, I'm going to spend some time talking about Monday night's national championship game between Michigan and Washington.

I really want to take some time to highlight Michael Penix Jr. We hear so much about the Caleb Williams and the maze of the world that Penix Jr. is finally starting to be highlighted right now. And so we'll get into that next hour. And about 15 minutes from now or so, we're going to have a conversation with Brandon Scott. Shout out to everybody holding it down in Houston on 610 of the loop. That's Brandon knows everything about the Texans. And I want to take a look at them because they are another team that you just have to go, wait a minute, how in the hell are they potentially staring a postseason birth in the face with a rookie quarterback? I don't think anyone could have reasonably predicted or expected this from the Texans. So Brandon Scott from 610 down in Houston is going to join us in about 20 minutes or so.

But I do want to get into this because this is the granddaddy of them all. And it's Miami versus the Bills. But before I do that, I need to let you know that you can stream the NFL on Westwood One for free. Sponsored by AutoZone. All season long, you can listen to every Westwood One broadcast of the NFL live on the NFL app by asking Alexa to open Westwood One Sports or on the Odyssey app. Get in the zone, AutoZone.

AutoZone's free battery testing and charging is available for free at your local AutoZone. Get in the zone, AutoZone. Restrictions apply. Sunday night's going to roll around. We're going to know where some of these other NFL teams stand. We'll get through the games tomorrow with the Steelers and the Ravens and what have you. And then we'll go through Sunday's games. The Jets and the Patriots will play for no apparent reason. Maybe it'll be the last Belichick game that he leads the Patriots.

And then we get to Sunday night. Bills. Dolphins. This game has wide-ranging implications. For the Miami Dolphins, if they win, the Miami Dolphins go into the postseason as the number two seed in the AFC. If the Miami Dolphins lose, they can fall down to the sixth spot. They can have multiple home playoff games if they advance, or they could be road warriors playing away from Miami. And for the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Bills can win. They can secure the AFC East and the number two seed. And if the Buffalo Bills lose, they might lose the opportunity or flat period to make it to the postseason at all.

And so some of those implications and ramifications will be known by the time we get to the game. But it's real simple for Buffalo. You win and you're in. It's really that simple.

It's brass tacks. You can throw away what happens to any other team. You win and you are in. Josh Allen, who went through a stretch earlier this year where he's just turning the ball over to the other team like they were paying him. They're on the roll right now. Four straight victories for the Buffalo Bills. They just beat those sorry-ass Patriots 27 to 21.

And Josh Allen spoke to the media and he made it very clear. He's just like, uh, yeah, this is a playoff game for us. In our minds, it's a must-win game. You know, we gotta, we gotta go get this done. And there's a hungry team, a team that's really good. It's played very well throughout the season standing in front of us. So we gotta do whatever we can.

Yeah, we gotta do whatever we can. Yeah, they're hungry. Are the Dolphins going to be as hungry?

The Dolphins, and we talked about some of the disasters that they've had to experience throughout just the course of the week. There's not going to be an Xavian Howard out there. We know there's not going to be a Phillips. He got hurt on that turf in New York on Black Friday. We're not going to see Chubb. We got Jalen Waddles who's hurt.

I mean, Tarik Hill, God bless him. He's back to work after the fire at his house and even Tua, he's going to be fine. He's not going to be hurt. Tua, he's going to be fine.

He's not dealing with a shoulder injury to the extent of Trevor Lawrence. This might be a little bit of an uphill climb for the Miami Dolphins. And the other thing about this is, this is going to have potential wide ranging implications for Tua Tonga Veloa just flat and period. The Dolphins picked up his fifth year option and we had a caller hit us up about this last night.

And unfortunately, we had so much going on, we couldn't really dive into it. Like Tua has been playing for his future. Tua has been playing for his career.

He's been playing for his next contract this entire season. Because let's not forget, almost all of his career, even leaving out of Alabama, people looked at Tua Tonga Veloa and said, oh, he got a busted up hip. Is he going to last in the NFL? Well, he's kind of small. Is he going to last in the NFL?

He got banged around and then he was concussed and he was knocked silly last year. So much so, let's remember this, Tua Tonga Veloa said he had to entertain retirement. I'm not going to forget this from last summer, where Tua said, yes, it was a consideration. But ultimately, I decided to come back.

