Kenny Pickett Is A Mediocre Roller-coaster Ride (Hour 1)

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Or on Instagram, I'm always straight flexing. At Zach Gelb. Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. I kinda lied there right off the bat. I am not in the New York City studios today. I'm actually on the road in Philadelphia from our 94 WIP Odyssey Studios. And something that's gonna be very tough throughout this show is adjacent to me is the Tasty Cake Wall. So their studios are sponsored by Tasty Cake, and they have an entire wall with shelves and shelves and shelves of Tasty Cakes on it. And I've set the over-under at three and a half trips for the big fella to the Tasty Cake Wall before we do say goodbye to you on this football Friday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific.

I have Michael Sampter and Stuart Kovacs back in our New York City studios. If I may say so myself, by the way, Moist Mike. These Tasty Cakes are very moist, and I've already made one trip to the wall, as you can see if you're listening on the stream. There is the empty wrapper from what was a very delicious peanut butter candy cake, which was three little round Tasty Cakes, and they were absolutely phenomenal.

So throughout the duration of the show, I do have my high-quality H2O, and I have a lot of Tasty Cakes that are on standby, so looking forward to that. Andrej Osivas will join us from the Cincinnati Bengals. The rookie wide receiver has found the end zone a few times, found his first NFL touchdown on his birthday from Joe Burrow, which was pretty cool a few weeks back. He'll join us at 4.20 p.m. Eastern today to preview that big game this weekend on Sunday Night Football on NBC as the Bengals do host the Buffalo Bills. And then at 5.20 p.m. Eastern, 2.20 p.m. Pacific, we'll do our weekly pick spot college football NFL with Ryan Horvat from BetMGM tonight, and also via Beck QL. And a monster, monster weekend in the NFL with the Chiefs and Dolphins playing in Germany. You have the Cowboys going to Philadelphia, where I'm at right now. I'm not staying for the game. But they will be playing the Eagles, as that's a heavyweight NFC East showdown, and then it wraps up on Sunday night with the Bills and the Bengals. But let's start off on this football Friday with a bunch of doing college football as well. We'll preview Bama and LSU and so much more. But I got to get into that football game from last night to kick off week nine of the NFL season as the Pittsburgh Steelers just survived up against the Tennessee Titans.

Yesterday I predicted that the Steelers would win 21 to 17, so we won some cash laying the three points, and the final score was 20 to 16. And I think there's two takeaways from this game. And we're all still trying to figure out what Kenny Pickett is through two years as an NFL starting quarterback. And on the other side, Will Levis, who's only been able to start two games so far in his career, he has left you desiring more and wanting to see more of what Will Levis can become. And I'll just say this right out of the gate, there's no doubt about it, Will Levis should remain the Tennessee starting quarterback for the remainder of the season.

He was not great last night. In the first game he was great, delivering four passing touchdowns, three to DeAndre Hopkins, one to Nick Westbrook, Akina. And last night, I know he doesn't throw for a passing touchdown, but with not a great situation around him, Tennessee falls to three and five, he looked like a competent quarterback, and he looked like a quarterback that's athletic, and I'm not ready to say that the ceiling for Will Levis is great, or he's going to be a Hall of Famer, or he's going to be a Pro Bowler, or he's going to be a stud in this league. But so far, the command that Will Levis has and the way he presents himself on a football field makes you say, this guy really fell to the second round?

