Raider Blunder? (Hour 3)

And away we go. Hour number three of our radio program.

That's right. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. JT the Brick is going to join us coming up 20 minutes from now. We'll do a little first and goal featuring the Las Vegas Raiders as their season. Not really optimistic about them, but I did see, Hickey, how about this from Justina Anderson, that the Raiders are open to restarting talks with franchise tagged running back Josh Jacobs.

Now their hope is to get him to rejoin the team. I don't think Josh Jacobs really has a leg to stand on here because what are you going to do miss a few games? And then that 10.1 whatever million dollar franchise tag just goes down by the game.

You're never going to earn that money back. You're not going to get a long-term extension done, but you could do some incentives as we've just seen, even though it wasn't much, right? Talk about like 900,000 extra dollars, which to you and I, well, that's life-changing money, but to Josh Jacobs, that's not really a whole lot of money. And what you just saw go down with the Giants and Saquon Barkley. So I look at that as this is the Raiders extending the helping hand and saying, not that we'll be the bigger man here because if I'm Josh Jacobs, yeah, the Raiders should come to me and they should say, Hey, what are we going to do to kind of get the ball rolling here?

This is extending the, the helping hand to try to get the end outcome, which will ultimately be Josh Jacobs. I would think reporting last week of training camp or right before the start of the season, because he already knows the playbook and everything. And if Josh McDaniel wants to play a petty game and send a message back for skipping all training camp, that would just be stupid. It would be a waste of time, but it wouldn't put it past Josh McDaniel's because if the Raiders want to have somewhat of a successful season and I don't think the Raiders are going to be any good, but there's a difference in terms of being putrid and then just having an season and for Josh and for Josh McDaniel's, not that I think Raiders fans are going to be really accepting of an end season, but if you're trying to cool down the flames a little bit on that hot seat, you got to have a season. So it's not embarrassing where every fan this off season is calling for you to get fired. Especially when we've seen Jimmy Garoppolo really not be asked to not be able to put the team on his back when there's no great weapons around them and, or stay healthy.

And a walking injury, I was going to say. So it's like, you could look at a situation where there's no Josh Jacobs, there's playing hardball, somehow wants to sit out and disgruntled. That offense could look pretty bad, pretty quick.

And like I said, it was ugly in year one. If it gets ugly in year two, maybe Mark Davis will come to a census and fire him, but there's a chance it could go downhill even worse than it was last year. And there's like four or five connections to the Raiders or just what's going on inside the Raiders organization this year. That's going to be fascinating to watch. McDaniel's, how is he going to do here in your number two as a head coach, will they show any progress?

And it's tough to get worse than what they were last year. What is Josh Jacobs going to show up and how motivated is he going to be? What is Jimmy Garoppolo going to look like as a quarterback this year? And I know McDaniel's even the other day said something along the lines of, oh, that previous relationship is a little bit overblown.

I don't really want to hear that, that people make too big of a deal, them working together in the past. That sounds to me as a coach just issuing a warning, I expect a letdown with Jimmy Garoppolo and let's try to temper expectations. No expectations to really begin with if we're being fair. So I didn't love hearing that from Josh McDaniel's and the other things are when you get to Devante Adams, I know that there's so much dead cat money next year, but it's inevitable if they don't play well, he's going to say, oh, maybe I'll go want to get a trade to the Jets and reunite with my old quarterback in Aaron Rodgers.

And then the other two, it's really going to be outside, well, three even, outside the organization. If Rodgers has a great year, people are going to say, why didn't the Raiders go throw whatever you could at the Packers to go get Aaron Rodgers and team back up with Devante Adams. Darren Waller, if he has a successful season with the Giants, people are going to say, why the heck did you trade Darren Waller to the Giants?

And you look at the other one, let's not forget it. If Jimmy G is hurt this year or stinks, and I don't think, and you know me, I'm not a big Derek Carr fan, but it's not as if it's impossible for Derek Carr to look good this year because all it takes is either Jimmy G getting hurt or the Raiders being a disaster, or if Derek Carr wins eight or nine games, that wins an NFC South championship. And just Optics, the guy that you let go and walk and you didn't believe in, if he's playing in the playoffs and you're not, even though it's two totally different conferences and the NFC South is an absolute joke heading into this season compared to what the AFC West is, it's not as if people are going to be giving you the benefit of the doubt if you're the Las Vegas Raiders. So there's a lot inside the organization to monitor and then outside of their organization with X Raiders or people that could have been a Raider that's going to be just really a lot of dominoes to fall there this upcoming season. That foundation McDaniels is standing on right now is very shaky, very shaky. Like you just mentioned both internally with how the team produces externally with how guys he's jettisoned and really not taking a liking to how they perform.

