Digging His Way Out Of Buffalo (Hour 3)

Yo, yo, hour number three of our radio program.

That's right. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. So there's been a response from Stefan Diggs off the comments by one Stephen A. Smith earlier this a.m. on First Take.

Let's go in order here. This is Stephen A. Smith saying Stefan Diggs wants out in Buffalo. Brother wants out. He don't want to be in Buffalo anymore.

I'm telling you right now, I have my sources. Stefan Diggs got to be there, but he would prefer to be gone because he's lost a level of belief in the Buffalo Bill. That's right. I said is Stephen A. baby, but he's not going to force his way out. He know he got to be there and they got to perform, but he ain't feeling the Buffalo Bills the way that he once did, because he feels there's a window of opportunity that they may have missed out on.

So a few things here. Stefan Diggs. It was a few weeks ago. Remember you had the whole situation that did go down with the Bills, Sean McDermott, Brandon Bean, Josh Allen, and it seemed really ugly. And Sean McDermott, I'm a big Sean McDermott fan. He threw gasoline on the fire and it spread like crazy. Stefan Diggs reported, was not happy. We don't know the full details, but had a meeting with the Buffalo Bills and then was sent home or just left. And then Sean McDermott gets up there at the podium and goes, yeah, it's real concerning that Stefan Diggs isn't there.

However, they tried to put a bow on this and make it look like everything was fine. After that, you could believe what you want to believe. But Stefan Diggs was annoyed about something.

But then when training camp starts, because that was going back to mini camp, remember. When training camp starts, Stefan Diggs, I think after a few days, he did a media availability and he was asked straight up, do you want to finish your career as a member of the Buffalo Bills? And he said, yes. Now, some people could take that seriously and genuinely believe that, others could roll their eyes.

Here's where we're at today with Stefan Diggs. He responds to what Stephen A. Smith had to say. He said, it's 100% not true. I don't know who the source is, but I thought I nipped this bleep in the bud already. And then said in another tweet, rocking with my dogs, Bill's mafia, through and through.

So Hickey, I'll just ask you this. I do think there's parts of what Stephen A. Smith said that are true. And maybe Stefan Diggs is looking at this like, I said what I said and we're moving on. Because maybe it is Stefan Diggs' preference, regardless of what he says, to be out of Buffalo. But you look at his contract, he ain't going anywhere. The dead cat pit this season, $45 million. The year after that, $31 million.

The year after that, $22 million. I know we've grown accustomed to where we look at dead cap a little bit differently after Carson Wentz trade from the Eagles, after Jared Goss trade with the LA Rams. But that's the quarterback position. We've seen teams do crazy things for quarterbacks. And in this case, the Bills have a window right now where they still have a Super Bowl window. I know a lot of people jumped off that bandwagon, but they have a Super Bowl window. And in a wide receiver room that is not great, it would make no sense to take away Stefan Diggs, who yes, Stefan Diggs until he got there, we never seen this version of Josh Allen, which has been a great version.

But also you got to give some credit to Josh Allen as well. It would make no sense to trade Stefan Diggs. So I think it's like a little bit of a mixture of both where Stefan Diggs for now is at peace with what happened. He said what he wanted to say, but he realized it was kind of just like driving to a dead end. Eventually, there's nowhere to go.

And you could come in 1,000 miles an hour and you could make a lot of noise, but eventually there's that curb. And eventually there's nowhere to go. And that's kind of what Stefan Diggs is at, where he said what he said. It got contentious, it got contentious, it got ugly, but he realizes there's no moving forward without the Buffalo Bills right now for the foreseeable future. And this may pop up again during the season, but I'm not gonna dismiss what Stephen A said, and I'm not gonna totally dismiss what Stefan Diggs tweeted today.

But ultimately in this season, we'll find out what the truth is. Because no matter you think the bills are gonna be great or you think they're gonna be horrible, there will be a moment this year we'll have two feelings on the Buffalo Bills. There will be a moment where they hit some adversity and people are gonna bring this back up.

