After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

So my biggest fear is there's going to be sneaks in the toilet. We're all afraid of that one strange thing. I'm Larry Mullins, the host of a new short 10-minute podcast called Your Weirdest Fears. We unpack where these fears come from.

A rat climbed into my toilet. And learn how to manage them. Listen and subscribe to Your Weirdest Fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. I was listening to the Star Wars soundtracks. It's working!

It's working! Sometimes that's just all I want to do is listen to Star Wars music. Hello there. General Kenobi. Master, the Chancellor is very powerful. You'll need my help if you're going to arrest him.

For your own good, stay out of his affair. I was so engrossed in my Star Wars. I sense a great deal of confusion in you, Yoke Skywalker. I forgot the football game had started and was like, uh-oh! I have the high ground.

Are you sure this thing is safe? It's not really a Star Wars weekend, but now I'm thinking about it. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence, a producer Jay special. Producer Jay has actually become much more of a Star Wars nerd since he started working with me.

It's not a requirement of working on the show, but it definitely does help if you want to make your host happy. So it's not a Star Wars weekend. It's a football weekend, but you know me.

Anytime that Star Wars is part of the conversation, there is an insta-smile on my face. Good morning to you. Happy Wednesday. Happy New Year.

I am here for another hour. I'm out tonight and then I'm back on Thursday night into Friday morning. And the reason for that is because I had days I had to use before the end of the year.

Use them or lose them. And so I'm back from my holiday vacation, but will not be working tonight. Then I'll be back to wrap the regular year with you and then start off fresh in 2023 on Sunday night. Sunday night, January 1st, week 17 in the NFL.

And of course will be post the college football playoff semifinals at that point as well. So there's a lot coming this weekend in the football realm. Looking forward to it. And I know a lot of people are out of their regular routines, so I don't mind working over holidays.

I decided I wanted to work a couple of days this week. And so I'm thrilled that we've got so many of you who have found us on social media and I look forward to connecting with more of you again as we head through the week. Thank you for all of your Christmas greetings. Thank you for all of your warm wishes and sentiments about 2023. So 22 was a tough year.

I'm going to talk more about it on Thursday night into Friday. It's a year that I never want to repeat. It's a year that featured a lot of pain, a lot of heartache, a lot of loss, some really difficult moments and memories that I would prefer to forget.

But I know that's not how life works. And it wasn't just for me, it was for people that I love and other family members and friends. So it was a tough year, but always with pain, always with life's challenges comes the opportunity for growth and certainly the opportunity to remember what matters, what is most important. And I hope that I did that this year. I'm grateful to so many friends and many of you who were supportive this year.

It really means a lot to me. But yeah, definitely a year that I hope I never have to repeat. And I know I'm not alone in that. It's just the ebb and flow of life, right? Sometimes we have an amazing year with a lot of highlights and a lot of awesome memories and other times we can't wait to turn the calendar to the next year. Well, that's certainly the case, although the more months go by, the farther removed I am from Grammy Helen, which is hard too. So there's a lot. There's a lot that happened this year for many of us and I'm believing for breakthroughs and blessings in 2023.

I hope that your 23, whether your 22 is positive or not, will be a step up, a step forward and full of whatever it is that you need and whatever it is that you seek in 23. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We're live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios.

Need to know what it takes for a home to fit your budget and your family? Rocket can. So you can find me on Twitter A Law Radio. Also on our Facebook page After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Again, thank you for all of your greetings to welcome me back. Not quite back back. Kind of back.

Not all the way back. And not back at the beginning of the show either because for the first time in a 25 year radio career, the mic was unplugged. I didn't even know the mic could be unplugged. I just found that out three hours ago. So I'm so sorry you missed it. Producer Carlos is never working on the show again if he forgets to take it out of the podcast. Luckily it's already done. Boom! See, there you go.

Producer Carlos knows. Plus he's eating my reindeer chow. Leftover reindeer chow from the baked goods over Christmas time. I think he's okay in there. He was given some reindeer chow as a thank you for taking the faux pas out of the beginning of the show.

All of them we had Matt the musher on the show and he decided to bring it up not once but twice. And then apologize right away afterwards. Yeah right. He wasn't sorry.

It was a sorry not sorry. We were so thrilled to have Matt back on the show. He hadn't joined us in months. And while he and I keep in touch, I know many of you asked about him and were looking for an update from him. And so he joined us to start the second hour. He hung out with us for about 30 minutes. If you missed that conversation with Matt the musher in Eagle River, Alaska, he was getting ready for a training run.

But that's all I'm going to tell you. Make sure you check it out on our podcast after hours Amy Lawrence dot com. So a fun surprise. I appreciate your reaction to that. Being back in studio after a week away has been a challenge. We're catching up even as we go.

But certainly having Matt the musher on the show was a huge bonus. I hope you're enjoying the holiday week so far. As I say I'm out tonight but then back on Thursday night to get you ready for the football weekend. Our phone number 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4CBS. We've got some NBA, some NFL and then some college football as we head through this last hour here on this Wednesday morning. Coming up, Greg Penner, the new CEO of the Broncos and George Payton, the general manager speak about Nathaniel Hackett and about Russell Wilson.

So you will hear from them. Plus we'll let you hear Mike McDaniel again on his quarterback being back in concussion protocol. And also JJ Watt announces that he is playing the final two games of what is a very decorated and productive NFL career.

He definitely will be missed. Can you believe by the way that we are mere hours from week 17 in the NFL. It is fast and furious, Pete. It's coming quick. After the last two weekends where we're kind of all spread out and over the holidays and everything else going on, pieces have fallen into place but there's still so much yet on the line in the final two weeks of the regular season. We begin this hour though for those of you who were not still awake or just you're out of your regular routine. So maybe you're catching up on this Wednesday morning almost a Thursday.

That's going to take some time to get back into the routine. It looked to be your run of the mill average every day. Well, it doesn't happen every day, but when it does happen, New York Knicks cruising toward a victory in Dallas. Quickly waiting has struggled from three drives and kicks. Rose to Grimes straight on three.

Nails it. Quinn Grimes with a career high 30. He's made seven threes. Knicks lead by 11 over three gone by in the fourth. Grimes swings. Randall faked the three.

Between the legs. Attacks in the paint. The fadeaways.

Good. Julius Randall getting the bounce past 25 and has reached 10,000 points for his NBA career. Quickly picks it up in the backcourt. Walk it over against Bullock. Randall. Bullock on them.

Two good friends from their days as a Nick. Quickly for Grimes. Attacks by Doncic.

No look down low. Robinson with the stuff in the face of Hardaway and a foul. So the Knicks were cruising toward a victory on Tuesday in Dallas. Feeling as though they had this one well in hand when they were up nine, with 33 seconds to go. How often do we see this in sports? Teams take their collective foot off the gas, especially against an athlete who hasn't quite decided he's gonna wave the white flag. Well, wave the white towel.

I guess white flag would be one lap to go. You know, wave the white towel in surrender. And if you know anything about Luka Doncic, Luka doesn't surrender. He's relentless. He's aggressive. And if you're watching the end of this game in the fourth quarter, you might have been astounded by the number of point blank shots, layups that he got in the fourth quarter, even as the Knicks appear to be cruising toward a win.

Scott Cooperstein on Mavericks radio. I'm telling you, anything that Luka wanted to do in the final few minutes of this game, Luka was able to do. He was all over the court. He was dribbling around guys like they were standing still. And in some cases, the Knicks looked like better statues on defense. He was aggressive.

He was attacking. He was at the rim. And he had a career high 21 rebounds. The best rebound, though, if you haven't seen it, it's on our show Twitter after our CBS.

It comes with mere seconds left in regulation and the Mavericks still trailing. Of course, Luka could just try to hit it hard off the rim and try to come in the middle of the lane and grab the rebound himself. On the way, hit it hard, rebound batted around.

It's taken by Luka. He hits! He hits! With a second to go as he hits the deck! Tied at 115! It worked! Oh my gosh.

Seriously, check it out on our show Twitter. The Mavericks actually shared multiple angles of this intentionally missed free throw and a long rebound that carromed hard off the rim to Luka. And he's able in one motion to put it back up and in. You want to talk about highlight reel? Of course, at that point, he wasn't at 60 points. And after a slow start to overtime, it seemed as though Luka was playing at a different speed than what we got from the rest of the team out there. Yeah, this was Luka's time to shine in OT. Luka, between his legs, crosses to his left, now played by Randall on the switch, eight to shoot.

