Lions Roar In Debut (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 of 345 Hudson Street, it's a football!

Friday! Addition of the Zach Gelb show across all of our great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, channel 158, and that free Odyssey app. 855-212-4CBS is the number to jump on in.

855-212-4227. And you could as always follow me on the good old cesspool of Twitter or on Instagram where I'm straight flexing at Zach Gelb. Whole lot to do today on the first football Friday of the year. Ryan Horvat from Beck QL will stop by each and every football Friday to give us three NFL picks, three college picks. Coming up 20 minutes from now at 6.20 PM Eastern, 3.20 PM Pacific, and then later on in the show in the 9 o'clock PM Eastern time hour we will have our picks as Escargot is on the line. And I think Hickey's biggest fear eating some snail, if Hickey loses the picks, he will devour some Escargot. And I think if I lose the picks this year, I have to eat, what was that that you got me when you went out to Arizona? It was a lollipop and what was in the lollipop actually?

Hot Take Hickey, who by the way, producing this extravaganza for the next four hours is no other than Hot Take Hickey. What's in that lollipop that is in my locker? A scorpion lollipop. Ooh, how do you think a scorpion lollipop is going to taste? You got that for me in August, right?

Yes, sir. So September, October, November, December, how do you think that's going to taste in five months if I have to eat that? You think that will age well?

I'm assuming they wasn't exactly pressed and made when I went there in August, so it's maybe been sitting out there for a little bit. So it could be, you know, maybe it ages well. Maybe a scorpion is one of those foods that with time like wine it gets better.

I feel like PETA is going to call us to try to put an end to these picks with the scorpion and then also the snails as well. So we'll see. Alrighty, so we have an action packed show today.

Hickey and I will be going up against one another all throughout the year for picks, but I don't know about you, Hickey. I didn't get much sleep last night because I was buzzing off the game between the Detroit Lions and the Kansas City Chiefs where the Lions prevailed by one point. You just wake up today and there's a different energy.

There's a different vibe where don't get me wrong. I love college football. Week zero had no juice. Last week was fun, especially with the Colorado story with Coach Prime. LSU and Florida State ended up being a stinker where we thought it was going to be a classic down to the wire game. And Mike Norvell, friend to show, just blew out Brian Kelly and the LSU family with the LSU Tigers. But now when you have back to back we are back to back days of college football and just doing what we do best, sitting on the couch, eating a lot of food, placing our bets on Saturday and watching all the college football with two really fun games this weekend in Colorado, Nebraska.

And then also you have Texas and Alabama. And then we get to do it all over again on Sunday, except this time in the professional world with the first football Sunday in the NFL. It just presents a different vibe and it makes you get through the week a little bit easier knowing what we have here, Hickey, at the end of the week on Saturday and Sunday to wrap it up. And these next four or five months are my favorite four or five months of the year. And I say this each and every year.

I don't want to sound like Mike Francesca here. But the season starts and then the next thing you know it in a blink of an eye we already have a national champion in college football and then about a month or two later we have a Super Bowl champion in the NFL. Oh, I'm very excited. Let's go. Let's go. It was fired up last week, fired up this week. It's great to have actual games of meaning back on our TV screens. Can we get a little juice from you?

Like right out of the gate? There's a signature Hickey, let's go. Like when Tom Brady used to say, let's bleep and go. Usually I hear a little bit more intensity. You get the Hickey grunt.

You get the bizarre scream as well. Can I get you a little fired up out of the gate when you say let's go instead of that lame pedestrian let's go that you just gave me a few seconds ago? Did you hear me say football Friday like I was an opera singer? I brought the juice. I brought the energy out of the gate.

Where were you at a few seconds ago? I'm here. I'm juiced up, ready to go. Let's go. Let's go.

I want the Hickey. Let's go. Yeah. Yeah. Let's go. Yeah. That's like deep in the reserves.

That's a big game special moment. I'm not going to fake it for the folks. I can't do it.

It's just that right now the engine's not revving. Let me tell you, I'm not mad at you. I'm just disappointed in Hot Take Hickey. By the way, where's your sounder?

I said Hot Take Hickey now seven times out of the gate and I didn't even get a sounder there. But anyway, let's start with last night. So you could go from the Lions angle of this or the Chiefs angle of it. Let's start with the Lions because it's more positive. That's a statement from Detroit last night because there was many moments in this game where you were thinking up Detroit's not ready or up.