It's this could be all Lee. It's really a shame that he didn't end up becoming the coach of the Indianapolis Colts because they kind of both deserve each other, Jim or say and Josh McDaniels and that marriage was so close, but they are both dysfunctional and chaotic and they would have got along. Let's just say that they would have, I don't think the marriage would have produced like great offspring, right? Like I don't think they're going to win a lot of games, but you would have someone in, in Josh McDaniels and Jim or say until Josh left him at the altar that if they went through with that, I think they both would have enjoyed each other's company. As someone who's excited with McDaniels was quote unquote hired. I like to thank your guy, Bill Belichick and saving me the agita, saving me in the embarrassment of what inevitably inevitably would have come down the line in a year, two years, three years. So thank you, Bill. You saved me. I mean, look, a lot of egg in my face as a Colts fan, but the next year. So it worked out for us.

You saved me even more. So thank you, Belichick. Yeah. That's what a super all the next year with big Dan's DLC. So it worked out for us.

No doubt about that. You know what their week one game is by the way, for the Raiders, any idea, is it the Broncos in Denver? Could you imagine if McDaniels walks in there, those poor Broncos fans, Sean paid in there a little excitement again, Russell Wilson in that quarterback here, you're number two, maybe Sean paid him. We'll turn things around. And could you imagine with all the crap that Sean Peyton's talked this week and all the things that just like Jim Irsay, things are better left unsaid that it's true.

What's your mercy saying? It's true. What, what Sean Peyton said this past week, but none of them needed to be said, imagine the karma, the humble pie that gets delivered to Sean Peyton. If you have Josh McDaniel's Las Vegas Raiders get a victory and they win by like a field goal coming up on September 10th at 4 25 PM Eastern on CBS. Yeah, I think Broncos fans. I think they think that they hit their rock bottom last year.

Keep digging. If, if week one this year Joshua Daniel's going into your house with that team and wins, but that would be the ultimate kind of bleep you to you as well. Cause you've been back on the Bronco train this year and that would be a guy that you can't stand in Josh McDaniel's. If that's how that season starts off.

Oh, that would set up for a glorious Monday edition of the Zach Gelb show on CBS sports radio. Not to worry. Sean Peyton is confident. He ain't allowing a coach. That's maybe not as bad as a thing.

Hackett, but definitely is not much better. He's not allowing that guy to walk into his house and walk out with the wind. I could promise you that right now, but what are your promises mean?

And I asked this all the time. You keep on promising things with Baker Mayfield. He told me it was going to be great last year. You keep on promising me things with the Broncos that were going to be great last year. And it's just amazing to me how you just even have more confidence. Like usually when someone burns me, I may eventually believe in them once again, but how quickly you have gone to believe back in the Broncos, even though they acquired a guy in Sean Peyton that is going to be a hall of fame coach. Now, the last few years of his career, he came up short in the post season, a bunch, and you look at Baker Mayfield. There's no reason to believe in Baker again, but here you are doubling down on, on the Broncos and Baker once again. And it's amazing how quickly you could forgive and forget.

Now I'll tell you this with, with you hot take Kiki. This is why you're a good friend, I think, because when someone messes up and someone disappoints you, you quickly move on and, and believe in the good of those people once again. Well, it's not blind faith. I'm not looking like if the Broncos brand, if they brought that team back and they brought Nathaniel Hackett back, didn't fire him after week 15 or week 16 and brought him back this year.

I'll tell you what I'm not doing. I'm not believing in the Broncos this year, and I'm not picking them to make the playoffs. That's for sure. One man for me, changes the entire outlook of a team. That's what Sean Peyton does.

So I don't think I'm going down the same. Well, cause to me, it's a totally different team, totally different well that I'm now diving into this year with Denver compared to last year with Denver, bra Baker Mayfield, I'm bank on the fact that he has for the first time in a long time, a real off season, a full off season with this team to learn the playbook, develop chemistry. You're in a very bad NFC South and a very bad NFC conference. I'm going to buy into Baker, bouncing back and being maybe the quarterback we saw second half of 2020 leading the Browns to the playoffs.

I'm buying in. So it's different even though yes, I'm going running it back in a way. Different circumstances is why I'm running back, not blindly. So even though I don't believe in the Buccaneers, you could throw darts. If you don't want to pick the saints, which I don't, you don't as well, you could throw darts and pick any one of those teams and you can make an argument. So I won't crush you for that one, but the Broncos, yes, they have changed their coach and they brought in a highly respected coach, the antithesis of the, of the Nathaniel Hackett. But you look at that offense, you have Javonte Williams coming off an injury. You've already lost Tim Patrick again for the season.

Jerry Judy is still overrated. And you look at that offensive line, it's still suspect. Now defensively, that may be the best secondary in football. And they brought in Frank Clark to beef up that defensive line. But you look at that offense, this is an AFC where you have Mahomes, you have Burrow, you have Allen, you have Rogers, you have Lamar Jackson, you have Justin Herbert. You have high, the Jaguars, high octane offenses.

And sure, the Broncos defense can slow down those offenses, but in an offensive league, there's not a lot to trust on the offensive side of the ball for the Denver Broncos. 2021, the last time Sean Payton was in the NFL, he was coaching the New Orleans Saints. That year they went 9-8. Can you name the quarterbacks Sean Payton had under center that season?

Yeah, they were horrible. So my point is this is a guy that's able to get a lot out of not a lot of talent. That Saints offense was not very good whatsoever. They won nine games. So I'm going to bank that yes, even though there's some injuries and some question marks on this roster, the talent they have in Denver is better than the last year that he had in New Orleans.

Still is able to win nine games with that team. I'm banking on the fact that Sean Payton is going to get the most out of this offense toward that and a very good defense is going to equate to a playoff run. But the AFC is absolutely loaded, loaded. That's why to me, like you want to tell me you believe in Cleveland.

All right, fine. The Broncos, they play in a tough division. They play in a tough conference and they don't have as much talent as Cleveland does on both sides of the ball.

So that's to me, like I can understand you going back to the well with the Browns, but the Broncos, I'm not saying they're going to be horrible, but they have so much confidence that you guarantee they're going to be a playoff team. That's just one I don't see. I'm entertained here though. How many quarterbacks played for the Saints that year? Four.

Can you list them? That's it? That's it. Jamis Winston.

Start like started. What year? 2021. Jamis Winston. Yep. You had Taysom Hill. I guess.

Did he ever start a game? Hold on. I got to look at that technically.

Let me just pull that up here. I think he did. Ian Book. Wasn't Ian Book there?

Yep. Trevor Simeon? Trevor Simeon.

And you're forgetting one. Andy dandy Dalton. Was he there? Andy Dalton. Now I'm just pulling up here just to technically see if Taysom Hill started a game.

He did. Oh, you did start a game. Okay.

My pad. Oh, well, I'm sorry. That's on me. Andy Dalton was not there.

Oh, it wasn't. So it was four quarterbacks. Simeon Winston, Taysom Hill, Ian Book. Four different quarterbacks. There wasn't another guy there?

No, sir. Blake Gillikin had one pass attempt. The punter.

Incomplete. I was going to say who? So those are the four quarterbacks that started games for the Saints in 2021.

Now let me just real quickly. And then went nine games. I understand that. They also had a kickass defense too. Just like they got in Denver. But that NFC is not the AFC of this year.

You look back at that 2021. Oh, actually NFC was pretty good. NFC was good. Buccaneers were very good. Packers.

But that even goes more into my point. We're sure they go nine and eight that year in that NFC. And they still didn't make the playoffs.

Tough year. You go nine and eight this year in the AFC, you're not making the playoffs. So how many wins are you? You said, what, 11 wins for them this year?

After I heard Sean Payne's comments, I opted one. 12. Oh, you did. 12. Yeah. You don't say that without having a lot of confidence. That's to me an extra win. 12 and five.

Okay. Now do you think the NFC that year was better than what the AFC could be this year? The Packers with 13 wins.

