11-9-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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Visit FelixCatInsurance.com slash terms for all terms and limitations. Already getting your responses about mid-season NFL awards. Who's your MVP? Offensive and defensive players of the year. Maybe your top rookie or any other award that you want. Maybe you want to create an award.

I did see one listener who's come up with his own award, which I will share with you as we have the opportunity. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Yeah, mid-season's a good time to stop and take stock of what's happening. And as we get to kick off week 10 on Thursday night, it's a soft launch of week 10. It's Panthers and Bears. Panthers and Bears. And no, there is no Justin Fields, which means you've got two rookie quarterbacks who will be starting in this game and together the teams have a combined three wins.

So maybe you take a nap in front of the TV or maybe you have something else that you'd like to watch on Amazon Prime. We do have some good games coming up during the bulk of the weekend, though. I hope that Cowboys and Giants is competitive, unlike the first iteration of these two NFC East rivals. This game taking place in Dallas and coming off the game against the Eagles. The Cowboys are now five and three, but they love protecting their home field. That's our home. People are trying to come in, come into our stadium and, you know, get a win. It's not just winning and losing. It's our fans are there. It's our fans packing the house. Not only are we trying to win for ourselves, but I mean, we're also winning for Dallas.

It is definitely on my bucket list. Tied in Jake Ferguson of the Dallas Cowboys. And yeah, five and three, second place in the NFC East. So let's talk about them. He's a former NFL QB, a former Dallas QB himself. Babe Laufenberg is one half of the Dallas Cowboys radio network, along with Brad Sham. I really enjoy listening to them coming off the game against the Eagles, where they have a couple of opportunities to change the outcome.

And you know what? They've started out with some really impressive wins, babe. But the Cowboys have also tripped up in some of the more critical matchups. How would you describe where they are at this point in the season? Well, Bill Purcell's former Cowboys coach used to always say you are what your record says you are.

So they are five and three. And it has been a crazy year in terms of I mean, they have blown teams out, starting with the Giants in the opener. They went 40 to nothing there. They get Bill Belichick his worst loss of his career. And then they get beat by Arizona. So it's Arizona's only win. But it's just the way the NFL, you know, and they played Philadelphia.

I don't want to say tough. And there are no moral victories. We all understand all that. But if you had told me at the beginning of that game, they're going to go up to Philadelphia and they're going to have the ball first and five at the six yard line. Twenty seven seconds. And they got four shots into the end zone from the six yard line. I would have said, oh, I think they'll take that. Yeah, any Cowboy fan would take that. And the problem was they ended up first and first and five at the six. And they ended up thrown into trying to throw it in the end zone from the twenty seven because they had two penalties in the sack.

So they didn't get it done. But I'll be honest with you, I'm already looking forward to the rematch. December 10th, Philly comes to AT&T Stadium and it's just going to be a heck of a game. And after that game on Sunday with Philly, I said to Brad Sham, my broadcast partner, I said, you know, if you didn't have a dog in the fight and you just sat down to watch a football game, you'd say, boy, that was that was a fun, entertaining physical football game.

Obviously, I live in Dallas and all the people here had a dog in the fight, so they're not real happy. Going back to the loss in San Francisco, so the 42 to 10, how much would you say they improved or how much would you say they're a different team now than that one that got blown out? I wouldn't say they're a different team, but I think there's there's no question they've improved, and I think that probably goes to every team in the NFL. Obviously, injuries are going to take their toll, so you may not be as good because you've lost people. But I think with every successive week, you get more comfortable in what you're doing. Mike McCarthy, obviously, the play caller here now, Kellen Moore has been the play caller for the three years before that with McCarthy here. So there's there's a little learning process on the offense.

It hasn't changed dramatically, but it's definitely changed. So I think they're all still getting their feet wet with their you obviously have new players every year. Brandon cooks at it, and he hasn't really assimilated him into the offense to the extent that I thought he would be. So the season, as you well know, it's a long season. My good friend, Jason Garrett, former Cowboys head coach, used to always say, and probably still does, the history of the NFL is written week to week. And it's just so true because the Cowboys, you know, as you mentioned, they get blown out by San Francisco 42 to 10. And then San Francisco clearly the cream of the NFC until they lose three straight games, right? So, you know, at the end of the season, they're going to say, OK, how many do win?

How many do lose? OK, you, you, you, you and you are in and you're the other guys are out. So we'll see what happens when the playoffs roll around. Well, if it makes Cowboys fans feel any better, Josh Dobbs led a comeback against the Falcons on the road after he'd been with the Vikings for all of 10 minutes.

So at least they lost respectably to Josh Dobbs in Arizona. I love that. I love these stories where guys get in and now the one thing that has changed and allows these guys to come in and play two, three days later. Trust me, I'm not saying it's easy, but the speaker in the helmet coach is sitting there giving you the play, telling you what to look for.

Check this if you don't get this look. So that that's just such a huge advantage to what it was. I think 1994 was the first year they brought in the speaker in the quarterback's helmet where the coach could communicate directly with them. But half the problem is just getting the play called, literally called.

And if you've watched any and I know you have any of the behind the scenes, the hard knocks of this quarterback thing they did on Netflix. The play calls are so complicated. That's almost like the hardest part for these quarterbacks that are assimilating into a new offense. You know, guys who just got there for a week is literally getting the play called. So having that coach with the walkie talkie and into your headset is you just can't you cannot imagine how much easier that's making it for these guys.

Again, not to say it's easy, but easier. Babe Lofenberg is part of the Dallas Cowboys Radio Network, along with Brad Sham. I always enjoy listening to them and did that for Cowboys Eagles.

So we're glad to have him with us here after our CBS Sports Radio. Have they always been this complicated, the play calls? I would have a hard time remembering the various iterations. Forget actually spitting it out in a huddle. I think they have gotten more complicated and the quarterback is doing more at the line of scrimmage now, I think, than ever before. I remember, shoot, I mean, we're going way back, but my rookie year, I felt like I had achieved something if I was able to just get into huddling training camp and call the play with the shifts and the motion. I started in Washington and in Washington with Joe Gibbs, you always had two shifts and then a motion.

So it'd be shift to this formation, shift to that formation, then you'd motion the guy and then you'd have to call the play. And again, it was like if you broke the huddle and called the play, I felt like, OK, you know, first down and you had to actually run the play. But yeah, they put a lot more on the quarterback today, that's for sure. Thinking of the new wrinkle in the relationship between Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott, you mentioned they're still working that out. But how do you like it? How do you like a head coach and a quarterback working directly when it comes to what we see on the field offensively?

You know, I think it can be good and bad. It certainly takes away from the head coach being the head coach, right, of managing the game and the decisions and things of that nature. But I'll say this, if you're going to get fired, not saying that Mike McCarthy is going to get fired, but you want to go start rumors, babe. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not.

I'm not. I'm just saying you don't want to get fired because your offensive coordinator or your defensive coordinator didn't do what you wanted them to do. And and hey, everybody's been successful different ways. Bill Walsh called the plays in San Francisco. You know, Nick Sirianni does not call the plays in Philadelphia, and he's had two different offensive coordinators come in now. So there are different ways to do it.

And I think it's really just how you feel most comfortable. I will say with Mike McCarthy calling the plays this year, even though probably 70 to 80 percent of the terminology is the same as what Kellen Moore used. I always feel that that play caller in the quarterback is like a pitcher and a catcher, right, where that catcher flashes a sign and the pitcher says, well, I mean, he's thinking the exact same thing. And there's that simpatico, right, of this real rhythm gets going because where they catch in that pitcher. Nothing disturbs me more than watching that pitcher shake off four signs. Yes, you're like, oh, I don't know.

I don't know what's going to happen, but I just feel it's not going to be good. So I think it takes a while to develop that to where you're saying that that call comes in and you're saying, boom, just what I was thinking, just the play I wanted. I love the connection between Dak and C.D.

Lamb. How have you seen that turn into a real dynamic duo? Boy, they've been exceptionally good over these last couple of games, that's for sure. And Philadelphia is so if Philadelphia has a weakness today, it's the secondary. And obviously they traded for Kevin Bayard. There was a reason for that.

They wanted to show up their safeties, which had been problematic for them. But yes, C.D. Lamb's been really, really good. And he and Dak are whatever you want to call it, finding in a rhythm or teams come out. They know where C.D.

Lamb is, right? It's not like, oh, where'd this guy come from? But and they still can't stop them.

And that to me, that's the most difficult thing. When all of a sudden you're getting all the attention from the defense and they know they need to stop you and they still haven't done it. It's been really good between those two.

No question. The last two games, he's had 10 catches and 150 yards or whatever or more. He had 11 this past week in terms of catches, but he'll be the first. This is shocking to me. I would have thought, oh, Jerry Rice probably did it like 10 straight games to be the first receiver if he gets 10 catches and 150 yards to do it in three consecutive games. Well, and all the yeah, and all the football they played, I would have thought somebody had to have done that. But the stats don't lie. And he's only 24 years old.

Do you forget? Because it feels like he's been around for a long time. We're excited to have Babe Lofenberg back on the show, former Cowboys quarterback himself, part of the dynamic duo with Brad Sham for the Cowboys Radio Network.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. The defense for the Cowboys, it's brash, it's bold, it's aggressive. The consistency they have with Dan Quinn sticking around and some of their stars. What impresses you the most about the defense? Well, they haven't been as good over the last four games or so.

They started out completely on fire. But it's an interesting defense from the standpoint of they really have only one play, only one linebacker. Now, Marquis Spell plays linebacker, but he was a safety and they moved him up. So it's a very fast defense.

And I do think and not real big. And I do think if you look at the numbers, they are I have them and I apologize that I may be off a game or two here, but they are 16 and one now since the start of last season on turf. But they're two and seven on grass. Now, we can put a lot of things into that, but I think it's a team that plays better on turf. We all remember, of course, the greatest show on turf, right? St. Louis Rams and that team played better on turf.

And I just think this defense, again, predicated on speed. Turf is obviously faster. There are different team on turf than they are when they get on the road and play on grass. Are you ever surprised by the way Cowboys Nation travels? Because, yes, you point out the home field advantage, but gosh, when they go on the road, the legions are arriving with them. Yeah, I mean, it's obviously it's a national team, kind of the way Green Bay is, the way Notre Dame is if you're in the college football world. But, you know, Pittsburgh travels great. Green Bay travels.

But no, no question. Shoot, the Cowboys played the Chargers this year. There were more Cowboy fans out there than Charger fans. It felt like a home game. It's pretty rare when the home team has to use the silent count because the fans are making so much noise. But there are that there are more Cowboy fans out there than Charger fans.

And that'll happen. Arizona was it wasn't wasn't half and half, but probably 60-40. Arizona fans were the 60 and Cowboys 40. So they do travel well.

And that makes a difference. What's their Achilles heel, babe? What's their weakness? Well, the running game right now, they have not run the ball. Well, all season long, you can't even really point to a game. I guess Arizona Pollard had over 100.

It's the only game I think he's been over 60. So they have not run the ball. Well, didn't run it well against Philly, although Philly has a, as we know, very, very good run defense. But I think until they shore up that running game and I don't know if that will happen, it's going to hurt them. And Bill Parcell, again, I'll quote him because he had so many great quotes.

But he would always say, just because you can identify the problem doesn't mean you can solve it. So it's like, OK, hey, they're not they're not running the ball. It's like, OK, yeah, yeah, we know they're not running the ball. Well, how are we going to solve it?

And so we'll we'll see what happens. But they to me, no, no doubt they have to be able to run the ball a little better than they have. Is that offensive line? Is it Tony Pollard?

Is it something else? Well, Pollard is coming off a pretty horrific. Leg injury from last year in that playoff game at San Francisco.

I don't I can't imagine. That he's back to 100 percent. He doesn't look quite the same.

The offensive line, tear and steal the right tackle. He's coming off an ACL from last year. Tyron Smith getting older, although let me just say this. He played great against Philly. He's not about as good a game. But, you know, Zach Martin, great, great player.

Hall of Fame player. You know, he's 32, 33 years old. He's had 10 years of NFL wear and tear. Still really, really good. But you just no player is going to be the same at 32 that they were at 25. Right after getting beat up for, again, 10 or 11 NFL seasons. But he's still been good. Don't get me wrong. OK, so I want to drop a stat on you or a piece of information.

We call them nerd alerts on my show. When Tommy DeVito starts, he will be the 10th rookie quarterback to start this season. The 10th. It's the most ever in any season and we're barely halfway through. What's your reaction to the number of rookie QBs we've seen so far through just one half of the season, babe? Well, probably two part injuries, but also there was a time when. You didn't even think about playing your rookie. You know, Bryce Young wouldn't have played. Will Evers wouldn't have played.

C.J. Stroud wouldn't have played. Aaron Rodgers waited four years to get his starting, you know, and and that was due to injury at that time. You know, Brett Favre didn't start a game as a rookie. He threw five passes.

He was in Atlanta. But so now they draft him and they throw him out there. Ready or not, here we come. So that's part of it. And but but as to why these backups are these rookies, I mean, are coming in and playing as backups, that's a little puzzling because you know, now you can keep three quarterbacks. And typically that number two is going to be a veteran guy. Now, in the Giants case, obviously they lost Daniel Jones and they lost Tyrod Taylor.

So they're down to their third quarterback. But yeah, a lot of a lot of young guys playing and it's not easy. Even preparing last week for the Philadelphia game, Nick Ceriani said, look, I know Jalen Hurts is in his third year and you think he's a veteran, but he said he's still learning.

And they really are. I love it when a guy has like two starts under his belt and they're like, well, now he's ready. It takes years.

Oh, good. I'm glad you said that, because I was going to ask you from a quarterback standpoint, how long does it take for a young guy to be comfortable with everything that's happening around him? Oh, again, years.

It's not just I get through six games or ten games. I mean, I guarantee you that Prescott is still improving and seeing things that are different, that you put into the Menarola decks, if you will. And he's eight years in the league. But I love Ceriani's comment that, hey, I know you guys think Jalen Hurts was runner up last year for the NFL MVP. So we had it. It's not like, oh, he's learning and making taking his lumps along the way. He played great. But I guarantee you Jalen Hurts will be the first to tell you, hey, I'm learning every day I come into the office.

The old saying is true knowledge comes after you know, after you think you know everything. And I think that's that's true at the quarterback position. How do you explain C.J. Stroud? Yeah, he's been phenomenal. I will say I really like C.J. Stroud best coming out of this year's class.

Now, having no idea he'd play the way he has. And, you know, a bad thing for those guys, too. The Bryce Youngs and the C.J. Strouds and even Richardson, you know, you get drafted by bad teams. There's a reason why they took you up at the top of the draft because they earned it.

They were they are not good football teams. So to be able to go into those environments and succeed like C.J. Stroud has is pretty remarkable.

Yeah. And last week, you know, four seventy and five touchdowns. He certainly looks like he's playing like a veteran.

Yeah, we'll see. Cowboys will see Bryce Young in two weeks. They go to Carolina. So I think it's interesting that the quarterbacks, you know, you come back five years later and you say or three years later and you say, gosh, OK, now who would we have taken? And I always think of the Bears right. Trading up to number three to get Trubisky and passing on Mahomes. That's going to just kind of haunt you.

You know, every day you wake up. I remember when Kansas City played the Bears, I think it was last year. I thought, oh, if you're a Bears fan, this is just really adding insult to injury here. You know, not only did we have a guy that isn't even on our team anymore, they have a guy that can be NFL MVP candidate virtually every year for the next 10 years.

Yes. But yet when the position is played the way that he does, it's not just revolutionary for your franchise. But gosh, is it fun to watch? It reminds you why you love football in the first place. Uncanny, it's uncanny his instincts.

It's amazing. Yeah, and he started that very last game of the year. Chiefs had already, I think, locked up their playoff seating at that point. Alex Smith was a quarterback and he played very well in that last game.

But when Andy Reid was in Philly, you know, they took Donovan McNabb with the second pick in the draft and Doug Peterson started the first 10 games of that season. So I do think there's a lot to be said for holding those rookies back, letting them get letting them really learn the ways of the NFL. You can learn from being on the sideline.

I know everybody says, how are you going to get out there? But as many guys get ruined by going out too early as our success stories, you know, like CJ Stroud has been at least through the first eight or nine weeks here. Sometimes you got it figured out and you think you got the right guy and then you just don't.

And the Packer situation, too, is a great example. All right. You can find Babe Laufenberg on Twitter and you can hear him on the Cowboys Radio Network. Brad Sham.

Oh, at Babe Laufenberg is how you can find him. It's always a treat to be able to catch up with you. Thank you so much for a couple of minutes. It's fun to listen to.

OK, thank you, Amy. And I listen to you, just so you know, Cowboys play a lot of night games, right? They play Monday night, Monday night. And I'm on the charter. And when we get back to DFW report at about four in the morning, I listen to you so I can catch up on what happened that day. It's great. Oh, that makes my day. Thank you, babe.

That's so kind of you and great to have you on the show again for the first time in what feels like forever. So, yeah, a little extended conversation with Babe, but not all Dallas Cowboys, though I will say. Of the three most active fan bases that I hear from since I started doing this show, this national show, Dallas is definitely one of them, and you should be proud of that. I'm trying to think Cleveland's another one. Cleveland fans are so active.

It would maybe be I'd have to think about the third one before I named it. But yeah, a lot, a lot, a lot of Cowboys fans. And we have a huge affiliate in Dallas, one of five, three, the fan, not to mention other affiliates in Texas, one in Austin.

And there's a bunch of different San Antonio. So, yeah, it's good to talk to Babe and to hear what he has to say about the rookie quarterbacks and about the process. And yeah, how do you explain C.J. Stroud? And to that end, do you have some awards? Maybe Offensive Rookie of the Year? So, check it out on Twitter, ALawRadio, or our show, Twitter, After Hours, CBS, and then our Facebook page, too.

What are the mid-season awards that you would hand out at this point? We'll ask Marco Belletti when he joins us in studio. Coming up next, it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast.

You're listening to After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You're up next here on CBS Sports Radio, Joe. Do you owe me an apology?

Probably not. I'm gonna tell you why. Okay.

You go on the radio and you say that a 32-year-old running back is not an old, is not old for that position. Wait, what in the world, dude? I have no idea what you're talking about. Well, I do because you called me delusional. No, you were the one that said, delusional.

We have the drop. You want to hear it? I like to hear that. You called me alluvial. I called you alluvial. You called me I was alluvial. That was you, Joe. No, that wasn't me. Do you still think a 32-year-old running back...

I have said repeatedly that 28 is the point at which teams start to shy away from running backs. Wait, so he wanted an apology because I called him alluvial? You're still alluvial. Here's Amy Lawrence. I miss that guy.

It's been a while. Something happens to people often when they know that they're on national radio, just it changes their whole personality, but also they lose the ability to speak clearly and succinctly. I don't think that's Joe. I remember Joe from Massachusetts. I think that's Joe 24-7.

I didn't do a radio. I think that's Joe. Marco Belletti's here in studio and we're starting to get your responses about mid-season awards. MVP is the one that I find challenging. I will say this, and I know we don't give awards like this in November, but if Tyreek Hill goes over 2,000 yards, absolutely the guy that I would vote for MVP. At this point, I'm still willing to put him into the conversation. I was big on Jared Goff. That's fallen off a little bit.

I called him a dark horse. So yeah, I'm looking around and yeah, right now it's with the number of rookie quarterbacks that are starting, it's kind of hard to find a dominant QB. Even Lamar Jackson and the Ravens.

I mean, their running game is what's crushing it. He's had some good games, but I wouldn't say he's head and shoulders above everybody else. Head and shoulders, maybe not, but he would be my pick right now. If we had to make a pick right now for an MVP, what he's doing with that offense, bouncing back, the running game, his passing, I think he's completing over 70-something percent of his passes. I would probably lean towards Lamar Jackson for right now. Now, is it head and shoulders?

No. A lot of people will point to the picks. I would still put Patrick Mahomes right in this category. I think we just take it for granted how good he is and how good the Chiefs are. But again, we talk about their offense. We know Travis Kelce. Who is everybody else? Doesn't seem to matter, does it?

When Patrick Mahomes has got the football in his hands. So I would put the two of them there. Tyreke Hill, obviously. The one guy that, when I said I wanted to look at the names to see if I forgot anybody, there's some obvious ones.

The one that I wouldn't have jumped out in my mind, just because I didn't think it was that, I knew it was good. I didn't realize how good was C.J. Stroud. Now, do I expect it to go that far? No. But for what that rookie has done, for what that team has done, to be in the race to be able to not only make a playoff spot to possibly contend in that division, he has turned the entire franchise around and he's done it. He's done it. I know it's a team effort.

14 touchdowns in one pick. The guy's been dominant and he's been great in every aspect. The idea that he can't be in the MVP conversation would just only be because he's a rookie, which is silly. He's definitely in there right now. Do I expect it in, you know, December and January? No. I don't expect him to stay that far. That's just, we're asking too much.

What about a Tua? Would you put him in the conversation? He's there. I think he gets hurt with Tyreke Hill. True. They split votes.

Yeah. I mean, you wind up, you're looking at one team. I mean, if we're all looking at Tyreke Hill in the year that he's putting up and if he can get to that magic number and if he can break the all-time receiving record, well, if we're looking at that, then we're kind of taking it away from Tua.

No, like you're not going to have both of them and once you start splitting the votes automatically, it's going to be in your brain. Even if you don't want to do it, you're going to give more, you're going to lean more towards Tyreke Hill doing something that's historic as opposed to Tua just having a good year. Couple of people that, as I was looking through NFL stats, that I didn't expect to see on top of their particular category. Daniil Hunter already has 10 sacks. TJ Watt, Miles Garrett and Max Crosby have nine and a half each. Well, and then Khalil Mack has nine, but Daniil Hunter has 10. That's really impressive for him, especially when you consider the Vikings started out one and three, something like that. And their defense has been so much better than it was last year, even when they won 13 games. Because of? Yeah, well, a lot of it is Brian Flores.

Yeah, I'm sure. Again, that's definitely, I would look at Garrett because what he does with the Browns scuffling on offense a lot, he's kind of been just a ridiculous, I mean, he's everywhere. I think one of the guys we didn't mention too offensively, just to go back, was AJ Brown. Yeah, I was just going to bring him up. You know, I mean, Jalen Hurts, as much as the year hasn't been exactly what we thought in another MVP-type season, he's been banged up. AJ Brown is putting up ridiculous numbers. He is going to get hurt, though, in my mind.

Oh, I thought you meant physically. He's like, don't say that. He's going to get hurt in my mind, the idea that he has complained way too much about, even when they're winning, not getting enough touches, not getting the ball. I hate to tell him, but voters remember that kind of stuff. And that's something that's going to hurt him if it's going to continue to plague him all year. But right now you think, oh Tyreek Hill, over a thousand yards, that's amazing. And he is leading the NFL with 1,076 receiving yards, but AJ Brown's already over a thousand as well. I didn't realize that, again, until I was looking at the numbers, which is why I was going to bring it up, but you beat me to the punch.

He's already at 1,005 yards. Whoa. I mean, they've got so many options on that team that that's really impressive. Yeah. I mean, the Dolphins too, they're both, there's weapons galore. And I also go back to, look, the Dolphins were kind of, we know the 70-point night. We know that they haven't played well against the upper echelon and they beat up on the, everybody else.

We get all that. For the Eagles though, I feel like all season long, even the win that they had on Sunday against the Cowboys is still kind of like, yeah, but they're winning. Yeah, but it's not enough. They're not dominating. They're not showing you everything they could show you.

There's another level that they can go. And you look at some of the numbers and AJ Brown is still over a thousand yards. They could still run the football basically whenever they want. It seems like the only time that they don't run the football well is when they just don't do it. You know, and Jalen Hurts hasn't been as good as he was last year. And they're still where they are.

It's impressive. And there's another gear for Philadelphia. They just got to make sure that they hit the other gear and don't keep sliding into a lot of the bad tendencies that they have, which is not running the football when they should and getting a little cutesy when they don't need to. Just, if you can dominate from the opening kickoff, nothing wrong with that.

Just dominate. Well, but they have had some games where they've been pushed. So both games against the commanders went down to the wire and in the latest one, they had to rally in the fourth quarter. The first one was overtime. Right. The game against the Cowboys was really close to.

Yeah, but it shouldn't have been. Again, that's what, that's the part that we look at. But you say that though, except that Luke Schoonover. Luke, right? Is this first namer? Luke Schoonover? First namer.

First namer. The tight end. He was, I mean, he was barely not in the end zone on a touchdown on a fourth down. And then the whole out of bounds thing with Dak on the two-point conversion.

Right. Just, I understand why Mike McCarthy and Micah Parsons were both calling it a game of inches because that was just a five point spread. I didn't say it wasn't. I said it shouldn't have been. The Eagles had chances to take control of that game where they couldn't have allowed Dallas to have the opportunity to make that one play or to get that one inch.

And they did. Well, the Dallas defense is part of it. I get it, but I just feel like the Eagles have done a great job of finding a way to win.

And that is championship caliber. And I give you credit for that, but I am seeing a lot of the same disturbing things. If I were a coach or a Philly fan, where I look at it and go, we can dominate from the opening kickoff and we don't. Why? When you look at the loss to the jets, why? Now you can have a bad week.

Everybody slips up. No, but I mean like when they, they looked at that game, I don't know if it was a look ahead or whatever it was. They looked like they wanted to work on stuff instead of just winning the game. That's not how you go about it in the NFL. Get the game, work on stuff in practice, because you can't have it where you're in the middle of the game and you go, you know what? Let's check our passing game.

Let's see if we can do that. If you're running the ball down someone's throat from the opening kickoff, don't stop, don't stop. And that's what they did to the jets. The jets couldn't stop their run.

They just, they just stopped running it. And they kept throwing the ball like, no, this is a good defense. This is a good way to try to get our passing game going.

What are you doing? Run. Stop playing with fire. And they've done it all year. Now they haven't gotten burned other than that jet game, but you can't do that and sustain and think you're going to be where you want to be. And I know where they want to be is a one seed.

And if you want the one seed, stop playing around with games that you can take. 855-212-4227 on Twitter, ALawRadio, or on our Facebook page After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You can hand out some of these mid-season awards. Ron says defensive player Max Crosby, he definitely is a wrecking ball. And then rookie, he goes with Sam Laporte, although it's Sam Laporte, but you know who's keeping score at home.

Sam Laporte for the Detroit Lions. He's been a new favorite target of the Jared Goff-led offense. And while you're on our social media, send your random guests a number between one and a thousand to be part of the After Hours Zoom room. And if we blow up those Twitter and Facebook pages, then Jay has to count a lot more numbers and do a lot more math. It'll be great.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. We're asking you the mid-season NFL awards, and that includes MVP. It's a toss up right now.

Of course, the award is not handed out in November, but according to Tyler Boyd, if it was handed out in November, this would be a no brainer for his QB, Joe Burrow. Pretty sure you guys, anybody around the world, I question. They'll say they'll agree with you. And I absolutely do. You know, they're playing lights out.

You know, just like I said, man, we got chased down. I believe Drake come in and we can still win games. You know, that's just how good Joe is. You know, he know how to exploit different coverages. He know how to beat man.

He know how to put the ball. I mean, it's just making everybody's job easier when you got a guy like that on your team. Bengals have won four in a row. And yes, since Joe Burrow got healthy, they've been a lot more fluid on offense. However, the defense is sneaky good. So the defense deserves some credit for keeping them in the race in the AFC North. And boy, is this one heck of a division this year. It's even better than the NFC beast was last year because the commanders weren't really part of the equation last year. It was Philadelphia, Dallas, New York.

Commanders were kind of scuffling. The AFC North has four teams that are all above 500. Amazing. And this weekend, it's Ravens and Browns, which certainly will be one of our candidates for the after hours game of the week on Twitter, a law radio, our Facebook page to handing out your mid season awards will continue to go through some of your responses. But Keith is in Jacksonville. Welcome to the show, Keith. Hey, Amy, how are you doing? I'm good. I'm just going to show some love to Jacksonville, Florida.

My Jacksonville Jaguars. We're six and two. No one's talking about us.

That's because they want to buy last week, but they have won five in a row. So we definitely have talked about it. Yes. So, and I'd like to give a shout out to Josh Allen. He's had nine sacks. He should be a candidate for defense a year or whatever. Trevor Morris. He's not fresh like Joe Burrow or Hollywood like Joe Burrow, but he's winning games at the bat five in a row. So I'd like to show some of the Trevor Morris too.

Yeah. Well, here's the cool thing about them is that they've gotten to this place now where they're, they've got a lot of veterans on their team and they've had, they had so much turnover for a bunch of years and it wasn't just getting a new quarterback in Trevor Lawrence, but that was certainly the case. They brought in weapons around him in year two, but they obviously changed coaches and coaching staff. And now I love that they have consistency from last year to this year. Certainly Travis ETN and Trevor Lawrence are a formidable backfield.

They have an awesome mix of running pass too. And then, yeah, Josh Allen. I don't know.

He might be the better Josh Allen in the NFL to this point. Yeah, I think so. All right. So you're ready for them to get back on the field this week?

Oh yeah. We're going to shock the world again. We're going to be fair and firm. I bet on everything on that. They will be fair and firm.

Wow. I tell you what, I wouldn't put it past them and that would be four consecutive losses for the Niners. So they're definitely going the wrong way, but for the Jags, if they're going to stay hot through the bye. I mean, it's actually a nice weapon for a lot of teams when, weapon, that's a weird word for it. It's a nice perk for a lot of teams when the coaching staff has extra time to prepare.

And when it's an opponent as tough as the Niners, that's huge to have all those extra days to be able to prep for what they're going to see against San Fran. Yes, I'm excited. Me too. Awesome. Keith, good to talk to you. Thanks so much. Thank you, Amy.

Thank you. I mean, that's a good point that he makes about the Jaguars. Now, I won't agree with him about how no one's talking about the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Mostly it's just because what have you done for me lately and they were on a bye last week. But that London trip was so pivotal for them. And I think the NFL did the Jags a favor by giving them back-to-back games in London so that they wouldn't have to travel the same way, right?

I mean, they knew they were going to be there. Now, it was certainly a different situation to practice in England for a week or for a few days anyway. But to stay there, they changed hotels with different stadiums. So yeah, they were the guinea pig. It seems like the Jaguars are the guinea pig when it comes to international games and international experiences. But to be able to stay there and get acclimated to the time change, to get acclimated to whatever else is different about the routine and the atmosphere, they played really well there.

And it was an advantage to have two games in a row at the, you know, at the behest of the NFL. It's after hours on CBS Sports Radio. Let's see, the last I checked our Facebook page, we didn't have a whole lot of responses. And maybe you're just finding it in the algorithm. Sometimes the algorithm is an ogre and doesn't allow our very insightful and interesting questions to be part of your newsfeed. So then I, I don't know what's happening there. Facebook is the devil.

But here are a few responses. Ben says MVP is Patrick Mahomes still. He wins with no one at receiver. Offensive Rookie of the Year, CJ Strout, has that locked up. Ben goes on to say Offensive Player of the Year, AJ Brown. Defensive Player of the Year, Miles Garrett. And then Defensive Rookie of the Year, Jalen Carter. That was a really impressive pickup too for the Eagles, right? Is he, he's healthy again, isn't he?

Yeah. Okay, so he did miss at least one game. But back on the field, Coach of the Year, according to Ben, is Mike Tomlin.

Now this is Ben's synopsis, not mine. How the Steelers even win one game with Kenny Pickett is beyond me. Well, they've got George Pickens who's a little frustrated. They do have every now and then a run game that shows up. But more to the point, the defense has been terrific.

I like the defense. And then he says, I know you all love Tyreek Hill. Who do you think he's referring to? You all.

But Miami hasn't won against any team above 500 this season. Jason on Facebook, the MVP, Jalen Hurts. Offensive Player of the Year, AJ Brown. Defensive Rookie, Jalen Carter. Then he says, Offensive Rookies, CJ Stroud and Puka Nakua. I like that one.

That's a good one. Andy on Facebook. Offensive Player, Tyreek Hill. And then Charger, oh, Khalil Mack. Defensive Player from the Chargers.

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