After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

Baseball is everywhere you are this season with the MLB App. Enjoy the show from wherever you are when you download the free MLB App to your mobile device. Never miss a second of the action with coverage of in-game highlights, pitch-by-pitch features, select live broadcast coverage and more. Show support for your favorite team with customizable MLB club-branded icons and tune in to exclusive premium content for every team in the league. The MLB App is your ticket to all things baseball all the time.

You can even get live notifications sent to your phone, watch and car. So you're always up to date on the biggest breaking news, scores and standings. The MLB App is your hub for live baseball everywhere you go. The number one source of live baseball on your Apple and Android devices is the official app of Major League Baseball. Download the MLB App today on the Apple App Store or Google Play. Additional subscriptions may be required.

Major League Baseball trademarks used with permission. Now you can enjoy MLB Play, the one app with all your favorite free MLB games. Enjoy Beat the Streak, Quick Pick and more. Enjoy competing against friends. Enjoy unlocking exclusive rewards. Plus your chance to win $5.6 million. Download MLB Play.

Enjoy the app, enjoy the show. MLB Play. No purchase necessary. Must be 21 or older to win or beat the streak which ends at the conclusion of the MLB regular season or when the grand prize is won.

Restriction supply. Cmlb.com forward slash play for official rules. Good morning. It's Friday. And it's a football Friday. So yay.

It's also a fall football Friday. Come on. You love my alliteration. I know that you do. But also if those things make you happy, there's three of us in the newsroom right now. Don't ask me where the rest of the morning show peeps are.

I have no idea. But there are three of us here at the CBS Sports Radio Department. Jay and I. And then Billy who is a part time producer but also this morning working in the newsroom on the CBS Sports Minute. Oh. He was part of the most recent Chubby Bunny World Championship.

He neglected to tell us that he has what did he say? Like a really active gag reflex? Yeah.

After like a marshmallow and a half. Yeah. He bowed out. So he's now the permanent videographer of the Chubby Bunny Championship but will never be invited to participate again because he didn't even bother to tell us that there was no way he could hang. So Billy, also a Nets fan. That explains everything.

Billy is also here. What does that mean? You know exactly what it means. You guys are off. You're just not right. Okay. I'll let that one go. Oh you will. You'll let it go. Oh no.

I'm scared now. So Billy and Jay and I all agree that we much prefer the cold. We're done with the hot. It was a brutally hot summer by New York City standards and not just that we went oh my gosh eight, nine weeks without any significant rainfall. It was a serious drought as well. So now the rain is back. The lawn is green. I actually have to mow the lawn today.

The backyard looks a little bit more like a jungle which is kind of fun. I'm not going to complain. I've got my fall daisy buds. My fall daisy bush. It's covered with buds. My butterfly bush is still blooming. Purple flowers.

It's gorgeous. And I still have tomatoes on my tomato plant. Her name is Regina. I'm a little bit nervous about her tonight though because it's supposed to be down in the upper 30s with the wind chill.

What? I left windows open. Anyway it's a taste of fall in the air which means it's a perfect compliment because it's the first day of autumn on this snow. I almost said November. September 23rd. That would mean it was Thanksgiving. It's this first full day of autumn on September 23rd. Week three of the NFL season is already underway.

It's a fall football Friday for those of you who are big into college football. I sometimes wish. I'll be honest. I don't often wish.

I don't all the time wish. But I sometimes wish that we worked on Saturday nights. When I first was here at CBS Sports Radio my shows were Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And so Saturday night into Sunday morning was our big college football extravaganza. We don't do as much obviously because when we get back on the air on Sunday night not only do we have a full slate of NFL games that we need to cover. But the football is now more than 24 hours old most of it. So I'll tweet about it on Saturdays once we get deeper into the season and we'll talk about the college football playoff standings. But I do miss those nights when I would get on the air and it would be college football blowout. For now we're previewing week three in the NFL and we're asking you to vote for the after hours game of the week.

In addition if you want to weigh in on any of the games coming up this weekend you can find me on Twitter A Law Radio or on our Facebook page After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Also if you have not seen the storm cloud that I took a photo of I know I was driving okay just I don't need you to be my mom or my dad. I was driving but we were going slow there was a ton of traffic and it was raining. I could not help it. I had to snap a picture of this storm cloud. It looks like an alien.

No joke. So I went into the grocery store on Thursday morning and the sky was purple and pink and golden. It was gorgeous. So I took a photo of the grocery store and actually there were planes landing. Because it's right across from an airport so there were all these planes that were landing too in this purple sky.

