After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

It was good to be back in Atlanta for about 36 hours. Friday night, I was part of the high school football scene. It was fairly miserable.

I was in Forsyth County, for those of you who know the area, and my best friend's son is an offensive lineman for his high school. And so we went to watch him, but it rained the entire time. And you guys will love this, but I don't mind telling you when I have been sufficiently embarrassed.

I'm authentic and reels with you peeps. So we went straight from the airport, she picked me up, to dinner and then to her son's game. And she was driving her mom's car, so she didn't have her own car. Now I don't know if that would have made a difference, but because she did not have her own car, we walked into the stadium, went to sit down on the bleachers.

She had no towel or anything else. At least we had an umbrella, but no towels. The bleachers were soaked. I was sitting, we tried to wipe them off, but you know how bleachers are. And everyone else of course has these cushy seat cushions and everything.

Yeah, no, not us. We sat down on the cold, wet bleachers and within minutes I could feel the water all the way down my pants. So at halftime when we got up to use the restroom and just stretch our legs, oh yeah, it looked like I had peed all the way down the back of me. It was fantastic. So you know, back to high school where you felt like the awkward one. He didn't urinate down his leg.

That's a great place to begin. I swear I did not coach. Actually I did not. It just appeared that way.

Appearances and looks can be deceiving. You got weather. Oh yes, there is definitely weather. And to make it even less enjoyable than that, sitting in wet jeans. Oh, it's the worst.

Sitting in wet jeans. And it was actually a little chilly in Forsyth County as well. The game was 31 to nothing. All the points in the first half, no points in the second half. I don't know if that's because the opposing team took its foot off the gas.

No idea. Only that it was a really long second half. Just bad. I'll see you later. But I did it. I sat there the whole time with my best friend. First time at a high school football game in years.

So whatever. Got to see the scene. It cracked me up because there were cheerleaders for the home team. But after it was 31 to nothing at halftime, for some reason they just took the third quarter off. Their pom-poms were down on the track and they were nowhere to be found. Don't know where they went, but they were gone.

Nope. For the third quarter they were gone. So yeah, that was kind of funny. Anyway, it was high school football, Friday night lights if you will, Georgia style.

And then cupcake tasting Saturday, which I'll tell you the stories coming up on the next show. And then back to my own home and my own zoo in time for the football day to kick off. That includes the Sunday morning game that took place in London. So there are no more London games. They're done. Though there are, I don't know if there are multiple Germany games, but there's at least one coming up because the NFL makes its debut in Frankfurt.

So there's that. And you may have heard the report, the rumor over the weekend that yes, in fact, the NFL is investigating sending a Super Bowl to London. I think it's a bad idea because this is football day Americano. It's our sport. I think it should be used as a way to generate income for our cities. However, I'm not in charge. And of course you'd have to be completely oblivious not to recognize that yes, the NFL is absolutely trying to figure out how it can move a Super Bowl to London.

So American fans, you may be SOL unless you're gonna fork over even more money. Wowzers. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Thanks so much for hanging out with us. We're halfway through our first show of the work week. We love these Sunday nights into Monday mornings with all of the NFL action. And man, it was weird.

It was wacky. We have no more teams left who have unblemished records. Perfect records.

There's no such thing as perfect anyway, but even the record isn't perfect. The Eagles and the Niners both lose on the road to the Jets and the Browns respectively. We'll get back to those games. Also, Niners and was it the Niners and the Browns? I think it was who had a pregame fight before the game ever kicked off. It was gonna be spicy regardless in the rain.

People are cranky, everything else. So the Niners and Eagles lose their first games of the year. So now you've got those two teams along with the Super Bowl champion chiefs who played Thursday.

They are five and one. We just talked about the Detroit Lions also five and one best start since 2011, which is why the hype train is not slowing down anytime soon. And then there are the Miami Dolphins out of the AFC East. We knew Raheem Mostert would have a huge game. We knew this, right? That's not a big surprise. I've had him now two years in a row in my fantasy lineup.

He is sneaky, impressive in fantasy. But this was gonna be a big game because Devon Achan is injured and is on IR. So that's not a surprise. What is a surprise is that the Dolphins had to climb out of a hole. It was the biggest hole they've been in other than the game in Buffalo, right?

Where it just seems like that may have been the aberration. Do you believe that Raheem Mostert is the after hours Monday MVP? If you do, you can cast your ballot because the poll is up on our show Twitter after hours CBS or my Twitter also on our Facebook page. Glad to see your votes.

We will not unveil the winner until we get through the rest of today and on into tomorrow. But you ever say you always have a say. Well, actually, you don't always have a say. There are some things that I get to say. But I do love your participation. You get participation medals, if you will say no more. The Carolina Panthers.

Well, they don't get a participation medal necessarily. But man, they would do just about anything right now for a win. First down and goal to tight ends to the left play clock down to five young under center down to three down to two young the snap and office to Hubbard straight ahead Hubbard reaching for the end zone.

But there is a flag down. It's on Miami is having a touchdown long for the shotgun surveys the field. Miami. Rose to the end zone caught by feeling touchdown Carolina with six seconds to go in the first quarter young to feeling the Panthers have their biggest lead of the season and they're doing it against one of the NFL's best. Oh, I just want them to get a win. It's not like I think they're winning the Super Bowl anytime soon. But, you know, these teams that that struggle and are rebuilding in this case of the Panthers and their fan base.

It's been a multiple years of this now. I just want them to get a win. But at least they got a taste of being in the lead.

How about that? A 14 nothing lead early in Miami. And that's the call on the Panthers radio network. And so initially, they're able to take advantage of a slower start by Miami.

Weirdly enough, we hadn't seen this all season like that's an actual fact. The Dolphins had never started with a three and out because they usually start out like they're the racehorse that's released from the starting gate at the Kentucky Derby. But after Carolina gets those two early touchdowns, well, then they're off to the races and they can hurt you a variety of ways.

They can demoralize you with all the different weapons. And it really does help a lot when your quarterback is touched one time in the game. One time. Without fact, only one hit on to a second and goal from a two and a half yard line motion. Touchdown Miami. It's Carolina 14 Miami seven.

They actually fake to a defender fires. Touchdown. Kayla waddle third down and six for Miami at the two minute mark of the second quarterback to throw to a looking fire on the right side. He's got Tyrese touchdown Miami.

Kill from two. It's on top of the Panthers. 21 to 14 in Miami within striking distance of the Panthers four yard line.

Moaster touchdown Miami. There were some mishaps, but you also got to give credit to their defense. Their defense did a good job with what they thought we were going to do. And some of them they guessed right. And some of them we just needed to be better with our technique.

And that's all the way across the board. So Tua and the offense get off to a slow start, but it does not last long. Do you know he has nearly 1900 yards passing in six games? He is on pace to shatter the record for most yards in a season, but we'll see. I mean, there are some tough games coming up, of course, just by virtue of them playing in the AFC East. But yeah, what a pace to start the game to start the season.

Excuse me. And it's not just him. You may remember that during the summertime Tyreek Hill made it his stated goal to be the first NFL receiver ever to go over 2000 yards passing. Again, only through six games, but he is well over 800 yards total now. You multiply six times three, right?

So six times three is 18. I know they play 17 games, but we're projecting here. Even if you take 100 yards off for the 18th game that he doesn't play, you're still talking about 2300 yards if he stays on this pace.

22, 2300 yards. Miami answers that early lead from Carolina with 35 points in a row. I mean, it certainly helps when you've got lightning quickness and speed.

And I don't know, is this just ratcheting up the degree of difficulty to make it tougher? This game was a special game for us because, you know, fell short of expectations early. And so you learn a lot about your team in moments like that.

And what I saw was a team that nobody was giving rah-rah to each other at all. Did you also see the moment with Mike McDaniel where he was fixated on someone's shoes in the press conference? Maybe we'll get that at some other point this week, but yeah, he got very distracted by someone's shoes.

