After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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Subscribe to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast today. I know this is your busiest month. Just wanted to check on you.

I feel bad. I do love you, my friends and family, but in April, oi. And I just decided this was a really great time to throw my first ever university course into the mix. Decided to be an adjunct professor in the second busiest month of the year.

Remind me to reconsider that next year. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Again, glad to have you with us.

You can find me on Twitter, ALOL Radio, also on our Facebook page. And yes, I have revealed the animal that was chasing me while I was running on Sunday, but I'll tell that story coming up because it's actually kind of funny. I did nearly get bit in the rear end. So we're going to bring in Matt Moore from Denver, but before we do that, there was a game in Denver to wrap up the four game slate in the NBA playoffs. It was the last one of the night that went into overtime. Wolfs have possession of the two-point lead. Conley to the corner. Nakheel again.

Yes! Nakheel, Alexander Walker. Five-point Wolfs lead. Off a Conley screen, switch on to Gordon. Seven to shoot. Fifteen seconds to go in the game and frees himself.

Fires on a right wing. Three and hits! Anthony Edwards delivers again. Thirty-four on the evening. A four-point lead with eleven seconds left.

That's Alan Horton on Minnesota Timberwolves Radio. And yes, Anthony Edwards has been a beast in this series. Thirty-four points. I think that's three consecutive games in which he's at at least thirty. And even though the Timberwolves make everything so difficult, do you know they were up by twelve in the late stages of regulation and the Nuggets rattled off twelve straight points to force overtime? And then the Timberwolves go up again in the OT and once again see the Nuggets rally, though ultimately they hold off Denver to force a game number five. But Edwards with thirty-four, six rebounds, five assists, two steals and three blocked shots and the Partridge in the Pear Tree. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence and we're pleased to welcome Matt Moore now of the Action Network based in Denver.

He's not only a writer, an insider, but also a podcast host. And yes, the Timberwolves make nothing easy on themselves, Matt, but what have you learned, if anything, about the Nuggets in this series? Because there certainly was a lot of talk about them at the end of the regular season, if they were a worthy number one, if they could play like the top seed in the West. Yeah, and they've been impressive. You know, I think even in this game where they wind up losing, ultimately just the comeback into forced overtime was pretty impressive from them.

They've shown a level of seriousness that I think is important for you to not mess around too much. Now they take the loss tonight. Minnesota plays great in particular, but even forcing them to overtime. Minnesota played great, but Denver has played with a lot of confidence in this series and that continues, I think, bode well for their chances of making it out of the Western Conference. Their defense looks better. Their offense obviously led by Jokic. Murray's had a game. MPJ's had a game.

Phil almost stole this one tonight, so a lot of opportunities for them in this series. They do need to wrap it up though. That's the challenge when you've got a team on the ropes.

If you don't wrap it up, then it keeps extending and more of the pressure shifts to you. Why haven't the Timberwolves made any progress in terms of getting closer to being a contender, even with all the moves they've made? I think they had a real growth trajectory last season and the move for Rudy Gobert shifted their identity so much. They had to figure out how to really play with Gobert this season with Town.

They never really got an opportunity to do that. The reason they never really got a chance to do that was because then Kat got hurt. They had to figure out then how to play without Town with Gobert and they managed to do that. They actually stuck together this season. They could have bailed at a lot of different points, but they fought through the play-in. They actually did a lot of resiliency this season, but then now they're trying to figure it back out with Gobert in Town. When you lose pieces like Nas Reed and you lose pieces like Jayden McDaniel, their best perimeter defender, it makes it that much harder.

I don't know if this is going to work long-term. I don't know if you can feel confident that this is a formula that's ultimately going to work for Minnesota, but I will say that I've admired their resilience. There's been a lot of opportunities for them to go the other direction and they've managed to stick together. Even if you saw tonight, on the edge of elimination, going to overtime could have caved, but they fought back and managed to extend the series. While we're talking about the top of the West, the Memphis Grizzlies get this incredible game from John Moran as he returns and yet still get smoked by the Lakers.

I'll ask the same question. Why haven't the Memphis Grizzlies gotten any closer to their goal even after the great buildup from last season? I think they really took a step back this season. Honestly, when you look at it for a number of reasons, their half-court offense was really bad this year.

