After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

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Learn more at Goalie.com today. It's that time of the week again. Haha. We nearly made it. Happy almost Friday to you, and to you, and to you, and to you. It almost makes me want to sing.

Gosh, you know what makes me want to sing? Actually sleeping on Thursday. Penny was exhausted for good reason. She had quite the ordeal midweek. You want to talk about a hump day? That poor dog, she went through it. It was a wacky Wednesday for her, and she was still pretty worn out on Thursday, though she's much more like her cheerful, happy, sweet, stubborn, smart self. So that's good news. Just waiting to hear about the biopsy from the doctor.

That could take over a week or so. But she is good eating, drinking, wanting to take her walks. I did think, I wonder if she's walking more slowly than ever before, but that could just be a product of the fact that it was early morning and I was tired.

But she is all good. So she slept, which means I slept, and Thursday plenty of phone calls, lots of emails, much planning for what's to come in the next couple of weeks, and now a radio show. But what's on the horizon, and it's becoming bigger and bigger on the horizon, the weekend. My niece asked me, what plans do I have?

Well, that was about how I answered. I don't really have any. Sunday is football after church, after teaching my kiddos, but Saturday, Friday, Saturday, I got a couple errands to run on Friday. Saturday is wide open, and there is a reason for that. I have to get a couple shots on Friday afternoon, and so I'm a little nervous, or at least leery, of how they might make me feel on Saturday. So for that reason, I'm not planning anything really, but I just might hang out all day within one block of my house. That sounds fantastic, exactly what I need, or exactly what will make me smile.

Plus I'll be uber productive inside the house then too, so I hope you got good plans for your weekend, far more exciting plans than I have for my weekend. For those of you who will be at Burro, oh sorry, I mean Arrowhead, it's going to be an amazing atmosphere. Here's the thing, say it, just keep saying it. The more you say it, the more that it incites the fans there in Kansas City, and the more it will incite the Kansas City Chiefs who have earned this home field advantage. There's no doubt about the fact that they should be hosting, and the Bengals, yes, have had success there, so they can joke all they want, but I say let's make it as edgy and intense, and let's add a little extra fire to it. Sure, keep calling it Burrohead, and then you'll get members of the Chiefs in response to what impresses them about the Bengals answering nothing. So good, can this be our newest rivalry?

That'd be amazing. Remember going back to Colts, Patriots when it was Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, and then even with Peyton in Denver, the Broncos and the Patriots went back and forth on a couple of AFC championships that were just delicious. Maybe this can be the new one, except I have a feeling that the rest of the AFC will want to be part of the equation. So we're going to talk about Championship Sunday. We've got, of course, all of your trash talking. We've got not just quarterbacks today, but other key members of these four teams who will be spotlighted this weekend.

It's weird though, right? And this is why I planned nothing for Saturday in addition to feeling like maybe I should take it easy. There's no football for the first time in over a month going back even to the weekend before Christmas, right? So when the NFL takes over, it's Saturdays, it's in the wake of college football vacating Saturdays, right?

So I guess it's not right after the conference championships, but after the Army-Navy game. So that weekend is the last time that college football inhabits Saturdays for a while. And so the NFL just encroaches. Isn't encroachment against the rules in the NFL? The NFL encroaches on Saturdays and it's been that way now for about a month and a half in which it's not just Sundays, it's also Saturdays.

It's not just Saturdays and Sundays, it's Mondays and it's Thursdays and it's every other damn day of the week. But it is going to be weird. There's always an adjustment to it when there's no football on Saturday. There will be tennis, there will be basketball, there will be hockey, there will be golf. I'm sure there will be soccer. There's college hoops as well, so there's plenty to keep you busy. But I know some of you are diehards with the football and it's a little bit different when the number of games really and severely wanes. But we're going to be equipped, armed and dangerous, ready for championship Sunday. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

Glad to have you with us on Twitter, ALawRadio, also on our Facebook page After Hours with Amy Lawrence. We still have our poll up asking you which matchup do you want to see in the postseason? Not the one you expect to see or you think that you'll see, but if you're filling in a blind ballot or you're taking a blind vote and nobody knows what it is that you're picking, although I suppose that doesn't really apply to anybody else except for me, I could never tell you who I want to see. My niece asked me that on the phone and I answered it as though I was being recorded or it was on the air. I was hedging my bets. Well, you know, this and this and I can't really this and I really look for storylines and so here's the teams that haven't been there and haven't won in a while.

