After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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Shop in store or visit Ashley.com today. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. We're off and running week two in the NFL and it begins with the Vikings and the Eagles, two playoff teams from a year ago. Obviously Philadelphia, the rep in the Super Bowl and neither team is in mid-season form.

Let's be honest though, there's positives and there's negatives. Bit of a roller coaster to start the NFL season always. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. What is the After Hours game of the week? And no, you can't pick this one.

It's already in the books. We've got four options and we take your write-in votes. Find the poll on Twitter, After HoursCBS, also on our Facebook page. After Hours with Amy Lawrence, our phone number 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Second and ten from the Eagles, 31. Cousins, shotgun again, two receivers left.

Here comes Hassan Reddick from his front side. Pass left, caught Jefferson. Five reaches for the end zone and he's short. Justin caught it at the five-yard line and he got down to the one, so that's a catch of 30 yards with 33 seconds to go in the first half. Excellent catch by Jefferson, first and goal, Minnesota.

Wow, what a great job. That's a questionable thing. I don't know if they want to look at this and see if he fumbled it because if he fumbled it out of bounds in the end zone, it's a touchback and it's Philadelphia's ball. I'm putting it a lot on myself. Just fumbling in the end zone like that when we need points and we're driving and we're having that momentum. I'm putting a lot of blame on myself. Of course, being the captain of the team, I have to know the situation, take care of the ball.

I was telling my teammates that was on me and it won't happen again. Justin Jefferson now has two 150-yard receiving games to start the season and yet the Vikings are 0-2. Kirk Cousins twice has gone over 300 yards and yet the Vikings are 0-2. And it's time to get some answers.

Is there a silver lining to the 0-2 start? Paul Allen with the call on the Vikings Radio Network. We're pleased to welcome our old friend, first time this season, Luke Braun, to talk Vikings. He's got the Locked on Vikings podcast and a unique sense of humor that you won't find anywhere else because after I put it out there on Twitter that we would be having him on the show, this is Luke's response.

This is his quote atop the tweet. Are you lying awake, seething, crying, choking on your own vomit? Tune in to Amy Lawrence with your final moments in this mortal prison. Okay, that's not melodramatic at all, Luke. How are you? I'm doing great, Amy. I'm glad you put up with me. Of course.

No, absolutely. Well, I want to start with the positives. What's the silver lining? There's got to be a silver lining, Luke.

What is it? There's a couple, honestly. These first couple weeks, we've seen the explosiveness from Jordan Addison. I think in terms of the start to his season, hey, he's still a rookie, getting used to the NFL, getting used to the playbook and all that, and already seeing this production and understanding that it's probably uphill from here anyways, that's super exciting. I think the passing offense has worked. I think the piecemeal offensive line in terms of pass protection held up about as well as you could expect. And on the back end of coverage, which is also supposed to be one of the weakest parts of the Vikings, they did a fantastic job of limiting A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith, a couple of explosive plays where they got the top taken off of them. Honestly, I expected that to be a lot worse.

So, yeah, there's a lot of stuff to love. Honestly, I look at this team, there's two plays, one in each of their two losses. If you overturn those two plays, they're 2-0.

It's that close. Interception on the goal line right before the half against Tampa Bay. Fumble on the goal line right before the half against Philadelphia. You take those two away, that fumble was a 10-point swing, ultimately, because it could have been a touchdown if you hanged onto it. And then they go back and they score a 61-yard field goal. And then last week, you had an interception directly on the goal line.

They lost by three and then they lost by six. You get rid of those two plays and the Vikings are 2-0. And we'll keep the other four fumbles. We'll keep the bad run defense.

We'll keep all those other problems. Just give me those two plays back. And we're 2-0. So I think this team is a lot closer than their record makes it look. But you don't get those plays back.

You don't get those games back. And now it's a matter of, you know, as good as they are or aren't, they're in the hole, whether it's fair or not. So why are they choking, fans meaning, why are fans choking on their own vomit in these hours in the middle of the night? It's just what being a Vikings fan is.

You lie awake, you brood, you seize. No, it's, I mean, look, four fumbles. That is just unacceptable. I mean, that's high school.

That's horrific. You cannot have four fumbles. You have Madison fumble twice.

He got lucky. One gets called back on an unrelated offside penalty. Absolutely disgusting ball security. After last week when they fumbled three times and lost a game by three points, you would think it'd be an emphasis. You would think they'd go back and say, Oh my God, ball security is so important. Everybody, hey, do not fumble. Be really tight on it. Hold that ball tight. Do not get it punched out.

Get it punched out five freaking times? That's completely unacceptable. Definitely the turnovers having lost the turnover battle now seven to one.

And you think, maybe they only have half of those. Let's give them four turnovers instead of three. Well, then maybe as you point out, they are 2-0. What about the run defense though, Luke? Because Brian Flores, new defensive coordinator, a lot of attention around his hire away from Pittsburgh.

Where are you seeing the impact? Yeah, so the way that they approached coverage in this game worked, right? I think that they had a really, really, really successful result in coverage and coverage and run defense are linked in a way that if you are going to make, I think the Formational adjustment that it required, basically the Vikings came out in front that it looked to me, at least I want to double check this, but it looked, they came out in front all game that left the B gaps fairly open and trusted either defensive backs or linebackers to fill those gaps. But it was defensive backs a little too often, but I think it was structured that way for reasons that had to do with the coverage.

So you couldn't really fix the defense without jeopardizing what you were doing in coverage. That's my working theory. I'm going to plug my next Patreon page, which is patreon.com slash loop run NFL. I'm probably going to go do a film breakdown on there that investigates that exact thing.

So if that X's and no stuff is interesting, please come hang out. But, um, that felt like why and what you need when you're doing that kind of thing is defensive tackles that can two gaps that can be responsible for a guy saying, you know, no tackle on the center. And if it goes to his left, I got him. If it goes to his right, I got him. I control this lineman and I'm going to move them out of the way.

If this run comes my way. And we just didn't have that. And we just got physically dominated upfront. Harrison Phillips had a couple of good plays, but he got blown out a whole bunch. Kyrie's Tonga, I think had a disaster game, Jonathan Bullard disaster game, Dean Lowry disaster game.

You just need bigger dude. They actually have a guy Jacqueline Roy that took from LSU. He's a fifth round pick and probably like a rotational player, but he's sort of the guy that might be here specifically to be a run defense guy, but he didn't suit up today.

So they didn't actually have him available. Maybe they'll rectify that next week because they got Austin Eckler coming to the U.S. Bank Stadium. Maybe give up 150 yards rushing, not 250 yards rushing. Well, it's like 15, 16, 17 play drives and Tampa did it. Yeah, these drives will just break your will. And it's just like disrespectful to like the Eagles called the same run over and over and over again and scored a touchdown on it.

It's like that is what they do when they are not scared of you at all. Exactly. Luke Braun is with us from LA actually where he does locked on Vikings. I do love the way that he manages and also the film breakdowns are great.

So make sure you check those out. His Twitter will plug at the end of our conversation, but he's got some real good stuff on video. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. I noticed during the game that you tweeted that there's no intensity with the Vikings. Something about bring back Zimmer, if I remember it correctly, which is an observation that a lot of fans really appreciated.

What do you mean by no intensity? That was a controversial one. Yeah, no, here's the thing. Game Day tweets don't count. All right, I'm tweeting through it. It's emotional. You cannot hold me to account for what I tweet on Game Day.

I'm just letting random thoughts fly without vetting them at all. But I will say, yeah, I think that there was a huge lack of intensity when you're getting run on like that. What I want to see is somebody go make a play. Someone shoot a gap, get a TFL. Someone make a cool pass break up. Someone go make a play that gets everybody used again.

