Michigan Title Isn’t Tainted (Hour 1)

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That's a free pair of socks with purchase at ALLBIRDS.COM code FRESH24. YouTube.com slash CBS Sports Radio. 855-212-4CBS is numbered to jump on in. 855-212-4227.

And you can always get at me on Instagram, where I'm straight flexin', or via the good ol' cesspool of Twitter. At Zach Gehl, that's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. Got Moist Mike, Stuart Kovacs rock and rollin' all the way with me up until 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific.

Steve Avila of the Los Angeles Rams, their rookie offensive lineman, who's gonna be playing in a playoff game this weekend. Up against Detroit Lions, gonna stop by an hour-twenty from now. And then at 5-20 p.m. Eastern, 2-20 p.m. Pacific, former Michigan tight end Jake Butt is going to join us on CBS Sports Radio. So I am back from Houston.

I'm on about 90 minutes of sleep. But the show must go on. And hail to the victors. Congratulations to the Michigan Wolverines, a national champion.

And let me just say this right out of the gate before we break down the game. I find some of the takes insufferable today. I found the hors d'oeuvres and the appetizers before Michigan won the national championship with some of the takes by my confidants in the media to be insufferable.

And today, I'm not taking any prisoners. I can't stand people today that wake up or in the afternoon get on the radio and say Michigan's championship is tainted. Or Michigan's championship should have an asterisk. It's a bunch of sour grapes at this point.

I'll explain why in just a second. But let's start with the game. In the first half, Michigan football may as well just employed me as the offensive coordinator. No offense to Sharron Moore, who probably will be ending up replacing Jim Harbaugh as the head coach of Michigan because Harbaugh's probably going to the NFL. I got on the air all last week.

I said it yesterday on this show when I was in Houston. Blake Corum, Donovan Edwards, run, run, run. And then, oh, yeah, run the football some more. And the first two drives of the game, Donovan Edwards, who was awesome last year and had some good moments and some bad moments this year but wasn't the same player as he was a year ago. I knew he was going to have explosive moments in the national championship game.

And you saw that right out of the gate where he ran into his own offensive line, then somehow was able to bounce it to the outside, and he took it 40-something yards for a touchdown. Boom. Michigan goes up 7-0. Then Michigan allows a field goal, their defense, bend but don't break, and then it was Donovan Edwards again.

Boom. Long touchdown run. He had like two carries at one point for 80-something yards and two touchdowns for Donovan Edwards. And eventually you saw the game get to 17-3. Blake Corum had a long run, and he just ran out of gas, and they had to settle for a field goal.

But right before the end of the half, which we told you on this show, Kalen DeBoer is one of the more aggressive coaches in the country. He elected to go for it on fourth and goal, and Washington got a touchdown, and you walked into halftime at 17-10. And at halftime, I'm thinking to myself, uh-oh, like I still thought Michigan was going to win the game, but Michigan with how dominant they were in the trenches and with their two stars at running back in Corum and Edwards should have been up by more than seven points at half.

And I put out a tweet, and I did a little video on Twitter and Instagram where I said Michigan should be fined and Michigan should be penalized if they throw the football in the second half. I thought that Michigan was going to go all Penn State, which they did up against Penn State and Happy Valley, where they literally didn't throw the football once in the second half. And Washington was getting the ball back to start the second half.

And right out of the gate, Will Johnson makes an incredible interception on Michael Penix Jr., who did not play a good game. And there was a while in the second half where Michigan, their offense was basically begging Washington to eventually get in the game. And I'll give credit to the Washington Huskies. They made adjustments, and they were able to, at times in the second half, neutralize, slow down, contain and stop that lethal first half Michigan rushing attack. And I thought that there was going to be a moment in the game where eventually Michael Penix Jr. would stand up, he would elevate his team, and they would go on to at least tie the game, and ultimately Michigan would go on a championship drive. But all kind of week long, we heard about a lot of areas in this game, but not enough people realized how historically good, and not just how good, how great Michigan's defense is. Because after the Alabama game, people praised the defense, but they said, oh, Jalen Milrow isn't a great passer.