Right to left, between his legs right, at the block, spinning, fading, hitting! With 107 to go, the first basket of overtime, 58 for Doncic! Luka looking for 60. Two bounces, on the way, there it is. 124 to 119, 30 seconds left.

Chuck Cooperstein on Mavericks radio. So this was a game in which Luka reached new highs, which is hard for Luka to do, right? It seems like we continue to get that at some point. I think he should be running out of the new highs and yet another dazzling chapter to his highlight reel. He's, what, 23 years old and now has the franchise record 60 points, a career high, obvi, to go along with 21 rebounds, also a career high for Luka and 10 assists. So a triple-double in what was a stunning rally against the New York Knicks, a historic rally against the Knicks, down 9 with 33 seconds to go, and the Mavericks win in overtime. But it took one of those shots that you have to see to believe, which is the intentional miss at the charity stripe. It comes back to Luka and then he's able to follow it up and in with a second left.

Oh, and there was dancing. I don't know, I think it was just kind of lucky, you know, I know it was two seconds or whatever, I just threw it up. I guess I was kind of lucky, but you know, we were down what 10, two minutes ago, something like that.

We came back, you know, this is an amazing team win. Luka doesn't quit, he keeps playing and his teammates didn't quit and they saw that from their leader and everyone had a part in making a big play down the stretch. When Luka says it's lucky, that's funny, lucky Luka, you have to again watch the angles that the Mavericks tweeted because the ball touched at least three other sets of hands before Luka was able to come down with it. That's the part that's crazy. There were some Mavericks paws, there were some Knicks paws on the ball, but no one was able to grab it.

Really big men with really large hands, no one was able to grab it. And so Luka is, when it finally gets to him, he's kind of standing alone by himself because there was this mad convergence underneath the hoop. But yeah, it gets tipped around two or three times and then Luka ends up hitting the deck after his shot and does his own version, I don't think it was the gritty, he did his own version of the victory dance and they go on into overtime.

So check it out on our show Twitter, After Hours CBS. So here were his final numbers. 21 of 31 from the floor, 16 of 22 from the charity stripe. As I say, he also had a career high 21 rebounds to go along with the franchise record, 60 points. He had 10 assists, two steals, one block shot and only four turnovers, though he did have five fouls, so he made good use of his fouls.

And afterwards on Bally Sports Southwest, he had one thing on his mind. 60.20 rebound triple double, 60 points, 20 boards, never, it never happened, baby. How's it feel right now? I'm tired as hell. You can rest later, you're young.

I need a recovery beer. We can handle that. It's a shame not to come out of here with a win. So 29 seconds to go, dare shots, offensive rebounds, fouls. So yeah, this point, the monster player, you know, I'm concerned about, you know, there's some plays that he's making good plays and he's aggressive. But, you know, we can't keep following a guy given 22 free throws up.

Tom Thibodeau, the disappointment, less animated than usual. This is a game that when you look at the numbers, you think, oh, yeah, no biggie, right? Luca, 60 points. It was just the natural next step, except he wasn't anywhere near 60 points until the final couple minutes of regulation where he was pounding the boards. He was getting point blank shots, layups over and over again. The Knicks bear some responsibility. This is like, say, I don't know, being up 33 nothing at halftime of a football game and seeing your opponent come all the way back there. There is an element to what the Vikings and Mavericks did in these furious rallies that deserve credit. But you have to know no professional sports team ever comes back from a deficit like that without the help of their opponent. The Knicks stop protecting the rim. They stop defending the rim.

They stopped boxing out, getting rebounds. And Luca was more than happy to provide a show. This is coming just, what, two days after the Dirk Nowitzki statue was unveiled in Dallas, too, which is kind of cool. New sheriff.

We know Luca is all about this, though. He's rewriting history books, seemingly every time he steps on the court. Ed Cohen on Knicks radio, Chuck Cooperstein on Mavs radio, a healthy dose of the NBA on Tuesday night. We'll work in a little more. But straight ahead, the Broncos management team on a new coaching search and their hopes for Russell Wilson in the future.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. Good morning to you. Happy New Year here on CBS Sports Radio. Throughout the 60s and 70s, cops hunted down key figures of the Dixie Mafia, including its enigmatic ringleader, Kirksey Nicks. I'm interested in making money.