You would think he should have been a first round pick. Now I was never someone saying that Will Levis should have been selected in the top five, but there was a moment where he was projected to be a top five pick in this draft at some points, even as high as number one, and he falls out of the second round to the 33rd overall pick. And we've seen quarterbacks before, and another one in particular right now in the NFL, right, you remember Sam Howell, who Sam Howell was at one point supposed to be the number one overall pick back at UNC, lose some wide receivers, lose his running backs in Javonte Williams and Michael Carter, and he plummets and falls all the way to the fifth round, and not that Sam Howell has turned out to be the sensational player in the league, but you see some ups and downs this year with Sam Howell, and you hear some players from the Philadelphia Eagles talk about what Sam Howell was able to do the other day, especially like Jason Kelce, even in a losing effort to the Philadelphia Eagles, and they were impressed with Sam Howell. And they've now seen Sam Howell twice, those members of the Philadelphia Eagles, so Will Levis and Sam Howell are both guys where, even though they were picked in different rounds, for Sam Howell you say, yeah that guy probably should not have been a fifth round draft pick, and then for Will Levis, with how many quarterbacks we've seen go in the first round and just get right into the league and face plant, and within two, three years, if that at most, they're either out of the league or they're in different homes or they've been benched by their current team, so far it's only two games, I'm not saying go throw a parade for Will Levis, and if you're Tennessee, you sit back, I think Richard Sherman said it after the game, oh you have your franchise quarterback, like I'm not ready to go there with Will Levis, but there's a level of intrigue with Will Levis, and that's really all you could ask for when this is early on in your NFL career, and you're only two games in. And you have a team that, sure, Derek Henry found the fountain of youth a little bit last night, we know he's not going to be the dominant force that he once was, but even his drop off has not been so severe, and he's still a solid player, DeAndre Hopkins, he didn't get to the end zone four times, but he has four catches for 60 yards in the game last night, I was really impressed with Joey Porter Jr. as well, with the job that he did in coverage and he wanted to be on DeAndre Hopkins as much as possible, but no one looked at this Tennessee team and says, wow they're this great team, or wow they're this unstoppable force, or wow they're this really great team, so you're asking the quarterback to cook with not the best ingredients right now, so there's definitely some ingredients that add a little flavor and a little spice to the meal and make you think okay, you could see enough to evaluate, but also there needs to be individual moments that Will Levis has, and so far through his first two games, he's provided enough individual moments that just at the bare minimum, I say I want to see more of Will Levis and I'm not going to sit here and I'm not going to put him in a certain level already of getting on the air and saying, oh he's great, oh he's wonderful, oh he's sensational, but through the first two games he's been good and I'm still trying to figure out on the scale where his apex is going to be, and we know there's bad quarterbacks, below average quarterbacks, average quarterbacks, good quarterbacks, very good quarterbacks, and then great elite hall of fame quarterbacks, no one's going to say after two games, oh wow elite, oh wow hall of fame, like you can't say that with any merit, but right now he's falling in that good category, and it's can you continue to build off that and then take it to the next step. So I walk away from last night's game, even though they lost, even though he was not the winning quarterback, but I thought to myself, I was more impressed with Will Levis, and I was more curious about what Will Levis can be, compared to Kenny Pickett, who sure Kenny Pickett gets the W, sure Kenny Pickett now has seven game winning drives in his short two year career in the NFL, we're not even done with year two yet, but the Kenny Pickett performance last night, it's kind of like a mediocre roller coaster ride, where you have high expectations, and then you leave, and it's not as if you're saying you'll never go back, and this roller coaster sucks, but it's underwhelming. So I look at Kenny Pickett, 19 of 30 in the game, 160 yards, a touchdown, was horrible in the first half, and then in the fourth quarter got going, and Kenny Pickett like, it's weird, because he has that grit, he has that toughness, you watch him play, and there is at times an it factor, and he walks away with seven game winning drives, and a team now that is five and three, but when I look at Kenny Pickett throughout the duration of the game, more times than not, I just say that Kenny Pickett is a dude, and he's not the dude, and there's a difference in that. Like, you could look like the dude at times, but week in and week out, quarter to the next quarter, half to the next half, I don't see enough moments, even with seven game winning drives in his career, and his career is very young, where I go, wow, Kenny Pickett's going to have a ceiling of greatness, wow, Kenny Pickett's going to win a Super Bowl in this league, or Kenny Pickett's going to be a Hall of Fame quarterback, and even though there are some moments, like when he gets in the end zone late last night, where you go, that's what you're looking for, you have to remember they're going up against a bad Tennessee team. Now, this is not the sensational team that people are shaking in their boots, and they had to grind it out, and you take a win when you get a win, and Thursday night in the NFL, with the short week, these games are usually not pretty.

They are ugly games, but I just don't walk away whenever I watch Kenny Pickett play over a large sample size, and say he's going to be one of those quarterbacks that ever has a ceiling of top five, top seven in this league, and you either have the quarterback or you don't. Buffalo has their quarterback in Josh Allen, the Bengals have their quarterback in Joe Burrow, the city I'm in right now, Philadelphia, they have their quarterback in Jalen Hurts. Clearly, the Kansas City Chiefs have their quarterback in Patrick Mahomes. Those are the four top quarterbacks in football right now. Those are the four best quarterbacks in football. Baltimore has their guy in Lamar Jackson, and I could give you like three or four other names when you're trying to build the top ten or like nine out of ten guys, and I don't think Kenny Pickett is anywhere close, nor should he be this young in his career, of being a top ten quarterback, but you see guys like Lamar Jackson, first two years as a starter wins a league MVP, unanimous by the way. Patrick Mahomes, first two years as a starter, win an MVP, and those are guys that are trying to become mortals. Those are guys that they're already getting ready to carve out their bust in Canton, Ohio, and there's a lot of football left for all those guys, and there's a lot of career still to build on, but sometimes when you have a quarterback, and we've seen this in the league before, whether it's a Kirk Cousins, whether it's a Dak Prescott, even like a Ryan Tannehill, to some extent, where there's just some quarterbacks that get stuck on just being good quarterbacks, and they could look like the dude at times, but at the end of the season, when you go through the turbulence and the ups and downs of a 17 game regular season, you say more so, oh yeah, they're just one of the guys.

They're not the guy. And that's what I do believe, even though he has this uncanny ability to move the team down the field, even when he looks like he's not going to do so, and he just finds a way to walk away with the victories, it's not as if you walk away when you watch Kenny Pickett and go, I'm fearful of Kenny Pickett, and Kenny Pickett's going to be a stud in this league, and Kenny Pickett is going to be this great, untouchable player in this league. And I know some of this may seem unfair, because he's so young into his career, he hasn't even gone through two years in the NFL, and he missed the first few games last year because the Steelers were stupid when they were starting Mitch Trubusky, but you can evaluate. And a lot of times now, when maybe the system's unfair, you have to evaluate quickly, and you have to make these decisions very early on, because a guy like Kenny Pickett who was a first round pick, you get five years. And I'm not saying you always get those five years, but contractually, you get the four years as a first round pick, and then the fifth year option.

And usually after year three or year four, those quarterbacks, deservedly so, asked for these big, lucrative salaries. And if you told me tomorrow that, like, hey, two years from now, Kenny Pickett, do you think he's going to be one of those 45, 50 million dollar quarterbacks, whatever it's going to go up to, I wouldn't feel great if I'm allocating that much money to Kenny Pickett to be QB1 of my team. I'm not saying Kenny Pickett's trash. I'm not saying Kenny Pickett's horrible. I'm not saying Kenny Pickett can't be a good player in this league. But I don't see the ceiling for Kenny Pickett in the NFL to be great, to be a Hall of Fame player, to be a Super Bowl champion. And as I said earlier, it is like a mediocre roller coaster ride, where when you walk away, it's not, man, this sucked, or man, this is horrible.

Yeah, there was some exciting moments. Sure, he has the seven game-winning drives, but then, like, you look at the numbers, they went out-gained every game, and they're the only team in the history of the NFL to still have a winning record. You know, that stat was absolutely bonkers that the Steelers were the only team in the Super Bowl era to have a winning record five and three through eight games, despite being out-gained every game. Pittsburgh has been out-gained by 790 yards this year. That's that courtesy of our friends from NFL on CBS.

So that's where I'm at with that game last night. And I also wonder, what are the Steelers going to be this year? Because the Steelers, they have a great defense. You know, Alex Highsmith, it's weird to say that a player that's making nearly $70 million, because he just signed a $70 million contract, is underrated, but that dude's underrated.

And I've got a chance to speak to him a few times throughout the years. He is a special player, you know, landed at Charlotte and worked his way to becoming, I believe, a third-round draft pick. And I know everyone talks about T.J. Watt, which how great was T.J. Watt last night, getting to the quarterback, losing his helmet, still sacking the quarterback, and causing three penalties, you know, when you go from one drive to the next on back-to-back-to-back sequences. And T.J. Watt is looking like the defensive player of the year.

It's either him or Myles Garrett. But we know that Steelers defense, even without guys like Cam Hayward, even without Minka Fitzpatrick with injuries, is a dominant lethal defense. And when you're a dominant lethal defense, you're going to have a decent record. But that's only going to take you so far, especially in a league that is dependent on offensive football. And when I watch the Steelers, and let's be clear here, you know, I don't think Matt Canada is this brilliant coach. I think Matt Canada shouldn't be the offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers. They move him from the box down to the field, and I don't like how he got cued at the two-yard line last night, going to the Wildcat, and it caused a penalty.

