Black Monday (Hour 2)

Alrighty, live from Houston for the National Championship game tonight, Zach Gelb here with you on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We're getting you set for Michigan, and Washington, Jim Harbaugh, Kalen DeBoer, Michael Penix Jr., JJ McCarthy, Blake Corum, and so many more. And I can't wait to be at NRG Stadium to see how this game does play out. Really, like these have been my two favorite teams in the country this year.

You guys know I'm a Michigan fan, so you know where I'm pulling for tonight. But we've had a good relationship with Kalen DeBoer. I've been talking about Kalen DeBoer, and I've had him on this show before anyone even knew who Kalen DeBoer was, and it's pretty neat that tonight everyone's going to find out the story of Kalen DeBoer with all the NAIA championships.

Then also, when he was a baseball player, he had a.520 average in his senior season, which is just craziness, and then he also led the football team in career receiving yards, career receptions, and then also career receiving touchdowns as well. Eventually gets a job at Fresno State, has one good season, I think it was a nine-win season at Fresno State, and then he made that into the Washington job, where the last two years he's only had two losses and both those losses have been by eight points or less. And Washington's been a team that they've been disrespected all throughout the year. They were my pick, before the season started to win the Pac-12, and even with how optimistic I was with them, I did not pick them to be one of the four teams remaining. I thought we were going to get two teams in the SEC. I thought we were going to get two teams from the Big Ten in the college football playoff before the season did start. And all throughout this process, whether it was down the stretch, people saying, oh Michael Penix Jr. isn't as good as what the stats says they are, all their defense isn't that good, even though their defense improved, and did a 180 in the final five, six games of the season. You know the receiver, Roma Dunze, is absolutely sensational.

He'll be a top ten, top fifteen pick in this upcoming draft. And through all of this, when they were a nine-and-a-half point underdog in the Pac-12 championship game or earlier in the year, they beat Oregon by three points. And then you also did have the game last week against Texas, where that was just easy money when the Longhorns were a four-and-a-half point favorite, which I couldn't believe. This has just been a team in Washington. They've been disrespected, quite frankly, all throughout the year, and it should shock nobody at this point with 60 minutes left in the college football season if they walk away and win the national championship tonight. And then on the other side with Michigan, they've been the most polarizing team in the country.

There's no other way to say it. Now I think, and I know people who say, oh Zach, you're a Michigan fan, blah blah blah blah blah, but I said this other times before with other scandals, I think the sign-stealing scandal has been so overblown. I'm not saying there shouldn't have been a punitive action. I said that from the start.

There needs to be a punitive action, but I don't think this was life or death as what people made it out to be. And I do think it's lame tonight that if you're a media member or you're a columnist, you're a talk show host, and I think it's very lazy radio, lazy writing, if you go up Michigan, this championship is tainted. That's why I vehemently disagree with that. Take aside my Michigan fandom and the fact that my two best friends went to Michigan and the Michigan program has been kind to us, we've had Roman Wilson on, we've had Blake Corum on, we've had Chris Jenkins on, Rod Moore as well throughout the years, Colston Loveland, but you look at it, everything has been even right now. Like you could say what they did in the past, you could call that into question, none of those games really matter. Like this regular season, up until Penn State when everything was clean and they took Harbaugh off the sideline, that was their first game of the regular season. And they beat Penn State, they said we're going to bully ball you, we're going to line you up, we're going to dominate with our offensive line, which is not even as good as the offensive line as what they've had the last two years, and you won't be able to stop our run game.

They threw the ball one time in the second half, and it was a penalty, so technically they didn't even throw the ball in the second half. Then, they go up against Ohio State, and they did what good teams do. They took advantage of an average, maybe at best above average quarterback in Kyle McCord, and picked him off twice in the game, and with their run game, also dialing up a nice J.J. McCarthy throw to Roman Wilson, they beat the Ohio State Buckeyes, who really had one player play a major factor in the game, and that was Marvin Harrison Jr. You know what I think of Marvin Harrison Jr., I think the world of Marvin Harrison Jr. So, if you want to call into question the last few years, be my guest, but you have seen now, with no sign stealing, them beat Penn State, beat Ohio State, beat Big Bad Alabama, and now tonight they're in the national championship game, and this game scares the crap out of me. I'll give you my official prediction later, but I think these two teams are so even, they are so close, and they are both so good, like sometimes you get into a national championship game, and you know one team is vastly superior than the other. I think we are going to get a classic of a national championship game tonight.