The Bucks with 13 wins. You had the Cowboys. You had the Rams. Cardinals.

San Francisco. And you had Philadelphia. You said that was 2021, right? 2021. Yeah. That's good NFC. But is it better than what the AFC has this year? Probably not.

Probably not. But his team this year, I would say is better than the Saints in 2021. So quarterback wise, yes. And even receiver Michael Thomas didn't play. Look how many games Alvin Kamara played. I think he missed a good amount with injury. So it wasn't like he was throwing or having the best players available. Alvin Kamara started 10 games.

Let's see. What should we call him? The leading receiver that year. Well, Alvin Kamara ended up playing in 13 games that year and he still put up 898 yards on the ground. And in the back field catching the football, he still put up 439 yards receiving and five receiving touchdowns and four rushing touchdowns. The top four leading receivers for the Saints in 2021 with Sean Payton as our head coach.

Mark was Callaway, 698 yards as the leader. Deontay Hardy, Alvin Kamara, Traquan Smith. Not exactly a lot of talent there. And there's guys that you love here with the Saints that year. No, my point is again, Sean Payne is able to get a lot of talent from guys that are Tina.

He doesn't need and that division plays every position in order to the bucks are 13 and four. That's pretty good. Yeah. So it's like, all star team around you for Sean Payne to look like an offensive genius.

The guy's able to squeeze juice out of Iraq. Yeah. That's what's going to happen.

But here's the disconnect of this. I'm not saying they're going to be bad, but he's going to need to squeeze that to 11 wins. I don't. And I know that the schedule was in their favor because they weren't good last year. I just don't see that jump going to 11 years this year. Cause the biggest question is we don't know how much Russell Wilson still has left in the tank. We'll talk Raiders next with JT the brick. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. The NFL season is inching closer and closer.

Who are the contenders and who are the pretenders? We have four downs to figure out your team's future. It's time now for first and goal on the Zach Gelb show. Let's talk some Raiders right now and preview their upcoming season with JT the brick. You could actually hear on CBS sports radio this week, Thursday and Friday. If the program schedule I was sent is correct, this will be filling in for Jim Rome on many of the same great CBS sports radio affiliates, Sirius XM and the free Odyssey app.

JT always a pleasure. So let me start you off with your Raiders and we look at the latest report from Jacina Anderson that the Raiders are open to restarting talks with the franchise tag running back in Josh Jacobs. What are you hearing there and what is the likelihood of Josh Jacobs playing in game one with the Raiders up against the Broncos? Well I think he'll be there for game one and he's on no time schedule as you know as of today and no one really knows anything new on this.

It's all speculation. He'll play on the franchise tag as we all expect as they couldn't come to terms but since what happened to Saquon Barkley is important not only to Josh Jacobs but all running backs going forward to how to play on a restructured potential one-year deal. You know I think the Raiders and him were very very close before they didn't come to terms on an agreement and I think Josh will be fine. He led the league in rushing. He's a great Raider teammate. His teammates want him back and I don't see any potential for any headbutting along the way.

Unfortunately now he's in this predicament. This is where the running back market is. It's a tough time to be a running back but he's a Raider. He's coming off a monster year and they're going to need him because I think the Raiders have an unbelievable ground attack as proven last year and a much more potent and loaded offense going forward.

Now we know how important he is to the success of that team. We saw that last year but when you don't get a deal done optically people are going to say oh that Josh McDaniel's coming over from New England where it was running back by committee. They won so many Super Bowls that they don't value Josh Jacobs.

What do you say to people that are in that camp? I'd say they have no idea what they're talking about because look at Saquon Barkley, Jonathan Taylor, look with Derrick Henry saying now every running back in the league is not valued and perceived where they believe they should be and this is a business. So they're in the middle of a business negotiation.

It was actually only off here by a million bucks or less than that. We're talking about quarterbacks they're going to make anywhere from 50 to 60 million dollars. We're talking about NBA players, some of them bums who quit on their own team making 35 to 40 million dollars in a season and load managing. It's just unfortunate that one of the most important positions of my lifetime in any sport from the power forward to the center to the center on a hockey team to a starting pitcher in baseball. Just a shame that the running back market is depressed as we speak. It's going through a cycle.

