Best Week 3 Quarterback Battles (Hour 1)

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You can always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old cesspool of Twitter. That's Zach Gelb, that's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. Coming up 40 minutes from now, the head football coach with the Oregon Ducks, Dan Lanning, will stop by before their big matchup on Saturday afternoon. Up against Coach Prime and the Colorado Buffaloes at the top of the hour.

Former Charger linebacker now with the Kansas City, how about those G's, Drew Tranquil will stop by. And then at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific, maybe Hickey and I are going to do some salsa-ing with Victor Cruz, who's going to join us right here on CBS Sports Radio. But first up, producing the extravaganza for the next four hours, there's no other than Hot Take Hickey.

I don't know about that Hot Take Hickey. Alrighty, let's start the show with the game coming up tonight. And our breakdown of the game tonight right here may be the most entertaining part of this game tonight. Everyone's take tomorrow, every show in the country tomorrow is going to say one thing. The San Francisco 49ers are the best team in the NFL. They may be saying that now, it's not a crazy take.

We did Take 5 Wednesday yesterday. I had the San Francisco 49ers as the top team in the NFL. Doesn't mean they're going to win the Super Bowl, doesn't mean they're going to get there. But through two weeks of the season, you could tell me it's the Niners, you could tell me it's the Eagles, you could tell me it's the Cowboys.

If you want to throw some love to the Miami Dolphins, you could do that. But after tonight, in an isolated window, when we all know the Giants are not as good as they were last year, this is a Giants team that's going to take a step back this season. I still believe in Joe Shane and Brian Dabel, but they way overachieved last year. Without Saquon Barkley, you look at this Giants team, and I just don't see how they keep the game close tonight. Maybe I'll walk into the studio tomorrow with egg in my face, and this is a closer game than what I expect, but there is no way that I see the New York football Giants going on the road tonight and winning this game without Saquon Barkley. I think this game is going to be 49ers, 34, Giants 13.

This is going to be lopsided, and when you have a lopsided performance this early in the season, and this much of a blowout with a team that's been so good for so many years, and if you see a beatdown on an isolated national window, which the game is on tonight was at Amazon Prime, when you have Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreet, and I know they get paid a lot of money, but this is going to be another snooze fest of a game for Al Michaels to call on Thursday Night Football, everyone tomorrow is going to say, even if the Giants are an inferior opponent compared to the San Francisco 49ers, wow, look how great this Niners team is. And they don't even have Brandon Aiyuk tonight. But you know, Run CMC is going to run wild. He's running off to be the offensive player of the year in the NFL. Brock Purdy is going to be rocking out with this Brock out. He'll look pretty awesome. And this defense will be all over Daniel Jones tonight.

So there's no other way around it. I'm not going to try to talk up this game and do the cheesy radio guy of, man, I really am looking forward to week three in the National Football League that starts tonight with the great matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants. I just don't see how this is going to be a competitive game.

I hope I'm wrong. I would love to see a good football game. But on Thursday Night Football tonight, I would anticipate a big blowout.

And everyone's take tomorrow is going to be gassing up the 49ers. Is this going to be their year? They've been close the last few years. Bunch of NFC title games that one year when they got to the Super Bowl, outplayed Mahomes in the first three quarters and then couldn't get the job done in the fourth quarter when they had a 10 point lead with about seven and a half, eight minutes to go.

And then Patrick Mahomes won his first Super Bowl in his first Super Bowl MVP. I would love, love, love, love for this to be a close game. But everyone tomorrow is going to be praising the 49ers as they should, because they're going to blow out the Giants tonight. Hickey, I know that you are naturally a contrarian. You will even see that on Hickey's podcast page for his very popular Hicket Night Show right here on CBS Sports Radio, which you can listen Friday into Saturday, Friday evening into Saturday morning from 2 to 6 a.m. Eastern on many of these same CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM Channel 158 and that free Odyssey app.

I'll be a good company guy. Can the natural contrarian in hot take Hickey even give me a take here on how the New York Giants make this a game where when you get into the fourth quarter and there's five minutes to go that there's still a reason to stick around and watch this game between the Giants and the 49ers? No.

No. I got nothing for you. No Saquon Barker, which hurts this offense. Receivers still have not established themselves yet.

The defensive line for the 49ers is really good against a banged up, bad offensive line for the Giants. Nothing. Nothing I can tell you here that makes it worthwhile about 10, 15 p.m. Eastern to still watch. Can we rewind here and just forget everything you just said? Can you channel your inner Coach Prime here, who is one of the all-time great, not only football motivational speakers, but motivational speakers that's currently living on this planet?

