What The Raiders Need To Do To Keep Davante Adams Happy (Hour 3)

Alrighty, hour number three of our radio program. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Matt Rule gonna stop by 20 minutes from now.

Nebraska has landed. Dylan Riola also a top 20 recruiting class, so we will chat it up with the head football coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. So, Samter and I were talking about this before the show did start, where Robert Sala had his press conference and he said the Jets are gonna activate Aaron Rodgers to the roster, but they're not gonna play him.

So, let's play that audio from the Jets head coach in Robert Sala. Yeah, so he'll be, we're still gonna keep him on the active. You know, we've got the roster flexibility with all the different things that have happened over the course of the last couple weeks. You know, like I said, it's all part of his rehab and you know, just having him out on the football field is a plus for everybody. It's a plus for him. It's a plus for his teammates. You would never activate him.

No, no, no. He's, he's not, he's not playing. So, he's not playing, but he's going to be on the active roster so he could keep on practicing. And the thought that Samter and I had was, well, who's going to get cut?

Well, they basically, Sala said they have the roster spot, you know, they'll find the way to make it work. Well, Field Yates just tweeted out, to make room for Aaron Rodgers and the 53-man roster, the Jets have waived fullback Nick Baughton. So, they have waived their fullback. Now, I'm not going to sit here and go, oh, you know, shame on Aaron Rodgers. You got a fullback waived and all that.

So, I'm not going to do that song and dance because I'm realistic. Aaron Rodgers, he is the president of the Jets, the owner of the Jets, the GM of the Jets. He is the head coach of the Jets. He is the quarterback coach of the Jets. You know, the offensive coordinator is Nate Hackett because that's his guy, but he's the star player of the Jets. He is everything of the Jets and Aaron Rodgers, I guess, wants to continue to practice. So, he's got to be on the active roster and that's the way that they want this to go down. So, when you are that great of a player and when you run an organization, even if it is crappy and it comes at the expense of somebody else getting let go, bleep happens, that's life, life isn't fair. But, it's amazing how all of us, we all took the cheese like a bunch of rats in the mouse trap.

That's what we did for months. Every single person that deals in logic, and I deal in logic, but even there was a part of me for like a split second that was like, uh-oh, is Aaron actually going to be coming back? And the moment I started to believe that was in the 11th hour. When there was that report last week that he was playing a scout team like safety and he was picking off a football, I thought to myself, oh my god, he's actually going to do this. And then I said, oh no, no, no, no, he's not actually going to do this because the Jets are going to lose to the Dolphins and then the season's going to be over and they're going to be eliminated. And then he'll make the argument, I was ready to come back, but the team wasn't in position to win, so there's no point of me coming back.

But I do find it funny, Santer, that yesterday he's home with McAfee and he's like, yeah, I'm not actually close to getting on back and being a hundred percent. You know, he's practicing, he's doing all that, but he's still a few weeks away is what Aaron Rodgers said. And it's crazy how there's some people that actually talk themselves into fully believing that he was going to play this year. Like my best friend is a Jet fan. I can't tell you how many times this football season when we have seen each other in person or when he's talked to me about the Jets, where he's tried to envision this life of this season continuing once Aaron Rodgers got hurt. And he would say, oh, look, they're winning some games. Oh, Zach Wilson stinks up. Then Zach Wilson plays great.

And anytime they would get a win, it was, you know, Rodgers coming back, you know, they're going to make the playoffs. And I said this to my best friend. I didn't even do with all do respect and all that because you know, it was my best friend. I can talk to him this way. I go, are you a moron? I said, are you just stupid?

Do you like being an idiot, a moron and a dope? But that's my best friend, Alex, because this team has tortured him so much, and he still finds a way to believe in this team just a little bit. Like even last week, he's like, he's walking around the apartment, you know, as we were watching some of the games and he's like, oh my God, here comes the Jets. They're going to win and beat the Texans. They're going to beat the Dolphins. Then Rodgers is going to come back. And I go, he's not coming back.

It is physically impossible. It's amazing how he's back in the practice field. It's amazing how he's walking around.

It's amazing that he's throwing the football, but playing in a game behind this garbage, this hot garbage offensive line would be the dumbest thing they could ever do. But it is crazy how this was something that was talked about. And you know, I blame, I honestly blame Mike Greenberg because Mike Greenberg is a because Mike Greenberg is on, I think they call it in Miami, jet up because of how much he talks about the Jets, which I thought was very funny.

