Head Coach Shuffling (Hour 3)

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. Yo, yo, it is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Coming up 20 minutes from now, just wrapped up his rookie season with the Washington commanders, Ryan Robinson Jr. is going to join us on CBS Sports Radio. So I'm reading some stuff right now from this Mike McCarthy press conference. I guess through some of the ways that McCarthy answered questions in this presser, as the Cowboys made six coaching staff moves today, I just assume as long as Kellen Moore wasn't going to get a head coaching job, which I don't think he's going to, I would not make Kellen Moore a head coach in this league.

I've said that for the last two years. I'm not in the mind of that he's going to be a good coach in this league. I'm not in the line of thinking that he's going to get a job as a head coach. But if you want to make the case that he's coaching quarterbacks or an offensive coordinator somewhere else, okay, fine, be it. But Hickey, I guess the tone from this press conference, from everything that I'm reading, when Mike McCarthy addressed reporters a little bit ago, is that a lot of people are thinking that McCarthy with his noncommittal responses about Kellen Moore could actually be in danger of losing his job outright, which I didn't think it would go to that extreme, even though I'm not the biggest Kellen Moore fan in the world, because we talked about this in the last hour, and how many, the last two years we've talked about maybe Dan Quinn one day replacing Mike McCarthy for a while with Kellen Moore's name. When Jason Garrett was there, it was like right on the list to replace Jason Garrett. So maybe that relationship has run its course. When your answer about your OC's future is evaluation is still going on, not the most ringing endorsement, and if Kellen Moore is back, boy, is his seat on fire.

On fire. I don't think he's coming back. If you knew he was, if you knew he was coming back, or if McCarthy wanted him to come back, because there could be many people getting in McCarthy's ear.

Right? Like Jerry, Steven, Will McClay, like there could be a lot of voices here dictating this decision. But if McCarthy wanted him back, don't you think he would speak a little bit more positively and a little bit more, a little bit in a clearer manner when addressing Kellen Moore? I think McCarthy does not want him back. Now, can you get the rest and the power structure of the Cowboys organization to agree with you? Well, that's the thing is if it's the other way around, let's say McCarthy wants to keep him, but everyone else doesn't. If you're McCarthy, I think speaking out of line only hurts you more than anything else.

If you say I want him back, I'm going to try my best to get him back. And then he's fired, either undermines your authority, which makes you look bad, or you ruffle Jerry's feathers, which is not good either. But that's not what I'm saying.

What I'm saying is you could speak about this in a more positive way. From what the way that the tone of this press conference was, it was very much appearing like he's not going to be back. So I don't know why if they made changes today, why wouldn't they just announce that today? Are they waiting to see if he gets a job somewhere else? Well, I think I was part of it. Like he was in the Panthers running. So when Frank Reich was announced, they probably learned, OK, he's out. Who thought he was actually to get the Panthers head coaching job?

Maybe there was more hope than thought of actually getting it, but... Take our garbage and turn it into gold. Please hire Calamore. Or actually, no, don't hire Calamore. He's great. No, really, I would really suck if you hire him away from us. Please, no.

We love Calamore as you have a sign that you're holding up. We actually don't like him whatsoever. As opposed to saying, OK, offensive coordinator is live. Get that resume ready is probably what Jerry keeps on saying to him. And then I read this via the fine folks at Pro Football Talk with Mike Florio. I guess Mike McCarthy in this press conference said Jerry Jones wants me to be the coach of the Cowboys as long as Tom Landry was the coach of the Cowboys. Florio notes that McCarthy would need to reach the age of 85 and still be employed as the head football coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Now, I think I have my Cowboys history correct. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Wasn't the first move Jerry Jones when he bought the team to fire Tom Landry?

Yes. He moved on from Tom Landry. Interesting comparison. I know it's more about the length than the years, but it is funny that...

It's more about the history of the organization. Jerry does reference the guy he fired as his first move as owner as now he hopes to have him coach for as long as he did before then. Yeah. Landry was the coach of the Cowboys from 1960 to 1988.

I'm just going to go ahead. So 85 years old. Did Mike McCarthy just sell the sideline at 85? I'm going to say no. If he is, how many Super Bowl rings does he have? Knowing the Cowboys, maybe zero.

Probably zero, honestly. Maybe one once, you know, if Jerry Jones is no longer wielding the power that he has now. We got to find the audio of this press conference. If we could try to do that by the end of the show, because I really, really need to hear that quote. Because, you know, sometimes things get authored and they're not like written the way that they actually sound.

I want to... I don't know what could really be changed about that, but I just got to hear the tone of McCarthy when he says that. That's really something. That he wants him to work in basically his grave? Work till 85?

Yeah. Also, if you're a head football coach, not that... Like, I know Saban and Belichick are up there in age. When you get into your 70s, like you get to 75. I know it's always tough to walk away because these coaches do this forever and they fear what they're going to do with their life. Or if they're going to drop dead once they do retire. Don't you got to enjoy life a little bit outside of football? Like when you get into your 70s, like what's the purpose of still coaching? What is there to be afraid of? Like, you're right. People are like, I'm going to lose myself and not know what to do. Because this is all these guys know. I would love to know or I'd love to be in a position at 75 and not to know I have all this money and don't know what to do with it.

Please let me try to figure out, you know, how to find happiness. Like Belichick is 70 and Saban 71. Guys, if you want to go to 75 fine. But after that, walk away from the game.

But all the money they make, like use it. But you know what the weird thing is? Like if you look at Belichick and Saban, you wouldn't think they're 71 and 70. No. I mean, I know that they're older, but like much younger, like 60 minutes, same Pete Carroll.

Yeah, all three are. That's a good one, too. You know, younger spirits. I mean, that keeps them going. But still, I mean, please do something, anything.

Stop waking up at 5 a.m. every day and watching tape till midnight. So my dad is 63. When I saw our BFF John Kincaid in the press box in Philadelphia, John Kincaid asked me, because is your dad still working? And I go, yeah, he goes, why?

That's what John said. He goes, he's 63. I go, I just have to go in the office every day now. You know, he loves doing sales. I go, I think he's going to work my dad.

And here I go, spilling all the beans on the national radio show. But I said, I think my dad's going to work for like another five years. And John's like, oh, please tell him don't do that. I thought that was vintage John Kincaid.

Also, I could be wrong here. Isn't he close to your dad's age or no? Kincaid?

Yeah. Oh, I don't know how old Kincaid is. My dad is 63.

I have no idea. I don't think John is. It would be ironic if he's like 61. He's like yelling at your dad, stop working.

As here he is grinding away himself. I would say John's like 50. OK.

I have no idea. I'm terrible with age. So I can never look at someone and tell you how old they are.

If I was a carnival barker at one of those events, I would lose all my money. Well, we could probably do a quick social media search to figure out what John Kincaid's age is here real quickly. Give me two seconds here. I would agree with the sentiment of John Kincaid.

Hopefully we'll be at a position that. John Kincaid is a little bit older than I thought. Born in 65.

The silence is probably not good. I'm not going to do the quick mental math. I'll let you do it. But I think he's 56 or 57. So he's close.

So he's close. I would I would love to wake up and not know what to do with my day and have the money and the means to be able to do, you know, whatever I want, but close to her. I just want to go to the beach all day. I can do it. Belichick and Saban could do whatever they want. No, they can. I'm just saying, like, you know, the common folk, me and you.

Yeah. Then then they are set for, you know, again, they're fine. They don't need to work. As Scott Farrell said, you won't have to drag me out of this studio. Now, I'm not going to do this until I drop dead sports talk radio or be in the sports industry, and I actually don't think it's healthy to do this job like more than 30 30. Like if you go 30 years of this business, first off, it's it's incredible. We should all be fortunate enough to have that run. But. And when you get to be like 60 years old, I think you hang it up right now.

A little bit different for us. We we started both at a younger age than a lot of people. But yeah, when you get to like 60, I feel like that's it's a good cutoff age because there's there are some broadcasters that hang around way too long, way too long. And you're like, all right, you've had a legendary career. Why are you doing this anymore? I think it's any industry, though, at this point, if you're there for 30, 40 years, you want to do things change. Usually, if you're stuck in your old ways, you know, to say either leave the hero or last long enough to see yourself be the villain.

That's, I think, say true in almost any industry. Well, I asked you this last night and you had no answer. And usually when I ask you something and you have no answer, the way that I think I know you, you think about this and you try to come up with an answer in case of I ask you this again. So last night, you said in a joking manner that you would quit. If Jeff Satter is the next head football coach of the Indianapolis Colts. And I said, no, you wouldn't, because what else would you do? And you had no answer. If let's just say tomorrow. Radio goes away or sports media goes away, which would never happen, and you had to pivot to a new job, what would you do? I've not thought about this since I left, so I don't really.

Yeah. OK, well, I need you to think about something in the next minute. OK, I will give you my answer.

My answer is very simple. If let's say sports media went away tomorrow. I would become a teacher. When I was a young kid, I wanted to be a teacher. I would go back to school and I would try to become a teacher.

That's what I would do. Probably teach physical education, a.k.a. gym. I would be a gym teacher. That would be me. And I think I'd be a pretty bad ass gym teacher.

So I would go into the teaching profession. All right. That's been about 30 seconds. So I'll stall for another 30 seconds.

This is the Zach Gelb show. I mean, we're talking like how realistic here, like if we're just talking. Let's be real. Do I think you're going to go on to be a scientist? Do I think you're going to be a doctor? No.

Yes. Also, you know, I'm not going back to school. That's for damn sure. I am done with school. I would say I've been on a skiing kick. So maybe this is just recently, you know, I would definitely want to.

I think that'd be a fun, fun little adventure. Ski instructor in the in the wintertime, maybe surf instructor in the summertime. So it's been my winters on the mountain, the summers at the beach. Where would you move to?

I don't know. Colorado would be pretty cool. Utah and there's some in California. But you also have to be an elite skier. I feel like to be an instructor.

That's why I asked a realistic like, do I have time to practice? I mean, that would obviously, you know, that would maybe a lifeguard. I think a lifeguard would be fun. I could swim. I'm scuba certified unofficially. Wow.

So I could definitely. You really have no future outside of sports media. You asked me this question on the spot of what I would do if my career just folded up. I don't know. You don't have a backup plan?

No, I don't plan on failing. So it's all sports media or nothing? Yes. Gotcha. Are you supposed to have a backup plan?

I don't know. I think you should always have a backup plan. I like the whole burn the boats motto of just like what else, you know, figure it out.

Because if things fail and I've seen myself and I can't host and I can't. If the ship is sinking, he's not jumping off. No, I'll jump off.

He's saving everyone else at that point. But right now I don't turn to. I don't envision hopefully the ship sinking.

If it happens that day, then I'll on the fly. Figure out what I'm going to do. But right now, I'm not taking classes on the side to be some sort of instructor or figure out, you know. So when you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Pro athlete. Oh, and that quickly did not really. But radio was always quickly right behind it. I listen to radio a lot growing up. So that was always kind of always in the back of my mind. Three things I wanted to be when I was when I was a kid and becoming a sports media, becoming a talk show host, I figured out at the age of eight. But I had two things before that.

Number one, I think you're going to laugh at this one. I wanted to cut hair. When I was at kindergarten, they go around the room, the kindergarten graduation. What do you want to be? Kid says astronaut. Next kid goes, I want to be a doctor. I want to be a baseball player.

I get up. I want to be a barber. That's what I want to be. So my parents got a kick out of that. They always tease me about that. I think I said hairdresser was the way that I even more professional.

Yes. I was very high rates if you're a hairdresser compared to a barber as a as a five year old as well thought out. Then I wanted to be a baseball player. And then quickly after that, just in the lifestyle I grew up in, I figured out I want to be a talk show host. Here's one that's actually I've thought about before.

Younger. That kind of sparked a thought that's realistic somewhat. Firefighter.

That's one I've always always thought was very cool. Helping others, which I do like a lot now. I can see you being a vet. I'm not really around animals that much. Really?

Yeah. Never had a dog growing up, never had a cat growing up. Had a few fish. So you'd be like Nigel Thornberry and talk to all the animals and all this. I do. I will say I love I love Shark Week. I love National Geographic. I love Discovery. So if I can you know, if you want me, get me in a tank or get me in a cage with some sharks and do some research. I'm in. OK.

But all the other stuff is kind of boring. Maybe a scuba diver. I'm in.

I took it to college. I'm ready to go. So Mark Maskey, what a transition this is.

The Panthers are no longer an option. This is what he tweeted. This is first off.

I guess. OK, so this was today. Was this today? Yes, it was.

So it was after the Frank Reich news. The Panthers are no longer an option for Sean Paden. And there was an issue with Paden's interview with the Broncos. Sean likes the idea of coaching Russell Wilson and having that defense, but fears a potential power struggle with a member of the ownership group, sources say. So that was the Mark Maskey report. Sean retweeted it.

Sean Paden. And he said zero truth to this. We had a great visit and Broncos ownership was fantastic. Did the meeting end yet? Hickey, do we have any confirmation of the meeting yet? Because Sean is in like a 10 hour meeting with the Arizona Cardinals today.

I did see a video of him and Michael Bidwell walking out of the facility like an hour ago. So it seemingly is either over or they're shifting it to dinner, but just going to continue at a different locale. OK. So right now, all we know is Frank Reich gets the Panthers job. My reaction doesn't really excite me.

I'm predicting Broncos get D'Amico Ryans, Colts go with Jeff Saturday, Cardinals with Brian Flores, Texans with Jonathan Gannon. Now, here's the big question. When was this tweet from Sean?

Because if Sean Paden. This was an hour ago. Yeah, it was recent.

Yeah. This tweet was only three hours ago that Mark Maskey put up. If he was responding to this tweet. Out of that meeting.

Now, you could get out of the meeting or look at your phone and you look at your phone, you see all these these responses here and you felt compelled to respond. But if he's tweeting as this meeting was wrapping up, makes you probably not think he's getting that Cardinals job then, right? Well, if he's in the car, they take two separate cars. I'm sure Sean has a driver.

He's probably sitting in the passenger seat or maybe in the back. But if you're talking about another job, it makes you think you're not maybe getting this job. Or he's trying to, you know, put any bad, you know, PR out, you know, put it to rest. Because, again, the longer you don't speak, the more the story grows.

Maybe he's trying to get out ahead of it and say, hey, look, that's not true whatsoever. Fake news. I love the Broncos.

They're great. Gotcha. So my predictions, if I misspoke and said Brian Flores for the Cardinals job, I don't know if I did or not. I would go Sean Paden with the Cardinals, Texan Jonathan Gannon, Coach Jeff Saturday, Broncos D'Amico Ryans.

But if maybe he doesn't think he's getting this job, then maybe it will be Brian Flores for the Cardinals job. All righty. Anyways, Zach Gilp shows CBS Sports Radio Brian Robinson Jr. 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.

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Get in the game and download the free Odyssey app today. Some folks don't stop searching till they find the truth. If you've got a detective's eye, June's Journey is the game for you. Play as June Parker in a gripping murder mystery as you find hidden objects to help solve her sister's death. You'll hunt for clues in hundreds of beautifully illustrated scenes set in the Roaring Twenties. New chapters are added weekly. Find your first clue by downloading June's Journey today.

Available on Android and iOS mobile devices as well as on PC through Facebook games. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. We continue this Zach Gelb Show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio.

Let's go out to the guest line right now. I'm welcoming a man that just wrapped up his rookie season with the Washington Commanders. And he's here with us today on behalf of Panini.

And that, of course, is Brian Robinson Jr. Brian, appreciate the time. How you been? Hey man, how you doing? I'm good.

I'm doing fantastic and I appreciate you coming on. A lot of people were rooting for you this year with, unfortunately, what happened in August, in late August when you got shot. And it was remarkable how quickly you were able to return to the field. Just with the rookie season now over and you have some time to reflect, how do you look back on everything you went through in this season? Well, you know, with the start of it, obviously, an unfortunate circumstance where I started. But I'm just blessed to be able to get back out there on the field and show everybody my potential.

There's really no ceiling for me. I'm going to get better next year. But just to be able to get back out on the field and just get back out there and compete and just play ball again, man, is just great. We ended up having some success this season. We had a seven-game win streak within that span with them around my return. And one game away from making the playoffs. So it was really close. There's just a lot to look back on and fix and come back and fix next year.

Hopefully, when we get to the playoffs, I feel like we got the potential to do it with just a few pieces we can focus on this offseason and we're going to come back stronger. I loved the scene when you were running onto the field for your first NFL game in the regular season and you picked many men. How did that come about? Because that was awesome.

It won't be honest, that wasn't my idea. I'm pretty sure somebody creative behind the scenes thought of the idea and they played it. It was right on time. It kind of matched the situation that was going on. A lot of people were excited about that. They just reached out to me and just showed me some love and told me it don't stop nothing.

Just keep going. So with that song playing, my return brought a lot of attention to me and a lot of people just respect me and my situation. What were your emotions like running onto the field for the first time as a pro? It was bittersweet.

A month and a half to a couple months prior to running out there, my career was questioned. Just based on unfortunate circumstances, like I said, just to be able to come back out there and receive a lot of love from the fans and my team, my family, everybody that helped me get back on my feet and get back out there. It was a blessing to do that. Brian Robinson Jr. here with us. Were you surprised you only missed four games? Because I couldn't believe how quickly you got back on the field. Once I started feeling better, they told me four games for the 900 football list, whatever the deal they had me on, I had to miss a minimum of four games. So I was kind of surprised by the time the fourth game was over that I felt good enough to come back out on the field and actually play.

It was tough, no recovering, but it was all worth it. Brian Robinson Jr. here with us. You had a very successful rookie season. What do you hope to improve on individually coming up this offseason? I wish to improve on everything as far as just, I feel like that's another reason I'm just glad I came out and played, just to give myself the opportunity to get the experience, the game speed, and where I can come back next year and just have that year under my belt where I got a chance to go out there and compete against top tier defenses and teams.

Now I know what to study on film and how to prepare against teams and where I need to attack and what the focal points I need to focus on to be as dynamic as I need to be as a running back. As hard as it is to stick out or stand out at this level, we still got to find ways to try to take advantage of our opportunities against our opponents. I like the skill position players that you guys have.

Clearly yourself, Brian Robinson Jr., I'm a big fan of Antonio Gibson, who's also in that backfield, and then we know the receivers with Terry McLaurin and Jahad Donson. It seems like you guys got a really special group of young players in this league. I feel like we're starting to develop the culture needed in the locker room, in the guys that we have, like the guys you just mentioned, how we prepare, how we approach everything we do as a professional. We want to win football games, and I feel like as long as we continue to focus on bringing in and having those type of guys around in the locker room and focusing on those types of people on the field, I feel like we'll be a lot better.

We'll continue to make progress out of our strides. What did you see out of Sam Howell in that last game where you guys defeated the Cowboys? I've seen exactly what I believed Sam could do. I always believed in Sam's potential all year. At no point did I believe that Sam got an opportunity that he wouldn't be ready for, and I was so happy to see him get the opportunity against the Cowboys last game. He went out there and showed everybody exactly what I watched and drafted, and that was something I also already knew he had the potential to do.

It was just good to get that light flashed on him one time before the season ended. So you tell me what you see since you're in the locker room with him each and every day, or almost each and every day. What makes you think that Sam Howell could have a lot of success in the NFL?

As far as how he approaches his business, you can tell it's important to him. He's passionate about the game, he's passionate about how he prepares, and his work is great. I feel like as long as he continues to focus on the things he needs to do to keep improving, he'll continue to take those positive steps. Would you like to see him be the starting quarterback next year?

I wouldn't mind. If there's a decision the coach makes, I always respond with that. The coaches made those decisions between Carson and Taylor, and as a starter I had to be okay with whatever they decided to do. If I played in the last game versus Dallas and they still started Sam, I would still have to be okay with that. That's not my decision, so I gotta be okay with whoever they decided to put in as quarterback. But I wouldn't mind seeing him as the starting quarterback.

I feel like he's got all the potential to do it. With that being said, you guys really seem to gravitate around Taylor Heinecke. Was it tough to see him get benched for that game up against the Browns?

Well, yes. In a sense it was. Just because you know how hard he had worked for his opportunity, even though the ups and downs, he still works hard and won games for us. I feel like we did turn away from him fairly fast when he made mistakes.

But it was a critical time in the year where we came on site and everything we do, I guess everybody tried to tighten up on the decision making to try to give us our best opportunities. Sometimes it worked out for us, sometimes it didn't work out for what we had planned for benching him. But I feel like he'll be alright for me.

He'll come back for me. Brian Robinson Jr. here with us. You had a lot of quarterbacks at Alabama that had a lot of success. Let me start you off with Jalen Hurts. Does it surprise you at all what he's been able to do this year? Because he's playing like an MVP and now is 60 minutes away from going to the Super Bowl.

It doesn't surprise me at all. Since the time I came in and met Jalen at Alabama, he's always had it in him. I feel like people started to doubt him just due to the competition he was up against. That never dried down his potential. He always had the potential to do it regardless of him getting benched at one time at Alabama. He transferred his last year over Homer, broke records and high as my finalist. He continued to prove his daughters wrong and I couldn't be more happy for him. I would love to see him play for the whole thing.

I would love to see him win the whole thing. That's a real good friend of mine. We had a good friendship at Alabama.

He still does. I want to be a better friend and see one of your good friends on the Super Bowl as a starting quarterback. I think a lot of times in sports we forget about the human element of it.

Health and safety obviously is such a big importance in life. As you know, Brian Robinson Jr., to see what Tua went through this year, it was scary just watching it from my couch. I just wish him nothing but the best. How did you react to seeing what Tua had to go through this year with all the concussions? I really hated to see that with Tua. Like I said, another good friend of mine has a real good connection with Tua at Alabama. I hated to see what he went through this year.

I know what type of competitive Tua is. He'll fight through anything if you let him. It was tough to just see the head injuries. That's critical in this game. That can really affect your career in a very fast way.

You can get your career ended off head injuries. He's got so much potential. He's a great player.

When he's healthy, he's spot on. I just hate to see the concussions in the head injuries take him out of the game and just have him. I'm just in pain from spraying. It's tough. This is one of the toughest injuries of them all.

In your head, that can end you before anything. I would hate to see that happen to one of my guys. We'll talk about Panini in just a second before we let Brian Robinson Jr. run.

You also played with Mac Jones and know him also very well. What do you say to people that are doubting Mac Jones and are unsure what he could do in the NFL? For the people that are doubting him?

They can continue to do that. I call him Joker. He's one of those types of people. He'll help people. He'll stay quiet, take in all the hate, let people count him out. He'll show you every reason why you shouldn't have. He has a very high ceiling. He has some injuries that kind of pinch him away from getting to where he's been trying to get to these past few years.

In the coming year or two, he'll turn around and show everybody exactly why he should have never doubted him. Tell me about the fine work you're doing today with the folks at Panini. We're just out here in Los Angeles signing our rookie Panini trading cards right now. You can get NFL trading cards at Walmart, Target, and hobby stores nationwide. You can also start collecting your favorite NFL rookies as NFTs on the Panini America platform at PaniniAmerica.net. I've got to ask you, Brian Robinson Jr., who were some of your favorite players when you were growing up as a kid?

Who did you look up to? Growing up in Tuscaloosa, obviously the few Alabama boys that came through, like Mark In, Trent Richardson, Julio Jones, Javier Arenas, all those guys. Off of that team, probably guys like Devin Hester, Reggie Bush, legendary guys coming through college.

Those are my guys. What was your favorite Saban story with your time with him at Alabama? Favorite Saban story?

That's a good question. I would just say if I could get one off about Saban, people really don't know Saban. Saban is the coolest guy ever. He's got more personality than people think.

He finds a way to get his laugh off every day, even if you've got to say something crazy about you. Real good man. I've got a lot of respect for Saban and the help and the job he did with me in my career. I'm going to be more thankful for Mr. Saban. We really appreciate you doing this today. Good luck and have a great year number two. We appreciate you doing this today.

No problem. 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 can 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. 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. Some folks don't stop searching till they find the truth. If you've got a detective's eye, June's journey is the game for you. Play as June Parker in a gripping murder mystery as you find hidden objects to help solve her sister's death. You'll hunt for clues in hundreds of beautifully illustrated scenes set in the roaring 20s. New chapters are added weekly. Find your first clue by downloading June's journey today.

Available on Android and iOS mobile devices, as well as on PC through Facebook games. You're listening to The Zach Gelb Show. It's time for your daily news brief. We get you caught up on the rumors, reports and reconnaissance from the day in sports. All eyes on the ankle of Patrick Mahomes. Yesterday he was a full participant in practice. Mahomes says practice on Wednesday was well, pretty good. I thought I had a good day yesterday.

Obviously things you had to work through here and there. But overall, probably better than I expected, being able to go out there and throw the football around and get the reps in that I needed to get in. It's almost this week hickey. And it doesn't mean that the ankle's fine. But it kind of gives you the impression that the Chiefs are saying, we know he's hurt. He hasn't high ankle sprain. He's going to play. So I guess they're trying to downplay all the potential concern about the ankle. And when they do that, they almost make it seem as if it's going to be a non factor in the game. But as this game does go on, you're curious how the ankle is going to hold up, because we know it is a high ankle sprain. They should be doing the other thing. They should be upselling as much as possible. Right.

I like your idea of ice, a boot, like really, really have a milking. Okay. What is the media there for like 15 minutes of practice, right? They're not there the whole time. It's a very short window.

So you're not missing out if like it's just a 15 minute block. Have them on a boot, maybe put them on a scooter. That's like crawling? Right. Yeah.

Crutches maybe too. Just really, really sell it. Back to crawl as Mahomes finds Travis Kelce. Touchdown Kansas City.

All right, let's go more Patrick Mahomes. He says he's received some good advice from Tom Brady. Talk to Tom a little bit. And I mean, I have a good relationship with him now. And he gives me a lot of advice. He gives me he gives me some advice to help me. I mean, why would you not want to learn from the goat, man? So anytime anybody like that wants to give me advice, I'll take it in.

And it's it's cool to see the guys that you've watched growing up your whole life be able to talk to you on that type of platform. What advice is Brady giving Mahomes? How to play hurt. Maybe he's referencing the time he hurt his hand. That's what you do. Suck it up.

What advice is there to give here? Well, Tom Brady is someone who does rely on his mobility a lot to win games. So he has multiple ankle injuries like he has in the past. Obviously, Tom's got to go to.

Yeah. Marinating with sarcasm, that answer is by heck, if you can't tell. Because if there's you and D.A., if there's ever an opportunity to take a shot at Tom Brady or poke the bear Tom Brady, you both do it. No, it's not even a shot at Tom Brady.

It's kind of more of a joke of like, yes, what he could, what could he, you know, what advice? I'm just I'm telling the advice, you know, as someone who plays a similar style, you know, Tom could give him help on how to feel better. Maybe he hits up Carson Wentz. Carson, what should I do in the game? Well, that's I think just as fair, just as valuable as Tom's information is, is the opposite of what Carson Wentz would say.

Let's hear more from Patty Mahomes. He says he hopes his ankle will be able to hold up throughout the game. Obviously, I feel like I can still do a lot of things, but it's going to we'll see as we get closer and closer.

We'll see during the game. I mean, you can't you can't fully do exactly what you're going to be in those moments in the game. But all I can do is prepare myself the best way possible. And then when we get in the game, you hope adrenaline kind of takes over and you can make those throws when you need to.

All right. Let's go to Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia with the shoulder. Looked pretty damn good last week. They members of the media asked Jalen Hurts on how his body feels. I felt better.

Don't really matter. Get it, get it, get it done. I love Jalen Hurts. I don't think there's ever been an athlete that I've been more enamored with that gives you nothing at every single press conference. But I still just look at him and say, wow, that's a great leader. And I eat up every single word that he says. Doesn't matter how I feel.

Not wrong. But he also gives you absolutely nothing about how he's feeling. That's a quarterback, baby. I love it from Jalen Hurts.

A.J. Brown says he isn't a diva after the talks that he was either hurt or frustrated with his lack of targets or lack of catches in the game up against the Giants. I'm never the receiver to go on the sideline or to try to cause, like, problems on the sideline. I'm not that guy.

I think that's what you can describe as a diva or whatever the case may be. But I'm not that person. You know, I'm the guy who goes and talks to the quarterback or talks to the OC and do it that way. You know, I'm not going to try to cause, cause commotion on the sidelines. That's not who I am. I'll never be that guy. Now, it's a little weird to me because they're talking about the way his demeanor was on the sideline and he just said he's not that guy.

But I'm going to just be transparent. I don't think it was that big of a deal. He looks a little upset on the sideline. It wasn't like he was screaming at Jalen Hurts. It wasn't like he was telling Nick Sirianni to go bleep yourself.

Isn't this such an overblown story here, Hickey? He definitely was not doing the Staphon Diggs arms in the air staring right at the quarterback like WTF. I would agree.

I guess the only reason that gives you some pause is I believe at the time that this was shown on FOX was 31-7. So it's kind of like, all right, dude. You should be smiling. This game's over.

They don't need you anyway. It's been a ground game. That's sometimes what the game plan calls for. Just like you're going to an MC Tomlin game in your first year here, be happy.

But aren't these great competitors? They have a level of crazy in them, all of them? You're not wrong. As Mike Tomlin was saying, we said this yesterday.

Rather say, whoa, than sick them. Talk about a guy who gives you nothing. That's something from a guy who gives you nothing. Tomlin actually is my favorite coach in the league just when he speaks.

Because there's not a lot of what's being said, but the 45 seconds he says, it gets me ready to go run through a wall for the man. All right. A.J. Brown says his sideline outbursts, even though he doesn't have them, won't carry into this week. It's a new week. We're in the NFC championship and we're moving forward.

And it wasn't nothing like serious, but, you know, I'm moving forward and I know I got a big week ahead of me. I know. So that's the only thing I'm worried about. I'm not worried about that.

I don't think nobody else should either, because it's not a big deal. Him and Jalen Hurts are also like legitimately really good friends. That's why A.J. Brown is there in Philadelphia. I have no issue over this.

I'm actually I'll take it one step further. I'm betting A.J. Brown anytime touch on this weekend.

Plus 140. Already placed the bet. Placed the bet yesterday. Guarantee, guarantee that A.J.

Brown will be in the end zone this weekend. You can lock that up, Hickey. Lock it up. 1000 percent. Your thoughts. So you're saying that there's there's not a chance that it's not going to happen. So you're saying, yeah, there's no chance that it's not going to happen.

Yeah. OK. Well, not even a slightest chance. Well, in the conversation right there.

Deebo Samuel, for the sake of time. He says the team isn't worried about a loud environment in Philly. I can't shave my head before Radio Row. Come on, Hickey, if that's where you're going.

Go ahead. We know we know it's going to be loud, you know, but no stadium is as loud as ours. But at the end of the day, you know, they're home in this championship.

They will be all riled up. And, you know, it don't it don't really too much. We don't really do too much feed into all that.

You know, we put the pads on and just go to work. Now, this gets the like to be a stupid argument, but the Niners fans are not louder than than the Eagles fans. Would you concur there? I never into a Niners game. I have Niners nation is pretty strong, but the Eagles fans are different. Rare.

A rare breed, to say the least. Yeah. It's got a Christian McCaffrey says despite the calf injury, he's playing on Sunday. Is there any chance in your mind that you won't play on Sunday? Zero. OK, so there you go. Christian, would you shave your head if you're on the bench?

You come out in street clothes, start the game. Robert Sala, he hired Nathaniel Hackett to be the O.C. It was important for us to hire an experienced guy, someone who's been who's put it together several times, not at just one spot, but several spots.

And but it didn't close the door. We interviewed a lot of first time potential first time play callers to that were very impressive. But, you know, when you look at when you look at Nathaniel and this team, we knew we were going to come in with we know we're going to have a basically revamped offensive line. We've been talking about getting a veteran quarterback in here if we can. We've got a really young group of skilled guys. So it was very important for us to have guys who have done it before because of the conviction, because of the philosophy and then having the recall and the scars, if you will, to be able to build what we think can be a really special offense. So, you know, when I just said Mike Tomlin, Jalen Hurts, they speak for a while and they say nothing.

But like, I'll run through a wall for them. Robert Sala, every time he speaks, I just don't believe a word he says. And I want to root for Robert Sala. Like, I like Robert Sala's story.

But this year and that quote, Hickey. I just don't buy what he's selling anymore. Well, he was truthful and he looked for a guy with a lot of scars, a lot of stops, which Nathaniel Hackett, check, check, check.

There you go. So if that's what you're looking for, a guy with experience who's learned from previous mistakes, I don't know, learn is a, you know, that's a different question, but he has a lot of mistakes that he could learn from. Did he have any time to learn from those mistakes? I'm not talking about a guy that's been out of a job for more than a year. Come on, guy got fired late in the season, like two weeks remaining in the season. It's an extra three weeks of prep that, you know, guys like Cliff Kingsbury didn't have if they were up for the running.

You got a head start for everyone else. Cliff's still in Thailand, I think. Good for him. I wouldn't come back for a year if I was him.

Cliff Kingsbury, that's the guy who knows how to live life. Lose a bunch of football games, get a lot of money, then go to Thailand and I'm never coming back. See ya. Not gonna be like one of all you other suckers that have to get right back into coaching.

And then it's a rematch between the Bengals and the Chiefs. Catch all the action from Westwood One. Your playoffs, your Odyssey. 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. Some folks don't stop till they find the truth. June's Journey is a roaring 20s murder mystery hidden object game. Find your first clue by downloading June's Journey today. Available on Android or iOS devices and on PC through Facebook games.