NFL Teams Under The Most Pressure (Hour 1)

Live from the police show yet not overly ostentatious studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City sitting on top of the 10th floor 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to a Wednesday edition of the Zach Gilb show across all the great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158 and that free Odyssey app.

855-212-4CBS number to jump on in 855-212-4227. You can always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old cesspool of Twitter at Zach Gilb, Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. Sean Alexander, the former NFL MVP, star running back at Alabama, Alabama, Texas this week is going to join us coming up at 7 20 p.m Eastern, 4 20 p.m Pacific. Whole lot of football to do today in the third hour of the show. We'll give you AFC predictions, NFC predictions, also NFL awards as well as this is our preview show for the 2023 NFL season as we've reached the eve of kickoff, the the day before kickoff as you do have the Kansas City Chiefs and the Detroit Lions battling out tomorrow evening in Arrowhead. But first up, producing the extravaganza for the next four hours is no other than Hot Take Kiki.

He's the producer, Hot Take Kiki. I almost called Arrowhead, Burrowhead just because of how much we heard that leading into the AFC championship game and how that did backfire on the Cincinnati Bengals defense. But let's start the show talking NFL and I'm going to discuss three teams to me that are under the most pressure for this upcoming season. I'll give you the teams right out of the gate and then I'll explain why. The 49ers, the Bills and the Jets.

Let's start with the 49ers because they're in the news. All offseason long, were they going to pay Nick Bosa? Deadlines create deals right to the start of the season.

You want Nick Bosa on the field for week one. Now they paid him a lucrative contract, five years, 170 million dollars, including 122 and a half guaranteed. So that's 34 million dollars a year. Basically, I can't even call it great QB money because we know how much the quarterbacks get paid now, but you're a good quarterback in the NFL. That's pretty much what Nick Bosa is making. So an astronomical deal for a defensive player. And there's really two takes from here. Number one, you could look at it from the Kansas City Chiefs side of the price for Chris Jones just went up even more and the Chiefs and Chris Jones weren't even close before this deal got done.

Now they're even further apart. So that's something to monitor because Chris Jones said he's willing to sit out until we gate. But then you look at the 49ers, there's no excuses for them this year. And that's why they're under enormous amount of pressure because you never know how long your Super Bowl window is. And the last few years they've been right there in multiple NFC Championship games and having also a 10 point lead in the Super Bowl right before COVID happened and up against Patrick Mahomes in the Kansas City Chiefs of a 10 point lead in the fourth quarter and their defense crumbled. But you look at this football team, there's an enormous amount of pressure on them to win and win the Super Bowl this year because they've been as close as you can to getting a ring without getting a ring. And you look at this team, now Bosa is there.

Bosa is taken care of financially. The rest of the defense is loaded. You're bringing a new defensive coordinator.

Who cares? It's Steve Wilkes. He's a phenomenal defensive mind. And then offensively, you still have a great offensive line. You have run CMC and Christian McCaffrey. You got my best friend Deebo Samuel. You got Kittle.

You got Ayuk. You have so many names on this offensive side of the ball. And I'm at the point where if the quarterback fails this year, so what? And what I mean by that is I don't look at the quarterback position as something that I'm going to give an excuse to the San Francisco 49ers for and say, oh, I give him a pass because the quarterback isn't good enough. Kyle Shanahan knows this roster. Kyle Shanahan knows this team.

Kyle Shanahan is telling you they could win with the game manager. And he hasn't been able to make up his mind at the quarterback position. First, it's Garoppolo. Then he wants Kirk Cousins. Then it's back to Garoppolo. Then it's Trey Lance. Then it's back to Garoppolo. Then it's Brock Purdy. I don't care.

You have an opportunity to win now. We know that the coach is arrogant and thinks it's more of a system than the quarterback. I don't want to hear from any Niner fan at the end of the year after all season. All they've done is gassed up Brock Purdy and tell me that Brock Purdy is going to be pretty awesome. And he's going to be rocking out with this Brock out all season long.

And that's what he's going to do this season. And you have Bill Romanowski saying, he reminds him of Joe Montana. I don't want to hear about the quarterback failing this team. And even if Brock Purdy isn't all that, Sam Darnold's then the bell of the ball for the 49ers. There's no excuses for the 49ers this year. They've been to NFC championship games. They've been to a Super Bowl.

