1.8.24 JR SportBrief Hour 1

What's that sound? That's the sound of Downy Unstoppable's scent beads going into your washing machine and giving your clothes freshness that lasts all day long.

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Get six times longer lasting freshness plus odor protection with Downy Unstoppable's In-Wash Scent Beads. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here on CBS Sports Radio. Much love to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America. The East Coast, West Coast, Midwest, down south. What's up Canada? I see you out there. Got people listening south of the border as well.

What's up Mexico? And I got friends who listen in Europe. Don't ask me how they listen.

I just know that they do. Because they hit me up about the show. Anyway, I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to our producer holding it down for us tonight in New York City, Jack Stern. And then you. Yeah, you. There is no show without you.

We got a lot to get into here over the next four hours. As I come to you from Atlanta, you can always tune in on the free Odyssey app. That's free.

You can tune in on your local affiliate, Sirius XM Channel 158. And then everybody who has a smart speaker, all they got to do is ask it to play CBS Sports Radio. Today is Black Monday, right? Isn't that what they call it in the NFL? Today is the Monday following the conclusion of the NFL regular season. This is when you get a lot of head coaches who get the boot.

Here in Atlanta, it was only a few minutes after midnight when Arthur Smith was relieved of his duties. And then earlier this morning, we learned that Ron Rivera will no longer be coaching the Washington commanders as well. So we're going to talk about that momentarily and specifically as it relates to the commanders. And about 20 minutes from now, we're going to have a conversation when I know winning him of 106 7 the fan in Washington, D.C. I want to get his thoughts on on what the fans expect. And then this interesting dynamic that new owner, Joshua Harris, is laying forth with the Washington commander.

So we'll talk about that in a second. It's been a busy, busy day. A lot of people haven't paid a lot of attention to the actual football that we're going to get at the end of the week. We got the wildcard weekend starting this coming Saturday. Even today, Draymond Green, who is now back with the Golden State Warriors, let everybody know that he almost quit, almost decided to retire.

Pretty nutty, if you ask me. Tiger Woods, Nike, no longer in any type of relationship after 25 years. We got the college football national championship tonight kicking off in about an hour and 45 minutes between Washington and Michigan. Bill Belichick still has his job for now. Panthers also getting rid of their general manager.

The Bears got to think about their future at quarterback. There's just so much that we're going to get into here over the next four hours. If you want to communicate with me, if you want to talk to me, it's real simple. We got a phone number.

It works. It's 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. Me, I'm also all over the damn place. I am at JR Sport Brief everywhere on social media.

So if you utilize a phone to waste time, to express your opinion to probably no one or a stranger, you can do that. I am at JR Sport Brief. Jack, thank you for taking the time to come through and help us out tonight. I appreciate it.

Yeah, my pleasure. No place I'd rather be than here at 345 Hudson Street watching the national championship game, producing the JR Sport Brief with all this NFL news coming down as well. Let's have a good one, JR. There's nothing else to do. That's all I do is have a good one. Let's get these coaches out of the way because I want to dive into some of the action in the NFL over the weekend. I want to talk about this coming weekend's games and we got all week to go ahead and do that. But let's talk about some of the unfortunate news, I guess, for some of these head coaches who, in all honesty, do you really feel bad for a guy who gets fired and still has millions of dollars coming his way to conclude his contract?

The answer is probably not. You probably don't feel sorry for Arthur Smith. You probably don't feel bad for Ron Rivera. But these franchises, both the Atlanta Falcons and the Washington Commanders, they needed to make some moves. They needed some new blood. In the case of the Washington Commanders, we know that they ended up with new blood by bringing in, or not bringing in, the guy who bought the team. Joshua Harris bought the commanders.

God bless him. He bought the team off of that bum guy, Daniel Snyder, who was at the time one of the worst owners, I think, that we've seen in professional sports here, dare I say, in history. Definitely in the history of the NFL, and definitely he was one of the worst owners in professional sports over the last 25 years. So Joshua Harris comes in.

He brings in Magic Johnson as well as a part of the ownership group. And the writing was on the wall for Ron Rivera, unless Washington had some great success this year with Sam Howell leading the way. That did not take place. The commanders went 4 and 13. They got blasted by the Cowboys yesterday, 38 to 10. No reason to watch that game. Sam Howell threw two interceptions if you actually sat around and watched. And the commanders, it's eight straight losses to end the year.

Eight. Sam Howell is not the guy. We saw Jacoby Percette out there as well. And so Ron Rivera, who basically came on to be the head coach of this team in mop up duty, became the commanders coach in 2020 when they were the football team.

7 and 9, 7 and 10, 8 and 8 and 1. And then this year, 4 and 13. Joshua Harris was not going to stick around for this. A matter of fact, Joshua Harris, he had a press conference earlier today, and he opened up that press conference addressing Ron Rivera and had some some words for him.

Take a listen to this. We've decided to part ways with Ron Rivera. We appreciate Ron's efforts and everything he did for the franchise.

I mean, obviously, he came here during tumultuous time period, the ownership change, and he really added leadership. But clearly, you know, we weren't good enough this year. We didn't get it done on the field. And so we've decided to go into a new direction.

Listen, man, the man has the man, Joshua Harris. He has to fix the football team. He has to fix the stadium or find a place for them to play. You got water pipes burst. It's just a terrible place.

FedEx Field is garbage. They got a lot to do in Washington. Quarterback coach, potentially a general manager.

And who's going to help find all of this? They need a coach. You have no idea what's going to happen with Mayhew, the GM. And so Joshua Harris, I don't want to say he put together like a super committee, but he basically put together a roundtable. Obviously, you got Magic Johnson, a part of the ownership group.

This is kind of nuts. Rick Spielman, who used to run the Minnesota Vikings, he's coming on as an adviser. And then there's another name that shocked the living hell out of everybody who's coming on as an adviser. And his name is Bob Myers. That name sound familiar to you? Bob Myers is the man who helped put together the dynasty, if you want to call them that, of the Golden State Warriors. Well, they suck right now.

And he got out right in time. Four time NBA champion, two time executive of the year in the NBA. What the hell does Bob Myers have to do with football?

Well, I guess it's just about winning. And this is what Joshua Harris had to say in explaining why he's talking with him as an adviser. Bob Myers is a winner. Like, who wouldn't want him on your team trying to help your franchise? He knows how to identify talent. He knows how to build winning franchises, winning cultures.

He's obviously not a football person. He's not been around football, but he's an amazing sports executive. And I'm really happy to have him helping. He'll be around as an adviser to me. He's not going to be involved with X's and O's, but he'll be involved through the search process and beyond. As it relates to the Washington commanders helping us build an amazing franchise, an amazing culture and a winning culture.

Yeah, I would hope he's not involved in X's and O's. Duh. It's like asking me to go outside and build a rocket ship. I can't do it. Man, I couldn't build a car. I know how to drive one. Don't ask me to build it.

Interesting. You can go ahead and unfortunately put Washington in the boat with a lot of NFL teams that have, at this point in time, no idea where they're going. I feel bad for the fans in Washington because they're starting over, man.

Just flattened, period. They got to find an executive to run the team. They may have to find a general manager to construct the team. They need a quarterback. They need a stadium. They got an owner with tons of money. He has experience with the Sixers, the Devils. He got a lot of money.

Owns a soccer club over in Europe. A lot of money. It's going to take some time for Washington to get it together unless they end up like the Texans. We'll talk about the Texans later on in the show. Ron Rivera gone. This man is basically he was a mop man for Daniel Snyder. He was more than a head coach. He was actually the face of the organization. And so Ron Rivera, wherever the hell you go on vacation, it is very well deserved as you have had to deal with a complete blank show through the pandemic.

Starting in the pandemic is when the man got the job. And now Ron Rivera, no longer a head coach of the Washington commanders. And then let's bring it to here in Georgia, because early in the morning after the Falcons got smashed in New Orleans yesterday, it was a fun watch. I was actually rooting for the Falcons to lose.

I'm like, I hope they lose. So they get rid of Arthur Smith. What a jerk I am. Right. Well, they did.

Well, both things happen. The Saints beat them up. Forty eight to seventeen. The Falcons fall to seven and ten. Arthur Smith is fired just after midnight. By the time they came back to Atlanta, it's only like an hour flight. This man, he got the boot.

He met with Arthur Smith, who was up past his bedtime. And then he was told that his services are no longer needed. Just terrible. The quarterback situation here. Awful.

When you have to think about employing. Oh, my God. Just Heinecke to come through and lead the team when he is your relief pitcher. Not too bad. Right.

Of course. And then you also have to think about Desmond Ritter, who was supposed to be the guy this season. I didn't believe in a dude. I didn't see enough last year. So the Falcons don't have a quarterback. The Falcons don't have a head coach. And Arthur Blank, he's starting. He's starting from scratch.

Arthur Blank, his press conference wasn't too long ago. And he said, yeah, we're going to talk to a lot of folks to try to get this right. There is no timetable. The only timetable is to do this correctly.

Take our time. Be thoughtful. Do all the interviews. Be respectful. Make sure we have a full diverse slate of candidates that we're considering in every way.

And give each and every one of them an opportunity to express their vision for our football team, for our franchise, for the roster and where we are and where we expect to go. Let me tell you something. Arthur Smith has a lot of patience. This man typically might hold on a little too long. He has an affinity for the people that he pays.

He is a good dude. He's not one of these jerk NFL owners, despite having that mustache, which makes him look like a cartoon villain. But besides that, whoever becomes the Falcons head coach? Well, let's figure out what the Falcons do at quarterback. And hopefully the next dude is smart enough to hand the ball to Bijan Robinson, Tyler Algier, Cordell Patterson. Maybe the next dude is smart enough to say, hey, throw it to that big old tight end in Kyle Pitts and make sure Drake London gets some touches as well. A lot of ridiculous play calls, I guess, trying to be too cute by Arthur Smith.

But what do I know? I'm just a guy on my couch or a dude in the stands watching him try to lead a football team. Something that he won't do any longer. And I won't shed a tear for Arthur Smith because he happens to be the son of the person who runs and founded FedEx. So I don't think Arthur Smith is going to be hurting for cash as he looks for his next job likely on a beach or likely as an offensive coordinator into the future. And then Bill Belichick? We'll talk about Bill Belichick. Because as of like right now, this minute, this second, Bill Belichick is still the head coach of the New England Patriots. That might change in a day or two or maybe a couple of weeks.

We'll keep you posted. We'll talk about Bill Belichick later on in the show. We'll talk about some of the other movement in the NFL that has to deal with coordinators and GMs. I mean, the New York Giants, their defensive coordinator decided to step down. We got a general manager in Carolina who is currently out of a job. And then, man, you know, now that Ron Rivera got the boot, what happens with Eric Bienemy?

He was the O.C. for Washington. Maybe he comes to Atlanta.

I don't know. There's a lot to discuss. We have the national championship. We have wild card weekend this upcoming Saturday and Sunday. We got Draymond who almost quit.

We got Tiger Woods and Nike who are quitting each other. And, man, I'm still waiting for the national championship if you haven't understood me by now. I'm just getting warmed up. The phone number, if you want to talk to me, is 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. We're going to take a break. When we come back, we're going to go up to D.C. We're going to talk to Lionel Willingham from 106.7, the fan in D.C. I want to hear from him. What the hell is going on with the commanders?

What are the next steps? We'll discuss it. It's the J.R. Sportbrief show on CBS Sports Radio. It's the J.R. Sportbrief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio.

Black Monday in the NFL the day after the regular season closes. Coaches get the boot. We open up the show by talking about Arthur Smith being removed as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons and also Ron Rivera, no longer head coach of the Washington commanders.

To get a more in-depth perspective as to what's going on in our nation's capital, joining us right now from 106.7, the fan in D.C. He hosts overtime. His name is Lionel Willingham. Lionel, how are you, man? I'm good, J.R. How you doing, my man? I'm good.

I appreciate you taking the time to hop on. I know you will start your show in about, I don't know, 10 minutes. Hey, is this a surprise? Ron Rivera gets the boot. Any shock so far of what Josh Harris has done?

J.R., no surprise at all. Ron Rivera during his four years in Washington as the head man, a record of 26-40-1. Three team names, two owners, eight different starting quarterbacks, but ultimately, J.R., not enough wins for Ron Rivera while being here. I see a lot of national media members trying to pay respects and shed some light on the situation that Ron Rivera had to deal with here in D.C. But ultimately, J.R., we know the distractions that he was tasked with dealing with, but this is a sport in a league that is dependent upon wins and losses.

And he ultimately didn't win enough games. And Lionel Willingham joining us from 106.7, the fan in Washington, D.C. We know that Joshua Harris brings in a Spielman, Rick Spielman, former Vikings exec. He brings in Bob Myers, a former Warriors exec. What is the next step in regards to identifying that head coach? We also know that there needs to be a GM.

I guess they will have a president. Well, what are some of the next steps here? Yeah, Josh Harris had a press conference earlier today here in front of the local media, and he kind of laid out the next steps in the process. And then the type of organizational structure that he wants to have. As you mentioned, he kind of went outside the box with his initial hire, bringing in Bob Myers, former general manager of the Golden State Warriors. Then he brings in former Vikings general manager, Rick Spielman. And those two, J.R., are going to assist Josh Harris and company in the search process for their head of football operations as well as the head coach.

I love everything I've seen from the Harris group to this point, wasting no time interviewing potential candidates. They've already put out interview requests of five different head coaching candidates. They've also put out head of football operation interview requests of five different candidates.

So they're moving swiftly, trying to find an answer. The one thing that Josh Harris was adamant with is that Spielman and Bob Myers only serving as advisors. They will not be a big part of the football operations in terms of X's and O's, but they will be in charge of appointing that guy. So a big, big process getting ready to start here in D.C. Lonnell, is there anyone that the city, and then also you, really would believe would kind of be the best candidate to be head coach?

J.R., it's so interesting, right, especially considering this pool of candidates. I know everyone loves the sexy, offensive-minded head coach, Ben Johnson of the Detroit Lions is somebody that comes to mind. But J.R., when I look at the defensive-minded candidates that exist right now in this hiring cycle, look at a guy like Mike McDonald with the Baltimore Ravens, that defense has been historic this year. J.R., first team in the National Football League to lead the NFL in sacks, takeaways, and points allowed per game.

So they've been absolutely historic to this point. I look at Mike McDonald bringing over that Ravens culture and understanding how things are done. Washington needs a complete facelift and needs to have the culture sort of revamped and reset. Not saying that an offensive-minded coach isn't capable of setting a culture and setting a tone, but I look at Mike McDonald trying to recreate some of that Ravens magic down the beltway here in D.C. would definitely be my cup of tea. Lonnell Willingham joining us from 106.7, the fan in Washington, D.C. We know that the commanders, they are all locked in, not that this is something that they would want, but they will be selecting a number two overall in this year's draft. Are they going to be looking at a quarterback at that number two spot? J.R., I would have to think so, right, after Sam Howell coming out and leading the National Football League in interceptions. And I'll say this, though, from the get-go, I felt like Sam Howell wasn't put in a fair position to succeed. I always thought it was ludicrous for Ron Rivera to hand the keys to the franchise over to a fifth-round pick with 11 career completions, J.R. Never made a ton of sense. They didn't use a lot of their draft capital to help Sam Howell this offseason, so I'm not surprised that he failed this year, but I do expect him to go quarterback at number two overall. We got the college football national championship tonight, J.R.

If Michael Penix comes out and shreds this Michigan defense, I expect him to continue to rise up draft boards as we get closer to April. Final question for you. What is the temperature or tone or feeling in the city right now? I know there was some optimism when I was last in D.C. at the beginning of the season.