I'm not interested in hurting people. 15 years into Kirksey's life sentence, the Dixie Mafia was practically folklore, but that would soon change. I'm Jed Lipinski. This is Gone South, a documentary podcast from C13 Originals, a Cadence 13 studio.

Season two, the Dixie Mafia available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. 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.

I'm just so weirded out about the texture and how they can just move around and flop. And then I go to the experts to learn how to overcome them. Listen and subscribe to your weirdest fears on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. 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. You are listening to the After Hours podcast Too many turnovers and here could be a pick six far left sideline. This is Durant going down to the 30, the 20 and another touchdown for the Rams.

85 yards pick six for Kobe Durant. Everybody's frustrated. That was a bad game. Embarrassing game.

That's the first one that we had like that. And so I know everybody's frustrated. We address it.

We've talked about all those things. Talked with Randy, talked with all those guys, and we can't show our frustration. We gotta take our frustrations out on the field the right way.

But that's gonna happen in the end. You can't turn the ball over like we did. You're listening to After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. If you follow NFL insiders, you know that Nathaniel Hackett was not long for the head coaching job in Denver, but Sunday's I don't even want to call it a loss because that doesn't do that game justice. Sunday's debacle against the Rams hastened his departure. The calls there on Westwood won and then Nathaniel Hackett and he refers to Randy as in Randy Gregory. This is just a side note, but the suspensions that were handed down after the fighting in that game, they've been rescinded. Fines now for the players all around.

But Nathaniel Hackett's point rings true. The team can't be showing their frustration like that. However, you can imagine, probably understand why many of the Broncos were having a hard time keeping a lid on their emotions. After all of the excitement, all of the enthusiasm, all of the anticipation going back to last offseason with the hiring of Hackett and then the trade for Russell Wilson all the way through OTAs into training camp, it was finally the break and the quarterback they needed to end what's been a streak of utility for Denver since Peyton Manning retired after the Super Bowl 50 win.

Maybe for all of those reasons, probably for all of those reasons, this season is more disappointing than the ones that have preceded it. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. So after giving up, what was it, 51 points to Baker Mayfield and the Rams, Hackett gets fired. He's the third NFL head coach to be relieved of his duties and we're not even to Black Monday yet. On Tuesday, the new CEO, Greg Penner, who's part of the Walton Penner group that purchased the team in August. So just to remind you of the chronological order of these huge events for the Broncos in 22. In January, George Payton, who's the general manager, interviewed 10 different candidates. Hackett got the job out of the Packers organization.

Many people surmised there's got to be some truth to it. He was potentially going to be the coach who lured Aaron Rodgers. That didn't happen. The Broncos very quickly pivoted and got Russell Wilson instead. Not only do they trade five draft picks for him, including their first rounder in 2023, which is likely to be a top three pick, top three pick, but they gave him a huge contract before he ever took a snap that counted for the Broncos. Now, the new ownership group, the one that paid $4.6 billion for the Broncos, they were not part of the Hackett hire and they were not part of the Wilson trade, but they did approve the huge contract for Russell Wilson that essentially means the Broncos cannot get rid of this quarterback.

Their only choice now is to make it work somehow some way. And yes, that will be the responsibility of the new coach, but that's not all. That's not all that the new CEO, Greg Penner is looking for. It starts with a really strong leadership. I think that's going to be the most critical factor here in a head coach. Obviously the X and O's are important, but we need, we need a strong leader for this organization that's focused on winning. It's instilling a sense of accountability, discipline, and we need an identity on, on offense.

And so, but at the starting point, it's gotta be about culture and leadership and those characteristics are what we'll be focused on the most. George Payton is the general manager in Denver, wrapping up his second season. And he's done a lot of positive things with the Broncos roster, but the quarterback issues exacerbate everything.

He's keeping his job, but he's got to recognize that there's only going to be so much patience. I take full responsibility for where we are as a football team. I brought in the head coach. I brought in most of the players. Those are my decisions and there's no one to blame but me. This isn't just about the coaching.

This isn't just about Nathaniel. This isn't about the entire football operation. This is about the personnel, the players, the staff, everyone involved with our football team. It has to be better across the board.

I have to be better. I appreciate the call for accountability. Certainly the lack of discipline and the lack of a team with an identity and a focus doing the little things correctly. Those are all part of the learning curve for an NFL head coach and Hackett just didn't get there. Not to mention the time management issue and of course the losing. I mean that's part of it.

It underscores that everything else was a huge failure. And so for the Broncos now, you would think that they're looking for someone who brings experience and credibility to a locker room that's reeling. But at the same time, you also need a coach who can put Russell Wilson in the best position to succeed because not only is it the finances of this Russell Wilson contract that punishes the Broncos if they make any kind of move this upcoming offseason the year after that, but who's going to trade for him?

No one. And so now you've got to find someone who can recognize what Russell Wilson still does well. And how they can make the most of the remaining years of his career or until it becomes financially feasible that they can part ways. They're not giving up on Russell Wilson that very that's very clear that much rings true whether they want to or they don't. They're stuck with this guy. I think it's really important that whoever we hire has a relationship with the quarterback, Russ, whoever, the court, the backups, but the entire offense as well, the entire defense.

We need someone to fix the special teams. So really all three phases is what we want our coach to be an expert in. I don't think we made a coaching move based on Russ. That wasn't what it's all about. That's not why we're getting a new coach to turn around Russ. It's about the entire organization. It's about the entire football team. It's just not one player.

It's not whether Russ is fixable or not. We do believe he is. We do. George and I have had a chance to get to know each other. We talk every day since we purchased the team a number of months ago. And he acknowledged right up front, you know, there are a couple of decisions that haven't worked out as he had expected. But I understand his thought process. He understands the work that needs to be done in this off season.

And I'm going to rely on him heavily as we go through and make these changes. I want to personally apologize to our fans and all of Broncos country. We know that we need to be better and we will. Our fans have been patient. I think we've got the best fans in the world, but we need to put a better product on the field. So again, you hear from the CEO Greg Penner of the new ownership group and then the general manager who predates that ownership group, George Payton. And it was interesting the way that Payton worded it.

This is not just about Russ. We believe it's fixable. We believe he's fixable. Talking about him like he's a broken toy. He needs some, some type of, what's that glue called?

Greg Asserta is here in studio. What's that glue called? It's supposed to hold everything together. Gorilla glue?

Well, Gorilla grew is one of them, but there's another one. Crazy glue? Crazy glue.

Thank you. That's supposed to literally fix anything. I've used Gorilla glue. Actually.

I had a broken a slat on my staircase, like the, you know, the handle and was able to fix it. It's a pretty amazing stuff. I don't know if it will work for us, but this isn't all about Russ. Let's be fair.

It really isn't. The offensive line has is a work in progress now for seasons, going back several seasons and still, partly because of Russ, he doesn't get rid of the ball as quickly as he should have. So that's on him. But if he gets sacked three more times in the final two weeks, it'll be a career high for him.

And he's even played every game. And so there are other problems. Nathaniel Hackett was not the right guy for the job. And while you'll never get the Broncos to admit it, certainly there will always be this idea that they brought him in, that he got the nod for the job because of Aaron Rogers. And when that didn't work out, he wasn't the right fit, but he was woefully under prepared to be an NFL head coach.

And so you've got all kinds of accountability, public accountability from the owner, from the general manager. But ultimately it all comes back to Russell Wilson. I know we had one more clip about Russ Carlos. Saw flashes of Russ this year. Russ even said he didn't play up to his standard. But the first half of the Chargers game, the first half of the Raiders game, he finished strong. So you can go through the season that you do see flashes and he'll be the first one to tell you he didn't play up to his standard, didn't play up to our standard.

He needs to be better. They can actually pinpoint the stretches where he performed like the Russell Wilson they thought they were getting. They actually can single those moments out. That's how few and far between they were. And those moments are one quarter here, a half there. It's not even like a full game.

Ye gads! So just a couple of numbers to pass along. The numbers don't tell the whole story and you all saw Russell Wilson and the Broncos offense this year. He's on track for a career low in touchdown passes, 12 in 13 starts. He's been sacked a league leading 49 times in 13 games, which is nearly four sacks per game. And as I say, if he gets sacked three more times, it's a career high for him. The Broncos are the lowest scoring team in the NFL, not even 16 points per game. And they've had 11 games a season when they've been under 17 points.

