After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

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That's ShipStation.com slash audio. For better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part, peeps. Well, that's a little dramatic. It's a little bit like calling anesthesia death. It's probably not until death do us part. I severely and sincerely hope that I do not die in this radio studio, and that's what separates us. But when people ask me about retirement, it makes me laugh. I know I'm old, but for heaven's sakes, I'm not that old. I think the pipes are still good.

Me, me, me, me, me, me. Oh, maybe not. Maybe I'm closer to the R word than I think. I love how many of you are giving me advice about how to handle the upcoming colonoscopy. Just between you and me in the lamppost, when I call out sick for a couple of nights, then you'll know why. I mean, I kind of feel like if you're under anesthesia, that qualifies for a sick day.

No? Should we check the company handbook? The manual, if you will?

Should we check the manual to find out if that does qualify for a sick day? Do we have one of those? Somewhere.

Somewhere. It's probably as big as the phone book. Or we can Google it, research it on our company website.

Odysseyatwork.com. We could ask the help chat line. Do we have one of those?

I think we do. Are you Googling it? You are. I'm on it.

Oh, I have to log in and everything? Nah, it's not worth it. Regardless, if I cannot carry on a coherent conversation due to a medical condition, I feel as though that is the actual epitome of a sick day. I would say that's grounds. That's grounds. For dismissal?

No, just for, you know, night. It's grounds for dismissal. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Coming up, we'll hit some QB news. Heavy on the NFC.

I'm not sure what's going on. Wednesday into Thursday, heavy on the NFC. So that's certainly important because we are now encroaching on week two of the NFL preseason. Generally one where you'll see more of the starters, though I know it's kind of odd.

Try this on for size. A lot of starters, even veteran starters, played in week number one because you've got coaches and coordinators who have changed jobs, changed teams. You've got players who are trying to abide and adjust in new systems. You've got teams with a lot of pressure on the line. For instance, the Denver Broncos with Sean Payton as their new head coach and Russell Wilson coming off the worst year of his career by far. Sean Payton actually played his starters in the opening week of the preseason, as did Doug Peterson with the Jacksonville Jaguars. And I would think that part of the reason there is because they want to be able to pick up where they left off.

They want to be able to capitalize on the initial foundation, the ground level, if you will, that they established at the end of last year. So we'll get to your QB news. We already did talk Dallas Cowboys training camp on the show when our friend Clarence Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram joined us from Oxnard, California. He said the weather is a lot nicer in California than it is in Dallas right now. We talked about the importance of Zach Martin being back in camp, the loss of Zeke, also what it means to have Mike McCarthy calling plays, and how Dak is taking a major step forward. That's what he's seen in training camp. And then, in my opinion, the defense will still be the stronger unit for the Cowboys.

We talked about the defense as well, the NFC beast, all of that. Part of our podcast, you can find it every weekday morning either on our show Twitter after our CBS or on our Facebook page. Our phone number is 855-212-4227. We have no idea if the phone calls, the call screener, the lines are working because there was some weird message on the computer when we got in a few hours ago. There was someone else in the studio before us, so we're going to blame him or her.

What am I saying? There are other hers that work this time of the night, so it has to be a him. So yes, we're not going to blame him, but we don't know what he was doing in here. But it was an odd message, and we actually don't know if the calls will even get through. If you can't get through right now, we're going to blame the show before us. Do you know if the show before us took calls? I would imagine. I don't know.

That seems to be a staple of the show before us. Yeah. They're pretty heavy.

They're on the heavy. All right. I promised you that we would carry over our question from last night's show, from the hump show to this particular show.

Because many of you weighed in, and we didn't have an opportunity to get to a lot of your answers. So we asked that you would fill in the blank. The NFL season, your team season will be a success if what?

Complete the sentence. So I'm going to run through a few of these. And if some of them stand out to me, I may quibble.

I may have a quarrel with some of your answers. James on Twitter, if the Lions win a playoff game. Honestly, that would be a huge success for the Detroit Lions, not just to make the playoffs. Especially considering the hype train, as Dan Campbell calls it. The hype train. See, he doesn't want his Lions to be riding the hype train around training camp. Nah, he wants them to not, he wants them to do what Nick Saban always tells his kids to do. Stop believing the hype.

Stop reading your own press clippings. We're back in the dumpers again. That's where they will find themselves if they are riding on the hype train. It's going to be chaotic. Guys are going to be, their heads going to be spinning. I'm telling you, Mike Tomlin better watch out because Dan Campbell may take over as our favorite head coaching quote here on After Hours.

So James wants the Lions to win a playoff game. It's been a while. It's been a while.

Jay, will you quick Google it? What's it been like since the 1950s or something? No, that's too long. 1991. How long since they won a home playoff game? Let's see. 1991 is still several decades.

Before my time. Right. That's 30 years, 30 plus years since the Lions have won a playoff game.

Let's see. But I think it's been, remember the Bengals had gone such a long time without winning a playoff game at home too? Okay, if the Lions win a playoff game, I think, agreed, that would be a great success. Lee on Twitter. The Seahawks season will be a success if they reach the Super Bowl so we can say Russell who?

Wow, not vindictive, are you? Russ went and had the worst possible season that he could have had in Denver. I would, I would say if you're a Seahawks fan, you're already feeling the vindication.

Jeff on Twitter. Win baby win. Go Raiders.

It's fairly vague. How about a winning record for the Raiders? If the Raiders are above 500 with Jimmy Garoppolo, will then people believe in Jimmy G? Nah, I think he's got to do more than that. Okay, so they can't just win, they have to get into the playoffs?

Yeah, definitely. Alright, what if the defense sucks and it's not really about Jimmy Garoppolo? That won't matter. Oh, okay. I mean it won't.

Truth is irrelevant here on social media. By the way, the last Lions, that home win was 91. That was at home. Oh, gotcha.

Okay. So 30 plus years. I think I'm confusing the futility of the Bengals with their long losing streak at home in the playoffs and then the Lions. But it's still been 30 something years.

30 is pretty long. Yeah. Lawrence on Twitter responding and filling in the blank. The 49ers season will be a success if they can have a healthy, decent QB. I like the fact that he doesn't pluralize it. How about just one quarterback? Can the Niners get through an entire season with one quarterback? Is that too much to ask?

It might be, considering the revolving door. He also needs Nick Bosa ready to go week one. But the fact that he sends us a tweet in which QB is singular and not plural speaks volumes.

Yeah. Starting with Trey Lance for two weeks. Then Jimmy Garoppolo for what, six weeks I think. Then Brock Purdy takes over.

I don't like playing this game. Purdy runs all the way, I mean incredible streak for the Niners with 12 wins in a row. But into the NFC Championship they have to play Josh Johnson. Four different quarterbacks they had to use last year.

And still, I won't say they nearly made the Super Bowl because that doesn't speak to how lopsided the NFC Championship game was. But if Brock Purdy doesn't get hurt, we could have ourselves a real humdinger. When was the last time you used the word humdinger?

I think the next time would be the first. I don't know where that came from. I like it though.

I have no idea. That is not part of my vernacular. I don't know why humdinger just came out of my mouth. I don't. I'm serious. I think you should incorporate it more. When was the last time you all used the word humdinger?

Find me on Twitter, A Law Radio. I haven't heard it recently. No. I mean, Bob is old.

Sorry Bob. But he doesn't use the word humdinger. Has he said it ever once maybe?

No. I've never heard him use the word humdinger. In fact, I would have a fit if he did use humdinger because he is older than me. And so, you know, I don't want to be accused of, you know.

What would you say? Attracting the geriatric crowd. And so I do. Bob is a humdinger. Come on. Stop it. He's not a humdinger.

And I do not know. Why did I say that? We cannot have humdinger as part of the vocabulary here on After Hours. It's too late. No, seriously.

I'm going to put it out there on my Twitter. When was the last time anyone out there used the word humdinger? I'm not even sure I know how to spell it.

Is it one M or two? It's one. You looked it up. Oh yeah. That's great. All right. Moving on. I don't know how you recover from humdinger.

I can't even say it right. Michael on Twitter. The season for the Lions will be a success if they win their first division title since 1993. So he's going deeper than playoff game. He wants a division title. Let's see.

Another one from Lee. The Dolphins season will be a success if they win a playoff game. Sean, the Eagles season will be a success if our team stays healthy. If they stay healthy, then the sky is the limit. I will say that about the Eagles.

They continue to stockpile pieces around them. And one of the things that I said when I was a guest on our Toronto affiliate, the Fan 590, on Wednesday morning. I did their morning show.

It's a lot of fun. They were asking me about not just the Buffalo Bills. Of course, the team that many Torontonians root for, but about the strength of the AFC and then about the NFC.

And who would challenge the Eagles? One of the things that I believe about the Eagles and that I think you're seeing, and it's a general principle in sports. When you have a winner, you generally then, as long as you have the money, can attract more free agents. Because free agents are attracted by these shiny objects. It's like a cat that's chasing a light.

Have you ever played with a laser on the wall with a cat? Yeah, that's what happens with free agents in pro sports. It's all about what have you done for me lately. And when there's a team that's had success and the Eagles have had back-to-back playoff appearances, plus the trip to the Super Bowl in which they nearly, nearly upset the Kansas City Chiefs. Now, of course, when they go to make their pitch to free agents, that's what gets them in the door. You're already in the door when you show up. You already have the door thrown wide open for you when you have a winning season or the season like they did.

So, yes, they've added more pieces. If they stay healthy, they have a battle in their own division, to be sure. But if they stay healthy, they should be able to build on last year. And while we're talking about the NFC East, Christopher says this on Twitter. The Giants season will be a success if Daniel Jones plays good.

That, to me, is setting the bar way too low. If he plays good and if Darren Waller and Saquon Barkley stay healthy, everything else will take care of itself. What about you, Jay? You're currently sporting a Rangers hat. Don't ask me why. But you do profess to be a Giants fan. The Giants season will be a success if what? The Giants season will be a success if Evan Neal becomes a top ten pick that he's supposed to be, the right tackle. Because he was not good last year and he's supposed to be the key piece to make this offense go. If they don't have the offensive line, they don't have anything. They know it doesn't matter if Barkley or Waller is going to be healthy or if Jones is good.

He's not going to be able to. So Evan Neal needs to be that number seven overall pick that they drafted that he looked like in college for the Giants season to be a success. Have Evan Neal, who is playing up to his potential, and Andrew Thomas on the same line, you're talking about two very high draft picks. And Thomas just got paid. Yeah, he's good.

That should take this personally. Not only the success of Saquon Barkley last year, right, because he did have a resurgent season. I don't want to say breakout season because his, which year did he get injured? His rookie year or his second year? His rookie year he was great. His rookie year he was awesome.

Second year he was hurt. And so for him to have the year that he did last year with the, what was it, nearly 1,400 yards? That's in large part due to the success of the offensive line. But as Jay points out, they can get better.

They absolutely can get better. It's one of the points that we made about the Dallas Cowboys in our conversation with Clarence Hill. So, if Daniel Jones plays good, I mean, for me, Jones should be confident now. The team has hitched its wagon to his star. He's got a Brian Deball that speaks his language, right? He's got a great head coach who wants to set him up to succeed and isn't afraid of getting in his face. Was it last week where you're hearing some of the assistant coaches talk about how even when Deball screams and yells at them on the sidelines, they just have to take it with a grain of salt because he's not himself on game day, even if it is a scrimmage of sorts. It's an exhibition and yet he loses his mind. I'm telling you, 2023 could be the year that Brian Deball spontaneously combusts and turns into vapor.

He's vaporized on the sidelines. You ever see, oh man, I forgot the name of the movie, Inside Out maybe it is? It's like a Pixar movie and it's all the emotions like sadness and anger. The red one when he gets mad, he turns all red and his head explodes into fire. That's Brian Deball.

Yeah, that is Brian Deball to be sure. But I do love that he'll get in the mud and he's not afraid to call out his athletes. He certainly made a major impact last year as the coach of the year. If Daniel Jones can continue to make smart decisions and not turn the ball over, and I think a lot of that has to do with O-line but also his confidence, Saquon stays healthy, that'll be his best friend.

We know they've got more weapons. I believe the Eagles, the Cowboys, the Giants should all be real competitive this season and we'll see what the Washington commanders do. Another tweet to fill in the blank, the Steelers season will be a success if Kenny Pickett takes the next step.

Whatever the next step is. Jimmy, the Cowboys season will be a success if we go to the NFC Championship. Albert says the Bengals will be a success if they win a Super Bowl. Ken says the Colts season will be better if the drunk owner sells the team. I can neither confirm nor deny, I'm just reading the tweet. One more, Steven, the Browns season will be a success if Deshaun Watson returns anywhere close to 20-20 form and Kevin Stefanski doesn't out-coach himself.

Not exactly sure what that means. Let's not get cute. By the way, we will have, I know it's still three weeks until the season kicks off, but we will have yet another rousing rendition of Survivor Island here on After Hours. Couple more and then we'll get to QB news.

Scottie, who just weighed in a couple minutes ago. Our season is a success if Josh Allen jumps through a folding table after the Super Bowl. Oh no, why would you want that to happen? Just let the man go to Disney World.

He does not need to injure himself jumping on a table. You people are crazy. That would be fantastic. And one more, Steven says if the Atlanta Falcons get back to the playoffs and win a playoff game and they sweep the Saints. Alright, so we've heard from so many different fan bases and that's just Twitter.

You can keep those coming. After Hours, CBS, we'll get to your answers on Facebook as well. Coming up next, QB news decidedly heavy on the NFC side.

Maybe they have more question marks? It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Joe Burrow in the bagels. The holmes fires for the end zone. Caught. Touchdown Kansas City.

And off to Ekler again. No, Herbert keeps it in zone. Touchdown Chargers. Herbert with his second of the day.

Here's the snap. Caught. Going to keep it himself and run it again inside the five. Into the end zone. Touchdown Buffalo. Josh Allen, nine yard touchdown run. The Bills respond and then some. It's time for QB news on After Hours.

For some reason, we are heavy NFC, but it matters none to our partners who are sponsoring this portion of the show. Wesley Financial. Are you stuck in a timeshare and want out?

Contact Wesley Financial Group now and get a free timeshare exit information kit at wesleyfinancialgroup.com. We were just listening to Chris Godwin and Mike Evans talk about the injury to Russell Gage. The reports are that he is done for the season, though that's not been confirmed by the team. Meanwhile, they still have a very healthy quarterback competition taking place. Both Mike and Chris are anxious to find out. Will it be Baker Mayfield?

Will it be Kyle Trask? They're NFL quarterbacks. At the end of the day, I don't know about their styles. They both have big arms. They're both very mobile. So they're similar in that regard.

Obviously, they're a little different in size. But they have a similar play style. Really good NFL quarterbacks.

We want to know who the starter is going to be soon so we can just keep working and they can take control of the offense. I think they both have some good arm talent. I think they throw different types of passes. And I think the biggest difference between them is just their experience. Obviously, Baker has had a ton of experience so far, and Kyle is looking to get more. So it's tough to tell in practices how guys like fair. I think preseason games are going to be really big for us to see how they put it all together.

But I think everyone likes where the competition is right now. Todd Bowles has got a decision to make. Baker Mayfield started last week, and we will get Kyle Trask starting in week number two. And the second weekend of the preseason kicks off tonight in Philadelphia, Browns and Eagles. But when we're talking about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they are at the Jets coming up on Saturday evening. Let's not get carried away.

Also in the NFC South, a division that is clearly wide open, there's no competition for the Panthers. We know Bryce Young is the starting quarterback. A lot of pressure on him. And he's still getting adjusted.

Yeah, he went to Alabama. He's been groomed for this. But it's so much faster, and there's so much more to process at the NFL level.

So how does he stay poised even as he's going through this process of learning on the fly? We're competitors. And every time a play doesn't go right, a series, a drive, whatever it may be, of course you're not happy. You're mad because you want to be successful in every play, but obviously that's not the sport we play. So I think for us it's all about turning it around and how can we be constructive. There's going to be emotions. We're competitive, so we're not going to be happy or be content with not having success. But how do we harbor that into something that's constructive?

Getting back, whether that's being focused, keeping the spirits up, whatever that may be. I have zero clue who's going to win the NFC South or even who might come out of the gate strong. That's the crazy part. We've got new quarterbacks in every situation in the South. Bryce Young in Carolina, in Tampa, we don't know if it's Baker or Kyle Trask, but either one is new. We've got in New Orleans, Derek Carr taking over there, also a new head coach. There's new coaches everywhere too. Todd Boles is only in his second year with the Bucks. And then thinking about the way that the division played out last year, Atlanta also too, turning to Desmond Ritter.

He just started one game last season. Not a clue how it's going to play out. But let's see if we get at least one of those teams above.500 this season. That would be a start.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. The San Francisco 49ers definitely have Super Bowl aspirations. And they've got Brock Purdy back on the field, able to practice three consecutive days, though there are some who would be counting the interceptions that he throws. One thing Brock does is he lets it rip. He's not worried about anything else. He's especially not worried about people counting his interceptions at practice and stuff.

And that doesn't mean they're all right. But I do like him letting it rip. And I like him learning from things that he can't get away with, things he can get away with. And I think our defense got their hands on a lot of balls, not just Brock's. But I definitely want our quarterbacks to cut down on them. But I also want them to make real throws and when they make mistakes to learn from them.

If you're not going to let it rip in training camp, then where are you going to do it? He's right. You need to chuck and duck and see what works and see what doesn't. See what you can get away with.

I like that. Now, if you were paying attention over the weekend, it was not a great start for Trey Lance with the Niners in their opening game. What was it? Three consecutive series in which they went three and out. He had a couple of balls dropped that could have been interceptions. He got sacked four times. I mean, it was a bit of a mess. It wasn't all on him.

But, yeah, a lot of negativity surrounding Trey at this point. This goes with the territory. I mean, it goes with it for quarterbacks. It goes with it for anybody who's a high draft pick, but especially a quarterback. That's one of the tough things, I think, for that position, but also for high draft picks. I mean, you watch receivers come in the league and they have a few drops early in camp and there becomes a lot of pressure on them.

People want to see those people take off and do it right away and have no flaws, and that's just part of it. Hallease Kyle Shanahan did make some snarky remark about how he can barely get through a practice because all he does is answer questions about his quarterbacks. As long as I can keep surviving press conferences. I'm really excited to see Brock Purdy in year number two and rooting for him to be healthy. I'm glad they brought him along slowly.

Sounds like all's good on that front. All right, let's talk about Jimmy Garoppolo's new team. Going from his former team to his new team. Guess who else is getting flack for throwing a lot of interceptions in practice? That's also Jimmy G, but Josh McDaniels is fine with how they're settling in. Jimmy is getting more and more comfortable. Again, this is like, I think I said the other day, practice eight or nine for him since last November. New teammates, an old system that's now kind of a new system for him. Just making sure he's getting acclimated, the foot's feeling good.

He's just getting his stride right now. Let's not be keeping stats in the preseason, whether they're games, whether they're practices. It blew me away a couple years ago when this started where reporters and insiders would actually start keeping stats of practice. It's practice.

I don't get that. You're playing against people who know your playbook. The defense knows what you're doing, so of course they're going to cheat. But even so, you're supposed to get out there and try.

Try, try again. Just make mistakes if that's what you do. It's better to have them in practice in preseason. We're talking about practice. Yeah, I don't get keeping stats in practice.

That's not something that I think is necessary for the media. Certainly the teams are watching, they're going over film, that type of thing, but it's so early. Goodness, I just think you'd be happy getting through a practice without losing a guy to a season-ending injury. All right, NFC East, we know there's a quarterback competition in Washington, though Ron Rivera and company have been raving about Sam Howell. So is he ready to name Sam QB1? I've got to sit down with both Eric and Sam, Eric and Davida, and really evaluate it and make sure, you know, he's doing the things that we need him to do. And yesterday he had a really good day, we're really pleased with it, after having watched the tape. And we'll see how it is after we get a chance to watch his tape together. You know, we're traveling today, so we'll sit down tomorrow and go through it and talk about Sam and really just evaluate that and evaluate Jacoby as well.

I mean, Jacoby did some really good things too, so we feel really comfortable at the quarterback room right now. In other words, the answer's no. A simple yes or no will do. Are you ready to name Sam Howell your starting QB?

No would have been sufficed. I had a bad day. It's after hours, CBS Sports Radio. We know Dak Prescott is certainly the starting quarterback in Dallas and Mike McCarthy now calling the plays.

If you missed that conversation with Clarence Hill Jr. from Oxnard, California, earlier in the show, you need to grab the podcast. Mike raving about Dak on Sirius XM NFL radio, here's what you need to know about the Cowboy starter. Obviously, you hear all the things about his character and work ethic and so forth. I think the most important thing is just how consistent he is with it. I mean, he is as consistent as an individual, both personally and professionally, and I think that goes a long, long way in the development of group dynamics and holding that leadership position because you know what you get from Dak every day, and hey, he's human. He has bad days too, but he brings it every single day at an extremely consistently high level. There's a lot of pressure on the Cowboys always, but yeah, Mike McCarthy ratcheted up because he gets rid of Kellen Moore, takes over play calling, giving Dak some authority.

Those two better be connected this season as that relationship is going to be scrutinized under a microscope. Also in the NFC, but turning to the North, the great white North, Jordan Love is practicing his Patrick Mahomeskills, although he says Aaron Rodgers is the original OG when it comes to the no-look pass. That's one thing I would try to work on. Obviously, since being behind Aaron, that's the best time I've ever got to see someone do no-look passes, and obviously throughout being on the scout team the years prior, I've worked on that. It's one thing that you usually have to be comfortable doing that to where you're going to be comfortable enough to go do it in a game.

But yeah, that's just how to find out there and try new things and continue to work. I think that he's been dropping dimes since early on in camp as well, honestly, on the deep balls. I think as we opened up the playbook more and more, it's given him more opportunities to put it out there for us, and I think that it'll be something that will continue to come together as camp goes. I mean, we've just got to continue to run the plays, continue to see it in film, and just see what our guys are good at and see what we're able to do.

But I definitely think that those deep balls are going to be huge. Christian Watson loving the connection. He, oh, ha-ha, loving the connection with the love.

I love me some love. Man, Christian Watson, he helped me win my fantasy football championship. The second half of last year, I picked him up, and he went crazy with Aaron Rodgers in the second half of the year.

Thank you, Christian. I'm excited to see what you do in your sophomore season as an encore. All right, run more, because that's Aaron's former team. We've got to let Aaron have his say.

We're equal opportunity here on After Hours. Aaron Rodgers making a lot of headlines. I think everything he says these days makes headlines with the Jets, but a lot of people focusing, over-analyzing, stressing out after he called out the offensive line a bit, just essentially saying there's work to be done. It's a work in progress.

You know, I think I feel like it was Rich maybe asked the question about the continuity of the guys playing together, and I was thinking maybe we'd start to figure some stuff out. Obviously, it hasn't happened yet. There's jobs up for grabs. Okay, put everybody on notice. Don't have your number. You're not going to have my number. Get uncomfortable. Be uncomfortable with being uncomfortable. Aaron Rodgers, he's watching you.

I'm watching you doing the eyeball-to-eyeball thing. Rich, by the way, is I'm assuming Rich Tamini, who is a fellow Syracuse adjunct professor. How about that? We had had him on shows in the past, not to mention he and I used to be colleagues at my former network. Never met him in person until we were both on campus last spring to teach at Syracuse.

Really? Yeah, it was kind of funny. We ended up in the same office. Oh, okay, you're Amy?

I'm Rich. Oh, oh, yeah. So we'd never met in person, but we were both teaching classes last spring.

Syracuse was kind of fun. Yes. When was the last time you used the word humdinger? That's the question. Oh, goodness. We'll get to your Facebook responses, too, because we asked you to fill in the blank.

The NFL season will be a success if what? Complete that sentence. Complete the blank. Complete the blank.

That doesn't make any sense. Fill in the blank. Complete the sentence. Give me a real humdinger. Now I'm going to say it every five minutes.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Bellinger leads at second. Swanson away from first. And the one-two swinging a drive toward right center. Back goes Robert. Back near the stands. That ball is gone.

A game-winning home run for Chris Morrell. Can you believe it? Listen to this crowd. Thank you, God. And calls Wayne.

Call Wayne. Oh, my God. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Christopher Morrell with the dramatic moment from the baseball diamond on Wednesday night. If you've not seen it, actually, Jay, if you want to go to the Cubs' Twitter and retweet this 3-1 jack from Morrell in the bottom of the ninth, Pat Hughes with the call on Cubs radio. But the reason that I want you to see it is because he loses his mind. He loses his mind as the ball goes out of the yard, goes out of Wrigley. He starts sprinting around the base paths.

Are you watching it? He rips off his jersey. He's come around third base, presumably so his teammates don't rip it off of him at home plate. He's screaming, yelling, dancing, jumping. He leaps right into the fray with his teammates there on home plate. Doesn't just stomp on it, but jumps up and down and smashes home plate, if you will.

And I'm not sure I've seen a more exuberant walk-off home run in August in my entire life. It's fantastic. So check out our show Twitter. After hours, CBS. Morrell was still lit moments after that hit, as you hear on Marquee Sports Network. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. 41,000 fans on hand for this game between the Cubs and the crosstown rival White Sox. Cubs end up taking three of four from the other Chicago team. And in that same interview there on Marquee, fans are still hanging around. And he was asked what's going through his mind as he's circling the bases like a crazy man. Everything.

I make a home run for win in my first down here in the Wiggly. I want to say God first. Thank you for the fans. They gave me that energy for supporting me and believing in myself. Thank you, God. He was so fired up.

So definitely check out the video again on our show Twitter. After hours, CBS. If you haven't been paying attention to what the Cubs are doing, don't look now, but they're only two and a half back of the Brewers. Now we know the Central Divisions are bunk this season. They're the ugly red-headed stepchild of Major League Baseball, both the AL and the NL. But the Brewers haven't had to look in their rearview mirror at the Cubs in quite a while. It's been the Reds and the Brewers that have gone back and forth. And the Reds are still there.

They're also two and a half back. They've got one more loss than the Cubs but also have one more win. So right now they're one hundredth of a percentage point behind the Cubs. So Chicago has officially moved into second place in the NL Central. And the Brewers are very much within reach, especially after Milwaukee just dropped back-to-back games to the Red Hot Dodgers. Looking at the wild card, get this.

Cubs, Reds, Marlins, all in a dead heat for the third NL wild card. This Cubs team was DOA in the spring. An afterthought.

Not even an afterthought. They were irrelevant in the National League. But they have put together some kind of a run over the past, I'll say month and a half. It's been a lengthy run now. They've been climbing this mountain pretty steadily. And now are actually thinking division title.

Nick Madrigal made that Christopher Morrell moment possible. Why? Because he had a pinch hit home run in the eighth inning against the White Sox. You can feel there's something kind of burning this clubhouse. Games like this to pull those out. When it wasn't looking good for most of the game, that's when you've got special teams that win these kind of games. So it's a lot of fun right now. We've got to keep it going. Special teams.

I like how he drops it. We're getting so close to football that everything I hear is reflected through my football brain again. While we're talking National League wild cards, the Phillies should have zero designs on winning the NL East. However, Bryce Harper, if he can heat up, maybe they can put some distance between themselves and the other NL wild card contenders. One-two pitch. Breaking ball.

And it's a deep right field. Going back, Springer looking up, and that ball is gone. And Harper has his first multi-home run game of the season.

A line drive into right center. And it's his ninth home run of the season, and it gives the Phillies a 9-4 lead. Being able to do that tonight, hopefully that's a stepping stone into what's to come.

And I love August, I love September, and I definitely love October. So just got to keep it going as a team and on a personal level as well. Bryce actually started at first base, which is notable.

Hadn't done that in a while. So he was playing first, goes three for four with a pair of home runs, and then Aaron Nola gets his tenth win. I have no idea why producer Jay gave me another sound bite from Bryce Harper. Do you have any context for this at all on NBC Sports Philadelphia? Because I looked, I looked, I researched, I tried to figure out why in the world he was talking about his teammate Bryson Stott in such a manner. But I don't actually know. Do you think it's an inside joke?

Do you know? She was just asking him postgame about the team, and I guess I don't know exactly what he did in the game. But he had a moment where Bryson Stott did something and Bryce was talking about him after that.

All right. Well, maybe this is how we'll talk about you the next time you screw up on the show. He's nasty. I mean, he's, he's, I don't know. I could talk about him for a while, but he's gross. He's gross. He's gross. What are you a 30 year old dude using the word gross? He's gross. He's gross. Maybe he is.

I will agree. Sometimes boys are gross. We talked about cooties earlier in the show. Sometimes. I don't know about nasty. Is that his feet? He's nasty. I mean, he's, he's, I don't know. I could talk about him for a while, but he's gross.

Is that bodily functions referring to? I believe it's endearing. You think?

Yeah. He's nasty? He's nasty. He's gross. Like he's so good. He's nasty. He's disgusting. Huh.

All right. I suppose that could be clickbait though. If you put it out there on social media, Bryce Harper calls teammate nasty and gross. I don't know. I'm going to say with these guys spending what, eight months together, they barely get a break from one another. Long, long hours at the ballpark. You know, they're in many cases, if they're not playing or the hours stretch on.

Sure, games are faster now, but they have to amuse themselves in a lot of different ways. They get to know each other about as well as they get to know their families, maybe even better during the season. And yeah, I'm sure there are a lot of gross things that happen.

At least that was my experience. Gross things that happen when you spend summer times together. He's gross. He's nasty. I mean, he's gross. I don't know. I could talk about him for a while, but he's gross.