Bills Big Statement (Hour 1)

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Got Michael Samter, Stuart Kovacs with me. You could always hit me up 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4227 and interact with me on the good old cesspool of Twitter, at Zach Gelb, also on Instagram where I'm always straight flexing at Zach Gelb, Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. So right out of the gate, let me just be clear about something. We all know there's been a lot of changes here at CBS Sports Radio. It would be kind of funny if you're tuning into the network for the first time in a little bit over the last few days and you're like, what the heck is this guy Gelb doing here? What is this bloviating jackass doing on this radio slot a little bit earlier than normal? Well, DA has left CBS Sports Radio.

He's off the series. We wish him nothing but the best. I'm a big fan of Damon Amendelar. We've had a very good professional relationship the last few years and I've been a contributor to DA's show and we've hung out a bunch. So I'm a big fan of DA and he's been at CBS Sports Radio since the inception. So nothing but good luck to Damon Amendelar. But with him departing the company, Maggie and Perloff have been moved, and I'll be a good company guy here, to many of the same CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM Channel 158, that free Odyssey app.

And the Weedos and Purple Drankers could just listen to them earlier on YouTube as well. They'll be on Monday through Friday from 6 to 10 a.m. Eastern. So people have been asking me, Zach, what does this mean for you? We see that you're going to be on earlier. We hear that you're going to be on earlier on an interim basis until they make a permanent decision. Don't ask me when that permanent decision is going to be made.

I do not know. That is upstairs with the people in the suits that make those decisions that are in management. But I've been told on an interim basis I'm on in this time slot until told otherwise.

So we'll see when they make a permanent decision. But whether you've listened to me before or this is your first time hearing me, I do thank you for joining us and taking some time out of your day on a very busy Monday. All right.

Enough with the housekeeping notes. Let's get right to the football because you tune into CBS Sports Radio to hear the sports talk. The last few years in the AFC, there has been three teams that have been clearly the three best teams in the AFC. The Kansas City Chiefs, we've seen them win two Super Bowls. The Cincinnati Bengals have emerged the last two years to get to a Super Bowl and then also lose in an AFC title game. And then ever since the Buffalo Bills got Sean McDermott as their head coach, we have seen the Buffalo Bills be a consistent playoff team and a consistent playoff contender. Now, entering this season, people believed in Kansas City.

People still believed in Cincinnati. But the one team out of those three that took a hit and people started to question if their window was coming to a close were the Buffalo Bills. And the Buffalo Bills got off to a horrible start to the season, going up against the Jets who had Aaron Rodgers for four plays. You had the Achilles injury to Aaron Rodgers.

This was all pre Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, which we saw all that in the broadcast last night. But in week one after week one of the NFL season, people were saying, wow, what happened to the Bills last year in the playoffs where they got their brains just beaten and absolutely destroyed by the Cincinnati Bengals on their home turf is starting to carry over into the following season. And you saw Josh Allen was just absolutely putrid up against the Jets in that first game of the season. But since then, you know, you looked at Buffalo and they had a blowout victory up against Las Vegas Raiders. Then they beat the crap out of the Washington commanders.

But you look at those two teams and I like the commanders better than most people. The Raiders, sorry, Sue, your organization is just a dysfunctional mess and they don't know the difference between their elbow and their you know what. But yesterday was a moment for the Buffalo Bills not to get everyone back in, not to have everyone believe in the Buffalo Bills again, but to make a statement that the Buffalo Bills are not as bad or haven't lost their way as what some people made it out to be after week one. Because you know this each and every Monday in football season, we go to what is the flavor of the week. And through the first three weeks of the season, I'll raise my hand and I'll admit it. I even said before the season, I predicted the Miami Dolphins win the AFCs. They could still win the AFCs, but really the last week or so everyone was all in the Miami Dolphins, maybe the best team in the NFL. Oh, they're the best team in the AFC. And Miami went up to Buffalo yesterday and at first we thought this was going to be a back and forth game.

