NFL Predictions (Hour 3)

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It is the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. It is my birthday today, so we got into the conversation somehow of desserts and I said, Hickey, let's try these cookies. I'll buy them my treat. And some cookies are on our way to the CBS Sports Radio Studios. The dilemma here is the cookies are supposed to arrive at 810 p.m. Eastern. Now, our main man that is on his bicycle bringing us the cookies has not got the cookies yet and has not made his way to the CBS Sports Radio Studios.

So I am a bit concerned that he gets here while we are on the air and then we have no one around here to go get the cookies. Because there used to be a time where if you were a tape op here at CBS Sports Radio, you would have to do this crazy thing where you would have to come into the office. And now we aren't requiring the tape op still to come back into the office or some have got into a different status inside the company where now they're above coming into the office. And the tape op in radio is essential for two reasons. One, getting us the sound, but also since we're on the air, if we get hungry and we need someone to go run downstairs and do us a favor, I always remember the tape op being that person. Yeah, no problem.

I'll get you the food downstairs in the lobby. Now, there's no set schedule here, but I do feel like the only times I see tape ops are like two or three times a week, Monday through Friday. And there's at least two days where the tape op isn't in. So, heck yeah, I can't make an executive decision around here outside of our studio during our 6 to 10 p.m. Eastern time shift. And I don't control the tape ops, but I think it's pretty weak that we don't have the tape ops inside.

The building now automatically guaranteed. I mean, I guess I see it from the sense that they don't do anything extra here that they can't do at home. Yeah, but it's good to get into the office and build camaraderie and make sure I'm able to go get my cookies. Like, those things are important here.

Just having people sit at home and you don't get to see them and don't get any of that interpersonal communication, I think that's a problem. I do. And I think that we need to get everyone back in the office here. It's been a long time. I would love to see some of the smiling faces of the tape ops.

A lot of positive faces around here. So does this mean you want me to run down when he's here? What's his name? We have no choice.

Keffing is his name. And by the way, so please don't go to break or please do not curse while I'm not here. Okay. I am not here.

I cannot control that. Now we have an update. I didn't realize how close this place was to our studios. Keffing just picked up the cookies. He is on his way and he is supposed to get here at 807 p.m. Eastern time. Now, I didn't really do a great job in terms of planning how we were going to order these cookies, because I wasn't anticipating these cookies to ever be in the show tonight.

So maybe we'll do this. We're supposed to do a segment right now that requires a lot of hickey, where hickey is going to play NFL music and hickey is going to give us, what was this, USA Today made their NFL predictions. And I was going to guess, or I would not guess the prediction, but more so if I agree with the prediction made by USA Today.

Since Keffing is this unbelievable biker right now and he is Lance Armstrong right now without the juice, I think Keffing is going to be here rather quickly. So I'm going to make an executive decision here. Let's punt on this NFL record segment and we will do that at 820 p.m. Eastern time. Now we're going to learn a lot about really the estimated time of arrival. It says 806 p.m. Eastern. That is in two minutes. Do you actually think this guy will be here in two minutes on bicycle?

It went from 810 to 806. That makes me think he will be. I've seen these bikers on the streets of New York City. He'll be here. By the way, they don't oblige to stop signs or lights or pedestrians. And now they're all electronics. They're flying like cars.

He'll be here probably now. So you know what I realize? You're 100 percent right that when you're on a bicycle, it's as if none of the rules apply to you.

But you know what I'm starting to realize that's happened as well? Taxi cab drivers. I can't if I had a dollar for every time I'm walking home and there's a stop sign that I go by every day on a side street here. And it's it's like a dangerous place to like cross the street because it's kind of a hidden spot.

The taxi drivers do not stop at the stop sign. They blow through it every day. And it's like if a biker does that, yes, it's still not safe.

And even though it annoys the crap out of me and I'll channel my inner New Yorker and I'll be like, what the hell are you doing, you moron? But it's a bike. It's a bicycle.

A car? Like that could do some serious damage to someone. So that's that's the whole PSA of the day. Like, can we just operate and follow the rules on the road? If you're on the road, follow the rules of the road. When the light is red, you stop. When there's a stop sign, you stop.

You look both ways and then you go. So I got a whole lot to do today on the show. Jamie Eisenberg's going to join us coming up in an hour 20 from now. So you want to run down?

