Colorado or Alabama Vulnerable To Upset? (Hour 2)

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If you missed any of the conversation in hour number one, you could always use that rewind function on the free Odyssey app. We broke down the game between the Lions and Chiefs last night to kick off the season. A lot of overreaction today if you're dissecting the Kansas City Chiefs. It's just stupid after one game to be like, oh, they're in trouble. They can't win a Super Bowl this year without having Chris Jones and also Travis Kelce. They only lost the game by one point. And then if you're a Lions fan, and we did talk about the other side of it, it's validation from some of the hype in this offseason.

Where if you lose that game when the Chiefs don't have Chris Jones or Travis Kelce and Kadarius Tonys dropping the ball left and right and even gave you a pick six because that shouldn't be on the Holmes. Then it would have been one of those days of man, the Lions, we said they were all that this offseason, but then they didn't follow through on a big national stage last night. You also have two enormous college football games this weekend, Colorado and Nebraska with all the talk about Coach Prime making his debut in front of the home fans had the big performance last week up against TCU.

Coach Adore Sanders was awesome. We all got to see the two way star of Travis Hunter. And then you also have a big game where a lot of people are doubting Alabama. And then you have a lot of people optimistic about Texas this year where we had the Longhorns going up against the Alabama Crimson Tide. When we look at the college football slate this weekend, when we talk about other big games like Nebraska, Colorado because of Coach Prime has a big game feel. We know Texas Alabama is a big game. The only other two games that you may want to throw in that big game category. I don't know if we are there yet is it's like it's an important game. It's a fun game, but I don't know if you call it a big game is Texas A&M Miami and then also Ole Miss going up against Tulane.

Would you classify those? And I know you're probably a little bit more lenient on that than I am as big games this upcoming weekend. No, I would like to I would say fun games like Ole Miss Tulane should be an offensive explosion.

So that's like I would say more in the fun category because I don't think many people have high hopes for either team. So it's like a big game where one's going to really cement themselves as Ole Miss is here to stay. But I think one of those really fun back and forth games and A&M Miami is honestly more for the head coaches. It's kind of the same thing where it's not going to be 52-45 but it's going to be really whenever this game ends it's what are people going to be talking about on Twitter whether it's Jimbo Fisher getting fired if he loses the game or Mario Cristobal Miami fans going after him now because you see no improvement early on in year two. And Jimbo Fisher the last you know last year and then you know you can't really evaluate him yet after one game.

He has so much talent and he was just god awful last year. And now you bring in Bobby Petrino we think to be your offensive coordinator. And it's like okay what's that role going to look like throughout the duration of the of the season with how stubborn Jimbo Fisher is but you know it's kind of crazy to me. And I know Miami fans are really tired because for basically the last 15-20 years we keep on asking the question is Miami back and you keep on bringing in the next head coach and they keep on failing. But Mario Cristobal was one of their own and they were coveting him for years and they finally got him. And I know last year was not a good season but it does surprise me a little bit how quickly the Miami fan at least it feels like it has soured on Mario Cristobal where if they lose this game and they probably should lose the game to A&M.

And A&M is a more talented team but if you lose this game man I know what we heard last year from the Miami fam but that's going to get echoed even louder if you lose this big game to Texas A&M which the Miami fam will tell you a big game but I don't know how big of a game it is nationally. So I'll be honest I am conflicted when it comes to firing coaches early on because there are plenty of mechanisms now where you should be able to build your roster and turn it over very quickly. Well I will say I have to call a little cap on you on that one I feel like you like to fire coaches quickly. You advocate a lot to fire coaches quickly. I'll be honest I was my senior year at Penn State screaming to fire James Franklin. Ah well you were right on that one. So and he's obviously needed time turns around I honestly would have advocated for a Florida State firing Mike Norvell and they started 0-4 in 2021 and it's one of those things where you're losing to Jacksonville State it's like this 2020 was a disaster 2021 is off to a worse start I would have fired him. So it's one of those it's tough because I think it depends on the situation the circumstance. It's not like Cristobal took over a Miami team that was like 9-3, 9-3, 9-3 and now your goal is to take it to the top.

It was a program that was down for a while. But when you lose the middle Tennessee that really lets all the air out of the balloon of the Mario Cristobal balloon. Now again Saban turns around fast but Nick Saban also lost to was it Georgia Southern I think it was in his first year like there are instances where you can be a rock bottom early and turn it around. I don't think I would say case by case I know last week we're talking about Billy Napier getting fired in Florida and I will stand by that take if things go worse.

I don't think Miami should be in a position to fire Cristobal after year two. You could lose a lot of games in year one but you got to show some signs and you got to be competitive. And you look at and they lost 17-9 to A&M last year but then it was 45-31 loss to middle Tennessee. They lose to Duke 45-21 you lose to Florida State 45-3 Clemson wasn't in a great spot at the end of the season you lose to them 40-10 you lose to Pitt 42-16. I think it was not only losing to middle Tennessee but then down the stretch where you hope to show signs of improvement in year one and you really then have a bunch of weeks to take that step in the right direction.

It was three of those games I know they beat Georgia Tech but already fired their coach at the time 35-14 but three of those four games they weren't even competitive in those games. And that's where I think you quickly start to lose the Miami fam but I don't think I would say he is on the hot seat this year but I don't think he should be on the hot seat. Where if you have another underwhelming year then you're definitely going into next year on the hot seat. But I think right now saying that he's on the hot seat after one game and they won the game right 38-3 it's Miami Ohio who cares. But even if they lose this game this week as long as they're competitive I think it would be a rush to say that they're on the hot seat. If Mario Crystal Ball wants to lose to my alma mater coming up on September 23rd at Temple I would fully be on board with that.

Then I'd be leading the hot seat charge for a guy that I like. I won a Mario Crystal Ball years ago when Temple hired Matt Ruhle. I wanted the Owls to hire Mario Crystal Ball.

I was always a big fan of Mario Crystal Ball. Except on September 23rd when I'm sure you'll be cursing him out. Yeah I hope he loses by 45. EJ Warner no pressure but hey a lot to live up to here. I don't know if my alma mater even wants me in the crowd for that game. I don't know. They may not want that loud-mouthed Zach Gelb in the crowd.

They put me up on the big screen last year when it was UMass. But now we got a big game? I don't know we'll see. You're 45-3 in the third quarter.

Are you staying? 45-3 Temple? No. Miami.

Miami? Well here's the thing. Taking the early train home?

Here's the thing folks. Are you going to the game? So I'm planning on going to the game now. They don't have the time of the game announced.

I have to do the Sunday 8 hour show. I don't think it's going to be a 7 o'clock game. I think we're probably going to get noon or 3.30. If it is a noon game I will absolutely be there. If it is a 3.30 game I will probably be there. But I do plan to go to that game.

Ideally I would hope for noon, get up early Saturday, take the train down then I could get an afternoon train. But I will book the train ticket back before I go down there. So even if it's a blowout of a game, as long as the people I go with want to stay. It really doesn't give me any benefit to leave early because the train is the train time. Now my friends say if it is a blowout late in that fourth quarter and we want to leave I'm not going to sit there by myself. Okay that's fair. Right?

Yeah. I'm not a bad fan here. Heck I was at UMass last year. I go to a game every year. That's the game that I think I'm going to go to this year.

And it kills me this weekend. They're playing Saturday night in Piscataway, New Jersey. I can't make the trip there. I have other obligations. And I wanted to go to that game because that would be a fun game.

Are there any Rutgers on Saturday? You're not going to go? Yeah. I got other obligations. Wow.

Some fan. I got other obligations. It's a big game for Temple.

I had a previous commitment and I can't get out of the previous commitment right now. And they should have, Chiano even said it, they should have beat Rutgers last year. They ended up losing by two points.

That's a winnable game. You know what I hope for? Chris Carlin. Very sad on Saturday night. I hope Carlin is crying. Crying? Yeah. Where's the pandemonium in Piscataway now, big guy?

That would be a fun text. He's crying over a loss at Temple. We've got to adjust those expectations for this year.

Let me tell you what. If you're talking about an 11-1, 12-0 Rutgers team, then all of a sudden that was derailed because it was a Temple in week two. And now the dreams of going to the Big Ten title game or cultural platform are over. Well, one of the more deflating losses in my life was Temple Rutgers when I was calling the game. And it was in, I think it was in Rule's first season there, where they were playing teams that they were not better than. And they would be in the fourth quarter down to the final few minutes.

They would lose the game every time. They won two games that year. And it looked like they had the Rutgers game in the bag. It was like fourth and short. They ran out of a pistol formation on fourth and one.

Did not get it. And then shortly after that, Leontae Carew, I believe the guy's name was, had the receiving touchdown, and I was just deflated. So I would say, a little payback. That would be my text to Carla on Saturday, a little payback from Leontae Carew. Sounds like Matt Rule's year number one is perfect for what Nebraska's gotten through the last few years. So that pain that they felt, the pain he's felt, they are just married into one.

It really is. There was a game against UCF when Blake Bortles was the quarterback. And they had them, they should have won the game. And then J.J. Worden, the receiver, I don't know if you remember that name, made this sick one-handed catch. It was on SportsCenter for weeks. That's right, in the back of the end zone. That was a sick catch. Anyway, five questions, five answers.

I don't even know where. We're going to talk about Mario Cristobal potentially on the hot seat. Because he's going to allegedly, possibly, lose the temple in two weeks. So forget about tomorrow and the hot seat.

The real hot seat talk is coming in two weeks in Philly September 23rd, maybe at 4 o'clock p.m. Eastern. After temple pulls off, one of the biggest upsets ever. All I'll say is my guy Silky, who mans the grill on the tailgate, you better have the cheese steaks ready to go if I'm making the schlep down to Philadelphia for a little temple football.

And my temple tempers will have the beer flowing, no doubt about that. Five questions, five answers. Onside, offside. Hot day Kiki on a football Friday. 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. All right, hiccup night.

What do you got for me? All right, Zach Gelb, we just were talking about college football, so let's keep that college football talk going, because tomorrow is the first home game for Deion Sanders and co. As they host, Matt rules Nebraska and throwing back to an old rivalry, Colorado and Nebraska. You've got to say Cornhuskers there.

I guess you're right, the Buffaloes and the Cornhuskers. Who's going to win, the corn or the animal? We'll see. Do you think at any point this year Deion will ride into the game on a Buffalo?

Honestly, I would not be surprised. I hope he wears a cowboy hat tomorrow. He pulls it off really well. He wore it at the spring game, he rocked the hell out of it.

I'd wear it tomorrow. Who pulled off the cowboy hat better? Yours truly a few weeks ago? And you said I looked really good in it. You did. Or Deion Sanders? Not a slide against you, Deion pulled it off really well.

It's the right answer. He pulled it off really well. He has more swag than I do. He looked like the sheriff. He looks cool. You look like a cowboy, which again is a good compliment, but Deion looks like he is in charge of the town. Yeah, I look good in the cowboy hat. I don't make the cowboy hat look cool. Deion makes everything look cool. He does. Especially California almonds.

That's true. I saw the commercial today. It came on a few weeks ago, promoted California almonds. And they do a TV commercial and he pulls this lever and all the almonds fall on him.

Is that when he's in the bath way? Yeah. Very slick. Smart.

Very smooth. We'll take some almonds. Still, I like almonds. All you are.

All yours. That's for sure. You don't like almonds? No, I like almond cookies. But you don't like almonds?

That's correct. I'm kind of surprised. Well, not surprised at all. You have a taste buds of a three-year-old. Well, unique maybe is a better word to describe it.

Go ahead. Also, speaking of unique, that was a hell of a win last week for the Buffalo's upsetting TCU. Their offense was unstoppable, led by Sheridor Sanders and Travis Hunter. And now in Nebraska, we just talked about heartbreak. They come in off of a heartbreaking loss in Matt Ruhl's first game. Coughing up a seven-point lead of five minutes to go, eventually losing in regulation to Minnesota 13-10. Now the spread in this one buffs favored by two and a half points.

Onsides or offsides, Colorado will win and move to 2-0. You guys know me. I love Ruhl. I love now Nebraska.

I also love Coach Prime. I just look at the talent on Colorado. They're quick and they have more talent. And I can't trust the quarterback sims coming over from Georgia Tech.

I just saw what Sheridor Sanders did. Plus you have the speed of Travis Hunter on both sides of the ball. I think Colorado is going to move to 2-0. So I will go onsides on that one, which by the way, I remember we were talking about their schedule. There was a producer and talk show host here when I was like, if they could split the first two games of the season, that would be a big win. And you were like, no way that they're going to split the first two games against TCU in Nebraska.

So I'm at 0-2. So as Coach Prime would say, you're a non-believer, Hickey. Non-believer. Do you believe now?

Well, let me ask you this. You believe it in Colorado this weekend or are you going back to the well with Nebraska? I am rolling with your guy, Matt Ruhl. It was also your coach that you picked last year that didn't work out for you.

That is true. So I'm going back down the well of Matt Ruhl and believe it. He burned me once, but not this time. You had Matt Ruhl as the coach of the year last year. He got fired, what, four or five weeks into the season. I think it was week five.

Not great. With Daniel Hackett being in the top three for coach of the year as well. And he was fired after week 15 or 16. So nailed both.

Kiss of death. If I'm a coach who's coaching for his job, I'm tuning into the show and just praying that Hickey is not making me on any award list this year. Now our picks for this season, last week I picked, I think it was Sean Payton, coach of the year.

I'm going to go on a limb here. He won't be one and done. It's a guarantee he's not getting fired. So at least that streak will end with picking coach of the year and having them get fired.

Alright. Nebraska is a big one, very intriguing, the biggest game over the weekend in college football. Number 11, Texas visiting number three, Alabama. You got to say it correctly.

Number three, Alabama. I'll let you do the Verne Lundquist because I cannot do Verne, I will not do Verne injustice by trying to mimic the great Verne. Also, you think Verne's going to be watching Tiki Barber this weekend on CBS to see how he works the telestrator? I hope not. I hope not for Tiki's perspective and I hope not for our perspective because if he wants to voice his opinion, think he knows the safe space where to go, put us in a bad spot.

So I want to get Tiki on next week for many reasons and we see him every day and we have a good relationship with Tiki. Do you think the relationship would be over if I played him what Verne had to say about him using the telestrator? Do you think he would chuckle at it? I think he would laugh.

The relationship would definitely not be over because you didn't say it, Verne said it and you didn't goad him into saying it. He just literally came out of left field and said, hey, guess what? I was watching this game the other day and this guy sucked. Guess who it was? Tiki Barber.

Oh my God. No way. He's on three hours before us. And correct me if I'm wrong. That was right after John Madden passed away. Maybe. Because he was talking about how great Madden was on the telestrator. I don't know exactly, but that would make sense as to why that was brought up. Think about that. We bring on Verne Lundquist to talk about the passing of the great John Madden and somehow in that interview, he takes a shot at Tiki Barber.

Verne is having a good time in retirement, that's for sure. But going back, Texas, Alabama, crazy game last year, 2019 victor where Alabama was kind of lucky to squeeze out of Austin there with the win. Quinn Ewers, Texas quarterback had a big first quarter over 120 passing yards before we did leave with a shoulder injury. Both teams, no surprise, week one cupcakes did breeze right by this one at home, Crimson Tide, seven point favorite. So I'll ask you Zach, onsides or offsides, Texas will upset Alabama. Now I picked Texas to win the Big 12. They lose this game, it won't impact them because Alabama's in the SEC. We know Texas is going to go to the SEC next season. I would not minus the points with Alabama here, but I do think Alabama is going to win the game. There's too much Alabama doubt right now, and I've seen this script too many times. I think Jalen Milro has a good game. When you ask me, Texas will beat Alabama, I really want to pick Texas, but my gut just tells me Saban's going to find a way to send a Big Week 2 statement.

So I will go offside here, Alabama is going to win the game. The Lions pulled off an impressive 21-20 win over the Chiefs to kick off the NFL season last night. The Chiefs were without Travis Kelce and Chris Jones, and after the game, Mike Tirico and NBC did not really shy away from that. This has an asterisk because I know Chris Jones and I know Travis Kelce, but after what you saw at the end of last year, and what you saw tonight, it seemed to do it so beautifully.

So you got to be careful with your words clearly when you're an announcer. After hearing that again, I feel as if once he said it, he then kind of realized he probably shouldn't have said it because he was giving the Lions a compliment, and then it seems like a backhanded compliment when you say what you said before it. I don't think he's right though, because injuries are part of the NFL.

I don't think that's a cheap victory for the Lions last night because Chris Jones has a contract dispute and Travis Kelce couldn't get on the field, like the Kelce thing you couldn't control, but the Chris Jones thing you could have controlled, you could have paid him money. So I'm not going to hold that against the Detroit Lions, so I don't think Tirico's right there, so I'll go offside. The most anticipated matchup of week one of the NFL comes on Monday night as Aaron Rodgers makes his long awaited Jets debut hosting the Buffalo Bills.

It's been the summer of Aaron, who's been the darling of New York, while Buffalo looks to keep a stranglehold on the division that's arguably the best in the league. Onsides are offside, Zach. The Jets have the most pressure to win on week one.

Oh, that's offside. And here's why. You're going up against a team that's been really good for the last few years in the Buffalo Bills, and you're going up against another top five quarterback in the league in Josh Allen. You can't get embarrassed. You've got to keep that game close. But if I look at... Is this just team or just quarterback?

Team. I still think it's the Cowboys. Going up against the Giants, a team that you're better than, right? You have all the drama with the Cowboys, the Dak Prescott storyline. If Dak and the Cowboys have a stinker up against the Giants, I think that's a really bad look, even though the Giants are improved as an organization making the playoffs a year ago.

But I think the most pressure is actually on the Cowboys this weekend. And finally, three rookie quarterbacks are set to make their debuts on Sunday as number one pick Bryce Young takes on the Falcons. Anthony Richardson and the Colts host the Jaguars.

And CJ Stroud starts his career in Baltimore as the Texans play the Ravens. Oh, also, just one more real quickly, Vikings do have a lot of pressure against that Tampa Bay team without Tom Brady. Vikings go in the game this way. You can't have a Kirk Cousins stinker this weekend.

A lot of pressure to go around and start the season. I'll ask you this, onsides or offsides, at least one rookie quarterback will win their debut on Sunday. So we look at these matchups, you have Richardson going up against the Jaguars, nope. The Panthers are playing the Atlanta Falcons. Panthers are going to be without a lot of wide receivers. I like Atlanta in that one. And then you have the Houston Texans playing the Ravens. Ah, I think they're all going 0 and 3. So at least one rookie quarterback will win on Sunday. I will go offsides. This is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio. You can think of O'Reilly Auto Parts for all your car care needs, get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts.

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Check eligibility and schedule this season's covid-19 shot on the CDC site vaccines dot gov. Sponsored by Pfizer and BioNTech. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show, Zach Gelb show CBS Sports Radio. So right as the football season kicked off last night, you had a record breaking extension where it was a five year deal for two hundred and seventy five million dollars for Joe Burrow and two hundred and nineteen point five million of that was guaranteed.

So that dropped right as the season did kick off between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Detroit Lions today. So the reaction from that is, OK, no crap. He was going to get an enormous deal. The question was, would he take less money or would he spread it out over more years? I have no problem with what Joe Burrow did. You reset the market. Yes, you take a whole lot of money.

I don't fault anyone, though, for doing this on a five year deal and resetting the entire market and really the entire league when it comes to contracts. But I did see a report today from Kelsey Conway, who I'm not familiar with their work, but she is the Bengals beat reporter for the Inquirer and also USA Today. And she also does Cincinnati Bearcats sideline. She got like forty five thousand followers. That's how you really trust someone on Twitter. But she covers the team full time. Right. It's a team beat reporter.

So you have sources. And she said that T.Higgins is not believed to be in the Bengals future plans. There's no word about a trade coming for Higgins at this time, but a possible tag and trade could happen in this off season. Now, you look at the Bengals. What makes them so fun is you have Joe Burrow, you have Jamar Chase, you have T.Higgins, and then also you have Tyler Boyd.

Let me ask it to you this way, Hickey. Is giving this extension to Burrow, which you had to do, but Burrow not taking a discount. Does this price out T.Higgins, who could be a number one wide receiver on a lot of other teams in the league, but his role right now is a number two wide receiver. Does this price out the Bengals from getting a deal done with with T.Higgins? I think so.

Yes. You have Jamar Chase to pay next year. You got Orlando Brown Junior now like you got a lot of people to pay. Also remember Tyler Boyd, if it's going to be pick one or the other between T.Higgins and Tyler Boyd, I think most people I know, most people would say pay T.Higgins over Tyler Boyd. But with that being said, Tyler Boyd would come at a cheaper price tag. Tyler Boyd is also a free agent at the end of this season. Yeah, no, I stand by that. So I don't see how that your T.Higgins, a lot of people would say is a borderline number one receiver on most teams.

Oh, put it this way. If he's looking for a lot of money, I don't see how Cincinnati is going to afford that. Even if Jamar Chase, all right, we all know he's a top five receiver in the sport. He's a number one wide receiver. If you ask me, T.Higgins, is he a number one wide receiver in this league?

Yes. I ultimately think that it's just weird that this is the report right now. And I know it's right in the aftermath of Joe Burrow and clearly these contract negotiations haven't gone well.

But part of me says, like, how serious do I have to take this report? Because yes, Jamar Chase is going to be priority number one. You could tag T.Higgins. And if you tag T.Higgins, is T.Higgins going to automatically say, I want out, I'm done? Or is T.Higgins going to say, I'll play a year on the tag, no problem.

Then if you don't give me that extension, then you could tag me again if you want. Like I don't think just because they tag T.Higgins means that that he's necessarily gone next season. Yeah, I would agree. Because again, I think we also see the NFL there. If they say, if it says trade me and the Bengals say no, what is he going to do? I also think how they perform this year factors into this. Where how many times you see a team win a Super Bowl and the Bengals are clearly a team that can win a Super Bowl this year.

Well, maybe not anymore because Hickey and I both picked the Bengals to win the Super Bowl. So it probably means they won't win the Super Bowl this year. But if they do win a Super Bowl, I would actually feel better that T.Higgins would be leaving the Bengals compared to right now. I still think there's a good shot that they're able to find a way to work this deal out and then cut corners in other areas. But with that being said, the Bengals operate a different way.

Now they're in like a new era. And you know for sure that they're going to take care of Joe Burrow. You know Joe Burrow is going to make sure that they take care of Jamar Chase without close to those two guys are going back to their days from LSU. Ultimately, though, you know what, the more you think about it, you are probably right that T.Higgins is going to be on his way out. Because if you look at the compensation, we've seen safeties go for multiple first round picks. Bare minimum, if T.Higgins becomes available, even if it's on the franchise tag and you're eventually going to have to give him a new deal if you're another team, I would feel pretty comfortable giving up a first round pick. Let's say my Patriots, Mac Jones, let's say, has a solid season this year. They believe in Mac Jones after this year. They're looking for a number one wide receiver.

And let's say they just missed out on the playoffs, they're like picking 18th or 19th. I would easily give that and then some to go get a deal done for T.Higgins and then lock him up long term. And if you want to then in that thinking, use that first round pick to then draft a receiver. We've seen plenty of receivers.

Higgins is established. Right. But what I'm saying, like it's also easier to pick a receiver now and have them make an instant impact because that's a position that's very developed and it's quicker and easier to have them come in right away and be a legit piece.

So you can easily do that too. First round pick. But on now, another guy that's going to be cost effective for four years stinks.

But it's meth. And also he turns 25 in January. It's not as if this guy is is going into his 30s, right? He has a contract that he's going to get before he turns 30. And we'll see the length of that contract before he even turns 30. So it's not as if you you look at T.Higgins and you trade from you go, oh, man, he can't give you four or five really good, fantastic seasons. The Bengals are not going to get if they get rid of him.

It's not because of his age, his talent. Like it's just money. Fortunately, right. It's a catch 22 in a way because you want to have a lot of talented players on your team. They are doing that. But then the hard part is, how do you keep all of them happy and paid? That's where GMs get paid a lot of money to balance the books.

And sometimes you got to cut players and move on or trade players because you simply just can't afford everybody. The compelling part of this is what happens when Burrow makes that big push for T.Higgins? Because if we shoot Joe Burrow up a truth serum, I think he would sacrifice Tyler Boyd and say goodbye to Tyler Boyd.

We all know that compared to T.Higgins. I wonder how much of a push Burrow does make. Now Burrow's already locked up, agreed to a new deal, all that. So it's like, what leverage do you really have?

But you are the organization right now. If Joe Burrow sits down and says, you guys better go pay T.Higgins or I'm going to be really annoyed, I wonder how that changes the conversation at all. And then you're going to have to cut or move on from other guys to make sure that you are able to give T.Higgins close to number one wide receiver money too. I mean, I hate to say it this way, but I don't see how Joe Burrow is able to do that. It's almost like if you're the Jimmy, you point back and say, well, you can't do that Joe is because we're paying you this amount of money.

And now we've got Jamar Chase as well. And I would say tough luck. Simple math, like you can't then give up some money. Maybe they can renegotiate that contract too. If Joe Burrow wants to put, like I'm saying it in this scenario, if Joe says sign T.Higgins no matter what, if you're the Jimmy, you guys said, then you put your money in your mouth and renegotiate and restructure because we can't afford everything right now with what you were paying you. Which that could happen too, where he's not going to lose any money, but they would just restructure his deal and push it out. So you could open up more cap on a year to year basis and throw that into a more guaranteed into signing.

I mean, there's a chance. And again, I know the salary cap is up and down or whatever, but if Jamar Chase makes $30 million, which now is top-level receivers are getting. If T.Higgins wants $25 million, Joe Burrow is making 55 a year, that's $110 million of the salary cap tied to three players.

That's unsustainable. You're not wrong in theory, but how many times do we sit there and talk about the Saints every year? They're like $100 million over the cap and they always find the way to get the deal done or the Eagles.

There's so many years I was in this press conference in Philadelphia. Oh, they're never going to find a way to get under the cap and they didn't really have to shed that many good players. It happens. You find the way to figure it out, but the price tags are now so rich at quarterback and then also wide receiver.

You're not wrong in terms of it being difficult. Probably yeah, we're leaning towards the more you think about it and talk it out that T.Higgins will be somewhere else, whether it's next year or the year after that. If they win a Super Bowl, I think he's definitely gone because then he'll try to go be a number one wide receiver somewhere else and then it'll get a fat payday and won't take a discount with the Cincinnati Bengals. But that's going to be the tough part with this contract because he probably feels like he's a number one wide receiver, but the Bengals know he's not their number one wide receiver and he could be someone else's number one wide receiver.

And usually when you get into this money situation of, okay, maybe this guy takes less, 9.9 times out of 10, the player does not take less. So you know, I was saying maybe we'll text Jim Burrow, Joe Burrow's father. He actually did get back to me last night. He said, it's a great day for the Bengals and a great day for the Burrows. I love Jimmy Burrow, former college coach as well.

Really good dude. When I got to know him for a little bit and he's come on the show a few times, going back to when I was covering the Heisman Trophy presentation and got to spend a day or two with the Burrow family. But that's got to be awesome, right? You're a football coach. Your son has this great rise, wins the Heisman Trophy, has an all time great run at LSU and ends up being the first overall pick. And now you got to think that the Bengals, they have like a window here. I would be surprised if Joe Burrow, doesn't mean you're definitely going to do so, but I would be surprised if Joe Burrow doesn't end up getting the Super Bowl in the league. He just has that it factor.

Same. And outside of obviously winning a Super Bowl, going back to when it started in 2019, it's very hard to have a better five year stretch than what Joe Burrow's had. If your son, let me ask this question around the room. If your son signs a 275 million dollar contract and he says, Dad, I want to get you a gift. What do you want?

What do you tell your kid? What do you think Jim Burrow would ask for here? Wow. I am not prepared for that. What would I want?

It's right here. You got to give me an answer on the fly. I would say a beach house. Is that too crazy?

A beach house? Yeah. I like that. No, that's good. That's good. Yeah.

That's good. Ack? A little man cave. A man cave?

Wow. What's in the man cave? You know, a TV. Maybe a recliner. Only one?

Can we get like six or seven? You know what? Because he's a father. He's a coach. He's probably spent his lifetime conserving his income. And I'm probably guessing he's going to say, you know, I wouldn't mind a TV, but, you know, don't worry about it because I don't think he's not the type of guy that's going to say, give me a house. You know, no father says that, especially a guy who...

The kid just usually does it. Yeah. So I'm saying, you know, a TV would suffice, but I figured while we're going TV, you know, maybe... Nice man cave. Like a $30,000 man cave. You can afford it.

Yeah. It doesn't have to be that nice. That's like pennies for a burrow now.

Nice couch is probably about two grand and you get a TV for a thousand. It's three. I'm actually surprised you wouldn't ask for Peter Luger. Like go buy Peter Luger, then you run the restaurant. No, no, no, no. They, no, they do a great job. You can't mess with that.

No, you got to let the pros do their thing. You know, I would want like a sick car, like a car that there's no way that I could afford that type of car. That's just a boss type of car. That's what I would look for right away. I like your answer though, Hickey.

I think that's a good answer. Like a really, really nice beach house. Like we're talking multimillion dollar beach house.

You don't do crazy. Yeah, like seven, $8 million beach house. Your son just signed a $275 million deal. He's going to take care of himself, save some money.

He can never play a snap. Save some money. That guy is 219 guaranteed. A lot of people go broke. Hey, I listen, I would love to find out how much fun it is and how quick I could burn through $275 million. Ask the Charles Freewell. I will not be the main reason why my son is now broke.

Any reason, maybe you can think of early auto parts where your car care needs get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly auto parts. When you need to know what's happening, it's, it's, it's, it's time to get hit in the huddle. And nobody's picking the coast to win the super bowl. So let's just go learn, right? Well, this was always going to happen. Jim Mersey is calling all the shots there and the hunky top man didn't draft this kid where they drafted this kid to have him look great in practice and look awesome running the scout team. You know what I mean?

But, but yeah, let's play this Minshew cat or whatever on Sunday, like no way. Listen and subscribe to in the huddle available on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your latest podcast. Introducing Carvana value tracker, where you can track your car's value over time and learn what's driving it. It might make you excited.

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You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. Stream the NFL on Westwood One for free sponsored by AutoZone. All season long, you could listen to every Westwood One broadcast of the NFL live on the NFL app by asking Alexa to open Westwood One Sports on the Odyssey app. Get in the zone AutoZone.

AutoZone's free battery testing and charging is available for free at your local AutoZone get in the zone AutoZone restrictions apply. So three games this weekend in college football, and we'll just ask you a simple question. Which coach is under more pressure, Texas, Alabama, Nick Saban or Steve Sarkeesian? Anyone that's saying Nick Saban is under pressure heading into this game, have you not watched college football for the last 10 plus years, he is not under any pressure. There's more pressure on SARC.

This is a big year for SARC. Final year in the Big 12 before going over to a tougher conference in the SEC. You are going with Quinn Ewers, Arch Manning's your third string quarterback. You're expected to win the Big 12 this year. This was a game last year where if you did not lose Quinn Ewers, you probably defeat Alabama because you lost them. Remember Drew Brees was advocating for him to get back into the game with that cringe worthy Instagram post at halftime. And then Texas loses by one point without Quinn Ewers 20 to 19. I think Kiki here, it's not even close. There's more pressure on Steve Sarkeesian compared to the great Nick Saban.

Oh, without a doubt. I mean, he's arguably coaching for his job. Texas going to the SEC next year. You can't win this game. You blow the Big 12 this year and don't win that the last time you're in the conference.

SARC needs this one. So I don't think he, like, don't get me wrong, you want to win the game. But if he loses and it's close, I don't, I don't believe people are gonna be like fire Steve Sarkeesian. As long as, as long as this, this ship does not sink this year, I do believe because he got Arch Manning there, that he will be around next season. Now, if they pull a Jimbo Fisher this year and go five and seven, then I believe that's a different conversation. But if they get to like eight or nine wins and that being the low part of this year, I don't believe Steve Sarkeesian is getting fired. Deion Sanders or Matt Ruhle? What's your answer on this one? Which coach is under more pressure this weekend?

This is really tough. The reason why I'm still leaning Deion, to be honest, is just because I think he's, he is someone that's a lightning rod where either people that are championing him will back him every win or people that are doubting him will push him down every single loss. So I still think this is going to be a big prove it year, especially before the schedule gets hard.

I do think this week specifically, because there's a lot of tension on if he loses, a lot of people will say, pump the brakes, use a fluke, right? Let's not get overhead of ourselves. Now the tape is out.

Now people are seeing. And this could, again, when you have USC coming up soon in Utah could lead to a little bit of a trickle down effect in a negative way. So it's so weird because both these coaches are first year coaches at their respective programs and Deion we know as coach at Jackson State before Matt Ruhle was at Temple and Baylor before going to the NFL and now coming back to college, actually there's more pressure on Matt Ruhle because if Deion loses, I understand most people expect Deion to win this week, but if Deion loses and you are one and one after TCU and Nebraska on your schedule, if I would have told that to you Hickey and I did before the start of the season, if they split that's a win and you were like, nah, they'll be 0-2. So I think most people did not expect them to win early and he already took care of one. Now you can't get embarrassed this weekend, but I don't think Nebraska has the offense where they will get embarrassed.

So as long as this game is close, one and one isn't a terrible look for Deion Sanders. I do think they're expected to win, but if Nebraska loses another close game and I know Matt Ruhle is a builder and trust me, I know that better than anybody, but then it's kind of as if the Nebraska fan, I don't think they lose confidence in Ruhle, but then it's okay. You have this new coach who, yes, he's a builder, but he's taking over the best situation compared to the other two stops at Temple and then also Baylor, which were just horrible spots. You lose two games close, then it's, uh, here we go again, a little bit of that feeling from the Nebraska fan. I'll give you credit. You said it last year after Florida beat Utah week one, you said that actually may be more damaging for Billy Napier because it raises expectations higher than they should be. It's a loser mentality, but you could see it come from a mile away. You are right.

You won and won most people would sign up for for Deion Sanders through two weeks, but with how they looked and how they won last week and the talk this week, the expectations are right, are off the charts and now people expect an encore and I think would frankly, even though again, you're one and what would you sign up for? Be disappointed if they're now one-on-one after Saturday. Now I know you're not believing in Colorado. I do believe in Colorado.

I believe the Colorado before the start of the year. Is it just now as simple as they have to get to a bowl game this year? Because I think this is a bowl game team.

I would still say competitive. Like if you're, let's just say four and eight, but you're in every game, I'd see me out. So sad to win at this point after beating TCU, if they only get to four wins, that would be disappointing. Uh, Jimbo Fisher, Mario Cristobal.

I think the answer is Jimbo because he's been there longer and they have the better team on paper. You an agreement there? I'm with you a hundred percent. It is that Gelb show on CBS sports radio already. We will take a break.

We will come on back when we do return. We'll teach you some of the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio. We call that segment the news brief and also coming up 25 minutes from now, we do this segment once a week, this QB or that QB for this week only in the national football league.

It is a Zach Gelb show on CBS sports radio coming on back. Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is this let's go, let's go show up on day one, work out with us for 30 minutes. Feel good right away. We'll repeat five days a week for three weeks, three weeks, five workouts a week.

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