10-7-22 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

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There's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today. We are halfway through what we're calling a Friday free-for-all because there is so much happening. It's all happening. It's October. First full weekend in October.

I hope you are fired up and ready to go. If you haven't decorated for Halloween, man, you are behind the eight ball in my neighborhood. See, I didn't decorate for Halloween because I don't do that, but I did start to put my mini pumpkins and gourds all over my house.

So cute. I've got accents of orange everywhere because that's what makes me happy this time of the year. Ooh, and yes, definitely pumpkins, and I definitely will be touching the pumpkins. And also I'm about to plant grass seed for the first time in my life. You guys, I've never done that before. I don't know if it's the right time.

I don't know if it's going to work. I'm flying blind, but I'm really excited because on Friday we've got a day of 73 degrees. I've got to mow the lawn, aerate.

I know about aerating. And then I'm going to plant grass seed or spread. I'm going to spread grass seed for the first time. You do not even want to see what hand motion I just did right there.

I'm spreading grass seed. So it's a freaky Friday too. It's a Friday free for all, baby. After hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. 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. So you can find me on Twitter, ALawRadio. You know it.

But for those of you who are brand new, we're happy to connect with you on either Twitter or Facebook. Right now, we've got our first poll up. We thought we'd give baseball a head start because let's be honest, even the baseball postseason really can't compete on a grand scale with football. It's just not fair. The NFL is a bully and it's really a jealous lover too. If you start to spend too much time paying attention to any other sport, the NFL fights back and demands your attention. So expect week 5 to be the craziest weekend we've seen so far. It's going to happen.

Just trust me. Not to mention it's a quadruple header for heaven's sake. You know the NFL is crazy? We've given the wildcard weekend poll a head start. So that's on Twitter and on Facebook and pretty soon the after hours game of the week coming from the NFL. But for now, we want to carve out some space for college football because yes, in October it's go time. You've got a ton of conference matchups. We're soon to see the initial college football playoff rankings. And speaking of the college football playoff, when are we getting more teams?

That's the question I keep hearing from so many people. To that end, it's been too long, but we're really excited to welcome Josh Pate back to the show. He's driving. He's on the move from college football site to college football stadium. So thank you. Late kick Josh is how you can find him on Twitter.

Josh, I get the question all the time. It seems like it's still the big shadow over the sport of college football even as games are going on. So how about the update?

What is the latest with the college football playoff expansion? Well, everybody thinks that they're on the right track with it. And a lot of people who kind of came to a head and then walked away from each other in January are back in the same room now. So the thought is some of the tentative sign off has been gotten. Some of the final sign off is still to be gotten, but will be gotten. And when I say will be, I mean over the coming weeks and maybe next month or two. And, you know, I don't I don't necessarily cover that day to day because I really like the lock in and the season. But a lot of our writers do. And so I talk to them all the time about it because I do want to be up to date on it.

And the feel is yet coming. But at the same time, you've got people in the room right now with each other who know full well. Conference realignment is not done. You've got people in the room who know full well. There are member institutions in your conference that are talking to member institutions in my conference. So it's really convoluted. You've got everybody with their own special interests and you're trying to get them on the same page. But here's what here's what really sort of calibrates the process, Amy. When you start talking about billions with a B, that kind of calibrates the process and gets everyone on board. So it will happen.

And I think it'll happen. I think you'll have an answer on this by the time we play this year's national championship game. Ultimately, when it comes to the realignment and conferences looking so completely different than, say, even five years ago, what impact does that have on the playoff, but also college football itself? I think a lot of maybe what you grew up on, if you're let's just say if you're over 30, much less if you're over 50 or 60, what you grew up on the territoriality, the regionality that was baked into the fabric of the tradition of college football.

I think you'll still have that, but I think parts of it will be bygone in nature. You know, the next the next generation of college football documentaries, if you think about it, are being lived out right now. And we've lived them out over the past 10 years because really the past 10 years, as it turns out, were some of the final years of college football kind of, quote unquote, as you knew it. And you don't even have to just look at realignment for that. You can talk about what the transfer portal has done to the sport. You can talk about what NIL has done to the sport.

And so I'm not saying all these things are bad things, but they are definitely different things. And with conference realignment, I think also what it's done, and I don't necessarily know that I love this aspect, is it is nationalized the sport much like you would see in the NFL. In the NFL, it is nothing if you were to tell me the Chargers are playing the Jets Sunday. But it is a huge deal if you tell me UCLA is playing Rutgers Sunday or Saturday because they're on opposite coasts. That's just not the way college football has normally worked. Or if it does, there's very much a novelty aspect because it would be an out of conference game. Well, that matchup I just gave you, Rutgers-UCLA, will be a conference matchup in a few years. And so the territoriality, that's out of there.

And here's the other thing. When I say Southern football, when I say Big Ten football, when I say Pac-12 football, right now that means something to you. You get an idea in your mind of what the style of football in that region is. I don't know what that means five years from now because there will be teams coast to coast in several of those conferences, so it just kind of is football. And then you throw in the NIL and how that's impacted college sports, not just football, though it is primarily football and men's basketball. And you're right, it feels like the wild, wild west where anything goes right now. Let's just say you're in the room as a power broker where they're trying to decide what the playoffs should look like, Josh.

What type of a bracket, how many teams would you advocate for? Oh, you don't want me in that room. I would not be good for business at all.

Yeah, I would be terrible for business. Look, they won't even let me come on network at CBS and talk about this because they know what I'm going to say. Oh, come on, give it to me then!

Yes, here's what I love. And this is going to sound very, very out of left field. I know I'm in the minority here. Amy, I don't even really care about the postseason that much in college football. I love bowl season, but I do not center my thought process around who the national champion is going to end up being.

I watch the game, I go to the game every year, I cover it, I love it, I get it. But our sport is so disproportionate to other professional sports. In pro football, in baseball, basketball, everything is centered around the postseason with good reason because the entire sport is built for that. Colleges existed long before college football existed. Then some of these places decided that they wanted those extracurriculars attached as an appendage to the school and some of them existed in 1913, some of them popped up in 1960. Some conferences have money, some don't.

Some have academic institutional limitations, some don't. There's no perfect balance in college football, yet it kind of gets hodgepodge and it gets kind of crammed into this postseason model where everyone is seemingly supposed to be judged on the same scale. And I know that sounds like word salad. What I'm saying is, I love Saturdays in the fall. That's what I love. I mean, I live for them.

Those 12 Saturdays that you're going to give me, I love it. I do not need to watch Tennessee at LSU this Saturday. I don't need to go to A&M Alabama this Saturday. I don't need to watch Utah, UCLA this Saturday and have someone every 15 minutes wondering in my ear, how's this going to impact the playoff? It's impacting my Saturday.

That's what I care about. And so my answer to you in a very long-winded way is, I very much miss the day where it was just kind of that BCS model. And a lot of people didn't like that because they didn't like the concept of a computer deciding things.

Well, let me tell you something. In that era, the phrase bowl opt-out never existed. The phrase meaningless regular season game or meaningless bowl game never existed.

That's only been a recent kind of college football era phenomenon. So the answer to a lot of folks when I say this, the answer to them is, yeah, well, so now that the cat's out of the bag, you've got to expand it so that you can have more meaning on more games. And I get that logic.

Here's my counter. How do you know when you increase the quantity of playoff spots, the value of making the playoffs is going to remain the same? That's right. It's supply and demand. It operates in every industry in every corner of our world. Except college football, which is apparently going to be immune to it.

So I remain skeptical there. We're so excited to spend a few minutes with Josh Pate. He's got the late kick with Josh Pate.

Whenever we try to reach out to Josh, it seems like his schedule is jammed full. So this is a treat for us here on After Hours on CBS Sports Radio. Josh, in the first, let's say, five weeks or so, what have we learned about college football? It seems like it's the same teams at the top.

You mentioned a few of the matchups that we've got and we dive in a conference play now. What's different, though, about this year that we didn't have last year? Here's what we did have last year. I kind of started calling it a Renaissance season because going into 2021, you were being told, same old teams make the playoffs every year and there's no competitive balance, blah, blah, blah. And it was the craziest year last year since 2007. 2007 is its own universe.

Nothing will ever top that. But 2021 was very, very wild. And I think that people kind of thought that was a one-off.

And I was one of them. I just did not believe that we were going to get that level of crazy this year. Amy, 10 of the top 25 teams in the country lost just last week. And that's been happening all year. And I know right now it feels like Bama and Ohio State and Georgia and the rest of the pack.

And I do agree with that for the time being. But Ohio State showed vulnerability against Notre Dame in week one. Bama had Bryce Young go down last week and they still rolled. But look, they had to survive a scare against Texas. Georgia has looked, as Meemaw would say, average as grit two weeks in a row. And so I think that when you get out of that top three, here's where it really gets fun.

