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.

If it isn't balanced, maybe it's time to spend a little more time on you. And therapy is a great place to start. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist online who can help you find that balance and stick to it. Visit BetterHelp.com slash positive to get 10% off your first month.

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. Is Mike Malone the Mike Tomlin of the NBA? Or no, he might be a little saltier than that. Tomlin is salty, but he doesn't generally use swear words or take potshots at media, right? You really have to get under Mike Tomlin's skin for him to respond in kind to something negative. He doesn't generally do that.

We want them to be fat and sassy and spoiled. It is our job. Oh yes, Mike Malone will clap back and at the end of last season, he'd had it. He was done with people questioning and challenging his MVP, and now he's feeling himself. What a bad press room, by the way. He just took aim at anything and everything. He got tired, the hours were long, the travel was tough, the pressure mounted, and he got crankier by the day. What do you call that, the press room? That was just so out of left field.

No reason for that. Come on. Except we now know that's exactly where he spent the last month. He was overworked and overtired, but that's why he makes the big bucks. That's how you win a title. You put that in your pipe, you smoke it.

That's exactly it, I guess. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. No Mike Malone on Wednesday night. Instead, we got the debut of Wemba Nyama.

If you missed it, Wemba fever is contagious, so we'll get to Wemba fever. Coming up, because he not only had his first NBA bucket, but even with foul trouble, he was on the court late when the team needed him the most. Of course, Luca, at the ripe old age of 24, had his first triple-double of the season. This is gonna be fun to see those two guys on the same court at the same time, however long they are healthy and active, and I think it could be fun to have that rivalry renewed as well. So we'll let you hear what it sounded like inside the arena for Wemba's debut, but there were other games going on too, other storylines in the NBA, and I dare say for the Boston Celtics and their fans, it's gonna take some getting used to.

That roster has almost entirely turned over, and even for the guys that are still there, they have to adopt different roles, like an Al Horford. He's a veteran in the NBA in his late 30s, and he's now coming off the bench, because there's this tall dude, 7'2", approaching 250, who is reportedly in the best shape of his life, and is now ready to be a daily impact player on a contender. And if you were looking for a splash in his first game with the Celtics, well of course, this is no accident, the NBA sends him back to Madison Square Garden, which is where he made his NBA debut because he was a Nick. He was a Nick.

It did not go well. They turned on him very quickly, although he turned on the team as well pretty quickly, but instead it was the Celtics with Kristaps Porzingis as their centerpiece against the Knicks in a game that went down to the wire. White bounce pass for Tatum, straight away against Barrett. Got Porzingis, right side, he's going to take the deep three.

Got it! Dagger by Porzingis with 89 seconds remaining, and the Celtics have scored nine straight down the stretch to lead by three. Knicks have it, they find Brunston, he misses a three at the buzzer, and it is over. The Boston Celtics come to Madison Square Garden on opening night, kick away a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter, but riding the newest Celtics, Kristaps Porzingis down the stretch.

They score a marquee win on opening night. Always good to hear the voice of my friend Sean Grandy. Grandy and Max on Celtics radio. Five of nine from beyond the yard, so remember he can shoot the three. Nine of ten from the charity stripe, so that's also huge for a big man. But how about this, 30 points most ever for a player in his Celtics debut.

30 points, eight rebounds. I personally love the four block shots, and welcome back to New York, Kristaps Porzingis. That was awesome, that was awesome, I'm not gonna lie. Playing here at the Garden is always special, as a home team obviously, but also on the road here it's really fun. And yeah, at one point we got really crazy, right?

When the fans got into it, they made a comeback. But we stayed poised, we stayed calm, and we were able to finish out the game on making some big plays, getting some free throws, and overall a fun game to play in, for sure. He has an innate ability to put two on the ball, whether it's if they're trying to pop and veer, whether they're trying to blitz him.

And so when he gets to space, he has that, he's a magnet. And so we have to just continue to get better at our spacing, get better at our two-on-one reads, and they're going to look different than they did at times last year with him on the floor. But because of him, we can get to some more post-ups like we did down the stretch, and really change the spacing of the game throughout the game. Joel Missoula looking for not only the presence on the interior in the lane, of course we know Brad Stevens wanted more of a front court game.

He wanted to be able to utilize not just the defense of a big man, but they wanted more of an inside-out game when possible, and not be so reliant on the three-point shooting. But it really was about getting that size and height on defense, and he's already proven in the league that he's a rim protector, but can he be durable? Can he last an entire season? Can he take the pounding and the rigors of an 82-game stretch? Well, that had been the question about Kristaps Porzingis, and it really is the case for a lot of seven-footers. Many of them have foot and ankle and knee injuries, for obvious reasons.

Their bodies are, I mean, they're just different proportions, and the pressure on those parts of their bodies. So for him, this walk through the wilderness, the last couple years in the NBA, where he's, I don't want to say forgotten because that's unfair, but relatively anonymous. When was the last time you thought about Kristaps Porzingis before, well, prior to him going to Dallas, right, and pairing with Luka? And it became pretty evident that they could be dynamic if they were on the court together. It wasn't a great fit, but they would work at it.

There maybe could be some symmetry there, but it just wasn't enough. It wasn't consistent enough. And of course, he was always dealing with injuries. And so from that point on, going through Washington, I mean, seriously, the last two years, how often did you hear the name Kristaps Porzingis, or even think about KP as a basketball fan?

But to put him on a contender, now that he's healthy and durable, gosh, he's a difference maker in a bunch of different ways. So in addition to Kristaps, you've got Drew Holiday in the Celtics lineup for the first time. And it's kind of interesting to think about a champion like Drew taking backseat or not getting as much attention as a Kristaps Porzingis, but because KP had the 30 points in such a big game, maybe understandable. But yeah, it's Drew who's running the show now as the starting point guard in the place of Marcus Smart. Resilient, might have were down 10 points with four minutes to go.

We always have a chance. So I think we kind of just band together, started executing on both ends of the floor and got the necessary plays that we needed. He played 35 minutes, didn't shoot particularly well.

So only had the nine points, but also part of the block party. The Celtics actually had 11 blocks. Maybe block shots is also contagious. Well, it does help when you have a guy like Kristaps who's that big and has that much length that he can alter shots. And then it allows other guys to take risks defensively because they know they have essentially a stopper back by the rim.

So yeah, it's going to be a totally different wrinkle and look. But this is what Brad Stevens was going for with the Celtics. He's got to stay healthy though.

That's the key. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. The Cavaliers and the Nets were going down to the wire. In fact, final few seconds for Donovan Mitchell. Bruce gets it into Garland. Garland on the handoff. Here it is.

Here it is. Mitchell out front unloads a three ball. Bullseye! Bullseye Donovan Mitchell!

Mitchell unloads a bomb and buries it. Cavaliers up 114-113. 12.1 on the clock. Donovan Mitchell.

Money! Thomas at the half court line. Four on the clock.

Thomas right side. Desperation. Three. No! Rebound put back up.

No! Thames win. Cavaliers win.

114-113. A Donovan Mitchell three ball. And then a big time stop at the defensive end. On Cavaliers radio. Already a lot of excitement.

I think that's fun. And they were on the road too. But in the final 13 seconds, Donovan Mitchell nails the knockout blow. And so he finishes with 27 points. This stat sheet or this stat line is awesome. 27 points. Six assists. Five rebounds and four steals.

And Donovan picking up where he left off. I didn't really have the game I wanted to tonight. I didn't feel like I was the best offensively for my teammates. You know, I did some good things but I feel like I could have been much better. And I think that's just building as the season goes on.

But like I said, when it's time, you know, do what I got to do. Yeah, it's certainly not going to be mid-season form in game number one. But he is so much fun to watch. One of my favorite players in the NBA.