It was gorgeous. I come out lightning and thunder as I'm unloading my car in the parking lot with a metal grocery buggy. We call them buggies in my family.

People think we're so weird. I suppose it's a shopping cart. It's a grocery cart. We call them buggies. So I have the metal buggy next to my car and I'm thinking oh dear I better unload this pretty quickly. And then as I'm on the way home this storm cloud develops over the highway and it looks like an alien landing. Like a UFO has spawned some aliens and it's landing on the planet Earth. It looks like a scene out of Independence Day.

It really does. Right so check that out. It's on my Twitter A-LOL Radio. Should we show it on Facebook too? I suppose we can do that coming up a little bit later. We're live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios.

Do you need to know what it takes for a home to fit your budget and your family? Rocket can. As I say underway in week 3 in the NFL and Cleveland didn't have much time to lick its wounds over that improbable unlikely stunning stupefied comeback from the New York Jets. Lest you forget. 155 to go. A 13 point lead. A 2 touchdown lead. I know.

It's time to let it go. But the Cleveland Browns were just getting back on the field. So there were questions about it.

They talked about it with the broadcast on Amazon Prime of course. And the interviews pregame were about how do you recover? How do you come back? It's a short week.

How do you put it behind you? Fast forward into the postgame for a second. I heard multiple members of the Browns talk about the leadership of Jacoby Brissett and how he pointed them forward. How he was determined that this wasn't going to become a losing skid and that it wasn't going to be a hangover that they would carry with them. Instead he went to work and he and the Browns had a very efficient first half on offense. And so to see Jacoby Brissett use multiple weapons. Finding David Njoku in short yardage situations even in that first half. Connecting with Amari Cooper. I love the veteran presence and the professionalism that Amari brings to this Browns receiving corps. To be able to go back to Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt over and over again to see the work of the offensive line.

All of that was huge. And in the first half, he already had two touchdown passes. And if not for a missed extra point, we're talking about a tie game at the break. Because Mitch Trubisky and the Steelers offense also found multiple ways, multiple seams and openings in which they could try to get downfield a little bit.

And this has been the question. So as much as the questions about the Browns were whether or not they could recover from that humiliating end against the New York Jets. Not to mention the fact that they had the loss. They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. I say they had the loss. They had the win. And would have been 2-0.

Instead, they cough it up. So there are questions about both teams, right? Because the Steelers all week long were having to answer for their offense. The fewest number of yards per pass play in the NFL. Mitch Trubisky 29th in the league in passing yardage for the first two games.

One touchdown. And of course, the calls for Kenny Pickett. Oh, there were still questions after Thursday Night Football about Kenny Pickett. So all of these elements and storylines and emotions and questions are on the field there in Cleveland Thursday night. And so yes, I liked what I saw from the Browns offense in the first half. But I also like what I saw from the Steelers offense in the first half. Second down and four from the Pittsburgh 46. And this long pass. Oh, great catch by rookie George Pickens inside the Browns 20 at the 18-yard line. What a play for the young man from Georgia. Oh, great googly moogly. I can't believe this catch.

I'm like Myron. In the shotgun. There's a snap. There goes Najee off left side. Bounces it for the goal line. Touchdown Pittsburgh. It's second and goal.

We'll call it the one and a half. Mitch in the shotgun. Najee gets the call. No, Mitch keeps gets to the goal line. Touchdown Pittsburgh.

The kid from nearby Mentor, Ohio is in the end zone and the Steelers have tied the Browns with point pending. He said great googly moogly. Is that Craig Wolfley? Oh, great googly moogly.

I can't believe this catch. Is that Craig Wolfley? Okay, so it's Bill Hillgrove and Craig Wolfley. But it's Wolfley who's actually a former Steelers offensive lineman.

He's the great googly moogly. And it was worthy there on the George Pickens catch. Off balance one-handed grab for the rookie. 36 yards that led to a Najee Harris touchdown. So they go down field.

They open things up for their bell cow in Najee. And then we also see Mitch Trubisky go around the right end and into the end zone for a touchdown as well. So we saw the sparks of what that Steelers offense can be. But then in the second half, what happened? That was the question that I posed to Dale Lawley who's a Steelers.com. A long time insider who's been covering this team since the early 90s. I posed that question to him when he joined us on his drive home from Cleveland to Pittsburgh.

