After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

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Blue Nile dot com. I'm going to do something a little bit different here just to start this hour. I know this is, it's not going to be easy for me to circle back to football or it might be awkward, but I still think it's really important quickly before we start back in on the NFL schedule. I don't know if you all heard this, but Mike Leach was hospitalized in emergency fashion on Sunday night in Jackson. So he's now the head coach of Mississippi State. And according to the school, he suffered a personal health issue at home on Sunday.

Again, that's coming from the university in a press release. He was taken by ambulance to a medical center in Jackson after having this issue at home. And there haven't been any other details, but I did see on Twitter, take everything that you see on Twitter with a grain of salt. I'm using my own advice that I always give you, but I did see that there were some people who were calling for a serious prayer for Mike Leach because he's in a fairly dire state. There was one update coming from a Twitter account that's verified, which I don't even know if that means anything, but her name is Chrissy Freud and she's a member of the media. A few hours ago, according to sources, the situation with Mike Leach continues to be serious.

Coach is still fighting. Keep Mike and his wife in your thoughts and prayers. So no updates, nothing new, only that he's in the hospital and that there are a lot of people who are nervous for him, who are asking for prayers, who are pulling for him. So I wanted to make sure I mentioned that because the posts on social media, they went through the roof, even during Sunday night football.

And then one more thing, and again, this is serious. It's far bigger than sports scores and games and headlines. We talked so much about the World Cup when the United States was still alive and made it into the knockout stage. Haven't talked about it much since, though I've been keeping up with it. We may welcome Jesse Bradley back to the show this week if we can figure out a time to do it.

But in light of the news over the weekend, this World Cup now feels very different to me. I hope that you are familiar with the name Grant Wall. If you're not, I would encourage you to go back and read some of what Grant has written, either currently or in the past. He's a longtime reporter and writer, a brilliant writer, a brilliant orator. And he was synonymous with soccer in the United States. He turned himself into the foremost voice and opinion on soccer in the US. He was a longtime member of the Sports Illustrated family, got laid off there or fired, depending upon who you believe, in 2020.

And he was on his own then and was providing his own content that was very popular because of his long-standing reputation, very well earned, and because of the amount of equity and credibility he had over the course of his decades in the business. Only 48 years old, he was in Qatar to cover the World Cup, covering the US of course, and he was getting sick. He had a cold. It lasted for weeks.

He was tweeting about it, posting about it on his social that he couldn't kick it, that it was getting worse because of the fact that he was not sleeping and he was halfway across the world, halfway across the globe, and his body was all messed up. And probably many of you can identify with that. I know in my life when I'm burning a candle at both ends and my immunity is down, I tend to get a cold. There have been a couple times in my life where that cold has turned into pneumonia. I once had double pneumonia from a cold because in the fall, specifically in October, I just don't ever let up. And so I understand what that's like when a cold won't go away because your body is too worn down to fight it because you're working, working, working, not sleeping, pushing it, all that.

And I'm sure many of you can identify when your body gets worn out, it's unable to fight infection and viruses and germs as well. And so Grant was on social sharing about the fact that this cold was getting worse and that it had traveled to his lungs and so he then went finally to see a doctor, went to a medical clinic in Qatar, and he thought he had bronchitis. But while he was covering a match on Friday, he collapsed in the press box and passed away right there. They couldn't revive him.

I don't know the details. I told producer J that I'm hoping not because we need to know necessarily because I would like to know about what happened at the end of his life and I want to remember that and I want to know because I think it's important. There haven't been a whole lot of details yet about his collapse in the press box, only that there were people all around.

I don't know how quickly anyone was able to get to him to try to help. But he did pass away in Qatar on Friday and as the news was breaking on Saturday, if you were on social media, you saw the reaction. He was a rock star in our industry. But as I say, he was synonymous with soccer in the United States. Whatever he took on, he made it his job to really become a foremost voice and authority and he did it with college basketball before soccer. He was respected across the board. And to that end, not only did U.S. soccer release a statement lamenting and mourning his death, but members of this U.S. national team and former U.S. national teams. Now, he's a journalist, right? So he criticized them.

