Bengals Are Back! (Hour 1)

Live from the Play Show, yet not overly ostentatious, studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor of 345 Hudson Street. Welcome into another week and a Monday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all of our great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, the free Odyssey app, and of course, streaming on YouTube. 855-212-4CBS is numbered to jump on in. 855-212-4227.

You can always interact with me on the good ol' cesspool of Twitter or on Instagram where I'm always straight flexing. and the San Francisco 49ers. The Bengals are back. The Cincinnati Bengals have survived their 1-3 start, and they are now 4-3 before a big-time matchup in Cincinnati Sunday Night Football this weekend, week 9, up against the Buffalo Bills. And for the San Francisco 49ers, there's cause for concern, but I'll tell you why in just a moment why you shouldn't be freaking out just because the San Francisco 49ers have lost three straight.

And isn't it kind of funny with the 49ers that I'm going to be the one that defends them after many 40-winers fans complain about the way that I talk about your football team, and you look at the 49ers, I've been someone that has been trying to tell people all throughout the year, yeah, they're a really, really, really, really, really good team, and at times look like a great team, but until they figure out their quarterback situation for the long term, you can never trust Kyle Shanahan to maybe look in a different direction or expect the 49ers to take down the Philadelphia Eagles inside the NFC. But let's start with the Bengals, because now it's starting to become the yearly song and dance with the Cincinnati Bengals, where last year they started off 0-2, oh, the sky is falling, oh, it's a one-year wonder with the Cincinnati Bengals coming off a Super Bowl performance and a Super Bowl loss to the LA Rams, and they're going to fall back. And then the Bengals got into form after their slow start last year, and they rode that all the way up until the AFC Championship game, where their defense, which has been really underrated, and Luanna Rumo, the defensive coordinator, should be a head coach and should get a head coaching job this offseason, but that defense got a little bit too big for themselves, they started to feel themselves a little bit too much after that game up against the Bills in the playoffs, and they talked too much smack, and they tugged on Superman's cape and Patrick Mahomes saying they were going to burrow head when they were playing an arrowhead, and they didn't back it up, and after a three-game winning streak against the Kansas City Chiefs, they saw that come to a close. But going into this year, the Bengals' season flashed right in front of our eyes when Joe Burrow, in the offseason, in training camp, suffered a calf injury. And we didn't know when Joe Burrow was going to return. I thought he would be their week one, and he was their week one, but he wasn't fully healthy, and if you recall, in the immediate aftermath of that injury, Jamar Chase, of all people, actually said, I don't want to see Joe Burrow for the first few weeks of the season, because we just need him at the end of the season, and if he's there at the end of the season, we all know the team that we could be. So through the ups and downs of the first seven, eight weeks of the season, we saw this Bengals team start out one and three, and it felt different where people started to take them out of the title contender conversation, not only because they were one and three, but because Joe Burrow was injured, and we didn't know when Joe Burrow was going to find his groove. And even though it was up against the Arizona Cardinals, and you don't usually give a team a ton of credit for finding a way to beat a lowly team like the Arizona Cardinals, Joe Burrow started to show that he was closer to being back than a lot of us thought he was.

When he had that three passing touchdown game, the three touchdowns to Jamar Chase, and that connection after Jamar Chase didn't find the end zone and did a lot of trash talking during the early stages of the season, he finally found the end zone in that game. And ever since then, the health of Burrow has improved, Jamar Chase has gone back to being a top five, top three wide receiver in this league, and now the Bengals get their biggest win of the season and their best performance of the season, where now they have turned this thing around, and they have won three in a row, and they go from being one and three to four and three, and there was a moment in the game yesterday when you're going into Santa Clara and you're playing the vaunted San Francisco 49ers. There was a moment in the game when I said to myself, even though the game appeared to be pretty much over, holy smokes, the Cincinnati Bengals are really back, and it was late in the fourth quarter where Joe Burrow wasn't the 20 yard run, but he took off and I believe it was a 10 yard run, and he got a first down, and he jumped up, and he gave out this roar, and that roar and that exuberant scream signified to me that that was Joe Burrow telling the rest of the National Football League, you thought we were done this year, you thought we were having a poor season, you counted us out, well guess what folks, I'm back, I'm healthy, and I'm here to kick your ass the rest of the NFL season, and that's the Joe Burrow I love, that is the Joe Burrow that is a franchise quarterback, is a dominant quarterback, and he has this cool swagger to him that just changed that entire dreadful Cincinnati Bengals franchise where year in and year out, as long as they have number nine healthy, they're going to be in the conversation of a team that can get to the Super Bowl and win it. And welcome back to the land of contenders for the Cincinnati Bengals, because taking down the 49ers, winning three in a row, getting to above 500 for the first time this season shows that Cincinnati survived the early season scare, Burrow's back, Burrow's dealing, and now you look at the rest of this team with Jamar Chase, T Higgins, Tyler Boyd, Joe Mixon going for 87 yards and a touchdown, Joe Burrow even adding 43 yards on the ground, he had 28 of 32 through the air, 283 yards and three touchdowns, and oh yeah, by the way, the part of this team that continues to be the most underrated part of this team has been the defense, because the defense the last three years, all the praise because this is what we do, it all goes to the quarterback, it all goes to the golden boy in Joe Burrow, but the defense showed once again, and they've showed it numerous times in the last two to three years that that Bengals defense is a championship caliber defense. And once again, Lou Anna Rumo should be a head coach somewhere next year, because he's done a really good job as the DC of the Cincinnati Bengals.

The sky is the limit this year for Cincinnati. There is a reason why before the season, I picked the Cincinnati Bengals to get to the Super Bowl and win the Super Bowl, because they've been knocking on that door for the last two years. Out of nowhere, Burrow's healthy, boom, right in the Super Bowl. If they could have just blocked better in that game, if they could have just found a way to get half a second block on Aaron Donald, they may have won that Super Bowl, because you remember, Jamar Chase, when Burrow got spun around like a rag doll, was wide open down the right sideline at SoFi Stadium. That would have won the game for the Cincinnati Bengals. And last year, they showed they could continue that success.

They showed that they could be one of the better teams in the NFL, even though they lost, they still got back to an AFC title game. And when things had a little turbulence this year, when you thought for a moment up, here comes the Bengals. They're about to blow a golden opportunity. They're about to waste the season with Burrow.

Slow start. And now it's smooth sailing for the Cincinnati Bengals, once again, who have a big game this weekend up against the Buffalo Bills. We'll preview that more throughout the week.

There's a lot of storylines there. But when you look at that game right now, how don't you like the Bengals? Because I could trust Burrow, the Bills, they have some trust issues, and we got to see them play great up against a really good opponent. But after that, yeah, you got some good games on the schedule for the Bengals.

You play the Ravens, you play the Jaguars still, you play the Chiefs. But this team can beat anyone, because they are a well-rounded football team. And the most important thing is they have their quarterback healthy. And that's enormous for them, because as they displayed for the last two, three seasons, as long as Joe Burrow is healthy, they could beat and they have the confidence to beat any team in the NFL. Let's hear from Zach Taylor, the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals. This is how he reacted to their win up against the San Francisco 49ers. That was our first real complete game by our team. That's how we're meant to play. I know it's not even Halloween yet, but this is November football for us when you go on the road and play the 49ers. A team that's had a ton of success over the last couple years in this league that we have a ton of respect for. I'm so proud of the way that our guys fought, proud of the way they controlled the game in the second half, and were able to get us this win.

And think about that. He finally said that was their most complete game. And I look at the Cincinnati Bengals, it's a heck of a time to have your most complete game.

And not only that, I still don't think they played their best game. And playing that game in week eight yesterday was still good enough, even when they haven't played their best game this season, to take down one of the better teams in not only the NFC, but the NFL and the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 31 to 17. Now on the flip side of that, Brock Purdy has five interceptions in the last three games. A few weeks ago, there was a talk show host on CBS Sports Radio, who had a take.

And he said, and he does afternoon drive from 3 to 6 p.m. Eastern, noon to 3 Pacific. And all he said was this is not a knock on Brock Purdy, but Brock Purdy is a system quarterback who maybe one day can turn into a franchise quarterback. But right now he isn't a franchise quarterback. And I told 41ers fans, don't worry about that analysis because if you win at the end of the year, who cares what we call Brock Purdy. But there was talks of Brock Purdy earlier in the year winning the league MVP.

