8-2-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

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That's BetterHelp H-E-L-P dot com slash positive. Hey, Rob Bradford here. I have set out on a mission with my good friends at FanDuel to prove what I have known for some time. Baseball isn't boring. Now I have a daily podcast to prove it with some of the most notable people in the baseball world, screaming baseball isn't boring for the mountaintops, or at least agreeing to come on our show. Players, managers, GMs, and yes, even the commissioner of baseball, Rob Manfred.

It has been a constant wave of baseball's both powerful voices. So join the revolution. Subscribe and soak in.

Baseball isn't boring. Listen on your Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. You'll be glad you did. Quite the unconventional ending to the last hour.

No mention of the show or the network. Not just my favorite Christmas song belting it out because I do in fact want a hippopotamus for Christmas. Perfect. It's no longer Christmas in July though.

It's now Christmas in August. Are you mad? Are you mad, bro?

Well, that's almost a big tease to the peeps. I don't. He won't. He won't have to use a dirty chimney blue. Just bring him through the front door.

That's the easy thing to do. We need a movie out of this. So good. Thank you.

You just saved my whole morning. What is better on a hump show than a hippopotamus? It's the hump hippopotamus. Oh no, it sounds funny. It's the hippopotamus hump. Nope, not that either.

Strike that from the record, please. It's the hungry hungry hippos or something. I can't use any more analogies or use the word hump in there at all because it just comes out the wrong way, if you will. So just back to Christmas in August.

Yeah, don't stick with that. Happy August to you. Happy hump show. Happy hump day if you're waking up on your Wednesday. I'm back. I can't say I'm better than ever, but I am back.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. My travel was perfect. TSA PreCheck is the new love of my life. Shopping went well. Dinners went well. Dogs sitting, not so much.

But all family time, awesome. And I survived the Houston heat and the 1000% humidity actually worked out in the heat three times. I was outside for exercise three different times, plus the pool. The pool was the first night I got there to Houston. The pool was 94 degrees. 94 degrees. Putting our, we only put our feet in the first night.

It was not refreshing at all. That's when the dog fell in. The next day it had cooled off to 90. And it was still in the shade. So in the evenings we were in and it was 90. And then on Saturday morning after working out, it was still a little cooler overnight, not a lot, but a little cooler overnight. It actually had, the temp had plummeted to 89. And the pool was very refreshing. At 89 degrees, it was actually pretty, it was a cool 89. It was pretty refreshing.

When we were taking photos around the pool, no one fell in. So that was also, yay. It was a bonus.

That's a win. I almost, I almost pushed Bob in. I almost did. Could you imagine? Just for the hell of it?

It was after, yeah, it was after we had, we weren't dressed up per se, but we had gotten a little more put together because we wanted to take some photos. And I just thought if I'm evil, I would push him in. I did. But then the thing is he would have pulled me in and I did not want to go in. So turnabout is fair play, right? And I decided how about not push him in when he's wearing nice shirt, you know, a button down short sleeve shirt and shorts. But it wasn't looking out for him. No, it was more looking out for me. Yeah, I didn't, I didn't want to go in. Not in the outfit I was wearing. It would have been brutal. So anyway, we took some nice pictures.

Bob remained dry. All is well. If you did not hear your question answered on Ask Amy Anything, producer J has already informed me. We have some holdovers. We have some rollovers, if you will, that we will get to on the next edition of Ask Amy. But you can continue to send your questions throughout the week, whether it's on Twitter, A Law Radio, or on our Facebook page, we will get to them at some point because he does keep a running tally. And we also do periodic video versions of Ask Amy Anything. If you missed the latest, it's a sum sum summertime edition. And it's on our YouTube channel.

After Hours with Amy Lawrence, phone number 855-212-4227. I do love the one two punch for the World Series champions, the Houston Astros. A little bit of irony here, but they definitely send a loud message to the rest of the American League, if not to the rest of the the majors, in that if you come at the Kings, if you come at the champions, you best not miss because they've got not only a young ace in Framber Valdez, but they have reacquired. It's kind of funny, the stories don't say they've acquired Justin Verlander. They've reacquired Justin Verlander.

