11-6-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

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That's betterhelp.com slash positive. It's that time of the week again. Wow, it comes quickly. After a Sunday like the one that we have just experienced, where it is an all-out blitz, it's non-stop football. From Germany to Baltimore to Philadelphia to Cincinnati. And those are just the marquee games that we put in the after-hours game of the week poll. Maybe the best game of the weekend was in Houston.

Not to mention some of the road warriors that we saw this weekend. Cleveland, Green Bay, all hosting important games as we hit the midway point. I love what we saw on Sunday, but man, have you noticed? Have you been keeping track of have you been keeping track the number of backup quarterbacks that are starting in the NFL right now, and the number of rookies that we've seen under center or behind the line in the NFL so far this season.

One stands above the rest, and we will talk about him coming up. We are definitely seeing few teams flex their muscles and raise their level of play against the best competition. Dolphins and Chiefs, we're going to get to that game coming up, but that was the one you selected as the game of the week in our poll.

Interesting too because they used very different strategies when it came to navigating travel to Europe. One of the matchups among two of the best teams in the NFL, and while it was lopsided early, it ended up being a tantalizing finish. But then you think battle of first place teams that goes AFC, NFC, and the Ravens were unchallenged. Think about the Ravens wins over the Lions and the Seahawks now.

The defense is unheralded. In each of those games, and then throw in Bengals-Bills as well, we still have the starting quarterbacks. We still have Patrick Mahomes and Tua, which is awesome considering what he had to go through last season.

We still have Geno Smith, Lamar Jackson, and then Joe Burrow and Josh Allen. Not that these guys aren't dealing with various bumps and bruises, certainly navigating aches and pains, and we could put Cowboys-Eagles in that category as well. Another game that went down to the wire. The phrase that you'll hear over and over from the Cowboys is a game of inches.

And man, a few inches go in Dallas's direction, and that's a different outcome. But they still have their starting quarterbacks as well, Dak and Jalen. But then around the league now, and this is really one of the factors in determining the front-runners, in seeing the strongest teams break out and create some separation a little bit. They've got their starting quarterbacks. In each of the four divisions in the AFC, the starters are still leading the charge. Even in the AFC North, where every team is above 500, now that Deshaun Watson is back, all four starting quarterbacks.

At least the starters that were beginning the season, the starters that were expected to maintain those roles all the way through. Jacksonville's off this weekend, but yeah, Trevor Lawrence, Patrick Mahomes for sure, around those teams, the best teams in the AFC, you've got all kinds of quarterback chaos. It's never as simple as the quarterback winning or the quarterback losing or the QB is great or he sucks and that's why a team is successful or not. But you certainly have a hell of a lot of better opportunity to get the ball back to the quarterback.

And that's why you're going to have a better opportunity. And you can separate yourself from the pack if your quarterback can stay healthy, stay on the field. And if you've got a top flight elite quarterback, even more critical for your success. And then shifting to the NFC, same thing talked about Eagles and Cowboys, two of the top teams in the division, Jared Goff still standing for the Lions, even though we know they're on a bye this weekend. It's a good way to not get your quarterback hurt is to not play. Brock Purdy, halfway through, still standing for the San Francisco 49ers, though they've dropped three in a row.

We'll see them again next week. Derek Carr's back on the field, the leaders in the NFC South, the Saints. A lot of the other teams, not all of them, but a lot of all of them, but a lot of the other teams in the NFC and the AFC that are scuffling along, that are still inconsistent, or that right now wouldn't talk playoffs if they got paid a whole lot of money because it just sounds ludicrous. Those are the teams that are dealing with QB changes. Those are the teams that are dealing with the loss of their starters. So there's a clear line of demarcation, and maybe that's what the 2023 season is about.

It's always about can you stay healthy? Which teams have the greatest health, but also which teams have the most depth behind their guys who get hurt? Buffalo's dealing with a ton of injuries around Josh Allen, even though he's still upright and playing. All of these quarterback injuries are starting to take a toll, though I will say it gives us some freaking cool storylines like Josh Dobbs not practicing even one time with the Vikings and leading them to a come from behind victory.

