9-7-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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For important information, visit Principle dot com slash disclosures. Well, that'll wake you up. Maybe you're not trying to sleep. You just need a little pick me up. That's all right. I certainly understand. Speaking from personal experience, it doesn't always.

It doesn't always happen that you have the energy and the enthusiasm when you most need it, especially if you work these hours. And so we're giving a little kick in the pants. But the NFL will help with that, too. Little kick in the pants. Thanks for hanging out with us. Our final show before we have an NFL game that counts to talk about. We've got a couple posts up that we want to call your attention to on our social media. We're asking you to answer the question that we have answered in our brand new YouTube video. Easy to find. Just search for after hours with actually producer Jay. I found out that all you have to do is type after hours with and boom, we're the first channel that pops up on YouTube when you do that.

Beautiful. That's how I hopefully had set it up. So that's oh, oh, oh, Jay is pulling strings behind the scenes. Little tags, stuff like that.

Kind of get into the algorithm. That's good to know. I've also discovered that Bob's family has been passing the passing the word, spreading the word, sharing the news about us and our YouTube channel. And I'm seeing that the Chubby Bunny videos are getting a lot of extra views. That's Bob's family. They're determined that we're going to play Chubby Bunny at Thanksgiving. In fact, I was visiting with his family and Bob on Sunday in rural Texas and his mother brought it up. She's in her early 80s and brought up the fact that we need to play Chubby Bunny at Thanksgiving or at family holidays. This is going to happen. They really want to play.

They do. And so all of a sudden, the YouTube views of our Chubby Bunny World Championships have skyrocketed. I'm pretty sure it's all Bob's family.

They're studying for techniques. She even said to me, I have to tell Pat this, our current champion, our reigning champion. She was very impressed. She remembered that he stuffed double digit marshmallows into his cheeks. She's literally taking notes on this.

She is. I'm telling you, she is expecting us to to play this game at our next family dinner or the first one that I'll be involved in whenever it happens to take place. A Chubby Bunny Thanksgiving. The Chubby Bunny World Championships. Amy and Bob style. Amy's new family.

Welcome to the family. It will not be on video. Anyway, so check out our YouTube channel. It's easy to find. It pops up when you start to search or you can look for the link. We've got multiple links up on our own social media.

But if you're on YouTube, it's easy to find. Please subscribe to make Jay happy. We've answered the same question we're asking you.

Which new teams, up to seven of them, will make the playoffs this year after missing out last year? We've already got a few answers. So on Twitter after our CBS on our Facebook page after hours with Amy Lawrence. Now you are running out of time to join us on Survivor Island. Jay, have you made your pick? My pick is official. Your pick is official. You're not changing it. No, I shouldn't say that. It's in action. Say it's official. There's there's time to change it, but it's in to make sure it's in.

Mine is also in. But I may end up changing it. Yeah, only because I'm well, I'm never confident because I've never made it past week six on Survivor Island. So for that reason, and there have been a couple of times in the last five years when I've been out in week two.

So for that reason, I'm not confident ever. I feel like overconfidence is a weakness when it comes to Survivor Island. Like last year when I lost to I think I picked the Browns over the Jets week three or two. It was early, wild comeback game. And I was really confident going into that one. I was like, you know what? This is definitely the pick. That's what happens.

This is definitely the pick. Did you try to get cute? See, I didn't even think I was, but just the overconfidence was enough to just, I don't know, sway the survivor gods against me. The survivor gods. I actually did my fantasy draft on Wednesday evening. I do not like my team, of course. That's always how it goes. Once again, Jay, there's no respect offered to the reigning champion. Why?

Why is there no respect offered? Why do I keep picking 11, 12? Why? Why do I never get to pick in the top 10 or even the top five? See, what Miley does is if you're the champion, you get to determine the next season how the draft order is determined.

So if you want to make that something that you're better at than someone else, that's hey, you won. You get that luxury and you don't get to determine anything. Not only that, but you don't even get the first pick as a courtesy. And again, this is the second year in a row in which I've picked 11 or 12. Last year, I might have picked 13. So I've been, we have a 14 team league and I have no shot the last couple of years at getting, well, I did get Tyreek Hill last year, but I seriously picked 13th. I think a lot of people were leery about him going to the Dolphins last year. And so for that reason, he was still available. But the idea of getting someone like Christian McCaffrey or Justin Jefferson or Tyreek Hill this year.

Yeah, not even on my radar. Not right. I'm the league winner. Also, by the time we got to round six, there may have been only three of us who were not auto drafting. I know you don't put yours on auto draft, but you can see on the top the people who are still drafting versus the people who are auto drafting. Yeah, by round six or seven, everybody was auto drafting except for three of us in a 14 team league. You know, I made every pick all the way through.

You have to. It's one night. It's the draft. And it takes not even 45 minutes. It's quick, especially if it's all online. The clock timer is what, like 45 seconds or a minute? Yeah. Come on, just stick it around, make the pick. Yeah, I was kind of stunned by it. And so, I barely had time to even look at the queue or look at options in the later rounds because even though I was picked number 11 when it snaked around and started at the top again, they were going so quick for the auto draft that it was like bang, bang, bang. See, yeah, then it ruins it for everybody else because you only get in half a second and you can't go time to study.

Half a second, yeah. All right, so go to our show, Twitter After Hours CBS, answer our question, which new NFL teams will make the playoffs in 23 that didn't make it last season? Check out Survivor Island. If you do not have a CBSSports.com login, it's really easy. It's just an email and a password.

Use your email address and a password from something else that you log into. I actually have to keep track of those because I always forget and get them confused. Anyway, while you're doing it, make sure that you pick a winner for Sunday or if you're going to be bold and choose the Thursday night game, pick a winner for Thursday. But you have to save your pick.

That's the deal. Not only do we get hundreds of people eliminated every year week one because they forgot to pick, but they don't save their pick. A pop up window will open up and say, you saved your pick. So wait for that window. If you don't see it, then your pick did not get saved.

All right, so again, after hours CBS or on our Facebook page, it's pinned to the top of each of those social media sites. And I also retweeted it on my own account not that long ago, A Law Radio. Would you like to know where I went with my first pick and why I hate my fantasy football team? Remember, I'm the defending champion. Jay, do you remember the name of my team?

Oh, man, no. Wookie of the Year. Nice, nice.

You can run it back with that. And I do have a, I do have a, it's not a photo, it's an avatar of Chewbacca, of course. So Wookie of the Year. Last year, my number one overall pick was Tyreek Hill. This year, my first round pick, Derrick Henry.

I don't know how I feel about it. I mean, what, 11 overall? The formula. Yes, the formula, of course, is such that Derrick Henry should be getting a lot of carries and he should rack up a bunch of yards. He's still a beast.

A beastly beast. And I know they'll, theory, they would like to use the run to set up the pass so that Ryan Tannehill then can find DeAndre Hopkins and others. But I wonder if, if in a first round where Travis Kelsey, Devante Adams, Tyreek Hill, Austin, well, not Austin Eckler's duel. Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson were the top two picks. I went with Derrick Henry, but he was the highest rated guy still there. And I know most people pick wide receivers when it's a PPR league, but I went with Derrick Henry. I don't think you can ever go wrong drafting Derrick Henry.

That was my mind. I had him each of the last two seasons. Did you?

I did. OK. And that's about where he's going in drafts is 11. I mean, he's Derrick Henry. You know, he actually got selected after Saquon Barkley in my league.

So it went Bijan Robinson, Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry right in a row. I could have had Staphon Diggs. I chose to go with Derrick Henry.

See, I like your pick better. OK, so that was my 11th. I was picking 11th, but that was my first round pick, my number one overall pick at number 11. Then as it snaked around to me, I went my first wide receiver, Devante Smith.

OK, so Derrick Henry, Devante Smith is a one two. Yeah, that's my one two. I liked it. Then I had to sit and wait and wait and wait. Do you know that Patrick Mahomes went off the board at number 17? Wow. How high was he in your draft?

Around 20 something maybe. Yeah, I didn't think it would get back around to me in the third round because I was again picking number 11. So I didn't think he would survive, but I would have taken him to start the third round. He was there when I went with Devante Smith. So I picked number, oh no, I take it back. I picked number 18.

He was gone before I even made my second round pick. How about that? Yeah.

Wow. Yeah, that's early. So it was early. So he was gone. I picked Devante Smith after Patrick Mahomes. Cooper Cupp, who's not available, he was taken right behind Devante Smith. And then AJ Brown was taken not that long after. Second quarterback that came off the board was Josh Allen at number 26. So two quarterbacks, two quarterbacks taken in the second round.

I feel like once that first one goes, the person who wanted Mahomes, they get nervous and they got to jump on him, yeah. Jalen Hurts was the first pick taken in round number three. So there you had three quarterbacks off the board in the first 29 picks.

And like you said, it's a PPR league. First 30 picks, three quarterbacks were gone. So I was starting to get a little nervous, but I did not cave, Jay. I did not cave. Once Mahomes and Allen were gone, I decided I didn't want to reach for Burrow. So instead, my third round pick was Mike Williams. I don't love this one because I get nervous about him getting injured. I actually took him in a league too. Did you? I got Mike Williams at number 39, my third round pick.

And then as it snaked around, I decided it was time, well, this is also another one. So I don't love either of these picks, but because it's a PPR league, I was going heavy receivers early on other than Derrick Henry. Christian Watson helped me win my league last year.

He was a late pickup for me. I know it's Jordan Love throwing him the ball, but he's one of the receivers that's left over, so to speak, right? From the Aaron Rodgers era, Christian Watson's a dynamic receiver. He just needed to find his stride last year and he became real valuable. And with Allen Lazard gone, Christian Watson's their number one guy. They're going to throw the ball and someone's got to get the targets.

It's not likely going to be him. So he was my fourth pick in the fourth round. And then wait, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, all the way through.

It felt like forever before, once the auto draft kicked in, it went a lot faster, but it felt like forever initially to wait for those picks to come around. Are you ready for my tight end? Let's hear it. Kyle Pitts. Okay.

Okay. Do you think so? I think that could potentially be a steal of the draft because, I mean, you remember his rookie year, he was going early in second round, and then he fell off a little bit in drafts and fantasy drafts. And this year people are kind of high on him again, they got a better offense. I think that could, he could easily be a third round pick, second round pick numbers in the fifth round. So a few picks ahead of that, Jonathan Taylor went. So I thought that was interesting because that scares me. I hope he doesn't hold out all the way through the season. I sincerely do, but I wouldn't have touched him. You can't take a pick that high on a guy that isn't even on your, well, right now can't even be on your active roster.

So I was a little bit nervous about that. Mike Evans of the Bucks went a couple picks before that too, but I knew I had to go tight end. So yes, Kyle Pitts was my fifth round pick, and then my sixth round pick, and I could have had either Antonio Gibson or Brian Robinson. I went back and forth and I went with Brian Robinson, but they were almost, they were almost exactly the same in fantasy last year.

Same number of points. So after we had Antonio on the show last week, I almost felt a loyalty to go with him. I wanted to get him too, I didn't get him. But instead I went with Brian Robinson. So at this point I had both starting running backs as well as multiple wide receivers and a tight end. By the way, keeping track of quarterbacks, of course, I had not selected one yet. Deshaun Watson came off the board in the sixth round. Joe Burrow, I'm trying to think where Joe Burrow got drafted. Justin Fields was off the board in the fourth round. What about Lamar?

Let me look for Lamar too. Yeah, Lamar's, oh, Joe Burrow. So Joe Burrow was early in round four.

He was right before I selected Christian Watson and had Burrow still been available, I would have gone with Burrow there in round number four. Let's see, Justin Fields was end of round four. Round number five included Justin Herbert. I thought about Herbert too, but I thought, I didn't, I just felt like that was a stretch.

It's a little early. So then going into round number six, I almost went with Dallas Goddard. I was like Brian Robinson, Dallas Goddard, but I ended up going with another running back. Deshaun Watson went middle of the sixth round. Trevor Lawrence went middle of the sixth round in terms of quarterbacks. So here I am now in round number seven, I'm starting to get nervous about not having a quarterback and the number of QBs that have gone off the board already. Jack Prescott went number 92 in my league. It comes down to me at 95 and I'm thinking, okay, I can get a quarterback, not a great quarterback probably, but should I get a quarterback here or should I go another receiver? I went with Michael Thomas. I don't know, I'm praying that he's healthy.

Yeah, that's a fire. You know, it could be the best pick in the draft again, it could be the worry, who knows? Right, but with a strong quarterback who throws the ball like Derek Carr, I thought, you know what, he doesn't have to be in my starting lineup initially, I'll go with him.

But now Jay, I'm seriously starting to sweat a little bit because we're going into round number eight and I don't have a quarterback and I'm thinking, shoot, yeah, and they're, and they are gone. Kirk Cousins was gone in the seventh round. Kirk Cousins went, so yeah, so after I selected, what number was I? I selected in round number seven, I went with the, I was at the 95th pick, that was Michael Thomas.

Kirk Cousins went right before that and Dak Prescott, two selections before. So both those guys are gone before I get to Michael Thomas. Then, as I say, we're into round eight and I'm thinking, crap, I don't have a quarterback and I'm going to be left with Geno Smith.

Not that he gets Geno, but he's not a big numbers guy, right? Or I'm going to be left with Ryan Tannehill. I'm going to be left with Anthony Richardson, right, so I'm starting to get really nervous about this. But my next pick came around in round eight, do you know what I did? I went with another running back. Hey, at that point, I guess other people got their quarterbacks, the ones, the difference separating the other ones is crazy. I was eyeing a couple of the quarterbacks thinking, shoot, I could be in real trouble here, but I decided at this point, if I hadn't selected one, they were essentially going to fall to the bottom, right? The same guys were going to still be available by the time we got into round number nine. So I went with Raheem Mostert at the eighth round, picked number 102, then I had to wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

By this time, it's auto drafting actually, so it's kind of quick. Into round number nine, I decided, all right, no more messing around, I got to get a quarterback. Do you know the highest rated quarterback available at pick number 123? Oh no, I know a name you haven't said yet. Jay, oops, I did it again. It happened again, why? You were the cautionary tale, you told me over the weekend that you selected this quarterback because you were out of options. How did I back myself into a quarter, especially with my experience and pick the same damn quarterback again? That was such a fantasy disappointment last year.

Why did I do it? I've said repeatedly, I won my fantasy football league last year in spite of my quarterback. He one time went over 20 points and now you and I are in the same boat.

What is wrong with us? Why did we both pick Aaron Rodgers? Was it really only one time he went over 20 points last year?

Okay, maybe it was more than once, but I'm telling you it was not very often. I could go back and look at the average for him, it was more often than not 17, 18, 19 points. See, I could live with something like that, maybe he's got the better offense. See, we both did the same thing, we backed ourselves into a quarter waiting on our QBs. I kept going with skill position players thinking, well now that I've missed out on this quarterback and that quarterback, I might as well just keep going with the position guys.

And then it got down to it and he was really the only viable one available. I'm offended. It'll be fine.

It's totally fine. Do you think he would be offended by the fact that Justin Tucker got selected higher than him in my fantasy draft? Probably. Or do you think he'd be offended by the fact that Nico Collins, the wide receiver for the Houston Texans was selected ahead of him? How about the fact that DJ Chark, who's got a rookie QB throwing to him, went higher in the draft or the ultimate, because you know Aaron's recent history against the San Francisco 49ers, the Niners defense, the defense was two picks ahead of him in my fantasy draft. Oh, that's not good. That was the first defense off the table.

Can I tell you, I would have taken the defense there if, because I had the Niners defense in my queue and if they had, if the Niners defense had been available, I would have taken them instead of Aaron Rodgers. Back in the dumpers again. We're back in the dumpers again, Jake. Oh no. What are we going to do?

All season long, we're going to be fantasy football nightmares. You want to make a pact? What is it? We don't drop them. No, I can't do that. I can't do that either.

I can't do that. No matter what, we ride it out with Aaron Rodgers. Oh my gosh. I ended up with the Steelers defense though. I was pretty happy about that.

I'll take some TJ Watts sack love, please. But yeah, he wasn't even selected before the first defense and the first kicker came off the board. You know, there was a time in my- I'm offended. There was a time in my fantasy career I took Aaron Rodgers in the first round. Very early. What? Very early. Why? It was my first or second draft. Why?

I don't know. I didn't realize you waited on quarterbacks. Aaron Rodgers was the best player in football. I was like, oh, I got Aaron Rodgers. Let's go.

Let's go. And now he's getting the defenses go before him. And the kickers. Justin Tucker. Hey, I would have taken Justin Tucker ahead of Aaron Rodgers too, he is. So that's my fantasy football draft. I hate it, per the usual. I really don't like any of the guys that I got except for Michael Thomas and he could end up not playing a game again this year.

Who knows? It wouldn't be a fantasy football draft if you like your team. Right. If you want to share your fantasy strategies with us, you certainly can.

All right, coming up. We're absolutely going to work in some baseball as well as some tennis on the hot hard courts at the US Open. But we had a pretty impressive, well, pretty impressive touchdown by one Nick Bosa in the Bay Area getting set for the season opener, Niners and Steelers. You'll hear straight from the very rich horse's mouth coming up.

Plus Chris Jones. Why is he holding out? It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. If I've learned one thing in life up to this point, whatever end goal you have in mind, it's going to be, it's not going to be a smooth path. There's going to be times where you're questioning yourself. But if you stay the course and you believe in yourself, take it one day at a time, there's going to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Nick Bosa is the San Francisco 49ers superstar pass rusher and the reigning NFL defensive player of the year. A few of his comments there from when he claimed that award.

And now he's got the contract that will put him back on the field, possibly Sunday, but very soon, soon, very soon, Bosa himself got off an airplane in a video posted not that long ago by the San Francisco 49ers Twitter account and we'll boost it up so you can hear it speaking directly. Guys, it's no secret that classic dress shirts suck. That's why our friends at And Caller created something different. No more tight collars, loose fabric or stubborn stains. Just outrageously comfortable shirts that are breathable, stain resistant and perfect for all occasions.

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Find out more at StayArlington.com. To the fans. Sorry for the scare. Let's go win some games.

Sorry for the scare. Let's go win some games, shall we? It's clear how much a pass rusher and a defensive superstar like Nick Bosa, TJ Watt, Aaron Donald, how much these guys impact a game.

They're worth their weight in wins. Football is a consummate team sport. Defensive guys aren't even on the field half the time if you're doing well, right? You want your defense to do its job and get the heck off the field, get back to the sidelines. And yet the impact is even more notable when you're missing one of these guys. And these are just three examples.

Okay, so don't go hog wild on me. There's obviously some very talented defensive players in the NFL. For Nick Bosa to return, not only had his teammates cheering, but also reminds the rest of the league the Niners are a force to be reckoned with, not only because they have the experience, they've got the confidence after rattling off 12 straight wins last year despite using their third different quarterback. They get to the NFC Championship where they have to turn to a fourth quarterback before he gets injured. And I know they got blown out by the Eagles, but to get that far, to go to back-to-back NFC Championships, despite the injuries they had at the most significant position on the field, had a lot to do with their defense, with their playmakers, with their coaching. If they can get through this season, let's just go two quarterbacks, just kidding, let's go one quarterback, and they can stay relatively healthy, I don't know how you can look past them as a Super Bowl contender.

Again, considering what they did last year, despite having to run the gamut. Now they did bring in Christian McCaffrey, huge deal, right now George Kittle is banged up, I know there are guys injured, that's pretty much standard across the board. Well except for the Chiefs, other than Travis Kelce, they have no one listed on their injury report. You want to talk about putting the fear of God in the rest of the NFL, Travis Kelce is the only Chief listed on their injury report.

That is huge. To come out of the preseason with only one injury, and it does stink that Kelce was injured in their very last practice before game one, but according to his brother, Jason, who obviously is center with the Eagles, there's still a chance that younger bro Travis could be on the field come Thursday night, despite the hyperextended knee, this is with our Philadelphia affiliate WIP. I talked to him yesterday and I've done the same thing, you just plant, or you do something and your knee hyperextends, I mean, truthfully, the last time I did this, I was making a bonfire outside and I thought I was strong enough to kick a piece of wood in half and I hyperextended my knee and did the same thing, bone bruise. It sounds like as long as they can get that down, he's going to have a chance to go. The ligaments and everything are intact, structurally, from what we know right now, his knee is fine.

So really it's about getting that swelling down and then seeing how bruised that bone is. Once again, Jason Kelce on WIP, I know I took a bit of a turn there, but I think it's pretty significant that the Super Bowl champions have one guy, really important guy, next to Patrick Mahomes, maybe the most important guy on their offense, but he's the only one listed. Now, Chris Jones, healthy but unavailable, he was at a charity event on Wednesday and we got to hear his voice for the first time in a long time. He is still expecting that he can work something out with the Chiefs. He's still holding out hope that he can play in their opener, though I would say time is running out now.

But as of Wednesday, he was steadfast. He just wants a raise. And I don't have any issue with guys standing up for themselves. I don't have any issue with guys missing training camp in preseason.

The problem, of course, is if you start to miss games, well then you're giving back some of that money. It's not like he's a free agent, right? So it's really a game of chicken. Who's got the leverage? Is it the team?

Is it the player? In the case of the Niners, Nick Bosa had the leverage because the Niners defense is not the same without him now. Is Chris Jones instrumental in the Chiefs winning their Super Bowl last year? Absolutely.

No one would dispute that. It's a little bit different, though, when you have Patrick Mahomes as your quarterback. I'm just saying that offense can cover a multitude of sins and has done so with the defense. Has the defense been significant in their run to five straight AFC championship games, in their run to two Super Bowl wins, three appearances in the last five years?

Yes. The star of the show is Patrick Mahomes. On one and a half legs, the dude is still the best in the NFL. And so for me, that makes it a little more as though the scales are tipped in the favor of the Chiefs, at least to start the season. It's a really long season. But Jones is, again, steady, steadfast in what he's asking, which is for a race.

Hopefully it gets worked out. This receiver trio is just scary, and it does start with Scary Terry himself there. He's good, man. And it's just, can we get normal quarterback play for this guy for once in his career? Because you're right. It's not a shade to ODU's finest Taylor Heineke, but he was literally a backup quarterback in the XFL. And he's probably the best player that Washington has rolled out at quarterback in Terry's career. Subscribe to Reception Perception, available on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. It's always been my goal to be a Kansas City Chiefs for life.

I've said that multiple times on social media and platforms from interviews, and they know where my position is at, and hopefully we can get something worked out. So he was appearing at a team charity event. He is still a chief, the Ronald McDonald House. Remember those?

Haven't talked about those in quite a while, but that's cool. Great opportunity for these players to give back to their community. He was there with the team members at the Ronald McDonald House of Kansas City. And while he's not talking specifics, so not negotiating publicly, he's asked for a raise, says he doesn't want to be a distraction to his teammates.

And so he wouldn't talk about the negotiations themselves. But he's been saying, I would really like to be on the field for week number one. It's been my goal to remain a Kansas City Chief for life. Obviously, there's criticism that gets leveled at these players who hold out, oh, how can you be so selfish? How can you put yourself before the team?

And he responds to that criticism that he's letting his teammates down. Just like when you had a job and you asked for a stitcher, right, and you asked for a raise, right? You're not letting anyone down. Who are you letting down by asking your boss for a raise, right?

Who are you letting down by asking your boss for a raise? I understand that. And I do often try to use the comparison from the corporate world for these athletes. Now, it's much different money.

It's monopoly money. Most of us cannot relate to that. But we can relate on a basic level to a belief that we're underpaid.

We're not compensated according to our value. Many of us, raise your hand right now if you think you deserve a raise. Jay, put your hand up. I got both of them up. Yeah. I got my hand up.

Do you deserve a raise? That's where Chris Jones is. He did say that he doesn't want to be a distraction, which is why he has gone to these team events, why he was part of preseason workouts, why he's keeping in contact with the Niners.

He's missing the camaraderie. And yeah, there's a lot there because they're defending Super Bowl champs. They're looking forward to what's coming up, to being big kids on the block, big men on the block. I do love this start of the season where every team is sitting in the same position of hope.

Hope springs eternal. Remember this time last year, the Chiefs were not even supposed to be the best team in the AFC West. Forget the conference. The AFC West said we were rebuilding, I'll be honest with y'all, I don't know what rebuilding means.

We're world champs. All right, so maybe the Chiefs get knocked out of the playoffs this year. Maybe they get knocked off their perch atop the AFC West. Roughly half the NFL playoff bracket turns over every season.

So which teams will make the playoffs this year that didn't last season? We've got a post up on our show Twitter account after our CBS and I retweeted. We've also got the post on Facebook and our stairway to seven, episode five, the video on YouTube. Man, a lot of you are checking it out now and producer J, you're getting a lot of new subscribers to our YouTube channel. The appeal is working. People want to make you happy. And so I know that you're getting our answer. Will you go off the beaten path and try something new?

Whether it's YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, we're happy to connect with you. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. You are listening to the after hours podcast. Look at second now the pitch and Alvarez hammers it deep to center racing back on it to Ferris still going back, looking up into the Astros bullpen, a two run home run for your Don Alvarez. And it is two to nothing Astros. Here's the one one and Brantley cranks this one deep to right going back Garcia on the warning track at the wall he leaves and it's gone opposite field home run for Michael Brantley, his third career Homer off of Scherzer and the Astros lead three to one.

Here it is driven to left field. Did he do it? Did he do it?

Yes, he did. Grand slam. Jose, a brand seven to one.

This is after hours with Amy Lawrence. It wasn't long before the shine had worn off the matchup between Mad Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander at least for Rangers fans. I actually had one Rangers fan reach out to me on Twitter in the early innings of the matchup on Wednesday to indicate that the Rangers were breaking his heart.

They certainly are going the wrong way and we'll get into that coming up. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Three home runs off Mad Max. In fact, he gets torched for seven runs in just his three innings pitched, a handful of hits and a couple of walks. But I suppose he can take solace in the fact that he's not alone because pretty much every pitcher that stepped on the mound for the Rangers in this series got lit up. 39 runs scored by the Astros in their three game sweep of the AL West rivals, excuse me.

And for Justin Verlander, he's now five and two since rejoining Houston. Jay, how does that make you feel? It doesn't. It doesn't make you feel anything? It's numbing? Yeah, that's a good word for it.

Okay. It's mind numbing that Justin Verlander is five and two, but this is home for him, right? He's pretty thrilled with what the Astros defense and the bats do to support him. We got to show up. You know, it's not quite playoff baseball, but you know, it's time to bring that energy and focus. And you know, you see what these guys are capable of when they do that. It really wasn't about making a statement, it was more about, you know, winning games and trying to get, you know, into first place and hopefully to get some help. A team that has a lot of experience, knows exactly what is required to win a World Series.

And I'm not even referring to the one in 17 with the trash cans. I'm referring to last season. It's not an entirely different lineup, but it's different leadership. Yes, they have Jose Altuve at the top and he is getting hot. But Jordin Alvarez, some of the others, Jose Abreu, these are guys that were part of the more recent iteration of the Astros.

And everything they bring to the table shows you that they're a force to be reckoned with. Now at 80 wins, they have a game lead over the Mariners in the division standings, now up three on the Rangers. And I love how Verlander puts it, yeah, it's not all that difficult to know what to do if you're a pitcher, nor is it all that difficult to be successful if you're with this team as a pitcher. You know, our offense made it pretty easy on us, this series, you know, so obviously when you're staked with a big run lead, you just kind of want to eat up innings and try to keep the team off the board as much as possible and was able to do that.

Yeah, they're heating up at just the right time. Now winners of seven in their last ten, meanwhile the Rangers are going the wrong way. They've lost six of seven. And this was a tough sweep because it was an opportunity for them to kind of stake their claim against the World Series champs. It's part of the game and you have to let it go.

As I've said so many times, you have no choice. Obviously it was not a good series. I mean, it wasn't a lot. We did well. And to be honest, they played well. They got hot on us and they didn't miss any mistakes. That long ball killed us in this series. We just didn't execute pitches, left a lot up throughout the series and we paid for it.

You know, they pitched well, they swung the bats and they put it to us and there's no getting around that. Bruce Bochi and Dusty Baker, former Giants managers, part of the series. That's kind of interesting. So yeah, Mad Max gets shelled, but the history was there. The excitement at the start. Max Scherzer, 39 years old, Justin Verlander, 40 years old, first meeting in which they are pitching for opposite teams and on the field at the same, well, not the same time, on the mound in the same day, in the same afternoon, the same outing. Kind of cool to see. Likely doesn't happen again unless they get to the playoffs. Halfway through, it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.