And now you have taken care of Nick Bosa. I know you, by the way, the players ran their mouths all off season long in a weak NFC. How if they had a healthy quarterback last year, they would have got to the Super Bowl and they would have defeated Philadelphia. And they don't even think the game is close. We'll look at the NFC from last year to this year.

Not a lot of differences. It's top heavy where it's Philadelphia. It's the 49ers and we'll see who else emerges. So the San Francisco 49ers after swinging and missing on Trey Lance, telling you that Brock Purdy's all that. And if it's not Brock Purdy, then it's Sam Darnold and having one of the better rosters. It's not the best roster in the NFL need to win a Super Bowl.

And if they don't, I don't want to hear any of the excuses or any of the bull crap. So that's how I view the 49ers under tremendous amount of pressure this year. The next two teams, let's tackle the Jets.

Do I really need to say more? If you want to talk about the team that has generated the most buzz and the most hype this off season in a positive way, it's the JTS Jets, Jets, Jets. And you look at that team a year ago, they won seven games with nothing at quarterback.

Where Zach Wilson was a bus and then you look at Mike White, people were hyping up Mike White. That tells me all I needed to know about the embarrassing and putrid and rancid quarterback position from the Jets last year. You have a top five defense. You have a dominant defense with Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams.

And then you look at the offensive side of the ball. The offensive line is a question mark, but you have Aaron Rodgers and the reigning offensive rookie of the year in Garrett Wilson, plus Dalvin Cook and Breece Hall. And you have Rodgers buddies in Randall Cobb and Allen Lazard, who he wants there because he has the chemistry with those guys. You look at the Jets, the Jets this year have to win double digit games and the New York Jets have to win some playoff games. The Jets, I'm not even saying they are a team that is a Super Bowl contender. But it's not as if I'm gonna get on the air and say that this is a failure after one year in their two to three year window that they have if the Jets don't win a Super Bowl. But the Jets can't be an embarrassment. The Jets can't be a laughingstock. The Jets can't be a team that improves from last year and that means going from seven wins to nine wins. And then you miss out on the playoffs because the AFC is loaded.

And let's just say the Ravens or the Bills or the Dolphins or the Chargers, whoever your wildcard teams could be and the Steelers beat you to the punch. The Jets must make the playoffs this year and the Jets have to do some damage in the postseason. But if they don't make the playoffs, you wanna talk about one offseason to the next? This offseason, it's been mostly positive with the Jets. Next offseason, you'll probably have a new coach. Aaron Rodgers is gonna finally feel some pressure because he has been wonderful so far and he's acclimating himself to New York in a perfect way and a flawless transition going from Green Bay to New York. But if you don't make the playoffs just started out bare minimum, man oh man, you know as much as people have praised the Jets, everyone will be lining up to rip gang green.

And Robert Salah, bare minimum, needs to make the playoffs if he wants to be back next year. And then finally, you look at the Buffalo Bills. One of the more compelling stories in the NFL this season, because that's a team where you talk about you never know how long your window is for the 49ers. That's where we're starting to get with the Buffalo Bills, where they've been in the playoffs multiple times. They used to never get there. McDermott comes there, all they do is get to the playoffs.

All they do is increase their expectations. And last year was the first wake-up call for the Buffalo Bills, where when you lose a game where you should have won with 13 seconds remaining, they had a lead and it gets overtime, you lose to Kansas City, it's Mahomes. Like yes, you could have done a squib kick. Yes, your defense could have played better, but it's Patrick bleeping Mahomes. But after that year, the Bills were everyone's pick to win the Super Bowl. And the Buffalo Bills last year regressed where they barely showed up in that playoff game against the Dolphins with Skylar Thompson.

And then the next week got embarrassed and ran off the field in their own building up against the Cincinnati Bengals. This is a massive year for the Buffalo Bills, where now people aren't picking them to be the Super Bowl champs where everyone picked them last year. This is on Josh Allen, Stefan Diggs, and Sean McDermott this season. I know that this start of the season and mini camp got off ugly, where Diggs wasn't happy with McDermott, Diggs wasn't happy with Josh Allen.

That can't be the reason why this team doesn't win this year. Stefan Diggs, you have been great with Josh Allen. Josh Allen, you have been great with Stefan Diggs.

Before the two of you linked up, we didn't know if Stefan Diggs was the number one wide receiver in this league. He was good. We didn't know if he could be great. With Josh Allen, he's been great. And with Josh Allen, we didn't know how great he could be.

And there were questions about his accuracy. He has catapulted and elevated himself into a top three or four quarterback with Stefan Diggs. The three of those guys with McDermott, Allen, and Diggs better get along this year. Because if they don't, in a locker room that has gone through a lot and those three jeopardize this season, there's going to be major changes in Buffalo this off season. So I look at those three teams, 49ers, Bills, and the Jets. They are the three teams for me that are under the most pressure for this upcoming year in the NFL. And all three of those teams, because you could define pressure in multiple different ways.

Like you're going to lose your job, pressure to win a Super Bowl, multiple ways. The word pressure is very ambiguous, but those three teams that I just mentioned, they have Super Bowl expectations. They are Super Bowl contenders. The 49ers and Bills have been close, but not good enough to win the big game and win the Lombardi Trophy.

And then for the Jets, you're trying to expedite the process, go from a non-playoff team right into an AFC championship team or a Super Bowl team, because you know you have a short window here and a condensed window of two to three years with Darren Rogers. Those three teams to me, I can't wait to see how we're talking about them at the end of the year. And for the 49ers, I think they'll come up short, probably the NFC title game again. The Bills, I think the Bills could be sneaky dangerous because a lot of people are doubting them. And I'd like to see how a team responds to adversity, but I'm not going to pick the Bills to go to Super Bowl at most. I would say maybe AFC title game. And then for the Jets, I'm probably leaning right now in the divisional round. But which one of those three teams can find a way to go raise that Lombardi Trophy? 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS, 8-5-5, 2-1-2, 42-27.

It is the Zach Gelb show. Hot take Kiki, anyone else you want to throw into the conversation about teams under the most pressure entering this season? For me once again, 49ers, Bills, Jets at the top of the list.

I think a team in the conversation without a doubt is a team playing tomorrow. Detroit Lions, a lot of offseason hype, a lot of belief in a team that's not accomplished really anything so far, but a lot of crowning of them winning the NFC North title already. There's a lot of pressure, a lot of expectations for this Lions team that again is for the most part been futile.

And remember everyone loves Dan Campbell and he's the darling and we're still in the honey moon phase with Dan Campbell. They don't make the playoffs this year. That honeymoon phase is over and he could be one of those surprise firings that no one would have think right now headed into the year. Dan Campbell is going to be out of a job at the end of the year because a lot of people like him, but if they miss the playoffs this year in a week NFC, even though we all love Dan Campbell, I would have to let him go. And I look at the Lions, I don't think they're winning that NFC North. I like the Minnesota Vikings where you look at Minnesota 13 wins a year ago. Yes, they will regress, but I don't think they're going to regress to not making the playoffs. Now they could still be a wildcard team in the Lions to go in the division, but I think Minnesota on offense will have enough firepower with Kirk Cousins, with Justin Jefferson, with KJ Osborne, with Addison out of USC.

I like Alexander Madison too. That team will find the way to win 10 games and win the division. I think another one is the Ravens. I know they extended Lamar, but now they're changing the offense.

They've missed the playoffs, or they missed the playoffs two years ago, made the playoffs last year, but both times Lamar's not been healthy, not been playing the biggest games of the season. It's a risk. It's a big risk in a very tough division now to not only pay your quarterback, but change the offense and change the entire philosophy.

How are you going to run things? You're not wrong on that one, and I don't have big expectations for the Ravens heading into this season, and a big reason why is you're relying on a lot of guys who usually aren't healthy to be healthy, whether it's JK Dobbins, Lamar Jackson, Odell Beckham Jr. I like Zay Flowers. I do think that team has a lot of good team chemistry from the videos that you're seeing, but will this team be healthy at the end of the year? Because look, they almost beat the Bengals last year in the playoff game if Tyler Huntley didn't get stupid and tried to jump from the two-yard line where he fumbles and then it goes for a touchdown. Anyone else you got? Because I'm surprised you haven't named one team yet.