Yeah, you could run down. Keffing is almost here. It says he's arriving now. The bag.

So go secure the bags of cookies up. He's actually calling me right now. Hold on one second. Hello?

Hello? Gotcha. I'll be right down. We're coming right down in the elevator. Thank you.

All righty. So there we go. Keffing is going to go get us our cookies and Hickey and I will celebrate my birthday as we got a.

It was a double chocolate chip cookie and then a regular chocolate chip cookie and some milk. So we're going to have a little cookie party here on CBS Sports Radio. OK, I want to get into this Jonathan Taylor situation and actually stinks that Hickey isn't here right now. But hey, when Hickey's away, we will shred the Indianapolis Colts. So Jonathan Taylor has left the Colts training camp for rehab.

Jonathan Taylor, who is on the public. And they were questioning the back injury. And you got to remember, he was coming off an ankle injury. And also now he's being excused where last week it was, oh, well, the back injury may have happened away from the team.

So maybe we'll put him in the NFI list. And it looked like it was going to get contentious. Remember, they're not giving him a new contract.

He's requested a trade. And then you had Jim Irsay blast in the running back saying that we negotiated this deal in good faith in the CBA and now you can't change it. And then you had Jim Irsay come on in on the RV and invite Jonathan Taylor on the RV. And then you had the agent of Jonathan Taylor going after Jim Irsay as well respond to the tweet.

So this thing got really ugly. But now when Jonathan Taylor, who has an ankle injury, is now being excused from training camp as he starts to undergo rehab and he's going to be away from the Colts for a bit. You know, we were talking about this in the off season where which running back isn't going to show up. And I thought that right, Josh Jacobs to show up week one and Saquon Barkley would show up week one as well. Saquon Barkley, after not getting that long term deal done by July 17th, I think he surprised everyone by taking only nine hundred thousand dollars in incentives to show up on time to training camp. The Josh Jacobs situation.

I do believe that this is in a bad spot. And I ultimately will say that Josh Jacobs does show up and I'll show up in the final week right before the start of the season. And I'll sign the franchise tag and then I'll go get the full value of the ten million dollars. And maybe they'll put some incentives in there to up the one year value of the deal. But I don't really see why Josh Jacobs would want to lose money here and just you're never going to get back that full value of the ten million dollars and some change.

So then go get the full value of it. And then if you want to say that you're hurt or something like that and find a way not to play every game this year, you could do that. But with Jonathan Taylor already requesting a trade and Jonathan Taylor last season suffering an injury and this carrying over at this point. And I don't you know, I'm not saying the injury isn't serious and he doesn't need more rehab. But if he had a contract and he signed a contract extension, is Jonathan Taylor going to be missing week one?

Probably not. But now with him being away from the team and it now being an excused absence as Hickey has secured the bag. Here we go.

And we have the cookies. Good job. That was really quick.

I was surprised by that. I am starting to lean towards that Jonathan Taylor is not going to be with the Indianapolis Colts for week one. Well, he'll still be getting paid. Right. And it's going to be excused.

But like Hickey, you've been all over this. I was I was saying when you were going to get the cookies, we know Saquon is going to be there week one as long as he's healthy. He's there right now. Josh Jacobs, I do think will ultimately show up and get the full value, whatever incentives they tack on to get him in there in the final week, right before the season. And he'll be there for week one. But with Jonathan Taylor, how ugly this got and with how him and his agent and Jim Erce, we're all going back and forth. And now where the Colts have changed their stance a little bit by excusing him to go away to rehab here, where last week there were threats of putting him on the non-football injury list. And now it's more the ankle they're talking about than the back injury from where we are. At this rate, I would be really surprised. Like, I don't think it's smart for Jonathan Taylor to miss a lot of games because then that's going to be used against him in future contract negotiations. But I would be surprised if Jonathan Taylor is there playing week one for the Indianapolis Colts.

Same for a while. I thought this was a milked injury and, you know, as an excuse to have basically a silent protest where you're holding in, but you're not getting fined for not practicing by being on the public list. I mean, at this point, you're going away from the team for whatever it is, rehab, second opinion. It's not good.

