Stroud vs. Young (Hour 3)

All right, we continue this Zach Gelb show Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. The Texans play the Panthers this weekend. If you listen to this show throughout the time of this NFL season, you know I was never optimistic about the Carolina Panthers this year. I said if there's one team in the NFC South that has zero shot to win that division, it's the Carolina Panthers. Well, with that being said, coming off a bye week with them being an 0-6 football team, you can't even look forward to the first overall pick because you traded that away in order to go get your quarterback in Bryce Young and the Chicago Bears fans are doing cartwheels and somersaults in the street, I have a prediction to make. I think the Carolina Panthers are winning this weekend.

Now, I'm not a big fan of Frank Reich as a head coach, but Frank Reich as a head coach is 4-0 coming off a bye. And when I look at the Vegas world of this, the Texans who are a much better team than Carolina, they're only a three point favorite on the road. Something seems fishy here and I've gambled long enough where Zach Gelb of years past would be a sucker. Zach Gelb would look right at that line and be like, the Texans are so much better.

I'll lay the three points with them. And maybe this is one of those weeks where you expect the unexpected in the NFL. There's really no reason why I should pick the Panthers to win this game. But I have a feeling the Panthers are going to win the game and I think you should plus the three points with them. Because all throughout the week, we have anointed CJ Stroud, the guy, and CJ Stroud has been running circles this year around Bryce Young. The Panthers have nothing on offense that you could really believe in and they have a solid defense, but a solid defense only holds up for so long when the offense is doing absolutely nothing. But for some reason, because it makes no sense, I'm going to do the opposite and I'm going to take the Carolina Panthers to win that game. But from a bigger point here, do the Carolina Panthers regret the draft pick of Bryce Young?

I think it depends on who you ask in the organization. Because from Adam Schefter, before the draft process, the preference of the head coach and Frank Reich was CJ Stroud. Remember also, it was their quarterback coach, Josh McCown, at the CJ Stroud Pro Day. They were like, talking, I can't wait to play basketball with you when you're in Carolina. Everything was pointing out to be, even though all year long in the college football season, it was Bryce Young number one overall pick, Bryce Young number one overall pick.

In the scouting process, it started to look like the Panthers really love CJ Stroud. And then something happened. And that something was the big man upstairs.

And no, I'm not talking about God. I'm talking about David Tepper, who owns the team, who, if you want to use a major league baseball analogy, like I'm sure David Tepper has dreams of being George Steinbrenner. He has a lot of money. He likes to make bold statements and he likes to be the one behind the moves.

And I use this analogy before. David Tepper owns the restaurant. And what David Tepper did here was he goes, oh, we're creating the featured meal tonight. We have a chef of 20 something years who we should trust. Chef, what do you want to do in preparing this chicken parm? And whatever he said, David Tepper's like, no, no, no, I'm going to take over tonight.

I'm going to cook, even though I don't have experience really cooking and I'm going to make the chicken parm. And that's what I think David Tepper did here. And that's why Bryce Young is the quarterback of the Carolina Panthers. C.J. Shroud was the ingredient that Frank Reich wanted to use.

But David Tepper is the one that signs everyone's paycheck. And he wanted Bryce Young for whatever the reasons are. Here is Frank Reich from earlier this week when he was asked if they regret the draft pick of Bryce Young. We got the guy we wanted to get.

Couldn't be happier about that in every way. I'm happy for C.J., you know, that he's had six good games and I have no doubt he'll have many more good games. But I know this when it comes to evaluating quarterbacks or any position, it's years, not weeks. You know, you can't put a label on a guy after six weeks or or even a year. So if that is true, what Schefter said that C.J. Shroud was the preference by Frank Reich and David Tepper wanted Bryce Young, you could get that answer that Frank Reich just said, Frank Reich just said, but we could all roll our eyes at it and know that it's a bunch of hogwash and a load of BS. Because naturally, as a human being, if you wanted one thing to happen and the other thing happened, not that you're trying to sabotage Bryce Young or you're rooting against Bryce Young that he's your quarterback, your success is going to be tied to what Bryce Young is able to do and it will determine how many years you're the head football coach of this team. Even though you do not define someone after the first seven or eight weeks of a season and of a career, it would be just impossible from a human being standpoint if C.J. Shroud or excuse me, Frank Reich isn't going home at night and saying, man, what happened if we would have just taken C.J. Shroud?