He never took it easy on them and yet they respected him. Tyler Adams was one that I saw that posted a really nice message about Grant. His wife was a doctor and was halfway across the world when it happened and wasn't able to get to him and did just briefly post that she appreciated all the support, but that she was in a total state of shock, as are those of us in this business.

Hadn't talked to him in quite a while, but had him on my show previously at my other network. And so now the World Cup feels very different to me. I know his brother has been on social media claiming that he thinks this was actually a murder, meaning because the Qatar authorities and officials had already detained him. Grant had already detained Grant multiple times for his shirt in support of LBGTQ rights. He was told to take off the shirt. He refused.

And he'd already had a couple of run ins with Qatar authorities. And because of that, his brother believes that he was poisoned or was treated erroneously, but treated that way on purpose when he went to the medical clinic. I don't want to jump to that conclusion, but man, this stinks. It's sad.

It's just, it's almost unthinkable. And I wouldn't say it happened so fast, but it's still shocking and sudden, even though he was talking about how he wasn't feeling well and it had been that way for several weeks. Jay and I said this earlier, I just wish he had come home. I wish he had decided, you know what, I'm not getting better here. I need to get home. I need to be in my own house, in my own bed. I need to see a doctor in the US. I don't know what the conditions are like there in Qatar. I have no idea.

I've never been to the Middle East. But it's not the same as being home. He had a job to do though, and he was committed to it. He was all in. And so I'm, I'm really sad about his passing, of course, but also just brokenhearted for his family. I can't even imagine this type of news. Thinking about Grant and obviously Mike Leach as well, though hope we're not having the same conversation about Mike later on this week. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. You can find me on Twitter, A-LOL Radio, also on our Facebook page, named after the show. And we've got our poll up.

Which of the teams in the NFL who lost on Sunday should feel the most mortified, completely miserable on Monday? So again, on Twitter or Facebook. We've also got a YouTube channel. I know lots of you flock to our YouTube channel.

We're going to do something holiday themed and Christmassy for YouTube before the week is up. We are 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. As I say, there's no seamless transition back to football. It is one of those times where I think, man, sports just don't matter as much. But we are going to continue through what was the week 14 schedule. Going back to our poll that we started on Thursday night and ran through Sunday morning, you all picked Bills and Jets. This might be the second time in the 2022 season that you've chosen a game featuring the Jets as your game of the week.

And here's why I love you. It was the game of the week with snow in Orchard Park. It was so pretty. Really tough offensively, though. The conditions were, were icky.

That's the technical term. The ball was wet and slippery and the Jets and Bills combined for 10 straight punts to begin this game. They nearly went into halftime scoreless. If not for late second quarter, Buffalo finally puts together a 70-yard scoring drive. First down, Bills have it at the Jets 24-yard line. Josh lines up shotgun.

Now the snap. Allen looks, looks, fires it downfield. Caught by Dawson-Knox at the eight, dives into the end zone.

He is in! Touchdown! Touchdown Buffalo! Dawson-Knox was wide open and he sailed over a defender to get into the end zone. A 24-yard touchdown strike.

An airborne somersault. Very athletic for Dawson-Knox. But here's what I remember about that touchdown drive that put the Bills ahead 7-0 at the break. It's likely another punt. If C.J. Mosley doesn't come flying across the line of scrimmage on a fake fourth and one. And it was actually Dawson-Knox that got him to jump. If you guys were watching the play or you saw the highlights, Knox slips under center looking as though he's going to take a direct snap. And when he does that, C.J. Mosley bites, goes flying over the line of scrimmage and pounces on Dawson-Knox as if he's got some information that nobody else does.

Tony Romo, if I can remember his line. Oh, I think he did a Waterboy reference actually. He was like, it was a perfect tackle a la Waterboy, something like that. But obviously it was a first down because I think the official call was encroachment, though it was offsides, it was anything.

It could have been anything. And so it's C.J. Mosley, the veteran defender, that extends that drive for the Bills. So it's 7-0 Buffalo at the break. Now the two teams are able to find a little more solid ground, some solid footing in that second half.

Though, as I say, this was never going to be a beautiful offensive game. First and goal at the five yard line. They're still in shotgun, Josh is. Two receivers left, one to the right, takes the snap. And Josh, did he give it to?

