Harbaugh Horizons (Hour 1)

What's the strangest thing you're afraid of? Tails without fur on them, such as rats or opossums. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast Your Weirdest Fears, where we dig into the crazy things you're afraid of. Everything from animal people hybrids, you know people who get surgeries to look like an animal, to giant statues.

If I ever saw one of those giant statues, I probably would poop my pants. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. Throughout the 60s and 70s, cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie Mafia, including its enigmatic ringleader, Kirksey Nix. 15 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 2, The Dixie Mafia. Available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from the police show yet not over, the 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 Thursday edition of Maggie and Perloff.

Maggie Grand, you're Perloff both out this entire week. So Zach, I'll pay with you all the way up until 6 p.m. Eastern across all of our great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, and that free Odyssey app. 855-212-4CBS is numbered 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. KJ Wright, the former Seattle Seahawks, and Raider will join us coming up at the top of the hour. And then at 5 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. Pacific, the former NFL MVP Joe Fiseman will stop by.

I gotta just be honest right out of the gate. I'm in a food coma right now. So I had some friends that were in town and they're actually seeing Fish, the band last night and tonight at the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden. And they said to me, Zach, we know you're working early this week than normal because, you know, usually when you have friends in town, you go and you meet out for dinner or something. Let's do lunch. So I said, okay, yeah, I could actually do lunch. You know, I'm not working today until 3 p.m. Eastern. So I went to this place, Marks off Madison, right at noon Eastern. I didn't leave until 2 p.m. Eastern.

I looked at my watch and I said, I gotta get it out of here because I have to get to the studio to do the show. I had iced coffee, which isn't anything crazy. That probably gets the juices flowing a little bit earlier than normal. And then I had a French dip. And the French dip was so large, I don't even know how I'm gonna make it through the final three hours of this show. So it's gonna be a little bit crazy today. It was delicious. Absolutely delicious. A wonderful sandwich.

But I kinda didn't have good clock management, let's say, or load management, if you want to say, because now I'm sitting here in the studio and I feel as if many of us felt about a few weeks ago on Thanksgiving, where you just go, okay, I just want to unbuckle my belt, put on some sweatpants, and just sit and do nothing after devouring food like that. So I guess you could say I'm playing a little bit hurt today. This could be my my Willis Reed moment on CPS Sports Radio. Anyway, we welcome you in. We're happy for you to be here with us.

Emmanuel Bobari along the other way. And usually on a show like this, we would start the show off talking some NFL. I'm actually in a college football mood just for the opening segment.

And I have a thought about Jim Harbaugh. Now, when you do this job, usually you have to be opinionated, right? You got to have passion, you got to be opinionated, you got to be knowledgeable, and you have to entertain. If you can't do those four things, you're not gonna make it in this industry. I guess I can do that because I keep on getting hired places, but if you think otherwise, you could always tweet me and tell me I'm boring and I'm a jerk at at Zach Elba on Twitter.

You give me a call at 855-2124-CBS. But most of the times, I hate when you listen to a talk show host and they go, ah, I don't know, right? You want your talk show host to have an opinion. Not that if someone calls you and asks you a question and you literally don't know the answer for, don't just blow smoke up all of our asses and say, oh yeah, no, this is what's gonna happen, I know this and that. But usually when it's something simple like, is Jim Harbaugh gonna be back with the Michigan Wolverines next year?

You should be able to have a yes or no answer instantly. Even with all that I just said in that last two minutes, I really don't know what Jim Harbaugh is going to do this offseason. Because if you remember last offseason, that was coming off finally, beating Ohio State, that was coming off a Big Ten Championship and a birth in the college football playoff where they got dismantled by Georgia. If it was up to Jim Harbaugh, Jim Harbaugh, no matter how you spin it, would have taken the Minnesota Vikings job. You don't go interview in Minnesota for an entire day. Like he was there for 12, 13 hours, it was an outrageous amount of time in an interview.

You don't do that unless you want a job. Because I think we've all been in job interviews where you don't really know sometimes if you want the job or sometimes you go into the job and you're like, yeah this is my dream job, I definitely want it and you hope it's a long interview process and it goes great and they offer you the job. But if you didn't want a job, then you wouldn't sit through a 10-hour interview. Like let's say if I was getting interviewed here at CBS Sports Radio before they hired me to do the sixth to 10 p.m. Eastern time slot and I knew that I was just taking the interview just for the experience and let's just say I didn't want the job, there would be things that I would do to make sure that that interview would wrap up as quick as possible.

And you could control the answers that you give. But the fact that that interview went as long as it did in Minnesota, it means that Jim Harbaugh wanted the Vikings job. Now he knew the general manager, Kwasi Adolpho Mensah, and the general manager and the the Wolf family elected not to hire Jim Harbaugh and they went with Kevin O'Connell.

You fast forward a year later, worked out well for the Vikings, they're in the playoffs. Not that I think they're going to a Super Bowl but they got a shot to go to a Super Bowl and Kevin O'Connell is in line to be one of the finalists for coach of the year. And on the other side with Jim Harbaugh, he has now had sustained success at Michigan, his school, his alma mater, where now he is defeated and beat the snot out of Ohio State twice. He's won two Big Ten championships and now coming up this weekend he's gonna coach in his second ever college football playoff game with Michigan. And not only that, unlike last year, you're expected to win this game.

And the indication would be and the feeling would be that Michigan come January 9th, the night of the national championship game, is going to be playing in the national championship game up against what I would think would be Georgia or if you're Ohio State then you're gonna tell me that it's gonna be Ohio State. So I'm just wondering as we have three jobs open right now with the Carolina Panthers being open, the Indianapolis Colts being open, and the Denver Broncos, if Jim Harbaugh wants to get back in to the NFL because a year ago no matter what he says and he has even admitted that he had that itch and that desire that was still there because when he was the coach of the 49ers he in four years got the three NFC title games and lost the Super Bowl to his brother. So he felt like there was some unfinished business in the NFL and he was interested in pursuing and dipping his toe back into those waters but he didn't get the opportunity last year. Now there's no doubt about it that if Jim Harbaugh really wants to go back to the NFL one team will at least hire him. Last year he only took one interview so if he really really really wants to go back to the NFL you may need to diversify and select and take more interviews than just one because last year you put all your eggs in the Minnesota Vikings basket and you didn't get the job and then you went back to Michigan. Now let me remind you when he went back to Michigan last year he said this is not gonna be a yearly thing. There's always gonna be speculation but I'm coming back to be the coach of the Michigan Wolverines. Now earlier in December he did say that time of the year type of speculation but I think no man knows the future. Now when you hear that and I'll give you the rest of the quote in just a second when you just hear that but I think no man knows the future you're thinking well if you interviewed 10 plus hours last year for the Vikings job and didn't get it and now you're saying no man knows the future when you're in control of what opportunities you could pursue I think a lot of people are gonna be speculating that Jim Harbaugh intends to go back to the NFL but then he follows it up with but I think that people that think we've done a good job and are pleased with the job that we've done here at Michigan they're going to be very happy to learn that we will be back enthusiastically coaching the Wolverines in 2023 and for those people that don't approve of the job we've done or rather see somebody else coach here I think they'll be most likely disappointed to learn we'll be back coaching the Wolverines and in 2023 so you hear the first part of that answer where it's like oh no man knows the future and you go hmm is Jim Harbaugh gonna entertain NFL offers but then you hear him say he's gonna be coaching Michigan in 2023 now I could already hear people jamming up the phone line saying well Nick Saban said he was not gonna be the coach of Alabama when he was with the Dolphins and he'll be the coach of the Dolphins and he ended up being the coach of Alabama and there's been many other examples of that as well we're gonna find out sooner rather than later if Jim Harbaugh actually is going to hold true to his word that this is not going to be a yearly thing him trying to dip his toe in the waters of the NFL because in the next few weeks we'll know if he actually takes an interview or not and we'll know if he'll still be the coach of the of the Michigan Wolverines next year or in the NFL and I really don't know how this is going to play out and anything he says right now is just gonna be a distraction to this team and you don't want to be a distraction to this team because you are two wins away from winning a national championship you are a win away from being in a national championship now I don't think this is a distraction leading into this weekend leading into Saturday but if they win and let me remind you when the national championship game it is on that Monday January 9th well what is January 8th January 8th is the final day of the NFL regular season so on January 9th which is Black Monday maybe it's not a distraction heading into that game but the timing does line up if Michigan is playing in that game we're right after that things could move rather quickly because we already know three jobs are open Broncos getting rid of Nathaniel Hackett who couldn't hack it in the NFL you already know now for months that the Panthers job is open I think Steve Wilkes is most likely gonna get that job back but if Jim Harbaugh is interested it totally changes the conversation and then you have the Colts who have Jeff Saturday off the couch from ESPN the former great center who is their interim coach and even though Jim Ursay tried to make it seem like that's a chance he could be back I'd be stunned if Jeff Saturday's the coach next year and oh yeah by the way Jim Harbaugh is pretty popular in Indianapolis so I just wonder with the three jobs that we have open and more jobs opening up probably Arizona opening up is I'm starting to think Cliff Kingsbury and Steve Keim won't be back next year and we'll see what happens with the Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs and there's a few other jobs that have the chance to open up I just wonder if Jim Harbaugh is at least going to take an interview not that this can't change a year from now or two years from now but if you take an interview that means you're listening that means the NFL isn't out of your system that means that some part of you whether it's more than 50 percent or not is interested in going back to the NFL if you don't take an interview and you say that you're gonna be back as the coach of Michigan and this is not going to become a yearly thing it's one thing to say those things but to not take the interview actually means that you're gonna stay true to your word and as we sit here on the 29th day of December as we're in the final days of 2022 and we get ready to flip the calendar to 2023 I genuinely do not know if Michigan's gonna have Jim Harbaugh back next year because once again there's one thing to say yeah I'm not going anywhere but then there's another thing not to take an interview with an NFL team and for Harbaugh you know it's weird because he makes all this money I know he took a salary reduction and then ended up getting a lot of it back in the buyout it's only three million dollars if you wanted to go to the NFL this year so like you say you have sympathy for him and people go I like let's not get crazy let's not get too emotional I actually don't think there's a wrong decision here because that Michigan that's your school you've already got them to a spot where no one thought you could get after your first few years where you restored the program but you didn't bring the program to where it needed to for people to say Michigan is back back because you weren't being Ohio State now you've beat at Ohio State twice you defeated Ohio State twice you've gone now to two college football playoffs who knows how far you take it this year I would anticipate that they would be in the national championship game and Georgia probably still wins a national championship but if you lose a national championship do you say hmm this is my school you never want to be in a position not that he's anywhere close to getting fired but down the road maybe people start to turn okay you got us to the spot but we want to go win a national championship you never want to put yourself back in a spot where you're in a situation of getting fired by your alma mater like let's say four or five years down the road and with playoff expansion coming in and you have one more regular playoff and then you go to the the 12 team format it's gonna be even tougher to go on out there and win a national championship and more teams are gonna get invited to the dance so it's not crazy like in five six years for people to be saying like oh yeah Jim Harbaugh is great we love that now we can beat Ohio State but we're not going to a national championship with them and then on the other hand you could look at it as that's a reason why since I have the program in a great spot I'm so popular right now that's why I would go pursue the NFL but then if you have that itch to go back to the NFL because you got so close to to win a Super Bowl and you didn't do so what happens if you lose the national championship game this year by a field goal isn't that itch still gonna be burning there but in the college game to go win a national championship at your school so it's kind of a tough situation where your NFL past is pulling at you but then the situation that you're in right now is a pretty damn good one so I'm just gonna be really curious to see one thing and that one thing is if whenever the Michigan season ends do we find out that Jim Harbaugh actually takes