Week 2 Statements (Hour 3)

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One-year upgrade requires financing, qualifying, device and upgrading in good condition after six months with half paid off. Yo, yo, what's happenin'? Zach Gelb show coast to coast. Football Friday right here, CBS Sports Radio. You can always give us a follow on the good ol' cesspool of Twitter and Instagram. I'm always straight flexing at Zach Gelb, Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. Make sure you do that if you're not following us right now.

Also give us a call at 855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. The coach, Herm Edwards, is going to join us coming up 20 minutes from now. We'll go around the football slate with him for another week of the NFL season. It's week two. Got kicked off last night where the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Minnesota Vikings and some people are really critical about the Eagles today. Like they're 2-0. They didn't think they looked that great.

I say this all the time. Great football teams find a way to win when they don't play their best. So this is the Eagles at their best and they're still 2-0. I think they're going to be a heck of a team, especially when September has now become an extension of the preseason. So I don't really understand some people questioning how good the Eagles are.

They get the benefit of the doubt. They were one of the better teams in football last year. Heck, they made it to the Super Bowl. Now on the other side with Minnesota, the big question is when do you wave the white flag?

And I don't think you wave the white flag yet if you are Minnesota. If you look at the stats, Kirk Cousins through the first two weeks of the season has thrown over 700 passing yards, has six touchdowns and one interception. We knew that the Vikings were going to regress to some capacity this year.

I didn't think they would bottom out. But so far they lose to the Buccaneers 20-17 and they lose to the Eagles 34-28. It didn't feel like it was that close of a game. But this upcoming next weekend, week three up against the Chargers, Hickey, I hate to say it, even though the NFC is not that good. But if you start off the year 0-3, I think it's very tough to recover from that. And also where the perception is from most people about this Minnesota Vikings team, that's a must win game for Minnesota next week.

Because you can't afford to start off the season 0-3. I know the week after that the Vikings play the Panthers, that should be a win. But then the following week, they play the Chiefs. They gotta be 2-3 after that Chiefs game.

Bare minimum. They gotta find a way to get this thing to 2-3. And if that's the case, and you play the Bears and you beat the Bears and you're 3-3, alright, you kind of wipe the slate clean and you survive what is perceived to be a slow start to the season. I know it's only one game, but the difference between 2-3 after 5 games and 1-4 after 5 games is massive. Especially since you haven't even played a division game yet, so they never win in Lambeau. That's always a house of horrors for the Vikings.

The lines are improved, so bare minimum, let's say you split right there. It can get early, or dark I should say, early here for the Vikings if we're talking an 0-3 team after next week. Yeah, because even if you beat the Panthers, you're 1-3 then let's say, but then are many people going to be picking them to beat the Chiefs? Probably not, then boom, you're 1-4. And even if you get to 2-4, you play the Bears, okay, then the next week you play the 49ers, probably a loss, so then you'd be sitting at 2-5, if my math adds out there? And the way the schedule works is anytime you want to get a little bit of momentum, it's ruined by the Chiefs or the 49ers, which again, presumably should win, seeing how much better they are.

It's tough to get the season off the ground if you don't win next week. And the big question becomes is when do they pull the plug on Kirk Cousins? Because I said this going into the year that Kirk Cousins probably would be back next year with the Vikings.

I thought he would play good enough where it's okay. There's one thing if you want to move on, I don't think the Vikings intend to bring Kirk Cousins back next year. But with that being said, who are you going to replace him with? And ultimately, I don't think it's going to get that bad where the Vikings are going to trade Kirk Cousins.

And the other part is too, you're going to need someone else to take that salary. And right now, if you look at it for teams that are looking to add a quarterback, a starting quarterback and a good quarterback in season, and a team that would be willing to figure out how the salary would work, there's only really one team that comes to mind here, Hickey. And it's the New York Jets. Like if you tell me, let's just say, that Tua gets hurt, sure, then you add the Dolphins into the conversation. But out of the realistic scenarios right now, the only one that I think would be willing to do the deal here would be the New York Jets.

It'd be one thing if let's just say Brock Purdy was horrible last week and the 49ers lost by 30 points to the Steelers, but Brock Purdy has the force as Steve Young once told us. And those 49er fans are really believing in him. So if Kirk Cousins is getting traded, from what we know now, I don't know how this is going to change in two, three weeks, the only team you could even circle right now would be the New York Jets as a potential destination in the final year of his contract. And even though one team is right, not really a market, the Vikings are lucky in the sense that the Jets are desperate with how high their hopes were, how early the injury happened for Aaron Rodgers, and the Jets schedule, again, Cowboys, Patriots, Chiefs, Broncos, Eagles. We're talking about, I mean, potentially a one in five team or two in 14 that's still trying to salvage a season when Zach Wilson's not playing great. There's your desperation if you are Minnesota that would maybe, again, jump some hoops to make a trade happen now.