Here we go. It's the same old Detroit Lions. And when you had back to back decisions by Dan Campbell, who started the game super duper aggressive. And then later on in the game, he got conservative where you had two drives back to back of four downs and you didn't go for it and you punted the football back. At that moment, when they were able to survive and they get the ball back, I'm saying and I tweeted this out, if the Lions are different, they would go on a drive here after those two punts. And they allowed two field goals and Kansas City took a 20 to 14 lead when the Lions got the ball with about 12 minutes or so to go in the fourth quarter. I tweeted out at the Lions are truly different. They go march down the field, matriculate the ball. If you want to use an old school football term down the field and you go get a touchdown, not a field goal, a touchdown. And there was a moment on that third down where it's third and long, where everyone's thinking up. It's the same old Lions.

They're not ready for the moment. And then Jared Goff with ice in his veins. Boom to Reynolds for 18 yards on third and 12.

Move the chains first down. And then shortly after that, you had the David Montgomery touchdown to make it 21 to 20. And that ended up being the final score. And I know we'll get into the Chiefs in just a second.

They had opportunities. Lions right. Turn the ball over on downs where Dan Campbell then says, OK, I'm going to be aggressive up by one fourth and two at Kansas City's 45.

Jared Goff didn't get the job done. Ball gets batted down, I think at the line of scrimmage. And then it's like the Chiefs get the ball and everyone with two minutes and 30 seconds left, even when the Chiefs offense was just at a brutal spot in the game. Everyone in America, even if you're a Lions fan, you're thinking Mahomes is marching right down the field.

And bare minimum, all you needed was a field. You didn't even need a touchdown. It's a one point game, two and a half to go. And you're getting the ball at Kansas City's 45?

You're thinking, absolutely. If you're the Chiefs, you're getting a field goal and you're winning that game. And the Chiefs started moving in the wrong direction. And sure, on fourth and 25 with three timeouts, by the way, Andy Reid's got to punt the ball back.

But he didn't do so. Patrick Mahomes, to his credit, made a great throw and then it was dropped. So when that happened, the Lions then didn't give the ball back and the Lions win. So that's a statement game from the Lions.

I like Tarico, but Tarico not even letting the moment breathe. And then right away jumping into, oh, this game has an asterisk because Chris Jones didn't play, Travis Kelce didn't play. That's ridiculous. Let the Lion fan, the long suffering Lion fan who has big expectations this year, enjoy that moment. And that's a game. Hickey calls it a must win.

I rolled my eyes. But that is the game that you felt like you had to win to make a statement on a national stage that after starting off one and six last year and only losing two games down the stretch, that things are different in Detroit. And in a week NFC with only the Eagles and the 49ers right now being viewed as Super Bowl contenders in a division for the first time in forever feels like it's open. I know the Vikings won last year, but Rogers no longer there. People expect the Vikings to regress.

I still think they're winning the division. Lions, a lot of people's pick to win that division. Bears not ready yet. Packers will see what happens with Jordan Love this weekend without Christian Watson. So that's a big test up against the Bears. But this was a summer where a lot of people were optimistic and high on the Lions.

And after week one, they showed you that that optimism was valid. Was it a perfect game? No, but you don't get style points in the NFL. You just have to win the game. And the Lions did that last night.

So that's the lion's side of it. The Chiefs side of it. If you are a talk show host today and your lead is can the Kansas City Chiefs win a Super Bowl this year after losing on opening night?

You're the biggest idiot moron and dope and lazy talk show host in the country. As long as Patrick Mahomes is healthy, as long as Patrick Mahomes is on the field, you have a shot to win a Super Bowl this year. And look at it this way to Kansas City's offense and the wide receivers were brutal. They couldn't even catch a cold last night. And the Chiefs still only lost the game up against a good team in the Detroit Lions by one point.

So I don't want to hear from the media today or from pundits today. But the Chiefs are vulnerable. The Chiefs can't win.

But something that did surprise me from the conversation last 24 hours is that how many people. Their reaction from that game last night was what a massive win for Chris Jones. Now, I'm not undermining the importance of Chris Jones to the Kansas City Chiefs.

He's a top three player for the team. I know that Chiefs defense wasn't awesome last night. But if I would have told you that the Chiefs defense would have only allowed 14 points before the game started, you would have said how many points to the Kansas City Chiefs win by. And I know the Lions scored twenty one, but one came off a pick six, which wasn't even Mahomes his fault. Because Kedari is Tony, which, by the way, Kedari is Tony.