And so there's a lot to fix. It's not just on Russ. But considering the excitement and the anticipation going back to last offseason, to March when the trade was made, and then of course to the training camp and how thrilled everyone was. They were sure they were just a quarterback away. I think it's fairly obvious the quarterback was not the only problem, though still a glaring issue for Denver.

But you can't change that. All you can change now is the coaching staff. And it wasn't just Hackett who was fired. There were a bunch of other coaches that were also let go. By the way, fourth coaching search since January of 2017 in Denver, third since January 2019. So not even four years, and they're going through a third coaching search.

It's a disaster. On Twitter, ALawRadio, also on our Facebook page, JJ Watt, Tua Tango Maloa, and I know I've mentioned a couple of times the college football. So a little bit with CJ Stroud of Ohio State.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Right now for the Wizards, 2.35 to go. I'll be a right sideline. And now for Morris right in the circle. Left wing for Zingas for three. It's there! Oh, it's there! JB for three!

He did that! 111-107 Wizards. Left wing and B. Drive left block.

Angles in the restricted arc. Lost the ball and stolen by Morris. Morris steals it with 20 seconds left and he's fouled with the Wizards up 111-108. We had nine turnovers and scored four points.

You gotta convert. We took the first rush shot. That's just not characteristic of how we played during this stretch. This is After Hours on CBS Sports Radio. So, on any given night, any professional sports team can beat any other. And it was the Wizards' turn on Tuesday night as they end the Sixers eight game winning streak. And they do it despite 48 points from Joel Embiid and 26 points, 13 assists for James Harden. So Washington already had a 10 game losing skid this season, but they rebounded of late.

And they've been able to get victories over some of the best teams in the NBA. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. The call's there on Wizards Radio and then you hear Doc Rivers after that. I would say that when you step on the court, there is this element of okay. Maybe we don't come out of the locker room with the same fire and energy. Maybe the shots aren't dropping initially. But NBA games are long. And if the Knicks can cough up a nine point lead with 33 seconds to go, the Sixers could have turned things around.

They just were unable to. And the Wizards are getting healthy, which is also helpful for them. They've dug themselves in a bit of a hole in the east. So the NBA will continue obviously on through this week and into the new year. And there will be plenty of opportunities for us to talk about that same thing with the NHL as they're just getting back from their winter break.

And we'll have the outdoor classics, which I always look forward to. The NFL though is winding down in its regular season and yet there's still so much on the line. This has got to be scary for Tua and his family. And I do not mean in any way, shape or form to say that it's more important than the Dolphins. It's not.

They are two completely separate things. I am proud of Tua for reporting to doctors that he was dealing with some concussion symptoms on Monday. So this time self-reporting because the team had no idea. According to Mike McDaniel, they don't know when a recurring head injury may have happened, or maybe it's a new head injury either way. He's now in concussion protocol and that leaves the team in a lurch.

But Tua's health, especially as such a young player, is far more important. And so the question mark now is who will start for the Dolphins this weekend against the New England Patriots. Patriots, Dolphins, Jets, all these teams still with designs on grabbing another playoff spot out of the AFC East. Dolphins are sitting at eight and seven, but the Pats are right behind them at seven and eight as are the Jets. It's not more important than Tua's health and his noggin, but it's definitely a factor if he doesn't play in week 17. And Mike McDaniel says he doesn't have any idea when Tua may have incurred another concussion, or again maybe it's just the old symptoms coming back from weeks three and four.

So we'll wait to get any type of an update on him. Heading into week 17, while there are a bunch of teams that have clinched their playoff spots, like the Chargers being the latest on Monday night, there's still so much up for grabs when it comes to seeds and division titles. So right now the only division titles that have been clinched are the NFC West, the NFC North, and then the AFC East and West. So half of them, but we still have half to go. And we still don't think anyone wants to win the South in either conference. So yeah, week 17 on tap here in the NFL.

They love it. Coming out of the holidays, you get back into your regular routine with football. Let's talk to Zach, who's listening in Dallas.

Welcome to After Hours. Hey, how you doing today? I'm good, thank you.

