Charles Davis, NFL on CBS Broadcaster

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. To catch up later, there's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today. CD, how you been? I'm wonderful, Zach. How about yourself?

How's everything going? Well, all is good here, but I gotta start you off in Buffalo. I know we could tip our cat to the defensive coordinator.

We could talk about the greatness of Joe Burrow. How do you react to what you saw out of the bills, though, yesterday? Yeah, you know, I don't want to take any credit away from Cincinnati whatsoever.

You know, because what I'm about to say feels like I'm taking some away. And I don't mean to do that at all because Cincinnati controlled that game right from the word go. And it was as professional, surgical a game as I've seen played all year long. Every aspect by Cincinnati, offense, defense, special teams, the coaching aspect of it, how they prepared, how they executed. Even when the game seemed close, it didn't feel close.

You know what I mean? Like, every time it felt like Buffalo had a chance to get back into it, Cincinnati made sure that didn't happen. But how about how Burrow came out and was so good and so effective right from the beginning? The way they ran the football, considering three offensive linemen were not starters to begin the season. Two of them in recent weeks just had to play identity, at least played a lot last year.

All that being said, I really think and I have to be really careful here. DeMar Hamlin, that situation, the unfortunate everything that happened with it in terms of making sure they were connected with him, honoring him, caring about him, all those things, I think it emotionally sapped that team. They just looked, watching them play, Cincinnati was the better football team. But I never saw Buffalo with the ability to mash the gas as they have so often throughout the last few seasons. They just looked spent.

And I've seen it so many different times when teams have had to confront tragedy, had to deal with situations similar to what Buffalo dealt with. It wears on a team. You'll never hear them talk about it. They will never say it because it'd be a betrayal of sorts.

But it does get to you. It is a difficult thing to do that. You would be in their locker room every day asking them what's going on with DeMar. Have you talked to him? Did he talk to the team?

What's the inspiration? Are you carrying him with you? You see where I'm going with all this.

All the things that are going to happen is what you have to deal with and live with. But I did think it took a toll on that Buffalo team. The only thing I'll say, and we don't know what's true or not, and you may be right, but him being in that building and him being able to be at the game and be around the guys the last few days as we heard, wouldn't that even you would think uplift them more? You would think so, but how many times have we said the same thing over the last couple of weeks? He's been in the building every day.

He's been around the team. This is less about DeMar being with them than it is I think that about people like you and me, meaning us media types, being around them and asking them all the things. Every question about it was tinged with a DeMar Hamlin question in it.

Everything. That's what they were asking about. That's what Sean McDermott had to address. That's what Josh Allen had to address.

And none of them were doing it not wanting to. But I will just tell you, in my years on this earth, I've been around this enough. When I was a PGA Tour tournament director, Payne Stewart was lost in a plane crash. The next year, all of our tournaments were almost trying to outdo each other in honoring Payne Stewart. My tournament was one of the last ones. I actually talked with officials at the PGA Tour headquarters, like, what do we do? And they're like, nothing.

There's nothing left to do. It is a tough thing. I'll bet you if you asked Eric Bienemy, who played at Colorado with Sal Inessi, what it was like that season honoring Sal, leaving a seat open on the plane, you know, taking his uniform with him to every ballgame.

If you were to ask the Eagles, who did essentially the same thing, and honoring him, it wears on you after a while. And no one means it to be a bad thing. But it does. There's an extra element you're carrying with you all the time. So for every bit of it that's uplifting, the rest of us are bringing all that into it as well. And I do think emotionally, it's a tough thing to cast. I would just tell you, Zach, I don't know any team that's gone through something like that, that's had to do it over an extended period of time, that's culminated with a championship. It is a hard, hard thing to do.

And I know that it sounds like, oh, no. Everyone in Buffalo did all the right things. The league did the right thing. Demar Hamlin's done the right thing. It's just the byproduct, the unintended consequence that goes along with it. And would anyone in Buffalo change a single thing in terms of how they've cared about it, what they're doing?

No, absolutely not. But that team looked like it was emotionally spent when I saw him play on Sunday. Charles Davis here with us. You look at the way that this team is constructed in Buffalo. And I think most of us all throughout the year said that we thought they were one of, if not the best rosters in football. But defensively, they had no pass rush yesterday. On their offensive line, their offensive line looked problematic.

And this is something I think is fair all throughout the year. We talked about they put too much on Josh Allen's plate and they don't have enough of a run game. Does there need to be some major changes in Buffalo to get this team to where they should be at the end of the year?

I don't know about major. I do think that this team is still a, I mean, it's an excellent roster. If they hadn't played the way they played on Sunday, I don't think we'd have quite as many questions.

But I think the questions you raise are legitimate ones. For me, I've said it for over two years now. A legit running back that you can count on, especially in December and January, with some size and some heft. And you're taking the third and short run game off of Josh Allen, I've always thought that that was someone that was needed.

You know, I've talked about that for forever. Like when James Cook got drafted last year at the draft, I was like, I would think bigger back. I'm not saying James Cook's not a good player, but they don't have the big back that can thump and can carry you when you need to have them carried.

I still think that that's a need. They'll continue to try and fortify the offensive line. I mean, Ryan Bates has done a nice job there getting scaffold this year, although he's starting to get up there a little bit in the years.

Mitchell Morris is a very good center. Deion Dawkins, you know, I think the offensive line is good. They didn't play as well as they played before on Sunday, but the Bengals front has a lot to do with it. Receivers, we know what they've got.

We know explosive they are. I still think you want to take something off of Josh Allen's plate. And he is their primary third and short, short yard and running back.

I just would try and find someone else for that task if I'm Buffalo. And the flip side is the pressure they didn't get. Those guys have to figure it out because Leslie Frazier is not a big blitz crew. The only time I saw him really break from that this year was at Baltimore when we had them. They were down 20 to three before you could blink that.

And he's like, I got to find something. And he blitzed to try and keep Lamar Jackson in the pocket as much as he did in terms of passing. And they had success that day and came all the way back and got them. But overall, they're not a big blitz unit. But that's why they drafted Greg Roussel. That's why they drafted Boogie Basham. That's why Ed Oliver's there. Those guys got to start having more of an effect in games like Sunday. Talking to Charles Davis right now, head coaching hiring in this league is so tricky. I never know what teams look for. How many times do I get told there's this hotshot offensive coordinator, great defensive coordinator, and they're just not great head coaches.

What do you know about Luann Arumo? Because the last two years, Charles, he has dominated this postseason as the DC for the Bengals. Yeah. What I what I know about him is having done games in Cincinnati, you know, in the last few years when he's been the defensive coordinator there, got to know him a little bit. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that, you know, oh, Lou and I, you know, we have cigars brandy.

And you know, OK, that's not it. But being around him, talking with players, talking with other people in the league, watching them play and watching what they do. I know we are hung up right now in the hiring cycle of the hotshot offensive guy.

That's kind of where we've been the last few seasons. I've often thought the right hire is a person who commands the respect of the people in the room. Whether it's the front office that he works with or it's the team that he has.

Luann Arumo fits that perfectly. Like if I were a GM, he would be my ideal my ideal candidate to be my head coach, because I'm going to get all the other stuff. We'll talk about that. It's not like we don't have contacts about who's going to run his offense, who's going to do this, this and this. But the instant respect people have for him, how he relates to his players, how they want to play for him. Go to Cincinnati. It's real easy.

It won't take you long. You probably say, Lu, Zach. And next thing you know, you get a barrage of words in favor of him by the guys that he coaches. So he, for whatever reason, is going under the radar. I know everybody wants to find the hotshot offensive guy. And I've got to fix my quarterback and this, that and everything. I think the best coaches are the ones that can command a room, the ones that people are going to respect. Sean McDermott's not a hotshot offensive coordinator, but Buffalo's always right there. You know, every guy we have that it's winning it. Parcells was never that. Belichick was never that.

I know where the cycle is, but I still think the person that people respect is really the guy that you need to have leading your team. Charles Davis with us. I know it's Monday. It's early in the week. Mahomes coming off the ankle injury, the bangles have defeated the chiefs three straight times. Who do you give the edge to in the AFC title game right now? Cincinnati.

I know my home's ankle is an issue, but I look at it this way. Cincinnati has shown us in this win streak that they can beat you up in the run game. And that eliminated and took away some of the concerns about the offensive line where they had a left tackle out, a right guard out, right tackles out for the season.

By being able to run the ball, those linemen got a chance to get comfortable playing the game when they're not worried about twists and stunts and hurries. You know, it's almost like the original Top Gun. Where'd he go?

Where'd who go? You don't have to worry about that. You fire off and you hit someone, you open up a hole and makes it bounces through it. Burrow being burrow, of course. That defense we just talked about, they play with what they call unconscious competence. They trust where everyone's going to be at all times. And that person is there. They had the edge to me because they can do those sorts of things. Kansas City, what I worry about most with them is on the defensive side of the ball. And I love Steve Spagnolo. He knows that.

And that's not the issue. The issue is they feel like they're built to play with 14 and nothing lead. They feel like the Colts under Peyton Manning.

Not standing there and rock them, sock them with you. If that's how the game is going to go. We're going to find out in this one Sunday. Because I think since that is going to test them really early. How are you going to handle us running the football and us staying with it? Chris Jones, Derek Noddy, Nick Bolt in the middle linebacker.

That's the Bermuda Triangle, their defense inside. If they can't hold up against the run, it's going to be a long afternoon for them. Now, if somehow Kansas City sprints out to the front again, as they did last year, Nancy Title gave back. This year, they're not getting off the gas. See, that's where they got hurt last year. They played not to lose in the second half and it cost them. And Patrick Mahomes has talked about he's burned to have another opportunity.

Obviously, he won't be 100 percent healthy. But if that game somehow where Kansas City sprints and gets a 2-3 touchdown lead as they did last year. Don't expect Kansas City to play the way that they did last year where they kind of tried to sit on it. They'll keep punching.

They'll keep going. And that's where they play at their best. But if Cincinnati is able to run the ball, control things early, I think it's a tough task for Kansas City.

Because they're just not built to stand in there and slug versus those types of teams. How about in the NFC, who do you give the edge to as well on this Monday edition of the Zach Gilch as we're talking to Charles Davis? It's coming up on Sunday in the first game. You'll have San Francisco visiting Philly. Whoever on the offensive line, their offensive line, either offensive line is able to not just control the front, but climb to the second level and handle linebackers scraping over the top.

Because both of them, their linebackers do a nice job of coming up and making tackles after the fun is cleaned up. That's the team that will have the advantage. I picked San Francisco a month ago.

I'm not going to change. Even though I saw a Philadelphia that looked like the Philadelphia that scared the heck out of everybody for most of the season. Boy, they look good against the Giants. But San Francisco, they can beat you every which way.

It's similar to Philadelphia. I think the San Francisco has enough where they can play around Purdy. As long as he doesn't make mistakes, as he did on Sunday, didn't make mistakes. And that defense is really good, as is Philadelphia's.

Probably not much of an advantage here is that this is much more of a flip a coin in the air. But I liked San Francisco a month ago. I like them to go on the road and find a way to beat Philadelphia. What do you make of Daniel Jones? Because he had a good season. I know he doesn't have much around him, but it looked like at times that I was in that building just watching what was on the field in front of me. It looked like they weren't trusting him in that game up against the Eagles a little bit. I just think they got overwhelmed early that I don't think that I don't think there was anyone who had a chance in that one. You know, when you look at that season overall, the reason Brian Debo's going to win coach of the year is he took a team that roster that when you sit down and go person by person, not good. And he got to the playoffs.

They overachieve much of the year, and that's not a slight against them. I would hope that no one would be upset over hearing that, but let's be frank about it. Who scares you? Barkley scares you, and Daniel Jones had to be a full, full-scale runner in order to scare you on offense. Who scared you out wide? Darius Layden? Nope. Isaiah Hodgins? Nope. Okay.

Tight end. Who's going to scare you? You know, you don't have that. You don't have the people.

I said that about New England. Oh, you're 100% right. And I was like, you know, this is the problem with their offense is there's not a defense coordinator in the league that stayed up an extra hour at night worried about who would decimate his defense. Now, if you make a mistake, they're pros.

They'll beat you. But overall, were you terrified that someone would go over the top? No, they didn't have that person. The Giants overall, Saquon Barkley was that person, and Daniel Jones was a tremendous accessory when all that was working.

If it's not working, as we talk in Philadelphia, there was no one there to fill the void. Dak did not play his best game, obviously, yesterday. I look at him as a good quarterback, not a great quarterback, and that's a big difference in this league. All they asked him to do yesterday was, got to get to 20 points.

He needed to play great yesterday. I know it's easier said than done about the Niners, but what an abysmal end to the season for the Cowboys. Yeah, that was a tough one for them because it went from Monday night where that Dak Prescott was tremendous. Everything locked in, sharp, decisive, ran the ball, threw the ball. Boy, they looked good, didn't they?

The San Francisco has a way of doing that just about everybody, don't they? D'Amico Ryan is getting head coaching nods for a reason. That defense just strangles people. And every time Dallas had a chance to make a play, San Francisco was there to gum up the works. And then Dak could not find that play that they needed. One of their longest runs yesterday was on fourth and four, and Dak ran for 11. I think he got C.D. Lamb one time for a play over 20 yards. They really, really choked down all the big stuff that Dallas had, and Dak couldn't find his breakthrough.

And in a game like that, as you mentioned, if you could just get to 20, you're a winner and you walk away and you get to the NFC title game, San Francisco just wouldn't let it happen. Charles Davis, always great to catch up with you. Always appreciate your insight. Thank you. Thanks for having me, Zach.

You take care of yourself, continued success to you. 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 vibe. 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. Thank you so much for having me. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from.