Young Joker, let me call you by your rat name that you like to go by. All offseason, it seems like that idiot was sliding into people's DMS and fighting with fans. I know he had a good Super Bowl with the touchdown, the punt return, all that. But to talk that much smack in the in the offseason and then all you did was drop the ball left and right. It was embarrassing last night.

And he's the reason I hate to say like one player is the reason, but he's the reason they lost the game. But I go back to my Chris Jones point. So many people today and it's kind of stunning to me saying big win for Chris Jones last night, big win for Chris Jones last night. The defense only allowed 14 points. My biggest takeaway from that game last night, when you get into Travis Kelce and Chris Jones, is what this offense looked like without Travis Kelce. Because remember, Travis Kelce. Last year, when you had Tyree kill and all the questions, can the Chiefs win without Tyree kill? You saw what you already knew the importance of Kelce, but it doubled down the importance of Travis Kelce to that offense. And last night, it triples down down on it because if Travis Kelce is on the field last night in a close game that this is, you know he's going to get in the end zone or you know he's going to have a big catch that gets him into field goal range. That would have won the Chiefs the game. So going into the year, especially with the Chris Jones contract situation not getting resolved. And then right before the start of the season, you have this knee injury by Travis Kelce.

I think they were starting to become a debate. We all know Patrick Mahomes is number one in the Chiefs organization. But in terms of being the most valuable player to the Chiefs winning another Super Bowl, who was two and three? And if you would have told me before the game last night that it was Chris Jones, I wouldn't have said you're stupid. Because Chris Jones is their preeminent defensive player. But last night the Chiefs defense was good enough, wasn't great, but it was good enough to win the game. And without Travis Kelce being there, it was one of those situations where you once again got to see the value of Travis Kelce. So when you look at one, two and three in terms of importance to the Chiefs winning a Super Bowl, one it's Mahomes, two it's Travis Kelce, and then three it's Chris Jones. So Hickey, I hope you're still there after whatever sound effect that was that you played or whatever music that was is the board I guess.

We had a button on the board potted up. But are you with me here? Where I'm like amazed in the first few hours after the game, how many people their immediate take that I'm hearing on so many different shows and so many, I've seen from so many different tweets is, wow, Chris Jones really won last night. I know that Travis Kelce is already taken care of and he's on a bargain, but my biggest takeaway from the game last night is the Chiefs need Travis Kelce and didn't look at last night as a massive win. It wasn't a loss for Chris Jones, but it looked at it as if it was a massive win for Chris Jones with his Chiefs defense allowed 45 points.

They kept on showing him with those two soprano looking brothers sitting right next to him in the luxury box. I mean, look, honestly, not that I mean, I think you could argue if anything, his leverage was hurt yesterday more than it was help. Because if you're the Chiefs and you see Travis Kelce getting up there in age, you got to start to wonder now going forward in the home is already locked up. Who's you gonna be thrown to if Kelce now starts to kind of I think is 33 as he starts to get older.

It's like one of those where you need a succession plan. So at receiver, I tied in somewhere. And right now, if you're the Chiefs, are you going to lock in Chris Jones to 30 million dollars a year? Are you going to try to use that to try to get a receiver or to a receiver and a tight end to pair with each other? So if Travis Kelce gets hurt, this doesn't happen again.

And when he starts to inevitably decline, you can have a situation you go into a year where you're not looking around saying, Oh my God, who we throw into? Now you do a show later this evening, starting at 2 a.m. Eastern to 6 a.m. Eastern. I'll give you a little plug right there. The hot take hickey show. I mean, the Ryan Hickey show.

Oh, wait, what is it? The hic at night? Hic at night. Night spelled N-I-T-E. Sorry.

There's so many different names for this show that have changed throughout the years or throughout the year that I lost track. You're not going to be, though, one of these stupid talk show hosts that lead the show saying the Kansas City Chiefs are in trouble after one game, correct? No, no, not at all. Yeah. Just making sure. Not at all.

If so, I would have stayed up till about like 2 30 a.m. and then would have called in and would have yelled at you. Anyway, who is more important to the Chiefs winning another Super Bowl this season? Travis Kelce or Chris Jones?

Hickey, you usually have a good understanding of the way that our audience thinks. What do you think the breakdown is of the percentage Travis Kelce to Chris Jones? Oh, I would say people are fiending after last night. I would say 73% Travis Kelce. Which is an interesting way because we just talked about how it feels like so many people are talking about how this is such a big win last night for Chris Jones. So that really wouldn't reflect that number then on the Travis Kelce front if it's at 73%. I feel like a lot of the talk yesterday was Kelce and their dropped passes from their receivers. Which is weird.