I got one more. Well, I'm assuming that's the Broncos. No, it isn't. There is pressure on Russell Wilson this year. That's the way that I would word it. The Dolphins, too, are a team where there's pressure onto a tongue of Iloa, but when I look at the overall team, I think the Dolphins can be really good. The Broncos, they are a fringe playoff team. I don't think they're going to make the playoffs, but when I look at pressure and I say you could define it in multiple ways, if two are talking about Iloa can't stay healthy, he may be no longer the starting quarterback with the Dolphins, and now you're one of Sean Payton, you bring in Russell Wilson, this is a trial and error period where if Russell Wilson continues to look like the Russell Wilson of last year, then you start to figure out, okay, Sean's going to maybe look in the draft or Sean's going to go elsewhere to go get a new quarterback, even though they just gave up a ton and paid Russell Wilson.

The last one I have, there's not a lot of people with high expectations for this team, but when you look at how the Rams are constructed, if they stink. They just won a Super Bowl two years ago. What I'm going to say is this, I think the entire team is getting blown up. There's a lot of pressure in terms of if they make the playoffs, I think you can absolutely justify bringing Matthew Stafford back, convincing Aaron Dowell to come out of retirement, keeping Cooper Cupp, but now Cupp's already hurt.

But they only got three players. But I'm saying if you have a five and 12 season, you're blowing it up and you may be losing your head coach. So this could be the last season, I know they've lost a lot already, but the last season of the Rams for the most part as we know them.

I don't know if this is just because two years ago you picked them to win the Super Bowl and they did, so you have a soft spot for them. This Rams team stinks. I know the NFC is not good and you could have a nine win team in the wild card.

I don't see how this Rams team gets to nine wins. You already have, like you said, the Cooper Cupp injury. Matthew Stafford is coming off an injury. Aaron Dowell coming off an injury as well. And those are three big names, but this offensive line is bad. Everyone keeps on telling you Cam Akers is going to be this, going to be that. He doesn't want to be there with the Rams.

You got no other wide receivers after Cooper Cupp. And defensively, Bobby Wagner left the team because he knew this team was shot and he ran right back to Seattle. So I look at this Rams team, I can't say there's pressure on them because I have no expectations for them. My only expectations are bad expectations for the Rams this year.

The team I'm shocked that you didn't say? The Dallas Cowboys. We all like to poke fun at the drama Dallas Choking Cowboys. And Dak Prescott doesn't have a new contract. I don't care what Jerry Jones says right now.

He made him wait the first time, looks like he's making him wait again. And I feel like even with Mike McCarthy winning back to back 12 win seasons, Mike McCarthy's on the hot seat every year just because of the team that he coaches. And they got rid of Kellen Moore.

And now you got McCarthy and what, Schottenheimer calling the plays there with the Dallas Cowboys. So I look at the NFC, this is a cowboy team that got to the second round of the playoffs last year and should have beat the 49ers if Dak played well. They could be the third best team in the NFC. They could be a threat, but now can they get the job done and do something that they haven't done since the last time they got to a Super Bowl, which was 1995. And that's get to an NFC championship game and also get to a Super Bowl. But the thing with the Cowboys kind of like the Rams in a different way where it's like, I think we all know what this team is. No one believes in them, but the Cowboys have a lot of going to the NFC title game.

So if like, if you're saying, oh, they're going to be a play, like they're going to the playoffs. Okay. Everyone I think would be on board about that, but they think there actually be a threat even in an open NFC. I would say a majority of people would say no. Okay.

But let me ask you to this way. We're all hyping up the Eagles and 49ers. Let's say if the 49ers or the Eagles don't get there, just one team who's been the 13 that you're going to pick in the NFC to get to that, that NFC championship game. If it's not Philadelphia or if it's not the San Francisco 49ers, I would say right now, the lines, I'm not picking the Cowboys. And do you feel good about that? Lions pick?

No, I'm not saying that you can feel great about them. I'm not saying you feel great about the Cowboys pick, but the Cowboys have accomplished a lot more recently than the Detroit lions. And you know me, I never liked to give any credit or any of the benefit of the doubt to the Dallas Cowboys, but that's how bad the NFC is. When it's just those two teams and the Eagles, and then also the, the 49ers where the Cowboys have been closed the last two years. And now we'll see if they could break through, but that's a team that I believe there's an enormous amount of pressure on heading into this year because they don't get the job done. Then the questions once again are going to pop up with Dak Prescott and Mike McCarthy. 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS. Who are the teams for you that are under the most pressure this year for me, jets, bills, and 49ers. We'll take a break.