But up against Michael Penix Jr., who you could argue the last two years, he's been the best thrower of the football in college football, they didn't allow Michael Penix Jr. to have a second to think, oh, yeah, by the way, he has the best offensive line in the country. And it wasn't only just the front, the back end, which you saw their mobility up against Alabama, they took their versatility to a different level up against Washington. And I told you in the first half, the story was the O-line, the hog mollies, it was Blake Corum, the running back, Donovan Edwards, the running back. The second half, the story was the defensive backs, with Will Johnson making an acrobatic interception, and the Mikey Sanders still, he was all over the field.

Open field tacklers, batting the football down, and then he had the icing on the cake, the cherry on top of the sundae, with nearly a pick six towards the end of the game. And the final score ended up that it was a blowout, but it didn't really feel like a blowout in that second half, but at the end, Washington let that one get away, and Michigan took advantage. They finally did smell blood, and they were able to put Washington, who had a great season this year, out of their misery. The only thing I'll question from this game, the only controversy that I think is from this game, and it's no, oh Michigan's championship shouldn't be valid, all that stupidity and jackassery.

It's not, oh there should be an asterisk on it, no I'm not going there. But there was a moment in that game, where finally Michael Penix Jr. connected on a big throw, and it was a seven point game. And I thought, and this is coming from a Michigan fan, I thought it was a very ticky tack call by the officials, which it negated a play and it was like a 40 something yard swing, where they threw offensive holding. Now I've watched the play, I guess you could argue it was holding, but with the way that the game was being officiated, where they were allowing a lot to go, and they were allowing these teams to be physical, I did not think with the way the game was being called, that that flag should have been thrown. And you could argue that that moment may have got Washington going after coming up short over and over and over again, and it could have bare minimum tied up the game, and then who knows what happens after that, because if they tie up the game at any point, momentum would have shifted to the Washington Huskies, but that wasn't the case. Michigan was the better team, Michigan deserved to win the game, Michigan did win the game, and now they are national champions.

So now we'll get to the point of the conversation where I was starting the show. I don't understand people today that get in front of a microphone after we got to see from Michigan this season and say they're not going to accept the results, that put an asterisk on this Michigan championship, say the title is tainted. I just don't get you. And I think all of you that say that are a bunch of jealous, sour grape hating Michigan people. That's what I think. I think you hate the Michigan team. And I think you're just looking for things to get clicks.

I think you're just trying to make a name for yourself. It doesn't make sense. If you follow college football, every single person said the Michigan season doesn't start until the Penn State game. And I've never said that Michigan shouldn't be punished. There needed to be a punitive action. But from the start, I said that this sign stealing scandal was so overblown and was just so ridiculous and inane.

And a lot of people in football weren't as irate as fans were and people that are usually outside of football. But everything has been equal since the Penn State game. And in that Penn State game, Michigan said, we'll line up our guys. We'll run the ball down your throat.

We don't need any of your signs. They won that game. Then shortly after that, they played Ohio State. They knew that Kyle McCord was eventually going to make a mistake. They beat the Ohio State Buckeyes.

And what did people say after that? All right, Michigan won the Big Ten championship, but they'll choke again in the playoffs. And then the playoffs come. Oh, it's Big Bad Alabama. It's the Big Bad SEC. Michigan made many mistakes in that game.

And guess what? They still beat Alabama. And their offensive line dominated, their defensive line dominated, and they dominated an SEC school, which is unheard of, in the trenches. And then in the national championship game, and I love the Washington program, but it was all Washington's getting disrespected. Oh, Michael Penix Jr. is the greatest thing ever. And they embarrassed Michael Penix Jr., that offensive line, and their great wide receivers constantly throughout the game.

I don't care what signs you had or you didn't have. Michigan showed they didn't need them. And in those four games up against Penn State, Ohio State, Alabama, and Washington, Michigan played bully ball, old school football.

