After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

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It can be like brick walls. At least for me. Feeling like I jammed so much into the weekend that I didn't really relax. I didn't really sleep. I didn't really sleep fast.

I didn't really get caught up on anything. I just instead was making preparations for the holidays. And a lot of people were still traveling back on Monday. There were thousands and thousands of flights that were cancelled all over the weekend. As people were trying to return from wherever they went for Thanksgiving because of weather and just in general the airline snarls that we get these days.

And a lot of those took place in the Northeast because of the rain that was coming through and the crazy winds. So I suspect that many more people were traveling home on Monday and then there were some who chose to do it that way. Or friends who decided they'd rather travel back, they were driving, rather drive home on Monday to try to avoid the worst of the traffic. So Monday may have been an extension of the holiday frustration. But if you survived your Monday, well then woo! Time to head forward through these final few days of November.

And I don't even have a comment on that because I'm really not equipped to process. I was talking to someone I guess on, oh our friend Michael Duarte actually from NBC LA. We need to have him on the show again soon. I was texting with him on Monday and we were talking about the holidays and neither one of us is prepared for the fact that they're here. But yes, I'm getting my Christmas tree this week.

What? I don't, I don't, like I said I'm not equipped to handle the fact that the holidays are here. But I suppose ready or not, better get ready or be left without the proper gifts for the family and without the proper preparations. So it's more fun to talk about football right now than to talk about the holidays. That's stressing me out a little bit. So I hope that you survived your Monday without too much trouble. A relatively manic Monday. Wait until you hear what happened on Monday that made my entire week. I'm such an idiot.

But it did. It literally will make my entire week so much better. Every time I need to pick me up this week, well that's going to work. What I'll probably do is post the photo because all you have to do is see the photo on Twitter and Facebook. I promise I'll share it in both places and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

I'm not going to tell you anything more than that, though. So it's going to be a way that we drive you to the social media, you know. It's a tease. We call that a tease in the business. So I'll do that sometime this hour because you need to see it to believe it.

I can tell you, but I think you need to see it to believe it. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. That's the name of our Facebook page as well.

It's convenient, right? Radio show, Facebook page, YouTube channel. And then also on my Twitter, ALawRadio. If you haven't yet voted for Monday mortification, well there are still candidates that are getting votes even at this hour. So you've got a couple hours to go. We've given you four teams that we thought would wake up the most miserable and mortified and morbid on Monday. And since Monday is still in its waning stages, well we invite you to continue to vote.

So find that on either my Twitter or our show Twitter and we'll reveal your choice coming up before the show is done. Plus you're going to need to use our voting machines to log your vote for TD of the Week. Boy do we have some incredible candidates for TD of the Week.

So we'll do that as well. We've also got an extended version of QB news. Everything from the Panthers to the Jets to the Packers to... Who else am I thinking about? The Browns. Oh yes, as Deshaun Watson is reinstated and is on track to start Week 13 against his former team the Texans. I have no idea if the NFL planned that. Maybe they accepted an 11 game slash 12 week suspension knowing that he would return against his former team. Although I got to be honest, I don't see the same drama there as Baker Mayfield versus his former team. Because the Texans are so bad and Deshaun hasn't played for them in... I mean it's been almost two years now since he's played for them. So it doesn't carry the same interest I suppose for me.

It doesn't carry the same ramifications really. But maybe it does for Deshaun. Or maybe Deshaun is just grateful to get back on the field after all this time away. He hasn't played in a game that counted in nearly two years.

But he will for the Cleveland Browns coming up in mere days. So lots of QB news. Oh and that sporting event that is making me nervous like I haven't felt in years. I'm actually really excited to just be a fan.

Of course we'll talk about this event on Tuesday night. But I rarely get to just be a fan. Even with the teams that I grew up rooting for and I guess in some cases still root for. It's just that work consumes so much of my time watching sports. That I very rarely feel like a fan who gets nervous, who gets excited, who yells at the TV, who fist pumps.

But when it comes to the US men's national team and the World Cup that is me. As I was watching the game against England I was exclaiming, I was yelling, I was clapping, I was wincing, I was nervous. And this game against Iran on Tuesday is just as big.

Because it's an opportunity for the United States to advance to the knockout stage of the World Cup. First time in eight years. I'm nervous. I'm really nervous.

I've already got the fluttering stomach and just in general the anxiety over it. So yes I'm really excited but also super nervous. We're going to let you hear from members of Team USA. Including the captain of the soccer team that has really impressed producer Jay and I. We understand now not only seeing him on the field and what he can do on the field but hearing him off the field. We understand why he is the captain even though he's extremely young and has no World Cup experience. But he's very impressive and true to form for any USA team. Internationally there is some type of controversy.

Though I got to say this is not a controversy that the Americans themselves generated or stirred up. So we will let you hear from them as well as the manager Greg Berhalter. And that game begins in OMG.

11 hours and 52 minutes. I'm trying to convince Jay to wake up and watch it live with me as opposed to watching it on DVR. Jay is not convinced that it's worth waking up for.

No that's not the case. Oh it's kind of the case. I mean I'm going to wake up earlier than I normally would on a regular work day to watch it. Just go to bed earlier.

That's easier said than done. I mean I'm going to watch it. I'm going to probably. I might be able to catch up live at the half. How's that?

Although maybe not because soccer doesn't really have commercials. I kind of feel like if you really cared. I care. I care. I do. I need to sleep and be well rested to cheer on my team. Oh okay. Easier said than done.

He points out. As though it's just so easy for me to get all the rest I need and wake up in what will be 2 o'clock eastern time. 11 am pacific time. It's just super easy to do that.

It's like the middle of the night. You're so melodramatic. We're live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios. Whether you're looking to purchase a new home or refinance yours. Rocket Mortgage can help you get there.

For home loan solutions that fit your life. Rocket can. Alright so polls and QB news and TD of the week and soccer, the other football and even basketball. A couple of dramatic finishes in the NBA. We've got the return of Joel Embiid.

And also a little college football too. We'll mix it up because coming up Tuesday you get the latest set. In fact the second to last. The penultimate.

I do love to use that word. The penultimate set of college football playoff rankings. Funny story about me. For years and years I had no idea what penultimate yet. What penultimate? Okay. There goes the perfect show. Kind of. I don't really think it was that perfect.

But now it's definitely not perfect anymore. Only 10 minutes. And I don't even talk until 2 minutes after the hour.

So only 8 minutes is really how long I can manage. Without sounding like an idiot. Anyway, it's just part of my term I guess. The word penultimate was one that I didn't have the correct meaning. And I would use it anyway. And I would use it in the wrong context.

So I think it happened for years. And finally I looked it up. I don't know. I had this strange feeling that I wasn't using it correctly. Who knows how many times I did the opposite of impress people with my vocabulary. Because I used the wrong word. People who will never forgive me. They no longer think anything I say.

That was 20 years ago. But they no longer think anything I say is valid. Because I used that word wrong for so long. It's the effort.

Is it the effort? I mean a little bit. Alright. So when I sound like an idiot it's okay because at least I'm making an effort? Right. I mean big words.

At least you know what you're trying to say. The word's there. It's just. Thanks Jay.

It's so kind of you. But it does not get you off the hook. For not caring enough to wake up and watch the US soccer team live.

This is not. What if you miss it? What if you miss them. First of all if they lose I'm never watching American soccer again. I mean that's true. Never ever. But seriously I'll go back to my depressive state.

When they lost to Trinidad and Tobago and failed to qualify four years ago. Because yes it should be a win. But. Uh oh.

I know exactly. Don't speak that into existence. There are ways they can back into this but they could also draw again and be out. It's so easy just to win. Score a goal.

That's it. Score a goal and don't allow one and everything will be okay. How hard can it be?

How hard can it be? That's right. Simple as that.

Anyway I'm going to start sending you text messages the second the game. No. Not yet for not waking up. Oh it's not right is it? That's not right. You know what's not right is not waking up for one of the biggest soccer games in US history. Because I can't even turn the phone off because then I won't get my alarm. Exactly. Oh man.

Better not check. It's a good thing your phone eats half my text messages anyway. Jay and I have this major problem. While we don't have a major problem my phone works just fine. His phone, the one that he's been saying he's going to replace for over a year now. His phone does not like me and in fact thinks I text too much which you know may be true.

But doesn't accept half my text messages. It eats them and Jay never gets them. Or you guys it dawned on me not that long ago Jay just might be lying.

He might not actually be responding to the text messages because he doesn't want to hear from the chick he has to work with. So I don't know which one I believe. I would say it's like a quarter of them. And I'm showing you. You said I haven't seen them.

I'm showing you the text thread. They're not there. Where'd they go? I don't know. Oh they are there.

I don't even know how I would be able to just delete one text. The last I heard from Jay was oh I'll replace the phone in June of 22. At the very latest June of 22. I don't know what happened. Probably said that around like December of 21.

Oh yes. It was pre-birthday. You were going to replace the phone in 22. I don't know what happened. I didn't get one for my birthday.

I don't know. He likes not getting my text messages. That's what happened. Anyway so I could text him like every single minute of the soccer game and he probably would only get half of them. But I might do that.

You better not check your phone. That's what you get. Oh good.

Will it ruin our friendship do you think? I don't know. I guess it's to the test.

It's a chance I'm willing to take. It's after hours just to teach you a lesson you'll never forget. I'm watching the game. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. We'll get to Money High Football coming up after this first break. But yeah there's a lot on our plates. Really excited about it. It's that time of the year where it's not quite as nutso because October is done and baseball is done.

But it's still plenty busy. Also tonight I'm not exaggerating here and this is not hyperbole. I truly do not remember the last time I did an interview about the Jets. Seriously.

I'm smiling but it's serious. I do not remember the last time that I did an interview about Jets football. I do know that we've had New York guests before recently.

Probably about baseball. Maybe we did a Giants interview not that long ago. But we have not focused on the Jets in it's got to be years.

Maybe producer Jay because he did not have any Jets contacts in his phone. So I guess then that goes back to before you started working at the company. Forget just on this show. Yeah in my entire three plus years working here. It might be grounds for firing for not waking up. This is your job.

How did we get back to that? It's because I'm annoyed by it. It's your job to watch sports. Don't be like Isaac who never ever watched sports ever.

I watch literally every single game like that ever happens. So you know. I think it's unacceptable.

I think it's unacceptable. No. Oh really is that hour sleep going to help you? Tons. Tons.

Please. Says the man who sleeps until way after it gets dark. Well now yeah.

I don't know. It's a good thing you don't have a dog. Oh wait you do have a dog. I do. Okay I think it might be grounds for a suspension. It might be grounds to replace you. Paid? No we don't do paid suspensions around here. You barely get paid as it is. What makes you think you're going to get paid to be suspended?

It's kind of funny actually back I don't know a couple years ago someone got suspended and I thought ooh they're getting paid too. I just. That'd be great. Let me have that happen.

That's what I'm saying. Paid suspension? No not paid. No more snacks. Oh no Christmas cookies for you.

That's worse than not getting paid. Aww. Now see it's hard to keep my like tough exterior now. So I can sleep?

No. Jay you can watch the game while you're lying down prone. That's a good point. You don't need to like get out of bed to watch the game. I got to be focused though.

Mine's got to be right. Don't touch your phone is all I'm saying. Fair warning. Isn't it your friends who always text you in your Giants thread? And so I mean you always watch the game live but don't you have friends who text you nonstop baseball or football stuff?

Basketball stuff too. That's going to be me. I don't like that. Twelve hours. Too bad.

Twelve hours from now. You better you better block my number. Do it.

Just do it. I don't even think I know how. Whatever. You find everything on YouTube.

You can find that on YouTube. Yeah. Okay.

Just fair warning. All right. Three o'clock.

Eastern. I'll watch it. Uh huh. So we're really excited. Or I am. I mean Jay's not really excited. Not enough to actually watch the game but we're going to put that aside at least for now because we're going to dive into Monday Night Football and this was a game that I think really does show the growth of the Steelers and the progress of the Steelers. I don't know if Steelers fans agree with me. It's not just because it's a win but it also shows that changing a coach doesn't necessarily guarantee that you are going to take off on a meteoric rise. Who knows what the Colts will do come the offseason. I think they've responded well to Jeff Saturday but the defense. It was better. It's better.

I still have major question marks with Indianapolis though. So all of that, all of that, just for you. On Twitter, ALawRadio, on our Facebook page as well.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You should send producer Jay nasty messages about how he's not really a sports fan if he doesn't wake up for the soccer game. Or spoil the game for me also. Well I mean would you like me to share your number publicly? But maybe on Twitter.

Though you won't check Twitter. It's After Hours on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I'm not going to talk about my fantasy team. I'm not going to talk about my fantasy team. I'm not going to talk about how Najee Harris got injured and it affected my fantasy team.

Because no one cares and that's not what's important. No Najee Harris ended up with a quarterback, well with the quarterback, he and Kenny Pickett, they were actually kind of splitting the running duties earlier in the game and then Najee kept leaving in the first half and heading off to the sidelines and so Benny Snell was out there on the field for the Steelers and we also saw Anthony McFarland with a half dozen carries early. Something was going on with Najee and as we find out at halftime he had an abdominal injury and did not return. And so that threw a major wrench into the Steelers game plan and yet they did a pivot.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Bill Hilgrove is the voice of the Steelers on their radio network and yes Najee did get an early touchdown to cap a five and a half minute drive and that gave the Steelers a 13-0 lead on the Colts. The Colts, they were a bit of a mess to start this game. They had an interception by Matt Ryan which didn't lead to any points for the Steelers but it was a fumbled opportunity. Then they end up with a pair of three and out so they go interception, three and out, three and out. In the meantime the Steelers are able to move the ball up and down the field. A good mix of wide receiver targets for Kenny Pickett.

Love to see the connection between he and George Pickens. If they stay together this could be a very productive combo moving forward through the next few years. Deontay Johnson, of course Pat Fryermuth and others that he was mixing in and making part of the offense. A nice balance early on. However there are still pockets where the Steelers also will squander opportunities or not take advantage or he'll be a little off here or there with his reads or with his throws and so there are always opportunities to rally against a team that's got a new quarterback. Quarterbacks giveth, well rookie quarterbacks giveth and they take it away. So finally the Colts are able to find their footing but it's not until early in the second half. Taylor to the back of the left side.

Ball to Durhash. They give it to Taylor and he scrapes off a block and he's in there. Touchdown Jonathan Taylor. Touchdown I-N-D-Y for JT. He's got a rushing touchdown in three consecutive games and the Colts have their first touchdown of the night.

It's 16-9. But raise your hand if you picked Jonathan Taylor first overall in your fantasy football draft. Jay, I don't know who picked first in your draft but did Jonathan Taylor go number one? Absolutely did. Did he really?

Yep. I'm in two drafts. In both drafts he went first.

Really? I wonder if there is a way to Google that to see I don't know how many fantasy football drafts of a particular site say Yahoo or CBS had Jonathan Taylor go number one overall because of the season he had in 2021, I assumed, I thought, in fact I hoped that for his sake he would be able to replicate that and he and Derrick Henry, two of the best running backs in the league, both there in the AFC South but we have talked about this already. The Colts offensive line has been a major, major disappointment this season and there really are no answers for the reason why it's been a disappointment but even on Monday Night Football you saw Matt Ryan under siege a good portion of this game and it also affects the running ability or the running lanes for Jonathan Taylor. Another thing that happens too is how often do you have to have your running back pick up a pass rusher or block? If you have holes and your offensive line is not doing its job, very often it's up to the running back then to try to pick up a block and to protect the quarterback too and clearly that's not what Jonathan Taylor is best at, I mean he can do it, but they need him to handle the ball even more and so at least he got another touchdown. He did have 20 carries for 86 yards and that score but what really set them up with the short field? Did you see the 89 yard kickoff return by Dallas Flowers?

That was a huge boost, thought a major springboard for the Colts there in the second half and maybe maybe they have an even bigger lead if they are able to protect the football on the one yard line so even as the Steelers offense was going cold there out of the halftime locker room they were not, they weren't using their drives and you had the initial touchdown from Jonathan Taylor to start the second half and then when the Steelers got the ball back they go three and out so then the Colts have the ball for, are you ready for this, 16 plays seven and a half minutes only to fumble on the one yard line, oh talk about a gut punch, you come away with no points and it was a botched handoff between Ryan and Jonathan Taylor, I think the fumble went to Matt Ryan, I'm not sure whose fault it was, either way bottom line is you get zero points after holding the football for seven and a half minutes you come away with no points, that's so disheartening, however the Steelers do nothing with it, they go three and out, they give the Colts a short field and the Colts are able to protect the football on their next drive, four in the line, shotgun snap, they rush for arching spiral into the end zone, caught for the touchdown, near sideline caught in the back by Michael Pittman heavily covered on the play, it's a six yard touchdown pass and the coverage on the play by James Pierre, touchdown that ties the game at 16 with 16 seconds to play in the third quarter, so yes the Colts did rally, they were able to score on the very next drive but there's always the question of what if, it's after hours with Amy Lawrence CBS Sports Radio, after some real stops and starts to begin that second half, Kenny Pickett Steelers on the move yet again, Pickett's gonna go shotgun, wide side to his left and corners in the shotgun, inside Deontay, they hand it off and running left and getting to the end zone is Benny Snell Jr, his first rushing touchdown of the year and the Steelers leapfrog back on top, Steelers win baby, 24-17 man, appreciate all y'all tuning in Monday Night Football, your boy just got it in man, Snell, yeah Steelers, let's go baby, all the way, Snell yeah, that's Benny's Instagram account and no it didn't happen during the game I just thought it fit well with his first, his first touchdown of the season, Bill Hilgrove on Steelers radio, of course they still had to play defense in order to protect, Steelers show blitz and he's back and he runs to the left, he throws that ball down the field and it will be broken up at the 12 yard line, a great job by Sutton and Minka and that is your ball game, how about that, sweet Marie, oh baby, it doesn't get any sweeter than this. Man I'm just appreciative of having an opportunity to compete on Monday Night Football man, all of us grew up on it and it's just a part of the fabric of our society man and it's an honor to participate in it and win, I'm appreciative of the efforts of the guys, you know we got a lot to work on but we were good enough tonight to secure victory and for that we're thankful man, we got a short week, got another road trip waiting on us and so we got to sleep fast and do those things. Marco Belletti is here in studio, I need more sleep in my life, I know you need more sleep in your life, it's probably not possible unless we can figure out the secret to sleeping fast. Oh I know all about sleeping fast. What does sleep fast mean exactly? It means you don't get enough sleep, sleep fast, it's nonsense, you don't sleep fast, you got to sleep enough, I mean I know what he's trying to say, I love Mike Tomlin, I know what he's saying and I can just listen to him but maybe he has a secret, maybe he knows something we don't know, he doesn't look that tired on the sidelines, I think he always brings great energy and he's always very appreciative and so if we can figure out how to sleep fast we might have, we might somehow tap into the fountain of youth. You know what if he's got some sort of secret recipe on that one I'm all in, we could we can get in touch with Mike Tomlin right, I mean I don't think he's going to talk to us long but maybe he could just give us that one little. All we want to know is just how do you sleep fast, that's it, that's the only thing we need to know, we don't want to talk about quarterbacks, we just want to know how to sleep fast, that's all, that's it. We got to keep a lid on it.

That sounds like the answer we get. We won't even share it with anyone else, it'll be our little secret, I'm good at secrets, we won't tell anyone that we figured out how to sleep fast, that'd be awesome, it would be, could you imagine if you only slept say five or six hours, which is pretty standard I think for both of us, but somehow you crammed in eight hours of rest because you slept fast. I'm sorry I lied, five or six, I was daydreaming, okay five or six in a 24 hour period, yes, I know we break it up by naps very often, yeah look it is what it is, but sleeping fast would be cool, really cool, there's got to be, there's got to be a secret, Mike Tomlin knows it, we don't.

Sorry you just, you threw me off here, now I'm going to be thinking about this all night. Don't, maybe that's it, you sleep with your eyes open. Yeah, that doesn't work. Like a snake?

That doesn't work. No? No, it's got to be good sleep, I mean what's the point of sleeping fast if it's worse than this awful sleep that we're getting?

That tingle. Yeah, than the awful sleep that we're already getting, I mean what's the point? If it's worse than sleeping slowly?

Yeah, what's the point? So yeah, I don't know, but I feel like that's my goal in life now is to figure out how to sleep fast. Just put up and shut up time.

All right, I mean just because you have the answers to sleeping fast doesn't mean that you need to be rubbing our noses in it. It does give me another reason to try to find a way to talk to Mike Tomlin. We can do this, I have faith in us, between now and the end of the season it can't be that hard, and we'll just tell the PR people all we want to know, this is all we want to know. He could email me. I'm sure he'll get right on that.

I mean if that makes him feel better, it's quicker right? You don't even have to talk to him live, we'll just take the email. Don't carve out any time, it's all right. Just text me, email me, whatever. In fact, voice the text, whatever, we're good. Come on, everybody's got time for like a 30 second text, right?

He does like chicken wings, maybe that's the secret to sleeping fast. I'll buy. There we go, it's a great idea.

If that gets me the answer, I'll buy. We're going to go through Steelers PR. It's fine. All we want to know is how to sleep fast, we'll keep Mike Tomlin for all of 60 seconds, and we'll supply the chicken wings. Mike Tomlin eats chicken wings? This is going to be like a real answer, I'll fly them in from Buffalo if he wants, find the best place in Pittsburgh, whatever you want, I don't care. Man, I'm just appreciative. Jay loves his Mike Tomlin drops.

We're going to hit Primanti Brothers down in Pittsburgh, I'll do that too. He did not urinate down his leg. That's maybe, maybe, okay, see this is not fair because if we got him on the show, I'd want to ask him about sleep fast, but I'd also want to ask him about urinating down his leg, or not his leg, but someone else's. Man, that's a great place to begin. I'm good, I just want to know about the sleeping fast. Okay, fine. We'll split the difference then, sleep fast. Just got to sleep fast and get back to work. It just sounds so, it sounds so nice. To shoot a hostage, if you will.

I love Mike Tomlin. Jay, that has nothing to do with what we're talking about. Doesn't it?

I'm in. Do we ever know what the hell he's talking about? Yes, we do very often, just not when it comes to sleeping fast. Or shooting hostages in a football press conference. How is that quarterly, I don't know. Or urinating down your leg, either one of those things, I mean, I suppose that has actually happened in a football game before, let's be fair. There has to have been some players out there who've actually peed on themselves. That's how Mark Schler has got his nickname. Yes, good point.

See, so that at least is. That's normal. It's normal, it's not normal. It happens a lot more than you realize on the football field. What if you're in a scrumble? You know how guys are constantly pulling and poking and punching each other?

What if it happens in a scrumble? Yeah. Ew. Yeah.

Ew, I'm so glad I'm not a boy. Okay, it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. We'll hear from Mike Tomlin, Kenny Pickett, also Jeff Saturday, Matt Ryan. We've got your reaction to Monday Night Football. And we're going to sleep fast.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Here we go, Ryan out of the gun, shotgun snap, floats to his left, wears his shoulders, throws downfield and it's incomplete, no flag intended for Parris Campbell and coverage is sudden for the Steelers and the Colts have turned it over on downs with 24 seconds to play. It's disappointing, it really is, because I think the effort is good, but our execution just hasn't been good enough. There were plays to be made, we just didn't make them and we thought we could attack them down the field. They were pressing us up pretty good early in the game and we were trying to get some plays off and just communication wasn't great, execution wasn't great.

Again, you can point fingers and it's like everybody takes a turn at different moments. Off the field, on the money and after hours, it's time to talk football with Amy Lawrence. The voice of first Matt Ryan and then Jeff Saturday on what went wrong Monday Night Football against the Pittsburgh Steelers. So if you look at the updated standings, now through week 12 in the NFL, the Tennessee Titans are the only team in that AFC South above.500, weirdly the South divisions are now the worst in football. In the entire South, meaning both AFC and NFC, there is one team, one team among eight that has a winning record. But in the AFC North, while there is a disparity between the haves and the have-nots, the Steelers are no longer in the basement all by themselves, they've got the Browns. Both those teams sitting at four and seven and neither one has been eliminated from playoff contention, though it's a little bit more difficult if you look around the landscape of the AFC. This isn't the NFC where there are just a few teams that are above.500, no this is a much more thick around the middle conference where there are a lot of teams bunched together and with the entire AFC East above.500, then two teams in the North, the South will be won by the Titans and the Chiefs and Chargers both above.500 in the West, right now it would be hard to imagine a scenario where a team that's four and seven manages to rally and yet we do have five teams with that exact record in the AFC.

Well five teams plus the Colts who have a tie in there, so I suppose that gives them an advantage, potentially. They haven't taken their bye yet, how about that? Of everything that's happened so far this season, they have not yet taken their bye, so they desperately need a bye. In week 13, wow week 13, we're about to be done with the byes, so we're getting to that point, man I remember we just started the byes and now we're almost done with them. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio, I haven't yet posted my photo to indicate to you why it's already an incredible week, it's already a flashbang kind of a week, but I will, I promise.

So on Twitter, ALawRadio, if you haven't yet voted for Monday mortification, then you can do that and on our Facebook page too, I know we've still continued to get your comments over the past few hours. So what about the start to this game, because as much as the Colts were able to rally and take the lead, and they had one seven and a half minute drive that ended with a fumble, there certainly were opportunities, but yeah, their first three drives were also as empty as empty can be. Obviously wasn't nearly good enough the first half and I think everybody felt it, just not nearly enough plays and really self inflicted wounds, which has kind of been the story the last two weeks against opponents that you know, you feel like you have an opportunity and don't make enough to close it out.

No matter what, the question will persist. What about Matt Ryan? Are you going to make a quarterback change because you know, every single loss is on the quarterback regardless of how much pressure he's under or what he does now. It's always the QB's fault. Matt's going to continue to be the guy, like I said, we're going to keep moving forward, keep pressing forward with what we got and tell the guys in the locker room, we got the players in the locker room to do it, we got the plays to do it, we got to figure out how to execute and end moments that matter. And so that's really what we got to focus in on and hone in on.

I agree with Jeff Saturday on that point. They do in fact have the athletes to compete. This is a team that while it missed out on the playoffs last year because of those last two games, remember the loss against Jacksonville that doomed them in week 18, Carson Wentz played so badly it was a disaster. The year before that they went to the playoffs with Phillip Rivers as their quarterback. This is a playoff caliber team.

But they have not played anywhere close to their potential and it kind of blows me away. As I say, we've done an interview about the Colts and the offensive line and its major issues is the question mark and has been the weak link, which is not something that I expected coming into this season. I thought the offensive line would end up being a strength and would be able to protect Matt Ryan. The turnovers obviously a problem and Matt would tell you that's on him too. As you watch this game though, you realize how much he's under pressure. He's seeing a lot of peeps in his face and that's not, it's not an area or not a scenario where he excels, right, because he's an older quarterback and also he's never been a mobile quarterback.

That's not what he does. We did see him run a couple times in this game, which is kind of funny. He runs like a flamingo or an ostrich, although ostriches actually are a little more graceful. They're quick, right? I think.

Right. I mean, they don't start quickly, but have you ever seen flamingos run? Their knees are all out of whack and they look very disjointed. It's awkward looking.

He runs like a flamingo. I could see that. Yeah.

Awkward. One of my favorite quarterbacks of all time, Peyton Manning had cinder blocks for feet, so it's not as though I dislike Matt Ryan. He's obviously, he's a former NFL MVP. The man knows how to play quarterback, but you need to protect him as well and that's been a major weakness for the Colts. As for the Steelers, man, really impressive the way the running back core stepped up. They finished with 172 rushing yards despite not having Najee Harris in the second half.

Sometimes you get battlefield promoted. Guy like Benny Snell became a central part of what we were doing offensively and he was still on punt team. He was still on punt return. He was still on kickoff.

And Max, the guy that's always waiting and working and waiting for his opportunity. He did some things that we saw in team development in the preseason that make him a little bit different than some of the other backs, the things he's able to do in space, the screen game, the draw game. I just thought he was an asset to us.

And what about Kenny Pickett, the rookie QB? He's getting better every week and it's in a very natural way because of experience. He's a competitor, he's smart, but it's still a lot of meat on the bone and it's just the process. But like I always say, he's good enough and we're good enough to win while that happens. And so we're not grading him or us on the curve. We acknowledge that he's very much in development.

You can ask me next week and I'll tell you, he got better in all areas again next week because with each snap becomes exposure and sharp guys, guys that are competitors, they grow from those things. We need people that run toward action, not away from it and he runs toward it. There's a lot of positives to take from it. It's really hard to win in this league and right now, we're a four win team right now, we have to own that and we got to chip away at it and get back to winning.

This definitely was the start. So there's things we got to build from off this game and take a lot of positives from it. And then obviously, there's things that we'll check the tape and we got a quick turnaround here to get back on Sunday and go down to Atlanta.

So there's things that we got to clean up and get right in order to take care of business on Sunday. Kenny Pickett, 20 of 28, to good accuracy, sailed a few throws early in the game, but 174 yards. They're not asking him to throw a ton. There was a drop by Deontay Johnson in the end zone. There were a couple of throws he'd like to have back, also 30 plus yards rushing. In fact, there were four different Steelers who had 30 plus yards rushing.

This was a win by committee. Jets next, it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. What makes your skin crawl no matter how absurd? I want to know. Tails without fur on them, such as rats or opossums. I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new podcast called Your Weirdest Fears. You send me your fear.

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