He likes crisp white shoes, apparently. Anyway, the Dolphins are a juggernaut once they get going. And Tyreek Hill, who has a 41-yard touchdown catch, races into the end zone, borrows a cell phone from someone, it had to be a volunteer or someone who was working there in the back of the end zone. It wasn't a fan. It was someone who was down on field level. Borrows the cell phone, apparently turns on the video, does a backflip, recording himself, and then hands the phone back to the man who actually owns it.

So new celebration, newish celebration from Tyreek Hill, and he does not care if he gets fined. Nah, you feel me? Like it's just one of those things that, you know, kind of happened. You know, I seen the camera, you know, and I just took it from him.

And he didn't want me to take it from him. So I just called my shot. I'm just hoping that I didn't lock the phone and the video, you know, actually went through. So looking forward to, I look forward, I know the NFL is going to find me for it, but it's worth it though. Just being able, you know, to create memories I can look back on whenever I'm done playing is always, you know, something I think of every each and every time I play this game.

So every time I step on the field, man, I'm gonna try to make it memorable. Except you can't look back on it because it wasn't your phone. Did you go back to the guy and say, hey, can you send that video to me?

Send it over to me. Yeah. Also, did you hear going back to that whole situation with his mom where he was trying to give his mom a football after he scored and a dude stepped in and grabbed it, right? And then his mom's like, Hey, that I'm his mother anyway. So apparently Tyreek found the guy or figured out who he was and, and gave him some, some memorabilia.

So he wouldn't feel like he got jilted. I saw it. He came up to him at like dinner or something. He just randomly, the guy didn't know Tyreek was coming and he goes, Hey man, I just want to think he presented him a signed ball.

It was pretty cool. Yeah. Tyreek does love to capture all of his various exploits on video, right? So he's this is his thing now and doesn't care whether or not the NFL finds him. So the dolphins moved to five and one as well. That's a solid group of teams through six weeks that are leading the pack in the NFL. Dolphins, Chiefs in the AFC, Eagles, Lions, Niners in the NFC.

It's just fun to say. Now in the AFC East, of course the dolphins are on top. We talked about the Bills and they're eking out a win over the Giants on Sunday Night Football. They're four and two a game back of the dolphins, even though right now they've, they would have the tie break. They'll play again this regular season. The Jets take the Eagles out on Sunday. So they are three and three, which means the Patriots have fallen farther behind in the basement of the AFC East. No, Mac Jones did not get benched.

But did you see what happened to the other quarterback and what was a Patriots reunion of sorts? We'll get to that coming up. Vote for Monday MVP after hours, CBS on Twitter or on our Facebook page. Good morning to you. If you're waking up on your Monday, OK, it can it can ouch.

It can sting a little bit, but we gotcha. We're keeping you company. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours podcast. If you're just joining us, Jimmy Garoppolo was injured on the final drive of the second quarter. And so now it'll come down to Brian Hoyer as Ryland boots a line drive well past the end zone. And Hoyer, who turned 38 years old on Friday in his 15th year out of Michigan State. We'll see what Hoyer is able to do. I know he left and everybody knows that he left. They're just doing tests, you know, and just making sure that, you know, they take care of all that stuff. So I did not have an update on Jimmy.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. There were several more quarterbacks that fell victim to injuries on Sunday. But this one, I don't want to say it wasn't a surprise because you all will shout me down and tell me this is what happens with Jimmy Garoppolo.

But I still say it's relatively shocking when there's no notice or actual moment where he gets hurt, at least not that we can see on the field and on the TV cameras. And then Brian Hoyer trots out there to start the second half drives in place of Jimmy for the Raiders. You hear the voice of Josh McDaniels talking about Jimmy Garoppolo. It's weird.

I feel like I'm this is like some kind of a Patriots alumni game or something. So he didn't have an update. But what we did know or what we did find out is that Jimmy actually went to the hospital and it's a back injury. And that's the only thing that we've got to pass on right now.

There's not a whole lot of other information. We'll wait to find out. But it could be that Hoyer continues to start, Brian Hoyer. It could be also former Patriots quarterback multiple times. It could be that Aiden O'Connell, the rookie, is back out there again. Remember he did that earlier when I guess it was two weeks ago, three weeks ago when Jimmy was in concussion protocol. So right now everything kind of hangs in the balance with the Raiders and their offense.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. It does not hang in the balance as much as it does for the New England Patriots, like the actual Patriots, not the Patriots who play in Vegas. It was just another rough, unproductive first half for New England in Vegas.

They barely managed to scrape together three points. Remember last year they're coming or last week they're coming off of a game in which they got skunked at home by the Saints. And so they're trailing by 10 at the half, watching Garoppolo fire a touchdown pass to Jacoby Myers, also a former Patriots wide receiver. I'm sure this was loads of fun for Bill Belichick. Oh, guess what, Jay?

We just lost NFL Network to Telemundo. Must mean the morning crew is here. Must be that time. Uh-huh.

Can you turn it back? Yeah. Anyway, this New England reunion continues. The Jacoby Myers touchdown catch. Finally, though, in the second half, the Patriots put together a couple of significant drives. It's steady.

I wouldn't say it's brilliant, but it's steady. First drive of the third quarter, 10 plays, 6 minutes. They pick up five first downs and that's saying something for Mac Jones and the Patriots.

He does not get benched, but he wasn't out there for the first touchdown. It's a direct snap to Zeke. I mean, he was out there, but he wasn't the one that took the snap. So Ezekiel Elliott takes a direct snap. He gets into the end zone. I can imagine there was a huge sigh of relief and when Hoyer took over for Garoppolo, I was thinking it was an opportunity for the Patriots defense to get the ball right back to the offense to make sure that they could continue this rally and try to steal this win. The Raiders only managed a pair of field goals in the second half. I think Hoyer had about 100 yards passing and New England is able to get another long touchdown drive.

Ramondre Stevenson finds the end zone. So yeah, you can see bits and pieces. It wasn't fast enough, that's for sure. Their second touchdown drive, it goes 10 minutes, right?

So it feels very plodding. They were moving the ball forward, but it's not dynamic. It can feel stale at times and honestly, it was too little, too late, not to mention there were 10 penalties on the Patriots. Now the Raiders were much better. Like I said, they had a couple of field goals with Hoyer and they were one for six in the red zone, but they got the win.

It's a lot easier to stomach the ugly or the unaesthetically pleasing if you get the win, but that was not the case for the Patriots and they fall to one and five. Couldn't quite make enough plays here tonight. Had our opportunities and just needed a better job here and really just about every area, just any one of the number of things could have made a difference and we just need to be able to coach it better, play it better, execute a little bit better. I mean, obviously we just lost, so it's not good, but I think we have a really good group of guys and if we choose to respond the right way then it'll be really good, but if we don't then it'll go the other way. So I know I'm going to be positive always. That's my goal. Try to work hard like I've been doing and bring people with me and I know we've been saying that and the results haven't been there.

So, I mean, I guess maybe look at the process and see what we need to change to get better because the results aren't there. Mac Jones didn't get benched, but I've said this going back to the beginning of the season about the Patriots, they cannot continue to have such slow starts and still believe that they're going to win games. Now, early on in the first couple of weeks of the season, they had turnovers, right, and they just couldn't climb out of the hole, but I wrote this, I actually tweeted this because I wanted to make sure I remembered it. After the first quarter in Vegas, the Patriots had, are you ready, the grand total minus two yards, six snaps minus two yards. That was their first quarter against the Raiders. Now, are the Raiders a team that's, what are they, back to 500?

They might even be three, three and two now. I have to look and see the record, but they at least have, they at least have three wins, which is more than the Patriots have, right, but we're not talking about some incredible defense. We're not talking about some Super Bowl contender, at least not right now.

Things can change. We're still early in the season, but they've got their own issues. At times, Josh Jacobs is just non-existent still. Jimmy Garoppolo has been on and off the field. Josh McDaniel's still not really sure what's going on upstairs half the time, and some of the coaching decisions have been relatively putrid, but the Patriots don't even get positive yardage in the first quarter. They can't stay on the field longer than six snaps, so a pair of three and outs, and once you have a slow start like that and you put yourself in a 10-point hole, they don't have an explosive offense, maybe every now and then, but not really, which means that they can't afford to fall behind like that, and that's exactly where they are in the AFC East. They are behind now at one and five, and I know this is crazy to say, but they share the worst record in the NFL with the Denver Broncos in the AFC, so those are your two one and five teams in the AFC, with the Giants who lost to the Bills in a tight one on Sunday night, the Bears, and the Cardinals. Those are your one and five teams.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. The Bears, by the way, while we're talking about quarterbacks who were lost, the Bears are now looking at a situation where they may not have Justin Fields, and I know they would love to hold out hope. Maybe there's a chance that he's not lost for the season, or maybe there's a chance that he can play with what is a hand injury, his right hand though, and he was in obvious pain when he came out of the game on Sunday against the Vikings. So for the Bears, it kind of feels like it's going a lot of the same direction that last year did, when they ended up, they had brought in Matt Eberfluth, right, they kind of changed the administration, they allowed Justin to run more, so kind of taking the shackles off if you will, allowed him to run more toward the second half, the middle portion of the second half of the season.

He ended up getting hurt though and couldn't finish out. So that's the deal, you let your quarterback run free, and Justin's talked about wanting to be able to use his instincts, right, wanting to be able to not be quite so formulaic, not be quite so programmed by the coaches, but the issue is of course that you let your quarterback run free and get out and follow his instincts, especially someone like him, and you are likely to end up with an injured quarterback. So Vikings and Bears, and we'll call this the Jordan Hicks game, because he was tremendous. He has the interception off Justin Fields early and also got a chance to find pay dirt.

That's our friend Paul Allen, he has such a sing-song type of a touchdown call on Vikings radio. So yeah, the Jordan Hicks game, he recovers a fumble, he has an interception, he returns it 42 yards for a score, and that was essentially all that the Vikings would need. Fields is out early in the second half, Chicago rushes for 162 yards, but also the offensive line gives up five sacks, and I couldn't help but think a little bit about what we've seen with the Giants and Daniel Jones. It's really impossible to actually know what you have on offense if your quarterback is always under siege or is always getting hit. Last week it was Daniel Jones that got knocked out on the sixth sack that the Giants offensive line gave up. And so the Bears are going nowhere significant fast, but if they don't have Justin Fields, it becomes even tougher. And I will say this, as much as you hate that for Justin, a division two quarterback ends up out of Shepherd, is it Shepherd College, ends up getting his first NFL snaps. This is pretty incredible.

Tyson Bajant is the one who replaces Justin Fields, and I know you've never heard his name before. Excited. You know, playing football is my job, so I enjoy playing football, so I was excited to get out there. Obviously, you know, butterflies, because you're playing in front of so many people and, you know, the stakes are high, you know, in the NFL. But I felt really prepared, felt like the coaches did a good job of, you know, always preparing all the quarterbacks, you know, week in and week out, just because it's always one play away.

So I felt good, felt prepared and excited. I mean, good for you, Tyson Bajant. Ten for 14, 83 yards. He does throw a pick and he gets sacked, so welcome to the NFL rookie. But get this, rushing touchdown. So the Vikings end up getting the win. It's, yeah, it's another loss for the Bears. But in the middle of that, how about joy for the Bajant family? That's pretty incredible for him.

I wanted to make sure I mentioned that, because it's a dream come true, no doubt. Now it's hard because they lose. If you haven't seen his photo, by the way, he looks like he's 17. In the middle of the loss and losing Justin Fields, there's still this opportunity for this 23-year-old who, that may be it.

I mean, I have no idea. We don't know what's gonna happen with Justin Fields. But if this is all there is for Tyson, he can still say he played in the NFL and he scored a touchdown in the NFL. The man has a rushing touchdown in the NFL.

OMG. You can't take that away from him. The Shepherd Rams, a Division II college, and he just got to play in front of the home fans at Soldier Field. I hope they weren't throwing anything, because it was the Vikings, you know. But that's cool. Congratulations to Tyson.

I can only imagine how hard it was to keep his excitement level at a minimum so that he didn't look like he was celebrating his NFL debut in the midst of Justin being hurt and the Bears losing again. I mean, that'd be hard for me to do anyway. It's tough. That's awesome.

Good for him. Okay, let's see. What else do we want to do? We can talk about the AFC North, because the Ravens and the Titans were across the pond. I can't help it. Mind the Gap. I can't say that one as well as Justin. Josh Allen can.

Mind the Gap. Yeah, so the Browns, we know, took out the Niners, gave them their first loss. The Ravens were on the road in London. The Bengals were trying to put two wins in a row together, so we'll talk about the AFC North. Goodness. Also, the Commanders. Sam Howell, they're on the road at the Falcons, and a big deal for one Kaleis Campbell.

For those of you who are Falcons fans, gosh, he's had quite the journey in the NFL, but at 37 years old is still sacking quarterbacks, which is cool. So we're cramming it all in. Good morning to you if you're just waking up. That's what we're here for. We keep you company. Or I just got a tweet from one guy who said that last week he started out listening to the show, fell asleep with some of the best sleep he's gotten in weeks. Great.

Whatever you need, you are listening to the after hours podcast. 10th play of this drive upcoming. Number nine in Royal and Soul. What's left of the afternoon sunshine here at SoFi Stadium takes a quick snap. Third down and nine to the right pylon. And it's caught. Touchdown. Cooper Cup. Touchdown LA. 13 yards for his first touchdown this season.

Nine and dime on the money on the first possession of the third quarter. It's time to pull on the pads and hit somebody on after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Cooper Cup returned last week with some big time numbers, even though Matthew Stafford has to choose between him and Puka Nakua. Puka didn't have a huge game in this one, but can you see how some of these young guys along with Cooper and Matthew Stafford are giving the Rams and Sean McVay options again?

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. I'm back dooring it into the AFC North. I will get there, but we had Cardinals at Rams in an NFC West matchup, and it was a slow start for LA, but then the Rams score on their first four possessions of the second half. And what's different is that Kyron Williams can run the ball and now McVay, you started to see it over the course of the first six weeks of the season. McVay is incorporating the run back into their game plan like he hasn't since the whole camp member camp makers got traded.

They haven't had a significant run game for quite a while now, and so to get Kyron Williams who can handle the load who they're comfortable with, 158 rushing yards for him, a career high, and it did signify a shift for LA. But also Cooper Cup, amazing, seven catches, 148 yards, and his first touchdown of the year. Remember he was dealing with that hamstring injury, and so for him to kind of get back in and hit the ground running is pretty incredible.

So yeah, they go nearly 200 rushing yards, but they get 150 just from Cooper Cup alone. And so again, that's an offense that really, once everybody is in a good rhythm, they can hit you fast and hard. I was really pleased with our group's effort. I thought Matthew and Cooper had some key and critical plays. The third down touchdown where they connected, that was a great big time throw and catch by them. I even thought after we took the sack to be able to have two completions in a row to Cooper, to be able to get it to a third down and eight, and then what a throw and catch by them on the third and eight on our near sideline. I thought Matthew was really outstanding, didn't have as many opportunities, but man, he settled in and made the big time throws when he had to.

Cooper had, I mean, you look at it and it's like, holy jeez, he got 148, huh? But Kyron, the offensive line, Tyler Higbee was a big part of that too, with just some of the different things that we were asking of him. Love the way we played the second half. Love the way guys up front had the opportunity to kind of set their pads going there, run the football.

Kyron ran it great. All the backs did a nice job, opened up some stuff in the pass game for us and we were able to make some plays. So the Rams make quick work of the Cardinals.

Still no Kyler Murray, so it's still the starter Josh Gibb, Josh Dobbs, not Gibbs. He's playing, he's doing the best that he can. I mean, he's not an elite level quarterback and I give him credit for sticking in the NFL and for showing up in Arizona five minutes before the season kicks off and still managing to even help them to get to a win.

And he goes out there and he's smart and he fights, but a couple of turnovers. The defense, Aaron Donald, the Rams defense, they still have some playmakers on that side of the ball. So the Rams now move to 3-3 and if we're looking at the NFC West, yeah the Niners are 5-1, so they're still on top of the division. The Rams are 3-3 though and are encroaching on the Seattle Seahawks.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Remember we had asked the question last week of whether or not the Cincinnati offense was back, so it was the Bengals hosting the Seahawks and they started out like a house on fire. Geno again under center, hand off to Walker straight in, he goes in standing up, he does not hit the dirt, touchdown Seahawks! From a yard out, what an opening drive, what a statement by the Seahawks. Shotgun snap to Burrow, he wants to pass, his throw caught. Tyler Boyd lurches into the end zone, touchdown Bengals! As the Bengals go 75 yards on 14 plays for an opening touchdown. So the Bengals and the Seahawks are both able to put some points on the board there in that first half and weirdly this happens a lot in sports, but definitely early in the NFL, it's like a tale of two halves. It just comes to a grinding halt in the second half.

Steve Rabel on Seahawks Radio, Dan Horton, Dave Lapham on Bengals Radio, oh and JB Long on Rams Radio, sorry about that, JB. So in the second half then Geno Smith throws a pair of interceptions and we've mostly seen him remain efficient and smart about the throws that he makes. This is why the Seahawks rewarded him with a contract to be their starting QB, but he does throw a pair of picks in the second half and he's so mad at himself too. Early in the fourth quarter he has this deep shot to D.K. Metcalf and it just kind of felt like it was out of reach for him, not meaning like physically he can't make the throw, just it was a little bit too much of a risky throw, right?

So just you don't need to do that I guess. Just kind of felt like oh yeah it's kind of out there a little bit too far, you're not Patrick Mahomes. And for Geno Smith and for quarterbacks who are not of the elite caliber, well then what's most important is A, don't turn the ball over and B, just kind of stay within the offense, stay within the confines. Now we did see D.K. make a real sweet play earlier in that quarter so I know they do have a connection, but Cam Taylor, Britt picks him off and that leads to a field goal for the Bengals and then what you got to see is when Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense really struggled and kind of slowed down that second half, it was about the defense coming back and slamming the door on the Seahawks.

How about the H-boys on that particular drive? Finish! Yeah!

Yeah! Bam! Bam! Bam! You have Sam Hubbard and Hill, Hubbard and Hill, two more H-boys. You got Sam Hubbard, Hill, Hubbard, all the H-boys making plays, pressuring the quarterback.

The H-boys including Dan Hord who's his broadcaster. Bam! Bam!

Bam! So yes, sealing the win on Bengals radio, it's actually the defense because Seattle gets into the red zone and Geno is sacked twice inside the seven and there's a turnover on downs again inside the ten to preserve the win so twice in those late stages the Bengals defense had to come up big. Cincinnati, a little more one-dimensional in offense in this game, doesn't even get to 50 yards in terms of running it, but the defense was great. Four sacks of Geno, 13 hits on Geno as well meaning he was feeling a whole lot of pressure and traffic and the Bengals are back to three and three. We kind of stubbed our toe, you know, starting this race off and we're going to continue to pick up steam and again there's days where our defense is going to lead the charge and lead us to victory. There's times where the offense is going to reciprocate that. There's times special teams can take over and I think good teams just find ways to do it and right now we're at that three and three mark, going into a bye, get a chance to get healthy and then hit the surge after the bye start in San Francisco. Felt like the guys deserved a win today.

Obviously, I didn't do my best job today to get that done so those are things that I put on myself. I lay it right on my feet, right on my shoulders and I look forward to the next opportunity. That was a game to win right there and we come out here on the road, their crowd going crazy and we're right there. We're all inside the tent a bunch of times to win the game and unfortunately we just couldn't get it in. So close and yet so far away.

Yeah, for reals. I mean, you hear Pete Carroll say that's a game we had to win. That's a game we needed to win.

Get out of here. Into the red zone twice in the final stages and the defense for the Bengals shuts the door. So that's huge considering that Joe Burrow in the offense still kind of hit the skids there in the second half and still we're scuffling in the second half and this was a very tight game. So we'll talk more about the AFC North next hour but in the NFC West, behind the Niners who are five and one, Seahawks at three and two and the Rams now three and three. So it's getting a little tighter there in the middle. Good morning to you. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio.