NFL Contender or Pretender (Hour 2)

We all know cats are intelligent. Felix Cat Insurance was able to secretly record two cats on a hidden microphone.

Let's listen in. Did you hear the one about the three dogs at the park? That's old.

Like four lives ago. But did you hear about the new pet insurance just for cats from felixcatinsurance.com? Of course! What do I look like, a dog? When you're coughing up a furball.

Yes. Listen, Felix Cat Insurance plans start at under $1 per day and are as unique as you and me. They call it whisker to tail protection. Even furballs?

Even that. Remember the last time you had a furball? I made a TikTok. It went viral. Oh, that's good.

Wait, you're on social media? There you have it. Felix Cat Insurance. Customizable coverage exclusively for felines. Sorry, no dogs allowed. felixcatinsurance.com.

Get it? Meow! Insurance is underwritten by Independence American Insurance Company and produced by Independence Pet Group. All existing conditions are not covered.

For all terms and limitations, visit felixcatinsurance.com slash terms. Ew. Gotta get rid of this old Backstreet Boys t-shirt. Tell me why. Because it stinks, boys. Tell me why. I've washed it so many times, but the odor won't come out.

Tell me why. No, you tell me why I can't get rid of this odor. Have you tried Downy Rinse & Refresh? It doesn't just cover up odors. It helps remove them. Wow, it worked, guys. Yeah. Downy Rinse & Refresh removes more odor in one wash than the leading value detergent in three washes.

Find it wherever you buy laundry products. All right, you're rocking and rolling. This is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Real quickly, before we get to contender or pretender, as we'll chat it up regarding a bunch of teams through the first nine weeks of the season, we will have Devin McCourty join us at 5.20 p.m. Eastern, 2.20 p.m. Pacific. Here is your daily Michigan update. According to Nicole Auerbach, who covers college football for a long time, and she now is a senior writer at The Athletic and also works for NBC Sports as their college football insider, 11 Michigan state lawmakers sent a letter to the Big Ten commissioner, Tony Petitti, today, urging him to refrain from taking any premature measures against Michigan. So it's a pretty long letter, and it's clear that the Michigan state lawmakers are going to back Michigan here when inevitably this turns into a litigious situation. And here's a quick PSA.

I know our Zach Gelb show PSA is tomorrow. There is nothing more that I hate in sports when we have to sit here and deal with legal lingo and deal with lawyers, and sports gets taken into the legal world because everyone then turns into an expert lawyer and they act as if they went to law school. There's a reason why I'm on the radio. There's a reason why I went to Temple. I know Temple is a good law program, but once I got my bachelor's degree for media studies and production, I said, no more school because I don't have the intelligence to be a lawyer. Now, I could argue, some people go, Zach, you would be a really good lawyer, but I don't have the attention span to sit through law school and I'm a terrible test taker. I would have never passed the bar exam.

No way. Now, the only bar I passed when I was in college was at a McGillons was the bar down in Center City. If you asked me to go pass the bar exam, I'd be like, how many shots is that?

I'd be absolutely screwed. So now this is going to trend where it's clear. Tony Petitti, new guy on the block, Big Ten commissioner, has the coaches and the ADs and the presidents inside his conference. They're saying, Tony, you got to do something. Oh, I'm up in arms about what Michigan did. And you know, he's going to cave to the pressure of the athletic directors, the presidents and the other Big Ten coaches. But it's kind of a gutless, coward move that's about to happen by Tony Petitti, because he's trying to genuflect and to show the other schools in the Big Ten. Oh, I'm here.

I have your back. I'm going to drop the hammer on Michigan. But in reality, this will have zero impact on this season.

Yeah, it'll be talked about. You'll get people like Paul Finebum who gets on ESPN and all of a sudden he's like, oh, you got to suspend Michigan or you got to suspend Jim Harbaugh from the college football playoff. Like, give me a break, Paul. Just a few weeks ago, Paul, you were the one saying, oh, let's pump the brakes here.

This is not really that big of a deal. Then you get on ESPN and you have to dress it up with all the drama and you're like, oh, the biggest mistake of my career was trusting Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines. Shove it, Finebum. Seriously.

You flip flopped in the span of like three or four weeks. Give me a break. But you know where this is heading to? This is heading to the courts. And I can't stand when sports goes to the courts, because I can guarantee you this.

This is the most confident prediction I've ever had at CBS Sports Radio or any other time I've had a microphone in front of my face. Tony Petitti is going to suspend Jim Harbaugh. And once that suspension happens, Jim Harbaugh with the courts is going to have the backing. They'll get an injunction.

There will be a stay that's granted. And guess what? Jim Harbaugh will be coaching against Penn State. Jim Harbaugh will be coaching the other games for the Ohio State weekend, and then he'll be coaching in the Big Ten championship and then also the college football playoff. And probably for Michigan this year, because I do think they're a better team than the last two years.

They'll be in the national title game and we'll see if they can get the job done, probably up against Georgia. But get ready. If you think the coverage so far has been insufferable, where Pete Thamel is so serious and he's breaking news down as if it's the most serious topic of the world, and he has that like political voice and that political tone to him a little bit, you would think you're watching like Fox News or you think you'd be watching CNN. If you're already finding this coverage to be insufferable and it all turning into everyone trying to be an expert, just wait until Petitti drops the suspension and then everyone's immediate reaction is going to be, oh my God, he suspended Jim Harbaugh.

And you have people that say it was right and you have people that say it was wrong. But right away, you're going to have dopes that actually don't read the way that this has been reported the last few weeks, especially about like Brett McMurphy, who I think does a good job here, where you're going to have people that are going to say, oh, there goes Michigan's season, oh, Harbaugh's not going to be able to be on the sideline. And he will immediately have the backing of the courts.

And then this will just get punted and this will get put on the back burner because this will move very, very, very, very, very slowly. There's no doubt about it. So Tony Petitti, you could go say, yeah, I'm the big shot. I'm the big man in the Big Ten's campus, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We all know what you're doing. You're sucking up. You're sucking up because you're a kiss ass to the other Big Ten commissioners or the Big Ten schools in the conference. And you're trying to make your mark as a new Big Ten commissioner. But ultimately, you know, you want Harbaugh on the sidelines.

You know, he'll get on the sidelines and this whole injunction will be granted and that will be that. But you've already had the Michigan state lawmakers. They already are rallying together. To support Michigan and their football program.

So the way that I was reading this. So the Big Ten. Reached out to Michigan, part of one of the policies before they could even have any punitive actions. And Michigan has until today to respond. I just wonder after that, because early in the week it was don't expect anything.

I think it was Pete Thamo said for the next 48 hours. Do we get something here before the Penn State game on Saturday? Like that's my big question here. Do we find something out by Saturday? And if not, you will find something out. I could guarantee you this. I would think before that latest college football playoff rankings that comes out next time. Because, you know, it's part of the TV show.

You're going to want to. Will it impact Michigan? And so far, the committee hasn't taken any of the scandal into consideration here when ranking Michigan. So you have this Penn State game on Saturday and it's big noon kickoff.

So you know Fox is loving this with all the extra coverage. Then they have Maryland the week after. And then you do have the game, the biggest college football game of the season. Ohio State of Michigan coming up on Thanksgiving weekend. So that is your daily Michigan update right here.

All right. Cue me some NFL music por favor. Let's get to a little pretender or contender through nine weeks in the National Football League. The Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins are a pretender. The Dolphins are a team that are good.

They'll be in the playoffs. But when you have the AFC wide open, they're not amongst the NFL elite teams. Because in their three biggest games of the year, they lost to Kansas City. They lost to Buffalo. And they also lost to the Philadelphia Eagles. So the Miami Dolphins are a really good team. But they are not a great team.

And that's why they're a pretender. Because a few weeks ago, people were talking about the Dolphins in the Super Bowl. The Buffalo Bills.

Pretender. It's crazy how the mighty have fallen with the Buffalo Bills so quickly. And they have not even got to a Super Bowl. But this team has just been up and down this year. There's been some good play. There's been some bad play. There's just no consistent play.

And that's been a problem. They've consistently been inconsistent. And for a team that's going to have to go on the road in the playoffs. Because I don't think they're going to win the AFC East. They're probably going to be a wild card team. And they're going to be on the road come wild card weekend. They can win a game.

But that defense, missing Milano, missing Trenavious White is big. And they're asking Josh Allen once again to do everything. The Cleveland Browns.

So let me ask a quick question here. For contender, pretender. Are we only doing this, Stu, for a team that can make the Super Bowl? Or could I say like the Browns are a contender to make the playoffs? So let Stu be the judge here.

And tell me how we should go about this ruling. I think it should be deep playoff runs. So maybe like Final Four, like, you know, AFC NFC Championship game contenders.

Okay. I would say then that the Browns are pretenders. The Browns have a championship defense. But on offense, I like their line. No Nick Chubb. And I just can't trust Deshaun Watson. Like Deshaun Watson finds Amari Cooper for a touchdown. And people are now buying back in on Deshaun Watson.

I need to see more. So I think the Browns can make the playoffs. But I don't think they can be playing come championship weekend.

So I say they are a pretender. The Pittsburgh Steelers. Similarly to the way that I just said about the Browns, I'll say this almost exact same thing about the Steelers. I love their defense. I don't even think their defense has played their best brand of football yet. And eventually you're going to get back to Minka Fitzpatrick and Cam Hayward as well. But offensively there's no trust in the offense. You have George Pickens getting annoyed when Deontay Johnson pops off.

Kenny Pickett can't be trusted. He barely shows up for the first three quarters and then somehow has seven game-winning drives in his young two-year career. But until they figure out that offense in a league that is heavily looking at offense and the way how many points are put up on the board now these days in this offensive-driven league, I will say that the Steelers are pretenders. The Cincinnati Bengals.

Contender, contender, contender. And they stumbled. They stubbed their toe right out of the gate. Everyone was ready to write the eulogy for the Cincinnati Bengals. And the last two weeks they beat the 49ers.

They beat the Bills. Jamar Chase isn't even 100 percent healthy. But Joe Burrow is. Joe Burrow is back and you see the mobility.

You see the way that he's planting now. And he is just one of those guys. You could put Joe Burrow on any team in the NFL. And he could turn any situation into a winning situation. Because Joe Burrow just has it.

Joe Burrow is just that dude. The Baltimore Ravens. Baltimore Ravens are a contender. Now they need Lamar Jackson.

They need number eight to stay healthy. There's no doubt about that. But you look at their offense. It's not like they have these great names. Like Odell Beckham Jr. was a great name four or five years ago.

Not now. Mark Andrews, very solid tight end. I'm a big fan of Mark Andrews and I think a lot of people are. Zay Flowers, good young wide receiver. But there's going to be some good moments.

There's going to be some bad moments. J.K. Dobbins out for the year. But that defense is awesome. But you're just seeing the value of why Lamar Jackson in the past is one of the unanimous MVP. Because as long as he could stay healthy, they could beat any team in the NFL. Ravens contender. The Jacksonville Jaguars. Ooh, we just talked about them.

I got to lean more pretender. But they're a team that's in the monitoring conversation to potentially become a contender. I just have to see them beat an elite opponent.

And I have not seen that this year. And as I said earlier, that loss to Kansas City just gives me pause and skepticism when it comes to the Jaguars maybe being stuck on just a good team and not a great team. The Dallas Cowboys.

Pretender. And you saw it last week. Even when things go well for the Dallas Cowboys, when the game is on the line, they just don't find a way to make enough plays up against the great teams. They got the ball at the six-yard line. With 20-something seconds to go in that final snap, they took the snap from the 27-yard line. So you are six yards away from getting a touchdown, and then you're taking a snap at the 27.

They're just never on the same page. When the defense plays well, the offense doesn't. When the offense plays well, the defense doesn't.

It's very Steeler-like of the last decade. And that's why I have to say the Cowboys are a pretender. The Detroit Lions.

Oh. Now I'm going to use Stu's standard here to be one of the final four teams remaining. I will say contender for Detroit, and here's why. They're going to be probably the two-seed in the NFC. When you look at that schedule, the schedule is very favorable to them the rest of the way. So with that being said, I know they haven't won a playoff game since 1991. Wildcard weekend at home, if you're the two-seed divisional round weekend at home, being in that building and having it being in an indoor stadium, I think is a massive advantage to the Detroit Lions. And I like what I'm seeing out of their defense with guys like Aiden Hutchinson, who's a star, and also Alex Anzaloni.

So I will say contender. The New Orleans Saints. The Saints? Who dat?

Who dat? Who dat say they're going to beat them Saints? A lot of teams. The Saints probably should win the division. And Saints at home with that environment, wildcard weekend, I guess they could be alive. But I have a very tough time seeing the Saints do anything more than just making the playoffs this year, pretender. The San Francisco 49ers.

Got to win this weekend. But to be a Final Four team, they're a contender. We've seen them have some bad moments before, early on in the season, and they usually always find a way to wake up in the NFC title game. The San Francisco 49ers are contenders. The Seattle Seahawks.

I want to say the Seahawks are contenders, because going into the year, I said they were the third best team in the NFC. And I love their secondary. They have a lot of big offensive names on that side of the ball. But Geno Smith has had turnover problems the last two weeks. And I think Geno is showing that last year, he's not going to play up to that standard again and be that good. I'm not saying he's going to fall off and be terrible.

But it's going to be a big enough drop-off where you go, hmm. The Seahawks are just a good team. They are not a great team. So that's a little contender-pretender right there through nine weeks of the NFL season as we start off Week 10 tomorrow with the Chicago Bears and the Carolina Panthers.

855-2124, CBS 855-212-4227. Big Dave is on the line in Kentucky, home of Mark Stoops and John Calipari. Big Dave, what's happening? How you living, homes?

I'm doing fantastic, Big Dave. What's happening? Can't wait for this. Everybody wants to jump on the hardball thing there. And I'm not a hardball fan, man. But I want to see this – can't wait until this Pandora's box gets opened all the way up if they jump in and suspend him. And as for Paul Finebom, you know, there was a time that he had a certain amount of credibility in the profession.

But now he is nothing more than a cartoon character. So join the show, man, and we'll see what happens with the hardball thing. Have a good one.

Thanks so much, Big Dave. Yeah, so I don't really have an issue with Paul Finebom. You know, even though I just did call him Paul Finebum a few moments ago, I just haven't liked two of his opinions recently. But I give credit to Paul.

He's been at it for a long time and he's well respected inside the industry. But before the year where he's like, oh, if Alabama misses the playoffs again, it's going to take a major hit on Nick Saban's legacy. Like, that was just filled with jackassery. And then a few weeks ago, you were defending Michigan and defending Jim Harbaugh. And then you catered and bowed down to the public pressure, which may not even be the majority of people.

It could just be the minority. And all of a sudden, you're now saying, oh, it's the craziest thing and it's the worst mistake of your career trusting Jim Harbaugh. And you think he should be suspended right now. So that flip flopping did not sit well with me.

But, you know, you can't take away what he's accomplished in this industry. I just haven't liked two of his opinions this year when you're covering college football. Alrighty, this is that Yelp show on CBS Sports Radio. Kyler Murray is back and there's already odds on who his next team could be. I got my top five destinations for Kyler Murray next right here on CBS Sports Radio. Just put out the bet online odds of Kyler Murray's next team if it's not the Cardinals for week one of the 2024 season. Stu and Samter, they put out six of the they put out the six highest odds here. Do you think we could guess here? You guys could guess the six teams.

Let's take a stab at it right now. Alright, I'll go with the Falcons. They are number four.

They are seven to one right now. I'll go with the Patriots. The Patriots are number one. So you have the Pats being at number one. The Falcons being at number four. Okay, how about we throw in the Seahawks? The Seahawks are a team that I think are a good destination.

But Vegas is clearly prognosticating that the Cardinals will not make a trade with the Seahawks in division. The Seahawks are not in the top six. Pats off the board. Falcons off the board. Pats are one. Falcons are four. So we got four more teams that you guys gotta try to guess here.

I'll go with my Las Vegas Raiders. Good guess. Sexy guess. Not in the top six.

That's odd. NFC North, Vikings Bears. Two great guesses. No and no. What?

According to Beto Long. Vikings and Bears are not in the top, wow. Now I'll give you my top five coming up in a bit.

But let's see if you guys can get the final four. Do you need a hint? No, no. New York Giants. Yep, they are number three.

Okay. So we got three more teams to go. Three down. Three more to go. Washington Commanders. Yes. In at number five.

Samter. He's getting hot. He's getting moist right now.

And I sign off. You got two more here. What about the Rams? Sean McVay. Interesting guess but I think it's gonna be similar to why the Seahawks aren't on there in division.

You got two more. Both are AFC teams if that could help. AFC teams. I don't understand.

One of them I'll give you. Because I just don't understand why this team is there right now. But maybe it's because their young quarterback who's off to a good start doesn't pan out. Tennessee, the Titans are in there at number two.

I'm surprised at the second highest odds like four or five weeks ago. Yeah, I get it. But with the way that Will Levis has played the last two weeks and especially the way that Amazon was talking about him. After that game that he just lost on Thursday Night Football, Richard Sherman said, Yeah, that's a franchise quarterback. That's a franchise guy. So the final one here. In at number six. Quarterback right now who's young. Not a lot of, let's say, consistent play from this quarterback. Steelers.

Yep. So those are your six highest odds according to ML Football via BetOnline for Kyler Murray. Patriots one, Tennessee two, the Giants three, Atlanta four, Commanders five and Pittsburgh in at number six. So I'll give you my top five destinations right now from Kyler Murray.

And I will go from five to one in a number five. I do agree with the Steelers. Kenny Pickett. I just think he is a guy.

He is not the guy. And when I watch Kenny Pickett, even though the end results, oh, seven game winning drives. And he hasn't even completed two years of football so far in the NFL. The first three quarters are just really rough.

And when I watch Kenny Pickett, I just think his ceiling is at best above average. I do not think he's going to be a great quarterback in this league. So I put the Steelers in at number five.

Number four. I go with the Raiders. Raiders. The Raiders need a splash. The Raiders need some conviction. The Raiders need some hope. Now, I'm sure Stu is hoping that this team tanks and they go get a great quarterback in the draft.

But they've already won probably enough games where at best you're going to be picking like eight or nine even if you start the tank. And that's far away from Caleb Williams' status. That's far away from Drake May's status.

Even Michael Penix Jr. So don't just go take the fourth or fifth best quarterback in the draft. Go trade for a guy like Kyler Murray. I know the contract could be a concern, but you want to try to persuade Devontae Adams to want to stay. Josh Jacobs to want to re-sign.

And I get it. Getting Josh McDaniels out of the building is a great start. But Josh Jacobs is a free agent at the end of the year. And I don't think a franchise tag him, slap him with the second tag, but that's going to be really expensive. Probably Devontae Adams wants to go join Aaron Rodgers in New York.

But didn't he want to go to the Raiders to be close to home and be close to his family? So there's a way with some of the talent that you have on this team. And don't get me wrong, there's a lot of work to do with the Raiders. But there's a way to keep the core of Jacobs, Adams, and Crosby together.

We're three of the top 20 players in the league, but you've got to go get a quarterback. And if Antonio Pierce continues to win games, I don't think it's a bad move keeping Antonio Pierce around. Now, I do ultimately think that they will not make Antonio Pierce the head coach from being in the interim. I think they'll go elsewhere because that's usually what the Raiders did. And that's basically what the Raiders just did a few years ago. You know, Rich Passaccia didn't get the job after with all that crap that went on with that team. And I'm talking about serious crap that went on with that team.

If he didn't get the job after taking that team to the playoffs, I have a tough time thinking Antonio Pierce is going to keep the job. So I look at a guy like Kyler Murray. That's a player that I think even though there's questions about his work commitment and his work ethic, I do think that would excite Josh Jacobs and also Devontae Adams.

In at number three, this may be the best destination. I just don't believe it happens because it's in division, but Pete Carroll with Kyler Murray would be awesome. If you could put the Seahawks with Kyler Murray with DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, Jackson Smith and Jigba and a young up and coming secondary.

Hello. That'd be a really, really, really fun team to watch. Even with the questions of can Murray be great.

And Murray, I think individually has shown in some and has displayed some flashes of greatness. Like you've seen some of it, but then also he's his worst enemy because you hear about the lack of work ethic. Like think about it. You give that guy a new deal. And the first thing the old regime did was put a clause in the contract that you have to have certain study hours. So you trust the guy to pay him 200 something million dollars or whatever the deal was. But you don't trust him enough to study, which then would make him the best quarterback possible. In a number to the Atlanta Falcons, that would be a fast offense with Murray, with Bijan Robinson, Tyler Algier, Drake London. If Kyle Pitts could ever get it together and Arthur Smith needs a quarterback now, because even though he's done a bad job managing this quarterback situation, I do believe he'll be back with the Atlanta Falcons next year. And finally, my number one destination of Kyler Murray gets traded. It's the Minnesota Vikings. There's a chance Kirk Cousins comes back next year for Minnesota, but he is a free agent. If I had to guess right now, I think the 49ers come up short once again. And Kirk Cousins gets that call from his good friend and Kyle Shanahan. And Kirk Cousins gets a chance to go win a Super Bowl in Santa Clara with the 49ers.

And that creates an opening. And you haven't got this Justin Jefferson contract figured away yet. You look at Jordan Addison.

He is someone that is another good young wide receiver in this league. You got those two guys. You got a defense that's improved under Brian Flores, a player-friendly coach in Kevin O'Connell as well, and an offensive-minded coach who is probably going to look at Kyler Murray and say, I can get the best out of him because everyone does have an ego. And that would solidify the long-term quarterback position for the Minnesota Vikings. And that would be their next move off of Kirk Cousins. So those are my top five destinations for Kyler Murray.