It got a little bit better after they had Luke Knarr, but you still see the problems with them trying to consistently create buckets. I think when we look at what they're capable of, they have a really hard time when the game slows down. That's on top of all their issues with composure and maturity and things like that.

That's an evidence that they really needed somebody to settle them down. They've had a hard time with that this season trying to find the right answer for how to do that in collect situations. I think they need a couple of changes. I think they need better half-court scoring. They need some evolution from Ja in that regard. But they also need a few more adults in the room, so to speak, because all of the trash talk and everything else.

There's playing with passion and emotion and confidence, and then there's just overextending yourself and getting a little too far out over your skis. I think we've seen that consistently from them this season. We're always excited to have Matt Moore on the show with us. This is the playoff edition.

He's both a writer and podcast host for Action Network. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. The great series in the West at this point has been the Kings and the Warriors, a one-point game. Now the series is tied again, so a bunch of different layers to pull apart here. First of all, did you ever think you would see Steph Curry of all players pull a Chris Webber move and call a timeout that the Warriors didn't have? Man, that made it a lot closer than it needed to be.

Yeah, crazy. They've got this laid in with a minute to go. It looks like they've got it wrapped up, and to the Kings' credit, they keep fighting. The Warriors with a number of uncharacteristic foibles late in that game shows you how thin their margin for error is. I think if you're the Kings, you feel pretty good about this series. Obviously, you would like to go up 3-1, but when you look at how this series has gone, the opportunities that they've had, even on the road, even in a tough environment like that, they've shown a lot of poise to be able to keep these games within range.

It continues to be an awesome series. It's going to come down to shot making. The biggest problem for the Kings, honestly, is that demonic bonus doesn't necessarily seem like he's having a real hard time. Every minute that he plays with Steph Curry, the Kings are absolutely getting destroyed. They're going to have to figure that out as the series goes along, but the Warriors are up against it. They're having to play Steph long minutes. They're having to play starters long minutes. Obviously, you've got the Draymond situation.

This is really touchy for the defending champs, and we're just going to have to see if they've got enough in them to get it done. What's your reaction to Draymond coming off the bench for the first time in a playoff game? Smart stuff from him, honestly, to give Kevon Looney more of an opportunity because he's been really good in the series.

I think it's an interesting sacrifice that he made and shows his level of dedication. The Kings will probably adjust, and I think that when you're starting Jordan Poole, there are certain things that you give up in those situations as well that can create difficulties for you. They're going to have to manage that if they keep up with the strategy.

I expect Draymond to probably start next game, but I think it presents a twist that the Kings had to adjust to, and now it's reset things to put more pressure on the Kings to counter-adjust heading back into the final three games of the series. What's the reason, if you can pinpoint one or two, that the Warriors have been so unbelievably bad on the road this year? A lot of it comes down to defense.

You kind of dig under the hood. It looks like it's really the defense. Their defense at home is spectacular. Their defense on the road really struggles. Their offense is kind of touch-and-go, quite honestly, in both locations, but their defense really struggles. Honestly, in this series, they've done really good in the half-court versus the Kings. They've managed to hold them to really good numbers in terms of shooting, but on the road, one of the problems is that their transition defense has been bad because they keep turning the ball over. They just don't play with the same amount of poise that they play at home, and that's true for a lot of teams.

The Grizzlies are great at home and bad on the road. They've been kind of the same kind of squad. So, for the Warriors, they've always been the team that turns the ball over a lot. I think what we're kind of seeing is, again, going back, the margin for error is so much lower with this squad. The Stars are a little bit older, the bench is a little bit worse, and now this margin for error. So, when you have these games where you're losing the offensive rebound battle, you're turning the ball over. That creates this environment where if you don't have that home crowd behind you to boost up your shooting, you can have these rough performances even if you really can't explain how bad they've been on the road this season. Matt Morris with us here after hours on CBS Sports Radio. So, shifting our attention to the East, pretty interesting to see Julius Randle on the bench for the fourth quarter with the game on the line between the Knicks and the Cavaliers on Sunday.

