After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

If you're feeling down and having trouble getting up in the morning, here's a tip. Brush your teeth.

That's it. Often when we wake up, our brains go into planning mode, which leads to overthinking and stress before our head even leaves the pillow. Something simple like brushing your teeth can break that cycle and jumpstart your day. This tip was brought to you by BetterHelp Online Therapy, which connects you with a licensed therapist via video, phone, or online chat.

Visit BetterHelp.com slash positive and save 10% on your first month. If you're feeling down and having trouble getting up in the morning, here's a tip. Brush your teeth.

That's it. Often when we wake up, our brains go into planning mode, which leads to overthinking and stress before our head even leaves the pillow. Something simple like brushing your teeth can break that cycle and jumpstart your day. This tip was brought to you by BetterHelp Online Therapy, which connects you with a licensed therapist via video, phone, or online chat.

Visit BetterHelp.com slash positive and save 10% on your first month. And that was just the start. Just a taste of October and what's to come.

Crazy, right? Wild Card Weekend the way that Major League Baseball intended it and a full slate of NFL games starting with London Town across the pond. That might have been the best of the early games, especially considering now that the NFC East is probably the toughest division of football.

I mean, I generally call it the soap opera of the NFL, but I might just have to change my tune because it appears to be the toughest division in football now. Okay, of course, as I start the show and my microphone goes on, my monitor dies. Awesome. It's a good thing I have notes for every game, though I could still use that monitor.

That would be awesome. I may not be able to tweet or be able to connect with you on Twitter because the monitor just went completely black. Alright, so on that note, it's live radio and you know it's super fun all the time. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio and we are live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios.

When you need cash out of your home and a simple way to get it, Rocket can. So here we are. We are through the wild card round. So baseball, just real quickly, because we are about to get to our divisional series, though they take a breather on Monday, right? So there were a bunch of surprises this weekend.

We only had one of the series go to a third game and that was the Mets and the Padres. Actually, Jay, I just need you to play audio. Don't worry about it. I mean, I don't know what happened to it, but producer Jay came in here trying to fix my monitor, but it appears to be dead. So it looks like it's on. There's just nothing on it. It just went completely black. So it may actually be that the monitor from 1984 literally just died.

Of course, right at the second that I need it. Whatever, there was still baseball and there was still football and I'm still going to figure it out. So Padres and Mets went to a game three, but that was it. The other three series were done on Saturday. Now I will say, selfishly, I was actually a little bit relieved because there was so much football today that I'm not sure if my brain or my writing hand could have handled another three baseball games. But obviously for Major League Baseball, what they most wanted was to see all of these series go the distance. Instead, what we're left with are the four division series that began coming up on Tuesday.

So here's your schedule. You've got the Braves hosting the Phillies. So there's one divisional matchup.

That's the early game in Atlanta on Tuesday. That's followed by another divisional matchup. The Mariners and the Astros out of the AL West. Then it's the Guardians and the Yankees. Two teams who came from completely opposite ends of the spectrum to meet in the division series. That's the first of the night caps, followed by the Padres and the Dodgers, yet another division series.

Interesting, right? There is no love lost among three of the four series. You've got divisional battles. These teams know each other so well.

They face each other 19 times during the regular season. And so all four series will start on Tuesday. They always do that because coming off of a football weekend, baseball wants to try to avoid the clashes with football and start fresh in the night when there is no NFL. So that's your Tuesday. We're going to get to the ultimate moments from each of the series.

And as I say, three of them ended on Saturday, but there was one that was still under the lights on Sunday evening. San Diego native Joe Musgrove, one hit, one hit at Citi Field against the Mets. He throws seven innings of scoreless baseball for his hometown Padres, the team that he grew up loving. Not even a check of his glove, his hands, and his ears requested by Buck Showalter could throw him off his game.

So he goes seven innings of scoreless baseball. He was brilliant. There were some incredible pitching performances over the weekend. Aaron Nola comes to mind as well.

