1-2-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

January 1st, 2023. Oh heavens, try that on for size.

You better say it out loud a couple of times. It is now 2023 and the NFL is still king. That's also not going to change in the new year. Happy new year to you. I hope you enjoyed your last semblance of the holidays.

Or maybe some of you have Monday off, which means you could be out of your regular routines and hanging out with us one more time before you go back to the rhythm. You go back to the grind. The NFL, it just keeps chugging and really even as the playoff picture comes together, there are still a lot of different possibilities. I wouldn't call them infinite. We'll go through the various possibilities but the Raiders making the playoffs is no longer possible. They are officially eliminated in an overtime loss to the Niners a few hours ago, which means the most they can hope to collect this season is seven wins. Derek Carr, seemingly done with the Raiders by their choice, not his. Instead it was Jared Stidham. Now is he the quarterback of the future? I don't know.

I guess we'll find out. But it was a topsy-turvy, tumultuous week for the Raiders. They do force the Niners into overtime.

Jared Stidham plays well. It didn't seem like they were giving up. They were angry.

They were mad. But this season definitely has not gone the way that they wanted it to go in Josh McDaniel's first year. They made a few more plays than we did.

It's disappointing. We're not going to be big on moral victories or anything like that. But I do credit the effort and the competitiveness of our team. I thought we had great leadership and energy this week and it showed today. But I wouldn't expect anything less from this group. Jarrett goes 23 of 34, 365 yards passing, three touchdowns, did have a couple of picks including the one in OT that led to the short field goal and the redemption, as mom put it, for Robbie Gould. And yeah, great to get his first career start though ultimately it ends with elimination. Probably some things that I definitely could have done better to win.

So obviously we're going to look at the film tomorrow morning and see what I could have done better. Never get too too high or too too low. But football is fun. I mean, we get to play football for a living and you know, if you're not excited and having fun with your teammates, then what are you doing? Shows up every day.

Been like that since, you know, OTA. So I wasn't surprised due to his competitor and, you know, got a ton of respect for him. No one has a bad word to say about Jarrett Stidham. It wasn't about Jarrett. It was about the way Derek Carr was benched and why he was sent home from the facilities.

And that's where we need to dive in. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You can find us on Twitter, After Hours CBS. We'll get up our brand new poll. It's been a couple of weeks.

Who's the most miserable and morbid and morose and mortified on a Monday? You can also find us on Facebook and then our YouTube channel as well. All of those options will continue full service operation into the new year. But right now we want to spend some time in Las Vegas and get to the bottom of all of these changes and what they mean moving forward. We're pleased to welcome Hondo Carpenter who covers the Raiders for Fan Nation and Sports Illustrated. You're a writer. You use words for a living. So what are a few words that you would use to describe this past week, Hondo?

I would say moving on. A passing of a time. Derek Carr's been the quarterback for nine years here. They have given, they've made him a man well beyond wealthy.

It's generational wealth. The Raiders have given him lots of opportunities. He's performed for them when injured.

They've always been faithful to him. But it was a time you could see the break coming and after the Pittsburgh game. That's why I was the first to report about the the change coming. And Monday I'd gotten kicked off early on Monday morning that they were meeting to discuss not playing Derek in the final two games since they even though it wasn't technically eliminated but pretty much eliminated from the playoffs because if he got injured his contract was guaranteed for next year and they were they were going to move on. So I asked Josh about it on Monday. He said yes it was being discussed. It was a possibility and then Wednesday he confirmed our report.

Why? Why are the Raiders and Josh McDaniels, the first-year head coach, moving on from Derek Carr? Josh and Dave Ziegler, the GM, had reached out to Derek before they even took the job.

They weren't interested in coming here if Derek Carr wasn't the quarterback. They believed in him. They like him. They admire him. You know there's a lot of salacious reports because we live in a clickbait society where people are trying to make themselves what they're not and saying that they didn't like each other.

Absolutely not true. They like Derek. They respected him as a man.