Do you remember this? Listen, I considered it, you know, for a time, having sat down with my family, having sat down with my wife and having those kind of kind of conversations. But really, it would be hard for me to walk away from this game with how old I am, with I mean, with my son. I always dreamed of growing, you know, playing as long as I could to where my son knew exactly what, you know, he was watching his dad do. And yeah, I mean, it's my health, it's my body, you know, and I feel like this is what's best for me and my family. So, I mean, I love the game of football.

If I didn't, I would have quit a long time. And he played his ass off this year. There was a point in time where people were looking at Tua Tangaveloa and said, oh, he's MVP candidate. And then a couple of weeks ago, and it shows you how fast things can change during the course of an NFL season, Tua Tangaveloa had to defend himself with no Tyreek Hill. Tua Tangaveloa having to let everybody know that, yeah, I'm good as the guys.

I'm only as good as the guys that are around me, but I'm not trash myself, OK? And yeah, this year, Tua Tangaveloa leading the NFL when it comes down to passing yards. 4,400 yards he's passed for.

He's fourth in passing touchdowns with 28. Tua Tangaveloa hasn't had a crap year. So the Miami Dolphins have taken the approach heading into this season of, let's see if Tua stays healthy before we give him a new contract. I think it goes without saying that Tua's going to get paid.

Somebody called the same dude last night. He's just like, oh, well, where could Tua go? I'm like, man, let's not even do that. Why in the hell would the Miami Dolphins, I don't care if they win on Sunday night or they lose and they fall into the sixth seat. I don't care if they get wiped out in the playoffs. What's your option?

What, are you just going to start flat and new? You can't. You can't, you're pretty much tethered to Tua Tangaveloa and you have to pay him. Are you going to give him one of these $50 million, $52 million deals?

Hell no. But you got to pay this man to move forward. I mean, someone who does seem like he likes him a hell of a lot is the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. That's Mike McDaniel. He was on Sirius XM NFL radio recently and he talked about Tua and his growth and how much he appreciates him.

Listen to this. You're watching a guy become a professional right in front of your eyes. You know, when it clicks, then all of a sudden they're like, all right, their deliberate nature of how they go about their day-to-day process, how they're ready and prepared for everyone knowing that they're in charge of the ball every single play. He's owned that. And so that's what I'm most excited about because there's, you know, no one sheds a tear for that, that high draft pick that you have no empathy for. But that is real.

Like I didn't, you know, that's a lot of pressure. And he is, he is in all of the noise, firmly not worried about anything, but how can he be his best version of himself every day? Uh, I know one thing, Mike McDaniel isn't going anywhere. And it sounds like if Mike McDaniel had a choice and I think he does have a choice.

He does have a voice most definitely. Tua Tagovailoa isn't going nowhere. It's just a matter of how much they decide to pay him and how much he decides to take because he's not leaving. He's not going nowhere.

He's proven himself this season. I think the dolphins are in such a space where they quote unquote, got to run it back except for this time where at least next year, they hope that they are healthy by the time they get into the post season. I mean, it ain't no, no stroke of luck just to have a record of 11 and five. Unfortunately, they're just busted up at the wrong part of the season. And so as we move towards Sunday night's game and Sunday night's matchup, I'm going to lean towards the Bills. You know, I wasn't screaming and hollering. The Bills have dealt with their own injuries.

Tredavious White, et cetera. We probably going to see the end of Hyde and Poirier together this season might be the last that they're together. I wasn't I wasn't screaming at the Bills are done or that they're cooked. This has been a story in a case for Josh Allen since he came out of college. He's turnover prone.

Yeah, he can go out there and have Superman syndrome needing to do everything and put on the cape. Bills are going to be OK. The Ravens are the cream of the crop.

Everybody else is kind of just in the mix. Are the Browns going to surprise people with Joe Flacco or is Joe Flacco going to be back home on his couch? In a couple of weeks, are the Buffalo Bills going to go on a run? Are they going to have an exciting game with the Kansas City Chiefs or are the Bills going to even make the postseason? The Dolphins are going to go, but are they going to have to go onto the road hurt and wounded and busted up? We have no idea.

I'm going to select and I'm going to choose. The Buffalo Bills to win this game on the road. I think the Dolphins just just have too much to overcome. And sure, they're the home team.

They can go out there and do it. Is Tyreek Hill going to have a 200 yard receiving game? Possibly he's a threat for that. Anytime he touches the ball, he can take it to the house. But with injuries to waddle and chub out, and I didn't even mention Raheem Moster dealing with the knee and the ankle. The man leads the NFL in touchdowns with 18. Two, I don't know the extent of his shoulder injury.

I'm sure they're going to shoot him up with something. I always thought even before the injuries that the Dolphins would run out of steam by the time it got cold, by the time they had to compete. And damn it, they couldn't even get to the postseason before they got ran and run down. God bless Tuatanga Veloa for making it through the season. There was no guarantee that he was going to do so. You just heard the clip, Tuatanga Veloa contemplated retirement. Tuatanga Veloa getting just praise from his head coach, Mike McDaniel.

And even this, I remember this before the season started. I mean, Tuatanga Veloa, Tyreek Hill is just like, oh, yeah, yeah, Patrick McDaniel. Yeah, Patrick Mahomes, his arm is crazy. But Tuatanga Veloa is better than him when it comes to accuracy.

Like this is from, this is from his own podcast. Needed to be said, listen to Tyreek Hill. Tuatanga is that deal, bro. He has an arm. He, bro, he has a heck of an arm, bro.

He's accurate. He can throw the deep ball. Tuatanga or Patrick Mahomes, obviously, like I'm going to go with one five as the strongest arm, but as far as accuracy wise, I'm going with Tuatanga all day. Tuatanga is getting bigged up by everybody. He ain't going anywhere. So for the guy who called me last night and is just like, oh, JR, where's Tuatanga? Tuatanga is not going anywhere. Just what they pay him.

I assume he's going to get something in that 45-ish range. But the Dolphins this season, this postseason, I'm afraid that they're not going anywhere either. I could be wrong. Of course, I'm not a magician.

I'm not Miss Cleo. I'm not a psychic. I got the Buffalo Bills winning on Sunday night. I got the Miami Dolphins having a goal into the playoffs on the road, not home game, but on the road. And I think the Dolphins at this point, they're just the walking wounded. I think they have ran, run out of gas. At least two will get paid, though.

I think that'll be a certainty. It's the JR Sportbree Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We're going to take a break. When we come back on the other side, we're going to talk about a team that, damn it, I can't believe that they might make the postseason. We come back. We're going to talk to Brandon Scott from 610 down in Houston to talk about these Texans, CJ Stroud, D'Amico Ryans, and how the hell this team ended up being nine and seven with an opportunity to make the postseason. We're going to talk some Texans football on the other side. Who would have thought that in January?

It's the JR Sportbree Show here on CBS Sports Radio. It took forever. And the worst part? Hidden fees.

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Rules and restrictions may apply. You're listening to the JR Sportbree on CBS Sports Radio. It is the JR Sportbree Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. I want to let you know, you should definitely think O'Reilly Auto Parts for all your car care needs.

Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. You know, we know this is the final game, the final weekend of the NFL regular season. A lot of teams playing with playoff implications.

We talked about quite a few of them. We know the Steelers are going to get things going tomorrow as they take on a Ravens team that's going to be resting towards the postseason. And then on the nightcap tomorrow, this is a little bit of a surprise to even say the Houston Texans are going to take on the Indianapolis Colts.

And it's real simple. The winner clinches a playoff berth. And that's they win the AFC South. That's if Jacksonville loses.

But even for Houston to be in this spot is a big old shock. So to talk about it, what's taking place this season, what's going on right now, what is or could potentially happen into the future? It's time to have a conversation with Brandon Scott from Sports Radio 610 down in Houston. Hey, Brandon, how are you? Thank you for taking the time to hop on. Hey, I'm doing well.

Thanks for having me, man. Absolutely. Now, I guess the first question is, who in Houston thought that the Texans would be in this position, this spot today? Tell me, who is it?

I need to know because I need to ask them lottery numbers. Yeah, yeah. J.R., I'd be lying to you if I said it was me. And I can tell you, even the most pie in the sky, optimistic Texans fans wouldn't have had them winning nine games and wouldn't have had the final game of the regular season be a do or die moment with an opportunity to go to the playoffs.

So I would say close to no one. Maybe there was someone out there, but it's somebody that, you know, on the radio interacts with people on social media, online, in person, when we do our remote shows, there was some optimism. Don't get me wrong, J.R., there was some optimism and a buzz about the Nico Ryan coming in as the head coach. He played here.

He's very trusted here, well respected, well known around the area. And so there was some excitement with that. And C.J. Stroud, the number two overall picket quarterback, I think there was a buzz and an excitement about the newness of the team. I would say this myself, like the newness of the team was very exciting and interesting with the optimism to the level of, hey, this could be a team that's playing in the playoffs or at least at the end of the season playing with a game to go to the playoffs. I don't think too many people thought that.

Not at all. Brandon Scott is here with us. Sports Radio 610 down in Houston. So we know that C.J. Stroud, especially during last year's draft, he was said to have been the consolation prize. And we all know what the hell is going on in Carolina.

There doesn't appear to be a lot of certainties there. So we know about Stroud and has the opportunity to pass for 4000 yards, have one of the best rookie passing seasons ever. What else has taken place with the Houston Texans that America is not familiar with? Well, I would I would agree with you about Stroud being being someone that everyone knew. But I think on the point about Stroud that I'd make is just that I don't think we gave enough credit to or perhaps just did not know to the degree or level of how of how well he would make decisions and how accurate he would be as a rookie.

Like his player profile, C.J. Stroud's scouting profile would tell you that he's an accurate quarterback. Watching him at Ohio State would tell you that he was an accurate quarterback and obviously had a tremendous amount of success.

But the thing I don't think we could have projected or predicted about C.J. Stroud as a rookie was that he would be someone that would as far as decision making. The biggest thing about playing quarterback or what decision making and accuracy, right? Well, we knew his accuracy was on point, but it was hard to know what predicted his decision making would be advanced for rookie.

And so that's one thing that's been a revelation about C.J. Stroud on top of the fact that his accuracy has stayed true to the scouting report. He's a really accurate quarterback on top of the really good decision making. And he likes big plays. He wants to stretch the ball downfield. You look at you talk about this offense. It is not a dig and dunk operation. This is a top seven, really a top seven passing offense right now in the NFL.

And they are not digging and ducking. They are stretching the ball downfield. And that is something that I would say the Texans fans and people who are observing the Texans are probably not used to, especially over the last few years. And then I will point out D'Amico Ryan. So I mentioned earlier, you know, it's hard to know, J.R., who's going to be a good head coach before they've ever done it, a first time head coach.

You know, it's probably even more difficult to predict than a quarterback. But D'Amico Ryan has been every bit as good as the folks who were optimistic about him becoming the head coach thought he would be. So I would I would say that the Texans are better in so many areas this season because they have upgraded so much in the head coach and quarterback area. And we understand how how important it is to a team's success.

Brandon Scott here with us from Sports Radio 610 in Houston, Texas, the Texans getting ready to take on the Colts, trying to bolster their chance to get into the postseason. When you take a look at the defense that we know, CJ Stroud wasn't the only dude selected out of the draft. We know Will Anderson was right there. And I know he's dealing with an ankle injury.

We also have the same thing with Jonathan Grenard. He's he's already been ruled out. What do you think this game is going to look like tomorrow night against the Colts? Yeah, well, so like you mentioned, Jonathan Grenard, who is their lead pass rusher, at least in terms of sacks, their double digit sack guy, is not going to play in the game. I know earlier in the week there was some optimism that he that he might be able to give it a go with Will Anderson. Keep in mind that he was he played in the last game and had a couple of sacks, but he had a snap count, a limited snap count, only played 12 snaps.

What made the most of it was was really close to dominant in the 12 snaps that he played. So I think it's going to look similar to that in terms of personnel. They are going to have you know, there was a fear because all four of their starting defensive linemen were on the injury report. What it looks like three of them are going to play.

And then minus Jonathan Grenard. So so I think that, you know, Texas fans feel good about especially given how the health situation is put out for the team overall throughout the year, feeling pretty good about the way the health looks like going into this game. But man, I'm expecting it to be a really interesting game of strength of the Colts who have Jonathan Taylor, who's one of the very best players in the entire NFL, whether he's having a great year or not, like he's a guy who can totally take over a game versus the Texas defense, where you talk about things that are different now. They're rushing defense is one of the very best in the NFL after being one of the worst over the last few years.

So what is one of the top Russian defenses do against one of the better running backs in all of football? And then obviously C.J. Stroud, I think Texas fans are expecting based on the way that C.J. Stroud has played this season when he's been healthy and when he's been out there, they are expecting him to outplay Gardner Minshew, despite the fact that the Colts won this game in week two.

