After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

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So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. It is a holiday weekend, which I totally forgot. I had no idea. You know what reminded me? Is that there was way too much traffic in New York City as I was coming into work last night. Typically, Sunday night is relatively quiet. It was not quiet. And then mom sent me a text to say that she was home from school tomorrow and it dawned on me.

Okay, okay. Lots of people on a holiday weekend. But I love working holidays for the most part because we generally have people who are out of their regular routines. We generally have people who maybe haven't heard the show in a while or have never heard the show before. And so welcome to After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We're live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios.

When you need cash out of your home in a simple way to get it, Rocket can. Obviously, a lot of us still work on Columbus Day. It's not a holiday for everyone. But it is. It'd be lighter traffic on the way home this morning.

That'd be nice. It was the first weekend in October, which has anything but a holiday feel. Craziness. I should say first full weekend in October. First full weekend in October that featured football, baseball playoffs. And is a precursor of what's to come the rest of this month.

It's a little bit of the Halloween feel in sports. We had so many candidates over the weekend for miserable and mortified. But we can only choose four for the Twitter poll. Now, obviously, you are allowed to write in whomever you would like. We gave you three candidates from the NFL who should be most mortified on this Columbus Day Monday. And then one from Major League Baseball.

And whether you're responding on Twitter, a law radio or on our Facebook page, many of you are writing in your own candidate. And the number of people who are telling me that Mike Tomlin needs to be fired. It's a face palm Monday.

I mean, we like to keep the face palms to Friday, but I can't can't. Some guy told me Tomlin's overrated. Overrated like this is the college football playoff. I don't get it over who rates coaches. Also, the man's literally never had a losing season. How is he overrated? Never lost.

He's never had a losing record. Sports fanatics reserve the right to be completely irrational and illogical and creatures of the moment. So there you have it.

Now, I would agree with you, the Steelers should be mortified on this Monday morning. So they're in the poll. So check it out on either of our social media and we're going to jam in as much as we possibly can here in these next. Fifty one minutes. That's what we have left.

We're live from the rocket mortgage studios already did it. I did it. I'm not going to do it again.

I don't have time to do it again. But see, that's how my brain is right now. On a Monday morning, I'm mortified because the last three hours feel like a complete blur.

Actually, going back to football in London on Sunday morning, it all feels like a complete and total blur. Really quickly, before we get to football, here's what you have for the division series starting on Tuesday. Same day as the puck drops on the NHL season.

How about this? Three divisional matchups in the division series. We've got three intra division battles. The Phillies at the Braves. The Mariners at the Astros, the Padres at the Dodgers. And then sandwiched in the middle there, the Guardians and the Yankees. So all four series begin on Tuesday and then they start switching off and on until they get to next weekend.

Yeah, it's go time. And I love the fact that they are division series. They meet each other 19 times during the year, which means there's no love lost and there's no intimidation factor.

Familiarity breeds contempt. And we're going to see that, especially with the Phillies and Braves. And the Padres, who are tired of losing to the Dodgers. So all of that starts Tuesday. We'll do a big preview coming up on our Monday night show along with Monday Night Football.

But I want you to know, buckle up for Tuesday. Now let's talk Sunday Night Football. Bengals and Ravens, speaking of intra division. AFC North battle, generally knock down, drag out. And in this case, I actually didn't want the Ravens to jump out to a lead.

But of course they did because they're pretty good at that, jumping out to leads early at home. Jackson empties the backfield, has three receivers bunched to the right. He dropped a throw, fires across the middle. Andrews has it for five turns and he's in for a touchdown! Mark Andrews! Man, he's so good.

Mark Andrews is so good. And you can see the relationship between he and Lamar and how a couple of years now of working together has really benefited the two of them. It's like Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, what a rapport they have. The Baltimore's up 10-0.

There it is! Your double figure lead in the second quarter. Until a Lamar interception finally lights a fire under the Bengals offense. Slot left, single man to the right, Chase is going to line up in the slot now with Boyd outside of him. Burrow with the gun, mix it is, right, first down and 10. Burrow takes the shotgun snap, he's back to pass.

Burrow looking, has time, throws down the middle. Hurst makes the catch at the five, angles left, breaks out of a tackle, reaching for the goal line, he's in! Touchdown Cincinnati!

It's Hayden Hurst breaking a tackle and stretching the ball across the plane of the goal line. 19-yard touchdown pass and the Bengals are on the board. It took a Lamar interception to spark Cincinnati. The Bengals had been putrid until then, but an 83-yard drive, they tack on a late field goal and it's tied at 10 at the half. So just like that, poof, the Ravens double figure lead disappears. Now some interesting decisions in the fourth quarter. So early in that quarter, Baltimore goes deep in the red zone, but actually decides to put the ball on the foot of their world-class kicker Justin Tucker.

Now it's a chip shot at that point. They got so close, but instead of going for it on fourth down, even though they have this incredible weapon in short yardage situations, actually in any yardage situations, in Lamar Jackson, they decide to take the field goal. They go up 16-10. And then the Bengals settle in for a long night. They hold the ball for 8 minutes, 75 yards, and they're able to get the go-ahead touchdown.

It's a Joe Burrow rush. So at this point, maybe you're questioning, if the Ravens had gone for the touchdown up close, well, they wouldn't be trailing now. But after Joe Burrow gets in the end zone, the quarterback sneak gives them a one-point lead. And now it's two-minute drill for Baltimore.

Seven plays, 50 yards. And as I was saying about Mark Andrews, what struck me about this drive is, yeah, there were a few Lamar scrambles where he's so hard to bring down. But also when he needed a first down conversion, he's looking for Mark Andrews. The angles, the footwork, the knowledge of what Lamar wants to do with the football, it's all there. Again, it reminds me a lot of that Mahomes-Kelsey relationship. And so they move the ball into range for Justin Tucker, of course, because is there any police on the field that isn't Justin Tucker range? Earlier he'd hit a 58-yarder and was out there posturing because Justin Tucker knows he's a badass. Nick Moore has the snap.

Jordan Stout will have the hole. Snap is good. Hold is down. Kick on the way. It is up.

It is good. Time has expired. And the haze of Lamar. The classic Jerry Sandusky call on Ravens radio. So, yes, Justin Tucker, 43 yards as time expires. But Lamar Jackson had to get them in position for Tucker to have that ball on his foot. Do what we do in practice. You know, it's a two-minute drill. We work on that every day in practice, you know, for situations like this.

And I say we prevail. We often did a great job driving the ball down the field and giving Tucker a chance. You know, we got to go to that kicker, and that's just what it was. I still pray, though. I really didn't have no doubt, though, because I thank God we got Tucker on our side. I love Lamar Jackson.

I still pray, though. He's a hoot. And I thank God that we have Justin Tucker on our side.

Oh, yes. I thank God we got Tucker on our side. 132 total yards for Lamar. He has a touchdown and an interception. And maybe you saw it blow up on social if you weren't watching the game twice. He missed, guys, for wide-open touchdowns. And so he wasn't locked in the entire time. But as he says, they've got Justin Tucker on their side.

And, yeah, John Harbaugh probably leaped the highest on the sidelines when that kick went through the uprights. I just think it's an important win because we had an opportunity to move into position in the division. You know, that's really, from a long-term perspective, nobody's going to win the division in October.

True. But, you know, these games are going to go a long way at the end of the season. So, like our guys were saying, we've just got to keep stacking practices and plays and as many wins as we can.

And that's what we're going to be determined to do. That's a lot of inconsistency still with offenses around the NFL. And Baltimore's no exception.

Bengals either. There were stretches where they could not move the ball and could not capitalize. And so the race to consistency, we're still seeing it around the league. We're only five weeks in. Very few teams are playing a full 60 minutes of quality football. But the Ravens are 3-2 in a very challenging AFC North because they finally win a game at home. The last two, they coughed up huge leads in the fourth quarter, so this has got to be a relief.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Ravens at 3-2, Bengals at 2-3. At least they're a game ahead of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Now we warned you. We told you that Kenny Pickett starting the second half of a game in Pittsburgh against the New York Jets, where there's just a raucous crowd and fans to greet him. Everyone's all excited to see him come in the game. That is so completely different.

We're a world away from Orchard Park on a Sunday afternoon where the Bills were waiting and they were ready. Snap. Josh handles it. Back to throw.

Pocket collapsing. Fires a deep one downfield. Gabe Davis makes the catch at midfield.

He's going to sail into the end zone. Gabe Davis at the 20, at the 10. Touchdown. Holy mackerel. 98 yards. Touchdown Gabe Davis on third and ten at their own two.

That's the way to start. Holy mackerel. John Murphy on Bills radio. Now that's not on Kenny Pickett. He doesn't play defense.

So you can't blame him for that one. But it was essentially the hors d'oeuvre to what the Bills had in store for the Steelers. And it wasn't even perfect for Buffalo. They had a missed field goal and a Josh Allen interception in the first half. Otherwise it's even worse than 31-3.

And by worse I mean from the Steelers perspective. 31-3 at the half. And so Pittsburgh has a muffed punt in the first half.

Also not on Pickett. He does lead them to a field goal drive. But they have multiple three and outs. He throws an interception. Another missed field goal in there. While Buffalo is amassing 550 yards of total offense. And that's even with two turnovers. Pittsburgh is 0 for 4 in the red zone. 0 for 3 on fourth down. And trying to run the ball. Well that wasn't going to happen. Because they fell into a hole so quickly.

What does that mean? Well they asked their rookie to throw the ball 52 times. They became so unbelievably one dimensional. They played right into the hands of the Bills D. Now he does go over 300 yards. Throws the pick. He sacked multiple times.

And yeah, got his feet wet in what was maybe the most challenging place to play all weekend long. Point blank and we didn't put points up. So that's the number one thing. We got to be a lot better in the red zone. It felt like we moved the ball but we couldn't finish. So it's something we have to get fixed.

Definitely quickly. And get back to the drawing board here on Monday. Football is the ultimate team game. That's why we all love it so much. That's why we all respect it so much. And we got smashed as a collective today.

So I don't have a lot of individual analysis. No need to really sugar coat it. We got handled today. We got handled by a very good football team.

You know, there's nothing mystical about it. You know, they did some of the things to Tennessee. So we know it's capable of happening. Just disappointed that we didn't coach well enough or play well enough. Mike Tomlin, you can hear it. We got manhandled. We got smashed. We got destroyed. He's seeing his team regress. But the problem is if your offense does nothing with the football, then your defense is worn out long before it's over. Or if your opponents are going on long drives, only to see your offense go three and out, well, they got to go right back on the field. Steelers fall to one and four, and they are a worthy candidate for mortification Monday.

You can take that poll on Twitter or Facebook. Josh Allen, over 400 yards passing, four touchdowns, though he does have an interception. So, yeah, not perfect. They only, use my air quotations, had seven points in the second half.

Not that they needed to go pedal to the metal after they were already up 31-3. I felt like I missed a few throws, you know, and I was a little ticked off for a couple of the passes I had early on in the game. And I want to complete every ball, obviously.

I know it's not typically possible. But there's some things that I could have done better early on in that game. But, again, our defense played outstanding tonight. Well, the defense played well, and he was able to connect with Gabe Davis on two mad, I was going to say, first I was going to say majestic, then I was going to say massive, then I was going to say major, and I don't really know where I went with it or what my brain was doing. Gabe, I should stick to numbers, Gabe had 171 yards and a couple of touchdowns, but the doozy was that 98-yarder that matches the longest in franchise history from scrimmage. Obviously, on that first third down, they doubled both of them. They both doubled Steph and Gabe from what I saw. I saw the safety go this way. I saw two guys kind of sitting here playing the sticks a little bit, and Gabe just, you know, did his thing and ran and gave him a chance to go make a play, and he did. He definitely did.

He made more than one. It was all hands on deck for the Buffalo Bills. They are now at 4-1, best record in the AFC. The Chiefs can match them tonight with a win at Arrowhead Stadium on Monday Night Football, hosting the Vegas Raiders. So, they can keep pace with the Bills if they can win tonight.

Otherwise, the AFC is thick around the middle. Every team's got at least a win. The Dolphins, though, have dropped back-to-back games and have the same record as the Jets. Did you hear about the dubious record? Dubious, I should say streak. It's not a record, more like a streak. The dubious streak that ended for the Jets on Sunday. Also, they put up 40 points.

I'm not even sure how to process that. So, let's look at a couple more of the AFC matchups, like the Dolphins and Jets and the Chargers, who on the field make their coach's questionable decision turn out in his favor, which maybe, maybe is an indication that these are not your dad's Chargers, these are not your father's Chargers, these are not the San Diego Chargers, actually. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Good morning to you here on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. We'll be right back. It's a football feeding frenzy.

After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Did we get used to this? The New York Jets putting up 40 points.

Wowzers. Now remember, the Dolphins started out as one of the best teams in the NFL, but we've had everything surrounding the Tua concussion. He is still in protocols, was out for a second street week, and then Teddy Bridgewater takes a hit by Sauce Gardner early in the first, in the end zone actually, it's a safety, and then Bridgewater is out. It's a couple of minutes into the game on Sunday, and the Dolphins have to turn to their rookie QB, Skylar Thompson, if I remember correctly, a seventh round draft pick. And so instead of asking their rookie to do a whole lot, they rely heavily on Raheem Mostert, who has a huge day, 113 yards and a score, and the game's actually respectable at halftime, it's 1914. But New York goes on a tear with the run game, really relying heavily on multiple options to run the ball. Michael Carter has a couple of touchdowns. In fact, New York scored 35 of its 40 points with rushing touchdowns.

How about that? Michael Carter has two, and did anybody else see him do the waddle? After his second touchdown, he celebrated by doing the waddle, as in the Jalen waddle. Ooh, I'm sure that played well in the Dolphins locker room.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio, Breece Hall, 197 total yards and a touchdown. That was between receiving and rushing. So the Dolphins had no answer for the Jets on defense. And just as a reminder, Tua, Teddy, Skylar, they don't play defense. So the Dolphins defense wasn't doing a whole lot either to slow down the Jets. Zach Wilson only throws 21 passes or 21 pass attempts.

He does have a rushing touchdown. But honestly, this was about the run game. It was about controlling the ball.

It was about using their defense as much as possible. Miss your show? Jump back to their awesome rewind feature. The Odyssey app is NFL football, live and on demand, wherever you are, whenever you want. And did we mention it's all free? Download the Odyssey app today.

Football season is here. The new Odyssey app lets you stay connected to your NFL team, your station, your shows. Follow your favorite stations and come back again and again. Get real time updates on everything you care about.

Miss your show? Jump back to their awesome rewind feature. The Odyssey app is NFL football, live and on demand, wherever you are, whenever you want. And did we mention it's all free?

Download the Odyssey app today. Robert Sala loves it. It's awesome. Obviously, you always want to win your division games. Double digit wins are hard to come by in this league. 40 points, all that good stuff. Offense turning those takeaways into points. Defense standing up after the fourth down, where we didn't get it on fourth down. Defense holding them to a quick three and out and a punt. So I just thought, again, no flinch. All three phases did such a great job and hopefully it's the first of many.

How about this, though? A dubious streak comes to an end. Do you know the Jets had not had a win over a division opponent, meaning another team in the AFC East, since late 2019? I think it was December of 2019, the last time they had a victory in their own division. If anything is a sign that the Jets have turned the corner, that is it, Zach Wilson.

That was huge. And I think we don't even really look at the streak because I wasn't here. A lot of these guys weren't here. It doesn't have a lot to do with a lot of guys in this room and coaching staff and everything. So we're focused on ourselves, building this legacy and us learning and improving every single week. I mean, I hate to point it out, but he's missed a whole lot of time with various injuries.

So the streak was ongoing while you were there too, even if you weren't actually on the field. That kid, I don't know, he is definitely cocky. Jets score 40 points on rushing touchdowns and he is all about it. He's got the best hands on the team, remember? As for Miami, Tua still out, then Teddy Bridgewater out. Tyreek Hill, obviously easier to control when you don't have an experienced quarterback.

I should say corral. When you don't have an experienced quarterback who's throwing in the ball. So neither Jalen Waddle nor Tyreek Hill really got free on Sunday. It was rough, man. Just to see everything Teddy had to battle for him last year. Just that adversity.

For him to be stepping in for us in the time that we needed him. It was tough. Yeah, there's a lot happening with the Dolphins who've now dropped two in a row, but are still just a game back of the Bills in the AFC East. Funny enough though, the Jets and Dolphins have the same record. It's the first time the Jets have been three and two since 2017? 2017.

It's been a while. As for the AFC East, we talked about the Bills being tops there and really tops in the conference. The AFC North being jammed together. And the AFC West is on display tonight, right? Because we've got Raiders at Chiefs. The Chargers managed to get above.500 and actually would be tied for first place if the Chiefs lose tonight because of what we'll call it interesting. Fascinating. Little bit wild.

Kind of wacky. But wins are wonderful. So Chargers on the road at the Browns.

Now here's one thing I want you to note about this game. 900 total yards of offense. They were up and down the field, up and down the field, up and down the field.

And Cleveland actually jumped out to a 14-0 lead in this game. They're using their playmakers, right? Because that's smart for Jacoby Brissett, for Kevin Stefanski. They use Nick Chubb whenever they can, early and often. And Amari Cooper. So he hauls in a touchdown pass. But then the Chargers are able to kind of grab that control away. A 99-yard drive.

Goes over six minutes and you want playmakers, well that's Austin Eckler. 12-yard touchdown catch for him. Although Cleveland's able to answer back with another Chubb touchdown. And the Browns have the lead at the half. 21-17.

This is a good back and forth. LA scores on multiple drives early in the second half. And then it's kind of up to Cleveland to be able to answer or at least somehow cut into what they're doing offensively. So there was this interesting decision by Brandon Staley.

One that a lot of people are going to be talking about even though the Chargers end up on the right end of things. They've got a fourth and one at midfield. This is late in the game. A fourth and one at midfield.

Right? We're not talking about a fourth and one on the two-yard line. We're talking about a fourth and one at midfield and they're clinging to a slight lead.

A fourth and one and a half. Herbert from the shotgun trying to end this game in Cleveland on offense. And that's what this is going to be. Herbert looks right, throws right. It's incomplete.

It never had a chance. And I would say Cade York is maybe five yards from being in his range for a game-winning field goal. And the question becomes, is that an extreme amount of confidence in your offense or is that a complete lack of confidence in your defense? It is one of the stranger calls we have ever seen.

I never would have expected that. So that's Matt Smith on Chargers radio. The fact that Staley, Brandon Staley chooses to go for it at midfield. And because the pass to Mike Williams was incomplete, right away the Browns are looking at field goal range for their rookie Cade York.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. York is a rookie. Rookies giveth. Rookies taketh away. And so they move the ball a little bit, but really this is on the foot of York.

And I know everybody wants to be Justin Tucker. Play clock down to four. Snap. Kick is up and it is no good.

No good. He pushed it right. And I just saw, I just saw a beer fly from the top of the stadium all the way down.

Oh man, that was close. The Chargers are going to get out of here with a win. The defense covers for their head coach.

It'll be a knee. And man, DJ, you want to talk about the skin of your teeth. Just wanted to finish the game with the ball. Felt like we liked the play, liked the matchup.

Knew what coverage they were going to be in. And we wanted to finish the game on our terms on third down. We felt like we had a good run up against that defense.

Had a pass solution. They defended it well. Then on fourth down, just really felt like, you know, the slant to mic was going to be the play call there.

And, you know, just didn't go down for us. But I had a lot of confidence in our defense to go out there and get them stopped. And that was a big motive because we knew they would have to throw the ball to beat us. And we felt like we could cover them. You know, and I love the way that our team finished that game.

Because obviously the storybook would have been just to finish it right there. And to walk to victory lane. But that's not how it went. We had to go play defense. We had to go defend. And our defense ended up winning us the game with that takeaway.

And that stopped at the end of the game. It says a lot that he believes in us. You know, just like I believe our receivers, our offensive linemen, our running backs.

I know that we can go out there and we can convert. It didn't go our way, unfortunately. But, you know, we're riding with that play. We're riding with those guys. And the defense came up with a big stop so it worked out.

Here's Daley and then Justin Herbert defend the decision. But it's easier to do when you win by two, 30-28. But if Cade York makes that field goal. And it started out like it was true.

And then just at the last, the last like few yards, it curves to the right. And misses. But otherwise, we're talking about a completely different post-game attitude.

So yes, easier to defend when you win. But both Daley and Herbert mention the defense. And the last two Cleveland drives, the missed field goal, but also Jacoby Brissett throws an interception in the end zone. So, you know, we're not really talking about this if Brissett doesn't throw that pick in the end zone. Still though, the fact that L.A. even served it up that short field on a silver platter.

Here you go. Let's test your rookie kicker and see what happens. Austin Eckler has a career high 173 rushing yards. So he just gets better and better. And last one from Kevin Stefanski as they fall to two and three. Very frustrating. You know, we come here to play good football, get a win versus an AFC opponent. And we just did not get it done. We're going to share in this one. All of us had opportunities at the end and we just, we didn't come through.

And it's really, really, really hard and frustrating, as I mentioned. So we've got to figure it out. We've got to start playing smarter in certain areas and find ways to get a victory, especially at home. You know, at home AFC opponent. Man, you've got to buckle up in the AFC North. The Ravens can't hold a lead. Even when they win, they can't protect a lead. The Browns are up by two touchdowns. The Chargers come back. They nearly win in the end because of a strange decision by the head coach. It's just a lot of crazy stuff happening in the AFC, but they're all bunched together, except for the Steelers. The Steelers are one of our candidates for most miserable and mortified on Monday. I can't help it.

We as sports fans, we tend to fixate on the miserable and the mortified. So find the poll on Twitter, ALawRadio, and also on our Facebook page. We found that this poll is very popular, by the way. Of course. All right, coming up, is the NFC East the best division in football now?

I mean, I like it when they're the butt of my jokes. So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. Football season is here. The new Odyssey app lets you stay connected to your NFL team, your station, your shows. Follow your favorite stations and come back again and again. Get real time updates on everything you care about.

Miss your show? Jump back to their awesome rewind feature. The Odyssey app is NFL football, live and on demand, wherever you are, whenever you want. And did we mention it's all free?

Download the Odyssey app today. Eagles with a two touchdown lead. Hits, misses and messes. Time to talk football after hours with Amy Lawrence. It was a two touchdown lead until it wasn't. The Arizona Cardinals were able to rally and force the tie in the desert on their own field where seemingly they're not comfortable and don't really like to play.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Eagles, the only undefeated team still remaining in the NFL, but they saw their lead disappear. And so they're tied at 20 and the Eagles keep the ball nearly eight minutes. They go 17 plays over eight minutes. Multiple snaps in the red zone. They ultimately settle for a field goal. Man, these decisions fascinate me when to go for it, when to settle for the field goal, when to take the points. And sometimes analytics have nothing to do with it.

It's really a feel for how the game is going. Arizona actually uses just 90 seconds, gets into field goal range, but they're missing their kicker. Matt Amendola was actually promoted from the practice squad. Remember the same Matt Amendola who was cut by the Chiefs. He misses a 43 yarder in the final 30 seconds.

Now something that's interesting, I just want to point this out. Who knows if it would have changed anything, but there were still 22 seconds left on the clock when Kyler Murray took off running and slid for what he thought was a first down. Turns out he was a yard shy. He somehow lost track of the first down marker. And so they had time to run another play or two. But because he doesn't get the first down, then they're forced to kick on fourth down. And so it was out of Matt Amendola maybe makes it if they're a little bit closer. Maybe they run one more play and pick up five yards, ten yards. And now we're talking about a 33 yarder and more of a chip shot. Ultimately, the Eagles are the ones who remain undefeated.

And I kind of like this from Nick Sirianni. So he was talking about the Phillies playing on Saturday. Remember, they were stunning the Cardinals and knocking St. Louis out of the postseason.

And Sirianni says, yeah, this weekend, great to be a Philadelphia sports fan. I got home around the seventh inning. And it was one of those gloomy days, as you guys all know. And I sat there on my couch with my son and my sons. And we just watched the rest of the game. And it was like, man, playoff baseball is pretty sweet.

And I'm hoping maybe I can get tickets for Friday night or something like that. Oh. Is he campaigning? What an awesome time to be a Phillies sports fan.

Right now it is. Phillies into the playoffs for the first time in ten years. And the Eagles the only team that has not yet lost in the NFL.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Jalen Hurts doing what he does with the two rushing touchdowns. Now the Cowboys, even, ask their owner Jerry Jones, are maybe one of the biggest surprises of this team, or excuse me, of this first five weeks. Because without Dak Prescott, they now have four wins in a row. But before we start generating some ridiculous quarterback controversy, yes, Cooper Rush is the game manager. But if you actually watch the game, it's the defense, it's the special teams, it's the run game. They only asked Cooper to throw the ball 16 times last night. He connected on ten of them. But they had more rushing yards than they did passing yards.

He was barely over 100. It's that ferocious defense and even the special teams getting into the act. Third down and one. Malcolm Brown is checked in at running back. Stafford is under center on third and one. The play faked to Brown, he's rushed and he's sacked. And the ball came out and Dallas picks it up.

It's Lawrence coming left to the five and into the end zone. And it looks like a Dallas touchdown. Stafford back, deep drop, chased out of the pocket, throws on the run. Intercepted by the Cowboys at the two-yard line on an overthrown ball. It is Hooker with the Cowboys' second takeaway of the day. Dallas made life miserable for Matthew Stafford.

He could be the most mortified on Monday. Five sacks of Stafford, 11 quarterback hits, three takeaways. Micah Parsons right in the middle of everything. It's been impressive.

Even when he was bagged up and on the bike for a little bit, he comes back in. Four consecutive wins, now four and one on the season. I'm very pleased, you know. You know, just the job's not finished. You know, we started like this last year.

So I keep throwing, like, can't stop, can't slow down. It's refreshing as a coach when you have a really good week of preparation and then you feel strongly going into the game and then, you know, your team goes out and performs what they do. Matthew Stafford was harassed. So I can understand why Sean McVay is sticking up for his quarterback and saying we have to give him more help.

But he also makes bad decisions. The Dallas defense is a force. And the Rams certainly know something about that. Actually, if you're Cooper Rush, forget the win.

I mean, that's nice and all. But Aaron Donald, who sacked him twice, actually complimented Cooper Rush after the game. He's mobile, but he's not as mobile. He's not looking to run, but he can run. But he's just playing good football right now. So he's making some good throws, being accurate and, you know, looking good on film.

I mean, Cooper can just stop playing football now. So here's how the NFCE stacks up. Eagles 5-0, Cowboys and the Giants, who rallied from two touchdowns back of the Packers in London Sunday morning. They're at 4-1.

That was a really awkward run-on sentence. My point is that they're building a winning culture with Brian Daybal. Not only do they come back from 14 points down, they clutch fourth quarter scoring drive and then a defensive play to prevent Aaron Rodgers from turning the tables. This is huge, a huge step for them in London, where it was mostly Packers fans. It almost sounded like a road game for the Giants. Cowboys and Giants are 4-1 behind the Eagles at 5-0.

No other division can say that. Now, if only we could get the commanders on board, except, yeah, the commanders got a healthy dose of Derrick Henry on Sunday. Titans now go tight in either side. Westbrook Akine sees them give it to Henry, who goes pounding behind Dylan Reedins into the end zone. Touchdown Titans!

Tannehill under center. Tannehill gives Henry diving, stretching the ball. Touchdown Titans! Henry broke the plane by stretching the football, and Tennessee has surged back in front. Yeah, it was a good quality battle against the commanders, though ultimately Tennessee is 3-of-3 in the red zone and Derrick Henry is the ultimate weapon.

Even though Ryan Danny Hill sacked five times, the defense actually ends the game and the threat of the commanders. The long picks off Carson Wentz at the one-yard line. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio, so we talked NFC East. I'm kind of transitioning quickly to the AFC South, where lo and behold, last year's number one seed in the AFC playoffs is back on top, 3-2. Now, remember the Colts got their win on Thursday night. A win is a win is a win is a win, but because they've got a tie, they're sitting in second place. The Jaguars have fallen to 2-3 because the Houston Texans have their number. Don't ask me how, don't ask me why, but Texans become the last team in the NFL to get a win on the board.

Damian Pierce, their fantastic rookie, with a long rushing touchdown in the final, I think it was seven minutes, of the fourth quarter. So the AFC South has the Tennessee Titans on top, and then it's just a scrumble, like it is in pretty much every AFC division. So it's getting good. Lots of wild swings and comebacks and rallies, but I love the fresh blood.

Love the fresh blood. And that's the same way that I feel about the baseball playoffs, with the Phillies, with the Mariners, with the Guardians. So we'll talk more about the division series coming up on Monday night. We've got Kansas City hosting Monday Night Football, Raiders, and Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.

And then we've got the one last night before baseball goes haywire into its division series and the big dogs got to eat. Find me on Twitter, ALawRadio, and also on our Facebook page. It's After Hours on CBS Sports Radio.

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