When we come on back, Sean, Paden, thank you. You are handling Russell Wilson the right way. I'll explain why on the other side.

You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. So I've made it clear that I don't believe in the Denver Broncos this year. They definitely have the best secondary in the NFL. I think you can make the case for bare minimum, a top three, but outside of that, I don't like the construction of this team. And you look at the offense, the line has to be better. I like Javante Williams, but he's coming off an injury. And you look at the wide receivers when Jerry Judy is your best wide receiver.

It leaves me unfulfilled in believing in that wide receiving room and the wide receiving room has already had injuries. And for Russell Wilson, I don't think I've ever changed my view on a player more than I have in a year than Russell Wilson. I'm talking about someone that's accomplished and you could still make the case that Russell Wilson is a top ten quarterback in the NFL.

But that's more so after the first eight that you could go off that anyone could name to get to nine and ten, it's like, you don't really have a great answer. But you look at Russell Wilson, here's what I think a lot of people missed. And I'm glad that Sean Payton has now called him out on it.

And we'll get to the Seth Wickersham piece in just a bit. But you go back to when Russell Wilson first publicly voiced his frustration with the Seattle Seahawks. It was right after that Super Bowl where Tom Brady and the Bucks defeated Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs. And if you recall, Russell Wilson's in a luxury box with Roger Goodell, I think he was getting an honor for something. And then after that game, he went on The Dan Patrick Show, and he talked about how he wants to go win multiple Super Bowls. And it drives him crazy that he's sitting at the Super Bowl and isn't playing in the game. So that focus was on football.

That focus, where he said he wanted to be one of the all-time greats, was based off playing football and winning. And then two years later, Russell Wilson gets traded to the Broncos. And Russell Wilson didn't make football paramount last year, where he was doing the Broncos' country, Let's Ride, trying to impress Denver and all the fans there, going to all the big events, which you're allowed to do.

I'm not telling you don't live your life. But he was doing a lot of things in a way where Russell Wilson broke his own character and made Russell Wilson really become unlikable. And this is not just some bloviating jackass of a talk show host saying this. Russell Wilson's former teammates were rooting against him. Guys that have won games with Russell Wilson, guys that have won a Super Bowl and NFC championships with Russell Wilson all were rooting for his demise, because there was rumors about this stuff in Seattle. But then we saw the true Russell Wilson, where Russell Wilson cared more about being an icon and being a star than going on out and winning. And Russell Wilson last year created a very sloppy and dysfunctional and ugly situation in Denver. And now there's a lot of pressure on Russell Wilson to see how he's going to bounce back.

But here's the difference from last year to this year. Nathaniel Hackett had no clout. Outside of Aaron Rodgers validating Nathaniel Hackett, a star player isn't going to respect Nathaniel Hackett if it gets in the way of how that star player wants to operate his life. Sean Payton has clout. Sean Payton is one of the more respected head coaches in the league, and he'll be in Canton, Ohio one day with a bus that will live on forever as a Hall with a bus that will live on forever as a Hall of Fame coach. And the biggest thing to watch here is how quickly does Russ buy in to what Sean Payton wants him to do.

And I like that Sean has come out swinging. You're not going to have your office. Your personal QB coach isn't going to be in the facility.

You got to be a team employee, all that stuff. He is setting the tone that I'm the alpha down. And this is my team. And I love what he said. And I love the reporting by Seth Wickersham, where supposedly Sean Payton said to Russell Wilson, you need to focus more on football and less on Russell Inc. And he also did go on to say, well, you bleep and stop kissing all the babies.

You're not running for public office. And that's something that Russell Wilson needs to hear. Because if the Daniel Hackett last year said to Russell Wilson, you got to focus more on football, Russell Wilson would say, who the bleep are you? And what have you won in this league?

And what have you done in this league? Because he was never a national laughingstock Russell Wilson up until last year. But Sean has the ability to fight back. And Sean knows also in the back of his head that if Russell Wilson doesn't work out, even though Sean was brought in to fix Russell Wilson, Sean will survive. Sean will still coach the Broncos and will get an opportunity to coach the next quarterback of the Denver Broncos if Russ does not work out. Because if you look at that timeline, once again, there was a coach before Sean with Russell Wilson. So if Russ doesn't bounce back this year, maybe financially they'll wait a year to trade him or they'll wait a year to get rid of him because who's going to want to trade for him with that contract? You know, sometimes we say that and then there's always a team that one coach thinks, oh, these two coaches couldn't fix him.

