After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

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. Your playoffs. Your Odyssey.

Get in the game and download the free Odyssey app today. Alright, hold your horses. I was tweeting. I mean, this is what happens when I have to do all the social media.

Well, 99% of the social media myself. It's not my favorite thing, but it's how we keep you connected and let you know what's happening behind the scenes. And every now and then, fun pictures, right? Not at this particular moment, but I did share a fun picture.

One of my favorite Christmas gifts earlier on Thursday. So you can go check out what I posted about the show, plus my favorite Christmas gift on my Twitter, ALawRadio. But if you're looking for our polls, well, they're not up yet. They're going to be soon. We're going to actually give you a double dip on this edition of the show because the playoffs are here, baby. NFL playoffs wide open. It's a wide open wildcard weekend. And we've got three and three, right? So we're going to need two polls.

Twitter doesn't let us expand our poll options. So we have to go AFC wildcard game of the week, NFC wildcard game of the week. And did you notice, by the way, that it's going to be Friday the 13th? Some of you, you're already awake on your Friday.

I'm not quite there yet. I'll get you. I'm bringing up the caboose, if you will. I'm on Alaska time. Hawaii time.

At the very least, West Coast time. And so we're calling this right now a tailgate Thursday. I suppose we go a thirsty tailgate Thursday into a fantastic football Friday. And since it's also Friday the 13th, we could call it a freaky fantastic football Friday. Don't get me started on all the F words.

No, not that one. Although I bet there will be a few of those that are uttered this weekend. It is time to buckle up. Thanks for hanging out with us after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. So again, you can find me on Twitter, ALOL Radio, also on our Facebook page. We still have people responding to our show question from last night, which is the high point for your team this season and the low point for your team this season. And I've been pleasantly surprised, always am, at the variety of answers that we've received, really from the majority of the NFL fan bases around the country, which is great because we are a full service operation. And we've got some good news to share actually, some quirky news to share. There's the latest on injuries and of course teams getting ready to move forward into the offseason.

And that includes a grand and emotional goodbye from someone from whom you would expect nothing less. Our friend Cynthia Freeland will join us from Los Angeles coming up in an hour. So we're really excited to connect with her.

It's been a while actually. And I vow not to bring up the fact that I won our fantasy football league. So I will not talk any smack. We'll see whether or not she brings it up. She's the commissioner of our league. And after a week and a half of hearing nothing, I actually emailed her under the guise of, hey, I've never won any of these things before. Do you need my Zelle account?

My information so you can send me my winnings? And boy, she responded right away. So I appreciate that. The money has been safely deposited into my account and I don't think there's any way she can get it back. Not that she would. She's not that type. Also, she's got a new man in her life and so we're going to have to get the deets on that. Just trust me.

It's a story that you need to hear. So thanks for hanging out with us. We're just getting started. We're going to go through every single playoff game.

I'm happy to talk about them with you. That includes a double header on Saturday, triple header on Sunday, and then our solo game on Monday. But it'll be about 17 networks carrying the game. I am pretty sure I heard that Peyton and Eli will be doing their own version of the Monday Night Football slash wild card weekend broadcast.

And see, here's my problem. When I watch them, I forget to watch the game. I really do not have any idea what's happening from snap to snap other than the grand details or Peyton freaking out over someone not calling a timeout or them making fun of each other because they were not running quarterbacks.

That's one of their common themes. So I might have to record it on my DVR because I wouldn't want to miss their playoff version, especially when they've got the Tom Brady game. And of course, they both have history with Tom Brady. Peyton and Tom are great friends but also had some big rivalries on the field.

And then, well, Eli Manning will always have the last laugh when it comes to Tom Brady. Anyway, that's Monday. We've got a lot of football, a lot of territory to cover between now and then. See what I mean?

Alrighty, we've got the other F word. So whether it's Twitter or it's Facebook, we're happy to have you with us here after hours, CBS Sports Radio. A couple of the big storylines from the NFL that are off the field have to do with a Lamar Jackson actually tweeting about his knee and his health status, which is not something that you get on a regular basis. I would say this is kind of isolated and I don't know if he's responding to what people have been saying, if he's paying attention to it and he feels like he needs to set the record straight because there's a lot of misinformation out there.

That may very well be the case. We'll get some reaction to him. But his tweets about eight hours ago, in fact, they popped up while I was working on Thursday afternoon. Thank you, everyone, for your support and concerns regarding my injuries. I want to give you all an update as I'm in the recovery process. I've suffered a PCL grade two sprain on the borderline of a strain three. There is still inflammation surrounding my knee and my knee remains unstable into a second tweet. I'm still in good spirits as I continue with treatments on the road to recovery. I wish I could be out there with my guys more than anything, but I can't give a 100 percent of myself to my guys and fans.

I'm still hopeful we still have a chance. It's interesting because you don't often see, unless it's a story or a feature that's dedicated to a particular athlete, you don't often see an athlete share a media analyst. A reaction from a media analyst. So media analysts thoughts. But he actually did just that a couple of days ago, which is I haven't listened to it yet, but it just kind of caught my attention as I was reading his tweets.

So he does put the information out there. We had already gotten the sense from Jim Harbaugh that he wasn't going to be available this weekend, though what Harbaugh had told us is that even a Lamar Jackson who's not 100 percent is a Lamar Jackson who's valuable can make a difference on the field. And then going back to Wednesday's practice, we had told you that he was working off on the side with the strength coach and the athletic trainers, not working with the team. We'd also told you that Tyler Huntley did not throw during the portion of the practice where media were allowed to spy.

I spy with my little eye Tyler Huntley wearing purple. And so the offensive coordinator kind of feel like we have to call him embattled, beleaguered, offed, criticized, under fire offensive coordinator Greg Roman. We actually have had conversations with members of the Ravens family. Khadri Ismail, who is a wide receiver on their first Super Bowl team, he said he believes that Greg Roman should be out of a job when this season is over.

Now the season's not done, but that's a lot of the chatter around Greg Roman because the offense has been so stale over the course of most of the season. Not all of it, but a lot of it. Now does some of that have to do with quarterbacks? Yes. Does some of that have to do with injuries at running back?

Yes. How about the fact that they, going into this season, had no wide receivers with more than two years of experience accrued in the NFL? Mark Andrews, other than Lamar Jackson, Mark Andrews is their best option. And if we know that, then of course all the D coordinators know that.

But here is Greg Roman on trying to prepare for a game when you don't know exactly who your starting quarterback will be. It's just something you deal with. You don't blink. You just keep going.

You try to adjust as you go. You know, it's been a very fluid situation, and it probably will be up until game time. But you really don't even pay attention to it. It's next man up and coach who's there, and away we go. As long as he's safe and healthy and can play, it's for any player. It's not really just any particular player.

I mean, any player goes out there and if he's healthy and safe and he's not going to do any damage to an injury, any player, you know, plays and does what he can to the level that he can in that situation. So John Harbaugh, as we mentioned, is saying, hey, as long as he's safe, if he's not 100%, that's secondary. But if he can't do any more damage to himself or his knee, what Lamar Jackson tweeted, I wondered actually if that was a reaction to what he'd heard internally. There are shreds of speculation out there even now that the relationship between the Ravens and Lamar has had a little more friction lately. I'm not telling you it's frayed or it's fraught with anxiety or anything like that, only that we're hearing maybe a different tone around Lamar Jackson, that the negotiations that have stretched on now for a couple of years, if you can even call them that, I mean, there are times where the Ravens said very clearly they hadn't heard from Lamar, they hadn't talked to Lamar, there was no movement with Lamar, that they weren't in a hurry, they would wait on Lamar. But there's been more of this idea that it's not quite so friendly, amicable, informal anymore, that it's becoming a little tenser, if you will. Now that's something that we'll address after the season, but I wonder the reason, the catalyst behind Lamar putting these Swedes out there, maybe it was just to set the record straight, and you know what, that would be me.

I don't, well it depends on what it is, if it's important, I don't want the news coming from someone else, I want it coming from me. If it's not so important, something stupid, well then it doesn't really matter, but this is Lamar's health, it's his livelihood, and I haven't heard this, but this definitely bothers athletes that people might question his desire to play. You remember how much that bothered Kawhi Leonard, going back, gosh I don't even remember the year now, but before he was traded to Toronto, and he was so upset, he and his camp were so upset because they felt like the Spurs internally were questioning his desire to play. When he was recovering from injury, their doctors had cleared him and said he was okay to go, he didn't feel comfortable. A good portion of the end of that season, again it was right before the Raptors won their title, so it was the year before that, he actually was away from the team, working out and rehabbing in New York, and there was definitely a friction there, feeling like the team and Kawhi were on two different pages, but he was upset about this idea that the Spurs were floating out there, that he felt like they were floating out there, that he was holding out on them, that he was okay to go, he just didn't want to and wasn't comfortable, and maybe it was more mental than physical. I'm not telling you that's why Lamar tweeted, but this is a little out of character for him, really for any NFL player to offer an update on his health like this so boldly, but if what he wanted to do was cut to the heart of the matter, make sure the news was coming from him, that I can understand because I would do the same thing, and I'm not necessarily sure I'd ask my employer either. If I felt like I wanted to share the news about my health, I would probably do it without asking my boss.

Of course, I've had some really horrible boss stories, so that's looking at it through my eyes. I don't know that that's the case with Lamar, only that I've had a bunch of these thoughts and ideas because it definitely was odd. Here we are two days away from the playoffs, and he's tweeting about his knee and kind of giving us a cut to the chase update.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. So, Greg Roman, he works with Lamar on a regular basis. What is Lamar's approach and his mental right now? He's just working hard, rehabbing. We're really focused in on the guys in this game plan and whatnot, so I think his full effort and motivation right now is to get himself back to full strength. Obviously, Lamar is Lamar. He can't replace that kind of guy, but I do still think that we have quarterbacks that can go out there and get the job done and play at a high level. Obviously, the people in the front office and our teammates wouldn't be supportive of guys if they weren't capable of doing the job, so I feel like we have everybody on the scene that we need to be able to go up there and get a W. It's linebacker Patrick Queen of the Ravens also weighing in. Everybody's going to say the right thing, but come on. If it's not Lamar, they're not dealing at full strength. They're not playing with their best options on the field.

And you know what blows me away? I was thinking about this today, just kind of overview of the playoffs and how I want to approach the show. The teams that are in the postseason, some of them have nearly unbelievable quarterback stories. We'll start with the Ravens since that's the team we're talking about. They very well could start Anthony Brown in the playoffs. Now, what we heard from John Harbaugh on Wednesday is that Tyler Huntley is on schedule, but nobody's seen him throw. Okay, so for the sake of argument, you could end up with Anthony Brown, who's a rookie. But just regardless, the Ravens have had Lamar, Tyler, Anthony all start games this year. Another of the wildcards in the AFC, Miami, we've been talking about them. We know that Tua is completely ruled out. We don't yet know if Teddy Bridgewater is available. They could end up starting Skylar Thompson, which right now it does appear he's trending.

He's on track. So there are two of your AFC teams. You think about the Seattle Seahawks. Now they've had Geno and he's been one of the best stories of the playoffs. But how unlikely was that or how unlikely was it viewed that they would be a playoff team coming in? Love that quarterback story. It's actually a success story.

A Cinderella story, if you will. But the Seahawks opponent, they've also started three quarterbacks this year and are down to, theoretically, their third stringer. Another rookie.

So we could, again, I don't know that it's going to happen, we could end up with three rookie starters this weekend. Because San Francisco went through Trey Lance, Jimmy Garoppolo, and then Brock Purdy. Now he's been a great revelation.

Wait until you hear his teammates rave about where he is now. His first start was against Tampa Bay, ironically in the oldest quarterback in the NFL postseason or in the NFL, one of the oldest athletes on the planet. He made his first start December 11th, but he played most of the game before that because Garoppolo was hurt pretty early. So there's another unbelievable quarterback story. And even the Dallas Cowboys, they didn't start three QBs, but their quarterback, Dak Prescott, gets hurt in their very first game. The season opener against Tampa Bay, though, was in Arlington, and they end up using Cooper Rush for five games. It was five games, I think. So you've got some unbelievable adversity these teams have faced. So it's a credit to the Ravens and the Dolphins and the Niners and the Cowboys that they made it in.

But it certainly does impact their potential and what they put on the field and how they can approach these playoff games. All right, so pretty soon. How soon, Producer J, you tell me. Tell us how soon we'll get these polls up so people can... The polls are up. The polls are up. Oh, well, I'm going to have to refresh my my tweeter. Yes, there it is. OK, awesome.

Retweeting right now. But they come from our show account After Hours CBS. So it looks a little weird only to have three options in a Twitter poll. But that's how it goes. The playoffs are a different animal, baby. It's a wild card weekend. It's a thirsty tailgate Thursday into a fantastic, freaky football Friday. Oh, that sounds so good.

I really do like that. So we've got two polls up. The game of the week in the AFC.

The game of the week in the NFC. So check those out. We'll have those up on Facebook soon or already. Or yes, I got a nod from Producer J.

He's he's balancing many tasks behind the double pane glass. All right. Coming up, we had a matchup of two of the top teams in the East on the NBA hard court that taking place in Brooklyn. So Kevin Durant for several weeks.

So let you know how that went. Also, Luka Doncic and the Lakers. I mean, it wasn't just Luka, the Mavericks with Luka Doncic and the Lakers going to double overtime. So there's another high profile mashup, even if you don't think it should be with the Lakers. And then we're going to spend the majority of the time on the show, on football, looking at it from a bunch of different angles. So excited for Cynthia Freeland to join us coming up at the top of the hour. As I say, you don't want to miss a second. Thanks for hanging out with us after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Tatum, Royce O'Neal in his face, hands in his face. Tatum puts it to the floor, attacks, puts it off the window and in. Scored in the foul and the Celtics take a giant step towards win number 31. Sparke puts it to the floor, gets a Tatum scream behind the back bounce pass. Tatum into the corner. Derek Whitten from the corner with the three that ends the suspense. And the shot clock going down.

You put your foot over the well. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. What is a tailgate Thursday without some Cedric Maxwell? That's Grandy and Max, Sean Grandy, Cedric Maxwell on the Celtics radio network as they descend on Brooklyn for a battle between two of the top teams in the east.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Wasn't until the fourth quarter when the Celtics really started to pull away. Now, remember, there's no Jalen Brown right now for the Boston Celtics. Instead, a lot of the extra responsibility falls on not just Jason Tatum, but Marcus White. Marcus White. I don't know where I got that from.

I seriously do not. Marcus Smart. He had a double double with the 16 points and the 10 assists and also had six rebounds and two steals.

And ultimately his toughness as well as his smart, his tenacity, his leadership means a big deal. So no Jalen Brown, no Kevin Durant. And yet it was still a good toe to toe matchup for this point in the season. Kyrie Irving, of course, he has the ability to take over a game.

He was trying to pick up for some of the lost offense with Kevin Durant. The Celtics just have a little more balance and a little more of the ability to hurt you a variety of ways. So Jason Tatum with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and ultimately the Celtics pull away. So that puts them right now at 31 and 12. And even though it's too early to be looking specifically at standings, right, I don't get all crazy about standings until we get usually into March because that's when it matters. But I will at least tell you that they still have the best record in the NBA. And speaking of leadership and veteran presence, it definitely is Jalen and Jason and Kevin, excuse me, and Marcus Smart and others. Joe Mazzulli, yes, he was on the staff. But really the players have to take ownership of this season and had to from the very beginning.

A Grant Williams, a Robert Williams. Because of everything that happened with Imei Udonka and the way that it happened right before they started training camp. You want to talk about a news dump right before they started training camp. And the way that this team has responded and you didn't even really see a lag. They've come in so focused, mentally tough, and certainly a lot of that goes back to the last few years of playing together and getting all the way to the NBA Finals and feeling like they faced a ton of adversity and kind of gut punches. And yet that resiliency, it's a character of every championship team in one way or another. So if the Celtics are to get back to where they were and have another shot at a title, well, they definitely will have to rely on that all the way through. As for Kyrie and the Nets and the way they have played, KD was on a high and they had won a bunch of games in a row.

Was it 12 in a row right before they ended up losing a game? Now it falls on him. If you listen to this show on a regular basis, you know I'm not a huge fan of Kyrie. It's definitely not his leadership.

I don't think he can be called a leader when he goes AWOL on a regular basis and puts himself before the team. However, one of the places where he's most comfortable taking charge is the basketball court and he understands that without KD, that's what he has to do. I think what I took from it is just not to be discouraged. When losses like this happen, just to get even hungrier.

Go in the gym, continue to prepare, continue to do things that have gotten us to this point and live with the results. We're just putting our work in front of us and not really paying attention to anything but ourselves and how we can collectively get better. And so he didn't shoot well in this game and it does stand to reason you're going to have more of the defense focus on him if KD is not on the court. 38 minutes, he took 24 shots, had 24 points and a half dozen assists. Now Ben Simmons actually had a really impressive first half in which he was at ten assists and no turnovers in the first half. So he was playing clean basketball but he did not score in this game. So that's also a guy who's got to take some responsibility and even if it gets him outside his comfort zone, he's got to be able to put points on the board without Kevin Durant.

Being aggressive and knowing that my team needs that, I think I'm giving them all the way to the times when I know I need to get somewhere to get buckets. Alright, well it doesn't matter. I can't really hear him so I'm assuming most of our listeners can't hear it either. I didn't realize that sounds like it was taped off of Twitter or something like that.

So I'll just read you the quote when I can find it. But yeah, the Celtics take this one and for Jason Tatum and for his crew, I think one of the benefits of them is to have multiple ways that they can hurt you, multiple looks that they can throw at you. And they are used to sharing. They are used to making sure that everybody gets involved, even though they've got stars too. Everybody has to sacrifice to be on a great team. And everybody, we have individual guys that come off the bench that can start on the majority of the teams. We've got guys that start that could average more on another team. No individual, you know, stat or accolade can measure up to being on a winning team that's having fun.

There's nothing better than that. It's After Hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Before you know it, we're going to be at the NBA All-Star Game, which kind of blows me away. I saw this tweet from Mark Falwell, who does the TV for the Mavericks. And he posted that tonight's game against the Lakers was their first double overtime game since 2016.

In fact, January of 2016, so it's been a while. And he points back to Darren Williams, who hit a buzzer beater to beat the Kings. I don't happen to remember that particular game. But he was just saying that because of the fact that they had to go into double overtime to beat the Lakers, 119-115. And for Luca, 35 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists, and the W. It was very physical. Two overtimes, a lot of minutes. You know, you had to stay focused. Energy was a little low, you know, after two overtimes. But we came through, you know. A win is a win. Big time plays make big time shots.

It's that simple. Oh, you think he was referring to Luca or himself? Or Russell Westbrook? I think.

I wish I had those bunnies. I think. Now, don't quote me on this. I'd have to look it up. But I think as I was perusing Twitter earlier that someone on the inside the NBA on TNT set combined Russell. What it was like Russell Westbrook and Ben Simmons was like Russell Simmons or something like that.

I'd have to go off to go back and look. But yeah, those those guys have fun. They don't really care if they get the names right, which actually kind of appeals to me because very often I combine names and I get the first names wrong for, I don't know, a couple months I was calling George Kittle, Greg Kittle. I knew his name.

Jason Taylor. Every time I opened my mouth it came out Greg. So, yes, I appreciate that they can laugh at themselves and that every now and then they give guys new names. So maybe you should. I know you're into finding that Marco Belletti's here. I know you're into finding all of the quirky audio for people to use. In fact, we gave you credit for doing all of the beep, beep, beep over Kirby Smart and his pregame speech. That's not even doing it justice.

His pregame motivational tactics for the Georgia Bulldogs on Monday. I still, though, can't get over who someone had to leak that. There's no way he's happy with the fact that it got leaked. No, I can't imagine. But I mean, that happens more often than it probably should. No, it shouldn't happen at all. Just stay off the f***ing ground. You can tackle a f***ing man with a ball. That s*** is easy. If you are a player and you're leaking audio from inside your locker room, I feel like that's grounds for getting suspended.

It's not a good look. I mean, it's not the first time, though. Didn't we have Antonio Brown go live with Tomlin talking to the bagger?

That was Facebook Live and that was really kind of the first time that it happened. But the fact that this is before a national championship game and some dude has got his phone out taping is just... Yo ass is prepared for this s***. Here's the thing. I don't mind. If you want to tape it for, like, yourself, I can understand that. Would you do that? Do you really want to hear yourself back ranting?

No, no, no. Not hear myself back. Hear my coach before the game and just to keep it. Oh, you mean a player team?

Yeah, and then keeping it. So, like, you were in the locker room. This is your, you know, you're not Stetson Bennett, but this is your moment, right? So, like, you're going out to the national championship.

You're probably a senior. You may see the field. You may not. But this is your swan song. And you just want what Kirby Smart's going to tell you before the game, going out there.

And then after it's over at 65-7 and you got that for the rest of your life, that would be cool. The problem is you can't leak it. Oh, no, you cannot leak it. That's the thing.

I still can't get over that. I can't say I'm surprised that we're getting more and more of these. I feel like we're going to get even more of it because, I mean, people can't stay away from their phone for, like, five minutes, it feels like. At some point, don't you think we're going to find out who leaked it? That's the other thing, though, is people try to post this type of stuff anonymously and eventually the truth always comes out because people can't keep a secret in 2023. You're right. The only thing is, I don't know if anybody's going to really try that hard to find out who leaked this.

I think it doesn't really, I mean, in the grand scheme of things, curiosity, but does it really matter? Well, it's more of the audio than it is who gave us the audio. If they had lost, it would matter in a massive way.

Could you imagine how embarrassed he would be? Right. But that's what I'm saying. So, like, I can't imagine anybody's going to go, you know, in depth and we're going to get deep throat trying to figure out who had this thing.

I just I find that hard to believe. Deep throat. No, I'm not going to do it.

In that particular realm, I will not be an investigative journalist. But I'm just saying, if I'm Kirby Smart, I'm having a hard time letting it go. All the **** you went through this week to get ready for this game, now is when you pay the ******* price. Got to tell you, if Kirby Smart's worried about that now, we've got other problems.

Maybe the NFL request for interviews will distract him. This is now when you've got a chance to just, you know, enjoy it. As you go on the recruiting trips, you know, what exactly are you telling the kid?

65-7, back to back. You want to come? I mean, really, there's not a whole lot necessarily to say at this point.

This is where you can bask in the glow. Well, you are going to have to prove to them that they can play, get on the field. That's the challenge. When you're a really high profile team and coach and you've got a lot of NFL prospects, you've got to be able to say to them, OK, you're going to play. Otherwise, they're going to go somewhere else where they can play. So I'm saying.

All right. Coming up, we will give you the fond and emotional farewell from one NFL quarterback. And we're starting to dive into wild card weekend preview. It's a tailgate Thursday into a freaky football Friday.

You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Car play action again. Walking downfield, lost it in your corner.

And the Raiders walk off with a win. I just care so much. And when you don't do your best, you let your team down, let your organization, the fans down. It hurts. You know, it breaks your heart. But, you know, at the end of the day, nobody cares. You get back up and keep going.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. As always was the case this season, we saw a lot of emotion from Derek Carr. And I'm pretty confident we've seen him cry in front of a microphone multiple times in the last several years.

But that's who he is. He puts his whole self in heart, soul, blood, sweat, tears, pissed off. And he wears that gigantic heart on his sleeve.

And this has got to be ripping his heart out. Because he committed his everything to the Las Vegas Raiders. He's been with them through thick or thin. Oh, actually, to use my marriage analogy from last night, I know I was referring to fans. But he's been with them for better or for worse, for richer, poorer, in sickness and in health.

And would have been there until death parted them. Because he was all in. With the silver and black, all he wanted to do was win there. Obviously didn't happen, though they did, he did finally get to start a playoff game. Raiders made the playoffs twice after he got there. But remember the first time, he was injured and unavailable to play. So now we are a couple of weeks removed from him getting benched. And I told you that, I'll tell you again, I do not believe for a second that he agreed that it would be better for the team if he stepped away. As Jared Stidham went on to start that weekend, that first weekend in his place.

And they were still technically alive for the playoffs. But I don't believe for a second that he thought he would be a distraction. Or that he thought he should stay away.

That's not Derek Carr. He always puts the team above himself. He's a team first guy, he loves his teammates, he treats them like brothers. Not to mention his best friend, Devontae Adams is in that locker room and there's no way he would have become a brat. Or been pouting. No way that he would have allowed his emotions to ruin whatever the team was doing.

No matter how much it hurt. Too much pride for that and too much care for his teammates. So I believe this was the team requesting him to leave. And so he did. And now a couple weeks later, he finally broke his silence. And he put out a statement on social media Thursday, and good for him. Season's over now, he can do what he wants. He's not technically a free agent yet.

Or technically free yet, I should say. But the reason, and we know this from our conversations, whether it was Hondo Carpenter. I believe right on the heels of this.

Great interview, it's on our podcast. The reason the Raiders did not want him to be around the team, even around the facilities, even on the property. Is because if he got hurt, not only would it change what they could do, recouping money, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But also the trade potential would just go... And so this is Derek Carr's statement. And absolutely, I believe him when he says it breaks my heart. I would be in that same space.

This would be eating me up. And I know because I'm an emotional girl. In many ways, Derek Carr is an emotional girl.

And I do not say that as a negative. He's strong. He's incredibly talented. He's a lot of fun. He's funny.

He's self-deprecating. He's also very much in touch with his emotional side. It breaks my heart I didn't get an opportunity to say goodbye in person. We certainly have been on a roller coaster in our nine years together. From the bottom of my heart, I am so grateful and appreciative of the years of support you gave to my family and me. We had our share of both heartbreaking moments and thrilling game-winning drives. And it always felt like you were there next to me. It's especially hard to say goodbye because I can honestly say that I gave you everything I had. Every single day.

In season and in the off-season. It certainly wasn't perfect. But I hope that I was able to leave you with more than a few great memories as Raider fans. He goes on to thank the city of Oakland. And then thanks to all of Raider Nation. Raider Nation truly is special.

Gosh, here's the last paragraph. I once said that if I'm not a Raider, I would rather be at home. And I meant that. But I never envisioned it ending this way. That fire burning inside of me to win a championship still rages.

A fire no man can extinguish only God. So I look forward to a new city and a new team who, no matter the circumstance, will get everything I have. Winning a championship is what I've always wanted and what I will continue to work towards.

Good for you. Good for you, Derek Carr. Don't let the team control this narrative.

And it's obvious that this is not what Derek wanted. For the team to boot him. For the team to move on. Now, I think hindsight and time and a new uniform and a new locker room and a new opportunity, similar to, say, a Jared Goff in Detroit, will give him a new perspective.

I do believe that. Because right now he's hurting. It's only been a couple of weeks. He's in pain. And the fact that the team won't even let him on the facility to say goodbye in a microphone is messed up. Messed up. I do not like how they're handling this. I think they deserve all the criticism. I understand that I suppose they're in business, but I do not like it.

It's heartless. It's the opposite of who Derek Carr has been for that organization. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Not everybody thinks this is a great move for the Las Vegas Raiders. Emmanuel Acho on Speak on FS1 actually believes the Raiders are going to rue the day.

The guy who had it good and wanted it better made it worse. And I think that's where the Raiders are. I think they had it okay, they won it good, and they're about to make it terrible. The Raiders have only gone to the playoffs twice in Derek Carr's tenure. But recall, in the previous 13 years before Derek Carr's arrival, they went to the playoffs no times. Derek Carr, the previous nine seasons, has been the sole and exclusive starter for the Raiders.

The nine seasons prior to Derek Carr's arrival, they had six starting quarterbacks, including the likes of Dante Culpepper, old Dante Culpepper, Jamarcus Russell, just to name a few. The guy who had it good and wanted it better made it worse. I get that the Raiders are trying to make it better.

I would too. Two playoff appearances in the last nine years. That, in theory, is unacceptable. But what is pathetic is no playoff appearances in the previous 13 years. And that's where the Raiders actually found themselves without Derek Carr. Right now, they're a ship without a rudder. Who is their quarterback? I know they've got an incredible running back in Josh Jacobs and one of the best receivers in the NFL in Devante Adams. The defensive moves they made didn't necessarily pan out, but they've got some star power there like a Max Crosby. He's awesome. There are other great pieces on that team. Darren Waller, just like throwing names out. But they don't have a quarterback, so they're a ship without a rudder, not to mention they don't have their emotional leader, their heart and soul anymore. Now here are the deets. Derek Carr, if he's still with the Raiders by February 15th or if he agrees to a trade before then, is guaranteed $40 million.

But the Raiders may try to wait it out and release him, and then he could sign anywhere he wants. That's after hours CBS Sports Radio. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app. Your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown, and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams, pause or rewind your local sports and news, and add shows to your queue to catch up later. There's a lot to listen to.

So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. I'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.