After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

Imagine you're looking at a balancing scale, with everything you do for other people on one side, and everything you do for yourself on the other side.

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That's BetterHELP.com slash positive. Hey, is that the new iPhone 15 Pro? Yeah, it's made with titanium and the Pro camera is epic. Just got it at T-Mobile. Nice. Yep, and I got their Go 5D Next plan, so now I have the freedom to upgrade my phone every year. Whoa, I gotta get to T-Mobile. Get our best deals on iPhone 15 Pro at T-Mobile.com.

One year upgrade requires Go 5G Next plan, financing new qualifying device and upgrading in good condition after six months with half paid off. I kind of feel like it's unfair to wake people up like that. I do hope that the music we just blared through your radio or your phone or device is not the first thing that you're hearing.

Although maybe that would be better than my voice. I don't know. I won't decide. It's subjective, so you can decide which one you'd rather hear.

You're listening to one of the best shows in America. What? Let him finish? Let the man finish?

After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Boom, baby. That's right, Klay Thompson. What a cool surprise. I still can't get over it. Jay refused to tell me what it was ahead of time. They sent the link and the audio of that cool little promo from Klay Thompson to his email, and he would not tell me what it was until I got into the office.

Then he played it cold. This is Klay Thompson. Would you ever have guessed that?

No. How was my hint? Your hint was that we had a new, super cool fan of the show. But see, that threw me off because I can't imagine Klay Thompson's actually a fan of the show. You mean the Warriors PR guy. He's a fan of the show, which is super cool.

He's a gatekeeper, if you will. So it's good to have a fan of the show in Ray with Warriors PR. So again, thanks to Ray, but also thanks to Klay because should we hear I think we should hear it again. Jay.

This is Klay Thompson, four time champion with the Golden State Warriors. You're listening to one of the best shows in America. After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. I love how laid back he is about it. You're listening to one of the best shows in America. You're listening to one of the best shows in America. After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Thank you, Klay.

When I have to send him a thank you note. I'm going to send the Warriors a handwritten thank you note because that's what I do. That's pretty cool. I'm so glad that they enjoyed the show. I know we have a ton of listeners in the Bay Area, which in large part makes up a chunk of Warriors nation. They've got fans all over the country, all over the world now.

But of course, that's their home in the Bay Area. And we can be heard on 95-7 the game and KNBR and blah, blah, blah. We're all over the place. I think we've jumped around actually in the Bay Area. We've got a station in Sacramento too.

KHTK I think is the I don't recall the number on the dial. So please forgive me. But yes, it's it's amazing to know that we have connected with so many people around the country in so many different major markets. And as challenging as it is to keep fans all over the country engaged, because why? Well, if you're in Florida, you may not care about what's happening in the Bay Area.

Or if you're in Arizona, you may not care what's happening in New England. And so somehow we have to make it appealing across the board. And that's where the personality comes in. Or, you know, let's be honest, you keep listening because you don't know what ridiculous or idiotic or stupid thing I'm going to do next.

So definitely a part of my M.O. But at least you're laughing. I don't care if you're laughing at me.

I'm human. At least. Thank you, Clay. Thank you, Clay.

At least you are laughing. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence and Clay Thompson here on CBS Sports Radio. On Twitter, A Law Radio. You guys, we have 17 polls all going at the same time.

I wonder if Clay wants to vote in any of our polls. The latest is TD of the Week. We just presented the options. Last hour. Yes, last hour. All my hours are blending together on a Monday night into a Tuesday morning. I just know I need Monday to get thee behind me. Just a few minutes left to vote for the After Hours Monday MVP.

That one is still live from our last show, but we will do the big reveal before this hour is done. And then this question comes from my own brain. The nether reaches of my own brain. Which team is in more dire straits or which team is in a bigger pickle? Which team is worthy of more worry?

Or as we put it on social, which team has got you a little more concerned right now? Is it the Buffalo Bills or is it the San Francisco 49ers? We can talk about the Bills, but the Niners may not be as good as what people expected. In fact, Nick Bosa said the same thing following their second consecutive loss. And this one to the Vikings, of course, have a losing record. Maybe the Niners aren't all that. The NFL will humble you every step of the way and getting off to a 5-0 start. You kind of get that confidence that we are who we need to be.

