After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

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Learn more about the new Tucson and Bluelink Plus at HyundaiUSA.com. Call 562-314-4603 for complete details. Halfway through our first show of the work week, and maybe you have Monday off. I know family members and friends do have Monday off. My kiddos from church on Sunday, they were excited about having Monday off, but that is not the case for playoff football. There's another double header. Coming up on Monday, just over 12 hours from now, we'll have Steelers and Bills kick off. And according to the governor of New York, there will be no more postponement.

Nah, it's going through the way that it was rescheduled to go through. And that means CBS has football at 4.30 Eastern Time on Monday, followed by Bucks Eagles. That one's in Tampa. There's no snow there.

It might be cold, but there's no snow there. After hours with Amy Lawrence on our Facebook page, you can vote for Monday MVP, also on Twitter, A Law Radio, and then you can weigh in about the Dallas Cowboys. What a double header on Sunday in the NFC. Cowboys get shellacked, shivved, and shanked by the Green Bay Packers. And the Detroit Lions battle toe-to-toe against their former quarterback, Matthew Stafford, and they prevail by a single point. I just got this tweet from Chicago. I can assure you nobody, this is all caps, is rooting for the Mustard and Relish to win. We might give a half-hearted clap for Detroit. Mustard and Relish, of course, meaning the gold and green of the Green Bay Packers. That's funny. I had to say it out loud so I would get it. Thank you for the tweet.

Again, A Law Radio or phone number 855-212-4227 if you want to weigh in. Jerry Jones says he hasn't thought about Mike McCarthy's future. He wasn't prepared right after the game to say anything except for how painful and disappointing it was. McCarthy says I'm under contract, not thought about my future with the team.

Dak says a lot of my success this season is due to him, so if you're going to blame somebody, blame me. But what do the Cowboys have to do so that they stop falling short, and I mean woefully short, of their goal, whether home or away, they still have not gotten back to an NFC championship. Wish I had that answer for you, honestly.

I mean, yeah. Maybe in the throes of disappointment, dejection, and disillusionment, probably not the best time to ask for answers. But Jerry Jones, he's now 81, and it's been 28 seasons since the Cowboys last appeared in a Super Bowl. Mike McCarthy has one year left on his contract, three straight 12 win seasons, and the NFC East title, twice in the last three years, but a single playoff win. Of course we know what matters the most, but how do you fire that guy and start all over again?

That's the question. And if it's anybody but Bill Belichick, and I think Bill Belichick is a Hall of Fame coach, I'm not one of those people who thinks he just forgot how to coach, or he can only coach if it's Tom Brady. I don't love some of the personnel decisions he's made the last few years. I'm sure many Patriots fans feel the same way. He's one hell of a coach, and just by walking into the locker room, there's an instant credibility, of course. But he's such an upgrade over Mike McCarthy that all of a sudden they never suffer this playoff disappointment, and more specifically, how does that affect Dak Prescott? The number of years that I've spent listening to Cowboys fans wanting someone other than Dak to be their quarterback, and he just came through a brilliant season in Mike McCarthy's first year calling plays. How about the connection with C.D.

Lamb? It's one of the best in the NFL. These things have to count for something.

I get it. It sucks if you're a Cowboys fan. You didn't even save face. You can't even pretend like you were ever in this game. Nah, it's as bad as it could possibly be.

But by starting over, remember there's a cost to that as well. There are always going to be adjustments. And also, I'm wondering about Dan Quinn. What about Dan Quinn? This was his defense that got shivved. Is that politically incorrect?

It might be. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Before we get to some AFC football, I'd love to hear from you.

855-212-4227. Mark in Buffalo is calling with a weather update. Mark, how are you? Not too bad.

I'm doing fairly okay. And it's a little bit of almost like not too warm up here. We have the temperature of 5 degrees.

That's the regular temperature. It's 5 degrees right now. And we received some more snow overnight. My location is north of the stadium. The snow band is like moving north and south. But before it moved south again, we received another 3 inches up on my end. And as I said, it's moving back toward the stadium. So I didn't catch the local weather report yet. But I'm just waiting for that to come about. I just turned my TV on.

It's on mute right now. I'm just waiting for them to give another local update. And that's the situation up here. Are you staying home? Are you staying inside?

Oh yeah. I was out yesterday for a little bit. We had some outside contractors in the area removing some of the snow that was accumulated. We probably picked up during that about maybe 4 to 5, maybe almost half a foot of snow. Wow. Sounds awesome. I love snow.

So I'm a little jealous myself. Well, you'd love it up here now. Like I said, it's moving north and south. It's been doing that all weekend.

And at this time, I believe it's heading back toward the stadium. Okay. Well, I appreciate your weather update to the minute. Just be safe. Okay, Mark? Always. Yep.

I'll be listening and hopefully if I get another update before you go off, I'll give you a heads up. Okay. Thank you.

We appreciate the man on the scene. Just as I say, be safe and root for your bills. You got it.

Willsy do. Alright, Mark. Thank you. Let's talk to Pat who's in Indiana.

Pat, welcome to After Hours CBS Sports Radio. Hey, good morning. How are you doing? I'm good.

Thank you. So, yeah, I'm a diehard Packer fan. The rest of my family are Bears fans. Unfortunately, I grew up on the south side of Chicago.

I'm like the black sheep. But, yeah, that game today was, I mean, there's so many different points I want to get to. But, I mean, when I was going into that game, I was like, I thought they had a chance. I knew their offense was playing well. And I figured if you could keep seeding lamb to 100 yards and a touchdown, I was like, that would be good.

And if they kept Pollard 50, 60 yards rushing, that'd be okay. I just wasn't expecting at all the dicing up that LaFleur did to Dan Quinn. Like, I just really was shocked. And I think it just, it proves more and more just from the coaching aspect with LaFleur. Everyone was saying that, you know, Rodgers was what made LaFleur a good coach and those great seasons they had. And, I mean, he's just proving, them and the Packers are just proving so many doubters wrong.

LaFleur doing a hell of a job with love and just, like, their offense is growing and blossoming every week. And, like, Cowboys defense is good. I mean, they, we knew they had a bad rush defense and Aaron Jones exploited that extremely bad today.

But, I mean, just everything they did, I mean, they had no answers. It wasn't just Aaron Jones. I mean, Jordan Love went 16 for 21, 274, and three touchdowns with a perfect passer rating. I mean, like, it's just, everything is clicking at the perfect moment. And, I mean, if they can pass protect, which they've been able to do really well going into the last eight games of the year, it was a rocky start. But, man, they're pass protecting over everybody. And if the Niners can't rush Love, I mean, it's, I don't want to say it's going to be the same thing.

Not at all, because that's a whole other animal going to can't brand. But, I mean, if you don't get pressure on Love, that, I don't know what else you can really do. But, I mean, I think it's going to be a much tougher game. But, yeah, just the blowout was completely, I was not expecting that at all. I figured it would be close. I figured it would be a high scoring game, 35-28. You know, 35-31 if the Packers don't win. You know, they've made it this far.

It's great. No, they're just, they're like, no, this is not what our goal was. Our goal was to win and go to the Super Bowl. It's just crazy as a Packer fan, seeing Love in his first year just kind of make Bears fans so angry.

Well, can I ask you a question? When the season started out slowly, and I know Aaron was hurt, so that was one part of it, Aaron Jones. And they've got so many young guys. We're talking rookies, first and second year guys. And then Jordan Love, he had, you know, he scuffled at the start.

You know, it wasn't just him, obviously, but he bore the brunt of it to the point where I heard some people asking nationally whether or not this was a huge mistake. How did you feel going back to, say, mid-season before they hit this great run? Oh, I mean, week one, I mean, if most Packer fans would tell you, I mean, at least the Packer fans that know football, which most of them do, I mean, they knew it was going to be a questionable start, for sure, a rocky start. They weren't expecting, I think playoffs were on the outskirts, but, I mean, October was rough, and you kind of expected that. I mean, but even with that, the first few weeks, he got off to a hell of a start.

I mean, we won at the Bears, at Soldier Field, he threw for three touchdowns, and then not over, he dipped. And then I think part of that was the floor not really trusting him yet, I don't think. And the playbook wasn't really all there, he was kind of keeping the reins on love. And then you saw it was the, well, the Lions game, for sure, Thanksgiving, that was the statement game, like, okay, I can kind of give love a little bit more. And then that Rams game and the Steelers game, right in there is when the playbook started to open up a lot more for love. And then just from November on, you just saw all these different things the floor was doing, like, motioning guys and just letting love kind of sling it. And that was, like you said, a good point, Jones was hurt.

And again, like you said, doing all this with rookies and secondary guys, no David Bakhtiar here, all pro left tackle, no Christian Watson for more than half the season, your wide receiver won. I mean, like, the fact that he's doing that, he's been doing this for now ten weeks with all that going on, and now you got Aaron Jones healthy and Christian Watson played today, didn't really do a whole lot, which I kind of figured he's just coming back, he didn't go on six weeks or five weeks or whatever. But, yeah, I mean, I figured it was going to be a little bit of a rocky start.

And I was like, in October, I was like, please, like, if you can get it, like, just get it together. But, you know, I wasn't 100 percent sure. But, like, we had seen glimpses of it and I knew he was, I knew he had talent.

I knew that, no doubt. I just didn't know if he could put it all together, read a defense, make the quick decisions that you have to do as a quarterback. And, oh, my God, he's just doing that with flying colors. You know, they play zone against him, he destroys it, they blitz him, he knows where to go.

He's throwing in the pocket with pressure, like, that touchdown to Dontavion Wicks today. Yeah. I mean, he had guys in his face.

Right. He nearly got sacked. And he just throws a dart, 28 yards, whatever it was, down the field, right at the numbers. I mean, those are the things that Aaron Rodgers did when he was in his younger days. I'm not comparing the two, but you can just see how much he learned from Rodgers.

I was sitting there and reading and watching and studying. And, I mean, yeah, no, he's passing every single test. And, I mean, some of the experts had said earlier, like, Dan Olofsky is a big guy that was, like, on love and saying, hey, like, this guy's good. If he can at least be average, this could be a playoff team. And if he's really good, the Packers really have something going here. Well, did you hear Micah Parsons rave about him all year, which I think is somewhat ironic. He's been talking about how Jordan needs a little more time, needs a little more time.

He's really good. And, well, yeah, he had a front row seat. No, I didn't know that. I didn't know him.

I didn't know he said that. But, yeah, no, they're just passing every test with flying colors. And, I mean, this is what the Packers did in 2010. I mean, no, I mean, I don't want to, again, compare teams, but, like, this is what, like, you get hot at the right time and you're just, everything's clicking.

I don't know if they're going to beat San Fran, but I can promise. And, I mean, last thing I'll say is Joe Berry and the defense. Oh, yeah.

My God. Like, Packer fans have been, with the pitchforks, wanting him to get fired since, I don't know, week eight or week six. I mean, like, this defense was terrible, terrible, like, earlier in the season, along with, you know, another credit to love, like, playing well with a bad defense.

And now, somehow, some way, I don't know how. I mean, Joe Berry is dialing up this defense to play well. And Jair Alexander came back today. He had a nice game. But credit to Joe Berry, too, I wouldn't have said this at all six weeks ago, but credit to him, man.

He's doing a hell of a job these last couple weeks against good defense. Definitely. So. All right. Well, I appreciate that, Pat. Good to talk to you. You definitely have it over your Chicago relatives, at least this year. Oh, for sure. And, yeah, go, Pat, go. All right.

Thanks for calling from Indiana. That's fun. It is definitely a storyline that took time coming together.

And that's what I like about it. It wasn't instant success. It wasn't perfect.

It took some time. But over the course of the season, how often do we see teams go on these journeys that, at times, go around the mountain more than once? I mean, think about the Cleveland Browns. Five different starting quarterbacks. And I get it.

It didn't turn out the way they wanted either. But the fact that they're even in the playoffs, coming out of the toughest division in football, to me is a major accomplishment. And I tweeted about it.

And, boy, the comments I got in return. Every season takes on a life of its own. And the Packers had to find their new path, had to find their new leadership, had to find their footing to go around this mountain.

But, man, it was worth the wait, was it not? And this is the youngest team in football. All right. So coming up, we do have to get to the AFC. We've got a couple of games from Saturday. So we need to get to the AFC, where we've got the Chiefs in their 15th consecutive home playoff game.

My gosh, that's obscene. 15 in a row at home? But this is not your older brother's Chiefs. In fact, this is a Chiefs team that might be led by defense.

And then also the first game of the playoffs, Joe Flacco, and then the youngest quarterback ever to be part of a playoff win. Wow, talk about that dichotomy opposite ends of the spectrum. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Please find me on Twitter, A Law Radio, and then also on our Facebook page. And you can weigh in on Monday MVP. And who's to blame for the Cowboys?

I actually might be holding my breath on Monday wondering what's going to happen. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. The Graybar does that. Around New Year's, we get a little obsessed with changing ourselves and forgetting the things we're already doing right. Like taking our supplements every morning or scheduling me time into our day. Therapy helps you recognize those victories and keep up the good work in the New Year without changing everything. BetterHelp offers affordable online therapy so you can try New Year's Same You with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash grow today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp H-E-L-P dot com slash grow.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Maybe you thought the near record cold. Well, record for a playoff game at Arrowhead. Near record for an NFL postseason game. Maybe you thought that near record cold would lead the Kansas City Chiefs to be relatively conservative.

Not the case. They come out firing, actually. And Patrick Mahomes and his offense able to settle into a rhythm. Now this is before Pat's helmet shattered. It's before Andy Reid's mustache completely turned to icicles. I wonder what would happen if he had just rubbed his nose or grabbed the frozen hair that turned into icicles and just yanked it. Ouch. Someone actually did ask him the question.

We'll let you hear from Andy himself coming up. The Chiefs score on the opening drive and they work in Travis Kelce and Isaiah Pacheco to get the offense in rhythm. And then the rookie Rashi Rice with his first playoff touchdown that goes 11 yards for the easy score. Well, easy. Yeah, they make it look easy. The rest of the first half was only field goals for the Chiefs. So I kind of wondered. All right.

Are they leaving too many points out there? I know it was home. It was Arrowhead.

It was cold. The Dolphins were missing multiple defensive starters that they've lost in the last couple of weeks, including Bradley Chubb, their great pass rusher. But after a two interception.

And after a couple of extended. Possessions. They only manage field goals. And in the meantime, there was a jolt from a former chief.

All right. The ball is right now at the 47 of Miami. Shotgun snap long throw downfield. Caught by Hill at the 15. Breaks a tackle 10.

Swerves to his right at the five. He's in for the touchdown. They got a long fifty-three yard touchdown pass. Tongue of Aloha to Tyreek Hill. What a play.

And they use the wind to their advantage with some poor Chiefs tackling in the secondary. The call with Kevin Harlan on Westwood 1. And for those of you who did not watch the game on Peacock, many of you did.

But for those of you who did not have a Peacock party. Well, then you got to listen to it on the radio. Actually, I listened to both. Mitch Holtus on Chiefs radio as well as Kevin Harlan.

I did one for the first half, one for the second half. And Mitch was very aware. Mitch and our friend Dana Hughes, who's been on the show multiple times. Former Chiefs wide receiver. He is the color analyst. And then Josh, is it Josh?

Is it Klingler? Yeah, who's also been on the show. Who's their sideline reporter. His mic was frozen. So they would go to him and it wasn't working. Anyway, I listened to them and Mitch was very cognizant of the fact. And I quote, that we have thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of you listening. He mentioned that more than once, meaning they knew they had a much larger audience than normal.

Because people couldn't watch on TV outside of Kansas City or Miami unless they had Peacock. And we'll get to the numbers here coming up. It was great to know that a lot of you chose radio just because I'm a radio junkie. And I think that's cool. But many people, maybe Swifties, did decide to tune in on Peacock.

I just wasn't one of them. Alright, so the Tyree kill touchdown early in the second quarter keeps Miami close. 53 yarder. His, as it turns out, one signature moment returning to Kansas City. Because the defense for the Chiefs pitches a shutout in the second half. Remember all those years where the offense outshone the defense in such a way that it felt like the defense was the ugly redheaded stepchild?

Not anymore. There are times when I feel like this defense is actually better than the offense collectively. Not Pat, but better as a unit overall. And really this game was out of reach, not after Pat's helmet was broken. Not even that could stop him.

That was sweet. The game was out of reach after a seven minute drive in which they go 14 plays that Miami defense was about to peter over. Keel over and peter out. 72 yards and it results in, well it's a familiar name. He's become one of the veterans for the Chiefs. And now the Chiefs spin out. They're going to go to a single wing type play here.

This is going to be a direct snap. It goes to Pacheco. Spinning.

Now moving to the left side. Pacheco. Touchdown. Kansas City.

The single wing again being used on the direct snap spinner. And all the single wing coaches spike the ball with the Kansas City Chiefs. And now the Chiefs have opened up a 25 to 7 lead on a three yard run by Pacheco.

Again Mitch Holtus on Chiefs radio. Yeah the final call was really more of a foregone conclusion and hey let's just get the heck off the field into the warm locker rooms. I mean you could see them on the sidelines obviously doing whatever they could to stay warm but unless you're moving around it's pretty difficult in those conditions.

You can freeze very quickly. And so for Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs it's going to be a surprise that they came out throwing but they did. They ended up and he actually had a couple of scrambles so he was over 40 yards rushing. But they end up staying aggressive from the start and the fact that they have seen these young guys grow up. Maybe this is a testament to where the Chiefs are now where they didn't have as many options at the beginning of the year. It was windy. I think he saw them some of the throws downfield. They kind of carried more or didn't carry enough and I thought the guys did a great job of getting themselves open. I mean it was cold. I'm not going to lie. It was cold but I think at the end of the day you've got to just be mentally tough enough to just say that it's not going to affect how we play. It's not going to affect my effort. If something doesn't work I'm going to come back the next time and keep firing.

Rashee Rice who was the rookie had 8 catches, 130 yards and the touchdown and he was having a hard time thinking about anything else post game. I've never been to North Pole. I've never been to Alaska. But I'm pretty sure if you look up the weather right now those places are not here. This is the coldest place on the map right now. He's having a hard time talking and I know this because I grew up in New England and in the cold. When you get super cold your mouth stops working. The weather you can hear him say. I'm pretty sure his mouth is working. This is the coldest place on the map right now.

Poor Rashee. What about the defense? That's a huge deal. The fact that the defense was able to hold that Miami Dolphins offense to only 7 points. Our defense with the 3rd down ratio was incredible in the job that they did.

1 for 12 on 3rd downs, that's quite a stat there. We have great players all around every single level. You have good players, you have depth, guys rotate in, can do it all. Then you have spags in the scheme. All the guys are so well coached in the scheme that they use it to their advantage. You never know where they're at. You can play inside-outside.

You can play inside-outside. All the linebackers can guard and make tackles. It's hard to get a beat on what they're doing.

That's what I knew in training. I was like, man, I'm glad I don't have to play those guys because that would be tough. 1 for 12 on 3rd down for these Miami Dolphins. Daniel admits that disappointment is just part of it, right? Because not every team, in fact only one team, is happy at the end of the season. As tough as it gets, just because everyone poured their heart and soul into it.

That is the nature of the business. It's tough, man, especially with the type of team that we got. Obviously there are high expectations of everyone and we hold ourselves to a standard. We're definitely expecting to be a really good team this year. Definitely wasn't expecting a first round exit. I would say there's been a lot of ups and downs. A lot of guys that started the season out with us and weren't able to finish the season with us. A lot of ups and downs with the injuries. But for our team, we never want to use any of those things as an excuse.

We're not going to use that as an excuse. Mike McDaniel, Tyreek Hill, who ends up with the one touchdown among his catches. And then Tua, who didn't play well.

This is tough. 20 of 39, 199 yards, a touchdown, an interception. So what was wrong with the offense?

Being efficient on first and second down. That's what I would say to that. Like I said, there's been some communication errors and things like that.

Can't do that. In the case of the Dolphins, I was expecting them to build on what they did last year. I was expecting them to go farther, not just because of the experience, but because I felt like they were building towards something. But that's what happens. A, when you have injuries.

B, when you don't take care of your business. They allowed the Bills to catch them in the AFC East. And before you get all up in arms over that, yes, the Bills won five straight at the end of the season. But the Miami Dolphins left that door so wide open, the Bills were able to catch them. The Dolphins had the one victory over Dallas that I think maybe attracted enough attention that it felt like, all right, that could be a turning point for them. Now they can battle with the big boys, so to speak. But when it comes to the grandest stages and the toughest battles, they still clearly have a ways to go. All right, so Miami's a good team.

I mean, Daniel's doing a great job. That offense, dynamic, dazzling at times to watch. And I know they were without Jalen Waddle and Rahim Mostert toward the end of the regular season.

But they have enough weapons. Tua played great. I mean, the fact that Tua played all season long and didn't get hit a whole lot, to me, that's a huge success story for the Dolphins in 23. But how do they get over the hump? How do they compete with the best of the NFL? Because they're just not there yet.

So, yeah, huge disappointment. Same thing with the Cowboys, right? You build up and you put in so much heart, soul, blood, sweat, and tears for a regular season, only to have it come to a crashing halt. And the AFC, well, I mean, the playoffs are so jam-packed with incredible teams. The Dolphins have just run into two teams better than them. Didn't they get eliminated by the Bills last year? Maybe I got that wrong.

Don't yell at me if I did, because sometimes they all blend together. So they've run into better teams than the AFC, but also they need to play better on this stage. And on the stages where the stakes are a little higher, there's a little sense of urgency, they've got to play better as a group.

And so this is a tough, painful way to learn it. But you're running into the Super Bowl champions who are playing in their 15th straight home game in the postseason. That's obscene. Although they could end up on the road next weekend, first time in the Patrick Mahomes era, right, that they would have to play an AFC championship away from home unless all of the various dominoes drop their way.

But it's unlikely. So let's see what the Bills can do as the two seed coming up on Monday, inside of 12 hours until Bills and Steelers get to play in the snow, which I think is brilliant. But I understand why they didn't want fans out driving and they needed to keep the various vehicles off the road because they need the emergency vehicles and cleanup crews and all that stuff. I did hear that the Bills were reaching out to just anyone who had a plow in their truck again.

Hey, come help us clear the parking lots. Did you see what they did to the fans? They offered, it was Saturday night, you could... Save free tickets. No, it was $20 an hour, actually. 10 p.m. the stadium opened and if you were in the Buffalo area, 18 or older, and had legal working papers, you can go sign up and help dig the stadium out.

And you get $20 an hour. They ask you to bring your own shovel, but they had them. They gave you food and refreshments. Yeah, the videos were crazy. We should have done that. Could you imagine the kind of video we would have had? If I was in the area, I absolutely would have.

Yeah, that would have been amazing. All right, coming up, we'll talk Browns and Texans. Okay, what's the number one reason you should try Instacart? Shopping over 1.5 million unique products from over 1,000 retailers. And get everything delivered right to your door in as fast as one hour, all in one app.

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A rainbow for 37 yards! CJ Stroud can do no wrong! And the Texans add to their lead.

It's time to pull on the pads and hit somebody. On After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. I tell you what, the best defenses in the NFL, or a couple of the best defenses in the NFL, really gave up a lot of points this weekend.

It is just so different in the playoffs when anything can and will happen. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. The Texans were trailing the Browns in the second quarter of their AFC wildcard matchup on Saturday, starting off the 2024 postseason. And Reven Jordan catches a long ball from CJ Stroud, goes 76 yards, and then Dalton Schultz, 37 yard touchdown. And that was a strike.

Devin Singletary, he was busy in there. Love the rhythm that we saw from the Houston offense immediately. And so thinking about the Browns defense, how physical they are, how tough they've been all season. They're certainly battle tested from the AFC North. But right away, you could see that the Texans, they had a game plan and they were opening up the field. I loved that they were using the whole field. And so it was 24-14 at the half. I don't know if you all were thinking shootout continuing into the second half, but there certainly were the potential for a lot more points. Just not the way that we expected them or me.

I won't speak for you. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Yeah, the major turning point came there in the second half in the third quarter. For Flacco, takes the snap, steps up, Flacco under duress, he throws it, intercepted along the near side. Picked off, running down the sideline is Stephen Nelson and he could go. Nelson to the 15, the 10, Nelson breaks away, toughs down. They're going for it on fourth and two. We're down to 4.15 to go in the third quarter. Flacco operating out of the gun.

Flacco looks, he throws, it is intercepted. Christian Harris down the left side. Nobody's there and it's Harris to the house. Touchdown Texans.

It's a pick party in Houston. 35 yards. Never seen back-to-back pick sixes like that. We needed our defense to step up. You know, Joe had a big day against us a couple weeks ago and we knew it was a challenge in the passing game. You know, for Nelly to make the pick that he made and also C. Harris, those are big time plays. So one of our focuses coming into the game was to attack the football.

But to attack it and go score, that changes the game for us. You never want to throw those. I do think you have to look at interceptions, you know, as a quarterback and as an offense, as a quarterback group. When you go back and watch the film, you have to look at them for what they are. You know, are they bad decisions, are they bad throws? Are they just, you know, a happening? Because it was just something wild happened. Joe Flacco, not really giving the explanation, but just hey, they're not all the same.

Right? Not every pick six is created equal. Christian Harris is one of our candidates for Monday MVP. Seven solo tackles, couple for loss, a sack. A quarterback hit and oh yeah, an interception return for a score. Texans defense had a field day. And in that third quarter, the Christian Harris was actually on fourth down.

They completely changed the tenor of this playoff game. Take nothing away from Joe Flacco, you really cannot. 38 years old, he steps in after spending the first half of the season on the couch, as he talks about. Didn't get picked up by his former team, the Jets. Instead goes auditions with the Browns and before he knows it, he's forced into the starting job. And that is why the Browns made the playoffs.

He is why, right? They already had a defense that was fantastic. They needed a quarterback who could move the ball, connect with Amari Cooper, make sure that the pass could keep the defense honest so they wouldn't stack the box against the run.

Joe Flacco did all of that. He performed extremely well. But still, he was feeling pretty bad about it on Saturday.

It's disappointing the way it ends. I mean, I think when the city embraces you and the team the way they have, you definitely want to do big things, mostly for your teammates, because those guys, like I said, have been incredible. But it's hard not to feel the way the city rallied around the group of guys in that locker room. We played poor, and that's something that we have been trying to get away from, trying to start fast, and especially on the road, getting our feet underneath us.

As soon as the ball snapped. I mean, they just played their game better than we played ours. They took advantage of our mistakes, and it's just unfortunate that we had a bad day today. Again, I think it's incredible that they even made the playoffs, considering that they started five different quarterbacks.

But I can understand why Myles Garrett is frustrated. He had a real good season. The Browns defense had a great season, and ultimately it ends in that first game.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You can vote for the Monday MVP on our show Twitter, After Hours, CBS, or our Facebook page. As for the young quarterback C.J. Stroud, youngest ever to lead an NFL team to a playoff win. This is my dream come true as of how close we are as a team. We're really, really close. Offense, defense, special teams, we're all men well together, and just to have another week to go at it with my brothers is a blessing. So I'm super excited for this team and the city of Houston, and I'm just blessed to be in the position I am.

C.J. is the reason why we're in this position. He's special, special young man, special player, continues to shine. No matter how big the moment is, our whole team is leaning on him.

No moment is too big for him. And when you have a young player who can shoulder the load of your team and the way the team is behind him, the confidence that he gives our entire team, it's so cool to watch. I'm so happy for D'Amico Ryans and C.J. Stroud and, again, a group of Texans that is relatively young. They have a bright future. Now, you never know what happens moving forward, but I do think it's awesome that they've really recaptured what was special about Texas football when D'Amico was a player. I mean, that's pretty amazing, right? C.J. with three touchdowns, a near-perfect passer rating. Find our Monday MVP poll and vote, vote, vote.

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