I don't know when that cycle is going to come back again. You know as a former stock broker I look at it like the stock market. Stocks go up they go down. Right now the running back market is going down and the only people fighting for the running backs seem to be the running backs. And I know every situation is different and right now teams just aren't giving out those contracts but if that's right only a million dollars off it's like man it drives you nuts why they didn't get that deal done. Yeah and again I don't want to be quoted on a million per se I'm just having a conversation but they're not off they're not off by three or four million dollars a year. They're not off by a big number ten million dollars or fifteen million dollars on a two or three year deal. Every running back who's in a negotiation right now if you're going to hold out next year if you're going to get tagged again is just going to be off by a small percentage of the number of what the franchise tag is and I think the franchise tag is a weapon that's a good weapon for the owners. Imagine a league where there was no franchise tag and every player would end up bolting after their rookie deal was up. Now you could say well a team has the right to extend a player and you know pick up the option on their rookie deal and all of that but in the Raiders sense when Josh Jacobs when Josh McDaniel came to the Raiders he never saw he never saw Josh Jacobs in the locker room he didn't know how good of a player he could be he didn't think you know I don't know if they thought they could lead the league in rushing or not or if they were going to be a passing team more so with Derek Carr and Devante Adams so you know last year at this time I was in Canton Ohio where Josh Jacobs was actually playing in the meaningless first preseason game and it's been at that time people were freaking out oh my god they're shopping him they're trying they're trying to trade them no they had a plan in place Josh had an unbelievable year they didn't sign them to the extension and now it's just a business I have no concern about Josh Jacobs being ready for the road opener at the Denver Broncos and running hard in that game.

Let's get to the next down. JT the brick here with Duz so when you get rid of Derek Carr I was expecting a big acquisition at the quarterback position you're bringing Jimmy Garoppolo he's won a bunch of games in this league he's struggling to stay healthy it was underwhelming to me what are your expectations individually for Jimmy G with some familiarity around Josh McDaniel's? Well I think Jimmy G should have you know everybody talks about him being healthy he's 100 healthy now so it's tough in the business that we're in is predicting how he's going to get hurt which I don't do with any player in any sport so as of tonight I'm going to say that Jimmy Garoppolo is healthy and plays for the Raiders I think if people say it's a wash with Derek Carr I'm fine with that the people think they're pretty much the same player or Derek's a little bit better or Jimmy's a little bit better than Derek I agree with all of that I just think Garoppolo will be better in this system that's all this is Derek had an opportunity to play in the system last year and he didn't play well not all of it was on him the defense wasn't very good they blew five double digit leads in the second half of games the first time that's ever happened dating back to leather helmets in the history of this game that won't happen again I just think that Garoppolo has an opportunity to be better in the red zone which is critical to the Raiders going forward because they have an opportunity to have one of the best red zone offenses in all of football that don't break the huddle on their opening game with Devante Adams, Jacoby Myers, Hunter Renfroe, Josh Jacobs, Jimmy Garoppolo, Colton Miller and then they have an array of other fast wide receivers Trey Tucker who they took in the draft they got a lot of guys Philip Dorsett who are going to be able to get open and then Michael Mayer the tight end out of Notre Dame who's a beast so the Raiders offense is the strength of the team and if you control the ball a little bit more not turn over big leads not lose second half leads and keep the Raider offense on the field instead of punting the ball the Raiders will be a much improved team on offense. Does it annoy you that Darren Waller is no longer on this team? I love Darren I think the world of him I did a lot interviewed him a lot in Vegas what he did with his sobriety and helping out people in need was incredible you know Darren had an opportunity Darren didn't play a lot the last year he had an unbelievable season with the Raiders a couple of good ones but you know he's injured last year waiting for it to come back from the injury was tough the Raiders lost a lot of games in that window look I'm going to cut right to the chase here all right this is really simple Josh McDaniel and Dave Ziegler who now run the Raiders evaluate players much differently than the former Raiders GMs and coaches a lot of them I worked for this will be my 25th year with the team I respect all of them these guys in charge now coming over from the New England Patriots and the super success not success elite success that they have they evaluate players differently they look at contracts differently they look at depth a lot differently and they took a real good look at Waller after he was extended watch what happened last year and decided that this was a player that they could move on from they've moved on from a bunch of players who are pretty good players Darren Waller and Derek Carr at the top of that list let's get to the next down JT the brick here with dust so I remember when Rogers proclaimed that his intentions were to go to the Jets that eventually came to fruition he went on McAfee show and he was talking about there was a former player he didn't say it but we all know it was Devante Adams and we love to link back up with was there ever any legitimate interest by the Raiders to go all-in and trade for Aaron Rodgers this past offseason yeah I can't answer that as all-in but I think that Aaron Rodgers was in play just like Tom Brady was probably in play I mean two of the greatest quarterbacks of all time I think would have been thrilled to play for the Raiders really would if the money was right they could have pulled off the deal which would have been Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady and you know the Raiders thought that for the price point and what they paid Garoppolo after they clearly were going to move on from Derek Carr you know even every person in the Raider nation like it or not understands that they were moving on from Derek Carr he didn't play in the last two games because they couldn't afford for him to get injured and for that contract for that contract to be guaranteed it was a great dream scenario Zach I said on my show live both of my shows back then I said I'll go pick up Aaron Rodgers I'll go pick up Brady at the airport if they want to be the quarterback of this team but it was far-fetched that that was going to happen especially for a Raider team that needs a lot of work on defense and they actually made some good decisions on defense spreading some money around so I think they're in a good spot now because with the quarterback that they have Garoppolo's won 70 percent of his games and he's won four playoff games beaten Aaron Rodgers in the playoffs won some really important games on the road this is what the Raiders absolutely need his leadership how humble he is but the point is he's got to stay healthy if he stays healthy the Raiders could be a vastly improved team compared to what most of the fraudulent national media thinks of the Raiders with this garbage three or four win team a team that had six last year should have had nine or ten fallen forward and I think they're a better team than the team they had last year so the Devante Adams stuff that became a story over the summer then you see Rodgers take 35 million dollars less his dead cat's going to be almost impossible to move in next year anyway you could poopoo all that stuff about Adams requesting a trade at the end of the year yeah at the end of the year at the end of the year everything could happen anything could happen but at this point you know Devante's in love with Las Vegas he hid his wife love Vegas they love everything about it he went on record and cleaned this up the Raiders are his favorite team as a kid he loves playing here I mean look he won he won he came here to play for his roommate in college in Derek Carr and that's not the case anymore Aaron Rodgers who put him on the map and gave him all these hall of fame stature with the Jets and I think with Jimmy Garoppolo he gets a really capable quarterback who's played