Jimmy G’s Future (Hour 3)

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His BFF, David Ziegler, as well. But I really chuckled. Like, I said this before. When I got the news last night, I was surprised because I thought with the six-year contract, and this only being year two, Mark Davis with also how much he had to pay Jon Gruden to not coach the team, that this was going to be a situation where everyone knew he shouldn't be back, but there was a chance he was going to get back. And when you just got done with the trade deadline, I did not expect that right after that trade deadline expiring a few hours later, Josh McDaniels would get fired. Now, with all that being said, maybe I should change that thinking, and maybe we should look for more of that in the future.

Because, right, like logically, it doesn't make sense. You're going to let a GM and a head coach make decisions that could potentially impact your team for the future. Like if David Ziegler saw a player that was available, like, would you allow him to give up the second or third round pick for, let's say, if he wanted Montez Sweat or if he wanted Chase Young?

Or trade away some of your players? Not that I ever thought that Devante Adams was going to get traded yesterday, but there was at least a conversation about it. So it's wild to me that you have that deadline pass and it kind of feels almost as if when the draft happens and then you see a GM get fired, he's like, whoa, he was just picking all the players. Or a big scout was fired. Oh, well, he had an influence on some of these decisions. So maybe we should look for more of those deadlines to kind of indicate when a team is going to make a move.

So Mark Davis had one move to make, and when you're worth that much money, even though people call you cheap, like to the average person, we all know how much money Mark Davis has compared to all of us. But you have one choice to make. Do you want to continue to be a buffoon? Do you want to continue to be an embarrassment? Or do you want to start to take your team back and try to find a way to get this right?

And that's the big thing now. I can't sit here and tell you I'm trusting Mark Davis to get this right. Because Mark Davis, for almost the entirety of his tenure, has got it wrong. And last time when this job was made available, I was not totally against McDaniel's hire, to be fair, because he was deserving of another opportunity, even though in Denver it was a disaster, but that was over a decade ago, with him going back to New England.

And I said, okay, I'd be interested in a second chapter. But I remember saying, like, go hire Jim Harbaugh. This was two years ago. Or continue to go with Rich Passaccia. And you even see this in other spots, like Carolina. Carolina had Matt Ruhle, they fired him early in the season. Then they let Steve Wilkes be the interim, and he turned it around. Now, I don't know if that would have worked long term, but when the hire was Frank Reich, it was underwhelming.

It was like, that's what you're doing? A guy that just got fired in Indianapolis last year when he was the head coach of Indy, his team did not have one lead at halftime, and the guy could never get a game one in Jacksonville, couldn't beat Tennessee, and it's like, that's the guy that you're bringing in? If it wasn't the slam dunk hire, the Carolina Panthers probably should have stayed with Steve Wilkes. But most of the times, the interim head coach doesn't end up getting the job. So, it's a good day for Raiders fans, because you get rid of Voldemort, right, to your fan base. You get rid of the man's name that we should not mention in Josh McDaniels, because we all knew this was never going to have a good ending.

But now it's like, all right, Mark, with your shady haircut, here we go again. Are you going to disappoint Stu again? Are you going to make sad Stu and Stuart Kovacs become a thing once again? Or are you going to find someone, pick the right person, trust that person, and allow them to make the decision with your team on who you should hire? Because not only you need a new head coach, you need a new general manager. And maybe the head coach is also the GM, or maybe the head coach brings in someone that he trusts as the GM, or you do what most teams do, not all, but most.

You hire the GM, you identify who you want to be the GM, and then you allow that GM to make the hire. Now, Mark Davis's track record, as bad as it is with head coaches, is equally as bad with general managers. Just look at the last two, Mike Mayock and David Ziegler. Yeah, those were the two guys that they recently brought in.

So, moving on from the coaching component of this and the general managing component of it, and we'll have a long time to break this down. Jimmy G, he gets benched today. And Stu, with all the ways that this could have ended, when you go through it, fiery McDaniels and Ziegler in the middle of the night. But it's kind of funny to me that Jimmy G is probably the driving force to why Josh McDaniels doesn't have a job right now. And what I mean by that, because it's McDaniels' fault, he selected Jimmy G to be the quarterback. But a few weeks ago, when it was the decision, do you go with Aiden O'Connell or Brian Hoyer when Jimmy G was hurt, he elected to go with Brian Hoyer, which made no sense. And Aiden O'Connell was, right, a preseason darling, a preseason star, even though that sounds like an oxymoron, because I really don't care what you do in the preseason, but there was some positive momentum with Aiden O'Connell. And then he started a game earlier this year, or he played in a game earlier this year, was it up against the Chargers, Stu?