I suppose I delayed it long enough, right? Wembe. Wembe fever. It's not just contagious for the fans in San Antonio.

But for other players in the league. Pretty incredible, the atmosphere. If you haven't seen it, even just the short clip from the intros. The lights were out or the lights were down, I should say. The fans were waving. I'm going to assume those were cell phones with the lights on.

They don't give out candles or little flashlights. Pretty cool. So this was like a concert atmosphere. That's what it was. With fans waving their cell phones back and forth. And it looked amazing.

And there were more than 18,000 fans in attendance. We did have a chance to catch up with a sports TV anchor in San Antonio before the game. Well, he was there before the game. He talked to us after the game.

I want you to hear a little bit of that. Because this is, it's magical now for Wembe. And he did deal with some foul trouble. But he was on the court late in a battle against the Mavericks. And the chants of Wembe, Wembe, Wembe, coming from the Raptors here at the Frost Bank Center. That's Bill Shonig on Spurs radio. Man, a rim rocker that got the roars of the crowd even louder.

Just super cool to see him already. Now I know he's going to have to cut back on the fouls. And there are going to be players.

So this is the NBA, right? They are all incredible players. And many of them are savvy.

And they're clever. And he's a rookie. And he's 19, okay? So he's not just a rookie who, you know, has played a few years internationally.

Yeah, he's played for the French national team. And he's certainly got a lot of experience in various international competitions. But this is the NBA.

And this is the best collection of talent in the world. And they will know how to use their tricks and their cunning to bait him, okay? He's still 19 years old and still growing into that body, for heaven's sakes. And so they're going to be guys that know how to kind of finagle the fouls. I mean, we see it all the time with guys who do kind of the step in so they can draw the contact and then throw up the shot. Actually, the first time we ever see Wembley guard Steph Curry or get out on like a switch or something like that and he's out on the perimeter and Steph is trying to dribble around him, that's going to be exceptional. Anyway, these guys are going to go toe to toe.

They're not going to back down simply because they have Wembley fever. So there are going to be lots of opportunities for him to get into foul trouble. So he's got to be aware of that temptation. He's over seven foot and he's got an enormous wingspan. Most guys can't shoot over him. Just put your hands straight up in the air.

But it's hard to do because it's natural. He's a natural shot blocker, so it's hard to do, but pretty sweet the way that the crowd is already supporting him. It turned into a Mavericks win because of what Luca and Kyrie did late. Only one triple for Kyrie Irving, but he hit it down the stretch. Luca Doncic with a triple double.

And of course, after the fact, people even want to ask Luca about Victor Wemenyama. It was fun. You know, we knew the whole building is going to be loud and everything.

You know, it's probably one of the best prospects to enter the NBA. So it was fun. You know, for me personally, I like challenges. So that was a fun challenge. Lots of emotions, of course.

But, you know, would have been perfect with the win. Felt surreal for a moment. Yeah.

And yeah, I just feel very lucky to be here. He's 19. I will say his voice sounds a lot deeper than 19, but he's 19 years old.

Here's the thing that just kind of struck me as I was watching these two teams. Now, Luca Doncic is the grizzled veteran, quote unquote. He's the ripe old age of 24. He's entering year five in the league. The novelty is not worn off with Luca, right? I don't think so. Not until he maybe gets to, well, NBA Finals, right?

Until we get to see him on the grandest stage in sport. You think? We'll see what Kyrie is to tell that situation unfolds. Jay sent, can I tell people what you sent me to text? Yeah.

Jay sent me a text as we're watching this game unfold down the wire. And it said, over, under, on how long until there's drama with Kyrie. I gave it a month. Right.

So he went exactly a month. He went November 25th, which is that Thanksgiving? Is it? I don't know.

I'm gonna look. I'm not exactly sure what the date is for Thanksgiving, but certainly it's a Thursday. So you might have nailed it. Oh, well, I guess it was a Wednesday last night. Sorry.