Whereas like you said, most teams are not really motivated to really bend the rules to get him on the team. And I also know that the Vikings a week before the season with the Teddy Bridgewater injury once traded a first round pick for Sam Bradford, but I don't think in the final year of his contract with really no market for him, you know, in a trade, I don't believe that the Vikings would get a first round pick back for Kirk Cousins. And I think if you're the Vikings, you got to be careful here and tread, you know, very slowly and carefully because if you get rid of Kirk Cousins, even though I don't think Justin Jefferson loves Kirk Cousins, I think he likes him and there's a difference in that. If you have no one getting Justin Jefferson the ball with his contract expiring a year from now and still not a deal done for Justin Jefferson, which is a big mistake by the Vikings. That's why I thought they should have got it done before the start of the season. Then maybe Justin Jefferson says to Minnesota, I don't want to be there because he doesn't have trust on who either the next quarterback is going to be or the people running the show with the Minnesota Vikings. But just entertain me here for a second. If Kirk Cousins, let's say, gets the free agency next year, who are the teams that are going to be in the market for him?

I mean, I think obligatory. We have to put the 49ers out there and that's assuming if Brock Purdy doesn't get them to a level. But you are right. We've seen other quarterbacks have success in San Francisco and Kyle Shanahan loves Kirk Cousins, always flirting with Kirk Cousins.

So that's fair. In reality, probably at least two of the teams in the NFC South, right? You would think the Buccaneers if things go south, Baker and the Falcons. The Falcons would be a great destination if Desmond Ritter craps the bed. And I think that the Falcons are going to win that division. But just because they win the division doesn't mean that Desmond Ritter was this fantastic quarterback.

That's not a great division. They could win that division in spite of Desmond Ritter. Two teams that just came to mind with young quarterbacks.

I wonder if they would pull the trigger if things go south. Your Patriots, if things do not work out with Mac Jones, you have a veteran team, right? It's not like you have a young team that's developing. You have a team where if you get Kirk Cousins, you can sell playoffs.

But here's the thing. I think Kirk Cousins needs great players around him to even get the really good version of Kirk Cousins. I don't think there's a great version of Kirk Cousins. And the Patriots, who always pick the wrong receivers for the most part, don't have great weapons around Kirk Cousins offensively.

Then a team with better established weapons right now. What about the Steelers? It's way too early to give up on Kenny Pickett. If Kenny Pickett does not play well this season...

I can't even make that evaluation yet on Kenny Pickett, who played well down the stretch last year. If he plays more like he did on Sunday, and that's another veteran team where, again, you're not trading too far some picks for Kirk Cousins, you just have to sign them. I would still be really surprised by that because the ceiling for Kirk Cousins is not great. And I would rather go with the more unknown player. Because I don't think the Steelers right now are ready to win a Super Bowl.

I think they could be a good team. But to go get two, three years of Kirk Cousins, who you know for the most part what he is. If I'm going to move on from Kenny Pickett, I'd rather do it in a year or two from now knowing that Kenny Pickett's not the guy. And go try to find that next young, great quarterback. Then I guess right now, I'd probably say the favorite has to be going back to the old stopping grounds, right? Commanders.

That's a, yeah, oh wow. New ownership too. New ownership? I mean if Sam Howell, who, look, it's one game, we're not jumping to conclusions. But if he does not live up to the expectations Ron Rivera basically kind of laid out beforehand of, wow this guy is so great and it's just another, eh, year of quarterback play. And it looks, right, we talked about the weapons they have. They got good players offensively and defensively.

You know it's one we have not talked about. And it could be tricky because they just drafted two quarterbacks the last two seasons. But they weren't first round picked.

Neither of them were. Yeah, Tennessee. That feels like they may need to blow it up to be honest. But if you're still trying to utilize that window of having DeAndre Hopkins, right, that was a two year deal? Two year deal. So you have him there for another year. You got Derrick Henry. You know Vrabel's going to always try to be competitive here.

I don't think that, like that's an upgrade compared to Ryan Tannehill. Oh absolutely. Absolutely. Does that get you over the top? Super Bowl?

No. And also, I know you don't want to bring up this team. What about Denver? If Russ is just ass this year, I know it's going to be tough to move that contract. But if they're just like, all right, we got to be dumb with Russ.

I know it's going to be tough because there's going to be a lot of dead cap there. And it's like, then how are you going to give a big contract to Kirk Cousins? I mean, look, we kind of talked about it in the preseason. If Russ in 2023, Russ of 2022, I'm with you. I think they'll move on from him. I don't think Sean Payne's going to stand, you know, be patient, if you will.

And look, that's why you get a lot of capologists that get paid a lot of money to, you know, fumble the numbers, if you will, and make sure fudge the numbers and make sure it works. Before I throw this team out there, let me just see how easy it would be to get out of the contract. But let's just say if Geno Smith regresses and he's more so the Geno Smith that he's been for most of his career. I know he just signed that three-year contract.

I got to see what the outs are in the contract. But if you put Kirk Cousins with DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, Jackson Smith and Jigba, Zach Charbonnet and Kenneth Walker, that's a pretty nice collection of pieces on offense for Kirk Cousins to throw the football to. And the dead cap next year for Geno Smith that they got out of the deal will be $17.4 million. The year after that, $8.7 million.

That's manageable. Which, I mean, for quarterbacks, honestly, in this day and age, it's nothing. $17 million? Look, that's... And also, you would probably be releasing Geno Smith because if he's bad, I don't think anyone's going to trade for him.

If you do one of those post-June 1 releases, the 2024 dead cap, according to Spotrack, would then be $8.7 million. And speaking of needing weapons, DK, Lockett, JSN, Kenneth Walker, they're loaded. They are loaded on offense, needing a signal caller. Alright, we got to get to Herm Edwards in a bit, so let me just give you five people that need to make a statement this weekend in the NFL. In at number five, Bill Belichick. The Patriots are kind of in like no man's territory right now, where we know that they're not a bad football team.

They'll be competitive in a lot of games, but no one would call them a really good football team, let alone a great team right now. You're going up against the Miami Dolphins. We all know how great of a mastermind, from a defensive standpoint, Bill Belichick is.

Let's see if he has a game plan in him, and he's done well throughout his career up against Tyreek Hill to kind of slow down that Miami Dolphins offense and give them a chance to go win the game and see what Mac Jones and company are made out of this week. So I look at Bill Belichick this week, he needs to make a statement. Another person that needs to make a statement, it's actually Justin Herbert. I've been a big supporter of Justin Herbert, but they lost last week to Tua Tunga Vailoa, another high octane offensive game where the Chargers are on the wrong side of it. I know we all look at Brandon Staley, not a good coach, you have a lot of weapons with the Chargers, but their most consistent weapon in the last two seasons has been Austin Eckler.

He's doubtful. You just paid Justin Herbert. I need a franchise quarterback moment here from Justin Herbert against a team that is gritty. The way that I'll describe the Tennessee Titans is that they're a gritty football team. I wouldn't call them a good football team, but you know that they're going to be competitive. I need a big performance by Justin Herbert this week.

I think the next player here, number three, is going to surprise you. It's Jamar Chase. Jamar Chase ran his mouth last week up against the Browns, calling them the elves and saying Cleveland is Cleveland. The Cincinnati Bengals lost 24-3. I know Joe Burr only had 82 passing yards in the game, but then afterwards, Jamar Chase was still disrespectful to Cleveland.

He had five receptions for 39 yards. You're going up against a secondary that's banged up and a whole team that's banged up in the Baltimore Ravens. On Sunday, you need the Cincinnati Bengals led by Jamar Chase at a 1 p.m. Eastern Time game in Cincinnati up against the Ravens to have a big performance.

Number two, Geno Smith. Last week, the entire offense was horrible up against the Rams. The Rams are a team that I don't expect to be good this year, and they're 1-0. Got to give credit to Pukunakua, Tutu Atwell, and also that defense.

And Matthew Stafford did a nice job. But this is a big spot for the Seahawks this week. Up against a good Lions team. Going to be a lot of points. You need a big performance here out of Geno Smith because they lose this game their own, too.

People are going to start to say, oh, last year, how realistic is that to repeat what they did, or was it maybe just an anomaly and a one-time thing, what they did a year ago? And then finally, this is a play that everyone thinks is wonderful and is sensational, but opponent does matter. We all know Trevor Lawrence has a bright future, but I think Trevor Lawrence can make a big statement this week. Going up against a Chiefs defense that is not all that good. I know they get Chris Jones back on offense. They're going to have Travis Kelce this week.

I saw that he was faking the injury and then sort of twerking in practice. The Chiefs, though, beat them last year in the playoffs. Mahomes got hurt, right? And we know Henning played well and Mahomes comes back, all that stuff. But the Jaguars are a team that everyone says they're a good team.

I said they're a team, though, that could be. I picked them as the second seed in the AFC this year with that division. We know they're going to win double-digit games.

But as long as Trayvon Walker and Josh Allen keep on coming off the edge, there's not a lot of flaws with that team. And for Trevor Lawrence, if he goes toe-to-toe with Mahomes, I believe there will be a lot of national respect on Monday. It's only a 1 p.m. Eastern time game, Chiefs and Jaguars.

That feels like that should be 4.25, that should be 8.20, something like that. So I like that it's at 1 p.m. Eastern. But this is a winnable game for Jacksonville and it could be a statement that you could make that last year, you know, we made it to the divisional round, no one's really picking us to go to the Super Bowl, and you could kind of stake your early claim that the Jaguars are a Super Bowl contender. All right, Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio.

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Check eligibility and schedule this season's COVID-19 shot on the CDC site vaccines.gov. Sponsored by Pfizer and BioNTech. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. Football Friday right here, Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio. We go out to the guest line right now and welcome in the former head coach of the New York Jets, the Kansas City Chiefs, and also the Arizona State football program. And that is Herm Edwards, who's now back with ESPN, kind enough to join us on CBS Sports Radio.

Herm, appreciate the time as always. How you been? I've been well. Like all other football fans that watch the game of football, it's sloppy. I think veterans not playing in the preseason, it just affects the games. I think it takes them at least three weeks for them to get them physical and mentally prepared, ready to play. But the problem is now it's a regular season. So there's a lot of games lost that should be won due to the fact of non-participation in the preseason. If you were still coaching, and I know that's been the trend to really not play your guys in the preseason, it seems like the training camp sessions, those joint practices sessions when the intensity gets picked up a little bit, and that's where the real competition happens, how would you kind of navigate the preseason and training camp if you were still coaching? No different than when I was coaching. It was turning that way, now it's really turned that way, where a lot of the players don't participate in the preseason.

I understand why. I think, depending on the age of certain players, I always was in the mindset during the preseason, you need to get at least a whole game within your ability as a veteran player. So 65 snaps, 70 snaps. Also believe this, the third preseason game, then it was four, now it's three. That second preseason game, actually, in the third quarter, let your starters come out and play a quarter. Just play a series of plays to get used to coming in and out of the locker room at halftime.

So there are certain ways you can do it. I understand I'm not faulting any coach that says, hey, I'm not playing my players, I'm not saying that. I know what I would do, and I did it in the past, and I just think it's safer for the players. And it's kind of funny now, because we all know that September is an extension of the preseason, and it feels like the regular season actually gets going where it looks like actual football in late September or October, but it doesn't mean that people aren't critical and the analysis is still there. The Eagles are 2-0. I know it wasn't the cleanest game last night, but that's a team I have no concerns about.

But some people today are like, hmm, something doesn't look right with the Philadelphia Eagles, and I'm like, hold on, there's still a 2-0 football team that went to the Super Bowl last year. Yeah, no, and I think it goes to show you, even those two teams, even Kansas City, now I know they were out with Jones wasn't there, and obviously Kelcey wasn't there as well, but they weren't in sync, Philly hadn't been in sync. They ran the ball a little bit better last week, but the passing game is not in sync by any stretch of imagination. You've got two new coordinators, that's not in sync yet.

Their defense in the back end is struggling somewhat, so there's a lot of things to fix, but the great thing is they're 2-0. We're talking to Herm Edwards right now, the former head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs and the New York Jets. How about that Chiefs-Jaguars game coming up this weekend, Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern? That's going to be a fun one.

It really will be. You can't say enough about the Jaguars, kind of the direction they're headed in, especially their quarterback. The Chiefs need to rebound. I mean, obviously that's a tough loss when you lose an arrowhead.

There's no doubt about that. That's the Philly confines of the area, and it's hard to win in that place. I think Patrick Mahones and those guys will get things going a little bit better this week, but I think it will be a tough game.

This won't be. I'm hoping, and I say this as a defensive-minded guy, I'm hoping that something similar to the Chargers, obviously the game that they played in, right? The Chargers played in a game last week where you just looked at this and you went, man, they're scoring. Chargers and Miami Dolphins, you couldn't sit down.

Every time you turned around, somebody was scoring touchdowns. Yeah, and the over in this game, Chiefs and Jaguars, is 51, Herm. I'm hammering the over this week, and I think there's going to be a lot of points between these two teams.

Yeah, I probably agree with you. It's probably going to be almost 1,000 yards on offense. That would be something. Coach Herm Edwards is here with us. So, I've got to ask you about the Jets. We all saw the Rogers injury on Monday Night Football. So unfortunate. Just take me through how you reacted to it and processed it on Monday night. Oh, I think that happened. That happened to me with Chad Finnington.

So, I get it. I mean, you feel bad for the organization. You feel bad for the player. You feel bad for all fans, though, regardless if you're a Jets fan or not. I mean, Aaron Rodgers was trying to take the path of Tom Brady going to another team. Matthew Stafford going to another team and winning the Super Bowls.

He picked the Jets, rightly so. They're a young team, very good on defense. All the pieces were there. They just needed a quarterback to get them over the hump, you know, as far as their offense went. And four plays, it was just, it was like, are you kidding me? Right? I mean, everybody was shaking their heads.

You've got to be kidding me, right? They've got to recover. And I think they will. They're good enough on defense. If the young quarterback can just play within himself, don't turn the ball over. You know, just play the game and don't try to win games. The defense and your specialty is to win games for you.

I think they'll be okay. And that young quarterback in Zach Wilson, you kind of just said it. He's got to protect the football.

But I just wonder where his confidence is going to be at. Because that was supposed to be the guy, former number two overall pick, that you bring in Aaron Rodgers. He's supposed to be a backup.

And now he's thrown right back into the fire. Like, in meetings privately coaching quarterback, what's that meeting like this week of Robert Salah and Zach Wilson? Well, I think, and really, Nathaniel Hackett, you know, what is your offense now?

It's not the Aaron Rodgers offense, for sure. I mean, that's another reason Aaron Rodgers is there because of Nathaniel Hackett. He's very comfortable with who the play caller was. Nathaniel's going to have to get used to Zach now. And do some things that he can do well. The one thing this young man can do, he can move in the pocket. He has a live enough arm. You know, get him scripting some throws early so he can gain confidence completing the football. And then let your defense play and use your running game, you know, to help him. And I think if he does that, he'll be fine. I saw a more mature Zach Wilson when he went in front of the media. I think the team, due to what he went through and Aaron Rodgers coming there, Aaron Rodgers mentoring him, the team has a different opinion about him right now than they did last year, right?

So all those things are good. And the team understands this is our quarterback right now. I mean, everybody's saying, go get a guy. This is your guy. I mean, he's your guy. You're not going to bring somebody there and start him this week. He's your starting quarterback. Now, with that being said, if you were still coaching, would you maybe be in Joe Douglas's room this week and say, hey, go monitor that Kirk Cousins situation with them starting off 0-2 and then beating the final year of his contract, maybe try to get a trade done? Well, him, you know, I think, you know, Tannehill is an option as well because they have Levis there, right? They have a young quarterback waiting. You need a veteran guy that has played in the system where they run the ball and they play defense.

So he's done that. So there's numerous guys. You're hoping that Zach will do the job. And you might have to bring a guy in, but as a backup guy, and not to take his job, because can you imagine if he doesn't pan out, now you're on your third quarterback. That's tough, guys.

That don't work a whole lot of times. Herm Edwards here with us. Ravens and Bengals this week. I know the Ravens are banged up.

Is this a good bounce back spot? I know it's a tough division, but you look at the Bengals. Their offense is just actually so slow starting last week. Only have an 82-yard, something like that, passing.

Yeah, that was hard to watch. You've got to give Cleveland a lot of credit as well, but Joe struggled against Cleveland. You know, he's 0-3 now. But I think they bounced back and, you know, Lamar struggled a little bit. Now it's a new offense.

They're asking him to do more in the pocket, right? So it's a work in progress, and here again, when you don't play together as a team on offense and defense, there's some hiccups, your stamina, all that stuff, because you haven't played together. And so you're trying to figure it out in the regular season, and some games can get away from you early, and hopefully those games don't bite you down the road.

Wrapping up with Herm Edwards right now. Seahawks and Lions. I know we talked earlier about Jacksonville and the Chiefs having a lot of points. Coach, that should be another high-scoring game. You're hoping because I was really surprised with the Seahawks' performance offensively, right? I mean, you know, the Rams came off that bad year last year. Okay, I get all that, but that was like, wow.

I mean, Geno Smith didn't look comfortable at all, and they hit him. You know, that guy 99, somebody needs to block that guy, by the way. I don't know. I'll find a way to block him. If I don't block anybody else, I'm blocking him. Where is he at?

Just block that guy. But anyway, yeah, I mean, Seattle's going to have to bounce back. That was a bad loss, right? I mean, that was like kind of a hit.

Shocking. That was almost like San Francisco going in there and beating Pittsburgh, right? I actually think it was worse because, you know, San Francisco to me is a very good team.

Oh, no, no doubt. You know, the Rams on paper I think are going to be bad this year. But I didn't think Pittsburgh, to go into Pittsburgh and do that to them? Yeah, that was shocking. That was surprising.

You know what I'm saying? Now, Seattle and the Rams, that was like a head-scratching because I thought Seattle would say, hey, they fixed their secondary, you know, Pete's a defensive guy. You know, they got these receivers now.

It's like, come on. And I looked at that and I was, well, they can't block 99, so this game might be over. No doubt about that. Before we let you run, Dolphins and Patriots this week. It was good to see two a healthy last week and just dominate them with Tyreek Hill. And for the Patriots, it's a big week. I know they played well up against the Eagles, but it's still a loss. This could be a big statement for Bill Belichick to make going up against the Dolphins.

Well, they did a good job last week against, obviously, Philadelphia Eagles. And, you know, he had all season to practice for them. Now, he knows, too, he knows his offense. It'll be interesting to see how he takes the receivers out of the mix, right? You know, Hill and Waddle, I mean, but then they can run the ball when most are so. He's going to, I know one thing, he's not going to, he's going to try to not allow him to throw the ball inside the numbers.

He's going to have players in there, right? I don't think he's going to allow number 10 to run just free off the line of scrimmage. This is going to be interesting how they play, right? I mean, the Eagles got a really good defense. They got a real good defense. I mean, look, the Miami Dolphins didn't slow the Chargers down.

They stretched the imagination. So, I think if you're Bill, you know, you can't keep up with them scoring, but you can pound them and you can run the ball. That's what you're going to try to do and put two in some third and long situation where you have to hold the ball, you know, and try to get to him.

But the critical thing, basically, is you've got to be able to tackle these guys in space because if you can't tackle them in space, look out. It's over. They didn't have the fastest team in football in the Miami Dolphins.

It's not even close. Yeah, it really is unreal with Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle. Even if you stop one of them, the next guy can go get you for 200 yards as well. Herm Edwards, Jetson, Cowboys, I know we talked about the whole Zach Wilson, Aaron Rodgers situation with the Rodgers Achilles, but now with Zach Wilson back in at quarterback, Cowboys were dominant week one, blowing out the Giants 40 to nothing. What type of football game do you expect there in Jerry's world? I think both teams are leaning on the defense, and Dak has to be very careful. They lose this game if he turns the ball over, right? If Dak Prescott turns the ball over, they're going to lose this game. Because the Eagles can hunt, excuse me, the Jets can hunt, but the Dallas Cowboys, I tell you what, that was an impressive defensive performance. There ain't no doubt about that.

Going on the road doing that. So I think both these defenses are going to determine who wins this football game. I think the quarterbacks got to make sure they do not turn the ball over because whoever turns it over the most, that's going to be the team that probably wins this game. Last thing I'll ask you, just you also know in the college game, doing both the pros and then also coaching in college the last few years over at Arizona State, to see what Coach Prime Deion Sanders has done in two weeks, what's your reaction? That's not surprising. Prime's a good friend of mine, and I think he's done a marvelous job. His son is terrific. Those kids play with a lot, a lot of energy, boy. And he gives them energy, too. And they're very confident and they just go about their business.

And, you know, Prime puts all the pressure on himself because of how he deals with people and how he deals with the media, right? And everyone's kind of looking at him and the player says get to play. And they're having fun.

They're having a lot of fun. It's different. A lot of college coaches don't like the way he goes about his business. But Prime has a great heart and he's a good human being. That's all a show. That's his all show. And it distracts you. It gets you thinking about all that and then you forget that you know what, he's got some good football players over here, too. By the way, interpret the coaching angle of this.

What was Jay Norvell doing going after Prime for wearing sunglasses and a hat when he talks to the media? I can't figure that one out. I mean, you let that one out. Look, you're already in trouble. And now you're... It's like you played right into Coach Prime's game there.

Now he gets to use that as motivation. It's crazy. Look, look, look. We don't always tell coaches. I said, last time I checked, these coaches can talk. And I say this because I've been on both sides and these coaches can talk all they want. They don't play.

Those don't play. Them players have to go out there and play. Whatever you said, no matter, either coach, whatever you said, the players actually have to go play now. So just think about it that way. My players got to go out and deal with this now.

Not me, because I'm standing on the sideline. And here's the thing. If he wanted to get his program maybe in the news and take some of the attention away for Coach Prime, just go guarantee the victory. Don't go after Coach Prime.

It makes no sense. You know, I think he was... He respects Prime, obviously, but I just think he just got going and all of a sudden, he got out there and he's over his skis and you can't take it back because he's out there. And then as soon as Prime heard, he says, well, here he went. You gave him another mark.

Okay, now it's personal. Coach, appreciate the time. Coach, our members, appreciate it as always. Thank you, my friend. My pleasure.

There you go. Herr member is with us on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Listen and subscribe to In the Huddle, available on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. But selling your car to Carvana is as easy as can be.

Visit Carvana.com or download the app to get an instant offer today. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Zach's taking on the most polarizing issues in sports. Which side of the line of scrimmage will he end up on? Offside, defense number 69. It's onsides, offsides with Zach Gelb on CBS Sports Radio. Alrighty, Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio onside, offside time. By the way, this portion of the show is brought to you by Wesley Financial.

Stuck in a timeshare and want out, contact Wesley Financial Group now and get a free timeshare exit information kit at wesleyfinancialgroup.com. Dexter, what do we got? Thursday Night Football, Zach, some controversy did ensue. It was right before the half of Eagles Vikings. Kirk Cousins connected deep on a pass to Justin Jefferson. At the one yard line, tried to reach out and extend for the goal and to score a touchdown.

As he started reaching out and fumbled the ball, ball went out of the end zone resulting in a touchback and Eagles football. Now, in the day of 2023, Evolovs argued it's called a big controversy on if this rule should actually be in place or should the offense. Despite fumbling the ball out of bounds, should still retain possession of the football. So I'll ask you, Zach, onsides or offsides, the NFL should change the rule to allow the offense to keep the ball if they fumble out of the end zone. So, full disclosure, I hate this rule. I think it should be changed.

But, I thought the point, Hickey, that you made earlier was somewhat of a good justification of it. That the reason why Hickey's okay with it is because most of these rules are catered to the offense and are in favor of the offense. And this is like the one rule that actually does benefit the defense. But still, with that being said, I think it's dumb that if you fumble at the one yard line and the ball goes out of bounds, you get the ball right back there. But if you fumble out of bounds and you let loose of the ball at the one, then it goes back to the other team and then at the 20. So, you said to me the NFL should change the rule to allow the offense to keep the ball if they fumble out of the end zone.

Even though you did a good justification and explanation for it, I will still say onsides. Change the rule. Let's stick with that game because... And we know this, folks. The moment the Colts get screwed by this, Hickey will say, Folks, I've seen enough. We gotta change the rules. Now, Jonathan Taylor fumbled the ball at week 5 at the one yard line and goes out of bounds. We need to change it.

Colts got screwed. Change it. And I'll make sure before I say that to delete any trace of audio of me saying this is a great rule and give the defenses a break.

And then I will absolutely go into land based on the rest of this stupid rule. I think you've learned one thing about me throughout these last few years. I have a great memory. Nothing gets past me when it comes to remembering things. Besides the things that do get past me. I will be fair if the Colts do get screwed. Okay.

I'm sure. Let's stick with that game because outside of the controversy right there, we just talked about the Eagles. Won the game and now they are 2-0, but not really clicked yet so far on all cylinders. AJ Brown was seen on the sidelines frustrated Thursday night for a lack of targets from Jalen Hurts. He finished the game with just four catches for 29 yards. And Hurts himself has not had the best start to the season.

A combined of two games, 393 passing yards and two touchdowns. Offsides are offsides. Zach, you are concerned early on with the Philadelphia Eagles. Absolutely not. This is the easiest offside ever. Offside.

Herr member just said it. There's reasons why no one really goes full speed anymore in the preseason. So you're going to have sloppy things. So if we're seeing a lot of sloppy play happen around the league and the team is still 2-0, as long as they stay healthy, they'll get even better.

And also, the great teams find a way to win, even when they don't play their best. I am not concerned whatsoever about the Philadelphia Eagles. One of the best matchups of week two is the Kansas City Chiefs traveling to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars. Now Kansas City has some good injury knows.

Duvall! That place is going to be electric. Nice opening week one win. A lot of expectations for this season. Chiefs now. Nice opening week one win. They went up against a JV football team in the Colts.

They won the game. Okay, we've seen some, you want to get on me for the Rams prediction? We saw the Seahawks lose a bad game. The Vikings lose a bad game. Like, plenty of teams flopped in week number one. Not the Jags.

