Reich Inspiring In Carolina? (Hour 1)

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Get in the game and download the free Odyssey app today. Live from the police show, yet not overly ostentatious, studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor of 345 Hudson Street, welcome on in to a Thursday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all the great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, and that free Odyssey app. 855-212-4CBS, the number to jump on in.

855-212-4227, you can always get at me on Instagram, where I'm straight flexing, or via the good ol' cesspool of Twitter, at Zach Gelb, that's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. Coming up, hour 20 from now, we'll be joined by a man who was a first-team All-Pro, also made the Pro Bowl this year, and he just wrapped up his rookie season with the J-E-T-S Jets-Jets-Jets, that of course is Saus Gardner. And then at 8.20 PM Eastern, 5.20 PM Pacific, another man that just wrapped up his rookie season in the NFL, this time with the Washington Commanders, that will be Bryan Robinson Jr. So first up, producing this extravaganza for the next four hours, there's no other than Hot Take Kiki. His dumb producer, Hot Take Kiki. So Hot Take Kiki's BFF in Frank Reich now has a job, and we have the first domino in the coaching carousel to fall, and that is the Carolina Panthers today. I wouldn't say in stunning fashion, it was slightly surprising to me, even though you heard he was a finalist, but if you are a finalist, as you learned yesterday on this show, then you have a shot to go get a job. Clearly, duh, obvious statement, but Kiki won't admit that Jeff Saturday getting a second interview with the Colts job doesn't have any shot to get the job. But anyway, the Panthers job with Frank Reich, it was a little bit surprising to me, but not shocking because I didn't love the names that you were hearing about this Panthers job. And once you found out that Sean Payton was not going to get a second interview, I kind of thought, okay, if you can't get Sean, if you can't get Jim Harbaugh, then bring back Steve Wilks. And I don't know if Steve Wilks would have become the head coach on a full-time permanent basis with the Carolina Panthers, if the Panthers would have had a great four or five-year run with Steve Wilks. But with not a lot on the offensive side of the ball, Steve Wilks, when he was inserted into this role of interim head coach, did a nice job with this team, made the Panthers actually a talking point for some positive reasons. So I thought he was deserving of the job. And if I was running the Panthers, if I was David Tepper, which I'm not, I would have hired Steve Wilks over Frank Reich. Like if that was the choice and that's the way it kind of was perceived with a few other names, you go with Steve Wilks and you go with Frank Reich, I would have picked Steve Wilks, but I don't own the team and David Tepper ends up going with Frank Reich.

So I want to be clear about this. Like, I don't think Frank Reich is a bad coach. I don't think he's a great coach. I do think he's at his best when he is an offensive coordinator, but as a head coach, he was okay with the Colts. But what sticks out to me is the last two years, because the last two years, it showed bad signs of judgment from Frank Reich. Going out and being convinced that Carson Wentz was going to work just because you had success with him in Philadelphia was a bad decision by Frank Reich. And it burned him.

It burned him in the biggest spot, going up against a team that had the number one overall pick in the Jacksonville Jaguars and your quarterback and your entire team was horrendous. But if it was just that one moment, that one decision, you would say, Zach, you got to be fair. Not everyone is perfect in this league. People make mistakes.

And that's a fair argument. But this year you saw the same mistakes over and over again. You saw Frank Reich once again not be able to beat the Tennessee Titans. You saw Frank Reich once again go to Jacksonville in week two and get absolutely destroyed. And each and every week, Frank Reich's team. And this is a fact. We're just not prepared. Because each and every week when they would go into the locker room at halftime, they would be trailing. And that's not hyperbole. That's not me reaching.

That's not me making something up. They were outscored in the first 30 minutes of football this year when Frank Reich was the head coach, 118 to 42. Think about how lopsided that is.

118 to 42. That is what the opposition had in a lead when you combined up all the first halves of that Frank Reich coach this past year. So I look at Frank Reich and I know what Panthers fans are going to tell me. Oh well, he has a good offensive background. And you need an offensive coach in the year of 2023.

And the defense is set. You got nice, young, talented pieces on the defensive side of the ball. We need someone that's going to be so offensive focused. With what I saw the last two years with Frank Reich, it was nothing that I loved. It was nothing to me that was something saying that's desirable and that's a guy that I need to have coach my team. And sure, Frank Reich.

I said today you got fired. He'll get another job as head coach. He's well respected in this league.

He's a nice guy. And he wasn't a disaster in Indianapolis. When you look at the overall tenure, but the last two years. It was bad.

It was really bad. The last two seasons in Indianapolis. So, the point is here, if I was the Panthers, and there was a name that would make everyone jump for joy.

If there was a name that would make people do somersaults in the in the streets and cartwheels in the streets. I can understand passing up on Steve Wilkes, and there are only two names for that that were realistic. Jim Harbaugh. And for whatever the reasons were when Jim Harbaugh was trying to force an interview and get an interview with the Panthers, David Tepper said no per reports, or Sean Payton. And whether it was Sean's interest, not being actually as genuine as we thought, or David Tepper maybe thinking there could be some control problems in the organization if you bring it with Sean, Sean didn't come to fruition.

And you see the names, and we talked about the names that were finalists for this job or getting second interviews for this job the other day, and it was like, not the greatest of names. Like you can't sit here right now and tell me that the Carolina Panthers are definitely going to be successful under Frank Reich. And for that reason, I would have just gone with what was working, gone with what was working in the last two, two and a half months of the season in Steve Wilkes, who had the command and the trust of that locker room. And I would have said to Steve Wilkes, and this is maybe a big factor in it, I don't know, just speculating, who your offensive coordinator would be. I would have hired a strong offensive coordinator.

And that's the approach I would have gone, but I don't own the Carolina Panthers. I'm not David Tepper. He elected to go with Frank Reich. So real quickly, Hickey, since this is your guy, you're a big time, big time fan of Frank Reich. How'd you react to the news today when the Carolina Panthers elected to be the first domino to fall here in the coaching search with the five jobs that were open prior to today with Carolina, Denver, Indianapolis, Arizona, and Houston, and they did strike first. They go with Frank Reich.

I was surprised, I'll be honest. I thought it was going to be Steve Wilkes' job. Even though he was a finalist, I still thought it was going to go to the man who was there already and had a nice turnaround, but I'm happy for Frank Reich.

I hope he has success now. For him, my only wish is that he actually gets a quarterback in Carolina for more than one year. So I think this hiring, either way, Wilkes or Reich, I think is going to signify an aggressive push from David Tepper this offseason. I would probably lean right now towards them being aggressive in the draft, trying to try it out for whether it's a Will Levis type or CJ Stroud type. But instead of being number nine, I think the Panthers are going to try to go as high as they can. I don't know.

4, 5, 3, maybe Bryce Young. I don't know. We'll see. I don't know if they're going to get up to number one.

I doubt that. But I think they'll definitely be in the mix for sure. For trading up for a quarterback, I think more likely now that you hire Frank Reich with an offensive background. I know that you're more positive on Frank Reich than I am, but would you agree that Frank Reich, if you were a Panthers fan, you wouldn't be jumping up and down over this Frank Reich hire? This hire doesn't overly excite you, where you go, okay, I could see why they moved away from Steve Wilkes, who was the interim head coach.

I mean, it's an offensive-driven league. So again, you have a guy who I think is still a good play caller, still a good offensive mind, and then you think would pair him with, again, a young quarterback that you can mold, whether it was what we saw in Carson Wentz early in Philly, what he did with one year in rehabbing Andrew Luck's career, Phillip Rivers' career at the end of his career, or Phillip Rivers' year in India at the end of his career. He's showing a good propensity more times than not to develop and get the most out of quarterbacks, so you've got to feel good at least, or encouraged, okay, at least you have a competent offensive mind that you can trust that should be able to develop whatever quarterback you get in the draft. Once again, if I'm a Panthers fan, this would be my reaction today. Like, for example, give me just a one-word or one-expression reaction.

If you were a Panthers fan today, Hickey, what that reaction would be like, you see the text, you see the alert, your one-word reaction is what? I feel like, okay, with an exclamation point, like one of those, like, okay, good, like, here we go. Ah, that sounded like an, okay, I'm going to talk myself into liking this, but I could have done better. Frank Reich, okay. That doesn't sound that encouraging. Okay, with an exclamation point.

Mine would be, Frank Reich, eh, eh, that's what it is, it's eh, higher. You know, Guy's been a good head coach in this league. Teams are constantly unprepared to start games this year. They never had a lead at halftime this season with the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. His team was a disaster in the final game of the season two years ago against Jacksonville, and you see the same things continue to pop up. Couldn't beat Tennessee the last two years in a big spot. Couldn't beat Jacksonville in Jacksonville ever. And the games when they started were so bad for the Colts this past season. Like, I understand there was problems with the Colts' roster this year.

I understand Matt Ryan was way past his prime, but to be outscored 118 to 42 in the first half of games this year and never have a lead at halftime? If I'm a Panthers fan, this move doesn't excite me. It would make me rather have Steve Wilks back as the head coach.

And I've said it 9,000 times already in this segment. If you couldn't get Sean Payton, or if you couldn't get Jim Harbaugh, and there wasn't another name out there that made you jump up and down like a fat kid in a candy store, Steve Wilks should have been brought back. And the interim tag should have been removed, and he should have been named the full-time head coach. Now, when we look at the rest of these jobs, if we had to give predictions, we know Frank Reich is going to the Carolina Panthers. You see a report out of Denver today from Mike Pliss that D'Amico Ryans is the leading candidate for the Denver job now.

And I would imagine that's from the Denver side. We don't know what D'Amico Ryans wants to do. I'm going to say, since Harbaugh's not going to Denver, the momentum has kind of hit a wall here, or hit a speed bump on Sean going to Denver. I'm going to assume with how they have the richest owners in the league, the Denver Broncos, they got to find a way to get their guy. And even though the first two guys they may or may not have wanted for the job were Harbaugh and Sean, D'Amico Ryans is a name that is well-known in this league, and he's done a remarkable job on the defensive side of the ball with the 49ers. There's always a risk when you bring in a coordinator that's never been a head coach before, but I do think that would be a popular hire, and I think Denver has to make a popular hire, and they will be willing to spend more than a lot of other teams, so I do think the Broncos land D'Amico Ryans.

Tiki, where are you at on the Denver job? If you had to make a prediction today, who gets it? I'm with you. I'll go with what the front-runners are saying. I'll say D'Amico Ryans as well. How about the Cardinals? Who are you going with for the Cardinals job?

Sean Payton. Oh, so you think that actually happens now? Yes.

I'm not sold out. I think he's desperate enough to come back. I think now that reality is setting in, where the Panthers are obviously out, seemingly, I guess the Broncos are out, whether it's ownership-driven, seemingly. I think he still wants a coach. I think worst-case scenario, we'll be back at Fox, and now when you see him interviewing with the Cardinals today, it's been going on, kind of like a Jim Harbaugh-esque interview for almost the entire day. I think they'll leave with the deal.

That's fascinating, because I'm going to be just fully transparent with you. I'm at like 60-40 now when it comes to Sean to Arizona, and I know the last three days we have really done a complete 180. A complete 180 when it comes to Sean. One day we said he's taking a job, one day we say he's not taking a job, and then today, and I look at this number two.

This is from an Arizona Cardinal reporter and host on Phoenix Cardinals. The odds for Sean, according to DraftKings Sportsbook, this is Johnny Venerable, is the reporter's name. Where do you think the odds have shifted in the last hour for Sean? He's a leader, I'm sure, at this point. He was plus 1,000.

Where do you think he is now? Plus 1.50. Plus 3.50.

Is that first? Brian Flores was plus 1.15 as of yesterday. I don't know where it currently is at.

It doesn't give all the numbers. I'm between Flores and Sean here. I'm going to say, and it is weird, right? How long is this interview going on right now? All day.

I think it started maybe 9 or 10 a.m. local time, so 8 hours, 7 hours, something like that. What's the benefit for Sean to sit through this entire interview just to go back to Fox? Like, for Harbaugh, you could at least argue, even though I think he wanted the Vikings job, he could have tried to negotiate a new contract with Michigan to make it look like he was leaving because his salary the year before was cut significantly. I don't see the motivation for Sean. Now, the Cardinals could say, we don't want you.

And that's different. But if Sean was on the fence about this job, wouldn't you kind of think that this interview would be over right now? Like, this shows me he really wants the job. I'm going to say the Cardinals hire him. I'll go that the Cardinals hire him. If they don't, I'll say Brian Flores.

How about the Texans? I'm going to go with the Broncos defense coordinator, Hero Evero. I think it's Evero. I butchered it. I apologize to Hero.

Why are you apologizing? I don't want to get his name right. He's a professional Hero Evero. I think it's of Evero.

Hero Evero. Broncos defense coordinator. New Texans head coach. You're like the Colts right now in Jacksonville with the way that you just tried to. I'm trying to get it right.

Trying to give the man the respect he deserves. I'll go for the Texans. Jonathan Gannon. Now, here's the big one done done done.

You're Indianapolis Colts. Come on. Every day of the week, by the way, is Saturday. Just letting everyone know.

Same. Who doesn't love a good Saturday? You love Saturday, right? I love Jeff Saturday at the center.

I love Saturday of the day, without a doubt. I will go with Bengals offense coordinator Brian Callahan. Next head coach. Wait, I thought he wasn't getting a second interview. It wasn't likely he was getting a second interview the other day, as they said. Well, he's going to get one.

I think he's going to get one once the Bengals season's over. They didn't announce anyone who's still alive. They have six to seven second interview requests. He made the four of guys who are not coaching.

And quick math, there's two or three left out there. I'm going to say he gets the second interview, he gets the job. And even though Jeff Saturday is getting a second interview, you are still Mr. Stubborn saying there's a no percent chance that Jeff Saturday gets the job. Now, Jim Mercy can actually hear Jeff Saturday's plan. And the more Jeff Saturday talks, I think the reality will smack Jim Mercy in the face and realize, I can't go through with this.

Zero point zero zero zero percent chance. Jeff Saturday is the next Colts head coach. Would you shave your head in that? I'll shave a sixty three into the side of my head for the entire football season.

Oh, so like you're now like only half gutless because you should just shave your entire base if it was zero zero zero. Give a ode to Jeff's playing days and I'll get the Ring of Honor number in my hair. Now, I did talk to our boss Spike today about this. Spike has some Clippers. Can we get Spike to shave the sixty three in your head when Jeff Saturday becomes the next coach of the Colts? He has Clippers? In his office? He's big in the barber world.

We were talking about this. He thought you were gutless for not saying you would shave your head yesterday if Jeff Saturday was the coach. I think it's a zero percent chance. Spike has good hair, too. I don't think he gives himself his hair. Does he give himself a haircut? If so, maybe.

That I don't know. But he did say, now thinking about it, Ryan does have a good head of hair. His words, not mine. I do agree with him, though. Now thinking about it didn't come off the top of his head.

How interesting. I'm predicting Jeff Saturday as the next head coach of the Colts. So we know the Panthers hired Reich. Broncos, I think, will hire D'Amico Ryans. Colts, I'll say Jeff Saturday. Cardinals, I'm going Sean Paden. And if it's not Sean, I'll say Brian Flores. And the Texans with Jonathan Gannon. And this is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll come on back and we'll chat a little bit about the 49ers QB situation moving forward. There's a lot to listen to.

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

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. You're listening to The Zach Gelb Show. Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio. So, Hickey, I forgot to ask you here before we get into the future of the Niners at their quarterback position. We know that Frank Reich, as we opened up the show, is going to be the next head football coach of the Carolina Panthers. So the Panthers send out a message.

Panthers agree to terms with Frank Reich to become new head coach. One of the first responses on a quote retweet was the Indianapolis Colts saying congratulations to this good man. Now, I could understand that sometimes when you part ways with someone, you still wish them well.

But I think this is just a a weird tweet from Indianapolis. Like you fired the guy. It's time to move on.

It's now been several months. I don't really think they needed to write congratulations to this good man because you're congratulating the Panthers are getting Frank Reich. Makes you think that you believe this is a good hire. Then why'd you fire the guy in the first place, one could say.

So I don't know. Did you think that was a bizarre a little bit by the by the Colts today? The warning was definitely not ideal. The fact that the tweet by the Panthers was put out at two o'clock Eastern and then at four or two is when the Colts quote tweeted. So you had two hours and two minutes exactly to craft some sort of response if you wanted to wish him well. This feels like when you say congrats on a good to a good man exclamation point. This is like Jim Mercy taking the reins of Twitter for himself and tweeting it out like just under the Colts guys. But him actually doing the tweeting. That's what it feels like to me. It's almost as if Jim Mercy just wants to be friends with everybody. And when you're in this business, you can't be friends with everybody.

Like if a player gets cut from their roster and they get picked up somewhere else. Is he going to start getting on Twitter and saying congrats to some guy that couldn't even make our practice squad? He was a good man. I don't know. Maybe it's just because of the world that we live in and some people are going to say, oh, this is just an annoyed talk show host.

So this is an old man yelling at a cloud, even though I'm only 28. But it seems like we now live in a world where at times we get so soft when we part ways with someone. And I'm not saying you want to wish someone poorly like and wish bad upon someone. But the amount of people in all sports that get these thank you posts and get these videos sent out about them. It's kind of insufferable, like that used to be a tribute video or a post on the Internet about someone that gets hired or signs or gets traded somewhere else. Like that used to be pretty special. Now you get someone cut off a practice squad. They get like a message. Oh, thanks.

Well, wish you wish you well moving forward. Frank Reich is not a Colts legend. The farthest thing from it, like he did a fine job in Indianapolis. I don't think the Colts have to say anything today. Just let the tweet be. But we always have to comment on something because people get afraid now of the optics that people are going to go to Jim Mercy and say, oh, you didn't congratulate Frank Reich.

That means you don't want him to do well. It's ridiculous. Do other teams do this?

I don't know. Honestly, I do a teams that fire coaches like wish them well if they get hired, like trying to think if you want to say for if Cliff Kingsbury is hired as a new head coach, not going to be. But do the Cardinals say like, congrats to our guy?

Like, I think they would. I think this is yeah, this is this is not an outlier, though, because here's one that always annoys me. You're a Mets fan, just like me. Would you think that Jason Vargas would be deserving of a we wish you well kind of post? But when the Mets got rid of Jason Vargas, there was a post like that, like, thanks for the memories.

Well, I will say if you're like if you're trading away someone like I understand the thanks for, you know, your contributions. He pitched. You don't need it. He pitched. Not well.

I need a post that's small enough on Twitter. I don't mind it. Oh, come on. Now, again, you got you fired the guy after week eight and now all of a sudden or week nine. And now you're saying congrats to this good man. Yeah.

Feels a little weird, a little weird. And also and I'm not the biggest fan of Frank Reich. Like, I liked him as an offensive coordinator.

He was in Philadelphia. I think he's an OK head coach. I don't think this is some special hire by the Carolina Panthers, as I explained why earlier.

I'm sorry to look at this, though. Who are the Colts bringing in? That's going to be better than Frank Reich.

And I don't know about you. With some of the names that you hear for this Colts job. I wonder if they're going to be able to do better than where they were with Frank Reich. And off the bat, no. And there's no one we could all admit that clearly as the credentials of Frank Reich. But again, and they're not great credentials. How many head coaches we talk about that, you know, were question marks coming in now flourish like Zach Taylor, Nick Ciorani for two examples. You know, it's off the top.

There's not many guys where you really say, oh, it's a home run outside. Sean Payton outside Jim Harbaugh joined no one in this entire class. You can really say, oh, this guy is without a doubt for sure, better than the last person we had. I think D'Amico Ryan's, even though how many times do we get a hotshot offense of a defensive coordinator that everyone loves and says this guy's going to be an amazing coach and they end up failing in the league. I do think out of all the coordinators that are available, would you agree the statement offensive and defensive side of the ball?

It would appear that D'Amico Ryan's name, if you hire, would resonate the most positive reaction. Yeah, I guess, but also like it seems like what does that do for anyone? Like, you know, when the press conference means, honestly, nothing.

We've seen Joe Judge on the press conference. I'm like, wow, this guy knows this. Oh, this is the Giants are changing. And then he's going for QB sneaks on third down. So or, you know, to run off the clock, basically has kneeling down the football.

That was I'm sorry, 90 cubic and Neil. Thank you. Yes. Back to back on third and nine. He goes outside his own technique.

So like, you know, that's also a part where winning the press conference, having the name pop, we've seen I think it's been proven over and over again. It doesn't matter. It doesn't do much. It's a fair point that you bring up, but I don't know who the Colts are going to bring in. That's going to make you.

Well, you always put some positive spin on it knowing you. But I don't know how you're going to be happy with anybody that they do bring in. It's all hope. I mean, look, they're bringing the guy, like I said, Brian Callahan. You go, Shane Steichen, like I hope that they can translate what they did in their respective teams, their offenses to this offense, whether it's Ray Morris, you hope that he learned from his first experience.

We'll say Ted Bay and can get better. But it's all it's all hope. It's all hope. I guess that's all you can have if you're a Colts fan right now.

You've got to hope that one day it turns around because this team is in a bad, bad spot. It shows to me just with the candidates for the Colts job that Jeff Saturday is a legit candidate, that that is the least desirable job on the market. Anyway, let's get to the 49ers QB situation. If you had to make a prediction right now, who's starting at quarterback week one next year for the San Francisco 49ers. So for the 2023 regular season, Hickey fit to make that prediction right now and put some shackles on it. Who be your choice? This is tough. I will go with Brock Purdy. I'm with you, too, because even if Brock Purdy doesn't play well this weekend, I think he's already done enough to at least bare minimum start game one. And I know that they've invested a lot in Trey Lance with the draft picks in the first round picks that they gave up to go out there and acquire Trey Lance.

But I keep on going back to this. I don't know how sold Kyle Shanahan was at the start in drafting and wanting Trey Lance when they made that trade. Because remember his BFF Chris Simms and they have those matching tattoos, which I always did find creepy. Chris Simms, the first one I got on television and said, I think this move was made to go out there and trade up for Mac Jones. And then eventually I do think Kyle Shanahan was talked into the upside of Trey Lance by John Lynch and by others in the organization. I know John Lynch said we were going to go with the guy that Kyle wants, and I think there was enough pushback in that organization on Mac Jones that it ended up being Trey Lance was the guy. Now, you could talk yourself into saying you are a fan of Trey Lance, but there's always going to be that skepticism if you initially, because of that first impression, weren't on board. So in one way, I do think that them putting all that capital in for Trey Lance couldn't mean that he could return as the starter next year. But since really Shanahan has Purdy looking so good right now and Shanahan does not love Trey Lance, maybe likes him.

I'm not saying he loves him. I'm going to go with Purdy on the other part of this, too. If the Niners win the next two games, how do you not start the guy that won the Super Bowl? Like even in Philadelphia, when they had all that invested in Carson Wentz and Foles won the Super Bowl, I know it was only for two games. And they talked about the health and all that, but you did have Nick Foles start Game 1 before getting replaced early on in the season. I think it was in Week 3 up against the Indianapolis Colts.

I was at that game. I think that was Week 3. So I'm going to say that it's going to be Brock Purdy and probably only thing that makes me move off of that. And like if he is just horrendously bad this weekend.

But I kind of think he is now deserving of of getting that job and the more and more games he wins in these next two games. Like if he goes to the Super Bowl and loses the Super Bowl, you said no to Tom Brady when Jimmy Garoppolo overthrew Emmanuel Sanders coming off a Super Bowl loss. So I'm starting to think that Purdy is the starter next year. If you had asked me a month ago, I would have said Brady. But I don't think the 49ers are going to now tango with Brady because of Purdy. And if then Purdy struggles in the first month or two out of the season, then they'll eventually hand the baton over to Trey Lance. So I'm with you. That's something we do agree on. That Purdy is going to be starting Week 1 for the San Francisco 49ers. All right. We'll take a break when we come on back. How do we rank the coaches one through four this weekend in the AFC and NFC title games?

And also we'll do the same for QBs as well. Get in the game and download the free 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. 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. 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. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show.

Zach Gelb Show, CBS Sports Radio. I don't know about you, Hickey. I'm actually a little disappointed today.

And I'm disappointed because this is going to sound weird. So we're going to the Super Bowl for the trip. We're going to the game. I got my tickets today.

I know that this was the case last year. But I thought maybe we'd go back to traditional tickets eventually. Not that I need a traditional ticket for like every event I go to. Like you got a regular season game. Okay, I don't need a traditional ticket. But when you get into the playoffs. And you're talking about games that are really, really important in history.

That could be made like a Super Bowl, the final game of the season, Super Bowl 57. I think they should give you a hard copy of the ticket. Instead, they send you now like after the game an NFT of the ticket. And I'm not going to say that probably.

So it's not a big time, big time problem. But the mobile ticket thing. That's probably just something I'll never get on board with.

Not with the regular season, but postseason. I want a real hard copy of the ticket. I'm with you and I think we'll never see that again.

I hate to say it. Every sporting event now, it's always online. Do they even make regular tickets anymore? I don't think so. I have never seen a regular ticket since COVID.

Yeah, I can't. Any game I've gone to, it's been on my phone. Well, like any time we get tickets here through our company. Like Yankee game, Met game, anything like that. It's now all through the phone.

They just give you an email address and boom, there you go. So I don't know. It's a weird thing. The physical ticket is great. Did you grow up collecting tickets? Yeah.

Oh, yeah. I have a bunch. My parents are moving from my childhood house.

They're downsizing. So I had a box of tickets like in my childhood room growing up as a kid. And my dad was like, how many of these tickets do you want to keep?

And I go, oh, next time I'm home, I got to go through the box. I'm sure there's a lot of tickets there that I don't need. But I'm sure there's going to be some big time events that I'm going to want to keep there.

I feel like our kids, you know, whenever those gobs and hickeys are running around years and years and years from now, they're going to look at us as if we're crazy because they're going to grow up in a life where they only go to a sporting event where you need your cell phone. Have you ever been to a sporting event where your phone has died? Because I feel like once you get in the building, no one really checks your ticket anymore other than the first time you go down to your section. But I've always wondered that if you're at the game, your phone dies. Like, where's the proof of your your ticket? If someone really wanted to make an issue like, oh, can I see your tickets?

I want to make sure that you're in your seat. Died one time. Thankfully, I had a physical ticket, so no problem. What was that?

Big 10 Championship 2016 Penn State versus Wisconsin. Oh, that's the Stone Age now for the Stone. Five years ago, six years ago. But they got a physical no physical ticket. That's how I got in. As I'm saying, it was my phone died one time.

It was physical ticket. But now I make sure that I barely use my phone like before the game, just because I don't want any risk of the phone battery dying, not being able to get in. So now it's basically whether it's a night game or charging all day, whether it's a day game, not touching it barely until I get in the stadium.

Yeah. Could you I'm sure there's enough charging stations, as is the Super Bowl. But could you imagine that you bought tickets to the Super Bowl? You're on your way and your phone dies.

Now you could go find a charger somewhere, but it's just another part of the whole situation that I've not thought of. Or if, let's say, someone is claiming that you're in their seats, they come up to you. Hey, sir, can I see your tickets? Oh, my phone is dead.

Like, does anyone actually believe that? Convenient. Convenient timing there, buddy. Get out. Yeah.

Then you get kicked out when you paid like whatever it was to get into the building. All right. So this weekend, you want to do quarterbacks. You want to do coaches first when we rank them. Rank them one through four. Best to worst. Let's do quarterbacks first.

Okay. I think this is fairly easy. I'm going Mahomes one.

It's not by a wide margin. I've been saying this now for the better part of three weeks that if Joe Burrow wins the Super Bowl this year, defeats Mahomes again, and that's now four straight against Mahomes and he gets a ring. I think you then have to put Burrow up as the best quarterback in the league. But since Burrow has just been to a Super Bowl yet and has not won one yet, even though he's beat Mahomes the last three times, one of them being in the AFC title game a year ago in Arrowhead or as Mike Hilton is now calling it Burrowhead, I will still lean Mahomes as the best quarterback in football and he's going to win the MVP this year. So I had a second MVP to his trophy mantle.

Then two, it's kind of like a 1A, but I'll say two because we're ranking them one through four. I'll go Joe Burrow. Three, it's a man that is a finalist for the MVP, has done a wonderful job this season, looks to be the franchise quarterback moving forward for the Philadelphia Eagles, may be the best leader at the quarterback position in the year of 2023. That is Jalen Hurts. And then fourth, this is not me saying this guy's a bad quarterback. I just predicted that he's going to be the starting quarterback next year.

But you have to have someone before. There's just more talent and more upside with Mahomes, Burrow and Hurts and they're more established players than Brock Purdy. So I'll put Brock Purdy in at number four.

Your list, please. I go Joe Burrow one. Joe Burrow one, he's beaten Mahomes every single time. Not to mention, again, the videos can say one thing. I don't trust Patrick Holmes is going to be 100 percent.

I don't think it's going to be anywhere near, frankly, 100 percent. That's going to really limit his game. And I think with that said, I think you've got to put Burrow number one there, even though the game's in Arrowhead.

So I'll go Burrow one, Mahomes two, Hurts three, and then with you, Purdy four. Did you see the latest update on Mahomes today? That he's doing a twirl or, as James Palmer said, a pirouette, I believe, which is a very fancy and technical term. I did see the pirouette. Off of his left foot.

Let's just talk how us men would talk. The guy was doing a twirl. Off his left foot, which is important to know, that's the non-injured foot. Anyone can spin on their non-injured foot. Oh, I didn't see that part. I just saw the twirl. I did not get into the specifics of it.

So then he spun and then planted the left foot and started walking right. How stupid is this? This is what you got to do now. What else are we going to do? I get that.

But this is pretty stupid at this point. You are James Palmer being based in Kansas City this whole week. And I love James. You are looking at no other body part outside of the right ankle of Patrick Mahomes for three hours or however long you get to be at practice for. James is a friend to show and he probably has better access than any other person in the media because he works for the NFL Network. I would be so tired of this damn ankle if I'm James Palmer and it's only Thursday.

But that's the biggest story tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday. It's ankle, ankle, ankle, ankle, ankle for Patrick Mahomes. It's probably the most absurd thing that we've had to cover injury-wise for a big quarterback since the Brady thumb. Remember when Brady had the practice leading up to the, I think it was the AFC title game against Jacksonville?

And Brady literally thought his season was over. And he got it caught up with Rex Burkhead's helmet. And then he was wearing gloves, gloves to the press conference.

And he goes on out against Jacksonville and he plays really well in the fourth quarter. And he still wore the gloves because I was at the media night. He still wore the gloves at the Super Bowl opening night, which is their media night, when they were going up against the Philadelphia Eagles. Remember the Brady gloves thing?

That was just the definition of stupidity. I'm glad Rex Burkhead's career was not derailed after that incident, which he should have probably been cut. Well, they documented it in, what was the, it wasn't Tom versus Time. It was whatever ESPN released this past year. Man in the Arena.

Man in the Arena, thank you very much. And that, Brady and Alex Guerrero, his personal trainer, they really thought his season was over. Yeah, so that's a good point. We have not had this specific of an injury where everyone's paying attention to. Because the regular season, everything gets washed away. It's like, oh, we'll monitor. But now it's like we were breaking down yesterday, him walking off of the podium down the two steps and walking out the door to probably 10 feet total. And we're sitting there saying, oh man, ankle looks good. We're watching his gait.

Yeah, this is. I would love to be at one time in my life, in a stage in my life where people actually care how I walk up to a podium. And they're dissecting every step I take for the five seconds they saw me. Mahomes could have went right past that door and he could have started limping, falling down and no one would know. But oh, he walked up to the podium and he did a few stretches yesterday and a twirl today. So he's good. I wish he took the Josh Allen approach.

Remember Josh Allen hurt his elbow and like the first media availability after the elbow injury against the Jets. Everyone's walking in. He picks up his helmet and like just runs away. He runs into the locker and runs off.

That's what you should do if you're home. Just create a little more intrigue. Get out of that.

Get out of sight. But if I was Mahomes and this wasn't as bad as what people are making it out to be, which with just what we saw the last two days now, I think people are trying to diminish how bad the ankle is. And it is a high ankle sprain.

So I don't know what the impact is going to be. I would have gone to the podium with ice taped all around my ankle to make it seem, if I knew I wasn't that badly injured, that it was worse than what it actually was. I'd do the Big Ben walking boot. Maybe put a neck brace on just for the situation.

Kind of neck brace with the glasses. Jersey Shore comes back tonight, by the way. Oh, I know. I know something to watch once it becomes made available on the on the MTV app. So that'll be about tomorrow morning.

I hope they're not late because I would love to early morning watch a little Jersey Shore. But I'm with I'm Mahomes. I like maybe just put my like get the Hugh Freeze medical bed.

Those wheeled up in the press box one time. I'll do it. I'm with you. Make it look like as bad as possible and all of a sudden come out of the tunnel like Willis Reed on Sunday, running like there's no problem in the world. You love the Hugh Freeze sitting in the hospital. How can you not? I think you mentioned that yesterday, too. I forget the context.

I think you're right. The only thing I love better than that is the thumbs up that what you want to call it. Gave him the Syracuse head coach.

I'm blanking on his name. You know, papers in the thumbs up after the game. Come on, get a paper cut. You know, this is my Hugh Freeze moment. I'm going to produce the radio show out of the hospital bed. Some people reference the Jordan flu game.

I say the Hugh Freeze hospital bed moment. Coaches this week and I'm going Andy one, Kyle Shanahan two, Zach Taylor three and then Sirianni four. I love Sirianni.

I think Sirianni is wonderful. But Andy Reid has won a Super Bowl, went to five NFC title games as the head coach of the Eagles. We know each and every year now he's in the AFC title game with the Kansas City Chiefs and has been to an additional Super Bowl. Shanahan has been to a Super Bowl now as a third string quarterback and they still just had a dominant team and didn't lose the game since going to three and four. Zach Taylor was coaching the Super Bowl last year and Sirianni just hasn't had enough time in the league yet and maybe gets the Super Bowl this year. What he's done is impressive, but someone's got to be four for so.

Sirianni is four for me. I think the order is right and I really don't think there's much of an argument for moving anyone. Maybe Taylor and Nick.

I think that could be like the biggest debate. But like you said, he got to a Super Bowl. The argument would be if you want to go Nick over Taylor, Sirianni played more of a role in developing Jalen Hurts the last two years than maybe Zach Taylor did in Joe Burrow. Because Burrow was already established as a number one overall pick and thought to be great. There are a lot of questions about Jalen Hurts and no one, even if you like Jalen Hurts like I did, could have thought that Jalen Hurts would have been an MVP type of player before the season started. When we come on back, we'll make some pitches on who should go out, go on out and get Aaron Rodgers. There's a lot to listen to.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. 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. 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.