Because look at the number C.J. Shroud is putting up with the Texans. He's off to a historically great start for a rookie quarterback. And then you have Bryce Young, who's undersized, has been getting injured, and he's really not been able to do much or showcase much because the offensive line has significantly regressed. Adam Thielen is your best receiver. And I like Adam Thielen, but in the year of 2023, even though he's putting up good numbers, he can't be your number one wide receiver. And Miles Sanders is overrated.

And I tried to tell everyone that when the Carolina Panthers signed Miles Sanders. So I do think, depending on who you ask in that organization, yeah, there has to be some regret in drafting Bryce Young, but it doesn't mean that they can't find a way to eventually make it work. And this off season, I'll be fascinated to see what the Panthers do. Do they get rid of Scott Fitterer?

I don't think Frank Reich is going to be one and done. But what's the big wholesale changes that you make this off season? And you need to go get Bryce Young a legit number one wide receiver. You need to beef up that offensive line and then also get something in the run game. And you just paid for a few years, Miles Sanders.

But Miles Sanders is not that dude. So looking at the last three years, 2021, 2022, and now this past draft of 2023, are there some do-overs that teams wish they could have had? Like the Jets sitting there with the second overall pick and taking Zach Wilson. You could easily say, oh, yeah, you wish they took another quarterback, but which one? Like Trey Lance went after Zach Wilson. Justin Fields went after Zach Wilson. Mac Jones went after Zach Wilson.

I guess if you had to argue a quarterback, it would be Justin Fields. But I would actually go a non-quarterback there if the Jets could have a do-over there with Joe Douglas and say, we're not going to draft Zach Wilson at number two. But at number 12, Micah Parsons did go. Imagine if the Jets drafted Micah Parsons with the defense that's already loaded with talent with Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams and Avery Williams and Quincy Williams, excuse me, and you just see the amount of dogs the Jets have. Imagine Robert Saleh got to coach Micah Parsons.

So that's a do-over I would do. The 49ers, I would say, don't even trade up to the number three overall pick, which they did. And they gave up a bunch of first round picks to do so. And when you do that, you're going to take a quarterback.

But let's just say they moved up and they realized that was a mistake. The San Francisco 49ers, here were some players that went after Trey Lance. Kyle Pitts, Jamar Chase, Jalen Waddle, Penay Sewell, J.C. Horn, Patrick Sertan, Devontae Smith, Justin Fields, Micah Parsons.

I would say two things. I would have loved to have seen the 49ers with either Mac Jones or Justin Fields. There were some reports that Shanahan wanted Mac Jones. But you could argue Micah Parsons in that spot. But imagine if you had Patrick Sertan with how great that defense is and you added Pat Sertan into that secondary. And then also from a receiving standpoint, you already have Debo, you have Brandon Iuke, you have McCaffrey out of the backfield. They could have drafted Jamar Chase or Jalen Waddle.

And that would have been an already tough enough offense to stop and it would have made it even tougher. Also, you look at the Falcons at four, taking Kyle Pitts. Kyle Pitts has been fine.

I don't think he's been utilized the right way by Arthur Smith. But for the Atlanta Falcons, who sure at the time they had Calvin Ridley, and we didn't know what Calvin Ridley was going to go through, right? You're trying to find that next great wide receiver. Atlanta with Jamar Chase or Jalen Waddle, that would have been a whole lot different. So those are some from the 2021 draft.

From the 2022, I think it starts right at the top. Trayvon Walker should never have been the number one overall pick. And the Jaguars are a good team. You got Trevor Lawrence, you got Calvin Ridley, you got Travis A.T. and Jr. finds the end zone at least once each and every week it feels like. Evan Ingram has turned his career around. He's a solid tight end.

And defensively, you got some good players. Rashawn Jenkins, as we talked about. You got Josh Allen. But Trayvon Walker for a number one overall pick is just not a number one overall pick. And look at what Aiden Hutchinson is doing with the Detroit Lions, picking off footballs, get into the quarterback, the athleticism.

That could have been a game changer. In back to back years, you could have selected the guy on offense for the foreseeable future and the face of your franchise and Trevor Lawrence, and you could have followed it up with Aiden Hutchinson, who would have been the face of your defense, because that's what Aiden Hutchinson has become for the Lions. You could even argue he's become the face of that franchise. Because when you look at Detroit, who's the face of that franchise right now?