I'll be able to find a way to fix him. But Sean will have the ability and will get the opportunity if Russ doesn't work to find that next quarterback. If Russ does not play well this year, he is not only setting up his departure from Denver, but also potentially ruining what we thought used to be an automatic Hall of Fame spot in Canton, Ohio. Because there were questions how great Russell Wilson was, and then Seattle gave up on him.

Seattle got rid of him. If you go to Denver and you don't bounce back and you don't show some resilience, people have short memories. And people remember a lot more of the second chapter of Russell Wilson's career compared to the first chapter. But Hickey, I love this approach by Sean Payton.

I don't think the Broncos are really going to be any good this year. But for him to come on out and basically tell Russell Wilson, you're not running for public office. You need to stop focusing on all these other endeavors off the field.

You need to go back to focusing on football and football needs to come first. And we'll see if Russ is going to listen to that. We'll see if Russ is going to change.

I'll give Russell Wilson credit. He looks like he's in great shape right now. So he's putting in the work in the offseason where last year people were calling him pudgy. He looked like he shed some weight. He looked like he put on some muscle. He looks lean.

He looks good to go. But there's one thing to put the work in the offseason. It's another thing to continue this throughout the season because he may be buying in right now. But if this team gets off to a slow start, does he start to go back to the Russell Wilson of last year? So right now, I guess we could say Russ is embracing Sean. But how long will he continue to embrace Sean Payton? But I love the approach by Sean because he's challenging Russ and he's going right to Russ directly saying this is where you lost your way. Now we need to fix you because we could still believe you could be a very efficient quarterback in the NFL. Those two quotes are the exact reason why I said Sean Payton was best hire the offseason, best move of the offseason, and why I'm picking the Broncos go to the playoffs.

Russell Wilson is not washed physically and the only guy I think that can get Russ back to his, let's say, pre-C-Hawks days where he's kind of an MVP-like player is Sean Payton. And it's with that treatment, it's by basically showing you, I'm the boss. I'm in charge. You were the boss last year. Can I handle the power? New sheriff in town, you're listening to me.

That is the exact mindset, exact mantra, and the exact reason why I'm back on the Broncos this season. 855-212-4CBS. Let me take one quick one before the update. Here's Lee in Cincinnati. First up on the Zach Gelb show.

Lee, what's shaking? Not much, Zachy. I got to say something real quick, then I got a question. First thing I want to say is I wish like heck you would go to college football because all college football has are old curmudgeons who just talk and don't know what the heck they're talking about. Well, Lee, we did like four hours in college football yesterday. Don't worry, we'll do some more college football later. But go ahead, make your point. Okay. No, my point is, is y'all the best?

You and the hickey are the best. The way y'all go back and forth, you're like McMahon and Carson, like Abbott Costello. But the question that I had though actually has to do with the NFL. How bad do you think Kelcey's injury is going to affect the Kansas City Chiefs? Well, he's questionable and thanks for the phone call, Lee. I don't think it matters I would not play him tomorrow night up against Detroit Lions. If you get Travis Kelcey back at some point this year, which I expect they will, and then he's healthy for the playoffs, well, Kansas City could pick right up where they left off. But even if you don't get Travis Kelcey back or if you do get him back and then he gets hurt, am I gonna bet against Patrick Mahomes?

This dude is the human eraser. This dude is one of one in the year of 2023 in the NFL. And the great quarterbacks win with less. Now Brady has won without Gronk. Now forget the three Super Bowls before Gronk was even in the league, that 28-3 comeback was all without Rob Gronkowski. So as long as 15 is upright and healthy, and I know there's concerns about the Chris Jones contract, I know there's concerns about Travis Kelcey's chance, you'd rather have those guys available, but if they're not available, Patrick Mahomes is a cheat code.

It won't be easy, it's not a lock, but can he win a Super Bowl this year without Kelcey? Absolutely. We'll take a break. When we come on back, I know Lee in Cincinnati just wanted us to talk a little college football. Well, I'm going to do something when it comes to college football, and I think I'm going to praise someone that I've never praised before.

We'll tell you who on the other side. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. It is the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. I'll get to my point in just a second about one coach that I never defend in college football that I will in about two minutes from now, but first let me take another call.

855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. Let's go to Joe in Milwaukee, listening to us on the fan next up on CBS Sports Radio. Joe, what's happening? Hey guys, love to be calling into Milwaukee's favorite national show.

Appreciate you taking the call. I agree with most of what you said about Sean Payton and Russell Wilson. One thing I wanted to question you on is, I think you may have called Sean Payton Mike McCarthy with a better PR department. I wonder why he's certainly a respectable coach, but why he's the best thing since garlic bread.

That's an interesting comparison. He won the post-Katrina Super Bowl, and then you got suspended for Bounty Gate, I just want to hear your thoughts on Sean Payton and why everyone thinks he's so great. Well the guy had one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine double digit win seasons.

He's a buck 52 in 89 and he won a Super Bowl with the Saints, who were a pathetic franchise, so that's why. There you go. Okay good, was that you that called in Mike McCarthy? Am I mistaken? Was that someone else that called in Mike McCarthy with a better PR department? No that's not me, I've never said that.

Oh I apologize. It's a good line though, I do find it funny, but I don't think it's even a debate about Sean Payton. Now Mike Holmgren should be in the Hall of Fame and he isn't, and Tony Dungy, like the Hall of Fame it never makes any sense, and Tony Dungy I'm not saying he doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame because I think he does, but look how quickly Tony Dungy got in the Hall of Fame with how a lot of these other coaches had to wait. So if Tony Dungy goes 139 and 69 and wins one Super Bowl, why isn't Sean Payton then a Hall of Fame coach for going a buck 52 in 89 and winning a Super Bowl?

I don't think there's people that dislike Sean Payton in the media, so he shouldn't he should make the Hall of Fame, and I don't get why Mike Holmgren is in the Hall of Fame either, but we could sit here and talk about people that should be the Hall of Fame that aren't for about four hours. It's just the way that it goes, like if you want to continue the Packer trend, why'd they make Jerry Kramer wait for so many years? Why'd they make Leroy Butler wait for so many years? Even Joe Kletko just got into the Hall of Fame, shouldn't have had to wait for that many years. Why'd they make T.O. even wait a few years?

So we could do this all day. Alrighty, I'm going to defend James Franklin here, and Hickey I think that's going to shock you because I believe James Franklin is an overrated coach, heck of a recruiter, but on game day, especially up against top 10 teams where his record's like 3 and 15, he is someone that is the definition of a good coach but not a great coach, and I think if it wasn't for Jimbo Fisher, he could be considered maybe the most overrated coach in college football. But I'm looking at his team this year on paper, they have a high standard, and this Penn State team with the talent that they have, there's no excuses here.

At most, you should have one loss. That schedule is easy peasy for the Penn State Nittany Lions. You play two teams that really scare you this year. Ohio State, who I'm not even that optimistic on because I don't like what I saw from their quarterback Kyle McCord, and then you have Michigan who's one of the better teams in the country.

You should be able to split those two teams this year and win every other game on your schedule. But Penn State opened up the season, Hickey was at the game, probably drunk as a skunk, going up against West Virginia, and at the end of the game at the end of the game of five seconds left, the backup quarterback scored a rushing touchdown. Neil Brown wasn't happy about that, the head coach of West Virginia, and Neil Brown says Karma will get James Franklin at some point. Here's the thing, I wouldn't have done it, I wouldn't have done it, but it doesn't bother me, like I'm not going to stay, like I just think stuff like that comes around goes around, you know, at some point it'll come back around, you know, win, I don't know, but it doesn't bother me, I'm not upset about it.

Well, Neil Brown's a liar. If you're going to say you're not upset about it, but then Karma's going to come back to bite James Franklin and you know what, well, why are you rooting for Karma to come back to get him in a bad way? It's because you're annoyed about it. You're clearly agitated by it. And my message to Neil Brown would be, if you don't like it, stop it. Because you told us your team didn't stink before the start of the year. Remember that at Big 12 media days, where you just went after all the reporters that finish you guys to be last and you had a loser mentality by saying, oh, I guarantee you we won't finish last, like what kind of claim is that? If you're going to be that annoyed with the media, say you're going to be a really good team this year.

But it does not surprise me whatsoever that Neil Brown didn't have the guts to say that he couldn't stand what James Franklin did when we all know by the rest of his answer, he was furious with James Franklin. But once again, if you don't want the other team to score a touchdown, don't let them. I love when Nick Saban runs up the score. I love when Nick Saban's up by 35 points and he's slamming his headsets.

Same thing with Kirby Smart. You don't take plays off in college football. You're playing a sport where if you take plays off, you could risk injury. Okay, you can kneel down. I know you could make that argument and all that.

He wanted to get a second teamer into the game and see what he could do. So I don't have a problem with that whatsoever. Let's hear, though, from James Franklin.

What a bizarre show this is. When I, a guy that I can't stand in James Franklin, I am defending him. Here is James Franklin defending scoring a touchdown with five seconds left in the game. I believe that my responsibility in those type of situations is to get my twos in the game. But I think once those twos get in the game, then they deserve the right and the chance to play and compete. Now, if you leave your ones in, that's a different story. But when your twos go in the game, those guys get limited amount of reps. They should have a chance to compete.

I have no problem with what James Franklin said. And even if he ran up the score with his ones, I wouldn't give a rat's ass. These kids put in so much work. They get asked to do so much, and their reward is game day. And I understand what he's saying. If you're a backup, you don't get to see a lot of in-game action.

So why should we just trot you out there to take a few kneel downs and end the game? So, Hickey, you were at this game. By the way, how many beverages did you consume?

Because I know you've been broadcasting that out a lot publicly. Like the other weekend in New York City, you went to 14 different bars. 13, 13. I'm not gonna oversell only 13 on that Saturday a few weeks ago. I was just meeting my parents, so I took it easy. What is taking it easy for you? Because you thought it was like no big deal drinking, going to 13 bars a few weekends ago.

True. I mean, nothing crazy. We played golf in the morning, so we weren't tailgating all day. So it was very low-key. What's the number around?

I don't know, like five, something like that. So you were pretty sober for this football game. Yeah, yeah. Nothing crazy.

Which is against the norm. Maybe you should be pretty sober for the rest of the season for Penn State since you guys won this game. Well, I mean, I don't think my before-game activities are impacting the win-loss record, that's for sure.

I'm just saying. Team hasn't showed up when you've been drunk as a skunk. Well, the Rose Bowl would say different. Yeah, that game didn't matter.

That's unnatural. Barely could put two words together, and they played great, so. Six, seven years ago, Rose Bowl, that would be a big game. My BAC, I think, matched the number of points they scored.

So, if anything, maybe that's, you know, I gotta start ratcheting up the drinking. So, what did you make of this whole James Franklin, Neil Brown controversy? In the stadium, I did not like it. I thought they just ran out the clock and let's get out of here.

I mean, to me, the game was over. Let's go. Wow. Hearing, though, Franklin's explanation, I think I can fault it. I think he's 100% right. You want to put the twos in? I think he's right.

And so, you know, I will say I was wrong about that. You want to put the twos in? Fine. Let him play.

Like, they barely get any reps. Only way you're going to be able to know if they're any good is if by letting them run the offense the way they should, and if you want to throw the ball on fourth down, and you want to blitz if you're West Virginia, and you deserve the right, and you have the ability to, if you're out there on the field, make a play to get a memory for a lifetime. Would you agree that Neil Brown is lying to us when he's like, oh, I wasn't annoyed by it, but then Karm is going to come back to get Coach Franklin? That sounds like someone that's annoyed, right?

Uh, yes, I would say so. What a fraud. Seriously.

I'm shocked, though, that Homer Hickey, the guy that is Penn State ride or die, no matter what, doesn't really criticize the program in the moment. You sure you only had five beers at the game? In the moment you were upset with Franklin? I was very upset. Were you screaming like, Coach, what are we doing out there?

No, not that point, but I was at least telling my dad, like, what are we doing? Like, let's get out. Like, the game's over. Let's just get out of here.

And it's like 30 seconds after the hurrying up to the line of scrimmage. But again, after the explanation, you know what? I can't fault his logic.

I'm going to have selective memory here. All I heard in that segment was Hickey doesn't believe in James Franklin anymore. He was questioning him. Calling for his firing in a in a victory is what I just heard right there. Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio. Well, come on back. We'll update you some of the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio. Plus, Sean Alexander will stop by 25 minutes from now.