So you can check that out on the podcast after hours, AmyLawrence.com. Yeah, there are only three points in the third quarter. And those three points came after a 14-play drive that consumed nearly, actually over seven minutes by the Cleveland Browns. But all they do is kick a 34-yard field goal.

It's 16-14 Browns to start the fourth quarter. And after a three and out by Pittsburgh, what happens? That Steelers defense goes back on the field. And this time, it's an extended drive that's heavy on the run, heavy on Kareem Hunt, heavy on Nick Chubb.

I tell you, I keep thinking of this over and over with the Steelers. You can only ask your defense to do so much. Three straight three and outs in the second half for Pittsburgh. What does that do to the defense? Especially a defense that's having to try to break through what is a stout Browns offensive line and deal with the one-two punch of Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb. Seven offensive linemen in this formation. On fourth down.

Back setup in the eye. We're set. Hands it off. Chubb goes airborne. He's in. Touchdown. The Browns get the score. Chubb goes up top for six. And Cleveland extends the lead. Nick Chubb is a load.

And that is, of course, a compliment. The three touchdowns last week that were wasted in that game against the Jets. But you hear with Ian Eagle on Westwood 1, the one-yard touchdown in which he goes up top. It's those legs.

It's all that deadlifting and squatting. Oh, that's not even fair. That's a Pittsburgh broadcaster. A Pittsburgh alum.

That's just wrong. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. So as I say, Pittsburgh's doing nothing with the ball in the second half. So after a seven-minute drive by the Browns and a three and out, the Steelers defense is right back out there on the field.

And this time it's six and a half minutes. And if I remember correctly, only one pass play on that entire drive. It was almost entirely run game.

And it just wears out of defense. So Kareem Hunt, Nick Chubb, Chubb with the touchdown on fourth and goal. The Steelers finally manage a field goal inside of two minutes.

Oh, dear. Are there flashbacks? Were there flashbacks when the Steelers lined up for the onside kick? Oswell has the ball up on the tee, unlike the kid last week, Braden Mann, on the onside kick. The ball bounces and people's Jones didn't get it.

And then it goes out of bounds. That's just a great team win. And I'm really proud of those guys for fighting. Short week with all the things, you know, with last Sunday.

For those guys that come through, first of all, just battle to make it to this game, which is not easy. But then the fight for 60 minutes and I thought it was really a team win. I think it was offense, defense, special teams all working together. They made the plays.

They did. In the significant moments, they made it. They were manageable possession downs, a lot of third down and short.

It's usually a high probability for conversions when you're that short. And really, that's kind of the story of how them folded over the last 30 minutes. Yeah, over those last 30 minutes, what the heck happened? I get it. They couldn't stop Nick Chubb.

But the issue is, I mean, it's really chicken and egg, in my opinion. Because would the Steelers defense be better at stopping Nick Chubb if they weren't completely gassed by a seven minute drive and then a three out and then a six and a half minute drive? Think about that. You know, I could go back and look at the play by play and maybe I will for the game because I will know exactly how long those Steelers were sitting on the bench. The defense sitting on the bench for the three and out. I'm going to look right now because I need you to know. So there was the touchdown drive that went six and a half minutes.

We just talked about that. It was after the field goal drive that went seven plus minutes. Okay, so in that stretch, those two drives, 13 and a half minutes of possession, meaning 13 and a half minutes of actual game time, not just being out there on the field and being upright. They're not sitting down.

They're not getting water. We're talking about 13 and a half minutes of actual game action for that Steelers defense. You know how much time they had to sit on the sidelines?

90 seconds, actually 87 seconds if we're being accurate. How do you do that to your defense and then not think they're going to give up? Chunk yardage to Nick Chubb. They're going to get rammed by Kareem Hunt. Of course they're going to. They're exhausted. And then furthermore, after that three and out, the next Steelers drive is 57 seconds, also a three and out that nets minus five yards.

Following that. Another three and out, four yards, a minute and 11 seconds. I mean, are we even surprised that the Steelers defense is standing at the end of this game? Wow, you can only ask your your defense to do so much. Coming up, Jacoby Brissett, Mitch Trubisky and Mike Tomlin answering the question again. Are you considering a quarterback change?

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. It's fall. It's football. It's Friday. Which means I am. Do you have an F? Well, not that F word. You can't say F word. I am. I'm not frivolous. Producer J just said frivolous. First F that came to my mind. Well, this is the first F that came to your mind. I am free. There you go. I'm free floating on a fall football Friday. It just took me a second. I'm. Hmm, I'm gonna have to go with some more, but I feel I can't say F words because then people all jump to, you know, that F word. We'll come back.