Let's see. No, Thanksgiving is the 23rd. So I went Thanksgiving, which was under. And so you went under.

I went under. I said by Thanksgiving, there's gonna be something. I mean, the fact is, James Harden, there's already drama. Their season hasn't even started yet. So you know Kyrie Irving can't be far behind. It's a thing with those two. It's just, it doesn't, it's every place he's gone to every year.

So I don't see why it would change now. That's all I'm waiting for. It's all good in the beginning. It's fine. It's snarky. You're so snarky. Not snarky.

Just witnesses as a fan. No, I mean, the text was snarky. Oh, yeah, a little bit.

A little bit. Jay's not generally snarky. He's not real passive aggressive. He's just aggressive when it comes to these extra, when it comes to these things, when it comes to his teams or players that he hates.

He'll just flat out say it. So yeah, no love lost there. I don't hate Kyrie. Actually, I always used to say he was my favorite player to watch play basketball. He just never played basketball, which is the problem. I mean, if all he did was play basketball, that'd be one thing, but it never, there's a package deal. The drama comes with the hoops because he tells us all the time that hoops is not the most important thing to him. It's just basketball, right?

It's not about the money, baby. I don't believe it. Although I do believe that you may have to say that now because I'm not sure there's a team out there willing to offer you a max deal.

All right. Oh, speaking of Harden, by the way, he's back with the Sixers, but he will not play in their season opener later tonight at Milwaukee. So no James Harden versus Dame Lillard.

I can't wait to see Dame Lillard on the court with Giannis. Oh my goodness. Bob's coming to visit, but he's going to have to amuse himself. That's polite, right?

All right. A little more on when these debut and what it was like from inside the arena. That's straight ahead on Twitter, a law radio on our Facebook page to good morning. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports. 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 wherever you get your podcasts. The all electric Hyundai IONIQ 6 is sleek, full of advanced tech and has a range of up to 360 miles. Any drawbacks? Yeah. Every IONIQ 6 comes with a complimentary EV charger and up to $600 installation credits.

So you're going to have to figure out something else to spend that money on. The all electric Hyundai IONIQ 6. Hyundai, it's your journey. EPA estimated 361 mile range for IONIQ 6 SE long range low wheel drive with fully charged battery. Actual range varies based on trim and other factors.

Actual charge time varies based on charging unit output, temperature and other factors. Call 562-314-4603 for complete details. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Front court left. Dribble handoff. Sohan to Vassil.

Works right around the screen by Wemenyama. Back to Wemenby on the pick and pop. We'll try a straight away three.

And that's Sohan Mitra from Devon Vassil. 13-7 San Antonio. Of course I'm going to think about this game because it's the only game I've ever played. But you know, it's a long season. We got, honestly, we got other things to take care of. And it goes by. Our rhythm is so quick that we're going to, we're already focusing on the next game.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. 19 years old. That blows my mind. 19-year-old's an international superstar. But Luca could certainly talk to him about how that feels and how to navigate it.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Yes, Wembley fever is contagious. It's not just the fans. Other players gaga over Wemenyama. And from what Matt Moore told us on our last show, I mean, that's part of the buzz to start the season is that other players can't wait to see this guy and get on the court and compete against this 19-year-old. I mean, it's a lot on his shoulders. But I tell you what, even Greg Popovich was smiling after a loss last night.

So things are different. We had a chance to catch up with Nate Ryan, who is a TV sports anchor in San Antonio. He was on the court before the game. He was there talking to people and taking it all in. And we asked him what it was like inside the arena for Wemeny's debut.

