After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

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You'll be glad you did. Good morning to you. It's a Thursday. Thursday, August 10th.

Wowsers. I feel like the summer is going relatively slowly because I'm waiting for big things on the horizon, but I also recognize that it is flying along and football season will be here before you know it. We're now sitting on the Thursday morning of the first week of the NFL preseason officially. I know we had the Hall of Fame game, but that's definitely not the focus and we saw almost no one who will actually make the teams or be playing significant minutes once the season kicks off with the Browns and the Jets last week in Canton.

So coming up tonight, the Houston Texans, the New England Patriots, the Minnesota Vikings, the Seattle Seahawks. Ooh, a lot of fun storylines there with CJ Stroud, who is expected to start for D'Amico Ryans in the Texans' first preseason game. And they'll be face to face or I guess across the field from old friend or maybe old foe Bill O'Brien, the new offensive coordinator for the Patriots.

Seems to be chatter coming out of New England about Mac Jones and whether or not, I almost said Mac Brown, whether or not he is the right start or the right fit. Does he have what it takes? Can he open up the offense? Can he be the guy that creates a little more versatility with the offense and gets it moving? Can it be more than just three yards in a cloud of dust, if you will? Can they find some downfield pizazz? Can they find a little energy with the offense?

Is it Mac Jones or is it Bailey Zappi? That still is a question there in New England. Of course, Bill Belichick's not going to answer it. I appreciate the question. I really do.

He's such a liar. So, Patriots and Texans tonight and that's followed. That's a double header.

How about that? Both of these games on NFL Network, in case you are interested. Kirk Cousins, the Minnesota Vikings and the Seattle Seahawks, who do not have to answer questions about their quarterback this fall because it is Geno Smith firmly entrenched there with Pete Carroll. So look, your synopsis for preseason week number one. You missed it earlier. I mentioned that there was a listener who asked on Facebook if I would be able to watch all of the preseason action this weekend. And my response was really a rhetorical question or an investigative question.

Am I able to or do I want to? It's still a little bit too early to get super excited about what we see preseason week number one. The idea though is you don't want any significant injuries. We're already getting a few.

Obviously, they do happen every year. Don't want to see them happen this week in the preseason. That's goal number one. Goal number two is to get to preseason week number two.

That's goal number two. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. A lot of starters actually are expected to be on the field this weekend, running Thursday through Sunday. So no Monday Night Football this week. Oh gosh, it would be so much fun to have a Monday Night version of the Mannings during preseason.

They'd be even goofier than normal. But no, it's actually a doubleheader on Sunday. All the games this weekend, at least the ones that air on national TV, will be on NFL Network. So I know we had the Hall of Fame game on NBC, but none of the ABC, CBS, ESPN, blah, blah, blah. It's all NFL Network this weekend. Week one. Let's just get it out of the way.

It's still the dog days. Don't let me fool you with talking about preseason football. You can find me on Twitter, ALawRadio, our Facebook page too.

It is a smorgasbord on this edition of the show. We'll get to a little bit of baseball. We did talk to our Colts insider earlier in the show.

Love that James Boyd is a night owl. And we tried to get to the bottom of the Jonathan Taylor situation. What is the status of the Colts star running back? So you will hear from him coming up. We've got the NFC version of QB News, again to get you set for the preseason weekend. And still want you to hear from some of these Northwestern players who are trying to adjust in the midst of distraction and coaching changes.

And a lot of what's happened there, it's kind of fall on their shoulders to keep some normalcy. And I know I biffed on it last night and I kind of felt bad about it. So Jay, do you think we will have time to get to Steph Curry and his singing? I think so.

You think so? Okay, because I hate it when I do this relatively often, at least once a week. Where I tease you all with something good, usually a really good piece of audio, and then we run out of time. Why does that happen? Why do I run out of time?

