Are the Bills back? (Hour 2)

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$10 minimum per order. Additional terms apply. Now at number two of our radio program, that's right, it is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Coming up at an hour 20 from now, Seth Joyner will join us to discuss the problems with the Philadelphia Eagles, where his belief level is the rest of the way with the Dallas Cowboys, and we'll also go back to the biggest story of the day. The Kansas City Chiefs crying, complaining about not getting the call, go their way last night, and not having the referees overlook an obvious offside by Kadarius Toney that did negate that lateral from Kelsey to Toney for what could have been the game-winning score. Now, we talked about the Chiefs angle of this, and how weak it is of the Kansas City Chiefs, and how lame it is of the Kansas City Chiefs to be crying and not really holding Kadarius Toney accountable after he has blown two games for you now this season. The phone participation has been excellent so far. You can always give us a buzz.

855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. But I want to get to the other side of this, and that's the Buffalo Bills. The Bills last week, they went through some things.

I think that is the nicest way to say it. And a lot of it was because of the incompetence, I guess you could say, or just how tone-deaf Sean McDermott was when back in 2019, we've all read the Ty Dunn article, that he used the terrorists in 9-11 and their communication skills to show his team how they should communicate and work together properly to achieve a common goal. Now, I erupted last week, I shredded Sean McDermott last week, and I called him an idiot, because what he said in 2019 was really stupid, and he came off like a moron. But I have been someone, probably out of anybody in the national radio landscape, that has advocated and given more support to Sean McDermott. I wanted Sean McDermott to be an NFL head coach two years before he got hired as an NFL head coach.

Now, with that being said, my take has been pretty constant this year. He has led the Bills to as far as he could take them. And I still do believe that the Buffalo Bills need a new head coach next season.

Now, with that being said, I don't think that's going to happen. Even if they miss the playoffs, I don't believe the Pegula family is going to get rid of Sean McDermott, because it's going to be out of fear. Because even though they haven't been the owner of the team for all the time in the last 20-25 years, we know that they're newer owners. The Bills were on a 17-year play-out drought. And then, you had Sean McDermott come in, and even though they have not moved this thing forward in terms of getting that Super Bowl, with what has transpired the last 2-3 years, they have consistently been a playoff team, and they've consistently been one of the better teams in the NFL.

And I've used this analogy 9,000 times, just because you have someone break down the house and then build it back up, maybe he does like 85-90% of the job, and then you have a dispute, you have an issue with someone, and you bring somebody else in to finish off your house and complete the final 10% of the project. And the Bills ever win a Super Bowl, 2-3 years from now, I do believe Sean McDermott will get a lot of credit, but I don't think he'll actually be the head coach. Now yesterday, through all that crap that you had to go through, which all of it was pretty much self-inflicted, you know, maybe the article that Ty Dunn wrote, and Ty is a phenomenal writer, I'm a big fan of Ty, maybe not everything in that article needs to be kind of uncovered, and needs to be attached to McDermott where we have to slam McDermott.

There's some good, as Ty said in that article that McDermott has done, there is also some bad. But that team was 6-6. I was in that locker room after they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in overtime in Lincoln Financial Field, and that locker room was deflated.

You could hear a pin drop. That organization looked like they realized, man, what we set out to accomplish this year is not going to be attainable. So then you get away from everybody, you have a bye week, and then coming out of the bye week, boom, you get this explosive article.

You get this bombshell article by Ty Dunn. Now with all that being said, maybe this is just because I know how to watch football, and I've seen enough football throughout the years. Once that Ty Dunn article was released, and I was pretty positive, and I was pretty optimistic that the Bills would find a way to win the game by a few points, when that article came out, I go, oh, this is such a typical Buffalo victory. Because whenever a team is dragged through the mud all throughout the week, fair or not, whenever there's been so many distractions, and everyone in America was going to be picking Kansas City, oh, Kansas City's not going to lose to Buffalo, the team that everyone doubts usually finds a way. So I like Buffalo going into the game yesterday, but Buffalo in that final minute 32 minutes, they were in a dogfight with Kansas City. The Bills looked like throughout the first 57, 58 minutes of the game that they were the better team, and they still needed to find a way to snatch a victory. And when I was doing the show live on ION Football yesterday, I said to Jody, I picked the Bills all throughout the week, with not knowing what this result's going to be, and it not being clear and obvious here in the final two, three minutes, I started to lean towards Kansas City. Because you've seen this story how many times with the Buffalo Bills, great game, two really good teams, a fight towards the end, and Buffalo 9.9 times out of 10 is always on the wrong side of it.

And yesterday, the Bills found a way to be on the right side of it. And did you see the emotion from Sean McDermott after the game? I feared for his health. I thought he was going to collapse, right? He had to have so much euphoria going through his body and so much elation going through his body. It looked like he was about to freeze up. His body got numb, and I thought he was hitting the floor.

I did. Like, I was really fearing for his health when they showed him on the sideline because he was shocked. He just didn't know how to handle this because, you know, if they lose that game, it just gets louder and louder and louder that you should lose your job. Now, he'll never admit that. I would be very surprised if he ever acknowledges that.

But he knows what the conversation was about him. So now the Buffalo Bills have new life. Now the Buffalo Bills are seven and six. And I'll just ask this simple question.

Are the Buffalo Bills back? And I think there's one way to answer it. But before I give you the answer, I'm going to see if my guys know the answer. And I'm going to see if my guys know the way I'm going to answer this question. We'll start things off with Pat Boyle, who was rubbing elbows this weekend with the owner of the New York Islanders and John Ledecky.

And now as all this free gear stuffed his face with a bunch of rich, fancy food and as all this disgusting Islanders gear. Pat Boyle, after giving John Ledecky a back massage over this weekend, when I asked the question, are the Bills back? How do you think I'm going to answer this?

Well, first of all, thank you for that pleasant intro, Zach. And I'd like to respond. I would just like to respond really quickly that you as a Ranger fan, you guys can win all the Stanley Cup, Stanley Cups that you'd like to win in December and January. I haven't claimed anything about this.

They usually don't win them in May and June. Pat, do me a favor. Don't confuse Mraz's takes and where he claims the Rangers are winning the Cup each and every year with my takes. I am a very knowledgeable, somewhat level headed Ranger fan. Oh, I know you are. I like the start of this season. I have not proclaimed anything about what I think this team can potentially do.

So little brother, you hush up, you be quiet and you just answer my question, you SOB. Do you think the Buffalo Bills are back? I would say the Buffalo Bills are back in the landscape of they're going to the playoffs. Yes. OK, Stuart Kovacs, are the Buffalo Bills back?

How do you answer this question? Absolutely. The AFC is wide open, especially in that like wild card range. I think they're definitely a playoff team. I don't think they're a Super Bowl contender, but I think in terms of being a playoff team, maybe winning a game.

Yes, they're back. I'm not ready to say. And the reason why I'm not ready to say it. Is the Buffalo Bills all throughout the year have been on this seesaw ride. They win, they lose, they win, they lose, they win, they lose.

It's been never ending. You look at this season. They lost to the Jets when Aaron Rodgers gets hurt four plays into the season. Then they beat the crappy Raiders and the commanders up. Then they beat the Dolphins. Then they lose to the Jaguars in London. They barely beat the Giants. They lose to the Patriots. You had Mack Jones and Mike Kiseki doing the gritty in the end zone. I don't think I heard a peep from either of those two after that game.

Both those guys may be in the witness protection program, for crying out loud. Then they beat Tampa Bay. They lose to Cincinnati.

They lose to Denver. Because McDermott, when Sean Payton's doing one of the dumbest things in the world. Where he snaps the ball, takes the knee, then runs on his kicker as the clock was winding down. They didn't have the right amount of guys on the field. They had too many men on the field. The next thing you know, the Broncos hit the field goal after the second opportunity. Then they beat the lowly Jets. They lose to the Eagles. By week, they beat Kansas City. Anyone can have a feel on this team. And Stu, I hear you.

And I hear Pat as well. Where you look at it and you go, Man, they still got Josh Allen. You look at the AFC this year. Well, the Dolphins are 9-3. Buffalo beat the Dolphins by a pretty big margin. The Ravens, as good as they are defensively, and as good of a quarterback Lamar Jackson is, he hasn't been able to finish the season healthy. The team that's always been in the way, Kansas City. Well, they just beat them yesterday. And Kansas City looks vulnerable. And then after that, you look at this in the AFC.

I know the Dolphins play tonight. You have the Ravens at 10-3. You have the Dolphins at 9-3.

Then from seeds 3 through 11. And remember, only 7 make it. You have 8-5 Kansas City. 8-5 Jacksonville. 8-5 Cleveland. And by the way, here we go, Brownies.

Here we go. How about the elite Joe Flacco? Steelers 7-6. Colts 7-6. Texans 7-6. Broncos 7-6. Bengals 7-6. And then the Buffalo Bills 7-6.

Let's play drops that actually make sense, Pat Boyle, when we're going to play drops. Remember, you're the villain. You're not the permanent guy that is pressing all those sounders today. But, so yeah, like you look at that. You could very easily be not that far off from being a wild-card team. They're still in contention. But I'm not ready to proclaim the Buffalo Bills are back until we see the outcome of their next game. And the outcome of their next game is up against the Dallas Cowboys. And you know this and I know this.

I'll tell you this right now on a Monday. After about 20 minutes ago, I just had to give the Cowboys a lot of praise. And it hurt me. But I'm fair. I say the Cowboys now are a likable team. Doesn't mean I'm rooting for them. But there's a lot of easy guys to root for on that team.

And maybe they're finally starting to put it together. We'll see what happens come playoff time. Buffalo wins this game next week. They could accomplish anything they want this year inside the AFC. And you could bet your ass right now. I haven't even looked at the spreads yet. I'm picking the Bills this week.

I can't give the Cowboys back-to-back weeks of praise. Now, Pat, you're usually pretty damn good in the gambling world. Or you think you're good in the gambling world.

I don't know. With Boyle, I only see his winnings. I never see him post any of the bets that he actually lose. So I don't know how much you're actually winning. I'll give you a little bet tonight on Twitter before the game starts. Okay, let's save that for later in the show.

Sure. But if you had to guesstimate right now. Bills and Cowboys.

And that game is in Buffalo. It's a 4.25 p.m. kick. I believe on Sunday next week. What do you think the spread is right now?

Who do you think the favorite is? I was going to ask you the same thing. And luckily you started speaking as I was bringing up the schedule for next week. Did you look at it yet?

No, I have not. Okay. I am going to guess. Bills of the home team, they're going to be a dog, though. You want my guess first? I'm going to say it's Dallas by 3.5.

No, I'm going to say less than the hook. I say Cowboys 2.5. You say Cowboys 2.5. They want early action on Dallas. Okay.

Wow. You think it's Cowboys minus 2.5? Cowboys minus 2.5. And I said Cowboys minus 3.5. Pat Boyle, survey says Zach Gelb.

Speaking to myself in the third person, that's not ever a good sign. Survey says the Buffalo Bills are the favorite right now by two points. Yeah, they really want action on Dallas. I think that is begging everyone to plus the two points with the Dallas Cowboys. Because say what you want about the Cowboys. Outside of their performance against the 49ers and the Eagles the first time where we expected them to lose, the Cowboys have been the more consistent team and it's not even close. I think a lot of people are going to be taking the Cowboys.

Oh, the disrespect. The 10 and 3 Dallas Cowboys coming off a big win where they smother the team that was in the Super Bowl last year. I love the Bills this week.

I do. And then Buffalo wins. Then I'll say they're back. And Buffalo, you look at this year, it's been tough for the last few years to get to the Super Bowl. Because Kansas City has taken a hit. We'll see who prevails in the AFC South. In the AFC East, the Dolphins still haven't beaten a great team yet. The Ravens, phenomenal. I love Lamar Jackson.

Bills have beaten Lamar Jackson before in a playoff game where he threw that 102 yard pick, I believe it was, to Terron Johnson. Buffalo has a little life. They were on life support last week.

And now you're starting to hear a little beat of the heart. And maybe they walked out of sports hospice. Maybe they walked out of sports hospice at the end of next weekend. And they could go continue to live their life and maybe jump for joy and find a way to get to the Super Bowl. But before I even go there and even envision that, the Buffalo Bills with Josh Allen, who is a dog. The Buffalo Bills must, must, must win next week. They lose next week.

It's 7 and 7. And yeah, the schedule, you look at it the rest of the way. You have the Chargers, the Pats, who stink. And then you play the Dolphins. There's still a chance to make the playoffs. But I won't feel all too good about it if you lose this week, this week up against the Dallas Cowboys.

Or the Buffalo Bills back 8-5-5, 2-1-2 for CBS. I'm Snoop Dogg and I'm giving up smoke. I know what you're thinking. Snoop, smoke is kind of your whole thing. But I'm done with it.

I'm done with the coffin and my clothes smelling all funky. I'm going smokeless. Solo Stove Fix 5. They took out the smoke. Now you can have a nice blaze without any clouds ruining your day. Go smokeless.

Go to solostove.com. Tell them big Snoop Dogg sent you. Why is Instacart the holiday rescue app? Because you can get all your seasonal decor delivered instead of having to drive to 12 different stores. Candles and candy canes, delivered. Wreaths and reindeer, delivered. Lights from Lowe's, delivered. And since I know you're going to ask, inflatable snowman, delivered.

So this season, stay in and get decked out. Download Instacart, the holiday rescue app to get free delivery on your first three orders. Offer valid for a limited time, $10 minimum per order, additional terms apply. The most unique NBA podcast is out on Odyssey. Heat Check with Trista Crick. NBA fans, listen up.

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Get started at Stamps.com today with code PROGRAM for a four-week trial, free postage, and a digital scale. Time for your daily news brief. We get you caught up on the rumors, reports, and reconnaissance from the day in sports. You can stream the NFL on Westwood One for free sponsored by AutoZone all season long. You can listen to every Westwood One broadcast of the NFL Live on the NFL app. Ask Alexa to open Westwood One Sports or on the Odyssey app. Get in the Zone AutoZone.

AutoZone's free battery testing and charging is available for free at your local AutoZone. Get in the Zone AutoZone. Restrictions apply. Alrighty, let's start the news brief off with Fred Warner of the dominant San Francisco 49ers. He got in a little kerfuffle at the end of the game with DK Metcalf of the Seattle Seahawks.

And here is Fred Warner on his fight with DK. I don't know what happened, man. He told him he tackles really well, and then for some reason he didn't like that. And, you know, I guess what happened happened.

And it's unfortunate, man. He got to learn to keep his composure, but happy we came out with the dub. There is no way Fred Warner, and I love the sarcasm. I told him he tackles well for a wide receiver, then after a mistake. If Warner actually said that, that's gold. Because that's like the trash talking that I like, is when you give someone a compliment, but you know it's a backhanded compliment. Because the last thing DK Metcalf actually wants to do is be in a position to tackle someone.

Because that means his team made a mistake. That's a gold response. That is a rich response from Fred Warner. I love it.

Here is Antonio Pierce. Hey, Stu, I missed the Vikings Raiders game yesterday. How'd that finish?

Lucky you. How'd that finish? That would be a 3-0 Vikings win after a 0-0 game for 58 minutes. Yeah, I watched the entirety of the game.

I had it on my iPad here in the studio. What a disaster that was. Seriously. 3-0?

Like, yeah, it stinks. Justin Jefferson comes back, then gets hurt. Had to go to a local hospital.

I hope all is okay with him. But how the heck? Between those two teams. Now, I give credit to Brian Flores. His defense, he has done wonders for that Vikings defense. They were one of the worst units in the league last year. But it's not like the Raiders have this phenomenal defense either. I know quarterback play is not really apparent for either of those teams, as Josh Dobbs got benched for the Vikings.

So much for that great story. And then you have Aiden O'Connell, who shouldn't be a starting quarterback in this league. But with some of the weapons that both these teams have, even with Justin Jefferson getting hurt, only three points? Here is Antonio Pierce, criticizing his team after a loss. No excuse there. It is shocking. Plenty of time to prepare for opponent. Knew what they did.

Nothing new. Just, again, poor coaching, poor performance by the players. Start with myself. Three-point ball game. Yeah, you're frustrated. But at this point, you can't really point yourselves. There was opportunity for us on the defense to get off the field on third down.

And that's the easy way to go. But as a team, like I tell them, we win together, we lose together. It wasn't a good performance by us overall. So, Stu, it's now been four games with Antonio Pierce as the interim head coach. They beat the Giants. They beat the Jets. Two brutal football teams. They lose a respectable game to the Dolphins. They lose a game to Kansas City, where they played well in the first half. It's actually been five games because you factor in the game yesterday to the Vikings.

And yesterday the defense was fine, but the offense did jack. Five games, two wins, three losses on a scale of one to ten. One, you don't want him. Ten, you'll want him. Where is your rating on Antonio Pierce in terms of wanting him as the next head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders? I'm not going to blame – it's hard to – it's a tough situation for him.

I'd say like three and a half or four. I'm not – I'd probably not bring him back. Honestly, I would maybe even bring in Flores.

Oh. I kind of – yesterday kind of was like, hmm, interesting, maybe Flores could be a guy that could turn the scene around. And that would fit with the Raider trend.

Yeah. Because then they'll eventually have to fire a coach that has a pending lawsuit with the league, as they did that with Jon Gruden, right, the separation. And Flores still has a lawsuit with the NFL as well. Flores, he should get looks for head coaches, for head coaching vacancies. But will he actually get hired with this lawsuit that is going on with the NFL?

So, that's one thing. Now, Jim Harbaugh may be staying at Michigan. I know you wanted Harbaugh to be coaching the Raiders. But Johnson from the Lions, I think he'll have better opportunities than the Raiders. But outside of that, slim pickings in terms of names that we could really gather towards. Like Luanna Ruma would be a solid hire as a defensive-minded coach.

Would you have any interest of bringing back Rich Pessaccia, who they should have made the full-time coach a few years ago and then elected to hire Josh McDaniels? Eh, I think that's – that's sailed. I think that's gone. Okay.

Yeah. I'd probably rather have Pierce at this point. Let's go to Russell Wilson. Broncos bounce back with the win. After losing last week, they find the way to get the job done and control the game against the Chargers.

Russell Wilson makes it clear that this team is only getting better. We're steady, you know, climbing. You know, it's – climbing a mountain's not easy.

You know that there's going to be bumps in the way and there's going to be stuff that is going to try to knock you off. But we've just got to stay focused on the peak and stay focused on what we're trying to do, understanding that we're doing this together. It's going to take all of us. It's going to take all of us. We've got to get better, you know, and starting with me.

And we're all going to get better as a collective group. They're seven and six. Their final four games against the Lions, winnable game. Lions haven't been playing good football the last few weeks. They play the Patriots who stink, the Chargers who stink, and the Raiders who stink. They're going to make the playoffs. And the reason why I sigh has nothing to do with Denver. It's because I know hot take Hickey, who in the offseason doubled down on the Broncos after saying they were going to be in the Super Bowl last year and win the Super Bowl. He's like, oh, Sean Payton will fix them. Oh, Russell Wilson will be back. Oh, the Broncos are going to be going to the playoffs. He gave up on them four or five weeks into the season because they were so bad at one and five.

And you know Hickey is going to be taking a victory lap like we've never seen before. It would actually be embarrassing, even with how much these teams are bunched up together, when your toughest game are the Lions in the final four weeks of the season. And they should find a way bare minimum to win three out of those four games.

They don't get ten wins bare minimum. That's a bad job by the Broncos the rest of the way, even with their poor start of being one and five. Let's go to Brandon Staley. This guy really makes me annoyed because the last few weeks he took zero accountability and tried to tell you that everything was fine. None of the talent that they have and the arrogance of Brandon Staley is just so obnoxious.

Because the house, he is the meme of, what is it, that dog sitting at the table as the house is burning down and he's saying everything is fine. I have not heard this yet, but here's Brandon Staley on the issues that the Chargers have. This has been a combination of things. You know, our guys have competed the whole way. You know, certainly today when you lose Justin, that's going to affect the outcome.

But we've just been a little bit off and you know, today wasn't good enough. You know, and our guys are going to have to dig in. You know, we still have games left to compete. You know, we're not out of it yet. And we're going to have to dig in and compete on Thursday night. Oh, you're out of it though.

You're really out of it, bro. You're five and eight. You have all this talent and now your quarterback's injured. The fat lady sang on your season like two, three weeks ago. Your tenure as the coach, it already should be over and you already should have been fired and you should have been handed the pink slip a few weeks ago.

It's coming in three, four weeks. You know, Coach Prime got to Colorado. He said, we coming.

You know, the Spanos family, they're coming for you, Staley. You're done. You're finished. And it's embarrassing. You know, and I understand your quarterback gets hurt yesterday. That stinks.

Sucks. But the week before that, your quarterback was on the field and you scored six points? That's even in a win. You're lucky the Patriots couldn't score anything. But come on, I don't want to hear.

And I also understand like what else he's supposed to say. But this team could dig deep as much as they want. They could inspire the mentality of the 85 Bears. It don't matter.

They could be like the 72 Dolphins have that mentality. It won't matter. You're five and eight.

It's too crowded and you are a bad coach. Here is Jayden Daniels after winning the Heisman Trophy on overcoming obstacles. I want to dedicate this award to every boy and girl who has a dream.

With faith and hard work, you never know what's possible. They said I was too skinny, so I added weight. They said I relied on my legs a little bit too much. So, you know, I went to work, you know, completed all those passes, you know, had the season I had.

So I thank everybody out there. And they said I was too quiet. So, you know, I became more vocal.

I stepped out of my comfort zone. And now I'm here today. I got a chance to talk to Jayden Daniels a few hours right before he won the Heisman Trophy. He was at the ceremony in New York City over the weekend. And I asked him about his NFL future. And I get it, it's right when he's about to win the Heisman, so you're not really thinking about that. But just a really respectable guy and someone that I agree with, Kirk Herbstreet, he could be the steal of the draft. Now, he should be a first-round pick, but if he starts to fall a little bit and you're able to go snatch him, that dude put up a wonderful season this past year. Over 4,000 yards passing, 1,100 rushing yards.

He was dominant. And all everyone's talking about is Caleb Williams and Drake May. Teams are going to be very happy when they select him in the draft. Let's go to Bill Belichick. This is on ESPN College Game Day. Here was his Army-Navy pick. Bill Belichick showing a smile, showing a little bit of a personality. Never thought I would see that.

My pick on this one? Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Coach, I'm going to take a page out of your book here. Oh! No way.

1962. Oh my God, I love it. This is the Jolly Roger beat Army in Chinese for Paul Dietzle's Chinese Bandits. Go Navy.

Beat Army. It's amazing. Dry humor really does sell. Because Belichick doesn't change the inflection in his voice at all when he's in a happy moment. And it's still that mumbling, like whining-sounding noise that comes out of his mouth. And still, everyone's laughing.

And they're dying. Because it was a really good visual moment when Belichick has the old school helmet. And he's giving everyone like a history lesson. And everyone loved it. Look at Billy B.

Showing a little personality. Urban Meyer on On 3 with Tim May doesn't understand Kyle McCord's decision to transfer. That made no sense. I'm still trying to comprehend it. And I try to take a position of Kyle or even Ohio State and it just doesn't compute. He had a good year. I mean, they beat Notre Dame as first-time starter. Three new offensive linemen. I'm trying to make it compute because I want to be empathetic.

And I want to say, okay, I understand. There's no place better for Kyle than Ohio State. That place does not exist unless he's being guaranteed a starting spot.

But, once again, I don't agree with that's the best place. I think he's going to Nebraska, Kyle McCord. I do. I think Kyle McCord will be the next starting quarterback at Nebraska. He hit the transfer portal. And I would imagine that decision went down because he wasn't guaranteed that he'd be the starting quarterback next season. And the decision may not make sense right now from the Kyle McCord standpoint of things until we see who does Ohio State bring in in the transfer portal. Because if they get Cam Ward, let's just say, oh, they upgraded the quarterback position.

But they don't get someone in the transfer portal that you go ooh and ah about? Yeah, it's going to look like a bad decision from Kyle McCord because we all know Ohio State, even though they came up small this year, has been one of the better offenses in college football the last few seasons and they have wide receivers out the wazoo each and every year. This was embarrassing. Now, I can't really fault him because he's just playing. And that's what LeBron James always does.

He plays when he's healthy. But this in-season tournament and this championship, how they had confetti and a trophy presentation and champagne afterwards for like what did you win? No one's going to celebrate this.

Everyone's going to clown you. But this is LeBron James and what motivated him to win this tournament that nobody cares about. My rookies, my second year guys, some of them haven't experienced playoff basketball. Some of their paychecks are not as equipped as some of the older guys on our team. And then some of our fans during the December and January months, they kind of stall out a little bit. So I felt like it's my obligation and it's my responsibility to keep everybody engaged, including my teammates, including our fans for our beautiful sport.

So that's why I was locked in from day one. That's why I like LeBron James. LeBron basically just took a number two on this in-season tournament, but set up. The reason why I wanted to compete was so my guys that don't make as much money made some more money. And also, let's be real why this is done, because Adam Silver thinks it's going to draw more eyeballs to the television sets when a lot of fans check out in November and December.

Doesn't mean that we should do this tournament because this tournament is just a joke. But Silver standing there on the podium, this guy has accomplished everything but this. Like, are you kidding me?

What are you going to do next? Why LeBron James is the GOAT? Because he has a mid-season tournament MVP and championship and Michael Jordan does not.

Oh, give me a break. And Stu, you being a Lakers fan, Anthony Davis, it's so perfect that Anthony Davis plays a great game in the championship game. What do you have, like 40 something points? He had like 40 and 20 rebounds. He had a hell of a game.

And now you have Jackasses saying, oh, he played great in a big game. Look at what Anthony Davis is capable of. All it matters is if Anthony Davis, who's a phenomenal player, is healthy come postseason time.

But it is very funny to me in what is considered a big game, and I say that in air quote, for a meaningless big game, Anthony Davis was good to go and he was sensational. Oh, that was great. Yeah, I'd love if he was healthy for an actual NBA playoff game. That would be good. That'd be great.

All right, let's get two more in here. Steven A. Smith rips Zion Williamson for his weight. This courtesy, the Steven A. Smith show Zion Williamson. He looks fat. He looks fat. Zion Williamson, who's more than 15 years younger, but 40 pounds heavier, went to the free throw line.

Ladies and gentlemen, I saw a belly, a belly, like when he took a deep breath, his belly bounced, that kind of belly. I mean, damn, what's up Zion? Man, he really went after him. You wouldn't get that take on first take, but on the Steven A. Smith show, that's where you get that take. And he's not wrong. Zion looked like he added a lot, and I mean a lot of pounds. And wasn't it? And this is what happens when you're a big guy and I've been there.

Your weight can fluctuate very easily. But before the season, people were praising the good shape that Zion Williamson was in. And now we're sitting in December, and he looks very, very large. And finally, here is Terry McCauley making sure on NBC last night after you were able to have the call marinate a little bit in the 4.25 p.m. Eastern time window when the ref said that Kaderi's Tony was offside, which negated the Kelsey lateral to Tony for the score. It was the right call, and Terry McCauley wanted to make sure that was clear on NBC. This is clearly a foul. He can't be past the back of the ball. His whole body is in the neutral zone. It may even be beyond the neutral zone. You can see the receiver at the top lined up perfectly.

That's where he should have been. And I would add, in past years, this has never been called. This would be technical.

This would be a warning. This year it's been called 11 times as opposed to twice last year, only once in 2021. So this is being consistently called.

He needs to be onside. And this is not something that's up for interpretation. Like sometimes you could see a catch and like, was it a catch? Was it not a catch? You have no clue. Is it past interference? Is it not past interference? You have no clue. He is lined up clear and obviously offside.

So I don't get what the big fuss is about outside of the Kansas City Chiefs just crying like a bunch of babies because they know down deep that their wide receivers are no bueno. Thank you very much. All right. That's a news brief. This is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.

All right. This is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Justin Fields is causing a good problem, I guess you could say, to have for the Chicago Bears. So Fields gets a nice victory yesterday, plays well.

Him and DJ Moore have a really good connection and we've now seen that. And when you take a glance at Justin Fields and the Chicago Bears, it's okay. They're winning a few more games than what we thought they were going to win. So now moving forward, what are the Bears going to do this off season?

And it starts with the GM. Like you look at Ryan Polls. I got to wonder if he's going to be back. And if he is back, then does he get rid of Matt Iberflus?

I would assume that Iberflus is not back next year. In terms of Ryan Polls, I don't really think it's a conversation that a lot of us have had. And you have these draft picks where in all likelihood, you're getting the number one overall pick. The Carolina Panthers may be the worst football team that I've ever seen. And in my lifetime, we've seen the Detroit Lions have zero wins in a season. But that Panthers team, and they got one victory up against the Houston Texans, but that team is God awful.

They really are. And they don't have their first round pick because they traded to go get Bryce Young. And now the Bears have that pick.

And then the Bears have what's going to be, we used to say another top five pick, but now it's going to probably be a top 10 pick. So you could do a quick reset where you trade fields, you get some capital back, you take a quarterback number one overall, and then you get another impact player with that second first round pick. Fields though, is making this decision tough.

He is, because he's not been great. But he's showing you some signs that maybe with the right coaching and some more talent around him, that he could be a player. And I do believe that Justin Fields will have some success eventually, consistent success eventually in the NFL. But then I try to use logic here, because I think a lot of people get caught up in the moment of yesterday and go, they beat the Lions, they dominate the Lions, Fields play well, how do you move off of him? And it comes down to dollars and cents.

That's what helps you make sense here. He's got two years left on this contract, assuming they pick up the fifth year option. I understand you could maybe say, take Marvin Harrison Jr., maybe like two or three overall, you trade back a spot, you get some capital with maybe the team that's second or third moving up to that one spot. Then you still get Marvin Harrison Jr., you line up next year with Justin Fields, Marvin Harrison Jr. and DJ Moore.

That's pretty damn good. That's some serious weapons for Justin Fields. But then Justin Fields has to put it all together the next season. Because if he doesn't, you start to narrow that window on the young group that you've assembled and then also you have to then find the right guy and it's not going to be better than this year when you are going because of the just brutal way the Panthers play football. You're going to get the number one overall pick and you're going to get that decision to be made. And we know in this league, you don't always have to be great to get great money. Now Justin Fields so far isn't deserving of great money, but if he plays at a good level next year and you keep him, then he's going to want to cash in.

And then there's that fear of maybe it just being a one-year type of scenario. So I know a lot of times it doesn't make sense or it's not great sports radio when you go, oh, I don't know what they should do because I could see both sides of this argument. But if I put myself in Ryan Pohl's shoes, assuming he's still the GM, I trade fields, I think you could get a two and maybe you put some conditions on that. You take a quarterback one and then I'd be aggressive.

I would. I don't know what the Texans did this past year. They took their quarterback two and they moved up from 11 or 12 all the way up to three to get Will Anderson Jr. Wherever that second first round pick is, whether it's five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, wherever it is, I would be as aggressive as possible, move back up inside the top three and you get Caleb Williams or Drake May, whoever is the best quarterback in your mind. And then you also get Marvin Harrison Jr. That's what I would do.

I would reset. The franchise that I would reset the time clock on having to pay a young quarterback. Boyle, where do you stand on this, by the way, with the future of Justin Fields, because I do think it's very complicated because Fields is playing well, but you haven't seen enough success from him in a bad situation where you know that you're not that far away from having to make a big decision on whether to pay this guy or not. I think he has shown you enough glimpses of talent. I think he has shown you tremendous ability to use his legs and be the best guy on the football field of all 22 players with his legs. And I think he has cleaned up a lot of the mistakes with his arm this year and being able to read defenses. You can see he's quicker getting rid of the football and when he doesn't have it, he tucks it and he's looking to run.

Even if he takes a one yard sack, he's not going down for six, seven yard loss. I think Justin Fields should be the quarterback of this future, of this team. And this has been through multiple head coaches already in just three seasons, a defensive mind and Eberflus.

A lot of people praise polls, Ryan Polls, for what he's done. I think he has tried to screw up this organization almost at every corner with some of the trades they've made. But I think... Claypool was a bad trade, but Montez Sweat was a good trade. And then he did make the trade out of the number one overall pick. And now just got you that first overall pick in all I could. But I'm not saying the guy's this phenomenal GM, don't get me wrong, but they have a head coaching vacancy this off season.

Like let's assume that happens. They're an attractive destination. They are. Because they have the two first round picks and we'll see what decision they make on Justin Fields. Like you talk about... Because there's no building from the ground up.

Like this is not you're taking over and you have some nice furniture in the house and you go, okay, this is a nice house. They still have to build and make these right picks. And I look at the head coaching vacancies, who knows if Buffalo's gonna open new life for Buffalo.

Probably won anyway. The Chargers are an attractive one because you already have Herbert there and a bunch of talent around him. But when you get through some of these teams that are bad teams and that's why they're moving on and they don't have a lot around them, not many more attractive destinations in the jobs that we expect to be open than the Bears. Like you asked me right now, Bears are commanders or Bears and Raiders.

That's not even close. I'd rather run the gauntlet here with the Bears. I just think as mediocre as they've been this year, and I know Fields has missed four games this year and he got hurt his rookie season at the end. To be five and eight in a division that is probably a lot better top to bottom than everybody thought was gonna be considering how good the Packers have been lately, the Vikings even without Kirk Cousins, I don't think there's a need to reset the franchise clock. Just because you have those two first round picks, you're basically gonna guarantee the number one overall pick. Doesn't mean you have to take a quarterback, doesn't mean you have to reset and hire new head coach.

They've actually built, they've got a lot of good culture and they've got a lot of good players on this roster already. Let Justin Fields and build with the two first round draft picks that you know you're gonna get, two top ten draft picks that you know you're gonna get. Add to that defense because there's still a bottom ten unit on defense and give him Marvin Harrison Jr. and they say, hey, now you've got a complement of weapons, go out there and now make it happen in year four.

Prove to us you're the guy. I think he's got the talent. I think he's a damn good quarterback.

You just hope this doesn't turn out to be a Daniel Jones effect where I do believe Fields is better than Jones but then you pay the guy, you believe in the guy and he lets you down the next year or two. I'm Snoop Dogg and I'm giving up smoke. I know what you're thinking, Snoop, smoke is kind of your whole thing but I'm done with it.

I'm done with the coffin and my clothes smelling all funky. I'm going smokeless. Solo stove, fixed fire. They took out the smoke. Now you can have a nice blaze without any clouds ruining your day.

Go smokeless. Go to solostove.com and tell them big Snoop Dogg sent you. If you're a last minute gift shopper then Instacart is your holiday rescue app this season. No more tracking packages, no more trips to the post office and no more Christmas gifts arriving in February. Instead you can just download Instacart to order gifts like beauty, tech and gourmet goods from local stores and get them delivered in as fast as one hour. Plus right now you'll get free delivery on your first three orders.

This offer is valid for a limited time, $10 minimum per order, additional terms apply must be 21 plus to purchase alcohol where available. The most unique NBA podcast is out on Odyssey Heat Check with Trista Crick. NBA fans listen up. I'm Trista Crick, host of the Heat Check podcast and if you love this league, the storylines and want a funny digestible way to get all the news from around the association and someone to break down what's really going on straight up no chaser and make you laugh at the same time, follow the Heat Check on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.