That made no sense. So some of it is, you wonder, is Kenny Pickett in the best situation? Even though Ta'amun's a really good coach, even though you have a really good defense, but you look at that offense, Najee Harris is up and down. Warren's been a solid running back this year. Deontay Johnson finally got in the end zone. Pickens, and I'll defend Kenny on that one, he had a perfect ball. George Pickens, can you get the second foot down?

You got to drag that foot. But offensively, through now eight games, the Steelers just don't have an identity. The Steelers just don't look like a good offense.

And you could say maybe that's more coaching than it is players, but I do believe that it is a mixture of both. And we've seen this now from the Steelers in the last decade. When they have a great defense, the offense stinks.

When the offense is great, the defense stinks. And it's a credit to Ta'amun that this team is 5-3, but Steelers fans, their standards are not to just make the playoffs. And the more and more I watch the Steelers, the more and more I just think, yeah, they could be a wildcard team, but I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I expect anything more than that. Like, you may not want to play the Steelers in the playoffs because of Watt eventually getting Fitzpatrick back, Hayward back, and you have Alex Highsmith. That defense is going to be a pain in the ass. But if you're able to score 20 points, which is not a lot in the year of 2023, up against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and if you get Kenny Pickett to make a mistake, assuming he makes the playoffs this year in his first ever playoff game, which is not asking for a lot, we see young quarterbacks make mistakes all the time before in the postseason, if all you've got to do is score 20-21 points, I don't believe that you're shaking in your boots going up against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wildcard round. So, Steelers can make the playoffs, I don't really expect, though, anything more than that. Where's your evaluation on Will Leviss, Kenny Pickett, and also the Pittsburgh Steelers?

855-212 for CBS, 855-212-4227. This is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. I am live in Philly today, broadcasting from our Sports Radio 94 WIP studios inside the Odyssey family, so we thank them for accommodating us, but when we come on back, we've got to look at three games, three enormous games this weekend. Chiefs-Dolphins, Cowboys-Eagles, Bills-Bangles. When you look at those individual matchups, where is the pressure on, and what team has more pressure heading into this loaded weekend of football in the National Football League?

Come on out and come on back after these short messages. What we're looking at this weekend in the NFL are the Chiefs visiting the Dolphins, of course, in Germany. You have the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles in South Philadelphia, and then the Buffalo Bills going up against the Cincinnati Bengals in Cincinnati.

When we're looking at pressure on these teams going into this weekend, which teams have the more pressure on them in these three massive, massive, massive matchups? And we start with the Chiefs and the Dolphins. It's clear that the pressure is on the Miami Dolphins, and I get it. This is a Kansas City team that they haven't been bad this year, but the Chiefs are to a certain standard, and when Kansas City loses to Denver, and I know the Lions are now a good team, but when you already have two losses on your resume before you've gone to week nine of the NFL season, Kansas City's just going to be one of those teams that elicits a response of, oh, what's going on in Kansas City? Oh, is Kansas City vulnerable this year?

Are there problems with the defending champs? And I believe all that commentary is just kind of, I don't want to say it's not valid, but I do believe that it is ridiculous when it comes off a year where last year the Chiefs weren't this dominant force, and they still got the number one seed, they still found a way to get to the Super Bowl while Patrick Mahomes was hurt, and even when they were trailing by ten points at halftime and they no longer had Tyree killed because he was in Miami, they still found a way to come on back against the Philadelphia Eagles and win the Super Bowl. So as long as they're healthy, I really don't care what the Kansas City Chiefs do in the regular season that will evoke a response and an emotion from me that goes, man, Kansas City's not looking good. Oh, Kansas City, they are going to find a way to lose in the playoffs this year. Kansas City is not going to get to the Super Bowl because last year we went through the song and dance and we all said Kansas City was vulnerable, and with them being vulnerable, and it's not like they were going up against a bad opponent in the AFC Championship game or they had an easy road to the Super Bowl, like they played Jacksonville, Mahomes got hurt. Then they had to welcome in Kansas City, who has kicked their ass three straight times, and then they get to the Super Bowl and they went up against a team that never really had a flaw last year in the Philadelphia Eagles, and all they did was win, win, and win. So when Kansas City looks quote-unquote vulnerable, a lot of times it's just a gross overreaction because we expect the standard for Kansas City to be all the way up here, and when they're not playing a perfect game, and outside of the Dolphins back in 72, it's impossible to be perfect in the NFL.

When they stumble a little bit, it's not like a team a few notches below them stumbling where it's, wow, you need to be real concerned that they're going to miss the playoffs this year. We all know Kansas City's winning the AFC West, we all know Kansas City, bare minimums going to have one home playoff game, maybe the road to the Super Bowl is going to travel through Kansas City, Mahomes has never had to play a road playoff game, but when you see Kansas City come playoff time, and their defense has been really good this year under Steve Spagnola, and usually it's this time of the year where the defense starts to get going, and they've been ahead of that curve, I've got to think eventually the offense is going to be more successful as long as Mahomes and Kelsey stay healthy, and you've got to have someone else emerge, and it doesn't need to be week in and week out, like it would be nice if Marcos Valdes-Scantling emerged week in and week out, or Sky Moore, like whoever the wide receiver is, but you just need one of those guys that are a part of the receiving corps to be able to do the heavy lifting outside of the connection from 15 to 87 in Pacheco in the run game that can find a way to make enough plays to get Kansas City to the finish line at the end of a 60 minute game, but I don't put pressure on Kansas City in this one, even though they're coming off a loss, it does make the game a little extra juicier in terms of if the Chiefs lose on Sunday at 9.30 AM Eastern when that game gets underway, then on Monday you're going to have every Tom, Dick, and Harry that does national radio or national TV shows besides Zach Gelb, they're going to be like, oh, this is it for Kansas City, Kansas City's not that great, and then don't be surprised when you wake up in January and Kansas City's in an AFC Championship game, so there's more pressure on the Dolphins in this game, long story short, because the Dolphins, even though they have this high octane explosive offense, and the Miami Dolphins are just unbelievable and they're like a video game on the offensive side of the ball, the Miami Dolphins in their two biggest games of the season, a team that still needs to prove themselves, a team that still has a lot more to accomplish and they don't get the benefit of the doubt, even though they're a really talented team and they were my pick to win the AFC East before the season started, they need to play well, and they need to beat an elite opponent or else there's always going to be that feeling of, yeah, but with the Miami Dolphins, like the Dolphins are awesome, but in their two biggest games of the season, they got smacked by Buffalo, and then they lost two weeks ago up against the Philadelphia Eagles, so this could be a week where you can start to eliminate or entirely eliminate with the opponent that you're going up against, yeah, but the Dolphins can't find a way to win a big game, and we all know Tyree Kilz is going to get in the end zone, Jalen Waddles is a stud, as long as Tua Tungavailoa stays healthy, he's awesome, eventually they'll get Davon Aichan back, you got Raheem Mostert, Jeff Wilson Jr. comes on back, you have Jalen Ramsey on the defensive side of the ball, he had an interception 94 days after his whole meniscus injury, and it's crazy how quickly his return was expedited, but I really do believe for Miami to win this game, their two most important players, and their two most valuable players, I'm not saying on the season, I'm just saying in this game, like, we've talked about it, for the MVP of the league, it's a conversation from the Dolphins of either Tyree Kilz and Tua Tungavailoa, personally, I side more with Tyree Kilz to win the league MVP over Tua Tungavailoa, but if they want to beat Kansas City, their two most valuable players actually aren't even on the offensive side of the ball, it's Christian Wilkins, the big fella out of Clemson, who's really damn good on the defensive side of the ball, and then Jalen Phillips off the edge for the Miami Dolphins as well, because you go back last year, when the Chiefs were playing the Buffalo Bills, and that was two really good teams going up against one another, just how it feels to have two really good teams going up against one another here, Chiefs and the Dolphins, that game last year in the regular season, where it was early on and the Bills got the best of Kansas City, it was one, because you had the great Von Miller come off the edge, force Mahomes to step up earlier than he wanted to, rush, make an ill-advised decision and get the ball off quicker than what he preferred to do, and he threw an interception to Teron Johnson. That's the type of impact, what Jalen Phillips and Christian Wilkins can present, where they can get after Mahomes and maybe force Mahomes to make a mistake or two, because you know the Dolphins are going to be able to score at least three touchdowns, even with how good Kansas City's defense is, and maybe this is a statement for the Kansas City defense, because everyone's going to be getting up early, scrambling the eggs, getting the well-done bacon, and enjoying yourself a nice breakfast, and everyone's going to be tuned into this one, and I think if you watch football, you know the Chiefs defense is good this year, but nationally people have not given the Chiefs defense praise, because what we do in this industry is all we do is talk about the quarterback and the head coach, and who's the big star, stud, wide receiver, or running back that wins you your fantasy football matchup.

So in this game, let's be clear about it, the Dolphins are the team that have the most pressure on them up against the Kansas City Chiefs. Cowboys and Eagles, I think this one's easy. The Eagles get the benefit of the doubt. The Eagles, even though they don't have the Super Bowl, and they won a Super Bowl a few years ago, but I'm talking about with this core for the most part, the Eagles are the Kansas City of the NFC, which I don't care what they do in the regular season, they're 7-1, they get the benefit of the doubt, if you watch the games, you know the Eagles, who haven't even played their best brand of football yet, are the best team in the NFC, but with that being said, the Cowboys, especially their quarterback, Dak Prescott, has had success up against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys are a team where earlier in the year, people were like, wow, maybe we underestimated the Dallas Cowboys, maybe when Zach Gelb says the Cowboys are the drama Dallas-choking Cowboys, he's being unfair, and he's being too overly critical. The Cowboys have been able to beat the bad teams this year, and not only beat the bad teams, annihilate the bad teams. When your best wins are up against the Chargers and the Rams, who are both below.500, it's tough for me to sit there and say the Cowboys are this dominant team, and when they did go up against the 49ers, who, oh yeah, by the way, have just lost three straight games, the Cowboys not only lost to the 49ers, they got embarrassed, they got emasculated, they got destroyed by the San Francisco 49ers. So for Dallas, now you go up against one of those quote-unquote elite teams, and the Eagles are an elite team in the NFL, and this is a big-time statement game for Dallas, because you look at Dallas, you know their defense is good. You know they have a really solid defense, but offensively, when the games get bigger, the Cowboys start to fade offensively, especially their quarterback in Dak Prescott.

Dak Prescott, he cannot be the reason on Monday, when we get in there and we react all around the league, why the Cowboys lost the game. Like he can physically be, but for his sake he can't be, and this is a big statement game for the Cowboys, where if they go into Philly and get a win, that's as good of a win that you'll find this year in the NFL, and it would maybe start to earn some people allowing them to let their wall down a little bit and trust the Cowboys again. Now for me, I don't think the Cowboys could do anything this regular season that will allow yours truly to trust them, because I've seen the script the last two years, and I fell for it even last year. I thought they were going to beat the 49ers in Santa Clara in that rematch, going back to last year in the playoffs in the divisional round, and it was going to be an NFC title game of the Eagles and the 49ers.

That's what I really thought was going to happen. But the Cowboys, as we've seen the last two years, have been able to win back-to-back 12-win games, back-to-back seasons, then come playoff time, their defense does enough to deserve a victory, but Dak Prescott either can't get the ball snapped, or he's fumbling the ball or throwing the ball to the other team. And then finally, Bills and Bengals.

See, this one was tough. To determine who has the most pressure between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals, I think that is a very tough question. Like, the first two, it's easily the Miami Dolphins having more pressure than the Kansas City Chiefs.

It's easily the Dallas Cowboys having more pressure than the Philadelphia Eagles. But you have a Bengals team here that's now 4-3. They started 1-3, and they were able to salvage their season, and now the Bengals appear to be back.

But even if the Bengals lose this game and fall to 4-4, I don't think there's a panic as long as Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase are healthy. Because we've seen with the Bengals, when number nine is healthy, they are a top four team in the NFL regardless of where the record is currently right now. But when you look at Buffalo, Buffalo has been that team that was that darling the last few years, that a lot of people enjoyed to see. A lot of people wanted to see Bills Mafia, and still probably do, win their first ever championship, and it would be one of the greatest parties we've ever seen as sports fans. But this Bills team, I just, there's no consistency. Like, they go out there and they dominate the Dolphins, and then like the next three or four weeks, they were losing games, they were sloppy, and they were really underwhelming. So for Buffalo, last year, as I said earlier, you didn't only just lose to the Bengals, they walked into your home, they drank your beer, they ate your food, and they slept with your girl. Like that's what the Buffalo Bills had happened to them last year, up against the Bengals in their own home. And the Bills couldn't do anything about it, because the Bengals were that much better. And now you go back to Cincinnati, unfortunately we all remember last time what happened when the Bengals were in Cincinnati.