They liked his presence in the locker room. Derek's a fine human being but he just did not fit the system that they're trying to run. They didn't try to make him a scapegoat and you know that their decision not to play in the last two games was because if he got injured his entire contract was guaranteed and they've already made the decision to move on. So he wasn't a scapegoat. They don't put all of the blame on Derek for this season.

That wouldn't be fair and it's that's not what they do but it was time to move on. He didn't fit where they were going in the future so Derek's going to have that opportunity to go play somewhere else and he will and the Raiders are going to move on to what I think is going to be a pretty fascinating off season. We know he can throw the ball. He's got a big arm. There are turnovers for sure but the numbers and the production have been there despite the fact that there's been a revolving door at coach and coordinator.

There's been obviously a lot of different weapons around him on and off the field. So what about Derek wasn't right for what they want to do? Well, Derek is a great right for what they want to do.

I'm going to give you a couple of examples. Now let me just say this. I understand why they did it but I can understand people saying why would they move on from Derek. They understood there is a very short list of players better than Derek.

They're well aware of that. This wasn't because they think Derek stinks. This just because they think they can upgrade to someone better than him. There were a lot of throws that were missed.

The accuracy was not there. There were some sacks that were taken where they really wish that they could have seen him do some different things with his legs like we saw with Jarrett Stidham on Sunday with the Raiders taking on the 49ers. There were again like I mentioned not only missed passes but some bad sacks that they felt that he'd take and there was just some reads that they felt he had missed. Derek's got the huge arm. That's why I think Derek next year is going to be in a place probably in Indianapolis a great team where it's not going to be just the Derek Carr show.

Derek has been the only stable factor for nine years in what has been an incredibly unstable franchise. Hondo Carpenter is with us from Las Vegas following what was an overtime loss to the San Francisco 49ers officially eliminated from playoff contention but as he points out the end of an era for this franchise as they're moving on from Derek Carr. He covers the Raiders for Sports Illustrated and Fan Nation.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. What did you see with Jarrett Stidham then in his first career start? Well a couple of interesting things about him. He's very mobile. He's a guy that's not afraid to throw the 50-50 ball to Devante Adams. His teammates love him. They rallied behind him and that doesn't mean that they didn't love Derek but I'm going to tell you the thing that stood out to me Amy and this is why I love your show.

I've listened to you many times and you ask the great questions. Raider Nation's already been asking me on Twitter because in my postgame article I talked about he's not going to be the starter next year and we asked Josh McDaniels after the game if he keeps playing like this is he going to you know get a shot to be your starter next year and he didn't come out and say no but one thing I respect about Josh McDaniels is he's not going to lie to us and his answer was very clear. They know where they're going.

They're going to go in a different direction. I expect expect Jarrett to be the backup but I expect that they're going to bring in a much bigger name who's going to fill that role because they know they're not going I was the one to break this story. Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler are not going to get a third year if year two is as disappointing as year one and Mark Davis the owner personally told me when he fired Rich Pasaccia that this was not a rebuild. They were a 10-win team. They were the fourth seed in the AFC in the playoffs and he said we're not rebuilding. I expect to go farther.

It's why I'm making this move. Mark Davis has had in his time as owner two coaches take him to the NFL playoffs and they both have one thing in common. He fired them and so there's a lot of pressure on Mark Davis to bring a winner and he's the one that has said this wasn't a rebuild and so it's going to be fascinating watching because there's not a lot of guys better than Derek Carr. Who do they get to fill that role.

Right. Hondo Carpenter is with us from Vegas where I think you could say this has been one kind of a dramatic week for the Raiders as they benched Derek Carr. Jarrett Stidham gets these final two starts of the year and even though the expectations may have been 10 wins by the owner the best they can do is seven.

We're glad to have him with us for the first time here on CBS Sports Radio. Watching Jarrett today I was thinking man he might benefit from having a veteran voice in the experience of a Derek Carr in his headset or kind of calming him down and Derek has always been a team first guy. Why do you think they sent him home for these last couple weeks?

I know exactly why and it had nothing to do with character. He's talked to Jarrett. He still is the ultimate team guy. It was because his contract for nearly 40 million dollars next year is completely guaranteed if he gets injured and so they didn't want him around the facility jogging and what happens if he rips a hamstring if he's lifting weights and pops a quad or whatever and so for them protecting themselves it was Derek listen we're not mad at you we're not angry at you we're not making you a scapegoat it's a business decision but we would prefer if you would just stay home and he understood. You know there were people again salaciously saying Derek quit on the team absolutely.

That's ridiculous yeah that's ridiculous. If you know Derek Carr you know that he would never do that but I didn't understand the use of the word distraction hundo because there's no way that Derek Carr would ever be that either. He always puts the team ahead of himself. Well I think that the distraction thing was more of they didn't want to send a mixed message to a fan base. They didn't want to send a mixed message to a Jared Statham that hey if you struggle you know Derek's right behind you we can bring him back in and because they're moving on let's just set him over on the shelf let him go stay in his beautiful home and let him continue to get paid we're not mad at him but let's do this to just be able to send the clear message we're moving on. If there's one thing that Josh McDaniels has learned from Bill Belichick it's that you eliminate all the distractions that you can and so if Derek's in the building then every time the reporters go in the locker room you know somebody's going to try to talk to them.

Are players going to have an issue going up and putting their arm around Jared Statham and are they going to are they going to feel because it's human emotion you know are does Derek think we're being disloyal to them. I understand exactly why now I can tell you I've been doing this for years Amy and I have not been afraid to call out things when I thought that they were wrong and you can argue whether or not the Raiders made the right decision moving on from Derek Carr but I don't think anything they've done has been disrespectful to Derek. You look around Hondo they have a ton of great weapons to surround a quarterback like a Josh Jacobs who's having a career year certainly Devontae Adams who showed up there because he always wanted to be a Raider but also because of his relationship with Derek. You think about Darren Waller healthy again and there are others so in addition to quarterback then what else would they need or what else do they need to address in this upcoming off season? Well if their defense was arrested for being an NFL caliber defense there would not be enough evidence to convict them. I mean they continue to lose double digit leads and they have a defense that's just porous. Now in their defense they were missing five starters today against a very good San Francisco yesterday against a very good San Francisco team but they still gave up 37 points in loss. I don't think that if those five starters were back sure I think they would have had a chance to win but everybody's down starters right now.

I have written that I expect there to be as many as seven new starters next year on defense. Their defensive backfield is terrible. Their defensive backfield coaching has been terrible. Their interior defensive line has not been good. They have great linebackers but they've had a problem with guys staying healthy and as you know the best ability is availability so they've got to fix the defense. Anyone that thinks that getting rid of Derek Carr fixes the Raiders either doesn't know football or hasn't watched any games right that defense is horrible. It has been for a good portion of the time when Derek Carr has been the quarterback. Hondo Carpenter is with us from Fan Nation and Sports Illustrated covering the Raiders and all of their drama here in this first year under Josh McDaniels.

It's after our CBS Sports Radio. What are your impressions of how he has established his system or really his first year as a head coach again? Well first of all I have a lot of respect for Josh McDaniels and I don't want to monopolize your show but I'm going to explain why. I knew Josh when he was a GA when I covered Michigan State and then he goes on and his father is a legend in Ohio and when Josh went to the Denver Broncos you may remember he had early success.

I think he started five and one and like all of us and I have in my life when I was young had early success. If you don't balance that you get an ego and he did. Now if you knew his parents and ego is nowhere even part of the McDaniels culture and he changed and he got fired and he got humbled and when he did he looked in the mirror and he really looked at himself he looked at his dad and realized I'm not Bill Belichick. I admire Bill. I respect Bill. He's the greatest of all time in the NFL coaching but I'm not him.