I would be really surprised tomorrow. One way or another, whether it's a Washington blowout, or a Michigan blowout, if we're talking about a game that was a dud, and we're talking about a game that is a blowout. The only way that happens, and this could happen in a big spot, is because of injuries, but I'm not going to sit here and predict injuries, I think that's stupid when people do it, because it's just a guessing game, and you know, it's just a luck game of who can stay healthy, and then who gets hurt. But this is just a phenomenal football game on paper. These have been the two best teams in the country, and I can't wait to see how it's going to play out tonight. Last time I was in Houston, and last time I was at NRG Stadium, it was actually for 28-3, Patriots and the Falcons, and that was just the greatest live sporting event that I've ever seen in my life, and I've had the pleasure to be at a bunch. Stanley Cup hockey, NCAA tournament basketball games, Super Bowl, college football games, World Series games. I've been fortunate enough through this job, and being an avid sports fan as well, to be at some pretty big events, but nothing is crazier than a team being down, especially when it's my team, a team being down 28-3 in a Super Bowl, and then coming on back. So Zach Geld making his triumphant return tonight to NRG Stadium to see this battle between Michigan and Washington, and I'll give you an official prediction coming up later. Alrighty, NFL hot seat time.

We all know today's Black Monday. It's not been as active as what we have seen in years past. There are a lot of to be determined kind of speculation. You know, is Mike Vrabel going to survive? Is Bill Belichick going to survive? Could Mike McCarthy maybe get let go if the Cowboys are one and done? But we already had three coaches get fired in season. You had the Los Angeles Chargers with Brandon Staley, who should have never been back this year, and that's not revisionist history. This is not, oh, just because this year was a disaster, now I'm saying it after weeks that he got fired. I was in Colorado visiting my sister, visiting my niece, visiting my brother-in-law, and I remember walking outside and recording a video saying, you've got to get rid of Brandon Staley, when they choked away that playoff game up against the Jacksonville Jaguars. And you've got to bring in Sean Payton, who wanted the job. And it wasn't a matter of if Brandon Staley was going to get fired this year, it was just when. And it even lasted the entire season. And that team wasn't even competitive, because down deep they knew their coach wasn't the right guy, and everyone could see it coming from a mile away. And when your players see it, but your ownership doesn't see it, that's what makes a really messy situation. Then you had Josh McDaniels, whom I saw Josh McDaniels was at the Patriot game yesterday.

I did not physically see him, you know, on TV or something like that, but it was reported that he was walking into the stadium. And our stringer for Ion Football and Segal said, oh, maybe he could be replacing Bill Belichick. Stu, I want you to hear this crystal clear, because I like Josh McDaniels as an offensive coordinator.

But as a head coach, you know this, Broncos fans know this, and Stu's a Raiders fan, so that's why obviously I say Stu knows this, he is an incompetent buffoon and has no people skills as a head coach. The only thing Josh McDaniels should be moving forward is an offensive coordinator. If Robert Kraft says, we're going to get rid of Bill Belichick, and let's say they can't get Mike Vrabel, let's say Jerrod Mayo gets a job somewhere else, and they say, okay, we are rocking and rolling with Josh McDaniels, I think my head would explode on CBS Sports Radio if I got that news. And then also, we know the Frank Reich experience was a disaster because of a petulant brat in David Tepper, and now the Carolina Panthers job is open as well. So those three jobs were already open, and Antonio Pierce has done a great job as an interim coach.

You know, there's no interim success set up in Carolina or LA to begin with. There was a chance for Antonio Pierce to succeed, he finished above.500, now the question just becomes with Antonio Pierce, is there anyone else out there that Mark Davis is going to get oohed and ahhed by? That's going to wine and dine, you know, with Mark Davis, and then Mark Davis is going to say, I want to make you the head coach. Because remember a few years ago, Rich Pasaccia replaced Jon Gruden in season, a few games into the season, the Raiders not only made the playoffs, but they almost beat the Cincinnati Bengals who ended up going to the Super Bowl. And Pasaccia didn't get the job, a lot of players wanted him to get the job, and then the job eventually did go to Josh McDaniels, and here we are two, two and a half years later, and it's been a complete and utter disaster. So, I keep on saying this, I've been saying this now for three weeks, Antonio Pierce reminds me a lot like Dan Campbell, it takes a special person, I think it takes someone that is not that far removed from his playing days, can relate to the players, to turn around an organization that has just been a dumpster fire, like the Lions have been, and like the Raiders have been. And I would make Antonio Pierce the head coach, and the only way I wouldn't is if Jim Harbaugh wants to get the job. And I know we just talked about this a little bit earlier, but there are reports out there that the Raiders are interested in Harbaugh, and Harbaugh is interested in the Raiders. I don't know if the Raiders is the best job for Harbaugh, I think there could be better jobs out there for him, cough, cough, like in that division, the Chargers.