It was the scariest night of my radio career, being on the air, and watching the Damar Hamlin situation unfold, and I'm happy now that it has turned into a good situation, and Damar Hamlin's doing wonderful, because no one, when they were watching that live, thought that was going to be the case, and we all assumed the worst, and who could blame ya? But in terms of this game, and I know that they played last year in that divisional round, and they had the result that I was just talking about, and Damar Hamlin was in the luxury box watching the game, but in this matchup, I think this game means more for Buffalo, because people look at Cincinnati after surviving the slow start to the season, even if they lose, they'll say, okay, they'll be fine just as long as Burrow's healthy. For the Bills, there's a legitimate chance they don't even win their division this year. And the Bills now don't have a lot of people saying, oh, they'll find a way to get to the Super Bowl. They look at Buffalo and they go, okay, they're a good team, maybe even a very good team, but I don't think they're a great or an elite team anymore, and that's what a lot of people say. So this could win some public trust back with the Buffalo Bills if they go into Cincinnati and get the dub.

Who has the most pressure on them this weekend in the NFL? 855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227, it is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio, we'll take a break, we'll come on back with the news brief, but first up, standing by in our New York City studios with the latest CBS Sports Radio update, here he is, the act man, Rich Ackerman. It's time to ask the pros, where you the listener gets to ask us a question, and it's brought to you by our good friends at O'Reilly Auto Parts, simply tweet your question at CBS Sports Radio or at Zach Gelb, Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B, using the hashtag, ask the pros, be listening later in the show when we might answer your question.

You can 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 get to a news brief. Time for your daily news brief, we get you caught up on the rumors, reports and reconnaissance from the day in sports. Let's start it off with Joey Porter Jr., the Steelers rookie cornerback on shadowing DeAndre Hopkins all game last night. I told him I want to, like that's what I was looking for, you know, I don't really hide from him, so I was like, that's the matchup I want, that's the matchup I need.

So he didn't really say yes on Tuesday, he was like, we're going to think about it, because they were like, that's kind of crazy. But throughout the week, they were like, alright, we're going to let you get to him on some reps, and then throughout the game, it was like, you just go where 10 at. So you know he's ready for this moment, Joey Porter Jr., and you know he has the confidence knowing who his father is, and sometimes when you have such a youngster who's so confident, you know is going to be great, for whatever reason in football you try to slowly bring them on. And you try to make them earn it in the NFL. And now Mike Tomlin has no reason but to start Joey Porter Jr., but his reps were limited earlier in the season, and now they've been ramming up that intensity and getting him to start more and more. But that dude's an absolute stud, and he looks like another wonderful draft pick, where the Steelers are just one of those teams, right, the Ravens are, where there's some teams you always expect good defensive players to find a way there. That's what happened here once again with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Here is Devontae Adams making his first public comment since Josh McDaniels got fired.

Don't get it confused. It's not a celebration that we, you know, we have a new coach, and you know, there's been changes made. One way or the other, it's time for some sort of change, just to bring a little juice in and revitalize the team a little bit. And I think it's more of a mindset that we're trying to just have moving forward to just be as positive as possible.

You know, trying to have fun and enjoy our time in this building, because I think it's been too much of, this has just been feeling like work too much and not having enough fun. Stu, I'm just wondering, when you hear that, what do you feel as a Raiders fan? Yeah, I mean, it's just, you know, he can say what he wants. We all know how he really feels. We know he's happy, right? Oh yeah, when he says it's not a celebration, he was popping champagne when Josh McDaniels got fired. Yeah, he was very happy they made the move, yes.

And I get it, right? McDaniels comes from the Belichick tree, where that's why Belichick assistants don't work, because they do the my way or the highway result, and it's like, okay, Josh McDaniels, you have all these Superballs, but you never had a Superball or even came close to even get into the playoffs as an NFL head coach. So I think when you have that approach, yeah, athletes feel like more as if they're robots than human beings, but if the goal is, and I want to sound like a curmudgeon here, if the goal is just to have fun, you could have fun.

