Rodgers Re-Emerges (Hour 2)

Hour number two of our radio program, it is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Groundhog Day has commenced. Aaron Rodgers, I guess, did not see his shadow and now he is walking, probably escorted on a private jet somewhere, back to wherever he resides as the darkness retreat is over. Now, I did a lot of reading on this darkness retreat because I had no clue what actually did go on other than sitting somewhere in the dark. Hickey, we were told this was going to be four days. That was not true. Reportedly, he entered on Monday and he emerged, which was on Wednesday, Wednesday evening.

So that was a pretty quick darkness retreat for one Aaron Rodgers. And I thought this was going to be a four day thing. Interesting. Hmm. Makes you wonder. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, did the decision come about very quickly when he's sitting there mulling over his options for the future? Was he hearing Green Bay stay in Green Bay or was he hearing leave, leave, leave the Green Bay Packers? I wonder. And I guess he has right voices like one on shoulder, one on his other shoulder, stay or go. Probably right. Fighting it out.

Stay or go. Do you also lose track of time you think? Is there a clock in there?

So here's what I have. He went to what is called Sky Cave, which is in Oregon. The entire, this is from the Schefter article, the entire experience is mostly self-guided. There is no hard and fast rule that suggests that guests must remain in the dark at all times. Everyone is invited to walk in the woods if the need arises. Turn on the lights if the feeling is too much or just leave.

The door remains unlocked and ready to open. So I guess, I don't know if you're allowed technology or not, if you have an alarm clock or not, like I don't know what the process is and then you're plugging in the alarm clock and you got to hope that it's going to be set correctly and all that. I have no clue how you keep track of time. I like, I think that would be fun for a day. You know, maybe like five, six, seven hours. I don't think I could do more than a day. I was going to say a day. I'll do like three hours and then I'm like, get me out of here. Well, you're high maintenance. I think I could last a day. Let's get bored easily.

Like, especially if it's dark and we're going to actually go by the real ruse of the darkness of tree and actually not turn the light on. Like, what are you supposed to do? I think us. Can't play board games. Can't watch TV. I really do think all of us here.

Well, that's a lot of crappy TV anyway. Board games. You still playing board games these days. Me and Lauren, we had skiing last week. We played board games at night.

Really? Checkers, Yahtzee. Guess who? No.

Guess who? Oh, is that clue? I forget which game that was.

Well, they both, both are real games. Yeah. What's the one where you have all the characters on the board and you're like, all right, does this person have a guess show brown eyes that if they don't, then you just slap the card down.

You put them down. Yeah. Guess who was my favorite game. That and monopoly. I was a big fan of monopoly too. Well, I mean, you play a monopoly with the lights on.

You can have that four day darkness to go by pretty quickly. That's a long game. Yeah. And then also Uno. I was a big fan of Uno.

Okay. What other, you like, you blackjack player. I like blackjack. I'm big roulette guy these days, but those aren't like kids games. Those are also probably, you're not going to play by yourself in a darkness to treat. If you're like by myself, there's no doubt about it. Well, technology's involved. I guess you could, except there is something when you're at the roulette table and you win or you're waiting for the ball to fall in the number and like your high five and everyone, yeah, yeah, yeah.

We all won. I think that is pretty neat. I'd probably would miss that part of it.

Also, I'd miss the dealer putting his hand over the table. No more. Oh yeah.

I don't know why I weirdly enjoy that when the hand goes over like to wave a magic wand, closing the board. So I got to give credit to our friend Chris LaPresti who does a good job, does occasional updates here on CBS sports radio. I think he was filling in today on the da show. Yes. Which is bogus out I guess. I believe so. I think he's in Arizona from what I've seen.

Oh, how about that? Big Dave Matthews fan, Andrew Bogusch, missed Dave Matthews by a week in Arizona or two. So surprising.

I thought Bogusch would have been out there in Arizona was at the Dave Matthews concert. But anyway, I tweeted something out today along the lines of as great as a quarterback as Aaron Rodgers is, when I look at Aaron Rodgers now forever, I'm going to just think about this darkness retreat. Like he is unbelievable as a player. We all know what he did on the football field. But the first thing I think I'm going to remember him going on into the future about is this darkness retreat.

Now, CeeLo had a great response. He said, he said, except last year's retreat with hallucinogens and his dead relatives putting their hands on him was much more memorable. Do you remember the second part of that at all? Because I remember last year the whole ayahuasca thing. Do you remember the part about his like dead relatives touching him?

Like obviously that's spiritually done. No, I do not recall him saying that. So I'm trying to find the CeeLo number. Oh, here we go.