I even tweeted Maggie during the game when she said, fasten your seatbelts, this could be a long day. And I said, get ready to have like eight or nine football heart attacks in the game. Cause that's what I really thought this was going to be, a high octane offensive performance on both sides of the football field with both teams. And it ended up being the farthest thing from that because that was a Buffalo blowout yesterday. And that was a statement delivered by the Buffalo Bills. Guys like Zach Gelb, people could get all in on the jets, whoever the team were, it wasn't the Patriots that people were picking heading into the AFC East to win the AFC East before the season started, you still have to go through Buffalo. And this is still Buffalo's division to lose. And they didn't just beat the Dolphins yesterday.

They embarrassed the Miami Dolphins yesterday. And the biggest thing the last three weeks that I've seen from the Buffalo Bills is they're not asking Josh Allen. I know he said back to back weeks with rushing touchdowns, but to run the ball an insane amount of time. And that's what was being asked of Josh Allen last year. And even week one, we need to live and die and put all the food on the plate of our quarterback in Josh Allen. And I said this to Brandon Bean before, the general manager of the Buffalo Bills, I've said it for months, until the Bills commit to running the football with people other than Josh Allen, then they're not going to be able to reach their potential.

And you saw it more the last two weeks, not really yesterday because you didn't need it. But another big part of this too, is you look at the off season and the off season was so ugly and it was so messy for the Buffalo Bills. And you got to remember that whole Stefan Diggs, Josh Allen, Brandon Bean, Sean McDermott fight that happened right at the start of mandatory minicamps. But not only were the Bills sending a message yesterday, it was also important when you look at the three biggest people in that organization that they were all on the same page yesterday. Sean McDermott's defense did a phenomenal job.

Josh Allen played to a level that is an MVP type of a level in this league. And probably the most important, Stefan Diggs, who was not happy before the start of this season. And the Bills could tell you, oh, it was nothing to see, not much to see here. They made that an absolute mess and they tried to scoop up all the toothpaste back into the tube.

And if you ever had to do that, it's an absolute disaster and I just chucked the toothpaste in the garbage. But the Buffalo Bills yesterday saw Stefan Diggs dominate. And we all know when he is mentally focused and when he's healthy, Stefan Diggs looks like a top five receiver in this league. And you saw that yesterday with him not only dominating, but scoring three touchdowns and the Buffalo Bills just sending a message to Miami that you are not there right now in order to take us down and show early on in the season that you're clearly the best team in the AFC and the best team in the AFC East.

And I'll take it a step further. I was so impressed with the performance yesterday by Buffalo. You could start to make the case again for the Buffalo Bills that they are the best team in the AFC. I'm not ready to say whoever is in the number one spot in the AFC is right now better than Philadelphia, is right now better than the San Francisco 49ers. To me, those are the two best teams in football in the 49ers and the Eagles.

But we're all trying to figure out who the best team is in the AFC. And you look at the Bengals, that would have been a great pick before the start of the season. But the Cincinnati Bengals through the first four weeks of the season, they've been lost.

They have no identity on offense. And it's so perplexing because when you look at the Cincinnati Bengals, they have a dominant quarterback on paper. You have a dominant wide receiver in Jamar Chase and not just one.

Another guy in T Higgins could be a number one wide receiver on a lot of other teams in the NFL. And you had a defense that the last two years under Lou Anna Rumo has done a phenomenal and a sensational job. But the Cincinnati Bengals, these next two weeks, their season is really on life support.

They have to find a way to get this to three and three. Because if you drop one of these next two games, you're really screwed. And it's clear that Joe Burrow is not 100% healthy.

We know he re-aggravated the calf injury that he suffered in the off season about a month before the start of the season. But the crazy part is just the lack of chemistry for the first time that we're really seeing it between Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase, who have been attached to the hip and have been synonymous with one another ever since their historically great run at LSU and what they've done their first two years in the NFL. But this Bengals team, you look at Buffalo, week one they had an awful offensive performance and they bounced back. For the Bengals to really have three out of their first four games all be awful offensively, it's not something that you just say, well, they started 0-2 and then they started 0-2 last year and still found the way to get to the AFC Championship. We're past that point where you have to win the next two weeks. And if you don't win the next two weeks, then we start to have conversations about the Cincinnati Bengals missing the playoffs. And you're trying to figure out who that best team is in the AFC. I can't say right now that it's Kansas City.

Now don't get me wrong. I think the Chiefs are going to be right there and you're never going to want to face Kansas City in the postseason because of who their quarterback is. But here's what's scary and scary in a good way if you're a Chiefs fan. The Kansas City Chiefs on offense haven't looked like themselves yet.