But this was brilliant. In a winner go home game, Joe Musgrove did everything he possibly could to make sure the Padres could win this game. And the bats also showed up. Oh, and two again. Pitch to Nola is grounded through the left side and a base hit.

Bell is on his way home. Kim is right behind him. A two run battle single for Austin Nola and the Padres strike first two to nothing here in the second inning. The one-one pitch is lined into center field. That's a base hit.

Kim rounding third. He's going to come in and score. Nimmo's throw is cut off by Alonso and Trent Grisham strikes again. An RBI single to increase the lead. Three nothing. Padres in the fourth.

It's coming. Manny with a hard hit. Line drive into right field and a base hit. It'll be backhanded by Marte in the gap.

Profar will round third and come home. And they manufacture another run here in the fifth inning. Manny Machado, an RBI single and a four nothing. Padre lead in the fifth. Here's the pitch to Marte. Swung on. Grounded slowly to third. Manny charges is.

Now plays the hop. Throw to first is in time. And the Padres have not only captured the moment, they have captured the wildcard series. And it's on to Los Angeles for game one of the NLDS Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. There will be playoff baseball at Petco Park in 2022. And actually it will be the first home playoff game and action for the Padres in front of their fans in 16 years. They played in 2020 against the Cardinals if I remember correctly, but there were no fans there because that was the playoff run in which fans were barred except for the World Series in Texas. And so they get to play against the Dodgers, a team that has had their number pretty frequently over the past, what, year and a half, two years. But a win is a win is a win is a win. And Bob Melvin, a big piece of that with a lineup that changed at the trade deadline. Pieces were brought in.

They didn't gel right away, but he was certainly a calming force with a lot of experience. You get in. That's something you strive for. It's something you deserve to celebrate.

This is at a different level here. This is a really tough venue to play at against a really good team. So to take it to another level, I think certainly feels a lot better. One thing I feel great about is we're going to be able to take this thing home and have a playoff series in front of our fans in San Diego. And can't wait to see them. Can't wait to get back there.

They deserve it. It feels awesome. You know, we get to play in front of our home crowd. That's what we wanted all along. And, you know, we're able to overcome that.

It's been a long time and it's been coming. And, you know, we couldn't have done it with a better guy on the mound tonight. You know, he went out there, gave us the opportunity to go out there and, you know, give it our all. And what a hell of a job he did today. When you think about it as a kid, everything that you imagine or that you like recreate in your backyard is, you know, big moments like this in the playoffs. So to get the opportunity to go out there and for the team to trust me enough to give me the ball in a do or die game means the world to me.

Well, the team is definitely going to trust him a lot more now. Musgrove with a dominant performance and the Padres bats do just enough. As you hear with Jesse Agler on Padres radio. We'll hear from the Mets as we spend more time on baseball later in the show because there are certainly some stunning and quick exits. I don't know how I feel about the wild card weekend.

I like the fact that it's compact because I was a big fan of the one and done in the wild card. And I like the way that baseball stacked it up. But man, it was quick. And in the case of the Tampa Bay Rays, man, it feels like they didn't even, they did have opportunities and a bazillion strikeouts between them and the Guardians in game number two. But the Rays, it was so quick we never knew ye. The Toronto Blue Jays, the way that they got behind early and actually give the Mariners credit for jumping on Alec Manoa. And then the way the Mariners used all the confidence from the last month to just pounce on them. And how about the Phillies? They're pitching in St. Louis, especially Aaron Nola. But think about them with their six runs in the ninth inning on Friday night. These were powerful, damaging blows by the visiting teams in every series except for Cleveland.

And it's almost like their opponents never recovered in those other three series. So just really interesting, the personality and the makeup of this weekend. I think I like it. It's just, it's a lot with football. So as I say, selfishly I'm okay with being able to spend as much time as I did on baseball on Saturday.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. You can find me on Twitter, ALawRadio, and then also on our Facebook page. We're glad to have you with us. I hope you had a good weekend. Oh my gosh, mine was the most boring ever.

Housework, yard work, cooking to try to get ready for what's coming this weekend. Sometimes it's not nearly as much fun to be a responsible adult. I wish I wasn't, but that's just not my life. And October is, well you know, it's crazy. It's nonstop. It's hectic. It's chaotic.

It's exactly the way we like it. So we'll get back to baseball, but why don't we jump into football with Sunday night in Baltimore. Now the last two times the Ravens have hosted games in Baltimore at M&T Bank Stadium.

I love driving by there when it's all lit up in purple. They have coughed up big leads, double figure leads in the fourth quarter. They have not been able to protect a lead. So I actually got nervous for them when they were ahead 10-0 in the second quarter.

I can't be the only one who thought, oh no, here we go again. So a Mark Andrews touchdown puts them up 10-0, but then a Lamar interception sparks what had been a relatively dormant Cincinnati offense to that point. There's an 83-yard drive and Hayden Hurst caps it with a 19-yard touchdown catch. And after the Bengals are able to rush a field goal onto the board before the half, they're tied.

They're tied at 10. So just like that, a Lamar interception kind of flips the script and that 10-point lead is gone in a flash. Now in the fourth quarter, we see Baltimore and John Harbaugh make a critical decision. They're deep in the red zone in Cincinnati territory, but they take the field goal to go up 16-10.

Now those two field goals that gave them the six points in the second half were wrapped around a Cincinnati drive that also took the Ravens, excuse me, the Bengals into the red zone. Mix it in the backfield to Burrow's right. Morgan goes in motion from left to right. Burrow now sends Mixon out to the left. Burrow lifts that right leg, takes the snap, rolling to his left, trying to flip it inside to Morgan, incomplete.

Stanley Morgan was on the right. They tried to run that little shovel pass inside. The Ravens had it covered up and the Bengals are turned away. So not only was I listening to Westwood One with Ryan Radke that you hear there, but also had the TV on. And as I was kind of moving around the house, getting ready to come into work, and I heard both Chris Collinsworth and Ross Tucker, the two analysts for TV and radio mention, Hey, and I'm paraphrasing, Joe Burrow, you're not Lamar Jackson. You're not Patrick Mahomes. That plays a little bit too cute for your skill set is essentially what they were saying. That they put him in a position, and actually it may not have been him, but ultimately the pass and the play that he settled on was not one that took advantage of his skill set.

It was not one that was in his repertoire, if you will. And later, right after that, we see Zach Taylor chasing down Lael Collins, who, as they kind of explained, Chris Collinsworth explained it, may have been the one who didn't block in the direction that he was supposed to, and that could have thrown off the entire play. But obviously, Joe Burrow made the decision to throw that odd-looking, non-Joe Burrow-like pass.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. So Baltimore goes for a field goal on the next drive after the defense stops the Bengals. So you have the defense with a critical stop deep, but then instead of going for the touchdown, the Ravens decide to settle, settle for the field goal. Alright, so there's still plenty of time on the clock, and this time the Bengals are determined to find pay dirt. Burrow under center, Mixon is the single back. Burrow takes the snap, quarterback sneak off to the right side, into the end zone, touchdown Bengals. They didn't signal yet, but he's in easily. There it is, Joe Burrow comes out of the pile and spikes the football in the back of the end zone.

We can see it clearly from here. He was a yard over the goal line, and Joe Burrow with a one-yard touchdown run has made it a 16-16 game, with the extra point coming up to give Cincinnati the lead. They did make the extra point, so the Bengals are able to put the nose in front of Baltimore.

What were you talking about? It wasn't a fourth quarter collapse, but once again, a double figure lead just disappears as the Bengals go 75 yards through eight minutes. So they had the ball for eight minutes. How do you keep Lamar Jackson from hurting you?