But, the NFL does that. The great call from Kevin Harlan on Westwood 1. I knew that he would nail it, so made sure that we got that call. Yeah, we're talking about seconds before halftime. And a deep ball that's thrown by Kirk Cousins in the direction of Jordan Addison. Chavarrias Ward already had an interception off Kirk Cousins. I think it was the first possession of the game for the Vikings. No, no, the fumble was the first possession of the game. He already had an interception courtesy of Ward.

Every play is nuts. Thank you, Kevin. Yeah, it was. Actually, I was right. Always go with your first answer. It was the first possession of the game for the Vikings.

And then it was the Christian McCaffrey fumble on the first possession of the game for the Niners. So that's right, they started with dueling turnovers. Oh my gosh, always go with your first answer.

It's like what they tell you when you're taking standardized tests. Always go with your first answer. So yes, Ward had an interception earlier in the half. And it looks like he's going to have a second interception off Jordan Addison or off Kirk Cousins. And instead, Addison in this really acrobatic move uses his momentum. He does a somersault, stands up with the ball and goes 60 yards for the score.

And so that was a major turning point. I don't know if you could call it points off turnovers, but it could have been a turnover. Points off a near turnover. How about that?

A new category. And so the Vikings take a nine-point lead into the halftime locker room. But to me, it was about the momentum and the change in the mood, if you will. So the Niners had scored on the possession before that. And at that point, we're only trailing by a field goal.

And it's not so much the points that are impossible to overcome. It's about the fact that they'd given up 200 yards passing in that first half with that big blow, a chunk play. This is a Niners defense that prides itself on being tough and physical and hard to score against. They want to make life difficult for opposing teams. Fred Warner missed a couple tackles in this game.

He wasn't thrilled with the Niners either. The thing right now with us is we've got to find ways to win the grimy games, the ones that it's not looking great, you know, and find a way, you know, obviously we can win 30 to 10, but who are we and what are we going to do when we're down and we've got to come back and win the game? We've shown obviously what we're capable of, like our best version of ourselves. But at the end of the day, I want us to be I want I want our mental toughness to go up. I want to win in any form or fashion. Like, I don't care if it's if it if it's ugly, like, all right, we'll figure it out later on.

But like, let's find a way to get this done. Fred Warner is definitely one of the vocal leaders. We know that, but also the intensity that he brings, the experience that he brings to the table, he's got very high standards for himself and for that Niners defense. He sets the tone the way he flies around.

He's always right in the thick of the action. But yeah, he had a couple of missed opportunities, tackles. And Niners defense gave up and not so much the point, it's the yards. Up and down the field, 378 passing yards for Kirk Cousins.

And this is without Justin Jefferson. So another wake up call for the Niners. They lose to Cleveland last week and now to the Minnesota Vikings.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. As for the Vikings, you've got to be impressed with the way that Cousins spread the ball around, hitting nine other targets. And to be able to have a pair of takeaways from Brock Purdy and one from Christian McCaffrey.

It's a three takeaways. They win the turnover battle. Do you remember how the Vikings fell into the hole to begin the season? At one point, they were losing the turnover battle.

I think it was their first two games, seven to one, something along those lines. So to be on the right end of that equation, to win the turnover battle, that's a victory in and of itself for Minnesota. And Jordan Addison, he's stepping into that number one receiver role until Jefferson returns. But maybe this can give him some confidence. Maybe not just he recognizes, but the team recognizes and is able to bring him up in a way that when Jefferson returns, there's two guys who can burn you.

There's two guys. Now Addison's a different build, a slight guy, but he's fast. And clearly, he's able to find open spaces. It has developed a rapport with Kirk Cousins right away. And this is without a lot of a run game, right? So they really, it's tough to run the ball against the Niners anyway. But neither team did a whole lot of running the ball. But to be able to spread it around and keep that defense off balance was huge.

