NFC East Is A Beast (Hour 1)

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And did we mention it's all free? Download the Odyssey app today. 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 tenth floor of 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to a Monday 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, and you can always get at me on Instagram, where I'm straight flexing, or via the good ol' 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.

Need to know what it takes for a home to fit your budget and your family? Well, Rocket can. What a crappy weekend that was. I know we had football yesterday, we had football on Saturday, and there are some people that are going to be buzzing about college football, and also the NFL, but man, being a Mets fan can be miserable at times. And I was at the game on Saturday, so was Hate Kiki, and they find a way to get a victory, offense finally came alive, and then last night, there is nothing worse than in baseball, because in football if your team just gets blown out, it's easier to accept. But in baseball, when you have no clue how long the game's going to go, but when you get down 2-0 and your offense is feeble, and the bats are just anemic, and you have to sit there and just see the suffering over and over and over again, that sucked. And last night, I had a miserable moment as a sports fan. I did a quick instant reaction video, let's be real, in the bottom of the ninth inning, because I knew the Mets weren't coming back. The moment that game was officially over, I pressed send, and then I sat on my couch for about an hour, didn't move, the only time I did move was to go to 7-11, because the ice cream store that I wanted was not open, so that sucked. So I only did my team lose, I went 0-3 on my picks this weekend, and then the ice cream store isn't even open. So I had to then walk to 7-11, and I was like a fat kid, get my Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, got my Chipwich, I also got one other thing, Dunkaroos, and then I went back to my couch, quickly devoured that, and didn't move for another three hours. You know, the game was awesome on Saturday, and my voice is a little off today, because I was screaming, going nuts, out in the cold, all that, and then I talked on the air for eight hours yesterday.

But I didn't go to bed last night until 3.30 in the damn morning, and I got into bed probably at like 1am, but I just could not go to sleep because everyone's been there when your team loses in the playoffs. And shame on me for being a sucker and believing in this Mets team, because I've been tortured before, the Mets have ripped my heart out before, and I had so many years of previous data to just suggest in previous feelings that eventually the Mets are going to rip my heart out. But this year felt different, because this was the most wins I've ever seen for the Mets in the regular season, and what did it result in?

Some fugazi appearance in the wildcard round. They didn't even get to the NLDS! Team won 101 games in the regular season, didn't even get to the NLDS!

And I couldn't go to bed last night until 3.30 in the morning, because it was just pain over and over and over again. Scherzer not showing up. When did Mack Scherzer start to pitch like that? But jeez, brutal Bassett before the game, oh you know it's so tough to pitch in New York with the fans, show up, have a pulse, have some life. Those Mets bats, horrible.

Musgrove had one hit in an elimination game? But shame on me, because I love my Mets. I'll always love my Mets. But how many years do I watch that team and they just abuse your confidence? And this year it felt different, because you had 101 wins.

And people could tell me about not taking one from Chicago. That season turned right in Atlanta. Once again, you have DeGrom, Scherzer, Bassett in Atlanta.

I wasn't asking for the stars, I'm asking for one win and they control their own destiny. They couldn't even get a win with Scherzer, DeGrom, Bassett. And then you get into this NL wildcard, Scherzer stinks up the joint, looks like Tom Glavin in 07. And then DeGrom pitched fine, bats came alive, Pete. And then also Lindor, so they suck you back in and you get a win last night.

And I'm doing ION football, final hour, 7-8pm Eastern, game starts at 7. And towards the last segment of ION football, I see the two runs going and I go up, that's it, game over, good night. But that Mets team throughout the entire year, they felt different. They survived the injuries to Scherzer and DeGrom. This was a team that had an all-time great season from Edwin Diaz. Who would have thought I would have ever had confidence in Edwin Diaz with how bad he was in New York? Alonzo great year, Lindor great year.

This felt like a different year. And then September comes around, choke, playoffs, at least they somewhat made it. And then they can't find a way to beat the Padres and the Mets season is over. You got the Braves in the NLDS, you got the Phillies in the NLDS. Phillies just throw salt into the wound.

And here I am, sitting back in New York City, just a miserable SOB. I would just love to see the Mets win a World Series in my lifetime. And in 2015, they came close.

They came really damn close out of nowhere. You win the NLES, you take care of the Dodgers, you win a great game five. You then go to Chicago, you play the Cubs four games, you sweep them. And then the World Series, you blow game one.

Game number three, you get a win. Game four, Daniel Murphy forgets how to play defense. And then I was at that game five chanting, we want Harvey. We want Harvey. And the Mets end up losing in extra innings. I would just like one year before I die for the Mets to win a championship. I'm only 28. Hopefully I have a lot of life left in me.

But I don't know more, how much more I could take of this crap. Because after all the signs I've seen in 07, being up seven with 17 to play. 08, another choke job. Even last year, leading most of the way in the NLES, they're not getting the job done. But this year was different. They had 101 wins.

101. And what did it get them? Jack, you know what? This wasn't even on the rundown. I wasn't even planning to talk about the Mets to start the show. But this is just my pure emotions right now. This is raw emotion.

I knew the moment when that microphone was going to go on, I couldn't help myself. I'd have to rant and rave about my Mets because this sucks. By the way, producing the extravaganza today is no other than Hot Take Kiki. And come on, don't we have other jobs for today? Can you cheer me up something other than just the generic Hot Take Kiki stuff?

Give me like Leroy Hoard or something. I gotta laugh right now. I'm miserable. I need a lifeline here, Hot Take Kiki. Come on!

This dumb producer, Hot Take Kiki. And Hickey, I'm not even going to go after you today. Because I know I said they were going to win the series. I thought they would win some three games.

You said it was going to be easy. They were going to sweep the Padres, but whatever. You were there on Saturday. We were bonding over our Mets.

But we thought this was going to be good. You know, tough times. Build tough people and Friday they lose. Saturday they win.

Okay, they're going to win Sunday. I couldn't sleep last night, Ryan. This is miserable. This is awful.

This is terrible. And they did it to us again. These Mets were supposed to be different. That's what the slogan, these Mets. And there's different ways to say it's like, oh, these Mets. And then it's these Mets. This was supposed to be these Mets. And they ended up being these Mets. Hickey, this sucks.

This sucks. Only the Mets could find a way to make the best regular season we've ever seen disappear and feel pointless, worthless in the span of two nights. Just like that. It's more than two nights.

Just like that. It started last week. Atlanta.

It really started last month. Well, we could say that and I get it. People go, oh, you get swept by the Cubs. Still, you go into that final series up against Atlanta. I know there will be three more games after that, but the last time you'll face Atlanta, final what, six games of the year.

And you controlled your own destiny. If all you did was just take one stinking game, not two, not three, one stinking game against Atlanta. That's all they had to do. One game against Atlanta.

They're in the driver's seat. And they couldn't take one game with DeGrom, Scherzer and Bassett. All right. I think I got that out of my system. Any other words on the New York Mets? I think we should make a rule today, Ryan. We will not bring up the Mets again into the closing bell because, you know, the Mets are getting a stock down. I think for the betterment of our radio program, we do not talk about the Mets again until 940 because I got a lot of things to do today. We got to talk about the NFL, another football Sunday, craziness. We have a coach now fire Matt Rule out with the Carolina Panthers. I'll give you my opinion on that.

We had a big weekend of college football. I think we need to make a rule here for the rest of the show, hot take hickey, that we don't talk about the Mets again until 940 p.m. Eastern. If we never talk about it again, I'd be happy.

But yes, bare minimum 940. I am a-okay with that. So do me a favor.

We need checks and balances here. Let's just say if I come back from break and I go, I can't believe about the Mets, I need you to go like, Zach, you won't talk about the Mets. Can you help me out there? You got it. I will change my voice and make it sound deeper and just make sure that we are back on track.

So let's try this here. 612 p.m. Eastern here on the Zach Yelp show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. Man, those New York Mets really suck. Zach, get back on track, please. Was that a steamboat? What the heck was that? That was sour to get your attention. It got your attention, didn't it?

It did. And it got me off speaking about these Mets. These blank? Yeah. These bleep bleepity bleepity bleepity bleepity Mets.

The team who shall not be named. You know what? That's a good way to approach it. All right. Let's do this. We'll take a break. We'll come on back. We'll reset when we return.

I got to give major praise to the NFC East Eagles undefeated Giants and Cowboys, both four and one. And then you have these commanders and Ron Rivera continues to make a buffoon out of himself. And I usually like Ron Rivera. But what the heck is he talking about? And why is he saying the things that he's saying?

It almost appears like he's trying to get fired. Coming on back up to these. To listen to.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. What's up, everybody? Guess who's hosting a new podcast? No Mercy with Stephen A. Smith. Listen, as I pull back the curtain on everything beyond the world of sports, interviewing influential guests, outspoken celebrities and thought leaders across the political, financial and social spectrum. You know me.

I'll give you my unbiased opinion. A No Mercy episode drops every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. No Mercy with Stephen A. Smith, a presentation of Cadence 13th and Odyssey Studio available on the Odyssey app or wherever you listen to your podcast. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio on this marvelous Monday.

You could think 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. I didn't think we would ever be praising the NFC East this much this season. But five weeks through the year, three teams are deserving of an enormous amount of praise before the year.

The feeling on the NFC East and I felt this way really ever since the draft that the Eagles are going to win the division and then since the NFC isn't that strong. Yeah, I'll give the Cowboys the benefit of the doubt because of their construction of their roster. First off, let's start the praise with the Cowboys, even though they're not the biggest surprise in the NFC East. But this Cowboys team was dead, was done, was finished after the first week of the season. And it's very tough for everyone, even in our reactionary society, to write a team off that has that much talent after one week. But when we look to the Cowboys who weren't even expected to beat Tampa Bay, but they lose that game, I think was like 19 to 3. The offense had no life, Dak gets hurt, and you find out that Dak is going to be out probably for what we thought at the time was six to eight weeks. There was never a thought that Cooper Rush could weather the storm. And we knew that the Cowboys had a very good defense, but the running backs inconsistent, Zeke no longer great, Tony Pollard solid, offensive line, not as great as it once was for the Dallas Cowboys.

And yes, C.D. Lamb's a very good player. You're eventually going to get Michael Gallup back. But after losing Amari Cooper, to then lose your quarterback for what we thought was going to be six to eight weeks, and who knows when Dak is going to come back, because it's not looking likely that he's going to play up against the Eagles. But I would have never thought that the Dallas Cowboys would have won four games in a row without Dak Prescott. Cooper Rush as a quarterback going back to last year is 5-0 as a starter. 4-0 this year, and the one loss that Cooper Rush is, the one loss the Cowboys have had this year was when Dak was the quarterback. And they beat the Bengals, who have been struggling but were in the Super Bowl last year.

They beat the Giants, who were one of the surprises, who were at 4-1. They took care of the commanders, and then yesterday was probably their most impressive performance because if the Cowboys would have lost to the Rams, no one's killing them after Cooper Rush has been a starting quarterback where they won three games in a row. But to go up against a reeling L.A. team, and you go up against the Rams who were desperate, needed a win, and not only did you win the game, you dominated the game.

You dictated the terms of that game. It shows you that the Cowboys maybe are better than what we thought. But this Cowboys defense, which was really damn good last year, is even better this year because they're doing all this with the unknown on the offensive side of the ball. Now the Rams have problems. You have one returning starter on the offensive line from a year ago. Matthew Stafford, I don't know if this is from the elbow injury and how much that's factoring into it, but he's not looking like a great quarterback.

You could pump the brakes big time on Matthew Stafford going to the Hall of Fame. Allen Robinson has done nothing, and this Rams offense, like when we talk about the Cardinals, what do we say about the Cardinals? The Cardinals offense is all who?

Kyler Murray. The Rams offense is all Cooper Cup, and that's it. So let Cooper Cup get his yards. Let Cooper Cup go get a 75 yard touchdown the Cowboys allowed, but if that's your only source of offense, you got nothing else. So if you just allow him to get his yards, one wide receiver is not going to beat you. So that Cowboys performance yesterday was damn impressive, and I know it was a road game, but those Cowboys fans took over SoFi Stadium.

And also, I think we got to be fair here. A lot of people, including yours truly, automatically assumed Mike McCarthy was going to be out at the end of the year, and Sean Payton would be in. To be fair to Mike McCarthy, through the first five weeks of the season, that is a coach that should not be fired at the end of the year.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am a realist with the Cowboys. Eventually, Dak's going to get back, and it seems like it's sooner rather than later, even though he's not expected to play this week, early on up against the Eagles, but maybe after that, if you do have this Cowboys team go one and done again in the playoffs, this could be a different tune, and Jerry Jones may pull the trigger and say goodbye to Mike McCarthy. But Mike McCarthy, Ryan, he's got to be given a lot of praise and a lot of words of extolment, because a lot of people, when he got hired by Dallas, oh, the game has passed him by.

Oh, he's a bumbling idiot now. Oh, look how it ended in Green Bay. He ruined that relationship with Aaron Rodgers. Mike McCarthy, at one point last year, had the Cowboys looking like a Super Bowl contender. Now, they lost to the 49ers in embarrassing and pathetic fashion, and this year, you lose your quarterback after losing the first game of the season? I would have never thought in a million years that they would have been able to pull together back-to-back-to-back-to-back victories with Cooper Rush, who is managing the game. They're getting enough out of the one-two punch with Pollard and Ezekiel Elliott, but more importantly, this defense, led by Micah Parsons, who had two sacks yesterday, Trevon Diggs, who's one of the better, younger defensive players in this league, this defense is just dominant right now, and this is an NFC that is not strong. Like, you look at the teams of the NFC that we thought were going to be strong, Rams struggling.

They're two and three. Packers, they just lost to the Giants, and the Giants are four and one, but the Packers are struggling at three and two. Tampa Bay struggling at three and two. They just had to pull one out up against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So this is a, or the Tampa Bay just had to pull one out up against the Atlanta Falcons. So this is a scenario now where the NFC, it's open, and you look at the NFC East, this was the dark horse surprise in that not only the Eagles, because I thought they'd win the NFC East, but the Eagles now were looking great at five and oh, and had to win a close one the other day up against the Cardinals, which can only help you, but they won the game.

Cowboys, they're four and one. Who would have thought in a million years that Giants, the biggest surprise of all of them in the NFC East, would be four and one? And I thought for sure, and I was dead wrong about this, I laid the eight points yesterday, and when it was 17 to three, I thought I was good. When it was 20 to 10 at halftime, I thought I was good.

Right? There's no way that the Giants were going to come on back. And not only did the Giants come on back, they dominated the Packers in the second half.

If it wasn't for an intentional safety that the Giants took, the Packers would not have scored in the second half. So this NFC East, through the first five weeks of the season, Ryan, and I can't think of anything else that tops it, nothing, through the first five weeks of the season, how good the NFC East has been. It's been remarkable that between the Eagles, Cowboys, and Giants, you only have two losses in a division that has got clowns recently being called the NFC least. And it's even more impressive when 95% of the league for the most part this year has been up and down and has played really under expectations. We talked last week, the Bills and the Chiefs and the Eagles are really the only three teams coming into this week that actually played really well. And again, either matched or exceeded expectations coming this year, everyone else has played down. And now you look, after five weeks, really the three of the most competitive and consistent teams are the three teams you just laid out in the Giants, the Eagles, and the Cowboys.

It's incredible. Most divisions, the teams are just filled with three and two teams, two and three teams right now. That's just been the way of this NFL season. Like, you look at the AFC East. Bills, four and one. Jets and Dolphins, three and two. Pats, two and three. AFC North, you have the Ravens at three and two. Browns and Bengals, two and three. Steelers, one and four.

Even the AFC South, that's been dreadful. Tennessee, three and two. Colts, two and two. Jacksonville, two and three. Texans, one, three and one.

Kansas City, three and one, they play tonight. Chargers, three and two. Broncos, two and three.

Raiders, one and three. Like that, we just went through the whole AFC. And remember how great this AFC West was supposed to be?

You would have never thought in a million years I'd be able to say this sentence on national radio. Through the first five weeks of the season, we haven't even seen the Raiders go up against the Chiefs tonight. The NFC East is the best division in football. Better than the AFC West. And you look inside the NFC, Vikings are four and one.

They don't feel like a strong four and one team though. You know, the Eagles who are five and oh, but you look at the other four and one teams in that division right now. Cowboys feel strong in the Vikings and the Giants feel a little bit strong in the Vikings. And the Vikings have a tremendous offense.

But defensively, it's like once they get a lead, man, the offense then shuts down and defensively they don't make enough plays. Packers, three and two. Bears, two and three. Bucks, Saints, Falcons.

Bucks are three and two. But the other two teams are two and three. And the NFC West is filled with three teams of two and three. And the 49ers who are three and two were like dead two weeks ago. So the most consistent part through the first four week or first five weeks of the season is the NFC East. And the one team that's the outlier, the one team that is the redheaded stepchild, the Washington commanders. And can I say I'm surprised?

No. And Ron Rivera is really starting to lose me. We'll play his audio later on in the show. He threw Carson Wentz underneath the bus. But Ron, you were the guy that picked Carson Wentz.

When everyone in America looked around and said, why are you giving up two threes? One of those threes could turn into a two on a condition if Wentz plays 70 percent of the snaps this year. And then you swap second round picks to get the lesser second round pick.

You waited all this time. You said you want to build the roster, build the roster, then go get your quarterback. And you pick Carson Wentz? The guy stinks and got what you deserved yesterday in a game that you should have won up against Tennessee, where the ball is down at the goal line.

You're first in goal at the two after a penalty. Wentz tried to throw the ball out of bounds, almost got intercepted. Next down, almost got intercepted again. And then finally, after forcing another football in there, intercepted. So Carson Wentz is not a good quarterback. And for Ron Rivera to tell me, oh, but he shows some signs. Yeah, Wentz has to throw it to a game when you go, oh, wow, that looks like the old Carson Wentz. But at the end of the game, you have a ton of turnovers, a ton of sloppy play. And when the moment gets the brightest and the light is shining down on Carson Wentz, he gets exposed.

And he comes up as a total fraud. So I got to give credit to those three NFC East teams. Eagles 5-0. That was a heck of a victory yesterday up against the Cardinals because they won in a different way. They got out to that big start. Then the Cardinals look like they're about to take the game back. And they had the crazy miss field goal at the end. But to win a game like that, after having some blah victories, you got to win a little bit differently. Cowboys going to L.A.

Extremely impressive. Four wins in a row without Dak Prescott. And then the New York football Giants, maybe the most impressive of them all because they have the least talent. This is a roster that is in a rebuilding mode with Joe Shane and Brian Dayball. And five games in, you know this and I know this, the Giants right now are showing that they're starting to move in the right direction. And you just wonder when that team actually gets talent. But that Brian Dayball has brought a good culture to New York.

And man, he's starting to impress. It is the Zach Yelp Show on CBS Sports Radio. When we come on back, we react to Matt Ruhl getting fired by the Carolina Panthers. And we take a look at some of the other coaches that may be handed their walking papers next. There's a lot to listen to.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. What's up, everybody? Guess who's hosting a new podcast? No Mercy with Stephen A. Smith. Listen as I pull back the curtain on everything beyond the world of sports. Interviewing influential guests, outspoken celebrities and thought leaders across the political, financial and social spectrum. You know me.

I'll give you my unbiased opinion. A No Mercy episode drops every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. No Mercy with Stephen A. Smith. A presentation of Cadence 13th and Odyssey Studio available on the Odyssey app or wherever you listen to your podcast. You're listening to The Zach Gelb Show. It is Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. As you know, by now, we've had our first firing in the NFL season from an NFL head coach, as Matt Ruhl is out with the Carolina Panthers after two plus seasons. You're number one. They did go five and eleven last year.

And this could be the craziest thing of it all. Last year, the Panthers, if you remember, started three and 0. They had two wins the rest of the year. And then this year they get off to a one and four start and headed into this year with Carolina. Not that I was confident with the Panthers, but I thought the Panthers, if everything went right, if they hit their apex, McCaffrey playing like a comeback player of the year, Baker Mayfield showing more like he was the Baker in 2020 than 2021, I thought at best this team could be an eight or nine win team. And before the season started, I picked them to win seven games.

You look, though, at the early part of that schedule. Cleveland without the Sean Watson. The Giants, we didn't know the Giants were going to be four and one. Saints division game. You had to find a way to win two out of those three.

When you lose to Jacoby Perset and Daniel Jones, the odds of you being able to keep your job, not good. And that got off to a miserable start. Bare minimum, they needed to split between Cleveland and the Giants. But when you get off to an 0-2 start, you knew eventually it was going to come all crashing down very quickly in Carolina. Sure, they get a victory up against the Saints.

Well, whatever. At that point, it's one and two. And you could have been two and one. If they could have finished up against Cleveland, they could have finished up against the Giants.

You know, probably you should have been two and one. No surprise against the Arizona Cardinals, the team that they've beat the two previous years, that the Arizona Cardinals are going to win that game because offensively, that team's just brutal. And I know yesterday they got carved up, but that's not a bad defense in Carolina.

Fortnite is just a much better team. It's not surprising they lost 37 to 15. That Cardinals game, though, if you were trying to save your job, you got to win that game.

Because if you would have rebounded and got to two and two, at least you could have spun it into some optimism. But that Cardinals game, Arizona gave the Panthers every opportunity. That first half, remember, Carolina's up 10-3 at halftime. And Kyler Murray was missed a three and out of that game. But the only way Carolina was able to get on the board was through a defensive touchdown.

And I said it on that Sunday when I was watching the game on October 2nd, the moment they went to half only up 10-3, that lady's singing, good night, the party's over. So Matt rule out after two plus seasons with the Carolina Panthers. Steve Wilks is going to be the interim head coach. Phil Snow and also Ed Foley also out on the Panther staff.

And hey, it's no secret. I know Matt rule very well. I'm a Temple University graduate. When I was a student, he was the football coach there.

And we have had a very good relationship, still have a very good relationship. I saw him turn around that Temple program. That was basically on life support. I saw him go to Baylor, take over after the Arbrios situation.

Teams one win. They then improve. The year after that, they're in a Sugar Bowl.

And a lot of people don't know this. When the Colts got left at the altar by Josh McDaniels, Jim Mercy had a conversation with Matt Rule. And he was very interested in bringing in Matt Rule, from my knowledge, from my understanding of the situation. But it's tough to justify bringing in a college coach at the time in an organization kind of like Indianapolis is getting laughed at because McDaniels left him at the altar that only had one win in college at Baylor in that first year. The next year, he would have got the Jets job. The Jets just would have let him pick a staff.

And then he goes to Carolina. Giants were definitely interested. Dave Tepper made him an offer that he couldn't refuse.

And it was a seven year deal, what, 60 something million dollars or whatever it is? So there was a thought, and I even felt this way when I was at Temple, when no one really knew who Matt Rule was. But when he left Temple, I thought to myself, this is a guy that could be an NFL head coach because I knew he had NFL aspirations. If he goes and dominates or has a lot of success turning around a program in the power five, and that's what he did at Baylor. And sometimes when you make that jump, right, college coach going to the NFL, it doesn't work out. And in this case, it just didn't work out. Now, do I think Matt Rule could go back to college and be a very successful coach?

Absolutely. And he's going to be a highly coveted coach. And if he wants to go back to college next year or take a year off and then maybe coach two seasons from now in college, who knows that that's up to him.

I have no clue what's going to happen. But you even heard last year. How much speculation there was about colleges being interested in Matt Rule. So Matt's going to land on his feet and Matt's going to be a college coach once again, and I'll probably go to a program that's in a bad spot that needs to be turned around because that's what he does. Now, in Carolina, why didn't it work out?

I think the best way to look at it is two things. Number one, they never had a quarterback. Now, I'm cognizant a lot of that could be blamed on him, the selection process.

I'm not privy to the draft conversations, all that. But in 2020, when they bring in Teddy Bridgewater, and it was the right move to move on from Cam, I know that did not set him up well with the fan base that was so loyal and love Cam. Cam's been shot for a while now.

OK? And Cam doesn't have a job right now in the NFL. So I had no problem moving on from Cam, but it does ruffle some feathers in that fan base. The guy you brought in, Teddy Bridgewater, was a bridge quarterback, right? No one ever viewed Teddy Bridgewater as being the guy, but they gave him, I think it was like a three or four year deal.

I think it was three year deal. And I remember doing radio interviews on one of our affiliates, WFNZ, at the time I said, when they brought in Teddy Bridgewater, yeah, that's not going to be a long term answer. And then they made a move, given up second round picks to go get Sam Darnold, which at the time, people thought the Jets messed up Sam Darnold. You may not be wrong on that, but eventually some of the blame has to be pointed at Sam. And then this past offseason, you're in a dire state.

You're two years in. Team hasn't won a lot of games. Fan base has already turned on you. Who are you going to go get? Jimmy G gets hurt. Not ready to throw until August. Tried for Deshaun Watson. Deshaun Watson wanted to go to Cleveland.

So you were left with the decision. You can't roll back it, roll back with Sam Darnold. You had to go trade for Baker Mayfield. And I was OK with the move to go trade for Baker Mayfield.

Because what else were you going to do? And it's not like you gave up that much to go get Baker Mayfield. But Baker's starting to show you, and now that he's out with the high ankle sprain, but Baker's starting to show you that he looks more like the 2021 Baker than the 2020 Baker. So you look at why Matt Ruhl didn't work out in the NFL.

It's a multitude of reasons. Number one, in this league you either have the quarterback or you don't. They never found the quarterback. Some of that's on the coach. Some of that's on the players. Christian McCaffrey, what, the first two years he's there? Only played a combined 10 games. That's tough when he's your best player.

So I look at this. And I see what happened in Carolina. Never had a quarterback. McCaffrey wasn't healthy. And you were not able to win close games. They had a putrid record.

In close games. When you don't win close games and you consistently lose close games, you don't have a quarterback, and your best player is always hurt, you're not going to last that very much long in the NFL. And that's just the reality of the situation.

So I can't say that I was surprised by the news today. And for Matt, you know, no one wants to get fired, obviously. But I would imagine that if you are going to get a college job this offseason, if he wants one, and his next move is going to be college, you want one this offseason, or do you want to maybe take a year off and reflect? Sometimes that does behoove coaches. But if you want to go get that job, it's not the worst thing in the world to get can now, even though no one wants to get can, because then you could really go approach this job search where there's already a ton of jobs open.

Right? I think Wisconsin is going to go to Leonard, but maybe it doesn't. Nebraska is open. Arizona State is open. Georgia Tech is open. And you would have to think probably Auburn is going to open up as well.

You never know. What other jobs open up? Like who would have thought last year, and there's a lot of movement last year in college, that we were going to see LSU open, Notre Dame open.

Right? Yeah, Oklahoma open. A lot of those jobs are not supposed to be open. So maybe a coach leaves, and who knows what this ever-changing landscape in college football. So now you anticipate Matt's going to go back to college, and that's that.

But in terms of why he didn't work in the NFL, I think it's clear. Once again, no quarterback, best player hurt, more off the field than on the field, and you lost too many close games. Ryan, your thoughts on Matt Ruhle getting fired after two-plus years with the Carolina Panthers. And you said it, just the whole combination right now of things not going well, you have an impatient owner as well, which does not help you when you undertake a rebuild, and you kind of start by taking the team apart, and you have an impatient owner that, even after year two, and there's questions about Ruhle's even come back this year for a third year, so it's like...

Which were fair. In this league, when you don't win games, and you're 5-11 in year one, and then 5-12 after starting the year 3-0 in 2021, I get the questions. I'm real about the situation.

Yeah, I'm not saying it was an unfair shake per se when you start the year off the way you did this year, just getting even worse with seemingly an upgraded quarterback, it's tough to justify. The fans are upset. If you're David Tepper, the season's already lost anyway. You don't want to have the fans who are already upset and angry.

You don't really want them to have apathy. That's when you're really in big trouble there. And that stadium was pretty much all 49ers fans. I had one Panthers fan tweet me, actually, over the weekend, and it was not nice. He said, I'm the reason why Baker Mayfield's here, and he's the reason why he had two watches, and he put a big thumbs down and said, this is on you, Zach. You caused my suffering, so I apologize to that fan. He blamed you for Baker Mayfield being in Carolina?

Yeah. Who do you want to be the quarterback then? So, if they could redo this at quarterback... I'm just trying to think, and maybe this is revisionist history. In 2021, they had a chance to draft either Mac Jones or Justin Fields.

I don't know if that drastically changes the narrative. Mac Jones is now hurt. Justin Fields has not played well so far in the NFL.

But you go back to 2020, and I think a lot of teams are going to do this. Justin Herbert fell to number six. And I know that the Panthers that year were at seven. And Herbert was not thought to be the quarterback that now, the way that we obviously look at him, at one time he thought to be number one overall pick, and his stock did kind of fall, but still did go six overall. New regime, coach coming in, you just wonder how life would have been.

And I know that it's like an impossible game to play. If you would have traded up, and you have to go more than one spot. But the Lions, like let's say the Lions, right?

They were a team that were rumored, they picked a coup to third overall to be looking to get a team to trade back. You know, to trade up in the Lions to fall back. Man, imagine they trade up to three and they did take Justin Herbert.

But as easy as I say that, who knows who their preference would have been. And remember there was a quarterback that did go before Justin Herbert. The Dolphins did take to Otunga, Wailoa. So now we'll see who's going to be the next coach to go. Questions with the Panthers. Do you trade Christian McCaffrey? Do you trade DJ Moore, Robbie Anderson? We'll unpack that throughout the remainder of the show.

But look at a few other jobs. Broncos, I think Hackett's got to be in the hot seat. Frank Reich, I think it's inevitable that he's going to get canned at the end of the year. If Brandon Staley continues to make stupid decisions like he did yesterday, even though he won. And if the Chargers miss the playoffs, maybe the Chargers' job opens up. I thought for a while we'd proceed the commanders to not fire Ron Rivera because it's kind of the safety blanket and the distraction from looking at all the problems with Daniel Snyder who's a disgrace to the NFL, but Rivera's starting to lose me. And a team like the Cowboys, we all thought that was inevitable that it was going to open up. The way the Cowboys look into the first five weeks, I'm not ready to put Mike McCarthy on the hot seat. So I heard Sean Payton was talking earlier today about the Carolina job, but how attractive is that job? That's another big question as well. Download the Odyssey app today. So get started and download the free Odyssey app today.