It felt like totally different teams and totally different experiences back then when that game was played in September. So that's the feel around here, J.R. Well, Brandon, they're going to be a lot of people tuning into this game tomorrow who haven't seen a Houston Texans game all season long, but certainly know the storylines and what they've been able to do. Is there a player or are there multiple players that everybody listening should pay attention to tomorrow that they might not be familiar with? Well, on the defensive side, I would say, since we've already talked about Will Anderson, I would say pay attention to Derek Stingley Jr.. This is a guy who was highly motivated. He was the number three overall pick by the Texans in 2022.

If you remember, J.R., and everybody out here does. He was selected one spot ahead of sauce. Gardner was an all pro and a pro bowler. His rookie year is named a pro bowler again in his second season. The feeling has been, I think, league wide, but certainly in a lot of pockets is that the, you know, the Texans got that pick wrong.

You know, they should have picked the all pro and sauce. Gardner over Derek Stingley. Meanwhile, Derek Stingley just had issues staying healthy. And when he has been healthy this season, he's been really good, man. He looks like like an all pro, at the very least, Pro Bowl type of quarterback.

When he's out there, he had a period there where he had four interceptions in the course of three games. So this is a really good football player. I think Derek Stingley, he's a quiet guy. He's not going to be a real flashy guy. Someone you're probably going to read or hear a lot about. But he's a really, really good football player.

And I think the nation is going to get a chance to see that. And then I'll throw another name out there. A couple of other names on the offensive side that are like names that, you know, but maybe you didn't realize this is where they were. Dalton Schultz and Devin Singletary. Dalton Schultz, of course, from the Dallas Cowboys in previous years. And Devin Singletary was the running back for the Buffalo Bills that they moved on from.

And, you know, they're with James Cook now. Devin Singletary has quietly had a really good season for the Texans this year, taking over their lead running back job. And Dalton Schultz is one of C.J. Stroud's more reliable pass catching options.

So I would point out those three names. Derek Stingley Jr., the cornerback on the defensive side of the ball, and Dalton Schultz and Devin Singletary on the offensive side. What do you think is going to happen? I mean, are we going to see some Texans in the postseason?

I know we got to wait on some of the other games. And what do they need to do, win or lose, to continue building in the offseason? Yeah, I think that they're going to have to get C.J.

Stroud's more weapons. I mean, you guys are familiar, I'm sure, with Tank Dale. If you play fantasy football, I'm sure you're familiar with the rookie Tank Dale who went down earlier in the season with a broken leg, you know, so or I believe it was a fibula, actually. So he's going to be back, but they're going to need more than I think Tank Dale, Nico Collins and Dalton Schultz as their featured guys. They're going to want to soup up that offense a little bit now that they know that they have a quarterback who plays the way that I described earlier.

Good decision making, elite decision making, you might even say, with elite accuracy. So I think they're going to have to continue to build this offense. One thing that's interesting about them is that they've invested a lot of money in the offensive line, but it's struggled to either play healthy or to either be healthy, stay healthy or to play to the level that I think is the expectation.

Even though Laramie Cumple is a pro bowler again, I think that's something to keep an eye on. But as far as this game, man, I'm expecting the Techs to win. I mean, do they overall have the better team?

You know, they got a top 10 offense, a top 10 defense, or at least a top half defense, whereas, you know, the Colts have neither of those things. And so I'm expecting them to win this game, but certainly they've got to do a lot more to build upon what they've got now to be in that conversation with the Baltimore Ravens, like you were talking about in your earlier segment, the Ravens and where the Dolphins are and teams like that are right now. Well, I know there are going to be a lot of folks in Houston paying close attention to what's going on with them Jaguars. Not necessarily any expectation, but this is where we're at at the end of the season, man.

Pretty wild. I had people calling me over the past couple of years saying that they would not go back to a Houston Texans game, that they were giving up on the Texans until they got things together. And I mean, damn it, things have changed rather quickly here, Brandon. So I'm just happy everybody down in Texas. It's amazing how quickly, and I was writing about this not too long ago, JR, it's amazing how quickly you can flip the script or how succinctly you can do it by just getting your head coaching your quarterback situation correct.