It is not good. I don't think that means you are anywhere close to returning to the field. And remember, this is hot take Hickey. And if you know the brands of hot take Hickey, Ryan Hickey is always believing in his teams, always thinking that a situation isn't as bad as the way that it's presenting itself.

And he'll always say, no big deal, nothing to see here, folks. You don't think that Jonathan Taylor is going to be there week one. And I agree with you. Now, with that being said, when does he return? You have Jacksonville week one, then week two, Houston, Baltimore week three, the Rams week four, Tennessee week five, and then Jacksonville week six.

And that takes you all the way through October 15th. When does Jonathan Taylor, your guy, JT, who you're even losing faith in right now? Because you were like, oh, where the run the damn ball had each and every day. I don't even see it on your cabeza right now. And you go, I'll make sure you get a deal done, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You are defeated. You are lost. You are hopeless right now.

And you look like you have nowhere to turn. When does your guy, Jonathan Taylor, come on back if you had to take a stab at this? I mean, take a stab November 1st. Wow. That long?

Think about it. He got surgery on January 25th. By all reports and previous surgeries, this was a month recovery. That's it. It is a very easy hit, a high ankle sprain, easy procedure, one month recovery time.

You're good to go. His own teammate got a very similar surgery. He's back on the field.

No problem. He had that on January 25th. It is now August 9th. He's not practiced one time. And is now, again, away from the team, either rehabbing or seeking some sort of different medical opinion. That means something ain't right.

Something is clearly wrong. And so if he is now taking almost nine months for recovery on something that should have taken one month, I can't sit here and tell you he's going to be back for week one or week four. I mean, week nine, I'm guessing, is around November 1st. That's probably about halfway through the season. It's got to be generous. But it's like, I'll say this.

But let me ask you this. Is there a chance he misses the entire season? Yes. Wow.

You have done a full 180. And unfortunately, the Colts have a bad history of their best players having serious injuries and not returning anywhere near the time frame that has been reported or suggested. But those have been I'm not saying this is a legitimate injury, but those have been actual injuries with no contract discussions. If Jonathan Taylor got an extension a few weeks ago, don't you think he's there right now? I thought so up until he left the team, because I again, they excused it. And I think that they would not have like they are not afraid to make this ugly.

I don't think they would have excused him and let him go wherever he had to go. But I think this was just strictly contract related to make some sort of statement. So you don't interpret that the way that I interpreted it as now they're trying to mend and massage this relationship together. In OK, a week ago, you were threatening the NF non football injury list. And now it's like, OK, go get your rehab away from the team. And now you're not talking about the back. It's back to the ankle. Like, you're right.

You should. You would think you'd be healed by now. So I kind of interpreted that they were excusing him to not make this a bigger distraction than whatever it is to kind of hope that in return, he'll eventually come back in a normal timeframe here. I think everyone on both sides is resigned to the fact that Jonathan Taylor is going to be on this team in 2023 and playing without the big deal he wants. I think the Colts clearly have already thought that and assume that. I think Jonathan Taylor, after seeing this last week and seeing that I've seen the Colts not budge whatsoever and now his injury concern as well, I think has also resigned himself to the fact that he's not going to get traded and or get a contract extension. So now I don't think, again, he's doing this to try to get a deal or force the leverage or force a trade.

I think this is actually legit and that's very concerning. OK. And and you're right, because you would think he'd be fully recovered now. And I mean, you said it before, like the running backs are the only position where unfortunately it stinks. You don't get paid no matter how good you are. But it's also you get punished if you make some sort of stance where if he doesn't play, you said it before, it's going to be held against him.

So now all of a sudden, like you are damned if you do damned if you don't. It still makes better business sense for Jonathan Taylor to be out on the field and having a great year compared to him huffing and puffing, sitting out games and making this way uglier than it could be. So that's why I do take this seriously for the first time, where I think this is an injury that is more serious than maybe even we thought beforehand. Here's what I wonder. If the Colts go to him tomorrow and say, we want to trade you, does all of a sudden you come back into that building and get on the practice field? Because if you get traded, you're thinking someone's given up something together, then they're going to give him that extension. Like, that's what I wonder. I'm not I always hate to question someone's injury. I hate to do that. But on this one, I can't say with 100 percent certainty that the injury now where we are right now is as bad as the way that you're perceiving it to be, because I wonder about the contract and I wonder about the trade request.