How has the reaction been throughout the course of the year and now? Massive, massive disappointment or same old Washington team? I would say based on the results during the regular season, J.R., massive disappointment. Any time you finish with four wins and you fall short of the playoffs, people are going to be upset, especially considering the fact that back in August we were talking about this being a 10-11 win football team. Their defense, J.R., they returned to top five defense in the National Football League, but this year regressed and was damn near last in every major statistical category. That was probably the biggest disappointment, but today with Josh Harris speaking and then relieving Ron Rivera of his duties, there's a breath of fresh air here in D.C. because for the first time this ownership group is going to lead this franchise through a proper coaching search and through a proper general manager search, something that we didn't see under the previous owner, Daniel Snyder.

Oh, Dan Snyder was a jerk. I can fill in some other words, but I don't want to spot them on the airwaves right now. Hey, Lionel, I appreciate you taking the time to hop on. I know that you're getting ready to start your show in D.C. momentarily, but before you get out of here with us on CBS Sports Radio, where can people follow you and keep up with you as these stories continue to develop? Yes, keep tabs with me all offseason long, man, as Washington continues to sort through this process.

All social media platforms, I'm at N-E-L-L underscore B-T-P. All right, Lionel, thank you so much for taking the time to hop on. I'm sure we'll be speaking to you sooner than later, okay? You be well.

You too, J. I appreciate you having me. No doubt about it. That Lionel Willingham, 106.7, the fan in D.C., he holds it down. And, oh, man, I remember being in D.C. I saw Lionel a few months ago at the beginning of the season at the radio station, and there was optimism, not necessarily from him. But speaking of the city, like, you felt it. You know, people were asking me how I feel about Washington.

I found them to maybe at worst be an average football team. But Sam Howell ain't the guy. He certainly is not. And I guess if you do want to take a look at a silver lining, and this is the same silver lining that existed before the season got going, is that, hey, you know, this dude, Dan Snyder, he was going to be the hell up on out of there. And now it's official. Joshua Harris is running the team. Daniel Snyder, who got fined millions and millions and millions of dollars to basically go away, also sold the team for about $6 billion. And so now you do have someone who, all things considered, you don't hear bad things about the 76ers and ownership. You don't hear bad things and horror stories when you think about, I don't know, the New Jersey Devils. And if you want to go ahead and look at Daryl Morey and, you know, James Harden calling him a liar, if that's the worst thing, then, okay, chalk that up.

That doesn't sound like a huge deal to me. But they got an adult running things. And to go from Daniel Snyder, like I said in the first segment, one of the worst owners that I think that we have seen in NFL history and professional sports, you can't go nowhere but up. Unfortunately, I feel for Washington, Commander fans. It's going to take some time. It's going to take time to bring in a president.

But here's a dude who can really change things. Whoever they draft at number two, I would imagine that Washington does go out there and get a quarterback. And as Lionel just said, in about an hour from now, an hour and change, we're going to see what Michael Pennix Jr. can go out there and do. How much or is he going to go out there and boost his draft stock?

That's something that we'll find out about or we'll know I'd say in about four or five hours when the game moves towards any type of conclusion. And so just pretty awful. I feel bad for the folks in Washington.

You never know how long these things take. I mean, if you want to look on the bright side, look at Houston. Texans not expected to be in the playoffs.

And that's exactly where the hell they're going. The Texans are going to be in action. We talked about them this past Friday in a Houston. Texans got a playoff game against Cleveland. Who would have thought this if you would have told me back in, I don't know, August, September that we see a playoff matchup between C.J. Stroud and Joe Flacco.

I would have to I would have to really ask you where the hell you getting your information from. But this is what we have. Yeah, we got two dudes who got fired today and Arthur Smith and then also Ron Rivera. But we do have some up. Some teams and some franchises, the Texans being one of them. What we're going to do is take a break.

And on the other side of the break. Yeah, let's let's bring some optimism to this hour. OK, thank you so much to Lionel Willingham. Every time I talk to him, there's some optimism, but we don't need the Arthur Smith, Ron Rivera. Let's talk about the teams that are actually moving in an upward in a positive direction.

We're going to take a look at some of these. Well, this upcoming Saturday, this upcoming Sunday. Yeah, we got Cleveland at Houston. We got Miami.

Oh, man, what a whooping they got yesterday, right? They're taking on Kansas City. We've got Pittsburgh. Yes, Pittsburgh is in the playoffs. We got Buffalo. Green Bay is in the playoffs. First complete year of Jordan Love. And they're in the postseason on fire. And then we got a matchup of two dudes who were traded for each other.

I don't know if it's a grudge match, but it's certainly something to behold. It's the J.R. sport show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Thank you so much, Lionel Willingham, for joining us last break. He comes to us from one of six, seven, the fan in Washington, D.C., as we learned earlier today that Ron Rivera given the boot by Joshua Harris, new owner of the Washington commanders. And then here in Atlanta, Georgia, we know that Arthur Smith no longer head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. He was fired shortly after midnight, early, early in the wee hours following the Falcons loss to the Saints down in the Superdome. And so when we get to next hour, we'll spend some time talking about Bill Belichick. You know what may happen with Belichick. There's words about Mike Vrabel. It's just there's a lot going on.

Obviously, you just heard this as well from Rich Ackerman. And this is the big news for tonight. This is the big game for tonight.

And I'm certainly going to have it on here in the studio. We have the college national championship between Washington and Michigan. They are about an hour away from kickoff as I currently look at Houston or look inside NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. We got a lot of the players out on the field warming up right now for what should be a good game. If you missed it last week, I'm edging towards Washington to go ahead and walk away as national champions.

I don't know if Michigan can go out there and score like that, but if Michigan does win, I think that they will certainly go out there and abuse Michael Penix Jr. and just try to control the game as much as they can on the ground. So let's see what happens. It should be a good game.

And if it's not a good game, I guess it can be entertaining and good at the same time. So let's see what happens. But let's talk some positivity.

This early portion of the show, we've had to take a look at individuals who no longer have jobs. Let's look at some teams. And we have even more time later on throughout the course of the week to dive deeper into these matchups. But let's talk about some teams that actually made the postseason. Let's talk about some teams that actually made the playoffs. And first of all, Buffalo is going in. They can thank the Jacksonville Jaguars a good amount for that as well. Buffalo Bills last night, they beat Miami.

21 to 14. The Miami Dolphins are just, I don't want to say that they're floundering. Pardon the pun because, get it, fish, Dolphins, pretty terrible. Either way, Miami, they ain't looking good right now. Losses to Buffalo multiple times. Ass-whooping, giving up, what, 56 points to Baltimore. Losing to Tennessee.

Losing to Kansas City. Like, Miami can do everything, but go out there and beat the good teams. And even their head coach, Mike McDaniel, he talked about this. He said, listen, I understand anybody who looks from the outside in and says, hey, y'all are good, except for against the other good teams.

I get out in front of narratives because you know that they're going to exist because it's reactionary, so if you lose to two good teams down the stretch, you leave yourself vulnerable for people to say that you can't beat good teams, which will be the case until you do. Yeah. Well, they can't. Well, they have not, I should say. And it's always been a concern of mine, and we had this conversation with former Miami Dolphin, Randy McMichael, last week. He joined us right here on the show. I asked him specifically, or I told him, when it starts getting cold, I don't know what the hell the Dolphins are going to do.

I don't trust them. And I know Waddle dealing with an injury, high ankle, and then you got Tyreek Hill. Unfortunately, him dealing with that that house fire that he had, thank God nobody got hurt. Tua Tonga Veloa was dealing with his shoulder. You got Raheem Mostert, who's dealing with a knee and an ankle. He led the NFL in touchdowns with 18. You can go down the list of Chubb's and Phillips, and it seems like their pass rushers have blown out their knees at different parts of the season. It's not a good look for the Dolphins right now. And the Buffalo Bills beat them. And meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills, I mean, after people basically gave up on them after they were five and five, the Buffalo Bills are now on a five game winning streak after that victory last night against the Dolphins. So you got two teams here in the AFC East going in completely different directions as we get ready to start with the postseason. Buffalo Bills end up winning the division.