We'll have a great defense, and then we'll punch you in the mouth with our offensive line and our two great running backs in Blake Coram and Donovan Edwards. So just stop with the commentary. Just stop with the jackassery. Oh, this championship shouldn't count. Everything was even in these last four or five games, and Michigan still found a way to hoist the national championship trophy. Enough is enough.

This is one of the more overblown stories I have ever heard. And you just sound so stupid when people get on the radio, get in front of a TV camera, and they go, oh, I'm not going to accept the results of the national championship game. I'm not going to accept the results of the Ohio State game, the Penn State game, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Shut up.

Enough. Even Paul Finebum was able to acknowledge that Michigan won the national championship. Good for Jim Harbaugh, good for Blake Coram, good for Donovan Edwards, good for J.J. McCarthy, good for Mikey Sanderstill, good for Will Johnson, and good for the Michigan Wolverines. National champs, dominant defense, dominant offensive line, dominant run game, and a quarterback when he needed to make a big throw to Colston Loveland. That's what he did. Michigan are your national champions.

855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. This is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Hail to the victors, baby. How about Michigan winning the national championship? When we come on back, people are surprised today that Mike Vrabel has been fired. I'm not.

And I have a theory that could be a little bit different than what people are spewing right now on social media. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll take a time out.

And guess what? If you're hating on Michigan today, there's nothing you could do about it because they are the national champions. And you're just sounding like a big fat loser today if you're saying you're not going to honor the results of what we've seen the last two months of the college football season. Coming on back, Zach Gelb show, CBS Sports Radio. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. You got to follow along with me here.

Don't always believe what you read. And no, I'm not trying to be Aaron Rodgers here and lecture you, but Mike Vrabel's fired today by Tennessee. Everyone's like, oh, my goodness gracious, I can't believe they fired such a great head coach. Mike Vrabel's a phenomenal head coach. Mike Vrabel didn't deserve to be fired. But also, I think Mike Vrabel is elated that he got quote unquote fired today. And I know Tennessee's owner could come out and say this was mainly because she didn't like the direction of the organization the last two years.

I don't really believe all that to be true. And something I think you could have a gripe with if you're a fan of the Tennessee Titans is that maybe they should have tried to trade Mike Vrabel. And we've seen trades before with head coaches.

Sean Payton last year, Bill Belichick way in the day, back in the day when he got traded from the Jets to the Patriots after he resigned as the HC of the NYJ. So we've seen trades go down before John Gruden when it comes to NFL head coaches. But I think this was a move where Mike Vrabel was trying to get fired or was making it clear that even though we had two years left on his contract, that he no longer wanted to coach this football team. And there are ways to do that, whether you can disagree with the new general manager they just brought in and Vrabel wanted the old general manager out. Or you can intentionally, maybe in your meetings with ownership, not give the answers that ownership is going to want to hear. Like I'm sure there's a time in life where you've interviewed for a job and you didn't really want the job, but you thought you had to interview for the job.

And you may not give it your all. This may be something similar here where Vrabel understood he had two years left on his contract. But Mike Vrabel wanted to be a free agent. He wanted to be let go. And he wanted to now pick his next job. And I think I know where Mike Vrabel is going to land.

We'll need to see another domino fall. But right now, you got to think Jim Harbaugh and Mike Vrabel are the two most attractive names on the market. And I do believe that Jim Harbaugh is going to be coaching in the NFL next season. You got to remember, Jim Harbaugh, four years in the NFL, all with San Francisco, three NFC title game appearances and a Super Bowl appearance. He went back to his alma mater in Michigan after he had issues with the general manager in San Francisco, Trent Balkey. And Jim Harbaugh at first looked like he was only going to get Michigan back to moving in the right direction, but there was going to be an apex. And then the last three years we saw him kick the crap out of Ohio State three times, win the Big Ten three times in a row, and then last night prevail and win the national championship.

So mission accomplished, job done at Michigan. And now the NFL jobs are going to come calling in great frequency, which they haven't the last two years for whatever the reasons are. And I do think this opens up the perfect time, even though I would love to see Jim Harbaugh stay at Michigan, for Jim Harbaugh to bolt back to the NFL and think about what that would do for the legacy of Jim Harbaugh. Could you imagine after winning a national championship and he's already been to a Super Bowl, if he goes back to the NFL and wins a Super Bowl, Jim Harbaugh goes into a different level and really a different class of just football coaches. If you win a championship in college and then get to a Super Bowl with the 49ers and then go win one somewhere else, you start to get into the conversation of one of the all time great football coaches ever.

And I just said football coaches, not NFL, not college, because you were elite in college and then you would be elite in the NFL as well. Getting back to Vrabel, when you see Mike Vrabel get fired today and everyone's like, why are they firing him? Tennessee really didn't have a lot of talent the last two years.

They didn't have a quarterback. Vrabel's been a coach of the year before. He's taken Tennessee to a number one seed one year. He's also taken them to an AFC championship game. Why would you get rid of a coach who's perceived to be one of the better coaches in the NFL?

And I think it's simple. No matter what they say, Mike Vrabel no longer wanted to coach this team. And I think he knows where he wants to go. And that's to an owner that he trusts. That's to a team that needs to rebuild in the New England Patriots. And the domino that needs to fall now is for Robert Kraft to fire Bill Belichick or trade Bill Belichick, because Belichick made it clear the other day. If you read and listen to the Bill Belichick press conference, he's going to keep on showing up until told otherwise. That's basically Bill Belichick saying, I'm going to keep on putting on the front that I want to be the head coach here.

Whether he does or doesn't, I don't know. But Belichick, just like Vrabel, you could argue, maybe wants the freedom to choose his next team and not have to deal with the process and the patient process of a trade. So Robert Kraft now has a decision to make. Do you move on from Bill Belichick? And if you do move on from Bill Belichick, then who are you replacing him with?

And there's a lot of names on the back end of that statement that I would probably reject. But you tell me that Mike Vrabel is the next head coach of the Patriots, I think it's the perfect replacement plan for Bill Belichick. You have a former Patriot, a guy that's in your Patriot Hall of Fame, a guy that dominated on the defensive side of the ball when he was in New England, won three Super Bowls, also contributed on the offensive side of the ball with some trick plays in the Super Bowl. And that would be a guy that is already established, there's no risk, and you know he's a phenomenal head coach. And also, let me just remind people, I have never seen, I cannot remember a time where an acting coach, regardless of a previous connection or relationship in the NFL, during his bye week, which Vrabel did this year for Tennessee, they honored Vrabel in Foxborough because he was a part along with Dante Scarnecchia, the Patriot Hall of Fame class, and not only did they honor Mike Vrabel at the game, he gave a speech at halftime, but he watched the entirety of the game in another team owner's luxury box in Robbercraft. And they sat side by side during the game.

You don't think they had a conversation? You don't think Robbercraft, whether he said it or not, was laying the foundation, let me have a plan if this season is not what we expect it to be? And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this Patriot season was not going to be a good one, because even though Belichick is still a good coach, he's been an awful general manager as of late, and this roster is one of, if not the worst roster in the NFL from this past year. Maybe Carolina's worse.

Maybe Carolina. But if it's a situation between 32 or 31, even when you have arguably the greatest coach of all time, you're not going to win many games, and 24 years is longer than anyone could ever imagine for a coach to be employed by one team. Heck, there's some teams, they have like five coaches in a 10-year span.

Heck, Carolina's had three coaches in three years. So I do believe Vrabel wanted to get fired. I believe Vrabel is thinking about maybe going to New England, because there is a relationship with Robbercraft, and he has great respect and great trust with Robbercraft, and Robbercraft will afford him the patience to build back up the Patriots. Now, there are other jobs that are available that are more attractive than New England. You could argue the Chargers. I could even argue Atlanta. And you know what? Maybe there's some teams in the playoffs right now that they bow out quickly in the postseason and fold in the postseason, the wildcard round, divisional round.

Maybe they're going to contemplate their future. Nick Sirianni, Mike McCarthy. You know, I could argue, and Sirianni has done a heck of a job, McCarthy's done a good job, but you could argue that Vrabel is a better coach. And Vrabel doesn't have as much talent as what the Cowboys have or the Philadelphia Eagles have. So the Vrabel domino is a big one. And now you could potentially, depending on the path to move on from Belichick, you could have a coaching cycle where Harbaugh is available, where Belichick is available, and where Mike Vrabel is available.

And that's extremely juicy. So I do believe, I am not buying this notion that Tennessee's owner had a change of heart and it's, oh, it's really the last two years. I think she understood that Vrabel no longer wanted to be there.

And Vrabel kind of made that clear behind the scenes, regardless what's being reported today. 855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We opened up the show talking college football.

Michigan, your national champions as they defeated Alabama in the Rose Bowl and then backed it up last night in the national title game at NRG Stadium up against Washington. Let's go out to Scott in Michigan. He's first up on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Scott, what's shaking? Hey Zach, thanks so much for taking my call.

Yeah, no problem. What do you got for me today? I got something for you. When is this banter about the SEC being better about the Big Ten? And first of all, how did it start? Because we've beaten the SEC multiple times. I just, I don't understand the media side of it where we're the weaker division.

And I'd love to hear your take on that, Zach. Well, the Big Ten in the last two years has produced two national champions, Ohio State and Michigan. The Big Ten has produced two national champions. When you look at the SEC, you've had LSU win a national championship, you've had Alabama win national championships, and you've had Georgia win national championships.

So, there you go. That's why the SEC is perceived to be a better conference. And then you also had Clemson play a role where they were able to rival at the time the SEC's best.

But now, in an era of NIL, in an era of the transfer portal, these great brands, I don't want to say have been exposed, but the gap and the playing field has been leveled a little bit. There's a reason why a year or two ago, Nick Saban, when he didn't have the number one recruiting class, got into a fight with Jimbo Fisher. It was because Nick Saban was at a small business owner conference in Alabama, and he was begging, by taking a shot at A&M, he was begging and imploring those small business owners to invest more money in the NIL collective. But as you saw last night, and I know it wasn't up against an SEC team, it's actually against a Pac-12 team that's about to become a Big Ten team, Michigan played volleyball. Michigan played old school football.

Defense and run the football. And oh yeah, that same formula was used a week prior up against Alabama and the SEC. So, Alabama, Georgia, you know, the resources LSU have, they're not going anywhere, but this has now become pretty much a two-conference sport. The Pac-12 is dunzo, the Big 12 has a bunch of good teams, not a lot of great teams now with Texas and Oklahoma leaving, and the ACC, you know you have a lot of schools that want to leave the ACC for greener pastures.

So the next 10 years of college football are going to be fascinating where Scott wants to say, oh, pretty much, and I think it's a fair point, how did this conversation start where the SEC is so much better than the Big Ten? Well, it's pretty now a two-conference sport. We're going to see in the next 10 years which conference is better, and it's not like the Big Ten had a lot of great teams this year.

Heck, I'm a Michigan fan, and I told you Michigan had two games on their regular season schedule that were their only two games of the season. So from top to bottom, I think the SEC is still better. I do, but the Big Ten is picking up steam and closing the gap. The reality is, 13 of the last 18 national champions were from the SEC. Since 2013, like you mentioned, there have been two Big Ten teams who've won national titles, Ohio State and Michigan, three from the ACC, Florida State, Clemson, twice. Oh yeah, that's right, with Jamis, Florida State. At the end of the day, I'm not saying the ACC is better than the Big Ten, but neither conference is anywhere close to the dominance, at least at the top, of the SEC.

13 of 18, dating all the way back to 2006 with Florida. That's fair, but Michigan showed you something. Old-school football still works in 2023 and 2024. You could win a national championship with a great defense. And Michigan, Minter, their defensive coordinator, he should either be a head coach in college somewhere next year, I know we're pretty much past the hiring cycle, or he should be a defensive coordinator in the NFL.

Because he is phenomenal, and he's done a great job. But then also, changing the toughness of your program, and developing three really great offensive lines, and running the ball, this is kind of what Alabama did for all those years. Before Alabama got to Tua, and got to Mack, and got to Bryce Young, they had great defenses, great offensive lines, used to never be able to name the quarterback at Alabama. It was a game manager that made the right throws when they needed to, and they had great running backs. So Michigan basically took a page out of the SEC to go not only beat the SEC, but also beat everyone else in the Big Ten. Anything about Georgia the last two years also, they didn't really have a high-flying passing attack with Seth and Bennett. No, but Bennett was better than advertised. Sure, but they were, for the most part, defense, and just beating you up front, and running the ball down your throat, and then throwing the ball when they needed to. See, people try to overcomplicate football, and I say this all the time, you do not need a PhD in football to realize the way you win is by protecting the football and dominating the trenches.

And I know that sounds cliche, and it doesn't matter what analytics you throw my way, you dominate the battle of the trenches 9.9 times out of 10, you win in football. Zach Gelb here with you on CBS Sports Radio. This is Zach Gelb's show. We'll do a little overreaction, proper reaction next. But first up with the latest CBS Sports Radio update, here's the Ackman.

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Access to direct deposits up to two days early depends on the timing of the submission of the payment file from the payer. The defensive player of the week is sponsored by the Navy Federal Credit Union who proudly serves the armed forces, DOD veterans and their families. Their members are the Mission Learn More at NavyFederal.org. This week's player is Giants safety Xavier McKinney in Sunday's 27-10 shocking win over the Eagles. McKinney had six tackles and two interceptions as a team. The Giants forced Philly into four turnovers and held them to only 299 total yards. Sam, I don't know if you're trying to get me going today. Try to keep me up during this show and keep me awake since I'm on 90 minutes of sleep. How the heck do we not have a Michigan defensive player for the defensive player of the week after winning the national championship game though?

What are we doing here? Uh, they didn't deserve it. Oh my god, don't tell me you're one of these asterisk jokes. Just because I can't pronounce his name, Mikey Sanristil. Yeah, I don't think anyone can. Almost had a pick six and he had that, I don't know if you remember, early on in the game, that incredible tackle on third down. I mean, he had him on the fingertips. Great open field tackle.

How on earth he made that tackle? And if you remember before the play, he was waving all the guys. He said, guys, come in. He knew what play was about to happen. He told everyone to come in.

I'm not saying he's time stealing, I'm saying scouting. He knew what was going on. He cut that route off and he made a great tackle.

So that guy could have been defensive player of the week, but yeah. Now, Connor Stallions, we saw at the Rose Bowl. He was two rows behind, like, off the field.

I did not see any video or pictures of Connor Stallions at the game, but I did see a video of him in Houston. Afterwards, he was sitting at a table at some bar in H-Town and someone brought him over, a Michigan fan, a bucket of beers. And he hasn't tweeted in, like, three years or more than three years. I think five years.

I'm reading this on Barstool right now. He said, I missed the Paul Pierce versus Kobe Bryant Celtics-Laker days, and he did put out a tweet last night. So Connor Stallions, I have to think, that's a huge stadium, right? NRG Stadium. I got to think he was somewhere in the stadium, but it is surprising that we don't have any proof of him being in the stadium last night, at least from some of the monitoring that I've been able to see, Sam. So that's just one of those things. Got to think. Maybe they put him in the luxury box.

Maybe he was in the luxury box. With the Harbaughs? No. Or with Jeter, Stephen A. Smith, and Michael Jordan? Exactly. Yeah, maybe Stallions was in there. You just couldn't see him. Was there ever a more amazing Michael Jordan, Derek Jeter, Stephen A. Smith, and Travis Scott?

Yeah. I think Travis Scott doesn't belong in that group, right? Neither does Stephen A. Ah, Stephen A. is a big star.

Big star. I love Stephen A., but it's Michael Jordan and Derek Jeter. Yeah, if you ask Stephen A., he is the Michael Jordan of broadcasting, and he's the Derek Jeter of broadcasting, too. He's probably the first one to tell you. He's closer to the Derek Jeter of broadcasting than the Michael Jordan of broadcasting. I don't know.

It depends on your ass. All right, let's get to a little overreaction, proper reaction. Stu, hit it. Another NFL week is complete, which means it's another week to freak out about your favorite team. Help!

Help! Which teams are truly crazy? But sometimes a game can be so bad, it's almost good. You know what I'm saying?

No. 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 lets you know in this week's edition of Overreaction or Proper Reaction.

All righty, boys. Mike, what do we got? All right, well, now, rumors are swirling about Mike Tomlin's future in Pittsburgh, and now ESPN's Adam Schefter threw a new wrinkle. We gotta call him Shefty. Shefty, I'm sorry. Or maybe on X, Adam Schnefter or Adam Scheftery.

That would be a fake account. Sorry to burst your bubble. But ESPN's Adam Schefter did throw a new wrinkle into the conversation. You're not firing Mike Tomlin, but here's the thing that's interesting. He's got a year left on his contract, and there are some people around the league who believe that Mike Tomlin could decide eventually to take some time off, like Sean Payton did.

Maybe take a year off. We'll see if that's something that's on his mind. But Mike Tomlin gets to dictate what happens here. You're not firing Mike Tomlin.

Love how animated he was. But he also went on McAfee later on and reiterated that there's a chance and rumors and talk that Tomlin could walk away, take a year off and come back after some television time. So overreaction, proper reaction. Mike Tomlin will not be coaching the Steelers in 2024. Mike Tomlin would be great in the booth.

I don't think there's a coach that I enjoy more hearing their press conferences than Mike Tomlin. But I will go this is an overreaction when you say Mike Tomlin will not be coaching the Steelers in 2024. They made the playoffs. Now T.J. Watt's gonna be out this week. They announced that today up against the Bills. I think Tomlin will be back in the Steel City next season. Now during Week 18's loss, Jalen Hurts dislocated the middle finger in his throwing hand.

But luckily x-rays showed no fracture. Hurts does get an extra day of rest as the Eagles take on the Bucks on that super wild card weekend Monday night football game. Wild card weekend.

Don't be a sheep alright. Overreaction, proper reaction. The injured finger will impact Hurts enough that the Eagles will lose to Tampa.

I actually think that is a proper reaction. I think there's a chance that the Eagles are going to lose this game. And when you have an injury on your throwing hand, that's not good.

And that finger, man, it looked pretty beat up. Now things could change in a week. I'm sure swelling would go down.

But I think that's going to be uncomfortable. And it's clear that Hurts isn't at 100%. One of the things people look out for in Week 18 is players reaching milestones and incentives. Chris Jones got a 1.2 million dollar incentive by getting his 10th sack on Sunday. And everybody celebrated. While the Rams ensured Pukanuku would set rookie records in yards and receptions before pulling him.

However, the Jets are, well, the Jets. And believe it or not, miscounted Breece Hall's rushing numbers as Hall fell 6 yards short of 1,000 yards. And Robert Solid discussed it afterwards. Where were you that Breece was close to 1,000 at the end and it sure seemed like you gave him a shot there at the end. Yeah, we were aware one of our mathematicians was wrong. Oh, you can't admit that. But we're 10 yards off. Oh, shut up, Sala.

But we were trying to beat him on that last run, otherwise we would have taken the knee. Stop. It is the worst.

I don't know if there was an incentive tied to that milestone, but it is a bad look. Overreaction, proper reaction. You can't admit that, though. The Jets are the worst run franchise in the NFL. No, that's an overreaction. They're pretty close, but it's still the Carolina Panthers with their bozo of an owner and their petulant brat of an owner and one David Tepper.

Okay, so that's an easy answer. While Bill Belichick's future is still up in the air, the athletic is reporting that Belichick does stay in New England. Excuse me, Bill, I'm trying to speak. Can you please quiet yourself down? If he does stay, he could bring back and battle head coach or bring back and battle coach Josh McDaniels.

So overreaction, proper reaction. If Belichick stays, they should bring back McDaniels. Yeah, McDaniels needs to come back and knock my bosom. There's no doubt about that.

That's too much information, Bill. The patch should bring back McDaniels if Belichick stays. Yeah, I'm fine with Josh McDaniels being an offensive coordinator. Just never allow him to be an NFL head coach again. Over Bill O'Brien? Yeah, I trust Josh McDaniels more than Bill O'Brien.

I would go proper reaction. And it seems like there's something between now Belichick and O'Brien. It took forever for Belichick to want to bring O'Brien back. And there's a report that it was kind of forced on Belichick because Belichick wanted to keep Patricia. So I think there's something up between B.O.B.

and B.B. And then if Belichick stays, they'll go back to Josh McDaniels. Now another embattled former Raiders coach could get another shot back in the NFL. As NOLA.com reports, the Saints could bring John Gruden in as an assistant. Wait, now remember his brother was on with us and said he would never come back to be like an offensive coordinator or offensive assistant?

I think maybe his options are dwindling slowly. Yeah, because he's an overrated head coach. Now as we remember, Gruden served as a consultant for the Saints earlier in the season.

Overreaction, proper reaction. John Gruden will be a head coach in the NFL again at some point in the future. The only way is if the NFL forces a team to hire him to try to get this lawsuit to go away so they don't get exposed. But I would say that's an overreaction because John Gruden is an overrated head coach. Hasn't been a good coach in a long time. So not because of the lawsuit, but because you don't think he's as good of a coach as others might think so.

Interesting. Now after their epic collapse and missing the playoffs, the Jaguars cleaned house on their coaching staff firing defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell and his entire defensive staff. Now the Jags defense finished 22nd in yards allowed and 17th in points.

Overreaction, proper reaction. The Jaguars defense was the most to blame for their issues this season. So we knew this defense wasn't great going into the season. Should have drafted Aiden Hutchinson. Well yeah, that goes without saying over Trayvon Walker.

Anyone could have told you that. I'll be a GM. Except for Trent Baalke. I'll take 25% of whatever Trent Baalke is making. I'll do the job tomorrow. Well probably won't be great at it, but I'll take the paycheck.

Definitely cash that check until they tell me they don't want me there. But Trevor Lawrence in too many games and that offense in too many games, especially big games, didn't even get the job done. They were no-shows. Only scored nine points against the Chiefs, three points against the 49ers and seven against the Ravens. The offense was supposed to be that strength and in many big games they were non-existent. So when you say the Jaguars defense was the biggest cause for their issues this season, that is an overreaction. Zach Gelb's show CBS Sports Radio coming on back.

Did Michael Penick's draft stock take a hit last night? We discuss. We return in five minutes. No lines, no traffic, no waiting. Schedule package pickups, automatically find the cheapest and fastest shipping options, and seamlessly connect with every major marketplace and shopping cart. There's even a supply store where you can stock up on mailing supplies, labels, even printers. Stamps.com has been indispensable for over one million businesses just like yours. All you need is a computer or phone and printer. Take a chunk out of your mailing and shipping costs this year with Stamps.com. Sign up with promo code PROGRAM for a special offer that includes a four-week trial, plus free postage and a free digital scale. No long-term commitments or contracts. That's Stamps.com code PROGRAM.