I'll tell you what. I was just commenting that I still sort of feel the electricity from the atmosphere inside the Frost the build up before the game, it was really was it felt like just sort of a celebration win or lose tonight for San Antonio. The fact that this player is taking the floor for them in a regular season game. I mean, going back all the way four months ago to the draft, even the draft lottery when they knew they were taking Wemenyama, really just getting him on the floor in an NBA regular season game, it really felt like the Spurs lost the game tonight, but it really didn't feel like they had anything to lose in terms of a result, just because it really was just sort of an exciting culmination of what's going to be the norm now for San Antonio fans moving forward. What did you see and hear with fans in the building pregame and then as this first game is unfolding? Well, there was a crowd of 18,500 plus, which was a little more than 3000 more than made it to last year's season opener. I mean, if you just look at it first played the Mavericks tonight, they closed last season against the same Mavericks team in the last game of the regular season last year.

That was the season in which the Spurs lost 60 games, the most ever under Greg Popovich. And fast forward to tonight, they're playing probably one of the more hyped season openers in recent NBA memory against the same team on national television. About a quarter of the arena has Wemenyama jerseys. You're attracting a whole new fan base, not just from San Antonio, but from Europe. It's not just eyes locally here in this community, but everywhere in the country. I mean, you look at the Spurs are leading highlight shows on national programs where you know, in commercials, it's all an excitement that's returning to the city.

You know, that's kind of been, you know, in flux and towards the bottom of the standings the past few years. Well, we certainly led with Wendy Fever. It was the first thing out of my mouth on tonight's show before we even said hello.

So we're right there with you. Well, what did Greg Popovich have to say about his debut and his 19 year old teenage sensations first game? He literally said quote for quote, he said, I thought he had a wonder, wonderful outing. And that's considering the fact that Wemenyama was in foul trouble most of the night, picked up four fouls there pretty early in the ball game and had to had to sit for, you know, early in the early in the fourth, picking up his fifth foul. He only had six points entering the fourth quarter. But then once he really got into a rhythm there down the down the stretch, I think it was nine straight points he had during a period in the fourth quarter where he, you know, willed them to the lead.

That is when everybody in the building was sort of on their feet. Listen, I mean, this is a guy who's, you know, had the cameras on him for the past year and especially since coming to San Antonio. And we talk about so much hype and so many cameras, so many expectations placed on Victor Wemenyama's shoulders on his NBA regular season debut. The first half did not go as everybody around, you know, the league and fans of basketball thought it would go. I mean, he had, you know, six points, you know, going up at halftime and people were talking about him finish.

Oh, he's going to finish with at least 20. He's going to be dominant because that's what he was in preseason. In preseason, he played four preseason games. Not one of those games that Victor Wemenyama see the floor in the fourth quarter. Tonight was his first action in crunch time. So it really was his welcome to the NBA moment. And for a period there, about three, four minutes down the stretch, he really did take the game over. He took one out from beyond the arc. He hit a wing three to, you know, pull them within two points, 110, 108. And then the end one dunk where, you know, Trey Jones threw a full court pass to him. That's just something where the tallest, tallest guy on the floor go up and get it in a three point play. That was probably the most exciting point of the game. But for Greg Popovich, he said word for word, I thought he had a wonderful outing because despite the foul trouble, he didn't let his rhythm get affected. Are there any limitations on Wemenyama in terms of minutes?

Anything like that? I think you're going to see the limitations come in, not necessarily in minutes in a ball game, but it's we're going to be on games that are played on back to back nights. You know, the Spurs have a history.

They were one of the first teams to institute load management, if you will. If you remember, you know, Parker Duncan Ginobili sitting a game against Miami 10 or some years ago. But I think it's mostly going to come on those back to back nights. And long term, you look closer to the you know, you hate to get looked too far down the line, but if the Spurs are contending for a playoff spot towards the end of the season, if they're looking to get into the play in for the playoffs, it's going to be tough to sit Victor Wemenyama considering he'll be one of your most productive players on the back to back nights. And he's going to help you win ball games. But if it's a case where the Spurs aren't contending for a playoff spot with, say, a month left in the season, if it looks a little bit out of reach, I think then is when you might start to see fan Antonio take it a little easier with him.

