This NFL Season’s Best Stories (Hour 3)

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$10 minimum per order. Additional terms apply. All right, away we go. Hour number three of our radio program. That's right, it is the Zach Gelb Show, Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. Cadre Ismail is going to join us coming up 20 minutes from now to talk about the Baltimore Ravens and what they did last night up against the San Francisco 49ers.

We are streaming on YouTube, as always, youtube.com slash CBS Sports Radio, and you can always interact with the show 8 5 5 2 1 2 for CBS 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27. When we take a look around the NFL, you have two teams that have been known for years as being losers, and that's the Cleveland Browns and then also the Detroit Lions. What the Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions have done this year is absolutely remarkable. You take a glance at the Cleveland Browns. They have had injury after injury after injury where we have seen them lose their quarterback to Sean Watson for the season. We have seen them lose their running back in Nick Chubb and have dealt with a bunch of injuries on both sides of the ball. But this team still finds a way to just win. And the Cleveland Browns, in all likelihood, are going to be going to the playoffs. And anyone before the start of the season that said Kevin Stefanski is on the hot seat, you have nothing to say anymore like he was on the hot seat. That's not me going after you.

And that's not me saying, Oh, you were wrong for saying that. But next year, when Deshaun Watson comes back, if he has any problems with Kevin Stefanski, it ain't a Kevin Stefanski problem. That's a you problem, Deshaun Watson, because this is a guy in Kevin Stefanski that has won one Coach of the Year award before. And he could be winning the Coach of the Year award this year.

Right? Colts lost last week. Texans lost last week. And here you have the Cleveland Browns coming off another win up against the Texans. And Joe Flacco, cool Joe, elite Joe, came off the couch.

And now he's just punching it in the mouth over and over again. I can't believe this with Joe Flacco. Here we go, Brownies.

Here we go. The Cleveland Browns are an enjoyable football team. And Amari Cooper? What was it, 230 something yards? I may have shortchanged him a little bit, but that's a Browns individual game record. Amari Cooper was on ION Football two weeks ago after he had a great 75-yard run for a touchdown.

And he was like, nah, it was all Joe Flacco, where Joe Flacco thread the needle in between three defenders. 265 yards for Amari Cooper on 11 receptions and two touchdowns. And how about the career year for David Njoku? The dude nearly burnt his face off.

And now he's back. And he has a career high in receiving yards, receptions, and also touchdowns. The Browns are 10 and 5, and they're one of those teams where you say, how the heck are they 10 and 5? How the heck is this team 10 and 5 when all throughout the year they have just been decimated by injuries?

Like if the Browns didn't have a good record this year, I think we could all look back and say, oh, well, it's because they got hurt. But this has been a group where there wins this year. They beat Cincinnati. They beat Tennessee. They beat the 49ers. They beat the Colts. They beat the Cardinals. They beat the Baltimore Ravens, a great comeback victory. They beat the Steelers. They beat the Jaguars. They beat the Bears. They beat the Texans. And they got two games left this season. The Jets and the Bengals. The Bengals who also lost their quarterback. Now they're without Jamar Chase.

And let's just call it for what it is. The Jets or the Jets. The Cleveland Browns, they're going to be 12 and 5.

Think about that. The Cleveland Browns are going to be 12 and 5 at the end of the regular season, and they are playing with Joe Flacco, and they don't have Nick Chubb. This is a remarkable, and I'll say it again, a remarkable coaching job by Kevin Stefanski. And there's a lot of times in football season, because I like to listen in to our local markets, and I like to listen in to our Odyssey stations because I'm a company guy.

And one show I thoroughly enjoy is the Ken Karman show with Anthony Lima, and I know both of those two very well. And there have been so many times throughout this year where there have been passionate fans of the dog pound that have called into that show and have berated Kevin Stefanski and have called for Kevin Stefanski to be fired. And they have said this dude is not the dude to leave the Cleveland Browns. Think about what Kevin Stefanski has done in Cleveland. They got to the playoffs, and I know he had COVID, but they won a playoff game in Pittsburgh. And now, having to deal with everything about Deshaun Watson last year, and that's more on the owners of the team, the Haslam family, than it is him.

And then Deshaun finally played a decent game, and then he gets hurt. And they've been able to call Joe Flacco off the street, and they've already won double-digit games. And there's two games left in the season.

