11-4-22 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

Alright, we're having a bit of a tough time in here. We're trying to, trying to determine which four NFL games from the week nine slate should belong in our poll for the after hours game of the week and huh, this is tough. So we'll run through them here and maybe you can help us out, but no Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, New York, Pittsburgh, or San Francisco and New York. I mean the Giants, Bill's jets.

It's on the shortlist. Yeah. One six win team and one five win team. So producer Jane and I are trying to put up this poll and because of the strange disparity and the rampant mediocrity in the NFL right now, it's hard to do. So let's see, definitely Rams and Buccaneers. Yeah. That's a definite. Definitely Titans and Chiefs.

Yes. And if the world series goes to a game seven, it'll be up against two of the top teams in the AFC in Titans and Chiefs. Seattle Arizona is an NFC West battle. The problem is Arizona is stinky right now, even though Seattle's one of the great surprises of the NFL season, Baltimore, New Orleans, they've got some playmakers, Baltimore's in first place, but New Orleans is not.

And that's Monday night. So Washington's won three in a row. So there you got a team. I know that the last place team in the NFC East, but they have one three in a row and they're sitting at four and four now against the first place Minnesota Vikings. I don't know, man, I think based on record, we have to go Buffalo, New York.

I had them in there as, I think the third, yeah, just record and division. And I don't, the only thing is I don't really expect to just to put a bunch of a fight, but what do we know? Nothing about the NFL. So well, it's in Matt life stadium.

I guess that helps. The fans will be there. It's a battle of two New York teams, which I like, huh? It's a divisional battle, which is important. And I think Bill's mafia, they, they travel well. So it could be a really raucous atmosphere.

Miami at Chicago, I have a debut of Chase Claypool with them. I'm weirdly attracted to chargers Falcons. Is that just me? I mean, the chargers are above 500, right? Four and three. It's just two.

Yeah. Further by Falcons are sitting right there in first place in the, in the NFC South. It's they've proven they can play.

I don't know. No one is going to pick that game based on the other games. I'm just telling you, no one is going to pick the game. Like I understand what you're saying and rationally it stands to reason that it might be a potential game of the week candidate, but I'll bet you if we put it in there, it gets not even 5% of the vote.

Probably not. But I don't think dolphins bears would put up much of a fight for the dolphins have made some big time moves. I'm interested in seeing what the dolphins do this weekend. They just gave Bradley Chubb a huge extension. So congratulations to the former Broncos linebacker who now has a contract extension through 20, 27, five years, 110 million with incentives that could tack on another million and a quarter for Bradley Chubb.

Good for him. He's now tied to them because he still had one year, this one year less on his deal. He's now tied to them for a long time and they can build that defense up around him too. Plus they've won back to back games. They brought in Jeff Wilson, the running back from San Francisco.

So now Wilson and Mostert are both Mike McDaniel peeps. Yeah, the dolphins aren't my issue here. It's more the bear side with the dolphins. I have no problem being in the game of the week, but it's their opponent. Well I got to say, man, they're going to get more votes than will chargers and Falcons. I would agree.

I would agree. Green Bay Detroit. I mean, this is what we're dealing with.

Okay. This is what we're left with. So Tennessee at Kansas City, Los Angeles Rams at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, then we go Bills and Jets.

And that's only fair. It's an AFC battle. They're both sitting on five plus wins, five and six wins.

So collectively between them, they're what, 11 and three? Yeah. I mean, that's a, that's a game. It's an important game and the Jets do have a good defense. Got juice.

If you say so, it's got juice, the legal kind. But the fourth one, if we're looking through it, I guess the only candidates that I think would actually even, we might as well just put in three candidates, Baltimore at New Orleans. No. I don't love it. I don't either. Minnesota at Washington.

It sounds a little bit. If I'm, if I can veto Chargers Falcons, then you can veto Vikings commanders. I wanted to at first, but I didn't realize, well, you reminded me that the commanders are on a three game winning streak. They are over 500 now. Well, they're at 500. They're at 500 now. Yes.

It's not as bad of a mashup as I, as it looked on paper. Maybe the fans are really excited because their owner is looking at selling the team. Minnesota, they just picked up another weapon though. Hopkinson. Yeah. I mean, I can't wait to see him in that offense.

I'm sorry. I'm pretty excited about it. Stepping in for Irv Smith so we could go, okay, we're down to this. You can veto that one if you want. We're not going Baltimore, New Orleans. We're not going Chargers Falcons.

We can either go Vikings commanders or dolphins bears. Don't say that. Don't say that.

We need people to return on Sunday night to listen to our all extensive, all consuming NFL Sunday night show. We don't want to tell people. I know.

I'm leading Packers lions with those two up. Are you really? No, I'm not. I'm not.

Vikings commanders. I guess I would lean for those. Would you?

I really would. You really like this dolphins bears. Well, I do because of the star power on the dolphin side, because I think they're a really intriguing story considering the weapons that they've added and the fact that they've won two to roses to a returned and I mean, he's touching the money. They're talking about Super Bowls.

They're also a five win team. So I do like dolphins bears, but I also see the value. I'm not sure we can sell it because a lot of people think the Vikings are boring, but we could attempt to sell like Daniel Snyder is attempting to sell.

We could attempt to sell Vikings commanders. Can we change it to commandos now or bears bears hosting the dolphins? I'll let you be the final say surprise. Oh my gosh. You can just put it in the poll and surprise me. If you put in charge of Falcons, you're dead. I want to put in charge.

No, you're dead to me. I'm telling you, that's not even getting like 3% of the vote. It's like low key. A pretty good game. Low key is the key.

Yes. It's low key because people are not going to pay attention to it. It's not going to be a nationally broadcast game either.

So you're not going to get as much interest around the country. You didn't even give any love to Colts Patriots. I said it. And then I vetoed myself because I remembered the Colts are still below 500.

Sam Ellinger is starting. I guess the intrigue there would be that Bill Belichick game plans and bullies baby quarterbacks. He bullies them and shoves them down the playground and steals their lunch money. Yeah. That's what he does. Yeah.

I do expect that as well. But then you would have the Patriots actually above 500 again, aren't they four and four right now sitting in the AFC East? They are. They're a little bit. They are the commanders of the AFC East.

Every other team above 500 and they're sitting there in the basement, but they're right now at four and four. I can sell you on storylines for any single one of these games. No problem whatsoever. It's not making it easier. Okay. You surprise me. You put the poll up. I'm going to go ahead and do what I need to do and then I'll see what you chose. All right. There's a lot of power.

Okay. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We're live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios.

Do you need to know what it takes for a home to fit your budget and your family? Rocket can. So you can find all of our polls that originate on our show Twitter after our CBS. And if you have not seen the video of the Eagles fans watching Eagles, Eagles as fans watching the Phillies in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Astros and a ball that J.T. Real Muto gave a gave a ride.

I mean, it was like one of those illegal speed limit rides. It was, whoa. I thought it was out, Chas McCormick thought it was out. The Eagles thought it was out in the visitors locker room in Houston. We shared the audio with you, but if you haven't seen the video, it's phenomenal. So check that out again on our show, Twitter after our CBS. And that's where you'll find this brand new game of the week poll.

Once producer Jay, who is not good at making decisions, I'm just teasing. I called him a weakling because one of the heavy doors, it's like they're heavy doors. Sometimes I have to use all of my weight and that's plenty of weight. I choose all of my way to open them up. Sometimes they're heavy doors.

And if you don't actually get them past the point at which they open open. So wherever the. Is it a hint? A medium? I don't know. I don't know either. You can tell when you've got it open other right. But he thought he had it open. He didn't. He got crushed by the door. Smushed in the handle, what right into his abdomen. And so he comes in here crying into my studio and I said weakling and so, okay, so Jay then goes away.

I don't know where he went. Get some water. Go to the bathroom. I'm okay. Yeah, that's true.

That's a good point. Goes to get the Swedish fish comes back and doesn't say like, Hey, what's going on? How's the show?

What do you want? But I'm not a weakling. It was still bothering you like five minutes later. You know, I was just kidding. I don't think you're a weakling.

Um, well, I mean, you know, in fourth grade, the, the kids, the other kids that you tease are the ones that you like the most. There you go. See? All right.

I'll take that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

When you pull my hair, I know it's because you really like me. Nice save. Nice save. Okay.

Save it. It's after hours here on CBS sports radio. Uh, so yes, we've got our cycle tonight. We've got week nine kicking off. We're going to do some QB news here coming up. We've also got Eagles and Texans from last night.

And I like what we saw from the Texans. They were game. They were up for a fight. It was one of those nights where they'll fight their way out of the bar.

Don't ask me why I just used a bar room analogy. And we've also got game five of the world series and man, what a difference 48 hours can make. We did talk about Kyrie Irving already. I will get back to that in our final hour, but QB news week nine preview through the eyes of our quarterbacks is coming up next here on the show. Our phone number is 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 2 2 7 that's 8 5 5 2 1 2 4 CBS really quickly.

And it's just going to be a couple of minutes because it is now a late, late Thursday night, depending upon where you are or an early Friday morning. There's actually two things that I wanted to tell you. Number one, our friend, Matt, the musher who has been in Detroit, well, Detroit area, he's been in Michigan visiting family for, I don't know if he's still there, but for a good portion of the last month, he was home from Alaska and he was visiting his dad and he was spending time with his brother. His brother often is on our Facebook page whenever we talk about Matt, the musher. So it was good to get a couple of text messages and some photos from Matt. I cannot tell you whether or not he's made the definitive decision to, well, to qualify slash sign up for the, I did a rod in 2023. I don't know that to be sure. I know that he misses the dogs.

I know that he loved it. He's got a lot of sponsors, a lot of momentum, and he is seriously considering it. But I do not know if he's made that choice yet.

When he does make a choice one way or another, he will certainly come on the show. But here's what I heard from Matt in the last two weeks. He wants to start a podcast and tell stories about not just the Iditarod, but fellow mushers and some of their incredible journeys.

They all have unique paths that they've taken to get to the point where they're ready for the Iditarod, not to mention some of the crazy adventures and dangerous pitfalls they encounter along the way. If Matt's story is any indication, but they all have a special fraternity or special group, not all men, he wants to start a podcast. So he asked me if I would give him some advice and some feedback and I told him certainly that I would. And so we're going to connect pretty soon because he wants to get that podcast off the ground. So that's one thing I wanted to tell you because I know you guys frequently ask me for an update on Matt the musher. When it's time, he will certainly hop on the show again.

We do miss him and he's become a fan favorite. And if you have no idea who I'm talking about, please check out our YouTube channel because when Matt was done, Matt Pavelio is his name, when he was done with the Iditarod and he'd survived as a rookie, he made it through, he had a phenomenal tale to tell. You want to talk about the craziest stuff from wildlife to storms to crashes where he's flipped over multiple times with his dogs still on their leashes. I mean, it was mesmerizing that story. The whole thing when he joined us in the wake of his first ever Iditarod, the entire story is on our YouTube channel. We just left it whole. It's about 45 minutes. I'm telling you, it's captivating.

You won't be able to turn it off. So if you have not heard Matt, the musher story of his first ever Iditarod and the toll it takes, not just on him physically, but also mentally, please, please, please check that out on our YouTube channel because it is worth the listen every now and then I go back and listen to it because it was amazing radio, radio gold, we call it. And the photos too that he sent were all original photos and videos. That's right. I forgot about that. Producer Jay had a cache of videos and photos and we got those straight from Matt and so Jay was able to incorporate those into the YouTube video. So it's one of a kind.

You'll never see anything like this anywhere else. So on our YouTube channel, After Hours with Amy Lawrence, that's also Facebook. We've got our Game of the Week poll up and also on our show, Twitter, After Hours CBS. I am not going to tell you what other game Jay put into the poll. That's for you. That's for him to know and us to find out.

Yes, we are fifth graders. So that's on now Twitter and Facebook as well. One more thing before we take our break and then we'll get to week nine preview through QB news. People have asked me, what happened with Jaws? What did you think of Jaws?

And I know it was last Saturday. I'm sorry, it's just been one of those hectic, chaotic weeks here at work. Pretty much everything that could possibly happen has happened. I love to Jaws. I thought it was amazing and it's not like I'm delivering spoilers here. So if you haven't seen it, like I hadn't seen it, you're just going to have to avoid this. But the moment in the first half where they're out on the water and they know that there's a killer shark and they find this boat that's turned upside down and the, whoever that marine biologist was, whatever the scientist was, I don't know his exact title, but he gets in the water in his wetsuit and he goes down and he finds the shark tooth. And then as I'm expecting to see the shark through the hole in the boat, there's a floating dead man. I just want to first say I was the only, not the only one who hadn't seen the movie. I jumped like a mile. My friend who's seen the movie a hundred times, she jumped too, even though she knew it was coming because I jumped and people all around us exclaimed and jumped.

So I was not the only person in the auditorium who had not seen Jaws. This was the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. They were playing the live score while the movie was going on and it was an amazing way to experience the John Williams score.

He's my favorite composer. And so the music brought the movie to life in a completely different way, not to mention the acoustics were phenomenal. So that part was amazing and scary and creepy. And then the whole second half of the movie obviously was on the water in the boat. The music is much more intense in the second half.

I had no idea, it's much more intense in the second half. And I want you to know, I did not have any idea what happened to the shark. Jay, do you believe me? I did not Google it. I'd never seen the movie. I had no idea what happened on the water.

I just assumed that they would have encounters with the shark, but I did not know anything about how it ended or what happened or who died or who survived or whether or not the boat made it. I did not know any of those things. I had no idea an oxygen tank was a main piece, a main prop in this story, none of that. I believe you. I mean, you were pretty adamant about not having spoilers before going to see it for the first time.

I did not want you to tell me anything. Yeah. So yeah, I believe that. I remember in 1975 and my mom said it was a shocker then she watched it in the theater. I said, mom, did you see it in the theater? Where else would I have seen it, Amy? I was like, oh, okay. In 1975, she said it was gory. It was actually jarring and that it was groundbreaking. Maybe it was because it was on a massive screen, but I was sitting back from it in an auditorium.

I couldn't really tell it was a mechanical shark. I assumed that it obviously we know throughout the sixties and seventies, 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. Throughout the sixties and seventies, it was, and I assume that there will be parts of it where the special effects were not 2020 quality and that's totally fine. But I didn't think that it was so egregious in its technical quality that the shark was distracting.

No, not at all. I mean, it's, you know, it's obviously not going to hold up to a CGI or something that you see today, but I actually kind of appreciate that style of film more because the props and stuff that go into it. And that's just a Steven Spielberg special.

He does what he does. Like Jurassic Park, all those dinosaurs are all created by puppets and they're amazing. He makes like the whole set come to life. So I appreciate that much more than like the CGI.

I think it's a little too much sometimes. Jay, we're going to one of these New Jersey Symphony Orchestra concerts for movies. You have to experience it because I'm telling you the movie just is alive in a completely different way. Not to mention people are cheering.

They're yelling like me. I was jumping and I mean the experiencing it with an audience like this who is so in the moment because the music is being played live. It's yeah, it was amazing.

We have to do this. That's cool. That's a really cool idea for watching a movie with the whole live orchestra there. Yes. And they have a Harry Potter series coming up. They're getting back to Star Wars next year. So Empire Strikes Back is the one they're doing in May. Interesting.

Yes. So it was awesome. I'm so glad that Jay convinced me to go because he loves Jaws. And I thought, come on.

Are you kidding me? It can't be that good. It was totally good.

But he's even better with the live score. And then he says it multiple times. The funny part is I just want to like set the scene for you. I of course knew the Jaws theme. Everyone knows the Jaws theme, but I really didn't know much more of the music. But I'm telling you the auditorium was roughly full. They had given us kind of a 60 second warning that started to dim the lights. The orchestra was out there on the stage.

They're waiting for the conductor to come out. It's dead quiet because everybody knows what's coming. And then the theme. And the whole place erupts in cheers.

I just. Oh, I could imagine. It was awesome, Jay. It was so awesome.

Like game seven of the World Series. Oh, yeah. That's one of my favorite movies ever. I hear a live orchestra playing Jaws and the movie's about to start.

Yeah, I'm pretty locked in. It was awesome. I wish you had been there. And so totally worth the wait. I got those tickets in May and had to wait till end of October, but it was totally worth the wait. And yes, I'm big into live symphony music. I'm actually going to see Yo-Yo Ma next weekend. What a treat. Never thought I'd see him live. But this was something special.

Every time I go, it's something special. All right. QB News week nine preview up next. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Murray back to throw and it is his boss. Oh, my goodness. The Andre Hopkins. That was under center. Steps back.

Throws the faith. Cooper. Touchdown LA. Burrow back to throw.

Looking firing deeper. Chase in the end zone. Touchdown.

Joe Burrow and the Bengals. The Holmes fires for the end zone, touchdown Kansas City. No, Herbert keeps it in. Touchdown. Herbert with his second of the day.

Here's the snap. Josh going to keep it himself and run it again inside the five into the end zone. Touchdown Buffalo. Josh Allen. Nine yard touchdown run.

The Bills respond and then some. It's time for QB News. On After Hours.

All right. Here we go. The poll is up. It's that time of the week again. Vote for the After Hours Game of the Week. Producer Jay will surprise you by the fourth option he picked. On our show, Twitter, After Hours, CBS, or on my Twitter, Alaw Radio. And it's also on our Facebook page.

Shall we dive in, friends? We already saw the start of week number nine. Jaylen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles eight no for the first time in their franchise history. Meanwhile, Davis Mills and the Houston Texans gave the Eagles a run for their money. They actually ran for more yards.

We got to see Damian Pierce again. They fought back to the point where they were still within striking distance at 21 17 late in the game. So both teams have to be happy with how they emerged from Thursday night football. Jaylen 21 of 27 for 243 yards.

A couple of touchdown passes, though he did lose a fumble. There's a lot to be grateful about. There's a lot to reflect on and look at the things that we did well. There's also a lot of things that we can improve on.

And I know, you know, I'm not going to make excuses about anything in a short week. You know, we have a standard of play. We want to play to that at all times. Obviously, the record is what it is, but I think we're at a good spot. We came and played arguably the best team in the league right now. And our guys battled, especially offensive line up played really well up front. Run game is flowing all night long. Passing game, passing game guys are making plays. Obviously, there's two turnovers. I got to protect the ball better. Try to force for some plays when I guess they weren't there and just be smart with it. It puts our defense in a bad spot. But I think I mean, we're in a good spot. We're getting better each week.

So just got to find a way to get over the hump and finish some games. The Davis Mills with Damian Pierce alongside. There's a lot of young guys there. Lovey Smith is trying to piece it together. It's weird.

They're stuck in no man's land. But I do like that they go out and play hard for him. So week nine started us off in Houston where the Eagles and the Texans actually gave us an entertaining game. So what's on tap for Sunday and Monday?

Well, let's go. Wait, that's the name of Tom Brady's podcast. I didn't even do that on purpose on Thursday. He was speaking to the media, not through his podcast, but the Buccaneers hosting the Rams. It's the nationally televised game on CBS coming up on Sunday afternoon. And of course, there's still a lot of talk about his personal life and what he's gone through over the past week as it's been tough for him with the divorce.

But also the back of the Buccaneers are not playing the way they want to. I've always tried to do the best I could do here. And then when I laid here, I tried to do the best I could do. And that's what we all try to do. I'm sure everyone sitting in this room, everyone sitting home is trying to wake up every day doing the best they could do for their families and their career. And I'm no different.

So just do the best you could do every day. So we certainly try to do. Well, while you're in the building, then how do you get the Buccaneers offense turned around sitting on three and five mark? It's not been prodigious. In fact, it's been more anemic and they've struggled at times where we've seen Tom Brady make plays in the past. It's one game, but it's not like we have a huge margin of error when we take the field.

We don't. So we've got to make the plays that are winning plays. And there's winning plays and there's losing plays. There's winning football. There's losing football. And we just haven't been on the right side of winning very much this year. The positive thing is that there's still such a long way to go. And at the midway point, technically.

And so there is plenty of real estate to turn this thing around to back this bus up and get it pointed in the right direction. But against the Rams is tough. Remember, the Rams went through Tampa on their way to the Super Bowl last year. And they've got one of the best players in the entire NFL, regardless of position. Aaron Donald, whose job is to make Tom Brady's life miserable. Not let him get comfortable because he could pick you apart if you do that. That's the only thing you can do as a defensive front when they want to drop back and pass.

Trying to pick pressure and trying to get close to him, making him feel uncomfortable. The Rams need this one as much as the Buccaneers do because they also are below 500, sitting at 3 and 4. In fact, a good chunk of the NFC is mediocre or below 500.

So all of these games are a chance to get a leg up. Give it up for Aaron Donald. What a stud. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Baker Mayfield's Sundays are really different now that he is standing on the sidelines with a clipboard helping out P.J.

Walker, the starter. We all want to get to that point where you can showcase on Sundays what you're capable of. But that's not my role. And so right now, it's supporting this group competing within the quarterback competition today in practice and trying to get the defense prepared for Sundays. And it takes everybody. That's why this is the ultimate team sport.

And it's a different role for me for sure, but just finding my way through it. Panthers are sitting at 2 and 6. I remember last week it was P.J. to D.J. for the Hail Mary that sent the game between the Panthers and the Falcons into overtime.

It wasn't supposed to, but it did. And so, yeah, Baker Mayfield's final year of his contract, he can't even get out there right now to play for the future. Instead, he's got to support P.J. Walker. And there's a good chance that he could get back on the field against a long way to go. He is the backup QB. He's the healthy one.

But, man, it's got to be eating him alive. I don't really care. Right.

How different things are than they were a year ago. We'll stick one more in the NFC South, that division that's led by the Falcons and everybody else is below 500. It's the Saints who are playing on Monday night as they host the Ravens at the Superdome. And according to Dennis Allen, no more Michael Thomas. We're going to put Michael Thomas on injured reserve today. After consultation with the doctors, we had a plan in place.

We followed what the doctors thought would be the best plan for him. Obviously, the toe did not respond exactly how we were open. Does this mean his season is over? Is there any way he can come back after surgery? He's going to go on IR. I don't anticipate that he'll be able to return this year.

Dennis Allen says he needs toe surgery. And as he's headed to IR, it sounds like he's done for the year, which sucks. We just saw him back.

He was so excited to get back. They've made Andy Dalton the starter. Melvin Camara is in the sweet spot, they desperately need him. And the NFC South is wide open. So I hate this for him and I certainly hate this for the Saints. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio.

All right. One of the great stories in the NFL this season. We've talked about it a lot this week. The Seattle Seahawks above 500, first place in the NFC West. And Geno Smith named the NFC Offensive Player of the Month for October. On behalf of myself, Shane Waldron, the offensive line, our offense, you know, I'll gladly accept that. You know, it just means we've been playing well as an offense. And, you know, we've got to continue that. We've got to keep it going.

Well, how do you do that? How have you been able to have this kind of success in Seattle when it's been years since you were the starter in an offense? I'm very set in who I am.

I know exactly who I am and what I can do. And so I never bought into the narratives that have been out there. I didn't just get this good over, you know, the course of one offseason. So, you know, I think that's mostly a narrative.

And a lot of this stuff is media driven. But when it comes down to me, people where I'm from know who I am. West Virginia, I just got inducted into the College Hall of Fame. So people in college football know who I am.

New York Jets as well, Giants, Chargers, and Seattle. So, you know, people have continued to let me know that you just stay working, keep working hard. And, you know, things will happen for you. And so that's what I did.

Throughout the 60s and 70s. A lot of the wisdom and experience he picked up along the way, the setbacks, the failures, those certainly contribute to your determination. You want to do it better. You want to do it different somewhere else the next time you get an opportunity.

I would also say this. I like the fact that Geno's identity does not come from football and that his identity comes from the people who know him, the people around him, and certainly who he is as a man away from the field. It's after hours, CBS Sports Radio.

All right, moving through. Geno Smith is such a good story, and the rest of the NFC West better wake up. The AFC East is the complete opposite. Three teams with five or more wins, and this week it's the Jets hosting the Buffalo Bills.

Zach Wilson, three interceptions last week. He needs to understand. You got to course correct, even if it's mid-game. It's just football. I feel like almost every week you guys are asking what happened the first half compared to the second half. It's just football. You got to have short-term memory.

You got to be able to move on. You got to make plays when something, the play before it didn't go well, and we're going to keep growing and trying to get better at that. So what is the margin exactly?

Maybe not exactly. What is the margin, roughly, between the Bills at six and one and the Jets at five and three? These guys are good, but we're good. We're a good team, and we're close, and things are getting closer every week.

I think for us, it's going out there and taking on the challenge of understanding that we can beat these guys, and we just got to go out there and execute, and execution is the key all the way around the board for us. Yeah, Bills six and one, Jets five and three, Dolphins five and three. They're on the road at Chicago where Justin Fields and the Bears just picked up a brand-new wide receiver. They desperately need a, not a QB one, haha.

Sorry, Justin. A wide receiver won because they don't have a top wide receiver. Chase Claypool is going to try to step into that role, and Justin's all about it. He's a playmaker, big body, athletic, fast, you know, great, you know, 50-50 ball catcher. So, I mean, I was excited, of course, and, you know, just seeing what he can do in practice, so the different things that we do in practice, the routes that we give him. So just really just practicing with him and, you know, getting to throw with him a little bit, that'll just, you know, help me find out, you know, what he's best at doing. It'll take a little bit, but we've seen this happen multiple times over the last couple of years where guys who moved at the trade deadline were able to make a pretty big impact. Think about the Rams last year and the moves they made and they ended up in the Super Bowl, but it does require extra work. It requires extra reps after practice, if you will, to get to know a new receiver, and there's going to be a process of getting acclimated for Chase as well, but 10 touchdowns his rookie year.

He certainly can stretch the defense, and, well, stretch the offense by doing so, stretch the defense. So what is the after-hours game of the week? Find us on Twitter, after-hours CBS, and then on our Facebook page, after-hours with Amy Lawrence, I just got this tweet from Mark.

Are you ready? The NFL sucks. Oh. I hate the fact that it's all over sports talk. There's not enough love for college football. Oh, you mean the college football that we spent a half-hour talking about the last hour of the show? No, the other one.

Hey, Mark, I would recommend that you check out the podcast and listen to Kyle Kaske and his breakdown of LSU, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee. I think it's going to be right up your alley. And by the way, you're the only one who thinks the NFL sucks. Okay, maybe there are five of you on your island. All right.

The ratings obviously indicate otherwise. We're heading toward a Friday morning and fast. It's after-hours CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the after-hours podcast. Conley and Westbrook and Kine are both right to the left. Give it to Henry, 25-20, 15, outside to the 10.

Puts a move onto the five. Stiff arm dives over the pylon. Touchdown Titans. That was a man-sized run by the man, Derek Henry. Willis, give Henry, goes in standing up. Touchdown Titans, the franchise record for touchdowns. Number 75 for the king, and Tennessee has surged 10 in front.

This is after-hours with Amy Lawrence. It was already a better week nine for the Houston Texans because they did not have to take on Derek Henry and the Tennessee Titans. Man, that was rough. But that is what Derek Henry does when he sees the Texans. He loves it. So he set the tone last week and the ball control was incredible. Loved to watch that guy run. And I'm glad that he's healthy too because when he wasn't toward the end of last year, it wasn't nearly as cool. Malik Willis got his first start last week, but already in the first half against the Texans, Derek Henry had racked up 125 rushing yards and a touchdown.

He finished well over 200 yards with two scores and they were able to ride him to victory. So what happens this week? On Titans Radio, that's Mike Heath.

It's after-hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. There were some questions about whether or not he'd be full go this weekend because this is a huge game to first place teams Titans at the Chiefs Sunday Night Football. My foot is fine. I mean, there's nothing wrong.

I'd be out there on Sunday playing. So foot is fine. There's nothing to panic about.

Everybody have a great Thursday. So Paul, there's nothing wrong with my foot. The right or left foot is fine. There's nothing wrong with my foot right or left. Either foot. Neither foot. The right or left.

The foot is fine. I love Derek Henry. Oh my gosh. He's always been a great talker.

If you really bore in or bear down, I should say, and get to the root of stuff and ask him some good questions, he always gives extensive answers. It was kind of interesting to look at the Titan stats. Now remember, they started out 0 and 2, but they've won five in a row. So they're one of the hottest teams in the league right now, along with the Vikings.

So great. And they're passing for just about 147 and a half yards per game. They're literally second to last in the NFL, in passing yards per game. They only asked Malik Willis to throw, I think it was 11 passes last week, and he was six for 11, something along those lines.

But they're rushing for 138 yards per game, which is top 10 in the NFL. I actually, in preparation for my conversation with Kyle Kasky, if you missed it, the longtime NFL assistant coach, former college coach, he joined us from Baton Rouge. We talked LSU Alabama, as well as Georgia, Tennessee. He played at Texas A&M, so he's very familiar with a lot of the college football traditions and certainly the atmosphere, as we talked about some of the special places to play as an athlete, but also as a coach.

It's kind of cool to be part of that. And so we were looking at the ball control in the NFL before we got to the college game. And to that end, the Cleveland Browns and the way that they were able to keep the ball away from Joe Burrow in the Bengals last Monday night, but then thinking about the Eagles as well. Yeah, the Texans gave them a fight, the first drive, 18 minutes, I'm sorry, 18 plays, eight minutes. That's how they were able to keep it away from the Texans, but also dominate.

You wear out an opposing defense. If you can keep the ball for that long, they are sucking wind then even in the first quarter. Now, the Texans have their own brand of ball control, and they were actually able to rush for more yards than were the Eagles. They were ultimately doomed by that late, well, third quarter interception by Davis Mills that led to a touchdown. It was a quick turnaround, and the defense just wasn't able to recover. They were instantly in the red zone for an AJ Brown score.

That was your turning point. But the Texans were game, and we're seeing it over and over in the NFL where you've got teams that are willing to sacrifice whatever flashy, high-flying offensive numbers, even if they do have quarterbacks who can shuck and duck because they recognize the value in running the ball. And I have talked to coaches who've spent decades in the league. You talk to players, same thing. Run the ball, stop the run, no matter how much we're dazzled by the 60-yard touchdown passes or what Joe Burrow can do with his complimented receivers, what Patrick Mahomes can do.

Ultimately, it may be boring as heck. Run the ball, stop the run. You can do those two things as a football team.

You're going to be successful. Well, if you can do those two things without turning the ball over, you're going to be successful. We're seeing more and more teams do that. The Falcons, the Eagles, the Texans want to do that.

Now, they're missing a lot of pieces. The Browns, the Ravens, these are teams that want to be able to run the ball. The Titans for sure. They don't screw with their identity. They know exactly who they are. Derrick Henry is their bell cow.

And even if you know it's going to him, you can't stop him. The New York Giants, we spoke with Sean O'Hara, former Pro Bowl offensive lineman for the Giants. And he talked about how they know what their identity is, same thing. They're not asking Daniel Jones to chuck the ball up and down the field. They don't even want that. They want Saquon Barkley to set the tone, the offensive line to set the tone. And man, how many years have they been working on that offensive line? When they ask Daniel Jones whether it's to keep his head up and scramble to make a play or it's designed runs, when they take the pressure off him, he makes fewer mistakes, balance is everything. But man, if you can start with running the ball, you're already ahead of the game in football. So basic and so simple. And yet it's a tried and true formula.

And we're seeing it more and more in the midst of the brutal offense that we've seen around the league through eight weeks. It's after hours on CBS Sports Radio. See you later. There's a lot to listen to. Thanks for watching.