How did you like that move? Exactly what they needed. The Knicks are winning the series with their bench. That's how they're winning the series. If you look at the overall numbers, they're not winning in the starter minutes. The Cavs are winning the minutes versus the starters. But when they get into the Isaiah Hartenstein minutes, when they get into the Obie Toppin minutes, that's where they're really winning.

They bring more athleticism, more energy, and they're really countering what the Cavs do. At this point, I don't want to believe this about a player. I thought he had a really great block today. He had a good bucket late. But in general, Randle has kind of shown himself to not necessarily be what you would call a 16-game player. He struggled when the playoffs had hit.

And him not speaking to media today, pretty rough. Just come out and say, hey, just glad we got the win. I'm willing to do whatever. That's how you put yourself out there. And I know he's a competitor, but you want to see a guy be like Draymond Green and be like, I can come off the bench.

Whatever is necessary for us, that's what I'll do. It was the right move, not just because they got the win, but because honestly the Knicks are a little bit better with Toppin. And they might be better switching that up and getting Randle going versus the bench units for Cleveland rather than the starters. Other than a lack of a bench, which as you point out is pretty shallow for the Cavaliers. Donovan Mitchell had a tough game on Sunday.

What are they missing? Because they also haven't had the same bite that I expected as a team that has a couple of legit superstars or superstars in the making. Yeah, you know, Darius Garland got going second half and that was good. Evan Mobley's really struggled. This is his first playoff series. That's one thing I definitely didn't factor in enough when I picked the Cavs in the series was that this is the first playoff series for both Darius Garland and Evan Mobley.

They just don't have the experience. And you can see they kind of got overwhelmed by MSG in the first game and a half. Fell down in the second half, I thought. But the other problem is J.B. Bickerstaff feels like he can't trust Isaac Okoro because of how far the Knicks are playing off of him. So he's trying to play more shooting. But you played Chevy Osmond or Caris Lavert and the Knicks are just destroying those guys defensively. They're getting them involved in pick and roll.

They're hitting on the weak side and they're slow to rotate. Like they can't defend without Okoro on the floor. And truth be told, Okoro helps him rebound because he's an athletic body versus Josh Hart. But J.B. Bickerstaff just has not been able to trust Isaac Okoro, despite the fact that the Cavs have won all year with defense.

That's been their strength and they've gone away from that. To be honest with you, Tom Thibodeau has had a lot of struggles in the playoffs coaching, but he is decisively winning this matchup versus Bickerstaff. Looking at the Philadelphia 76ers, they get right back to the second round, which is what has been their nemesis the last couple years.

We don't know yet about Joel Embiid and that right knee. I do like their depth. But how confident are you that they can actually break through and get to the East Finals?

Not very, I'll be honest. This Celtics team, if they were facing anybody else, including the Bucs, even if the Bucs had Giannis, I would feel better about them. But this Celtics team has just been their kryptonite.

It has just absolutely been the team they can't get past. It used to be that Embiid really struggled with Al Horford. He's dominated that matchup over the last 3-4 meetings. But here's the other problem. Even when the Nets were sending those really aggressive double and triple teams at him, and Beets finished that series with more turnovers than assists.

That's worrisome. This has been his problem. When teams start to double and triple him, he turns the ball over. The Celtics are maybe the best team in the league at doing that and disguising it by not showing that they're going to double, bringing it from the weak side, bringing it off of cuts, veering off, and being able to bring attention to the ball and turning him over. He's had a really hard time beating Boston. You add in the offense that the Celtics bring to the table and how James Harden sometimes, like Game 1, looks awesome, sometimes does not look like the same guy, and the Celtics' ability to switch. This is a really tough matchup for him.

I'll say this. If the Sixers get past the Celtics, who I think are the best team in the league, then they'll finally earn it. All the hype, all the expectation, all the criticism that they want to silence, they'll have earned it. There is no tougher test than with waiting for them after the Celtics wrap it up versus the Hawks. Any concern at all about the Celtics defense? They're giving up a lot of points against the Hawks. This is not the same defense that we saw in the playoffs last year. It's been inconsistent this year overall.

I think there's got to be some concern. To an degree, the Celtics are a little bit in cruise control here. They know they can get through the series without really putting the foot to the floor. I expect better things from them when they get to a series versus the Sixers. Now, the problem is eventually, that's just what you do every game.

That's become who you are. That's a concern. I don't think they're as good defensively as they were last year, but they're way better offensively. More than anything, the Celtics still can throw different coverages at teams, which not a lot of teams can switch the level to which they can. That's going to be one of the challenges.

You want to play Rob Williams because of his size and rim protection, but that means you're probably dropping and picking a role, which gives James Harden a lot of room. They're going to have challenges against the Sixers team. The Sixers team is really good, but the Celtics have shown that they have the weapons, the versatility, and the depth to counter.

They will always have enough answers, and that's got to be what they're banking on. Matt Moore of the Action Network is with us from Denver here on After Hours, CBS Sports Radio. The Milwaukee Bucks, the top seed in the East. They don't have Giannis. He's listed as day-to-day. How far can they go without him, Matt? I mean, they're in trouble in the series. If Giannis doesn't come back, there's a lot of momentum, optimism, all these words about him playing in Game 3, and nope, not available. They tricked us!

Yep. He participated in practice on Sunday, and so you're hopeful. Maybe he's trending towards it, or at least he did individual work is what Mike Butenholzer said, so you're hoping that he can go. But look, this Heat team, they're just zombies, and they just keep coming at you, no matter what they're missing. No Tyler Hero, now no Victor Oladipo. They've been really an average team all year, but they just crawl their way in. They lose that first play-in tournament game. They win the second one.

They just kind of keep coming. Now obviously doing butler misses is a game that changes the equation, especially with the other injuries that they've had. But with Milwaukee, they have such a problem with shot variance in the playoffs on both sides.

Teams shoot great against them, even contested. That's what Miami's doing in the series. They're shooting ridiculous on contested jumpers, and the Bucks have these stretches where they just can't hit water if they fall out of a boat.

So it's going to be touch and go here. They're not safe in this series, and if they get out, but Giannis has banged up, and they do face the Knicks team that's now up 3-1. The Knicks have the offense to really go after them.

It'll be a battle. The Bucks road to the finals all of a sudden looks very difficult. Before the playoffs started, a lot of people were pointing to the top three teams in the East, the Bucks, the Celtics, the Sixers, as the best three teams in the NBA. Anything you've seen at this point that would change your mind? Maybe the Phoenix Suns and the way they're playing right now?

No, I can't get there. I think that still the best teams lie in the Eastern Conference. The Bucks, when they're good, are amazing.

They're incredible. They're dominant. The Celtics have so many answers like I talked about, and their baseline floor on both ends of the floor is so high. Then you've got the Sixers, who bring so much offense to the table with Harden and their shooting, and Embiid playing at an MVP level.

He should get his MVP next week. Whoever comes out of the East should be a pretty heavy favorite. Phoenix is struggling in this series versus the Clippers team that's obviously short-handed, but it's a very bad matchup for them.

It doesn't mean that they're going to have the same situation. One of the problems is Phoenix is just playing a lot of heavy minutes for their starters. Those guys are playing heavy, heavy minutes. I don't know if they're going to have enough energy if they do reach the finals. That's before we start talking about the likelihood of them facing a Denver team who looked as good as anybody in the first round.

That second-round series is going to be incredible. Who would you choose as your MVP? I would have gone with Giannis, honestly. Not as good of a year as he's had statistically overall, but he did catch up to Embiid in terms of his efficiency. I spent a lot of time on the MVP, and when Giannis was on the floor, they won more of their games. They won at an extremely high level. I thought Nikola Jokic probably should be second, quite honestly, based off of how good they were when they were at their peak.

But the Nuggets didn't play great defense for the first month and a half of the season, the final month of the season. Embiid, I think, is a worthy winner. These guys were all incredible. Embiid's going to deserve it when he wins.