I forget who said that. I was driving around Miami one day when I was there like a month or two ago and they're like, oh, even Mike Greenberg on jet up was saying a few things, but Greenberg was so annoyed and he should be being a jet fan. I think he's a little bit of a Fugazi jet fan anyway. And I didn't really know he was a jet fan for like the last 20 years until they get out of Rodgers. Now he's like the biggest jet fan in the world, but he is basically picking the jets to go to the Super Bowl. And then four plays into the season, the jet season is over. And then like so many of these other idiot jet fans, they latch onto this idea and this belief that Rodgers was coming back.

And it's like one thing when my best friend, Alex says it, but when Mike Greenberg is on ESPN every morning on get up and people are watching him and he's trying to spew that nonsense, people start to believe it or people start to open their mind to the possibility of that occurring. But Santa, I would have never, ever understood how Rodgers would be able to play a game when this guy just tore his Achilles, what, 13, 14 weeks ago. And I'm not going to be someone that sits here in front of a microphone and goes, did Aaron Rodgers actually tear his Achilles? I'm going to take Aaron Rodgers for the fact that he actually did tear his Achilles. But this, it's genius by Rodgers. It was genius what he just did, even though it's annoying for the last three months, because he is an attention whore. We've seen that the last three years. He wanted to keep his name in the news and he dangled this carrot out there and he knew that dumb jet fans would eat it all up with this idea that he was actually coming back and playing football this year.

I don't think it was that dumb of a thing. Like I say this as a former jets fan, the jets were four and three, and they had a reasonably moderate schedule ahead of them. They had the Chargers in Vegas and obviously the Bills, Dolphins, Falcons. They lost the Chargers game. Their season was over after they lost the Raiders game, in my opinion.

A hundred percent, but those are two winnable games that, you know, obviously Zach Wilson, so nothing is winnable. Well, you know what? No, because down deep, you are like a jet fan, even though now you pretend to be a Kansas City Chiefs fan. And I, if you recall, I went to that jet charger game because my dopey friend Alex wanted to go.

He asked me for tickets. We go, he's in the parking lot. Oh, they're going to win the game. I go, you're going to get blown out. You don't have an offense that could score. It's a year of 2023.

All right. This is not 1985 where you win games, 10-3. And guess what? The Chargers didn't play great. They got blown out and that's the pathetic Chargers.

Sure. But at the time they're, they're riding a three game win streak. They'd beaten the Broncos. At the time, they were the only team to beat the Eagles. They were on their bye week. They beat the Giants and then, you know, Eagles were a good one. That was about it.

Yeah. And even at the time Denver was not a bad one either. We see that Denver is still reasonable. Now it's aged well, but at the time Denver was a bad team. But at the end of the day, like there was hope in the middle of the season that even if the Jets could stay afloat, six and seven, seven and seven.

The end of their season, Washington, Cleveland Patriots, right? If Aaron Rodgers is healthy, if Aaron Rodgers is healthy and the Jets are seven and seven, you tell me they can't go nine and seven or ten and six. Well, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. They can't go ten and seven or nine and eight. Of course.

So at the end of the day, there was hope. The reason why he's not coming back, I think Aaron Rodgers, if the Jets were in it, could probably play. I think he legitimately could probably play, but the Jets say, what the heck is the point of getting him out there other than just saying, hey, he's able to do it. So then this is on Joe Douglas because in the year of a backup quarterback, they went back to the well of Zach Wilson where his teammates, even though they now like him more hated his guts last year and we're wearing Mike white t-shirts the moment white white got the opportunity because Zach didn't take any ownership and accountability after losing the game to the Patriots. And he's like, Nope, this isn't on the offense.

Isn't on us, whatever. He said all that stuff. And you're going to start Zach Wilson. You already know what Zach Wilson is. He's an under 500 quarterback that doesn't give your team a chance to win.

Even though two weeks ago, he won the AFC offensive player of the week. You have Trevor Simeon, Tim Boyle and Brett Rippon. So at the end of the day, like maybe he was the best option. We saw all those guys in the game basically, except for Rippon and they all sucked also. So it didn't really matter. So then maybe it's the coaching like Joe Flacco.

Hold on. Joe Flacco was on this team last year. Joe Flacco was terrible.

No, he wasn't. Joe Flacco is bad. He had multiple 300 yard games.

He wasn't terrible. Joe Flacco is now with the Browns and he's lighting it up. You know, it's just like everyone that they put in at the quarterback position, you know, outside of Rogers, because you only saw him for four games. You know what Rogers going to do.

