Aaron Rodgers Back?!? (Hour 2)

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Shop in store or visit ashley.com today. Alrighty, this is that Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. We're going to get to a news brief in just a second.

But first, there's not a lot of times when I get stunned. You know, on Monday night I was stunned because of the fact that Aaron Rodgers four plays in the Jets great season that people thought was probably going to happen ends up going right out the window with Aaron Rodgers going down with the torn Achilles. But I just saw something during the break where I can't believe someone that we see each and every day here someone that gives us three updates CBS Sports Radio updates each and every day Monday through Friday did not tell us what he was doing tonight. So I just saw on the good old cesspool of Twitter that our update anchor, the Ackman, Rich Ackerman, we know he's not here tonight El Capitan Marco Bolletti is here, but Ack is doing the play by play, his first ever Major League Baseball play by play game for the Mets going up against the Reds on one of our Odyssey stations, WCBS 880. Now, Hickey, Ack told me yesterday he was off, didn't tell us why he was off, so I didn't really want to ask and be nosy. I did think it was a little strange because Ack is a diligent reporter and a diligent update anchor and he usually loves to be here on a football Friday and give you all the big storylines in college and the NFL and all the act tidbits that he does with all the information and all the quirky facts, let's just say that Rich Ackerman does give. But the fact that he just said to me, oh, yeah, I'll see you on Monday. I'm not going to be here on Friday and doesn't tell us he's making his MLB play by play debut on the radio. It's inconceivable to me.

How about you? Did you know about this? No idea. I am more shocked than you right now and I'm just laughing because, oh, it's like a generational thing, but you would think your first ever Major League Baseball broadcast, an amazing accomplishment, you maybe put it out in your social media to let everybody know. But Ack's not a big social media guy. Ack says all the time, the moment he retires, he will get rid of social media. He only uses social media to see information.

Which is why I'm laughing because I immediately when you said, oh, Ack is calling the game tag. Oh, maybe tweeted out a picture. I go to Ack's Twitter.

His last tweet was from eight fifty five this morning. Happy birthday to David Folkenflick, an NPR media correspondent. Did you just curse again? He goes, David Folkenflick. What did you just say that name?

Did you just drop the F word again? He goes on Twitter to wish, I mean, to me personally, a random guy. This guy has 114,000 followers? Maybe to Ack, he's a dear friend or Ack is a big fan of his work. Who the heck is David Folkenflick? NPR. NPR is big.

That's a lot of followers, though. But he wishes a happy birthday to David, doesn't tweet or retweet the photo of him in the broadcast booth about to call the game. I can say this guy loves Ack. He's a weird guy. And that just, I think, further exemplifies his weirdness in a good way. And I also say this. Ack every year wishes me a happy birthday the day before my birthday and goes, just wanted to be the first one.

I know it's August 9th. It is crazy how many birthdays Richard Ackerman actually knows. So David Folkenflick gets the Ack tweet, but we don't get a single tweet that Ack is doing the game. And you would think with our relationship with Ack, right, we see Ack every day, we talk to Ack before the show, during the show, that Ack would at least say to us, hey, guys, I'm doing play by play tomorrow. And even if it's not to brag, but just at least mention it with our relationship with Rich Ackerman.

But that's crazy to me. You know what we got to do on Monday? I need all the calls. I need some calls here. Calls that are good, calls that are bad, and we need to break down Richard Ackerman's performance in the booth. I was just going to say, this better not be Mets-Reds here, a 1-0 game where the Reds score a first inning run on an error or a base-loaded walk, and that's all we get. And it's the most boring, monotone, least exciting game ever, and there's no way for Ack to get excited. I wonder what his home run call is going to be.

So I don't think Ack... It's out of here! It's out of here, Chief! Home run! I hate Hickey! I hate Hickey! You know what I kind of hope happens here? Maybe Hickey should take the night off.

Can I have an assignment for you? Okay, I'm listening. So this game is in Queens right now, so it'd take you about 40 minutes to get there anyway. Maybe you should run in the field tonight. Because I would love to hear Richard Ackerman, who is just the guy, he's your traditional broadcaster, just gives you the sports. If you have a fan on the field, you can't go silent in radio. It's not as if this is TV up, you have someone on the field, they pan away, and then you talk about something else and you give some stats.

You have to describe what's going on on the field. Hickey, I think we should find just somebody in the newsroom to do your job tonight and produce the rest of the show for the next three hours. And you should go to Citi Field and run on the field and have a sign that says, I love Richard Ackerman, while Hickey is streaking on the field and just see how Ack does handle that.

So I love that viral picture of the guy that ran on the golf course when John Daly wins and it's like 19th hole with an arrow pointing down. Maybe I'll do something creative with that and just run, be a streaker, just really go all in and give Ack something to read. But otherwise, I'm in. Let's do it.

First pitch is in four minutes, but I get there by the third inning. Do you think Marco knows about this? Because Marco and Ack, we're close with Ack, but Marco and Ack have a different bond in the update anchor room.

I'm going to say yes. I think Marco knows. And Marco is also a loyal guy where if Ack doesn't tell anyone, he won't be the one spreading Ack's news if Ack didn't directly say, hey, tell everybody. Well, then Marco needs a punishment. I think we have Marco then go to the stadium and Marco is the streaker on the field. And I think it would be even more funnier there.

That's what I think should happen here. I'm punishing Marco. If he knows and he didn't tell us, I think Marco is in the right here.

What? It's so weird to be so secretive about this. But if Ack doesn't want to tell anyone or doesn't want anyone to know. What do you think is going to happen?

I told someone they're not going to let you do it? It's not Marco's place to be, you know, basically Paul Revere. You guys are so lame around here.

And let everyone know, hey, Ack's calling the game, Ack's calling the game, and he's riding around ringing a bell. We're about drama here. We're about big storylines. We need people to tell us the inside information.

If Marco was withholding this from us, that's a terrible, I mean a brutal job out of Marco Balletti. Come on, Hickey. I need you riding shotgun here with me, not stabbing me in the back when I'm looking for a little support here.

Come on, Hickey. Most times I would say yes. You're not loyal. But knowing Ack the way he is, I think the rule book is thrown out for this one. Oh, stop. So in a normal circumstance, if it was like you will say and you were calling the game and didn't tell anyone, and you told me and I didn't tell anyone, okay, that's on me. Ack is a different cat. He operates by a different system.

I think I'm going to give Marco a pass here if, in fact, he did know about this big broadcast prior to five minutes ago. Did I tell you, by the way, what I'm doing in three weeks? Well, I'm not going to be here. In three weeks, which is, what, is that the last week of September or the first week of October?

The last week of September, which fades into the first week of October. Okay, what do we got? I'm not here that Friday. I am going to be in Dallas. Bob Socey's out.

I'm calling the Patriot play-by-play game up against the Dallas Cowboys. Nice. Let's go.

Cherry World, baby. Looking forward to it. How many words are you going to get in before Zolack just takes over? Oh, no, I told Zolack that if he talks, I'm just going to punch him and give him a noogie. This is my booth, Scott.

I'm unicorn showboat ponies. Where's the beef? Zolack, shut up. That's what we're going to be ending today.

Third down and five. I'm not actually doing the game for people that don't understand sarcasm. All right, let's update you on some of the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio. We get to a news brief. So I told you earlier in the week that it was a lot that Aaron Rodgers is going to be playing next season. I also told you he's already my pick for 2024 Comeback Player of the Year. Aaron Rodgers on his plans for playing next season.

This courtesy of the Pat McAfee show. I think what I'd like to say is give me the depths. Give me the timetables. Give me all the things that you think can, should or will happen. Because all I need is that one little extra percent of inspiration. That's all I need. So give me your doubts. Give me your prognostications and then watch what I do. Hell yeah. Let's go.

He basically just said. Whenever I turn on CBS Sports Radio and hear Hot Take Hickey speak about me. That's all I need to make a return to the football field. Jets fans next year.

You're welcome. There's no doubt about it. He's playing next year. Why would you say though I need the doubts.

I need people to count me out. We all know he's playing football next year. There's no doubt about it. Part of the drama that he loves to create for himself, right?

Eh. I really think there hasn't been much drama the last few months. This has been pretty smooth sailing in New York up until the injury.

And I think it would have maintained that way and continued that way. But unfortunately now he's out for the year. Well, maybe not.

Aaron Rodgers and if he could return to the field this season courtesy of the Pat McAfee Show. There's been some guys with some interesting timetables on Achilles Returns. But it's just there's a process.

There's certain markers we got to hit. You're trying to say you're coming back this season? I'm not going to make any of those statements. Is it a possibility? I think as Kevin Garnett said, anything's possible. Wow. Wow.

That's a whole lot of nothing right there, Hickey. He knows he's not going to be able to come back this season. It's impossible or pretty damn close to impossible. But if you're an alpha and an athlete mentality, I think you don't try to rule anything out. Especially when you are, what, two days removed from surgery here.

So the absolute, I guess, you know. Five months? I was going to say the latest game the Jets will play if they make the Super Bowl is five months from now. Which that's a whole different discussion. They have the Super Bowl. You're going to pull Aaron Rodgers in?

Probably not. But anyway, five months is... It's an irrelevant conversation.

Aaron Rodgers, I love this. Let me preface it by saying this. I don't get really political on this show. I try to never involve myself too much in politics.

I am vaccinated, okay? But Keith Olbermann could be like the biggest douche on this planet. That he was celebrating the Aaron Rodgers injury. And it all goes back to Rodgers' immunized comments and him being anti-vaccine. But here is Aaron Rodgers crushing, deservedly so, Keith Olbermann, that clown. For being excited that Rodgers got hurt. Keith Olbermann said that... You love him though.

Because you're not vax, that's why it happened. Yep. Get your fifth booster, Keith. Pfft. Anyway... Bum.

I love how he ends it right there, Hickey. Bum. And I heard the whole bum thing.

It wasn't just random. They asked about someone else that said it's because it's ayahuasca use is why he had the Achilles injury. And he was like, what's the name of that guy that said that? And he was just like, bum.

So he just went on a bum tirade right there. I forget who it was. He's been on the show, I think. Our show? Maybe not.

There is no way I put an ayahuasca expert on this show. No, no, no. The bum comes from... Remember when Aaron Rodgers did the whole COVID toe thing?

There was like a Bears reporter who called... Oh, oh, oh, oh. And he goes, Aaron... No, we've never had on Hubb... Hubb Arkish, thank you. We've never had him on the show. I've never had him on.

But that was the genesis of the bum. He just... I think he called them like literally like 10 times on the Padak show. I think it was two years...

It was two years ago what he said he wouldn't vote for him for the MVP? Yes, that was it. Yes, that's a bum.

He's a bum. That was it. Now, here's the thing. I saw the Olbermann tweet when it first happened.

And I was like, what the heck is this guy doing? Now, Olbermann tweets so much about things that I just don't care about. Oh, here we go.

It was... Oh, no, this is only from three hours. Oh, my God, there's so many tweets. Do you remember what the original Olbermann tweet was? Yes, I forget who wrote it, if it came from the Jets account or Woody Johnson. But the tweet originally was, we're all devastated by the Aaron Rodgers injury. And Keith Olbermann quote tweeted and said, define all. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Like basically, I'm not devastated. I'm happy this happened. Seriously, on a scale of one to douche, Keith Olbermann's like the douche of all douches. He's the standard. He even tweeted today when they had a photo of Aaron Rodgers on the surgery in the chair in the hospital. And he has one of those caps on his head and then also the surgical mask.

He's like, wait, why is Aaron Rodgers wearing a mask? Like, seriously, is there a bigger all time loser than Keith Olbermann? He is a real loser. To take a line from Aaron Rodgers, Hickey, you know what he is? Say it. A bum.

Bum. And I don't even get involved in any of these debates and things like that. But what a loser Keith Olbermann is. He's done a great job of being a troll.

You know what? I don't usually advocate for this. But can we get Mr. Musk on the phone and just get his Twitter account just taken away, Keith Olbermann? That's ridiculous, this guy. If you're one of the 983,000 people following Keith Olbermann, please, you need to unfollow him.

You need to get a life. What a loser that guy is. Jalen Hurts discusses A.J.

Brown's frustration on the sideline. I think everybody wants to make plays and everybody wants to contribute. I have no worry about him. He's a great player, great teammate, great friend. We'll all do anything and everything with winning in mind. Are you at all concerned about A.J.

Brown? Because it's not the first time it happened. I was at Lincoln Financial Field last year when the Eagles were winning a playoff game and A.J. Brown was not happy on the sideline because he wasn't getting the ball thrown his way. Now the Eagles are winning another game, second week of the regular season, and I know that sometimes with how passionate football players are, when you have an outburst or you voice your frustration, we make it a bigger deal than what it actually needs to be. But when you're winning, I don't care if you're not getting the football. Like if you were losing and you think you could contribute to the team actually winning, different story, but when the team is winning the game, I don't think A.J. Brown should be pouting on the sideline or being shown being upset on the sideline and being perturbed on the sideline because he's not getting the football.

I'm not worried because I don't think there's a better situation that's built to handle something like this. All the veteran leaders the Eagles have, I mean Jalen Hurts is a great leader too. And it's weird because I know that he's been in the league for a few years, but I would not call him like your prototypical veteran. You think like a guy that's like 30 or something like that. Jalen Hurts is still relatively young, but he is the leader of that team, there's no doubt about that.

And he's always been mature beyond his years too. And very good friends before Philadelphia, A.J. Brown and Jalen Hurts.

Nick Sirianni wouldn't discuss what A.J. Brown said to Jalen Hurts. The conversations we have on the field are going to be private, and the conversations we have in our locker room are going to be private.

You all don't need to know what was going on right there. That's a good head football coach. That's a football coach who gets it. Other football coaches would say, yeah, he was annoyed on the sideline, he was complaining about the target.

Like, there's a way to dump a lot of gasoline on the fire. Nick Sirianni said, nope, you're not fooling me here. There's no jokes that are being played on me this time around. Good job by Sirianni. How would Sean McDermott answer that question? I'm very concerned.

Very concerned. Here's exactly what Staphon Diggs said. Throw me the M-F-ing ball bleep bleep bleep. He was yelling at Josh out. He would give, I think, verbatim.

You know what, Staphon? If you want a transcript, we'll get it after the game. You know what Sean McDermott would do? And by the way, we're going to keep the cameras rolling after this press conference. Team reporters, stand up and give your real thoughts about Staphon Diggs.

Come on down, Matty. Oh, geez. Here's Justin Jefferson saying it was his fault he fumbled out of the end zone. I'm putting in a lot on myself, you know, just fumbling in the end zone like that. You know, when we need points and, you know, where we're driving and we're having that momentum. So, I mean, I'm putting a lot of blame on myself. I have to know the situation, take care of the ball. You know, I was telling my teammates, you know, that was on me and it won't happen again.

So where do we stand on this? For people that don't know, right before the end of the first half, you had the Vikings driving. Justin Jefferson reaches the ball out. It goes out the back of the end zone. That means it goes to the Philadelphia Eagles and they end up getting it at the 20-yard line, right?

Or is it 25? 20-yard line. 20-yard line.

So they get at the 20-yard line. I've said for years, if you fumble the ball at the 2-yard line and it goes out of bounds, or the 1-yard line and it goes out of bounds, no big deal. But if you fumble it at the goal line and it goes out of the back of the end zone or out of the end zone, then the other team gets the ball and it's a touchback. That always seems backwards to me.

Like, I get it at the time. You don't want players just reaching out recklessly, but you could still lose the ball in bounds if you are reaching out recklessly. But if it goes out of bounds, out of the end zone, I don't think the other team should get the ball back here. I like the rule because I think the defense does need a bone. Every rule that's created goes against them.

It's an interesting point. You know, pass interference, roughing the passer. Like, the rules now are built. You can't touch a receiver after five yards. Can't put too much weight on the quarterback. Right.

Gotta get the scales out. Any new rule made is made with more offense intended to happen. The defense getting one break on if you fumble out of the back of the end zone and it's your ball, I personally have no problem with it. So I still hate the rule, but I like your argument.

I like your explanation there, Hickey. So, good job out of you. Maybe we won't have your run on the field tonight to try to distract Rich Ackerman when he's calling the play by play. And don't you get arrested, huh?

Thank you. We should have done that as a station, man. It would have been a really bad look since our company is a broadcast partner of the Mets. But we could have had, like, Mraz with no shirt on, Marco with no shirt on. Like, just running, going nuts.

Hickey, you would be able to actually run on, like, those other two where you could get past all the security and dodge just to create a chaotic situation for Richard Ackerman to do a play by play off. Nine guys, one inning. Spread it all out, too. It's like prank phone callers. Another one?

Another one? Like, what is going on here? Spread everyone out. One's in right field, one's down the first base line. Just run behind home plate, the nice seats, climb it up like the railing or climb up the netting.

It's real chaos. Remember that Marlins man guy who showed up to the stadium with, like, the really attractive girls? You get them, like, right in front of Ack in the press box and you have him having to overlook, try to call the game with all the distractions of the way that those good-looking girls were? Remember that with Marlins man? That was, like, a pretty boss move by him.

He showed up with just, like, two absolute smoke shows to the game and he's sitting for the whole world to see. That's when I liked Marlins man. I think he's still doing his thing, maybe not with the attractive ladies. I haven't heard much about Marlins man, really. I feel that he's calmed down a little bit.

The bit has kind of run out, right? I mean, look, you wear a Marlins jersey and a Marlins hat. We get it.

Alright, last one here. Nick Saban, he does a weekly coaches show on the Crimson Tide Sports Radio Network and I guess he takes calls. So this must be a regular caller, I would gather, named Pee-Wee and this was the entire interaction on what's wrong with the Alabama offense. Coach, how are you, sir?

Well, Pee-Wee, I've been wanting to talk to you all week, man. I mean, we've got to firm up the carpet. We're setting too soft. We're getting pushed back in the middle. Alright, everybody thinks we can't hold up against the Blitz, but they're sacking us with four-man rush, one three-man rush.

Only one sack came off of a pressure, so I wanted to ask you, what the hell's going on? Well, I believe you covered it all right there, Coach. We talked about a coach defusing a situation. I would gather that Pee-Wee is a regular caller who's probably critical, where there hasn't been a lot to be critical about and will ask coach these questions.

And this is a week where it's actually deserved to be critical of Alabama. And coach basically answered everything he knows what's wrong with the football team and kind of mocking what Pee-Wee was going to ask. And you know this, a lot of times with callers, if you ask them, the callers are good at asking you something, but then if you ask them something back, a lot of callers do panic and then they have nothing and then the whole situation right there is defused by Nick Saban. That's a genius job by jolly old Saint Nick Saban. I love Saban.

That's so funny. You tell me, Pee-Wee, what have I got to do? You want to come on the sideline tomorrow and coach the team?

Be my guest. Do you think Pee-Wee made the suggestion to go to Tyler Buckner? Because reportedly he's going to be the starting quarterback up against USF. Sounds like Pee-Wee knows who he's talking about.

Maybe. Alabama will turn their season around, the secret weapon of Pee-Wee. Pee-Wee leads Alabama back to national prominence and a national championship. From Pee-Wee to a national title. This is Pee-Wee football with the Crimson Tide. That'd be great. Maybe we get Pee-Wee to get on that quarterback show for Netflix.

They only got one quarterback in Matthew Stafford. You're going to need some bodies there. Get Coach Pee-Wee into the mix right there. Put a camera on him as he's watching Alabama every week. That'd be entertaining. That's what Alabama should do this week. If I was a video guy, wherever Pee-Wee watches the game, go film Pee-Wee for a while.

The Pee-Wee can. Yeah. Geez. That didn't sound right.

Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio. Imagine you're looking at a balancing scale with everything you do for other people on one side and everything you do for yourself on the other side. If it isn't balanced, maybe it's time to spend a little more time on you. And therapy is a great place to start. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist online who can help you find that balance and stick to it. Visit betterhelp.com slash positive to get 10 percent off your first month.

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Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. I know the Cowboys and Dak Prescott is always a controversial topic. I did not expect last night when we had Channing Crowder on from 560 WQAM, the former Dolphins linebacker inside the NFL pivot. Bunch of jobs that Channing Crowder has. And I think the world of Channing Crowder, I've known him for a long time. Him being critical of Dak Prescott, I did not think would result in 800,000 views and counting right now on social media. And it's a take that I think a lot of people have. And I'm surprised that it's this controversial.

So I know it's like about a 90 second clip, two minute clip. Let's play it back. This is Channing Crowder with us last night.

Now, you're always honest, Channing Crowder. Let's say you were in that Cowboys locker room. We know how great that Cowboys defense is, but the last two years in the postseason, the quarterback has held them back. What would be your honest assessment of Dak Prescott if you were in that locker room?

I would put that to the side. If I was in a locker room, my honest assessment of Dak is he's never going to win a Super Bowl. He's not good enough. I'm not a fan of Dak.

I've been saying it for years. He's going he's going to mess up in the big moments. But if I was if I was a Vander Esch, who plays my position, if I was a D law, if I was a Michael Parsons, who's a friend of mine, I would invite him to a nice dinner. I would sit him down, Zach, and I would tell him you're the problem of why we're not winning this defense. Oh, they brought in Stefan Gilmore to put on the opposite side of Trevon Diggs. Like they have Malik. Malik Hooker was over there. Vander Esch and Harper a lot of people can play that front for Dante Fowler is a backup on that deep rope.

This defense is a monster defense. You have all these all pros that Martin is going to the Hall of Fame. Smith, the tackle. He's the Hall of Fame type player. You have all this talent. Tony Pollard, C.D.

Lamb. You're bringing Brandon Cook, who's a blazer. Well, I love this roster. And you know what's going to happen is what I say all the time that there's going to be a playoff game. You're going to be down by four. It's going to be a minute and thirty seven seconds left on the clock.

And your ass got to go get a touchdown. And Zach, I mean, that is not going to do it. I've watched that fail over and over again. The forty nine. If you say the two the two numbers, forty and nine to that, he can't sleep that night.

We watched it two years in a row. Right. You're going to put some people that can rush on it. And Dak is not going to be able to perform there. The problem with the Cowboys is they're overpaid quarterback Dak Prescott. I've said it 100 times and I did not believe Dak will ever get a ring on his on his right finger. Somebody married me.

The good looking dude was very smart. But I don't believe that could get a ring if he's going for that. So I don't get what is so controversial here. Everything Channing Crowder said, I agree with in terms of you look at the Cowboys like just look at last year. They're up against the 49ers on paper. The 49ers are a heck of a team.

We all know that. But the Cowboys are also really good team. And the Cowboys defense was championship caliber last year. And in that playoff game, Dak threw two interceptions, which led to two field goals, and he only put up one touchdown drive. So if you look at this objectively and I know people could say, oh, well, if he cuts out the turnovers, then Dak can win a Super Bowl. But there's got to be a belief that he's going to be able to do that.

And I'm with Channing. I don't think week in and week out in the postseason, Dak will win 12 games a regular season. But in the playoffs, I don't think he consistently will be on the right side of it where he wins three games, four games in the postseason, or be good enough to do that to hoist the Lombardi Trophy, especially even in a year in the NFC where it's wide open. Like I picked the Cowboys this year to go to the NFC championship game against the Eagles. It's not as if I don't think they're a good team, but to get to the Super Bowl, which the franchise hasn't done since 1995, and to hoist the Lombardi Trophy, which the franchise hasn't done since 1995 is a totally different thing than just getting to an NFC title game, which, by the way, the Cowboys haven't been to since 1995. So, Hickey, I'm kind of and I usually have a good feel on when things are going to blow up and when we're going to be in the news. I'm surprised that this two minute exchange with Channing Crowder, where most people have this belief, I think most people are non-believers in Dak than believers in Dak of being a Super Bowl quarterback with the Cowboys.

I'm surprised that it's blown up to a to a spot now of over 800,000 views on social media. If you forget just the turnovers for a second, which I know is not easy to do and obviously a big part of why they're losing, but it's also you look at the playoffs, Dak has had many opportunities to come up clutch for the Cowboys, which really, when you pay your quarterback over 40 million dollars a year, that's when you want him to be at his best in the playoffs with a chance to win the game. Dak, just forget about his entire career, the last two years, has had chances to do that at home against the 49ers, on the road against the 49ers, failed and honestly never came close.

It wasn't like, oh, he got to the 10 and was stopped. They never, Dallas and really either game and even going back before that, never were putting a lot of drives together, that had you believing he can make a big time throw in a big time game. And on one of those interceptions, actually, it was like it was I think it was in the red zone, too. So even that one time where he finally started to move the ball, he ended up throwing an interception. And remember, in that game, they lost Tony Pollard early. And when it was on him, that offense has one touchdown drive. That's abysmal.

The only thing I could say here is because I've been tagged in this video a thousand times. I guess the pivot went to Oxnard in California with the Cowboys camp. And as Dak Prescott is running out, Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder and I think it was Fred Taylor was.

Yeah, because Fred Taylor's on the pivot with those guys was on the sideline and the three of them are like four, four, four. And Dak Prescott came running over and they dapped him up. So does that mean because Channing saying if he the question was if you were in that locker room and even said, if I was a Micah Parsons, if I was a Leighton Vander Esch, if I was a Demarcus Lawrence, I would pull Dak aside and take him to dinner and say, we need you to be better.

You're the reason why we haven't got there the last few years. If just because Channing Crowder dapped Dak Prescott up and then he says he doesn't believe that he's a Super Bowl winning quarterback, like he's not allowed to do that because you know how that bond is with players. Like they see each other.

They always say hello. So was he maybe looking a little bit like a fanboy? Yeah, I guess you could argue that, but I don't think how it takes away from the opinion of Channing Crowder there in that situation. If anything, I think it strengthens it just because we've seen so many times players have relationships and either former players, former coaches, whatever, defend their friend, maybe to the, you know, to the point of almost it's like, all right, you're being insane, thinking that this part can accomplish something because we've never seen it after X amount of years. I mean, you have that when you're a friend, you have that bond, you root for people and that sometimes it overtakes your analysis or your brain is biased towards wanting to root for them. So you start to think, oh, he can absolutely do it.

So you keep short. You want to say it's whatever. For me, Channing Crowder dapping up Dak honestly has nothing to do with his take. If anything, again, I think it only makes it the point that much stronger because this is a guy who seems to have a good relationship with Dak and is still telling you, I love Dak.

He's a friend. But the reality is, the truth is he can't win a Super Bowl as a quarterback. And the other thing here, too, is I love all the random people on social media that were like, who the heck is Channing Crowder? What the heck did he ever do in the National Football League?

I know it. He's not a Hall of Famer. He's not a Pro Bowler. But this was a guy that had a short career. I think there was a lot of injuries here.

He played from 2005 to 2010, but he had two seasons where he had over 100 tackles. It's not as if Channing Crowder was some bum on the football field. But I am surprised here, Hickey, how many Dak defenders there are. Because a lot of the conversation even coming from Cowboy fans that I've talked to is Dak is not as bad as what people make him out to be, but he definitely needs to be better. You would think Dak Prescott is a top five quarterback in the league with the way that Cowboy fans are defending him today with this clip. It's almost like one of those things where, like, how I say, Hickey, I can make fun of you, but in the moment somebody else outside of this show makes fun of you, that's where I get on the attack mode. That's what it kind of seems like we have here in this Cowboy-Dak Prescott, a Cowboy fan-Dak Prescott relationship. It's just because it was an outsider doing it.

Probably, yeah. That, and I think there are a lot of people that are blinded by the fact or think that Dak is not in the best position to succeed. I mean, I don't know, I think this is comparable, but at least being here in New York last year with Mike White coming in and throwing for one game over 400 yards, people were climbing for Mike White to be the starting quarterback for the Jets. There were serious people backing him as a legitimate starting quarterback.

And so it's like you almost get intoxicated if you see a small sample size or you see Dak play well in the regular season and win 10, 11, 12 games consistently, you almost get, okay, look, he can absolutely do it. And you, again, whether it's... Is it just because of one game where I know the defensive special teams was great and it's a new season and they won the game 40-0 against the Giants in the Cowboy fan mine? And I know it doesn't take much to get the Cowboy fan worked up.

Does that just mean that now you throw away what happened the last two years? I don't care what the Cowboys do in the regular season. The Cowboys we know are a good team.

It's going to be ultimately can they get the job done in the postseason? So maybe it is they're a little giddy after the Week 1 win, the Week 1 massacre at MetLife Stadium up against the Giants. I did reach out to Sean and RJ and I wanted their reaction about the Cowboys fans. And RJ said, you got the Dak heads after you.

I've been there. He's 7-12 in quarterback rankings, which is really good, but they make him out to be right behind Joe Burrow. And then Sean says, there is more Dak dislike from our radio audience than support.

So I guess, Hickey, this is just one of those anomaly situations where Channing really got under the skin of Cowboy fans here. Also, it is a big fan base, right? The Cowboys are a national fan base. So even if you have, I don't know, 25% of them, let's say, as Dak defenders and not like back Dak no matter what.

I mean, 25% of that Cowboys fan base is going to be louder than 25% of most normal fan bases because it's a high volume of people. I got to ask a serious question here to Marco Belletti and we're going to get an answer to something we were talking about earlier. Did you know a certain someone that we know is doing play-by-play tonight for a baseball team? Are we talking about our fellow colleague?

Okay. Someone that we have not, it's not Justin Shackle, it's not Emmanuel Babari. Did you know that Rich Ackerman is doing play-by-play for the Mets on 880 up against the Reds? Did he tell you that?

Yeah, that's why I'm here. Hickey. I knew I was in for Ack because I knew that he was doing the game tonight. Did he tell you not to tell us? No. Okay. Honestly, I thought you guys knew.

No. Ack told us off tomorrow. See you guys Monday. Didn't even tell us he's doing play-by-play. That's just a humble man is what that is.

That's a humble man. He didn't even tweet about it. Nothing. No posts. I'm not surprised he didn't tweet about it.

No promotion. Like, hey, listen, it's his first ever play-by-play experience for radio. That's the only part I did not know. That's the only part I didn't know.

MOB wise. Because Ack has done so much play-by-play for so many different sports. FS1, basketball.

All over the place. Ack's been around forever. I'm stunned that it's his first Major League Baseball play-by-play game. Stunned. Crazy. Because I didn't know that. But I did know that he was doing it. Yeah, for the last few weeks. I just assumed you guys knew.

No. I said to Hickey, if we would have known, I would have sent you to the stadium, Hickey to the stadium. We would have someone streaking on the field every inning to hear Ack describe it. Well, there's a reason why I'm here is because I had to fill in for Ack.

Oh, I would have got you off. Oh, great. Yeah, no, I definitely knew Ack was doing the game.

100%. And it was funny because before the show, for people that don't know, Justin Shackle, who used to do updates for me on the weekend overnights, and Emmanuel Barr, who has worked on the show, they're both calling the Yankee game together tonight. So we were talking about that, and I sit down and I see a tweet of Richard Ackerman looking as happy as he's ever been.

Like a fat kid in a candy store, a kid on Christmas Eve getting ready to go to bed, and he knows the presents are going to be there from Santa the next day. And it's his first ever MLB play-by-play experience on the radio. Couldn't believe it. And again, not surprised.

Humble and just, I'll see you Monday. That doesn't surprise me. I thought in general, he's known for a few weeks now, so I thought maybe just in passing that you guys had spoken about it or talked about it. Well, what's going to happen next? Ack's going to say he's off next Friday, he's going to be on a date with Taylor Swift?

That's possible. You never know with Ack. He's got a lot of connections.

Move on from Travis Kelce. He's got a lot of connections. You never know. And we know Ack is a smooth talker. There's no doubt about that. Yes, he is.

And a great-looking man, too. Again, you don't know. A lot of connections with Ack. You never know.

I feel like this, too, now. Whenever Ack retires, he's not going to tell anyone. We're just going to walk in there one Monday and be like, Ack retired.

This guy doesn't like the fanfare. If you want to know, I guess you can come to me then. I feel like Ack and I speak almost on a daily basis now. So, yeah, I guess I'll probably know. So come and ask me if that's the case. I'll try to remember to let you guys know. Okay. Just give us a wink-wink.

I'll try to let you know. This is Ack's final day, whenever that occurs. I feel like Ack and I have grown a lot closer in the last year or so. Ever since I took full time. Honestly, I feel like we speak on a daily basis now.

I think I thought our relationship with Ack was in a good spot, and we were a really tight show, and we would tell everyone things, and apparently not. He doesn't like you. What can I tell you?

What can I do here? Man, we're going to play some of his calls, though, on Monday. I'm sure he'll love that. Better go get him. Someone will cut up the tape this weekend, right? Better go get him.

I mean, we got people with a pulse in the newsroom. You better go get him. Yeah. Hey, can you cut that tape up right now? No, it's tonight.

You can go back in the locker and find it. Tonight, mark it down. Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio. When you need to know what's happening, it's time to get you in the huddle. The big question is Desmond Ritter. The problem that I think a lot of fans are having and looking at Desmond Ritter is they just haven't seen enough. They want to trust him. They want to believe. But I will tell you this, Jason.

In the training camp sessions that I had a chance to go check out, the one thing that bothered me was his aggressiveness to throw the football when he needed to. Listen and subscribe to In the Huddle, available on 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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Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Herm Edwards will join us at 8.20 p.m. Eastern, 5.20 p.m. Pacific. But first, let's go to the phones. 855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. Let's go to Dan in Wisconsin next up on the Zach Gelb Show.

Dan, what do you got? Hi. I'm kind of speaking for Packer Nation on the Rogers injury.

Okay. You know, of course, you got the outliners that got hurt. But, you know, like me personally and most of the people I've talked to, wanted to see them play. You know, we wanted to see, you know, what was going to happen just like the rest of the NFL. But, in some ways, it's kind of a relief. I mean, we watched that first game and, you know, in Chicago, Rogers was mentioned at least 20 times.

What was the over and under for the year was probably going to be 500 times worth. We have to listen to Aaron Rogers. You know, so it's kind of like, it almost feels like he's retired. So now we get to watch the Packers without that every week as comparison.

Well, let me ask you this, Dan. And I know that you weren't rooting for him to get hurt, obviously. I feel like you're a sane and good human being. But were you rooting for, like, would you have been rooting for Rogers this year with the Jets just because you rooted for him for so long? Or was it more so, all right, you want good health, but you want to see them lose games because then you would have got that first round pick and it would have been a better first round pick for you guys?

Yeah, you kind of hit it right on the head. You know, we didn't want to have the regret, but we still love Aaron Rogers. You know, he's going to Canton.

We all know it. Jordan Love, who knows? You know, for all of us, it's a wait and see. A wait and see. But at least there's a sigh of relief that's like, oh, geez, I don't, you know, it's almost like he's retired. Now, you know, probably come back next year, but then it'll be done, you know. We're still going to hear about it for two or three weeks.

Sure. But I think by week four or five, you know, we're not going to hear Aaron Rogers constantly brought up during a game, you know. Yeah, unless if you're tuning in and thanks for the phone call, Dan, and good phone call right there. Unless if you're tuning into a Jets game, then that's going to be talked about all throughout the season. That's an interesting perspective because I know, Hickey, you've dealt with this when your quarterback, right, they got rid of them and paid a Manning and eventually got Andrew Luck and there was excitement there. My team, right, was Brady left because Belichick did a bad job handling Brady at the end. And that first year when Brady was in Tampa, like I was rooting for Brady because I watched this guy for so many years and he's my favorite player. And for Packers fans, yes, it would have been better for you if Rogers was healthy and Rogers was, let's say, losing games.

Or even if he was winning games, at least you still got the first round pick if he played 65 percent of the snaps. But I do think naturally, Hickey, part of you just can't eliminate the love for Aaron Rogers just because he's on a different team with how your body was kind of programmed for the last 15 years or so. It's hard to turn the switch off, like I said, when it's been that long. Alrighty, let's take a break here. We'll come on back. Five players that need to make a statement this weekend in the NFL. Herm Edwards will join us once again at 8.20 p.m. Eastern, 5.20 p.m. Pacific.