Alrighty, hour number three of our radio program.
It is the Zach Yelb show, Infinity Sports Network. Just a week ago, about a week ago, I had six jobs opening up in the NFL. Here was the initial conversation that we had in the initial predictions.
And I said it was the first draft, not the final draft, but the first draft. I had the Bears hiring Ben Johnson. I'm changing that prediction. I had the Raiders hiring Mike Vrabel. I had the Jaguars hiring Pete Carroll, changing that one. I had the Jets hiring Joe Brady, changing that one. I had the Giants hiring Liam Cohen, changing that one.
And I had the Saints hiring Aaron Glenn, changing that one. So my first draft wasn't my best draft. You know, it'd be like when I used to write a paper in college, the one time I did that, I would write the rough draft.
It was absolutely horrible. I'd go back to the computer and I would write the second draft and I go, okay, this could get a C, I could get a degree. But now on the radio, I'm not just trying to get a C. I'm trying to get an A. I'm trying to ace this one. So if I could get, if let's say I'm going to make five predictions, if I could get four of those five right, I'd be thrilled.
If I get three of those five right, I'd be happy. Anything short of that, I'm a disgrace and an embarrassment. And you know what, I had a wrong take, so I should get fired, right?
Because that's how people operate. You got a take wrong, you should be fired. If that's the case, we'd have no more radio hosts left in this business.
We'd have no more TV hosts. And quite frankly, all you listeners are at the fire yourself as well, because you all get things wrong as well. But without further ado, Stuart, Stu Pach, Stu Kovacs, a winner, usually a football loser, like you're an NFL loser with the Raiders. Now you're a football winner because Notre Dame is two wins away from a national championship victory. Let me ask you something, by the way. So are you going to make your way down to Miami? I was talking to Hickey earlier. Hickey, by the way, who roots for both Penn State and Notre Dame. Hickey told me he is not going to Miami. He wanted to go, but his group, his cult members in the Penn State, they are already saying we'd rather save the money.
Use that as motivation. Send it to Marcus Freeman. They want to save the money for the national championship game in Atlanta, Georgia, which by the way, I just got confirmation during the break. Someone asked me earlier, am I going? I said, I think I'm going.
I just got confirmation during the break. I'm going either way. We're going to do the show there that Monday from the national championship game. I will fly back early Tuesday morning and we'll do the show back here in the New York City studios, but I will be at the national championship game. But Stu, I have to ask you this before I get to some predictions.
Are you going to try to go to the semifinal game to see Notre Dame in Miami up against those Penn State Yuck PU Nittany Lions? I will look into it this weekend. I don't know.
It depends on pricing and all of those kind of logistics. I also don't want to take another day off. I'd prefer not to take another day off after all the days off I just took.
But well, you know, someone not want to take a day off around here. How about that? How about that?
Can I just give you a little advice? Sure. Go. Okay. All right.
I love you, Stu. But if you had to take off a day or two. Yeah.
That's a cool experience. Even if you end up losing. It is.
So at that point it would come to prices. So we'll see. Do you have like another guy friend that likes Notre Dame that you want to go with or no? Yes. I don't think they are in the position to go, though.
So it would just be a solo trip, I believe. Now I'm going to give you some relationship advice. Ready? This is what you do. You go home tonight. You walk, you stop off before you get home.
Valentine's Day, a little bit earlier this year. Get some roses, get some chocolates, right? You walk into your house. You say, Angie, I want to go to the semifinal with you. Let's go.
She can't say no, Stu. She just dropped about eight grand to go see Taylor frickin' Swift. The national championship game, the semifinal, it probably costs you like, I bet you three, four hundred bucks to get into the building and it's on a Thursday. So you fly down Thursday morning. You could stay the whole weekend in Miami. Even you go back Saturday, you're going to a warm weather place.
There's a lot of ways that you could sell this to your girlfriend, even if she doesn't want to go to the game. You know, let's make this a trip. We'll go to Miami. If you don't want to go to the game, I'll go to the game Thursday night. Breaking news, she's going to want to go to the game. And then you could spend all Friday in Miami. And then if you want, you could fly back Saturday, stay another day, Saturday. That's what I would do if I was you. It appears I can get into the stadium for like 250.
That's it? Yeah, to sit upper deck, upper deck, which I would be fine with. Five hundred bucks, two tickets. You get a, I don't want to say cheap hotel because your girlfriend's going, but you don't need to be staying at the Fontainebleau for crying out loud. You could stay next to the airport. And I bet you airfare is only going to cost you like 200 bucks, 250 bucks, 300 most a ticket.
