Ranking the Greatest QBs Ever (Hour 3)

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A Peanut Butter M&M's Production. In a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring, but the runners-up get nothing, one retired cop returns. That's one retired quarterback. Read the script.

Oh, sorry. One retired quarterback returns to claim what's his. Um, that's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&M's peanut butter, but you're on a roll.

The Ring of Comfort. Coming soon to a Super Bowl new you. Alrighty, rocking and rolling.

Hour number three of our radio program. We'll do back-to-back quarterback segments here. And we're going to include Stuart Kovacs and Carlos with a K in this conversation. You know, I thought Logan Ryan said it best, like Patrick Mahomes is going to go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. But right now, it's like inconceivable to me how people already are saying that he's already better than Tom Brady.

Like you could say he's more athletic than Tom Brady. Maybe you could say, you know, he's had a better arm than Tom Brady. But when you look at the resumes, you can't say right now, especially when Brady beat Mahomes twice in the postseason, AFC title game, where Brady was surgical in his 40s on third down conversion after third down conversion after third down conversion.

And the lone Super Bowl that Mahomes lost, he got blown out by Tom Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers where I was on an island, plussing the points with the Bucks and taking the Bucks on the money line, double dipping in both categories because the Chiefs were the favorite in that game. Like you could argue right now that Mahomes is the top five quarterback of all time. If you want to say he's the third best quarterback of all time, I think that's the highest that I'm willing to go right now, which is already an incredible accomplishment for how young he is in his career. But with the overall totality of the career so far, right now in the year of 2024, I can't say Mahomes is better than Brady. And I can't say Mahomes is better than Joe Montana, just for starters. But if you want to craft the argument that right now he's the third greatest quarterback of all time, I could at least listen to it and I could entertain it. But to say with the totality of the career that Brady and Montana had and their longevity, especially with Brady, and Brady winning with two teams and Brady beating Mahomes in every big game the two times they had, I can't put Mahomes in front of Brady right now. But it speaks to how great Mahomes has been, and I love Mahomes.

He's a video game, for crying out loud. And it just shows you how little we know about the NFL draft. Because I'll never forget this. We'll be at the Super Bowl next week. And we'll be doing five shows from Radio Row, 3 to 6 p.m. Eastern, noon to 3 p.m. Pacific right here on CBS Sports Radio. And I remember when Mahomes was getting set to be drafted, they brought him to Radio Row. Like no one wanted to interview this guy. And he was a projected first round pick. They were begging, because I know his PR handler at the time, she was begging a college radio station to put him on. And they eventually ended up putting on Patrick Mahomes. Now think about that.

Imagine those college kids. They were talking to Patrick Mahomes, let's see what he turns out to be. And then he turns out to be one of the all-time greats at the position. And I'll tell you, because I was sitting right next to Clark Hunt, and then I was sitting next to Mahomes in the aftermath of the AFC Championship game on Sunday. As they were all doing interviews, and they were waiting to get up to the podium. And Mahomes is getting the nicest thing said about him.

From Brett Beach, their general manager. Like the nicest thing said about him. Mahomes is looking at his phone, just no reaction. Like I don't know how that's possible. And he definitely, because sometimes Carlos could talk to me and I could be on my phone and I could not be paying attention, tuning Carlos out. But when someone is just effusive in their praise of you, over and over and over again.

There has to be some human reaction. But I think it's kind of that Brady and Mamba mentality. Where for Brady, oh what's your favorite championship?

The next one. The late, great Kobe Bryant. Job's not done yet, went up 2-0 in an NBA Finals. Like there are just moments like that, that these guys don't show you their emotions, don't show smiles publicly until they get the job done. But I almost wanted to look at Mahomes. And you know me, it's very tough for me to be silent and to not say anything. But there's a press conference going on, it's a professional setting. I almost wanted to look at Patrick and say, hello, you gotta have a reaction here. You gotta smile, you gotta at least acknowledge what your general manager is saying about you.

But it just shows you the way that these guys are wired. He's a phenomenal, we all know he's a phenomenal football player. And everyone's hunting Mahomes for the foreseeable future. And you could buy into this guy, that guy, tell you that this guy's gonna be good, predicted and all that stuff. You're gonna get burned. The only guy that can make the case right now on who can beat Mahomes in a big game that's active, Joe Burrow.