I think I lost her about three minutes into that whole conversation. Anyway, so the poll is still up, ALawRadio or on our show page, our show Twitter After Hours, CBS and then our show page, few hours left for you to answer that question. I do want to say I really appreciate all the feedback that you gave us about streaming and sports in streaming and which services you use, which ones you don't use, where do you draw the line? I got to say the guy who answered that he's never had a cell phone, he's probably in the very and I mean very slim minority and so are those people who don't have any streaming services.

I was one of the long holdouts. My brother and my sister-in-law, my nieces have been telling me to grab streaming services for years and I really, even though I've had Amazon Prime for probably five or six years now, I didn't use it for video very much until recently. Actually, the first thing I ever streamed on Amazon Prime, the first TV series I ever streamed completely, Downton Abbey and I did it in about three weeks time, all six seasons, I couldn't stop binging and after that it kind of opened up a whole new world. Jack Ryan exclusively on streaming, there are a bunch of series that I really love that are only Amazon Prime and do you know what opened up Paramount Plus for me? The reason I got it originally, I love it.

Now I use it for everything. I have it on multiple TVs and having upgraded to a smart TV, it's in both my utility room where my bike is as well as on my main TV now. It was Seal Team. Seal Team went from CBS to Paramount Plus. Seal Team is my favorite show on TV and that is literally what got me to order Paramount Plus. I now use it for a lot of other shows and there are some sporting events on Paramount Plus but that's the reason I got it.

So I was a latecomer, I will be honest. I didn't use streaming services for sports really until Amazon Prime picked up Thursday Night Football and I'm grateful that I have it. I would say now I probably use it more than I use regular TV in terms of the shows I watch that are non-sports, right? I still have regular TV for the majority of my sports. But it's been a huge shift for me and I'm grateful. I'm grateful that I have the option of being able to move around or watch on my laptop.

It's kind of a fun thing to be able to do. So I think those people who don't have streaming services are definitely in the minority. But there is a line.

There is a ceiling. Most of us are not millionaires. Most of us don't have unlimited income to be able to spend on as many streaming services as we want. Heck, cell phones these days cost $1,000. So technology does cost a lot of money. Devices, iPads, depending on how many people are in your family, you're talking about multiple devices and multiple plans.

There is a cap. And I appreciate the conversation that we had that many of you weighed in on and just kind of saying here's what I use, here's what I don't use. I would say the most popular streaming services are ESPN Plus to be sure and Disney Plus, though that's not really a sports streaming service. But ESPN Plus as well as Paramount Plus.

A lot of you have Paramount. A bunch of you have Peacock, which is NBC. And then there are a lot of you who also have Amazon Prime. Though I didn't see a lot of you indicating that you picked up Amazon Prime simply for football.

I actually don't think that happened as much as Amazon was hoping that it would. And the numbers were down this year. We had talked about this a couple weeks ago where on average, NFL viewing dropped this season. The individual networks saw rises in their ratings and in their viewership. CBS, Fox, NBC all saw their viewership per game increase. But what dragged down the average is Amazon, is the Thursday Night Football.

Will it likely increase? I think if we start out with some games that are a little more interesting or maybe a little more compelling next season, you'll see more people go to it. Honestly, I believe that if it's one or two games that are just through the roof exciting on Thursday nights. So we get, I don't know, let's just say for the sake of argument, a game between the Bengals and the Chiefs or the Bills and the Chiefs. And that's on a Thursday night.

People will sign up if the product and the quality is worthy of their money. And the NFL, pretty much above anything else, will bring more people to their TVs, their devices, their radios, whatever it is. But let's be fair, this year's Thursday Night Football games, most of them were hideous or as Shaq would say, horror awful. They were horror awful.