And there's gonna be another moment where they're playing so well that people are gonna start to buy back in on the Buffalo Bills. I'm more curious, though, when you reach that moment of adversity, how Stefan Diggs conducts himself. Because if there's a game where Stefan Diggs doesn't like the targets that he's receiving and doesn't think there's enough of them, and they're losing the game, then the game, and probably a game that they feel like they shouldn't lose, that's when you could say, well, put this issue on the back burner.

It's a non-issue. But when he has a reaction that's similar to what happened at mandatory minicamp, if it does happen, that's when it goes to the front burner. So for Stefan Diggs, if you want me to give you the benefit of the doubt, if you want me to believe that everything's fine and you want to end the year in Buffalo, I'm not saying you can't have an opinion, but it can't boil to the point that it did going back to mandatory minicamp, Picky. That's why, like I said, training camp is one thing, but we will actually see how repaired or not this relationship is if the Bills start the season, let's say, two and five. And remember they play the Jets week one.

Right. Or they lose the game in November and all of a sudden he gets two targets and he's freaking out. Or they lose the wild card round and this stuff pops up again. Look, we already seen it once, right?

We've seen it four, three out of Minnesota. Now the issue for Diggs is you can be frustrated, sure, and you want to win. But you have a great quarterback. But if you want to win and you want out of Buffalo, there was three or four teams, maybe they give you a better chance in the Bills to go in a Super Bowl and cap space, contract wise, you're not going to get there. Well, let's go through those teams.

Really, you know, it's a losing argument. Also, if you want to go to those teams, Kansas City, the Bills aren't going to trade you to Kansas City. The Chiefs do have a need for a number one wide receiver, but they're not going to overpay.

So you have to take less money to go to Kansas City. They're in the penthouse right now. The Cincinnati Bengals, they don't have room for you because they're going to pay Jamar Chase. I don't think T. Higgins is going anywhere. You still have Tyler Boyd on that team. If you want to say the Philadelphia Eagles, they're not going to do that.

They have A.J. Brown, they have Devontae Smith. 49ers? Right now, they gave Deebo Samuel contract, they have Christian McCaffrey.

So those are the teams that you could argue right now, where I don't think many people are going to give you a blowback. And I'm not even saying they're like leaps and bounds, but in the Buffalo Bills, but are better than the Buffalo Bills. And also, you look at all those situations, if you value targets a lot and being the number one, which you are right now in Buffalo, and if you value winning and you also want to get paid, the best place to do that is in Buffalo, because the Eagles have a crowded wide receiver room. The Chiefs aren't going to probably pay you what you want. The Bengals don't have room. And the 49ers, they don't have, we don't know what their quarterback is. So the place where Stefan Diggs should be happy is Buffalo. I'm not saying don't demand greatness, don't question why it did go wrong, but sometimes you just get beaten, you get embarrassed and other teams better. Now you should be fired up and you don't want that to happen again, but it can't boil over into a point where on both sides from McDermott and Stefan Diggs, this thing got really messy at mandatory minicamp, no matter what people try to do in the cleanup process right now. And that's the thing too, is if he wants targets equal to winning, you're the number one receiver in Buffalo.

By far. There's two of the receivers in Cincinnati. 49ers are loaded everywhere in the roster, running back tight end receiver.

And they got to pay other guys. The chiefs have Travis Kelsey. He's the number one target. If you want to call him receiver, he basically is. He's number one receiver on that team. You're not going anywhere else where you're the number one targeting and not, and also going to get the number one, you know, the lion's share of targets as well. You're getting 15 targets again. And let's say if it got to this point where Stefan Diggs wanted to trade, there's one place you can't trade him though.

Yeah. Outside of the AFCs. That's the Kansas City chiefs.

That's the team. You're not going to make it even easier for Patrick Mahomes. As great of a GM as Brandon Benes, you're basically asking to get fired if you end up trading Stefan Diggs to the Kansas City chiefs.

