After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

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Visit carvana.com or download the app to get an instant offer today. Believe it or not, it is the start of Thanksgiving week. Yeah, let that sink in for a second. We'll get to football because I am thankful for football. Not just because I'm a fan of the game, but also because it's good for business. So I'm grateful for football. Grateful for a radio show that fuels my passion.

One that started bubbling up when I was 16 years old. But just to try to process that it's the start of Thanksgiving week. Wow. And I'm a firm believer that we can always find reasons to be thankful. Even when life is tough, because it can be really tough sometimes.

And even when circumstances seem nearly impossible. So this is one of my favorite weeks of the year. And generally one of my favorite meals of the year on Thanksgiving day. Though this year will be atypical, but it is the start of Thanksgiving week. And I am thankful for you as well.

Listeners, sports fans, as always, sports fans and listeners to our radio show and our network. You all give us the lift and keep us going. So I hope you had a good weekend, whether you were traveling or maybe you're staying in place. I actually went to and from Texas, Houston area, and it was a quick trip. But I was pleasantly surprised, even with wall-to-wall bodies in the airports, that both of my flights were on time and actually both landed earlier than they were scheduled. But I know these next few days, they pose a lot of travel challenges, a lot of snafus. And with so many people driving or taking to the airports and the airways, I know it can be a time a week when emotions run high and tempers flare. And that goes for me, too. I'm not pointing fingers at anyone else.

I can get road rage with the best of them or get really frustrated over travel delays. So I hope that you'll have peace this week. But also, I am hoping that since many of you are be out of your regular routines this week, so a lot of people have the entire week off.

I know in some parts of the country, kiddos don't have school at all this week. And so for that reason, there are a lot of people who travel and take the entire week off or, as I say, out of their regular routines, preparing for family to invade, getting ready for meals, maybe baking, pre-cooking, all that kind of stuff. Whatever you've got going on this week, we are really happy to keep you company while you work and cook and bake and prepare for family or prepare to hit the road, Jack. So take us with you when you go, whether it's live here on the show, after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio, or whether you access our podcast to keep you company in the midst of what can sometimes be a stressful time.

I hope it's not. But obviously, wherever there's family and friends and travel involved with, I don't know, 100 million of those of us moving around the United States of America this week, it can be a lot. So you can also access our podcast every weekday morning when we're here.

When we're not here, there's no podcast, but we'll be here for this show. And then I actually ended up revising my travel schedule and my Thanksgiving week. And so I'll be here tomorrow night as well with you following Eagles and Chiefs in what is just the ninth Super Bowl rematch in NFL history. And by rematch, we mean the year after. Obviously, we've seen other games between, just pick a matchup, Falcons and Patriots. But it's only a Super Bowl rematch if it was played in the season after the two met on the game's biggest stage. And that is what we have with Eagles and Chiefs coming up on Monday night.

So that is the doozy. That's the game you all picked for the after hours game of the week. Let's hope it lives up to the hype. But your second choice, which was Steelers-Browns, that definitely lived up to our expectations for AFC North football. Knock down, drag out, punch you in the face, kick you in the kneecaps. Oh, it was a Dan Campbell kind of game, but it was also a Mike Tomlin kind of game. And the kind of game the Browns can win. So we'll get to that game coming up, as well as a dramatic Lions rally against Justin Fields and the Chicago Bears. So Justin back on the field, haha, this weekend. Also, the Jacksonville Jaguars seemingly shake it off after getting shellacked by the Niners last weekend. Speaking of the Niners, Brock Purdy on my fantasy bench, of course.

I mean, how do you bench CJ Stroud? I may now because two weeks in a row, Brock Purdy has outscored him in fantasy. But a perfect Purdy.

It's just too easy. I know I'm not the only one. I'm not the first one. I won't be the last one. A perfect Purdy passer rating.

Oh, you know, I love alliteration. A perfect Purdy passer performance. A perfect Purdy passing performance. Just in time for Thanksgiving, the Niners are definitely thankful they have Purdy as their fearless leader.

158.3 in case you didn't know what a perfect passer rating looks like. Most of us will only ever see it on a stat sheet or on TV. So it's after hours with Amy Lawrence kicking off your Thanksgiving week. Week 11 in the NFL, week 12 in college football. You know, this is rivalry week for a lot of college football programs.

And there'll be a lot to talk about as we head through this week. We actually weren't with you when the news broke about Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow being lost for the season. That's a brutal one. I felt that even as I found out. Honestly, you want to know when I found out? I didn't find out till six o'clock on Saturday morning because I was traveling on Friday. And as soon as I hit the ground in Houston, Bob and I had wedding appointments. So we were, I wasn't on my phone and we were busy all evening and didn't even get to my mom's until almost nine o'clock that night. So it was a really busy evening. And I was so exhausted traveling on essentially no sleep that I didn't even check my phone.

And so as I'm kind of waking up on Saturday morning, getting ready for another appointment in Houston, I'm looking at my phone and I realize what? He's gone for the season? So that was another devastating blow to quarterbacks in the NFL. And gosh, now there are more backup quarterbacks starting than there are guys that we expected to begin the season. And isn't that par for the course these days in the NFL? Generally more than half, but it's usually closer to two thirds of teams need multiple quarterbacks to get through a season. Whether it's injuries, whether it's injuries, whether it's ineptitude, as much as the rules are designed to protect quarterbacks, especially when they're in the pockets, it doesn't always work. And this has been an extremely tough season. And we're only in week 11 for starting QBs.

High profile, highly skilled starting QBs. And the Bengals were the latest to take the hit. We do not know yet about Geno Smith. Though he did return for an opportunity to put the Seahawks in position for a game winning field goal in the waning seconds.

It was missed too long, 55 yards by Jason Meyers, but he was at least back on the field after he had been knocked out of the game briefly by Aaron Donald. The popular phrase about the NFL is next man up. And we are seeing evidence of that all over the league. From Dorian Thompson Robinson, DTR as he's known in Cleveland and actually now as he's known around the NFL. The rookie getting the start again for the Browns. To nine other rookie quarterbacks starting this season, some of whom have had great success. Ultimately though, I think it's a clear delineation between the haves and the have nots with your starting QBs, especially if they've got some veteran experience. You can look around the NFL where rookie quarterbacks have started or are playing or young guys are starting and playing. Guys who don't have a ton of experience outside of Brock Purdy. Now he played a lot of college ball, so he's different. Plus he led the Niners last year for the second half of the season and into the NFC championship.

But for the most part. You're talking about guys who are coming off the sidelines and getting into games and don't have a lot of experience. And I say this about rookie QBs. They giveth and they take it away.

They're a wild ride. So the stability and the teams that you look around and see as worthy contenders still have their starting QBs. The Miami Dolphins with Tua.

What a great season Tua is having. Yes, the Buffalo Bills because their game and their battle tested and because of Josh Allen. The Ravens with Lamar Jackson. Trevor Lawrence with the Jaguars.

These are teams that are leading their divisions. C.J. Stroud, he's a rookie, but he's playing extremely well.

Though he had a tough afternoon in terms of turnovers on Sunday. Patrick Mahomes, of course. Even Russell Wilson. Don't look now, but the Broncos are the hottest team in football. They end the run by the Minnesota Vikings. And now it's the Broncos who've won four in a row. More than any other team in the league at this point.

We'll get to them coming up. Plus we're going to travel to Denver and check in with Broncos insider Brennan Kristol who would join us in about 10 minutes here on CBS Sports Radio. But continue through the contenders like the actual Super Bowl contenders. Eagles still have Jalen Hurts.

Dak is still starting for the Cowboys and playing extremely well. The Lions with Jared Goff. They've got the most wins in football right now with eight tied with the Ravens. As you head through the rest of the NFC, there have been a lot of quarterback changes, a ton of losses. But Brock Purdy is still starting for the Niners and they are seven and three. I mean those right now are your primary Super Bowl contenders. It doesn't mean there can't be others. Of course there can be. But you can see how much it matters when you have a veteran experienced leader at the quarterback position. It does make a difference. Next man up can take you so far.

But after that talent and experience, they do take over. Find me on Twitter, A Law Radio. Just put up a post about Thanksgiving week with my turkey emoji. It's one of my favorites.

I use it as many times as I can in the month of November. Also on our Facebook page, After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I'd love to hear from you. What are you thankful for in 2023? I'm kind of thankful for the Josh Dobbs story.

It's been a lot of fun. His elusiveness, his toughness from Arizona to Minneapolis. We've got a great sample size the last two months. Josh Dobbs to Josh Oliver and the Minnesota Vikings have taken the lead 6-3. And they had Josh dead to right. But he's so strong he wouldn't go down and the Vikings lead. Dobbs gets the snap. Back to pass. Dobbs looking.

Steps up. He's going to run. Dobbs to the five. Dobbs is into the end zone. Touchdown Vikings. Josh Dobbs with a 10-yard touchdown run.

It's his sixth touchdown scamper of the year. And the Vikings extend the lead. 7.55 to go third quarter. 16-9 Minnesota. First you hear Paul Allen on Vikings radio.

And then Ryan Radke on Westwood won Sunday Night Football. So yes third quarter not only are the Josh Dobbs led Vikings in a good position with a couple of touchdowns on the board. But they're up 17-9. Meanwhile the Vikings defense is frustrating Russell Wilson. Frustrating the run game. Really no Denver run game to speak of. Not even with Javonte Williams. And definitely not allowing a whole lot of room for Russ's receivers to operate. But what we've seen over the course of this win streak for the Denver Broncos is a resurgent Cortland Sutton. Vikings still with seventh in line of scrimmage.

They bring four. Russ in the pocket. Bounces around.

Run if he can. He floats the ball for Cortland. Who makes a one-handed catch. Penalty flag thrown. And this I think will be holding your pass interference. Miraculous catch by Cortland to the 45 with Ivan Pace Jr. Covering him.

If you haven't seen it definitely get a load of the video for this fourth down catch by Cortland Sutton. He has to go down to his knees. I wouldn't really call it a dive because when you think dive you think lay out Superman.

But it wasn't really like that. He did catapult forward. Kind of rolled on his knees. But the important part was that he got the ball up and cradled into his chest. Even though he was going down hard, chest first, he was able to protect the ball.

So there was no question that he had secured it before he hit the ground. And that was up the left side. Not a great throw by Russell Wilson but a great reaction by Cortland Sutton. So 13 yards.

They extend the drive and then it's a bunch of Samaji Piran. They really were going with the check downs. It was smart of Russ to not go for broke. To not throw a jump ball up there until he absolutely had to. Once I saw it coming to me I was like I know I got to like, I can't wait for this to come down. I knew there was defenders around me so I had to go try to make a play. But it was up in the air and you never know where the ball is going to go because we have great weapons on the offense. And you never know where the ball is going to go, who it's going to find. And so I looked up and I saw the ball finding me.

It was nice. Oh he's so modest Cortland Sutton on his go ahead touchdown with just a handful of ticks left on the clock. Yeah the ball was coming to him but he had to step and leap almost like a pole jumper. He had to step hard and catapult off one foot and just leapt up into the air to be able to grab that ball over the top of the defense. So really impressive too that he got away from multiple defenders and got behind them into the end zone. And what a throw by Russell Wilson.

We're going to head to Denver coming up here momentarily but the call there with Dave Logan on the Broncos radio network. And don't look now after a turnover free game Denver has four consecutive wins and is back to 500. First of all I think it's belief. Second of all I think it's execution. And third of all it's having a mentality that you know we're going to win the game. You know I think that's just the key and I think that for me it's all about the teammates. You know these guys making great plays. Russell Wilson may not be the quarterback that he was when he was leading the Seahawks to a couple of Super Bowl appearances including a win or maybe he is. Maybe working with Sean Payton instead of Nathaniel Hackett maybe the people he's got around him. Maybe it's just Russ and a change in mindset and feeling more comfortable. Whatever it is the Broncos are finally getting to see glimpses of what they wanted when they signed Russ. Now it's not been beautiful to be honest. They had what two for 12 on third down performance tonight and they only had 46 rush yards. There's a lot still to be desired with the Broncos offense.

It was ugly for a long time. However wins are not easy in the NFL and the Broncos have strung together four in a row for the first time in a long time. So we'll talk with Brandon Kristol coming up next from Denver on Twitter. ALaw Radio on our show Twitter as well. After Hours with Amy Lawrence. It's the start of Thanksgiving week.

What are you thankful for? We'd love to hear from you here on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Four man pressure. Dobbs in the pocket.

Plenty of time. Throws the ball middle of the field. It is incomplete. Incomplete. No flags.

Yes, sir. There's nothing pretty about this one, but I tell you what, they fought their butts off tonight and the Broncos are 16 seconds away from winning their fourth consecutive game. Something they have not done since the start of the 2016 season. Protecting the football. Look, it was a big reason why we won last Monday night. You know, that number was, I think, four to one.

You know, if it hadn't been tonight, you know, three, then obviously that result would have been different. Off the field, on the money, and after hours, it's time to talk football with Amy Lawrence. Sean Payton loves turnover-free football, and boy, they had to keep it clean because the offense was tough to come by for a good portion of tonight's game against the Vikings in Denver, but a win is a win is a win is a win, and right now the Broncos have the longest streak in football with four consecutive wins. The call is there with Dave Logan at the end of the game against the Vikings, who had won five in a row.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. We're excited to welcome Brandon Kristol, former colleague of ours, going back to the beginning of the network. Now, with KOA Colorado covering the Broncos, Brandon, what in the world's gotten into this team? Well, I guess belief is a word that we keep hearing. Belief, believe, the idea that if you keep working, good things will happen, and this is obviously a franchise that's very proud.

We know about the history. It's been a down two years with a bunch of different first-time head coaches, and then Sean Payton with his Hall of Fame caliber kind of resume comes in, and you think, okay, maybe they'll get it turned around quickly, and they start out one and five, right? And they give up 70 points and lose by 50 in Miami, and you're like, well, how do they believe now? And then they reel off not one, not two, not three, but four straight victories that haven't all been beautiful works of art necessarily, certainly on the offensive side, but here they are at five and five in a wide open AFC playoff race.

It seems unlikely they'll catch the Chiefs, but I suppose a loss tomorrow night makes things more interesting if KC goes down in an arrowhead to the Eagles, which doesn't make up for losing the Super Bowl, by the way. So here they are, though, with some big wins, and if they can string together a few more, all winnable games on their schedule, some harder than we maybe originally thought, they'll be in the mix all the way till the end. It's interesting that you say it's been a couple of bleak years, a couple of down years, because the Broncos haven't had a winning season since 2016. They've made multiple coaching changes. We know about the different quarterbacks that have gone through and the struggle to find a quarterback, and then the first disastrous season with Russell Wilson. Gosh, it feels a lot longer than just two bleak years, Brandon.

Well, right, it's been seven, seven very lean years in the desert. But when you've gone to as many Super Bowls as they have and won three, you look at the handful of franchises that have never even been to a Super Bowl or won one and think, OK, well, it could be worse. We could be the Browns or the Jags or the Vikings. We've been to a bunch, right? But the Vikings still don't have that first ring.

And so it's one of those things where you're like, I can't last like this forever. And we don't know if Russell Wilson will be much more than what we're seeing now, which is certainly efficient and making big plays late like he always has, but not prolific three hundred and fifty yard passing games very often. But it looks like he's at least figured out what he does really well with Sean Payton and vice versa. And because of the new ownership group and their resources and their willingness to spend money, there's always going to think of the Broncos won't continue on an upward trend, even if they maybe fall short of the playoffs this year. When you think they only won five games last year, I have a hard time believing they're going to go five and twelve and that we're done seeing them win after they ripped off four in a row. Doesn't mean, though, that they will be in the postseason because we know a lot has to happen, a lot of different directions. But it does feel like all of a sudden things are certainly looking brighter than they were a few weeks ago. I want to start with the defense as we talk about what's changed for them, because the defense actually was the side of the ball that was really struggling in the first, say, six weeks or so.

What changes have you seen from that side? Well, to say they were struggling across the board is a little, I don't want to say, obviously they struggled at times, but they hold the Raiders in check in the opener, but lose 17-16. They're up on Washington 21-3 and had a disastrous second half. They followed that up one to Miami, but they didn't have Justin Simmons. They didn't have Josie Jewell in the middle of the defense. They didn't have Mike Purcell, their nose tackle. And I get that's three players and three players probably, even though they're all really good, aren't going to make a 50-point difference. But Justin Simmons is the guy that gets everybody in place, and he and Josie Jewell have worked together for so many years.

Their communication keeps everything kind of connected. And so they were really bad the following week against the Bears in the first half. And Justin Fields was dicing them up to DJ Moore. Then something changed at halftime. And since then, even though they lost to the Jets, which was obviously a bit of an embarrassment because of what the Jets' offense is, they still only gave up 17 points in that game, right? And they give up two touchdowns to the Packers. They hold Patrick Holmes to one touchdown in two games. And the defense, for as bad as the Broncos have been in recent years, has still been pretty solid, whether it was some of Vance Joseph's defenses, certainly Vic Fangio's and Aguero Vero a year ago.

So it was really perplexing that it wasn't working. But I think what's worked is not only those guys being healthy that I mentioned, specifically Simmons, but also Vance Joseph, I think, sticking to his guns, if you will. So the play calls are still similar. He didn't want to change the verbiage from what they've been running with Fangio and then last year with the Vero, who basically just kept an extension of what Vic called everything. But conceptually, where Vance wanted to be aggressive in his own style versus trying to call a defense like Vic Fangio because he's not Vic Fangio. So I think part of that is Vance being more comfortable with his personnel. And then the emergence of their young pass rusher, specifically Baron Browning, returning to the lineup has certainly helped as well. Brandon Costal is with us from Denver going back to, gosh, it's 11 years ago that we weren't together at the start of CBS Sports Radio.

And then he went back to Denver and has been covering the Broncos since then. So it's seen a lot of these bleak years, though, of course, Super Bowl 52. The Russell Wilson wild ride is it's still got some choppy moments. And obviously, they weren't great in this game for the first three quarters. The turning point really being a pair of Minnesota turnovers late third quarter, early fourth quarter that kind of sparked the Broncos. Without those turnovers, this is probably a Vikings win. But yet there is more of a comfortability with Russ this season.

Why? I think that Russ has learned to trust his coaches maybe more than he did a year ago. And I don't say he didn't trust his coaches in Seattle. He didn't accidentally throw 292 touchdowns, but it wasn't like they were winning games 35 to three, right?

The reason he has now 43 fourth quarter comebacks is because those games were close. And I think a lot of that was Pete Carroll having a good run game and solid defense, not just a legion of boom, but even beyond that, because they didn't also accidentally go to the playoffs in eight of the 10 years that he was there. At the same time, I think he tried a little too hard last year. And Nathaniel Hackett maybe tried a little too hard to get Russ Cook in and get him in the MVP conversation.

He'd never had a first place MVP vote or whatever we heard. And Sean Payton kind of stripped a bunch of stuff down, not just the way things operated in the building, but the way Russ approached football. And I got this second hand, but from a really good source from a coach that worked with Russ, he's the most challenging quarterback you'll ever work with, because most quarterbacks follow their coaches lead in on first and 10, want to get the second and sixth, then they want to get the third and two or three. And then they want to have the whole playbook open to try to pick up that first down. And now in this day and age, maybe even on fourth down if they need it. But on third and two, third and three, you can do whatever you want, right?

Mm-hmm. And Russ is wired to first and 10. He scrambles around in the pocket. He's a receiver, 18, 20 yards downfield, lets it rip and the ball gets there and they move the six, right? Versus, oh, here's the running back out of the backfield.

Take the four yards, take the tight end on the little quick out and just move the chains along, keep the ball moving forward and we'll get to the end zone. And so I think when you look at the numbers that are most impressive is not just the red zone efficiency, not that they were great tonight until they needed to be late, but all year long they've been one of the best red zone teams and he's been the best red zone quarterback because Sean does do a good job of scheming stuff up in the red zone. But Russ has the willingness to just kind of take what's there and isn't trying to force the ball into space.

That's why he only has a couple of turnovers to this point or a couple of interceptions is because he's trusting his coaching and trusting that his players will open for him and the line will hold up long enough for he'll make a play with his legs and then find something. And so I think that's really been the biggest thing is the buy-in from Russ. There was so much chatter about a disconnect in the locker room, Brandon, and whether or not Russ is liked by his teammates, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. What do you see when it comes to their spirit in the locker room and their cohesiveness as a team? Well, they are a really close team compared to some of the teams we've seen in recent years, but it feels like a lot of these teams also will start out a certain way and by the end of the year, it's fractured because the results just aren't where you want it to be. And that's probably not unique to the Broncos.

It's probably across sports, right? When things are going well, guys just like each other and find ways to win. And you probably have some teams where guys don't like each other, but they work well together and that's fine.

And you probably have some where guys love each other, but their team stinks because they all have bad habits together or whatever it may be. Russ is just different, right? He's got a pop star wife and he's the kind of guy that when they're in Europe, he's having dinner with the CEO of Mercedes two summers ago or whatever it may be. But the one thing that no one questions is Russ's work habits. He's still the first guy in the building every day and the last one to leave. He and Jaleel McLaughlin.

I guess McLaughlin, the rookie from Youngstown, races him in because he's just kind of wired the same way. But everyone sees the way Russ works as far as connecting with them. I don't know how easy it is or isn't, but he tries to get teammates together for dinners. They go to games, they'll get sweets or he'll sit with a teammate court side of the game. And at the same time, they don't have the same lives because the rest of them don't have a partner that has 35 million Instagram followers, right?

So it's just a little different. And he has this Russell Wilson Corporation that is a bigger thing than most of the other players on any team could really relate to. And there's one or two guys like that in almost every building. But at the same time, I think he's gone out of his way to continue to try to be one of the guys, be in the locker room more.

They obviously took his little office away. He can go to the quarterback room. But when we're in there during that open locker room period, if he's not getting treatment, we see him around a little more. At the same time, I think he's just maybe a little, you know, he's a different dude. I don't want to say that he's awkward, but I think he's been really good at sports his whole life and he's really good at public speaking and communications and all that.

But on an interpersonal level, maybe, you know, that's something that doesn't come as naturally to him. But it doesn't matter when you're right. You're the best baseball player. You're the best football player. And you always have a smile.

And you're a good guy who means well and wants to do right by people and charity and all that. So I think that he tries to connect with his teammates. They try to connect with him. And where it works, it does. And in other places, maybe it doesn't as easily. But when you're winning, I don't think you worry about that stuff as much. When you're losing, it can probably be a little bit more bothersome. Yeah, it can definitely be jarring. And it is what people are talking about. But when you're winning, it tends to cover over a multitude of whatever challenges or interpersonal differences there might be. Brandon Cristal is with us from Denver.

Just one more thing I want to ask before I let you go. We'd heard routinely over the last few years, but especially last season and maybe even to start this season as well. You would know personally about the booing from fans. And the Denver Broncos fan base is so passionate, one of the most passionate and intelligent in the NFL. So what was the atmosphere like tonight from start to finish as it was bleak early but ended with that late touchdown drive? I think because of what's transpired the last few weeks, I don't say that there was the optimism of, oh, they're going to roll this team, right? But there may have been a boober too early when they not only forced a turnover, but they keep having to settle for field goals and they just can't really move the ball. At the same time, the defense is doing what it does and the Vikings weren't moving the ball necessarily either.

So I think fans sat there and thought, okay, we'll just kind of sit on our hands. Not that they're going to cheer when there's a play worth cheering for, but we'll give them the benefit of the doubt because they beat the Chiefs here a couple of weeks ago. They pulled that one out against the Packers and then they obviously, with a little bit of help from the Bills, were able to win Monday night. So I think there was a little more cautious optimism than maybe there has been in recent home games because the Broncos forever were really good at home. But as Sean Payton has pointed out, especially in the Mike Shanahan era, but in general, he goes, yeah, they were always really good here, but they're also good on the road. Same thing with our Saints teams. We win a lot of the dome, but you know what? We won a lot of road games too because we were just good teams, right? And good teams find ways to win. And I don't know how good this team is, but they used to seemingly find ways to lose late in games, regardless of whether it was Vance Joseph, Vic Fangio, or Nathaniel Hackett, that this year they're all of a sudden finding ways to win. It is nice when you can flip that on its head. It's like the old adage you hear about playing golf. When your misses and your missed hits are still playable, well, you know you're making progress.

Right, right. And look, coaches would much rather clean up bad play, sloppiness, whatever it may be after wins than after losses. And somebody brought up, I've heard it actually a couple different times now, the idea that this is similar to when Tim Tebow was here, except that I think their ceilings are because I think the defense has more talent. And obviously Russell Wilson is a much better quarterback than Tim Tebow was.

Certainly a better thrower of the football and understanding everything. But it does have some of that similarity in that, well, it's not pretty, but there are finding ways to win, and you'll take wins over losses every day of the week. Not to mention, that's pretty much the NFL this season for most teams with the majority, well, not majority, but with so many teams having lost their starting quarterbacks, defense and run game are at a premium, and we're seeing more teams win ugly. So it may just be that kind of season in the NFL.

Yeah, and look, teams are close, right? The parody, it's great for the league as long as you're not trying to win money gambling. Who does that? That's the best example. When you saw six walk-off field goals, six walk-off kicks, we'd never seen that. And that's great. It's great for fans. It keeps you invested that your team has a shot at the playoffs way, way into November and even December with the expanded playoff two and the 17 games. All these numbers about how teams start are going to have to be reworked to a 17 game season. So talk to me about how many teams start one in three or, you know, right after three, four, five years of that versus since 2000 or whatever it may be. Well, and the Broncos are a good example because they started out one and four actually. Started out then one and five even before they went on.

Yeah, before they went on this win streak. All right, so you can find Brandon on Twitter at BK Denver Sports anchor reporter insider for KOA Colorado covering the Broncos, longtime friend, former colleague. It's great to connect with you. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. We appreciate a couple minutes. Yeah, thanks Amy. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours and to all the great listeners at CBS. Thanks for having me. Yeah, yeah, love it.

Good way to start. So the Broncos, as I say, in this weird and wacky season now have the longest win streak in the NFL and it seems like they shouldn't. Does that make sense? Because some of their offense still is flat out bad and there are some stretches where they don't look like a competent team. And yet these days, as Brandon was pointing out, because there's so many teams that are in that same space and because games are close in the fourth quarter, you see teams that maybe you didn't expect going on long runs. Like the Vikings, they hit just one five in a row despite losing Kirk Cousins. On Twitter, ALawRadio, also on our Facebook page, Happy Thanksgiving Week and I would love to hear from you about what you're thankful for.

That post is up on Facebook as well. We're just going to dive right in as much as we can. There's so much going on in the NFL. Lots of close games again this week. So thanks for hanging out with us.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Second and goal, four yard line. Juszczek was out wide. Now he comes inside a bunch with Deebo Samuel and George Kittle.

Purdy looking that way. Wright McCaffrey wide open. Touchdown!

CMC! Juszczek left, going deep down the sideline for Ayup! He's got it! And he's gone! 20, 10, 5, touchdown!

San Francisco, Ayup, Ayup, Ayup is on fire! Purdy out of the shotgun. Looks left, throws end zone.

Caught! George Kittle in the back of the end zone. Touchdown San Francisco! Kittle has been absolutely on fire in five of the last six games. But Christian McCaffrey sucks up two and nobody covers Kittle on the corner route.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. The reason Christian McCaffrey sucked up two, as he says, is because he was back to his scoring ways earlier in this game. Buccaneers visiting the 49ers and it was lopsided for the majority of the time. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. The call's there on Niners Radio and it's always good to hear Greg Papa and Tim Ryan singing their favorite Ayuk chant. But it was Christian who had the four-yard touchdown to cap a seven-minute drive in the first quarter, so remember he had missed scoring a touchdown last week despite the fact that they gave him multiple opportunities at the end.

Yeah, I suck. This was against the Jacksonville Jaguars, so they tried to hand off four different times to him at the very end of that game and he could not get into the end zone. But after 17 consecutive weeks and a week off, then he's back at it. Up 13-7 at the half, so not a huge blow out there. But the Niners find the different gear to start the third quarter. They go back-to-back scoring drives, 98 yards and 79 yards, and they pull away from the Buccaneers, a perfect passer rating for Brock Purdy.

In case you thought that Mr. Irrelevant had returned, he was 21 of 25 for 333 yards and three scores and he was on my fantasy bench, but at least nobody else had him. Remember over the three-game losing skid, there were some questions about whether or not he was good enough to lead the Niners. I was more upset with, not even like that we were complacent or anything, but almost like, you know, we're just going to walk into the game and it's going to be given to us in a sense. Like I had to get back to, man, we got to go take it. We got to go earn it every single game. It doesn't matter who we're playing. It's the NFL.

Anything can happen on any Sunday. And so that's like the chip that I was talking about. And so sort of getting back to that, you know, and improving myself, every drive, every play that I can be the guy for this team, you know, and I have to earn it every single week at practice and meetings, whatever it may be. So that's the mindset of what I was talking about.

And yeah, definitely more in tune to being detailed and stuff the last couple of weeks and finding that chip again. Dang, he had a perfect pass here. First in franchise history. Wow. Yeah. I mean, that's incredible. He's a baller, man. He's a baller. I think that's a, yeah, that's a good defense too. So that doesn't shock me, but that is impressive.

So I'm happy for him. Did you guys, did you hear Christian McCaffrey at the beginning there? He says a perfect passer rating.

What? And the reporter has to tell him that it's actually the first time in history for a Niners quarterback who had more than 20 attempts. So we're not talking about a guy who in a funky formation steps in, takes the snap and throws a touchdown pass or on a flee, not a fleeficker, flicker, but a fleeficker because that's the thing, uh, you know, some type of misdirection or a toss for, you know, like out to the flat.

So you have a running back or a wide receiver throwing a TD. That's all we're talking about. First time that a Niners quarterback is at a perfect passer rating with more than 20 attempts, which is pretty incredible. Did you see the moment with Nick Bosa and Baker Mayfield though, Baker throws a pick and it looks like Nick is talking to him, maybe kindly consoling him. No, he was, he was into the ref and I told him there's no horse collar in the pocket. I thought he got rough. No, Nick Bosa was not consoling the opposing QB.

And we'll hear from Baker at another point in the show. Nick says he was, he was complaining, essentially whining to the refs wanting a horse collar, but Nick set him straight on the rules. That's how you know it's really bad. You get shellacked and the opposing defenders telling you NFL rule book.

It's after hours, CBS sports radio. Selling a little or a lot. Shopify helps you do your thing.

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