Championship Sunday picks plus Raiders eyeing Josh McDaniels and ranking best possible Super Bowls
Welcome to the Friday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!You know what, maybe today we should call it the Pick Four newsletter, because there are only four teams left trying to get to the Super Bowl. If you're not a fan of one of those four teams, I have some good news for you: There's still time to jump on someone's bandwagon before Sunday.If you're trying to figure out who you should cheer for, don't worry, we've got you covered. If you're thinking about rooting for the this weekend, our Jordan Dajani . On the other hand, if the ' bandwagon is more your style, then you Jerome Robinson Jersey is a good idea.In the AFC, Jeff Kerr wants everyone to know that cheering for the this weekend is the right move and you . Finally, as the resident homer here at CBSSports.com, it was my job to convince all of America to jump on Cincinnati's bandwagon and if will turn you into a Bengals fan for life. Just remember, if you do jump on the Bengals' bandwagon, you have to be willing to put chili on your spaghetti for the rest of your life. Alright, we have got a huge newsletter today that will include conference title game picks, so let's get to the rundown.Remember, if you're hanging out with family and/or friends this weekend, you should tell them all to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do iswith them. 1. Today's show: AFC and NFC Championship best betsFor today's podcast, Will Brinson rounded up R.J. White and Pete Prisco so they could argue about who's going to win the conference title games on Sunday. The three guys spent nearly 60 minutes going over the best bets for both games and we're going to cover three best bets from each person below. The twist here is that since there are only two games, that only covers two of their best bets, which means they had to come up with a third bonus one on their own. I usually don't trust Brinson to do anything on his own, but I will this week because he's been ON A ROLL in the playoffs, going 6-0 with his best bets (The three guys went a combined 7-2 last week)Pete Prisco(Prisco went 2-1 with his divisional picks featured here).Bengals (+7.5) to cover against the ChiefsBengals at Chiefs OVER 54.5 points49ers at Rams UNDER 45.5 pointsWill Brinson(Brinson went 3-0 with Montrezl Harrell Jersey his divisional picks featured here and is now 6-0 on the postseason)49ers (+3.5) to cover against the Rams UNDER 38.5 pa sing attemptsBengals (+7.5) to cover against the ChiefsR.J. White (White went 2-1 with his divisional picks featured here)49ers (+3) to cover in the first half against the RamsJoe Burrow OVER 284.5 pa sing yards OVER 37.5 rushing yardsTo hear the rest of the best bets for the divisional round -- and there are quite a few -- be sure to click here so you. You can . 2. AFC and NFC Championship picksThis is the final newsletter of the week, which means this is the newsletter where I'm going to give you more picks than you can po sibly handle. Over the past 48 hours, we've had multiple writers make their picks for the conference title games and I'm going to share those picks with you right now.The picks below will be coming from Will Brinson, Tyler Sullivan, Tom Fornelli and Jordan Dajani, along with CBS Sports NFL insider and these picks are all over the place. Some of them are picking the 49ers to win, some are picking the Rams. Others are picking the Bengals to pull off an upset, while some of them are going with the Chiefs. I think what I'm trying to say is that this weekend could get crazy.As always, here's how things are going to work: I'm going to give you one pick from each guy and then direct you to the rest of their picks. That way, if you like their pick, you'll be able to read the rest of them, but if they pick against your favorite team, you can ignore the rest of their picks and move on. Will Brinson: Bengals 35-31 over Chiefs (Cincinnati covers +7.5).For Brinson's .Jonathan Jones: Chiefs over Bengals (Kansas City -360 moneyline).For Jones' .Tom Fornelli: Rams 23-21 over 49ers (San Francisco covers +3.5).For .Jordan Dajani: Rams 27-20 over 49ers (Los Angeles covers -3.5).For Dajani's .Tyler Sullivan: 49ers 24-21 over Rams (San Francisco covers +3.5).For Sullivan's . 3. Ranking the best po sible Super Bowl matchupsWith just four teams still left in the NFL playoffs, that means there are only four Super Bowl matchups that are still in play and since we've been ranking the best po sible ones during every week of the playoffs, we decided to put together one more ranking heading into the conference title games.The man in charge of putting together today's ranking was Cody Benjamin and here's how he ranked the best po sible Super Bowl matchups:1. Chiefs-Rams: This is the Super Bowl everyone wanted to see after they played that wild 54-51 game in 2018 and although we didn't get it then, I think most people would be more than happy to get it now.2. Bengals-Rams: Not only would this game feature two Wesley Johnson Jersey high-flying offenses, but it would also feature Zac Taylor's return to L.A. Taylor was on Sean McVay's staff until the Bengals hired him away after the Rams' Super Bowl season in 2018.3. Chiefs-49ers: The 49ers would have a chance to get revenge on the Chiefs just two years after Kansas City beat them in the Super Bowl.4. Bengals-49ers: If this game happens, it would mark the THIRD time that these two teams have met in a Super Bowl, which would tie Cowboys-Steelers for the NFL record.Based on this ranking, it seems that Cody does not particularly want to see the 49ers in the Super Bowl. If you'd like to check out Cody's full . 4. NFL names Super Bowl refereeWe don't know who will be playing in the Super Bowl yet, but we do now who will be officiating it and that's because the NFL announced this week that Ron Torbert has been tabbed as the ref for the game. This will mark the first time that Torbert has been the referee for a Super Bowl.Torbert has been an official in the NFL since 2010 when he was hired as a side judge. In 2014, he was promoted to referee and he's been doing that ever since. In his eight seasons on the job, Torbert has been the ref for six playoff games, but he's never officiated a game of this magnitude with all of his experience coming in either the wild card round (four games) or the divisional round (two games).One notable thing about Torbert is that his crew threw the fourth-fewest penalty flags in the NFL this year with an average of 12.3 flags per game,. Of course, Torbert won't be working with his normal crew, so it's po sible that number could trend up or down. With four teams still fighting to get to the Super Bowl, here's a look at how the Rams, 49ers, Bengals. and Chiefs have fared over the past five years when Torbert has served as the ref in one of their games ().Rams:6-1 (1-0 in 2021)49ers:3-2 (2-0 in 2021)Bengals:4-2 (1-0 in 2021) Chiefs:3-1 (0-1 in 2021)Torbert has already worked one postseason game this year as he was the referee in San Francisco's 13-10 wild card win over Green Bay. In a twist, the only Bengals or Chiefs game Torbert did this year was when the two teams played each other back in Week 17 and it was a game he wasn't even supposed to officiate. The ref a signed to the game was John Hu sey, but Torbertin a game the Bengals would win 34-31. 5. eyeing Josh McDanielsWhen it comes to the Las Vegas Raiders, things have been pretty quiet on the coaching front over the past few weeks. Since the end of the season, the Raiders have Rodney McGruder Jersey and one of those was their interim coach, Rich Bisaccia. Basically, it seems like Mark Davis has been biding time until he could land the guy he really wants and as it turns out, that guy might be offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. CBS Sports NFL insider Jason La Canfora with the Raiders this weekend. Davis has been eyeing McDaniels. According to NFL.com, Davis in McDaniels for weeks and it appears he was working through backchannels to make sure the interest was mutual. With McDaniels taking the interview, that almost certainly means the interest is mutual, so it wouldn't be surprising at all if he eventually gets the job.Raiders giving McDaniels just third interview since his debacle. McDaniels' head coaching stock went down in 2018 after he accepted the Colts job and that's mostly because he decided to spurn them at the last second. Since that debacle, McDaniels has only held two other interviews: He got interviewed by the in 2020 and the in 2019.McDaniels wants to turn Raiders into Patriots west. If McDaniels does take the Raiders job, it appears he would and right now, the top candidate would be Patriots director of player personnel Dave Ziegler. If that happens, the two would almost certainly try to turn the Raiders into the West Coast version of the Patriots.McDaniels hiring would be good news for . According , both Ziegler and McDaniels have a high opinion of Carr, which bodes well for the Raiders QB. Carr's future in Las Vegas is currently up in the air, but if the team hires a coach that wants him to stick around, then he'll likely be in Vegas for awhile.Patriots replacement for McDaniels. If McDaniels does end up taking the Raiders job, then the Patriots will need to find a new offensive coordinator. According , one top option would be former coach Bill O'Brien, who worked for Belichick Avery Bradley Jersey from 2007-11 in New England.As things currently stand, the Raiders have one of seven head coaching jobs that are still available. The , , , , Texans and are the other. 6. Rapid-fire roundup: hire new defensive coordinatorIt's been a busy 24 hours in the NFL and since it's nearly impo sible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. Ravens make defensive coordinator hire. Le s than a week after firing Wink Martindale, the Ravens already have a new defensive coordinator in place. The new man on the job is Mike Macdonald, who is very familiar to John Harbaugh and the Ravens. Macdonald was on Baltimore's staff from 2014 to 2020 before jumping to Michigan to join Jim Harbaugh as the defensive coordinator there in 2021. After one year with Jim, Macdonald is heading back to Baltimore to rejoin John.Jerry Jones confirms Mike McCarthy is staying put. Despite an ugly end to the season, the definitely won't be making a coaching change, which is something that Jerry Jones . Of course, that doesn't mean Jones won't dump McCarthy in 2023 and hire Sean Payton, but for now, McCarthy's job is safe.Jeff Fisher lands USFL job. After five years out of football, Fisher is set to make a return after being hired as the coach of the USFL's Michigan . Fisher hasn't coached football since being fired by the Rams in 2016. Fisher has a long coaching career that includes time with both the (1995-2010) and the Rams (2012-16). Amazon trying land for NFL studio show.With Amazon getting set to take over "Thursday Night Football" in 2022, the internet giant needs to fill almost every key role that comes with airing a prime-time game. Amazon is in the proce s of looking for people for its studio show and , one person it's eyeing is former running back Marshawn Lynch. I would definitely watch Amazon's studio show if it included Beast Mode.Gronk says he would retire if he had to make decision right now. hasn't decided if he's going to play in 2022, but if he had to make his decision right now, he . Basically, it sounds like Gronk is leaning toward retirement, so it won't be completely surprising if it ends up happening.