Concern With The Rams? (Hour 1)

Hey guys, Mike Valenny for Cash the Ticket Podcast. If you like sports betting or if you just like sports, it's the podcast for you. We try to cover all the big games and maybe some of the games you didn't even know were important. Give you some angles, pick some winners, have a good time, and hopefully help you meander through college and pro football season. So join us a couple times a week to get all your information you need to bet the games that you watch. It's Cash the Ticket on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from the play 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. Welcome on in to a Tuesday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all of our great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM channel 158, and that free Odyssey app. 855-212-4CBS. I'm going to jump on in. 855-212-4227. You can always get at me. On Instagram where I'm straight flexing or via 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-owned solutions that fit your life well, the Rocket can. Coming up at the top of the hour, the Pro Football Hall of Famer, legendary Bills quarterback Jim Kelly is going to stop by, and then at 820 p.m. Eastern, 520 p.m. Pacific, we will be joined by Barrett Salih to go around the landscape of college football, do some reaction from over the weekend, some of these jobs now that are opened up, who could be some candidates that could be moving over to Nebraska, Wisconsin, etc., etc., and then maybe take an early look. At this weekend's games coming up in college football.

So a whole lot to do today. I got to start off, though, with what we saw last night on Monday Night Football. And I was thinking to myself, what's the bigger story today? Is it the 49ers from a week ago having maybe one of the worst offensive performances I've ever seen up against the Denver Broncos and losing a game 11 to 10 when Jimmy Garoppolo forgot how to play football and then bouncing back? Or is it the inconsistencies and the really bad play of the defending Super Bowl champions?

And it's clear as day to day. The L.A. Rams, I don't want to say they're in trouble because you look around the rest of the NFC, just like how you see in the AFC, we thought it was going to be this big time great conference, and you could have like three or four teams from the AFC West going to the playoffs. And as we said yesterday in the AFC, it looks like it's Buffalo and the Chiefs and then everybody else until we see otherwise. In the NFC, the Eagles have not only stolen the baton, they have taken it and they've run with it and they are out to a big time jump because they are 4-0. You look at the other, though, teams that were supposed to be strong in the NFC, and this was supposed to be who would that fourth team be that emerges and that ended up being Philadelphia, but the teams that we were relying on, Tampa, they have offensive line issues. They have health issues at the wide receiving position.

They're now 2-2. You have the Green Bay Packers, they're 3-1, but they really haven't played a clean game of 60 minute football yet. And they almost just lost to Bailey Zappi in that game at Lambeau Field, and that needed to go to overtime. Then you have the Rams, who are the defending Super Bowl champions, and you went into this season saying, okay, Stafford second year in Sean McVay's system coming off that Lombardi Trophy championship. Sure, you lose Robert Woods in the offseason, maybe you'll get Odell back, but you're bringing Allen Robinson, who is viewed as one of the more underrated wide receivers in the NFL.

You got Aaron Donald, you have Jalen Ramsey, you go out there and you add a Bobby Wagner. The expectation for the Rams were to have a legit chance, not that it's a guarantee because it's so tough to do, but they were going to have a legit chance to go on out and go back to back world champions. But through the first four games, we talk about Green Bay not playing a clean game, it hasn't really reflected in too much of a negative way in the record. And I know you are what your record says you are, but it doesn't feel like Green Bay is a 3-1 team, but they are. For the Rams, they're 2-2, and quite frankly, they're lucky that they're 2-2. Because the first week of the season, they open it up on Thursday Night Football against the Buffalo Bills, and the Bills didn't even play that great. The Bills had a lot of turnovers, and it was still good enough for Buffalo, one of the better teams in the league, to take down the Rams by 21 points. Then you thought, okay, they're bouncing back, they're responding against the Atlanta Falcons, they take a 28-3 lead, and they almost choked the game away.

They had to sweat that thing out, Ramsey made the pick at the end, and the Falcons, who are not a good team, they almost won the game, and the Rams just survived, as Al Michaels would say, by the hair of their skinny teeth teeth, 31-27. Then you look at the Cardinals, who are in a bad spot right now, they're 2-2, no DeAndre Hopkins, they don't have any resemblance of a competent offense. If they weren't going up against Carolina's inept offense last week, Arizona probably would have lost that game, where early on it was 3-0 punt, it was pick 6 galore in that first half, but you knew that the Panthers offense just couldn't get going, so the Cardinals were going to come back and win that game when they went into halftime down 10-3, and you only were able to beat the Cardinals by 8 points. It's 20-12, it's not like your offense was humming at any point in that game. And last night, you had an opportunity, I don't want to say to knock out the 49ers, but the 49ers being 1-2, the 49ers being in a tough spot, coming off that loss up against the Broncos on Sunday Night Football, everyone looking at the 49ers, no Trent Williams, Jimmy G not playing well, you had an opportunity to really throw them in a hole and make it very difficult for them to climb out.

And the 49ers were just the more physical football team, they made the more explosive plays, they protected the football better, and they absolutely manhandled you in the battle of the trenches. And that is probably the biggest issue right now with the LA Rams. You don't have this unbelievable mobile quarterback, you have a quarterback that is very good, he won a Super Bowl last year, he was clutch, I'm not taking anything away from him. But Matthew Stafford has always been a very good quarterback. And I know last year, some made a really like a buffoon out of themselves right after the Super Bowl ends, oh he's going to the Hall of Fame, he's going to the Hall of Fame, I'm like, let's see him go have 3, 4, 5 more dominant years before we say that Matthew Stafford is going to the Hall of Fame. But because Matthew Stafford doesn't have the mobility, and he's not a statue, but he doesn't have the mobility like a Lamar Jackson, like a Josh Allen, like a Patrick Mahomes, you got to protect that guy. And you know it and I know it, no quarterback likes to get hit. And so far, through the first four games of the season, Matthew Stafford has been standing around in that pocket and opposing defenses are really making him look like a pinata. Nick Bosa last night, I saw this via Pro Football Focus, had 14 total pressures, 2 sacks in the game, 3 quarterback hits, and 9 quarterback hurries. That was one of the great games that you'll see from Nick Bosa. And I think Stafford has been sacked 16 times through the first four games of the season.

That is not a winning formula right now. And I know they lost Andrew Whitworth, I know they're dealing with injuries on that offensive line, but that offensive line is what makes me say, I'm now investigating the Rams. And I'm now a little bit pessimistic about the Rams. And you also look at the rest of that offense for the genius in the head football coach, Shel McVeigh, who I have a lot of respect for, but he hasn't been able to figure out that o-line through the first four games. He also hasn't been able to find a way to incorporate anyone else in the offense other than Cooper Cupp, who he knows as stud. But if I'm a team and I know it's easier said than done to try to take away Cooper Cupp, that's your game plan against the Rams.

You know, maybe given the Megatron treatment, line up two, three defenders on him. Because other than Cooper Cupp, and that's including the quarterback, who's making a play for the Rams? And it's mystifying to me how Allen Robinson has kind of been a dud so far through the first four games in LA, because for years I've touted him, oh just get him a quarterback, just get him a competent quarterback, he's one of the more underrated wide receivers in the league.

And that adjustment has been an ugly, rocky, turbulent one. So this Rams team, they haven't played a clean game, they can't block to save you-know-what right now. Stafford's not looking good, too many turnovers, you wonder how much is that off-season elbow surgery that he had. And other than Cooper Cupp, there's nothing that you could rely on, including the quarterback, with this offense. And that's why last night, you see a team like the 49ers, who are not this unbelievable football team this year, just completely annihilate and dominate you, and I know the score got carried away at the end because of the pick six, but that game, all throughout the Rams, even when they were able to move the football, they couldn't find the way to get the ball in the end zone. It was field goal city, it was okay, get some yards, go kick a field goal. So that was a horrible performance by the LA Rams, and right now at 2-2, there is cause for concern. There's a reason to raise an eyebrow and go, hmm, this team's not looking all that super this year.

Now their next three games, it will tell us a lot. Because against the Cowboys, I know that they are 3-0 Cooper Rush, but Cooper Rush is starting a fourth game, according to Jerry Jones, Dak can't grip the football right now. Then you have the Panthers, Baker Mayfield stinks. Then you get a rematch with the 49ers coming up Halloween weekend on October 30th. You got to take two out of those three games, and you could take all three, but you're not going to take, I don't want to say any, but you may only take one if this offensive line continues to play this sloppy. And if Matthew Stafford continues to give the ball to the other team, like it's Oprah Winfrey giving out presents during Christmas time, you get a pick, you get a pick, you get a pick, you get a fumble, you get a fumble, you get a fumble. It has been brutal so far, and tough slang for one Matthew Stafford. Hot take Kiki, let me ask you this, because last year, and to your credit you were right, you led the charge. You led the charge for the Rams, not only to get to the Super Bowl at their home stadium at SoFi Stadium, but to win it all.

That was your big offseason prediction last year. How concerned are you right now on a scale of one to ten? One, no concern. Ten, a lot of concern about the LA Rams, and right now their incompetence when you look at them at two and two, and have not played a clean game at all so far during this season. I will say right now four out of ten that offensive line is concerning. Now there's injuries as well that is leading to the poor play where Matthew Stafford's under siege. It feels like almost every single play. Obviously as well, I don't know for whatever reason, if it's the receivers, if it's Matthew Stafford, if it's Sean McVay's play calling, whatever reason, Matthew Stafford only wants to throw the ball to one player and one player only, and that's obviously not conducive for success.

So there's a lot of issues right now. Injuries, especially offensive line wise, a big reason for that. So I think hopefully with health comes better play, which should open up the offense more, but I'll say four right now through four games, four to ten. I will go six.

Here's why. If you go in four, it means that you're more positive than negative, and there's not much to be positive about with this team so far. If I give you a five, that's kind of weak.

It's like 50-50. You really don't have an opinion. I'm going to say it's at a six, where it's not like over the top. It's not like the ceiling is caving on in on you, but there is a level where you look at them where you go, man, they just don't look right. Now they have a lot of talent on this team, and I have a lot of respect for the head coach, and I think he'll find a way with some great players on this roster to figure it out.

But really, you want to take this a step further. This NFC West could be the most inconsistent division in football through the first four weeks of the season. The 49ers were dead last week. They bounced back this week.

Look, a completely different team. The Rams have not looked like a Super Bowl contender yet, but we know they're capable of doing that. The Seahawks, surprise, surprise, are 2-2.

Geno Smith, yes, Geno Smith, leads the league in completion percentage, and out of all quarterbacks in the history of the NFL, according to CBS, through the first four weeks of the season, has the highest completion percentage ever. And then you have the Arizona Cardinals, who are 2-2, but just like the Rams, when they win, they don't play a complete 60-minute brands of football, and you don't feel inspired by it. So I'll ask you this question right now out of the gate, and you can find it on Twitter, at Zach Galbatt, CBS Sports Radio. Who wins the NFC West? Rams, 49ers, Seahawks, or Cardinals?

Now, super-duper early returns, hot take, Hickey. If you had to take a guess, if you had to really get the pulse of our listening audience, how do you think you rank what the listeners are saying, four to one, four being least likely to win the NFC West, and then one being most likely to win this NFC West championship? I think if we go four to one, this should be easy, but again, I'll say it's Twitter. Number four should be the Seahawks. It is not the Seahawks, but continue. Just continue. Seahawks four, go ahead. I hate Twitter. Okay, Seahawks four, Cardinals three.

It's usually an overreaction crowd. I'll say Rams two, 49ers one. Did I get any of those right? You got number one, and you said the Rams two right? Yes.

You got those two correct. In fourth place with 6% of the vote... Are you kidding me? The Arizona Cardinals. Yikes. Hey, Cliff Kingsbury, Kyler Murray, and Steve Keim, you guys got extensions.

You're lucky you guys got extensions. So the Cardinals at 6% in fourth place. Third place, Seahawks, Seahawks, Seahawks.

Throw the Skittles up in the air with 9% of the vote. 27% of the vote go the LA Rams, and it's early, but running away with it right now. A team that everyone said was dead last week, including yours truly. The San Francisco 49ers at 58%, which is crazy to me. We'll talk about those 49ers next because, you know, I say that they were dead last week. I say that a little bit in jest because you know how this works with the 49ers. It's just a state of Jimmy Garoppolo. He plays a bad game, a really bad game.

Then he looks like a competent quarterback, and that seesaw just goes back and forth, back and forth. Good-bad, good-bad, good-bad. Let's go and take a timeout. We'll come on back in five minutes, and we'll react to where our confidence level is with the San Francisco 49ers after they annihilated the LA Rams last night, 24-9. Football season is here. The new Odyssey app lets you stay connected to your NFL team. Your station, your shows. Follow your favorite stations and come back again and again. Get real-time updates on everything you care about.

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Download the Odyssey app today. You're listening to The Zach Gelb Show. It is The Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. The 49ers are a tough read. In the Monsoon, they lose to the Bears. Then they beat the Seahawks by 20. You then lose to the Broncos when the Broncos only put up 11 points.

And then last night, you beat down the LA Rams 24-9. So the 49ers sit a 2-2. Trey Lance out for the year. Jimmy Garoppolo now back at QB1, which is better just for this season, long term, it still doesn't tell you what the heck Trey Lance is.

We don't know when Trent Williams is coming back with his injury. And Nick Bosa's a stud. D'Amico Ryan looks like he's going to be a head coach next year with the way that he has that defense playing. And on offense, your main weapon is Deebo Samuel, who we know is one of the more diverse players in this league with the way that he can catch the football, be a 1,000-yard wide receiver, and then also the ability that he has to line up as a running back and just gash him. So this team is 2-2. Do I feel great about them?

No. But they now have my attention again, which after last week, I thought for sure after they lost to the Broncos, that even though Shanahan has McVeigh's number, other than that NFC title game, that the 49ers are probably going to lose to the Rams because the Rams have more offensive firepower. That you think on paper, they just have a better overall team. But that game wasn't even really close last night, or you never even when it was within one score thought that, okay, the Rams are actually going to go win the game.

So the next two weeks, this is the way that I'll say it. If the 49ers want to gain my trust, if the 49ers want me to think that they could go win this division, which they'll have a chance to do so because all these teams are 2-2 through the first four weeks of the season, they must. Not only that, not May, not could, not should, they must win the next two games. And you're going to say Zach, well who do they play the next two games? You got the Carolina Panthers and the Atlanta Falcons. Jimmy G revenge game potentially against the Panthers since they said thanks but no thanks. And then the Atlanta Falcons, they started Marcus Mariota at quarterback and their best offensive weapon out of the backfield because you do have Drake London, you have Kyle Pitts.

Cordell Patterson, he's on IR so he's not eligible to come back for that game yet because he's out minimum four weeks. If they go get to 4-2, then they'll start to gain your trust. And you may say Zach, why are you only looking to the next two games? Because they need to.

And that's why I say it's must. They must win these next two games because after that hot take Kiki, here's their schedule. Kansas City, the Rams again, the Chargers, the Cardinals, the Saints, the Dolphins, and the Buccaneers. That is a brutal stretch when you know the possibility, the high octane offenses of the Chiefs, the Rams, even though they didn't show it last night, the Chargers, the Cardinals, the Dolphins, and the Bucs. The Saints I can't say are a high octane offense anymore because we don't know when Alvin Kamara is going to be healthy. We don't know when Michael Thomas is going to be healthy. You have Crystal Lave, I like him. You have Jarvis Landry, he's okay.

He's like a number two wide receiver now. And at quarterback you have Jamis Winston or Andy Dalton. So they got to go win these next two games, Kiki. If they don't win these next two games, you're just putting yourself in a hole that's going to be tough to climb out of, even though you may only need eight or nine wins to get in the postseason this year in the NFC because you know that the Packers will make the playoffs. You know that the Buccaneers are going to make the playoffs. You know that Philly will make the playoffs. You know, the Cowboys I feel like are going to make the playoffs.

So you have your short list of teams that when you look, you probably know that there's like two wildcard spots open. Or maybe, you know, if they win the division, then that solves that. But when you really look at it, Eagles will be a playoff team, Cowboys will be a playoff team, Rams should still be a playoff team, Packers should still be a playoff team, and the Bucks. So it's like, you're the Vikings, you're fighting. The 49ers are definitely fighting.

I'm not going to rule out Arizona yet. Some of the rest of these teams right now, the Saints are one and three, they look cooked. The Panthers are one and three, the Saints are one and three, they look cooked. The Panthers are one and three, they look cooked. The Falcons are two and two. I have no playoff expectations for them. Lions one and three, they stink.

Bears are two and two, they stink. Seahawks are two and two. Do I think they're making the playoffs?

No. Giants are three and one. I don't think they'll make the playoffs.

And the commanders are one and three. So you really have like a field of Eagles, Cowboys, 49ers, Rams, Cardinals, Vikings, Packers, and the Bucks. I've already watched out half of the the teams in that conference are only four weeks in. So these next two weeks for the 49ers, you have to find some consistency, you have to find some continuity, and just beat the teams that you're expected to beat. You're expected to beat the Panthers, you're expected to beat the Falcons, and this turns into another week of, oh Jimmy G goes back to being the Jimmy G up against the Denver Broncos, and you drop one of these games, that could come back to haunt you and probably will come back to haunt you, not only at the end of the year, but when you get set to go through a tough gauntlet beginning on October 23rd against Kansas City and ending on December 11th against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And when you look back at their schedule for a quick second here, I mean you can make the argument their margin of error is already gone when you lose week one to a Bearstein.

We both think despite their records are going to be very bad, and you can make the argument with how the Broncos have played so far through the first four weeks. That was a game where offensively, like let's set football back, and when the was 11 and 10, right, was the final score. 11-10, you had a defensive showdown. You cannot lose that game. So like we, that could be a game where you're looking back like you said in December, it's like, well sure you can, you know, beat the Panthers and the Falcons, but look at the Bears and maybe look at the Broncos. The difference in that game is your quarterback, because when you have an offense that is inconsistent, and that's what the 49ers are, they're inconsistent.

You just can't allow your inconsistencies, even though there's going to be mistakes, to lead to points directly. And I'm talking about like pick sixes, fumble recoveries for touchdowns, or what Jimmy Garoppolo did. The difference in that game is Jimmy Garoppolo running out of the back of the end zone and taking a safety. That, that's, it's a one-point margin in that game.

He doesn't do that. They probably win the game, if you look back at that. You gave the Broncos two points there, and the differential was only one point, Ryan.

It'd actually be a blessing in disguise. I think that, I think that was a pick six going the other way if you didn't, if you didn't step out of the end zone. But you're right, you just throw the ball away in general. Fine, I'll take the safety off the board. You then, then enhance my case.

Thank you very much. That you're right. That would have been six points. But to your point, it's like just one drive.

And that's, I mean, you can make that argument. That game is the reason why the 49ers look for an upgrade anyway. Like through the first four games, like I said, I know he didn't start game one, but it's been good, bad, good, bad.

It's like rollercoaster is exhausting. This is where they're in a tough spot now. Because Jimmy G, their future with him, you know that Trey Lance is, is probably going to be the starting quarterback next year because Jimmy G is also a free agent. And I, and what we've seen so far, Jimmy G is probably not going to do enough to make you say, oh yeah, he's got to be the starting quarterback next year.

He's got to be the guy for the San Francisco 49ers. And plus you just basically mortgage your future to go get Trey Lance. And that's why it is disappointing that Trey Lance is out for the year. And even though you can make the case that the 49ers are better off for this season with Jimmy G, not knowing what Trey Lance is and, and probably not going to be able to know that until he's year four in the league because next year, and I've said this before it's, it's year three and he's coming off an injury.

It takes a year like physically and mentally more so mentally to get back in it. And it's all going to be new to him. Next year is basically his rookie year in the NFL. So Jimmy G will be on another team next year, but if they win the division, and I know he's got to the NFC title game before, I know he's got to a Superbowl before, and they still wanted to move on from him both times. But if Jimmy Garoppolo wins a division this year and a division that has the Rams that are not playing well, I wonder what that does at all. And maybe does it at all, Ryan change the conversation. If you say, okay, we counted him out. He won the division. Trey Lance can't stay healthy. Maybe you don't even have Kyle Shanahan fully bought in and fully invested in Trey Lance.

I just wonder then what becomes of the conversation. But with that being said, how long are we like you play the game that you did last night? To me, that was Deebo Samuel. And then that was your defense dominating. It wasn't like I looked at Jimmy G and didn't play poorly, but I'm like, Oh wow, Jimmy G played this great game. Jimmy G was unbelievable. So I just don't know if Jimmy G barring winning a Superbowl or maybe getting to another Superbowl and not being the reason why they lose it this time around, if there's really anything you could do other than that, to make them pivot off of, of Trey Lance.

It's going to have to be that extreme, right? Yeah. Cause like I said, even yesterday, nice touch on pass Deebo, but there was nothing that I was like, wow, like look at this guy, like tear it up.

That was also more so Deebo Yak. Jaylen Ramsey, take a seat. Shut me nice to Jimmy. Try to throw my bone here, but you're a hundred percent right.

And that's what it is. And it just shows you the last two weeks of the Jimmy G really rollercoaster ride. Killing him last week. Looks like he can't play the quarterback position. And then this week he was competent.

He was good, but it wasn't as if you said, wow, that's our franchise guy. Wow. That guy's unbelievable. Zach Gelb shows CBS sports radio. We'll come on back. There's a football game this weekend that we thought was going to have a lot of juice so far, not much juice. And also, what are the Cowboys going to look like this weekend up against the Rams?

No Dak Prescott, according to Jerry Jones for this upcoming Sunday. Need to bet the games that you watch it's cash the ticket on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. It is Zach Gelb show on CBS sports radio.

Ryan, isn't it funny? Because when you're given four hours each and every day, and especially when you get into the summer months and it's all looking forward to one sport and it's football, NFL college football, that's what drives the train in the summer. Baseball doesn't really play nationally. Like we'll do some baseball on Thursday when we'll middle Brooks will join us a friend to show because we're going to preview the post season. I'm going to the game. What I think is going to be on Saturday night, probably game two of the wild card for my New York Mets because the Atlanta Braves, even though there's still like a 1% chance that the Mets could win the division, the Braves are going to win the NLEs.

So most of the time during the summer, in terms of across the country on all of our national affiliates, Sirius XM channel one 50 in that free Odyssey app. Yeah, we sprinkle in some basketball with free agency and the draft that that always becomes a topic, but you know what drives the train? It's football. And in the NFL, I thought what ended up now being very quickly.

And at the moment I stand by it. We talked about in the AFC, it being the most loaded conference and an unbelievably loaded conference in the AFC West, maybe being the greatest division of all time where the last place team could have nine or 10 wins and be on the outside looking income playoff time. Through the first four weeks of the season, we led the show with the yesterday.

We talked about it today right out of the gate two. It's basically in the AFC right now through four weeks and it's still early, Kansas city, and then also Buffalo. And then there's everybody else when it came to college football.

Sure. There was conversation about can DJ young girl bounce back all the jobs that did change this off season and only just jobs, big time jobs. When you look at LSU having a new head football coach, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, USC, you could go all around the college football landscape. And we were wondering how good Georgia would be coming off a national title with all that they lost. Alabama, there was no concern because they went to a national championship last year.

They returned Bryce young. They returned Will Anderson Jr. Michigan. I didn't put a lot of emphasis on Michigan because of what they did last year. Ohio state, it was can Ryan Dago win a national title, but I would say other than conference realignment and teams moving schools, let's say, like we found out about USC and UCLA and the future of the playoff.

And we know last year it was Texas and Oklahoma. Probably the biggest thing that we talked about in the summer was that fight between Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher. When Nick Saban was talking to a bunch of small businesses and small business owners in Alabama saying pretty much look at what Texas A&M does. They buy all their recruits and basically taking a shot at A&M, but then imploring the Alabama small business owners, the Alabama business owners to then also increase the pool, increase the pot that they have and get those student athletes, the most NIL money possible.

So they didn't have to be the number two ranker class. They can be the number one ranker class recruiting class moving forward and forward. And once Nick Saban took that shot, it went viral.

It blew up. Oh, A&M buying their players. Oh, A&M. It's basically it's free agency.

And they're like George Stein, Brennan, the Yankees back in the day. Jimbo Fisher right away, he wasn't not going to respond to it. But the way that Jimbo did it, he had an impromptu press conference and not only fired back, he fired back with flamethrowers saying go talk to the former assistants about why they can't stand Nick Saban. And I called him the god of football.

And if we investigate him, you'll find all this stuff. And if you recall at the SEC media days, when the commissioner George Sankey met, there was basically like coaches and league executives that had to sit in between Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher in fear, which would have never happened, that these two guys would have thrown down. And there was a palpable buzz throughout the summer of, oh, I can't wait for A&M and Alabama. Oh, circle the date. October 8th, it's going to be 8 p.m. CBS, huge game all week.

We're going to be talking about that. It's Tuesday. And maybe it's because it's early in the week and it's only Tuesday and you had the recap NFL, you had the recap college football, a lot of craziness going on to the first four or five weeks of those two sports this season. But right now, on this Tuesday, there's zero buzz heading into this game.

And maybe it's because we don't know Bryce Young's going to play, but let's call it for what it is. Alabama lost last year at A&M. So first off, you expect Alabama to win again. But really what the main part of this conversation is, is A&M has been really disappointing.

There's even talks about Jimbo Fisher being on the hot seat and maybe Jimbo Fisher getting bought out at A&M. And if he would have just lost to Appalachian State, and maybe this week it picks up in intensity a little bit because they'd be sitting there with only one loss in the season. But what A&M did was, they basically Jimmy Garoppolo'd it. They lose the game, then they suck you back in, they beat Miami, they go down 14-0 to Arkansas, and then they win the game. But then last week against Mike Leach in Mississippi State, they get blown out 42-24. So when you need to be almost perfect to beat Alabama, even with all the high school drama that could have been associated with this game, even with Bryce Young may or may not playing, it's tough to believe that A&M, for a second year in a row, but A&M with how inconsistent they've been this year, is going to beat Alabama.

And there's practically zero buzz, zero energy for this game. And yeah, when the game kicks off Saturday night, 8pm, it'll be rocking, I get that at Alabama. But the lead up that we thought was going to be there for this game, because of the poor play of A&M, has made it non-existent.

And that's what sucks about it. Because that game, I almost, I got invited to this game. I was going to go to this game, now it's just too tough to swing it with travel than have to do the Sunday show. But I really tried to move some things around so I could go and go to this game and go to Alabama against A&M.

It's weird, I don't want to say I'm glad that I'm not going, but really that buzz of where I thought this game was going to be in August, it's nowhere even close to what I thought it was going to be. As it happens, when you have two quarterbacks for A&M that are not very good, whereas Max Johnson, who now is at least the latest quarterback to be in there for Jimbo Fisher, the offense stinks. Look, it could be backup quarterback versus backup quarterback, but there's really no reason for any juice because right now, like I said, A&M is a team that lost to App State, just got their doors blown off by Mike Leach. Where's the buy-in?

There's none. And you start to wonder, now Jimbo is a master recruiter at A&M, but you look at all the talent that you have on this team, now they don't have a quarterback, that's why I wasn't big on them going into this year. And maybe they should go to Wigman, maybe they should go to Wigman at this point, but you look at where they are. Five years in for Jimbo Fisher, with the salary that he's making, and you could only cling on two nine-win seasons, and really the only year that you really made a dent into the college football world, and sure, you're number one, you go nine and four, but was that 2020 year when you went nine and one?

So far, what you're paying him, he hasn't been worth it. And it makes you wonder, and I'll ask you this, do you think you could get a better coach with the resources that you have at A&M? And that's where I think is the tricky part for A&M, to try to decipher that and think if that's actually going to be the case. I would say yes, right? I mean, you look around, if let's just say, if they were to make a move with the coaching jobs that are open right now, you put, would you put A&M at the top of attractiveness? Would you put it above Wisconsin? Yes. Yeah, I would. I would too.

So you can, in theory, have the pick of the litter of guys you like. And if you want to take the Nick Saban route and say, well, a lot of the big time recruiting classes that Jimbo Fisher got it, including the recent one that's, you know, record wise, according, you know, to recruiting rankings, the highest rated recruiting class ever. That's more the collective than the coach. And you have the coach not getting the most out of the players. It's hard to think that you would downgrade if you were to make a move with the resources you have, with the talent on the team and the attractiveness of the job compared to other opportunities where the grass is not always green if you make a move.

Now, let me be clear. I think he's back next year. I don't know where you stand on this one, but I think he's back next year because of all the recruits that are coming on in.

And then also, a lot of people are very high on Connor Wigman. And I know there's a chance that maybe he starts this game. We'll see what happens with Max Johnson. It's tough to throw him to the wolves up against Alabama. But at this point, I think you have nothing to lose. And if this kid's supposed to be that good at the quarterback spot where you really had nothing at the quarterback position entering this year that made you say, OK, I'm going to give A&M that thought of being a legit, really great top four, top six team in college football, I would kind of play the kid this weekend.

That would just be me. So I'm going to say that Jimbo's back next year. But Jimbo's back next year and that seat is on fire to start the year. And you better not lose to App State. Or you better not have one of those games like that next year early on or else you could be out very, very early through that year. But I think he's back next year.

I really do. Is there anything that would change your mind in terms of how this year goes? Tell me the coach. Tell me the coach that you're hiring. That's the thing, because say what you want about Jimbo.

And yes, at times he does look overrated. The guys won a national championship. He's done a great job recruiting. I know a lot of it's money based at A&M. But unless if you have a rock star candidate, that's the thing. If you give me a name, then I can maybe move off of that. But if you don't have a name, then it's tough for me to say, OK, I'm going to definitely be firing Jimbo Fisher at the end of this year.

And that's why I think they run it back. And then next year, you then got to start winning, because if you don't win next year, then I'm sure you could go find the name somewhere out there in the college football landscape. It is Zach Gilp show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll take a break. When we come on back, the Pro Football Hall of Famer and the greatest quarterback the Bills have ever had, Jim Kelly is going to join us on the Zach Gilp show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll get his thoughts on Josh Allen, the Buffalo Bills coming back from down 20 to 3 up against the Ravens. And now this weekend, the Buffalo Bills welcoming Kenny Pickett and the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Bills are 14-point favorite at home where they play their football games at Orchard Park. Come on back.

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