Do I talk too much? Don't answer that question. Okay. Before we get to the biggest story in sports from Wednesday night, I just need to know whether or not the smell has dissipated. Because you took my advice. You removed that trash can from inside your control room. You sprayed Glade up your nose. I don't know if that worked or not. I do know that you shut the door. You had the door open to try to air out the control room. The door is now closed. The trash can has disappeared. I granted you some time during the show.

I mean, this is the type of host I am. I'll carry the show if you need to get that trash can out. So I just said, Jay, go. It's fine.

I can man the ship all by myself. That was very nice of you. I think the trash can was the culprit because the smell in here has been much less. So I've taken it out. I've sprayed more Glade. Do I have anything left in my can of Glade spray?

Because that is technically my can of Glade spray. Yeah, but it was needed here. It was a crisis situation. It was an emergency.

It absolutely was. There is Glade left. As in a 911 emergency. But there's some left in my can of Glade? Yeah, there's Glade left. Will you be replacing that at some point? Maybe. If you all missed it, Jay, I think it was on purpose, sprayed Glade directly up his nose and into his nasal passages and then down into his lungs.

It's like still in there a little bit. If you keel over this hour, that's it. You're fired. Whoa, we got bigger problems.

No, you're going to keel over. Wait until the show is done, okay? I'll try. Alright. You're welcome.

I will try. I am so smart. I knew the trash can was the culprit.

It was a good move. I suppose I could have told you two hours beforehand, but. Well, I wasn't sure if it was a food or if it was a lingering. It was definitely a food. No, that was not me. That was definitely a food.

Yeah, I wasn't sure. No, I'm sure that was. It smelled like some kind of rank food. It was horrible. It is horrible.

It still is. It's out there. I think you're going to have to wash those clothes. I might have to burn them. Okay, in the studio, probably not. But yes, I did suggest lighting a match, but since the food was still in there at the time, that wasn't going to work. I think you could still use a match, to be honest.

It's not like totally clear in here. What do you think happens if we light a match in either one of these rooms? I don't know. Do we have sprinkler systems in here? Oh, that would be so much fun. That would take care of the food issue. It would. It would douse the food.

It would probably take us off the air forever. Do you see any sprinklers? I don't see them.

That might be against code. Having them or not having them? Against building code. I'm not having them. You don't see any sprinklers in your room.

I don't see them. I think probably because the engineers would be apoplectic if the equipment got wet. Oh, so let's save the equipment, not the lives. That's good. Yeah, I know.

I mean, think about the amount of money this equipment costs. How much is my life worth? Is that a rhetorical question? Don't answer that. Wow. I feel like you set me up there.

You put a ball in a tee and wanted me to hit it out of the park. Yeah, I don't see any sprinklers in here. I see a lot of dangling wires though.

Just no sprinklers. That's safe. No, that's not what it is. Remember? Oh, you weren't here then. When we first started the network, we had windows on this back wall. It was glorious. We were able to see outside. When it was snowing, it was so neat.

Yeah, we would see the sun rise. No, not anymore. What do you mean? We see it every morning. Usually it's already risen by now.

Well, yeah, until it gets into the wintertime, then we don't see it at all. Okay, this is just such a random conversation. Thank you for hanging out with us after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. I don't even know how to transition to that from history in Major League Baseball, but that's exactly what it was and an interesting piece of baseball history to that. Michael Lorenzen with a two and two count on C.J. Abrams and the pitch. Swung on. Hit in the air to right. Castellanos to his left is there.

He's got it. And Michael Lorenzen has thrown eight no-hit innings tonight here at Citizens Bank Park. Michael Lorenzen at that point already had thrown a career high number of pitches through eight innings on Phillies Radio. Second start with the Phil's. 31 years old out of Detroit.

And if he was still with the Tigers, that's probably not happening. 30,406. Make sure you get the six. They were loud. 30,400 plus fans there in Philadelphia as Lorenzen goes out for the ninth inning against the Nationals. Lorenzen being pushed beyond his previous highs and well beyond his previous highs for pitches thrown in a game.

He's at 113 thus far. Nobody out ninth inning. And a 1-1. Swing and a bouncer to third. Boom.

Gloves it shoulder high. His throw across. He's in time. One down in the ninth. He's ready.

He kicks the pitch. Strike three called. Fastball got him looking. And Michael Lorenzen one out away from throwing a no-hitter. The Washington Nationals who have not been no-hit since 1999 when they were still the Expos.

It's the longest current streak by any franchise in baseball. Outfield shaded to the opposite field against the lefty Smith. The 3-2 pitch. Swing and a high fly ball. Center field coming in is Rojas. He's calling.

He has got it. Lorenzen leaps into the arms of Ryomuto and the Phillies pile out of the dugout in front of the mound. They celebrate a no-hitter tonight by Michael Lorenzen in his second start as a Philly. They're pouring in from the bullpen. The fans are going crazy.

Everybody's filming it. What a night. Michael Lorenzen. We thought eight innings against Miami was a good deal. He throws a no-hitter over the Washington Nationals.

7-0 tonight in his second start in a Phillies uniform. That's a dream come true right there. It really is. Man, I'm speechless.

It's a dream come true and I'm so blessed. Man, I can't believe it. There were some hard-hit balls and they were right at guys. I'll take that all day. 31 years old and now owns this special piece of baseball immortality.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. It throws a career-high number of pitches. Let's hope it does not come back to bite him in the rear end.

4 walks, 5 Ks. But man, some drama there. Great defense behind him and I think my favorite part was watching, especially there in the ninth inning, we got a lot of shots of his mom Cheryl and his wife Cassie and they're passing his nine-month-old daughter June back and forth and jumping and praying and crying and filming. It was obviously really emotional. I don't know if you remember this. I actually didn't so I was looking it up just to kind of remember because he spoke about his father. His father, Cliff, passed away in 2016 and so he did not have his dad on hand for this incredible moment. What would he say to him?

Man, I don't know. Yeah, he got me emotional now but he was just saying attaboy. Way to finish it. Do you know this was the first complete game for the Phillies in a year? Not since the last August has any of the starters thrown a complete game.

That's a way to break the streak. And he actually thought that he didn't have the goods early on in his start because he was having to labor through the early innings. And this was a guy too that started his career as a reliever, remember? And always wanted to be a starter.

Don't let other people tell you what you can and can't do. Man, I worked insanely hard to make this dream come true. I've watched every single one of Nolan Ryan's no hitters because I've always wanted to throw a no hitter and the fact that I just did it in front of this fan base, I can't believe it but you just got to keep going for it, keep working. It's incredible. I've seen a lot of things and during this entire home stand there's so many storylines. The Trey thing, the standing ovation, the no hitter tonight, the Weston Wilson coming up. Baseball is a wonderful game and there's so many magical moments and when you do it in front of your home fans like these things have happened this week because our fans are just off the charts, passionate. It just makes you just love the game. A really neat tribute with Rob Thompson in the locker room or the clubhouse as well.

They actually did a toast for Lorenzen. Two outings here, eight innings, first time, saved our bullpen, nine to nine, no hitter. Unbelievable. Welcome to Philadelphia, buddy.

Thankfully they were all to center field, so good defense. But JT, that's incredible, man. Appreciate you. Love you, brother. Love you guys. Thank you for being so welcoming. It means a lot. Thank you, guys.

Awesome stuff. So he mentions the defense, mentions JT Rielmuto, his second no hitter that he's caught. And I just want to really quickly mention, you heard Rob Thompson reference Weston Wilson. So the Phillies left fielder, he homered in his first ever major league plate appearance. Get this, he had nearly 3,000 at bats in the minor leagues before he finally gets a shot in the majors. And if not for Michael Lorenzen's no hitter, Weston Wilson is the story. I mean, this is like the rookie, not quite that old. But Weston Wilson, nearly 3,000 at bats in the minor leagues. He's 28 years old. He finally gets called up and he has a home run in his first at bat in the majors.

That is the stuff that dreams are made of. So again, if not for Lorenzen, we're talking about Weston Wilson. That's incredible, isn't it?

Those things both happen in the same game. He shouldn't feel bad. I'm sure he's on the moon. He's over the moon.

You know me and my cliches. He's over the moon. He's walking on air, both Weston Wilson and Michael Lorenzen.

Congratulations to each of them. All right, coming up, NFC version of QB news with our corporate sponsor. Jay forgot last time, but he was distracted by the smell in the control room and by the fact that he was shooting glade spray directly up his nose. I tried to tell him now he's lost brain cells.

We can't really afford that. It's after hours with Amy Lauren CBS port radio. You are listening to the after hours podcast. To throw, look, a firing chase in the end zone. It's time for QB news on after hours.

We've got a bunch of it straight from the NFC in this portion of the show is brought to you by Wesley financial stuck in a timeshare and want out contact Wesley financial group now and get a free timeshare exit information kit at Wesley financial group.com. Right at first chance to see the overall number one draft pick Carolina Panthers taking Bryce young and actually there were joint practices this week going on between the Panthers and the Jets and so Aaron Rodgers highly complimentary of Bryce young even giving him some advice and Bryce has the chance to practice with Aaron. It's great being able to see him work and see him operate that someone that I've, you know, observed in and always, you know, looked at him and watch for a long time for me growing up. So, you know, being able to watch him in person, you know, we're on different fields. So we didn't, I didn't get to see all these reps but being able to see that you know you know the things that I was and, you know, he came up to me before and was was really, really nice and, you know, we would have some some words and, you know, you have so much respect for him and I mean I'm really, you know, it's, it's a great opportunity.

For sure. So I'm definitely grateful. In a nutshell, Aaron Rodgers told them to be gentle with yourself.

In other words, don't be so hard on yourself don't beat yourself up because the game has ebbs and flows. And, yeah, also spoke very highly of Bryce young they share an agent and Aaron says he's been paying attention to his career. That was definitely an honor to hear someone who's definitely been a big fan of his for a long, long time now. So, you know, hearing that really, you know, it definitely, definitely was, you know, definitely was great to hear definitely does mean a lot to me. So, again, I have a bunch of respect for him.

I'm excited to keep watching them and be able to watch them again tomorrow. Pretty much the entire world feels the exact same way about Aaron Rodgers with the New York Jets. So yes, you've got the debut of one price young this weekend on the football field as the Panthers will host the Jets in a preseason game. Staying in the NFC South there's a lot of transition with both coaches and quarterbacks we still don't know who will be the starter in the wake of Tom Brady's retirement Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd bowls any insights. He'll start this week I'll start next week and we'll kind of go from there.

Oh, I didn't even set it up. That's how short and succinct yet Baker is the he to whom Todd bowls refers Baker Mayfield still locked in a battle with Kyle Trask, but Baker will start preseason week one Tampa hosting Pittsburgh, Kyle Trask game two and by the way, even though it's AFC Kenny Pickett will start for the Pittsburgh Steelers, their first preseason game so see you're going to get a lot of the starters. This week, especially a quarterback they will stay out there for long but they will be on the field can't say enough about our young cube. That also includes Jordan love, not a first year guy and he's played in the preseason before, but it's now his team and Matt Leflore will have other starters out there with the Packers around Jordan. It's not just about Jordan, I mean you look at our receiving corps, there's not a receiver over a second year player. You look at the tight ends. I mean, we got two rookies out there.

So it's just, it's, I would say it's the collective, the whole offense, in particular, where there is a little bit more and experience a little bit more youth to see kind of where you are at the moment. I think it's good to get back in that mode of getting hit. I mean, I haven't been hit since last year. Obviously, I'm never trying to get hit. It's never the goal. But just get your mind back in that live mentality. Jordan love, it's good to get hit.

You don't really ever want to get hit. There's a lot going on with the Packers. It's not just a change at quarterback, so it's going to be one of the more intriguing early season stories. Not as much transition with the Minnesota Vikings, even though a lot of fans, they would like to see a different quarterback.

Well, according to owner Mark Will, yeah, that's not where they're going. We feel great about the quarterback situation. Kirk's an outstanding leader. He's led this team incredibly these past few years, and we're looking for great things for him in 2023, and I know there's discussions all the time on all these topics, especially quarterback. And I know Kwesi and Coach are always communicating with Kirk and everybody, but we're real happy to have him lead our team. Speaking of high praise, and actually Kirk Cousins is getting rave reviews for his inclusion in the show Quarterback that's on Netflix. I'm not all the way through it, but I will tell you that you see a different side of Kirk Cousins, the family side. A lot of people really enjoy his personality and seem like last year he kind of was much more comfortable in his own skin with the Vikings.

One of the revelations, his wife picks out his clothing, but yeah, he talks about being part of that project with Patrick Mahomes and Marcus Mariota. I was a little apprehensive at first when it was first brought to me, but with Peyton Manning being the producer and my agent who brought it to me is also Peyton's agent. And I could just tell that they had been around the block and they're going to do it right, and they get the concerns I have, they understand, and they're going to find a way to work through that well. And sure enough, between NFL Films and really our organization here with the Vikings, they handled it really well and made sure that the rest of the team wasn't inconvenienced by it in any way. And we were really pleased with how it turned out, but I think it's important to let fans see all that goes into being a pro quarterback and maybe not just the three hours on Sunday.

And so that was ultimately why I felt it was worth it to do it. Interesting that he says that because I feel like the NFL and the NFL fanbase is all about all access. We actually do see and hear more of these players now, and the NFL never really goes away. It's a year-round sport, but I like what he has to say. And I love the on-the-field footage to be sure because I'm all about hearing these guys talk to one another, love the practice footage, but there's a lot of stuff with their families. And as Kirk points out, it's a multi-dimensional look at what it means to be a quarterback at the highest level. Maybe Jared Goff should get asked to be part of the show quarterback.

Maybe that would be a sign of the respect that he should have around the league. I don't care. Don't care. Don't even know if I do or not.

Try to win games for this team, that's all. Oh, fantastic. Please keep that. I don't care. I don't care. It's awesome. I don't care.

It's absolutely awesome. It's a hype train. Oh, Dan Campbell rubbing off on him. I don't care about your hype train. I feel wind underneath my freaking wings, man. I'm telling you, the biggest competition on After Hours this season may be if Dan Campbell can overtake Mike Tomlin as our favorite coach.

Our favorite audio from a coach. And that's fine. That's fine. We're back in the dumpers again. You're back in the dumpers again. See, I can go on and on and on. I love me some Pat P. He didn't urinate down his leg. Stop it, Jay!

Make me stop! Once I get started with Dan Campbellisms and Mike Tomlinisms, I can't stop. I just love Pat P. Alright, we're going to talk about Geno Smith instead.

This is a great story from last year, 22. Geno taking over, feeling the wind beneath his freaking wings from Pete Carroll, having confidence in him. And now he has a contract extension and he's the undisputed starter and feels like the Seattle fans are on board. I always talk about how the fans here have embraced me from day one. And, you know, a lot of great memories and, you know, I look to try and continue those. But, you know, I'm very grateful for the fans. When I was on other teams, you know, I would always, you know, look at the stadium and watch games here and just see how crazy they were.

And, you know, they were trying to break the, you know, sound barrier sometimes. And it was just one of those things where, you know, it was just great to be a part of it, you know, because I had seen it from afar. And to be a part of it now and to have them embrace me is just awesome.

Seriously, really cool. I'm so happy for Geno Smith. He's got this kind of second phase of his career, but he's much more mature. As Mike McDaniel would say, I'm level-minded, an adult, a mature guy. Mature guy. But you kind of believe it with Geno. I'm not sure I believe it with Mike McDaniel.

Adult. Level-minded. All right, real quickly, let's hit the NFC East. Last year was the NFC Beast.

The only team that did not make the playoffs was the Washington Commanders. And yet somehow, Eric, the enemy shouldn't be hard on them because, you know, they were so good last season and the season before that and the season before that. Sam Howell has taken over as QB1, and he actually studies Pat Mahomes to get ready. He's doing a lot of stuff that's kind of off-scripted and off-schedule, but, you know, that's what he does a really good job of. But so do you. You're an athlete back there.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I definitely have that aspect to my game. Obviously, I mean, I'm not going to go out there and try to be Patrick Mahomes every game.

I'm going to try to go out there and be the best version of myself. But, no, there's definitely a lot of things you can take from his game, and he's playing at such a high level right now, so it's fun to watch. And when I get free time, I go watch their games because it's the same system. Early on, when he got into a huddle, you can tell he was confident by the way he would call the play. Yeah. And the ones that he wasn't quite as sure, you could tell. So then you would watch it and you'd say, okay, he still isn't quite sure because he's not as confident calling it out. But lately, you've watched him, he steps right into the huddle, he makes the call, he breaks it. Now he's looking, he's seeing, he's trying to absorb and gather information and go out and make the right types of decisions. I like that Sam is studying Patrick Mahomes, but can he do it with only one leg?

I mean, that is the test. If you can be creative and you can win a Super Bowl with one leg, we'll give him a leg and a half. If he's bruised and banged up ankle and wincing in pain, well then you know you've graduated to Patrick Mahomes. Do we have time for Nick Sirianni? So Nick Sirianni used to be what Mike McDaniel is now to producer Jay. When Sirianni started meeting the media as a rookie head coach, oh my goodness, talk about rambling. He really did go on and on and on.

A lot of times made zero sense. Mike McDaniel generally likes to hear his own voice, I think he finds himself highly amusing. Sirianni, he's more succinct now and he does appreciate what his quarterback brings to the table. Also believes they put a lot of weapons around him. You have different pieces, like you have a lot of the same pieces but then you have different pieces and that's just going to contribute to who you are on offense and how hard you're going to be to stop. Because you have these players and these playmakers with Devontae and AJ and Dallas and now adding, you know, and Quez Watkins and now adding DeAndre into addition to the other running backs we have. So, you know, Jalen has a lot of weapons to be able to throw to. We have a lot of weapons to be able to game plan for.

And most importantly, like we do have all these weapons and we have unselfish guys. Nick Sirianni on Sirius XM NFL radio, same thing with Sam Howell. I can feel it. I can feel a little juice over pre-season week one, especially since we'll get a bunch of the starters. And again, that includes tonight CJ Stroud with the Houston Texans and D'Amico Ryans making his head coaching debut. QB news, a little more sense of urgency to it now. Coming up, did you hear about Rashad Breeland?

Oh my goodness, that was a jarring story. Also, we've got, what did I say? Oh, Colts.

That's what we're going to talk about. The Indianapolis Colts. And the fact that Jonathan Taylor is AWOL, sort of. But is it an ankle? Is it not an ankle? And who's starting a quarterback for the Colts?

I'm trying to answer those questions. It's After Hours on CBS Sports Radio. Yeah, he's got an ankle and he's rehabbing his ankle. And like I said, once the medical staff clears him and he's 100 percent, he'll be out here practicing it.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. In other words, we don't have a whole lot of information about Jonathan Taylor. And if we did, we are not sharing it with you. Shane Steichen trying to answer questions about his star running back without giving anything away. Maybe because he doesn't know a whole lot. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Earlier in the show, Colts insider James Boyd of The Athletic joined us after kind of watching the first few days of training camp and all of this playing out. And I tried to get the deets from him as much as anyone knows.

So we start with this. What's the latest with Jonathan Taylor? The latest is that he was not with the team for the first time throughout training camp. He had been there previously on the sideline.

The joke among the beef and among the fans is what hoodie is going to wear a blue or black hoodie up over his head all day. Every day he's been out there. But the last practice, he wasn't there. Shane Steichen, the coach, would not confirm or deny whether he would get treatment for his ankle on or off site. But the bottom line, he wasn't at practice because of the ankle. And it's just like another chapter in the JT saga because the elephant in the room is using the ankle as a reason to sort of hold out slash hold in without getting fined for missing time with the team.

Because obviously the trade request has not been rescinded and he's given no indication that he wants to play for the Colts. So it's just one thing that you kind of have to keep an eye on while you're off to keep an eye on Anthony Richardson. Let's say for the sake of argument, this is straight injury or it is straight physical related. What's going on with that body part? Yeah, so it's a weird thing because he got the ankle messed up last year, played through it and kind of re-aggravated a couple of times. Got ankle surgery in January and the timeline for the recovery, I believe it was like two to four weeks or something. Another player on the Colts, EJ Speed, got the same surgery on his ankle this offseason in his back training and his spine. And Indianapolis Stars, Nate Atkins reported that it was a two to four week recovery.

And obviously we're six, seven months out now. And so if it is legitimately an injury thing, it's very, very concerning. And also it drives home the point of why the Colts would not want to pay him. I don't understand why you want to pay someone, one, because he's a running back, but two, if he's an injured running back. So again, the plot thickens with the ankle injury. Right.

Well, that's what I was saying on my show last night. After an offseason, it's kind of concerning that the ankle would still be a problem unless there was a re-aggravation during practice or during these early days of training camp. But you're saying that's not the case because he hasn't actually fully practiced? Yeah, he has not participated in a team activity since the ankle.

So no OCA, no veteran mini camp, no training camp. And we asked Shane Stikin about the ankle. And if it was re-aggravated, he just said, hey, he's got an ankle.

So it wasn't a yes or a no. Yes, we know he has an ankle. We need to know if the ankle is properly working, which we don't know. So, yeah, it's been, again, just a very weird time around the team and with JT, because even when the day he's there, the fans will yell at him. Hey, JT, don't leave us.

We love you. This and that. But at the end of the day, there's no reaction from him whatsoever. And again, no indication on his part that he's willing to play for the team. He hasn't spoken since June to the media. But as you all have seen, it's kind of been this back and forth with social media.

It died down now. But, you know, you got the owner tweeting stuff, the agent, the player, and they got very personal, very fast here in the last few weeks or so. Jim Irsay was pretty strong in his statement that the team is absolutely not trading Jonathan Taylor.

If that's the case, what do they do if there's a standoff? Amy, I read through the CBA for like a day and a half. He has no leverage in the situation. They could basically force him to play unless he really wants to run the risk of trying to take you through an arbitrator at the end of the season.

Read through the CBA. The bottom line is because he hasn't finished out his contract like a Josh Jacobs, like a Saquon Barkley who got franchise tags, since he still has one year left, he really has to play this year out and make sure that he gets what they call an accrued season. Because basically if he were not able to get his fourth accrued season and therefore free himself of his contract, then, you know, all of this back and forth about not playing. If he were to hold out, basically his contract will freeze. The Colts would continue to own his rights until he comes back and he'd own another season in 2024. So he still wouldn't be free.

So, yeah, I read through that thing. I was like, wow, the NFL is the mafia. When you sign a contract, you are in it. You're never getting out unless you get a severe career injury or they cut you or trade you.

But if they want you, they have you for as long as that contract says. This is a tough year for it with the Colts because they could really use the veteran presence and the skill of Jonathan Taylor if in fact they're going with Anthony Richardson as they're starting QB. But right now, who is their starting QB, James? They have an oar on their depth chart for Saturday's preseason opener against Buffalo.

They'll let you know how much they don't want to tell us. I'll say this. I do think that when week one comes, they'll start Anthony Richardson. I was not maybe as high on saying that a few weeks ago, a few months ago, but throughout the offseason. I think that they've been pretty even Anthony Richardson and Gardner Minshew throughout training camp where Gardner Minshew is more accurate and more consistent. Anthony Richardson provides all the wow plays, all the down the field play, all the big runs, things like that.

So I think that wow factor kind of gives him a slight edge. And again, you invest in him with the number four pick for him to be your franchise guy. You know what you have with Gardner Minshew. You don't know what you have with Anthony Richardson. So again, as long as he's not a deer in the headlights, put him out there and take his lumps and hope that you have a franchise guy. Do you expect them both to play in this preseason game against the Bills?

Yes, I do. I think that they both will play because again, even though Gardner Minshew is familiar with Shane Stike and still a new team for him as well, you want to make sure that he at least knows and some familiarity with these guys. And Anthony Richardson, reps, reps, reps, play the guy as much as you can because he hasn't played much in college really just in his life. He hasn't started back to back seasons at quarterback since high school, so play the guy. More with James Boyd of The Athletic from Colts training camp and we talked about the AFC South and were able to do a little more with some of the critical positions for them, the offensive line. That's a big deal this year for the Colts.

It was such a disappointment last year. So check that out on the podcast. The link is posted every weekday morning on our show Twitter after our CBS as well as our Facebook page.

Really quickly, saw this yesterday and wanted to pass it along. A couple of the Northwestern athletes, the football players kind of dealing with the fallout of losing Pat Fitzgerald and then the t-shirts that drew the ire of so many. The fact that they're considered tone deaf in the wake of this hazing scandal and everything that's happened Northwestern since.

Well at least a couple of these guys, they're trying to focus on football as much as they can. It's been a difficult time, but we've been able to refocus and look at what's really important and that's getting back to winning games. So the team, the staff, the coaches, everybody in this building, we've been all head pressed on just getting back to winning games and doing everything we can to accomplish that.

We're not here today to talk about any hazing allegations. We're here to talk about the upcoming season. But I will say what we kind of learned through this is when you're going through difficult times, just lean on the people around you, just lean into relationships, lean into each other and just make sure the people around you're okay. And like I said, our focus are the people in this building and just making sure we're all okay during this difficult time. So Bryce Kurtz is a wide receiver and he admits it's been difficult as does linebacker Bryce Gallagher and just everything that they're going through. I know the stories have gotten lost a little bit in the conference realignment bombshells, but still really important for them as student athletes in addition to Northwestern as a whole.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. I mentioned this. We're not going to get to Steph Curry, Jay. We're not. No, we can't. We can't.

We can't just shove it in there. We're going to have to wait for the final show of the work week because, you know, he's still singing away. But did you all see actually a couple of family members send me this link in text messages on Wednesday evening. Former Super Bowl champ Rashad Breeland, excuse me, Bashad Breeland, who was with the Chiefs last played in twenty one. He was arrested and put in jail early on Tuesday because of a bunch of stuff. He had a stolen car, a bunch of guns, lots of drugs. And yeah.

And so he's he was out a few hours later because he posted bomb. But we're talking about stolen SUV, two AK-47s, two AR-15s, five and a half pounds of marijuana. Sixty two. Sixty two grams of illegal mushrooms. Do you know how many? That's a lot of mushrooms.

Sixty two grams of illegal mushrooms. My goodness, I guess he was bored post football. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Boom! The official Winning Time podcast from HBO is back. I'm Rodney Barnes, executive producer on the show. Magic and the Lakers are back to defend their title. Join me as I break down each new episode with sports writer Jeff Pearlman and the actors, directors and key collaborators who brought the 1980s Showtime Lakers to life. It's not about basketball. It's about winning. Listen to HBO's official Winning Time podcast on Sundays after the show airs on Max.