After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

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.

There's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today. Well, if you want a touchdown, you got touchdowns. You got your touchdowns from Thursday Night Football. And I dare say that when I tell you this next stat, you're not going to believe me, but it's true. Actually, there's two crazy stats from tonight's game about the Arizona Cardinals, and both of them are a bit jarring. But one of them specifically, I almost couldn't believe it when I heard Kevin Coogler say it on the Westwood One broadcast.

Are you ready? This is a nerd alert to kick off week seven in the NFL. The Arizona Cardinals just scored 40 points for the first time since January of 2017. That was the longest drought, duh, in the NFL.

Men lie, women lie, but the numbers don't. First time in almost six years that they have scored 40 plus points, and it obviously took their defense to get it done. Because this looked as though it was going the way of yet another offensive struggle.

Scraping together yards, doing what they can to get in field goal range. Even with DeAndre Hopkins, initially it didn't look like this was going to be one of those games where they would have the ability to move the football with relative ease. But welcome back, DeAndre Hopkins.

That's huge. Even as they lose Hollywood Brown, of course they bring in Robbie Anderson. If you were expecting him to make an impact in his first game with the Cardinals, think again. But DeAndre Hopkins is a game changer, and Kyler Murray will rely on him. The same way that, say, a Patrick Mahomes relies on a Travis Kelce. The same way that Tom Brady relies on a Mike Evans. It's the go-to guy.

It's the guy that you count on to get the job done. And not only does DeAndre Hopkins catch pretty much, well not everything that's thrown to him, but everything within reason that's thrown to him. Not only can he move the ball and move the chains and score, but he also forces defenses to adjust the way they play. So welcome back to DeAndre Hopkins, but as I say, it took a defensive jolt. It took the defense sticking its finger into the light socket for there to be any kind of electricity in this game in the desert to kick off week number seven. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. It's been a long time since I've started the show with a nerd alert, but I thought it was worth it.

First time over 40 points since January of 2017. Wow. 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. You can find me on Twitter, A Law Radio. Also on our Facebook page, After Hours with Amy Lawrence. As we head through this first hour, we got a lot to do. You know we got stuff to do.

That's what happens on our final show of the work week. I just want you to know without sharing all the details, it's a wonder I'm breathing. Breathing and talking. Sometimes that is the biggest challenge.

And tonight on the show, breathing is the biggest challenge. I'm just going to keep looking at all the pictures of dogs that you sent me. Well, I would if I had a computer, but I don't have a computer. So I'm going to envision all the pictures of dogs that you sent me. And coming up, sometime in the next hour or so, not exactly sure when, we'll welcome our guest from the desert, Bob McMahon, a man who's covered the Cardinals for decades for the Arizona Republic. Right now, every team in the NFC West is sitting on three wins. That's it. Just three.

All of them. Isn't that crazy? And we're going to talk about the Niners here in a second.

They thrust themselves into the spotlight. But the Niners, the Seahawks, which might be the biggest surprise, the Super Bowl champion Rams, and now the Cardinals all have three wins. Cardinals have four losses instead of three, but the rest of the division is three and three.

All right. What's up with that? This division was supposed to be one of the toughest in football. I suppose you could say there's parity.

I hate that word. But what really is going on is that there are no complete teams in that division. And really, where are there any complete teams?

The Eagles are the closest we've got, but even the Eagles would tell you they're not a complete team. But as we kick off week seven, I'm expecting this weekend, this coming Sunday and then into Monday, to produce some more complete performances. And so we'll get up our Game of the Week poll when we have an opportunity.

We'll head to the desert for a firsthand account of what exactly was going on between Kyler Murray and his head coach in the second quarter before the Cardinals gave their home fans a show. And there's the other nerd alert that you probably have heard, but still is a little bit odd, considering the Cardinals started last season. 7-0. They were the last team to earn a loss or the last team to pick up a loss. Do you know they haven't won at home in a calendar year? Not since October of 2021 have they won in their own stadium, which, by the way, is hosting the Super Bowl.

So I'm not sure which one is stranger. The fact that they took an entire year in between victories at home, or the fact that they have not put 40 points on the board in nearly six years, not since January of 2017. Either way, it was going horribly wrong for the Arizona Cardinals.

And, man, it only took about two and a half minutes for the Saints to decide they were going to pile on. Play action. Dalton to throw. Looking deep. Looking for Shaheed over the middle.

Shaheed's got it. Lunging for the end zone. Twists and twirls in for the touchdown. Rashid Shaheed, 53 yards on the receiving end of the bomb from Andy Dalton. And a 6-0 start for the New Orleans Saints.

Oh, are you kidding me? For those of you who maybe forgot the game kicked off at 8.15 Eastern Time, 5.15 in the desert, for maybe those of you who forgot because you were watching baseball, or you were getting dinner, or you weren't even home from work yet, depending on what part of the country you're in, well, you missed a 43, whoops, I don't want to jilt them 10 yards, 53-yard strike from Andy Dalton, who's still starting for Jamis Winston, to Rashid Shaheed, who's been a nice jolt for the Saints offense. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

That's Kevin Coogler on Westwood 1. Just about the time that the Saints are about to tack on another touchdown, the defense shows up. And not a moment too soon, a 15-play drive for the Saints.

They're wearing out the Cardinals defense. This is after they've already hit them with a 53-yard touchdown pass. Hit them high, then hit them low, they're in the red zone, and Dalton throws an interception in the end zone. So the defense spares the Cardinals from giving up a second touchdown in that first quarter.

And maybe emboldened by that initial interception off Andy Dalton, the Cardinals defense makes a very loud statement through the rest of that first half. Back to pass goes Dalton on first down. Fires over the middle, the ball is tipped into the air and it's picked off at the 30-yard line. Running left at a 20, Marko Wilson to the 10, he high-steps, and then he does a flip into the end zone for the touchdown. Marko Wilson with a pick-six, and the Cardinals take the lead 20-14. Dalton's straight drop back, throws over the middle, and a one-handed interception by Isaiah Simmons in midfield.

Runs it back to the left of the 40, at the 30, at the 25, at the 20, and Simmons in back-to-back. Interception returns for a touchdown by the Cardinals at the end of the half. The third pick thrown by Andy Dalton, and the Cardinals defense with takeaways, turning them directly into scores. Whoo, well that'll give your Cardinals offense a bit of a cushion, right? Can I jump ahead and read you Andy Dalton's stat line? 30 of 47, 361 yards, four touchdowns.

Ooh, if you stop reading there, it's good. Three interceptions. All of them coming in the first half, and they turn this game on its head. I say this a lot, but momentum is fleeting in sports. First you think you've got it, first you think you have a choke hold on momentum and on your opponent, and then, rut roh, it's a living, breathing organism, and all of a sudden, Big Mo is on the other sideline.

I know a bunch of former NFL players who call it Big Mo. I don't particularly love that, but Big Mo, he defected to the other sideline. So yeah, three interceptions, two of them returned for touchdowns, and at that point, Kyler Murray and the Cardinals offense had no choice but to join the party. Shotgun formation, snap to Murray, quick throw, left side, it's caught at the one, and into the end zone for the touchdown is Greg Gartz. They do punch it in, Kyler Murray with his first touchdown pass of the game, and it's 34-17 with 29 seconds left in the third. This is the kind of game you want to write home about. This is the kind of game that can springboard you forward.

It had everything. It had Eno Benjamin with 92 yards and a score. Not need your rushing yards and a score, he's actually over 100 yards if you throw in a few catches. DeAndre Hopkins, 10 catches, over 100 yards.

Kyler Murray, 20 of 27, efficient, not asking him to throw the ball a ton, and you don't have to once your defense gives you a big lead. I mean, just to tack on the exclamation point, your special teams recover the onside kick, so you don't have to worry about the Saints getting one last shot. Over 40 points, your defense is the star, and you get a win with now the mini-buy because it's Thursday Night Football. I'm not going to tell you all is right with the Cardinals, but I do believe this can go a long way toward them being competitive in the NFC West. Of course, this game was on Amazon Prime, Kyler Murray stopping by the postgame desk, and he was raving about the defense. They've been doing this all season. They've been playing well all season. Offense, it's on us to pick up our side of the ball, and like I said, they're going to continue to work hard, continue to do their thing. It's on us to do ours. Oh, sorry, needed a sip of coffee there.

