Solomon Wilcots, Former Cincinnati Bengals Defensive Back

I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast Your Weirdest Fears, the show that explores the odd things that make your heart stop. I am so scared of the Grinch.

He is bad vibes. We talk to everyone from therapists to exterminators to lizard man. I was 25 when I actually got my tongue split.

I have one tattoo that covers my entire body. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast Your Weirdest Fears, the show that explores the odd things that make your heart stop. I am so scared of the Grinch. He is bad vibes. We talk to everyone from therapists to exterminators to lizard man. I was 25 when I actually got my tongue split.

I have one tattoo that covers my entire body. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. We continue, this is that kelp show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. What a weekend of football and it will conclude tonight with the Cowboys and the Buccaneers. And then we'll start to think about the divisional round in the NFL.

Let's go out to the guest line right now. Welcome in a former Bengals safety, a long time NFL broadcaster, does a remarkable job now. Sirius XM NFL radio and that's our pal Solomon Wolcott. Solomon, appreciate the time as always. How you been?

Zach, doing great. Happy New Year to you. Yes, happy new year to you as well. I will say though, we are a few weeks past the new year so I don't know how much you actually mean that Solomon. No I do, I mean let's face it, this is when your plan begins to take effect two, three weeks in, all those resolutions. This is when we find out who you really are.

I'm just teasing you. Tonight, who do you like? Cowboys or Buccaneers?

This is a hard one. I really do like the Cowboys. Because I know they're talented, they score a ton of points, they're really good on third down. That's when they come to play. I mean they take the ball away, right? Listen, and there are multiple on offense where the Buccaneers are really single handedly one dimensional. It's Tom Brady or Boston. We all know quarterbacks need help.

They need help to win games. So that's what I'm counting on. I'm counting on a really pissed off Cowboys team that has a lot to prove to be honest with you.

I have them winning the game. I just don't know what to expect out of Dak Prescott. And we know what he's paid, we know what he can be in this league. But to miss five games this year and lead the league in interceptions, that's concerning to me the way the quarterback's playing. Yeah, over the last seven games he's thrown an interception in all of them. He's thrown a pick six and three of the last four.

So there's no doubt he's got to do a better job. But look, you remember, we questioned whether or not this wide receiving core was going to be enough for Dak. I think at times, T.D.

Lamb, even though he has some numbers, he's been consistent. He'll break off a square route. He won't run it in there the way he's supposed to. He'll break it off behind the defender as opposed to coming across the face of the defender. And Dak has gotten to the point where instead of trusting it and being more anticipatory, he's not going through his progression. He's just sort of pre-determining.

And it's gotten them into this rut that they've got to break out of. And how do you do that? I think you run it. I think you feature Tony Pollard a little bit more in both facets of the game. He is your Christian McCaffrey. He's your Deebo. He's really their guy. I think the best offensive player they have next to Dak Prescott.

And they've got to lean into that a little bit more. Whether it was a no or Jerry Jones just didn't want to talk about it last week, you could interpret it how you want. He made it feel as if Mike McCarthy would be back next season.

If McCarthy loses tonight, is he gone? Because I didn't really believe Jerry Jones last week. I don't think just the win-loss is as simple as that.

I think there's more nuance to it. If they lose in the same fashion as they did last year, like high volume of penalties. Pulling the pin on their own hand grenade with being really self-destructive and not being coordinated in the final two minutes. Or just appear to be overwhelmed with how big the game is. Or maybe not prepared for what Tampa is doing. But if Tom Brady plays like the GOAT and this game is very close, hard fought. But then Dallas ends up on the bad end. I don't think there will be a firing. But if there's some repeats of what we saw a year ago, or even what we saw last week against the commanders.

Then yeah, I think you could see a change being made. Salomon Wilcox here with us. Let's get to the games from over the weekend. Let's start off with 49ers and Seahawks. Next year, with what you've seen so far. Who's starting for quarterback for the Niners?

Is it Purdy? Maybe they go out and get Brady? Or do they go back to the well with Trey Lance?

No, they've got a lot invested in Trey Lance. Look, you can go back to the old 49ers under Bill Walsh. And you'll see that they had a myriad of guys whenever a Joe Montana would get hurt. Or even a Steve Young who would get hurt.

Whether it was a Jim Drunkenmiller or whether it was Elvis Gerbach. They always had a rotation of guys that they felt that they had a quarterback who was always ready. Because it's a quarterback friendly offense. I think Kyle Shanahan is sitting there saying, I'm playing with house money. But I think Trey Lance is their guy.

They're going to continue to groom them. But I do think that Trey shouldn't sit there and get comfortable. Because what Brock Purdy is showing us is that he fits into this system really well. He's doing some things we haven't seen done by a rookie quarterback in the last 50 years.

And so I think if he takes them deep. Say if you went, what if he goes and wins a Super Bowl? Yeah, Trey Lance, you may have to fight to get your job back. If Purdy wins a Super Bowl, I think they're taking some trade phone calls. I don't know what they would get back this offseason for Trey Lance. But I think Lance would be on the market.

I know that we've seen it before, right? Nick Foles, it was middle of the season, he gets hurt. Foles a little bit later on in his career. If they win a Super Bowl with Purdy, I don't know how they don't start him week one next year.

Well, yeah, that's true. But they're going to need a backup quarterback. You have two quarterbacks on a rookie deal. So it's not like, now Jimmy G is gone.

That's what this really says, right? They have their backup now. But if someone came in and blew them away about Trey Lance and job picks, I think there's no doubt they would take them. There's no doubt they would after Brock Purdy takes them to a Super Bowl. But I don't think it's a far gone conclusion that they've moved on from Trey Lance.

Given the fact that he's still on a rookie deal and that they've got two now proven quarterbacks. And it's a way of making people compete. I think that's part of it. You know, being able to have Brock Purdy and you put that film on in front of Trey Lance, hey, this is how we get it done.

And if you're not going to adhere to some of these things, then you're not going to be able to play. So I think this really sends a message to any of the quarterbacks in the building with San Francisco, that this is how Coach Shanahan wants to play. This is how he wants to get it done.

And now you have a template for what you want others to be at that position. We have Tom Wilcox here with us. So Jaguars and Chargers, a classic game. Chargers up 27-0. They can't find a way to finish the game in the second half. The aggressiveness of Doug Peterson as well obviously looms large. The first half to second half difference of Trevor Lawrence. What was your biggest takeaway when you reflect a few days later on Chargers and Jaguars? How resilient you have to be in this league.

You've got to be emotionally intelligent. You can't be so fickle and so fragile emotionally that when something bad happens that you crumble as a player. I told this last year about Trevor Lawrence after what he went through with Urban Meyer and all the stuff. I thought he felt like he was one of the more mature, even though he was a rookie, felt like he was one of the more mature guys in the building. He said we just need a lot of this drama to come to an end. But he never really spoke out.

He never did a woe is me. And he bought into everything obviously that Doug Peterson bought in this year. And then when you saw those four interceptions, you didn't see them down there panicking or pointing fingers and giving you bad body language. Trying to pretend that it may be someone else that contributed to that poor half. He ended up scoring before halftime. And then you go back and look at it, they would go on to score on all four possessions in the second half.

And that score just before halftime meant they had five straight drives where they put points on the board to finish the game. That's a big time ball. That's a big time guy. I like what I see in Trevor Lawrence.

That was my biggest takeaway. I don't think Brandon Staley will get fired. But if Sean Payton wants a job, and we all know he does, especially after what happened the other night, I think that should happen. What's your read on the future of Brandon Staley? Because I do think the Spanos family is going to bring him back.

I agree with you. I don't think he'll be fired. I think there's some good things about Brandon Staley.

I think there's some things he needs to improve. I think any time you hire these 30-something-year-old head coaches, man, they're going to be growing pain. That's why the Bryant-Dable hires the smart hire. You start, you know, give me a guy that's got some, you know, that spin around the block a little, that seemed the cycle of the game changed, and then they had to adjust. Those are the coaches who are better prepared in our league.

Not the guy that just got hot because he was sitting next to the guy that got hot. And now you make them coach, and then, you know, the veneer comes off and you say, okay, he's got to grow. Of course he's got to grow. I like Brandon Staley. I think he's a good coach. No, I thought he was a bad coach when the defense he designed had four interceptions in the first half. But Joey Bosa, I think, has to wear a lot of the blame for his behavior, his lack of leadership, his lack of professionalism. But if you can get a Sean Payton, then you upgrade to that.

There's no doubt in my mind. You're probably going to keep Joe Lombardi because he is from the Sean Payton coaching tree. Salma Wolkats, when you look at the Dolphins and Bills, Ravens and Bengals, two divisional games, each team seeing each other after the weekend three times. Bills, closer than what you thought after getting a big 17-0. Bengals had that crazy 98-yard touchdown when it looked like the Ravens were starting to take control of that game. Is there any concern with what you saw this weekend from the Bills and the Bengals moving forward as they will meet up coming up on Sunday?

No. There was times when the Titans were taking control over a game in the playoffs against the Bengals last year. There were times when the Chiefs had them all but done in the AFC Championship game in the playoffs last year.

Zach, you know this. The playoff, man, it takes on a new life of its own. These games, particularly when you are playing, like what you're going to see with the Giants and the Eagles, teams who are divisional opponents playing for the third time, you and I both know records don't mean anything.

Starters who may or may not be missing don't mean anything. Those games are going to be close. Those games are going to, just by the virtue of the familiarity they have with one another. There are no secrets. And we know that the Ravens have a culture of how they play and they want to be able to slow games down. And they are one of those clubs that just, they just die hard.

Now, we obliged them, we made sure they die, but they were going to die hard. And that's how it is. That's what happened with Miami, even though they were playing with a third string quarterback against a really good Bills team.

So, that's what you get with these games. Look, it doesn't mean anything bad about the Bills, it just means that's the NFL. That's the playoffs.

It's a tournament. And these games are going to be anything but easy. My only concern with Cincinnati, and let me preface my comment by saying they got to the Super Bowl last year with the line being atrocious. The health of that offensive line, as much as I love Burrow and the weapons they have, that is concerning to me. We're going in, you know Collins was done for the season, now who knows what's going to happen with Cappa, didn't play.

And then you lose it, you left tackle. That's just concerning to me is that offensive line. Well, I got more concerns than that. Eli Apple was a bigger concern.

He was burnt toast. Joe Burrow can't cover that up, right? Nobody can. But the offensive line was worse last year, right? Let's be real. And I was concerned about it, I've been talking about it for years around here, man. But here they are. It is a concern. But this is why the playoffs are so significant.

And this is why I say it takes on a life of its own. Because any of these teams can end up winning, any of these teams can end up in the Super Bowl. It's about matchups.

It's about how you think about it and when you catch a team. The Eagles have been this juggernaut, but now they've got a quarterback with a bum AC joint, his right shoulder, his throwing shoulder, and he's, quote, their leading rusher. Are you going to run him in there and design your arms with a bum shoulder? And if not, think about the way Daniel Jones has wrote. They could beat the Eagles. You wouldn't have said that in September, though, could you? But that's how this league is.

It's about matchups, it's about the time that you play each other. Without Von Miller, can the Bills exploit the loss of Lyle Collins, Alex Kappa, and Jonah Williams? I think some teams can, some teams can't.

And that's what it's about. If you can't exploit that weakness, I do think they can exploit, you know, an Eli Apple. I think that's where my greater concern lies if I'm critiquing the Bengals. You said that the Giants can beat the Eagles. I know it's early in the week and they play on Saturday. Will they beat the Eagles? Because that was one impressive performance yesterday by Daniel Jones, Saquon Barkley, and then Dexter Lawrence, too. They almost beat them week 18 of that. The Eagles played everybody. The Giants didn't even play Saquon Barkley the next day.

So, yeah, I think, look, man, I'm telling you, look, you got it. The coach, I tell everyone, look at Denver this year. Great players even can't overcome bad coaching. What you have now with the Giants is this team is better now than they were in September.

They're better now than they were in October. So that's what good coaches do. They know how to develop a team. They know how to bring players along. Daniel Jones is as good as he's ever been in his NFL career because he's got a real coach.

Not like some metamorphosis to play. He's got a coach. Week one, the coach had to chew him out because he was still playing like the old Daniel Jones. And from that time to this time, he's developed, he's grown.

The confidence, the ability, and the coach knows how to use them. Right now, Daniel Jones is coming into this game playing better than Jalen Hurts. Pay attention. That's how this thing has changed. And so I give the Giants a sluggish chance in going in there and getting the win. Well, they'll have to earn it because the Eagles have no pushover. But that's what we have. When you get some of these rematches, like if the Chargers would have survived Jacksonville. That's the last team the Chiefs wanted to see come into Arrowhead. Because of that familiarity we're talking about.

By the way, I know you played in Minnesota in 1991. They could use you back on that defense. They could use us all to think about some of the great players they've had on defense, right?

They could use us all to come in there and line up. But they allowed 400 yards total offense to the Giants. We kind of sensed that coming in. I think everyone was pretty much picking the Giants.

And if not win, certainly to cover. Solomon Wilcox, always great to catch up with you. We'll see you at the Super Bowl in a few weeks. Thanks so much, my friend. You're the best, Zach. Take care.

See you soon. Wherever you get your podcasts from. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast, Your Weirdest Fears. The show that explores the odd things that make your heart stop. I am so scared of the Grinch.

He is bad vibes. We talk to everyone from therapists to exterminators to lizard man. I was 25 when I actually got my tongue split.

I have one tattoo that covers my entire body. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast, Your Weirdest Fears. The show that explores the odd things that make your heart stop. I am so scared of the Grinch. He is bad vibes. We talk to everyone from therapists to exterminators to lizard man. I was 25 when I actually got my tongue split.

I have one tattoo that covers my entire body. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from.