This is the article that CeeLo sent. To me, one of the core tenets of mental health is self-love, and that's what ayahuasca did for me, Rodgers said. He later expanded on the effect. I had a magical experience with the sensation of feeling a hundred different hands on my body, imparting a blessing of love and forgiveness for myself and gratitude for this life for what seemed to be by my ancestors, he said. So Rodgers was tripping out of his mind last year that he thought his ancestors were touching him. That is 100 of them.

That's it. That's a lot of Rogers. I don't remember that part of the Rogers story, but are we going to start to remember Aaron Rodgers for all this craziness instead of the fact that this dude was just a great, unbelievable football player? Because I think in 10 years, if you ask me, what's the first thing that comes to mind with Aaron Rodgers?

I'm going to say darkness retreat. I'll be honest. At this point, I'm getting pretty jaded to the Aaron Rodgers off-season nonsense, whether it's the ayahuasca, whether it's a darkness retreat, whether it's the, the, I keep forgetting the name, the cleansing he did the first time three years ago. Thank you. Pancha Karma. It's like every off-season, what you said you were going to do live on the air.

It's not, I did not say we could go back in Yoda. I promise you there's be a million things I do first before that. Well, Jack Stern claims that there's audio being doctored at this network. So maybe we could just have Jack voice over. Yeah.

I'm going to do the Pancha Karma cleanse. That sounded like it was you, Hickey. I just played the audio. Thanks Jack. That Jack Stern always on it.

Always quick on the trigger. That is for sure. But it's like every off-season there's something different.

There's something bizarre that he does. I'm personally, I'm saying which is obvious at this point, block it out. I also remember on the field stuff first before all this stupidity, we'll call it. But you're blocking it out. So it shows that there is some frustration with everything that has happened the last three years.

Doesn't that then overtake at all? Some of the way that you do view Aaron Rogers? I mean, for 10 years from now, I feel like what's going to be in the brain is like, you know, underachieving, not getting the most out of his talent or his career more than, oh, he was in a cave or a, I mean, it was just like basically a hotel room for two and a half days where you could have turned, basically he's on a vacation. That's what he was. He was on a vacation where he could turn the light off if you wanted to, could have kept it off, whatever.

You're in the woods. That's what he did. Well, I have the exact explanation of it. So Rogers was in a room and spent his time in a partially underground hobbit like structure with 300 square feet of space, devoid of light, with a queen bed, a bathroom and a meditation like mat on the floor. It's fully powered. So at any point, this was director of the Sky Cave said, the lights could be turned on from the inside of the room. How often do you think the lights were turned on?

Like, I will say this about Rogers. I think since he's participating in this, maybe one time he turns on the lights, like when you're leaving just to make sure whatever you brought in you got and you just kind of do a double check. I think for the most part, and it was only what, Monday, Tuesday, and then he left on Wednesday night. I think he was in the dark for most, I think there was only one time he turned on the lights. Maybe that when, when it was his time to leave.

Yeah, I think he, I think he lived out the darkness part of it and just turned it like stay true to that, even though he had the, I guess he had the option, but I would probably guess if he had to turn the light on or off, I'd say he did not. Not at all. So if I said the over, under and a half. I mean, I would agree probably if you're leaving, make sure, I don't know what you're bringing in there. I don't think you're bringing a lot of stuff, but if you are somehow, or for some reason, I say probably turn it on. I don't think that counts though.

Like if you're cleaning up at the end, it's over, you turn the light on. I would say that doesn't count. What are the three things that you would bring if you had to go to one of these darkness retreats? Because I was also reading that there's a waiting list and I think they only allow three people at at a time from what I gathered.

So I guess there's only three rooms at this place and it's booked 18 months, fully booked the next 18 months. I don't know what you're allowed to bring. And I think the meals by the staff there, whoever's there are delivered to you, but you can only pick three things and don't give me like, Oh, your girlfriend, like some cheesy answer like that. I'm talking about three things. It's just you stuck in this cave. What are the three things that you're bringing?

I honestly don't know. Like it's in the dark, so I can't bring any board games. Can't bring any electronics. I'm assuming that's just going to ruin it. Also you playing board games against yourself would be a funny site. I would do. I mean, I'd play Monopoly. I'd play the full thing. I would play Monopoly to all six characters until someone wins or loses. Like, I don't know. Like I think I would bring now spinner like something just to just like Rubik's cube. Like I don't think that would work. You couldn't see it. You know what? I think now I wouldn't want to bring my phone because I think the whole point of this is to unplug.

You can't bring it. I would assume no electronics. So I would bring an old school iPod that like has no internet but just has some music.

Cause I think you need some music to pass the time. I would probably, Oh, you know what? I'll bring some pork rinds.

The folks at Southern recipe, they sent me some delicious pork rinds today. Like four big bags. I would bring those four big bag of bags of pork rinds. And then I just think I would bring a bottle of either whiskey or tequila. Like those are the three things I think I'm bringing. Music, little food. And if you want to go some, some alcohol and maybe a little puff puff, I think that's all you bring to this, this entire darkness retreat.

I think the puff puff part would be tough because then you may run out of the munchy selections. I think then you may rather just go with the alcohol. Even then, I don't know if I want booze in a dark room where I can't see. What else are you going to do? I don't know, but I'm just, I'm just saying I don't want to be stumbling around here, knocking my head on the side of the bed or tripping over, you know, the toilet and falling down. What are you going to bring?

Like tissues and some 1980 magazines? No good. You can't see it. It's dark. You can't even see the pictures in the nudie mags. I honestly, I don't know.

I like the music suggestion. I think I'll tell you this. I'm not going. You wouldn't go?

What's your price? Not going for three days, four days. I would think I would draw myself insane. You really wouldn't be able to handle this?

I don't think so. It's three, four days, but it's just like if you think about it, it's not just you're hanging out in a room. The lights are off. You have no idea what time it is. You have no idea what day it is. You can turn the lights on whenever you want. It's like, then there's, you're in a hotel, then you're just on vacation.

That's not really the point of it. Then you're just now all of a sudden in the woods in Oregon on a retreat rather than, you know, being there because you're supposed to find yourself or be in the dark. By the way, since you said Oregon, I don't know why this triggered this thought. I think there's only one blockbuster left in the world and it's in Oregon. And the reason I know that is I went to Oregon once and we were driving and we saw a blockbuster now. I would say you stop off at Blockbuster, but how are you going to watch the DVDs or the films? It's going to say you can't even probably buy TV anymore with a popcorn that you used to sell in Blockbuster.

Okay. That gets them, get some snacks. I guess I'd probably choose it's just food. Like just bring through all the, I'm assuming they have food there for you. I don't know how you eat in the dark, but I would have to imagine that's like some pretty bad food. I simple food.

Like it's probably like you can't, like if you were in prison or if you were in, in, you know, make this more happy, like a sleep away camp or something like that. I don't want to say it's a dinner. You think rice, like you can't really do steak and chicken. You can't see what you're cutting. God forbid, you know, you want to miss with a knife.

Come on. You can't cut a steak in the dark. Can you? I don't know.

Yes. I wouldn't want to try. You don't think your eyes would eventually adapt a little bit? It's pitch black. You, you would, you would, there's a candle in there.

This is no caveats. You didn't read the article. No, I saw the, I saw the pictures. There's a candle. It doesn't count. Like we can't see it.

No, I think you're, it's a point. It's supposed to be sensed, you know, uh, depriving your senses of like any sort of normalcy. Your, your eyes would eventually adjust. If you're telling me after being stuck in that cave for three, four days, they bring you a steak. You're going to be like, oh, I'm afraid to cut it. No, you're going to devour that. Be like, if I had like four dogs that didn't eat in a day and I, I threw a steak in front of them, that steak's gone in a second. I'm sure. I'm just saying, I don't think the places that they're providing food, they're saying, okay, we're going to give you anything that you have to either put together.

Like I don't think you can make tacos or, you know, a lot of ramen probably maybe. I don't, I don't know. I'm very curious to, well, I'm curious to find out and never want to find out myself. I think we should do this as a show. I think we should get in contact with this Berman guy who runs this, uh, sky cave in Oregon. I think we should call him up and say, we're interested in participating in the darkness retreat. And I think the two of us just go to Oregon. You know, we'll see if spike spike will, uh, find a way to reimburse us for everything and pay for the trip. And I think we go actually, we're going to do the show from the, I'm not doing this.

I got to clear my mind. What else are you going to do though? I mean, I would actually do nothing. I'm very good at doing nothing. I feel like that would get, again, no technology.

Like we are, we are going for the real spirit. This is a fully dark room, no lights on, no candles. You're the one freaking out about this. See anything. I don't think it would be that watching TV, no phone, no technology.

You know how much I would love to unplug from Twitter and Instagram. I think it would be great for three hours. I think if you're talking three or four days, you would go insane.

Nah, I don't think so. I'm ready to find out. Well, I'm down. I think we, all of us should go at CBS sports radio. We should do like a survival of the darkness retreat. See who's the last man standing. That's what we should do. You get morass, you get a da Pete, the body body.