Can you find a way to just dig deep here for a second? And if you were Coach Prime and let's say you were coaching the Giants tonight and you're not coaching the Colorado Buffaloes, what the pregame speech would be tonight to try to make me believe that there could be a chance that the New York football Giants can be competitive and go out there and win the game? The floor is yours. Let me get a little hype up speech here right now.

Three words is all I need. Fellas, anything is possible. All right, let's go take the field. Anything is possible! Oh, you're going a little Kevin Garnett there. If I was Brian Debo, that's all I got.

Short, sweet, to the point, anything is possible. I don't care what Vega says, all these idiot analysts say, get out there and prove them wrong. I know we both picked the Cincinnati Bengals to go to the Super Bowl this year in the AFC, and it's not looking so good after the first two games. But the Cincinnati Bengals did start off 0-2 last year and still made it to the AFC championship game, where they did lose, and the year before that they did make it to the Super Bowl, where they lost to the Rams. But who was your NFC pick? My NFC pick was the Eagles. Were you rolling with the 49ers or was somebody else? 49ers.

Niner gang. Would you agree that tomorrow everyone, when you have a game like this, even though the Giants are not this great team, and the Giants are clearly injured going into this game without their best offensive weapon in Saquon Barkley, doesn't it feel like every show tomorrow, whether it's us, it's DA, Jim Rome, Bill Ryder, Maggie Imperlof, Amy, JR, whoever it may be, I feel like everyone tomorrow is going to be on this hype train for the 49ers. Not that you needed this game to show you that the 49ers are a good team.

You don't need a PhD in football to realize that the 49ers are a good team. But we usually, for the most part, barring something crazy happen, like an FBI raid, you know, if you just want to throw something out there random with potentially what could or could not be happening with the Chicago Bears, or something really crazy outside of the football world, usually that Thursday night game is always the lead topic the next day, and it's the reaction to the Thursday night game. When you look at this game, which we all expect to be a blowout, would you assume that tomorrow everyone's going to be saying, man, regardless of what you thought before the season, that this San Francisco 49ers team through the first three weeks, even though every other team didn't have a chance to play their third week of the season, everyone tomorrow is going to be saying how the Niners look like so far, that they're the best team in the NFL? I guess probably, like I said before, I mean, most people I think believe that now it's them and the Cowboys. I think part of the reason why I'll say yes tomorrow is just because with the Trayvon Diggs injury today, and if the 49ers dominate, which they should defensively, you can argue, oh, now a big loss for the Cowboys. Now it's a look at the Niners.

That, I think, is partly why I think you could have a lot of people saying that tomorrow. And for people that have not been made aware of this, unfortunately, Trayvon Diggs suffered a torn ACL today in practice, non-contact injury, and he's going to be done for the season. Just awful news for the Dallas Cowboys who are off to this dominant defensive start with Trayvon Diggs, with Stephon Gilmore, Demarcus Lawrence, clearly right now the best defensive player in the league in Micah Parsons. But that's a big blow to the Cowboys. But still, you look at that Cowboys defense, even without Trayvon Diggs, they should still be a dominant defense, and it's going to come down to if Dak Prescott could get the job done consistently in the postseason. But you get back to the 49ers. I personally think the Eagles are the best team in the NFL before the season, or excuse me, in the NFC before the start of the season. And I know yesterday we did the power rankings and I put the 49ers in the top spot.

But there's a difference to do that now and then how we'll be picking come postseason time. If they met up in the postseason, and I guess it may depend where the game is at, but I would still lean Eagles over 49ers in the postseason. And it's kind of crazy to me, Hickey, the Eagles come off a Super Bowl loss where Jalen Hurts did everything possible to go win the game outside of the fumble.

That did go for a touchdown, but he was the best player on the field in that Super Bowl through that one 60-minute game. And the Eagles, they beat the Patriots, they go up 60-0 and then it got close and it was a 5-point victory. And then last week they went up big in the third quarter up against the Vikings and then they ended up winning the game by 7 points. But they were never at a point in the second half where you thought they were in danger of losing this game. It is kind of crazy to me with the respect and the clout that the Eagles gained last year that there's still people that are trying to put down the Eagles through the first two games of the season and it almost feels as if the Eagles lost one of these games or lost both of these games when the Eagles did win both of the games this year to start off the season. And we know we're one of the better teams, not only in the NFC, but one of the better teams in the NFL. I actually look at it as a sign of high respect because most people know how good this team is. And the fact that we're talking about, again, a 2-0 team.

