2.8.24 - JR SportBrief Hour 3

Okay, picture this. It's Friday afternoon when a thought hits you. I can spend another weekend doing the same old whatever, or I can hop into my all-new Hyundai Santa Fe and hit the road. With available H-TRAC all-wheel drive and three-row seating, my whole family can head deep into the wild. Conquer the weekend in the all-new Hyundai Santa Fe. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details. Hyundai. There's joy in every journey.

2024 Santa Fe available early 2024. I'm Tony and this is the Tony Kornheiser Show. Well, that makes it sound a bit more serious than it really is. So what exactly is the show about?

It's been almost 30 years and I still don't know. Right now we have some of the best voices in football come on to explain to us what we need to know in the college and pro world. And we get weekly picks from a monkey.

Do you really need more than that? I might just tell you about my bunker game with the latest failed entry and my quest to find the best coffee ice cream. No schmutz please. Listen on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. It is the J.R. Sportbree show on CBS Sports Radio.

I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America. Super producer and host Ryan Hickey.

He's holding it down for us in New York City. You can always listen to the show on the free Odyssey app. Your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate Sirius XM Channel 158 and everybody listening on a smart speaker.

The J.R. Sportbree show gets started every single weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern 3 Pacific. We've had a busy one already. It's been a busy day. The NBA trade deadline was here. No gigantic names moving around. That's a big names kind of stayed where they are. But we had some big time role players who are trying to help solidify some of the contenders here in the NBA. We know that we are now only three days away from Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs.

The game can't get here soon enough. And so we've had some great conversations. Mac Hollins, NFL wide receiver, most recently for the Atlanta Falcons. He came by and joined us as well as someone who cracked skulls as an all pro and pro bowl linebacker in the NFL for the Steelers, the Seahawks. Chad Brown. He came through to join us as well.

And how about this? Because we just finished with the NBA trade deadline, I'm a run through some of the trades momentarily. Antonio Daniels is going to come through and join us. This man played point guard in the NBA from 1997 to 2011. He's now a broadcaster down in New Orleans for their games. He also is on NBA radio.

He does it all. He's an NBA champion picking up a title with the San Antonio Spurs. And so we're going to have a conversation with Antonio Daniels coming up in about 20 minutes. Also, we're about an hour away from the start of the NFL Honor Show in Las Vegas. The biggest names in the NFL, past, present, I guess you could say some of their future.

They're all going to be available and walking the red carpet. They're walking a red carpet now as I speak, as they are going to hand out the MVP and some of the other awards here in the NFL. Most improved player, comeback player of the year, rookie of the year, offense, defense, etc.

So on and so forth. So Lamar Jackson expected to get the MVP. And we know Brock Purdy, he's probably not going to win MVP tonight.

Brock Purdy is going to be looking to walk away with a championship this coming Sunday. So we've already had a busy, busy show. We have so much more to do. Let me give you a quick rundown on some of these trades that did take place. I think this trade deadline is just as notable for the trades that took place as for the ones that did not. Let me do it this way. People like winners and losers.

That's that's how things go, right? The New York Knicks are winners. The New York Knicks were able to trade away a young, inconsistent, Quentin Grimes, a complaint in Quentin Grimes. They got rid of Evan Fournier and the New York Knicks added Alec Burks and Bojan Bogdanovic. Two shooters, two veterans.

You know exactly what you're going to get from both of these fellows. And life is is pretty simple. Life is pretty easy for the New York Knicks. They do have to deal with some injuries. Jalen Brunson sprained ankle.

Not too bad. Oji Ananobi just had elbow surgery, expected to be out three weeks. And then I would assume in the same timeframe, we'll probably see Julius Randle back following his shoulder dislocation. But all things considered, by the time the playoffs roll around, the Knicks, they should be a threat in the Eastern Conference. The New York Knicks should be an absolute problem. And this is a different world for a team that historically has just been less. Let's be real. They've been ass. There's no other way to put it.

Even Zach Lowe. This man was on ESPN and he was losing his mind about how bad the Knicks have been and how they've been able to turn things around. Listen. I'm a little bit scared, guys. I'm a little bit nervous because suddenly the New York Knicks are operating like the single smartest franchise in the entire NBA. And my brain doesn't know how to deal with that reality after 20 years of, let's just say, other stuff.

You just went through all the transactions. This team has upgraded at every single position over the course of two years, piece by piece by piece. And rarely do we see a team trade away for covenant young players. Quickly, Barrett and others that have gone out the door, Grimes today, and still come away with a team that's young, exciting, youngish anyway, loaded with assets, loaded with picks to trade for a star. And I'm telling you right now, we can sit here and talk about, well, every championship team needs a top five, top 10 player, this and that. There are multiple ways to build a contender. There are multiple paths to the conference finals and even the finals. And the Knicks right now, with Joel Embiid hurt, Milwaukee trying to figure itself out, they're in as good a position as anybody outside Boston and maybe Cleveland to make a run at the finals. This team is deep and nasty and they've suddenly got shooting and they have done a fantastic job over multiple years of reorienting this team for the present and the future.

Just unbelievable work. Yeah, it is. And the Knicks do look like a legitimate basketball team. And I know Zach Law had mentioned, as excited as he was, he mentioned the Cleveland Cavaliers.

They're not getting a lot of attention. They're on a seven game winning streak. They've won nine out of their last 10 games. The Cleveland Cavaliers, they are the number two seed in the Eastern Conference right now, about five games behind the number one Boston Celtics, who everybody has to play catch up to them. But there really isn't a team that the New York Knicks can cannot knock off. I mean, the Philadelphia 76ers were able to add Buddy Heald from the Indiana Pacers. Buddy Heald is an excellent shooter, one of the best shooters in the NBA, flattened period. And all of that will be nice if Joel Embiid is going to be available to play.

Outside of that, just kind of got to roll your eyes. Meanwhile, if you want to look at another team that tried to strengthen itself here ahead of the trade deadline, the Milwaukee Bucks. We know about all the trouble that they've had with defense since adding Damian Lillard and letting Drew Holiday or trading Drew Holiday, you know, out to the Boston Celtics. Look, the Milwaukee Bucks, they bring in Patrick Beverley. They pick him up from the 76ers. And so what's interesting about this is that the 76ers, I also consider them, well, to be winners because they got Buddy Heald. But the fact that the Bucks picked up Patrick Beverley, he's he's a pain in the ass.

And that's the type of player that they needed. It's just a matter of whether or not you're going to have Patrick Beverley and Damian Lillard out on the floor at the same time. That I'm not so sure about.

And you might have remembered you might have recalled these two. They haven't had the best relationship as opposition. It doesn't matter whether or not Patrick Beverley is on the Clippers, laughing at Damian Lillard at the end of games. It doesn't matter if Damian Lillard is kind of talking crap back.

I mean, take a listen to this. This is from the bubble. Patrick Beverley laughing at Damian Lillard after he missed some big time free throws. Those are the day and Beverly reacted.

Asking me about Patrick Beverley, who I sent him home before at the end of a game for George's got sent home by me last year in the playoffs. So they know. Yeah, they they know. Well, now they're both going to be out there trying to compete for a championship. That game was on TNT. And so it's tough to look at the Bucks and not say, oh, yeah, they they won. They still have some work to do. The Knicks are your biggest winners here at the NBA trade deadline.

And now if you really want to look at some losers. The Lakers. There really wasn't anything for them to do. Nothing. And I still think that they're cooked.

They got no help. LeBron James is running around with the role player. I don't want to call him has bends, but they're just they don't they don't move the needle on any given night. It's LeBron James, Anthony Davis.

And I don't know. Let's see how much, you know, Reeves or Russell kind of kick in outside of that. LeBron James. I know he wishes he was on another team, at least for now.

Don't want to deal with this crap. Yet the Lakers are losers. Sucks for them. Meanwhile, Denver Nuggets, they didn't add anybody else. They might have the best player in the game in Nikola Jokic. Nikola Jokic might walk away with another MVP award. But all things considered, I'm still concerned about the Nuggets and their bench, especially not having a dude like Bruce Brown who's going to stick it out the rest of the season.

I guess wasting his time in Toronto. Bob Myers, the former general manager, the man who helped run the Golden State Warriors and take them to multiple championships. Bob Myers was on ESPN earlier today and he said, yeah, the Nuggets, they missed out. I wish they had added a Royce O'Neill. I think Phoenix's Royce O'Neill move was big.

We haven't talked about that. If I was Denver, I would have done a lot to get like a Phinney Smith or Royce O'Neill. I think they're that player away from winning a championship.

Again, from repeating. And so not having the Bruce Brown or Jeff Green from last year, Denver relying on a pretty young bench. I'm kind of surprised unless they've got some notion of a buyout player coming in and maybe that's the plan.

I'm surprised they didn't shore up the bench a little bit. Yeah, it's possible now with the buyout market and you got veterans at the end of their deal, leaving money on the table just to try to latch onto a contender. Yeah, the trade deadline might be done, but we're not completely finished with movement in the NBA. And I'd say the biggest losers are the Los Angeles Lakers, the Atlanta Hawks right here in Georgia. Atlanta Hawks are kind of just just rolling in the water, wading in the water.

There is no movement. So many rumors about De'Jaunte Murray and where he might end up. He's not a Los Angeles Laker.

We know that much. And even if he were to join the Lakers, I don't I don't know too many teams, especially contenders, where he would have made a difference. You know, when I'm not here throughout the week on CBS Sports Radio, I'm doing weekends, Saturdays on WFAN New York City. And I've taken so many calls over the past few weeks about the New York Knicks need to add De'Jaunte Murray, the New York Knicks. He would help them. I'm like, the guy is not a shooting guard. He's a point guard. He needs the ball in his hands. He needs to distribute the rock. He's going to grab the rebound and take it in the end and find somebody.

And I don't know if he's putting anyone over the top. And so here in Atlanta, I guess they'll try to move him maybe at the NBA draft, which is now two days. Maybe he'll be moved in free agency. But Atlanta is just they're going nowhere.

Absolutely nowhere. And I couldn't think of a team where De'Jaunte Murray would help outside of going back to, let's say, the San Antonio Spurs. That would work. So on a night that the Los Angeles Lakers go out and they are, I say losers at the deadline, they're going to host the Denver Nuggets tonight.

And maybe they can draw a little bit of inspiration. Tonight, with the unveiling of Kobe Bryant's statue, it's a beautiful statue. It's Kobe Bryant walking off of the court following his 81 point game against the Toronto Raptors.

He is walking off one finger pointed towards the sky, celebrating and acknowledging of the fans who gave him a round of applause as he walked off. It was also great to learn a little bit of news of Vanessa Bryant shared with everyone that this statue with Kobe Bryant in his number eight. It's not the only statue that we'll see outside of crypto dot com arena. Listen to Vanessa and her announcement because fans all over the world and the city of angels loved Kobe so much. He will have three statues in front of the arena, also known as the house that Kobe built. One wearing the number eight, one with our beautiful daughter, Gianna, and one wearing the number 24.

Yeah, pretty, pretty awesome. The Lakers are going to host the Nuggets. Maybe they'll find some inspiration there. Lakers need all the help.

I mean, all of the help that they can get. Just a lost season for them. And on the East Coast, the New York Knicks are on their way right now in Madison Square Garden. The Dallas Mavericks lead the Knicks 28 to 24. No Jalen Brunson with his ankle injury as Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic continue to light it up as they await the arrival of their their newest teammate. They got a big man who can score in P.J.

Washington. It's the J.R. sport brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We're going to take a break on the other side of the break. We're going to have a conversation with a broadcaster, an NBA champion, a veteran from the NBA, a point guard. He knows how to run the show. Antonio Daniels is going to come through with us, the former San Antonio Spur.

The J.R. sport brief show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. The sultan of sizzle, the titan of toastiness, the kingpin of kindling. These are the admired ones, those who've created the prime place to gather. They don't just have a backyard. They have the backyard because they know a solo stove fire pit is more than just the ultimate smokeless fire pit. It's a place where friendships are forged. Football is revered and food is enjoyed. Solo stove, the perfect flame for the big game.

OK, picture this. It's Friday afternoon when a thought hits you. I can spend another weekend doing the same old whatever, or I can hop into my all new Hyundai Santa Fe and hit the road. With available H track all wheel drive and three row seating, my whole family can head deep into the wild. Conquer the weekend in the all new Hyundai Santa Fe. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details. Hyundai. There's joy in every journey.

Twenty twenty four Santa Fe available early twenty twenty four. I'm Tony and this is the Tony Kornheiser show. Well, that makes it sound a bit more serious than it really is. So what exactly is the show about?

Been almost 30 years and I still don't know. Right now we have some of the best voices in football come on to explain to us what we need to know in the college and pro world. And we get weekly picks from a monkey. Do you really need more than that? I might just tell you about my bunker game and the latest failed entry in my quest to find the best coffee ice cream.

No schmutz, please. Listen on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. You're listening to the J.R. sport brief on CBS Sports Radio, the J.R. sport show here with you on CBS Sports Radio, a busy day in sports. The NFL is going to be handing out its MVP award, most improved, all that good stuff at NFL honors. And we also know earlier today, this afternoon, the NBA had its trade deadline. No gigantic names moved, but a lot of minor moves that should help out some contenders. So talk about it all and what this means for the league moving forward. Joining us right now is someone who played 13 years in the NBA, won himself a championship. He's also an analyst on television for the New Orleans Pelicans, as well as a midday host on Sirius XM NBA radio. It's Antonio Daniels. Antonio, how are you, man? I'm truly, truly blessed, J.R. How you doing, brother? I'm amazing.

Thank you for taking the time to hop on. So I didn't expect, I think a lot of us didn't expect to see a massive move made today, but we did see some death pieces move around. What was the largest, I guess, most impactful move that's a place today? I guess for me, the most impactful move was the Knicks acquired Alex Burch and Boyan Bogdanovich because they feel needs.

They feel needs. So when you look at the Eastern Conference and you look at Philadelphia and you look at the question marks around the Philadelphia and the question marks surrounding Milwaukee, whether or not Cleveland can take the way they're playing into the playoffs, you actually take a look at all of this. The one team that's been head and shoulders better than everybody else in the Eastern Conference has been the Boston Celtics, right? And I feel like what the Knicks did today is they brought themselves up another tier because they added a need. They added the need of one ball handling and two scooting, but also better experience to go alongside Jalen Brunson, Julius Rando and this Nick team that's playing really, really good basketball right now. Well, Antonio, when you take a look at these New York Knicks, you mentioned the Celtics. We know about the Sixers adding healed.

The Cavs aren't gaining a lot of attention. Who is, I guess, the Celtics biggest challenge in the East? I don't know.

I don't know. That's a tough question because there's so many teams in the East that have question marks. And I won't even say the East.

I'll say teams in this league right now that are surrounded by question marks. Again, Milwaukee, do they have enough defense, right? When you add a new coach mid-season, is that long enough to develop the synergy needed to push a team to the NBA championship? Is Joe Allenby going to be healthy for the Philadelphia 76ers? So you can go down the list of different teams. Does Denver have enough depth come playoff time with no Bruce Brown and no Jeff Green? You can go down the list of different teams. The Clippers, right?

We know what James Harden and Paul George have done in the postseason. Can they exercise those demons, so to speak? You know, so it's a lot of questions. I don't know. That is a tough question.

I'm not sure right now. I would say either the Milwaukee Bucks simply because of their star power, simply because you have Giannis and you have Damian Lillard and they have time. And also, you got it, man. I have a difficult time having these conversations without including the New York Knicks in them. What Damon Brunson is doing right now, he's changing the narrative in New York, completely changing the narrative. Now, the question mark centers around can Julius Randle bring it come the second week of April, moving on to the tune that he did throughout the course of the regular season? If he does and he's that Robin that he is during the regular season, the New York Knicks have a great opportunity to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals, in my opinion. Antonio Daniels, former NBA champion, is here with us.

The J.R. sport re-show on CBS Sports Radio. Well, Antonio, man, the last time the New York Knicks had this much success, your team was beating them in the garden, man. Can you imagine it was this was twenty five years ago. Time flies, doesn't it?

Yes, it does. And even at that time, they weren't healthy. They weren't healthy. And I think, you know, right now, what you're saying, I think the most important thing in this league is health.

There's nothing more important. You know, I'm sitting here right now in my hotel room and Dallas is playing New York and they're beating the Knicks without their top two players. They're beating the Knicks right now without back down a bitch, without Alex Burt. You know, Mitchell Robinson's not healthy. Oh, gee, this is a team. Yeah.

Oh, gee, I don't know. I just saw he'll be reevaluated in three weeks. This is a team that isn't healthy. But I tell you what, when they are holding healthy and they have firepower, they have versatility. And what I like about the Knicks more than anything else, they got dogs.

You know, I've covered Josh Hart here in in New Orleans. When you have guys like him, when you have guys like DeVincenzo, when you have guys like Ojian Anobi, guys that are willing to do the dirty work, pressure to do it. They got dogs, too.

So they check a lot of boxes. And that is a dangerous basketball team come playoff time. Well, and Tony, I want to you had mentioned the Western Conference and health. And we know when you take a look at the teams out west, whether it is especially the Suns or you take a look at the Clippers, a lot of that boils down to health.

And do you think that's going to be the deciding factor? It seems like the Nuggets are a little younger than they were last year. We know about the Lakers and their age and they don't even look like they're going to be in it. What do you think about the Western Conference? For me, I'm not I'm my thought on the West is different than a lot of other people, because a lot of people feel like it's it's basically Denver and everybody else.

And I don't feel that way. I haven't felt that way all year because I Denver has a sensational starting five. They have chemistry, they have camaraderie, they have synergy. I get that. But when you start talking about the postseason, depth is important.

Right. And they don't have Bruce Brown. They don't have Jeff Green, which were big parts of their success last year on their championship run. And now with the Western Conference, you can have the same conversation in the West that you have in the East about teams that have. Question marks, you know, you look at a team like Denver, you look at a team like the Clippers, you look at a team like Phoenix, you know, with those three guys, do they have enough around those guys? You look at a team like New Orleans and the health of. Of Zion, the health of Brandon Ingram and these guys coming into the playoffs. So it's a I love it because I honestly feel like this is the deepest that the West has been in quite some time.

But I don't think anybody in the West fears anyone else. You know, right now I'm here in L.A. and. The New Orleans Pelicans last night. Beat a team that had just went six and one on the East Coast road trip. Right. And a team that's twenty five and five out of the last 30 in the L.A. Clippers. Right. So I don't think there's any team in a Western conference that fears another team or that that's just completely set themselves apart.

Well, Antonia, I wanted to ask you about this. The Pelicans have been rather quiet. If I have to look in the east and the west, I go, OK, things have been quiet with the Pelicans. They've they've been picking things up. Zion hasn't been in the news, which I guess is a good thing.

And then the Cavaliers are on a winning streak. They don't get a lot of attention. You see the Pelicans all the time calling their games on television. What's the deal with them lately? They're figuring some things out. And you can say this about a lot of teams in a Western conference.

They're figuring some things out. If you go back to last year, Zion played twenty nine games total. B.I. played 44 games total. At the start of this season, game one of this season, it would have been the sixth time, the seventh time that C.J., Zion and B.I. had started together. In Willie Green's tenure.

So, again, you know, I know fans hate to hear it, but this kind of chemistry, it takes time. And now they're at a league best for them, a team best plus nine. In the win column, that says a lot for this team. That says a lot and they have some huge wins for the team. They have to just learn how to do it on a consistent basis. And the Achilles heel for this team this year has been the ability to win close games. If you go back and you look at at their wins, a lot of your wins are double trigger wins. I believe they're second in the league in 20 point wins. You know. But when you start to play good teams down the stretch, you're going to have to learn how to execute in the last three or four minutes of a game. And that has been a struggle for the Pelicans throughout the course of the season. Yeah, a lot of a lot of continuity.

Continuity certainly helps. We're being joined by Antonio Daniels to throw it back just a little bit. Tonight, out in Los Angeles, outside of Crypto.com Arena, Kobe Bryant's statue was unveiled. We learned that there will now be two statues outside of the arena.

In addition to the statue unveiled tonight, the number eight, after he scored 81 points, there'll be a statue of him and his daughter, another statue wearing number 24. When you played in a lot of cases, it was your job to go out there and try to stop and slow that man down. Look, I know from a first person perspective, Antonio, what made him so difficult to guard? You know, you always hear the toughest guys to guard are guys with freedom, guys with a skill set. And what made Kobe so tough to guard is honestly, it really didn't matter what you did. And I mean that wholeheartedly.

It really didn't matter what you did. I have a picture at home where I'm directly in front of him, but he's elevated so high and my hand is completely outstretched and he's over my hand. So it's almost like he's shooting in the gym by himself. You know, when you think of guys that have the ability to get to their spot and simply elevate, I think of him and MJ.

That's it. Get to that spot and fade away so they can just basically outjump your presence. So you're not doing anything to really impact whether or not he makes or misses shots. You know how hard that is to guard? Where it's almost like you're out there and you're working and you're working and he gets to his spot and he raises up and there's nothing whatsoever you can do about it. I think the thing about Kobe that you hear all the stories.

Right. And I never played with him. I've always played against him. But his work ethic, his work ethic to me is unmatched.

It's unparalleled. You know, you don't you don't become great by accident. You become great with intention. And he was intentional in being great. He wanted to be one of the greatest players to ever touch a basketball. You know, a lot of guys in this league become complacent. They do like they're OK averaging 15 points a game or they're OK averaging 20 points a game.

And they never really get an opportunity to to explore their great. And Kobe Bryant, that's not the way he was wired. You know, you can you can love it or leave it, but that's who he was.

And you have to respect that work ethic. Antonio Daniels here with us, the J.R. sport be showing CBS Sports Radio as we we start to wind down this conversation. You know, based on what you just said, you just named legends. You just named some of the greatest of all time. We have so much talent currently in the NBA. We know the talent that is aging up and aging out. And there is, I want to say, an open ground on, you know, who can be great. I don't think there's one singular player that you can look at and say, this is the torchbearer.

There are multiple that you can potentially identify. But is there anyone out of all the basketball that you see on a nightly basis? Is there one player that just just makes you go, damn, every time you see it?

No, you know, I'm gonna be honest with you. To me, it's a lot of those players. And because today's NBA is more skilled than it's ever been.

That's why. But if you just watch an NBA game, the shot making ability. It's incredible. It is incredible to watch what guys are doing now, you know, shooting from from distance with accuracy like it's nothing. And right when I say that, I see DiVincenzo just pull up from the logo and knock down the three. Shot making ability is at an all time high. But when you look at greatness, it's not one particular player that really stands out to me. You look at the the elder statesmen, you look at guys like LeBron James doing what he's doing at his age. You look at Steph Curry continuing to do what he's doing. Kevin Durant, those kind of guys. But then there's a there's a younger there's a younger batch of guys that are just incredible. The Devin Booker's, you know, the Jason Tatum, the Lucas, you know, these kind of guys that have the potential to do some some amazing things moving forward. And I hear it all the time.

And I agree. You know, the NBA is going to be different. It's going to look different. It's going to feel different when there's no LeBron, when there's no Kevin Durant, when there's no Steph Curry. But the one thing that you can guarantee, you know, you have guys like Victor Winbunyama coming up, guys like Zion coming up. The NBA moving forward is in great hands and most certainly is.

Well, Antonio, thank you so much for for taking the time to look through the trade deadline with us to talk about Kobe Bryant as his statue was unveiled and also to look forward in the league. Where can people follow you and keep up with you and all your analysis? I'm just I just I'm a Twitter dude. That's it. I don't know if it's called Twitter, if it's called XA Daniels 33.

That's it. You know, when I have a daily radio show on Sirius XM that with Rick Kamala that I love doing every day, one to four Eastern Standard Time on Sirius XM, NBA radio. Antonio, thank you so much. I look forward to chatting it up with you again in the future. All right, my man. For sure. God bless you, brother.

No doubt about it. Thank you so much that Antonio Daniels, NBA champion with the San Antonio Spurs and now analyst, television analyst covering the New Orleans Pelicans. It's the JR Sportbree show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. You know, talking about the future, the NBA actually had an announcement today.

The NBA has found and identified a sponsor for the in-season tournament. They've also found a partner to throw a patch on the referees. I'm going to fill you in on that. On the other side of the break, the NFL honors the red carpet is active right now at this minute, this second.

And then there's a Major League Baseball player. He just got paid. I'm going to fill you in.

We're going to talk some NFL. It's the JR Sportbree show on CBS Sports Radio. Chris Chapman's hit podcast was canceled. As you know, my old show, The Chris Chapman Confrontation, was the victim of a little thing called cancel culture.

But he's learned, he's grown, and he's ready to win back his audience. I'm back better than ever with The Chris Chapman Do-Over. Starring Ike Barenholtz. I have a new lady co-host on the pod. Lisa Gilroy. My mic is on. And Neil Casey is the professor.

Greetings, my humans. The new hit improv comedy, The Chris Chapman Do-Over, an Odyssey and paper kite production. Listen on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to the JR Sportbree on CBS Sports Radio. It's the JR Sportbree show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Thank you to Antonio Daniels for joining us in the last break to take a look at the NBA and its trade deadline. The NFL honors show is getting ready to get underway at the top of the hour. They're going to go ahead and let you know who won the MVP Defensive Player of the Year on and on.

And so have you. We'll try to share as much of that as we can in the next hour as it's more than likely going to go past my time slot here on the show. I do want to let you know a few things. The Dallas Cowboys, as I'm sure you just heard from Rich Ackerman, they have hired a new defensive coordinator. His name is Mike Zimmer. He's someone who formerly held the role almost 20 years ago with Dave Campo and Bill Parcells when they were leading the team.

And he led the defense from 2000 to the year 2006. I'm going to give you a little bit more details on that in a second. We should know this.

If you don't know this by now, I will fill you in. We're staring right in the face of the Super Bowl. It's three days away.

If you're not ready, what the hell are you waiting for? Super Bowl 58 on Westwood One is streaming for free, sponsored by AutoZone. On Super Bowl Sunday, hear every minute of Westwood One's broadcast live on the NFL app by asking Alexa to open Westwood One Sports or on your Westwood One Affiliate Station's digital platforms. And get in the zone with AutoZone.

AutoZone's free battery testing and charging is available for free at your local AutoZone. Get in the zone, AutoZone. Restrictions, they do apply. So Mike Zimmer is getting his second lease at life here. I know that there were rumors and we talked about them as recently as yesterday about someone like Rex Ryan taking over as the Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator a few weeks ago. We heard that Ron Rivera was going to be someone that they would potentially put in that seat.

But the Dallas Cowboys are bringing someone on that they are familiar with. Last night, I told you if Rex Ryan should take the job, we know that Rex Ryan is a ham. Rex Ryan loves to talk.

He does a lot of it on ESPN at this point and stage of his career and his life. And that this would have been a natural stepping stone if Rex Ryan wanted to move back into coaching. We know he coached with the Jets, he coached the Buffalo Bills, and most recently he's been on television. Well, in the case of Mike Zimmer, we know last time we really saw him running around on a full time job as a coach was with the Minnesota Vikings.

That's before O'Connell came through and took over. One of the other new hot coaches who's leading the way in the current NFL. And Mike Zimmer is actually the third most winningest coach in Minnesota Vikings history. And so Mike Zimmer, certainly someone qualified to take over if if Mike McCarthy gets the boot, if Mike McCarthy gets fired in the course of the season. I don't think Jerry Jones is going to take any type of issue with saying, hey, you, you, Mike.

Yes. Go downstairs and run the show. Go downstairs and take over for this dude. And even at his age, 67, I feel like in the NFL, by the time you reach 72 is when they tell you it's time to go. I wouldn't be shocked if Mike Zimmer was next in line to go out there and take over. Last coached in the NFL back in 2021 when he was relieved of his duties. And I got to tell you, how far were you going to expect him to go anywhere with the Minnesota Vikings with Kirk Cousins?

I'm sorry. I know Kirk Cousins is going to be looking for a lot of money here in free agency. Mike Zimmer could not stand the man. And I think it's with good reason, because with someone like Kirk Cousins, he's good enough to get you to the dance. But unfortunately, like a lot of quarterbacks in the postseason where the going gets tough, you got some QBs who will kind of shrink. They're afraid to throw the football around. They are a little too careful. They are so careful and so cautious that they lose.

They lose their aggression. I feel like Aaron Rodgers is great as he is. I think he's had that issue more recently. Not everybody could wake up and be Eli Manning. And I guess that's that's all about pressure. So we'll see what Mike Zimmer does for the Dallas Cowboys. And I can't wait to see what this drama show is for the Cowboys in this coming season. Just in the off season. You know what happens with Dak Prescott?

Is he going to go ahead and get some fancy new contract extension that moves him into, you know, I don't want to say the forty five to fifty million dollar range. Mike McCarthy, I don't know, he's probably somewhere sweating bullets, you know, right now thinking about his status for next season. And Mike Zimmer, what the hell does he care? I mean, if Mike McCarthy is given the boot, then Mike Zimmer can go back to consulting. He can go back to helping people out at the college level or he could just retire.

It's not the worst thing in the world. And the Dallas Cowboys is just the biggest soap opera in the NFL. That's until, I guess, Aaron Rodgers shows up healthy for the New York Jets.

Hey, Ryan, Mike Zimmer got the job. Yeah, it seems like someone that Jerry Jones is comfortable with. Big deal, small deal, no deal. What do you say, man?

I will say small deal. He's a good defensive mind. Is he going to replace the level that Dan Quinn had this defense at?

Probably not. I mean, I don't think he'll surpass it because that was a very good defense the last three years. So we'll saying we'll say small deal, good defensive mind, but not like it's going to, you know, this unit now all of a sudden is going to, you know, go leaps and bounds further than they've been the last three years. Yeah, I think that just to call it a wrap, the Dallas Cowboys have the players.

It's mostly about the execution and it's going to come down to Mike McCarthy. And Jerry Jones has taken the approach of, well, I haven't bestowed my full confidence in this man. He does not have a contract extension. There's no certainty he's going to be here. You can take the approach of, oh, well, this is going to motivate him to do better.

You can also take the approach of that's that's going to be to a detriment if you don't have that much confidence in him. Well, I just give him the boot. And I heard what Jerry Jones said weeks ago about retaining him. Well, we believe in him. And that's the guy. And we have the piece. Like we heard all of that. But you don't fully believe in him.

As I speak and I talk, Ryan, I feel like I spoke him into existence as I look up on the screen. And Jerry Jones is currently walking the the red carpet into NFL honors. And that man is not he is not seeing the camera he does not like. Well, you got to take advantage of as many shots as you can get because one day there's not going to be none.

You know, it's it's a fair way to look at it. I mean, he says, what is he, 81 years old? Yeah, he's 81 years old.

This guy is eating egg McMuffins with extra salt in the morning. You know how he doesn't have high blood pressures beyond me. I guess it's just good medicine when you're an oil billionaire like Jerry is Jerry. So good for him anyway. Is he going to get a championship before time expires on the clock?

I have no idea. It's just hilarious. The NFL is going to miss him. I feel like I'm writing a eulogy.

Pardon me. But whenever he's gone, I'm going to miss him. Like Jerry Jones is he's entertaining, whether you love the guy, you hate the dude. Jerry Jones is is he's probably the most powerful dude in the NFL behind Roger Goodell. And Jerry Jones is entertaining.

He opens up his mouth. He talks crap to his coaches in an underhanded way. He's like a like a supervillain. And not the good ones that we talked about the other day, like the Joker, Darth Vader. Jerry Jones is just an old, old villain.

Emphasis on old. It's the J.R. Sportbri show here with you on CBS Sports Radio 8 5 5 2 1 2 for CBS is the number that's 8 5 5 2 1 2 for CBS. It is Las Vegas. They have an Elvis impersonator on the red carpet for NFL honors.

I'm pretty sure he's going to marry somebody off in a few minutes when we come back on the other side of the break. I want to take a look at these categories for NFL honors. Who's going to win MVP? Who's available in here to win most improved player? Who's going to win comeback player?

I think we know a lot of these answers. It's the J.R. Sportbri show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. And I talk everybody into existence. Comeback player. Boom. There's Joe Flacco right on the screen.

I don't think he's winning. I have an idea of who they're going to give it to. We're going to talk about this on the other side of the break and so much more. It's the J.R. Sportbri show on CBS Sports Radio.

2024 Santa Fe available early 2024. I'm Tony and this is the Tony Kornheiser show. Well, that makes it sound a bit more serious than it really is. So what exactly is the show about?

It's been almost 30 years and I still don't know. Right now we have some of the best voices in football come on to explain to us what we need to know in the college and pro world. And we get weekly picks from a monkey. Do you really need more than that? I might just tell you about my bunker game and the latest failed entry in my quest to find the best coffee ice cream.

No schmutz, please. Listen on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. Improv comedy The Chris Chapman Do-Over, an Odyssey and paper kite production. Listen on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.