Thank you, Kyler, on Amazon Prime. When we talked to Bob McManaman from the Arizona Republic who's in the desert, I got to ask him what Kyler would say has been stunting the offense, holding up the offense, because there's a lot of people that would point to Kyler. Now, they've had a revolving door when it comes to receivers.

Think about it. DeAndre Hopkins was out, now he's back. Hollywood Brown, they got him on a trade draft night, now he's out. They trade for Robbie Anderson.

He didn't do anything, though he did get on the field. Last year was James Conner, who was a huge revelation for them at the running back position. And now Conner's hurt again. And so it's just been a revolving door. Now, that can serve as a strength for them down the road if they can get more guys up to speed and they have more options.

But right now, it's hard to get adjusted, it's hard to get comfortable. So I really hope Hopkins stays healthy. He has been for most of his career, because they've got to find some type of consistency with that offense. You can only ask the defense to do so much. Now, we're going to put up the video at some point on our show Twitter, After Hours CBS. If you can read lips, you will see on said video that there is a moment in the second quarter.

Now, this is before the Cardinals flipped the script, had the two pick sixes. But there's a moment where Kyler Murray's coming off the field, in the red zone, and they call a timeout. He's coming off the field, and he tells Cliff Kingsbury to, I'm paraphrasing here, relax. He didn't actually say relax. He told him to calm the bleep down.

Wow. I don't know that I've ever said that to a coach before. I said a lot of things to coaches, but I don't know if I ever said that. Calm the bleep down.

DeAndre Hopkins, thank goodness he's back, had to get in between Kyler and the coach, Kyler and Cliff, and essentially tell Kyler to breathe. And maybe he said the same thing to him, calm the bleep down. So we're going to have to ask Bob about that too.

Kyler was asked about it, this, we'll call it heated exchange, when he was on Amazon Prime. Just trying to win. At the end of the day, we're both competitors. I know how he gets on the sidelines, and I'm the same way, but at the end of the day, we're just trying to win. He said I didn't look good on TV, acting that fiery.

So I said, I don't know, this is a Gen Z thing, you're on TV, so calm down. Like, I like showing emotion. I love to see that. I mean, honestly, I love being part of a team that two people are dedicated and that focused on winning. And obviously you're going to butt heads. I'm not married, but from what I hear, that's like a marriage. Did you hear people laughing?

I mean, I'm sorry, I've not been married yet. Someday I will, but if someone ever says to me, my husband never says to me, calm the bleep down. Oh, I don't think that's going to actually get me to calm down.

I'm thinking it's going to do the opposite. But we know, we've talked about it actually this week, with Tom Brady getting the faces of his offensive linemen. We asked Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner how often there's yelling on the sidelines.

We'll bring back that answer a little bit later on. I don't generally get upset by it. It's funny because earlier in my career, I guess before there were so many cameras showing us every angle of every game with every player and every movie makes on the sidelines. I didn't love it as much.

I used to make a thing out of it, or I used to be a little more critical of those exchanges. Not anymore. They happen all the time.

They really do if you're watching. Guys get fired up. Now, for whatever reason, Steve Wilks took exception to what Robbie Anderson was doing, which was not only going after his position coach, this is the Panthers, but also when he's getting the whole team together, Robbie multiple times removed himself from the offense. He was on a bike.

Then he was sitting by himself. He was wearing a hat, not his helmet. And Coach Wilks interpreted that in a way that was offensive and rude and detrimental and not only kicked him off the field, but ultimately, I'm sure had a hand in trading him. But that's not what happened here. Lots of emotions running high, especially when you are desperate for a win. The Cardinals were. They got one.

First time at home in a year. Got to start somewhere. All right. You can find me on Twitter. A-LOL radio. Also on our Facebook page.

We're glad to have you with us. Final show of the work week. Breathing. That's all I'm going to tell you is breathing is really critical to doing a radio show.

It's after hours. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app. Your trusted local radio stations. Coverage of your favorite teams. Live news from your hometown. And millions of podcasts on demand.

Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about. Like leagues and teams. Pause or rewind your local sports and news. And add shows to your queue to catch up later.

There's a lot to listen to. So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. 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.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. Finding the perfect suit can seem impossible. But finding one that's perfect for you is easy with Indochino. Choose your design and custom details. Then submit your measurements online. Or get measured in-store for a custom, made-for-you fit at an incredible price. And shop their new fall collection for seasonal styles. Find your perfect suit with Indochino. Get $50 off any purchase of $399 or more with promo code FALL UPDATE at Indochino.com.

That's I-N-D-O-C-H-I-N-O dot com promo code FALL UPDATE. With Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Lutz is to the left of the football. Now he steps up, kicks it to the left. It bounces at the 45 and the Cardinals recover it at the 41. It was Zach Ertz who recovered it. And the Cardinals take over with 42 seconds left.

Off the field, on the money and after hours. It's time to talk football with Amy Lawrence. For the New Orleans Saints, it started out like a house on fire. A 53-yard touchdown pass. But ultimately, unable to overcome three interceptions in the first half. And two of them returned for pick six. Not all on Andy Dalton. If you're watching the game, one of them actually was tipped by his receiver.

So frustrating. Another one was actually an incredible play by the defender over the middle. Isaiah Simmons, pretty amazing athletic feat of strength. Not sure a lot of people could have made the catch that he did with the one-handed grab. And so it was a jolt that the Cardinals needed.

But obviously there's a team on the other end that ends up with the loss. And for Dennis Allen, who is not really an interim head coach. I don't want to say he's keeping the sea warm for Sean Payton. Because it's likely that when Payton returns, he could end up somewhere else. Though for now, the Saints still have his employee rights. But this is such a mixed bag for the Saints.

It's hard for them to find any consistency either. When this is clearly Sean Payton's system. They're supposed to have Jamis Winston. Now they've got Andy Dalton because Jamis is still dealing with a myriad of injuries. They've got other guys who are on and off the field. Mike Thomas, Alvin Kamara, they brought in new receivers. So it's just talking about the revolving door with the Arizona Cardinals.

How about the Saints? And Dennis Allen noted that after the game. The fact that their biggest problem is just they don't know who they're going to have from week to week, from game to game. My biggest concern is that we haven't had the health of our players. We got into this game tonight and Roby goes out in the first series. And so we're really down to two corners.

And this is a big 11 personnel team that's going to throw three wide receivers out there. It made it challenging. We've got to break down this film. We have to get back after it. We have to find a way. Alright, now we have to find our solution. We have to be the solution. We have the right personnel in the building to win. We have all the ability to win.

We have to put that together. You can't take two steps forward one game and three steps back the next. And that's what it's been like.

And jogging in place, obviously, right? Because they're not making a whole lot of progress even though the NFC South is wide open. Just like the NFC West.

Any one of these teams could make a run at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And the Saints haven't been able to take advantage of their opportunities. And again, to think about what's happened on their roster. It's constantly in flux.

Cameron Jordan mentioning the film and getting back to the drawing board and what else can he do? They did end up scoring 34 points in this game. But for Andy Dalton, as a veteran quarterback, recognizing how detrimental it is, how painful it is to have three interceptions. Two of them returned for the pick sixes.

And it's so hard to put yourself in a hole that deep and climb out. Those are the ones that, you know, made a huge difference because they, you know, picked six on both of them. It's tough.

But, yeah, I mean, I definitely I'd like to have all three of them back. I don't think we played good on defense. I think our tackling was shoddy again. I thought offensively we did some some some good things. We moved the ball. We scored some points. The three takeaways were killers in the game. We got to fix some of these issues.

That's my responsibility to get these things fixed. We haven't been able to do that. We got to get some guys back healthy, which hopefully over these next, you know, 10 days, we'll be able to get a few of these guys back and, you know, give us some some more some more guys to get out there and help us try to win a game. What if I told you the Saints racked up nearly 500 yards of offense and Dallas? Dennis Allen is right. Their defense did not play well. They had multiple guys who were filling up the stat sheet, including Andy Dalton, if you take away the three picks, which I know that's not how it works, but 500 yards of offense. Better than 50 percent or I guess nearly 50 percent on third down. Actually, if you throw in the fourth down, they were exactly 50 percent on third and fourth down. Considering what we've seen in the NFL to this point, that's pretty darn good. They were three for five in the red zone and they did put up thirty four points. It's just that in that second quarter and it all works together, the offense put the defense in such tough positions and the defense wasn't able to stand up against the Cardinals onslaught once they really got going. So if you look at the NFC South, we talked about the West, every team in the West has three wins.

Whoa, that's just weird. Sometimes that happens early on, right, where you've got, I don't know, a couple of teams, two wins, one win, whatever, because it's early and there's only so many games that you've been played or that you have played. But to be at this point through six weeks. And every team has three wins, it's just odd you don't see that very often. And in the NFC South, we know the Buccaneers, the Falcons have the same exact record as the Niners, the Rams, the Seahawks. The Packers are in that same three and three group.

This is a critical weekend. The NFC, it's almost flatlined except for the East Division, right, and except for the Vikings, those are really the teams that have set themselves apart a little bit. Can anybody else take a big step in week seven? But the Bucs and Falcons are three and three, the Saints, this was an opportunity for them since everybody else wins in the desert, but they fall to two and five. All right, so coming up in the next hour, we're going to head to the desert, we're going to talk about these Cardinals and also the news that broke during the game that very much impacts the NFC West. Christian McCaffrey is on the move, headed to the San Francisco 49ers. And it's certainly indicative of his worth, what the Niners think he's worth, or what other teams were bidding for him or were willing to offer for him that the Niners are giving up four draft picks for a running back. Four draft picks for Christian McCaffrey. That plus game two of the ALCS.

The Houston Astros, they're in a position of strength. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We're glad to have you with us. Final show of the workweek.

You can find me. Add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to. So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. 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. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app. Your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about like leagues and teams. Pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today on Twitter. A law radio also on our Facebook page. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Mayfield under center, the snap McCaffrey catapults into the end zone. Welcome back, Christian McCaffrey. Welcome to the 2022 season. Carolina Panthers.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. That joy was short lived on Panthers radio. Now, Christian McCaffrey has been a bright light to me when he's healthy. He's a game changer.

We know this. He is a guy who not only can take the ball and crash through a line and bull rush his way to more yards than you would think possible. But he can also catch the ball and he can rack up the yards after catch. He's one of the best dual threats in the NFL and going back to his rookie season and some of the numbers that he racked up. There's always the potential there as long as he stays healthy. But that's been a major question mark. He missed all but 10 games during the 2020 and 21 seasons after he made it through the first few years escaping major injuries.

It's been hit or miss since then. But the San Francisco 49ers are willing to take that chance and they are paying dearly for him. So this is what I take away from this and we'll get some reaction here coming up. But the Niners sending second, third and fourth round picks from next spring's draft.

Right. So we're giving up three immediate draft picks in 2023, which is our next draft. Second, third and fourth round picks. They're also giving up a fifth round pick the following spring 2024.

It tells me two things. Number one, the Panthers were playing hardball, right? They were not just going to give Christian McCaffrey away. They needed to get something for him in return.

And number two, this was the market. The Niners don't give up four draft picks if there aren't other teams that are also offering healthy draft capital. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. The news broke second half of Thursday Night Football.

It was kind of interesting to hear the Westwood one reaction, the Amazon Prime reaction. Well, on CBS Sports HQ, NFL vet Heath Cummings was weighing in on what we could see with Christian in that San Francisco offense. The rushing efficiency is going to be much better. Listen, he's been stuck on a bad Panthers offense with a bad offensive line. It should be awesome running the ball. They take guys off the street that average five yards per carry.

So that part I have really no question about. There is a big question mark when it comes to the passing game. The 49ers have thrown 13 passes this season to their running backs. That balloons to 24 passes if you include fullback Kyle Juszczyk. Christian McCaffrey has already seen 43 targets this season. So it's either going to be a major change in offensive philosophy from Kyle Shanahan or we will see fewer targets from McCaffrey. Heath Cummings on CBS Sports HQ.

Think about the weapons that they've got. Deebo Samuel, who calls himself a wide back. He really can't do it all. And he was paid in the offseason.

Brandon Iyuk. When he's locked in and we know what a weapon he can be, it's odd, though, with him sometimes he has these disappearing acts. But when he's locked in, he's fantastic. He's dynamic with the football.

And then George Kittle, as long as he stays healthy, he's a brute. He could be one of the best tight ends in the NFL. McCaffrey can do all of that and then some.

And here are the ranks. In the offensive categories for the Niners. Remember, they lost Trey Lance. Jimmy Garoppolo is familiar.

They're familiar with him. The challenge, of course, is that he's not the same athletic quarterback that Trey is. Kyle Shanahan wanted to design his offense around Trey Lance. Spent the offseason, the preseason doing exactly that. But then has to fall back to what they were doing in the past, which is Garoppolo. Now, I am always pointing out that the Niners win when Garoppolo starts.

The majority of the time. But we know what he is. He's not as high risk as Trey Lance, at least at this point in Trey's career, but he's not as high reward. He's much more of an even keel.

He's more of a game manager. He can make most of the throws. There are times when he looks above average as a QB. And again, winning is the most important thing. The team trusts him. Surround him with a bunch of weapons and he can manage that offense.

But it's not what they expected. And generally, when you think about Garoppolo, when you think about that offense, it's about not turning the ball over, allowing your defense to be stingy and do its job. You're not going to get these huge scoring margins for the most part.

There's less of a margin for error, I would say, with the defense. So entering week seven, the Chiefs are ranked 22nd in the NFL in points scored. That's 18 points per game. So not even middle of the pack. And 18th in yards per game.

So that's more middle of the pack. Now bringing Christian McCaffrey, and actually this is kind of funny, these two teams have already played each other. McCaffrey went over 100 yards, had a touchdown against the Niners in what was a win for San Francisco against Carolina in early October.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. More reaction this time from NFL Network. Michael Robinson, Maryse Jones-Drew, they know the position well. How McCaffrey can boost the 49ers? For the Niners, it helps them out of time because Deebo Sanders was about to get overused. This is about the time they're going to start leaning on Deebo. The only thing is you gave up a lot.

So you must be in win now mode. So my question is if you don't win, how do you develop, how do you continue to build this roster? You gave up a lot of picks for Trey Lance. I'm just following y'all lead, bro. That's what the, that's what the Ramboli does. Y'all set the standard.

We didn't set the standard. What? Just in the win now?

Going to get a prime players in the, in the prime of their career? And I get that. But you got to win it. You do. If you don't win it, what happens? I mean, but they played a lot tough without Christian McCaffrey.

It's not about us. You got to beat other people, right? And that's the thing. And I'll say this. The Niners are a banged up team. If they get healthy, this is a great piece for them to go on a run in January.

But you have to get healthy. And that's the biggest thing. And McCaffrey's had some health issues as well. Yes, he has.

In his career. So it's a little bit of a gamble. I like it though. It gives the NFC West a lot to, you know, to think about. From the NFL network. So a former fullback, a former running back on how McCaffrey can spark the 49ers. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. What's your reaction?

I'd love to hear from you. Now, according to them, this is a signal to the rest of the league that the Niners are in win now mode. But I don't think that's a surprise. I'm pretty sure after you have the NFC championship game, just a few months ago, and you not only had the NFC championship game on your resume, but the team that you played is in your own division. You had essentially owned the Rams till you get to that point. The Niners, they know how to play the Rams.

It's kind of brawn versus finesse in many cases. You were there. You actually thought you made some upgrades, another dealing with challenges always, injuries to their defense. I mean, that's every NFL team though. I don't know that anybody should be surprised that the Niners want to win right now, even without Trey Lance. Again, you know what Jimmy Garoppolo is.

You know your team can win with him. It's not like there's a learning curve with this offense. Christian McCaffrey is really smart. He's already played with how many quarterbacks since, think about that with, actually, that's a really good point that I just kind of stumbled into. The San Francisco 49ers are bringing him in and asking him to get adjusted to, for now, Jimmy Garoppolo.

Okay, so there is a little bit of an adjustment to a new voice, new cadence, obviously new style, but that's what he's used to. This year, Baker Mayfield started, they ended up moving to PJ Walker because Baker's hurt. Sam Donald started a good portion of last year, but PJ Walker also started part of last season. Now McCaffrey was injured the last couple of years too, so that was part of it. Cam Newton was with them last season, was he not?

Didn't he come in and start a couple of games for them? I have the number actually. Okay, let's go. Let's go. He's played with eight quarterbacks since he's been in the league. Oh my gosh.

Want to hear them? Yes, I do. Hold on, Kyle Allen is another one of them. So I can name Kyle, I can name Cam, I can name Baker, I can name Sam, I can name, oh, Teddy Bridgewater?

Teddy Bridgewater? Correct. That's five.

Did I say PJ already? No, that's six. Okay, that's six. So six of the eight.

Whoa, okay, go. Taylor Heinecky. I forgot about Taylor Heinecky, yes. And Kyle Allen. No, I mentioned Kyle Allen. Kyle Allen, Cam Newton, Taylor Heinecky, oh, Will Greer, excuse me, Will Greer for a stint there in Playknife of a Season.

We could have been here for another, I don't know, three, four days and I wouldn't have come up with Will Greer. But I did say Kyle Allen because he actually followed Ron Rivera to Washington. So yes, Kyle, Cam, Sam, Baker, PJ, I forgot about Taylor Heinecky.

I forgot about Will Greer, I mean, and then Teddy Bridgewater, yes. So I'm pretty confident this is what he's used to in the NFL. Oh my goodness, that's a lot of freaking quarterbacks. We think about coaches and the impact they have on QBs, but what about the impact that a revolving door at QB has on the rest of the roster? Certainly receivers who have to get adjusted to a ball coming out of the guy's hands differently.

The way he throws is all different. Man, I actually feel bad for him now, but I'm really happy that he's out of Carolina. It's about to go from worse to even worse for the Panthers.

Oh, Baker, oh dear. What are the chances that either Baker or Sam is on that roster next season? Both of them on expiring contracts, right? Both in the final year of their rookie deals, rookie deals, I'm using my air quotations.

What are the chances either one of them is on the roster next season? I'm not going to fall for that trap. Oh, okay, good. Good idea.

Good idea. I would say honestly kind of high. But I was actually asking producer Jay, not you, Baker, so pipe down. I would say pretty high, I mean, at least going on, looking at Baker's season he's had this year, if they give him a deal, where else is he going to get one? I mean, if they want to give him an option. My point is, I don't think they want either Baker or Sam. No, I don't think so either. That's my point.

Gotcha. Why would you pay either one of those, the going rate for a quarterback right now? Definitely not Sam. But even Baker, before he was hurt, he was a disaster. Now, maybe it's not fair to judge him because of Matt Ruhl, because of all the things that we've talked about, but he has had a healthy Christian McCaffrey, I know the offensive line is not great, but if you have Matt Corral, let's just say Matt comes back healthy in the spring. He can work all the way through the spring. He can work all the way through training camp or preseason. I don't know if Steve Wilkes is the quarterback, or excuse me, the coach, probably not, but I don't know, are you going to go back to the well and draft another QB? If they do like Matt Corral, that is lucky, because it looks like they're going to have a high pick, probably a top 5, top 10 pick, so they can maybe trade back in the draft to a team like the, you know, I don't know, any other team. Or they can get the best offensive lineman. Well, that's what I'm saying, where you then trickle out and get offensive linemen throughout that first second round, because you trade a top 5 pick to move back, and did you think you already have your quarterback? They have tons of picks now, they just got three of them in the upcoming draft, and a four overall for Christian McCaffrey, and at this point, he's remained healthy.

It's interesting too, because, and we'll talk about Yankees, Astros after the top of the hour, but isn't this the question about Aaron Judge, right? We've asked this question all season, now here we are in October. He stayed healthy. Well, the question's going to follow Christian McCaffrey around, but he has avoided injury so far this year. And we're going into week 7, he's played 85% of the snaps for the Panthers, 26 years old, still in the prime of his career, and he's under contract through 2025.

So a lot of it makes sense for the Niners, as long as he stays healthy, which, kind of deal with what's right in front of you. All right, ALCS coming up next after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. There's a lot to listen to, 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. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app. Your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams, pause or rewind your local sports and news, and add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today.