JR SportBrief Hour 1

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The JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. First things first, happy Friday. Hope you're good. I hope you're safe. I hope you're well. Wherever you're at, whatever you're doing, I hope you're great. This Friday afternoon, this Friday evening, oh it's a good time to be here. I'm going to be rolling with you for the next four hours.

This is when I get started. Every single weeknight at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Super producer and host Ryan Hickey.

He's holding it down for us in New York City. And boy, oh boy. Important Friday this is.

A couple of things that you should know, if you don't know this already. We are moving towards the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. That is a real big deal. Because by the time I sit back down on Monday, we're going to know everybody who will be moving on to the AFC and NFC Championship games. We're going to get down to the Final Four.

This doesn't have a damn thing to do with college football, but we will know the Final Four teams on our way to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. And so we're going to talk about the games. We got two games on Saturday. We got two games on Sunday.

We have some amazing guests that are going to be joining us. A matter of fact, in 20 minutes from now, we're going to have a conversation with Jonas Schaefer. He's from Baltimore. He represents the Baltimore Banner. He is the Ravens reporter. We're going to figure out whether or not Lamar Jackson is going to be ready to add one more W to his postseason record.

He only has one win to three losses. Later on in the show, we're going to have a conversation with Ian Williams, former defensive tackle for the San Francisco 49ers. He's not going to tackle me. He's not going to tackle anybody, but we're going to talk about those Niners.

We're going to get into the Lions and the Bucks. We got a beef in the NFL. We got a former player beefing with a former coach and they're doing it on Twitter, X, whatever the hell you want to call it, like a bunch of school kids. And so I can't wait to tell you about RG3 and Jake Rudin, these grown ass men who are just throwing barbs at each other, videos and memes and all types of stuff like they're back in high school.

It's pretty sad. Kirk Cousins, he opened up his yap about Bill Belichick. We know Bill Belichick is getting ready for his second interview, if he hasn't had it already.

Here in Atlanta with the Falcons, Kirk Cousins says he'd be willing to follow Belichick to Atlanta if it happens. What? We're going to get into that. Fans in Buffalo, they can earn an extra 20 bucks again by shoveling snow as they get ready to take on the Kansas City Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes hitting the road for the first time.

There's just so much going on. We even got baseball news today. If it's still considered hot stove, Josh Hader is going to be on his way to Houston. Five year deal, $95 million.

I don't want to say the rich get richer, but they certainly got the money to spend and they've certainly added one of the best closers in the game. And then even a few hours ago, the Raiders are working on a deal right now with Antonio Pierce to keep him as their head coach. This is shocking as hell because the Raiders, I said this all week, Mark Davis, he just goes through coaches like most people go through underwear.

Just opens the drawer, pulls out a new pair for one day and closes it. The next day comes through and gets a new, he just goes through coaches like it's nothing. And so let's see if they can go ahead and close this deal. Antonio Pierce would be the seventh head coach that Mark Davis has hired since he assumed control in 2011 from his dad, Al, Al Davis. And so we're going to talk about Antonio Pierce in a minute.

You don't got to wait too much longer for us to get into the Ravens. We'll talk to Jonah Shaffer in about 15 minutes from now. Thank you to everybody listening on the free Odyssey app. Thank you to everybody tuning in on your local CBS sports radio affiliate. Thank you everybody on Sirius XM channel 158 and everybody else listening on a smart speaker.

All you have to do is ask it to play CBS sports radio. Ryan Hickey, how are you this Friday, man? You ready for some football? JR, I am ready. Four games.

I'm very excited about it. It's a Friday. Let's go. Let's go.

Yeah. Let's we're going to go in a we're going to go in chronological order here or for the games. That's why in 15 minutes, we're going to talk about Houston and Baltimore and we have Jonas coming through to join us. I'm excited too, man.

What else am I supposed to do? You know, I got I got my show in New York tomorrow. So that'll be fun.

And once I get off air, I'm going to be sitting around watching football just like everybody else. Look, if you want to participate in this show, it's very simple. We got a phone number.

It works. You want to talk to me? You have a thought you want to share it with the country? Well, let me not just say the country.

That'd be disrespectful to our listeners in Canada. If you want to talk to North America, the number here is 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. You can also find me on the online. I'm on the Internet.

I'm on all of that stuff socially. I am at JR Sport Brief. It's at JR Sport Brief and you already know everything that we're going to discuss tonight. But first of all, let's give some credit, rare credit to the Las Vegas Raiders. You know, if I was standing on a golf course right now, I'd give them that good old slow clap because Mark Davis actually did something that makes sense.

I thought that Mark Davis was going to go ahead and pick up Jim Harbaugh and say, hey, Jim, come here, run the whole damn show. We're buddies. We're friends.

You were friends of the family with my dad. Run the show. But no, he actually did something that makes sense, which is shocking to me. He is allowing Antonio Pierce to stick around as the head coach. And it's not just stick around as the head coach, because let's be real. Antonio Pierce, he earned this job. Antonio Pierce earned this opportunity. You know, I remember Antonio Pierce as a linebacker. I remember him as an undersized linebacker for Washington, the football club. I remember him as a member of the New York Giants. I remember him winning a championship. I remember Plaxico Burress shooting himself in the leg and Antonio Pierce being willing to help him and even hide the fact that, you know, he snuck a gun in and he shot himself. I guess Antonio Pierce isn't just an amazing head coach. He's also a good friend.

If you shoot yourself, he got your back. But anyway, he's had to earn everything that he's received here in the NFL. Antonio Pierce is 45 years old right now. This man was undrafted out of Arizona in 2001. He had to earn his way onto the Washington's roster. He then got a nice contract with the New York Giants. He won a Super Bowl with those giants. The man finished up his career in the NFL.

He went back to California, where he's from, Long Beach. He coached in high school. He then went to Arizona State and did everything there. Linebackers coach, assistant coach, moving up to defensive coordinator.

He did everything. His first job in the NFL is and was with these Raiders starting in 2022. Antonio Pierce is fresh here, man. He's brand spanking new onto the scene.

But you want to know something? Similar to Mike Vrabel, who's also, I mean, now he's looking for a job. Antonio Pierce played. Antonio Pierce knows what it means to have to climb your way up a roster. He knows what it means to go out there and hit somebody. He knows what it means to win a championship. He knows what it means to climb the coaching ranks.

And how about this? Antonio Pierce, throughout this process, has gained and garnered the respect of his players. They respect the man. The Raiders finished 8-9 this season. They had a head coach there that nobody in the locker room respected. They had Josh McDaniels there. They didn't give a damn about him. And then when he was finally relieved of his duties and given the boot, the players celebrated their first victory by smoking cigars.

They made it very clear. They did not like Josh McDaniels and that they were thrilled that that man was gone. Antonio Pierce takes over.

You want to know what they did? They went 5-4 under Antonio Pierce. They were 3-5 under Antonio Pierce. They were 3-5 under Josh McDaniels.

This is still a team trying to figure out its quarterback situation. They loved this man. It's simple. Antonio Pierce, at the end of the season, his final press conference, he let everybody know, look, I've been here for a few months. We got a winning record. I have proved to everybody what type of coach I am.

Listen to him. You know, my resume is on the grass. It's being out there every day that either I'm in front of you gentlemen and ladies, to the grass, to the practice field, to the meetings, to the building.

I mean, I'm being evaluated each and every day. And they know what it looks like. They've had some really, really good coaches in their career.

They know what it sounds like, looks like, if it's real, if it's fake, if it's just a momentary deal. So to have their blessings and backing is obviously, that's humbling. Yeah, humbling. They appreciate the man. They respect the dude. They went out and actually played for him.

I still can't believe they held on. Antonio Pierce, we've heard this over the past couple of days. We know we got all these coaching jobs and opportunities that are available.

And you can go on throughout the league. The Chargers looking for a coach. The Falcons. Yeah, they're talking to Belichick. The Seahawks. The Titans.

The commanders. Antonio Pierce was supposed to just wait around while Mark Davis figured things out. Well, I guess Mark Davis either came to his senses or maybe Harbaugh wasn't available. Maybe Harbaugh got a better deal. Maybe Harbaugh wanted too much power.

Either way, it looks like Antonio Pierce is going to be sticking around. And throughout this whole process, it was only this past Monday. Martin Luther King Day. He was on television. KTNV.

He was at the Martin Luther King Day parade. And then he took it a step further. He's just like, yeah, I'm ready to be the coach. Man, I love the fans here. The fans love me. Like I'm ready to go.

I got a great opportunity that's in front of me. I'm appreciative of that. I'm appreciative of the way our players responded. I'm really, I'm really grateful for our fan, our fan base, because they came alive. Our home games turned into home games. It was getting loud in that bad boy. I'm sitting there like this.

I couldn't hear it. I'm pumping them up. And the way we ended the season at home with our crowd and our fan base was amazing. Man, the Raiders, their fans, they deserve stability. And all the writing was on the wall that I guess that Jim Harbaugh was maybe going to be the Raiders coach. There's the Michigan connection to Tom Brady.

Tom Brady, we know, and I don't think it's official yet. He's been working on an ownership stake in the Raiders. There's just so much to tie together that just would make sense for Harbaugh to be the guy. But these Raiders, I hope Antonio Pierce is their last head coach in quite some time because the Raiders, they can't put together consecutive winning seasons. They can't put together players not getting in trouble.

They can't ride the line for an extended amount of time. And that's Al Davis. Here's the thing. I now hope Al Davis stays the hell out of the way. Seven head coaches he's hired since his dad passed since 2011.

Okay. Hugh Jackson, Dennis Allen, Tony Sperano, Jack Del Rio, that old terrible email and John Gruden, Rich Basaccia, Josh McDaniels. And now here we have Antonio Pierce. If I go back even further, if I want to predate Mark Davis, if I have to think about Al as well, if I got to think about the past 20 years, the Raiders have had more coaches, that's 12 of them, than any team over the past 20 seasons.

If you tell me that is a formula for success, no, that's a formula for garbage. And unfortunately that's something that the Raiders have been. And so Antonio Pierce, congratulations to you, man. I just hope that Mark Davis doesn't look at you. I hope Mark Davis doesn't get a little too quick with the trigger there, get quick with moving the boot swiftly to your ass.

I hope you get a chance. I hope you get to coach this team for multiple years. The Raiders have needed a leader. They've needed somebody to keep the players in line.

They needed somebody to keep them off the strip. They've needed someone that they respect. And Antonio Pierce is that dude.

And I'm not mad. This might be a better option long-term than this team builder in Jim Harbaugh. Congratulations, Antonio Pierce. I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Raiders have actually done something right. They've made a smart decision for once. Mark Davis didn't hire someone who he saw running his yap on ESPN. Maybe Antonio Pierce can convince Mark to get a new haircut.

That might be asking a little too much. Baby steps, baby steps. It's the JR sport re-show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. So much to get into. We're going to talk about the divisional round match-ups here in the NFL. We're going to talk about the Ravens. We're going to get into Lamar Jackson. We're going to talk about Patrick Mahomes hitting the road for the first time. We'll talk about Kirk Cousins potentially hooking up with Bill Belichick here in Atlanta. We're going to get into this beef between Jake Gruden and RG3. It's Friday.

Don't beef. Have fun. Get ready for some football. On the other side of the break, we're going to have a conversation with Jonas Shaffer. More banner Ravens reporter. It's the JR sport reef show.

Happy Friday to you here on CBS Sports Radio. Jamesallen.com is the online destination to easily design a customized engagement ring and save up to 50% compared to traditional stores. You pick a diamond. Whether it's lab created or earth created, James Allen has over 200,000 conflict-free stones.

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It's the JR sport brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We are less than 24 hours away from the start of NFL playoff action. Yes, we're moving towards the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. And to get us started the first game tomorrow, Houston is going to be in Baltimore, Baltimore, your number one overall seed. They get a little bit of a rest heading into the postseason, not in action last week. No need.

That's what happens when you are sitting on top of the world. Multiple players not playing in that last game against Pittsburgh. And so they got a little bit of extra rest. Houston we know is a little bit of a hot shot. CJ Stroud playing out of his mind right now and Lamar Jackson looking to add another victory, at least his second victory, I should say onto his postseason ledger. So to talk about it all, it's time to have a conversation with Jonas Schaefer who covers sports, covers all things Ravens for the Baltimore banner. Hey Jonas, thank you for taking the time to hop on, man. How are you? I'm doing great here. How are you doing, man? I'm excellent.

Thank you for taking the time to hop on. I guess my first question is we heard earlier this week Lamar Jackson talks so much about how he feels so confident despite his one in three postseason record. How confident are you that these Ravens will take care of this young Houston Texans team? Oh man, how many Ravens fans are listening?

I feel on the spot right now. I feel confident enough that Lamar has grown since the Greg Roman era. It is a new structure. It's a new system.

It's new skill players around him. There is a new confidence within him, but I'm in the results business and I need to see something from Lamar tomorrow before I can confidently go out on that limb and say, yeah, he is built for the playoffs because he over his career has come up short and when they have won it's been because he's been using his legs or the defense has been by his side lifting them up. So it is a put up or shut out time certainly for Lamar and you can't help but point out the similarities between this setup and 2019. That tight scene that came into Baltimore was a 10 point underdog. The Texans coming into Baltimore tomorrow, 9.5 point underdogs. Ravens 2019 were considered the best team in the NFL.

Again, now 2023 Ravens are considered, if not the best in the top two. You don't want Lamar to be a prisoner of those memories, but they should also be fair warning to him and to that team that stuff can go wrong and you need to be present, you need to be mindful and just stay locked in because if you're not, boy, things can go upside down in a hurry. Jonas Schaefer is joining us from the Baltimore Banner.

It's the JR Sport Reshow on CBS Sports Radio. We know about some of the changes of this go around with Lamar Jackson. We know that Todd Munkin has come in and that there's a new set of offensive weapons that Lamar Jackson is working with.

What do you think, especially as it looks like he's going to win another MVP, what is the biggest change and adjustment and improvement that you have seen in Lamar Jackson this year? It's probably just the overall command of the offense. This was an offense that under Greg Roman was late to get in plays, late to get out of the huddle. There was not a lot of time for him to can calls, to adjust protections, adjust plays, and now the Ravens are at the line of scrimmage with 12, 15 seconds to go. There's not enough time for defenses to kind of get creative with their blitzes or change stuff up. Lamar has audible out of bad plays into good ones and the touchdown-worthy plays. He's adjusting to protection.

He's doing everything that he hadn't before. There is more ownership in this offense. There's more say and sway over this offense. There's more of a dialogue with Todd Munkin and the play callers and the offensive game scripters that maybe there wasn't in the past. Obviously, like with any offense, the fortunes rise and fall with quarterbacks.

I think Lamar is more intimately involved in the pregame pre-planning process. You can kind of see that this is the offense that he's always wanted to be in. It's pass first, which is kind of surprising because the Ravens lead the league in rushing, but you look at early down kind of neutral setting ratios, stats, analytical stuff. The Ravens are like a top 10 pass first offense, which would have been crazy to think.

It just took a couple of years if it was possible. Well, when you take a look at the defense, Jonas, there's so much attention on Lamar Jackson with great reason. You look at their defense, they were number one in scoring this year, only giving up about 16 points per game. What has changed here with the defense? I mean, it's typical if we go back years, everybody knew about Ray Lewis and everybody knew about Ed Reed, and they certainly have some of the Roquan Smiths of the world. Who are some of the standouts here on defense that have allowed them to keep teams off the field and then also just stop them completely? I think you got to start with the coordinator himself, Mike McDonald.

I mean, you want to talk about just changes in philosophy. We were talking about the Ravens offense going from run first to pass first. Well, the Ravens defense under Wink Martindale, obviously most recently of the Giants, was a blitz first to ask questions later kind of unit. They had the corners out wide to hang up in man coverage, and so it was a lot of cover one, a lot of cover zero, but they felt good bringing pressure and living with consequences. Under Mike McDonald, it's different. They are, I think, bottom five in blitz rate, but they are still leading the league in quarterback pressures, I think, according to PFF, because they have these bespoke packages with featuring guys like Justin Manabique, Patrick Queen, Kyle Hamilton coming off the slot, Jedevion Clowney and Kyle Van Noy, both revelations as one-year deal players.

So they really just have an incredible spine. I mean, all pro players at every level of that defense. The cornerbacks have been more than good enough, even though Marlon Humphrey will be missing this one on Saturday. So it really is just a perfect marriage of scheme, personnel, and this offense just being good enough to put this defense in situations where they can really pin their ears back and do unfair stuff to opposing quarterbacks.

Did you say unfair stuff? Yeah. I mean, imagine getting a free runner at a quarterback with seven guys dropping into coverage because you have Michael Pierce, all 350 pounds of them, taking up two blockers and then dropping into coverage in that middle hook zone. I mean, it's just, it's stuff that you don't really see a lot of these defenses do. And, you know, obviously C.A.

Stroud, maybe to his benefit, saw the Ravens in week one, but that was a lifetime ago. And I'm sure, you know, Mike McDonald will have some different stuff cooked up for this Texans offense in round two. Yeah. I like that. Unfair stuff to me is just a handing out an ass whooping. I'm all here for it.

No, no problems at all. Jonas Schaefer is joining us from the Baltimore banner here on CBS Sports Radio, the J.R. Sport Brief Show. I have taken a lot of calls over the past few days about rest. And it doesn't matter if it is on the AFC side with these Ravens or it's the NFC side with the 49ers. How concerned would you be with the fact that a lot of the starters have not now played for weeks? I think normally I would be concerned, but everyone that we talked to in the Ravens locker room, John Harbaugh, including that and included in that as well, has been very gung ho about how practices have gone.

You know, they went out onto a grassy field, but in the snow in Wednesday and Thursday just to prepare for what is going to be freezing temperatures tomorrow. Obviously, Houston has had their own kind of cold spell that should probably help them. But, you know, I'm not going to lie to you and say that it's not a concern, especially for the offense. I mean, the problem for the Ravens, one of the big problems for the Ravens on Lamar and even Tyler Humbly when he started against Cincinnati last year is a slow start. They haven't under Greg Roman. They didn't score a single first quarter point in the playoffs. And that puts you behind.

That changes your game script. That changes what you can do in the second quarter and the second half if you're not caught up yet. So the Ravens have been a very, very good, very quick to start offense this season under Todd Munkin.

I think they're like fourth or fifth in points per quarter in the first quarter. So if we're looking at that second quarter clock and it's 13 minutes left and the Ravens are down and nothing, they would be in a bad spot, but it wouldn't be altogether surprising just because of their history. So we hope if you're a Ravens fan, that this break has done them a service by getting guys like Adafe Ohway healthy, getting guys like Devin DuVernay healthy.

But, you know, there is of course that that rust versus stress concern that percolates every time of year right about now. Okay. Well, final question for you here, Jonas, as we wrap things up, what do you think will happen with this game tomorrow? Where do you think things will end when it's all set and done this season for the Baltimore Ravens? Tomorrow, I think it'll be a relatively close game or at least a relatively close scoreline at games end.

I had Ravens 28, Texans 24. I think the fact that Houston does not have much of a crown game to speak of can kind of keep the Ravens pretty comfortable with how they defend CJ Stroud and Nikko Collins. You know, they are a very good deep passing defense. There's not a lot of explosive plays that they allowed.

And I think that's what Houston is going to need to rely on to move the ball with any kind of regularity tomorrow. And then I guess just again next week, when depending on that Buffalo, Kansas City game, I mean, the Chiefs are not really a boogeyman for the Ravens because the Ravens beat them the last time they saw them. But that was a couple of years ago. Josh Allen had the Ravens number in Baltimore a couple of years ago with a pretty jarring, unbelievable comeback at M&T Bank Stadium. But I think the Ravens are pretty comfortably on paper anyway, the best team in the AFC. So I don't disagree with anyone who says that they're the favorite to get to the Super Bowl. But I have been burned by watching this offense fall in kind of embarrassing ways and let down really good defensive efforts. And I just want to see Lamar have this playoff break through that so many in the locker room are also wishing for him.

I hear that. And this is going to be the first playoff game for the divisional round to be the first one that we see. It kicks off Houston taking on Baltimore tomorrow. Things are supposed to get started at 430 Eastern.

Jonas, I want to thank you for taking the time to hop on. Where can people follow you and all of your great coverage? Yeah, the BaltimoreBanner.com. We're a little bit in the news now because of everything that's happening with the Baltimore Sun and certain people with money get involved in local news media. But follow me on Twitter at Jonas underscore Schaefer, J-O-N-A-S-S-H-A-F-F-E-R. And yeah, I'm hopefully the Ravens win.

So I have more good stuff to keep writing about. No, we're going to see. Well, thank you so much, Jonas Schaefer, for joining us.

It's the JR Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Yeah, it's going to be real interesting to see what these Texans do against these Baltimore Ravens on the road in the postseason. I've said it plenty of times. If you're a fan of the Texans, you should just be happy at this point that they got here. You should be happy that they made it into the postseason.

There were zero expectations for them to come forth and do what they have done so far. When we come back from break, we've talked about it. You just heard it from Jonas Schaefer, but we're going to hear from the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. John Harbaugh spoke to the media and he talked about the Ravens and some of the time that they've had off and how they've prepared. And so we'll share that audio with you. We're going to hear from and talk about Patrick Mahomes, who's going to be making his first ever road start in the playoffs. I mean, he's used to whooping ass. And when you're at the top of the division, you play at home, not this go round.

So we have so much more to do. If you want to holler at me, if you have any thoughts whatsoever about the Baltimore Ravens as they get ready to take on Houston, the number is 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4CBS. We're going to take a listen to what John Harbaugh had to say earlier on. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbrief on CBS Sports Radio. It's the J.R. Sportbrief show here on CBS Sports Radio.

Thank you so much. Our last break, we were joined by Jonas Schaefer, covers all things Baltimore Ravens, for the Baltimore Banner. Ravens are going to kick things off in the postseason for us against those Houston Texans.

And it should be a grand old time. I mean, we got four games this upcoming weekend. I mean, we start off tomorrow with Houston and Baltimore. In the night game, we have Green Bay at San Francisco. And joining us later on in the show, to give us some proper perspective on what's going to go down out in the Bay Area, we're going to be joined by Ian Williams, former defensive tackle for those San Francisco 49ers.

And as we just spoke to Jonas, he wasn't overly concerned with the rest. But Lamar Jackson is going to be trying to make or put his best foot forward here in the postseason. Unfortunately for him, he has a 1-3 record in the postseason. We haven't seen him in the playoffs in three years. He's suffered season-ending injuries over the past two seasons. And so, yeah, out of everybody that's going to be playing football, Lamar Jackson is going to try to turn things around. The last time we saw him on a football field, he also had to exit that game due to an injury.

It was an ugly one. The Ravens lost 17-3 against Buffalo. Lamar Jackson had to exit that game.

He was concussed. Last couple of seasons, he's had to end his year with leg injuries. And it's a beautiful thing that Lamar is entering this go-round with a different set of weapons. And yes, he has a new offensive coordinator in Todd Monken. He also has the benefit of playing with guys like Zay Flowers, Rashad Bateman, Odell Beckham Jr., who is, I want to say, hitting his stride.

Nelson Aguilar, vastly different from, you know, a few years ago. Willie Snead, John Brown, Michael Crabtree, who at that point was at the end of his career, he's had to throw the ball to Hollywood Brown, who played anything but Hollywood when he was out there on the field. And so, Lamar Jackson has a chance to start turning things around. It still is a little shocking that someone who's won an MVP, someone who's been hurt over the past few years, he got a playoff record, I'll tell you again, of 1-3.

With the Ravens, they've only averaged 13 points a game in all four of his post-season appearances. Stats for Lamar Jackson, the man who's likely to win the MVP, is four touchdowns to seven turnovers. Yes, I think they expect vastly different results on this go-round. His head coach is John Harbaugh, and despite the time off, weeks off, for his starters, John Harbaugh says, yeah, most of our dudes, they haven't played in a couple of weeks, but we're going to be ready to roll. I feel great about the guys. I think the guys have done great.

You know, they've worked hard, Pete. We had four practices last week. We had our three practices this week, our walkthrough tomorrow, but they've been like they've been all season.

It hasn't really been different. It's definitely playoff football. They're definitely excited about that, but that's how they've approached their work all year. Yeah, I mean, they've been busting ass all season long. It is an NFL team. They're the top defense. They're the top offense when it comes down to scoring in the NFL. I'm confident in the Ravens.

I actually think this would be a little bit of a warm-up. We saw what Houston did last week against the Browns, and the Browns, amazing defense, but come on, man, you throw Joe Flacco out there, he is likely, just as likely to throw you three touchdowns or three interceptions. I mean, we saw excellent footage throughout the course of the week of their new head coach, D'Amico Ryans. D'Amico Ryans is out there telling the cornerback, hey, man, go out there and step directly in front of the pass, and it'll go right to you, and that's exactly what Joe Flacco did. I don't think it's going to be that easy against someone as dynamic as Lamar Jackson.

It's as simple as this, folks. This is the Ravens time, and I'm not going to go as far right now today to make a prediction and say, oh my God, they're going to go all the way to the Super Bowl. Houston is going to have its day, right? Houston is having its day. Houston is having its year. The Houston Texans should be thrilled with what they've been able to accomplish this year with a rookie head coach, a rookie quarterback.

They should be jumping for joy after what they've been able to go out there and accomplish. And typically, a team will go into the postseason, and we see this possibly with the Green Bay Packers as well. I think they might be in the same boat, but a team with less experience will go to the postseason and get punched in the mouth. Houston has had success this year. Houston has already won a playoff round. Are we really going to test fate and say, well, damn it, Houston is going to beat the number one seed? This would be one of the biggest upsets in NFL history if the Texans go into Baltimore and knock off the Ravens. I am not expecting it.

Lamar Jackson, he's not expecting it either. He says that the Ravens, man, we were rolling at the end of the regular season, and we're expecting to keep on going. Yeah, I believe we was, you know, especially against the opponents we had, you know, playoff opponents. And that's the thing about that bye week. I was like, dang, we got a bye week. I believe we was getting into a groove. You know, we was getting more and more and more dialed in, but it is what it is because, you know, Coach Harbaugh still made us practice like we was preparing for a game. So I believe we'll still be ready.

Yeah, I don't, I'm not, I'm not overly concerned. I think they're going to be ready and chomping at the bit, not to get this over with, but to get back out onto the field. And unfortunately we learned that there's going to be one dude who will not be returning to the field that at one point it looked like he was going to be out for the season completely. And that's, that's Mark Andrews. Mark Andrews who busted up his ankle earlier on in the season. Well, he wasn't activated off of the injured reserve. He's not going to play tomorrow. All things considered if the Ravens win, he probably be in action ready to play next week. John Harbaugh earlier this week said he was looking good, but he ain't going to play.

This is from Tuesday. I think today was his best, best showing so far. You know, he really took, took a big step. Just what you saw today we saw as well. So that's encouraging. We'll just have to see how it goes. Yeah.

Well, we saw how it goes. He wasn't activated. Hopefully if the Ravens win this game, we'll see Mark Andrews in the AFC championship. I know Marlon Humphrey will not be in action as well. This is from yesterday, John Harbaugh giving all of us an injury update ahead of tomorrow's game.

Listen. DuVernay looks good. I'd say he's going to play for sure. Mark is still up in the air. Marlon, you know, it's a little dicey right now with Marlon. He hasn't practiced. I don't know if he'll make it.

He's probably the person I'm least optimistic about right now. Okay. All right. Well, I ain't all that concerned.

Hey, Hickey, I gave my thoughts, man. I got the Ravens winning this one. It would be a hell of a shock. If Houston knocked them off, it'd be one of those, you know, ESPN, ABC, they're going to start panning the crowd with tons of shocked faces. If this were to be the case, what say you about this first matchup, this first game of division around weekend? I like the upset here. I like the Texans in part because what Lamar said, I am nervous about the rust.

They can say, no, this to me is 2019 written all over it, where it's a team that's getting hot. They played some really good football down the stretch and you have not won, but two weeks off. I did not think sitting the starters for week 18 was a good move. Personally, two weeks off for the first time since what training camp started, right? Like you get a bi-week, but other than that, you don't have two weeks off from playing a game this season. So I think it's a tough ass to now all of a sudden kind of knock the rust off in the biggest game of the season.

Plus that you mentioned the stats before. I got to see it from Lamar playoff time. There is a big difference in his play, regular season versus postseason until I see it. I'm not going to believe in it right now from the Ravens. I like Texans going in there hot right now. They're confident.

They go in and beat the Ravens. Wow. Upset. You putting some money down on that one, right? And any money going down? Not the moment I might, I'm not a big gambler, but you know, a few bucks here and there. Okay.

All right. I'm going to be surprised, man. I know that they've had the time off, but I, their superior team. And look, if, if the Houston Texans are going to be on a magic carpet ride, God bless them, man.

I just, I don't see it. And we talked about this last week. It was going to be real interesting to see, you know, what was going to take place between one quarterback who's 22 years old versus a Joe Flacco who's about almost twice his age, almost about 39 years old. I think Flacco is, that is a hell of a gap.

That is a hell of a difference. And Houston went out there, CJ Stroud went out there and they had no problem handling business. They, they blew them straight out of the water. And Joe Flacco looked like a dude.

Yes. Finally, who just basically got off of his couch and now he's back on his couch and he's watching at home. And just like everybody else, I think this magic carpet ride is, is going to end for Houston.

If they should advance some more than man, they, we, we are in Cinderella territory. I had people calling me up here on CBS sports radio more than a year ago, telling me how they were renouncing their fandom as Houston Texans fans, that they were no longer going to NRG, that they were no longer going to turn on their televisions and watch and waste their time with this squad. And now the Texans are the hottest thing in Houston right now. Speaking of Houston, we'll talk about this as well, as we continue on with the show, man, they just, they went out here and picked up Josh Hader.

Like what type of fair world is that? They gave this man the second highest contract that a reliever has ever gotten in major league baseball history, five years, $95 million. Only Edwin Diaz is making more money than him. Unfortunately, we didn't see Edwin Diaz cause he, you know, injured himself celebrating at the world baseball classic, but congratulations to Josh Hader making all that money. Five years, $95 million with the Astros.

I guess things are just all good in Houston. It's the J.R. sport brief show here with you on CBS sports radio 8 5 5 2 1 2 for CBS. It's 8 5 5 2 1 2 for CBS. When we come back, we'll talk about the chiefs, Patrick Mahomes hitting the road for the first time in his career in the post season. It's the J.R. sport brief show CBS sports radio.