It's not as if now the Raiders all of a sudden, because McDaniels out of the building, they're having fun, that means it's going to translate into more wins for this football team. Here is Jordan Poyer of the Buffalo Bills, he was on the RG3M1's podcast, how he almost lost his career to alcoholism. I was this close when it was my family, RG, I'm talking my wife, my daughter, it was this close from everything. My original sobriety date was March 7th, and I couldn't do it.

At that time, I couldn't do it, I just didn't know how. And then it was almost like that was the last straw, it was like something in me was just like, dude, this is it. And so I started going to AA, and then I started to shift my perspective on how I saw alcohol, you know, and what it was doing to my body every time I drank it.

And then I just started to really, I look at it as poison now, like why would I put poison into my body, like why would I do that? Hey, I appreciate Jordan Poyer for sharing his story publicly, and it's not just almost losing your career as we set it up, it's really, you know, almost losing your family too. And unfortunately, when you travel down a road that he was going down, if you continue down that way, as much as people want to support you, you lose them because it's not healthy for them to then be around you. So I'm happy that Jordan Poyer, I know it's a day by day struggle, he's in a good spot right now, and it's just awesome to see for a player in the NFL who's a really good player, and it just shows you that athletes, even though we put them on this pedestal, and they're these tremendous human beings and players, and like they're wonderful, and everyone looks up to them, and they think that they're bigger than life a lot of times, at least we think that way, they go through normal stuff as well that happens in this world with alcoholism.

So if you need help, go get help, and hopefully Jordan Poyer can inspire you. Here's Travis Kelce in Germany, with the Dolphins going up against the Kansas City Chiefs, and he was asked about Taylor Swift, and if he's in love with Taylor Swift. Wondering how many people would ask something about Taylor Swift? Uh-oh. Latest status, and are you in love? What is the latest status? Ooh-wee.

Smice it up. The latest status is I got to see her last week, that's the latest status right there. Are you in love? I'm going to keep my personal relationship personal. I can't believe that's a question that's asked, but good for the media in Germany.

Travis Kelce's coming over, we know how big of a mega global star Taylor Swift is. What a line of questioning. Are you in love? Yeah, I saw her last week, that's my status.

Oh, that's sensational. Still, let me ask you this. How do you think your girlfriend would react if, let's just say, you guys were newly dating, not now, and I asked you on the air if you're in love with your girlfriend, and you were just like, yeah, I saw her last week, how do you think that would go down? Yeah, that's a weird question for such an early on part of the relationship, but yeah, she would be like, what the hell, I think. Yeah, it's like hummina, hummina, hummina, I don't want to say we're in love yet, we're trying to keep it slow, but everyone's watching right now, so you almost have to say yes at that point.

Here is 94 WIP, we're in their studios right now. A cop actually pulled someone over during a call today. You got to get the team up, the players up, to hate the Cowboys, hit them in the face, need them in their glory holes, as Jerry would say, you've got to bring that culture back, you've got to get them, sorry, I'm pulling someone over, you've got to get that back, and get them back in, this is not just a game. You have a cop ranting about the Cowboys and his hatred for them, and then he pulls someone over.

I guess the only way you get out of that ticket was if you're listening to the call at 94 WIP, you go, oh no, continue the call, or if you're a Cowboys fan, you're definitely not getting out of that ticket. Let's hear Jerry Jones, you heard the glory hole reference there. He has a message to Rangers fans at the parade. The rough times that you have with sport, everybody has it, everybody, you can't really play unless you have some hard times, but it is the absolute glory hole to have that elusive win to be the champion. Interesting choice of words, and finally here's James Harden and what he wants his role to be in Los Angeles. Like I think the game, and I'm a creator on the court, you know what I mean, so if I've got a voice to where I can, hey coach, I see this, you know, what you think about this, then it's like, oh, okay, somebody that trusts me, that believes in me, that understands me, that I'm just not a, I'm not a system player, I am a system. Yeah, well, what's the James Harden system at this stage of his career? Going to strip clubs and just not showing up in the postseason? Give me a break. No accountability from James Harden. Zach Yeltz shows CBS Sports Radio.