Yeah, Chargers, yep. And, you know, he wasn't great, but it's not like you looked at him and said, oh, I need to go see Brian Hoyer when Jimmy G isn't there. So then Jimmy G comes back, Jimmy G stinks up the joint, and it's like if Jimmy G never got healthy, you probably see more bad Jimmy G, but then you never see Aiden O'Connell get on the field in the first place. And then it's like if Jimmy G never gets hurt, there's never that decision to be made on do you go Hoyer or do you go Aiden O'Connell?

And when most in the organization probably thought O'Connell was the right choice when Jimmy G got hurt, it seemed like, in a bizarre way, Jimmy G not staying healthy and Aiden O'Connell not getting that opportunity is probably where the locker room said, with other things too, but that was like the last straw, the straw that broke the camel's back. All right, McDaniels, you think you're the smartest dude in this room. McDaniels, you're not the guy. And when you're in college, and I know McDaniels is not a college coach, but you could preach the message through the whole shtick, my way or the highway, and what I say goes, and you get kids 18, 19, wet behind the ears, they're like, yeah, coach could do no wrong. I love coach, coach, coach, coach, whatever you say, that's the gospel. But in the NFL, you have grown men.

And when grown men don't believe in you, it's very trust to gain, or it's very tough to gain that trust back. So it's funny, the demise of Josh McDaniels in Las Vegas, though, was Jimmy G, Brian Hoyer, Aiden O'Connell. Yeah, the Hoyer didn't make much sense at the time, because you know what Brian Hoyer is. He's seen 15 years of Brian Hoyer as a backup in the NFL.

You don't need to see much more. And O'Connell, at least you have that, who knows what he's going to be, that question mark, the ceiling, if you will. Yeah, I don't know what he was thinking. It was almost similar to when McAdoo was coaching the Giants, and McAdoo said, okay, pretty much he had the foresight. We got to kind of start to move on from Eli Manning, because Eli Manning was getting up there in age.

So McAdoo wasn't wrong to suggest that. But I forget, was it Davis Webb who was the quarterback, who was the unknown? I forget who the quarterback was that was the unknown. I think it was Davis Webb. And it was like, if you just went to Davis Webb, wherever the young quarterback was, everybody would be like, okay, you're trying someone out to get an evaluation to then go see if he could be the guy.

If he's not the guy, then you move on. But when he tries Geno Smith out there on the field, at the time, not what Geno Smith has become, where everyone wrote him off and he didn't write back, you know, we're all fans of Geno Smith, obviously. It was like, well, this just seems pointless.

And going to Brian Hoyer a few weeks ago, if I was in that locker room, I'd be like, what the bleep? It was just stupid. It was nonsensical. Yeah, what's the point?

Yeah, it was really dumb. So now what's the future of Jimmy J? Like, they just went to Aiden O'Connell.

I believe Aiden O'Connell, if he's able to stay healthy, they're at least going to give him the opportunity for the rest of the year. But Jimmy G just signed a brand new contract. Just because you signed a three-year contract doesn't mean you're there the entire time. You know, in 2025, the dead cap goes to $12.8 million. Next year, the dead cap's through, though, on the surface.

And I know people could, like, maneuver these numbers around when you used to think you couldn't. But on the surface, according to Spotrack, the dead cap next year for Jimmy G is $28.3 million. Don't you kind of feel like, even though Jimmy G probably shouldn't be on the roster next year, that Jimmy G's going to be on the roster, and they're basically going to say to him, we don't want to have to take the hit on the dead cap. You're on the roster.

Tough luck. There's not going to be suitors for Jimmy G. There shouldn't be suitors for Jimmy G. And we're going to pay you, and you're going to be a good soldier. And Jimmy G's been in situations where he's not been the guy before.

So I'm not saying that he's going to want to sit there and take that, but what other leg do you really have to stand on? Because that's another thing that gets lost in it last night, or on Monday night, because you had the McDaniel's dysfunction, the frustration of Devontae Adams, all that roots back to Jimmy G being tabbed as the guy. Jimmy G the other night, and you've seen a lot of bad QB plays still. You know, I have not been as unfortunate as you have in your NFL fandom. For a while, I saw this guy Brady.

He was pretty good. Before Brady, I saw about like a year of Bledsoe. You know, I had to watch a year of Matt Cassel. You know, I have to see Mac Jones and Cam play for my football team.

But for the most part, I had the standard. But when you look at this quarterback play for the Las Vegas Raiders, you've seen a lot of bad play. Jimmy G the other night, and I understand it's got to be tough mentally because of how much of a beating he has taken, and he knows that line stinks, and he suffered a lot of injuries. I saw a quarterback that was seeing ghosts. I saw a quarterback that was scared. And whenever he would drop back, and I know the offensive line is pretty bad to begin with, but even when he had some time, if a defensive lineman got close to him, he would just like curl right into the defensive lineman and give up on the play and not even throw the football. And at the end of the game on, what was it, fourth and 20-whatever, how do you throw like a six- or seven-yard pass? That was Kirk Cousins in the playoffs throwing to T.J. Hopkinson, except that was even more behind the sticks the other night.

With Jimmy Garoppolo. That's some bad QB play you saw the other night. It was one of the worst I've seen, and like you said, that's saying something. Like I saw Jamarcus Russell in person fumble the ball away three times against the Giants and throw for like 100 yards.

Never read the playbook? Yeah, he was horrible, and there's been a lot of not great quarterbacks that play for the Raiders, but I would say that's probably one of the five worst quarterback games as a Raiders fan that I've seen, and that's saying a lot because they've had a lot of bad games, but he was horrible. He was taking sacks over the place. The one interception he threw was, an absolute lollipop, and again, missing Adams.

It was so, so bad. And the other crazy part is, if they just connect on two of those passes to Adams, like I still don't, I know you could say mathematically they would win the game. I don't think it works necessarily like that because when you're watching that game, they never felt like they were going to go win the game, but let's just say he doesn't throw the pick and he gets a touchdown, and he connects on one of the passes towards the end, either 99 yard one or the 55, 50 yard one. Adams gets two touchdowns, and Adams walks away from the game, even though they lost happy. Because Adams a few weeks ago, right, wasn't in a win when he started complaining too, after the rare win. He's like, oh, I get two.

Yeah, I get two catches. That's not good enough. So, maybe McDaniels doesn't get fired because doesn't that have to play a role in this? Because that was the big story after the game on Monday. It was Devonta Adams isn't happy, and everyone was agreeing, free Devonta Adams, like get him out of the Raiders. And maybe Mark Davis looked at that and said, yeah, we are an embarrassment.

We are a laughingstock. We have to make a move here, and I need to do something now to make sure that Devonta Adams, even though I still think he'll request a trade at the end of the year, wants to stay on this team because he's under contract through 2026. Now on the other side of this, the guy that got replaced by Jimmy J, he was Derek Carr. The Raiders were right in theory to move on from Derek Carr. But when you have rumors of Rodgers potentially going there, Brady potentially going there, you can't say, oh, here's Jimmy G. Because I've said this for a while. Jimmy G is a quarterback. Jimmy G is not a very good quarterback. Jimmy G was in a good system in San Francisco.

But I never believed that Jimmy G was that dude. So you go and you replace someone that kind of got screwed with the Raiders in terms of they never really gave him this good team. He loved being a Raider. McDaniels didn't want him there.

That's part of the business. But now today, Derek Carr is almost becoming this like sympathetic figure where it was like, oh, imagine if they still had Derek Carr. Well, like Raiders fans, you would still stink.

All right. You saw a decade of Derek Carr. Yeah, he had that one MVP type of season.

You know, he showed great leadership skills in the disaster. That was Jon Gruden. But at the end of that game, he did throw a pick against the Cincinnati Bengals in that playoff game. So like Derek Carr is not that dude either.

But I will say this now. Today may be a day where a lot of people go, oh, it's a win for Derek Carr. Derek Carr was right. Derek Carr was exonerated. Shame on Josh McDaniels.

He should have never got rid of him. Well, let's not look past Derek Carr's current situation with the Saints because today Desmond Ritter got replaced with the Falcons for now. I know the coach is just saying one week.

I think it should be more than that by Taylor Ham Heinecke. So now you have a division where you have a rookie quarterback in Bryce Young who's on a team with one win. They stink. You then have the Atlanta Falcons in that division who are now starting Taylor Ham Heinecke. And then you also have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who got off to a good start but are now struggling. And Baker Mayfield's playing like the real Baker Mayfield that we know and it's not a good Baker Mayfield. It's not the Baker Mayfield that you saw at Oklahoma. So you look at this division. You are the great Derek Carr. You are someone that tries to make it out as if you're this really good quarterback in this league and you have your brother who's a former quarterback getting on NFL Network and talk about how underappreciated he is and how good he is. And how some people try to make the case, not me, that Derek Carr is a top 10 quarterback. Well, Derek Carr, you need to win this division with the Saints.

