After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

That should wake you up on a Thursday morning. I was just checking on producer Jay to see how he's doing, if he's awake.

It's not a great sleeping day for either of us, actually. And this entire show, during commercial breaks, obviously before the show, we've both been running around like chickens with no heads. It's a lot of downtime, and so I hope the show reflects that we've been working hard behind the scenes. I will admit I never intended to spend a full hour on live tour versus PGA Tour golf. However, it's seemingly the story in 2022 that will not die. And I am sure Bryson DeChambeau is the one who's writing the live golf statements.

If I'm a betting gal, which I'm not, I might put some money on that. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Thanks so much for hanging out with us on this Thursday morning. We've seen a lot of traffic to our social media. I think that's a direct reflection of the fact that we're getting closer and closer to football season.

And to that end, we've got reports coming from multiple conferences, what conferences, multiple divisions in both conferences. If you missed my conversation with longtime NFL GM Randy Mueller, he was with us from Idaho. He splits his time during the offseason between Seattle, which is where he works, and Idaho, which is where he goes with his family to get away. So it's kind of cool to catch up with him in Idaho, but he's already busy himself and really to get a GM's perspective on what it's like these last few days before they break camp, before they have to make their final roster cuts. We also talked about his top storylines heading into the NFL season, the Deshaun Watson suspension, what this means for the NFL, as well as what it means for the Cleveland Browns, and the Jimmy Garoppolo storyline, because that one's not going away anytime soon. But as much as all of that is really compelling, and it is, I always learn when I speak to Randy, you'll never guess what he calls The Rock, as in The Rock Dwayne Johnson.

He's apparently got a preferred nickname, and now that Randy is part of the XFL, which has been retooled and rebooted under The Rock or with The Rock's direction, I had to ask him, what do you call him exactly? It's good stuff. You want to check it out on our podcast if you didn't hear it live, and you can always catch that podcast right after the show is done. The link is posted on our show Twitter after our CBS.

It's also posted on Facebook. Cracks me up though, almost every single week without fail, someone says to me, literally writes on the podcast, as a comment on the podcast, wow I wish I had heard that, or I wish I knew how to access that, or I wish I could go back and listen. Ha! I wish I could too. Don't be stupid. We're live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios.

When you need an expert to help navigate the home loan process, Rocket can. I feel like Jerry Jones was making headlines on Wednesday, it's that time of the year again, and actually some tough news for the Dallas Cowboys overall, but specifically the Dallas Cowboys offensive line. If you hadn't heard, Tyron Smith has suffered a torn left hamstring, and so he could miss multiple months. At this point, the Cowboys left tackle is going to be out for an extended period of time.

It's hard to know exactly how long. They're working on more reviews, more medical tests coming up on Thursday, but according to the reports, he was hurt on a running play. He was making a block on Leighton Vander Esch, the great Cowboys linebacker, and he went to the ground. He did walk to the locker room without any assistance, and the good news is the ACL in his left knee they determined right away was intact, but it sounds like there's a problem that, while it won't cost him an entire season, could cause him to miss months. This is a guy who's a pro bowler, and you may or may not know the movie The Blind Side, but we all understand, if you understand football, you know how important that tackle is.

Whether it's a lefty or a righty, when your quarterbacks turn the other direction, it's your responsibility to protect his blind side. To lose this guy who's so good at his job and so established in front of Dak Prescott is a huge deal. We'll have to see how the Cowboys adjust, but we're talking about days now until the regular season kicks off.

It's a devastating loss for them. That's one big piece of news coming out of the NFL, but that's not it. We've got a couple of other updates from guys who've missed time with injuries, like Jameis Winston himself giving you an update on his health. And then just in general, the closer we get to the start of the regular season, which is two weeks from today, two weeks from Thursday, as in today, and it is because all of our various time zones in the United States are now officially into Thursday.

Two weeks. I said this earlier because it made me laugh. When I told my mom that producer Jay and I spent a couple hours prepping, well prepping, brainstorming and preparing for football season, my mom said, football season? Isn't it kind of early to be doing that?

Exactly. Little do you know, mom, she gets her football info from me. Well, and from her husband who is big into fantasy and so makes her watch football or at least has football on the TV for hours every Sunday. We'll get like halfway through the first round of games and mom will send me a text. I'm so tired of football on the TV. It's week one.

