After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

What's the strangest thing you're afraid of? Tails without fur on them, such as rats or opossums. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast Your Weirdest Fears, where we dig into the crazy things you're afraid of. Everything from animal people hybrids, you know people who get surgeries to look like an animal, to giant statues.

If I ever saw one of those giant statues, I probably would poop my pants. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your attention back. the broadcast from.

What do you say? That was a year ago when the Georgia Bulldogs had a bawling Bennett, a crying Stetson Bennett. That was not the case. On Monday night in LA, actually Monday afternoon in LA, Stetson Bennett never got caught on camera without a ginormous grin.

He was definitely enjoying his time in LA, his trip to LA. But no matter if you believe that Georgia was the better team, maybe you bet the over, you took Georgia and the points, is there any way that college football could have seen this coming? I don't think so.

Now it does beg the question about expansion and at some point maybe we can have that conversation. But TCU earned its spot in this national championship. They defeated a handful of ranked teams, including Michigan in the national semifinals. Now I know they lost in the Big 12 championship, but they finished first place in the Big 12 standings with a bunch of viable teams. They had victories over Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, Texas this year. TCU wasn't a fluke. And even if the Horn Frogs were a Cinderella, their resume was convincing. And so on into the national championship they go, I mean think back to that game against Michigan, a pair of pick sixes were humongous for them, right? Even if you didn't believe that the Horn Frogs would be as competitive or that they could keep up with Georgia, this was still shocking.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. The game is just now being replayed on a TV screen in front of me. It was obvious from the very beginning that Stetson Bennett and the Georgia Bulldogs not only had a game plan that if they executed would work to perfection, but it was obvious very early that they were prepared. Bennett was seeing the defense very clearly and they were able to move the ball almost to the point where on some of their longer catches, their deeper throws, their vertical plays, there were no Horn Frogs defenders within arm's length of the receivers or on their very first touchdown, Stetson Bennett gets in untouched.

The dogs are moving here on their first possession, despite a couple of five yard penalties. Now here is Bennett going to fake it and all the way into the end zone, he faked it to Dajon Edwards who rolled to the right, some of the defenders went with him and Bennett has clear sailing 21 yards into the end zone for the first score of the game. Boy, fantastic ball fake there by Dajon Edwards. That captured every TCU defender's attention and then Stetson Bennett able just to walt into the end zone.

He definitely sauntered that Scott Howard and company on Georgia Bulldogs radio. That's how the scoring opened in the national championship against TCU at SoFi Stadium in LA. By the way, I asked Michael Duarte of NBC LA who was at the game how the atmosphere compared NFL to college football and how a national championship in the college ranks played at SoFi.

You'll love his answer so check out Michael on our podcast after hours, AmyLawrence.com. Max Duggan and the Horn Frogs were able to answer, in fact they had a 60 yard pass play that was clearly broken coverage by Georgia and I'm thinking, oh man, this is going to be high octane, high flying, these two teams are going to go toe to toe and blow to blow except it didn't quite work out that way. Once they got through that first quarter and, I'm trying to think, it was about five minutes to go when Duggan had his own rushing touchdown which was set up by the 60 yard pass. After that, Georgia found another gear and not only did we see again a lot of these wide open pass plays but the creativity of the offense and the push on the offensive line.

Right, so you got to see the whole kind of the flexing of muscles, the balance of power and strength kind of shift in favor of Georgia but to me the turning point really came late in that first half, in fact in the final minute of the first half when it was defense to offense. Duggan from the two will throw it all the way across the field, it's picked up by Bullardie, Bullard got it again, Bullard picked it and then tumbled, he had a touchdown, would have had a big six but after the interception he tumbled down right around the 15 yard line, Bullard's got two interceptions in the game. From the 22, second and ten for the Dawgs, 32 seconds to go, Bennett to throw, right angle, one on one coverage and caught I think, yeah touchdown Mitchell, he's still fighting the guy, TCU ended up with the ball when they came out of the pile but the officials say touchdown. It got really out of hand in the second quarter, 21 to nothing for the Georgia Bulldogs and if you look at just the play by play, really the results of the various possessions in the first half, what you see is there were already three takeaways by the Georgia defense by the time they got to the halftime locker room and that second interception thrown by Max Duggan which took place with just over a minute to go but then set up Stetson Bennett and the Bulldogs with a short field and an opportunity to deliver what for all intents and purposes was a knockout blow, that to me was the turning point, there was really no return, it was a point of no return for the Horn Frogs then and at that point, so I did the math, my math teacher mom would be very proud of me for this tweet and put it out there but Georgia was on pace for 76 points and more than 700 yards of offense in the game based on what they did in the first half, now they did, wait for it, call off the dogs in the second half but not before, they had a few more high flying individual feats of strength. Caught, takes the snap and the shotgun, throws for the corner, Brock Bowers one on one, caught, touchdown, he ate him alive, falls down into the end zone, six more for Georgia, Bennett to throw, lobs it to the right corner, there's McConkey, he got on his donkey and made a sliding catch in the right corner, touchdown. Georgia's gonna get back on the line and go quickly, hand it off to Robinson straight ahead from inside the one, did he break the plane? The officials are running in, yeah there's the signal, arms go up in the air, touchdown Branson Robinson. Once again Scott Howard on Georgia Bulldogs radio, TCU not only was way out of sync because of the shorter possessions but defensively credit to Georgia because everything the Horn Frogs tried after that first quarter, it seemed like it was stunted and it was stymied and it was smothered.

Generally, on this edition of After Hours, we give you a defensive player of the week but I'm going to give you a defensive unit of the week and it's sponsored by the Navy Federal Credit Union who proudly serves the Armed Forces DOD, veterans and their families, their members are the mission, learn more at navyfederal.org. The Dawgs D, five sacks, nine tackles for loss, three takeaways, all of those coming in the first half that was so decisive, in addition to that, the Dawgs defense didn't even allow TCU to have the 200 yards of offense, it was bad, not even 200 yards of offense and not even 10 first downs and by bad I mean lopsided, it was overwhelming. The numbers for TCU on third and fourth down, two for 13, right so it became this kind of snowball effect, I know there aren't a lot of avalanches in either LA or Athens, Georgia but that's the analogy, the metaphor that I kept thinking about, once that avalanche started downhill, there was no stopping it, there was no slowing it down, TCU got buried and it was an effort from the lines to the defense to Stetson Bennett who accounted for six touchdowns to his receivers, it was all hands on deck, TCU absolutely can play a better game but didn't ever respond to that wave really initially and that was kind of the issue. I think for TCU proving that they belong in this conversation is huge, it may not feel like it was a triumph, certainly the way they went out for the seniors who won't play again, this is painful and it's devastating but as a building block for the Horn Frogs and for Sonny Dykes, it's massive.

Not only is it a taste of the college football playoff and expansion is on the horizon but certainly it's huge when it comes to recruiting, when it comes to proving that the Horn Frogs can compete with the big dogs in college football. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio, largest margin of victory in any bowl game in college football history to the point where Stetson Bennett in his last huddle didn't even have to call a play. At what point in this game do you bring Stetson out just to give him the ovation that he so richly deserves or just what a way to cap off?

This may be the moment, I don't know. Georgia calls a time. Yep, Stetson Bennett hugs Kirby Smart, look at the team just react to Bennett coming out of the game. Carson Beck's going to come in and quarterback in the national championship game here in the fourth quarter. The huddle, because I told all the guys, they're like, what are we doing?

Why don't we have a play? And I was like, well, they kind of let me walk out of here. But in the huddle, you know, just as simple as it is, just one last huddle with the guys, you know, and that was special in coming off seeing Coach Smart.

That was really cool and I appreciate that. When he came in my office and he said, I'm trying to decide if I'm going to come back or ride off in the wind, he goes, I don't understand, everybody's telling me that I should just ride off in the sunset and be the legendary quarterback that won a national title. He said, that's just not who I am.

And he's like, I don't get it. Why should I do that when I have an opportunity to play again? Like, why don't we go win it again? Kirby Smart flashing back to a year ago after the Bulldogs won their first national championship in 41 years. Stetson Bennett, hey, I still want to play. Why is everybody telling me I should leave?

I should just take this, rest on my laurels and leave. Except for now, if one championship is nice, two is better. You know, Kirby Smart has such a way with stories. He is a goof and he's so much fun. No wonder that the students and the athletes relate to him. He's certainly no nonsense when it comes to coaching. He has taken multiple pages out of Nick Saban's book. Nick Saban was his mentor, of course, what he spent nearly a decade as Saban's defensive coordinator at Alabama. But he's got a different personality than Saban, to be fair. And he told this story afterwards of an encounter he had with a family member, not quite what he expected.

Tell you a quick story. I walked in my little, they got a real nice head coach's office in that room over there. And I don't know if Stetson knows this, but I walked in and my 10-year-old son Andrew's bawling. And I was like, oh no, somebody's hurt his feelings. Somebody's thrown him down. Somebody's done something to him. I said, why are you crying?

You're going to ruin my moment. He said, Stetson's leaving. Stetson's gone. I said, he's 25 years old. He's got to go. He's got to leave.

He's 25 years old. It's time. Now it's time, Stetson Bennett. But yeah, if he does nothing in the NFL, nothing at all, he still has a legacy that is solidified in college football. Though Kirby takes exception to that idea that he doesn't belong at the next level. People have slept on Stetson Bennett for too long.

He needs an opportunity to play for a long time at the next level. Of course, you're going to hear that from Kirby Smart. As I say, every single time the cameras were on Stetson Bennett, he was flashing this huge grant, having the time of his life. And that is the way that Georgia went into this game. We heard it from Kirby Smart briefly, very succinctly, when he was interviewed pregame, literally right before the game kicked off, by Holly Rowe on the sidelines. And I'm paraphrasing here. She asked him about approach and he said, we're going to attack.

We're going to be aggressive. But it wasn't even that many words. It was really brief to the point where she was caught off guard and said, that's it? And he said, yep.

And that was the end of the interview. And so he has said from the beginning of the season that they weren't going to be the hunted. They were going to remain the hunters. And that's part of the challenge of repeating is that you get every opponent's best shot. They're all coming for you. You've got that proverbial bullseye on your back.

But Kirby turned that around and said, no way. We're going to be the hunters. We're going to ratchet up the aggressiveness and we're going to continue to attack. Though he does agree that there is one major challenge in repeating. The biggest challenge is the same thing it is in all of the world.

The world we live in today, it's society we live in, entitlement. So the minute that you think you're entitled to winning games and you don't have to work hard, Coach Dykes and I were talking about it. The uphill battle for those guys is you think that you just inherit success.

And I personally think next year is going to be a much, much more difficult challenge over this year. We'll get a little more from Kirby Smart, Stetson Bennett, even a member of that incredible defense, a senior defensive back who was interviewed on the field. They were walking fully confident. Yes, there was a swagger, but it wasn't obnoxious, arrogant. National champs not believing that they were going to walk onto that field at SoFi and win it just by showing up, but believing that they were going to walk onto that field, do what they've been trained to do to the best of their ability, attack, be aggressive. And they knew that if they played their game, that they would be the better team. You could see that in their body language and in the way that they started out. So important when you're talking about an environment like this one.

SoFi stadium, unfamiliar to both of these teams, right? And it was split down the middle, half purple, half red, really incredible, loud, just a lot of electricity and energy in it. And to be able to start out the way that they did and to kind of squash that idea that Cinderella is still dancing.

It was impressive. They hate it for TCU, the jokes about the running clock and stopping the fight. I don't really feel badly for athletes most of the time because this is what we sign up for when we play sports, right? I'm not into the let's give a trophy to everyone. I do believe that there are winners and there are losers, but honestly, there is just as much value in losing sometimes as they're in in winning.

And so we'll hear from Sonny Dykes and Max Duggan. It's painful, yes, maybe even a little humiliating to have it end like this on a national stage when you know you didn't play your best. And for the guys who are done, it sucks, right? It's going to stick with you. But at the same time, it can be a stepping stone.

It can be a building block. And the best coaches and the best leaders, they know how to turn failure into a powerful motivation. So we haven't seen the last of Sonny Dykes and TCU, but this morning, this moment belongs to Georgia. Second consecutive national championship, 29-0 over the last two years and 65 points in what was a no doubter. So congratulations to the dogs. We were just bummed out that UGA couldn't make the trip because the flight was too long from Athens to LA. Thanks for joining us on this Tuesday morning now.

Hope you survived your Monday. We do have the latest from the coaching ranks in the NFL. We'll get to that at the bottom of the hour. And we're asking you on Twitter and Facebook, on social, at this point, what is the most attractive head coach job in the NFL?

Which one do you believe is set up for success moving forward? And there could be others, right? We don't have the full picture. We don't know about Indianapolis. If Jim Irsay, he is planning or they are planning on interviewing, but will they stick with Jeff Saturday? We don't know about Steve Wilks in Carolina, only that they are also asking for interviews, requesting interviews. Not sure about New Orleans. There are several openings that we know of and there are others that may turn out to be coach turnover.

But for now, which one is the most attractive? Some of you are throwing in kind of write-in ballots. This coach should be fired and rehired. And no, Mike Tomlin and Bill Belichick do not belong in that conversation, no matter what you think. So on Twitter, ALawRadio, and then on our Facebook page too, it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. And this will be the last snap of the twenty two season. There it is back, takes the knee and the countdown begins.

Twenty three seconds. Dogs aren't waiting for that clock to get to zero. They've hit the field celebrating here at SoFi Stadium. TCU begrudgingly walks to the middle of the field. Georgia on the logo celebrating back to back.

Nats perfection wears red and black tonight. Fifteen and oh, the dogs have done it and won a second consecutive national title. And you can't be any more impressive than the way they did it tonight. Sixty five to seven. The Bulldogs leave their most abrasive mark of the season and they made him quit. Let me tell you what.

Sixty five to seven. The final and let's soak it in. We want to come out and make a statement. You can completely customize your listening experience.

Follow topics you care about. What's the strangest thing you're afraid of? Tails without fur on them, such as rats or possums. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast, Your Weirdest Fears, where we dig into the crazy things you're afraid of. Everything from animal people hybrids. You know, people who get surgeries to look like an animal to giant statues. If I ever saw one of those giant statues, I probably would poop my pants.

Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from. What's the strangest thing you're afraid of? Tails without fur on them, such as rats or possums. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast, Your Weirdest Fears, where we dig into the crazy things you're afraid of. Everything from animal people hybrids. You know, people who get surgeries to look like an animal to giant statues.

If I ever saw one of those giant statues, I probably would poop my pants. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your broadcast from. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. The assessment of senior DB Christopher Smith on the SEC Network and he is right. They couldn't have played a more perfect game on the sport's biggest stage, so it's a farewell to college football. But man, what an exclamation point as Scott Howard mentions on Georgia Bulldogs Radio, a statement that really doesn't need much analysis or an explanation.

And yet here we are. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Yeah, the defense was amazing, aggressive and attacking, to be sure. A lot of pressure on Max Duggan and pressured him into costly mistakes. The fact that he had those three, well, two interceptions. There was a fumble that wasn't his in the first half, but three takeaways for the defense. The two interceptions and the short fields. So whether it was a three and out or a short possession, the number of times that Georgia was able to take advantage of not having to go the full length of the field was also played right into their hands.

And the experience as well of having won it all just a year ago. You can analyze the role the SEC plays. We see that conference have some up years, some down years, but definitely whether or not you believe the SEC is the best conference in college football or if it's the Big Ten or it's another conference, the idea that they're battle tested week in and week out is certainly part of this. And it's not just about the competition on the field. It's about the eyeballs.

It's about the attention. It's about the intensity that goes along with SEC football and these conference games and the type of hostile territory that you're facing when you're on the road week in and week out. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. The defense was fantastic. Brock Bowers was amazing. It didn't even really have to be that amazing because he was wide open so often. It's a little bit like flag football at times. Seven catches for 152 yards and a score for the sophomore tight end.

And yes, Stetson Bennett with six total touchdowns, four through the air, two on the ground. And he believes this team something special, not just because of the physical talent and the preparation, the coaching, the leadership, but also chemistry. That ethereal, sometimes unattainable quality for winning teams and yet you know it when you've got it. This team loves each other. I mean, when Coach Smart says he's never had a group like this, he's right. We love each other. Every single person on this team would do anything for each other. And you know, it's a special group.

Sometimes you can't even define chemistry. Winning definitely helps. It can put you on the road, but it is about love. It's about care.

It's about compassion. It's about wanting to win, not just for you and not just because you want that experience, but because you so desperately want it for the guy on your left and the girl on your right. So team chemistry, it's certainly about the blend. It's that corporate synergy, right, where the sum is greater than the individual parts. Again, not every winning team has it, but when you see it, when you're part of it, you can see that it gives teams an extra edge.

They have an advantage when they have chemistry like this one. And then you've got Kirby Smart, who had all the training, the great pedigree in coaching, but a deep love for Georgia, which is why it matters to him to build a dominant program there in Athens. The University of Georgia meant so much to me. I'll never forget the speech I heard Billy Payne give and how much Georgia meant. He met his wife there and he gave back to the University of Georgia every way possible.

He helped bring the Olympics. And then when you say all he wants to do is give back to a university that gave to him, I wouldn't be who I am today without the University of Georgia. I was lucky to go to get a chance to go to University of Georgia, you know, and I want to give back to a place that has meant so much to my life and to my family's life and has given so much to us. So I don't think you can do that without honoring them with how you work and the standard you try to set. That's my selling point. Kirby Smart has got a loyalty and a deep love for Georgia.

And so as he says, that's his selling point, but it also makes a difference to him because it's something more than just a job. As for TCU, it can't be overstated, the turnaround from a year ago when they had five wins. For the Horned Frogs to get to where they were this season, first place in the Big 12 standings, of course, they lost in the Big 12 championship game, but getting to that point and then earning their spot in the college football playoff, a great game against Michigan, man, that was so much fun. They were actually picked to finish in the bottom half of the Big 12 preseason. And so maybe the stage was a lot. Maybe they weren't quite ready. Sonny Dykes did indicate that the team was tired.

He felt like that they were kind of worn out. Part of that is the pressure that Georgia puts on you. But yeah, this was tough sledding. 188 total yards and three turnovers in the first half made it impossible for them to pull one of their classic second half comebacks. I think we're all disappointed in that we didn't play better and we didn't coach better and we didn't represent our team better than we did tonight.

But we'll learn from it and the next time we're on a stage like this, we'll handle it better. I think tonight was one of those nights where, at least offensively, we couldn't get anything rolling. They were playing well on defense. We were shooting ourselves in the foot. I was making bad decisions and I wasn't executing well, not putting us in a position to score some points and move the ball.

So Max Duggan finishes 14 of 22, 152 yards, two picks. He did have the rushing touchdown in the first quarter, which was the only score that the TCU Hornfrogs would have. And that speaks right to not just their inability to capitalize on opportunities, but the fact that there weren't that many opportunities.

They could not get anything rolling, as he points out. There was really no sink, no rhythm, no flow. And once again, back to the Georgia defense, not allowing them much room to breathe. However, it's a season to remember. I know it may not feel like it at this point when you don't score again after the first quarter and now you're going to hear about, forever, how this was the largest margin of victory in any college bowl game in history. I mean, you're part of that.

You're a footnote where you don't want to be. But it was a great accomplishment for them to get there. And I hope it is a starting point for the Frogs. A loss like this stings. But, you know, we talked about this a little bit in the locker room a second ago, just about how far we've come in a year, what these guys have been able to accomplish, really, when nobody outside of our locker room expected it or really believed in them. The best thing about being part of a football team, and especially this one, I mean, you know, long past this time, you know, we're probably not going to remember the wins and losses or stuff like that, but we're going to remember the men in that locker room, the guys that, you know, we got to grow up with that, you know, we learn more about, you know, when when stuff got tough and things kind of got hard, you saw what type of men that we got in our locker room that continue to fight, believe. It's such a fun group to go to work with. You know, it's the little stuff that you got to remember about this season, you know, probably less about the wins and losses, but you know what great men we got.

Certainly in the fourth quarter right now, watching Stetson Bennett get pulled off the field and the embraces with his coach and with his teammates and the smiles, but I'm telling you, if you didn't watch, he was wearing that smile from the very beginning, from the very first drive Stetson Bennett had a feeling this was going to be his night, certainly a night to remember and a way to cap college football, unlike we have ever seen. We have been talking a little bit too tonight about the coaching changes in the NFL, either the ones that we know about, the openings that have already been disclosed or the ones that are still yet to come, maybe in some cases, ownership not quite sure which way moving forward. So we've asked you on Twitter and Facebook of the openings we know, or maybe even some of the openings that we think might be part of this coaching carousel in 23, which one or which ones are most attractive. Some of you are declining to pick one.

That's how bad you think the situations are. All right, we'll review coming up after our CBS on Twitter face. 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. First 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. 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. 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.

Easy peasy to find. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. As a coach, you learn along the way each and every step. You know, I think there's things that I'll take from this and be a better coach move forward. But you have to go through a season like this to try and make those changes moving forward.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Maybe Cliff Kingsbury had no clue that Michael Bidwell would move on and would decide that they had to make a coaching change on what was a Black Monday that didn't necessarily have the same teeth as some of the Black Mondays, theoretically, in the past, though there were a lot of assistants that were fired as well. And I get the sense. I think there's some of that kind of uncertain ground for a bunch of coaches.

Little shaky underneath them. They're not sure and we're not sure whether or not they're going to keep their job. So I don't think we've seen the last of the movement or the coaching changes in the NFL. But to this point already, we have a handful of openings and Arizona is the latest definitively to be added to the list. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

Here's the interesting part. Well, there's lots of interesting elements to this Arizona situation, but he was just given a contract extension 10 months ago, about the same time that Kyler Murray was given a massive new contract. Well, you can't really get rid of Kyler Murray and maybe they don't want to. Maybe I'm projecting my own feelings about Kyler as a quarterback on this situation. But similar to what's going on in Denver, because of the contract and the financial penalties of at least initially the early years of a contract, the salary cap ramifications, Denver can't move Russell Wilson even if they wanted to. And again, I don't want to put words in their mouth, but the Cardinals can't really move Kyler Murray either. And now he's hurt.

So where are they going to move him to exactly? And so whether or not that's a factor for Kliff Kingsbury, they certainly have had some really embarrassing finishes. What's that old adage? It's not how you start, it's how you finish. Well, maybe that's what got Kliff Kingsbury fired.

And this is just the latest example. They lose their last seven in a row. Last year, they were the final team in the NFL to pick up a loss. And while they did make the playoffs as a wild card, it was a wah, wah, wah. It was just a fizzle of a finish. And so they really have suffered from injuries, definitely with Kyler's injuries.

But at the same time, they haven't even remotely shown that they are a contender because their best days have been at the beginning of the season. So after four years, Kliff Kingsbury is out the door, though he still has a lot of money on that contract. I don't know any coach that has worked harder than Kliff Kingsbury.

He has put in countless hours. And we had a good long conversation today in which I told him I'm really sorry because this is a tough decision. But at the same time, it was a decision that needed to be made. The search has started for both the general manager and for a head coach. We're going to cast the net far and wide. I'm doing it differently than we've done it in the past.

I've already been on the phone setting up interviews and speaking with people I respect around the NFL. Michael Bidwell termed it a good long conversation. Do you think Kliff Kingsbury would agree that it was a good long conversation? How much did the relationship between Kliff and Kyler, at least the rumors, the speculation that the relationship was frayed, the communication was a mess, some of those kind of outbursts and I wouldn't call them altercations.

That's too strong. But disagreements or strong words, emotional outbursts on the sidelines. And I do agree that a lot of that happens in the NFL. That's not why coaches get fired, but was it indicative of something far more challenging and a relationship that had deteriorated behind the scenes?

That's a major question that's going around. So we now know that Arizona and Michael Bidwell is looking for not only a new coach, but a new general manager. Steve Keim is stepping away to take care of his health.

We do not know about Los Angeles in that same NFC West division. I'm going to take the next couple of days to really be able to kind of reflect obviously a lot of conversations with various people that will dictate and determine the decision that's best for me, my family, the Rams and a lot of people and that's kind of where we're at with that. Sean McVay is going to take some time.

The reaction is, I don't know that at this point it's a huge surprise because of what we went through last year. I won't yet put it in the same category as Brett Favre, but for now at least Sean McVay is doing the will he or won't he. And I do believe he takes it seriously. One of the points that we heard from Michael Duarte of NBC LA when he joined us earlier in the show is that Sean takes very seriously the responsibility and the obligation to the coaches that he's hired and the players that he's brought on board and what happens to them if he leaves or how do they feel or how does the team move forward or will they be in a better situation if he leaves.

So it's a pull. It's definitely a tug at him because he's the leader of an organization and he's got a lot of responsibilities underneath him and so I appreciate that about McVay. He's only 36 years old. In case you're wondering, Matthew Stafford is having no such qualms. I've got a family, I've got kids, I've got a wife and all that that are obviously very very important to me so it's conversations but I feel really confident that I'll be good to go next year, be ready to go and I've got full support from them which is what matters for me. Matthew Stafford was actually part of the coin flip on the field last night at SoFi. He was there as a Georgia alum and then Ladanian Tomlinson was there with TCU so that was kind of fun to see their greeting and to see them walk out there in street clothes. I kind of feel like if the Rams are, well if that coaching job becomes available, that's extremely attractive. What happens with Aaron Donald though? Remember he told us that he was returning because of Sean McVay, that that was a major piece and because they wanted to run it back and try to win a title again, it did not happen.

They went 5-12. Run it back! Run it back! Yep, yep.

I didn't say it quite like that but I got you. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Give it up for Aaron Donald!

What a stud! The Rams and the Cardinals could be two, well one of those teams for sure. The Rams could be also looking for a head coach.

In the NFC South, the Panthers have Steve Wilks. Will he get an opportunity? We don't know yet but David Tepper has requested interviews with other candidates. The New Orleans Saints, well according to Dennis Allen, he expects to be coaching next year but will they be looking for someone new after a 7-10 finish? And then if you think about elsewhere in the South divisions, right, you've got the Indianapolis Colts who have Jeff Saturday except they're also reaching out to ask or to request interviews. I don't think anything can officially be done until the 17th of January. That's when the first interviews can take place. It's a new program, new calendar for NFL and coaching candidates but the Colts right now, they have Saturday and he's their interim and he's campaigning but they would have to go through the Rooney Rule and they would have to satisfy the requirements and let's be fair, they lost seven in a row and I'm not sure that it was the right fit with Saturday. He says he's got his own way of doing things but he really wasn't allowed to dive into that and to unpack that because he was the interim and he was taking over someone else's team.

So that situation is definitely in flux. The Houston Texans seems like nobody wants that job but yes, the Texans are also a vacancy after a finish of 3-13-1 and if I'm Lovey Smith, I am laughing my ass off because we lost quote unquote the number one overall pick because he goes for two in the final seconds of their game on Sunday and they get the win. I'm sorry, that makes me so happy, so happy for Lovey Smith.

The Denver Broncos also finished 5-12. They're looking for a new head coach and these are at least three of the guys that they've requested to interview. Sean Payton, who is still property of the New Orleans Saints, Jim Harbaugh, who is property of the Michigan Wolverines and Dan Quinn, who right now is the very attractive, I do not mean that physically, just so that no one misunderstands me, so we're all on the same page. Good looking guy. When you're a chick in this business, you gotta be careful what you say. Anyway, he's an attractive candidate is what I meant to say.

That goes back to last year when it was Jerry Jones who was paying him a boatload of money to keep him on as Mike McCarthy's defensive coordinator but Russell Wilson, he believes that the Denver Broncos are the most attractive job out there. What's really great is I think over the past several weeks we started creating identity over the past several weeks. Even going back to the first Chiefs game when we were kind of behind, we really started catching fire and I think that was really good for us. We had one game in there that wasn't our best but I think from there we stayed together. We stayed connected.

We stayed connected and believing in one another. Also in the AFC, Mike Vrabel is fired for assistance so he's making changes. Change is obviously a part of this league.

It's part of professional sports. I think there will be conversations here in the short term about the general manager and where that goes and then that person in Iowa will have conversations with Amy about the extent of the change that we have. I don't think that's something that is going to happen necessarily overnight but there's going to be change. So four assistants already fired and they're definitely in transition as well. The Steelers are not moving on from Mike Tomlin though I wish he was available. I'd take him on my team in a heartbeat and also Bill Belichick will be back for his 24th season.

But will Matt Patricia be his offensive coordinator moving forward? He was asked that question on Monday. We're going to have to wait until tonight to be able to give you his answer. Doh! Have a great Tuesday. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio.

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Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. What's the strangest thing you're afraid of? Tails without fur on them, such as rats or opossums. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast Your Weirdest Fear is where we dig into the crazy things you're afraid of. Everything from animal people hybrids. You know, people who get surgeries to look like an animal to giant statues.

If I ever saw one of those giant statues, I probably would poop my pants. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from.