So you're in a dead end right now. You could bet you could complain, but if you actually value winning, there's no other destination that's realistic that you could go to that's going to pull the trigger and give you a better chance to win than the Buffalo Bills right now. The only win, if you want to call it a win he can get, if this season goes awry and he kind of pulls what he did last year is getting a new head coach. I think that that's a situation where if the bills, especially kind of repeat of last year's post-season where maybe it's one shaky win and they get eliminated earlier than they should. And all of a sudden, now you're talking about another off season of disappointment. I think you can win, if you will, quote unquote, by throwing a fit and getting Sean McDermott fired and getting by that point, Ken Dorsey fired and bringing in new offensive mind to actually redesign the offense. So maybe again, make the offense more potent than it could be, that it should be. And once again, we don't know how the Pagula family is going to react to that. And we don't know how Brandon Bean is going to react to that.

Here are just the facts. The Buffalo Bills before Sean McDermott got there, the last time they made the playoffs were 1999. He got there in year one in 2017. They made the playoffs, they missed the playoffs and they made the playoffs ever since. But expectations have increased. Just making the playoffs isn't good enough. And they have an opportunity and you don't know how this team's going to look in three, four years from now, but for the next two to three seasons, they should be in the Super Bowl contending conversation. And sometimes, and it may be easy for us to say, oh, well, if they lose in the divisional round again, get rid of the coach.

Or if they lose in wildcard round, get rid of the coach. I don't know how the Pagula family and Brandon Bean is going to operate that. When we look at it, Sean McDermott did a great job building the foundation of the house and building that house up three, four stories, right?

Floors. But sometimes you may need to bring in a guy to, off that foundation, lay the roof of the house. If you want that house to look like a Super Bowl championship team, can Sean McDermott do it?

Yeah, he could. But if it goes once again, where you're in the conference championship game, I think up by like nine points to the Chiefs in 2020, and then you lose in the divisional round because of the 13-second blunder, and then the next year you lose in the divisional round again, and then you either lose in the divisional round or wildcard round, then it's a different conversation. That's easy for us to say, and I do think that could be a legit conversation at the end of the year. But with that being said, being said, until the Pagula family and also Brandon Bean are met with that decision, I truly do not know how they're going to operate that. So here's the question I'll ask you today, and you can jump on in, at Zach Gelb on Twitter, at Zach Gelb on Instagram, at CBS Sports Radio on Twitter.

Also hit us up at the phone lines, 855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. The Buffalo Bills this year will be in the Super Bowl, lose in the AFC Championship game, lose in the divisional round or wildcard round because we only get four choices, or miss the playoffs. Hickey, what's your answer on this one? Lose in the wildcard or divisional round. And I'd probably lean more towards them losing a divisional round, right, compared to the wildcard round, if you had to pick between the two?

Probably, but also depends on the matchup. They almost lost the wildcard round and maybe arguably should have lost in the wildcard round last year. To Skyler Thompson and the Miami Dolphins.

And right now that's the leader at 57.3 percent. Then losing the AFC Championship game is 21.3 percent, be in the Super Bowl is 13.5 percent, and miss the playoffs at 7.9 percent. I do believe the Buffalo Bills will be a playoff team. Will they win the division?

We'll have to wait and see. But the Buffalo Bills now are getting doubted after a year ago everyone picked them to go to the Super Bowl. And I just want to see how this team responds to that adversity. And that's what makes them a fun story entering this year. Are you going to continue to go in the direction where you've been so close but yet so far, where you just got embarrassed by the Cincinnati Bengals, who are a heck of a football team in the divisional round, or when people start questioning you, when people start saying Sean McDermott's on the hot seat, does this team that's a very enjoyable and easy to root for team rally together and basically go in the Bleep U Tour and basically go get their revenge and make every single person that doubted them this offseason shut up at the end of the year when you have a Lombardi Trophy in Las Vegas having the biggest party that maybe the NFL's ever seen with Bill's Mafia going nuts.