You're 90 minutes into the first games. You have a long way to go invest in some earplugs. Okay. Stop it. That is a mean trick, producer Jay. You know, that's a mean trick because that is literally one of my favorite movie scenes of all time.

All you have to do is drop a couple of notes of it and you know that I lose it. You sound like a seal. That's a mean trick. I feel like that's very underhanded of you. You need to lose that.

All of that. Why? Why are you trying to derail what I'm saying here on the show? Of course not. Of course not. If you all could see his face, he's got evil eyes.

I'm telling you, it's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Yes, that comes from my favorite comedy of all time. It's an oldie but a goodie.

If you don't know, it's Money Pit with Tom Hanks and the scene where the bathtub goes through the floor and he gets stuck in the rug on the second floor. Oh my gosh. He sounds like a seal or a walrus. Why can't I have that laugh?

Do you think that would be great for the radio show or no? I know my laugh is a cackle. I'm not telling you it's a giggly, sweet, kind of girly laugh. I do not have that. I understand my laugh is loud and boisterous.

But is this way better? Do you think Tom Hanks practiced that or it just came out that way? I would say he must have been one of those in the mirror things kind of, how ridiculous can I make this laugh? What can I do?

What's my range? We've all had those moments where we just lose our minds and he's actually not laughing. I mean he is laughing but it's not funny. That's the part that is amazing. It's an iconic stretch of laughter and it's all done over something that's not funny at all. That's where the inspiration came from when you're talking about your mom being tired of football and it's 90 minutes into week one.

90 minutes into the season. We've got a long way to go. All I can do is make that laugh about that one.

I hate to tell you mom, you are far closer to the beginning than you are to the end. Yeah, she's a hoot. I just mean. But the fact is you know, you absolutely know I can name that tune in half a note. The first second of the laugh. And so as much as it does apply to my mom and her boredom after 90 minutes of the NFL season, you know that playing that, dropping that on the show, see?

I can even tell you if that's all you dropped, I can tell you that. My gosh, so funny. All right. So coming up this hour, we'll do some QB news. Every single day now, I get questions on my social about how quickly Kenny Pickett becomes the starter for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I'm telling you, it's happening every single day. And I'm a national host. I'm not even in Pittsburgh. I can only imagine the local chatter in Pittsburgh. Now, that's not Tom Hanks. That's our friend Mike Tomlin. Good stuff. You'll hear from Mike Tomlin.

Also, why is one quarterback talking about being a psychopath? Anyway, we're going to get to as much as we possibly can. What do you what do you mean? They're like drawing from a bank of sound effects. That's just you're just you should see producer J's face. He's got this ginormous toothy grin on his face. Are you having fun? A little bit. Yeah.

Yeah. You think it's because we're not talking about the Cleveland Browns of the NBA. That's the end of producer J's fun.

It's all fun and games until I bring up the number or KD. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Let's run through some of the top storylines from the baseball diamond diamond drama, as we call it on Wednesday evening. Now, the Braves did not play Wednesday evening or to the Mets, actually.

The Braves played Wednesday afternoon. They swept the Pirates. And so right now, the Braves are, again, one of the hottest teams in baseball. We've seen this multiple times over the course of the summer. They've won 14 of their last 16.

And Kyle Wright earns win number 16 to match both Justin Verlander and Tony Gonsolin for most in the majors. Good players, but also I feel like we show up and we show up to play every day. We show up and prepare. And I feel like we can beat you in different ways, right? Like we can pitch it and play defense and then and obviously we can swing it a little bit, too. So just whatever that day, I feel like dictates what we're going to make it happen. But like I said, give credit to, you know, the staff and everybody that gets us ready to play.

And then for us, for being professionals and going about it, you know, the right way each and every day. When did Dansby Swanson morph into a grizzled veteran right before our eyes? Wowzers, the Atlanta Braves closing in on the Mets. So the Mets were idle last night. They start a series against the Rockies on Thursday today. But the World Series champions are within a game and a half, though.

Let's give credit where it's due. New York has beat back every challenge by these World Series champions to this point. That's the NL East. In the NL Central, the Milwaukee Brewers have run smack dab into the buzzsaw. That is the Los Angeles Dodgers over these last couple of days.

And for last night, it was over almost before it started. The Dodgers batted around in the first inning and then batted around again in the fourth inning. Trey Turner, Freddie Freeman, you can't keep these guys off base right now, but it's not just them. Austin Barnes in the in the nine hole had four RBI last night. So Dave Roberts still has the Midas touch. Andrew Heaney picks up his first win in four months.

He strikes out four, excuse me, he strikes out ten. And the Dodgers really helping the St. Louis Cardinals atop that NL Central because it made the Brewers look listless and lackluster. But the Cardinals didn't win. They lost to the Cubs on Wednesday and Albert Pujols did not homer. Really, that's all I needed to say.

I know that's all you cared about. Albert Pujols did not homer. He's still sitting on 693. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio looking at the American League. Beware of the Cleveland Guardians.

I'm telling you right now, they are locked in. Here's the one two pitch swung on and there's a high fly ball deep left center field way back home run Jose Ramirez. He's done it again. And it's two nothing Guardians. Here's the one two swung on and it's hammered high and deep to left.

Forget it. Home run Gonzalez into the Western Metal Supply Company building that's down that left field line. Look out in there.

That was coming in hot. And three solo home runs have given the Guardians a three nothing lead. I like the way we're playing against playoff caliber teams. That's a really good team over there. Regardless of injuries and this or that, that's a team that's hunting in the playoff race. And we're playing really good baseball against teams like that.

That's important. It's not that I don't care what Cal Quantrell has to say, but we discovered this earlier and I can't not hear it. I want to pay attention to what Cal is saying, but I cannot unhear the obnoxious singing in the background. Regardless of injuries and this or that, that's a team that's hunting in the playoff race and we're playing really good baseball. I'm telling you, he laughs when it starts.

Can you go back? OK, go back to the beginning and it's quiet for a second there. And he's probably pretty close to the the visitors clubhouse, the Guardians clubhouse in San Diego.

And you can hear him laugh when it starts. I like the way we're playing against playoff caliber teams. That's a really good team over there. Regardless of injuries and this or that, that's a team that's hunting in the playoff race. And we're playing really good baseball against teams like that.

That's important. Anyone can go out and beat a bad team or take a series. But this is kind of the barometer. Like, where do we sit? You know, I'm in the Like where do we sit, you know, are we ready? Can we handle what, what playoff baseball is going to look like?

And I think that the boys showed up and really, you know, put their foot to the pedal for these last two games. It's disco music. Someone's player, Blair and disco music in the club. It doesn't stop though. No. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah.

Once it has that breakdown, you think it would like jump into something else or no, it's how long does he do that? Whatever beat for it. Do you think they're pranking him or they're punking guys who are doing press conferences or they're just, what the heck? That is so loud. It is so loud. And I don't know what. I love music. That is it.

This bill is a native American. Is it one said to me that on Twitter, that he thought it was the sound of a truck backing up, but that is not the case. It is not a beep. It's a, oh, it's the crescendo in the beginning that throws me off.

Cause that, is it a teammate in this close spot? One more time for people who are just waking up. Okay. That's a really good team over there, regardless of injuries and this or that. That's a team that's hunting in the playoff race and we're playing really good baseball against teams like that. And that's important.

Um, anyone can go out and beat a bad team or take a series, but this is kind of the barometer, like where do we sit? You know, are we. I can't believe you turned it off.

Anyway, if you weren't awake, uh, you are now. So we have no idea what that is. We don't know if it's, uh, recorded or if it's an actual person in the clubhouse.

We just know that Cal hears it and starts laughing. And then it's obnoxiously loud for the rest of his, his comment. It almost sounds like a fire alarm starting off, but then it's like a fake fire alarm, which I don't think is legal. I have no idea. I'm sort of bird in the clubhouse, maybe it's not a bird. That's way too loud for a bird.

I don't know what it is, but it's fantastic. Anyway, guardians fantastic as well as seven, nothing shut out of the Padres and they are protecting their lead atop the AL central now sitting at four games over the twins who are going the wrong way and the White Sox who actually got a win last night, an impressive win for them in Baltimore, uh, Lucas Giolito ends up with the victory, a run on four hits and he pitches into the seventh inning. So those are some of your top storylines coming from the world of baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays. Uh, they are also one of the hottest teams in baseball. They actually get a walk off on a throwing error by the angels. And so their 10th win in 12 games. But if you're thinking that they might be the only team to reel in the Yankees well, think again.

It brings it home. Springer swings and he drives one out to deep left field to the top of the monster and off of the wall. It's down and in play.

Bradley will score easily from second Springer races to the bag. He slides in with an RBI double and on one pitch in the 10th, the blue jays have a three, two lead. It's Ben Wagner on blue jays radio and they were in Boston. I happened to be listening to this Red Sox broadcast because of the Jimmy fun telethon and the fact that they were raising money to support the Jimmy fun, which supports kids with cancer and the families that have to go through that ordeal. So I'm listening to some of these families and some of these kiddos get interviewed on the broadcast with Joe Castiglione and company.

This is Sean McDonough in there as well. And it was a really compelling game goes into extras, but boom, right away in extras, the blue jays jump on the Red Sox. And as much as the Red Sox are trying, trying to come up with some type of forward momentum, they're still going the wrong way.

A tough one. I think it was 0 for 8, right? Left a lot. Um, and we had some good at bats, but then when it matters, you know, um, we didn't make contact and we paid the price. Alex Cora manager for the Red Sox, referring to them going 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position. So they've dropped three in a row and they're now four games below 500 in the basement of the American league East. But the Rays, the Blue Jays, they're getting closer. The Yankees are now actually in sight. I still say the Yankees end up winning this division because it's a mammoth lead that they built, but the Rays have, as I say, have won eight of their last 10. They're now within seven and a half games and the Blue Jays are just eight games back and the Orioles still that little engine that could, that's what I called them, uh, when I was doing an interview with Rob Long on the big bad morning show on Monday at one of five, seven, the fan, our Baltimore affiliate. All right.

You can find me on Twitter, a law radio also on our Facebook page. I can't promise no more singing. Um, Oh, Oh my gosh. Jay, we just got a tweet indicating the name of the song that's playing behind them. So we need to check it out during the break to see if I've got to confirm this.

Yeah, we do. Jacob says the song is holding on by disclosure. Okay. Okay, so let's check it out to see if it matches. I mean, they're playing it at mock decibel levels. Impressive that he could pick that out, but we'll check it out.

Somebody has to know it if it's a song playing at a clubhouse, right? If that's what actually what it was, but I wasn't sure if that was music. Anyway, we'll, we'll check it out.

We'll investigate. Thank you, Jacob. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours podcast, this is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I told you it's like disco. It's like club music. What's old is new again. Thank you to our friend Jacob, who did in fact recognize the tune that's being played behind Cal Quantro.

Okay, so can we do it again? Just like we heard the song. That's the start of the song Disclosure. It's by, I'm sorry, Disclosure is the artist holding on as the song. Here we go.

You ready? Regardless of injuries and this or that, that's a team that's hunting in the playoff race and we're playing really good baseball against teams like that. That's important.

Anyone can go out and beat a bad team or take a series. But, okay, so now play the song again one more time just so we can see. No, no wonder he laughed. I think we have a winner. That would give me a headache.

No, it wouldn't. I won't be putting that on my Spotify. Yes, and it's loud. It's so loud behind Cal Quantro that there's no way he can avoid it. But yeah, a lot of times...

Regardless of injuries and this or that, that's a team that's hunting in the playoff race and we're playing really good baseball. A lot of times those press conferences or those press rooms are literally right off the clubhouse at stadiums, especially if it's the visiting team. And so no doubt he heard it and started to laugh because that's where he kind of took a pause.

He's not the only one that was kind of thrown by that music because I really... I've heard him speak like 17 times and I don't yet have any idea what he said. I can tell you, as someone who has covered a lot of baseball games... Hi Peter Schwartz. Good morning, Amy.

Nice to see you. Been in a lot of locker rooms with a blast of music during postgame interviews. I'd like the PR people will go over to the radio or whatever it is, turn it down, and the players would get pissed.

Yes. Come back and turn it up. It's our clubhouse and they're right about that, but it ruins sound bites that you're trying to feed the radio stations.

Whatever, media is secondary. Have you heard this then? Have you heard Cal Quantro?

I did not hear this before. He's answering a question. This is the Guardians and they're on the road in San Diego and he's answering a question. We'll have to play it for Pete now.

And the music starts behind him and we've actually had a listener who's identified the song and it sounds like club music or Jay identified it as house music. It is so loud. Listen. I like the way we're playing against playoff caliber teams. That's a really good team over there, regardless of injuries and this or that. That's a team that's hunting in the playoff race and we're playing really good baseball against teams like that. That's important.

Anyone can go out and beat a bad team or take a series, but this is kind of the barometer. Yeah, I have that on my iPod. I bet one of your sons does. I'm sure either one of them can identify that song. Anyway, thank you to Jacob. We're actually really thankful that he identified that music. Brian's like, stop playing that song.

Never tell Jay to stop doing anything because he will literally take that as his invitation to continue doing it. I feel like we got to the bottom of a mystery though. This has been on our mind since the first hour of the show. We thought we were saying what animal it is. Is it an alarm? No, that was you. I knew it was music. I was saying what animal it is. I knew that was music.

I just didn't know what it was. And I was figuring, knowing the configuration that it had to be the clubhouse right behind him or something. That's fantastic. I mean, I do not miss those days of covering a team in their own clubhouse or right outside their clubhouse. I'm good with that. If I don't ever go into a locker room again, I did it. I did it for several years of my career.

I'm happy if I never have to do it again. It is not an easy place to get your job done, whether you're male or female, obviously extra challenging if you're female. Oh, I've had my uncomfortable moments in a locker room before, absolutely. There are some athletes who will go out of their way to let you know you're not welcome. No more Garcia Parra.

That's all I'm saying. I'm not telling any more stories. He was notorious, especially when he was mad. After the Red Sox tried to trade him for Alex Rodriguez at the start of the 2004 season, I was at spring training that year with my local radio partner in Providence, Rhode Island. It wasn't just me. He was so angry at the Red Sox, at the media, at everyone.

He was just angry at the world that he was going out of his way to try to make people miserable. His teammates even warned me about being around his locker because of how he was treating people in that spring training. I once saved San Antonio Holmes from a barrage of negative questions from jet reporters when I was covering the Jets for FAN. He had made a mistake.

I don't remember exactly what it was. I think he dropped the pass in a game, and then he didn't make himself available after the game that Sunday, and then again the day after, media availability. Not until Wednesday did he come out to his locker, and Wednesday is usually the day that you turn the page, you start asking about the next game. He put himself in that position because he didn't face the music on either Sunday or Monday, and it was like an onslaught of questions about dropping the ball, whatever the mistake was.

They're asking the questions in five different ways. He answered the question, and I actually felt bad for him. I'm the little radio guy in there, and I'm looking for... No one's ever described Peter Schwartz as a little radio guy, but okay.

Well, whatever. I need him to talk about the next game for my reports, so finally I get to ask a question, and I'm making up who they're playing, and then I don't remember who it was. So you're facing the Dolphins on Sunday, and you talk about their defense a little bit, he looks over at me with a smile, he goes, thank you. And then after the scrum is over, he came back over to me, he said, I want to thank you for changing the tone, and the reporters came over to me, and they're angry at me. Of course. Why did you do that?

You asked the question 18 different ways, he wasn't answering it, you've got a job to do here. Good too. Peter Schwartz and Antonio Holmes, BFFs, they're tight. I like it. All right, coming up, QB News to wrap up our show.

Man, this show went fast. And on that note- How do they play that with the background instead of the regular update music? That would be fantastic.

I don't think you could concentrate all the way through, though. I'm taking the bet on that one. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Holmes fires for the end zone, caught. Touchdown, Kansas City.

Murray back to throw, and it is. Is it caught? Is it caught?

Oh my goodness, it's caught. DeAndre Hopkins caught it. He's got a man wide open, John Brown, he makes the catch. Touchdown, Buffalo. John Brown from Josh Allen. Lamar Jackson in the shotgun.

Blops to the five, it is caught. Touchdown, Willie Sneed. Way fake by Russ, throws deep, man wide open, it's like it, he's in, touchdown Seahawks. Taneo rolling, throwing, touchdown Titans. Throw back to pass, throws into the end zone, intended for Tyler Floyd, touchdown Bengals. It's time for QB News on After Hours. Sad news to start with on this edition of QB News here on CBS Sports Radio. Len Dawson, a Hall of Famer and a four-time champion, so three times in the AFL, also with the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL, Super Bowl IV, he was the MVP. Played a lot of years in this league. He passed away and right away, Patrick Mahomes wanted to talk about Len Dawson.

This is from Sirius XM NFL. Great person. I think from every interaction that I've had with him, from my first rookie camp to now, he's always been someone that's shedding advice and light into just where we are at. He's someone who appreciates being the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback and being in the Kansas City community.

I think that's been the biggest thing I've taken away from him. Obviously, like you said, he was the quarterback. He's the one that helped the Kansas City Chiefs become who they are. Him, Hank Stram, Lamar Hunt, moving from the Dallas Texans to the Kansas City and getting in the first Super Bowl and winning the fourth, he stamped Kansas City Chiefs. Len Dawson died at the age of 87, so a long and prosperous life. Maybe you did not know he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as both a player and a broadcaster, which is pretty amazing. KMBC is where he worked as a sports broadcaster. And so the Chiefs community will no doubt honor him over the course of this upcoming season.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Aaron Rodgers is not in the Hall of Fame yet, though he is headed there. And even though he and Devante Adams are no longer on the same team, Devante, of course, is going to continue to rave about the guy who threw him passes for the first stage of his career. It was amazing, man. I mean, you know, I don't discount anything, you know, that Aaron was able to do for me because I mean, he's the best quarterback, you know, in my opinion, to play this game. What he did for me was not just about the type of balls or whatever that he threw, you know, great back, shoulder, whatever. He had the Michael Jordan effect. He gonna make you play better. He gonna bring out your best just by being on the field. It's like he was a great leader, but it was it was more so just about you would always notice in OTAs, like, you know, every now and then a guy that's in his, what, 15th year at that point or whatever, they get days off in OTAs.

So it'd be times where he wasn't practicing and you would just notice people start to like not not fall off, not not practicing hard. But it wasn't the same as when Aaron is out there. High praise from Devante Adams for Aaron Rodgers on the pivot. Seems like everyone these days is raving about Rodgers.

You're coming here to play with me as if his ego needs more of that. Hey, there's some debate about whether or not Philip Rivers ends up in the Hall of Fame. I happen to think he will.

Maybe not first ballot. Justin Herbert actually is grateful for the support he receives from the former Chargers QB. I wish I got the chance to meet him and study and learn from him for a couple of years.

But I've heard plenty of great, incredible stories about him. And I know that the competitor that he was and for him to be able to do it for as long as he did and to fight off as many injuries as he did without missing any games. You know, I've got so much respect for that and for that man. And as a competitor, as a football player, as a father, as a teammate, you know, it means a lot to me.

And we still have a lot to prove here and to continue what he built and what he what he did for this team. That's on Chargers YouTube. Sixteen seasons of Philip Rivers, who was the Chargers version of the Iron Man.

We're making our pivot into speaking of pivots, making our pivot into the AFC North. There's an actual quarterback competition still going on. Mitch Trubisky was brought in by the Steelers to push Mason Rudolph to challenge Mason Rudolph.

It's actually turned into a three quarterback competition, a three way race, if you will. But Trubisky feels like he's done what he has to do. Just how I carry myself every day, what I've done on the practice field, would like to do more last game, obviously. But hopefully you get another opportunity this week to show why I should be in. It's your whole body of work. So everything I've done in my career up to this point, what I've done in mini camp, the practices at Latrobe and the preseason game. So I wasn't the best showing last week as a unit and for myself. So I would just all you can do is control today and get better from there. And that's what I'm trying to do and have a great week.

Oh, the maturity. And yet there are so many people who would like to see at least they think they would like to see Kenny Pickett, the rookie on the field sooner rather than later. He's just wrapping up his very first camp, comfortable with the offense, playing fast, trusting, you know, my eyes, my feet are tied together and I'm going through my reads and my progressions and just getting the ball out of my head fast.

So I'm happy with how I progressed that way throughout camp. So just definitely want to keep it going throughout this last game. There's a lot of buzz around Kenny Pickett, who, of course, played his college ball at Pitt. But Mike Tomlin gets the final say. So what about this last preseason game? What's the impact on the QB battle? Man, a lot of spots going to come down to this work.

This work is weighted differently and appropriately so. The in-stadium work is significant and increasingly so the more stadium exposure you get. And so make no mistake, this is a significant game for a lot of people.

Half the time, I have no idea what he's saying because I get so wrapped up in his words and his inflections. The NFL is better because of Mike Tomlin in so many ways. In other words, there is no starting quarterback for the Steelers just yet. Staying in the AFC North. It's put up and shut up time.

Yeah, it is. The defending champion, well, and the defending AFC champion is the Cincinnati Bengals. And Joe Burrow cleared to get back to practice, to be out there and do everything that's required of him, even if he's wearing a red jersey, this following his appendectomy at the start of training camp. It's just exciting to get out of the monotonous flow of camp and you're playing against your defense every day.

You were on a golf cart. You try not to game plan against them, but then they start game planning against you. And so then you start game planning against them and then you get mad at each other and then you fight.

So it's just good to go against somebody else. I'm really glad that his latest round of comments to the media are a little spicier, a little more interesting than what we got from him at the beginning of his career. Oh my gosh, it's like as bad as Bill Belichick. So yes, Joe Burrow is anxious to get on the field against a different team, though he's just now being cleared for contact after that appendectomy.

It's after hours on CBS Sports Radio. So much attention on Tua and the rebuilt offense around Tua in Miami. Final manager Chris Greer, how important is this season for Tua? Every year for every player is a big year, you know, but I think for Tua an exciting part is the relationship he and Mike have in terms of getting to learn each other, the play calling, you know, getting to know our players, surrounding them with playmakers, like you said, and trying to, you know, adding Cedric Wilson to the Mets and, you know, Raheem Mostert, Chase Edmonds, you know, so, you know, for us, it was really just trying to improve our team speed, adding, you know, guys that had some dynamic traits to play in space and Tua has been fantastic, worked his tail off, he and Mike, great relationship and his leadership stuff, a lot of players even talked about how he's just kind of taken over and so it's been fun watching it. Chris Greer on CBS Sports HQ refers to Mike, his head coach being Mike McDaniel, who loves to rave about Tua.

Man, after all the praise that Tua has received publicly this offseason, I'm expecting him to have an all pro season, that's what I'm expecting from the Dolphins QB. Of course, the Dolphins and the Patriots are looking up at the Bills in the AFC East, but it's year two for Mac Jones, how do you find identity when you don't actually have an offensive coordinator? I think Coach Belichick's laid it out for us that we're going to focus on how can we just play better, how can we just fundamentally be better, like for me, just throw to the open guy, whatever, wherever that may be, it could be deep, short, in the middle, it doesn't really matter and for the offense line, pad level and things like that, so it's a lot of fundamental stuff that if you just fix those, it really doesn't matter what you do X's and O's wise, you should be able to compete with the players that we have and all the talent that we have. It's just so fundamental, throw to the open guy, I mean anybody can do that, right?

I appreciate the question, I really do. You so lie, alright, so we're going to pivot just a little bit again because it's one of my favorite words, into the NFC South now, there's no real segue here, except that Jamis Winston is coming back from a couple of injuries, including the ACL and is chomping at the bitch. I feel a lot better, I've been getting better every single day, like it felt good to really be able to, yesterday I could run a little bit more and move around a little bit more, because that's part of my game, you know, so I'm getting better every day. I don't really have any set up for this next sound bite from Jamis Winston, just that he loves game day, even if it's preseason. I would love to play, just in terms of like to get out there where the bullets are really flying and get out there and compete with the guys, you know, I love the pregame experience just to get a chance to look in everybody's eyes, doubt people up and really get that whole holistic team bonding part in the beginning of the game, that's one of my favorite parts of football, just that pre-battle moment.

I mean, I'm excited for that too. Today I surprised myself. Alright, we have time for one more, we've got two left on our list, but one more will save Trevor Lawrence, have you heard this Ken Dorsey, now Ken Dorsey is a former NFL QB, former Miami quarterback, Miami as in college, and now the offensive coordinator under Sean McDermott, and he is admitting that McDermott wants him to be up in the booth because he gets a little bit too fiery on the sidelines. I like to think I'm not too much of a psychopath, like I feel like I'm being made out to be something, but no, I mean, it's a passionate game and I think, you know, it's ball, it's football, you know what I mean?

So again, it's just going to be one of those things, I want to do what's best for the team and what's best for me calling it, but it probably wouldn't hurt to be up in the box in that regard. So Ken Dorsey about the, I'd like to think I'm not too much of a psychopath, that there was a video that was put up with just that little bit of the quote, I mean, you hear the full quote there. I like to think I'm not too much of a psychopath. Right, and Josh Allen quotes that little video and responds with, isn't that what every psychopath would say?

Something along those lines. Really funny, looking forward to seeing the start of football and of course, seeing what the Bills can do, but it's not just the Bills, right? It's every team, hope springs eternal. We're now two weeks away from the start of the NFL season. It's coming fast. Enjoy your Thursday. We'll see you tonight. After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio, boom.