at a high level in this league and is going to get him the ball a lot I'll be very interested to see how many times Devante gets the ball this year because he got a lot last year but Derek and him disappeared in a couple of halves in a couple of games that can't happen this year it's got to be a heavy dose to Devante Adams let's get to the final down you know what we do JT JT the brick here with us we love to talk offense offense is what sells defensively who doesn't love Max Crosby but how about the rest of the defense for this upcoming season with the Raiders yeah this is clearly the weakness of the Raiders and I think they addressed a lot of it in the off season they went out and got you know Marcus Epps who won the NFC with the Eagles and he's going to start and play every play they got Jecorian Bennett in the fourth round one of the fastest players in the league at corner I thought it was really important to bring in Marcus Peters last week who was born and raised in Oakland always wanted to be a Raider I'm not saying he's going to play at the top of his elite game but that's a big improvement there and then if they hit a home run with Tyree Wilson who they drafted with a banged up foot knowing it would heal now Chandler Jones should activate and be better this year he got up to a slow start last year with Max Crosby they have a formidable edge rush uh the linebacker is their weak position I don't think they're done yet I wouldn't be surprised if they got a linebacker on cut down day or a recognizable linebacker I think that's not the strength of their team and I think they have a vastly improved secondary they got the best one of the best punters in football and one of the top three kickers in football so they're loaded on special teams so the defense they're probably back one more one more year away free agency and draft to be really good but that defense has got to play better than it has the last couple of years because they've been run over they've been statistically at the bottom when it comes to defense they haven't turned the ball over they don't make a lot of big plays and Max Crosby can't do it all on his own so this defense if they play better than expected I really think the Raiders are going to have a better season than expected and if they don't then the Raiders are going to have problems because that defense has got to get off the field and give the offense an opportunity to be dominant we know the AFC it's a gauntlet the AFC West is such a tough division bare minimum like what what is success this season for the Raiders JT the brick the success for the Raiders will be to be in the wild card hunt the entire year which would mean if Kansas City everybody thinks everybody knows Kansas City is the best team in football playing in the AFC West it's kind of like playing in the Patriots division Don Brady's 19 years with the team you're playing for second place if the Raiders can hang around with Denver who they absolutely bleeping own I repeat on CBS Sports Radio all the garbage you're hearing in the media about the Broncos now they're going to the AFC Championship this or that the Raiders have won the last six of seven and fired two former Bronco head coaches and Nathaniel Hackett and Vic Fangio because I lost to the Raiders not anybody else so if the Raiders could stay above Denver and keep the charges where they do every year even with them and have an opportunity to split with them and be hanging around late that would be successful if the Raiders are in playoff contention in the wild card which shouldn't be hard to do they take seven teams in both conferences if the Raiders can hang around that and be in the discussion then anything could happen that would be a success how warm's the seat entering this year for McDaniels uh Jack I host his coach's television show every week I gotta sit down with him every week I mean you know I've been doing this 25 years my friend uh 27 on radio I'm not gonna say that the guy I worked for and interview every week is on the hot seat well you know you can feel that seat you're sitting right next to him yeah I'm right next to him but you know I'll tell you this about Josh McDaniels just two things on him yeah first off you know for Raider Nation who's listening they don't know him they just they get a lot of Raider fans are pissed off because he came from the Patriots that'd be upset saying that you know your new coach came from the Lakers or the Celtics that that's not a problem he deserved to be here now he's got a win and he's a good guy and a lot of people know how sharp he is he's one of the greatest play callers in NFL history if anybody doesn't believe that then they don't know football you know he was the guy calling the players and Brady was down 28 to 3 and won the Super Bowl he's the guy who called literally every single play of Gronk's entire career now you gotta have great players you gotta have Brady you gotta have Gronk but if you look around at the rest of those Patriots other than Moss they're running around with all-stars and all pros in every position and McDaniel's lined them up and put them in a spot to be a dynasty so we know what he can do with a play caller now we gotta see what he can do as a head coach but he's busting his chops to try to win there's a lot of pressure Las Vegas is now the sports and entertainment capital the world we have a stadium where every fan every giant jet van viking van wants to buy all of our tickets and come in because it's Las Vegas there's a lot of pressure to win here because we're Vegas and it's the Raiders and everybody knows the Raiders and a lot of people think the Raiders are down so it's giddy up time Raiders got to shock the world and shut up all these critics who don't know half of their depth chart can't pronounce half of the players on the team and understand that this team is better this team is better than the lack of respect they're getting around the league it seems like you're directly talking to my producer hot take a key because he can't stand the Raiders he can't stand Josh McDaniel's and he's been destroying you guys all offseason well as Al Davis said the Raiders have played with the greatest players and in the greatest games you can't tell the story of the NFL and its 100 plus year history without the Oakland LA and now Las Vegas Raiders and they're going to get it right and I think they're going to get it right sooner than later and when they do and the pendulum swings back to the side of the Raider nation Raider nation is taking names and they're going to be looking for receipts and they're going to be coming after everybody I just hope