They haven't. And their defense, I know they weren't great yesterday, but through the first three weeks of the season, their defense without Chris Jones for one of the games did a really good job. So if you need to get your offense fix, that's almost like a good problem to have if you're Kansas City, knowing that you have 15, you have 87 and a great offense of mine in Andy Reid. But it's kind of crazy that after four weeks of the season and how last week if I asked this question on CBS Sports Radio and said, who's the best team in the AFC? No one would say Buffalo after what I saw yesterday and the way that I've seen the Buffalo Bills.

I don't want to say salvage because that's an extreme overreaction after week one, but rewrite that ship into sailing in the best and the right direction. The Bills right now are the best team in the AFC, and that makes the Buffalo Bills the third best team in the NFL behind the Philadelphia Eagles and behind the 49ers. And I know the Tredavious White injury is an unfortunate injury. They've dealt with him, unfortunately, being hurt before. But let's also remember for Buffalo, they don't even have Von Miller back yet.

And Von Miller was brought in there to deliver the Bills a championship like he did in Denver and like he did in L.A. with the Rams. So the Bills in week one were horrible. They were lethargic.

They were anemic. We all know that. But since then, they have shown that what they put on display in week one is not that team.

And I get it. I'm not expecting everyone today to be all in on the Buffalo Bills. They still have to get the job done in the postseason.

But you look at this AFC that we thought was going to be so great before the start of the season, no one has consistently taken control and command of this conference through the first four weeks. Like the Dolphins, they were about to do that. They had a big point to prove yesterday up against Buffalo. They would have just lost by a touchdown. All right, you lose by a touchdown. You're right there with the Buffalo Bills.

But they got blown out. The Ravens, I'm skeptical on them because it's tough for me to buy into that team with how many injuries that they have. The Jaguars, they didn't even put up a touchdown against the Kansas City Chiefs in week one. So you're starting to see that the AFC looks like it's going to be, for now, a race of three teams. And those three teams are the Bills, the Chiefs, and the Dolphins. And this is going to be fun to see who's going to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas because all offseason long, all we talked about here on CBS Sports Radio was how much more loaded the AFC is compared to the NFC. After the first four weeks of the season, we've seen a lot of flaws with these teams. Like the Chargers have an idiotic coach in Brandon Staley. He's lucky to win the last two weeks.

We'll get to them. Now the Chiefs we know are going to be really damn good. If you look at the NFC South, I don't think there's a Super Bowl contender there. And the AFC North, the Bengals have fallen flat on their face. The Steelers, their offense is an absolute mess. The Browns can't be trusted week in and week out, and they have a great defense, but now they don't have Nick Chubb.

It's like you go around and you look at it. Alan Rogers now off for the year with the Jets. The AFC is not as great as we thought it was four weeks ago.

And it's shaping out to be a three team race right now. We'll see who else emerges and who else you have confidence in with the Buffalo Bills, the Kansas City Chiefs, and then also the Miami Dolphins. And I'll say this, maybe Buffalo getting embarrassed last year when everyone was on the bandwagon and now jumping off the bandwagon was the best thing for the Bills because I don't want to say there was complacency, but the Bills knew how good they were.

And sometimes you have to stumble. Sometimes you have to fall before you reach that apex and you become that great elite Super Bowl winning team. And Buffalo for the first time in a while can use that motivation card and could use the doubter card. And through four weeks of the season right now, I have to call them the best team in the AFC.

855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. After four weeks in the NFL, who's the best team in the AFC? We'll take a break. When we come on back, two big names in the NFL that are two top five coaches, they just can't get out of their own way right now.

They're going to make any changes. We'll get into that as the Zach Gelb show continues right here on CBS Sports Radio. Do you ever feel like your brain is getting in its own way? Like you know what you should do, what's good for you, but you just can't do it? Therapy helps you figure out what's holding you back so you could work for yourself instead of against yourself.

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Restrictions do apply. Alrighty, we will get into this conversation about Bill Belichick and Mike Tomlin in just a second, but let me take a few calls here out of the gate. 855-212-4CBS. That's 855-212-4227. Let's go to Ryan in Santa Barbara. First up on the Zach Gelb show right here on CBS Sports Radio. Ry, what's happening? Zach, what's going on my man? Welcome to the West Coast prime time for me. Hopefully the suits upstairs just decide to keep you on at this time slot.

