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Bills And Cowboys Are Back To Normal (Hour 1)

Zach Gelb Show / Zach Gelb
The Truth Network Radio
December 18, 2023 3:59 pm

Bills And Cowboys Are Back To Normal (Hour 1)

Zach Gelb Show / Zach Gelb

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December 18, 2023 3:59 pm

Bills Dominate Cowboys I Browns and Bucs Playoff Chances I News Brief

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Pre-existing conditions are not covered. For all terms and limitations, visit felixcatinsurance.com slash terms. Live from the place you'll get that overly ostentatious studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor of 345 Hudson Street. A happy Monday to you. Welcome on in. A big Zach Gelb show across all of our great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates. Sirius XM, Channel 158, the free Odyssey app, and of course streaming on YouTube.

855-212-4CBS is the number to jump on at 855-212-4227. And you could always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old cesspool of Twitter at Zach Gelb. That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B.

Got Moist Mike and also Stuart Kovacs rocking and rolling with me all the way up until 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. And I just realized something. Sometimes you get on the radio and right when you're a minute into the show, a little light bulb goes off into your head and you say, huh, I didn't realize I didn't do something today. Well, I just realized I had no coffee today.

And you know why I had no coffee today? Because I was so energized by what the Dallas Cowboys did yesterday. The Drama Dallas Choking Cowboys folks are back and I absolutely love it. And it's so funny to me because last week was the week of praise for the cockroach cowboy fans.

And all of you had to do a victory lap. See, Zach, you've been too critical on the Cowboys. Oh, they blow out the Philadelphia Eagles. Dallas is a legit Super Bowl contender. Dak Prescott is the MVP of the NFL.

And here we are a week later sitting here on a Monday. And Dak Prescott was only able to put up what, basically three points. I know they got 10, so we could give them a little golf clap at the end of the game for finally getting into the end zone.

But they did nada in Buffalo yesterday. And here's my thing, because even I admitted last week in a rare moment of weakness, and then I washed my math out with soap just to remind me of how stupid I was, that I said the Cowboys were a likable team. Like last week, I thought the Cowboys, even though it pained me to see them having success, I thought they were a likable team. Dak is a likable player. CD Lamb, likable player. Zach Martin, likable player. Micah Parsons, likable player. Mike McCarthy, I think he gets unfairly criticized too much.

Dan Quinn, deserving of a second opportunity to be a head coach in this league. So there's a lot of things, even though I usually don't like with the Cowboys, that I'm looking at them this year and I go, you know what? I still think they're going to come up small and fold in a big spot, but they are a team that I could actually enjoy watching this season. And then I remembered on Sunday, for a team, by the way, in the Buffalo Bills that I told you last week, and everyone's going to jump on to this take this week, that the Buffalo Bills are trending towards being a Super Bowl contender. And there was a reason last week I put plus a thousand bet on them to win the AFC and get to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas.

That's looking better and better and better by the day. But you see in a big moment, after a week of praise for the Cowboys, they just went back to being who they always are since 1995. And that's a team that at times looks like they're really good. They could dress it up with 11, 12, 13 wins in the regular season, but then there are signs throughout the season that will eventually be put on full display in the postseason when the moment is the biggest, the moment is the brightest, and everyone's watching, where they don't only lose, but they lose in embarrassing fashion. And that's my gripe with the Cowboys yesterday. They lose that game in a high-scoring affair, 34, 31, 28, 27, something that's close, something that's respectable, something that at least you had a pulse and not just get steamrolled by the Buffalo Bills. I wouldn't crush the Cowboys today. But when you were in the midst of what, a five or six game win streak, where they beat the Giants who stink, they beat the Panthers who stink, they crushed the commanders who stink.

All righty, then they beat Seattle and then they crushed Philadelphia. That Philadelphia one, to cap off that five game win streak, it gave the Cowboys new life. It gave the Cowboys momentum. It gave the Cowboys fans a little hope that they haven't seen in a while, that maybe this year is different. Because it's one thing when you internalize it and when you think it on your own, and then you have other people that are Cowboys fans say it and push that hogwash. But then once it gets pushed by people that don't have ties to the Dallas Cowboys or people that are looking to see the Cowboys fail, where last week you couldn't find a negative word said about the Cowboys, it then allows you to think and it maybe confirms a new thought that you've had of just maybe, just maybe this is the year that the Dallas Cowboys don't disappoint you. But then up against that Buffalo Bills team, they didn't just beat you. They ran the ball right down your throat. Like Josh Allen is a sensational quarterback. He's one of the few elite quarterbacks that are actually this far into the season, still healthy, which is a major advantage for the Buffalo Bills. But even Josh Allen after the game was like, yeah, I was basically just along for the A in the class project.

I didn't do much. And James Cook and that offensive line, the hog Molly's up front for the Buffalo Bills were awesome. And I got to give a shout out to my friend Dion Dawkins who joined us last week. Dion Dawkins channeled his inner Michael or from the movie, the blind side. Remember that scene where Michael or is in high school and you have like the racist father yelling a bunch of derogatory things at Michael or, and then his son's going up against him. And then eventually Michael or had enough and he takes the sun and he blocks the sun 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 yards down the field, out of the end zone and into the dumpster. You know, that's only something that's made for movies, but the snowman in Dion Dawkins who should be an all pro offensive tackle in this league.

And I will die on that hill until justice is met to Dion Dawkins, am I right? He took a defensive player for the Cowboys and embarrassed him 20 yards down the field. I've never seen that happen on an NFL field grown man up against grown man. And that grown man of Dion Dawkins took someone from the Cowboys.

I don't even know who it was. And he took him 20 yards down field, down to the one. And then shortly and then shortly after that, they got a touchdown. You don't recover from that. Like the Dallas Cowboys cannot recover from being emasculated like that by number 73 in Dion Dawkins.

That's embarrassing. And that's my thing with the Cowboys. Even when they start to look the part, even when you start to say, wow, the Cowboys as a Super Bowl contender, or maybe real and spectacular, they always have that moment where it's wah, wah, wah. And the stunning part here is how quickly we've all gone from, wow, here are the Dallas Cowboys.

Alrighty. The Cowboys are 10 and three. They're beating the doors off anybody.

Sure. They lost to the 49ers. They got blown out, but that's their kryptonite.

Yeah. They got blown out or they lost a close game to the Eagles, but then they were able to get some revenge on it. So going into this week, you know, this past week, it was all praise for the Cowboys and it's gone in a snap of a finger because that great defense, right?

You know, a defense that is unbelievable and all right, you know, throw them in the same category as the 85 bears, the early 2000 Ravens, all the great steel curtain defenses with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Legion of boom with the Seattle Seahawks. Where the heck was that defense? Cause there's nothing more embarrassing when an offensive line does not get intimidated by your defense and they just say, we're going to pound you all game long and we're going to hit you on the ground game all game long. Ground and pound run, run, run, run, run until we can't run anymore. You know, it really, really did remind me of the Michigan Penn State game this year where Michigan's like, yep, we got JJ McCarthy, but we don't need him. Let's line up Blake Coram. Let's line up Donovan Edwards and let's have those big boys up front for the Michigan Wolverines.

Just run through the Penn State defense like a hot knife through butter. And that's what the Buffalo Bills did yesterday up against the Cowboys. So the drama Dallas choking Cowboys, welcome back.

I miss you. You know, you're, you're, you're good friends at gel, but good confidant of the Cowboys was starting to give you praise. I was going into a uncharted territory where I was like, wow, the Cowboys are fun. Oh, the Cowboys are solid. The Cowboys are actually likable this year. The Cowboys may have something. And then there was a little voice going off in my head and a little voice was saying, Zach, everything that you've exposed with the Cowboys throughout the last few years.

Now you're not listening to your own advice to your own advice. And then boom, big game coming off a big victory and they didn't even show up. Once again, they lose that game by a touchdown or less. I'm not crushing them. Do you think I, of all people really enjoy crushing the Dallas Cowboys and I look for reasons to crush the Dallas Cowboys. Come on.

That's not me, but I'm just being genuine here. I would not be lambasting the Dallas Cowboys today. I would not be chastising the Cowboys if they would have just had a pulse in the game, but that body was dead early in that contest.

And then you had to sit at your funeral and it was a slow, long eulogy and a slow, long funeral the entire day. So Dallas, we appreciate you Dallas. We love you. And I don't care what the heck you do for the rest of the regular season against Miami, Detroit and Washington.

We know what's going to transpire. This clip and me crushing the Cowboys will eventually make the rounds come wild card weekend when they go up against the inferior NFC South champion, Tampa Bay, New Orleans. I'll be the biggest Tampa Bay and New Orleans fans that that week, but watch the Cowboys probably win because that's what they do. They beat up on the bad teams and neither of those teams, even though the Baker Mayfield story's fun, I can't stand Derek Carr, but both of those teams, I would not call them good teams. So Dallas probably wins and it will be the week of throwing flowers and bouquets at the Dallas Cowboys. Here they are, you know, they won a playoff game. Dak Prescott, he looked great.

Carved up the Bucks, carved up the Saints, threw for three, four touchdown passes. Maybe this year's going to be different. And then in all likelihood, Dallas will be walking into San Francisco and they'll lose again to San Francisco because when San Francisco goes up against the Cowboys, for the Cowboys, we all know it's death, it's taxes, and it's losing to the San Francisco 49ers. And just maybe in a rare moment of weakness, you know, maybe in the second round they draw, I don't know, the Lions. Maybe they draw the Philadelphia Eagles. Are they able to walk into Ford Field?

They're maybe able to walk into Lincoln Financial Field. There is no chance, no way that this team is going to win three games in a row come postseason time. At max, at most, at the apex, they could maybe win two, but they're not going to be able to win three and they won't have a bye. So maybe if it goes wild card division around, we all then know the Cowboys will choke in the big moment in the NFC title game at the absolute latest.

Let's hope it doesn't go on though that long. Now as for the Buffalo Bills, this is just one of those years where in the AFC, like I love what Lamar Jackson in Baltimore is doing, even though they suffered another injury last night with the running back in Mitchell, and we'll see what happens with the big left tackle who's always banged up the last few seasons. Lamar is so great at extending the plays. Lamar is sensational running the football. He has improved in a big time way, throwing the football down the field. Him and Isaiah likely, right?

Mark Andrews done for the season. Isaiah likely is now starting to get hot for the Baltimore Ravens and they have a good defense and they have a solid coach. The Ravens are going to be a tough out, but if the Ravens are the best in the AFC, it's not as if it's as intimidating as some other years with what the best the AFC has had to offer.

And I say that as someone that's always been pro Lamar, and I say that as someone that loves Harbaugh and believes in this team. But you look at the AFC, I think the Dolphins have problems. I think the Chiefs have problems. And this is a year where it's up for the taking, even with what we've seen through the first 15 weeks of football. And if Buffalo just gets in and they're going to be, they're eight and six right now, down the stretch in their final three games, you know, their toughest game is going to be up against Miami. They should get wins the next two weeks.

So you're looking at 10, 11 wins. I think Buffalo is trending towards a playoff team and not only trending towards a playoff team, but being a dominant team come playoff time. Because through all these hiccups, they get 10, 11 wins and you start to see that defense improve as the Cowboys offense did nothing yesterday. And you had that offensive line and James Cook continues to shine and you have one of the best quarterbacks in football in Josh Allen.

And, oh yeah, by the way, a team that's been through a lot of problems, but also has a ton of playoff experience against all odds. If I would have said this three, four weeks ago, even two weeks ago, people would say, Zach, what are you smoking? Zach, what drugs are you doing? You need to take a drug test here.

CBS Sports Radio needs to drug test you. But then the last two weeks they've been able to exhale and that went up against Kansas City, even if it wasn't pretty and style points don't matter in the NFL. This isn't college football. They were able to exhale and say, wow, we beat Kansas City in Kansas City. And then they carried it over and they didn't just make it a one-off where they then just went up against Dallas, right? One of the better teams in the NFL on paper and they obliterated them.

It's just about getting hot sometimes at the right time. We've seen it before. We've seen wildcard teams get hot. We're in the middle of the season.

You would think they were left for dead. And then the next thing you know, they're in the Super Bowl. That can happen for Buffalo. And if I had to make a Super Bowl prediction right now, I'm going with the Buffalo Bills out of the AFC and out of the NFC, I'm taking the San Francisco 49ers. And right now, yes, I would put the 49ers as the Super Bowl champion. They are just unbelievable with Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, my BFF. You got George Kittle, Brandon Iuch. All the names we could sit into an entire segment on the names of defensive players for the San Francisco 49ers. But I really do believe the 49ers are going to the Super Bowl and they're going to defeat the Buffalo Bills.

And I'm not just saying that to say that, and I put my money where my mouth is. I put the Bills last week at plus a thousand. But the AFC just doesn't have a team that you overwhelmingly love. Like the Ravens are really damn good. The Chiefs have offensive problems. The Dolphins can't win a big game.

And then you have Buffalo that everyone's counted out. Everyone said they're done. They're over.

And now they're starting to get life. Now they're starting to get the undertaker kind of gift that resonates on social media and they're popping back up from the casket and they'll be in Las Vegas for the Super Bowl. All right, this is Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio, the Buffalo Bills and the Real Dallas Cowboys are back.

What say you 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27. When we return Elite Joe Flacco. And then also how far can Baker Mayfield take the Tampa Bay Buccaneers?

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Get in the zone auto zone restrictions apply. Alrighty, this is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. I want to take some time to discuss about the heroics of Baker Mayfield yesterday and also another improbable victory and a heck of a performance in the fourth quarter by Joe Flacco. Let's start with Baker. Baker Mayfield is turning out to be one of the better comeback stories in the NFL this season. He's not going to win comeback player of the year. It's going to go to DeMar Hamlin.

Now, we've had this conversation before. There's real no criteria about and clear criteria on what the voters look for for comeback player of the year. The fact that DeMar Hamlin is still breathing, is still living, is able to make a full recovery and play in some games this year.

He gets the award and we know he's going to get the award and I don't see how anyone could have a legitimate problem with it as he almost died on a football field last year. No one thought we would be talking about the DeMar Hamlin story in a positive way now. But in terms of on the field performance, there's two names that immediately stand out for comeback player of the year. And I'm not going to throw Joe Flacco in there yet because the sample size is too small, but it's Tua Tunga-Viloa and it's Baker Mayfield. Nobody, and I know there's still three weeks left of the regular season, but nobody except me was making the case in the summer as Tua is going to get through the entire season.

Every show I heard, every talk show host, all they said was up, Tua can't stay healthy, there's no reason to believe that Tua Tunga-Viloa is going to make it through the season. And Tua has played well, even though I think there's a ceiling for Tua, he has played really well and he has put the Dolphins in a position to win the AFC East and be somewhat of a threat come playoff time, even though I don't think the Dolphins are going to find the way to get to the Super Bowl. But then the Baker Mayfield story, I love this one because you look at the Cleveland Browns organization, the Browns organization, remember that meme that gets updated almost every year of the, I think it's a Tim Couch jersey where it starts, and then it's all the quarterbacks since then, since Tim Couch, and you've more than run out of space on that jersey, like you've even run out of screen space when you're consuming that sort of content. And think about it, Baker Mayfield was in Cleveland, he was the number one overall pick, there were a ton of different coaches he had to deal with, and in 2020, he led the Browns to the playoffs, and then they were in Pittsburgh, and they didn't just beat the Steelers, they smothered the Steelers, they embarrassed the Pittsburgh Steelers. And since then, even after going to the divisional rounds of the playoffs where they lost to Kansas City, the following year, early on in that season, week one or two, Baker Mayfield suffered an injury, and all throughout that year, Baker Mayfield gutted it out, he played, he did not play well.

But we didn't know, was Baker's poor play because of the injury, or was it because he just wasn't that good of a quarterback? Well, regardless of what I thought or other people thought, Baker Mayfield was basically let go from the Browns that offseason, because after one poor year and a year with Cleveland where it was disappointing after a monster season, and remember you had the him and the whole Odell fight and all that, and then Odell ends up winning a Super Bowl, and even though he tore his ACL in the Super Bowl, Odell Beckham Jr., he did catch a touchdown in that Super Bowl. But the Browns said, we need to upgrade our quarterback position, and they turned over their trust and their belief into Deshaun Watson, who you didn't know when Deshaun Watson was going to be able to get on the field with all the allegations against him. And not only did you give up an abundance of first round picks, you also gave them a fully guaranteed contract. So from then, Baker was on the Browns, it probably behooved Baker to stay on the Browns and just play through the suspension, but that relationship was over.

That ship sailed, it was an unhealthy relationship. And late in the summer, Baker Mayfield gets traded to Carolina, and Carolina was in a spot where sure, at the time, you could look at some of those weapons and say, all righty, maybe they have some things to work with on the offensive side of the ball, but really not much. They had DJ Moore, wide receiver, but Baker Mayfield got to an organization that was toxic, and also an organization where the coaching staff was only going to last four or five games and was on its way out anyway before the season even started. And it was surprising to some that that coaching staff was even back for a third year.

So there was a lot of chaos. Baker gets in late in the summer, wins the competition, and it just didn't work out. But if you recall last year, Baker somehow winds up on the Rams and he was competent.

You know, it was about this time last year, I think it was Christmas, where Baker had a good game for the Los Angeles Rams. So then this offseason, Baker is the guy replacing Tom Brady. And how many times you hear that old cliche, you don't want to be the guy that replaces the guy, you want to be the guy that replaces the guy that replaces the guy. And I always laugh at that saying, because sometimes whenever you get the opportunity, you just need to take it. And you can't be picky and go, oh, I don't want to go to Tampa Bay, because Tampa Bay, I'm replacing the greatest quarterback of all time, and I'm never going to be able to live up to that standard.

But if you do what you can do, and you can control what you can control, people can ultimately respect that. And even though this hasn't always been pretty, you talk to anyone on the box this year, they've respected, and sometimes we call Baker Mayfield immature, the leadership that Baker Mayfield has displayed. And yesterday, Baker Mayfield did something that I thought, I didn't think it was on my radar, no one even thinks this way. But the fact when you say he's the first quarterback ever to go into Lambeau Field on the road as a visiting team and have a perfect passer rating, that's one of those moments where you just go, wow, we need to show some appreciation, we need to show and give some love to this Baker Mayfield story. And even though the standard is low, if they go 9-8 or 8-9 and win this NFC South, we're not popping champagne, we're not giving too much praise to the Buccaneers, because we know the division stinks, but this is a team that, yes, they have Mike Evans, yes, they have Chris Galvin, yes, they have a good defense, but Baker Mayfield going 22-28 yesterday for 381 yards, four passing touchdowns and having a perfect passer rating. Baker today deserves his flowers.

He deserves his respect. And I'm not telling you Baker is this great elite quarterback, but I don't think Baker Mayfield is this bum. And that was my part of the final year in Cleveland where I looked at Baker Mayfield and I said, I don't know if he's not as good as what he played the year before, how much of the shoulder it was impacting it, it was legitimate, I don't know how to answer the question, but I probably knew we wouldn't see many more seasons like Baker Mayfield displayed in 2020, but it didn't mean he was going to fall off a cliff.

And everyone wrote off the box before the start of the season, because they didn't have Tom Brady anymore. But Tampa Bay, now entering the final three weeks of the season, they have everything right there for the taking. And it's going to be a two-man race, because Desmond Ritter, you just can't trust him with the Falcons anymore and Arthur Smith, I don't like him as a coach, but now the Bucks have won three in a row and they end the season with the Jaguars, the Saints and the Panthers. Let's see if they go in two out of three. Jaguars are going to be tough, we'll see if Trevor Lawrence is going to play after the concussion, but the Jaguars, you're getting them at a moment where it's tricky because now they've lost some games and now it's like, okay, they're going to give their best effort coming up this weekend, but are they going to be able to have Trevor Lawrence?

If they don't have Trevor Lawrence, that game then all of a sudden turns out to be a very winnable game. But if you look back at this, they went from a stretch where they lost to the Lions, the Falcons, the Bills, the Texans, and they lost four in a row. When they lose four in a row, no one's thinking the Bucks are going to go on this run.

Then you beat Tennessee, who cares? And then you lose to San Francisco, you lose to the Colts, everyone wrote off the Bucks. And the last three weeks, it hasn't been pretty, but they beat Carolina, they beat Atlanta, and now they beat Green Bay and they have an opportunity to go to the postseason. So I'm rooting for Baker Mayfield and I'm rooting for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the rest of the way. My Falcons prediction is wrong and quite frankly, even though I love the city of New Orleans, I can't be advocating for Derek Carr.

I'm just not a fan of Derek Carr as a quarterback and that would not be good for the mental health of my friend Stuart Kovacs because if he has to go watch Derek Carr in a playoff game, that would just be a bad situation and it would be bad vibes going into the new year of 2024 for our tremendous Stuart Kovacs on the other side of the glass. Now, to the Joe Flacco story. I talked to Amari Cooper yesterday on ION Football and Amari Cooper has played with a lot of quarterbacks, one of them being Derek Carr, my other being Dak Prescott, but Amari Cooper said the throw that Joe Flacco made to him where he then ran for about 20-25 yards into the end zone was one of the best passes he's ever been thrown by any quarterback.

Remember, he also played at Alabama before getting to the pros and Amari Cooper's been a long time NFL wide receiver. To see how quickly Joe Flacco has been able to walk into Cleveland and find this fountain of youth, I don't know what it's going to lead to. Like, the Browns should be a playoff team and it's more, I would say we gotta also start talking about Kevin Stefanski in a different way. This is a former coach of the year, right?

This guy won coach of the year not that long ago and I think everyone forgets about that, but people are wondering what Stefanski is as a head coach. This year, they've lost Watson, they lost Nick Chubb, Miles Garrett isn't playing at 100 percent. Like, they've had a lot of injuries.

You know, Jedrick Wills is done. Like, there's a lot of injuries with this team and they're going to be a double-digit win team. You know, it's crazy what Cleveland's doing and I loved the Bears yesterday.

I was wrong. I loved the Bears. I was looking right for the first three quarters, but then in that fourth quarter, Joe Flacco and that offense just got going and I don't know how much life Joe Flacco still has left in him, but he's thrown the football the last two weeks.

Like, his arm is 10 years younger and we know it's not. So, I love what I'm seeing out of the Browns. David Njoku burned his face off earlier in this season. He's having a career year and it was good to see him have a monster day yesterday, but the ending of that game was just wild. Like, you had the touchdown to tie it up to Amari Cooper. It's like, wow, the Browns are going to do this again. Then you had the field goal to put them up ahead and then they're marching right down the field, the Bears, and they throw up a Hail Mary and I thought Darnell Mooney caught it. He was on his backside in the end zone and then the ball pops up into the air and it was intercepted by a Cleveland Browns player.

Let's listen up to David Njoku. This was after the game on the Bears near Hail Mary conversion. Luckily, our defense made an exceptional play, you know, uh, sealed the game and that was it.

He damn near bleeped himself and I think everyone did. That would be the ultimate torture for Browns fans because how many times do you have iconic plays that never go their way? To come back to get the lead, they then lose that game to Justin Fields and the Bears.

Everyone would be talking about that Hail Mary and it would be another moment for Cleveland sports fans that would make them curse for the next like 50, 60, 70, 80 100 years. But man, I love what I'm seeing out of Joe Flacco and Baker Mayfield. I never, you could have given me a thousand guesses before the season started. Hey Zach, who two players are going to be talking about coming off of week 15 on a Monday on CBS Sports Radio? Like if you would have told me the two, like Joe Flacco, I would say, what did he go into the broadcast booth? And then if you would have said Baker Mayfield, what he had a horrible performance? But here we are talking about Joe Flacco in Cleveland of all places and Baker Mayfield in Tampa Bay both having successful finishes to their season.

In the next three weeks, they're easy to root for and I hope the Browns and the Bucks both make the playoffs. All righty, this is Zach Gelb showing CBS Sports Radio. We'll take a time out. When we come on back, we'll update you some of the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio.

We call that segment The News Brief, but first up with the latest CBS Sports Radio update, here he is Emmanuel Babari. Says here that Graybar is a distributor? Yeah, we support electrical and datacom projects all over the country.

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Yeah, Graybar does that. The most unique NBA podcast is out on Odyssey 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. Time for your daily news brief. We get you caught up on the rumors, reports and reconnaissance from the day in sports. Alrighty, it's time to ask the pros where you the listener gets asked us a question brought to you by O'Reilly Auto Parts. Simply tweet your question at CBS Sports Radio or at Zach Gelb using the hashtag ask the pros. Be listening later in the show when we might answer your question. Think O'Reilly Auto Parts for your car care needs.

Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. So it was not a good performance for the Broncos up against the Detroit Lions and then you had a interesting exchange, I think is the right way to put it, between Russell Wilson and Sean Payton. While Russ was just on the receiving end of the wrath of Sean Payton, it was kind of impressive that Russ didn't even react to it.

I guess he's just immune to coaching freak outs and things like that, but this is Sean on yelling at Russell Wilson on the sideline. I said the frustrating part of the sequence was the next play to Burton where we scored. Was upset about the call, that's all.

Simple, that's it. No, I was upset at the call. Listen, what I talk with Russell about is none of your business. Yeah, that doesn't really like add up. No, there's some times where like, for example, I could be mad at something and I could be yelling about something that I'm mad to Samtor and it looks like I'm yelling at Samtor, but that's not the case.

You know, I could just be yelling about something that I'm frustrated with. So it's one of those scenarios where, I don't know, that's a weird way to go about it and a weird way to approach it by saying, oh, I was mad at the call, but there I was seen yelling at my quarterback and I don't think it was very believable is the way that I'll just kind of chalk that up. I don't think that was believable whatsoever by Sean Payton and there's always with Sean trying to like show Russ who's like the coach of the team because of what happened last year with Nathaniel Hackett and all those stories.

I think there's some insecurities there with Sean and this was one of those moments where everyone's past that and it popped up this late in the season. It makes me wonder how much does Sean really like Russ as his quarterback. Now, here's what I'll say to Sean Payton. There was a few scenarios in that game where, I don't know, you should have challenged like one or two times where it looked like it was a touchdown you didn't and then it ended up being a field goal. So it's a bad look when the coach didn't have a good game and he is berating or having an intense conversation on the sideline with his quarterback.

Here is Russell Wilson. Does Sean Payton still trust them after their blow-up on the sideline? Yeah, I mean of course. I think the biggest thing is, you know, we're trying to score a touchdown there. I think we all want to score there. I mean that's our focus, you know, and that's, you know, you want a coach that's, you know, passionate.

We want players that are too, you know, and everything else and so, you know, we want to score a touchdown. And I also like, let's be clear too, I don't think it's the worst thing in the world when you have a coach and a player have some emotions and show some, some, have like a little bit of a spirited conversation. I don't think that's the worst thing in the world, but with that being said, Russ didn't really have like a reaction to it.

So is he just letting Sean blow off steam and he was okay with that? I guess. Here is DJ Moore on Justin Fields and Caleb Williams potentially being drafted by the Chicago Bears, excuse me, Caleb Williams and Drake May potentially being drafted by the Chicago Bears and then moving on from Justin Fields. Well, I don't know. Y'all asked me that, what, last week? Somebody asked me that last week.

I'm still like, bruh, where are y'all seeing this? Like, what makes him not the quarterback for the Chicago Bears right now? I get, y'all got everybody coming out, what, it's like two of them?

I don't think they better than Justin, so they cool. It's a fun argument and Justin Fields has, I don't want to say he's played himself into earning a spot on, I guess, the starter next year because the three weeks, the final three weeks are important, but he's made it a trickier conversation than anyone could have imagined and DJ Moore's voice should carry a lot of weight and maybe you go get Marvin Harrison Jr. and you have DJ Moore and you surround him with Justin Fields. That's pretty damn explosive and those are some room where you could have some potential to really have maybe a quick turnaround in Chicago, but then you have the contract and there's a year and then the fifth year option, so you got two years left, then you got, like, are you ready to go commit 40 million dollars if Fields plays well next year to Justin Fields?

I don't know about that one. So let's assume they get the number one overall pick. I know Carolina won yesterday, but Carolina still has the number one overall pick that's going to Chicago. Yeah, I would still lean more so on the side that they're going to trade Fields this offseason, but is Poles still there as the GM? Do they maybe want to take Marvin Harrison Jr. and then trade back and get, like, three first-round picks again for someone that wants Caleb Williams?

I understand both sides of the argument, but I do lean right now, like, 60% that they're going to trade Fields and 40% that they'll be QB1 next year. Tennessee eliminated from the postseason. Derek Henry, final year of his contract with the Titans. He was asked, did he feel like this was the end of his career with Tennessee?

Yeah, definitely today. You know, you had that feeling. You know, we had hope of kind of slipping in there and then being eliminated, you know, three games left.

You know, I've been here my whole career. Definitely wanted to go out strong, which that isn't the case, but I'm just trying to give them all these last three games and leave it all on the field. He gone. They're not going to give him a new contract, and he's going to be giving him a new contract. And not only that, and I know he did not play well yesterday, he should have requested a trade once A.J. Brown got traded.

And this is not revisionist history. I sat at the draft that night in Las Vegas, and when we got the news that A.J. Brown got traded, I said, that's it for Tennessee.

Whatever window that they had still left, it's officially closed. Derek Henry should be imploring for a trade with whatever career he has left. And I'll say this again. I think Derek Henry, I said this last week, and I'll double down on it this week. He'll be on Dallas Cowboys next year. Isn't that the perfect Jerry Jones signing? You bring in an aging running back, a big name. Maybe it's like a two-year deal.

You front load the first year of the deal, and you have Derek Henry to be a little compliment to Tony Pollard, assuming Tony Pollard is back. It could definitely work, but just when I hear him speak there, it almost sounds like he's not talking about the end of his Titans career. Maybe he says like, I'm just going to go out these last three games and leave it all on the field. He's not saying like, you know, and have a good farewell to Tennessee. He's talking about like good farewell, like leave it all on the field, maybe just walk away after this. Now he's a battering ram.

We all know that. And even though his career got off to a slow start, he's taken a lot of hits because he's like the last of a bell cow back in the NFL. And maybe he's looking at it saying, yeah, you know, I'm kind of spent. I'm kind of done. Where I know I could probably still go play for two, three more years, but I'm ready.

I've made my money. I'm ready to go retire and not take all these injuries that could prevent me from walking or living a healthier life in like 15, 20 years from now. So I would understand that, but I didn't take it that way, but that's interesting that you said it. And I can't rule it out, but I would probably lean that he's back next year and playing for the Dallas Cowboys. Here is Jake Browning on beating the Vikings and what a choke jab that was by Minnesota after Minnesota did cut Jake Browning early in his career. There was definitely a little extra part of, you know, just before the game. Like I remember getting cut there the last time and just being told like, Hey, you know, we might have a spot for you on practice squad, like go to the hotel and wait.

And so I sat in the hotel for a couple hours, not wondering, not knowing if I had a job. That's crazy. So they basically say, we're cutting you go to the hotel and we'll let you know if you're going to be in the practice squad or not. And the NFL, I know we all love it. And we sit back and we enjoy it each and every Sunday we place our bets, right? We order our wings. We, we make our nachos, all that stuff.

And you watch the games, even if they put on a London game at 9 30 AM all the way until the final second of the Sunday night football game, it is cutthroat. And you sometimes forget the people that we appreciate the most and the players that always get treated the right way. And finally here is Jerry kill.

So let me give you a little background of this story. New Mexico state is having this great season for their program. They lost their in their bowl game in the New Mexico bowl, but it's played on their rivals campus, uh, New Mexico. So Eddie Nunez is their AD and he didn't allow from what I gathered in Mexico state to use the indoor facility this week because he's annoyed that the New Mexico state quarterback, I guess months ago or earlier in the year, Diego Pavia, he was seen peeing on the New Mexico logo on the indoor practice facility. Now the New Mexico state program did punish Diego in some capacity, but here is Jerry kill after losing the bowl game to end his season. He went off on the New Mexico AD and Eddie Nunez.

I hope the AD here gets the same damn discipline with the people around this state that Diego got because he deserves it. And it don't bother me a damn bit when he let us want to practice in the indoor facility, when he don't want us to do this and do that, that's chicken. I get in trouble. I don't give a but I got class.

I've had class my whole life. Never been treated like that. And he better be disciplined. He better be disciplined by the state.

If he's not, it's a crime. I love it. Annoyed football coach at 62 years old that has been around the game for a long time. And he could just say whatever he wants.

And he said, chicken bleep too. I love that. And it's such a crazy story because your quarterback early in the year was peeing on the teams, the opposing team's indoor facility on their logo. And then you're playing at their bowl game site. And then the next thing you know, the AD is like, yep, we're going to get back at you for that.

And Jerry kills probably thinking about it. Oh, we didn't get the proper arrangements for a bowl game. And you punish the other kids on the team. And we already punished the kid that did the wrong act. Just what a wild story.

Diego Pavia paying and then months later, New Mexico trying to get some payback for the quarterback pig. Wow. Uh, that's a wild story. Indeed.

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Whisper: medium.en / 2023-12-18 16:26:49 / 2023-12-18 16:47:16 / 20

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