And so for that reason, there was no compelling push. No, hey, did you see that game last night? Oh yeah, no, I missed it. Oh my gosh.

No. What was the narrative around Thursday Night Football this year, Producer J? What did most people say? What did Al Michaels say about Thursday Night Football this year? It's boring. It was boring.

It was not, it was unwatchable. I don't know if I'd agree with that, but it wasn't the type of football that would cause fans to sign up for anything. No one's paying extra to watch Thursday Night Football this year.

One or two games maybe, but for the most part, nah. So how about you improve the product on Thursday Night Football and then the fans will start to consider signing up for Amazon Prime because we all have FOMO. As sports fans, we have FOMO.

It doesn't matter how many former NFL players, doesn't matter what announcers, it doesn't matter how you dress it up with bells and whistles. That's not what brings people to sporting events on TV or on their devices. What causes them to tune in is not the noise around it, it's the actual event. It's the actual competition. It's feeling like you can't miss it.

Right? So I appreciate that Amazon went all out and spent a lot of money to bring in some of the biggest names for their first season of Thursday Night Football, but that's not why people show up. It's got to be better quality.

It's got to be better quality games. And I'm sure they'll continue to work on the technical issues. I actually didn't have any technical problems with my Amazon Prime.

I know a lot of people complained about that. I did learn quickly though, after one week of watching Amazon Prime on my TV, one week of Thursday Night Football on Prime on my TV, and I watched it on my laptop for the rest of the year. Because you can't change channels. And I don't watch commercials, but also I can't just sit and watch one game. There's other games going on. Think about it, in September, in October, in November, there's no way I can just sit and watch one game. I've got to be monitoring a bunch of other stuff too. So yeah, I think we'll see an increase. But if Amazon wants to really have subscribers jump on board simply for football, the game on the field, the product has to be better, more compelling, more entertaining. So thank you for all of your responses.

Again, on Twitter, ALawRadio, and then on our Facebook page, you can take our poll that's still up or if you're late to the party and you want to weigh in about the various streaming services and the impact of streaming on sports. We are all eyeballs and ear balls. Uh huh.

I said it. Eyeballs, ear balls. Our phone number is 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Let's see, we're going to dive into some basketball coming up. Celtics and Celtics, not only going down to the wire with several wild swings, but on into overtime. And so we'll go over that game. One of the NBA superstars leaves his game early because of an injury, so we'll give you the latest there. And then Dallas. Dallas has made its decisions, still one I suppose, that is hanging in the balance.

But whether you agree, whether you disagree, yes, the coaching staff will look decidedly different next season, but not at the top. And as I say, it's championship Sunday, so we have a lot to get to as we hurdle our way toward the weekend. So happy almost Friday. We're glad to have you.

Grateful for your support. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. In deep, lays it up at the right hand and scores. Tatum now starting to go into overdrive.

He's up to 28 now. Tatum will walk it across half court where he entered minute 48. Boston down by two. They trailed by 13 earlier in the fourth. Tatum against Randall.

Down the right side, elevates, lays it up and in, and we've got a brand new ballgame. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. It was not supposed to be a back and forth. Maybe the Knicks were expecting that they could cruise to the finish line, but that is not what happened in Boston a few hours ago. Knicks built a fourth quarter lead by as many as 13 as you hear with Sean Grandy on Celtics Radio and then Ed Cohen on Knicks Radio.

But the Celts scored the final eight of regulation and also built a lead into overtime. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Just as a side note for those of you who are familiar with Sean Grandy, whose partner is Cedric Maxwell, former Celtic himself, Sean was calling his 2000th game behind the mic as the Boston Celtics play-by-play announcer. I texted him. I also, and I was listening tonight, I also put it out there on Twitter, but it is an honor to know him and to learn from him. He's been a friend for a long time, very encouraging. We've had a lot of late night conversations about the NBA and about everything else.

And I was at his wedding to Dana a few years ago and just so excited for him because he continues to raise the bar every night. You would not know that the man is called 2000 games. And we also giggled about this, who exactly counted all of those games because he didn't.

And when I texted him to say congratulations, I told him that was my second thought. Who exactly went back and counted all of those games? Because he does miss a few games a year.

He also does TV. And so it's not as though you can just count the games by the season. Oh, it's this many seasons times 82. Now, it's not quite that simple, but somebody kept track. So wow.

Yeah. Celtics and Knicks on into overtime. And it was a nice back and forth trailing by one point. Jalen Brown on the free throw line. At that point, he was five for five from the charity stripe. Jalen, 79 percent of the year, five for five tonight. First one.

No. And it mounts heavily here as Jalen needs the second one to tie it with seven point six to go. The Knicks do have one time out left.

Brown lines up the second. Dips an ease. Spins it.

On the way. And no good short. Barrett the rebound.

Six seconds. Barrett's fouled by Horford with five point seven to go. Jalen Brown not just missing the first two free throws, but short on both. And Barrett's going to shoot two with the Knicks up 118-117 with five point seven to go in OT. Once again, you get the back and forth between Sean and Ed on Celtics and Knicks radio.

Yeah, this was a bit of a shock. And Ed points out that both of the free throws were short. Sometimes that means it like a player has sore legs or tired legs. Sometimes it's just about energy. But free throws, they are muscle memory. These guys, they practice hundreds of thousands of them over the courses of their careers, right?

And so it's just about doing the same thing every single time. And Jalen himself was really upset about missing those free throws. And so ultimately, without those two, the Knicks were sitting pretty again. Brogdon with the ball for Ben Taylor. Looking. No timeouts for Boston. Looking still to Tatum. Five seconds. Pull up for three.

No good for the wait. Horford for the rebound. Pitching it out.

Brogdon fires. It's blocked by Brunson. And it's over. Brunson with the block at the end. And the Knicks come to Boston and win it in overtime.

What a victory for the Knicks. Those two missed free throws kind of embody like the whole game, you know, for me. Didn't really get it going. Didn't give my team enough energy to win.

And that's what happens when you don't come out and give your best. So Jalen Brown goes eight of twenty-two from the floor. Not a great shooting night for him there, though, as I say, he only missed two free throws and those came in overtime. He ended up just talking about energy level, really, and about not being able to match what the Knicks were doing. Though the Celtics were able to erase their double-figure lead fairly handily, that lead disappeared.

Poof. As the Celtics had thirteen straight points in the fourth quarter into overtime as a twenty-six to eight run. But what's plagued Boston lately is the peaks and the valleys, the peaks and the valleys, as opposed to the consistency which put them at the top of the NBA standings. They've had the best record in the NBA most of November. Into December they lost it, I think, briefly to the Bucs. But this has been one of the best teams in the league since the jump.

They've now dropped three in a row and it's largely because they cannot sustain these stretches where they're all playing well. They're definitely missing Marcus Smart. I say this a lot, he's the glue that keeps this team together, it's the hearts and it's the smarts. And a lot of it starts with his intensity and his leadership and his experience. So it's a big deal for the Celtics to get out to that lead, but then they lose it as the Knicks come back. It's just a good war if you're watching on TNT or listening on either one of the radio networks.

It was a good late January game. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Wanted to let you hear from Julius Randle. He is a former teammate of Kobe Bryant's in Los Angeles. Had a game high thirty-seven points and nine rebounds.

But when he was interviewed on TNT, his heart was for Kobe. It was on my heart heavy. Just texting on my wife back and forth before the game. It's a tough day. Vanessa, the whole family, I'll say my prayers for you guys today. Love you guys dearly, man. It's a tough day, but hopefully he's looking down and he's proud on the way the game is played because he's an anchor, he's a pioneer in this game. I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing on that Sunday morning.

January 26th, 2020. But as I was thinking about it today, and I did share this really sweet photo that the Lakers put out. If you check out my Twitter, ALawRadio, it's a gorgeous photo of Kobe and his daughter, Gianna. As I was thinking about it and all of that day, how heavy it was and how the entire day, the entire day, all I did was watch the news and refresh Twitter. It was seemingly like time had stopped. And it wasn't just a sports story. It was news as well and every network out there and most Americans shocked by the helicopter crash that took his life and that of his daughters. But also the fact that we didn't have a lot of information initially. If you remember, there was a crash. There were reports about Kobe. Then there was the report, erroneous report, that it was all three of his daughters.