And this team is definitely going to be a playoff team. And now the conversation with the Cleveland Browns. Are the Browns a contender? Like, I don't expect the Browns to go to the Super Bowl this year.

So I'm not ready to go there yet. But they did beat the Ravens. Like, I look at Cleveland. They are a team. This is the way that you describe Cleveland.

You do not want to face them. Because Joe Flacco has nothing to lose. This is the last rodeo for elite Joe Flacco. And that defense is still damn good. And on offense, they have maybe one of the more underappreciated offensive players in the NFL for the last 10 years, Amari Cooper. Amari Cooper was really damn good with the Raiders, was really damn good with the Cowboys. He was made available. And what, he got traded for like a six-round pick or whatever it was?

Or a fourth in a filling, whatever. It was nothing for a guy of his talent. And Amari Cooper, by the way, became the first Cleveland Browns wide receiver this past weekend to have back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons. This story is just great. And you know why I love this story? Because the team that's usually a bunch of losers are now turning into winners.

And you've got to give credit to Kevin Stefanski. I don't have a team this year. Like, I root for a team. But my team stinks. So I don't have a team for the playoffs.

But I'm looking at this right now. Outside of the Detroit Lions, which we'll get to in just a second. Is there a team that you'll be rooting harder for in the playoffs than the Cleveland Browns? The Browns right now have the third best record. They wouldn't be the third seed because the Ravens right now would win the division. But they had the third best record in the AFC. The Ravens are 12-3. The Dolphins are 11-4. And then here are the Cleveland Browns at 10-5.

Teams that are behind, teams that are looking up at Cleveland right now. Patrick Mahomes is Kansas City Chiefs. Josh Allen's Buffalo Bills. Trevor Lawrence's Jacksonville Jaguars. The Colts, the Texans, the Steelers, the Bengals, and many other.

Sansa, I'll ask you this. You've seen a lot of good stories. Is there a better story in the NFL right now than the Cleveland Browns and what the Cleveland Browns — here we go, Brownies, here we go.

And I said, here we go again. It's the Cleveland Browns and it's first in 10. Is there a better story than the Cleveland Browns as I try to be William Hung on American Idol? She bangs.

She bangs. What's the best story in the NFL right now? It's not the Browns. And here's the thing about the Browns. Here's the thing about the Browns.

Any team that has Deshaun Watson — But they don't have him right now. He's hurt. Right.

So that's kind of the caveat. But he was there for long enough during the season that he won some games and he was still there. But he really did nothing. But it's still the franchise that gave this guy guaranteed money despite all the stuff. So they're villains to start with. Now listen, if you want to say — No one hates the Browns right now. And Miles Garrett hit a guy with a helmet a few years ago. Yeah, but everyone's forgot about that because the guy's a dog on the field. What I'm saying is the Browns are still villains.

I guess we're happy. You think the Browns are a villainous team right now? Yes, because they have Deshaun Watson. With Joe Flacco?

But they don't. The guy's hurt. It doesn't matter. He's still — It's a franchise, right? The team you can maybe root for. You can root for Flacco. Flacco's the guy you can root for, I guess. But for the most part, I don't root for the Browns because I just look at that franchise and the ownership and the team and what they did and who they brought and how much they paid them.

It's just — they grossed me out. So no, I don't think the Browns are the best story. I don't even think they're a top three or four story in the NFL. The best story in the NFL.

That's crazy. The best story in the NFL by far is the Houston Texans. We thought that they were going to have — But the Browns just beat. I'm not saying they're the best team.

They're the best story. The Browns, we thought were going to make the playoffs with or without Deshaun Watson. We knew the Browns were good. We knew they had a great defense, right?

The difference was we thought the Houston Texans might be the first overall pick back-to-back years or top two picks back-to-back years. And now C.J. Stroud looks like he might be the next Patrick Mahomes.

The next best story — No, let's pump the brakes there. C.J. Stroud playing well. He's been hurt the last few months. Yeah, you know what I mean. I'm just saying he's the next guy. He's the guy.

He's a guy. The next best story, even though the expectations were high, are the Detroit Lions because they're the Detroit Lions. But real quickly, I don't even know in the AFC South if the Texans are the best story. And that's not me taking a shot at the Texans. The Texans are a phenomenal story. But the Colts are just as good of a story. Because Gardner — you talk about guys who are easy to root for. I love Joe Flacco, but he's been there before. Gardner Minshew is easy to root for. And Jonathan Taylor's been banged up for most of the season, too.

100 percent. So, like, for me, I think the Texans and the Lions are the two biggest stories. They're the two biggest, best stories of the year.

The most — just emotional and easy to root for. But the Texans have got to make the playoffs. I'm not saying that we would look at the Texans as a bad story. But for them to really get the play of the best story of the year, they've got to make the playoffs. Right. But right now, as we stand at 8 and 7 — and listen, they lost.

But at 8 and 7, to me — Just for the outside look at it. They're the best of the second best story. The Lions, to me, are an easy top two, whether they're one or two with the Texans is interchangeable. Because even though we had the expectations, it's still the Lions. First division in 30 years, right? The difference is the Browns — Baker Mayfield got them back to the playoffs a couple years ago.

They did. If this team had still been playoff-less, had still been crappy for years, and never had that, like, glimmer of hope, that one year of up, and this was the one, and it's Joe Flacco, maybe a different story. But we've seen them kind of getting back up there. They've kind of been at the middle for a little bit.

They've kind of had their opportunities for a little bit. And just for me, I can't root in any way, shape, or form for any team that has Deshaun Watson on their roster. I think your point could have some validity on the Watson front if Watson was playing.

But Watson, to me, is now out of sight, out of mind. And also, I'm not defending what Deshaun Watson did. I do not think the Browns should have traded for Deshaun Watson.

I don't think they should have gave him that guaranteed contract. But there's a lot of guys around the NFL that I could say, they did this thing that's horrible and this thing that's horrible. And we just know when you win games, whether this is right or wrong, people cheer for the touchdowns on the field, not necessarily the person that's scoring them.

It's just because their team is scoring. But with Watson not playing for the Browns right now, it actually makes the Browns a team where I don't think you're even thinking about the other. I didn't even think about that part of it until you just brought it up with Cleveland.

See, I can't get that out of my head. I can't think of the Cleveland Browns with him on the field or not. The Cleveland Browns are still the team that traded for Deshaun Watson, gave him a ridiculously guaranteed contract, and put him on their roster and defended him. Despite him having no remorse and showing no apology.

Another better story. But let's be real, it wasn't like they were the only team going after him. There were a lot of other teams that were going for him because of his talent. They were the only team that would have given him $230 million guaranteed.

No other team was doing that. Yeah, but there were other teams that were interested. The Panthers were interested. The Falcons were interested.

And if the Panthers traded for him and gave him a monster deal, I would feel the same way about the Panthers. But right now, they're the team who did it. Another better story is the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders? The Raiders, absolutely.

All right, stop. We're going to reel this back in. The Raiders, Antonio Pierce, outside of Jim Harbaugh, should be their coach next year. The Raiders are not a top five great story of the NFL.

Fantastic story. They're 7-8. I get it, they just beat the Chiefs, but let's pump the brakes. The Lions are the one that I'll give you a lot of credit for. The Lions being 11-4, and they almost lost that game.

It flashed right in front of their eyes, and they find a way to hold on to the lead when they were about to crumble with Nick Mullins of all people, and a great catch by Justin Jefferson, too. The Lions are a sensational story, because that's a fan base that they're always synonymous with having Barry Sanders, one of the greatest players of all time, and not finding a way to win it with one of the more electrifying players that we've ever seen in the NFL. And now, they've won their first division championship since 1993. It wasn't even the NFC North the last time they won a division championship, it was the NFC Central. And they are going to get a home playoff game with the opportunity to see a first playoff victory since 1991. The Lions I give you right now are the best story in the NFL.

But after that, it's got to beat Cleveland. And I know you could talk about the whole Watson thing, but forget about Watson because he's not playing right now. Joe Flacco.

No one would have ever thought for a second that Joe Flacco would be playing, and be playing at a high level winning games and could potentially make Cleveland a tough out come playoff time. We got to take a break, and this is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. When we do return, let's get to Kadri Asmael. We all know the missile Kadri Asmael and how much he loves the Baltimore Ravens. We wanted to bring Q on today after the Ravens walked into Santa Clara, and maybe had the victory of the season with the way they dominated the San Francisco 49ers. Kadri Asmael still to come, and also we got to get to overreaction, proper reaction coming up at 5.40 p.m. Eastern, 2.40 p.m. Pacific. And there's still one player we got to talk about.

One player that's been underwhelming in the NFL, and for some reason a lot of people aren't talking about him. We'll get to that, still got 40 minutes left, and this is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. When the whole family comes together to watch the game, nobody wants to miss a second of the action to run to the grocery store. With Instacart, you can get all your weekly groceries in as fast as an hour.

Less time shopping means more game time. Let's go. Visit Instacart.com to get free delivery on your first three orders.

Offer valid for a limited time, $10 minimum per order. Additional terms apply. Alrighty, rocking and rolling, this is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Let's welcome in a Super Bowl champion, former Ravens wide receiver, Kadre Ismail.

And right now you can check him out as the co-host of Purple Pregame and Postgame on WJZ-TV in Baltimore. Q, always appreciate the time. How you been, my friend? Happy holidays. Happy holidays. I'm doing well, bro. Well, let me start you off with your Ravens last night. What a wonderful performance that is.

And you know what I'm the happiest for and who I'm happiest for? It's actually Lamar Jackson. Because today is one of those days where no one could actually say anything negative about Lamar Jackson.

And if they do, they're just simply a hater Q. You're right. I think when you look at the circumstances, the way in which you had the 49ers, their defense is dominant as it has been the other side of the football with Brock Purdy and all his weapons around him. And the talk of Brock Purdy being an MVP candidate who's a head of Lamar Jackson, the way in which Lamar Jackson just overall had to deal with the loss of Keaton Mitchell, a very explosive, dynamic threat at running back, no longer going to be at his side. Then you also couple in the fact that you had Mark Andrews, his go to tight end. He was going to be put on IR is put on IR, I should say, because of a hip drop tackle in this the Bengals game. It just came about where, yes, he needed to play his absolute best.

And I think he did that. And I think he showed many a person that haven't really been following the Ravens that Lamar Jackson is the real deal. Let's just say this offseason, some team offered him a ridiculous contract and they went to the Ravens and right. They had that opportunity to match it or not. If they didn't match it, the Ravens will get two first round picks. Do you think there would have been a number where the Ravens, when push came to shove, would have been out on Lamar Jackson as their quarterback?

That's a big one, I think. It would have had to have been that Herschel Walker going way back in the day, kind of a deal where the Ravens would have given up, you know, a lot of. They would have given up Lamar Jackson to gain back a lot of draft capital, a lot of first rounders, a lot of opportunity for them to see that they can grow and then somehow convince the fan base that that was the right thing to do.

I don't know. Steve Shadi would have been tossing and turning to allow EDC to make that decision happen. But we can sit back and talk the conjecture, I think, for other teams, general managers. I don't think they quite had the balls to do it because they wanted to play it safe and get drafts their own players or stick with their own free agent guys. But ultimately, as we are now seeing it play out, kudos for the Ravens to getting the deal done. And for those other general managers who didn't really see the vision or didn't really understand the full talented nature of Lamar Jackson.

Well, they're going to be sitting there on a hot seat wondering if they're going to have a job come this offseason. Kadre Ismail here with us. Why does Lamar Jackson get so much hate? Like I felt even before the draft, I've been on this island where he should get a chance to play quarterback. We all know what Bill Polian said that he wins a unanimous MVP and people still question him. I know he was hurt the last two years, but it always comes back to it feels like you people know he hasn't won the Super Bowl.

He hasn't won the Super Bowl. And I've seen so many players in this league quarterbacks that go on to win it who struggled early on in their careers in the postseason. Yeah, I mean, what the heck you could look at, you know, one of the all time greats and Peyton Manning, my former teammate who, you know, his first few years, he really struggled. But, you know, the belief in him from an organizational standpoint, helped him kind of push through all that. And obviously the game slowed down for him and he had a phenomenal Hall of Fame career.

I think with Lamar, I just think that he is such an outlier. And because of his because of his skill set and what he brings to the table, you have to have a good vision. You have to have a vision of understanding how to coach him, a vision of understanding how to put the guys around him to allow him to blossom, to allow him to flourish. And there have been other teams that have done that with guys that were similar to him. You know, you had a team like a Philadelphia Eagles squad with the Randall Cunningham era. You had a team in the Atlanta Falcons who, you know, saw something in a special dynamic player in Michael Vick.

You saw that with the 49ers when Bill Walsh felt like, hey, I want to bring on a Steve Young to my team. And I think with all those, you know, mobile quarterbacks that have a lot of athleticism, but could sling it around, you just got to put them in the right position. You got to allow them to be them while at the same time getting them to, as Steve Young had previously said on a podcast, look, when you are a dynamic runner like Lamar, yeah, you sure have the entire field at your disposal. But at the same time, if you can enhance your play by allowing the play itself to enhance and go through your reads and projections of where to go with the football, then I think that's where you become even more dangerous.

And that's where you're going to have a more lasting impact on the league and can have that Hall of Fame type career that obviously Steve Young has had. But that is where I think for Lamar Jackson, if you don't have that vision, then yeah, you're just going to be shortsighted. But if you have that vision and I think you're going to love some Lamar Jackson and watch him do his thing.

Kadre Ismail here with us. Going into this one the other night, there was a lot of people saying Brock Purdy or Christian McCaffrey should win the MVP. Now we know the take today is that Lamar Jackson should win it. There's been a big push this year for Tyree Kill.

The Ravens play the Dolphins coming up Sunday at one o'clock in Baltimore. Do you think this MVP conversation is over with? Like you would be shocked if Lamar doesn't end up winning the award at the end of the year, correct? I think if you look at what, you know, he has obviously the Dolphins and, you know, he does what he does. He's going to have a great game. They're going to see why he's such a tremendous player, tremendous athlete, tremendous quarterback, tremendous leader. You know, he is that guy. And at the same time, when you look at what they have Steelers at the end of the year.

So I think it's just icing on the cake right now. You'd have to be a fool to turn the other way and not give him the MVP. When we rank Lamar Jackson, like how many quarterbacks in the NFL queue just wondering that just come to you right off the top of the head that you would rather have than Lamar Jackson?

What I would rather have like there is somebody better. All he does is win. You know, I think for the talent that has been around him.

Let me put it to you this way. Can I trade out other quarterbacks, put them on the team that he's had and have them be as successful as Lamar Jackson has been with the talent that has been around him? And I would argue, no, you can even look at the struggles of Patrick Mahomes when he doesn't have a fully talented Arsenal at his disposal. You can look at with Josh Allen and you can see how he has had to do an awful lot but has come up short as well.

So, you know, the mindset of who is better, you know, you're I get, you know, our dialogue our back and forth, but man, you know, yeah, maybe I have the purple Kool Aid that I'm drinking, but I like that number eight. I like what he does and I think he's more than proving himself as a winner wrapping up with cadre a smile. Let me get to someone that you know, well, and some of the had a lot of success in Baltimore. Joe Flacco now dominating with the Cleveland Browns. How far do you think the Browns can go this year? Because it's wild with all their injuries.

They have 10 wins and they're still two weeks left in the regular season. Yeah, and last I checked, I mean, you know, Miles Garrett and company on that defensive front has just been playing phenomenal. I think that's something that is really grossly overlooked, you know, they allow for the offense to just function and flourish. And I think that's something that is really just been tremendous for Joe Flacco and if you look at his resume, and when he won the Super Bowl with the Ravens and I was a part of that ride as part of the team broadcast. But the one thing I will say is that, you know, he has a very competent run game and he has a dominant receiver in a Mark Cooper very similar to what he had with Antoine Bolden. So there are some pieces there and Joe is one of those type of quarterbacks where he knows where to go with the football and very talented quarterback indeed. Yeah, it's amazing when you look at Amari Cooper. I still feel as if he's underappreciated and everywhere. He's gone. He's had success. He's got to be one of the more underappreciated wide receivers in football. Absolutely.

I mean from day one, I think, you know, I've been a Mark Cooper fan. He just shows up. I mean, I mean, you know, that's that's what you want. You know, you just want your guy to show up and what does that mean third down everybody in the building. No, you're gonna throw it don't matter if it's off coverage, press coverage, cloud coverage, you know, whatever kind of coverage you want to cover.

I'm about to just blow it up, get open, make the catch and make you pay. That's all he does. He just shows up and I think it's a tremendous credit to his talent. Do you think those are the two best teams of the NFL, by the way, cadre a smile, what we saw last night, the Ravens and the 49ers that you think that's what we're going to see in a few weeks in the Super Bowl. Well, I mean, there's a lot of football left. I do know that the 49ers have been balling and they've, they've, they've gone on a road that played well at home. They've, you know, mud stomped some NFC opponents. There's a reason why Lamar Jackson is 21 versus the NFC.

I think it's just simply, you know, teams don't know what to expect when they see him. Whereas in the AFC, yeah, teams are kind of somewhat familiar with what Lamar is all about. Let's just take care of as I'm doing my, my Lamar Jackson impression. Let's take care of this portion of the season. And when we get into January and February and it's playoff time, then, then we'll go ahead and start worrying about it. I absolutely can see both teams, you know, making it to the Superbowl, but we also recognize that second season, that playoff season, mother of Pearl.

I mean, it's, it's, it's a razor thin line between advancing and going home. It does a great job pre and post on WJZ in Baltimore. He is the Superbowl champion, NFL wide receiver cadre a smile Q appreciate the time as always. Thanks so much. Be well. Absolutely. Appreciate you, Zach.

There you go. Cadre a smile joining us on CBS sports radio 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS 8 5 5 2 1 2 42 27. Before we take a break, come on back, talk a little Trevor Lawrence also do a little overreaction proper reaction. Let me just take one phone call here. We go to Todd and Tampa.

Who's next up on CBS sports radio. Todd, appreciate the call. How are you? I'm doing great, Zach. Let me be real quick. Cause I know you're busy. Your show is hot as flying through the day. I just want to say if the diamonds are the, are the number one talk of town is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield.

Okay. We took Goldilocks out. Todd Bowes is bringing pressure because our defense, you can't stop Lavonte David, Devin wife. We had three turnovers. We dropped one would have been four turnovers. The game was over in the first half.

It was 20 to nothing and it was lights out baby. So before everybody overlooks my Buccaneers, which we got the saints coming to town this week. And I want to make sure you're on your a game. Todd Bowes. I want to make sure you bring pressure on David Carr and knock him out too. Derek, this bucket of your team is on fire at Baker.

Mayfield is lighten it up, baby. Thanks so much for the phone call, Todd. I thought at first when he said, Buccaneer, that we were going to have to press the dump button. I thought I heard an F in there in a word that I can't say on the radio, but a Todd and Tampa always brings it about his bucks.

And it's always amazing to me. Todd always thinks the bucks get slighted. The bucks are not a top three story of the NFL this year, but they are a really good story. And they're a story that maybe doesn't get talked about enough, but let's make sure they go win the division first and they should. And Devin white had that whole issue last week.

Then he bounces back with a great game. Yahya Diabi has been playing some great football rookie for them. Lavonte David, just one of the consummate professionals in the NFL.

But really, when I think of Tampa Bay, I think of two things. Baker Mayfield is showing that he belongs in the NFL. I'm not saying he's great, but he's just showing he belongs. And two, we talked about underappreciated wide receivers and I bring up Amari Cooper. What about Mike Evans? Like Mike Evans should be a slam dunk Hall of Famer. He's been in this league for 10 years. He's been over 1000 yards in every year.

I know he just played the last two, three years of Brady, but other than that, he's not a lot of great quarterbacks. And remember, before the year he was annoyed at the team because they didn't give him a new contract. They would be a bunch of fools if they don't find the way this this offseason to get a deal done.

And I don't care what his age is. Now I don't know if he wants to still be there because maybe he thinks he can go somewhere else, but he's already won a Super Bowl. And that's a dude that should be a career Tampa Bay Buccaneer and only be at one place.

So we'll see if they get that job done. But I like this Bucs team. I thought Todd Bowles would have been fired at the end of the year. Now I'll probably be back as the head coach and they need to win that division.

Because I know the Falcons are now back in it and they were my pick before the year, but I don't trust Arthur Smith right now, even coming after a victory and the Saints. I'm sick and tired of Derek Carr. I did this rant last week, but the woe is me look that's always on Derek Carr's face. I can't stand it. I can't. And if I have to watch Derek Carr in the playoffs and find a way to beat the Cowboys, I wouldn't even be able to enjoy a Cowboys victory or, you know, a Cowboys defeat in the postseason if it comes at the hands of Derek Carr.

So Tampa, do us a favor, get into the playoffs. Alrighty, Zach Gelb Show CBS Sports Radio. Come on back a little overreaction, proper reaction.

Update time first. Here is Pat Boyle. Hey, this is Howie and this is Nick and you're listening to the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio.

And guess what? Zach is back. All right. He's live. He's nationwide on CBS Sports Radio. This is the Zach Gelb Show. Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio.

Just real quickly. I want to say one thing about Trevor Lawrence, who I know is dealing with a bunch of injuries this year. But just because he's dealing with injuries doesn't give him an excuse about the totality of the Jaguar season this year. Because this Jacksonville Jaguars team, I don't know if there was one person in the national media that was higher on this Jaguars team entering the season than I was. I said with their schedule, with their crappy division, it would not shock me that if they were the number one overall seed in the AFC.

Not the best team in terms of the team I believe that go to Super Bowl, but just being the number one overall seed. And I have never given up on a team quicker than Jacksonville. Because in week one, they had to come from behind to beat Indianapolis.

Alrighty, you still won. But then in week two in Duval, they had a chance to beat Kansas City. And Kansas City only scored 17 points in the game.

You owe Kansas City to 17 points, you should win. They only scored 9 points. And that wasn't the only time this year where at home, we just saw Jacksonville crumble and the offense just be non-existent. You look at the San Francisco 49ers game.

I know you can tell me, oh it's the 49ers Zach. They scored 3 points against the San Francisco 49ers. And then they had the Ravens. They scored 7 points against the Baltimore Ravens. And this past weekend, they just got dominated by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This was a team that was 6-2. And since their bye week, they're now 8-7. And they have just recently lost 4 games in a row.

That's a problem. And even though I think Trevor Lawrence can still be a really good player, it's not just being a really good player. We were told he was going to be a transcendent, generational talent for 3 years. And right now, first year you chalk it up to being on the same team as Urban Meyer and being coached by Urban Meyer. Last year they took a good step, but now they're regressing. And when you're regressing in this year and you're number 3, it's like, uh oh.

Like, what's going on? And I still think he'd be good. But he's been underwhelming. For a player that's still been solid, he's been underwhelming because the hype was all the way up here. Alrighty, let's get to a little overreaction, proper reaction, Carlos Ortiz.

Hit it! Another NFL week is complete. Which means it's another week to freak out about your favorite team. Which tanks are truly crazy. But sometimes a game can be so bad, it's almost good. You know what I'm saying?

And which are so crazy, they might be right. He's 6'5", he's 245 pounds, he's probably a Popeye's biscuit away from being a tight end. Zach let you know in this week's edition of Overreaction or Proper Reaction. And this portion of the show is brought to you by Wesley Financial.

Stuck at a timeshare and want to help, contact Wesley Financial Group now and get a free timeshare exit information kit at wesleyfinancialgroup.com. Moist Mike, what do we got cooking? Alright, well just when we thought we had the AFC North figured out, the Steelers crushed the Red Hot Bengals thanks to a monster game from, believe it or not, Mason Rudolph. Jake Browning threw three picks while Rudolph passed for nearly 300 yards and two touchdowns as both teams moved to 8 and 7 overall. Overreaction, Proper Reaction, you actually have more faith in the Steelers right now than you do the Bengals.

Yes, that is a proper reaction for two reasons. The Steelers defense is dominant and the other is, it's one thing to lose Joe Burrow and look like you could still be competent with Jake Browning, which they were. But then once you lose Jamar Chase as well, the combination of losing both, even though the Steelers don't have that many pieces that you could trust on the offensive side of the ball, I would still think the Steelers right now are the better team than the Cincinnati Bengals as we enter the final two weeks of the season. Alright, well you had the bills of the third best team in the NFL and your favorite to make the Super Bowl out of the AFC, but Buffalo struggled against the Chargers on Saturday needing a late field goal to pull out the win. Overreaction, Proper Reaction, after this game you're less confident in the bills in the AFC. That's an overreaction, they just needed to win that game.

It happens when you fire a coach, the team gets a little bit of a boost, especially when they hated the coach in Brandon Staley. I'm not saying that was a good effort by the Buffalo Bills, but they knew they were going to win that game regardless even though it was really close. I put a future on them three weeks ago at plus a thousand to get to the Super Bowl as long as they get in the dance, I still think they could do that.

That number is now down to like plus 600 or plus 550, something like that. So it was a good bet by yours truly. Sure the Ravens look dominant and the Ravens are still the team to beat in the AFC, but I'm not less confident in the Bills. I think the Bills are primed and ready to go to make a big run in the postseason. Now the Colts were rolling and the Falcons were in a free fall, but this is the NFL.

Tom Petty. This is the NFL and of course Atlanta smoked Indy 29-10 on Sunday. After the game Gardner Minshew had a warning for his team. It is a week to week league. The wins don't carry over and neither do losses. I think you start looking at opportunities like this and you start counting wins and you start doing the schedule math and you look around, it's like well they lost to Carolina, well will you beat the Steelers?

So you know what, like you got to go earn it right now. Overreaction, proper reaction, the Colts will miss the playoffs. So the AFC East will have two playoff teams. The AFC North will have two playoff teams.

So that's two wildcard spots that are taken up. I still think the Colts have a shot because I don't trust Jacksonville and I don't know what the health will be of CJ Stroud moving forward. I expect him to return this week, but I could still see the Colts making the playoffs. So you saying the Colts right now will miss the playoffs, I'll go overreaction there.

Alright now the Bucks took the lead in the NFC South thanks to a convincing 30-12 win over those Jags you were just talking about. Before the game, reports surfaced that Baker Mayfield and the Bucks had mutual interest in keeping the former number one overall pick under center in 2024. So overreaction, proper reaction, Baker Mayfield should be the Bucks starting quarterback in 2024. Proper reaction but with the caveat.

I'm not making a ridiculous long-term commitment. If he realizes this is a good situation and he's fine applying a shorter deal, I'm good. Maybe you franchise tag him, I don't know if they'll go down that road because maybe they'll franchise tag Mike Evans. But on the right deal I'm okay with keeping Baker and I think Baker realizes he's appreciated in Tampa and he shouldn't, like I'm not saying he shouldn't look for a big deal if someone wants to give it to you, it's fine. I think he's more than fine being in that Bucks organization.

So yeah I would go more proper reaction that the Bucks should keep Baker and make him the starter in 2024. Now the commanders nearly made an epic comeback against my former team the Jets overcoming a 27-7 deficit to take a late 28-27 lead. But of course Washington snatched David from the hands of victory, losing on a last second field goal. The loss dropped the commanders to 4-11 and good for the fourth overall pick in the draft. Now overreaction, proper reaction, assuming Washington misses out on Caleb Williams and Drake May if they do have that fourth pick, they should still draft a quarterback if they have a pick in the top five. That's an overreaction, I think Jayden Daniels could be a great pick for them, someone that they should consider. But I don't think you just draft a quarterback for the sake of drafting a quarterback, you have to love the quarterback. So they should still draft a QB with a top five pick, I would go overreaction and you just gotta see how it plays out in the scouting process. They just like a quarterback, the quarterback's good, don't take him, you gotta be in love with the quarterback.

Now speaking of the draft, the Bears currently hold the number one pick thanks to the Panthers being terrible. But it appears Caleb Williams might not want to play in Chicago after he liked a tweet saying the Bears should actually draft Marvin Harrison Jr. rather than himself, number one overall. So overreaction, proper reaction, you see Caleb Williams trying to pull an Elway or Eli Manning to dictate where he will and won't play. So can I see him doing it?

Trying to, yes. So I think he will have success, no. I don't know if the Bears are going to draft a quarterback, there's more and more of a case as the weeks do develop for them to keep Justin Fields and trade the pick or draft Marvin Harrison Jr. and then trade their other first round pick, but I don't think he'll have success. But you said he'll try to pull an Elway or Eli and dictate where he will and won't play, I guess that's a proper reaction, he'll try.

But there's a lot of people that try to do things that don't end up accomplishing them. Alrighty, that is overreaction, proper reaction, this is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio. A very, very, very busy Tuesday edition of the show, we'll be back tomorrow. Jaddard Gordon from the UFC is going to stop by, he has an incredible story and he'll tell it to us tomorrow. We've got a whole lot more college football playoff preview to do as we inch closer and closer to January 1st, New Year's Day.

As we do have Michigan going up against Alabama and the granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl, and then we also have Texas going up against Washington, which I think will be a high-scoring affair. Whole lot of NFL news and notes items to get through the rest of the week. Big thanks to each and every one of you for calling, listening, and tweeting the show.

Big thanks to Pat Boyle, Carlos with a K, and also Moist Mike. We'll see you tomorrow, everybody, at 3 p.m. Eastern, noon Pacific. We out, buh-bye.

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