You're just lining up and getting walked every single play. That can't happen. And I think that there is a very calm nature to the culture and there's pros and cons to that versus the kind of intensity of Zimmer. But I think it stems from who Kevin O'Connell is.

He's a very laid back guy. That's very, you know, hey, we'll take everything in stride. We'll solve our problems as they come.

But we're never going to get too worked up over this thing or the other thing. That can be really, really great in certain scenarios. But sometimes you need a guy to go get you juiced up. Sometimes you need Dez Bryant yelling at you on the sideline. Stefan Diggs going crazy. Not AJ Brown. I mean, AJ Brown was yelling.

Yeah. Give me Everson Griffin back, right? That was the backbone of the Vikings for a decade in that regard. We need that guy.

Yeah, we definitely did have some yelling. It was just on the other sideline. So who is the candidate? Because I feel like Justin Jefferson can get fired up. But who would be the AJ Brown counterpart if you were to look for someone on the Vikings sideline?

I really want it to be Justin Jefferson because he has that energy and he has such a larger than life presence just because of how much of a superstar he is. But he really isn't that guy. He's a goofball.

He's perfect for the Kevin O'Connell thing where it's just, hey, we're smiling. We're having fun. It's a game. I know you just threw an interception. It's not a big deal.

We're still having lots of fun. That can really help with that kind of thing. But I don't know. Maybe we look to a rookie. Maybe eventually it can be somebody like Jordan Addison who's a pretty quiet guy. But maybe if he comes out of his shell and maybe we can get that from him or somebody like that. Maybe it's somebody on the offensive line. Garrett Bradbury wasn't active today because he's got a back thing. But he's kind of a hothead.

I could see it being the center, right? Give me one of the big boys going off. Somebody's got to take up that mantle. It's not going to be Daniil Hunter.

He's a very quiet guy. Maybe it can be somebody like Brian Osamuah or Josh Metellus who have sort of taken up leadership roles. Those guys like Zaderia Smith and Eric Kendrick leave. But there is sort of a power vacuum in terms of leadership on the Vikings roster just because of all the veterans that left. Like Adam Phelan and Kendrick. That would have been my answer.

But now I don't know. Somebody's got to step up, though, and eventually whoever that is is going to, I think, find that dimension of themselves. It definitely is a work in progress to start the season, even for teams that start out with a 2-0 mark. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Luke Braun with the locked on Vikings.

He's got work to do over this one. Now, we know that the running back or the running position, the running game was going to change some without Dalvin Cook. And it's Madison. And we knew that there was going to be kind of a change in the guard there anyway with Alexander. And, of course, the offensive line. But 28 yards. I know they had to pass more to kind of catch up and pull back with the touchdown, the six points multiple times. But it does seem like they need a greater commitment to the run game. Or am I missing something? I mean, yeah, they are missing a commitment to the run game. Absolutely.

But I don't know if they would agree that they need one. I think they, Kevin O'Connell comes into this. We got the analytics GM that's going, whatever, throw the rock 50 times. We're going to be that team that puts up a whole bunch of yards. And I think that there's intangible stuff that you lose when you do that that we kind of saw here. That 16 play drive and then the Eagles come out and do it again. I mean, that breaks your spirit, right?

That breaks your will. And not to mention the clock control and taking away opportunities and comeback situations and all that stuff. But, I mean, yeah, they tried to improve the run game by mixing in more lead blocker stuff with either a fullback or an extra tight end or something. They signed Josh Oliver for that. They extend TJ Hopkinson. They extend CJ Ham. So they did kind of commit to that group of people, but they let Dalvin Cook go. They let all his backups take over and they went with the exact same offensive line, two of whom were not available tonight.

So I was like, yeah, maybe that did just go real bad and they kind of didn't care. But if you guys get this line, which is, I think, built more, you know, it's built to pass block. It's not built to ball people and move people.

And it's built to finesse zone run, pull around, that kind of crap. And if you're going to be that and we're going to take a whole bunch of deep shots, then you're going to live in this world of volatility. And what's frustrating is all of that would be fine if you hang on to the dang football. Because it always comes back to that, doesn't it?

You really kind of shoot yourself in the foot. I'm going to add another silver lining to this, Luke, because I do think the division is also a silver lining. It's wide open. After seeing the NFC North for the first week and now a game, a second game with the Vikings, what are your thoughts on how this division looks, even though it's early at this point?

Yeah, it's pretty early. But I think we can say juries out on a couple of teams, right? Let's say juries out on the Vikings.

They'll be nice to them. They're 0-2, but juries out. They were close and it was turnovers and we'll see who they really turn into as the year wears on. And I think the jury's out on the Packers.

I'm not quite sure what to make of Jordan Love. You can't really get a lot of information out of them because of who they played, which is the Bears. I'm ready to count out the Bears. That wasn't a football team.

I'm sorry. That is a team in absolute crisis and I think people are way closer to being fired than actually figuring something out and becoming a team in the NFC worth paying attention to. So I'm like super out on the Bears and I think the Bears are out on the Bears and people might start losing their job soon, which is wild to say when only one game has been played, but it's truly that bad of a game. They need to like come to God and find a way to win. But then you kind of look at the Lions and I mean, how can you not be super encouraged by everything they did against Kansas City? I'm not allowing myself to be endeared by the Lions because I've pitied them too much over the years, you know, put up or shut up. But I mean, come on, either like a power running team in today's day and age and they just went into Kansas City and beat the Chiefs at home.

Come on, that rules. That was a really impressive statement. I'm very concerned about their passing offense and kind of what kind of explosiveness they can generate. But if they can find that dimension, then I think they can actually, you know, be a team that you actually have to pay attention to in January. But for me right now, the NFC North looks like a division that puts one team in the playoffs.

That team gets out wildcard weekend and then we let the real the real boys play from the NFC. Luke, I've been waiting to ask you this question. Did you watch the quarterback series on Netflix that featured, among other QBs, your favorite Kirk Cousins?

I did. What did you learn about Kirk that you did not know before? I think the amount of work that they put in, that was really the point of the documentary, was to showcase the amount of work that goes in. And what I didn't know just how hurt he was in 2022, what he was playing through. He never showed up on an injury report, but he had, what was it, a broken rib, a bruised rib? Never showed up on an injury report, never missed so much as a practice, never missed so much as a rep. And part of that is just straight up toughness. But I think another part is also the therapist study brought in to work on him and the effort that he put into taking care of his body, this underrated part of the NFL.

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I already knew some of this. We knew about the brain doctor thing that he did, like hooking all the nodes up to his head and all that crazy stuff that he does. And just the constant effort to find any edge that he possibly can find. But maybe what I didn't appreciate before I saw that, and it actually came up tonight, was just how hard on himself he is. I thought I was hard on Kirk Cousins. I'm pretty harsh on Kirk Cousins. I got nothing on Kirk Cousins. He said that that play that you played the Paul Allen clip of tonight, the explosive pass to Justin Jefferson should have been a touchdown pass, but he fumbled out through the end zone. They asked Jefferson after, and he's like, yeah, I can't fumble. I can't do my teammates like that.

That's totally on me. I've got to be better. Which is a wild thing for a guy to be saying after putting up a.50 on Darius Flay. But, you know, he's been a teammate, right? And then he asked Kirk Cousins, and he's like, yeah, you know, I think if I had thrown that ball perfectly, he probably doesn't bobble it, and then he doesn't fumble it. It's like, what? That was a great throw.

What are you talking about? But that's how he thinks about it all the time. Driving home from the playoff loss against the Giants, he's going, oh, I missed that throw. I missed that throw, and I missed that. He had a fantastic game against the Giants.

I know everybody talked about the 4th and 8th. He had a phenomenal game against the Giants, and I'm a hater. So you know it's real, and I'm saying that it was a good game. So he's just so unbelievably harsh on himself. To a point where I don't even know if that's actually a healthy way to grow as a player or a person. But it's definitely something that has come up, and hey, that'll carve out an 11-year career in the NFL, so who am I to judge? I did warn people that you are not a big believer. I tried to soften the blow a little bit, but you have just put yourself out there and told people what you think of Kirk Cousins. So I'm glad that you do have some aspects of his personality, his preparation that you now appreciate, have a greater appreciation for. I'm impressed, Luke. Way to go.

Way to grow. Way to become more of a renaissance man when it comes to Kirk Cousins. Just don't look up the books that he was buying at Barnes and Noble.

Don't go do that. I loved that series because I do feel like it gave you, as you point out, just a glimpse of how much work these guys put in. I mean him with the note cards over and over and over again. It didn't show up in the doc, but he has every single note he has ever taken in a football thing going all the way back to high school. You could ask him about a second-quarter Michigan-Michigan State game from 2010, and he would be like, yeah, hang on, let me dig that out. And he would have play-by-play notes from their film session. That's incredible.

He's got big bins in his garage. He definitely is anal-retentive, and yet that's one of the reasons why, as you point out, he's a veteran quarterback in the NFL, and why he continues to play extremely well, though the Vikings are 0-2. So if you're looking for more breakdown, more of this super, it's really interesting, the various aspects of the game and why they could be 2-0 if they just didn't fumble, you can find Luke on Twitter at Luke Braun NFL, B-R-A-U-N. It's got the link there to Patreon.com, which is where you'll get some of the film breakdowns. You always bring such great energy and humor, which is why we love you. Thank you so much for a couple of minutes. Anytime, Amy. Anytime.

Oh, goodness. I love it that he is willing to admit he's a Kirk Cousins hater, and yet will give him the respect. And yeah, this is not on Kirk. It's about the inability right now to take care of the football and the fumbles in the worst possible times. But still, the season is young, and there are teams every year that start out 0-2 that still make the playoffs.

We saw multiple examples of that last year, so no need to panic. On Twitter, AlalRadio, what is the after hours game of the week? On our Facebook page, too, we're glad to connect with you.

Love to hear what you think. We did briefly consider Jets Cowboys for the game of the week, but that felt unfair and more about hitting the, I guess riding the wave and kind of hitting the trendy game right now. Instead, we went with what we felt were more solid choices with maybe more even playing field, if you will. Though if the Jets beat the Cowboys, there's going to be a major uproar. Aaron Rodgers posting another update to his medical status, his condition since the Achilles rupture. And Zach Wilson gets ready to take over again as QB1. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours podcast. I do want to make it very clear Zach's our quarterback. We've got a lot of faith in Zach. We're really excited about this opportunity. But we're rolling with Zach and excited for this, excited for him. And like I said, this opportunity that he's going to get.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Robert Sala has not minced words about Zach. He believes that Zach Wilson, or at least he wants us to believe that he believes that Zach Wilson can step in, that he's made major progress in terms of his confidence and what he's learned even from the short time working with Aaron Rodgers. Now, Rodgers is not with the team. As you can imagine, Aaron Rodgers is recovering now. And he just had the surgery to repair his torn Achilles on Wednesday.

All right. So he's in California. He went back there to have surgery with a doctor that he's worked with in the past.

Let's see. L. Attrage. I think it's L. Attrage.

Dr. L. Attrage. And so he's on the other coast. But he did post an Instagram photo, actually. He's in a hospital gown and cap, a shower cap in case you ever wanted to see what Aaron Rodgers looks like out of uniform. And he's got a big old smile on his face. Though there is a black box that's got the writing in it, so the message in it, that covers up his foot. So you can't see anything on his feet or his foot. You don't know what it looks like, if there's a cast, if there's a wrap.

You can't see anything because his bottom half is covered up. But he says, surgery went great yesterday. Thank you for all the love and prayers and support.

And thanks to the GOAT, Dr. L. Attrage and his staff for starting me on the road to recovery. So now we're talking months, right, of rehab, even when he gets out of the hospital. Don't know how quickly he can fly. You would think he would stay there in California. He makes his off-season home in California. We know he's heartbroken. We know that he is, he's just hating the way that this has developed.

But he's already decided that he shall rise yet again. But he can't help Zach Wilson at this point, other than through text. And according to Zach, yeah, they have actually been in touch. We've exchanged a little bit of texting back and forth. You know, I've been trying to give him the space. He's obviously going through it. You know, really just showing him I love him and that, you know, we miss him being around.

And that's about it, you know, really just letting him handle his, you know, everything going on. Yeah, so right now, top priority for Zach Wilson and for Aaron Rodgers is not helping Zach prepare for his first start in 2023. And to be fair, he's had a bunch of starts under his belt. If I remember correctly, last season, before he got benched, the Jets were 5-1 when he started, something along those lines. So they were, or maybe it wasn't before he got benched, but in games that he started, the first six games that he started, they were 5-1. I'm not saying he's Jimmy Garoppolo with the winning percentage or anything, but they had a good record when he was the starter. Maybe it wasn't last year. It was the year before. Okay, I just know that they've had some success with him as a starter.

I'll have to look that up. Don't quote me on that. But when it comes to his development, the reason why they brought in Aaron Rodgers is because they thought he needed more time to watch, observe, practice, get the reps, obviously take notes from a future Hall of Famer, and that's no longer the luxury that they have. Now he is, in fact, QB-1. One step at a time, one play at a time, and I think it's trusting the guys around me. I think they've shown this past week how explosive, how dynamic guys are and relying on this good defense that we have.

I think it's going out there, taking it, like I said, one play at a time, trusting in my footwork, trusting in what the coach has been talking about, and we'll go from there. He was asked a lot about earning his teammates' trust, which I think goes back to last season because when he got benched and Mike White was made the starter, it was clear by the fact that his teammates were wearing Mike White t-shirts. The fact that the team really rooted for Mike to succeed, they did. You could tell.

It was pretty obvious. Has he repaired those relationships? Well, the idea is that he's no longer entitled, right? The idea is that he's been humbled a bit by what's happened, by losing his job, by working with Aaron. So does he have work to do still with the locker room?

I don't think I need to think of it like that. I think how I can go out there and play football will earn that trust back from those guys. I would say I have a very good relationship with everybody in this locker room. We joke around, we eat lunch together, we go out for O-line QB dinners.

I would always feel like the guys in this locker room have my back just so I can have their back. Okay, I've looked up the stats just so that I can make sure I'm accurate on this. Yeah, the Jets gave him nine starts last year, and initially, the first six games, he was 5-1, or the Jets were 5-1 when he started. Now, they didn't make the playoffs, and he got benched twice, but they did win. I think the one that stands out, the one that was so bad was the game against the Patriots, in which he just looked terrible. The offense could do nothing. There were the turnovers.

Remember how many? That game really took the shine off Zach Wilson, and there was a change after that. But it's Zach or Bust for now, because they don't have a backup plan. It would be worse with Tim Boyle, at least on paper. Boyle was in the practice squad. The team wasn't looking at him as the backup. So now they're thrust into this situation where they have to support Zach, but I think part of the idea is that the team still believes it is a playoff contender. I wouldn't say there was a lot of pressure just because the guys in the locker room do a good job showing that they always got my back and leaning on each other, keeping our circle tight. At the end of the day, like I said, we get to play football for a living, so we've got to have fun with it.

Yeah, I like it. I think the fact that the Jets are forced to pivot, but they still believe, and we saw that on Monday night. They had to react. No doubt some of them were shell-shocked and devastated, even if they didn't know initially that it was a season-ending injury.

Maybe there was some hope that it might not be. He was out on the fourth offensive snap of the game. He was gone. And according to Garrett Wilson, he said, sorry, kid. I mean, Aaron knew, even if nobody else did, right? In the tent, they probably knew what had happened. You can tell pretty quickly if you have a ruptured Achilles. So Aaron knew, the training staff knew, eventually his teammates knew, and yet they showed a lot of heart and a lot of fight. Now, could it have been adrenaline?

Probably. But still, at the same time, they did win. They've got just a tremendous defense, and they've got some big-time skill players. We're going to say position players, skill makers, playmakers. Oh, there we go. It was going to be playmakers and position players.

I completely messed it up, but you know that's what I do. This is not a team devoid of hope, but now they have to rally. So I like the adversity. I like the fact that the Jets are the first team. They won't be the last team. They're the first team to lose their quarterback and have to face the music right away. What are you made of? This is going to show us what the Jets are made of, even more so.

And also what Zach Wilson is made of. We have a lot more QB news still to come. Thursday Night Football kicked off week two.

What is the after-hours game? When you need to know what's happening, it's time to get hit. In the Huddle. The big question is Desmond Ritter. The problem that I think a lot of fans are having and looking at Desmond Ritter is they just haven't seen enough. They want to trust him. They want to believe. But I will tell you this, Jason.

In the training camp sessions that I had a chance to go check out, the one thing that bothered me was his aggressiveness to throw the football when he needed to. Listen and subscribe to In the Huddle, available on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, it gets smoother. It's getting delivered tomorrow.

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Happy almost Friday. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. First, calling for the ball. He gives it to Swift. Swift cuts back.

He's in. Touchdown. The ugly Swift. Look at that shake. He's got such an amazing shake. He starts to the left, gives that little shake. He gets the defense going in that direction.

That little shake puts his foot in the ground north-south and into the end zone. What a drive. He's fun to watch. He's fun to watch. And the way that Hertz engineered this driver, this drive, it was just poise plus.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Wow, De'Andre Smith. Talk about next man up. Seizing the day. Carpe diem for De'Andre Swift. 28 carries, 175 yards, a touchdown, and this because Kenneth Gainewell was not available for the Eagles on the short work week.

Merrill Rees and company on Eagles radio and, yeah, Jalen Hertz, Jordan Mylotta, two of his teammates with a front row seat to what De'Andre can do when he's got the ball. He's a great talent, a great player, a great person, a teammate. He took advantage of the opportunity he had and had a career day. I don't know if he's ever rushed for a 175, but that's a hell of a job and we needed it from him. I actually have no idea how many yards he got.

I only know one touchdown that he got. 170. That's a dinner.

I have no idea. Well, Jordan never does hold back. What's seven, what, bitch. Guys, that's a dinner.

It's just the accent is the best. So the Eagles get 259 total rushing yards, but De'Andre a major piece of that. And I am happy to report, thank you for caring, I have De'Vante Smith on my fantasy team. And just when I was about to chuck them all and start over again. Oh, goodness.

I got I just got scream screamed. I got steamrolled in the first week because we had no points from our quarterback whatsoever. But to be fair, I lost by 50 points. There was no way that Aaron Rodgers was giving me 50. So Kyle Pitts, I'm not sure how I feel about him moving forward.

Just trying to figure out what to do, if I should make some major changes, if I should start backpedaling. And it's just we now have Brock Purdy as our quarterback. And by we, I mean the Wookiee of the Year roster. But also producer Jay, because apparently he and I have to have the same quarterback this year in fantasy. Went from Aaron to Brock. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio and on Twitter and Facebook.

Oh, YouTube channel as well. Now that we've got one week and a game in the books. Our seven teams that we believe will make the playoffs as newbies or as new entries, re-entries maybe. This video, I think it's appropriate to watch now after week number one, considering that I kind of feel like we're on target, Jay.

We are on. Well, OK. One of my choices got manhandled pretty well. But I'm really proud of us that neither neither of us picked the Jets. No, we knew. That's it. We knew we knew something just ahead of us for clairvoyancy or something. Clairvoyancy.

I like it. Jay thinks he has ESP. He thinks he has ESP. And he tells me that sometimes because and I don't think you have ESP. No, not even remotely.

A little a little a little true. I just think you know me, but I don't think you have ESP and you're not clairvoyancy either. But anyway, neither of us picked the Jets.

Otherwise, you're going to have to go check out the new video on our YouTube channel. Because, yeah, I kind of feel like we at least after one week, we look pretty smart. I'd say so. For the most part, except for my number two pick.

In that case, I don't look so smart. That's all I'm saying. What's the after hours game of the week? You can find the poll up on either of our Twitters or on Facebook, according to Tom Brady on his Let's Go podcast. By the way, he is a Bay Area native who grew up rooting for San Francisco.

It's the Niners that are the team to beat, Tom. They do an incredible job and Kyle does an incredible job of getting maximizing the talents and abilities of his players. And he knows what he's working with. And guys who are dangerous with the ball in their hands, like Christian McCaffrey, like Deebo Samuel. He finds such unique ways to get them the ball. Then it's a Uke and all those guys are hard to bring down.

Then it's Kittle. He does such a good job keeping the team off balance. And I think the thing I appreciate about the 49ers that's a little bit lost, I think, in today's football is their ability to run the football. You know, every team wants to run the football, but there are so few teams that are running the ball well, you know, in the last few years, too. Tom Brady really giving a lot of praise to Kyle Shanahan. Of course, when you rally from a 25-point deficit in the Super Bowl, when Kyle Shanahan is the opposing offensive coordinator, I suppose you can afford to be generous years later.

I don't like playing this game. The Let's Go Football podcast. I think it comes out on Mondays on Sirius XM NFL radio, but we generally get to it Tuesday, Wednesday and kind of sprinkle it in. He's practicing, you know, he's practicing his broadcasting chops. The Niners did look like the team to beat, though, for a lot of reasons, but Brock Purdy is healthy and that makes a difference. He's also apparently lost a bet to George Kittle and had to wear some kind of crazy headgear for Iowa. Whoever lost the game had to wear the other team's mascot helmet up here, so here we are.

I want you to answer one question as well, though. Yeah, he could say that was not part of the deal, so nice try, George. So you have an Iowa State mascot helmet to give him? I mean, it was going to be sent, yes, but we, yeah. No, it's not, so.

Jay, you have to retweet this from our show account. Brock Purdy lost his bet to George Kittle for the Iowa State-Iowa game and because it had to wear this ginormous helmet, which has the head the shape of an Iowa Hawkeye. Yeah, it's, I mean, it was huge. It's bigger than, say, trying to think of who's got a really big ego. Never mind, I won't pick on anyone. I was going to say it's bigger than such-and-such's head, but I won't.

I won't pick on anyone. Draymond Green has a pretty big head, though, let's be fair. He does think highly of himself. Purdy's, like, bodily expressions when he walked in the door and you see him wearing that big helmet. Oh, you can tell he's very sheepish. He's very defeated. Yeah, that's right. He looks like he'd been, he'd been sufficiently chastised, but it was really funny, actually.

Anyway, so check it out. Jay will retweet it after our CBS. It's just him walking through the door with this enormous Hawkeye helmet. It's a somber. Oh, my gosh, it reminds me of the NFC Championship game when George was trying to make him laugh and they got caught on a microphone and he says to Brock Purdy, this is after he hurt the UCL, are you ambidextrous?

Can you throw a lefty? And Brock can't even smile. He's so miserable. He won't take his helmet off.

He won't smile. George just kind of walks away. Is George a bully to him? No, George was trying to encourage him. George was trying to make him, you leave George Kimmel alone. It's After Hours with A.B. Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio.