12-1-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

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That's betterhelp.com slash positive. Guess what shenanigans Bob and I are getting into this weekend? We actually get to make the song list for the wedding reception and the dance music that we would like to hear. So we did this.

I don't know if you've ever heard of this before. We actually allowed our closest friends and family, not all of them responded, but we gave them the option of submitting 10 songs that they wanted on the dance list for the reception. Really funny. Some of our family members, chop chop.

I mean, within weeks, they had already sent us not just a list, but the YouTube links to all the music, which is really funny because they obviously wanted their favorite music played. I think I mentioned this before on the show, but my youngest niece said, Auntie Amy, can't you tell everyone no country? Honey, I can't do that. The wedding's in Texas. I know, but you're the bride. Can't you just tell the DJ no country music? No, sweetheart.

I cannot do that. This is what happens when you merge two families, not to mention I like country music, so there will be country. Anyway, so we've taken the music that we've received from others in our family and we've put that on the set list. Set list, haha, like it's a concert on the list for the DJ.

But now we get to pick our music, the music that we want. And I'm thinking there could be some MJ. Absolutely be some MJ. Yeah, that sounds fun. In fact, I hadn't thought of it before right now, but it's a Freaky Friday and it's a fantastic free for all football Friday.

It's the first day in December. Book it. Might as well put some MJ on the list. So you're thinking like one MJ, one Whitney Houston, one JT.

Yeah, so Whitney Houston, obviously there's some music that you can't really dance to, but she's got some great ones like I Want to Dance with Somebody, that kind of stuff. So that's classic. Because Bob and I are not spring chickens, but also because 80s and 90s music is all the rage right now.

It's back. In fact, one of the 20-somethings who's in our wedding, believe it or not, we have five 20-somethings in the wedding, in the bridal party. There's only one member of the bridal party that's our age. All the rest of them are Gen. Well, Gen Y, a couple Gen Z. So Millennials and Gen Z mostly.

There's kind of a line right there. They're all too cool for school, if you know what I'm saying. Most of their music is old school. Most of their music is 80s and 90s. Before we could even put it onto the list, they sent us lists of music that comes from the 80s and 90s.

It's back. In fact, sorry to interrupt you, Dancing Queen, that might even be from the 70s. That's Abba. That was not one of our choices.

That was his oldest son. That's a classic. Yes. So anyway, really fun stuff.

It's going to be so cool. In fact, we've gotten rid of a lot of the elements that would be considered classic reception features. Tossing the bouquet, cake cutting, the garter thing.

We've gotten rid of a lot of those elements because we just want more time for dancing, more time for hanging out. So the theme for the wedding is simple and elegant and it is semi-formal. No one's going in jeans.

No one's wearing hats. It's very elegant, the wedding. But then when we get to the reception, we're going to party hardy. It's a full meal. It's cupcakes. It's cookies.

It's dancing. One game. We have one game scheduled because it's a pretty small group. It's 60 people. So that's the total guest list for the wedding, if everyone shows up. More food for us if they don't. More cupcakes for us if they don't.

But it's a pretty small group. So we're doing one game called the shoe game. Have you ever heard of it? The shoe game? No. The shoe game. I love shoes, but me neither. This was Bob's idea.

How do you play? Maybe it sounds familiar. I feel like it would take way too long.

People get mad at me because we're supposed to be talking about football. Well, how about this? We just recorded the final edition of Ask Amy Anything for 2023. And it's a combination holiday version of Ask Amy. And also the last installment of Ask Amy walks down the aisle. So producer Jay went back and forth between wedding questions and Christmas questions and wedding questions and holiday questions and he mixed it up. Also, you're not going to believe how I redid my living room.

Beautiful. Jay was shocked. He had no idea that I was gutting my living room and remaking it right before the wedding. You're not going to believe it. It really turned out beautifully.

Yeah, it did. And it's decked out for the holidays. Seriously, Jay was speechless when he saw it. Still stunned. So by the weekend, Jay tells me he will have edited the latest installment, the last 2023 installment of Ask Amy Anything, Ask Amy Walks Down the Aisle, more of your wedding questions answered. But I got to tell you, I'm really surprised by you all.

I'm shocked, actually. I thought you knew me and yet not one question about what might be my most favorite topic in the entire world. Not one question. I will reveal before the end of the hour. But for those of you who want to guess, if you truly know me, you would have asked me a question about this at the wedding.

If you really knew me and you really listened, you would know that this has to be part of the wedding. Didn't get any. Nope. Jay and I, we were waiting. We were waiting not so patiently.

Still waiting for questions about this at the wedding or at the reception. Either way, I'll just wait. I'll wait. Good morning to you. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

Hope you enjoy a little MJ there to shake you up on what is now a Friday, December 1st. Are you kidding me? Jay just walked into my studio and said, is it payday?

Dang it. It's actually not. But it feels like it should be because we got paid. Don't ask me why the company did this.

It was kind of them at the time, but now it feels like forever. We got paid the Monday of Thanksgiving week. I guess because they wanted to shut down the office for four days. So now we're going almost three weeks without a paycheck. Jay, I hope you didn't spend all yours already.

Well, we'll move on from that, but I don't think of any, I don't think of the words kind. Jay didn't even know he got paid. He didn't even know he got paid. He forgot to check, he said. He forgot to check.

How do you forget to check whether or not you got paid? I don't want to get into this. Okay. All right.

We won't. I am writing bills left and right to pay off balances for the wedding. So trust me, I know exactly when the money's coming and going out. But yeah, we have to go almost three weeks without a paycheck.

So no, it's not payday, but it's December 1st. It is a Friday. It's football, football, football, baby, because it's conference championship weekend. If you missed my conversation with Josh Pate, who is the great host and podcast host for CBS Sports HQ, but also late kick Josh. He's awesome. He's so much fun.

We had him from Vegas because he's getting ready for the Pac-12 championship. So that's coming up. And in addition, we've got the kickoff to week 13. So so much of this is on our podcast. If you're looking for a breakdown of your favorite game or one of the game of the week candidates.

If Seattle, Dallas is any indication, we are off and running into week 13. Did you know? This is what we call this here is what we call a nerd alert.

That sounded very awful and probably really hurt some ears as you're waking up. This is what we call a nerd alert. See, I can be boring. I can be if I try less nerd stuff for all of 10 seconds. I can be boring.

I really don't have an indoor voice, though. So if you're looking for one of those, this is not the show for you for just the fifth time in NFL history. No punts, not one. Now, there were defensive stops. Specifically at the end of the game for the Dallas Cowboys. But there were no punts. They were off to the races.

And it was a lot of fun, actually, to see the Seahawks give the Cowboys offense a run for its money. Smith to throw, has a clean pocket, throws and it's caught by DK Metcalfe on the run at midfield. Showing the speed to the 30. Metcalfe inside the 20. Striding to the 10 and he's gone. 73 yards leaving Donovan Wilson and Malik Hooker in his dust. And Seattle takes a 6-3 lead. Fanth in the slot right, Lockett and Smith and Jigba wide right. Metcalfe wide left. Geno Smith in the shotgun, goes to the air, throws to the end zone on a slant. DK Metcalfe with the touchdown. And the third time is a charm.

Or is it? There's a flag down again as Seattle ties it up. Offside, defense number 90.

And this one will stick. 20-20. We can see a tie in Dallas.

Kevin Coogler on Westwood 1. Yeah, by halftime I'd already seen a lot of points and a lot of flags. Those are the two themes of this particular edition of Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime.

Points and flags aplenty. So yes, the Seahawks up 21-20 at the half but only after a couple of touchdowns were turned back because of penalty flags. And while the Cowboys were able to keep pace with them, we saw early in the third quarter you had the Cowboys go on a march down the field and then you saw the Seahawks answer. So it was kind of a back and forth. But those two drives in the third quarter actually took the majority of that quarter because each team had to go 75 yards and we saw them run the ball a little bit more.

We saw them be a little more methodical. So yeah, between a five minute drive and a six and a half minute drive, we end the third quarter. Seahawks are still in front 28-27 after the exchange touchdowns. The fourth quarter is where I wondered if either one of these defenses would step up.

Well, Duron Bland. No, no, no, not a pick six. Duron Bland has another interception. And after that, we start to see that Dallas defense show its teeth. To that point, the Seahawks had been high flying up and down the field. And even after that, DK Metcalf ends up with his third touchdown. Huge game for DK. And actually, speaking of huge, he's so big, he made the DBs around him look like, I almost said a word that's politically incorrect, look like little people. Or just miniatures.

How about that? They look like miniatures next to DK Metcalf. So Duron Bland gets the interception, some kind of a year he's having, stepping in for Trayvon Diggs, just to give him the opportunity and he's been awesome. But then, even as the Seahawks have a 35-27 lead on that third DK Metcalf touchdown, what we saw from that point forward is that the Dallas defense, even when faced with multiple fourth downs, fourth and short, nah, no longer giving up inches.

Dallas has been providing pressure as of late. Fourth and inches, they snap it, it's Charbonnet and he stops short to Marcus Lawrence. Donovan Wilson in the backfield, a huge tackle for loss and a turnover on downs gives it back to Dallas with 7.04 to play. On a fourth and one, and that's Kyle Youmans actually filling in for Brad Sham, it's a little bit jarring to hear, but Brad reportedly had a medical emergency on the way to the game, so ended up not being able to call it, so our thoughts are with him.

He's one of the most beloved voices and figures in Dallas sports. So Kyle Youmans with the call on Cowboys Radio, the fourth and one, and that leads to a short field for Dallas, still trailing. Bell ties snap, Prescott with plenty of time, locks it in zone, Jake Ferguson, covered by Jamal Adams, but it doesn't matter. Fergie into the end zone and Dallas takes the lead in the fourth.

It really helps when you don't have to go the length of the field, you only have to go 54 yards to get a touchdown and so the Cowboys take advantage, Dak and the offense and he's really able to spread it around a bunch. Four and a half minutes to go, that's the touchdown that put them in front and then it's up to the Dallas defense. They have not one, not two, three opportunities on fourth down to show what they can do. We need games like this and this is what December football looks like and we all understand what's in front of us because you have to win the close games. I mean, to get to where you want to go, you have to win these kind of games and this was a great example of how you just keep hanging in there and keep playing.

I think at halftime, we were frustrated. We had a lot of penalties called and I think our guys just knuckled down and played and they had some big plays there in the third quarter, but once the fourth quarter came, our guys got it done at the most important time. So showing resiliency, not getting down on ourselves, obviously, you love to just be up and roll like as we've been rolling at teams here at home and then even last week, I guess, right, it was close and closer than, close for majority of the game and then boom, we blew it open, right? And so understanding that that wasn't going to happen in this game, late in the game, that we've got to make plays, we've got to make plays to give ourselves a chance to win, but guys kept saying get on the sideline, expect to win, expect to win.

And when you do that, you have those expectations, you're going to find a way to win, simple as that and coaches did a great job of relaying that message, players believed it, players did a good job of saying that message over and over and we went and found a way to win. Dak Prescott is on some kind of a roll. Did you know he now leads the NFL in touchdown passes? Now granted, he's got this extra week, so it's week 13 for the Cowboys, they've already played, he has three more touchdown passes, which means he goes ahead of Josh Allen. However, he's playing some incredible ball right now and the leadership is really there. You can see the way that this offense fits him like a glove and remember, this is Mike McCarthy's first year calling the plays.

I don't love all of Mike's decisions. If they had lost this game, let's just say for the sake of argument, the Seahawks had come back and it had a touchdown in the final two minutes. They got the ball back with about a minute 45 to go. Don't ask me why the Cowboys chose to throw the ball on their third and three instead of run it and run more time off the clock. Because when Geno Smith got the ball back, he and his offense had nearly two minutes to work with.

Now granted, the Seahawks needed a touchdown, but they had nearly two minutes to work with instead of say a minute left on the clock, which makes that job decidedly more difficult. So I don't love all of Mike's decisions, but I do think that he and Dak have found a comfort zone. The communication is there and since that game against the Niners in which he blew up, he had what, three interceptions I think in that game.

There's a reason why Micah Parsons is touting Dak Prescott for MVP. So we'll talk about the defense a little more. Oh, Pete Carroll wants to rage against the penalties too.

Actually, let's not save that. I told you points and flags aplenty. 19 total penalties accepted. That's not even the number of penalties declined. 257 combined penalty yards on Thursday Night Football. It's unfortunate that the game is, you know, it feels like there was a whole nother factor in this game.

I don't know. You guys saw a lot better than I did, but there's just way too many penalties in this game and we got that for both sides. We got to get out of that kind of football.

I agree. I would say it was over officiated. It was over monitored.

It was really micromanaged. The officials don't need to do that. Now, I do appreciate that they officiated the same way for both sides. Okay, so when I was playing college basketball, what you hear from a lot of athletes is, hey, we can't control that as long as they call it the same way for both sides. So it's up to the athletes to adjust to what the officials are doing. If they're consistent, I can live with that.

So they weren't calling more for one side versus the other, blah, blah, blah. It's just, it's too much. It's too much. Let them play. Otherwise, this incredible game, the shootout that goes down to the wire has too many stops. It has too many restarts. It has too many moments where we have to wait to see what happens because a penalty flag is thrown. It's way better when we can get into the flow and the tension builds and the game was supremely played by both sides.

It's unfortunate that there were 19 flags thrown. So I agree with Pete Carroll. One more thing. This is the first Cowboys win over a team that's above 500. Not anymore, but was above 500.

So that's, I'm not even sure if it counts, right? Because they are no longer above 500, but they were coming into the game. The Seahawks have actually lost three in a row and so they're backpedaling even as the Niners are gaining steam again. But Dallas will be defined. The season of the Dallas Cowboys will be defined in the next month. So the month of December is when we find out the true identity and the true measure of the Cowboys. So far, before last night, all of their wins were against teams of losing records. Listen to what they have coming up on their schedule. I'm telling you, this is when we find out what the Cowboys are made of. Home against the Eagles next Sunday night at Buffalo, at Miami, finishing up the month of December against the Lions. That's going to tell us if these Cowboys are truly contenders or if they've just built their record on the backs of lesser teams. You want to know what the Cowboys are really about?

Well, stay tuned in December. On Twitter, ALawRadio, also on our Facebook page, what is the after hours game of the week? And this has nothing to do with football.

If you could choose any emotional support animal, what would it be? Curtis responded with a gif of a sloth. It's fantastic.

Also, a gif of a sloth reveals nothing because it doesn't actually move that quickly. Good morning to you. Happy Friday.

It's After Hours with Amy Long. Download Instacart, add life to cart, terms apply. Did you know that parents rank financial literacy as the number one most difficult life skill to teach? Meet Greenlight, the debit card and money app for families. With Greenlight, you send instant money transfers, set up chores, automate allowance and keep an eye on your kids' spending with real time notifications.

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It's the sheet. The 30 25 20 Patrick goes into the end zone. Defense, defense, defense. Have you voted in the after hours game of the week poll? You better. We've got some doozies. I know.

I know. San Francisco, Philadelphia. But there are actually some other games with major playoff implications. One of them, Dallas and Seattle, taking place on Thursday night. It was a shootout until the Dallas defense came up with four big stops. Three of them on fourth down in the fourth quarter. Mike McCarthy loved what he saw. Fourth down stops are, you know, they're as good as a takeaway. So that was huge.

We need both of those. Obviously, we were behind at that point. And, you know, in the law has that knack to, you know, he just has a knack to cross face and make plays.

And, you know, he's been doing his whole career. DeMarcus Lawrence coming up with the first stop as he burst through the line of scrimmage and made a tackle for loss on the handoff there. And that was a fourth and one that really set the tone for the rest of the final quarter as Dallas survives and is now nine and three.

All right. So thinking about the Eagles, also in the NFC East, Cowboys try to track him down, hosting the Niners this weekend. And Kevin Bayard, who's now with the Eagles, obviously, he's not going to give you any tips, but he knows the Eagles offense presents a major challenge for any defense. I know the history behind, you know, the NFC Championship game last year and stuff like that, but it'll be a bloodbath for sure. Expect a very physical matchup where obviously we want to run the ball, they want to run the ball. So whoever team is going to be the most physical and eliminate those big explosive plays is going to be the team that win the game. Have you guys been following this James Bradbury Deebo Samuel war of words?

It's being tamped down now as we get closer to kickoff. They're kind of backpedaling a little bit, but it was Deebo Samuel who called James Bradbury trash last season. He swears he doesn't remember that.

He has no idea. Well, James, what do you have to say for yourself? It's a big game for us this week, you know, playing a great team. It's going to be a big challenge for us.

Yawn, whatever. It's way more fun if you're talking smack. I bet we'll see some of that extracurricular activity on the field.

C.D. and was it Jamal Adams last night who were doing a little yapping back and forth? That was fun. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Hey, guess what? In practice, the Niners are working on how to defend the tush push.

Fred Warner. No secret sauce. I can't give away my game plan right now. You know, I don't want to give too much away, but we'll try to have a plan for when they do run it. We'll try to have a plan.

Ho hum. We probably can't stop it, but we're going to give it the old college try. Defense does, in fact, win championships, and these two teams have great defenses, as do the Detroit Lions, which is one reason why they are on top of the NFC North. It's that much improved Lions defense.

You remember it started last year with the rookie Aiden Hutchinson. Now, the Lions, they've got some work to do. Yeah, they're on top of the North, but they've also dropped their last game, actually, to the Packers on Thanksgiving Day. They want to make a statement now as they take on the Saints in New Orleans.

Just how we respond to adversity, you know. We're just ebb and flowing this season, and we're kind of plateaued these last couple of weeks, so we've just got to find it again and get back to playing good ball. Packers have won two in a row. They're just below.500, and in the NFC, that means you are in playoff position. They host the Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes' first visit to Lambeau Field comes up on Sunday Night Football. So, yes, can they make it Chargers, Lions, Chiefs? Well, Jonathan Owens and the Green Bay Packers defense has the distinct pleasure of learning how to corral Mr. Mahomes. You just have to know the play, know the coverage you're in, always know where your help is, you know, and it allows you to play when the routes you're supposed to win.

Not ease your mind, but calm you and just know it's a whole team effort. It's going to be a lot of fun to see Pat at Lambeau Field, especially since he's never played there before. That's also one of the candidates for Game of the Week who can take that poll on Twitter, After Hours, CBS, or on our Facebook page.

That was sweet. The Pittsburgh Steelers are hosting the Cardinals. I do not think this is anything exciting, except that it does feature a Steelers defense with T.J. Watt. And according to Mike Tomlin, look no further for your D.P.O.Y. Let's be honest, like, T.J. is the best defensive player on the planet right now. And he proves that week in and week out with the plays that he delivers us.

I get a bird's eye view of it. I see the lengths that people go through to minimize his impact on the game. I know the type of games that we've been in, close ball games. And, you know, how that at times minimizes a guy that plays his position's ability to impact the game. None of those things slow down the train that we all know is coming. That is so true. Against the best defensive players, Aaron Donald being another one in his heyday, T.J. Watt for sure, even Miles Garrett.

It doesn't really matter what you do. They're still going to find a way to impact the game. And I love what Mike Tomlin says. It's not just about stats. It's not just about tackles for loss and sacks. It's also about how much effort opposing teams have to put into just trying to figure out a way to chip him and slow him down, double team him, whatever it is. And it still doesn't work because he's that...

It always is a fight. He's that crafty and obviously he's that strong. And he's got that much of a motor. Same thing for, say, Nick Bosa.

How often does it actually work? Right now, Deneil Hunter of the Vikings and T.J. Watt have the same number of sacks. Thirteen and a half, they lead the NFL. But just behind them, Khalil Mack of the Chargers and Miles Garrett of that Browns defense that continues to keep it relevant game in and game out regardless of whether or not they start Dorian Thompson Robinson or Joe Flacco at quarterback. So, Greg Newsome, the challenge is to... can you say slow down? Disrupt.

There's a good word. Matthew Stafford. They got one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL. We kind of don't look at stats. Like, if you look at his stats, you're probably like, oh, he's not doing too well. But he's one of the best quarterbacks that we've faced. He was facing some injuries and now he's back healthy.

So, you know, we definitely got to watch him and just be ready to go eat snap. The Browns on the road at the Rams. And, yeah, at SoFi Stadium, we heard the Rams talking about playoffs last year. They're also at five and six, which, again, puts you right there in the playoff conversation. Not in the AFC, necessarily, but definitely in the NFC. And Stafford's coming off a game in which he had four touchdowns. Kyron Williams, over 200 total yards.

They're a load for any defense. Run it back! Run it back!

I'm sorry, what, Sean McVay? What the hell's going on right now? That is a great question. Frequently, we have no answer for that question here on After Hours.

Point blank, period. What is the After Hours game of the week? On Twitter, ALawRadio, on our Facebook page, we're allowing you to weigh in and let your opinions and your feelings, your emotions, we let them be felt and heard. We are your forum. All right, coming up, a little bit on college football and conference championship weekend with Josh Pate. Late kick Josh.

He's got an incredibly popular show as well as CBS Sports HQ on his resume. Free! Free! Free! Free!

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Blinds.com. Rules and restrictions may apply. The most unique NBA podcast is out on Odyssey Heat Check with Trista Crick. NBA fans, listen up. I'm Trista Crick, host of the Heat Check podcast, and if you love this league, the storylines, and want a funny, digestible way to get all the news from around the association and someone to break down what's really going on straight up, no chaser, and make you laugh at the same time, follow the Heat Check on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. We're going to shove you forward into the first weekend of December. How is that possible?

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. The SEC is one of the best conferences in the country. I think Georgia is one of the best teams in the country, and I think that they're one of the best four teams in the country. I think if we beat them, we'd be one of the best four teams in the country. I think it would be a disrespect to the SEC if there is an SEC representation in the Final Four. I do believe that.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Nick Saban already campaigning like a true politician. It would be disrespect to the SEC if there isn't SEC representation in the Final Four. College football playoff rankings will depend on what happens this weekend. Conference championships on the horizon. Our friend Josh Pate, late kick Josh, CBS Sports HQ, and the great podcast already in Vegas for the Pac-12 championship, which takes place tonight. We had talked about Washington and Oregon. Where, though, could we see some of the movement, some of the drama?

That's what I really wanted to know. If you want to hear the whole conversation, we also talk about Matt Rule's comment that there are players in college football making $6 million to $7 million. We look at Michigan more extensively. There's a lot of good stuff in this conversation, but just a portion of it to whet your appetite for conference championships here after hours on CBS Sports Radio.

So I asked Josh, where else is there potential for chaos? I think if Washington wins, it's a moot point they're in. I do not know that it's a foregone conclusion that Oregon is in if they win. I can pretty well assure you they are a little, I'm not going to say worried about it, but they're aware of that even inside their organization there because they know what a 12-1 SEC champion Alabama sitting there on Saturday night means to that committee, and I don't care where they have them ranked right now.

It's one thing to catch out these hypotheticals. If you watch Alabama beat Georgia in Atlanta for the SEC championship, it is tough, and it should be tough for that committee to leave them out. Now, if it comes down to a head-to-head Bama, Texas, Texas will go. They've got the head-to-head win regular season.

That should be the case. But if it comes down to one spot left and it's a Bama-Oregon debate, Bama's got more ranked wins. Bama's got the better strength of schedule. Bama's got a lot of those in their favor. Also, they've just got the brand of Alabama and the name Nick Saban, and that sticker, SEC, right there next to their name.

That's one chaos theory. The other chaos theory is I think that Louisville may beat Florida State, and they're a slight favorite, and those are a slight favorite, but top 15 run defense for Louisville. You're without your quarterback in FSU. They're going to have to be a run-first approach here Saturday. It's going to probably be very rainy in Charlotte, and I have not heard a lot of people take that into consideration, but it could be an ugly game, and if they fall, if Washington falls, especially if Georgia falls, that would be three unbeatens falling in conference title weekend, and then you start to ask questions like, is Texas in? I think they're going to win comfortably. I think they will be in, but do you have one spot left?

Do you have two spots left? Those sorts of debates are the ones that could rage. Now, the one I didn't bring up to you, because I respect your airtime too much to waste it with this, the one I didn't bring up is Iowa over Michigan, and I'm just going to let you guess why I didn't bring that possibility up.

There are so many things that would have to take place. I think Iowa would need 17 to 20 non-offensive points to even be in the realm of competitiveness in the fourth quarter. There's no way. I've never said that about a conference title game.

There is no way. If I'll eat crow, I will come on your show next week, but there's no way that's happening. What if Georgia loses to Alabama?

Does that automatically drop the Bulldogs out? How much time do we have right now? We've got time.

Go. Okay, okay. So this is a soapbox, and it's really aggravated me, because I listened to Bill Hancock the other night, who's the president of the playoff committee, and he said something voluntarily that I think was really short-sighted to say. He said, paraphrasing him, but he said, the most deserving team is not even a phrase that's in our lexicon as the committee. We are out to put the best teams, the four best teams in. Now, that sounds all well and good, but it's total BS, because that's not what they've done. But if I were to take his word as gospel, if I were to go down that road, there is no way, whether they win or lose Saturday, that Georgia's not one of the four best teams in the country.

True. So if Bill Hancock's words, those aren't my words, if Bill Hancock's words are gospel, then there's no way you leave Georgia out. Having said that, I guarantee you, you're not having two SEC teams in that playoff. So if Bama wins and they're in, and you've got Michigan winning and they're in, and you've got Texas winning and they're in, and you've got either Oregon or Washington winning, or Florida State winning, those teams are in over Georgia. I will promise you that's going to happen. And if it happens, a point spread will be put out, there will be sports books come out, and they will put the hypothetical odds out, and they're going to tell you Georgia would have been double-digit favorites over multiple teams in the playoff, and you're going to be able to look right back across the table at Bill Hancock and say, how did you decide on this field?

And he's going to be tongue-tied. There's no answer, because you can't say that. Last year, TCU goes to the playoff. You've got odds makers telling you Bama would have been a 10-point favorite over TCU had Bama faced them, and Bama got left out. Now, I agreed that TCU should have been in. I agreed Bama should have been out, because I didn't think Bama deserved to be in. But if all of a sudden we're just putting the four best teams in, well, at that point you're just talking about power rating teams. And I put one of those out every Tuesday and get yelled at on the internet because it doesn't look like the playoff committee rankings. But it shouldn't.

Power ratings should not look like merit-based rankings, because one of them is done on a computer, and the other involves on-field results. And I'm really not sure what the committee is trying to tell us they're valuing right now. And we're a decade into this process, by the way. There is so much more with Josh Pate, late kick Josh. He does an awesome podcast. We generally only snag him once a year.

It's like Christmas with Josh, but we may have to do some Christmas in July, because it's not enough with him. I already told Bob and his family that they need to check out this interview, because they're huge college football fans, and they're hanging on everything that happens this weekend with the possibility that Texas gets in. So check out our podcast, After Hours, Amy Lawrence. On Twitter, on Facebook, we always post the link every weekday morning, so it will be available. Our guests get their own link on the podcast, and so you don't have to search through one of the hours to find our guest, though Josh happened to be at the top of the 3 o'clock hour. Eastern time, but midnight Vegas time. So, yeah, really good stuff with him.

If you're a big college football fan or you just want to get ready for what's to come this weekend. On Twitter, ALawRadio, our Facebook page, too, we've been asking you about your emotional support animal, if you could choose one. Just got this from Corbin. He says, a great, big, wonderful idiot of a giant schnauzer named Candor, who is currently snoozing on my feet. Others of you have posted photos of your dogs or cats. I'm going horse, Producer J. If I could have an emotional support animal, it would definitely be a horse. That's a good one. Would you ride it? Yes, of course. I could see that being very therapeutic, actually.

They use that for PTSD as well as for people who have autism and are on the spectrum. Yeah, it's an incredible communication that horses have with people. I like that one better than mine.

What's yours? I think I'd go with a penguin. Yes, very emotionally supportive. They mate for life, you know, they're very loyal.

That's what I'm saying. No, you meet with a penguin, like a nice emperor penguin, get a little Yeti cooler, put him in there, some ice. Perfect. Take him around. Absolutely, he would love it.

It would be a new home for him. Do you know what a quokka is? Q-U-O-K-K-A.

I'd never heard that before. Happiest animal in the world. Okay, so quokkas are new to me, but Ashley says she would go with a quokka as her emotional support animal because they're so darn cute. I like it. I do like the idea of a sloth.

He doesn't go anywhere. You just hug him. A red panda or a sloth. Actually, panda bears are not friendly. We discovered that earlier with kangaroos as well, they're also not friendly, so you don't really want to snuggle with one of those. Polar bears, they look really squishy and fun, but I don't know, they might sit on you. I was just thinking the same thing with polar bears. Yeah, as much danger as you would imagine with an emotional support gator.

I really don't understand the concept of that. All right, so find us on either Twitter or Facebook. A couple of things to be aware of this weekend as you get ready for the NFL kickoff, well, week 13 on Sunday really, the two stories you're going to be hearing a lot about. Number one, Aaron Rodgers is apparently moving up his timeline.

It's not December 24th anymore. Now that he's back with the Jets, he actually told reporters on Thursday that he's not ruling out an earlier comeback from the torn Achilles, that anything is possible. He's glad to be back on the practice field, and he says he's nowhere near ready to play right now, but he's pushing to come back in the next month.

Okay. Okay, so that's one thing. Also, if you haven't heard this, Von Miller of the Bills turned himself into authorities. There was an arrest warrant that was issued for him. The accusation is assault of a pregnant woman, but that pregnant woman is his longtime girlfriend reportedly, and again, he turned himself in. Wednesday morning, Dallas police responded to a disturbance call, and I guess the original investigation was about an argument between Miller and the young woman, and she accused him of assaulting her.

So Von Miller may or may not be with the Bills this weekend, but he did turn himself in on Thursday. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Excited about what's to come. It's a big football weekend. We know that in conference championships, there's no real home field advantage, but definitely we've given you plenty as part of our NCAA football preview sponsored by Fairfield by Marriott. Fairfield by Marriott is the official hotel partner of the NCAA with over 1,000 locations around the country. You'll always have the home field advantage, so visit fairfield.marriot.com to book your stay. Yeah, I kind of love it, the neutral field, though you will love a ton of fans that make the trips to these various conference championships. And so all weekend long, keep your eyes on the college football horizon as well as what we've got in the NFL week 13. By the way, if you really knew me, I guess we had a few people who weighed in on social, you would have asked me, why or why not is Star Wars involved in your wedding? It's after hours, CBS Sports Radio. Boom!