I really do wonder with that stuff. Well, let me ask you this, I guess, if you're the Colts like this was an excused absence, they allowed him to go. They were aware of him leaving. Why would they like this has caused more of a distraction by him not being there than being there. Why would they, I guess, allow if they're trying to get a trade, then why they allow him to leave?

Fair. But why I think that happened and why he's away from the team right now is they don't want this to get worse than what it already is. And then if you tell them you can't go away from the team, then I do think this gets uglier. And there's no reason why you prevent him from leaving the team right now when we sit here on August 9th. This will pick up in intensity if he's not back or if he says he's still not healthy to play by the start of the season. The doctors do think he's healthy. So that's just the way that I look at it from afar. Honestly, I think we're at a point here, Hickey, and I don't know if you agree with this. I know we got to take a break and also we got to eat our cookies, too.

And I want my milk to get warm and get to room temperature. The Colts at this point should just try to trade him. They really should.

You're going nowhere. I know it's important to have a good running back there for the development of Anthony Richardson. But if I'm Indianapolis, I would just try to get him in the building and get him on the field as soon as possible. And have him play and hope the value gets back to a decent spot where you could get something back from. I do think there would be a team that would be willing to trade for Jonathan Taylor and just say, hey, we're never going to win with this guy. And he may only have three or four really good prime years left and just get what you can get back for Jonathan Taylor. If it's in reason, like if it's just a six round pick.

No. But if some teams want to give you like a second or third round pick and then some extra things as well, I'd be willing to do it. And that's the thing. I mean, I don't his values only gone down since since we last talked this was 10 days ago, if that a week ago, it feels like forever ago. But we just talked about when he was healthy, that there would be some legit interest and some legitimate offers that would be. And now he's away from the team.

I don't know how you fear another team you could feel good about now trading for him when you truly have no idea if he's even going to be ready to go week one. It is Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll come on back. We'll give you some predictions from USA Today on your maybe favorite football team for this upcoming football season. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. All right.

You can think about the auto parts where your car care needs get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. So for my birthday, hot take Hickey got me some cactus candy. And this has been a long running show bit ever since the Super Bowl because a listener told us we had to try cactus candy. I gave Hickey one responsibility during Super Bowl week and he didn't do so, which was secure some cactus candy. Now, he did have food poisoning during Super Bowl week.

So I don't think he was functioning in the right mindset. But Hickey has brought us some delicious cactus candy and I'm taking a video of this and I'll tweet it out and put it on Instagram afterwards. And this looks pretty good.

So you got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12 squares in a box. It kind of looks like, I don't know, a flattened Swedish fish is the best way to kind of describe it. But I'll take a bite and I'll try this right now. The cactus candy review on CBS Sports Radio prickly pear cactus is what it says on the box. Well, that's good.

That's really good. Is it the flavor explosion I told you about? Yeah, it's very sugary. It really just comes out sugary sweet. It's sweet. It's delicious. If you give me about like three minutes, I think I could eat all 12 of these. This is really good. Like you could just knock these out of the park like it's nothing.

Not to sound soft. I tried them one day. That's good. I had one.

I said, wow, I can't even have another one. I usually have a pretty good sweet tooth, I like to think. But even even the cactus candy kind of knocked me on my ass a little bit.

That's pretty. And I don't usually like gummies. Well, different types of gummies, but the candy gummies, I don't usually like. These are pretty good, though. I would give this. This is really good. I know listeners probably love me just chewing and sucking on this candy right now.

Probably makes it great if you're listening in the car right now. Well, this is tough. You know what? I take that back. But I just say I could eat that entire box in like three minutes or something, I just said. You said you would crush it right now. Let's do it.

Come on. You got 10 more to go. 10 more before we get to the update with that.

The second one really kind of slowed me down there. But it's good. I would say it's an 8.3. That's pretty good. It's an 8.3.

I think that's a fair number, right? Have you had one of these? I have. It was a while ago. Well, come in here.

Come into the studio. I'm going to give you I'm going to give you one of these prickly pear cactus candies. This is made with delicious prickly pear cactus. Cactus Candy Company, quality product since 1942.

Which, by the way, I am shocked. You go bring it to the other side of the glass so we get you back on the microphone. I am shocked that 12 cactus candies, they cost $16.99. So I appreciate the gift, Hickey. Cactus candy, take a bite. See if you enjoy the cactus candy. Get the microphone on so the listeners can get you an HD hearing you chew.

And on the Hickey Only Fan, I'm sure they would love to hear you chew on the radio. What do you think that cactus candy is? It's really good.

It's a little less sugar than I remember. Now it's juicy, which is good. You know something's good when the host goes, Oh, it's really good.

And you can barely understand what they're saying. It is very good, yes. And you see why it's highly priced.

That prickly pear juice ain't cheap, folks. No. I want to give it a rating, but also I don't eat a lot of gummies myself. So it's also tough to compare. I want to say like a nine. Wow. Because I'm trying to think what could beat it.

I would say it's a rookie score, though. I'm not a big gummy bear fan. I like them. I think most kind of taste a little stale to me. That tastes pretty fresh. I'm actually surprised you're not a gummy bear fan because you have the diet of a seven or eight-year-old.

Here we go. And I would always think that you would just love all type of sugary candies. I do have a big-time sweet tooth, but not when it comes to gummy bears. I think they're a little overrated. Wow. So what's your rating here? I'm going to go nine. Okay.

9.0. Now, remember when Jameson in Milwaukee sent us those gourmet cookies that he made? Yes. Now, I got these Chip City New York City cookies for us today. One is a triple chocolate chip cookie and has some white chocolate chips in it, and the other is just a regular chocolate chip cookie. So take a bite, break off the triple chocolate first, and let's get a quick review of the triple chocolate cookie as well.

Well, I'm thinking of all. That's not a cookie. That's a brownie.

That just oozes right away. That's good. That's a good cookie. Like a brownie mixed with almost like in a cake way, if that makes any sense, because it's still like soft.

That's a brownie cookie. That is delicious. That is some good stuff. I was going to say something else.

That's some good stuff. I don't need you cursing again. No. I got one mulligan. I got one mulligan.

I won't use another. I would say it's not better than Jameson's cookie. It's not. It's better than the cactus candy.

I'll tell you that. 8.7. 8.7 on the triple chocolate chip. Your score here, hot day cookie.

I think I'm a fraud for these high scores. I'm going to go 9.1. 9.1. Very good. I think there's a small bar to beat it, but delicious. Soft, warm.

And you know what? Credit to them, warm on the delivery, which is very rare. Yeah, it wasn't that far away, but still some late nights at my apartment. I need some cookies to get delivered.

They usually come pretty warm still. And I live further away here than obviously where the studios are compared to where the cookie place is. Now the traditional chocolate chip cookie.

It's a nice break. It still looks like there's some cookie, like some, it's not a fully baked cookie, which is good. So you get some of that natural cookie dough in there.

Here we go. The chocolate chip cookie. It's not as good as the triple chocolate chip.

I'll tell you that. It's still a good cookie and still better than the cactus candy. I would go 8.5. 8.5. I actually think the chocolate chip is better.

Wow. Because it's the perfect texture where it's a little undercooked, so it's mushy, which is delicious. Melts in your mouth, but it's not too hard. Chocolate's A plus.

I would like 9.2. All right. I want to be polite here. Ack, would you like to sample any of these cookies? No, thank you, but I do appreciate the offer. Now how about a little cactus candy? Would you like to try? Have you ever had cactus candy?

No. What exactly is cactus candy? This is cactus candy. I'm going to pass on that. You don't want to try some cactus candy?

What is it? Is it like jelly type of... It's not jelly.

It kind of tastes like a better Swedish fish. I'm all right. Come on, Ack. For my birthday, try one prickly pear cactus candy.

It won't hurt you. I only go Carvel cake. Oh, ice cream cake. Well, actually, that's a lie because you go that schlug from Peter Luger. Well, but that's ice cream. But not from Carvel.

That's a good call, by the way, by Ack. Thank you. What did Nick Saban say? The best cake.

He said this at SEC Media Day. Carrot cake. Carrot cake, which is ridiculous. Now ice cream cake isn't my favorite cake, but it's definitely in the top three cakes for me. My favorite is the ice box cake that I make. Yeah, that's a good one.

Well, the world is screwing me over. Nabisco, they had the traditional chocolate wafer and they discontinued it. And the summer is the perfect time for the ice box cake where you layer out the cookies. You make it into cake form. You do the homemade heavy cream with the whipped cream and you let it sit in your fridge for three days. And Nabisco goes, yeah, after 100 something years, we're just going to get rid of the Nabisco famous wafer. The magnolia baker here in New York, I don't know if they're franchised around the country or not, but they have an ice box cake. No, I wonder what they're going to do now. There's some serious articles about how to try to replace the Nabisco wafer and no one has a great thought on the next wafer kind of cookie.

There's not one that's really resonated. And my grandmother, who I don't want to say her age on the radio, but she's in her 90s. She looks like she's 28, though. She is actively searching and sampling what we could do for Thanksgiving because the icebox cake is always a staple on the Gelb Thanksgiving, along with the lasagna, too. So this is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.

Really good cookies, really good cactus candy. Let's take a break. We'll come on back with some USA Today records and we will react to how we think those teams are going to do in the NFL for this upcoming season. By the way, this portion of the Zach Gelb show is sponsored by the United States Postal Service, introducing USPS ground advantage, reliable and affordable two to five day packaging, shipping the United States Postal Service. It is Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.

You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. What can I give you a little scouting report here, Hickey? Absolutely. So you know how I offered some of the cactus candy and then some of the cookies as well, as you just heard in the last segment?

Yes. So I don't think the scouting report on why he he didn't take the cactus candy is the same as the cookie. I think he was just kind of skeptical about what cactus candy is.

An act seems like if he doesn't know what it is, he's not going to try it. But I think for the cookie part, it was because I was touching the cookie and right. We split off the cookie where we had two cookies and you took a half of the triple chocolate chip.

I took another half of the triple chocolate chip and then a half of the regular chocolate chip each. I think act got kind of scared off because my hands were on the hook on the on the cookie there. That would be my scouting report there. No one act because I know he's he's denied this on the air, but I do feel like act is a germaphobe. If we're just going to be honest, he's denied it on the air. Yeah. Oh, wow.

That's a misconception about me. Wow. I would have thought that's like, yeah, like that was like an easy like like a layup term. Yeah.

That's not without question. The guy. What else are you going to say about him?

Interesting. I'll never forget. Remember the old janitor here, Steve? Do you remember Steve?

Yes. With the long hair and he would gamble in all the games and he was like a real character. Steve one day goes, this rich Ackerman, isn't he a germaphobe? And his space is always so messy. It's so messy because that could leave like bags of chips back in the day. And like napkins and forks and spoons and plates all over the place. And Steve, I guess, heard some things that we've also heard about ACK.

And he goes, how could you be a germaphobe and be this messy? So Steve wasn't a fan of ACK, which I was very surprised about because ACK everyone. Who doesn't like ACK around here? ACK is just such a nice guy. You know, I love Rich Ackerman.

But if I had to clean up the CBS Sports Radio studios and ACK was making a mess, then yeah, maybe he would be on the S-list. Steve liked me. Denny does not like me so much.

So I miss Steve. Now Denny likes you. Denny just takes my side. And Denny just, he's like me when it comes with friends. If I'm not making fun of you, then I really don't like you. But if I'm making fun of you, then there's a friendship there and it's just busting chops.

That's what it is. And Denny is kind of fed off of that as well. And he loves to come into our little area here at CBS Sports Radio and go, how can I make fun of Hickey today?

So that's just the way that it works. He's a chop buster, huh? I will say, when you're not here, he does make fun of you still.

But then he'll try to make fun of me as well. So I give credit to Denny. At least Denny is consistent. Alrighty, give me some NFL music. We've been teasing this now for two segments. Let's get to some predictions made by USA Today and if I agree with them. The Kansas City Chiefs. Alright, so they have the Chiefs this year going 11-6. Doesn't that seem a little bit low?

I would agree. They're not going to win every game, but that seems a little bit low for the Kansas City Chiefs. And the Chiefs last year that won the Super Bowl, they were the number one seed. I feel as if Kansas City is going to win more than just 11 games. Last year they won 14.

I would say the lowest win, bare minimum, would have to be 12. But I feel like Kansas City is going to go get 13 or 14 wins once again. You would have thought if they were to win 11 games, either last year or this year, because that was the first year without Tyreek Hill, you're still getting adjusted. 14 wins without Tyreek Hill, now all of a sudden you're used to the offense. And you're kind of used to working without one of the best wide receivers.

I'm with you. I don't see a drop off in terms of that win total here anytime soon. They do have two fun games right out of the gate, the Lions and the Jaguars. For those two teams, those are big statements early on. And after that, it's the Bears. Jets are good. Vikings, Broncos, Chargers, Broncos, Dolphins, Eagles. Get a cupcake game with the Raiders in there, then the Packers, which no longer Aaron Rodgers. The Bills, the Patriots, the Raiders, the Bengals, the Chargers. That's a good schedule.

It's a tough schedule, so maybe that's what factors into 11. But I got to think they're going to go win 13 games here. The Denver Broncos.

All right, what do we got? Ten and seven. So I'm actually optimistic about the Broncos from where I was a month ago. I like the way that Russell Wilson has got into some good shape.

Not that I want to call someone pudgy, but at times last year, he looked a little pudgy, if we're being fair. Ten, I think, is the apex. I do. I don't think they're going to get to ten. I still believe that this is a team that's going to be like eight and nine or nine and eight teetering right there. So not that far off. But I think they'll be on the outside looking to come playoff time, so I will say eight or nine or nine or eight.

Los Angeles Chargers. All right, here we go. What do we got? How about this? From USA Today. Seven and ten.

Oh, that's ridiculous. If you want to tell me the Chargers aren't going to make the playoffs because the AFC is really good, fine. I do think they'll be a playoff team. They have too much talent to go seven and ten. I don't even love Brandon Staley as a head coach.

I don't even like him. But when you have Justin Herbert and Keenan Allen and Mike Williams and Quinnen Johnston and Austin Eckler. And on the defensive side of the ball, I know there's a bunch of injuries, but you got Joey Bosa. You got Derwin James. You got Khalil Mack.

There's just too much talent there. The Chargers will win more than seven games. I think that's a ten or eleven win football team.

I really do. I like the Chargers a lot, so I don't see how they get seven wins. The Seattle Seahawks.

All right. Speaking of ten wins, ten and seven from USA Today. I think that's fair.

I have no gripes with that. I think the Seahawks' upside, even though we know the Niners are going to win the division and they wouldn't be the three seed. I think they could be the third best team in the NFC with the talent they have on the offensive side of the ball with Pete Carroll. Geno Smith, when the comeback player of the year, even if he regresses a little bit, I think there's enough talent on this team. And also have a very good secondary, too, where they could go get ten wins this year. The San Francisco 49ers.

Mokai, what do you got? No quarterback, no problem. Eleven and six from USA Today.

I think that's fair. The only concern I have with the Niners this year is the Eagles and then also that you don't love their quarterback. You don't know what their quarterback is. And they did get to 13 wins last year. If you want to bump that up by one win from what's projected here at eleven and six, okay. But I think eleven and six is a fair prediction here. Because I think it's going to take some time either for Brock Purdy to once again show that he's the guy. Or maybe there's a transition to a new quarterback at another time this season.

I do think, and it seems like a Shannon in each and every year, there's one little small stretch where he questions the Niners and they get going. I do think though that that record of eleven and six is very fair. The Pittsburgh Steelers.

Eleven and six. That's a little high. And I've been optimistic about the Steelers. I love Tomlin. George Pickens is going to be really good.

You got Fryermuth. Defensively they should be studs and they had a lot of injuries last year, especially with Watt. They were nine and eight though last year, even after a really bad start. Eleven wins, that's a little bit too benevolent for me. I think they're a nine and eight, ten and seven type of football team. If they're going to be in that playoff mix.

Now you play in a tough division and a tough conference. Could I see them maybe going eight and nine and finally going below five hundred? Yeah it's not possible but I would say that's either a nine or eight or ten and seven football team. The Minnesota Vikings. Seven and ten.

Stop. I know they're going to regress but give me a break. Seven wins? Just with that offense, as long as Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson are healthy. And in a bad NFC and an uncertain NFC North, that should be a nine and eight football team bare minimum. The Jacksonville Jaguars. USA Today is predicting ten and seven for Jacksonville. Now they're going to have first place schedule because they won the division last year.

That division though outside of like if you want to maybe talk up Tennessee, there's really nothing there. I would think that that's going to be a twelve win football team this year based off that division. The Buffalo Bills. I believe this is USA Today's highest win total in the AFC. Thirteen and four for Buffalo.

I don't think it's crazy. Now I think you're splitting hairs between the Bills, the Dolphins and the Jets. But I do think people are sleeping on the Bills this year. Not that people expect them to be bad but everyone had them as their Super Bowl pick. I would probably go twelve wins so just a notch below. But if you tell me that they go on this dominant run and use some people questioning them. And all of a sudden start to just play at this great level. Once again I wouldn't surprise them whatsoever but I would probably pick them at twelve wins right now. The New England Patriots. Seven and ten.

I've been saying it all off season. I think their range is seven to ten wins and ten is if everything is going right. I do not believe everything is going to go right. I would probably say that they're going to be what their record was last year at eight and nine. But if you tell me seven and ten I can't really crush them for that. The Dallas Cowboys.

Nine and eight. They'll get back to back twelve win seasons. I can't stand the Cowboys. They have a championship defense. They have enough pieces on offense. Dak is a good regular season quarterback. Bad post season quarterback. It should be an eleven or twelve win team once again.

Nine and eight is way too low. The Philadelphia Eagles. USA Today has the Eagles still flying high at twelve and five.

And I think it could be north of that. Philadelphia is that good. They open up the year with the Pats. They should be able to beat them. They should be able to beat them. They always beat Minnesota.

They're in Tampa. They play the Commanders. The Rams. The Jets good game. Dolphins good game. Commanders. Cowboys.

By week. Chiefs. Bills.

It gets tough. 49ers. Cowboys. Seahawks.

Alright that schedule does pick up. And then you end the season with the Giants. The Cardinals and the Giants again. They put them at twelve and five. I think that's a thirteen win football team.

I do. The New York Giants. Six and eleven. I think the Giants will regress. But not to six wins.

I think the Giants are going eight and nine this year. I do believe they're going to flip with the Commanders. Even though the Commanders are starting to scam me with all this Be Enemy stuff.

And it's not Be Enemy's fault. The players just got to man up a little bit. But I think that the Commanders end up making the playoffs this year and the Giants don't. The Green Bay Packers. And finally USA Today predicting for the Packers seven and ten.

Yeah I can't crush them for that. I think seven wins seems right. If everything goes right and Jordan Love is better than what people think. Then I could see them getting to nine wins at best.

But this feels like in year one of Love as a starter they're a seven and ten team. Maybe eight and nine. So that's good. You know for the most part. As the ones that you gave. We weren't that far off. I think out of the ones that you gave.

The most egregious. Are actually. Teams like the Vikings at seven and ten. I thought the Chiefs number was low at eleven. And the Chargers at seven and ten too.

What stood out to you when you look at the USA Today list here Hickey? I'm with you on the Chargers for sure. I don't think they're going to make the playoffs. I don't think they're going to be that bad. The Steelers eleven and six.

I don't think any pickets having this big time second year explosion. In a very tough division and very tough conference. Now all of a sudden they'll be at eleven and six. And presumably in the playoffs. Even the Cowboys at nine and eight. Like we talk a lot about the Cowboys when it comes to the playoffs.

And their lack of coming up big and Dak playing well. But they have traditionally been a very good regular season team. I don't think they're going to regress now.

And all of a sudden they're going to be over five hundred. And kind of fighting for a playoffs. But I think they'll be probably in that eleven twelve win range again. And kind of back to the same old story the last few years. Now I don't think it's fair to predict injury.

If they're going nine and eight don't they. Don't USA Today have to think that Dak Prescott gets hurt at some point. And I know that's been the case the last few years right. Only played twelve games last year. Had sixteen the year before and then five games in 2020. You think they're factoring in injuries there for Dak Prescott? I mean I got to look at the Dolphins number. Because that's like the only other quarterback you can forecast injuries for with two unfortunately. But I really hope not. Because that seems very unfair and also kind of dumb. I agree.

No I a hundred percent agree on that one. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Alrighty we will take a timeout. We'll come on back. And when we do return we will do a little onside offside. As tomorrow and Friday I'm in for Andrew Perloff along with Maggie. So we'll treat this like a Friday show. We'll do some onside offside next.