I'm not belligerent. I'm not arrogant and he'd become that with that success. So he got humbled and so he had many chances to go to places. Could have picked his team to go coach in the NFL but he decided that he liked the Raiders. He liked the character of Derek Carr. He liked what he saw from Derek Carr on film and that's why he came here and so when he noticed listen this is not working with Derek in my scheme.

He didn't do anything to disrespect Derek. He came out and admitted you know what this is a decision that we made and so with Josh McDaniels this has not been the season that he hoped for and he won't get a third if it's like this next year but I've admired how he's handled the locker room. There have been a lot of reports around the country from people that aren't in that locker room every day like I am that he's lost that locker room and that's completely not true completely false and I can tell you there were even reports on Sunday of how the majority of the locker room was so angry with Josh McDaniels absolutely unequivocally not true. I'm in there talking to those players on and off the record.

I know what they're thinking because they trust me. They communicate with me and you saw a team tonight that came out missing five starters loses 37-34 in overtime. There wasn't any quit in that team. Are there guys on that team that absolutely love Derek Carr and consider him one of their best friends? Absolutely but those guys also watched film. They also watched it where things didn't fit and so they respected Josh the way he did it. You know I've covered teams where teams where a guy gets fired and people go in and try to trash him. Josh McDaniels made it clear that we made a change but in talking to his team let everybody know Derek's one of the finest people he's ever been around and he respects them and honors them so even though he had to make a tough decision he's earned a lot of respect from his guys. They trust him. I can tell you this Amy, they've not turned on him.

There's things that maybe they didn't understand. Some of the new Raider way which is some Patriot things which hasn't been the way things were done here but unlike in Denver he's stopped, he's taught, he's explained, he's leaned on his captains, he's listened to his captains when they come to him and Josh McDaniels is back being who he was which is really more like his dad than Bill Belichick and that's not a slam on Bill it's just it doesn't fit his character and I think that even though it's been a rough year he's shown these guys a lot and these men still believe in him and they want to play for him. And for that reason if you were following Hondo on Twitter you would see that he talked about the Raiders playing inspired football on Sunday even though they are now officially eliminated from the playoffs so there's a lot of questions that still have to be answered with one game left in the regular season and an offseason to come where they will search for a quarterback as well as rebuild that defense. You can find Hondo on Twitter at hondocarpenter he's the publisher of Fan Nation SI's Las Vegas Raiders coverage and it's good to connect with you for the first time on the new year so happy new year to you we look forward to talking again. I look forward to it too you have a great show Amy and you're a real shining light in our field of sports journalism and you do a great job keep up the great work. Thank you I appreciate that the Raiders do have some questions to answer and I appreciate Hondo giving us the answers that he's got but he says they're looking to upgrade from Derek Carr ultimately they've put him in bubble wrap they put him on ice so that he won't get hurt because they don't want to pay his salary for next season but according to Hondo Jarrett Stidham is not the answer and the team knows that which I guess stands to reason Jared and Jared also knows that or at least knows that's what they think and so who is it who are the available quarterbacks that will allow you to upgrade from Derek Carr if you think about it Josh McDaniels he's got a particular system and there's a few QBs in the NFL who have played for him in that system Jarrett Stidham was one of them who are the others? Ultimately though this season was a big mess coming off of last year with the loss of John Gruden, Rich Passaccia taking over they get 10 wins and they make the playoffs the leadership of Derek Carr I hate that this is the way they're ushering him out but I hope that he lands on his feet somewhere and has a fresh start and has an opportunity to be part of a culture that isn't constant turnover and isn't constantly blaming him for every little thing that goes wrong and and I shouldn't say the culture is doing that but he's the one piece that has remained consistent everything else around him has changed all right on Twitter A Law Radio also on our Facebook page after hours with Amy Lawrence the Carolina Panthers pushed the Buccaneers to the brink but Brady but Mike Evans flexing his muscles on Sunday it wasn't pretty in fact most of the season it was downright ugly especially for the offense but the Bucks are division champs it's after hours with Amy Lawrence CBS Sports Radio you are listening to the After Hours Podcast Sam under center from the 17-yard line first and ten Darnold the snap seven-step drop has time throws complete touchdown right side it's Tommy Tremble Tampa crowds the line here's the blitz the snap Sam throws deep down the left side for Moore makes the catch did he get in yes he did Sam Darnold 24 yards to DJ Moore 13 nothing Panthers it's a football feeding frenzy after hours with Amy Lawrence has Sam Darnold re-earned the starting quarterback job in Carolina that's a question that we don't have an answer to yet but he doesn't have a a contract passed this next game that will wrap up the regular season we know that Baker Mayfield's tenure in Charlotte didn't last very long he's already with the Rams and is obviously not going to be the starting quarterback next year unless Matthew Stafford isn't healthy they've got Matt Corral but he didn't play it all this year because of Liz Frank so he's been injured and then PJ Walker who is a good backup but it's not going to be the starter so I come back to Sam are they going to franchise tag him and just pay him an exorbitant amount of money next season to try to give him a full year of starting I mean he's been in the system now for two years but Steve Wilkes took over from Matt rule and things look different under Steve so Sam Darnold with a pair of early touchdown passes that you hear on the Panthers radio network and once again the Buccaneers choose the highest degree of difficulty for every game they do not like to play with the lead for whatever reason that makes them completely uncomfortable it's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio now Tampa does wake up in the second quarter of this one a 63 yard strike from Tom Brady to Mike Evans and it was a theme it was not only a theme for the Buccaneers and their offense but a theme that will likely give Panthers fans maybe even Steve Wilkes some of the defense nightmares heart palpitations Ajita to start the new year third down and four bucks need to convert keep the ball trailing by 11. Here's a good snap to Brady kicks the shoulder looks downfield throws the ball down right he's got Evan Evans makes the catch at the 20 to the 10 to the 5 touchdown Tampa Bay Mike Evans has two today what a response by the Buccaneer offense is it Mike Evans time day from the Carolina 30 first down 10 Brady takes the snap and looks toward his way those toward Evans toward the end zone Evans makes the catch touchdown Tampa Bay Evans has three fire the cannons fire them Evans with a remarkable catch oh Mike Evans was a beast and I love that he and Tom Brady even though they haven't had a great season together have continued to work at it and what Mike Evans said to I think it was Jeff Darlington of the NFL network following this game is that Brady has