That's the question. That's what I want to see how they respond to this adversity because last year everyone loves you. You couldn't find people, you couldn't pay people to say a negative word about the Buffalo Bills and now that has drastically shifted and you learn a lot about someone when people start to doubt you and back you in a corner and basically have you left for dead, where no one's picking you to go to the Super Bowl this year. People are going to be a playoff team but no one's picking you to be a Super Bowl team. And that's what I want to see how the Buffalo Bills respond to that and how those players say Bleep U to the people or make the people proven to be true.

And that answer is going to be just so compelling to see. Let's go to Michael in Buffalo. Next up on the Zach Gelb Show 855-2124 CBS. Hey Zach, good evening. How are you? Doing great.

Good. I wanted to touch on the Steph Diggs thing but at the same time I also want to comment on what you were just talking about. I think the Steph Diggs thing is way blown out of proportion. It was the same talk that happened when he left Minnesota. He came to Buffalo and it's been nothing but great.

And I think that people doubting him and doubting what he's saying I think is a little off base. As far as they're going to do this year, this is a team that lost three games during the regular season by a combined eight points. Yes, the playoffs did happen and it's what have you done for me lately and I get that. But I think that seeing how they played the games last year, seeing how everything worked out, Josh Allen hurting his elbow whether that affected the rest of the season or not, the first half of the season they were unstoppable.

Nobody was touching him. So I really think that all of this throw dirt on him talk is very very overblown and I think obviously I'm a Buffalo fan but I really think that coming down to it they're going to be the team that they were and they'll get the results that they're looking for. Well Michael, I think this season I appreciate the phone call. It comes down to three things and these three things I need to see from the Buffalo Bills. Von Miller has to be back. Von Miller has to be healthy because Von Miller had that big stop last year up against Mahomes where he rushed him, made him throw that bad pass to Ron Johnson, intercepts it. Von Miller was brought there to win a championship. The other thing, running the football has to be more of a priority this year. I'm not saying run the ball with running backs more than you throw it because Josh Allen still has to get his carries but they have to take some of the load off the plate and some of the food off the plate of Josh Allen because they keep on saying Josh got to take fewer hits, Josh got to go down sooner.

We'll then hand the ball off to the running backs more and don't let him be a bulldozer until later on in the year. And the other thing is just locker room chemistry. I know some guys in the Buffalo Bills teams. Deion Dawkins, Tyler Medekevich, a friend, some of the classiest people I've ever met. Good dudes. Good dudes. There's good dudes in that locker room but at the end of the year and I know right that Buffalo Bills team, they had to go through a lot last year and they did a lot of remarkable things coming together but now with that's the Von Diggs situation, it's will that be a problem and I just wonder where that locker room chemistry is at heading into this season.

Right now I don't think it's a problem. I don't but if something doesn't goes to Von Diggs's way, does it start to boil over again? Those three things are what you need to watch for with the Bills this year and we'll see how it plays out. Zach Gelb Show CBS Sports Radio. Bob Socey joins us on the other side. We'll preview the Pats.

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.

All righty, let's preview the Patriots right now. We do so with the play-by-play voice of the New England Patriots and that is Bob Socey. Bob, always great to have you on. How you been my friend? Hey, it's been great to talk with you in the past. Looking forward to this one. So I'm doing well Zach. Well thanks for having me.

Yeah, thanks so much for coming on. I'll start you off with Bill O'Brien. That was the big hire this offseason.

We all know last year was a disgrace with Patricia and Judge. I know we've seen a lot of Bill O'Brien in the past but what type of offense do the Patriots get in this year with the new OC? Well I think it's going to look a lot like Bill O'Brien's offense of the past with some of Bill O'Brien's offense from Alabama included. We saw in fact a couple of plays in the preseason game on Saturday night at Green Bay involving the RPO and I think you will see the offense now run through the quarterback Matt Jones.

He'll have more tools in his toolbox pre-snap. Very similar to his rookie year with Josh McDaniels and it allows him I think to use his best asset Zach and he actually talked about this today in a local radio appearance. It's his cerebral approach to the game and his intelligence and being able to diagnose the defense, try to get the Patriots into a good play and maybe more importantly away from a bad play and really last year in all honesty that veto system if you will that those checks were not at his avail and there are a lot of other differences that we'll see as well and including some different personnel but I think that's the biggest thing.

I think the quarterback is comfortable and relaxed and this is an opportunity for Kim provided he has protection to pick up where he left off after a promising worthy season. So I asked for two things this offseason. I want a legit offensive coordinator. They got one. I also wanted a number one wide receiver for the Pats.

They did not do that. Do they have enough here at the wide receiver position in your opinion for them to be a playoff team this season? Well I think they have enough at the wide receiver position if those pretty wide receivers that we saw primarily on Saturday Saturday night are healthy. Delonte Parker, Judy Smith-Shuster, Kendrick Borno I think is poised for a year very similar to what he had two seasons ago and had 50 plus catches in the 75% catch rate. There's some big plays in Dallas for one.

The Jets as well. Couple long touchdowns, catches and runs. Last year you know really by his own admission and you know by observation you could see it. It was a year that went awry from the start and there's a rookie De'Mario Douglas who's a really intriguing player. Kid drafted in the sixth round out of Liberty. He's been a fun player to watch in camp. He has been maybe their most consistent, productively consistent receiver and they've had a rookie receiver as well.

Same route. Sixth round out of LSU K-Shawn Booty who's really come on of late the last couple of weeks and has had two back-to-back strong preseason games including a catch and a run away for a touchdown 42 yards against Green Bay on Saturday. So you know they don't have the speed downfield.

Tyquan Thornton was drafted last year in the second round to be that guy but he's banged up right now made a diving catch in joint practices and did not play in the game on Saturday. I think his development is something they're really counting on and we're not seeing it because he hasn't been on the field consistently enough. But nonetheless, I think the receivers are good enough to compete again if healthy. The big issue is giving Matt Jones the time to find those receivers. Being able to block in the running game too.

Let's get to the next down. Play-by-play voice of the New England Patriots Bob Socey here with thus. They need another running back. I like Ramondre Stevenson a lot and now they brought in Ezekiel Elliott. What can Ezekiel Elliott Bob bring to this football team this season?

Well one thing he's already brought is energy. He's acting like he's been around the team for a long time. I was very surprised that the first day he was eased into some walk-through reps and had a chance maybe to run some pass routes when they were working on their own before they went head-to-head to the Packers.

That was on Wednesday afternoon this first day with the team after joining the team on its flight out from Providence to Green Bay. On Thursday, he was a lot more invested physically. He's still running with that hard style and I think he can give them something in the passing game too, especially pass protection, which is I think a big reason why he's here. To relieve Ramondre Stevenson some of the load that he was going to have to carry. Really he had to for much of last year and eventually wore down because of. But Stevenson was very energetic on the sideline during the joint practices when he wasn't out there and as well on the sideline on Saturday night in the preseason game. By all accounts, he's blending in very well. Bill O'Brien has talked about what a smart football player he is and O'Brien has known him since he was in high school and Bill was coaching at Penn State.

So right now, thumbs up from everybody around the organization. If they like having him here, they really needed somebody here as you alluded to because Stevenson's a talented back. But the final three weeks of last season were a lot different than the first 14 games for him when he led the team in rushing. First thousand yard rusher for the Patriots since LeGarrette Blount and also had a team I you know 60 plus reception 69 receptions. Is Malik Cunningham going to be on this team do you think? I would think that they're going to try to find a way to keep him on this team. He's he's another guy, very exciting player. He obviously they signed him for $200,000 as an undrafted free agent.

That's a record for the past. That's a signal that they really liked him. They're making him you know into a wide receiver but he's shown some skills at quarterback too and had a terrific late game drive against Houston in the preseason opener. The saving grace frankly for that game and he's continued to work at receiver but also now getting more reps on special teams. You saw a little bit of Gunner. So I think they're trying to find as much value as they can in him in the present as opposed to maybe being somebody who is forecast to be a developmental player down the road and I think that there's a good chance he's on the roster as a 53rd player because of his skill set and you know perhaps we may see some packages down the road for him from from the QB spot.

Maybe you know running some wildcat. He showed he could throw the ball too. He made a beautiful throw on the run against Houston who should have been caught for a touchdown and was mishandled by the intended receiver but he's an exciting young player. He's very bright again you know has fit in extremely well like Douglas. I like Booty the two rookie receivers that I've mentioned and in those three guys especially Douglas and Cunningham reflect embody the athleticism the Patriots have tried to infuse a bit and they desperately needed in the last couple of drafts and really Stevenson's another guy to go back to the draft three years ago.

Let's get to the next down. Bob Sosa here with us the play-by-play voice of the Patriots. So I'm strict when I when I use the word great. Ever since Brady's final year I have not called the Patriots a great defense when others have. I think they're a good defense Bob don't get me wrong. A big fan of Christian Gonzalez.

I love Matthew Judon. Is this a good defense? A very good defense? A great defense heading into this year?

Where do you kind of fall on that scale? Well Zach I'm of the mind they're a good defense and you know because I look at the division they're in for example the schedule they play outside of the division. They're going to really be tested and well their front is I think very good and I think you know Juwan Bentley has really become an underrated linebacker. One of the better linebackers and he's really improved I think as an all-down player now for this team and they're very strong at safety in terms of the numbers. Jabril Peppers has in year two as a patriot really had a very good cap.

He's looked a lot more comfortable and confident moving better. That certainly brings physicality to his position at safety. I think Lachter coming off a knee injury with the Giants in the previous season we didn't necessarily see at least right out of the gate.

But the question is and you mentioned Gonzalez, the Patriots cornerback. Jonathan Jones has been ahead a little bit cautiously the last week or so dealing with a minor injury reportedly. He's a good cornerback. Last year made the shift outside from inside where he was a very good slot quarterback. Marcus Jones as a kid is a very exciting athlete, all-purpose player.

Touchdown last year with a pick six and with a touchdown reception on offense and a punt return for a touchdown to beat the Jets as well. He's making the move to that slot corner position. There's a lot of positive things about him but obviously he's another kid. You have two guys right there in Gonzalez and Marcus Jones. You have Jack Jones another second in your player. Got a talented cornerback but someone who's dealing with some issues off the field that certainly put his future in question not only for the Patriots but in terms of his legal situation in much more important ways.

He's a kid as well but with his youth and his ball hawking desire he's going to be prone to making some mistakes out there. And then you have Myles Bryant. Jalen Mills has been playing a lot more safety for them as they try to fill the void without Devin McCoy. So I think that's really the area and on the back end that leads me to think good but can't go to great until they show it on the field.

And let's get to the final down. Bob Sosi here with us the play play voice of the Patriots. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Bob I'll preface my next comment by saying I do believe Bill Belichick will be the coach of the team next year but that's been a big national talking point about how warm is the hot seat for Bill Belichick entering this season with the Pats.

So you know Zach I've heard that and I do think you know considering a couple of things. One the troubles they've had in the last two seasons in particular. Very uncharacteristic ways compared to Bill's teams in the past. I'm not even talking about wins and losses. Now some of the mistakes that have been made special teams breakdowns and so forth. Four block punts allowed the last two years.

Last year three kickoff returns of the six kickoff returns for touchdowns in the league including two in the regular season finale again against Buffalo. You know those are the kind of things pre-snap penalties, substitution errors, timeouts used to avoid a 12th defender on the field and whatnot. Those are the things that you know accompany the win-loss numbers and then of course you you referenced right off the top what took place for the Patriots offense last year and in the way that you know a number one pick and a quarterback that the franchise has pinned its hopes on as the quarterback of its future was kind of set back.

And certainly Matt had a tough time handling that situation and he was complicit as well with some of the struggles down the stretch especially. But I think the hiring of Bill O'Brien. I believe the appointment of Joe Judge who technically is the assistant head coach and not in title the special teams coordinator but really he's running special teams. That's going to address a lot of the problems that they've had and Bill will be more involved now in coaching all of the team like he's always been prior to last season for the Pats. When last year he really had his hands you know in that offensive huddle in meeting room as well with Joe Judge and Matt Patricia trying to straighten that offense out.

So I you know he's 18 wins away from Don Chula. I think this team again who knows what's what's going to happen with injuries. If they can find the offensive line to be a cohesive unit and get those guys the five guys they expect to be their starters on the field which include Michael Loetto and Cole Strange two guards that have not in Strange's case practiced only a little bit and one is not at all to this point. I think they've got a real chance to be a not only competitive team but a playoff team against the very good division and you know if they are eight and nine like last year I think there'll be a much better eight and nine team against the schedule than they were last year and then beyond that you're looking okay well Bill could tie Chula's record a passion is record the following season because I think the arrow is pointing up with some of the young kids that they've brought in the last couple of drafts they've really improved their drafting in the last couple of years really the last three years compared to maybe the previous six seven and I think that's a big factor. Bob Sosa enjoy the season we always appreciate you give us a few minutes thanks so much. Thanks Zach always. There you go Bob Sosa joining us on the show I'll give you my immediate reaction to that I'm nervous I'm nervous about this upcoming season for my Patriots because of one reason and one reason only I know the division is is very good right on paper the Bills the Jets the Dolphins they're all better than the Patriots this year but for the Patriots to have a chance to make the playoffs this year they're going to need that offensive line to hold up and don't get me wrong I only got one thing that I asked for this offseason I asked for two things a legit offensive coordinator and a number one wide receiver only got a legit offensive coordinator that defense will be good they can be very good I don't think they're gonna be great offensively they gotta be better at protecting the football this year but they don't have elite playmakers around Mac Jones and Hickey why I'm concerned is how many times Bob in that interview talked about if the offensive line could hold up if the offensive line could hold up they don't have great talent on the offensive side of the ball where if everything is gonna be better and things are gonna be where they get to 9-10 wins and make the playoffs the ability to have the offensive line be potentially as bad as the way it felt like Bob was was alluding to in that conversation that old line is a massive concern for me hearing the word if yeah not great now when a lot of sentences repeatedly start with the word if and I've lived there I have been there too many times like to admit usually things go the other way then then you're hoping to say if this happens most time does not happen and I love Bob but you know Bob is right of the Patriot broadcaster so he's not gonna like crush the team and I think Bob is fair but when you kind of say if about the offensive line that many times those are just kind of just keywords that gets my antenna my antenna up a little bit it makes me go I don't like the way that that sounds I've said this all offseason the Patriots could be I think at worst an eight win team at best I think they're a ten win team Belichick still even though he's in charge of the roster and does a great job with the roster last few years he gets the most out of what's there where last year they should not have been an eight win team with the way that they were constructing they still were and they had a chance to make the playoffs the final game of the season but that offensive line is going to define this season it really is if they're going to have a shot or not and if you're worrying about Trent Brown Cole Strange who's been you know was fine last year but now injured David Andrews coming off an injury Ohenu dealing with an injury and that line can't hold up could be a long year for me here because we're in Jerry Jones speak again where there's always a line in Jerry Jones statements or answers that I go what the heck does that mean like when one of your friends says something and you just after a few drinks you have no clue what he's saying and you go what the bleep is this guy talking about so this was Jerry Jones to Peter King I'll give you the full quote and then we'll go back and circle back to the part where it's like huh you shouldn't give up the ghost because you fall short in a highly competitive league just because we haven't won in so long doesn't mean what we've done is meaningless and I think this year we're in a better position to win than we have been in other years we have the team and we have the quarterback I need to circle back on the part that said Hickey from Jerry Jones you shouldn't give up the ghost because you fall short in a highly competitive league what does that mean I've never heard that phrase you