He certainly wants it bad enough and made that pretty apparent over and over again. But I do think he deserves it, and it's good that he's going to get the recognition that he feels he deserves. I would have gone with Giannis based off of impact on both ends of the floor, Jokic because of the offensive ceiling, but Embiid is more than deserving of the MVP. I know they're not classic big men, back to the bucket centers, but it's kind of cool to see this run of dominant big men in the MVP conversation. Yeah, you know, it reminds me of those 90s when you had David Robinson and you had Hakeem Olajuwon. And you had Shaq, and everybody had their guy. And all these guys battling and doing it different ways, where Embiid's much more about scoring, much more about force and aggression. Obviously a great rim protector, and you got Jokic makes everybody on the team better. And then Giannis, honestly, he's a forward but still a legendary big man because of his physical advantages. It's really cool to see the combination of size, speed, power, and skill that these guys are showing because they are complete packages offensively. And we still have a ways to go before that MVP award, so you can check out Matt's column.

The case is for and against the top contenders. It's pinned to the top of his Twitter, at HP Basketball. Matt Moore, one of our favorites, going back now, my gosh, 11 years he's been coming on the show. And he is now with Action Network. You'll hear him as a host, and also you can see what he writes there. Matt, it's always great to catch up with you. Thank you so much for a couple of minutes. Thanks for having me. Matt, one of our longest tenured guests. It's kind of fun to bring them back, and he's always been real good to us.

And great information as well, since he's based in Denver. Alright, so coming up, we still have a few more of these NBA storylines to get to, but how about a little hockey to mix in? As always, sudden death, a major part of the first rounds in the NHL, the Stanley Cup playoffs. So we'll talk about that, a couple of teams that are close to moving on, and a couple of great series that have Game 7 potential. On Twitter, ALawRadio, you all are sending me some funny GIFs. I'm not going to tell you what they are, because the story is still to come. Let's see, maybe before the hour is over, but if not before the hour is over, then top of next hour.

My unique running experience being chased makes you run faster. That's coming up in the next, I promise, the next 45 minutes tops. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Music 47.7 seconds to go in it. Faceoff to the right, Vasilevski, won by Toronto. Shot from the... He scores! They score on a sea guy shot by Moe!

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Donate today at your local CSL Plasma Center and be rewarded for your generosity. Hamilton in deep, and he scores! Dougie Hamilton! That's the overtime game winner! 4-4 tie, 16.30 to go in the second overtime.

Oh, and a tip pocket, a shot! They score! Michael Emanio! The Knights win it in overtime! 5-4 Vegas! This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Sudden death!

My favorite two words this time of the year. I remember my favorite few moments in sports, although sometimes they take longer than just a few moments to decide a tie hockey game after three periods. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio, the Maple Leafs Radio Network, the Devils Radio Network, and the Vegas Golden Knights Radio Network. Three overtime game winners from Saturday, and that was an itch. We also had OT on Sunday.

So this is what you get when you throw all these teams into the mix and when there's such a slim margin for error. And because of the nature of hockey, okay, so yes it can happen in basketball. We can have tight games. This is not about hockey being better. It's just about the fact that they don't score, theoretically, don't score 8, 9, 10 goals in a game. And you can have a team with a ton of shots on goal run into a really hot goaltender. And so it's the great equalizer between the pipes if you've got an incredible goaltender or one who's playing out of his mind for even just a, maybe it's one playoff run his entire career.

But he can be the key to his team winning the Stanley Cup. But again, because you're talking about a goal here or a goal there, there's so little margin for error that the nature of the game itself lends to these incredible sudden death climaxes. And in the first round it seems like because of the intensity and the edge and teams are feeling each other out, I mean so many incredible athletes and such cool storylines. And it's this kind of frenetic pace too.

Even when there aren't a lot of goals being scored, and by pace I just mean the fact that you've got so many games all at once. You have to catch your breath going from series to series and then as I say, you end up with these sudden death overtimes. Whether or not you know anything about the two teams, whether or not you're interested in the particular series, there's something so tense and something so intense about sudden death that it sucks you in.

I can feel it in my gut. It's hockey. Whether or not you're invested in the series, I highly recommend checking out some playoff hockey because the tension, there's really nothing like it. So yeah, we have three overtime game winners on Saturday, but we also end up with a big moment for the Edmonton Oilers.

Deadlocked at 4, Edmonton has never led. Hyman left wing for the win! He shoots and scores!