You make sure he's watching from the sidelines. The go-ahead touchdown is a Joe Burrow rush, not some weird, oddly angled shovel pass that gets knocked down. Joe finishes with a couple of touchdowns and an interception. But it's a two-minute drill for Baltimore, and they have got two incredible weapons in crunch time. Mark Andrews, who moves a lot like a Travis Kelsey, right? The two of them are so quick and fleet of foot, great body control, they use the angles, and they know their quarterback so well. And then Lamar. Scramble here, scramble there, up the middle, around the side. And what do they do? Well, they set up the best kicker in the game. Nick Moore has the snap.

Jordan Stout will have the hole. This is your operating system talking. Not your computers or your phones, but your internal human operating system. I'm feeling a little overloaded. Here's how you can ease my stress. Close your eyes or softly gaze at something in front of you. Now inhale for four counts, exhale for six. Keep repeating.

Much better. Longer term, there's BetterHelp online therapy. They'll match us with a licensed therapist we can connect with via video, phone, or chat. Visit betterhelp.com slash positive and save 10% on our first month. If you're feeling down and having trouble getting up in the morning, here's a tip. Brush your teeth.

That's it. Often when we wake up, our brains go into planning mode, which leads to overthinking and stress before our head even leaves the pillow. Something simple like brushing your teeth can break that cycle and jumpstart your day. This tip was brought to you by BetterHelp online therapy, which connects you with a licensed therapist via video, phone, or online chat.

Visit betterhelp.com slash positive and save 10% on your first month. Snap is good. Hold is down. Kick on the way. It is up.

It is good. Time has expired and the haze of the barn. Jerry Sandusky, I wish we had a longer call there because they're home in Baltimore. They finally protect the lead. They finally get a victory in their own stadium and it's Justin Tucker who is the best kicker in the game and who knows he's a badass. He got lifted up and carried off the field on the shoulders of his teammates after that field goal. But do you know the one that capped the, it wasn't the 91 yard drive, it was the quick drive after the burrow interception? It was a 58 yarder. A 58 yarder.

And what does he do? He's out there asking the crowd to give him props. He's out there essentially doing his version of a touchdown dance. Justin Tucker definitely knows he's a badass. And he gave the Ravens all their points in the second half. Man, to have a kicker like him and I would say the Bengals have got one of their own and Evan McPherson. But Justin Tucker rarely misses in the clutch.

He may be a more accurate Adam Vitateri because he's not only accurate and has the deep kicks as well, he's deadly from deep, but he's clutch. And so ultimately, while it wasn't a touchdown, and while not everyone may have liked the Ravens decision to go for the field goal when they were up close there in the second half, they got the game winning drive and did what they had to do to give it to Tucker. Do what we do in practice. You know, it's a two minute drill. We look on that every day in practice, you know, for situations like this.

And I say we prevail. You know, I often did a great job driving the ball down the field and giving Tucker a chance. You know, we got the goal at kickers and that's just what it was. I still prayed though, but I really didn't have no doubt though because I thank God we got Tucker on the outside. I mean, just in case I still said a prayer. I know it's Tucker and I know he never misses, but you know, just in case.

I still prayed though. Lamar has some of the best one lighters from his postgame press conferences. As for the Bengals, they fall to two and three and not a whole lot of deep plays, not a whole lot of vertical stuff for Burrow. In fact, the offense was relatively anemic for good portions of this game. We had the turnover on first play and then two possessions in the second half. And so it just goes to show you how quickly these games can go when you're facing a team that can eat up the clock like that. We ate up some clock too with our long drives and so it's tough. You know, it's tough. We've lost three games now in the last play of the game.