And I think it's goofy, right? This serves the Astros right. You decide not to pursue him aggressively after he won a Cy Young and helped you to another World Series. And he got his first World Series win as well. You decide not to pursue him aggressively. Now, maybe you wouldn't have won the Justin Verlander sweepstakes because the Mets were willing to outbid pretty much anybody.

They give him a ton of money. He starts the season on the DL and maybe the Astros think, good, we made the right choice there. We were smart. We were conservative and frugal with our spending, except you've also been chasing the Texas Rangers the entire season.

The Rangers have been on top of that division for pretty much the entirety of 2023. So in order to reinsert Justin Verlander into your starting rotation, you have to go out and get him. Granted, the Mets are paying a sizable chunk of his salary, but you had to give up a top prospect to bring him back. Money's nothing.

They make more every day. You could afford the salary. You're a two-time World Series champion since 17, trash cans. You could have afforded to pay him. And I'm not saying he would have taken a discount or should he, but you just didn't want to deal with it because he was at the height of his return from the injury, right, with the World Series win, another ring, and then the Cy Young on top of that. Instead, he goes to the Mets, but then you decide, oh, we've made a horrible mistake, but now you have to give up one of your top prospects in order to bring him back.

So all of that takes place. Dusty Baker, you know, he's had some health issues in the past, but he says this will help, actually. That improves my heart's function.

You know what I mean? And for a guy who had a stroke, heart function is very, very important, you know, and that does my heart, it does my heart well. Yeah, so forget how this helps the baseball team. It just improves my heart function.

That's all that matters, or it's the most important thing that matters. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio, hours later, and I had to look this up because I did not remember the dates, hours later, the Astros pitched their third no-hitter in just over 13 months. It's been 15 no-hitters in the Astros franchise history. 11 of them have been complete game no-hitters. The last one by a guy the Astros just traded for today.

Here's the 0-2 to Gallagher. Broken bat, soft liner, Pena catches it, and a no-hitter from Robert Valdez. First one to greet him is Maldonado, and the rest of his teammates pile on. Robert Valdez throws the 16th no-hitter in Houston Astros history.

With the day that the Astros got their ace back, their other ace emerges. Promper all smiles. Dusty Baker gives him a big hug, and it seemed easy, Robert.

It seemed easy the whole way. I feel great. I was like, thanks to God, thanks to my catcher and my team who did a great job, and just very grateful for this.

It's a wonderful day, and he started out with the bang. I mean, he had his breaking ball from the very, very beginning. Today his concentration was at a superior level, and him and Maldy worked great together. Martin Maldonado able to catch a no-hitter from one pitcher this time, though. He had a part in the one that went back to June 25th of last year, and then they also had one in the playoffs as well, and so three now no-hitters.

The last two were combined, though. I just know Ryan Presley was involved in both of them, so that goes back now 13 months, and Promper Valdez becomes the next one in line for the Houston Astros, and he was dominant. You hear Dusty Baker say 93 pitches, seven strikeouts, one solo base runner, one measly base runner in the fifth inning on a walk. Otherwise, this is a perfect game for Promper against the Cleveland Guardians, the 29-year-old from the Dominican Republic. First career no-hitter, of course, and this is hours after they reacquire Justin Verlander, and kind of neat, too.

A little bit of mini redemption for him. You hear Robert Ford and Steve Sparks talk about how he becomes their new ace. Last start against the Rangers. He gave up eight hits and six runs, which were both season highs for him, and therein is the battle that will ensue. Rangers, Astros. Same number of wins now. Astros are one game back in the loss column. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. I actually love this, and we're going to get to to Mad Max.

It's an easy transition. I love the arc and the journey that these two pitchers have been on, going back to their days in Detroit. Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer were both Cy Young Award winners in Detroit. Mad Max ends up with the Nationals, wins a World Series. Justin Verlander gets traded midway through 17, ends up with the Astros, wins a World Series. He's a major reason why they won. I'm not going to say it again.

