1-9-24 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

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Add life to cart. Hail to the victors! That's the song, right? We heard it a ton at NRG Stadium just a few hours ago. They're probably still cleaning up the confetti as the Michigan Wolverines cap a perfect season.

Well, near perfect. Their head coach and by virtue of their head coach navigating challenges and obstacles and adversity, the team did as well. But I truly believe this Wolverines football team was galvanized and played even harder, more determined, more committed.

Because of the accusations leveled against their coach and their program, as well as the suspension that he accepted and served late in the regular season. Nothing can take away the fact that they are college football national champions and that they played, their hand played this season in a way that was unquestioned. In a way that left no room for doubt. The Wolverines taking on the Huskies in Houston last night and yeah there were a couple of major turning points.

It's always fun to look back when you have the perspective of the entire game in the books and as the dust settles. Hey, where did the push and pull come in? Where was the tug of war? Where did, in this case, the Wolverines win it? Man, it was a toe-to-toe heavyweight fight, though it didn't start out that way and I think that's a credit to Kalen DeBoer and Washington. That the Huskies changed, morphed, adapted, even managed to slow down and really limit the run game of Michigan that came out with a 1-2 punch.

Not just a punch that could knock you backward, but a punch that could knock you flat. And the Huskies were able to shore up that defensive line and adjust, just ultimately really could never get their own offense going in a way that was sustainable or consistent. And again, that's a credit to Michigan. The defense, the pressure put on Michael Penix Jr. He had some throws, he missed some throws. He had some opportunities, he missed some opportunities. The Huskies had their chances, but ultimately Michigan made it so hard on them. Everything they wanted to do, everything they tried to do came under duress. The Wolverines were repaired, they were tough, they were physical. Certainly the brute strength and force and the will, that was evident right out of the gate. Man, what a crowd too, what an atmosphere.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Good morning to you on your Tuesday. Gosh, I always feel some sense of victory, maybe not hailing the victors, but some sense of victory over navigating a Monday.

At least getting it in the rearview mirror, whether or not I successfully navigated it is another story. But it's always fun to have a major championship or a major game. And certainly during football season we get Monday Night Football, but it's, let's be honest, it's not always a good game, not always a major game.

This one must see TV, number one versus number two in what is the final iteration of the college football playoff with just the four teams. And as I say, early on, right out of the gate, very first drive, and then the second drive, what we saw with that Michigan offensive line, what we saw with the run game was the brute strength. And Donovan Edwards, who'd been really quiet over the second half of the season, and yet he's an option for the Wolverines. And it was cool to see him find his way, find the hole in the offensive line. You may, if you're watching, you may remember that on his first touchdown run, he actually ran right into a wall, was able to back up, shift his weight, find a new direction, and then shoot through a hole that allowed him to go all the way to the end zone. JJ takes the snap, hand off to Edwards, up the middle, bounces off a tackler, 35, Donovan Edwards down the sideline, Donovan Edwards in the clear! Touchdown Wolverines! And Michigan takes the lead on a 41-yard touchdown run by number seven, Donovan Edwards! Pistol formation, JJ takes the snap, hands it off to Edwards, who will bounce it outside, Donovan, 40, Donovan, 30, Donovan Edwards is in the clear!

He'll do it again! His second touchdown run of the ballgame, this time for 46 yards! And Michigan has taken a 13-3 lead on the second touchdown of the night from the man who was not trippin'.

The call's with Doug Karsh from Learfield on the Michigan Wolverines Radio Network. So yeah, that first two, that first two kind of breakthrough runs for Donovan Edwards really symbolized, in my opinion, what Michigan faced this season. Gotta find a way to make it work, and Donovan Edwards did that. And the fact that he hadn't had a touchdown since the Penn State game, I think is what I heard, so significant. Because before the first quarter was done, he had sparked the Wolverines offense.

He'd put the Huskies, especially that D-line, on its heels. He was virtually untouched on both of those touchdown runs. 41 yards, 46 yards. The third drive for Michigan starts essentially the same way that it was Blake Corum, who goes 59 yards on the ground to set up their field goal. See how Washington right away gets popped in the mouth, gives up nearly 175 yards rushing in the opening quarter alone. So when I tell you they had 209 yards rushing at halftime, well, there's a significant difference between the first and second quarters.

So give the Huskies credit for that. Early in the second quarter, there was a fourth down opportunity, and Michael Penix just misses on a deep shot that could have gone for a possible touchdown at the very least. A very large chunk of yardage that would have flipped the field. But the next time that Washington had a fourth down, it was inside the five.

And a brilliant play that was drawn up and executed, everything came together from the way that Penix used his eyes to keep the defense on hold, to keep them guessing, to give his receiver, Jalen McMillan, enough time to cross through the back of the end zone right to left and then in stride hit him for the touchdown. And so that is about 45 seconds to go before halftime. And the Huskies fans, they were loud and proud of that moment because it could have been a lot worse, right?

They could have been in a much larger hole. And so you're wondering at halftime, how will the Huskies come out because they get the ball to start the second half. And after the game, Jim Harbaugh was asked about what happened at halftime locker room. Will Johnson talked at halftime like we got to get this momentum back and darn if we don't get it back, the first play of the second half. I mean, yeah, pull it down.

That was phenomenal. Penix is back to pass on first down. Pump fakes now is firing in and it's intercepted. No, dropped. Oh, Will Johnson, did he catch it? Yeah, he did. Did he catch it?

He did. Will Johnson comes up with an interception right in front of the Washington bench. He bobbled it and then plucked it right off the turf. So it's Will Johnson who addresses the team at halftime and says we got to get this momentum back. Somebody's got to make a play and he's the one with an acrobatic catch who picks off Penix on the very first snap for the Huskies in quarter number three. So Michigan able to tack on another field goal.

And then it kind of bogged down. Going toe to toe. He has some missed throws, some missed opportunities, but mostly just the defense. They're slugging each other. But then you look back on it, you think about middle of the fourth quarter. Michigan just finds another gear, makes a couple more plays, a 1-2 punch that really puts the game out of reach. They're a bunch of chunk plays.

Maybe the defense for the Huskies getting tired, feeling like they're beat up too with the strength and the force of Michigan. And so Blake Corum gets in position for a 12-yard touchdown run and the very next possession, Penix looking for something, anything downfield. Comes the pressure, Penix fires over the middle and it is intercepted. Mikey St. Ristal going the other way.

20, 25, 30. Mikey St. Ristal to the 40, to the 50. Mikey St. Ristal down the field, inside the 20, comes back inside at the 10. And he's dragged down at the Washington 6-yard line. JJ under center. Brings a tight end in motion. Handoff Blake Corum up the middle. Touchdown!

Wolverines! Behind the left side of the offensive line. And Michigan extends the lead to 33-13 with 3.37 to go win the ballgame. Within a couple of minutes, not only the touchdown from Blake Corum that goes 12 yards, but then after the interception and the 81-yard run back, it was just an overthrow by Penix.

He sailed the ball high over his receiver's head. Corum's second touchdown and you hear with Doug Karsh on Learfield puts it out of reach at 34-13 at that point. So two different guys, both Corum and Edwards, early and late if you will, over 100 yards. Each has a couple of touchdowns and ultimately the Michigan defense is able to slam the door. Washington's last chance. Punch formation to the right. One receiver split to the left. Penix in a shotgun on 4th and 10 from his own 31. Takes the snap.

Back to pass. Wolverines bring a blitz. Fires and it is incomplete.

It completes. And the Michigan defense calls game. It was an impressive performance. Even when it felt like the Huskies had grabbed some momentum, found some headway, Michigan would answer back.

And answer back so firmly and so, I don't want to say it loudly, but you get my point, would answer back with such force that there really wasn't a whole lot of room to breathe. So that defense was smothering. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Penix getting hit a lot.

Even if he wasn't officially sacked, he was dealing with the players in his face all the time and never really having the chance to get comfortable. I'm just happy that I was able to finish it with the guys. I knew that I didn't want nothing to take me out of that game because I've been through it too much.

I knew that no matter what, I was going to make sure that I finished for the guys. Just giving my all. I'm not healthy, but I'll be there. I'm good. It's nothing major.

I know that for sure. We didn't get to see the touch, the feel, the deep balls, the touch passes from Michael Penix that we did in his record setting performance in the semi-final. He goes 27-51, 255 yards, one touchdown, but then a couple of picks. Not much of a run game to speak of. Dylan Johnson, remember he got hurt late in the semi-final. He was out there. I guess he was on and off the field early, but he was out there. They gave him 11 carries, but really just couldn't find a whole lot of room to run. I don't think that's so much about the injury. It's probably more about Michigan and also then just trying to find what worked for them all season, which was Penix chucking it up and down the field. As for Corum, such a neat redemption story for him. He got injured last year, a devastating knee injury that ended his season and so he could not participate with the Wolverines when they were in the college football playoff. To a man, they all kind of went back to the TCU loss from a year ago and the fact that it not only gave them extra motivation, but it brought them together as a team. And that from that point, even JJ McCarthy said it, they were not the same team. They were about something different and it was next level for them having suffered through that loss.

Corum, he ends up as the offensive player of the game. Okay, what's the number one reason you should try Instacart shopping over 1.5 million unique products from over 1000 retailers and get everything delivered right to your door and as fast as one hour all in one app so you can spend more time with the ones who matter most. Visit Instacart.com to get free delivery on your first three orders offer valid for a limited time $10 minimum per order.

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Nice get six times longer lasting freshness plus older protection with downy unstoppable in Washington. Coaches always say playmakers have to make plays. You know, don't wait on anyone else to make a play but you know today was a complete, complete you know team effort you know there's so many people making plays out there. And when we need to play someone made it whether it been myself will have been will will have been JJ or Donovan you know coasting, I could keep going on and on just because so many guys may place.

But when the play needs to be made playmakers make them, we have a lot of them. Let's go Michigan fans we did this for y'all. What a blessing it is to be able to receive such an amazing accumulation that we did today. I'm blessed man it's a blessing for all of us to be all here to win a national championship for the fans for the alumni for the program for the university. I gotta say is God bless and go blue. God bless and go blue.

It's Donovan Edwards on it so you have quorum and you have Edwards and man what a tone they set, along with the battles in the trenches that were one. So clearly by Michigan so relief for Jim Harbaugh after nine years, he said he wanted to bring a championship to the Wolverines and he did it. Just to be, you know, part of the family, you know, with my dad who won a national championship with Western Kentucky in 2002, and john Harbaugh who won the Super Bowl 2012 season 2013 Super Bowl. I get to sit at the big person's table now.

That feels really good. He was said it multiple times the big kids table I'm now welcome with the other coaches who are champions in my household, and something else that that I thought was fun to if you're watching the broadcast you saw this, I guess if you're a coach you can you can take this kind of Liberty, if you're a coach and you're a brother, well then you can do whatever you want, but at some point during the first half john Harbaugh gets down to field level, not know if he was late if he was in a booth or not a booth sorry, a suite, and he's just decided he would go down and hang out on the field. If you're john Harbaugh you can do whatever the heck you want right. Plus it's your brother who's coaching, but his brother didn't know he was down there clearly judging by his reaction, but at some point, it was late in the first half, john goes up to gym, he's, he's in the middle of coaching the national championship, and john walks up to his brother kind of grabs him and Jim things like who the heck is this you can see by his startled reaction and then of course there's a huge embrace, but yeah, hadn't seen him clearly beforehand again I don't know if john got there late, or if he was busy with other things or with with his parents, his parents were sitting in the stands. But yeah, just walk up to his bro right in the middle of coaching.

That feels really good. It was a really funny moment, but again if you're a brother, and you're also a coach yourself, maybe you recognize well hey it might catch him off guard but it'll go right back to what he was doing. But yeah, only a brother who's a fellow coach can get away with that.

Could you imagine somebody let's say, try to think of another guy who's like super intense and just would be like what the hell are you doing get away from me. But yeah, you'd have to be a family member, you have to be a fellow coach to be able to disturb him right in the middle of coaching can be like an analyst, or like on the side reporters go up there. Hey, Jim, do you have a second Can I give you a hug busy anyway yeah so that was kind of fun and his dad, his parents were in the stands which is really cool, and just a beaming Jim Harbaugh, wanting to enjoy the moment, but of course, having to answer the question about, Oh, are you ready to jump to the NFL and maybe try to win a Super Bowl then. I just want to enjoy this. I just want to enjoy this. I hope you give me that, you know, the guy have that. Does it always have to be, you know what's next what's, what's the future. You know, like I said the other day, yeah I hope I hope to have a future.

Hope there's a tomorrow, a day after tomorrow, you know, next week and next month. The next year. He's certainly going to be in high demand hot pursuit. Remember last year was it last year that he would the Vikings get no it was whenever they hired. Kevin O'Connell right.

So two, two years ago. Yeah, where he made it no now he was late throwing his hat into the ring. But, and that would have been after seven years we had a caller earlier from Michigan fan base Wolverines nation that he had initially I didn't remember this but he initially said he would stay there seven years and give the program seven years. So, a couple of seasons ago before Kevin O'Connell was hired the Vikings were engaging in a big coaching search, and he did throw his hat into the ring late. Now the speculation was that he wanted more power and autonomy than what the Vikings were willing to give him so that was at least the report at the time. Don't know whether or not that's the case or what he's demanding from an NFL team but you can imagine especially after winning a title that there will be owners and front offices out there that are willing to give him whatever he wants in order to bring him on board.

On Twitter a law radio. You all are still raging over the caller we had from Ann Arbor last hour. I just, I would just want to man to be happy just your team just want a championship can you just be happy.

Why are you so angry. Also on our Facebook page you can vote for Monday MVP just got a couple of minutes left also for TD of the week, straight ahead we had a special guest CBS Sports National College insider who joined us from Houston, following the win. He was still in the stadium when we talked to him and so we'll bring back part of that perspective from him. And then the latest on the NFL coaching carousel to get you set for your Tuesday and maybe a few more surprises. It's after hours with Amy Lauren CBS Sports Radio, you are listening to the after hours podcast. Wolverine players Wolverine alums Michigan fans everywhere. Jim Harvall and your staff, your team is the number one team in America, as the clock ticks down and Michigan completes a 15 and 0 national championship season here in Houston.

This is after hours with Amy Lawrence. The final call of the college football season with Doug cars from Learfield the Michigan Wolverines win their first title since 1997 that was pre BCS and pre college football playoff. And now we've got a new era that will be ushered in not only for all the conference realignment at a behemoth that will soon be the big 10 but also the demise of the back 12 or at least the rebranding and the rebooting of the pack 12 and what will be its next form. So many changes in college football, even as it's still the wild wild west or a bit of that flavor the wild wild west, and yet in this particular case, Michigan left no room for doubt and came together for a national championship after a 15 an hour to cap a 15 oh perfect season and Jim Harbaugh, you may think, whatever you like about him he's got a heart, he's a family guy and he loves to families in this world. I got two great loves my love at work. You know the people I work with coaches the staff players, and, and, and love I have for my family at home, and just means a lot.

A couple of the kids here right there, Jimmy grace, Sarah, Johnny, Jack Katie, Eddie, they're just the loves of my life, and my brother john being here my dad mom being here. You know, and then, you know, to be here with our team, and that's those two families together, celebrate and it's, it's glorious, it is just beautiful thing. Congratulations to Michigan. This took place in Houston, or man it's certainly at the end of the game as Michigan was grabbing momentum sounded a lot like it was all Wolverines fans what a noise, we had a chance to catch up with Sean Jay Raja of CBS Sports who was covering the game was in Houston all week and asked him what made the difference in Michigan's march to this title. Well the funny thing about this is that this team, and some of the players on the roster have been through the last two of them and I think back to 2021 when Michigan played against Georgia, and I mean people kind of forget that team got wiped off the field by George, they were not close to come back again, the next year and have a chance to win against TCU and fall short, and then to play a game where they're trailing in the fourth quarter against Alabama in the Rose Bowl and find a way to come back forth over time and win that game. I mean this has been a resilient team, all season long, they've obviously dealt with the suspension of their head coach for six games they've had multiple different interim coaches after their office coordinator while this is a team that just kept rolling with the punches, kept getting more experience, kept getting older, and now they leave as national champions. Jim made the point, once again, that they were able to weather the storm and everything worked out the way that it was supposed to because they're innocent, because the players had nothing to do with anything, they're innocent.

Why is it so important for him to make that point? Well, let's think about the fact of what got him in trouble in the first place, right, with the first NCAA case. There are two cases that are going on right now, both separate, and that will be adjudicated separately as well by the NCAA, but the first case had to do with him misleading investigators, not telling the truth, and part of it was that they came back and said can you just clarify, we know the answer to this question, we know that you did this thing, and he refused to say that he did. So some of this is just Jim Harbaugh's stubbornness.

He needs to kind of put on that face and tell people that he's innocent, to tell people that nothing wrong happened. You know, the reality is, too, with the signed feelings scandal, we don't know that Jim Harbaugh had any part in that, but it did happen under his watch is what, of course, is at the center of it. So I think that this is just Jim Harbaugh's personality. He has been stubborn his whole career.

He's been stubborn his whole life. It wore people out when he was with the 49ers. At times, it wore people out when he was at Michigan, but here's the reality. When you lead a team to the Super Bowl, and when you lead a team to a college football national championship, you're allowed to be a little stubborn. How much do you think it played a factor in Michigan's winning this championship? Yeah, I think that having to go through what they went through is just so unique. There is no team that you can really point to in the history of college football.

The only thing that I think maybe comes a little close would be Alabama having to deal with the 2020 pandemic season. I mean, that was obviously, in a very different way, a unique situation, but it didn't matter who was leading the program. It didn't matter who was putting in the play calls. It didn't matter who was leading the team onto the field.

I got a chance to talk a couple days ago with Kente Jones, one of the tackles for Michigan. He told me before that Michigan game, because I want people to remember, just hours before the game when they were flying to State College, that's when they learned that Jim Harbaugh would not be allowed to coach in the game against Penn State and would be defended for three games. At that point, they kind of made a choice. The team came together and made a choice. We are going to not let this break us.

We are going to go in and win for Coach Harbaugh, even though he's not there. People will, of course, remember offensive coordinator and interim coach Sharon Moore's emotional reaction after the game. But this is what they had to go through for so much of the year. Ultimately, I think that because of the leadership that they had, because of the coaching staff that they had, they were able to use it in a positive sense. And again, so many of the players on this team, I think I counted 14 of the 22 starters, played in the 2021 college football playoff against Georgia.

So they have been through the ringer and ultimately I think those experiences helped shape who they were. Of course, the ability to run the ball was really impressive and the 209 rushing yards in the first half. But also on the defensive side, the ability to limit Michael Penix, who had such a brilliant semifinal. What did Michigan do against him to make sure that he wasn't as effective? Well, I think that the first part of this is that defensive coordinator Jesse Mincher probably needs to put together a lot of tape from this day because this is the kind of tape that earns you a head coaching job or an NFL defensive coordinator job.

It was an incredible day with what he was able to do. What I think they did best was they simulated a lot of pressure. Sometimes it was guys coming, but sometimes it was the threat of guys coming. I remember in the first quarter at some point, you know, I remember a couple of years ago, right, we saw the whole Sam Darnold, I'm seeing ghosts thing. Well, Washington's offensive line was seeing ghosts for a lot of that first quarter.

They did not know where the pressure was coming from. The Michigan defensive line is so versatile. They're so athletic that they're able to line up almost anywhere and attack from different angles. And I think they struggled to do that.

I believe Michigan was only credited with two sacks in the game, but they were right in Michael Penix's face every single play in a way that Texas just wasn't able to do. And then on the back end as well, I mean, this is a fantastic, fantastic secondary. You know, they let their players play.

I mean, I think that it was a different crew, maybe they would have called, you know, the hand fighting just a little bit differently. But they took advantage of what the refs were kind of giving them. And they have very physical defensive backs.

They're technically incredibly sound. And they mixed up their coverages. There were a couple of opportunities that Michael Penix had where he had a receiver free or he had a guy open down the field.

But the thing was, they just did such a good job of preventing him from getting into rhythm that by the time those plays came open, it didn't matter. There certainly are questions around Jim Harbaugh and whether or not he makes his return to pro football. Just hearing the questions, hearing his answers, what is your sense of what his future might hold? Well, if you ask Jim Harbaugh, he says, well, my hope is that I have a future.

I hope we have it tomorrow. And, you know, certainly I think it's a little bit of a misdirect, I think you could say. My feel, talking to people, my feel from his answers, my feel from hearing from the presidents of Michigan, from hearing from the athletic director at Michigan, I think that everybody kind of expects him to lead.

Really? He was brought to Michigan in 2015 to win a national championship. And he's done that now.

Now I think he really does want the opportunity to do what he hasn't done before. Match his brother, of course, John Harbaugh, who won a Super Bowl. And, I mean, when you talk about Jim Harbaugh, I mean, everybody, you know, everybody has a price.

Everybody needs money. But, like, you know, he doesn't, I don't think, really do this for the money. He does it for legacy and for respect. And so, you know, to bring a title to Michigan, the first outright national championship at Michigan since 1948, I mean, he's checked the box now. He's done it.

And so I do think that with the interest level that there could be in the NFL, especially after he won a national championship, if the right situation comes about, I absolutely think that he's going to heavily consider jumping. Marwa Shahan Jayarajah on the After Hours podcast. He's a national college football writer for CBS Sports, was actually speaking to us from NRG. He was still there when he joined us live in the first hour of the show. And our podcast is available every weekday morning, just minutes after we're done, on both Twitter and Facebook.

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To get to it, you can bookmark it on the Odyssey page. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Yeah, it's my expectation that they're going to come back. I think they're good coaches, so it'd be good to have some continuity and bring them back. I haven't talked to those guys. I've talked to the guys that I've let go, but that's my expectation and that's my plan. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. That soundbite from Giants head coach Brian Deball does require some context, but if we have our timeline correct, he made those comments about Wink Martindale, the defensive coordinator, and a handful of other defensive coaches minutes before they were ushered out the door or minutes before the announcement was made that they were parting ways or that Wink Martindale was resigning.

Take your pick of the phrases, but it's still the same end result. Right after, we heard from Brian Deball that Wink Martindale and some of the other coaches, the defensive coaches, would be retained and would be part of their organization moving forward. They were parting ways.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Wink Martindale, who is the D coordinator for the Giants, which I feel was the best part of their season. They led the NFL in takeaways, did they not?

Yeah, they're one of the top teams in the league in turning over their opponents. And two of his top assistants, who were a pair of brothers, Drew and Kevin, they coach linebackers. They were also expected to be shown the door. I'm trying to come up with colloquialisms for getting fired. Now, the term that's being used about Martindale is that he's expected to resign. But he and Brian Deball reportedly had a very rocky relationship.

And this was likely the issue. And here's the deal, when relationships are tenuous or there's a lot of friction and you're winning, generally locker rooms tend to deal with it. Coaching staff, they just kind of absorb those personality and relational conflicts. And when you're losing, and when everything's going horribly wrong, and there's all this pressure on the head coach, well then, some of these other relationships tend to be more than just a splinter.

Rather than a splinter in a finger or a thorn in your butt, they become like someone taking a 2x4 to your head. Right, so losing exacerbates all of the challenges in your locker room. A leadership void, personality conflicts, guys who are not bought in.

And even though the Giants had a woeful record, and even though the Giants had all kinds of quarterback issues and offensive challenges, the defense, I thought, did itself proud most of the time. Wink Martindale expected to resign. And again, all signs, all reports point to the relationship with Deball, not the job that he was doing. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Also in the NFC, we know that, well in the NFC East, we know that Ron Rivera was let go pretty early on Monday.

He was next to Arthur Smith, a casualty of Black Monday specifically. And Josh Harris, not unkind about it, I don't think this was a huge surprise, he just wants to find his own guy. We've decided to part ways with Ron Rivera. We appreciate Ron's efforts and everything he did for the franchise. I mean, obviously he came here during a tumultuous time period, the ownership change, and he really added leadership. But clearly, you know, we weren't good enough this year.

We didn't get it done on the field, and so we've decided to go into a new direction. This is an ownership group that has very high expectations. They can throw money at any problem. They do have a track record of winning, or at least Josh Harris does, with the Sixers, with the Devils. And he expects to get a return on his $6 billion investment. And they've got Magic Johnson as part of this ownership group, they're bringing in Bob Myers, who was the architect of the Warriors.

He knows nothing about football, but he's a winner. Also Rick Spielman, longtime GM with the Vikings, and so they're putting together this brain trust, essentially, to try to figure out how to build a winning culture. I give Ron Rivera a ton of credit.

Not only did they have multiple name changes, how many quarterbacks ate of them, how many different changes in the front office and on the roster. Now, ultimately that's on him, but I do appreciate his leadership. I appreciate that he holds players accountable, but also fosters relationships, and I do hope that he lands somewhere else quickly. We're also hearing now that the Bears are still in the process of making their decision about Matt Iberflu, so no definitive word there. Let's see, that's the same situation with Bill Belichick and the Patriots. And he acknowledges he's under contract, hasn't had the final conversations with the Crafts or had a conversation with them post-season, but of course we can expect that to happen. Pete Carroll, don't expect him to be on the, would he be on the picket line? No, he'd be on the unemployment line anytime soon. I plan to be coaching this team, and I told you that I love these guys, and that's what I would like to be doing, and see how far I can go.

You know, I'm not worn out, I'm not tired, I'm not into any of that stuff. I need to do a better job, and I need to help my coaches more, and we need to do a better job of coaching, and there's a lot of area for improvement. I can't imagine why the Seahawks would make any change at coach. Pete Carroll's one of the reasons they remain consistent, even when they don't have a roster that most coaches could turn into a winner.

710 AM Seattle Sports with that Pete Carroll interview. Dennis Allen staying on board as the coach of the New Orleans Saints. Certainly helps the way they finished the season, and were above 500 and also kept themselves in the playoff conversation. Doug Peterson taking a lot of liberties with his coaching staff, the defensive coaches. They're the ones who are taking the hits post their huge failure to make the playoffs. I feel fine moving forward, I just think how we finished the last six games of the year, how we did it, you know, and we had opportunities to win these games. It wasn't like we were out of a lot of games, you know, down the stretch here. It's we lost the game more than them winning the game, you know, and that's really kind of been our season. I can't get over how they squandered a two and a half game lead in the AFC South in the AFC South. We're not talking about a division full of Super Bowl contenders.

Now, it's not as bad as what people expected it to be. But congratulations to the Texans for seeing that door open in front of them and just bum rushing right through it. Good for D'Amico Ryans and of course, C.J.

Stroud. And it's not just them, it's a really young roster. Nick Casario deserves a ton of credit after he was blasted for the year when he took over specifically. So there are some changes coordinators let go. We're going to see obviously the coaching carousel start to spin fast and furious. Expect Jim Harbaugh to be popular. Also, Dan Quinn has already got multiple interviews lined up. We'll see what news transpires tonight.

So join us again. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. Call 562-314-4603 for complete details. Thanks to our nationwide logistics network. Yep, Graybar does that. Available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.