continued to say to him and said to him during the game today on the sidelines on the field I'm just going to keep coming to you I'm just going to keep coming to you there have been stretches this season where Evans has had a bunch of drops which is uncharacteristic of him there have been times a season where Brady hasn't given him good throws to catch the offensive line has really been the key to a lot of what ails the Bucs because Brady's having to release the ball quicker than he ever has in his career the numbers bear that out and so the passes aren't always on target but man he had time to throw against the Panthers on Sunday and he was dropping the ball where only Evans could get it and the two of them look like well Evans at a couple of different junctures in this game looked like he was running routes on air he's that good and he and Brady have a special connection but we just haven't seen a ton of it this season on Sunday 10 catches 207 yards for Mike Evans and three scores and yeah his quarterback well he's he's okay I guess Tom was just dropping dimes like those are some really really good balls like one of the best I've seen Tom this is one of the best games I've seen Tom play felt great um really proud of our guys and everyone on the team coaches we battled through a lot of tough things this year and happy to win the division it's always tough to to do it is NFL games are tough to win and you know we um always figure out a way to keep them somehow exciting which they wouldn't be as exciting as we made them but um happy we got the win and happy so many guys contributed we won the division doesn't matter how you win the division my heart ain't got much left in it but I feel great we're at one spot we need to be we can't get to where we want to be unless we want a division we want a division Todd Bowles as the coach who took over for Bruce Arians when he abruptly moved to the front office after Tom Brady returned and unretired Arians by the way had his name and his contributions inducted into the Bucks Ring of Honor on Sunday same day the same day the Bucks were able to conquer the south those were the t-shirts they were wearing conquered the south except for Mike Evans actually he was wearing a Michael Jordan tar heels jersey so he was wearing North Carolina blue and you'll see him in a bunch of different one-on-one interviews he did or in his post game at the podium apparently it was a gift from Chris Godwin they had a secret santa exchange among teammates last week and Godwin gave him a Michael Jordan jersey so he's determined he's gonna wear it I don't know if he's sleeping in it but I wouldn't be surprised Mike Evans has a 63 yard touchdown catch a 57 yard touchdown catch and then a 30 yard touchdown catch middle of the fourth quarter that put the Buccaneers in front Sam Darnold had three touchdowns he also had three turnovers I don't know what happens moving forward Steve Wilkes has gotten an audition for the job and I've heard various panthers say they respect him he has credibility we can see they've played hard for him even after Christian McCaffrey and Robbie Anderson were traded away even after there were multiple quarterback changes I don't know what they do at QB I wonder if they give Steve Wilkes the opportunity to have this interim tag removed and to get a full season as the head coach we didn't do what we wanted to do all right they made more plays than what we did today so we got to give those guys all the credit we didn't play according to our DNA which is physical and effort which I thought for the most part you saw you saw that we didn't play smart not at all but the one thing I stated to those guys the last element that's what we're going to do this week we're going to finish that's what men do that's what good football teams do regardless of the record regardless of the circumstances we're going to come in tomorrow put this game to bed and have a great week of practice with that leading to game day execution we're going to finish next week and that's our mindset he's about discipline he's about commitment he's about doing things the right way does he get the opportunity to be the head coach with a blank slate with a fresh season in front of him I don't know he did make that tanking comment I like what Steve Wilkes has done with this team they've got to figure out their quarterback question for sure but they were hanging around in the NFC south as were the Falcons as were I forgot who else plays in that division don't tell me oh the Saints yeah the Saints actually who beat the Eagles on Sunday we'll get to them coming up but straight ahead I've felt like this all season long the Bucks and the Packers kind of tied together Tom Brady Aaron Rodgers last year's top two for the NFL MVP well safe to say they're not going to be top two in the voting after this season they've had to fight and scratch and claw we've seen a different side of Brady and Rodgers this year and even as the Bucks clinched the NFC south title and punched their ticket to the playoffs again the Packers have put themselves in position it's after hours on CBS sports radio you are listening to the after hours podcast Keeshawn Nixon back deep here's the run-up of the kick from right to left to restart the game and this one carrying into the end zone about four yards deep here comes Nixon to the five left hash marks 10-15 hits a whole hard he's to the 25-30 breaks into the clear Keeshawn Nixon is off to the races it's secretariat at the Belmont down the stretch they come no one will catch him it is a touchdown it is a 104 yard touchdown for Keeshawn Nixon my goodness so the Vikings go for it on fourth downs Minnesota eight of 17 this season 47 percent 21st in the league on fourth down three receivers left one to the right now Jefferson in motion to the right out of the shotgun or the setback to his right here's the snap to Kirk Cousins he fires it over the middle and it's broken up incomplete intercepted on the deflection picked off by Darnell Savage down the left side of the 40 he's got an escort to the 20 15 10 5 touchdown Green Bay Packers my goodness this is after hours with Amy Lawrence want to hear something crazy at one point in the first half between the Packers and the Vikings Green Bay had 14 points and 14 yards of offense oh my goodness football is great it's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio yes a first half that featured a pair of returns for scores so the special teams and the defense getting it done what did Aaron Rodgers say recently about Keeshawn Nixon that it's his first returner in his entire tenure in Green Bay that the opponents have feared they've kicked away from Keeshawn Nixon he says that's never happened before the whole time that he's been there with the Packers pretty nice 105 yards for the kickoff return TD you know it's the first time in 11 years the Packers have had a kick returned for a touchdown that that goes on early first quarter and then Darnell Savage a pick six off a tipped ball from Kirk Cousins Wayne Larrivee with the calls on the Packers radio network that was just the beginning Minnesota kept serving it up on a silver platter a pair of missed field goals another Kirk Cousins interception even before the half Aaron Rodgers finds Robert Tunyon for 21 yards he has so much time in the pocket the Vikings are not getting past that Packers offensive line and then this to me was really the indication that this was not Minnesota's day the old dude Mason Crosby you know the one with all the gray hair he lines up for a late field goal in the second quarter he gives it absolutely everything he's got in that leg of his the ball has the right spin it bounces off the crossbar and tumbles through the uprights happy new year indeed for Mason Crosby so yeah at that point the Vikings should have just packed it in and gone home instead Packers get 14 more points off their turnovers in the second half AJ Dillon is bowling over defenders Aaron Rodgers uses a ball fake jukes out of Viking and then speaking of old dudes turns a corner it wasn't fast but turns a corner and gets into the end zone himself for a rushing TD before he's pulled from the game so the Packers with that huge crowd the Packers fans fired up recognizing that Green Bay has to keep winning to keep their playoff hopes alive 163 yards rushing and now the pack is in control of its own playoff fate a win over the Lions in week 18 and Green Bay will in fact make the playoffs for what would be a fourth consecutive year it has been quite a roller coaster ride for the Packers remember when they were four and eight they have not lost since and while Aaron Rodgers is not putting up huge numbers I keep telling you I won my fantasy football championship in spite of Aaron Rodgers I tried to replace him but then Matthew Stafford got injured so there was that I went right back to Aaron Rodgers one time this season he scored over 20 points that's it he's not going to be part of the MVP conversation and yet there's a gritty element to Aaron similar to Tom Brady there's an element to Aaron Rodgers that is resilience born from experience it's not over until they make you clean out your locker and go home type of a thing and yeah plenty of emotions over this four game run in the end love of the game you know that's why we play this game for incredible runs and moments and special things coming together when it's all said and done it's the moments and it's the way you made people feel that I think last and when you can spark a little bit of hope it's pretty special to be a part of that momentum and you know regardless what happens last week the fact that we came back from four and eight and put ourselves in position to make the playoffs is pretty special now I believe that a lot has happened in our favor that's pretty obvious we know we're going to have a great challenge next week I think I think you look at Detroit a team that was were they two and six or one and six and then where they are now to claw all the way back they're eight and eight and you talk about a play in game so the stakes are going to be high and it's going to take whoever goes out there and and plays the best ball is obviously going to win it comes down to execution each and every week but you don't get there unless you have great preparation throughout the course of the week the packers not in the playoffs yet but all you can ask for other than say a division title at this point would be that you are in control and the packers have put themselves in the spot to control what happens next now the lions have a lot of momentum we'll talk about the lot of momentum we'll talk about them after the top of the hour their offense is fire I know it's Jared Goff I'm just telling you usually comeback player of the year goes to a guy who was injured and I totally understand that because NFL injuries can be devastating but man Jared Goff has reinvented himself in Detroit and so we'll talk about Dean Campbell and the fact that he's not a lunatic and yet the lions love to play for him as for the Vikings who are the NFC North division champions four turnovers they have more yards than the packers this week but four turnovers that doom them whether you win or lose you want to play at a high level and you want to be process focused and have your process be really strong and I think three of our four losses the the performance was not strong enough yeah you know what reminded what I was reminded of as I was watching this game was their bloodbath against the Cowboys and I get that every team has a game like this here or there it doesn't mean they're a sucky team but man I agree with Tony Romo when he said on the CBS broadcast it's the wrong time of the year to have a game like this and they've had two in the second half of the season and so the Vikings are no longer in position to challenge for the top seed in the NFC they are the North champs they've got 12 wins but this is not how they want to go into the playoffs wow it's after hours with Amy Lawrence CBS Sports Radio