Then finally the recognition that it was a helicopter that was taking them to a basketball tournament, that there were other kids on board and families that were affected. And it was a couple of hours before the facts were out there. And even then it was, to me anyway, it was a waiting game, wondering what else is going to happen.

What else are we going to hear? It can't get worse than this, right? And so that entire day felt as though we were stuck in time. But then today I'm thinking, wow, has it only been three years? Because it feels like forever since we lost Kobe Bryant.

It feels like forever. So yeah, the Lakers, the Rams, a bunch of the other LA area teams and then sports fans, NBA all over the place, remembering Kobe Bryant and Julius, who was a teammate of his in LA at the end of Kobe's career, talking about how his heart was heavy and he still wants to go out and play to honor his former teammate. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. There was a moment, there is a moment, I suppose you could say it that way, that will cause some angst for the Dallas Mavericks because their superstar, Luka Doncic, left in the first quarter of their game against the Phoenix Suns just a couple of hours ago, sprained left ankle, and this happens a lot in basketball, stepping on a defender's foot. So it was really early in the game, Dallas had to call a timeout right away to be able to substitute for him and he limped straight to the locker room and after the first quarter right away, the Mavs determined that he would not return.

Though thankfully, according to the reports, the x-ray was negative. Kind of wonder whether or not he'll, well we'll see whether he returns to the court before they get to the All-Star break, but whether or not he would beg out of the All-Star game. His injuries are one of the only reasons why the NBA allows anyone to miss. They tend to punish, or I should say penalize, players who come up with odd and wacky excuses for not being part of the All-Star affair.

And he's the NBA's leading scorer, so people want to see him, he's very popular. I hope that it's a Patrick Mahomes ankle sprain and not an ankle sprain that would keep him out for multiple weeks. Sometimes those take longer to heal. And one of the reasons is you really can't do a whole lot. With a high ankle sprain, you're supposed to stay off of it.

You can't do much that would keep you in shape, so that becomes a concern. Again, if you're not Patrick Mahomes, a lot of times it can take weeks depending upon the severity of it. So I hope that's not the case with Luca, but he did not return to the game. Spencer Dinwiddie and the rest of the Mavericks had to forge on without him in Phoenix, where they did win on the road. It's been quite a while for them in the desert, but Spencer, his thought for their superstar teammate.

There's more possession to be more aggressive, so I'm going to play and make a roll. But I mean, we want him back. Sorry, I didn't mean to curse, but we want him back. He's our MVP. So we hope he's getting healthy soon. Alright, so the Mavs are 0-5 in games in which Dontish has not played at all.

And I guess coincidentally, I read this too and I thought, alright, well there's probably some tie there. Second night of back-to-backs, and if you're thinking about load management in the NBA, it very often happens that a handful of starters, maybe all your starters, are sitting in the back-to-backs that are on the road. And yeah, that definitely plays a factor when it comes to whether or not Dontish was on the court and why, and who else wasn't on the court when they were playing in these back-to-backs.

So we'll wait to hear some type of news about Dontish, though again, x-rays were negative. Alright, we're going to stay. Well, they weren't in Dallas, but we're going to continue with the Dallas theme because we finally heard from Mike McCarthy. We now know his job status as well as that of Dan Quinn's. This was a bit of a surprise to me anyway, but not so for the rest of the Cowboys coaching staff. You can find me on Twitter, ALawRadio, take our poll if you haven't already.