I'm not going to reference the receptacles again. Anyway, they win with him. He goes through serious injury, of course, wins another Cy Young, another World Series, gets his first World Series win, and then he's a free agent at 40 years old. Meanwhile, Max Scherzer had already made the jump to a different NLE's team in the Mets. They reunite on the New York staff for all of seven months and to not much success for either one of them. And now they've both been dispatched to other teams in the same division. I mean, it's fascinating these two. I've actually never heard either one talk about the relationship. Maybe they have at some point, but you could imagine it is not only it is deeply rooted and they know each other really well. They're both Bulldog pitchers. They're both big gamers, or they have been in the past. They're both obviously scuffling right now, and they're about to face each other in the same division. Kind of interesting how their relationship and their status as teammates has ebbed and flowed and ebbed and flowed, and now they're going to see each other again, but on opposite sides in the same division.

I think it's pretty cool. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. So yes, Max Scherzer introduced by the Rangers on Tuesday. You may remember Chris Young. A little bit of connection here because he pitched for both the Mets and the Astros. I'm sorry, Mets and Rangers.

My fault. Mets and Rangers during his tenure in the big leagues, and now he's the general manager of the Rangers. Really excited. Obviously, Max's pedigree is a future Hall of Fame pitcher, and the winner that he is is a perfect fit for what we need right now. Always said that you can never have enough starting pitching, and to add somebody of Max's caliber is a great addition to our club, and we're really excited to get him.

It was a lot of hard work by a number of people. The front office, scouting department, and eventually we landed the player that we felt like is going to help us get where we want to go this year. We're pumped about it. I mean, we're getting to experience a guy with a tremendous resume, and so we're very excited to have Max join us.

I just want to fly in tomorrow. He'll take a bullpen, and right now we have him scheduled to pitch on Thursday, but yeah, I look forward to seeing him, meeting him, getting to know him. So Bruce Bocci says starting on Thursday.

He was just introduced on Tuesday. He's nine and four, Mad Max's. His ERA is north of four. It's actually 4.01, so he's had a roller coaster ride of a season at best. It's been brutal at times, and this goes back to his start in the wild card game last year. I mean, that's when the shine started to come off with Max Scherzer anyway.

He had the 10-game suspension because of the sticky substance that was so sticky, the umpire's hands were sticking together. It's an unfortunate situation, and he did have to wave his no-trade clause in order to get traded to the Rangers. Now, Marco Belletti, who's been with us tonight, indicates that he thinks it's a conspiracy theory.

The Mets told him that they were planning to tank essentially in 2024 so that he would want out, so he would wave his no-trade clause. Producer J, do you believe that that could be accurate? I hope not. I don't think that's the answer. That's not an answer. I don't. I don't think that's accurate. Okay. You don't think Steve Cohen and Billy Epler, the general manager of the Mets, told him that we're planning on rebuilding tanking, not competing in 2024 so that he would say, never mind, I'm out of here?

No. I mean, yeah, I don't believe that. I don't buy that.

All right. Well, this payroll of the Mets that is the most in baseball history now includes players who are on other teams. Steve Cohen goes out and writes checks like money grows on trees, and maybe for him it does. Maybe he's got a money tree or two or three on his property, but now they're paying for players on other rosters because they trade Tommy Pham and Mark Hannah, David Robertson, that was, was that last week?

David Robertson last week, Justin Berlander, Max Scherzer, my goodness, a reliever in there too. If you are one of the guys on the Mets like Pete Alonso or Brendan Nimmo, Francisco Lindor, you've got to wonder what's coming down the pike for you, which, and Pete Alonso loves the Mets. I just, I can't imagine they were part ways with him, but he needs a contract.

He does need a contract, exactly. So is Steve Cohen actually planning on backpedaling and trying to save money now after building this incredibly expensive payroll? Well, Max Scherzer says the owner told him the Mets are punting on 24. I said, okay, you know, that's a brand new brand news to me, different than what I'd ever heard out of Steve's mouth.

I was like, all right, I got to hear this directly from Steve. So I had a phone call with Steve and he basically articulated the same vantage point that that was the new vision for the Mets. That was a new timeline that they were identifying and that, you know, players that were under contract for next year, that they could be potentially sold off at the deadline right now. Now that happened with a few more guys, but it didn't happen with some of the the position players who were under contract. Like Lindor has another decade with the Mets. So anyway, that's what Mad Max says.

Now Billy Eppler, who's the general manager, did not issue a denial of sorts. He was also talking about a Tuesday. Going into 2024, you know, we don't see ourselves that we'll have in the same odds that we did in 2022, 2023, but we will field the competitive team in 2024.

And so now is a time where we start to think about what opportunities can exist in the winter time, what kind of resources that we'll have at our disposal and put our best foot forward. So he says we will not have the same chances, meaning we're not going to field the same kind of team, but he did say they would be competitive. I can't imagine that Cohen's going to sit around and even though he's brought in all these top prospects, essentially paid for prospects now, that he's going to be content with watching them stink because he's a fan. He can't stand watching. He bought them because he wants to bring a world series to the New York Mets. He wants to see the Mets as champions and that's one of the reasons why he shelled out all the money to buy the franchise because he believed that he could that he could spend the money to turn them into a contender where previous owners had not. Well, they've done all kinds of other things with the money, but this first experiment in pursuing these high profile free agents and pitchers has not worked out and they had to do something, but man it feels like they pulled the plug quickly on Verlander anyway. That part feels quick, but is it true that they're going back to the drawing board and they're scrapping the big money plan and now they're going to start with prospects and rebuild their farm system?

I don't know. It remains to be seen, but Scherzer and Verlander out of there. Do you believe they're going to tank Producer J?

No, I don't think they're going to tank. I fully expect Steve Cohen to throw a massive offer at Shohei Ohtani. Whether he takes it or not, I don't, you know, I don't know about that, but I fully expect the Mets to be up there with the top bidders for Ohtani.

I surely expect that. And just looking at the free agent class next year, I don't really know who's out there other than Ohtani, who the Mets would want to spend on anyway. I mean, they need pitching. Marcus Stroman is probably the next best available pitcher if he's available.

That was a nightmare the first time, but they just got rid of two of them. Yeah, I mean, but so I don't see them spending a lot next year unless it's on Ohtani just because the pieces aren't really there to make them over the top, but I don't think they're going to be tanking. I think they want to read to the farm system, which is what Cohen has said from the beginning. And he just kind of essentially bought a farm system, which has never happened before. So it's not like a tank where it's going to take five to seven years of losing.

He just bought a farm system because he can do that. So it's going to be quicker than a normal rebuild. Tough division though.

Phillies, we know have got a lot of talent and the Braves right now are the best team in the National League. So we'll see what happens moving forward. If you missed my conversation with Scott Miller from San Diego, great insight on the Ohtani situation in Anaheim and why it's not just about the playoff chase, why the Angels ultimately chose to keep him. So definitely check that out. Also, I asked him, will baseball investigate these comments by Mad Max attributed to Billy Epler and Steve Cohen? Will baseball find out whether or not the Mets intend to make the 24th season a sacrificial lamb, if you will, and really not attempt to compete. So find that on our Facebook page or Twitter after our CBS when we post the link to the podcast.

All of our guests are podcasted separately and the link will be available right after the show every weekday morning. Coming up, it's one of the most decorated players in the history of the U.S. Women's National team versus the current team. And it's got a little spicy. U.S. women lucky to advance. I don't believe in luck, actually. Fortunate to advance. Even at now, as I look up, I see the Portugal shot that hits the post. Oh, my gosh. They were shell shocked after the draw with Portugal and nearly getting eliminated.

But on to group stage. Good morning to you. It's our hump show after hours with Amy Lawrence, Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. It does pass ahead. Headed forward.

Look out there. A break. A shot. Behind the back line. We've got minutes of stoppage time that's going to do it. Wow. That's all we can say.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Little bit of an incredulous reaction after Team USA, the two time reigning champion at the Women's World Cup, placed to a draw against Portugal and in the 91st minute. So stoppage time. Portugal barely, barely misses putting in the only goal of the match.