That was first and foremost. Because of my timeline it was all Chris Jones, Chris Jones, Chris Jones immediately after the game. But on Twitter right now it is a big runaway Travis Kelce. 86.3% on a Twitter poll. So maybe some people started to settle down and calm down with the hot takes.

And you usually know how the hot take game works. And then like later on the afternoon today it started to shift back to Kelce. But yeah, 86.3% say Travis Kelce is more important to the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl this year. 13.7% go with Chris Jones. We'll take a break.

We'll do some gambling picks next. College Football NFL with Ryan Horvat of Beck QL. The Zach Gelb Show on a football Friday.

Now he has his own show. And that is a dear friend in Ryan Horvat. Ryan how are you? And Zach this isn't even pandering man. Because I'm on for the season again.

Season 2 together. But I think you're the best interviewer in the game. Now that Stern is washed up especially. I mean every week man I'm on social media.

You're interviewing Coach Prime right before the big game. You get everybody. So I'm so glad to be back. You're the best in the business.

Never again will I hate. Wow. That's some serious praise. Let me tell you. Whatever Mitch Rosen is paying you there at Beck QL. Not enough.

The price just went up after that. Holy smokes. Very nice words from Ryan Horvat.

Alrighty let's do what you do best. That's picking games. Nebraska, Colorado. Matt Rule and the Cornhuskers. Looked like they were getting a victory week one. Then the running back and their quarterback just gave that game away.

Now everyone's talking about Colorado. Home game for Coach Prime. Jadore Sanders awesome. Shiloh Sanders awesome. Travis Hunter.

The running back Edwards was sensational. Colorado is a three point favorite. Everyone loves the Buffaloes. Are you riding with Coach Prime or are you plus in the three points with Nebraska? Alright so I had to take the points with Nebraska out of principle.

Just because this is a huge adjustment in the market right. Like we're looking at eight and a half points. And it makes sense because Nebraska loses their opener. And Matt Rule like year one for Matt Rule is usually about just kind of building the culture with the program. Like Temple he wins one game. But then by season three he wins ten games. You know we saw the same thing at Baylor as well.

But even if you're just trying to build culture. You can't have you know Jeff Sims dropping back throwing three picks. You have to run the football. They were running for five yards per carry against a pretty good Minnesota defense. And same thing like if you go back you watch the Colorado game and I don't want to take anything away from Colorado and Coach Prime. Because I mean they beat TCU. Granted that's not last year's TCU team. But if TCU runs the ball and doesn't drop Chandler Morris back forty two times in that game. He throws two picks. They probably end up winning that game. I just thought Kendall Briles got way too cute. So I'm going to take the points with Nebraska here as three and a half point dog.

Maybe wait to get a better number. But you know this is a bet where I'm comfortable losing. Because let's say Colorado wins this game. They're going to beat Colorado State next week. Then they get Oregon and then they get Washington.

And we might get really good prices with a good Oregon offense and a good Washington offense. And I think they'll beat up on Colorado. So great story but I have to take the points with Nebraska this week.

Let's go to three thirty p.m. Eastern. This is a hot seat game between Texas A&M and Miami. Whichever team loses their fan base is going to be screaming at either Jimbo Fisher or Mario Cristobal. The Aggies of A&M are a three point favorite on the road up against the Miami Hurricanes.

Where do you go here? So I really like Miami last season and I like the Mario hire but I just didn't like the coordinators. Luckily he got to retool everything. Josh Gaddis is done. And I like Miami offensively with a healthy Tyler Van Dyke. I also think Texas A&M upgrades on the offensive side of the ball because Jimbo Fisher is no longer calling plays.

Davi Petrino takes over. They hang 52 points week one. They were running more tempo offense. Their quarterback Connor Wegman could push the ball down the field. So I think we actually get some points in this game. And I think Miami is going to be a little bit better than people expect.

Shannon Dawson takes over as OC. Their run game looked much improved. They ran for their most yards in a game since the 2020 season. Henry Parrish had 90 yards I believe on the ground.

Mark Fleischer had over 70. So I think we're going to get some points in this game. Texas A&M's defense even with all those five stars didn't really look that impressive to me week one.

So I think we get the over here even though the totals went all the way up to 52. And I like Miami actually to keep this game close and to go over their win total this season seven and a half. Let's get to Texas and Alabama. I'm pretty sure last year when it was Alabama going up against Tennessee, Alabama was a seven point favorite. And Tennessee ended up winning the game outright.

