After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

What's the strangest thing you're afraid of? Tails without fur on them, such as rats or opossums. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast Your Weirdest Fears, where we dig into the crazy things you're afraid of. Everything from animal people hybrids, you know people who get surgeries to look like an animal, to giant statues.

If I ever saw one of those giant statues, I probably would poop my pants. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your product. podcast from. Thank you for your questions for Ask Amy Anything.

It will continue on into 2023. It's been part of the show, the middle show of the work week since we've been here on this time slot and actually we're going into year number nine doing Sunday night through Thursday night or Monday through Friday morning depending on when you listen. And other than a couple of sabbaticals for Ask Amy Anything, we've really had it as part of our show every month of every year but it even goes back to when I was hosting on the weekends and so I'm a big believer that people will listen more to a radio show if they know more about the host and so you all continue to ask questions. Now a lot of your questions are sports questions which we kind of avoid actually. But we don't generally use those in Ask Amy Anything just as a side note, a tidbit because I talk about sports every other hour, pretty much every other hour of the show and so we kind of get away from that.

But yeah it's nice to hear from you. It always happens every single week as soon as Jay starts answering or asking the questions I start answering, as soon as you guys hear the music, many of you then flock to our social media, oh no, and you try to get your questions in, well by that time it's too late. And so here I am like looking at some of your questions that just came in in the last couple of minutes. So I'm sorry we didn't get to them, maybe next week try to post them ahead of time and maybe Jay and I can figure out a way to put the post up in the evening so that you have more time. So even if you aren't necessarily on Facebook or Twitter during the show, you'll see the post and you'll have the opportunity to put questions in and then I suspect we'll hear from different people too. So if you didn't hear it or you want to go back and listen, well that's where the podcast comes in. So if you weren't able to hear if your question was asked, we post the entire show on podcast, separate hours, not as many commercials and you can find that on the Odyssey app or after hours AmyLawrence.com but just as a cheat sheet, we also post the link to the podcast every single weekday morning on our show Twitter as well as on our Facebook page. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, thank you for all of your reaction, I'm getting a lot of your tweets and your posts now, your messages, I'm trying to respond to those and I generally do through Wednesday.

I kind of give you to the end of Wednesday and I'll answer as many as I can without writing you a novel. Just something funny and I didn't mean for this to be a mid-January thing but I went to my mailbox earlier this week and realized that I had a bunch of Christmas cards. Now I wouldn't have been here to get them of course but I had a bunch of Christmas cards and get this, Dietrich Reichert sent me, I'm not kidding you, a 22-23 Canucks pet calendar. So it goes back to October, so generally it's the season right, it would be the length of the season, it goes back to October of 22 but it has the various players, different players on the Canucks with their pets. I see dogs mostly, do I see any cats in there, no that's a Chihuahua not a cat, it looks like they're all dogs but yeah really cute and then there's the BC and Alberta guide dogs who get their own month which is December.

They're dressed up, a lot of them are dressed up in Canucks jerseys. So he writes, dear Amy, I'm sure you can find a spot for this calendar even if it's only in your bathroom. Raise your hand if you have a calendar in your bathroom. I have one in my kitchen and then I have a planner that my mom gave me for Christmas that I'm going to use for 23 but do you have a calendar in your bathroom?

I do not. I mean let's be fair, let's be honest, come on now, even if you're not hosting a radio show, you're just listening to the radio show, there are millions and millions, hundreds of millions of Americans that take reading material into the bathroom with them and if they don't take actual books or papers they take their phones. So I guess if we're going to take reading material into the bathroom, we collectively as a society, I could probably page through a calendar while I'm in there. I guess it's kind of like where the day starts, you can kind of see what you got going on.

That's TMI, that's just too much information. But that's what he wrote here. No one needs to be picturing us with reading material in the bathroom so I'm sorry for that mental image on this Wednesday morning at 2am pacific, 5am eastern time.

That's what he wrote. Dietrich wrote, even if it's only in your bathroom or your laundry room, I don't have a specific room for the laundry, mine is kind of in a nook off the kitchen, but he finishes, no this is my favorite part, he finishes it with go Canucks and then his phone number just in case I wanted to call him and tell him where I put the calendar. Not like the fridge or?

Yeah I don't know, I guess that'd be kind of bulky for the fridge though, no? But I mean it's better than the bathroom I feel, where are you going to put it in the bathroom? On the toilet, on top of the magazines, on the wall? I don't have magazines in my bathroom. I actually used to in my last home, I don't have it in this home because the setup is different, but on the back of my toilet, just for fun, I used to have two new rolls of toilet paper around two books that were called bathroom readers. Have you ever seen those?

Yeah sure. So like when people would go in, actually I guess they were on a window sill so there's a window right behind the toilet in my old house and so just for fun I put the two new rolls of toilet paper, fresh toilet paper rolls with these two bathroom readers just because it was funny. I like it. Yeah and I've done that in my linen closet before too, kind of just for fun when you open up to get towels, there's two bathroom readers in there, they're just kind of cute. So I've never had a calendar in the bathroom and I just kind of feel like if I wanted to look at a calendar it would definitely be dogs so maybe it's time to turn over a new leaf.

Go Canucks. Yeah most unique Christmas present that a listener has ever given me. Another listener sent, this is hysterical Jay, I'm not kidding you, another listener sent instructions on how to carve a pumpkin.

No. I swear in case you were ever interested in attempting a better carving than the one that we did for Halloween this year, neither you nor I had ever carved a pumpkin and so we made a mess of it. I stabbed the pumpkin, the pumpkin cried. If you don't believe us the video evidence is on our YouTube channel After Hours with Amy Lawrence and so she sent us, let me see if I can find her first name here, her name is Pat I believe, let's see, yep Pat, Patricia, she sent a Christmas card, happy holiday season but then also sent two newspaper clippings.

The first one comes from the living section of the Republican, oh it's actually Massachusetts so masslive.com, the Republican. Here's what you need to carve a pumpkin like a pro and Pat writes on it, for Jay, more pumpkin carving data for you and then wait there's one more page, instructions on how to carve a pumpkin broken up into practical steps, one, cut a hole for the lid, two, gut your pumpkin, three, the glue stick method, I don't have time to read that and here's four or it says or you could try the transfer method and then four, how to keep your jack-o-lantern alive longer. Do you know there are still actual pieces of pumpkins in some of the streets because people have kind of gone and thrown away their debris now and it's on the side of the road like waiting for pickup and there are actual pieces of pumpkins still in January.

Final pro tips for some Christmas fun, Christmas lights are best for lighting a jack-o-lantern but if you're using a real candle make sure you have a hole for ventilation, oh dear, so this is for you producer Jay, you now have your own fan mail from Pat in Massachusetts, chickapea mass and yes you could certainly share that with Kyra Irving who does love to touch the pumpkin and talk about it but if we ever choose to do a pumpkin carving video or demonstration again, first of all you're buying the pumpkin because I did this time and second of all we're not getting such a pretty pumpkin because I got really attached to, shoot I forgot her name, I really loved her, Josephine, it's a repressed memory because we, we ruined her anyway so yeah I am trying to forget it because then I left her, I left her in the kitchen, I should have taken her home, I should have put her on my step, I was worried about deer, random deer coming and destroying Josephine, I couldn't look at it anymore, I felt so guilty about Josephine, she was such a pretty pumpkin that I just, I had to leave her, that was it, I will never live down my guilt over the way we treated Josephine, she cried, she actually cried, I just gotta say I feel like we did all those steps that were highlighted, well that's because you bought tools, plastic tools which I just want everyone to know, Jay threw them away, I took out two of the, would you call them spatulas, scoops, they were kind of flat scoops and they were orange and I just felt so guilty about throwing them away after he bought them and so I rescued the scoops, I have them, at some point maybe I'll use them as baking tools or something, for round two, I don't know, yeah I don't know, only if you buy an ugly pumpkin, if you buy an ugly pumpkin and I don't feel remorse about ruining the pumpkin, well then maybe I'll, I'll go in for round two, what about like a gourd, gourds are too little really to be carved don't you think, yeah probably, plus they're denser, have you ever noticed that pumpkins are, they're mostly hollow but gourds are very dense, go for like a nice like eight pound pumpkin or something, you want to hear something really funny, I bought a bunch of cute orange and green and white gourds at Halloween time and I love them so much, they're still fresh, I keep checking to make sure they're not rotten, I still have some, wow, on my plant table in my house, I just, they're so cute, I haven't, I haven't gotten rid of them yet, they're fine, not part of my Christmas decorations, which are still up by the way, so okay, no more revelations from Amy Lawrence, it's After Hours with Amy, gourds are always in season, I don't know, they don't really match my Christmas decorations, also I love how you interrupted me when I'm in the middle of telling people about our show but you know, feel free to just interject behind the double pane glass anytime you like, it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio, thanks for your tweets, ALawRadio, I will go back and respond as much as I can and then also thank you for your posts on Facebook, our phone number, oh this might be the first time I've used it tonight, 855-212-4227 just because, we had a couple of returns in the NBA last night and we will start there, Cleveland star, Cleveland star, Donovan Mitchell was back in Utah, back in Salt Lake for the first time since he was traded away by Danny Ainge in the Utah Jazz and he got a nice ovation of course, there was a tribute video, the fans were thrilled to see him, they didn't want the Cavs to win but they did get a show from their old faithful. Mitchell with 36, 605 to go, Mitchell in between the circles, 3, right on the mark from Donovan Mitchell, he's got 39, inbounds goes to Mobley, hands it right back to Garland who threw it in, D.G. tosses it to Donovan Mitchell, Mitchell backs up, 39 points tonight, Donovan with 8 on the shot clock, works top of the three point arc, spittins in the lane, up and under and he finger rolled it in over Kessler, Alexander Walker needs to get it in right here as he gets the basketball from Crutree, John Wright got it into Clarkson, Clarkson had it knocked away, Mitchell with the steal and he'll lay it in, Donovan Mitchell with 43. He finished with 46 and has returned to Salt Lake, 6 assists, 3 steals but you know, out with the old, in with the new in Salt Lake. Kessler comes to set the pick, he goes away from it, he splits the double team, he floats the right hander up and in, Jordan Clarkson puts the Jazz up by 4 on a 17 to 6 run.

Crowds going bananas. We love David Locke here on CBS Sports Radio, he's the play by play voice of the Utah Jazz so yes, they end up with a late rally actually and a 13-0 run that brought them back, gave them the win, it's kind of funny when Donovan Mitchell was in command, was large and in charge and was on his way to 46 points, did you see or hear I guess, how quiet it was in the arena when he was doing well, even though they loved Donovan, they did not want to see the Cavaliers win and then in the fourth quarter when the Jazz were putting together the run, all of a sudden it's so loud you can't hear yourself think again so yes, both the Cavs and the Jazz radio network and ultimately for Donovan, this was about him feeling the appreciation but also coming in there with his new team and getting comfortable in a different space, a different locker room with a different uni. I was really comfortable, I'm not going to lie to you, it wasn't weird, it wasn't anything, it was just like I'm playing at home like I have been for the past five years and the reception was phenomenal, I'm appreciative of it from everybody, the tribute video was great but it felt like a typical Jazz night, back and forth, screaming and yelling, it was awesome, it was good to be back and unfortunately we didn't get the dub but I got to give them credit, they fought hard and competed to the end but it was great to be back. I think this is probably the most quiet, loud place ever because when things aren't going well, listen, when things aren't going well they're quiet but when things are going good they go crazy, yeah, that's what I mean, Donovan. That was kind of what you could hear if you were listening to the radio or watching it and the flow of the game is how that arena, it's a little bit like an NFL stadium when the team is on offense versus when the team is on defense and that's really pronounced in a place like Arrowhead Stadium with the Kansas City Chiefs because Patrick Mahomes will get them to be quiet, he'll shush them, it happens at Lambeau too, certainly in Orchard Park with Josh Allen, I remember in Denver years of John Elway doing this before I finally understood what he was doing because I fell in love with John Elway and the Broncos back before I knew a darn thing about football but they quiet the crowd and the crowd will be so quiet and it's unbelievable, it's like how did that crowd of 80,000 people go completely shushed and then they turn up the volume again when their team is on defense so yeah, it's always a phenomenon that I think is interesting, you don't hear it as much in basketball but the Jazz fans have definitely figured out the secret so yeah, ultimately a two-point win for the Utah Jazz, Donovan Mitchell with a nice return, you hear his teammate Lamar Stevens talk about the difference being, hey Donovan, you know, when the team gels I think even more so we'll continue to see them become one of the best and rise to the top of the East, they're 10 games above 500 now, I like the Constitution, I still think there's some ways that they can find rhythm and groove and kind of work together but the Jazz are definitely a surprise too, just below 500.

Steph Curry also was back on the court last night, you will hear from him coming up even though it was a Warriors loss to the Suns, it was good to see Steph out there firing up the threes yet again and he played 31 minutes, also ahead Jerry Jones being asked about Mike McCarthy's status even before the Cowboys hit the field in Tampa for a Monday night wild card game and a little more about some of the teams that have major decisions to make even now, you kind of feel that uncertainty around the league with those teams that are not in the postseason. Good morning to you, it's a Wednesday, it's our hump show, middle show of the workweek, thanks so much for joining us on Twitter, ALawRadio on our Facebook page too, it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. What's the strangest thing you're afraid of? Tails without fur on them, such as rats or opossums. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast Your Weirdest Fears, where we dig into the crazy things you're afraid of, everything from animal people hybrids, you know people who get surgeries to look like an animal, to giant statues. If I ever saw one of those giant statues, I probably would poop my pants. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. What's the strangest thing you're afraid of? Tails without fur on them, such as rats or opossums. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast Your Weirdest Fears, where we dig into the crazy things you're afraid of, everything from animal people hybrids, you know people who get surgeries to look like an animal, to giant statues.

If I ever saw one of those giant statues, I probably would poop my pants. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. Listening to the After Hours Podcast. Curry to Draymond, now over to Thompson. Thompson takes a three, that's no good. Long rebound, Curry hustles to it, steals it, fires a three and hit it. Mikkel Bridges never saw him and Curry snuck in from behind and nailed the three.

That was impressive. Poole off the screen, throws over to Curry, quick release and splash for Steph and Curry. Curry with the dribble, splits traffic, lost the ball, gets it back, spins away from a defender and takes a three.

Why not? Here's Steph Curry, you can do those things. Bridges in traffic, put it back and in. Mikkel Bridges, have yourself a night. That's 23 points for Mikkel and the Suns are back up 17. Washington dribbling on the right wing, penetrates, hangs, puts it up off the back iron, no, rebound tapped out to Okogie, he gets it into the corner for Washington, a three, he got that one to go. He ain't scared. Under three minutes left, Okogie driving, feeds Sharich in the lane, into the left corner, Craig open for three, in and out, no, rebound Bridges up high, goes back up and knocks it down. What a play.

Even though some people give you no respect, be intelligent when you put them in check. That's what Mikkel Bridges is doing tonight, like Too Short said from here in the Bay. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Alright, it was definitely a game that the Suns were ready for and they brought all the energy into Chase Center for Steph Curry's return, spoiling his return, though just good for Warriors fans to see him there even as Golden State falls to a third straight loss. Tim Roy, Tom Tolbert on Warriors Radio, then the Suns radio team as a counterpart, ultimately they scored 39 points in the third quarter and the deficit too big for the Warriors to make up. But this was about Steph Curry getting back after, I think it was 11, 12 games away, that partially dislocated shoulder. He goes eight of 22, so not a strong shooting night, five triples, but he had 24 points in 31 minutes.

The four weeks is obviously just kind of hit or miss on how much rush you'll have and how quickly you can get up to the speed of the game. And obviously with the flow, the way that they were playing, first quarter felt good just to be back out there running with my guys and feeling the energy in the building again. And then kind of hit a little low in the second and third quarter. I felt like I got stronger as the game went on, which is exciting knowing body will respond. Steph looked really good in the second half. He found his legs underneath him and had to feel the game out for a while. And obviously, coming off that kind of absence, it's going to take some time. But I thought he found something in the second half. With Steph and Wiggs coming back, we probably relaxed a little bit more than we should because we thought, just showing up, maybe we get the dub.

But I love the intensity you play with towards the end. And you know what, sometimes you need a loss like this to remind yourself how hard it is to win in this league, and I think we can turn it into a positive. Still a long way to go, but as teams get closer to the All-Star break, they want to be playing their best basketball or better basketball, finding some momentum before they go into that break. I'm just glad to see Steph Curry back. The NBA is better with him on the court, and certainly the Warriors don't operate as well without him, despite what Glade Thompson said about us taking it easy with Andrew Wiggins and Steph back out there. And Steve Kerr went on to say that he felt like this was a loss that maybe the Warriors needed.

He would know the team better than me. It's a core with veterans, right? You still have the four veteran guys that have been around forever, even though Andre Iguodala took a sabbatical for a few years. And Andrew Wiggins was with them last year, obviously, and Jordan Poole, very significant in their run to a title. A lot of the other pieces around them have changed, and they've got different guys on and off the court.

So I guess for this particular group, yeah, if you're looking for stepping stones, life lessons, memorable moments, okay, well, it's good to know what you're capable of, but also how you can get tripped up pretty easily even at home. So yeah, it's January in the NBA. Nobody gets too high or too low over a win or a loss. But something that I was really high on last night, they're called free throws for a reason. And did you know the Miami Heat made history, nerd alert! First team ever to go a perfect 40 for 40 at the free throw line.

How about that? And Jimmy Butler himself goes 23 for 23. He had 35 overall. They had a one-point win.

Now see how big that is? A one-point win. You win all your free throws. Let's not talk about the fact, don't get me started, on how there were 40 free throws for one team. That's way too many whistles. But the fact that the Miami Heat do not take those free throws or charity strike for granted, I think that to me shows your brain's in the right place, your mind's in the right place, your heart's in the right place.

They're called free throws for a reason. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. We're going to do the NFC version of QB news coming up, but we've been talking about some of the uncertain futures with the teams in the NFL that are not in the playoffs. That includes the Tennessee Titans. Man, when I talked to Rhett Bryant in Nashville earlier on the show, I asked him about the three players. Well, I didn't say three.

He gave me three. The players who were untouchable, because they're about to be over the salary cap. They don't necessarily have an answer at quarterback. They're still looking for a GM. I asked him, which players on this roster do you believe are untradeable or untouchable that you're sure will be on the roster next year? And he gave me three names.

That was it. Now you're going to have to go to the podcast to find out which three names, but hint there were no quarterbacks on his list of three names. So yeah, check that out on our podcast after hours, AmyLawrence.com, because this is a team that they fell off the proverbial cliff. Seven consecutive losses, though crazy enough, they were still alive for the AFC South Division title had they beaten Jacksonville in week 18 on that Saturday night. A lot of changes in store for the Titans, and they're not the only team, but already have fired four assistant coaches. They're looking for a new GM.

It does underscore how quickly teams get started in the offseason business, but also I'm always fascinated by the contrast and really taken by the contrast, the teams that are moving forward to the playoffs versus the teams that are wasting no time in getting back to work. Now in some cases, fan bases would like the two things to come together, right? If the Dallas Cowboys lose against the Buccaneers on Monday night, is Mike McCarthy out the door? That was a question that was posed to his boss, the owner, the general manager. You will hear the answer coming up as well as Dak Prescott about that week 18 stinker.

So we'll do NFL to finish up the show. There's a lot more that we've talked about, baseball, basketball, even Kirby Smart and his leaked pregame, would you call it a rant? I don't know if I'd call it a rant, motivational speech. I'm not sure speech really covers the emotion that was part of this.

Speech doesn't generally include that many words that need to be beeped out, bleeped out as well. What would you call it? A... Hmm.

I don't really know. A fiery... A hype up. A hype up?

That's very Gen Z of you. A hype up. Eh, I'm gonna have to come up with a different category for this one from Kirby Smart, but I still come back to, does the fact that you just won a second consecutive national title maybe gloss over the fact that someone in your locker room leaked your pregame hype up? No. I can't say that and take myself seriously. It's something that younger people say hype up from me sounds odd.

I could go with just pregame hype, except when you're the head coach, it's not really hype. All right. I'm going to think on it.

Think on it a little bit more. It's after hours with a... 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. First 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. What's the strangest thing you're afraid of? Tails without fur on them, such as rats or possums. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast, Your Weirdest Fears, where we dig into the crazy things you're afraid of. Everything from animal people hybrids, you know, people who get surgeries to look like an animal to giant statues.

If I ever saw one of those giant statues, I probably would poop my pants. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. 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. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. All right, back to throw, and it is, is it lost, oh, my goodness, DeAndre Hopkins, call it. Back from under center, steps back, throws the fake. Cooper cuts, touchdown L.A. Burrow back to throw, looking, firing deep for Chase in the end zone. He's got it. Touchdown.

Joe Burrow in the bangles. The Holmes fires for the end zone, caught, touchdown Kansas City. Hand off to Ekler again, no, Herbert keeps it, end zone, touchdown Chargers, Herbert with his second of the day. Here's the snap, Josh going to keep it himself and run it again inside the five, into the end zone, touchdown Buffalo. Josh Allen, nine yard touchdown run. The Bills respond and then some. It's time for QB News on After Hours. It's a strange dichotomy between the haves and the have nots in the NFL right now, where you've got teams that are prepping for playoffs, and certainly they can have quarterback questions, roster questions, but you also have teams that are deep into their off-season bag already.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. The number one pick ends up in the hands of the Chicago Bears. Now they have Justin Fields. He finished up the year injured, banged up, did not play in week 18, did miss a couple of games during the year. Now I know that their offense runs a lot better and they gain a hell of a lot more yards when he is set free.

Run Justin, run. My problem and my concern with him is just as it is for any quarterback who was allowed to run a ton, and I don't just mean scrambles, I mean design runs. The more he gets hit, the shorter his career becomes. The more he gets hit, the more time he could spend on the sidelines, and we're even talking about serious injuries that could require surgeries or a year on the shelf.

I don't love it, although I know he's incredible at it. So Justin Fields, he finished shy of the quarterback rushing record, but man, he dazzled us once they changed their offensive approach. So the general manager Ryan Polls now has the number one overall pick. He was asked whether or not drafting a quarterback, even with Justin Fields, is a possibility at that number one spot.

We're going to do the same as we've always done. We're going to evaluate the draft class, and I would say this, I'd have to be absolutely blown away to make that type of decision. So that was the quote that was making the rounds on Tuesday, I'd have to be absolutely blown away to make a choice to choose a quarterback at number one.

Now I get that. Here's the interesting thing, because the Bears don't need a quarterback, because they love Justin Fields, and I don't know, maybe they will be blown away, but maybe they won't, they are in the catbird seat where they could trade out of that number one spot and could pick up more draft capital and potentially set themselves up. Reminds me of what the San Francisco 49ers did a few years ago, they traded out of that number two spot, they traded down to number three, the Bears then drafted, who do they draft there? Oh, Mitch Trubisky at number two, what a crazy tangled web here. Anyway, there is a team that is desperate to move into that number one spot, and according to the Colts GM, Chris Ballard, they're about to go for broke when it comes to getting a quarterback that they want. Looking back, we kept thinking, okay, we'll add the vet, we'll add a vet quarterback, give us a chance to really get over the hump. And looking at missed opportunities, we thought with Carson, we were getting a young enough player that we could have a guy that could be here for the long term for at least a five, six, seven year run, and we weren't right on that decision. Okay, my fault, my fault, my fault. My miscommunication with producer Jay, I thought that was a different cut.

It's not the one that I was thinking about. So I'll just tell you what it is that I saw in the quote is that Chris Ballard, he admits that he failed the Colts this season and that he did not have the right approach to 2022. But he does say that even as they are not sure about their coaching search and whether Jeff Saturday returns and a lot of other question marks, that he is willing to do whatever it takes to move up to the number one pick in the NFL draft to get a quarterback. And apparently they have their eyes on Bryce Young of the Alabama Crimson Tide.

So he says, this is his quote, I will do whatever it takes. So they right now are sitting on the number four pick in the NFL draft. They need a quarterback, but if they feel like their guy is not going to be there, they're desperate and they, and the teams know they're desperate now, including the Bears, right? That they'll move up. So he kind of tipped his hand a little bit.

I guess now we can go back to this bite if you want to. This is more about Carson Wentz though, and about whether or not that was a mistake and bringing him on board. And I mean, think about it, they've had a revolving door of quarterbacks going back the last several years, and that has stunted their growth as a franchise. Looking back, you know, we kept thinking, okay, we'll add the vet, we'll add a vet quarterback, give us a chance to really get over the hump, you know, and looking at missed opportunities. You know, we thought with Carson, we were getting a young enough player that we could have a guy that could be here for the long term for at least a five, six, seven-year run, you know, and we weren't right on that decision. And then giving up the assets at the time probably cost us from being able to get one in 21, which I don't really, you know, looking back, I don't really know if we'd have had an opportunity in the draft, but, and then not having a first round pick this last year restricted that. So I've thought a lot about that, you know, and what direction we'd go.

Look, at the end of the day, we made the decisions we did, we had a process to make them, and it's, we're at where we're at, so. So that's Chris Ballard, really honest, maybe TMI, too much information. And of course, Carson Wentz is now with the commanders. They had Matt Ryan, that didn't really work for a variety of reasons. They chained coaches in the middle of the season, so they've got a ton of issues, but Ballard is saying the failure starts with me. We'll get to Carson Wentz with the commanders coming up here on QB News.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. The Detroit Lions are in a completely different spot as the Chicago Bears, same NFC North position, but they are now in love with their quarterback and are not looking to upgrade. Nine consecutive games for Jared Goff with no interception. So if he's solved his turnover problem, that's a huge deal. And GM Brad Holmes, he's all smiles when talking about Jared. I was always confident in him because I've been with him from the get-go since he was drafted back when I was with LA. I just kind of know how resilient and mentally tough he is, and I think a lot of it was me knowing all the success he had in LA. I think that was kind of forgotten about a little bit when he got here, and I think he was put in a very tough situation. I don't want to say I don't know how many quarterbacks in that situation that he was in last year, but we had a lot of injuries, man, and we didn't really have the weapons around him. Dan had to really make a very tough decision on the staff offensively and make a change there. And he stayed the course, I've talked to you guys about this at length, but knowing what he's made of, that's why I just kept faith.

How about that? When was the last time you heard someone talk up Jared Goff the way that Brad Holmes is doing now, but they believe they've solved their problem, quote unquote. They believe that they have the answer at quarterback, which of course would free them up then to add other pieces. One of the youngest rosters in the league, they finish up on a tear, winning eight of their last 10, and just miss out on the playoffs.

I love that story. We had a listener ask us on our Facebook page whether or not I believed in the Lions. I guess the way he phrased it was, are you surprised by the Lions this season?

And my answer is no. We've been talking them up under Dan Campbell going back to last year, so to see it come to fruition, oh, I don't know, blind squirrel finds a nut. I feel a little bit validated in supporting these Lions before the wins were there. That's After Hours, CBS Sports Radio.

The Minnesota Vikings, winners of the NFC North, they will host the Giants in a playoff game coming up on Sunday. Kevin O'Connell has a distinct bond with Kirk Cousins, and when he made his appearance on Sirius XM NFL radio, he was talking about their relationship. It's not always a relationship that needs to be, you know, how do I say this, it doesn't have to be just roses and butterflies. I mean, sometimes Kirk and I have real tangible conversations in game during the week of prep. Hey, Kirk, do you like this?

No, you don't. Okay, well, what about this? Giving him some ownership over some of the things we call, you know, we meet the day before the game every single week for two hours, you know, him and I. Really was a season in which we saw Kirk Cousins and that relationship with his receivers produce a lot of fruit. They've also had some major hiccups, some major question marks.

I mean, I get it. They came back from 33-0 down against the Colts, but why are you in a 33-0 hole against the Colts? There have been some real highs, there have been some real lows. I sense that there's some uncertainty and some nerves and some anxiety around the Vikings as they host the Giants in that wild card game on Sunday. It's after hours, CBS Sports Radio, Tom Brady, he's looking ahead at yet another playoff appearance. Even though the Bucks finished under.500, they will host the Cowboys coming up. The Cowboys favored in this game more than likely by the time they kick off on Monday and yet all that's out the window. It sucks being 8-9. You're playing against teams that have way better records, 12-5, whatever it is.

But you know what? The only thing that matters is who wins that day. That's the best part about NFL football playoffs.

It doesn't matter what you did 10 weeks ago. I'm not saying you're going to win because you played terrible 10 weeks ago. I'm saying though, the person who wins and the team that wins is the one that prepares the best and ultimately executes the best for those three hours on that playoff game. Sometimes I feel like we've been the better team and lost. Sometimes we haven't been the better team and won.

It doesn't matter. How did you perform on that stage in the biggest moment of the season? And we'll see if we can go out there and get it done. It's an interesting clash, right? They met in the first game of the season. Touchdowns were hard to come by. Dak got hurt.

That was a long time ago. But I've not seen a lot of consistency from the Buccaneers. Although week 18, there wasn't a whole lot to be excited about with the Cowboys offense. We'll get to them here momentarily. But I promised you, commanders Carson Wentz, Martin Mayhues, their GM, will Carson be back next year? We're currently working through all that and having discussions. We're still in that kind of season review process. Over the next few days, we'll be talking about all those things and trying to sort that out. We've got to talk about budget, what we have to spend, how we want to allocate resources, evaluate depth in terms of draft and free agency, where those positions are, and where we think we can add talent. So we're working through all that right now. I don't often hear an NFL GM refer to the salary cap constrictions as budget.

That's kind of interesting. I budget. NFL team's budget? Dak Prescott and the Cowboys offense, they did not leave fans confident looking ahead to this first game of the playoffs. And so, of course, the questions become, if they lose in this first game, is Mike McCarthy out of a job?

On our Dallas affiliate, 105.3, the fans, Sean and RJ, asked Jerry Jones that very question. No, just I don't even want to, no, that's it. I don't need to go into all the pluses or minuses, but we're not seeing any. We're not basing. I've got a lot more to evaluate Mike McCarthy on than this playoff game. Ooh.

Ooh. Now see at the beginning, it sounded like a vote of confidence. No, I mean, you know, no, but by the time Jerry Jones got done, it sounded like the evaluation won't come down to whether or not they lose this game, but there is going to be an evaluation. I don't know what happens there.

I mean, it's certainly been part of Jerry's resume that he's patient with coaches, but he's also said, I'm getting old and I need to win a Super Bowl fast. A lot of questions that have to be answered. We'll talk to you tonight. Have a great Wednesday. It's After Hours, CBS Sports Radio.

Boom. What's the strangest thing you're afraid of? Tails without fur on them, such as rats or opossums. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast, Your Weirdest Fears, where we dig into the crazy things you're afraid of. Everything from animal people hybrids, you know, people who get surgeries to look like an animal to giant statues. If I ever saw one of those giant statues, I probably would poop my pants.

Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. What's the strangest thing you're afraid of? Tails without fur on them, such as rats or opossums. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast, Your Weirdest Fears, where we dig into the crazy things you're afraid of. Everything from animal people hybrids, you know, people who get surgeries to look like an animal to giant statues.

If I ever saw one of those giant statues, I probably would poop my pants. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from.