It clangs off the post. But if it had been even three inches to the left, it is in the back of the net. I mean, you watch it and your jaw drops open. That's the response there on Fox from the announcers who were calling this game for Team USA. And as you may know, if you're watching the coverage on Fox, Carly Lloyd, who has been part of not just World Cup winners, but also Olympics. She's one of the recently retired American soccer players, but has been a staple and has obviously had some pretty incredible moments herself. Remember the three goals in the first half of their World Cup going back, was it eight years ago? I think it was 16, but it's July 4th week, 2016. The pandemic with like moving the World Cups around kind of messed me up now.

And I forget the years that they were. But she is sitting at the desk and she's obviously got a very high standard for Team USA. She's been through the training. She's been through the rigor. She understands that the Americans set the tone for the rest of the world. They're the top team in the world.

They've got the targets on their backs. And she did not like what she saw. Again, this is someone who played the highest level for years on the team and was the star of their 2015 World Cup win. And she did not like seeing some of her former teammates as well as some of the newer players actually celebrating. Now they did advance to the knockout stage barely, but she did not like seeing them jubilant after what she considered to be a lackluster draw.

Just seeing these images for the first time right now on the desk. I have never witnessed something like that. There's a difference between being respectful of the fans and saying hello to your family, but to be dancing, to be smiling. I mean, the player of the match was that post.

You were lucky to not be going home right now. So she's serious and she doesn't like the fact that they don't have a more sober response to the fact that they nearly got eliminated. And again, she has played at the highest level. If it's going to come from anyone, it has to come from someone like her, right?

It's not going to be respected. There's no credibility or equity if it comes from someone who wasn't on that pitch on the biggest stage in sports. So she's been there and obviously as a veteran, recently retired veteran, feels like they should be a little more, I mean, not just sober, but a little more concerned about the way that they played or the lack of what she felt like was effort. So then later, the coach of Team USA, Vlatko Andanovsky, he is sitting at the desk or the desk press conference and he's asked about Carly Lloyd and her comments and others who would criticize Team USA. One thing that I want to say is that this team wanted to win this game more than anything else and they've put everything they could in preparation for this tournament and in every game that it goes. So to question the mentality of this team, to question the willingness to win, to compete, I think it's insane. But I've never seen this team step on the field and not try hard or not compete.

So everyone is entitled to opinion and they can say whatever they want, but I just know how this team feels. And it's not like we played well, but by any means, we owned it, we know it's not good enough. We're not happy with our performance, but we qualified for the next round.

We're moving on. It's not for lack of chances. I mean, we just couldn't put it in the back of the net. Goalkeeper did well to keep it out of the net. They were extremely physical. They did what they needed to side tackle. We could have made other decisions or been a little bit more patient on certain crosses or certain areas on the wide areas. But overall, you have to think about the fact that every game is so challenging. I mean, these teams are the best in the world.

The quality is continuing to raise every single year. You're seeing that from every single game, this World Cup, and tonight that showed that as well. And we are happy that we're moving on. So that's Alex Morgan, who was a teammate of Karlie Lloyd's. Karlie was on the team for 16 years. And as I say, she has played on the stage. She's excelled on this stage. And her comments, they went on.

So we just had a clip there from Fox. But what Andunovski was responding to is that she said, you put on that jersey and you want to give it everything you have for the people that came before you and the people that are going to come after you. And I'm just not seeing that passion.

Here's the money quote from Karlie Lloyd. I'm just seeing a very lackluster, uninspiring, taking it for granted, where winning and training and doing all that you can do to be the best possible individual player is not happening. Now, Portugal is number 21 in the world.

So I get what Alex Morgan says. Obviously, the Portuguese did in fact qualify for the World Cup, which means they belong there. But they're not anywhere near the caliber of Team USA when they're playing at full strength. Again, if it's going to come from anyone, it's more respected coming from Karlie. She has a high standard.

She was always very hard on herself. And she represented the team with the armband at times. She knows what it takes to win. There's no doubting that the Americans have been playing with fire in group stage. This is actually the worst they've ever performed in the group stage of a Women's World Cup. They've never advanced with only one win.

That's it. They had the one win, the two draws. Remember there was a draw. I forgot who they were playing before that there was the other draw against. No, Vietnam was their first game that they won. That was when Sophia Smith scored twice. The Netherlands, right? The Netherlands, they were also fortunate to draw there.