It's got to be Aiden Hutchinson. It's not Jared Goff. Goff's a good player. You know, I like Amara St. Brown, but I wouldn't say he's the face of that franchise. Panay Sewell's a good offensive lineman, but he's not the face of the franchise.

Aiden Hutchinson also going to Michigan. You know, that's the face of the franchise for the Lions. And it could have been the second face of the franchise for the Jacksonville Jaguars, or at least their identity on the defensive side of the ball. And I'll give you one more from this draft class. Derrick Stingley, who's fine, but after him was Sauce Gardner, who through two years has been great. Could have got away to get Sauce Gardner if you're the Houston Texans. And Garrett Wilson falling to 10 now seems criminal, and Jordan Davis falling to 13 seems criminal as well.

Just some when you look at the first round and some of the ways that things did transpire. Now this year, Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, any egregious misses here so far?

It's so tough to evaluate. Like you could wonder with the way that the Falcons have used Bijan Robinson, was it worth it to take a running back into number eight? Because they should be handing the ball off more to Bijan Robinson. It seems like they're more inclined to just throw the ball with Desmond Ritter. Carter was character issues with what happened off the field.

You knew he was falling to Philadelphia in at number nine. Jameer Gibbs, that's one that maybe it ages out to be good, but right now he's been hurt. And even before that, David Montgomery was good enough. Like the Lions could have used other players in other areas, and I don't think you needed to take a running back in that spot, and it didn't make a ton of sense there. But nothing egregious so far when you look in the first round. But really it starts at the top with Bryce Young and C.J.

Stroud, and a lot of people are going to question that. And that's what makes the quarterback so fun. And very quickly, like I understand what Frank Reich's saying. You don't define someone in their first six, seven games of their career. But teams have moved on from quarterbacks quicker than I could have ever imagined that they take in the first round. Because it's always that next contract. And whatever that next contract is, if you're paying a quarterback, it's going to be at an enormous rate, a rate that's through the roof. So we've seen teams now quickly identify that their quarterback isn't the guy, and then they know that that time clock is ticking.

We're sure you could give the fifth year option and get five years. But after like two, three years, you've got to know because it's a race to get a jump start on the contract extension with the price only growing exponentially on what you have to pay quarterbacks for the foreseeable future. Look back at those quarterbacks from just the 2021 draft. Trevor Lawrence, the only one that's really panned out in the first round. Zach Wilson's going to be off the Jets after this year. Trey Lance is already off the 49ers.

He went three. Justin Fields, he's probably going to be off the Bears after this year because the Bears are going to be picking a quarterback one overall next year. And then Mac Jones probably off the Patriots this year, after this year. That was 2021 draft class.

It's not ancient history right there. Now I know 2022 at Pacific is the only one quarterback won in the first round, but even that Baker Mayfield draft class. Baker went one. He's bounced around the league. Sam Darnold, he went three.

He's bounced around the league. Josh Rosen, he's not even in the league anymore. And then it's like, oh, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, guys that ended up going later.

Lamar is the 32nd overall pick. People still try to tear him down even though he's great. And Josh Allen turned into a really, really good player, a great player. But there's consistency issues where the accuracy was a problem for Josh Allen coming out of Wyoming.

And sometimes you see Josh Allen run around and make great plays like Superman, but then sometimes you see Superman lose his cape as well. So we quickly go through quarterbacks in this league. Right now, I do think Frank Reich is probably sitting back, even though he can't publicly say this and go, yeah, I'd rather have CJ Stroud, but it doesn't mean they can't get Bryce Young right. And this offseason, you have to get him right. And by doing that, it's surrounding him with actual competent pieces on the offense side of the ball because situational fit is so important for a quarterback coming out of college. And right now, the Panthers are a miserable situation.

They are. And you need to improve that offensive line. You need to go get him some weapons this offseason. And if you don't, then this conversation will be drastically different than the one that we're having now, where we'll be like, yeah, the guy's career is over, career shot, and he's not set up to succeed. And then you start to turn on the quarterback and say he's a bad quarterback.

But situational fit is so important. All right, we'll take a break here on the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll come on back with the host of BetMGM tonight, via BeckQL, Ryan Horvat. We'll give him some college games. We'll make some NFL picks.

A whole lot more to do. 40 minutes remaining. Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio on a football Friday. All right, and we continue on the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. Ryan Horvat has given me an L, so now we are even on the season. Ryan Horvat, of course, BetMGM tonight via BeckQL. So we'll give a little golf clap to our good pal, Ryan Horvat. Welcome to the Winter Circle, my friend.

