Hack Job (Hour 1)

The Listening You Love is on the free Odyssey app, your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown, and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience, follow topics you care about like leagues and teams, pause or rewind your local sports and news, and add shows to your queue to catch up later.

There's a lot to listen to. So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. 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.

Miss your show? Jump back to their awesome rewind feature. The Odyssey app is NFL football, live and on demand, wherever you are, whenever you want.

And do 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 10th floor of 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to a Monster Thursday 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, number to jump on in, 855-212-4227.

You could 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 loan solutions that fit your life. Well, Rocket can, big guest list today. Coming up 40 minutes from now, Tom McCarthy will join us from Houston. As the Philadelphia Phillies, where he is the TV play by play voice for, are getting set to embark on four more victories and maybe hoist that piece of metal as Rob Manfred would call it in the World Series trophy, the Commissioner's trophy. Phillies, Astros, Game 1 tomorrow in the World Series, Tom McCarthy will join us 40 minutes from now. And then in our number two of our radio program at 7.20 PM Eastern, 4.20 PM Pacific, former NFL All-Pro running back. Now boxer, LaVeon Bell is going to be joining the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. And then at 8.20 PM Eastern, 5.20 PM Pacific from the surprising Seattle Seahawks.

They're at 4 and 3, defensive end Shelby Harris. But first up, producing the extravaganza for the next four hours is no other then. Hot take, Kiki. Hot take, Kiki. I gotta start off with this Dan Graziano report that Nathaniel Hackett's job could be on the line this weekend. If you're Nathaniel Hackett, and this has been a clown show, you are two and five. Early on in the season, you went for that 64 yard field goal in Seattle when you just paid your quarterback all that money and the organization just made that Russell Wilson's organization, you had timeouts. It was a dumb decision, we talked about it 9,000 times. But from there, since there was a nationally televised game, it was what else are we gonna see out of Nathaniel Hackett as he's just been a disaster week in and week out. You remember his first home game up against the Texans where they only won by a final score of 16 to 9. I've never seen this before where the fans were counting down the play clock and they weren't doing so because the play clock was unplugged and someone couldn't see it or they were trying to get the other team to snap the ball as you would do it in kind of a mocking way before the play clock would run out. They were doing it because of how poor the clock management was and how many delay games were happening in that game. And it didn't help that there were some other prime time spots like the 49ers and the Colts where those were isolated games.

And we all had to see in a win or a loss, it didn't matter. Just the jackassery, buffoonery, and incompetence of one Nathaniel Hackett. And Russell Wilson for a while was able to skate free Mr.

Unlimited because everyone was making Nathaniel Hackett the human pinata. And then people when you started to watch the Broncos and just realized that Daniel Hackett can't hack it in the NFL. Then the next thing you know, it was let's turn our attention to Russell Wilson, who, yeah, by the way, hasn't played well on a football field.

In nearly two years. So the combination of Nathaniel Hackett and Russell Wilson has just been such a joke. And I've been someone that's been pessimistic about this, but not in terms of I thought it was gonna be a disaster in year one. I thought they'd win eight, nine games, probably be nine and eight.

And you have some chemistry problems. You have some synergy problems, bring in a new head coach, bring in a new quarterback. And you would just be on the outside looking into the playoffs.

And then next year is where they could take that step in the right direction. But we're seven weeks into the season with week eight kicking off tonight with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosting the Baltimore Ravens. And I don't even give a rat's ass what happens on Sunday morning. Thankfully that game is early on in the morning between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Denver Broncos because we have a late Saturday night. You don't even care if you miss the opening kickoff at 9.30 AM Eastern. If you're on the West Coast, and I know right Denver's mountain times, they're two hours behind.

You may even pass on the early, early start time potentially of 7.20 AM or 6.20 AM depending on where you're at in this fine country. So this has been a disaster. This has been brutal and their season's over. Like before they even get to week eight, their season is over. It's done, it's finished. The fat lady already started to sing probably after that disaster performance against the Indianapolis Colts where Russell Wilson started to have the narrative change on him and the script start to flip from everyone just bash hack it, bash hack it, it's all hack it to, uh-oh, Russell Wilson is taking a step back.

So here's something I thought about, and Hickey, I'll throw it out to you. They do have a bye week in week nine. And you, even though you've been wrong about almost everything you said about the Broncos this year, not to remind people, but I feel like it's my job just to remind people. You thought Russell Wilson was gonna win the MVP. You thought Russell Wilson was gonna win the Super Bowl. You thought the Russell Wilson was gonna win the Super Bowl MVP. You said that Daniel Hackett was gonna be a top three coach of the year.

So I hate, hate, hate, hate to bring that up. But you did point out a few weeks ago, even when you were digging your heels in and still saying this team can make the playoffs. And then recently, I think it was after that loss of the charge as you go, okay, now I'm finally out, I have to wave the white flag and just take the L. You did bring up the possibility of Nathaniel Hackett. Finally, pop the champagne, let's all go crazy.

Hickey got one right. You brought up the possibility of Nathaniel Hackett being fired during the bye week. I'll just throw this out there to you, and I want your thoughts on this. Because when you have a first year head coach who hasn't even got through a full season, he's seven games into an NFL head coaching career. And everyone knows it's not a matter of if he gets fired, just when he gets fired. And you have to have a GM speak out today, George Paden, and say, yeah, I have 100% confidence in Nathaniel Hackett.

He's not going anywhere, buh buh buh buh buh buh buh, both bleep. We all know if he loses to the Jaguars, he's done so. Cuz you have a bye week, and it would be perfect timing to send the message to that locker room. This has been a joke.

Someone has to be held accountable. We know this guy can't cut it in the NFL. Russ, you better start paying well, but we can't get rid of you even though they probably would love to get rid of Russ right now. Cuz they just traded all that draft capital. And not only trade all that draft capital, they gave him a big fat extension. So with all that being said, since this isn't definitely gonna happen, that at some point this year, Nathaniel Hackett's gonna get fired and let go as the head coach of the Denver Broncos.

I'll just propose this simple question. Does the result of this game even matter? If the Denver Broncos win, but let's say they win by three points, and it's, I don't know, 16 to 13, and the offense has zero life, do they just fire this guy regardless after this week and say, we even our wins look ugly and they're bad and we'll just stop the suffering and the pain of all Broncos fans right here and give them something tangibly that they could hold on to and say, okay, at least that's one positive this season.

We got rid of the head coach because this guy's not gonna be back next year. You just said, I don't think the result matters, it's how the offense looks, right? If they win 10 to 7 on Sunday, I'm sorry, even though it's a win out the door, see you later, you win 35 or you lose 35, 31, the offense for the first time looks legit, I think it's a tougher sell. I would still do it, but it's a tougher sell after finally the offense kind of showing you some life for the first time through basically half the season, which I don't see happening, sounds like you don't see happening.

So that's a long shot, but this seems like it's, he's at death story now. Honestly, even if they win like 35 to 10, I would get rid of this guy. I don't even care if the offense finally plays well. Does anyone think that that's gonna last consistently throughout the rest of the season?

This team is two and five. Even if they find a way to win like 28 to 10 this week and they get to three and five, is there any reason to keep Nathaniel Hackett around for the rest of the season with the Denver Broncos? I guess the only thing you could say is to see if he's truly evolving because I will say, I will admit Nick Sirianni was someone who we are ready to run out of town through five weeks last year, then realize about halfway through, you can run the ball and now the egos have one of the best offenses and are the only undefeated team. If you see some signs, I will give Nathaniel Hackett at least this, that yes, if we see the offense turn around and legitimately turn around where Russell Wilson actually looks good for the first time this year and the receivers are making plays and the O-line is blocking, I would say, okay, fine.

I'll give you another few weeks to see, like you mentioned, if you can consistently do it. But if it's same old, same old, where we're talking about another 13 point effort, see you later. Do you think they fire him immediately after the game? If let's just say they're in London, let me remind you, do you think they just fire him after, if it's 28 to seven, they get blown out and everyone knows he's a dead man walking, do they fire him in that locker room after the game or do they make him get on the flight, which has to be what, seven, eight, nine hours, whatever it is, and you fly back, that's got to be the worst flight back. Sure, you have all this money coming your way, but he's still human.

There's still a human element to it. No one wants to fail. Even if you get all this money, I know we all say, oh, I got his money, he robbed the bank.

I would love to be him. Imagine being on a flight for seven to nine hours after getting your doors blown off by the Jacksonville Jaguars. And you know, in year one, you're not even going to make it through the entire year because you're two and six. And probably when that plane lands, they'll either tell you to go home or they'll wait till the next day, have you come into the office to say, here, you're walking papers, we're parting ways.

This is Dunza. It feels like a Monday firing. I don't think they would do it across the pond.

I don't think you could, I mean, maybe I'm wrong. I don't think they'd leave him in London. No, they would arrange a way for him to get back. Say you have a sit down meeting on Monday, the, you know, George Payton, the new ownership, and that's where I think they come to the decision and put the release out there instead of like right after the game. If that was you and we're basically trying to figure out how would you want to get fired? If you were going to get fired, would you rather just know in the locker room right after the game and then you fly back independently of the team? Or would you rather just wait until Monday to find out? I would probably rather find out right away. Same. Because at least then we get sort of washed away in the games and, you know, starting at one o'clock Eastern and at least then you don't have to have that long plane ride of wondering. Well, that's the thing.

Am I safe? Could you imagine being on the team jet coming back from London? You have Russell Wilson. Guys, it's an eight hour flight. I got to do my high knees here. All right. High knees, everybody. All right, Broncos country.

We lost again. Let's ride. Let's ride.

Let's ride. If I'm the Daniel Hackett, I know I'm getting fired. I'm like, Russ, just shut the bleep up.

Okay. Get me a drink and shut the bleep up. I would not want to be on that flight if I was going to get fired on Monday.

Number one, I wouldn't want to be around Russell Wilson with all his act and his shtick that he does. But just sitting in a plane and I know it's a team charter, so it has to be comfortable, big comfy seats, all that. And you get excellent meal service, I'm sure.

But just sit in there for seven, eight, nine hours, which is such a boring thing to do and so nerve wracking to begin with. And now you have to have that hanging over your head. Well, I know I'm going to get fired. I'm still on this plane though. No one has told me anything officially.

That would have to be the longest flight of somebody's life. Eight hours knowing you're going to get fired, but just when are they going to actually tell me? Like any time someone that is wearing a suit in that organization walks by you on the flight, not that I think they would fire him directly on the plane once the plane gets up in the air, but any time someone comes close to you, like you doze off for a second. Hey, Nathaniel, can I talk to you for a second?

Oh, hey, what's up? Man, I can't wait to see what happens the rest of the way. Like your heart's going to have a heart palpitation. Anytime someone that is a power in that organization goes within two feet of you, you're going to think that you're going to get fired on that plane. I don't see how he makes it really now past this weekend. Because not that the Broncos are definitely going to lose this game.

I just don't see how they perform well enough where you say, okay, I got to continue this suffering. And I got to continue just this joke and this clown show what the Denver Broncos have become. And there was a perception out there when Russ got there that he was going to be the missing piece to the Super Bowl. You look at that roster, defense is good. We know defense is up to par of being a championship defense. That offense, it was vastly overrated.

The line's not good. We know Melvin Gordon was washed up anyway before the start of this season. He fumbles the ball too much. Givante Williams gets hurt.

And I know you could not foresee Tim Patrick going down for the season. But when Jerry Judy's your best weapon, Jerry Judy, I don't think he's been a disaster. But he hasn't been really all that good.

Like he's starting to fall into the bus category. I know it's only been two years into the league, but he's looked bad at times. You don't have great weapons there. You had better weapons in Seattle. I know he didn't like the coach and Pete Carroll. I know he was fed up with the organization. Russ was the problem though.

And that's crazy to say, but he wasn't willing to listen. He thought that he was the almighty Russell Wilson. He was going to be great and it was going to be his time to shine, let him cook. He's probably missing DK Metcalfe right now. He's probably missing Tyler Lockett right now and imagine. You know, if they're able to find the way to still get Kenneth Walker. Who's looking like a stud the last three weeks.

The rookie running back out of Michigan State. It was the second round pick. Just let's call how it is. The Seahawks situation right now is much better than the Denver situation. And it may be better for the foreseeable future because I don't know if Russ is ever going to turn this around. And for Seattle, you have to find that quarterback of the future. But Geno Smith through the first seven weeks of the season has clearly, it's not even close. It's not even debatable. He is clearly outplaying and outperforming Russell Wilson.

It is Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. When would Nathaniel Hackett get fired? I'm saying right after this weekend. I'll lean that they'll lose to Jacksonville. I think he's going to get fired even if they win, they'll probably win ugly if they do. I don't think he's surviving past this week, especially when the week afterwards is a bye week and you have a second year GM have to come out today and say, yeah, we have 100% confidence in him. You have to say that seven games into a coach's tenure.

That means you don't have confidence in him. When we come on back, Jamar Chase is hurt, going to be out four to six weeks. What does that mean for the Cincinnati Bengals? And one NFL legend is saying that a star wide receiver could potentially be interested in joining a specific team that we may talk about just a little bit here on CBS Sports Radio.

We'll get to that story when we come on back in five minutes. Before the 60s and 70s, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today. 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.

Miss your show. Jump back to their awesome rewide feature. The Odyssey app is NFL football, live and on demand, wherever you are, whenever you want. Did we mention it's all free?

Download the Odyssey app today. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. I have two predictions about this Green Bay Packers Buffalo Bills game. First off, Alan Lazard, it just was announced that he's not gonna be able to play on Sunday.

So Alan Lazard is out. I saw that this spread as early as the morning, this morning in some books was the bills were eleven and a half point favorites. Imagine getting eleven and a half points with Aaron Rodgers. I never thought I would see that, but I'm telling you, I would lay, lay the eleven and a half points with the bills, Lazard out. So that's prediction number one, eleven and a half points, lay it with the bills and I'll give you a prediction number two.

I think you see Jordan Love in the fourth quarter. I think to start the fourth quarter, this game is that much of a blowout where this may be forty two to seventeen, maybe something like that because Buffalo and I know Green Bay has good defense. I've been playing great because their offense hasn't really done much, but they have some good names on that defense, which I hear Alexander, Kenny Clark, Devondra Campbell, like you got good names on that team. Rashawn, like there are solid players on the Green Bay Packers defense, but that offense could do nothing. Your game plan may have to be Aaron Jones, AJ Dillon, run the ball, first down, second down, get as close as you can, run, run, run, run, run, and then on third down that's the only down that you're going to throw because Lazard's out. Sammy Watkins is questionable. Christian Watson is questionable.

You know Randall Cobb is on IR, Romeo Dobbs and Omari Rodgers who drops the ball left and right, drops to the return game, drops it in the passing game. This is going to be a massacre in Buffalo. Hickey, is there any way, like we had John Coon on last night, friend of Aaron Rodgers, former Green Bay Packer, and even he said, I'm trying to find the way to just give you a chance and a thought that the Packers could win this game and he had nothing.

This was humming and humming and humming and humming and humming. The only way, and I hate to say this, but the only way that the Buffalo Bills have a chance of losing this game is if Josh Allen gets hurt early on. And Case Keenum isn't even a bad backup, not that you ever want to see Josh Allen go down, but if it came to that, like Case Keenum may be able to beat this version of the Packers. That's how much better Buffalo is and that's why I see nothing, nothing that tells me and I'm watching how the Packers are going to win, but like 14, but I see nothing that could tell me that the Green Bay Packers are going to win this game. They're going to be three and five.

Here's what they hopefully did already. Hopefully last year when they on a Thursday night missing their three best receivers went to Arizona who was undefeated on a Thursday night and won the game. You bottle up whatever that was, whatever, Josh Allen, these Buffalo Bills, whatever Mojo they had going on, they got a bottle, put some of that in there and it said, we're going to save this for basically break when needed.

This is when you go out, you break that bottle and you burst out whatever Mojo you had that night on Sunday. Otherwise, I got nothing for you. You know what you need and it still probably won't be enough, but with Rogers, the way that he looks like at times that he just doesn't care, you need to get the ball first and go right down the field and get a touchdown because if the Bills get the ball first or even if the Packers get the ball first and it's three down and then Buffalo goes up seven nothing, this could get ugly really quickly because once Rogers realizes he realizes that he has no shot, you know that he's just going to look as if he does not want to be on the field and he's going to start tuning everybody out and just basically say, get me on the plane.

I don't even know if the guy eats wings, but get me some wings, you know, roll up something maybe and get me right on that flight back. I want no part in this game and that's really the most concerning thing with Rogers. There's moments where he looks like he just doesn't care and it's probably more frustration than him actually not caring. But there's a lot of times this year, Ryan, when you see Rogers, the way that he conducts himself when speaking to the media, the last two weeks, you could tell he's clearly frustrated. There's times where it comes off as that he just doesn't even care what's going on right now and it's okay.

Get me to the end of this season. I get that that's basically his kind of persona. He's always been kind of that guy.

It's like the Cali cool, almost kind of cool guy, too cool for school sort of thing. But like I said, you could actively see he's very frustrated and now it's almost he doesn't care. I'll just call out whoever I want to, when I want to. It's their fault, not my fault. I was just checking, by the way, to try to get an actual answer to your question about how the Packers could find a way to win the game on Sunday. You got something for me here. I don't. I thought I did. I was going to say Mother Nature throws them a bone because the Bills do struggle running the ball.

Maybe if you had kind of like that, was that that winter start on what you want to call it last year when you had that Patriots Bills Monday night game or windy, it was snowing and that game basically was a ground in pound slog and that's how the Patriots won the game. What is it called? Cyclone or something like that. Yeah. A bomb cyclone. Maybe that's right.

With a bomb cyclone. Yeah. If you had that, I was looking. Maybe that could help because you have AJ Dylan.

You have, you know, Aaron or Aaron Jones, AJ Dylan, like you run the ball. It is going to be on Sunday night, 62 mostly cloudy. That's a beautiful summer day in Buffalo. One percent chance of rain.

So it doesn't look like you'll be getting any help from Mother Nature. Yeah, they're cooked. They're going to be three and five.

I don't see a path for them to win. So Alan Lazard out. Also I saw today from Adam Schefter, Jamar Chase is dealing with a hip injury that is expected to sideline him four to six weeks and makes him a prime candidate for injured reserve per sources.

Chase visited a hip specialist Wednesday and is seeking more answers about his injury. Here is the schedule for the Cincinnati Bengals the next four to six weeks, and it is good for them that they do have a by factoring in here as well. Now you also have T Higgins and Tyler Boyd.

That's enormous. And Tyler Boyd told me an eye on football on Sunday. We feel as if we have three number one wide receivers.

So the chase law stinks and at least he's not going to eat surgery and he's going to be back. But that team was starting to really start to be moving in the right direction at four and three the last two weeks, New Orleans and Atlanta, even they won that game ugly against New Orleans. They just dominated Atlanta. They should still win up against Cleveland this week in the dog pound, which I know is not an easy place to play. After that, they get the Panthers.

That should still be a win. Then you get a bye week. You're three weeks in coming out of the by you get Pittsburgh, who their offense does not look all that hot.

And then after that, you get Tennessee. So that's five games leading into the first weekend of December, where then you get Kansas City. You would hope that Jamar Chase will be back for the Kansas City game. You got to remember last year, the Bengals actually beat the Chiefs twice. We all remember the AFC title game. They also beat them towards the end of the season. I would say they should still be Cleveland.

They should still be Carolina. I get divisional games that Cleveland Steelers could always be tough, but I would say still beat the Steelers. And then, yeah, they probably lose to Tennessee out of those four games. Worst case, they probably go two and two. Is that fair to say?

Worst case, two and two between Cleveland, Carolina, Pittsburgh and Tennessee, assuming that Chase could get back up against the Kansas City Chiefs. I would even think maybe that it's like to like your worst case. Yes. Two or two. But that's like almost like disappointing. I look at that right away.

I say three and one. Right. Now their defense is playing well and their defense really started playing well down the stretch last year as a major part of their postseason run. Borough has been phenomenal recently. We saw what he did last week, 481 passing yards and the four total touchdowns. You still have Boyd. You still have Higgins and you have your running back, Joe Mixon.

Yeah, I would kind of lean three and one. They're going to be dangerous again. We're going to start to eventually put the Bengals in the conversation, maybe not neck and neck with Buffalo and Kansas City. But if you had to give me three teams to get to the Super Bowl and I probably would have said, I said it earlier in the week that I would put the Ravens and I give the Ravens a slight edge with the Ravens inability to close games and we got to see if they could survive this stretch without Chase. I'm going to start to think that the Bengals are going to emerge as that team lurking. It's going to be the Bengals, the Ravens, whoever gets out of that AFC North as the vision champion is going to give Buffalo or Kansas City their best run for their money. And you got to remember, you're not going to have this Bengals team fearing whoever they play because they were just in a Super Bowl a year ago and they have a young core that is really good. So we have the Jamar Chase injuries out for four to six weeks. Allen Lazard out for this game up against the Buffalo Bills to the Green Bay Packers. Let's hear the Hall of Famer, the playmaker, Michael Irvin. He was on one of five three, the fan in Dallas, and he says Cowboys possible destination for Odell Beckham Jr. that OBJ actually wants to go to Dallas and play for the Cowboys.

I really believe you can have Odell Beckham because I have personal knowledge of knowing how much Odell Beckham would love to play for the Dallas Cowboys. I'm talking about something somebody told me one time, or something I heard on the line. I'm talking about I got personal knowledge. I just said, out of all the places he ever talked about playing, I talked to him about playing here.

I'm just telling you, but that's going to cost you something. But it may cost you some money, but it won't cost you any positions, any players, if you could get them. I have five guesses, and I know that's a lot. Tampa could be a destination, Green Bay could be a destination, a return to LA as a destination. I also would say the Buffalo Bills, and then you probably put Dallas in there too. And that would be such a Jerry Jones move with CD lamb. You got Gallup, no more Amari Cooper. They could really use that in a wide open NFC. And I guess you also have to throw Kansas City into the mix as well, and consider the Chiefs. I know that they traded today for Kaderi's Tony, but I could see him going to Dallas.

It'd be an Odell moving to be a Jerry Jones move, and it would help the Dallas Cowboys. It is that Yelp show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll take a break when we come on back. We go to Houston, the site of the World Series, Astros, and the Phillies is the matchup.

Justin Verlander going up against Nola tomorrow night, the TV play-by-play man for the Philadelphia Phillies. The TMac joins us next. Throughout the 60s and 70s, there's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today. Find your perfect fall suit with Inducino.

Customize every detail of their seasonal designs for a one-of-a-kind look at a great price. And get $50 off purchases of $399 or more at Inducino.com promo code fall update. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. We continue it as the Zach Gelb Show coast-to-coast on CBS Sports Radio, the fall classic is almost here with the World Series tomorrow night. Get it underway in Houston between the Astros and the Phillies.

The game one matchup will be Aaron Nola going up against Justin Verlander. So let's head down to H-town right now and welcome in the TV play-by-play voice for the Philadelphia Phillies, and that is Tom McCarthy. Tom, appreciate the time. How you been? I'm great, Zach. How are you, buddy?

Fantastic. So we all know the big story with the Phillies. They got off to that slow start. Joe Girardi got fired and now Rob Thompson has them four games away from winning it all. What was the biggest difference from Joe Girardi to Rob Thompson?

You know, I think it was pace more than anything else, Zach. You know, it's Rob has this sort of presence about him that's not too high and it's not too low. And I think he exudes that to the guys and the coaches around him.

So, you know, I love Joe. I mean, I love everything about Joe Girardi. And I think he's going to be a heck of a manager again when he gets another job. But I just think that this team needed somebody to allow them to establish their personality in the clubhouse. And I think Rob has been able to do that. I think that's the biggest thing. You know, we all know times when we have bosses that are, you can sense how they feel, whether it be good, bad, or indifferent. And I don't think you can sense that with Rob. I think it's just a constant calm. And I think the players really feed off that.

Well, he was a spark plug. There's no doubt about it because all throughout the year when you got to June and they made the move from Girardi, I would look at this team and I said, if they could just get to October, they're all built for October because you have the two studs in the rotation, Nola, and then also Wheeler. And you look at these bats, you know, this is a long ball game now.

Yeah, absolutely. And I also think that once they got to the postseason, they were so relaxed. You know, the pressure was getting to the postseason and erasing the 11 year absence from the postseason.

So once they got there, I just think they played relaxed like they just played without any care in the world. We know Bryce Harper has been in the public spotlight for a long time ever since he was a teenager. If he could finally hoist that World Series trophy, that piece of metal, as Rob Manfred would call it, what do you think that would mean for the sport? I got to tell you, Zach, he has been so good for this organization.

So I look at it in a lot of ways. I look at it, obviously, in baseball terms, how good has he been as a player? He's been great as a player. The fact that there's a D.H. this year meant that he didn't have to have surgery on his Tommy John injury, because if there wasn't a D.H., you'd have to have Tommy John. But even beyond that, the marketing part of him has been, I mean, through the roof for this organization since he first put a Phillies uniform on. You know, he's embraced the fanatic, he's embraced the city, he's embraced everything about being in Philadelphia. And to me, that's a huge deal. So for him to be able to raise the trophy, even raising the nationally MVP trophy, I saw the sense of relief in his body and in his mind, talking to his parents. I think they felt the same way.

So I think he's going to play really free for this. And I do think that it'll add to his legacy if he can win a World Championship. We all know about the Astros cheating scandal a few years later. I really don't care about it going into this World Series because they've had sustained success now with the new regime. We know they haven't won a World Series since, but at bare minimum, they've been to the LCS each and every year. Is the cheating scandal being talked about a lot leading up to this World Series or not so much? No, I think it is, but I don't think it's from anybody with the Phillies. I think that more than anything else, it's people outside of Philadelphia who are saying, hey, we're rooting for you guys because the Astros cheated.

You know what I mean? Like that's the only thing that it's carried over. It wasn't mentioned at all today in any of the press conferences. Now David Robertson's had to answer some of the questions because he said some things after the Yankees lost to the Astros in the in the 2017 American League Championship Series.

So he's had to answer a couple of those, but that hasn't been a big deal, honestly. But yeah, I think it's more people outside of the organization that really have talked about it, people around the country that have said that they're rooting for the Phillies because of that. Other than that, though, I don't think really anybody's talked about it too much. Talking to Tom McCarthy, the TV play-by-play man for the Philadelphia Phillies, how about this pitching matchup tomorrow night in Game 1 of the World Series?

We know how good Nola is. And then Justin Verlander, it looked like his career was over because of injuries the last two years and he just put on one heck of a season. I got to tell you, Zach, I mean, he's amazing, isn't he, Verlander?

I mean, just think about that. I can't believe it. You know, we marvel at Brady, which we should. We marvel at, you know, people that play deep into their forties like Jamie Moyer. But at this level with Barrett Verlander throwing 99, 98 miles an hour, so he's going to win a Cy Young.

And you know what? He's not going to be done after this. So, I mean, we marvel at Scherzer with what he's been able to accomplish at his age and to be able to make the money he's making. I think Verlander has some retribution in this series. You know, his numbers are not great in the postseason, which is very weird.

But I love the pace of Aaron Nola. I love everything about him when it comes to his ability to kind of compartmentalize. He doesn't get... I mean, he's pretty chill. I mean, he really is. I mean, he doesn't get too fazed about a lot of things. If you get, yeah, that's really cool, from Aaron Nola, then you are really getting the pulse of Aaron Nola. But he's an unbelievable competitor.

That's the thing. He's an unbelievable competitor. When you look at the Astros, what concerns you the most about them that could cause some concern for the Phillies? Well, you know, last week I said it was Yordan Alvarez, just because I saw him when we played them the last week of the season. Honestly, it's Alex Bregman.

That to me is the concern. I think you could pitch to Alvarez in certain spots that he has not had a great... He didn't have a great American League Champions Series. To me, it's Bregman.

I think you have to be able to... You have to be careful with him. I know it sounds strange, but I just think that he, you know, he has that ability to turn a game unexpectedly. I also think Al Tuvay has become a postseason star in a lot of ways.

I mean, think about it. He's got the second most home runs in postseason history, the Matty Ramirez. So I think those two guys are my biggest concern. I think the pitching probably would be my concern, but I really think the Phillies pitching has matched up against their pitching. How about the bullpen for both teams? I think the Astros bullpen has more depth, but I don't think it's deep depth. I just think that there's one or two guys more than the Phillies have, but I also think that the Phillies have more veterans that have had some postseason experience that could help them out if they can rise to the occasion. I'll be interested to see what the roster looks like, if there's a change in the bullpen at all. But I do think that the Astros have a little bit of an edge when it comes to their bullpen.

And you mentioned Al Tuvay. We know the Astros haven't lost the game yet this postseason. He's only had three hits. Like it seems like, and maybe show the final two games of the Yankees series, that he's just going to be due to break out and have a Monster World Series. Yeah, I mean, but I look at his overall numbers, I mean, doubles, homers, hits, you know, average. I mean, he is the active leader in all those categories. So you know, to me, you got to be careful with them.

You just got to be careful with them. You know, he's, he's a remarkable talent. And you know, I was stunned when I was looking at where he ranks among postseason players.

I realized that Ruth and Gary and those guys didn't play as many games, but my goodness, the fact that he's number two to Manny and home runs, that's startling to me. You being the great baseball person that you are, Tom McCarthy, being around the game for a long time. We talked about what this World Series would mean for Bryce Harper, just how about Dusty Baker, because he's one of the good guys in this sport, perfect manager for this team taking over what they had to go through.

And we know it's been a long time coming for Dusty. You know, honestly, Zach, I mean, he's one of the best people I've met in this game. We've had some really cool conversations. Our last conversation was about the fact that, you know, he took this photo in the Houston Chronicle after right before the football season began. It was he, Lovie Smith and Silas from the Houston Rockets, three blackhead coaches in the three major sports, and to talk to Dusty about that and how proud he was of that. And he said, you know, listen, Lovie and I have been really good friends. We've done this before in Chicago with Bill Cartwright, but to see the emotion on his face about how he said, I can't believe how much this means to the people of Houston, that there are three blackhead coaches that are in charge of the three big sports.

The guy gets it in every sense of imagination. You know, he interviewed for the job when Joe Girardi got it, and he and I sat and talked in the lobby for about 20 minutes when he was going through the interview process. I love the guy, you know, one of my favorite people of all time is Gary Matthews, the Sarge, and that's his best friend.

So you know, that's why I'm so connected to him, just a really good person. And I hope he doesn't get his get the World Series championship. But if he does, I mean, I'm not going to sit there and poo-poo at all. I think it's going to be the cherry on top of the Sunday for Hall of Fame career. What determines this series, in your opinion? I think games three and four will determine the series, honestly. You know, the Phillies, I think, will get a split here in Houston, but three and four, how can Ranger Suarez pitch against whether it be, you know, whoever it's going to be for the Astros, and how can the Phillies piece together game four from a starting pitching standpoint? To me, that's going to be the key. Games three and four are going to be the key to this series.

Wrap it up with Tom McCarthy, does the TV play-by-play for the Philadelphia Phillies could also catch him on the radio throughout the postseason. The NFL, you're working for CBS. This is the big question we've been having. We know that Buffalo, Kansas City, and the Eagles, and whatever order you want are the three best teams in the NFL, who would be your fourth best team then? Boy, that's a really good question. You know, Buffalo is still my favorite team.

Boy, that's a really good question. I don't think we know what the Rams are as of yet. I don't think it's the Giants, even though they only have one loss, and I'm not poo-pooing what they're doing.

I really am not poo-pooing what they're doing. I still think it's probably somebody like the Rams, because I think they're going to get better as this year goes on. But I do think the NFL is top-heavy right now with those three teams. And I'm entertained by the fact that those three teams, we're going to see a lot of them when it comes to the postseason, quite frankly. But I still need to see more of the Giants to see what they're doing. Here's the thing about the Giants. Texans, Lions, coming up in the next three weeks. Obviously, those are winnable games.

They could have send up to the top. I'm not going to put the Cowboys at number four. I'm just not going to do it yet.

What about Minnesota? I hate to say it, but I'm not sold on Kirk Cousins as much as I love Dalvin Cook. I just think that the Rams, to me, are still a work in progress, and I'm still going to give them the benefit of that.

I don't know if that makes any sense or not, but that's what I was thinking about the other day. The next thing is, before the year, the NFC conversation was it will either be the Rams, Green Bay or Tampa Bay in the Super Bowl. We'll see what the Rams do this weekend against the 49ers. Green Bay is probably going to lose to the Bills and the Bucks play tonight against the Ravens. It's nuts how you may have two out of those three, maybe even all three, probably two out of three, because the Bucks still play in the NFC South, miss out on the postseason, potentially. Yeah.

And I'll be honest with you. I mean, you mentioned the Ravens. I mean, the Ravens could be the fourth best team in the national football. They just can't finish the game.

You really could. They just can't finish the game and it's all about him. It's all about Lamar, really more than anything else. And I think the Andrews injury, I think that's going to be a key also. Last thing I'll ask you, I have to give you some congratulations because I read an article that you had a little conflict for game four of the NLCS. I heard your son, Pat, got married. Is that true?

He did on Saturday. Yeah. So when we planned this a couple of years ago, there was not supposed to be a game this Saturday. It's just one of those things that you don't plan a lockout and you don't plan an extra wildcard when you put these things together. So you kind of got to just roll with things and I'm really fortunate.

I mean, I work for an unbelievable organization and that organization kind of lets me, you know, I don't want to say roam, but they do let me roam a lot, which is awesome because they can let me do a lot of different things. Now, your son's a broadcaster. I know him well. Did he say, dad, you can miss my wedding or was that even on the table?

No, he said, dad, you can miss the rehearsal dinner. That's all he said. Well, Tom, enjoy the World Series. Thanks so much. I appreciate you carving out a few minutes. All right, Zach.

Keep it going, buddy. There he is. Tom McCarthy, the TV play by play voice of the Philadelphia Phillies. Real quickly, Hickey, let's just say you had a son.

You were the play by play man for the Phillies like you're doing a few innings on the radio. And let's say it was game seven of the World Series. Your son is getting married. Do you skip game seven of the World Series to beat your son's wedding?

Not too bad guy. No, I got to be at the game. Whoa. I think you got to be at the wedding. Imagine your wife. If I never saw a World Series before, I got to be there. Yeah.

But your wife, you'll be you'll be getting divorced right after that. I think you got to pick your son there. 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.

Miss your show? Jump back to their awesome rewind feature. The Odyssey app is NFL football, live and on demand, wherever you are, whenever you want. And do we mention it's all free? Download the Odyssey app today. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app, your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown and millions of podcasts on demand. First of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams, pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. Is there something really absurd that skews you out? Getting a paper cut on my eyeball. A fear you can't shake. I'm going to leak ocular fluid on my cheeks.

It's going to go into my mouth and I will perish. Whatever scares you, I want to talk about it. Join me, Larry Mullins, on my new podcast, Your Weirdest Fears. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from.