Who's in the AFC Circle of Trust? (Hour 2)

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Add life to cart. Terms apply. And maybe the NFL forced this down the Islanders' throats. And usually we want to talk about this on a national radio show, but I saw it last night, and I was like, man, this is a hockey story that I think you could relate to in all of sports. Like, I'm okay with good sportsmanship, but there's some moments where teams go out of a way to thank someone. Where usually it's like, okay, someone plays for a season, and then they come on back, and I've seen this in Major League Baseball, they have like a tribute video. And I sit there and I go, isn't even enough highlights for this person to have a tribute video? That used to be a unique honor. That used to be reserved, like a tribute video or asking someone to get off their seats and cheer for someone for really special legendary players. But now the society that we live in, you got to be a good sport about everything.

You got to smack everyone on the butt. You play three games, now you get a tribute video. So John Tavares, who is now on the Maple Leafs, and we know is their captain, he got his 1000th career NHL point last night. Now, that's a tremendous accomplishment.

It deserves to be honored. But I don't care if this guy scored the most points ever in the history of the NHL. You can't honor him in the island there's building with an organization that can't stand his guts in front of those fans that hate him because he was once their leader, their guy, their franchise player. And he dragged them along in the free agency process and he left them. It would almost be as, let's say, LeBron in the first year removed from leaving Cleveland to go to Miami.

He comes back. I remember how intense that booing was of LeBron James. And he had some legendary moment or some big career accomplishment. And you were like, fans, we like to honor LeBron James for scoring this amount of points. And that's what the Islanders did last night. Now, I'm assuming that was forced by the league. I think the Maple Leafs requested it if it was going to happen. And also, I think the goal where he got the 1000th point, it was late in the third period before they ended up losing the game in overtime.

But that's crazy to me. Like Boyle, you're a passionate sports fan and you happen to be an Islanders fan. You were rubbing elbows and sucking up to their owner, John Ledecky, at the game the other night when he invited you to the game, which is very nice of him and pretty damn cool. You had to be furious last night where I understand appreciating history and appreciating something that is pretty impressive.

But the matter of where it happens is important. And in that building, it was an Islanders home game. I don't care what the league mandates. I don't care what the Maple Leafs request.

You can't be having some announcement and some acknowledgement. I know the team emptied off the bench the Maple Leafs, so there was some delay in the game. But you can't have that occur where your PA announcers get on the stadium scoreboard and say, all right, everyone, we honor John Tavares with this 1000th career point in the history of the NHL. I know we played for you, but those fans hate that guy's guts.

Yeah, I don't get this. We see this across the board, I feel like the last two, three years. And especially as New Yorkers, we pride ourselves as tough sports fans. We boo people that are the best players on the team if they don't perform well. And I saw the Mets do this a lot last year. So the Yankees have done that on social media, thanking a guy or honoring John Tavares for his 1000th career point. He left the Islanders five years ago, stabbed them in the back, strung them along in free agency, like you said, and said, I see it. Thanks for the memories.

And you know what? The Maple Leafs seeing them finally get out of the first round for the first time. And other than that, it's a first round exit every single year. Thanks, good for leaving because the Islanders have had two trips to the conference finals since he left. But I don't get it.

I don't get it. You don't need to thank somebody, especially back in your home building when you know it's going to get nothing but booze. And maybe that's why John Ledecky and the Islanders did that. Maybe they knew the fans were going to boom and it's going to make for a nice viral moment. I don't know. But you don't need to go out of your way to thank somebody that left your team however many years ago when somebody underperforms and is terrible and then gets dumped, salary dumped or traded. You don't need to put out a social media message, thank you so and so for giving us nothing.

I don't get it. And don't get me wrong, 1000 Career Points is a pretty impressive accomplishment. Any of the other hockey teams on the road, Tavares does that against them, they can have that video. They can have that video, got no problem with it. But when it's the team that you leave, and I know that people don't care about hockey the way they do about the NBA, and I say that as someone that likes hockey better than basketball, but I'm realistic. It would be, once again, Lebron leaving Cleveland, then had some big career accomplishment for the Heat in the Cavaliers building and they took a few seconds to go honor him.

You can't do that in that moment. And that was the gripe that I had with it last night. Yeah, no I totally agree. I totally agree and luckily the Islanders won the game. They're starting to get hot here. Couple of big wins in a row, so don't worry, they're coming again. You and your Rangers, you can go to the game tonight and enjoy your Stanley Cup that the team will win in December. Because we know once May and June, they won't be there. Yeah, and neither will the Islanders as well because Boyle likes to walk around the studios and puff out his chest like his team has all these championships. He roots for this great organization. You weren't even thinking about having a little bam chicka wam wam time to create you the last time the Islanders won a Stanley Cup.