Here we go. We remember the game from last year between Alabama and Texas. If Quinn Ewers didn't get hurt, Alabama probably loses the game. And they survived by one point.

I want to say that game was 20 to 19 or something like that. Bama though, seven point favorite. They are home up against Quinn Ewers. Steve Sarkisian, Texas. Do you go with the Longhorns or do you go with the Crimson Tide?

I think the best bet you can make in this game is the under. Because I think these are two really good defenses. But like you said, Quinn Ewers, if he doesn't get knocked out of that game, they probably win that game. Which is crazy because he was also really good at another big game against Oklahoma where he threw four touchdowns. But then after those games, he went four straight games where he didn't complete 60% of his passes. Against Oklahoma State, he was 19 for 49. Against TCU, he was 17 for 39. And then I had higher expectations for him this season with all five starters back on the O-line with Xavier Worthy in the wide receiver room. Jordan Whittington and they have a really good tight end. Jatavion Sanders who caught 54 balls last season. But then last week again against Rice, 0 for 6 on passes 20 or more yards down the field.

I really like Texas. I think they could keep this within the number although they did really look like they were missing Bijan last week. I think the play is the under and with a low scoring game, I'm going to take the points with Texas.

I could see this being a 17-13 type game. So I know that you're a big time Packer fan as Ryan Horvat is here with us from BetMGM tonight via BeckQL. No Christian Watson for this game on Sunday up against the Bears. Packers and Bears in Chicago. The Bears are a 1.5 point favorite and the over under is 41.5. What is the Ryan Horvat play here? The play for me is a player prop and it's going to be AJ Dillon rushing yards.

I actually found some 35.5, some 36.5. I think he's going to be more involved in the offense now that Aaron Rodgers is gone. Especially with Christian Watson who's not only their best deep threat but he's also their gadget guy. They want to run a lot of pre-snap motion in this floor offense.

Him on jet sweeps and now he's already injured. This is already the youngest wide receiver room in the league. I know a lot of people like Green Bay in this game. That's why it went from 2.5 down to nearly a pick.

I would actually lean Chicago at home. I think Justin Fields is going to have a bounce back here although he was alright last season. Terrible offensive line. I like the pickups.

I like DJ Moore. Last season I know Justin Fields is going to push the ball down the field in pre-season. Everybody made a big deal out of that. But that's not what they really need. They needed Yak. Now you've got Mooney is the number two. We'll see what they get from Chase Claypool. But I think the Bears might be a little bit better than people expect. I think both teams go over their win total.

I lean Chicago but I'm going to go with an AJ Dillon drop in this game. Because I think Green Bay is going to have to run the ball without Watson. If he's healthy I lean Green Bay but that's already the youngest wide receiver room.

And now you lose your number two. That's a lot of targets for Romeo Dobbs and Jalen Reed. Jalen Reed, I'm sorry, who's a rookie.

Just a lot of unproven guys. Dolphins and Chargers. We expect a lot of points in this one.

The over-unders 51. Chargers are a three-point favorite. No Teron Armstead for the Miami Dolphins. Their big offensive lineman.

Your play in this game between Tuatunga Vailoa and Justin Herbert is? Yeah, so I feel like I'm on an island here because I really like the Chargers. I'm high on them coming into the season.

You know, Joe Lombardi is gone. You bring in Kellen Moore. Last season in tended air yards, Justin Herbert was 41.

That makes no sense. He has the biggest arm in the league. And it would help obviously if Keenen Allen and Mike Williams could stay on the field. But now they draft Quinton Johnson out of TCU.

He's a 4-3 burner. So I feel good about the offense. And defensively, man, if they could just stay healthy. Joey Bosa, Khalil Mack, Jacey Jackson.

I think you have to upgrade them. And I'm worried not only about Armstead. Because you have Tua who struggles to stay healthy and struggles to stay in the pocket without him. But I'm worried about that secondary. You have Eli Apple coming in. It's a new defensive system with Vic Fangio taking over.

No Jalen Ramsey the first couple weeks of the season. I'm going to go with the Chargers actually at home. Wrapping up, Orion Horvat from BetMGM tonight is going to join us each and every football Friday. He'll give us three college games, three NFL games, and then his best bet right here on the Zach Gelb show. Let's go to Sunday Night Football. Bum, bum, ba-da-bum, bum.

Ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-bum. Between the Cowboys and Giants at MetLife Stadium in the swamps of Jersey. The Dallas Cowboys are a 3.5 point favorite.