I think it's feasible. You know what, Stu? If you don't want to go with your girlfriend, I may be interested in going.
I could be, you know what? You need a guy friend to go, Stu? We do the show Thursday from WQAM.
We go to the game and then we can fly back Friday morning. I would be, you know what? I would be interested. I'm not going to sound desperate here. I'm not going to beg, but I'll let you think about it. If you want to go home, see if Angie would like to go, because quite frankly, I'd much rather go if I was you with the girlfriend rather than me. You know, at least there'd be a good nightcap, even if the game sucks, if I'm just being honest. You know, with me, we're just going out and getting Joe Stonecrabs, all right? If the game stinks, it could be a little bit better.
Who knows? It just depends what you're into. But if you maybe sit there tomorrow at some point and go, man, I wouldn't mind going to the game with Zach.
It's something I could be interested in because it would be good show content. And I could sit there and I could root for Notre Dame. And, well, you know what? Let me let me change that. Maybe I'll root for Penn State.
Not that I actually would, but maybe I could use a connection at Penn State to potentially get us some tickets. Who knows? Potentially.
So we could talk about this off the air. Quite as low as 170, according to Samtor. Oh, 170. It's not terrible. That's not bad. Really not terrible.
That's not bad. I'll do some perusing. I'll do some investigation.
I will as well. I'll get you an answer by Monday. We can figure this out. It's the end of the show at six. The game starts at 730, right?
I would assume it's like 738. Yeah, it's got to be. So even if it takes us an hour to get from QAM to the stadium, we go right in. Boom.
Game starts and we cheer on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. This could be a fun trip. I could be easily convinced to go to Miami for about 24 hours. You know, I've been to worse places.
And let's be real, the last time we went to Miami wasn't a great trip. If I'm just going to be honest, that's one of those. If you know, you kind of know.
And Stu and Samtor do not know. Anyway, give me the music por favor. Let's get some music going. All right, I'm going to make some predictions here. So the Giants last week, I said, we're going to open up. I think Brian Deball is back. I do not think the Giants are going to fire Brian Deball. So that leaves me with jobs that I think are going to open up that already could be open up to.
The Bears, the Raiders, the Jaguars, the Jets, and the Saints. Now, let me just give a little PSA here first. Robert Kraft, I would fire Gerard Mayo.
I'm not usually a one and done advocate. Mike Vrabel wanted the job last year. You wanted to give it to Gerard Mayo.
He was your coach in waiting. This year has been a disaster. I'm not saying that they had great talent, but with that being said, if Mike Vrabel is still out there and he's interested, or Ben Johnson may want to work with Drake May, I would get rid of Gerard Mayo. I just don't believe the Pats are going to do it. But this was on the Greg Hill Show on WEI in Boston. This shows you how much of embarrassment the Patriots have become. I'm not irate with the Pats. They won six Super Bowls in my life, so it's tough for me to get mad. But this is Jelani Tavad, one of their linebackers, I think he's the leading tackler on the year, on Pats fans booing Gerard Mayo, wanting him fired. They're not qualified to do what Mayo is doing or, you know, or whatever the past are doing, you know, the fans.
And I appreciate them at times, but sometimes they just gotta know their place and just, you know, understand that it's a work in progress. Rome wasn't built in one day. Yeah, 3-1 football team. The coach also guaranteed on that radio show before the season that they would definitely win more than four games this year, which was the mark last year. So he also was critical of the fan base. Let me just give you a little advice. Shut up. All right. Like when you're a part of a losing team, I understand why you want to defend yourself. I understand why you want to defend your coach. All you needed to say there was simply this. Things are not going the way that we wanted them to go so far this year.
We believe Gerard Mayo is the guy. The fans have every right to boo and every right to voice their opinion. And it's up to us to give them something to cheer about. End of story. Period. Stop. That's all he needed to say. So I would fire Gerard Mayo, but I don't think Robbercraft's going to do it.
So now that leaves me with the Bears, the Raiders, the Jaguars, the Jets and the Saints. Let me hear from Cliff Kingsbury. This was the other day. Does the commander's offensive coordinator want to be a head coach again? Yeah, I'm sure at some point.
Yeah, at some point. Do you plan to interview for jobs this year? I won't comment on that, but yeah, we'll see how everything plays out, but I'm very happy here.
Yeah, this has been an awesome, awesome place and has really helped me kind of rekindle my love for the sport. When Cliff Kingsbury was the head football coach or anywhere he's been a head football coach, he's got off to really good starts, miserable finishes. I do think Cliff Kingsbury is going to get a job this cycle because I will predict this. Ben Johnson will not be the next head football coach of the Chicago Bears. Mike Rabel is not going to be the next head football coach of the Chicago Bears. So if that's the case, where do the Bears go? They go to Cliff Kingsbury and he gets a job again as a head coach sooner than I thought he would have with what he's done with the commanders, with Jayden Daniels, and also here's the biggest thing, he was at USC for a year with Caleb Williams. So I'm going to say the Bears hire Cliff Kingsbury.
Now Stu, your Notre Dame Fighting Irish are in a good spot right now, finally giving you some football joy. Your Raiders are not in a good spot. I do believe the Raiders are going to get rid of Antonio Pierce.
With that being said, I think it's because they're getting rid of him, which it's based off merit. I know it's only a year of him being the full-time head coach. He did a nice job last year as the interim, but I think Tom Brady is going to be a lot more involved than what people are led on to believe that a minority owner is going to be involved.
He's not any minority owner. He's Tom freaking Brady, and Tom Brady has a very close relationship with Mike Rabel. Tom Brady has been to the Kentucky Derby before with Mike Rabel, played with Mike Rabel, won three Super Bowls with Mike Rabel. Mike Rabel was even a threat on offense, even though he was a defensive player when the Pats were winning some of those early championships in the first wave of the dynasty. And a few years ago, when Brady was getting ready to embark on a free agency tour, which eventually landed him in Tampa Bay, Tom Brady was at a Syracuse basketball game with who? Julian Edelman.
Who were they FaceTiming? Mike Rabel. I think Rabel wants to be the next coach of the Patriots.
I don't think the Patriots will fire Jerod Mayo, even though they should. So Rabel's going to go back to one of his pals, TB12, who's now part of the ownership group for the Las Vegas Raiders. So I have the Bears hiring Cliff Kingsbury and the Raiders hiring Mike Rabel.
Now, here's what I think could be a stunner. Last year, every single person, every Tom, Dick and Harry told us the Washington commanders were going to have Ben Johnson as their head coach. And then Ben Johnson said, I'm going back to be the offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions. He knew he could have drafted with the second overall pick, Jayden Daniels.
He knew he could have been part of the Washington commanders. He said thanks, but no thanks. It seems like when Ben Johnson, you tell him to zig, he zags. And it wouldn't shock me if he goes back for another season as the offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions. But I think the timing is really right to take that job.
You returned. You're trying to win a Super Bowl. You're either going to do so this year or you're not.
And then I think you'll leave. And I believe the Jacksonville Jaguars, who their last two hires haven't been the right hires, but they've been big names. Urban Meyer, big name.
Doug Peterson, big name. I think they're going to go take a big swing here and they're going to reel in the big fish of Ben Johnson. And Ben Johnson will look to save the career of Trevor Lawrence. I have Ben Johnson as the next head football coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. So that leaves me with two, the Jets and the Saints. Joe Brady. Where did we first really know Joe Brady?
With the LSU Tigers. Joe Brady also has a background with the Saints. I think the Saints who are in a total rebuild are going to look for a young, innovative mind.
I'm not saying it's definite that Joe Brady is going to get a job this offseason. But after that disaster in Carolina, he has restored his image in the NFL, has done a really good job the last year and a half taking over the reins with the Buffalo Bills and the offensive side of the ball. Josh Allen doesn't have a ton of weapons. Like James Cook, good running back. Amari Cooper, older wide receiver. Keon Coleman, a rookie.
Dalton Kincaid hasn't been as much of a boom as we thought he would be. I think the Saints are going to say, let's go back and let's go bring in Joe Brady and get one of those young, innovative offensive minds for whoever our next quarterback is going to be. And that leaves the Jets standing all there by their lung. Jets interviewed Mike Vrabel today. I already predicted Mike Vrabel to be next coach of the Raiders. I'm going to say the Jets bring back one of their own. I would love Rex Ryan to be the next head coach. I don't think it's going to be the Rex Ryan to be clear. I think they're going to bring in the Lions defensive coordinator, former Jet player Aaron Glenn. So those are my predictions. Three jobs already opened up.
I think two more jobs will open up. Bears will hire Cliff Kingsbury. Raiders will hire Mike Vrabel. Jaguars will hire Ben Johnson. Jets Aaron Glenn. And the Saints hiring Joe Brady. When we come on back, a man that I hosted some radio shows with for about three years when it was Ion Football, now Gridiron Game Day, he's a radio legend, a radio icon.
You can hear him on WFAN, WIP, and also right here on the Infinity Sports Network. And he's also one of the biggest gambling enthusiasts I know. We saved the best for last. Our guest pickers have been sensational this year.
I think they're 30 and 18 on the season. But I want to bring in one of the best gamblers I know to give NFL picks when we come on back, the great Jody Mack. Jody McDonald will join us when the Zach Gelb show continues in five minutes. One of the all time great radio legends, Jody McDonald's going to join us now for a few moments as we will do some NFL picks with him. You can hear Jody right here on the Infinity Sports Network, WFAN, WIP. If you tune in to a radio, 99.9% chance Jody is hosted on that station, will be hosting on that station coming up very shortly. And he's kind enough to join us right now. Jody Mack, my friend, how you been?
Way too complimentary for me, Z-Gal, but good to hop on with you, bud. Hope you're doing well. Hope the new year's been good to you.
Yeah, can't complain. All is well here. Happy new year to you and your family.
After today, I kind of say, if you don't say happy new year to people, then you really don't care about them. So I'm glad we could get you in right before the clock did strike midnight with them being January 3rd. I'll start you off with this because I always know doing that Sunday show with you for years, we're always big on following the Super Bowl predictions. Before the year started, I had the Ravens getting to the Super Bowl up against the Rams. I had the Rams winning it all. What was your Super Bowl pick before the season? Yeah, you don't want to hear what my Super Bowl pick was, but you got to live by your selections.
I flew in the face of you can't get back to the Super Bowl after losing. I really thought the 49ers were the best roster in the NFC. I picked the Eagles to go to Super Bowl two years running, one I got right, one I got wrong. I got off the Eagles, went to the 49ers.
Yeah, they'll be at the Super Bowl if they've got tickets. And yeah, I let my heart make my pick rather than my head. I took a shot with Rogers and the Jets. I said, if he stays healthy, then they should be good.
If it just all comes together at the right time, they stink. Aaron Rogers should be done. If he plays next year, he's only going to further embarrass himself.
And I think he embarrassed himself this year. So yeah, 49ers Jets. I've already thrown that ticket away. Thanks for asking. Yeah. You know, I got to ask the tough questions. Jody Mack here with us. So who do you want as your head coach for the Jets and who do you think the Jets will get?
I got no bloody idea. I had an NFL guest on either on WIP or here on the Infinity Network on Sunday. And they said they thought that the general manager should be hired first and then the general manager should pick the coach. If Woody Johnson, who I'm not a big fan of, I think he's an awful owner and he keeps that team in the doldrums that sit. If he wants to make a higher right away and make a good one, I'm okay with that. I'm not saying what he can't touch this unless he's going to get the general. If he gets the general manager right and they pick the right guy, fine. But if what he wants to do something and here's the thing that I think what he needs to do now, make it easy for the people he's going to hire, get rid of Rogers, cut the cord, do what you got to do now. Don't make the new coach, new general manager, be the quote unquote bad guy. I don't think too many Jets fans would think of him as bad guy, but some people would do it now.
Woody take charge of your organization, send Rogers packet. So I agree with you because even if you bring Rogers back and if it all goes right, maybe, maybe, maybe they could be a wildcard team. I wouldn't even expect that after what happened this year, but you're bringing them back for one year for if everything does go right, you're a wildcard team and that's it. That's why I would say rip the bandaid off now, even if you don't draft the quarterback this year.
You know, it's kind of crazy, Jody Mac. I don't know what's going to happen with Sam Darnold and I don't think Sam Darnold would come back, but if they get Sam Darnold back in a three year deal, I don't think that'd be a bad move for the Jets where they're currently at. I know what kind of a year Sam has had. He's, he's a legit MVP candidate. He's not going to get it, but he's a legit candidate. He's going to get some votes. He see ghosts in New Jersey.
No, no, no. Let him stay in Minnesota. Let him go somewhere else.
He sees ghosts at the jet MetLife these days. No, I'm not going there. I'll be patient.
Wait to rebuild. I actually think there's a better quarterback draft than most people think. So I think that the jets will be able to take at worst the third best quarterback in the draft, depending on where they end up drafting. They may even get the second best quarterback in the draft. They may get Cam Ward down, fallen down to him. I'm a Quinn, you as Fanny looked damn good the other day rallying Texas to win that ball game. So I think the jets would be best served taking the next quarterback in the draft.
Okay. Let me get your thoughts on Brock Purdy. I know you said you picked the Niners to get back to the Superbowl. They were not able to do that this year because they're not even going to make the playoffs. A one year left on that Brock Purdy contract. They're going to pay him. I would imagine a fortune this off season. Do you think that's going to be the case that they will say, okay, let's give him the deal?
Or do you think they're going to say, all right, let's have a real proof of your for your Brock Purdy? Depending on how big is big, I'm a party guy. You know, I'm a party guy.
When we did ion football together, certainly I told you how good I thought party was. I bet party to be the MVP last year at like 55 to one. And I had a shot with two weeks to go before he had the bad game against the Ravens. He's had a lesser year than I thought he would. San Francisco has been killed by injuries to kill. Everybody's got injuries.
San Francisco had an inordinate amount. So I'll cut him some slack for that. If he's good in the 40 plus million dollar range, then I think they'll get him signed. If he wants to, because everybody gets higher than the next day, it just keeps going up and up and up. So if he's going to hold out to be the highest paid quarterback and be up at 60 per. No, I think the the 49ers will say, all right, you want 60? Come back and put up 35 touchdowns. 112 pass rating. Only throw four picks. Yeah, then we'll give you the 60.
So it all depends on what party's looking for. I hope that he's reasonable. I hope he's in the 40s and the 49ers get it done. All right, I'll ask you one more question, then we'll get to the NFL picks. The great Jody Mac is here with us. Zach Yelp showing the Infinity Sports Network.
You got a lot of Philadelphia roots. It was a early crazy roller coaster ride with Nick Sirianni. He has restored some confidence with the fan base, but then there's some hiccups along the way that you're like, oh, what the heck is going on? I saw I was reading something the other day.
I forget what it was. So apologize, but it's saying, oh, if there's a dark horse candidate to still get fired, it could be Nick Sirianni. I think he's back either way. Do you see any way that Sirianni's not back with the Eagles next year? It was Jeremy Fallah from ESPN who said if the Eagles make an early exit from the playoffs, Sirianni's job could be in jeopardy. Yeah, if they lose 42 to seven, I think it would have to be God awful. They'd have to get crushed at home in front of their fans, rioting cats and dogs living together. You know what it's going to take to get Sirianni fired. I don't buy it. The Eagles will win their first home game.
They'll probably win both of their two home games and be in the NFC championship game. And if that's the case, Sirianni's going nowhere fast. Did you have any problem with Sirianni sitting down Barkley for this weekend and not letting him go for the Dickerson record? Problem?
No. Would I have done it differently? Yeah, I would have given him a chance.
I get it. They played safe. I thought they played a little soft.
So that just tells you where I come off. I would have given Barkley a chance. Lane Johnson out, maybe Becton out because he's been injured.
The other three star offensive lineman, all young. Get in there and help your boy Saquon get 100 yards. I would have done it if I were the Eagles.
They decided to go down to safe route. Is it the worst move that Sirianni made all year? Oh no, no, no. He's made worse. He's made some bad decisions.
So this would not add to his call to be fired if that's what you're asking, even though I would have given Barkley a shot. Alrighty, let's get to the music. Let's get to the big voice guy. We got to do some NFL picks. Final regular season edition of NFL picks right here on the Zach Gelb show. It's time for NFL picks on the Zach Gelb show. Alrighty, I am 28 and 20 against the spread this season. Jody, our guest pickers and I said I'm saving the best for last.
So that's you. It's pretty big shoes to fill this year. Our guest pickers are 30 and 18. 30 and 18 against the spread this year.
That's a hell of a percentage. Who, who, who, anybody go undefeated? How many you usually take? Three apiece? Yeah, three apiece. We've had, let's see, undefeated three and oh on the guest pickers.
Andrew Perloff, Trista Crick. Surprisingly, we're the only people to go undefeated. I've had quite a few three and oh weeks this year, but I'm not going to brag on just going to tell you what my record is. It's 20 and except you did tell me you're trailing the guest pickers. Yes, you are. Yeah, so you're actually rooting for me to screw this up so you can catch the guest pickers and we do have one game that we will go head to head on as far as I know. So you want me to go first? Well, real quickly, I have to ask a question because when I was first getting started here on the network, I always knew you were a big gambling guy, but I would always see your losing horse racing tickets because you would leave them in the studio.
So have you advanced now to the year of 2025? Are you like up to speed on how to bet on the cell phone everything and you still go to the casino? You still go to the book to go get your tickets that way? Horse racing, I want to be there. I want to be able to see the horse.
I want to be able to judge his confirmation. No, I do not do wagering via my phone. Sports gambling, that's another thing, but for horses, no, I prefer to be at the track and get the track and get an actual ticket in my hand. Okay, so let's get to it.
I'll let you go first. What's your first pick against the spread, Jody? First game for me is the Packers. They still have something to play for. They can get the sixth seed, which means they could avoid Philadelphia in the first round.
And I think that's a pretty big deal. You get either the other two divisional winners. It's an easier play than if you have to come into Philadelphia and take on the Eagles. So I think the Packers will not only go for blood, I think they'll go to run the score up and the Bears are just flat out done. Zach Galves already got their new coach picked out for him.
Not going to help Zach. They're bad now. They're terrible now.
They quit on the season. I got it nine and a half earlier in the week. It's up to 10 or 10 and a half.
I'll lay 10. I think the Packers win handily over the Bears. Alrighty, so Jody's taking the Packers lay in the 10 points all year long. I've been thoroughly disappointed with the Cincinnati Bengals. Their wins this year.
The Panthers, the Giants, the Browns, the Raiders, the Cowboys, the Titans, the Browns again, all those teams stink. Finally got a good quality win last week up against the Broncos. They have won four in a row.
Usually the talk to host would say, oh, they're getting hot right at the right time. I just think it's too little too late. I still think they're going to play really damn well. I think they're going to win the game. The Ravens are probably going to win the game before then, and then the Ravens will win the division. So I don't know how much the Steelers at that point will have to play for. I like the Bengals laying the two and a half, and we're going to look there when the Bengals don't get in the playoffs and they're sitting there at nine and eight and saying, man, only if they would have won one of those Raven games or only if they would have won one of those other games that they just did a terrible job in earlier in the season. So I like the Bengals to win. I like the Bengals to cover the two and a half points. That's my first pick. Your second pick, Jody. Second for me again, so far we've taken two games where the team needs a win.
I'll take a third. The commanders, the package and the commanders, one of them is going to finish six. One of them is going to finish seven. Neither one of them wants any part of seven. They both want to try and get that six spot. The commanders are a six point favorite at Dallas.
That's tough to believe that Washington to believe it and bank on it. The Cowboys are, I think, deader than the Bears. I watched them roll over and die against the Eagles last week. Yeah, I know they won the week before, but C.B.
Lamb is now done for the season. I think the commanders come in and give an outstanding effort in Dallas. Oh, by the way, Cowboys have been a better road team than home team. So go against the boys in Dallas.
I'll lay six with the commanders. Two months ago, if you would have told me Mike McCarthy was going to be back, I would have said you're crazy. I actually think he's going to be back next year, Joe, to yourself. Jerry doesn't like firing coaches for all the crazy stuff that Jerry does.
He's actually pretty damn reserved with his coaches. If the right guy is out there, Jerry will go get him. But if it's not, if it's just him picking Mike Vrabel.
No, I think you're right. I think McCarthy could stay and he could sniff around a little bit with the contract expiring. So you got to get that deal done anyway.
So you could kind of look around still, even though you have a coach there because of the way that the contract is run on out. Alrighty, my next pick. So you said we're going to be on board with one game. So let me pick the game that I don't think we're going to be going up against one another. And that's the Lions and the Vikings.
Get to that as my third pick. I'm going to look at Jim Harbaugh with the Chargers. He agreed with Belichick. It's tough when to pick and choose which players you're going to rest. So he gave some indication that his guys are going to play for a little bit, maybe even more up against the Raiders. The Raiders, man, I can't believe I'm saying it. They are due to lose. They've won the last two weeks. And even when they won, they really lost because it hurt their draft pick.
They went from the first or second pick, now the eighth pick of the draft. So I love the Chargers. They got a competent head football coach in Jim Harbaugh and the Raiders absolutely incompetent, but it would actually help them to lose this week. So give me the Chargers laying four points. I have the Bengals laying two and a half. The Chargers lay in four. Jody has the Packers lay in 10 and the commanders lay in six. And we do the final game. Jody Mack, take it away.
Yes, I disagree with you on a couple here. Number one, I think the Raiders are going to win. I think they save Antonio Pierce's job. You got him going out the door. I got him coming back for another year in Vegas. My producer Stu is very upset with you right now because Stu's Raiders. He wants to run Antonio out.
He called this a few weeks ago. He said they're going to win some games. They're not supposed to win and they're going to screw up the draft pick and they're not going to get your Thor Sanders or Kim Ward. So it's a mess with the Raiders.
I blame their general manager more than I blame their coach. The game we disagree on is the Lions and the Vikings. The Lions have been the best team in the NFC all year, plain and simple. And in their house, in their building, they've been outstanding.
I give Sam Donald a lot of credit. And I think some people, not all, some people have underrated the Vikings. And maybe I need to join that crew here because I'm going to take the Lions. I'm not, I'm not picking a Lions to blow them out and beat them by two touchdowns. If it's only three points, I got it at two and a half.
But if you're getting three, three and a half starts to get a little dicey, it doesn't matter. Lions are going to win by touchdown, give me Detroit and the road to the Super Bowl runs to Motown. So a wise man by the name of Jody Mack told me, sometimes in order to win money in gambling, you got to be uncomfortable. And that's why I'm picking the Vikings because I looked at this game, I go, the Lions, this is their year. They really got to blow the one seed.
And I just look at the difference. The Vikings defense, I love what Flores has been doing with that defense and the Lions are the walking wounded on the defensive side of the ball. I'm going to take the Vikings, like Jody said, I'm picking against him in this one. So I'm going to take the Vikings getting the three points. So the picks this week, I had the Vikings plus three, the Chargers laying four, the Bengals laying two and a half. Jody goes with the Packers laying 10, the commanders laying six and the Lions laying three points.
Jody? If I'm going to be uncomfortable, I'll take the Raiders on the money line. Stu, you and me, baby. Raider power, Raider nation.
You know what? Stu should place a large wager on the Raiders this week. If he wins, then he could afford a Notre Dame fighting Irish college football playoffs semifinal ticket.
I think you just helped him out there, Jody. And Notre Dame's playing Penn State? Yeah.
That's Stu against homeboy hickey. Yeah. That's not good. There could be, there could be trouble in your studio, Zach.
You might be picking up bodies all over the place. Some could say I'm just stirring the pot between the two of them all week. I'm lining them up.
I'm having doing Oklahoma drills all throughout the week. Lead it up to this one. Jody, appreciate it as always. Thanks for doing it. My pleasure. There you go. The great Jody Mack. Once again, he has the pack lay in 10, the commanders lay in six, the lions lay in three.
I take the Bengals laid two and a half, the Vikings plus three and the chargers lay in four. Ryan hickey is now my homeboy. I guess also rich Ackerman is my homeboy.
You know, let me talk. I should make a shirt. Rich Ackerman is my homeboy and wear it on one summer, like Thursday or something.
Cause I wouldn't be working a Friday in the summer probably. Yeah. Let's get to my homeboy, the Ackman. Rich Ackerman with latest update.
All right. It's time to answer, ask the pros question of the day. It's brought to you by the fine folks at O'Reilly Auto Parts. KJ in Atlanta says, Zach, who do you think the 14 teams will be in the NFL playoffs this year? You could submit a question by tweeting out INF sports, et cetera, at Zach Yell, using the hashtag ask the pros.
Think O'Reilly Auto Parts are your car care needs get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts, O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O most of these spots are already clinch. So we know that the chiefs are the one we know the bills are the two in just the AFC, the Ravens, the Texans, the Steelers and the charges are all in. We'll see what the exact seating is. The Texans are locked in to the fourth spot anyway or they're gonna be yeah they're locked into the fourth spot anyway because they're nine and seven the Ravens are eleven and five and the Steelers are ten and six I do think the Ravens will win the division so okay seating still on the line then with the Steelers and the Chargers I guess honestly you'd rather be the five because if I'm the Steelers I would rather play the Texans then having to go and fall down to six and then play the Ravens again that's just me but I'll see how the Steelers approach that if in fact you do see the Ravens win the 430 game before that and then they're playing the night game on Saturday so the final spot she's arresting everybody could Carson Wentz have a moment I've seen crazier things before so it's not inconceivable but I just don't feel like the Dolphins or Bengals belong now can the Broncos mess it up absolutely do I expect them to mess it up nope but it feels like the Broncos just deserve to go dolphins been too inconsistent and it doesn't even look like two was gonna play it looks like it's gonna be Snoop Huntley once again and then for the Bengals I would love to see the Bengals get in do they deserve to get in no that offense Joe Burrow deserves to get in Jamar chase deserves to get in Trey Hendrickson deserves to get in but pretty much everybody else of the team outside of T Higgins you know don't deserve to go so I think the Broncos are gonna get that final spot so that will leave you with the Chiefs the Bills the Ravens the Texans the Steelers the Chargers and the Broncos being your seven AFC playoff teams now and the NFC Eagles are locked into the two either the Lions or the Vikings are gonna be the one the Rams are you three you have the fourth spot up for grabs or the the fourth division winner up for grabs between Tampa Bay and Atlanta Vikings Lions right both in depending on the seating now commanders in Packers in so you have just one thing up for grabs no wildcard spots up for grabs it's just who's gonna win that division and is it gonna be Tampa Bay or is it gonna be Atlanta yeah I think Tampa Bay is gonna win the division and look at the breakdown of the NFC to the AFC I don't know if you feel this way still regardless of the order your seven playoff teams this year in the NFC in all likelihood are gonna be the Lions the Eagles the Rams the Bucks the Vikings the commanders and the Packers in the NFC or the AFC it's the Chiefs the Bills the Ravens the Texans the Steelers the Chargers and in all likelihood the Broncos I think the NFC is better from top to bottom this year than the AFC you think that as well I do there's more teams at the bottom that you can talk me into going on a run like you could talk me into the Packers going on a run or the commanders making some noise at Vikings AFC I really think it's those top three teams I would say the difference though is the AFC you have in in terms of your premier teams right the Chiefs the Bills and then obviously the Ravens you have premier quarterback play you have elite quarterback play established quarterback play I know Allen and and and one more haven't done it yet in the postseason but you have three of the four best quarterbacks in the league and quite frankly the four best quarterbacks in league are on the AFC but in terms of teams are gonna make the playoffs you have the Chiefs the Bills the Ravens those are three of the best quarterbacks in the NFL and the NFC costs having a great season but there will be a yeah but King golf win the Super Bowl Jalen hurts banged up he's got to a Super Bowl before you know can he get back there Stafford does he have another run left in him he's established he's won a Super Bowl but can he win another Baker Mayfield once again I love watching Baker he's a gamer yeah but are the Bucks a Super Bowl contender Sam Darnold having a great season some people though will say if they don't win this weekend they're not going to a Super Bowl Jayden Daniels phenomenal rookie season yeah but will you be able to go take the command this to the Super Bowl I don't think so this year Jordan love it was good last year hasn't popped off as we thought he was gonna be this year and there's a question and you could elevate like there's still the teams are better in the NFC but how we usually break it down in terms of just what's simplistic in the national radio landscape is who's your quarterback and who's your coach right and you look at the AFC the duo's are Andy Reid Mahomes McDermott and an Allen even though McDermott has some questions obviously in the postseason has done a really good job with that Bill's franchise and you got Harbaugh and you got Lamar Jackson and the duo's in the NFC we all love Dan Campbell and Jared Goss good quarterback Nick Sirianni fun personalities won a lot of games also gets questioned a lot Jalen hurts your quarterback McVay and Stafford that's a phenomenal duo Todd Bowles and Baker Mayfield you know O'Connell and Darnell O'Connell's a stud you got Dan Quinn and Jayden Daniels you got Matt Lafleur and Jordan love like there's a lot more good in the NFC but are any of those duo's elite duo's I think the the quarterback play and your top three teams in the AFC is better looked at and viewed nationally than the quarterback play in the NFC so we did go into the season saying who's gonna step up at the quarterback position in the NFC but it's been more than just the quarterbacks in the NFC those teams from one through seven if it goes the way we think it's gonna go in the AFC compared to the NFC the teams one through seven are better but there's always gonna be that yeah but because of who the quarterbacks are in the AFC compared to who the quarterbacks are in the NFC alrighty that will conclude another week of the Zach Yelp show was a funky week because we were here Monday not here Tuesday Wednesday here Thursday and obviously here today on Friday I'll be on WFAN in New York City tomorrow for a quick show from 9 to 9 30 a.m. Eastern Time you can listen on the always free Odyssey app and then we do got Sunday morning football coming your way on Sunday right here on many of these same stations on the Infinity Sports Network we do college football for the first hour and then the second hour is all things NFL gearing you up for another weekend of football in the National Football League for will be our 18th installment of Sunday morning football for this year since we have reached week 18 big thanks to Jody Mack for stopping by big thanks to Sam sir big thanks to stew and also I guess hickey for filling in as well that meeting go well still everything okay with that meeting as we get set for the rich eyes everything's great we're ready to go for Monday perfect so ready to go for Monday make sure you listen to rich eyes and on Monday from noon to 3 and then you get us right from 3 to 6 p.m. Eastern Time and if you listen to us then there's an affiliate change you get in on Monday you're like where the heck is that just reach out to me at Zach Yelp ZACH GLB Twitter Instagram I'll make sure you find the way to listen to show whether it's on YouTube Sirius XM or even on the always free Odyssey app so we will be here on Monday at 3 p.m. Eastern Time we'll see you then talk about all things in the world of football have a great weekend everybody we out bye-bye peace
Whisper: medium.en / 2025-01-03 20:13:56 / 2025-01-03 20:33:16 / 19