Because the Chargers have a ton of talent, and they have a quarterback, the Raiders don't have a quarterback, but you never know, especially like a strange kind of bird and a strange guy that Jim Harbaugh is, you never know what he's going to prioritize. Is it money? Is it who has a roster that he can control? Is it quarterback?

Or is it a blend maybe of all the above? And we kind of looked at this with DeAndre Hopkins. DeAndre Hopkins listed out that he wanted to be a number one wide receiver still, he wanted to go to a winner, he listed out a bunch of reasons. And ultimately DeAndre Hopkins wanted to go where the most money was, and that's why he ended up in Tennessee.

So you could say you have a priority list, and all things are equal, and you're looking for three things, but ultimately one priority is going to prevail over the other two, and you're probably not going to get all three things that you do set your sight out for. And I got to think there's going to be a more attractive job than the Raiders, but you never know. Like Harbaugh, he operates at a different level than most people. He is a strange guy, he's a different, he is a unique guy, so maybe he ends up taking the Raiders job, and you know he's taking an NFL job. Like I do not believe Jim Harbaugh is back at Michigan next year. The only way he is back is if he does not get offered an NFL head coaching job. And we've been through this song and dance before, the last two years, and he wasn't offered a job.

I would be shocked. Seriously, my job would hit the floor if Jim Harbaugh is not offered a job this hiring cycle. Alrighty, adding to the vacancies, the Atlanta Falcons, Arthur Blank, let me give you a round of applause. Seriously, Arthur Blank, two thumbs up, getting rid of Arthur Smith. So you kind of got that impression three weeks ago when Arthur Blank didn't give a ringing endorsement and kind of just talked his way through the answer, oh we'll evaluate, we'll wait and see at the end of the season when it comes to Arthur Smith. But Arthur Smith has, you know I talked earlier in the show how the Jaguars and the Chargers are my two most disappointing teams.

The Falcons are not that far behind. And I don't know if there's a coach this year that I was more disappointed in than Arthur Smith. Because I was believing in the Falcons this year.

I thought the Falcons, not that they were going to be like 11-12 in team, but I thought they could win a bad division in the NFC South because of guys like Bijan Robinson, Tyler Algier, Drake London, Kyle Pitts, and a young and improved defense with also a new defensive coordinator. But my problem with Arthur Smith was his arrogance. My problem with Arthur Smith was not keeping it simple. And he looked very stupid at times because he was trying to make Desmond Ritter a franchise quarterback when he needed Desmond Ritter to be a game manager. And Desmond Ritter displayed that he couldn't even be a game manager, but you were asking him to do a lot more than what should have been expected out of Desmond Ritter.

And then we get to yesterday. The Saints are running up the score. I'm going to be consistent.

I'm going to be fair here. I don't care when you are an NFL team. This is not peewee football. This is not JV-9 football. This is not varsity, junior varsity football. This is the NFL. These are professionals. Don't give me this nonsense about sportsmanship and class.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, bull bleep. So I get it. The Saints were about to run a victory formation play. You don't think they're actually going to give the ball to Jamal Williams. Clearly Jameis Winston, he was operating rogue and he said, no, we're going to do this and we're going to give the ball to Jamal Williams and get his first touchdown of the season. And so what?

Like you may not like it. Like Arthur Smith may be annoyed, he clearly was, but you know that your job is on the line and you're going to conduct yourself after you just got your ass handed to you in the second half. Because that was a 17-17 game at halftime. And you walk to midfield and you're wagging your finger in Dennis Allen's face who just kicked your ass and you're yelling at him and mother bleeping him and cursing him out. You kidding me?

And Dennis Allen, could you have some cojones too? After the game you apologize? Apologize for what? I don't care whose decision it was.

You don't apologize in that spot. But if you didn't know Arthur Smith was going to get fired, you knew he was going to get fired after the game at midfield because that is a dead man walking. When you're freaking out after getting blown out of this game and getting your tuckus handed to you, you're all annoyed because they ran up the score and scored an extra touchdown. And I said this yesterday on football, say it again, that's why Arthur Smith's a loser.

He's just a loser. So the Falcons job is open and I'll tell us to say this too, I think this is an attractive job. The Pats want to get rid of Belichick would not surprise me if he winds up with the Atlanta Falcons. They need a quarterback but they have some good young foundational pieces and you're in a division where congratulations to Tampa Bay, they win the division. I don't know what their future is. The Saints have hitched their wagon to Derek Carr.

Good luck. And the Carolina Panthers right now have the biggest disaster of an owner in the NFL, in David Tepper. So I think the Falcons are an attractive job.

Now the commanders open up as well. I think they were just being classy the last four or five weeks because Ron Rivera had to put up with Dan Snyder and I do believe that Josh Harris did respect that. He didn't think there was an advantage to fire Ron Rivera in season. Ron Rivera, I know him well. He's been on this show a bunch. He's one of the classiest guys you'll ever meet but the game has passed him by. And that commander's job, I do think it's attractive for three reasons. One, Snyder's no longer there. Two, you have the number two overall pick and if the Bears don't keep the number one pick expect the commanders, I would think, to move up to two to try to bring Caleb Williams back to D.C. And then also, like you look at this commander's team, they have some things. Like, Terry Mclaurin's a stud. Bryan Robinson Jr.

I think is a good young running back. I know they got rid of some of their defensive players but you still have some foundational pieces. I think this commander's job, it's new life and it's completely different than where it was under Daniel Snyder where you knew you were going to get money but you knew it was going to be a clown show. So, the interesting part here too is I was reading this and I think this shocked everybody. I landed. And I had some Wi-Fi on the plane but then like 30 minutes before the plane's about to land, the Wi-Fi goes out and I see this alert that Bob Myers, the former general manager and president of the Golden State Warriors and Rick Spielman are going to be leading the coaching search for the Washington commanders. Now, I saw that Kaplan, the great Andrew Kaplan here at CBS Sports Radio, he put out a photoshop of Draymond Green in a commander's uniform.

I think that Roger Goodell would have to suspend Draymond Green maybe every week if Draymond Green elected to go join the Washington commanders. There's an obviously say that in jest but with his relationship with Bob Myers but you know they've taken a football mind in Spielman and then they are taking a basketball mind but someone that knows how to build a winner in Bob Myers and you're looking for the right leaders for your next head coach. But really, I think the two jobs that are still up in the air and we're waiting to see what's going to happen are the Pats and Tennessee and there was one report out there that Mike Vrabel would be interested in going to the Patriots.

It's still under contract for two years and for the Patriots it's wait and see with Bill Belichick. And Belichick basically said this today without saying it but if you just listen to the tone and the vibe of his press conference, Robert Kraft's going to have to fire him if he wants to move on from Bill Belichick. Because Belichick came out today and he said he would be open to giving up control of the roster and the player personnel side of his job and just coaching the team if that's what's in the best interest of the team which it would be. And I kind of took that as he's not accepting a trade.

You want to get rid of him? He's willing to still coach. He's willing to still check in each and every day and be the head coach of this team. Robert Kraft's going to have to fire him.

And you know what? Everyone's been telling us now for a month that Belichick is definitely gone. I don't know if that's going to be the case. I'm not saying he's definitely going to be back next year as the head coach but for 20 something years there hasn't been a lot of leaks to come out of one-pager replace. So now when you have one of the more important people in the history of your franchise, you're telling me they're going to leak things out to the media with Robert Kraft and Jonathan Kraft and Bill Belichick? I guess they're meeting today so we'll see how that meeting does go. But I think this is going to be a little bit of a process. I'd hope we know by the end of the week but I don't know if we're going to. And I think Belichick will be stubborn and Belichick will basically tell Robert Kraft, I still want to coach this team but you want to get rid of me? You're going to have to fire me yourself and I don't think he's going to play nice and try to orchestrate a tradeout for the New England Patriots.

So that is the Black Monday kind of look at it from afar right now. And then also I did see that Wink Martindale, the defensive coordinator for the New York Football Giants has resigned. And I think this is the least surprising news ever. Because there was an article not that long ago, like a few weeks back, that there were issues between Daybal and his defensive coordinator. And Daybal downplayed it, so did Wink Martindale. But usually when there's smoke there's a fire and clearly the actions today of Wink Martindale, even though they didn't fire him but maybe it was trending that way, did suggest that there was an issue there. And what was reported a few weeks ago was true rather than them telling us it was false and there was no issue between the Giants head coach and the Giants defensive coordinator. It is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio. Take your time out, we'll come on back. We'll update you on some of the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio with the News Brief.

Alrighty, News Brief time. Zach Gelb's show in Houston for the national championship game between Michigan and Washington. Let's start off with Aaron Rodgers. Do we ever go a week without Aaron Rodgers' audio?

Seriously. The guy has not played since the fourth play of the season and each and every week he says something. This is Aaron Rodgers on what the Jets need to fix for 2024. If you want to be a winning organization, you have to put yourself in a position to win championships. Everything that you do matters and the bullsh** that has nothing to do with winning needs to get out of the building.

The exit meetings are important to just get everything on the table that's happened, flush the bullsh** that you need to move forward away from and then refine your focus moving forward. So here's my question. What's the bull bleep?

This team couldn't block this year. You got hurt and you provide all the drama and you keep yourself in the news by saying erroneous things. Like, Samter, what am I missing here? Because this is now twice in, what, the last three, four weeks where he's been attacking the bull bleep that goes on in the Jets organization. You know, I know there was something going back to the whole Zach Wilson thing, so maybe that's what he's referring to about some of the leaks with Zach Wilson. But this should not be detrimental. Zach Wilson and his feelings should not be detrimental to the 2024 New York Jets.

As good as Roger, as great as Rogers is, and that's going to be, as he stays healthy next year, they're going to be competitive. They're going to have a chance to go make the playoffs and they should make the playoffs, but dude, like, you've been the one making this season a clown show. Like, if you just got hurt and then you went away and you didn't open your mouth every week, we're not constantly talking about the Jets and just saying, oh, this is the same old Jets, Moist Mike. And that's the thing is, like, this is what, you know, Twitter is saying the same thing.

It's like, hey, calling the kettle black here. It's like, you want to talk about... Oh, Twitter's even bashing him? Oh, everyone's bashing him. Like, if you want to talk about the BS going on with the Jets, it starts and ends with Aaron Rodgers, right? Like, this year, Zach Wilson hasn't been a problem off the field. Garrett Wilson hasn't been a problem off the field. There hasn't been a single player who's been a problem off the field, except for maybe Dalvin Cook, who had issues before he even signed with the Jets. Other than that, nobody's had any issues off the field or any kind of BS. There was maybe that leak earlier on about Zach Wilson that you mentioned, but outside of that, it's all been about Aaron Rodgers. So how Aaron Rodgers is saying get rid of the BS, what he's saying is get rid of me. Like, it makes no sense, Rodgers. Come on.

Look in the mirror. And then the fact that he has zero accountability and just zero ability to look in the mirror and see himself for what he is is just laughable. And at that point, at this age in his career, in his life, for him not to be able to do that is kind of frightening. So there's a lot of times where Samter will put the ball on the tee and he'll just say, OK, go mash, go hit. I have realized the moment where I get to put the ball on the tee for Moist Mike, any time it has something to do with Aaron Rodgers, you thoroughly enjoy going after Aaron Rodgers. And I'm not saying anything that you just said is wrong, but Rodgers really annoys you, I can tell. It's not just that he annoys me, it's that he has no his no self-awareness. And like, because I used to be a Jets fan, it felt like I didn't really care that much when he was a Packer quarterback.

But now that he's with the Jets and because even though they're not my team anymore, I still have a place in my heart for them to see him constantly just spouting nonsense. And it's not just about vaccines and about the media and about he just says random stuff and he has no self-awareness about anything that he says or does. I'm very nervous about what he's going to say tomorrow on the McAfee show in response to the Kimball thing. He had a chance to respond to it today. Yeah. And we have the clip of what it sounds like.

Yeah, I'll play that in a second. And it's amazing because I hate the Rodgers conversation because it turns into a political conversation. And I am the least political person on this planet. I hate politics. I hate both sides, the extreme one way, the extreme the other way.

I detest it because it's just such a cesspool and there's no conversations and it's just yelling, I'm right, you're wrong. But the Rodgers-Kimmel thing, I know they have beef, but to basically infer that someone is a pedophile and knew about being on a list which would involve knowing about underage people getting taken advantage of is just so ridiculous. And when you throw something out there, whether you were joking or not, you better be right. And I don't think you joke about something like that.

So Rodgers was asked on the whole Kimmel comments and where do you go from here with those? Your comment on that would be less of an election. You can't be made a lot of news. Do you want to address that any further?

Do you have any regrets about what you said? Yeah, I'm going to talk about it tomorrow on the show. Tune in. Oh, you know what? I mean, we're weird here right now. He's such a douche.

Yeah, check me out tomorrow. You know what? Mike Greenberg once said that it's a disservice to your listening audience and you can't be a good talk show host if you don't tease things. And I'm not saying you shouldn't tease, but I think if you're an entertaining talk show host, your listening audience will stay even if you don't tease. But Rodgers may be a great talk show host in the Mike Greenberg world of things because he just gave the greatest tease that you could give for the Pat McAfee show. Because you never know what's going to happen from Aaron Rodgers. Like Rodgers, I don't think he'll apologize tomorrow, nor do I care if he apologizes or not.

But it will either be him stepping back from those comments or him just doubling down. And even though the whole conversation with Rodgers is insufferable, I will say as someone that does like some drama and like a heated conversation, how are you not going to tune into that conversation tomorrow? Let's go to Arthur Smith. He's now fired from the Atlanta Falcons.

And this was Arthur Smith. We were talking about this right before the break on his anger at the Saints and Dennis Allen when they were in victory formation. And then Jameis Winston was like, oh, we're going to hand the ball off to Jamal Williams, get him his first touchdown of the season. Nobody, you know, wants to end the season like that. But, you know, credit to them, they made the play, certainly the second half, got out of hand.

You can do whatever you want. I just gave them my opinion about it, but it doesn't take away the fact that they beat us. It sounded like he was crying there almost. Now, I think that was just a realization that he was going to lose his job anyway. But, man, what are you getting so emotional about? I know you're screaming, you're going nuts, so maybe your voice is a little bit hoarse, but that sounded too emotional for me.

Let's get to the good audio here. Jameis Winston on switching from a victory formation to hand the ball off to Jamal Williams and get in that tutty form. I apologize to D.A. because the play was victory, but I also explained to D.A. that it was a team decision.

And I think when you have a team morale, and I ask the guys, I say, guys, what do you want to do? We know how much Jamal means to this team, and I understood from D.A. 's perspective, so I give him that. But D.A. didn't condone that at all. You know, he didn't. However, man, we got an interception to the 1-yard line.

You know, so if we would have scored, it would have been disrespectful. I love Jameis Winston, Santer. He's amazing. How this guy, who's the backup quarterback, gets an opportunity in a blowout game where the Saints win and keep their season alive, but then it would be spoiled in a matter of seconds because you looked up at the scoreboard and the Bucks were up 9-0 against the Panthers. How he's the reason, and he's the guy in the locker room, that forced this decision to change from just kneeling the ball down to getting the ball to Jamal Williams, that's just awesome, Santer. The question I have, really, is because Dennis Allen's job was on the line, it seems like he's probably going to keep it, at least at this point. I think he's safe. Right. But does this kind of subordination, does this mean that the guys don't respect him and that they're not afraid of the consequences, or is it just like a backup quarterback who's like, I really don't care.

I want to hook up a teammate. I don't care if it makes my coach look bad. Or, at the end of the day, also, is this that maybe players kind of respect Jameis more than Derek Carr? So it doesn't mean a lot. I don't really care that they scored the touchdown.

I think you're overthinking it, and here's why. I think Jamal Williams is one of the great personalities and teammates that we have in football. We saw that in hard knocks. He was great with the lines.

Yeah. And that was the guy that led the league in touchdowns last year, if I'm not mistaken. And this year, unfortunately, new home, dealing with injuries, hasn't got in the end zone. I think it was more so the other teammates saying, guys, we should get Jamal a touchdown. Let's get him a touchdown to end the season. Let's get him a touchdown.

And that, I think it's more of a reflection of who Jamal Williams is as a teammate than this being, oh, they don't respect Dennis Allen as a head coach. Alrighty. Let's keep it moving. So, I did see this. Julian Love of the Seahawks. There was a video posted by Greg Bell, who covers the Seahawks. He said, cigars but not playoffs in the Seahawks locker room after the last game rally win at Arizona.

And then he tagged his publication, the News Tribune. Let's hear from Quandre Diggs about the young players celebrating with cigars after the game. Those guys that get their first year in the NFL, their first taste in the NFL football, you know, I can't blame them. You know what I mean? But, you know, at the end of the day, I think, you know, just older guys, you know, we expect more.

And here's Bobby Wagner who, remember, got released and forced his way out of the Rams who are now in the playoffs to go back to Seattle because he thought they had a better team. Here's Bobby Wagner on young players celebrating with cigars. It's a lot of mixed emotions but you understand you got a young team and as they progress in their career, they realize how hard wins are to come by and so it's a balance. Is that youth going on in there right now, would you say?

Yeah, for sure. No victory cigar for you? No.

Not at all. I think it just is like you're a veteran and you're expecting to make a deep playoff run with this team. I can see why you're not doing a victory cigar. You're a younger player. I'm not going to crush you for smoking up a victory cigar. But Julian Love has been around the league for a while.

I had some success with the Giants last year. The part that I didn't get those, Santer. So Greg Bell puts in that tweet once again with the video. Cigars but not playoffs in the Seahawks locker room after last game rally win at Arizona. And then Julian Love tweeted out insinuating that we are celebrating not making the playoffs this week, Greg. These cigars were given to me to celebrate the birth of my son and I waited until the end of the season to share a moment with my guys. Did Greg Bell do anything wrong, the reporter, by saying cigars but no playoffs in the Seahawks locker room after their last second win in the last game of the season up against the Cardinals? I think Julian Love, who I like and I've talked to before, I think he's kind of overreacting here. Well listen, if you cover the team and you're in that locker room, you probably owe it to people and the players to investigate the cigar smoking ask. Hey, are you guys celebrating?

What's going on here? And then you tweet it out. If you're just tweeting it out as a gotcha moment, then I guess I can understand that. But was this a gotcha? I don't think it was a gotcha moment by Greg Bell. It kind of feels like a gotcha moment. It kind of feels like a, hey, you guys didn't make the playoffs and you're still celebrating with cigars.

And that's kind of been the reaction. I mean, if you tweet it out like that, just for fun, I guess. But to put that caption, it's kind of like saying, why are you celebrating with cigars if you didn't make the playoffs? I would imagine if you cover the team, you should probably at least ask.

So I understand it, but it's still not a great look. I understand that you're celebrating the birth of your child. It is still just a little bit weird to wait until the last game of the season when you miss the playoffs to publicly do that in the locker room as soon as the game is over.

Invite them to your house and celebrate. Don't do it in the locker room after you miss the playoffs. I really don't care one way or another. That's just not something that gets me irate.

Alrighty, last one here because I know we're up against it, but I think this is fascinating. On the Draymond Green show via the volume, Draymond Green said he had a conversation with Adam Silver and he was actually thinking about retiring. I had a conversation with Adam Silver, Commissioner Ali. I just told him, Adam, it's too much for me. It's too much. This is too much.

It's all becoming too much for me and I'm going to retire. Adam said, you're making a very rash decision and I won't let you do that. I'm like, no, Adam, I'm not really sure it's a rash decision. It's just all too much. You know, we had a long, great conversation, very helpful to me, very thankful to play in the league with a commissioner like Adam, who's more about helping you than hurting you or helping you than punishing you.

He's more about the players. I actually believe Draymond Green was thinking about retiring, but when I further reflect on that, how much did he really learn in this absence of 14, 15 games? Because if you're saying it's too much, were you able to realize that your actions were wrong or you were just annoyed by the conversation of what you think is a reaction or overreaction to what you did? And that's the part that I think is scary because I don't think people are going to connect and get through to Draymond Green. And I don't expect to be any different.

There'll be some incident later in the season. You could guarantee it. So as him threatening retiring, just I don't want to deal with this. I don't need to deal with this. I've won.

I've had all this money. I don't think I'm doing anything wrong. I'm just playing a role.

And if that's the case, we're not going to see anything change with Draymond Green. Alrighty, that's the news brief for the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Let me make Aaron Rodgers and Mike Greenberg proud. I will do a tease here. When we come on back, we discuss the ups and downs of Josh Allen and also, where is your trust level with the Miami Dolphins entering the playoffs?

I think my answer may surprise you. Update time first. Let's get to the Ackman back in New York City.

Rich Ackerman. Alrighty, this is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio coming up in 12 minutes. I will give you my official prediction for the national championship game.

I am in Houston. And Houston? We may have a problem depending on who wins the national championship tonight.

No, all kidding aside, even though I'm a Michigan fan, I have much respect and much love for Kaitlyn DeBoer and Michael Penix Jr. So can't wait to see how this game does play down between the matchup of these two heavyweights, Michigan and Washington. And it comes your way, and I believe kickoff's at 7.45 PM Eastern time tonight. I think it's scheduled for 7.30, but in the media notes that I have, it says the ball won't get kicked off until 7.45 PM Eastern. I remember a few years ago when the national championship game would be kicked off at like 8.45 PM Eastern, 9 PM Eastern. So you get an earlier kickoff, I think they did that last year, and then it's carrying over into this year as well. You can stream the NFL, by the way, on Westwood One for free, sponsored by AutoZone all season long. You can listen to every Westwood One broadcast of the NFL Live and the NFL app by asking Alexa to open Westwood One Sports on the Odyssey app.

Get in the Zone, AutoZone, AutoZone's free battery testing and charging is available for free at your local AutoZone. Get in the Zone, AutoZone restrictions apply, and you can always follow me on social media, at Zach Gelb, Twitter, Instagram, X, whatever you call it these days. Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. If you don't do so, do so right now, you'll see a lot of great behind the scenes content from before the game, during the game, and after the game. Tonight, the national championship, which I am here for, as I said. Alrighty, Wildcard Weekend.

And by the way, I don't know how you guys feel about this. Stu, thumbs up or thumbs down on referring to Wildcard Weekend as Super Wildcard Weekend? Thumbs down.

No thanks. Samter, do you refer to it as Super Wildcard Weekend? I don't like the name Super Wildcard Weekend, but I do like differentiating it from the past Wildcard Weekend, because there is an extra game. So I like the idea of something different, I just don't like Super Wildcard Weekend.

It just sounds cheesy. The only way that I call it Super Wildcard Weekend is if it's in a read. I do not believe in this Super Wildcard Weekend nonsense, I just call it Wildcard Weekend. What about Wilder Card Weekend? No.

Wildest? No. Wildcard Weekend. Now I did see Peacock as an exclusive streaming game, and they put your Kansas City Chiefs on the Peacock streaming game this year, up against the Miami Dolphins.

Do you have Peacock, Samter? Stu and I are absolutely avid Peacock subscribers because of the Premier League, so I have Peacock, and it is a great idea to get Peacock because of soccer. But yes, now that I get to watch my Chiefs, I've seen a lot of people getting very upset about it. It's $5.99 a month, if you love your Chiefs, sign up for a free month, or pay $5.99, it's not the end of the world, watch your Chiefs. Now I understand both sides of the argument, but this is the NFL trying to really get things going with the times, and streaming is only getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and they're trying to make this work. So putting the homes of the Chiefs in there, regardless if the Chiefs aren't as great as they once were, it makes sense what the NFL is trying to do. Note though, they did not put the Dallas Cowboys in there. Like if they really wanted to make a big splash, because the most polarizing team are the Dallas Cowboys, they would have put the Dallas Cowboys in that spot, but you didn't put the league's biggest star in Patrick Mahomes in that game.

Alrighty, here's your matchups. Browns-Texans, Dolphins-Chief, Steelers-Bills, Packers-Cowboys, Rams-Lions, and then on Monday night will be the Eagles and the Bucks. Let me just comment on the Sunday night game from last night. I thought that game was going to be closer than what people thought, because everyone was telling you Buffalo was going to win. Miami had a legitimate shot to win the game, you could have argued, probably should have won the game. But now you've seen this with the Miami Dolphins, where outside of the Cowboy game, any big game this year, they've been on the wrong side of it.

And that's a problem. So going into the playoffs, I think what I'm about to say here is going to surprise some people. I should have no confidence in Tua, I should have no confidence in the Dolphins, especially after they lost Jalen Phillips, and then also finally started to survive without Jalen Phillips, and they lose Bradley Chubb. But this NFL season has made no sense. And thankfully, we finally get Tyree killed going back to Kansas City, because the NFL was a bunch of greedy pigs, they had to put that game in Germany this year. So it's funny how that works, if people want to kind of poke fun at the NFL as scripted, well there's some evidence they knew that they could put that game in Germany, because they're eventually going to get it in the playoffs. Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins.

Sam, you're not going to like this. I actually, it makes no sense because of the weather and how bad the Dolphins have been playing as late and they can't win a big game. The Chiefs just haven't been that good this year. I kind of think in a year where the NFL makes no sense that we'll continue that theme in the playoffs, I believe the Dolphins are going to beat your Chiefs this weekend.

I think they're going to take them down on Saturday night on Peacock. Listen, I love Tua and I want him to do well, but there's no chance he has struggled in big games. He has struggled so mightily in big games over and over and over. There's no chance he's going into KC and taking out the defending champs.

Zero chance. Yeah, but that's not Kansas City as they've been the last two, three years. The Chiefs don't have really any wide receiver. Kelcey's slowing down. Miami's going to have to score 21 points. Miami scores three touchdowns. I think they win the game. We'll take a break. We'll come on back. We'll touch on a little bit about Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills and also get to my national championship game prediction next.