That's what I told the guys. We just got to keep taking our shots and these things have a way of balancing themselves out and we're going to get some of these wins in this situation. It's a tough game. I mean, that's the way these AFC North games are going to be, especially on the road and these types of atmospheres. Really proud of the way the guys fought. I thought the defense played well from start to finish, you know, and obviously we'd like to get a stop on that last drive, but they did a good job against a really explosive, tough offense. Really the offense kind of gave them the three points there to start the second half with the turnover and then they did a good job holding it and then they kicked the long field goal.

Tough loss. It's frustrating, but there's still a lot of football to be played, so we're not going to panic. Obviously, 0-2 in the division is not ideal, but like I said, a lot of football to be played.

Still going on a run here before the buy and still got everything in front of us. 0-2 in the division is not ideal. I like how Joe Burrow puts it. So if you look at the AFC North now, the Ravens are in first place. They're 3-2. Browns and Bengals with losses on Sunday are 2-3 and then the Steelers, a season that may test Mike Tomlin and his coaching skills unlike any other. Man, life is tough after you see your Hall of Fame quarterback retire. Speaking of the Steelers, Kenny Pickett made his first start. It's entirely different to go into Orchard Park, New York against one of the best teams in the NFL, one of the best defenses in the NFL, and have to run that offense when you don't have fans chanting your name every time the starter messes up. Or giving you an unbelievable welcome when you finally get on the field for the first time. Yeah, welcome to the NFL, rookie. Not ideal. The Bills versus the Steelers. That's where we're headed next. I mean, it was bloody. It was bloody.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You can find me on Twitter, ALawRadio. We will have candidates for Monday's most miserable and mortified teams and fan bases. We call it Mortification Monday. And so we'll get that poll ready to go because you know how it feels. If your team stunk up the joint, you wake up on a Monday and you go, oh, oh no, this Monday was going to be hard enough and now it's worse. But if your team had a great Sunday, then you feel like you're walking on air.

I mean, we're so predictable as sports fans. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Touchdown. Holy mackerel, 98 yards. Touchdown, Gabe Davis on third and ten at their own two.

That's the way to start. Holy mackerel. Off the field, on the money and after hours, it's time to talk football with Amy Lawrence. That's how the Bills welcomed the Pittsburgh Steelers to Orchard Park on Sunday. It was rude, don't you think? It's like opening up your front door and then punching your visitors in the gut. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

Just for the record, I've never done that. Josh Allen deep to Gabe Davis, 98 yard touchdown. Matches the longest in franchise history. Not even a minute or just over a minute into the game. So not even a minute into that first drive. It's After Hours here on CBS Sports Radio.

That was a precursor of what was to come. Snap to Josh. Looks downfield.

Gonna throw it. Sets up deep. Throwing deep. Looks downfield for Gabe Davis again. He makes a one-handed catch. Goes into the end zone. Touchdown Buffalo.

Holy mackerel, they did it again. 62 yards. Gabe Davis with a spectacular one-handed catch.

Josh in shotgun. Takes the snap. Fakes the handoff. Fires to Diggs.

Takes the catch in the end zone. Touchdown Buffalo. Just like that. Just like that.

How business can they beat? A simple strike to Stephon Diggs on a little slant to the left side. Yet another Buffalo passing touchdown. Diggs and Davis.

Here's the snap. Josh back to throw. Lofts one right down the middle.

This one is caught by Shakira at the three. Heads into the end zone. Yet another Buffalo touchdown. A 24-yard lofted pass from Josh Allen. He beat Josh Jackson who was just signed to their roster yesterday. Doesn't matter who you plug in apparently. Right now the Buffalo Bills, they are locked in. Now will it stay that way from week to week?

I don't know. I know that they've got a lot of superstars on both sides of the ball and that this was an uber difficult situation for Kenny Pickett to walk into. It wasn't perfect for the Bills as you hear John Murphy on Bills radio. They actually missed a field goal and Josh Allen threw an interception in the first half.

Or it would have been far more lopsided than 31-3 at the break. Pittsburgh's first half, a muffed punt, a field goal, several three and outs, an interception, and then a missed field goal. And again, far from perfect, which is maybe the scary part for Buffalo because they also had a pair of three and outs in the second half and a fumble.

But James Cook caps the scoring with a 24-yard touchdown run and 38-3 is the final. Buffalo is over 550 yards of total offense. Now remember, Kenny Pickett doesn't play defense, so this is not on the quarterbacks, this is not on the offense. Though I would say naturally the Pittsburgh defense has worn out at whatever point they've been on the field for almost the entire game. Buffalo did have two turnovers and there were still moments there that they'd like to have back, as Josh Allen talked about after the win. 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.

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. Whether we're down by 17 points, don't blink, let's build brick by brick to get back into the game.

If we're up 21 points, let's not blink, let's keep this lead and let's keep pushing. We like to go fast, we like to do what we do on defense, Josh does what he does on offense, and I feel like mindset really separates good teams from other good teams. Josh Allen, the leader of the offense, Von Miller, the leader of the defense, even though it's his first few months with Buffalo. As for the defense, holding the Steelers to 0-4 in the red zone, 0-3 on fourth down, because they raced out to a huge lead, Kenny Pickett had to throw the ball 52 times.

In his first start, the rookie goes 34-52, he does have over 300 yards passing, but the defense gets to him 3 times for sacks, and he throws an interception. And Mike Tomlin's crew, now remember Mike Tomlin's never had a losing season in 15 years as the head coach in Pittsburgh, now at 1-4. No need to really sugarcoat it, man. We got handled today, we got handled by a very good football team.

There's nothing mystical about it. They did similar things to Tennessee, so we know it's capable of happening. I'm just disappointed that we didn't coach well enough or play well enough.

Football is the ultimate team game, that's why we all love it so much, that's why we all respect it so much. We got smashed as a collective today, so I don't have a lot of individual analysis. Point blank, 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.

So you can hear the voice of Kenny Pickett. This is disappointing all around, and I appreciate what Tomlin said. We got smashed.

There is really no way, at least in the immediate aftermath, to be able to pinpoint one guy here, one guy there. It all works in concert, and as he says, football is the ultimate team sport. We've got two completely separate units who are on the field at one time, not to mention the impact special teams can have. So this was an unmitigated disaster for Pittsburgh, and I'm thinking the Steelers are likely to be in our mortified Monday poll. Miserable and mortified on Monday.

Monday morning quarterback, there's a whole lot to pick apart. I don't fear sudden death. For the Steelers. Oh no, death is not sudden. Death may take the course of 18 weeks in the regular season. But thank you to the Bills for ensuring that I will reach week six in the Survivor pool. This is getting to the scary territory, though I've never made it past week six. There may be fewer than six people left on our two islands, so we'll find out once we get through Monday night.

They didn't make me sweat it out, though. My fantasy team, that's entirely different. I can't even look. Right now, I can't even look.

I've got better things to do. Find me on Twitter, ALawRadio, also on our Facebook page. Love to hear from you after what was the first full weekend in October.

My little brother turned 35 today. First full weekend in October, and it was all happening all the time, everywhere. Four wild card series, a quadruple header in football, and am I the only one who looks at the NFC East and says, that could be the best division in football? I mean, if you know me, that's an about face. I generally deliver punch lines at the expense of the NFC East, and I enjoy them too.

Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, all winners, watch out! We'll get to that next. At the top of the hour, Bob Nightingale is in Los Angeles getting set for the division series between the Padres and the Dodgers, and he will join us to talk about what transpired over the last three days in the baseball postseason. If you're feeling down and having trouble getting up in the morning, here's a tip. Brush your teeth.

That's it. Often when we wake up, our brains go into planning mode, which leads to overthinking and stress before our head even leaves the pillow. Something simple like brushing your teeth can break that cycle and jumpstart your day. This tip was brought to you by BetterHelp Online Therapy, which connects you with a licensed therapist via video, phone, or online chat. Visit betterhelp.com slash positive and save 10% on your first month.

This is your operating system talking, not your computers or your phones, but your internal human operating system. I'm feeling a little overloaded. Here's how you can ease my stress. Close your eyes or softly gaze at something in front of you. Now inhale for four counts, exhale for six. Keep repeating.

Much better. Longer term, there's BetterHelp Online Therapy. They'll match us with the licensed therapist we can connect with via video, phone, or chat.

Visit betterhelp.com slash positive and save 10% on our first month. It's After Hours on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Third down and one. Malcolm Brown is checked in at running back. Stafford is under center on third and one.

And play fake 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. It's time to pull on the pads and hit somebody.

On After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. First drive of the game for the Dallas Cowboys. Defense first, baby.

Defense wins championships. Matthew Stafford gets sacked and there's a fumble scooped up by Tank Lawrence that goes 19 yards for a score. That's 90 seconds in. And the Cowboys fans at SoFi Stadium, absolutely insane. And that was just the beginning. That was the appetizer, if you will, for the Dallas defense. It's After Hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Second drive is a blocked punt by Dorrance Armstrong that's recovered and leads to a Cowboys field goal.

Up 9-0. Now it's hard to hold Cooper Cupp in check. And to watch him work is amazing. I don't care how good your defense is, he works the angles.

He paints the corners, if you will. He takes the ball on this extremely shallow crossing route. Maybe like 10 feet from Matthew Stafford. And then works the room, works the field and goes 75 yards for a touchdown. So Matthew Stafford, the Rams, they actually had the lead then on their own field.

But Dallas was really working the run game. They only asked Cooper Cupp to throw the ball 16 times. Cooper Cupp, sorry. Cooper Rush, I knew I was going to do that. Why do they have to be on the field at the same time in the same place?

That makes it more challenging. Cooper Rush only throws the ball 16 times. I think he was 10 for 16 in this game.

But what they do is they work that run game, which gives them ball control. So Ezekiel Elliott carries it 22 times. Tony Pollard, would we call him the closer? 8 carries, 86 yards for him. He breaks a long one that goes 57 just before the half. So again, you have Pollard with 57 yards on his touchdown run and Rush with only 49 yards passing in the first half. They're not asking him to do a whole lot except to manage the game, take care of the football.

It may not be sexy, but you know what's sexy? Winning! It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Dallas only manages a pair of field goals in the second half because you know the Rams have a defense as well. But the Cowboys D gives up no points. It didn't sound much like a home field advantage. There are a lot of Cowboys fans there.

In fact, I'm pretty sure I heard a beat LH here at one point. But still, you're not on your own field. You're not at home. You don't have your star quarterback. You're playing the Super Bowl champions and you give up no points. After the Cooper Cup 75-yard TD, not another drop from Matthew Stafford and the offense. He gets sacked and fumbles and throws an interception on the last two drives for the Rams in the fourth quarter.

So get this. The Dallas defense has five sacks, 11 quarterback hits, and three takeaways. Rush barely throws for 100 yards. But this was a runaway win. They won by double figures. They were able to control the ball with the run 163 yards on the ground.

And ultimately, I could throw a whole bunch of numbers at you. Stafford's numbers, Rush's numbers, Cup's numbers. What matters is that without Dak Prescott, who couldn't be a bigger cheerleader for Cooper Rush, the Cowboys have won four consecutive games.

Yeah, you don't want to get in too many passing situations all day long because then he pins his ears back and it's tough on us. But we ran the rock well in our defense, got us a score, got us a short field. Just another truly team win. A team win now that puts them just behind the Eagles at the top of the NFC East. I should say, just behind the Eagles but they're tied with the Giants. So the Eagles who are 5-0, we'll talk about them in a second. Giants are also 4-1. But man, that defense is just as good as it was a year ago and now has a little more experience for guys like Micah Parsons.