And I laughed at that because that was one of the more ridiculous things that I've ever heard. And quite frankly, it was disrespectful to Christian McCaffrey because if anyone's going to win the MVP from the San Francisco 49ers, it's going to be run CMC. No disrespect. It's not going to be Brock Purdy. The last three weeks we've seen the 49ers unfortunately suffer injuries. McCaffrey keeps on getting into the end zone, but he's not 100 percent. Deebo's missed the last few games.

And yesterday we already knew Trent Williams was banged up, but he didn't play in the game. And it just shows you for the 49ers who have now lost three in a row. And we thought right early in the season, you hear all these pundits, all the 49ers are unbeatable, all the 49ers are great, all the 49ers about to go undefeated. I'm like undefeated? They got some tough games on this schedule. They're a damn good team, but let's pump the brakes on the undefeated talk. And they lose to the Browns, they lose to the Vikings, and now they just lost to the Bengals.

But it's not brain surgery here. And I don't even think Brock Purdy has been terrible, but he has not been able to elevate this team with fewer players around him. And you don't need a PhD in football to figure this one out.

With how young Brock Purdy is in his career, he needs the players around him. And that's why when I look at the 49ers, I don't panic. Because the 49ers have been up and down before, and they always find a way to get to the NFC title game.

Seems like each and every year they wake up there in the NFC title game, and they don't always have a season that goes smooth sailing from point A to point B, but they get there. So as long as you get Deebo back, as long as McCaffrey gets healthy and you get Trent Williams back, Brock Purdy is going to play better. But it just reiterates once again, and this is not a knock, and I know all you 49ers fans are like freaking out about this.

It just displays when you take some of the weapons away from Brock Purdy, he looks human. And we also forget that this guy started five regular season games last year, three postseason games a year ago, and that was it for starts in the NFL. He was a rookie.

He was Mr. Irrelevant last year and became rather relevant in the NFL. So you're starting to get, when you combine last season to this season, a full season worth of Brock Purdy, which means two things. There's going to be adjustments by other teams, but also no one just goes into the league and dominates the league and doesn't even have some moments of adversity that they have to overcome, especially when they were the last pick in the draft. So sure, I didn't anticipate the Niners losing three in a row. I thought the Niners would lose yesterday, but I did not think that a few weeks ago we'd be sitting here talking about the 49ers in a three game losing streak.

But here we are. But ultimately, outside of Philadelphia, there aren't a lot of teams, if any, that you really gravitate towards and go, oh, I love in the NFC. Like, who's the team? Dallas has been up and down where they beat the bad teams, but they can't beat a great team like the 49ers. The 49ers fans ain't afraid of the Cowboys. The Lions, they were getting so much praise, including yours truly. And then they just got smacked by the Baltimore Ravens where the Lions didn't even show up in that game.

They scored a measly six points. Seattle's a good team, but they lost to the Lions. So outside of Philadelphia, who seven and one and just like the Bengals, they haven't played their best brands of football, outside of Philadelphia, there's not a team in the NFC that the 49ers have to really be worried about. And that's why ultimately, as long as they are healthy, the 49ers will be fine. Now, I still don't think they get to the Super Bowl. I still don't think they win the Super Bowl.

But they're going to be one of the last four teams remaining and most likely, depending on health, and that's a big if in the NFL, we will see the Eagles and 49ers in an NFC championship game and it will probably once again be in South Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field. Here is Kyle Shanahan, the coach of the 49ers, on his message to his team after dropping their third straight game. My message was we got to take that. I mean, we didn't play well. That team beat us straight up. My bottom line of them was we got to get better in every aspect. And the things that disappointed me today were some of the fundamentals of just throwing and catching, tackling, and some of those penalties that cost us. You got to get healthy. That's what it is.

You have to get healthy. Do you believe the Bengals are back? And where's your concern level out with the San Francisco 49ers?

855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. And we'll take a break. When we come on back, Kirk Cousins is done for the season with the Tornakiles.

Where do the Vikings go from here? With their quarterback who's in the final year of his contract. And also, there's one coach in the NFL that is showing he's absolutely nothing without his star quarterback.