But it's it's left about minutes in game because if he's cooking, you're not going to look to, you know, turn off the stove by any means. It's more on more on games with back to back, which is going to be worth monitoring. Good stuff with Nate Ryan and the rest of that conversation.

You will be able to find on our podcast that will be posted minutes after the show is done. But for Nate, he was fired up. He still had so much adrenaline. He may even be watching highlights now as we speak. KENS Channel 5 in San Antonio. Sports anchor there. And he's always a lot of fun to have on the show when we're able to connect with him. And right now he's in the center of the Hoops universe on Twitter.

A law radio for me, also on our Facebook page after hours with Amy Lawrence. A little bit of early intel that you need for maybe your fantasy lineup for the NFL. Jay and I, our quarterback situation for fantasy is not going so well. We are now on our third quarterbacks and we're not even starting week eight yet. We're just seven weeks. We're already on three quarterbacks. What is wrong with us?

We clearly did not draft so well or even make replacements well. And let's see, what else do I want to mix in there? Yeah, you know what? We'll just go with that. I'll surprise you, okay? Yes, I'll surprise you.

I've got some other fun stuff up my sleeve. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. If you're just joining us, looking to find out if Christopher Russo has actually gone through with his retirement, the question is, I actually don't know. I have not spoken to him. Just one text message earlier today saying he was going on with Howard Stern.

Saw him on MLB Network Television with Alana Rizzo on high heat. But wait a second. I have returned! Look at this. What a clown. I have returned!

What a joke. How are you, Steve? Oh, great. I'm here.

You're right. I didn't go anywhere but retire my ass. I'm here to do a talk show.

And by the way, after 12 minutes with you, thank God I'm here to do a talk show. Shocking. Thank God. Thank God. I couldn't have scripted that. No, not at all. You knew that was coming.

Yeah, of course. I wanted to take the whole day off today. But I said to myself, jeez, we're going to have nobody left. Beadle and to you, we're dead. You're dead. So I figured I have to show up. You made a wise decision. But I know I'm going to get pounded today.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Well, I guess I was right because I didn't actually think he'd retire. But it does bother me a little bit. Don't say something like that and then not follow through. And I don't know him well enough to know whether or not he has a reputation for integrity around the league, around Major League Baseball, around really anywhere. But he got a lot of publicity for it, did he not?

So what's to say this wasn't just a stunt and then he never fully intended to do anything that he said he was going to do. And the reason I bring it up, I generally don't talk about what other hosts do because it doesn't concern me and I honestly don't care. I tend to pay far less attention to what other sports radio hosts do because I need to make up my own mind before I go on the air. I don't ever want to be in a situation where I've got someone else's opinions or opinions or features or ideas in my head.

I need to stand on my own two feet. So I don't listen to a lot of sports radio. And honestly, there are some forms of sports radio that I definitely do not enjoy.

I'm sure you can figure out what kinds those are since my show is pretty different. But I know that many people were talking about it inside the Diamondbacks clubhouse. They were chanting mad dog, mad dog, mad dog. And even before the game seven, Tori Lovello was on, I don't know where he was doing his pregame comments, if it was MLB network, if it was Sirius XM, MLB radio. But he was even saying that I would absolutely love to see him retire, that he should retire.

So the story was out there, which is why we play that clip from his show on Wednesday on mad dog radio and Sirius XM, because no, he's not retiring and it sounds like he's flaunting the fact that he's not retiring, which bothers me a little bit. But maybe say there's no way I was wrong. I screwed up.

I was never really intending to retire. But don't just schluff it off like you never said it. Don't just schluff it off and use it as a PR stunt.

That kind of bothers me a little bit. Don't take advantage of listeners who are paying attention to you just to rope them in with some stunt like that. I would never, I don't think I would, I can't imagine any situation where I would ever do a stunt like that just for the purposes of PR. There were people who thought I was faking a wedding just for a publicity stunt, which sounds so ridiculous. At some point, wouldn't everyone figure out that I didn't get married? I mean, I would forget if I wasn't actually getting married. I wouldn't be able to lie about it for very long. Plus I just, I'm not a liar.

I am who I am on the radio and you should know me pretty well by now. So yeah, I'm kind of disappointed in him. Not that I expected him to retire.

I really didn't. But the idea that he would be more apologetic about it, maybe as opposed to flaunting it. The fact that I'm not retiring, even though I said I was going to, I think it just opens up this can of worms in talk sports talk where you can just say whatever the hell you want and there's really no accountability options for it. And that's just not a good avenue to go down.

I don't think so. Agreed. I agree with that. Yeah.

So he did not retire. And that's all there is to say. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Thanks for hanging out with us. Happy Thursday to you. Or as Jay and I like to classify, happy almost Friday.

We are so close. In 12 hours, I get to go to the airport. Woo.

Looking forward to that. A couple of things to get you ready for week eight in the NFL. Whoa. Week eight. First of all, we've got Bucks and Bills tonight. And I said this earlier.

It's kind of stunning. They both have the same number of losses through seven weeks. Probably didn't expect that. Meanwhile, Baker Mayfield has actually been classified as questionable this week because of a knee. Just kind of re-aggravated what I did against the Saints. So nothing too bad.

Just pain tolerance and move on. All right. But he is listed as questionable right now. So if you had Baker Mayfield as your starting quarterback in fantasy.

Jay, you and I might be up against that now. He was available in my league. Oh, I'm sure he's available in mostly. Matthew Stafford was also available in my league.

And let's see. I told you I picked up CJ Stroud. Yeah, that's a great move. Do you think I should start CJ instead of Brock Purdy if Brock does get cleared?

Moving forward? He's right now in concussion protocol. Oh, just this Sunday? Yeah. I do, actually. I do. CJ is going against the Panthers, right?

Uh huh. Yeah, I like that matchup. I mean, the Niners would be home against the Bengals. Bengals defense has impressed me this year. And I guess it's been better than the offense, yeah. I mean, I've been really impressed with CJ Stroud. There's really nothing to do with Purdy more than I've just been more impressed with Stroud. Just from a fantasy perspective was.

All right. We'll see. We'll see how that plays out. So there's your other piece of info that Brock Purdy is in concussion protocol. Which apparently was a huge surprise to Kyle Shanahan. He said they were all sleeping on the team plane on the way home Monday night from Indianapolis. And Brock on the plane started having symptoms.

Now, producer Jay tells me he found a moment, a video online in which people believe it was the moment when Brock Purdy potentially suffered the concussion or head injury. According to Kyle, there is still time for him to get cleared. There are enough days left. So the protocol requires you have to pass the baseline test multiple days in a row.

Before you can be cleared. And so there is time, but they don't know for sure. And if he can't go, then it would be Sam Darnold starting for his third different team in the NFL. I mean, between he and Baker Mayfield, they've had quite an odyssey around the league. My goodness. And a little bit of synergy to their stories too, right?

There's some parallels to their stories. I think Baker's our quarterback. Another significant injury, if in fact it does keep him off the field.

Tyreek Hill was not practicing on Wednesday because of a hip injury. Now, remember he's over 900 yards already. And so he's a fantasy bonanza. He's a cash cow in fantasy. And he and Tua have a great connection, but Tyreek did not practice on Wednesday.

And right now he is questionable for week eight. It was a little weird. It was a little weird not having someone like Tyreek out there, his leadership, his aura.

But it calls for other guys to step up in his room. Jalen, I think Jalen had a really good practice today. Said had a really good practice. A lot of guys had good practices today, especially being on Wednesday.

So yeah, not having someone like Tyreek is hard, but that calls for other guys to step up. Did he say his aura? His aura? The guy glows in the dark. Stop it.

They don't practice in the dark, so it doesn't matter. But his aura? His aura. I love Tua. He is unique. There was no one quite like Tua.

And I just do love his character. I've really admired his character and how he handles adversity going back to his days at Alabama. I mean, even if you remember, he and Jalen Hurts were the quarterbacks on the roster there at Alabama. And Jalen got benched for Tua in the, was it the SEC Championship game? Or maybe it was the National Championship.

Don't quote me on that. But anyway, Tua takes over for Jalen. Jalen gets benched. Tua takes over.

Leads him to a win. And then the entire offseason, it was Tua versus Jalen. Tua versus Jalen. And Tua won the starting job the next year. Now Jalen also had to spell him in a game late in the year. A championship game when Tua was injured. So they each had that experience.

But Tua handled it with such class. And he always spoke so highly of Jalen. And he never made it about me versus Jalen. It was about the team. It was about what was the good of the team.

It was about doing whatever it was that the coaches asked of him. And then getting into Miami, right? And all the questions about him being traded. And he's not the first choice for Miami. This obviously predates Mike McDaniel.

But he's not the right guy. They're going to bring in Tom Brady. They're going to bring in Aaron Rodgers. They're going to bring in this guy.

They're going to bring in that guy. And ultimately, he had to answer those questions for three years. Then everything about the concussions. Then about being called thick.

I mean, he has been a target since he's been in the league for one reason or another. And yet he never handles it with anything except for class. And I do think humor. Humor is a great way that he deflects. Though I'm sure there are times when it's hard. Like, he's human.

We know very much he's human. And everything that he went through with the concussion protocol, that was scary. The concussions and the protocol. And so how do you figure out who and what step up in the place of Tyreek Hill if you don't have him?

That's a doozy. I don't think anyone can emulate what Tyreek does on the field. His speed, his cuts in and out of breaks. I don't think there's anyone that can emulate him. He's in his own league.

He's one of a kind. That is true. We'll see whether or not he can go. It was only Wednesday, so there's still plenty of time moving forward.

Let's see. Other injury news. Well, other matchup news that might affect you and the way that you plan for week number eight.

And I don't know that you would have ever thought this would be a possible game of the week. But because the Browns are right now in second place in the ASC North, and because they've won, what is it, three of four? But they've won back to back games. The game that they have on the road now in Seattle is significant. And so you've got a four and two Browns team and every team in the AFC North, excuse me, is 500 or better, right?

So it's extremely competitive. So you've got the Browns going up against the Seahawks. And the Seahawks are trying to keep pace with the Niners and actually are trying to pick up some ground here because the Niners have dropped two in a row as well. So this is a game that you would think would have a lot of eyeballs on it, except for the fact that PJ Walker will be starting for Deshaun Watson. And so that kind of muddies it a little bit. Cleveland can only win dirty, really. They're not going to have a lot of pretty wins, aesthetically pleasing wins, but you win how you win. And that's their identity and their M.O.

right now. Jerome Ford is also out too for a couple of games. So that's a big deal. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. For those of you who know where I come from, I'm a New England native. I love New England. It's my heart.

It's who I am. And that heart is hurting this morning for Lewiston, Maine, where there was a mass shooting that took place on Wednesday evening. And right now, the numbers are 16 people have been killed from gunfire that erupted at a restaurant and a bowling alley. And there are even reports that the death toll is as high as 22 and that there are dozens.

That was the word that I heard on CBS News on my drive into work last night. Dozens of people that are injured and they don't have the suspect in custody yet. So police are asking Lewiston residents to shelter in place. This is a city that's north of Portland.

Not real far north, but north of Portland. And they're looking for a man named Robert Card. And he's armed and dangerous. He's actually a firearms instructor.

And so he's got a background in this. And yeah, they haven't found him yet. So please be safe in Lewiston, Maine. He may be on the move, obviously. But thinking of those people in those families who've been forever changed and forever impacted, my heart goes out to you. My prayers as well. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.