After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

Okay, so there were some unique questions there in Ask Amy Anything. Jay and I are kind of at a crossroads about what we want our next YouTube video to be. He thinks that we should be doing another video version of Ask Amy Anything. I would prefer to do the next episode in our Stairway to Seven series. Right now, of course, none of that's happening because it's so crazy busy. But we are kind of at a crossroads.

I don't know Jay, if you're even close to having enough questions to do a video version of Ask Amy Anything. I've been saving, I've been saving a little bit and picking up ones from, you know, as weeks go on, I store them, I save them, kind of like a squirrel with his nuts. Really? A little bit. Yes. Okay. Acorns.

But okay. I have a bunch of squirrels, a family of squirrel squirrels who eat peanuts somewhere in the neighborhood. I don't know who puts their peanuts out for them. But like, I get into my shed in early spring when I haven't been in there all winter. And the entire floor of my shed is covered with peanut shells. So there's apparently a family of squirrels somewhere who pick up the peanuts and the peanut shells and bring them back to my shed.

My nice, warm, comfy shed. It looks like one of those, is it Texas Roadhouse where you get a bucket of peanuts and people eat the, you just crack the shells and people eat the peanuts and throw the shells in the floor. I've never been to one, but sounds familiar. I think that's the restaurant, but almost like a ballpark, right? Yeah. When we went to the ballpark, that's what we were doing. We were eating fresh peanuts and people just drop the shells all over. Yeah.

So that's what my shed looks like. That was not where I was going, but Jay says something about squirrel, blind squirrel finding a nut. So that's what happened. Anyway, we haven't gotten to that point where we're ready to do another YouTube video. We can barely coordinate when to watch the latest episodes of Andor.

So right now there's just a lot going on and we're getting pulled in a bazillion different directions. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You can find us on Twitter After Hours CBS. I always go back and try to answer some of your questions after the fact on our hump day. And I also appreciate that we get unique questions now and then. So yes, we will definitely do this again every week, same time, same amazing local affiliate or Sirius XM. Or if you listen to the podcast or you listen online, cbssportsradio.com, the Odyssey app, whatever it is, ask Alexa. We're thrilled to have you with us. And I still get people all the time who say, hey, I'm moving. Where can I find your show?

Or I'm changing shifts at work. How can I follow your show? Which means a lot to us, the fact that you want to take us with you. That's a great compliment. So we appreciate you hanging out with us. And the hump show is just, it's something we have to soldier through together. We're inside the Rocket Mortgage Studios when you need cash out of your home and a simple way to get it.

Rocket can. So on Twitter or on our Facebook page After Hours with Amy Lawrence. If you've never checked out our YouTube channel, there's all kinds of goodies there.

So feel free to do that on your own time. Easy to find. If you search After Hours with Amy Lawrence and my mom can find me on YouTube and she doesn't know anything about YouTube. Weirdly enough, she actually sent me a YouTube video and a link last week. I was very surprised. I thought it was spam.

What is happening? How is my mom sending me a YouTube video? If my mom can do it, so can you.

Want to hear something crazy, Jay? I swear this, I again thought, is this actually my mom? Who are you and what have you done with my mom?

What did she do? Actually, I'll read you the text because you're not going to believe this came from my mom. So this is how I know that the whole world, quote unquote, is talking about roughing the passer penalties. My mom watches football only because her husband has it on and she sends me this text after her husband was making a joke about it. It's just some stupid meme that he said to my mom.

Mike and I have our own little mini group text. A lot of times we're talking about our dogs, but whatever. So he sends me this stupid meme about the refs on Monday night. And my mom writes back, if they were such bad calls, why weren't they challenged? I was like, Mom, what? Where did you get that language from?

Why weren't they challenged? That's awesome. I was like, that is really in depth for someone who doesn't like football. After like a half a football on Sundays, she'll send me a text from Houston.

This is so boring. And now she's looking for challenges. When I have to work from her house, do you have to watch that all day? Well, yes, Mom. Yes, I do. Anyway, yes.

If they were such bad calls, why weren't they challenged? I love my mom. She's the smartest person on the planet. Anyway, so that's a great question. And we do have an answer actually coming from the NFL and some sources. So we'll get to that on this hour or during this hour on this edition of the hump show here on CBS Sports Radio. We've also got some QB news too. And even though Mike Tomlin's not talking directly about QBs, he's talking about offense. Can we just go ahead and trot out Mike Tomlin? It has nothing to do with what we're about to talk about, which is playoff baseball. But did you hear what he said?

We need this as a drop. So this is Mike Tomlin, the great Mike Tomlin, the great quote on whether or not he is going to make changes to play calling or who's in charge of the offense or anything like that with the Steelers scuffling at one and four. I don't intend to change for the sake of changing to shoot a hostage, if you will, or anything like that. He said, I don't intend to make change for the sake of changing to shoot a hostage. If you will shoot a hostage, if you will. Oh my gosh.

Okay. That's the kind of term that I would drop out there because I watched too many crime dramas. I love all the FBIs, all the law enforcement dramas like Chicago PD and of course Chicago Fire.

That's the kind of, I love that kind of TV and movie. I had no idea that Mike Tomlin and I had that in common. In fact, I was just watching an edition of FBI on Tuesday in between the two games or the two rounds of games and they did have a hostage crisis. I wonder if Mike Tomlin was watching the same thing.

He was probably watching the same episode. I'm not going to make a change just for the sake of change. I'm not going to shoot a hostage, if you will, to shoot a hostage, if you will. Okay.

Let's be honest. Have you ever heard another NFL head coach or a head coach in any sport? Use that phrase.

No, really haven't. Can we add it to our Mike Tomlin open? Uh, yeah, I can totally can. I mean, that's way more interesting than what Troy Aikman said on Monday Night Football to shoot a hostage. I mean, I get what he's saying, but you wouldn't get what he's saying if you don't watch crime dramas or if you're not in the world of crime and drama. Yeah. I mean, I think he's watching too many law and order episodes.

There's no such thing as too many crime dramas. Do you think people are going to get really like outraged over it the way that people got outraged over the Troy Aikman comment? I don't. I don't. I mean, I don't love the Troy Aikman comment.

Let's be fair. I think it's definitely sexist, but for heaven's sakes, like whatever. I mean, it's not my favorite phrase, but there's no need to get outraged over it. Uh, interesting. I wonder if people are going to get outraged over shoot the hostage.

Huh? Have you, have you heard any uproar over it? I didn't hear it until I got to work. No, I haven't heard any uproar over it. I just, I think I heard more uproar over the fact that he's not going to change anything over the fact that he said he's not going to shoot.

All right. Cause I would hate to have Mike Tomlin get lambasted for something like that. That's that's dumb, but we're definitely going to use it as one of them.

Which is why he's not going to shoot a hostage. I wonder who he's thinking about. We're going to add that to our Mike Tomlin folder though, because that's fantastic. Again, only Mike Tomlin.

All right. Baseball now. Just I don't, that was in my head and I just needed to tell you that Mike Tomlin is not specifically referring to quarterbacks, but he is referring to play calling duties. And, and in our opinion, that means we can trot out any old Tomlin that we need to. So we're just preparing you for what you might hear from Mike Tomlin. You better knuckle up. It's put up and shut up time. What does it say about me that I have this stuff memorized? It's put up and shut up. It's a little bit like the star Wars movies.

I mean, why would you even watch them when you can recite every line like I can and yet it's still entertaining to recite Mike Tomlin press conferences, like, like movies. Well, that's the great part. The old one. Sure. But he comes up with something new every single day. Keeps you coming back.

He just another breadcrumb, another breadcrumb, another breadcrumb. Okay. All right. On that note, we're going to pivot. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS sports radio. The San Diego Padres got into a five nothing hole against the arch rival Los Angeles Dodgers and had an opportunity then to start fighting, scratching, clawing their way back in. Uh, and they had Julio Arias as well as the bullpen on the ropes in the fifth inning, Nola swings hits it in the air to left field. Thompson over towards the line. Kim going to tag Thompson makes the catch Kim on his way. Here's the throw to the plate. The tag is not in time. This now has a feel of a post season game.

You're really part of the game. It looked like the Dodgers are going to blow out the Padres. Well, the Padres got themselves back into this game. A one, two hard shot backhanded stab by Lux throws the second out of second on the first. What a play by Lux who throws to Turner, who fires a seed to first Meyers out by a step and the ending is over. A spectacular play turned in by Lux and Turner and into the receiving in Freeman.

Wow. That is not just Jesse Agler on Padres radio, but Charlie Steiner on Dodgers radio because after the Padres put three runs across the plate in the fifth, they ended up leaving. Uh, they ended up coming empty, coming up empty with the runners on second and third. Gavin Lux started the double play and it was a huge moment for the Dodgers because after that the bullpens really took over. So the Dodgers get on the board first and they're able to do what they do against the Padres, which is dominate them.

The final score doesn't look like domination. The fact is the Padres have lost 24 of their last 29 games to LA. So there is definitely a mental edge there for the Dodgers and the fact that they started out there in Dodger Stadium. But what I really appreciate and we saw some of this on Tuesday in the division series, especially the rematches, there's no intimidation here. The Padres are not intimidated by the Dodgers. In short, there's a little bit of gamesmanship. What did Freddie Freeman say? Well, they've, they're hot right now. We've been hot for seven months.

You know, like, so it's good because I like it when there's a little extra edge to it, when the familiarity breeds contempt. And so the Dodgers get on the board first and they avoid, I guess you could say three runs in the fifth is a big inning, but it could have been a whole lot bigger for the Padres. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Manny Machado certainly understands that they don't want to fall into an 0-2 hole against the Dodgers and then be on the ropes before they even get back to their own park.

Huge. I mean, obviously, you know, we got you on the mound, so, you know, we have confidence in him going up there. He's going to give us runs. We just got to give him a couple of runs to, you know, get us going. Speaking of you, it's funny because he said you, but he meant you as in why you.

Sometimes it's easy to lose that when guys are talking about you. So Yu Darvish against Clayton Kershaw in game number two, which takes place on Wednesday night. Now the Dodgers, they had real really no trouble with Mike Clevenger. They were able to get to him early and often, as I say. They had their runs on the board pretty quickly. And for Clevenger, well for Bob Melvin, putting Clevenger out there, kind of hoping that it would be a little more challenging, but it was actually the bullpen that performed a lot better because he had to get to the bullpen relatively quickly.

It's a team that makes you work and they make you throw a lot of pitches. And when you throw pitches in the middle of the plate, they take advantage of it. And that's kind of what I saw early on with him. He had at times had a good breaking ball, had times he'd had a good fastball, but they hit his mistakes. Clevenger didn't make it out of the third inning. Julio lasted the first five, but do you know for the first time since early July, as in before the All-Star break, he gave up three runs.

That's how good he's been. And it was to the Padres there with the three runs in the fifth. So game one goes to the Dodgers. And note here, by the way, this is a closer by committee situation for Dave Roberts because they decided to leave Craig Kimbrell off of their playoff roster. So no Craig Kimbrell, the guy that they brought in to replace Kenley Jansen, who obviously is now with the Braves, they decided they couldn't trust him.

I mean, let's be honest, that is what they decided. They didn't want to take up a roster spot with a guy that they were really uncomfortable putting out there in sticky situations. And he's, I mean, it felt like I was watching Kenley Jansen all over again.

No, no, Kenley's got a World Series ring and he's been so big in so many good situations, just like Craig, but not lately. And that's the part that gives you agita if you're Dave Roberts. Now, the Dodgers have some loud bats and the fact that they had five days off was a big deal, right? So guys were talking about it. The fact that they were able to take a break to reset. I mean, Trey Turner, he was right there in the mix initially in that first inning against Clevenger.

By the way, the game is being replayed on FS1. And he says the time off was critical. You know, I feel good. I feel like this year my body's felt, you know, as good as it has in a long time. Last few years and years past, you know, you play banged up, but this year's been pretty good. So I felt pretty good body wise. But yeah, having a few days off, I think, like I told you, mentally and physically just helps a little bit and help you hit the reset button real quick and then get right back to it. So yeah, I feel good. If you're a veteran team, that's okay.

Or if you're a veteran, that's okay. In the case of the Dodgers and Trey Turner, even though he wasn't with them for their World Series, he was obviously with the Nationals for theirs in 2019. And so the fact that these guys all recognize how you need to perform in the postseason, the edge, both mentally and physically that you need, that sense of urgency, the tension, and all of these are familiar feelings for the Dodgers for the most part. And I would say for the Braves as well, probably the Astros too, though they do have some, some younger guys that maybe haven't been in this situation before. Does it make the difference between who wins a series and who doesn't? Well, not necessarily. But if you're talking about having five days off and maybe getting out of rhythm and that whole rust factor, which five days seems quick to develop rust.

So that's not really an issue, but definitely not when you're talking about veteran clubs, who've got veteran leadership. So yeah, looking forward to seeing Clayton Kershaw after what was a bit of a surprise in a good way, season for him. But you know what?

That resurgent season for Justin Verlander did not translate into the postseason. So we'll get to that coming up. Man, there were some really cool fireworks on the first day of the divisional series, but there was one 25-year-old who has to be top billing. Name and lights on the marquee. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Good morning to you. It's Wednesday. It's our hump show here on CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours podcast. The one two on the way, swing and a drive into the gap. Hit right center field, down for extra bases. Here comes Frazier, Kellnick, Roddy, third being waved in. Julio at his second base, a two-run double for Julio Rodriguez, pounding his chest.

And the Mariners have a three-nothing lead. The look in by Verlander, and again, the one two to tie. Swing and a line shot up the middle, open the bag at second into center field. Julio being waved around third, up with the ball to McCormick. The throw will go into second.

Julio scores. RBI single for Ty France. Three runs are in here at the top of the second.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Rick Riz on Mariners Radio. The Mariners were able to get to Justin Verlander early and often. So six runs on 10 hits. This is Justin Verlander, who had a resurgent year, and I think you would call him a Cy Young candidate in the American League. But he has really struggled in the playoffs in his last six starts for the, for the Houston Astros in the postseason. So it's their last six starts.

He's over. He has not won any of those games, and his ERA is well over five. And so the Justin Verlander we're getting in the postseason over last year and then even to start this run is not the one that we are used to. Now, the Astros were able to chip away and chip away starting in the eighth and then on into the ninth.

This is why you never, ever, and I mean ever leave early. The House of Horrors for the Seattle Mariners continues as they mob Alvarez by home plate. A miraculous comeback for Houston. Astros win it eight to seven. Our team was very impressive today.

Just the resolve and the guys and I was really proud of everybody. Senior Don do that a ton. Every time he starts squaring balls up, you know he's going to do that a lot. So five runs in the eighth and the ninth for the Astros, who definitely enjoy playing against the Seattle Mariners. Now the Mariners were familiar with Justin Verlander and did not care that he's Justin Verlander, former Cy Young Award winner, MVP, World Series champion, blah blah blah.

And that's the beauty of facing a team in your division. You know the ballpark, you know the pitchers, you know the crowds. There's no unfamiliarity. There's no uncertainty. Everything is comfortable.

Well comfortable might be the wrong word. Everything is familiar with for you because you play there so many times. But the Astros also enjoy giving it to the Mariners and there's no love lost there, which is why this is fun. 41,125 fans that go completely nuts when Jordan Alvarez hits that home run, a walk off three run shot. By the way, one of the guys got on base with a hit by pitch. And so the first reliever who started, it was Patrick Siewald, right? The first reliever who started the ninth for the Mariners. He hit the, I think it was the first batter he faced. And so that put the extra runner on base. So Verlander ends up not being the pitcher of record. And he did give the Mariners credit for the way that they approached him.

But he's also taking credit for the comeback. This is actually kind of funny. I came up here to look at some stuff and things started going better for us. So just stayed up here and I didn't go back down there until you were done.

Hit the homer and I sprinted down as fast as I could and went and hugged him. What is it about superstitions? He actually believes, well, I think he's joking. Let's hope he's joking. But you know how baseball players are.

They're so superstitious. And then baseball fans as well. But he says he left and he went up to the media area, probably some film that he can watch there. He came up to look at some stuff and so he was away from the dugout is what he's saying. He wasn't in the dugout. He wasn't with his team, which I think should make it pretty clear how frustrated and upset he was about the way that he had pitched.

And then he stayed up there even as the Astros are coming back. Could you imagine, Jay, would you do that? I know you're superstitious, but would you actually do that? You don't want to see it from dugout level. You don't want to be with the be there with your teammates. You'd rather watch it on TV. If if I made a move and that made the team start winning, I wouldn't.

I would do a Verlander did. I scratched his butt. Does he have to keep scratching his butt until they come back?

He's got to scratch his butt all the rest of the game. That is ridiculous. It's so ridiculous. And the next game, it's like someone saying Justin Verlander has a no hitter in the eighth inning and then all of a sudden you have nothing to do with it. Just like Verlander's location in the stadium had absolutely nothing to do with it. I don't know, but hey, if it made him feel good and the team won, you ride with it, right? I mean, no way. There's no way that I would stay upstairs in a stadium full of the stadium was pandemonium and he missed it. He was upstairs. There were no one if he didn't do that. That's the thing.

OK, now you're just being ludicrous and ridiculous and asinine. Also, along those same lines, I just got this tweet from Alessandro. Are you ready? Hey, why no hockey talk this morning? I'm sorry, I just can't. We had two games, two games last night. And yes, the hockey season's underway. I've mentioned it.

I am not breaking down the first two NHL games when there are four playoff series and some controversy in the NFL. I'm sorry, you're just gonna have to forgive me. But if you know me, you just know. No, there's no.

Why are you so pissy, Alessandro? OK, I'm just I'm teasing, but that tweet did just catch my eye. If you two would like to complain, the suggestion box actually goes to producer Jay on Twitter.

A law radio. He'll be happy to answer all of your tweets and handle all of your concerns. Happy to make my day. Emojis. Can you do with emojis, please? I could. He sent us a couple of emojis.

One of them is the shrugging shoulders emojis. Why no hockey talk? The game went down to the wire. Just give him the upside down face here.

How about this? I wasn't watching the hockey game that went down to the wire because I was busy watching playoff baseball that also went down to the wire. Scott Service saw, of course, the the rally and the look on his face as he's. I got to give him credit because I have a lot of facial expressions and if I knew a camera was on me, it actually would be really difficult. He just had a bit of a grimace after the Astros walked off.

It's a tough one. There's no question about it. I thought we played a very good ball game today. We did a lot of great things offensively. Certainly got on Verlander early in the game and did exactly what we needed to do there. But as I talked earlier about it and our team about it, it's like a heavyweight fight.

You know, you're going to get punched and it's how you respond in those moments and that's a tough one. And today I thought we had it in hand. You got to give them credit. So the top two teams in terms of record.

I know it doesn't matter in the playoffs, but the top two teams in terms of record, the top seeds in the American League and the National League, they both win the openers at home. But there's more drama to come. Oh, I want to make sure I mention.

I adore Robert Ford and Steve Sparks as a play by play team. Can we just hear it again? They're yelling. It's fantastic because it's so loud at Minute Maid Park and it's the kind of noise because because it's closed, right? It's the kind of noise that you can't get rid of it.

It sits on you. And they probably couldn't hear themselves talk, much less think. And they are yelling at the top of their lungs. It's so amazing. The 01 and Alvarez belts it to right field. Unbelievable. You're not Alvarez. A walk off three run over and the Astros stunned the Mariners and gave one of the division series.

And credible. The House of Horrors for the Seattle Mariners continues as they Bob Alvarez by home plate. A miraculous comeback for Houston. The Astros went in eight to seven. So good.

Double your pleasure. Immaculate for everybody. I enjoy enjoy listening to them even when it's not a playoff game. And when I heard that call, I'm like, OK, we're gonna have to play that multiple times, especially especially Steve. So the first voice you hear is Robert Ford. The play by play for most of the innings. They go back and forth. But then Steve at the end, who's just screaming. It's fantastic.

I mean, you get carried away in the emotion. A miraculous comeback for Houston. The Astros went in eight to seven. I just want you to know we reached out to both of those guys, actually, to get them on the on the show at some point during the postseason, because they've been guests before and they're great.

But the game was earlier, so they were probably resting their vocal cords. The House of Horrors for the Seattle Mariners continues. So good. You guys rock. You killed it. All right. So we got the top seeds in each league moving on.

The Yankees game was relatively boring by their standards, I think, though they were able to get the redemptive performance from Garrett Cole and then the Phillies. You want to talk about a sigh of relief. So we'll mix that in. Well, not we won't mix it with our QB news, because that'd be like mixing motor oil and and milk. I just I don't think those two things go together.

Those are the two substances I could think of. Anyway, we'll we'll manage to jam it all in. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours podcast. I saw him swing and then I saw him hit it and it was just going towards me and I ran and caught it as best I could and it worked out. I mean, that was kind of what was going through my head, honestly, was I was up there and do anything I could to not let it hit the ground. I thought he played great. I mean, from from at bat one to, you know, being the ninth inning right there, I thought our whole lineup really had a really good plan today against Fried. Time of hitting with two outs also just really, I think, all around. I thought everybody did a great job and what a team win.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Bryce Harper raving about about Nick Castellanos, who really was the star of the show for the Phillies win in Atlanta yesterday. But man, it was dicey. Matt Olson hits a three run home run to bring the Braves within a single run in the ninth. And the the diving catch by Nick to be able to rob William Contreras of an extra base hit and keep that rally going.

That was the moment. But Nick also had three hits and three RBI. And this was after a tough season and the fact that he went 0 for 7 in the wildcard round. So you hear the call there on Braves radio. Phillies hanging on for dear life there until the end.

Now, it wasn't quite that dramatic for Garrett Cole, but he faced a pretty intense moment against the Guardians top of the third. And he actually left the bases loaded. And so his stat line looks great.

Six and a third. He gives up just a single run. That was the Stephen Kwon Homer on four hits. He has eight strikeouts. He throws 100 pitches, but there's a little touch and go there. And I thought we might see maybe not a repeat of last year's wildcard game, but I don't know.

I wondered if he was going to cave to the pressure. I thought we did a really good job early driving this pitch count up. And then he had a real quick fourth inning that kind of got him back into the game where he was able to actually go out for the seventh. We had a real good opportunity.

We had bases loaded and didn't cash in. So that doesn't help, but he's got pretty good stuff. I mean, you watch the game, he's got velocity, he spins the ball.

Pretty tough to get a beat on. Gave him a couple free bases there in the first couple innings, but really got really good defensively as the game wore on and made some really good plays behind him. But I thought Garrett was, I thought he did a really good job of, you know, kind of owning the moment.

Being unpredictable and I thought his breaking ball was really, really on point tonight. Little bit of redemption for Garrett Cole after the Yankees early exit last year, though of course this is best of five. Tonight, well this afternoon, we've got game two between the Phillies and Braves. That's 4.35 Atlanta time.

And then the Dodgers will host game two against the Padres. And that is at 5.37 local time at 8.37 East. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We love it when you join us for the hump show.

We cram as much in as we possibly can. And true to our word, we're obsessed with our quarterbacks. It's time for QB news on after hours. I already talked fast, but I might have to go even faster on this edition of the show.

And I promised you the update on the roughing the pastor stuff as well, so I need to work that in. But first, let's begin with Ron Rivera insulting his quarterback. So if you missed it, on Monday he was asked at his press conference, what's the difference between the commanders and the other teams in the AFC East that, I'm sorry, the NFC East that right now have a combined two losses? So Eagles, Giants, Cowboys, two losses among them, his answer, quarterback.

Ron Rivera said the answer is quarterback. And obviously that's insulting to Carson Wentz indirectly, though he did say he doesn't have any regrets bringing Carson on board. Coach addressed it, handled it, nothing for me that I'm overly concerned about. Coach is a very straightforward, up-front guy and he addressed it in the team meeting which I thought was really cool and what he meant by it all, so I feel very confident in that. I spoke to my team this morning. I basically told them that I said some things that were misconstrued. I didn't present it properly and that's on me, so I took accountability, told the guys that I should know better, and I had a bad day.

He's dropping more and more swear words, more and more words that have to be bleeped in his press conferences. Ron Rivera's going through it, but he's from a military family, he's tough, he's a cancer survivor. This is bringing out some true character in Ron and I do appreciate that he accepted responsibility. It's happened to all of us.

We've all had a bad day here or there, maybe some of us more than others. It's after hours, CBS Sports Radio, same division, Jerry Jones keeps answering the question, when and how will they decide if Dak Prescott is ready to return to the field? He's got to spin the ball. He's got to really spin the ball and you just think about it, put your hand down on something like would be the equivalent of a football, try to do that without thumb strength. Try to spin that ball, try to direct that ball without thumb strength if you're really giving a proper throw.

You can't do it. But if you do have strength and can grip the ball, then you can spin the ball. Unlike most injuries that you have to have a feel, you have to develop ability to see if the quickness is there, what's the degree of quickness back, if you didn't have an injury, all of that.

Seems pretty simple to detect. Can he zip the ball out there and not make the throw? We'll start working on that Wednesday real hard. He's certainly doing the kinds of things medically that you want to do.

That is the indications, the x-rays, all of that, having tremendous improvement. But can he spin the ball? We know that Scott can play and we know he'll be ready to play the minute he gets a chance to go in the game. Can he spin the ball?

I mean, all I can think is Globetrotter when he says it over and over like that. That's Jerry Jones on Sean and RJ, our Dallas affiliate 105.3, the fan. But let's be frank, there's a less, there's less of a sense of urgency when your team is not lost since Dak Prescott got hurt. And I love, love how thrilled he is for Cooper Rush.

Can he spin the ball? Stop it. Hey, the Giants have only lost one game. They got the same record as the Dallas Cowboys. They rallied from two touchdowns back of the Packers in London.

So Aaron Rodgers with Pat McAfee. What happened in London against the Giants? They threw a lot at us. I thought we handled it for the most part pretty well. We just had basically the one sack, not counting the last Hail Mary attempt. So I thought the line held up pretty good. We ran the ball decent and they got some studs in the inside, 97 as a premier player.

But they play really well together. They fly the ball. And you know, we had some opportunities, but I said after the game, you know, our margin of victory right now is, our margin of error, sorry, is just, it's tiny, you know, we need to increase that through, you know, better on third down, better in situation of football, get some turnovers on defense. And look, we're five games in, we're three and two, you know, we're in the mix. After five, we got to, you know, stretch right here coming up after this home game of a few road games in a row that we're going to have to go on the road and win in some other environment.

Not in first place, though. That belongs to the Minnesota Vikings. We know Aaron Rodgers likes a challenge, though, on the Pat McAfee show on Tuesdays. Now, he also talked about roughing the passer and the fact that he believes the playing field is tilted away from the defense. He actually said playing the other side of the ball is hard. You missed that. It's earlier in our show on our podcast. Tom Brady on his Let's Go podcast was weighing in on the Grady Jarrett roughing the passer penalty late in the fourth quarter of his game or the Bucs game against the Falcons.

It was a long hug and a long unwelcome hug from Grady, and he was in the backfield all day. So as I said, after the games, I don't throw flags. What I do throw is tablets.

He had a hell of a game. That's I'll leave it at that. Have we at any point reached that that moment where the tablet jokes aren't funny? I mean, I laugh at everything, so I'm not a good gauge. Are the tablet jokes still funny? They're still funny.

All right. Well, he's going to trot them out even when he gets on Fox. It's Fox, right? That he's going to NBC, Fox, Fox, Yeah, I can't keep.

I can't keep track of all their money. Even when he ends up as a broadcaster, you can be sure there'll be plenty of tablet jokes. And plus, Jim Gray's a friendly audience, too, because Jim will laugh at anything he says as well. Tom Brady with Jim Gray on Let's Go and Sirius XM radio.

All right. We're going to shift a little bit now to the NFC South while staying there. I guess we are with Brady, but we know Baker Mayfield is injured. Steve Wilkes has taken over for the fired Matt rule. So what is the sit rep with their quarterbacks? We won't really get an official injury report until tomorrow. So we're still waiting to see exactly where Baker stands.

P.J. is up and ready. He does a great job in being a pro and preparing each and every day. I have total confidence in him if he has to step in and play.

All right. So the official injury report may not be out, but according to the unofficial report and the sources, Mayfield has a high ankle sprain, no other structural damage, but two to six weeks. I mean, that's a that's a wide range, but that's the deal with high ankle sprains. You just there's really not a whole lot you can do.

It has to heal on its own. Ask Mac Jones. It's pretty common in sports. So P.J. Walker it is, which is maybe why David Tepper made the move now to get rid of Matt rule.

All right. So that's inside the NFC South with the Panthers. And then one more, because Mike Tomlin is answering questions about whether or not he should give up play calling duties. I don't intend to change for the sake of changing to shoot a hostage, if you will, or anything of that nature.

If changes produce better outcomes or seemingly produce better outcomes, or we feel like it puts us in position to produce better outcomes, then I'm open to it, certainly. Steelers averaging barely over six passing yards per attempt, which is nearly the bottom of the barrel in the NFL. And they only have two passing touchdowns. They did make the move to Kenny Pickett, but he had to face that Buffalo defense in his first start. So that was tough. So almost all NFC, except for some Mike Tomlin. Shoot the hostage. I'm sure he didn't mean you, Mitch Trubisky, or you, Kenny Pickett.

My gosh, that's such a, it's a fantastic phrase if you're a fan of crime dramas like me. I mentioned this earlier, broke it down a little more, but in case you're wondering, no, the NFL did not, according to the AP, did not encourage its officials to call more roughing the passer penalties after two was concussion when he was injured on national TV. Now take that with a grain of salt, you can believe it or not. But we already know that the NFL competition committee will be reviewing roughing the passer, though isn't likely to make changes during the season. So we'll see. We'll see what happens moving forward.

But yes, the NFL is aware because we're all complaining. Have a great hump day. We'll talk to you tonight. It's After Hours, CBS 4tradio. Boom!