shouldn't give up the ghost translate please like chasing a super bowl they've never come close it's like the like the thing that keeps invading them they have been what 25 years now talking about it not achieved it especially recently the last five years he's talked about it a ton they've come nowhere close and saying I'm still not going to give up chasing that despite the fact that we've not come close so with context of everything else like after the the ghost part it does make sense that's the way that I interpreted that but if I just read you you shouldn't give up the ghost because you fall short in a highly competitive league would you still draw that that conclusion there because the you shouldn't give up the ghost part is like huh I think it's I mean I don't say common saying I've definitely heard that before chasing like the ghost of the past things like that like it's like that's like yeah you kind of chase it again something like that keeps on invading you catch the dream you can you know insert whatever you want to use as the synonym or the adjective I guess for the ghost but I feel like he meant to say hope like you shouldn't give up the hope because you fall short in a highly competitive league I feel like hope would have been the better word of choice there by one jerry jones but anyway I always find jerry jones fascinating because there are certain waves of the jerry jones off season where it's like last year we still run through Zeke and then it's so we're gonna need Dak Moore when he realized that was a slight at Dak Prescott this year it has been all over the place where now they've made it more of a Dak friendlier offense is what he said I truly do believe this and it's kind of amazing to have this quality jerry jones does more interviews than any owner in the NFL by far and away there's sometimes he's on the fan in Dallas I know one of them is a paid spot but he's on the fan in Dallas for like sometimes in the beginning of the week at the end of the week and and another time in between so I do appreciate that but sometimes when you're exposing yourself that much it's like oh you get tired oh it's not worth it every time jerry jones speaks hickey it's worth it because he gives you something new every time so now he's definitely telling you where it was just I think it was at the start of training camp he's like you got to get through training camp but we have the potential and all that now we are getting towards the end of training camp Pixar and he's saying they have the team he's saying they have the quarterback so to say that it's one thing what happens if they don't end up getting to forget a super bowl even an NFC title game which I haven't done since the last time they they did go all the way back in 1995 and that's the thing with jerry jones where he says all these things where usually you go oh you could use your words against you at a later date it doesn't usually equal that where jerry jones says a bunch of things and then he says a bunch of things and then if it doesn't go one way then the changes you would think based off what he's saying right now would end up happening at the end of the season I think it's inadvertent but anytime he talks he's continuing to put more and more pressure on Dak Prescott again we just just right here talking about peter king hey look we think we could win a super bowl earlier in the off season it's a deck from the offense it's going to be simplified for Dak not wrong I don't think add extra pressure on Dak Prescott's plate but if we're sitting here in January with another wildcard divisional round loss and Dak plays the way he has in the playoffs previously again this upcoming year if you're jerry I have no problem with it forget Mike McCarthy Dak Prescott's gonna be number one to blame and you got some answers for yourself about what are you gonna do about it and I have no problem with jerry jones putting more pressure on Dak Prescott say what you want about jerry jones jerry jones the last few years has put together a really good team where the last two playoffs they've lost because of the quarterback the quarterback against san francisco in the divisional round or it was a wildcard round a few years ago wasn't good enough couldn't even get the ball snapped at the end of the game and then last year they lose in the divisional round to san francisco where the defense gave you a championship effort so you may say it's like unintentional I think jerry jones is calculated there jerry jones is trying to make the quarterback feel good and hoping that the quarterback who's a good quarterback just not a great quarterback ends up advancing the team this year and they made the change this off season no more kellimore not there mccarthy getting more of a say right even though he's the head coach dak Prescott they got you another wide receiver and cooks there's no excuses this year for the cowboys now do I believe that they're gonna go all the way I believe they're gonna get to an nse title game no but what happens if dak doesn't get them there I still think that's gonna be the quarterback but if I'm paying someone 40 million dollars a year if I put pressure on you too much pressure too much pressure on you tough you know what because you're getting paid 40 million dollars in the last two years you've been the reason why this team didn't go to the next round of the playoffs zach yelp show cbs sports radio will break when we come on back it is a monday five questions five answers we'll do a little on sides offside you don't want to go anywhere the zach yelp show returns in cinco minutos