We'll circle back. I'm floating on a free on a free fall football Friday. Baseball is everywhere you are this season with the MLB app. Enjoy the show from wherever you are when you download the free MLB app to your mobile device. Never miss a second of the action with coverage of in-game highlights, pitch by pitch features, select live broadcast coverage and more. Show support for your favorite team with customizable MLB club branded icons and tune into exclusive premium content for every team in the league. The MLB app is your ticket to all things baseball all the time. You can even get live notifications sent to your phone, watch and car.

So you're always up to date on the biggest breaking news scores and standings. The MLB app is your hub for live baseball everywhere you go. The number one source of live baseball on your Apple and Android devices is the official app of Major League Baseball. Download the MLB app today on the Apple App Store or Google Play. Additional subscriptions may be required. Major League Baseball trademark use with permission. I'm Mandy Bell and I'm Sarah Langs. We're reporters for MLB.com and our new podcast Fielding Questions will explain why baseball players are so superstitious, what separates the best ballparks from the rest and all those other things you always wanted to know about baseball.

You know, the greatest sport in the world. You can subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, Odyssey or wherever you get your podcasts. Ready to improve your bottom line? The room can match you with a top financial analyst trusted by small businesses, startups and entrepreneurs. The room's virtual financial analysts are highly trained, vetted through a rigorous data driven process and matched to fit your needs. Drive business growth with a virtual financial analyst from the room. It's like listening to all the financial podcasts rolled into one. Get started today at TryTheRoom.com.

That's TryTheRoom.com. 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.

You never know what you're going to see or hear. Play Loud. It's baseball like you've never watched before. Tune in for new episodes of Play Loud only on the MLB YouTube channel.

Major League Baseball trademarks used with permission. In the end zone. He's got it. Touchdown. Joe Burrow and the Bengals. The holmes fires for the end zone. Touchdown.

Kansas City. No, Herbert keeps it in zone. Touchdown.

charges. 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. We're going to start with Thursday Night Football because there are plenty of questions about these two quarterbacks. Now, I think Jacoby Brissett has answered the questions to this point and the Browns are first place in the AFC North. He had two touchdowns last night and really had a nice connection with Amari Cooper. Seven catches for 101 yards and a score.

Also did what he was supposed to do. Hand the ball off to Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb. Cleveland goes three of four in the red zone and a combined nine of 20 on third and fourth down.

That's nearly 50 percent. So a good start to week three in the NFL. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Jacoby Brissett thrilled to be able to talk about a win as opposed to what happened last week. Thought it was a great team win. We obviously often started out slow. And then I think we settled in and then we just started to get things going. We knew it was going to be a 60 minute football game. Obviously, they're a good team, great coaches, good players. So it was just about it came back to us.

And I think we did a good job of selling back in and then just making our routine place. Jacoby's a dog. He's a great leader for us. He's vocal. He's a playmaker. We need a play. He's going to make it for us.

We love Jacoby here. Nick Chubb on Amazon Prime following this game and he echoed what I heard from David Njoku and others is that Jacoby Brissett's a leader and they are following him. Chubb obviously with a big game as part of the Browns 171 rushing yards. He had the three touchdowns last week.

It goes for naught. He takes some blame, which was ridiculous. What I like about Chubb is that he is a load to bring down and he'll do whatever you ask of him. 23 carries, 113 yards and a score talking about his quarterback after the game.

We got dogs. Lots of quarterback questions surrounding Mike Tomlin, Mitch Trubisky, Kenny Pickett. I'm telling you, if you haven't heard the conversation that I had with Dale Lawley, the Steelers insider from Steelers.com, he answers these questions about the quarterback and whether or not we should be expecting a change anytime soon. Mike Tomlin is not a pushover, right?

And when it comes to Mitch Trubisky, this was his choice, his decision to go with the first year veteran. So, Mitch, what went wrong with the Steelers offense in the second half? We just got to be better in the second half. I thought the first half we did pretty good.

We're getting there. It's just not where it needs to be in order to get a victory. So, I thought the first half we made some steps in the right direction. Second half just wasn't good enough. It was just inconsistent, not hitting those plays that we needed. We hit some of the first half. That's why we scored 14 points. Three points in the second half isn't going to do it for us.

So, I would say not putting two halves together would be inconsistent. I thought he made some plays, but we all collectively came up short. And so, that's how we measure performance. Winning is our business and we didn't handle business.

And so, we don't break that apart and look for the feel good. Mike Tomlin, according to Dale Lawley, our Steelers insider who joined us earlier in the show, is fielding questions every single press conference, every single time there's a mic in his face. He's being asked whether or not he is considering a quarterback change from Mitch Trubisky to the rookie Kenny Pickett. And yet again, the question was there last night following the loss. I'm not in that mindset. I'm interested in reviewing this tape and looking at the totality of it and figuring out how we collectively get better.

So, the answer to that question is definitively no. Again, check out the conversation with my Steelers insider because he tells you why, why there is no quarterback change on the horizon. It's not just, hey, I don't want to pull my QB. I don't want to make a change after I went with Mitch Trubisky. No, there is a reason why they are not going to Kenny Pickett.

So, after hours, AmyLawrence.com, look for Dale Lawley. Moving forward with our QB news for upcoming games this weekend, we know that in the AFC North, you've got, I would say an embarrassed Ravens team after what happened against the Miami Dolphins. And it wasn't just on the defense that gave up 290 or 200 yards passing and four touchdowns to Tua in the fourth quarter. It was also on the Ravens offense, short drives, a bunch of three and outs like I was talking about with the Steelers offense on Thursday night.

Now, they take on the New England Patriots in week number three. And Bill Belichick typically has something up his sleeve for Lamar Jackson and that Ravens offense. We know it's a game plan defense, a game plan defense.

So, I don't know how he'll try to play me this season. But I'll say the weather played a big part last time we played. It was every time we got up, lined up on offense, it was like heavy rains. Like you can't even throw the ball through this rain. You can't run the ball. You probably can't even see your opponent if you're trying to make a mess.

But hopefully it's perfect weather. I'm used to some athletes spinning in the middle of answers or press conferences. In fact, it used to happen all the time at the ballpark when I was covering baseball games on a regular basis.

Terry Francona, the worst. You used to have to form a semi-circle in front of him because he would spit on the floor in front of you at your feet. But I'm not sure I've ever heard an athlete burp or belch in the middle of an answer before. That was Lamar Jackson. Raise your hand if you heard Lamar burp in the middle of that answer. Oh my gosh.

Whatever. I guess if it happens, it happens. Sometimes I don't even know when they're happening.

As producer Jay, I always have to apologize. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Ravens and Patriots, one of those high profile matchups in the AFC. But nothing more high profile this weekend than Bills and Dolphins in the AFC East.

A battle of two 2-0 teams. And records aside, these two teams have looked real good. I mean, what we saw from Tua and the offense with Miami in rallying past the Ravens was jaw-dropping. And of course, the Bills have been the most dominant team in the NFL to this point. So Josh Allen knows they're getting a red-hot team in this division challenge in the AFC East. They're playing really well, especially the defensive side of the ball right now. So we've got to be prepared for whatever they can throw at us. And we know usually during these division games, they throw on a different wrinkle that maybe they haven't shown on film and try to break some tendencies.

So again, that's football though. So we've got to be ready. We've had a good week on a short week trying to put together a really good game plan. Guys are actually getting back to health. As for the Dolphins, they probably wanted to keep playing last week. Didn't want to get off the field because it was so perfect. It was locked in.

That rhythm, that groove, that momentum. Is Tua finally comfortable? Now it's a brand new offense, right? It's Mike McDaniel.

But is he comfortable in his own skin? Does he feel as though he's grown into this role as an NFL QB? I think I feel comfortable distributing the ball to our playmakers.

You know, just getting the ball into the hands of our playmakers and letting them go to work. My fantasy team is a mess except for Tyreek Hill, who right now leads the entire NFL in the receiving yards. The most accurate quarterback in the NFL. Right, it must be because Tua is the most accurate quarterback in the NFL.

That looked like money. Tyreek and Tua tried to tell us in the preseason, right? So the 2-0 Bills and the 2-0 Dolphins clashing on Sunday. Is that the after-hours game of the week? You can take the poll on Twitter, After Hours, CBS, and a lot of you weighing in with your comments from the Peanut Gallery on our Facebook page.

Alright, we're going to cram in a couple more here. The Raiders are 0-2. First of all, to the Chargers in their own division. But then last week, they have a win. They've got the win. It's all but done. They've just got to protect it.

