Bills Blowout Rams (Hour 1)

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Viator, one site, over 300,000 experiences you'll remember. 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 of 345 Hudson Street, it's a football Friday! In addition to the Zach Gelb show across all of our great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM channel 158, and that free Odyssey app, we welcome you on in, and we have made it to the first football Friday of the year, if you can't tell, 855-212-4CBS, 855-212-4227, and 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.

We are 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. Big guest list today, coming up at 8pm Eastern, 5pm Pacific, the man that everyone wants to see on Sunday. It's not Tom Brady, it's not Lamar Jackson, it's not Aaron Rodgers, it's not Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott, whatever quarterback you want to name, no, no, no, no, no, it is Scott Hansen, the man behind Red Zone is going to join us later on in the show, and then at 9.20pm Eastern, 6.20pm Pacific, I'm going up against Jersey Jerry, from Barstool Sports, each and every Football Friday on the Zach Gelb show, as we will be having NFL picks this year, up against the always entertaining Jersey Jerry. But first up, producing this extravaganza for the next four hours is no other than, Hate Kiki. I don't know about that Hate Kiki. We got a game to talk about, and that's a game that we need to recap, and that is what occurred at SoFi Stadium last night, where let's just say Hate Kiki and yours truly, we are really off to a stellar start to the NFL season. Ryan picked up right where last year left off, for me, this is different. Now I'm like the Rams, last year I was giving you winner after winner after winner after winner, and the first game of the season, what a dud. Hake Kiki was all over the Rams last night, I was all over the Rams as well, and the Los Angeles Rams were severely disappointing last night, where they lost that game 31-10.

And here's the thing too, that game at halftime was 10-10, it had no business at halftime being a 10-10 game. And afterwards, once you got some life, where you had that ridiculously long Matt Gay field goal that probably would have been good from 68 yards out, you say the Rams survived the half, where the Bills were clearly the better team, and the game was tied. So I'm thinking that the Rams are going to give a big second half effort, and it just never happened as they were outscored 21-0 in the second half, the final 30 minutes of football, and my oh my, how magnificent is Josh Allen. We all know how great Josh Allen can be, we saw the run up against New England and Kansas City in the postseason last year, where he did everything in his power to get the Bills to an AFC Championship game, to get them to a Super Bowl, and he was out in the second round. But anytime this guy now gets the football, unless the ball bounces off his wide receiver's hands or his running backs just can't catch the football, this dude is automatic to at least get your points. It's so impressive, and you saw the diversity last night. To Stephon Diggs, Gabe Davis, Jamison Crowder, Moss, McKinsey, Singletary, Dawson Knox, this Buffalo Bills team, they're absolutely loaded.

Well, no crap. Like, duh, Zach, we know this Buffalo Bills team on paper is thought out to be the best team in the NFL, and not only the best team in the NFL, almost everyone, 99.9% of you listening to the show right now, pick Buffalo to not only get to the Super Bowl, but win the Super Bowl this year. So the Bills, with all this hype, all these expectations, all the positivity in the world, they were going up against a team in their own house, and it was basically a Bills home game. Can the Rams get some fans? I know that they just moved back to LA a few years ago, but you just won a Super Bowl.

And we know a lot of people in LA, front-running kind of city. I know Bill Reiter won't like that when I say something like that, but get those Rams fans, actually in the house it gets embarrassing when you're saying, whose house? And you can barely even hear the Rams' house. That was a Bills Mafia takeover last night in Los Angeles. But for this Buffalo Bills team, they set the tone for the season.

That's what they did last night. Everyone's picking the Bills left and right to win it all, and they showed you, even when they didn't play their best brand of football, that not only will we win, but the Buffalo Bills blew out the team that just won the Super Bowl. A team that has Aaron Donald, Matt Stafford, who looked awful last night, Cooper Cupp. Where was Cam Akers in that football game?

Where was Allen Robinson in that football game? And even when Buffalo had to overcome some adversity, it being 10-10 at halftime in the first half that they should have been up by a whole lot more than a tied deficit or a tied score, it just didn't matter. Buffalo showed you last night, and hey, the Super Bowl's not handed to you after the first game, but they showed you why if this team stays healthy, the sky's the limit for Bills Mafia.

And they could work on the run game. But you look at that team, their defense, which was number one defense a year ago but choked in that division around, that defense was lethal last night. So the Bills set the tone for the season. Everyone's saying they're going to be the top dog this year in the NFL, and even when they didn't play their best brand of football, they still found the way to beat the living snot out of the defending Super Bowl champions. And we could give many words of extolment to Josh Allen. The dude is one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL.

It was a joke that he wasn't in that top 100 list entering the season that the players did vote on. But how about we highlight Von Miller? Because Von Miller last night had two sacks in the game.

He was after his old quarterback in Matthew Stafford. But really, the addition of Von Miller may go down at the end of the year as the most important offseason acquisition. And we look at Von Miller in an offseason class that had Russell Wilson change teams, Deshaun Watson change teams, Davante Adams, Tyree Kill, now in new homes. But that move of Von Miller, and Brandon Bean said it on the show, is valuable more than just what Von Miller brings on a football field and his ability to still get after and haunt opposing teams quarterbacks. Von Miller, the intangibles, the experience, that stuff you can't place a value on. And everyone's going to be looking at him on defense to lead the Buffalo Bills this year on the defensive side of the ball. Because I can guarantee you this, if Von Miller was on the Buffalo Bills last year in that divisional round, there is no way the Bills in the final 13 seconds would have lost that game and would have been running around that field like chickens with their heads cut off. There's just no way that would happen, because he brings experience, he brings winning, and he brings a sense of calmness to the Buffalo Bills. So, A-plus effort last night by Buffalo, even in a game where they didn't play their best, they were so impressive. But on the flip side of this, I look at the Rams last night, do you press the big fat red panic button?

No. You don't start sounding the alarms and saying that you're worried about the Rams, just because if we're looking at the NFC objectively, the NFC is not a strong conference. I think there are three teams that could be great in the NFC. Rams, Bucks, and then the Green Bay Packers. Could a fourth team emerge? Philadelphia, San Francisco, Arizona, Dallas.

Maybe a fourth team can emerge, but until I see it from those teams, I'm going to be skeptical. For the Rams though, last night, to tie that game up at half and then have zero juice in the second half, it's concerning. And something, or it's disappointing I should say, but something when you want to talk about concerns and you don't want to overreact after one game, that offensive line last night for the Rams, woof. It was ugly. Did Andrew Whitworth get a call at hat time?

I know he was in the building. Did they say, screw the Amazon career, let's go play a tackle in the second half? They have problems on the offensive line.

I don't get what McVeigh was doing, not having Akers on the field for the first quarter. They need to use him more. They got to get Allen Robinson involved more. I thought Allen Robinson was one of those underrated offseason moves where everyone's talking about the big, sexy, flashy, big time playmaker wide receivers.

And Allen Robinson has been a guy for years, has had terrible quarterback play, and has put up big time, prodigious stats. So I look at the Rams last night, what did they do well? And they forced some turnovers, but that defense ended up getting shredded apart by Josh Allen. So there's not a single thing last night about the Rams where I go, wow, they were super duper impressive, or oh, the Rams did this. The Rams laid an egg on national television when you're raising a banner to celebrate last season.

And I'll ask you this question, 855-2124 CBS, 855-212-4227, were you more impressed with Buffalo last night? Or were you more disappointed by the Rams? And even though you should be really impressed by Buffalo, the reason why I'm going to say that it's the Rams is because if you would have told me the Bills would have won last night in a blowout, yeah, it would have been tough to believe.

It would have. But I would have thought either way, neither of these teams were going to blow one another out. And the Rams being at home, even though it wasn't much of a home field advantage, but the Rams opening their season with a team that it's a little bit different than last year. No more Whitworth, no more Von Miller. You bring in Bobby Wagner, but you have your main cogs of that championship team, your mainstays. Donald, Stafford, Cup. To have zero life on either side of the ball, to have a complete dud in all three phases of the game to open up the season, that to me is disappointing.

That to me is astonishing. You know, on any given day, anyone could blow another team out in the NFL. I get that. And the way that we think a game going to go down could be the complete antithesis. But these are two of the more well-rounded and respected teams in the league this year. Usually when you see the best of the best in the AFC go up against the best of the best in the NFC. Whether it's a top three teams in the AFC, top three teams in the NFC, when you put them up against one another, it usually does come down to the final five minutes.

This game was over. And even when Buffalo allowed the Rams to get back in the game at halftime, but in the second half for the Rams to not even show a pulse. I was more disappointed in the Rams last night. Not saying I wasn't impressed with Buffalo, because the scary impressive part about Buffalo is they didn't even play their best brands of football and they still won by 21 points last night. So for the Bills, you know what this is? This is about getting the one seed this year.

This is about having the road to the Super Bowl, road to Super Bowl 57 travel through Buffalo. And for the Rams now, not that you want to freak out. And luckily for the Rams, they have the Falcons next week, so the Rams should destroy the Falcons. But the Rams do have three games after that, that I'll just be curious to see how they respond. They're going up against the Cardinals without De'Andre Hopkins. Then you get the 49ers, we'll see what Trey Lance could do. And you get the Cowboys, the team that have their own offensive line problems.

They could win all three, they could lose all three. I want to see how quickly the Rams can return to dominant form when you go through that three game stretch from September 25th to October 9th. Hickey, how about you last night? Were you more impressed by Buffalo or more disappointed by the defending Super Bowl champions in the LA Rams? I'm with you, disappointed in the Rams. They played like garbage. Matthew Stafford was terrible, the run game could not get going, the offensive line. I mean, the offensive line, I'm not even sure if they knew there were lots of block yesterday. Seven sacks is unreal! Not saying they went away from Buffalo, they played great, but it's also not like they had their sharpest game. They had four turnovers as well, and you still won by 21 points. That just goes to, I think it's more about LA just playing as bad as you could play, rather than Buffalo hitting on all cylinders.

Yeah, you're right. And now for the Rams, there's intrigue. Because you said last night, and I disagree with this, but you said you thought the Rams were disrespected heading into this season. Now, I don't think people think the Rams are going to suck, but you do wonder how long it's going to take, and I don't know if you want to chalk it up to a Super Bowl hangover, but that's what people are going to say. Oh, it was a Super Bowl hangover last night for the LA Rams. I just wonder when the Rams, I don't know if it's regain your trust, but you feel really good about the Rams again.

And I think Kiki, right? Cardinals, 49ers, Cowboys, you'll agree, they'll kill the Falcons. I know you have some bizarre takes, you're not saying that. Now, if they don't, time to hit the panic button.

Oh yeah, we'll be leading the charge on that. But after that, Cardinals, 49ers, Cowboys, at the Cardinals, at the 49ers, Cowboys, they should win two out of those three. But anything less of two out of those three victories there, then there could be some cause for concern. So last night, were you more impressed by Buffalo or more disappointed by the LA Rams? Yours truly and Kiki both more disappointed with the Rams, even though we were both still impressed by Buffalo, but we have to pick one there. Alrighty, we'll take a timeout when we come on back on the Zach Gelb show on a very busy football Friday.

I'll tell you five quarterbacks that I'm very curious to see play this weekend in the NFL. Viator has over 300,000 bookable experiences to choose from in over 190 countries. In fact, just last year, Viator helped my family put together this amazing adventure on the island of Kona.

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And you can think of O'Reilly Auto Parts for all your car care needs, get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. The Bills made you want to jump and shout last night, just what an unbelievable performance. And on the other end, man, for the LA Rams, where were they? Because even though I say that the Bills had an unbelievable performance last night, what made the Bills performance so impressive is if you're a Bills fan, I talked to one of my friends that's a Bills fan after the game, he goes, I'm really excited after last night. Not only do you win, not only do you go into the Rams house and beat the living snot out of them, but they could have played a whole lot better. And that is if you're a Bills fan, maybe the best first game you could have because you make some mistakes, no complacency happens.

And then for the next game, you work on building and fixing things. But let's be real with the Bills. The regular season, I don't want to say it's irrelevant because there is importance to the NFL regular season because of home field advantage. It's not like the NBA where you could just dog through the regular season, be a six seed and then go find your way in the NBA finals. But for Buffalo, even though everyone is on their bandwagon, there will still be a feeling of you have to prove it. And yes, their season does start right now, but really the real focus on Buffalo, and there'll be a major storyline all throughout the year, is going to be, can you get over the hump? And when I say that, not just get to a Super Bowl, but win the entire thing.

And right now, the answer has to be yes. Even if the Bills struggle for three, four weeks, you know they're going to bounce back because that's what happens when you have a great quarterback. And Josh Allen is a great quarterback. And defensively, here's the other scary part, Ryan, this defense only going to get better. And look what they did last night against the Rams. We saw the debut of Von Miller in a Bills uniform, but they get back Trey White, Tredavious White, who, when healthy, is one of the better quarterbacks in all the NFL. And you know what I also felt good about? And this is weird because I'm wearing a Patriots college shirt, so you don't expect me really to praise the Bills a lot.

But if I had to take my Patriots shirt off, which you don't need to see, Hickey, because then I'd be sitting here shirtless. I don't think anyone wants to see that. If I have to just look at this, I'm glad to see Jalen Ramsey kind of get what he deserved last night. Because Ramsey loves to run his mouth. Now, he's a great football player, but he got torched. He got abused last night. And you go back to that article, 2018, 2017, whenever it was, where he just said, Josh Allen is garbage, it was an awful draft pick. Now, let's be fair. When Josh Allen was drafted, I remember doing shows.

I didn't know what to expect. I was defending Lamar Jackson and I thought Lamar Jackson when he went 32 overall was a steal for the Ravens. But when you get to the quarterbacks, Baker and Sam, we thought we knew about them. But there's always a quarterback that goes to a smaller school and you're like, I don't really know much about him. And for Josh Allen, that was the quarterback because he went to Wyoming. But I was never saying that Josh Allen can't be great.

I just simply said, I don't know what he's going to be. And after his first year, you didn't really know because there were some inaccuracies when throwing the football. But it just shows you the importance of good coaching.

Yes, you have to have the player. The player has to do a lot of it. But the coaching in Buffalo was spectacular. And Josh Allen from that first year in 2018, that improved in 2019.

And then after that. He had a bad second half in that playoff game up against Houston. But 2020, he was awesome. 2020 when he got even better.

And this year he's my pick to win the MVP. So you could look at it and go, oh, the Bills are going to have a good run for the next 10 years. You've got to pounce.

You've got to capitalize on that now. Because you never know in the NFL what happens with injuries. And Buffalo, there is no reason why at the end of the year, the Bills shouldn't be in the big game. And anything could happen in the big game, but there's no reason why they shouldn't be in that big game.

Now, it's not going to be easy to get there. The AFC is loaded. Chiefs, Chargers, Raiders. You want to throw in teams like the Ravens. The Cincinnati Bengals.

There's a lot of damn good teams in the AFC. But Buffalo set the tone last night. Buffalo set the pace last night. I know it was only one game, but people perceived them as the best. If they would have lost that game last night, people would have been questioning Buffalo. Now, everyone's kind of looking at that game last night and saying, hmm, Buffalo played that well against that team, the Rams. And, oh yeah, they didn't even play their best game.

That's impressive. But as equally as impressive as the Bills were, what the bleep happened with the Rams? They had no answer. Which champions, not that their season's over, but they usually don't go down in any game without a fight. They had a little fight, I guess you could say, at halftime.

They had a pulse for about two seconds and then, poof, it evaporated into thin air. Let's go to Adam in Toronto first up on the Zach Gelb show. Adam, my friend, I knew you'd be calling today.

What's going on? Zach, what's up, man? How are you? I'm doing great.

Good, man. Look, let's talk about last night. I'm so fired up. Let's talk about Carson Wentz's backup, according to Hickey, my guy, Josh Allen. Look, he looked like he didn't miss a step from last year. He looked like he won the coin flip last year in Kansas City and came back out on the field. He just came out so aggressive and I think he made his first seven or eight passing attempts. And, you know, I know that he had the two interceptions. One wasn't his fault, though.

Exactly, yeah. Jamin Ramsey can't hold Diggs's jockstrap and, you know, he was making him look like toast. And the other thing, the other positive, Von Miller, I wasn't expecting to make that big of an impact game one.

He just made such a huge impact. It was all around an amazing game, especially that second half. The first half was kind of ugly. We had some bad penalty goals.

You did, but here's the here's the beauty of it. It's game one. There was some sloppy play and you were still 21 points better than the team that was the best team in the NFL last year that hoisted the Lombardi Trophy. So obviously, Bill's fans are going to be going nuts today. But the Bill fan, even though they could sometimes be a pain in the ass, they are an intelligent fan. Even though they sometimes do stupid things, they're an intelligent fan. And the Bill's fan, like Adam even said, yeah, it's great that they won, but you take a look at the first half. There's always things to harp on in a game.

But I want to play you this. We had this conversation with Brandon Bean right after the NFL draft. And I brought up the point to him that, yes, you know, you're getting a good football player in Von Miller, but the intangibles, you really can't place a value on that stuff. He brings to the culture, to the locker room, his experience of winning and winning multiple Super Bowls and being a major factor in both of those Super Bowls. One winning a Super Bowl MVP. And this is what the general manager of the Buffalo Bills, Brandon Bean, had to say back to us in May. Yeah, I think that's part of the piece that people don't always talk about is the intangibles, the experience and, you know, successful experience. The experience is one thing, playing in the league X number of years like he has, but shoot, I was on the wrong end of a Von Miller Super Bowl championship my time in Carolina. And then you just look, you know, we did a lot of research on, you know, what he did for L.A. down the stretch. And again, he made plays, but just some of the things he did in the locker room behind the scenes, talking to guys, leading and just telling them what it's going to take for them to ultimately win that prize that they did.

So you can't put a value on that. And, you know, I'm excited. We got some young ends that we drafted here at Vanessa a few years ago. Last year, Russo and Boogie Basham and Oliver, still a young player inside. I think he's going to help all these young guys continue to grow, mature and just give them some things that they haven't seen or heard. And beyond that, you know, we we still think he's got a lot of gas left in the tank. Yeah, and he definitely has a lot of gas left to the tank if you saw the way that he harassed Matthew Stafford last night. So moving on from Josh Allen, the Buffalo Bills, let's get to five quarterbacks that I'm curious to see this weekend.

And I start things off in a revenge game. That's Baker Mayfield with the Carolina Panthers. I am so fired up for this game at 1 p.m. Eastern.

You look at the one o'clock slate this weekend. 49ers Bears, Saints, Falcons, Steelers, Bengals, Eagles, Lions, Patriots, Dolphins, Ravens, Jets, Jaguars, Commanders. Colts, Texans and then the Browns and the Panthers objectively.

I think that's the game that I'm most fired up to see because I love when a player has an extra chip on his shoulder. And we know Baker Mayfield has a mountain on his shoulder. And Baker Mayfield, I'm not saying the Browns were wrong, because from a football perspective, just on the field, Deshaun Watson's a better quarterback than Baker Mayfield. But Baker two years ago was a major role in that team, even though a run first team. But he was a Cleveland Browns quarterback to get them a playoff victory for the first time since 1995. Back when Belichick was coaching in Cleveland up against Parcells in New England.

That's how long ago that was. And he led them to the playoffs for the first time since the early 2000s. Then after one year where he gets hurt in week two and gutted through that entire season, you get rid of him. Baker in a new home with run CMC now healthy and we had that cut on his shin.

It's not a big deal. And you also have DJ Moore. I can't wait to see what Baker Mayfield will do this weekend. I also am very excited to see what Trey Lance is going to do, because you're going up against a dog bleep football team in the Chicago Bears. The Bears stink. If the 49ers lose that game, the 49ers have more talent than the Bears.

But if Trey Lance doesn't look the part week one, not that you press the big fat red panic button, but then the narrative starts. When is Jimmy Garoppolo going to get on the field? I'm also curious to see what Tuatunga Vailoa does with the Dolphins. Pats and Dolphins. I know everyone's talking about what Mac Jones and that offense is going to look like, because Belichick, what is he doing with Joe Judge and Matt Patricia having a big time say on the offensive play calling? But for the Dolphins, they went out this year and eliminated every excuse for Tua. You improved the offensive line. You brought in a coach that is offensive friendly. He's going to run the football a bunch. And oh yeah, you brought in that Tyree Kilfella.

Along you have Jalen Waddle and Mike Giseki there. So I look at that Dolphins team. We're going to learn a lot this year about the quarterback. And if you lose week one, people in Miami are going to get impatient.

Because even though we like to poke fun sometimes at the Florida sports fan base, people in Miami, shows I've been on, they don't think Mac Jones is a good quarterback. So if you lose week one to a team that a lot of people perceive that you're better than, it's going to be a very fascinating listening Monday morning on Sports Talk Radio in Florida if Tua can't step up and deliver. I also think this could be an upset alert kind of game. Not that it's a major upset. I'm liking the Vikings this weekend, plus the one and a half points.

That spread to me should be a lot more. Allen Lazard looking like he's not going to play in this game. I think the Packers will just be fine. But remember last year, Rogers bleeped the bed up against the Saints.

Everyone was freaking out. I could see a similar thing happening this year. But it'd be with more intensity just because it's an NFC North matchup against Kirk Cousins.

And Kevin O'Connell is now the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. And finally, I also really want to see Derek Carr this weekend. Because you're going up against the Chargers.

The Chargers are loaded. The Raiders beat the Chargers last year to get in the postseason. The Raiders got better this offseason. I want to see Derek Carr really step up once again.

And we talked about setting the tone. That could set the tone for the Raiders season if you could go toe to toe and take down the Los Angeles Chargers in week one of the season. So I just gave you five quarterbacks there. Hickey, you got a quarterback or two that you're really excited to see for this upcoming weekend?

I do. Weirdly, I'm very interested to see Tom Brady. It's been a very, we'll say for Tom Brady standards, chaotic offseason.

Have you learned anything? You're a Colts fan. And you can't stand Tom Brady. And for years, everyone doubts Tom Brady. So now Brady misses 11 days in training camp and everyone's freaking out?

Well, no, it's not just that. I mean, there's obviously something going on off the field. He is distracted visibly for the first time we've ever seen in his career. Ah, stop.

I'm just interested to see how he plays. That's all. You don't think there was distractions with deflate gate? You don't think there was distractions? And that's different though.

When Aaron Hernandez was getting arrested for murder? That's all different. Family stuff is way different than any teammate getting in trouble or you allegedly deflating football. I don't think really Tom Brady cared about that.

But if you have real family issues, that's something that I do think we've kind of... But it's all just speculation. No one knows what's actually going on. And what does Brady usually do? No matter what's thrown his way, the guy steps up and he dominates. He said there's a lot of stuff going on.

So let me ask you this. The guy that was 44 last year, who led the league in passing touchdowns and also in passing yards. You think because he may or may not be having a fight with his wife that that's going to really affect his play on the field? Now they're going against a team in Dallas who they were very close last year to open up the season. But that's not going to have an effect on the Buccaneers' season.

I don't think it will, but I'm interested to see. That's all. And Kyler Murray. No DeAndre Hopkins.

You got paid. You know the Chiefs defense is not very good. If you struggle week one... Well now I look at it the other way. What happens if they stun Kansas City and beat them? They're at home.

They are. The Chiefs are a six point favorite. The Chiefs are without Tyreek Hill. I think Mahomes will be fine.

I look at it, you say if they struggle. And I'm not saying you're wrong. People will be all over Kyler Murray. But if they go win that game, Kyler Murray basically for a week gets to say bleep you, I'm worth the extension. Not that you're going to say DeAndre Hopkins who? But it would be impressive that he wins the game without him. Absolutely.

Could change the narrative for the offseason where a lot of people said he doesn't deserve the money. Who's the quarterback that you want to see this weekend? 855-2124. CBS 855-212-4227. You can always hit me up on social media at Zach Gelb on Twitter and Instagram C-A-C-H-G-E-L-B.

When we come on back, what we're going to learn this weekend in college football, I got about four or five games that I'm keeping a keen eye on. Viator is the world's leading travel experience marketplace, offering everything from simple tours to extreme adventures and all the niche, interesting stuff in between. Extensive options, ease of selection and flexibility at your fingertips help make sure your time is wonderfully spent. Viator is the place to go to book experiences that will create long lasting moments that make lifetime memories. And Viator has over 300,000 bookable experiences to choose from in over 190 countries. In fact, just last year, Viator helped my family put together this amazing adventure on the island of Kona, swimming with the manta rays, trying to avoid the barracudas, whatever your wildest dreams. If you can imagine it, Viator probably has an experience just for you. Download the Viator app now and use code Viator10 for 10% off your first booking in Viator's world of wonderful experiences.

Viator, one site, over 300,000 experiences you'll remember. You're listening to The Zach Gelb Show. There's just a certain energy in this building today. We had football last night. You got a big college slate tomorrow.

The first football Sunday of the year coming up this weekend. Hickey, do you feel this palpable buzz or is this just me? Because I sense some energy in this building, even in the rejoin that you just played right there. I felt like I was at Camp Randall just ready to jump around and have a big party. Oh, the buzz is real.

It's not fake. Man, you're really pumping this stuff up. That was really exciting what you just said there. I've been in football for three weeks now.

You sound real exuberant. I was ready for week zero, so this is just another football Friday in my book. Week zero, yeah, you were ready to just destroy Scott Frost. I know you. What a joke that was still with Nebraska.

I still can't believe that. Anyway, when we look at the college slate this weekend, I want to start off with Texas and Alabama. What's a good showing for Quinn Ewers is my question. And the reason why I ask this is because if Quinn Ewers plays really well this year, it will delay the start of Arch Manning when Arch gets on the campus in Austin, Texas for next year. If Quinn Ewers balls out, you're going to be starting Quinn Ewers, you would think, next year. And Arch Manning would have to wait then another year to really get his college career underway when we see him on a football field unless you have Quinn Ewers get hurt next year or if he struggles next year after winning the job and then you implement Arch Manning onto the football team. But this weekend up against Alabama, does anyone in their right sane mind believe that Alabama is going to lose this game?

No. So then, Hickey, I'll ask you this, Mr. College Football Aficionado. What's a good showing for Quinn Ewers this upcoming Saturday tomorrow? Three touchdowns, no picks. See, I like the way that you say that, but then maybe he gets like two touchdowns in garbage time or something like that. It does matter when you get him. I mean, obviously you're right.

So this is the way that I would go off your answer. Give me a good game at halftime. At halftime, don't make me want to flip the channel and go to other games and delay going back to Alabama and Texas. Show me some competence in the first half where you go into halftime, touchdown or less, and you have like a big play or two and then whatever happens in the second half, I think we could all realize this is going to be a great Alabama team. Defensively, they look like they're just ridiculous. And then on the offensive side of the ball, Bryce Young is the reigning Heisman Trophy winner.

So that's the way I would say it. At halftime, be within seven points, and I think you're very satisfied if you're a Texas football fan. Now, let's get to some of the other games this weekend. I'm really jacked up for the game between Pitt and Tennessee. Tennessee got the big blowout win last weekend.

Hendon Hooker looks like he's the real deal. And then for Pitt, and they're familiar with Hooker, they had that great backyard brawl up against West Virginia where you had a dumb decision by Neil Brown, and you end up coming on back and you score 14 unanswered points in the final four minutes to secure the victory. Now, this game back in Pittsburgh, Tennessee and Pitt, this is a litmus test game for both these teams, Ryan. And that's what stands out, because Pitt, they could win the ACC again. I'm personally not picking them to win the ACC.

I like Keaton Slovis. I think he can be a good quarterback, even though there were some ups and downs last week. Pitt, though, we talked about how Buffalo didn't play their best brand of football last night and still blew out the Rams. I took to Pat Narduzzi right after that victory on Friday last week, and he even said, yeah, we're happy that we won, but we didn't play our best brand of football. So for Pitt, now you're going up against an SEC school in Tennessee, and this is also a statement game for Tennessee with Josh Heupel, with Hendon Hooker. You're going to be Ball State 59-10.

No one's going to pop champagne. Not that people are going to be popping champagne in Rocky Top if you find a way to come on back and you win that game up against Pitt. But that could set the tone for them what would be a really good matchup in two weeks, because you'll beat Akron. And if you beat Pitt, then you go into that Florida game and you have a stretch of Florida, LSU, and Alabama.

That's an intriguing stretch. Who do you like in this game? I'm going Tennessee. I don't like that they're almost a seven-point favorite on the road, but I do think Pitt did show some real weaknesses last weekend. WVU, that's not supposed to be a very good team.

I'm going with Josh Heupel, Hendon Hooker, and the Vols. I also have a feeling this is going to come down to a controversial decision by Narduzzi. Remember last week, how after the game? Now, when he was on with me on Friday, he said that he was, obviously, a decision by Neil Brown. You punt the ball, he goes, you go for it, you don't get it, and you're the biggest moron in the world. He gets that it's a lot of reactionary. But in the moment, I was saying, how do you punt that football?

It made no sense. You're up by seven. You're basically at midfield. It's fourth of an inch.

You should just go for it. Him, though, saying right after the game that he would have gone for it, don't you have a feeling there's going to be some controversial decision, some fourth-down decision in this game between Pitt and Tennessee? I think Tennessee's going to slightly win. I think they're going to win by a field goal, but I just have a feeling there's going to be some great controversy in this game. Narduzzi has been historically conservative.

We'll see if he can buck that trend this year. Let's get to, then, what I am the most fired up for this weekend. Kentucky and Florida. Now, Kentucky, once again, is going to be without their big running back. We all know what Anthony Richardson did a week ago up against Utah. A team that Hot Take Hickey said was going to go to the college football playoff, and Anthony Richardson said, yep, not on my watch.

Also, Cam Risen can't be throwing an interception in that spot when you could have just got a field goal and got the game to overtime. But for Kentucky and Florida, Mark Stoops has done a great job the last two years. He's done a great job his entire tenure at Kentucky, and Will Leviss is a big-time quarterback draft prospect.

But for Florida, even though, like, I've been rooting for Kentucky a lot the last few years. We've had on Stoops a bunch of times. We had on Josh Allen when he was playing defense with them.

Benny Snell. There's been a lot of likable, Will Leviss joined us for college football. There's been a lot of likable players to go to Kentucky and have a lot of respect. But I think Florida could be really damn good this year.

And Anthony Richardson is jump-out-of-your-chair exciting, and Billy Napier did a heck of a job at Louisiana. And if Florida could win this game, you then will beat the snot out of South Florida, then you play Tennessee intriguing. I think Florida's better than Tennessee. You've got Eastern Washington, Missouri, LSU. There's a chance this team could be 7-0 heading into that Georgia game, but you've got to go find a way to win this game this weekend.

And remember, this game's in the swamp. Last year was in Lexington, and it was the first time since 1986 that Kentucky beat Florida at their home turf. And they've had some good showings in recent years up against Florida. I'm in on Anthony Richardson this week, but I'm so intrigued by both these quarterbacks, because Richardson being talked about now as a potential top-ten pick, and going into this season, there was a lot of high praise for Will Leviss. And it's how does Florida handle success?

You know, this has almost a feeling of a letdown right now all over it. Big time Utah win. I know it's a rivalry game, but Kentucky coming in without their best running back. This is a true test to see if Billy Napier or Anthony Richardson, can you stay locked in and not bask in the glory of last week?

And then if you want to stay up late on Saturday night, this game's going to be awesome too. Just two tough coaches. Two coaches that fly under the radar a lot. Kalani Satake has done a masterful job at BYU. Dave Aranda just won the Big 12 last year at Baylor.

Aranda against Satake in Utah, in Provo, Utah. Baylor and BYU. But for BYU, Pukunakua and then their senior Gunnar Romney, both their best two wide receivers are going to be out for this game.

Nakua got hurt last week, and Romney, he's going to miss his second game in a row. That's a tough pill to swallow if you're BYU. And BYU is a two and a half point favorite. I like Blake Chapin and the Baylor Bears this week. It's tough to go into Provo and win. For a team that's about to join the Big 12 too. It must be a matchup for years, but I think the Bears win this weekend, Hottekiki.

How about yourself? I feel like weird things happen in the mountains. I know, you know, you lose your two best receivers. Ever go camping? But I will go BYU, just weird things, Big 12 after dark. Even without the two wide receivers? Yes.

We'll go chaos. So the take is Hottekiki because you believe weird things go on in the mountains. That's right. That's why BYU is going to win.

That's right. That's the only football analysis that you get on this show on this radio network. Zach Gelb's show CBS Sports Radio updates you on the biggest stories of the day with some audio.

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