You expect perfection is what you're saying? Right, where it's like, oh, the offense looked good to start the game against Patriots and then really fizzled out. And the defense could have closed the door and didn't. And then in Week 2, the offense, after a slow, clunky start, kind of got going, especially running the ball. And then the defense couldn't shut the door on Kirk Cuttings and the Vikings. It's almost like you're sitting here 2-0, it feels like the sky is falling.

I think it's one of the ultimate signs of respect if it's still like dire, quote-unquote, and you are so far unblemished in the lost column. Also, you look at the Niners, which we're all talking about today because they play the Giants coming up at 8.15 p.m. Eastern. The Niners this year, they got some good marquee matchups here. They play the Cowboys coming up on October 8th. That is a massive game for the Dallas Cowboys. They play the Bengals on October 29th, potentially a Super Bowl preview if the Bengals get their act together. Then coming off the bye for the 49ers, they're in Jacksonville, up against the Jaguars.

That's a heck of a game. Clearly, they still have Seattle twice on the schedule. And they have Seattle at Philadelphia, which will be one of the biggest games of the regular season in the NFL. And then they play Seattle. That's a heck of a three-week stretch here for the 49ers.

And then later in the year, they still have Baltimore, which who knows if Baltimore can continue to cruise here and beat 2-0 and continue this play. And if Lamar Jackson stays healthy this go-around compared to the last two years, that's a Monday Night Football game in December, on December 25th, where you get the 49ers home up against the Baltimore Ravens. Those are some big marquee games for the 49ers. For the most part, when you know how good the 49ers are, there's really not a lot of opportunities to impress in the regular season. But you play the other two really damn good teams in the NFC in the Dallas Cowboys and the Eagles.

I think Seattle's going to be really good. Clearly, you play them both twice because they're in your division. But then to also get Cincinnati and Baltimore in the same year on one schedule with how marquee all those teams are, plus the Jags, that's a heck of a test in the regular season for the San Francisco 49ers. Absolutely, them and the Eagles have two challenging but two tremendous schedules where we're going to see them truly play the best. And it's going to be one of those years where you're going to have marquee matchups throughout the regular season, which as a fan, I'm fired up for. How do you think we talk about Daniel Jones tomorrow?

That's the other part of this. Everyone's going to be gassing up Rock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, the 49ers, how great they are. I feel as if people are rooting for Daniel Jones to fail because so many people trashed the draft pick when he was drafted six overall by Dave Gettleman's staff a bunch of years ago. And then last year, he had this really good season with not a lot around him and won a playoff game.

And then they lose in Philadelphia on an isolated spot. And we'll see what guys like Isaiah Hodgins and Jalen Hyde could do tonight, Darren Waller as well. But no Saquon Barkley, which is such a big time piece for the Giants and their most explosive piece. I wonder tomorrow, do people give Daniel Jones a pass because of Saquon not being there? Or I would think the take is probably going to be, yes, they paid him like a franchise quarterback, but he still has to show that he's worth that money. And he is a franchise quarterback because Daniel Jones last year showed that he could be a good quarterback in this league. I don't know if a lot of people would say that he's going to be elite or he could be a great quarterback in this league. But all I'm asking for tonight from Daniel Jones is just make this a competitive game.

Like I have a very low bar for this game. I think this game is going to be a blowout. When you pay this quarterback that much money and you know the great mobility that he does have with his legs, he's one of the best rushing quarterbacks in this league. And we saw last year what he could do with the arm and Isaiah Hodgins now become a good piece for them.

And I think a lot of that is because of the relationship that him and Daniel Jones were able to build quickly. But when you're getting paid the money that the Giants gave you, I would want to see if they at least make this a game tonight. But when you just look at the talent between both these teams, it's a tough argument for me to make that this will actually be a game. You asked how we'll be talking about Daniel Jones. I think realistically he's going to get dragged tomorrow.

Not saying it's his fault, not saying he should. But how it goes is you play bad in a primetime game, people rip you. There's no context of who's he throwing the ball to right now, unproven wide receivers. Who's he handing the ball off to? No one at running back. He probably wishes this was a 1 p.m. Eastern time game if we're being fair on Sunday. Who's blocking for him? Literally nobody.

You might be honestly. That line sucks. If they were playing at MetLife and not in the Bay Area, you maybe get a call at halftime and go block for the offensive line because they are banged up and bad. I'll take a Millie.

Just a Millie, that's fine. Game check would be nice. To get beat up for a half, I would sign up for that too. I catch them passes over the middle. Well it's funny because when I was asked to walk on the Temple football team when I was in college, that's the reason why I didn't do it. Because I thought I was just going to be a basically... A tackling dummy?

Yeah, a tackling dummy in practice. Because they were thin on offense alignment. So I thought I was just going to get steamrolled by all the defense alignment. So that's why I didn't do it. But... At least you can get a game check in getting steamed. But back then they weren't going to pay me.

There was no NIL. If you pay me here, yeah. I could be a... I don't even need to be left tackle. I could be a right tackle for the Giants.

You know, maybe go on the interior, be a left guard or a right guard. Do a little pulling guard like Jerry Kramer back in the day for the... Da-na, da-na-na-na-na. Go Pac!

Go! I think I could be a decent offensive lineman. So if we have Zach Gail blocking, me catching passes, and Joe Blow running the ball, it's still going to be, again, fair or not, Dan Jones getting dragged tomorrow. But you know what's going to happen. If that happens, Hickey will be on the sideline with a splint on his finger.

Because he always injures his fingers. And I'll be like asking for like, I don't know, some salami on the sideline or something like that. Some meat and cheese. I would need some charcuterie board.

Instead of an oxygen mask, I would need a charcuterie board to kind of get my wits together. During a game after the beating that I would take from this San Francisco 49ers defensive line. Alrighty, this is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.

It's a Thursday. We'll do this QB or that QB next. Also, Dan Lanning going to stop by in about 22 minutes from now. The head coach of the Ducks. Quack, quack at Oregon.

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Hickey, give the disclaimer. All right. This QB or that QB. The question or the answer really is about which QB would you rather have on your team for this week and this week only. No legacy talk. No.

What have you done last year? It's just right now in the moment. The game is today. Which quarterback would you rather have guiding your team? Let's start the Thursday night matchup. Would you rather have this QB Daniel Jones or that QB Brock Purdy?

Oh, that's a great question. I think it's Brock Purdy. I just believe that Brock Purdy is more consistent. I still don't know what the ceiling is for Brock Purdy. I think the ceiling for Daniel Jones is just to be a good quarterback. And we know the mobility of Daniel Jones. But I look at Brock Purdy. This guy has not lost the game that he has started and finished in the NFL. Steve Young said it to us before the start of the season. He has the force.

He does have the force. And I think even though I was a little bit skeptical what he's going to do throughout the entirety of the season, he's going to keep on getting better and better. I've been really impressed with Mr. Relevance so far.

Alright, let's go to Sunday. Ryan Tannehill or Deshaun Watson? Man, I have to go Watson even though Watson has been brutal through the first two games of the season. I know Ryan Tannehill in week one was horrible and then week two bounced back. But I don't think Deshaun Watson is going to be a great quarterback again. But we've seen a ceiling for Deshaun Watson before be a top seven quarterback, be a great quarterback in this league. And I think there are a lot of people that are wondering if you get back to that for Ryan Tannehill.

There's just no belief that week in and week out that this guy is going to be able to get the job done. I know his statistics could suggest otherwise, but we talked about the force of Brock Purdy right in that it factor. I've never had the it factor or the belief in Ryan Tannehill. Even though I don't like Deshaun Watson and I root against him now, I would still have to go Deshaun Watson if I'm being objective.

A nice Sunday fun matchup here. Falcons, Lions. We'd rather have Desmond Ritter or Jared Goff? I'd rather have Jared Goff.

He's done more in this league. I still don't know, even though I picked the Falcons to win the NFC South, what Desmond Ritter is going to be. There's a ton of talent around Desmond Ritter, which I think makes it easier for him. And for quarterbacks, it's all going to the right situation.

He's a good coach as well in Arthur Smith. But we've seen Jared Goff win playoff games before. We've seen Jared Goff go to a Super Bowl before, even though he did not play well in the Super Bowl. Jared Goff is the better quarterback for the future and also the better quarterback for right now. Would you rather have for this week and this week only Derek Carr or Jordan Love?

What do you think my answer is for this one, just one thing? I think you're going to say Love because you're not a big Carr guy. I am not a big Derek Carr guy. And Carr, the first two weeks, everyone's hyping him up because he made two big throws up against Tennessee and also Carolina. But I have not been through a full 60 minute game saying ooh and ah with Derek Carr. I think Derek Carr is an extremely overrated quarterback. I know it's only been two starts this year for Jordan Love.

And this is his first true year as a starting quarterback in the NFL. But I like what I'm seeing so far with Jordan Love. I do believe Jordan Love is the better quarterback compared to Derek Carr. So I'll go Jordan Love.

An old school rivalry brought back to life. Steelers, Raiders. Would you rather have Kenny Pickett for this week or Jimmy Garoppolo? I guess I'd rather have Jimmy Garoppolo. Like Garoppolo, even though he's not a big time player. Garoppolo is usually an average good quarterback. I know Kenny Pickett played well towards the end of last season.

But the other night he was miserable. So I'm trying to see on the roller coaster ride of emotions what Kenny Pickett you're going to get. At least I know for the most part, as long as he's healthy, it's somewhat smooth sailing with Jimmy Garoppolo. Alright, how about on Monday night Rams, Bengals. We're going to assume, I know his status is a little bit up in the air. But we're going to assume Joe Burrow is playing in this one. Dan, got to take health into consideration with the calf injury. Would you rather have Matthew Stafford or Joe Burrow?

This is just this week and just this week only, right? I think the injury plays a factor into it. We all know Joe Burrow is a better quarterback compared to Matthew Stafford. But Matthew Stafford is no slouch. Some of you idiots were trying to make a Hall of Fame case for him after he won the Super Bowl.

I wasn't ready to go there. But right now where the health is at of these two quarterbacks, I would have to go Matthew Stafford. And finally, another big one here on Monday night. Battle of Unbeatons, Eagles, Buccaneers. Would you rather have for this week and this week only, Jalen Hurts or Baker Mayfield? Jalen Hurts, without hesitation. Easily Jalen Hurts. Jalen Hurts, elite quarterback. Baker Mayfield's had a nice two-game run.

But he is an elite quarterback. I'm surprised you forgot one here. Forgot? Yeah.

Which one is that? Well actually, I think there's three that you forgot. Three? Mm-hmm. So I'll ask you. Would you rather have Mac Jones or would you rather have Zach Wilson?

Oh, Mac Jones. That's easy. Okay. Zach Wilson stinks. That was like an okay appetizer. But the two that you forgot. Is it close for you?

No, I'd rather have Mac Jones. Okay. I don't want to ask obvious ones. Well, these two, I don't think they're obvious.

And I'm kind of surprised. What about the matchup that is doomed to torture hot Tay Kickey? The Broncos and the Dolphins.

You are a part of the two-and-one, but there's been no bigger supporter than Russell Wilson with the Denver Broncos going into this week. Would you rather have Mr. Unlimited with the cringe-worthy Russell Wilson or would you rather have Tua Tungavailoa? That one I think is another easy one, unfortunately. Tua.

And then finally, I would agree it's Tua. This one I think is a good one. Chargers Vikings. Herbert Kirk Cousins. You liked that? You liked that? Fair. Maybe I should have included that one. I was going to say Justin Herbert. Would you say Justin Herbert? For just this week? Yes. I think I'm going Kirk. Shame on me.

Should have asked then. The reason why I think I'm going Kirk is Kirk through the first two games of the season has put up 708 yards, six touchdowns, and one interception. Now I'm a big fan of Justin Herbert. If they were the same age and you asked me which quarterback would I rather have, it would easily be Justin Herbert. But Justin Herbert, in the second half of these games this year, that team is just not closing games. And they're not showing up and finishing. Now you can say the same thing about Kirk Cousins and the Minnesota Vikings, but I do wonder, Hickey, whereas this season does progress and Justin Herbert just got paid, how much pressure is actually on Justin Herbert? Because if this team loses this weekend and they go down to the Minnesota Vikings in their 0-3, and you look at this team, the defense has been awful.

We all know that. Austin Eckler did not play last week on the offense side of the ball, but you still have Keenan Allen, you still have Quentin Johnston, the rookie. You have Mike Williams as well. And you know everyone's going to abuse Brandon Staley as they should. He's a human piñata because he shouldn't be the head football coach of this team. I wonder nationally, and I think there's some people that turn on Justin Herbert right now, and I think it's a small minority of people, but I wonder when that minority starts to just get a little bit louder. And I don't want to say it becomes the majority, but we start to hear more and more of the talk about Justin Herbert. Maybe the only reason why this is in my head is because I got into a fight this morning with CBS Sports radios and WFAN's own Anthony Gallo, who's the biggest Justin Herbert hater ever, and he was just crushing Herbert over and over and over again. And I was like, bro, your quarterback's Russell Wilson right now. Worry about your just terrible football team with the Broncos, and he was defending Russell Wilson left and right.

