After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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Get in the game and download the free Odyssey app today. What was the high point for your NFL team this year? What was the low point? What was the high point for your NBA team this year? What was the lowpoint for your NBA team this year? What was the highpoint for your NBA team? What was the highpoint for your NBA team?

Well, that sucks. Now it turned out that the defense and the run game were extremely valuable in keeping them not just to float, but helping them to win even in the absence of attack while Cooper Rush was the quarterback. So I would think that that would be a low point. Now the high point, would it maybe have been the shellacking of the Minnesota Vikings? Would it have been the victory over the Eagles? I don't know.

Interesting to think about it from a Cowboys fan perspective, but I would love to hear from you. We've got a post up on Twitter, on our show account after our CBS, or on my account. There's a mouse. I mean, that's all I'm going to say is there's a mouse in this particular meme or gif that producer Jay has chosen. He chooses most of these. When he's out, I delve into the arena of memes and gifs, but it's not my comfort zone. So allow him to do it.

And he also loves to use his emojis to emote. And so we're asking you, if you go back to the regular season, what's the high point for your team? What's the low point for your team?

And so whether it's on Twitter or it's on Facebook, we always love to hear from you because into every life, into every season, a little rain must fall. But to be fair, a lot of teams and fan bases have experienced more rain and more misery than others. In fact, this is why we ask you on a fairly regular basis, every Monday, as a matter of fact, which team is waking up with the most mortification and misery and just the moody and mad and melancholy, all the emotions all up in their fields. And I would have to say that the Green Bay Packers landed in that poll a lot, as did the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, though, with a losing record, I think they're just the sixth team in NFL history to ever make the playoffs with a losing record and actually host a game coming up on Monday night. So every team had some highs. Every team had some lows.

What were they for your team? Again, on Twitter or on Facebook after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. I did try to go back and answer a bunch of your questions from Ask Amy Anything. So not all of them, but I did get to a bunch of them, some that I could rattle off quickly.

And so I hope that you'll go back and check those out. We do that every hump show. So we'll continue on into 2023. And we've got some other features that we haven't trotted out in a while. We're going to have to shake the rust off and dust them off and try them again in 23. So thinking about some of our fun plans, even for this first quarter of the year, we'll get to those and we'll let you in on those, even as we continue to march forward through what is one of my favorite months of the year because of the football playoffs. Now, every year, roughly half the NFL playoff field turns over. We tell you that, in fact, always in, say, August or early September, we do a question here on the show where I ask you, which playoff teams will be new this year? In other words, which teams do you think will get into the playoffs that weren't there last year, but also the opposite?

Who's out? Who's getting booted by these new playoff teams? And so as I was going through and kind of looking at it, just to follow up on where we started in August with this question, I counted the number of teams that are new to the playoffs, even if it was only a one-year hiatus, they're new. All right, so if you think about it, there are seven playoff teams in each conference, so 14 playoff teams overall. And so when we tell you half, it's about seven. Well, get this, the numbers are dead on. Only seven playoff teams are new in 2020. Well, it's 23, but the 22 season, that's how the NFL does it.

So when they say the 2022 playoffs, that's what we're talking about right now. So I won't put producer J on the spot, although I kind of feel like this, that you could do this. Would you like to try to name the seven? I'll try. I'll give it a shot. All right.

Give it the old college try, producer J. Giants, Seahawks, Dolphins, the Chargers, yeah, Chargers. The Chargers 2018 was the last time. Did the Vikings get in last year? No.

Okay. The Vikings. 2019. The Ravens missed out. Right.

They were last in 2020. Jaguars. And the Jaguars. Yes.

Very good. So yes, it's in the AFC, the Chargers, the Jaguars, the Dolphins, and the Ravens. So you got four from the AFC, and then you have the Vikings, the Giants, the Seahawks from the NFC.

So how about that? Again, roughly half the playoff field turns over every year, and it's exactly seven. Of course, the returning teams are Chiefs and Eagles, who are the top seeds in each of the conferences, the Bucks, the Cowboys, the Bengals, the Bills, and the Niners. So no Rams this year, no Steelers, no Patriots, no Cardinals, no Titans, no Packers. I'm missing one.

Who am I missing? The Raiders. The Raiders. That's right. They snuck in last year.

Thank you. I was making my list without looking, and I was like, I'm short a team. It was only a year ago, for heaven's sakes, and that's how hard it is to remember. It was that crazy tie scenario in the last game of the year with the Chargers. Remember that? Oh, that's right.

Yes, I do remember that, and the talk that they should actually do the tie. Right. Yes.

Okay. So that's your playoff field. If you don't know the schedule, well, it starts on Saturday, which means this time tomorrow we'll be in full playoff preview mode, and we will have polls for you. I guess we're going to have to do one AFC and one NFC because we can't fit them all in, and we wouldn't dare offend you with any of our polls.

Heavens to Betsy. It's after hours on CBS Sports Radio. A lot of news headlines outside of the NFL, outside of even college football, though did you see this one? Kirby Smart was requested as an interview, I guess permission was granted for Kirby Smart to interview with the, I think it's the Arizona Cardinals, and so here he is with another like 17 years on his contract.

Okay, it's not that many. It's about half that, but a lot more years left on his contract with the Georgia Bulldogs and all emotional about the Georgia Bulldogs and building a program there and what Georgia means to him, and yet there was in fact a request for him to interview with an NFL team and it was granted. So yeah, it's the flavor of the month, and I don't mean that as disrespect to Kirby Smart. That is in no way disrespectful. He earns it. He earns the opportunity to interview with an NFL team, just like Jim Harbaugh over the last couple of years. Now, Jim, by virtue of getting Michigan past Ohio State and into the college football playoff, the Big Ten championship, that type of thing, because of that, Harbaugh has earned more of the attention, shall we say, in the NFL coaching carousel, but he also has a track record in the NFL. We're not talking about a guy who has never coached and has never experienced it like say a Matt Ruhl. No, Jim Harbaugh has got 44 NFL wins. Jim Harbaugh led his team to the San Francisco 49ers to three playoff runs and three NFC championships and a Super Bowl. He really only left. Now, his final season in the Bay Area was an eight and eight mark, if I remember correctly, and he really only left because he and Trent Bulky, who's now with the Jaguars, got into a peeing on the fire hydrant contest, and your boss is always going to win that. So yeah, Georgia is, I don't think, in danger of losing Kirby Smart, but there is talk that there are NFL teams out there who are really interested in interviewing him and in talking to him, and that at least one team, like I said, I think it was the Cardinals, have asked for permission to interview Kirby Smart. I'd be stunned. That would blow me away.

But while we're talking about the coaching ranks and the college ranks specifically, I know David Shaw is no longer with Stanford, but he was actually interviewed by the Denver Broncos on Wednesday, and so at least one team is doing its due diligence, and this is the Walton Penner family. Jay and I were actually going back and listening to some of the quirkier audio from the NFL season, and a lot of it goes back to the beginning of the year. We were enjoying Dan Campbell on hard knocks, and my favorite drop of Dan Campbell's, even more delicious than we're going to bite kneecaps, is his claim or his plea with the Lions on hard knocks. I promise you I'm not a lunatic. I swear to God I'm not a lunatic. Oh my gosh, I feel like me thinks he doth protest it too much. That's totally me. But I swear to you I'm not a lunatic.

I've actually stopped even telling you I'm not because it just begs the question, right? And so we were going back and we were listening, and we came across, and I don't know who it is, I think it's the Walton half of the Walton Penner ownership group with the Broncos in which he mispronounced Roger Goodell's name. Well, I hope a year later now as he gets ready to go through a coaching search to replace Nathaniel Hackett, that he does in fact know who the CEO of the NFL is and how to pronounce his name. I'd like to thank Roger Goodall. I think I'm good. Oh, some funny, funny moments this season.

Just really good stuff. Okay, so back to the Broncos, sorry, that just kind of triggered in my brain. David Shaw is an NFL veteran, and he spent nine years there from 97 to 2005 and is now potentially considering a return because he and Stanford parted ways in November. He'd been 16 seasons at the school, that was his alma mater, and so he says he's been considering it. He's not burnt out, he's healthy, and he believes that it's time for him to go back to coaching and that potentially the NFL could be his next step. And so the Broncos did interview him, they have been busy, they've interviewed a lot of people.

Can't formally interview Sean Payton until the 17th of January, I believe, but they've already done, I think it was a virtual interview with Jim Harbaugh, and they've requested to have interviews with multiple candidates that are out there. Something else that should flag, and a lot of you are asking me, even on asking me anything, we don't generally do sports questions, but a bunch of you reaching out, what do I think about Sean McVay and will he stay in Los Angeles? Now, I don't know, he probably doesn't know at this point. However, the fact that he has told his assistant coaches that he thinks they should go ahead and look for other jobs or interview for other jobs, that he doesn't expect them to stay loyal to the Rams because he's not sure what he's doing. There's a lot of people interpreting that as, okay, he's definitely not coming back.

Again, I don't think it's definite. I think if he knew, he would say so because he doesn't want to hold the team hostage. He's not Aaron Rodgers here, Aaron Rodgers actually enjoys holding his team hostage. But in the case of Sean McVay, I think this is something that you can hear in his voice, he's genuinely wrestling with. And so the fact that he doesn't want his assistants to remain loyal to him or to the team when he's not sure, and if he ends up leaving, they very well could get fired.

So I feel like it's a preemptive strike. Even if he does come back, he's thinking, well, I can find other assistants, but they may not be able to find other jobs if, for instance, they wait on him. He ends up not returning, at least not next year. They then are behind the eight ball when it comes to getting interviews because the cycle or the carousel is already turning. He doesn't want them to miss out on opportunities because they're waiting on him. I just think that shows his heart and it shows his loyalty to them for sure. But his recognition that he has an obligation, not just to the franchise, but meeting the owner who writes his checks, but also to the guys who work for him, the guys who were on his roster. I mean, he doesn't want to hold them hostage either. Think about it.

Aaron Donald was one who said pretty clearly that if Sean McVay had not returned, he probably wouldn't have returned either. You know, it reminds me, and I'll say this because I think NCIS, the TV show, is still very popular. It's in season number 20. And I'm still watching it. I love it.

I think it's fascinating. I didn't think I would like it as much without Mark Harmon, and I do miss Mark Harmon. He's a great actor and was really the kind of the glue that held it all together.

Just his style is so unique. Anyway, I remember seeing an interview with him. He had been wanting to step away from NCIS for several seasons, for several years, just to get out of that daily grind. 20 years is a long time to do one job, right?

And the hours can be really difficult, and it was a strenuous, like physical demand on his body too. And I remember reading an interview with him in which he said he would have stepped away years ago if not for the concern about all the other people that were working on the show. He was concerned that if he left and kind of said, hey, go ahead, I'll continue to produce, but I don't want to be part of the show on a regular basis.

I don't want to be the main character anymore. He was worried the show would fold. He was worried that not only the other actors would all lose their gigs, but the producers and the camera operators and the directors and the creative managers and the writers, that they would all end up out of jobs.

And so that type of attitude, that struck me at the time. The fact that here is this superstar, this actor who doesn't need to work anymore. He's set for life if he chooses to walk away from Hollywood, and he's been pouring himself into this one particular role. I mean, it's Mark Harmon, right?

So he's got other roles certainly that he's identified with, but this is one for two decades now that people know of him, very popular show. He could have had that superstar attitude, well, I'll just do what's best for me. But he didn't.

He didn't want to. He was worried about what would happen to the dozens of other employees who worked on the show. And that to me is what I think and what I hear about Sean McVay when he says to his assistants, and I'm not even sure he can, right? I don't even know if it's his decision. They are his assistants, but ultimately they work for the franchise. So I don't even know if he's allowed to say, go interview for other jobs. I don't know if other teams have to ask for permission.

I think they do actually from the franchise, not from Sean McVay. But just to put it out there and say, hey, I don't want you guys to wait for me. I want you to be taken care of.

I want you to have jobs, even if it's not here. To me that shows again, loyalty, also love for the people that he works with and a responsibility and obligation. He's not just about Sean McVay. He's about the other people in that franchise and feeling like he owes them something. And that shows great maturity. I think it shows just a level of trust, but also the type of character, the type of man that he is. So for that reason, if he ends up in the broadcast booth, fine. Just think that it shows a depth to him that goes far beyond X's and O's. Of course, he's pretty good at that as a Super Bowl winner.

All right. You can find me on Twitter, ALawRadio. Also on our Facebook page, we've got a bunch of playoff preview and playoff prep, and you know how we like to mix in our quarterbacks.

So maybe a little bit through their eyes, looking ahead to wildcard weekend. But actually I have this crazy number that's going to blow you away. You know me.

I'm all about the nerd alerts. And I had been keeping track of the number of quarterback changes, actually, I'll just be honest. In week 18, I lost track of the number of quarterback substitutions, but I'd been keeping a running tally on my phone. What I hadn't been counting was the number of quarterbacks that have started an NFL game this season.

This number is going to blow you away. And so just kind of the lay of the land, even as we ask you for the highest point, the high point of your team this season and the low point of your team this season, why do I feel like with my favorite team, there are so many more low points? Oh dear. Yeah.

Lots of low points. Maybe, maybe there's hope for the future. There's always hope for the future. No matter how dark it gets, you can't give up.

So on Twitter, a law radio ask you what you're thinking about or what you want to do in life or where you want to go. That's just me. Tell them I'm unlimited. You were maybe not anymore.

Not in 2022. Oh, it's just me. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast, your weirdest fears, the show that explores the odd things that make your heart stop. I am so scared of the Grinch. He is bad vibes. We talk to everyone from therapists to exterminators, to lizard man, I was 25 when I actually got my tongue split.

I have one tattoo that covers my entire body. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. The NFL playoffs live on Odyssey touched up as time expires, unbelievable turn of events, nonstop coverage from the biggest sports radio stations in the country. Podcasts dedicated to each NFL team and postseason games streaming live for free.

Thinks the handoff, looks right, throws right, hands on clock, touchdown. Your playoffs, your Odyssey, get in the game and download the free Odyssey app today. The NFL playoffs live on Odyssey touched up as time expires, unbelievable turn of events, nonstop coverage from the biggest sports radio stations in the country. Podcasts dedicated to each NFL team and postseason games streaming live for free. Thinks the handoff, looks right, throws right, hands on clock, touchdown.

Your playoffs, your Odyssey, get in the game and download the free Odyssey app today. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Three receivers to the far side, slot to the near side. Hurts comes up, maybe audible eyes. Let's see what he does right here, calls for the football.

He's going to run. He's in the 20, 15, 10, 5, good bye, touchdown. Deebo goes in motion left, Purdy back on third down at four, screen out to McCaffrey, blocked by Burford, 10, cuts back inside, five, McCaffrey all the way to the goal line and in, touchdown.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Meryl Reese on Eagles Radio, welcome back Jalen Hurts, man it was good to see him. He said that there was no residual effect, no lingering pain. They really had a conservative offensive approach to the Eagles in week 18, even though the top seed in the NFC was still on the line, so they were playing their starters. And he completed, if I'm not remembering it wrong, a 35 yard pass to AJ Brown on his first attempt of the game. So he did throw, but for the most part it was dinks and dunks and then it was a lot of running the ball.

They were very conservative. I think there's an element of not wanting to show your hand either because here you are on the cusp of the playoffs, you know you're in even if you don't have the bye. But they wanted to play him because it had been a while, help him shake the rust off, find a little bit of a rhythm and then know that if they won the game, they would have wild card weekend to sit back and he could rest some more. So welcome back to Jalen Hurts, again that's Eagles Radio and then Brock Purdy, I just said this a couple of, well I guess it was last hour, a couple of segments ago. It's not like Skylar Thompson's the only rookie quarterback who is potentially starting in these playoffs. The San Francisco 49ers have been relying on Brock Purdy now for weeks and maybe, maybe with Niners fans you forget that he's a rookie because of how well he's playing.

And I wrote this down even as I was taking my notes over the weekend that he is the second rookie in history with multiple TD passes in at least six straight games. So he stepped in like he owned the joint and he's been relying on the people around him and that's what has impressed me. I don't see from Brock Purdy, and I'm not as keyed in as many of you are right, so those of you who are Niners fans, maybe you're watching every snap, you're pouring over the tape, whatever it is. But I think generally, overall, what has impressed me about Purdy is that he's not trying to do too much. This is not a rookie quarterback who feels like he's out there to prove himself. Is he making every play? Is he completing every pass?

No, that's not realistic and he's still a rookie. But he's come in recognizing, and this is a credit to the coaches as well as the veterans around him, that if he just delivers the football to the veterans, the playmakers, and lets them do their jobs, it's a hell of a lot easier to win. So Christian McCaffrey and Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel and George Kittle, he's using those guys. Elijah Mitchell had two touchdowns in their last game. And so it's a lot easier to be a rookie quarterback when you've got people around you like that.

But shouldn't that also apply to Skylar Thompson because he's also got incredible weapons around him, like Jalen Waddle, like Tyreek Hill. And so these rookie quarterbacks are, well Skylar's got some more, he's got time under his belt too now, reps under his belt like Brock Purdy does, but it's a different animal in the playoffs. And I think that's very clear, no matter how many times you've been on the field in the regular season, when it comes to a one and done, well then that's what you kind of know and there's a nervous tension there, but still it's about the team and you've got to rely on your team. Obviously there's more on the line and everything, but I think having six games under my belt in terms of just playing in an NFL game and trying to win for four quarters has helped me get to this point.

And all the guys in the locker room got my back, we've all grown together, so we're ready for what's ahead. So that's Brock Purdy, who yeah, definitely has had the benefit of a month and a half as the starter, getting all the reps, getting all the work and being out there. I wouldn't say pressure situations though, they did want to clinch the NFC West, they were at least still in the running for the top seed in the NFC going into last weekend's games, and man, a 10 game win streak, a 10 game win streak, and it's not just been with Brock Purdy. So I actually saw this stat that jumped out at me too about the Niners because it is a 10 game win streak and it's hard to win two in a row in the NFL, much less 10 in a row. But the way the Niners finished, five of those, I don't know why I have hiccups, five, sorry, five of those games were started by Jimmy Garoppolo, the last five games were started by Brock Purdy. So this is kind of fun, stick with me here for your nerd alert. The last team to have different quarterbacks with consecutive five game win streaks, five or more wins in a row.

Are you ready? Marco Belletti, can you guess? You're like the football, well, you're the Giants football encyclopedia. Yeah, no, I never claimed to be any of those things, but no, I don't think so.

No, I've labeled you that. The 1972 Dolphins. Take that for data. And this is the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Dolphins. Yeah, it was Bob Griese, which is the, I think the quarterback that most people associate with the 72 Dolphins. And then Earl Morrell, can I just be honest and tell you, I've never heard that man's name before. I mean, 72 was before my time, but I obviously heard Bob Griese. Griese is a football family and I've seen the highlights, but I had no idea that they started two different quarterbacks for that long of a stretch. I did know Earl Morrell played a lot of that season, just knowing the 72 Dolphins a little bit, but I didn't realize.

How old were you with the 72 Dolphins? I wasn't born. Oh, well, neither was I. No, I didn't watch them. No, no, no.

This is stuff that I've read. Oh, okay. No, no, no, no. I didn't watch them. No, no, I never professed it.

No, no, no. This is just stuff that you come across. See what I mean? I'm kind of a junkie with this stuff. Look, if you want to get into me as a kid, you know those Super Bowl highlight videos that are like a half hour long for every team?

I knew. I love those. I love every single one of them from Super Bowl one to whatever year you want to go to. I used to watch them all the time. That was the stuff I love. John Fescenda was like the soundtrack of my childhood. That's where I knew Earl Morrell from, not from actually watching it.

I'd never heard the man's name before, but I do know Bob Griese. And I just think it's fascinating that they're celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 72 Dolphins. And that's the last time a team had a 10 game win streak with two separate quarterbacks who essentially split down the middle or were dividing the start.

That's really interesting. It bodes well for the Niners and it does speak to the team around them. It's not just about them, obviously. It's about who else fills out that team. So that's one number. And I waited until you came in here to share this other number because this is, well, it's a humongous number for this position, quarterbacks. Just for fun, would you like to guess how many different quarterbacks started NFL games this season? It's, by the way, the most in league history, aside from the strike season when there were guys crossing picket lines and blah, blah, blah, blah. So right. So not 87 taking out the strike season.

This is the most, this year, more quarterbacks started NFL games than any other year in history. I'm going to take a shot in the dark because I don't know this number, 65. Stop it. Can you see my computer from over there?

I can't see anything. Are you? Why did you already?

Did you already read this stat somewhere? No. Mark, are you lying to me?

You know what happens when you lied to me? I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast, your weirdest fears, the show that explores the odd things that make your heart stop. I am so scared of the Grinch.

He is bad vibe. We talked to everyone from therapists to exterminators to lizard man. I was 25 when I actually got my tongue split.

I have one tattoo that covers my entire body. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. The NFL playoffs live on Odyssey touched up as time expires, unbelievable turn of events. Nonstop coverage from the biggest sports radio stations in the country, podcasts dedicated to each NFL team and postseason games streaming live for free.

Thinks the handoff, looks right, throws right, hands on clock, touchdown. Your playoffs, your Odyssey, get in the game 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. 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. Some folks don't stop till they find the truth. June's Journey is a roaring 20s murder mystery hidden object game.

Find your first clue by downloading June's Journey today available on Android or iOS devices and on PC through Facebook games. Friends, you go straight to hell. Did I actually get that one? Yes. Come on.

I'm telling you. Wait, can you see it? I really can't.

It's open on my computer. I really can't. Can you see it? And I would tell you if I could. Marco. I would tell you if I could.

I picked a number out of the sky. I'm telling you. Okay. Well, I mean, that's really impressive. All right. No, that's not impressive. It's luck.

It was straight luck. Okay. Are you sure?

The number is really big on my computer that you can't see it from the angles? No. Now that you're asking me to look now, do I look over? I can see it. Did I look before I said it?

No. I picked a number out of the sky. What I was looking at.

I believe you. If you heard me typing, what I was actually typing, because I knew it at the top of my head, I wanted to double check. Earl Morrow started Super Bowl III for the Colts against the Jets. That's what I was looking up. And Johnny Unitas came in off the bench when the Colts were behind. So I was looking at his stats for his career. That's what you heard me typing.

Not looking up the number of quarterbacks you're starting? No. I didn't even know you were going that way. How is that possible? It wasn't. It was luck. It was the number out of the sky. We're going to have to turn this into a bit. I don't. I just somehow.

This is like Lucky Luckerton over here. Yes, that is exactly the number. That's weird, Marco. 65 quarterbacks. 65 quarterbacks started games this year. That's the most ever in an NFL season outside of the strike year. That's crazy. It is. It's getting to the point where unfortunately we're going to get this every year.

Two things. We're going to keep increasing the game. So 17. At some point we're going to get to 18. So that's part of it.

Yes, we are. We know that there's injuries that happen. There's also a million teams now that as they get towards the end of the season, a la the Raiders, where you're going to move on from your quarterback and you're now going into your second and third guy.

Maybe he missed the game so you had to back up. Now you're going to your rookie in the last two weeks. So many rookies. There's just so much of that now because teams know that they have to move on because it's their job or the quarterback's job and now they're going to go to the rookie that actually was on the practice squad.

It really has no chance to actually make this team. Oh no, or they're going to bring in a guy off someone else's practice squad and he starts after 10 minutes with the team. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So like there's going to be more and more of this as we move on. Yes, there's injuries, but there's also the appetite that we can't sit and watch the same quarterback lose week in and week out. We have to change just to change even if it doesn't mean something for our future.

It means that my job's on the line so I'm going to somebody else. There were some really significant and I think positive quarterback changes though too and maybe we could see the Steelers, you know, that one coming from a mile away. Mitch Trubisky gets the start but can he pick it?

And now it's great that he's had nearly a full year, not quite, but two-thirds of a season with real-time reps so he's ready to move into year number two. I don't know what the Niners are going to do. Oh my gosh, you know how much Kyle Shanahan loves quarterback questions. He's this favorite thing of being an NFL head coach or all the quarterback questions.

As long as I can keep surviving press conferences. Yeah, exactly. So Trey Lance has been on the shelf for almost the entire year. Jimmy Garoppolo, they were at least considering the idea of bringing him back. What do you, I mean Brock Purdy's the cheapest option. Well he and Trey Lance right now are both under rookie deals.

You got to think that either they hold a competition or I don't know. I mean Brock Purdy's at least deserved to be part of the conversation. He's earned that. We'll have to see.

Yeah. I mean look, it depends on what happens in the playoffs. I mean Brock Purdy takes me to the Super Bowl, it changes the equation. He wins the Super Bowl, it changes the equation. So there is some things that can still happen.

I understand, but if he's at the helm of that, it changes the conversation for what they want to do. I think the Garoppolo injury though with Purdy succeeding, I think is the only thing that that did was take him out of the conversation. I think the 49ers are now, I don't know if Trey Lance is ever going to be their future simply because the injuries he may or may not be ready for the beginning of next year. Next year as well.

So that is a part of this whole equation. And then you throw in the, you know, the monkey wrench, does Tom Brady get his choice to go home again? Does he finally get a chance? I keep hearing Brady to the Raiders. Right. But Brady grew up a 49er fan, the whole Joe Montana thing. I just don't think so. There's talk that he wanted to go there the first time.

No way. As good as you are with two quarterbacks under rookie contracts, why would you pay the money for Tom Brady? Because they could look at it and they can trade Lance, you would think maybe still has some value. And if they go to Brady, let's just, and again, I'm just throwing stuff out there. If you can't, if you lose in say the NFC championship or you lose in the playoffs and you say, Purdy's not ready, but he may get ready. We can get Brady to fill in for a year or two with the rest of this roster that's already handmade. You know what? Maybe we can get over the top. It's possible that they go down that road and then they may be look at Purdy down the road.

I don't know if Trey Lance is really the option that they want as much as they wanted the last couple of years because he hasn't played at all and he's not healthy. He's frustrating. I'm just going to give you one more chance to fess up that you knew the number 65 before I asked the question. You know me for a long time now. One thing that I like to think that I am, honest, do you really think that out of all the things that we've done, out of all the stuff that you, all the things you've asked me, that's the time that I picked to cheat and come up with a number for quarterbacks that have played for the year?

Like why, why out of all the things, why, if anything, I would have, I would have cheated on the M&M's so at least maybe I could have got the M&M's to go home with. Where are the M&M's, Producer Jay? I mean, they're at my house still. I mean, any chance you're going to bring them back at some point? We want them? Should we eat them? We do want them back, yes. Alright, I'll bring them.

Okay. Alright, well that's impressive. Yes, 65 quarterbacks started games this season. Second teamers, third stringers, and then practice squad guys. Guys that were on other teams' practice squads.

It really got out of hand. You need name tags in the huddle. Hello, my name is Skylar Thompson. Hello, my name is Nathan Peterman. Hello, my name is Baker Mayfield. Alright, we've got more. We've got so much. Hello. Actually, yes, hello.

Coming up at the top of the hour, Dana White says that he's already suffered enough and he's already being punished. We'll talk about that. And still as we head through this hour, just the quirks of the playoff bracket and those on the outside looking in, the highs and the lows for your team.

We're starting to get a bunch of answers. ALaw Radio plus our Facebook page. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Second and 15, Akers in the backfield, Mayfield from his own 21, under center, play fake. Mayfield looking left, going to let it fly deep, got a man, Van Jefferson, and it's picked off. Biggs picks it off, steps out of bounds, four sides, finally Baker Mayfield throws us one.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Thank you, Baker Mayfield. Steve Rabel on Seahawks Radio and wow, it's still one of the surprising stories, but I think one of the feel good stories of the 2022 season, Geno Smith, one of the most consistent quarterbacks of this entire NFL campaign. We just talked about 65 different starting QBs this year in the NFL. It's a record outside of the strike season and the Seahawks, not only did they blow people away with their start, but they continue to hang in there and fight and scratch and claw in a challenging division and ultimately defied all of those people who said the Seahawks are going to be in the basement this year because look, they are a wildcard team.

I would say it's not a fairytale. I think it's very much reality and I think where we are as a team is that we've been working hard, man. We put a lot of good stuff on tape as a team. I think we've came a long way since the beginning of the season since training camp and OTAs and it's all just a result of the hard work and all the repetition that everyone's put in.

So for us, that's what it's about, sticking to the process, staying focused on that process and making sure that that's the main focus and then everything else will take care of itself. Geno Smith and the Seattle Seahawks at this point, I don't love this phrase, but it is appropriate here, they're playing with house money because they're going against the San Francisco 49ers team that is stacked 10 consecutive wins. They've already seen Brock Purdy, which helps because they just played the Niners, what was it, five weeks ago, maybe four weeks ago?

And so for that reason, and because they're in the same division, there's at least no intimidation being at Levi's Stadium. It's a routine and a place they're familiar with, but it is still a formidable opponent and I love how excited Pete Carroll is still. I love that his optimism and his belief in his guys tends to contribute to their effort and them buying in.

I mean, he's definitely the tip of the spear, if that makes sense, when it comes to the Seahawks and this has got to be one of his best coaching jobs, so good for them. This has been a story we've talked about for most of the year and I know for a while there, they were on the outside looking in, but got some help from the Detroit Lions, baby. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio, if you missed my conversation with Greg Bell of the Tacoma News, he was at the stadium even hours after they had beaten the Rams in overtime and that's where the Quandre Diggs interception took place and he stuck around because a lot of the players and the coaching staff, they stuck around to watch the game there and then commented afterwards. One of those Sundays where there's a lot of drama, a lot of emotion, but ultimately they get in, they're rooting for the Lions, it was really funny. If you haven't seen it, I know producer Jay retweeted at least one of the Seahawks Twitter posts in which they were rooting for the Lions with a meme, it was kind of fun, a meme from the Lion King. Anyway, the Lions have got to be another one of those stories that you didn't quite see coming and we had adopted them going back to the very beginning, so when I ask you, the highest of highs for your team this season and the lowest of lows, Matt posts on Facebook starting the season one and six, finishing the season eight and two, the future is looking good for the Lions and oh yeah, general manager Brad Holmes, he agrees, he said watch out for these Lions. It's exciting. It's really exciting. I get excited every time, as much as the ball didn't bounce our way in terms of us getting into the playoffs after the game, I was proud of our guys, I was proud of our organization, I was proud that we were able to end on a winning note in front of national TV and be able to give the world a sneak peek of really what we're about. We've been on a Sunday one o'clock skirt all the time, so a lot of guys, they didn't see us what we were all about and I think everybody was able to see that, but on the plane going back, yeah I was excited, I was like man, it's time to get players now.

I don't know what it says, I'm just rambling right now. Man, after my own heart, I love Dan Campbell, he and Mike Tomlin are two of my favorite characters in the NFL. Elsewhere on our Facebook page, our friend Danny, my friend Danny posts, he says as a Cowboys fan, I think the low point was last week against the commanders, which has given me little confidence heading into the postseason, but we'll see, high point surviving Dak's absence with Cooper Rush and his stout defense, and he said another 12-5 record is a plus, if someone told me at the beginning of the season after they lost to Tampa Bay and Dak was hurt, that the Cowboys would be 12-5 in the playoffs, I would take it enthusiastically. And then he posts a photo of him with his family at AT&T Stadium and he says my family and I attended the Cowboys Texans game on my birthday while celebrating a successful recovery from chemo. The Cowboys won that game at the last minute too, which was so awesome.

Well Danny, thank you for sharing that with us, of course you know you've been in my prayers and I'm glad to hear that you not only survived, but kicked another round of chemo right in the rear end. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. The NFL playoffs live on Odyssey, nonstop coverage from the biggest sports radio stations in the country. Podcasts dedicated to each NFL team and postseason games streaming live for free.

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