No, Josh keeps it himself and he drives forward and he is in! Touchdown Buffalo! Josh Allen faked the handoff and ran forward for the five yard touchdown run. So the two teams exchange rushing touchdowns to start the third quarter and that's the end of the touchdowns. Like I say, it was tough to come by, so at least you got the entertaining drives there at the beginning of the second half. John Murphy on Bills radio, Bob Washusen on Jets radio as Josh Allen takes it in for the score himself to make it 14-7. And then moving forward, there was a safety, there were a couple of field goals in there, but that was all she wrote.

And here's part of the reason why. Mike White was on and off the field. He was getting flattened, crushed. The Bills defensive line was flattening really anything in his path.

I was impressed with the way the Bills were dominating the line of scrimmage. But White was paying the price. And so the Buffalo D came up with four official sacks, eight other hits.

I feel like all were administered on Mike White. And ultimately, he wasn't able to stay on the field because he was having trouble breathing. It was diagnosed as a rib injury. And Robert Sala said after the game, they took him to the hospital just as precautionary measure. And this was something Aaron Rodgers mentioned a few weeks ago.

Sometimes if you have a rib injury, you could also have a punctured lung if you're having trouble breathing, and so they want to be careful. So Buffalo's only two of 13 on third down in this game, and doesn't get into the red zone except one time. And he's very complimentary of the Jets defense following this win for Buffalo. They play very hard. They're coached really well. They've got some really good players over there. Obviously playing these division games, teams see it twice.

They kind of know what you like, know what you typically like to do, so they can kind of game plan around that a little more specifically. Early on, it wasn't great. I thought second, third quarter kind of got into a little bit of a rhythm, and we got to finish better. We got to end the game with the ball in our hands and not put that much stress on our defense, but our defense played a heck of a game tonight. Defense really stepped up, played a physical ball game, took the ball away, and was able to seal the game down the stretch there. And then the offense I thought got into a rhythm before half, and Doris and the offensive staff made some adjustments, and then we started clicking a little bit there.

Overall, plenty to work on, starting with fundamentals and some things obviously that didn't go our way we got to get better at. So we've got a short week with the Dolphins coming in here. A little bit later on, I'll let you hear this one particular exchange between Josh Allen and a reporter, in which the reporter says this offense is not good enough to win a Super Bowl.

And Josh's response is classic. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. I do want to get to the jet side of things before our break, so that's why I'm moving on for now. But Allen goes 16 of 27, only 147 yards in a touchdown through the air, though he does also have that rushing touchdown. And I kind of like the ties. You often see ties between the Bills and the Jets and the other teams in the AFC East.

One of those, Shaq Lawson. Who had a little extra motivation for this game? This game was a little personal for me.

I took this to heart. I got cut last year, or the last game of the season, before we played Buffalo. I feel like it was just a shot to my face. So when I made that play, every time I made it, I just let the whole sideline over there hear me and feel me.

You always do that, though. The energy you bring. Yeah, but the energy was just a little bit different today.

It was something, but it was just a little bit different. Shaq Lawson feeling the extra emotion and some vindication after the Bills actually pay back the Jets for an earlier loss. As for Mike White, he had the rib injury. He was having trouble breathing. You could see that he was in a lot of pain. He tried to come back on the field multiple times. And so I actually tweeted this during the game because it's fairly obvious that there's a lot of reasons why the Jets love Mike. There's a lot of reasons why they want to play for him. I think that's been established.

But one of those has got to be his toughness and the fact that he just kept trying, even though he clearly was feeling a lot of pain. Tony Romo was doing the broadcast with Jim Nantz on CBS because this was the nationally televised game. How about that? He labeled Mike White the new Daniel LaRusso. Quick, do you know the reference? Karate Kid? Daniel LaRusso? Daniel's gonna fight! Daniel's gonna fight! When the other dojo tried to take him out and cheated, Daniel's gonna fight. I just needed Mike to try the crane technique out of shotgun in the back of the backfield, but he did not, unfortunately. Maybe he couldn't have even lifted his leg like that after the number of shots to his ribs.

Robert Salas says they'll see the Bills again. He's sure of it. And, meanwhile, a lot of respect for Mike and what he put his body through in this game. He's got a lot of heart. He's gonna lay it on the line for his boys. I would do the same for him. Like I said many times before that, but... Garrett Wilson.

That's a compliment. Six catches, 78 yards for Garrett, but there just wasn't a lot working for the Jets. Flacco, Joe Flacco, ends up in this game because why? Zach Wilson was inactive.

He was wrapped up so tight in a coat and a hat that you could barely tell who it was. Still nothing with Zach except that he's going back to basics. He's doing fundamental drills. That's all that we really got as a sideline report from Tracy.

Tracy Wolfson. Bills win this game. It was ugly all around, but a win is a win is a win is a win. So back of the hour, we're going to get to the AFC North because all four teams were fighting in house on this Sunday. Straight ahead, the Eagles move to 12-1. So yes, Bills and Chiefs are 10-3, setting the pace in the AFC, but the Eagles still have the best record, clear by two games for the rest of the league, and they're the first to clinch a playoff spot. You can find me on Twitter, ALawRadio, take our Monday mortification poll, and then our Facebook page, too.

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Ready to propose this holiday season? With just a few days left, Blue Nile can help. Blue Nile offers online tools to help you build a one-of-a-kind ring.

Choose from thousands of diamonds and settings. Order now to take advantage of Blue Nile's site-wide holiday deals and get free two-day shipping, just in time for that holiday proposal. Go to BlueNile.com and use code radio to save $50 on purchases of $500 or more. That's BlueNile.com Code Radio.

Ready to propose this holiday season? With just a few days left, Blue Nile can help. Blue Nile offers online tools to help you build a one-of-a-kind ring. Choose from thousands of diamonds and settings. Order now to take advantage of Blue Nile's site-wide holiday deals and get free two-day shipping, just in time for that holiday proposal. Go to Blue Nile.com and use code radio to save $50 on purchases of $500 or more. That's Blue Nile.com Code Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. 🎵Music🎵 Hurts back again. He's floating it for Devontae Smith, who makes the catch. The Giants miss and he walks into the end zone.

The Giants gamble and Hurts went 41 yards for the touchdown, beating Darnay Holmes. Hurts in the gun. He's got Sanders to his left. Hurts back.

Face. He's looking, looking. He is going deep.

It is caught. A.J. Brown, touchdown.

🎵Music🎵 This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Meryl Reese on Eagles Radio and yes, Philadelphia started with an onslaught against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium, where, weirdly enough, it was raining and that's just about, oh, not even 15 miles south of me and I was getting snow in my neighborhood, but it's also lower elevation, so also icky conditions, though if you play football in December, you need to expect this. Philadelphia actually started with a 14-play, 8-minute touchdown drive. At that point, you kind of figured the Giants were in for it unless they were able to stop this train and they really could not.

Miles Sanders ran roughshod. Jalen Hurts using the run to set up the pass because there's a threat in both cases. Touchdowns on the first three possessions for a 21-0 lead in the second quarter. Now, the Giants did get on the board after a blocked punt and a short field, so the special teams handing them the opportunity on a silver platter.

Isaiah Hodgins is able to get into the end zone on a Daniel Jones pass, but this was 24-7 at the break and to be fair, it wasn't a whole lot prettier for New York after the break. Three receivers to the near side. Devontae Smith to the far side. Miles Sanders to the right of Hurts. On first and goal, Sanders in motion. Hurts is back. He's going to run. He comes to the five. Touchdown Jalen Hurts. Sanders stays in.

This time, he breaks away at the 35-30, 25-20, 15-10-5. Miles Sanders, touchdown. Wow. Oh, wow. Are you kidding me?

Are you kidding me? Points on four of five possessions in the second half for the Eagles ultimately racking up 48 points. The Giants can't even manage half of that and it was 253 rushing yards for Philadelphia with four touchdowns with the ground game. The lopsided nature of this game just made me realize once again that the Eagles can embarrass any defense. They can dominate even if it's not an entire game. They do have the one-two punch of being able to hurt you on the ground or through the air. And they don't turn the ball over a lot. They take care of the football, which is huge. The Eagles clinch a second straight playoff berth, their fifth postseason in six years.

Meanwhile, New York is going the other direction. We'll get to that coming up. Yeah, not a whole lot of celebrating over them locking up the playoffs. Ain't done yet. It's a great accomplishment. Long time coming, but ain't done yet. We got way bigger goals than it's on to the next one.

This is the first step. This is the first step to the goals that we set for ourselves, make it to postseason, win the division. We ain't won a division yet because obviously we got four more, but we made the playoffs, got a spot. But yeah, man, we just got so much more that we got to accomplish. And at the end of the day, the ultimate thing is to get a ring. Or I ain't going to say it's a great season so far. Let's just stay focused. Stay focused on the task at hand and getting that ring. At least Brandon Graham gave us a little more than Miles Sanders and Nick Sirianni.

Yeah, it's great and all, but – and actually, Sirianni didn't even say that. We got way bigger goals than it's on to the next one. Weirdly, Eagles lock up the playoffs, first team to get in. As for the Giants, they are still right now a wildcard team, but they are slip-sliding away. One win in their last six games, and that actually includes the tie against the commanders, which right now is the only reason that they are a wildcard team over the Seahawks, because the Seahawks have slipped to seven and six. This is the roughest patch of the season for Brian Daball and his Giants.

How will they respond? We got beat handily. 48 to whatever it was. They're a good football team. Give them a lot of credit.

Got to get back to work. Certainly competed, but they kept making plays. We kept giving them opportunities.

Some short fields in the kicking game, whether it was a drop pawn or a return. So the guys are busting their tail. We just got to do a little bit better. Can't afford to get off to a slow start like that. Didn't do much those first two drives and fell behind. We got to do something to catch ourselves and make a play and get going.

It was disappointing we weren't able to do that. Philadelphia is a really good team. We could see today we aren't where we need to be yet. At the same time, we did some things well we can build off of, but we got to come back to work. Daniel Jones ends up with four sacks officially, but a dozen extra hits. So even as the Eagles were building that big lead, they were relentless, both sides of the ball. 253 rushing yards as they moved to 12 and 1. The Dallas Cowboys, they were actually on the ropes and appeared to be losing ground to the Eagles until the very last minute of their game against the Texans. So we'll get to that.

Plus, we want to dive into the AFC North where they went through, let's see, one, two, three, four quarterbacks in Pittsburgh. And the Bengals continue their streak, though it was a first for Joe Burrow. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Driscoll behind the center. Here's the snap. Here's the gift of Pierce taking it over right guard, the dive.

He's got it. Touchdown Houston. The Texans capitalize on the turnover and drive it into the end zone. Driscoll stays in and the gun. Pierce to his right. Driscoll fakes the gift.

Now running to his right. He's going to throw downfield and it's caught by Amare Rogers. Touchdown.

Oh, my goodness. What a throw by Driscoll. And welcome to the Texans, Amare Rogers.

It's time to pull on the pads and hit somebody. On After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Where have these Houston Texans been all season? They actually led at AT&T Stadium over the Cowboys 20 to 17 at the half. It was Jeff Driscoll spelling Davis Mills, who got the starting job back from Kyle Allen this week.

I mean, if you have three quarterbacks, you have no quarterbacks. But don't tell Lovey Smith and the Texans. The call is there with Mark VanderMeer on Texans Radio. As we hear them, it makes me realize we really haven't used a lot of Texans highlights.

Damian Pierce, that's pretty much it all season long. It was a lot tougher to score in the second half. Only a Houston field goal in the third quarter. Dallas can't produce points even after a Pierce fumble. And then there's a second Dak Prescott interception in the middle of the fourth quarter. Dallas is running out of time.

So here's the deets. With 5.45 left to play, Dak throws an interception deep in his own territory. Now this came after an earlier goal line stand by the Texans. And so the Cowboys are really struggling in the red zone.

P.S. Goal line stands are sexy. So the Houston Texans get the ball back with 5.45 remaining, but the Dallas defense bails out Dak. They give up nothing. Four and out.

That was it. And so when they get the ball back, they're pinned. The Cowboys are pinned on their own two-yard line. Dak finds a nice rhythm. He goes six for six on the drive.

And ultimately, there's a little vindication for Zeke, who was the one that was stonewalled on the goal line earlier in the game. In the gun, Prescott snapped back, hand off it. The holidays are only a few days away. Are you ready? Find that perfect gift for someone special with jewelry from Blue Nile. Right now, during Blue Nile's site-wide holiday sale, get deals on their endless selection of bold gold styles, gemstone jewelry, and classic diamond pieces.

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BlueNile.com. The holidays are only a few days away. Are you ready? Find that perfect gift for someone special with jewelry from Blue Nile. Right now, during Blue Nile's site-wide holiday sale, get deals on their endless selection of bold gold styles, gemstone jewelry, and classic diamond pieces.

Need your piece fast? Order today and get free two-day shipping. Shop now and save up to 40% on the season's most stunning trends at BlueNile.com. That's BlueNile.com.

BlueNile.com. The holidays are only a few days away. Are you ready? Find that perfect gift for someone special with jewelry from Blue Nile. Right now, during Blue Nile's site-wide holiday sale, get deals on their endless selection of bold gold styles, gemstone jewelry, and classic diamond pieces.

Need your piece fast? Order today and get free two-day shipping. Shop now and save up to 40% on the season's most stunning trends at BlueNile.com. That's BlueNile.com.

BlueNile.com. Elliott driving, pushing. Touchdown! Zeke Ialani ahead for the kettle.

No, fakes the kettle. Says, I'm not getting the fine. I'm just taking the touchdown. And so with that, 41 seconds left, Zeke gets into the end zone to cap a 98-yard drive. This is a Dallas offense that went quickly, and you got to see what they could do with the football finally.

What we're, I think, more accustomed to seeing this season. Five first downs, a lot of movement. So just under three minutes, they go 98 yards and able to take the lead. That's Brad Sham on Cowboys radio. There's a last-ditch attempt by the Texans, which is intercepted, and the Cowboys snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and move to 10-3 with that final, unbelievable drive.

This is why you do two-minute every day. Just the composure. We had a number of guys get injured today.

So I don't know if Tad is taking it through that. So just a lot going on on the sidelines. I thought the communication was excellent. I thought the players that had to step up, stepped up. And guys just kept fighting. We're going to go win this game. Honestly, I said it after the interception. Just having faith and trusting the defense, knowing that those guys are going to go out there and make a play. And then once they did that, us having the opportunity.

Told them one play at a time. The Cowboys really hurt themselves in this game. 400-plus yards of offense, but three turnovers. And they're lucky they didn't end up with an L because of it. As for the Texans, they fall to 1-11-1. They come really close. I'm not sure you can look at silver lining.

I will say one positive. Tony Pollard continues to make the most of his opportunities. And he has two more touchdowns in this game.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We're going to quick morph into the AFC North. That wasn't even supposed to rhyme.

It doesn't really rhyme, but anyway. Ravens and Steelers were also using multiple quarterbacks. So to kind of piggyback on what the Texans did with Jeff Driscoll and Davis Mills, we knew the Ravens were starting Tyler Huntley. We did not expect to see the Steelers back up in this game. However, this was tough sledding for quarterbacks.

Right? And so both Mitch Trubisky and, toward the end of the game, a rookie quarterback named Anthony Brown are the ones who finish. Because you have Kenny Pickett and Tyler Huntley end up in concussion protocol. Now, Pickett only survived the first half of the first quarter. Huntley was still out there in the second half.

But this became something very different than what the Steelers and the Ravens initially anticipated. Trubisky had three interceptions, but he was chuckin' and duckin' all game. Trubisky in the gun. Now they have a trio out there to the right.

He looks back. Looks right. Fires it over the middle. Touchdown! Pack fire move from ten yards out. He beat Kyle Hamilton. Oh, the move is loose.

That's right. On an in route. Crossing the end zone in between a couple of guys over there.

I gotta tell you, that window was so small, Billy. He just drilled that ball in or did the Trubisky. He put that baby right on the spot. So yes, there were one or two highlights with Mitch Trubisky, but he was out of sync and a lot of times was just kind of standing back and letting the ball fly. To some success, but really it was flying more to the Ravens. The Ravens defense did its job. So then, for the Baltimore Ravens offense, they bring in an undrafted rookie QB, Anthony Brown, and he leads an eight minute field goal drive in the fourth quarter.

