After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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Get in the game and download the free Odyssey app today. It is our hump show, middle show of the work week. Thanks so much for hanging out with us, we've got a long way to go. Miles to go before we sleep, and I'm assuming that is the case for you. Whether you are still awake on your Tuesday, that's me, that's how I feel, I'm a late night girl, night owl, so I stay on a West Coast schedule if you will.

Or if you are already awake on what is your Wednesday, either way you've caught us on our hump show, and we've got to get through this so that we can advance toward the weekend, divisional weekend in the NFL playoffs. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. On Twitter, ALawRadio or our show Twitter After Hours CBS.

Why do you care? Well of course we have the link to our podcast and all of our coverage of the NFL. Our show is podcasted in its entirety every weekday morning, though you do get to listen to fewer commercial breaks, which is nice. I love it when I get the tweets or the Facebook posts about how you were driving at the gym or doing something else, taking a walk and you listen to the podcast in its entirety.

So that's awesome, thank you for doing that. Again we share the link every weekday morning on both Twitter and Facebook. And then our conversations with various insiders around these playoffs. Also our polls, and so we're asking you, we've been asking you, do you want to see Tom Brady play another season or do you want to see him retire? And tonight also Ask Amy Anything, so you can send your questions to either of our social media sites, whether it's Twitter, whether it's Facebook, Producer J is monitoring and he will come back with the best questions about 90 minutes from now.

And best is most creative, unique, interesting, so that's filtered through the mind of Producer J. Before we go any farther, I've promised you a conversation around the Cowboys. A dynamic win, a win that ended decades of frustration and futility. A lot of excitement from the Jones family to the players, to the coaches, to the fans of course. So good to dive into where the Cowboys are and where they're headed next.

We welcome John Machota who covers the Cowboys for the athletic. I know it was just a wild card win, I'm using my air quotations just John, but it certainly seemed to me the way that the entire Cowboys organization was celebrating and exulting in this. That this was an example of a win being more than just a win. What did this victory in Tampa represent for the Cowboys?

Yeah, it's huge. The fact that they haven't won a road playoff game before this in 30 years, that's big to get past that. Beating Tom Brady, someone who they had never beaten before in that situation, that's huge as well. And let's be honest, it just comes down to also the way they ended the season. If they don't end the season the way they did and lay the egg that they did in Washington with the worst game that they've played this year and probably the worst game they've played in the last two years, I think feelings would be a little bit different going into this game.

But we didn't know, and I'm sure the Jones family and other people in the organization didn't know for sure what team was going to show up. And it turned out that the team that showed up was similar to the team that showed up in Minnesota. And that's been the pinnacle of what this team is, its capabilities, that 42-3 win over the Vikings in Minnesota. And that game followed a poor performance when they lost at Green Bay. And over time again, the game they had no business losing. So they've shown that they can rebound and play some of their best games after some poor losses.

Now it's about can they put another one together. But the biggest thing for me is if you lose that game, I don't know what you sell to the fan base if you're Jerry Jones in the offseason. No one's going to want to hear about the draft. No one's going to want to hear about free agency. No one's going to even care during the regular season next year. They're going to be like, well, what are you going to win, 12 games? And then what happens? You lose again in the first round?

To get past that, it shows that there's some solid building there and that this team has the potential to be better than maybe some people thought. I was saying on my radio show last night that we were going to end up with one of two scenarios for the rest of the week until we got to the divisional games. Either Tom Brady is retiring or should retire. At least the question of what does he do next is going to dominate. Or it's going to be Mike McCarthy should be fired because the Cowboys lost this playoff game.

It was going to be one or the other. But John, for him personally, he hasn't had a playoff win since 2016. What did you see with him in the wake of this win? After the game, he's obviously in good spirits now, but the video that got out of Trayvon Diggs putting the Cowboys chain on him and Mike did a little dance in front of the team. You can just tell.

That spoke volumes of how much he was enjoying himself. He's not a coach that really put himself first. Especially the coaching organization that has such a big face and name and Jerry Jones.

It's not a job for everyone, that's for sure. But they would have had to play like they did in Washington last night for his job to be in jeopardy. Jerry Jones really likes everything that Mike McCarthy has built.

And understandably so. To win back to back 12 win season, that hasn't happened since those early 90s Cowboys. To go to the playoffs back to back years, that hasn't happened since the mid 2000s.

There's no question now. He's got 23 wins now in the last two seasons. And my big thing in all of that was if you were going to move on from him, who were you going to get? And I know everyone points to Sean Payton, but this is an organization that this roster has been built heavily through the draft. So I really didn't see them giving up a first round pick and possibly more and then having to go make Sean Payton the highest paid coach, which isn't something Jerry Jones has necessarily done.

So no, I mean, this win is obviously huge for everyone, but as big as any for anyone. It's Mike McCarthy and what this does for him and continuing to build on what he's had here now in year three. Gosh, I'm so happy for him considering his exit in Green Bay and the time that he took away before he started coaching in Dallas in the narrative, losing his quarterback multiple times for multiple game stretches.

Really cool to see him happy and kind of let loose like that, even if it was only for five seconds. For us on the side of covering the team, it'd be difficult for you to find someone that doesn't enjoy interacting with him on a day to day. I mean, it's one of those things that, you know, as a reporter and you're covering this team, let's be honest, the Cowboys 365 like it. You don't mind when you have a coach and somebody you're going to deal with all the time that you really enjoy being around all the time. And we are very fortunate to have Mike McCarthy as the coach. Obviously, Jerry Jones is very media friendly, but then also with the franchise quarterback and Dak Prescott, like we're very fortunate. And that's another thing that fed into if they lose that first round, it's like, who knows what the future holds exactly, you know, with winning that game.

It kind of shows you this nucleus is probably going to stay together for a little bit. And so selfishly, even though we shouldn't care about those things at reporters, you enjoy that. It's funny that you say that because I heard the same exact thing from a reporter and insider with the Lions recently about how much more pleasant it is to cover the team when Dan Campbell is so kind and so generous with his time.

And so clearly enjoys what he's doing. John Michaud is with us from the athletic covering the Dallas Cowboys. And we're excited to talk to him in the wake of a big win since it's not been that way for a while in the postseason. It's after hours on CBS Sports Radio.

The word nucleus just sprang to mind. What about Dan Quinn? Because he was highly sought after last year. Any chance that he ends up getting other head coaching opportunities?

Absolutely. You know, Broncos for sure, they had interest last year and they have interest again. He's going to meet with them. I don't know if it's going to be in person, but sometime this week, obviously he has a very busy schedule this week with the Cowboys in general. I thought for sure he was going to get the Broncos job.

You know, things happen and he didn't end up getting it. But I would imagine he's got to be one of the front runners for that. And then other jobs as well are going to be, other teams are obviously going to have interest in him with all the head coaching openings. But for me, I do think there's a very good chance he gets one of these head coaching jobs.

Right now I'm at about 75% chance I think he's gone. That bumps up to about 99% to me if he puts together some type of defensive game plan and they shut down the San Francisco offense and somehow get a win there. And send the Cowboys to an NFC Championship game for the first time since the mid-90s. It's one thing to have postseason success as a coordinator and obviously that's going to make you a very attractive candidate. But to do that with the Dallas Cowboys, to be the defensive coordinator, this defense has been such a huge part of the success of this team the last two years. If they were able to get over that hump, get back to the NFC Championship game, to beat that 49ers team and he has a game plan that's anywhere close to being as successful as that one was against the Bucs. I don't know how he would be back and not a head coach somewhere else. You wonder how different things might have been with the Broncos this year had it been Dan Quinn. Not sure if that would have changed anything with Russell Wilson, but it is an interesting question considering that Nathaniel Hackett's lack of experience was part of the problem with him.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. John Michauda with us back in Dallas following the Monday night win over the Buccaneers. Man, there have been compliments pouring in from all corners of the NFL universe for Dak Prescott. And as you point out, the week before, he's the first one to say that he played a really crappy game. He even mentioned it again following the victory in Tampa. How much pressure was on Dak in this game?

As much as there could be because of the fact of this is year seven. It's one of those things. He had so much success early in his career and then things just, I don't know, maybe just covering the team, but also the fact that it's the Dallas Cowboys, things fly by so quickly it seems like. And before you know it, you're like, man, Deacon Decker in year seven, where did that time go?

And so when you are in year seven, you're just sitting there like you're not the young guy anymore that everyone's like, well, he's still developing. And no, this is your time. You have to you have to show up now, especially on this stage, especially for this organization. You know, whether it's fair or not, you're with an organization that, hey, they've had Roger Staubach, they've had Troy Aikman. I mean, they've had the ultimate success at that position. And it's a difficult position with the stress and all the scrutiny and every.