Zach Hyman! This game is over! This series is tied! 5-4 Edmonton in overtime! And like I say about the NBA and about the NFL, you've got some of the most incredible announcers when it comes to these magnanimous moments. The moments where their calls are immortalized forever.

Overtime! That's our friend Jack Michaels on the Edmonton Oilers radio network. So, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, they pick up where they left off right in the regular season. Both these guys having just, I mean, the types of seasons that you don't see very often from two teammates.

Why are you so pissy, Leon? But the fact that they do it in tandem, that they work so well together, and that the team really rallies around them, and also I think something else that stands out too is that they are trying to capitalize, trying to build on the foundation that they established in the postseason last year. Right? So, the Oilers actually were facing a three goal deficit at the end of the first period. And so, they really were counting on their stars to help bring them back. And yes, huge playoff test. This is the type of game in Los Angeles that you force into overtime after trailing by three goals right off the bat. It gives great confidence and also reminds you that you're never out of it no matter how much it feels that way or how much the scales are kind of uneven or the ice is tilted at the beginning of the game. Zach Hyman gets the overtime winner. Took about 10 minutes or so, but man, what a celebration for Oilers fans that they were able to rally and win this game against the Kings and even their series. There's a whole lot more on the line when you're talking about being a down 3-1 as opposed to a 2-2. And for Hyman, his first ever playoff winner, they couldn't waste this opportunity once they had forced overtime. So, for the Oilers, man, not just a confidence boost, but a huge sigh of relief. In playoff hockey, obviously, you've got a short period of time to make an impact or else you're not going to be playing for a long ride.

So, you don't score every game in hockey and you've just got to keep shooting, keep taking to the net, keep trying to get the fuck back. They're a good defensive team. They play tight. They play hard. And we had a lot of chances.

You've got to start burying them. Here's your nerd alert. First time since 1997 against Dallas that the Oilers rallied to win a playoff game after trailing by three or more goals. So, it hasn't happened in quite a while in their history.

This is a completely different group, obviously. And then the other storyline coming out of this is goalie Jack Campbell, who comes in to replace their starter. So, Stuart Skinner gets pulled after one period. Campbell ends up making 27 saves against his former team. I do love those moments! Those, hey, how do you like me now?

Uh-uh! So, yeah, maybe he starts game five on Tuesday in Edmonton. We will see what decision is made about the Oilers, but now back to even as you've got Kings and Oilers knotted at two. So, still to come.

And, in fact, we'll do this straight ahead. It was a Friday news dump in the NFL, but it was a doozy. A doozy dump?

Oh, no, that sounds bad. A doozy of a news dump. That sounds like Aaron Rodgers, for God's sakes. By the way, Aaron Rodgers' current team and his team of, the object of his desire. They are back negotiating again, trying to work out some type of a settlement with the NFL draft on the horizon Thursday.

I don't think so. Yeah, we're going to get to all that. I'm getting over my skis and ahead of myself, but I couldn't, I mean, I said the doozy dump and there comes the Aaron Rodgers and so that's all on me. Totally fine.

It's totally fine. So, we're going to get to a little bit of the NFL because I have a show question I want to throw out there for you based on the NFL and maybe it's something that we can weave in through the rest of the week. And then top of the hour, I promise the running story that I would say do as I say, not as I do. You'll understand coming up, maybe I'll share the photo. Good to have you with us as we morph from a weekend into another work week. We'll be right back.

This is after hours with Amy Lawrence. Jameson Williams was a highly touted draft pick by the Lions last year. So 2022 number 12 overall is here with Dan Miller on the Lions radio network now he only played in six games. And he just had one catch. Weirdly enough, it was a 41 yard touchdown that was it.

That's all he had. However, they had high hopes for him until Friday. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS sports radio. We're going to go back to Friday and give you the Ian Rappaport news breaker because he was the one who dropped the bombshell until you're going to get it again as if it's happening on Friday morning, but this was something that I was really anxious to talk about even when I saw it as I woke up on Friday. Four Lions players, one commander's player suspended for violations of the NFL's gambling policy that includes star receiver Jameson Williams of the Detroit Lions. Here are the specifics on the players. Jameson Williams, the Lions star mentioned he gets a six game suspension. Stanley Berryhill, another receiver, also six games and then three players with indefinite suspensions.