Here's your milk. You know, Zach, I didn't hate the pick of the Detroit Lions. I'm a believer in the Detroit Lions. The only thing that concerns me about the Lions, man, is Jared Goff when he's under pressure. Jared Goff throwing into the wind.

Jared Goff on the road. And that's the reason that I had to fade the Lions. And I'm really high on this Ravens team, man. I actually, one side note, I bet Lamar plus 700.

It's the same price right now at BetMGM to win MVP. I know the passing yards aren't there yet. The touchdowns aren't there yet. Way too many drops from those wide receivers. But I love what I'm seeing from that offense.

More three wide receiver sets, empty back fields. And when Lamar's leaving the pocket, when he is running, he's running into a bunch of light boxes right now. So I think the numbers are only going to get better if he could stay healthy. And I love that Ravens team. And right now I would say he's going to win the MVP in the NFL because Tyreke would be my pick over Tua, but they're going to split votes. Patrick Mahomes has to do everything perfect to win the MVPs on that Brady LeBron kind of standard for the MVP. And even though Kansas City suggests they have a great team this year in terms of their record, their offense will get better. I'm not concerned about Kansas City, but their offense hasn't clicked like what we're used to seeing. So as long as Lamar stays healthy and that's the big if, if the guy stays healthy, you should feel good on that bet at plus what, 700 you said?

Yeah, plus 700. And that's the big if, man, he has to stay healthy. But, and I mean, the wide receivers have to stop dropping balls. We're going to devote Elbeck Jr. to stay healthy. Mark Andrews can't be the best wide receiver at the tight end position again this season, but I have the last two weeks have been pretty good. So we'll see.

Alrighty. Let's start you off in college football, 3 30 PM Eastern time tomorrow. I know a lot of our listeners are really going to be watching this game. You have number eight, Oregon with Dan Lanning, who I love up against one of my favorite coaches in the country in Kyle Whittingham, who's ranked 13th with the Utes, no cam rising he's done for the season, but they haven't had them all year and Utah six and one Oregon's a six and a half point favorite. My read on this game is I actually like Oregon. Everyone's loving Utah this week. I understand it.

No one likes Kyle Whittingham. Well, besides urban Meyer more than me, but Oregon is just such a, in a totally different class compared to even Utah's opponent last week. Who's USC who's those slouch, but Oregon is so much better on both sides of the ball than USC.

Yeah. And the last couple of years I've been all over Utah. You know, I love Utah, especially at home, a real home field advantage last year had him plus two 60 to win the pack 12. But like you said, man, this isn't the cam rising offense.

It looks like he's going to get a medical red shirt most likely for when they joined the big 12 him and Keithie, I think we'll both be back next season. But yeah, I mean, in this game and I love Kyle Whittingham. I do not like betting against them, especially at home when we're getting all these points. Cause I bet this on the open at four, we're all the way at six and a half.

We might even reach seven here with Utah. And there's been some great quotes. Like today he shows up on a motorcycle. He's a bow. Nix is a great quarterback. He's a Heisman contender, but we got a pig farmer. We're really proud of him. Like he's great, man.

He's everything that's right about college football, but I have to go with the ducks as well. I think what actually works in their favor in this game, like people complain maybe about bonics, not pushing the ball down the field, the whole bunch that's because he doesn't need to there's 73rd and explosive plays, but they're second and success rate bonics leads the country and completion percentage. And he's completing over 70% of his passes. And sure, like most of those are under 10 air yards, but I think that's what you do against this Utah defense. You know, Utah's defense, they take away the explosive stuff. We saw that last week with USC.

Caleb Williams was terrible. 7.3 yards per attempt, pro football focus grade of only 68.6. That's because Utah has a really good pass defense. They're second in allowing explosive passes, but you could kind of dig and dunk down the field. We saw that with Graham Mertz. He was 25 for 29 on throws under 10 yards, week one against Utah, Oregon has one of the better offensive lines in the country and Bucky Irving, the running backs average in seven yards per carry. The other thing is with a backup quarterback going for Utah, still Oregon's defense. Nobody's really talking about it tough in the trenches. They got multiple guys that could get after the quarterback.

I think they get a bunch of pressure, maybe force a couple of mistakes here. I'm with you. I like the ducks even at six and a half.

Talking to Ryan Horvat right now already, you mentioned Graham Mertz. Let's go to the world's largest outdoor cocktail party this weekend, Georgia and Florida. Here's my thought on Georgia. They're 7-0. They are not as dominant as they've been the last two years. I wonder when the Brock Bowers injury comes back to impact them in terms of losing a game they should not lose, but Georgia's schedule is so easy peasy and they won't have another big test I would think until the SEC Championship game and you could even wonder how big of a test that will be, but I kind of expect this one to be a sloppy game this weekend is 14 points too many and even though I don't love Florida, do you plus the 14 here? Yeah, here's another one where I know I'm going against a lot of people. I actually do like Florida.

I bet it at 14 and a half. I still like anything over two scores in this game. You have to downgrade Georgia's offense without Brock Bowers. I think what you do here if you really like Georgia in this game, you double up if you think they could. I think they run the table. As crazy as this sounds, man, Florida is the best opponent I think that they've seen so far and this is a team that was projected to win five and a half games coming into the season, but if you like Georgia, maybe it's worth a little flyer on Carson Beck as crazy as that sounds to win Heisman.

He's still 30 to one. He's completing over 70% of his passes and he's averaging 300 passing yards a game like Georgia's not running the ball. They typically do like they typically do, but I like Florida in this game like Graham Mertz completing over 70% of his passes. They're able to run the ball.

They're able to hit you with that short stuff. The defense, the only thing that scares me, man, Florida's defense gives up a bunch of explosive passes. So if McConkie gets open down the field, I could see him having a big day in this game, but I'm with you.

I'm going to go with Florida. You know, going back to Carson Beck, this is his first start in this rivalry. Typically, like if you look at history, I think starters making their first star in this rivalry are like one and eight for Georgia. That goes all the way back to, you know, like before Jake fraud. So it's just a tough environment, man. I like the points with the Gators with you. All right. Last one in college, Ohio state, Wisconsin.

I always try to identify storylines and it's like up. Here's Luke fickle at Wisconsin. He's Ohio state guy. I think Ohio state wins the game, but we're talking about a 14 and a half point spread at camp Randall badgers alive to cover this week.

Plus the 14 and a half. Yeah. I mean like, I don't, I would only bet Wisconsin in this game camp Randall, that's a real home field advantage. And the other thing, jump, jump, jump around, right?

You got that rocket like, man. I mean, if you've never been, I, when I bring up, cause now that I'm on the East coast, like when I bring this up to my co-host Trista, Nick, they laugh at me. I'm like, you guys have to see a game at Kinnick. You have to go to Iowa city for a prime time game. It's like the number one party school every year. And you have to get out to camp Randall.

It's such a great environment. And here's the thing. This is a prime time game, meaning, uh, the fans, the student section, they're going to have time to prepare for this. The only thing that scares me, like Wisconsin's on their backup.

Maybe that's a good thing. Cause Tanner Mordecai wasn't playing good football. They have to run the ball. This has to be a ground and pound eat clock, but yeah, I don't know that Ohio state. And I know they've done it a couple of times this season.

I don't know that they could win by margin. I still don't love what I'm seeing from Kyle McCord. Obviously we love Marvin Harrison. We love all their skill position players and we like that defense, but at 14 and a half. Yeah. I kind of lean badgers in this game at home.

All righty. Ryan Horvat here with us from bed MGM tonight via Beck QL. Let's go to NFL stew, cue the music as we go head to head here, Horvat and I, even on the season, uh, I will start things off and I'm going to pick a game that makes no sense. One team is better than the other team. One team should absolutely win, but I'm going to go the other way here. I'm going to predict that the Carolina Panthers win the game outright. I'm taking the Panthers plus three up against the Texans. Uh, CJ shroud should be better than Bryce young this week, right? Uh, the Texans should be better than the Carolina Panthers this week on paper. I don't love Frank Reich, but Frank Reich's for no in his career as a head coach coming off a buy. Everyone's going to say Texan, Texan, Texans, Texans, and then the Texans are only a three point favorite.

Something seems fishy here. I'll take the points with the Carolina Panthers. Yeah. We're in unity on that one. I'm not going to use that as a pick, but that's a little bonus pick. That's one of my favorite bets this weekend. I think Bryce Young is going to take, maybe I should go on the Texans now. No, no, no.