And Addison knows it. Every ball was there. The line did great. No sacks. Defense stepped up when we needed them. It was just a great team win. Yeah, no sacks is significant too.

And for Brock Purdy, the script is flipped essentially. Second straight game in which he doesn't have the two passing touchdowns. And that had been kind of a hallmark of this offense. But second straight game in which there are question marks about him.

So the two interceptions, well, that's a big deal, especially when they happen on their last two possessions of the game. But also just off, a little off and no rain to blame. No rain that's a factor. It's an indoor game.

Conditions are perfect. I know after last week against Cleveland, there were a lot of questions about Brock Purdy. Maybe he's coming back to earth, crashing back to reality, has been exposed.

La la la. Still no Deebo Samuel, but Christian McCaffrey was out there with him the whole time. Brandon Aiyuk was out there. He just made some poor choices and some poor throws again for the second straight week. It's early. We're only through week seven.

The Niners are still on top of the NFC West. And more to the point, so more specifically, as much as it's disconcerting to drop two games in a row. And I do agree with Fred Warner, there's got to be mental toughness. They've got to be just tougher as a defense. They got to be tougher, tougher and more careful with the football.

Tougher is probably the wrong word. They've got to be tighter with the football. They got to be stingier with the football. But the fact that they have a quarterback, one quarterback, just one quarterback in Brock Purdy. That, to me, puts them ahead of where they were at this time last year or the year before or the year before that. Since Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch took over, it's been a revolving door at QB for the San Francisco 49ers.

I don't like playing this game. I don't think your fan base does either. I said that if they could just get through this season with one starting quarterback, one starting quarterback the whole season, maybe it's 16 of the 17 games. No, the goal is to get through the entire season with just one quarterback.

If you do that, you're already ahead of the game. And so I know Brock Purdy's face some adversity here for the first time as the starter. Obviously, being the last guy drafted in 22 is a bit of adversity, but if he can get through the entire season as the only starter for the Niners, they're in good shape. We know the defense has playmakers. They're going to do some soul searching. This is a gut check moment for them.

No doubt how they're going to respond. Christian McCaffrey, same thing, takes personal accountability. Brock Purdy, the losses are going to eat him up more than he's going to celebrate the wins.

He's got that kind of temperament. We know this team is full of veterans who have high expectations, so these two losses won't derail them, but will motivate them. And as I say, one time since Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch took over the Niners, which goes back to 2016, one time they've gone through the entire season with a single quarterback. And guess what happened that year? They went to the Super Bowl. So I say the Niners aren't in as bad shape as what it may appear right now.

Bad taste on this Tuesday morning. I think the Bills are in more trouble for a variety of reasons that we will get to before the end of the hour. But we've got to pivot to baseball, even as we finish up week seven in the NFL.

There was a game seven on Monday and there's a game seven on Tuesday. We've got a myriad of polls. It's a smorgasbord of polls on our show Twitter, After Hours, CBS, or my Twitter, A Law Radio.

We've also got our Facebook page, fully operational, Death Star, and I do believe Facebook eventually leads to death. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Up at third, Carter at second on a two-run double. 2-0. Adolis swings. It's a ground ball through the left side. It's a base hit. One run home and here comes Carter to the plate.

He will score. It is 8-2, Texas. And Adolis Garcia has a new American League Championship Series record for RBIs.

How about that? 14 of them for Adolis. And the pitch swung on and a high fly ball hit from left field. This is deep, back is Brantley at the wall. He's looking up and that ball is history. It just barely makes it into the Crawford boxes. A two-home run game for Adolis Garcia.

That was a moonshot. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. On Rangers Radio, Eric Nadel and Matt Hicks with the calls. And earlier, if you missed it, Jared Sandler joined us from that same Rangers Radio Network. Pre- and post-game host.

Also part of our Dallas affiliate 105.3, the fan. And yeah, there was no room for doubt. After the Rangers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. After they were able to bat around in the fourth inning and tack on four more runs.

