Aaron Rodgers Is Not Believable (Hour 1)

La di da di da, live from the police show, yet not overly ostentatious, studios of the Infinity Sports Network here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to a marvelous Thursday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all the great local Infinity Sports Network affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, the free Odyssey app, and of course, streaming live on YouTube.

855-212-4227 is the number to jump on, and 855-212-4227. I don't even care that I messed up my hair before I got on the air. I was just having my like hands all over my hair, and now I think my hair is like all the way to the right. It looks terrible on the stream, but who gives a rat's ass? Because I got a baseball team in the NLCS, and it's glorious. It's wonderful.

It is spectacular, and it is magnificent. I'm still trying to fix my hair. I don't know if I'm gonna have any luck, but who cares? Oh, I am in a splendid mood today. I didn't go to bed last night just because of the pure excitement that I was feeling until like three in the morning, and then guess what?

I couldn't sleep because I'm back, back in the New York groove, and at 7 15, and I usually don't get up that early, at 7 15 a.m Eastern Time, I didn't even get an alarm. I did wake up, and I was watching the Francisco Lindor Grand Slam over and over and over again, and there are moments in sports that happen with your team. When your team is on the winning side of something that is so spectacular, that we have all been there, and for me the last two weeks rooting for this baseball team, which was my first true love as a kid in the sports world, was baseball, and it was the Mets, and going to Shea Stadium with my mom, and my dad, and my friends, and just going to all these games, and this has been a franchise.

Let me be real. This is a Mets team where we all expect the worst. Like in my 30 years of living, I put out a tweet a month ago that this team was the third most fun team of my lifetime. You know how pathetic of a statement that is, and they are slowly, slowly moving off of that three spot. Quite frankly, even if they don't get to the World Series, this may be more fun than 2015 when they got to the World Series and lost in the World Series, because what the Mets are doing, and it's the best moment in sports, is when you have unexpected success.

When you have unexpected success, there's nothing like it. There's really not, because this team was dead. This team was over. This team was finished. You know how many times I said the season is over with this team, and whenever it looks like they're not going to get the job done, they find a way to do so. I'm still trying to figure out on the stream which way my hair is messed up, and I think I finally just got it.

I think I'm good. I have no clue, but I don't care. All my hair could fall out today. I don't care, because I know the Mets have a game coming up on Sunday. The Mets have a game coming up on Monday. I will be in the building on Wednesday night, and there's a game on Thursday, and after that we will see what transpires with the New York Mets. So, I was at the game last night in two purposes, two roles.

I was working. I was getting content after the game. I did talk to Francisco Lindor after the game and the manager of the New York Mets and Carlos Mendoza, and then I was also able to go around the stadium, and the vibe in that building last night was just ridiculous, and the Mets, of course, because they can never make this easy, the first three innings was torture because they would basically bring you to the well, and right before you're about to drink up, the well has no more water in it. The well actually somehow it found a way to be to have some malfunction, and no water is coming up right now, and I knew that eventually the Phillies would strike first, and I knew that the Philadelphia Phillies would get on the board, and they got on the board on such like a lucky, funky kind of infield slapper that the Mets couldn't field cleanly because the Vientus was debating do you go to first or do you go to home and try to get the out, and then he dropped the ball, something like he did similarly in this series, and the Mets keep on getting guys up, and they keep on not finding a way, and then that magical sixth inning happened where you have JD get on, other guys hit by pitches, wild pitches, and I'm sitting there, I'm like, all right, even when Alvarez with the bags full hits a ground ball, and they get the four set out the plate, there's one out though, bases loaded, Francisco Lindor is coming up, and if it wasn't for Shohei Ohtani, Francisco Lindor would be the most valuable player in the NL, and how can't you have confidence as a Met fan, and this is what this team has done, where outside of 06, no Met team in my lifetime has done this, I now expect to win these games. I now expect them even when they go down to bounce back and find a way to win, and with Lindor up, I'm not thinking he hits a grand salami, but I am confident, I wasn't greedy, I'm like, just hit the ball in the outfield, let's tag up from third and get a run home with two outs, and then see what the what Vientas could do bad in second, and when that ball went to right field, the stadium was just moving, you know, that's how it was going to be the end for all of us in that stadium, we all would have been fine with it, because it was elation, that building was ready to pop, that building was ready to explode the entire night, you know, someone asked me how loud was the building, and I said, outside of Lindor home run, I thought the loudest the building was, was prior to Lindor hitting the grand salami when Terron Taylor was up at the plate, he had a ball down the left field line past the third base bag, it went foul, and the douchey umpire had an emphatic foul call, which I didn't appreciate in the moment, but when that ball we thought was fair for like a half a second, I was in the 300 section, there's 500, you know, there's a field level, 200 section, 300 section, 400, 500 section at Citi Field, so I'm at the 300 section, and I could oversee the third base bag from across from me, because I was by the first base bag in the 300 section, and I saw the stadium on the field level like actually go up and down and move, that's how loud, that's how great of a crowd it was, but my baseball team finds a way to get the job done last night, and Stu, when they take out David Peterson, who's been a great weapon in the game, when they take out David Peterson the ninth, they had to put Diaz in with the three-run lead, but when he walks the first two guys, I'm like, oh no, oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no, but then a confidence did overtake me, that as long as Diaz got one out, he was going to find a way to get the other two outs, because I just trust this baseball team, and there's a certain buzz, there's a certain vibe, I don't believe in this team of destiny bullcrap, and this is one of my biggest pet peeves in sports, whenever someone starts calling a team a team of destiny, two rounds or so prior to winning, that team usually always loses, so save me the nonsense, and save me the bullcrap, this is a team of destiny, I want eight more wins, gosh darn it, all right, because in 2015, I was the dope, that was so naive, and I was younger in life, I was in college, and I was like, oh we lost the World Series, weren't expected to be here, don't worry, we'll be back, and it's been a long decade since, so I'm looking at this team right now, they're just hot, and hey, whoever comes out of the next series, of the series going on right now with the Dodgers and the Padres is going to be tough, you know what Stu, I don't know if you would agree or disagree with this, the Padres kind of got that vibe about them too, the Mets and the Padres got a little special vibe going on, and with the Dodgers lack of starting pitching right now, like I'm not rooting for anyone, but if you said, who would you rather face, I think I would rather face the Dodgers, as crazy as that sounds from where we viewed them for most of the year, than the slam Diego Padres right now, that's the way I look at it, do you see the same thing?

I do, I was saying to Andrew Bogusz who works on Mornings here, if the Yankees, if, if, if the Yankees were to make the World Series, the World Series, yeah, of those three National League teams left, I'd most want to play the Dodgers. Wow, and also just in my lifetime, the Mets have defeated the Dodgers twice in the postseason, in 06 and in 2015, so I don't know, even though that means nothing in 2024, I just have a little bit more confidence going up against the Dodgers, and quite frankly, the Dodgers remind me like the Phillies, except the Phillies have better starting pitching, you got the big names in the lineup, the team that was supposed to be the team all year, and all the pressure would be on the Dodgers, just like how all the pressure was on Philadelphia, so I'm feeling good man, I am, the bullpen could scare the crap out of you, the starting pitching, it's like the little engine that could, with all these starting pitchers, like Kintano, what he's been able to do, Maniah, Sanga now back, but it all starts and ends with Francisco Lindor, and, and all hail, for I'm bowing down right now, if you're not watching on YouTube, YouTube, to Francisco Lindor, hey, he's just ridiculous, like that, in the last two weeks, I've had the game against the Braves, where they were down 3-0, they're up 6-3, they blow the game, and then Lindor hits the salami, uh, hits the two-run shot, that the Mets end up winning, then I also had game three of the wild card, where they were buried and dead, and Pete Alonso, who looked like he was right out of town from the Mets after this, uh, that series was over, he was gonna be right out of town, done with, and we were all ready to ship him out, and, and say goodbye and free agency, he hits that home run, then they win game one against the Phillies, they lose game two, which was a classic, a classic, and then they win three and four at home, and last night being down 1-0, and Lindor hitting the salami, just unbelievable, you know, I, I, there was a, a person that I met last night at the game, and, uh, he said to me, he's actually a SAG-AFTRA member too, it's just small world, that's our union that we're in, he looked at me, he goes, you're still in stunned disbelief about what transpired, I go, yeah, like, that moment just overtook my body, when Lindor hits the grand slam, and an inning later, Stu, it was like Alonso, I emotionally blacked out, I was completely sober the game, I emotionally blacked out, and that's what sports could do to someone, it was just awesome, now, I had a listener come up to me at the game in the first inning, he was like, hey, are you Zach Elba, I'm like, yes, that is me, like, how many six foot four, uh, talk show hosts are there that aren't known for actually playing sports, so I was talking to this guy, very nice guy, he was actually, he's listened to me since 2017 when I was doing Eagles post game, so how about that, and he said he was a Yankee fan, I can't stand what your Yankee fans are doing to me, Stu, uh-oh, now, very nice guy, but the Yankee fan is, I'm not saying they're rooting for the Mets fan, but I think they fear that the Mets win a World Series before this Yankee core does now, and since the Mets are actually enjoyable if you don't have a dog in the fight, the Yankee fan, and this is what this guy did to me at the game last night, he goes, you guys are winning the World Series, no doubt about it, in my mind, can you stop telling me that, please, I don't ask for much, I've been a good boy this year, you know, I deserve to have some success with my baseball team, do you need to start congratulating me, and people did that with my hockey team too, oh, the Rangers are a team of destiny, stop, I want a parade, don't congratulate me until I'm drunk as a skunk at a parade, and I have to tell David Mayernik and Ryan Early, I'm not coming to work, or if I am coming to work, I'm gonna be like fully in the bag, not even half of the bag, fully in the bag, alrighty, alright, let's get to the rest of these baseball series, because let's be a national show, and let's pay attention to everything, but I had to get that out of my system, so the Mets are off to the NLCS, we're lonely right now, we're waiting for people to join us, Dodgers, Padres, Stu, in game five, Friday night, tomorrow, who finds a way to get it done, even though it's in LA, I think it's the Padres, I think Darvish pitches a good enough game, and I just don't trust the Dodgers pitching enough right now, so I think the Padres are the better team, Otani finally in the postseason, I think it's best for Major League Baseball if he advances to the NLCS, now, that's not great analysis, because I can't really give you a great reason why I think the Dodgers are going to win, but I'm just going to go with the Dodgers, Yankees and Royals, let me get your perspective, Stu, you're the Yankee fan on this show, Yankees, we're up 1-0 in this series, they lost game two, and then in game three, we just saw what just transpired with an unlikely hero, Giancarlo Stanton, Giancarlo, no si pueso parlo, I think is what John Sterling says, I'm pretty close, I'm pretty sure I'm in the right ballpark there, give me your reaction, Yankees now up 2-1 as they try to close it out tonight with Garret Cole on the mound, I think tonight is a must-win game, because if they lose, they do go back home for game five, but they have to face Cole Reagans, who is a very good pitcher, very underrated left-handed pitcher, okay, coming back to the big ballpark in the Bronx, you can't find the way to get the job done, I don't trust Rodon, and there's no pressure on the Royals, yeah, it just feels like the momentum they would have from winning game four and then coming back, I think the Yankees would be in their best interest to finish it off tonight. Now you would think, right, the home team and the Royals would get one at home, but with that being said, I would also counter that by saying, is Garret Cole gonna pitch two bad postseason games in one series?

Is he gonna do that again? I hope not, I think you're right, but I hope not. So that's where I'm conflicted by, because I do think Cole pitches well tonight, but on the other side, there's like a little voice in my head saying, are the Royals really gonna lose both at home? So I'm gonna say the Yankees advance to the ALCS tonight, Dodgers will meet the Mets, Yankees will get to the ALCS, I'll tell you, you know I'm rooting for, and I love Cleveland, this is nothing against Cleveland, the Tigers find it a way to win game two as they did up against the great Guardians closer, and then coming back home and getting game three yesterday to take a 2-1 series lead, even if the Tigers lose today and they got to go back to Cleveland as it's Tanner Beebe and Rhys Olson on the mound, and we'll see what the pitch count is for Rhys Olson, you got Scooby Dooby Doo, Tarek Scooble on the verge of becoming a friend to the Zach Gelb show, making two appearances on the show this season, if Scooby Dooby Doo, even if you lose tonight, and you want to win at home obviously, but if you have him on the mound for a game five, he's the best pitcher on the planet right now, he's gonna be the AL Cy Young award winner, and if Cy Young was just given out to, you know, one Cy Young given out for both leagues, it would still be Scooby Dooby Doo. So there's a weird confidence, and the Tigers, and the Tigers, they kind of remind me about like the Mets a little bit. Now outside of Scooble, they don't have the star power, as much star power the Mets have, but that Tiger's team, we had Scooble on, and there was talks about him getting traded, traded, because all the Tigers are so far out of it, and how they are now one win away from going to the ALCS, like think about this, Stu, you could have an ALCS with the Tigers and the Royals. I don't think that's gonna happen, I think the Yankees will get through, but the fact that there is a chance the Royals, the Tigers, and the Mets could all be in the league championship series is wild, wild. So I think, I don't know if the Tigers win today, but I think the Tigers win that series. I'm going Yankees, Tigers, and the AL, and I do think my Metsies will see the Dodgers, even though I think the Padres are a better team right now than the Los Angeles Dodgers. It's been a great postseason, really has been for Major League Baseball.

8-5-5, 2-1-2, 42-27. Let me take Anthony and Myrtle Beach here real quickly. Anthony, what's shaking? What's going on, brother? I'm in a fantastic mood, Anthony. Say what you got to say. Yes, you and I too. I'm out here in Braves country, just laughing at everybody. Say hello to all my friends. The phrase is so irrelevant, you know, you don't even have to see them in the playoffs.

I know, but I'm surrounded by them, and I just walk around giving them the little action shots, harassing them. Gotcha. So what's going on? Listen, you manifested this and you touched on it a little while ago when you talked about it last week when you were, everybody was putting Pete down, he's over with, and then he came through with that home run. Right now, you had a good luck charm, and I need you to believe in this.

I'm the good luck charm for Pete Alonso? You talked about it last week when you were talking about he's done, get rid of him, he's a free agent, we're done. That night, he hit the home run, kept it going and won it for us. You manifested it by saying Pete has to come through, show him what he's got, and he did. So right now, you're the match that lit that flame.

Well, you know what, Anthony? The Mets are done. The Mets stink. The Mets won't win another game.

If that's what it takes, I'll channel my inner hot take, Kiki, and try to pull what he usually does. A little reverse? Yeah, a little reverse jinx.

Well, you can't acknowledge a reverse jinx, so I didn't just acknowledge what we just talked about, all right? Go Mets. Yes, Anthony. Appreciate it, Myrtle Beach.

Appreciate it. Oh, boy. I was going to say, you're giving me credit for Pete Alonso. I was a loyal Pete supporter, and then in that third game of the wild card round against the Brew Crew, I was like, done, get him out, I've seen enough, and then boom, hits that home run. Oh, this is special.

This is special. I just want more baseball. I'm actually going to game three of the NLCS. Tickets went on sale yesterday, and Wednesday evening, I called up my brother-in-law. I said, we're going to the game. Then my best friend brought tickets to us, too.

How about this? Best friend brought tickets. I go, what section are you in?

We're in the 500 section, whatever the cheapest tickets were. And he goes, oh, I'm in, I think it was 523. He's like, I'm in 523 as well. I go, oh, cool, we're in the same section.

We'll tell you before. I go, what row are you in? He goes, row 11. He goes, row 11. I go, oh, I'm in row 11. What seats? I'm in two and three. He's 17, 18, 19, with his dad and his brother. So pretty cool. Small worlds the way that stuff happens. That's right.

It is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. Stu, I'm not a cat guy. I'm a dog guy. I know that you are a cat guy, right? You have two cats? Two, yes. Okay. How old are your cats?

Uh, one is like eight and the other one is like two or three. Did you take in those cats from the outside? You like had that whole process work. I'm always amused by that.

Yes. The youngest one, me and my girlfriend found in the backyard of our old apartment. So how do you know how old the cat is? The cat was very, very young.

So they knew it was like between four months and seven months. So how old are the cats again? Like eight, like eight and three. Okay.

Eight and three. Yeah. How's cleaning the litter box?

Just wondering. How often do you have to clean the litter box? So we have this thing called a litter robot, which cleans itself and then you just get rid of the, you know, the waste, if you will. It goes into like a little like plastic bag and then you just kind of tie it up and throw it out. Bad smell?

Not a great smell. Are you usually the one, not your girlfriend that has to do that process? It's probably me like, probably three out of four times it's me. Okay. Gotcha. That seems right. Seems about right. How long do cats usually live for?

Is this like, there's a reason. There are some cats that have been known to live into their twenties. Twenties? Yeah.

Twenties. So the reason I asked this, the legendary Cardinal and Mets first baseman, Keith Hernandez. Yes. Haji.

Haji. Everyone knows the cat. Yes. So he just got his cat a birthday cake, which I always think is a little weird when we get animals like birthday cakes. Now I know dogs can eat chocolate. This is a chocolate covered cake. Can cats eat chocolate? I don't think so.

Okay. Well, maybe it's just to get a cake and they don't actually serve it up to the cat, but his cat is 22 years old. Happy 22nd birthday to Haji. I didn't even know cats live that long. Like my dog, Brady, who was a West Highland Terrier. My parents had me named the dog when I was a youngster and it was a female dog. Like, Oh, what do you want to name the dog? And I'm like, Oh, Brady after Tom Brady.

So that's what we ended up going with. So everyone would think that Brady is a guy, but Brady was a girl. She ended up living for like 17 or 18 years with a dog is an incredible run. But when I saw 22nd birthday for the cat, I was very like dogs are what? Usually 10 to 12 years. It feels like 13, 14 years out of a dog.

It's pretty good. Like cats. Is that the same range? And then there's just some cats that are just anomalies that end up living at 22. So obviously it just depends, but I think cats do live a little longer.

So you're kind of expecting teens. I think if you get a cat, do your cats, do they both live in the house or in and out of the house? They are inside cats both because my uncle Freddie, he has like four or five cats and he's like a Grateful Dead kind of guy.

That's the image of Uncle Freddie. You know, his cologne is always on and it smells like a certain something, something, if you know what I'm saying. But anyway, his cats, he has like three cats that are house cats. And then I think like two other cats that they come and go.

So, you know, that's always another thing with cats. So you're only house cats, right? Yes.

Yeah. My friend Jordan and his girlfriend are now fiance live. They have a house cat named Zeke and Zeke. He's like the the only cat that actually I've ever thought of resembled a dog. I'm not like like if you like cats, that's fine.

I just never got the cons. I've always been afraid of cats. If I'm being honest, my mom's allergic to cats, too. I was very afraid of cats when I was little. And then you had the girlfriend and the girlfriend. Yeah, it was more of like when I was younger type of thing.

Yeah, it's usually how it works. So anyway, I was not expecting this cat. Keith Hernandez cat.

Did you know that act? How old do you think Keith Hernandez's cat is? It's like 17, right? Twenty two. Twenty two birthday today.

You didn't watch Haji. Happy birthday. What's wrong with you? I'm sorry. Yeah, you're the birthday guy around here. How did you not have Haji's birthday? I don't know. I'm not sure.

All righty. Let me just play a few cuts here from Aaron Rodgers on the Pat McAfee show yesterday. Aaron Rodgers fires back at the rumors that he got his former coach Robert Sala fired. As far as any of the ridiculous allegations out there, I'm not going to spend much time spend more than one sentence in response to it. And that is that I resent any of those accusations because they're patently false. And and it's interesting the amount of power that people think that I have, which I don't. It sounds like more than a sentence. I thought there was like at least two sentences in there.

So that's lie number one. And like, could this initially have been Woody Johnson's decision? Yes. But if Aaron Rodgers vehemently opposed this decision or didn't want this decision to happen, he's the only guy in the organization that could tell what he know and then what he would have to listen to.

So I don't know. Like Aaron gets so many things that he wants. This idea that Aaron Rodgers had no say in this, especially when you had the cadence comments a week ago, the whole comments going back when he made the trip to Egypt. Pouts and unexcused absence, whatever that icy situation was on the sideline that they downplayed up against the Patriots. There's enough smoke there where there's smoke.

There's a fire. And now Robert Sol is fired. So it's a very, very tough sell to me. Aaron Rodgers that now all of a sudden, all these ridiculous allegations, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You had the power and you have a lot of power to make sure that Robert Sol had kept his job and not gonna be wrong. Robert Sol from a record standpoint doesn't deserve to be the head coach of the Jets, but I thought he was going to get another week against Buffalo to prove that he could still be the coach of this team.

No one thought it was coming before that Buffalo game, maybe after the Buffalo game, but definitely not before. Here is Aaron Rodgers of the Pat McAfee show. Since you had no power in this, since you had no say, as you do claim, are you upset? Because remember, he was very annoyed when the Packers caught him off guard when they drafted Jordan Love. Are you upset, Aaron Rodgers, that Woody Johnson didn't consult with you as you claim first, even though you guys had a conversation the night before the coach got fired? But you know, who cares about facts, right?

Aaron Rodgers. But are you annoyed that Woody Johnson didn't consult with you before firing the head football coach? Woody has no obligation to let me know of what his plans are, whether or not he knew what he was doing in that moment is inconsequential. Um, I just appreciate the call that he was checking on me. It was just like a friend call like he would do.

Hey, man, I saw that in the game. You know, you're doing okay. And we had a nice short five minute conversation.

And then that was that. So let's just say we were firing ACK, which we don't have the power to do. That's not nice. I'm using you as an example. Let's say if we were firing ACK and let's say I had the power to fire ACK. Sorry to do that to you, ACK. But if I had a conversation the night before I was firing ACK, let's just say it's a weird sentence to say on the radio. I feel very uncomfortable saying that. And I just called you out of the blue and was like, Hey, Stu, how you doing?

How you feeling? Good. And then the next day I fired ACK or got ACK fired.

You would feel some type of way that I had a conversation. I knew I was going to get rid of ACK and never gave you a little heads up with you working as close as you do with ACK on a daily basis for so many years. Definitely.

Yes. That's why it's not believable. Don't buy it. Yeah, there's no way Woody Johnson is calling Aaron Rodgers the night before and then firing the head football coach the next day or bare minimum asking pointed questions to Aaron Rodgers about the coach. We're depending on the answers of Aaron Rodgers. That's going to determine the fate of Robert Sala. Very unbelievable. Here is Aaron Rodgers.

Last one. What's next for the offense of the Pat McAfee show? The most important thing is that there has to be some change, you know, even just the smallest change to we need as players to take accountability for what's happened. I think that's the thing that hits you too in the moment is if I played better on Sunday, this doesn't happen. And as somebody who takes a lot of pride in their performance, that was the main sentiment for me yesterday. So I got asked this question yesterday when I was doing my weekly hit on Hoffman and Crowder as I was doing it from Penn Station, which doing a phone call interview in Penn Station and having to navigate the homeless people and just people trying to get money from you.

And who knows what else happens in Penn Station was quite the adventure yesterday before I got on the train to go to Citi Field to watch my Mets advance to the NLCS, which we're very happy about. I was on with the Hoffman and Crowder and they asked me show out of Miami about Aaron Rodgers. Like, do you think he's washed? I'm like, I don't think he's washed. I just don't think he's great anymore. And I think he's a 40 year old quarterback coming off an Achilles injury when your offensive line sucks and there's not a lot of chemistry there because you haven't been or even though you've been there for you not been able to play with these guys before.

That's what I think you're seeing right now. It's like you could get rid of Robert Salah and maybe you get a quick emotional boost from Olbert being the coach. You could demote Nathaniel Hackett because he's not calling the plays anymore. It's Downing.

You could make that demotion and maybe you could get a little high off of it for a week or two and get some wins off it for a week or two. But ultimately, the fundamental issue and the biggest fundamental issue with the Jets is when you have the 40 year old quarterback who's basically playing on one leg right now, you can't let him get the snot beat out of him each and every week. And until the Jets with this revamped right improved offensive line, until they start blocking better, then we'll continue to see the same old Jets.

And that's the biggest problem. I don't think Aaron Rodgers has another two, three years left in him. I don't. I think next year, if he's I think it's on the table like retire after this year, depending how it goes down. But I don't see Aaron Rodgers playing past the 2025 season.

I don't. Not everyone's Tom Brady when you played to your forty five or forty six, whatever it was with Brady and even Drew Brees at the end, even though his teams are winning and some of those players like the Minnesota playoff game, they lost that game. I'm not talking about the the Minneapolis Miracle one. I'm talking about the the one with Kirk Cousins right through the touchdown pass and left corner to who was it?

I think it was Kyle Rudolph, if memory serves me right. But in that game, like Taysom Hill was playing better. And you had moments from from from Drew Brees where he was fumbling the ball and throwing interceptions. And Drew was up there in age. The sport is not meant for 40 year olds to play it and play it at a high level. And the decline happens rather quickly. So I think part of it is Rodgers in decline, but also you could put anyone behind this offensive line.

You're not winning a lot of games when the line gives the quarterback literally like a second to think, if that at most it is Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. To be clear, we're not firing act or that's a relief to me. I'm not aware of the situation, nor do I have the power to do.

I'm like Aaron Rodgers. I don't have the power to do that. Well, when you're the longest tenured guy, you're always on edge. Yeah, you never know when it's coming. And they say it's your friends that do it to you. OK, just make sure you don't turn your back to me during this show.

I don't want to have to stab you. Here he is, the Ackman. Rich Ackerman with the latest update. As the dust settles from last week's games, it's time to look at which teams are rising and which are falling. Zach ranks his top five NFL in college football teams on this week's edition of Take 5 only on the Zach Gelb show. All righty, let's do a Take 5 Wednesday on a Thursday since I was out yesterday. I'm going to start with college.

College was very tough. I knew who my first and second teams were going to be, but three, four and five, I had no clue which way I was going to go. And I think I think who I put at five and four will be somewhat controversial.

So, Stu, I follow your lead here. Should I go one, two, three, four, five or five, four, three, two, one? Go one to five. That's what I was thinking.

Yeah. And if you would have told me to go five, four, three, two, one, I may have been like, all right, I'm Aaron Rodgers. I don't have the power to make a decision.

But then I'm going to make the decision to go one, two, three, four, five and then tell everyone, oh, Stu told me that it was his decision, not my decision, even though everyone just heard how the way that played out. Anywho, in at number one, welcome back to the top spot, Texas. Texas has survived, obviously, without Quinn Ewers.

Arch Manning has played well. I know they haven't played the greatest competition, UTSA, Louisiana Monroe and then Mississippi State. But they are still undefeated. They had a very good one up against Michigan. And now you have Red River coming up on Saturday. And we'll preview the big weekend in college football coming up in about an hour from now, about 50 minutes, actually, from now, with Josh Perry's at NBC Sports.

Big 10 analyst does a great job and is also a former Ohio State linebacker and won a national championship. So when I look at that Red River game, all the pressure's on Texas. Oklahoma has a quarterback change. They're getting, obviously, Texas getting Quinn Ewers back. The leading wide receiver for Oklahoma is going to be out. So I'll be curious this week to see if that's a blah Texas game or if it's just close because it's Red River in high scoring.

So Texas into number one. Number two, this team hasn't played a great opponent yet. But what they're able to do with Jeremiah Smith and what this freshman is able to do, it's just ridiculous. I know we all talk about Ryan Williams. Jeremiah Smith, though, 23 receptions of the young season, 453 yards and six touchdowns.

He's just been absolutely sick. Now, with that being said, their biggest opponent is this weekend, and it's the Ducks of Oregon. So I put Ohio State in at two. I'll be curious, with Ohio State going to Eugene, can they find a way? Because I do think they're better than the Ducks. But the Ducks are playing better. Can they find a way to get the job done with a little adversity maybe getting suffered for the first time this year? In at number three, team I just mentioned, the Oregon Ducks. They didn't play great in the first two games of the season against Idaho and Boise State. But since then, they're starting to look like the way that we envisioned the Ducks. But clearly their best opponent this year is Ohio State and what they have actually in the remaining schedule. So now we'll get to really see is this team with Dan Landing has been the last two years. You win a lot of games in the big games you don't win, or do you go get that signature victory?

So I thought that was pretty easy peasy stuff. Texas won Ohio State two. I did put Oregon three.

Now here's where we get tricky. Could I go Penn State? Can I go Clemson?

Could I go Miami? Can I go with those teams? I'm actually keeping Alabama in at four. And I think people say, but Zach, Alabama just lost to Vanderbilt. Yeah, but they beat Georgia.

And also, there's a lot of mediocrity this year in college football. I think if Alabama played any of the teams that I'm keeping out of the top five, Alabama would beat those teams. So I'm keeping Alabama in four because of how great that win was two weeks ago. And yes, it was a terrible loss against Vanderbilt, but I'm keeping them in at four.

And number five, I'm keeping Georgia. I'm keeping Georgia in there at five. I know they did not play well up against Kentucky. They lost to Alabama.

They had a great second half and they had, obviously you knew they were going to win after losing to Alabama where they blew out Auburn 31 to 13. But Georgia's in at five. I think those are the five best teams right now in college football. Texas won Ohio State two, Oregon three, Alabama four, Georgia five. Wasn't easy to put together this top five list, but that's what I'm with.

All right, Stu, what do you got? All right, what about the undefeated Miami Hurricanes despite two really close calls recently? Now they came back down 25 against Cal.

Give them credit. The referees and the replay system helped them out against Virginia Tech. It's just the lack of quality opponents.

And for me, if Miami played Alabama, Miami played Georgia as good as Cam Ward is, I think Alabama and Georgia would beat Miami. So they continue to win games. They continue to be undefeated. They'll go into the top five. But right now, when you got some teams undefeated and one loss, I think the one loss teams are just better. You left out the team that is ranked fourth in the AP top 25, and that's Penn State. I'm just skeptical about them because I was so impressed with them against West Virginia.

But since then, regardless of how the scores look, there's been a lot of sloppy games. They go beat USC pretty damn good this week. Then that could elevate them into the top five. But right now, they're just, just on the outside looking in, trending to being in the top five soon. All right, what about a team that's four and one but got blown out and really the only tough game they played in Clemson?

That's the thing. Clemson got blown out by Georgia. How can I keep Georgia out of the top five and put Clemson in and then Bama beat Georgia, right? So to me, that's why Clemson is out.

All right, let's go to the NFL quickly. In at number five, I put the Baltimore Ravens, especially what they've been able to do the last two weeks, smothering Buffalo and then following up with a good come from behind victory up against Cincinnati Bengals when Joe Burrow was going off. In at number four, Texans looked like they were going to blow up Buffalo and that game got late and they found a way, mainly because of the incompetence of Sean McDermott, but they still found a way to get the job done. So Texans in at four. Lions are on a bye week, they stay in at number three. In at number two, the undefeated Minnesota Vikings.

Who would have thought we'd be saying that? Doesn't matter where they play. They go to London, they win a game and get a coach fired. And it's not one of their coaches, an opposing coach in Robert Salah.

And then in at number one, the standard is the standard. The Kansas City, how about those Chiefs find it a way to play? It wasn't even a complete game, but probably their most complete game of the season up against the Saints. And it's ridiculous how the Chiefs don't feel like they're sleepwalking and the defense is better than the offense. And then Kareem Hunt looks like he's been there forever and he hasn't played there in like six years, something like that.

And Juju Smith Schuster even went off. So Chiefs in at one. Ravens five, Texans four, Lions three, Vikings two, Chiefs one. Stewart, speak now or forever.

Hold your peace. What about the NFC East leaders through five weeks in the Washington commanders? Toughest, toughest, toughest, toughest, toughest team that I did not put in the top five. I really wanted to, but I said Ravens commanders, right? You get the slight edge to the Ravens. Ravens play the commanders this weekend.

Jayden Daniels going up against Lamar Jackson. They're playing for, they're telling me, you know what they told me? Harbaugh reached out to me.

Dan Quinn reached out to me. They said, we're playing for a spot and take five Wednesday on the Zach Gelb show, even though it's a Thursday today. So next week on a Wednesday when we're here, whoever wins that game will be in the top five.

I can promise you that. What about another NFC East team in the Dallas Cowboys? Good win up against the Steelers. And I'm not trying to take anything away from the Cowboys.

I think it says more about what the Steelers are and how they're fraudulent. So to me, the Cowboys are like hovering as a 500 team. I know unless if you tie, you're not going to be a 500 team with the extra game getting added. They're not good enough to be a top five team in the NFL right now, especially when your wins are blowing out the Browns who stink, the Giants who stink and the Steelers who are overrated. But they do play the Lions this weekend. So we'll see some progress potentially, potentially, potentially from the Cowboys.

All right. What about team coming off of two back to back wins in division? And that's the Atlanta Falcons thought about it. And their win up against Philly was impressive. You know, played Kansas City close. Saints game was too close.

Tampa Bay was too close. Their games have and they lost to Pittsburgh, too. So if I'm not putting Pittsburgh in the top five, it's tough for them for me to put the Falcons in the top five. I just think the Falcons are a team. Well, they'll probably win the division. They're an above average team, a solid team. But these games are very, very close. They got to look more dominant if they want to get into the top five.

All right. It's a college football. Take five this week. Texas one. Ohio State two. Oregon three. Alabama four.

Georgia five. NFL Chiefs one. Vikings two. Lions three. Texans four. Ravens five. Two interviews coming up in the next hour. Mo Vaughn will join us next and then coming up in about 45 minutes. Josh Perry, NBC Sports. Big Ten.