Rogers is going to be really damn good, but he still needs a protection. Every quarterback they took, we've seen Josh Dobbs even had like a three week swan song. Like you couldn't even like what you're saying. You just wanted hope. You just wanted them to have a chance. All they needed. All they needed was someone to carry the baton for a little bit and that wasn't able to happen. Well listen, they definitely planned poorly by not having a proper backup, but I think probably deep down they were hoping that Zach Wilson could be, hey they were hoping obviously not to have to need a backup quarterback, but they were hoping that if it came down to it, Zach Wilson may have made the steps forward.

Clearly he hasn't. It was a mistake, but let me just go back to Flacco. Last year, first three games when Zach Wilson was hurt. 309 yards touchdown.

They lost 24-9. 275 yards and two picks. Yeah, he threw the ball failing. 285 yards. He threw the ball 52 times.

I would hope you could get 285 yards and you threw the ball 52 times. He wasn't, I'm not saying he was great, but he wasn't terrible. To say he was terrible is wrong. He wasn't terrible. He didn't play well.

Is that the semantics? He played the way that you'd expect a 37 year old Joe Flacco to play after being with the team for like three months. Okay, but how about all these other guys that, Jake Browning walks into Cincinnati. He looks good for two, three weeks. They can't make a quarterback look decent.

I'm not saying make them look great, but look decent. Flacco beat the, his first three games were the Ravens, the Browns, and the Bengals. I'm not trying to fight for Joe Flacco here, but he won one of those games and he was competitive in the other one. Yeah, the Browns game, which was a Fugazi comeback.

Remember that that was more Cleveland blowing that game. You win, you win, and that's what it is. You threw 385 yards and four touchdowns. It's a touchdown.

It's a good game. Either way, all I'm saying is like, yes, you could say the Jets made a mistake by not having a better backup quarterback than Zach Wilson, but they probably hoped that this second overall pick could learn from Rogers this year and then actually make a step forward. So I understand there was no hope for Zach Wilson though. They probably were convinced by Rogers that Rogers could turn Zach Wilson into what they hope Zach was. And so maybe it was naive to think it, but they also probably didn't think they had to worry about it. They thought that maybe Rogers was going to be there, but the reality is we're talking about Rogers coming back.

All right. So my point is there was hope in the middle of the season and there was legitimate thought that the Jets could be in the playoff hunt. And I think that if they legitimately had a shot at the playoffs, Rogers would be playing this week, but there was no shot without Aaron Rogers. The Jets ever had a shot of getting to the playoffs. That's what I disagree with that defense. They were four and three and they had two winnable games ahead of them.

They could have been five and three, six and three, but they weren't, but they weren't. But, but at that point when they, when, when you beat the Broncos, same thing as last year, when you beat the Broncos and then the Eagles and the giants, and you win three straight games, there's hope the giants stink. The Broncos at the times were terrible. And the Eagles, they got lucky to win that game because, uh, Jalen hurts through his terrible interception through 11 weeks. There was one team that beat the Eagles.

Okay. Through 11, you know, I'm going to hang a banner for you at MetLife stadium. And it's going to say, we beat the Eagles in what week 11 or whatever it was. So when the jets were four and three, you're saying that there was no shot with the Raiders and chargers up on their schedule, knowing what they've been going through now, that there was no thought in your mind that just could be like seven and seven at this point in the year.

No. And I've said this, the jets are good team with Aaron Rogers, but without Aaron Rogers, I just saw the same script last year. Now, what I want to say, moving off of this too, why it also made no sense to keep Zach Wilson was now Aaron Rogers talking about playing for two more years regardless. So even if he was, let's say, didn't get hurt this year, Zach Wilson was going to sit on the bench this year and next year and that this plan, then he would be ready to take back over the team. That was nonsensical from the start.

If you just follow math. Well, not necessarily. We've seen a lot of early round quarterbacks that have not done well. Zach Wilson has the ego and the maturity to be quiet for two years. Where else is he going to go? What other team is going to take Zach Wilson?

You're going to be hold on quarterback. Josh Rosen got traded for a second round pick after one year again. But I'm saying there's other teams that at least will come calling Sam Darnold. He stunk in New York and the Panthers. He played how many games with the Panthers and hasn't played a down basically for the 49ers.

But that's not what you said. It's he'll get another opportunity to be on a roster somewhere. The difference was Josh Rosen didn't look terrible. He just got a bad rap and Sam Darnold had flashes. Zach Wilson. Well, he played like Josh Rosen played like a few games and then they changed coaching stats and they drafted Kyler Murray. Right. So it wasn't like they just were like, this guy's terrible.

We can't fix him. It was like, we're just going to go different route because we had the first pick and Cliff Kingsbury loves Kyler Murray. So that Josh Rosen kind of got screwed. Sam Darnold showed flashes and there was one game against the Cowboys. Zach Wilson, like when Sam Darnold left the jets, nobody was saying this guy's the worst quarterback in the NFL. They were just like, yeah, he's probably the jets.

You know, maybe he hasn't lived up to that. This is what happened. Wilson, however, on the other side, people are like, this guy's awful. There's not going to be a single team that's going to be like, we're going to bring this guy in to be our starter. But this is what happens. You have ego get in the way and you see like one performance that Zach Wilson had two weeks ago that was actually good. And there's an offensive coordinator that goes, Oh, it's the jets. They mess it up.

I could fix it. It's happened 9,000 times in the history of the league. Now team wants to bring him as a backup. No one's bringing him as a starter. I'm not saying that.

That's not what I said. I'm just saying, giving him an opportunity to revitalize his career. He was not going to wait two years.

There's no chance. He doesn't have the maturity and his mom also would be blasting the jets on social media and she wouldn't put up with her son sitting on the bench or not getting an opportunity to at least compete for two years. Now this is all Rogers team. This all season, you know, Bakhtiaris coming over on the offensive line Davante Adams. I really think it depends on Antonio Pierce. They bring back Antonio Pierce. I think Davante Adams is more inclined to stay, but if they don't bring in Antonio Pierce, I think Davante Adams already has the trade request written up and he'll be ready to file it to Mark Davis.

Adams likes Pierce. Now I don't think it's the end all be all, but their best chance to keep Davante Adams from requesting a trade is to keep Antonio Pierce as the head coach. Matt Ruh will join us on the other side. His program at Nebraska following one year, just had a monster recruiting class on early national signing day, a top 20 class, and also the number one quarterback in the nation, Dylan Riola is going to Lincoln. Matt Ruhl joins us next.

We continue this is that Gelb show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. It's early national signing day and what a day it's been for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. They have a top 20 class and they have the number one quarterback recruit in the country going home to go big red country and that, of course, is Dylan Riola.

Now joining us is their head football coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Matt Ruhl. Coach, first and foremost, congratulations. Appreciate you doing this and how you been? Man, I'm doing great and I appreciate you having me on brother. Thank you.

Well, thanks so much for coming on. So just when it comes to Dylan, we know that, right, his uncle's on your coaching staff. His father is a Nebraska legend. When you got word that he was going to be joining your program and coming to play his college football with you, how do you kind of put that into words? Well, you know, I was fired up.

I really was. You know, Dylan's a really, really special young man. He's a great player on the field and even better person off of it. And as you said, anytime someone has access behind the scenes, you know, anytime they can talk to their uncle and see what things are really like and they want to come to me, that's a great autopsy of your program.

I mean, things are being done right. And so we're thrilled to have him. It's a big day for us. You know, following this the last year, once you got there, there was all this speculation that maybe you would land Dylan and then, right, he makes that commitment to Georgia and it looks like he's going there. And then you guys clearly got him to flip in the last week or two. Just take me through that process, how it looked like he was going to Georgia and now he's coming home to you guys. You know, really, it was all on his end, Zach.

I mean, I think he reached out to me last Sunday. You know, he obviously had decided to go to Georgia. What a great program, Perennial Champions.

I was living down there at Buford. And, you know, I think, you know, just the relationships in Nebraska for his family, what, you know, what this place has meant to his father growing up being a Husker fan. I think it just kind of came full circle for him. And it's, you know, obviously, you know, it means nothing about Georgia.

Georgia's a great program. I just think this is something very personal to he and his family. And when he gave me that call, man, I was surprised, but I was grateful and excited to see what he can do for us. What was the first thing you did once you got that phone call from Dylan saying that he wanted to join you guys? Man, I called our recruiting guys to get the paperwork ready. You know, you know, again, you know, when he first called first today, I'm thinking about this. And I really, really encouraged him to, you know, take his time, make sure it was right for him, came out and visited. And you could tell when he was here, you know, he wanted to be here and it was going to be the right fit.

And, you know, again, just happy to have it sewn up now and excited to get him here and get started. Talking to the head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers in that rule, for people that haven't seen him play, what kind of quarterback are you getting from your evaluation? Well, you know, Dylan has amazing arm talent, you know, as good as anyone I've seen, can make all the throws all across the field. You know, a big powerful guy, but athletic in the pocket. You know, you can tell he wears 15, you know, it matters a lot of his game after Patrick Mahomes. And while there is only one Patrick Mahomes, you know, Dylan certainly can, you know, has worked on making all the off-platform throws and all the things you really have to do in today's game with the pass pressures and the pressure.

To move in the pocket and find guys that are open. So there's not a lot of, there's not a lot of transition for him in terms of the arm talent. You know, he'll just have to kind of learn the system and grow as a quarterback from the ground up. I've been following the excitement on social media when this was rumored about a week and a half ago, then when it became official the other day, just for you to see that excitement amongst your fan base, which is as passionate as fans there are in college football. And I got to see that firsthand this year when I made a trip out to Lincoln. Just what does that excitement mean to you to see it from your loyal fans?

Well, you know, you're right. Our fans are unbelievably loyal and they've been loyal through tough times. And, you know, we really wanted to give them a winner this year. Yeah, I believe we gave them some really good moments, but not really everything that they deserve. And so they headed to this off season to get a guy like Dylan, to get eight players from the state of Nebraska. You know, as you said, to get a top 20 class. You know, I hope that it gives them hope that we're heading in the right direction and that the days that they deserve are in the near future.

Right, Matt. I saw you at Temple build up that program and get more fans in the stands that they've ever seen before. A lot of people wondered why you did go to Baylor when you could have taken an easier job, but you built Baylor back up quickly. For this job at Nebraska, we all know what Nebraska means to so many people, but why did you elect to take it when you did so a little over a year ago?

Because I always find the jobs that you take to have a little extra meeting to them. Yeah, well, you know, I think when you think about college football, man, you're someone who loves college football like I do. You know, what is a more iconic program than the University of Nebraska? And to see a program that's fallen on hard times, you know, I just love the thought of doing something right and doing something good for the game. The game needs Nebraska to be successful.

It needed to be of interest. And, you know, I love the place. I love the relationship I've been able to form with Tom Osborne and Frank Solich and so many more of the leadership of Trev Alberts, you know, who played here as our AD.

And honestly, Zach, it reminds me a lot of Temple. You know, people here, they love the game. They want to win, but they want to play it a certain way. You know, we played really physical football at Temple. We ran the ball, we played defense. That's not always popular everywhere, but it's what Nebraskans love.

And so we're not there yet. But when we get there, they'll appreciate not just winning the games, but the way that we play. You know, it's also tough to build a program now, because if you coach a kid too hard or the kid doesn't like the coaching, he could leave it in the transfer portal. And I think kids should have that freedom and also be able to get paid through NIL and stuff like that. But is it at all, you know, you go into the NFL and then coming back and now having this new era of college football, Matt Rule, has that changed the way at all that you coach on the field or in practice?

No, not at all. I remember there was a player that I coached in the NFL that was a rookie and he was coming out of a program and I was like, man, like no one ever coached this player. You know, the greatest thing you could do for a player is set high expectations for them and hold them accountable to them.

Just like the best thing you can do for yourself is set high expectations and hold yourself accountable to them. So, you know, we've never defamed anyone, we've never demeaned anyone. We don't, you know, but we do have a high vision for what you can be and we want you to be that. And so, you know, we ended this year, finished this year, we were five and seven, no bowl game.

You know, you'd think everyone would hit the portal and really no one did. I think the players here know that we care about them and want them to be great and want them to be great off the field. And in fact, Zach, you know, we had five players that were just scheduled to graduate and leave and head off to the NFL, you know, three of whom were, you know, all big 10-caliber players and they all have to come back and play another year.

So I just think it's like anything else in life, it comes down to relationships. If people know you care, then they're going to stick with you and we care a lot about these guys. We want them to say that, you know what, we were some of the best coaches they ever had. So where do you think you're at in this rebuilding process? You know, you guys almost made a bowl game this past year. You guys played some great defense. You obviously had offensive problems, but when you get ready now for year number two and you have this recruiting cycle come and go and right, the excitement of early national signing day start to fade away and you guys get to work. What do you think you guys are working towards to try to accomplish in year two?

Yeah, you know, it's a great question. I mean, I think we're right where we should be, you know. You know, we finished five and seven. Again, five of those losses by three points or in overtime. I mean, you know, we believe that we can compete every game we play.

With all that being said, though, those are just words. I mean, we have a lot of work to do. You know, we have to improve the offense. You know, we're a year into this defense and caught a lot of people by surprise.

They'll catch up a little bit. To me, it's just about our players growing this year, getting a little bit better. And again, I expect us to compete in everything that we do next year. I expect us to be a team that people don't want to play, that they know is a tough team to play.

You know, we're going to go back to the mat drills and go back to the offseason and do everything it takes to earn the right to win. You know, when Nebraska has been the last few years from where they were, naturally, people are going to say, whether they're criticizing you or criticizing the program, that all, they'll never get back. What do you say to people that doubt what you're doing and doubt what you're trying to lead Nebraska back to?

You know, I really don't say anything to him, brother. I mean, it's like, you know, I live that life at Temple. You know, I live that, you know, they 2 and 10 and, oh, he can't do it and he should fire the D coordinator. And, you know, two years later, you know, you're coach of the year, you know, and I live that life at Baylor where it's, you know, 1 and 11 and why we hire a guy from New Jersey.

And two years later, we're, you know, in the Sugar Bowl. So the best thing you can do in my mind is just believe in what you're doing, believe in the people you're with, and just work. And people, if people are doubting you, they probably have a lot of reasons to.

You know, there's, you haven't done enough yet to show them. So I would much rather just focus my energy on being relentless this offseason about building a winner. And, you know, we came up just short, Zach, and I'll be honest with you, I think if we, if we would have gone to a ball game, we might've been a little bit satisfied with, hey, we've accomplished something. I can tell you, no one's satisfied right now. And just like that second year at Temple where we went 6 and 6 and got snubbed from a ball game, we will work and we will play next year with a chip on our shoulder. And when I'm like that, when our team is like that, good things will happen. On the way out with Matt Rule, the head football coach at Nebraska.

I saw this on social media. Did you crash a wedding with your coaching staff the other night? Well, we were, in fairness, we were invited. We were doing, we were doing, we were doing an official visit in Lincoln and we had one of our top recruits, Carter Nelson.

We were supposed to see him out in his town of Ainsworth in Nebraska about four hours from Lincoln. So we hopped on the school plane, we flew out and the day before they said, hey, you know, there's a big wedding in town. It's two teachers in the school, big, huge fans.

You know, Carter's like, I'm bored of the wedding after the basketball game. It'd be great if you guys could go. They'd love to have you. So we went over, took some pictures with the family, signed a bunch of stuff for all the people in the town. And I really had a great time. And I'll be honest with you, that's what Nebraska football is all about. It's just unbelievable people here in the state.

And, you know, we're going to find a way to bring a winner to them. Did they have Runzas at the wedding? Because I'm now addicted to Runzas after my trip to Lincoln. They might have. To be honest with you, I spent a lot of my time taking pictures. So I never made the buffet line, but Cooper, Satter, one of those guys might have hit it.

But there is nothing better than a Runza. And I hope, I think you saw firsthand, man, like just how special this place can be and what it means and how cool of a town this is. So I'm anxious about getting to next season. Last thing I want to ask you, coach Matt Rule, I saw that Chip Kelly the other day said that maybe college football should go to a 64 team power five conference pretty much and just condense it all into one with all the never changing landscape that we have right now in the sport with so many schools leaving their current conference and going somewhere else. Do you think that would work? Have you given it much thought if maybe we just consolidate this to one big conference? Yeah, you know, maybe that's the answer.

I don't know. I think that I think the bigger thing that Chip said that I agree with is it's just a collective vision. Right.

You know, we're in this age now of the transfer poor with this age of NIL. And there's really no there's not a lot of standards to it. And so in the NFL, when you have, you know, a commissioner, you have, you know, a competition committee, you know, rules are being applied the same. And there's and there's a premium on preserving competition and preserving the rosters and preserving the game day. And, you know, this year, like never before, you know, rosters are under attack. The game itself came under attack this year a little bit, having a commissioner with power or having leadership with power and having having a streamlined approach, I think would would be a big deal.

Right now, NIL is different in every state. And so I'd love to level the playing field just by by making things, you know, making things streamlined with within either one conference or one vision. And not everyone will be able to do it. Not everyone will be able to step up maybe and afford to play that game. But let's let's delineate that. So we all know we're all playing by the same rules.

And if we do that, I think the game will be much. Hey, one more thing for you, Matt, before we let you run, I really appreciate you jumping on board with us today. You know, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you this because, you know, my job usually all we talk about are the coaches that and the quarterbacks. How about the rest of this class that you got today?

What else jumps out to you? Yeah, man, we, you know, we put a premium on offensive line that we went out and signed a bunch of big, strong guys, local guys, but went all the way out to Hawaii to get president. So I bought a bunch of DVDs in the front of receivers in and but at the same time went out and found some big guys on the offensive line and some pass rushers to allow us to win in the Big Ten. Well, Matt, congratulations. Appreciate you doing this.

Enjoy the holiday season. Thanks for coming on, as always. Alright, thanks, my friend. Alrighty, this is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.

It's time to answer. Ask the pros question of the day, and it's brought to you by O'Reilly Auto Parts. Addison in Des Moines, says Zach, after the 49ers and Ravens, who are the better teams in the NFL?

You could submit a question by tweeting at CBS Sports Radio or at Zach Gelb using the hashtag. Ask the pros. You can think around the auto parts while your car care needs get guaranteed. Low, low, low, low, low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts.

People at O'Reilly Auto Parts O O O O Riley Auto Parts. Well, Addison, I'll answer that question right now in the Take five Wednesday. As the dust settles from last week's games, it's time to look at which teams are rising and which are falling. Zack ranks his top five NFL teams on this week's edition of Take five only on the Zack Gelb show. Alrighty, I'm gonna do an audible here. I'm not I usually go five to one here. I'm gonna go one to five because I've done now Take five Wednesday for three straight years on CBS Sports Radio.

This is the toughest one I've ever had to do. Because after the first two teams, it's like I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna we gotta get to five. So in a number one to no surprise, the best team in the NFL are the San Francisco 49ers outside of a three game stretch where they were without Deebo Samuel and Trent Williams. No one's been able to come close to beating them.

Those are their only three losses on the season was when they had those injuries. They are phenomenal football team Brock Purdy is playing at MVP level. Christian McCaffrey should win the MVP in my opinion, even though it probably will end up being Brock Purdy. Deebo Samuel is great. George Kittle is great. Trent Williams is Hall of Famer.

Future Hall of Famer. The defense is just unbelievable. There is not a single flaw there. You know, in a world of negativity, there is not a single thing I could say in a negative way about the San Francisco 49ers. So they're in at number one. At number two, they keep on doing it because Lamar Jackson and John Harbaugh are a great combination. And Lamar Jackson's healthy. They've lost JK Dobbins. They now lost Keenan Mitchell. They have Mark Andrews done for this season. Isaiah likely has now turned into a reliable option for them the last two weeks. They keep on finding a way because Lamar Jackson extends plays with his legs. He has improved as a thrower.

He is just such an unbelievable weapon on a football field and that defense is pretty damn good. So the Ravens are in at number two. Alrighty folks, bear with me. Fasten those seatbelts because we're in a ride to get to spots three, four and five. And I think I'm going to annoy a lot of people.

I don't try to annoy you, but I just tell you how I genuinely feel. In at number three, it wasn't a terribly tough decision. This team is getting hot at the right time. And I think that they're going to win out and probably win the AFC East. It's the Buffalo Bills. In a year where everyone's quarterback has got injured, Josh Allen has remained healthy enough. That defense the last two weeks has played better. They just dominated the Dallas Cowboys. They had a big win up against Kansas City too. And what impressed me so much with Buffalo last week up against the Cowboys was usually you think it's just Josh Allen, Josh Allen, Josh Allen be Superman and run through a brick wall and that's how they're going to win. Well, the Buffalo Bills just won a game and where Josh Allen threw for under a hundred yards passing.

And you had an offensive line just bully the great Dallas Cowboys defense and James Cook, cook up a masterpiece and a masterful meal. And the Buffalo Bills are now trending in the right direction. Just when they're dead, now they are back.

Just when you're out, they suck me back in. I'm back in on the Buffalo on the Buffalo Bills. They're in at number three. Now number four, it just shows you what type of team and what type of season the NFL is. I've been thoroughly disappointed the last three weeks with the Philadelphia Eagles. It's one thing to get blown out by the 49ers. Then you don't even have a good effort against the Cowboys after you just got embarrassed by the 49ers. So back to back weeks, you got blown out. At least you showed up in the first 58 minutes up against the Seahawks, but it wasn't even as if they played this wonderful game and you allowed Drew Locke. It's weird, I'm saying the fourth best team and about to shred them. And you allowed Drew Locke to go 92 yards in under 90 seconds.

That's inexcusable. The Eagles shouldn't be in the top five, but this is their first bad stretch of the season. And there's no one really else out there in the NFL that I'm really in love with. So because of their potential and because they got to the Super Bowl last year, I guess we put the Eagles in at number four.

Now I basically blindfolded myself here and I then just smacked my hand on a board and whatever team popped up, that's what I did go with. For the fifth spot, I don't even love this team. I think they're a good team.

I don't think they're a great team. They got two big tests the next two weekends to show that they could actually beat some good teams, but it's the Miami Dolphins. I know they were playing the Jets, but they didn't have Tyreek Hill.

And I know they just choked the game up against Tennessee, but Jalen Waddle, surprise, surprise, they actually used him, which they didn't do up against Tennessee. So because of the offensive firepower that the Dolphins have, and in a year where we're all limping to find the five best teams in the NFL through 15 weeks going to week 16, I guess I'll put the Miami Dolphins. So 49ers won, Ravens 2, Bills 3, Eagles 4, and I guess the Dolphins 5? E? Eh? Eh?

You sound very confident. Yeah, I don't love it. I mean, it feels like there are just some really big dominant teams in the top five there, just domination. I love two teams. I like a third team. After that, I'm like, eh.

Eh? There's only one team I love. I don't even love the Ravens. I like the Ravens. Nah, that's fair.

All right, ready? I love the 49ers. Yes. I really, really, really like the Ravens. Yeah.

I am talking myself into the Bills and everybody else. It's not you, babe. It's me. All right?

That's what it's the kind of the feeling. Well, you know it's you, but you just don't want to say that. Well, listen, Costanza, I created the it's you. It's not you.

It's me. All right. So speaking now.

Or forever hold your peace. There's a lot to speak about this week. I'm not going to lie. I'm a little bit disappointed that you're leaving out the Lions. The Lions and Dolphins are similar. They could beat a bunch of eh teams and they go up against good teams.

They don't beat them. I know that the Lions just crushed the Broncos. I think the Broncos are wildly overrated. I just don't trust Jared Goff outside of a dome. Like, we're splitting hairs, but I will trust the Dolphins offense a little bit more in a bigger game than the Lions offense.

That's why I didn't put them in. Like on a neutral field, Lions-Dolphins. Like you just think about that game. Dolphins. Yeah.

So then there it is. I think it's close. I think it's, hey, if we got a Dolphins-Lions Super Bowl, that would be great. 34-31 would be a fun game. To see the Lions in the Super Bowl would be so awesome.

Yeah. Just for that city. How about my boys, the Chiefs? I mean, I understand they're 9-5 and all the other teams you put on this list have double-digit wins except for, of course, the Bills who have 8 wins. But the Chiefs.

You know why I can't go Kansas City? Because they were playing a garbage-patriot team and people are talking them up after beating the Patriots by 10 points where Kadarius Toney had to drop that led to an interception. I need to see more from Kansas City. The important thing, though, for me was that the one thing you can say about the Patriots is their defense is solid. Very good, high-quality defense. But their offense is trash. But they scored 27 points on that defense. So it shows that there's at least some level of maybe optimism about the offense moving forward. But does it or is it just eventually the defense is going to break when the offense is that bad in Mahomes? Like, they had a gritty victory.

Yeah, they had a gritty victory. Like, they need Isaiah Pacheco back. Isaiah Pacheco comes back. I think that's a totally different team. Who would have thought that Isaiah Pacheco is the missing piece? It's an enormous loss. It is. He is an angry runner.

I love the way that he runs. And I understand how you left the Dallas Cowboys off the list after last week's game. But I mean, they are 10-4. They are the two-seater right now. Or I guess they're the three-seed in the NFC. Yeah. But to leave them off, I mean, the Dolphins and the Cowboys?

They're all similar. Neutral Field. I mean, they're playing this week.

Neutral Field doesn't matter. I got Cowboys this week. All right. I'll give you my prediction later in the week. But the Dolphins, the Lions, and the Cowboys are all similar. So I ended up going with the guy that's hurt right now, who I'll putt in the top five. Tyreek Hill is the guy that I trust the most. And I think Tyreek is trending back towards play.

It was close last week. All right. That's a Take 5 Wednesday on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Like, I just feel like wrong after giving that top, that Take 5.

I really do. There are Take 5. I always love the Take 5s I give. This one, after the first two selections, it was like E. And I just did not like it.

Can we just change it to Take 1? Niners or the Field on CBS Sports Radio. That's a segment tomorrow. All righty. Fun show today.

Once again, if you missed the big announcement, that wasn't really much of a secret. The Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio is officially moving to this time slot Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. Eastern, noon to 3 p.m. Pacific. I'd like to appreciate and thank each and every one of you. We'll be back tomorrow, and we'll talk to you at 3 p.m. Eastern, noon Pacific. We out. Bye-bye. Peace.