We'll stay in unity because I'm going to go kind of like same thinking. The Vikings have won a couple of games now and the Vikings are coming off a prime time win over the San Francisco 49ers who are beat up right now. They have to get Trent Williams healthy, man. I know everybody's going to talk about Deebo, but when you don't have a healthy Trent Williams, you have to use George Kittle more and pass pro. And I want George Kittle catching balls, catching touchdowns. I think this is the perfect time to buy low on the Green Bay Packers.

It's gross. I'm taking them plus one and a half at Lambeau. We see this game every year. We saw it last year of giant Gyr Alexander could play this game and it looks like he's going to be able to give it a go. He's dealing with the back injury and Devondra Campbell's back there inside linebacker, who has the green dot. I think they're going to be able to contain this Vikings offense without Justin Jefferson last year at Lambeau week 16, Justin Jefferson didn't do a whole lot because they matched up Gyr with safety help. Now it's Jordan Addison, man.

And I love Jordan Addison, but other than that, it's KJ Osborn. Hockinson's dealing with an injury. I think Kirk cousins is very underrated, but I think he throws a couple of picks. I think her Sean Gary is going to be giving him some pressure and I like Green Bay to bounce back. It can't look any worse on the offensive side of the ball. They, they have to involve, they have to get play action going, man. Jordan love last week, nine of nine while using play action, Aaron Jones needs more of a workload. It looks like he's a full goal at practice. So I like the Packers to bounce back plus one and a half at Lambeau against Minnesota.

All righty, Ryan Horvat. My second pick. I don't know if they're going to win this game, but it looks like Brock Purdy is going to play. So he'll be rocking out with his Brock out and be looking pretty awesome with all that being said, even though the Bengals offensive line, the protection of Joe bird does concern me in this matchup. I think four points is too many points between the Bengals and 49ers.

This has 27, 24, 24, 21, 20 to 17, read it all over it. I think this is a field goal game. I will take the Bengals plus the four points up against the San Francisco 49ers. Ooh, I liked that bet. I liked that bet a lot.

I like this one a little bit better though. What I love about coming on the show is no longer are we just doing small town, local Milwaukee radio, Zach. I mean, you've always been a big national guy, but if I'm coming to speak to America, I want to talk about America's team and I'm going to pick a favorite. The Dallas Cowboys.

Before you continue with that nonsense. I am going to Milwaukee this year for a Bucks game again. So I love Milwaukee. We're on a bunch of stations in Wisconsin.

So Horvat's now too big for his own britches here. And he's like, Oh, screw Milwaukee, screw everything. Milwaukee and Wisconsin. You forget where you come from. My friend.

That's disgraceful. I come from Chicago and number two on that really quick B to add to that point. I just gave out the Packers and we gave out the badgers. I don't think it could be any more Wisconsin.

I'd pick the Brewers, but they'd choke. Let's go with the Cowboys. Anything under a touchdown, six and a half is the number I'm looking at right now. Matthew Stafford's had a nice season, but he's been a little sloppy with the football the last couple of weeks. That's because Matthew Stafford's just not the same quarterback when he's under pressure. And the Cowboys have one of the best pass rushes in the league.

Uh, pro football focus right now has, has the Rams offensive line ranked 25th in the league. The entire left side is a mess. I think it's going to be a rough day for Stafford and I think Dallas does enough offensively with a little bit of extra time to prepare for this game against the Rams who were a fun story early on, but I think they're coming back down to earth. Even Cooper cup kind of got shut down last week. I do think he bounces back, man, side prop. I like over on his reception, seven and a half and Cooper cup to score a touchdown, but give me the Cowboys in the game minus six and a half.

All right. So you take the Cowboys minus six and a half for my final play here. I'm between two teams right now. And I'm going to go with something that I thoroughly hope we get to see happen on a Sunday divisional games always do concern me, but I can't stand the arrogant Sean Payton right now. So let's see the chief's offense really start to get humming. Even though they're going a mile high, I don't think Taylor Swift's going to be taking the trip to Denver, Colorado.

So you got to watch out for Kelsey. How all in is he going to be for this game? But I like the chiefs this weekend. Give me the chiefs lay in seven points.

The backdoor cover does scare me. I think this will be like a 30 to 20 game. And then it's just going to be to the Broncos. Go get a touchdown at the end or do, you know, do maybe they play Paula McVeigh and they kick a field goal when they don't need to, to kind of screw me over on the spread here and then make it a push. But I liked the chiefs to win this game, like 30 to 17, 30 to 20, something like that.

So give me Kansas city lay in the seven. I like the Kelsey angle. I think I'll go under on his receiving yards because he only averages like 50 something when Taylor Swift is not in attendance. But when she's at the game, he goes over a hundred receiving yards, starts to feel himself down. So maybe we fade Kelsey. I like that angle.

All right. My last one, I'm going to go with a Moneyline dog. I'm going to go with the Pittsburgh Steelers on the Moneyline, the Mike Tomlin magic, the Steelers, even though they're being out gained every week, even though they're like minus 15 and point differential, it doesn't matter. They're foreign too, because of Mike Tomlin they're averaging the second fewest yards per game, but they're home dogs. And that's where Mike Tomlin thrives. I think the defense is going to be all over Trevor Lawrence in this game.

He looked pretty good, but he's still not a hundred percent. I like Pittsburgh. I don't know how they get it done, but I know that they do get it done because that's what Mike Tomlin does at home when he's an underdog. So I'll go with the Steelers again. And then they're a five and two football team after this weekend.

How about that? So Horvat's picks Packers plus the point and a half Cowboys minus six and a half and the Steelers, you'd like some of the Moneyline, but for the sake of the segment, we'll give them to you at plus two. And I'm going with the Panthers plus three. That just doesn't sound right. The Bengals plus four.

And then the Kansas city chiefs minus seven points. He's the host of the bed MGM tonight on Beck QL. And that is Ryan Horvat. Ryan, thanks so much. Do it again next week. Thanks Zach. Have a good weekend, man. You got it. You as well. Let's take a break. We'll come on back and we're going to figure out which under 500 teams have the best shot of turning it around this season. It is the Zach Gelb show on a football Friday right here on CBS sports radio. Let's toss it over to the always well-dressed Rich Ackerman.

All right. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS sports radio. Sampler sent me a message during the break and it's Edron James, the former great NFL running back. He's riding around in a van with $1 million in singles. Like what bank do you go to?

Or do you even go to a bank? I don't even know how he got the million dollars to begin with in singles, but how do you get a million dollars in singles? It'd be like one thing.

It was like all hundreds or something like that, but just singles. It's crazy. It looks like he's riding around with like bags and bags and bags of trash. When I just saw the video at first and he's saying he's going to the stripper bowl. Like, you know what you're doing when you have all those singles, but a million dollars in singles.

I don't know about you, Sampler. I would be so nervous driving around with that much cash in a car. And here is Edron James. I guess it's on Instagram or he put it out on X, whatever it is, Twitter. And he's just taking a video so casually. And I know the guy's made a lot of money in his life and a lot of money in his career, but to just be casually driving around with a million dollars in singles is something that I truly cannot relate to. Breaking news.

Well, I mean, that's unfortunate for you. I do that on a day-to-day basis, maybe not singles, but hundred dollar bills, twenties, just millions of dollars just in the backseat of my bicycle here in the city. Do me a favor. You have your wallet on you right now? Yeah. Can you take your wallet out real quickly?

Sure. Stu, if I set the over under and Santa's a little bit older, he's old school here. But if I set the over under of Santa having forty dollars in cash in his wallet, you take the over the under. I think I might take the over.

I'm going to take the under here. I don't carry around any cash. I had forty dollars in my wallet yesterday and I went to a restaurant and I was like, all right, that's it right now. You don't know what I have in my wallet. I have a euro. I have five euro from a trip to Barcelona that I guess I never took out of my wallet.

And what do I have here? I have two pennies and a nickel. So I really travel usually with like no cash whatsoever.

This case, like literally no cash. Um, Santa, what do you have in your wallet right now? Well, the first thing when I open up my wallet, I have a coupon. Just punch him, take his credit card. I have a coupon for a free Crest toothpaste.

OK. Ten dollars off. Your breath has been a little funky. Grooming at PetSmart for my dog. You do need to get shaved.

Yeah, for my dog. And then I have about two hundred and sixty dollars in cash. You have two hundred and sixty dollars in cash?

No, you don't. Show me the money. Show me the money. Show me the money. Wow.

What, you just go to Vegas or something? 280. 280. I miscounted. Why do you have so much cash on you? Because I'm a baller, baby. No, it's because you're old.

That's what it is. Old people carry around cash. Young people don't carry around cash. No, the reason I carry around cash is because you never know when you're going to just need cash. Right. There are places like my favorite pizza place does not take $260 in cash.

You just never know. OK. Now, Stu, do me a favor here. OK. Go into your wallet. Don't tell me how much money's in there.

OK. I'm going to set the over-under I set for Samtor at 40. It wasn't even close. Vegas just took a big time beat down on that line. I will say over-under for Stu. I could see Stu having like a 20, a 10, a 5. Thirty five dollars for Stuart Kovacs. Over-under Michael Santa and how much money's in Stu's wallet. Definitely under. Stu is younger.

He legitimately does not carry cash. All right. Stu, what do you got?

Sorry to disappoint you guys. I have $62 in cash on me. $62? Yeah, more than usual.

I'm usually in like the 20 to 30 range. I'll carry a little, but very little. Did you go out for dinner last night with the missus?

No. So what happened was I saw my parents recently and they paid me for something and they're more of a cash giving than anything else. It's just easier. So that's usually how I wind up with cash. Well, your parents don't Venmo you?

They do not. You know what's really obnoxious with Venmo? I never make my Venmo transactions public. And I guess one time I did and my dad calls me. He's like, $45 for this?

What are you doing? And I go, first off, Dad, I didn't know you were on Venmo. Secondly, who's the loser that tracks people's transactions on Venmo?

That was my father, though. You know who has a public Venmo account? It's Conor Stallion. He deleted all of his social media accounts, but he forgot to scrub his Venmo. And there's a bunch of payments to other people. One that was labeled as Georgia.

GA. GA for another guy who was at Michigan, a recruiting guy at Michigan. And apparently, a lot of people were buying T-shirts from him or there was a code for something else. But he was having a lot of Venmo transactions for T-shirts.

It's like when you would buy a little marijuana and you're in college, you have to Venmo it and you have to do something on a funky name that you would want no one to really recognize. Yeah, I never did that. That's sketchy. You're creepy. That's weird. I didn't say I did it.

I may or may not have done it, but I never said I did it. It's time to answer Ask the Pros question of the day. Brought to you by O'Reilly Auto Parts.

You can submit a question by tweeting at CBS Sports Radio or at Zach Gelb, Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B using the hashtag askthepros. Jimmy in Georgia says, Zach, who's below 500 team in the NFL that you're buying stock in? 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'Reilly Auto Parts. Below 500 team that I'm buying stock in. The Patriots are two and five. I am not buying stock in the New England Patriots. No one in the AFC North is currently below 500. In the AFC South, I don't even care if I thought this team was going to be good, but I can never buy stock in the Indianapolis Colts. They're three and four. The Tennessee Titans are two and four. I can't buy stock in them. The Chargers are two and four.

You tell me they fire Brandon Staley. Okay, I can buy stock in the Los Angeles Chargers, but right now, no sir from me. Denver's two and five.

If you want me to be stupid, I'll buy stock in them, but I get advised by the right people. So there's no one in the AFC that's below 500 right now. The Pats, the Colts, Tennessee, the Chargers are Denver that I'm buying stock in.

Sorry, Stu. I didn't want to bring them up, but I did forget the Raiders in there. I'm not buying stock in the Las Vegas Raiders.

They absolutely stink. So it's got to be an NFC team. I was optimistic the commanders can make the playoffs before the season started. I don't trust Ron Rivera anymore, so it's not them at three and four. Giants at two and five.

I don't think I'm Sean Marash, so I can't buy stock and tell you that team's going to be really good when we all know they stink. Packers at two and four, no. Bears two and five, no.

There's one team that I'll leave off because they're under consideration. Saints three and four. Bucks three and four, no, no. Panthers 0-6, no. Cardinals, no. The Rams at three and four. I don't think the Rams win this weekend, but Stafford, Pukunakua, and then also Cooper Cup, I think they'll be up and down.

Could I see them maybe going like nine and eight and getting a wildcard spot? Fine, but the team that I'm really going to buy stock in, it's the Minnesota Vikings. Minnesota sitting there at three and four.

I do agree with Horvath. This could be a tough game this weekend up against the Green Bay Packers, but their next three games, you have Green Bay Atlanta and New Orleans, and then also you look at the rest of the schedule after that. They play Denver, Chicago, the Raiders, and then it gets tough. The Bengals, Lions, Packers, and Lions. So that stretch of Green Bay Atlanta, New Orleans, Denver, Chicago, and the Raiders. They got to win four of those six games. They win four of those six games. They're sitting there heading into the final three weeks, final four weeks of the season with seven wins. And it's not crazy to say.