They took care of business. And now, not only did the Chiefs come to town, the Chiefs come to town healthy. You know why it's a good victory for the Jaguars? Because they played into our playbook.

They got the hopes of hot take Hickey up. And he was like, okay, here they come. Here come the Colts. I-N-D-Y, here comes Indy.

Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go. And then, right when they take the lead off a crazy play, it all went downhill from there. A fourth quarter lead into a ten point loss. That is what the Colts do best. Was there a lot of high-pitched screaming in your household when the Colts took the lead?

Not hype. It was a let's go. Let's go. This season is different. And then, as soon as I said that, two straight drives.

Touchdown, interception, touchdown, and there goes that. Anthony Richardson is in. Oh, I was ready. I was ready. Speaking of ready, Travis Kelce after missing week one, ready to play in week two. Twerk, twerk, twerk, twerk, twerk.

That knee looked pretty good as he's twerking at practice. And Chris Jones, after holding out in week number one, back and ready to go now for week number two. Now, the Jaguars have a great chance here, right? Defending Super Bowl chants at home.

A lot of hype when this game. O and one, trying to avoid the O and two record to start the season. So I'll ask you, onsides or offsides, the Jaguars are the team that needs to win more. The Chiefs right now are the standard. They could go O and two. I've seen my football team when they were the standard go O and two and still find the way to win a Super Bowl.

So I wouldn't be concerned whatsoever. But the Jaguars need this game more to make a statement early on in the regular season that they are a Super Bowl contender. And you know what? I love the Jaguars this week. You'll hear more about this in my picks coming up later. But I love Jacksonville this week. The Jaguars need to win more than the Chiefs do onsides. College football. After starting the first two games, Jalen Milro has been benched at Alabama for Notre Dame transfer Tyler Buckner. Now, last week, Alabama QB Jalen Milro did throw two picks against Texas. And their loss to Nick Saban after the game, admitted he almost, did not follow through, but almost benched Milro in that eventual L. Now, in his career, Tyler Buckner has thrown six touchdowns to eight interceptions over the course of 14 appearances, 13 coming at Notre Dame. Knows Tommy Reese, though, the offensive coordinator.

He does know Tommy Reese. Maybe that's why he's down there in Tuscaloosa right now. But I'll ask you, does he stay in the field onsides or offsides? Alabama will make another quarterback switch before October 1st. So, assuming that Milro doesn't transfer out of the program right away, I would assume that he will eventually see the field once again at some point this season. It's tough for me to believe in Tyler Buckner. I feel like every three weeks, or every two weeks even, we will have a quarterback conversation about Alabama.

They play USF, you should be able to win the game and play well, but if you struggle in the first half, then this stuff doesn't go away. Yeah, I think we'll see another quarterback switch. And then also, we were talking about this in the offseason, they kept on talking about three quarterbacks. When people talk about three quarterbacks, you have no quarterback, so you could have someone else getting into the game plan. But you ask me, Alabama will make another QB switch before October 1st.

Huh. Three games if you include tomorrow. South Florida, Ole Miss, and I don't know who they play the 30th, I forget.

You know what? They'll make another change this season, but I don't think it will, ehh. You look at the schedule though, so this week you should win South Florida, then it's Ole Miss, and then it's Mississippi State. I think after the Mississippi State game, they make another switch, but Alabama will make another switch before October 1st. That means I'll go offside.

Offside. And finally, Aaron Rodgers made his first public appearance today in the Pat McAfee show since the Achilles injury, and said his goal is to play again, and didn't even rule out a potential return for this season, as his goal is to make the fastest recovery ever. Now for a reference, Cam Akers of the Rams back in 2021 did tear his Achilles in July of that season, and was able to get back on the field in early January, six months right there. If you're looking for a return for the Rams, you believe there's a realistic chance Aaron Rodgers could return to the field at some point this season. You know how Coach Prime says, give me my theme music?

Just give me my sound. Does anyone actually think Aaron Rodgers is coming back this season? Aaron Rodgers doesn't even think it. I know he went all Kevin Garnett, anything's possible, but there's no way Aaron Rodgers is playing for the Jets this season. I think he'll be playing next season, I think he's going to win comeback player of the year, but this season, no shot. You know what I just did right there?

I truthfully believe that. But it'd be pretty damn cool if they end up using that, like in the playoffs, they touted Aaron Rodgers. You have some Jackass on the radio, blow-beating Jackass, he has no shot to return this year, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. And then maybe we make the hype video, when he comes back in the playoffs. And like a Phoenix, he has risen again. Get the ayahuasca!