You can flip the script, you're right. Nobody, even after that week two game when they lost to the Colts, nobody was talking about preferring the Texan situation over either the Jaguars or the Colts. They're going to be a sneaky pick to win the AFC South next year. And no one would have thought that. We thought around that time that it was the Jacksonville Jaguars division to run for years because of Trevor Lawrence.

Now that conversation's completely changed. Absolutely. Well, good luck to the Texans tomorrow. Let's see what happens over the weekend.

It would be crazy if they get into the postseason. Either way, this is a successful season for the Houston Texans. Brandon, I appreciate you taking the time to hop on. Where can people follow you and all your good work surrounding Sports Radio 610 and more? Oh, I appreciate that. That Brandon K. Scott on X, formerly Twitter. I'm still getting that right, calling it X, you know.

Mama named it Twitter, I'm going to call it Twitter. But at Brandon K. Scott on X and Sports Radio 610, everything we do there online and of course on the app, on the Odyssey app. Appreciate you for taking the time to hop on, Brandon. I look forward to talking to you into the future. OK, good luck. Appreciate it, man.

No doubt about it. That Brandon Scott joining us from Sports Radio 610 down in Houston, Texas. Texans take on the Colts tomorrow. That's our 8-15 Eastern game. Both teams are sitting at 9 and 7. The winner clinches a playoff berth and wins the AFC South. That's if, if the Jacksonville Jaguars lose to the Tennessee Titans. But we got a lot going on here in the AFC South. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We're going to take a break.

On the other side, I want to talk with our producer Ryan Hickey about this. He happens to be a fan of the Indianapolis Colts. I'm going to get to your calls and then there is another game that has some playoff implications as the Packers get ready to take on the Bears. And how about the Packers in the position that they are in as well?

If you're a fan of the Packers, you have to be in a just a good mood, I would say, at least for now and into the future, especially for where you've been the past few years. The phone lines are open. That's 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. It's the JR Sport Brief Show. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. It's the JR Sport Brief Show here on CBS Sports Radio. I appreciate you.

Yeah, I really do. JR Sport Brief Show, new year, new time slot. I get started every weeknight at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. Thank you so much to Brandon Scott from Sports Radio 610 in Houston, Texas. For joining us to talk about the Houston Texans taking on the Colts tomorrow. Whoever wins has an opportunity to go into the postseason. If the Jacksonville Jaguars go ahead and take that L. Ryan Hickey, I know you're on the opposite side of the spectrum here as you're a fan of the Indians. And I think we briefly touched upon it last night. What do you see happening tomorrow?

Well, of course, JR. I do think the Colts are going to win. Not just the homer opinion, though, I promise. I do think this is a team that will be able to force a turnover to NCJ Stroud, run the ball, and Gardner Minshew will make just enough plays to win the game. Home field advantage to crowd behind them, a little extra juice. They've been a lot better home team than they have been road team. Colts close, they are 27-23, but I do think they beat the Texans. Yeah, I mean, I don't want to put them in the same boat as the Houston Texans from what we thought at the beginning of the season, but this was another team that was supposed to start a rookie quarterback, Anthony Richardson.

There was some debate as to whether or not he would even be ready to do so, and then we know he got hurt as well, with shoulder, head injuries, he was banged up early. Are you surprised that they've been able to have this success with a Gardner Minshew who historically has been rather up and down? Floored.

Absolutely floored. I mean, I think before the year, my win-loss record prediction was 5-12, and I thought I was kind of being generous, to be honest with you. And just Richardson looked good in limited instances, like I said, couldn't say healthy early on, and when he went down, the season's over, and the fact that now here they are in 9-8, or 9-7 I should say, bare minimum, going to finish above.500 with their backup quarterback starting all but one game, or playing I should say, in all but one game, it's incredible.

Shocking, to say the least. Yeah, I'd be shocked even more if we got to look at the Indianapolis Colts in the postseason. We're going to have to wait until Sunday to see what bears fruit or what takes place with the AFC South, the Jaguars, the Colts. Not the Tennessee Titans, we can throw them in the garbage, but obviously the Texans, we got the Colts, and then the Jags trying to battle it out and get into the postseason.