And what happens? The Cardinals rally and force overtime in Vegas and the Raiders are stunned. Davante Adams wants you to know that it's not going to be him and Derek Carr who were able to save the season. No, it's got to be a total team effort. It's not going to be on Davante Adams to go and, you know, save the season or save the game or whatever. It's not going to be on Derek Carr.

It's not going to be on everybody. Everybody got a role. I mean, the game can be won or lost. You know, a special team is one play at the end of the day, you know. So it's on everybody to think that, you know, it's your job to do your job.

And if you do and everybody has that mindset, I mean, you know, you may call me crazy. But I think that if any team, no matter what team it is in this league, if everybody has it on their mind that their job on every given play, you know, they got to give their all, whether they play amazing or whatever. If you play as hard as you can on any given play, I think any team in the league will win the game against whoever.

No such thing as a cream puff. No such thing as a walkover. No such thing as a sure thing on NFL Sundays or Thursdays or Saturdays or Mondays or Tuesdays or any other day, really. I appreciate that from Davante Adams. If you are not at, well, you're not on your game, you're not at the maximum effort, you can lose.

And sometimes even if you are at maximum effort, 13 seconds to go, you can still lose. But the way the Raiders lost last week, it was stunning. And so maybe they shouldn't be 0-2, but they are. And they're going to have to dig themselves out of that hole. I know to this point it's been all AFC. I want to squeeze in one more cut here with QB News because I like that Justin Jefferson is saying something similar to Davante Adams.

They were embarrassed by the Eagles on Monday Night Football. And Kirk Cousins is shouldering so much of the blame from the outside. But according to his star receiver, he's also shouldering that blame in the locker room. He's putting it all on him that last game.

Of course everything is not on him, but he's putting it all on him. I mean he definitely feels that we can do better as a whole team. We lacked energy last game. We didn't have that same fire as we had the first game of the season. So just trying to get back to that style of play, trying to get the energy going, trying to get the momentum going.

We're going to be at home, so the vision game is definitely going to be loud. So we're trying to bring that energy back to our stadium. My question for the Vikings, will the real Minnesota Vikings please stand up?

Because we've seen kind of a split personality. And yes, they've got a brand new head coach. But the way they dominated the Packers, but then get dominated by the Eagles. What are we going to see this weekend with the Minnesota Vikings? Of course the division games are so important.

I hear Justin Jefferson referenced that. So there's a lot on the line obviously. It's week three which means you don't go crazy and bury a team or crowd a team champion in week number three. But the division games always seem to carry a little more of that sense of urgency. And the Vikings will be hosting the Lions who are coming off their first win.

So we'll do a little more in the week three preview, the way of a week three preview. The Cowboys by the way are not expecting Dak Prescott back this week. But when he does come back, Jerry Jones actually would like it.

If there was a QB controversy, a QB competition, I'm confused. You'll hear Jerry Jones in his own words before the top of the hour. Whoever it is, line them up. Nice. Dak Prescott doesn't mind either if it's him and Cooper Rush going toe to toe. I'm Mandi Bell.

And I'm Sarah Langs. We're reporters for MLB.com and our new podcast Fielding Questions will explain why baseball players are so superstitious, what separates the best ballparks from the rest, and all those other things you always wanted to know about baseball. You know, the greatest sport in the world. You can subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, Odyssey or wherever you get your podcasts. Players off the field with unprecedented access. Watch episodes of Play Loud at YouTube dot com slash MLB Play Loud brings you baseball like you've never seen before. What would you do with an extra 20 hours a week?

How about 40? Get part time or full time help with a virtual assistant from the room. Trusted by entrepreneurs, executives, even busy families. The room's virtual assistants are trained, vetted through a rigorous data driven process and matched to fit your needs.

Work smarter, delegate more and get your time back. You have a lot more podcasts to listen to visit. Try the room dot com.

That's try the room dot com. Now you can enjoy MLB play the one app with all your favorite free MLB games. Enjoy beat the street.

Quick pic and more. Enjoy competing against friends. Enjoy unlocking exclusive rewards.

Plus your chance to win five point six million dollars. Download MLB play. Enjoy the app. Enjoy the show. MLB play. No purchase necessary. Must be 21 or older to win or beat the streak, which ends at the conclusion of the MLB regular season or when the grand prize is won. Restriction supply.

See MLB dot com forward slash play for official rules. Viator is the world's leading travel experience marketplace, offering everything from simple tours to extreme adventures and all the niche interesting stuff in between. Extensive options, ease of selection and flexibility at your fingertips.