Steelers 5, Raiders 4, Seahawks 3, Falcons 2, and the Minnesota Vikings in at 1. 855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. Let me real quickly take Mike in Atlanta who wants to chime in on the college football playoff rankings from last night. Mike, go ahead.

Hey, Zach. Love your show. Love listening to you.

Appreciate it. I'm a Florida State guy, and I've been hearing a lot this week and, you know, past couple weeks about Washington should be at a Florida State or whatever, whatever. The polls don't really matter right now.

It's just for fun and fodder because it's going to play itself out on the field. If Washington stays undefeated, they don't have anything to worry about. Same with Florida State because Michigan and Ohio State are going to, one of them are going to lose. Agreed.

And, you know, so it'll work itself out. But in my opinion, being a Florida State guy, I think Florida State is the most balanced on both sides of the ball of the top four, five, six teams. You know, out west they give up 50 points a game or whatever. Yeah, we had a struggle this week against Pitt.

Our top two receivers were out. But championship teams find a way to win. You know, we won on the road at Clemson. Clemson is down this year, but that's still always a tough place to play. We have the LSU game. Our out of conference schedule is always Florida. We had LSU this year. That's two SEC teams.

Yeah, we got North Alabama squeezed in between the four of the rivalry. Yeah, but everyone plays the cupcake. Michigan played three cupcakes to start the season.

Exactly. And Mike, Mike, Mike, let me just say this. George has played cupcakes for most of the season. I like Florida State. I'm a big Norvell fan. I like him going back to Memphis. He always comes on this show. Jordan Travis is tough as nails. First, I had higher expectations for him, but I think he's going to be a solid pro. What Florida State's doing right now is awesome.

You are right, though. They're going to have to win out in order to get it, and they should when the remaining games are Miami, North Alabama, Florida. And then you'll see them in the SEC title game. Just when I look at the rankings personally, I think Washington should be in front of Florida State because Washington beat Oregon. And I just hate to do it this way because that great win for Florida State in week one up against LSU. The way the committee looks at it, it just hasn't aged well because LSU has been one of the more disappointing teams in the country this year.

But going into the season, those were two teams. Heck, Florida State and LSU both had national championship aspirations, and you guys beat the crap out of them in the second half. But when I just look at the wins, Oregon is the best win in the country this year with Washington had, and that's why I think Washington should be in front of Florida State. I agree somewhat, but LSU does have the leading Heisman candidate playing on the team, but I will say this. Well, he's not going to win the Heisman. He's having a great season, but they just don't have the record.

I will say this, though. I appreciate what you said about Florida State and Mike Norvell because Florida State can be an example to other schools because they did it the right way. They were patient with this guy. They let him bring in his players. They let him develop his system.

Hit the transfer portal. Yeah, which we had to because of the Tiger thing, but now we're reaping the rewards of it, and I'll be in Tallahassee Saturday. Well, enjoy the game, and yeah, I'm a big fan of Mike Norvell, and he had to deal with a lot of crap because remember, Coach Prime wanted that Florida State job, and he took every shot at his alma mater. Now, as much as I love Coach Prime, you wouldn't even acknowledge that he attended Florida State from that press conference before the year.

But it's a great point by Mike. Patience. A lot of times we don't have it in sports. A lot of times you look to fire right away, and sometimes you know very early on you made the wrong hire, and you got to cut ties real quickly, but I thought a lot of the criticism directed to Mike Norvell was unfair, and last year he took a big step, and now he's taking an enormous step as long as he takes care of business in these next four games because you should beat Miami. You should beat North Alabama. You should beat Florida, and you should be in the ACC championship game and winning the ACC conference this year and then be off to the college football playoff.

But if you stumble and you go down once, I do think that you'll be on the outside looking in and you'll just be in a New Year's six bowl, and you look at the New Year's six bowl now, it's like, okay, when you have college football playoff aspirations, it is disappointing when you're just in one of those New Year's six bowl games and not in the semifinal for the CFP. Let's get the latest CBS Sports Radio update in with the Ackman, Rich Ackerman. 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. All right, it is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Just a quick breaking news alert. According to John Heyman, Ron Washington has been tapped to be the new manager for the Los Angeles Angels.

I don't know why. Whenever I hear breaking news from John Heyman now, I always think back to that Arson Judge report that he had from a year ago when he meant Aaron Judge and he typed Arson. But with that being said, good for Ron Washington. Now the big question becomes, will he have Shohei Ohtani on his team?

And if Shohei Ohtani leaves the Angels, is that going to maybe spark Mike Trout saying that he wants a request to trade? I was really hoping that Ron Washington was going to get a better job, one of the great personalities in the game. I was kind of hoping he would go from Atlanta where he was the third base coach to becoming the guy that replaces Dusty Baker with the Houston Astros.

His press conferences, you knew the Mets weren't going to hire him, but if he got hired by the Mets in New York, those pressers would have been absolutely electric. But anyway, let's go to Aaron Rodgers. So walking off the field when he's watching the game up against the Chargers on Monday Night Football to wrap up week nine, Derwin James asked him, when are you coming back? And he's like, I'll be back in a few weeks. Well, Aaron Rodgers clarified that comment in his weekly hit with the Pat McAfee show.

I didn't realize that was going to get caught there. I mean, obviously that was said with a little tongue in cheek there. It'd be nice to be able to be back in a couple of weeks. That's probably not anywhere near a realistic timeline, but obviously it's going to be more than a couple of weeks. So a couple is two, a few is three. A Rushmore is four. It's going to be a few Fortnites.

It'll be a few Fortnites. That's the other thing. I think we need to use logic here. It is admirable and it is crazy how much Rodgers is already doing when he got that surgery during week two. But when he said a couple weeks, that's like, oh, he'll be back in three weeks. Now, there's sometimes I say, oh, something happened a couple weeks ago and like Stu or Samter gets in my ear and they go, that was actually like three months ago, dude.

Not a couple weeks. So things like that happen. And sure, he doesn't, I guess he could say he doesn't know that there's cameras there to pick up that conversation. But when you're Aaron Rodgers, you've got to assume, especially when the Jets offense was that terrible, that cameras are going to be following you anywhere. But if he somehow returned in a couple weeks and let's say that's four weeks and that's December 3rd against Atlanta, that just wouldn't make any sense with the way that the body heals from this Achilles injury. He suffered the injury on September 11th. If there's any chance that Rodgers comes back, it's like, what, the final two weeks of the season or the playoffs? And even then, I think it would be early. And the Jets aren't going to be in the playoffs either way.

So it's kind of a dumb mute conversation regardless. Here is Mike Vrabel. And one more thing on the Rodgers thing. Behind this offensive line and how if Rodgers was healthy, the Jets could be a Super Bowl contender. Knowing that there's going to be a lot of rust to knock off, there makes zero sense to play Rodgers this year. Behind that offensive line, you're going to get him re-injured and then killed already for next year. Let's go to Mike Vrabel and why he made the decision to start Will Levis for the rest of the year.

There's clearly something there. We want to be able to continue to work with him and progress and develop and win. And that's how you get better.

You only get better by going out there and playing, especially at that position. Oh, they're 3-5. So this team is going nowhere.

Their window has closed and now you have to try to find a way to open back up that window. It's not going to be with Ryan Tannehill. And Will Levis showed some really good signs in his first two games against Atlanta and Pittsburgh. He's a second round pick, so you don't have to stick it with him through the rest of the contract.

But you want to know at the end of the year if you have something. And through the first two games, you can't say you don't have something with Will Levis, who at one point was projected to be a top five draft pick. So good for Will Levis. It's the right move for Tennessee. And really, I guess you could say the death of this run for Tennessee was when they re-signed Ryan Tannehill to that four-year deal. Because if you remember, that was when Brady was a free agent.

I know they signed the deal before free agency did open. Did Brady say to Vrabel, I'm not coming? But there was that video, if you recall, Brady was at that Syracuse basketball game with that big-time Syracuse donor who now no longer, I think, supports the athletics department because they didn't support him. Aaron's something. He's rich.

He hangs out with all these people and goes on in private jets and he brings all these celebrities to the Carrier Dome. And you had Brady sitting courtside with Julian Edelman with the whole world watching, FaceTiming Mike Vrabel. So why couldn't you get Brady? And was it really because you believed in Ryan Tannehill?

Because if that's the case, that's so stupid. Here is Miles Garrett on up and Adams when asked if he would rather have Lamar or Joe Burrow on his team. Lamar Jackson this week, you've faced Joe Burrow a lot.

You play twice a year. I gotta ask you, who are you giving the edge to right now? Right now?

Yeah. You've sacked Lamar a lot. Have you taken him down, what, four times?

Only four? Are you taking Lamar or Joe? Well, I'm taking down Lamar, but I'll take Joe right now as far as who's got the nod over the alley right now. Both are incredible quarterbacks. Both are playing, after the slow start for Burrow, top six, top seven ball in the NFL. But yeah, Joe Burrow is the better quarterback. Lamar Jackson is one of the more explosive electric playmakers in the league. He's a tremendous quarterback.

We all know that. I've been a big fan of Lamar Jackson for a long time and I've always been a defender of Lamar. But the better quarterback is Joe Burrow. Let's go to Paul Feinbaum on ESPN via getup as he went from defending Michigan to now slamming Michigan. And now he's demanding that the Big Ten steps in and does something with Michigan. Everything that happens from here on with the University of Michigan is going to be tainted. And I think that's the real issue here for college football. Can you imagine, Greening, on January 8th, if Michigan wins the national championship and Jim Harbaugh is given that trophy, I think the rest of the sports world is going to turn its nose in disgust. And that's a real issue here. And I think what Petitti has to do is take a page from Roger Goodell, like it or not, and take control of the situation.

All right. So you take a page from Roger Goodell. So I guess that means when he went after Tom Brady for the deflategate suspension.

But look how long that was in courts before Brady withdrew everything and then just took the suspension. So stop, Paul. And I know I sometimes say football is a religion to me. But when people actually treat it like a religion, as if this would be like the biggest infraction of the biggest crime in the world, if God forbid Michigan wins the national championship and God forbid that cheating, lying Jim Harbaugh is on the stage, as if like Paul Finebaum would be disgusted by it. Oh, give me a break, Paul.

That's loser hour. From Paul Finebaum to Bum Brooks, Dylan Brooks, who got exposed last year in the playoffs, went after LeBron and then put his tail in between his legs and ran away from the media. Here is Dylan Brooks and his plan for guarding LeBron James. I'm afraid to lock him up. I've been shooting the ball well, even playing well. So I'm just there to make him tired, make him get into that fourth quarter early.

Damn, that's actually really sad audio. His confidence has just taken such a hit with what happened the last year. And it's so different from where we were a year ago to where we are now or just even like a few months later.

But that's really sad because he knows he has to be so calculated and he can't speak how he really wants to speak there, because then everyone's going to slam him for it. Here's Brian Cashman yesterday who runs the Yankees on the narrative the Yankees are analytically driven. People talk about we're analytically driven, right? We have the smallest analytics department in the American League East.

We have the largest pro-skating department in all of baseball. Is that a shocker to you, everybody? Shouldn't be. But no one's doing their deep dives. They're just throwing ammunition and bullshit, accusing us of being run analytically. Analytics is an important spoke in our wheel, but there's not one team that's not using it.

We're no different. But to be said we're guided by analytics as a driver, it's a lie. But that's what people want to say. I know I can't change that narrative. All I can continue to do is say bullshit's not true. Well, why does everyone then say it?

And then you admit to using analytics, everyone uses analytics, but is that a lie that you have the smallest analytics department or whatever he was trying to say? Like you're the Yankees. Even if you half-ass something, it's got to be better than a lot of these teams with no resources. I kind of roll my eyes and that's just Brian Cashman on the defense mode because he knows people are turning on him. Let's go to Robert Sala on ESPN New York why he has not gone to Trevor Simeon yet.

With a 39-year-old quarterback, why a guy who couldn't start last year was the first line of defense if he went down? You've got Trevor Simeon in your building. Why not give him a try? No, I got you.

Again, that's a fair question. Like I said, he... I got nothing for you, Michael. You got me.

I'm going to plead the fifth on all this one. Wow. That just screams as if while the general manager's telling me I got to go on out there and play Zach Wilson. Finally, here's Ryan Day asked a very interesting question at his press conference. I just noticed an email this morning that you can now bet on a celebrity boxing match between you and the guy who coaches up north. Are you in a good mood, by the way? I get it, Clay. I know that it's the topic of conversation right now, but... You just say you're going to whoop this guy.

I'm just curious if you've ever been in the ring ever sparred. I appreciate you, Clay. What's your best pun?

I'm not going to say anything. Let's call Ryan Day in a fight. Real quickly, who wins? Stu, go. Harbaugh.

Samter. Crushes him. Yeah, I don't want to be Adelaide Bird and mess up the scoring decision, but I think Harbaugh would kick Ryan Day's ass. Crying Ryan against Big Jim coming up in a boxing ring. Now, that would be fun. Tony Petitti, you should commission that. Let's get a little charity boxing event. I'll donate some money. What a question that was. Coming on back, Zach helps show CBS Sports Radio.