855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS. Dan is calling from Wisconsin, you're on CBS Sports Radio, the JR Sport Reshow, what's up Dan? Yeah, what a year for the Packers, you know, the weird part was the last 10 years it was Super Bowl or bust, so this year we were like, okay, let's watch a rebuild team, and I got to relax, it's like, oh yeah, we're supposed to be in the bottom if we get, let's be one from the bottom and just see how this develops. And all of a sudden this week, we're one game away from making the playoffs, we're the youngest team in the NFL, we have a bunch of draft picks and we don't have to worry about Aaron Rogers' salary, it's just bizarre, because all of us, you know, and it's a 50-50 on the Chicago game, but if they win that game, wow, none of us expected this. Well, I think there's one thing you have to appreciate, and thank you Dan for calling from Wisconsin, if you do go ahead and take a look at the Packers, if they beat the Bears this Sunday, not only do they go to the postseason, but they will have beaten the Bears 10 consecutive times. And so we know this dating back to Aaron Rogers, I know not something that a lot of people want to rehash, because this is now the time in the era of Jordan Love, but the Packers have had the Bears number. We know that, they have been stomping a mud hole in them, Aaron Rogers has been walking off of the field, and Soldier Field, and Lambeau Field, and he's walked away with W's, and Jordan Love has been able to do the same. And now he's going to go out there and look to do the same against the Bears and shut things out. I mean, wouldn't it be kind of wild though, if the Bears kept the Packers out of the postseason?

That'd be kind of wild now, wouldn't it? But Jordan Love has been hot, he's been hotter than fish grease, I mean over the past seven games, the man has thrown 16 touchdowns to only one interception. Packer fans, man, y'all hit the jackpot. Brett Favre, Aaron Rogers, and I'm not going to say that Jordan Love is going to throw for 30 touchdowns every year of his career, but damn, we learn that this dude out of Utah State can actually play, and now we know why Aaron Rogers felt so threatened from the get-go. I mean, even his head coach, Matt LaFleur, he's like, man, throughout the course of the year, Jordan Love keeps getting better, and better, and better. He has notes every week, and we go through them, and I think he's done an awesome job just in terms of his approach, how he prepares, how he gets ready for the game, and it's shown, because he's ready each and every week. Yeah, you never knew what was going to happen, you just heard Dan from Wisconsin, he's like, man, I don't know what we were going to do, and here we are, like, looking the postseason in the face, and the Green Bay Packers, they don't got to worry about anybody else.

It's very, very simple. You win, and you're in, and there is still a small possibility that if they lose, if the Green Bay Packers lose, a whole lot more complicated, but they are not completely eliminated, but don't necessarily go out there and count on that one. I mean, even Justin Fields said, man, it'd be great if we were the ones to help spoil their postseason chances.

Listen to Justin. You know, I think it'd mean a lot to the team, the fans, the city, I think it'd be great. We know that Green Bay's playing for a lot at stake, they're playing for a playoff spot right now, so I just think with kind of all that on the table, I think it'd be a great feeling to end the season off with a win in Lambeau. And Justin Fields trying to end his season right, too. This might be the last time we see Justin Fields in a Bears uniform. I had to watch Justin Fields this past Sunday out at Soldier Field against the Falcons.

They beat the living hell out of them because the Falcons suck. The fans out at Soldier Field were chanting, we want Justin, we want Fields. They don't want him to go anywhere. Obviously everybody at Soldier Field doesn't speak for every fan of the Chicago Bears, but there's a sentiment throughout the locker room and throughout the fan base that they want to keep Justin Fields around. And so, yeah, this might be a throwaway game for the Bears, but if Justin Fields is going to go out, the decision might have already been made, he's going to try to put together a great showing for either the Bears or the next team that decides to pick him up. Even though we know the Bears ain't playing another game after this one, at least for this season, Jordan Love trying to go into the playoffs, he said, man, I'm just happy that this game is going to have a playoff-like atmosphere.

Listen. I think just the opportunity that we have in front of us to win and get in the playoffs, obviously after kind of the year we've had a lot of ups and downs. So I think just putting ourselves in this position, it's awesome and it's obviously a huge game this weekend. The huge games, we know we got a huge game on Monday night, a national championship.

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Visit fairfield.marriot.com to book your stay. Houston, it's going to be the center of the college football world. We got Michigan, Washington playing for the national championship Monday night. The Huskies are going to be throwing that rock around all over the air while the Wolverines are going to try to bully them. They're going to try to win their first championship since in 97. Michigan, four and a half point favorites. A matter of fact, when we come back from break, we're going to talk about that game. We got a lot to do, national championship Monday night. It's the JR Sport Reshow, CBS Sports Radio.

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