Derek Carr Is Mid (Hour 1)

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Consisting conditions are not covered. For all terms and limitations, visit felixcatinsurance.com slash terms. Morning Brew's daily newsletter breaks down the biggest news in business for millions of people every day. And now we're moving from your inbox to your headphones. Each day we'll cover everything from the latest Apple event to why nobody can afford a house right now. And some people are saying it's the best part of their morning.

Because we know something you don't. Business news doesn't have to be boring. So check out Morning Brew daily wherever you get your podcasts. And on YouTube. Of course, streaming live on YouTube. YouTube.com slash CBS Sports Radio. Where I'm dressed up as Santa Claus today.

So happy Christmas, happy holidays to all. 855-212-4CBS is numbered to jump on in. 855-212-4227. And you can always interact with me on the good old cesspool of Twitter. At Zach Gelb.

And also on Instagram where I'm straight flexing. At Zach Gelb. Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. Got Moist Mike. And also Stuart Kovacs.

My elves rocking and rolling with me. All the way up until 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. Shannon Crowder is going to stop by at 4.20 p.m. Eastern.

And also Ryan Horvat for some NFL and college football picks at 5.20 p.m. Eastern, 2.20 p.m. Pacific. We're going to see how long I will continue to remain dressed up as Santa Claus throughout the show. And this is why I understand why I'm not a big fan of facial hair. Like I'm almost like the Yankee version of sports talk radio.

Where whenever my beard starts to get like just a little bit too long, I go to the barber or I go shave it myself. And now since I'm wearing this fake beard today, it is very uncomfortable. And it's also preventing me from being able to speak a little bit with the way that this fugazi beard is put up on my face. So that could be a little bit of a struggle today, Samter, since we're doing a sports talk radio show. If I have trouble speaking, it's not because I had too much eggnog before the show.

Or I'm recovering from our CBS Sports Radio holiday party for the Zach Gelb show last night where we had a very delicious dinner. It's because this beard that I've dressed up in is almost like preventing me from being able to speak and having my mouth moved. You know, a good craftsman doesn't blame his tools. Alright, the beard should not get in the way of your professionalism. What should get in the way of your professionalism is that ugly Mets hat that you're wearing instead of a Santa cap. So there's two reasons why I'm wearing the Mets hat.

Number one, I am a Mets fan. But more importantly, in the Santa suit that I bought since I have such a big cabeza, the generic hat that they give you did not fit around my big cabeza. So I had to go with this Santa Claus Mets hat that I had that is made for bigger people is the nice way that I'll say it. So that's why I'm wearing this Mets hat.

And it's very odd that I'm wearing this Mets Santa Claus hat today because of the fact that the Mets made this big push for Yamamoto. And then late last night, I was actually jumping on with Bart Winkler, who is now going to be doing the 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Eastern Time show on CBS Sports Radio starting on January 2nd as we have a brand new lineup, Maggie and Pearl off in the morning. Bill Reiter as well, then Jim Rome, yours truly, J.R. Sportbrief, Bart and then Amy Lawrence. And I was on this stream with Bart that he does on his YouTube channel. And I saw the Yamamoto news and to see him go to the Dodgers. And it's funny, I said to Bart, we'll probably talk about this for like two minutes tomorrow on the show. And here we are starting the show with impromptu.

And I won't spend a lot of time on it. But Yamamoto going to the Dodgers. I can't say I'm stunned because the last two days it felt like the Mets were getting used. And now everyone's like trashing Steve Cohen. I still want Steve Cohen as the owner of the Mets. The only thing is, yeah, it's a disappointing offseason. I think there's a lot of things to get on him during the early stages of his tenure as the Mets owner.

But he offered a 12 year, three hundred and twenty five million dollar contract, the Yamamoto. It's clear that he wanted to go to the Dodgers and team up with Otani and was just using the Mets to drive up the price. So even though and I'm realistic with my teams, like I don't just try to pump smoke up my teams. You know what, when they're not performing well and I'll tell you how I see it, good or bad. There's a lot that you could criticize the Mets on for Cohen not landing Yamamoto.

I don't think that's one of them because the guy did everything that he could. Anyway, let's start the show off with the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers, we all know, are the preeminent team in the NFL.

The 49ers have a massive game on Monday, which it could be viewed as a Super Bowl preview in Santa Clara with the 49ers welcoming in the Baltimore Ravens. With all of that being said, the 49ers to me right now, not only are they the best team in the league. If you just ask me the simple question, Zach, 49ers of the field, which one would you take? And 99.9% of the time, you ask me anything in life, like during one of the golf tournaments, during a postseason for baseball, during a Stanley Cup playoffs in hockey, an NBA playoffs, whatever it is. If you say, Zach, this team or the field, and it's not just like three or four people, like you have six other teams in the NFC and then seven other teams in the AFC that will make the postseason. 9.9999999 times out of 10, I will take the field, especially when it's in a single elimination tournament or a single elimination playoff. But the 49ers are this damn good, where I just can't envision a scenario right now where the 49ers aren't hosting or hosting the Lombardi Trophy.

I really can't. The only way, the only thing I could think of is if injuries pop up down the stretch or pop up in the postseason and hit them in the you-know-what, which is possible. Like they got to an NFC title game last year. I thought the Eagles were the better team. I thought the Eagles were going to win the game going in. But Brock Purdy got injured.

He wasn't able to rock out with this Brock out and look pretty awesome. And the next thing you know, the Eagles didn't only just beat the 49ers. They just dragged him up and down the field and the game was over at halftime. So now the 49ers went through an injury stretch earlier in the year. And it's always the timing with the injuries. Injuries are inevitable in the NFL.

And just when you think you skate free, a major massive disappointing injury will pop up. But the Niners went through that stretch where they were without Trent Williams. They were without Deebo Samuel and they lost one game, two games, and then three games in a row. But then they came back healthy and Brock Purdy with more weapons started to look like an MVP. Christian McCaffrey, my opinion, should be the MVP of the league. Either him or Tyreek Hill is having this wonderful season. Brandon Aiyuk having a good season. Deebo Samuel having a great season. George Kittle having a good season.

Trent Williams continuing his Hall of Fame career. And when this team is healthy, and we didn't even mention the guys that they have on the defense, they look unbeatable. Now, I remember as a Patriot fan when my team was undefeated in the regular season and the 49ers only have three losses.

And my team beat the snot out of every single team in the regular season. There were conversations during that 07 season, are the Patriots being disrespectful? Should they take their foot off the gas? You know, when you're up by 20 points, why are you continuing to play until the game ends?

Like, pull your starters, all that nonsense. But that's not Bill Belichick football. Bill Belichick football back then was 60 minutes, 60 minutes, 60 minutes.

And if you're on the field, we're going to kick your ass and we're going to take names. So, that team got into the playoffs, and they had a bye. They won their divisional round game. They had a sloppy win, a game that I was at, up against the Chargers. That's when Phillip Rivers was playing with a torn ACL. And then they got to the Super Bowl, and with a little over two minutes left in a low-scoring affair, they took the lead.

And then Eli Manning, David Tyree happened, and then Plaxico Burress ended up getting the game-winning touchdown. And boom, a team that was a foregone conclusion that they were going to win the Super Bowl ended up losing. So, it's possible, and we'll see if the 49ers can continue this dominance the rest of the season. But right now, in a year where there's not a lot of great teams, where really the 49ers are the great team, and then the Ravens are also considered a great team too, after that, a lot of these teams have flaws.

A lot of these teams I don't trust. So, when I look just inside the NFC, and I'm trying to think who can take down the San Francisco 49ers, I don't trust the Cowboys. They've been beat by the Cowboys three times in a row. You know, the Cowboys have lost to the 49ers three times in a row.

The Lions, I know they played great up against the Broncos, but who is their great victory up against? And the team that most people would have said a few weeks ago, now they've lost three in a row, are the Philadelphia Eagles. I told you on Monday, I have big-time concerns about the Eagles. And there's a report out today from Jeff McLean, who's a long-time reporter, covering the Eagles for the Philadelphia Inquirer. And his report is, this is via Eagles Nation, there is some internal concern about Jalen Hurts within the Eagles organization. The Eagles want their franchise quarterback to be authentic, but also to open himself up to more in the locker room, and have a more outward leadership style when it's needed during difficult stretches, several team sources close to the situation said.

That's a big-time report. And I think you have to take every report with a grain of salt, but me saying that doesn't mean what's being said about Jalen Hurts isn't true. And I think where there's smoke, there's a fire, and last year, all Jalen Hurts was, he was praised for his leadership. And if you remember, that quote after the Seahawks game, just on Monday it was, Monday night, where they lost to Seattle, and he talked about how there isn't that much commitment, and we even talked about that, was that just a player saying something general? And was it just to say something? Was it being disingenuous because that's just what player speak is?

Or was there something more to it? But it's crazy because I was in that Eagles locker room last year, by far and away, Jalen Hurts is the most respected person in that locker room, right? He was their leader.

I know they have Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson and Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham, and those guys are great players. But last year, it was clear the leader of that team and the baton was handed over to Jalen Hurts, and everyone was operating off the message that Jalen Hurts was leading. And even then, there'd be some times where he would talk after games, and it seemed like he was never satisfied. And I talked to him. I had the first question in the press conference after they punched their ticket to the Super Bowl, and I'm like, just describe what's going through your head right now.

You're going to a Super Bowl. And it's like he didn't have any emotion about it. It was like a robot at the podium. So maybe he needs to show some more human emotion. I don't know if he doesn't display that behind the scenes, but I'm just telling you from the way that I viewed it in the Eagles locker room last year when I saw him up at the podium. I have nothing but the respect and all the respect in the world for Jalen Hurts.

I love the Jalen Hurts story and I wish him nothing but the best. But it seems like the Eagles right now, whatever's going on this year, and I'm not all putting it on Hurts, that would be Jackassery. But whatever is going on with the Philadelphia Eagles, it doesn't feel like they're going to get it right in the next three weeks. And maybe it's just going to take a big division around weekend victory, and then they're going to San Francisco, and they could find a way to rally up the troops and get a great effort for 60 minutes, because there's too much talent on this team for them to be playing this horribly and this putrid the way they have the last two, three weeks of this NFL season.

So I look at the NFC. There's no team that I really love to take down the 49ers. The team that I'd be fascinated if they get in to see if they could do would actually be the Rams. The Rams started three and six. Now they've won five out of their last six and they have Super Bowl experience.

You know, that's not going to be a team. They may not beat the 49ers, but they're not going to be afraid of the 49ers. Sean McVay, Super Bowl champion. You know, the Rams also do a very good job up against Kyle Shanahan. Matthew Stafford, Super Bowl champion. Aaron Donald, Super Bowl champion. Cooper Cup, Super Bowl champion.

And Puka Nakua, emerging star in his first season in the NFL. So really, in a bizarre way, because I don't trust the Eagles right now. I don't trust the Cowboys right now.

I don't trust the Lions right now. Since the Rams are hot, they may have the best opportunity because they won't fear the 49ers and they're getting things going at the right time. They may be the team that has the best opportunity in the NFC to take down San Francisco. But really, I think it's two teams and they're both in the AFC and they'll both be when the 49ers get to the Super Bowl.

It would either be the Baltimore Ravens, because they have a well-balanced team and Lamar's playing at a great level, or the Buffalo Bills. Because the Buffalo Bills, they still got to get in the dance, but once they get in the dance, they'll be extremely dangerous. And just like the Rams, they're playing their best football towards the end of the season.

Right? Everyone checked out on the Rams. Everyone checked out on the Bills. And here we are in week 16 and the Rams just had a victory last night up against the Saints and the Bills have a game this upcoming weekend. But both of those teams right now, the Bills play the Chargers and they'll beat the Chargers. And then they'll beat the Patriots and they'll probably play for the division up against the Dolphins. But both of those teams are getting hot at the right time of the year. And we do get to see 49ers and Ravens this weekend.

We see it on Monday. And if the Ravens beat the 49ers, then just knowing how this goes about, people will start to question the 49ers. Like, did we overrate the 49ers? Did we say the 49ers are too good?

But I don't care what happens this weekend or on Monday. Until someone beats the 49ers in the postseason, I already have it engraved in my mind the last two weeks that the 49ers are not only going to be in the Super Bowl, but they're going to get that ring for John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan finally. Let's go into the Ravens locker room though. Lamar Jackson and Kyle Hamilton both had different things.

But it was both talking about being respected or disrespected. Let's hear from Lamar Jackson first, the quarterback of the Baltimore Ravens. So-called experts aren't picking you guys to win. You guys embraced that. I really don't pick us. I like being an underdog.

I don't know. I believe we play better when we're doubted and people are not choosing us to win the game. I feel like we play better all the time, so just do it all the way to February. So right now, the Niners are home. So you expect them to be the favorite.

And they're the better team right now, even though they have the same record as the Ravens at 11-3. But the Niners are a five and a half point favorite. And I thought maybe that number would be four, three and a half. But I don't think it's an outrageous number.

I don't think it's egregious. So that was Lamar embracing right people, doubting them. He likes when they're doubted because his entire life he's been doubted. And if I may say so myself, it's worked out pretty damn well for Lamar Jackson. But here is Kyle Hamilton, the young safety for the Ravens out of Notre Dame.

He had a different take. The 11-3s are not created equal right now in terms of the 49ers versus us. And we feel a little disrespected by that. I feel like we are the best team in the league. And we've got an opportunity in front of the country to show it. Well, you should believe that you're the best team in the league. Doesn't mean you are.

And maybe you'll show it on Monday. And if this game was in Baltimore, probably the Ravens are still the favorite, I would imagine. It wouldn't be by five and a half points. Maybe it's by a point and a half. Maybe it's by a two and a half point spread. But when the 49ers are at home, where they've only lost one game at home this year. I know the Ravens are six and one on the road. I can't say, oh it's disrespectful to make the 49ers a five and a half point favorite in this game. So do you go the 49ers or the field? And if you're taking the field, who do you trust in the most to take down the 49ers?

Whether it's in the NFC side of the playoffs or when you get to the big game in Las Vegas for the Super Bowl. 855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227 is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. The kids these days, they say the word mid. There is one quarterback in the NFL that I saw last night that is very mid.

And I'm sick and tired of people trying to make him to be more than what he actually is. We'll talk about that quarterback when the Zach Gelb show continues in five minutes. It's time to talk about Felix, the pet insurance brand made just for cats. Starting at under one dollar a day, you can get whisker to tail protection with a plan as unique as your cat.

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And on YouTube. At this local Italian spot about two, three blocks from the office, I was satisfied with your guys's approach, but I was also a little bit disappointed. If I'm going to be honest, Sam, Durin, Stu, because I sense there was like a little nervousness from both of you guys to actually order things off the menu. And we were walking to the restaurant. Maybe this was my fault because I said, hey, order what you want, but just don't order Louis the 13 shots because that's like five hundred, two thousand dollars, whatever a shot. And, you know, I was paying for the dinner, but I'm not going to pay for the dinner.

If Sam was like downing 13 Louis the 13 shots, I would be like out of my my my income and some of my savings that I end up having. But we sit down and we ordered a pizza for the table and you guys like weren't even hitting up any of the appetizers. And that's when I was like, oh, you know, make sure we get a charcuterie board, make sure we get some rice balls. They had these pepperoni wings. When I saw that, I was like, there's no way that's going to actually be good, but we have to try them.

And they served the wings with little pepperoni cups. So I was a little disappointed. We had a great time. It was fun, good laughs. But I was surprised that it felt like you guys were like afraid to order when the waiter did come over. I don't know if you guys felt that way.

Maybe I just felt that way. But that was the way that when I was sitting there and they said, oh, what do you guys want? And Stu said rigatoni, ala vodka and sampter.

What did you end up getting? You got some sandwich, right? You got a meatball parmesan panini. Yeah, I was thinking, though, Sam, you're going to kind of take the lead and just start firing off a few appetizers.

But that wasn't the case. I had to step in, call it audible. I mean, I could have gotten an appetizer, but we ordered a pizza for the table. I figured a pizza for the table and a meatball sub was enough for me. I mean, listen, I could certainly just rung up the bill just for the fun of it.

But I also have a limited stomach. And so, like, the idea of pizza, sub and appetizers kind of threw me off a little bit. So when you started ordering all those apps, I'm like, who's eating all this crap? It's the big times here, right? We're now afternoon drive. We can't have like an overnight type of meal. We got to have a big time afternoon drive dinner. You know, there's a certain standard around here. When you're a talk show host, you're expected to eat well.

You're expected to take care of your crew. I can't let sampter just go home to his wife off a little sandwich and two slices of vodka pizza or whatever we're having. Kevin, I need you to be like a fat pig when you leave that meal. I took half my sandwich home with me. I couldn't finish all that.

That is true. Sampter got like a little doggy bag to take care of all of his food home. No, but we had a really good time and it was fun. And the first of hopefully many dinners until they canned me and they say, alrighty, we can't have you doing any more shows. And then I'll be begging you guys to take me out for dinner and have a good old time. Well, the next dinner's on me.

Oh, yeah, that is true. See, this is, you got to just let this go, Sampter. Sampter owes me a dinner. I like personally, I kind of hope he never pays up on the bet just so I can keep on giving him crap. But Santa's not someone that enjoys when someone is basically, you know, get a little elbow to the stomach and rubbing in that they haven't got their end of the bet.