Yeah, all eyeballs are on you. It might be the most difficult position in all sports. One, you can make the case of that Washington game is the worst game of his career. And to have that year seven going into the playoffs, I mean, there was still the chance that they could have won the division. It wasn't like there was nothing to play for in that game. It wasn't like he just played the first quarter, the first half. I mean, he played almost that entire game and just the struggle the way he did to throw another pick six, which was his third in their final four games the regular season.

It was not headed in a good direction. And he threw interceptions in every one of their last seven games come into this game. Obviously, I was going to look at the touchdown passes, the rushing touchdown, you know, passer rating, whatever, having better numbers than Brady. But the key was the fact that he went to the entire game, never turned the ball over, really was never close to turning the ball over and just being as clean as he was in that game on the road, which the Cowboys haven't been that great at this year and obviously in the playoffs. Yeah, he needed a big game and I don't think anybody expected him to rebound quite like that.

I don't know that he could have had a better performance than he did last night. You mentioned Zeke. He didn't have the most rushing yards on the team this year, even though he played 15 games.

Tony Pollard had a fantastic season. How would you describe Zeke's role at this point in the season or this this point in his career even? Yeah, this has been an interesting year for him for sure because, so the first six years, it's just the unquestioned, you know, this is the bell cow back. This is the guy that the team's running game is going to go through.

I mean, won a rushing title his rookie year and, you know, could have won offensive rookie of the year if it wasn't for his teammate being Dak Prescott. And so that was always the case that the running game goes as Zeke goes and for a lot of those years, the team goes as Zeke goes. You saw, I mean, this season has been a shift in power. I mean, this is Tony Pollard is their lead back now. Now they talk about it being a share that, you know, that Mike McCarthy is big on that. They don't call Tony Pollard run plays and then Zeke run plays.

They just call their run plays and, you know, whatever back is out there, they go with it because both of them have been so excellent. But you can just tell in the production. I mean, you don't even have to watch the entire season. Just watch last night's game. You can just see that just the explosiveness that Pollard has has put him on another level. And so because of that, you know, Zeke is there.

There's supposed to be one A and one B, but it just you can tell as the season's gone on that Pollard has leapt into that. He's that key role. He is, you know, in the biggest moment and you need a big play.

You have to get the ball to 20. I love the relationship and the chemistry that's developed between Dak and Dalton Schultz because you look around the league and some of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Have tight ends that they believe in and rely on and can go to in times where they absolutely have to have a play. Dalton had a fantastic game on Monday, but he's becoming that guy for Dak and I love it. Yeah, you know, going into this season, he got the franchise tag and so he's obviously being well compensated, but they really wanted him long term. And so that'll be an interesting thing this offseason again as he goes into free agency because it's very clear that he's he's very, very Dak friendly.

I mean, he is a guy that you can just tell their years together. They've really paid off. It's it's kind of crazy to see the transformation for Dalton Schultz as he came in and was thought of coming out of Stanford is really just more of a blocking back and a guy that was going to help you more in the run game.

And he has evolved into this. You've seen every year that he's taking bigger steps in the passing game to where I thought last night was a good example. The touchdown pass that Dak had to him to get things started down the seam. I mean, those are plays down the field that Dalton Schultz wasn't necessarily being looked at or making a few years ago.

And now he's just used in so many different ways. And the trust with Dak and him, I mean, they're completely on the same page. And that's been I mean, I don't know where they would be without him. They've had their young tight end step up. But there's no question that Dalton Schultz is taking this passing game to another level. And he's he's more valuable, I think, that than most people think. And the other part of it is that he started off the year and he had a knee injury that was pretty similar to the knee injury that limited Zeke all of last year.

So you're thinking, oh, this isn't going to be good for for the offense. And within a two or three weeks, he was kind of right back to his old self, didn't have to wear the knee brace. And then you see him last night. I mean, he was one of the best players on the field.

Yeah, it's been great to see his development. John Michauda is with us from Dallas, covers the Cowboys for the athletic. It's after hours on CBS Sports Radio.

All right. The challenge that's staring them in the face. And it's a shorter workweek. How do they match up with the Niners? So the biggest thing for me that that's going to help them is that the Niners are the team that ended their season to go into training camp this year. One of the videos that Mike McCarthy showed the team was several players, Dak Prescott being one of them, Ezekiel, and he showed their postgame press conferences that they lost the 49ers in the playoffs.

Wow. You know, yeah, he really put into their head, like, don't ever forget that feeling. And it's been a constant throughout this season, a reminder of, hey, you know, they should have beat that 49ers team. I mean, they were the only wildcard team to lose at home. And frankly, they had moments, many moments in that second half where they should have they should have been able to put together some more scoring drives. I mean, Fred Warner got hurt, was out for that second half.

Nick Bosa, same thing. I mean, they had a chance. They're playing at home. They should have beaten that 49ers team. And now you get a chance to basically have to avenge that loss. Now, different players, obviously, it's not Garoppolo this time.

Brock Gertie's on another level. This team obviously has Christian McCaffrey. So it's a better 49ers team this year.

And it's not going to and obviously you're playing on the road, but there's you know, this is most of that nucleus is still here. It's not like this has been some type of a rebuild that this this this is like shaping up to being almost like the perfect scenario for the Cowboys. There's going to be plenty motivation in all these games. I mean, the fact that they hadn't beat Brady and get past that. You have the 49ers who ended your season last year that you felt you should have beaten.

And then if you get past that, you're likely going to see Philadelphia who you split with this year. And there's plenty of motivation for that game as well. So I mean, this 49er game is going to be tough.

There's there's no question. I mean, the 49ers are the better team on paper. But but I expect to see a very, very highly motivated Cowboys team. And let's be honest, just that any of those players in the locker room had the chance to be the first team to send the Cowboys the NFC Championship game since 95.

I mean, I don't know if you need any more motivation than that. What do you expect to be the biggest challenge for them in terms of matchups or maybe a particular unit? After watching that playoff game and what I've caught of San Francisco, especially recently. To me, if you just tell me which team tackles better, I really think it comes down to something that simple. And the reason I say that is because with McCaffrey and Debo, if you don't tackle well, they will make you pay. And there have been moments this season where the Cowboys didn't tackle well.

And that was an issue. And it was against players not as not as talented as a Debo Samuel, not as talented as the Christian McCaffrey. So if their tackling is on point, they should be OK. As long as they're not giving up those extra yards. That's going to be easier said than done against those guys.

And then vice versa. If on that defense, which the 49ers are so so outstanding in their tackling. But if they allow a Tony Pollard to break a couple of big runs or they allow C.D.

Lamb to get going or a Michael Gallup. Then there will be problems for them. So it certainly plays into the 49ers strengths. But like I said, I expect this Cowboys team to be very, very, very highly motivated for this game. Brett Maher's situation from last night. Now, there are a lot of theories about what happened in Tampa.

Whether it was the Yips, whether it was mental, whether it was just a bad day. I didn't really expect the Cowboys to look for another kicker. That would seem like an overreaction. Knowing what you know of him. Can he mentally recover?

Yeah, for sure. I mean, the thing about him is it's not like his journey in the NFL has been some smooth, like right out of college chop kicker. Like he's had some adversity. I mean, this is the second time with the Cowboys. I mean, there's been some ups and downs. And the craziest part about that is he's just been so good this whole year.

I think he was 50 of 53 extra points all season. And he's been I mean, his nickname is Money Maher. And that's what he's called him at in the postgame press conference. I mean, he's been so good for them. That's why, you know, there were some up and down moments in previous seasons with Greg Zuerlein. Where it's like, you know, obviously Greg Zuerlein has, you know, a good resume. And so you're like, ah, he'll probably get it figured out.

He's been in this for a long time. And there hasn't really been those ups and downs with Maher this year. So to see that in the postseason, you know, that's the biggest thing for me. If it would have happened in one of these regular season games, I think it'd be easier to move past. Just to do it in the way that he did in a postseason game. I mean, it's just, it was interesting your John Foss will talk about how, from a coach's standpoint, you know. It's so rare a coach can be happy after these games because, like, he wants to be excited for the team, but then he feels bad for his guy. I mean, there's no way that Brett Maher is enjoying that postgame locker room. He just had one of the worst games of his career.

You know, it's hard for him to move on, but that's the business. It is, definitely. It's a good thing they had points to spare and didn't have to worry about it coming down to four missed extra points.

Something we've never seen before. All right, you can find John on Twitter at John Machota, J-O-N-M-A-C-H-O-T-A, covering the Cowboys for the Athletic. It's good to catch up with you. I know it's a busy week, but we are excited to feel the buzz around Dallas because it's just something different when Dallas is doing well.