Essentially what that means is they are suspended at least a year with the opportunity to reapply. After one year, those players are Quinton Cephas, the receiver from the Detroit Lions, CJ Moore, a defensive back and special teamer and Chaka Tony from the Washington commanders, a young defensive end. He is suspended indefinitely as well and obviously this comes on the heels of the other major suspension that has come over the last couple of years. Calvin Ridley, the former member of the Falcons, now a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was suspended indefinitely a year. The only other major suspension recently I would say that this could compare to, but obviously major, major news in the NFL world today. Some significant violations of the NFL's gambling policy. Ian Rappaport on NFL Network.

We know a little more information now than we did, but that was him delivering the breaking news. So four Lions, including Jameson Williams, and then a member of the Washington commanders. So you got a couple of guys who were suspended indefinitely because they bet on NFL games.

That is the standard. That's why Calvin Ridley was suspended for a year. Why he had to apply for reinstatement. Why he told us. I was in a really dark place. I knew better. I knew the rules.

Kind of mindless. Wasn't being disciplined. Was away from the team. 1500 bucks.

That's it. And he served a year suspension. And whether or not you believe that the punishment fits the crime, the NFL made it very clear with Ridley that this was the penalty for betting on NFL games. And there's a reason for it. It's one of those do as I say, not as I do type of things because the NFL is obviously in bed with a bunch of different betting companies, sports books, online gaming in various states where the laws have opened up. And I think it's even more than half the of the US now has sports gambling laws in place or will soon have sports gambling laws in place. Because of that, the NFL is making money by partnering with these companies, but are even, but the league officials are even more stressed out about finding any player who dares to cross that line. There's no surprise here.

And this is what blows me away. It's not like these guys were the first to do it. Nah. Calvin Ridley was already the guinea pig. And yet somehow these five players thought it was a good idea to place bets.

Now, worse is to place bets on NFL games. And so that's Quinta Cephas and CJ Moore who are now suspended indefinitely along with Shaka Toney of the commanders. So all three of those guys are now about to go through the same situation as Calvin Ridley. They have to serve their year and then they can apply for reinstatement.

But that's not a gimme. Now generally the NFL does go ahead and reinstate guys as long as they've toed the line. So there's no guarantee these guys will ever get back into the league. And CJ Moore is not a young pup.

Right? So it's just one of those situations that boggles my mind. I don't know how you don't use Calvin Ridley as a cautionary tale and know better. Do you just not think you're going to get caught? There are records of these things.

Especially if it's online. And Detroit has already released Cephas and Moore. Now Williams and Berryhill will serve six games because they did mobile betting, but actually they did it at the Lions facility.

Again, what are you doing? There's being dumb and being unaware or just blatantly thinking the rules don't apply to you. Those two guys did not bet on NFL games. And of course the NFL has to make its standard statement about how it uncovered no evidence, showing that there was inside intel or inside info, or that any game was compromised, of course. You actually had a franchise-wide problem. Well, I shouldn't say franchise-wide. You had deeper tendrils within the Lions organization because you had several staff members in various departments that got fired last month because they violated the gambling policy as well. So players have been cut.

Staffers have been let go. It seems pretty cut and dry to me. And again, I don't know why these players would risk it considering what the NFL did as a penalty for Calvin Ridley. The rules are players and personnel for any NFL team cannot bet on football games, on the draft, on any league-related activities under any circumstances. And they cannot place bets while at a team facility or on team-related travel. They could have placed the bets from their homes.

As long as it's not on NFL games, they are allowed to engage in online gambling or just in general if they live in a place where you're allowed to bet on sports, but you cannot do it at work. Duh! Duh!

So they couldn't wait to get away from the Lions facilities in order to place their bets? I'm just blown away by that. I'm shocked.

But here's my question to you. Now that we've had, what, six players suspended for gambling? A. Do you think there are more, even with these cautionary tales?

B. Does it bother you? How do you feel about NFL players gambling? Let's say they don't bet on football because football, obviously, it should be the one area where they should be placing no bets. But do you care? Or do you think the NFL should have this major crackdown to send a message, which clearly wasn't received last season? That's not so. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio.