After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

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That's BetterHelpHELP.com slash grow. Not on this show. No one's shooting hostages today. Mike Tomlin as unique and notable and memorable as they come. And he's not going anywhere. He was in a better mood, so he said, on Thursday afternoon as he was addressing the media to let them know his contract status. He actually smiled. We don't get to see him smile a ton, but he had a big smile on his face.

Well, big. It was a mischievous smile. It was a clear smile. It was his mea culpa. That's what it was. It was his attempt to mend the fences. I like it. Now, he quickly reverted to, it sucks. So you'll hear both sides of Mike Tomlin coming up.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Good morning, Friday. For many people around the United States who've either spent the week being cold or who have spent the week digging out of snow, there is more snow on the way. I'm actually really excited because I love snow. That's my fault.

I know. I'm the girl who prays for snow, so you can blame it on me. But it's always nice when you don't have to drive to work in the snow. So I do it anyway, but it's kind of fun when it comes on a weekend and it requires no driving. But also, in addition to the snow that's supposed to come Friday and continue into Saturday, according to the weather forecast, Saturday is going to be the coldest day of the winter so far.

Okay. So that snow will quickly turn to crustiness. My gosh, poor dogs this week. There's still snow on the ground, of course, because what dropped on Tuesday has not melted.

And they are skating. So poor Daisy. Well, so Daisy's little. She's only about 20 pounds. She's a puppy. And the biggest challenge for her, not the cold. She doesn't care about the cold. She's an Aussie.

She's good. But what she is finding out is that the icy melt, that substance or those pellets that are put down on the ice to cause it to melt by human beings hurts her poor paws. So she's not a big fan of that, but I did see her figuring it out. I can see her seeing it. I watch her seeing the piles of it and stepping around them or over them.

So she figured it out pretty quickly from day one to day two. Penny is having a hard time because even though she's a heavier dog, the ice is, the snow is so crusty, it's got a layer of ice that she's slipping and sliding all over the place. So she goes to find a safe spot to do her business and she slips down or one leg slips out from underneath her. I actually saw her fall yesterday almost like I would do on some slippery ice, a slope of ice. And her back legs just slipped out from underneath her. She looked a little bit like a baby giraffe. Where, you know, the four legs just splay in all different directions.

I know I felt terrible. I would love to be able to help her out. So I do help her stand up again, but if I try to get in and help her walk or whatever, then she won't do what she needs to do. So yeah, she's been skating all over the place and not gracefully. She takes after her mom in that respect because I look like a baby giraffe on skates.

So yeah, we have that in common. She's very proud though. She is sweet. She's yeah, she's the best and she loves the cold as well. So Saturday will be in her wheelhouse. Her hair is so shaggy. One of the casualties of the road trip, I cannot find her comb anywhere.

I've looked everywhere. Actually, there were two casualties. Both had to do with the dog.

Are you ready? This sucks. On the way down the 1700 miles to get to Texas before the wedding, I had my big mag light flashlight. It was black. It is black.

It was black. I don't have it anymore. I know I put it in the minivan we were driving. It must have rolled under the seat because we cleared out everything else, but somehow the mag light was lost. So I never saw the mag light again. It's gone. I'd had it 10 years, so I probably could have replaced it.

But the other thing is I swear we left Texas and I had her comb. No idea where it is now. Either it fell out somewhere or it also fell underneath the seat. I don't know, but it's gone.

Oh, and an adapter for my cell phone. Jay, I swear to you, I walked in the house. It was one of the first things I grabbed when I got out of the minivan, or I had an SUV on the way back, out of the SUV and into the house. I remember I was holding it in my hand. Cannot find it. It has disappeared since the day we got back to New Jersey. It's now been MIA for, well, it's been MIA for nearly three weeks.

I can't find it anywhere. I hope no one took it and is using it. That would be kind of creepy.

Well, how would they get it? It was in my house. The comb? Oh, the comb, no. Oh, you're talking about the adapter. Right, the comb I left.

I mean, we left Texas with it. I have no idea where it is. Maybe I dropped it at some point out of a box.

We had a lot of moving pieces and parts, taking care of two dogs on the road trip with two different stops. So I'm not sure if I dropped it somewhere and I just, that's it, I lost it. But the adapter was in my hand and in the house, and I have no idea where it is now. Yeah, no, that's totally normal. Adaptors, like those things. It's not normal.

It is, though. I feel like, you know, I have an AirPods. I'm so shocked I haven't lost one of those yet because I find it.

I'll leave it somewhere and be like, oh, there it is. Adaptors, those little things, AirBuds. You just put them down, and I feel like they grow legs. Like we were talking about the other day how you could take your headphones out, wired headphones. You don't touch them, and all of a sudden they're all curled up and jumbled.

Why? I don't know. It's just those things with accessories and electronics. They just have minds of their own. They do.

They have a mind of their own. So the adapter is somewhere in my house. The dog comb is gone.

Someone else, as Jay said, must be using it because it is completely gone. But these are the casualties of the move. A Maglite, which I loved, my dog comb, and so I had to buy a new one yesterday, and the adapter, which I had others. Yeah, I guess that's worse than, I don't know, leaving your husband behind. The light's pretty bad, though. The flashlight's a tough loss.

Yeah, the Maglite. I was kind of bummed about that. That's so depressing on a Friday morning.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. It all started with snow and then ice and then the casualties of moving and the dog not having a brush. And essentially it's because it's so cold out. Her hair is growing so long and she looks like a shaggy, well, a woolly mammoth. She looks like a woolly mammoth or a snuffleupagus.

That's what Penny looks like right now. Snuffleupagus. Do you remember him? Sesame Street? Was it Sesame Street or Electric Company?

I think he's Sesame Street, Snuffleupagus. I mean, they did crossover a bunch. I've never heard of the other one. Really? No. One was a spinoff of the other. But yes. Really? Yes.

You'll have to look it up. Electric Company. Wait, is that dating me? That was one of the shows that my mom would let us watch when we were kids. Yes, to Sesame Street, of course, but Electric Company was the other one.

I feel like they both featured singing. Oh my gosh. I Googled Electric Company and what came up is Con Edison.

That's what I got too. Okay, no, that's not what I'm after, you goof. All right, let's find. Oh, you wrote Show? Yeah, Electric Company Show. Or you could try Googling Snuffleupagus and see how well you spell it.

That'd be hysterical. There, the Electric Company. All right. Snuffleupagus is adorable, by the way. Oh, you Googled him? Yeah.

How do you spell his name? Tell me. Snuff. Snuff-a-luff-a. Snuffle with two F's. No, see, here's what happened. You put in snuff and the Google search engine filled it in for you.

Don't lie. Oh, yeah. Okay, so you just typed in snuff. I typed in snuff.

Apparently, he's a mister, but yeah, he has a prefix. It's Mr. Snuffleupagus. Snuffleupagus?

Snuffle, S-N-U-F-F-L-E. Snuffleupagus. U-P-A-G-U-S. Can you tell what kind of animal he is? He is a mammoth, right? Well, I thought he was a woolly mammoth when I was a kid too, but he's actually a giant anteater. No, he's not. Yeah, he is. He's a giant anteater and he has the long hair. And you're right, Sesame Street.

But I could have sworn I saw him on Electric Company. Maybe he is an ant. Anteaters aren't that... They don't have hair like that.

No, they don't. He's a... Right, he looks like a woolly mammoth crossed with an anteater. He lacks tusks and ears, though, so there's that. He can't be a woolly mammoth or an elephant. That's a characteristic. Snuffleupaguses.

Snuffleupaguses. There's not multiple of him, is there? Yeah, I know. It's he and his family. He has a family?

Yeah. Well, he's a mister, but... What is wrong with you? You never watch Sesame Street? I didn't know Snuffleupagus had... I didn't know he had a spin-off and a whole backstory.

Here's the deal. Well, of course, they don't just show up on Sesame Street. I thought he just lived on the block.

If you Google mental floss, Snuffleupagus, I just found this. He has an oral history. Excuse me? He and Big Bird, they were friends, but they were also frenemies. They were rivals. I think Big Bird was rivals with, like, everyone on Sesame Street.

Yes. But he thought he was big, and he was, but he wasn't that big. He's just awkward.

He's very awkward. And he was yellow. He's very yellow.

Which does flag a lot of attention. Do you know someone in my family played the original voice of Big Bird? Well, not really my family. My cousin married, and the person they married, his uncle.

Seven times removed. Is the original voice of Big Bird. My uncle's cousin. Mailman's.

Yes. What? And Oscar the Grouch, actually. We love Oscar the Grouch. He did it at their wedding.

He'd had, like, the puppets, and he did, like, the voices. It was pretty cool, actually. Stop it. At the wedding? Yeah. We did not have a ventriloquist at our wedding. Wow, we missed out. It was a little creepy, but you don't need it.

Alright. Maybe they'll have those at the playoff games. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Boy, do we get on some interesting tangents around here.

But it is a Friday morning, so happy Fri-yay. And we've got the After Hours Game of the Week poll up. And I'm a little bit surprised by this.

I thought the results would be more even. Now, we have a long way to go. We're early in the voting process.

But there's one game, one matchup, that is running away with your votes. So you can check it out on our show Twitter or my Twitter, ALawRadioPlus, our Facebook page. We've been talking about the coaching carousel, which essentially is ground to a complete and utter halt. Other than we know Bill Belichick will be interviewing this weekend a second time with the Falcons, which is certainly interesting. And we also know that, for instance, Ben Johnson has interviews today and tomorrow, right? So here's the OC of the Detroit Lions. But even as they're ending up their preparations for this weekend's game against the Bucs, he's also interviewing. Mike Vrabel is taking interviews. In fact, I think his latest was with the Chargers, if I remember correctly. You know who else the Chargers have interviewed?

Well, everyone, really, except for producer Jay. I've actually interviewed for the Chargers. The Chargers have also interviewed David Shaw, the Stanford head coach.

Yeah, I thought that was interesting, too. But Steelers and Cowboys, they are standing pat. And Mike Tomlin, I wouldn't call this an apology, but I would say that he smiled over the last time we saw him. Good afternoon. Everybody better move today.

Man, anybody got any contract questions? I'll say this. I certainly could have handled that situation better than I did. But I'll also say this. I just believe there's a time and place for everything. And postgame press conferences are probably not the place to address contract issues and things of that nature.

It's just a very individual thing. And on game day, I doubt any of us are in that mindset. Certainly I am not.

Yeah, I can't imagine I would be either. I still think the reporters want to do their jobs. But you already know the answer that you're going to get most of the time. Either the coach is going to say, I'm under contract.

I'm the coach. I'm doing my job as long as my key card still works to get into the building. Or you're going to get maybe not quite as abrupt as Mike Tomlin walking off the podium. But you are going to get a non-answer. You're going to get a conversation killer, if you will. So he says, good afternoon. I'm in a much better mood.

Anybody have any contract questions? Good afternoon. Fantastic.

The way that he smiled, a little bit mischievous. No doubt about what happens next with the Steelers and Mike Tomlin. Yes, I expect to be back. And I would imagine that those contract things are going to run their course, man. Art and I have a really good, transparent relationship.

We communicate continually often. I don't imagine it's going to be an issue. And I imagine it's going to get done in a timely manner at the appropriate time. But, you know, my mindset is to coach this football team, certainly. That's more than you're generally going to hear from Mike Tomlin. Going into the last year of his deal, he seems pretty confident, not only he knows he's coaching this coming season in 24, but, wow, it's weird to talk about 24.

That's weird. It seems so far off. Obviously, still have a few weeks to go in this season. But before you know it, anyway, he also reveals that he and Art, meaning Art Rooney, the chairman of the team, they're going to be communicating about a contract extension. Sorry, Steelers fans. Well, at least those of you who don't think Mike Tomlin is worth it or you think there's gold or grass on the other side of the fence, I would take Mike Tomlin right now as the coach of my team. Hands down, I'm sorry, Sean Payton, but, hey, look, Mike Tomlin's available. I know that's how some people feel about Bill Belichick, though. Like, hey, look, Bill Belichick's available. Jim Harbaugh's available.

Why are we still standing pat? And I understand the playoff wins haven't been there recently, recently. He is a Super Bowl-winning head coach.

And as fans, we get impatient. But that's not how the Rooney family thinks, and they love him. He's good for football. He's good for the Steelers.

And if you have any questions at all about his commitment or his desire to win, don't. It all sucks. It does. There's not degrees of suck. It all sucks. I'd rather be working. The thought of going to Mobile turns my stomach.

Not that I dislike Mobile, but I know what it's like when you're working and you're not in Mobile. It's a really good feeling to be in that tournament as the road gets narrow and to be living out the things that you aspire to live out over the last 12 months. And so it's not us, and it sucks. Mobile, by the way, is where the Senior Bowl is held. So a lot of scouting is taking place there over these next few weeks. And that's the Mike Tomlin that people would question whether or not he's still engaged and whether or not he's still interested, that maybe he needed a fresh start or needed a change or just didn't want to coach anymore.

Now, that sounds like a guy who's still very much invested. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. It all sucks.

Fantastic. It's not degrees of suck. It just all sucks.

It all sucks. They have a lot of very talented pieces. They don't love the way they started the season. It was hard to understand why they weren't committed. And by committed, I mean committed to figuring it out, running the ball. They didn't start out running the ball for quite a while. I know they changed their offensive line, so that was a major question, right, is there's no shortcut to cohesion on the offensive line. So that was part of the issue. They had guys retire. They had guys leave. And then the quarterback.

So obviously speaking offense, because their defense was one of the best in the NFL this season. What about Kenny Pickett? Now, he also spent a good portion of the year being hurt, so he was on and off the field. But even when he got cleared, they didn't go back to him. They stayed with Mason Rudolph. So what does that mean for his future?

Because he's still under his rookie contract going into year three. There will be competition. There's always competition in this thing.

We don't anoint anyone. Man, I'm appreciative of his efforts and where he is and excited about continuing to work with him. But certainly he will be challenged from a competition perspective moving forward.

Competition brings the best out in all of us. Here's the question. If you're a Steelers fan, are you content with what they have on their roster? I actually don't know if Mitch Trubisky is under contract for next year, but he's been there. Mason Rudolph definitely isn't. And all Mike Tomlin would say is he's a free agent, which means free agency. That's literally what he said.

Jay, want to let the peeps hear it? He is a free agent, and it is free agency. So we'll see where that leads us. All right, great. Thanks for the update.

Thanks for the inside information. So they don't have Mason Rudolph under contract, but I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to bring him back based on what they've seen from Kenny Pickett and also a year and a half of tough offense. But do you remember how excited the Steelers were? Well, the Steelers fans were. During the preseason, it seemed like they were world beaters on offense. That's what I tell you.

When you succeed in the preseason, it's not a good omen for your regular season. Mitch is under contract. So Mitch is under contract? Yes. So now we've got speculation who they might go after. Would they go after a Kirk Cousins? Huh.

I don't know. I think they should. Do you?

I do. Do you think every team out there should go after Kirk Cousins? Every team that needs a quarterback to make it to the next level, I think they should.

I think he's sitting there. What about Russ? Russ, I don't think he's a horrible consolation prize if you're the Steelers, but he was playing pretty well this year. I mean, that's what the Broncos thought when they couldn't get Aaron Rodgers, and then they got Russell Wilson, and look what happened. Well, they gave him a ridiculous contract, and Russ was playing a lot better this year than he was last year.

I mean, that's just the fact. Better. He was better.

I wouldn't say he'd gone back to the level at which he was during his time in Seattle, at least early in Seattle. I think he'd give him a great defense like the Steelers, and in the running game, they could figure it out with Warren and Najee there, and they have some weapons to throw to with Pickens and Johnson. I think the defense with the Steelers... What about Pat? Pat who?

Friar Moon. Oh, sure. I just think Russ could do enough and not have to be the guy, like he had to do almost everything in Denver. Russ could just be a great piece of the Steelers. Huh. Interesting you say that, because they have some really dynamic wide receivers too there. Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, but yeah, the O line wasn't as... I mean, it's been an issue.

They also had a nice table of running backs this year. Huh. All right.

Well, that just kind of blew my mind. I'd forgotten all about Russ, and then someone talked about Russ again on Twitter, and now I'm thinking, whoa, commanders? I can't know.

I don't think so. Falcons, they need a quarterback. Steelers need a quarterback. I mean, Denver's going to need a quarterback if Russ leaves. Probably. Well, I mean, definitely, but I don't know if they're going to try to do like a rebuild thing. I don't know what's going on in Denver. I don't either.

All right. So what's the after hours game of the week, because there are teams that are still playing. I'm a little bit blown away by the polls. Coming up, we had a chance to catch up with Tracy Sandler, 49ers insider, good weekend prep. Niners, Packers, that's my pick for game of the week, but nobody listens. When the whole family comes together to watch the game, nobody wants to miss a second of the action to run to the grocery store. With Instacart, you can get all your weekly groceries in as fast as an hour. Less time shopping means more game time. Let's go. Visit Instacart.com to get free delivery on your first three orders. Offer valid for a limited time, $10 minimum per order.

Additional terms apply. 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.

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Call 562-314-4603 for complete details. ...to Amy. Well, I hope you listen to Amy. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio.

Good afternoon. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Rock that dude, man. Probably the nicest guy in the locker room. Cheerless guy. He just go out there and throw that ball.

If he stopped everything today and you look at his body of work, it's still impressive to see where Mr. irrelevant has come in just 24 months. He's a lifesaver. We hit the lottery.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. High praise from San Francisco 49ers veterans. Well, Chase Young is new there this year, but still a veteran in the league. And Fred Warner raves about Purdy. It's a Purdy party. After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Earlier had the chance to catch up with Tracy Sandler in the Bay Area where the Niners get back to work relatively healthy and unfinished business, of course, because of what happened last year in the NFC Championship.

So just a quick snippet of that conversation. I asked her what the mood is around the Niners as they kick off this playoff run. They're definitely in a good mood.

They're loose. I think the break was nice to them, but they were really smart in how they handled the break because last week was not a bye week in the traditional sense like it would be in the regular season. They had practices. They had the weekend off, but they had practices. They treated it like a normal week, which I just think was really smart to avoid any kind of rough situation. But they're excited, loose, ready to go, certainly not underestimating the Packers.

The Packers surprised a lot of people, though Kyle Shanahan said this week, and Chris Burster said it yesterday, that yes and no once you start watching the film it's not surprising at all, especially the way they played over these last several weeks. But they seem pretty business as usual, which they think is a good place to be. Seems like to a man, anybody who was asked in the Niners locker room or in the practice field this week is raving about Brock Purdy. He called it a Purdy party. I like it.

I like a Purdy party. And really interesting to think about where he was and where the Niners were this time last year. Where have you seen the greatest growth in him as now a full year starting under his belt and the undisputed leader of the offense? Well, I think you just said it really. I mean, he's really just over the last month, month and a half, had a full season under his belt. So as good as he was last year and they had that wild card game against the Seahawks, as good as he was, that was probably at that time one of his toughest games, he's just looser might be the right word. I know I used it earlier about the team.

But I think that that's what it is. There's a confidence. He knows he can win football games. They know he can win football games.

And not that they didn't last year. He just has the experience now. He played in, well, I was going to say three playoff games. He did not, obviously, last very long in the NFC Championship game because of the injury. But he's had that experience.

And so that's just a totally different thing. Because last year with the wild card game against Seattle, he settled into it. He ended up playing well. They ended up winning.

But we did see him go through a little bit of adversity. And we saw a little bit of what the playoffs can do because it's different. March Madness is what I keep saying. It's one and done. And Kyle keeps talking about it. Brock has said it too.

It's the team that plays best for three and a half hours. But the best way I can describe it is he's QB1. And it's the way he carries himself and the confidence he has in himself. And it just feels ready. And I think any jitters or any hype he had, he got out of his system in the Baltimore Ravens game on Christmas.

And now he's just very ready to go. I was talking about Kyle and John Lynch recently on the show with all this talk about how much control some of these more experienced championship head coaches will want if they take a new job. And the system in San Francisco is that Kyle has final say, though the two of them work very closely together. Knowing what you know about their partnership, their relationship, why does it work so well? Because I think they've always been on the same page. They came in together, they have a good relationship, and they are very much on the same page.

They are very like-minded. And I think the roles were established very early. And there's something about coming in together in that way. I don't think we've seen that a lot.

You may get a GM who gets to come in and pick his coach in a coaching search and they pick him. But these two came in together as a team from the get-go. And they were always in lockstep. And I think that is why it works so well. And I think they're both very good at knowing what they know and knowing what they don't and listening to the people who can tell them about what they don't know.

And that's such a huge thing about success in any business. And I think it's worked really well for the two of them. And I think it's a great point they came in together. And the roles were predetermined, though it is a little rare that the head coach would have the final say over the GM. But as much as I know, maybe you know differently, it doesn't seem like they've ever had any conflicts. And as you point out, they're always in lockstep.

As far as we know, things have worked very smoothly and worked well. And I don't know how many times heads have been butted to a point that Kyle had to have a say over John. Critical information when you think about what's happening in the coaching search this week where you've got guys who theoretically could want more control over personnel decisions. So Bill Belichick had that in New England. Would Arthur Blank give him that type of autonomy in Atlanta?

Should he take the job there? What type of control will Jim Harbaugh want when he goes into a situation or if he goes into a situation in the NFL and what is he asking for in his various interviews? There is more with Tracy, including a focus of the defense as the Niners get set to take on a red-hot Packers offense led by Jordan Love who's got, gosh, one interception in his last nine games. So he is playing the best football of his young career and also had another touchdown to go along with Aaron Jones' work last week. So you've seen a couple more touchdowns for him as well and still just one really bad mistake in the past couple of weeks where they finally found their stride. So that's awesome.

But the Niners defense is a different animal. What is the after hours game of the week? And if you want to hear Tracy's keys with that defense, you can check it out on the podcast. We post the link every weekday morning after hours, CBS on Twitter and then also on our Facebook page and take the poll. I'm telling you, it's stunning right now the results.

I really am blown away by the one game that is out distancing all the others and by a very healthy margin. Coming up next, a little QB news. Yo, next round is about to start.

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No, Herbert keeps it in. Touchdown, charges. Herbert with his second of the day.

Here's the snap. Josh going to keep it himself and run it again inside the five. Into the end zone. Touchdown, Buffalo. Josh Allen, nine-yard touchdown run. The Bills respond and then some. It's time for QB News on After Hours.

Oh, buckle up, let's go. Not just because it's Friday, it's our payday, but because it's Divisional Weekend, and do not miss what Deion Dawkins said about Patrick Mahomes. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Let's start in the AFC, Lamar Jackson. A lot of people assume he is the NFL MVP, and how's he feeling for Saturday? We had some time off to regroup, a lot back in, hype, antsy.

Hyped and antsy. Well, the Ravens and the Texans kicked off in week number one. That was a long time ago, mid-September. How has Baltimore changed since then? It's getting better and better, you know, with our scheme and just being one unit. We had a bunch of new pieces as well on offense, but we definitely getting the same. Same question can be asked of C.J.

Stroud, right? That was his very first game in the NFL. At that point, we weren't really identified as who we are now, you know, and we've grown in a lot of aspects, a lot of more experience up front now, you know, both offensively, defensively, and especially the team. So I think we've grown in a lot of places. Yeah, as much as I believe the Ravens have grown and no team starts the year ready to win a championship, they've obviously gone through a journey where they've lost a lot of pieces. Man, both sides of the ball. They've lost a ton of starters. Lamar's playing great football. But think about how far the Texans have come. They're one of the youngest teams in the NFL. They've got a rookie quarterback, a rookie head coach. I mean, their journey.

Talk about a crazy arc where the learning curve is just steep, steeper than steep. That's the first game that comes up tomorrow between the Texans and the Ravens in Baltimore. As we continue through the AFC, you know, the last game of the weekend is Bills and Chiefs, so a bookend. Josh Allen finally gets to host the Chiefs at home in the playoffs. As a competitor, as a player, to be in a situation like this is something that you dream about, you know, you really do. I know guys on this team are, have been waiting for this moment for a long time and, you know, to think about how far we've come, you know, even from seven, eight weeks ago to where we are now, to have an opportunity to host a game against, you know, they've won two championships in the last couple years.

You know, you can't help but be excited for that. All right, well, Deion Dawkins has a different way of putting it. The Bills offensive lineman has a message for one, Patrick Mahomes. Hey!

No disrespect. What year is this for, Pat? Seven or eight? Seven. Seven, right? He's only been here once, so he's never been here.

Simple as that. Pat has never been to the Bills stadium in full effect. He has no idea what even, like, our fans look like in person. Now remember, Patrick Mahomes has never faced the Bills in western New York in the playoffs because he's only ever played home games in the playoffs. But the last time he was in Buffalo was during the COVID season. So Deion Dawkins references the fact that he hasn't actually played here. He's never heard it full. He's never seen it full. And he goes on to say the stadium is in our favor. That's how he's going to come out of the tunnel. What is the after-hours game of the week?

Right now, one is your clear choice. Well, what about the relationship between Josh and Pat? You know, they sometimes golf in the offseason.

Fairly good friends. And obviously in the offseason we tend to play some golf together. At least we have in the last few offseasons. But, you know, he's a fantastic player. His track record and his resume speaks for himself at such a young age. And one of the greatest quarterbacks to already play this game.

Josh is a great dude. I respect the way he plays football and just the guy that he is. But it's like when two guys that are ultra-competitive, that our friends off the field go up against each other, we obviously both want to win because we know we see each other in the offseason and you want to have a little bit of those bragging rights. People do often compare it to the relationship and the rivalry between Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. And I would love to be able to see these guys on the field at the same time. Well, not the same time, but in the same games more often. So the Bills beat the Chiefs last month and that started their win streak.

So there is that. But the game took place at Arrowhead. Low scoring if you're trying to figure out how this game might go.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. A little more with the Chiefs. And, you know, one of the big changes for Kansas City has been the way that Rashee Rice and Patrick Mahomes have developed a relationship.

And so to see what Rashee did in their opener and now to know that it's becoming a favorite target of Patrick Mahomes, it's dangerous. Every week he's gotten a little bit better. And he's got a great relationship with Pat and they talk through things. MBS has been phenomenal for him, just sharing his knowledge and experience. So it's, you know, he's all ears. He wants to be great and he's willing to work at it. He's willing to listen, which a lot of guys just turn the veterans off. But he wants to absorb all of that and take it in.

Seems like a bad way to do business, turn off the veterans who've been there and done that. Rashee Rice, yeah, similar to C.J. Stroud. The arc of his rookie season has really taken off. And obviously to have Patrick Mahomes distributing the football is a big deal.

Now, again, people are making a lot of the fact that this is Pat's first playoff game away from Arrowhead. Now we get a great opportunity to go on the road, play in a hostile environment, one that I haven't been able to play with fans in the stands. And even though I know it's going to be hostile and there's going to be people talking trash and everything like that, I'm excited for it because, I mean, it's one of the best environments in football.

And you want to do that when you grow up watching these games, is playing the best environments and see what it's like. This game is a toss-up to me. I could see it going a bazillion different ways. Just can't wait for Sunday, late afternoon, between Bills and Chiefs in Buffalo. No snow in the forecast, by the way. All right, turning our attention to the NFC, Baker Mayfield. You can see it all over him. He's having a blast.

He's hitting offensive linemen even harder with no helmet. Hello. It's been great. Obviously backs against the wall, kind of like I mentioned after the game. Just the stretch and the run that we had to go on, it makes it even more enjoyable to get to the point where we're at right now. But like I mentioned as well, we're happy, but we're not satisfied.

We've got bigger goals and so we've got to keep working. Look, I've always been a Baker fan from afar. I loved him when he was coming out. I tell this story, this to me said a lot about him. And I went and worked Blake Andrews out when he was coming out of OU. They came out the same year, tight end.

And so I went out there. Well, his quarterback, you know, it's cold, but he comes out there. I think he's got like flip-flops on. It's Baker. Baker's going to throw for him. Well, Baker threw for every one of his guys that was coming out that year. And I think he'd already had two private workouts the two days prior, and he had one that afternoon.

And I think the one the next day. So that just says a lot about the guy. There's no wonder why people rally around him and follow him, because he's that type of teammate, right? I mean, there's a lot of guys that wouldn't do that. I got to save my arm.

I've got so-and-so club coming in. That wasn't him. So, you know, you can respect stuff like that now. Dan Campbell raving about the person that Baker Mayfield is. A lot of people raving about Jared Goff and his newfound home there in Detroit. Obviously a ton of success these last two seasons, but Bucs' defense is tough. They do a lot. They do a whole hell of a lot, and they've got really good players at every level. I think Winfield is as good as it gets at safety. I think both the linebackers are as good as the linebacker duo gets, and I think Veta Bay is as good as it gets up front. So they've got a lot of good players all over the place, and it's a good defense.

That right now is the game that the fewest number of you are fingering is Game of the Week, which I'm kind of surprised. I feel like the Detroit Lions should be a sentimental favorite and how. They are one win away from the NFC Championship. Are you kidding me? The city of Detroit might spontaneously combust.

Enjoy the sunlight. All right, we've done a lot on the Niners and the Packers already, but Jordan Love, he's on some kind of a tear right now for Green Bay. Everyone was flowing, offensively, defensively, special teams. You know, everyone was executing at a high level, and it was able to make it seem almost easy, but I think it's just everybody's locked in, dialed in, understanding what we need to do, and just executing. So I think that was our best execution game all year in all three phases. You know, we were all playing complimentary ball, and yeah. I'm sure that's not bulletin board material, but it's got to sting the Cowboys.

Cry later. Stings the nostrils. All right, one more, and this comes from Brock Purdy, who last time he watched the 49ers-Packers game, he was in college. All I remember in that game in college was the end, like the block punt and all that kind of stuff. It was crazy, and it just being really cold. But we've watched a couple plays and stuff from that game, and sort of just seeing the environment, playoff football, in Lambeau with the snow and all that.

I mean, what a crazy game. But yeah, just the history of these two organizations and the playoff games and stuff, it's pretty cool to say that I get to play in that game now. I can't wait. This is going to be an awesome weekend. So if you are married to someone who's not big into the NFL, that's me. That's me.

Loves college football, not big into the NFL. I just warned him already. These games, well, got to block out the time. You can watch. You can watch with me, or you can be against me.

It's one or the other. But it's Friday, and we don't have to worry about them until Saturday. So get your foods ready, because it should be a party. It's divisional weekend. We'll be back here on Sunday night, of course. Find our poll on Twitter.

I voted for Niners Packers. That's my game of the week. Bring it. Let's go. Buckle up on Twitter, ALawRadio, on our Facebook page, too, and we'll talk to you Sunday after hours, CBS Sports Radio.

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