Like I'm doing this in a jovial kind of sarcastic way. But this has now been the fourth or fifth time and it's only been like two, three weeks since Sampter owes me dinner for thinking that Ohio State was going to remain in front of Texas after Texas was beating the snot out of Oklahoma State. But like Sampter, are they paying you to bring up that you still haven't bought me dinner? Because I do find it funny that I got you dinner first, impromptu, just out of the kindness of my heart. And you owe me a dinner and you still haven't got me dinner. Yeah, I mean, listen, you've brought it up like nine times. So I just, you know, bring it up every now and again as a reminder that I'm not going to renege on it.

But I hope not. Listen, I appreciate you getting me dinner. It was a very nice gesture. I owe you a dinner. You're going to get it.

I don't know. I think we found the place, or at least we discussed the idea of the place yesterday. Oh, yeah, good steakhouse in the city. You don't have to get me steak, though. You don't have to go steak, but if you want, that's fine.

I have a baby and I have a wife. I don't get to go out for good dinners that often anymore. So, like, this is a way for me to get good dinner.

And I don't mind shelling out a little bit for a good man. Stu, I'm on to Sampter. I think Sampter's trying to kill me by basically making me eat so much steak.

And he's hoping that I'm going to pop. So then they have to just slide Sampter into this chair and then it becomes the Michael Sampter show on CBS Sports Radio. I can see that.

The Sampter and Kovacs show. Listen, I'm doing this for the team. Yeah, so, like, since I'm dressed up as Santa Claus today, I got a list. And Sampter, you may be on the naughty list this year. So don't be expecting too many good presents this time around.

You may have to turn around some of your misfortunes and make them better if you want some better things in your stocking come Christmas. Anyway, I'm so sick and tired of Derek Carr. I've had enough. Like, Derek Carr is the definition of what the kids say these days of the word mid. This guy, like, some people tweeted me last night, oh, he had a good fantasy football performance for me. Did you watch him play last night?

Like, I don't give a rat's ass about your fantasy football team. I don't care if he ends up having a good statistical night, 27 to 40, 319 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. He had a hellacious interception. They turned the ball over on downs that seemed like every other drive. And in the fourth quarter, they were down 30 to 7. Just because they tossed two touchdown passes all the sudden, we don't have to say, oh, Derek Carr didn't have that bad of a game.

Like, how many hurricanes did Mickey Loomis have on on Bourbon Street when he inked Derek Carr to that four year, 150 million dollar contract and 100 million of it was guaranteed. This guy is just not a good quarterback. He's just not. He is an above average quarterback that early on in his career had a great season. He was someone for a while that got the excuse of just the pathetic state of the Raiders organization and how much the Raiders organization would screw him. So he became a victim that people had sympathy for. But I'm sick of this look of him on the sideline every time they panned to him where he looks like he's about to cry.

And it's the woe is me type of face. I just don't believe in this guy as a quarterback. And everyone tries to tell me, oh, he's really good.

He's underappreciated. The Saints right now must be livid and they must feel like they're the biggest dopes in the world that they still got three more years of this guy. Because he's just not good. And everyone tries to tell me, oh, he's a borderline top 10 quarterback in this league. Any time he has a top 10 moment, the next week, he sucks.

The next week, he takes three or four steps back. So I cannot understand for the life of me why in the year of twenty twenty three people still believe Derek Carr can be that dude. And the Saints right now are seven and eight. And if they don't win this division, it's embarrassing. They were supposed to easily win this division this year. And now they're in a dogfight with Tampa Bay and I guess now Atlanta still has a chance, even though their head coach stinks and their quarterback.

It was the Taylor him Heinecke now because Desmond Ritter is a disaster. Now, I'm not even asking him to be great if he was just solid, if he was just good this year consistently. They would have easily won this division with the garbage quarterbacks that are in this division.

And you know what? Baker Mayfield is having a better season than Derek Carr. And I trust Baker Mayfield a lot more right now in the year of twenty twenty three than Derek Carr. I think Tampa Bay is going to win the division. But can we stop trying to make Derek Carr something that he's not and his brother could sit there and tweet out and I get it. It's his brother and you're going to defend your brother. He could tweet out his stats all that he wants.

The stats are empty. If anyone actually watches the game, you don't think that this guy for any long period of stretch is one of the dominant quarterbacks in the league. Is a great quarterback in this league or is consistently a top 10 quarterback in this league. He's made.

He's anywhere from like 14 to 16 or 17, somewhere in that range. And there could be a game or two where he looks like he's going to be a top 10 quarterback. And then guess what happens? He doesn't just stumble around the bar. He face plants. He face plants and then you just see that this guy is not that good. So if one more person tells me that Derek Carr is this wonderful quarterback and Derek Carr is underappreciated and he's a lot better than what you guys actually make him out to be.

What are you watching? Like what pictures does Derek Carr have of you where you go and support this guy over and over again? And he seems like a good dude. He seems like he cares. He plays through injuries.

I'm not questioning that part. But when you evaluate the quarterback position, Derek Carr just does not intimidate anyone. And he's just a guy in the NFL. He will never be the guy. And this is not three, four years where he's overcoming an injury. We've seen him now for way too long. You could have a lot worse quarterbacks in the NFL. But just because you have Derek Carr doesn't mean you actually have a good quarterback. And because he threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter last night. Oh, gee whiz. You know, let's give him a big standing applause.

Let's give him a big standing ovation. Thirty to twenty two. I laid the four and a half points with the Rams last night. I was never concerned for a second. Because Derek Carr dig them into such a deep hole and even when he looked like he was climbing out, you knew it was too little, too late. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. And I always find it funny when I go on a rant like that and I'm dressed up in a costume like I am today as I'm dressed up as Santa Claus. You think Santa's nice? Derek Carr, you're on my naughty list. Derek Carr and Sam are both on my naughty list this year. Eight five five two one two four CBS eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven.

Let's go to the Grinch El Capitan. Marco Belletti with the latest CBS Sports Radio update. I'm catching strays the hell.

I'm just sitting here. Oh, it is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. I just saw a photo in a store in Detroit. They are selling NFC North Division champion shirts already for the Detroit Lions. And there's a caricature. It's kind of tough to see. I think it's Jared Goff, Amara St. Brown.

And it looks like it's Aiden Hutchinson on the on the T-shirt. Now, they're going to win the division, but that is like the start of something bad. It feels like a bad omen when you haven't officially clinched the division yet and they're 10 and four in the final three weeks of the season. The Vikings are seven and seven and they play each other this weekend. But that is not I think you are asking for danger with the sports gods or you're still probably when the division in the shirt will be true.

But to put out that that early, I don't know. Lions right now, they have not won a playoff game since nineteen ninety one. I hope that streak ends. But when you're already putting out division around T-shirts that you've won, excuse me, the division championship when it's not officially clinched.

I guess I know how that happens, right? It's the holiday season. You want people to buy things. You have that those shirts brought in, ready to go, ready to put on display after they beat the Vikings, probably this weekend. But you're asking for trouble when you already have those T-shirts out there right now. I like I do not like that. I may be out. I may be out on the line for the rest of the year.

Santa, like that is I think you're asking for some danger there. You know what? Sometimes when you've had so many years of bad luck and you tried everything and you tried reverse curses and you tried voodoo, you tried this and that. Sometimes you just have to look winning in the face and say, you know, we're not afraid of you anymore. Right. Like Dan Campbell before the season, they talked a big game. Right.

And everyone was like, oh, maybe they're talking too much. They haven't done anything yet. You know what? Maybe sometimes just for your own mental psyche, just for your own mental, just fortitude. Sometimes it's important just to like face it and say, you know, we are the best.

We are going to win and not be afraid of it. So good for them. So talking about the Lions, I actually just watched the Barry Sanders documentary and I went into it assuming that they just like lambasted Scott Mitchell, the former quarterback, because Mitchell, we played the audio. He went on and he just torched so many people for ripping him in this dock. The only time that they really ripped him was when the coach said that Joe Montana told him he wanted to go to the Lions before he ended up going to the Chiefs.

And that was like basically it. And Scott got annoyed that the coach would reveal that and the GM didn't want Joe Montana. He thought he was too old and he was trending in the in the wrong direction of his career. And then he had some good two years, I believe, with the Kansas City Chiefs. But I thought Scott Mitchell with the way that I thought it was going to be nasty and really attacking him.

I thought he became he came off overly sensitive because I watched the whole documentary and I didn't think anything was like out of line with the way that they talked about Scott Mitchell was barely even mentioned. And the one thing that I took away from that, I wonder now, like I usually get Barry Sanders on at the Super Bowl. I hope we get him on this year.

I'm assuming that he goes. I want to ask him, does he regret not appreciating the individual honors a little bit more in his career because, like, he left the team MVP at the at the restaurant where I guess they had their end of the year banquet for the Heisman. Like, he was never thrilled about winning the Heisman when it happened. I always wonder with those individual awards, only thing he really cared about was getting to 2000 rushing yards, which he did in a single season. I wonder in the moment if he regrets not appreciating a little bit more about the individuality that he brought to the team.

And I think the reason why he did that, like if I just had to kind of diagnose it and dissect it, was because he knew how great he was. And he didn't want to maybe portray it to his teammates that look at it's all about me, me, me, me, me. I think he was basically saying, guys, I'm winning all these individual awards. I don't give a rat's ass.

You elevate your game and let's go try to win together as a team. That's the way that I interpreted what he did. But I do wonder with the Lions getting to the NFC championship game early in his career, losing the game to Washington and then never getting anywhere close back to there again.

I wonder if he doesn't, if he regrets a little bit, not appreciating or not embracing some of the individual attention that he got early in his career and midway through his career as well before he stunningly walked away where he still had some good years of football left. And he went right on a plane to London. How about that? Facts in the resignation and go right to London.

That was a pretty cool doc. Alrighty, got some questions from Samter. I'll give you some answers. Let's get to onside offsides. Stu, hit it! Zach's taking on the most polarizing issues in sports. Which side of the line of scrimmage will he end up on? Offside, defense number 69.

It's onsides offsides with Zach Gelb on CBS Sports Radio. And yes, on the delicious pepperoni wings that we had last night, some people were asking, whoopty, of course we put blue cheese on them. If you ever have wings, you need blue cheese on wings. If you're a ranch person, as much as I probably love you away from that take, you having ranch on wings makes you a horrible person.

Like, let's just call it how it is. You put ranch on wings, it is a criminal offense you should be arrested. Blue cheese, blue cheese, blue cheese, and more blue cheese.

Anyway, Samter, what do you got? I mean, of course, I'm a ranch on wing guy. Last night you were dipping in the blue cheese. That's what was there. I just didn't feel like asking for ranch.

Oh, you've kind of done that. I enjoy blue cheese. If I had a choice, I would prefer ranch.

Whoopty, blue cheese, love it. Let's go. Now, the Rams win over the Saints last night, rookie wideout Pukan Nkua caught nine passes for 164 yards and a score. Nkua is now just 147 yards shy of setting a new single-season rookie record for receiving yards, and Sean McVay says he should be the offensive rookie of the year. He's outstanding. You know, I mean, I couldn't be more grateful for the contributions and, I mean, what a freaking run on the Jets sweep as a bunch of plays through the pass game.

You guys have seen it week in and week out. You know, you talk about that balance. You can't have the balance if you don't have receivers that are willing to dig out support and do some of the things that he does. You know, you see around the league, you know, Stroud's had a great year, but this guy is, he would get my vote. So onside, offside, Pukan Nkua should win offensive rookie of the year over C.J. Stroud. And it looks like C.J.

's probably going to miss another game this week as there's really not been a change in his status coming back from that concussion. Oh, this is such a tough one, because I think everyone already gave the award out to C.J. Stroud. And from a quarterback standpoint, he's doing historical things, but so is Pukan as a wide receiver. I hate to be like every other voter, but quarterbacks, for all these awards, they get the head start. So I'll probably say, yeah, C.J. Stroud, because there's not really anyone else on the Texans side of the ball that you think about offensively. At least for the Rams, you think about Stafford, you think about Cooper Cup, who's back healthy. Tank Dell was playing great, but then he got hurt. Nikko Collins has been banged up a bit. Devon Motors Singletary's had an okay season. But what Stroud has done, even though both are impressive, I would give the slight edge to Stroud, just because of the lack of talent around him compared to the Rams with Pukan Nkua.

So Nkua should win the offensive rookie of the year over C.J. Stroud. I will go a slight offside on that.

Offside. We get two more Saturday games this weekend with the Bengals and the Steelers and the Bills and the Chargers. Cincy has won three straight with Jake Browning under center. Browning, who's a free agent after the season, is averaging over 315 yards passing during that span. Onside, offside, Jake Browning will be a starting quarterback somewhere in the NFL in 2024. I'm going to go offside.

I'm impressed with what I've seen so far, but I need to see more. He was only on a one-year deal with the Bengals, and I think the Bengals will probably want to keep him, because Joe Burrow, unfortunately, has now been injured twice. That has cost him the rest of the season, and he's been more than a competent backup. But just because of a small sample size, he may get an opportunity with another quarterback to compete for the job.

But I can't say I fully expect him to be a starting quarterback somewhere in 2024. And also remember, I know Jamar Chase is now hurt, but they have a lot of good weapons in Cincinnati. So it's a good landing spot for a backup quarterback to have some success.

Offside. Sunday's big game pits the Cowboys against the Dolphins, teams that seem to be mirror images of each other. The Cowboys are coming off that 21-point drubbing to the Bills, while the Dolphins haven't beaten a team all year that currently has a winning record. Their best win is against the 7-7 Broncos. So onside, offside, the Cowboys will win this game.

This is an offside for me, and the reason why is last week the Buffalo Bills with James Cook. Just absolutely destroyed that Cowboys defense. I think this is a big game where, yes, we're going to make it all about the quarterbacks, and the quarterbacks are going to have to protect the ball late in the fourth quarter, and ultimately they'll determine the game. But I trust Raheem Mostert and Devon A. Chan to just have monster games up against this Cowboys defense, even though this Cowboys defense is good. I just think you saw something happen last week in Buffalo that Miami will try to replicate. So I take the Dolphins in this game. Offside when you say the Cowboys will win this game.

Offside. Now for you Patriots fans out there, just when you thought we were finally done with deflate gate. Yeah, where's the suspension right now?

It is back. Boom. Deflate gate two.

Losers. Now after last week's Pats-cheese game, Bill Belichick, of all people, took issue with the amount of air in the kicking balls. Well, the officials handled that, and they were under-inflated by two, two and a half pounds. I think you could see that by the kicks, you know, both kickers miss kicks, and Buckerhead missed a kick all year.

Kickoffs, you know, we had two almost one out of bounds. I don't know, you have to talk to the league what happened on that, because we don't have anything to do with that part of it. Yeah, where's that rat Mike Kensel? Loser.

But didn't do it before then. Get him, Bill. Get him, Bill. There's no question you could ask, but we don't have anything to do with it. Fire Goodell.

Get him, Bill. I love how he kept saying, we have nothing to do with that, as if he was trying to say, hey, the inflation of a ball has nothing to do with us. Interesting. Onside to offside, the amount of air in a football is a big deal. When you're throwing, no. When you're running, no. When you're kicking, yeah.

How convenient, says the fat fan. Hello, yes, of course, we got screwed. That's why we lost to Kansas City. I'm actually happy, because now the officials are in on the tank, so good for them.

But when it comes to kicking, yes, how much air is in the football is a big deal. Onsides, I want justice. Exonerate Brady, exonerate Belichick, and screw all you people that were leading a witch hunt a few years ago, because you were jealous. Jealous. Losers, jealous. Winners, winners, winners. What happened to that Super Bowl? Oh, yeah, they won.

They were down by 10 points to the LOB, and Tom Brady said, I don't care about you, Richard Sermon. We're going to win the game. Winners. Cheaters. Now, the Dodgers keep spending a greeting to a record 12-year, $325 million deal with Japanese phenom, Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Say that 10 times fast.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Yeah, don't actually. That comes down, sorry, that comes down just a couple weeks after pointing up 700 mil for Otani, and the Dodgers' payroll is now over 280 million, and that includes Otani deferring 68 million a year to later years. So onside, offside, baseball would be better off with a salary cap like either the NBA or the NFL. Offside, but what I would say here is when you defer money, it should not decrease your luxury tax, and it did decrease the luxury tax for Otani that enabled them to put them in a position to go get Yamamoto.

So I don't think there should be a salary cap, and I'm good with owners wanting to spend like a bunch of drunk sailors, but I don't think you should be able to defer the money and then have your luxury tax hit, whatever it is, go down a little bit. So I will go offside there. Offside. Alrighty, this is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Really quick first hour of the show. When we come on back, CBS Sports has an article out there about five coaches who could get fired this upcoming off season.

How many of those are realistic? Also, Shannon Crowder will join us 25 minutes from now. And Ryan Horvat from VetMGM tonight with some bowl picks and NFL picks at 5.20 p.m. Eastern, 2.20 p.m. Pacific, to try to win you some money. Coming on back. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time.