Bucs Back On Top? (Hour 1)

Live from the police show yet not overly ostentatious studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City sitting on top of the 10th floor 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to a Monday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all the great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM channel 158 and that free Odyssey app 855-212-4CBS. I'm gonna jump on in 855-212-4227. You can always get at me on Instagram. Where I'm straight flexing or the good old cesspool of Twitter at Zach Gelb.

That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. And we're coming to you live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios. Whether you're looking to purchase a new home or refinance yours, Rocket Mortgage can help you get there for home loan solutions that fit your life.

Well, Rocket can. Two guests will join us today coming up hour 20 from now. Big weekend for Kentucky football as they go down to the swamp and they get a victory over Florida. They're going to stop by and he's entering friend of show category hot take hickey.

He joined us about a month, two months ago. Was texting with them after the game on Saturday night. So he's gonna stop by and he's projected to potentially be a top 10 pick in this upcoming NFL draft.

And then in the final hour of the extravaganza at 9 20 p.m. Eastern 6 20 p.m. Pacific. If you are a fan of Texas A&M or Notre Dame, it was a bad, bad, bad weekend for you. And Marshall said football coach Charles Huff, who went in to touchdown Jesus territory, got a victory. So we'll be joined by the Thundering Herds head football coach. And let me just say this before I get to my producer extraordinaire hot take hickey is the producer hot take hickey.

It's very fitting. And I was not going to slam you today right out of the gate, but you just did this to yourself. And Leroy Hoard is 100 percent right. The audacity of you to look at Stu Kovacs when I said it's a rough weekend if you're Notre Dame football fan and basically taunt him when you're fraudulent ass is also a fan of Notre Dame football.

And then recently, oh, I only root for Penn State because you realize Notre Dame is just a good program, not a great program. Shame on you. That was a bad job. And I don't tolerate you belittling a coworker of ours and a very good friend. And Stu Kovacs is one of the nicest people in this building.

Oh, what you're talking about? My team won forty six ten. You just taunted Stu over Notre Dame.

That's right. For years, when Bill Ryder hosted this show, they would always give you crap because one day you'd be rooting for Notre Dame. The next day you'd be rooting for Penn State. Now you look at Notre Dame like they're the redheaded stepchild and you won't even acknowledge them. But you're going to throw that in Stu's face when you are basically a Notre Dame fan.

That's weak. I haven't been a Notre Dame fan since I went to Penn State. Oh, I grew up a Notre Dame fan.

Absolutely. But I don't have the same emotional connection. I wasn't living and dying with Notre Dame losing on Saturday. You didn't root for Notre Dame three years ago. No, I got here. Hey, do me a favor.

Do I have any interest in them anymore? This is not how I want to start our first football Monday of the year. But Stuart Kovacs, I want you to cut up this audio.

Send it to Bill Ryder because we need hot take Hickey to just get extinguished tomorrow on the airwaves. Bill Ryder is going to take a blowtorch to you, to your life, to your career, everything by trying to say, oh, I didn't root for Notre Dame since attending Penn State. You graduated Penn State in 2016. I guarantee you, you rooted for Notre Dame since 2016. The last year, year and a half, ever since I take over this show two years ago, that's when you started to move away slightly, slightly, slightly from Notre Dame. And now you have fully distanced yourself for Notre Dame. But you rooted for them for a big time portion of your life.

And now to be rubbing the salt in the wound of the great Stuart Kovacs for a team that you used to root for, it's weak. It would be like if I gave up rooting for the Patriots, which I would never do, even though the offensive approach was abysmal yesterday. And I started becoming, I don't know, a Dolphins fan. And then the Patriots lose the game and I go to, let's say Ray Martell is also a Patriot fan. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, you lost. I was a Patriot fan my entire life. You were a Notre Dame fan almost your entire life.

And now you're basically putting the loser sign in your head and kicking your feet like you're a Fortnite character over to Stu Kovacs. I don't appreciate that. You are better than that, hot take Hickey. You are better than that.

I don't see what the issue is. I rooted for them growing up. Absolutely. There's no emotional connection anymore.

When you go to university, it's different. I have no connection to Notre Dame. Do you listen? You were a fan for years. So why do you now need to kick Stu Kovacs when he's down? It doesn't make sense to me. Well, I don't see what the big deal is.

I need those two all the time. Because you rooted for them. Yeah, exactly. Rooted. You're right. You can't take shots at them. Thank you.

Rooted. Past tense. They didn't, you know. And now you're taking shots at them?

You are such a fraud. I'm taking shots at Stu. I don't see what the big deal is. Okay, so when he's rooting for the Jaguars in four years from now, you're going to make fun of Colts fans?

Is that what's going to happen? No, I'd never do that. By the way, has your football team tied to the Texans yesterday? It's embarrassing. Pathetic. That's pathetic. You're telling me. You're telling me. What a joke.

Is there anything positive in the recap on your very popular podcast that you had to say from yesterday? Not at all. I don't care about the 17-point comeback. You're lucky, by the way, that division sucks. Tied for first place? Tied for first place. You're celebrating that? No, I'm not. I'm more laughing at how pathetic it is, but tied for first place.

You do a lot of loser type of things. Don't start celebrating a team that is 0-0-1. Titans helped the Colts out big time.

That's the only positive, actually. Well, that was embarrassing. They were up 13-0. And they blow that game to the Giants when Daniel Jones throws that pick.

Ball game. Mraz was tweeting the season's over. And then the next thing you know, his fat ass – sorry, Sean, that wasn't nice – is celebrating outside how they're going to go to the Super Bowl. What's going on here at CBS Sports Radio? We have Hickey, who's a Notre Dame fan, trashing Stu Kovacs for a Notre Dame loss.

And now you pretend like you never rooted for Notre Dame. I got Mraz saying in one second the season's over. I guess that's on brand for Mraz. And then the next moment, he's all giddy about the Giants' season. We've got to have some checks and balances here with the fan etiquette from these producers around here, especially Hatte, Kiki, and Mraz. Alrighty, let's start off the show talking about the Dallas Cowboys. I'm really feeling some type of way today.

And let me just make this abundantly clear. The drama Dallas-chokin' Cowboys season is over. It's done.

It's finished. You may as well just fire Mike McCarthy now. Because Mike McCarthy won't be back as the head football coach next year. This offensive line is absolutely abysmal. And now the quarterback Dak Prescott fractured his right thumb, and he's going to be out six to eight weeks.

We haven't even got fully into the second week yet. The Cowboys haven't even played the second game of the season, which, by the way, they're going to get destroyed by the Cincinnati Bengals, and the Bengals are going to be pissed off. But their season's already done-zo when you're starting Cooper Rush at quarterback, and there's no way to fix it. There is zero way to fix it because Jerry Jones is an enormous problem. I'm not saying he needs to sell the team, but he needs to get out of the way. This team that he assembled, he even knew it wasn't going to be that good before the season started. That's why he was trying to tell you a one plus one equals three.

That was him telling you, I know we don't have a good product, but I have to tell you we have a great product. And there's nowhere to go, because Jerry Jones just evaluates the success of a football season. He talks about the time, I want to win another Lombardi Trophy. But Jerry Jones really evaluates the success of a football season based off of how much drama he could stir up. And there's always a ton of drama with the drama Dallas Chokin' Cowboys.

But turn out the lights, the party's over, the fat lady's singing. And they're not going to bring in Jimmy Garoppolo. I don't see why the 49ers would even elect to get a deal done, which by the way, 49ers may have had the worst loss of the weekend.

I know it was a monsoon in Chicago, but the Bears stink, and the Bears get a victory. But why would the 49ers right now go help the Cowboys out and give them Jimmy Garoppolo? So Cooper Rush is going to be the starting quarterback for this team. I don't think they're going to call Drew Brees or Phillip Rivers and beg either of them to come out of retirement. I don't think Ryan Fitzpatrick is going to be playing quarterback for the next six to eight weeks for the Dallas Cowboys. And even so, it doesn't matter who you bring in because this offensive line stinks. And think about it, for years, what do we praise the Cowboys about?

The way that they were built in the trenches. Oh, that offensive line, unbelievable. Top five offensive line in the league. That offensive line looked like a turnstile in Penn Station last night, pre-COVID.

That was brutal. And you look at the entire state of the NFC, the NFC stinks. The Cowboys stink. The Packers, I'm not saying that their season's over. I still think they'll be a playoff team.

They'll probably still win the NFC North. But they looked horrible yesterday. The Saints had to come from behind to beat the Falcons. Baker Mayfield was a slow starter yesterday, had a nice big throw to Robbie Anderson, but for the most part, it was blah. The Cardinals got blown out against the Chiefs, couldn't even make it a contest. This was abysmal, the 49ers stunk. The Rams got blown out by the Bills. So you could celebrate, yes, a nice little Minnesota victory.

And Justin Jefferson is the best wide receiver in football. You could tell me, oh, the Eagles look good. You know how this is shaping up. We've seen this before. It's so obvious now when the NFC is up for the taking and when a conference is wide open, you know who's going to be in the Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona.

It's TB12. I don't care that he's 45. The man a year ago just led the league in passing touchdowns and passing yards.

I don't care if his offensive line has problems. He gets the ball out so damn quickly. And that defense last night was lethal. That defense looked like the defense two years ago that won a Super Bowl. Julio Jones has now found the fountain of youth.

Godwin, an injury concern. Mike Evans, we all know, is a stud. It's only week one. We get week two on Thursday night with the Chargers and the Chiefs, and I can guarantee you now that Tom Brady, as long as he's healthy, will be in the Super Bowl at the end of the year. I didn't say win it because the AFC is absolutely loaded, but this is up for the taking the NFC. And is there any team you feel great about?

Absolutely not. So when you don't feel great about any team in the NFC and Tom Brady plays in that conference, I will bet on Tom Brady ten times out of ten. Hickey, we're only one week in. I need to alter my Super Bowl prediction. I had the Baltimore Ravens going up against the Green Bay Packers. Take the Packers and move them aside. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going to the Super Bowl.

That is what's going to happen. That is what's happened when Tom Brady quarterbacks a team for the better part of 20-something years. When Brady is the quarterback of the team and the conference isn't great, he finds a way to capitalize off everyone else's misfortunes. You tell me a team right now, hot take Hickey, that you feel sensational about in the NFC. And I'm not even telling you that Tampa is the best team on paper in the NFC, but it's so obvious.

When every team has warts in the NFC, you know that dude in TB12, I don't care that he's 45, is going to find a way as long as he stays healthy. There's no team in general you feel great about, but I'm still sticking with the Rams. I'm not backing now for them and they got blown out. Okay, it happens. One game, there's still more talent than Tampa Bay. Line stinks though.

Okay, that's all right. Do they have more talent than Tampa Bay? I think so. Cooper Cup is unbelievable. Allen Robinson needs to really step up. They didn't trust Cam Akers in week one.

I don't know why. I don't know if they definitely have more talent than Tampa Bay. And I know Stafford was great last year in the postseason. But I'll trust Tom Brady 10 times out of 10 compared to Matthew Stafford. So that's what I learned after week one of the NFL season. And I know it concludes tonight with Russell Wilson going back to Seattle as he was wearing a very flashy suit, I guess is the way to describe it.

But it's a suit that I cannot pull out, so I give credit to Russell Wilson, I guess. But you have Russell Wilson going back to Seattle tonight. But after what I've learned so far in week one, and we've been talking about it all offseason, this is not a strong NFC. We said three teams get to the Super Bowl, Rams, Packers, or the Buccaneers. After the first football Sunday, with all the problems that these teams have, whether you want to admit it now or admit it in a few months, you know it and I know it.

We've seen this story over and over and over and over and over again. When there's doubt, when there's not a favorite, when there's not a team that you absolutely love, the greatest quarterback of all time will be playing in the final game of the season. Who's getting out of the NFC?

855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227. Is there any way to save the Dallas Cowboys' season? When we come on back, we have to rip Jimbo Fisher. We also have to discuss about a team that Hickey used to root for, Notre Dame, and how they came up short in a big way up against Marshall, and we have our first big-time firing of the college football season.

Zach Gelb's show, coming on back after these short messages. Absolutely brutal weekend for you. I don't care what the heck you did on Sunday.

What transpired on Saturday absolutely ruined the rest of your weekend, and it's going to ruin the rest of your week. Notre Dame lost to Marshall. And then you also had Texas A&M go down to Appalachian State, who I was so impressed by App State because they had such a close game last week back and forth. They missed extra points, the conversions, all that stuff up against UNC, and for those kids to bounce back and then go up against a better team in Texas A&M the following week, that was so impressive.

It really was. And I thought Texas A&M was overrated entering the season. I didn't trust their quarterback position in Hanes King, and he only had 97 passing yards on Saturday. So here's what I'm surprised about, that the demise of the Aggies came so early. I didn't think for a single second, even though App State has the inclination to pull off some upsets throughout the years, I didn't think A&M, it was going to be a close game, but I didn't think they were going to be in danger of getting upset. And here we are, where it's another dud for Jimbo Fisher, where it's all hype, it's all sizzle, it's all talk, and then it comes crashing and burning down for Texas A&M. Hickey, you want to start with Notre Dame, or do you want to go with Texas A&M? I think the Texas A&M loss is more embarrassing just because you have a coach there who's established and has been there for a while.

Where Notre Dame, I get it, it's Notre Dame, it's touchdown Jesus, it's a historic program. Marcus Freeman was the defensive coordinator a year ago under Brian Kelly. But whenever you bring in a new head coach, there's usually always something that goes a little bit bizarre, something that is unexpected in the first year. They lost week one to Ohio State, it wasn't the bloodbath of a game that some people thought it was going to be.

And then this one was unacceptable up against Marshall. But I think Texas A&M, Ryan, since the culture's already established and all the talking and all the press conferences that happened ever since Nick Saban said what he said, trying to get his boosters and his small businesses to pay more in NIL with all the hype that there was going into this season even though you and I know we were on the same page that A&M was overrated going into this year, their loss, none of these losses are good, but their loss up against App State is a worse loss than what happened to Notre Dame over this weekend. I agree because of also where the programs are. I mean, I don't think, even though they are ranked higher to start the year, I don't think many people looked at Notre Dame as a legitimate national title contender, especially under Marcus Freeman. We look at A&M, I mean, year five of Jimbo Fisher, he paid $100 million.

At the press conference, they literally bought a national championship trophy with his name on it, with Texas A&M's name on it, and the only thing that was missing was the date. And here you are in year five losing to App State at home? Like, they lose year one to App State. I get it. Things happen when you're trying to change and turn the program around.

But to lose this well into the process, it's inexcusable. And when I look at Jimbo Fisher, I will say, and when a guy wins a national championship, most of the time we automatically put them into the great category. I think Jimbo Fisher is just a good head football coach, a very good head football coach. But I don't think he's great. And when we look at the way that we rate some of these coaches, other than James Franklin, I would say Jimbo Fisher may be the most overrated coach in college football.

Like, I'm looking around. Before last year, we would have said Jim Harbaugh. And now finally Jim Harbaugh had some cojones and went with J.J. McCarthy. I know it was only Hawaii, but J.J. McCarthy was surgical up against Hawaii.

But I was trying to go conference through conference in the power five. And the only two coaches that I zeroed in on that I go, wow, overrated in a big time way, Jimbo Fisher and James Franklin. Do you have any other coaches that you think, Ryan, in the power five, that are overrated right now? Not on the level of Jimbo Fisher, that's for sure. And James Franklin. Jimbo's ahead of James, for sure.

For you, not for me. At least Jimbo Fisher's won a national title. I know it was all those years ago with Jamis Winston at Florida State. But for James Franklin, other than one Big Ten championship, he's been disappointing and made full of excuses. And that's my problem with both of those guys.

Both of those guys. It's the excuses and it's the press conferences and how they overcomplicate everything. There's always an excuse or there's always some dragged out explanation or a lot of words being said, but not a lot of substance when something doesn't go their way for Jimbo Fisher and James Franklin. But for Jimbo, this was setting up, even though we both did not think much of the A&M program. And hey, when I mean that, you look at them as like probably like a three loss team.

Let's just say heading into the year. I never thought they'd be in the SEC title game. I never thought they would find a way to move past Alabama or Georgia last year.

I know they beat Alabama a year ago, but they couldn't even get to off to a 2-0 start. And maybe that's a good game next week up against Miami. But I would have loved to have seen, I know Miami got off to a slow start Saturday before pulling away. But I would have loved to have seen Miami A&M next week on Saturday this weekend.

And that's a late night game actually means something. And how both those teams beat 2-0. But Texas A&M couldn't even keep up their end of the bargain. And for A&M, I want to see how quickly those kids can respond. Because Miami, you know, Mario Cristobal is a good coach. Year one at Miami, looking to make a statement. Last year, took his Oregon team into the horseshoe and beat up on Ohio State. The following week after that for the Aggies, you get Arkansas.

They have Sam Pittman, they have KJ Jefferson. And shortly after that, two weeks after the Arkansas game, you play Alabama. Remember how we talked about it was one of the biggest storylines entering this season? A&M against Alabama, more so Saban up against Jimbo Fisher. Yeah, I'm sure the week of that game, the comments will be replayed. People will make a big deal out of it. But if A&M now has definitely one loss, but maybe two losses or more on their resume leading into that one.

You know what's going to happen. I know Alabama was not great up against Texas and it stunk that Quinn Ewers got hurt in that football game. But when Alabama needed to go win the game, Will Anderson stepped up on defense.

And then Bryce Young was Houdini-like on the offensive side of the ball late in that game to go get the game-winning field goal. But that Alabama A&M game has a lot of the air sucked out of the balloon after you have App State take down Texas A&M. Because it just shows you what A&M is this year, Ryan.

It does. They have been a team that I've highlighted as a team that will finish unranked at the end of the year. Oh, you said unranked?

Yes. I thought you said outside the top 10. Unranked. Top 10 teams that finish unranked. I think the streak is either 19 of 20 years or 13 out of 15 years. UNC was one a year ago.

Yes. Two teams last year. And I thought A&M was going to be one of those teams this year.

And so far, they're off to a hot start. And also, let's spend a few moments on Nebraska right now. We thought that this was the final year for Scott Frost. I think last week you asked me, or it was right after the opening game against the season when he had that stupid onside kick in Ireland. And you said to me, is he going to make it through the entire season?

And I go, maybe out of respect because he's, you know, what he did as a player there at that program. But maybe this would be a few weeks you weather the storm a little bit. And then over the weekend when I saw that they lost 45 to 42 to Georgia Southern, you knew that the change was coming sooner than what we thought. We knew that this was going to be the final year for Scott Frost. But this dude didn't even make it past week three. He didn't make it past their third game. He didn't even make it to the Oklahoma game.

Where maybe you try to go save your job and go pull off an upset against Brent Venables and Dylan Gabriel. So Scott Frost is out as the head football coach of Nebraska. And I'm just wondering, where does Nebraska go from here? Because that was once a proud, rich, tradition filled program. And for a while now, it's alright, there's Nebraska. You bring in a new coach, you get all excited.

And you don't really see the results actually change. This Nebraska job, it's still considered a good job if you are getting your first big time opportunity. But I'll be fascinated to see who they go get as the next head football coach. Because that school now and that football program, they have a lot of work to do, Ryan. A ton of work.

They really do. And it's just bewildering how at the time you thought it was a slam dunk hire. You have your guy coming home, he knows what it takes to win a Nebraska national champion. He just went 13-0 at UCF the year before.

It's like, here we go. Was that the team that claimed the national championship? Yes, yes it was. Maybe that should have been the sign right there.

That was the death of Scott Frost. The 13-0 is great up until the parade down Disney World, that should have been. Alright, actually, second thought, we're out of here. But you're really just like, where do you go from now? There's few programs where I feel like there's no obvious answer. You almost feel like, oh, they need to do this, this, and this better. It's like, they did, at least in the Scott Frost hire, do everything that you should have done in order to turn the program around.

You sit here and it's like, man, they got worse, not better. I saw some names that Dennis Dodd suggested from CBS. Matt Campbell. Now Matt Campbell has had so many opportunities, NFL college, to leave Iowa State. Iowa State, I guess you could say, beat Iowa over the weekend in a game that probably set offensive football back 200 years. If I'm Matt Campbell and I've stayed at Iowa State all these years, I get it, Nebraska is a better job. But I'm not rushing to leave Iowa State if I've been patient for all these years to go to Nebraska right now.

That's just me. Mark Stoops. Mark Stoops, heck of a win for Kentucky, again up against Florida. I said this going into the season that Mark Stoops is one of the more underappreciated coaches in the country. If I'm Mark Stoops and I'm thinking about leaving Kentucky, it isn't for Nebraska right now. How about that statement?

Think about that. Imagine if I went to you 10 years ago, 15 years ago, and said the coach at Kentucky would probably pass up the Nebraska job and shouldn't take the Nebraska job. If Mark Stoops wants to leave Kentucky, he could get a much better situation than Nebraska, Ryan.

I'm not leaving if I'm him. I wonder, because you say it's interesting, that's a school that would do everything possible to get him and everything he wanted. Now we know the famous quotes from John Calipari, Kentucky's a basketball school not a football school. I wonder, not saying he was going to leave, I wonder how he's going to interpret that comment if Nebraska makes a full-court press to bring him in knowing, hey basically whatever you want you got.

Well think about it this way too. Think about how Mark Stoops is actually able to fire back at John Calipari. I'm not debating if Kentucky is a basketball school or not, it clearly is. But the fact that Mark Stoops has put himself in a position where he could actually feel confident in his job security taking a shot at Calipari in his own athletic department and not liking those comments and verbalize that. He's got to feel pretty confident in what he's doing at Kentucky. He's got to feel pretty secure in his job that he could go take a shot at Kentucky. Kentucky basketball.

Fire back a little bit. That's saying a lot. It shows you how good of a coach he is. I'll give you two that I really like from Dennis Dodd. Bill O'Brien and then I don't know if he'll take this job, he's supposedly been offered a lot of jobs, Jim Leonard who's been at Ohio State for a bunch of years.

I love the Bill O'Brien suggestion. As a Penn Stateer myself, he came into a program that was in Shambles, turned it around, brought competency. Not that Nebraska's in Shambles anywhere near the way Penn State was in 2012.

Totally different. There's a difference being competent on the football field and then everything that happened off the field at Penn State. But he was able to not only bring consistency and competency, but he also put a winning product on the field. Penn State won eight games in year number one.

When people could have left left and right, he kept that team together. That's a guy where if he's itching to get back to head coaching ranks and maybe has sailed on an NFL opportunity. Nebraska's a shot where look, he'll have plenty of resources, they'll back him 100% and if you're Nebraska, he's already shown you in the Big Ten, he knows how to turn things around and turn it around quickly.

I think it would be good. That would actually be my first choice out of the way that I think this job would go down. I don't think Stoops is going there. I don't think Campbell is going there. I think Bill O'Brien is a big enough name and he could also run the program the way that he wants it. Now Jim Leonard at Wisconsin now. He's been at Wisconsin for a long time, but that's one I just wonder if he goes and takes that job. I feel like it's obligatory to throw this name out there, so I'm going to do it. Urban Meyer.

I'll make a statement here. If you're Nebraska, yes or no? If I'm Nebraska, I'm not hiring Urban Meyer.

You got to do something. You could find a way to be more creative with a younger coach. For Urban Meyer, I'm not saying the ship has sailed because I do think someone would hire him, but I would not. Now the guy wins everywhere he goes in college.

NFL, no shot. He wins everywhere he goes in college. Does Urban even want that? I guess if he's still looking for what would be considered a big, he could tell himself Nebraska is still a big time job. Because ego also has to go into play for Urban Meyer.

It's a good suggestion. If I'm running Nebraska, I'm not hiring Urban Meyer. Now I did also see, let me throw out this name to you from Dennis Dodd. Gary Patterson, no longer at TCU, now an analyst at Texas. How about Gary Patterson? I like that.

Program builder. He may teach you who they are right now, that's for sure. Nebraska is way further along. Nebraska is a really good program.

That's the issue too. They've been bad, but they are one that's itching. They have a big fan base, they're itching to get back. Oh, they have a great brand. He is a guy that would get them back there.

I like Gary. That's a good suggestion. At 62, though, do you want to take on that challenge? Turn 63 in February. If he plans on coaching for another 10 years, I would.

I know it's easier said now than done, but... Anyone else that stands out to you, potentially? Nothing off the top of my head. No one. So, Campbell, yes or no, do you think he'd take it if offered? No.

He'd take the judge's job. Not that that's, you know, but he's gotten courted a ton and said no. Mark Stoops, does he take it? I would say no. I would lean no.

I'm interested. I think he would flirt with it. Bill O'Brien, I would say yes. Jim Leonard. I think he would take it if offered.

Okay. I would agree. And then Gary Patterson, I think he would take it if offered as well. He showed a lot of life on Saturday on the sidelines. It looks like he's ready to coach again. I didn't even know he was at Texas. You know what's also weird? He didn't look as out of place and as weird in the orange than I thought he would when you see him in TCU purple and black for so long.

Looked pretty natural. Well, when I saw him, I go, is that Gary Patterson? I go, he's at — Sarc got him to Texas? So that's a good move there by Sarc.

You're listening to The Zach Gelb Show. And the Cowboys have been a big topic of conversation today because their season's over. Dak Press got out for six to eight weeks getting thumb surgery. The offensive line stinks. And Mike McCarthy's just not a good head football coach anymore in the year of 2022.

Is there any way to salvage this season? Ryan, if I had to make you put on your thinking cap, is there a quarterback that you think is realistic out there that the Dallas Cowboys could acquire right now? I mean, Jimmy G's out there.

Well, okay. He's available. Maybe the Cowboys would be interested, but I don't see where the 49ers would trade him to Dallas right now. They're not going to overpay the Cowboys. You know your quarterback's coming back in six to eight weeks. It is Jerry Jones, though.

Man of emotion. Maybe hitting the panic button. Yeah, but that'd be stupid. If you gave up — like, let's say at this point, Jimmy G walks next year, you get a compensatory third-round pick. So if you're giving up a third-round pick or a second-round pick and you're Dallas, I think that would be an extremely done move if you're the Dallas Cowboys. It's a move that I know that you want to try to salvage your season, but does it really matter who you put at quarterback?

I'm not saying I like Cooper Rush. When your offensive line is now this bad and Smith is out for the majority of the season, this offensive line stinks right now. And Zeke isn't the same Zeke as he once is, so he can't be the workhorse back that carries you to salvage the season. This team's just not built the proper way.

And other than C.D. Lamb — and we'll see what happens to Michael Gallup, but other than C.D. Lamb, they don't have much of the wide receiving position right now.

Now, I will say to play on the other side, Elise, to maybe calm some of the panic in Dallas. They played one of the best defensive lines in football in the Buccaneers, one of the best defenses in football in the Buccaneers. Are they beating the Bengals next week? Not every team — if Joe Burrow turns over five times, maybe. Well, actually, it's Cooper Rush.

Never mind. Yeah, you know Joe Burrow's going to carve up Dallas. Micah Parsons maybe could single-handedly win in that game because I thought that Bengals' offensive line was going to be vastly improved. They stunk against the Steelers. If you have Jimmy G, is it — he, Elise, can absolutely keep you afloat to, when Dak Prescott comes back, keep you in the playoff line in their weak NFC. Cooper Rush, first two months, is not.

But that's the problem. Even if he keeps you afloat, this team's not winning a Super Bowl. So why would I risk potentially — and I don't think they would — significant draft capital? And you know me, I don't really value draft picks. I take the less-need kind of approach, bleep the draft picks. But for a team that's not ready to win a Super Bowl, I'm not going to Jimmy G. And if I'm the 49ers, I'm not trading Jimmy G, even though I'm under the belief and the philosophy that Trey Lance should get the entire season. And it's one game, and I know it was a monsoon yesterday, but the 49ers just lost to the Bears. And if you believe that there's some skepticism in San Francisco about Trey Lance, you don't trade Jimmy G after that game.

You just can't. Now how about this? Can I entertain you on some free agents? Oh, quarterbacks?

Yeah. Philip Rivers. I call him the Cowboys.

I'm serious. Drew Brees. For eight weeks?

Yes. He usually falls apart any of the year. He's got no arm though anymore, I don't think, Drew Brees.

That's like after week 15. If you need him for two months in a spurt, he has to — I think right now I'd rather have Philip Rivers than Drew Brees. To play one game tomorrow, or five, six games tomorrow, I would rather go with Philip Rivers.

Yeah, I'm with you. Ryan Fitzpatrick, who's never made the playoffs in his career and is overrated. Would you go with Fitzpatrick?

He is, but he is better than Cooper Rush. Okay. I would.

Wow. I'm actually talking to myself in a lot of these quarterbacks. Don't get mad at me.

And your luck. We'll never come back. Jerry can call. Is there any other quarterback that we can have fun with and just throw — oh, how about this one?

Your favorite quarterback in the league? Cam. Is that a landing spot for Cam? Jerry loves drama. No. I'm not saying it makes sense in terms of trying to win football games, but Cam in a Cowboys uniform, isn't that the ultimate drama Dallas Chokin' Cowboy move at this point to bring in Cam?

Here's where I think Cam's status is. Would that even really move the needle? I don't think it would. Would people be that — People would talk about it. And that's what Jerry cares about. And there would be some intrigue. Oh, one last shot for Cam.

Now we know how it's going to end. He went back to Carolina last year. He stunk in New England. He stunk. Right.

At this point, is it the shine-off or any hope that he could have a comeback gone? It's still a big name nationally because people still look at him. Oh, that's Cam Newton, who won an MVP back in the Super Bowl 50 season. I think the only people saying that were the Panthers fans. They learned that the hard way last year.

Still some of them believe in Cam, which doesn't make sense. I'm concerned for you, by the way. Concerned for me? Oh, yeah. Big time concern.

What's the concern? So in football season, you're taking off Thursday and Friday, and you're going to War Eagle country to go see Penn State against Auburn. Ranked Penn State. Just throwing that out there. That's what you're celebrating now? I'm just pointing out number 22.

Pointing out the obvious. So let's go Brian Harsin. I actually wouldn't mind if Penn State wins this weekend just because I want to see Penn State up against Ohio State. And when is that game again?

October 29th. Big noon kickoff. I'd like to see that game have some juice. But Derek Hall of the Auburn football team said, I know our orange out is going to be better than their white out.

I don't think that's funny. I know Penn State has an incredible fan base, but I'm concerned about you if there's an orange out. You would think you would fit in because you would imagine that, oh, hot take kick.

He just always wears a bright color like that, like a red or an orange, because he's just sizzling hot with hot takes. But when you wear your Penn State uniform this weekend on the road. I think you could get your ass kicked. Now, I'm not talking about necessarily on the field. But you could get beat up in the stands. I see a lot of fan violence lately at sporting events.

I'm actually not worried. The people that came to Auburn last year when Auburn was at Penn State were actually extremely nice. I think the southern hospitality is real.

But that's different. That's road fan going into Nittany Lion territory. Now you're going into their territory. You think all those fans are going to treat you nicely? Especially after Penn State kicks their ass? Probably not, but that's OK. By the way, did you see this LSU fan wander onto the field this past week?

Where do you think he was on? That's not hard drugs. You're not drunk walking like that. You're going to be walking onto the field in Auburn this weekend? Be good for the show. We'll get you a Zach Gelb show shirt. I'll be banged up for sure, but I will not be on whatever level that guy is. For the betterment of the show, I can't get you a Zach Gelb show shirt and you just walk on the field and get eventually escorted off nicely by security? I was going to say, get tackled, get my ass beat, and probably suspended and or fined from every college or venue. That dude was so effed up, even the security was trying to tackle him down nicely. They tried to talk to him at first.

It was crazy. I'm sure they still kept the play going, by the way. You would still have a job, though. Make sure you still have a job, though, if you went on the field. I don't know if you can guarantee that. That's going to go on my record.

So? I'll pay for the attorney. You're going to bail me out?

What record do you need to keep clean? So this is going to be, I don't know, 4.30 in the afternoon. You're going to bail me out of the jail in Auburn?

Yeah, why not? I'll say it will and then make it straight out. I'll make the call and it goes right to voicemail. We'll do a news brief next. It is the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll get into the Baker Bowl and how it did not go the way Baker Mayfield thought. And also, we've got to talk Steelers and Bengals as well. But we'll update you on the biggest stories in the world of sports with some audio. It's called the News Briefs. Zach Gelb Show returns in five minutes.