How about that? Your first NFL snaps and that's what you do? And so yes, give credit to the Baltimore defense, but the offense did just enough to survive the Steelers. DuVernay in motion. Brown gives it to Gus Edwards.

He crosses the 30 out to the 34. First down Ravens, and that will run the clock to the two minute warning. And now the Ravens can take this one down to where they can pound this one out.

And the crowd has grown quiet as the Ravens have put the Steelers on their back. I think it just shows our resilience as a team and how good we are at handling adversity. And I think this team is very battle tested in that sense. I think not just this year, but year after year there's a lot of adversity that has come through this organization. And I think we're more than ready to handle any situation as today. We're in our second backup quarterback, but things are going to happen. We can only control, we can control, and that's what we did today.

That's Ronnie Stanley. Again, resiliency and being able to win when you're not playing your best game, a huge theme for this week. The Cowboys, that was them.

They did not play their best football, but they still found a way to win. To me, that's a sign of a team that can fight through adversity, a team that can adjust on the fly, and certainly a team that is a contender. And Ronnie mentions your second backup quarterback.

That's the undrafted rookie, Anthony Brown, who got a cool opportunity in the fourth quarter. This is extremely gratifying. I appreciate Coach Harbaugh for trusting me and believing in me.

And today was just a testimony to them for actually bringing me here and believing in who I was. The Ravens moved to 9 and 4, while the Steelers fall to 5 and 8. And Mike Tomlin, this was not what he expected, though he was looking for the Steelers to continue pushing. Man, a disappointing outcome, but really nothing mystical about it. We didn't do the things necessary to secure victory, particularly how these two teams come together and the nature of these matchups.

You know, points are precious. We turned the ball over when we were in scoring territory a couple of times, taking points off the board. We allowed a known legendary guy to block a kick. He's probably the leading kick blocker, active kick blocker in the NFL. You do those things, you don't win, and we understand that.

And so, you know, we're disappointed. A lot of stuff I can do better, but coming off the bench, you just wanted to go in there and try to provide a spark. I thought we did a good job moving the ball, but I got to protect the football and that's obvious. Well, it was great for Mitch Trubisky, if not for the three interceptions. 22 of 30, 276 yards, he did have a score.

And he was just out there being fearless, except just not quite in rhythm. It's been a while. So the Steelers fall to 5 and 8, but they've got company because the Cleveland Browns also are 5 and 8. Joe Burrow gets his first victory over the Browns.

This one taking place in Cincinnati. And don't look now, but the Bengals are among the hottest teams in the NFL. A couple of really incredible highlights in this one, including a little trickeration by the Bengals. Burrow catches a high snap, now it's a flea flicker.

Burrow's going to throw it deep, he's got a man open, over the shoulder catch, Trenton Irwin at the 6, touchdown! Bengals, the flea flicker executed to perfection. I think it was three straight drives where we start deep and we're not really moving the ball, but defense bailed us out. That first quarter I wasn't playing very well, I was missing throws. The run game was good to us, Jamar was incredible like he always is. Defense played great.

Team win, team ugly win, but we got it done. This team just kept finding a way, and I've got confidence these players are going to step up. We really lost T in warm-ups, we lost TB on the second play of the game offensively, and guys just stepped up. We settled in and found a way to move the ball, and that's really because our defense allowed us to.

They gave us the time by limiting the points off the board. Joe Burrow mentions how ugly it was, but it was a win. It was a stalemate, a scoreless stalemate, late in the first half until a pair of touchdown drives for Cincinnati. Jamar Chase hauls in a 15-yarder, Samajit Piran is able to get into the end zone, but points were hard to come by. Joe Mixon, nearly 100 yards rushing, and for the most part the Bengals defense just had to stay home and take care of its business. Because the Cleveland offense is still scuffling as Deshaun Watson tries to shake off the rust, though he did finally have his first touchdown pass in 700 plus days. This one goes to the tight end, David Njoku. Those were the only points of the second half, so that kind of tells you what a struggle it was. Really in the AFC North, some UGLY football, and yet wins are beautiful.

And ultimately you've got both the Bengals and the Ravens at 9-4, second best record in the AFC neck and neck in that North division. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. The season's most stunning trends at Blue Nile.com. That's Blue Nile.com. Blue Nile.com.

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