Buccaneers & Packers Cooked? (Hour 1)

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.

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There's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free 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 10th floor of 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to a Monday edition of the Zach Gelb show, Coast to Coast, across all of our great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, and that free Odyssey app. 855-212-4CBS, everybody 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, need to know what it takes for a home to fit your budget and your family.

Well, Rocket can, and producing this extravaganza today for the next four hours is no other than Hot Day Kiki. Eric Macklin going to join us coming up at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific, we will chat Clemson football, as DJ Wengle LA was benched this weekend for Cade Klubvick, as Clemson did find a way to get a victory up against Syracuse. And now we'll see what happens the rest of the way, because you know that even after the game, Dabo Swinney says that DJ Wengle LA is still their guy.

When you did pull your starter out, you wonder how short of a leash there is moving forward, and if that is going to pop up once again. So we'll chat with a former Clemson Tigers offensive lineman in Eric Macklin. A whole lot to do after what was another busy NFL Sunday, and here's what I'm realizing with the NFL. There are maybe three great teams at most. Right now I would say two great teams, Buffalo and Philadelphia, and then I think that the Kansas City Chiefs are the third best team in the league.

I would say, and they did a nice job blowing out the 49ers after getting down early in that game by two scores, but I would say that the Chiefs are very, very, very, very, very, very, very good. And they're going to be an extremely tough outcome postseason time, so I do think there is a separation between Buffalo and the Eagles grouped together, and then a little bit before you get to Kansas City. But after that, there is a major drop off from three to four in the NFL, and when I sit here and look at the standings, like if you just look at the standings right now, the Eagles are 6-0. Surprising, I thought the Eagles were going to be good this year, I didn't think they were going to be that good.

The Giants are 6-1, like what? Dallas without Dak Prescott, I know he came back this weekend, but they only have it in for two starts, they're 5-2 without Dak. You look at the Seahawks, the Seattle Seahawks are a 4-3 football team. People thought they may have four wins at most this entire season. The Rams, we're talking about good surprises, the Rams are a bad surprise at 3-3. Last week the 49ers were going to be a team that maybe could go win the NFC, they're 3-4.

Minnesota, I thought they'd be good, I thought they'd make the playoffs, I didn't think they'd be 5-1. You take a look at the Packers, they've been abysmal, they just lost to the commanders and Taylor Heineke, they're 3-4. The Buccaneers led by the great Tom Brady, they have not played one great offensive game yet this year, they're 3-4. So you just look around football right now, there's not a lot of great teams and we're trying to figure out who are going to be the teams that position themselves to just take that step to be good and play some consistent football for a few weeks.

And then at the end of the year can they make that ascension once they get into the playoffs and join that great conversation. But I gotta start off with two great quarterbacks that are not playing great right now and their offenses have been horrible and that's Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. Tom Brady with the Buccaneers was not supposed to sweat this year and he was going to have an easy path to get to the postseason because the NFC South stinks. Well the NFC South has not been good this year, the Saints have been bad, they're 2-5. The Panthers, they somehow beat the Bucs yesterday with PJ Walker, the Panthers are 2-5, they're going to come nowhere close to sniffing around.500. And the Falcons have been gritty but we saw yesterday the Falcons aren't really that good, they're not ready to take that step and they're 3-4. If the Buccaneers played in the AFC East or the NFC East, they would be in serious danger of missing the playoffs. And then you look at the Green Bay Packers, before the year started we knew they were going to take some step back because they no longer had Devante Adams, there was going to be some adjustment period.

I didn't think though that the step back would be being in danger of not winning double digit games and also being in danger of missing the playoffs. But I got to give credit to the Vikings who, their wins haven't been pretty but they've already racked up 5 of them and you already hammered the Packers earlier this year and smothered them when you played them in week 1. Where you put yourself through the first 7 weeks of the season in a great spot to win the NFC North. And that's the difference between the Bucs and the Packers. Like I see a lot of people today nationally saying, oh the Packers will eventually figure it out. And they have more confidence in Rodgers and that Packers offense than Brady and the Bucs.

The Bucs at least have a safety blanket. I don't think there's anyone in the world right now saying that the Falcons are going to win the NFC South. So Tampa's going to be in the post season basically because the division stinks. Where the NFC North is not great, the Bears are bad, the Lions are bad. This though Vikings team, I feel like you can guarantee it right now and I know it's very early but I'd be stunned at this point if they don't win the NFC North. So I'm trying to figure out what the Packers and what the Buccaneers are going to be at the end of the year.

Because we've seen teams before struggle through the first half of the season, get hot and then go on a run. And you look at the landscape of the NFC, at least in the AFC you could say Buffalo, Kansas City, those are your two best teams. And those are two of the best teams, two of the three best teams in the NFL. In the NFC, after the Eagles, is there anyone that you feel great about? I told you last week the Giants are locked to make the playoffs the way their schedule goes. They're now 6-1. Are you picking the Giants to win three games to get to a Super Bowl?

Absolutely not. Dallas, I can't trust them in a big clutch spot based off what I saw last year. Whoever gets out of the NFC West, Seattle, the Rams, yeah the 49ers, their defense is banged up. If that defense gets healthy, maybe.

But can Jimmy G with the game on the line make the big throw? You know, Minnesota has a really good offense, their defense has been better than what I thought, but you look around the entire NFC, other than Philadelphia, who is the lead dog right now, and who knows if they'll be the lead dog in January when the games actually matter, because we haven't seen Jalen Hurts in a playoff game win a playoff game yet. You know, last year they got exposed up against Tampa Bay. In Philadelphia though, if they're the number one seed and they only need two games, two victories to get to the Super Bowl, would it surprise me that they're there?

Absolutely not. So everything is still in front of the Buccaneers to win that division and be a threat come postseason time. And for the Packers, the question just becomes, will you get that opportunity to be a threat come postseason time? Yesterday was embarrassing for both teams.

I know that the Panthers have somewhat of a good defense. It was just uncharacteristic things. Like early on in that game, Brady to Evans, that's a walk-in touchdown. And the moment that play didn't connect because Evans dropped the football, it's almost as if Brady just thought to himself or the Bucks just thought to themselves, uh oh, here we go again. And the Packers played with the lead, but then they couldn't blow out the commanders whose defense has not been good this year, and you allow Taylor Heineke to beat you? That's what transpires? Think about it.

P.J. Walker and Taylor Heineke were playing in the XFL. Not only did they get victories yesterday in the NFL, they took down two of the top 10 greatest quarterbacks to ever play this game. Brady being the GOAT and Rodgers being somewhere in the top 10 conversation. You could have told me maybe one of them would have got a victory yesterday. And I would say, OK, any given Sunday, not out of the realm of possibilities, but both get victories?

What? I couldn't believe that. So now, if I had to say who I feel more confident in, and this Bucks defense has not been as great as we thought it was going to be earlier in the year, their offensive line has been bad. I would still go Tampa Bay because they have the easier road to get to the playoffs. Where for the Packers, they could legitimately miss the postseason. I know that the Jets and Giants have been better, but they just lost to the Giants, the Jets, and they got manhandled by the Jets. Dominated. And then they lost to the commanders. They couldn't find a way where they were playing with the lead up 17-3, 20-10 against the Giants. They got dominated from the start against the Jets.

The commanders, they were playing with the lead and you can't win one of those games? And Rodgers, I don't know if it's just the way that he presents himself, but right now, it just seems like he doesn't care and he hates the situation that he's in. Well, you made your own bed.

Now you got to lie in it. Because it is crazy to me, and I know Devante Adams took less money, I know Devante Adams wanted to get closer to home so his grandma could come see the games. It's crazy to me how a player like that couldn't find a way to keep his best weapon. So both of these teams have been terrible. And when they navigate their schedule the rest of the way, I don't know if I'll ever feel great about either of them, but if I had to pick one it would be Tampa because at least I know that Tampa Bay is going to be in the postseason. And you got to think eventually that offensive line finds a way to get Brady sometime because Brady right now, one-two throw, one-two throw, he's getting that ball out laser quick.

This is ugly though. And going into the year, how many times we had that conversation, three best teams, Buccaneers, the Packers, the Rams, and the NFC, those are the three best teams. You could have two of those three teams not make the playoffs. Because it's not a foregone conclusion that the Rams win the NFC West. This is the most open year of football through the first seven weeks that I could remember in maybe forever. Like Ryan, is there a more open year of football?

Unless just maybe the three best teams, right, no one in the AFC, I can't see anyone in the AFC but Kansas City or Buffalo getting in, and maybe the Eagles just go wire to wire and take the NFC. And maybe it's not as open as we think because only three teams have an invite to the dance so you can only have one prom king and one prom queen. Maybe that's just the way that it's going to be. Maybe it's an exclusive club this year. But you know someone's going to get hot after Thanksgiving. And if someone's going to get hot after Thanksgiving, I got to think it's going to happen in the NFC. Maybe it's Tampa. Maybe it's Green Bay. Maybe the Vikings stay hot. The 49ers, maybe they start to get healthy. The Rams, maybe they get their damn act together. But other than Philadelphia, there's not like a team in the NFC that I feel good about about getting to the Super Bowl right now. This is wide open for the taking, especially in the NFC. You could sit here and legitimately make an argument, outside of the Bills, every other team this year has either been surprising in a good way where they overachieved or underachieved teams that we thought like the Buccaneers and Packers, for example, played worse.

So I'm with you. I can't remember a more upside down NFL through seven weeks in the last 25 years that I could go back to because it's all been either unexpected in a good way for bad teams that are better or unexpected in a worse way. We're looking at teams that we thought were going to be really good and now can't get out of their own way. If you had to pick between the Packers or the Bucs, let's just say you needed to put all your money on one to make the Super Bowl. Who would you pick between the Packers and the Bucs, both struggling immensely through the first seven weeks?

Buccaneers without a doubt. I think they'll turn it around. Even yesterday, they scored three points. They're close.

It's just timing. Mike Evans drops the ball. Is that going to happen again?

No. Do you know how bad Carolina is? Carolina stinks. I'm not saying they're good. I'm not trying to hype them up. Their defense is good, but again, it's inexcusable.

I do a weekly segment on WFNZ. They didn't think they were going to win another game the rest of the year. Mack, who does the show there, who I love, he does this crazy victory dance after every game. We were joking about it on Friday.

Another victory dance the rest of the year, like half a victory dance. You take the over or the under. Mack, Bone, myself, we all said under. I went to college with P.J. Walker.

I interviewed him the first day he signed up at Temple University. He just beat Tom Brady yesterday. Taylor Heineke takes down Aaron Rodgers.

This is mayhem. Now, I will say, though, I don't think the Bucks are close. They got a lot of work to do, but they have the easier road compared to Green Bay. One of these teams, maybe two of them, Rams, Packers, Bucks, one of them will miss the playoffs this year. Because the NFC East is creating separation where, you know, clearly one team gets into the playoffs. But teams like the Giants and the Cowboys, Cowboys win yesterday.

They go to five and two. Giants are six and one. They have a favorable schedule the next few weeks. Both those teams are going to make the playoffs. So if the Giants and Cowboys are both in, there's only one wildcard spot left.

And if a team like the Rams or the Packers don't win their division, one of those teams are going to be on the outside looking in. If you had to guess right now, Rams, Packers and the Bucks, we both agree the Bucks win the South. Do the Packers win the North? Because I'm going Minnesota.

No. OK, who wins the NFC West? I'm going to trust the 49ers, but hold on. This will be a moment where right now I could quit tomorrow and never work again in this industry.

And the great Lord could take me and bring me up to heaven. Oh, if I have hot take hickey predicting the Seattle Seahawks. If the Seattle Seahawks is your pick to win the NFC West after you buried Pete Carroll demand for him to be fired. So there was no chance there would be good this year, which all those things I kind of did agree with you on now. I said you got to give Pete two years to try to get this thing right. But if you're the most confident in the Seattle Seahawks right now, I'm OK with today being my last day on this earth. Who's your pick to win the NFC West?

Because that hesitation makes me think you may be going Seattle. No, no, no, no. I'm still not a believer. It's a nice start. I was ready to just get taken from this chair in the studio where I had a live audience when we started this show, because I guess someone's annoyed that the computer's unplugged around here and I have five engineers in front of me when I'm trying to do the show. So I was ready for this to be my last show just based off that. But if you were going to say the Seahawks win the NFC West, I would have been OK if my body just got pulled out and just gone straight up to heaven.

And I could just enjoy it right now for the next three hours. That's not my problem. All right.

Well, the Seahawks win the NFC West. It's not my problem. You know, we have people just running in before the start of the show to try to take care of needs on other shows. You know, maybe they just don't even care about this show that much.

So why should I care then? You know, just take me right now. Take me right now. If you're going to take Seattle, I'm ready for the stand. I'm good. I will do our Lord and Savior a favor.

Keep you on this earth. OK, I will take the Rams, but no confidence. I'm still going to leave 49ers. And I said this last week that the 49ers would lose to the Chiefs. And if you're going to tell me 10 wins is a lock, probably to win that division this year, nine may win you the division.

I got to think the most talented team in that division is going to find a way to get it done. So right now, if you had to give me your seven teams to make the playoffs in the NFC, who would your seven teams be? NFC's, Eagles, NFC West. You're going the Rams. Rams. North is the Vikings.

South will still go the Bucks. And it has to be Cowboys, Giants. And I will go 49ers.

Wow. So here's what I'm going to go. Eagles win the division, NFC East.

I agree with you. Giants and Cowboys both get in. The NFC West, I'll take the 49ers. The NFC North, I will take the Vikings.

The South, I'll take Tampa. And I have to then pick one. Oh, I get one spot left. Hmm. You know what?

Damn, that's tough. I guess right now. I'll go Rams. And the Packers miss. But if let's just say Seattle continues to be scrapped. Imagine if Seattle gets in. You have the Rams and the Packers on the outside looking in. The chase to the Super Bowl to see who comes out of the NFC is going to be fascinating. Ultimately, though, I think the Bucks win the division and the Packers have a serious shot of missing the playoffs. And the Bucks are lucky. Like if the Bucks play in the NFC North, we may be saying that the Bucks miss the playoffs and the Packers win the NFC South. What do the Bucks and Packers do at the end of the year? How do you view them going into the playoffs if they're even in the playoffs? 8-5-5, 2-1-2, Ford CBS. 8-5-5, 2-1-2, 42-27. We'll take a timeout when we come on back.

I have a thought about analytics. And also, we just told you the Giants are going to the playoffs. What does that mean for Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley's future? Coming on back. Wednesday, 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. Throughout the 60s and 70s, cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie Mafia, including its enigmatic ringleader, Kirksey Nix. I'm in a rush to making money.

I'm not in a rush to hurting people. Fifteen years into Kirksey's life sentence, the Dixie Mafia was practically folklore, but that would soon change. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South, a documentary podcast from C-13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio, season two, the Dixie Mafia, available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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. You can think of O'Reilly Auto Parts while your car care needs get guaranteed low, low, low, low, low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts.

O-O-O-O-O-Reilly Auto Parts. Hickey, I'm having a problem, and I don't want to sound like I'm an old man yelling at a cloud because I'm not an old man. I'm only 28 years old. You know, I still work out four or five times a week. I go on an elliptical for sometimes an hour, 90 minutes, two hours, depending on which out of the four or five days out of the week that I'm working out. I lift weights.

Like, I think I'm still well put together for a man my size and my age. You know, I don't want to sound like an old decrepity guy on the radio that's just bitching for the sense of bitching and is getting told, oh, you don't embrace this new way of football. But analytics are really starting to annoy the living crap out of me. And I'm not anti-information. I'm not against having all these stats at my disposal. But there's too many times where these coaches just don't have a feel for the game anymore.

And they get so caught up in analytics. And not only the coaches, the analysts too. Like, I'm watching that Dolphins game last night. We're at 16 to 10 on a fourth and three.

Dolphins are up with 843 left in the third quarter. Now, Chris Collinsworth runs pro football focus as a major role with pro football focus. So that's a guy that should understand analytics. And he starts saying, oh, well, the analytics, they give you a 1.4% better chance to win the game.

Does that mean that the risk is worth the reward of 1.4% or whatever he was saying? And then the minute when Collinsworth says this, some other person on Twitter chimes in and goes, actually, the analytics to win the game are in favor of kicking the field goal, not going for it. But I don't care who you are. I don't care if you've been around the NFL for 55 years or if you've been around the NFL for five minutes. In a 16 to 10 game where Pittsburgh has had zero offense and the Dolphins should just be looking to go up by two scores, take the field goal and go up 19 to 10 instead of running it with Chase Edmonds on fourth and three and getting nothing. Now, they're lucky to come back to bite them.

But that made no sense to me. And also, Doug Peterson, who did win a Super Bowl, being super aggressive. So I got to give him credit. But yesterday, your team's winning 17 to 13. They're not playing the best game in the world, but they're winning 17 to 13. It's fourth and one. You're in the fourth quarter. You have a chip shot field goal.

Take it. Instead, he tries to go get a first down and you score a touchdown and you definitely win the game. But take the field goal in that spot and go up 20 to 13. Instead, the Giants end up coming on back.

They make the stop. They go down the field. I know your defense has to play better.

And the Giants win 20 to 17. Well, if you would have just taken the field goal, it would have been a 20 to 20 game instead of you losing. Now, I'll give credit to a coach who ignored, I guess, the analytics or not even necessarily analytics because I can't tell you each and every time what the numbers mean. But maybe this new way of just being super duper aggressive on fourth and three, fourth and two, fourth and one when you're in your enemy's side of the field. I'll give credit to Robert Salah yesterday. I liked what Robert Salah did yesterday. There was not a lot of offense between the Jets and the Broncos.

I don't know if that's more so because how good those defenses are, which both those defenses have been playing well or the ineptitude of both those offenses. And Robert Salah in a 10-9 game had a scenario fourth and one with 1249 left in the fourth quarter. He took a 33-yard field goal.

And that made it 13 to 9. Then his defense had a three and out. He gets the ball back.

They take six minutes off the clock. And it's 10 plays, 50 yards. Met with the fourth and one again at Denver's 22. He takes the field goal. They end up winning the game 16 to 9. Let's just say if he went for it in either one of those spots and Denver gets the ball back and they get a touchdown because Denver did have a drive after it was 16 to 9 where they had 10 plays, 50 yards in under three minutes. And they stalled at the Jets 25. If they got a touchdown there, you would have lost because he didn't take the field goals. It's amazing how now because of an analytical approach or an aggressive approach and how we just try to go for the quick win right away. So many teams are forgetting to take the field goals when you could use them to extend your lead or make it a two-possession game.

Now it did not burn Mike McDaniel yesterday because the Steelers offense can't do anything. When you look at Doug Peterson, now he was playing with the lead. All you need to do is go up by a touchdown there. By taking a field goal, you end up by seven.

Worst case you tie unless you have day ball going for two if he scored a touchdown, which he did earlier in the year. But Doug Peterson's aggressiveness impacted that game yesterday. I would just take more field goals. I know that it's not popular, it's not sexy, but you don't always have to go for it on fourth and short. And I feel like a lot of these coaches, whether it's someone in the headset giving the information, whatever the analytics say, are kind of forgetting just simple logic here where you take a field goal to go up by seven or, in Mike McDaniel's case, you could have taken a field goal to go up by nine instead of just trying to go for it because everyone's going for it and this is the new trend these days. My biggest frustration, because I am, I guess, more pro-aggression than, let's say, conservative nature, is that the flow of the game is just ignored.

Yes. Like you said before. These offenses stunk, all of them, yesterday. It's a tool, analytics itself is a good tool to know, okay, where are games, where can I get an advantage? For example, if these were two high octane offenses with two great quarterbacks and they're going back and forth and it's touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, and you stall and you don't want to take a field goal, okay, I can live with that because you don't have confidence in your defense making a stop. But there was no points in the three games that I just referenced and one coach, Robert Salah, got it right where Doug Peterson got it wrong and Mike McDaniel got it wrong.

You have to have a feel for the game. That's my biggest problem with analytics. I'm not anti-analytics.

I'm not anti-information. But you need to find a way to trust your gut and trust the feel of the game and not just go for it, go for it, go for it, because the numbers say to go for it. You can't live and die by the numbers all the time. You have to use your brain.

You have to have some common sense regardless of what the numbers tell you. And specific to last night, right, you have a rookie quarterback on the road, it was 16-10. The offense is not doing anything, so you go up 19, the game's over. You score, you get the first down, you get touched on, the game's over. You kick the chip shot field goal, you take the three points, make it two score, it's over.

Just take the easy out because you know watching the game, there's no comments, Kenny Pickett's going to lead this team down the field not once but twice for scoring drives to either tie the game or take the lead. So you've got to be able to just get a feel of, hey, this offense is struggling so we're just going to, you know, even though I want to go for it more times than not, the flow of the game should dictate the decision more than just the raw numbers that are in a vacuum. And now my brain and my heart are fighting each other during these games. Because my brain is telling me, oh this coach is going to go for it, and then my heart is just screaming, what the heck are they doing? Like you know that's the wrong decision.

And this is not me second guessing it. Like if I thought in the moment yesterday Doug Peterson should have gone for it, I'm not then going to rip him on the air the next day just because it didn't work. In the moment I'm watching that and I'm on football and I'm like, what are they doing?

And last night I couldn't believe that Mike McDaniel didn't take the nine point lead and went for it. It just doesn't make sense. It's like these guys are bright that have these jobs. But they get all this information and they forget what really got them there.

It's their football instincts. I'm not saying don't use the information. But know how to separate just common sense and then what the numbers are telling you because the numbers aren't always right. And Collinsworth last night said, oh well this team now has a 1.4% better chance to win the game.

Like that's it? 1.4%? It's not even as if you have a drastic advantage to win the game if you went for it in that spot. The numbers don't tell you too is what happens if you don't get it. For example, when Brandon Staley went for it on 4th and 2 against the Browns a few weeks ago in his own territory. Okay sure, you obviously have a 100% chance to win the game if you convert on 4th and 2. But also look on the other side, it's the Kobe reset, it's the Browns. You punt there and make them go 60 yards to get a game-winning field goal instead of 10 yards.

You also got to weigh, okay if I don't get it now what are the numbers saying? What's the percentage I lose the game? Because now you know, they got lucky because again, the Katie York win the field goal and the Browns didn't go anywhere. But you were giving them an opportunity to take the game from you. You just dictate your decision based on how the events of that game are going.

Not just the numbers that again are developed all throughout the season and more trends than anything else. By the way, I have to give you a round of applause. You want to know why? I thought you weren't going to show up tonight until 8 p.m. Eastern. I thought you would only show up for the second half of the show because your football team, the Indianapolis Colts, have failed to win a first half this year and they're being outscored in the first half, the first 30 minutes of games, 98-39.

So I'm very impressed that you've made some valid points in the first half of this show and I'm having a lot of people tweet me right now. Did you crack on Hickey yet? Did you bring up his Indianapolis Colts?

Not yet. We'll get there. Don't worry as Matt Ryan is now on the bench and it's Sam Ellinger. Maybe they beat the commanders this week. We'll get Ellinger saying, hey Colts fans, we're back. But we will get to hot take Hickey's team later on in the extravaganza. And we'll need to hear the address of the state of the Colts Union as, man, they may raise a participation trophy once again. Hey, Matt Ryan played the first seven games of the year because they lost another game to the Tennessee Titans.

So we'll get to that later on in the show. But when we come on back, what is the future of Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley with the New York Giants? And who should be starting for Clemson's next game?

Cade Klubnick or D.G.U. Angelou? Throughout the 60s and 70s, cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie Mafia, including its enigmatic ringleader, Kirksey Nix. I'm interested in making money. I'm not interested in hurting people. Fifteen years into Kirksey's life sentence, the Dixie Mafia was practically folklore.

But that would soon change. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South, a documentary podcast from C-13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio. Season two, The Dixie Mafia.

Available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 13 and Odyssey Studio available on the Odyssey app or wherever you listen to your podcast. What makes your skin crawl? No matter how absurd.

I want to know. Tales without fur on them, such as rats or opossums. I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new podcast called Your Weirdest Fears. You send me your fear. I'm just so weirded out about the texture and how they can just move around and flop.

And then I go to the experts to learn how to overcome them. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from. It is Zach Gelb's show on CBS Sports Radio. The New York Giants are six and one to start the NFL season. Going into this year, I did not think we would be at a spot where we would seriously consider either Daniel Jones or Saquon Barkley. Coming on back for the Giants next year, but Ryan, they may have to bring both back next year.

Now, they're going to have to franchise tag one of the two players. And I would think even though it's going to cost a lot of money because of how high the price tag is for a quarterback. But I would personally franchise tag Daniel Jones and I would make him show it another year before giving him a long term extension. For Saquon Barkley, I don't know if you have to give him a long term extension in terms of like it's a five year deal or a six year deal. But I do think you could give him a fat three year contract extension because running back contracts are always bizarre. We always think running backs are going to get a reach for the stars and get the big time deal. Remember Le'Veon Bell set out an entire year and he was dominant and he was sustained dominance for a while.

What did that really get him? So I think there's a way to give Saquon a three year deal as long as he stays healthy throughout the rest of this year. For Daniel Jones, I'd probably go the route of the franchise tag, even though that's going to be a big time number because of it being the top. I think it's like five salaries when it comes to the franchise tag. And we know how much quarterbacks make per year in the NFL.

If this continues on, they make the playoffs. I don't see how you don't bring back Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley. Saquon Barkley is going to be a free agent because he's now on his fifth year option. And Daniel Jones, they rejected his fifth year option. And he's a free agent after this year, finishing up his fourth year in the NFL.

I saw Yahoo Sports make this point. I think it's interesting when it comes to Daniel Jones specifically. You look at the franchise tag, it's about, I think, 31 million dollars next year for Daniel Jones, which is kind of high for a player of his caliber. Do you think the Giants even have to franchise tag? Like, will there be a market where if you are the Giants, you could, let's say, not franchise tag and kind of just have open discussions and not fear that either you're going to get outbid or the price is going to get driven up because there's going to be that much interest for Daniel Jones? It's fair, but once you let him go to the open market, if he does sign with that next team, I don't want to say that it basically ruins all that you built because Daniel Jones, I'm not saying he's great, but he's showing that maybe he's better than what people thought he could be. But if you let him go to the open market and he goes somewhere else, because how many times do teams reward quarterbacks that don't have a lot of success, and they give him another chance because everyone's hungry to find that guy or at least have some competence at the quarterback position, if maybe Eagle gets in the way and Daniel Jones doesn't come off as a big Eagle guy, but if there's two or three teams that come calling and he likes to go there, what do you say to your locker room when this guy could be a quarterback, if it's all him or not, of a team that can win 10 games this year and be in the playoffs? I think it could hurt what the Giants are trying to build in terms of that culture, and I've been a big fan of Joe Shane, I've been a big fan of Brian Dable, but you've got to think about it that way as well. I guess right now, through seven games, I wonder what the market would be.

He's been solid, don't get me wrong. You're telling me the commanders wouldn't take a run at him right now? Oh, I mean, that'd be the last team. Brian, you just took a run at Carson Wentz.

But I'm being serious. I know, and so I don't think they would, I mean, it's tough with them, I don't think they would make a run at an all-for-team. You tell me, team, let's just say, I don't think this would be the case, but let's say if at the end of this year, this regime in Chicago goes, they don't like Justin Fields anymore. Chicago want to take a run at Danny Jones? Like, what are you going to give him? Like, four for a hundred? That I don't know. Is it three for 90, fully guaranteed, get the deal done? Kirk Cousins-esque?

Oof. But you know how it works. Whenever a quarterback becomes available, it doesn't really matter what he did in the past, there's always one or two teams that think they could find a way to get this guy to be playing better than what the other team just did. And the guy's actually playing solid right now.

I'm not trying to disparage him. He's playing solid. Now, Saquon, how do you think that goes down? I think he's going to get, like, a three-year contract extension. I would feel good about three years. They could franchise tag him and then take that gamble on Daniel Jones, but Saquon Barkley could say, guys, I only have so many years in this league at my position, I'm not playing in a franchise tag.

The lady on Bellpoint you made is very good because I think it helps discourage that because he was obviously a shell of himself when he did return after sitting out a year. Three years I feel good about with Saquon. But Saquon is a very positive guy. And when you're a very positive guy and you finally show some frustration or that you're disgruntled, maybe then they would, well, he'd have to sign the tender eventually.

But then maybe they said, okay, then we'll just trade you and we'll get a pick back. He's so tough. But that locker room loves Saquon.

Like Saquon right now is the face of the Giants. This is going to sound weird a little bit, but it's almost making Joe Shane's job tougher when you're ahead of schedule like this, because I don't think they ever anticipated starting off sixth and rolling with this roster where they're like... We had Joe Shane on, and I said to Joe, I go, you can't really tell me you believe in Daniel Jones. You guys just declined his option. And they said they still believed him, but like no one actually believed that.

So I would even imagine we shot them up a true serum. There's no way if you actually thought this guy would be on the roster next year that you would decline his fifth year option. So now I do think that you're going to have to franchise tag him, assuming this continues.

Barring an epic. Like if they only win two games the rest of the year, which I don't think will be the case, I think they're pretty much a lock to make the playoffs. You're going to have to franchise tag him and then probably give Saquon Barkley a three year deal, I would say. Where you may have to pay him a little bit more than you would like just to get the years on that deal down a little bit.

This is going to sound... I think this is almost like, not the worst case scenario, because you'd probably make the playoffs. But again, now if you're Joe Shane, like you said, they didn't have plans for Daniel Jones to be a long term guy. I don't think they had plans, even Saquon Barkley being on the roster the whole year. I think they thought they could. They would probably trade him and get something back at the deadline.

But now it's like... Let me ask you this. Derrick Henry signed a four year $50 million contract extension in 2020. Could that be what the Giants ended up giving him?

For your sake, why aren't you taking that? Yeah, $12.5 million a year? If the guarantee is at least $30 something million? I don't remember what the guarantee was on Derrick Henry, but why not? I think he would try to command it. I think he would get more in the open market.

I don't know how much more. Running backs are always tricky though. They are. And Barkley's injury history the last two years is not very good whatsoever. And that's what could work against them.

I do know that teams are kind of a what have you done for me lately sort of crowd. And this year so far has been absolutely incredible. That is though a position that is devalued.

Absolutely. Because look at the great backs in this league. You know, Saquon Cher was a first round pick. Christian McCaffrey first round pick. Zeke was a first round pick. We don't feel great about Zeke and Christian McCaffrey right now. I mean, yeah, McCaffrey just went for 2-3-4-5. I get that, but look at guys like Derrick Henry, Nick Chubb.

There's so many. Joe Mixon. Those guys weren't first round picks. Alvin Kamara. I think we've seen a philosophy where we've shifted away for the most part from taking running backs in the first round. And a guy like James Robinson. Remember when he was undrafted?

He had 1,000 yards that first year with Jacksonville. So if you're Joe Shane, it makes it tougher and tougher to sit there and be like, yeah, we'll give Saquon 3 for 50. Chemistry-wise though, in the locker room though, Saquon is that guy. And you just wonder, like as I said for Jones, how much do you ruin the quick ascension that you've made if you then have some guys that are disgruntled in that locker room?

Because the Giants right now are firing all cylinders. And then if you don't bring both those guys back or one of those guys back, you wonder what happens with the relationships that were built this year and the significant progress that was made this year inside the locker room. I would think Saquon's back in like a three or four year extension. And I would think Daniel Jones is a franchise tag. Or maybe Joe Shane goes to Daniel Jones and says, we're not going to franchise tag you, but you give like a three year deal with the guarantees that are high. So it's not impossible necessarily to say. Maybe it's like less money, but it's fully guaranteed.

And maybe that's a way where you could try to make it more team friendly. It's going to be fascinating to see what happens because no one would have thought the Giants would be 6-1 and no one would have thought that. A few weeks ago Boomer Esiason was talking about Saquon Barkley getting traded to Buffalo. And now the Giants traded Saquon Barkley, people would riot.

Not that anyone thinks the Giants win a Super Bowl this year, but this is a giant team that they're showing you they're on the path to making the playoffs. You take away Saquon, who is the biggest part of that offense right now, you're basically wasting all the work that you guys did this year and the head start that they got. So I can't wait to see what happens there with Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley at the end of the year. This is that Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We will talk about the Clemson quarterback situation coming up in the next hour. D.J. Uenglele bench this week. Dabo still says he's the guy. They do not play this weekend.

Their next game isn't until the first weekend of November as they do have Notre Dame. So should it be Cade Klubnick? Should it be D.J.

Uenglele? We'll discuss in hour number two. And Eric McLean will also join us, the former Clemson center ACC network analyst at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 Pacific. When we come on back, we have to recap the NFL Sunday that was in week seven.

You will get audio calls from every game, the best play-by-play with a little no-huddle offense. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back.