Which Super Bowl matchup do you want to see? So that's on both of our Twitter sites as well as on Facebook. By the way, coming up top of the hour, Amy Trask. It's been a while since we've been able to do some Team Amy radio. It was time, it was long overdue with the coaching hire in Carolina, Frank Reich taking that job instead of Steve Wilks, and I know there were some players who were upset by that. They played hard for Steve. And then some of the other musings around the coaching carousel, and plus we've got championship weekend, so it'll be fun to talk to Amy, the longtime Raiders CEO, as well as CBS Sports Analyst.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. So Zeke Elliott over the football. He's going to snap it to Prescott. Prescott back to pass, throws left, caught by Turpin, hit and dropped. After all that, they throw it to Turpin, tackle to the 30, and the game is over. Extremely disappointed. This has been an incredible journey with this group of men, and we came up short tonight to a very good football team.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. The voice of Mike McCarthy after the voice of Ryan Radke on Westwood 1. Yeah, that play was strange. We still don't exactly know what the plan was. Earlier in the week when Mike McCarthy was asked why Ezekiel Elliott would line up to snap the ball right before he got leveled by a Niners defensive lineman, essentially McCarthy said, well, there was a plan. There's no point in me telling you now, but there was actually a reason for it.

And I'm told, now here's what I've heard. When they used the play in practice, they actually scored on it. Just not against the Niners, but they trotted it out against their defense in practice, and it worked. However, in that situation, Kayvon Turpin doesn't go anywhere, doesn't find any space, and poor Zeke had to pay the price. That was the end of the Cowboys season.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We asked you earlier in the week, who had the more disappointing end? Who had the more disappointing exit from the playoffs? The Bills or the Cowboys? And many of you indicated, well, we just expected the Cowboys to collapse. Nobody expected the Cowboys to win. I don't know about that, but they certainly ran into a very good team and they had to play not just on the road, but they had to play against a defense that is at least as good as theirs is. I thought both defenses were very dominant. There were only two touchdowns scored in the entire game. Sure, they lost the turnover battle.

That hurt. But Dak's two interceptions were in the first half, and in the second half, they were tied at nine and still had a very real chance to pull out that win. So collapse or getting crushed, that applies to Zeke, not to what the Cowboys did in the postseason.

Just a couple of things. This was the first time in which the Cowboys made back to back post seasons since the late 90s. Did you know that? Mike McCarthy is the first coach since Chan Gailey in the late 90s to lead the Cowboys to back to back playoff appearances. They also have a pair of 12 win seasons. Their defense led the NFL in takeaways two years in a row.

That hasn't happened since the 70s and the steel curtain. There are a lot of positive things about the Cowboys, and as much as we are impatient as sports fans and as much as owners and even players themselves can be impatient. They're building something in Dallas, whether or not you think they should, whether or not you think that it's not the right way and they're not doing it the way that you would do it. Jerry Jones is the problem, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I think you'd rather have 12 win seasons and back to back playoff appearances than not. And sometimes it takes a little while.

It could take three years, four years. Again, you may not agree that the culture had to change in Dallas, but clearly something was wrong. And Mike McCarthy has been a coach that not only has brought credibility, but also he's a Super Bowl winner. He has humor. He treats these men like men.

He brings in the right people to delegate to. Shouldn't he get credit for hiring Dan Quinn? And not just that, but Quinn has decided he doesn't want to go anywhere for the second straight year. I can't tell you that Jerry Jones isn't throwing more money at him, but that's not what it seems like. According to Dan, they have unfinished business in Dallas.

He told Ed Werder, my complete focus is helping the team play championship ball in 2023. That should tell you there's loyalty. There's loyalty to Mike McCarthy. There's loyalty to Jerry Jones. There's loyalty to the franchise.

He could make a hell of a lot of money and have autonomy, have control, have his own coaching staff, run it his own way. So whether or not you believe in Mike McCarthy, the people around him believe in him, and that includes Jerry. So McCarthy spoke. It was Thursday before we really got the exit interviews from the head coach. Still waiting to hear from the players, by the way. Maybe they're not going to speak again following their exit.

But McCarthy says he never really felt like his job was in jeopardy. And that was confirmed in his most recent conversation with Jerry. The partnership that we have, he's excited about. He told me a number of times this week that he wants me to coach here as long as Coach Landry did.

And I said, OK, that's a long time. I feel really good about our relationships. I think our ability to discuss and disagree, we do a good job of that. And I think that's important because when you get into these situations of free agency and these tough, tough decisions, you've got to be able to have those conversations.

But also his support and what he believes. I thought he was incredible with the team Monday. His message to the team was outstanding. Like I said, we have a lot to build off of, but we are in the mode of evaluation.

And with that, we'll continue to have conversations about how we're going to get this thing done. I get to talk to Jerry a lot, so I've never felt that. I mean, the narrative is externally generated. It's disgustingly, I've been dealing with this as far as some of the things said about these assistants. I just think our industry should show more respect to the individuals. Change is part of it.

We all understand it. It's part of our professional responsibilities. But when these guys, their families have to listen to some of the things that are said, it's not right. McCarthy spends a bit of a minute there on his soapbox about how the industry hires and fires coaches without a care. And he was referring, obviously, to the media, but also the speculation that runs rampant inside the NFL.

And it was a sore subject with him on Thursday because he did, he and Jerry, I'm assuming he didn't make these decisions in a vacuum. But he and the front office did decide to let go a handful of coaches, six of them, as a matter of fact. His assistant head coach, Rob Davis, their senior defensive assistant, the offensive line coach, Joe Philbin, who's a former head coach himself. Running backs coach, Skip Peat, assistant D-line coach, Leon Lett, a former Cowboy himself, and then a quality control coach as well. So six different coaches got the axe. What about Kellen Moore? Well, he bristled a little bit at the question, essentially said it's that time of the year where you evaluate everything. And at this point, Moore is still the offensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys, though he interviewed for the Panthers job.

Now that one's no longer available. He's not getting that one. Maybe because of that, maybe because of that process and giving Kellen Moore some space, McCarthy said he hasn't yet had a full sit down with Moore about the offense and the future. If you're just looking at stats and I know that's not all you look at, but if you're just taking stats into consideration, they were fourth in the NFL in points per game and 11th in yards in 2022, even though Dak Prescott missed four and a half games. There's something to be said for that.

I don't know. I go back and forth on whether or not I believe they're going to make a change here, but we know for sure that it's McCarthy and it's Quinn or bust in 2023. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. I think our foundation is clearly stronger, stronger than today than when we were last year. This is because we have more experience. We have younger guys that clearly improved. I'm looking for this draft class.

This draft class is clearly the best of the three. And you know, I think that gives us a chance. Certainly already looking ahead and talking about the offseason, even as they make some changes to their coaching staff.

I'm sure it is painful. He is not in any way making light of the fact that they lost short of the NFC championship or short of their goal. And he wants fans to know that they certainly have loftier expectations and they're not going to stop working towards those. I'll tell you this, you know, from the moment I walked off the field, you know, I was thinking, starting to think about change, adjust and emphasize.

So I just want, you know, please have confidence and clear understanding that we're going to do everything we need to do, you know, to get this trophy. So there will not be a Dan Quinn hire as a head coach. He also made the rounds and interviewed for multiple gigs, including the Denver Broncos, the Arizona Cardinals, the Indianapolis Colts. But Dan Quinn is staying put. Mike McCarthy is staying put.

It's, I would say, a safe bet that Dak Prescott is staying put. Jerry Jones is loyal, whether or not you think he's wacky and doesn't know what he's doing and whatever else people say about Jerry Jones. He's old. He can be awkward. He chokes on the air, you know, all those kinds of things.

Give me some oxygen. He is loyal and he kept Jason Garrett around probably too long. He told Mike McCarthy he wants him to be the head coach of the Cowboys as long as Tom Landry, who was there nearly 30 years. Just as a side note, I'm pretty sure that would put McCarthy into his mid to late 80s. If that were the case, could you imagine? I hope Mike McCarthy lives into his mid to late 80s, but I hope that he is not. He's not still coaching the Cowboys. Give me some oxygen. Because that could be the case.

Also, it's friggin' hard on the ticker. Are you kidding me? Alright, coming up, Amy Trask, who is seen every Sunday morning on that other pregame show on CBS Sports Network, makes appearances now and then on Big CBS. She is, I think, one of those analysts that never sounds like anybody else. You always learn something from Amy. We always enjoy doing Team Amy here on After Hours, so that is straight ahead from L.A.

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