Bills Under Most Pressure (Hour 3)

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No long-term commitments or contracts. That's Stamps.com code PROGRAM. In the...what is it? Overnight? What show do I have? The Night Shift? No, Amy Lawrence's Overnight.

What do I do? Late nights. The Hybrid. Late nights? Yeah, okay. Late night. But if you're in the Pacific time, it's evening. Mm-hmm. It's tough. I don't like time zones. I've talked about that. It's very confusing.

Very confusing. But I am typically on now, for two weeks I have been at least, from 10 p.m. Eastern to 2 p.m. Eastern Pacific. That would be 7 Pacific at night to 11 Pacific at night. So, good to be here for Zach today and back in the afternoon for a bit. Going to have a free evening. I think the family wants to do something with that free evening. Daddy kind of just wants to, you know, play Madden all night with his free time, but we'll see. We'll see how the night plays out tonight.

I started a franchise at the Arizona Cardinals, and I don't know if it's just me or if it's the quarterback, but Kyler Murray sure does throw a lot of interceptions and fumbles the football a lot. I think it's me. I think it's me, but I want to play that tonight, so maybe we'll get there. But when I play Madden, hey, no pressure. I can just reset. I can just turn it off if I'm losing, which I will do. I have no shame to do that.

I will do that. These teams in the playoffs, some of them have pressure, some don't. One I think did and now doesn't, which makes them even more scarier. I think you can kind of follow me on that one. At least that's where I look at it. But I think that as a fan, and I'll bring up my experience, I think that's healthy. I think it's good to know the people that you're listening to on the radio, it's good to know that they actually like sports. I think too many people pretend that I don't have a favorite team.

Well, yeah, you do though. Just tell us. Mine's the Green Bay Packers. How many times did I watch Aaron Rodgers lead a team into the playoffs where it looked like the Packers were the favorite? And then the Giants came in and upset them. Or the Niners beat them. The Niners have never lost Aaron Rodgers. Green Bay Packers quarterbacks, not Aaron Rodgers in the playoffs, are 4-1 against San Francisco. Aaron Rodgers is 0-4. Can't beat them. Cannot beat them.

So, will Jordan Love turn that trend? We'll see. But again, there's no pressure on the Packers. I mean, once you get to this point, this is what was interesting about that Packers-Dallas game, is there was no pressure on the Packers.

So fans can come into it a little bit more like, oh, this is crazy. We're in the playoffs. It's not going to crush me for years. There's some playoff losses I'm still not over. I'm not over when they lost in 2014 to Seattle. I actually think that's the second time I brought it up just today. I'm not over when they lost to the Buccaneers in 2020.

The COVID year, as we deem it. I'm not over that. But when the Packers went up 27-0, everybody that I text during these games, when we text each other, alright, we can't lose this game now. It would be catastrophic if we lose this football game. We absolutely cannot do it after this lead.

That's why even when they were still up big, 16 points at the end, I was still pacing with a minute to go. You never know. You never know.

You never know. But I don't think the Packers have a lot of pressure still going into San Francisco, the one seed this weekend. They're a 10-point favorite. So I present to you my playoff pressure meter. And the beginning of the meter is playing with house money.

And the end of the meter will be absolute pressure cooker. And I think there's actually a lot of teams that are playing with house money. In fact, probably more so than that have the pressure.

There's a lot of pressure-free teams in the playoffs right now, which is why I think we're going to be in for a good round. I know some of the great graphic, by the way, on the YouTube. It's a pressure meter, and it says playoff pressure meter.

And I just noticed it, and it's very sharp. You can find us on YouTube, by the way, for free. Also, the Odyssey app for free.

And I do think that that's one thing that I've been talking about on the Late Night Show is why people were so upset that there was a football game on Peacock. Because it cost you $5.99. And I always grew up thinking you have to pay for entertainment. But then the Odyssey app came along for free, free to download, free to listen to.

And that kind of completely changed the game. So I get it. You're used to getting your entertainment for free. I get it. I get it.

Thanks to Odyssey. So who's got the least amount of pressure? The least amount of pressure goes to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You couldn't have less pressure than Tampa Bay.

I bet you if you ask normal fans who watch the playoffs, okay, and if you get a person on the street, or you know those 30-second things in the middle of a halftime game and an NBA game, and they say name all eight teams in the playoffs in 30 seconds. I bet you under pressure, a lot of people will forget that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are even here. Which isn't a bad thing. It's a good spot to be in.

House money is a good spot to be in. The Buccaneers won a Super Bowl a few years ago with many of these guys. Baker Mayfield, I don't think there's a lot of pressure on him. He's done enough where it looks like Tampa Bay is going to want him back.

Maybe he has rejuvenated his career, or at least finally found the place he was looking for. They just played an Eagles team who was a free square in these playoffs. And yeah, they're on the road. They're on the road. I don't think they've got any pressure at all.

House money, stacked. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have the least amount of pressure of any team. Which is saying a lot, because there's a lot of teams that I don't think have any pressure. Alright, so we'll go from 8 to 1. Buccaneers 8, No. 7, the Houston Texans.

How on earth could they have any pressure at all? Maybe last week they did. Nobody expected them to win the AFC South. Nobody expected the AFC South to come down to the final week like in a good way. That division was Jacksonville's and then nobody else. Jacksonville, I think I might have predicted Jacksonville to win that division at 8-9. Which is going to be still 3 or 4 games above 2nd place. Because that division was bad.

At least that was the perception. The Colts, somehow the Colts did very well. Obviously Jacksonville was doing good before they collapsed even harder than the Eagles. The Titans didn't have a great year and there's changes coming there for sure.

But Houston gets in on the final weekend. CJ Stroud, we got our guy. It's a big part of this. They wanted to know at the beginning of the season, was CJ Stroud the guy? And the answer is yes. The Carolina Panthers want to know, is Bryce Young the guy? They don't know yet. The Bears wanted to know, is Justin Fields the guy? They don't know yet. The Steelers too, Kenny Pickett, is he the guy?

Some of these seasons, is the guy the guy? And they don't quite know. And when you get benched for Mason Rudolph, maybe that answers your question. But the Texans have no pressure. No pressure whatsoever.

Going into Baltimore, on the road, you've done what you needed to do, you've advanced beyond your wildest years. No pressure. I think the Green Bay Packers still have very little pressure. If any. You're still on house money.

You're on house money. Now you might get some fans saying, hey there's some comparisons to the year they won the Super Bowl. And the Niners, the reason I put the Packers ahead of these other teams is because the 49ers have had your number over the last 10 years. And it would be nice to break that.

It would be nice to get out of that. And also Matt Lafleur might be feeling a little bit of pressure since he's been the coach for these games. And it's notable that he is friends with Kyle Shanahan. That he and Robert Sala and Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay, they're all attached in the same circle. And when Matt Lafleur usually coaches against his friends, he gets beat.

And for a while his brother Mike was with San Francisco and they would just beat up on him. So I think that Matt Lafleur, the Packers head coach, could be feeling a little bit of pressure. Other than that, you've got Jordan Love, you've got your guy, you've got a defense who's playing above their skis. You didn't think it would get to this point. You're in the divisional round. I mean, this team was 2-5.

This team was 3-6. This team looked like they were going to make the playoffs and then lost to Tommy DeVito. Remember Tommy DeVito? Remember the two weeks where Tommy DeVito was good and somehow that meant that everyone could just run wild with Italian stereotypes because the DeVito family was doing it? Which is a 10-12% Italian American on my mom's side. That did offend me.

I feel like a lot of people kind of ran with that because it's like, you can't say anything about anything anymore, which is probably good. But if the Italians are making fun of themselves, then we can make fun of them too. And as an Italian, let me just tell you, deep down sincerely I'd like to say, I was very offended.

Very much so. I'm Italian. Thanks for the laugh track. I couldn't help myself, man.

That was awesome. I was trying to sound sincere and then hit you with the Italian. My great grandpa was off the boat. And my secret theory is that the DeVitos aren't really Italian. They're just pretending. So Packers, no pressure.

That's where I was going with that. The next team with little pressure, how about this one? And they actually might have the most house money of all. The Detroit Lions. The Detroit Lions. They had the most pressure last weekend. More so than Dallas.

More so than Philly. They had the most pressure. This was 30 years in the making. Fans were ready too. Fans were ready. Remember that Browns game a few years ago where they had lost like 17 in a row and it was a Thursday night I believe against the Jets and the fans, they just felt like, okay, tonight's going to be the night. We just know we're going to win. And they did.

And this was like that. Lions fans came because they knew. They knew they were going to win.

And it still went down to the bitter end, but they knew they were going to get it done. And it was against Matt Stafford of all people. And I thought the pressure might get to Jared Goff. Because when Matt Stafford was back, yeah, he's looking at all these Detroit fans who adore him.

Or at least did. They booed him a little bit. But when he's looking across the sideline, he doesn't see much of his old teammates. He doesn't see his old coach. Jared Goff still did.

Sean McVay. So I think there was a lot of pressure, but they got through it. And now, now they can play loose.

Now they can play free. I think Buccaneers-Lions over. I think the spread is closer than it might be. Was it six or something? Over.

Hit the over. These teams are going to play loose. They are going to play free. They are going to just play and have fun and enjoy. They are just going to enjoy the game. I think there is very little pressure on the Detroit Lions. Which to me, because they are at home, because they are so good, might be the scariest team left.

Because there is no pressure. And how about that? That whole reporting as eligible thing back a few weeks ago? It all worked out. Dallas lost. Detroit won.

Detroit gets to host a home game now without the pressure. Then the top four. So those are the bottom four.

The top four. We are going to go Kansas City Chiefs. Which they are a road team. So this is the only road team in the top four because I bumped the Lions down. I think the Chiefs don't have a lot of pressure because they have won a bunch last year. It doesn't feel last righty.

The Kelsey thing to it. How long do we have for Jason? Looks like he is going to retire with the Eagles.

How long do we have with Travis? But Mahomes will be there. Andy Reid will be there. I think this year they can look at it and say there were some games we could have won, should have won. We got to upgrade at receiver.

We know what to do. We will be back. Next year and it will be just fine. There is still a dark horse scenario where the Chiefs still somehow host the AFC Championship game. If the Texans win and they win, I don't like that.

Tired of seeing them there. But I don't think there is a lot of pressure on the Chiefs. You want to go in the Buffalo, you want to win. This is your first road game so there is a little bit of can they win on the road.

But ultimately I don't think it is going to tarnish anything for previous years or for future years. So their fourth they are ahead but they are in the top half. I don't know how much pressure there is. The Niners have a lot of pressure so I put them at 3. I am ranking teams in order of how much pressure they have.

Buccaneers 8, Texans 7, Packers 6, Lions I put at 5, Chiefs 4, Niners 3. I don't think the Niners have as much pressure as these other two teams but there is some pressure there. There is pressure on Brock Purdy.

He has got to play well. There is pressure on San Francisco because they have won a lot over the last 30 years. They are in the Super Bowl a couple of times. But they haven't won a Super Bowl since the 94th season so there is certainly pressure on them. And then I would put the Ravens at 2. Ravens have some pressure. They have won under John Harbaugh but Lamar Jackson has won 3 in the playoffs. And Lamar Jackson should be the MVP. The Ravens were my Super Bowl pick coming into this thing.

I think they can win in any condition, any weather, any element, any stadium. I think the Ravens have the best team. But there is one team with more pressure than anybody. And it is the Buffalo Bills.

And it shouldn't be that way, maybe, but it is. And part of that is because of who you are playing this weekend. You are playing the Kansas City Chiefs. And the Chiefs have knocked you out of the playoffs two of the last three years. And this season looked lost for you at times. So you could say house money, right?

You could say house money. Then an article comes out about some weird stuff Sean McDermott had said six years ago. And it is like, oh no, how is the team going to respond? Weirdly they haven't lost since. But now you have to play the Chiefs.

And now it is in your place. So I would say that overall the Ravens and the Niners might have more pressure. As a team, you could convince me the Niners are at the top. The Ravens though I think the Lamar thing, him being 1 in 3 in the playoffs is part of it.

But the Bills, because they are playing the Chiefs this weekend at home, have the most pressure. This has been your team that has knocked you out and now you get them at home. There is sometimes, I will invoke my Packer fandom again, man when the Packers were good in the Nineties they would go to Dallas every year and they would lose. Which is crazy now because now the Packers always beat Dallas. But in the Nineties they would always lose. They would always go to Dallas and lose. And when the Packers got the top seed in the Nineties, Packer fans were actually mad that Dallas lost in the playoffs to Carolina. Because they wanted Dallas to come to Green Bay because they wanted to finish the story, credit Cody Rhodes, by beating that enemy at home.

Kind of like what I referred to earlier, we like the Michael Jordan story so much because he beat the Pistons, gets by the Pistons and finally erases that. Gets past them in the East. So I think that the Bills, and maybe it will change after next week, but for this weekend the Bills have the most pressure. We will talk more about that, get the guys reaction 8-5-5-2-1-2-4-2-2-7. The pressure playoff meter, or did I call it playoff pressure meter?

Either way, that's what we're at right now. 8-5-5-2-1-2-4-2-2-7. CBS Sports Radio.

CBS Sports Radio. My name is Bart Winkler. In for Zach today.

Thanks for being along with us. I've just unveiled the playoff pressure gauge meter. We're name shopping. We're workshopping a name. I think I'm going to go with Bart's Barometer. Ah, alliteration. There's nothing like it, especially in this business.

You can do alliteration. Bart's Barometer. Ah, it's beautiful. When I do guest hits on different places, they're like, well what day of the week should we have you on? And I go, any day of the week.

I'm free. And they say, what about Wednesday? And I say, why?

And they say, because of your last name. My last name is Winkler. Winkler Wednesdays.

It's like, can't we just do a hit on a different? Nope. Winkler Wednesdays. And today is a Wednesday.

Look at that. Bart's Barometer on a Winkler Wednesday. Can't we just call it Winky Wednesday? I don't like that. I don't I don't like I don't like I'm very I I'm not I'm not particular.

This is probably not the time or place, but whatever. I'm not particular about my name. I've been called a lot of things. I do kind of get upset when I get called Bert. I don't like I don't mind Bort from The Simpsons.

Bort I kind of like. I'm not Bartholomew either. I'm just Bart. I'm not just Bart.

Bart's a strong name of itself. But I don't like Winky Wink. I don't like Winky or Wink. Winks is fine.

But when people call me like Wink, I don't I don't know what it is. I don't like it. I don't like it. So no, maybe it has something to do with. Well, I don't know. I don't like it.

So strike that from the record. OK, well, there is a name and a word that I hate. It begins with M as in Michael and ends with an O.I.S.T. I find the word to be deplorable and disgusting. And yet that has become my nickname. So, you know, sometimes the nicknames you get are not the nicknames you choose. Why? Why does everyone hate that word?

I don't know. But it makes me want to vomit every time I hear it. Well, then I won't say it. I could be a jerk and say it, but I won't I won't I won't say it.

And this is typically when I do a little, you know, I'm not I'm not going to say I'm really tempted now to say it, but I won't. Instead, maybe Johnny in Pittsburgh wants to say it or he wants to talk about my pressure meter eight five five two one two four two two seven. I'll remind people I ranked the teams in terms of least amount of pressure to most close, close. Buccaneers eight, Texans seven, Packers six. Lions five, Chiefs four, Niners three, Ravens two.

Bills, I believe, are at number one. Johnny is in Pittsburgh. What's up, Johnny? What's up? Roadie named Bart. If you get the Tom Petty reference there, I don't know if you heard that song. And also will not say the M word because my wife hates that word.

She's listening, but I will not do that to you guys. Yeah. Transplant to Pittsburgh. Lifelong Bills fan was there as a kid suffering through. I mean, enjoying the 90s, but also suffering through the Super Bowls was in Miami.

It was also snowed in in Buffalo last week. There's an air of optimism this year. There's an air of total pressure this year. The team will not be the same next year. There's a lot of cap space issues.

But I will tell you this, you hit the nail on the head. This is, I think, the most pressure. However, Josh Allen is literally playing out of out of his skull right now. And I will say that he is a leader, not just a quarterback. He is a field leader and a locker room leader. And I would dare say if the Eagles had that presence this year in the locker room and off.

To dispel some of the, you know, the drama of the dramas, I call it. They probably wouldn't be in this situation, but that's who he is. He's putting the team on his shoulders. I am a little bit worried about the skeletons in the closet that are the Kansas City Chiefs. But I, I, I, I think this will be a low scaring affair, but there is something about this team.

I don't want to keep going back to the Giants. The wildcard Giants got hot at the right time. But I feel that way with this team. They're getting hot at the right time. There's a lot of confidence. There's a lot of puck luck, if you will, going in their favor. And they got Josh Allen.

And they're playing at home. So, I think this is the year we overcome it. I've never said that ever in my past, but I think this is the year we win the Super Bowl. Well, now you're adding pressure. You just added pressure. Johnny, thanks for the call. I feel so much better. I feel so much better. All right. Well, hey, I'm rooting for you.

I like to see when people overcome their obstacles, and this is a big one. And that's what's interesting about the Bills, is any time that I talked about the Bills in the offseason, I didn't get the narrative. I did not get the narrative. The narrative was the window had closed. Not is closing, but had closed. I don't think it had closed.

Well, now, after this year, it might close. Johnny had to have a good week being in Pittsburgh. Steelers fans. Game getting moved around. Governor talking at you, saying you probably wanted the game moved.

You don't want to come here anyway. And then, you know, the Bills got blown. I thought, what is it, George Pickens? Tried to say we're playing the Bills and the refs. No, you're not, sir. You were playing against the Bills, and your team's no good. How you got to.500 again is Mike Tomlin. How there are any rumors or suggestions that he should go is one thing. I get it with coaches. I use Andy Reid as this example. And Mike McCarthy could be this example, too.

Sometimes you're really good at getting to a spot, but you can't get past that spot. And that's why Andy Reid could get to the NFC Championship game, but he couldn't win a Super Bowl. And Mike McCarthy could have 12 and five regular seasons, but he can't advance in the playoffs.

Mike Tomlin, Steelers fans would tell you, can't get us to a Super Bowl again. But I don't think he's playing with like the same hand as some of these other. He's getting to the final table with two sixes and maybe Jack 3. He's scratching his claw in his way when everybody else is getting pocket rockets or two johnnies. Three Jacks and a pair of nines.

A little OAR. So again, my reference, my standings. I think the Buccaneers have the most house money because I'm not sure, but he realizes they're in the playoffs. The Texans, the Packers, the Lions, the Lions who are at home, but I think have less pressure because they already overcame their pressure. Like if the Bills win this weekend, I think that will actually lower the pressure a little bit. Just like it did with the Lions. I think the Chiefs at four, Niners at three, Ravens at two, Bills at one. How about you guys, Samter, Kovacs, where are you guys with Bart's barometer today?

So yeah, it's interesting. I think the Bills are pretty much the definite ones that are the most pressure. I would say the Niners are pretty close though.

This is a chance for them. We've seen a bunch of seasons where they're either the best team in the NFC or one of the two best teams in the NFC, but have not gone over the hump yet. So I think for me, those two teams, again, the Bills speak for themselves. The Chiefs are down this year. They actually host the Chiefs for one. So I definitely think the Bills are one in the 49ers too. Ravens, where do we put the Ravens?

So for me, I got the Ravens one. Listen, I get that the Bills have that pressure, but it feels like with the way they started this season, what's happening now. If they were to lose to the Chiefs, yeah, there'd be a disappointment, but they'd be like, man, we fired our offensive coordinator. We went on this run.

We were red hot. We just fell to the Chiefs again. But there was doom and gloom in Buffalo. It felt like they had to blow it up, fire Sean McDermott, revamp this whole thing.

Maybe Josh Allen's not the guy. You know what, I think this season kind of turned it around. So even if they lose or they don't win it, I think that there's optimism there with the season. 49ers, the same thing.

Brock Purdy, first full season, if he's healthy, he doesn't get hurt. I feel like there's still optimism. They're still young. They still have an opportunity to win more. The Ravens have been here. They're a veteran team. Lamar Jackson has so many questions to answer.

Like, say you were about Josh Allen. He's won playoff games. Brock Purdy and the 49ers have been to Super Bowls and NFC Championship games. Lamar Jackson, every single time he's been favored in the playoffs, has fallen short. And while John Harbaugh has that championship, it's been a while, and now his big brother is breathing down his neck.

So who knows what happens. Maybe John needs to kind of resubmit the Harbaugh name with Jim winning the national championship. I think the Ravens by far have the most pressure. And honestly, I don't even think it's close. And I love Lamar. I want Lamar to win. But the other part of me is like, is there anybody rooting against the Texans? So even though I love Lamar and I want the Ravens to win, I don't want them to win. I want the Texans to go. Is there anybody rooting against anybody? Who's the team that maybe the Chiefs, people are tired of the Chiefs? But I think that from a national spot, unless you're a rival of one of these teams, who's hateable?

That's a great point. Nobody is. I think you made the point.

I'm just stealing it from you. No, I'm not anti-Ravens. I'm just pro-Texans.

I love what they're doing there. Yeah, I mean, even if you hate the Packers, I don't know. There's a lot of teams that... But even if you hate the Packers, don't you have to love them for what Jordan Love, pun intended, is doing? And the fact that they got rid of Aaron Rodgers and they're like, as soon as they got rid of Aaron Rodgers, boom. Skyrocketing right back to the top.

So you have to love the Packers for what they're doing, even if you hate them for what they've been. Thank you. I appreciate that. 855-212-4227. 855-212-4CBS. Let's get an update from Rich Ackerman. CBS Sports Radio. I am Bart Winkler in for Zach today. JR Sport Brief show coming up next. And then after that on CBS Sports Radio is the Bart Winkler show.

Although tonight it'll be David Sheppard. I could do, if I did this show and that show, that's seven hours. That's not even an eight hour day. But three hours in radio is like eight in real life. This is what I always tell people. They're like, do you only work four hours a day?

I go, no, no, no. Four is like nine. If you're in radio, you'll get it. If you're not, you're like, you only work four hours.

No, no, no. And then the great part, the great part about sports radio is that all these games that I want to watch anyway. It's work. It's work. Yes, I'm going to watch these football games anyway. Yes, I'm going to bet on these games anyway.

Yes, I'll probably have a few cocktails during them anyway, but it's all under the name of work. And that's what makes us pros. And it's time to answer our Ask the Pros Question of the Day brought to you by O'Reilly Auto Parts. Pete in Punta Gorda, Florida has a question. He wants to know, where do you guys think Jim Harbaugh will land? You can submit your questions each and every day by tweeting at CBS Sports Radio or at Zach Gelb using the hashtag Ask the Pros. Then think O'Reilly Auto Parts for your car care needs. Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Where does he land?

The Chargers seem to be the favorite. And the interview he had with them, he had an interview with Atlanta, which again, I don't know how long these interviews are. I mean, just like, what do you need? What do you want to ask me?

Everything I've ever done is documented. What do you what do you want to ask me? It's nice to like meet the person, but what do you want to ask me? I don't think that the Chargers job is as attractive as I think the narratives say it is like with Belichick when we're talking about him for so long. Well, he's got to go to the Chargers.

He's got to go to the Chargers. That's the most attractive job. Okay, why? Justin Herbert. What's reason number two? What?

I said, what's reason number two? What besides Harbaugh makes that job attractive or Herbert? Nothing. They've got a lot of guys that are either going to be free agents or are making a lot of money. They're going to be in some cap situation. The fan base is not great. So maybe the Chargers really want Jim Harbaugh like Jim Harbaugh will bring some people in. You know, we got some Michigan alum out here and whatever, whatever they want to do there. They share a stadium. I don't know.

It's super easy to like get to any of these places. I don't I don't know. I don't know that that's as an attractive draw as it's getting painted out to be. If if Harbaugh is coming to the NFL, which we assume that he will be. What he wants to do is win a Super Bowl, the thing he's never been able to do.

Got close, hasn't done it. He and he can leave Michigan. Now's a good time to leave Michigan because he's done it all. But if he's going to leave and the goal is doing a Super Bowl, can he look at the Chargers as a place where he thinks he can win, let's say in three years?

And if that's the answer, then I think he could maybe find himself there. Atlanta is interesting, too. Atlanta is interesting because it's like you have everything else, especially on offense, but the quarterback. So maybe there was a report that the Raiders want to do this.

I think they got to they got to stay with Antonio Pierce. I mean, I know it's a great free agent market of coaches, but that's a guy who clearly has made a difference. Clearly, the players want they have said it.

That's a that's a big thing. A big thing with the coaches is and people would ask us this about Harbaugh is what makes him such a good coach? And I think that, you know, a lot of these coaches, they have similar work ethic, they have similar drive.

The information that they have is available to them. I think it helps when you've played a position. You can understand more about that position and kind of like guide J.J. McCarthy, let's say, in ways that that maybe a non quarterback couldn't. But guys just want to play for him. You know, I don't know that the average college football fan says I like Jim Harbaugh and a lot of people don't like Michigan.

And there was all the stuff around them this year. But Jim Harbaugh, the guys that play for Jim Harbaugh play for Jim Harbaugh. And will that translate to the pros?

We'll see. But if Jim Harbaugh wants to win a Super Bowl, maybe he goes to Atlanta, convinces him to draft J.J. McCarthy and rides there because those two are like they're like enamored with each other. I don't think they want to play anywhere else. I think it's almost it's almost more likely that those two end up being together again in some way, shape or form than it is that LeBron James ever takes the court with his son, Bronny, which is a certified lock.

Certified lock. LeBron will play anywhere if it's to play with his son, even if like the whole NBA decides I ain't good enough to play here, then he'll go play somewhere else. LeBron will do it.

He wants to play with his kid. LeBron, man, I still watch him. I still think we take him for granted. I know his whole life we're comparing him to Jordan, which is I mean, if you're if you're comparing someone to Jordan and having that discussion, is that not enough? Do we need to settle on a one or two?

Is that not enough for like, wow, this guy's pretty good. Let's enjoy him while he's here. So I think that Harbaugh, but I don't know, does he want to coach in Atlanta? And what's more open right now? Where's a better path to get into the playoffs? Where's a better path to get into the Super Bowl? Maybe Atlanta, maybe the NFC. Just look at the quarterbacks in the playoffs. Lamar, Mahomes, Josh Allen, Stroud. That's the AFC.

You want to compete there? NFC, Jordan loves good. Brock Purdy's good. Jared Goff's pretty good.

Baker Mayfield's playing good. Is that the same thing? No, it's not. It's not the same thing. Speaking of.

Well, I guess nothing, but I'll just transition. Speaking of the NFL, I could say Hard Knocks has to pick its team. And Hard Knocks, the thing about Hard Knocks is I think there's now more drama for who's going to be forced to do it than there is who actually watches it. I know the Dolphins one. I've seen a lot of clips of the Dolphins one. The in-season one is maybe even better than the preseason one. But the preseason one's on in training camp when we're all getting excited and like there's nothing else going on.

All right. Like The Last Dance was a good documentary, but why did we all watch it? It was literally the only sports there was at that time. There was nothing going on. There were no games. And so every Sunday night we would settle in and watch a story about a thing we already knew.

Because we needed to. But Hard Knocks shows you as it's happening, just two days later, like, boy, I wonder what it was like in that Dolphins locker room after that cold game that they lost. Well, now you know.

Now you know. So the in-season is actually better than the preseason, but I'm not sure how many people flocked to watch this. I watched the first Jets one this year and then I watched the second one and then I was done.

I mean, the Jets one this year was an infomercial. They reluctantly agreed to it, which they had to. Because there's qualifications to do it. You have to not have a new coach or make the playoffs or stuff like that. So right now, unless the Bears fired the coach to get out of this, the Bears, Broncos and Saints would be the three teams that don't have the option of saying no. A team can volunteer and say, look, we'll be on Hard Knocks. I don't know why they would do it, but they can. The NFL can also say, like, hey, guys, can we I know you're not we don't have to, but we'd really like the story here.

Can we do that? And a team can do that. But in terms of a training camp that I want to see the ins and outs of.

I think I would have to go with the Bears of those three Bears, Broncos and Saints Saints. I just flat out don't really care. I don't think there's ever been a more like non playable character as a head coach than Dennis Allen. Is Dennis Allen going to be the coach there in two years?

Probably not. Is he going to be the coach? Is he going to be like the Saints great coach? No, he's just there guiding the ship after Peyton left. They promoted him.

He's going eight and nine. I mean, the Saints are and I thought the Saints should have won that division because everybody else was bad. But Saints did nothing. I don't want to see them. The Bears.

I do want to see especially what's going on. Their decision at quarterback is so interesting. And it did start to look like it was trending where maybe Justin Fields could keep that job. I do think that Packers game one way or another was going to influence the decision more than it should have. Again, that's what I want to tell Bears fans. Bears fans, Bears organization, you got to focus on yourself.

Everyone that ever gets hired there, every quarterback that they ever draft, every coach they ever sign. Within minutes, they're always talking about how we're going to beat the Packers. Just don't worry about the Packers.

Stop making them your focus. I'm telling you, as a Packers fan, I'm telling you this as I'm trying to help you. So the drama around the number one pick and then seeing him come in. And if they do somehow keep Fields, I mean, there's going to be so many stories that will write itself. So that I think would be the good one.

The Broncos one. I'm not even going to watch it. And I might cancel my subscription to Max, which I actually I would just log out then because I'm on my buddy's subscription.

So I would just log out and have him change his password. I don't want to ever accidentally see it. I don't want to ever accidentally see Sean Payton knowing he's got cameras on him ever again. I never really liked Sean Payton as a coach. I always thought that he was a little overrated. Then he went on TV and I was like, I kind of like this guy.

I call it the Urban Meyer effect. Never really liked Urban Meyer. Boy, do I love him on Fox.

I really do. I like him. And then he went back into coaching and he sucked again. He was a jerk and he goes back to Fox. And I guess who likes Urban Meyer again?

Me. And if Sean Payton ever goes back on TV, maybe I'll like him again. But the way that he acts as a coach, it's just like these guys that are you don't have to be tough guy coach. Arthur Smith was this way with Atlanta.

Get him out of there. These coaches that try to be like small town high school, win the championship every year. Yeah, I coach I coach G.R.

I teach geography, but I got interns all the time. I'm just going to boss everybody around and they're going to name the stadium after me. Like three different times, like we don't need to do this just because your head football coach doesn't mean like you own football. And I feel like Sean Payton acts that way. Just coach your team.

Stop worrying about what happened before you made Russell Wilson a robot. Sympathetic. How? I don't know.

So I don't want to see I don't want to see them. All right. J.R. sport brief show coming up. Thanks to Samter. Thanks to Kovacs. Please wish Zach Gelb the speediest of recoveries because I want to take a nap at this time tomorrow and do the late night show. 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 2 2 7. I'm Bart Winkler, CBS Sports Radio.