Help make sure your time is wonderfully spent. Viator is the place to go to book experiences that will create long lasting moments that make lifetime memories. And Viator has over three hundred thousand bookable experiences to choose from in over one hundred and ninety countries. In fact, just last year, Viator helped my family put together this amazing adventure on the island of Kona, swimming with the manta rays, trying to avoid the barracudas, whatever your wildest dreams. If you can imagine it, Viator probably has an experience just for you. Download the Viator app now and use code Viator 10 for 10 percent off your first booking in Viator's world of wonderful experiences.

Viator, one site over three hundred thousand experiences you'll remember for the right to start for the Dallas Cowboys. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. As we wrap up the week, we contemplate the mysteries of the universe. I just laid down the ala. The best highlights.

And your fire. Thanks for taking my call. I really appreciate the greatest sports show in America. After Hours presents the boom moment of the week. Here's Amy Lawrence. Here's the three one. Swung on it. There it goes. Deep left. It is high. It is far. It is gone. He's tied the babe.

It's a judge in glass. His 60th home run of the year. Wow. I don't think about it.

I don't think about the numbers. And, you know, when you talk about Ruth and Maris and Mantle and all these, you know, Yankees greats that, you know, there's so many great things in this game. You know, you know, you never imagined as a kid, you know, getting mentioned with them. But, you know, it's an incredible honor. It's been awesome. It's been awesome to watch him go to this level of player. He cares so much about his job and his role and who he is on this team and who he is to his teammates. Aaron Judge did not hit 61, but he did hit 60 this week and only six. He is the sixth. Only six of the baseball players in the history of the game have ever clocked 60 home runs in a single season. And, yes, he is one shy of Roger Maris. He is one shy of both the franchise record and the American League record, too shy of owning both of those records outright.

But 60 is pretty damn good. John Sterling on Yankees radio and then Aaron Judge as well as Aaron Boone and really cool that it's happening at home. And so the fans can be part of it, not to mention the Maris family. They were shown every single time Judge came up to the plate last night.

There's a good group of them now. And then also Judge's family there with his parents and his wife. I didn't realize he had gotten married in 2022. So really cool for him and for the fans to be a part of this, the electricity, the buzz in the stadium. And they've got this weekend series against the Red Sox. Upon the Red Sox, I don't know, it's do you want to be a piece of history?

They're not right now playing for anything other than spoiler. So maybe you want to spoil Aaron Judge's weekend, too. Well, sometimes it doesn't even matter because he'll take a bad pitch and he'll golf it out anyway. So that's the boom moment of the week. Let's see if we have a different boom moment come Sunday night.

I tell you what, though, this keeps happening. Albert Pujols keeps hitting his home runs on the weekends when we're not working right after. So I will be thrilled for him regardless of when it happens. And the Cardinals are in Los Angeles this weekend.

But at the same time, I would love for it to happen on a night when we are working so that we could celebrate it in the moment. Aaron Judge, Albert Pujols, hunting history this weekend. The final week, full weekend, final full weekend of September, the first full weekend of fall. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

We're talking, of course, about week three in the NFL. We've got our poll up. What is the After Hours game of the week? You can find that poll on our show Twitter, After Hours, CBS, or on my Twitter.

And then also on our Facebook page. And then even as we go through this weekend, I wonder, my big question is about consistency. Where can we see teams carry over and the strides that they made? A lot of these guys are playing their first two and three games of the year because they didn't participate in preseason. Where can we see them settle into a rhythm and have fewer of the spikes?

So the high highs but the low lows that go along with it. Where can we see a team play two halves of quality football as opposed to just one? Or in the case of, say, the Green Bay Packers, one really good quarter and then three other quarters in which their offense has struggled.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they're 2-0, but they have two offensive touchdowns in the span of two games. And against both Dallas and against the Saints last week, their offense has looked brutal in stretches. Even Tom Brady admitting that a lot of what we've seen from the offense to this point is not at the high quality or the quality of what he would like. There's a part of it for all of us that we just, you know, you want it to be the best you could be, really not just for yourself but for everyone around you, for the whole team. Everyone's counting on you to be, you know, a great player. And, you know, we've got to reach a higher level on offense.

That's part of what our responsibility is. So we've got Green Bay at Tampa Bay. So this is the home opener for the Buccaneers, by the way. Green Bay at Tampa Bay, one of the candidates for TD, not TD of the week. We'll see if they each score TD's. For after hours game of the week, Rams and Cardinals from the NFC West, which is the game I voted for.