Happy New Year. Hey, so as a transplant from Seattle to Dallas, whenever the end of the Russell era, you know, came to the trades, the Broncos and everything, everybody was divided. Most of them were Pete Carroll or Russell Wilson, one of them had to go. Can we just talk about how Pete Carroll absolutely finessed the Denver Broncos with the two first round picks and putting Geno in a position to capitalize as a leader of almost not a journeyman quarterback, but at this point, stepping up to the plate on a one year deal for what was it, 7 million, 3 million?

I don't know what it was. But putting everybody in the position to be in this team where everybody thought that we were going to win three, four games, maybe. And now we're in, I think we're the first team out of the wildcard right now. So many people, Pete Carroll for the Super Bowl played, you know, it happened, whatever. But Pete has put this team every year since 2012 or 13 in contention for a playoff berth.

And I think it's just time that we give him the flowers while he's here right now. Well, I would say if you don't think Pete Carroll can coach a water bottle and a pair of socks, then you're just not paying attention. The man obviously is a brilliant coach. And there are times when the Seahawks have no business being a challenger in the NFC West, and yet they have.

Now they've fallen back below.500. They obviously were getting the most out of their talent initially. And I think Geno, he was pretty clear about Geno even going back to the offseason.

He felt like he was the most mature leader and could see Geno in a role where he did not turn the ball over a ton. Just to be fair, though, it wasn't just Pete Carroll. John Schneider is part of that as well. And that brain trust has worked really hard to avoid a complete and total rebuild in Seattle, trying to reload instead. And they have very few guys that are left from their trips to the Super Bowl. And so I would agree with you that Pete Carroll deserves a ton of credit for what he's done this season. But I don't know that this is any different than what we've seen from Pete over the course of his NFL career. He takes the pieces that he has, and he somehow manages to get every last bit of talent that is kind of mined from the players that he has. And sometimes he's had a ton of talent, but sometimes he's not. And he's still able to put them in positions to succeed. So, yes, he's a great coach. Absolutely.

And just one more thing real quick. What is going on with Seattle's run defense? Who do we need to go draft?

Because we're going to get a top three, take four kids depending on how Denver finishes. We can't stop the run for the life of us at any point. There's nothing that can be done for us to present over 130 yards being worse on us at games.

To the point, it's ridiculous. We had Tariq Williams, the rookie cornerback in the past game. I feel like to an extent it's blooming. We have a meal with safety too out there. He's really good too. And we lost Wabbie. Cody Barber's kind of stepped up. But we cannot stop the run at all.

Well, it's not a problem that's unique to the Seahawks. But I will say for sure, I agree with you, Zach. Thank you so much. I have to let you go because we're at the top of the hour. But Happy New Year to you in Dallas. It's definitely a problem that they need to address.

But it's good when you have particular problems and you know these are needs that you can address. And man, the silly season for the NFL, it's coming. Alright, I promised you this. A little taste. CJ Stroud and the Ohio State Buckeyes are actually an underdog to the Georgia Bulldogs as they hurdle their way toward the National Semifinals coming up on Saturday. I would say that I feel like an underdog. I do feel like people are counting us out with that.

That's fine. I mean, we've been counting out plenty of times. I'm pretty sure people have counted Emeka out in his life and people have counted Coach Wilson out in his life and people counted me out. So I mean, this isn't nothing new.

I definitely think this is the path that God wanted in the song. And I'm just rocking with that. So if that means that we're the underdog, I'm cool with it. You're hearing some Ohio against the world as we get closer to the game. Eight and two as underdogs in their past ten games when they've been underdogs. And they've got this mentality about them that they deserve to be there. I know they didn't take a conventional path, but it is kind of funny when you hear anyone from Ohio State say something about everyone's counted us out and we're huge underdogs and no one believes in us and yada yada yada.

So that's actually kind of funny. These are the four teams that we will hear a ton about over these next few days. You've got Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan is back in there as well. So it's going to be a lot of fun. Maybe for those of you who love college football, you're kind of relieved not to have an Alabama in there.

I wouldn't say it's all fresh blood, but it's a little bit of fresh blood in there too with TCU. So this will be a lot of fun coming up. We'll talk more about it Thursday night. I'll talk to you then. After hours, CBS Sports Radio.

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