Because even though things have got off to a slow start, your team's out 4-4. And you have a division that's starting a rookie quarterback, a division that's starting Taylor Ham Heinecke and Baker Mayfield. If you don't win the division this year, I don't want to hear anyone say, Oh, Derek Carr was exonerated by the mess of Josh McDaniels because he needs to play better.

And that can't be the part of the conversation that we miss. And he had a good game last week, I'll give him credit. But now you need to see that consistently. Because this is what Derek Carr does. Takes a few steps forward, and then right when you think he's like, alright, he's putting it together, top 10, he takes three or four steps back. But this year, just winning the division is what is expected. Now, I didn't think they'd win the division, but most think they are going to win the division.

You don't do that bare minimum, it's an embarrassment. Especially when you look at the other quarterbacks inside the NFC South. Alright, this is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll come on back with a little News Brief. Let's go to Sean and RJ on 105.3, the fan in Dallas. They were talking to Jerry Jones as they do each and every week. Jerry Jones, one of the best spots in radio, I think the best spot in radio, because every time he says something, it's a headline. Here is Jerry Jones on the importance of facing the Eagles. This is easy for me to say, but this is serious s*** that we're dealing with up here. Sunday man. We've got to really have our game face on. So how about that?

This is some serious bleep. And this is a big moment for the Dallas Cowboys. Now, they have fared well up against the Eagles, and so has Dak Prescott. Now, division game, big moment, everyone's going to be watching this, and it's a loaded weekend of games in the NFL, but so far with the Cowboys, in their biggest test this year up against the 49ers, they got embarrassed. I don't think there's a lot of pressure on the Eagles in this one. The Eagles are 7-1. The Eagles right now are the best team in the NFL. For the Cowboys, this is a big statement game, and you get two opportunities at the Philadelphia Eagles. Let's go to Aaron Rodgers. Does the Jets record motivate him to come back?

This is courtesy of the Pat Mack of the show. For sure. I mean, the goal is to come back, and the goal is to be able to have that conversation. Again, there's still a lot that has to happen. Oh, yeah, that's his goal. But then the medical side of it has to come into play, and it's one thing, and it's remarkable that Aaron Rodgers is somehow on the field, having a catch, and then shortly after that, with having the surgery right after week one, is able to drop back already.

Like, that's wild. That's inconceivable to me, and you see him walking a lot without the crutches. So he keeps on having that goal. I think it's a good goal to have. I don't know how realistic it is, but so far, at least when he has shown he's on the field before the game, he's doing things I didn't even think he'd be able to do at this point. Here is Aaron Rodgers on his advice for Kirk Cousins tearing his Achilles, since now Aaron Rodgers, I guess, is the Achilles whisperer once again. This is courtesy of the Pat Mack of the show. You know, just got to talk to him, hopefully encourage him a little bit.

It's, you know, sucks. Passed on, you know, all the information I could and let him know what's been working for me. Not sure what he ends up doing, but because the rehab's been great, because I feel so good, obviously people have been interested in what I'm doing. Well, now he's going to be the whisperer. Now he's the medical whisperer.

Aaron Rodgers. Let's go to Mike McDaniel. He was shocked that Stuart Kovacs and many other people are dressing up as Mike McDaniel for Halloween this year. One of the hot costumes in Halloween is you, kids wearing, I've seen it posted on social media, kids dressing up as Mike McDaniel. That does not compute.

That doesn't make any sense. They did your run at Monday. When the kid did the run and then the fan last night.

Was that faster than the kid? That's great. I will admit, Mike McDaniel has grown on me. I thought last year I just wasn't in on the inside joke. At times I didn't think I was in on the inside joke this year. But he goes out to all those reporters because the Dolphins are playing in Germany this weekend, which is so stupid.

That game should be in Kansas City. And he's meeting like new media members, like foreign media members, and he goes, I know what you're all thinking. You're thinking I was, you know, I'm a lot bigger in person than on the videos that they show of me. Like what an opening line for NFL head coaches say when meeting a bunch of new media members. Here is Jim McElwain, the coach at Central Michigan. He was asked about the video that has surfaced on Connor Stallions, the spy, the Marine, the guy that's been getting all the signals stolen for Michigan, appearing on the Central Michigan sideline allegedly. And I guess it was a game Central Michigan against Michigan State. And here's Jim McElwain, who did coach at Michigan.

