Lions Have Case For Best Team In League (Hour 1)

Live from the play 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 another week and a Monday 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. You can always get at me on Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via the good old cesspool of Twitter, X at Zach Gelb.

That is Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. We got a whole lot to do today. Aaron Murray, the former Georgia quarterback that does a great job with the ESPN and also Sirius XM.

He's going to stop by hour 20 from now at 4.20 p.m. Eastern, 1.20 p.m. Pacific time. I got to start off though with a question because yesterday, and I did think that the Detroit Lions were going to win. I thought they were going to go into Lambeau. I thought they were playing better football. They were the healthier football team. And quite frankly, I believe they are not only the preeminent team in the NFC, but I did something yesterday that would infer through what I've seen so far in the NFL season. And I know the Chiefs have not got to week nine yet and played in week nine yet.

That will happen as they'll conclude week nine tonight on Monday Night Football up against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But I made a wager yesterday, and I made that wager in the first quarter on the Detroit Lions to win the Super Bowl. Now, I saw the line and the number was at plus 700. I initially put a small amount of money on plus 700.

And then about two minutes later, I go, you know what? I want to put more money on it. So I did a cash out to get my money back as it was equal value. And then when I went to go put more money on it, the odds went from plus 700 to plus 600 on the Detroit Lions to win the Super Bowl. So I have a ticket right now at plus 600 for the Detroit Lions to win the Super Bowl. That was an impressive win for the Lions yesterday to go on the road, play outdoors for the first time this season.

It basically be a monsoon, but it doesn't matter where you put the football down. When you have this year's version of the Detroit Lions, they show up, they kick ass, they have fun, and they are a heck of a football team. And I'm trying to think who Dan Campbell reminds me of. And the two names that I'm going to give you, I'm not saying he's going to be those two coaches. And he has more personality clearly than both of these two coaches. But the mentality and the approach of Dan Campbell's Detroit Lions reminds me of Nick Saban at Alabama and reminds me of Bill Belichick in New England. And before people say, hold on, Campbell has a personality.

Campbell shows way more emotion. Zach, how can you compare Dan Campbell to the greatest NFL coach of all time and the greatest college football coach of all time? Because what Nick Saban and Bill Belichick did for so many years, for decade after decade, is they showed up and they not only wanted to beat you, they wanted to embarrass you.

And they did not pull off and call off the dogs and say, guys, we're not throwing in the towel and already knowing that we're going to win until the game was over, until we saw 60 minutes go off the board. And that's what I see with Dan Campbell that elicits the response that I just gave you, that Dan Campbell has a little Belichick in him and has a little Nick Saban in him, where they show up, they get off the buses, their team. Now people are starting to respect the brand and the team that is the Detroit Lions and they show no mercy.

And I love that. I love when a coach is screaming with four minutes left in the game and the game is over because he's coaching until the last whistle. You know, I love when Nick Saban would get into it with this offensive lineman when Alabama would be up 30 points in a national championship game. I love when Bill Belichick, you know, it would be four minutes left, five minutes left, the patch would be up by 30, their first in 10 at the 30 and they're still going all out. And I understand at times that could cost the team, at times that could get a player injured like, hey, Rob Gronkowski once against the Colts, the game was over, he was on an extra point, he got hurt and he was pretty much done for the season after that. But that's the mentality that you need to turn around a team like Detroit. And when Dan Campbell got to town, I'm like, who is this wacko? Seriously. He gave me Big Ten coaching vibes.

And I don't mean that in a negative way. But when I watched Dan Campbell, I thought I was listening and watching more of a coach whose message would sell and resonate in college rather than the pros. But Dan Campbell in the year of 2024 is really like the perfect mix of what a coach should be.

Former player, right, can relate to the players, is considered to be player friendly. His coaches, you know, his players would do whatever for their football coach, but he's not a doormat. And like a lot of coaches struggle in the year of 2024 to be player coaches and then to not be a doormat. Like Nick Sirianni is a player coach. He's a student, if we're being honest, after some of those decision makings yesterday.

But he's a doormat. His players walk all over him. Mike McDaniel, player coach, but his players walk all over him. Dan Campbell is a player's coach, but you know who is the boss, who is the head honcho in that locker room.

And his word and what he says to his team has serious weight and he has a significant amount of clout. I love, I absolutely, positively love what I'm seeing from Dan Campbell right now. And to see the progression, right, because year one was ugly, then they had a great finish to their season and got off to a miserable start. You know, they go to Lambeau, they beat the Packers, and then last year they went from a team that was on the rise to a team that has arrived. Last year was the year, oh hey, keep an eye on the Detroit Lions, they're hot. You know, they're building something and then boom, they had a big lead in the NFC Championship game and they squandered it away. But this year, they are one of the handful of teams in the NFL that are legitimately Super Bowl or bust.

And with what I have seen through the first nine weeks of the season, I know Kansas City plays tonight, but in the year of 2024, what sells? Offense. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Lions offense has been much better and much more reliable than the Chiefs offense this year. Jared Goff is Mr.

Consistent. I love the way that the Lions are built in the trenches. They are such a physical, tough, fun, offensive line to watch. They have two phenomenal running backs in Jameer Gibbs and also David Montgomery, and they got a good wide receiving core led by St. Brown. You know, La Porta is a good tight end in this league. Like on offense, could they use like maybe a wide receiver at the deadline with Williams and some of his, you know, inconsistencies to stay on the field with the gambling and then the PEDs?

Sure. But when I watch that team, I don't see really any flaws offensively. Any major flaws offensively that say to me, hey, they're not going to be able to go to a Super Bowl this year and win it.

Now, the big question is the defense and the defense lost their preeminent defensive player in Aiden Hutchinson. You know, it seems like they're going to from now until the deadline tomorrow, by the way, big day in this country tomorrow. You know, make sure you participate in following the NFL trade deadline. It's your civic duty to follow the NFL trade deadline. I don't know what else is going on in the country tomorrow, but we got the college football playoff. Franklin's coming on out. We got also the NFL trade deadline day.

I can't remember. I can't quite put my finger on what else is going on in this country tomorrow. You know, there's some great rivalries in this country. And supposedly people keep on telling me there's great rivalry tomorrow that we'll get an answer about or hope to get an answer about by the end of the day. But I'm not going to get political on this show.

I won't do it. This is a sports show. I'll stick to sports. But anyway, I look at the Lions.

That's the question. Is their defense going to be good enough? You don't need to be great from the defensive side of the ball to go win a Super Bowl in this league. You just got to find a way to get timely stops like the Chiefs now become a great defense. The Chiefs defense is the reason why they're still undefeated. But early on in the home's reign, it was can that defense just get a timely stop?

And eventually they were able to. And the offense was a story. Now we've seen a shift where it's the defense is the story. And the offense just needs to have Patrick Mahomes be a game manager.

And he's obviously been able to do that. But I do believe the Lions by tomorrow will trade for Zadariya Smith. That's what everyone keeps on floating on out there. That's been the sexy rumor. That's been the big talking point out there. It doesn't look like it's going to be Miles Garrett, Mike Tannenbaum. It does not look like it is going to be Max Crosby. So you're welcome there, Stu.

And you can wipe some sweat off the cabeza. But I do believe with what I've seen from the defense losing branch yesterday, you know, him getting ejected. It doesn't matter who you put out in the field. That team just knows how to win. And that team right now is really following the heartbeat of their head coach, Dan Campbell, who once again.

He's starting to remind me of Belichick and also Nick Saban with just the mentality. Where when the ball is put on the field, we are going to just absolutely annihilate you. We are going to play knowing that every second matters. And even if we're up big, we're not calling off the dogs and we're going to punch you in the mouth over and over and over again.

That's what Dan Campbell does. And you need that mentality to turn around the Detroit Lions like the way Dan Campbell has done. Where now we look at the Lions is not only a bona fide Super Bowl contender, but I do believe the Detroit Lions are going to the big game this year.

I put a bet down yesterday, once again, plus six hundred for the Detroit Lions to win the Super Bowl. And I know a championship isn't handed out in week nine. And there's still a lot of things that could happen from now until the end of the season. But they do also remind me a little bit like the Philadelphia Eagles when I was covering the Eagles, when the Eagles won a Super Bowl. A city that's dying for a championship, a city that's never seen a championship from their professional football team in the Super Bowl era. And the difference is the Eagles been close, the Lions haven't been close, you know, really besides last year. And they have a coach who's aggressive.

And sometimes, right, you can be stupid when you're being aggressive. But I usually don't have any problems with the aggressive nature of Dan Campbell and like how Doug Peterson was the proper guy to turn Philadelphia around and take them to the top of the mountain. Dan Campbell is the right guy for the Lions to take them to the top of the mountain. And I know I've said this the last few weeks. Hey, the Chiefs don't look like they're the best team in the NFL, but until someone takes them down, I'm not going to move them off the one spot.

Well, I lied. I'll tell you right now, when we do take five Wednesday coming up on Wednesday, the Lions will be number one in my NFL power rankings. I don't care if the Chiefs win this game tonight by 50 because going to Green Bay playing in those weather conditions, the only two questions you could have is, oh, how is golf outside of the dome?

And also, what's the defense going to look like? The defense was awesome yesterday, even after losing Branch, not Evan Hutchinson, he's out for the year, and golf was more than capable in rainy, windy, terrible, inclement weather conditions out at Lambeau Field. I love what I'm seeing by the Lions right now. And if you ask me today who's the best team in the NFL, it's really a topic of conversation between two teams. You know, it's not Green Bay after yesterday. You can't tell me it's the Eagles. You can't tell me it's the 49ers right now. I know Buffalo's playing well, but I'm not going to say it's Buffalo. I know the Ravens are a good team with Derek Henry and Lamar Jackson, but that's not the conversation right now. You know, it's not Pittsburgh. The conversation of who is the best team is the NFL right now is between two people. It's two teams. It's the Lions and the Chiefs. And if you made me cast a vote today, I do think the Lions are the best team in the NFL. So who's the best team in the NFL is the Lions or the Chiefs.

It's an easy poll question. You can hit me up, obviously, on the phones. We'll take your calls. 855-212-4227.

855-212-4227. And you could always give us a follow and answer the poll question on Twitter. 29.6% say the Kansas City Chiefs are the best team in the NFL. And an overwhelming majority of 70.4% say it's the Detroit Lions. The Chiefs have a better defense than the Lions. The Lions offense, though, is so damn good right now. And that offensive line is so amazing. The running backs are really damn good.

You know, St. Brown's phenomenal. And Goff has really taken a lot of steps in the way that we view and evaluate him as a quarterback, where no one's going to say, hey, I'm going to take Jared Goff over Patrick Mahomes. I get that. But the Lions offense is better than the Chiefs offense right now. And we know what stands out to us. We know how us dumb football fans kind of evaluate it when we're looking at what's sexy and what's awesome. It's who's got the better offense. And because of the mentality, haven't been able to do that before, and what the offense is cooking up week in and week out right now, and how clean of a product they are playing, that's why I say the Lions right now are the best team in the NFL and slightly better than the Kansas City Chiefs. You can chime in 8552124227 on social media at Zach Gelb will do three college football takeaways next.

We will get to three college football takeaways in just a bit. 8552124227. It is the Zach Gelb show. We're talking who's the best team in the NFL right now.

Is it the Detroit Lions or is it the Kansas City Chiefs or is it somebody else? 8552124227. 8552124227. Let's go to Chris in Myrtle Beach. He's first up on the Zach Gelb show. Chris, what's shaking? Zach, how you doing today? Thank you very much for taking my call. Yeah, you got it. So I'm actually going to be that one person that's going to come on and play a different team.

I was born and raised in Annapolis, Maryland. The Baltimore Ravens have been my team since football has become relevant to me. I think you got to put a little respect on the name. Yes, they've had a few hiccups. But, you know, looking at looking at the Chiefs schedule, who they've played, they've had a pretty cupcake schedule. Now, they beat you guys, though. You know that, right? Yeah, that was week one. Still, they beat you.

A hundred percent. They beat us in Kansas City with the help of some zebras. But I'm not even going to talk about the zebras. I'm going to leave that out. In the postseason, when the Ravens lose to the Chiefs and when they lose in general, we just stopped running the ball. We went out, we got Derek Henderson. That has to account for something. Yeah, I picked you guys to go to the Super Bowl this year.

I did do that. You still think that the Chiefs are the better team right now? If you were to play them, if the Ravens were to play the Chiefs at a neutral site, who would win that game? Right now, I would still say it's the Kansas City Chiefs, even though I picked the Baltimore Ravens to get to the Super Bowl and lose to the Rams before the year started.

Because until Baltimore beats them when it counts, there will be some skepticism around the Ravens. I've been complimentary to the Ravens. I love Lamar. I've defended Lamar like no other.

I thought Derek Henry was the best offseason acquisition this past year. But you do have to admit, until you do it when it counts, that's the thing that's going to derail, that's the thing that's going to hold people back with the Ravens and the Bills. Two teams that I'm high on. I think the Ravens and the Bills are second and third in the AFC. And I believe in Josh Allen, I believe in Lamar Jackson, but those teams in the big games in the postseason, when they've had Kansas City on the ropes, and Kansas City basically said, hey, please step right us, defeat us, take us down. Both those teams have melted numerous times.

Yeah, I think it comes down to the Ravens. It was play calling last year in the postseason. We were the number one seed. We had the home field advantage. It should have been easy.

Gus Edwards got the ball six times in the first half last year. It shouldn't have been easy, but that defense is really damn good. I think you guys could beat them this year, but right now, I don't see how right now you could say the Ravens are better than the Chiefs or the Bills are better than the Chiefs. I get it, and it's funny that you like the Bills, too, because my wife is a diehard Bills fan.

She's from the Finger Lakes and just absolute crazy. The atmosphere up there is fantastic. I do think that finally, you know, it's too perfect this year. Last year, the Chiefs were kind of, you know, they started off a little bit slower, and they weren't really doing too much, and then they, of course, got hot at the end of the year.

I think it's the opposite right now. I think they're going to be set up for failure, or at least I hope so. It's the same conversation over and over again, Chris, because it's the same thing as last year. We all admit that Kansas City is vulnerable. We all admit Kansas City is not playing great football, but still, they don't have a loss on the resume. So it's nice for Ravens fans and Bills fans to think they could beat the Chiefs. You know, it's ironic that now I have to go defend Kansas City because I have hyped up Buffalo more than anybody, and I've hyped up the Ravens more than anybody.

And once again, I'll reiterate it, I picked the Ravens to go to the Super Bowl this year. But to say right now, like there's two different conversations, to say right now the Ravens or the Chiefs, or the Ravens or the Bills or Ben the Chiefs, that just doesn't resonate as true to me. But if you want to say, hey, later on in the year, I do believe the Ravens or the Bills could beat the Chiefs, then that's a different topic of conversation. But the question is, right now, who's the best team in the NFL? And I only think the one in two spots apply to two teams, and that's the Chiefs and that's the Lions. And yes, if right now we had a neutral site, I do think the Lions would beat the Ravens. I do think the Lions would beat the Bills.

And on a neutral site right now, I do think the Chiefs would beat the Bills and the Chiefs would beat the Ravens. All right, let's do three college football takeaways right now. You know what? I'm going to start off with a compliment for Ryan Day. Ryan Day, here's what annoyed me last year. He tried to present it to us that he had a tough football team. Remember when he got into that fight with the old Lou Holtz? And then after the game, when his team was lucky, lucky to win, Notre Dame had too many men on the field. They dropped what should have been an easy Kyle McCord interception.

Ryan Day gets in front of the cameras. And the first thing on his mind, because he was weak last year, was Lou Holtz. And Ryan Day was like, we got a tough football team. You know, we got a tough football team. And for Lou Holtz and Coach Holtz to say what he said, he should be embarrassed. But that's a tough football team. That's what Ryan Day sounded like last year. And I heard, you know, Lou Holtz hurt my feelings.

That's what I heard. And Ryan Day tries to present this idea because the last three years Michigan bullied them. Michigan beat their teeth in. Michigan dominated them in the trenches where Ohio State may have had more skill. But Michigan was the better team. And I've been begging Ohio State to show me that they could be what Urban Meyer said before the year, what Jim Tressel said before the year, of a team that has so much talent. It could be like the most talented team that we've ever seen at Ohio State. Right.

That's what people have said. And in the first big test of the season against Oregon, that team melted, melted on the final drive. Ryan Day had no clue what he was doing. And the quarterback, Will Howard, had zero awareness. And they lost the game by a point. Oregon, right, could be the best team in college football right now.

I think they are. I think in the conversation for the best team in college football, it's between Oregon, Ohio State and Georgia. And right now I'm saying Oregon is the best. But this past weekend, on the road in Happy Valley, I saw a toughness from Ohio State that I have not seen in a long time. Their offensive line was a makeshift offensive line.

You had so many people. Oh, you know, Ohio State's going to lose this game because their offensive line is in power right now. That offensive line looked damn good.

Good enough on Saturday. And then that defense stepped up and held Penn State to only two field goals in the game. And the only touchdown that Penn State was able to put up on the board was a pick six early on in the game. And with the game on the line and you just made a heck of a stop at the goal line, some dumb play calling by Penn State. But I want to give Ohio State their due. We'll get to Penn State in just a second.

And let me tell you, I'm like a fat kid in front of a campfire with a s'more getting ready to be eaten. Oh, when we're going to talk about James Franklin and the feast we're going to have on fraudulent Franklin. But after they made that big goal line stop, it would have been old Ohio State to give the ball back. But Penn State knew what was coming. They knew Ohio State was going to run, run, run, run, run and try to run until the game was over.

And Ohio State lined up and they beat the snot and emasculated Penn State. Ohio State, you were in the championship contending conversation now. I took you out after the loss to Oregon.

You had to earn my trust back. Now I think there are three teams in college football that could win a national championship this year. Georgia, even though I have my concerns about their quarterback, Oregon and Ohio State. But Ryan Day's football team finally showed me some heart, finally showed me some toughness that I've not seen in at least three years with the Ohio State Buckeyes. Now, let's get to the head football coach at Participation State University with James Franklin. James Franklin is a good coach.

Don't tell me he's a great coach and don't tell me he's an elite coach. James Franklin now, after losing another game to Ohio State, is one in ten against them. Against top five opponents, he's one in fourteen. Against top ten teams, he's three in eighteen.

And against ranked opponents, top twenty five teams, he's thirteen in twenty seven. So people may say, Zach, in years past, why do you call James Franklin the head coach of Participation State University? The guy's a good coach. You know, they get nine, ten wins a year. Yeah, he's a seventy percent winning percentage at Penn State.

I totally get it. He's a good coach. But he thinks that he lives in a world where Penn State is this great team and they're an elite team.

And they are an unbelievable team. James Franklin doesn't have the mental toughness to win the big game. And there's an accountability problem with the head football coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions. Every time this guy loses, he acts like a royal jackass.

He just does. You know, a few years ago when they lost Ohio State, you may say, which time? But when they lost Ohio State a few years ago, he's like, oh, we got to sit in the first row of class. You know, a few guys didn't do that. That's why we're not elite.

Elite programs don't do that. Like, give me a break. And then the crap that he pulled after the game on Saturday, you are the head football coach at Penn State. You lost.

Take your loss. Walk off the field. Be a man and be a professional. Instead, you have a student. Who's dressed up, I guess it was Halloween, like he's a sports bookie or something like that, the way that the student is dressed. And the student's like, you have the ball in the three-yard line and you run the same damn play three times in a row.

And what does James Franklin do? Tell me your name, son. Tell me your name. Why? You're going to take the name and then go run to the administration, go run to the dean and try to get this kid expelled?

You'd think I may be crazy suggesting that. James Franklin is that weak that he would do that. This is the same guy when Temple was beating a snot at a Penn State that he paused the game to check the PSI level of the footballs. This guy, he loves to tell you how great he is when he's winning, but when he loses, he runs away like a coward and blames it on something that has nothing to do why you lost.

The fam was right. And then afterwards, James Franklin does this tough guy act like, oh, I had a lot of things that I wanted to say. You know, student, do me a favor. Let's play.

Cut 10. This is James Franklin after the loss to Ohio State, and this tells me everything I need to know about fraudulent Franklin. Again, there's nobody that's looking in the mirror harder than I am. I will say this, and I've said it before. Ninety nine percent of the programs across college football would die to do what we've been able to do in our time here. And that's we. That's all of us. But I also understand when you're in a place like Penn State, there's really, really high expectations. When you're in a place like Ohio State, there's really, really high expectations. I get it. I totally get it. So we've looked at all these things really hard.

We'll continue to look at these things really hard. There's a lot of things that I had planned on saying when I came in here today, but they are not appropriate to say right now. So I'll hold them till another time. But you were going to rub it in everyone's face so you could finally win a big game after finally doing it one time.

Is that what you were going to say? Well, doesn't work. And you can't use that as a threat if you don't end up winning.

All right. You lost the game. You were spotted a 10 nothing lead and your team melted. And your great offense with the new offensive coordinator.

Right. And all the talent you have in the offense side the ball scored two field goals. Two field goals. That's it.

They had six offensive points in the game. You know, this coach is just so fraudulent and he talks a big game like he just doesn't get it. You know, ninety nine. He said that line before. Ninety nine point nine percent of the schools in the country would love to be us.

No, they wouldn't. And the only reason you get in the college football playoff this year is because they expanded it from four to twelve. He is the head coach once again of Participation State University, where they show up. They're invited to the dance. They're invited to the big time moments. But when you need to be elite, when you need to be great, he's incapable of it.

And it starts at the top. And the Penn State fan will be like, Zach, you know, if we fire him, who are we going to get? You don't think another coach could go do what James Franklin did? You know, win 70 percent of the game.

The coaches that could do that. But if you want to operate in this life of apprehension of what it could be like without James Franklin. You know, I just don't operate that way.

Like, don't you want to be great? And this isn't now like a two year this 11 year thing. The stats don't lie. I'll give you the numbers one more time. He is one in 10 against Ohio State, one in 14 against top five opponents, three and 18 against top 10 opponents. Oh, but what about the top 25, Zach?

He's 13 and 27. This dude just don't got it. He don't got it in the big game.

And it's the same damn thing over and over and over again. And quite frankly, if you're a Penn State fan, I think you deserve better than this dude that preaches accountability, doesn't practice ever taking accountability and always tries to paint a message after a loss. The loss isn't as bad as it appears. You know, you're not the head football coach at South Harmon Institute of Technology.

All right. You're the head football coach at Penn State. Penn State right now is a good program, but they are far away from being elite. They're far away from being great again. And until they get rid of James Franklin, they will never win a game.

That means something. They will never be a great program again under this dude's tutelage. And then finally, my last college football take. Shane Beamer has his football team in South Carolina moving in the right direction.

He was on the hot seat heading into this year. They should have won that game up against LSU. You know, they played Alabama close.

You could argue they should have won it. They have been really chopping away the last few weeks and they've had some heartbreaking games up against some really good teams. Everything was going A&M's way. Right.

You know, hey, top 10. Unbelievable year for Mike Elko. South Carolina gets out to a big lead and they give the lead back. And then right before the end of the half to hit that field goal was massive for South Carolina to tie it up. And then they outscored 24 zip in the second half to win the game by 24 points. You know, I don't know what the ceiling is for Shane Beamer at South Carolina.

I don't. But that's a coach I believe in. That's a coach that I do trust. And his energy does resonate with his players.

And he won a big game up against A&M. We'll come on back with the news brief. Update time first.

Here is the act man, Rich Ackerman. Time for your daily news brief. We get you caught up on the rumors, reports and reconnaissance from the day in sports. It's time to ask the pros where you, the listener, get to ask us a question brought to you by Riley Autopart. Simply tweet your question at INF Sports Center at Zach Gelb using the hashtag askthepros. Be listening later in the show and we might answer your question.

Think of Riley Auto Parts where all your car care needs get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Let's get to Seth Joyner. He was talking about Nick Sirianni and his bad decision making yesterday. Listen up. There is something to be said about being aggressive.

But when aggressive starts to border on the side of stupidity and idiocy, you know, now we got a problem. We got a problem. And Nick's going to come to the podium tonight and talk about we won the game. That's the most important thing is we won the game. No, it's the way we won and it's the dumb things that you did.

It's the stupid situations that you put your team in. Here's the problem with Nick Sirianni. I don't know what he does outside of just make bad decisions. Like he's not the offensive coordinator. He's not the defensive coordinator.

He's not even a good babysitter in the locker room. And he has a team that's so talented. And you look at the way that they've lost this year. You know, a lot of it goes on the coach. And you look even in a win yesterday, he left nine points off the board.

Like I've seen coaches, right? You pass up on a field goal. You know, maybe you do something that costs you a touchdown. Nine points. So he passed up on two field goals and then he passed up on three extra points to go for it for two, three times. And this offensive guru couldn't get one of those offensive two point conversions.

It's mind boggling. And I say this all the time because the aggressive crowd goes to me, but he's being aggressive. Steph Jordan is 100 percent right.

There's a difference in being aggressive and there's a difference in being a student and being stupid. Nick Sirianni, you were stupid yesterday. And in a game that you were up 22 to nothing at one point, you were lucky you didn't lose it. And quite frankly, I know this is going to sound crazy, but if I was an Eagles fan, I actually would have preferred to have lost that game yesterday.

I know people are going to be like, whoa, why? Because just maybe, I don't know if they would have, but just maybe that loss would have been so embarrassing. And it would have been a thousand percent on the coach because sometimes you lose, you could blame multiple people. That would have been a thousand percent on the coach yesterday. Maybe Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman finally would have seen what everyone else is seeing and say, hey, we can't defend this guy anymore. We just got to let this guy go. And maybe he would have been the third coach to get their pink slip today.

Maybe that's what would have happened. But since you won, you can make it out to be, oh, see, it was aggressive. Oh, it was this, but we still won the game.

So what are you bitching about? Do you know how tough it is to win in this league? But there is no doubt about it, a team that has Super Bowl talent, their season at some point will get derailed. They'll win, you know, 10 games, 10, 11 games this year.

They'll have playoff games. But their demise is going to be this coach just screwing it up in a big spot because he can't decipher being aggressive and then just being reckless and stupid. He's been reckless and stupid ever since this team was 10 and 1 a year ago. And he should not be coaching this football team. Let's get to Dan Campbell.

Isn't this crazy? It's week nine. I know the Lions playing a dome, but they've only had three road games this year. Up until yesterday, those three road games indoors against Arizona, Dallas and Minnesota. This is the first time the Detroit Lions actually had to step foot outside and play a football game in the year of 2024. Here is Dan Campbell and winning outdoors.

I'm not shocked. One bit that we came out here and played pretty good football out in the elements. I just that were built for this man. And it doesn't matter. And just because we play indoors, it doesn't matter. We can play anywhere. We can play in the snow and play in the rain, play in the mud.

That's just us. And we're built to win. They are built to win. And that team just has a certain confidence right now.

And I think they're the best team in the NFL. We'll talk more at the top of the hour about coaches getting fired and who's on the hot seat. But I got to play this audio from the score in Chicago. This is DJ Moore about Matt Eberfluss and the locker room. Just listen up. Has Matt Eberfluss lost his football team?

I want to say no. The message yesterday was that we know we're 4-4 now. It's just like being 0-0. But you just got to go out there and start stacking wins how we did. And that's the best thing you can do is win.

And then let the chips fall how they fall after we do so. Stu, have I asked you, hey, would you be willing to go out to lunch with me today? And you respond back, I want to say yes. Like, that's not really convincing that you actually want to go. Correct, Amundo?

Yes, I would agree with that. So when you get asked, hey, has the coach lost the locker room? I want to say no. That comes off to me as he actually wants to say yes, but he is a professional and he knows he can't say yes.

So he is going to say I want to say no and it's like wink wink, you know what I want to say, but I'm not going to actually say it. That's a dead man walking in Matt Eberfluss. It's not a matter of if he's going to get fired, it's just when from now until the end of the season. So yesterday, the Saints lost to the Carolina Panthers. And during that game, Chris Olave had a terrible concussion, suffered a big hit. And a lot of people were talking about how Derek Carr threw him a hospital ball. Well, this is Derek Carr responding to Michael Thomas. Michael Thomas, former teammate of Derek Carr, was just going off about Derek Carr and how he's just not a good quarterback.

Listen up, this is how Derek Carr responded to it. I have love for Mike, you know, and when he does that, I don't really care for it, obviously. You know, I've had so many teammates over the years. He's like the one dude that didn't get along with me, you know. And I don't know what I did to him. I don't know why he feels that way. I'm sorry for whatever he's dealing with to make him feel like he's got to do that.

I don't know. I don't know why he feels any type of way. It's unfortunate, especially coming from a player like that, but I wish him the best. But it's something I just would never do to a teammate. Now, receivers could be a little bit crazy, don't get me wrong. I have to think, though, down deep, Derek Carr knows why they don't get along. I don't know what it is, Stu, but this is typical Derek Carr. I'm not saying he's in the wrong for this one.

You know, I want to say he's in the right. You know, do a little playoff DJ more, but Derek Carr always plays out like the victim card. Like, I don't know what's going on here. I don't know why we're losing.

Woe is me. All my teammates love me. And it does seem like teammates do love Derek Carr, but the guy's just not a great quarterback.

So this, to me, Stu, I got a little bit of a laugh out yesterday. Because, yeah, Michael Thomas, now he's irrelevant. He's not playing in the league. He hasn't been good in a long time because, unfortunately, his career got derailed with injuries. But the fact that Derek Carr has to sit up there at the podium and have to answer questions about Michael Thomas during the game and he just has no clue what's going on, I don't understand how you don't know why another man has a problem with you. That, to me, is the surprising part.

Yeah, he has to know. I mean, they only played 10 games together last year, so he was kind of banged up like he has been the last few years. It's not like they had this great, long relationship. It's not like him and Davante Adams and then it soured or something like that.

So strange. Yeah, here's Michael Thomas. I guess he did this after the game. He was just walking around asking random Saints fans about Derek Carr.

Listen up. Tell me about Derek Carr, man. You don't like him? I don't like him. What's wrong with him?

He doesn't know how to play. Always keep the ball like this. Man, that's crazy you know that. Yeah. You smart. You get my respect.

I got to show my dad this. You better trade the quarterback, man. Yeah, trade him? Yeah. Yeah. All right. That's amazing.

That is just unbelievable. And I get it from Michael Thomas' perspective. You go from playing with Drew Brees to then like Derek Carr.

I know there's other quarterbacks in between, but that's an all-time great quarterback and that's a guy who like only his brother thinks he's an all-time great quarterback and we know Derek Carr is not a great quarterback in this league. All right. We'll keep it moving. You know what?

I'll save this Maggie Gray audio for on-site, off-site because I have a question for you, Stu, about it. But let me play Davos Sweeney on a bad loss to Louisville. I don't make no excuses. There's no excuses.

None. No excuses. Just flat out got my butt out coached tonight. This one is over and there's certainly so much disappointment in it, but again, I give all the credit to Louisville and Coach Brom and his staff. They flat out got it done and they walked in here and they freaking kicked our tails all over the field.

So all you can do is own that, go back to work. No one fears Clemson anymore. Doesn't mean they can't still be a really good program, like they're never going to bottom out.

They're having a fine season. But right when some are trying to make the case, even though they got blown out by Georgia to start the year and they haven't lost the game since, oh, here comes Clemson in the ACC, here they go, they're going to make the college football playoff. Yeah, that stinker to Louisville, who I didn't think it was a guarantee they were going to get the victory up against Louisville, but Louisville was clearly the better team. And this is what happens, Davo, when you're stubborn and you're complacent and you just rest on what has happened in the past and you don't want to adapt to what college football is in the year of 2024. So Clemson will always be good with Davos Sweeney. Davos Sweeney is a legend in college football, but his arrogance has cost that program and his stubbornness has cost that program from continuing to remain elite and great. So yesterday or Saturday, you could say it's shocking, but it's just a reminder how Clemson is no longer the program that they used to be a few years ago. Coming on back, talking coaches that should be fired next.