The over-under is 45. And now Darren Waller, late addition to the injury report, is questionable. Yeah, I was going to say the way that the Giants cover, they win this game. And I know it's not really Daniel Jones' game. He's going to have to hit a couple deep shots against this Dallas defense. Because I'm so high on Dallas this season.

I know famous last words. But just because of the defensive side of the ball. I know Stephon Gilmore is another year older, but he was good last season. And a couple years ago he was the defensive player of the year. I don't know the next time we're going to see a DV win that award. Offensively for Dallas, you bring in Brandon Cooks.

City Land proved last year. He's a number one. And now Michael Gallup's another year removed from that ACL that he tore in 2019. I know McCarthy takes over as play caller without Kellen Moore. But that might be a good thing because Zeke's gone. Now they're going to run the ball with Tony Pollard. Who needs, I know he's coming off an injury.

Needs 20 touches per game. So I'm actually going to take the points here with Dallas because they're healthier. And I like them a lot this season. I won't be shocked if they win the NFC. So you're going Dallas, laying the three and a half is what you're doing.

I am. That's one of the favorites I like. Okay, now give me the best bet here for Ryan Horvath this weekend. What do you love?

Alright, I got two really quick. I'm going to take the points with the Browns if we get to three. Just because Joe Burrow plays terrible against Cleveland. I really like what they've done defensively this year. Add in a bunch on that defensive line.

The Darrius Smith. I think they're going to get after Joe Burrow without having to blitz. If they have to blitz, it's over.

Burrow's going to pick them apart. I think the best bet is the Steelers. Especially if you could get a three. Even with Nick Bosa back. Mike Tomlin at home.

13-4 and three against the spread as a home dog. It's been a wild camp for San Francisco. They trade Trey Lance. The Nick Bosa contract dispute. You have Brock Purdy coming back from an injury.

Here's what concerns me. Purdy's not going to beat you with the deep ball. That's the only way you could beat that Pittsburgh defense. He was quarterback 34 last year in air yards intended. 40% of his throws were at or behind the line of scrimmage last season. My hot take is Sam Darnold might have that job by week five. Pittsburgh defense is healthy.

And I love what I saw from the offense. I know it was preseason. But my big question mark was can Kenny Pickett and George Pickens get on the right page? Or get on the same page hitting the deep ball down the field? On the deep ball in preseason, 20 yards or more down the field. Pickett was five of seven. Two touchdowns, no picks.

And he was one of the higher rated quarterbacks by 12 football focus in the preseason. So I think that should be closer to a pick. I think Pittsburgh might win that game outright. I love the Steelers this week.

You can hear Ryan Horvat Monday through Friday. Bet MGM tonight across the Beck QL network. Also, I was reading online, new big weekend show to get people ready for football.

What's shaking there? Yeah, the Beck QL tailgate kickoff. And that's coming up actually tomorrow morning. 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Eastern.

You can find it on the Odyssey app, the Beck QL network, Twitch. Really good stuff. We take a look at line movement. We have some great guests. And tomorrow we're really going to be paying attention to the weather actually, man.

Because I think that's going to affect a lot of these totals. Ryan Horvat, we appreciate it. We'll do it again next week. Thank you. Thanks so much, Zach. There you go. Ryan Horvat joining us right here on the Zach Gelb show to do a little gambling in college football and the NFL.

I sounded really old there when I said do a little gambling. But anyway, very nice compliment by Ryan Horvat. I don't think he was on the hot seat of not maybe making a return for next week, Hickey. But I think he felt a little pressure to give me a big time compliment right there. Outside of what Jim Nantz and Kevin Harlan once told me, I think that's the nicest compliment anyone could ever give me. Remember yesterday we talked about if Dak wins the Super Bowl, he's going to get a lifetime contract from Jerry Jones. I think Ryan Horvat, those words to start, may have got himself a lifetime contract on the Zach Gelb show. Yeah, I was going to say I may just use that when I go to contract negotiations in a few months with my deal up at the end of the year. Just play what Horvat just said and we'll find out what the company really thinks of Horvat based off what my next contract is.

All righty. Rock and roll on a football Friday. This is Zach Gelb show.

Are some teams going to regret not signing DeAndre Hopkins? We get to that next. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show stream the NFL on Westwood one for free, sponsored by AutoZone all season long. You can listen to every Westwood one broadcast on the NFL live on the NFL app by asking Alexa to open Westwood one sports or on the Odyssey app. Get in the zone AutoZone AutoZone's free battery testing and charging is available for free at your local AutoZone.

Get in the zone AutoZone restrictions apply. I was reading the my sports update. Ari Mirov does a great job with that account. That DeAndre Hopkins, now the Tennessee Titans, did an interview with GQ magazine and DeAndre Hopkins claims that he reached out to the Giants, Lions, Cowboys, and 49ers during his free agency because they were on his list. And DeAndre Hopkins says he never got a call back from any of them.

Now, I don't see what the incentive would be for DeAndre Hopkins to lie, but it's kind of tough for me to believe that if he called them, I'm not saying maybe they didn't directly get back to him, but they at least didn't reach out to one of his representatives. We know Joe Shane pretty well, and he's been on this show a bunch. Joe Shane seems like a guy that never leaves any stone not turned over. Unturned. Unturned.

Thank you. I don't know why I couldn't find that there. I guess it was from the screaming of the football Friday earlier.

And that just doesn't pass the smell test here, Hickey. Let's just say for the Giants that they wouldn't at least give a call back to his representation. Especially when you look at the team, it's not like they have the Bengals where they have Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, and Tyler Boyd where it's like, we have a loaded bow to receivers.

We don't need another. Giants have a lot of names, a lot of unproven names. They absolutely could have used a guy of Hopkins' talents.

And also, you look at the Cowboys tour listed here. If he called Stephen Jones or if he called Will McClay or Jerry Jones, even if he didn't get to Jerry Jones. He called Jerry. You know Jerry's going to call him back.

Oh, yeah. Maybe the AI version of Jerry Jones gave him a phone call back from that creepy video that the Cowboys put out yesterday. Maybe that was Will McClay or maybe that was just Stephen Jones not wanting DeAndre Hopkins. He's like, all right, we're not telling the old man here.

And now the old man is probably furious today when he has, what was that, that McGriddle sandwich from Hard Knocks that he would put on nine pounds of salt on it. But just right out of the gate, Giants and Cowboys, I feel as if even if they didn't want him, that they would at least have some dialogue. Because I don't think there's any harm in having some dialogue to see what the cost was going to be for DeAndre Hopkins.

That's the thing. He came out and at least talked about wanting a high price tag. It doesn't hurt to at least ask how firm are you on, let's just say $15 million. Right.

If you're a team that's up against the cap and don't feel like paying DeAndre Hopkins that amount of money, I don't think it hurts to at least ask. And if he says, I'm firm on it. OK, you tried. I don't like I don't. You're right. I'm telling the truth. I don't see the harm of just asking, hey, how strong are you in that offer?

Because this is only what we can do. He says, no, you know, this is what I'm taking. OK. And remember, when we had this conversation, there was three priorities for DeAndre Hopkins. It was winning contract and then targets.

And I think he valued it from most important to least important. Contract. Targets. Winning.

And I'm not saying there's anything wrong in it. But if he in theory, if he was going to take significantly less, no offense, it's not to go to the Giants. I know the Cowboys have a really good team, but it's not to go to the Cowboys.

Just on that list, you would think it would be the 49ers. But overall, in totality, the Kansas City Chiefs would have been a great destination for him, where even if it would have been six, seven million dollars a year, you go to Kansas City, you'd be the number one receiving target from a wide receiver. We all know the number one target there is Travis Kelce, but you could say you're the number one wide receiver. And imagine if last night the Kansas City Chiefs who lost the Lions by one point without Travis Kelce had DeAndre Hopkins. We would have all been talking about today, Chiefs win, DeAndre Hopkins going to get himself set up for a big time contract next year. And he probably would have had like 10 catches last night for one hundred and forty five yards and a touchdown. And that I get injuries happen. That's part of reason why I said if I'm DeAndre Hopkins, I would have prioritized winning over money first this year in a one year deal where the money is going to be limited anyway. I think he would have set himself up for a better future contract next year, two years from now, than he is the next time he's a free agent because I think it's a two year deal, right?

I believe in Tennessee. This is probably the last big deal he's going to get. But it's also frustrating. I will say when he talks about you mentioned his words, he talked about what quarterback who loves the game, like head coach and a great winnings. He talked about everything associated with winning. That happens all the time. And then I get it.

But then his actions say totally different than it just goes and chases the money. And look at the two teams that ended up bidding for him. It was the Patriots, who I'm a Pats fan. They're not a winning team, but I mean, winning team right now is not, oh, you can maybe make the playoffs.

You could have this like late case to make a playoff push. I'm not talking about winning a Lombardi Trophy. You know, DeAndre Hopkins, if the if the term is just making the playoffs, he's done some winning in his career. He was in the playoffs a few times with the Houston Texans. The Cardinals, right? He had that one playoff appearance, too, and then they were a disaster. But it's about winning a Lombardi Trophy for him.

And I don't crush a player if you go take whatever the richest contract was, because I'd probably do the same thing. And you look at what he ended up doing, you know, he ended up going to Tennessee. Can you make a case that Tennessee makes the playoffs this year?

Sure. I don't believe that we're going to be talking about the Tennessee Titans this year at any point as a Super Bowl contender, even if they do. I don't want to say the unthinkable, but most of us believe that the Jaguars are going to win that division.

And I'm very, very, very bullish and high on the Jaguars this year. Even if, let's say, Trevor Lawrence unfortunately gets hurt, which would be miserable, and Tennessee wins nine or 10 games, they win that division, even if they won 11 games this year. I still don't believe that we would look at Tennessee and say they're a Super Bowl team, because we've seen this team before be a number one seed and still not get to the Super Bowl. Even a few years ago, when they won that crazy run where they weren't the number one seed, and they beat New England, they beat Baltimore, they were the AFC Championship game with, I think it was a 10-point lead up against the Chiefs at one point. No one still thought they were going to the Super Bowl. So they're one of those teams when Ryan Tannehill is your quarterback, and the last two years you drafted Malik Willis and also Will Levis, you have that stench of, we all know that Vrabel's a good coach, we all know you have some pieces on that defense, we all know Derrick Henry's sensational, we all know DeAndre Hopkins is still a really damn good wide receiver in this league, but you still have that stench of, oh, Ryan Tannehill's your quarterback, he's an okay quarterback, he's a good quarterback, but not a guy that's going to ever get you to a Super Bowl. And not, right, if you're a receiver, look, no offense to Ryan Tannehill, not exactly the first name you're picking out of the hopper to want to catch passes from.

All right, let's just go through this rapid fire. Giants, if this is true, and once again, I'm skeptical on how true this is from DeAndre Hopkins, that he reached out to four teams that are on his list and they didn't call him back. Is that a mistake by the Giants to not find a way to get a deal done with DeAndre Hopkins?

Yes. So you have Waller, who's injury prone, you have Saquon, who's a major piece of that offense, you're banking on like a Jalen Hyatt to break out, you know, the Giants could go back here, maybe trade for Mike Evans in a few weeks if they wanted to. But yeah, I would have further explored it if I was the Giants. How about the Detroit Lions, who won last night, you have Amara St. Brown, who's a stud, and right, he kind of has taken that Kenny Galladay role. It's either, not Kenny Galladay, Keenen Allen role, where we all referred to for so many years, Keenen Allen is the most underrated wide receiver in football.

It's either Amara St. Brown or Terry McLaurin now that everyone says, oh, that's the most underrated wide receiver in the league. Should the Lions have made that phone call? And this is assuming, right, that Hopkins is standing his ground on his, on the terms of the contract?

Yeah, like 13, 14 million. I would say no then. No mistake by Detroit. Why? I think they have enough weapons.

Huh. They have plenty, plenty of pieces to spread the ball around, good balance, run and pass. I just don't think that you're gonna spend that amount of money on one receiver.

Makes sense. I think Jamison Williams is such a question mark that if you're really going for it this year, I would have explored DeAndre Hopkins. What about the Cowboys who have CeeDee Lamb, Brandon Cooks and Michael Gallup?

Probably not enough mouths to feed there, right? At that price, no, I would agree. What about the 49ers? Got Deebo, got Ayuk, got Run CMC, you got Mr. Kittle, even though he's questionable for this week. Was that a mistake by the 49ers? I don't think so. I think they have the best roster in the NFL. Do you really? Yeah.

They're loaded. That's not a hot take. I like the Eagles roster though better because the quarterback is just such an uncertainty. It is.

Absolutely is. In terms of the 49ers, like wide receivers, I love AJ Brown and Devante Smith, tight end Dallas Goddard's a stud. The running back room I do not love, but if DeAndre Smith's healthy, he could be a productive player. Jalen Hurts an MVP and then defensively, I guess you could say the 49ers defense is better than the Eagles, but it's not as if it's leaps and bounds better. I think it's slightly better than the Eagles defense.

And you give the coaching advantage to Shanahan over Sirianni, but Sirianni was in the Super Bowl last year and Kyle Shanahan wasn't. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We will take a break. When we come on back, five questions, five answers on a football Friday. We call that segment On Sides, Off Side.