You get bogus. We go bill writer, D cell, uh, moving off at the producers actually may never want to leave. Honestly, you guys may be happy just in the dark, not having to deal with us and just hope that we leave early and you go through the entire network lineup, Jim Rome, go get deep at a Datto, tell his wife to bring some of those pignoli cookies, which are absolutely delicious. Maggie and Perloff, Sam, Thursday, me, you Jr. Shep, and then a Amy and a bachioni. I think we all go and just see who could survive the longest and you know, actually I would bet that would be able to survive the longest. Who do you think would be the odds on favorite to survive the longest in this dark, this retreat? If you had to take one guess here, Hickey.

Oh, this is, I think it's an obvious one. Well, I, you don't want to know who would be the first person to leave Sean. No Pete, the body bloody. I think Sean would just say something too crazy to him and he would be like, I'm done with you guys and click the pen and then walk out. That sounds like Sean, not Pete. I do think Sean would be an early exit. I also think Rome because like he's a legend would be like, guys, I have everything in the world.

I don't have to deal with this crap. I really do believe that the person that would last the longest here would be Shep. You know, it's funny. I was shooting him and Bill.

No, I think that was a wild card for sure. I could see. I think Shep would be able to talk everyone out of that cave and that's why he'd be the last person standing. And in terms of Bill, I think Bill, he would be like six or seven to leave, but eventually he would just lose it. And remember, he's has like a wife and kids that you would think, oh, that works in your advantage. You want to stay in there even longer. I think people that are single or not married have a better chance of lasting longer here than people that are married, even though you're like, oh, it's a nice escape from the kids and everything.

I do eventually think you miss your kids and you want to go back and three, four days is tough. Well, I mean, okay, I'll say this. If it's a competition now, I am in and I'm not leaving, but I don't think it's going to be high maintenance.

You would leave right away. No, no, no, no, no. Yeah.

It's a sense of pride. I would guarantee you will be one of the last I would eat. So we use those are probably 15 names. I guarantee top five, easily top five. Oh, I think I would have no problem. No, if I'm still getting paid and it's just sitting in that cave, I think I'd be fine. I will say I think the winner, I don't think it would be, I think it'd be less than a week.

Well, the winner is actually the loser. Kind of stay in that thing for a long time. Now what would be the first thing you would do? You get out of the, you get out of this dark district retreat. Where's the first place you're going to? Oh, I was gonna say the first thing you do is put sunglasses on. So bright outside.

Yeah, that too. You could get flown anywhere, go wherever you want. Where are you going to? I guess my apartment at that point.

Ah, so lame. Going to Greece vacation. It's a week and a kid. Like we're not saying you just survived a year in jail and now it's like, okay, you're free to go to Greece. I'm telling you that I'm going on a week vacation and I'm getting some pampering done in Greece.

So tender loving care time. They have the bath houses. You're going to go in one of those steam rooms. Greece is unbelievable. So the pictures, everyone, everyone vacations to Greece these days and I'm like, oh wow, I got to go there. That looks pretty possibly five days in a hotel room, which is in the dark. And now you need a week off to be pampered in Greece. That's not a vacation, especially a sitting with all you guys. Well, the room, the room and Rogers allegedly was in this. It's okay. That's for sure.

Oh yeah. We don't know. We don't know how many times he turned the lights on.

Rogers would be one of those guys. I'm doing this. And then the entire time he had the lights on like the person next to probably, Hey sir, could you like turn off the lights a little bit? That wouldn't surprise me at all. Anyway, right now, what do you think happens? He emerges from this cave. Is he staying or is he going? Cause there's been a lot of conflicting reports the last few days. He is a goner.

Okay. And this is Zach Gelb show right here on CBS sports. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. The super bowl is over, but the NFL quarterback carousel is just beginning. You could ask yourself a question.

Do I feel lucky? What does the future hold for all 32 NFL teams at the QB position? Now I'm going to give you an opportunity to spin this wheel right here. Let's spin the wheel and find out which teams we hit today. The Jacksonville Jaguars.

All right. What a wonderful season it was for the Jacksonville Jaguars and your number two of one, Trevor Lawrence, and then also their first year of their new head football coach in Doug Peterson. Not only did they make the playoffs, they had that dramatic comeback in a resilient fashion up against the charges. So they're down 27 to nothing at home and they ended up winning the game 31 to 30 and eventually J just ran out of gas up against the chiefs. Even when they were dealing with the injury of Patrick Mahomes as Kansas city did survive in that game, 27 to 20 and eventually did go on to win the AFC title game and then the Superbowl as well. But Hickey, you look at the Jaguars from this past year when they were three and seven and coming off that loss to Kansas city and then they went into a bye week.

No one in their right mind would have ever thought that they would go on to do all that I just said. And then out of that bye week they did, they found the way to beat the Ravens and that crazy game 28 to 27. Then it's like, okay, you don't even get a chance to enjoy that because the next week they got blown out by the lions 40 to 14 and after going to four and eight, they didn't lose a game the rest of the way. They beat Tennessee, they beat the Cowboys.

Remember in overtime, Rayshawn Jenkins had that incredible game, like I think it was like 18 tackles and had two interceptions. They beat the Jets, just crushed them. They crushed the Texans. And then at the end of the year, I guess the best way to say it is they survived up against Tennessee in that crazy game that they ended up winning 20 to 16.

So all things looking back at, at this Jaguar season, it's weird to say that last year was a foundation year, but I do think it was a year of building where they had more success with, they could even have thought to imagine, but for the foreseeable future, until we figure out who's going to be at quarterback for the Colts and the Texans, and it looks like Tennessee is about to be in a decline and we'll see how they build themselves back up for at least right the next two years, barring a big change, they're the team to beat in the AFC South. And you look at this team and the way that the roster is constructed, you have the quarterback in Trevor Lawrence, Christian Kirk, I know everyone clowned him getting $18 million a year, but he ended up being good. And now you're getting Calvin Ridley coming off the suspension. Travis ATN ended up being worth the first round pick. And usually that's not the case for running backs now in the NFL, when you select them in the first round, this is a really talented football team. And you know, the quarterback is supposed to be transcendent and he was awesome down the stretch and in the post season in, in, in year number two, which is really your number one for him because Urban Meyer was such a disgrace. And like you said, too, with all the accomplished last year, and now being the TDB for at least let's say the next two years, bare minimum in the AFC South, this is still a team that's on the rise on the ascend.

So it's not like they're anywhere near, you know, the best of their abilities. Like I said, you're adding Calvin Ridley, you assume this roster, maybe skill wise will improve even more, maybe a few extra defensive players as well as like, this is a team that is on the rise, still building. And yet still right now has an inside track to the playoffs. You would think for at least the next two years and probably should get bare minimum one home game as well.

It's a great place to be in. And also I thought the most impressive part about this team this year outside of the coaching was what Trevor Lawrence got around the supporting cast. Like don't get me wrong, the supporting cast ended up being better than what we thought, but that's a direct really reflection of the quarterback. Like look at what Zay Jones did this year with Trevor Lawrence on the football. Look at what Evan Ingram, who couldn't catch a cold in New York, he goes to Jacksonville and they're not making a case for him to get resigned there. Like he had a really good year Evan Ingram.

We saw what the relationship Travis ATN and Trevor Lawrence do have. Christian Kirk, everyone clown that it ended up being successful. That's a direct reflection of not only the coaching, but more so the quarterback being the quarterback that we thought he could be because franchise quarterbacks does not matter what the name is. If you are a franchise quarterback, you'll find a way to win even if you don't have the most talent in the world. And you look to it, how they won down the stretch, the 17 point comeback against the Cowboys, a 27 point comeback against the Chargers. After throwing four picks. I believe it was what, 10 points against the Titans. It was, they were down and the comeback. But to your point, when you make those comebacks, it's still having belief in your team and belief in the quarterback. He's going to get it done. We saw Trevor Lawrence in the second half of all those comebacks play really good football. So it's tremendous.

So let's get to some audio. Trevor Lawrence joined us a few weeks ago on the Zach Gelb show right here on CBS Sports Radio. Trevor Lawrence on if he ever thought he wouldn't succeed in the NFL after year one. Never doubted myself.

I wouldn't say that. I think there were times, you know, during my rookie year at different points where you lose a little bit of confidence and it's difficult. You know, obviously it's tough.

This league is tough, especially the circumstances that we had in my rookie year. So that was, there was times where it was challenging and you start to maybe lose a little bit of confidence, but I never lost that, that ultimate confidence and belief in what's ahead. I knew there was great things ahead and I believe that there's still even better things down the road. So I always had that belief and I think that's been something that's been big for me, but definitely there were times where your confidence gets a little shaken and you got to find ways to bounce back from it. And I think that's another thing that, you know, coach Peterson, our staff has done a great job and has helped me with. And they've always had that faith and trust in me.

And it's been really, really awesome. When you re-listen to that answer, Hickey, you hear, even though he said he had a little doubt, it seemed like there was a lot more doubt with how many times that he said it coming off the year that they just had, especially down the stretch. Confidence has to be through the roof, right?

What did MJ say? The roof is the ceiling. Now it has to be, the ceiling is the roof.

That's right. Now he has to be through the roof. If you're Trevor Lawrence, the confidence has to be at an all time high. Without a doubt.

I mean, you saw a night and day from year one to year two. Can't get any better than that right now. Trevor Lawrence and how close the Jaguars are to competing for a Super Bowl after getting some taste of the post season and getting into the divisional round. We have everything that we need to do that. Honestly, you look at the talent, the players that we have, the staff, all those things to be experienced.

I think we have all those things. So, I mean, it starts fresh every year. You start from scratch. Everyone starts the same record at the very beginning and you got to climb, climb your way up the mountain. So it's week to week, but I know that we have everything it takes. And you look at our season this year, I mean, I don't think there's any question that we can beat anybody. It's just a matter of, you got to play clean, especially in the playoffs. The team that makes the least amount of mistakes typically wins.

It's kind of an outlier or Chargers game, but typically that's the case. But I know that we have that confidence that we could beat anybody. We just have to do it consistently. That's what we did at the end of the season. We got to do that the whole year. So we have that confidence and looking forward to building this thing.

And it also helps when you have a team that you're really confident in and then you add a great player. I know he hasn't played in two years and he was suspended this past year, but Calvin really looked like he was well on his way to being a number one wide receiver in this league. When you go back to 2020, he had nearly 1,400 yards receiving and nine touchdowns. How about the perspective on Trent Baalke changing too?

Everyone wanted him out. Great move at the deadline, getting Calvin Ridley when he was suspended on another team and finding a way to pull off that deal. And Trevor Lawrence is of course looking forward to playing with Calvin Ridley.

I'm really excited. Just, you know, we have some guys that know him that have played with him in college or at different points and heard great things. I got a chance to talk to him a little bit when we traded for him. And I'm just really, really excited to have him. I think he's going to, I know he's going to make us a better team and obviously just watch the tape. He's, he's super talented. It's going to be a great player for us and I'm excited for everyone to join, you know, our culture, everything that we have going right now.

I think it's in a great spot. I know he's super pumped and he's just going to be a great fit for us. And then finally, Trevor Lawrence, what makes Doug Peterson a great coach? I think the first thing is just our interactions and his interactions with the team, the way he carried himself really just, you know, I'd say, I say this in a respectful way, but just like a regular guy, he's a guy you can come up and talk to.

He's just willing to help with whatever. I think the way he carried himself always stays even keel. He has the same demeanor, whether we are, have lost five straight or one five straight.

He was the same guy. And I think that's a big reason why we were able to overcome so much this season is because he's not, he's not super emotional. He doesn't, he doesn't react to the ebbs and flows of the game, but the season, he just stays the same. And I think that's really, really important when it comes to someone that's leading your team, he's an adult, he's a professional. Doug Peterson knows what it takes to win in this league. He's won a Super Bowl as a head coach. He's was a backup when the Packers won a Super Bowl when he was a player guy has it all. And the fact that I thought he was disrespected by a lot of teams and some fan bases that didn't want him when he was available. It's just, it's absolutely ridiculous because what that guy did in Philadelphia was remarkable. And now you're seeing him work magic once again in Jacksonville.

So that's a little QB carousel. This is Zach Gelb show right here on CBS sports radio. We'll take a break NBA starting back up. We'll get to five questions, five storylines down the home stretch in the second half of the NBA season. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show.

Zach Gelb shows CBS sports radio. I know that Steph Curry has begun on court activities and will be reevaluated again in one week. So that will start off our storylines for the next five storylines that I'll give you for the rest of the NBA season. Number five, it's actually two teams into a one storyline, golden state and the Lakers. How are we going to be talking about them when the playoffs do start for golden state? They're currently in the ninth spot. That means they would be in the playing game. The Lakers would be on the outside looking in cause currently they're at 13th. If golden state could get healthy in a Western conference that we think is open, maybe they could go get and make a run. I would put nothing past them with the team and the talent that those guys do have for the Lakers.

I don't know about you Hickey. Like I guess I'm going to say now that they'll make the play in tournament just because I want to see it happen, even though I'm not a big fan of these playing tournaments. It's a joke that we even have to have them to begin with. You have all these games, the NBA players don't even really care about the regular season to begin with. So let's reward the teams that just find a way to get to that like 10th spot and 11 spot and put them right in the play in tournament.

Like that's just ridiculous to me. But if the Lakers missed the playoffs two years in a row, it's like I know they won a championship with LeBron. So the LeBron era in Los Angeles will always be viewed as a success cause you did get a championship. But these last two years, they have just been absolutely miserable. And all I'm going to say now, and Hey, this may be lame, but I'm going to say it like I want to see them at least in the play in tournament. So that's my reasoning right now. Why I'm going to say, yeah, they're going to be in the playing tournament, but I can't sit there with any certainty and tell you that they're going to be in this playing tournament.

No, there's no way you can because there's no way to, to know for sure that LeBron and AD will be on the court for all 23 games remaining. And there's no way to think they'll even be on the court for maybe let's say a majority or, or 15 to the 23. It gets, that's the biggest reason.

So our last two years, why it's gone South is the health and the lack thereof, I should say. Yeah. It's kind of crazy by the way. And I know you got to get into the, it's a top 10 seed, but it's kind of crazy that when you add basically like two extra playoff spots to eventually have the playing tournament, how right now LeBron is not only on the outside, look it in, they're sitting there at 13th right now. I think, I know that's only a difference of two games to the 10th spot, but if I would have told you for the start of the year that the Lakers would be worse right now than the Oklahoma City Thunder, that's just something you would not believe.

But that's where we're currently at in this situation. Yeah. I mean, it's surprising that it's not the same time they ran back the same team that missed the playoffs last year. And it's like, they're not getting healthier.

Yeah. But you would think that they could go make the playing tournament. I guess I know that the injuries have been more of a concern later on in his career and the guys never missed any games, but this is, it's, it's stunning how this team can't even make the playing tournament. You still have LeBron James who has played in 45 games and he's averaging 30 points a game.

It's, it's remarkable. And I got it right. It made no sense that Russell Westbrook, I know he's no longer there. Now he's in, still in Los Angeles, so he's still there, but he's just with the Clippers. But going back with that roster made no sense. I know they made the move to go get DeAngelo Russell. So that, you know, you would think we'll help out their team, but we'll see how all that goes down. But this team, it has just been, it's been embarrassing the last two years.

And if you're LeBron, I know eventually wants to go play with Bronny and I see Bronny's climbing up the mock drafts now, move it into a 10th spot. These last two years, it's been a rough watch and it's kind of disappointing because it takes a lot of juice out of it. And you look at the rest of the Western Conference, they are begging this year for like the Lakers to get back into it. But even if they make the play in tournament, like I can't expect them to go on any run. I really have no expectations for them the rest of the season. And it's a shame, but like golden state, I'm more intrigued about golden state hickey because we saw what they just did last year.

When so many people counted them out, it's once again, comes down to health. If they could get healthy come playoff time, I wouldn't want to see golden state. They would be an extremely tough out.

And they would now their path is obviously going to be a lot tougher this year, considering right now they're in the plane. So you got to win two games just to get into the playoffs and then you're running the table, mostly on the road, which is going to be tough with that. I mean, like I said, they have the plant experience where if you're a team like the Nuggets or the Grizzlies, is that a team you want to see in the first round?

Absolutely not. No, but you just like you just said, like look at the Nuggets, the Grizzlies, the Kings. I think more highly of the Nuggets and a lot of people, but to any of those teams sparked fear into you, like outside of the Suns and you look at the Western Conference, I don't think there's a team outside of the Suns and I guess you'll group the Warriors into that really spark fear into you. And that's not to be disrespectful to the Nuggets. If you ask me right now to pick a team that's going to the finals, I'm taking the Denver Nuggets out of the Western Conference and maybe part of me.

And I like the construction of that roster. I know that health comes down to what Murray's looking really good. You know, you got to see where Gordon is going to be at from a health standpoint. Michael Porter Jr. always struggles with injury and Nicole Jokic could be on the verge of winning back to back to back MVPs. I don't want to see the Suns get there because I don't like the KD's now with the Suns. I know how tough of an out they're going to be, but the Suns had a lot of problems last year, chemistry wise, and we saw that in the postseason just with their coach and DeAndre Aiden. Maybe that changes now with Durant getting there and you add such a big piece. But you look at all those teams really in the Western Conference, there's not many teams that scare you. And if you leave that door open for Golden State Hickey, they could come back and make you pay for that.

It's like when you have a champion on the ropes, you better knock him out. If you keep on giving him life, it wouldn't surprise me if we're talking about Golden State going on a deep run. So they have the the playoff experience where they're not going to panic and they're going to kind of know how to win playoff games.

That's also part you see a big difference at star power. It's also knowing how to win a team like the Grizzlies, a team like the Nuggets. So they really know how to win yet. Evan, you know, outside of the one bubble run for Denver, neither team is in the top two seeds at least is really showing a big propensity to know how to actually win playoff games and playoff series. So Golden State in L.A., just how we're going to talk about them at the end of the regular season is is the first question I have. Then how will Kyrie mess up the Mavericks?

Like, that's my question. This team was in the Western Conference finals a year ago. I know they lost Jalen Brunson. I'm not a fan of Kyrie Irving. Kyrie Irving has very short stays and it always ends up in a disaster. We all know he's a heck of a basketball player, but I'm curious to see how this chapter of the Kyrie Irving era, will he will mess up the Mavericks in some way, is going to end. Number three, it's go time for Nikola Jokic. Can he get the job done in the postseason? And we talked about this briefly yesterday, Hickey.

And earlier today, I did have Bart Winkler have me on the Bill Rider, Rider the New Show as Bart's did a tremendous job kicking ass, filling in for Bill, who's getting a much deserved vacation. He asked about Nikola Jokic. And I brought you up with the point that you made yesterday about how there is pressure on Nikola Jokic. I don't feel like there's a lot of national pressure, but the more that I do talk about it, when you don't have a lot of storylines with these teams that we're talking about in the NBA. Yeah, there is some pressure on Nikola Jokic because he's been unbelievable in the regular season.

And then his team come postseason time. And I know it's been different last year, right, without Jamal Murray and you lose your big dominant, you know, your second piece that really complements you and is really your finisher late in those games when you saw a few years ago. For the Nuggets this year, there's no excuses. You have a Western Conference that is not strong right now. It's begging for a team to go win it. And you're the best team in this league from a record standpoint by five games right now.

So I'll say that you're right on that, Hickey. Even though I don't feel like that pressure is resonating nationally, I will admit that there is pressure this year on the Nuggets and Nikola Jokic. I just think timing wise, it's not the right time to say just because there's still 20, 25 games left. So it's not like the Nuggets. There's no pressure on the regular season.

I was just going to come in April and May. So I feel like that's when once you get into the playoff time and mode, I think that's when you'll start to hear nationally more discussion about Nikola Jokic, getting it done, getting over the hump. But I did think I think they're one of the few teams where the regular season did matter for them this year just because it's making sure that Jamal Murray could go back to being the player that we thought he was. And so far this year he has displayed that.

Number two, I don't think this one's getting enough attention. Will Yanis get a second ring? I don't think there's a ton of pressure on him, but the Larry O'Brien trophy is right there for the taking this year. I know the Celtics are having another good season and they've done a good job even after the coaching change. But outside of Boston and the East, like I don't believe in Philadelphia to get to the NBA finals. I don't believe in Cleveland.

Everyone else after that, you could kind of forget about them. I know Miami kind of has that championship DNA, but they're only a few games above 500 right now. You have a great player in Yanis. If that team could just stay healthy in a last year, Middleton got hurt and that kind of put a dent in what they were trying to accomplish. But they're on a 12 game win streak right now. The Milwaukee Bucks, they are unbelievable. And we all know how great Yanis is. That just adds to the legacy and the legend of Yanis. If you go out there already has two MVPs and wins a second ring and a second finals MVP. It's kind of Mahomes-like if you want to make a comparison there in NFL circles. I was going to say the same thing, same rise.

And then the biggest question I have. Will the Suns actually win it all? Chris Paul, will you get the job done? Kevin Durant, now join a new team. Will you get the job done? Will Monty Williams be able to get along with DeAndre Aydin? A lot of questions there for the Phoenix Suns because I don't know if there's a team, there isn't a team that has more pressure on them with the move that they made to get the job done this year. And we'll see if they can get the job done. Any other questions that you have for this NBA season?

Those are my top five. I would include James Harden. I know he's at this point, maybe a guy that's, we already feel like we already know the narrative. It's not going to come through, but he's paid to be the guy, the Sixers right now, again, with Embiid playing at extremely high level, you need that second guy to kind of help get you over the hump. And that's James Harden. That's why he was brought to Philly to be the finishing kind of piece, if you will, the cherry on top, to get the Sixers to the finals and win a championship. And yet they still haven't gotten a second round yet. What Jamal Murray needs to do in Denver is what James Harden needs to do in Philadelphia, complimenting their great big man. I don't believe that James Harden in a big spot gets a job done cause I've seen it now for a decade. I've just seen this group of Philly. That's why I don't question them that much, but I do think there's also some pressure on Boston. If you want to argue that get in the finals last year and now have a good chance to do so once again.