I'm very pleased, you know. Just the job's not finished. We started like this last year. We gotta keep going.

Can't stop. Cancel that. It's so funny to think about Jerry Jones saying that he hopes there's a quarterback controversy.

And anyone who wants to kind of bring that at me, I'm happy to debate it with you. There is no quarterback controversy. Cooper Rush is, he's gonna have teams calling to see if they can trade for him because he's not making a lot of mistakes. He delivers the football when he has to. But what matters most is the winning. And let's be honest, it's the defense, even special teams in this game, that is giving Dallas this cushion and this buffer for the offense to not be dynamic.

To just be solid. Maybe even a little boring. But again, as I say, winning is not boring.

So we'll hear from Jera a little bit later on the show. Matthew Stafford, though, gets roughed up and also makes some mistakes. And that Rams offense is, it's a mess.

Not as bad as Pittsburgh, but close. Just trying to live in the moment. Figure out, you know, what can I do better to help this team. And I don't want to sit there and think about things that happened last year, ten years ago, whatever it is.

Just do everything I can to be here and now. It's disappointing to lose football games. There's no question.

Not play as well as you possibly can and all those things. But I do have a lot of trust and confidence in the guys in our locker room, you know, to do everything within their power to get this thing turned around. I love Matthew Stafford.

I'll ride with that guy to the end of time. And he's continuing to do everything in his power, you know, to try to help our team move the football, score points, and we've got to be able to help him out more. I appreciate that Sean McVay still goes to bat for his quarterback.

And yeah, getting smashed five times, running for your life, doesn't give you a whole lot of time. The defense for Dallas really did work to stuff the run. Kim Akers a couple of times looked like he was going to break plays and just couldn't get away from the defense. Kopp is really the only guy who is on the highlight reel.

But how about this? Well, Aaron Donald. I should say Aaron Donald too because he's just a beast. But after greeting Cooper Rush rudely earlier in the game, Donald is actually impressed by the backup QB. 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 looking good on film. That's some high praise right there from Aaron Donald for Cooper Rush, even though he sacked him twice and also Donald throws in a tackle for a loss for good measure. It's Cooper Clutch.

So the two Cooper Clutches in this game. So the Cowboys have now won four in a row. They have the same record as the Giants, as I say, in the NFC East. But it's the Eagles who are still undefeated.

The only team left in the NFL. They have all three tight ends in. And we're seeing more and more Jalen Hurts going under center down close. And he is under center. And he does sneak.

And he pushes and shoves. And he's in for the touchdown. Eagles with a two-touchdown lead. Eagles did have a 14-0 advantage early on with a pair of Jalen Hurts rushing touchdowns. Though Arizona was able to come all the way back and tie this game early in the fourth quarter, a 12-play 90-yard march. And it was Eno Benjamin with this physical 11-yard run.

Lots of hands on him, but he was able to keep going and break through into the end zone. So they're tied at 20. And Philadelphia keeps the ball nearly eight minutes. Goes 17 plays. They have a bunch of snaps in the red zone, but ultimately they settle for a Cameron Dicker field goal. So Arizona quickly gets into field goal range and has their own opportunity to tie. 43-yard attempt. The ball is spotted. The kick is underway. And the kick is no good. It's no good.

It is wide right. No good. He missed it. The officials hesitated. And he missed it.

Meryl Reese on Eagles Radio. Something interesting about this is that I think there were still about 22 seconds left on the clock. Kyler Murray was running for a first down and somehow loses track of the marker and ends up sliding short of the first down. So on third down he's a yard short. So they could have easily run another play or two to pick up a few more yards for Matt Amendola who was promoted off the practice squad this week. But they leave him a 43-yarder and it goes wide right, I believe.

But yeah, Kyler could have gotten a few more yards, but he ends up losing track of where he is. Alright, playoff baseball with Bob Nightingale is next after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Thanks. Keep repeating.

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