I love the show. Hey man, I just wanted to weigh in on the earlier topic. I couldn't agree more with you now. The Buffalo Bills are the number one team in the AFC. I see them beating Kansas City in the playoffs and the Niners are definitely the best team in the NFC and they'll beat the Eagles, your Eagles. They're not my Eagles.

Everyone confuses that. They think I'm an Eagles fan because I got into this whole tiff with Deebo Samuel because Deebo were in his mouth and wouldn't answer a few questions because I was holding him accountable. I just lived in Philadelphia. I don't dislike the Eagles. You know, I do hope the Eagles beat the crap out of your 49ers this year so I got some fun at the expense of those 40 Winers fans but geez Louise, everyone says I'm from Philly and everyone says I'm an Eagle fan. I root for the Patriots right now who for 20 years dominated the NFL and now we're a dysfunctional mess so karma's catching up in the football world, Ry. I love when it gets you all worked up. It doesn't take much, much.

You will see that right there. Alrighty, appreciate the phone call, Ryan, but here's the thing with Buffalo right now. Their two biggest flaws is will Josh Allen, when the game matters the most, will he not be a turnover machine? And the other thing is can the defense make the timely stop? We all saw Buffalo last year really lose its way in the aftermath of the Von Miller injury. Remember when Von Miller went up against the Chiefs last year, came off the edge, forced Mahomes to step up, make a mistake, rush to throw, and then Terron Johnson intercepted the football.

Ever since you had Von Miller go down with that injury, they lost their way and they lost really their leader and their missing piece to a championship and that's what made yesterday so impressive is they didn't have Von Miller and they still did that to that explosive offense of the Miami Dolphins. Let's go to Largent in Texas next up on CBS Sports Radio. Largent, what's happening? Zach, I just wanted to welcome you to the show. The Weedos are super happy that you've got this slot and we're excited to talk sports. I elected myself to be the welcome committee and we're super excited for this and hope it lasts for a long time.

Well, Largent, I appreciate that. Since you're on the welcome committee, do I get like a gift basket or something? We have it on the way. We're going to get you some Skyline chili. Oh, okay. I may have to give that off to the folks in the morning with Maggie Gray and Andrew Perloff, but there's nothing like when you go to a wedding or something and you check into a hotel and they give you basically what is a hangover package is the way that I like to say it. They always give you some popcorn, they give you some Advil, they give you some water, some pretzels, and then they usually do some kind of sweet treat.

Like I was at a wedding recently in Philadelphia and they gave me a pack of tasty cakes that came in very handy at about 2 a.m. in the morning when I got back from the wedding. But yes, just to be clear, this is on an interim basis. We'll see what happens with the suits and if they're going to continue to have me on in this slot.

But hey, let's have the most fun with it because you never know how long you're going to be on this earth and what the heck you're going to be doing clearly. Let's go to Nick in Texas before we get back to the conversation about Bill Belichick and also Mike Tomlin. Nick, I just want to make you aware, I am going to the UFC event at Madison Square Garden, the world's most famous arena on November 11th. I've interacted with Nick a few times on social media and I know he is a big fan of the UFC. So Nick, welcome aboard.

How are you? Wow, you just said a whole bunch of stuff that I was going to say too and I appreciate all that. The stars finally aligned so I'm glad that I can finally chat with you more about sports and I do love the fact that you bring in a little bit of the fighting in UFC. I can definitely talk about that because, as you already said, I'm a big fan of that.

It's one of my favorite sports. But being on the board and the committee with Largent and all the widows, yes, I do want to welcome you. I know it's an interim but we do hope that this is a slot that really blows up for you because, you know, it's the perfect time to get a bigger mass of followings and we loved you as a fill-in for Maggie and Perloff and so now we're glad that we can be a part of your show on a regular basis. Which brings me to my question, what do you want us to call? What should we call the Gelbers, the Zach Attackers? What are the followers that you had at your later slot? We'd love to hear that so we can, you know, run with it. Yeah, well, I appreciate the phone call, Nick, and thank you for the kind words.

So, Santa, if I got this right and, you know, that's one of those things where a radio host goes, if I got this right, you know the answer to it because I filled it on the show numerous times. I don't know the origins of it but Maggie and Perloff's crew in the YouTube chat was called the widows and the purple drankers. I'm clearly aware of what that means but what are the nicknames here that people are throwing out there for me? Well, we've seen so far the Gelbinos, the Gelbers, the Zach Attackers. The Gelber sounds like disgusting. Would you really want to be a Gelber?

Let's be a Gelber. It seems like you haven't taken a shower in about 45 weeks or something like that. Actually, it's been 43 weeks for me so I'm not quite there yet. Well, you have a little kid so we all know that you probably don't get much sleep these days.

You probably miss some showers. I don't think I've slept in three months but the Gelboobers, the Gelbrinders, the Zach Zigzags, the Gelbongers. I feel like the Gelbongers right along with that, you know, widows and purple drankers.

I think we're trying to keep that drug paraphernalia theme going. Zach Chat, I've heard. Is it like Chat GPT or something? Something like that.

Well, I mean, you are basically an AI bot so it kind of fits for all of us. So I put up a poll. Gelbinos, Gelbers, Zach attacks or other and it doesn't seem like anybody likes those three names. 53% say other and they're throwing out all these other options.

21% to Zach Attackers, 16% to Gelbers and 11% to the Gelbinos. Do you have any thoughts? So I'm not set on anything yet, but just when you rattle through the names and a lot of me goes, let's leave that one off the list. Let's throw that one in the trash. Let's pull a little Rodney Harrison and basically call everyone garbage and say that take is garbage. The first thing that I came up with maybe, just thinking about this in the moment, what about the Zach Pack? I feel like that's so easy.

It rhymes. I know some people call me more Gelb than Zach, but the Zach Pack could actually be one that for now, we're on an interim basis here. So I don't want to say that anything's permanent right now, but let's go to the drawing board here and be a little bit creative is what I'll say. I mean, that's a place to start, rebuild off of it. But I feel like... Rome's not built in one day. Well, Jim Rome has been around for a while.

Well, yes. Not Jim Rome. I'm talking about actual Rome. Okay.

Well, I guess that makes it a little bit more sense. It probably took longer to build Jim Rome than it did to build the actual city of Rome. Rome is the franchise here. Rome is what keeps the lights on here at CBS Sports Radio. And I love me some Jim Rome, a tremendous human being.

Alrighty. Let's get to two coaches who have been going at this for a long time. We know Bill Belichick is considered one of, if not the greatest football coaches of all time. And Mike Tomlin has never had a below 500 season.

They're both doing things though right now that gives me big cause for concern. The Patriots led by Bill Belichick the last two years have been a mess. And this is not hindsight is 20-20.

Let me look in the rear view mirror now and tell you that I was right and slow it down and make this the easiest thing to be. The last two years, Bill Belichick has done a bad job with the Patriots. It made no sense to trust Joe Judge and Matt Patricia a year ago to run your offense.

So this offseason all I asked were for two things. Get a legit offensive coordinator and then also go get a number one wide receiver. Because I've said these things before but look at Jalen Hurts, look at Tuatunga Vailoa, look at Josh Allen who all had questions about them.

When did they take off? They took off when Jalen Hurts got AJ Brown and Devante Smith. Josh Allen took off when he got Staphon Diggs and Tuatunga Vailoa took off when he got Tyreke Hill and Jalen Model. So Bill wasted last year without surrounding Mac Jones with an actual brain at the offensive coordinator and then heading into this year he goes up we got Billy O'Brien but we're not going to get you number one wide receiver. We're going to get you bring back Kendrick Bourne, we'll sign Juju Smith-Schuster who give me a break. He's just shot as a legit wide receiver in the NFL.

Okay you got two solid tight ends and Hunter Henry and Mike Kiseki but they just don't have the skill power and they don't have enough at the skill position spots. So Mac Jones is horrible yesterday. I've never said Mac Jones was going to be great but I don't think Mac Jones is as bad as what he put on the field yesterday. But is Mac Jones even in a position to succeed?

I don't think so. The line's not great in New England. You have no wide receivers and you look around and you see them up against these other teams and like CeeDee Lamb is a star. You know the Dolphins they have Tyreke Hill and Jalen Model and week in and week out even when they went up against the Jets who have a bad offense Garrett Wilson is a thousand times better than any of the crap the Patriots have at wide receiver and Garrett Wilson's a heck of a young wide receiver in this league. So it's amazing to me how Bill Belichick who's been great at adapting historically great at adapting is still approaching the Patriots as if he has Tom Brady where it doesn't matter who you have that wide receiver Brady will find a way to get it done. You need to move into the year of 2023 and go get some young talented wide receivers around your quarterback and I don't think Mac Jones is going to work long term in New England because they've already wasted now two years and once you waste two years it's very tough to get you moving back to where you should be.

But look at Mac Jones at Alabama I know he had studs at every position but Mac Jones was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy and sure just because you're a finalist for the Heisman Trophy does not mean that you are going to be a great NFL quarterback. We see many quarterbacks be a finalist for the Heisman or win the Heisman and then turn out to be a bust but Bill has to get with the times here and now for the last two years he's wasted a young quarterback with horrible decisions at the offensive coordinating position to start and then still now two years in a row not getting explosive wide receivers. Now as for Mike Tomlin I know Steelers fans sometimes whether it was the Penguins with Mike Sullivan who has been a phenomenal coach for them they've called the coach into question and I know Mike Tomlin has been called into question a bunch of times the Steelers don't make a lot of changes nor should they. They've been one of the best organizations in sports you've had Knoll you've had Cower and then you've had Mike Tomlin. Mike Tomlin hasn't won a playoff game in a long time but Mike Tomlin is a heck of a football coach if you fired Mike Tomlin tomorrow he'd be scooped up in a second. I'm not sitting here and saying Belichick and Tomlin should be fired but they have to change their ways and for Tomlin every Steeler fan at the end of last season would have told you Mac Canada is not a good offensive coordinator in this league. Every single Steeler fan it doesn't matter what you look like it doesn't matter where your politics are at it doesn't matter where you're from every Steeler fan if you shared the love for the terrible towel would tell you the offensive coordinator is a joke and he just stinks and going into this year they kept him okay you get backed into a corner let's see if you're a hungry dog in Mac Canada and if you could run faster now but he hasn't run any faster and this offense has no creativity. Najee Harris had back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons now he looks lost at the running back position and I know Deontay Johnson's now out but I think he's an overrated wide receiver. Pickens is really good but you need to take advantage of this rookie contract with Kenny Pickett and unfortunately Pickett gets a knee injury yesterday we'll see how long he's going to be out for that's a bit ambiguous right now but you look at the Steelers the line isn't good enough and the quarterback is also not receiving the best coaching and sure eventually franchise quarterbacks have to fight through that but how many times do we look back at young quarterbacks when we go up that young quarterback was ruined by the organization and I don't know what the ceiling is for Mac Jones and Kenny Pickett but right now with two great coaches and Bill Belichick and Mike Tomlin they're not being put in a great position to succeed.

Belichick wasted last year with Mac Jones he's wasting this year with Mac Jones I know you finally get the good offensive coordinator in there and Billy O'Brien but you got nothing a wide receiver and for Mac Canada to still be the offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh it's an absolute disgrace and he shouldn't be calling the plays there and he should not be the OC in the Steel City. 855-2124 CBS 855-212-4227 it is the Zach Gelb show right here on CBS Sports Radio it is a Monday and as we do this every Monday and Friday on the Zach Gelb show we do five questions five answers we call it onsides offsides we'll get to that next but first up standing by with the latest CBS Sports Radio update here is the Ackman Rich Ackerman. Alrighty it's time to ask the pros where you the listener gets to ask us a question brought to you by O'Reilly Auto Parts. Simply tweet your question at CBS Sports Radio or at Zach Gelb using the hashtag ask the pros be listening later in the show when I might answer your question. Think 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.

O O O O O'Reilly Auto Parts. Alrighty we do this segment every Monday and Friday right here on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio five questions five answers let's get to a little onsides offsides I almost said hot take hickey hit it that was muscle memory the great Stuart Kovacs hit it. 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 65. It's onsides offsides with Zach Gelb on CBS Sports Radio. Alright Sam sir what do you got for me today? Alright this is our first ever onside offside together we had a huge debate before the show is it onsides offsides onside offside which is plural which is singular who knows it's all the same and it's lovely. Just get me a good drink and then also pay for the bill and I don't care what the heck you call it there Sam sir alright hey next event that we go to drinks are on me so after being selected second overall in the 2021 draft my former quarterback Zach Wilson he still is your quarterback no let's go Chiefs has been one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL for the Jets however last night Wilson kind of outplayed Patrick Mahomes completing 72 percent of his passes for 245 yards two touchdowns and no picks while finally looking comfortable in the pocket so onside or offside Zach Wilson's career can still be salvaged salvage in New York is that the question no his career can be salvaged he can be a legitimate starting quarterback in the NFL I will go offside on this one and and here's why Zach Wilson after one game is now being talked about so much more differently than he has been through the last two years or so Zach Wilson is not a good quarterback Zach Wilson had leadership issues but he is athletic and he made some of the throws that we all thought he was capable of at BYU when he was getting to the NFL and sometimes you got to grow up I like the way that Zach Wilson put the game on him last night he would not have done that a year ago and didn't do that a year ago but I do think once you get embarrassed to the way that Zach Wilson has been embarrassed it's very very tough to bounce back and I don't think long term he's gonna work here with the Jets let's see him play well for like two or three more weeks remember last week everyone was saying oh go trade for Kirk Cousins and then also Aaron Rodgers is coming back next year I know he says he wants to come back this year I don't really buy that but he is coming back next year so then he's gonna be somewhere else Zach Wilson and I have a tough time buying stock in him off of one game even though he did play this remarkable game so I go offsides number two well speaking of number two overall picks at quarterback after losing the first two games of the season the Houston Texans have won two straight to even their record at two and two rookie quarterback CJ Stroud is lighting it up passing for over 1200 yards and six touchdowns in those four games and most importantly has yet to turn the ball over so onside offside CJ Stroud will be a legitimate NFL starting quarterback I'm gonna say onsides and I was very critical of CJ Stroud last year because with all the talent that he had at Ohio State I thought we could have seen a better version of CJ Stroud and when I met him was I'm a Heisman Trophy voter when I met him in New York City at the Heisman pre-media availability right before they hand out the trophy I said to him I know you haven't made your decision yet but if I was an NFL GM you tell me why you're deserving of being the number one overall pick in the draft and clearly he did go to and something he stressed to me is that he believes he's more mobile than what people give him credit for and he was looking forward to putting that mobility on display very soon and he did that in that great semi-final game up against Georgia where they lost as that kick was no good right as midnight did strike and we welcomed in the new year of 2023 but here's what's been so impressive so far you said it the decision making not turning over the football and also finding a way to win right now with less Niko Collins has turned out to be a pretty damn good wide receiver but Niko Collins didn't take off until CJ Stroud got there so CJ Stroud is putting others in a better position to succeed and that's a big big big thing for a young quarterback to do and it shows a sign that he's going to be a really good quarterback in the NFL CJ Stroud has really impressed me through the first four weeks of the year CJ Stroud will be a legitimate NFL starting quarterback on side all right number three what we got all right well sticking with the quarterback position the Washington Huskies moved up to number seven in the country after a 31-24 win over Arizona thanks to 23 year old 16 year senior quarterback Michael Pennix Jr. I feel like everyone's either a fifth or sixth year senior he's been around I feel like I was like 12 when he first started in his career everyone right now is the Perry Ellis of their school if you want to use a basketball term into the NFL with how everything is now just all out of order because of the COVID year where everyone got a free extra year and this transfer portal stuff well the question is Michael Pennix Jr. going bald like Perry Ellis did on the season Pennix is now completing 75 of his passes for 2,000 yards 16 touchdowns to just two picks and he now sits second behind Kalen Williams in the Heisman odds so onside offside Michael Pennix Jr. will win the Heisman this year so right now I would say onsides and the reason I will say onsides is because I believe the Washington Huskies are the best team in the Pac-12 I do not think it's USC and even before I would say USC I would go with Oregon because Oregon plays defense Washington plays defense Bo Nix has been phenomenal ever since transferring over from Auburn and Michael Pennix has done a flawless job ever since coming over from Indiana but I look at Caleb Williams I think everything is gonna have to go right for Caleb Williams where you look at like a Mahomes or you look at a Lebron or a Tom Brady when their careers moved on they had to be perfect and Caleb Williams is having a great season individually but I do think winning the Pac-12 will have to happen for Caleb Williams in order for that for him to win another Heisman trophy and I don't think Caleb Williams this year is going to win the Pac-12 because of his defense so I look at Michael Pennix Jr. his stats have been incredible and I do trust the the Kalen DuBorde led Washington football team to win the Pac-12 this year and what's going to be a fight to the end and it's going to be incredible to watch but if you ask me right now will Michael Pennix win the Heisman trophy yeah I'll go on sides for that right now number four what do we got the Texas Longhorns improved to 5-0 with a 40-14 drubbing of number 24 Kansas thanks to 325 yards from Quinn Ewers yeah I wasn't happy with this game by the way so I was in Lincoln I was in Lincoln this weekend yeah and I picked Texas to win the Big 12 before the season started so I was at Lincoln and I had a parlay cooking and the first leg of the parlay hit because I took Kentucky minus two and a half I forget what the third leg was but it hit as well so I was looking for that that middle part and that middle part was Kansas plus 17 and at halftime it was looking great and then I looked down at my phone after Michigan was blowing out the Nebraska Cornhuskers and I go holy smokes what the heck happened to Kansas up against Texas so I wanted to go a little horns down when talking about the Texas Longhorns that's a flag right there in the Big 12 that's a flag but I'm throwing the little yellow flag out there for you Sarkin boys did a little horns up this weekend in a big way and said screw you Zach well maybe that was due to 218 yards on the ground from Jonathan Brooks as well with Ewers and his passing game well the horns are heading to the SEC as we know next season and Arch Manning is waiting in the wings the hopes are high in Austin so onside offside Texas will win an SEC title in their first five years in the conference man even with Alabama taking a little step back you're still going up against Alabama I mean they beat Alabama this year and they should have beaten them last year Ewers not gonna hurt yeah you're not you're not wrong on that and you had that dopey tweet from Drew Brees at halftime um I always still say go Tigers when talking about LSU but now you have the family man in Brian Kelly George is not going anywhere even though they got to start playing better but you know what I'm gonna be a sucker here and I'm gonna buy into Arch Manning that he's all that and I'm looking for a good story so yeah why not as Lee Corsa would say uh bleep it I'm going with the uh the Longhorns look at this I started horns down to start this segment now we're going horns up uh yeah Texas won an SEC title in their first five years of the conference why not it's early in the year things are going great in October on sides all right last one with all eyes on football the NBA kicked off media days around the league today this offseason as we know the Bucks edit Dame Lillard while the Celtics just traded for Drew Holliday however Heat star Jimmy Butler is still confident about their chances like I always say I know what I'm capable of I know what my guys are capable of so we'll continue to play basketball as a unit as a team somehow someway end up in the finals this time we're gonna win it this time we're gonna win it he said onside offside the Heat are the best team in the east so you and I don't have the hair to do this but the new hairdo that Jimmy Butler had today calls it the emo look I think Stewart Kovacs if he grows out that hair a little bit more that perm a little bit more he could go the Jimmy Butler haircut Stu would you be willing to participate oh I don't know about willing I could I could do it I think I want to do it I don't sexy Stu I don't think she would like it coming to a theater near you but you asked me are the Heat the best team in the east absolutely not this is the easiest offside I've ever had to do right here and here's why the Milwaukee Bucks you got Bucks-Luss they just got Damian Lillard with Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Boston Celtics just got Drew Holliday I know Kristaps Borzingis is a walking injury but you do have Jason Tatum and also Jaylen Brown those two teams are definitely better with the additions they made this offseason than the Miami Heat alrighty our number one in the book so this is that Gelb show right here on CBS Sports Radio we will take a break and then when we do come on back I have to yell a little bit you know I I could get really loud I have not reached the the level of yelling yet I feel like the storm is brewing right now though because Brandon Staley is in suffering and there's another NFL head coach who I really like who I thought made a boneheaded decision yesterday Zach Gelb here with you on CBS Sports Radio we'll talk about those two decisions next