That's it. Or if Brady wants to come out of retirement and join the 49ers, which was reported this offseason, which he ended up not doing, then okay, I can give you Tom Brady too. But of all the other guys in the NFL, you want to tell me Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Dak Prescott, Jordan Love, CJ Stroud, Jared Goff, Jalen Hurts, whoever it is. You can say it.

But until it happens, why should I believe it? And this is coming from someone that picked against Kansas City against the Dolphins, picked against Kansas City against the Buffalo Bills, and picked against Kansas City against the Baltimore Ravens. I ain't doing it again. I'm not picking again.

I'll tell you right now. I can make a great case why the 49ers should win the game. Quite frankly, my gut tells me that the 49ers are gonna win the Super Bowl.

And there's a whole lot of gut to go around. But my brain keeps on screaming to me, like, you cannot pick against Mahomes in the big game. And maybe some of it is the Brady conversation too, but I was hoping that the Chiefs would go down. But they're just such a likable team. Like, Mahomes is the most likable guy. Like, he really is. He's a stud, he's cool, he's calm.

The only reason I dislike him is his brother. But he's just like a stud. And he does things on a football field where you're like, holy smokes. And look at the connection with Kelcey in the first half.

And the second half, they did nothing. And then he has the awareness to say, I learned this year to trust our defense and at times you just gotta be a game manager. And it just shows you, doesn't matter how you win, Mahomes can go out there and throw 500 yards and six touchdown passes. But then he's also fine with just taking the layup throws, protecting the football, not having the most prodigious stats, just as long as you win. And that's what the great ones do.

The great ones, doesn't matter how you win, just as long as you win. So, with the Mahomes and Brady whole conversation that's gonna keep on happening year after year after year, which it's funny to me. It's like when Brady had four up, you can't say he's better than Montana. When Brady had five up, you can't say he's better than Montana because he lost the two Super Bowls. Then Brady gets six, it's like, okay, we can say he's better than Montana. Like, that was a long time for people to then say, Brady has gone past Montana.

And I don't know if it was the overwhelming majority, but it was a loud vocal minority. Like even Howard Eskin, our boss's father, who is a longtime radio guy, he still won't say Tom Brady's the greatest quarterback of all time. But now people are all of a sudden with two championships and maybe a third one after next Sunday, they're already calling Mahomes the greatest quarterback of all time. So, let's do a draft here. I'll go first and we'll draft the top nine greatest quarterbacks of all time. And we'll all make three selections each. I'll go, then Stu will go, then Carlos will go, and then we'll snake it back around. Carlos, Stu to me. If you can't tell, in the number one spot, I'm going with Tom Brady. No way. Yeah, shocking. Ooh, we got a little NFL music here. I like this.

All righty, Stu, what do you got? I will go with, I think, who is the clear second that is Joe Montana with all his Super Bowls with the 49ers. Obviously, he played in a different era, but at the same time, he has all those rings. I don't think that could be disputed at this point.

So, Tom Brady won, Joe Montana too, Carlos with the K. I am very reluctant to go to Carlos because he was just making a case in the last segment on why Dak Prescott will somehow one day win a Super Bowl. So, you know how when you took a test in school and sometimes it would be graded on a curve and you get a few extra points, I may have to find a curve to get the best out of Carlos Ortiz here because I am very, very, very skeptical after you just said Dak Prescott is one of your top five choices to win a Super Bowl and the guys that have it. I think the words you're looking for are, you're welcome, because if I'm giving you extra points that I just boosted everybody's grade point average up, that's kind of a douchey thing to say.

You're welcome. I didn't mean it that way, but maybe there was a kid in school that you kind of looked at and you go, oh, he's walking in? Oh, I'm getting a few extra points on this test because there's no way that kid's going to do well. I'm here for all of you.

All right, what do you got? Who's three? I'm taking Peyton Manning as my first selection here. Listen, he went to the Pro Bowl in pretty much every season except for his rookie year. When the Pro Bowl actually mattered.

When the Pro Bowl actually mattered. But listen, two Super Bowl rings, one he was the MVP on, he still holds NFL records. So Peyton Manning for me is number three overall behind Brady and Montana.

And since I get to go again, this is the only quarterback I'm going to select that doesn't have a ring. Dan Marino. Dan Marino was breaking records left and right when people were running the ball constantly. And it was a much more physical game that they did not have all the rules for quarterbacks that they do now where you can't breathe on them anymore. So Dan Marino for me will be my second quarterback off the board.

How about that? I don't have any objection to Dan Marino. But could you imagine if Dan Marino played today? Look how many touchdown passes he threw in an era that wasn't throw, throw, throw like Carlos just said.

And also now the rules are all slanted towards the offense. I'm okay with the Dan Marino. He had almost 90K passing yards. He'd have like 150. If Dan Marino was being drafted right now, he'd shatter everything. He really would be.

Alrighty. Stu, who is number five here? So I'm between two guys, but I will go with Mahomes. There's still a lot of stuff for him to do. But at the moment, has the two Super Bowls, the two Super Weapon Ps, the two regular season MVPs.

I think he's right there right now. So I get to make two selections here. Is that correct?

That's right. So we have Tom Brady 1, Joe Montana 2, Peyton Manning 3, Dan Marino 4, and Patrick Mahomes 5. So this will be my last two selections. Alrighty. I'm going to put Johnny Unitas on the list.

And here is why. In 1959, Johnny Unitas threw for 32 touchdowns. We know about all the championships.

We know about all the MVPs as well. But you guys want to take a guess to just show you the disparity here and the difference here from Johnny Unitas and everybody else in 1959, which by the way, they only played 12 games back then. He had a 9-3 record. And in 1959, he threw for 32 touchdown passes.

What do you think the guy who was second on that list, Eagles, Norm Van Brocklin, how many touchdown passes do you think number one was 32? What was number two? Carlos, you want to take a guess? 12.

Man, I didn't think you'd go that low. Stu? Uh, 25. 16. Okay.

So I was close. 16. That's crazy.

Yeah, it's nuts. Actually, sorry. It was 20. We had a reordering issue. I don't know why they would do it this way, but it was 20. Think about that.

32 to 20. He threw 12 more touchdowns than everybody else in the NFL and in third place was 16. That's just bonkers. So Johnny Unitas is in the next spot, and that would be in at number six. So Brady, Montana, Manning, Marino, Mahomes, Unitas, off the board. See, like, I wonder if I have to go old school guys here.

And it's funny because I'm the youngest here, but I want some checks and balances here. I am going to hope that one guy I leave off here, cough, cough, he's a cowboy, ends up getting selected. But I'm going to run the risk because I'm going to do what's right here. I'm going John Elway. So I'm taking John Elway.

Why are you slamming your hands down? That was my next pick. Oh, so maybe I should have taken Stahl back then.

But I don't know. I got to go Elway there. So Brady one, Montana two, Manning three, Marino four, Mahomes five, Unitas six, Elway seven.

Let's bring it on home. Stuart Kovacs in at number eight. See, this is tricky because you have way back in the day, guys like Otto Graham, right?

Which is way back in the day day. You know, Farve is still out there. Stahl back is still out there. Aaron Rodgers. You know, there's a bunch of guys that are still out there that have not been named yet. And this is why top ten quarterbacks, I know we're only doing nine because I get three, Stu gets three and Kovacs and Carlos gets three. This is very tricky. You must be annoying to do fantasy football drafts with just announcing all the available players where managers are like, stop telling who I'm going to pick next.

Yes, misdirection. But I'm also setting it up for the listening audience. What I'm doing is I am trying to clean the house a little bit before the cleaning lady comes. And the reason is that is because I already feel the tweets brewing. I already feel the direct messages brewing. You idiots, how do you leave this guy off the list? So I'm at least acknowledging the other people that could be on the list. So then when people come after us, I can at least say, well, hey, I picked Brady. Hey, I picked the United. I picked Elway. It was these other two idiots that didn't get the job done. So I blame it on you guys. Um, Stu, I'm a team player, though. Don't forget that I would never throw anyone under the bus here at CBS Sports. Hashtag Team Zack.

What do you got, Stu? Yeah, this is tough. I am going to go with the current, you know, more recent player between two guys. I'm going to go Drew Brees. I Drew Brees. I think not a bad pick. I think the numbers that he put up were just astronomical.

Yeah, they were. I know he does only have one Super Bowl, which is not great. The one Super Bowl MVP as well.

It's tough. I do think Brees should be in this conversation just based off of talent, maybe not in terms of winning. He doesn't have that pedigree, but in terms of just pure talent in the numbers. I'll go Brees in this situation. Yeah, as great as Brees was, I think I'd rather have Rodgers over him. He was the other one I was considering. I think I'd rather have Favre over him. You know, I guess he could make the case for Autogram, but definitely Staubach.

You know, man, we're going to leave out here. And I don't know who Carlos is going to go. Watch, Carlos is going to go with like Taylor Ham Heineke for the last pick. But one of these guys will not, or multiple of these guys will not be on this list.

There may be no Autogram. There may be no Rodgers Staubach. There may be no Brett Favre, but like Stu, you put Brees over Rodgers?

I do. I think he was just, in terms of statistics, he was better. I mean, if I won Super Bowl, like it's not like Rodgers has two. If Rodgers had two or three Super Bowls, I would definitely put Rodgers ahead of him. Yeah, the thing with Brees where I have to push back with Rodgers is the MVP. Brees never won an MVP.

It's true. Rodgers has won what, three, maybe four league MVPs? He's gotten four. So it's four? Yeah, he got 2011, 14, 20, and 21 because he had the back to back a couple years ago.

But the doubting of Gudukun's doubting him, which Gudukun ended up being right. Funny how that works. Alrighty, so Drew Brees, I like Drew, you know, nothing against Drew. I can't call him the eighth best quarterback of all time. Alrighty, what do you got, Carlos? Send this home. I got real strong consideration for Rodgers.

I really do. But if Steve Young didn't back up Montana for three years, didn't play in the USFL. No stallback. What are you guys doing? No stallback.

No autogram. I'm sorry to all of my football peers. But Steve Young might have been one. He was the quintessential rushing quarterback before all of these rushers out right now. If Steve Young was playing, he would fit the model today. And again, there was like five years he didn't play in pro football and he still put up numbers of over 33,000 yards, 232 touchdowns, a quarterback rating of 97. I would take Steve Young as my last pick.

Alrighty. I like Steve Young a lot. The name I like, I could understand three of us leaving autogram off the list. Stallback though, that's just the iconic football name. I hear the Cowboys fans. I hear them. And you know what?

It's the one time the cockroaches actually have a legitimate gripe with this show. That was a fun exercise. So I take Brady, Stu takes Montana, Carlos double dips Manning Marino, then Stu gets Mahomes, I take Unitas and Elway, and then Stu goes Brees and Carlos goes with Steve Young.

Alrighty. That's our greatest quarterback ever draft. You know, all those guys are obviously all time greats, but just not having stallback in there.

It just it feels wrong to me. Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio. The Sultan of sizzle, the Titan of toastiness, the kingpin of kindling. These are the admired ones, those who've created the prime place together. They don't just have a backyard, they have the backyard because they know a solo stove fire pit is more than just the ultimate smokeless fire pit.

It's a place where friendships are forged. Football is revered, and food is enjoyed solo stove, the perfect flame for the big game. A peanut butter M&Ms production in a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring, but the runners up get nothing. One retired cop return. That's one retired quarterback. Read the script.

Oh, sorry. One retired quarterback returns to claim what's his. That's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&Ms peanut butter, but you're on a roll. The Ring of Comfort coming soon to a Super Bowl new you. Listen up.

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No long term commitments or contracts. That's stamps.com code program. All right, it is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Had fun two back to back segments doing quarterbacks that don't have a ring, which will be the one that ends up getting that ring first. And then the last segment we did a QB draft of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Now Stu's compiled the list of a few teams. Another chance to be in a Super Bowl or miss the playoffs next season. So I either have to pick, do I see this team potentially getting in the Super Bowl or miss the playoffs outright next season?

What is the better percentage of chance? By the way, James Cook from the Buffalo Bills is going to stop by in about 10 to 15 minutes from now. Stu, what do you got cooking? Who's the first team?

All right. Let's stick with the teams that just missed out on the Super Bowl, first star in the NFC with the Detroit Lions. I think it's a better chance they make the Super Bowl next year. Because like, let's just say the 49ers don't get back to the big game. They don't do that next year. Who's the next team that you think of?

Well, I have trust issues in Philadelphia, I have trust issues in Dallas. You know, there's other teams and I'll hold off on them for the sake of this list that maybe you could be confident in. But when you look at those marquee teams in the NFC from a year ago, you know, Detroit is just a little less aggressive in that second half. They go to the Super Bowl. And Logan Ryan of the 49ers, he joined us about an hour and a half ago. He even said they were too aggressive.

And he thought there were moments where you just got to take the points with momentum being a real thing. So yeah, I will go Lions better chance to be in the Super Bowl next year than it is to miss the playoffs. Baltimore Ravens, now you got to obviously look at the division they're in, which is also a pretty tough division, but I know they do have a lot of talent.

I'm going to say miss the playoffs and here's why. Up until this year, the last two seasons, unfortunately, Lamar Jackson has been hurt to end the season. He got a good bill of health this year. I can't guarantee that's going to be the case next year. And I know you could say, oh, well, you could say that for any team. But next year, Joe Burrow's been just as injured, if not more.

He's coming back off an injury. You then look at the rest of that AFC North. You know, the Steelers are always a solid squad. And let's see if Deshaun Watson can get back to being a good quarterback in this league. That is the toughest division in football, that AFC North, because like there's usually always one team that's bad in a division. That team does not have a team that you could look at next year and be like, oh, they're going to be a bad football team. Like the Bengals still were a solid squad and had a chance to make the playoffs with their best player out and arguably the second best quarterback in the league. So I think it's more likely that the Ravens miss the playoffs than make the Super Bowl next year.

And also, it's a real thing now. I have waved the white flag for years at defending Lamar. I said the sample size is not big enough. But when Kansas City only puts up 17 points in an AFC title game and you can't get yourself in the game when they got shut out in the second half, that's when I get out on Lamar Jackson winning a Super Bowl in this league. Next team still. The Buffalo Bills with Josh Allen. I'm going to say there's a better chance they are in the Super Bowl than they missed the playoffs.

Look, they were as bad as you thought it could get starting off 6-6 the entire year. They were not in that lead spot for the AFC East and they still won the division. I know the Jets get Rogers back, but they don't have an offensive line. The Patriots are rebuilding and I don't trust two in a big game. So yeah, I do think the Bills are going to win the AFC East. And if it could just be one day where someone picks off Mahomes that isn't Burrow, you know, maybe that guy ends up being Josh Allen who's played individually really well in those two, three times he's gone up against Mahomes in the postseason.

They just can't find the way to get the job done. But I think there's a better chance the Bills make the Super Bowl next year than it is that they missed the playoffs. Team that had a surprising season with a surprising play at quarterback with Baker Mayfield, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Yeah, and give them credit, they made the second round of the playoffs too. They crushed the Eagles in that wildcard game. But I got to think with one team just going to the playoffs, probably out of that division, I would think there's a good chance they regress.

I know that they have some incredible players on the defensive side of the ball. Lavonte David had a really good season, but he's getting older. I don't know if Mike Evans is going to be back.

He's a free agent. And you would think Baker Mayfield is going to be back, but Baker Mayfield there and maybe Mike Evans not is a totally different feel in Tampa Bay. So I'll say it's a better chance they missed the playoffs next year at Tampa Bay than it is that they reached the Super Bowl. What about the Los Angeles Rams?

Super Bowl. Those are one of those teams that when I was saying, oh, there's some teams in the NFC that maybe we'll get to later. What Matthew Stafford did this year with Cooper Cup and Pukunakua, and now the retirement talk going away with McVeigh. And it feels like it's not there this year with Aaron Donald and the way that Williams emerge down the stretch. I think that's a team that they could be on paper the second or third best team in the NFC entering next season. Let's go to Houston Texans with the play of CJ Stroud. Because of who that quarterback is, and they're just getting started, and they don't even have elite weapons on the offensive side of the ball for him. Like, Niko Collins is a nice player. He's their number one wide receiver. Imagine when they continue to bring in more and more talent to Houston, and D'Meko Ryans is a player coach, but he's not a doormat. I think that will attract more names to H-Town. I think there's a better chance that the Texans are in the Super Bowl than it would be missing the playoffs next season. The Green Bay Packers.

And how confident I am with love, too. I got to go miss the playoffs. Just because some and like really next year is year two for love. I know he's been in the year longer than that. But sometimes you go into, you know, it's a second full season as a starter, and you fall off a little bit.

And then it ends up turning out to be better for the long term. Like Tom Brady, and I know he replaced Bletsoe with the injury with Mo Lewis. People forget the next season after winning that Super Bowl against the Rams, they were a solid team.

I think they finished nine and eight, or, you know, well, nine and seven. But they missed the playoffs. I think sometimes you get a good year but miss the playoffs and it sets you up for a year after that. I will say the Packers, there's a better chance they missed the playoffs than win the Super Bowl next year.

I was very, very, very encouraged what I saw from love. What about the Dallas drama Choking Cowboys? Yeah, it's missed the playoffs.

Because you're bringing in McCarthy as a lame duck head coach. I know that team has an incredible amount of talent. They couldn't even get out of the wildcard round with all these Cowboys fans telling me they're a great team. I think there's a better chance they missed the playoffs than make the Super Bowl next year. Sticking in NFC East, the Philadelphia Eagles.

I got to see it from back to back years. I don't believe in them. I think there is a legitimate coaching problem in Philadelphia. I do not like Kellen Moore.

I do not like Nick Sirianni anymore. The Fangio hire is okay. It's a solid hire on the defensive side. But they have so much talent on that team. I just don't see a way where like bleep hit the fan this year and they still made the playoffs. I don't see a way that they missed the playoffs next year. So I'll say make the Super Bowl. And then last but not least, the Miami Dolphins. It's funny because McDaniel's had back to back seasons where he's done a lot of winning in the regular season.

And last year it wasn't a disaster in the playoffs. They had Skyler Thompson as quarterback and they almost beat Buffalo and then this year they go into Kansas City and their offense did nothing. I just don't see two of being in a Super Bowl.

I don't. And I think it's more likely that they missed the playoffs because of the pile up of how many good young quarterbacks there are in the AFC and you mix that in with Rogers coming back as well and one of those veteran names being in the AFC too. I think they could be one of those teams that get like nine or ten wins next year. And then there is a tiebreaker where they're on the outside looking in.

So I will say it's more likely they missed the playoffs than make the Super Bowl. All righty. Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio. We'll take a break.

When we come on back, James Cook had a sensational sophomore season for the Buffalo Bills. He'll join us on the other side. Update time first. Here is the act man, Rich Ackerman. We continue. This is Zach Gelb's show Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. Just wrapped up his second season in the NFL is James Cook, who had over 1,500 all-purpose yards for the Buffalo Bills and he joins us today on behalf of Thorne. We'll hear about them in just a bit, but to learn more, visit www.thorne.com.

That's T-H-O-R-N-E dot com. James, appreciate the time as always. Thanks so much for doing this. How have you been? I've been good. How do you look back, just wondering, at the individual season that you had this past year? Clearly the Bills asked more of you in your number two and it paid off for you individually on the team.

Yeah. Took a lot, you know, ups and downs, you know, through the season, you know, but we got to stay steady. I mean, just having that success this year early is good and, you know, it's a momentum push for next season, you know, so. With the rookie year that you had in year one, what did you kind of do in the off season? I know they asked more of you in year two, but to get the production that you had.

You know, just kind of focused on myself and what I put into work, you know, was working hard by myself and when I only could put, you could push yourself, so push myself hard and it paid off this year. And a lot of people thought you could be a very successful running back when you were coming out of college at Georgia. I'm just wondering after the year that you put out this season, which was very successful for you, how much better do you think James Cook could be in the NFL down the road? From my own destiny, you know, so, you know, till we continue talking to James Cook right now, obviously everyone knows your brother, Dalvin Cook, with him being your older brother. And now you going through this journey, I know he just wrapped up his season with the Baltimore Ravens. How big of an influence has your brother been in your football journey for you? A lot, you know, just having an older brother that's in the league, playing, having success is awesome.

You know, he just gave me advice, you know, that I need and I take it in and I try to get better and learn from everything that he did. So the Buffalo Bills this year, you guys started off six and six. People were wondering then if you were going to make the playoffs, you guys end up getting hot down the stretch, you're losing the second round to Kansas City. Just what did you think of this past season? Clearly, you still want to keep on playing, but how do you kind of look back on the team success this year and what you guys could do better? I mean, you know, stay healthy, you know, and I mean, people thought we weren't fit to make it, you know, so our team, I feel like we showed a lot of adversity in the ups and downs that we had during our season. So you know, we can't be nothing but be proud of ourselves. So this whole nation, we come back and get better and just learn from what we did for the nation and try to fix that. You know how this works.

You know, we live in a reactionary society, James Cook. So you guys come up short and then everyone gives the take the next day. You know, Josh Allen and the Bills, they'll never win a Super Bowl. You being in that locker room, what do you say to people that just keep on doubting if the Buffalo Bills will one day deliver a championship to their fans in that organization? Just keep watching.

I like that answer. James Cook here with us to talk about Thorne in just a second. What did Joe Brady bring to this team? I know he's now going to be the full time offensive coordinator that was talked about the other day. But you being a part of that offense, what changes did you see once when unfortunately Ken Dorsey got let go and Joe got promoted to be in the interim OC? There's a lot of energy, you know, him just rallying around us and giving the playmakers the ball. And that's one thing I feel like he changed and he just bring a lot of energy, man.

Young guy, South Florida guy from the same area. So it's going to be more of the Joe James Cook and Joe Brady show this year. What do you think that show could look like next year? Because obviously down the stretch, you know, that Dallas game was was a monster performance for you.

You really just kept on getting better throughout the season. So what is the Joe Brady and James Cook show look like next year? Stay tuned.

No, still a lot of work, still still early. So I don't want to just put nothing out there, but it's just going to be a lot of work done and we'll see. Just wondering, being on the same team the last two years with Josh Allen, who's one of the better quarterbacks in the league. What has stood out to you the most with your quarterback in Josh Allen, what he brings to the squad? Just a lot of a lot of things, a lot of leadership, you know, just rallying the guys when we down, you know, and just a lot that they come with his plate just being a quarterback in general. So I feel like he does a great job handling it and, you know, I feel like he can really do it. He's a good guy. There's been so much conversation in the last year with Staphon Diggs, you being in that locker room. Just what is your view of Staphon Diggs as a teammate with the Buffalo Bills? Great person, you know, great leader, you know, you care yourself how you care yourself the right way. And, you know, that's my guy. So, you know, you're just a great leader.

Do you think at all, maybe like the conversation about him gets overblown a little bit because there's always like a little ominous feel with Staph Diggs that everyone thinks there's going to be an issue with him in the locker room? No, man. He's good. Great people, man.

You know, he'll get no problem. All righty, James, before we let you run, I know you're teaming up with Thorne, you and your brother. For more information, visit Thorne.com, that's T-H-O-R-N-E dot com. Tell me a little bit about your partnership with Thorne and how they've been a good resource for you. Oh, you know, just help me dissolve them like materials that they give me to stay healthy, take care of my body.

And, you know, it's one of the best brands, you know, so I use it and it got me to a great healthy season. Who do you think is going to win the Super Bowl, by the way, between the Chiefs and the Niners? I'm going with Christian McCaffrey. Why is that? He's a guy. Will you watch the Super Bowl? Like obviously last week you probably watched the Ravens game because your brother's playing. Yeah, I watched football. Yeah.

You never know when you lose, it's just like how long does it take you to get that out of your system? It's time to move on and get better now. You got it. Thanks so much for your luck this offseason. Thanks so much for doing this. Appreciate the time.

Appreciate y'all. There he is, James Cook from the Buffalo Bills joining us on the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. And honestly, the Bills become one of those teams that you're most curious about to see what they do next year. Like entering next football season, the Jets obviously are a team that people are going to be interested in because it's the return of Aaron Rodgers. The Bills, I think there's a lot of people who now say, all right, they're not going to get over the hump. The Bengals, we know how legit of a team they've been and now they're going to get Joe Burrow back. And similarly to the way that we just talked about the Bills, you could say the same thing about the Ravens. It's like no matter what those teams do in the regular season next year, Baltimore and Buffalo, no one's going to give a rat's ass about them until playoff time.

And you could throw the Cowboys in there too. And I know the NFL is not like the NBA. The regular season matters. The NBA players basically tell you that regular season doesn't matter, just get in the postseason. And some people take the LeBron approach. Some people take the Golden State approach and they don't usually have success come playoff time. Cause those like LeBron teams with the Heat, LeBron with the K, it doesn't matter what seed they were. And for the Warriors, you know, they had a 73 win season and it resulted in a championship.

It didn't matter what seed they were. When you have LeBron, when you have Steph Curry, when you had Kevin Durant, it did not matter what seed you were. You knew what the finals matchup in all likelihood was going to be. But in the NFL, especially in the AFC, you can be a really damn good team and miss the postseason. So regular seasons do matter in the NFL, but there are teams like Buffalo, Miami, you have the Bengals, you know, Dallas, even Philadelphia, where you go into next year and you go, eh, does it matter what they do in the regular season? Like, is there anything in the regular season, any of those four or five teams that I just named, is there anything that they could do where the overwhelming majority of people then start to say, yeah, that team's going to go to the Superbowl? Like the Bengals, like the, let's just say the Bengals and the Eagles, since they both been to a Superbowl, they go have dominant regular seasons, like 13, 14 wins next year.

It's just going to reiterate the belief that they could get back to a Superbowl. And the Eagles have been questioned, the Bengals haven't, but when you see both those two teams, it's tough to impress in the regular season knowing what the one last thing is they need to accomplish. But more so when you see the Ravens, the Bills, and the Cowboys, those three teams in particular, I don't think there's anything they could do in the regular season that will then make people say in the middle of the season, alrighty, that team's definitely going to the Superbowl because Dallas now for the last three years has been a double digit dominant force in the regular season. And the farthest that they have been has been in the divisional round where they needed to beat a crappy 8-9 Tampa Bay team to get there. You see the Ravens, this year was made for them, Baltimore could be the number one seed next year, you will have people picking against the Ravens because of the shortcomings they displayed this year. And then Buffalo, I know that they have reached an AFC Championship game, but ever since they reached that AFC Championship game in 2019, they have now gone the other way and they've been stuck in the divisional round. And there will always be that feeling of can they get past the Kansas City Chiefs.

So it's not being negative, it's not being critical of the teams, it's just being realistic. And this has come from someone that when Buffalo got to 7-6 and beat Kansas City, I took the bait. I put a future down at plus $1,000 for them to go to the Superbowl. I was getting offered money to cash out, I should have taken it before the Chiefs game.

And I didn't do so. I was thinking about maybe doing so before the AFC title game, and then get some money out of it, win some dinero, win some cash, but it didn't go down that way. And that's what makes this year so damaging for a lot of those AFC teams that we just mentioned. You had no burrow and you had a vulnerable, what we thought was a vulnerable Chiefs team. Even the Chiefs will tell you they were vulnerable. They didn't quit, they didn't doubt themselves, but Andy Reid even talked about the Raiders game on Christmas was their turning point. Like a month ago, it was not a hot take to say that Kansas City wasn't going to be playing in the Superbowl. But until you take out Mahomes, there's always a chance he gets there. And that's why I said about Kansas City all throughout the year, even though I didn't believe in them, the way I said it was they will be a tough outcome playoff time.

Because you got to give the champ everything you got and then some, even when they're vulnerable to take them out. Buffalo couldn't do it. Dolphins never had a chance. And the Ravens, quite frankly, were getting begged, begged by Kansas City to make it a fight.

And they never made it a fight. All right. It is the Zach Gilb show on CBS Sports. We'd like to thank Logan Ryan for stopping by today. James Cook as well from the Buffalo Bills, Carlos with a K, Stuart Kovacs as well, and each and every one of you for listening, calling, interacting with the show. You can always follow us on social media where we are buzzing on social media these days. Buzzing. You know, we were all over the Internet this past weekend, and we thank you for making that possible with the Joe Flacco interview, being featured on Entertainment Tonight with the Drew Tranquil interview as well. Brian Ehrlach are making waves in the rounds on this show. So we can't thank you enough.

And also stream us each and every day, youtube.com slash CBS Sports Radio. We'll see you tomorrow, everybody, we out, bye bye, peace. In a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring, but the runners up get nothing, one retired cop returns. That's one retired quarterback. Read the script.

Oh, sorry. One retired quarterback returns to claim what's his. That's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&M's peanut butter, but you're on a roll. The Ring of Comfort coming soon to a Super Bowl new you. Okay, picture this.

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