it's sooner than later I love it I love it JT the brick you can listen to him everywhere but he'll be here on CBS Sports Radio Thursday and Friday fill it in for the legendary Jim Rome JT always appreciated thanks Zach all the best there you go JT the brick bringing it on CBS Sports Radio and he wants to go after hot take Kiki there is no doubt about that the Raider mob is going to be going after you if they end up having that successful the season but JT was a little bit optimistic about that football team I'm being honest with you I'm not too worried for 25 years stamps.com has made mailing and shipping easy all you need is a computer and printer imagine mailing and shipping right from your desk anytime no traffic no waiting no hassle plus stamps.com gives you discounts up to 84 sign up for stamps.com today use code program for a four-week trial plus postage and a digital scale that's stamps.com code program you're listening to the Zach Gelb show it is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio so I'm not at the level of JT the brick hickey when it comes to optimism with the Raiders but you look at this team assuming Josh Jacobs is back you have Devante Adams Jacoby Myers a solid wide receiver Hunter Renfro a solid wide receiver Michael Mayer highly thought of coming out of Notre Dame you have Austin Hooper who's been in league for a while if Jimmy Garoppolo could stay healthy this team should be able to put up some points but the big question is on the defensive end now they play in a division that's tough they play at a conference that is absolutely brutal but hickey you have been probably the most down on the Raiders that anyone could be your prediction this year on how many wins the Raiders are going to get like if I do you have that number already do you want me to go through the schedule here I don't have a number I would say top my head six and eleven so six wins for the Oakland Raiders or the Las Vegas Raiders this year sorry yeah six wins seven wins all right let's do a quick exercise here just give me one loss loss I already know first game loss at Denver six out of seven JT bringing the numbers Sean pay new sheriff in town all right maybe my guarantee of week one Raiders plus like the three and a half or five and a half points oh do me a favor instead of donating that to Vegas donate it to me I'll take the five bucks no don't the casinos don't need them oh one I remember what I just said just give me one or loss here in this segment I don't need any of this other side chatter loss for the Raiders week one at Buffalo loss another team that you can't stand the bills you you don't you don't like Josh Allen you don't like Sean McDermott I see with all your takes anti Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo makes anti Buffalo Bills we will not tolerate that here Pittsburgh week three where is that game that game Sunday Night Football NBC Las Vegas I'll give him a win there close game but I'll give him a win at the Chargers loss Green Bay I will say win for the Raiders New England where's that game if I don't say ad it's it's a home game well actually I think that but is that in Germany I don't think so it's four or five yeah as I say Patriots Colts is in Germany you're right a few weeks later on I will say that's a house of horrors for Bill Belichick that continues win for the Raiders till last year's of course miracle at the Bears be fair here when you didn't want to there well I'm trying like even an hour I'm sure like just fine fine when you're at four right now at Detroit loss Giants loss Jets loss at Miami loss Kansas City loss bye week can't lose that well now the Raiders can they have can't lose that Minnesota I'm high in Minnesota well hi-ish on Minnesota win for sorry loss loss for loss of the Raiders I forgot who was doing here for a second Chargers loss no division games are gonna win this year at Kansas City oh that's a loss at Indianapolis that's a win although I mean revenge Denver last week of the season probably be a bye week for the Broncos since they're already in the playoffs so come on I'll give them a win there they'll get one division game so one division win and you have them at six who they beaten in the division they're not being the Chiefs that's a guarantee but hold on I've been the Chiefs they could split the Chargers they could split Denver that's not out of the realm of possibilities whatsoever but unlikely so what are we out there six you're at six there we go with only one division win and you're as negative as negative could be so you could probably pencil in for like seven or eight wins this year for the Las Vegas Raiders now last year against Kansas City they played Kansas City really well in that that one game remember when Crosby p.o'd Mahomes that's 30 to 29 blew that I mean what was it 21 nothing 21-3 I would not anticipate them to to defeat Kansas City but you know what's real disappointing and I kind of got at this with the JT if they really wanted to make you believe in this team because I'm not saying there's a reason to really believe in them they should have got they should have went out there and and got Aaron Rodgers because if Rogers won't go to the Jets who had a good defense and quarterback away I get it but it's in the AFC it's in a tough division he should have entertained the Raiders where he had Devante Adams and according to that interview with Pat McAfee he like alluded to oh he would have loved to have teamed back up with Devante Adams but it never seemed as if that really got anywhere off the ground and to bring in Jimmy G I know you save money but he's not going to be the quarterback that Aaron Rodgers is I would have given up the draft capital to at least give your your fan base a reason to get excited and a reason to believe for two to three years I would agree with that said I do not see McDaniels and Rodgers meshing whatsoever why not him and Brady got along great two str exactly two strong-handed individuals where Brady at least is a team guy Rodgers is a me guy Rodgers is running his offense McDaniel is running his offense I don't see those two working it out we'll say oh I disagree with that I think they would have got on the same page because Josh McDaniel's understands what it's like to work with the star quarterback and understands even though he's the head coach he was the OC with with Brady to take the back seat to a star like that and do what's for the better part of the team I know you don't view it that way and I know Broncos fans don't view it that way but if he got Rodgers I don't think that would have failed because him and Rodgers wouldn't have got along