And now they have Sweden coming up. I know it's about surviving and advancing, but Karlie does have a point. And she can recognize it because she's been there. I can understand though for athletes is tough because you used to play with these commentators in some cases. You bristle at the fact that they're supposed to know you and understand you and be on your side.

And yet Karlie has a job to do. It really is a tough line to walk for a lot of athletes who then go into broadcasting, which is why I tell them welcome to the dark side. You got to figure out the balance between using what you know and your connections and giving inside information, sometimes pertinent information with the criticism, which sometimes again your former teammates will take hard. It wasn't criticism from a former teammate. It was actually criticism from a coach. A new coach who's taking over a team that is definitely falling into the dumpers, as Dan Campbell will say, he publicly criticizes the guy who had the job before him.

And now we've got a bit of war of words over it. We're back in the dumpers again. You're back in the dumpers again.

Yeah. They've been in the dumpers for quite a while. Those Denver Broncos you'll hear about Sean. You're from Sean Payton, as well as the target of his attack coming up.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on Twitter, ALawRadio, also on our Facebook page. Good Wednesday morning. Almost said Monday. Good Wednesday morning to you. It's the hump day.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. When we get into the off season, you know, I'm going to park a car with no rear view mirrors, side view mirrors. Those will all be gone. You know, we got to get past all those difficult things. It was a tough year. I didn't see any articles from any of you prior to week one or week two, and that was happening. But that's what happens when you lose.

Everything gets looked at closely. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Sean Payton had indicated he wanted to put last year's season behind him. Even though he's the brand new coach of the Denver Broncos, he was chiding the media a little bit for kind of piling on and bringing up some of the struggles and recognizing, hey, there's nothing that we can do about that now.

Yes, the Broncos have missed the playoffs every year since Super Bowl 50, but all we can do is move forward. All we can do now is try to revive Russell Wilson's career. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Now, the thing is, Sean Payton also made some pointed comments to USA Today. This is last week, where he told the outlet that Nathaniel Hackett, remember, got fired after 15 games coaching the Broncos last season. He was, quote, one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL, and there were, quote, 20 dirty hands around Russell Wilson.

As you can imagine, that made ripple effects around not just the NFL ranks, but around the sports world. It's After Hours here on CBS Sports Radio. So I think I just said that, but sometimes I drop it in, and it happens twice in 30 seconds because it's been a long time of hosting the show. Anyway, if I said it twice, at least now you won't forget. That's what it is. I didn't say anything I didn't say anything incorrect.

I do tend to err on the side of over-communicating. Anyway, so Sean Payton makes waves because he says Hackett's tenure with the Broncos is, quote, one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL. As producer Jay just said to me, it's not like you're incorrect, you're not wrong, but still, wait, worse than Steve Wilks in Arizona, that was pretty bad. Worse than Nick Saban in Miami, that was pretty bad. We could go through some bad ones. Worse than Josh McDaniels in Denver, that was also pretty bad, yeah.

Joe Judge in New York was pretty bad. Ben McAdoo before that. Oh, Ben McAdoo, as I call him. Yes, okay, so that was the original quote from Sean Payton. Of course, it got back to Nathaniel Hackett very quickly, as in very quickly. And he was asked about it because he was going to be asked about it.

And he sort of responds, now it's more cryptic comments. I've been involved in this business my whole life, 43 years. And as a coach, you know, as a coach's kid, you know, we live in a glass house. We know that. We all live in different rooms. We all got a key for it.

And it's one of those things that there's a code, there's a way things are done in that house. And, you know, this past week, it's frustrating and it sucks, but we're all susceptible to it. There are things that you do, mistakes you make. And it costs you time on the field, costs you your job, all those things. And I own all that stuff.

I mean, it's that fact. I got no excuses. That's how we live here at the New York Jets. That's how we've lived everywhere I've been, no excuses.

So I own all those things. And it's unfortunate that that had to happen, that the comments that were made, but hey, they did. I'll tell you, I was probably more surprised that they happen now.

I was definitely expecting them in week five. So I'm almost thankful that we got that, you know, out of the way. We all understand where certain people feel and think.

Certain people feel and think. And I'll tell you, you can always look at that silver lining. And man, this organization, these players, the coaches, Salah, just the entire organization, Woody, I mean, Jaime, I mean, Gelfand, everybody has been unbelievable. I think that's something that is just awesome. It's brought our team together. Nathaniel Hackett refers to week five when the Jets, for whom he is now the offensive coordinator, will face the Broncos in Denver. Now, Sean Payton obviously had the chance to respond, and this time he did it with microphones in front of his face. I had one of those moments where I still had my Fox hat on and not my coaching hat on. And, you know, I said this to the team in the meeting yesterday.

We've had a great offseason relative to that, you know, and I've been preaching that message. And here I am, the veteran, you know, stepping in it. And, you know, it was it was a learning experience for me. It was a mistake.

Obviously, I needed a little bit more filter. You know, there's a pound of flesh for these guys. As a coach, you stick up for them. And after a while, you know, we're past that season last year. And, you know, I said what I said, and obviously I needed a little bit more restraint. And I regret that.

What was I just saying about Karlie Lloyd? It is a tough line to walk when you have to use your past, your wisdom, your experience, your credibility. And in order to keep a job in the media, you have to be interesting.

You have to add something to the broadcast. Otherwise, why would they keep you? The reason you're on the desk, the reason you're an analyst, is because you can offer insight that most people do not and cannot. So as a, he was an active, well, he was an inactive coach, but he was still a coach in the NFL. He was wearing both the title of analyst and coach because the New Orleans Saints still retained his rights. He was still a coach, but he had to use his platform to come up with interesting insight to earn his keep. And trust me, athletes and coaches that turn to broadcasting, I don't want to say they're a dime a dozen, but there are plenty who are willing to try it. So if you don't say anything that captures anyone's attention or keeps people interested, then yeah, they'll go find someone else. So in Sean Payton's case though, he was no longer a broadcaster and he says he crossed the line and he forgot that he was a coach again.

And that's what I was talking about with Carly. She's trying to give her honest opinion based on her past and her experience, but you definitely ruffle feathers. Now, Nathaniel Hackett says Payton crossed the line and broke that kind of unwritten code. Again, I think he has a point because Payton was still a coach, even though he was also a broadcaster. You don't need to be Urban Meyer, right?

So you can say what you need to say without using hyperbole or superlatives. You don't need to call them the worst. That wasn't the worst. We can think of a few that were worse. Thank you.

He didn't even last 15 games. So maybe come up with a way to use some grace. Again, I understand in broadcasting what happens. People rant. They go to extremes. It's the worst this.

It's the worst that. We got to rank everything. But you're a coach as well. And in fact, you were a coach first. And then Aaron Rodgers had to jump in because he's got a long standing relationship with Hackett and likely the reason that Hackett is the worst is because Hackett and likely the reason that Hackett is the OC in New York now.

Those comments were very surprising. To for a coach to do that to another coach. My love for that goes deep. You know, we had some great years together in Green Bay, kept in touch, love him and his family. He's an incredible family man, incredible dad. And on the field, you know, he's arguably my favorite coach I've ever had in the NFL.

Just his approach to it, how he makes it fun, how he cares about the guys, just how he goes about his business with respect, with leadership, with honesty, with integrity. And it made me feel bad that someone who's accomplished a lot in the league is that insecure that they have to take another man down to set themselves up for some sort of easy fall if it doesn't go well for that team this year. I thought it was way out of line and appropriate and I think he needs to keep my coach's names out of his mouth. Mic drop from Aaron Rodgers. I will say this, normally we're pretty goofy about Aaron around here because he gives us plenty of material. I appreciate you can hear that he is fired up. That is 100% controlled anger from Aaron Rodgers. And as someone, as a daughter, sister, auntie, friend, all of those things, all those titles I wear who goes to the, I'll go to the math to defend the people that I care about. If you come after someone I love, I'll be doing the same thing. I respect Aaron Rodgers mightily.

It's gonna be hard to cancel me. Keep your, keep my coach's name out of your mouth. I think Sean Payton went overboard. I think he went over the top. Not necessary. We can talk more about it because the Jets play preseason on Thursday night. It's after hours, CBS Sports Radio. Boom.