Amazing. I love the attitude he brings to the table and how he and Kevin O'Connell had to work together just to get plays on the field. Not one snap in practice.

Not one. Shades of Baker Mayfield with the Rams last year. Baker would love to have that spirit. Man, he's got quite the mush on him these days on the sidelines.

He is supremely unhappy. Oh, that's your old team. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio, though they could actually use Baker Mayfield right now. Stop it.

That was old. What have you done for me lately? Thanks for hanging out with us on a Sunday night. You can find me on Twitter, ALawRadio. We'll have your Monday MVP poll up before long, and within the half hour, we will head to Cincinnati to talk Bengals and Bills with Mike Petralia.

He's a Bengals insider, has the Jungle Roar podcast that can be found on his Twitter or on YouTube. I'm toying with the idea of a good, bad, and ugly show question tonight because we do that, but maybe we'll wait until tomorrow night. Just because we do it once a year, I want to make sure we're in a good space.

There's so much to get to tonight, though. Did you feel a void with no baseball? First time in a while.

Well, months and months, but first time in a while we haven't had playoff baseball. NFL, college football, full speed ahead. So again, find me on Twitter or on Facebook. Our phone number 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Raise your hand if you thought we were going to get a track meet between the Bengals and the Bills after they started with three straight touchdown drives. Burrow back at the 12, catches the snap, short drop, throws it into the throws it into the back left corner of the end zone. Caught by Irv Smith Jr. His first touchdown as a Cincinnati Bengal and the Bengals are on the scoreboard first. Joe has the ball.

Under pressure, dumps it off short. Caught. Drew sample has a first down to the 10, the 5, to the pylon. He's in. Touchdown.

Beautiful. Bengals. Drew sample catching a short pass from Joe Burrow and doing the rest on a 22 yard TD.

With a hurdle. Did you notice a tight end theme for the Bengals offense? It was there and it was woven throughout the game. Dan Hoard, Dave Lapham on Bengals radio mixed in a Josh Allen rushing touchdown. See how before you could blink there in the first quarter there was already 21 points on the board.

Now it definitely got quieter in the second half or second quarter, excuse me. A bunch of punts. Josh throws an interception.

He was firing high and just off on some of his longer throws until later in the game. Buffalo has the three and out late in the first half which gives the Bengals a short field and that leads to the Drew sample touchdown. So this was a fun first half on those scoring drives and the Bengals were able to keep the ball for extended periods of time and that certainly helps when you're trying to wear down that Bills defense. So it's 21-10 in the third quarter and Dalton Kigkade coughs up the ball. Critical turnover for the Buffalo Bills though Cincinnati has to settle for a field goal. Those points were crucial though and actually the Bengals they had several snaps inside the 10 and could not get the ball into the end zone so it's a strong hold there by the Bills defense but the points themselves mattered. So it's 24-10 middle of the fourth quarter when you see the Bills start to heat up and there's always the possibility that they can do this. There's always a possibility they could put points on the board in bunches and they're spreading the ball around on the next drive there's that sense of urgency. Allen's locked in and there's a lot of pace to this drive as well and even though he was using a variety of receivers he had to come back to old reliable. This is a clock burning drive for sure 340 left Allen in the shotgun Shakir in motion right to left takes the snap looking left now back to the right into the end zone to Diggs for the touchdown. It's a 17-yard touchdown reception can you dig it and the Bills are going to go for two.

That's Chris Brown on Bills radio and then the two-point conversion which was also caught by Stephon in the back of the end zone. This might have been the most replayed moment of the entire game. I think NBC gave us seven or eight replays and here's the crazy part not one of them featured Diggs colliding with a security guard and the two of them going down in a heap so you may have seen after the initial touchdown so not replays but after the touchdown the camera pans to the back of the end zone of course and Diggs is tangled up with a security guard who granted he he was standing wrong place wrong time but he couldn't have seen Diggs because they generally face the crowd so he was more about crowd control and he and Diggs get tangled up and their teammates are coming in or his teammates are coming in and try to stand him up and help the security guard.

Seven replays later they don't show that collision. Do you think that was a concerted effort to prevent the poor security guard from being embarrassed? I felt bad for him it had to be a total shock when Diggs rolls up on the back of his legs. Are you watching it Jay? Oh yeah. Poor guy goes down and I mean it was a thunderous drop uh he was a he's a large bodyguard type shape they never never showed it again but actually was worried a little bit about Diggs because he's so slight and the bodyguard is so big yeah big guy. Went down like a ton of bricks. He did he toppled hard it's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio though we did see the the the left and right feet come down for Diggs over and over brilliant body control and awareness and sometimes I wonder when these guys actually last check out uh where the end line is where their feet are I mean there's so much to take in right there not to mention the defense who's trailing him from behind and it didn't seem like he looked in that moment he just knew it's it's thousands and thousands of reps it's just it was sweet to see him uh with the two feet bang bang before he took out the security guard so Buffalo was able to to pull within a couple of points there and as I say they get the two-point conversion and really Josh is able to get to Stavon Diggs and find him because he was spreading the ball around and the Bengals defense had to be mindful of the other receivers so then Cincinnati has the ball back and the very first snap so the first down there's a deep shot to Tyler Boyd I think it was 32 yards correct me if I'm wrong but something like that 30 32 yards and after that one shot they're trying to run out the clock so it's Joe Mixon it's Joe Mixon it's Joe Mixon and they're just trying to keep the ball away from the bills burrowing the gun mixing to his right chase out to the left Boyd and Higgins out to the right Drew sample out to the right as well Joe burrow hands on hips eyeballing the defense Buffalo showing pressure up the middle the Bengals hand it to Mixon gets away from an ankle tackle running toward the first down marker he's got it wow and that is coffin nails bam bam bam these are the stages they want to be on they don't shy away from them that confidence has earned confidence it's not it's not anything phony to try to present themselves as if they're ready for these games they've worked for it and they trust not only themselves but they trust their teammates nine games left so we're five and three right now we're in a great spot we just got to continue to get better really happy with how we played the last couple weeks we got to keep it going and we want to know this week we got to be wanting to know next week too this week means nothing uh we'll come in tomorrow watch the tape lift go about our business and go from there couple of streaks to note about the Bengals as you hear Joe burrow he's not nonchalant he was fired up on the field just trying to take it all in stride they've won four games in a row so when I talked to Mike Petralia after the update at the bottom of the hour I'll ask him what was the turning point how did the Bengals get their groove back like Stella you know my pop culture references a lot of them come from the 90s the 80s and the 90s we did the whole Calgon take me away and that was I guess Friday morning and the number of tweets and Facebook posts I got from people about Calgon take me away take me away I could have used that over the weekend anyway for those of you who know Stella and how she got her groove back that's what the Bengals are doing right now so that's one streak four wins in a row but they also have five consecutive wins over the Bills over the Bills how big is that and I don't know that it's psychological for Buffalo but it certainly is a confidence boost for the Bengals that no matter where these games are right now they've got a formula that wins that wins against one of the other top teams in the AFC so burrow has 348 yards and a couple of touchdowns Josh Allen also into the end zone a couple of times passing rushing and throws the first half pick we had our opportunities didn't score before half didn't get six on the first drive of the second half that's not complementary football you know you get a double dip and get the points there and give yourself a chance and you know and it's the old cliche in order to win you got to stop yourself from losing and we didn't do that tonight we got off to a really good start in a rhythm and then after that it was tough sledding and um and so that can't happen right I mean against a good football team that scores that's known for scoring points and a good quarterback you got to be able to score points and um and uh we didn't do it enough you wouldn't think of the Bengals as a team that excels in time of possession but they did that tonight against Buffalo plus 13 minutes with the football now that's huge if you can keep Josh Allen and Stefan Diggs and some of the others on the sidelines that's a big deal then you factor in they win the turnover battle so the Bengals are turnover free the Bills turn it over twice a couple of wasted possessions there yeah it started out like a shootout didn't end that way it got a lot grittier but the Bengals can win that way too so after the update we'll head to Cincinnati talk about the Bengals at the midway point of the season now five and three as are two other teams in the AFC north the Browns and Steelers and they're all looking up at the Ravens in that division man every single team in that division is at least two games above 500 that is tough sledding straight ahead though we'll try to work in a few minutes for Cowboys and Eagles because this was another one of the candidates for game of the week and it always lives up to the billing when these two teams get on the same field this time in Philadelphia no love lost on Twitter a law radio on our Facebook page too we're glad to connect with you it's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports get the best workout with the best-kept secret in fitness hydro the state-of-the-art at-home rower hydro engages 86% of your muscles delivering the ultimate full body workout in just 20 minutes from advanced to beginner hydro has over 4,000 classes that are shot all over the world and are taught by Olympians and world-class athletes for a 30-day risk-free trial with free standard shipping go to hydro.com and use code fit 500 to save up to $500 that's h-y-d-r-o-w.com code fit 500 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 principle we help you invest in your people because investing in your people is investing in your business learn more at principle.com slash benefits products and services offered by member companies of the principal financial group Des Moines Iowa for important information visit principle.com slash disclosures commuting to work again welcome back just breathe and remember you got this and the all-new Hyundai Kona is there to help class-leading interior space means you can stretch out intuitive tech like remote smart parking assist makes parking stress-free and complimentary blue link plus allows you to set the climate controls remotely learn more about the all-new Kona and your best commute ever at Hyundai usa.com call 562-314-4603 for complete details you gotta get rid of this old Backstreet Boys t-shirt tell me why because it stinks boys tell me what I've washed it so many times but the odor won't come out tell me why no you tell me why I can't get rid of this odor have you tried Downy rinse and refresh it doesn't just cover up odors it helps remove them wow it worked guys yeah Downy rinse and refresh removes more odor in one wash than the leading value detergent in three washes find it wherever you buy laundry products radio that does it oh god take me away you are listening to the after hours podcast first and ten they're at the cowboys 29 hurts back again he steps up he's looking he is going deep and it is caught it is caught down the far side of the field touchdown that's gonna take the lead that's skinny batman hurts in the gun swift behind slot to the far side of the field eagles up 2117 hurts fires complete aj brown touchdown he caught the ball at the two this is after hours with amy lawrence after trailing at the half the eagles begin the third quarter against the cowboys with a deep shot to devante smith you hear the calls there with merrill reese and mike quick poor merrill losing his voice there actually started out fairly strong at the beginning of the game but as this went on it it just became harder and harder for him to get the words out pretty stutter step by devante to get behind the defense for a 29 yard catch and that put the eagles in front the next drive 87 yards over six minutes and it's this healthy mix of d'andre swift and aj brown boy does he bull rush people he is a brute and i do mean that as a compliment for a wide receiver but it's aj who catches the touchdown or catches the ball and then barrels into the end zone for the touchdown it's after hours with amy lawrence on cbs sports radio this game had all of the makings of one of those classics that you love between the cowboys and eagles and really the bitterest of rivals in the nfl a lot of what you know about the team can go out the window because they know each other so well and there are no secrets and it's just about who can execute and as we heard from the cowboys following the game who can take advantage of the opportunities and get those extra inches yeah so the cowboys they were keeping pace and had multiple opportunities late in this game to be able to force the issue down the stretch it's fourth down and a yard and a half they will push no tushes shotgun fourth and goal snap back looking left to the goal line the pass it's cut for a touchdown right across the plane and it's cut by schoonmaker it's a big old tight end world isn't it ferguson had one earlier now it's schoonmaker well the the arms of the judge the side judge over there in the corner went right up but this is going to be reviewed more than a broadway play opener the left knee when the left knee is down schoonmaker is down and the ball has not crossed the goal line i think this is going to be coming back that it did and so right there one of those opportunities where the cowboys have to walk away with no points inches away from that touchdown they later do get a td pass from dak to jaylen tolbert seven yards but he steps out of bounds on the two-point conversion before the ball crosses the plane so right there you've got points left on the board not just the touchdown but also the two-point conversion at that juncture would have pulled them within three and so they're going for a field goal instead of a touchdown on their last couple possessions yeah ultimately the eagles got the lead early in the third quarter and they're able to protect it with that brute defense press got in the gun press got into a long count he takes a snap he steps up he fires incomplete incomplete no flag intended for tolbert on the near sideline and the eagles take over on down football's not such an unbelievable game there's highs there's lows and sometimes it may it brings you to tears of joy sometimes it brings you to tears it's always a little cooler when you when you win against a really good football team and and the really good football team being dallas and i know that means a lot to our fans uh got a lot of respect for those players and coaches over there um man um a lot a lot of it was a good battle back and forth and it's cool to again like i said it's cool to be a part of that um that rivalry what an incredible win what a what what an incredible win what a what a incredible uh sense of present variance and resilience from this team um still have yet to play like i played a complete game um and we're so hungry and eager to continue to grow and build upon the things that we've been able to do jaylen hurts the bulky knee so he got hit i was demarcus lawrence kind of rolled into him and his knee twisted a bit and he looked like he was in a bunch of pain but he didn't want to talk about it after shook it off 243 total yards three touchdowns and the way that they can spread the ball around and use a variety of weapons is very impressive nick seriani before that talking about how this is another crazy game another crazy win between cowboys and eagles as for the cowboys another 10 penalty flags uh they've got the turnover in there late that really made a difference uh the dalton kincaid fumble five sacks of dak prescott by the eagles and so even though they were over 400 yards of offense they come up short stating the obvious it's a game of inches and and um you know and we came up you know an inch or two short on a couple plays but um love the way our team plays i love our play style uh give the eagles credit uh it's a great it's a great home environment here i have a lot of appreciation for for jeff lorry and what they've done here so love to come here and compete and we knew this was the kind of game it was going to be i always tell you guys the margin of penalties and errors is so slim i mean we step on the goal line knee hits the ground before the goal line um crucial uh penalties on drives that you know we should go out the field um it's a it's a hard league to win it and when you kind of beat yourselves on certain things and and other factors don't help it just it really hurts so i mean we could take away the game that there was a chance we could have won either way look at it was a close game 50-50 toss up we had a chance to win there at the end but we didn't so we got to get back to the drawing board and get ready um for next week mica parsons practicing for his podcast on monday it will be can't miss of course in the wake of cowboys eagles just getting started by the way brad sham on cowboys radio i listened to most of the game on the radio because the whole thing was not airing in my market though a lot of it was on nfl network which made me very grateful on twitter a law radio on our facebook page two coming up a conversation about the bangles four games in a row now they've won when did they get their groove back you are listening i'm kate abdo the host of kicking it a new weekly show from the cbs sports galasso network where clint emcee charlie davies mowadu 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 you're waiting for follow and listen to kicking it on the odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts listening to the after-hours podcast they do a good job on defense disguising coverages giving us different looks bringing pressures and and disguising those so you have to be ready to adjust and adapt on the fly and i thought we did that really well today this is after hours with amy lawrence the voice of joe burrow the bangles are back in rhythm and flow four consecutive wins five in a row against the buffalo bills this game on sunday night football it's after hours with amy lawrence on cbs porch radio we're pleased to welcome mike patrallia bangles insider from cincinnati has the jungle roar podcast as we look big picture mike when did the bangles get their groove back going into arizona they were one and three and they absolutely positively had to have a win because they knew that the rest of the division were winning their games and i think you know they obviously felt that to keep up pace with uh you know the cleveland's the pittsburgh's and of course the baltimore's they had to you know at least pick up one win and that would start to turn the tide a little bit and as it turned out they really got back on track in arizona with the offense starting to click and you know certainly the bangles defense is a character in the backbone of the team but the bangles are going to go as far as joe burrow takes and the reason that arizona game aiming was significant and a turning point for uh this team was because that was the game we started to see joe burrow play like a healthy closer to a hundred percent joe burrow once that started to happen i think there was a sense throughout the locker room that you know now we can get on a roll now we can start playing the kind of football that we've come to expect of ourselves and i think that's what you've seen over this four game winning streak is that the offense has gotten off to quick starts in each of the four wins and that has really enabled them to kind of control the tempo in each of the four games yeah how important for them to finally figure out ways to score on their opening drives because as you point out that had been missing but that's what they've had in these past four games no question and i think a lot of that is is joe burrow's ability to read the defense early in games dictate to the defense how he wants to run you know the first let's say 15 scripted plays of the game and uh he's done it at a very very high level you know in the seattle game the offense kind of went to sleep for the last three quarters and nobody here in the building was very happy about that uh and but you throw that game out the second half of that game and the bangles have been very good offensively they've been very efficient and what you've seen in the san francisco game last week and the buffalo game tonight is the ability to close out and good teams find ways to close out the opposition when you know josh allen finds stephon digs you know for a uh touchdown late in the game with about three and a half minutes to go it's up to joe burrow to kill the clock and that's what they were able to do joe mixon didn't have any real long runs he was pretty close to breaking out a couple but ends up with shy of 40 yards even though he had 14 carries had the one touchdown but he was really important getting that last first down so they could run out the clock but in terms of balance between run and pass what's the goal with this bangles offense oh i think you run enough so that they are not pinning their ears back and coming after joe burrow every single down the low point for this team was the game in tennessee where the titans really zero blitzed joe burrow to death because he couldn't get out of the pocket because he wasn't fully healthy and the team did not want to take a chance and sign off on burrow doing a lot of scrambling or you know darting to his left or right to avoid pressure he was kind of a sitting duck back there you know with that in mind they really couldn't get the running game going in that game either when you can't move in the pocket and you can't get the running game going you don't have much of a chance to get your offense on track but since that game you know as i said starting with arizona they've been able to uh to start games get the run game going uh you know the last couple of games san francisco and tonight against buffalo burrow's been under center much more and that's helped them as well uh in terms of getting the run game going downhill and you can certainly see that he's able to scramble now and avoid pressure and extend plays that's clear now that he's healthy we're excited to talk to mike patrallia again actually first time this season so here we are at the midway point has the jungle roar podcast is at cincinnati bangles insider and it's after hours with amy lawrence on cbs sports radio pretty impressive the way the tight ends were able to rack up the catches and the yards on this particular night man he really worked all of them into the offense ten catches amy on 11 targets for 101 yards between erb smith jr drew sample and tanner hudson and you know a lot has been made around here uh when is joe burrow going to get the tight ends involved or you know have has burrow forgotten about the tight ends did the tight ends even matter in this offense and tonight we got the answer yes they matter very much because what the bills did was they shaded the safety over um to jamar chase they really weren't going to let jamar chase catch many balls tonight he didn't uh t higgins caught eight passes for 110 yards but he did a lot of damage in between the 20s so it was up to the tight ends to really produce in the red zone and that's what happened you know you saw drew sample actually just outside the red zone come up with what amy i thought was the biggest touchdown of the game right before halftime puffalo's hanging in there just trailing 14 7 and the bangles forced a punt from the bills and they got the ball on a short field 46 yards uh and the 22 yard touchdown run uh after the catch from drew sample really changed the tenor of this game quite a bit as the bangles led 14 points going into halftime also win the turnover battle so they are turnover free but a couple including uh one late that really made a difference for the bills so you mentioned the bangles defense of course they're not going to get the same attention as joe burrow in the offense but what makes them tick well that's a great question and i think lou anna rumo the defensive coordinator makes them tick he's a staten island guy with a new york attitude and he's not afraid to show it to his players good and bad i mean he knows how to motivate the players and i was talking to jermaine pratt after the game uh you know about that turnover that uh he helped create that he punched the ball loose from dalton kate and he's like lou is going to get on us from start to finish uh in terms of every game making sure we are trying everything in our power to create turnovers and in the last four games they've created eight turnovers seven interceptions and the one fumble tonight course fumble and those are huge plays if you can get them uh lou anna rumo by the way uh has a great bond with uh jermaine pratt as jermaine pratt was really the first draft pick to be selected as a defensive player uh in the lou anna rumo zach taylor era how much does it matter that they have won five in a row against the bills i think it does matter because you know whether it was in the playoffs in the snow last year even in the game in which damar hamlin you know had the event the medical emergency on the field they stopped that game the bangles were having their way early in that game they were up 73 kind of had that field tonight early on as well it was 14 7 uh and then the playoff game and then tonight i think games like this matter when you know that you're going to probably have to go through a team like cincinnati or kansas city uh to get to the super bowl and i think with the bangles exercising that kind of confidence over an opponent like buffalo i think it's a big deal mike patrallia is with us in cincinnati after a sunday night football win for the bangles they're now above 500 it's after hours on cbs sports radio did the confidence waver at all after they started slow for a second straight year mike i i'm gonna hedge my bets and say not really no because they did it last year and they brought back a team that was built to really get back to the super bowl and win it this year they knew how good they were right uh i think that's the best way to answer it the the bangles knew how good they were were they capable of playing to that level well you know i saw it all those years in new england the bank the patriots would spend the first month figuring out what their strengths are and figuring out what their weaknesses were and stay away from those and play to our strengths that's very similar to what i have seen from the bangles uh the last uh two years and even going back to 2021 they played the same way uh but the bangles know their talent very well i would say that about zack taylor and duke tobin the director of personnel they know what they have here and they just are patient in terms of letting the team play to that skill level let's talk about the schedule a little bit they haven't faced any afc north opponents since the first two games of the year that were both losses against cleveland and baltimore what stands out to you about the afc north at this point midway through mike it's a black and blue division amy and uh i think that appeals to the bangles because i think they think their quarterback is a true separator if burrow is healthy and that even includes maybe lamar jackson lamar jackson's different type of quarterback but i think the bangles like their chances if you put joe burrow up against kenny ticket or even to sean watson i know watson you know played pretty well today against arizona but i think you know burrow is the separator and that's what i've you know felt all along um about you know the bangles in the afc north if they hang around long enough in the season and don't shoot themselves in the foot i think they feel confident that they can beat any time any team any place any time very much prepares these these teams to be ready for the playoffs well you know it's also amazing amy right now as we're speaking all four teams are in playoff positions right in the afc north it's a pretty remarkable uh occurrence given a we've nine weeks through the nfl season yes we have you know a little under half of the nfl schedule to be played but still that's a remarkable testament to a division that zach taylor every time he talked about the afc north called it the best division in football hands down and that was you know at the start of training camp he said that through training camp he said that through preseason and even at the start of the season when they played in cleveland and you know zach taylor must have known something because the division is playing at a very high level all four teams above 500. okay so before i let you go mike how would you describe the atmosphere the attitude post game after their fourth straight win low-key but very optimistic optimistic because i think the team feels like they're starting to really play to their level and as long as they feel like they're playing to their level they feel they're they are a championship caliber team but that being said uh they are very focused on houston this week because they know what's ahead of them on a short week after houston mike patrallia from cincinnati longtime friend of mine so i always appreciate having him on the show you want to check out the jungle roar podcast it's on youtube and on twitter at trags t r a g s great to connect with you bangles are red hot so we might have to do it again soon thanks so much mike i would look forward to it amy thank you it is hard to believe that we are into week nine now with just one game left and that means we'll be exactly halfway through the nfl regular season who it is flying i hope you enjoyed your weekend we've got one hour down coming up in the afc north everyone's looking up at the ravens it's after hours with amy lawrence on cbs sports radio this episode is brought to you by fx's a murder at the end of the world starring emma corn clive owen and brit marling emma plays darby hart a sleuth and tech savvy hacker she joins an exclusive group invited to a retreat when one of the guests 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