It was more of a coronation from that point. So Adolis Garcia, monster numbers. In this series, no one has ever had as many RBI in one post-season series as he had. He finished with 15 in a game seven with the capper. The two home runs, the five runs batted in as the Rangers get back to the promised land.

Well, clerk ready now. 1-2 pitch, ground ball, second base. Simeon's got it. On to first to Nate Lowe and a hello world series. The Rangers have won their third American League pennant. They stream out of the dugout and are jumping up and down between the mound and first base. For the first time since 2011, the Rangers are going to the World Series after having six consecutive losing seasons. What an amazing year this has been.

And there's more baseball. Let's face the facts, everyone wants to feel valued, especially your employees. In fact, a 2023 study found 78% of business owners say benefits and retirement plans improve employee retention. Employees want to feel secure in their jobs and their finances. At Principal, we help you invest in your people. Because investing in your people is investing in your business. Learn more at principal.com slash benefits.

Products and services offered by member companies of the Principal Financial Group Des Moines, Iowa, for important information, visit principal.com slash disclosures. I'm Kate Abdo, the host of Kicking It, a new weekly show from the CBS Sports Galasso Network, where Clint Dempsey, Charlie Davies, Mo Ado and I connect with the biggest personalities from global soccer and beyond to learn about their journeys and what makes them tick. This is the place for football fans to hear unfiltered conversations with the game's most familiar faces. So what are you waiting for?

Follow and listen to Kicking It on the Odyssey app or whenever you're interested. All to be played. It's unreal.

I mean, I'm fixing myself. It's hard to believe that this has really happened. I mean, three years out. I was sitting on that couch for three years and got the call from CY. Couldn't be more grateful to think I'm here in World Series.

There's no words. Cannot underestimate the leadership and the direction of Bruce Bochi, whose teams have never lost a winner take all game. How about that? Under Bruce Bochi, and he's been in multiple places, he has now guided three different franchises to wins in the LCS. So three different franchises to be able to get into the fall classic. To come off the couch, as he puts it, after three years. Instant credibility, instant equity. When he speaks in that clubhouse, they have to listen, because he's got the hardware to prove that he knows what he's talking about. To add him to the mix of a team that has brought in multiple high price free agents. They've made trades. They have been relentless and give credit to Chris Young in that front office. But it's also about the guys that finally meshed. It's about guys who have come in from other places and have decided this is where it's going to happen.

And according to Jared, who joined us last hour, they're actually ahead of schedule. This wasn't the expectation for this first year with Bruce Bochi. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio, the part that jumps out to me and really underscores the character of this team and their ability to fight through tough stretches or fight through adversity. And we saw it multiple times over the course of the last two months, let's say. Remember when they had their regular season swoon and they lost the entire lead they had built up in the AL West, probably September, late August, early September. And all of a sudden they were in a dogfight with the defending World Series champion Astros, the hated Astros, as well as the Mariners.

They coughed it up. I don't remember if they lost eight in a row. I just remember they had a really terrible stretch post All-Star break in which they were, they're frustrated. And their lead in the AL West that they'd had most of the season disappeared in a puff of smoke. So then they have to fight the rest of the way.

And maybe not a bad thing. They've got to defend their territory, if you will. Except they drop six of their last eight, including three of four against the Mariners. And on the very last day of the regular season, a division that they essentially owned for the majority of the year, it goes to the Astros in a tiebreak. And Bruce Bocci has indicated they were devastated. That was what he called the lowest point of the season for them, losing the division title, even though they were still in the playoffs. They lose it in a tiebreak to Houston. And so they have to hit the road. First to Tampa, then to Baltimore, then, of course, to Houston.

And would you believe it? They're still perfect away from home in this playoff run. 8-0 away from Arlington so far in these playoffs. It's hard to explain some things, you know, for us to go in Tampa against that great ball club and win there and then go into Baltimore who won over 100 games to go in there and win. It's just the heart and determination these guys have shown on the road. And there's something about the road that does bring the club together, especially that long road trip after we lost in Seattle. That was probably as low a point as we've had all year.

But these guys have continued to get up, and they've taken their punches, but they keep getting up, but there's no reason to explain what happened. They went three at our place, which they beat on us pretty good all year at our place. And for us to come in here, they win four games, it just says a lot about them. But for the Astros to go into Arlington and to win those three games and to put Texas with its backs against the wall, yet again, just a microcosm of the season. Where they think they have it, they think they have it, they think they have it, and then, uh-oh, got to figure out a different way, got to regroup, got to come back. And fight harder.

And so, yeah, they're flying high. They win the first two games at Minute Maid Park and then drop three in a row with their own place. But somehow, I know resiliency is used a lot in sports. I would say if you've got veteran leadership, keeps you stable, keeps you steady.

If you recognize that adversity and failure are not the end, if you recognize that adversity and failure are not the end, they just bring out character and they show you what you're made of. And also, there's confidence because this team has faced some tough challenges this year and has been able to come back, not to mention the loss of pitchers. The bullpen's not been great.

They're scrappy. I mean, they've got some loud bats, but they're scrappy. And so, back to the World Series for the first time, since 2011 have never won a World Series in their franchise history.

Lots of disappointment for this team, not just in 11. Well, I should say the franchise because it's not this group, obviously. But a lot of disappointment for the fan base, a lot of losing, a lot of jokes at the expense of the Rangers. And so, it's really cool to hear from so many Rangers fans on Twitter, A-Law Radio.

How did they turn into road warriors? That is the question. So, you can check out that conversation with Jared from 105.3, the fan, our Dallas affiliate, on our podcast after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. As for the Houston Astros, there's all kinds of questions you could ask. I mean, with Dusty Baker, why not pitch around Adolis Garcia? He said, I don't know, why didn't they pitch around Jordin Alvarez? There was a lot of offense in this series.

And so, there's a lot of different ways that you could criticize or nitpick. But ultimately, seven straight ALCS appearances, couple of World Series rings. They really didn't see any drop-off, very little drop-off from the point at which the front office and the managerial and coaching staff was cleaned out following the trash can cheating scandal. Dusty Baker deserves a ton of credit and he's got to ring himself finally as a manager because of what he invested. And I'm not sure if you saw the report, but according to The Athletic, he started telling people both at work and in his personal life that 2023 is his last year as manager, that he's done.

And so, of course, that came up post-game. I don't know, I haven't had time to evaluate or think about my future because I'm down the list as far as like I'm not that kind of dude. I don't want to steal a spotlight or anything from these guys. I mean, you got to savor what we did. You got to think about how we can get better.

And then I'll evaluate my situation and in my life. Although again, the report from The Athletic is that Dusty Baker has privately started telling people in his personal life. So family, friends, as well as a couple of people inside the Astros organization that he will not manage beyond this year. We'll see whether or not that comes to fruition.

If those reports were correct, although I suppose he can change his mind. He has earned that as well. Game seven and every game in the ALCS won by the road team. And now the Diamondbacks have figured out or did figure out how to find a win on the road in Philadelphia. And we're set up for another game seven. What about that? Pretty cool that on back to back nights we get winner take all games when we went through the entire month of October to this point with none of them.

You can find me on Twitter A Law Radio on our Facebook page too. So we've got, I wouldn't say disgruntled Phillies. Oh, but if they end up losing game seven on their own field, that's going to be a mess. If you are a Phillies fan, maybe right now want to put all your eggs in the Eagles basket or maybe more of your eggs in the Eagles basket.

So you don't feel like you're completely left with nothing. This would be a very impressive rally for the Diamondbacks. Not just from the two games down that they lost in Philadelphia to start the series, but because they look squashed. They look like they had no hope that the Phillies were a buzzsaw. And the next two games were mere formalities. You had people calling for sweep and predicting this and predicting that. Really impressive the way that they have battled back and forced a game seven and doing it, of course, with game six at Citizens Bank Park. So we'll get a little preview of game seven. Also, if you haven't heard a frustrated Jonathan Allen yet, well, you're just not living.

You are listening to the After Hours podcast. It's a touchdown Tuesday on After Hours, firing for the end zone, caught, touchdown, touchdown. Takes it himself to the pylon, touchdown.

One man to beat ten, he's gone. They throw in the end zone, caught, touchdown. Pay the guy a miss, he's inside the five, he's to the three, two, one, charge, the center's helping, into the end zone, touchdown.

To cast your vote for the TD of the Week, head to at After Hours CBS on Twitter or give us a call at 855-212-4227. The Minnesota Vikings. Cousins on third and six, big blitz like Pete said. So Cousins fires over the middle and it is caught by Addison. 20, 10, touchdown. That time, Jordan Addison stole it from Tarvarious Ward and it's a 60-yard touchdown and the Vikings strike in the shadow of halftime and they lead 16-7.

The New England Patriots. Kucinski into the huddle, Douglas departs for New England and Michael aligned to the right inside of Devontae Parker. And meanwhile, Henry, Bourne, and Stevenson flex left before Jones summons Stevenson to the quarterback's right hip.

A second of goal to go from the left hash walk. Andrews over the football to snap it back. Jones has it, looks to his right, throws it to the right, got it, he touched down. He's got it, Patriots.

There he is, Mike Kisecki off the side of a milk carton, catching the game winner. The Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers in a tie game line up with everything in tight. Pickett communicating the play. The lone setback is Najee Harris.

Pickett steps in, hands it off. Najee into the end zone. Pittsburgh Steelers go ahead touchdown. The iron horse, Najee goes into the end zone. The Cleveland Browns.

Here we go. Hudson and Harris, Browns from the one. This is the game. Out of the eye, they need the touchdown. Hunt and Harris, Walker gives to Kareem Hunt. Pushing, pushing, touchdown. Kareem Hunt got it across the goal line.

Kareem Hunt are the cardiac kids back. Kareem Hunt getting it over the goal line. The huge touchdown on fourth down.

You knew you could run it at that point. It didn't matter, that was the last play. Speaking of cardiac kids, couple of crazy wild finishes that no doubt gave fans cardiac arrest Sunday week seven. So the Patriots with Mike Jasecki and the game winning touchdown. 12 seconds to go against the Bills.

Bob Sose and Scott Zolack on Patriots radio. And then Kareem Hunt on Browns radio. 15 seconds to go with that game winner. For Najee Harris, well, there are cool five plus minutes remaining. It was middle of the fourth quarter. But the Steelers, they showed great maturity and that offense, I think, took some big steps forward in rallying past the Rams. That was Bill Hillgrove on Steelers radio. And then from Monday Night Football, what an exclamation point to the first half. This time, Jordan Addison is able to wrestle the ball away from Chavarius Ward, who had the interception earlier in the game.

With a similar situation. Paul Allen on Vikings radio. And those are your candidates for TD of the Week. The poll is ongoing now on our show, Twitter After Hours CBS. Or you can find me on Twitter, ALaw Radio. This portion of the show is brought to you by Wesley Financial. Are you stuck in a timeshare and want out?

Contact Wesley Financial Group now and get a free timeshare exit information kit at Wesley Financial Group dot com. We're also asking you on both of our social media sites, whether Twitter or Facebook, if you want to weigh in on this poll, it's more limited, just two teams. But which one has you fraught with worry right now? Which one has got you more concerned?

Which one's in a bigger pickle? I told you, I don't think it's the San Francisco 49ers for a couple of reasons. Number one, I do think they've got the pieces on defense, all the pieces are in place. The veterans, the leadership, the expectations, the character, the captains, they're going to use these back to back losses as embarrassing as they've been, as frustrating as they've been to make them better. And to me, they're ahead of the game because A, they're first place in their division and B, they've got one quarterback to this point. They cleared out the mess, and I don't mean to say that Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo were messes, but that was a mess. That quarterback situation was a mess. They trade Trey Lance, Jimmy Garoppolo's gone to the Raiders. We should see him back hopefully this week. And they've got Brock Purdy and he's steady Eddie.

And he's going to fight through this too. Think about it, other teams, they get up to play the Niners. It's like a Super Bowl for some opponents. The Niners are fine. The Bills, however, are chasing the Dolphins atop the AFC East. And to me, they're in a more precarious position.

Right? To me, there's room for worry here against the Bills, and it's not just because the AFC is stacked. It's not just because the defending Super Bowl champions, the best team in the league, the Kansas City Chiefs, they reside in the AFC. It's not just because there are other contenders rising in their own division, even in the Dolphins, though they do, at least at this point, have the tie break. They'll obviously play again.

It's because of a couple of question marks still. It's a revolving door for them at running back. You do not want Josh Allen to be your leading rusher. And while they've gotten performances here or there from different running backs, if they have different guys step up, I don't like the fact that they still don't have a consistent run game and that they're up one week and down the next. And so that's not something I like about the Bills I never have, or at least not in this iteration, this era.

Certainly, you're going to get every team's best shot. The losses they've had, the last two of three have come against the Jaguars in London, where they look like they were sleepwalking through the first part of the game, and then against the Giants, I know they won that game, but they were scoreless for the first three quarters. Also a slow start against the Patriots. So to me, the issues, not showing up necessarily ready to play, and that's on the coaching staff, it's on the captains, they've got to be locked in from the very beginning.

They've got to find that rhythm quicker. They've got to settle in. They're a veteran team.

There should be no excuses for this. I know they've lost a couple of key veteran pieces on both sides of the ball. They're dealing with a bunch of injuries. But this is every team. Every team has injuries. So they need to come out more focused, more prepared, more focused.

More prepared, more ready to go from the word jump. They can't afford to fall behind teams. They can't afford to go scoreless for three quarters. They can't afford to let their opponents race out to a double figure lead. That's not a formula for success.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. To me, their challenges are more intangible. They've just lost Dawson Knox, right? So again, the injuries are piling up. To me, it speaks to the heart of the Bills. Do they have heart? I need to see it.

So you can take that poll on Twitter. Again, after hours, CBS or ALaw Radio. Speaking of heart, whole lot of heart and passion in Jonathan Allen and the frustration for him after the commanders drop a game against the Giants on Sunday. It's a bit of an exchange with a reporter until the end where he kind of loses it. They worked out plain and simple. Gotta be better.

Anything they did that surprised you guys early on? No, I want to say so. I think it's just a lack of focus on our part, a lack of attention to detail, not starting fast and creating holes that are too big for us to overcome the second half. Does it get frustrating when that does? I'm tired of this, tired of this. It's been seven years of the same tired of this.

What can you do now going forward to get it turned around? Get our minds right and get ready to play Philadelphia. OK, so Allen loses his cool, not at the reporter, although you can imagine the reporter was looking for exactly that. Some real authentic commentary. I'm tired of this. Jonathan Allen, the defensive lineman, and I like how he talks about they put themselves in too big of a hole.

14 points? Is that too big of a hole for your offense? But they did just lose to the Giants and it was a mess. It was brutal. They just, gosh, I don't know how much longer they can keep Ron Rivera thinking Ron Rivera because he wasn't hired by this new ownership is probably not long for this world. Seven years of the same. But the defense for the Giants outplayed the commanders. And even when the defense is stout and solid, they still gave up two touchdown passes to Tyron Taylor.

Gosh, the penalty flags, 10 of them, they're one for 15 on third down. He's just frustrated with losing and just being stuck. Jonathan Allen, a future Hall of Flame candidate. Wrapping up with your choice for Monday MVP. And Lamar Jackson delivered for a second time in the red zone today. When you're playing regular season games, you should be okay with winning. I'm all right with winning, but it's still regular season. And we made strides for improvement from last week and early on in the season. I believe we did, but it's just one regular season in here. It's just one in which they rack up 500 yards of offense and go four for four in the red zone in their first four drives.

Wowzers. And the Baltimore defense has only given up seven touchdowns all season in that. I almost said smoke show against the Lions, but I realize that now has a completely different meaning and connotation.

So not quite that. Game seven between the Phillies and the Diamondbacks at Citizens Bank Park tonight. We are on the air after that, plus the start of the NBA season. It's after hours, CBS Sports Radio. Boom.