8-9-22 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

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O.M.G. and I don't even say that. I am so tired of seeing rookies complain about not getting a call. You cannot be serious. I remember when only captains were allowed to speak to officials and now everybody does it. Can you just shut up and play basketball?

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Good morning to you. It's a Tuesday. It's Tuesday. There's a heat wave over a good portion of the United States. Telling you what, I was just in the kitchen filling up my water bottle. It trickles like a mountain stream, barely trickles.

And so it takes a while, which means I get to stand there and listen to the news, the early morning news. And in the New York City area, which is where our CBS Sports Radio headquarters are located, triple digits by 11 a.m. Yep, that's the kind of heat wave I'm talking about. I've got a friend who lives in Palm Desert, so in the desert east of Los Angeles. And this is the kind of weather they get, minus the humidity. But she says they also could use some rain.

And then the complete opposite end of the spectrum. We've got parts of the country that have been inundated with rain and are dealing with extensive flooding, dangerous flooding, even loss of life because of the amount of rain. Wish we could spread that out.

There are parts of the country that desperately need it and parts of the country that need this heat and the sun to be able to dry up some of those floodwaters. So we're thinking about the weather on this Tuesday morning like I do too often because I'm some kind of a weather nerd. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Thanks for hanging out with us. Hope you survived Germanic Monday and you were ready to attack this. Can we call it a terrific Tuesday? Is that cheesy?

It is. It's so cheesy, but let's do it anyway. If you're all about the football countdown, the season kicks off four weeks from Thursday. It'll definitely be a terrific Thursday then. We're live from the Rocket Mortgage.

See, there goes the perfect hour. We're live from the Rocket Mortgage studios. Whether you're looking to purchase a new home or refinance yours, Rocket Mortgage can help you get there.

For home loan solutions that fit your life, Rocket can. We had a fun moment with our guest earlier on the show. I'm actually going to hear his voice here in a second.

But our guest is Justin Shackle, or was Justin Shackle. He is filling in for the great John Sterling on Yankees radio. And if you missed that conversation, he joined us live from Seattle after the Yankees and the Mariners played deep into the night.

And because of the opportunities that he's been given to fill in on Yankees radio, which he says is a dream come true, he's a lifelong Yankees fan because he grew up in the New York area. Of course, there's all kinds of energy and adrenaline, but it's also live, which means we make mistakes. We as humans, and I include me in that because I make mistakes every hour. Gosh, sometimes I can't go 10 minutes without screwing up. And I try to make a joke of it.

I mean, there are times when I get really annoyed at myself, but I recognize it's impossible to be perfect on live TV or live radio for very long. And so we're teasing Justin because he had a moment, we'll call it his welcome to the big leagues moment. In fact, he called it that as well, where he mistakenly believed that Aaron Judge had hit a home run.

Here's Gilbert's 3-0. Fastball cranked in the air. Left center field, forget it. Aaron Judge, I bet you're putting it onto the track. And it's caught.

That was way out there in the gap, but it died just in front of the 376 marker. Jesse Winker makes the catch. Oh boy, Susan.

All right, there's one out. Now, we played that with Justin on the show, okay? So I gave him major props and told him how much I appreciated that he could laugh at himself.

And of course, it's live radio. These things happen. When the ball left Aaron Judge's bat, it did certainly seem like it was a home run. What I should have said to him is, you know what Justin, it was just practice for the ninth inning.

2-2. Swing and a deep shot straightaway center field. Kelnick on his horse.

He looks up. It is gone. Solo home run for Aaron Judge.

Number 44 coming into the Pacific Northwest. And the Yankees take an 8-3 lead here in the ninth. It was just a dress rehearsal earlier in the game. But yes, we appreciated that Justin had a great sense of humor and that he was able to laugh at himself. And that really is the only approach to take, I think, because none of us is perfect. And when we make mistakes on national TV, national radio, well, then you all know that we've made mistakes.

And it's very humbling, right? I mean, there's absolutely no way to even pretend that you're perfect in this business. Especially when you're not on tape.

We are definitely not on tape. If you missed that conversation with Justin, we talked about the good news for the Yankees, which is that they snapped their five-game losing skid, so picked up their first win since the trade deadline. This is following an all-team meeting that was called by manager Aaron Boone in the visiting clubhouse there in Seattle on Monday afternoon. Josh Donaldson turns around and goes four for five, doubles home run, three RBI. Judge hits his 44th dinger.

They get a strong performance from Jamison Tyone, so all the pieces came together. This looked more like the Yankees of the first half. But the victory came with a hefty price, and it happened in the first inning when Matt Carpenter fouled a ball off of his foot. He said he knew right away that something was wrong. He was removed from the game immediately.

And then, of course, the news started to break. Even before the game was over, the Yankees released the information that he had broken his foot. So, yeah, that's brutal because he was batting.300. He was in that three spot. Really, according to Justin and others, but Justin and I talked about it, he was one of the favorites for comeback player of the year. In fact, his batting average this season since he joined the Yankees, second highest in his career.

All those years he spent in St. Louis, he only one time hit over.300. And so there he was standing in the visitor's clubhouse on crutches, following the game, talking about that moment when he just knew. I knew it was broke. I knew something was wrong when I did it. But I thought that I could, you know, finish it bad and get that run in.

But then when I went to swing on the next pitch, I mean, as soon as I started to plant and rotate on that back foot, my lower body gave out. It's obviously not ideal. I mean, you know, pretty disappointed. But, you know, my mindset is that this won't be the end for me here this year. I mean, I'm hopeful that I can come back and contribute and, you know, don't have a timeline yet, but I'm hopeful for the best. He's just become such an important factor in that room and, you know, everyone loves him and he's been incredibly productive.

So it's a blow. You know, hopefully we get him back at some point. You know, get the diagnosis and how long it's going to be when he sees the, you know, I think the foot specialist and everything. But we'll pick him up. So Aaron Boone having to deal with another injury. Anthony Rizzo still has the back spasms.

John Carlo Stanton is on the injured list. Matt Carpenter had been this bright light, not just for what he was doing in the lineup, but for the clubhouse guy that he was. And so a lot of this is going to fall on, yes, Aaron Judge, but also guys like Josh Donaldson and some of the others that they picked up at the trade deadline. They get the win.

So that's important. And they are now just a nose in front of the Astros for the best record in the American League. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio in the National League. Well, the Dodgers had off last night. If you haven't seen what Clayton Kershaw was doing on Monday, you need to check out Dodgers Twitter or Clayton's Twitter because he was dressed at first.

I didn't get it. He was dressed in some kind of outrageous outfit. It actually looked like a onesie. It looked like a one piece that featured not just a top that is bright, crazy colors, but also featured shorts that appeared to be attached. I got to look at Dodgers Twitter. It's actually kind of fun because he does this on purpose, obviously.

This is his annual ping pong tournament and it's a charity event. And so the Dodgers very much a part of it. Oh, yeah, that totally looks like it's a one piece. So I'm looking at a photo.

In fact, I'll retweet it from our show Twitter after I was CBS. A photo from the field where they were doing this tournament and Klay Thompson and his brother Trace Thompson, who's on the Dodgers roster. They were there.

Looks like Clayton and his wife were dressed in matching outfits. I just saw that photo. The eighth annual Kersh challenge ping pong for purpose at Dodger Stadium.

So it's good stuff. I'll retweet those photos, but you can always find them on the Dodgers Twitter anyway. So Dodgers were playing a different game was my point on Monday and the San Diego Padres in a similar drought to the Yankees post trade deadline.

I mean, think about it. Were these not the two most active teams at the trade deadline, the Yankees and the Padres? And after they add some all star pieces, some really impressive pieces to their lineup, to their rotations, to their bullpens, what happens? Neither one of them could win a game. Now, in the case of the Yankees, they have.

A soft place to land. They built that big lead in the American League East. And sure, they lost a couple of games off of it, but the rest of the AL East is all fighting amongst themselves. Like Baltimore last night against Toronto. So it's really difficult to make up a lot of ground when every team in that division behind the Yankees is competitive. Not the case, though, for the Padres.

They have no time to waste. They get swept in L.A. over the weekend. Manny Machado says he's not concerned. Why? Well, because I'm bleeping Manny Machado. One of these days we're going to get that audio. I actually saw a news network tweeting about Manny Machado's comment.

So he says they're not concerned. They fall further behind the Dodgers, but then they get to go home on Monday. What do they do? Lose a one nothing game to the Giants. Where's that offense? The offense that, yeah, features Juan Soto and Manny Machado, but they also put Josh Bell in that offense. They're still missing Fernando Tatis, but the situation is becoming dire for the Padres. Did not help to have the Giants in town on Monday night. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. So Dodgers, even without playing, or I guess I should say even while they were playing table tennis.

Little ping pong with a purpose. They're still best record in the major leagues. Now it's 75 wins and a 16 game lead in their division.

Wow. Remember last year when that division went down to the wire and it was a tight race, eventually won by San Francisco. So with the Dodgers off, it's an opportunity for the Mets to make up a little ground.

And they definitely did do that. So not only did they take advantage of a Braves off night, but they're still very much in the race for best record in the National League. The 1 0 hit high in the air to left field.

That's pretty deep. Fraley going back at the track. There it goes. Home run starling Marte. He jumps on a fastball, pumps his fist as he gets to first base.

He hit it over the great wall of flushing between the 358 and 370 marks for Marte. His 12th home run of the year. The Mets are leading by a score of two to nothing.

And honestly, they didn't need a whole lot more than that for Chris Bassett, who was brilliant in his performance. Bassett goes eight innings. Allows just a single run on eight hits, strikes out eight, throws 114 pitches, picks up his ninth win. Yes, but more importantly, his name is not Max Scherzer.

His name is not Jacob deGrom. And yet he pitched like those guys, those other guys in the Mets rotation last night. So the Mets pick up another when they're now at 71 on the season.

Everyone's role is basically different in the aspect of kind of what they do. And my my job is always that to eat innings. It's not punch guys out and that it's just eat innings. So not a different game plan today.

But yeah, just eat innings. He's just such a competitive guy. He doesn't let something necessarily dictate how he feels. It's about competing on the day he pitches.

And he's got a good hand and a good feel. Buck Showalter, Chris Bassett, the offense producing as well. And it seems to me, yes, Pete Alonso, who is at least in the running for most RBI in the National League. But it's different guys who step up and contribute offensively. Which is why this team is in a much better position than they were a year ago.

I wish I had written it down. I just remember last year their run differential was barely in the positive. And that's why the Braves and Phillies were able to catch them. But this year the Mets have got major staying power. Now a four game win streak, eight of their last ten. And yeah, just four games off that pace set by the Dodgers for best record.

Who would have thunk it? The Braves have fallen back to seven behind the Mets. Not insurmountable, but a heck of a lot of work as we're into August. Still the dog days though.

Still very much the scorching dog days. You can find me on Twitter, ALawRadio, also on our Facebook page after hours with Amy Lawrence. So threw out a football question tonight just for fun. Roughly half the NFL playoff field turns over every year. So following that formula, which teams that were not in the postseason in 2021 will be part of the big dance, the tournament if you will, this season. Again on Twitter or on Facebook.

Lots of common answers and also some off the beaten path. And if you want to see Clayton Kershaw's outrageous outfit, I'm sure you could find it for yourself if you wanted. You and your wife matching outfits. You can check it out on our show Twitter or answer the show question there after hours. CBS, good morning to you. It's Tuesday in case you needed a reminder here on CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Heavy dose of Ailey's play coming up, a swing and a fly ball deep right center field. Merrifield on the warning track at the wall.

He is out of room and it is gone. It's a three run homer for Ramona Reyes. It comes with two outs in the first inning and the Orioles jump on top three nothing. The 0-1.

Santander sends this to the gap in left center field way back there and it is gone. Anthony Santander with a monster blast into the Orioles bullpen. 4-1 Baltimore.

This is After Hours on CBS Sports Radio. It was home run derby for the Baltimore Orioles. Four home runs. You hear the highlights there on Orioles radio. Early and often against the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East. And even though the Blue Jays were able to put a few runs on the board. Felix Bautista slammed the door with his fifth save. He got four outs for it and just giving up the one hit. And Brendan Hyde was thrilled to be able to put him back there at the end.

Once I was told that Lopey was traded. That's my first thought was let's see if Bautista can do it. And he's going to continue to get opportunities.

I love his stuff and his makeup. And 101 is tough to hit. It's a good split so we'll take our chances. 101 is tough to hit. Might be the understatement of the day on your Tuesday morning. You can take that to the bank.

101 is tough to hit. Don't look now but the Orioles are actually five games above 500. This has got to be one of the stories of the baseball season.

Almost a Cinderella story. Certainly if they make the playoffs considering where they were this time last year. And we've talked about them extensively. It is very competitive in the American League for the three wildcards. Even with the loss to the Yankees on Monday night. The Mariners are in that number three spot right now.

So it's Blue Jays plus two. Rays same division. Leading the Mariners by a half game. And then the Orioles are a game out. The Guardians are a game and a half out. The White Sox are two and a half out.

And even though the Red Sox are below 500. They're only four and a half out. So we're talking about seven teams right now. Seven teams that are within striking distance for those three wildcards. Compare that with the National League where it's four teams essentially.

The Giants aren't done but they're five and a half out and below 500. Maybe a little bit like the AFC and the NFC. Seems like the AFC is loaded.

At least on paper and with the moves that have been made this offseason. And people tend to believe the AFC. The road to the playoffs in the AFC. The AFC is going to be more competitive top to bottom, front to back.

And there are some loaded divisions. NFC? People seem to be meh on the NFC. Even though that's where the Super Bowl champion hails from.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. I love the story of the Baltimore Orioles. They're one of those teams that even if they don't go worst to first right. Because the Yankees are still very much in command in the AL East. We're looking at a team there that was the worst in baseball a year ago. Them and the Diamondbacks right.

And now here they are. Challenging for a playoff spot. Now the Seattle Mariners aren't.

Well if they end their playoff drought. That's the story right of October. But the Mariners were on the cusp of doing that last year.

It's not like they shot out of a cannon and came from nowhere. The Orioles are this incredible story. We get these kind of stories every year in the NFL. Teams go from worst to first. And roughly half the NFL field in the postseason turns over. I actually went back because sometimes it blends together in a big old blur of NFL talk.

I went back just to confirm. And here they are playoff teams from a year ago. Buffalo well from last season. Buffalo, New England. Cincinnati, Pittsburgh. Tennessee. Kansas City.

Las Vegas. So we had two teams each from the east, the north, the west. And remember the Colts. All they had to do was beat the Jaguars in week 18.

And they couldn't do it. Thus Carson Wentz is no longer a Colt. So you think about the teams that have made major improvements. Obviously the Bills and the Patriots.

They're working, they're working with that forward momentum. But the Dolphins are a team that a lot of people are talking about. The Bengals went to the Super Bowl. Now the Steelers have their first quarterback competition in what, 19 years? The Browns have a lot of talent but who the heck knows what happens at their quarterback spot. A lot of people high on the Ravens. Remember Lamar Jackson was injured. They ended last season with six consecutive losses. The Titans, the Colts, two teams with two of the best running backs in the NFL. And the Colts now have Matt Ryan. Honestly, it's hard to think about who gets left out of these playoffs in the AFC.

At least where it stands right now. I mean injury is the great equalizer. We don't know how things are going to pan out.

There's always major surprises, as in those kind of surprises. But the AFC West? All four teams could, could, if live up to expectations or even approach expectations, could end up vying for playoff spots. The problem is they're going to batter and bruise each other similar to what happened in the NFC West last year. In the NFC, Rams, Cardinals, Niners, Buccaneers, Packers, Cowboys.

So where could we see? Oh, Eagles. Sorry about the Eagles. Shoot, Philadelphia's about to get mad at me.

Of course they're mad all the time. Sports fans. I forgot about the Eagles.

In Nick Sirianni's first season, a lot of people think they could make the jump. Remember the NFC East almost never has repeat champions. It hasn't happened in years. What about the Saints? The Vikings a popular pick. So again, we're asking you of the teams that did not make the playoff field in 2021, who gets in this year?

Because roughly half turns over. So on Twitter, ALawRadio. As I say, popular picks right now. Minnesota, Indianapolis, the Chargers, and some of you are going Panthers. I think there's, weirdly enough, sentimental feelings, emotions.

We're emoting. A lot of you want the Panthers to be good. It's weird how public sentiment has changed with the way the Browns treated Baker Mayfield. And now I think a lot of people want to see the Panthers succeed. They want to see Baker Mayfield get his revenge best served cold.

So lots of reasons to listen to the podcast. We've talked quarterbacks and QB competitions. I rolled my eyes at Kevin Durant and also told you why he's got some nerve and no leverage.

Zero leverage. So zip it, Katie. Justin Shackle filling in for John Sterling on Yankees radio. He was fun and definitely has a great sense of humor. So you can catch that on our podcast after hours, AmyLawrence.com. And then as Greg Caserta joins us in studio. I say this often that sports radio callers are the spice of life or the spice of my life.

Sweet 80 year old dean in Texas. He had a lot to say. Everything from he's pretty sure the Dodgers and the Yankees will be in the World Series. That's where he started.

Not so surprising, right? But he ranged from that to Rams and Chargers in the Super Bowl. So clearly was an L.A. sports fan and had definitely had a lot to talk about with the L.A. teams. But then just as seamlessly morphed into I checked out your picture on my phone.

Boy, are you pretty? To that, no, wait, we're not done to then talking about and I honestly can't remember the segue here. How when he dies and he's 80 now, when he dies, he wants to be cremated and buried with the ashes of his cat. Late cat, I might add. So he has the ashes of his cat. And whenever he does pass away, his wishes are to be cremated and buried along with the ashes of his late cat.

I had a couple of questions just based on the first few things. Oh, there's more I could go on. But it makes sense that he's a he's a cat guy.

His knee. What do you mean? I'm a cat guy. Does that make you what? Quirky? Yeah, a little bit. OK, a little bit. You think the radio host is pretty when you have a cat? I don't I don't do those two things correlate.

I don't know. I was curious when he said pretty. Was it like almost like Purdy because of the Texas accent? It wasn't was it charming? I mean, he's 80, so whatever.

Everything's charming. Yeah, I guess I guess. Well, or creepy.

One of the other. So the other thing he said is and honestly, I didn't ask for any of this information, but we got we got an earful. I just let them in. Sometimes people just need to talk.

You know, it's therapeutic. I do know that he needed he needed a little therapy. He also told me that his knees passed away and they don't have her ashes yet.

They're waiting, but sometimes it takes a long time. So that was kind of a segue into ashes. Wow. I just. Yeah, there's there's a lot there. That's a heavy phone call. You missed out. Right.

And imagine being in my position and wanting to tread lightly. How long did he? But he loves the show.

That which is great. He'll call again. Oh, he will. And I'm sure he'll have more riveting updates. The ashes have shown up by then. Yeah, that would be nice. And that they arrive safely. That I'm just like a Ziploc bag. Greg!

I don't know how they ship these things. How long did it take him to tell you all of this? Like, how long was this phone call? About four minutes. Maybe a little longer. OK. Four minutes.

All right. And and the thing is, he chastised me at the beginning because I made him wait. We had a guest. What was I going to do? Like, Justin, can you hang on here?

Because we have to get to Dean in Texas. Yeah, it was. You missed out. It was a wide ranging phone call. I think I'm a Dean fan just on the early indications.

I'm going to. He phoned the show to say when he dies, he wants to be cremated and his ashes buried with those of his late. And this was a first time long time situation. Well, first time he called. I don't recall him phoning before. But I've been doing this show for 10 years, so I guess I don't really know.

But he has he has been listening for a long time. He just only recently looked up my picture on his phone. Wow. Or as my 100 year old grandmother used to call it, that thing.

Can you check the weather on that thing? That thing. That thing. Why do you need your thing in here?

Oh, that sounded bad. Why? Why do you need that thing in here with you? Is that your timer? This my phone? Yes.

I'm going to leave it because I don't want to leave it around just in case somebody swipes it. Have you ever called a sports radio show in your life? I think I did once when I was in college. No, at that point, I wasn't a cat guy. Oh, so I wasn't even a dog guy then.

This was before animals came into the picture changed. Well, I'm allergic. That's a big part of it.

So I was late to the party and now my allergies have kind of waned. So and you work on a farm once in a while. Yeah. You remember that? Good job.

You're an elephant. Yeah. So you called sports radio to do what? Do you remember?

I might have called Pharrell when he was on Howard. Nice. Yeah.

When he was on Howard 101. Our boy Scott. I called. Yeah. That was. So that was back. Did he hang up on you? Because he's good at that. No, no.

He let me get my point across and I think that was the one time. I miss Scott Pharrell. I do too.

It makes so much sense that right as the entire industry shifts into a betting mode, the foremost voice on betting. Yeah. Somehow is allowed to leave our network. What?

Shake it up, baby. He was my ally. I miss Scott to be sure.

Definitely a good dude. All right. So, Dean, try to top Dean in Texas is all I'm saying.

Or don't. Back to follow. On Twitter, ALawRadio or our Facebook page, teams that did not make the NFL postseason, the big dance, the tournament, if you will, in 2021 that will in 2022 because it's gonna happen. You are listening to the After Hours podcast.

This is After Hours on CBS Sports Radio. I will confess that I don't know a lot of Olivia Newton-John's songs. Recognize her more as an actress, though I knew she was a singer as well. A little bit before my time, her music, but I will tell you this about Let's Get Physical or the song is called Physical by Olivia Newton-John. My mom was really strict with the music that I was allowed to listen to when I was a kid. And this was one of the songs that I had to sneak because I was not supposed to be listening to it because it was not an appropriate theme for a young girl. Came out in 1982 and I just remember it wasn't quite then, maybe it's a few years later that I would be listening to it on the radio.

I'd have the radio turned way down, a pop music station would have the radio turned way down in my room. And when I heard the first notes of a song that I wanted to record, I would quick hit the record button on my little boombox and Olivia Newton-John's Let's Get Physical was one of those songs that I was sneaking a lot of Madonna too is not allowed to listen to Madonna for obvious reasons. So Olivia Newton-John, brilliant actress and philanthropist and singer, mourned on Monday because she passed away at age 73 which gosh these types of deaths hit hard because she's younger than my mom.

I know she had battled breast cancer for a long time though there was no immediate cause of death given but lots of tributes for Olivia Newton-John. And another confession from me, I've never seen Grease from start to finish. I'm not sure if that is more egregious than the fact that I haven't seen Godfather, people yell at me every time I say that. So many different boyfriends have tried to get me to watch Godfather, I just not, someday just not there yet.

I did finally watch Space Jam a couple years ago so there's that. Anyway her movie Grease or what really catapulted her to superstardom alongside John Travolta is again a little bit before my time but I have seen bits and pieces of it whenever it pops up on TV. So lots of tributes to her on Monday, lots of music everywhere. I actually, I was listening to the news driving into work, Yankees game was on a break, so I was listening to the news on my way in and the poor traffic reporter got bombarded, ambushed by the news anchor on the local station, what's your favorite Olivia Newton-John song? And it was painful to hear him fumble around to try to come up with one so he really got caught off guard but then the weatherman, the meteorologist waited and they had this whole conversation about a bunch of songs from Olivia that were really popular.

Again before me I don't know a lot of them but I do know that one was one that I have a little bit of history with. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Every time I hear that song what I think is her workout videos, weren't those supremely popular? She was one of the originals who had the workout videos.

Anyway she had a lot of talents and will be missed of course. We've been asking you here on the show the last couple of hours about teams that could catapult from worst to first or at the very least did not make the playoffs last year but will get in this season. I know it's still the dog days and I know it's still training camp though. They're almost done actually, just a few days left for training camp and Jimmy Garoppolo is still a San Francisco 49er. There's a lot of popular answers and if you look at the changes that are made and that's all we really have to go on right now, you can understand why people are picking teams like the Chargers. They really beefed up their defense. You expect Justin Herbert to get better. So that offense, especially if it can stay healthy, its receivers can stay healthy.

We know Austin Eckler can be a jack of all trades. So the Chargers potentially could punch a ticket there in the AFC West, but what about the Broncos? So along with the Chiefs and the Raiders who made the playoffs last year, and let's be honest, the Raiders were a major surprise last year. The impressive leadership of Rich Passaccia, they did him no favors, Derek Carr of course, they bring in Devontae Adams, they have an offensive-mining coach now, they've made some additions to their defense as well.

There are actually people that I hear pontificating now and then about how the Chiefs could be the worst team in that division. Now I don't know if that's the case, yes the Broncos upgraded to Russell Wilson and they've got a good core of weapons around him, the problem is, well they've had issues with their offensive line and we know that's a bad formula for Russell Wilson, but also they've lost a receiver and a running back. Tim Patrick was one of the guys that they really expected to have a big year with Russ. Gosh, all of the offseason he spent once they got Russell Wilson talking about how excited they were and the buzz around their workouts and their OTAs, so then he tears his ACL. So that's an injury that could set them back a little bit. Is their defense good? Can their defense hold these other really impressive offenses at bay? So the AFC West, it's kind of a crapshoot right now, honestly, I could see it being like the NFC West, I could see it being a division in which you have three playoff teams, all four competing for playoff spots, but that also takes a toll, right? So yes Chargers, yes Broncos, lots of those answers, lots of Vikings, a bunch of you are high on the Vikings. So it wasn't Kirk Cousins then, it was the coaching staff.

Granted, Mike Zimmer didn't get the best out of the talent that he had, and they certainly do have some talent on both sides of the ball. Can they challenge the Packers who right now reign supreme in the NFC North? There are a couple of you are high on the Bears.

I'm telling you, we're adopting the Lions here on after hours. The Colts, another popular answer. Every now and then I see a Cleveland, but it's not a popular answer, not even remotely popular. Baltimore, another answer I've seen in a bunch of places.

So you can find us either on Twitter after hours CBS or on our Facebook page, which teams that did not make the postseason in 2021 will climb into the bracket this year because roughly half the field turns over. Not sure if you saw this story, but 24 hours after I asked the question, I have an answer. And yes, you had to kind of understand how I was phrasing the question about Aaron Rodgers. Do I think ayahuasca is a performance enhancing drug? No. But thank you for mansplaining to me on social media, I do appreciate that. My point was if Rodgers himself indicated that using this hallucinogenic beverage in Peru in 2020 led to the best season of his career, then should the NFL look into it as a performance enhancing drug, he's the one who said it led him to the best performance of his career. So yes, much mansplaining was done after I said that, like I should do my homework. Somebody said I'm out of touch.

Yikes. If I'm out of touch when it comes to psychedelic beverages, hallucinogenic drugs, I'm good with that. I'm okay with that. Anyway, the NFL is not going to investigate Aaron Rodgers. There will be no inquiry. There will be no further investigation because, as Brian McCarthy of the NFL says, he wouldn't have failed a test. Anyway, the question has been asked by me and answered, no, ayahuasca did not violate the NFL's drug policy laws, maybe not the NFL's performance enhancing drug or recreational drug policy. However, I asked, it got answered, Q-NFL.

Hope that you survive your Tuesday, actually kick your Tuesday's butt, okay? It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Boom! Get into all the Major League Baseball action with season two of Play Loud, exclusively on the MLB YouTube channel. Forget front row seats, we're taking you into the game on the field and in the dugout during some of the hottest matchups of the season. Follow along and be part of the fun alongside some of the league's biggest stars as we mic them up and get the cameras rolling during some of the hottest matchups of the season. Catch real time reactions from Juan Soto in the field or listen in on the hilarious conversation between Eduardo Escobar and Francisco Lindor in the dugout. Tune in for live reactions from players across the league with unprecedented access. Play Loud is your exclusive look into the fun of the game.

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