So maybe Gallo got into my head a little bit where I just even asked this question, and he's your dear, dear friend there, hot take, Hickey. But is Gallo just being a dope here, and it's his Bronco Homerism to try to justify his team's shortcomings to go after Justin Herbert? Or are you going to start to see more and more people question Justin Herbert, who I think a lot of teams would like? I think he has potential to be a great quarterback. In his young career, he's impressed a lot of people, but if they start to hear off 0-3, when does the tide start to turn when we start to hear more of these people that are against Herbert get louder and louder and louder? This year that won't happen.

I think all the attention, all the ire is going to be directed towards Brandon Staley. Next year, I think is now we could start talking more about criticism, but I think criticism and pressure is different in the sense I think you can criticize Justin Herbert if he's still underachieving, but in the sense of him losing his job or the Chargers moving off of him, I think we are right 3 or 4 years, but that's honestly where pressure does come in of just like, hey, play well or maybe we could reconsider that's like 3 or 4 years away, but real criticism for him. And the Chargers are used to this. The Chargers are always the team with a ton of talent this team that's going to be wonderful, and even when they play really well in the regular season, they flame out in the post-season or how many years does it feel like, at least the last 15-20 years or so, the Chargers have this great team, the Chargers look really good and they get into the final 2 minutes of the game and they just don't get the job done. I know that there's so many players that have changed, but there's just some teams that are synonymous and you get that feeling about them, and the Chargers are never a bad team, they're usually a really, really, really good team, a team that people could buy into, but in a big moment, in a big spot, they always charger. And it's like the same old Chargers, whether in San Diego or they're in LA, it's the same shortcomings from this football team. They're not clutch, they don't have the clutch DNA, they didn't have it with Phil, didn't have it now with Herbert so far, they've changed quarterbacks a ton, and in terms of results, nothing's really changed. And let me be clear, I think that conversation is premature on Herbert and you're right, everyone's going to bash Staley as they should and Staley will probably lose his job at the end of the season, but when it comes to Herbert, he's only played in one playoff game. So to say that he can't win the big game yet, I do think is a little misleading, it was not his fault that they lost that Chargers game, that Raiders game two years ago, and then you look at last year, had that huge lead, you would think they would have been able to close out that game.

Some of that is on the quarterback, but I thought that was more on the defense and also the coach last year in the postseason. Alrighty, Zach Gelb's show, CBS Sports Radio, we'll take a break, when we come on back, big game this weekend, Colorado and Oregon, Dan Lanning, the head football coach of the Oregon Ducks, quack quack, is going to stop by the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. New episodes of First in Pod available when you wake up every Monday and Friday morning throughout the football season in the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, well, well, shopping for a car? Yep, Carvana made financing a car as smooth as can be.

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Visit Carvana.com or download the app to get pre-qualified today. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio, looking forward to this afternoon tilt this weekend between 19th ranked Colorado with Coach Prime and Shadore Sanders going up against 10th ranked Oregon with Dan Lanning and also Bo Nix and now joining us is the second year head football coach of the Oregon Ducks and that's Dan Lanning. Coach, appreciate the time.

Thanks for it. How you doing? Doing great. Thanks for having me, Zach.

Well, thanks so much for coming on. We all saw the sensational season your quarterback had a year ago. To start off this year through three games has almost 900 yards, eight touchdowns and no interceptions. Just why has Bo been able to flourish in your program here after coming over from Auburn?

Well, priority one, he's a great player. He's always been a great player, but I think he really tapped into something here. He's been able to play free, but also operate really well in our system. He's kind of like having another coach on the field. So, he gets us in the right play a lot and it's fun to have a guy like that on your team. When he elected to return for another season, what did you guys really challenge him to do to build off what he was able to do a year ago?

You know, I mean, Bo really knows the areas. Him and I sat down personally and talked about some of the things that he wants to be able to prove and attack, but honestly, we just wanted to be him. And I think he felt like he had some unfinished business. Not talking really selfishly, I think from some team goals that he wanted to accomplish.

So, we're pretty excited when he came back and excited to see what he continues to do this season. When you go to the initial recruiting process, clearly had to commit to you guys, but you guys also wanted him. Why was it that you said, okay, we need to go get Bo Nix? Well, you know, I'd actually gone against Bo several times while I was there at Georgia and he was at Auburn. And he always presented some unique challenges. But, you know, even recruiting him early on in that process, you knew he was going to go to Auburn because, you know, the family ties there. But you get the, it's really clear what kind of person he is, what kind of player he is, the family that he comes from.

So, he fit all the values and traits that we were looking for in our program. Coach Dan Lanning here with us on the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio, Colorado, Oregon, this weekend on Saturday. So, the talk to college football has been what Coach Prime and the Colorado Buffaloes have been doing this year. A lot of hype comes before this game. Have you guys been handling the build up to this one on Saturday? Well, I'm excited.

It's a lot of fun. Obviously, there wasn't near this much hype last year when we played Colorado. So, I'm glad that there's a little juice. I think that makes college football exciting and we're certainly ready to go perform in front of a lot of fans. As a coach, what has really stood out to you when you take a look at what Coach Prime's been able to do with this team?

Well, I think you have some weapons. You know, obviously, he turned the roster over quick and he has some good players there, guys he can play, probably any one nation. And then he hired a phenomenal coaching staff. You know, I don't know if the coaching staff gets enough credit, but he put some really good guys around him that understand what he wanted to accomplish.

They do it at a really high level. When you look at the quarterback in Shadore Sanders, you being a defensive-minded coach, just what really jumps out to you, what he's been able to do so far, going back to last year at Jackson State and what he's been able to do through the first three games of this season? I think he has great patience. He's able to extend plays. You know, I wouldn't consider him a scramble-to-run guy, but he's able to scramble and keep plays alive. And then his wideouts down the field do a phenomenal job of finding open spaces and holes.

He has a lot of target shots down the field that he's able to take advantage of, and he has the athletes outside that he can get it to. Coach, this is going to be a gauntlet this year in the Pac-12. You have eight teams in the top 25 right now, and the quarterbacks are just loaded. It's got to be the toughest year to prepare getting ready for all these quarterbacks, right?

Yeah, you don't sleep a lot during the week, which is, you know what, that's what you sign up for. It's a lot of fun. I'm glad we get to play against great teams.

There's no cupcakes on our schedule. We get to go prepare every single week, and that's what's going to make it fun, especially when you're at a conference play where it means a little bit more. When did your program really start to trust you, and when did you really start to trust the players? I know this is your second go at it, your second year at Oregon, but when did you guys really start to build off that trust and things start to work very easily for you guys? You know, when I first got here, I never asked our players to trust me.

I just said, hey, give me an opportunity to earn your trust, right? If I ever prove that I'm not trustworthy, you let me know, and I think our players really responded to that from the beginning. You know, we've been really genuine in our approach and what we want to accomplish, and we have a lot of, again, like-minded players that have the same goals. We've got hungry guys, we've got leaders on this team, you know, and all of our goals are right in front of us, but it starts with just the next game, right?

And the next practice, the next meeting, so I think our guys really approach that the right way. I know you guys are excited for that next chapter when you move into the Big Ten, but with how good the Pac-12 has been this year, is it a little bittersweet knowing that this conference is coming to a close pretty much after this season? Yeah, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it, but I'll say this, I mean, every one of these games you kind of are going to reminisce because this might be the last time you get to play a team like Colorado or the last time you get to play certain teams.

So, we're going to enjoy every moment, you know, it starts with enjoying the day, but yeah, it's certainly going to be a little bit different moving forward. The problem is really with the Pac-12, you guys have such a good conference that you guys eventually never really beat up on one another. With how many good teams there are this year, would you hope that whoever wins the conference actually gets into the college football playoff even if they have a few more losses than some of these other conferences? Certainly, whoever wins this conference deserves to be in the college football playoff, there's no question, especially with caliber teams that are in this conference this year, and hopefully that's us. Just wondering, Dan Lanning, if Coach Prime was there last year, some people have made this argument with the hype that he's brought to the conference, do you think that would have led to a more attractive media rights deal to maybe keep this conference around?

I don't really talk in hypotheticals, you know, so he wasn't, so I really can't speak to it, but again, I'm glad there's excitement around this game and certainly glad he's brought some excitement to college football. Coach, I know we have a lot of people listening that know you from Georgia, just how do you kind of reflect on what that time at Georgia meant for your coaching career? Well, it was some of the best years of my life, my career as far as growth as a coach, opportunity to learn, I got to be around some great guys and get to coach some obviously some phenomenal players.

So yeah, I'll always hold that place near and dear to my heart, it's a team that I'm always rooting for outside of us to have success, so I wish those guys nothing but the best. When I look back at your journey, it wasn't that long ago that you were coaching in high school from 2008 to 2010, you had a bunch of different stops as a GA, when did you start to feel like you were going to get a moment to become a head coach, which you've now done the last two seasons with Oregon? I never really put that part in the front of my process, you know, I was always focused on where I was at at the time and doing a great job where I was at, and I knew that if I was in a place that won and I took care of business myself, the rest would kind of come, and that's really what's happened for me. I was fortunate to be around great players and great coaches that I learned from, and places where I won, and when you win, and around teams that win, success comes from that.

What do you take from your high school days that you still implement today? Oh man, I mean, just playing football in general, you talking about a high school coach or a high school player? Yeah, coaching, coaching, coaching.

Gotcha. Yeah, I mean, every moment is a teachable moment and a learnable moment, and any player will meet the standards that you set, as long as you set clear standards and expectations. But I think you learn that at an early age, if you let things slide by, you know what, your players will let them slide by, but if you hold people accountable and make sure that they understand that you have their best interests at heart, as well as the teams, then everybody can be successful.

But coaching high school was great for me. I got to coach offense early on in high school and learned a lot from those moments. Last thing I'll ask you, we talked about how well-rounded your football team is.

I know a lot of people when we do these national interviews like the highlight on the quarterback, and then the coach that you're going up against this week obviously makes a ton of news. But when you look at your defense, if you had to describe your defense as someone that has not seen them yet, what does your defense bring to the table this year? I'd just say strength in numbers. We roll a lot of players, and that's because we have a lot of guys that can play winning football. And when you have that, I think you have a chance to be successful because you talk about keys to great defense, and one of them is relentless effort.

And you can't give relentless effort if you're playing 85 snaps a game. So we've got a bunch of guys that can go out there and create success for us, and hopefully that will lead to us being successful on Saturday. Well, Coach, it's a monster weekend for college football.

I know a lot of eyes will be on your game up against Colorado. We appreciate you taking some time out with us today. Absolutely. Thanks, Zach. Have a great one.

You got it. There he is, Dan Lanning, the second-year head football coach at Oregon. And this Oregon team, you look at the entire Pac-12. This is going to be so fun to see where we're at with the Pac-12 at the end of the year. And that's why I knew what he was going to say, whoever wins the Pac-12 this year should go to the college football playoff. You know, sometimes, right, coaches say that and you're like, well, you know, if you have three losses or two losses, you shouldn't be going to a college football playoff.

But, Hickey, like with how loaded this conference is, and we went through it yesterday with some of the schedules for these teams, where at the end of the season you get like three, four weeks of just back to back to back to back, just crazy games. It does feel this year, regardless of the record, you would hope when you go through Washington, USC, Oregon, the team that's won the conference last two years in Utah, when you have Cam Rising hopefully making his return this weekend. And you see the other schools that are in the top 25, whether it's Washington State or you have Oregon State with DJ Wengole as well, Chip Kelly back in the Pac-12 with his UCLA football team. You go through all these schools and what Colorado's been able to do, whoever wins this Pac-12 this year, I wouldn't always make this case, but without even knowing the record, how tough this conference is, it does feel like that there should be a spot in the 14th college football playoff for them.

The phrase I'll use, because I agree, is benefit of the doubt. We have given the SEC the benefit of the doubt in the sense that we've seen Alabama get into the college football playoff without even winning their own division, let alone going to the SEC title game. We've seen Ohio State last year make the college football playoff without winning their own division or getting to the Big Ten title game.

Now I know we're talking about different circumstances, but even at the Pac-12 champ, we've never seen someone have a two loss champ and make the college football playoff. That's where the benefit of the doubt this year has to come in because the Pac-12 is the best conference, they have eight teams ranked, and how we give Alabama in years past the benefit of the doubt of, oh look how hard their schedule is, we're still putting them anyway. Ohio State, look how tough their schedule is, we're putting them in anyway.

That should be whoever wins the Pac-12, same sort of benefit of the doubt that other teams have gotten in the past for being in a tough, great conference. So you look at it this year, the SEC going, I picked two SEC teams, two Big Ten teams before the year started. The SEC, Alabama has a lot more to prove, they lost their big test up against Texas, that offense has problems. So if Alabama doesn't win the SEC, it feels like they don't belong so far this year.

LSU, they have something to prove. Remember, they lost their first game of the season last year to Florida State and still got to an SEC title game. But if they pick up another loss along the way, I think it's tough to put them in the college football playoffs. So the SEC not being as strong as it's been in previous years where it's like, oh, Georgia and Alabama definitely going to get in, I think opens up the door for the Pac-12. The Big Ten, though, is going to be the fascinating one because you know the winner of the Big Ten's going in and the question becomes, is the non-Big Ten winner, Ohio State, Penn State, do they only have one loss? And if they do, it's going to be tough to keep that team out. But you look at the ACC, Florida State takes care of business this weekend and takes care of business we think that they should in the ACC. With their win up against LSU, they'll definitely be in. And the Big 12, Texas made a big statement. We'll see who rises to the top in that conference. It's going to be fascinating to see who the final four teams are this year in college football.