Share This Episode
Zach Gelb Show Zach Gelb Logo

James Palmer Says Rodgers To Browns? (Hour 3)

Zach Gelb Show / Zach Gelb
The Truth Network Radio
January 6, 2025 6:34 pm

James Palmer Says Rodgers To Browns? (Hour 3)

Zach Gelb Show / Zach Gelb

On-Demand Podcasts NEW!

This broadcaster has 2835 podcast archives available on-demand.

Broadcaster's Links

Keep up-to-date with this broadcaster on social media and their website.


January 6, 2025 6:34 pm

No Huddle Offense I James Palmer, Bleacher Report NFL Insider I NFL Draft Order

COVERED TOPICS / TAGS (Click to Search)
sports
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Alrighty, this is that Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. Week 18 in the books. James Palmer going to join us coming up in 20 minutes from now. We'll get all of his thoughts and all the rumors around the NFL, but we got to recap week 18 and highlight some of the important games, some big questions that we have out of those games for one of those teams that did participate in them with a little No Huddle Offense. Touchdowns, sacks, upsets, and last minute heroics. Another NFL Sunday is in the books and we've got you covered with the biggest plays and sound bites from another wild week in the National Football League.

It's time for No Huddle Offense on the Zach Gelb show. So we started off with the game that was supposed to be the game, but it ended up being a very disappointing game. Lions, they have locked up the number one seed. The road to the Super Bowl in the NFC travels through Detroit.

They're 15 and 2. The Minnesota Vikings fall to 14 and 3. What's your prize for going 14 and 3?

Well, you're the fifth seed you're on the road. You play the Rams coming up on Monday. Lions win 31 to 9.

Not as much of a blowout as what the final score does say if you ended up watching that game, but early on Kevin O'Connell went for two opportunities inside his own 10 yard line or the Lions 10 yard line, and Sam Darnold just missed both throws. Darnold was jittery all throughout the game, just did not perform well, was 18 of 41 for 166 yards. No touchdowns, no interceptions. Justin Jefferson should have had more than three catches for 54 yards. Jordan Addison had one catch for zero yards, and I saw his, I think it was his dad afterwards that's on social media like ripping apart Sam Darnold and also Kevin O'Connell.

I saw that on social media, so that was interesting to me. Only had six targets in the game, and Amunras, Sam Brown six for 77, Laporta seven for 63, Jamerson Williams six for 34, Jared Goff 231 yards, a touchdown, two interceptions, but the player of the game was Jamir Gibbs. He ended up finishing with 170 total yards and not one, not two, not three, but four touchdowns in the game, three rushing, one receiving for Jamir Gibbs, and here is his fourth touchdown of the game. This made it Lions 31 Vikings 9. Goff gets the snap, hand off Gibbs, running left, cuts it up, lowers his shoulder, powering his way to the one, gets a shot, he's in a man zone, touchdown Lions. Fourth touchdown the night for Jamir Gibbs, this one from three yards out, and with 5 14 to go, the Lions lead 30 to 9. What a night for Jamir Gibbs, and that audio courtesy of Westwood won as the Detroit Lions have locked up the number one seed.

Stu, what's the question here? Yeah, did this game give you confidence that the Lions defense can stand up in the playoffs? Anzalone coming back was big. You know, he's a heart and soul player for them. I don't think Aiden Hutchinson is going to be able to come back if he will, if they reach the Super Bowl, but they got to get two victories to get to the Super Bowl. So if you look at right now, if I had to give you my wildcard predictions today just in the NFC, even without knowing the status of Jalen Hurts, I think the Eagles are going to beat the Packers, Christian Watson now for the year. Right now I would still pick the Bucks over the commanders, and I would say the Rams beat the Vikings.

That would be my first guess right now, don't hold me to it. So if that holds true, Eagles, Bucks coming up at Lincoln Financial Field, 2-3 game, and then you would see the Rams on the road up against the Lions. They played back in week one, if you recall, and they played in the playoffs last year, the Lions won in overtime. So can the Lions beat the Rams and then beat the Eagles or the Bucks? I know, yeah, absolutely they can.

And you know what, even though you look back going into that game, the hot commodities, right, where Ben Johnson being talked about, I thought the best coordinator in the game, even Brian Floor has been talked about a lot, I thought the best coordinator in the game was Aaron Glenn. So can they just be good enough on defense? Yes, I think they can, and I do believe that what you saw last night, even though Darnold was jittery and he did not play well, it was also because he was under duress, and that Lions team just did a great job just shutting down what is usually a great Vikings offense. So yeah, that has to give you confidence that the defense can perform well in the playoffs.

All right, let's go to Saturday. Man, I'm really annoyed because I had the Bengals lay in two and a half. The Bengals ended up winning 19-17. That looked like a lock for most of the game. So going into last night, I needed the Vikings to win, lay in the three, or plus the three, get in the three, because Jody had them, and we would have tied for picks on the year.

That didn't happen, so I ended up losing picks for the regular season, but we both had crazy good records, you know, me and the guest pickers. But that Bengal Steelers game, that was just a bad beat. Most of the game, covering the two and a half, and you end up losing because the Bengals only win by two. But the final score, Bengals 19, Steelers 17, Joe Burrow 277 yards passing, a touchdown interception, ends up leading the NFL with 4,918 yards passing, and 43 passing touchdowns. Jamar Chase leads the NFL, receiving yards of 1,708 yards. T. Higgins could be his final game with the Bengals.

4 for 53. Trey Hendrickson, he ends up leading the NFL in sacks. Three and a half sacks in the game, had 17 and a half on the season. Russell Wilson, yikes, did not play well in this one.

George Pickens, yikes, didn't play well in this one. Only had one reception in the contest, 4-0 yards, and the Steelers now have four straight losses. Pittsburgh 10 and 7 as they limp into the postseason. The Bengals, they're 9 and 8, and I think everyone in the AFC is happy they don't have to see the Bengals. Even though the Bengals did not play, beat good opponents until the last two weeks of the season, the Broncos and the Steelers.

You have Trey Hendrickson who led the league in sacks, Jamar Chase triple crown, and then Joe Burrow leading the league in so many passing categories. You can't make the postseason. I know Luanna Ruma was fired today, but that's a 19-17 final, and Bengals do win their 9 and 8.

They missed the postseason. Steelers, they'll go up against the Ravens in Baltimore. They lose the AFC North now. They'll go play the AFC North champions in the Baltimore Ravens coming up this weekend, but let's hear a highlight. This is the Bengals stopping the Steelers on fourth down to secure the victory.

All right, fasten your seat belts. Here we go, fourth down and 12, 15 seconds to go. Wilson sends two receivers out to each side of the formation. Russell has the ball, short drop, fires a pass, incomplete. Friar Muth couldn't hold on, and with 11 seconds to go, that is coffin nails.

Bam, bam, bam. At least you get one good call from Dan Hoard last call and Dave Lapham on the Bengals radio network, but still what's the question as we emerge from this one with the Bengals winning but still not making the postseason because they couldn't get any help. I got help from the Dolphins, but they didn't get any help from the Broncos. They need the Broncos to lose and the Chiefs, they're like, we're going to lay down. We're going to, we're going to, even though we can beat the Bengals, we did so this year and we want no part of seeing them in the postseason. Yeah, I guess the question here is, was this T Higgins' final game with the Bengals? I think so.

Remember this is a cheap organization. They still haven't paid Jamar Chase, and I think the price is going to be so rich that T Higgins is going to say, yeah, Cincinnati, you're not willing to do enough. So I do believe he's going to go elsewhere with a lot of teams needed a number one wide receiver.

And he clearly is capable of being a number one wide receiver, though he gets injured a ton, but Jamar Chase, we all know is their number one wide receiver. Alrighty, the Patriots and the Bills. This ends up being Gerard Mayo's final game in his lone season as the head coach of the New England Patriots. And it was a win for the Patriots, but it was really a loss because they go from having the number one overall pick to the fourth overall pick, even though the Patriots wouldn't have kept the pick, they could have used some resources from a trade that they would have made with the team that needed a quarterback to get more picks for the future and only moved down a few spots.

So the Pats win 23 to 16. I'll tell you, Joe Milton, I know it's only one game, but Joe Milton looked really damn good. And Joe Milton, he's always had the potential.

He's always had a big arm, but he could never put it together. It's one game. It's the final week of the season, but he was 22 of 29 for 241 yards passing, a touchdown, a rushing touchdown. Kayshawn Booty had seven catches for 117 yards and a touchdown. The Pats end up dropping from number one to number four in the draft.

You had Mitch Trubisky and Mike White playing quarterback. Josh Allen did get the start to continue his consecutive start streak, but let's hear the highlight. This is Joe Milton on a 48-yard touchdown strike. Kayshawn Booty is chased by a pair of bills, throws on the gun. The pass is going to be caught by an open booty. He's going to trot into the right, into the end zone. Touchdown Patriots. Did I call it? Did I call it? Get him outside the pocket. You've got the first touchdown.

I got the second one. Man, Milton. They say an open booty there. Is that what they said? Are we talking about FS1? Are we talking about Kayshawn Booty?

Just wondering right there. Alrighty, I'll shut up. Anyway, Stu, what's the question here? That was the Patriots Radio Network. All right. Do you think it was the right move for the Patriots to fire Mayo?

Absolutely. You could get Mike freaking Rabel. Ben Johnson is interested. I said last year, why is Jerrod Mayo the coach? Oh, because Robert Kraft had a hush-hush wink-wink deal with Jerrod Mayo, made him the coach of waiting, and then he was daring enough and bold enough Robert Kraft to get in front of the cameras at Amazon Prime and say, oh, I thought five years ago that this guy was going to be the head football coach, and I knew then. So after one year, he's gone because not only were they bad, they were embarrassing, and other coaches that have more clout in this league and that are viewed to be more successful, like a Mike Rabel. He wanted the job again, and you can't pass up on him twice, and even Ben Johnson saying, hey, I'll flirt with you guys as well.

So yes, right move to get rid of Jerrod Mayo. Saints and Buccaneers. I thought the Bucs were going to blow this, and then yes, by the time the Falcons got to overtime against the Panthers, they already knew they weren't going to the postseason because the Bucs controlled their own destiny.

So in reality, even if the Bucs lost, the Panthers won yesterday, so the Falcons would have lost, and the Bucs still would have gone to the postseason, but still with all that being said, it was one of those moments where you thought, oh, is Tampa Bay going to mess this up, and then Baker Mayfield happened. Here's the 32-yard touchdown pass to Jalen McMillan. Empty backfield look for Baker Mayfield now. Looking upfield, looking flush down the pocket.

Dances outside. Throws the ball up here. Open, caught. Touchdown, Tampa Bay. Touchdown, Tampa Bay.

Jalen McMillan. Fifth game in a row. He's come up with a touchdown. Fire the cannons. Bucs are tied at 19-19. So let me just have a quick moment here.

Gene Decker off legend on the Bucs radio network. He's saying what? Fire the cannons. Fire the cannons.

Fire the cannons. Because they have a pirate ship at Raymond James Stadium where they're firing the cannons. Well, Jalen McMillan had a first down in this game, and he was pointing for a first down, and then did kind of a first down signal that may look like he was shooting a gun, an air gun, right? Now maybe, and that's a penalty.

I get the sensitivity. I get the gun issues in this world, but the fact that that's a flag when you have an announcer screaming, fire the cannons, fire the cannons, and you have a pirate ship where they're firing cannons, that's just the dumbest thing to me that he ended up getting a flag there in that spot. No one's looking at Jalen McMillan and saying, hey, he's promoting gun violence with that celebration, but that's the NFL for you. Spencer Rattler in this game. 26 of 42 for 240 yards for the Saints. Juwan Johnson, six for 80 yards. Baker Mayfield, he is awesome at two passing touchdowns in his game. Finishes the season with 4,500 passing yards, 41 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions on the season.

Go, Bucky, go, go. Bucky Irving, 19 carries for 89 yards and a touchdown. Jalen McMillan, as you just heard, five catches for 74 yards and a touchdown. At the end, you get your 1,000 yards, 11 straight, so you have the Jerry Rice record with you, and then also you get a, I think it was a $3 million bonus or something like that, all in that moment where they threw the ball to Mike Evans when he needed a few more yards.

So he finishes nine catches for 89 yards, ties Jerry Rice with 11 straight, 1,000 yard seasons. But anyway, Stupak, what's the question here? Yeah, what's the future of our guy, Derek R. Dylans? That's where we're going off this one.

I'm going to be honest. I did not look at the question sheet before this, so I thought for sure that this would have to do something with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the postseason. So Derek Carr has two years left on his contract. I guess he's going to be back next year, but is he going to be viewed as the guy that you can't get rid of him? Or if you're impressed with Spencer Rattler, no, you'll let the new, I was going to say new GM, but they're dope, so they're not getting rid of Mickey Loomis. You'll let the new head coach and the old GM decide that. So I guess Derek Carr's back, but no one thinks he's the dude.

Alrighty, let's hear from Kyros Santos. This is the 51 yard game winning field goal as the Bears, they finally did it. Go pack goer. Oh no, with the Packers as the Packers lose. Here we go. Two seconds on the clock.

Taylor extends his hand, snap, placement made. Kyros Santos, kick is up and the kick is good. And the Bears have walked off and won in Green Bay, putting to bed two nasty losing streaks, the in-season streak and the Packer streak. One ends at 11, the other ends as well, and the Bears win it 24-22.

Kyros Santos good for 51. And that win snaps an 11 game losing streak for the Bears to the Packers. Their last one was in 2018. Caleb Williams only had 148 yards passing the game. He finished his rookie season. No 4,000 yards. Bears never had a 4,000 yard passer. 3,541 yards, 20 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. And Caleb also had 489 rushing yards with no rushing touchdowns. CJ Moore 9 for 86 with the touchdown run with Dunesay 2 for 18. Only 54 catches on the season for 734 yards and 3 touchdowns.

And you had Jordan Love 7-12 for 69 yards. He left the game with an injury. It looked like he was going to return there for a little bit. And Christian Watson carted off. He's now going to be done for the season that we did learn. Eagles going to be hosting the Packers next week or this weekend, excuse me, on Sunday at 4.30 in South Philadelphia.

But Stu, what's the question here? And I'm assuming it has to do actually with the Bears and not the Packers. It is with the Bears. What's your level of confidence that the Bears will get this right in their head coaching higher?

Low because they're not going to get Vrabel and I don't think they're getting Ben Johnson. So I don't know what the Bears are going to do. You know who we're going to go to? James Palmer. He's going to join us next. Maybe he'll give us some insight on who the Bears are going to hire to try to get this thing right. That's a no-huddle offense for Week 18. This is the Zach Gelb Show.

Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb Show, Infinity Sports Network. A lot of chaos going around in the NFL world. See, we already knew that three jobs were open and those three jobs were the Bears, the Saints, and the Jets.

Questions were what other jobs would open up? We knew the Jaguars were going to open up. At least their head coach Trent Balke is still coming back as their GM, but the Jaguars officially have parted ways with Doug Peterson today. And then a lot of us assume that the Raiders would be saying goodbye to Antonio Pierce, but right now we're still in the I don't know state.

And obviously the Patriots right after the game yesterday, they did, I think they waited 90 minutes. And then you have the statement from Robert Kraft as Jerrod Mayo is out as the next head football coach of the Patriots. And we'll get to some predictions coming up later on who's going to go where, but the obvious one is Vrabel going to New England. If Vrabel doesn't wind up in New England, I do believe we will all be stunned. And I think the only way Vrabel doesn't wind up in New England is if Ben Johnson really wants the job and he blows the Kraft family out of the water where it's like, oh my goodness gracious, you know, we'll give up on one of our guys in Mike Vrabel who played here to go bring in Ben Johnson.

So that's what we're monitoring right now. Then you have this Mike McCarthy situation where his contract expires next week and the Bears are seeking permission to interview him. And we'll see if the Dallas Cowboys are going to grant him that permission as well. But right now, let's go around the NFL and we'll touch base with one of the best insiders in the business.

Does great job, senior NFL reporter for underdog fantasy, also NFL insider for bleacher report. Saw him a few weeks ago in Philadelphia where he wasn't happy about his Ohio state Buckeyes because they lost to Michigan. But now James Palmer can actually smile because the Buckeyes are two wins away from winning it all.

So how about that? It's a new day for you, James Palmer. It's huge, Zach, buddy.

It's huge. I mean, I was where you saw me. I was low. I had gotten accustomed to utter domination. And I believe I watched a clip from my good buddy, Rich Eisen, my nemesis from Michigan. And Rich was speaking about, I just wish Ohio State would make it competitive. And I'm like, bro, you guys lost like 16 of 18 prior to these four years, like stop.

But it put me in a worse spot. But now, I mean, the trenches are playing great. Like O-line D-line is playing really, really well.

I just, the stuff I hear about Jeremiah Smith is like unicorn type, type of type of information. He's just unbelievable. And Will Howard's actually answering the bell because I'll be, I'll just be honest.

And I think I might have said this to you in the press box. My thought on Will Howard is this, he's always a yard short and a second late. And that just kind of seems to sum it up, but he's been great. He's been solid.

He's run the show. I'm stoked. I think we should beat Texas and then we'll see what happens. Yeah. It would be something though, if you guys are already celebrating that national championship and then you don't find the way to win.

Oh, there you go. Now you're, now you just took it. Listen, not to say I haven't been nervous. I was terrified. I don't know why in the second half against Oregon. I'm like, when they scored the second touchdown, I was like, this is the spot you don't want to be in. Do you give them yards?

You don't want to expose the plays, but the March, like, you know what I mean? Like, oh, we're good though. James Palmer here with us.

Alrighty. Mike McCarthy. That's a big story right now. Jerry was very confusing after the game. No one knows what the Cowboys are going to do. I just read the Schefter report a little over an hour ago, 90 minutes ago that the Bears have reached out to try to get permission to interview him. The contract expires anyway, next week.

What does your gut tell you right now? Is McCarthy back with the Cowboys for 2025? Well, I think first I think that's smart of the Bears. I think you put it out there for McCarthy to know. You put it out there for all of us to know. You put it out there for Jerry to know that this is day one.

You're allowed to make these, these, these calls and these requests. And I think making it known instead of the entire league sitting on their hands and waiting for Jerry, I think that was a smart move by Chicago. And so what do I think ends up happening? I think there needs to be an evaluation from Mike McCarthy about whether the Cowboys are right for him as equal as the Cowboys are saying is Mike McCarthy right for us? Because all Jerry has done is sent Irish guilt his way and been like, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa.

I don't know. But like, you haven't given him a contract extension. You haven't given him any sort of sense that he should be returning. We know the way that they went into the season. And this is, these are all points that I would say Mike should be looking at in. They knew blatant holes that they had coming into this year. They knew running back was an issue. They knew certain other spots on the roster were issues and they weren't fixed. And then in the, in the middle of the season, you, you see them make in what multiple executives have told me was clear cut far and away the worst trade that was made at the deadline. And Jonathan Mingo, like, so where is this headed for you in Dallas?

And if you have a clean out, is there a spot that's better for you? I wouldn't be surprised if Mike McCarthy's looking going, maybe there's a spot that is better for me. There's a lot that needs to be sorted out between him and the rest of his staff as well. If things are going to continue there. But I do think they have been happy with what Mike's done over the last several weeks. And I think it's universal around the league that he is a really good football coach. And I also think a thought right now, a lot of people believe that Vrabel is going to go to the Patriots. So let's assume that happens. I know you've talked about it.

I've talked about it. I really do believe Ben Johnson's going to the Jaguars. Now we all know the bears would love to get Ben Johnson. If Vrabel and Ben Johnson are off the board, where does Chicago go? Or are you hearing otherwise with Ben Johnson now? Well, what I wanted to mention was my pick for Ben Johnson was also Jacksonville.

If, if you speak to people in Detroit that know how he's wired, that would be the market that would probably fit him best. He's definitely a close the door, tinker, mad scientist behind the scenes, unbelievable designer and scheme creator and play caller where you got like six people covering you down in Jacksonville. Like this might be the best fit for, for Ben. And you have a quarterback in place. You have no cultural issues inside that locker room to my understanding at all that you would have to work out as being a first time head coach, right? Which is one of the things that sometimes first time head coaches have to struggle with on top of everything else they have to do.

It checked a lot of boxes. The reason I wanted to bring it up is speaking to a number of people this weekend and then this afternoon, the perception of the Jaguars job has changed dramatically with Trent Balke being retained. That was assumed this weekend with a number of people I asked as the best job available. If both general manager and head coach were available, because then Ben Johnson can also come in and bring that the GM that he desires or whoever comes in, brings in the GM that they desire and they work, you know, copacetic and it's wonderful. I think that job now, the perception of it in Jacksonville has changed with Trent Balke being retained. And if you watch that press conference, the vast majority of the questions were about, why is Trent Balke still here? To Shad Khan and to Trent himself. And so I do think that, that job has landed a little bit differently now in a lot of people's eyes.

And how does, where does Chicago go now? I do get the sense, and I have heard this, like from plenty, that they want kind of like a leader of men type of character. Is that a Brian Flores? Is that a Mike Rabel, but he's most likely off the board. I think those traits are extremely important because yes, developing Caleb Williams is, is a massive, massive part of this evaluation process. To my understanding, there are massive cultural issues specifically on that offensive side of the ball in that locker room. And I don't think the bear search committee is discrediting that importance in their search at all. So whether we want to put Ben Johnson in there or not, and he's a possibility, like if you had to say three names right now, you know, just as this gets started to monitor for the bear's job with all that, what you just said, who would those three names be that you also think are realistic? Yeah. And Ben is realistic because I would say he's not going to take a lot of interviews. And so he's very selective in what he wants to do to break him down really quickly.

I would say there was, if you look at it, there's so many common opponents between Chicago and Detroit. He probably saw plenty of film of Caleb Williams to go, I can work with this. If, if he didn't, I would assume he wouldn't take the interview. Right.

Like, and all, I mean, all of that film carries over for him from what he's watching. So I would say Ben's on that list. I would say, you know, Flores, they definitely have the ability to look at some things, but he's a complicated candidate for sure.

I don't know. They got a wide net and they're going to go really, I mean, they're going to look at a lot of people for sure. I don't know if Pete Carroll's realistic, but experience is going to be a big thing for them. I think a really big thing for them. They don't want to, to my understanding, have some of those issues that happen with first year head coaches. They'd like to avoid some of that, those growing pains.

And so experienced guys, I think would be on that, on that list, maybe a little bit higher right now in the early portion of the process. James Palmer here with us. What about the Raiders? No official word yet on Antonio Pierce. They let him do the press conference. I know he profuse at the press conference and got fired. What happens with Antonio Pierce?

I don't know. First off, did what, which, which starter jacket did you have Zach of that group with the quarter zip? Sorry, Manning brothers and your quarter zips on Monday night football. That's the OG quarter zip that started jacket with the big front pocket that he was rocking. I had, I had a Phoenix suns one cause Barkley left the Sixers and went to the sun. So I had a suns one in a Blackhawks one. I don't know if you had one or not. I actually got sent a nice starter's jacket from the folks at crown Royal recently, which was very nice starter jacket.

That's on par with when I was in middle school, like the, the Charlotte Hornets jacket. That was like a big, that was a big deal. Listen, I don't think you have them go out there and now you have all this time pass after this and you end up moving on. Um, I am curious about the relationship in the building and the relationship between Telesco and, and, and AP, uh, how that is. I think there's some division in that building.

Can they work some of these things out? I do think, um, the back end of the season, when you started hearing, you know, hearing things like Mark Davis was sitting in on some coaches meetings, he was having conversations with AP about the future. Um, I don't think you have all those conversations and do all that stuff.

And Mark was pleased with the way they played over the last couple of weeks, even though they're not a very good team and have a very good roster, like please with the way they played with the way AP was getting stuff out of them. Um, and I don't think you do some of those things if you're sure you're going to fire a guy. So I don't think, you know, right now, the way it looks, I don't know how you move on from him now.

I mean, like that's, that's almost like, well, it is the Raiders, but I don't think you would do that, um, right now. And there were some things that, you know, talking to people there, it was AP just has to learn X, Y, and Z. It's similar to Gerard Mayo. The former player comes in and sometimes the former player, the former captain in you comes in through the media, whether it's business decisions or we're playing soft, uh, some of that stuff he's learning on the fly. Um, and I think if he stays, that would tell you that he's learned enough in their eyes. Um, and obviously the Brady role in that building is something that complicates matters in a lot of people's minds, um, about what they would do moving forward. That's why Rabel's name was obviously linked there quite a bit because of his relationship with Tom. Um, but I don't know how much time Tom can give right now. So I think where it's at is where it's at. I think he made the right move at OC.

Um, when you pull certain levers and they work, I think it's really in your favor. Same thing for like McDermott this past, like last year when he changed OCs. Wrap it up with James Palmer. Um, when you take a glance at new England, everyone thinks, right, it's going to be Vrabel. Is there any chance it's not Mike Vrabel in your opinion?

Um, right now I don't think there's any chance it's not him, but I do think they're going to go through their first head coaching search real search because Mayo wasn't one real search in over 25 years. And it would behoove you to really analyze all of these, all of these, uh, different candidates. And there might be somebody who knows that ends up wowing them beyond belief. Maybe you can't come to a contract with Vrabel.

I'm just throwing different things out there that could happen. Um, they have to look at everybody. They certainly do.

And I know that they will in this search, which they haven't done in the past. Um, because it is a, it is like I mentioned the Jaguars job having a different perception. I think the perception of, of new England is very good right now.

Like a ton of money. Uh, you have a quarterback in place. Now I would say the league, not every candidate is sold on Drake May. I would say it's almost 50 50 about candidates that think he can play and candidates that do not are not sold. And so it's not a slam dunk at the quarterback spot, um, that you have the quarterback and play maybe like everybody says it is, but there's a lot to like, and you would assume, which is in your favor, if you're a candidate, oftentimes when the ownership shows no patients, the following guy gets added patients because you don't do it back to back. So to me, I'd be like, I'm coming in after the one and done guy. Like I get a little bit more patients, but I do think it really just is squaring up to see that it's, you know, you take a look at everything, but it looks like it's Mike's job. Um, and he's the best candidate on, on the market, um, right now.

And I don't think it's honestly really all that close. Last thing I'll ask you a two-part question here. It has to do with quarterbacks of the one that you run. James Palmer appreciate you making some time for us.

And what's a very busy day for you. Uh, Aaron Rogers, what happens with him and then Sam Darnell after what we saw last night, I know he could still redeem himself in the post-season, but did the Vikings let him go elsewhere this off season? Yeah, I'll start with Aaron, but I will say this really quickly. If anybody heard Sean Payton today, you know, he's asked about Vance Joseph, his defensive coordinator getting some looks and I know Vijay wants another job, but he, he brought up Aaron Glenn on his own talking about Sam Darnell.

And he goes, Aaron Glenn doesn't need to say anything to any owner or any general manager. His resume on his head coaching opportunity was three hours against Sam Darnell and that Vikings offense, uh, that was what I'll be saying after that game. Right? Yeah, I think so. I think that's, that's very accurate for sure. Um, and so with, with Aaron, I think there's a couple of things that play one, the way he played in the last week of the season, I think plays a factor in him going.

I think I can still play. I know he's going to evaluate all of this. Um, the lack of quarterbacks in the draft, uh, that are coming out the lack of quality free agent quarterbacks. Who's to say a place like Cleveland doesn't take a flyer as a gap start for Aaron Rogers or Pittsburgh, or I think, I mean, I think Russ goes back to Pittsburgh, but I'm just throwing different teams out there because Aaron has shown us that at this point in his life in his career, asking for every dollar is not what he's going to do. Like he wants to go play. I don't think it's like, I don't think he really cares if he plays another year, what it's for compensation wise. Um, so I could see somebody taking a chance on him, just going, what if it works out? What if another year removed from the Achilles, he's just a little bit better.

And we saw some flashes in the back end of the season. Why couldn't we use him as a bridge? So I do think if he decides to play, there's a market, I guess that's the point he has to decide to play.

That's the first part. And then with Sam, um, I talked to another GM and just asked him about this this past weekend. And he was just like, you got to sign him. Like you franchise tag him. That's almost an insult considering the way the locker room loves him in the locker room has been receptive to him. I think you almost have to sign him. There's no, like you've, you've got a big enough sample size of success.

Now this was before Sunday night, but you have a big enough sample size of success. And the other part that I think plays into it is Sam's just 27. And the other part that I don't think anybody's talking about is JJ McCarthy's just 21 years old right now. Like the guy who's behind him is not like Michael Pennick's age. He's not bonics age.

You know, he's not, he's not up there where you're going, well, are we wasting this? I mean, they're both relatively young. I think that plays in their favor. I don't see Sam going anywhere. I don't see them letting him go anywhere.

And I do think this is a little card in the back pocket of KOC, knowing that his contract is up for negotiation this off season as well, to where he is probably a little more leverage to do what he wants at the quarterback spot. You could check him out bleacher report, also underdog fantasy. He is James Palmer farm on Twitter at James Palmer TV. James, appreciate it.

Appreciate it, buddy. Go bucks. You got it. There we go. James Palmer ended the interview. Like he's a college football coach all of a sudden, how they would go box right at the end. There you go.

I'll probably clip that and put it out on social media. You know, me saying go bucks for him, but the great James Palmer always appreciate his time and his insight. Well, come on back. Let's react to a little bit. What he had to say. Rogers to the Browns, Sam Darnold's future.

And also it seems like Ben Johnson, who we all thought was potentially, a lot of us thought was potentially going to the Jaguars, the Trent bulky thing could complicate that. We'll get to that on the other side, update time. First here is rich Ackerman. Stu. I saw something earlier today that I was kind of mortified by. So this has nothing to do with sports.

I was visiting my parents this past weekend. I had a doctor's appointment this Monday, which, but JJ Reddick said his resting heart rate was 44. I think in that whole rant, my resting heart rate is 46. So very good resting heart rate, little slow, but it's because I, the doctor says I work out a lot. And because I do the elliptical, like an hour a day of the heartbeat beat of a long distance runner.

So whatever I'm good though. So I'll use that eventually when people annoy me, I'll, I'll do my JJ Reddick douchiness kind of rant. We'll be like, Oh, I have a resting heart rate of 46.

And after hearing that comment, I still have a resting heart rate of 46. So I'd take the LA double R into work today, Long Island railroad. And as someone that has to frequently ride the subway in New York city, the Long Island railroad you would think is pretty much the Fontainebleau and the subway is the worst motel that you could imagine.

I saw something on the Long Island railroad today that was absolutely disgusting. So I get on the train and I sit down and the guy next to me is wearing a mask, whatever you want to wear a mask, not, you know, not my business tell you to wear a mask, not wear a mask, whatever everyone can make do whatever they want. But then I'm sitting there and that same guy, I start to hear a loud clipping noise. He starts clipping his fingernails and eventually his toenails. Now you're worried about, right, the germs and whatever you're wearing the mask, but there you are clipping your fingernails. And I thought it was only going to be his fingernails. And then I eventually saw that he was clipping his toenails later on. So then I just, I got up after the fingernails and left, but then someone told me that was on the train, that there was a guy clipping his toenails. So I just assumed that it was the same cat. That's disgusting.

Like, I don't care if you're the busiest person in the world, clip your nails at home. That's disgusting. So that was gross. That was a subway moment on the Long Island Railroad today still. And I guess you can't be surprised.

Can't be surprised. But like you said, we see a lot worse stuff on the New York City subways. Yeah, it's gross. And that's for any train or bus or anything. That's pretty terrible.

That's up there for me. Yeah. See, I'll still take the subway, but I'm at a point where I don't want to take the subway anymore.

Like, if you tell me go walk home in the 10 degree snowy weather today or take the subway, I'd rather walk home on the 30 minutes than go on the subway. And God knows what happens in the five minutes that I'm actually on the subway. Anyway, it's time to answer Ask the Pros question of the day. It's brought to you by Arale Auto Parts. Jim in Buffalo says, Zach, out of all the wildcard teams, the teams that are playing on wildcard weekend, excuse me, who do you think has the best chance to get to the Super Bowl out of the AFC and the NFC if it cannot be the Lions and the Chiefs? You can submit a question by tweeting at INF Sports Center, at Zach Elbe's and hashtag Ask the Pros. Think Arale Auto Parts, where all your car care needs to guarantee low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people. At Arale Auto Parts, O O O O O O O Riley Auto Parts, Texans Chargers, Ravens Steelers, Bills Broncos, Rams Vikings, Buccaneers, Commanders, Eagles Packers.

I hate to be lame, but I'll be lame here. It's the two seats. It's the Bills and it's the Eagles. If you tell me the one seats can't go there, I go with the Buffalo Bills. I go with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Alrighty. Reacting to what James Palmer had to say. So he was throwing out some teams where he thinks Rogers, there's a chance he's going to be back. And then he thinks that Russell Wilson's going to be back with the Steelers.

So he threw the Steelers out there and then he quickly took it back. The Browns. Now I know that you have Deshaun Watson with the setback. Who even knows if he's going to be on the roster next year, but can you imagine if you go into a quarterback room in the off season still with Aaron Rogers and Deshaun Watson as your two quarterbacks. Now, like the Browns have a good roster. They just don't have a quarterback, but isn't that what the Jets just did? The Jets have a good roster.

They don't have a quarterback. Rogers goes there, gets hurt the first year, plays a few good games this year, and it still wasn't good enough. How sad would that be if you see Aaron Rogers, right? Go from Green Bay where he had it made to then a bleep show with the Jets. And then you follow it up with a bleep show in Cleveland. I'm sorry.

Aaron Rogers, if your option is to go to Cleveland or retire. And I'm something that's like, I say, here we go. Brownies. Here we go. Right. I'm not anti Cleveland, but do you really want to go play another year in Cleveland after just playing a year in New York and it was with the stinking Jets to me, either you're back with the Jets next year or you should retire outside of that.

I don't think there's a great option out there. You know, Tennessee, Cleveland, like what you go to Pittsburgh. Okay, fine. But I don't think the Steelers are bringing in Aaron Rogers. You know, you want to tell me the 49ers are interested in you.

I don't think they'll do so, but fine. But if you can't go to Pittsburgh or if you can't go to the 49ers, there's not a spot out there. And I read something today, you know, I was talking about maybe Rogers goes to the Raiders and it's like, Oh, we'll do a trade back still. Well, Devante Adams will go back to the Raiders, you know, two years ago. I think you'd be in for that, Stu. But now you don't want Rogers.

No, not anymore. That's just be terrible and hope that your team doesn't win some games at the end of the year and then you get a quarterback. Arch Manning. Oh, you're already on the Arch Manning trade. Have to be. That'd be fun.

Arch Manning in Las Vegas with Tom Brady owning that team. Yeah. You get to my team, though.

That's yeah. Well, it's better than taking like Jayla Milro or Carson Beck or whoever it may be. But for Rogers, the Browns and Titans wouldn't make sense because those are two teams you would think are maybe possibly going to take quarterbacks with those top two picks. Are you really going to draft a quarterback and bring in Rogers to mentor?

Like, he doesn't want to do that. No, but maybe you don't love the quarterbacks and you could trade the pick and you could move back a few spots. The Giants come up, you still get a really good player, something like that, if you don't love the quarterbacks in the scouting process.

So that's where that on that one. And do you think Darnold's now back with the Vikings or not? After what we saw on Sunday, I still think he is. I think the McCarthy's the one they trade. I don't think they'll trade McCarthy.

I don't. I think McCarthy is going to be there either way next year. It just is Sam on a long term deal and they trade him down the road or then trade McCarthy down the road. Or is he on a franchise tag? That's what I think that happened. My gut still tells me and my gut could be right sometimes.

My gut could be wrong sometimes, but I'm more of a trust the gut kind of guy. I feel as if Darnold's out at the end of the year. Now I think it'd be smart to franchise tag him and see, at least get something back. But I don't think he started for the Minnesota Vikings next year.

And I do think it's, it's JJ McCarthy. All right. That will do it for the show today. Tomorrow. We'll see if we get any answers. What are the Raiders going to say anything? I know it's only two 53 out in Vegas right now, but they got to say anything and McCarthy. We'll see if the Cowboys end up respond to this report. I think Jerry Jones has interviewed tomorrow with one Oh five through the fan. You know, it's tough to keep track when Jerry's on that stage. She's on that station every single day, but I think he does have an interview tomorrow.

One Oh five through the fan. I heard. So we'll see how he responds to the bears reaching out to try to interview Mike McCarthy. So that's what we have right there. So that's what we're monitoring Raiders and the Cowboys and what will happen with Mike McCarthy and what's going to happen with Antonio Pierce. I'm sorry. I didn't even think McCarthy was not going to be back for the most season.

I did in the last month. I have it now. I think James Palmer's right. McCarthy has to evaluate if he wants to be back at the Cowboys, not if the Cowboys want him back. I do believe that's a big question as well. All right. We'll talk tomorrow. Everybody appreciate you tuning in. Appreciate you listening. If you tuned into one of your local affiliates and we weren't on there today with some of the scheduling changes, you know, that happens to start the new year.

There's always many ways to consume us. Serious XM, YouTube. And then also you could always stream us on the free Odyssey app. So that's always ways to listen to us. If you tuned on the radio today, you're like up. Zach's not on the normal station.

He's on, you know, a lot of affiliates that just make stupid decisions, but nothing we can do about that. All right. Everyone have a good night. Bye bye. Peace.
Whisper: medium.en / 2025-01-06 20:24:10 / 2025-01-06 20:43:15 / 19

Get The Truth Mobile App and Listen to your Favorite Station Anytime