He was on Harbaugh's staff in 2018. Here's McElwain responding to it. We obviously are aware of a picture floating around with the sign-stealer guy. You know, people are doing everything they can to get to the bottom of it. We're unaware, totally unaware of it.

I certainly don't condone it in any way, shape, or form. You know, I do know that his name was on none of the passes that were let out. Now we just keep tracing it back and tracing it back and try to figure it out. But there's no place in football for that. So I don't understand why Central Michigan is so afraid. It's either him on your sideline or it's not. And you should know by now.

So, like, the AD kind of said, oh, yeah, we're investigating it. Then McElwain said what you just heard from him. I know that maybe he has some loyalty to Harbaugh, but, like, geez, Luis. It's either he's on your sideline or not, and this is not, like, the mystery of D.B. Cooper, for crying out loud.

I think you could figure this out rather quickly. Here is Coach Prime, Deion Sanders, on Colorado players getting their items stolen, like, jewelry at the Rose Bowl this past week when they were going up against UCLA. All that stuff should be replaced.

This is the Rose Bowl. They said the granddaddy of them all, right? I'm sure granddaddy had some money. Grandpa should have some money to get these kids. I'm going to have a list made out from these young men, and I know they're going to be truthful about what they lost so we could try to get that back for them.

They may not be able to get the items back, but we should be able to reimburse them. That was unbelievable. Like, I don't know about you guys. Is this, like, an inside job? Is it, like, I would hate for this to be someone associated with the Colorado program. Or is this, like, a security staffer at the Rose Bowl? Because how do you get to that point where you're in the locker room, the visiting locker room, and you're able to steal things? Like, it's someone that has to have, I don't think this is just some random attendant, like, it could be, I guess, or some random person that made their way in. Like, this is a crazy story to me. Like, you play a game, how much security do you think is at these games? And remember when Prime was at Jackson State, he got stuff stolen.

But it's just wild to me. Didn't Tom Brady have a jersey taken out of his locker room at the Super Bowl? So that was at the Super Bowl, you're right.

It was the 28-3 comeback. But it's, you've covered Super Bowls. Like, every Tom, Dick, and Harry gets a credential. Now, it's still crazy, right, the quarterback of the Patriots getting a jersey stolen, right, and it's not only the quarterback of the Patriots, it's the greatest quarterback of all time. But there's a lot of people that have access to that locker room. How many people have access to the visiting Colorado locker room during a game?

Like, that to me, and it's not as if, right, that was, like, I'm assuming the attendance wasn't great because how many times have you seen the Rose Bowl practically empty these days? So it's a wild story, it really is. Here is the play-by-play of an epic comeback for the San Antonio Spurs last night. I thought this game was over, and it's typical basketball.

You think it's over, and the next thing you know, it comes on back, and Victor Wambunyama was awesome towards the end. Here is the call on TNT. Three-pointer, no good, Wambunyama! It's a one-point game.

6.8 to go. Might want to call a timeout to advance it. Johnson takes it from him. Johnson hangs.

Yes! And the Spurs have the lead. What did I just witness?

It's not going to be perfect for Victor Wambunyama in year one, but you are already seeing signs that he's worth the hype. Because, as you just heard from Reggie Miller, legendary basketball player, one of the 75 greatest players of all time, what did I just see? And he does things on the basketball court when he was going up, and it wasn't even that dunk, and, like, he grabbed the net, and the ball still went through.

But it was wild. And even KD had no clue what hit him. Here is Victor Wambunyama on facing Kevin Durant last night. I'm far from mastering the game as much as him, because I try to do some stuff like him, but I think I'm maybe not patient enough. I think I want to go too fast, but he goes to his own pace and goes to his spots.

I think I got to not copy that, but get inspired by that. He's the number one reason to watch the NBA this regular season. Like, I can't even think of a close second right now, because a lot of the times, most of these players, even with the incentives now to win awards, they don't play anyway in the regular season. And also, I thought the funniest thing yesterday, this in-season tournament, how they're having all these special courts for the in-season tournament was getting released and everyone's trying to make this a big deal. Amateur hour, absolute amateur hour by that spineless commissioner, spineless silver.

Alrighty, let's keep it moving. We will go from one incompetent commissioner to another sport that has an incompetent commissioner. We go from NBA to Major League Baseball. The Texas Rangers are one win away from hoisting that piece of metal that is called the commissioner's trophy. We'll see if they get the job done tonight. At least we actually have a legit pitching matchup tonight with Nathan Evaldi going up against Zach Gallin. But last night, it was a bullpen game. The Rangers took advantage of it. Here is Corey Seeger, who won the MVP with the Dodgers in the World Series back in 2020 on being one win away from another World Series title this time in Texas. It would be awesome.

Anytime you can put yourself in this position, it's where you want to be. So this team, this organization, it would be a big one for us. I think everyone's going to pick the Rangers tonight. I actually believe that the Diamondbacks are going to send this back to Texas and this thing will be over in six games. I like the heart, at least in a blowout, that the Diamondbacks showed towards the end of the game. Not that I think it's going to turn it around.

I don't want to sound like John Smoltz. I know that there's a lot of Rangers fans today. I think John Smoltz is just being a homer in this World Series and doesn't like the Rangers. I still think the Rangers are winning this series. But I've got to think that the Diamondbacks, even though the Rangers haven't lost in the road this postseason, I've got to think that the Diamondbacks find a way to get one at home. And finally, here's Christian Walker of the Diamondbacks on facing elimination in Game 5. We're going to fight as hard as we can every pitch. We've had our backs up against the wall before. A little bit different.

Every scenario is different. But we're going to leave it all on the field. So that's the last one for baseball. Let's go back to the gridiron. The big story today is Josh McDaniels got fired in the middle of the night along with David Ziegler. Here is the interim coach, Antonio Pierce, who I know was on the coaching staff at Arizona State and I think was like the assistant head coach at Arizona State for Herm Edwards. Now he's on this Raider staff and the former Super Bowl champion linebacker for the Giants is now the interim head coach for the Raiders.

And he addressed reporters earlier today. It's a new day. It's a new chapter. It's a new era. It's a new mindset. What is that mindset? It's that of the Raider pride, the commitment to excellence and making sure our alumni, our fan base and Raider nation are proud of what they see on the field.

What does that look like? Tough, passionate effort, energy, that enthusiasm that you see when we all watched our kids and these young men who are now pro athletes play with Aaron Pot Warner. Having that love for the game. We had a great team meeting this morning.

Everybody was still the eye in focus. We walked in with a smile on our face. The synergy, the energy in this building and the personality of our players will reflect on who we are as Raiders. And we're tired of losing. It's not a good feeling.

We're a production-based business. We're about competition, being competitive and play with an edge and a swag and a certain confidence that we walk out that damn tunnel that everybody watching TV can see it. There's no one in my life that exudes more energy that I know of than Stuart Kovacs. Stu is a long-suffering, tortured Raiders fan. Many people call him pessimistic, but I just say he's realistic. Stu, hearing that from Antonio Pierce, does it move the needle at all for you?

A tiny bit. I like it. I like to hear it.

Yeah, it sounds good. Now we'll see if he puts it to, you know, the actual field and actual results on the field, but it sounded really good. We may need to get a live camera on Stu during these games. Raiders Giants this week, 4.25 p.m. Eastern. One no confidence, 100 all the confidence in the world. Where is the confidence that Aiden O'Connell and Antonio Pierce get the job done for the Raiders?

Out of 100, I'd say like 55. Their whole Giants aren't very good. I think they have a chance. Wow, that's like the most optimistic I think I've heard you talk about this team this year. That's probably the most you're going to hear all season. Alrighty, that's the news briefing. This is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.

We'll come on back. I know the College Football Playoff Committee gave out their rankings last night. I'll give you out my top five rankings in college football and the NFL.

But first up, with the latest CBS Sports Radio update, here he is, the Ackman, Rich Ackerman. It's time to ask the, or answer our Ask the Pros question of the day, and it's brought to you by O'Reilly Auto Parts. Let's go to Jim in Ohio who says, Zach, Ohio State was ranked the number one team in the country last night by the CFP.

Do you believe they are the best team in college football? You could submit a question by tweeting at CBS Sports Radio or at Zach Gelb, Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B, using the hashtag Ask the Pros. 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. Let's answer that question right now in take five. As the dust settles from last week's games, it's time to look at which teams are rising and which are falling.

Zach ranks his top five NFL and college football teams on this week's edition of Take Five, only on the Zach Gelb Show. Alrighty, we'll start things off in Detroit. After a bad loss to the Baltimore Ravens, you got an easy opponent, a layup in the Raiders, and you once again showed what that defense can be for the Detroit Lions. Jared Goff had a nice bounce-back game.

He was surgical in that first half, and you start to see the implementation of one Jameer Gibbs as well, and Sam Laporta has been a stud for them this season. So the Lions get back in the win column. They're in an easy division. They're trending in the right direction. Good schedule for them the rest of the season.

And they should be able to compile a lot more wins. They're 6-2, and the Detroit Lions are my fifth team in this edition of Take Five. My next stop, the Miami Dolphins, coming off a bad loss to the Philadelphia Eagles and where we all know how great the Eagles are, but they didn't really show up in the game. I never thought the Dolphins were alive, and that is concerning, and they're your two biggest games of the season. You no showed up against the Bills. You didn't give a good performance up against the Eagles.

You got the Patriots, coming on into your house, and you found the way to beat them and do so going away. You're getting healthier. Jalen Ramsey's now back.

Ninety-four days removed from the meniscus injury. You'll eventually get Devon H. Hand back, who was big for them earlier in the season, and you have Tyreek Hill, who's looking like he could be the MVP of the league, complemented with Jalen Waddle as well. This defense is getting healthier. This team is getting healthier, and we know the Dolphins can put up a ridiculous amount of points. They've already put up 271 points this season, and that's the most points in the NFL, so the Miami Dolphins are in at number four.

Number three wasn't a great performance against the Cardinals, but style points don't matter. The Baltimore Ravens have been a really good team this year. Their defense is playing some really solid football. Offensively, they don't have a lot of names on the offensive side of the ball. Outside of their quarterback in Lamar Jackson, Zay Flowers having a good rookie season, I would have liked to have seen the Ravens go out and acquire a running back at the deadline or at least another solid wide receiver that you could rely on.

I know that Odell Beckham Jr. wasn't happy towards the end of that game, but who cares, like, at this stage of his career? But the Ravens have won three games in a row. The Ravens annihilated the Detroit Lions who were my fifth team two weeks ago. Baltimore sitting in a good spot at six and two, and it all comes down to the health of, of course, their quarterback in Lamar Jackson. In at number two, yeah, they haven't looked great offensively. Yeah, they lost another game, but the Kansas City Chiefs, and being a vulnerable team once again, are still sitting in a pretty damn good spot. Tough game this weekend against the Miami Dolphins in Germany, early field on this Wednesday, kind of like the Dolphins to win the game.

The Dolphins are due to win a big game, but Kansas City still six and two, and as long as Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce are healthy, they're gonna have a chance to once again be the AFC team that's in the Super Bowl and can beat anybody. And then in at number one, funny, we haven't heard from Ryan and Santa Barbara, who a few weeks ago chastised me on this show and yelled at me and called me a bunch of names and told me to be quiet and laughed at me, insulted me, when I told them the Eagles are better than the 49ers. Notice the 49ers, after losing three in a row, aren't in the top five.

We're trying to find them somewhere. Where'd the 49ers go? Where'd the confident 49ers go? And the Philadelphia Eagles keep on winning games. As I said earlier, style points don't matter in this league.

In the words of Al Davis, just win, baby. And that's what the Philadelphia Eagles have continued to do, only one loss this year, and it was a bad interception by Jalen Hurts, up against the Jets, and they could be undefeated, but they're seven and one. Fly Eagles fly, those are my top five this week. Lions five, Dolphins four, Ravens three, Chiefs two, and the Eagles in at one. Big mic, CBS, moist mic, whatever you want to call it.

Speak now, forever, hold your peace. Big mic, CBS, I know that second name, I have never, I have no idea who that is. Come on, give me some moisty teams here, Mike. Well, you mentioned your boy, Ryan. How about those 49ers? Like, why don't they belong in there? I know they've lost three straight, but I mean, defensively, they are unstoppable. Not last week, they were horrible, up against the Cincinnati Bengals defensively. Now they get Chase Young, I'm a man of math.

I'm not good at math, but it's simple. Lions are in front of them, they have six wins, the Eagles are in front of them, they have seven wins, and that's just in the NFC. And then you look at the other teams I mentioned, all in the intake five, six wins, and six wins as well in another six-win team. So, simple math, they're five and three, they're trending in the wrong direction right now, losing three in a row. All right, the Bengals, the team that I think is the best team in the AFC. I don't think that's a crazy team. Behind my Chiefs, behind my Chiefs, I'm sorry.

No, I was going to say. Second best team in the AFC. Look how quickly you're jumping off that Chiefs bandwagon. The Bengals are four and three. The Bengals are back in the circle of trust. I think the Bengals, you could argue, are the second most dangerous team in the AFC, but I got to see more consistency from them.

We're all getting back in. Now let's see what you do against the Bills this week, and if you can get to five and three, you'll rise up those rankings. Monitoring them, they're taking a step in the right direction, but not ready to say they're a top five team in the NFL just yet. Anyone else?

Yeah, last one. I mean, you talked about them all season long, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence. I think they're a heck of a team, and Josh Allen has nine sacks on the season, which is big for them. They need Trayvon Walker to get going, and you have a great quarterback.

They're really damn good. I thought about them, but I just put the Lions edging them out slightly, and that's why I didn't go with the Jacksonville Jaguars. That performance up against the Kansas City Chiefs still concerned me a little bit, and the Lions did beat the Chiefs earlier in the season.

Alrighty, rapid fire. Let's go to college football here. In at number five, I'm putting the Oregon Ducks. The Ducks go to Utah, and not only did they defeat Kyle Whittingham, which no one ever does on his home turf, they blew him out. That was one of the more dominant performances I've seen by a team this year, and the Ducks only have one loss, and it was to Washington, who they lost because their kicker missed a chip shot, and the game didn't get to go to overtime.

Bo Nix has been sensational, and that Ducks defense quack-quack was awesome this past weekend. Number four, I know they have not played well the last two weeks, but style points shouldn't matter here. They have, you could argue, the best win in the country right now according to the college football playoff rankings. When you look at the rankings, Washington is five. They should have been in the top four, and Oregon is six. That's a tremendous win for Washington. They beat Oregon, and they're undefeated, and they have a guy that could win the Heisman, Michael Penix Jr.

So Washington's in at four. They're a Florida State dominant season so far for them. They survived against Clemson. They destroyed LSU in the second half. They beat Duke. I know the Clemson and Duke wins aren't aging well, but, man, they're quarterback.

Jordan Travis is an absolute dog, and he's one of the toughest quarterbacks in the country. In at number two, it's Michigan. I did have Michigan, I think, one last week, and then Georgia did go up against Florida, and people are like, Oh, is this the week that they missed Brock Bowers? And that wasn't the case for Georgia. Michigan just hasn't really played anybody yet. They still have Penn State. They still have Ohio State. I think they'll beat both those teams because they're better than both those teams. And in at number one, Georgia now back into the dominant category like they ever left.

They haven't lost the game. Georgia is in that number one spot. So five through one, Oregon five, Washington four, Florida State three, Michigan two, Georgia one.

Samter, speak now, or forever hold your peace. Well, you say that Washington has the best win. Well, Steve Sarkisian thinks that Texas has the best win, beating Alabama. Why is Texas not in your top five? Because Texas has a loss on the season. So does Oregon.

That's true. But Oregon is a better team, in my opinion, and they play in the tougher conference than Texas. And also, you know, Malik Murphy played fine.

When are you getting Quinn Ewers back? Are they going to go to Arch Manning? There's uncertainty there at the quarterback position. And also, even though you beat Oklahoma, or you lost to Oklahoma, that was your loss. It's like after that, all right, you survived against Houston and then you beat BYU.

It's like not really impressive moments there. And in the biggest game of the year, you lost to Oklahoma. And the team, they beat Alabama. They seem like they're rolling tide. Yeah, so I was really impressed with Bama when they were down to Tennessee.

They had that big third quarter comeback and then they won that game. It's all to be coming down to the SEC championship game. Let's see what happens with Alabama. And how can you not have the college football player ranking number one overall team Ohio State in your top five? And also a big game for Bama this weekend against LSU. That will tell us a lot about Alabama. It's very simple with Ohio State.

I'm just not a believer in them. I don't trust Kyle McCord. That defense is awesome. They should have lost the game to Notre Dame. McCord should have thrown that pick. It was an easy drop or an easy catch and then Notre Dame dropped it. And against Penn State, yeah. It was a great defense performance. Marvin Harris Jr. was awesome, but I wasn't impressed with Kyle McCord. I think that team could be got and they weren't that impressive against Wisconsin. I just think those five teams are better than them. Ohio State would be my sixth team. All right, talk to you tomorrow, everybody. We out for five. Peace.