Oh, there's absolutely no question about that. It's funny because I talk about that with my editors, you know, at the Athletic. I understand that for a lot of teams, you know, it's always crazy when it gets in playoff time, but I'm like, if by some chance one of these years the Cowboys catch fire, like, just wait till you see how crazy this thing gets. Thank you so much for spending a few minutes with us. Anytime.

I think I've told you this before, you know, the Cowboys play so many late night games and things like that. There's so many times that I'm leaving the stadium driving home, listening to your show, so always glad to be on. I appreciate that, John. Thank you. We're happy to keep you company on those late night travels and a lot of good intel there for the Cowboys, both for this weekend as well as moving forward.

Interesting opinions about Dan Quinn as well as Mike McCarthy, Brett Maher, Dak Prescott, all the good stuff. So our thanks to John. That'll be part of our podcast coming up on Wednesday morning.

All right. You've got just over an hour to send your questions for Ask Amy Anything, our show Twitter after our CBS. Lots of responses on our Facebook page as well. Little basketball in the mix this hour, plus the ratings. You know, those TV ratings, viewership numbers for the NFL after the regular season, as well as some of these playoff games. 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 NFL playoffs live on Odyssey touchdown 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. 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. Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours podcast.

Here on After Hours, we like you as much as you like us. Thanks for taking my call. I've been listening to you for a long time.

I love your insight. What's up, Amy? What up?

First time, long time. Awesome, thank you. Amy, good morning. Thanks for always taking my call. I really appreciate it. You and your staff are very accommodating.

Hi, Amy. Thanks for taking the time for my call. Long time listening, first time caller. First one to save, love your show. I am an amen fan.

Very creative guy. Oh, I wanna dance with somebody. I wanna feel the heat with somebody.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. With somebody who loves me. Oh, I wanna dance with somebody.

I wanna feel the heat. I still miss her. I still miss Whitney Houston. She's one of my favorite icons from the world of music and movies.

Gosh, absolutely love her. This is one of the nights of my career that I'll never forget. I was on the air when she died. Well, the night that she died and it was brutal because I still at that point was a relatively young broadcaster, especially at the national level.

I was just a couple years into my national career and I hadn't yet mastered the ability to leave your emotions and your heart outside the studio. And sometimes it's hard to do anyway and so it's personal to me because of how much I loved her growing up. So yeah, gosh, I still miss her and every year when the Super Bowl comes around, I take the time to listen and sometimes I do it in the summer. I take the time to listen to her national anthem because I think I have every inflection of her rendition memorized. I've listened to it so many times, but I have a compilation of her best music and some of the stuff that she did later in her career, her movie soundtrack stuff.

And so it's on there and I can listen to it on repeat over and over. Did you have the crinkle hair at any point that she had in that video? Well, my hair doesn't crinkle like that. I tried crimping a couple times, but I was more bangs. So I was late 80s, early 90s, like more bangs when I was a kid. Yeah, but I did absolutely love her.

She was one of my favorites. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. So I have to tell you, coming into the studio tonight is a refuge because guess what I was dealing with at my house today? Homeownership. Are you a homeowner?

I am. Okay, so you understand it's always something. Of a crap check, yes. Everything is always busted, yes. You go maybe a day and a half without something breaking or needing attention, but it's rare because it's always something. I had a plumbing emergency, which is kind of the worst kind, a plumbing emergency on Monday night. So after the game, I'm trying to get ready for work. There's a plumbing emergency and I can't do anything about it because I have to come to work.

So I go home on Tuesday morning and what's greeting me? A plumbing emergency. So I had shut the door, left the house. I didn't want the pets in there to my upstairs bathroom. And oh, dear God, you want to talk about ruining your day, starting it with having to try to deal with a plumbing emergency. I will go into details only to say that it was disgusting and smelly.

And in addition to that, it was everywhere. I had just cleaned the bathroom because I was doing my like big cleaning over the weekend in addition to football. Oh my gosh. So I get home on Tuesday morning. I'm trying to fix it again.

You're doing yourself home remedies. I finally gave up. I text my friend who happens to be a plumber. Hey, I need you, please. So he shows up on Tuesday afternoon. Now he told me four thirty. I'll be there.

He shows up a half hour early. Have it in my coffee. I have a chance to clean. So you cannot have a plumber. OK, this is just me. Maybe it's just me.

Maybe guys aren't like this. I can't have a plumber into my bathroom until I clean it because it's embarrassing. You can't. I know he's seen everything and he works at a sewage treatment plant, obviously.

He actually smells like sewage most of the time. But it's close. I couldn't. So I told him really quickly.

He loves my dog. Stay down here. Talk to Penny. Let me go quick.

Clean it. So I'm like running upstairs. I have to change my shoes because I had walked into the bathroom with a particular pair of shoes and now I have to throw the shoes out. Just, yeah, your imagination. Anyway, so I cleaned it, the toilet before he like went upstairs. And so it was like one of those manic days and then he talks, talks, talks, which is fine. But I didn't have coffee for probably two hours after I got up, which is hard for me. So, yes, coming to work and talking about Tom Brady is much more. Oh, gosh, it's it's much more palatable. It's preferable to having to deal with a plumbing emergency. I say that's fair. And then before I came to work tonight, I had to clean it all over again.

Homeownership sometimes just, you know, that staples button. That was easy. Oh, no, that was the opposite of my 24 hours. Oh, gross. Just gross.

Why does why do toilets have to be so gross? The only one I'll give you this quick story. This was a while ago, one of the apartments that I actually used to rent.

I guess it's wild now. I came home from work one night as I'm opening the door and this is apartment. It's a one bedroom. There's not a lot of room between, you know, as a living room and then a little hallway and the bathrooms around the corner.

And it's by the bedroom. And as I'm putting the key in the lock and I'm like, what's that noise? Why does it sound like there's Niagara Falls?

I'm like, wow. Like, it really just sounds like there's a lot of water somewhere. And I'm like, where the hell could that be coming from? So as I walk in, I get about two steps into the apartment and I'm squishing in water and I'm like, what? What the hell? And I hear the water just, I mean, flying out. And I'm like, what? I go around.

I go around. And behind the toilet, the pipe had burst. So my apartment, I was gone for, I don't know, 14 hours or so.

I don't know how long, but long enough that the bathroom, the hallway, the bedroom, the living room through to the front door were all flooded with about an inch worth of water. I had a fight through it, you know, pounding me in the face. I'm trying to get behind him and turn it off. I mean, the pipe burst, I had to turn the water off, but it's behind the toilet. So you have to kind of get underneath it and it almost feels like a fire hydrant blowing in my face. So I finally get the thing off and I call the whatever line that you call that, you know, your apartment, call them. And the maintenance guy, and he's like, can we do this tomorrow?

And I'm like, dude, I'm like, I really wish we could. I got water everywhere. I'm like, you got like a wet vac? I'm like, I don't have one.

I have a one bedroom apartment. He comes, he shows up. What is wrong with you? Yeah, no, he showed up. He's like, I don't have a wet vac. I got some paper towels. And I remember said to him, I was like, brah, you got like a truck worth? Did you call him brah? I think I did.

That's awesome. You got me, I got about an inch worth of water through the entire apartment. And I know I'm screwed.

I don't have renters insurance. I'm done. Man. So we must have dropped every paper towel. We just opened up the roll and dropped them. You know, open them up, you know, just take them out of the plastic and drop them down to absorb how much water there was all through the apartment. Luckily, it's a small apartment. At least it was clean water because it came from the pipe, not from the bowl.

Yeah, that helped. That was not my problem. Why can't the toilet ever overflow when it's clean?

Like clean water. Why? Yeah, I will say, yeah, you're right.

And that's worse when it's through the entire place. No. No, no. You know, when you're throwing things out and, you know, all of your furniture is busted. This was pre-wife and pre-kids? Pre-kids, wife and I, we weren't married. We were together. We weren't married. She wasn't living with me yet. So this was wild.

Now, the thing about Jesus, it must have been like 2008 or 2007. So you were left to deal with it all by yourself? Yeah, I mean, I would have been left to deal with it by myself anyway. Let's be fair, I wasn't going to get any help on that regard.

If I go home tonight and I got to deal with that, I'm not going to get any help. But it was just kind of like... She can throw paper towels at the problem? If she's got a truck worth. I mean, the guy just kept going back to whatever van that he had. I'm like, what do you just got, a van full of paper towels?

What do you got, 97,000? He just kept coming with paper towels. I'm like, this is great and all. I'm like, can you fix the pipe? He's like, yeah, I think I'll call somebody for that.