I don't know why, sometimes I just like to be a contrarian. We've also got Bills and Dolphins in the AFC East. And then from the NFC East, Monday Night Football, the Cowboys at the Giants.

There's always intrigue in NFC East games because it's the soap opera of the NFL. The Giants are 2-0 for the first time in six years, even though their 2-0 is different from say the Bills 2-0. But hey, 2-0 is two wins for Brian Dable and these Giants. The Cowboys, of course, are still with Cooper Rush as their QB. Dak Prescott is not ready to return. But man, I was a little bit confused hearing Jerry Jones answer questions about a hypothetical. If Cooper Rush continues to play well, what does that mean when Dak returns? Wouldn't it be something if you had a dilemma as to which way you go?

It would not be something. You do that if he gets ten wins. Same thing that happened with Prescott. I think like that. So you'd want that controversy? Of course I would. Of course that means we'd won if it comes in there and played as well as Prescott played, Rush played that well over these next games.

I'd walk New York to get there. I thought the idea was that Cooper Rush was just keeping the seat warm and that there's no way he would be on the field for ten games. I was told that Dak Prescott would be back after a couple of weeks. But regardless, you just shelled out a boatload of money for Dak Prescott. You've been calling him your franchise quarterback for three years now, even before he had the long-term extension.

But now you'd like it if there's a dilemma. That's the word that Jerry Jones used. A dilemma between Dak and Cooper Rush. Of course we want Dak to be here next week. That's the thing.

You do. But Dak and I won't rush to lead a team to a victory here and get another win and get another win. And that's the only way to look at it. Looking back when Dak was playing instead of Tony, it was game by game.

It wasn't the long look we had after two months to look back. It was actually play by play, series by series. Alright, so at least he clarified that. Also happening late yesterday evening, the Boston Celtics make it official with a statement. They suspend Emei Udonka for an entire season, effective immediately.

And the company line right now is violations of team policies. What I read with Shams Terenia in the Athletic is that the team knew about this relationship between Udonka and a female staffer going back to July. And at that time, according to Shams, they were led to believe, this is Celtics brass, they were led to believe that the relationship was consensual. But sources said that the woman recently accused Udonka of making unwanted comments toward her, leading the team to launch a set of internal interviews. So maybe that's what changed and why this is such a drastic suspension.

So there were closed door meetings on Thursday that lasted hours. Brad Stevens and team owners and other execs and ultimately they came down with this year long suspension. And Udonka did issue a statement to ESPN's Malika Andrews. I want to apologize to our players, fans, the entire Celtics organization and my family for letting them down. I am sorry for putting the team in this difficult situation and I accept the team's decision. One other piece of this is that the Celtics statement indicated his status even after the suspension is very much up in the air. I can't imagine he ever coaches for the Celtics again.

How can he earn their trust back? I don't know. Have a great weekend. We'll talk to you Sunday night after hours on CBS Sports Radio.

Boom! You can even get live notifications sent to your phone, watch and car. So you're always up to date on the biggest breaking news, scores and standings. The MLB app is your hub for live baseball everywhere you go. The number one source of live baseball on your Apple and Android devices is the official app of Major League Baseball. Download the MLB app today on the Apple App Store or Google Play. Additional subscriptions may be required.

Major League Baseball trademarks used with permission. Now you can enjoy MLB Play, the one app with all your favorite free MLB games. Enjoy Beat the Streak, Quick Pick and more. Enjoy competing against friends. Enjoy unlocking exclusive rewards.

Plus your chance to win $5.6 million. Download MLB Play. Enjoy the app. Enjoy the show. MLB Play. No purchase necessary.

Must be 21 or older to win or beat the streak which ends at the conclusion of the MLB regular season or when the grand prize is won. Restriction supply. CMLB.com forward slash play for official rules. Ready to improve your bottom line? The Room can match you with a top financial analyst. Trusted by small businesses, startups and entrepreneurs, The Room's virtual financial analysts are highly trained, vetted through a rigorous data-driven process and matched to fit your needs. Drive business growth with a virtual financial analyst from The Room. It's like listening to all the financial podcasts rolled into one. Get started today at TryTheRoom.com.

That's TryTheRoom.com. I'm Mandi Bell. And I'm Sarah Langs. We're reporters for MLB.com and our new podcast Fielding Questions will explain why baseball players are so superstitious, what separates the best ballparks from the rest and all those other things you always wanted to know about baseball. You know, the greatest sport in the world. You can subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, Odyssey or wherever you get your podcasts.