Alright, I was 12 years after the last one. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Alrighty, let's get to a little AFC circle of trust. And it is tough to trust teams in the AFC this year because there right now is only two teams in the NFL that are eliminated from playoff contention.

Carolina Panthers and then my crappy New England Patriots. But you look at this right now, if the playoffs were to start today, the Ravens would be the number one seed. And then you would have the Dolphins who are 9 and 4 hosting the Colts who are 7 and 6. You'd have the Chiefs who are 8 and 5 hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers who are 7 and 6.

And you'd have the Jaguars who are 8 and 5 hosting the Cleveland Browns. So your seven playoff quarterbacks right now would be Lamar Jackson, Tuatunga Vailoa, Patrick Mahomes, Trevor Lawrence, Joe Flacco, depending on the health, either Kenny Pickett or Mitch Trubisky, and Gardner Minshew. So teams that would not make it right now, that are still in contention, CJ Stroud and the Texans, Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos, Jake Browning and the Cincinnati Bengals, and then we could draw the line in the sand with the Buffalo Bills and after that with Josh Allen being 7 and 6. You know, Herbert now done for the season, the Raiders got no chance, the Jets I know they're 5 and 8, they got no chance, Tennessee even though they got a win last night, they have no chance as well and the Patriots are already eliminated at 3 and 10. So when we just look in the circle of trust in the AFC, like I have to ask you right now guys, and we'll do this exercise, because I have my three teams, who are the three teams that you would trust the most inside the AFC? I think it is such a difficult question to answer because you really don't trust any of these teams in the AFC. Objectively, the team I would trust the most is Baltimore.

Phenomenal coach, really good defense, even though I don't love their playmakers with Andrews going down, Zay Flowers done well this year in his rookie year, they have Lamar Jackson and we know what Lamar Jackson is capable of in the regular season. He only has one postseason win, but he's still such a young player and I think people forget because we live in this instant results society now, there's been a lot of players in the history of the league that went through some really bad playoff moments before they started to win. Whether that was John Elway who didn't win a Super Bowl and ended up winning two towards the end of his career. Peyton Manning for years got destroyed by the Patriots. I remember the four interception game that he had three to tie law and one I believe it was to Rodney Harrison. There were big choke jobs and big laying an egg performances by the sheriff number 18 before he finally got one Super Bowl. And then his last year of his career basically got carried as the quarterback of the Denver Broncos with that great defense.

So there are quarterbacks where it takes a while before they get to the top of the mountain, and I've used this analogy before Lamar Jackson. Lamar reminds me a lot like Giannis Antetokounmpo, where Lamar has an MVP, has playoff shortcomings. Giannis had two MVPs, had playoff shortcomings, and everyone said, oh, Giannis can't win in Milwaukee, oh, Giannis will never win a championship, and he ended up winning a championship. So I could see that happening with Lamar and the difference between Lamar and Giannis, and I do think Giannis and his sport is better than what Lamar is in his sport.

Even though both are extremely successful and awesome talents to watch, Lamar's margin of error is slimmer than Giannis. Because for Giannis, you could lose three games in a series and still find a way to advance. In the NFL, it's what makes it so fun in the playoff format, it's one game. You win, you move on.

You lose, you go home. So right now, from coaching history, defensive history, quarterback history, and then how it's translating into the 2023 season, the Ravens have to be the team that you trust the most in the AFC. And before the year, there were a lot of predictions the Ravens wouldn't even make the playoffs. Because we didn't know what this new offense was going to look like and how loaded, right?

That was the other take that everyone got wrong. Oh, this AFC, it's going to be the best year that we've ever seen on the AFC. You know, 10, 11 wins may not even make the playoffs. Right now, when we look at the playoffs, 10 wins may not make the playoffs, but it's not like it's going to be a strong pool of teams with 10 wins where you go, man, Joe Burrow or Aaron Rodgers, I know both are hurt, were left out of the playoff field. Like, we're looking at the wildcard teams right now.

Who would have had before the season started the Browns, the Steelers, and the Colts as your three wildcard team? Huh? Huh? Uh-huh.

That's what it basically is. But there's a legit chance of both, of all three of those teams being the wildcard. Like, the Steelers just lost to the Patriots, for crying out loud.

And right now, they would still be a wildcard team. The Steelers haven't played an ounce of offense all season. And they still have seven wins. The Browns just pulled Joe Flacco off the couch. They have eight wins. And the Colts, Manchu Mania, with seven wins. So, you look around the AFC.

Let's go around the room here. I'll save my three teams, and I already gave you one. It's the Ravens. Who are the three teams you trust the most to get to the Super Bowl in the AFC, whether they're in or out of the playoffs right now?

Pat? Number one is the Chiefs, until proven otherwise. Still?

Yes, absolutely. I don't care how poorly they're playing right now. I don't care how bad the offense has been. I know that when the chips are on the line, and in January, Patrick Mahomes is going to deliver, Travis Kelce is going to deliver, Andy Reid is going to deliver. That on top of the defense... Oh, do we know that about Andy? Because Andy, for a very long time, was not able to win the big games when he was in Philadelphia. And now he's won two Super Bowls.

Yeah, and he's been to three of them. So, this current dynamic, him coaching the Kansas City Chiefs, they're there basically every single year. And the defense, this is the big thing, the defense is as good as it's ever been under Steve Spagnuolo. So, the fact that the defense is actually playing well, and they're not relying on the offense to score 30 points a game, it's the offense that is the problem. I'm going to trust that they'll figure that out by January. They're the team I trust above else. They're my pick as of now to get to the Super Bowl in the AFC. Two and three?

What? Who's your second and third team? Yeah, it's tough. There's not a whole lot of teams to put a lot of faith in. I would have to go number two, would be the Miami Dolphins.

Wow, even after last night, without Tyree killed, Tuatunga Vailoa looked horrible. So, you go the Chiefs one, the Dolphins two. You're not taking the Ravens? No, I don't trust them.

They're ten and three. I understand, but they seemingly run into a bad matchup every post-season where it's a team that can take away Lamar's legs. In the years past, Lamar's been hurt, so you're relying on him, you're trusting that he stays healthy and that it's not... Sounds like Boyle's a hater. I'm not a hater. I have nothing against the Ravens. They just prove every year they're not a real contender.

They're a pretender. They're a good regular-season team. I would trust the Buffalo Bills more than the Baltimore Ravens. I would put them at three. Okay, so that's one, two, three.

Boyle goes... I still can't believe he kept the Ravens off the list, but you go Chiefs one, Dolphins two, and then the Bills three. Stu, the three teams you trust the most in the AFC are? Definitely the Ravens one.

Just right now, I trust them the most. Two, I'll still go with the Chiefs just because of Mahomes and Reed. And, you know, Mahomes gets hot, pulls some games out of his backside. I think, you know, he could definitely be... Chiefs could definitely be in the Super Bowl again.

Three is a tough one. I'll go Bills. I'm very hesitant to go Bills, but I think the Bills right now are that for me. I guess a sneaky one that I actually thought of was the Broncos. Just based on how they've played lately, they've actually looked a lot better, so we'll see.

But those are... I don't trust the Dolphins. But this illustrates the point how week to week we are in the NFL.

It's crazy. Two weeks ago, the Broncos, even after having a five-game win streak come to a close, they lost to the Texans. And then the week later, the Broncos get a victory, and now it's like, oh, maybe the Broncos are a little bit of a dark horse. Russ is back.

After they started year one and five. Alrighty, here's who I go with. Number one, it's the Ravens. The Ravens have been the best team in the AFC for the majority of this season, and Lamar Jackson is due. Lamar Jackson doesn't get to the Super Bowl this year in the AFC. You're going to start to wonder, will he ever get to the Super Bowl out of the AFC?

And that would be the first time in his career where I think that question can legitimately be raised and it not be too premature. Number two, it's the Kansas City Chiefs. To Pat's point, yeah, Mahomes was bitching after the game.

Andy Reid was crying after the game. That defense for most of the season has played well, and offensively, they've been god-awful. But come playoff time, they will always have a chance.

They will always spark fear in their opponents because of 15 to 87. And then three, and both of you guys mentioned this team, and I thought this was going to be a little bit of a hot take. But the Buffalo Bills beat the Cowboys this weekend. I think the Buffalo Bills are back in the circle of trust. I think the Buffalo Bills, if they get a victory this weekend against the Cowboys, which by the way, I think they will.

They go to eight and six. They have new life. And they go from a team that was disappointing, down and out, still have problems defensively, still don't love McDermott. But in a year where the AFC is so wide open, you may need to go back to Bills football last few years in a way that we tried to deviate from.

And you asked Josh Allen, 17, to do everything and to carry you. And you may not have to be a great team this year in the AFC with what we've seen through the first 14 weeks of the season to get to the Super Bowl. But they win that game against the Cowboys. They go to eight wins.

They play the Chargers, who now are starting Easton stick. They go to the Patriots, who are starting Bailey Zappi. And then the final week of the season, they would have the Miami Dolphins, who, oh yeah, by the way, they beat 48 to 20 back in week four or five of the season. Buffalo would be the third team I trust the most. So number one, I would go with the Ravens. Number two, Kansas City, how about those Chiefs?

And then in at number three, the Buffalo Bills potentially back in the circle of trust of yours truly. So you think me leaving the Ravens off is egregious, but you leave the Dolphins off because they lost last night? No, I leave the Dolphins off because they lost to the Eagles. They lost to the Chiefs and they don't have a great win this year. And oh yeah, by the way, the Bills smothered them earlier this year. And Miami only has one victory right now against a team that is currently above 500.

And it was that victory up against the Broncos when the Broncos weren't even that good of a team to start the season. I'm not saying Miami is a bad team. I'm not saying Miami is a down in the dumps kind of team.

Like Miami is a really good team. But I just don't trust them to go find a way to win three games in the playoffs to go to a Super Bowl. And I would trust the more experienced team, a team that struggled a little bit this year in Buffalo to maybe get hot towards the end of the season. It would kind of be fitting if Buffalo got to the Super Bowl this year because the AFC, it's been tough. Maybe outside of the Ravens really latch on and enjoy a team this year and say that this team's dominant, this team's going to be a force. So what I'm saying is it wouldn't shock me this year.

And it could maybe be, you know, you throw a few dollars down, a few shekels down and see what happens on a long shot. You've got to give me a long shot with all these quarterbacks that are down and Allen still standing. And we know he has playoff experience, some good moments, some bad moments. I could see them getting hot. I could see them going, you know, who would have thought when the Packers won a Super Bowl as a six seed that in the beginning of December, mid-December, they were going to go on this run. But teams that get hot late in the season, then you've got to go win three, four more games.

And the next thing you know, you're holding a shiny Lombardi. Now, from this conversation, whoever gets out of the NFC, cough, cough, the 49ers, cough, cough, the Cowboys, cough, cough, the Eagles, whoever does, you better win the Super Bowl this year. Because the AFC, you don't feel great really about any of these teams to the conversation that we just had.

It is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio. Who's in your circle of trust if I only give you three teams the rest of the way in the AFC? We'll come on back with a little overreaction, proper reaction. 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. Your first three deliveries are free. Download Instacart. Add Life to Cart.

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Get started at stamps.com today with code program for a four week trial, free postage and a digital scale. Another NFL week is complete, which means it's another week to freak out about your favorite team. Which teams are truly crazy, but sometimes the game can be so bad, it's almost good. You know what I'm saying?

And which are so crazy, they might be right. He's 6'5", he's 245 pounds. He's probably a Popeye's biscuit away from being a tight end. Zach let you know in this week's edition of overreaction or proper reaction. Alrighty, Tuesday off of week 14 of the NFL season as we inch closer and closer to week 15. And my oh my, Al Michaels, you know, he's not going to do the playoff game this year for NBC.

I think they get like two playoff games. That was announced today. It's Noah Eagle and is it Todd Blackledge, I believe it was, who's going to be doing the game? Which they do the Big Ten games and they're a really good booth. But man, for Al Michaels, that's unfortunate news for him. Because you know, he's a legendary broadcaster and he still loves to do these games and one of the best to ever do it. But these Thursday night games, people have been killing his energy.

But what has he had to be excited for? And on Thursday, now you get the Chargers with Easton Stick as their starting quarterback with Justin Herbert getting surgery. He's done for the season. And the Raiders, what are the storylines there?

You get Aiden O'Connell, does Antonio Pierce have the job next year? That's a Thursday night football game. The only reason to watch it is if you got a little skit in the game. And if you are using one of the fine betting applications to put some money down. But outside of that, there's no reason to watch this game.

I will say this, the hint when he blew that Christian Kirk game winning touchdown for the Jaguars where he didn't basically said he went out of bounds. That was a bad job. Yeah, but everyone has a snafu here or there.

A snafu like that, that's probably the biggest snafu of the year. Yeah, but once you do, do you believe in miracles? Yes!

It doesn't matter what happens after that. So 40 years after that, you can milk and you can mail in Thursday night broadcasts every week. You had a great call, Malcolm Butler, interception, the Super Bowl. This is a creme de la creme broadcaster. But to your overall point, these are such highly coveted jobs and it's so fun to do this for a living. There's so many announcers though that stick around too long. And yeah, I would agree with you. It's probably time to hang it up. I don't want to be the person that says that, right?

Because then people go, oh, you're ungrateful. You don't respect the history of announcing blah, blah, blah. But what is Al Michaels? 80 years old? He's got to be 80 something years old? He's 79. He turns 80 next November.

It's probably time to wrap it up a little bit in your career. What are you eating, by the way? Is that rice pudding?

No, it is a ciabani flip. Oh, yogurt? It's the strawberry cheesecake, red velvet cupcake. It's like a happy birthday kind of yogurt for you? Yeah, I suppose so. I'm a big red velvet guy. Yeah, I like rice pudding. I don't know. Maybe that makes me sound like an old man.

It does, a little bit. But it's tough when I'm in that supermarket. Two things that I have a problem walking past these days. Cream of wheat? The two things that I have a tough time walking past are rice pudding and then also, they have these balanced breakfasts, like circular items now. And it's peanuts, it's some cheese, and then there's, I think, some raisins in them all in one. That's delicious.

Those are the two things. I know, that sounds pretty lame. You expect a cookie, you expect some ice cream, some gob of gold. After you said rice pudding, I thought you were going to go with Honey Nut Cheerios, rich in fiber. I was maybe thinking a little trail mix, too. Trail mix is a good snack. You really are an old eater. You've got old taste buds, man. I'm a big protein bar guy, too, these days.

Although I can't knock it. We went out to dinner a couple weeks ago. We had a good meal.

Big Bronzino. My favorite part was, you know, because I'm Jewish, I'm also Italian. And Boyle, at this Mediterranean restaurant we went out to, they serve challah bread. He goes, oh, well, what's this fancy bread that they got at the table? I had to basically bar mitzvah boil at the table and tell them about challah. That was Jewish bread? Yes, it's called challah. I didn't know.

Yeah, all righty. What do we got cooking here, Stuart Kovacs? All right, well, we talked a lot about the NFL officiating yesterday, especially when it came down to Kadarius Toney's offside penalty. Well, Miles Garrett wasn't happy with the refs, despite his Browns beating the Jaguars 31-27.

And Pat Boyle has too much yogurt in his mouth. Officiating was a travesty today. It was honestly awful. And the fact that, you know, they're letting them get away with hands to the face, holding, false starting, you know, I know they called a couple, but damn, they could have called it all game. And, you know, the one that cost us, you know, they're on the two-yard line.

I mean, respect to those guys, it's a hard job, but hell, we have a hard job as well. You know, you can't make it harder by, you know, throwing, you know, holding hands to the face, not off the rule book. So overreaction or proper reaction, the officiating in the NFL is the worst that it's ever been. I'm going to go overreaction.

I think it's really putrid. But I do have some sympathy towards the refs because the athletes are bigger than ever and they move as quicker as ever as well. With all that being said, though, I would imagine the refereeing 10 years ago was probably just as bad.

We just didn't have social media the way that we have it today. And everyone now, they slow things down and they try to illustrate a point and just by the looks of something, you may think that person is right, like Kadarius Hone the other day. People go, oh, he checked with the officials.

Here's the clip. He pointed to the official, but even Andy Reid admitted that Kadarius Hone didn't check with the official. So there's ways to slow things down and to give you a still image and to make it look like your argument's being crafted and it still may not make you right. So the officiating is bad, but I don't know if it's that much different than 10 years ago outside of now we have these dopey TV refs that analyze everything and try to beat these know-it-alls.

And then now you have a play happen in live time and then three hours later, someone slows it down and they make the thing all go viral. That highlights a potential mistake. So I would go overreaction on you saying the officiating in the NFL is the worst it's ever been.

All right. Afterwards, by the Jets, Giants and Titans this week, the Raiders have sneakily jumped up the draft board. And if the season went today, they would pick six behind only the Bears by the Panthers, the Patriots, Cardinals, commanders and Bears again. Now, after Thursday's match against the Chargers this coming week, which you mentioned earlier, they finished out with the Chiefs, Colts and Broncos, all teams that are in the playoffs or in the playoff picture. So overreaction or proper reaction, the Raiders should purposely lose out to get a higher pick so they can drop the quarterback.

I'm going to go overreaction. Usually I would go proper reaction here, but maybe what could be the best thing for this franchise moving forward and not a desirable spot outside of the team just being in Las Vegas is finding their next head coach. And Antonio Pierce, I don't know if he will or won't be the guy, right?

Passachi led them to the playoffs and still didn't get the full-time job. Last time they had an interim head coach and they ended up bringing in Josh McDaniels. But these guys like Antonio Pierce, and I think they should play hard down the stretch for Antonio Pierce and not try to intentionally lose games and make this a difficult decision for Mark Davis. So when you say the Raiders should purposely lose out to get a higher draft pick so they can draft the QB, for this team I will go overreaction because you also have to find the new head coach. Since Kirk Cousins had his season ending a killings injury, the Vikings have gone 3-2, but only have one offensive touchdown in the last two weeks. And replacement quarterback Josh Dobbs was yanked out of Sunday's game against the Raiders, and the Vikings have made another quarterback change going into this coming week. Cousins is an unrestricted free agent this spring, so overreaction, a proper reaction. The Vikings need to re-sign Cousins this offseason. Yeah, I think when he went down a lot of us thought, alrighty, that's it for Kirk Cousins, he'll go elsewhere. And now you see what life is like without Kirk Cousins and it makes you appreciate him even more. Because it's one thing to say Kirk is just a good quarterback and he's not going to win you a Super Bowl, but what are you going to do with the young core, with Addison, with Justin Jefferson who's been in and out of the lineup, but we know when Healthy is one of the best wide receivers, if not the best wide receiver in the league, what are you going to do in the next two years?

And it's not just easy up, you get rid of a quarterback and then you find the quarterback. Like they're not going to be in a worse enough position to get one in the draft. You know, maybe they move up, we've seen teams like the Bills and the Chiefs do that to go get Mahomes and Josh Allen. So I would probably say without an obvious name out there, probably Kyler Murray not getting traded, no one else that really resonates with you, that you maybe go another one year deal or you dress up a three year deal with some outs in it to continue to bring back Kirk Cousins even coming off that Achilles injury.

So you say the Vikings need to re-sign Kirk Cousins this offseason, I go proper reaction. Now sticking in the NFC North, the Bears have won 3 out of 4 and sneakily have a chance at the playoffs in end games with the Browns, Cardinals, Falcons and Packers. While a pairing on 6.70 to score in Chicago yesterday, wide receiver DJ Moore had this to say. Do you feel like you're as good as any team in the division right now? For sure. There will be no reason not to. Right now, what are we, two and three in the division?

I want to say. Yeah, because we still got to play the Packers at the end. So, I mean, we feel pretty good. And then by then we hopefully be three and three in the division. Like I said, our plan is to win out. We're just going to take it one game at a time.

And hopefully the chips fall where we want to on the side of being nine and eight at the end of the season and making that run. So overreaction or proper reaction, the Bears are as good as the Lions, Packers and Vikings. So they've split in recent weeks with the Detroit Lions. They have also split with the Minnesota Vikings and they lost to Green Bay back in week one. As DJ Moore said, they have Green Bay the final week of the season and they play Cleveland, Arizona and Atlanta. So not a terrible schedule, but Cleveland solid team.

Arizona stinks, but Kyler Murray's given them a little life. Falcons are up and down and the Packers are up and down. But the teams that I trust in that division, yeah, I would still say that's an overreaction because I know that they just beat the Lions, but I still trust the Lions more. The Packers, I think it's close.

You know, I'll say, I'll put it this way, rest of the way, I do trust the Bears more than the Vikings, but all three of them, no, I think that's an overreaction. All right, the NFC South is wide open right now. Aside from the one-win Panthers, the Bucks, Falcons and Saints are all in striking distance to a playoff spot, each at six and seven. The Bears, the Bucks currently hold the tiebreakers against both Atlanta and New Orleans and finish out with the Packers, Jags, Saints and Panthers the rest of the season. So overreaction, a proper reaction, the Bucks will win the NFC South.

You would think because they have that championship DNA, even though Brady's no longer in the organization, but a lot of guys still in that defense that were there offensively have one of the more underrated and still all-time great wide receivers in Mike Evans, if that ever makes sense, because every year in the league he's had over a thousand yards, he's a surefire Hall of Famer, and I know the wide receivers do get complicated. Even though the Falcons, I don't love their coach and I don't love their quarterback, I'm going to trust their run game and their playmaking ability with guys like Drake London and Bijan Robinson and also Tyler Algier and a defense that's improved under a new defensive coordinator. The Falcons were my pick before the year, so I'm not going to jump off the ship right now, but it is going to be a limp to the finish line or maybe a crawl to the finish line for whoever does win this division because those three teams that you just mentioned, they all stink. So the Bucks will win the NFC South, I'm going to go overreaction, I'll stick with my preseason pick.

Alright, and last one, don't look now, but Russ and the Broncos are now 7-6 and winners of six of their last seven games, with games remaining against the Patriots, Chargers, and Raiders. Overreaction or proper reaction, the Broncos will make the playoffs and win a playoff game this postseason. So it's plausible that they can make the playoffs. Now, they have Detroit, they have the Patriots, they have the Chargers, they have the Raiders, so basically their final tough game in the regular season is Detroit and then you've got three cupcakes. Doesn't mean you're going to win all of them, but you should if you're going to be a playoff team. So they can make the playoffs, but winning a playoff game, yeah, I'm not ready to go there. I will go overreaction on that one.

That's a no from me, dawg, as Randy Jackson used to say on American Idol. Alrighty, that's a little overreaction. Proper reaction, this is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll come on back, we will track the transfer portal a little. Go Big Red potentially making some big news, and one former ACC quarterback could be potentially going back. And this portion of the show is brought to you by Wesley Financial, stuck in a timeshare and want out.

Contact Wesley Financial Group now and get a free timeshare exit information kit at WesleyFinancialGroup.com. So last week, yeah, December 5th, I put out some transfer portal predictions. I made five of them. I had Dylan Gabriel going to Oregon, that hits. I had Riley Leonard going to Pat Boyle's Notre Dame Fighting Irish, that hits today. And then the other three pending predictions were DJ Uwe Unga Lele going to Florida State, Cam Ward going to Ohio State, and Kyle McCord going to Nebraska. Now if you cover the transfer portal, it seems likely that McCord's going to wind up to Nebraska.

More on that in just a second. DJ Uwe Unga Lele is taking an official visit this weekend to Florida State, so that is somewhat intriguing. And then Cam Ward, I saw he's taking a visit to Miami. You heard a lot about Cam Ward to Ohio State last week, and then you saw that Kyle McCord entered the transfer portal. And then since, you haven't really heard much of Cam Ward going to Ohio State. And out of the quarterbacks that are still available, Ward, Uwe Unga Lele, and McCord, I think Ward should be the most highly sought after. But Cam Ward winds up in Miami, like let's just say that does happen, which I don't know if it is.

That is a little underwhelming. Now I like Mario Cristobal, guy's a solid coach, was a really good coach at Oregon, and wanted to go back home and take the Miami job that he's been speculated about taking for years. I would have thought, though, that Cam Ward, if it is Miami, I don't know if it is or isn't, that he could have done better than Miami.

But let's react to some of these. Dylan Gabriel going to Oregon, the rich just get richer. And now you're moving into a new era of Big Ten football, you get one more year of Dylan Gabriel. Like when Bo Nix went to Oregon, that was after three underwhelming seasons at Auburn. Where outside of that first game up against Oregon, ironically, for Bo Nix, he never met the hype and the palpable buzz that was surrounding Bo Nix when he elected to be the quarterback of Auburn. Then he goes to Oregon, the last two years, this dude's been a stud. I think he has like 90 total touchdowns or 89 total touchdowns in two years, and he just finished third in the Heisman Trophy. So now you bring in Dylan Gabriel, who even if you thought Bo Nix was a better quarterback than Dylan Gabriel, Dylan Gabriel with what he's done at UCF and Oklahoma is the more accomplished player than compared to when Bo Nix elected to go from Auburn to Oregon two years ago. So that is the perfect bridge the gap for one more year. And I think Gabriel only has one more year of eligibility, who knows now, but you know, I think he played three years at UCF or four years at UCF and then he just had one at Oklahoma. So he has one more year, and now he gets to go to Oregon, where you're just trying to keep that duck train moving in the right direction as you now go to a 12 team playoff, and yet a really good season under Dan Lanning. So I love the Dylan Gabriel move and decision.

I think it's a perfect match for both sides. Riley Leonard to Notre Dame. I like how Marcus Freeman last year got Sam Hartman and Hartman and Audric Estime were a good one to punch. I thought Notre Dame was going to be a little bit better than what they actually were, but they had such a deflating loss to Ohio State where Kyle McCourt should have thrown a pick and then Notre Dame dropped it late. And then Notre Dame couldn't get the right amount of men on the field in the final play of the game. They didn't have enough on the field.

And that happened a few times in that game. And I actually, it's funny that Boyle's here today, not just to crap on Boyle, but I remember Boyle that week. Oh, here come the Irish Notre Dame, we're back, we're this, we're that, oh, we're going to crush Ohio State. And I was like, okay, I could ride the Boyle bandwagon here.

I'm down to see a Notre Dame victory and then crickets, crickets, crickets, crickets from Pat Boyle after Notre Dame loss. But my reaction now on Riley Leonard, I think it's a move based off potential and potential means you haven't done it yet. Two years ago, he had a really good season at Duke. He's an athletic quarterback. But last year he had some injuries.

There was some up and down play when he was on the field. It is a downgrade from what you had in Sam Hartman. But if he could get back to that 2022 version of Riley Leonard, it's someone that, you know, it's better than doing nothing for Notre Dame and just keeping whatever you had on the roster. And it's someone that I think you could, you know, you're buying right now at not the greatest point for Riley Leonard, but maybe at the end of this year, he does impress you and gets back in a healthy version back to 2022 Boyle. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, they just, they're going to have to beef up the offensive line. You know, they're going to have another left tackle, Joe Walt, who's an absolute stud.

He's going to go top 10 in the NFL draft. So they've got to beef up the offensive line. The defense has to be the defense from, you know, the Ohio State game in those last couple of games. And you know, like how they played against Caleb Williams and USC, and then Riley Leonard is going to have to be, you know, the Riley Leonard from 2022 with Duke.

When you and I were talking to just before this break where he threw 20 touchdowns, threw for basically 3000 yards, ran 13 as well. So he's going to have to use his legs like Sam Hartman couldn't this year because no matter, you know, whatever Notre Dame brings in from a wide receiver core standpoint or what guys they get from the transfer quarterback could have to make some plays on his own. Chances are, they're not going to have the studs like Ohio State does in the receiving core or Alabama or Georgia. So he's going to have to make some plays with his legs.

And I think he'll be able to do that. Like Notre Dame quarterbacks haven't the last couple of years, but you know, the one good thing is now 12 teams get into this joke college football playoffs. So if Notre Dame goes 11 and one, maybe 10 and two losses, they'll get in the brand. The Notre Dame will get you. They'll have a chance because I'm looking at their schedule next week. It's actually the weakest. It's been in quite some time. Their toughest games are like USC, Florida State, and A&M.

Alrighty. So there's Notre Dame part. You know, if DJ you DJ on delay goes to Florida State, I would love it for Mike Norvell good replacement for Jordan Travis. But also you have the Clemson eventual battle against Florida State where some people believe that DJ young delay not reaching his full potential at Clemson was more.

So on a bad offensive line was more so on the uncreative play calling with Clemson for all those years and Dabo Sweeney messing it up more than it was actually DJ on delay. He did a nice job at Oregon State this year. Unfortunately, though, he lost his coach because Oregon State had like really no place in no home. And then the next thing you know, Jonathan Smith is at Michigan State.

So I understand DJ you transferring. But how about the Nebraska Cornhuskers? A little go big red rumors last night. Now I've been all over Kyle McCord going there. Kyle McCord's a fine quarterback. Heck, Nebraska would need someone like Kyle McCord. I watched a lot of Cornhuskers football this year. Their defense was sensational.

Their offense, it was almost as if they had a big jar of popcorn before every game and the offense would just eat that buttery popcorn and have it all over their fingers. Because I've never seen a team throw more picks and fumble the way the Nebraska offense did this past year. So McCord would be an upgrade, especially if he comes with the highly touted wide receiver also from Ohio State and Julian Fleming. But how about these rumors last night with the number one QB, Dylan Riola, whose father is a Nebraska Cornhusker, legendary offensive lineman, and his uncle was the one left over that they brought over from the old Scott Frost staff and they just gave him a new deal. And Dylan, last year, he committed to Georgia.

And now there's a lot of predictions that he's going to flip and land to Nebraska. And I went to the Nebraska-Michigan game this past year. The Nebraska fans are awesome. They deserve a winner. They deserve some actual offense to complement that great defense.

And you may be cooking up those Runzas or cooking up those steaks at Casa Bovina. And there could be some big celebrations coming in the next week or two if they get Kyle McCord, Julian Fleming, and then also they put the cherry on top of the sundae with Dylan Riola. That would be amazing because McCord will get you back to a bowl game, which they haven't been to for a long time. He'll get you back to being bowl eligible.

But you could land the big fish of Dylan Riola, which has been talked about for a while and speculated for a while. Man, you could start to have Nebraska humming once again. And those fans, they deserve it. And I saw Matt Ruhl write Bill Temple into a winner. And I was there when they beat Penn State for the first time in 74 years.

They had college game day in Philly, went to two conference championship games in one of them. I saw what Matt Ruhl did at Baylor. This recruiting trail and these rumors, it's getting Nebraska fans very excited. And I hope Coach Ruhl finds a way to get it done. And if they can walk away with Riola, McCord, and then also Fleming, my oh my. Nebraska fans are going to be chanting, Go Big Red! All offseason long. Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio there's a little transfer portal update.

We're coming on back after these short messages. They took out the smoke. Now you can have a nice blaze without any clouds ruining your day. Go smokeless.

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