I'm like, great. Luckily they came the next day, so at least it didn't take too long. Because at that point I don't have, you know, you don't have a working toilet once you turn off the water.

Right. So I feel better now considering the fact that this could have happened, the toilet could have overflowed when I wasn't there. Could you imagine coming home to a house where the whole place smelled like a sewage treatment plant, not just the upstairs bathroom. There's always worse.

Like a girl, the plumber shows up, my friend Billy, and I've got a candle in there. Like I've sprayed a bunch. I've done everything I can to like scoop out the bowl. I'm not even going to tell you how awful that was. And I thought dealing with dog, dog, you know, stuff was, was bad, as bad as it gets.

Because every now and then you get a hole in the bag and you, you go to pick up the poo and it's all over your hand. Yeah. So sorry. Anyway, I thought that was bad. My mom tells me it's worse with kids. So I'm like, oh great.

I look forward to that. Well, let me just tell you, this was bottom of the barrel, like bottom of the bowl, if you will. It was just awful. Oh no. I have no dignity left. And then you invite someone into your bathroom like, sorry, I'm so embarrassed. Yeah, I mean, that's really what I differ.

I don't really care. It's like, it's in there. Yeah, he goes, he goes, I've seen it all.

And I was like, I know, but not here. And actually he's the guy who replaced my downstairs toilet when we had a flood, like literally two weeks after I moved in because the base of the toilet, the caulking had come or had eroded. And so the toilet was leaking downstairs bathroom. So he's already replaced one of my toilets, for heaven's sakes. I might ask you for this guy's number, though. Oh, he's amazing. Well, I do have, he's great. This is where the, where you talk about money and I guess laziness does combine in there too.

He only charged me 50 bucks. The pipe is leaking from the toilet, but it's leaking through the ceiling. And I noticed this because it's in the laundry room, the little tiny space with the crawl space. That's where I have my laundry, but it leaks right over the French drain. So I haven't replaced this pipe in many years. It's about three years now that I've had to replace this pipe. I'm more than willing to share my plumber. That takes, you know, money. And I didn't want to do it simply because it was kind of like, oh man, I'm going to have a problem.

It's over the French drain. Well, that goes right out. I can avoid that one for a bit. I get dibs on Billy when I have a plumbing emergency.

That's all I'm saying. I might have to get this number. I don't know if I'm ready to do this yet. He's amazing. But I do need to obviously fix that pipe.

That's a problem. When I get my new fridge, he says, I will hook up the pipes for your ice makers. He's great. I mean, he does the pipes and the plumbing for brand new houses or like when they're being redone. So he's a full service guy.

He's amazing. As long as he knows how to work with houses that are basically falling down. Well, I mean, that's my town.

It's a lot of old houses. So, yes. Yes. OK. I feel better now that I got that off my chest. And yes, in fact, the bathroom has been re-cleaned.

That was super fun. Yeah. So I feel like I'm good now. Right.

I mean, I've had one plumbing emergency, one per year. That's it. Now you're tempting fate. OK. Don't even speak it into existence. Right.

Why tempt the gods? All right. Coming up, wildcard walk back and oh, fallout from the wildcard weekend. It's after hours on 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 NFL playoffs live on Odyssey. Touchdown 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.

And zone clock. Touchdown. Your playoffs. Your Odyssey.

Get in the game 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. The San Francisco 49ers fake the toss. They roll Purdy to the left. Purdy going to throw back middle wide open Deebo Samuel down the sideline, 50, 40, Deebo 30, Deebo 20, Deebo 10, Deebo Touchdown San Francisco. Well, I told you that it may be a breakout game for Deebo Samuel. Coming into halftime, you know, Kyle just straight up was like, Hey, man, like you got plays are there.

The opportunities are there. We just got to keep it simple and get it to the guys. And so we knew what our plan was coming out of halftime into the second half. And I thought we just executed everything and we finished drives where we didn't do the stalling. We didn't overthink things in the second half.

You can see the definition on our team of IGYB. I got your back. At the end of the day, I felt like that turned our team up a notch.

And as you can see, we just went out there and made plays. The Jacksonville Jaguars. Thirty six yarder from the right hash to win the game. Logan Cook will put it down. Riley Patterson.

Cook puts it down. Patterson's kick is up. The field goal is good, good, good. The Jaguars have won it. My hat's off to our guys, our team told them after the game that, you know, other than obviously winning the Super Bowl a few years ago, greatest coaching victory as a team.

This one, this one's right up there with it. It's really cool to see what what can happen when when everybody believes. And, you know, I wouldn't have been able to do what I did today and what the offense was able to do in the second half to bounce back. But also the defense, if we didn't believe in one another. The Buffalo Bills. Three receivers to the left. Thompson in the shotgun.

The crowd in a frenzy. Back from his own end zone. Heaving down the left sideline. Intercepted by Khair Elam at the 32 yard line. The rookie with the biggest defensive play of the game for the Bills. Twelve yard gain on the carry by Allen. Three receivers to the left. Knox on the right side. Singletary in the backfield. To the right of Allen in the shotgun.

Here's the snap. Fires it to Beasley at the three. Lunges for the end zone. Touchdown. Welcome back, Cole Beasley. Buffalo back in front. One week season, man.

That's it. Got to take it 1-0, one game at a time. Thought we did some good things today.

I did some bad things today. You know, some stuff to clean up, some things to learn from. But we'll grow from it. It's all that matters is surviving and advancing. It doesn't matter how we win, it's if we win. And I'm proud of our guys for playing the way they did.

The New York Giants. Jones over center this time. Breida in the right.

Left slot goes in motion. Tossed left for Barkley. Gets a block. Barkley to the 25. Barkley to the left sideline. To the 10, to the 5. Touchdown Giants.

Saquon Barkley on a 28 yard first. We're going to fight to the end. You know, we're a bunch of humble cats and we was blessed with the opportunity, man. We're proud to be here. We're proud to have this opportunity, so we're going to take it with the most up respect.

Got a lot of work to do, but it's enjoyable work to be able to be working at this time of year. The Cincinnati Bengals. Third down and goal from the 1. Huntley sticks the ball out. The Bengals have the ball. They are running it back. Sam Hubbard with blockers behind him.

Hubbard to the Ravens. 40. The 30. The 20. The 10.

The 5. Touchdown. Bangles. Tyler Huntley tried to extend the ball over the goal line. It got poked away. Sam Hubbard scooped it up and ran the length of the field for a go ahead. Bangles touchdown. Credit to Logan Wilson punching it out and just being in the right place at the right time.

Got a few blocks along the way and I was just worried about getting tracked down. I'm glad I made it to the end zone. I haven't even seen the whole play yet. I just saw Sam running down the field, but I'm sure. Obviously, you know, guys stepped up and made plays when their number was called and got us the win.

You already know what time it is. On to the next, baby. On to the next. Hey, fans came up to shout out and so the hell do we. Hey, Sam Hubbard.

Shout out to your boy. The Dallas Cowboys. Fourth down and six. Brady back looking. Deep middle. Tipped up in the air.

Incomplete. And the Bucks will turn it over on downs for the second time. And the Cowboys are going to win their first playoff game on the road since 30 years ago tomorrow.

When they won the NFC championship game at Candlestick Park against the San Francisco 49ers. I tell you, I mean, you got you got to just really feel great about the whole week and leading in there. I mean, the confidence you had in there, we did exactly what we had to do.

And I love what Jake said at the beginning. There ain't nothing else to say. Let's just keep doing it. Let's just keep doing it. Oh, your wildcard walk back. So many memories there.

Let's go back to San Francisco. Greg Papa on Niners radio. Deebo Samuel Brock Purdy connecting for a 74 yard touchdown in the second half against the Seahawks. Frank Frangie on Jaguars radio because it was the third largest comeback in NFL playoff history. Doug Peterson called it right up there next to winning the Super Bowl. Trevor Lawrence as well with a total turnaround in the second half.

Chris Brown on Bill's radio. Josh Allen admitting the three turnovers hurt the team, but they were able to pull it out. Bob Papa for the Giants, along with Kayvon Thibodeau, the rookie, and Brian Daybal, also a rookie head coach. For the Bengals, Dan Hoard, Dave Lapham, 98 yard fumble return for a touchdown. You hear Sam Hubbard, who carried it that far. Joe Burrow, Joe Mixon, hooray! And then Brad Shim on Cowboys radio. Mike McCarthy in the locker room.

Wildcard walk back, baby. It's after hours, CBS Sports Radio. 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. The NFL playoffs live on Odyssey. Touchdown 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. Your playoffs, your Odyssey. Get in the game and download the free Odyssey app today.