After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

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Offer valid for a limited time, $10 minimum per order, additional term supply. Tanglewood. That's the name of it. For those of you who are hanging out, just waiting for me to come up with it. Couple of you found me on Twitter to let me know. Thank you.

But I also did Google it because it was driving me crazy. I was just there and it's an incredible venue. Tanglewood. That's your good morning.

It should be a code word for good morning. Tanglewood. Tanglewood Whiskey Foxtrot.

Oh, it's the other way around. Whiskey Tanglewood Foxtrot. Can that be our new code? It can be our secret code.

It's just a few people out there who now know it along with us. It's Thursday. Oh, it's almost Friday. Boy, do I need it to be Friday. I will just admit, I kind of teased you and made light of the fact that you all were going to be feeling it coming off of Thanksgiving week. And we're already working. We're good.

It's football. I kind of sailed through Sunday night into Monday and I even felt like I had pretty good energy from Monday night into Tuesday. Oh, the last two days have hit me smack in the face. Uncomfortable. It's been very uncomfortable because my sleep schedule is all off and I've got a lot of my mind, a lot of things I'm supposed to be getting done and I feel like I'm failing miserably at the to do list.

And yeah, for all of those reasons, it's actually hit me hard coming off of a Thanksgiving week in which we just had a couple of shows and ended up traveling. So yeah, no more making fun of you or teasing you because I'm right in the same boat where there's not been enough coffee this week. And I try to limit my coffee intake just to keep it honest because eventually you drink too much coffee, you have to keep drinking more coffee for it to work or you drink too much coffee and you get to the point where you have the jitters and the shakes.

I hate that. It doesn't happen very often. I will say that I have a pretty high caffeine intake threshold. So it doesn't happen very often.

But yeah, I don't want to get to that point. Coffee is still fairly effective. Well, very effective for me.

I could not do my job without it. So good morning on that Pollyanna happy note. Good morning to you too. Do you know this is the last day of November? The last day of November. It's also the last day before we're officially into week 13 in the NFL.

Week 13 of the NFL conference championship weekend in college football. Excited about talking with our friend Josh Pate of CBS Sports. He's got an incredibly popular college football podcast and it's actually turned into a radio. Well, radio.

It's a radio slash video show. We really only can line up our schedules with him once a month. Oh, once a month.

Once a season. See what I mean? Caffeine's not working anymore.

I'll be lucky if I live to the finish line. It's just it's not flowing easily. I'm a fan of coffee. I was so pleased to find out that Jimmy Butler was a huge fan of coffee. And now we know that was Luca. Right. Luca Doncic, also a big fan of coffee. Oh, yes.

Pre-game routine would include does include coffee. I'm emo. Leave me alone. Yeah.

Now Jimmy Butler and I don't have as much in common, but we did when we were talking about coffee in the Backstreet Boys. Yes. So late kick Josh. CBS Sports HQ, National College football host. He's awesome. And he will join us on this last edition of the show tonight before we head into Converse championship weekend. I have cleared my schedule. Actually, I take that back on Saturday night. It's the Pac-12 championship on Saturday night or is the Big Ten championship?

There's a couple of them. I've got the schedule up in front of me. We've got on Saturday night, both of those things. Well, we've got the Big Ten as well as the ACC. So Florida State and Michigan are both in action. The Pac-12 is Friday night, so I'll be parked in place for that one.

But on Saturday night, I have to tape the games because some friends. Oh, it's getting a little curious. They are taking me out and I thought it was just two of them, but I've heard more people mention it in my group of friends from my church. So I'm thinking something's brewing. They're doing something and I don't know what it is.

This is a surprise party you're gathering. I'm not sure. Oh, it is. Well, you're saying it is?

It's yes, become a little suspect because there's more people talking about it than than what I suspected. And my friend Sherry offered to come pick me up and I'm thinking, aren't we just going out for dinner? Why do I need to pick you to pick me up? Something is happening. Let's hope they don't ask me to bring a walnut crunch pumpkin pie because the face changes me. Do you think I should act surprised then? I mean, I will be surprised.

I don't know what they're doing. I just know that it was a couple of friends who said to me, now here's the funny part. A couple of friends said to me they're taking me out to dinner as a celebration of the upcoming wedding, which is awesome.

I really appreciate that. But one of those friends, my friend Jasmine, she invited herself over for Thanksgiving because she found out I was eating alone because my plans changed. So she just barged right in and had a meal with me, which is great.

I was really happy about it. Yeah, really good friend. She wanted me to be by myself. And we're walking Penny around the block after dinner and she says something about your party next weekend. And I was like, wait, it's a party? Listen. So I said, what do you mean?

Oh, no, sorry. I just meant getting together for dinner. But what came out of her mouth was party.

It's out. So at first I thought, huh, did she just accidentally drop that? And then then she said something about, oh, sorry, I just meant dinner. Oh, OK. And then my friend Sherry, who I don't hear from as regularly as Jas, sent me a text this week. Now, she was asking about Bob's family and having having lost a family member.

And so she was concerned. It was just asking how he was doing, but also offered to pick me up on Saturday evening. And again, my initial thought was, why do I need you to pick me up? I'm just we're just going to dinner. So I don't know what's happening.

They're picking you up so they can coordinate everything. Oh, the timing? We're coming. We're entered.

The text goes out five minutes away. We're ten minutes away. Amy's coming.

We're close. So I'm asking you again, should I respond with surprise? Yeah, I think so. I could probably do that genuinely because I will be surprised. I did actually think I I I still think it's going to be a relatively muted dinner. But you're saying you think it's a party? Well, how did they like when they first asked you to go to dinner?

What was it was like, hey, let's go to that. One of my friends even said we're the only two that are available. She even said that to me. But but now I know that that's not true because I've heard from at least one other person who is offering to pick me up.

And she wasn't on the original list. Yeah, this is something's happening. Something is definitely. So I should dress appropriately. I shouldn't wear sweat. Not that I would wear sweat for dinner, but I'm just saying I should make sure that if there are cameras around, I would dress to four eyes on you. Jay's the cool one in this relationship.

And he knows he knows all of these things. It just it's just I don't see any other thing that's going to happen. There's it could be dinner.

It's going to be dinner with just a group of people. It's going to be more than your two friends. That's for sure. Well, that there could be three of them, though. Why would they hide the third friend and just that third friend alone?

Right. It doesn't make any sense to me either, because I didn't actually didn't know she was going. In fact, that was my response when she said, can I pick you up? My response was, wait, you're going to.

And what did she say to that? She said, it's a surprise. What's a surprise?

You're going. I mean, I don't know what I should be ready for is the thing. It's a surprise.

OK, so what do I prepare for? But that just threw me off a little bit, because it's her being there, the surprise. I've been so it's I don't I don't have any idea. That was if that was the surprise. I don't even know where we're going. It's a surprise. It's a surprise. That's the thing is, I just again, I just thought we were getting we're meeting for dinner. But now Sherry's picking me up and she said it's a surprise.

OK, well, I guess I'll have a full report come next. I think you getting picked up is the real. That's the crux. Right. So not jazz accidentally dropping the word party. Well, that's that was a big hint, but she's kind of flaky.

Oh, sorry, guys. She she would she would agree with me on that. She might have just said that because.

I don't know, maybe it was supposed I have no idea. I'll just act surprised when I go out to dinner and I know I'm going out to dinner with a friend or two friends. I know where my mind is. Party. It's never going to accidentally slip out. It's because it's not a party. When you're going out for a walk or a guy or guy texts you.

Well, text is different because you can control it. But you're having a conversation. There's no way that it accidentally slips out. Oh, well, we when we have our party on Saturday night. No, it would just be when we go to dinner. I'm not thinking about a party. There's no no gathering on my mind. No, now that it's a party, I need to prepare according to the party.

Huh? Shoo. What if they expect me to eat dessert? I can't eat dessert. I can't eat this.

Oh, shoot. And if I do eat desserts, I have to lie to Bob because we're on a three week dessert hiatus. You might have to take one for the team. No, I cannot violate Bob and I made a vow. No desserts for three weeks. But what if there's like a cake there with congratulations? You can't be rude.

I can be rude. I'll have to take it home and freeze it like I'm doing every other dessert for the next three weeks. You got to try it.

Shoot. Well, then he's going to get a he's going to get a free dessert as well. I can't lie to him and tell him that I didn't. That would be a bad way to start our marriage.

So eat it and then give him a pick. Hey, I already had this and I saved you. So this is this is scary. Now I'm scared.

Is someone going to jump out and scream at me? I think a lot of people might. Oh, no. A lot of people. Oh, I didn't think about that.

I thought maybe a couple of people. I party. OK, let's party. Just think party. I don't know.

I don't know where either. What if it isn't someone's house and it's a big to do. Or if it's like somewhere really loud and make a whole scene. OK, I'll just be ready. I'll be ready for whatever. I say put your fun hat on my foot.

Where do you come up with these things? I'm always fun. What are you talking about? My fun hat is permanently affixed to my head. OK, pardon me.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence CBS Sports Radio. I don't know if any of you are planning on throwing me a surprise party, but don't worry. Apparently you don't have to because somebody else is planning it.

Can I just say this to to like wrap this up? No one has ever thrown me a surprise party in my whole life. I've never had a surprise party thrown for me.

So if this is the case, I will be grateful. I'm not kidding. I've never had a surprise. Have you had a surprise party in life? I think so.

No. It's pretty cool. My mom can't keep secrets, so that's part of the reason. But also, when I turned 40, I was I was in the middle of a move. I just it was one of those things that my family is always away. We don't live in the same place and I don't make a huge deal of birthdays with my friends. It's mostly family. So I've never had a surprise.

I've never been married before. Obviously, I've never had a baby yet, so I I don't know if I. Yeah, this this would be sweet. This I would be really grateful if they actually went to. The great lengths of putting together a party that touching.

That'd be cool. Yeah, it's really sweet. So I'll I'll feign surprise even though you and I have figured it out. You got to give the surprise because if they go through you say they go through the effort.

Everyone shows up. Everyone's excited that you're going to be surprised. You can't not be surprised.

That's true. I have to be surprised. I'll be surprised.

It's like scream a couple of times. I'll blame you for ruining the surprise. I'll take it. Put on your fun hat.

Put it on. Oh, my gosh. It's after hours.

You can find me on Twitter. A law radio. If David says your friends are terrible at keeping secrets.

Not the best. Well, to be fair, the original friend who actually organized it, she's not said a word. So it's the other people she let in on the secret. She just should have told everyone.

No one. Just show up here. You know, everyone be here at eight. We'll let you know what's happening when you're on a need to know basis and you don't need to know. Oh, well, David, even if they are terrible at keeping secrets, I'm OK, because like I said, this would be a really sweet gesture by them. Oh, goodness.

All right. Well, that entire segment was just about whether or not it was a surprise party. Is there any way to segue from that into surprise?

No, not really, huh? I wonder if that's what David Tepper said to Frank Reich. Surprise. There you go. You know what really surprised me, though, on this edition of the show is that there are college football players earning six to seven million dollars.

Maybe I'm just naive and I'm the only one who didn't know that. But according to Matt Rule, if you go get a quarterback in the transfer portal, it's going to cost you a lot of money. And. There are players in college football who are making. More than. Half an NFL roster. I mean, a lot of NFL rosters are made up of rank and file players. This is crazy to me, but from the the voice from the voice from the mouth of Matt Rule at Nebraska, he was asked. So this was kind of the catalyst for the conversation. He was asked about getting a quarterback because they had a I think they losing record this year. So getting a quarterback through the transfer portal. And what he said was, we prefer to develop players. He called it the hard way.

I'm using my air quotations, not an easy fix, but the hard way. We want to bring them in. We want to develop them.

We want to build a program with our homegrown guys. And then he goes on to reveal that it's actually about the money to make no mistake that a good quarterback in the portal costs, you know, a million to million, five to two million dollars right now. So just just just want the same page. Right. So let's make sure we all understand what's happening.

There's some teams that have six, six or seven million dollar players playing for him. What? All in the name of NIL, which is just a fancy way of saying pay for play.

I knew this was going to happen. There's no rules. There's no regulations. So all you have to do is say it's an endorsement. It's for his name. It's an auto. It's an auto dealership. It's a rich corporate sponsor.

It's a booster. Come to have this player do a couple of appearances and pay him three million for each appearance. But six to seven million dollars.

Here's the issue with that. Even as we get set to expand the college football playoff and the whole altruistic idea is that it's more open to more teams. And yes, they are going to mandate a couple of FCS teams. They're going to mandate teams that come from outside the power five, at least one. But what's really going to happen if players are making six to seven million dollars.

It's just the rich getting richer. Most college football programs in the power five have a budget that's many times that. But it doesn't mean they can afford to pay the players that. Although I guess theoretically the money's coming from outside the football program. Just it's a loophole that allows players to get paid six to seven million dollars. That does not level the playing field. It doesn't.

And if that's what you have to do to get a good player out of a transfer portal, the portal doesn't level the playing field either. Not just the rich getting richer. And so much richer because if you're a high school football player and someone offers you that kind of money or you're in the transfer portal and you get offered that kind of money, there's no way you turn it down.

I know these days you can be a social media influencer and make a lot of money on TikTok or YouTube or whatever other platform you choose to use, Insta. But that's not the majority of high school kids, college kids. That kind of money is impossible to turn down. I wouldn't have turned it down if I was a high school kid or a college kid. And now that it's legal, quote unquote, that's how you get guys to play. It's not even what's the best decision for me and what's the best fit for me academically? Who cares about that?

Where can I make the most money? It's almost unrecognizable in college sports these days, or at least at least college basketball, college football. On Twitter, A Law Radio, my friends are really terrible at keeping secrets. I don't mind a little hint here and there just so I know what to be prepared for. You know, the type of restaurant they could have told you or that would have been a good hint, not party. We were asking you, we are asking you on this edition of the show, do you agree with Micah Parsons and Tom Brady that the football in the NFL this year is mediocre?

So if you check out our social media, you can find a place to respond there. I do think the level of offense is down. There's no way it can't be with the 50 different starting quarterbacks and 10 rookies that we've seen. They're not all C.J.

Stroud. So I'll say it's down a little bit. Jay, would you give it a higher rating than, say, a six? I'm going six.

I would probably go five, just a little lower. It doesn't mean I'm not enjoying it. So we're not asking you if you're enjoying it. We're not asking you if it's competitive. We're asking you how you would rank the level and the quality of the play. So it could still be competitive, even if they're only kicking field goals.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Is it too soon? It is the last day of November.

There are Christmas trees popping up all over my neighborhood now and Christmas lights. So why not? I love the song so much. OK. People are really mad right now. Some people are laughing.

Some people are happy. Some people are really angry because the problem is it sticks in your head and I will be singing it all day long. But here here's our service to you. We're not just going to give you our favorite Christmas song. As it turns out, there's a member of the Eagles who could double as a professional singer. Wow. Didn't Kirk Cousins sing the national anthem?

Not that. Was that Kirk Cousins? No, wait, it was who sang the national anthem? Kirk Cousins sang on was it SNL or something? OK, so that was so he did. But oh, it was Adam Wainwright. Oh, yeah. The national anthem. Right. But there's somebody else.

Was it? Oh, my gosh. I know there's a professional athlete who sings the national anthem player. Cowboys.

Oh, maybe that's going to drive me crazy. I don't know. Somebody find us on Twitter. A law radio, a pro football player who sings the national anthem.

Well, this is not the national anthem. Marcus Ware. Marcus Ware. Oh, my gosh. That's it. So good. Love him.

Hall of Famer. OK, so on this show called a Philly special. Christmas special, which is kind of fun, actually, a Philly special Christmas special Philly special. Sorry, Patriots fans. Philly special. Jordan Davis was a guest.

And as it turns out, he's got a lot more to offer than just football acumen. So nervous. Goodness gracious.

This is excruciating. Walk the dogs. School drop off meetings from 10 to three. Take kids to soccer.

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Visit Carvana dot com or download the app to get an instant offer today. Hey, this is Richard Deitch, the host of the sports media podcast. If you're interested in what's happening with all the places where you consume sports, the sports media podcast has you covered. Here's longtime NFL and NBA announcer, Ian Eagle. Would I find this entertaining if I was sitting on the couch watching the game or would this be a nuisance? Would this get in the way?

Does it enhance the enjoyment for the viewer or at some point, are you becoming an annoyance? Listen on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Faithful friends who are dear to us. Gather near to us once more. I love the sound of your voice, man.

Sucks, man. Thank you. Did you know that there are other football players on this album? Well, I'm hoping we're on the same thing as I just Googled it a Philly special Christmas special.

And it's a collection of I think it's a collection of Eagles, including Jason Kelsey. Now he's singing something about Santa Claus. But as I scroll down, there's a bunch of these guys who are singing. I wonder how many of them actually sing as well as Jordan. That was tremendous.

Lane Johnson apparently is on it, too. What? We should do that. CBS radio. No, no, no. Just an after hours. We don't have enough voices. Well, so.

The whole thing is out there if you Google it, it's pretty amazing. Kind of fun to discover their hidden talents. But I still am partial to I want a hippopotamus for Christmas as beautiful as that was. But for those of you who are Eagles fans. I just love that they named it a Philly special Christmas special. Someone deserves a raise.

Someone definitely does. That was pure genius marketing. Speaking of the Eagles, it's Eagles and Niners this weekend. And if the Eagles win and I think the Rams lose, they clinched a playoff spot. They clinched a playoff spot.

Right. That's how it goes. I don't know what the Rams have to do with anything. It's sometimes weird. This is why we don't try to figure it out, because we just it's too it doesn't always make sense. What the hell is going on right now?

It's too convoluted and too confusing. But yeah, the Eagles are first up in that they can already clinch a playoff spot in week 13. Yeah, Philly win plus a Rams loss.

Go figure. But it's Eagles and Niners and Kyle Shanahan cannot figure out. For the life of him, why the Niners are favored over the Eagles. Does make a lot of sense to me, but I don't really know how that stuff works, so.

I don't really know why, but it is random. That's how we feel about these tie breaking scenarios that can get so confusing. I don't really know how it works. Some NFL players would say when it comes to overtime, I don't really know how it works. It's kind of confusing. Whatever. That's why they put the rules up on TV. It is odd that they're favored in Philadelphia.

Why do you think that is? Considering they lost, well they lost the NFC Championship, but it was a whole situation where you couldn't really measure. I don't know if the Eagles win that game if Brock Purdy doesn't get hurt.

There's no way to know that, but he did get hurt and that's it. They do have a really good defense. The Eagles have turned the ball over a bunch this season. I'm trying to come up with reasons why they might be favored. The Eagles are 10 and 1. Best record in the NFC in football. And they have rallied to win in five straight games in which they've trailed. So that five straight comeback wins.

Some of these were talking double figures. They nearly lost to the Cowboys. I'm trying to come up with reasons why they would not be favored at home. Other than just the eye test, do I think the 49ers are a better team than the Eagles today? I do. Do you? Fully healthy?

Yeah, I do. Are they in Philadelphia in a rematch of the NFC championship? I don't think it's that much of a margin where you can give the 49ers in Philadelphia the edge of being the favorite. Because the Eagles are right there. I don't think the margin is crazy.

So if it was in San Francisco, I could maybe see it a little more. But since it's in Philly, I think it's uncalled for. Uncalled for. It's a slap in the face.

I wonder if it becomes bullets in board material. Not that the Niners have nothing to do with it. And Kyle Shanahan thinks it's ridiculous.

But I'm trying to rack my brain and come up with reasons why. Their last win was more impressive. I mean, they did turn the ball over twice in the first half against the Bills, if I remember correctly. And they gave up 14 points off turnovers in that first half.

But that wasn't the driving rain. I don't know. The Eagles have won five in a row. Niners have only won three in a row.

Yeah, that's strange. I agree with Kyle Shanahan. I don't gamble enough on the NFL or really anything to know if there's something with that.

Want to hear something funny? My fantasy team, I have C.J. Stroud and Brock Purdy.

And I pride myself on at least I'm keeping the other one away from another team. Brock Purdy had not a great fantasy game. I mean, the Niners made quick work of the Seahawks on Thanksgiving night. But Brock Purdy didn't have huge stats. Three rushing touchdowns.

Yeah, which is generally how it works. C.J. Stroud had huge stats because of the game. It was the Jaguars. It was Jaguars. And they had a lot of points, especially in the second half. This week, Brock is actually projected to make more against the Eagles, which doesn't really make any sense to me.

So I don't know. C.J. is still in my starting lineup. I've gotten to the point now where I just don't feel comfortable removing him from the starting lineup. Except that it's burned me a couple of times. Brock's had better numbers than him. One time it was drastic.

I don't know, though. I could see 49ers-Eagles becoming an offensive slugfest. Teams just trying to score and trying to outscore the others. Houston's hosting Denver. I'm actually starting Russell Wilson in another league.

Yeah, because I have. Lamar Jackson was on a bye. Right, so Denver's defense is playing extremely well. And right now, one of the reasons for their five-game win streak is all the takeaways. So they're winning the turnover battle at an alarming rate for their opponents. So do I want to take the chance?

I don't know. I just think either matchup. We see J. Strata's home, and the Texans are home. And I don't think the Broncos are as good as the Eagles.

I just don't think... No. Yeah, I think a lot of what they're doing is based on their defense. Their offense still goes long stretches, looking inept. It's been better, but yeah. It's been better, yes.

Which is not saying a lot, but it's been better. But there are still games where the Broncos will only score one touchdown. Yeah, that's my... Should I go out and get a third quarterback? Who else we got? I don't know.

No, one of them. I think I'll go with C.J. C.J.

's earned the right to start again. It's so fickle. Fantasy's so fickle. Yeah, it's hard to take C.J.

Strata out of your lineup. But I do think Protea's going to have a good game. He did actually lose one of the key members of his offense, though.

So I wonder if that will make a difference. We'll get to QB news coming up next. How would you rate the play in the NFL this season? I'm going six. J's going five. That's on Twitter, ALOL Radio. You are going as low as three.

How low can you go? On our Facebook page, too, since we finally got in. Shucks. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast.

It's time for QB news on After Hours. This portion of the show is brought to you by Wesley Financial. Are you stuck in a timeshare and want out?

Contact Wesley Financial Group now and get a free timeshare exit information kit at WesleyFinancialGroup.com. Raise your hand if you're tired of hearing about when Aaron Rodgers might return to the New York Jets. It's become almost intolerable.

We happen to have our headquarters based in New York, and it is the only thing that New York sports radio is talking about. I would rather stick my fork in my eye. A fork. Maybe not my fork.

In my eye. Then speculate on whether or not he's going to be the fastest ever to return from a speed bridge Achilles injury. OMG. It's going to be hard to cancel me. Not to mention, he turns 40 on Saturday, so that stirs up even more of the conversation.

So happy early birthday. Robert Sala, he thinks that Aaron Rodgers glows in the dark and his poo does not stink. Why would Rodgers want to come back to a losing team so late in the year? I think he still runs with a chip on his shoulder, and that's the way he lives his life, where he always wants to prove people wrong in terms of doubting them.

He's a special human, and I think his actions are showing how much he appreciates this organization and everything around him. We already know that if the doctors clear Aaron Rodgers to play, actually clear him for contact, that he will be allowed to play. The Jets are letting him decide if he wants to come back.

As long as the doctors clear him, Rodgers will play. Right now, he is allowed to throw, but no contact. So he's throwing to people instead of throwing a medicine ball or whatever else. So he's actually throwing to teammates, but he's not allowed to go through any contact drills whatsoever, so he's not actually practicing.

Is he pushing it, though? Is he rushing back from this devastating injury? I promise Aaron is not going to do anything that puts himself in harm's way. If he is not healthy to play, Aaron is very, very smart. That's not something he's going to put himself at risk for. With that said, though, he is driven. He is achieving things that have never been achieved with regards to this injury, and it's the progression with regard to rehab. I think it's remarkable what he is doing, but he is also smart with regards to how fast it's going.

Interesting. Christmas Eve, I suppose. Merry Christmas Jets fans, if that's what you want to see.

The guy glows in the dark. Don't know if they can catch either the Bills or the Dolphins atop the AFC East. I am so relieved to know that Tua Tango Valoa is none worse for the wear after losing a chunk of his arm. There are actually TikTok videos out there that isolate his arm chunk flying off of him and onto the field. It's so gross. Don't look at it. Anyway, it was on a run play against the Jets, and he needed multiple stitches to close up this wound. It's good. Yeah, I was told by my wife that she didn't see it, but then she got text messages from people about what it looked like, and they said it was disgusting while they were eating their leftover meals.

Sorry, I couldn't help you there. I didn't know it happened until I came to the sideline, and then Mike White sort of pointed it out. I guess it was just from the adrenaline, but it was a nice chunk that came off, so someone can find that piece.

That's yours. Oh, no. It's like someone loses a finger in an accident, and they try to find the finger so they can put it back on. Yeah, if you found a chunk of Tua's arm, don't sell it on eBay. Someone's going to try, aren't they? That would make a lot of money. There are TikTok videos that show his chunk arm, his arm chunk flying through the air.

Oh, that's so gross. All right, let's get to something more serious, like Bill Belichick. So, you know, who do you think you'll start this week, coach? I'm not going to make any announcements on our lineup at any position then, so it doesn't matter what the position is. We're going to see how practice goes and see if everybody's ready to go.

Hope everybody's ready to go. See what the injury situation is, and we'll go with what we think is best on Sunday. If I could do a nonchalant whistle, I would, but there's no putting a fast one past Bill Belichick.

Maybe try it a different way. Have you told the team? Do you plan to tell the team who's starting at quarterback? Everybody's got their own job to do, and hopefully that's what they're focused on, not what everybody else is doing. That's what we all need to do is focus on what our job is, do the best we can at it, and don't worry about what everybody else is doing.

That would help all of us. Mind your business. You're on a need-to-know basis. Mind your business. Actually, my grandmother, my maternal grandmother, used to say that to me when I was getting nosy and curious. Mind your business. It's not as much fun that way, though, Graham.

That would help all of us. Okay, I'm sufficiently chastised. All right, can we get out of the AFC East? Because, you know, the quarterback storylines are meh.

Well, the arm chunk flying across the field was, well, you know. Kevin Stavanski may have the 51st different starting quarterback in the NFL this season. Beginning Week 13, oh, he rides again. Joe Flacco is now QB 2 in Cleveland.

And with Dorian Thompson Robinson in concussion protocol, uh, Flacco? You guys have been around Joe, big, strong arm. Obviously, he can make every throw, but he's done a very, very nice job in the mating room, getting to know his teammates, getting to know the system. He's done a nice job. He is a smart guy.

We were just talking about J.P.P. joining the Dolphins and what he could bring to the table, even though he's not as explosive, obviously, as he used to be. But Joe Flacco is, he's smart, and he's crafty, and he's clever, and he's been in a lot of systems. And if nothing else, he knows what he's seeing at the line of scrimmage, so there's that. Now, can he play up to speed?

Well, I suppose we could find that out. Here's the deal. Dorian Thompson Robinson, he started, what, two games? And didn't make it through, no, he started three and didn't make it through two of them, right? P.J. Walker spelled them after the first one, in the first one, week four, I think. And then he got knocked out of this most previous game with a concussion. So now you've got Joe Flacco that very well could be starting against the Rams, but even if he doesn't start, he's QB 2.

Wowzers. All right, moving on. What are we moving on to?

C.J. Stroud, he's losing a member of his offensive line this week, but he's proud of the way the offense and he is developing. I think I've gotten better over the weeks. I definitely feel like I've done a decent job of taking care of football, and that was a big goal of mine just because I just wanted the coaches to trust me to call those shots. And if it's not there, I'm going to make the play right. And I feel like this last game definitely showed my maturity because they really took away all our deep shots, and I was running the ball, checking it down, trying to do my best, just extending the play if I had to.

So just taking steps and strides every week has definitely been a goal of mine, and I feel like I've done a decent job of that. All right, you convinced me I'll leave you in my starting lineup for fantasy. Finally, Patrick Mahomes, someone actually asked him whether or not he thinks Travis Kelce is nearing retirement because he's not putting up the same numbers. I think if anything, the amount of coverage that he's getting has kind of maybe put his numbers down just a little bit, but I think as you see some other guys trying to make plays happen, he's going to go back to where he's been at. I mean, you see him at practice. You see him at some of the plays he makes during the game.

You don't think there'd be any chance of retirement anywhere soon, coming anywhere soon, and he hasn't said anything to me about it, so I think I'd be the first one to know if that's just mine. Not Taylor, you? Did you hear that Travis Kelce bought Taylor Swift a custom Bearcats jersey? Not jersey, sorry, coat.

A Bearcats. It's almost like a letterman jacket. Oh, I wonder if it has Kelce on it because it's Cincinnati.

Why not Chiefs? Nah, this is a college thing, man. It's a college thing. It's kind of cute. Well, it is sweet. It's what you would give your high school girlfriend, right?

And remember, he tried to give her a friendship bracelet before in a concert, so he's clearly old school. That's a good point. Yeah. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the football we've seen through Week 12? Our friend Matthew says 8.2.

Another guy, 4. Everything Brady said is right. League-wide mediocrity.

But the Eagles fans, they're loving it because they're 10 and 1. All right, we'll talk to you tonight. Have a great Thursday. It's after hours, CBS Sports Radio. Boom!