an NFL interview or not because if you take the interview the words of you saying I'm definitely gonna be the coach of Michigan in 2023 or this is gonna become a yearly thing yeah you may still end up being the coach of Michigan in 2023 because you don't get the job but it shows you that you're not going to be at Michigan that much longer because then that would be back-to-back off seasons that you entertain the Vikings job and then interview and entertains another job and I just really do not know what Harbaugh is going to do usually I'm able to give you yeah I think this is gonna happen or no I don't think this is gonna happen I think this is such a conflicting thought probably in the mind of Jim Harbaugh we're right you have the devil angel on your shoulder the the angel and not the NFL is the devil but the angel is stay at Michigan stay with what's working the devil saying the NFL demons of your past are calling you you got so close to winning a Super Bowl but yet so far come back to the dark side of the NFL and that's where Jim Harbaugh's in the middle saying hmm what do I do time will tell how serious Harbaugh was about staying at Michigan and that this was not going to be a yearly thing because once again if you take an NFL interview this year no matter if you get the job or not it shows you that even though what is working at Michigan and what you're doing at Michigan is working you have one foot in but then also one foot out Zach Yelp here with you in for Maggie and pearl off all throughout the week on CBS Sports Radio you give me a call I'll turn to you eight five five two one two four CBS eight five five two one two forty two twenty seven do you think Jim Harbaugh will be in the NFL next season or do you think he'll be back on the sideline with Michigan take a timeout come on back your trusted 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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 c13 originals a cadence 13 studio season 2 the Dixie Mafia available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts that girl beer with you on CBS Sports Radio and this NFL postseason every Westwood one NFL broadcast streams live for free the wild-card round the divisional round the AFC and NFC championship games the Pro Bowl game and Super Bowl 57 catch all the action on the Odyssey app on Westwood one sports comm vo s the one station streams or by asking Alexa to open Westwood one sports and it's all sponsored by AutoZone the free AutoZone fix find their service can help troubleshoot the likely cause of your pesky check engine light for free and get you back on the road restrictions apply get in the zone AutoZone Zach yell beer with you on CBS Sports Radio so just given more thought here on the whole Derek Carr situation as now he's away from the team now you got to think when Derek Carr got benched and I know Josh McDaniel said yeah he took it great it was you know great leader Derek Carr is and I'm like man no one really takes being told that you're getting fired or you're getting bench in a good way and that it was a lovey-dovey conversation I would assume that this was Derek Carr wanting to leave the team and wanting to be away from the team I just wonder who suggested it first did the team go to Derek Carr and say Derek we are gonna bench you and if you want to just be away from this whole situation then you could leave the team or was this Derek Carr yeah I'm getting benched I'm also leaving because the Raiders if Derek Carr says he's gonna be leaving like if they really wanted to be jerks they could say okay you're not showing up from work we're gonna then suspend you and we're not going to pay you but I don't think you want to add more of a distraction than what the situation already is so I would like to believe or I tend to believe that Derek Carr said I don't want to be around the team anymore and the Raiders said okay we're gonna be fine with that because if you look at it where Derek Carr who right is a team guy say what you want about him he does come off as a good leader even though I don't think he is a franchise quarterback not that he's dying to be in that situation but it is bizarre that he's just away from the team altogether and I know it's right two weeks left of the season so who really gives a rat's ass it doesn't really matter but there's one thing to get benched and there's another thing to leave the team even though we all know that he was not gonna play again for the Raiders because if he got hurt let's say if Jared Stidham got hurt and they put Derek Carr in the game and then Derek Carr gets hurt if he can't pass a physical by the third day after the Super Bowl then he gets guaranteed 40 plus million dollars and the main reason why Derek Carr is getting benched is because of the financial component of this like sure the Raiders realize we're not gonna bring him back we don't want him back anymore and you could tell them why don't you play and why don't you finish out the job well the Raiders the financial decision is pretty obvious they don't want to risk him getting hurt and then they're gonna have to own 40 million dollars 40 plus million dollars it's like 40.4 million guaranteed I just I'm wondering here how the Raiders sell this to their fans because I don't think Derek Carr once again is this great quarterback but he's good he's solid yeah he's not a bottom third quarterback in this league but he's not a top ten guy in this league he shows some signs of just like teetering at top ten but for the most part he's like the 14th or 15th best quarterback in the NFL and whenever you think he's going to be better than that and he's looking like he's on this run of two three really good weeks he then falls on his face and it's just been the way that it's happened year in and year out but what makes Derek Carr in an advantageous situation is I do think people feel bad for Derek Carr because it was a year ago where he went through some things that no one should have to go through all the craziness of John Gruden the horrible situation of Henry Ruggs which was just sickening when you read the details and when you're a quarterback of an NFL team you're the face of the franchise you're the leader and he had to go through all those things Damon Arnett as well and he was still able to find a way to throw a to make an unimaginable situation and a bad situation into a decent one because that team against all the odds that had every reason to quit and every reason to fail rallied together and made the playoffs but in the postseason like Derek Carr wasn't good enough to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals who ended up being a lot better than what most people thought a year ago so if you are the Raiders now what you do next is going to be fascinating because the public does not trust you nor should they trust you because there's been speculation that this was a Mark Davis driven decision it's ultimately right but your boss tells you to do you do but I can't rule out that Josh McDaniels definitely wanted Derek Carr back like I can't say that he wanted him back because I don't think he did so the way that this is gonna get painted is the organization is putting all the the incompetence this year on the shoulders of Derek Carr and Derek Carr is gonna get the blame and Derek Carr is not gonna be the one that's gonna be back next year now there's some scenarios where you could put the blame on one person and everyone goes yep that guy's not good yep that guy's the biggest root of the problem and that guy shouldn't be back and you could kind of save face in what's been a bad year but when you have Mark Davis who Raiders fans don't trust for a second nor should they and then you have Josh McDaniels who has this slimy feel to him that he shouldn't be the coach but he is the coach I do believe there's gonna be a lot of Raiders fans that could probably say cars just not working like he's not awful but he's not working but then since you still have and Davis isn't going anywhere but you saw Josh McDaniels employed there's no like silver lining of hope there's nothing tangibly about the Raiders right now that you could latch on to and go aha I see the plan I see the light at the end of the tunnel so I do believe then that you get a lot of Raiders fans who in the last 24 hours are defensive and they're protective of Derek Carr and they're trying to tell you that Derek Carr is something that he's not right that oh he's not at fault here I didn't play well now he didn't get good coaching but this offseason they went out they got him Devante Adams now I know Darren Waller has been banged up I know Hunter Renfroe has been banged up Josh Jacobs has been productive I know the offensive line hasn't been great like there's a lot of excuses but last year we saw just terrible circumstances and Derek Carr was able to fight through this year Derek Carr has not been a good quarterback no matter if you're the biggest Derek Carr fan in the world or not I think we could all omit that so the point I'm making here is that I don't think Derek Carr is this awful quarterback but I don't think the Raiders made the wrong decision in saying we've seen enough this is not gonna get to go to the place we needed to go with Derek Carr but there's nothing really in that organization right now that makes me say that this time next year they're going to be vastly better and to see where Mark Davis and Josh McDaniels pivot to next I just am very intrigued by it because we went through the scenarios yesterday I don't think Brady is going to Las Vegas I think a lot of teams would have to say no to Brady first like three or four which is a lot in NFL terms because I don't think the markets gonna be as active as what people think for Brady to wind up in Las Vegas Aaron Rodgers with the dead cat pit that the Packers would have to eat if he gets traded I just don't see Rodgers going elsewhere this offseason if you're telling me the grand plan is Jimmy Garoppolo yeah sure Jimmy G I think is slightly a better quarterback than Derek Carr but does that totally change my outlook on the Raiders if Jimmy G's the quarterback next year of a Derek Carr no it doesn't if you're gonna tell me Oh Baker Mayfield's played well and two out of his last three games get excited for Baker Mayfield then I think he actually got worse at the quarterback position so I'm trying to find the name out there that you could bring in that makes me say wow okay I could set aside my lack of confidence in Josh McDaniels and Mark Davis and gravitate around that name and rally around that name and like yeah if it's Brady that'd be one thing but I don't think Brady's going there if it was Rodgers that'd be one thing but I don't think Rodgers going there so I don't believe there's a realistic name you know if you tell me Lamar Jackson gets traded different story but I don't think Lamar Jackson is getting traded to the Raiders this offseason so I don't think there's a realistic name via trade or free agency that if you're a Raiders fan in the next few weeks or a few months when you see this thing play out in March that you're jumping up and down and saying to yourself wow okay even though I was hesitant of what the Raiders are doing getting rid of Derek Carr we significantly upgraded and we're gonna be a better team next year we're definitely to go to the playoffs that's why I really do believe and they're currently positioned with the ninth overall pick that they're gonna either lose these last two games and that draft pick maybe jumps up a few spots or maybe like a team like the Bears that will be in the top five top three they don't need a quarterback they got Justin Fields you could find a trade partner to go get that guy if you fall in love with whoever's available if it's a Bryce Young if it's a CJ Stroud if it's a Will Levis Anthony Richardson like whoever that quarterback is that they scout and they say okay that's the guy that we have to go get but right now the Raiders have a trust problem where you don't trust Mark Davis you don't trust Josh McDaniels and yes Derek Carr is getting pinned for the incompetence of this organization this year and getting blamed and that's gonna be the casualty that's gonna be the guy that they let go and I could see why Raiders fans were like whoa what are we doing here we're gonna support Derek Carr we wish Derek Carr was back next year but ultimately I don't think Derek Carr was taking you to a level of anywhere that was going to be that high but then on the other side are any of the people that are running this team right now gonna make the right decision to get the next guy in there that could be drastically better than one Derek Carr and with what I've seen so far in this lone year of McDaniels in Las Vegas even though McDaniels has an extensive offensive background I would assume that the answer is more likely no than yes in terms of can Josh McDaniels turn around the Raiders because I don't think it's gonna happen and eventually he'll go back and he will milk milk off the teat of one Bill Belichick when he's the offensive coordinator once again in New England years and years from now but who knows maybe Bill O'Brien's coming back from some of the rumors that you may be reading so maybe that offensive coordinator position could not be open in New England a few years from now Zach yelp here with you on CBS Sports Radio the Raiders have a trust problem because they're fans for good reasons don't trust Mark Davis and Josh McDaniels and I'm just fascinated by who's gonna be starting for them next year and what their big grand plan to is and if you're Derek Carr and even if you stormed out of the office and you're like oh I'm done I'm done with this team you disrespect me I know he loves the Raiders it's kind of a blessing for you dude you're gonna either be a free agent or you get to control where you get traded to because you have a no trade clause in your contract hate to break it to you and maybe Derek's naive it wasn't ever gonna work you were never gonna win anything with the Raiders now you get to kind of pick where you go next and I could guarantee you this unless you are just a terrible decision-maker it's gonna be tough to pick a spot next year we're gonna be in a worse situation than the one that you were in this year so this is new life for one Derek Carr and he should be appreciative that the Raiders is saying yeah we don't believe in you anymore Zach Gelb here with you on CBS Sports Radio a big big big week for one NFL head coach that we praised a lot throughout this year we'll tell you who that coach is on the other side Zach Gelb here with you on CBS Sports Radio KJ Wright gonna be stopping by 17 minutes from now Joe Theismann will join us at 5 p.m. Eastern 2 p.m. Pacific NFL week 17 is here that's a bizarre statement to say it's already week 17 Cowboys and Titans tonight in a game that means absolutely nothing Tennessee it's a win in your in-game next week up against the Jaguars they're gonna be starting Joshua Dobbs tonight who is on the practice squad for the Lions like eight or nine days ago so Malik Willis has already been bench we know Ryan Tannehill is now out for the year Cowboys not expected to have Tony Pollard so if you play fantasy football that's a problem and oh yeah by the way if you're in your fantasy football championship Derek Henry gonna be out for tonight's game I saw he was doubtful so that's a problem too so that game really means nothing tonight you look at the slate this weekend and when you talk about pressure spots like Cardinals Falcons no pressure Bears Lions pressure on the Lions as you're trying to hold on to your playoff hopes as you were one and six had a bad performance last weekend up against Carolina where they ran right through you so you got to win this game up against Chicago Jaguars Texans no pressure because for the Jaguars it comes down to the game against Tennessee next weekend Broncos and Chiefs the Chiefs are still hoping that Buffalo loses which has a chance this weekend up against the Bengals on on Monday Night Football and then the Chiefs would control their own destiny as long as you don't lose but you'll destroy the Denver Broncos Colts and Giants Giants could lock up a playoff berth Saints and Eagles Eagles could lock up the number one overall seed we'll see if Jalen Hurts is going to be able to return Panthers and Bucks yeah if Steve Wilks wins this game he could basically solidify himself to be back next year as the Panthers head coach and for Tampa Bay this is a win and you're in type of game if you don't make the playoffs this year in your Tampa Bay in this dreadful NFC South I don't know if I'm bringing back Todd Bowles next year I probably wouldn't Browns and commanders pressure on the commanders now you're going back to Carson Wentz but you do control your own destiny if you win out the final two games of the season this Browns team has been bad 49ers and Raiders who cares game is terrible Jetson Seahawks pressure for both teams as they're trying to keep their playoff hopes alive at seven and eight Vikings and Packers you know I'm not someone that's really believing that the Packers are gonna be making the playoffs I know that they have a shot with these final two games but you look at Minnesota I think Minnesota is getting disrespected this week I know a few weeks ago Minnesota that they played the Lions and the Lions are a two and a half point favorite and I go okay that lines funky Detroit shouldn't be a favorite but they are it's like they're begging to take Minnesota and I stayed away from that game because I had a feeling Detroit was gonna win this week it's similar where Green Bay even though Green Bay is at home there are three and a half point favorite I am NOT gonna get all delirious over what I saw from the Packers last week if I'm getting three and a half points with the Vikings I'll plus the three and a half points with Minnesota this week because let's be real if to a tongue of I lo it wasn't concussed in that fourth quarter where he threw three interceptions the Packers don't win that game like if they just got competent quarterback play in that fourth quarter Green Bay is done so Rams and Chargers no pressure charges already have a playoff spot Steelers and Ravens like I can't say there's a ton of pressure in that one bills and Bengals Bengals they need a win and then the Chiefs to lose down the stretch of the Bengals to win out for for them to get the number one overall seed but Buffalo if you just win these final two games you get the number one overall seed so the one matchup that I intentionally left out because I think it's a matchup for one coach that has the most pressure on him this weekend it's a dolphins of the Patriots and no this is not gonna be a hot take about how Bill Belichick should be fired and all that I'm not one of those crazy Patriot fans and and I'm not even saying the pressures on Bill Belichick this weekend but the pressures on Miami this weekend because you look at one coach in particular Mike McDaniel we all fell in love with Mike McDaniel and this team at one point looked like they were gonna be a lock to make the NFL postseason when they were sitting there at eight and three and now after losing five in a row or four in a row they're eight and seven and McDaniel this year when they went to that three game losing streak earlier in the year where two has started that game when he should not have been starting up against Cincinnati got knocked out of the game and they lost that game then lost two games you know after that in in that stretch without two of it they were not able to win a game so you look at the Dolphins this year without to a tongue of I loa even though two has not been playing well during the course of this four game losing streak Mike McDaniel even though he's done a nice job with the Dolphins this year it's now starting to look similarly just in a reverse fashion and what happened with Brian Flores cuz when Brian Flores was with the Miami Dolphins the Dolphins had a great defense and the offense was bad now Mike McDaniel has a really special offense but the defense has been that spectacular and Brian Flores got really close to making the playoffs and then ended up missing the playoffs now this is year one to be fair for Mike McDaniel but where they were a few weeks ago to where they are now and I know if they don't make the playoffs and Tua isn't isn't gonna play these final two weeks of the season which we know he's not gonna play this weekend it's gonna be Teddy Bridgewater quite frankly so since I know the NFL wants me to say all this is a second concussion of the year I I know that I'm not a doctor but I'm and and I know you can tell trust the medicals trust the medicals I always have a trust issue with the NFL I saw what I saw you know when you look back at Tua in that game against Buffalo if that wasn't a concussion then I don't know what a concussion is and I know they said it was a back injury and there was an investigation and everything I'm going to think that Tua suffered three concussions this year that we know of and how many more did he suffer that we don't know of that's a whole different conversation but I do believe it would not be in the best interest of Tua Tunga-Wailoa if they do make him come back and play this year in the regular season because sometimes you could get cleared but it doesn't mean that you should play and I would be I don't want to say it'd be shocked if we see Tua again because I guess nothing really shocks me anymore in the NFL but it would be tough to understand and it would be a bad look for the NFL if the Dolphins play Tua next week so you look at the Dolphins I do think there's an enormous amount of pressure on Mike McDaniel for this week because we've seen him be without his quarterback this year in Tua in three games and he's lost all three now you're going up against the Patriots who have a good defense but it's not as if you're getting thrown into a situation where you have the worst backup quarterback in the world right but this is not a no offense this is not like Nathan Peterman is now the starting quarterback for the Miami Dolphins this is not a terrible situation when you're going to Teddy Bridgewater because Teddy Bridgewater has been solid in this league now and he was with the Saints he started five games he won all those five games and then set him up in a nice thought to be situation at the time in Carolina before that didn't work after one year like there was a thought for a while that Teddy Bridgewater is gonna be a good quarterback in this league when he was with Minnesota and then unfortunately had that just terrible horrific injury so I'm not telling you Teddy Bridgewater is great like woohoo Teddy Bridgewater here come the Miami Dolphins but you're going up against the Patriot team that does not have this mystique about them anymore they don't have this aura about them anymore on offense they have said offense back this year by a hundred years in the NFL and the Patriots are banged up at the running back spot their offensive line is no good Matt Patricia who shouldn't be calling the plays is calling the plays and he has zero confidence and zero trust in Mac Jones and the only way that the Dolphins lose this game is if Teddy Bridgewater is just a turnover machine now it's like a lot they win this game but I do think of Mike McDaniel is as great as this coach that people want to make him out to be where all he's a genius and he's so innovative on the offensive side of the ball he should be able to come up with the game plan when you have Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle when you have good running backs that should be able even going up against a really good Patriots defense you should be able to score 20 something points you should be able to outscore for what has been most of the year a lethargic insipid just pedestrian offense of the New England Patriots but for McDaniel I think anything at this rate even if to it is not play for the rest of the year anything short of not being in the playoffs I think is a disappointment this year so I want to see without Tua how great of a coach Mike McDaniel is because the ship started to sink the last few weeks now you were doubt your guy you're at eight and seven but the next two weeks you go up against the Patriots and you go up against the Jets I know the Jets have a really good defense but they don't have much on offense even though they're getting Mike white back and I know the Patriots have a really good defense but they don't have much on offense if you are this great of an offensive mind as a head coach in this league you should be able to devise up a game plan even up against two really good defenses where your offense finds a way to score enough points because the two offenses that are gonna be going up against your defense which is not great I can't really expect that the Patriots and the Jets are all of a sudden gonna turn out to be high octane offenses if you get in the 20 point range like if you find a way to go get three touchdowns against the Patriots and three touchdowns against the Jets I would think that would be enough because from the Patriots and Jets offenses I have not seen a lot to suggest to me that I could anticipate either of those two offenses getting to three touchdowns so a lot of pressure on Mike McDaniel this week and the narrative could change very quickly about Mike McDaniel I'm just curious to see what happens these final two weeks of the season kj right gonna join us next to talk about Derek Carr and go around the league Zach Yelp here with you on CBS Sports Radio throughout the 60s and 70s cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie Mafia including its enigmatic ringleader Kirksey Nix 15 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 c13 originals a cadence 13 studio season 2 the Dixie Mafia available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts 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 what's the strangest thing you're afraid of tails without fur on them such as rats or opossums I'm Larry Mullins host of the podcast your weirdest fears where we dig into the crazy things you're afraid of everything from animal people hybrids you know people who get surgeries to look like an animal to giant statues if I ever saw one of those giant statues I probably would poop my pants listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from