The Dolphins end up falling. And even their head coach from the Buffalo Bills, Sean McDermott, says, Oh, yeah, we are starting to pull things together at the right time. I think the messaging overall was we're close. You know, I felt like going into the bye, I think it was Philadelphia game was the game prior to the bye.

They hit a fifty nine yard field goal there at the end and the regulation that is. And so we just you know, we just it was a play here, a play there. Play here, play there. Listen, man, a play here, play there gets you five consecutive victories.

So I'm looking forward to this. You got Miami. They're moving forward and they're taking on Kansas City on Saturday night. It's supposed to feel well, this might actually be the temperature like negative two. You let me know if you believe that Miami is going to go up there and whoop some ass and it's negative two degrees.

I don't know what it will feel like, but on the thermometer, it's going to say negative two. If Kansas City doesn't win this one at home and Kansas City just state, they deserve to have a long, painful vacation. So Miami at Kansas City to start off in the wildcard round and also another game on Saturday.

This would be pretty cool. I told you, how in the hell do we have Joe Flacco representing the Cleveland Browns? In Houston against the Texans, what? I thought the brown season was done from the minute that Deshaun Watson broke his shoulder. I thought the Houston Texans, I thought that they were in store for a few years of, I don't know, just trying to get things together. And here we have both teams in the postseason. Couldn't sign me up for this. I'm going to go ahead and take the Browns in Houston.

Just experience, just experience. I think everybody in Houston, all the fans, they would and should feel happy with the results that you've got this season. A first year head coach and D'Amico Ryans, a first year quarterback from Ohio State and C.J. Stroud. The Texans helped get their way in by beating the Colts this past Saturday. Got a little help from the Jaguars who lost to the Titans and C.J. Stroud. Thinking about this man as a rookie going into the postseason is wild.

You can't, you can't make this up. And C.J. Stroud, the combination with D'Amico, he loves it. He says it's been a blessing. D'Amico is a perfect guy for this job. He brings something out of his players that is undescribable. Just like that strain, that mental stability, that toughness that he talks about. So I can do nothing but just be appreciative and just be thankful for where I was picked and the situation right now.

It's just been a blessing. Wow, man. Like you can't, you can't make this up. And by the way, even when he played, but even more so now as a coach, especially where people get picked apart, you can't do this. This guy sucks. This is a weakness for the coach. He can't do this.

He doesn't communicate. I have yet to hear a negative word about D'Amico Ryans. I have yet to hear anybody utter a negative word before he was hired.

People were absolutely enamored by the dude throughout the course of the season. And yes, they've gone through success. They have they have beat the odds as to what people expected them to be. And so they haven't necessarily faced that negativity. You know, going into next season, there will be expectations. It'll be it'll be very, very telling, you know, how they deal with adversity. But for right now, they are beating the odds.

But I still haven't heard a negative word about D'Amico Ryans. We'll see what takes place. Can't wait to see that matchup Cleveland taking on Houston. And then on Sunday, I told you about Buffalo. They're going to host the Steelers.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The one led by Mike Tomlin, the team that everybody, not everybody, a lot of people in Pittsburgh wanted to get rid of Mike Tomlin. The dude who has now won 17 or had 17 straight winning seasons to start a career.

Nobody's ever done that. And then you had a couple of other guys who have had winning seasons and he's in some exclusive company. Bill Belichick, 19 straight winning seasons who are not losing. And then you also have Tom Landry. Twenty one straight seasons with a positive record. And then Mike Tomlin in 17. And then you got people in Pittsburgh who don't know what they have in front of them. And they go on a losing streak with a bum ass quarterback or at least one who was hurt.

And they want to throw a fit. Get rid of Mike Tomlin. You still want to get rid of the dude. You're in the postseason because of Mike Tomlin and his ability to get the most out of his players. How about that? I ain't choosing Pittsburgh over Buffalo.

Not at all. But you've got to give Mike Tomlin credit. And when he gets his hands on another quarterback, maybe people at that point in time, including Ben Roethlisberger, his former quarterback, maybe they'll shut the hell up. Pittsburgh got Buffalo on Sunday.

And this is a pretty cool one as well. I told you, Houston, who expected them to be here? Green Bay. The Packers, nine and eight, three game winning streak to close out the season. They beat the Bears again.

That's the Green Bay Packers birthright. They're going to take on Dallas. And yes, I'm expecting the Dallas Cowboys to actually win this game. But wouldn't it be very Dallas Cowboys-esque if they lost at home?

I don't think they're going to do it. They've been lights out at home all season long. Jordan Love, God bless him. Thirty two touchdowns this year. Forty one hundred passing yards. This is what you get after Aaron Rodgers. This is like a great holiday gift for everybody who supports the Green Bay Packers. Their quarterback, Jordan Love, said, listen, man, all them years that I had to sit behind that crazy man, Aaron Rodgers, all the reps. Hey, it's starting to pay off.

It was awesome. You know, it's a moment I'll never forget right there. But I just I feel like this is a moment of everything coming together. All the work we do all offseason in the training camp in the beginning of season. And just like I said, everyone in the locker room sticking together, you know, blocking out all the outside noise. And just find ways to, like I said, put ourselves in a great position to make a playoff run. Yeah, they're going on a playoff run. Man, they will be on the road. I told you, against the Dallas Cowboys, someone who else who appreciates the journey.

The head coach of the Green Bay Packers, Matt Leflore. Great for for our team in terms of we got to go on the road and earn it. And certainly going to Dallas is not going to be an easy task. Got a lot of respect for what Coach McCarthy has been able to establish there.

They got a lot of great players. You know, we saw him last year and it was it was a tough battle. Yeah, Mike McCarthy, the dude who is permanently on the hot seat. If they lose to the Green Bay Packers, Mike McCarthy, he gonna get the boot just like Arthur Smith and just like Ron Rivera. Every time I see Mike McCarthy on the television screen, I feel like this dude is sweating. Knowing that at any minute, any day, Jerry Jones could maybe not even call him. He'd probably fire him by text. Seems like something that Jerry Jones would do. Despite this, Mike McCarthy, he spoke to the media as well, especially after that ass whooping that they handed to those commanders.

And he says, you know what? I'm proud of my team. All of the young guys. Obviously last year was not very good for us here. Just reflecting back. But, you know, it's two different teams, you know, two different situations. But yeah, we feel good. We wanted to get the run game established. And I think clearly, you know, I was really proud of our young guys. And somebody else who has a lot to prove. He's not necessarily that young.

They've got to pay him 40 million dollars. It's Dak Prescott, and he is ready to actually put his best foot forward and not be embarrassed. Very ready. Obviously, coming off of the past years, I'm understanding the team we have. Knowing that knowing we're coming into the season, that we had a team that could compete. Wanting to put ourselves in this position.

Wanting to stay in the moment each and every week. And I look forward to this. But now it's upon us. And I think most importantly, we've got to take it one game at a time.

Yeah, they should be OK, right? Until they see the 49ers, right? The 49ers probably whooped that ass. Anyway, the Dallas Cowboys don't lose this game to Green.

Don't do it. Don't look like this all season long to lose at home to Green Bay. I believe Dallas won't embarrass themselves.

But it would be a very Cowboys-esque thing to do. It's the J.R. Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio. When we come back, we're going to talk about the head coach who did not get fired today. His name is Bill Belichick. We'll get into some of the other grudge matches for Wild Card Weekend.

And then, of course, I'm waiting on Washington and Michigan just like you. It's the J.R. Sport Reshow on CBS Sports Radio.