We do our own power ratings. But if you were to have a Vegas odds maker, someone who set the numbers on this show right now, they would tell you the same thing. Number four through number 30 in college football right now, however you want to kind of put them in there. There is like a 10-point gap between those teams. It is so crazy how balanced the second tier of college football is right now. So that just means crazy Saturday after crazy Saturday.

Who are a couple of teams, at least right now at this point as we launch into October, that you consider to be dark horses or teams that maybe will use this next month to kind of put themselves into that conversation or maybe separate themselves from that pack you just referenced? I think it's a huge weekend for Utah. I think if people were honest with themselves, anyone driving around listening right now, if you're honest with yourself, you watched Utah play Florida in week one and they lost and you probably hadn't watched them again. And that's okay because you got a life to live. But I don't. So I've been watching them for you. They are one of three teams in America that are top 12 in total offense, total defense.

Okay. And you don't think that about them because you kind of cast them off. They're a Pac-12 team. They lost in week one. You probably said to yourself, there goes Utah season.

Well, no, that was never the case. They're playing really good football now. Now, why I say this is a big weekend for them is because they go on the road to UCLA.

A team also playing the best football. They played under Chip Kelly. If they can get that one, that sets up that date next week in Salt Lake City with USC coming to town. And Utah, unlike the other teams out there, they're already kind of in wounded animal back against the wall mode because they can't afford to lose again. So I'd look at them and I'll tell you the most underrated team in the country right now is Mississippi State. People aren't going to pay him any mention because they're in the wrong division. So they're not going to top Alabama.

So they're not going to Atlanta and therefore they're probably not going to the playoffs. Mississippi State is very, very underrated right now. So those are two teams I have my eye on. I always enjoy the Red River rivalry.

Texas and Oklahoma. I know they're not ranked this year, first time in quite a long time. But I just remember that atmosphere at the Texas State Fair being there for some of their glory days. It's odd though, right, because they're getting ready to jump ship. But that rivalry to me is special and I kind of love that. Getting into the month of October where we have more and more of these games that truly do have history and bring an incredible element to it.

I hope that doesn't go away. And I'm not just referring to Texas, Oklahoma. But that's part of my challenge with conference realignment is to not get upset when we lose some of the great rivalries in the sport.

Yeah. You know, I went to that game last year. It was the first time I'd ever been there covering it or as a fan. And some of my buddies from back home, I grew up in rural Georgia. So we heard about the Red River game growing up, but it was always Iron Bowl.

It was just always SEC for us. And so, you know, they're still where they were in high school and middle school. No one moves from my hometown.

They all just live in my hometown. So I'm the only one that gets out in the world and experiences it for everyone. So they asked me, what was that game like? And they got insulted when I told them, oh, it was every bit of what the Iron Bowl is. I loved it was such a unique atmosphere. And at halftime, you know, you've been there.

So, you know, you can just walk up that tunnel. I mean, Amy, at halftime in the game, I walked out of the stadium, went to the fair and got a corn dog and a funnel cake and got right back down on the field before the second half. Yes, that was great.

Absolutely. I've never been to a game like it. And just remember the noise and also the way that the stadium is completely divided, where you've got half in burnt orange and half in the crimson and cream. There's so many things about it that were tremendous. Josh Pate is with us after hours on CBS Sports Radio. Congratulations on signing a new deal with CBS Sports in twenty four seven. Your show has exploded in such amazing ways. It's so much fun to kind of follow this meteoric rise. Josh, with your show, what does this mean to you to have not just the job security, but the ability to continue doing what you love the way that you want to? Well, it means everything. And I, I sort of came up envying people who were responsible enough in high school and college to get in that either multimedia or journalism or broadcast track, go for four years and get pumped out on that assembly line right to a job waiting for them and start working their way up the rungs of the ladder.

I didn't do that. I was not the greatest student in the world. I spent a large portion of my early and mid 20s having no clue what I wanted to do and where I was going. And I remember pretty vividly someone telling me one day I said this on the show the other night when we made the announcement.

They said to me, you need to learn that a job doesn't have to be something you hate. There actually are careers at the intersection of your talent and your passion. And boy, that clicked with me. And I mean, it didn't happen overnight, but I got myself in gear. And the fact that in this country you can get paid to talk about college football all year is mind boggling to me. But yet we can do it. And so we have a ton of fun with it. And, you know, I, Amy, I noticed about six, seven years ago, I just didn't think that the overall college football media industry, whatever you want to call it, was putting out the kind of content I liked.

And I didn't think I was alone. And so I said, well, let's do something about it. And so it's just college. It's nothing else.

It's no pro. It's no politics. It's nothing else. It's just college football. And we have fun. We think it's pretty good product and a great staff, full support of management. And it's it's been a blessing.

And I think we've only just begun to quote the carpenters. Well, considering everything that's happening in college football and the fact that it is changing at light speed, as I said, this is a perfect time to be able to settle in for the long haul. So you can find Josh on Twitter at Late Kick Josh. But the show is called The Late Kick with Josh Pate. It's live on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, eight o'clock Eastern Time.

If you head to his Twitter, there's links there. And again, congratulations on being able to get this deal in place, but also to have the creative control. That's amazing. I'm so happy for you. I really appreciate it. I always appreciate being on.

The last time we talked, I was driving home from the national championship game. So I think we'll do this again before before seven months from now. We will. We definitely will.

And I will hold you to that. Now that Josh is super busy, we've got to get his people to connect with our people. And our people is Jay.

But that's OK. Jay is quality people. So thank you, Josh. Good to have you again. And yeah, right now, I feel like even more than the games, of course, in the places where you're talking college campuses and you're talking about the lifeblood parts of the country, the games are the crux. They're what matter the most. But honestly, I think the overarching landscape in college football is so in flux right now with everything that we talked about. All right. You can find us on Twitter after our CBS.

We post the link to our podcast every weekday morning on our Twitter page, as well as our Facebook page named after the show. By the way, I love how much of a reaction and a rise we got out of you. Responding to our conversation with former pro goalkeeper Jesse Bradley, who played in the US. He also played in other well, on other continents, continents and other countries. And just his insight into, well, first of all, Mariners fever.

But also building a winning culture and building chemistry. And then this wasn't even why we brought him on the show, but he dropped these these drop these tidbits that now I know we're going to have to have him back again just to speak about his path. But he nearly died taking malaria medication when he was playing in Africa. He had to quit his career.

He went through bouts of depression and anxiety before he found a new direction, a new purpose and a new passion. And he's very inspiring, very encouraging. So if you didn't see that conversation with Jesse yet, it's on our YouTube channel.

Brand new YouTube. And actually, Jay and I have big plans. We're getting ready to record our next episode of Stairway to Seven. So if you missed the first two, all kinds of goodies on our YouTube channel, there's video versions of Ask Amy anything, including one in which we're both dressed in red, white and blue. So, yeah, if you haven't found after after hours with Amy Lawrence on YouTube, we've got all kinds of fun stuff there. And that includes posted just yesterday.

Our conversation that will inspire, encourage you with former pro goalkeeper Jesse Bradley. All right. Coming up, we've got our kind of dive into week number five, as well as more on wildcard weekend. So it's all happening in October.

Like I said, it's after hours with Amy. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app, your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams. Pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today or at CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Here on After Hours, we like you as much as you like us. I'm kind of taking my porch over here right now. Okay. Not creepy at all.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. It's a Friday free for all, baby. And yeah, sometimes the song does demand that you turn up the radio. Crank it. Except I would not recommend that with me because now and then I tend to get loud. I'm not yelling. I'm just I'm excited about what it is that I'm saying.

But this happens with my family and friends. Sometimes I raise my voice because I'm passionate and I'm into the conversation. And I'll get the response. Why are you yelling at me?

It's really it's such a buzzkill. I'm so into it. I'm getting all excited.

I'm waving my hands and I get a why are you yelling at me? So please don't turn up the radio when you're listening to After Hours. Oh, my gosh. But definitely turn it up if you're following some football this weekend. We just posted the second poll.

It's a twofer. I told you it was free for all. We're getting crazy. We're breaking all the rules. Time to vote for the after hours game of the week.

And yes, actually, there I was yelling. Now, our debate came down to. The fourth game, we essentially agreed on the first three. The Raiders at the Chiefs, which is Monday Night Football, the Bengals at the Ravens, which is Sunday Night Football. We essentially agreed on the Cowboys and Rams because right now, Dallas is three and one. Remember, Jerry Jones said even even he wouldn't have believed that they would be three and one at this point after losing Dak. But right there with the Giants. Behind the Eagles in what is. Really sneaky, quickly becoming a division you have to pay attention to and not just because of the drama. Is it possible that the NFC East is the best division in football? That's sacrilegious.

Now I like it when there is soap opera. It's Cooper clutch anyway. He was talking about Cooper Cup, wasn't he? Or was it actually Cooper Rush? That was Zeke talking about.

That's right. OK, so yes, it's Cooper clutch on one team and Cooper MVP slash Triple Crown winner on the other team. It's the Battle of the Coopers. I like it. The Coopers play football like one a little more than the other.

But yeah, do you? I would say Cooper Cup would possibly have to say negatively about Cooper Rush. Nothing, nothing at all. Nothing at all. Nothing at all.

Zip it in there. You don't get to say anything negative about Cooper Rush. Cooper clutch. Cooper clutch. Thank you, Zeke.

Although I did for a second think we were talking about Cooper Cup. He's not the nickname. He's had a longer aperture, like a longer sample size.

Sounds weird. He's had more of a sample size, more reps, a longer tenure to be able to impact the game around him. But I don't know.

You give the other coupe some time. How many people thought Cooper Manning when we were talking about the Battle of the Coopers? If we call it the Coopers, it would take place in like a boardroom. Everyone knows that Cooper Manning is Archie's favorite. He's a pretty successful son. He's very successful. And his son is Arch. So hey, now all of a sudden Cooper's in a position of influence, although he always was as the big brother.

That family dynamic is so is so interesting. All right. So poll includes Raiders, Chiefs, Bengals, Ravens, Cowboys, Rams. And then we had the debate. Jay. Jay wanted to include Giants Green Bay Packers.

They're both three and one. OK, it's in London. There's a lot of attention. I tried to tell him I don't think anyone will vote for that game. You have to think like the people think, Jay. Are you in touch with the people?

Do you know what the people want? I agreed pretty quickly that I even think I said that I don't think anyone nationally cares about the Giants and they haven't earned that respect. There's still just this team. Everyone thinks about is this trash team and they kind of are.

But so I was, you know, I didn't really push back. They are three and one. I would take three and one for my team right now.

That's where my thought came from. It's a battle of two, three and one teams. Are they as good as the Packers?

Probably not. But they're three and one. They're there. So you can't take it away from them.

But I didn't really push back too hard when we opted to put the Bills and the Steelers. You know, this could end up being a total like win win for the Giants. They go to London. They capture a bunch of new fans across the pond. But also they could catch Aaron Rodgers thinking about beers in a pub. Did you hear what Rodgers had to say? He actually is kind of put out that the coaches, the Green Bay Packers coaches, chose to do all their prep at home before they fly to London. He was hoping for a vacation around this game. Coaches are creatures of habit even more than players. Any time there's a minute adjustment to the schedule, it throws them all out of whack. So I wouldn't read too much into that.

Listen, we're all excited. I think the reason I said I want to go over early is just to experience a little bit of that culture. To be able to get out and see some sights and interact with fans. And shoot, go to a pub and have a kiss or whatever local brew is.

That's what we all want to do. You know, those of us that want to go over early, I think coaches are so concerned with the idiosyncrasies of the schedule and stuff. So any minute change in that is going to throw them off. Okay, that might be my new favorite Aaron Rodgers answer. It throws them all out of whack.

That's almost as good as R-E-L-A-X. All out of whack. It throws them all out of whack. Oh my gosh, whoa. Why are you yelling? I should have seen his eyes during it. Lit up. All out of whack.

Throws them all out of whack. Wow, it's like he's trying to eat the microphone. So, my point is, for the Giants, maybe they can catch Aaron Rodgers sneaking a night at the pub. Drinking the local brews. You never know. I could see him doing that.

Could you? If he drinks ayahuasca, I could see him drinking a local brew. A brew at the pub isn't really that out of the question. Does he only drink vices?

Is that the thing? As long as he's not smoking them, I suppose. Although these days, that's not even something the NFL cares about. Alright, so, we went with not Giants and Packers because, well, as we explained, I don't think that game would get any votes. But I do think across the country, number one, the Bills are still considered one of the best teams in the NFL. And no one's forgotten how they smashed the Rams earlier in the season. And I know they've suffered a couple of letdowns and frustrating games. But the way they just came back against the Ravens in Baltimore, maybe sets them off now. Sets them on a new path. Gives them a new fire. And kind of reminds them of how good they can be and should be and the expectations they have for themselves.

Plus, can he pick it? Welcome to the NFL, rookie. You want to start? Well, here. How about in Orchard Park?

Where they body slam tables for fun. Uh-huh. Let's do this thing.

Let's see what you got. So, yes, I do believe Steelers-Bills will have a lot of intrigue for those two reasons. So, I talked producer Jay off of London town and into Steelers-Bills. Ball out of whack. Speak for yourself.

Alright, so the poll is up on Twitter, ALawRadio or our show Twitter after our CBS. By the way, when we shared the video of the pit bull who refused to get out of the pool about 24 hours ago, the responses I got to that, we shared it on both Twitter and Facebook. I went back and watched it again on Thursday when I had a couple of free seconds. It's still funny. I still know the pit bull won't get out of the pool and it's funny anyway. Just so, it's so great that dogs can make us laugh like that. Penny still makes me laugh every day.

My friend that I mentioned was visiting from Denmark. She's not a huge dog lover. She's pretty afraid of them. And I said to her, Penny's very friendly.

She's very gentle. Does she jump? I was like, man, Penny hasn't jumped in about three years. Poor, poor Penny. Penny just wanted someone to talk to her. Penny, I'll be fine. And my friend was nervous. But by the time she left, she was bonding with Penny, so it was good.

That feels good. Yeah, oh my gosh. Alright, do we have to talk about Thursday Night Football again at the top of the hour? Can we skip it until it didn't happen?

No? I mean, the players almost really did that. Tom Brady was prophetic.

If you missed what he had to say about the football in the first month, he knew what was going to happen in Thursday Night Football. I think there was a lot of bad football from what I watch. I watch a lot of bad football. Yeah, poor quality of football.

That's what I see. Yep, that was Thursday Night Football in a nutshell. So if you don't want to hear about it, well, you're probably going to have to skip the first segment of next hour. But in the meantime, we've got more goodies for you.

So polls up on social media. Plus, we want to remind you that defense wins championships. All about it.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Defense wins championships. Defense wins championships. Defense wins championships. Did you know defense wins championships? Just take our words for it.

And if you don't feel like you can buy in, you don't smell what we're stepping in, well, just give us a chance. It's definitely right now a league in which the defense is showing off. We've got some defenses that are flexing their muscles, especially as offenses are trying to find a rhythm. It's inconsistent at best. There are very few offenses that look fluid and look as though they're locked in for an entire four quarters. Maybe week five produces something different. But early on, defenses are making noise.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin was a major reason why the Colts were able to hold the Broncos at bay. No touchdowns.

0 for 4 in the red zone. Yeah, Stephon Gilmore had not just an interception, but a ball tipped away on the last play of the game. Franklin ended up with nine tackles and had, in addition, five of those solos. We're looking at a defense that's doing the same thing for the Colts as many defenses that I just mentioned. Matt Ryan and the Colts offense has looked messy at times. There was no Jonathan Taylor last night, and yet this defense is so good.

It's physical, it's tough, and they are right now giving the Colts a chance to win every time out. That's what you look for. You know, as a defense, that's what you want. You want the game to be in your hands. You want to be the last play.

You want to end the game. It all comes down to execution, and that's what we were able to do. Twice they denied the Broncos in the late stages of the fourth quarter and then into overtime when they're into the red zone. So the Colts defense definitely earns game balls all around. As for the Broncos and Bradley Chubb, he had two and a half sacks last night of the six against Matt Ryan. So the Broncos linebacker, as disheartening as it is, as the team loses again at home or loses at home and falls to two and three, he says they are not giving up and they're not fractured in their locker room.

I've been on two and three teams a couple times, you know, in my tenure in the NFL, and this is the best I've seen guys rattle around each other, the best I've seen guys stay together. Like nobody's pointing a finger. Nobody is doubting each other. Nobody.

Everybody is. We know it's going to pop, you know what I'm saying? And when it does pop, it's going to be it's going to be a rude awakening for everybody. I love that we know it's going to pop and when it does pop, it's going to be a rude awakening for everybody. We need that as a drop, Jay. We could use that about our show.

We know it's going to pop and when it pops, it's going to be a rude awakening for everybody in sports radio. That's fantastic. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Don't you love this ominous music that producer Jay has chosen for defense wins championships? What is this? I dig this. Just some NFL music that I happen to stumble across.

This is amazing. Is it from NFL films, the old NFL films music? I don't believe so. It was just YouTube. I typed defense music. You did not. You typed in defensive music on YouTube and this is what it gave you? I've had a couple options.

I like this one the best. It sounds like old NFL films music to me. Yes, it's going to pop and when it does, it's going to be a rude awakening for everybody else out there.

That's awesome. Meanwhile, Tom Brady says we're just watching some really bad football. We know it's going to pop. And the Broncos defense did its job too. Sacking Matt Ryan six times, a couple interceptions, over two in the red zone. Unfortunately, neither offense could get into the end zone last night.

So it set NFL football offense back a few decades. Alright, moving on to what's to come in week five. We've got one of your game of the week candidates from the AFC West. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs fresh off that Sunday night game. In which they essentially had their way against the Buccaneers defense.

How did that happen? Well, they established the run. But Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes, creative, elusive.

Just makes it up as he goes along. Yeah, I mean they had it all working in Tampa. Can they carry that forward? Now, one thing that Patrick's been talking about this season is that he's not going downfield quite as much. Well, it stands to reason that some of that left with Tyreek Hill. Tyreek Hill was stretching the field against all defenses. And he was the one who Patrick could look for downfield. Because he was so speedy he could get under any of the air balls that Pat threw.

And so Pat was talking about this during the week. That there are fewer deep plays and deep balls that the Chiefs are even trying or connecting on this year. I've learned over especially this last season and into this season is in order for offense to have success sometimes. I'm about to be patient and take the underneath stuff and get those throws to move the chains. And trusting our offense that we're going to convert on third down. And then when the shots come, I have to be able to execute and hit them. And that's something that I think defenses are going to continue to do to us until I continue to prove it. And as the season goes on, I'm sure those big shots will continue to start happening more and more often. Another game to watch this weekend.

The Dolphins without two a ton go below on the road at the Jets who just beat the Steelers last week in Pittsburgh. It's Teddy Bridgewater. So what does Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbricht know about Teddy? He's an experienced player that sees the field very well. He's still a good athlete even though he's been playing for quite a bit.

So he can challenge with his legs and his arm and his mind. Cincinnati at Baltimore out of the AFC. The Ravens defense and offense both embarrassed last week in that fourth quarter collapse against the Bills. Marlon Humphrey says watching TV these days can knock you down a peg. The cafeteria will humble you. You got the Good Morning Football, the NFL Network.

You know, it's something I want to do one day so I think some guys will be mad at me one day. But it's humbling to look up there and be like, dang, we got Marcus Peters, Ball Hawk. Got me, Marcus Williams, Dog, Chuck, all these guys. Great players, but we're still trying to come together. I mean, to look up there and be eating lunch and see 32nd, you're just like, it's great to see.

Because I like to stay humble. But we're still trying to gel together and we really want to get that 32nd down. AFC North battle on Sunday Night Football, the right place to start. Cincinnati at Baltimore. Meanwhile, it's Pittsburgh with Kenny Pickett starting at Buffalo.

Where the Bills defense is anchored and propelled and energized by one, Vaughn Miller. Who has a very specific plan for game days. I like to go into the game and have peace. I like to go into the game knowing I did everything that I possibly could to have success in this game. And that gives me peace. And whether we win or whatever the outcome may be, you know, I'm at peace. Because I know I did everything that I possibly could do. And sometimes, you know, the football guys, they just, you know, not on your side. But they've had our favor for, you know, a little bit here. And I just like to put myself in the best possible situation to have success.

That's what I do if it's from a mental standpoint or a physical standpoint or an emotional standpoint. And when I go into the game, I'm at peace. His former team, the Rams, trying to defend that Super Bowl title. Bobby Wagner is a great addition.

He hits hard, especially when guys streak onto the field. You just never know. You never know. Like people just run on the field for no reason sometimes. And again, you know, I'm pretty sure it's going to keep happening.

But you never know what that person is. They got in their pocket, their hands, their whatever. Kind of like what I said, you know, after the game. So, you know, there's consequences for your actions.

The consequences for your actions. If you run out onto the field when Bobby Wagner is lurking, you get flattened. And that dumb streaker has the nerve to file a police report when he is trespassing and running out onto a field at a professional football game. What a dummy. I don't like to call people names much, but dumb dumb, you're not going to win that battle.

You're not going to win that war, nor are you going to win when Bobby Wagner is coming right at you. So maybe best to stay in your seat and keep your pink smoke to yourself. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. There's a lot to listen to. So get started and download the free Odyssey app today.