I'll tell you who that coach is when we return in five minutes right here on CBS Sports Radio. Then you can stream the NFL in Westwood One for free. Sponsored by AutoZone all season long. You can 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. Real quickly before we react to this Vikings-Packers game from yesterday. It has been brought to my attention in the YouTube chat that we may have a mush on our hand.

And the person I'm looking at is not Stu, but it's actually maybe Mike the Mush. Because, Samter, you after game one of the season when Aaron Rodgers unfortunately tore his Achilles four plays into the Jets season. And maybe there's a chance he's going to come on back.

I'll still believe it when I see it. But yesterday Rodgers is dropping back on a wet field about a month and a half removed from surgery. And I've never seen anything like that with how little time has really passed us by with an Achilles injury. So whatever Rodgers is doing or whatever ayahuasca he is delving into, ayahuasca Aaron, something is working back.

Or maybe it's just the positive mind and the positive thought is leading to positive results. But forgetting about Rodgers for just a second. After that game Michael Samter got on the radio and he said he's no longer going to be a Jets fan. And he started rooting for the Kansas City Chiefs. Now the Kansas City Chiefs did go down yesterday and that's their second loss of the season. Their offense has not looked good for most of the season outside of really the game up against the Chicago Bears and maybe the Chargers. And they just had a 16 game win streak snapped when going up against the Denver Broncos. And here are the Jets with no quarterback because Zach Wilson stinks and the Jets are 4 and 3. So we kind of grade the Chiefs on a curve and a different scale because they are the mighty Kansas City Chiefs. But the Chiefs are starting to look human. And I think there's a correlation to draw that the Jets start looking decent without Rodgers. They're 4 and 3.

They have a chance to make the playoffs and now people are wondering about the Kansas City Chiefs. And I was thinking long and hard about this. And I was up late last night and then I said, you know what? I got to take a shower because I do my best thinking in the shower. And when I got to the shower and I was putting the shampoo through my hair and the body wash all over my skin and probably making people vomit. With the thought of me getting into a shower and being naked in a shower. I had a light bulb go off in my head and that light bulb was aha. I used to work with the mush in hot take kicky.

Now I think I'm working with another mush in Mike the Mush. So what do you have to say to yourself and do you apologize to the Chiefs Kingdom? Not only do I not apologize, you're welcome, Chiefs Kingdom. So they lost the first game of the season on a Thursday when I was still a Jets fan and I hadn't jumped onto the Chiefs bandwagon yet. So they started the season 0-1 without me. Then they won six straight games as Mike Samter jumped on the Chiefs bandwagon. But that's been impressive.

It doesn't matter. They were 6-1. They were 6-0 as a Mike Samter Chiefs beloved team. So yes, they lost the game on the road and they snapped a streak.

Boo hoo. We're going to win the Super Bowl. The Chiefs are going all the way. There's nobody else in that division that's going to even come close to contending with us. We're going to get home field advantage. We're going to win at Arrowhead with a 1-C. We're going to go all the way through the AFC. We're going to crush the NFC. Because right now the only team in the AFC that has any chance of beating us really is going to be the Philadelphia Eagles. I love the Lions and yeah they beat us in week one but that's not going to happen with the bright lights of the Super Bowl. So I'm not worried.

You really are an insufferable Nat. Let me just say that. If Chiefs fans are upset with me because of yesterday and they're ignoring the other six weeks, then you know, forget about it.

Yesterday it was a one-off. The Chiefs, we underestimated the Broncos and the sun shines on even a dog's ass every now and again. So you know what? We'll give it to them. We'll let them have it. Sean Payton can say whatever they want. It's over.

The Michael Samter show on CBS Sports Radio. Geez, that was a long passionate winded rant. Well you know what?

If my fandom and my mushness is getting called into question, I have to defend myself. All I'm going to say is the Chiefs have not been that impressive. Their offense looks like they're taking a step back. And we have Samter, when you weren't a fan, all they did, death taxes and kicked the crap out of the Broncos 16 straight times. And now you jump on that bandwagon and yeah they beat the Broncos a few weeks ago. But now you're sitting there and that offense did diddly. Absolutely nothing in the game yesterday. So I'm not ready to say that you are a mush, but I do know when there are mush senses and my antenna is up here and I'm doing some investigation.

I'm doing a little Sherlock Holmes investigation and we're on to you. All right. So you better be on top of your game and you better not hope that they drop this game. I don't know, to the Dolphins this weekend in Germany, which by the way, the game should be in America. The game should be at Arrowhead. It should be at Kansas City as Tyreke Hill comes back.

But that's a topic for another day. I'll watch the NFL later. It doesn't matter where it's played. It doesn't matter if we win or lose.

930 a.m. Eastern. It's the regular season. It means nothing. It means nothing is the regular season. We're going to come through in the regular season. We're going to crush in the playoffs. It doesn't matter if we beat the Dolphins or the Eagles next week either, because we're still going to run through the AFC. We're going to win the Super Bowl.

So it doesn't matter. All right. We're investigating you. We are investigating you and we will report back later on in the season.

And usually when I investigate someone, the investigation usually does go in my favor. Alrighty. Vikings-Packers yesterday. I had two takeaways from the game.

The obvious one. Just when the Vikings start to get good. Just when the Vikings start to, I guess you could say, pull a bangle.

Where they start off slow. It looks like the ship is sinking. And then they find a way to get back on track late in that game in what was going to be and ended up being a victory up against the Green Bay Packers. Kirk Cousins tears his achilles and it was announced today that he's done for the season. That is so unfortunate because Kirk Cousins was playing some of the best football of his career. Like he had 700 passing yards in the first two games of the season. And somehow they still lost both of those two games.

But now they're sitting there at four and four. They're getting closer and closer to getting Justin Jefferson back. Jordan Addison's playing some really good football.

Hockinson survived an injury and he's been getting into the end zone. You know, this is a damn good football team. And the defense has improved immensely under first year defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings. Former NFL head coach in Brian Flores. Where last year they were like, what, 31st to 32nd in the league.

And now they're kind of middle of the pack. So this is just so unfortunate because now you're going to turn to Jaron Hall or you're going to bring in like Case Keenum or whoever the names are. And the Vikings just aren't a good enough team where they're not like the Jets where their defense is dominant. Now, on offense, they have the pieces where they're going to be able to survive losing their quarterback for the season.

But this is a bigger point here is I'm looking at that game yesterday and it was kind of closing, not only the chapter in the book on Kirk Cousins and the Vikings for this season, but it's also closing the era of Kirk Cousins as the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings because he's 35. Even though he's playing good football, he's on the final year of his deal. This is a regime that did not sign him. This was a regime that did not pick him from the start.

They inherited him. And I'm going to imagine that Kevin O'Connell and also Questia Dofamensa are now going to get a new quarterback and bring in a new quarterback after this season. So this is very unfortunate how the Kirk Cousins era comes to an end because it was starting to get good in Minnesota. And there was going to be questions at the end of the year.

Do you bring him back or do you move on? Especially last year when they won 13 games, we know they weren't a great team. And then they got exposed in the playoffs, but they were starting to make this a tougher decision. And now when a guy tears his Achilles at 35 and he's not considered to be a great quarterback, he's just considered to be a good quarterback, this does incentivize the Vikings even more to not bring him back after this season when his contract expires. Now, if you want to resurface an old take that was only a week old, Brock Purdy doesn't get back into form and Brock Purdy doesn't excel with the 49ers. You could basically have Kirk Cousins go right to San Francisco because you know Kyle Shanahan loves him. You know Kyle Shanahan's been trying to get him to the Bay Area for years. And I don't know how active of a market it's going to be for a good quarterback, but a good quarterback at the age of 35 that has never displayed top five potential or top five talent.

And he's going right into the free agency market. And you know if you're Kirk Cousins, right, you've never won a Super Bowl, you've never been to a Super Bowl, you've never even been to a conference championship game. Well, you could definitely get the job done with the abundance of talent that they have with the San Francisco 49ers. Now, on the other side, I thought a big question going into this season was what is Matt Lafleur without Aaron Rodgers? Because for the last few years when Aaron Rodgers was the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, a lot of Packers fans got annoyed with me when I would not name Matt Lafleur a top 10 coach in the NFL. And Matt Lafleur through the first eight weeks of the season, outside of really that game one performance, and it was up against the Bears, and maybe a fourth quarter comeback on the home opener where they entered the fourth quarter down 17-0 and they scored 18 unanswered points to win the game. Matt Lafleur has really done nothing this season and Matt Lafleur's quarterback Jordan Love has not impressed a lot.

Now, I've said this when the season started, I don't evaluate the success of the Green Bay Packers based off wins and losses this year. But at the end of the season, I just need to see enough signs that Jordan Love could be the guy and then it's a make or break year a year from now when you get into next season. But so far, if we just kind of have to judge at the halfway point, I don't see enough signs, and this is premature, but I don't see enough signs so far which is based off what I say, that Jordan Love is the guy and that's a direct reflection on the head coach in Matt Lafleur. Because if Matt Lafleur is this offensive genius and this whiz kid and this sensational head coach, he should be able to make bare minimum, setting the bar extremely low, Jordan Love to be average.

And so far, Jordan Love has looked below average. There's time to save this in the second half of the season, but so far, through the first eight games of the year, I've not been impressed with Jordan Love and I've not been impressed with Matt Lafleur. And for a lot of people, or a minority of people I should say, that were in the camp of, yeah, the Packers are winning games, but that's pretty much Rogers, you know, how much is it Lafleur? And there was a lot of Packers fans that were like, oh, this is Matt, Matt, Matt, you know, look at this, back to back MVPs. Now, Rogers was trending in the wrong direction. You'd much rather wish if you were a Packer fan right now that you still had Rogers.

I know he tore the Achilles, so it changes the whole conversation, but Lafleur gives me no confidence so far and I don't have really any confidence in Jordan Love either. Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll take a break, we'll come on back, we'll update you with the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio.

We call that segment the News Brief, but first up, standing by with the latest CBS Sports Radio update, here he is, the act man, Rich Ackerman. Well, the Seattle Seahawks are trying to put themselves as the third best team in the NFC, if we all assume that it's the Eagles and 49ers, even with the 49ers dropping three in a row. The Seahawks have finalized a trade to acquire Leonard Williams from the Giants in exchange for a 2024 second-round pick and a 2025 fifth-round pick, according to Ian Rappaport and Mike Garofalo. I see some people saying, oh, that's too rich of a return, what are the Seahawks doing? The Seahawks have a really good team, and that was a good come-from-behind win yesterday, good to get Jackson Smith and Jigba in the end zone. You got D.K. Metcalf, who survived some injuries, you got Tyler Lockett, you get the running backs healthy, Walker and Charbonnet, good one-two punch. Geno Smith has been a solid quarterback now. The secondary for Seattle is really good, so you bring in a veteran presence like a Leonard Williams and you beef up that defensive line. And even though most of us assume that we're going to see an Eagles-49ers-NSC title game, if one of those teams go down, you got to be ready to pounce, so I don't crush the Seahawks who are going for it when they give up a second-round pick.

And also, that second-round pick, assuming it's their own second-round pick and not another's team that was acquired in a deal, that's going to be towards the back end of the second round anyway, so I don't got a problem with that. 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 at Zach Gelb using the hashtag AskThePros. Be listening later in the show when we 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. Before we get to a news brief, I have two, well, one demand and a question for both of you guys and Sam Turin Stu. The demand is tomorrow, with it being Halloween, I want your top five candy items, and we're going to give our top five list of Halloween candy. The question is based off of a demand that I had last week that we're all going to dress up for Halloween. The only thing I want to know, the appetizer I want to know here, the pig in the blanket that I want to know, is your costume sports-related or non-sports-related? So I will start with Stuart Kovacs, who I'm sure spent a lot of time thinking what he's going to be tomorrow for Halloween on this Tuesday edition of the show. Is your costume sports-related or non-sports-related?

It is sports-related. Oh, wow. Surprising. And this is not you and your girlfriend? No, it has nothing to do with the girlfriend, just me. Okay, so it's just you.

Yep. Okay, my guess is Stu will dress up like a moron and say that he's Josh McDaniels. Samter, I think you are going to be non-sports-related. Samter really goes all out for Halloween, and in my Michigan scouting department notes, I do recall, Samter, did you play second or third last year in the company Halloween costume contest? I was second. You were second, so you were the first loser. I was the first loser. But you went all out. What were you last year? I remember you dressed up big.

Yeah, I was... You don't even remember. Something from Game of Thrones. Okay, gotcha.

I was Tyrion Lannister, I guess. Gotcha. So are you sport-related or non-sport-related this year? Non-sport-related.

Gotcha. And I will just tell you my costume is sport-related. Shocker. So we have two sport-related costumes and then one non-sport-related costume. I can't wait to see what we dress up as tomorrow on Halloween right here on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports right here. Well, are you going to wear your costume on the air?

Yeah. Oh, good God. I'm wearing the costume on the air for all nine segments of this show. It's going to be a fun costume. Why, you're concerned that I'm going to wear?

As a producer, you're concerned? I'm just going to make sure that I take all the video possible and hold on to it for future blackmail. That's fine. I don't think this is a blackmail-worthy costume.

I think it's a really damn good costume and, I may say, in the news too. Alrighty, I'll shut up. Let's get to a news brief. Extra, extra real about it.

Extra, extra real about it. Time for your daily news brief. We get you caught up on the rumors, reports and reconnaissance from the day in sports. Another home game for the Dallas Cowboys and another big dominant blowout victory up against an inferior football team. That's kind of been the trend for the Cowboys this year. Dak Prescott was 25-31 for 304 yards and four passing touchdowns, but the big day came from C.D. Lamb, who had a career game. Twelve receptions for 158 yards and two receiving touchdowns. Let's listen up to Dak Prescott, who discussed his star-wide receivers. Big game after some frustrations that he had the last few weeks. A lot of time invested. A lot of trust in that guy.

He runs. He knows what I'm thinking. We're always communicating. And I think that's why, when it's not going our way, it's frustrating, you know what I mean? Because we put so much into it.

I know we live in a society where we all have to react to things right away, and that's what we do on the radio. But I have no reaction to this Cowboys victory yesterday, where I'm going to say, Oh yeah, the Dallas Cowboys are back. Let's see if the Cowboys go get a victory in Philadelphia next week.

Because the Cowboys so far, yesterday's win kind of falls in line with what they are this year. They blow out the Giants. They blow out the Jets. They lose to the Cardinals.

Again, they shouldn't have lost. Then you beat the Patriots, who stink. You got crushed by the 49ers. You beat an eh football team in the Chargers by three, and then you blow out an eh football team in the LA Rams. You got some games coming up for the Dallas Cowboys, two with Philadelphia, and then you play Buffalo, Miami, and the Lions towards the end of the season.

Those are moments where you could impress, but until I see you take down some of those teams and show you can hang with the bigger dogs, I'm going to assume that the Cowboys are going to do what the Cowboys have done the last two seasons, 11-12 wins in the regular season, and then when push comes to shove, the drama Dallas Chokin' Cowboys pop up. Here is Sean Payton on ending the Broncos' 16-game losing streak to Samter's favorite team, the Kansas City Chiefs. It's an important game for us, and it wasn't streak driven. It was important for us to play well before the buy, get into our third win. Honestly, and I told you guys during the week, not once has it come up, and I recognize there are a few players that have gone through that time frame, but when you have a new roster, the focus was really on this game. Well, that's fine, but the focus for the rest of the season, I know the deadline is tomorrow. If you could get a good enough return for a Jerry Jeudy or a Courtland Sutton, I would trade him.

I would not trade Patrick Sertan, but I would not overreact to that one win yesterday because the Broncos are still a bad team. The Jaguars are 6-2. Here's Trevor Lawrence on not being satisfied with that 6-2 record. It feels great where we're at. We also understand that we hadn't won anything yet. We're 6-2.

It's a great spot to be in. We've been on a great run, but we've got to keep carrying that momentum when we come back. I know that's quarterback speak, but I like that from the Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback because in their biggest game of the season, up against the Chiefs, the offense only scored nine points and it was three Brandon McManus field goals. I think the Jaguars are a good team, but coming up in two weeks, now they're in their bye.

They have an opportunity to show that they could beat one of those better teams in the NFL when they go up against the San Francisco 49ers. Let's go to Tyree Kill on getting to the 1,000-yard mark eight games into the season. I've been calling my shot, man, since I came in the league. A lot of people doubted me, said I couldn't do this and do that, but it's all about believing in yourself. Here I am today and no greater day to do it.

I have my kids here today, so no greater day to do it. It's kind of crazy that he's already over 1,000 yards. We all know that he has the ability to be the first receiver ever to win the MVP and the first non-quarterback to win the MVP since 2012. But before the season started, he said he was going to be a 2,000-yard receiver, and I was like, oh, with all those names on offense and also Jalen Waddle, that's probably not going to happen, and he's well on pace to eclipse that 2,000-yard mark. Let's go to Will Levis, who made his starting NFL debut yesterday, and he tossed four touchdown passes, three to DeAndre Hopkins. Here is the quarterback that puts Mayo in his coffin.

This is a dream come true for sure, but what time is it right now? I've got 12 minutes to celebrate it before we're on to Pittsburgh, as Vrabel said. Like you said, I've been dreaming of this moment as a kid my entire life, even just to touch the field in the NFL game, let alone get a win.

It's incredible. And I saw Mike Vrabel today would not say that he'll start in the short week Thursday up against the Steelers. It depends on the health of Ryan Tannehill. I don't care if Ryan Tannehill is healthy, you've got to start Will Levis. You know what Ryan Tannehill is. You just got Will Levis, who could have been a top-five draft pick and ends up going in the second round, 33rd overall.

After that performance, I don't care if Tannehill is 100% healthy, you continue to play the kid. Here's Dave Doran, who once again, he's the coach of NC State, and they took care of business up against Clemson over the weekend, who continues to be miserable. On game day earlier that Saturday morning, Steve Smith was picking, and he was basically saying, ah, NC State's just a basketball school, and Dave Doran took offense to that after the game. Where does that faith come from? What do you see in that locker room on a day-to-day basis?

Heart, spirit, love, perseverance, grit, all the stuff our world needs. Tell Steve Smith in the studio this ain't a basketball school. He can kiss my ass.

That is great, but I was shocked. If you would have told me there was one coach in college football that told Steve Smith to kiss his ass, it would have never been Dave Doran. I interviewed Dave Doran last year when his team defeated Clemson. He was so boring, and he said absolutely nothing. So for him to be on the field after that game and right in the moment goes after Steve Smith, I give that coach a standing ovation. The best part of it was that he told them to go back to the studio and tell Steve Smith to kiss my ass. It was the wrong studio, the wrong network. He wasn't even talking to the same people. Eh, who cares? It was a good sound bite.

Let's go to Coach Prime when he was asked about protecting his son, Shadore Sanders. I just asked that turf for the big picture, trying to keep Shadore upright, healthy. The big picture you're going to get in a lot. That's the picture.

I'm going to paint it perfectly. I know a lot of people are freaking out over that. This is the same coach that walked into a locker room when he first got the job and said he's bringing his own luggage and most of the kids weren't going to be there next year. Now, there is a part of college football, through strength and conditioning, you have to develop players, and I think Coach Prime could do that.

But with the transfer portal, yeah, there will be a whole lot of new offensive linemen next year, especially if Shadore comes back. Here is Kirby Smart on Dan Mullen picking Florida to beat Georgia. We all know Georgia got another victory against the Gators. I don't see it or hear it, but I know it's out there. Somebody texted me before the game and was like, all these people predicting that we're not going to win today. And I'm just like, golly, where's that coming from?

It's supposed to be my friend. He didn't like to recruit, though, so that's how it gets him. A little friendly fire right there.

And finally, Poggi, who is the coach of Charlotte during an in-game interview, ripped his tee, and this was awesome. When we hurt ourselves, we're like watching sausage being made. It's just a horrifying experience. This is football, for God's sake. Just block and tackle people. Do what you're supposed to do. Don't do anything else. Don't talk to anybody. Don't push anybody. I don't care what anybody says to you.

Just do your damn job. He's amazing. And the audio doesn't even do him justice, because he is your typical football guy.

He always wears the shirt with the sleeves cut off, and he looks like the ultimate football dude in Biff Poggi. Alrighty. It is the Zach Gilp Show on CBS Sports Radio.

That was a Monday News Brief. Well, come on back. I have three college football takes for you after another exciting weekend of college football. We'll examine the Ohio State Buckeyes, and I'll give you a take on the Pac-12, and also one college coach that needs a bigger job, because all the guy does is continue to win. Three college football takes coming up next, right here on the Zach Gilp Show, and Jay Gruden will join us coming up 25 minutes from now.